Abstract: A method of producing a sheet type laundry detergent which comprises continuously or discontinuously applying a doughy detergent composition that has been prepared so as to have a viscosity of 1,000 mPa·s to 50,000 mPa·s at a shear rate of 10 s?1 to 1,000 s?1 onto a flexible support of continuous length that is running continuously in a prescribed direction under a shear rate condition of 10 s?1 to 1,000 s?1 by an application to form a thin layer of the doughy detergent composition.

Abstract: An exhaust gas purifying apparatus includes an exhaust pipe 2a for forming an exhaust way 2, and a catalyst disposed in the exhaust way 2 for purifying an exhaust gas. The catalyst includes the first honeycomb catalyst portion 3a and the second honeycomb catalyst portion 4a. The first honeycomb catalyst portion 3a has an outer circumferrencial surface for forming a blowing passage 200 with an inner circumferrencial surface of the exhaust pipe 2a. The radial cross sectional area in the catalyst region of the first honeycomb catalyst portion 3a is set in the 1/5–2/3 range with respect to the radial cross sectional area of a flowing way defined by the inwall surface of the first mounting position 3a placed in the exhaust way 2, with the first honeycomb catalyst portion 3a being removed.

Abstract: A voice recording and reproducing device employing differential vector quantization divides an input voice signal into frames and predicts the sample values of each frame. The first sample value in a frame is predicted from one or more sample values of the preceding frame. Each predicted sample value is then used in predicting the next sample value in the same frame. For example, the predicted sample values may be fed back into a shift register that is initially loaded with sample values from the preceding frame, and prediction may be carried out by an arithmetic operation on the shift-register contents. This scheme reduces the amount of arithmetic circuitry needed for making the predictions, and reduces the cost of the device.

Abstract: A process for producing a cosmetic-impregnated sheet which comprises applying and infiltrating a cosmetic base to and into a base sheet having on the surface thereof a retentive sheet capable of absorbing and retaining the cosmetic base at a shear rate of 102 to 106 s−1, the cosmetic base being applied to and infiltrated into the retentive sheet of the base sheet, and the cosmetic base, when subjected to a steady shear deformation at a shear rate of 2 s−1 for 100 seconds followed by a steady shear deformation at a stepwise increased shear rate of 20 s−1, showing no shear stress growth or showing such a shear stress growth that the difference between the peak shear stress B at a shear rate of 20 s−1 and the equilibrium shear stress A at the same shear rate, B−A, is 20% or smaller of the equilibrium shear stress A in the transition between the two shear rates.

Abstract: Code patterns are first sorted in a codebook in order of power, and catalogued while preparing fixed parameters indicating a selection range size of the code patterns (not greater than values recordable in an analog flash memory), and a variable parameter indicating an offset amount of a selection range, from the leading edge of the codebook. When selecting a waveform, such selection is made from among the code patterns within the selection range, and the selection range is shifted to the optimal position by sequentially renewing the offset amount on the basis of a code number resulting from encoding of a preceding frame, and is then decided upon.

Abstract: An exhaust-gas purifying apparatus includes a mantle, a support, and a catalytic layer. The support is disposed in the mantle, and is formed as at least one shape selected from the group consisting of cylinder shapes and corrugated shapes. The catalytic layer is loaded on at least one of the surfaces of the support. Moreover, the support includes at least two support elements disposed in the axial direction of the mantle, and the two support elements neighboring in the axial direction of the mantle are disposed out of phase with each other in the peripheral direction of the mantle. The exhaust-gas purifying apparatus shows not only an enhanced exhaust-gas purifying ability but also high misfire resistance.

Abstract: An exhaust-gas purifying apparatus includes an outer cylinder, a plurality of cylinder-shaped supports, and a catalytic layer. The cylinder-shaped supports are disposed in the outer cylinder, and have an outer peripheral surface and an inner peripheral surface. At least two of the neighboring cylinder-shaped supports contact with each other with the outer peripheral surfaces. The catalytic layer is loaded on at least one of the outer peripheral surface and inner peripheral surface of the cylinder-shaped supports. At least one of the cylinder-shaped supports has a ring-shaped cross-section with a cut-off, and is disposed in the outer cylinder in such an elastically deformed state that it expands in the centrifugal direction. Thus, the exhaust-gas purifying apparatus not only shows a high exhaust-gas purifying ability, but also is good in terms of the assemblage easiness. Moreover, the exhaust-gas purifying apparatus exhibits improved misfire resistance.

Abstract: An ultrasonic cleaning apparatus comprises: a power amplifier for amplifying an amplitude of a signal to supply the signal as power to the ultrasonic oscillator; a phase comparator for obtaining a difference between a phase of a current flowing through the ultrasonic oscillator and a phase of a voltage applied to the ultrasonic oscillator and for generating a voltage in accordance with the phase difference; and a voltage control oscillation device for generating a frequency of the signal in accordance with the voltage generated by the phase comparator and for controlling the frequency so that the phase difference is kept within ±30°, wherein the power supplied to the ultrasonic oscillator is regulated to a range from 1W to 10W, and a difference between a resonance frequency of the ultrasonic oscillator and an anti-resonance frequency thereof is regulated to 1 kHz or more.

Abstract: An exhaust gas purifying apparatus includes an exhaust pipe 2a for forming an exhaust way 2, and a catalyst disposed in the exhaust way 2 for purifying an exhaust gas. The catalyst includes the first honeycomb catalyst portion 3a and the second honeycomb catalyst portion 4a. The first honeycomb catalyst portion 3a has an outer circumferrencial surface for forming a blowing passage 200 with an inner circumferrencial surface of the exhaust pipe 2a. The radial cross sectional area in the catalyst region of the first honeycomb catalyst portion 3a is set in the 1/5-2/3 range with respect to the radial cross sectional area of a flowing way defined by the inwall surface of the first mounting position 3a placed in the exhaust way 2, with the first honeycomb catalyst portion 3a being removed.

Abstract: Provided is a vibrating section having an ultrasonic transducer of piezoelectric elements and a rear ultrasonic horn and a front ultrasonic horn, the horns being joined to the transducer. The ultrasonic transducer has a consumption power set at 8W or less. The ultrasonic horn has a flat front end surface, the area of the front end surface being set at 0.07 to 1 cm2.

Abstract: An ultrasonic cleaning apparatus comprises: a power amplifier for amplifying an amplitude of a signal to supply the signal as power to the ultrasonic oscillator; a phase comparator for obtaining a difference between a phase of a current flowing through the ultrasonic oscillator and a phase of a voltage applied to the ultrasonic oscillator and for generating a voltage in accordance with the phase difference; and a voltage control oscillation device for generating a frequency of the signal in accordance with the voltage generated by the phase comparator and for controlling the frequency so that the phase difference is kept within ±30°, wherein the power supplied to the ultrasonic oscillator is regulated to a range from 1 W to 10 W, and a difference between a resonance frequency of the ultrasonic oscillator and an anti-resonance frequency thereof is regulated to 1 kHz or more.

Abstract: A voice recording and reproducing device employing differential vector quantization divides an input voice signal into frames and predicts the sample values of each frame. The first sample value in a frame is predicted from one or more sample values of the preceding frame. Each predicted sample value is then used in predicting the next sample value in the same frame. For example, the predicted sample values may be fed back into a shift register that is initially loaded with sample values from the preceding frame, and prediction may be carried out by an arithmetic operation on the shift-register contents. This scheme reduces the amount of arithmetic circuitry needed for making the predictions, and reduces the cost of the device.

Abstract: Provided is a vibrating section having an ultrasonic transducer of piezoelectric elements and a rear ultrasonic horn and a front ultrasonic horn, the horns being joined to the transducer. The ultrasonic transducer has a consumption power set at 8 W or less. The ultrasonic horn has a flat front end surface, the area of the front end surface being set at 0.07 to 1 cm2.

Abstract: A magnetic recording medium comprising a substrate having provided thereon at least one intermediate layer essentially containing nonmagnetic powder and a binder and further having thereon a magnetic layer as an upper layer which essentially contains ferromagnetic powder and a binder, wherein the nonmagnetic powder in the intermediate layer is mainly acicular, and the acicular nonmagnetic powder has a coefficient of orientation (&agr;) of 0 to 0.8 in the longitudinal direction in the surface thereof.

Abstract: The present invention includes one pair of magnetic field straightening plates made from a high magnetically permeable material disposed about the passage area of a base film at the outlet side of an orienting device so as to form a gap between the magnetic field straightening plates and the outlet of the orienting device.

Abstract: In a method of manufacturing magnetic recording medium, the position and operating condition and the like of an orienting device are determined so that a solvent weight ratio X satisfies 0.7.ltoreq.X.ltoreq.1.0.

Abstract: A process for producing a magnetic recording medium comprising applying a magnetic coating composition to a substrate to form a magnetic layer and subjecting the coated substrate to calendering, wherein the elastic roll used in the calendering has a water absorption of 0.1 to 5% by weight per unit volume and a Shore hardness of not less than 90, and the magnetic layer immediately before being calendered has a residual solvent content of 100 to 5000 ppm.

Abstract: A track-seeking apparatus for an optical disk drive seeks a target track by counting track crossings according to a track-crossing signal. The track-seeking apparatus also has means for detecting the ID fields on the disk and substituting a simulated track-crossing signal for the track-crossing signal in these fields, thus enabling high-speed seeking without track-count errors.

Abstract: A catalyst for the purification of exhaust gases capable of maintaining excellent durability at elevated temperatures and preventing the formation of LaAlO.sub.3, comprises a support substrate, a catalyst carrier layer formed on the support substrate and catalyst ingredients carried on the catalyst carrier layer. The catalyst carrier layer comprises oxides of lanthanum and cerium in which the molar fraction of lanthanum atoms to the total rare earth atoms is 0.05 to 0.20, and the ratio of the member of the total rare earth atoms to the number of aluminum atoms is 0.05 to 0.25.

Abstract: A monolithic catalyst, for the purification of exhaust gases from an internal combustion engine, comprising: an inert carrier; a film of alumina and rare earth oxides coated onto the surface of said inert carrier, wherein Ce and La are present in said film at an atomic ratio of Ce/La of 0.05-0.3 and the total content of rare earth oxides in said film is 2-50 wt. %, measured as R.sub.2 O.sub.3, wherein R is an element of the lanthanide series of the Periodic Table; and said film carries a catalyst component containing at least one element of the platinum family.