Disclosed is an exposure method for exposing an image of a pattern formed on a mask to plural layers superimposed upon a substrate, comprising: the step of storing an alignment error between the plural layers together with at least one of exposure data and alignment data; the step of setting alignment data upon exposing another pattern to the substrate on the basis of at least one of the exposure data and alignment data; and the step of displacing the mask and the substrate relative to each other on the basis of the alignment data set in the previous step. There is further disclosed an exposure apparatus for exposing an image of a pattern formed on a mask to plural layers superimposed upon a substrate, comprising a storage for storing alignment errors between the plural exposure layers together with at least one of exposure data and alignment data; and a control unit connected to the storage for setting alignment data upon exposing another pattern to the substrate on the basis of at least one of the exposure data and alignment data; wherein the control unit controls the mask and the substrate so as to be displaced relative to each other on the basis of the alignment data set.

1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to an exposure method and an exposure apparatus and, more particularly, to an exposure method and an exposure apparatus for forming an image of a pattern of a mask on an uppermost layer of a substrate by aligning a pattern formed on a given layer of the substrate with a pattern on the mask.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a method for forming plural patterns in layers superimposed on a substrate by exposure to light, an upper-most layer of the layers superimposed on the substrate is generally formed with a new pattern by aligning the new pattern with one of the previous patterns already formed in the layers on the substrate.
For comparative purposes, an example of conventional exposure methods will be described with reference to FIG. 5 illustrating such a conventional exposure method, a first step of which comprises a selection of operation steps, an exposure apparatus and an exposure reticle as a preparation step for operations. Then, a substrate is aligned under alignment conditions and subjected to test exposure to light (pilot or pre-processing), followed by a measurement of an alignment residual error of the substrate exposed to light by a given measurement device. As a result of the test exposure, when it is found that the alignment residual error for the substrate is within a given reference value, a main exposure is carried out. On the other hand, if the alignment residual error for the substrate is found to be outside the given reference value, the alignment conditions are changed on the basis of the alignment residual error measured and the substrate is aligned again under the renewed alignment conditions, followed by the implementation of a main exposure step or the re-implementation of a test exposure step.
In the conventional process as described hereinabove, the alignment conditions may change, too, when conditions for exposing the substrate to light changes. In other words, alignment conditions may also change in each case where an operation step is changed, where a different exposure apparatus is used, where a different reticle for allowing the substrate to be exposed to light is employed, where a substrate is changed for a test exposure, where there is used a different device for exposing an alignment layer with a mark formed as a reference of alignment or where a reticle used for exposure of the alignment layer is changed. In order to sustain a high level of accuracy in alignment, the conventional process requires the test exposure to be conducted again, whenever alignment conditions change. This results in a reduction of throughput.
In order to solve problems and disadvantages encountered with such conventional exposure methods, extensive review and studies have been made to develop an exposure method that can improve throughput of an exposure apparatus while sustaining a high level of accuracy in alignment.

Exposure method utilizing alignment of superimposed layers


An input device and system are described that acquires (measures) raw track pad sensor data and transmits this data to a host computer where it is analyzed by an application executing on one or more host computer central processing units. The resulting input processing architecture provides a track pad input device that is both lower in cost to manufacture and more flexible than prior art track pad input devices. Lower costs may be realized by eliminating the prior art's dedicated track pad hardware for processing sensor data (e.g., a processor and associated firmware memory). Increased flexibility may be realized by providing feature set functionality via software that executes on the host computer. In this architecture, track pad functionality may be modified, updated, and enhanced through software upgrade procedures.

The invention relates generally to computer input devices and more particularly to a track pad input device that generates and transmits measured (raw) sensor data to a host computer system. Software executing on the host computer system analyzes the raw sensor data to determine the user's action.
A track pad is a touch-sensing planar digitizer input device used instead of, or in conjunction with, a mouse or trackball. During use, an operator places a finger on the track pad and moves the finger along the touch-sensing planar surface. The track pad detects the movement of the finger and in response provides location and/or motion signals to a computer. There are two common types of track pad sensor devices: resistive and capacitive. A resistive track pad sensor is a mechanical sensor that uses two layers of material that are typically separated by air. Pressure from a finger pushes the top layer (generally a thin, clear polyester film) so that it touches the bottom layer (generally glass). The voltage at the contact point is measured and the finger's location and/or motion is computed and transmitted to a host computer system. After the finger is removed, the top layer "bounces back" to its original configuration. A capacitive track or touch pad sensor, in contrast, is a solid-state sensor made using printed circuit board ("PCB") or flex circuit technology. A finger on, or in close proximity to, a top grid of conductive traces changes the capacitive coupling between adjacent traces or the self-capacitance of each trace. This change in capacitance is measured and the finger's location and/or motion is computed and transmitted to a host computer system.
Referring to FIG. 1, prior art computer system 100 includes track pad device 105 coupled to host computer module 110 via communication path 115. Track pad device 105 comprises sensor 120, data acquisition circuit 125, processor 130, memory 135 and transmit circuit 140. In the case of a capacitive track pad device, as a user's finger(s) is (are) moved over the surface of sensor 120, data acquisition circuit 125 measures changes in the capacitive coupling between adjacent sensor elements (or the self-capacitance of a given sensor element). Processor 130, in conjunction with memory 135, processes the acquired capacitance signals to compute a signal indicating the user's finger position on sensor 120 (e.g., a Δx and Δy signal). In some prior art track pad devices, processor 130 may also determine if multiple fingers are activating sensor 120 and whether certain predetermined finger motions (often referred to as "gestures") are being made—e.g., "select," "drag," "file open" and "file close" operations. At specified intervals (e.g., 50 times per second), the user's finger location and/or motion as determined by processor 130 is transmitted to host computer module 110 via communication path 115. At host computer module 110, receive circuit 145 receives the transmitted track pad signal and passes its information to driver application 150. Driver application 150, in turn, makes the computed sensor information available to other applications such as, for example, window display subsystem application 155. Thus, prior art system 100 utilizes a dedicated processor for measuring and analyzing raw track pad sensor data to generate a signal that indicates a user's action.
One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that processor 130 may be embodied in a general-purpose processor (e.g., a microprocessor), a microcontroller, or a special purpose or custom designed processor or state machine (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit or a custom designed gate array device). Further, memory 135 is typically used to provide permanent storage for instructions (i.e., firmware) to drive processor 130 and may, optionally, include random access memory and/or register storage. A benefit of the architecture of FIG. 1 is that host computer module 110 does not need to know about or understand the type of data generated by sensor 120. A corollary of this feature is that host computer module 110 does not process track pad sensor data.
It will also be recognized by one of ordinary skill that a drawback to the architecture of FIG. 1 is that the feature set (i.e., what motions are detectable) provided by track pad device 105 is essentially fixed by its dedicated hardware—processor 130 and associated firmware (memory 135). Another drawback to the architecture of FIG. 1 is that each manufactured device 105 includes the cost of processor 130 and associated firmware memory 135. Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a track pad device that overcomes these inherent drawbacks.

System and method for processing raw data of track pad device


An integrated optical sensor for arc welding having multifunction feedback control. The sensor, comprising generally a CCD camera and diode laser, is positioned behind the arc torch for measuring weld pool position and width, standoff distance, and post-weld centerline cooling rate. Computer process information from this sensor is passed to a controlling computer for use in feedback control loops to aid in the control of the welding process. Weld pool position and width are used in a feedback loop, by the weld controller, to track the weld pool relative to the weld joint. Sensor standoff distance is used in a feedback loop to control the contact tip to base metal distance during the welding process. Cooling rate information is used to determine the final metallurgical state of the weld bead and heat affected zone, thereby controlling post-weld mechanical properties.

This invention relates to a sensor for welding operations and more particularly to a multifunction feedback control sensor for gas-tungsten and gas-metal arc welding operations.
Automated welding requires a welding system capable of adapting to changing conditions encountered during the welding process. Many sensor systems have been developed to give automated welding systems the capability to adapt to variations in one parameter. For example, Agapakis, J. E., et al. Welding Journal vol. 65, No. 11, pp. 33-41 (1986), describes laser striping for joint tracking, and Hanright, J., Welding Journal vol. 65, No. 11, pp. 19-24 (1986), discusses through-the-arc sensing techniques. Additionally, coaxial viewing of the weld pool and infrared sensings are discussed in Richardson, R. W., et al., Welding Journal vol. 63, No. 3, pp. 43-50 (1984), and Lukens, W. E. , et al. , Welding Journal vol. 61, No. 1, pp. 27-33 (1982), respectively.
However, frequently it is desired to continuously monitor, in real-time, more than one parameter in the welding process, such as, the weld pool position and width, sensor-to-work piece distance and weld pool bead centerline cooling rate. Continuous monitoring of surfaces requires that light be reflected or emitted from those surfaces at sufficient strength so that attributes of the surface can be detected by the imaging device. Additional light, other than that which is required for imaging, shows up in the image as noise and degrades the quality of the image. In some cases, image degradation is so severe that the desired details or attributes within the image are lost and cannot be recovered. In the case of welding, the arc is a high luminosity light source that degrades the weld pool image to the extent that attributes of the weld pool and adjacent areas are unclear, unless light suppression techniques are used.
It is an object of this invention to provide an automated multifunction feedback control sensor for welding that is independent of significant operator interaction.
It is another object of this invention to provide a multifunction feedback control sensor capable of measuring weld pool position and width, sensor-to-work piece distance and weld bead centerline cooling rate.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following and by practice of the invention.


The present invention provides search engine methods and systems for displaying relevant and timely topics. In an embodiment, a method for displaying topics related to a search constraint entered by a user includes receiving a search constraint; identifying a first preliminary set of topics related to the search constraint, wherein the first preliminary set of topics are representative of a sample set of general data items; identifying a second preliminary set of topics related to the search constraint, wherein the second preliminary set of topics is representative of a sample set of current event data items; identifying a set of display topics that is a subset of the first preliminary set of topics and the second preliminary set of topics; and displaying the set of display topics. In other embodiments, other systems and methods are provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to search engines, and more particularly, to search engine methods and systems that provide relevant and timely topics.
2. Background of Invention
The world economic order is shifting from one based on manufacturing to one based on the generation, organization and use of information. To successfully manage this transition, organizations must collect and classify vast amounts of data so that it may be searched and retrieved in a meaningful manner. Traditional techniques to classify data may be divided into four approaches: (1) manual; (2) unsupervised learning; (3) supervised learning; and (4) hybrid approaches.
Manual classification relies on individuals reviewing and indexing data against a predetermined list of categories. For example, the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE® (Medical Literature, Analysis, and Retrieval System Online) database of journal articles uses this approach. While manual approaches benefit from the ability of humans to determine what concepts a data represents, they also suffer from the drawbacks of high cost, human error and relatively low rate of processing. Unsupervised classification techniques rely on computer software to examine the content of data to make initial judgments as to what classification data belongs to. Many unsupervised classification technologies rely on Bayesian clustering algorithms. While reducing the cost of analyzing large data collections, unsupervised learning techniques often return classifications that have no obvious basis on the underlying business or technical aspects of the data.
This disconnect between the data's business or technical framework and the derived classifications make it difficult for users to effectively query the resulting classifications. Supervised classification techniques attempt to overcome this drawback by relying on individuals to "train" the classification engines so that derived classifications more closely reflect what a human would produce.
Illustrative supervised classification technologies include semantic networks and neural networks. While supervised systems generally derive classifications more attuned to what a human would generate, they often require substantial training and tuning by expert operators and, in addition, often rely for their results on data that is more consistent or homogeneous that is often possible to obtain in practice. Hybrid systems attempt to fuse the benefits of manual classification methods with the speed and processing capabilities employed by unsupervised and supervised systems. In known hybrid systems, human operators are used to derive "rules of thumb" which drive the underlying classification engines.
No known data classification approach provides a fast, low-cost and substantially automated means to classify large amounts of data that is consistent with the semantic content of the data itself. Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a mechanism to determine a collection of topics that are explicitly related to both the domain of interest and the data corpus analyzed. Commonly owned, co-pending U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 10/086,026, entitled Topic Identification and Use Thereof in Information Retrieval Systems, filed on Feb. 26, 2002 by Paul Odom, provides such a mechanism.
At the same time, the emergence of the Information Age has created a wealth of information that is available electronically. Unfortunately, much of this information is often inaccessible to individuals because they do not know where to look for it, or if they do know where to look the information can not be found efficiently. For example, an individual is working at his desk and his boss requests that he find an electronic copy of a memo that the individual sent last month. The memo contains information that was obtained from a website, which included a spreadsheet that had data extracted from a division report.
The boss would like the individual to send a copy of the email and the references back to him as soon as possible. Also, he would like the individual to check for additional references to see if the conclusions in the memo need to be updated. The boss requires that the project be completed within fifteen minutes. The worker is not disorganized, but as is common, does not have total recall of how the information was gathered or where the email is stored. After thirty minutes, the worker finally finds the email. But, the worker still needs to search for additional information as requested by his boss. The end result is that because no efficient search mechanism existed the worker has missed his boss' deadline.
The above example commonly occurs within the workplace, and involves not just email, but all forms of electronically stored information. Human worker studies show that it is not unusual for some office workers to spend more than 10% of each work day looking for information. The same studies claim that less than half those searches are successful. Databases, data warehouses, document management systems, and file searches are often too difficult or "hit and miss" to be used effectively and efficiently. Corporate enterprises and government organizations have spent billions of dollars to aggregate and integrate information, so it will be more accessible. Of course, an individual can get answers if he is a database or document system expert and if the individual remembers the exact title, the exact phrasing used in the document, or the ever elusive primary key associated with the document of interest. Unfortunately, more common than not, this level of detail is not available to assist in finding the information.
Internet based searches are often times even more frustrating, and less productive. For example, it is not particularly useful when you know that there are approximately 6,120,000 answers to the search criteria you just entered. Ads associated with search engines are also often frustratingly irrelevant to a search and therefore of little interest to the users and of minimal value to the advertiser. The search engine ads try to identify promising content to be associated with. Unfortunately, these are often not very relevant either. For example, you entered "plasma injectors" and you get several ads for plasma televisions. Individuals have learned that keyword ads are not usually very useful, so individuals often completely ignore keyword ads.
Furthermore, because website popularity has nothing to do with what might be relevant in the thousands of search results, search results driven by website popularity can often lead to useless results. Meanwhile, at search engine operations facility there is an army of personnel and massive server farms humming away to potentially deliver hundreds of thousands of results to every search query that an individual enters.
Web searching, search advertising, and enterprise searching are not consistently providing acceptable search resolution for the user. The missing ingredient in current search technology is "true relevance". Relevance can only be defined by the user for a specific search. Relevancy has no predictable pattern. No generalized algorithm is going to repeatably produce relevant information, because in the end, any generalization is arbitrary.
What has occurred, so far in the industry, is a fragmentation of search applications as vendors try to address niche search markets in an attempt to improve relevancy by narrowing the domain. For example, sites that are product specific, area-of-interest specific, group specific, or subject specific, have all been implemented. So far, there have been no successful generalized search applications that consistently provide high levels of relevancy.
Present search and topification algorithms generally assume that topics are relatively static. However, the relevance of topics to a particular search query is not only based on what appears in the content of the query, but the relevance can also be a function of current events. For example, if an individual had conducted a search of the Internet in January 2006 using the search string "NFL," then one would expect the topics Denver vs. Pittsburgh and Charlotte vs. Seattle to be of interested, since these were the team pairings in the American Football Conference and National Football Conference championship games. This set of topics is time sensitive to the playoffs. While a search engine may have these topics in its database, these topics would be part of tens of thousands of possible topic results for a query using the term "NFL." During the January 2006 time frame, the "Denver vs. Pittsburgh" and "Charlotte vs. Seattle" topics would likely be a very meaningful topic result. Unfortunately, search engines do not directly factor in time relevancy, and these topics would be mixed in with the tens of thousands of other possible topic results. Thus, a user would not likely receive as relevant search results as would be desired.
Another shortcoming of current search engines that display topics or search results is that search engines do not display topics associated with every subject matter domain related to a search constraint entered by a user. Rather a search engine may only show search results or topics that are most popular without regard to different subject matter domains that search results may belong to. For example, when a user enters the search constraint, Jaguar. The data items belonging to the search results may include topics that correspond to subject matter domains that include autos (e.g., there is a car named Jaguar), animals (e.g., there is an animal called Jaguar), software (e.g., there is a software package referred to as Jaguar), resorts (e.g., there are resorts in South America referred to as Jaguar resorts), football (e.g., there is a football team referred to as the Jacksonville Jaguars) and game (e.g., there is a game referred to a Jaguar). Those search engines that provide results based only on popularity of website hits, might only display topics or search results associated with the subject matter domain Auto. Or, at the very least, items associated with Resorts would be on page 27 of the search results. More often than not, a user probably would be looking for data items in the subject matter domain Auto. However, a reasonable proportion of users may also be interested in other domains that may be less popular. For these users, the search results displayed would not be particularly relevant and their specific areas of interest difficult to find. Thus, a user once again may not receive search results relevant to their particular area of interest.
What are needed are search methods and systems that can efficiently generate search results to identify and display topics by considering, at any given time, the relative significance of a topic based on current events and that ensure coverage of all subject matter domains associated with a search constraint.

Search engine methods and systems for displaying relevant topics


An excess-current protection circuit includes an outer input terminal, an outer output terminal, a driver transistor connected between the input terminal and the output terminal to control an excess current, an excess-current control circuit, and an excess-current detection circuit. The excess-current control circuit compares a predetermined first bias voltage with a voltage obtained by a current flowing through a first sense transistor multiplied by a resistance value of a sense resistor and controls the gate voltage of the driver transistor in accordance with a comparison result. The excess-current detection circuit compares voltage difference between the drain and source of the driver transistor with a predetermined second bias voltage and controls the gate voltage of the driver transistor in accordance with a comparison result.

1. Technical Field
This disclose relates to an excess-current protection circuit to control an excess current flowing to a power supply device, and a power supply including the excess-current protection circuit.
2. Discussion of the Background
In general, excess-current protection circuits for protecting power supply systems from excessive current by limiting the amount of current flowing through the power supply system are provided.
For example, one related-art power supply circuit includes an excess-current protection circuit as shown in FIG. 11. The protection circuit 100 is formed by an excess-current control circuit 100, an input terminal 1, an output terminal 2, a driver transistor 3, a booster circuit 9, and a load 30. The excess-current control circuit 100 includes a sense resistor 5, a first sense transistor 4, a first comparator 6, an output metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor 7, and a voltage source 8. The sense resistor 5 and the first sense transistor 4 are connected in parallel to the driver transistor 3. The voltage source 8 produces a predetermined voltage as a first bias voltage Vb1.
The first comparator 6 compares the first bias voltage Vb1 and a voltage V45 obtained by the current I4 flowing through the first sense transistor 4 multiplied by a resistance R5 of the sense resistor 5 (V45=I4×R5) and controls the output MOS transistor 7 based on the output result of this comparison. Then, the output MOS transistor 7 controls the gate voltage Vg-3 of the driver transistor 3.
FIGS. 12A and 12B are graphs of voltage-current curves of the driver transistors 3 and the first sense transistor 4. FIG. 12A shows a state before the excess current is detected, and FIG. 12B shows a state after the excess current is detected. In FIGS. 12A and 12B, a reference numeral Tr3 indicates properties of the driver transistor 3, and a reference numeral Tr4 indicates properties of the first sense transistor 4. Additionally, reference marks • indicate measured values, and reference numerals Δ show ideal values. Reference numerals M1 and M2 indicate multiplication to calculate the ideal value in accordance with a channel area ratio between the driver transistor 3 and the first sense transistor 4. The reference mark D indicates a difference between a drain-source voltage Vds-3 of the driver transistor 3 and a drain-source voltage Vds-4 of the first sense transistor 4. Reference numerals Er1 and Er2 indicate current errors due to channel-length modulation effects.
When the output current IOUT flows from the output terminal 2 to the load 30, because a voltage drop occurs at the sense resistor 5 that is directly connected to the first sense transistor 4, a drain-source voltage Vds-4 between the drain and the source of the first sense driver transistor 4 becomes smaller than the voltage Vds-3 between the drain and the source of the driver transistor 3.
More specifically, a measured current I4 flowing through the first sense transistor 4 becomes smaller than an ideal value thereof. The ideal value of the current I4 is the value of the current I3 flowing through the driver transistor 3 divided by the area ratio. For example, if a channel area ratio of the driver transistor 3 and the first sense transistor is designed to be k:1, the ideal value of the current I3 is k times the current I4.
Conversely, as shown in FIG. 12A, the measured current I3 flowing through the driver transistor 3 becomes larger than the ideal value of the current I3 calculated based on the measured current I3 and the channel area ratio
Consequently, because of the difference in the drain-source voltages Vds-3 and Vds-4, the current error from the channel-length modulation occurs, and therefore, the excess-current control circuit 100 detects the excess current at larger current than a predetermined current due to the error. In particular, with reference to Er1 compared with Er2 in FIG. 12A, when the drain-source voltage Vds-3 is in small linear region, the drain-source voltage Vds-3 has a major impact on the drain current Id and the increase in the excess current detected value is especially pronounced.
In FIG. 12B, solid lines indicate properties of the transistors 3 and 4 after the excess-current control circuit 100 detects the excess current, and dashed lines indicate the property of the transistors 3 and 4 before the detection. After the excess current is detected, the first comparator 6 outputs the output signal as an excess-current signal, thereby controlling the output MOS transistor 7, and a voltage Vgs applied to the gate of the first sense transistor 4 decreases. Therefore, gate-source voltages Vgs of the driver transistor 3 and the first sense transistor 4 decrease. As a result, the drain-source voltages Vds of the driver transistor 3 and the first sense transistor 4 increase, which transmits the current in an attempt to make the excess-current protection circuit operate normally.
That is, the respective currents value Id converges at a predetermined value calculated by the area ratio between the driver transistor 3 and the first sense transistor 4, a resistance value of the sense resistor 5, and the first bias voltage Vb1 generated from the constant-voltage source 8.
FIG. 13 is a graph of a voltage-current curve illustrating a relation between an output current TOUT and an output voltage VOUT when only the excess-current control circuit 100 is used as the excess-current protection circuit. In FIG. 13, in a power supply including the excess-current protection circuit 100 as described above, the output voltage value VOUT can be relatively small (close to 0V) and kept constant in a voltage region R5.
Additionally, in a voltage region R3, as the output voltage VOUT decreases, the current I3 assumes a value that is equal to a voltage difference (Vdif) between the input voltage VIN and the output voltage VOUT divided by a drain-source resistance Rds-3 of the driver transistor 3, and flows to the driver transistor 3. (IOUT=Vdif/Rds-3)
However, in a voltage region R4, that is, the region right before the excess current is detected, the output current IOUT jumps because the detected output current IOUT increases excessively.
In short, in this excess-current protection circuit using only the excess-current control circuit 100, the detected value of the excess current increases, which is a problem.
In view of the foregoing, there is market demand for power supplies including an excess-current protection circuit that detects an excess-current without increasing a detected value of the excess-current.

Excess-current protection circuit and power supply


An actuator (1M, 1S) with a motor (12) and a motor controller (11) is configurable to operate as a master or a slave to another actuator which is coupled mechanically for driving a common load. For the case where the actuator (1M) is set as the master, the motor controller (11) receives on an input terminal (Y3) an external position control signal (pC), generates a motor control signal (sC) for controlling the motor (12) based on the position control signal (pC), and supplies the motor control signal (sC) to an output terminal (U5) for controlling a slave. For the case where the actuator (1S) is set as the slave, the motor controller (11) controls the motor (12) by supplying to the motor (12) the motor control signal (sC) received from the master. Controlling the actuators with a master improves workload balancing and reduces damages to transmission mechanics of the actuators.

It is common practice to couple mechanically two or more actuators for driving a common load, i.e. to use two or more actuators in piggyback configuration or simply "piggybacked". For example, the actuators are mechanically coupled directly through attachment to a common drive shaft or indirectly through connecting rods, levers, bars, other linkage assemblies, or parts of the load to be driven, e.g. a damper or a valve. Typically, and depending on the type and way of the mechanical coupling of the actuators to each other and/or the common load, the materials used for the mechanical coupling, and the distances between the individual actuators, etc., the load is not equally distributed among the piggybacked actuators, the force provided by their electrical motors is not optimally used and combined, and, worst of all, as a result, gear and transmission mechanisms of the actuators are damaged in the process.

Actuator with electric motor and motor controller


A method for single-cycle selection of aptamers is provided. More specifically, a method comprising single-cycle selection of aptamers for proteins blotted on a membrane is provided. In some embodiments, the present methods can comprise a deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I) mediated aptamers selection strategy that may be capable of isolating strong binding aptamers for target proteins from a crude protein extract. Aptamers selected using the present method are further provided. More specifically, the presently selected aptamers may be thermally stable, modifiable and easily produced through single-cycle synthesis process. The present aptamers may provide unique affinity reagents for use in diagnosing and detecting infectious disease (for example Hepatitis B), for research and biochemical studies (e.g. into molecular mechanisms). Further, the present aptamers may be utilized to develop unique assays or kits for clinical application, such as monitoring disease treatment and outcome.

Nucleic acid aptamers are single-stranded DNA or RNA molecules capable of binding to small molecules, proteins, and whole cells with high affinity and selectivity. Aptamers have been widely applied both as therapeutic reagents and as promising tools for molecular diagnostics and basic research, and are commonly selected in vitro from large libraries of DNA or RNA sequences using Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX).
It is known that the selection of aptamers having high affinities and specificities for specific proteins can be done from a large library by incorporating modified dUTP in the SELEX process. The process, however, typically requires multiple cycles (8-20 rounds) of partitioning, separation, and PCR amplification steps. As such, several attempts have been made to improve the time and resources required for the SELEX process, including attempts to achieve the selection of aptamers using a single cycle.
One such attempt, known as the capillary electrophoresis SELEX (CE-SELEX), may be used to select an aptamer for h-Ras protein in a single cycle by repeated, highly efficient separation of the protein-bound sequences from the unbound sequences. However, due to the limited injection volume of the CE-SELEX system, over 97% of the DNA sequence diversity was lost, although initial DNA library contained 2×1012 ssDNA sequences.
Another such attempt, which involves a magnetic microfluidic chip (M-SELEX) can, in principle, be applied to any protein target. The M-SELEX strategy may achieve extremely high selection stringency by exposing a very small quantity of target proteins to a DNA library during the partitioning step. This method is limited, however, to microscale sample volumes and may be subject to the risk of compromising sequence diversity. This method also requires immobilization of the target molecules onto micromagnetic beads prior to aptamer selection.
There is a need to develop a consistent and reliable single-cycle aptamer selection strategy that takes full advantage of the large DNA library diversity and this is amenable to common laboratory practice. Such a system may be capable of directly selecting aptamers for proteins on a membrane, and may not be limited by sample volumes. Such a system may further be capable of being integrated into common protein separation techniques used in biochemistry laboratories such as, gel electrophoresis and membrane blotting.
Both of Musheev, M.: Krylov, S. N. Analytica Chim. Acta 2005, 564, 91-96 and Oh, S. S.; Plakos, K.: Lou, X.; Xiao, Y.; Soh, H. T. 2010, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107 (32) 14053-14058 are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

Apparatus and method for single-cycle selection of aptamers

The Governors of the University of Alberta


A pin contact of a connector includes a parallel portion which touches a contact portion of a contact spring portion of a socket contact when the pin contact is fitted into the socket contact, and an inclined portion to be inserted into the contact spring portion while forcibly opening the contact spring portion at the time of insertion. The inclined portion has a shape which is a combination of a curve portion and a linear portion, the curve portion being moderate in inclination in the area of a boundary point between the curve portion and the parallel portion while sharp in inclination in the area of a contact start point at a pointed end of the contact pin contact. The linear portion has a constant inclination angle. The insertion force of the pin contact increases linearly proportionally to the fitting depth of the pin contact into the socket contact while the linear portion is touching the contact spring portion, whereas the insertion force of the pin contact is kept constant regardless of the fitting depth while the curve portion is touching the contact spring portion of the socket contact at a point over the boundary point between the linear portion and the curve portion.

The present invention relates to a connector constituted by a socket contact and a pin contact or printed-circuit board contact plug portion (hereinafter generically called "pin contact") fitted into a socket contact, and particularly relates to a structure of a pin contact having a low insertion force connection.
A known connector is generally constituted by a socket contact and a pin contact which has an inclined portion to be inserted into the socket contact while forcedly opening a contact spring portion formed in the socket contact, and a parallel portion which touches a contact portion of the contact spring portion when the pin contact is fitted into the socket contact.
FIG. 10 shows a general structure of such a connector. In FIG. 10, a pin contact 102 is fitted into a socket contact 101. The socket contact 101 has at least one contact spring portion 110 disposed at any one of the upper, lower, left and right of the socket contact 101 and uses a portion 101a as a fulcrum, and a contact portion (projection portion) 109 shaped like a circular arc and formed in the neighborhood of the contact spring portion 110. The pin contact 102 has a parallel portion 103, and an inclined portion 108 in which a region from a point 105 in the parallel portion 103 to a top end portion of the pin contact 102 is inclined at a constant angle .theta.. At the time of insertion, this pin contact 102 is inserted into the socket contact 101 while the contact portion 109 of the socket contact 101 is forcedly opened by the inclined portion 108 at a top end of the pin contact 102. In a fitted state, the parallel portion 103 having a predetermined external diameter touches the contact portion 109. In FIG. 10, the reference character F designates the insertion force of the pin contact 102, and the reference character P designates the elastically restoring force of the contact portion 109.
If a structure as shown in FIG. 10 is used merely as a pin contact structure, the total insertion force of a connector increases correspondingly to the increase of the number of pins in the connector. Because the size and density of electric parts have been increased recently, the number of pins has been further increased. Assuming now that, for example, the insertion force of a connector having one pin contact as shown in FIG. 10 is 100 g, then the total insertion force of a connector having 1,000 pin contacts is 100 kg which is 1,000 times as much as the insertion force of 100 g. The total insertion force of a connector having 10,000 pin contacts would be 1,000 kg. Because the increase of the total insertion force has an influence not only on "difficulty of insertion" but also on the strength and mount space of electric parts to be connected by the connector, this may become a problem in connection with electric appliances. Accordingly, reduction of the insertion force of the connector becomes an important factor.
A structure of a contact plug portion of a printed-circuit board to attain a reduction of the insertion force, is disclosed in JPB-58-57871. As shown in FIG. 11, the structure is designed so that an inclined portion 208 of a contact 202 in a contact plug portion of a printed-circuit board is shaped like a curve represented by the expression: ##EQU1## in which X is a distance in a direction parallel to a parallel portion 203 by reference (reference point B) to a point (contact point) at which the contact 202 first touches a contact spring portion of a socket contact (not shown) when inserted into the socket contact, Y is a distance in a direction perpendicular to the parallel portion 203 by reference to a point B, (X.sub.0 and Y.sub.0) are the coordinates of a boundary point between the inclined portion 208 and the parallel portion 203, .mu. is a dynamic friction coefficient between the socket contact and the parallel portion 203, and A is a constant determined by X.sub.0, Y.sub.O and .mu.. In the structure of a contact plug portion of a printed-circuit board according to JP-B-58-5787 the inclined portion 208 has a sharp inclination in the area of its pointed end portion and the inclination becomes gentle as the position approaches the parallel portion 203. With By this structure, the insertion force F can be kept constant and the maximum value of the insertion force F can be reduced to about 1/2 compared with the constant inclined portion 108 shown in FIG. 10. The contact 202 is supported by a fixing mold 214 to thereby form a printed-circuit board contact plug portion.

Pin contact and electric parts having the same


A method for characterizing an electron beam in a liquid metal jet X-ray source. The method includes providing the electron beam and directing the electron beam to an interaction region; providing an electron beam dump connected to ground potential for receiving the electron beam after it has traversed the interaction region; scanning the electron beam over at least part of the interaction region; measuring X-ray radiation generated by interaction between the electron beam and the electron beam dump during the scanning to obtain an X-ray profile; and calculating an electron beam characteristic based on the X-ray profile. Also a corresponding liquid metal jet X-ray source.

X-ray radiation may be generated by letting an electron beam impact upon a target material. The X-ray radiation may be generated as Bremsstrahlung or characteristic line emission from the target material. The performance of the X-ray source depends inter alia on the characteristics of the focal spot of the X-ray radiation generated by the interaction between the electron beam and the target. Generally, there is a strive for higher brilliance and smaller focal spots of the X-ray radiation, which requires improved control of the electron beam and its interaction with the target. In particular, several attempts have been made to more accurately determine and control the spot size and shape of the electron beam impacting the target.
WO 2012/087238 discloses a technique for determining and controlling a width of an electron beam at its interaction point with the target. This prior art technique involves the use of a sensor having a charge-sensitive area. A measurement of the width of the electron beam is carried out by deflecting the electron beam over the sensor area while an electron target is present and partially obscures the sensor area. Because the electron target obscures or partially obscures a portion of the sensor area, the recorded sensor signal will exhibit a transition between minimal attenuation (unobscured sensor area) and maximal attenuation (behind target) of the beam. The beam width may be derived from this information, in particular from the width of the transition. For measurement purposes, however, the sensor area cannot be electrically grounded. This technique therefore entails challenges such as how to avoid short-circuits and arcing at the sensor edges.


Methods are provided for improved production of hIL-3 either in glycosylated form from mammalian and yeast cells or in unglycosylated form from prokaryotes. Recombinantly produced human IL-3 is purified in a series of steps, initially employing hydrophobic interaction, followed by ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration.

Hemopoiesis involves the active process of proliferation and differentiation of pluripotent progenitor cells into all types of mature blood cells and some specialized tissue cells. Production of functional blood cells is regulated by specific proteins, the hemopoietic growth factors (HGFs). Some of the HGFs control maturation of a specific maturation lineage, whereas others stimulate proliferation and differentiation of progenitors along multiple pathways. Much of our knowledge of the hemopoietic differentiation process has been obtained from mouse studies in vitro and in vivo, using purified growth factors. The murine growth factor interleukin-3 (mIL-3), also termed multi-CSF, mast cell growth factor, stem cell activating factor or several other designations, stimulates the proliferation of developmentally early, multipotent cells (CFU-S) as detected by the spleen colony assay, resulting in the production of progenitor cells along the erythroid, megakaryocyte, granulocyte/macrophage, osteoblast and several other lineages. Furthermore, mIL-3 has been implicated in replication of pluripotent stem cells, probably in synergism with other HGFs.
In recent years, several groups have succeeded in cloning mIL-3 cDNA. No results have been reported so far of identifying homologous sequences in human DNA using mIL-3 DNA as a probe. Presumably, the human gene has diverged extensively from the mIL-3 gene or has lost its function during primate evolution. However, human leukocytes were found to produce an HGF(s) which can replace M-GSF in supporting the proliferation of murine CFU-S. Thus, the existence of a human HGF was postulated, which shares biological properties with mIL-3 and therefore could be the human homolog.
Recently, DNA sequences encoding hIL-3 have been identified by several investigators. For instance, using as probe a cDNA coding for gibbon IL-3, the human IL-3 gene was isolated (Yang et al., 1986). The sequence of the exons of the human gene was disclosed in the cited paper as well as in patent application WO 88/00598 (published 28 Jan. 1988). However, as known to those skilled in the art, the intron-containing genomic sequence cannot be used for synthesis of hIL-3 in microorganisms. Rather, the coding sequence used should be a continuous coding sequence as in a cDNA. A cDNA sequence encoding human IL-3 is also disclosed in WO 88/00598. Following another route, Dorssers et al. (1987) also isolated a cDNA coding for human IL-3.
Patent Application No. WO 88/05469 discloses the isolation of a cDNA encoding hIL-3 using a synthetic DNA derived from the genomic sequence described by Yang et al. (1986) as a probe. The disclosed cDNA sequence, however, lacks two amino acids, nos. 44 and 45 or 45 and 46. The amino acid bordering either deletion is a GAC encoded Asp. Nonetheless, the culture supernatant of a yeast transformant carrying this cDNA sequence in an expression cassette, encoding mature hIL-3 fused to an N-terminal "flag" of 8 amino acids, shows IL-3 activity in a human bone marrow proliferation assay. This finding indicates that the absence of the aforementioned two amino acids and the N-terminal extension of 8 amino acids has no deleterious effect on the biological activity of the protein.
Finally, EP 282.185 also discloses the isolation of a hIL-3 cDNA sequence using as probe a synthetic DNA derived from the genomic sequence described by Yang et al. (1986) and describes the construction of a completely synthetic hIL-3 coding sequence as well as the construction of two muteins, Ile.sup.2 and Leu.sup.131. There is no mention of biological activity. Furthermore, it was apparently assumed that hIL-3 contains 132 amino acids, starting at the N-terminus with Pro.sup.1 -Met.sup.2 -, whereas it is generally accepted that hIL-3 is 133 amino acids long and has as the N-terminus Ala.sup.1 -Pro.sup.2 -Met.sup.3.
It is noteworthy that Yang et al. (1986) find a Ser residue at position 8 of the mature hIL-3, whereas all other references indicate the presence of a Pro at this position.
BPV-1 or the 69% subgenomic fragment (BamHI-HindIII) has been used for the expression cloning of a variety of genes in different cloning systems. EP-A-198386 describes the expression of gamma-interferon in C127 mouse cells. In EP-A-105141 the use of the BPV vector is described for the expression of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in vertebrate cell lines e.g. NIH 3T3, LTK.sup.- mouse fibroblasts and African green monkey kidney cells. The general idea of using BPV-1 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,446.
BPV-1 is one of at least six bovine papillomaviruses and is associated with cutaneous fibropapillomas in cattle. These viruses can readily transform a variety of rodent cells in culture. The molecularly cloned bovine papillomavirus DNA as well as a cloned 69% subgenomic fragment are efficient in inducing transformed foci. Transformed cells contain multiple copies (10 to 120 per cell) of the viral DNA as unintegrated molecules (Law et al., 1981). The genetics of bovine papillomavirus type I have been extensively studied (for a review see Lambert et al., 1981). The BPV-1 genome is a circular, 7946 base-pair, double-stranded DNA molecule. The transcription is complicated because of the presence of multiple promoters, splice sites, and differential production of RNA species. The activities of some of the promoters are under tight control of transcriptional enhancers.
The so-called E2 (=early) ORF is very important in this respect. The full-length E2 ORF encodes a transactivating protein (E2-ta) which can stimulate transcription of the early genes.
This protein consists of two conserved domains, the amino terminal domain (which has transactivating activity) and the carboxy-terminal domain (which has both DNA-binding and dimer formation activities). The E2 ORF encodes a second regulatory protein, the E2 transcriptional repressor (E2-tr), which is an amino-terminally truncated form of the E2-ta protein. E2-tr is encoded by another mRNA, whereby the translation initiation codon is an E2 ORF internal ATG-codon.
The present invention discloses cell lines not previously employed in hIL-3 production as well as mutations of the E2 ORF.
The clinical utility of hIL-3 is not only dependent on its inherent characteristics but also on its availability and the lack of contaminants. The prior art relating to the purification of murine, gibbon and human IL-3 is briefly reviewed here.
The mature murine T-cell enzyme marker 20a-hydroxy-steroid dehydrogenase (20aSDH) was found to be inducible in vitro. The factor responsible for this was partially purified from splenic lymphocytes by Ihle et al. (1981). It was distinct from other known lymphokines in both its biochemical and functional properties. Ihle et al. (1981) proposed the term interleukin-3 ("IL-3") for this factor. The purification by Sephadex G-100 and DEAE cellulose chromatography resulted in a 9000-fold purification, yet the final preparation still contained multiple proteins.
An improved purification procedure was presented by Ihle et al. (1982), wherein WEHI-3 cells which constitutively produce IL-3, were used. Here, through the extension of the earlier procedure with hydroxylappatite and reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography, the final product could be obtained 1,800,000-fold purified (their Table I). This product was claimed to be homogeneous.
Miyajimi et al. (1987) used the silkworm Bombyx mori and an insect baculovirus vector for high-level expression and secretion of murine IL-3. Purification of IL-3 from tissue culture medium was carried out by sequential passage through DEAE-Sephadex, ACA 54 and C8 reverse-phase column chromatography. To obtain separation of three species of IL-3 (18, 20 and 22 kDa) a second C8 reverse-phase column was necessary. The different species are due to differential glycosylation, since N-glycanase treatment yielded one final band of 15 kDa.
Ziltener et al. (1988) described the isolation of multiple glycosylated forms of IL-3 by affinity purification. The observed microheterogeneity was dependent on the source (activated T-cells, WEHI-3B cells or COS 7 cells).
All of the above procedures describe the purification of murine IL-3. In spite of the observed similarity of murine and human IL-3 with respect to their proliferative action on haematopoietic progenitor cells, the structural homology between both proteins is rather low (28% at amino acid level). This heterogeneity is illustrated by the total absence of reactivity of the human protein on murine cells (and vice versa). Based on their specific amino acid composition, the proteins likely require different methods of purification.
The purification of both gibbon and human IL-3, which show a structural homology of 93% (at the amino acid level), is disclosed in several patent publications. WO 88/00598 describes the isolation of a partially synthetic hIL-3 from the inclusion bodies of E. coli cells. The cells are first disrupted by two passages through a french press, and the inclusion bodies are isolated by centrifugation in a sucrose step gradient. This reference describes also three procedures for purifying a human or gibbon IL-3-like polypeptide from COS cell conditioned medium. In all cases a one-column process is used: either ion exchange or a lentil lectin column or reversed-phase HPLC. The maximum purity obtained for gibbon IL-3 as determined with automated Edman degradation was 98%.
WO 88/05469 describes the purification of human IL-3 from yeast strains by single or sequential reversed-phase HPLC steps. Since additional HPLC steps can be employed if indicated, it is clearly not assumed that the product is homogeneous. No test of the purity of the hIL-3 was described, nor were data mentioned on the purity of the product.
Thus, no specific methods have been disclosed so far for the purification of hIL-3. Therefore there is still a need for substantially pure hIL-3 which can be used therapeutically and for a method of preparing such substantially pure product in a high yield, and which can easily be scaled up.

Expression and purification of human interleukin-3 and muteins thereof


A vehicle headlight device includes optical systems that are respectively provided to light sources, and illuminate ahead of a vehicle by light emitted from the light sources, with light distribution patterns of which illuminating areas are offset to each other at least in vertical directions, a stoppable distance calculator that calculates a stoppable distance of the vehicle, and a light source controller that controls the light sources to be turned on and off so that an area ahead of the vehicle and away from the vehicle by the stoppable distance is illuminated by at least one of the optical systems.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle headlight device mounted to a vehicle etc., and particularly to the vehicle headlight device which can suitably illuminate an area within which the vehicle is stoppable, with a simple configuration.
2. Related Art
Headlight devices mounted to vehicles, such as automobiles, are typically configured to be provided with a plurality of lighting systems having different light distribution characteristics (e.g., different illuminating areas), for example, caused by high beam (driving beam) headlights and low beam (passing beam) headlights, of which light sources are selectively turned on and off according to a traveling state of the vehicles. Recently, Adaptive Front-lighting System (AFS) that automatically changes the illuminating area, for example, according to the traveling state of the vehicles has been proposed. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2014-008913 discloses a headlight device that reduces a glare to oncoming automobile(s), pedestrian(s), etc. by changing the intensity and angle of the illumination according to a traveling speed of the vehicles.
As disclosed in JP-A No. 2014-008913, only an area within which the vehicle is stoppable can be illuminated by changing the angle of illumination according to the traveling speed of the vehicle. Thus, it can be prevented to induce a vehicle operator's unnecessary gaze caused by illuminating even an area unnecessary for a determination the vehicle, and to increase a burden of the vehicle operator. However, if at least some of the light sources and optical systems are configured to be movable so that their optical axes are pivotable at least in vertical directions, and the illuminating area is changed by actuators which drive the light sources and optical systems, the configuration of the headlight device becomes complicated, and weight and costs increase.


The present invention discloses a packaging apparatus, comprising multiple packaging elements, each packaging element comprises a slot for receiving a LCD module, and the packaging apparatus further comprises a connecting means for integrating the multiple packaging elements side by side. Therefore, the packaging apparatus can be used for both LCD modules and end-products such as TV, display devices, the packaging cost can be reduced.

As the end-products of LCD (liquid crystal display) modules, such as TV, PC, Monitors, display devices, are widely used. The LCD modules used for such end-products are getting more and more thin and light in weight. Therefore, the packaging apparatuses become vital for protecting the LCD modules. Hence, the manufacturers pay much attention to the packaging apparatus for the LCD modules and end-products. Typically, after the LCD modules are delivered from the manufacturers of LCD modules to the manufacturers of end-products, shells, brackets, PCBs are assembled with the LCD modules, and then the end-products will be packaged and sent to sell out. In this process, the packaging apparatuses (such as buffering structure and packaging box) of the LCD modules are either abandoned or recycled. If the packaging apparatuses of the LCD modules are directly abandoned, it is a waste of packaging materials. If the packaging apparatuses of the LCD modules are recycled, money and manpower will be required to deliver the packaging apparatuses back to the manufacturers of LCD modules.

SHENZEHN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD


A battery having a reinforced structure capable of preventing expansion of the bottom of the battery case due to internal pressure generated during charging of a secondary battery is provided. A conventional battery has a problem that in order to achieve higher performance and smaller size, the thickness of the battery case is decreased, and therefore the bottom of the battery case is expanded outward due to increases in the internal pressure caused by gas generated during charging. To solve the above problem, a lower reinforcement plate having a number of protrusions is placed in the battery case and welded to the bottom of the battery case. Accordingly, the lower reinforcement plate prevents expansion of the battery, and performance of the battery can be enhanced.

The present invention relates to a battery, and more particularly to a battery having a reinforced structure for preventing the case of a secondary battery from expanding due to an increase of internal pressure.
In a conventional secondary battery which is repeatedly charged and discharged, the internal pressure is increased due to gas generated during charging. When the internal pressure of the battery is increased to the critical pressure or higher, the lower end of the battery case is expanded outward.
FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of a conventional battery having the lower end expanded due to the internal pressure. In the battery case, positive and negative plates are alternately arranged with a separator interposed therebetween. Typically, such a separator is wound between the positive and negative plates in the battery case.
As shown in FIG. 1, the lower insulation ring of the battery and the lower end of the battery case are expanded and transformed due to the internal pressure. This is because the internal pressure of the secondary battery is increased by gas generated during charging. In the case of a nickel-cadmium battery, oxygen gas generated during charging is absorbed, as expressed by the formula: 2Cd+O.sub.2 +2H.sub.2 O.fwdarw.2Cd(OH).sub.2. However, the rate of absorption of the oxygen (O.sub.2) is different from the rate of generation of the oxygen (O.sub.2), which causes the internal pressure. In other words, as soon as the oxygen is generated, it is impossible to instantly perform the reaction of absorbing the oxygen, although the internal pressure is increased due to generation of oxygen, the absorption speed is increased.
As the battery is made smaller in size, lighter in weight, and higher in performance, the active materials in the battery comprise a large fraction of the total battery volume and the thickness of the battery case must be decreased. However, as the battery case becomes thinner, the lower end of the battery case more severely expands outward, which is an important consideration limiting the design of high-performance battery structures.
The expansion of the lower end of the battery should be considered in fabricating a package cell battery as well as a unit cell battery.
In a cylindrical battery case of one body type, the battery case can be manufactured to have a thick bottom and thin sides. Here, treatment stress increasingly generated during manufacturing increases the strength of the material. However, crack or bursting due to the internal pressure may occur when heat treatment for removing the stress is not performed. In the case of performing the heat treatment for removing stress after a process of shaping, the lower end of the battery case which is a little thickly made of the same material as that of the battery case may be also transformed due to the internal pressure. This is because the material is selected with reference to treatment of the battery case.

Battery having reinforced structure for preventing expansion


The present invention is an adaptation of the common container candle lid. The lid is transparent or translucent and it is hollow. The lid contains at least one piece of two-dimensional material that is applied to the interior surface of the lid, thereby giving the material a three-dimensional presentation. The material is held in place by foam that also holds, in the mouth of the candle lid, at least one LED and the components necessary to energize the LED when desired.

In the lighting arts, no less than three patents—U.S. Pat. No. 20030210555 to Cicero, U.S. Pat. No. 8,496,346 to Zinox, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,938,554 to Franks—incorporate a light emitting diode (LED) into a lid that may or may not have ornamental features. However, each of these three inventions are designed to prevent the fire hazard posed by leaving a candle in a jack-o-lantern; none aim to complement or enhance a candle of any sort.
Alternately, candle toppers are used to increase the decorative appeal of a lit or unlit container candle, while lids for container candles are typically used to keep the wax of a container candle dust-free when unlit and, in some cases, to conceal an unsightly, previously burned wick.
Some candle toppers offer additional utility. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,666 issued to Strunak, provides a topper with a hidden compartment into which one can place matches, money, or other items that one might prefer to conceal. Strunak's invention also provides a way to display photographs on the outside of the topper. Similar to Strunak's invention, U.S. Pat. No. 20,060,210,940 to Greiner, provides a system for storing small items related to a candle, such as matches and scent oil.
While the aforementioned patents to Strunak and Greiner improve a container candle, both inventions leave other aspects of a typical container candle unaddressed.
For example, the vast majority of container candles come with a transparent or translucent lid that offers very little aesthetically. That is, they usually consist of nothing more than clear glass and, therefore, a way to improve the aesthetics of the lid is needed.
Also, one may wish to experience the ambiance of a container candle without lighting it. To do so, one must acquire a small battery powered light, turn it on, place it inside the container and, when one is finished using the light, fish the light out of the container candle and turn the light off.
Further, if one wishes to continue experiencing the ambiance of a container candle after its original fuel is exhausted, a routine similar to the one described above will likely follow (i.e., acquire light, turn it on, place it inside, enjoy, fish it out, turn it off).
Hence, there is a need for a lid system that, in addition to protecting a container candle from dust when unlit, (1) improves its overall aesthetic by turning at least one piece of two-dimensional material (such as a piece of paper, piece of fabric, photo or illustration) into a three-dimensional embellishment that is applied to the interior surface of the lid and is, therefore, protected when the lid is applied to or removed from the container candle; (2) provides one the ability to experience the ambiance of the container candle without lighting it, and (3) provides one the ability to continue experiencing the ambiance of the container candle after its fuel is exhausted.


A device, a memory interface device, and a method of implementing an active inductor circuit are disclosed. In one aspect, the device includes one or more active inductor circuits, each including a first metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor and a second MOS transistor. The first MOS transistor has a first terminal connected to a first voltage level, a second terminal connected to a resistor, and a gate terminal. The second MOS transistor has a first terminal connected to the first voltage level, a second terminal connected to a first current source and the gate terminal of the first MOS transistor, and a gate terminal connected to the resistor and to a capacitor connected to a second voltage level. One of the first MOS transistor and the second MOS transistor is a p-channel MOS (PMOS) transistor, and another of the first MOS transistor and the second MOS transistor is an n-channel MOS (NMOS) transistor.

Writing data into memory devices at very high speeds as well as reading data from memory devices at high speeds are becoming increasingly difficult. A memory controller of, for example, a processor typically sends multiple data, command, and address signals at very high speeds (e.g., 24 Gbps), and these signals have to be captured accurately and reliably by a receiver of the memory device. Similarly during memory read operations, high speed data transmitted from the memory need to be captured accurately and reliably by the receiver used inside the memory controller at a system-on-chip (SOC) end. The receiver has multiple components including an amplifier and a sampler. Current designs of such components may suffer from power supply induced jitter (PSIJ) and intersymbol interference (ISI), and may sacrifice key parameters such as power, performance, and area.

CMOS active inductor circuit for amplifier


The loss of data and/or the corruption of data that may occur in flash memory when a reset signal is received during a memory write cycle is prevented by delaying reset signals sent to the flash memory for a time period sufficient for a write cycle to be completed. The loss of data and/or the corruption of data that may occur in flash memory when the power supply is interrupted during a write cycle is prevented by providing a DC-to-DC converter with one or more large capacitors in parallel with its input as the power supply to the flash memory. If the system power supply fails or is interrupted, the discharge of the capacitor(s) delays the voltage decay at the input of the DC-to-DC converter such that the output of the DC-to-DC converter remains within tolerance for a time sufficient for the flash memory to complete a write cycle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to logic circuits having non-volatile memory. More specifically, it relates to reset signals sent to memory controllers for NAND-type flash memory and power supplies for NAND-type flash memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flash is one type of non-volatile memory. EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) can be programmed and erased enabling them to be re-used. Erasure is accomplished using an UV (Ultra Violet) light source that shines through a quartz erasing window in the EPROM package.
There also are OTP (One Time Programmable) EPROMs, sometimes called OTPROMs (One Time Programmable Read Only Memory), that are identical to an erasable EPROM but lack an erasing window to reduce costs. To reduce their cost these EPROMs come in a windowless plastic carrier, which is cheaper than the costly ceramic package required for the erasing window. They can be programmed one time only.
An EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) is similar to an EPROM but the erasure is accomplished using an electric field instead of an UV light source. This eliminates the need of a window. Usually, EEPROM refers to a device that requires a programmer or special voltage to program it.
A flash EPROM is similar to an EEPROM except that large blocks of flash EPROMs are erased all at once while a regular EEPROM can erase one byte at a time. However, with flash EPROMs, in-circuit writing and erasing is possible because no special voltages are required. To accomplish in-circuit operation, one can write special application software routines. Flash EPROMs are also called nonvolatile memory.
Flash memory is a type of EEPROM chip. It has a grid of columns and rows with a cell that has two transistors at each intersection. The two transistors are separated from each other by a thin oxide layer. One of the transistors is known as a floating gate, and the other one is the control gate. The floating gate's only link to the row, or wordline, is through the control gate. As long as this link is in place, the cell has a value of 1. To change the value to a 0 involves a process called Fowler-Nordheim tunneling.
Tunneling is used to alter the placement of electrons in the floating gate. An electrical charge, usually 10 to 13 volts, is applied to the floating gate. The charge comes from the column, or bitline, enters the floating gate, and drains to a ground.
This charge causes the floating-gate transistor to act like an electron gun. The excited electrons are pushed through and trapped on other side of the thin oxide layer, giving it a negative charge. These negatively charged electrons act as a barrier between the control gate and the floating gate. A device called a cell sensor monitors the level of the charge passing through the floating gate. If the flow through the gate is greater than 50 percent of the charge, it has a value of 1. When the charge passing through drops below the 50-percent threshold, the value changes to 0. A blank EEPROM has all of the gates fully open, giving each cell a value of 1.
A CompactFlash® card is a small, removable mass storage device. First introduced in 1994, CompactFlash (CF) cards weigh about a half an ounce and are the size of a matchbook. They provide complete PCMCIA-ATA functionality and compatibility. CF data storage cards are also available using magnetic disk technology (Microdrive). With the built-in controller, a wide variety of low cost flash technologies can be used. The built-in controller lowers costs further by reducing costs in the host device and allowing defective flash chip cells to be mapped out, thus increasing flash chip yields. Microdrives provide the lowest cost data storage solution for capacities of 340 MB and above.
The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) chip of a personal computer is perhaps the most common form of flash memory. However, removable solid-state storage devices are becoming increasingly popular. SmartMedia and CompactFlash cards are both well-known, especially as "electronic film" for digital cameras. Other removable flash memory products include Sony's Memory Stick, PCMCIA memory cards, and memory cards for video game systems.
Two main technologies dominate the non-volatile flash memory market today: NOR and NAND. The NAND-based solution is ideal for high capacity data storage, while NOR is best used for code storage and execution, usually in small capacities. There are many differences between NAND and NOR flash. One of them is the interface. NOR flash is basically a random access memory device. It has enough address pins to map its entire media, allowing for easy access to each and every one of its bytes. NAND devices are interfaced serially via a rather complicated I/O interface, which may vary from one device to another or from vendor to vendor. The same eight pins convey control, address and data information. NAND is typically accessed in bursts of 512 bytes; i.e., 512 bytes can be read and written at a time (similar to hard drives). This makes NOR ideal for running code, while NAND is best used as a data storage device (hard drive/block device replacement).
A typical storage-type CompactFlash contains many NAND flash memory units and an interface controller. Because of the nature of the serial interface, the controller handles the data transfer via a serial interface so that it is transparent to the high level interface. (i.e. CompactFlash card interface). Data corruption or loss can occur inside the CompactFlash memory if the power to the memory card is disrupted or a reset signal is received during a write cycle because the built-in controller may not have completed the write cycle and acknowledged it as a valid data. The corruption may not be recovered correctly and cause the system to hang if the error recovery/correction (ECC) circuit inside the built-in controller mis-detects this situation. One possible way of preventing such data corruption is to employ a hard disk drive as an alternative to flash non-volatile memory. However, flash memory has a number of advantages over hard disk drives: flash memory is noiseless; it allows faster access; it is smaller in physical size; it is lighter; and, it has no moving parts. Accordingly, a solution which solves this problem while permitting flash memory to be used for non-volatile data storage in situations where power loss during a write cycle may be encountered is critically needed.

Apparatus for reducing data corruption in a non-volatile memory


A display device is provided with: a display panel; a housing which has a first case member that is provided with a supporting portion for supporting the display panel and is formed of a metal material and a second case member that is provided with a facing part facing the supporting portion and is formed of a metal material; a position fixing protrusion that is formed on the facing part so as to protrude toward the supporting part and so as to position the display panel with respect to the case; and an opening which is formed in the supporting portion and through which the position fixing protrusion is inserted.

Thin display devices (flat panel displays) such as liquid crystal display devices and organic EL display devices are suitable for display devices of electronic devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs, for example. Among such display devices, those that have a display panel and a housing that support the display panel are known.
A liquid crystal display device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is provided with a liquid crystal display panel and a backlight unit having a housing supporting the liquid crystal display panel. The backlight unit includes a circuit substrate having a plurality of light emitting elements, a light guide plate, a resin mold that houses a light guide plate, a metal case that houses the resin mold, and a metal frame that is engaged with the exterior of the metal case. The housing is formed of the metal frame and the metal case.
The light guide plate in Patent Document 1 has a recessed fixture that engages a projection formed on the resin mold. Furthermore, the metal case has an opening that engages with the protrusion formed on the resin mold. As a result, the light guide plate is fixed to a metal case through a resin mold. Meanwhile, in the metal case, the circuit substrate is bonded to a side face of the light guide plate opposite to the light receiving face thereof.
In this manner, according to the display device in Patent Document 1, because the circuit substrate and the light guide plate are fixed to the metal case, the positioning of the light emitting element of the circuit substrate to the light guide plate is facilitated, and the heat from the light emitting element can be released efficiently.

Display device comprising first and second case members wherein the second case member has a position fixing protrusion


A method for processing overhead of memory access includes: applying for a memory configured to perform value padding on at least one convolution operation in a deep learning model; determining input data of the deep learning model; performing deep learning processing on the input data by using the deep learning model; and releasing the memory after performing the deep learning processing.

A deep learning model is an important technology for artificial intelligence in an image field. With smart phones and Internet of Things (IoT) devices becoming popular, more and more deep learning algorithms have been applied to terminal devices. Although the calculation and storage capabilities of terminal devices are gradually improved, resources are still very limited due to restriction of the size and power of the terminal devices.
When a deep learning algorithm is executed, input data can be subjected to padding and then subjected to convolution to prevent data at marginal parts from being lost.

Method, device and storage medium for processing overhead of memory access

Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd.


Disclosed are apparatuses and methods for fast and reliable integration of opto-electric components onto optical routing substrates. Accurate alignment of optical signals to and from the opto-electric components, and short electrical interconnect paths to the components to reduce signal delays to the devices on the components are enabled. In an exemplary embodiment, an attachment area is set out on the optical routing substrate to receive each component. One or more optical waveguides for coupling optical signals with the component are located adjacent to the attachment area. A plurality of conductive pads are located within the attachment area, and are for interconnecting to the component by way of bodies of solder, conductive adhesive, or the like. Interspersed between the conductive pads are a plurality of spacers that set a spacing distance between the attachment area and the opposing surface of the component, resulting in accurate alignment of optical signals.

At present, the amount of information being transmitted through internet and high-speed data exchanges between servers is at a high level and growing rapidly. The information-technology (IT) industry is already encountering the physical limits of current electrical components, interconnections and assembly technologies.
In making their invention, the inventors have recognized that optical devices could offer high speed data communication because the data signals stay within the optical layer throughout the entire routing path, without the need for expensive and complicated electrical-optical interfaces. However, that would require building complex optical communication systems with large numbers of opto-electronic devices and high degrees of functionality.
Currently, some of the most effective opto-electronic devices are constructed on substrates that cannot be used to construct the entire optical system, either because of prohibitive costs, and/or because such substrates are not large enough to support the entire optical system. As one work-around to this problem, some have used less effective opto-electronic devices because they could be readily incorporated on the substrates used for large-scale optical systems. However, this approach has the disadvantage of being constrained to using less effective opto-electronic devices. As another work-around, others have resorted to methods that first individually make the opto-electronic devices on individual mini-substrates (usually formed on a common substrate that is later diced into several mini-substrates), followed by attaching the mini-substrates to the main substrate of the optical system, and thereafter forming the optical waveguide structures of the optical system around the mini-substrates. However, this approach is expensive, is prone to misalignment of the optical core layers, usually requires precision polishing of the mini-substrates (to reduce their thicknesses), and constrains the processing temperatures for making the optical system to the highest temperature that the finished mini-substrate can withstand. Misalignment of optical components causes significant attenuation of the light signal. The possibility of misalignment must be considered when designing an optical system, and this consideration usually constrains the size and/or functionality of the optical system.
The present invention is made with a view to overcoming these disadvantages.

Apparatuses and methods for integrating opto-electric components into the optical pathways of routing substrates with precision optical coupling and compact electrical interconnection


A method and apparatus for controlling the delivery of a gas from a reservoir to a semiconductor process chamber. In accordance with the present invention, a reservoir, having an inlet and outlet isolation valve and a known volume, is filled with a gas upon the initiation of process recipe step. The temperature and pressure of the gas in the reservoir are measured to determine an initial mass of the gas residing within the reservoir. The flow of gas from the reservoir to the process chamber is metered by a variable flow valve under the control of a self-calibrating, dynamic flow control circuit comprising a flow control servo loop (flow control circuit) and a calibration servo loop (calibration circuit). The variable flow valve is situated in a gas flow path between the reservoir and process chamber at a point upstream of a orifice. In operation, gas is delivered to the process chamber by releasing the gas from the reservoir and directing the gas through the variable flow valve and sonic orifice and into the process chamber. The flow control servo loop is used to dynamically control the variable flow valve in response to a measured gas flow rate. When the flow of gas to the process chamber is terminated, the temperature and pressure of the gas residing in the reservoir is again measured to determine the final mass of gas residing in the reservoir. The initial mass and final mass of gas values are compared to determine the actual mass of gas released from the reservoir during the recipe step. This value serves as an input to the calibration servo loop to update the system calibration constant. The execution of the calibration servo loop serves as a continuous self calibration of the dynamic servo loop.

It is known that in many industrial processes it is necessary to control the specific amounts of gas and gas mixtures delivered to point-of-use locations with a high degree of accuracy. Particularly, in semiconductor processing it has become increasingly important to control the specific mass of gases delivered during the fabrication of semiconductor devices. As the speed of next generation semiconductor devices increases, and the size/dimension of next generation semiconductor devices decreases, the degree of accuracy and control over the fabrication of next generation semiconductor devices must increase. As the architecture of semiconductor devices falls below the three submicron scale the semiconductor industry must find more accurate methods for delivering specific amounts of gas to a process chamber. The use and benefits of the present invention are described herein in relation to semiconductor processing, and more specifically, to the delivery of a gas to a process chamber. It is appreciated, however, that such a description is merely illustrative and that the present invention is applicable in other fields where it is desired to precisely control the amount of gas being delivered to a point-of-use location.
One prior art method for delivering a gas to a semiconductor process chamber includes the use of a Mass Flow Controller (MFC). FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art Mass Flow Controller (MFC) that is used to control gas flow. The MFC is calibrated to deliver a specific mass of gas to a process chamber within a specified amount of time. For example, an MFC may be calibrated to deliver 100 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm) of nitrogen gas (N.sub.2) to a process chamber.
In order to control flow of gas the MFC divides the flow of gas between heated sensing tube (sensor) 110 and flow restriction bypass (bypass) 120. The MFC divides the flow of gas such that a majority of the gas flows through bypass 120 and only a small portion of gas flows through sensor 110.
Mass flow is measured in sensor 110. As the gas flow passes through heater coil (coil) 111 the gas picks up and carries heat toward heater coil (coil) 112. The movement of heat by the gas develops a temperature difference between the two coils. Coils 111 and 112 are both heaters but also act as resistance temperature detectors (RTDs) that measure the temperature of the gas. Thus, as the gas flows between coil 111 and coil 112, the change in temperature between coil 111 and coil 112 is measured and can be correlated to the mass flow rate of the gas by the MFC control system 130.
Once the temperature difference is measured and the correlating mass flow rate of the particular gas is determined, control system 130 adjusts the position of control valve 140. The position of control valve 140 is set in order to obtain the desired (or calibrated) flow rate for the particular gas being used.
One problem with the method associated with the MFC for delivering a specific mass of gas to a process chamber is the degree to which the MFC method is accurate. MFC's are currently designed to run at 40 to 80% of their actual calibrated flow rate with an accuracy level of approximately 5%. For example, with respect to the MFC for N.sub.2 calibrated with a flow rate of 100 sccm, described above, that particular MFC is designed to deliver N.sub.2 at flow rates in the range of 40-80 sccm. Outside the 40-80% range the accuracy level of the MFC falls off. Next generation semiconductor devices require fabrication processes with greater accuracy than the prior art MFCs.
Another problem associated with MFCs is that they offer a limited dynamic range. The dynamic range is the ratio of the maximum and minimum controlled flow rates. As mentioned above, most MFCs are designed to run at 40 to 80% of their actual calibrated flow rate to achieve an accuracy of approximately 5%. As such, the dynamic range of such devices is limited to a ratio of approximately 2 to 1.
Another problem with the MFC is that most processes require that the flow of gas to the process chamber has the ability to be controlled. In many applications, it is not desirable to deliver all of the gas for a particular recipe to the process chamber all at once. Likewise it may not be desirable to place a small portion of the gas into the process chamber at the beginning of the process and a larger portion of the gas into the process chamber at the end of the process (or vice versa). Instead it is desirable to deliver the gas to the process chamber at a controlled rate in a manner that optimizes the productivity of that process. Because the accuracy of the MFC decreases outside the 40-80% range of the particular MFC's calibrated flow rate, the degree of control over the delivery of the gas also decreases.
Other methods and apparatus are used to deliver gases to point-of-use locations. For example, the use of a variable flow valve under the control of feed-back control loop is a common method for controlling the delivery of a gas to a point-of-use location. FIG. 2 illustrates a typical prior art gas delivery system employing a variable flow valve 210 under the control of a feed-back controller 230. Gas is delivered from a gas source to a point-of-use location 250 by adjusting the throat area of valve 210 in response to a control signal 234. Control signal 234 is generated in response to a comparison between a desired flow input signal 236 and a measured flow signal 220. The desired flow input signal is generally provided through a user interface or from a preprogrammed process recipe. Measured flow signal 220 is produced by a flow meter or other flow measuring device 220 located at a point downstream of variable flow valve 210.
Over time the flow constant (C.sub.v) of variable flow valve 210 changes due to wear or deposit build-up. In addition, output signal 236 of flow measuring device 220 changes over time for any given measured flow due to a phenomenon known as "drift." The change in flow constant, C.sub.v, and the occurrence of "drift" both act to reduce the accuracy of the flow control apparatus. As a result, currently available feed-back flow control devices require the frequent implementation of time consuming recalibration procedures to maintain the devices within acceptable accuracy ranges. Such calibration procedures are costly in that they result in process down time and require the use of well-trained technicians to perform the procedure.
Thus, what is needed is a method and apparatus that is capable of delivering a gas flow to a processing apparatus with a high degree of accuracy over a large dynamic range.


A cartridge transferring robot which is capable of providing multiple functions to a hand mechanism to allow the direct insertion/extraction of a cartridge between a deck and the hand mechanism. The cartridge transferring robot according to the present invention has a hand mechanism comprising a pair of upper and lower hand members attached to a hand base to be slidable vertically, a spring for biasing the hand members in a direction of closing directions of gripping the cartridge, a pair of upper and lower cam followers attached to the hand members, a cam disposed between the cam followers for adjusting the separation between the cam followers to cause the hand members to take opening and closing actions against the biasing force of the spring, and a motor for rotationally driving the cam. This invention is applicable to a library apparatus storing a large number of cartridges such as magnetic tape cartridges and optical disk cartridges.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge transferring robot for use in a library apparatus which stores a large number of cartridges such as magnetic tape cartridges and optical disk cartridges, with the cartridge transferring robot taking the charge of the conveyance of the cartridges among a storage rack, a cartridge entry/exit station and a deck unit within the library apparatus, and further relates to a library apparatus including that cartridge transferring robot.
2) Description of the Related Art
In general, a library apparatus functions as a large-capacity external storage memory, and a storage rack in its locker stores several thousands of cartridges each accommodating, for example, a magnetic tape as a storage medium, and access such as write/read of recording/recorded data is automatically done in relation to the storage medium within each of the cartridges.
Furthermore, in addition to the aforesaid storage rack (storage unit) for storing the cartridges, the library apparatus is equipped with a station [for example, a CAS (Cartridge Access Station), a DEE (Direct Entry/Exit), and an FES (Forced Exit Station)] for carrying out the entry of the cartridges from the external into the apparatus or vice versa, a plurality of magnetic tape decks (which will be referred hereinafter to as decks) for conducting access such as write/read of recording/recorded data with respect to a storage medium (magnetic tape) within a cartridge, and a cartridge transferring robot [automatic transferring robot; which will be referred hereinafter to as an accessor (ACC)] for performing the conveyance of the cartridges among the storage rack, the cartridge entry/exit station and the decks.
In the case of such a library apparatus, on receiving an access demand to one cartridge from a host unit or the like, the accessor moves to the storage rack to search the directing cartridge and then transfers that cartridge up to the deck in a state of gripping or holding it through the use of a hand mechanism, thereby putting it into that deck. Whereupon, the deck processes the storage medium (magnetic tape) within the cartridge. The cartridge discharged from the deck after the completion of the processing is regripped by the hand mechanism of the accessor and transferred up to the storage rack by that accessor to be stored in a given location.
Each of the prior decks is provided with a cartridge delivering and receiving mechanism dedicated thereto, and an accessor inserts a cartridge into the cartridge delivering and receiving mechnaism which in turn, actually inserts or loads the same cartridge into the deck. Further, a cartridge discharged from the deck is handed over through the cartridge delivering and receiving mechanism to the accessor.
In connection with the recent increase in volume of information in computer systems, the fully automatized library apparatus as mentioned above has appeared as a means for storing information in a state of freely allowing the recording/reproduction without the need for the use of an operator, which permits the storage of a large number of cartridges. Whereas, such a library apparatus has been put on the market targeting high end users, and hence, is considerably costly. However, the market for the library apparatus tends to extend toward the middle/low end users in the future, and therefore, the development of a multi-function, low-cost and compact library apparatus for the middle/low end users is of a pressing need, and it is strongly desired to realize such a library apparatus.

Cartridge transferring robot for library apparatus, and library apparatus


This invention relates to pyridazine derivatives, compositions comprising therapeutically effective amounts of those pyridazine derivatives and methods of using those derivatives or compositions in treating central nervous system (CNS) disorders with cognitive impairment that are responsive to agonists of α5 subunit containing GABAA receptor, e.g., age-related cognitive impairment, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), dementia, Alzheimer's Disease (AD), prodromal AD, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia and cancer-therapy-related cognitive impairment.

GABAA receptors (GABAA R) are pentameric assemblies from a pool of different subunits (α1-6, β1-3, γ1-3, δ, ε, π, θ) that forms a Cl− permeable channel that is gated by the neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Various pharmacological effects, including anxiety disorders, epilepsy, insomnia, pre-anesthetic sedation, and muscle relaxation, are mediated by different GABAA subtypes.
Various studies have demonstrated that reduced GABA signaling is linked to various CNS disorders with cognitive impairment. In particular, the α5-containing GABAA Rs, which are relatively sparse in the mammalian brain, play a role in modifying learning and memory. Previous studies demonstrated a reduction of hippocampal expression of the α5 subunit of the GABAA receptor in rats with age-related cognitive decline (see International Patent Publication WO 2007/019312). Such results suggest that upregulation of α5-containing GABAA R function may be effective in the treatment of CNS disorders with cognitive impairment, e.g., age-related cognitive impairment, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), dementia, Alzheimer's Disease (AD), prodromal AD, PTSD, schizophrenia and cancer-therapy-related cognitive impairment.
Thus, there is a need for agonists of α5-containing GABAA R that are useful in therapeutic preparations for the treatment of CNS disorders with cognitive impairment.

Pyridazine derivatives, compositions and methods for treating cognitive impairment