During 2021 through 2023, the golden mussel Limnoperna fortunei and freshwater fishes were sampled from 28 sites in the Tone River system, Japan, and adult trematodes of Dollfustrema were found in the fishes. Molecular and morphological analyses based on 28S rDNA and the ITS1−5.8S−ITS2 region revealed the trematode as ‘Dollfustrema hefeiense’, previously reported in Mainland China and likely introduced to Japan. Given that its scientific name was considered invalid, we re-described the species as Dollfustrema invadens n. sp. Additionally, the DNA-based survey helped clarify the trematode’s life cycle in the river system. A sporocyst and metacercariae were detected in the golden mussel’s visceral mass and in the muscles of two small freshwater fish species, respectively. The channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus harboured mature trematodes in its intestine, and adult trematodes were also found in the muscles of fishes infected with metacercariae, suggesting direct metacercariae development in fish muscle. Furthermore, another introduced bucephalid trematode, Prosorhynchoides ozakii, previously reported in the river system, was detected in the mussels and fishes. Moreover, co-infection of both bucephalid trematodes was observed in certain fishes.

We present observations of the Mopra carbon monoxide (CO) survey of the Southern Galactic Plane, covering Galactic longitudes spanning $l = 250^{\circ}$ ($-110^{\circ}$) to $l = 355^{\circ}$ ($-5^{\circ}$), with a latitudinal coverage of at least $|b|<1^\circ$, totalling an area of $>$210 deg$^{2}$. These data have been taken at 0.6 arcmin spatial resolution and 0.1 km s$^{-1}$ spectral resolution, providing an unprecedented view of the molecular gas clouds of the Southern Galactic Plane in the 109–115 GHz $J = 1-0$ transitions of $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO, C$^{18}$O, and C$^{17}$O.

This article investigates the emergence of recursive DPs in child language. In certain languages, DP modification can be achieved via diverse structures and any number of different embedding markers (prepositions, particles, case-marker, etc.), each having to be learned; this diversity may impact the L1 development of recursive DP modification. Japanese, in contrast, relies on two uniform unrestricted strategies: the adnominal particle の (no) or a relative clause. We report the results of an elicited production study comparing the production of recursive DPs in Japanese-speaking children and adults. Our results show that Japanese children were much like adults in the types of semantic modificational relations that elicited the most target responses. Children were different from adults in that they were: a) much less successful overall, and b) they preferred no, independently of whether the condition was biased toward no. We review the implications of these findings for analyses of no.

Across Far East Asia, aspermic Fasciola forms are found endemically. They have abnormal spermatogenesis and oogenesis, and it is presumed that their progeny are produced parthenogenetically and clonally. Because of this, they are also termed parthenogenic Fasciola forms. Currently, there is no evidence that they do indeed reproduce parthenogenetically and clonally. In this study, the multilocus genetic type (MLG) in 12 microsatellite markers of adult flukes and their subsequent progeny larvae were analysed using two laboratory aspermic Fasciola triploid strains. The MLGs of adults and their larvae were identical for all markers evaluated, suggesting that these strains reproduce their progeny clonally. The deviation between theoretical and actual frequency within the larvae genotype of the Fh_6 locus resulted in the inability for self-fertilization within individual adult flukes. These findings strongly suggested that aspermic Fasciola forms reproduce their progeny by means of parthenogenesis, possibly gynogenesis.

Enhancement of the quality of laser wake-field accelerated (LWFA) electron beams implies the improvement and controllability of the properties of the wake waves generated by ultra-short pulse lasers in underdense plasmas. In this work we present a compendium of useful formulas giving relations between the laser and plasma target parameters allowing one to obtain basic dependences, e.g. the energy scaling of the electrons accelerated by the wake field excited in inhomogeneous media including multi-stage LWFA accelerators. Consideration of the effects of using the chirped laser pulse driver allows us to find the regimes where the chirp enhances the wake field amplitude. We present an analysis of the three-dimensional effects on the electron beam loading and on the unlimited LWFA acceleration in inhomogeneous plasmas. Using the conditions of electron trapping to the wake-field acceleration phase we analyse the multi-equal stage and multiuneven stage LWFA configurations. In the first configuration the energy of fast electrons is a linear function of the number of stages, and in the second case, the accelerated electron energy grows exponentially with the number of stages. The results of the two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations presented here show the high quality electron acceleration in the triple stage injection–acceleration configuration.

We have conducted 1.1 mm ALMA observations of a contiguous 105” × 50” or 1.5 arcmin2 window in the SXDF-UDS-CANDELS. We achieved a 5σ sensitivity of 0.28 mJy, giving a flat sensus of dusty star-forming galaxies with LIR ~6×1011L⊙ (if Tdust=40K) up to z ~ 10 thanks to the negative K-correction at this wavelength. We detected 5 brightest sources (S/N>6) and 18 low-significant sources (5>S/N>4; they may contain spurious detections, though). One of the 5 brightest ALMA sources (S1.1mm = 0.84 ± 0.09 mJy) is extremely faint in the WFC3 and VLT/HAWK-I images, demonstrating that a contiguous ALMA imaging survey uncovers a faint dust-obscured population invisible in the deep optical/near-infrared surveys. We find a possible [CII]-line emitter at z=5.955 or a low-z CO emitting galaxy within the field, allowing us to constrain the [CII] and/or CO luminosity functions across the history of the universe.

Butoxybutyl alcohol (BBA) is a possible growth promoter contained in the fermentation and distillation by-products of a traditional Japanese spirit, shochu. In the present study, BBA was synthesized and its chemical structure was confirmed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance. Then, two studies were conducted to investigate the effects of feeding the synthesized BBA on the growth and skeletal muscle proteolysis of broiler chickens. Ross male broiler chickens were divided into two groups, control (basal diet: 219 g crude protein/kg and 12·66 MJ metabolizable energy/kg) and BBA diet (30 mg BBA/kg basal diet), with the experimental diets being provided from 15 to 27 days and 0 to 27 days of age, for Studies 1 and 2, respectively. Butoxybutyl alcohol supplementation increased final body weight in both studies, whereas feed intake was unchanged, thereby indicating significantly increased feed efficiency. Furthermore, the synthesized BBA increased the weights of the pectoralis superficialis and profundus muscles, and the leg. The BBA decreased the Nτ-methylhistidine concentration in the excrement and plasma, which are indices of the rate of skeletal muscle protein degradation. It also decreased the mRNA levels of μ-calpain large subunit, atrogin-1/muscle atrophy F-box (MAFbx), ubiquitin and 20S proteasome C2 subunit. These suggest that growth promotion due to the feeding of synthesized BBA is caused by the suppression of skeletal muscle protein degradation, which is related to a decrease in gene expression in the calpain and ubiquitin–proteasome systems.

We have investigated an influence of positive polarization charges generated at an interface between GaN barrier/p-AlGaN EB (Electron Blocking) layer in a blue-LED. Simulation results suggested that such polarization charges caused an electron overflow from QWs. The simulation results also indicated that sufficient acceptor doping at the interface could neutralize the positive polarization charges and suppress the electron overflow. We then demonstrated the electron overflow caused by the positive polarization charges and its suppression with sufficient Mg doping at the interface by monitoring emissions from an additional second QW inserted between the p-EB layer and the p-GaN layer. Finally we conclude that the contribution of the electron overflow is not significant for the efficiency droop in blue-LEDs.

To increase X-ray photon number generated by laser-cluster interaction, it is important to understand the dependence of X-ray generation on cluster size. We carried out Xe K-shell X-ray generation using a conical nozzle with Xe clusters, the radius of which was controllable by adjusting the backing pressure. The experiment clarifies the result that the Xe K-shell X-ray photon number increases with increasing cluster radius from 8 to 12 nm, and saturates at the radius between 12 and 17 nm. We also investigated the Xe K-shell X-ray photon number dependence on laser intensity, and found that the threshold laser intensity of the Xe K-shell X-ray generation exists between 2 × 1017 and 5 × 1018 W/cm2.

Sunspot observations inspired solar dynamo theory and continue to do so. Simply counting them established the sunspot cycle and its period. Latitudinal distributions introduced the tough constraint that the source of sunspots moves equator-ward as the cycle progresses. Observations of Hale's polarity law mandated hemispheric asymmetry. How much more can sunspots tell us about the solar dynamo? We draw attention to a few outstanding questions raised by inherent sunspot properties. Namely, how to explain sunspot rotation rates, the incoherence of follower spots, the longitudinal spacing of sunspot groups, and brightness trends within a given sunspot cycle. After reviewing the first several topics, we then present new results on the brightness of sunspots in Cycle 24 as observed with the Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI). We compare these results to the sunspot brightness observed in Cycle 23 with the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI). Next, we compare the minimum intensities of five sunspots simultaneously observed by the Hinode Solar Optical Telescope Spectropolarimeter (SOT-SP) and HMI to verify that the minimum brightness of sunspot umbrae correlates well to the maximum field strength. We then examine 90 and 52 sunspots in the north and south hemisphere, respectively, from 2010 - 2012. Finally, we conclude that the average maximum field strengths of umbra 40 Carrington Rotations into Cycle 24 are 2690 Gauss, virtually indistinguishable from the 2660 Gauss value observed at a similar time in Cycle 23 with MDI.

It is shown that various spectroscopic methods based on measurements of X-ray spectra radiated from cluster targets can be used for estimation of the destruction degree of clusters by laser prepulses. These methods allow insight to be gained regarding the important issue of preservation of the dense cluster core at the moment of the arrival of the main laser pulse. In addition, they can be used for quantitative estimation of the size of the undestroyed parts of the clusters and also for measuring the temperature and density of the preplasmas produced by the laser prepulses.

The current trends in stimulated Brillouin scattering and optical phase conjugation are overviewed. This report is formed by the selected papers presented in the “Fifth International Workshop on stimulated Brillouin scattering and phase conjugation 2010” in Japan. The nonlinear properties of phase conjugation based on stimulated Brillouin scattering and photo-refraction can compensate phase distortions in the high power laser systems, and they will also open up potentially novel laser technologies, e.g., phase stabilization, beam combination, pulse compression, ultrafast pulse shaping, and arbitrary waveform generation.

We confirmed that GaN photocatalyst with NiO cocatalyst (GaN-NiO) continuously produced hydrogen from water for 500 hours without any extra bias. The GaN-NiO photocatalyst was hardly etched and 184-mL hydrogen gas was produced from the electric charge of 1612 coulombs, the Faradic efficiency of which was 89.2%. The conversion efficiency from incident light energy to hydrogen chemical energy was 0.98% in average for 500 h. The incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) was 50% at 300 nm and 35% at 350 nm after the experiment, which was much higher than those of other semiconductor-based photocatalysts.

A hospital disaster drill is commonly carried out based on the activities assigned beforehand by the occupational description. However, it is difficult for each staff the role is fixing to understand the global image of a disaster correspondence in a hospital disaster when their role is assigned and fixed. We have developed the understandable drill about the whole practice at each hospital in disaster. We keenly realized the necessity of a standard disaster medicine. Therefore we have developed the disaster drill which can be held per hospital. As a goal of a course, each hospital personnel could understand the global image of the disaster, and aimed at the daily course which can master necessary minimum skill to correspond a disaster in each hospital. From the reasons above, we created the course which consisted of a lecture, individual skill training, and a gross training. As essential skill, it starts with (1) management of disaster countermeasures office (2) management of triage post (3) treatment at room (4) support of conveyance between hospitals (5) information control. In order to employ these individual skill booths efficiently we divided attendances into five groups. Five hospitals started from 2008, were carried out 11 times, and about 500 persons took this disaster drill on a course. We expect that cost to bellower, the course to be simpler, and the quality of training will improve by holding this course repeatedly.

The Bi-based oxide superconducting wire is one of the most promising materials for practical uses such as electric power transmission, electromagnets and so on. For the higher performances required in these applications, it is necessary to increase the critical current (Ic). We have carried out synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction analysis to improve our manufacturing processes and thus to achieve higher Ic. We have performed in situ X-ray diffraction measurements during the sintering and cooling processes, and observed the decrease of Bi-2223(=(Bi,Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3Ox) phase during the cooling process. We have also evaluated the distribution of the crystal orientation in whole wire thickness, by measuring the rocking curves. We have observed that the distribution of the crystal orientation is improved by a refinement of the process conditions.