Abstract: In a sintering method and apparatus for silver clay according to the present invention, wherein a silver clay composition can be readily and easily sintered by exposing a silver clay composition obtained by molding and sintering a silver clay to a flame of a solid alcohol fuel to sinter the silver clay composition.

Abstract: In a compact electric apparatus with a power consumption source, a fuel cell unit includes a fuel cell for generating an electric power to be consumed by the power consumption source, a fuel storage section which stores therein a fuel for the fuel cell and has a control valve to be operated to control a flow of the fuel, and a fuel supply pipe through which the fuel is supplied from the fuel storage section to the fuel cell, a housing case contains therein the fuel cell unit, the power consumption source is mounted on the housing case, and the housing case has an opening through which the control valve faces to an outside of the housing case.

Abstract: The long-term usage of AICR (5-aminio, 4-imidazole carboxamide riboside) to produce sustained metabolic and biological changes in mammals that overcome insulin resistance, i.e., increase insulin sensitivity, and result in benefits in diseases and conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, polycystic ovary syndrome and gallstones is described long-term usage of AICAR, particularly intermittent administration, e.g., three days per week, appears to have some of the positive effects of exercise, having an impact on the amount Of food consumed by a subject and resulting in reduced fat build-up and increase in muscle mass. Therefore, AICAR administration has a positive impact in reducing obesity. AICAR can also Prove useful in preventing or treating vascular diseases associated with hyperglycemia, high plasma levels of free fatty acids (FFA) and triglyceride, and insulin resistance by virtue of the fact that this agent activates fatty acid oxidation.

Abstract: There is provided an air-breathing fuel cell stack in which a sufficient amount of oxygen is supplied to an oxygen flow field plate so as to enhance an electric power-generating ability, and besides material costs can be reduced. An air-breathing fuel cell stack includes a pair of end plates, a plurality of unit cells, which are provided between the two end plates, a fuel distribution manifold provided in central portions of the unit cells so as to supply fuel thereto, a single tie bolt passing through a central portion of the fuel distribution manifold and the central portions of the unit cells so as to clamp the fuel cell components together into a unitary construction, and a pair of fixing bolts threaded respectively on both end portions of the tie bolt through O-rings, washers or the like to clamp the plurality of unit cells between the two end plates.

Abstract: There is provided a split cell type fuel cell stacks having a thin design and high-voltage and low-current output characteristics, in which a cell portion is divided into a plurality of sections electrically insulated from one another at both sides of a polymer electrolyte membrane. This fuel cell stack includes end plates, a unit cell provided between the end plates, a fuel distribution manifold provided in a central portion of the unit cell for supplying fuel thereto, a single tie bolt passing through a central portion of the fuel distribution manifold and the central portion of the unit cell so as to clamp the fuel cell components together into a unitary construction, and fixing nuts threaded respectively on both end portions of the tie bolt through washers, O-rings or the like to clamp the unit cell between the end plates.

Abstract: A portable fuel cell stack is provided in which the number of components is reduced by reducing the number of flow field plates, cell performance is improved by reducing the number of contact portions to thereby lower internal resistance, and fuel is supplied from the center of an end plate directly to a fuel distribution manifold. The portable fuel cell stack includes two end plates, a plurality of unit cells positioned between the two end plates, a fuel distribution manifold positioned in the center of the unit cell for fuel supply thereto, a tie bolt passed through the centers of the fuel manifold and the unit cell for integration of these members, and fixing nuts threaded to both ends of the tie bolt for integrally clamping the plurality of unit cells together between the end plates via an O-ring, etc.

Abstract: In a rack guide disposed in a casing of a rack and pinion type steering system for slidably supporting a rack bar having rack teeth which engage with a pinion rotatably supported in the casing, the area for bearing the load of the rack bar can be fixed. A slide bearing member 21 has a three-layered structure consisting of a backing metal 22 made of bronze, a sintered alloy layer 23 and a synthetic resin layer 24, the surface of the synthetic resin layer 24 comprising sliding-contact surface portions 25, 26 formed intermittently with the center thereof at the center of curvature “O” of a circular outer peripheral surface of a rack bar 16 and with a radius of curvature equal to the radius of curvature R0 of the same, and the remaining surface portions 27 to 29 formed in other positions than the sliding-contact surface portions 25, 26 so as to be more dented than the sliding-contact surface portions 25, 26.

Abstract: A dc balance-value calculation circuit is used in a recording signal generator for performing the block coding of original data to generate a code word having a series of at least two non-inverted bits and generating a recording signal based on the code word. The dc balance-value calculation circuit calculates a dc balance value representing a shift in the dc balance of the recording signal. The dc balance-value calculation circuit includes: selection means for separating the code word generated by the block coding into unit data of a plurality of bits, and selectively outputting the unit data; determination means for determining a change in a dc balance value for each unit data, based on the unit data output by the selection means; and dc-balance-value calculation means for calculating a dc balance value in accordance with the determination result by the determination means.

Abstract: A sliding bearing of copper-based alloy is provided which is superior in seizure resistance and wear resistance.The sliding bearing of copper-based alloy is provided with a back metal layer, a bearing alloy layer disposed on the back metal layer which bearing alloy layer consists of a copper alloy, a copper-zinc intermediate layer containing 20 to 50 wt % of zinc disposed on the bearing alloy layer, and a tin-based or aluminum-based overlay disposed on the intermediate layer.

Abstract: A surface metal plate 2 made of aluminium or aluminium alloy is overlayed upon a backing metal plate 1 and integrally bonded by cold rolling bonding of a rolling machine 30. After that, the thus obtained composite metal plate 3 is annealed, so that the bonding strength between a surface metal layer 1a having a thickness of 2 to 8 mm and a backing metal layer 2a is enhanced.

Abstract: In producing an aluminum alloy bearing which comprises bonding an aluminum alloy layer to a backing metal layer composed of steel and then coating an intermediate layer and an overlay in this order on the surface of the aluminum alloy layer of the resulting semi-finished product, the surface of the aluminum alloy layer of the semi-finished product is subjected to etching treatment and the smut attached to the said surface is removed by subjecting the etched semi-finished product to de-smutting treatment using, as a de-smutting solution, an aqueous solution comprising 20 to 60% by weight of sulfuric acid and 2 to 10% by weight of a peroxoborate, whereby the tolerance of the bearing height is made small, the working environment is rendered good and the draining treatment is made easy.

Abstract: A data recording/reproducing method for a so-called near video-on-demand for time-differentially distributing motion picture films or the like. When recording continuous data of, for example, a cinema program, the data is split into, for example, 12 channels CHA to CHL. The channel data is further split into 2400 portions, while the data of the 2400 portions associated with the respective channels are re-arrayed to form blocks BL.sub.0 to BL.sub.2399 for each channel. The block data is recorded on a recording medium so that the blocks will be arrayed in the sequence of blocks BL.sub.0, BL.sub.2339, BL.sub.1, BL.sub.2338, . . . BL.sub.1200. For data readout from the recording medium, every second blocks are read out, beginning from the block BL.sub.0. After reproducing the block BL.sub.1119, every second blocks are read out in the reverse direction beginning from the block BL.sub.1000 for data reproduction.

Abstract: An apparatus for processing image data. The apparatus converts analog green image data signals, analog red image data signals, and analog blue image data signals generated by imaging an object. The third image generation elements, representing the green image data, are arranged at positions shifted by a half pitch to the first and second image generation elements. The analog image data signals are converted into digital image data signals and are then compressed at a predetermined compression rate and stored in a recording medium by a storage means. In reproducing the image data, the recorded image data is read from the recording medium and expanded at a predetermined expansion rate to generate data substantially the same as the image data signals before compression. The expanded data is interpolated in a predetermined interpolation manner.

Abstract: In a magnetic disk recorder, a displacement of recording timings of a video signal and a timebase-compressed audio signal on a master disk can be corrected on a slave disk. When an output of a master disk reproducing apparatus is a video signal, a vertical synchronizing signal from a synchronizing separating circuit is delayed by a delay time of substantially 7H (H is the horizontal period) and supplied to a phase servo circuit in a slave disk recording apparatus as a reference signal, while when the output of the master disk reproducing apparatus is the timebase-compressed audio signal, a start flag signal accompanying with the timebase-compressed audio signal is detected by a flag detecting circuit and the start flag signal thus detected is employed as a pseudo vertical synchronizing signal, which is supplied to the phase servo circuit in the slave disk recording circuit as a reference signal.

Abstract: A secondary coil for a linear motor, which is a composite metal plate comprising a backing metal layer 1, an intermediate bond metal layer 2 and a surface metal layer 3 which are integrally connected, the intermediate bond metal layer being formed of aluminum or aluminum alloy, the surface metal layer being formed of copper or copper alloy having a thickness of 2 to 8 mm. A copper plate or a copper alloy plate for the surface layer and an aluminum plate or an aluminum alloy plate for the intermediate layer are placed on each other and connected by rolling. The surface-layer metal plate with the bond layer is placed on a metal plate for the backing metal layer, with the bond layer being contacted with the metal plate for the backing metal layer, and two plates are connected by rolling.