Abstract: A method is provided for determining a concentration of a target nucleic acid by using a nucleic acid probe labeled with a fluorescent dye. The method comprises: providing, as the probe, a nucleic acid probe capable of reducing fluorescence emission from the fluorescent dye when hybridized with the target nucleic acid; hybridizing the probe to the target nucleic acid; and measuring a decrease in fluorescence emission from the fluorescent dye after the hybridization relative to fluorescence emission from the fluorescent dye before the hybridization.

Abstract: Disclosed is a microsize driving device in which falling of track proteins from an arrangement of motor protein molecules arranged on a linear track groove provided on a substrate is suppressed and utilization of kinetic energy of track proteins as a driving energy is made possible by controlling the moving direction to a single direction. Namely, provided is a microsize driving device which comprises a substrate, an arrangement of motor protein molecules such as, for example, kinesin molecules deposited on the bottom of a linear track groove provided thereon and track proteins such as, for example, microtubules disposed thereon and is characterized in that the said linear track groove has side surfaces shaped in such a structure as to permit a linear movement of the track proteins moving in a certain specific direction but to inhibit the track proteins moving in the reverse direction thereto causing reversion for the movement in the above mentioned specific direction.

Abstract: The invention provides a titanium composite material comprising a bonded laminate having a layer of macromolecular material bonded to the modified surface of a titanium sheet or a titanium alloy sheet, and a process for preparing a titanium composite material, the process comprising the step of bonding a macromolecular material to a titanium sheet or a titanium alloy sheet having a modified surface to be bonded.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of increasing the reaction rate of an organic synthesis reaction by utilizing supply of OH− from water in the absence of catalyst without adding a basic catalyst in supercritical water or subcritical water of at least 350 ° C., and a method of generating alcohol and carboxylic acid with high reaction rate by performing a Cannizzaro reaction in the absence of catalyst without adding a basic catalyst in supercritical water, and to a method of synthesis of alcohol and carboxylic acid from an aldehyde in the absence of catalyst without adding a basic catalyst near the critical point (375 to 380 ° C., 22.5 to 25 MPa) of supercritical water.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a silicon carbide-boron nitride composite material, which synthesised according to an in-situ chemical reaction between silicon nitride, boron carbide and carbon, and which contains fine boron nitride particles dispersed in a silicon carbide matrix, wherein aforementioned composite material is obtained by molding a powder mixture containing each of the components required in the in-situ reaction and sintering the mixture.

Abstract: An image coding apparatus including a context generator configured to select a reference pixel that has been coded in image data to generate a context formed of the selected reference pixel, an entropy encoder configured to code the image data based on the context to generate coded data, an evaluation value calculator configured to calculating a compression ratio based on the image data and the coded data to output the compression ratio, and an adaptive evolution processor configured to perform adaptive evolution based on the compression ratio to find optimal reference pixels for the image data, the optimal reference pixels being supplied to the context generator for optimizing the context.

Abstract: A method for control of a cooperative object-transporting robot, in which a man and a robot transport a long object or a large-sized object while grasping each of the ends of the object. An angle of a hand-tip of the robot is detected by angle sensors, and based on the sensor signals, a motion instruction for a translational motion of the hand-tip in the vertical direction is output so as to keep the posture of the object horizontal.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a silicon carbide-boron nitride composite material, which synthesised according to an in-situ chemical reaction between silicon nitride, boron carbide and carbon, and which contains fine boron nitride particles dispersed in a silicon carbide matrix, wherein aforementioned composite material is obtained by molding a powder mixture containing each of the components required in the in-situ reaction and sintering the mixture.

Abstract: A monolayer sheet structure is prepared containing a confluent monolayer of primary hepatocytes cultured on a substrate in sheet form. The monolayer sheet structure is formed by treating the hepatocytes in the monolayer formation stage with a protein-phosphorylation inhibitor having an indolo [2,3-a] carbazole structure, such as staurosporine, or other similar structure.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method of measuring a rheological property of a composite filled with particles, and evaluation equipment, in which in situ measurement is performed of the rheological property of a composite filled with particles obtained by mixing a particulate material as raw material with a liquid material, in a condition with the original material structure maintained, without destroying the material by applying external force such as shearing force thereto, comprising a step of measuring the coagulation structure of the particulate material within the composite filled with particles as an anisotropy signal, and a step of employing the amount of this anisotropy as an index of the rheological property value of the composite.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method of producing an alumina porous material using a mixed powder of alumina powder and aluminum hydroxide represented by the chemical formula Al(OH)3 at different percentages as the starting material, comprising the steps of heating this mixed powder to decompose the aluminum hydroxide and further heat treating it within a temperature range of 1,000 to 1,600° C., and to the alumina porous material produced by the above-mentioned method with a porosity exceeding 40 volume % and its specific surface area of 8 to 40 m2/g, and further to a filter and catalyst carrier that are obtained using this alumina porous material.

Abstract: A control of a cooperative object-transporting robot which transports an object in cooperation with a man. The robot shares substantially a half of the weight of the object with the man, while the object is kept in a horizontal posture. A force applied to the robot by the object is detected by a force sensor, and based on the signal from the force sensor, a motion instruction is output for the motion components by the rotational force component &tgr;1 around the horizontal axis and the translational force component Fx1 in the horizontal back-and-forth direction, upon setting a gain to reduce the resistance forces of the robot to small values. The translational force component Fy in the direction of the object short axis is constrained so that no translational motion in the direction of the object short axis occurs.

Abstract: A surface-type light amplifier device has an active layer (13) of a light amplification section (11) sandwiched between an n-type semiconductor cladding layer (12) that is an n-type semiconductor layer and a p-type semiconductor multilayer reflecting mirror (14). The light amplification section is attached to a transparent substrate (21) on the side of the n-type semiconductor cladding layer. A plurality of divided electrodes (16) form electrical continuity relative to the p-type semiconductor multilayer reflecting mirror via a p-type cap layer (15) provided on the reflecting mirror. An electrode (18) forming electrical continuity relative to the n-type semiconductor cladding layer is connected to a wiring conductor (20) provided on the surface of the transparent substrate. The device enables amplification of a single, uniform, large-diameter light beam and oscillation of a laser.

Abstract: The present invention provides liquid culture media for human or animal cells, and the present invention relates to culture media for the low-serum or serum-free culture of human or animal cells, which contains antithrombin III purified from human, bovine, or other animal serum, or antithrombin III derived from recombinant bacteria or cells containing the full length of the antithrombin III gene.

Abstract: A method is provided for determining a concentration of a target nucleic acid by using a nucleic acid probe labeled with a fluorescent dye. The method comprises: providing, as the probe, a nucleic acid probe capable of reducing fluorescence emission from the fluorescent dye when hybridized with the target nucleic acid; hybridizing the probe to the target nucleic acid; and measuring a decrease in fluorescence emission from the fluorescent dye after the hybridization relative to fluorescence emission from the fluorescent dye before the hybridization.

Abstract: A surface-type light amplifier device has an active layer (13) of a light amplification section (11) sandwiched between an n-type semiconductor cladding layer (12) that is an n-type semiconductor layer and a p-type semiconductor multilayer reflecting mirror (14). The light amplification section is attached to a transparent substrate (21) on the side of the n-type semiconductor cladding layer. A plurality of divided electrodes (16) form electrical continuity relative to the p-type semiconductor multilayer reflecting mirror via a p-type cap layer (15) provided on the reflecting mirror. An electrode (18) forming electrical continuity relative to the n-type semiconductor cladding layer is connected to a wiring conductor (20) provided on the surface of the transparent substrate. The device enables amplification of a single, uniform, large-diameter light beam and oscillation of a laser.

Abstract: The present invention is intended to provide piezoelectric ceramic materials having far better strain characteristics than that of conventional piezoelectric ceramics, as well as a novel method for producing such piezoelectric ceramics, and the present invention involves solid solution piezoelectric ceramics primarily comprising the complex perovskite compound Pb(Ni⅓Nb⅔)O3, the simple perovskite compound PbTiO3, and PbZrO3, wherein the aforementioned ceramics primarily comprise compositions within a triangle in which the compositional vertices are (X=52, Y=34, Z=14), (X=49, Y=37, Z=14), and (X=49, Y=34, Z=17), where Pb(Ni⅓Nb⅔)O3 is X mol %, PbTiO3 is Y mol %, and PbZrO3 is Z mol % (X+Y+Z=100) among the triangular coordinates in the phase diagram in which the vertices are Pb(Ni⅓Nb⅔) O3, PbTiO3, and PbZrO3, as well as a method for producing such solid solution ceramics.

Abstract: An unsymmetrical dioxazine compound represented by the formula (1-1) or (1-2) below, a dichroic dye, a liquid crystal composition containing the same, and a liquid crystal display element fabricated with the same: (In the formula, each of Y1 to Y3 stands for a group represented by the formula (2) or (3) ; X stands for H or the like; h is an integer of 0 to 2; A stands for phenylene or the like; E stands for phenylene or the like; G stands for H, F, or the like; i is an integer of 1 to 2; j is an integer of 0 to 2, each of J and M stands for phenylene or the like; and Q stands for H, F or the like.

Abstract: The invention relates to a mold having split dies to be arranged in opposition about a substrate and an outer frame situated about the perimeter of the split dies, wherein the outer frame and split dies function as a wedge and move slidably so as to convert the load produced by a vertical uniaxial press into load applied from two opposing directions across the horizontal, the split dies move in such a way as to compress the titanium or titanium alloy substrate and uniformly press the side faces thereof so as to impart the required configuration to the substrate, and to artificial bone having high biological affinity produced by the mold.

Abstract: An efficient method for therapeutic treatment of leukemia is provided in which a patient's body fluid during external circulation is brought into direct contact with an adsorbent material capable of specifically and selectively adsorbing leukemic cells in the body fluid. The leukemic cell-adsorbing material is a composite of a lectin protein coupled with a physiologically inert carrier material such as a galactan polysaccharide in the form of beads. The lectin protein may be obtained from a mushroom fungus such as Agrocybe cylindracea or a leguminous seed such as from the jequirity bean plant. The lectin protein and carrier material can be bound by forming chemical linkages between amino groups in the lectin protein and functional groups in the carrier material, and unreacted functional groups of the carrier material may be blocked with an amino acid. A leukemic cell-adsorbing column may be formed by filling the leukemic cell-adsorbing material into a tubular body to form an adsorbent bed.