Abstract: An optical device includes: a case; a wiring substrate that passes through the case and that includes an insulating member and a conductor; at least one of components including a first component configured to perform at least one of: outputting a light; receiving a light; and varying optical properties, and a second component configured to electrically control the first component, the at least one of components being housed in the case and flip-chip mounted on the wiring substrate.

Abstract: A software update device is configured to control software update of an electronic control unit mounted on a vehicle. The software update device includes: one or more storage devices configured to store first software and second software for downloading update data of the electronic control unit from a server, the first software and the second software being different from each other; and one or more processors configured to download the update data from the server by executing any of the first software and the second software.

Abstract: Authentication is performed by confirming that the true operator presents his/her own biometric authentication information at a common portable information terminal. The biometric authentication system has an image capture unit that acquires first and second image data of different biometric areas of an operator during a predetermined period, a display that displays a guide to guide the operator to the location of the biometric area in order to capture different biometric areas of the operator, and a memory that stores biometric authentication information of the operator in advance. Furthermore, the first vital information and the second vital information are extracted from the image data of the different biometric areas, respectively, the identity of the operator is determined based on the first vital information and the second vital information, and if the identity of the operator is confirmed, the biometric authentication is performed.

Abstract: This invention has an objective to increase the collected amounts of lithium contained in a lithium-ion battery. A recycling method for a lithium-ion battery comprising: a first discharging step, which increases an amount of lithium included in a cathode active material by discharging the lithium-ion battery via a load with a first resistance value; a second discharging step, which further increases the amount of lithium included in the cathode active material by discharging the lithium-ion battery via a load with a second resistance value lower than the first resistance value; and a collecting step, which collects the cathode active material from the lithium-ion battery after the second discharging step.

Abstract: An active noise control system (500) includes a structure (80) and a plurality of piezoelectric speakers (10). The piezoelectric speakers (10) are disposed on a surface (80s) of the structure (80). The piezoelectric speakers (10) each have a radiation surface extending along a first direction (D1) and a second direction (D2). The first direction (D1) is a direction along which centers of the radiation surfaces of the piezoelectric speakers (10) are arranged so that the piezoelectric speakers (10) are adjacent to each other. The second direction (D2) is a direction orthogonal to the first direction (D1). The radiation surface of each of the piezoelectric speakers (10) is shorter in a dimension (L1) in the first direction (D1) than in a dimension (L2) in the second direction (D2).

Abstract: An estimation device according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: at least one memory storing a set of instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the set of instructions to: generate a plurality of extraction regions by adding a perturbation to an extraction region of a partial image determined based on positions of feature points extracted from a face image; estimate a plurality of directions of at least one of a face and a line of sight and a reliability of each of the plurality of directions based on a plurality of partial images in the plurality of extraction regions of the face image; and calculate an integrated direction obtained by integrating the plurality of directions based on the estimated reliability.

Abstract: A water heater connectable to an external air supply and exhaust pipe includes a housing that houses a combustion device, a connecting portion, a first air supply and exhaust pipe, and a second air supply and exhaust pipe. The connecting portion includes an outer cylinder and an inner cylinder projecting upward from an upper surface of the housing. The first air supply and exhaust pipe and the second air supply and exhaust pipe are selectively connectable to the connecting portion. The first air supply and exhaust pipe is connectable to the connecting portion by interpolating a first air supply pipe into the outer cylinder and interpolating a first exhaust pipe into the inner cylinder, and the second air supply and exhaust pipe is connectable to the connecting portion by externally fitting a second air supply pipe onto the outer cylinder and interpolating a second exhaust pipe into the inner cylinder.

Abstract: A light-receiving apparatus (1a) includes a counting unit (11), a setting unit (12), and an acquiring unit (13). The counting unit is configured to measure a detection number of times that represents the number of times incidence of a photon to a light-receiving element has been detected within an exposure period and to output a counted value. The setting unit is configured to set a cycle of updating time information in accordance with an elapsed time during the exposure period. The acquiring unit is configured to acquire the time information indicating a time at which the counted value reaches a threshold before the exposure period elapses.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a piezoelectric film including an electrode layer on each of both surfaces of a piezoelectric layer, and a protective layer provided on the surface of the electrode layer and having a low connection resistance between the electrode layer and a lead wire. The object is achieved by providing the piezoelectric film including a piezoelectric layer, an electrode layer provided on each of both surfaces of the piezoelectric layer, a protective layer provided to cover the electrode layer and having through-holes, a conductive filling member with which the through-holes are filled, and a lead wire provided in contact with the filling member, in which in at least one of the lead wires, in a case where a length of a region in contact with the filling member in a plane direction is defined as A, and a length of the surface with respect to the length A in the plane direction is defined as B, B/A is 1.5 or greater.

Abstract: An air filter medium includes a porous fluorine resin membrane, and further includes, a collection layer, an air-permeable adhesive layer, and an air-permeable supporting layer. The collection layer, the air-permeable adhesive layer, the air-permeable supporting layer, and the porous fluorine resin membrane are placed in this order from upstream to downstream of the air filter medium configured to allow an air flow to pass through the air filter medium. The collection layer is formed of a fibrous material having an average fiber diameter of 5 µm or less. The air-permeable adhesive layer has a grammage of 5.5 g/m2 or more. The air-permeable supporting layer is formed of a fibrous material having an average fiber diameter of more than 5 µm. This air filter medium is suitable for reducing a pressure drop increase even in an environment including liquid particles such as oil mist.

Abstract: The present invention aims to provide a new nucleic acid molecule for suppressing expression of the target gene, which (1) has a gene expression suppressing activity equivalent to or higher than that of siRNA, (2) shows no off-target effect of the sense strand, and (3) makes it possible to design a wider range of antisense strand sequences (extends the range of targetable sequences). Since the nucleic acid molecule of the following formula: wherein each symbol is as defined in the DESCRIPTION, has the superior properties of the above-mentioned (1) to (3), it is extremely useful as a novel gene expression inhibitor that replaces conventional siRNA.

Abstract: A SiN film embedding method includes: an operation of adsorbing an aminosilane-based precursor inside a recess formed on a surface of a substrate; an operation of forming a SiN film inside the recess by plasmarizing and supplying a nitrogen gas into the recess to nitride the aminosilane-based precursor; and an operation of forming an adsorption-inhibiting region for the aminosilane-based precursor on an upper portion inside the recess by plasmarizing and supplying a non-halogen gas substantially more to the upper portion than a lower portion inside the recess.

Abstract: A light-emitting device and an electronic apparatus including the same, the light-emitting device including a first electrode, a second electrode, and an interlayer arranged between the first electrode and the second electrode and including an emission layer, wherein the emission layer includes a first compound represented by Formula 1 and a second compound represented by Formula 2: wherein details of Formulae 1 and 2 are as described herein.

Abstract: A thin image display device is provided which is free from display defects caused by the deformation of an image display part and can display high brightness and high contrast images. The image display device includes an image display part, a light-transmitting protective part arranged on the image display part, and a cured resin layer interposed between the image display part and the protective part. The cured resin layer has a light transmittance in the visible region of 90% or more and a refractive index (nD) of 1.45 or more and 1.55 or less.

Abstract: Provided is a composite sheet including a porous nitride sintered body having a thickness of less than 2 mm and a resin filled in pores of the nitride sintered body, wherein a filling rate of the resin is 85% by volume or more. Provided is a method for manufacturing a composite sheet including an impregnation step of impregnating pores of a porous nitride sintered body having a thickness of less than 2 mm with a resin composition having a viscosity of 10 to 500 mPa·s to obtain a resin-impregnated body, and a curing step of heating the resin-impregnated body to semi-cure the resin composition filled in the pores.

Abstract: A turbine blade includes: a blade body; and a plurality of cooling passages each extending inside the blade body along a blade height direction and are connected to each other via return portions disposed at an end portion in the blade height direction to form a serpentine passage. The cooling passages include: an upstream passage disposed on an upstream side in a flow of a cooling fluid among the plurality of cooling passages; a downstream passage disposed on a downstream side in the flow of the cooling fluid among the plurality of cooling passages; and at least one intermediate passage disposed between the upstream passage and the downstream passage among the plurality of cooling passages. The upstream passage is disposed closest to a leading edge in a chord direction of the blade body among the plurality of cooling passages formed inside the blade body and extending along the height direction.

Abstract: Provided are: a lithographic printing plate precursor having a support and an image-recording layer on the support, in which the image-recording layer contains an onium polymerization initiator, a borate compound, an infrared absorber, a chromogenic agent, and a compound A which is an onium salt formed of a cation having a shape index lower than a shape index of a cationic moiety of the onium polymerization initiator; a method of preparing a lithographic printing plate using the lithographic printing plate precursor; and a lithographic printing method.

Abstract: A photoelectric conversion device includes a photoelectric converter, a first node configured to be supplied with charges from the photoelectric converter, an amplification transistor configured to output a signal corresponding to a voltage of the first node, a first transistor configured to open/close a path between the first node and a second node not included in a path from the photoelectric converter to the first node, and a second transistor configured to open/close a path between the second node and a third node. A second capacitance which is added to the second node when the second transistor is set in a conductive state is larger than a first capacitance which is added to the first node when the first transistor is set in a conductive state.

Abstract: An information processing device includes: an image acquisition unit configured to acquire an image captured by an imaging unit mounted on a vehicle; a target detection unit configured to detect a target region including a target in the acquired image; a classification identification unit configured to identify classification including a type of the detected target and a size of the detected target region; and a region determination unit configured to determine a region obtained by adding a margin corresponding to the identified classification to the target region as an image processing region.

Abstract: A hub unit with a steering function includes: a hub bearing that rotatably supports a wheel; a cylindrical turning shaft section extending from an outer ring thereabove and thereunder with the outer ring being located at an outer peripheral surface of an outer race of the hub bearing; a steering actuator that causes the hub bearing to rotate about an axis of the turning shaft section; a unit support member that rotatably supports the hub bearing about the axis on a vehicle body; and an arm section projecting from the outer ring rearward of a vehicle, with the actuator being coupled to the arm section. The actuator includes: an extensible and retractable assembly capable of providing extension or retraction in a direction perpendicular to the axis; and the extensible and retractable assembly is coupled to the arm section through a joint assembly providing two or more directions of freedom.