A hydrodynamic torque converter has a converter circuit which is formed of an impeller wheel, a turbine wheel and a stator wheel. A driver for a piston of a lockup clutch is provided at the turbine wheel. The piston is rotatable in the circumferential direction and displaceable in the axial direction. The driver has at least one projection projecting in the direction of an associated recess in the piston in order to produce a connection forming a positive engagement in the circumferential direction while allowing a relative movement of the piston in the axial direction. The projection has at least two legs which are arranged at a distance from one another and extend at a predetermined angle relative to the circumferential direction. These legs are connected with one another, at least at their free ends, by a stiffener and have transmission surfaces at their sides remote of the stiffener. The transmission surfaces are provided for producing a working contact in each instance with an associated counter-surface of the recess of the piston, which counter-surface is adjacent to the transmission surface in the circumferential direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hydrodynamic torque converter.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A torque converter of the type mentioned above is known, for example, from German reference DE 195 27 853 A1, which has a converter circuit formed of an impeller wheel, a turbine wheel and a stator wheel. A driver for the piston of a lockup clutch is fastened to the turbine shell of the turbine wheel. The piston is mounted so as to be rotatable in the circumferential direction and displaceable in the axial direction. In the circumferential area, the piston has an axial shoulder which is directed to the driver and which has recesses at its free end that are uniformly distributed along the circumference. The projections provided at the driver in the radial circumferential region engage in the recesses without play in the circumferential direction. As a result of this driver, the turbine wheel is connected with the piston so as to be fixed with respect to rotation relative to it, so that torque which is transferred from the converter housing to the piston via a friction facing at the piston is transferred via the driver to the turbine wheel and, from the turbine wheel, to a driven shaft via an internal toothing.
It is disadvantageous in a driver of the type mentioned above that when the torque, which is often very high, is transmitted there is considerable surface area pressing at the sides of each recess at the axial shoulder of the piston and at the sides of the associated projection at the driver, which sides are in a working connection with one another, so that wear results very quickly at these contact surfaces. This has the undesirable result that the axial displacement capability of the piston is impeded.
For the transfer of high torque, the projections at the driver must be correspondingly wide in the circumferential direction. The rotational connection between the turbine wheel and the piston is therefore rigid, so that, along with the torque introduced by the converter housing, torsional vibrations which are superposed on the torque reaching the piston are transmitted to the turbine wheel without being filtered. In order to alleviate this problem, torsional damping devices with springs extending in the circumferential direction and, as the case may be, with at least one friction device are added, resulting in a sharp increase in the manufacturing costs and space requirement for the lockup clutch in the torque converter. Another solution consists in operating the piston with slip relative to the converter housing so as to reduce the torsional vibrations in this way through friction. This has the disadvantage of a comparatively high loss of output and an increased demand for guiding off the occurring frictional heat in order to prevent overheating of the converter components in the area of extension of the friction surface.

Hydrodynamic torque converter with a driver for the piston of a lockup clutch


Substantially solid (or nonflowable) antimicrobial compositions have advantages over corresponding liquids and powders. Such a composition may be contained within a plastic bottle with a label indicating that the contents have antimicrobial or deodorizing properties containing a substantially solid, non-flowable composition having greater than about 0.02 percent by weight antimicrobial compounds. The preferred compositions consist essentially of an antimicrobial compound selected from the group consisting of quaternary ammonium salts, fatty amines and diamines, chlorhexidine gluconate, phenol, derivatives of phenol, parachloro metaxylenol and mixtures thereof, and between 0 and 99.98 percent by weight of a cleaning composition. The compositions can be effectively used with solid dispensers. The solid dispensers have a bowl with a drain at the bottom and an upward pointing spray nozzle. The spray nozzle directs water into an inverted bottle of the composition to produce an aqueous solution of antimicrobial compounds which drains from the bottom of the bowl. A second source of aqueous solution or fresh water can combine with the solution draining from the bowl to product a more dilute solution of antimicrobial compounds. The relative flow into the spray nozzle and the secondary source can be adjusted to produce a final diluted solution with a desired dilution. Antimicrobial solutions can be used in a variety of industrial and institutional applications including laundry and hard surface cleaning. Four methods of producing these substantially solid, antimicrobial compositions are described.

An extensive number of antimicrobial compositions are commercially available in liquid or powder form. The liquid compositions typically have active ingredients in the range of 5 percent to 15 percent by weight of the product, but highly concentrated liquid products can contain up to 80% active ingredients. Concentrated liquid products must be diluted before use. Ready to use liquid products can have concentrations of active ingredients at least as low as 0.02 percent by weight of the product. All of these liquid products contain significant amounts of water, alcohols and/or other materials as diluents. Because these products are diluted, they utilize more packaging materials and result in higher shipping weights to transport a given amount of active material than is required for a highly concentrated solid.
A significant disadvantage of powder or granular products for commercial applications is that they are not as accurately controllable in dispensing equipment as liquids. Powder systems can require manually scooping a quantity of powder for each use, thus not taking advantage of the ease, accuracy and hands-off labor savings of liquid dispensers. Also, powders can cake if exposed to high humidity or temperatures. Once they become caked, they cannot be easily removed from their shipping container. Non-homogeneous powders can segregate in their shipping containers, in other words, separate or stratify by particle size or density, resulting in a non-uniform mixture that may not be appropriate for ultimate use applications.
Some disinfectants and sanitizers are considered corrosive which creates hazards in shipping and handling. Spilled liquid material from leaking containers or mishandling the product can come into contact with skin or eyes causing tissue damage, pain and discomfort. Powders can create a safety hazard because particles of irritating or corrosive materials can exit their container or become airborne allowing the particles to come into direct contact with tissue, such as skin or lungs, causing burns or discomfort. A solid antimicrobial product would not be easily capable of creating this hazard since it cannot leak out of its container nor can it be spilled in handling.
Because of stringent regulatory controls over disinfectants and sanitizers, especially for institutional uses, solutions for application typically must be prepared with specific and exacting dilution ratios. Typical sanitizer and disinfectant concentrates are mixed with water to obtain a solution with a specific concentration for applications. These solutions are used to sanitize or disinfect objects and surfaces such as counter tops, tables, floors, walls, dishes, utensils and fabrics. Many institutions requiring these products include food processors, nursing homes, health care facilities, kitchens, and laundries. Hence, a composition containing an antimicrobial agent may be used to produce a disinfectant or sanitizing solution. These products are also effective at deodorizing because they can destroy odor causing bacteria and other microbes.
While liquid and powder products can be measured by hand and accurately diluted, this process is slow and potentially hazardous if the materials are corrosive. Liquid products can be properly diluted using dispensing apparatuses to produce solutions for application, but this does not eliminate all of the inconveniences and hazards of handling a liquid. Recently, dispensers have been developed for accurate and convenient dispensing of solids. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,587 to Laughlin et al. describes a solid dispensing device where the solid is provided in a plastic bottle that is inverted over a bowl. Water is sprayed on the solid to produce a solution that is drained from the bowl.
Some sanitizer or disinfectant concentrates have cleaning agents added to the antimicrobial compounds to create cleaner-disinfectants. Commercially available liquid and powder cleaner-disinfectants clean soils from surfaces as well as kill microorganisms. The cleaning agents in these products can be alkaline, neutral or acidic, and include anionic or nonionic surfactants along with other optional additives such as alkaline builders and metal ion sequestering agents. Liquid and powder cleaner-disinfectants have the same disadvantages as liquid and powder forms of other sanitizing products.


A ladder wall stand-off accessory for mounting on a ladder rung between the spaced side rails of a ladder section including arm stand-off means with wall surface pad means extending therefrom and having rung gripping means pivotally mounted thereon to engage with the ladder rung to be fastened thereto in clamping relation therewith, a novel rung adapter bar being provided to mask the ladder rung if required.

The present invention relates to ladder structure and more particularly to a unique accessory to be mounted on a rung of a ladder between the rung supporting spaced side rails thereof to position the ladder in stand-off position from the wall surface of a construction.
Stand-off accessories utilizing an extension arm fastened at one end to a ladder and having a pad member mounted at the opposite end to rest against a wall surface structure are generally well known in the ladder art. Such an arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,842, issued to D. L. Southern on Jul. 5, 1988, wherein a pair of extension arms have corresponding ends engaging in the corresponding tops of spaced side rails of a ladder section with spaced pads pivotally mounted at the corresponding opposite ends of the extension arm pair to rest against a wall surface. Attention further is directed to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,113,973 and 5,121,814, both issued to D. L. Southern on May 19, 1992 and Jun. 16, 1992, respectively, each patent disclosing a lateral or horizontally extending brace of U-shape to include a base section engageably fastened to the spaced side rails and rung therebetween of a ladder section, the spaced arms of the U-shaped brace having their respective side arm ends pivotally support a pair of spaced wall resting pads. Finally, attention is directed to the R. D. Werner Co., Greenville, Pa. 16125 bulletin, disclosing a "TRUE GRIP".RTM. Model No. 17 stand-off arrangement, which arrangement does not include a lateral or horizontal U-shaped brace but which utilizes a pair of spaced extension arms having spaced rest pads pivotally mounted at one pair of spaced corresponding ends with the opposite ends also engaging both the spaced side rails and the rung therebetween to be fastened to the ladder section for support.
These aforedescribed ladder stand-off accessories have been comparatively complex to manufacture, assemble and maintain, and have presented a limited wall surface contact area. The unique and novel structure of the present invention is straightforward and economical to manufacture, assemble and maintain, requiring a minimum of parts and shipping space, yet assuring stable stand-off accessory support with a maximum of wall surface contact. At the same time, the structure of the present invention, which can be readily adapted to rungs of different cross-sectional configuration, assures proper parts assembly with controlled pad pivoting action and with extended wall surface contact. Further, the present invention provides a unique, readily assembled rung clamping structure, requiring a minimum of clamping parts and, at the same time, assuring a stable, positive and firm connection of the stand-off accessory with rungs of different cross-sectional contour.
Various other features of the present invention will become obvious to one skilled in the art upon reading the disclosure set forth herein.

Ladder stand-off accessory and rung adapter therefor


An oil pressure supply valve for a traction control system, the structure of which is simple and small in size, that improves the function of the traction control system by securing enough flowing volume of the brake oil. The oil pressure supply valve includes: a body; internal passages connecting a master cylinder connection passage and a pump inlet connection passage that are formed perpendicular to each other in the body; a valve operating member including a valve seat for opening and closing the internal passages; a valve element having a ball valve which contacts or separates from the valve seat; a fixing screw member which is integrally formed with the valve element; and a spring supporting the valve operating member. Also, in the fixing screw member is formed an air passage through which air passes when the valve operating member moves up and down. Rings for preventing oil leakage are provided between the valve operating member and the body, and between the valve operating member and the valve element, respectively.

1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to an oil pressure supply valve, and more specially to an oil pressure supply valve for a traction control system, the structure of which is simple and small in size.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a traction control system, in order to prevent the driving wheels from slipping when excessive driving force is transferred to them or when the car initially accelerates on a slippery road, slip signals of the driving wheels are transferred from a speed sensor installed on the driving wheels to a controller. After the controller receives the slip signals, it provides adequate braking force to the driving wheels by increasing or decreasing the driving force or reducing the engine power without depressing the brake, so that slipping of the driving wheels is prevented.
In a conventional traction control system, as shown in FIG. 1, an oil pressure supply valve 90 is provided. When a traction control system operates, because a TC (Traction Control) valve 100 is closed, the brake oil discharged from a master cylinder 20 is not supplied directly to a pump 40. Instead, the oil flows to the pump 40 via the oil pressure supply valve 90 and is supplied to a wheel cylinder 60, so that an adequate driving force is applied. But when a brake 10 is depressed, the oil pressure is not supplied to the pump 40 because the oil pressure supply valve 90 is closed, but flows to the wheel cylinder 60 via a check valve 30, so that the excessive oil pressure caused by depressing the break 10 is prevented from being transferred to the pump 40. The elements that are indicated by the numerals 50 and 70 are check valves, and 80 is a low pressure tank.
FIG. 4 shows the structure of a conventional oil pressure supply valve for a traction control system.
In a conventional oil pressure supply valve, a master cylinder connection passage 202 and a pump inlet connection passage 203 are formed perpendicular to each other in a body 201, and passages 204,205 and 206 connect the two connection passages 202 and 203. At the lower portion of the body 201 is provided a plunger 215 supported by a spring 216, and at the top of and integrally formed with the plunger 215 is a push rod 214, which passes through the passage 205 and extends to the passage 204. A ball valve 213 provided inside the passage 204 contacts or separates from a valve seat 211 formed at the end of the passage 204 because the movement of the push rod 214 and the ball valve 213 up and down together is governed by the spring 216 and the brake oil pressure. Accordingly, the valve is opened or closed.
In such an oil pressure supply valve, when the traction control system operates, because the resilient force of the spring 216 supporting the plunger 215 is larger than the pressure of the brake oil flowing to the body 201 via the master cylinder connection passage 202, the push rod 214 of the plunger 215 is protruded inside the passage 204. This causes the ball valve 213 to separate from the valve seat 211, which reroutes the brake oil discharged from the master cylinder connection passage 202 to the pump inlet connection passage 203 via the passages 204,205 and 206. From the pump inlet connection passage 203 the brake oil is then supplied to the wheel cylinder via the pump, thereby providing adequate driving force for preventing the driving wheels from slipping when the car is started or accelerated on a slippery road, and for controlling the cornering skid when the car drives around a corner.
However, when a driver depresses the brake because of the driving instability caused by the slipping of the driving wheels, the brake oil pressure discharged from the master cylinder passage 202 becomes larger than the resilient force of the spring 216 and presses the plunger 215 down. Therefore, the ball valve 213 contacts the valve seat 211 to block the passages 204 and 205, thereby preventing excessive oil pressure from being transferred to the pump.
When the brake pedal is then released, as the oil pressure discharged from the master cylinder connection passage 202 is reduced, the spring 216 moves the push rod 214 of the plunger 215 up. Since, the ball valve 213 separates from the valve seat 211, the brake oil discharged from the master cylinder connection passage 202 flows to the pump inlet connection passage 203 via the passages 204,205 and 206 and is supplied to the wheel cylinder.
In a conventional oil pressure supply valve, because the push rod 214 supporting the ball valve 213 is located inside the passage 205, the flowing volume of the brake oil to the pump is relatively small. To solve this problem, the diameter of the passage 205 can be made larger, but as the passage 205 gets larger, the ball valve 213 and the valve seat 211 must also increase in size. Therefore, a conventional oil pressure supply valve has a disadvantage in that the external shape of the valve becomes large and the structure complicated, when it is made large enough to properly accommodate the brake oil flow necessary for braking.

Oil pressure supply valve for a traction control system


The invention relates to a workplace analysis system (1) in a work area (10) for the acquisition and analysis of the presence of a person (P) to be monitored in several differently defined zones (A, B, C) of the work area (10) and of at least the temporal duration of stay (tA, tB, tC) of the person (P) to be monitored within the zones (A, B, C), wherein in the workplace analysis system (1) at least one acquisition device (20) is provided, which is designed to detect and to acquire the presence and the duration of stay (tA, tB, tC) of the person (P) to be monitored in the respective zones (A, B, C), and an analysis device (30) is provided, which is designed to analyze and evaluate the presence and the duration of stay (tA, tB, tC) of the person (P) to be monitored in the respective zones (A, B, C).

The increasing work time spent at desks requires strengthened ergonomic measures for preventing tension, pain and long-term injury of the locomotor apparatus, particularly in persons with a large amount of deskwork.
In addition to the above-mentioned health improvements, such ergonomic measures also increase the efficiency, since, as a result of the measures, the ability to think and concentrate is also increased.
Various workplace analysis systems are already known in the prior art; however, they tend to acquire data one time only on the suitability for prevention of injuries and to identify optimization options for that purpose. However, such systems have the disadvantage that they do not motivate a person to make use of measures and possibilities beneficial to health. Furthermore, systems are known in the prior art, which, although they provide an indication for improvement, comprise no possibility for the acquisition of data on the actual activities or the actual position of the person.


The present invention is directed to a process for forming a well visible non-chromate conversion coating on surfaces of magnesium and magnesium alloys, to a composition therefor and to a method of use for such coated articles having surfaces of magnesium or any magnesium alloy. The composition is a solution or dispersion comprising a fluorosilicon acid. The composition is preferably an aqueous solution having a pH in the range from 0.5 to 5 and includes often at least one pH adjustment agent. The thereof formed coating is useful to increase the corrosion resistance and the adhesion of magnesium and magnesium alloys to a paint coating, powder coating, e-coat, fluoropolymer coating, self-lubricant layer and adhesive bonding layer. The conversion coating may favorably be coated with a fluoropolymer coating, coated with a silane based sealing or both. The such formed coating is typically of grey mat non-metallic appearance.

Magnesium and magnesium alloys are specifically useful for the manufacturing of many light weight components and of many critical components for severe applications, for example for the manufacturing of secondary structural elements for aircrafts as well as of components for vehicles and electronic devices, because of their light weight and strength.
One of the significant disadvantages of magnesium and magnesium alloys is their sensitivity for corrosion. Exposure to hazardous chemical conditions causes magnesium rich surfaces to corrode quickly. Corrosion is unaesthetic and reduces strength.
A method that is often used to improve the corrosion resistance of metallic surfaces is painting. When the metallic surface is protected by a thick paint layer from the contact with corrosive agents, corrosion is prevented. However, many types of paint do not bind well to magnesium and magnesium alloy surfaces.
Methods based on chemical conversion of an outer metallic surface using chromate solutions are well known in the art as being useful for treating magnesium and magnesium alloy surfaces to increase corrosion resistance and paint adhesion, see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,035,380 or 3,457,124. Chromate containing coatings are mostly colored and excellent visible. However, the corrosion resistance of treated magnesium rich surfaces is typically very low—quite different from other metallic substrates coated with a chromate coating—and the environmental unfriendliness as well as the dangers for living beings of chromate solutions are definite disadvantages of these methods.
Several methods of metal surface treatment using non-chromate conversion coatings have been disclosed, for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,292,549, 5,750,197, 5,759,629 and 6,106,901. Silane solutions are environmentally friendly and lend excellent corrosion resistance to treated metal surfaces. Silane from the solution binds to a treated metallic surface forming a layer to which commonly used polymers such as paint or adhesive may be further applied, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,197.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,777,094 teaches to provide a silane pretreatment on magnesium and magnesium alloys. Although the disclosed treatment offers excellent paint adhesion and corrosion protection, the coating is transparent and requires special on-line control methods.
Many of the present non-chromate treatment technologies are based on Group IV metals of the Periodical Table of Chemical Elements such as titanium, zirconium or hafnium, a source of fluoride ion and a mineral acid for a pH adjustment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,936 discloses the use of zirconium, fluoride, nitric acid and boron to produce a uniform, colorless and clear conversion coating for aluminum. U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,670 teaches a clear conversion coating comprising zirconium, fluoride and phosphate. U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,592 concerns a coating comprising zirconium, fluoride and a C1-7 polyhydroxy compound, wherein the composition is essentially free of phosphate and boron. U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,309 refers to a coating comprising Group IV metals such as zirconium in combination with one or more non-fluoro anions while fluorides are specifically excluded from the processes and compositions above certain levels. The main lack of these conversion coatings is again the lack of a color and visibility, as the coatings are all clear and colorless or mostly colorless.
Recently disclosed well visible non-chromate conversion coatings include additionally to the metals of Group IV of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements and to fluorides also any a special color providing component, such as an alizarine dye in U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,800 and such as permanganic acid and its water soluble salts in U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,580.
Permanganic acid is not preferred as its coloring effect is too strong and as its impurities are difficult to avoid and to remove. But the main lack of compositions containing permanganic acid or any of its salts is a low stability in contact with a magnesium rich surface so that it requires an addition of at least one sequestering agent and an extended use of chemicals.
The addition of organic dyes to process solutions usually leads to higher coating costs, to complicate compositions and to difficulties to control the process solution by optical methods like photometry.
Additionally, one critical disadvantage of non-chromate conversion coatings based on Group IV metals of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements is the very low adhesion of the formed conversion coating to fluoropolymer coatings. Anodizing coatings or phosphate coatings are usually used as pretreatment coatings for magnesium rich surfaces, often prior to a PTFE coating.
Anodizing coatings or phosphate coatings are also used like pretreatment coatings prior to applying self-lubricant coatings like MoS2 or graphite containing coatings on metal sliding components and in forming technologies like deep-drawing or forging.
Anodizing coatings as well as most of the phosphate coatings are well visible on magnesium rich surfaces. However, as it is well known for one skilled in the art, thick crystalline phosphate conversion coatings often fail to form layers on magnesium surfaces showing sufficient corrosion resistance and paint adhesion. Providing an anodizing technology for magnesium rich surfaces requires a complicate and expensive equipment.
It would be highly advantageous to have a method for treating magnesium and magnesium alloys with a non-complicate and stable composition which allows to form a well visible coating layer which has at least the same corrosion resistance and at least the same adhesion of the conversion coating to paint coatings, powder coatings, e-coats, fluoropolymer containing coatings, self-lubricant layers like coatings containing MoS2 or graphite like conversion coatings and adhesives layers typically used in the art for magnesium rich surfaces.
It has now been found that aqueous compositions containing a fluorosilicon acid and optionally a pH adjustment agent form either invisible clear and mostly even colorless coatings or no coatings on surfaces on aluminum, aluminum alloys, steel and zinc, but the same compositions or modified compositions form well visible grey or black crack-free coatings with a mat non-metallic appearance on surfaces of magnesium or magnesium alloys.

Process for forming a well visible non-chromate conversion coating for magnesium and magnesium alloys

Alonim Holding Agricultural Cooperative Society Ltd.


A display panel and fabrication method, and a display device are provided. The display panel includes a substrate, an array layer disposed on the substrate, and a light-emitting device disposed on a side of the array layer facing away from the substrate. The array layer includes a thin film transistor, and the thin film transistor includes a ring-shaped active layer, a ring-shaped gate electrode isolatedly overlapped with a channel region of the ring-shaped active layer, and a ring-shaped first end corresponding to and connected to the ring-shaped active layer. The ring-shaped first end is one of a source electrode and a drain electrode of the thin film transistor. The light-emitting device includes a first electrode, and the first electrode is connected to the ring-shaped first end, and the first electrode is a ring-shaped electrode.

Flat display device is featured with advantages such as high picture quality, power saving, thin body and wide application range, etc., has been widely used in a mobile phone, a television, a personal digital assistant, a digital camera, a notebook computer, a desktop computer, and any other consumer electronics, and has become the mainstream in display devices.
Micro light-emitting diode (LED) display is a display that achieves image display using high-density micro-sized LED arrays integrated on a substrate as display pixels. Similar to a large-sized outdoor LED display, each pixel of the micro LED display can be addressed and driven to be lit individually. The micro LED display can be regarded as a reduced version of the outdoor LED display, and distance between pixels may be reduced from millimeters to micrometers. Similar to an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, the micro LED display is one of self-illuminated displays, However, compared with the OLED display, the micro LED display is featured with advantages such as excellent material stability, long service life, and no image sticking, and is considered to be the biggest competitor of the OLED displays. The disclosed display panel and fabrication method, and display device are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.

Display panel and fabrication method, and display device

SHANGHAI TIANMA MICRO-ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


A half-fitting prevention connector (1) includes a pair of male and female connectors (2, 3) which are fittable to each other. A spring member (5) is received in the male connector (2) and prevents a half-fitted condition of the male and female connectors due to a resilient force thereof. A lock arm (10) is elastically and displaceably connected to a housing of one of the male and female connectors by interconnecting portions (30). The sum of the transverse cross-sectional areas of the interconnecting portions (30) is smaller than the transverse cross-sectional area of the lock arm (10) so that the entire lock arm (10) is not elastically deformed when canceling a fitted condition of the male and female connectors. When the male and female connectors are completely fitted to each other, the spring member (5) urges the lock arm (10) in such a direction that the lock arm (10) can retain the mating connector (3).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a half-fitting prevention connector in which a half-fitted condition is positively prevented by a resilient force of a spring member mounted in a housing of at least one of a pair of male and female connectors to be fittingly connected together, and the connector can be positively locked to the mating connector in a fitted condition.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 11-265828, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various half-fitting prevention connectors are already known. For example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 9-55261 discloses a half-fitting prevention connector shown in FIGS. 8 to 13.
As shown in FIG. 8, a male connector 50 includes a hood 51 having a spring receiving chamber 52 therein, and a spring 70, bent into a zigzag shape, is received in this spring receiving chamber 52 so as to be contracted. Guide portions 53a are formed respectively on opposed inner surfaces of a pair of guide walls 53 extending from an inner surface of a top wall of the hood 51.
And besides, in such a half-fitting prevention connector, when canceling the fitted condition, the entire elastic arm 61 needs to be elastically deformed or flexed at a region adjacent to the upstanding proximal end portion thereof, and therefore a large canceling force was required.
Connection terminals are received in terminal receiving chambers in the male connector 50, and connection terminals are also received in terminal receiving chambers in the female connector 60, each of these connection terminals being press-connected to a distal end of a wire. When the two connectors are fittingly connected together, the connection terminals in the male connector are electrically connected respectively to the connection terminals in the female connector.
In the above half-fitting prevention connector in a condition shown in FIG. 9, when the female connector 60 is inserted into the male connector 50, the guide projections 61b, formed respectively on the opposite side edges of the elastic arm 61, slide over the upper surfaces of the guide portions 53a, respectively. At this time, even if the lower end of the elastic arm 61 is pressed down, the guide projections 61b slide over the upper surfaces of the guide portions 53a, respectively, and will not come under the guide portions 53a, respectively, as shown in FIG. 10.
When the guide projections 61b thus slide respectively over the upper surfaces of the guide portions 53a, so that the rear end of the elastic arm 61 is raised as shown in FIG. 11, the retaining projection 61a enters the spring receiving chamber 52 through a communication window 52a formed in an upper portion of the male connector 50. Then, when the female connector 60 is further pushed into the male connector 50, the retaining projection 61a abuts against a front end of the spring 70 to compress the same. At this time, the resilient force of the spring 70 tends to push the female connector 60 back, and therefore when the female connector 60 ceases to be pushed in a half-fitted condition, the female connector 60 is pushed out of the male connector 50.
Then, the guide projections 61b pass the guide portions 53a, respectively, and are retained respectively by these guide portions 53a, so that a completely-fitted condition is achieved as shown in FIG. 13. As a result, the elastic arm 61 is restored into an initial horizontal condition, so that the retaining of the spring 70 by the retaining projection 61a is canceled.
For canceling the fitted condition of the male and female connectors, the rear end of the elastic arm 61 is pressed down to thereby cancel the retaining of the guide projections 61b by the guide portions 53a, as shown in FIG. 14, and the guide projections 61b are disposed under the guide portions 53a, respectively. Then, as the female connector 60 is withdrawn, the guide projections 61b are further pressed down by the lower surfaces of the guide portions 53a, respectively, so that the elastic arm 61 is elastically deformed into a bow-like shape. Then, when the female connector 60 is further withdrawn, the guide projections 61b pass the lower surfaces of the guide portions 53a, respectively, so that the fitted condition of the male and female connectors is canceled.
In the above half-fitting prevention connector, the elastic arm 61 first extends upwardly from the front end of the housing of the female connector 60, and then extends horizontally toward the rear end of the housing. The elastic arm 61 has a generally uniform thickness over the entire length thereof including the upstanding proximal end portion thereof and the horizontal portion thereof, and when canceling the fitted condition, the horizontal portion is flexed or elastically deformed into a bow-like shape.
However, as a result of repeating the connector fitting operation and the connector disengaging operation, the elastic arm 61 was liable to be plastically deformed, with the lower end thereof kept depressed, as shown in FIG. 10. With such deformed elastic arm 61, the locked condition, achieved by the guide portions 53a in the completely-fitted condition, was inadequate, and therefore there was a possibility that the male and female connectors were accidentally disengaged from each other upon application of an external force such as vibrations.
And besides, in such a half-fitting prevention connector, when canceling the fitted condition, the whole of the elastic arm 61 need to be elastically deformed or flexed at a region adjacent to the upstanding proximal end portion thereof, and therefore a large canceling force was required.
With the above problems in view, it is an object of the present invention to provide a half-fitting prevention connector in which a fitted condition can be positively maintained, and a fitted condition-canceling operation can be easily effected.
To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a transverse cross-sectional area of an interconnecting portion, connecting a lock arm to a housing, is smaller than a transverse cross-sectional area of the lock arm, and the elastic deformation of the lock arm is absorbed only by the elastic deformation of the interconnecting portion so as to prevent the plastic deformation of the lock arm, and the lock arm is urged by the spring member in a direction opposite to the direction of elastic deformation of the lock arm, thereby maintaining a locked condition of the connector housings fitted to each other.
More specifically, first, second and third aspects of the present invention will now be described below.
In the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a half-fitting prevention connector which comprises a pair of connector housings fittable to each other, a spring member receivable in one of the connector housings, the spring member being operative to prevent a half-fitted condition of the connector housings by a resilient force thereof, an interconnecting portion, and a lock arm elastically-displaceably supported on one of the connector housings through the interconnecting portion, wherein when the connector housings are completely fitted to each other, the spring member urges the lock arm in a direction in which the lock arm retains the other one of the connector housings. Here, a transverse cross-sectional area of the interconnecting portion is smaller than a transverse cross-sectional area of the lock arm so that only the interconnecting portion can be elastically deformed when canceling a fitted condition of the connector housings.
In the second aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that the lock arm extends in a direction in which one of the connector housings is fitted to the other one of the connector housings, wherein the spring member is contractibly held on the lock arm, and has a portion extending in an extending direction of the lock arm. Further, preferably, the half-fitting prevention connector further comprises an engagement portion formed on the other one of the connector housings, the engagement portion retaining the lock arm when the connector housings are completely fitted to each other, and a pressing portion formed on the other one of the connector housings, the pressing portion abutting against the spring member to compress the spring member when the lock arm is elastically displaced by the engagement portion.
In the third aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that the spring member includes a resiliently-bendable portion which is resiliently deformed to urge the lock arm in accordance with an elastic displacement of the lock arm.
Here, the term xe2x80x9ctransverse cross-sectional area of the lock armxe2x80x9d means the area of the cross-section of the lock arm obtained by cutting the lock arm in a direction perpendicular to a direction extending from the free end of the lock arm toward the proximal end thereof connected to the interconnecting portion. The term xe2x80x9ctransverse cross-sectional area of the interconnecting portionxe2x80x9d means the area of the cross-section of the interconnecting portion obtained by cutting the interconnecting portion in a direction perpendicular to a direction extending from one side of the interconnecting portion, connected to the lock arm, toward the other side thereof connected to the housing. The transverse cross-sectional shape of the lock arm, as well as the transverse cross-sectional shape of the interconnecting portion, is not limited, but it is preferred that the maximum value of the transverse cross-sectional area of the interconnecting portion be smaller than the minimum value of the transverse cross-sectional area of the lock arm.
In the half-fitting prevention connector of the above construction, the elastic deformation of the whole lock arm is absorbed only by the elastic deformation of the interconnecting portion, so that the lock arm can be prevented from being plastically deformed. And besides, the lock arm is urged by the spring member in the direction opposite to the direction of elastic displacement of this lock arm, and therefore the entire lock arm will not be elastically deformed, so that the completely-fitted condition can be positively maintained. Furthermore, the increase of the canceling force by the spring member is canceled by increasing the elastic force of the interconnecting portion, and therefore the fitted condition-canceling operation can be effected efficiently.


The present invention provides a video projector equipped with a projection lens system having only one optical axis for projecting a plurality color images displayed on a plurality of CRTs. The color images displayed on the CRTs 2R, 2B and 2G are respectively focused onto a writing side of respective spatial light modulators 4R, 4G and 4B through a plurality of writing lens 3R, 3G and 3B. On the other hand, a light from a reading light source 5 is divided into 3-color lights of R, G and B by a cross-type 3-color separation member 25. The three color lights are respectively inputted into a reading side of the respective spatial light modulators through a plurality of polarization beam splitter blocks 26R, 26G and 26B each having a pair of dielectric multiple layers 26a, 26b disposed parallel to each other. A plurality of reading light outputted from the spatial light modulators are synthesized and outputted as a composite color light by a cross-type 3-color composition member 28 so as to be projected with a magnification onto a screen by the projection lens system.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a video projector, and particularly relates to a color video projector constructed in such that color component images of R (red), G (green) and B (blue) of an original image respectively displayed on a plurality of CRTs provided to respective colors of R, G and B are focused onto a plurality of spatial light modulators for amplifying intensities of the color component images, and a single 3-color image of composite light of R, G and B obtained through the spatial light modulators and a cross-type 3-color composition member, is projected onto a screen as a magnified color composite image by a projecting lens system having only one optical axis.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Recently, diversity and high quality of image information have been advanced, so that there are increased such high quality image data as typically presented in HDTV (high-definition TV) broadcasting system and SVGA (Super Video Graphic Array) of a computer graphic system. In this connection, there are proposed many kinds of video projectors for displaying the high quality image data with a large magnification.
In these video projectors, there is one in which an image displayed on a CRT (cathode ray tube) is directly projected onto a screen by being optically magnified, and another one in which a small liquid crystal panel is driven as a light valve and the image displayed on the light valve is projected onto a screen by being optically magnified.
In these methods, it requires a high brightness for the image to be displayed on the CRT or on the liquid crystal panel to project an adequately bright image on the screen.
Specifically, in the case of employing the CRT, it may be possible to obtain a bright image by increasing the electron beam output of the CRT, however, it is impossible to obtain a high resolution image at the same time due to the inherent limitation of the CRT.
On the other hand, in the case of employing the liquid crystal panel, it is well known that the brightness of the image displayed on the panel depends on an amount of a light passing through the liquid crystal panel caused by light emitted from a light source placed in backside thereof. Therefore, when an area of a window or a picture element is made larger so as to increase the amount of the light passing through the liquid crystal panel, the numbers of the picture elements of the liquid crystal panel are obliged to be more decreased, this degrades the resolution of the image thereon. Thus, it is impossible to obtain the image having both the high resolution and the high brightness in using the above methods.
Therefore, there is proposed a video projector capable of projecting an image having both the high resolution and the high brightness on the screen in such a manner that the image displayed on the CRT or the liquid crystal panel is focused onto a spatial light modulator (trade name, ILA: Image Light Amplifier) having a function of a light amplification as shown in "Electronics Life" September 1993 (page 117-121) issue.
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional side view for explaining the principle of the video projector in the prior art;
FIG. 2 is a sectional side view showing a spatial light modulator used in FIG. 1; and
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a color video projector employing a plurality of CRTs and a plurality of spatial light modulators each provided for R, G and B.
Referring to FIG. 1, the projector 1 in the prior art comprises a CRT 2, a writing lens 3, a spatial light modulator 4, a reading light source 5, a polarization beam splitter 6, a projection lens 7, and a screen 8, wherein the projector 1 is constructed in such a manner that an image displayed on the CRT 2 is focused onto the spatial light modulator 4 by the writing lens 3, and the image is projected in a large magnification onto the screen 8 by the projection lens 7 through the spatial light modulator 4 having a function as an image light amplifier. A liquid crystal panel (not shown) may be used instead of the CRT 2.
Before giving an operational explanation of the video projector 1, a description is given of the construction and operation of the spatial light modulator 4 in reference with FIG. 2.
As mentioned in the foregoing, the spatial light modulator 4 has a function as an image light amplifier for amplifying a feeble writing light (image picture), of which the amplification is about millionfold.
The spatial light modulator 4 is composed of a several thin films interposed between a pair of glass substrate 4a, 4b, without undergoing a minute dividing process for the picture elements.
Specifically, the spatial light modulator 4 comprises a glass substrate 4a, a transparent electrode 4c, a photo-conductive layer 4e, a light shielding layer 4f, dielectric mirror 4g, a liquid crystal layer 4h, a transparent electrode 4d and a glass substrate 4b disposed in this order, wherein an alternating voltage (AC) of 10 V is applied across the transparent electrodes 4c, 4d from an alternative bias power source 4i.
Accordingly, when a feeble writing light WL of an information image irradiates the photoconductive layer 4e through the glass substrate 4a of the special light modulator 4, an impedance distribution of the photo-conductive layer 4e changes corresponding to the intensity distribution of the writing light WL. Thus, the voltage applied across the transparent electrodes 4c, 4d is controlled accordingly with the change of the impedance distribution of the photoconductive layer 4e. On the other hand, when a light KL from the reading light source 5 irradiates on the spatial light modulator 4 through the glass substrate 4b, the light KL passing through the liquid crystal layer 4h is reflected by the dielectric mirror 4g and proceeds in the reverse direction as a reading light RL.
During the light KL is passing through the liquid crystal layer 4h and is reflected by the dielectric mirror 4g as a reading light RL, the reading light RL undergoes an optical modulation in accordance with the polarization state of the liquid crystal layer 4h which is changed corresponding to the change of the intensity distribution of the writing light WL.
Accordingly, the spatial light modulator 1 has a feature that the writing light and reading light can be processed independently each other without any interaction to each other due to the light shielding layer 4f for optically shielding the light KL from invading the photoconductive layer 4e, though the reading light RL is modulated in accordance with the intensity of the light distribution of the writing light WL.
At that time, a feeble light can be used for the writing light WL because of employing an amorphous silicon material having a high sensitivity as the photoconductive layer 4e. Thus, when the CRT is employed, the amount of the electron beam current of the CRT can be reduced, and when the liquid crystal panel is employed, the driving current of the liquid crystal panel can be made at the minimum. These enable to write a high resolution image thereon.
Referring back to FIG. 1, upon operating the video projector 1 equipped with the above spatial light modulator 4, the image displayed on the CRT 2 is focused onto the photoconductive layer 4e of the spatial light modulator 4 by the writing lens 3 through the glass substrate 4a.
On the other hand, when the light KL from the reading light source 5 impinges on the polarization beam splitter 6, an S-polarized component light of the light KL is selectively reflected at a right angle and is incident on the spatial light modulator 4 through the glass substrate 4b and is reflected and outputted as the reading light RL being modulated by the liquid crystal layer 4h in accordance with the modulation state caused by the writing light WL.
When the reading light RL outputted from the spatial light modulator 4 impinges on the polarization beam splitter 6, only a, P-polarized component of the reading light RL passes through the beam splitter 6 and is outputted as an image light corresponding to the modulation state of the liquid crystal layer 4h, and is projected onto the screen 8 as a magnified image by the projecting lens 7.
Incidentally, the polarized beam splitter 6 is formed in a cube by using glass materials, and a dielectric multiple layer 6a is formed along a diagonal line of the cube in the glass materials.
Next, a description is given of a color video projector 10 in the prior art equipped with a plurality of CRTs and a plurality of spatial light modulators according to the principle of the above video projector 1 in reference with FIG. 3, wherein like components seen in the video projector 1 are shown by corresponding reference characters, and components exclusive to R, G and B are respectively shown by adding auxiliary corresponding reference characters, R, G and B.
In the color video projector 10 shown in FIG. 3, color images of R, G and B each displayed on the exclusive CRTs 2R, 2G, 2B (here only 2R is shown) for R, G and B colors are respectively focused onto the spatial light modulators 4R, 4G and 4B by the writing lenses 3R, 3G and 3B.
On the other hand, after the light KL emitted from the light source 5 is reflected by the mirror 11, the light KL is divided into three lights in accordance with B, G, R wavelength ranges in this order by dichroic filters 12B, 12G, 12R. The separated lights are incident on polarization beam splitters 6B, 6G, 6R reflected by mirrors 13B, 13G, 13R, respectively. The reading lights of B, G and R modulated by the spatial light modulators 4B, 4G, 4R are outputted through the polarization beam splitter 6B, 6G, 6R, and are projected onto a screen (not shown) as a composite color image by a plurality of projection lenses 7R, 7G, 7B.
As mentioned in the foregoing, it is difficult to obtain an image having both high resolution and high brightness by employing the method where an image displayed on the CRT is directly projected optically onto the screen by being magnified or the method where an image displayed on the liquid crystal panel is directly projected optically on the screen by driving the small type liquid crystal panel as a light valve.
On the other hand, when employing the method as shown in FIG. 3, wherein the reading lights of R, G, B are projected by the plurality of projecting lenses to compose a single composite color image on the screen. Thus, it will be understood that it is inconvenient for users to adjust the reading light of R, G, B to converge for producing a single composite image on the screen by projecting them actually. Furthermore, this may require a person who is skilled in adjusting the reading lights of R, G, B.
Further, it is difficult to employ zoom lenses in the method because the three projection lenses 7R, 7G, 7B are used. When fixed focusing lenses are used as the projection lenses, a length between the screen and the lenses is limited, thus the space or place for projecting the images on the screen is also limited.
Further, there is a problem of a high production cost because the video projector 10 employs three projection lenses 7R, 7G, 7 B.


Disclosed herein is a method for treatment of emphysema by reducing the volume of the pulmonary alveoli or alveolar sacs which have been anomalously expanded with destruction by emphysema. The method includes a step (a) of inserting a catheter into a bronchus or bronchiole, a step (b) of injecting through said catheter a film-forming agent into the respiratory region including the pulmonary alveoli or alveolar sacs, thereby forming a film on the inner wall of said respiratory region, and a step (c) of shrinking said pulmonary alveoli or alveolar sacs.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for treatment of emphysema. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for treatment of emphysema by reducing the volume of the pulmonary alveoli or alveolar sacs which have been anomalously expanded with destruction by emphysema.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among a large group of pulmonary diseases that hinder normal respiration is chronic obstruction pulmonary disease (COPD) which brings about lung occlusion on account of at least one disease selected from asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. COPD frequently involves these diseases at one time and makes it difficult to confirm in each case which one of them really causes the lung occlusion. A case is clinically diagnosed as COPD by constant decrease in expiration flow from the lung over several months, even more than two years for a case of chronic bronchitis. Two of the most critical states relating to COPD are chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
The emphysema denotes a state of anomalous expansion with destruction that occurs in the respiratory bronchioles which permit gas exchange and the tissue called alveolar parenchyma such as pulmonary alveoli, alveolar sac and the like. The alveolar parenchyma in its normal state shrinks at the time of expiration, but the one suffering from emphysema does not recover itself after expansion by respiration. This inhibits normal expiration. Moreover, emphysema decreases the effective area and vascular bed (which denotes capillary vessels running point to point on the surface of the pulmonary alveoli) of the pulmonary alveoli, thereby reducing the gas exchange capacity of the entire lung. In addition, emphysema involves inflammation that destroys elastin and collagen, thereby causing the lung to decrease in elasticity. The result is that the lung cannot keep stretching and expanding the respiratory tract, and this permits the bronchia to deform easily. As the result, the bronchus is compressed to become thin by its surrounding air-filled pulmonary alveoli as the lung shrinks at the time of expiration. This makes the lung expand excessively, preventing air from being discharged easily (see WO 2009/075106 A1, ST MARIANNA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL, MIYAZAWA TERUOMI, "STENT FOR TRATING CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE"). For this reason, a patient of emphysema purses up his lips to expire (see Jadranka Spahija et al., "Effects of Imposed Pursed-Lips Breathing on Respiratory Mechanics and Dyspanea at Rest and During Exercise in COPD", Chest 2005; 128:640-650).
In Japan, there are about 50,000 patients with emphysema who are receiving home oxygen therapy, and it is estimated that about three million people including those of mild case are liable to emphysema. At present, the major method of therapy for emphysema is home oxygen therapy. Oxygen therapy is commonly used for the patient who cannot take in sufficient oxygen from air on account of his seriously damaged lung function. However, it merely relieves the patient's condition but it is not an effective method of therapy. On the other hand, there are several methods of pharmacotherapy including: administration of bronchodilator to open respiratory tracts in the lung, thereby alleviating breathing difficulties; administration of steroid by inhalation or mouth, thereby alleviating inflammation in respiratory tracts; administration of antibiotics to prevent or treat secondary infection; and administration of expectorant to remove mucus from respiratory tracts (see Jan A. van Noord et al., "Effects of Tiotropium With and Without Formoterol or Airflow Obstruction and Resting Hyperinflation in Patients With COPD", Chest 2006; 129:509-517). All of these pharmacotherapies help control emphysema and alleviate its symptom, but they are not necessarily effective. In addition, there are several methods of surgical treatment which include lung reductive surgery which removes damaged parts from the lung, thereby allowing the normal parts of the lung to expand and lung transplantation. However, these methods impose a heavy burden on patients and involved difficulties in securing the lung to be substituted (see Ware J H, et al., "Cost effectiveness of Lung-Volume-Reduction Surgery for Patients with Severe Emphysema", The New England Journal of Medicine 2003; 348:2092-2102; National Emphysema Treatment Trial Research Group, "A Randomized Trial Comparing Lung-Volume-Reduction Surgery with Medical Therapy for Severe Emphysema", The New England Journal of Medicine 2003; 348:2059-2073).
If it is possible to carry out "LVR (Lung Volume Reduction)" noninvasively without thoracotomy, many patients will have the chance of therapy. However, the current noninvasive therapy has a low success rate. For example, one of the noninvasive therapy which is expected to produce the same effect as "LVRS (Lung Volume Reduction Surgery)" is an indwelling device in which a one-way valve that prevents the entry of inspired gas into the lung end is left in the bronchus (see Alferness, Clifton A et al., Spiration, Inc., U.S. Pat. No. 6,258,100 B1). However, once left in the lung, it prevents access to any place beyond its indwelling point (see Mark L. Mathis, PneumRx, Inc., U.S. Pat. No. 7,549,984 B1).
It is known that there exists a passage for air flow called bypass, which is different from the main respiratory tract, in the damaged respiratory bronchioles and alveolar parenchyma. Therefore, even through the above-mentioned device prevents air from flowing through the main respiratory tract by the device, air gets around the obstruction by the device to reach the damaged respiratory bronchioles and alveolar parenchyma. Consequently, the above-mentioned device cannot prevent the expansion of the lung (see ALJURI NIKOLAI at al., PULMONX, US 2006/0264772 A1).
There is provided, as another non-surgical method of reducing the lung volume, a method which comprises collapsing a region of the lung and bonding a part of the collapsed region to another region of the lung and further promoting the growth of fiber in the bonded tissue or the vicinity thereof to realize LVR (see Edward P. Ingenito et al., Bistech, Inc., U.S. Pat. No. 6,682,520 B1). In this method, however, it needs a certain length of time for the lung parenchyma to be destroyed by the reaction of the living body. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,682,520 B1 further mentions a method for carrying out LVR by means of a material containing that part of the damaged lung tissue to which targeting therapy is applied. This method needs the part for targeting therapy and also needs a process in which the material reacts with the damaged part (see Gong; Glen et al., PneumRx, Inc., U.S. Pat. No. 7,678,767 B1).
The foregoing suggests that there exists no effective method for treatment of emphysema at present, in the relevant field of art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A system and method for improving medical care through tracking reported findings or diagnoses of patient medical conditions and feeding back actual medical conditions and patient medical condition outcomes to determine accuracy of the reported findings. By feeding back the actual medical conditions and patient medical condition outcomes, a quantitative measure of each reported finding of each medical professional can be determined. One medical professional expertise in which the feedback system can be particularly useful is with medical image reading professionals, as this medical professional expertise provides a basis for other medical professionals to determine treatment and/or additional testing options.

The practice of medicine has greatly advanced as evidenced by patients being treated with previously incurable diseases, such as cancer. One reason, among many, for the advancement of medicine is a result of improvement of medical imaging technology. Medical images may include many different types of images of the human body, including radiological images, CAT scan images, endoscopic images, magnetic resonance images, etc. Through the use of medical imaging technology, medical professionals are able to see images of internal organs, for example, of patients to help diagnose medical conditions of the patients. Medical imaging allows for diseases, such as breast cancer, to be diagnosed in early stages, which greatly improves chances of recovery. While medical imaging technology has significantly improved medical care, because of the nature of creating and interpreting medical images, radiological or other imaging techniques, inaccuracies in the imaging and interpretation processes of the medical images may result. Because of the inaccuracies in the imaging and interpretation processes, patient medical conditions are often misdiagnosed.
Misdiagnosis of a medical condition, such as a disease, may come in the form of false positives, false negatives, and equivocal diagnoses. A false positive is a detection of a disease that does not exist. A false negative is a failure to detect a disease that is present in a patient. An equivocal diagnosis is a statement that a definitive diagnosis cannot be made based on the information available (e.g., "cancer cannot be ruled out"). Each of these misdiagnoses results in higher costs of treatment, additional suffering to patients, and additional burden on the healthcare system as a whole. It has been estimated by the American College of Radiology that frequency of misdiagnosis of radiological imaging interpretations is as high as 30%. And, given that it has been estimated that 40% to 60% of total healthcare spend is influenced by radiological imaging and interpretations therefrom, misdiagnoses results from misinterpretation of medical imaging has a large impact on the healthcare system.
An example of the effects of a misdiagnosis is as follows. A medical image reading professional identifies a spot on a lung. The lung spot may be any of a number of different medical conditions, including a benign solitary pulmonary nodule, small cell lung carcinoma, non-small cell lung carcinoma, or any number of other medical conditions. If the medical image reading professional determines that the lung spot is a benign solitary pulmonary nodule, but also denotes that "cancer cannot be ruled out," a treating medical professional is compelled to perform additional testing, a biopsy of the lung spot, and possibly surgery to remove the lung spot, to avoid a malpractice claim. The cost for each of these additional diagnostic treatments can be very high from financial, patient anxiety and pain, and medical system resource perspectives. If it turns out that after the additional diagnostic treatments that the patient had a benign, solitary pulmonary nodule that could have been identified by the medical image reading professional at the initial medial image reading, all of the additional diagnostic treatments would have been avoided.
Although medical professionals are considered to be highly regarded, and justifiably so in most cases, medical professionals are not all trained in the same manner or have the same level of proficiency as one another. As in all professions, some medical professionals may have better education, training, or any other differentiator than other medical professionals. For example, one medical image reading professional may have better eyesight or cognitive reasoning skills than another and, therefore, be better at determining a correct or more accurate diagnosis than another with worse eyesight or cognitive reasoning skills. One problem that is a dilemma for the healthcare system is that absent clear cases of malpractice that result in the unfortunate injury or death of a patient, it is difficult to quantitatively determine proficiency of medical professionals given the vast number of medical professionals in the healthcare system.

Method and system for managing medical professionals


An image sensor may have an array of image sensor pixels having varying light collecting areas. The light collecting area of each image pixel may vary with respect to other image pixels due to varied microlens sizes and varied color filter element sizes throughout the array. The light collecting area may vary within unit pixel cells and the variability of the light collecting areas of pixels within each pixel cell may depend on the location of the pixel cell in the pixel array. Each unit pixel cell may include at least one clear pixel having a light collecting area that is smaller than the light collecting areas of other single color pixels in the unit pixel cell.

This relates generally to imaging systems, and more particularly, to imaging systems with image pixels having variable light collecting areas.
Image sensors are commonly used in electronic devices such as cellular telephones, cameras, and computers to capture images. In a typical arrangement, an electronic device is provided with an array of image pixels arranged in pixel rows and pixel columns. Circuitry is commonly coupled to each pixel column for reading out image signals from the image pixels.
Conventional imaging systems include an image sensor in which the visible light spectrum is sampled by red, green, blue, clear, or other colored image pixels having a light collecting areas of a common size. In some situations, pixels of one color may saturate due to bright lights while nearby pixels of another color have not yet received enough image light to reach an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio. This can be particularly problematic in imaging systems with clear or nearly clear image pixels that receive light in a wide range of wavelengths in comparison with nearby single color pixels such as red and blue pixels.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to improved imaging systems with clear pixels.

Imaging systems with image pixels having varying light collecting areas

Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC


A card connector (1) includes an insulating housing (2); a number of contacts (3) retained in the insulating housing (2) and a shell (4). The shell (4) covers the insulating housing (2) to define a card receiving space therebetween and defines a card insertion direction. The contacts (3) comprise a number of contacting portions (32) exposed into the card receiving space. A stopper (44) is formed on the shell (4) and protruding into the card receiving space and comprises a stopping portion (440) approximately uprightly exposed into the card receiving space along the card insertion direction to prevent the card from mis-insertion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a card connector, and especially to a card connector with an anti-mismating device.
2. Description of Related Art
With the development of electronic appliances, different electrical cards are used to expand additional functions of the electronic appliance, such as data storage. A card connector is required to receive the electrical card to achieve the storage function between the electrical card and the corresponding electronic appliance. However, a user may insert the electrical card into the card connector in an improper state by mistake. In this situation, the card connector, the electrical card and even the electronic appliance may be damaged. Thus, one way to solve the above mention problem is to design the card connector with an anti-mismating device.
A common card connector adapted for receiving a card comprises an insulating housing, a plurality of contacts received in the insulating housing and a shell covering the insulating housing. The card connector defines a card receiving space between the insulating housing and the shell. The shell is formed with a stopper uprightly protruding downwardly into the card receiving space and arranged along a transverse direction perpendicular to a card insertion direction. When the card is properly inserted, the stopper will be accommodated in a slot formed in the card and does not prevent the card from inserting into the card connector to electrically connect with the contacts.
When the card is improper inserted, such as in an adverse fashion, the stopper will be collide with the card to prevent the card from electrically connecting with the contacts. However, because the stopper uprightly arranges along the transverse direction, intensity of the stopper is weakened. When the card is improper inserted some times by mistake, the stopper may be deflected from an original position due to collision of the card and does not prevent the card from electrically connecting with the contacts.
Hence, an improved card connector is highly desired to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art.

Card connector with anti-mismating device


A method is described for improving the long-term stability of a piezoelectric actuator encased in a potting compound containing or forming hydrogen atoms. Oxygen is contained in the piezoelectric actuator's piezoelectric ceramic. Appropriate means are employed so that unsaturated bonds of the hydrogen in the potting compound will release less oxygen from the piezoelectric ceramic. One means consists in reducing the concentration of hydrogen in the potting compound, with appropriate thermal processes as a result of which the concentration of hydrogen will be reduced to below a predefined threshold being applied after the piezoelectric actuator has been encased in the potting compound. Means that form bonds with the hydrogen in the potting compound or duct oxygen thereto are provided in further embodiments.

Piezoelectric actuators are employed across very wide-ranging areas of technology for enabling a controlling element to be operated with speed and precision. A preferred application for piezoelectric actuators in motor-vehicle engineering, for example, is in an injection valve in which the piezoelectric actuator controls the injection process, with use preferably being made therein of the piezoelectric actuator's swift dynamic response and fast controllability.
Piezoelectric actuators have at least one piezoelectric element located between two electrodes. The piezoelectric element's thickness is changed through the application of a voltage to said two electrodes, thereby enabling a controlling element to be operated. Since, however, the piezoelectric actuator's lengthening or shortening as a function of the applied voltage is relatively small, a stack comprising a multiplicity of piezoelectric elements each located between two electrodes is used as the piezoelectric actuator for injection valves. Said electrodes are advantageously connected electrically conductively to two contact pins by means of wires. The stack, wires, and contact pins are placed into, for example, a corresponding recess of a cylindrical plastic housing and said recess then filled with a potting compound. The stack is thus encased in the potting compound and protected from environmental influences. The electrodes, spaced a small distance apart, are moreover electrically insulated. Secure fixing of the stack in the plastic housing is furthermore achieved thereby. The potting compound consists of, for example, silicon.
Corresponding piezoelectric actuators are known from, for example, patent application DE 102 29 494 A1 and patent specification DE 198 44 742 C1.

Method for improving the long-term stability of a piezoelectric actuator and a piezoelectric actuator


A pipe (1) comprising at least two pipe elements (11, 12) having internal liners of plastic material (2), the pipe elements being assembled end to end, in which the ends of the two pipe elements are welded (5) together and in which the ends of the internal liners (2) of plastic material of each of the pipe elements are joined together by a tubular junction sleeve (3) of material that withstands corrosion and that co-operate with the ends (2a, 2b) of the liners by mutual engagement via a notched surface (32), said liner ends (2) presenting reduced thickness (2a, 2b) and being bonded against the steel wall of said pipe by adhesive (4a, 4b).

The rehabilitation of water, gas, and drainage networks has for many years involved "trenchless" technologies, i.e. technologies that consist in inserting a tubular liner inside an existing pipe, the liner generally being made of a flexible material such as a thermoplastic material, a thermosetting material, or a thermosetting composite material, said liners either being inserted after being folded in half along a longitudinal generator line so as to provide them with a cross-section in the form of a kidney bean, and subsequently being returned to the round merely by applying internal pressure, or else they are pulled through by being put under traction so that the diameter of the liner is reduced to a value that is smaller than the inside diameter of said pipe. Thereafter, once the liner has been pulled through, tension in the liner is released and said liner then returns to its initial diameter, thereby naturally pressing against the inside face of said pipe. That insertion technique is known as "swagelining", and it is commonly used for rehabilitating water or gas pipes over unit lengths that may be as much as 500 m, or even as much as one kilometer in a straight line.
That technology is also used when transporting corrosive fluids under high pressure, thus making it possible to use a pipe for withstanding pressure that is made of steel or carbon in conventional manner, and that is therefore inexpensive, and easy to work by being welded, while resistance to corrosion is ensured by the inner liner. Unit lengths can thus be achieved that can be several hundreds of meters long and that then need to be connected together, while ensuring continuity in protection against corrosion. Three types of connection are in widespread use: connections via flanges, screw connections, and welded connections. When making a connection by means of flanges, it suffices to fold the liner back over the face of the flange, with the clamping of the flanges then pinching the liners face to face and thus providing continuity in the anti-corrosion function. With screw joints, continuity can be provided, for example, by a ring fitted with gaskets that provide sealing with each of the upstream and downstream liners. With welded connections, it is appropriate to interrupt the liner at a significant distance from the end of the pipe, e.g. 100 millimeters (mm) to 200 mm, so that the heating of the steel wall during welding does not damage the liner. The problem which then arises is how to provide protection against corrosion for the non-lined zone extending between the end of the liner in pipe N and the end of the liner in the following pipe N+1.
Patent GB-2 218 488 describes a "swagelining" method consisting in stretching a circular pipe of flexible material, referred to below as a "liner", so as to reduce its diameter in order to enable it to be inserted in a pipe by being pulled, the rest diameter of said liner being greater than the inside diameter of said pipe. Another way of inserting such a liner is to deform it by folding it so as to obtain a cross-section that is "kidney" shaped, and that then fits within a circle of much smaller diameter, thereby enabling insertion to be performed by simple pulling along the inside of the steel pipe. After being pulled through, the considerably-projecting ends return naturally to a substantially circular shape and it is simple to fit a plug thereto. By pressurizing the liner with compressed air, the liner is returned to its circular shape and said liner thus presses firmly against the inside wall of the steel pipe.
Patent GB-2 298 256 describes a method of welding together two pipe elements or portions that are lined over their main extent, the non-lined zone being covered in an alloy that withstands corrosion, said alloy preferably being Inconel that is applied by an electric arc type process referred to as "cladding". The parts are then re-machined so as to present grooved shapes that enable said liner to be anchored by crimping an internal ferrule, it likewise being made of a material that withstands corrosion, and preferably of Inconel. Preparing the ends of pipe elements represents a unit cost that is very high but that is not particularly significant in the overall cost providing the pipe elements used are of long unit length, e.g. several hundreds of meters. However, that cost becomes unacceptable when the unit length of each pipe element is 24 m or 48 m. In addition, the welding of the connection must be performed over the entire thickness of the pipe using the same noble metal, in general Inconel, thereby considerably complicating the work and leading to a cost that is very high, since the unit rate at which metal is deposited is much smaller and the process is more difficult to control than conventional welding on ordinary steel. Finally, it is very difficult to perform quality control on the welding, and for certain types of anti-corrosion material, it is practically impossible to perform such welding in a manner that is reliable and repeatable, in limited time.
Patent GB-2 391 597 describes a method of assembling two lined pipes by inserting around each of said liners a tubular junction sleeve that is received in a setback in the thickness at the end of the steel wall of each of the two pipes elements to be assembled together. Said junction sleeve is then secured to said liners by means of internal ferrules that are expansibly crimped using a tool inside the pipe, said tool being operated from the nearest free end of the pipe. In that patent, each of the pipe elements is bored so as to create a housing for the tubular junction sleeve, which serves as a backing for expansively crimping the internal ferrules that secure the liners to said tubular junction sleeve. The tubular junction sleeve, which is made of an alloy that withstands corrosion, is in direct contact with the steel pipe, in particular in the welding zone. This runs the risk of damage during welding if welding is not performed using the same alloy, and of corrosion in the event of water infiltrating between the liner and the outer steel pipe. In addition, the re-bored zone of each steel outer pipe presents a connection zone of thickness that is smaller than the thickness of the main portion of the pipe, thereby creating a zone of weakness.
Patent WO-2004/015321 describes a tubular junction sleeve between non-lined ends of two pipe elements for assembling together. That tubular sleeve is made of a material that withstands corrosion. On its outside surface it presents machined grooved shapes of outside diameter smaller than the inside diameter of the liner, said ferrule being expansibly crimped using a tool inside the pipe, said tool being operated from the nearest free end of the pipe. In that patent, the tubular junction sleeve is slidable in the internal bore of the liner and presents outside grooves, and the assembly needs to be expansibly crimped using a crimping tool while assembling together the ends of the two pipe elements for assembly on board a J-lay tower.
In GB-2 391 597 and WO-2004/015321, a tool for crimping by expanding the tubular junction sleeve or other connection elements needs to be positioned and operated from the free end of the pipe, i.e. from a distance of 24 m to 48 m, when laying such pipes at sea from a J-lay tower, which can present considerable technical difficulty from an operational point of view and from a quality control point of view.
Patent WO-2004/011840 describes assembling two pipe elements by means of a tubular junction sleeve inserted in the non-lined ends of the steel walls of two pipe elements for assembly. Said tubular junction sleeve is made of a material that withstands corrosion and it is fitted with sealing O-rings that provide sealing with the ends of the liners of the two pipe elements for assembly. Each of the liners is locked in position by an additional ferrule at its end, which ferrule is likewise made of a material that withstands corrosion. Said additional ferrule is expansibly crimped against the ends of said liner. At each of its ends, said tubular junction sleeve includes a portion of its outside surface that comes directly into contact with the steel wall at the non-lined ends of the pipe elements for assembly. That represents a major risk of corrosion when using a tubular sleeve of a corrosion-resistant alloy of the Inconel type and when in the presence of water at the interfaces between the tubular sleeve, the liners, and the steel walls of the pipe elements.
Furthermore, that patent actually describes a method of assembling lined pipes that are intended more particularly to convey multiphase oil, i.e. oil that can contain both gas and water, and that thus requires said liner to be "ventilated" so as to ensure that when the pressure inside the pipe is reduced, any gas that has migrated through the thermoplastic material of said liner does not cause said liner to collapse onto itself. For that purpose, the liner has microchannels enabling pressure to be balanced between the chamber extending between said liner and the outer pipe of steel, and the inside of the pipe. The tubular junction sleeve has holes for allowing pressure to balance between the chamber that exists between said connection part and the outer steel pipe, and the inside of the pipe. In addition, gas is conveyed between the left portion of pipe N-1 and the right portion of pipe N.
That type of structure for lining and assembling two pipe elements for assembly, as described in WO-2004/011840, with permanent perforations through the tubular junction sleeve, which may in part come directly into contact with the steel wall of the pipe, is thus not suitable for making water injection pipes, and in particular pipes for injecting sea water, particularly if the sea water has not been passivated.

Undersea pipe including an internal liner


A skirt guard for a mobile home skirt having a skirt base on the ground and in a channel of which the bottom of the skirt sits. The skirt guard is formed of a flat elongate panel with a top and bottom edge and having a groove near and parallel to its bottom edge. In use the bottom edge of the skirt guard is bent upward along the groove to form a hook. To install the skirt guard the hook is inserted into the skirt base channel alongside the bottom of the skirt and the hook fastens the skirt guard in the channel.

Manufactured homes, also known as mobile homes, modular homes or pre-manufactured homes have been known for many years and are commonly installed by being placed on concrete slabs or concrete footings or even on cinder blocks. Typically, the peripheral lower edges of the manufactured home are not continuously supported and stretches of same are unsupported. This leaves a gap between the unsupported lower edges and the ground. In the past this gap has been covered by a non-load bearing "skirt" fabricated from a synthetic materials to provide a more pleasing appearance for the manufactured home. The bottom edge of the skirt typically sits in a "base" that is fastened to the ground or other footing to prevent the bottom edge of the skirt from moving around and breaking. However, over extended periods of time, the lower edges of the skirts are typically damaged by many things including weed whacker lines, lawn mowers, other gardening tools and children's toys because the skirts are not structurally strong enough to prevent such damage.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a "skirt guard" that is attached to the lower edge of a mobile home skirt and provides protection for the standard skirt against weed whacker lines, lawn mowers, toys, gardening tools, etc. In addition, there is a need for a skirt guard that is cost effective, provides a pleasing appearance to the existing skirting, and is dependable for many years. In addition, there is a need for a skirt guard that may be used to cover existing damage to the bottom edge of skirts and thus improve their aesthetic appearance.


Systems and methods are described for carbon containing tips with cylindrically symmetrical carbon containing expanded bases. A method includes producing an expanded based carbon containing tip including: fabricating a carbon containing expanded base on a substrate; and then fabricating a carbon containing fiber on the expanded base. An apparatus includes a carbon containing expanded base coupled to a substrate; and a carbon containing extension coupled to said carbon containing expanded base. The carbon containing expanded base is substantially cylindrically symmetrical and said carbon containing extension is substantially cylindrically symmetrical.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of carbon tips. More particularly, a preferred implementation of the invention relates to carbon tips with expanded bases. The invention thus relates to carbon tips of the type that can be termed expanded base.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
There are many technological/scientific tools and devices that utilize sharp tips with high aspect ratio. They include scanning probe microscopy, biological probes, field emission (FE) devices, etc. Tip requirements for the above applications include extreme sharpness and a high aspect ratio, combined with mechanical stability as well as chemical inertness and resistance to sputtering. The preferred tip shape is a cylinder because it enables higher resolution when measuring high aspect ratio features and also provides a substantially higher field enhancement at the apex of the tip as compared to other geometries, thereby enabling field emission of electrons at low applied fields.
Vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) and nanofibers (VACNFs) are materials that possess a number of unique properties that make them well suited for the use as tips. First, VACNTs and VACNFs have intrinsically small diameters (˜1 nm for single-wall CNTs). Second, VACNTs/VACNFs have very high aspect ratios and cylindrical shape. Third, VACNTs/VACNFs exhibit high mechanical strength and flexibility. Fourth, some VACNTs and all VACNFs are electrically conducting which permits their use when current measurements and electron field emission are involved (scanning tunneling microscopy, FE (field effect) devices, biological probes). Fifth, VACNTs/VACNFs are chemically inert and highly sputter resistant. Finally, VACNFs can be grown at predetermined locations (deterministic growth), which enables their incorporation into actual devices.
The growth process of forests of randomly placed vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (VACNFs) was first pioneered by Ren et al. (1). Later on, our group (2) and Ren et al. (3) independently developed a method for deterministic growth of individual VACNFs.
However, there is a significant obstacle associated with the use of high-aspect-ratio cylindrical tips. As the aspect ratio increases, the very ends of these tips exhibit significant thermal and mechanical vibrations. Therefore, what is needed is a solution that provides a high-aspect-ratio cylindrical tip that is thermal and mechanical vibration resistant. What is also needed are carbon tips having improved quality and reduced cost.

Carbon containing tips with cylindrically symmetrical carbon containing expanded bases


Disclosed is a light control apparatus for a vehicle, in which a control function is activated when an ignition switch or an accessory switch is turned on, and which, when the switch is turned off with headlights and/or sidemarker lights kept ON, keeps the headlights and/or the sidemarker lights ON, for example, until the driver's side door is opened, wherein the light control apparatus includes an operation identifying means for identifying whether the OFF operation of the switch is an operation performed by operating a key or an operation performed in response to a signal transmitted from outside the vehicle and wherein, when the OFF operation of the switch is identified by the operating identifying means as not being an operation performed by operating the key, the headlights and/or the sidemarker lights are turned off regardless of whether the driver's side door has been opened or not.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light control apparatus for a vehicle and, more particularly, to a light control apparatus for a vehicle which turns on lights for crime prevention purposes whenever the ignition switch is turned on and the engine is started.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known in the prior art to provide a vehicle light control apparatus wherein, when the ignition switch or the accessory switch is turned on, and thereafter the switch is turned off while leaving the headlights and/or the sidemarker lights ON, the headlights and the sidemarker lights are kept turned on until the driver's side door is opened. It is also known to provide a vehicle light control apparatus which includes an automatic light ON/OFF unit for automatically turning on the headlights and the sidemarker lights when the ambient light level is low, and for automatically turning off the headlights and the sidemarker lights when the ambient light level is high.
In Japanese Patent No. 2983132, it is disclosed that, in such a vehicle light control apparatus, when stopping the engine after the engine was started by remote operation from outside the vehicle, a door open/close signal is transmitted to simulate the door open condition, thereby turning off the lights to prevent battery drain.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H11-245712 discloses an automatic light control apparatus wherein provisions are made not to enable the automatic light control unless the key insertion switch is turned on, and thereby to prevent the battery from running low with the headlights left ON after the engine was started and subsequently stopped by a remote operation.
In a vehicle light control apparatus (hereinafter referred to as the "light control apparatus"), when the ambient light level is low, the lights must be turned on for crime prevention purposes whenever the ignition switch (hereinafter abbreviated "IG-SW") is turned on and the engine is started. In such a light control apparatus, the lights need to be turned on when the IG-SW is turned on, whether it be turned on by key insertion or by a remote operation.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of an operation of such a light control apparatus. The example here deals with the case where the engine is started manually.
First, when the key is inserted to set the IG-SW on and the key is turned to activate the starter (S1), the engine starts (S2). At this point, the key insertion switch (hereinafter abbreviated "k-SW") becomes ON. When the ambient light level is low, then the driver usually turns on the light switch manually to turn on the lights such as the sidemarker lights and the headlights (S3).
On the other hand, if the light control apparatus is equipped with an automatic light ON/OFF unit, the automatic light switch (hereinafter referred to as the "automatic light SW") is set ON when the IG-SW is turned on. Then, if the ambient light sensor determines that the ambient light level is low, the lights such as the sidemarker lights and the headlights are automatically turned on (S4).
When the engine is stopped by turning off the IG-SW (S5), if the lights had been turned on manually, the lights remain ON. On the other hand, if the automatic light SW is ON, the lights remain ON if the ambient light level is low (S6). The lights will be turned off if, for example, one of the following three conditions is satisfied:                1) Vehicle door such as driver's side door is opened (S7);        2) Vehicle door such as driver's side door is opened, and then closed (S8);        3) Predetermined time has elapsed after opening and then closing vehicle door such as driver's side door (S9).Which condition to use can be determined appropriately. When the predetermined one of the three conditions is satisfied, the lights are turned off (S10). This prevents battery drain (S11).
FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining another example of operation of the light control apparatus. The example here deals with the case where the engine is started by turning on the IG-SW by such means as a remote operation.
Suppose, for example, that the lights were turned off by opening and then closing the door with the manual light SW left in the ON position; in this condition (the condition in S10 of FIG. 1), when the IG-SW is turned on (S1), the lights turn on (S3). Or, when the IG-SW is turned on, the automatic light SW becomes ON, and the lights turn on if the ambient light level is low (S3).
In this condition, if the IG-SW is turned off by transmitting an engine stop signal by remote operation from outside the vehicle (S4), the lights remain ON unless the prescribed condition, for example, the condition that the driver's side door is opened, is satisfied (S5). In this way, when the IG-SW is turned on or off by remote operation, as the driver's side door is not actually opened or closed, the lights remain ON, which drains the battery (S6). This can happen, for example, when warming up the engine by turning on and off the IG-SW by remote operation.


A vehicular headlamp includes a first semiconductor light-emitting element for emitting visible light, a reflector having an optical center in the vicinity of the first semiconductor light-emitting element and forming at least a part of a light distribution pattern of the vehicular headlamp, and a second semiconductor light-emitting element, for emitting infrared light, which is disposed at a position different from that of the first semiconductor light-emitting element, and which emits infrared light to be reflected by the reflector.

The present invention relates to a vehicular headlamp and a light-emitting module therefore.
Conventionally, it is known to monitor the area in front of a vehicle by using so-called night-vision apparatus, including an infrared camera. For example, as described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-229719, an infrared projector is mounted at the front of a vehicle. It also is known to provide a vehicular lamp which radiates infrared light using a light-emitting diode as a source, as described in Published Japanese Utility Model Application H6-10880.
However, use of an infrared projector leads to higher cost. Moreover, there are some cases where sufficient space cannot be secured to install the infrared projector.

Vehicular headlamp and light-emitting module therefor


In order to provide the surgeon with means which allow the surgeon to use screws in a gentle and time-efficient manner, particularly in the setting of craniotomy, a surgical screw magazine is proposed comprising a holding device and a plurality of surgical screws, the holding device of said surgical screw magazine comprising a screw-receiving body which comprises for each of the screws a receiving opening in which the screws are at least substantially received, wherein the receiving openings are formed in the screw-receiving body spaced apart a predetermined distance from one another.

The invention relates to a novel surgical screw magazine comprising a holding device and a plurality of surgical screws.
Screw magazines comprising a holding device and a plurality of screws arranged thereon are known per se in the general art of fastening and are disclosed for example in DE 101 62 635 A1.
However, these screw magazines are not suited for use in the field of surgery because of the risk of injury to bones and tissue in the vicinity of the site of application, making their use in the field of surgery prohibitive.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a means which allows the surgeon to use screws in a gentle and time-efficient manner, particularly in the setting of craniotomy.