Abstract: An apparatus (1) for producing a transparent polypropylene sheet, which comprises a sheet formation means (11) for melt-kneading a resin composition comprising (A) 60 to 97 mass % of a polypropylene resin having an iostactic pentad proportion of 0.85 to 0.99 and a melt index of 2 to 10 g/10 min and (B) 40 to 3 mass % of a polypropylene resin having a racemic pentad proportion [rrrr/(1-mmmm)] of 0.15 to 0.50 and a melt index of 2 to 10 g/10 min and extruding it into s sheet, a first cooling means (12) for cooling a sheet (20) into a solid, a preheating means (13) for re-heating the cooled sheet (20), a heat treatment means (14) for heat-treating the sheet (20) into a sheet (21) and a second cooling means (15) for cooling the sheet (21) after heat treatment.

Abstract: The magnetic composite material of the present invention is used as a working substance in the magnetic refrigeration system and comprising at least two phases, including, a first phase composed of an intermetallic compound represented by a general formula: La(Fe(Co, Ni)Si)13, having an NaZn13 type crystal structure, and a second phase is composed of an iron alloy containing Si. The first phase is precipitated in an expansion size of 100 ?m or less in average. Preferably, the magnetic composite material contains Fe as a principal component, La in an amount from 4 atomic % to 12 atomic %, Si in an amount from 2 atomic % to 21 atomic %, and Co and Ni in a total amount from 0 atomic % to 11 atomic %, and the total amount of Fe, Co and Ni being from 75 atomic % to 92 atomic %.

Abstract: The dielectric-forming composition according to the invention is characterized by consisting of: composite particles for dielectrics in which part or all of the surfaces of inorganic particles with permittivity of 30 or greater are coated with a conductive metal or a compound thereof, or a conductive organic compound or a conductive inorganic material; and (B) a resin component constituted of at least one of a polymerizable compound and a polymer. In addition, another dielectric-forming composition according to the invention is characterized by containing: ultrafine particle-resin composite particles composed of (J) inorganic ultrafine particles with the average particle size of 0.

Abstract: According to one aspect of the invention, a wide-field microscope includes a stage configured to hold a specimen having a fluorescent material therein, and a multi-photon excitation light source configured to produce a substantially parallel beam of excitation light having a single photon energy less than an absorption energy required for single photon excitation of the fluorescent material. An infinity corrected objective is optically coupled to the multi-photon excitation light source and configured to focus the substantially parallel beam of excitation light onto the specimen such that multi-photon excitation of the fluorescent material simultaneously occurs over a predetermined area of the specimen. A focus lens is configured to focus emission light emitted from the predetermined area of the specimen onto at least two pixels of an image detector simultaneously.

Abstract: An objective lens unit used for an optical pickup device is made up of a plurality of lenses and has a numerical aperture (NA) not less than 0.7. The lenses (1) and (2) are secured within a cylindrically-shaped lens holder (3). The position of the lens(es) (2) other than one of the lenses secured within the lens holder is set with the position of the one lens (1) as reference.

Abstract: The present invention provides a process for manufacturing a steel strip with low aluminum content, which includes: hot-rolling a steel strip which includes between 0.050 and 0.080% by weight of carbon, between 0.25 and 0.40% by weight of manganese, less than 0.020% by weight of aluminum, and between 0.010 and 0.014% by weight of nitrogen, the remainder being iron and inevitable trace impurities, to form a strip; subjecting the strip to a first cold-rolling, to form a cold-rolled strip; annealing the cold-rolled strip, to form an annealed cold-rolled strip; optionally, subjecting the annealed cold-rolled strip to a secondary cold-rolling; wherein the annealing is a continuous annealing which includes: raising the temperature of the strip to a temperature higher than the temperature of onset of pearlitic transformation Ac1, holding the strip above this temperature for a duration of longer than 10 seconds, and rapidly cooling the strip to a temperature below 350° C. at a cooling rate in excess of 100° C.

Abstract: High quality epitaxial layers of monocrystalline oxide materials (24) can be grown overlying monocrystalline substrates (22) such as large silicon wafers. The monocrystalline oxide layer (24) comprises a layer of monocrystalline oxide spaced apart from the silicon wafer by an amorphous interface layer (28) of silicon oxide. The amorphous interface layer serves as a decoupling layer between the substrate and the buffer layer so that the substrate and the buffer is crystal-graphically, chemically, and dielectrically decoupled. In addition, high quality epitaxial accommodating buffer layers may be formed overlying vicinal substrates using a low pressure, low temperature, alkaline-earth metal-rich process.

Abstract: Provided is a double metal cyanide complex catalyst with a high activity which is readily produced on an industrial scale. The double metal cyanide complex catalyst is of a fine particle form and contains t-butyl alcohol or, t-butyl alcohol and another organic compound as an organic ligand. The catalyst of the fine particle form has a volume-average particle size in a range of from 3 to 20 ?m, based on measurement by a light scattering method for measuring fine particles having particle sizes of at least 0.15 ?m. A particle content of the catalyst in a particle size range of at least 0.15 ?m and at most 1 ?m is less than 5% by volume, and a particle content of the catalyst over a particles size of 1 ?m is in a range of more than 95% and at most 100% by volume.

Abstract: An upper level sensor or the like is used to detect an amount of lubricant in an oil pan of an engine. When the amount of lubricant exceeds a prescribed value (step ST1), that is, when lubrication of a sliding portion such as a bearing is insufficient due to dilution of the lubricant with fuel, control for lowering engine output such as control for lowering a maximum combustion pressure (step ST3) is carried out, so that combustion load applied to the sliding portion such as a bearing is suppressed when the maximum combustion pressure is attained and seizure of a connecting rod bearing or the like is prevented.

Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a first conductivity type. A pair of source/drain areas having a second conductivity type is formed on a surface of the semiconductor substrate. A gate insulating film is provided on a channel area between the source/drain areas. A gate electrode having the first conductivity type is provided on the gate insulating film. The gate electrode has a first portion located above a channel area and second portions located above the source/drain area. The concentration of majority carriers in the second portion is lower than that in the first portion.

Abstract: A semiconductor memory device includes: a memory cell array with electrically rewritable and non-volatile memory cells arranged therein, each memory cell storing one of first, second, third and fourth data defined as being arranged in order of threshold voltage height; a read/write circuit configured to read data of and write data in the memory cell array; and a controller configured to control the read/write circuit so as to execute first and second write sequences, the first write sequence being defined as to write the second data into a first selected memory cell or cells within a selected page of the memory cell array which has been initialized in the first data state, the second write sequence being defined as to write the fourth data into a second selected memory cell or cells within memory cells storing the second or first data in the selected page, and successively write the third data into a third selected memory cell or cells within memory cells storing the first or second data in the selected page.

Abstract: The device (10) for digital demodulation comprises a polyphase filter (14) comprising a set of N distinct elementary digital filters (Hi) and means (16) of selection, for each block of an elementary digital filter (Hi). These latter comprise means (28) for computing an error signal, means (30) for comparing performance indicators for the digital filters arising from the error signals and means (30) for determining the elementary digital filter (Hi) to be implemented in respect of the following block as a function of the result of the comparison. The digital filters (Hi) are ordered. They are chosen according to the order of the filters, as a function of the result of the comparison performed on the performance indicators for the elementary digital filters (Hi) implemented in respect of at least one previous block. Application to a mobile telephone or base station.

Abstract: A process for production of a thermoplastic elastomer composition by melt-kneading a mixture in one step to thereby conduct dynamic crosslinking, wherein the mixture comprises a hydrogenated block copolymer (a1) which is prepared by hydrogenating a block copolymer comprising a vinyl aromatic polymer block (A1) and a conjugated diene polymer block (B1) and has number-average molecular weight of 200000 or above and, if necessary, a non-hydrogenated block copolymer (a2) comprising a vinyl aromatic polymer block (A2) and a conjugated diene polymer block (B2), and contains a non-aromatic rubber softening agent (b), a peroxide-crosslinkable olefin resin (c) having a density of 0.94 g/cm3 or above, a peroxide-decomposable olefin resin (d), an organic peroxide (e), and a crosslinking aid (f), the amount of (b) being 50 to 250 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of the sum of (a1) +(a2), the amount of (c) being 2.5 to 50 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of (a); and the amount of (d) being 0.

Abstract: A multilayer coating according to the present invention comprises an alumina coating formed, directly or through an intermediate layer, on a hard coating composed of a metallic compound formed on the base material, and the Vickers hardness of the hard coating after alumina coating formation being 22 GPa or more. The multilayer coating is excellent in adhesion between a hard coating and an alumina coating and capable of exhibiting excellent wear resistance and heat resistance over a long period.

Abstract: A method is provided for plasma ashing to remove photoresist remnants and etch residues that are formed during preceding plasma etching of dielectric layers. The ashing method uses a two-step plasma process involving an oxygen-containing gas, where low or zero bias is applied to the substrate in the first cleaning step to remove significant amount of photoresist remnants and etch residues from the substrate, in addition to etching and removing detrimental fluoro-carbon residues from the chamber surfaces. An increased bias is applied to the substrate in the second cleaning step to remove the remains of the photoresist and etch residues from the substrate. The two-step process reduces the memory effect commonly observed in conventional one-step ashing processes. A method of endpoint detection can be used to monitor the ashing process.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus is operable to embed data into an image. Images such as those generated from an inter-laced scan may comprise a frame of image data, the frame comprising first and second image fields. The image processing apparatus comprises a combining processor operable to introduce the data to be embedded into at least one of the first and second fields of the image frame. As such a likelihood of a perceivable effect of the embedded data on the image may be reduced, because the images are viewed as a frame. The embedded data may also have an increased likelihood of being detected because some processing may effect the image frame more then the fields of the image. The combining processor may be operable to represent the data to be embedded in a transform domain form, and, in combination with a transform processor, combine the data to be embedded with the first and/or second fields with the image in a transform domain form or a spatial domain form.

Abstract: A support arm (13) is intended to be installed in a radial position in an afterburner device of a bypass turbojet. The device comprises first and second inner annular casings defining a passage for a primary flow and an outer annular casing defining together with the first inner annular casing a passage for a secondary flow. The arm (13) comprises a monobloc structure made of composite material including two integral walls (14, 15), on the one hand, designed to define a groove (16) having a substantially V-shaped profile and, on the other hand, including first end parts (17) joined together and adapted to define a foot (18) and second end parts (19) adapted each to define at least one flange (20, 21) intended to be positively connected to the outer annular casing.

Abstract: A hydraulic control device for a working machine includes hydraulic actuators, a hydraulic pump which functions as a hydraulic power source, control valves which control the actuators on the basis of operations by an operating unit, a common bleed-off valve which returns excess oil to a tank via an unload passage on the basis of the operations by the operating unit, and a control unit which controls the common bleed-off valve. The common bleed-off valve is capable of setting a position for closing the unload passage when the common bleed-off valve is in a non-operating state. The control valves have center bypass passages which function as individual bleed-off passages which open when the control valves are in neutral states. Opening characteristics of the control valves are set such that the center bypass passages are closed in initial stroke periods in which the control valves move toward operating positions.

Abstract: The present invention provides a technology that enables projection images to be overlaid with embellishment effects without depending on the capabilities of the image supply apparatus. A projection display apparatus that projects images onto a screen responsive to given image data, comprises: an embellishment effect memory for storing embellishment effect data representing an embellishment effect image that can be used to embellish an arbitrary image; an image embellishment section that generates embellished image data by overlaying an original image represented by the given image data and the embellishment effect image; a light modulation unit that is driven responsive to the embellished image data pixel by pixel; and an optical system for projecting onto the screen the embellished image obtained by the light modulation unit. A projection display apparatus superimposes the embellishment effect on the projected image without having to rely on the capabilities of an image supply apparatus.

Abstract: An apparatus for designing a semiconductor integrated circuit having a configurable processor includes: a software information storage section storing software information including software descriptions; a hardware information storage section storing hardware information including hardware descriptions of the semiconductor integrated circuit; a processor information storage section storing processor information; a hardware implementation specification section specifying an algorithm of a portion to be implemented by hardware from among the software descriptions; a hardware changing section generating hardware descriptions from the algorithm of the specified portion, and changing the hardware information and the processor information; a software changing section generating software descriptions in which the algorithm of the specified portion is replaced with an algorithm for controlling the implemented hardware, and changing the software information; and a performance analyzer analyzing a performance of the s