Abstract: An ink jet recording head comprising a discharge port for discharging an ink; and a sealing tape for sealing the discharge port; wherein the sealing tape includes a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer constituted of an acrylic crosslinked polymer formed by crosslinking an alkyl(meth)acrylate ester copolymer with a metal chelate compound, and is peelably adhered, through the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer, to a part where the discharge port is formed.

Abstract: A pharmaceutical dosage unit for oral administration to a human female comprising a therapeutically effective amount of 17?-estradiol-3-lower alkanoate, most preferably 17?-estradiol-3-acetate, and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier is disclosed. Also disclosed is a method for treating a human female in need of 17?-estradiol and a contraceptive method by oral administration of the pharmaceutical dosage unit and a method of preparing a pharmaceutical composition that may be used to form the pharmaceutical dosage unit of the invention.

Abstract: A method of contraception that provides for sequentially administering to a female of child bearing age: (a) a first composition containing a progestin in an amount equivalent to about 0.3 to about 1.5 mg norethindrone acetate and an estrogen in an amount equivalent to about 5 to about 20 mcg of ethinyl estradiol for about 22 to about 26 days; (b) a second composition containing an estrogen in an amount equivalent to about 5 to about 20 mcg of ethinyl estradiol for about 2 to about 3 days and an optional third composition that is a placebo provided that (i) if estrogen administration is continuous then the first composition is administered for 25 to 26 days, the second composition is administered for 2 to 3 days and no third composition is administered and (ii) if estrogen administration is not continuous then the first composition is administered for 22 to 24 days, the second composition is administered for 2 to 3 days and the third composition is administered for 1 to 4 days.

Abstract: Provided is an information recording apparatus including: a memory for storing image pickup data; a recording circuit for intermittently recording the image pickup data stored in the memory on a disc-like medium from the memory; a setting circuit for setting an ejection mode of the disc-like medium; and a control circuit for ejecting the disc-like medium without recording the image pickup data stored in the memory on the disc-like medium when a first ejection mode is set by the setting circuit. The apparatus enables to immediately remove a disk-like medium.

Abstract: Provided is an optical information recording/reproduction apparatus in which a tilt margin in a radial direction of an optical disk is increased to thereby reduce a danger that the optical disk and a solid immersion lens come into contact with each other as compared with a conventional case. The optical information recording/reproduction apparatus of the present invention includes: an objective lens for condensing a light beam from a light source; and a solid immersion lens (SIL) that is disposed between the objective lens and an optical recording medium, in which a shape of a bottom surface of the SIL on a recording medium side of the SIL is formed such that a length of the bottom surface in a radial direction orthogonal to a track direction of the recording medium is shorter than a length of the bottom surface in the track direction.

Abstract: The present invention provides animal model systems for cartilage-degenerative disease, which comprise transgenic animals which can express recombinant matrix-degrading enzymes (MDEs), particularly matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), in a temporally and spatially regulated manner. The invention also provides methods for producing phenotypic indicators of cartilage-degenerative disease in a mammal and methods for determining the potential of a composition to counteract cartilage-degenerative disease. The invention also provides isolated nucleic acids encoding proMMP polypeptides that exhibit constitutive enzymatic activity and isolated proMMP polypeptides.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus controls display contrast of a display screen based on a stored display contrast value. The information processing apparatus includes a display screen, an input unit for inputting data, a storage unit for storing a display contrast value, a unit for adjusting the display contrast of the display screen based on the stored display contrast value, a measuring unit for measuring the time after the completion of data input from the input unit while the display contrast is being adjusted, a value changing unit for changing the stored display contrast value stored in the storage unit after a first predetermined period of the time measured by the measuring unit elapses, and a changing unit for changing the display contrast of the display screen based on the display contrast changed by the value changing unit.

Abstract: A modulation clock supplied to a drive circuit (7) of a display panel (1) is frequency-modulated so as to spread its harmonics spectrum. The frequency deviation is so restricted that, if at least two pixels corresponding to two adjacent scanning wirings are displayed based on arbitrary same luminance data, a difference in display luminance in a specified period between one pixel and the other pixel is less than or equal to a tolerable value determined by the luminance data.

Abstract: A semiconductor device is manufactured using the method including the steps of anodizing a semiconductor substrate to form a porous semiconductor layer on a semiconductor region of the semiconductor substrate; forming a non-porous semiconductor layer on the porous semiconductor layer; forming a semiconductor element and/or semiconductor integrated circuit in the non-porous semiconductor layer; forming kerfs from a surface side of the non-porous semiconductor layer toward the semiconductor region; and applying a pressure of a fluid to the porous semiconductor layer such that the desired region of the semiconductor element and/or semiconductor integrated circuit is separated from the semiconductor substrate.

Abstract: A power source apparatus comprising: a direct current power source to output a first voltage; a load driven with a second voltage higher than the first voltage; a booster converter to boost an output from the direct current power source to the second voltage; and a control circuit, arranged to operate at a voltage higher than the first voltage, to control the booster converter. A power storage unit for storing an output from the booster converter is provided, and a reverse current blocking unit is provided between the power storage unit and the load, for preventing supply of electric power stored in the power storage unit to the load. When the booster converter is started, the electric power is supplied from the power storage unit to the control circuit, and when the booster converter has started, the electric power is supplied from the booster converter to the control circuit.

Abstract: A photovoltaic element is provided which has a high conversion efficiency, a low-cost producibility, a light weight and good overall characteristics in a final product form with a transparent protective member. The photovoltaic element comprises a first pin junction comprising an i-type amorphous semiconductor, a second pin junction comprising an i-type microcrystalline semiconductor, and a third pin junction comprising an i-type microcrystalline semiconductor provided in the mentioned order from a light incidence side, wherein at least a transparent protective member and a transparent electrode layer are provided on the light incidence side of the first pin junction, and wherein of the photocurrents generated at the plurality of pin junctions, the photocurrent generated at the third pin junction is the smallest.

Abstract: To provide a method of efficiently removing excitation light in a device for measuring fluorescence emitted from samples on a measuring surface of a substrate while illuminating the samples with excitation light. The method is a fluorometry characterized in that an excitation light illumination portion where the samples are illuminated with the excitation light and a light detecting portion where measurements are made of the fluorescence are placed in such a manner as to make it possible to prevent the excitation light from approaching the light detecting portion, and measurements of the fluorescence emitted from the samples on the measuring surface of the substrate are made in such a manner as to relatively move the samples from the excitation light illumination portion to the light detecting portion after illuminating the same with the excitation light.

Abstract: A method for dry detection/quantification of targeted nucleotide chains, comprising the steps of: (1) realizing a state in which a hybrid (C) of a certain amount of targeted nucleotide chain (A), which is derived from a sample solution and subjected to detection or quantification, and a probe nucleotide chain (B), which has a base sequence complementary to a specific site of the base sequence of the targeted nucleotide chain, is formed on a solid-phase substrate by mutually reacting the two types of nucleotide chains with each other, and in which there exists a fluorescence dye (D), which acts on the hybrid (C), thereby emits fluorescence or increases its fluorescence intensity, and is capable of continuing to emit fluorescence even in the dried state while acting on the hybrid; (2) drying the hybrid (C) and the fluorescence dye (D) on the substrate; and (3) measuring the fluorescence emitted from the fluorescence dye (D), as a measuring means, after the drying operation.

Abstract: A wafer cassette comprises a holding member having a depression corresponding to the shape of the substrate, and a cover having an opening smaller than the surface size of the substrate. The substrate is to be held in the depression by means of the holding member and the cover, and the substrate is to be covered at its one-side surface, side and all peripheral region of the other-side surface, with the holding member at its depression and with the cover at the edge of its opening. Also disclosed are a liquid-phase growth system and a liquid-phase growth process which make use of the wafer cassette.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing polyhydroxyalkanoate-containing structure, at least a part of a base material surface of the structure being coated with polyhydroxyalkanoate, the method comprises the steps of immobilizing a polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase on the base material surface, synthesizing, on the base material surface, polyhydroxyalkanoate using a 3-hydroxyacyl coenzyme A to become the substrate of the synthase and the synthase and coating at least a part of the base material surface with the synthesized polyhydroxyalkanoate, wherein the synthase contains an amino acid sequence capable of binding to the base material.

Abstract: The semiconductor device of the present invention comprises an optical transmission region, and a light receiving part for converting light propagating through the optical transmission region to an electrical signal, wherein the optical transmission region comprises a two-dimensional optical waveguide layer, and wherein at least a portion of the light receiving part is embedded in the optical transmission region, whereby the present invention can provide a semiconductor device having reduced direction dependency when light propagating through the optical transmission region is received.

Abstract: A surface optical device apparatus includes a surface optical device capable of emitting or receiving light through a surface thereof and a thick layer formed of a radiation-curable or electron-beam-curable material, such as a polymerizable resist. In the thick layer, a guide hole for inserting an end portion of a light-transmission member, such as an optical fiber, and a plastic optical fiber with a flat end face or a lens-shaped end face, therein is formed at a position corresponding to the surface of the surface optical device such that the surface optical device can be optically coupled to the light-transmission member inserted in the guide hole. The guide hole is formed in the thick layer by performing a patterning on the thick layer using photolithography to selectively harden the thick layer and developing the thick layer.

Abstract: In a solar cell module-mounting structure, a solar cell module 101 is fixed on one surface of a plate-shaped member 102, the plate-shaped member 102 is placed on an installation surface so that one side of the plate-shaped member is in contact with the installation surface, a surface of the plate-shaped member 102 opposite to the solar cell module-fixing surface is in contact with a first support member 103, and out of surfaces including the one side of the plate-shaped member 102, at least a part of the surfaces in no contact with the first support member 103 is in contact with a second support member 103, thereby effectively preventing a solar cell module-mounting rack from being moved by a wind load.

Abstract: In a process for forming on a substrate a transparent conductive film having crystallizability, the process comprises a first step of forming a film at a first film formation rate and a second step of forming a film at a second film formation rate, and the relationship between film formation rates in the respective steps satisfies: 2?(second film formation rate)/(first film formation rate)?100; which provides a process for producing a transparent conductive film by a deposition process advantageous for cost reduction, which can form in a short time a transparent conductive film having an uneven surface profile with a high light-confining effect, and can bring about an improvement in photovoltaic performance and enjoy a high mass productivity when applied to the formation of multi-layer structure of photovoltaic devices.

Abstract: A thin rechargeable lithium battery having a battery main body enclosed between sealing members (a) and (b), at least sealing member (a) having a concave portion that extends to either side from a central position so as to have a peripheral collar portion (a-i) which surrounds the concave portion, sealing member (b) having a peripheral collar portion (b-i) corresponding to the collar portion (a-i) of sealing member (a) and the two sealing members (a) and (b) being opposingly arranged such that the face of said concave portion of sealing member (a) faces sealing member (b) through the battery main body, wherein collar portions (a-i) and (b-i) are mutually welded, and either sealing member (a) or (b) is provided with a power output terminal having electrical continuity with the battery main body and an insulating portion for insulating said terminal.