An explosive detector that utilizes an array of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) coated, bifurcated fiber optic cables to form an image of a target molecule source. Individual sensor fiber assemblies, each with a calibrated airflow, are used to expose the fibers to the target molecule. The detector energizes a dedicated excitation light source for each fiber, while simultaneously reading and processing the intensity of the resulting fluorescence that is indicative of the concentration of the target molecule. Processing electronics precisely controls the excitation current, and measures the detected signal from each narrow band pass filter and photodiode. A computer with display processes the data to form an image of the target molecule source that can be used to identify the source even when low level contamination of the same molecule is present. The detector can be used to detect multiple and/or non-explosive targets by varying the MIP coating.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to electromechanical devices for detecting explosives and other substances and, more specifically, is a battery powered, stand-alone, portable detector that utilizes molecularly imprinted polymer coated fiber optic cables to form an image of a target molecule source that can be used to identify the source.
2. Description of the Related Art
With an estimated 100 million mines and countless millions of acres of land contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXO) worldwide there is a need for sensor systems and methods that can detect and identify large and small explosive objects buried in soil. In addition, during armed conflict, there is a need for mine detection and neutralization in real-time or near real-time.
A commonly used sensor for mine and UXO detection is the electromagnetic induction (EMI) metal detector. Conventional EMI metal detectors using either frequency-domain (FD) or time-domain (TD) eddy current methods can detect small metal targets (such as plastic-cased low-metal content mines) at shallow depths and large metal targets (such as metal-cased high-metal content mines and UXOs) at both shallow and deep depths under a wide range of environmental and soil conditions. However, metal non-mine (i.e., clutter) objects commonly found in the environment pose a major problem in identifying mines. That is because these clutter objects create false alarms when detected by a metal detector. For time-efficient and cost-effective land clearing, the detected metal targets must be classified as to their threat potential: mine, UXO or clutter. Preferably, these metal targets need to be classified in real-time or near real-time.
Other explosive detection methods utilize neutron beams and energy detection to characterize the organic compounds under surveillance. Although these devices may be effective, they are too massive, non-portable, and, because of the neutron and gamma radiation, cannot be used near humans without effective shielding, i.e., lead, water or polyethylene.
Dogs can also be trained to sniff out explosives, but the drawbacks are that they require a trainer/handler and have a limited attention span.
Remote chemical sensors can be used to detect explosives but must fulfill two goals: (1) the development of a specific chemical recognition element that allows a molecule, or class of molecule, to be identified, and (2) a means of signal transduction in which the presence of the molecule causes a measurable change in a physical property of the material. Although these goals are not always separable, the successful design of chemical sensors requires that both be satisfied.
Most transduction approaches are based on optical, resistive, surface acoustic wave, or capacitive measurements. These well-developed methods dominate largely because of their ease of operation, sensitivity, and cost. The chemical recognition elements in these detectors, however, lag far behind. Indeed, most reports on chemical sensors suggest that many other devices could be fabricated if only suitable chemical recognition units were available. The missing element is a general approach to chemical recognition that allows the rational design and assembly of materials in a stable and reusable form.
Methods for the detection of explosives and explosive residues require complex analytical instruments such as liquid or gas chromatographs coupled with mass spectroscopic or chemiluminescent detection. The associated instrumentation is usually large, expensive, difficult to maintain and requires skilled operators. If laboratory analysis is necessary, extensive documentation is needed for sample transport, increasing the possibility of sample contamination. Immunoassay tests are available for some explosives, but these are cumbersome and have short shelf lives.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,261, issued Oct. 20, 1992, discloses a portable fiber optic detector that senses the presence of specific target chemicals by electrostatically attracting the target chemical to an aromatic compound coating on an optical fiber. Attaching the target chemical to the coated fiber reduces the fluorescence so that a photon sensing detector records the reduced light level and activates an appropriate alarm or indicator.
However, the concentration of the aromatic compound coating on the optical fiber has to be optimum or the fluorescence will be either too strong or too weak. Furthermore, if target chemicals from a neighboring exploded mine are present, the detector may become saturated and be ineffective. Additionally, the detector only sounds an alarm and does not provide an image of the explosive device being detected. The detector also does not provide the ability to detect multiple substances simultaneously.
What is needed then is a detection device for explosives or other substances that can be easily programmed for the substance(s), that can detect targets in an environment with high background levels of the target substance, that can detect multiple substances simultaneously, and that can provide an image of the substance emitting target.

Apparatus and methods for detecting explosives and other substances


Disclosed is a image sensor (e.g., a CMOS image sensor) including pixels each having a transfer transistor and a drive transistor, in which the gate of at least one of the transistors has a boosting gate disposed over it comprised of a conductive film pattern with interposing an insulation film. Thus, a voltage applied to the boosting gate is capacitively coupled to at least one of the transfer gate of the transfer transistor and a drive gate of the drive transistor. The transfer gate is supplied with the sum of the transfer voltage and the boosting gate-coupling voltage as a result and there is no need for providing a high voltage generator for the image sensor. The dynamic range of operation may be enhanced if such a coupling voltage is applied to the drive gate of the drive transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image sensors, and more particularly relates to CMOS image sensors and methods of operating and fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
The rapid advancement of digital camera technology and a resulting increase of their popularity has made high performance digital cameras in high demand among consumer electronics. The basic components of a digital camera that determine its performance level are an optical lens and an image sensor. The image sensor functions to transform light applied thereto (through the optical lens) into an electronic signal representing an image.
A typical image sensor is composed of a pixel array in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a two dimensional matrix. Each pixel includes a light detection unit (or a photodetector), and a transmission and signal output (readout) unit. Image sensors may be normally classified into two types: the charge coupled device image sensors (hereinafter, referred to as CCD image sensors); and the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor image sensors (hereinafter, referred to as CMOS image sensors). The CCD image sensor employs MOS (metal oxide semiconductor, field effect transistor) capacitors for transferring and outputting signals and charge carriers are stored in a capacitor are transferred to an adjacent capacitor, by a potential difference between the capacitors. By comparison, the CMOS image sensor utilizes a switching scheme sequentially detecting output signals of MOS transistors that are formed in the pixels thereof.
Thus, the CCD image sensors are able to take better images than CMOS image sensors because of having less noise therein, but have disadvantages of higher product costs and larger power consumption. In other words, the CMOS image sensors have the advantages of lower power operation, (low power consumption), compatibility with integrated or operatively coupled CMOS circuits, random accessing of image data, reduced cost (e.g., by using standard CMOS techniques), and so forth. Thus, the CMOS image sensors are more widely used for various applications such as digital cameras, smart phones, PDAs, notebook computers, security cameras, barcode sensors, high definition televisions, high resolution cameras, toys, and so on.
FIG. 1A is an equivalent circuit diagram illustrating the pixel structure of a conventional CMOS image sensor including a photo-receiving device and four transistors (hereinafter, referred to as 'four-transistor pixel structure'), and FIG. 1B is a timing diagram illustrating an operation of the CMOS image sensor of FIG. 1A.
Referring to FIG. 1A, the image sensor with four-transistor pixel structure is composed of four transistors, (i.e., a transfer transistor 13, a reset transistor 15, a drive transistor 17, a selection transistor 19), and a photo-receiving device 11.
The typical operation of the four-transistor pixel structure is as follows. Referring to FIG. 1B, a selection voltage φSG is applied to the (selection) gate of the selection transistor 19 during a signal output period Td, turning the selection transistor 19 ON. After the selection transistor 19 is turned ON, a reset voltage φRG is applied to the (reset) gate RG of the reset transistor 15, by which the reset transistor 15 is turned ON to reset a floating diffusion node 14 to a power supply voltage level VDD approximately. Thereby, the pixel is reset. Then, the supply voltage level VDD is applied to the (drive) gate DG of the drive transistor 17 as a drive voltage φDG, so that a reference voltage Vref is provided to an output node Vout within a first signal output period Td1.
After resetting the pixel, when light is incident upon the photo-receiving device 11, electron-hole pairs (EHP) are generated proportionally in response to the incident light. And then, if a transfer voltage φTG is applied to the transfer gate TG, the potential barrier (resistance) between the photo-receiving device 11 and the floating diffusion node 14 becomes lower (allowing a transfer of signal charges from the photo-receiving device 11 to the floating diffusion node 14). Thereby, the potential at the floating diffusion node 14 varies in proportion with the amount of signal charges transferred thereto. Thus, the drive voltage φDG applied to the drive gate DG drops down under the initial (supply) voltage VDD, and a (pixel) signal data voltage Vpix appears at an output node Vout within a second signal output period Td2. An image signal is output as a value arising from a difference value Vsig between the reference voltage Vref and the signal data voltage Vpix.
As such, it is very important to entirely transfer the signal charges, which are generated at the photo-receiving device 11, to the floating diffusion node 14 through the transfer gate TG. If the signal charges generated remain in the photo-receiving device 11 without being wholly transferred to the floating diffusion node 14, the remaining signal charges causes the phenomenon of "image lagging" that leaves afterimages in the next frame, resulting in degradation of picture quality in the image sensor.

Image sensor with self-boosting transfer transistor gate and methods of operating and fabricating the same


The invention relates to a new pharmacotherapeutical strategy, to an anti-stress, anti-impairment and anti-aging drug and to a process for its manufacturing. The drug has an etio-pathogenic and homeostatic action, was preclinically tested and clinically checked up in geriatric, neurologic, psychiatric and stress-dependent pathology. The drug achieves a synergistic biological, neurometabolic and cell-trophic composition, being elaborated by the association of the following active principles: a) against oxidative and catabolic stress; methionine with aminoethanol phenoxyacetates and/or aminoethyl phenoxyacetamides; b) against anabolic stress; hydroxopyrimidine carboxylates and/or oxopyrrolidine acetamides with potassium, zinc and lithium; c) vasodilative and normolipidemic; nicotinic, alcohol and/or acid, or its derivatives, with magnesium and iodine; d) energo-active and e) anti-toxic; aspartate; fructose; vitamin B.sub.1 ; vitamin B.sub.6 ; monoacid phosphate and sulfate. The process for manufacturing the drug stipulates; a) pharmaceutical preparation in two complementary types of capsules or coated tablets, gastrosoluble and enterosoluble, the last being enteric coated; b) prolonged-release of vasodilator from the enterosoluble unit.

Acute and chronic stress, a negative and permanent characteristic of present-day life, comprises the unfolding of three processes: first--the aggression of the body by stressors, in a continuous growth, diversification and perpetuation; second--the body response, which may be adaptively, maladaptively or pathologically stress-dependent; and third--the intense, accelerated and chronically accumulated wear and tear of the brain and of the organism, premature aging.
The adaptive response of the body (the general adaptation syndrome) consists of three successive stages: immediate adaptation, long-term adaptation and the stage of exhaustion--neuropsychic and biological impairment (SELYE, H., The evolution of the stress concept, American Scientist, 61, 692-699, 1973). Chronic wear and tear means the neuropsychic and biological progressive incapacitation; it results in the decrease of the adaptation capability and in the diminution of body vitality and resistance, and it is the consequence of accumulation in the course of time and stressful life events and stress-induced lesions. When the adaptation capabilities of the organism are exceeded, due to the intensification, frequency and chronicization of stress and impairment, diseases of adaptation appear, meaning the stress-dependent pathology: neuropsychiatric and psychosomatic illnesses (WILDER, J. F., PLUTCHIK, R., Stress and psychiatry (Cap. 25.11), pp. 1198-1203, In: KAPLAN, H. I., SADOCK, B. J. (Eds.), Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry/IV, vol. 1, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1985).
The human brain, through its triple functionality--neurobiological, psychic and social--and due to the loss, after birth, of the neuron regeneration capacity through cell division, represents the global "receiver" of stresses (ischemic, hypoxic, oxidative etc.) and the "storage" of chromic, progressive, neuropsychic and biological impairment. Thus, in the central nervous system, specific ultrastructural and biochimical imbalances and lesions are accumulated, reaching all levels of metabolism (energy, anabolism, catabolism), then they extend with age and determine the incapacitation of the brain and body functions. The cerebral blood flow diminution as a consequence of stress and aging (progressive chromic hypoxia) and the neuronal hypoanabolism (the disturbance and decrease of nucleic acid and protein synthesis, the reduction and impairment of Nissl bodies--crowds of rough endoplasmic reticulum and free ribosomes--and of Golgi apparatus) induce the diminution of plasticity and anabolic regeneration, both functional (enzymes and neurotransmitters) and ultrastructural (neurosomes and extensions), (TERRY, R. D., GERSHON, S. (Eds.), Aging, vol. 3 (Neurobiology of Aging), Raven Press, New York, 1976). Oxidative stress, neuronal hypercatabolism, lipid peroxidation, especially of membranes, and the premature chronic impairment of subcellular organelles, mainly mitochondria, in all cases finally result in a progressive accumulation of lipofuscin pigments (wear and tear pigments, age pigments, tertiary lysosomes, insoluble subcellular wastes coming from peroxidation, polymerization and cross-linkages by free radicals) in neurons and glial cells (RIGA, D., RIGA, S., POPESCU, A., CONSTANTINESCU, E., PERIETEANU, M., Subcellular genesis of the nerve lipofuscin pigments, 4th European Anatomical Congress, Basle, Switzerland, 1977; Acta Anatomica, 99, 307-308, 1977; ZS.-NAGY, I. (Ed.), Lipofuscin--1987: State of the Art, Academiai Kiado, Budapest, 1988).
The necessity to develop a specific drug having an etio-pathogenic action against stress, impairment and premature aging was determined by the profound negative consequences of stress:
a) at the individual level--professional failure, disease, premature aging and death, and PA1 b) at the level of the whole society--important economic and social losses, direct and indirect (COOPER, C., ARBOSE, J., Executive stress goes global, International Management, 39, 42-48, 1984). PA1 a) anxiolytics (minor tranquilizers): diazepam, meprobamate, methylpentynol, etifoxine; PA1 b) neuroleptics (major tranquilizers): chloropromazine, promethazine, azaperone; PA1 c) beta-adrenergic blockers: bunitrolol; PA1 d) antidepressants: tricyclic, tetracyclic compounds, alone or associated with neuroleptics; PA1 e) psychostimulants: caffeine, amphetamine or derivatives; PA1 f) sedatives and hypnotics: combining in the formula phenobarbital and codeine (Romanian Patents nos. 60376 and 64161). PA1 a) Some of these compositions contain polyvitamins: hydrosoluble (American Medical Association, AMA Drug Evaluations, Publishing Sciences Group, Acton, Mass., 1973), hydrosoluble together with liposoluble (U.S. Pat. No. 3,493,659), or polyvitamins with bioelements (French Patent no. 7404 M); PA1 b) Other mixtures associate amino acids with or without vitamins (acetylaspartic acid, arginine glutamate, citrulline with folic acid), or are based on aspartates (Romanian Patents nos. 55069 and 77472; French Patent no. 2521429), on glutamates (Romanian Patent no. 76141), or cysteine (Romanian Patent no. 74505), arginine (French Patent no. 2494113), or complex combinations usually built up, alongside with the above mentioned amino acids, from glycine, lysine, tyrosine, ornithine, histidine (French Patent no. 5937 M; Romanian Patent no. 76044); PA1 c) Other associations comprise stimulating substances and combinations thereof: amphetamine, amphetamine with caffeine, or caffeine with vitamins (Romanian Patents nos. 62137 and 66014). PA1 a) anti-oxidative and anti-catabolic stress compounds (anti-lipofuscinogenesis, lipofuscinolytics and for lipofuscin elimination): methionine plus aminoethanol phenoxyacetates and/or aminoethyl phenoxyacetamides); PA1 b) anti-anabolic stress components (for functional and ultrastructural anabolic regeneration): hydrooxopyrimidine carboxylates and/or oxopyrrolidine acetamides with potassium, zinc and lithium; PA1 c) vasodilators (anti-hypoxic and anti-ischemic stress) and normolipidemic compounds: nicotinic alcohol and/or acid or derivatives thereof with magnesium and iodine; PA1 d) energo-active and e) anti-toxic components: aspartate, fructose, vitamin B.sub.1, vitamin B.sub.6, monoacid phosphate and sulfate. PA1 a) for controlled delivery in the release and absorption of the active compounds from the drug, the pharmaceutical preparation of the composition in two complementary types of capsules or film-coated tablets (gastrosoluble and enterosoluble units), the latter being enteric-coated, and PA1 b) for achieving the prolonged anti-ischemic and anti-hypoxic actions, the nicotinic alcohol or acid, or its derivatives from the composition of the enterosoluble capsule or film-coated tablet is retarded, under the form of granule or tablet. PA1 it represents a new drug and a new pharmacotherapeutical strategy in the fields of health promotion and in the prophylaxis, control and treatment of stress, biological wear and tear, premature aging, stress-related illnesses; PA1 it was elaborated and tested according to the biological drug conception, carrying out a synergistic biological, neurometabolic and cell-trophic (cerebral, hepatic, myocardial and general) composition, resulting in a multiple therapeutic efficacy, without toxicity and adverse reactions, without tolerance and dependence; PA1 it was created and checked up in a specific therapeutic conception, namely etio-pathogenic and homeostatic, against stress, impairment and aging, thus ensuring higher therapeutic efficiency, based on its active constituents (anti-oxidative and anti-catabolic stress, anti-anabolic stress, vasodilative--anti-hypoxic and anti-ischemic stress--and normolipidemic, energo-active and anti-toxic compounds), in free radical pathology, hypercatabolic and hypoanabolic states, in hypoxic-ischemic pathology, in dyslipidemias, in energetic exhaustion and toxic-deficient pathology; PA1 its biological composition and its specific anti-stress action determine a larege area of prophylactic, therapeutic and recovering uses, for the whole scale of ages (child, young man, adult, old man), for both healthy and sick persons; PA1 it is meant for healthy people, especially during activities with a high stressant and performing coefficient, because it antagonizes the anti-homeostatic action of stress and impairment (at neuropsychic and biological levels) and enhances the working power in overstressing conditions through increasing the resistance to psychic (intellectual) and physical (biological) effort; PA1 it is meant for patients in stress-dependent, psychosomatic, psychiatric and neurologic pathology, in geriatrics and internal medicine. PA1 in case of oral administration, it allows maximum bioavailability and therapeutic efficiency; PA1 it ensures controlled guidance in the release and absorption of active substances from the drug, by formulating the composition in two complementary types of pharmaceutical units (capsules or film-coated tablets): gastrosoluble and enterosoluble; PA1 for the enteric coating of the enterosoluble unit, it employs a technologic procedure completely non-toxic and non-polluting, namely the spraying with aqueous dispersion of gastroresistant-enterosoluble polymer; PA1 it ensures a prolonged or sustained anti-ischemic and anti-hypoxic action by timed-release of the vasodilative component from the enterosoluble unit; PA1 the different colouring of the two complementary units, gastro- and enterosoluble, and the drug package in the form of calendar-blister, in usual conditions under silica gel protection or under vacuum package technology, ensures correctness, easiness, differentiation and evidence (daily, weekly, monthly) of the treatment and the suitable preservability of the drug; PA1 thanks to its dosage flexibility, it makes possible the differentiation of anti-stress and anti-impairment treatment depending on individual features and neuropsychic reactivity, as well as on obtaining at brain level mainly the anti-oxidative and anti-catabolic stress or anti-anabolic stress action; PA1 it offers the possibility to administer the drug by chronotherapeutic criteria (chronobiological posology).
From the prior art it can be seen that efforts made for the production of drugs efficient in the control and treatment of stress and impairment have so far failed to produce a specific drug with an etio-pathogenic action; only symptomatological purposes or energizing effects have been fulfilled.
Thus, for improving the symptomatology induced by stress, dysadaptation, maladaptation responses to stress and the stress-related disorders (anxiety, depression, asthenia, sleeplessness, neurotic, neurovegetative and psychosomatic disorders) the use of psychotropic medication is known (POLDINGER, W., SCHMIDLIN, P. E., WIDER, F., Index Psychopharmacorum, H. Huber, Bern, 1983). Depending on the prevailing symptomatology, the following are known as having been used:
These psychotropic drugs have the disadvantage of representing only a predominant symptomatic medication, without an etio-pathogenic action against stress; they do not reduce chronic impairment caused by stress, they do not act against stress through anabolic regeneration, they modify the normal (anti-stress) reactions of body adaptation and bring about numerous adverse reactions. Furthermore, the anxiolytic and psychostimulant drugs (of the amphetamine and caffeine type) often call for increasing posology, due to phenomena of acquired tolerance and determine, as important adverse reactions, the dependence on psychoactive substances (LADER, M., Benzodiazepines--the opium of the masses?, pp. 609-615, In: SMITH, A. D., LLINAS, R., KOSTYUK, P. G. (Eds.), Commentaries in the Neurosciences, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1980; W.H.O. Europe, Prevention of Mental Psychosocial and Neurological Disorders in the European Region, 38th Session, Copenhagen, 12-17 September, 1988).
One also knows many anti-stress drug compositions used for energizing, activatory, stimulating, trophic, tonic, fortifying--neuropsychic and/or biological--purposes. They are employed in treating disorders caused by acute and chronic stress, by stress-dependent pathology and especially against their most frequent consequences: nervous, psychic and biological exhaustion, accelerated chronic impairment, premature senescence.
These products, even when they are complex drug associations, have the drawback of not achieving an etio-pathogenic anti-stress therapy by simultaneous coupling of some multiple (vasodilative, normolipidemic, energo-active, anti-toxic, of catabolic regulation--lipofuscinolysis and anabolic regeneration) actions; they are not preclinically tested in antagonization of the experimental stress induced in animals, they cannot prevent or decelerate nervous wear and tear by antagonization of the oxidative stress and do not support the natural adaptation mechanisms--anti-stress mechanisms. Furthermore, especially drugs that associate methylxanthines and/or amphetamines are disadvantageous, because they form an incomplete, limited medication, of short-term effects, which in case of chronic administration, or in large doses, determine other new imbalances, contributing to the enhancement of those pre-existent, to the diminution of neuropsychic and biological resistance to stress, intensifying cellular catabolism and maladaptive reactions against stress; moreover, their use induces many adverse reactions (SYED, I. B., The effects of caffeine, Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association, NS 16, 568-572, 1976; IVERSEN, L. L., IVERSEN, S. D., SNYDER, S. H. (Eds.), Handbook of Psychopharmacology, vol. 11 (Stimulants), Plenum Press, New York, 1978).
The use of methionine in hepatic pathology, as a hepatoprotective compound is well known (WADE, A., REYNOLDS, J. E. F. (Eds.), The Extra Pharmacopoeia, The Pharmaceutical Press, London, 1978). We found out by successive investigations that methionine additionally has a specific neurotropic action and interferes etio-pathogenically against stress. In this way we demonstrated the antagonization effect of chronic oxidative stress, determined by the diminution of lipofuscin pigments in the brain (telencephalon and diencephalon) of old rats, using quantitative histochemical methods (RIGA, S., PAMBUCCIAN, G., OERIU, S., Changes in lipofuscin pigments of rat central nervous system under --SH groups' releasing substances' influence, 9th International Congress of Gerontology, vol. 3 (Section Session, Abstracts), abstract no. 1103, p. 383, Kiev, U.S.S.R., 1972). Subsequently, we emphasized its complex action anti-stress, anti-impairment and anti-aging (catabolic regulation--anti-lipofuscinogenesis, lipofuscinolysis, and anabolic regeneration--the increase of RNA synthesis) at the nervous system level of old rats, using a complex methodology: selective isolations of living nerve cells from brain, morphometrical and biochemical methods (RIGA, S., Studies on Nucleic Acids in the Central Nervous System in Senescence Processes, Ph. D. Thesis, Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, 1976, in Romanian).
It is also known that meclofenoxate, thanks to its actions of energetic and metabolic regulation on nerve cells, has a wide-spread area of clinical use in psychiatry, neurology as well as in the pathology determined by the hypoxic stress aggression of the brain--geriatrics, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, intensive care (COIRAULT, R., DELIGNE, P., ROUIF, J., Une orientation therapeutique nouvelle. L'A.N.P. 235 (ester dimethyl-amino-ethylique de l'acide para-chloro-phenoxy-acetique), Agressologie, 1, 113-138, 1960, in French). Afterwards, using light microscopy-histochemistry (qualitative only), the property of meclofenoxate to decrease lipofuscin pigments in the nervous system of old guinea pigs was emphasized (NANDY, K., BOURNE, G. H., Effect of centrophenoxine on the lipofuscin pigments in the neurons of senile guinea-pigs, Nature (Lond.), 210, 313-314, 1966); it was also demonstrated by electron microscopy (HASAN, M., GLEES, P., EL-GHAZZAWI, E., Age-associated changes in the hypothalamus of the guinea pig: effect of dimethylaminoethyl p-chlorophenoxyacetate. An electron microscopic and histochemical study, Experimental Gerontology, 9, 153-159, 1974). Our researches, having priority as preclinical methodology (quantitative--morphometry and qualitative--type of distribution, autofluorescence, histochemistry) and our trivalent experimental pattern (statistical comparison of three groups--control young, control old and treated old) have demonstrated the meclofenoxate action of specific and intense decrease of lipofuscin pigments in the brain of old rats; based on that, the authors of the present invention introduced in the scientific literature in the art the concept of lipofuscinolysis (RIGA, S., RIGA, D., Effects of centrophenoxine on the lipofuscin pigments in the nervous system of old rats, Brain Research, 72, 265-275, 1974), sustaining it also by electron microscopy (RIGA, D., RIGA, S., Selektive lipofuszinolytische Effekte von Centrophenoxin am Nervensystem alter Ratten, pp. 22-27, In: KUGLER, J. (Ed.), Himstoffwechsel und Himdurchblutung, Schnetztor Verlag, Konstanz, Schweiz, 1977). Later on this concept was used by other authors too. As a result of its lipofuscinolytic action, proof of the antagonization of oxidative stress, meclofenoxate acts etio-pathogenically against brain stress, impairment and aging (RIGA, S., RIGA, D., Dynamics of lipofuscin pigments, directing factor of brain aging, 6e Congres Medical International de la Federation Internationale des Resistants, (F.I.R.), Prague, Tchecoslovaquie, le 30 novembre--3 decembre 1976, Resumes, p. 70, 1976) and in deceleration of aging rate (ZS.-NAGY, I., An attempt to answer the questions of theoretical gerontology on the basis of the membrane hypothesis of aging, Advances in the Biosciences, 64, 393-413, 1987).
The two above mentioned substances, administered separately or without an anti-stress potentiation by means of a neurometabolic composition with an etio-pathogenic action, are disadvantageous because they offer only an incomplete protection of the brain against stress, impairment and aging, while their actions of functional and metabolic regulation, as well as of subcellular regeneration are only partial.

Anti-stress, anti-impairment and anti-aging drug and process for manufacturing thereof


According to one embodiment, a method of operating a semiconductor memory device is disclosed. The method can include storing read-only data in at least one selected from a memory cell of an uppermost layer and a memory cell of a lowermost layer of a plurality of memory cells connected in series via a channel body. The channel body extends upward from a substrate to intersect a plurality of electrode layers stacked on the substrate. The method can include prohibiting a data erase operation of the read-only memory cell having the read-only data stored in the read-only memory cell.

Technology has been proposed to three-dimensionally arrange memory cells by making memory holes in a stacked body including insulating layers multiply stacked alternately with electrode layers that function as control gates, forming charge storage films on the side walls of the memory holes, and providing silicon inside the memory holes.
In such a structure, the memory cell of the uppermost layer or the lowermost layer is adjacent to a selection transistor or a back gate transistor which has a structure different from those of the memory cells. Therefore, the patterned configurations and the device characteristics of the memory cells of the uppermost layer and the lowermost layer easily differ from those of the other memory cells which may cause fluctuation of the characteristics of the memory cells as an entirety.

Method of operating semiconductor memory device


A filament trimmer includes a rotatable trimmer head having an outwardly extending filament. The trimmer has an upper handle that the operator can grip to operate the trimmer in either a trim mode or an edge mode. In the trim mode, the filament extending outwardly from the trimmer head is positioned in a generally horizontal cutting plane, while in the edge mode the trimmer is reoriented such that the filament is positioned in a generally vertical cutting plane. The upper handle of the trimmer includes dual triggers for selectively starting and stopping rotation of the trimmer head. One trigger is actuated when the trimmer is operated in the trim mode and the other trigger is actuated when the trimmer is operated in the edge mode.

Filament trimmers are well known lawn and garden implements. Such a trimmer includes a rotatable trimmer head that has an outwardly extending flexible filament. When the trimmer head is rotated by a drive contained on the trimmer, the filament is spun in a cutting plane to be able to sever grass or other ground growing vegetation. The drive for rotating the trimmer head may be an electrical motor operated by an electrical power source, e.g. a battery on the trimmer or an electric power cord. The drive may also be a drive shaft operated by an internal combustion engine carried on the trimmer.
Some filament trimmers are specifically designed for use in both a trim mode and an edge mode. In the trim mode, the trimmer head is placed generally parallel to the ground such that the filament is rotated in a generally horizontal cutting plane to trim grass or weeds at a height above the ground depending on how close the trimmer head is positioned adjacent the ground. In the edge mode, the trimmer is reoriented from its orientation in the trim mode. In the edge mode, the trimmer head is generally perpendicular to the ground such that the filament is rotated in a generally vertical cutting plane to edge grass along a sidewalk or the like, i.e. to cut off the grass at ground level along the edge of the sidewalk.
In prior trimmers designed with both trim and edge modes, the upper handle of the trimmer contains a single trigger for starting and stopping rotation of the trimmer head. In addition, the upper handle of the trimmer pivots to selectively reposition the upper handle when using the trimmer in both the trim and edge modes. This repositioning is done by providing the upper handle with two different operating positions and by pivoting the handle from one operating position to the other operating position to use the trimmer in one mode of operation or the other. However, some operators do not intuitively understand how to pivot the handle and thus find it difficult to initially figure out how to reposition the upper handle to use the trimmer in both the trim and edge modes of operation. In addition, the need to stop the trimmer and manually reposition the upper handle is inconvenient and thus discourages some operators from switching between the two available modes of operation.


A locator pin aligns a glass panel during installation on a vehicle. The locator pin includes a base for affixing to the glass panel in a predetermined position prior to transporting it from a site where the glass panel is formed. A pin body has an elongated portion with a proximal end and a distal end defining a longitudinal axis. A hinge pivotally attaches the pin body to the base at the proximal end so that the pin body pivots between a shipping position wherein the longitudinal axis is substantially parallel to a surface of the glass panel and an alignment position wherein the longitudinal axis is substantially perpendicular to the surface of the glass panel. The folding pin allows glass panels to be stacked closer together in shipping racks when they are transported from the glass fabrication facility to a place of installation.

The present invention relates in general to the handling and installation of glass panels such as automotive windshields, and, more specifically, to an alignment pin on a glass panel that mates with holes in a mounting frame to align the glass panel while it is bonded to the mounting frame.
Locator pins are commonly used as an assembly aid on automotive glass (such as windshields and backlites) to correctly locate and temporarily hold the glass panel in the proper position until a bonding/sealing agent (e.g., urethane) applied around the periphery of the glass panel has cured. After the urethane cures, the locator pins have no further function.
The locator pins must be accurately positioned on the surface of the glass panel to correspond with mounting holes in the vehicle frame so that the glass panel is properly centered within the vehicle frame and held at a desired height from the frame to accommodate the desired width of urethane. To simplify the glass panel placement within the vehicle frame and mounting holes, a substantial pin length is desired. However, the height of the locator pins decreases the packing density of the glass panels during transportation from the glass manufacturer to the vehicle assembler. The reduction in packing density increases overall shipping costs as well as the expenditures for fabricating and transporting racks in which the glass panels are shipped. In order to avoid cost increases related to inefficient packaging, glass manufacturers sometimes open local facilities near the shipping destinations (e.g., the customer's assembly plants) in order to install the locator pins. It would be desirable to increase packing density while preserving the functionality of a locator pin.
With or without locator pins, spacers are typically employed between adjacent glass panels in shipping racks to reduce damage during shipping. When transporting glass panels with long locator pins, spacer thickness must be greatly increased in order to accommodate the pin length. Thus, it would also be desirable to reduce or eliminate the need for spacers.


A replaceable side bolster module for a vehicle seat in which the bolster module includes an inflatable air cushion and a gas generator for inflating the air cushion. By providing an inflatable air cushion within a replaceable side bolster, following deployment of the air cushion, only the bolster needs to be replaced as opposed to replacing the entire vehicle seat. The foam pad of the replaceable side bolster module has a slit cut therein immediately adjacent to the inflatable air cushion providing a localized weakening of the foam pad. The air cushion deploys through this slit, thus the location of the slit serves to provide directional guidance to the deploying air cushion.

The present invention relates generally to a vehicle seat having an inflatable side impact air cushion and in particular to a seat with a replaceable side bolster containing an air cushion module therein.
In recent years automobile manufactures have directed increasing attention to providing improved side impact protection for vehicle occupants. One method of doing so is to provide an inflatable side impact air cushion mounted to a vehicle seat along the side edge of the seat. The air cushion deploys between the seat occupant and the side of the vehicle to provide improved occupant protection. One disadvantage with seat mounted inflatable air cushions is that with most seat designs, following deployment of the air cushion, replacement of the entire seat is required. Replacement of the entire seat is wasteful when the vehicle collision itself does not damage the seat except for the air cushion deployment. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a seat in which a deployed seat mounted air cushion can be replaced without replacement of the entire seat.
The present invention provides a replaceable side bolster in either the seat back and/or the seat cushion. The air cushion module, having a folded, stored air cushion and gas generator for inflating the air cushion, is contained in the bolster. Following deployment of the air cushion, only the bolster is replaced. As a result, expensive replacement of the entire seat is no longer required.
The replaceable side bolster module includes a frame to which an air cushion module is mounted. A bolster foam pad is placed around the bolster frame and air cushion module, and is then covered with a trim cover. The seat component to which the bolster is attached, includes a seat frame with a main foam pad attached thereto having its own trim cover. A portion of the seat frame is accessible along one side edge for attachment of the side bolster module thereto.
An extending flap from the main trim cover is wrapped over the exposed seat frame following attachment of the bolster to provide a finished appearance. The flap and the bolster trim cover include a releasable fastener, such as a hook and loop fastener, "J" strip retainer, etc. to attach the main trim cover flap to the bolster trim cover.
The bolster foam pad includes a slit extending from the inflatable air cushion toward the bolster trim cover. The slit forms a "weak" portion in the bolster foam to provide directional guidance to the air cushion as the air cushion is initially deployed. The slit in the foam does not extend entirely through the foam to the bolster trim cover. The deploying air cushion will cause the remaining, intact, portion of the bolster foam pad to tear open, and will also cause the bolster trim cover to tear open, allowing complete deployment of the air cushion.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Replaceable seat booster with an inflatable air cushion module


A system for calculating maintenance predictions and making improvements to performance deficiencies to one or more components in an on-board inert gas generating system (OBIGGS) is described. The OBIGGS components include an ozone converter, heat exchanger, inlet filter, and Air Separation Module (ASM). The system comprises a prognostic health monitoring (PHM) sensor network comprising at least one respective sensor coupled to each of the components of the OBIGGS. Each at least one respective sensor is configured to output a respective data signal corresponding to a performance condition of a respective component. A control unit is operatively coupled to each component and signally coupled to each respective sensor of the PHM sensor network. The control unit includes at least one test condition algorithm configured to analyze the respective data signal to calculate the maintenance prediction for the respective component.

Prognostic health monitoring (PHM) may be used to predict when a system or component within the system ceases to perform as intended. When applied to aircraft systems, PHM may enable real-time transformation of system data into maintenance predictions during flight operations (e.g., cleaning or replacement notifications) to improve aircraft reliability and help lower operation expenses. PHM may additionally improve performance deficiencies of inerting systems such as, for example, the on-board inert gas generating system (OBIGGS), due to degradation of the air separation efficiency of an air separation module (ASM) or other system components. Such monitoring may improve overall OBIGGS performance and extend operating lifetime. For instance, improved ASM efficiencies may be achieved through the input of inlet air at a higher airflow rate and/or higher temperature, thereby regenerating the ASM to at or near pre-contamination performance levels.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method which incorporates PHM into an aircraft OBIGGS to monitor system performance and predict maintenance needs. In one example, PHM may promote OBIGGS control of ASM inlet air temperature and/or airflow rate to regenerate ASM performance and extend ASM lifetime. Additional examples may enable monitoring of other OBIGGS components to aid in determining remaining operational lifetimes of those components.

On-board inert gas generating system prognostic health monitoring


A method includes establishing a first session (e.g., a Wi-Fi call) via a first connection to a first network, where the connection to the first network is provided by a first receiver of the mobile device, and monitoring a characteristic of the first connection to the first network. The method includes determining whether the characteristic satisfies a threshold. When the characteristic does not satisfy the threshold, the method includes activating a second receiver of the mobile device, establishing a second connection to a second network, and initiating a handover procedure to transfer the first session from the first network to the second network. The second connection to the second network is provided by the second receiver of the mobile device. As a result of the handover procedure, the first session may be merged with or transferred to a second session (e.g., a cellular call) provided via the second network.

As mobile devices increase in processing power, the number of services provided by the mobile devices has also increased. The services provided by mobile devices include voice services, multimedia services, messaging services, and the like, and the use of such services may result in high utilization of cellular networks (e.g., cellular data networks) resources. To ease the burden on cellular network infrastructure, many mobile devices are operable to establish connections to various types of networks, such as cellular networks (e.g., 2nd Generation (2G) networks, 3rd Generation (3G) networks) and wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks. A mobile device may establish an active Wi-Fi session via a Wi-Fi network, and a service may be provided to the mobile communication devices via active Wi-Fi session and the Wi-Fi network, rather than the cellular network. Thus, demand for cellular network resources may be reduced by providing services to the mobile devices via Wi-Fi networks, rather than the cellular network.
However, Wi-Fi networks tend to have smaller coverage areas (e.g., a building or a portion of a building) than cellular network coverage areas, which may cover an entire metropolitan area. As the mobile devices are moved around, they may periodically move into and out of a coverage area of one or more Wi-Fi networks. If the mobile device initiates use of a service via an active Wi-Fi session while within the coverage area of a Wi-Fi network, and then subsequently moves outside of the coverage area of the Wi-Fi network during the active Wi-Fi session, the session may terminate, which may result in loss of data or otherwise make the use of the service at the mobile device a frustrating experience for the user. Thus, although the use of multiple networks to provide services to a mobile device has reduced the demand for resources on the cellular network, the provisioning of such services to the mobile devices via Wi-Fi and cellular networks may not provide a seamless user experience, which may be frustrating for users of the mobile devices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Techniques for handout of an active session from a first network to a second network