W. R. Grace Co.-conn.

Mebiol Inc.

Other

Toray Industries, Inc.

Terumo Kabushiki Kaisha

Western Digital Technologies, Inc.

Tokai National Higher Education and Research System

Showa University

Mori, Yuichi

Yuichi Mori

Hiroshi Yoshioka

Akihiro Okamoto

Masato Mikami

Katsutoshi Yoshizato

Manabu Yamazaki

Ken Tatebe

Tomoyoshi Mizutani

Takeo Katakura

Yoshichi Hagiwara

Kazuhide Saigo

Shoji Nagaoka

Mikio Koide

Jun Konishi

Kaori Oyamada

Shigeki Miura

Ken-ichi Ohsaki

Makiko Kubota

Sunao Kubota

Koji Watanabe

Tatsumi Tsuchiya

Miyoshi Okamoto

Tatsushi Yoshida

Osamu Nakamura

Hajimu Kurumatani

Kenichi Murata

Yasuharu Noishiki

Ichiro Itagaki

Shinya Ohtsubo

Shigemi Suzuki

Eiki Oosawa

Yusuke Matsumoto

Kensaku Mori

Hiroshi Samukawa

Masato Haraguchi

Yasuhiro Obonai

Masao Hirose

Toshiya Sakai

Manabu Fujii

Toshiaki Takezawa

Hiroshi Samukuaa

Tsutomu Takauchi

Hidefumi Takiuchi

Tetsuya Kikuchi

Koji Furukawa

Kazuhiro Kasuya

Masashi Misawa

Shin-ei Kudo

Hironori Hirama

An endoscope observation assistance apparatus includes an image information acquiring part to acquire and display a captured image of a luminal organ captured by the endoscope device on a display, a lesion information acquisition part to detect a predetermined lesion based on the captured image and to acquire lesion information regarding the lesion, a lesion disappearance determination part to track the lesion based on the captured image and the lesion information and to determine whether or not the lesion has disappeared from the captured image, and a notification part to notify a determination result when the lesion disappearance determination part determines that the lesion has disappeared from the captured image. Alternatively, the notification part may notify a lesion detection when a short time period passes after the lesion detection by the lesion information acquisition part.

Endoscope observation assistance apparatus and endoscope observation assistance method

Prior art technology has a problem in that when a plant is cultivated for a long period of time on a PVA film having its lower surface positioned in contact with a nutrient fluid, plant roots that have formed penetrate through the film. A plant cultivation system wherein the PVA film has an equilibrium degree of swelling in the range of from 125 to 250% as measured in water at 30&#xb0; C. and has a loss tangent (tan &#x3b4;) in the range of from 0.005 to 0.2 as measured in an equilibrium swollen state in water at 30&#xb0; C., and a method for cultivating a plant by using this plant cultivation system. Plant cultivation can be performed for a long period of time while avoiding infection by bacteria and the like causative of plant diseases. Therefore, the present invention is useful in, e.g., agriculture and the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.

Plant cultivation system and a method for plant cultivation

A solder ball bonding tool includes a nozzle having an inner bore having a plurality of columnar surfaces and interposed retention structures that are positioned within the nozzle to retain a solder ball therein. A projection or projected shape formed by intersecting the retention structures may be generally circular, having a diameter less than the diameter of the solder balls for which the retention structures are positioned to retain. The nozzle may comprise a cemented carbide having less than or equal to a cumulative 4.5% of cobalt and gold serving as a binder.

Solder ball jet nozzle having improved reliability

To provide a system for producing safe and high nutrition vegetables at low cost. A plant cultivation system for cultivating a plant on a nonporous hydrophilic film, which comprises a nonporous hydrophilic film and a feeding means for supplying water or a nutrient fluid to the lower surface of the film in the absence of a hydroponic tank for accommodating water or a nutrient fluid and cultivating a plant therein. As the feeding means, use is made of a water absorbing material which is in contact with the film and which is disposed between the film and a water impermeable material. A system for producing safe and high nutrition vegetables at low cost can be obtained by disposing the water impermeable material directly on ground soil, whereupon the water absorbing material and an irrigation tube are disposed, followed by disposing the film thereon.

Plant cultivation system

There are provided a plant-cultivating container and a plant-cultivating method which facilitate 'water control', which is particularly important in view of the control of the gaseous environment in soil and the soil moisture environment. In the above-mentioned plant-cultivating container, a selective moisture vapor-permeable portion which prevents water from passing through it, but which allows water vapor to pass through is provided as at least a portion of the container having a receiving portion for receiving a plant body. Water per se cannot pass into the container through the selective moisture vapor-permeable portion, but water vapor can selectively pass into the container. As a result, the relative humidity in the container to a can be increased degree which contribute to the growth of the plant disposed in the container, and the frequency of supply and/or the amount of water per se provided to a plant by a measure such as irrigation can be, at least, reduced markedly.

Plant-cultivating container and plant-cultivating method

A device having a shape capable of receiving the plant body to be cultivated. As at least a portion of the device, a film which can substantially be integrated with the root of the plant body is disposed. Such a structure can provide a plant-cultivating device, a plant-film integrate, and a plant-cultivating method which can preferably attain both of the supply of oxygen and the supply of water and a fertilizer component to the root of the plant body.

Plant-cultivating device and plant-cultivating method

A cell or tissue-culturing carrier which can effectively regenerate an intended a cell or tissue, while suppressing an excessive growth of fibroblasts, and a method of culturing a cell or tissue by using the above carrier, the cell or tissue-culturing carrier wherein fibroblasts showing substantially no growing property in a gel based on the hydrogel-forming polymer, is constituted by using a hydrogel-forming polymer; an aqueous solution of which shows a thermo-reversible sol-gel transition such that it assumes a sol state at a lower temperature and assumes a gel state at a higher temperature.

Cell or tissue-culturing carrier, and culturing method

A water-retaining support for plants comprising a hydrogel-forming polymer (A) having a calcium ion absorption of 0-100 mg per 1 g of the dry weight thereof, having a chlorine ion content of 0.07-7 mmol per 1 g of the dry weight thereof and having a water absorption magnification in ion-exchanger water at 25&deg; C. of 1.0&times;10 to 1.0&times;10 ; or a plant body-growing water-retaining material comprising a molded product of a mixture of such a polymer (A) and a plant body-growing support (B). The water-retaining support for plants and the plant body-growing water-retaining material are those which have an excellent water-retaining property and they substantially do not cause inhibition of root generation or inhibition of root elongation.

Water-retaining support for plants and plant body-growing water-retaining material

An ion complex which comprises a water-insoluble polyion (P) and a water-soluble polyion (A); and is insoluble in water and soluble in an aqueous organic solvent. Such an ion complex becomes a coating material which can preferably be used for coating of various ionic substances (e.g., substance having biological activity such as an anticoagulant property or an antibacterial property).

Ion complex, coated product and coating method

A water-retaining support for a plant exhibiting a water-retaining ability comparable to that of a polyacrylic acid-type hydrogel without inhibition of root origination or root elongation. The water-retaining support for a plant includes a hydrogel-forming polymer having a calcium ion absorption of less than 50 mg per 1 g of its dry weight and having a water absorption magnification in ion-exchange water (at 25&deg; C.) of 100 or more. When the water-retaining support is used, a plant may be supplied with sufficient water without suffering from a deficiency of calcium ions.

Water-holding carrier for plants

An yttrium film is formed on the surface of a substrate made of an Ni&mdash;Cr-based material by deposition or sputtering using resistance heating or an electron beam. The yttrium film is heated in an inert gas atmosphere containing a very small amount of hydrogen to hydrogenate yttrium. The resultant yttrium hydride is excellent as a cold emission material for a cold emission electrode and can be used for a cold emission discharge fluorescent tube.

Cold emission electrode method of manufacturing the same and display device using the same

A porous membrane of a single layer structure formed from a first polymer having a melting point of at least 130.degree. C. and a second polymer having a melting point of up to 120.degree. C., wherein the walls of the pores of the membrane have an amount of second polymer insufficient to block the permeability of the pores under normal operating temperature conditions yet sufficient to do so when the membrane reaches a temperature equal to or greater than the second polymer's melting point.

Porous membrane having single layer structure, battery separator made

A photocurable gel suitable for articles such as printing plates, photoresists and the like is disclosed. The photocurable eel comprises (a) a polymer composition having isotactic polymethyl methacrylate moiety; and syndiotactic polymethyl methacrylate moiety; (b) a photopolymerizable ethylenically unsaturated compound; and (c) a photopolymerization initiator. The gel is solid at ambient temperature and is capable of undergoing reversible gel/sol transition by heating or cooling. Methods of preparing articles, as well as methods of fixing articles, which use the gel are also disclosed. Such methods include sealing or affixing component parts on an electronic circuit board.

Photocurable self-retainable gel, shaped article prepared therefrom,

This invention provides thermally reversible graft copolymer comprising a vinyl polymer graft-polymerized to a polymer of N-substituted acrylamide or methacrylamide derivatives.

Thermally reversible graft copolymer

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Yuichi Mori