Abstract: The present invention provides a method for chemically removing a N-terminal methionine residue selectively, specifically and efficiently from a peptide or a salt thereof having an optionally oxidized methinine residue at its N-terminal. The method reacts a peptide or a salt thereof having an optionally oxidized methinine residue at its N-terminal with an .alpha.-diketone derivative, followed by hydrolysis.

Abstract: An optical disc having a recording film formed on one surface of a plastics substrate transparent to light, a first protection film formed on the recording film, a moisture proof film formed on the other surface of the substrate, and a second protection film formed on the moisture proof film.

Abstract: The hydraulic control system disclosed herein employs a pair of combination poppet/spool valves to control the operation of a hydraulic cylinder driven from a bidirectional pump. Flow introduced through the source port of one valve lifts the poppet of the other valve on its way to one side of the cylinder which in turn opens a throttling port to modulate return flow from the other side of the cylinder.

Abstract: An image forming system, wherein a second digital copying machine stores image data temporarily on behalf of a first digital copying machine at its request and returns the stored image data upon receipt of a return request. When the second digital copying machine has not received any return request from the first digital copying machine within a predetermined period, the second digital copying machine erases the stored image data to utilize its own memory efficiently.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a polycarbonate molding material for optical discs, comprising pellets which comprises a polycarbonate with a viscosity-average molecular weight of 10,000 to 18,000;has an average length of 2.5 to 3.5 mm; andhas an average longer diameter of the sectional ellipse of 2.60 to 3.2 mm,not less than 70% of said pellets having a length falling within the range of .+-.0.08 mm from the mean value of length and a longer diameter falling within the range of .+-.0.12 mm from the mean value of longer diameter.

Abstract: The invention includes new hull systems and watercraft. In particular, the invention provides a watercraft hull (10) that has a pivot axis (22) forward of the hull waterline fore-aft center line (24). That pivot axis (22) will be the deep water point of the hull and provides a fulcrum point around which the hull turns during a direction change. The forward pivot axis (22) surprisingly imparts high manoeuvrability (i.e. the ability to execute turns of reduced radius) relative to prior systems, even at low speeds.

Abstract: A retardation film made of a polymerized liquid crystal material of the present invention includes: a first region having a first flat surface pattern; and a second region having a second flat surface pattern, wherein a thickness in the first region is different from that in the second region, thereby retardations in the first region and in the second region are different from each other.

Abstract: In case of printing a stamp logotype in a constitution in which a distance from a printing position to a cutting position is relatively short, it is designed to prevent useless space from being formed at the top region of a receipt and to appropriate relatively wide area for a stamp logotype printing region. A printer controller controls a head and a cutter so that, when a length of the stamp logotype is longer than a distance L from the printing position of the head to the cutting position of the cutter, the image of the stamp logotype is divided into a first logotype A equal to the distance L and a remaining second logotype B, so as to have the logotype A printed on the receipt before a preceding receipt is cut, and the logotype B printed on the receipt after the preceding receipt is cut.

Abstract: The liquid crystal display device of the present invention in which spacers for controlling a cell gap are selectively dispersed on at least one of a pair of substrates disposed so as to oppose each other with a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween, wherein at least surfaces of the spacers are coated with an adhesive resin and the spacers are fixed on the at least one of the pair of substrates via the adhesive resin.

Abstract: A liquid crystal device includes a pair of electrode substrates opposing each other, a polymer wall, and a liquid crystal region surrounded by the polymer wall, the polymer wall and the liquid crystal region being sandwiched by the pair of electrode substrates. At least one of a concave portion and a convex portion is formed on a surface of at least one of the pair of electrode substrates facing the liquid crystal region, and liquid crystal molecules are oriented in the liquid crystal region axial-symmetrically around the vicinity of the at least one of concave portion and convex portion as an axis vertical to the electrode substrates.

Abstract: A method for conducting data writing/reading-out utilizing a contact start and stop (CSS) system is provided. The system includes a magnetic disc having a data zone for writing/reading-out of data and a contact start and stop (CSS) zone having a taking-off/landing region, and a stopping region for contact start and stop operation of a magnetic head. A plurality of projections are provided in the CSS zone such that the relative height of the projections in the taking-off/landing region decreases in the radial outward direction from the center of the magnetic disc toward the data zone. An average gradient for the height of the projections in the taking-off/landing zone is between about 1.times.10.sup.-6 and about 5.times.10.sup.-5. Further, the maximum height of the projections in the CSS zone is greater than the flying height of the magnetic head in the data zone, and the minimum height of the projections in the CSS zone is lower than the flying height of the magnetic head in the data zone.

Abstract: Grooves and lands are provided to a magneto-optical disk so as to be alternately arranged, and recording bit strings are formed on the grooves and lands respectively so that information is recorded. Moreover, pit rows are formed on boundary sections between the adjoining grooves and lands so that address information of a recording/reproducing track is recorded, and the pit rows are formed every other boundary section. When the grooves and the lands are scanned as the recording/reproducing track by a light, an address of the recording/reproducing track is read out from the pit rows, and successively, discrimination is made whether the recording/reproducing track which is scanned by an optical spot is the groove or the land. This prevents crosstalk which causes inclusion of address information in the next pit rows, thereby, making it possible to obtain accurate address information.

Abstract: Peripheral velocity of a toner support is set up so as to satisfy the following condition:L/T.ltoreq.vs.ltoreq.(d/t).multidot.cos .theta.-(1/t)(L.sup.2 -d.sup.2 sin .sup.2 .theta.).sup.1/2assuming that d denotes the distance between centers of two adjacent gates, .theta. the angle of slant connected between centers of the same two gates, L the maximum length of toner-free area on peripheral surface of the toner support, vs the peripheral velocity of the toner support, t the time lag between voltage application to one annular electrode and to the other, and T is the time interval between successive voltage applications to an identical gate (the shortest period of time during which the voltage for inhibiting passage of the toner is applied to the gate).

Abstract: An integrated photoreceiver is provided. The photoreceiver includes a substrate, a metal-insulator-semiconductor switch (MISS) formed on a first portion of the substrate, and a photoreceiving structure formed on a second portion of the substrate for receiving a light signal and generating a current signal to trigger the MISS in response to said light signal.

Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes a large substrate obtained by connecting a plurality of TFT substrates side to side a counter substrate provided so as to oppose the large substrate and a liquid crystal layer sealed between said large substrate and the counter substrate wherein on each of the plurality of TFT substrates, signal lines and scanning lines formed in a matrix, and active elements and pixel electrodes provided at junctions of the lines formed in the matrix are provided in such a manner that the pixel electrodes are formed closer to a connecting area of the small substrates than a line formed along the connecting area of the TFT substrates. According to the described arrangement, when cutting the connecting side of the TFT substrates by dicing, even if a chipping occurs on the connecting side, a line defect can be prevented.

Abstract: The invention is to provide a method and a device, etc. for molding tubes, free from any fear of the web being broken, which do not generate any wrinkle on a web when molding a plate-like web to rectangular parallelpiped packaging containers via a tubular web. In a tube molding method of the invention for molding a plate-like web to a tubular web while transferring the former along the roller surface formed by a plurality of rollers 11 through 13 of the molding roller 4, a roller supporting plate 16 is turned by a tightening member 29 while being position-regulated by a roller 25 attached to the roller attaching arm 23 so that web is transferred on the basis of the hypothetical center axis line (Point X) of the tubular web, which is formed by the roller surface constituted by the rollers 11 through 13, wherein the web in the lengthwise direction can be accurately transferred so that the same web takes a predetermined orientation of the rollers 11 through 13.

Abstract: A clutch bearing for preventing reverse rotation of a bushing received within the bearing includes a housing having a plurality of recesses, each recess having a shallow portion and a deep portion, an insert member disposed within the housing and having a plurality of retaining bars, a plurality of rollers each being received between two adjacent retaining bars, a clutch coupled to the insert member and operable to either dispose the rollers near the respective deep portions of the recesses for rotation in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions or dispose the rollers near the respective shallow portions of the recesses for preventing rotation in one direction.

Abstract: An alignment device connects a stump socket (1) to a prosthetic limb (21). The alignment device has an alignment member (8) with an opening (12) receiving a pin (7) connected to the stump socket (1). The size of the opening (12) is considerably greater than the cross-sectional dimension of the pin (7) and the pin can be locked in any position within the opening (12). This achieves a considerable improvement of the wear characteristics by lateral adjustment.

Abstract: An extrusion system for providing a foamed material in which a material such as a polymer material is supplied to an extruder for movement through a rotating screw member. The material is placed in a molten state and a foaming agent, such as a supercritical fluid, is introduced into the extruder at a selected pressure so that a two-phase mixture of the molten material and the foaming agent is formed. The foaming agent is then diffused into and dissolved in the molten material to form a single-phase solution which is forwarded from a solution formation to a nucleation device. A thermodynamic instability is induced through a rapid pressure drop, e.g., higher than 0.9 GPa/s in the nucleation device to nucleate microcells in the solution. A further shaping device, e.g., a die, can be used to produce a foamed material of a desired shape.

Abstract: A degree of frequency and a comparison difference value are used as an amount of feature that is to be inputted to a discrimination circuit so as to discriminate the kind of regions. The degree of frequency is represented by the smaller of two sums, that is, the sum of absolute values of the density-level difference between pixels adjoining in the line direction of the pixels within the specific region and the sum of absolute values of the density-level difference between pixels adjoining in the direction orthogonal to the line of the pixels, which is obtained by a frequency-degree extracting circuit. Further, the comparison difference value is represented by the comparison difference between a maximum value and a minimum value in the density levels of all pixels within the specified region, which is obtained by the comparison difference circuit.