Abstract: A waste containing organic solids is fed into a boiler after it has been subjected to a hydrothermal reaction treatment in the presence of water. A slurry containing the waste is held under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions to cause a hydrothermal reaction such that an acidic slurry is formed during part of or throughout the process of the hydrothermal reaction. Thereby the content of oxygen in the waste relative to carbon atoms in building molecules of the waste is reduced. This concurrently causes removal of halogens in said building molecule and transferring the halogens into the slurry. The slurry then is cooled and dewatered and fed into a combustion section of the boiler. The waste slurry to be subjected to the hydrothermal reaction can be sorted into two portions for separate storage. One portion is a waste slurry the pH of which will increase as a result of the hydrothermal reaction. The other portion is a waste slurry the pH of which will decrease during the hydrothermal reaction.

Abstract: A plurality of photo-detectors are provided wherein each photodetector includes a photosensitive semiconductor having a light-receiving face, a pair of leads electrically connected to the photosensitive semiconductor, and an individually selected light-transmitting member disposed in front of the light-receiving face of the photosensitive semiconductor. The light-transmitting member has a selected light transmittance which is individually selected from a plurality of different light-transmitting members to compensate for variations in the photosensitive semiconductor such that the photosensitive semiconductor provides an output current within a selected range upon a predetermined quantity of light incident upon the photo-detector. The light transmissive compensating member may be formed by selecting at least one of a mixture of materials, color, thickness, and surface finishing.

Abstract: The present invention relates to two primers for amplifying a cytomegalovirus (CMV) nucleic acid suitable for a nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) using a DNA-dependent RNA polymerase, a first primer containing a promoter sequence and a nucleic acid sequence consisting of at least fifteen continuous bases selected from the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1; a second primer containing a nucleic acid sequence consisting of at least fifteen continuous bases selected from the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, NO:3 or NO:4; a detecting probe and/or a capturing probe containing a nucleic acid sequence consisting of at least continuous fifteen bases selected from the nucleic acid sequence(s) of SEQ ID NO:5, NO:6 and/or NO:7 wherein said sequence is modified if necessary; a reagent kit for detecting a CMV containing the above-mentioned primers and probes; and a nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) using said primers.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a Mn-added titania carrier obtained by adding a Mn salt to amorphous titania and baking the titania. The invention also relates to an NOx adsorbent comprising the above-mentioned titania carrier and adsorbing components comprising oxides of Ru and/or Ce supported on the carrier. The invention also relates to an NOx adsorbent comprising the above-mentioned titania carrier and adsorbing components comprising oxides of Ru and/or Ce and an oxide of at least one metal among Ag, Cu and Mn supported on the carrier. The NOx adsorbents embodying the invention are effectively used for efficiently adsorbing and removing NOx from gases which contain much moisture and low-concentration, for example, a few ppm NOx such as gases discharged by ventilation from highway tunnels.

Abstract: Improved speech recognition is achieved according to the present invention by use of between word and/or between phrase coarticulation. The increase in the number of phonetic models required to model this additional vocabulary is reduced by clustering 19, 20 the inter-word/phrase models and grammar into only a few classes. By using one class for consonant inter-word context and two classes for vowel contexts, the accuracy for Japanese was almost as good as for unclustered models while the number of models was reduced more than half.

Abstract: An improved apparatus for submerged grinding of wastes includes a vessel that is filled with an alkaline liquid and which has a mechanism for grinding a feed waste containing organic solids, a feeding mechanism for charging the feed waste into the vessel, a primary screening mechanism for filtering the liquid being discharged from the grinding mechanism and a secondary screening mechanism by which the waste/liquid mixture that has been filtered by the primary classification mechanism is freed of the liquid fraction such that the waste is converted into a slurry.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods and compositions relating to cytomegalovirus (CMV) latent transcripts, latency-associated polypeptides and antibodies directed against such polypeptide. The polypeptides are encoded by CMV DNA sequences and are produced specifically during latent infection. Also provided are methods of detecting CMV in a sample, particularly CMV in a latent state. The methods include RT-PCR-based methods and immunodiagnostic methods.

Abstract: In a photo-detector, a window pane member for covering a photosensitive semiconductor is selected from among plural samples having light transmittances different from each other in compliance with an intensity of output of the photosensitive semiconductor detected under a constant quantity of light incident on the photosensitive semiconductor, thereby compressing dispersion of outputs in the plural photo-detectors into a small range as a whole.

Abstract: In a speech packet transmission system, a transmitter (speech terminal) first linearly predicts a speech signal input at a predetermined sample period from the input signal in the past and outputs the difference between the input speech signal and the prediction signal. A prediction coefficient used for linear prediction at this time is adapted with an output differential coded value at each predetermined sample period such that the prediction value is as close as possible to the value of the input waveform. The difference between the input speech signal and the prediction signal is converted to a differential code. A packet is prepared from a plurality of differential codes obtained during a frame period concerned and transmitted to a transmission line. A bit accuracy indicative of the differential code and a bit accuracy indicative of the differential coded value used for adaptation of the prediction coefficient are changed depending on the nature or property of the input speech signal.

Abstract: A speech packet communication system for making speech communication among a plurality of speech terminals and including a communication network. The communication network includes a transmission path and a plurality of intermediate switching nodes, each controlling the traffic of a plurality of speech packets received from the transmission path or other intermediate switching nodes in accordance with priority indicators contained in the respective packets. Each speech terminal converts the input speech signal to packets, transmits the packets onto the transmission path or decodes speech packets received from the transmission path. Particularly, when the terminal converts the input speech signal to packets, it uses a special purpose function of determining a priority indicator assigned to the packet to greatly improve the quality of a reproduced speech at a receiving end.

Abstract: A speech signal is analyzed for each frame so that it is separated into spectral envelope information and excitation information, and the excitation information is expressed by a plurality of pulses. Judgement is conducted as to whether the current frame is a voiced frame immediately after the transition from an unvoiced frame, a voiced frame continuative from a voiced frame or an unvoiced frame, and excitation pulses are generated in accordance with the judgement result. In case of a continuing voiced frame, the excitation pulse position of the current voiced frame is determined based on the pitch period with respect to the excitation pulse position of the immediately preceding voiced frame so that the excitation pulse train is generated at a position approximated to the determined position.

Abstract: In a speech coding method and system in which a speech signal is analyzed in each frame so as to be separated into spectral envelope information and excitation information and both of the information are coded, each frame is divided into a plurality of sub-frames and a pulse of the maximum-amplitude is extracted from pulses within each sub-frame in order to provide large-amplitude pulses from each frame, thereby greatly reducing the number of pulse extracting processing steps.

Abstract: A system for and a method of multiplexing digital speech signals corresponding to speech signals inputted from a plurality of terminals, the digital speech signals including a plurality of speech unit signals, in which a weighted priority signal is produced for the speech unit signal of each of the speech signals from the terminals, an assignement signal is produced from the priority signals indicative of which of the speech unit signals be selected for transmission in the form of a train of multiplexed speech unit signals in a cyclic transmission period of time, so that the speech unit signals are multiplexed on the basis of the assignment signal.

Abstract: A speech coding system includes apparatus for generating a variable threshold dependent upon the power of an input speech signal, and a comparator for comparing the power of the input speech signal with the variable threshold value to generate a discriminating signal for discriminating between a period when a speech continues and a period when the speech pauses, to change the coding operation for the input speech signal in accordance with the level of the discriminating signal, thereby forming voiced and unvoiced frames independently of each other.

Abstract: A speech signal transmission system for transmitting coded speech signals with variable bit rate is disclosed, which comprises a coder for analyzing digital speech signals inputted in a one-frame period and transforming them into coded data comprising a plurality of parameters indicating characteristics of the inputted speech signals, a data arranging circuit for arranging the coded data outputted by the coder in the order of the priority in the decoding of the speech signals and outputting them, and a bit stealer allowing a series of coded data outputted successively by the data arranging circuit to pass through only in a period of time determined by the transmission bit rate. The bit arranging circuit outputs the parameters in the order of the priority of decomposes each of them in unit of a bit and outputs them with decreasing priority. Parameters or bits of low priority are omitted by the bit stealer, depending on the transmission bit rate.

Abstract: An echo suppressor for a communication system wherein a signal sent to a transmitting line is returned to a receiving line with some delay. The suppressor comprises an attenuator for attenuating the amplitude of a received speech signal. The transmitting speech signal amplitude level is compared to the amplitude of a receiving speech signal, and according to the result obtained, a signal for controlling the signal attenuation of the attenuator is generated. The delay time, until the attenuation control signal operates on the attenuator according to a change in the amplitude level of the receiving speech signal, is controlled. The controlled delay time is normally held at a predetermined maximum value, and is minimized when a change in amplitude of the receiving speech signal indicates a beginning of speech. Thus, an echo of the speech uttered by a near end user can be suppressed without impairing a beginning of the speech signal uttered by a far end user.

Abstract: A system in which two stations are respectively provided with telephones and data terminals such that a voice and data are multiplexed for communication between the two stations. Each station has a circuit to convert voice signals inputted from the telephone into a plurality of kinds of predetermined voice parameters, a circuit to determine a transmission mode depending on a predetermined parameter of the voice signals, a circuit to extract data having a length corresponding to the transmission mode from data to be transmitted from the data terminal, a circuit to select one of the plurality of voice parameters depending on the transmission mode, and a unit to edit a mode indicator indicating the transmission mode, the selected voice parameter, and the extracted data into a transmission block format corresponding to the transmission mode.