Abstract: An encoder includes a scale and a sensor. The scale has first and second absolute patterns. The sensor includes a light source, and first and second absolute light receivers. The first and second absolute light receivers receive light from the first and second absolute patterns, respectively. The first absolute light receiver receives light from the first pattern and includes first and second light receiving elements. Each first light receiving elements outputs a first signal with a first phase. Each second light receiving elements outputs a first signal with a second phase. The first and second light receiving elements are arranged alternately. The second absolute light receiver includes third and fourth light receiving elements. Each third light receiving element outputs a second signal with the first phase. The third and fourth light receiving elements are arranged alternately. Each fourth light receiving element outputs a second signal with the second phase.

Abstract: An absorbent body in which a larger amount of a granular absorbent substance penetrates into the inside of a fiber sheet is produced. A fiber sheet having napped one main surface is supplied to a conveying device and conveyed while the other main surface of the fiber sheet is being sucked through a conveyance surface. A granular absorbent substance is sprayed onto the napped one main surface of the fiber sheet to cause the substance to penetrate into the inside of the fiber sheet in a suction section. A pressure difference increasing device is provided that faces the one main surface of the fiber sheet sprayed with the absorbent substance and being conveyed in the suction section, and that suppresses air from flowing through the fiber sheet inward from the conveyance surface to increase the pressure difference between the conveyance surface side and the opposite side of the fiber sheet.

Abstract: A base sheet having one main surface applied with an adhesive is supplied to a conveyance device and the base sheet is conveyed while the other main surface of the base sheet is suctioned. A first laminate is formed by overlapping the one main surface of the base sheet with the other main sheet of a fiber sheet having one main surface nap-raised; then, a granular absorbent material is scattered on the one main surface of the fiber sheet; the scattered absorbent material is infiltrated into the fiber sheet when the other main surface of the base sheet is suctioned; then, a second laminate is formed by overlapping the one main surface of the fiber sheet with the one main surface of a cover sheet applied with an adhesive; and then the resultant sheet is compressed in the thickness direction by means of a compression means and the applied adhesive.

Abstract: The present invention aims to achieve both a function of diffusing excretions or the like in a longitudinal direction of an absorber and maintenance of adhesion to a wearer in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. The absorber includes a top sheet (21), a back sheet (22) opposed to the top sheet (21), and an absorbent core (23) extending in a predetermined longitudinal direction between the top sheet (21), and the back sheet (22) and configured to absorb excretions or the like of the wearer. The absorbent core (23) has a plurality of opening portions (23a) each having a shape that opens toward the top sheet (21) and extends in the longitudinal direction and each arranged in the longitudinal direction. An interval (G1) in the longitudinal direction between two opening portions (23a) adjacent to each other among the plurality of opening portions (23a) is set to a dimension equal to or larger than a dimension (D1) in the longitudinal direction of each of the two adjacent opening portions (23a).

Abstract: Provided is a method for removing keratotic plugs capable of sufficiently exhibiting an excellent keratotic plug-removing effect without a burden, such as pain and of irritation, on the skin. The present invention relates to a method for removing keratotic plugs comprising using a composition comprising (X) one or more selected from the group consisting of (X1) 2-amino-2-hydroxymethyl-1,3-propanediol (X2), 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol, and (X3) 2-amino-2-methyl-1,3-propanediol.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a first extraction unit configured to extract a first target region from an image using a trained classifier, a setting unit configured to set region information to be used in a graph cut segmentation method based on a first extraction result including the first target region, a second extraction unit configured to extract a second target region using the graph cut segmentation method based on the set region information, and a generation unit configured to generate a ground truth image corresponding to the image based on a second extraction result including the second target region.

Abstract: An encoder includes a measurement target and circuitry. The measurement target includes an absolute pattern and is rotatable. The circuitry is configured to generate, via a processing scheme, a signal representing an absolute position of the measurement target based on the absolute pattern. The circuitry is configured to detect, based on the absolute pattern, whether the measurement target rotates or not. The circuitry is configured to change the processing scheme based on whether the measurement target rotates or not.

Abstract: Provided is an absorbent article capable of fully utilizing absorption capacity of an absorption layer downstream in a liquid supply direction in a structure in which a plurality of absorption layers are laminated. An absorbent article-includes a first absorption layer and a second absorption layer configured to absorb liquid, and a diffusion layer that is interposed between the first absorption layer and the second absorption layer and diffuses the liquid in a direction in which a plane of the second absorption layer spreads. The first absorption layer includes an absorbent resin configured to absorb liquid. The first absorption layer includes an absorption region including the absorbent resin, and a passage region that has a lower density of the absorbent resin than a density of the absorbent resin in the absorption region. The passage region allows the liquid to pass through the diffusion layer.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing an underpants-type wearable article where a joining defect of an elastic stretchable member can be easily checked. The method includes: a rubber-thread-sandwiching-step; a continuous-body-forming-step of forming continuous bodies of front and backside waist members; a side-fusing-step of joining both side portions of the front and back members to each other by side fusing using a pair of side fusing portions; a rubber-thread-cutting-step of cutting the rubber threads of the respective continuous bodies of the front and back members at a protruding portion of a boundary region which becomes a boundary of individual wearable article; a joining-state-inspection-step of inspecting a joining state of the rubber threads to a pair of nonwoven fabric; and a continuous-body-cutting-step of obtaining individual wearable articles by cutting the respective continuous bodies of the front and back member at the protruding portion of the boundary region.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a first classification unit configured to classify each of a plurality of pixels included in a three-dimensional medical image using a first classifier for classifying each pixel into a plurality of classes including a class representing a first target region, a determination unit configured to determine an image region including the first target region and a second target region from the three-dimensional medical image based on a first classification result, a second classification unit configured to classify each of a plurality of pixels included in the determined image region using a second classifier for classifying each pixel into a plurality of classes including at least either one of a class representing the first target region and a class representing the second target region, and an integration unit configured to integrate the first and the second classification results to acquire a third classification result.

Abstract: Provided is a method for removing keratotic plugs capable of sufficiently exhibiting an excellent keratotic plug-removing effect without a burden, such as pain and of irritation, on the skin. The present invention relates to a method for removing keratotic plugs comprising using a composition comprising (X) one or more selected from the group consisting of (X1) 2-amino-2-hydroxymethyl-1,3-propanediol (X2), 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol, and (X3) 2-amino-2-methyl-1,3-propanediol.

Abstract: An information processing method includes a step of obtaining article information including a category of an article which a user wishes to purchase, and a step of outputting a reminder concerning purchase of the article, when a reminding condition is satisfied in a reminding period that is set according to the category of the article obtained.

Abstract: An interaction device include a processor. The processor being configured to acquire an alertness level of an occupant of a vehicle, request an utterance from the occupant in a case in which the acquired alertness level is below a threshold value, identify a rest point at which the vehicle can stop, measure a cycle spanning from initiation of an interaction until the alertness level falls below the threshold value again, and repeatedly request an utterance from the occupant at a regular interval that is shorter than the measured cycle during a time period from notifying the occupant that the rest point has been set as a destination of the vehicle to the vehicle arriving at the destination.

Abstract: An information output system includes a speech acquisition unit configured to acquire a speech of a user, a recognition processing unit configured to recognize the content of the acquired speech of the user, and an output processing unit configured to output a question to the user and to perform processing for outputting a response to the content of the speech of the user who has answered the question. The output processing unit is configured to derive a user's positive degree based on the content of the speech of the user who has answered the question and to determine guidance information to be output to the user based on the derived positive degree.

Abstract: The present invention is to provide an apparatus presenting information serving as a reason for inference as information on findings so as to be easily recognized by a doctor. A medical diagnosis support apparatus infers a diagnostic name derived from a medical image based on image feature values indicating features of a region included in the medical image, acquires information on findings representing the features of the region included in the medical image based on the image feature values, and presents the information on the findings as a reason for the inference.

Abstract: To improve an SN ratio of a photoelectric conversion element. A photoelectric conversion element (10) includes an anode (12), a cathode (16), an active layer (14) provided between the anode and the cathode, and a hole transport layer (13) provided between the anode and the active layer. The active layer includes a p-type semiconductor material, which is a polymer compound having an absorption peak wavelength of 900 nm or higher, and an n-type semiconductor material, and an energy gap between an LUMO of the n-type semiconductor material contained in the active layer and a HOMO of a hole transport material contained in the hole transport layer is less than 0.9 eV.

Abstract: A component placing device to place a component on a board, including: a shaft having a lower portion and an upper portion; a component holder that is attached to the lower portion of the shaft in a state of being vertically displaceable and has a suction hole for holding the component by a negative pressure; an elastic body that biases the component holder downward with respect to the shaft; a servo motor that raises and lowers the shaft; and a controller that sets a thrust limit value for limiting a thrust of the servo motor and limits the thrust of the servo motor to be equal to or lower than the thrust limit value when the component holder is lowered toward the board. The thrust limit value is set within a range in which a load is smaller than a force by which the elastic body biases the component holder.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a first classification unit configured to classify a plurality of pixels in two-dimensional image data constituting first three-dimensional image data including an object into a first class group by using a trained classifier, and a second classification unit configured to classify a plurality of pixels in second three-dimensional image data including the object into a second class group based on a result of classification by the first classification unit, the second class group including at least one class of the first class group. According to the image processing apparatus according to the present invention, a user's burden of giving pixel information can be reduced and a region can be extracted with high accuracy.

Abstract: A driving assistance device includes: a vehicle group search unit that acquires a most frequent vehicle speed of the vehicle and to search for one or more vehicle group, the most frequent vehicle speed being a vehicle speed that is most frequent, the vehicle group traveling at one of the most frequent vehicle speed and a speed close to the most frequent vehicle speed; a distance information generation unit that generates the vehicle group searched for by the vehicle group search unit and distance information on a distance between the vehicle group and an information-receiving vehicle that has sent the most frequent vehicle speed; and a merging assistance unit that sends the distance information generated by the distance information generation unit to a user terminal device and assists the vehicle in merging into one of the vehicle groups searched for by the vehicle group search unit.

Abstract: A shaped sheet including a plurality of rows of protruding portions formed on a non-woven fabric sheet and extending in a first direction and a plurality of rows of protruding portions formed on the non-woven fabric sheet and extending in a second direction that crosses the first direction, wherein: the shaped sheet is more stretchable in the first direction than in the second direction; the shaped sheet is formed from a single layer of the non-woven fabric sheet; and a fusion-bonded portion that extends discontinuously or continuously in the first direction and that has a smaller thickness than the protruding portions due to its fusion-bonded structure is provided along a part or whole of a periphery of the protruding portions on the shaped sheet.