Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus is to be applied to a vehicle including a torque converter and an engine. The vehicle control apparatus includes a turbine hub, a lock-up piston, a damper mechanism, and a control system. The damper mechanism permits relative rotation between a hub of the turbine hub and a cylindrical part of the lock-up piston. The control system controls the engine. The control system calculates, with the lock-up piston engaged with a crankshaft of the engine, a PV value that is a product of a sliding surface pressure and a sliding speed between the hub and the cylindrical part. When the PV value is greater than a threshold, the control system changes an engine torque more gradually than when the PV value is equal to or less than the threshold. The engine torque is an output torque of the crankshaft.

Abstract: A method for picking articles according to the goods-to-man principle at a picking station, in which articles are picked from product load carriers into order load carriers, the order load carriers are conveyed in a first row through the picking station, articles are presented in product load carriers and picking is carried out therefrom. The product load carriers are also conveyed in a second row through the picking station, the second row being arranged at an angle to the first row and picking taking place from a flow of product and order containers which are simultaneously conveyed through the picking station, to achieve a high throughput.

Abstract: A gas separation membrane containing a matrix resin and hyperbranched polymer- or dendrimer-bound, heteromorphous shaped silica nanoparticles, which are formed of heteromorphous shaped silica nanoparticles having surfaces onto which a hyperbranched polymer or a dendrimer is chemically added.