Abstract: An electrolyte for a lithium ion battery is provided, including a carrier, a lithium salt dissolved in the carrier, and an additive uniformly dispersed in the carrier, wherein the additive is an inorganic clay modified by an organic quaternary phosphonium salt. Also provided is a method for fabricating an electrolyte solution and a lithium ion battery.

Abstract: A thermoelectric material and a thermoelectric converter using this material. The thermoelectric material has a first component including a semiconductor material and a second component including a rare earth material included in the first component to thereby increase a figure of merit of a composite of the semiconductor material and the rare earth material relative to a figure of merit of the semiconductor material. The thermoelectric converter has a p-type thermoelectric material and a n-type thermoelectric material. At least one of the p-type thermoelectric material and the n-type thermoelectric material includes a rare earth material in at least one of the p-type thermoelectric material or the n-type thermoelectric material.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a fluid collecting apparatus. The apparatus comprises a body disposed adjacent to fluid conveying or storing equipment to limit a moving path of fluid leaked from the equipment, a collector connected to the body to collect the leaked fluid, and a controller connected to the body to control an operation of the collector. The fluid collecting apparatus is capable of safely collecting fluid, for example, harmful gas leaked from fluid conveying or storing equipment.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method of forming a chalcopyrite light-absorbing layer for a solar cell, including: forming a thin film including a chalcopyrite compound precursor; and radiating light on the thin film, wherein the chalcopyrite compound precursor absorbs light energy and is thus crystallized. When forming the chalcopyrite light-absorbing layer, light, but not heat, is applied, thus preventing problems, including damage to a substrate due to heat and formation of MoSe2 due to heating of the Mo rear electrode. Furthermore, long-wavelength light, which deeply penetrates the thin film, is first radiated, and short-wavelength light, which shallowly penetrates the thin film, is subsequently radiated, thereby sequentially forming the chalcopyrite light-absorbing layer from the bottom of the thin film.

Abstract: A reactor using honeycomb catalyst is provided for fuel reformation with high activity and heat stability. The reactor comprises a heating tube, a methane gas inlet, a three-way steam inlet and a hydrogen-rich gas outlet. The three-way steam inlet is near to the heating tube for providing heat required for reformation and to reduce power consumption. The heating tube is made of an inconel material so that the overall reaction may be carried out at high temperature. The heating tube is set with a honeycomb carrier of cordierite. The honeycomb carrier is pasted with carbon nanotube and heat-treated to increase internal surface area. The honeycomb carrier has a Pt/CeO2/?-Al2O3 catalyst; is placed in the heating tube; and has honeycomb-pores channels parallel to a main axis of the heating tube.

Abstract: The present inventors isolated many promoters having various expression characteristics from monocots, connected the OsWRKY45 gene downstream of these promoters, and then re-introduced them into a monocot (rice plant), and thereby strived to produce a rice line having both complex disease resistance and excellent agronomic traits. As a result, the present inventors succeeded in producing transgenic plants having both disease resistance and good agronomic traits by expressing OsWRKY45 using upstream sequences of the EF1? or OsUbi7 gene as promoters.

Abstract: A motion estimation apparatus and method are disclosed. The motion estimation apparatus includes processing element (PE) array units, sub-SAD calculation units, motion vector calculation units, and a minimum motion vector selector. The PE array units each perform parallel processing for each of the three types of coding units. The sub-SAD calculation units calculate respective SAD values for the three types of coding units. The motion vector calculation units calculate respective motion vectors for the three types of coding units. The minimum motion vector selector selects a minimum motion vector from among the motion vectors.

Abstract: An auto-configuration server (ACS) and a management method of customer premises equipments (CPEs) thereof are provided, and the ACS includes a sub server communication module and a group management module. When an online message is received from a new CPE, the management method includes performing an extension procedure including the following steps. A health value of the ACS is calculated. When the health value of the ACS is less than or equal to a health threshold, a new group and a sub server corresponding to the new group are added and the new CPE is managed by the sub server corresponding to the new group.

Abstract: An implantable diagnostic device in accordance with the present disclosure provides various benefits such as a compact size thereby allowing implanting of the device inside animate objects; low cost due to incorporation of inexpensive detection circuitry and the use of conventional IC fabrication techniques; re-usability by heating thereby allowing multiple diagnostic tests to be performed without discarding the device; and a configuration that allows performing of simultaneous and/or sequential diagnostic tests for detecting one or more similar or dissimilar target molecules concurrently or at different times.

Abstract: Provided are a thermoelectric device and a method of manufacturing the same. The method may include forming nanowires on a substrate, forming a barrier layer on the nanowires, forming a bulk layer on the barrier layer, forming a lower electrode under the substrate, and forming an upper electrode on the bulk layer.

Abstract: Provided is a hole-transporting compound having a novel structure, and more particularly, a hole-transporting compound for an inorganic/organic hybrid perovskite solar cell. An inorganic/organic hybrid perovskite-based solar cell using the hole-transporting compound according to the present invention has significantly high power generation efficiency.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a titanium alloy with high strength and high formability, the method including preparing a titanium alloy material and equipment for manufacturing the titanium alloy, manufacturing the titanium alloy having a lamellar structure (martensite structure) by cooling the prepared titanium alloy material with water after performing heat treatment at the beta transformation temperature or more, and rolling that makes ultrafine grains by finishing forming of the titanium alloy at a plastic instability temperature or less of an initial lamellar structure by gradually decreasing the forming temperature in accordance with an increase of a strain after starting the forming at the plastic instability temperature or more of an initial lamellar structure, under a condition of a low strain in which the strain is 2.5 or less, after the manufacturing of a titanium alloy having a lamellar structure.

Abstract: A time-series waveform of tire vibration detected by an acceleration sensor is windowed by a windowing unit, time-series waveforms of the tire vibration are extracted for respective time windows, and feature vectors of the respective time windows are calculated. Then kernel functions are calculated from the feature vectors of the respective time windows and road surface feature vectors, which are the feature vectors for the respective time windows calculated from the time-series waveform of the tire vibration obtained for distinctive road surface conditions calculated in advance. And the road surface condition is determined by comparing values of discriminant functions using the kernel functions. As a result, the road surface condition can be determined from the time-series waveform of the tire vibration without detecting peak positions or measuring the wheel speed. Moreover, robustness against changes in tire size can be added to the determination of the road surface condition.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a magnetic-field focusing apparatus including a magnetic-field generating unit including a plurality of transmit coils and configured to receive a transmit pulse to be applied to each of the transmit coils and to generate a magnetic field, and a pulse generating unit configured to calculate a magnitude of a current to be applied to each of the transmit coils by using structure information based on a positional relationship between a focusing point for focusing a magnetic flux and the transmit coils and to generate the transmit pulse to be applied to each of the transmit coils based on the magnitude of the current. A magnetic-field receiving apparatus is also provided for the magnetic-field focusing apparatus.

Abstract: On a surface of a screen, a first direction parallel to a virtual plane and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction are defined. A basic diffusion member of the screen diffuses and transmits each light ray at a first angle in a first plane parallel to the first direction, and diffuses and transmits the light ray at a second angle larger than the first angle in a second plane parallel to the second direction. An adjustment diffusion member of the screen diffuses and transmits each light ray at an adjustment angle larger than the first angle in the first plane. The basic diffusion member and the adjustment diffusion member are stacked on each other such that a diffusion angle of each light ray by the screen in the first plane is adjusted to a target angle larger than the adjustment angle.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition for the regeneration of nerves comprising Vax protein as an active ingredient. Vax1 is secreted in the ventral hypothalamus (vHT) explant separated from a mouse. The secreted Vax1 combines with extracellular sugar group of heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) existing in retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axon of the retinal explant co-cultured so as for the complex invades into axonplasm. Then, the Vax1 conjugated with the sugar group activates the local protein synthesis to accelerate the growth of retinal ganglion cell axon. In some embodiments, Vax protein or a nucleic acid encoding the protein, can be used in a pharmaceutical composition for the regeneration of nerves.

Abstract: Methods and compositions of catalysts for sulfoxidation reaction processes are disclosed. The sulfoxidation reaction process can be performed in an aqueous medium, and the catalysts can be recycled for further use. In some embodiments, a method of making a catalyst may include contacting a transition metal compound with an oxidizing agent to form a first solution, contacting a carboxylic acid compound with a cationic surfactant to form a second solution, mixing the first solution and the second solution to form a precipitate, and isolating the precipitate.

Abstract: The invention discloses a system for squeezing, smashing and winnowing municipal solid waste (MSW). The system comprises a primary squeezing and smashing, device and a secondary smashing and winnowing device. The system of the invention has good effect m squeezing, smashing and winnowing, can greatly reduce the water content of MSW and efficiently separate the MSW into combustible matters and non-combustible matters, so as to facilitate further subsequent utilization of the municipal waste; moreover, an upper jaw of a jaw crusher is connected with a spring device, so that the squeezing pressure, smashing effect and processing capacity of the jaw crusher can be adjusted according to the amount of the MSW. In addition, the system of the invention is further provided with emergency brake switches, spring protection devices and a sieve, so as to ensure the stability and the reliability of the system.

Abstract: Disclosed is a process for preparing dihydro-2H-pyran derivatives of formula I: wherein R1 and R2 are defined herein. The process of the invention provides the compound of formula I in concise cascade reactions and in one pot. The compound of formulae I prepared by the process of the invention and its further transformed derivatives are useful for making pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of proliferative diseases.

Abstract: Provided is a method of recovering rare-earth elements by performing slight pH adjustment of a leachate, which does not require such significant pH adjustment as in conventional methods, reduces cost and effort, and can efficiently recover rare-earth elements in a bauxite residue in a good yield.