Cardiac stroke volume (SV) of a subject is estimated as a function of a value derived from a measured arterial pressure waveform. The value may be the standard deviation, or a function of the difference between maximum and minimum pressure values, or a function of either the maximum value of the first time derivative or the absolute value of the minimum of the first time derivative of the pressure waveform, or both, or a function of the magnitude of one or more spectral components of the pressure waveform at a frequency corresponding to the heart rate. Cardiac output is then estimated as the product of the subject's heart rate and SV, scaled by a calibration constant. Arterial pressure may be measured invasively or non-invasively.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for determining the stroke volume (SV) and, hence, any other SV-related value such as cardiac output of a human or animal subject, as well as to a system that implements the method.
2. Background Art
Cardiac output (CO) is an important indicator not only for diagnosis of disease, but also for "real-time" monitoring of the condition of both human and animal subjects, including patients. Few hospitals are therefore without some form of conventional equipment to monitor cardiac output.
One basis for almost all common CO-measurement systems is the well-known formula CO=HR·SV, where SV is the stroke volume and HR is the heart rate. SV is usually measured in liters and HR is usually measured in beats per minute. This formula simply expresses that the amount of blood the heart pumps out in a minute is equal to the amount it pumps out on every beat (stroke) times the number of beats (strokes) per minute.
Since HR is easy to measure using any of a wide variety of instruments, the calculation of CO usually depends on some technique for estimating SV. Many suitable techniques—both invasive and non-invasive, as well as those that combine both—are in use and even more have been proposed in the literature.
One invasive way to determine cardiac output (or, equivalently, SV) is to mount some flow-measuring device on a catheter, and then to place the catheter into the subject and to maneuver it so that the device is in or near the subject's heart. Some of such devices inject either a bolus of material or energy (usually heat) at an upstream position, such as in the right atrium, and determine flow based on the characteristics of the injected material or energy at a downstream position, such as in the pulmonary artery. Patents that disclose implementations of such invasive techniques (in particular, thermodilution) include:                U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,527 (Newbower et al., 2 Dec. 1980);        U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,974 (Yelderman, 2 Apr. 1985);        U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,414 (McKown, et al., 8 Sep. 1992); and        U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,733 (McKown, et al., 18 Nov. 1997).
Still other invasive devices are based on the known Fick technique, according to which CO is calculated as a function of oxygenation of arterial and mixed venous blood. In most cases, oxygenation is sensed using right-heart catheterization. There have, however, also been proposals for systems that measure arterial and venous oxygenation non-invasively, in particular, using multiple wavelengths of light, but to date they have not been accurate enough to allow for satisfactory CO measurement on actual patients.
Invasive techniques have some disadvantages, the main one of which is of course that catheterization of the heart is more dramatic to the patient, especially considering that the subjects (especially intensive care patients) on which it is performed are often already in the hospital because of some actually or potentially serious condition. Invasive methods also have less obvious disadvantages: Some techniques such as thermodilution rely on assumptions, such as uniform dispersion of the injected heat, that affect the accuracy of the measurements depending on how well they are fulfilled. Moreover, the very introduction of an instrument into the blood flow may affect the value (for example, flow rate) that the instrument measures.
There has therefore been a long-standing need for some way of determining CO that is both non-invasive—or at least as minimally invasive as possible—and accurate. One blood characteristic that has proven particularly promising for accurately determining CO non-invasively is blood pressure.
Most known blood-pressure-based systems rely on the so-called pulse contour method (PCM), which calculates as estimate of CO from characteristics of the beat-to-beat pressure waveform. In the PCM, "Windkessel" (German for "air chamber") parameters (characteristic impedance of the aorta, compliance, and total peripheral resistance) are used to construct a linear or non-linear, hemodynamic model of the aorta. In essence, blood flow is analogized to a flow of electrical current in a circuit in which an impedance is in series with a parallel-connected resistance and capacitance (compliance). The three required parameters of the model are usually determined either empirically, through a complex calibration process, or from compiled "anthropometric" data, that is, data about the age, sex, height, weight, etc., of other patients or test subjects. U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,793 (Wesseling, 28 Mar. 1995) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,753 (Petrucelli, et al., 16 Jul. 1996) are representative of systems that rely on a Windkessel circuit model to determine CO.
PCM-based systems can monitor CO more or less continuously, with no need for a catheter to be left in the patient. Indeed, some PCM systems operate using blood pressure measurements taken using a finger cuff. One drawback of PCM, however, is that it is no more accurate than the rather simple, three-parameter model from which it is derived; in general, a model of a much higher order would be needed to faithfully account for other phenomena, such as the complex pattern of pressure wave reflections due to multiple impedance mis-matches caused by, for example, arterial branching. Because the accuracy of the basic model is usually not good enough, many improvements have been proposed, with varying degrees of complexity.
The "Method and apparatus for measuring cardiac output" disclosed by Salvatore Romano in U.S. Published Patent Application 20020022785 A1 represents a different attempt to improve upon PCM techniques by estimating SV, either invasively or non-invasively, as a function of the ratio between the area under the entire pressure curve and a linear combination of various components of impedance. In attempting to account for pressure reflections, the Romano system relies not only on accurate estimates of inherently noisy derivatives of the pressure function, but also on a series of empirically determined, numerical adjustments to a mean pressure value.
What is needed is a system and method of operation for estimating CO that is robust, simple, and accurate and that does not require anthropometric values or repeated calibrations. This invention meets this need.

Pressure-based system and method for determining cardiac stroke volume


A thermally insulated bottle has a container body which includes an inner body capable of holding a liquid contents, an outer cup of semi-rigid semi-flexible construction surrounding and spaced radially outward of the inner body, and a barrier layer disposed between the inner body and the outer cup. The outer cup has a construction capable of providing a moisture barrier and sufficient to provide mechanical strength capable of supporting the inner body in an upright relation. The inner body can be a cup similar to the outer cup, or a flexible bladder. The barrier layer can be a reflective metallic foil layer, or a substrate having a metallic material defining a mirrored surface thereon capable of reflecting radiant electromagnetic energy back toward the source thereof so as to reduce the transfer of such radiant energy across the barrier layer. The insulated bottle also includes a closure cap which fits over and is releasably sealable with an open top of the container body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to insulated bottle construction and, more particularly, is concerned with a container body construction for a thermally insulated bottle incorporating a reflective barrier layer which reduces transfer of radiant electromagnetic energy across the barrier layer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are a great number of outdoor activities that require an individual to be in the sun for long periods of time. Often these activities are physically challenging and are practiced at places where the only water available to drink is that being carried by the individual.
Water is often carried in one or more small inexpensive plastic bottles on the user's body. Such a bottle typically dispenses its liquid contents through a top closure by the user manually squeezing the bottle sidewall to force the liquid outwardly through a small opening in the closure. Because the bottle is often carried on the user's body and, is exposed to a warm ambient environment, typically the water has become distastefully warm by the time it is required.
Conventional practice when insulating a thermal mass from an extreme ambient temperature is to surround the thermal mass with one or more layers of insulating materials. Such construction greatly reduces the energy exchanged to or from the environment. Ordinarily, the ambient environment is quantified using a bulk ambient temperature as well as a surface velocity pattern to describe the energy transferred by convection. Often neglected by this practice is the energy transferred through electromagnetic radiation.
As a consequence, a need exists for improvement of insulated bottle construction so as to enhance bottle performance in maintaining the desired temperature of the liquid in the bottle for a longer period of time.

Bottle with reflective barrier layer for reducing electromagnetic energy transfer


A device for taking long-distance images includes, successively: a catadioptric optical system and an optical system to shape the beam positioned close to the first image generated by the catadioptric system, which adjusts the exit aperture of the catadioptric system on a second image of the aperture in an image space of a variable focal length optical system. The catadioptric optical system and the optical system to shape the beam generates a third image of the observed scene. A focal plane is superposed over an image plane of the catadioptric optical system and the optical system to shape the beam. A projection lens receives the light beam output by the variable focal length system and forms a fourth image of the observed scene at the focal plane of the projection lens. An image sensor is positioned at the focal plane of the projection lens.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a device for taking long-distance images. It applies, in particular, to video-surveillance and intelligence.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of zoom, or variable focal length, lens units is known in the video-surveillance field, in order to have alternately wide or narrow optical fields. However, zooms have too short a focal length for many applications where it is necessary to have a very confined optical field, for example from several meters to a distance of several kilometers.


In optical receivers, extending the transimpedance amplifier's (TIA) dynamic range is a key to increasing the receiver's dynamic range, and therefore increase the channel capacity. Ideally, the TIA requires controllable gain, whereby the receiver can modify the characteristics of the TIA and/or the VGA to process high power incoming signals with a defined maximum distortion, and low power incoming signals with a defined maximum noise. A solution to the problem is to provide TIA's and VGA's with reconfigurable sizes, which are adjustable based on the level of power, e.g. current, generated by the photodetector.

Information is transmitted in an optical channel using optical modulation. In a receiver, the received optical signal contains the information, which could have been modulated in amplitude, phase, polarization or a combination thereof. The demodulation of the optical signal is done using a transducer, e.g. photodiode, that converts from the optical to the electrical domain. The transducer delivers an electrical signal, which is processed to extract the information contained in the optical signal. The maximum to minimum optical power, i.e. dynamic range, together with the transducer define the received electrical signal dynamic range. Modern communication systems use complex modulation schemes, e.g. quadrature modulation, to increase the communication channel efficiency. The efficiency of complex modulation schemes is proportional to the maximum operation frequency, i.e. baud rate, and dynamic range.
The received optical signal is transformed to an electrical signal using a transducer. Most transducers convert optical signals to electrical current. However, the current magnitude, which is proportional to the received optical power, needs to be amplified. Typically, during amplification the electrical current is converted to a voltage. The current-to-voltage amplifier, or transimpedance amplifier, remains one of the most challenging components in an optical receiver.
Large values of optical power, define high magnitude currents at the transducer output. High current at the TIA input will create distortion at the TIA output, typically due to non-linear behavior of the components used for amplification. The maximum input current a TIA can amplify, with a distortion below a defined maximum, defines the upper boundary of the TIA dynamic range.
The distortion generated in broadband signals can be quantified, by adding all the harmonics generated when a single tone signal is used at the input. The ratio of the output signal power, at the input signal tone frequency, to the total added power of the harmonics in the output signal is the total harmonic distortion, or THD.
On the other hand, small values of optical power, define small magnitude currents at the transducer output. However, small currents at the TIA input will be more sensitive to noise added by the TIA during amplification. The lower boundary of the TIA dynamic range is defined by the minimum input current that can be amplified, while still enabling the information to be recovered, even with the added TIA noise.
A variable gain TIA requires gain control, whereby the receiver can modify its characteristics to process high power incoming signals with a defined maximum distortion, and low power incoming signals with a defined maximum noise. Extending the TIA dynamic range is a key to increasing the receiver's dynamic range, and therefore increase the channel capacity.
An object of the present invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a receiver including a TIA with variable gain for maximum input signal dynamic range, whereby the gain may be reduced for large input current signals, while adding the minimum amount of distortion, and whereby the gain may be increased for small input current signals, while adding the minimum amount of noise

Reconfigurable optical receivers with extended dynamic range


An assembly method of an air gap prism which has an air gap between a first glass member and a second glass member, the assembly method having steps of setting a first glass member on a positioning member, setting a sheet member on the positioning member so as to cover the first glass member, setting a second glass member on the first glass member covered with the sheet member so as to sandwich the sheet member between the first glass member and the second glass member, and cutting a portion of the sheet member protruding from the first glass member and the second glass member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to and air gap prism for use in double-plate image sensing devices, and method for producing same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, image sensing devices which incorporate a plurality of image sensing elements and an optical prism have been proposed as image sensing devices with image sensing elements used in video cameras or digital cameras or the like for the purpose of high resolution. One example of am effective optical prism is an air gap prism comprising an assembly of a plurality of glass members and provided with air gaps between said glass members.
Metal foil (e.g., Japanese Examined Patent Application No. HEI 6-60962), and resin film have been used as the material of members supporting the air gap.
There are methods of forming beforehand an air gap supporting area on a surface corresponding to a glass member instead of using a thin plate-like air gap supporting member.
Examples of such methods of forming an air gap supporting area include methods wherein resin or the like is applied like printing and hardened (e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. HEI 2-19093), and methods wherein a metal or dielectric member is applied by vacuum deposition.
Astigmatic difference, a type of astigmatism, occurs because the air gap of an air gap prism is provided at an inclination relative to the optical axis of the image forming optical system, and is a factor adversely affecting image forming characteristics. Since the magnitude of this astigmatic difference is proportional to the thickness of the air gap, it is desirable that the air gap is made thin within a range which does not produce interference of the light rays, and theoretically suitable values are less than 10 microns. It is important that the air gaps are parallel since astigmatic difference is markedly larger and causes adverse affects such as color separation when the surfaces forming the air gap are not parallel.
In high precision image sensing devices of recent years, there has been demand for high precision optical systems via high density pixel arrangements of image sensing elements. In optical prisms, there has been demand for producing thinner air gaps with higher precision.
In the case of air gap supporting areas formed in direct contact with glass members, the air gap is controlled by the support member thickness during said formation. Although the position and thickness of the formed air gap supporting members are accurate in methods for vacuum deposition of metals and dielectrics, the cost increases over the time required for a vacuum deposition process to obtain a desired thickness.
On the other hand, although methods of applying resin and the like are economical in terms of time and materials and the process itself is simple, a large number of man hours are required to adjust conditions for the resin application. Furthermore, the thin plate-like air gap supporting members have individual differences relative to uniformity of thickness and are subject to deterioration, making them unsuitable for high precision image sensing devices demanding high accuracy in the degree of parallelism and dimensions of the air gaps.
Thin plate-like air gap supporting members have many long, narrow, band-like sections which, during assembly, are difficult to accurately place at desired positions on a surface corresponding to a glass member.
Metal foil air gap supporting members are expensive due to the various processes involved to eliminate sections protruding from the prism during formation as well as suppressing surface reflection. In contrast, resin film provides easy formation and excellent precision at low cost, but are readily susceptible to creasing, bending, and wrinkling at thicknesses of 10 micron and less, such that assembly of the prism is extremely difficult.

Air gap prism and method for producing same


A protecting device is provided for pedestrians that accounts for various conditions of the collision (physical constitution of the pedestrian, the position of collision, the speed of the motor vehicle at the time of collision, etc.). In one form, a first airbag unit for inflating a first airbag to cover a portion of the cowl top upon collision with the pedestrian is provided at the rear part of the bonnet/hood, or in the cowl top. Second airbag units having second airbags for covering A-pillars are provided within the respective A-pillars. When collision with a pedestrian is detected, the first airbag is inflated so as to cover the portion in the vicinity of the cowl top. The second airbags inflate 5 to 30 mSec behind the ignition of a gas generator of the first airbag unit, and cover the A-pillars substantially entirely.

When a motor vehicle collides with a pedestrian, a bicycle, a motorcycle, or the like during travel, the pedestrian or the like is whisked at the lower half of his/her body by the front portion of a vehicle body of the motor vehicle, and thrown up and then fallen on a hood covering the upper surface of the front portion of the vehicle body, where he/she may be subjected to a secondary collision with the portion of high rigidity, such as a pillar or the like.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-264146 discloses a protecting device for pedestrians or the like which is adapted to protect the pedestrian or the like by inflating airbags along a cowl top and left and right A-pillars of the motor vehicle when the motor vehicle collides with the pedestrian or the like, and preventing and protecting the pedestrian or the like from hitting directly against the portion near the cowl top or the A-pillar.
Japanese Patent No. 2888116 (FIG. 7, in particular) discloses a protecting device for a pedestrian or the like including a hood airbag for covering major part of the hood from the center to the rear thereof and pillar airbags for covering the A-pillars.

Protecting device for a pedestrian or the like


A low voltage power receptacle assembly is provided for use in a modular electrical system. The receptacle assembly includes a housing that defines an internal cavity for receiving a circuit board assembly that transforms a line voltage input to a lower voltage output. The housing may define a plurality of contact-receiving portions in spaced arrangement, and has at least two electrical contacts disposed in respective contact-receiving portions. A low voltage power receptacle is in communication with the circuit assembly and provides user-access to the low voltage output. Optionally, the size of the housing may be varied to suit a particular application, and a spacer may be used inside the cavity to ensure proper positioning of the low voltage power receptacle.

Low voltage power and data outlets, such as universal serial bus ("USB") power/data outlets and USB-style low voltage DC power outlets, are in increasing demand as the number of electrical and electronic devices that use such outlets continues to increase. Such devices may include, for example, mobile phones, digital media players, computers and computing devices, digital cameras, communications equipment, and the like. Therefore, there has been increasing demand for access to such outlets in work areas, homes, and even public spaces such as airports, shopping malls, etc.

Low voltage power receptacle for modular electrical systems


A mounting portion structure of a propeller shaft center bearing in a Rear-Wheel Drive (RWD) vehicle where the engine power is transmitted to the rear wheels by using the propeller shaft includes a tunnel formed at the center of a center floor panel along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. A mounting bracket is equipped at the tunnel and is mounted with the center bearing. A pocket groove is formed at the mounting bracket for rendering a closed box with the tunnel, and a pipe nut is equipped at the pocket groove.

Front-engine Rear-drive (FR) vehicles should have a propeller shaft for transmitting the driving force of the engine to the rear differential. The propeller shaft is generally equipped at the center of the vehicle with a center bearing that is supported by a center portion of the center floor panel of the vehicle body.
Therefore, the mounting portion structure of the center bearing at the center floor panel and the adjacent portions thereof should be designed to have sufficient rigidity to withstand vibration or exciting force (giving rise to the vibration) that can be transmitted from the propeller shaft to the vehicle body.

Mounting portion structure of propeller shaft center bearing


A mixture of propylene oxide and methanol is separated by liquid/liquid extraction using water and a hydrocarbon such as n-octane as extractive solvents.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the separation of propylene oxide and methanol by a liquid/liquid extraction process.
2. Prior Art Description
The separation or removal of methanol from propylene oxide by conventional distillation processes is difficult by reason of the low relative volatility of propylene oxide with respect to methane at higher concentrations such as concentrations above 95 wt. % or so.
Technology has been developed for the production of propylene oxide by oxidative procedures which include the use of a methanol solvent during the oxidation reaction. Illustrative of patents relating to this technology are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,824,976, 4,833,260, 5,252,758 and the like.
Reaction mixtures produced by this technology comprise the product propylene oxide and the methanol solvent and it is important that the propylene oxide and methanol be separated as conveniently and economically as possible.
In accordance with the present invention, a propylene oxide and methanol solution is subjected to a liquid/liquid extraction using water and a hydrocarbon such as n-octane in order to separate the propylene oxide and methanol.


An imaging apparatus with a flexible light guide which a surgeon can easily manipulate within the patient to control the field of view. Specifically, a scintillator receives radiation rays and converts these radiation rays into light signals at a position inside the body. A flexible bundle of optical fibers optically connected to the scintillator, channels the light signals from the scintillator to a position sensitive light signal detector located outside the body. The position sensitive light signal detector creates a digital signal to relay the position information about the detected event to a computer which accumulates these digital signals, converts these digital signals into images and displays the images.

This invention relates to an imaging apparatus for use during surgery to locate radiation marked tissue and to create an image of the marked tissue.
Within this application several publications are referenced by arabic numbers enclosed within parentheses. Full citations for these and other references may be found at the end of the specification immediately preceding the claims. The disclosures of all of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application in order to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains.
Precise surgical removal, frequently combined with radiation and chemotherapy, is the most widely used approach in the treatment of adults with solid cancers. Residual subclinical tumor deposits, which may be as large as 1 cubic centimeter even after laparotomy, chemotherapy and radiation can lead to failure in the treatment of patients with primary tumors and inadequate or inappropriate surgery in patients undergoing surgery for recurrent cancer. For example, each year in the United States 155,000 new colorectal cases undergo surgery. Current scanning with computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging combined with operative evaluation remain inadequate to determine the true extent of the disease. Although it appears likely that external imaging of radiolabeled antibodies could detect tumor deposits weighing 2-3 grams, a truly useful system must be able to detect tumors weighing less than 1 gram. Therefore, there is a need to develop tools for identifying subclinical tumor deposits at the time of laparotomy.
This need is particularly great for ovarian cancer. Detection of subclinical residual ovarian cancer following chemotherapy is one of the most pressing problems in the management of the 16,000 cases that occur each year in the United States. Recent studies indicate that 50% of patients determined to be free of tumor by standard surgical exploration actually harbor occult residual disease. New monoclonal antibodies have been developed which are highly specific for ovarian cancer. This disease lends itself well to the radioactive marker approach because the cancer tends to remain confined to the surface of the peritoneal cavity and retroperitoneal lymph nodes and because frequent laparotomies, over 300 of which are performed each year at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, for example, are required as part of its clinical management. Therefore, the ability to detect subclinical residual disease with the use of intraoperative radiation detecting equipment would present a major advance in the management of this disease.
Recent advances have been made in the field of radioimmunolocalization of tumors using radioactive labeled monoclonal antibodies. For example, in one study monoclonal antibody MX35, which reacts with epithelial ovarian cancer, was labeled with Iodine-131. The labeling efficiency of the radioantibody was 92.6%. Three nude mice of the type balb c/nu/nu were injected intraperitoneally and subcutaneously at six weeks of age with serous human ovarian cancer cell line PR-428. This cell line immunohistologically expresses the MX35 antigen. The experiment was performed when the resulting tumors weighed approximately 0.5-2.0 grams. In the experiment, 25 microcuries of Iodine-131 per 25 milligrams of labeled antibody were injected intravenously into the tail vein. A beta probe then measured the radiation emitted at 2, 5 and 7 days after the injection of the marker. The tip of the probe was placed on the surface of the skin at different locations on the body for 20 seconds. The probe counted an average of 6.5 counts/second on the tumor versus an average of 0.5 counts/second on normal tissue. The corresponding tumor sites were verified by surgery. The concentration of the monoclonal antibody were 10 times higher in the tumor than the normal tissue. Thus, this experiment demonstrates the feasibility of detecting a tumor through beta radiation even when there is intervening tissue covering the tumor. Nevertheless, the probe would have to be moved repeatedly to comprehend the extent of each tumor.
As exemplified by this study, a probe for beta rays is known in the prior art, see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,546 ("'546") to Mazziotta et al. Since the beta probe of Mazziotta et al. '546 is sensitive only to beta rays, a beta probe in close proximity to the tissue can image small superficial tumor deposits without any interference from background gamma rays. Background gamma radiation can obscure the radiation normally received from beta markers. However, scanning a large area, for example, the surface of the peritoneal cavity, with a beta probe during surgery may be too time consuming. Therefore, a wider field of detection is needed.
Other studies discuss difficulties with background radiation. Barber et al. and Woolfenden et al. (1-3) developed and used several intraoperative and intraluminal gamma probes for gynecologic and lung tumor detection using Cobalt-57 labeled bleomycin as a tumor marker. These attempts were only partially successful due mainly to the background gamma rays emitted from distant organs with high radioactive uptake. A Cadmium-Tellurium semiconductor gamma detector, for example, can be used. Such a detector is commercially available from the Neoprobe Corporation of Columbus, Ohio. This detector is 15 millimeters in diameter and 2 millimeters thick. Due to its thinness, the detector is only efficient in detecting relatively low energy gamma rays or X-rays, for example, X-rays of 30 kiloelectron volts emitted from Iodine-125. This severely limits the application of this probe to only isotopes that emit low energy gamma rays or X-rays. Since these low energy gamma rays are less effective in penetrating tissue than higher energy gamma rays, the problem of background activity is reduced somewhat. Accordingly, several groups that have used such a device in surgery were successful in locating tumors (4-8). Dr. A. Cohen of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center recently reported the experience of a multicenter trial with the Neoprobe detector in 105 patients using Iodine-125 labeled with B72.3 monoclonal antibodies confirming the previous work. However, this detector is still sensitive to background radiation. Additionally, the Neoprobe detector is very sensitive to temperature changes and to background radiation when pointed at a highly radioactive area. Also, this probe is too large for sites within a small operative field.
As exemplified in these studies, intraoperative gamma cameras and probes are known in the art, see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,300 ("'300") to Yin. However, Yin '300 is designed to detect only gamma radiation which travels much farther in tissue than some other types of radiation, such as beta rays. Therefore, there is a need for a camera that can be placed very close, that is, within millimeters of the source of the radiation. Additionally, if a camera could be placed close to the source of radiation, the effects of background radiation are reduced.
In another study, Reinhardt et al. (9, 10) used a semiconductor detector to localize tumor remnants which were visually difficult to distinguish from normal brain tissue. Reinhardt et al. used P-32 as a tumor marker. This isotope emitted only beta rays and not gamma rays. Most other beta emitting isotopes emit gamma emissions as well; therefore a semiconductor probe would still have the difficulty of any other gamma probe when used with commonly used isotopes for tumor marking that emit gamma rays in addition to beta rays, for example, Iodine-131. Additionally, they were not successful in detecting highly malignant brain cancers because P-32 was not a good tumor marker. They concluded that other specific tumor markers such as monoclonal antibodies are needed.
In another recent study, Barber et al. (11) compared a Sodium-Iodine-Thallium gamma probe with a gamma camera for the task of detecting radiolabeled tumors in a water phantom. They concluded that 15 seconds of counting with a gamma probe located a few centimeters away is superior to 10 minutes of imaging with a conventional gamma camera placed 10-20 centimeters from the source when the background radiation is uniform. This study also showed that if the conventional gamma camera is positioned less than 5 centimeters from the source, tumor detectability would improve substantially. Also, Hickernell et al. (12) developed a dual, coaxial, Sodium-Iodine-Thallium gamma probe in order to take account of the background counts by using an outer detector. Based on computer simulations this probe should be more effective in identifying tumors only if the probe is centered on the tumor. Additionally, Hartsough et al. (13) have built an imaging probe using a two dimensional array of 21 Cadmium-Tellurium detectors, where each detector has dimensions of 3 millimeters by 3 millimeters and the detectors are located behind a parallel hole collimator. Although this imaging probe has low efficiency due to its collimator and has only 21 imaging elements which are not sufficient to form a realistic image, this imaging probe is expected to improve the discrimination of tumor counts from background counts. These studies also show the efficacy of placing the camera's detector element as close as possible to the area of interest. Although these cameras and probes present partial solutions to reduce the effects of background radiation, each of these devices have their own limitations.
Finally, beta cameras which are less sensitive to gamma radiation are known in the art. For example, see Ljundggren and Strand (14). The Ljundggren and Strand camera, which is constructed with a scintillator, a rigid fiber optic face plate, a photocathode, a microchannel plate and a resistive anode, however, is too large and inflexible to be used in conjunction with a laparoscopic procedure. Also, the microchannel plate of the Ljundggren and Strand camera uses 10,000 volts of electricity making the camera relatively dangerous for intraoperative use. Additionally, this tabletop camera was built for in-vitro imaging of laboratory animal tissues.

Flexible intraoperative radiation imaging camera

Memorial Hospital For Cancer And Allied Diseases


A real time deflector monitoring system related to a deflector used in a seismic survey system is provided. The system includes a bridle block configured to connect the deflector to a first rope. The system further includes sensors embedded in the bridle block and configured to measure strength and direction of a tension in at least one of (A) the first rope and/or (B) one of rig ropes connecting the deflector to the bridle block. The system also includes a motion detector configured to acquire information related to deflector's motion.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein generally relate to a marine seismic survey system, more particularly, to monitoring tensions in connecting ropes of a deflector associated with the marine seismic survey system.
2. Discussion of the Background
Marine seismic survey systems are used to explore the geophysical structure under the seafloor. This kind of exploration does not provide an accurate location for oil and gas reservoirs, but may suggest the presence or absence thereof to those trained in the field. Providing a high-resolution image of structures under the seafloor is an ongoing process.
Marine seismic surveys are usually conducted using a seismic vessel towing one or more seismic sources and a number of parallel streamers with detectors, such as hydrophones or geophones. In order to assemble the seismic data gathered by the detectors in a subsurface image, it is desirable to acquire and maintain a known geometry of the towed survey system (i.e., source, streamers, etc.), while seismic data is acquired. One of the devices employed to achieve and maintain the system's geometry is a deflector, which has an active portion towed underwater and is connected via ropes to other components of the survey system (e.g., the vessel, the source, the streamers, etc.).
For example, FIG. 1 shows a marine seismic survey system 10 that includes a vessel 11 towing streamers 20 carrying detectors 22. The detectors 22 are configured to record information related to seismic waves generated by a seismic source (not shown) and reflected from various structures of the subsurface. The streamers 20 are usually towed parallel at equal or known lateral distances from one another. In order to achieve and maintain this geometry, the streamers 20 are coupled to the vessel 11 via lead-in ropes 14. Note that the term "rope" is used for any type of flexible cord or cable, which may also include one or more electrical or optical conductors.
Further as illustrated in FIG. 1, the marine seismic survey system 10 includes two deflectors 16, each coupled to the vessel 11 and the streamers 20 via tow ropes 18 (also known as "wide tow ropes"). The heads 20A of the streamers 20 may have other ropes 24 in between (known as "spread ropes," only one of these ropes is labeled). Depending on the angle made by the active portion of the deflectors 16 with the towing direction, lateral forces may occur, pulling apart the streamers 20. This angle may be adjusted, for example, by changing the length of the tow ropes 18 (when the deflector is on the deck of the vessel). The tow ropes 18 and the deflectors 16 are usually connected to each other using a bridle block 15.
While the marine survey system 10 is towed, the bridle block 15 is constantly subject to large tensions from being pulled by the ropes, but may also be subject to sudden large tensions due to abrupt changes, making it prone to failure. Conventionally these tensions are estimated based on the tension in the tow rope 18 connecting the bridle block 15 to the vessel 11 which is measurable, for example, at or near the vessel 11. However, this single known tension provides insufficient information on the actual tensions applied to the bridle block 15.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods that acquire more information relative to the deflector assembly, enabling monitoring of the deflector, a smoother operation and better control thereof.

System for real-time deflector monitoring and related methods


Pilot switch circuitry grounds a hot node (an injection node) of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switch to reduce or eliminate arcing between a cantilever contact and a terminal contact when the MEMS switch is opened or closed. The pilot switch circuitry grounds the hot node prior to, during, and after the cantilever contact and terminal contact of the MEMS come into contact with one another (when the MEMS switch is closed). Additionally, the pilot switch circuitry grounds the hot node prior to, during, and after the cantilever contact and terminal contact of the MEMS disengage from one another (when the MEMS switch is opened).

As electronics evolve, there is an increased need for miniature switches that are provided on semiconductor substrates along with other semiconductor components to form various types of circuits. These miniature switches often act as relays, generally range in size from a micrometer to a millimeter, and are generally referred to as microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switches.
In some applications, MEMS switches are configured as switches and replace field effect transistors (FETs). Such MEMS switches reduce insertion losses due to added resistance, and reduce parasitic capacitance and inductance inherent in providing FET switches in a signal path. MEMS switches are currently being deployed in many radio frequency (RF) applications, such as antenna switches, load switches, transmit/receive switches, tuning switches, and the like. For instance, transmit/receive systems requiring complex RF switching capabilities may utilize a MEMS switch.
With the incorporation of WLAN (wireless local area network) circuitry into smartphones, hot switching is no longer the exception but the rule. Hot switching occurs when a switch is switched (changes state from ON to OFF, or vice versa) while some voltage exists across the switch. Specifically, many modern "smartphones" have at least two antennas: a cellular antenna and a WLAN antenna. Thus, most cycles required of a MEMS contact switch (or other switch) attached to the cellular antenna will have hot switching power due to power received from the WLAN antenna. This hot switching may be fatal to contact switches. Conversely, hot switching occurs in switches connected to the WLAN antenna due to power received from the cellular antenna.
Thus, these two antennas are presently separate but co-located in the handset such that power from one network may be coupled to the adjacent network. The attenuation between these two adjacent radios can conservatively be 5 dB. It must be assumed by component manufacturers that these two radios are in continuous operation for the lifetime of the phone, from 5 to 10 years. The peak power from a WLAN radio is known to be +28.5 dBm. The power incident to all devices directly connected to the cellular radio antenna is therefore +23.5 dBm (after subtracting the 5 dB isolation). This level of power has been shown in characterization to limit the useful lifetime of MEMS contact switches to less than 1e6 cycles. However, the required lifetime number of cycles of such a switch used in an antenna switch exceeds 1e9 cycles and is calculated to be as many as 130 B cycles.
Furthermore, MEMS contact switches are known to have a low tolerance for ESD (electro static discharge) stresses with HBM (human body model) durability not exceeding 150 V in most cases compared to a specification requirement of 250 V. No MEMS contact switch has ever been exposed to the 8 k contact discharge test common to handset ESD reliability requirements. But it is possible that a MEMS contact switch would fail this test even with the typical decoupling capacitor and shunt inductor in place.
Turning to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a MEMS device 10 having a main MEMS switch 12 is illustrated according to the prior art. The main MEMS switch 12 is formed on an appropriate substrate 14. The main MEMS switch 12 includes a cantilever 16, which is formed from a conductive material, such as gold. The cantilever 16 has a first end and a second end. The first end is coupled to the substrate 14 by an anchor 18. The first end of the cantilever 16 is also electrically coupled to a first conductive pad 20 at or near the point where the cantilever 16 is anchored to the substrate 14. Notably, the first conductive pad 20 may play a role in anchoring the first end of the cantilever 16 to the substrate 14 as depicted. The first conductive pad 20 may form a portion of or be connected to a first terminal (not shown) of the main MEMS switch 12.
The second end of the cantilever 16 forms or is provided with a cantilever contact 22, which is suspended over a terminal contact 24 formed or provided by a second conductive pad 26. The second conductive pad 26 may form a portion of or be connected to a second terminal (not shown) of the main MEMS switch 12. Thus, when the main MEMS switch 12 is actuated, the cantilever 16 moves the cantilever contact 22 into electrical contact with the terminal contact 24 of the second conductive pad 26 to electrically connect the first conductive pad 20 to the second conductive pad 26. The main MEMS switch 12 may be encapsulated by one or more encapsulating layers 30, which form a substantially hermetically sealed cavity around the cantilever 16. The cavity is generally filled with an inert gas and sealed in a near vacuum state. Once the encapsulation layers 30 are in place, an overmold 32 may be provided over the encapsulation layers 30.
To actuate the main MEMS switch 12, and in particular to cause the cantilever 16 to move the cantilever contact 22 into contact with the terminal contact 24 of the second conductive pad 26, an actuator plate 28 is formed over a portion of the substrate 14, preferably under the middle portion of the cantilever 16. To actuate the main MEMS switch 12, an electrostatic voltage is applied to the actuator plate 28. The presence of the electrostatic voltage creates an electromagnetic field that effectively moves the cantilever 16 against a restoring force toward the actuator plate 28 from an "open" position illustrated in FIG. 1A to a "closed" position illustrated in FIG. 1B. Likewise, removing the electrostatic voltage from the actuator plate 28 releases the cantilever 16 for return to the open position illustrated in FIG. 1A. As illustrated, the open position occurs when the cantilever contact 22 is out of contact with the terminal contact 24, and the closed position occurs when the cantilever contact 22 comes into contact with the terminal contact 24. Other embodiments may differ.
In light of the electromechanical structure of the main MEMS switch 12, the main MEMS switch 12 cannot provide switching action as fast as typical solid state switches, such as n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) FET switches. The switching time of the main MEMS switch 12 typically depends upon the electromagnetic field applied to the cantilever 16, the mass of the cantilever 16, and the restoring force of the cantilever 16. However, an FET switch may generate higher insertion loss than is generated by the main MEMS switch 12. Moreover, at high power levels in an RF circuit (not shown), parasitic capacitance at the semiconductor junctions of the FET switch may alter RF signals.
During switching events, a difference in potential between the cantilever contact 22 and the terminal contact 24 may cause an electrical arc resulting from an electrical current flowing through normally non-conductive media, such as air. Undesired or unintended electrical arcing may have detrimental effects on the cantilever contact 22 and the terminal contact 24 of the main MEMS switch 12. For instance, as the main MEMS switch 12 is being either actuated to the closed position of FIG. 1B or released to the open position of FIG. 1A, arcing from a difference in potential between the cantilever contact 22 and the terminal contact 24 may cause significant aging, unintended wear and tear, degradation, sticking, or destruction of the cantilever contact 22, the terminal contact 24, or both. Unintended power dissipation through arcing should be limited for optimum contact lifetime of the cantilever contact 22 and the terminal contact 24.
Therefore, it is evident there is a need to reduce the amount of power incident to switches connected to a cellular antenna and particularly to MEMS contact switches which are connected to a cellular antenna in order that their lifetimes can be extended to cover the lifetime cycle requirements for this application and make available their extremely low loss and high linearity.
Decreasing the amount of power incident to these switches minimizes arcing, and thus decreases switch contact aging, degradation, sticking, and destruction. In order to utilize the low loss and high linearity possible with MEMS, some means to attenuate the power must be introduced.
Furthermore, there is a need to provide some improved tolerance in these same MEMS contact switches to ESD stresses which can occur as a result of their installation at the antenna of a mobile handset.

Shunt switch at common port to reduce hot switching


A wastewater treatment system incorporates three interconnected, but separately controlled, processes to enhance biological phosphorus removal. The first process is a mainstream biological treatment process utilizing aerobic and solids separation zones and the provision of return activated sludge. The next is a first sidestream process for anoxic/anaerobic "selection" of desirable BPR organisms. Finally, a second sidestream process serves to ferment organic material in some of the return activated sludge to produce food utilized in the first sidestream selection process. The system permits the three processes to be separated from each other by creating two sidestreams, allowing all three processes to be controlled separately and optimized in satisfying their own specific goals.

Phosphorus is a minor, but essential, constituent of cells produced during growth in biological systems. When living organisms are supplied with sources of energy, essential chemicals, and other appropriate environmental conditions, they extract small amounts of phosphorus from the water for use in their reproduction and metabolism. Subsequent removal of cells reduces amounts of phosphorus in the water and, therefore, provides a mechanism for reducing its nutrient content.
Some nutrient removal occurs in all biological wastewater treatment plants. The organisms use chemicals in the wastewater to satisfy their metabolic needs and to produce new growth. Because phosphorus is an essential constituent of that growth, some phosphorus is accumulated in solids that are removed from the system for separate treatment and disposal. Improved efficiency in biological removal of phosphorus requires that the processes be modified to enhance nutrient uptake by the organisms, or to improve removals through other mechanisms.
The efficiency of phosphorus removal in conventional biological wastewater treatment usually is poor, perhaps fifteen to thirty percent, because organic loadings are too low to produce enough growth to take up more phosphorus. Biological phosphorus removal (BPR) processes are based on creating conditions that enhance the amount of phosphorus taken u and stored by organisms, followed by their removal for separate disposal.
While all organisms use some phosphorus in their metabolism, some are capable, in the presence of dissolved oxygen or nitrates, of taking up and storing excess phosphorus as complex polyphosphates. Other organisms commonly found in activated sludge systems do not have this capability. The basic approach in designing and operating BPR systems is to create conditions that favor growth of the phosphorus-accumulating types of organisms. When they are removed from the system during sludge wasting, their higher phosphorus content enhances removal of the nutrient.
Under anaerobic conditions, the desired organisms can assimilate simple organic compounds, such as acetates, and satisfy their energy needs by decomposing stored polyphosphates and releasing soluble orthophosphates. According to a typical generic BPR process, return sludge and incoming wastewater are mixed without adding oxygen, producing "anaerobic" conditions, which is the absence of both oxygen and nitrates. Organisms that contain stored polyphosphates adsorb organics from the liquid and begin to assimilate them releasing orthophosphates. Other types of organisms in the system are handicapped here because they need oxygen or nitrates in their metabolic reactions. This gives the phosphorus-storing organisms the first opportunity to use the food and that advantage increases their population share in the system. In the jargon of biological treatment, this "selects" organisms that can remove more phosphorus.
Phosphorus concentration in the wastewater usually increases drastically because of the phosphorus release during the anaerobic phase of this process, to a level that may be several times higher than that in the incoming flow. Actual phosphorus removal occurs in the next step, where the wastewater and organisms are mixed and aerated, as in a conventional activated sludge process. In the presence of oxygen, the organisms take up and store the phosphorus that was released in the anaerobic phase, in addition to much or all of that which entered with the wastewater. Subsequent settling removes phosphorus from the wastewater as a sludge in which the organisms usually contain about four to six percent phosphorus, instead of the typical two to three percent in conventional activated sludge.
Return activated sludge from the settling tank is pumped back to the beginning of the process to provide a high population of organisms for treating the incoming wastewater, as in the conventional activated sludge process. This generic process is deceptively simple in appearance. Actually, it is affected by many variables, some of which are not thoroughly understood. However, it is known that the anaerobic step is absolutely critical to successful biological phosphorus removal. Its main function is to give an advantage to the types of organisms desired in the system but that occurs only if both dissolved oxygen and nitrates are absent during the period. Presence of either can interfere severely with BPR because the desired organisms could lose their advantage and might not be "selected" in adequate numbers.
Production and maintenance of anaerobic conditions require enough organics to generate sufficient oxygen demand to expend both dissolved oxygen and nitrates. Accordingly, BOD of the wastewater is important, with successful performance being favored by strong wastes. For that reason, some investigators stress the importance of having a sufficiently high BOD/P ratio in the wastewater being treated. However, other factors involved in the process make it infeasible to identify a single specific ratio that could assure success or failure in biological phosphorus removal.
Many systems have been proposed for utilizing the above phenomena to remove nutrients from municipal wastewater. The well-known A/0 and A.sup.2 /0 processes developed by Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (USA) are mainstream BPR processes that expose mixed return activated sludge and wastewater to anaerobic conditions for BPR organism selection prior to discharge into the mainstream aerobic zone. The A/0 and A.sup.2 /0 processes lack desirable control over the BPR selection process because the anaerobic zone is directly in the mainstream where plant influent flow rates and conditions vary considerably. The A/0 and A.sup.2 /0 processes often may require chemical precipitation of phosphorus in order to bring phosphorus levels in the effluent to an acceptable level.
The Phostrip process of Biospherics, Inc. (USA) accomplishes the biological removal of phosphorus in the mainstream of the plant by passing a portion of the return activated sludge through an anaerobic "stripping tank." Sludge solids from the stripper are returned to the mainstream aerobic zone where they provide organisms for treating the mainstream. A liquid (supernatant) separated from the solids in the stripper is treated with lime to form a phosphate precipitate that is removed in a settler. Thus, in the Phostrip process biological phosphorus removal is supplemented by a sidestream chemical precipitating process.
More recently, a sidestream system for selection of the desirable BPR organisms was reported in "Pilot Studies of Biological Phosphorus Removal," James C. Lamb, III, et al., 1986. This so-called "UNC Process" sidestreams the entire return activated sludge flow to an anaerobic zone where desirable BPR organisms are selected. A fermenter serves to ferment primary sludge to supply the food used in the BPR selection process. Variations on the UNC process are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,874,519; 4,999,111 and 5,022,993 issued to Orange Water & Sewer Authority of Carrboro, N.C.
While many processes have been proposed to utilize the phenomenon of uptake of phosphorus by BPR organisms, there is still a need to further improve the "selection" process for desirable BPR organisms so that a municipal wastewater treatment plant can operate within its wide range of influent flow and characteristics, while reliably removing phosphorus in the wastewater to desirable levels well below 1 mg/l.

Wastewater treatment with enhanced biological phosphorus removal and related purification processes


An electron capture type detector for gas chromatography has an ionization vessel containing therein line sources for a radioactive isotope serving as a negative electrode, a collector electrode, a purge gas route, a discharge gas route, and an end of a column disposed at its lower section. The collector electrode includes a filament made of a heat resistant material and itself connected to a heating device such that the filament can be heated to about 300.degree.-600.degree. C. so as to eliminate contaminants deposited on the collector electrode by thermal decomposition, oxidation or reduction, without the necessity of disassembling the detector itself. The contaminants are effectively removed by simultaneously causing air or hydrogen gas to pass over the collector electrode through the ionization vessel from the purge gas route to the discharge gas route.

This invention relates to a method of using a detector for gas chromatography. In particular, this invention relates a method of using to a detector of the electron capture type suited for the detection of substances containing a compound with electron affinity.
Electron capture type detectors, which are a kind of detectors for gas chromatography, are suited for the analysis of halogen and nitro compounds and are used for the detection of residual organic mercury, agricultural chemicals or PCB, as well as small amounts of steroid and amino acids as derivatives with electron affinity.
As shown in FIG. 2, a prior art detector of the electron capture type has a small ionization vessel 10 enclosing therein line sources 6 of a radioactive isotope such as .sup.63 Ni serving as negative electrodes and an end part of a column 15 positioned at a bottom section of the vessel 10 to form a nozzle 11 such that a sample, flowing out through this end part of the column 15, can be sent upward within the vessel 10. According to the exemplary design shown in FIG. 2, a pure nitrogen gas can be introduced through purge gas intake routes 12 onto the surfaces of the line sources 6 such that the nitrogen gas thus introduced into the vessel 10 and the .beta.-rays from the line sources 6 generate electrons above the nozzle 11. The electrons thus generated are attracted by an electrostatic field towards a positive collector electrode 13 disposed at an upper part of the vessel 10 and caused to collide with the sample flowing our from the column 15 at the outlet of the nozzle 11, thereby generating negative ions if the sample contains substances with electron affinity. Such negative ions are attracted by and move in the electric field towards the collector electrode 13 but, since these ions move more slowly than the electrons, they have the effect of interfering with the steady flow of current to the collector electrode 13. The detector is designed so as to record the changes in voltage necessary for keeping the current flowing into the collector electrode 13 at a constant rate and to thereby generate a signal indicative of (or proportional to) the concentration of the negative ions.
Prior art electron capture type detectors, as described above, have been in use as highly sensitive and selective detectors with respect to compounds with electron affinity. In order to maintain stability over a long period of time of use, however, they must be cleaned because they become contaminated by the column liquid phase or the components of the samples. Japanese Utility Model Publication Jikkai 1-146158 disclosed an electron capture type detector which allows its interior to be cleaned. Although contamination of an electron capture type detector takes place mainly on the collector electrode and the line sources, contamination of the collector electrode presents a more serious problem in the case of cleanable electron capture type detectors.
When an electron capture type detector is contaminated, its detection sensitivity becomes adversely affected or ghost peaks appear in the chromatograph as shown in FIG. 3, preventing accurate detection. If a radioactive isotope such as .sup.63 Ni is used as line sources 6, furthermore, its handling may be subject to governmental regulations, and specialized knowledge would be required for taking out internal components for cleaning. In other words, one cannot freely disassemble such a detector to clean its internal components.

Method of using an electron capture type detector


An organic light-emitting apparatus includes a substrate, a plurality of organic light-emitting devices which are arranged above the substrate and which form a light-emitting section, a circuit section which is disposed around the light-emitting section and which controls the operation of the organic light-emitting devices, a plurality of wiring lines extending between the light-emitting section and the circuit section, and a resin layer which extends in the light-emitting section and which extends from the light-emitting section over the wiring lines. The resin layer has gaps extending between the wiring lines.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light-emitting apparatus including a plurality of organic light-emitting devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organic light-emitting devices under development each principally include the following components: a first electrode disposed above a substrate; an organic compound layer which is disposed on the first electrode and which includes a plurality of sub-layers having different functions such as a charge transport function and a charge recombination function, and a second electrode disposed on the organic compound layer. The organic light-emitting devices are arranged above the substrate to form a light-emitting section. An organic light-emitting apparatus includes the above members. A circuit section for driving the organic light-emitting devices is disposed above the substrate and extends along the light-emitting section. The circuit and light-emitting sections are connected to each other with wiring lines.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-013893 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1) and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-353594 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2) disclose organic light-emitting apparatuses that each include a light-emitting section including a plurality of organic light-emitting devices arranged above a substrate, a circuit section located outside the light-emitting section, wiring lines extending outside the light-emitting section, and a resin layer. According to Patent Documents 1 and 2, the resin layer extends from the light-emitting section over the circuit section and the wiring lines.
The organic light-emitting apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 further includes an interlayer insulating layer (planarization layer) which is made of a resin material and which extends between pixel thin-film transistors and pixel electrodes arranged in a pixel section and also extends over a source-side driving circuit (FIG. 11 and Example 11 of Patent Document 1). The interlayer insulating layer (planarization layer) covers surface irregularities and is effective in preventing layers deposited in the organic light-emitting devices from being broken, being short-circuited, or irregularly emitting light.
The organic light-emitting apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 further includes a bank which is made of an organic material and which extends between and around a plurality of pixels arranged in a display section and also extends to a data-side driving circuit and scanning-side driving circuit arranged outside the display section (FIG. 3 of Patent Document 2). The bank is effective in preventing organic compounds contained in the neighboring pixels from being mixed with each other.
A light-emitting apparatuses including organic light-emitting devices needs to be manufactured in such a manner that moisture and oxygen are strictly controlled so as not to penetrate the organic light-emitting devices, because the organic light-emitting devices are extremely susceptible to moisture and oxygen. When the light-emitting apparatus includes a resin layer (planarization layer) disposed between a substrate and lower electrodes which are included in the organic light-emitting devices and which are located on the substrate side or a resin layer (separation layer) extending between and around the organic light-emitting devices, a method for manufacturing the light-emitting apparatus includes a dehydration step because the resin layer contains a large amount of moisture. However, it is difficult to sufficiently remove moisture from the resin layers through the dehydration step. Therefore, there is a problem in that the moisture contained in the resin layer penetrates the organic light-emitting devices to damage the organic light-emitting devices. The damage of the organic light-emitting devices caused by the moisture contained in the resin layer is particularly serious for regions around a light-emitting section including the organic light-emitting devices. According to Patent Documents 1 and 2, although those resin layers are located around those light-emitting sections, the organic light-emitting apparatuses are unprotected from the problem due to moisture and therefore have a problem that the moisture contained in those resin layers damages those organic light-emitting devices.
This resin layer extends from this light-emitting section over wiring lines extending around this light-emitting section and also extends over a circuit section so as to physically protect these wiring lines and this circuit section from external contacts and so as to electrically insulate these wiring lines and this circuit section from electrodes of these organic light-emitting devices. Therefore, this resin layer needs to extend over this circuit section and wiring lines which are located around this light-emitting section and which are electrically connected to these organic light-emitting devices and moisture needs to be prevented from penetrating these organic light-emitting devices.

Organic light-emitting apparatus with resin layer extending from light-emitting section over wiring lines


A process and system for sterilization of a product pathway of a blow-fill-seal machine. The process comprises steps of: (1) isolating a holding tank from the product pathway; (2) supplying a sterilizing agent to the product pathway of the BFS machine when the holding tank is isolated; (3) stopping the supply of sterilizing agent to the product pathway when a threshold is reached; and (4) supplying filtered compressed air to the product pathway when the supply of sterilizing agent is stopped. The process is preferably executed automatically without human intervention once initiated. Also described is a system for carrying out the process including a processor, valves and temperature and/or pressure sensors which provide information to the processor to determine when to open and close the valves to supply sterilizing agent and/or compressed air to the product pathway or holding tank.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to sterilization carried out in a blow fill seal machine. In particular, the invention is directed to an automated sterilization process for the product pathway of a blow fill seal machine.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Blow-fill-seal (BFS) machines combine a process of antiseptically blow-molding hollow containers with an aseptic process of filling and sealing the containers, all in one machine cycle. By eliminating individual machines for separately blow-molding the container, filling the container, and sealing the filled container, the BFS machine delivers significant savings in space and efficiency while maintaining a medically sterile environment within the machines for the aseptic production process. Using the BFS technology, a container is formed, filled, and sealed in a continuous flow without human intervention, in a sterile enclosed area inside a machine, which ensures that the packaged product is free of contamination.
Over the last 20 years, BFS technology has become particularly prevalent within the pharmaceutical industry. It is now widely considered to be the superior form of aseptic processing technology for packaging of pharmaceutical and healthcare products by various regulatory agencies including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FDA emphasizes on product safety and requires manufacturers to ensure aseptic processing of all pharmaceuticals. It is thus critical to maintain a fully sterile environment within BFS machines, especially their product pathways. In a typical pharmaceutical packaging process, bulk pharmaceutical (solutions or liquids) prepared under low bio-burden or sterile conditions are delivered to the BFS machine in a sterile bulk holding tank, from which the pharmaceutical is delivered via a product pathway to a filling nozzle to be injected into formed containers.
Many processes for sterilizing BFS machines and/or their product pathways have been developed with various degrees of success. US 2011/0146202 discloses a process for maintaining a sterilization state in a mold-fill-seal machine. The internal space and outer surfaces of internal components of the machine are sterilized with a chemical liquid. Further, a positive-pressure environment is maintained within the machine with filtered clean air, which improves the aseptic level of packaged products. The outer surfaces of the machine may be sterilized with a chemical agent or heat-sterilized with aseptic water at high temperature. These treatments may be adjusted by consideration of the frequency of sterilization and the degree of contamination of the machine.
GB 1 201 069 discloses a process using steam to sterilize a BFS machine. The steam passes through pipes into a filling tank of the machine to sterilize the filling tank. The steam is used only for initial sterilization of the machine and is not suitable for sterilization of the BFS machine once its filling tank has been loaded with a product or when the BFS machine is in production mode.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,117 discloses a method of sterilizing the internal parts of a BFS machine by charging the machine with a sterilizing agent such as super-heated steam, a disinfection liquid, sterilizing gas, or the like for initial and continuous sterilization of the machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,638 discloses a process for maintaining sterility in a BFS machine during filling and minimizing the oxygen uptake of product being filled. The process requires placing the filling nozzle discharge port at a location that does not break a sterile fill plane which passes across the upper end of containers. This contributes to reducing the chance of contamination inside the containers.
Forcinio, "BFS equipment streamlines the package process," Pharmaceutical Technology, vol. 34, pp. 38-46, (2010) discloses the general concept of using steam to sterilize a product pathway in a BFS machine by an automated process. However, neither the critical process parameters nor other necessary details of the process are taught in the article.
The present invention provides a fully automated process and system for sterilizing a product pathway of a BFS machine that eliminates human manual intervention once the process has been initiated. Since human intervention may introduce errors and is a potential source of contamination to the BFS machine, the present process is a more reliable sterilization process.

Automated sterilization process integrated with a blow fill seal machine


An information radio transmission system is provided that enables provision of correct control information on the transmitting side irrespective of the error volume when an error occurs in communication data. Error volume measuring data string storage units that store an error volume measuring data string are provided in both a transmitting-side communication device that transmits data by radio transmission and a receiving-side communication device that receives data transmitted from the transmitting-side communication device. The receiving-side communication device has an error volume measuring unit that measures the error volume when transmitting data. An error volume measuring data string is added to data and the data is transmitted from the transmitting-side communication device. Having received this, in the receiving-side communication device, the error volume measuring unit compares the error volume measuring data transmitted from the transmitting-side communication device with an error volume measuring data string stored in an error volume measuring data string storage unit of the receiving-side communication device, thereby measuring the error volume.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information radio transmission system that performs radio transmission of digital data such as static image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many of the conventional radio data transmissions employ a retransmission mode. That is, when an error occurs in transmitted data, the receiving side requests the transmitting side to retransmit the data area where the error has occurred, thereby realizing reliable data transfer.
In this case, if the condition of the transmission line is bad and data has a large error volume, the volume of retransmitted data increases. Errors also occur in the retransmission of data. Therefore, it is considered that as the volume of transmitted data increases, the volume of retransmitted data exponentially increases. As the volume of retransmitted data increases, it takes time to transfer data and the time during which the transmission line is occupied becomes longer. This is not preferable. Thus, a method of controlling transmitted data in accordance with the condition of the transmission line is proposed. Since the condition of the radio transmission line varies depending on the peripheral environment and time, it is necessary to control data in accordance with the variance of the transmission state.
JP-A-11-308297 (pages 3 to 6 and FIG. 1) discloses a method of measuring the error volume in received data on the receiving side, preparing control information, sending the control information from the receiving side to the transmitting side, and setting the volume of transmitted data of the next transmission based on the control information on the transmitting side, thereby transmitting optimum data in a minimum time. Here, as a method of preparing control information, it is proposed to utilize data that is usually transmitted and received, and compare a bit string of received data with a bit string acquired by performing error correction of the received data.
JP-A-11-266229 (pages 3 to 4 and FIG. 1) discloses a method of controlling the frame rate of a dynamic image in accordance with the condition of the transmission state, and thus preventing turbulence in the dynamic image or interruption of received static image on the receiving side even when the error volume varies, thereby securing the quality of the system.
In the conventional technique of JP-A-11-308297, the error volume is measured from data that is usually communicated. When data is received, error correction of the received data is performed. The resulting error-corrected data is compared with the data before the error correction, thus measuring the error volume. However, when an error exceeding the error correcting ability occurs, error correction cannot be performed, and the receiving side cannot acquire the original data and cannot measure the error volume accurately. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to control transmitted data in accordance with the condition of the transmission line.
The conventional technique of JP-A-11-266229 proposes a method of controlling the frame rate on the basis of the error volume when a dynamic image is used as transmitted data. However, it proposes no method of controlling transmitted data in accordance with the condition of the transmission line when a static image is used as transmitted data. There is a problem that the image quality may be degraded if the volume of transmitted data is simply controlled.


A method for improving data transmission security at a user equipment comprises receiving, from a source network node, a connection release message including instructions for computing a hash value for data to be included in a connection request message; computing the hash value based on the instructions included in the connection release message; calculating a token based on the hash value, and sending, to a target network node, the connection request message including the token. The method may further forward the data from the target network node directly to a gateway after the token has been verified. The method may reduce a signaling overhead by having a fixed-size hash value for data. Furthermore, the method may improve a transmission security by including the token in an RRC message, in which the token is calculated based on the hash value representing the data.

There has been a lot of work in 3GPP lately on specifying technologies to cover Machine-to-Machine (M2M) and/or Internet of Things (IoT) related use cases. Most recent work for 3GPP Release 13 and 14 includes enhancements to support Machine-Type Communications (MTC) with new UE categories, as in Cat-M1, Cat-M2, supporting reduced bandwidth of up to 6 and 24 physical resource blocks (PRBs), and Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) UEs providing a new radio interface, with UE categories Cat-NB1 and Cat-NB2.
The LTE enhancements introduced in 3GPP Release 13, 14, and 15 for MTC would be referred as "eMTC", including but not limited to support for bandwidth limited UEs, Cat-M1/M2, and support for coverage enhancements. This is to separate discussions from NB-IoT used for any Release, although the supported features are similar on a general level.
For both eMTC and NB-IoT, Cellular IoT EPS User Plane optimization and Cellular IoT EPS Control Plane optimization signaling reductions were also introduced in Release 13. The former, here referred to as UP-solution, allows the UE to resume a previously stored RRC connection, thus also known as RRC Suspend/Resume. The latter, here referred to as CP-solution, allows the transmission of user-plane data over non-access stratum, i.e. DoNAS.
For 3GPP Release 15, new work items (WIs) for Even further enhanced MTC for LTE (LTE_eMTC4) and Further NB-IoT enhancements (NB_IOTenh2) target eMTC and NB-IoT enhancements, respectively. The new WIs for LTE_eMTC4 here is referred to as WI_eMTC, and the new WIs for NB_IOTenh2 here is referred as WI_NBIOT. In both of these, one of the goals for a WI is to reduce UE power consumption and latency through introducing possibilities to send data as early as possible during the Random Access (RA) procedure.
WI_eMTC supports early data transmission and evaluates power consumption, latency gain, and specifies necessary support for downlink (DL)/uplink (UL) data transmission on a dedicated resource during the RA procedure, e.g. after physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission and before the RRC connection setup is completed, at least in the RRC Suspend/Resume case.
WI_NBIOT evaluates power consumption, latency gain, and specifies necessary support for DL/UL data transmission on a dedicated resource during the RA procedure, after NPRACH transmission and before the RRC connection setup is completed.
In recent RAN2 meetings, such as RAN2 #99, RAN2 #99bis, and RAN2 #100, many contributions on early data transmission (EDT) were discussed. A set of the agreements is to support early UL data transmission in Msg3 for Release 13 UP solution.
The set of the agreements is summarized as follows: (1) Supporting early UL data transmission in Msg3 for control plane and user plane cellular IoT (CIoT) Evolved Packet System (EPS) optimization is intended to be accomplished; (2) For UP solution, signaling radio bearer 0 (SRB0) is used to transmit the RRC message in Msg3; (3) For UP solution, common control channel (CCCH) for RRC message and dedicated traffic channel (DTCH) for UP data are multiplexed in medium access control (MAC) in Msg3; (4) For UP solution, access stratum (AS) security is resumed before transmitting Msg3, and data transmitted in Msg3 is protected by AS security; (5) How to address the padding issue in Msg3 requires a further study; (6) resumeID, shortResumeMAC-I, and resumeCause are included in Msg3 for EDT; (7) None of the parameters currently provided in Msg5 are included in Msg3 for EDT; (8) UE is in RRC_IDLE when transmitting Msg3 for EDT, same as legacy; (9) UE shall perform access barring check before initiating EDT; (10) UE shall restore the UE context, reactivate security, and re-establish or resume all SRBs/data radio bearers (DRBs), wherein the UE shall derive new keys based on the NCC provided in the previous connection, and which message NCC provided in the previous connection and SA3 feedback may require a further study; and (11) Legacy RRCConnectionResumeRequest message is used in Msg3.
Existing solutions for realizing the early data transmission concept have recently been presented in certain previously filed applications as have the security aspects of early data transmission in UP solution.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example contention-based random access (RA) procedure from TS36.300. The messages in the RA procedure are commonly referred to as message 1 (Msg1) through message 4 (Msg4).
In legacy LTE, Msg3 is an early message and with neither confidentially nor integrity protection. In Rel-13 UP solution, Msg3 includes the RRCConnectionResumeRequest (in short ResumeRequest). For Rel-14 and earlier releases, the ResumeRequest is formed at RRC layer with a security token, i.e., shortResumeMAC-I (sRMAC-I) that is used to validate the authenticity of the ResumeRequest. In addition, user data in Rel-13 UP solution is transmitted after the RRC connection resume completion with AS security. More specifically, the earliest time UL data can be transmitted is in Msg5, i.e., uplink (UL) data is multiplexed with the RRCConnectionResumeComplete. The transmission of Msg5 is considered from a legitimate UE if the eNB successfully verifies RRCConnectionResumeComplete message in Msg5 based on a 32-bit message authentication code for integrity protection, e.g. MAC-I, which is calculated and checked at the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) sub-layer. In case of successful verification, the UL data received in Msg5 is forwarded from the eNB to the serving gateway (S-GW).
In UP early data transmission (EDT) solution, the UL data is multiplexed with the ResumeRequest at MAC sub-layer in Msg3. UL data transmission is on dedicated traffic channel (DTCH), which is logical channel, over DRB bearer and thus is ciphered at PDCP sub-layer. Similar to Rel-13 UP solution, the ResumeRequest includes the sRMAC-I to validate its authenticity, i.e., sRMAC-I is intended for the eNB to check whether it is from a legitimate UE. A possible difference between Rel-13 and Rel-15 is the length of sRMAC-I, i.e., extending from 16 bits in Rel-13 to 32 bits in Rel-15.
There currently exist certain challenge(s). In Rel-13 RRC Suspend/Resume solution, the ResumeRequest does not have PDCP support, yet it includes the 16-bit sRMAC-I as a security token to validate the authenticity of the resume request. However, when it comes to early data in Msg3 where UL data is multiplexed with the ResumeRequest, such 16-bit sRMAC-I parameter may be insufficient for the authenticity validation. It is therefore proposed to extend its length to 32 bits.
This security token sRMAC-I is calculated and verified at the RRC layer based on a set of variables including the target Cell ID, the source physical Cell ID, and the C-RNTI used in the source cell. Thus, this does allow the eNB to know if it was produced by a legitimate UE, but does not allow to know if it was sent by a legitimate UE. An attacker may copy the resume request and pretends to be a legitimate UE, i.e., replay attack. The eNB is unable to detect replayed Msg3 by verifying shortResumeMAC-I. An example for replay attack is when the resume request is rejected and the UE is put to idle or being suspended. Since the eNB provides a new resumeID, e.g., in Msg4 in response to the replayed Msg3, when the legitimate UE tries random access again, the UE context no longer exist since its resumeID is obsolete. To further enhance the authenticity of the Resume request, some solutions relate the sRMAC-I to a freshness parameter associated with the target eNB, such as Temporary C-RNTI. Since the Temporary C-RNTI is updated every random access attempt, when a replay of the Resume request is with an obsolete Temporary C-RNTI is attempted, it can be detected by the eNB. In this case, the eNB can avoid forwarding possible fake UL data received in Msg3 to the S-GW.
Another security aspect is possible modifications of user data in Msg3, i.e., Man-in-the-middle (MiM) attack. Attackers may change user data in Msg3, for example, by flipping data bits. In, e.g., LTE and NB-IoT, user data transmission over DRB is ciphered, but not integrity protected, at PDCP sub-layer. Hence, the eNB may not be able to detect a change or an alteration of the payload. Note that the MiM attack on Msg3 is different from that on data transmissions in legacy LTE. In legacy LTE, data transmissions only take place after the eNB has verified that the UE is legitimate one by means of integrity protection. However, since Msg3 with UL data is not integrity protected, both replay and MiM attacks could be performed by the same attacker. Note also that the inclusion of freshness parameter in other scenarios only helps limit rather than prevent replay attacks. As a result, the eNB may forward the faked data to S-GW. To enhance the security for UL data in Msg3, some solutions propose to include UL data in the calculation of sRMAC-I as a way to integrity protect UL data. However, when the UE resumes to another eNB, the verification of sRMAC-I requires the transfer of actual data via X2 interface. This is not efficient considering X2 signaling overhead as well as variable size of X2 message. In addition, how to handle the inclusion of data in calculation of sRMAC-I when building Msg3 in different scenarios remains to be addressed.

Method for improving data transmission security


An automotive vapor pump for pumping a pump gas having a fuel vapor. The automotive vapor pump includes a pump inlet opening, a pump outlet opening, an outlet volute, a pump outlet duct which is substantially tangential and which fluidically connects the outlet volute with the pump outlet opening, a centrifugal pumping wheel which pumps the pump gas from the pump inlet opening into the outlet volute and subsequently into the pump outlet duct, an electric motor which drives a pumping wheel, the electric motor including a static motor coil, a magnetic rotor body, and a motor driving electronics which drives the static motor coil, an electric connector plug which electrically connects the motor driving electronics with an external control unit, and an integrated pressure sensor which detects a fluidic pressure in the outlet volute or in the pump outlet duct.

In an automotive application, an electric vapor pump is used, among others, as a part of an automotive vapor pump arrangement for pumping pump gas comprising fuel vapor from a vapor absorption unit to a vapor target, for example, to the intake section of an internal combustion engine. An example of a typical automotive fuel vapor pump arrangement is described in US 2015/0285170 A1.
Since automotive fuels and fuel vapors are corrosive, the use of a canned electric motor to drive a pumping wheel of the electric vapor pump is preferred. The electric motor is therefore brushless and electronically driven. The electric motor should be provided as simply and inexpensively as possible. It is therefore preferred that no separate Hall sensor be used to detect the correct rotational direction and function of the electric motor. It is nonetheless desirable to reliably detect the correct function of the electric motor because environmental provisions could be infringed if the vapor pump fails.


A ratchet buckle, which is configured to connect a first strap and a second strap, includes a controlling device, an operating device connected to the first strap, a reel passing through the controlling device and the operating device along an axial line, the second strap wound around the reel, at least one ratchet set mounted on the reel, the reel being not rotated relative to the ratchet set, and a pawl device. When the user wants to unwind the second strap from the reel, the user moves and rotates the controlling device smoothly with only one hand thereof; therefore, it's very convenient for the user to operate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a buckle, and more particularly to a ratchet buckle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Referring to FIG. 17, when a truck carries an article, a user usually uses a conventional ratchet buckle 1 to bind the article, so as to prevent the article from unexpectedly dropping down from the truck. The conventional ratchet buckle 1 comprises a first strap 11, a second strap 12, a controlling device 13, an operating device 14, a reel 15 and two ratchet wheels 16. The operating device 14 is connected to the first strap 11. The reel 15 passes through the controlling device 13 and the operating device 14 along an axial direction. The two ratchet wheels 16 are respectively mounted around two ends of the reel 15. The reel 15 is not rotated relative to the two ratchet wheels 16. The controlling device 113 has a plate unit 131. The plate unit 131 is engaged with the ratchet wheels 16 or disengaged from the ratchet wheels 16. The operating device 14 has a pawl member 141. The pawl member 141 allows the ratchet wheels 16 to be only clockwise rotated.
When a user operates the conventional ratchet buckle 1, an article is bound with the first strap 11 and the second strap 12; the user rotates the controlling device 13 clockwise, the ratchet wheels 16 are rotated clockwise by said rotation and the reel 15 is rotated clockwise by the rotation of the ratchet wheels 16; wherein, the pawl member 141 is disengaged form the ratchet wheels 16 step by step and the plate unit 131 is engaged with the ratchet wheels 16. As a result, a certain length of the second strap 12 is wound around the reel 15 via the rotation of the reel 15.
Thereafter, the user the user rotates the controlling device 13 counterclockwise, the ratchet wheels 16 are not rotated counterclockwise by said rotation; wherein, the pawl member 141 is engaged with the ratchet wheels 16 and the plate unit 131 is disengaged from the ratchet wheels 16 step by step. Therefore, the user continues rotating the controlling device 13 clockwise, so as to continue winding the certain length of the second strap 12 around the reel 15, so that the article is tightly bound.
When the user wants to unwind the second strap 12 from the reel 15, the user stirs the plate unit 131 away from the ratchet wheels 16, and rotates the controlling device 13 clockwise until the controlling device 13 and the operating device 14 are almost parallel with each other; as a result, an extending portion (not shown) of the controlling device 13 pushes the pawl member 141 away from the ratchet wheels 16. Therefore, the reel 15 is freely rotatable, because the ratchet wheels 16 is disengaged from the plate unit 131 and the pawl member 141.
However, there are some disadvantages of the conventional ratchet buckle 1 as following:
First, a structure of the conventional ratchet buckle 1 is too complicated to lose weight thereof, because of an arrangement of the plate unit 131 and the pawl member 141.
Second, an unexpected disengagement between the pawl member 141 and the ratchet wheels 16 might often happen, because a strain of the second strap 12 always pulls the ratchet wheels 16 away from the pawl member 141.
The present invention is, therefore, arisen to obviate or at least mitigate the above mentioned disadvantages.


A nonvolatile memory device includes: a channel layer protruding perpendicular to a surface of a substrate; a tunnel insulation layer formed on a surface of the channel layer; a stack structure, in which a plurality of floating gate electrodes and a plurality of control gate electrodes are alternately formed along the channel layer; and a charge blocking layer interposed between each floating gate electrode, of the plurality of floating gate electrodes, and each control gate electrode of the plurality of control gate electrodes, wherein the floating gate electrode includes a first floating gate electrode between two control gate electrodes and a second floating gate electrode positioned in the lowermost and uppermost parts of the stack structure and having a smaller width in a direction parallel to the substrate than the first floating gate electrode.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a nonvolatile memory device and a method for fabricating the same, and more particularly, to a nonvolatile memory device having a 3D structure in which a plurality of memory cells are stacked vertically from a substrate, and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A nonvolatile memory device is a memory device, which maintains data stored therein although power supply is cut off. Currently, various nonvolatile memory devices, for example, Flash memory and the like are widely used.
Recently, as the improvement in integration degree of nonvolatile memory devices having a 2D structure in which memory cells are formed as a single layer over a semiconductor substrate approaches the limit, a nonvolatile memory device having a 3D structure in which a plurality of memory cells are formed along a channel layer protruding vertically from a semiconductor substrate has been proposed. Specifically, the nonvolatile memory device having a 3D structure may include a structure for storing changes in a floating gate electrode formed of a conductor and a structure for storing charges in a charge trap layer formed of an insulator.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are cross-sectional views of a conventional nonvolatile memory device having a 3D structure.
Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, the 3D nonvolatile memory device which stores charges in a floating gate electrode may include a channel layer 70 formed through a plurality of interlayer dielectric layers 20 and a plurality of control gate electrodes 30 which are alternately stacked over a substrate 10, a tunnel insulation layer 60 surrounding the channel layer 70, a floating gate electrode 50 interposed between the interlayer dielectric layers 20 and the tunnel insulation layer 60, and a charge blocking layer 40 surrounding the floating gate electrode 50.
In the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 1A, the floating gate electrodes 50 positioned in the uppermost and lowermost parts are dummy floating gate electrodes adjacent to only one control gate electrode 30, and thus difficult to control. Accordingly, an abnormal program operation may occur, and a channel current may be reduced during a read operation.
Meanwhile, when a control gate electrode 30 is disposed on the substrate 10 as illustrated in FIG. 1B, a dummy floating gate electrode is not formed in the lowermost part, but the control gate electrode 30 is directly connected to the substrate 10. Therefore, the control gate electrode 30 is shorted to a well pick-up area, and cannot be controlled independently of the well pick-up area. Therefore, there is a demand for the development of a structure capable of solving the above-described problems.

Nonvolatile memory device and method for fabricating the same