Abstract: The operation support apparatus includes: an operation load calculation unit (106) which calculates an operation load on a user in performing a selecting operation included in one of operation records, using the selecting operation and a previous selecting operation included in another one of the records, the calculation being performed for each of selecting operations included in the records; a non-thinking operation determination unit (107) which determines, for each selecting operation included in the records, whether or not it is a non-thinking operation that is a randomly-performed operation, by determining that the selecting operation is more likely to be the non-thinking operation when the operation load is smaller; and a target function inference unit (108) and a target function candidate storage unit (109) which provide the user with operation support based on the records of the selecting operations excluding the selecting operation determined as the non-thinking operation.

Abstract: The present invention has an object of providing a TFT in which generation of an OFF current is reduced by an efficient manufacturing method. A thin film transistor 100 according to the present invention has a gate electrode 12 formed on a substrate 10, an insulating layer 14 formed on the gate electrode 12, a microcrystalline amorphous silicon layer 18 and an amorphous silicon layer 16 that are formed on the insulating layer 14, a semiconductor layer 20 containing an impurity formed on the amorphous silicon layer 16, and a source electrode 22A and a drain electrode 22B that are formed on the semiconductor layer 20 containing an impurity. The microcrystalline amorphous silicon layer 18 and the semiconductor layer 20 containing an impurity are connected to each other through the amorphous silicon layer 16 without being in direct contact with each other.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a thin film transistor includes the step of forming a gate electrode (11aa) on an insulating substrate, the step of forming a gate insulating layer (12) to cover the gate electrode (11aa), and thereafter, forming an oxide semiconductor layer (13a) on the gate insulating layer (12), the step of forming a source electrode (16aa) and a drain electrode (16b) on the oxide semiconductor layer (13a) by dry etching, with a channel region (C) of the oxide semiconductor layer being exposed, and the step of supplying oxygen radicals to a channel region of the oxide semiconductor layer.

Abstract: Equipment for supplying lubricant for a rolling mill 20 of a rolling mill of a flat shaped metal material M comprises a plurality of spray nozzles 1a and 1b which spray a lubricant toward a rolling roll together with a gas in a particulate or atomized state, a lubricant feed device 2, 3, and 4 which feeds the spray nozzles a lubricant, and a gas feed device 5 and 6 which feeds the spray nozzles a gas. In the present invention, the amount of lubricant supplied from the side spray nozzles among the spray nozzles are made larger than the lubricant feed rate from the center spray nozzle. Further, the amount of lubricant supplied from the spray nozzles between these side spray nozzles and center spray nozzle are made not more than the amount of lubricant supplied from the side spray nozzles and not less than the lubricant feed rate from the center spray nozzle. Due to this, uneven wear and roughness is kept from occurring at the rolling roll in the axial direction of the rolling roll.

Abstract: Disclosed is a photosensor element that is provided with a gate electrode (11da) disposed on an insulating substrate (10), a gate insulation film (12) disposed so as to cover the gate electrode (11da), a semiconductor layer (15db) disposed on the gate insulating film (12) so as to overlap the gate electrode (11da), and a source electrode (16da) and a drain electrode (16db) provided on the semiconductor layer (15db) so as to overlap the gate electrode (11da) and so as to face each other. The semiconductor layer (15db) is provided with an intrinsic semiconductor layer (13db) in which a channel region (C) is defined and an extrinsic semiconductor layer (14db) that is laminated on the intrinsic semiconductor layer (13db) such that the channel region (C) is exposed therefrom. The intrinsic semiconductor layer (13db) is an amorphous silicon layer containing nanocrystalline silicon particles.

Abstract: Disclosed is a strut mount wherein an inclination of an outer circumferential surface of an outer cylinder (2) with respect to the central axis of the outer cylinder (2) is greater than that of an inner circumferential surface of a tapered sidewall (12) of a vehicle body panel (10) which is shaped like an inverted dish. When the strut mount is positioned to be fitted to the vehicle body panel (10), the elastic member (4) is brought into contact with the inner surface of the vehicle body panel (10) only at a portion (4a) of the elastic member (4) that covers the outer circumferential surface of the outer cylinder (2).

Abstract: A photosensor element (6a) is provided with a gate electrode (11da) disposed on an insulating substrate (10), a gate insulating film (12) disposed so as to cover the gate electrode (11da), a semiconductor layer (15db) disposed on the gate insulating film (12) so as to overlap the gate electrode (11da), and a source electrode (16da) and a drain electrode (16db) provided on the semiconductor layer (15db) so as to overlap the gate electrode (11da) and so as to face each other. The photosensor element (6a) has the semiconductor layer (15db) provided with an intrinsic semiconductor layer (13db) in which a channel region (C) is defined and an extrinsic semiconductor layer (14db) that is laminated on the intrinsic semiconductor layer (13db) such that the channel region (C) is exposed. The extrinsic semiconductor layer (14db) protrudes from the drain electrode (16db) on the side close to the channel region (C).

Abstract: An object of this invention is to provide a semiconductor device in which TFTs with high mobility are arranged in both of display and peripheral circuit areas. A semiconductor device fabricating method according to the present invention includes the steps of: irradiating an amorphous silicon layer (34) with energy, thereby obtaining a microcrystalline silicon layer; and forming a doped semiconductor layer (35) on the amorphous silicon layer (34). In the step of irradiating, the amorphous silicon layer (34) is irradiated with energy that has a first quantity, thereby forming a first microcrystalline silicon layer (34A) including a channel layer for a first TFT (30A), and is also irradiated with energy that has a second quantity, which is larger than the first quantity, thereby forming a second microcrystalline silicon layer (34B) including a channel layer for a second TFT (30B).

Abstract: A transparent film, the back-face of which has excellent resistance to scratch and printability, and a surface protection film which has such a transparent film are provided. A transparent film 10 has a substrate layer 12 formed of a transparent resin material, and a back-face layer 14 with a thickness of 1 ?m or less provided on a first face 12A thereof. A percent change in coefficient of friction ?? is less than 10% for the transparent film 10 when the percent change is determined from a coefficient of friction ?50 of the back-face layer after being conserved at 50° C. and 15% RH for three days and a coefficient of friction ?80 of the back-face layer after being conserved at 80° C. and 80% RH for three days, with an absolute value of difference between the two coefficients of friction |?80??50| being divided by the smaller value of the two coefficients of friction.

Abstract: A prediction device for predicting a prediction interval being a time interval predicted with a high possibility of appliance utilization starts includes: an evaluation unit calculating, using utilization interval history data, an evaluation value for determining a prediction scheme for each appliance; a determination unit, based on the evaluation value at least for each appliance, determining at least one of a first and a second prediction scheme as the scheme of the prediction interval for the appliance, the first prediction scheme using a property that the appliance is utilized in a predetermined cycle, and the second prediction scheme using a property that the utilization of a second appliance being the appliance is started in a period from a start or an end of utilization of a first appliance being another appliance to a passage of a predetermined time; a prediction unit predicting a prediction interval according to the determined scheme.

Abstract: An injection device may include an injecting portion, and a material feeding portion having a pelletized resinous material. The material feeding portion includes a cylindrical feeding passage that is communicated with the injecting portion, a screw that is disposed in the feeding passage, and a drive mechanism that is configured to rotate the screw about a rotational axis. When the screw is rotated about the rotational axis by the drive mechanism, the pelletized resinous material can be fed into the injecting portion.

Abstract: Provided is a utilization-time changing support device including: a household-electrical-appliance power record storage unit storing records of power consumption for each household electrical appliance used in a living space; a power record writing unit receiving information indicating the power consumption of the household electrical appliance from a measuring device that measures the power consumption, and writing, into the household-electrical-appliance power record storage unit, a record of the information as one of the records of the power consumption; a regular use determining unit determining whether or not the household electrical appliance used during a predetermined period is regularly used, based on the records of the power consumption; and a period change possibility determining unit outputting (i) whether or not a utilization period of the household electrical appliance can be changed and (ii) another utilization period as a result of the determination, based on the records of the power consumpti

Abstract: A program (e.g., tv/movie program) retrieval support device includes the following units. A program-information-accumulation unit (102) accumulating pieces of program information. A program-search-criterion-input unit(101) receiving from a user a search criterion. A program-information-search unit (103) searching the pieces of program information accumulated in the program-information-accumulation unit (102) using the received search criterion. A program-information-display unit (104) displaying a list of pieces of program information found by the search. A program-information-user-selection unit (105) receiving from the user an input of pointing (selecting) a piece of program information from the displayed pieces of program information. A program-search-criterion-generation unit (106) determining whether or not the pointed program is a major program and if the pointed program is a major program then generating new search criteria for narrowing down the search range to be more similar to the selected program.

Abstract: A related scene addition apparatus, capable of extracting a related scene even when information on a moving image content having no information related to each scene, such as text information, has been retrieved, includes: an operation record storage unit (105) storing operation records of information retrieval by the user who is watching the video; a retrieved result storage unit (103) storing a result of the information retrieval to be transmitted to another terminal; a retrieval start time estimating unit (107) estimating the time when the user starts retrieving information corresponding to the result, using the operation records stored by the operation record storage unit (105); a related scene extracting unit (108) extracting a scene of the video at the estimated retrieval start time; and a retrieval result output unit (111) providing the result of information added with the related scene in order to transmit the provided result to another terminal.

Abstract: Disclosed is a high-quality, efficiently manufacturable thin film transistor in which leakage current is minimized. The thin film transistor is provided with a semiconductor layer (34) that contains a channel region (34C) having a microcrystalline semiconductor; source and drain contact layers (35S and 35D) that contains impurities; a first source metal layer (36S) and a first drain metal layer (36D), and a second source metal layer (37S) and a second drain metal layer (37D). The end portion of the second metal source layer (37S) is located at a position receded from the end portion of the first metal source layer (36S) and the end portion of the second drain metal layer (37D) is located at a position receded from the end portion of the first drain metal layer (36D). The semiconductor layer (34) contains low concentration impurity diffusion regions formed near the end portions of the aforementioned source contact layer (35S) and drain contact layer (35D).

Abstract: A membrane switch can attach an elastically deformable dome to a board in a reliable manner such that the dome is not detached even if a fixing sheet is made thinner and smaller and therefore has a smaller footprint. This switch has: a dome (110) that is formed projecting toward the surface and that is dented opposite toward the back surface by elastic deformation; and a flexible fixing sheet (120) that has a back surface of an adhesive face pasted to the entire face of the surface of the dome (110). The fixing sheet (120) fixes the dome (110) in a predetermined position of a board (4) by means of a stretching part (122) which stretches radially outer to the dome (110), from an outer rim (112) of the dome (110), in a direction virtually orthogonal to a direction in which the dome (110) projects.

Abstract: Provided is an operation supporting device estimating an apparatus to be supported in operation and support the operation independent of a position relationship between a position of the apparatus to be supported and a position of the user. The operation supporting device includes: an operation history collecting unit collecting operation histories from the apparatuses, during a time period preceding a predetermined time period from a time when the user requests support; a to-be-supported apparatus estimating unit determining, for each of the apparatuses, a degree of matching between an operation history collected by the operation history collecting unit and a confused operation, and estimating that an apparatus, which is determined to have the degree of matching that exceeds a predetermined threshold, is an apparatus having a higher requirement for support; and a function description output unit outputting a description of the functions of the apparatus estimated to have the higher requirement.

Abstract: The present invention provides a surface protective film that exhibits small differences in peel strength on account of the surface state of an adherend and that is excellent in anti-contamination to adherends, and a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) composition for the protective film. The PSA composition provided by the present invention comprises 0.01 to 5 parts by weight of a compound containing an oxypropylene group with respect to 100 parts by weight of an acrylic polymer as a base polymer. A surface protective film 10 provided by the present invention has a PSA layer 2, formed using the above PSA composition, on one or both sides of a support 1.

Abstract: An information search support device includes: a cluster selection history information accumulation unit which accumulates content information of each cluster and cluster selection history information indicating a cluster selected by a user; a degree of certainty calculation unit which calculates a degree of certainty indicating a degree to which a vague search target of the user has been identified, based on the cluster selection history information accumulated; a search target estimation unit which obtains a condition for estimating the search target; a search-omitted information extraction unit which extracts search-omitted information that is included in the cluster that is not selected and is estimated from the obtained condition; and a search-omitted information addition unit which adds, to the cluster selected by the user, the extracted search-omitted information, in the case where the degree of certainty is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold.

Abstract: A user support device which accurately judges that a user is in a confused state and supports the user is provided. The user support device includes: a confused state judging unit which judges whether the user is in a confused state or not based on a tendency of variation in dwell time on which a decision making time until a next input action is executed is reflected in a sequence of input actions executed by the user who makes transitions between several menus arranged in a tree structure; and an operation support processing unit which provides operation support when the confused state judging unit makes a positive judgment that the user is in a confused state.