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At the J-PARC muon facility (MUSE), new beamlines started operation recently. H-line is a high-intensity pulsed muon beamline for fundamental physics experiments. The first beam of the H-line was delivered to its first branch (H1 area) in January 2022, where a precise measurement of the muonium hyperfine structure and a search for μ-e conversion will be conducted. Further extension of the second branch of the H-line for a muon g-2/EDM experiment and a transmission muon microscope project is also ongoing. In addition, the second branch of the surface muon beamline (S2 area of the S-line) was opened for a muonium 1S-2S spectroscopy experiment in FY2021. In this paper, the recent upgrade and present status of the J-PARC muon facility and its prospects are presented.

Berm drainage ditches may fail due to frost heave in cold and snowy areas like Hokkaido. Many of these failures are regarded to be caused by damage due to frost heave in the ground or freeze-thaw, but no sufficient measures are being taken, as construction guidelines and procedures do not describe any established countermeasures for the damage. Therefore, it was decided to study countermeasures by utilizing berm drainage ditches that can change form in response to frost heave, rather than by trying to reduce the level of change caused by frost heave. A drainage ditch made of flexible asphalt sheets was constructed on site, and the soil temperature, frost penetration depth, frost heave amount, and other parameters were measured. As a result, it was found that a drainage ditch made of asphalt sheets is more effective when ground conditions including moisture and temperature are severe in relation to frost heave.

Phosphorus (P) plays a central role as reactant and effector molecule in plant cell metabolism but P is limiting for crop yield on >30% of the world's arable land. Fear of depletion of world reserves of rock P, consistently increasing prices of phosphate fertilizers coupled with their notoriously low utilization efficiency has made the P-application cost ineffective and unacceptable choice for amelioration of inorganic phosphate (Pi) deficiency. A solution culture experiment was conducted to evaluate ten Brassica cultivars for their relative efficiency to utilize deficiently (20 μM) and adequately (200 μM) supplied P, in Johnson's modified solution. Pi deficiency markedly reduced shoot dry matter (SDM), root dry matter (RDM) production. Control of whole plant dry matter by plant P content under P deficient conditions suggests an internal regulation in addition to the influence exerted by external P supply. There were large differences of plant growth among Brassica cultivars exposed to the same P concentration in the growth medium. The cultivars differed significantly (p

The present work is intended to experimentally study the Taylor-Couette flow between coaxial cones. The inner cone is rotated and the outer cone is maintained fixed. Both cones have the same apex angle Φ =12°, giving a constant annular gap δ =0.12. The height of the fluid column is H=155 mm. The working fluid is assumed as Newtonian and has constant properties (as density and viscosity) within the range of the required experimental conditions. By means of visualization techniques, the critical thresholds related to the onset of various instabilities have been obtained and the corresponding flow modes have been identified. Using images processing, spatio-temporal diagrams have also been calculated, showing the characteristics (wavelength, drift velocity) of the downward helical motion. The results obtained for these transition regimes are compared to those of Wimmer et al. [1-3].

Abstract Background CD72 is an inhibitory co-receptor expressed on B cells. We previously demonstrated significant association of the polymorphism of the CD72 gene with susceptibility to human systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in individuals carrying a SLE-susceptible FCGR2B genotype (FCGR2B-232Thr/Thr). The human CD72 locus generates a splicing isoform that lacks exon 8 (CD72Δex8) as well as full-length CD72 (CD72fl), and the CD72 polymorphism regulates exon 8 skipping. Results Here we demonstrated that individuals carrying the disease-protective CD72 genotype exhibit significantly lower serum immunoglobulin levels than do individuals carrying other CD72 genotypes (P < 0.05). Although expression level of CD72fl in the peripheral blood B cells was similar regardless of CD72 genotype, the protein level of CD72Δex8 was increased in individuals carrying the disease-protective CD72 genotype, suggesting a crucial role of CD72Δex8 in regulation of antibody production. By expressing these human CD72 isoforms in mouse cell lines, we further demonstrated that CD72Δex8 is accumulated in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and fails to regulate BCR signaling whereas human CD72fl is efficiently transported to the cell surface and inhibits signaling through the B cell antigen receptor (BCR), as is the case for mouse CD72. Conclusion Human CD72 polymorphism appears to regulate antibody production as well as susceptibility to SLE by regulating expression of ER-localizing CD72Δex8.

Abstract Background It has long been known that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), its composition and flow, play an important part in normal brain development, and ependymal cell ciliary beating as a possible driver of CSF flow has previously been studied in mammalian fetuses in vitro. Lower vertebrate animals are potential models for analysis of CSF flow during development because they are oviparous. Albino Xenopus laevis larvae are nearly transparent and have a straight, translucent brain that facilitates the observation of fluid flow within the ventricles. The aim of these experiments was to study CSF flow and circulation in vivo in the developing brain of living embryos, larvae and tadpoles of Xenopus laevis using a microinjection technique. Methods The development of Xenopus larval brain ventricles and the patterns of CSF flow were visualised after injection of quantum dot nanocrystals and polystyrene beads (3.1 or 5.8 μm in diameter) into the fourth cerebral ventricle at embryonic/larval stages 30-53. Results The fluorescent nanocrystals showed the normal development of the cerebral ventricles from embryonic/larval stages 38 to 53. The polystyrene beads injected into stage 47-49 larvae revealed three CSF flow patterns, left-handed, right-handed and non-biased, in movement of the beads into the third ventricle from the cerebral aqueduct (aqueduct of Sylvius). In the lateral ventricles, anterior to the third ventricle, CSF flow moved anteriorly along the outer wall of the ventricle to the inner wall and then posteriorly, creating a semicircle. In the cerebral aqueduct, connecting the third and fourth cerebral ventricles, CSF flow moved rostrally in the dorsal region and caudally in the ventral region. Also in the fourth ventricle, clear dorso-ventral differences in fluid flow pattern were observed. Conclusions This is the first visualisation of the orchestrated CSF flow pattern in developing vertebrates using a live animal imaging approach. CSF flow in Xenopus albino larvae showed a largely consistent pattern, with the exception of individual differences in left-right asymmetrical flow in the third ventricle.

The enhanced magneto-optical properties of nanoscaled lanthanide chalogenide semiconductors which have a wide energy gap were observed at around 500 nm for the first time. The nanoscaled semiconductors, Eu(1-x)Se nanoparticles 1 (cubic shapes) and 2 (spherical shapes), were synthesized by the thermal reduction of Eu(III) ion with organic ligands containing Se atoms. The resulting Eu(1-x)Se nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, superconducting quantum interference devices magnetometer, and microwave induced plasma atomic emission spectroscopy measurements. The particle grain sizes of 1 and 2 were estimated to be 11 and 20 nm, respectively. The concentration-normalized Veldet constants (the magnitude of the Faraday effect) of Eu(1-x)Se nanoparticles were much larger than those of corresponding bulk EuSe and EuS nanoparticles.