Abstract: There is provided a method for specifically determining a glycated ?-chain N-terminal of glycated hemoglobin using enzymes without a separation operation, and a determination reagent kit therefor. A protease that cleaves a glycated amino acid and/or a glycated peptide from a glycated ?-chain N-terminal without substantially cleaving a glycated amino acid or a glycated peptide from a glycated ?-chain N-terminal of glycated hemoglobin or a fragment thereof is screened. The method of specifically determining a glycated ?-chain N-terminal of glycated hemoglobin and the determination reagent kit are provided by using the protease obtained by the screening method. According to the present invention, a glycated ?-chain N-terminal of glycated hemoglobin can specifically be determined without a separation operation.

Abstract: The present invention is a friction stir welding machine adapted to perform solid phase welding on a welding portion of materials to be welded, by pressing a welding tool against the welding portion of the materials to be welded while rotating the welding tool, and forcing the welding tool to be advanced into a softened portion which is softened by a frictional heat while stirring the softened portion, wherein a coating made of aluminum nitride is formed on at least a region of the welding tool to be in contact with the materials to be welded.

Abstract: The apparatus includes a base 23 fixed at a predetermine position, a tool holding jig 29, to which a welding tool 21 is mounted, installed on the base 23 rotatably about a preset reference axis L1 and movably along the reference axis L1, a tool rotation driving means for rotating the tool holding jig about the reference axis L1, and a tool movement driving means for moving the tool holding jig along the reference axis L1. The apparatus realizes miniaturization of the apparatus, simplification of the structure, and improvement of the operability.

Abstract: A friction stir welding device for welding an article by means of a welding tool, includes: a tool holding section configured to hold the welding tool and rotate round a predetermined reference axial line; rotation driving unit configured to drive the tool holding section to rotate round the reference axial line; movement driving unit configured to drive the tool holding section to move along the reference axial line; and a car body loaded with the tool holding section, the rotation driving unit and the movement driving unit, the car body being configured to travel above or below the article.

Abstract: A drain port and an exhaust port arranged at the bottom of a cup surrounding a substrate holding unit. A drainage tray is arranged below the cup so as to cover the moving area of the drain port when the substrate holding unit and the cup move in X-directions and Y-directions. An exhaust unit is arranged at a position corresponding to the position of the exhaust port of the cup when the substrate holding unit is in its spin-drying position. The exhaust unit is connected to the exhaust port to suck the interior of the cup when the spin-drying of the substrate is executed. The use of a flexible tube which is always connected to the exhaust port is no longer necessary.

Abstract: To process a surface of a substrate by applying a laser beam to the surface, while liquid is being applied to the surface, distance between the surface of the substrate and a reference point on the axis of a laser displacement meter, distance between the surface of the substrate and the lower end an optical unit is adjusted in accordance with distance measured, and a laser beam is then applied to the surface of the substrate.

Abstract: A notch or the like of a wafer is detected via a guide member by means of a CCD camera provided so that an optical axis is coaxial to an optical axis of a laser beam, and alignment of the wafer is carried out. Next, in a state in which liquid ejected from a main nozzle or sub-nozzles is guided by means of the guide member, a laser beam whose optical axis is provided to be coaxial to the optical axis of the CCD camera is irradiated via the guide member. In addition, a predetermined processing operation is carried out with respect to the surface while an irradiation position of the laser beam is moved in a horizontal direction. The wafer is then transported from a chuck to the outside, and then, a purge gas is supplied to a bottom face of the guide member, and the bottom face is dried.

Abstract: A laser processing apparatus comprises a laser source, a substrate-holding unit, a liquid-supplying unit, a support which has a plurality of mask patterns including a specific mask pattern for imparting a cross-sectional shape to the laser beam, and a support-driving mechanism which moves the support. The liquid-supplying unit supplies the liquid to the substrate, forming a liquid film thereon. The support-driving mechanism moves the support, aligning the specific mask pattern with an axis of the laser beam. The laser beam emitted from the laser unit passes through the specific mask pattern, acquiring a specific cross-sectional shape, and is applied to the substrate through the liquid film, illuminating.

Abstract: The apparatus includes a base 23 fixed at a predetermine position, a tool holding jig 29, to which a welding tool 21 is mounted, installed on the base 23 rotatably about a preset reference axis L1 and movably along the reference axis L1, a tool rotation driving means for rotating the tool holding jig about the reference axis L1, and a tool movement driving means for moving the tool holding jig along the reference axis L1. The apparatus realizes miniaturization of the apparatus, simplification of the structure, and improvement of the operability.

Abstract: An apparatus for forming a coating film comprising, a coating unit for forming a coating film by applying a coating solution onto a substrate, and a curing unit for curing the coating film by applying a heating and a cooling to the substrate, in which, the curing unit comprises a heating chamber having a hot plate for heating substrates having the coating solution applied thereon one by one, a cooling chamber communicated with the heating chamber and having a cooling plate for cooling the substrates processed with heat, an inert gas supply mechanism for supplying an insert gas to the heating chamber and the cooling chamber, and an evacuation mechanism for evacuating each of the heating chamber and the cooling chamber.

Abstract: An apparatus for forming a coating film comprising, a coating unit for forming a coating film by applying a coating solution onto a substrate, and a curing unit for curing the coating film by applying a heating and a cooling to the substrate, in which, the curing unit comprises a heating chamber having a hot plate for heating substrates having the coating solution applied thereon one by one, a cooling chamber communicated with the heating chamber and having a cooling plate for cooling the substrates processed with heat, an inert gas supply mechanism for supplying an insert gas to the heating chamber and the cooling chamber, and an evacuation mechanism for evacuating each of the heating chamber and the cooling chamber.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a reverse conducting thyristor device. It aims at preventing heat generated by power loss from filling end field protective rubber and at simplifying a sheath storing a semiconductor substrate. In a reverse conducting thyristor device according to this invention, a self-extinguishing thyristor region is arranged on an inner region of the semiconductor substrate, a reverse conducting diode region whose outer periphery is completely enclosed with an isolation region is arranged on its outer region by at least one, and an external takeout gate electrode region is further arranged on the outermost peripheral region of the semiconductor substrate on the outer part thereof. Thus, a gate electrode provided on a surface of a gate part layer of the self-extinguishing thyristor region is connected with an external takeout gate electrode formed along the outermost periphery of the substrate through a gate wiring pattern formed on a surface of a connecting region.

Abstract: In a welded structure and welded pipe, having members joined to each other by welding wherein, at least one of the members is formed of Fe—Ni-base low thermal expansion coefficient alloy, there is provided a welded structure and welded pipe having a weld metal free from cracking and achieving an excellent toughness and stress corrosion cracking resistance. Further, a welding material is provided which can form such a weld metal and is excellent in workability and weldability in fabrication. The weld metal comprises, on the weight % basis, Ni: 30 to 45%, Co: 0 to 10%, C: 0.03 to 0.5%, Mn: 0.7% or less, either one of or the total of Nb and Zr: 0.05 to 4%, and rare earth element: 0 to 0.5%, with impurities being P: 0.02% or less, Al: 0.01% or less, and oxygen: 0.

Abstract: To suppress spike voltage generated at turn-off operation, a semiconductor device according to the invention comprises a first region composed of a first conductor, a second region composed of a second conductor formed on top of the first region, a third region composed of the first conductor formed on top of the second region and a fourth region composed of the second conductor formed on top of the third region. The second region is comprised of a depletion-layer forming auxiliary layer having a short lifetime and formed in the vicinity of the third region, a tail-current suppression layer having a shorter lifetime than that of the depletion-layer forming auxiliary layer and formed in the vicinity of the first region and a depletion-layer forming suppression layer having a longer lifetime than that of the depletion-layer forming auxiliary layer and formed between the depletion-layer forming auxiliary layer and the tail-current suppression layer.

Abstract: In a welded structure and welded pipe, having members joined to each other by welding wherein, at least one of the members is formed of Fe—Ni-base low thermal expansion coefficient alloy, there is provided a welded structure and welded pipe having a weld metal free from cracking and achieving an excellent toughness and stress corrosion cracking resistance. Further, a welding material is provided which can form such a weld metal and is excellent in workability and weldability in fabrication.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a diode, and has an object to simultaneously implement a high di/dt capability, a low reverse recovery loss and a low forward voltage and to suppress generation of voltage oscillation. In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, life time killers are selectively introduced into a semiconductor substrate (20) comprising a P layer (1), an N− layer (21) and an N+ layer (3). A density of the introduced life time killers is the highest in a first region (6) adjacent to the P layer (1), and is the second highest in a second region (7) in the N− layer (21). The life time killers are not introduced into a third region (2). Accordingly, a life time in the N− layer (21) is expressed by the first region (6)<the second region (7)<the third region (2). The second region (7) and the third region (2) are adjacent to the P layer (1). In addition, the second region (7) annularly surrounds the third region (2).

Abstract: In a system for recognizing a time sequence of feature vectors of a speech signal representative of an unknown utterance as one of a plurality of reference patterns, a generator (11) for generating the reference patterns has a converter (15) for converting a plurality of time sequences of feature vectors of an input pattern of a speech signal with variances to a plurality of time sequences of feature codes with reference to code vectors (14) which are previously prepared by the known clustering. A first pattern former (16) generates a state transition probability distribution and an occurrence probability distribution of feature codes for each state in a state transition network. A function generator (17) calculates parameters of continuous Gaussian density function from the code vectors and the occurrence probability distribution to produce the continuous Gaussian density function approximating the occurrence probability distribution.

Abstract: A method for determining adenosine 5' diphosphate (ADP) contained in a liquid sample by means of an enzymatic reaction, comprising reacting the sample at 15 to 45.degree. C. at least in the presence of glucose, ADP-dependent hexokinase, and oxidized NAD(P), a glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and one or more salts releasing ions selected among magnesium, cobalt, and manganese ions and then determining the ADP contained in the sample together with the AMP resulting from the reaction based on the amount of the reduced NAD(P) yielded. This method has advantages in that the limit of determination is high because ADP is determined based on the amount of the reduced NAD(P) yielded, and since the reduced NAD(P) has a definite molecular extinction coefficient, the value found is highly reliable and uninfluenced by the reducing substances contained in the sample.

Abstract: A sorbitol kinase having at least the following physicochemical properties:(1) Enzymatic action: utilizing mainly ATP, but not substantially phosphoenolpyruvate, as the phosphate donor catalyzing a reaction of generating sorbitol-6-phosphate and ADP from sorbitol and ATP of the formula,sorbitol+ATP.fwdarw.sorbitol-6-phosphate+ADP(2) Substrate specificity: for sorbitol(3) N-terminal amino acid sequence: containing ##STR1## (4) Heat stability stable at least up to 60.degree. C. when a 100 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.5, containing 0.5 U/ml of sorbitol kinase) is heated for 15 minutes at various temperatures and the residual acitvity is measured.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a developer supplying roller for supplying to a predetermined print position a developer charged to predetermined polarity, and a print head provided in the print position and having electrode pairs which are respectively provided with developer passing holes, each pair including a first electrode and a second electrode connecting with each other, and being so adapted that the developer passing holes are opened or closed by control of an electric field between the first and second electrodes, on the basis of whether print dot data is sent in synchronization with a predetermined print clock signal. At a time when the print dot data is sent in synchronism with the print clock signal, the electric field is controlled such that the developer is attracted from the developer supplying roller to the first electrode.