Abstract: In a discharge lamp apparatus for lighting a discharge lamp, a ballast is disposed outside of a lamp housing of a discharge lamp and is electrically connected to the discharge lamp through a connector. A ballast housing of the ballast is connected to a bottom wall of the lamp housing. In the ballast housing, a ballast circuit board is arranged along a top wall of the ballast housing that is opposed to the lamp housing. Accordingly, it is less likely that the ballast circuit board will be wetted by condensation or water vapor entered the ballast housing. Additionally, a partition wall can be provided in the ballast housing between the connector and the ballast circuit board to block the condensation or water vapor from flowing toward the ballast circuit board.

Abstract: A vehicle planetary gear device includes a ring gear, a sun gear, and a carrier, and pinions housed in the carrier. A penetration hole formed in a hollow cylindrical portion of the carrier has two inner wall surfaces that face an outer peripheral surface of a pinion. One of the inner wall surfaces has a curvature radius larger than the radius of the pinion, and has a curvature center that is apart from the radius center of the pinion gear. The pinion is disposed with respect to the carrier with a predetermined space formed between the one of the inner wall surfaces and the outer peripheral surface of the pinion, and thereby slides along a radial direction of the carrier.

Abstract: A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor substrate; a source region and a drain region formed at a distance from each other in the semiconductor substrate; a first insulating film formed on a portion of the semiconductor substrate, the portion being located between the source region and the drain region; a charge storage film formed on the first insulating film; a second insulating film formed above the charge storage film and made of a high-permittivity material; a control gate electrode formed above the second insulating film; and a silicon nitride layer including nitrogen atoms having three-coordinate nitrogen bonds, at least one of second-nearest neighbor atoms of the nitrogen atoms being a nitrogen atom. At least one of the charge storage film and the control gate electrode contains silicon, the silicon nitride layer is located between the second insulating film and the at least one of the charge storage film and the control gate electrode.

Abstract: A connector includes a male connector part composed of a male terminal, a first main body to which the male terminal is attached, and a first terminal housing portion composed of a first housing opening portion in which an end of the male terminal is exhibited and a predetermined housing space in which the male terminal is housed, a female connector part composed of a female terminal into which the male terminal is inserted, the male terminal being electrically connected to the female terminal by fitting the male connector part with the female connector part, a holding means inside the female terminal for holding the male terminal in a vertical direction, and a touch protecting means inside the first terminal housing portion for protecting the male terminal housed in the predetermined housing space from being touched by a foreign body.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for image fixing are disclosed. A fixing device includes a fixing member, a pressure member, a heater, and a pressure controller. The fixing member and the pressure member face with each other to form a nip. The heater heats a surface of the fixing member when the fixing member rotates. The pressure controller changes a pressure generated at the nip, according to an operation of the fixing device.

Abstract: A discharge lamp lighting apparatus includes a transformer unit, a casing for housing the transformer unit, and a circuit board including circuit components. In the casing, the circuit board is joined to the casing and the transformer unit is fixed to the circuit board through a heat conductive member having thermal conductivity of more than 0.1 W/(m·k). Heat produced by the transformer unit is transferred to the casing through the heat conductive member and released through the casing effectively. In the lighting apparatus, therefore, while the transformer unit is arranged relatively close to the circuit components, the heat can be prevented from affecting the circuit components.

Abstract: An apparatus including and a method using a fixing device including a fixing member, a pressure member, a heater, and a pressure controller. The fixing member and the pressure member face with each other to form a nip. The heater heats a surface of the fixing member when the fixing member rotates. The pressure controller is configured to change a pressure generated at the nip, according to an operation of the fixing device.

Abstract: A developer supply system includes a container, a memory, and a positioning mechanism. The container has a deformable bag formed of flexible material to accommodate developer therein. The memory is attached to a given planar surface of the deformable bag to store information for communication to the image forming apparatus. The positioning mechanism holds the container therein while maintaining the given planar surface in position relative to the image forming apparatus when the deformable bag collapses as it discharges developer. An image forming apparatus employing such a developer supply system is also disclosed.

Abstract: A lens assembly is provided and includes: a plurality of lenses including a first lens located nearest to an object side of the lens assembly and a second lens located adjacent to the first lens; and a lens frame having a hollow part which includes an opening on each of an object side and an image forming side of the lens assembly and into which the plurality of lenses are inserted with their optical axes aligned. Liquid is sealed in a part between the first lens and the second lens.

Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate; an insulation film provided on the semiconductor substrate; and an electrode provided on the insulation film, and containing boron and a semiconductor material, wherein at least one element of the group V and carbon is introduced into an interface between the insulation film and the electrode.

Abstract: A semiconductor device having a metal insulator semiconductor field effect transistor (MISFET) with interface resistance-reduced source/drain electrodes is disclosed. This device includes a p-type MISFET formed on a semiconductor substrate. The p-MISFET has a channel region in the substrate, a gate insulating film on the channel region, a gate electrode on the gate insulating film, and a pair of laterally spaced-apart source and drain electrodes on both sides of the channel region. These source/drain electrodes are each formed of a nickel (Ni)-containing silicide layer. The p-MISFET further includes an interface layer which is formed on the substrate side of an interface between the substrate and each source/drain electrode. This interface layer contains magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca) or barium (Ba) therein. A fabrication method of the semiconductor device is also disclosed.

Abstract: In a discharge lamp apparatus for lighting a discharge lamp, a ballast is disposed outside of a lamp housing of a discharge lamp and is electrically connected to the discharge lamp through a connector. A ballast housing of the ballast is connected to a bottom wall of the lamp housing. In the ballast housing, a ballast circuit board is arranged along a top wall of the ballast housing that is opposed to the lamp housing. Accordingly, it is less likely that the ballast circuit board will be wetted by condensation or water vapor entered the ballast housing. Additionally, a partition wall can be provided in the ballast housing between the connector and the ballast circuit board to block the condensation or water vapor from flowing toward the ballast circuit board.

Abstract: The discharge lamp lighting apparatus includes a power section operating to generate a high voltage to be applied to a discharge lamp to trigger electrical discharge within the discharge lamp and to generate an AC voltage to be supplied to the discharge lamp to keep the discharge lamp in a stable lighting state, and a control section controlling operation of the power section. The power section and the control section are installed separately within an enclosure of the discharge lamp lighting apparatus.

Abstract: A toner supply device includes a toner container, a transport-path forming member, an opening, a shutter member, and a first seal member. The opening is provided at a side wall of the transport-path forming member. The shutter member is movable between a closed position to close the transport path by being inserted in the opening and an open position. The first seal member fills a gap between an inner wall of the opening and the shutter member in a toner transport direction in which the toner is transported through the transport path. When the shutter member is inserted in the opening, the shutter member is elastically deformable in a deformation direction perpendicular to both the toner transport direction and a moving direction of the shutter member, and when the shutter member is not inserted in the opening, the shutter member is wider than the opening in the deformation direction.

Abstract: A developing device includes a rotator that rotates around a shaft, and a bearing element that supports the shaft to a housing. A sliding element formed of a composite material that contains self-lubricating thermoplastic olefin resin as a base material is used as the bearing element. The sliding element formed of the composite material has at least a ratio of numerical values of “Rockwell hardness”/“bending elastic modulus” in a range from 25 to 45, and provides a sliding surface of which a frictional coefficient is lower than that of the sliding element formed of the base material.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus including an image bearing member; a developing device forming a toner image; a toner supplying device including a toner container, a toner feeding passage, a pump, in which a first member is moved while rubbing a second member to feed a developer supplement including at least the toner, and a residual toner detector detecting the amount of the developer supplement remaining in the toner container. Even after the toner container achieves a near empty state, image forming operations are continued as long as a predetermined condition is satisfied while changing the pump's condition such that the pump is stopped, the ratio of the pump stopping period to the pump driving period is set to be greater than that before the near-empty detection, or the pump stopping period and the pump driving period are set to be longer than those before the near-empty detection.

Abstract: In an inexpensive and convenient method for immobilizing a suspension cell, a phospholipid vesicle or the like regardless of the type of cell, on the surface of a solid phase, a cell is immobilized by causing the cell to contact a support having a hydrophobic chain and a hydrophilic chain.

Abstract: A developing unit includes a developer bearing member, a developer transporter, a developer conveyance system for directing the developer, including a supply path, a recovery path, and an agitation path, a developer supply opening through which the developer is supplied to the developer conveyance system, a developer supply device for supplying the developer from the developer supply opening to the developer conveyance system, a developer discharge device for discharging the developer outside the developing unit, a developer level rise detector for detecting increase in a level of the developer between the downstream end of the recovery path facing the developer bearing member in the direction of developer transport and a portion of the agitation path where the agitation path receives the collected developer from the recovery path, and a controller for controlling the developer discharge device based on the detection result provided by the developer level rise detector.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device reducing interface resistance of n-type and p-type MISFETs are provided. According to the method, a gate dielectric film and a gate electrode of the n-type MISFET are formed on a first semiconductor region, a gate dielectric film and a gate electrode of the p-type MISFET are formed on a second semiconductor region, an n-type diffusion layer is formed by ion implantation of As into the first semiconductor region, a first silicide layer is formed by first heat treatment after a first metal containing Ni is deposited on the n-type diffusion layer, the first silicide layer is made thicker by second heat treatment after a second metal containing Ni is deposited on the first silicide layer and second semiconductor region, and third heat treatment is provided after formation of a second silicide layer and ion implantation of B or Mg into the second silicide layer.

Abstract: The debug device of the present invention is a debug device which stops execution of a program based on one of a conditional break for stopping the program regardless of the condition of a predicated instruction and an unconditional break for stopping the program only when the condition of the predicated instruction is true. The debug device includes: a receiving unit which receives a breakpoint according to an operation by a user; a determination unit which determines the received break point as the unconditional break or the conditional break; and a stop unit operable to stop the program based on the unconditional break or the conditional break determined by the determination unit.