Abstract: An article conveying facility in which an article is conveyed by a conveyance carriage travelling on a pair of left and right rails provided along a conveyance path. The article conveying facility includes a carriage driving apparatus that drives the conveyance carriage by utilizing a frictional force generated by contact with the conveyance carriage, and sensors that detect floating of the conveyance carriage with respect to the rails. The conveyance carriage includes a fin that contacts the carriage driving apparatus. The fin is provided so as to extend along the travelling direction of the conveyance carriage, at a lower position than the position of an upper surface of the rails. The sensors detect floating of the conveyance carriage with respect to the rails by detecting the fin.

Abstract: A sorting facility for sorting articles by a plurality of connected conveyance carriages. The sorting facility includes a supervisory controller managing a position of each of the conveyance carriages, a trigger sensor detecting each of the conveyance carriages, and a belt conveyor provided on each of the conveyance carriages. The supervisory controller identifies each of the conveyance carriages that should deliver the articles to the chute based on the managed position of each of the conveyance carriages. The supervisory controller instructs the belt conveyor provided in each of the conveyance carriages identified to start a delivery operation of each of the articles at timing when each of the conveyance carriages identified is detected by the trigger sensor.

Abstract: A sorting facility for sorting an article by a belt conveyor provided on a traveling carriage traveling along a conveyance path. A plurality of traveling carriages travel on the conveyance path. Each of the plurality of traveling carriages is provided with a power generation motor generating electric power by traveling of the traveling carriage. The belt conveyor provided on each of the plurality of traveling carriages is driven in a predetermined position on the conveyance path by the electric power generated by the power generation motor. The power generation motor provided in each of the plurality of traveling carriages starts generation of the electric power necessary to drive the belt conveyor in order from the power generation motor provided in the traveling carriage scheduled to pass the predetermined position on the conveyance path first, after the traveling carriages are actuated and traveling speeds become a constant speed.

Abstract: An imprint apparatus which performs imprint processing by using a mold having a protruding portion and by bringing the protruding portion into contact with a composition on a substrate, the imprint apparatus comprising: a first illumination unit configured to emit light that cures the composition; a second illumination unit configured to emit light that cures the composition; and a control unit configured to perform control processing such that the composition at a position corresponding to a first region of the protruding portion is irradiated with the light from the first illumination unit and perform control processing such that the composition at a position corresponding to a second region outside the first region of the protruding portion is irradiated with the light from the second illumination unit.

Abstract: The present invention provides an imprint apparatus forming a pattern of an imprint material on a substrate by using a mold, the imprint apparatus including an optical system applying, to a peripheral region, irradiation light acing to increase viscosity of the imprint material, the peripheral region including an end of a mesa portion of the mold and surrounding the mesa portion in a state in which the mesa portion of the mold is held in contact with the imprint material, and a control unit controlling the optical system such that timings of applying the irradiation light to a plurality of zones in the peripheral region are different from each other, the zones being positioned at different distances from a center of the mesa portion, in the state in which the mesa portion of the mold is held in contact with the imprint material on the substrate.

Abstract: An imprint apparatus using a mold having a pattern region includes an irradiation unit that irradiates a substrate with irradiation light. The irradiation light has an intensity distribution over a region along a periphery of a shot area of the substrate and being capable of increasing viscosity of an imprint material or of solidifying the imprint material. The imprint apparatus also includes a control unit that sets an imprint condition for forming a pattern of the imprint material so as to reduce at least one of an extrusion of the imprint material from the shot area and an unfilling of the imprint material occurring in the shot area on the basis of results of detecting at least one of the extrusion and the unfilling of the imprint material obtained by detecting the pattern of the imprint material formed on the substrate.

Abstract: An optical fiber base material manufacturing method includes: supplying oxygen, hydrogen, and silicide to a core deposition burner; depositing silicon dioxide; adjusting a drawing up speed so that a deposition tip position remains at the same position in accordance with growth of a porous base material; calculating an average of the drawing up speed at each preset time interval; calculating a difference of the calculated average from a preset value of the drawing up speed; correcting a flow rate of silicon tetrachloride when the supplied hydrogen is hydrogen produced or stored at normal temperature, and correcting a flow rate of hydrogen when the supplied hydrogen is hydrogen obtained by vaporizing liquid hydrogen, where when correcting the flow rate of hydrogen, a flow rate of hydrogen supplied to a cladding deposition burner is also corrected in a ratio of before and after the correction of the flow rate of the hydrogen.

Abstract: A control apparatus monitors an amount of time that has elapsed since an article was stored at a first storage position or an amount of positional misalignment from a reference position of the article stored at the first storage position. This amount of time is a monitoring target amount, and the control apparatus monitors the monitoring target amount for each of multiple storage sections and causes a conveying apparatus to execute correction processing with a storage section in which the monitoring target amount has exceeded the set threshold as a target storage section. Correction processing is used for correcting the position of only the target article stored at a first storage position in a target storage section relative to a reference position.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to compositions and methods comprising abiotic, synthetic polymers with affinity and specificity to proteins. The synthetic polymers are an improvement over biological agents by providing a simpler, less expensive, and customizable platform for binding to proteins. In one embodiment, the compositions and methods relate to synthetic polymers with affinity and specificity to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In one embodiment, the compositions are useful for treating diseases and disorders related to the overexpression of VEGF. In one embodiment, the compositions are useful for treating cancer. In one embodiment, the compositions are useful for detecting VEGF levels from biological samples. In one embodiment, the compositions are useful for detecting overexpression of VEGF from biological samples. In one embodiment, the compositions are used to diagnose cancer.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a transport unit, an image bearing member, a transfer unit, and a detector. The transport unit transports a continuous recording medium. The image bearing member retains an image thereon. The transfer unit has a transfer member that is movable into and out of contact with the image bearing member and transports the recording medium by nipping the recording medium between the image bearing member and the transfer member. The transfer unit transfers the image on the image bearing member onto the recording medium. The detector detects an electrical resistance of the transfer member in a state where the transfer member is disposed at a noncontact position located away from the image bearing member.

Abstract: A control apparatus monitors an amount of time that has elapsed since an article was stored at a first storage position or an amount of positional misalignment from a reference position of the article stored at the first storage position. This amount of time is a monitoring target amount, and the control apparatus monitors the monitoring target amount for each of multiple storage sections and causes a conveying apparatus to execute correction processing with a storage section in which the monitoring target amount has exceeded the set threshold as a target storage section. Correction processing is used for correcting the position of only the target article stored at a first storage position in a target storage section relative to a reference position.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a transport unit, an image bearing member, a transfer unit, and a detector. The transport unit transports a continuous recording medium. The image bearing member retains an image thereon. The transfer unit has a transfer member that is movable into and out of contact with the image bearing member and transports the recording medium by nipping the recording medium between the image bearing member and the transfer member. The transfer unit transfers the image on the image bearing member onto the recording medium. The detector detects an electrical resistance of the transfer member in a state where the transfer member is disposed at a noncontact position located away from the image bearing member.

Abstract: When an external force applied condition that an external force that causes a decrease in a rotational speed of an electric motor is applied to the contact member moved by the electric motor is satisfied while the actuation controller is performing a first control for continuously performing a process of providing the electric motor with a command value that depends on an error between an actual rotational speed of the electric motor and a first target rotational speed so as to cause the actual rotational speed to approach the first target rotational speed, then the actuation controller, subsequent to the first control, performs a second control for providing the electric motor with a command value that allows the actual rotational speed of the motor to be equal to, and to fall below, the first target rotational speed at a time of the external force applied condition becoming satisfied.

Abstract: When an external force applied condition that an external force that causes a decrease in a rotational speed of an electric motor is applied to the contact member moved by the electric motor is satisfied while the actuation controller is performing a first control for continuously performing a process of providing the electric motor with a command value that depends on an error between an actual rotational speed of the electric motor and a first target rotational speed so as to cause the actual rotational speed to approach the first target rotational speed, then the actuation controller, subsequent to the first control, performs a second control for providing the electric motor with a command value that allows the actual rotational speed of the motor to be equal to, and to fall below, the first target rotational speed at a time of the external force applied condition becoming satisfied.

Abstract: A main controller controls carry in operations and carry out operations of articles to or from an article storage rack using article transport devices by causing a control command to be transmitted from a first optical communication device that is associated with each article transport device to a second optical communication device provided to each article transport device. The main controller is configured to perform a temporally-divided light-emission control in which a plurality of the first optical communication devices are caused to emit light in a temporally divided manner such that there is only one first optical communication device that emits light in any one time period among the first optical communication devices that are located close to one another in the vertical direction.

Abstract: Provided is a quartz glass manufacturing method that involves using one or more burners, supplying hydrogen and oxygen to the one or more burners to generate an oxyhydrogen flame, introducing a silicide into the oxyhydrogen flame, forming a porous base material by depositing silicon dioxide generated from a flame hydrolysis reaction with the silicide, and heating and sintering the porous base material to form transparent glass, the method comprising supplying hydrogen that is stored or made at a normal temperature to the one or more burners; controlling a hydrogen flow rate using a measurement apparatus or control apparatus that performs measurement based on heat capacity of a gas; vaporizing liquid hydrogen stored in a low-temperature storage chamber, and supplying the vaporized liquid hydrogen to the one or more burners as backup hydrogen; switching from the hydrogen to the backup hydrogen; and when switching, adjusting the hydrogen flow rate to a value obtained by multiplying the hydrogen flow rate immedia

Abstract: A main controller controls carry in operations and carry out operations of articles to or from an article storage rack using article transport devices by causing a control command to be transmitted from a first optical communication device that is associated with each article transport device to a second optical communication device provided to each article transport device. The main controller is configured to perform a temporally-divided light-emission control in which a plurality of the first optical communication devices are caused to emit light in a temporally divided manner such that there is only one first optical communication device that emits light in any one time period among the first optical communication devices that are located close to one another in the vertical direction.

Abstract: A transfer assembly includes a support member having a side wall that extends in such a direction as to intersect a line extending from the rotation axis of a transfer roller and that has a hole through which a support shaft is inserted with some play being present. The hole has such a shape that, at the beginning of a period when a door is rotated from an open state to a closed state and a positioned portion is in contact with a positioning member, gaps are formed between the support shaft and a wall surface of the hole on both sides of the support shaft in a radial direction crossing an arc that is drawn from a center of the arc at the center line of rotation of the door and that passes through the support shaft.

Abstract: When transmitting serial data from a master device to a slave device, it is possible to promptly detect a communication error if any occurs. Serial data transmitted from the master device to the slave device has two or more continuous bytes of dummy data having an identical structure. When the slave device recognizes the dummy data, communication error processing is executed. Assume that the serial data is shifted by an affect of a noise. In this case, “a text end control code (ETX)” is also shifted and the serial data cannot be recognized and no data reception end process is executed. However, during a period after this, a part of the first dummy data and a part of the second dummy data are received and one dummy data is recognized. Thus, the slave device can promptly execute the communication error processing.

Abstract: Provided is a quartz glass manufacturing method that involves using one or more burners, supplying hydrogen and oxygen to the one or more burners to generate an oxyhydrogen flame, introducing a silicide into the oxyhydrogen flame, forming a porous base material by depositing silicon dioxide generated from a flame hydrolysis reaction with the silicide, and heating and sintering the porous base material to form transparent glass, the method comprising supplying hydrogen that is stored or made at a normal temperature to the one or more burners; controlling a hydrogen flow rate using a measurement apparatus or control apparatus that performs measurement based on heat capacity of a gas; vaporizing liquid hydrogen stored in a low-temperature storage chamber, and supplying the vaporized liquid hydrogen to the one or more burners as backup hydrogen; switching from the hydrogen to the backup hydrogen; and when switching, adjusting the hydrogen flow rate to a value obtained by multiplying the hydrogen flow rate immedia