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Abstract We observe both s-series and p-series excitons by using sum frequency generation spectroscopy on monolayer (1L-)MX2 (M = Mo, W, X = S, Se) encapsulated by hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Moreover, we perform numerical calculations with the Rytova-Keldysh potential and obtain the relative dielectric constant of hBN among other parameters. The obtained relative dielectric constant can be approximated by the high-frequency limit of the infrared dispersion even though the exciton binding energies are almost on the phonon resonances in hBN. This suggests that the theoretically indicated modification of the exciton level structure due to the phonon resonances is negligible. The power-law scaling of exciton binding energies indicates that dielectric screening of 1L-MX2 exciton levels other than 1s can be approximated by that of a 3D hydrogen model with the dielectric constant of hBN.

One of the proposed ways to reduce the climate impact of civil aviation is rerouting aircraft to minimise the formation of warming contrails. As this strategy may increase fuel consumption, it would only be beneficial if the climate impact reduction from the avoided contrails exceeds the negative impact of any additional carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by the rerouted flight. In this study, we calculate the surface temperature response of almost half a million flights that crossed the North Atlantic sector in 2019 and compare it to the temperature response of hypothetical rerouted flights. The climate impacts of contrails and CO2 are assessed through the perspective of CO2-equivalence metrics, represented here as nine combinations of different definitions and time horizons. We estimate that the total emitted CO2 and the persistent contrails formed will have warmed the climate by 17.2 µK in 2039, 13.7 µK in 2069, and 14.1 µK in 2119. Under an idealised scenario where 1 % additional carbon dioxide is enough to reroute all contrail-forming flights and avoid contrail formation completely, total warming would decrease by 4.9 (−28 %), 2.6 (−19 %), and 1.9 (−13 %) µK in 2039, 2069, and 2119, respectively. In most rerouting cases, the results based on the nine different CO2-equivalence metrics agree that rerouting leads to a climate benefit, assuming that contrails are avoided as predicted. But the size of that benefit is very dependent on the choice of CO2-equivalence metrics, contrail efficacy and CO2 penalty. Sources of uncertainty not considered here could also heavily influence the perceived benefit. In about 10 % of rerouting cases, the climate damage resulting from contrail avoidance indicated by CO2-equivalence metrics integrated over a 100-year time horizon is not predicted by metrics integrated over a 20-year time horizon. This study highlights, using North Atlantic flights as a case study, the implications of the choice of CO2-equivalence metrics for contrail avoidance, but the choice of metric implies a focus on a specific climate objective, which is ultimately a political decision.

High harmonic generation (HHG) is a typical high-order nonlinear optical phenomenon and can be used to probe electronic structures of solids. Here, we investigate the temperature dependence of HHG from Pr_{0.6}Ca_{0.4}MnO_{3} in the range of 7–294 K, including the charge ordering (CO) transition and magnetic transition temperatures. The high harmonic (HH) intensity remains almost constant in the high-temperature charge-disordered phase. However, as the temperature is lowered, it starts to increase near the CO transition temperature where an optical gap related to the CO appears. The anomalous gap energy dependence resembles the one recently reported in a Mott insulator. We attribute the suppression of the HH intensity at high temperatures to the destructive interference among HH emissions from thermally activated multiple charge configurations. Our results suggest that HHG is a promising tool for probing the fluctuation of local order in strongly correlated systems.

The development of reduced models provide efficient methods that can be used to perform short term experimental data analysis or narrow down the parametric range of more sophisticated numerical approaches. Reduced models are derived by simplifying the physics description with the goal of retaining only the essential ingredients required to reproduce the phenomena under study. This is the role of the gyro-fluid code FAR3d, dedicated to analyze the linear and nonlinear stability of Alfvén Eigenmodes (AE), Energetic Particle Modes (EPM) and magnetic-hydrodynamic modes as pressure gradient driven mode (PGDM) and current driven modes (CDM) in nuclear fusion devices. Such analysis is valuable for improving the plasma heating efficiency and confinement; this can enhance the overall device performance. The present review is dedicated to a description of the most important contributions of the FAR3d code in the field of energetic particles (EP) and AE/EPM stability. FAR3d is used to model and characterize the AE/EPM activity measured in fusion devices as LHD, JET, DIII-D, EAST, TJ-II and Heliotron J. In addition, the computational efficiency of FAR3d facilitates performing massive parametric studies leading to the identification of optimization trends with respect to the AE/EPM stability. This can aid in identifying operational regimes where AE/EPM activity is avoided or minimized. This technique is applied to the analysis of optimized configurations with respect to the thermal plasma parameters, magnetic field configuration, external actuators and the effect of multiple EP populations. In addition, the AE/EPM saturation phase is analyzed, taking into account both steady-state phases and bursting activity observed in LHD and DIII-D devices. The nonlinear calculations provide: the induced EP transport, the generation of zonal structures as well as the energy transfer towards the thermal plasma and between different toroidal/helical families. Finally, FAR3d is used to forecast the AE/EPM stability in operational scenarios of future devices as ITER, CFETR, JT60SA and CFQS as well as possible approaches to optimization with respect to variations in the most important plasma parameters.

Large bulk single crystals of InGaZn3O6 (InGaO3(ZnO)3 or IGZO-13) have been successfully grown using an optical floating zone method under a flow of dry-air at high pressure. These crystals exhibit a distinct blue hue in their as-grown state, with notable enhancement in transparency attainable through O2 annealing. Comparative analysis with IGZO-11 reveals a substantial reduction in conductivity following O2 annealing. Moreover, a pronounced in-plane/out-of-plane conductive anisotropy ranging from 100 to 450 is observed, surpassing that of IGZO-11 under similar in-plane conductivity conditions. This increase in electrical conducting anisotropy is ascribed to the incorporation of ZnO blocks amid the two InO layers, aligned along the c axis. Based on these findings, it is concluded that the contribution of In-5s orbitals likely assumes a predominant role, surpassing that of other cations from an experimental standpoint.

The impact of climate change on power demand and power generation has become increasingly significant. Changes in temperature, relative humidity, and other climate variables affect cooling and heating demand for households and industries and, therefore, power generation. Accurately predicting power generation is crucial for energy system planning and management. It is also crucial to understand the evolution of power generation to estimate the amount of CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere, allowing stakeholders to make informed plans to reduce emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Artificial intelligence techniques have been used to investigate energy-demand-side responses to external factors at various scales in recent years. However, few have explored the impact of climate and weather variability on power demand. This study proposes a data-driven approach to model daily power demand provided by the Carbon Monitor Power project by combining climate variables and human activity indices as predictive features. Our investigation spans the years 2020 to 2022 and focuses on eight countries or groups of countries selected to represent different climates and economies, accounting for over 70 % of global power consumption. These countries include Australia, Brazil, China, the European Union (EU), India, Russia, South Africa, and the United States. We assessed various machine-learning regressors to simulate daily power demand at the national scale. For countries within the EU, we extended the analysis to one group of countries. We evaluated the models based on key evaluating metrics: coefficient of determination (R2), mean absolute error (MAE), root mean squared error (RMSE), and median absolute error (MedAE). We also used the models to identify the most influential variables that impact power demand and determine their relationship with it. Our findings provide insight into variations in important predictive features among countries, along with the role played by distinct climate variables and indicators of the level of economic activity, such as weekends and working days, vacations and holidays, and the influence of COVID-19.

Abstract Antiferromagnetic (AF) topological materials offer a fertile ground to explore a variety of quantum phenomena such as axion magnetoelectric dynamics and chiral Majorana fermions. To realize such intriguing states, it is essential to establish a direct link between electronic states and topology in the AF phase, whereas this has been challenging because of the lack of a suitable materials platform. Here we report the experimental realization of the AF topological-insulator phase in NdBi. By using micro-focused angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we discovered contrasting surface electronic states for two types of AF domains; the surface having the out-of-plane component in the AF-ordering vector displays Dirac-cone states with a gigantic energy gap, whereas the surface parallel to the AF-ordering vector hosts gapless Dirac states despite the time-reversal-symmetry breaking. The present results establish an essential role of combined symmetry to protect massless Dirac fermions under the presence of AF order and widen opportunities to realize exotic phenomena utilizing AF topological materials.

Weyl superconductivity is a topological phase in three-dimensional crystals in which the Weyl equation describes quasiparticle excitation near band-touching points in momentum space called Weyl nodes. For quasicrystals which lack translational symmetry, a theory of Weyl superconductivity has not been established, in spite of recent extensive studies on quasicrystalline topological phases. Here, we demonstrate the occurrence of quasicrystalline Weyl superconductivity by extending the definition of Weyl superconductivity to periodically stacked, two-dimensional superconducting quasicrystals. We identify quasicrystalline Weyl nodes—topologically protected point nodes in one-dimensional momentum space corresponding to the stacking direction—in terms of a topological invariant given by a change in the Bott index in quasicrystalline layers. We find that these Weyl nodes exist in pairs and that Majorana zero-energy modes protected by the nonzero Bott index between a pair of quasicrystalline Weyl nodes appear on surfaces. These Majorana zero modes form an infinite number of arcs in momentum space, densely and quasiperiodically distributed as a function of momentum in the direction of surfaces within each quasicrystalline layer. In Ammann-Beenker (Penrose) quasicrystals, the quasiperiodicity of Majorana arcs is governed by the silver (golden) ratio associated with the quasicrystalline structure.

Abstract Background Chromosome 5p partial monosomy (5p-syndrome) and chromosome 6p partial trisomy are chromosomal abnormalities that result in a variety of symptoms, but liver dysfunction is not normally one of them. Alagille syndrome (OMIM #118450) is a multisystem disorder that is defined clinically by hepatic bile duct paucity and cholestasis, in association with cardiac, skeletal, and ophthalmologic manifestations, and characteristic facial features. Alagille syndrome is caused by mutations in JAG1 on chromosome 20 or NOTCH2 on chromosome 1. Here, we report a preterm infant with karyotype 46,XX,der(5)t(5,6)(p15.2;p22.3) and hepatic dysfunction, who was diagnosed as having incomplete Alagille syndrome. Case presentation The Japanese infant was diagnosed based on the cardiac abnormalities, ocular abnormalities, characteristic facial features, and liver pathological findings. Analysis of the JAG1 and NOTCH sequences failed to detect any mutations in these genes. Conclusions These results suggest that, besides the genes that are known to be responsible for Alagille syndrome, other genetic mutations also may cause Alagille syndrome.

Abstract In this paper, we present the first high‐speed video observation of a cloud‐to‐ground lightning flash and its associated downward‐directed Terrestrial Gamma‐ray Flash (TGF). The optical emission of the event was observed by a high‐speed video camera running at 40,000 frames per second in conjunction with the Telescope Array Surface Detector, Lightning Mapping Array, interferometer, electric‐field fast antenna, and the National Lightning Detection Network. The cloud‐to‐ground flash associated with the observed TGF was formed by a fast downward leader followed by a very intense return stroke peak current of −154 kA. The TGF occurred while the downward leader was below cloud base, and even when it was halfway in its propagation to ground. The suite of gamma‐ray and lightning instruments, timing resolution, and source proximity offer us detailed information and therefore a unique look at the TGF phenomena.

The generation of shear flows (SFs) by Alfven Eigenmodes (AEs) and energetic particle modes (EPMs) have important effects on the operation of future nuclear fusion reactors, because SFs regulate the saturation of the AEs/EPMs, the transport of EPs and thermal plasma, as well as the formation of transport barriers among other consequences. The aim of this study is the analysis of SFs generation during the saturation phase of AEs and EPMs in LHD plasma. Experiments performed in the 23rd and 24th LHD experimental campaigns are dedicated to explore the destabilization of AEs/EPMs in discharges with different heating patterns, thermal plasma and magnetic field configurations. In particular, the shots 176490 and 179697 show the destabilization of MHD bursts and energetic-ion-driven resistive interchange modes (EIC), respectively. Charge exchange spectroscopy measurements in both discharges indicate that the generation of SFs by AE/EPM is uncorrelated with the perturbation induced by the neutral beam injector (NBI). Nonlinear simulations performed using the gyro-fluid code FAR3d show the generation of zonal structures, especially SFs, induced during the saturation phase of Toroidal Alfven Eigenmodes (TAEs) triggered in the MHD burst as well as by the $1/1$ EIC in the bursting phase. The simulations indicate that SFs are caused by the radial electric fields powered by energy transfers from the unstable AE/EPM towards the thermal plasma. The strongest SFs are measured during the EIC bursting phase once the $1/1$ EPM overlaps with nearby resonances at the plasma periphery. Likewise, the largest SFs during the MHD burst are observed once TAEs radially overlap in the inner-middle plasma region.

GRAPES-3 is a mid-altitude (2200 m) and near-equatorial (11.°4N) air shower array, overlapping in its field of view for cosmic-ray observations with experiments that are located in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. We analyze a sample of 3.7 × 10 ^9 cosmic-ray events collected by the GRAPES-3 experiment between 2013 January 1 and 2016 December 31 with a median energy of ∼16 TeV for study of small-scale (

Isotope effects have been investigated in Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) heated plasmas on the Large Helical Device with similar operational parameters between Hydrogen (H) and Deuterium (D) plasmas. Experimental results show that the global energy confinement has no significant dependence on the isotope mass under similar discharge conditions with nearly the same heating power, line-averaged density ( ${\bar n_e}$ ) and magnetic field. For both electron and ion energy transport, the transport coefficients, which are obtained based on local power balance analysis, have analogous profiles between H and D dominant plasmas. For neoclassical ${\chi _e}$ and ${\chi _i}$ values, they are almost equal between H and D dominant plasmas in low ${\bar n_e}$ discharges, whereas in high ${\bar n_e}$ cases they are lower in H plasmas than those in D ones. At low ${\bar n_e}$ , the electron and ion thermal transport in both H and D plasmas are dominated by neoclassical transport at a certain zone ( $\rho \approx 0.6 - 0.85$ ), while the anomalous transport process has primary effects in the remaining area, and the density fluctuations exhibit ion temperature gradient mode nature. With increase of ${\bar n_e}$ , the anomalous transport becomes prevailing and the density fluctuations propagate along electron diamagnetic drift direction. Bispectral analysis reveals that the H plasma has stronger nonlinear coupling in edge density fluctuations in both low and high density discharges, which is probably due to that the D plasma has stronger damping rate for the nonlinear interaction of turbulence. For a comparative study, the present results have been compared with those observed in the ECRH discharges (Tanaka et al 2019 Nucl. Fusion 59 126040). The reasons for the similarities and dissimilarities between these two different heating manners are not clear yet. To unravel the underlying physics, essential inputs from theories and simulations are required.

Superconducting (SC) tokamak JT-60SA plays an essential role in fusion research and development by supporting and complementing the ITER project, providing directions to the DEMO design activity and fostering next generation scientists and engineers. Since the short circuit incident at the terminal joints of equilibrium field coil #1 during the integrated commissioning (IC) in March 2021, both EU and JA implementing agencies (IAs) have examined how to ensure safe operation of JT-60SA by mitigating the risk of possible discharge occurrence inside the cryostat. Based on the experience of the global Paschen tests, the IAs have established a strategy of risk mitigation measures, which is a combination of (i) reinforcement of insulation, (ii) avoiding unnecessary voltage application to the coil systems and (iii) immediate de-energization of the coils when deteriorated vacuum conditions are detected. Thanks to the considerable efforts of the Integrated Project Team members, the IC restarted in May 2023. After confirmation of the SC state of the coil systems (TF, EF and CS), the coil energization test and the plasma operation phase 1 (OP-1) started. The first plasma was successfully achieved on 23 October 2023 with a limited value of voltage and current applied to the coils. The plasma configuration control was also confirmed with low plasma current and low auxiliary heating power conditions. Based on the IO–F4E–QST collaboration, activities of JT-60SA have been shared with the IO and provided an important lesson for ITER assembly and commissioning, and will provide an outstanding contribution to fusion research at large. After OP-1, maintenance & enhancement phase 1 (M/E-1) starts from January 2024, in which in-vessel components are installed, and heating and diagnostic systems are extensively upgraded to allow a high power heating experiment planned in OP-2. In order to make the best use of JT-60SA, a newly organized JT-60SA experiment team will refine the research plan for the future high heating power operation phase.

In 2021 JET exploited its unique capabilities to operate with T and D–T fuel with an ITER-like Be/W wall (JET-ILW). This second major JET D–T campaign (DTE2), after DTE1 in 1997, represented the culmination of a series of JET enhancements—new fusion diagnostics, new T injection capabilities, refurbishment of the T plant, increased auxiliary heating, in-vessel calibration of 14 MeV neutron yield monitors—as well as significant advances in plasma theory and modelling in the fusion community. DTE2 was complemented by a sequence of isotope physics campaigns encompassing operation in pure tritium at high T-NBI power. Carefully conducted for safe operation with tritium, the new T and D–T experiments used 1 kg of T (vs 100 g in DTE1), yielding the most fusion reactor relevant D–T plasmas to date and expanding our understanding of isotopes and D–T mixture physics. Furthermore, since the JET T and DTE2 campaigns occurred almost 25 years after the last major D–T tokamak experiment, it was also a strategic goal of the European fusion programme to refresh operational experience of a nuclear tokamak to prepare staff for ITER operation. The key physics results of the JET T and DTE2 experiments, carried out within the EUROfusion JET1 work package, are reported in this paper. Progress in the technological exploitation of JET D–T operations, development and validation of nuclear codes, neutronic tools and techniques for ITER operations carried out by EUROfusion (started within the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme and continuing under the Horizon Europe FP) are reported in (Litaudon et al Nucl. Fusion accepted), while JET experience on T and D–T operations is presented in (King et al Nucl. Fusion submitted).

Recently, experiments on basic plasma physics issues for solving future problems in fusion energy have been performed on a Large Helical Device. There are several problems to be solved in future devices for fusion energy. Emerging issues in burning plasma are: alpha-channeling (ion heating by alpha particles), turbulence and transport in electron dominant heating helium ash exhaust, reduction of the divertor heat load. To solve these problems, understanding the basic plasma physics of (1) wave–particle interaction through (inverse) Landau damping, (2) characteristics of electron-scale (high- k ) turbulence, (3) ion mixing and the isotope effect, and (4) turbulence spreading and detachment, is necessary. This overview discusses the experimental studies on these issues and turbulent transport in multi-ion plasma and other issues in the appendix.

Sawtooth oscillations in tokamaks frequently lead to the redistribution of energetic ions, mainly on passing orbits, causing their expulsion from the core. This paper discusses the first measurements of the interaction of fast ions and sawteeth in the Large Helical Device. The crashes were caused by the plasma current induced by Electron Cyclotron Current Drive and Neutral Beam Current Drive. Despite these crashes, there was no detectable redistribution effect on fast ions in either the core or at the edge of the plasma.

A new self-sustained divertor oscillation is discovered in magnetic island induced detached plasmas in the Large Helical Device. The divertor oscillation is found to be a self-regulation of the width of an edge magnetic island accompanied by detachment-attachment transitions. The modified Rutherford equation combined with an ad-hoc bootstrap current equation is introduced to describe the divertor oscillation as a predator–prey model between the magnetic island width and a remnant X-point bootstrap current. The model successfully reproduces the experimental observations in terms of the oscillation frequency, the phase relation between variables, and the oscillation amplitude.

Electron-scale turbulence, whose wavelength is the electron Larmor radius, is thought to have the potential to cause stiffness in an electron temperature gradient and degrade the confinement of future burning plasma in which the electron heating by alpha particles is dominant. The dependence of electron-scale turbulence and electron heat flux on the electron temperature inverse gradient length $R_\textrm{ax}/L_{T_\textrm{e}}$ , were investigated. The electron temperature gradient was successfully varied in the range of $-3 \lt R_\textrm{ax}/L_{T_\textrm{e}} \lt 12$ by controlling the injection power of on/off-axis electron cyclotron heating. The results show a significant increase in the electron-scale turbulence with increasing $R_\textrm{ax}/L_{T_\textrm{e}}$ , especially in conditions where Electron Temperature Gradient (ETG) instability is linearly unstable, suggesting the presence of ETG turbulence at high $R_\textrm{ax}/L_{T_\textrm{e}}$ . The electron heat flux also increases steeply with increasing $R_\textrm{ax}/L_{T_\textrm{e}}$ . In addition, the electron-scale turbulence is observed even at $R_\textrm{ax}/L_{T_\textrm{e}} \sim 0$ , which is stable in linear GKV calculations. Finding the cause of this phenomenon is an interesting task for the future.

In support of the global stocktake of the Paris Agreement on climate change, this study presents a comprehensive framework to process the results of an ensemble of atmospheric inversions in order to make their net ecosystem exchange (NEE) carbon dioxide (CO2) flux suitable for evaluating national greenhouse gas inventories (NGHGIs) submitted by countries to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). From inversions we also deduced anthropogenic methane (CH4) emissions regrouped into fossil and agriculture and waste emissions, as well as anthropogenic nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. To compare inversion results with national reports, we compiled a new global harmonized database of emissions and removals from periodical UNFCCC inventories by Annex I countries, and from sporadic and less detailed emissions reports by non-Annex I countries, given by national communications and biennial update reports. No gap filling was applied. The method to reconcile inversions with inventories is applied to selected large countries covering ∼90 % of the global land carbon uptake for CO2 and top emitters of CH4 and N2O. Our method uses results from an ensemble of global inversions produced by the Global Carbon Project for the three greenhouse gases, with ancillary data. We examine the role of CO2 fluxes caused by lateral transfer processes from rivers and from trade in crop and wood products and the role of carbon uptake in unmanaged lands, both not accounted for by NGHGIs. Here we show that, despite a large spread across the inversions, the median of available inversion models points to a larger terrestrial carbon sink than inventories over temperate countries or groups of countries of the Northern Hemisphere like Russia, Canada and the European Union. For CH4, we find good consistency between the inversions assimilating only data from the global in situ network and those using satellite CH4 retrievals and a tendency for inversions to diagnose higher CH4 emission estimates than reported by NGHGIs. In particular, oil- and gas-extracting countries in central Asia and the Persian Gulf region tend to systematically report lower emissions compared to those estimated by inversions. For N2O, inversions tend to produce higher anthropogenic emissions than inventories for tropical countries, even when attempting to consider only managed land emissions. In the inventories of many non-Annex I countries, this can be tentatively attributed to a lack of reporting indirect N2O emissions from atmospheric deposition and from leaching to rivers, to the existence of natural sources intertwined with managed lands, or to an underestimation of N2O emission factors for direct agricultural soil emissions. Inversions provide insights into seasonal and interannual greenhouse gas fluxes anomalies, e.g., during extreme events such as drought or abnormal fire episodes, whereas inventory methods are established to estimate trends and multi-annual changes. As a much denser sampling of atmospheric CO2 and CH4 concentrations by different satellites coordinated into a global constellation is expected in the coming years, the methodology proposed here to compare inversion results with inventory reports (e.g., NGHGIs) could be applied regularly for monitoring the effectiveness of mitigation policy and progress by countries to meet the objective of their pledges. The dataset constructed by this study is publicly available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5089799 (Deng et al., 2021).

Stringent mitigation pathways frame the deployment of second-generation bioenergy crops combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) to generate negative CO2 emissions. This bioenergy with CCS (BECCS) technology facilitates the achievement of the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. Here, we use five state-of-the-art Earth system models (ESMs) to explore the consequences of large-scale BECCS deployment on the climate–carbon cycle feedbacks under the CMIP6 SSP5-3.4-OS overshoot scenario keeping in mind that all these models use generic crop vegetation to simulate BECCS. First, we evaluate the land cover representation by ESMs and highlight the inconsistencies that emerge during translation of the data from integrated assessment models (IAMs) that are used to develop the scenario. Second, we evaluate the land-use change (LUC) emissions of ESMs against bookkeeping models. Finally, we show that an extensive cropland expansion for BECCS causes ecosystem carbon loss that drives the acceleration of carbon turnover and affects the CO2 fertilization effect- and climate-change-driven land carbon uptake. Over the 2000–2100 period, the LUC for BECCS leads to an offset of the CO2 fertilization effect-driven carbon uptake by 12.2 % and amplifies the climate-change-driven carbon loss by 14.6 %. A human choice on land area allocation for energy crops should take into account not only the potential amount of the bioenergy yield but also the LUC emissions, and the associated loss of future potential change in the carbon uptake. The dependency of the land carbon uptake on LUC is strong in the SSP5-3.4-OS scenario, but it also affects other Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios and should be taken into account by the IAM teams. Future studies should further investigate the trade-offs between the carbon gains from the bioenergy yield and losses from the reduced CO2 fertilization effect-driven carbon uptake where BECCS is applied.

Abstract The mechanism through which nonlinearity is generated in the response waveform of the electric current obtained by applying alternating current voltage to yeast suspension has not yet been elucidated. In this paper, we showed that the response waveform depends on the applied voltage and frequency. The results showed that distortion (nonlinearity) in the waveform increases as the applied voltage increases and/or the frequency decreases. We suggest a model for the generation of nonlinearity based on the influx of potassium ions into the cell via potassium ion channels and transporters in the membrane due to the applied voltage. Furthermore, we validated this model by simulating an electrical circuit.

Abstract The nature of the pseudogap and its relationship with superconductivity are one of the central issues of cuprate superconductors. Recently, a possible scenario has been proposed that the pseudogap state is a distinct phase characterized by spontaneous rotational symmetry breaking called “nematicity” based on transport and magnetic susceptibility measurements, where the symmetry breaking was observed below the pseudogap temperature T ∗. Here, we report a temperature-dependent ARPES study of nematicity in slightly overdoped Bi1.7Pb0.5Sr1.9CaCu2O8+δ triggered by a uniaxial strain applied along one of the Cu–O bond directions. While the nematicity was enhanced in the pseudogap state as in the previous studies, it was suppressed in the superconducting state. These results indicate that the pseudogap state is characterized by spontaneous rotational symmetry breaking and that the nematicity may compete with superconductivity. Relationship between the nematicity and charge-density waves, both of which are observed in the pseudogap state, is discussed.

The mechanism through which nonlinearity is generated in the response waveform of the electric current

Abstract The capability for actual measurements—not just simulations—of the dynamical behavior of THz electromagnetic waves, including interactions with prevalent 3D objects, has become increasingly important not only for developments of various THz devices, but also for reliable evaluation of electromagnetic compatibility. We have obtained real-time visualizations of the spatial evolution of THz electromagnetic waves interacting with a single metal micro-helix. After the micro-helix is stimulated by a broadband pico-second pulse of THz electromagnetic waves, two types of anisotropic re-emissions can occur following overall inductive current oscillations in the micro-helix. They propagate in orthogonally crossed directions with different THz frequency spectra. This unique radiative feature can be very useful for the development of a smart antenna with broadband multiplexing/demultiplexing ability and directional adaptivity. In this way, we have demonstrated that our advanced measurement techniques can lead to the development of novel functional THz devices.

Reduced-complexity climate models (RCMs) are critical in the policy and decision making space, and are directly used within multiple Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports to complement the results of more comprehensive Earth system models. To date, evaluation of RCMs has been limited to a few independent studies. Here we introduce a systematic evaluation of RCMs in the form of the Reduced Complexity Model Intercomparison Project (RCMIP). We expect RCMIP will extend over multiple phases, with Phase 1 being the first. In Phase 1, we focus on the RCMs' global-mean temperature responses, comparing them to observations, exploring the extent to which they emulate more complex models and considering how the relationship between temperature and cumulative emissions of CO2 varies across the RCMs. Our work uses experiments which mirror those found in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), which focuses on complex Earth system and atmosphere–ocean general circulation models. Using both scenario-based and idealised experiments, we examine RCMs' global-mean temperature response under a range of forcings. We find that the RCMs can all reproduce the approximately 1 ∘C of warming since pre-industrial times, with varying representations of natural variability, volcanic eruptions and aerosols. We also find that RCMs can emulate the global-mean temperature response of CMIP models to within a root-mean-square error of 0.2 ∘C over a range of experiments. Furthermore, we find that, for the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) and Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP)-based scenario pairs that share the same IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)-consistent stratospheric-adjusted radiative forcing, the RCMs indicate higher effective radiative forcings for the SSP-based scenarios and correspondingly higher temperatures when run with the same climate settings. In our idealised setup of RCMs with a climate sensitivity of 3 ∘C, the difference for the ssp585–rcp85 pair by 2100 is around 0.23∘C(±0.12 ∘C) due to a difference in effective radiative forcings between the two scenarios. Phase 1 demonstrates the utility of RCMIP's open-source infrastructure, paving the way for further phases of RCMIP to build on the research presented here and deepen our understanding of RCMs.

Magnetic topological heterostructures are promising devices to manipulate emergent quantum effects. Here, Hirahara et al. fabricate a novel magnetic topological heterostructure with a massive Dirac cone which becomes a massless one tuned by temperature.

CeSb undergoes a devil’s staircase sequence of extremely long-period modulations of the magnetically ordered 4f states. Here, the authors visualize how the devil’s staircase ordering impacts mobile electrons and collapses the well-defined band picture at the Fermi energy.

The dimensionless isotope mass scaling experiment between pure Deuterium and pure Tritium plasmas with matched $\rho^*$ , $\nu^*$ , β _n , q and $T_e/T_i$ has been achieved in JET L-mode with dominant electron heating (NBI+ohmic) conditions. 28% higher scaled energy confinement time $B_t\tau_{E,\mathrm{th}}/A$ is found in favour of the Tritium plasma. This can be cast in the form of the dimensionless energy confinement scaling law as $\Omega_i \tau_{E,\mathrm{th}} \sim A^{0.48 \pm 0.16}$ . This significant isotope mass scaling is consequently seen in the scaled one-fluid heat diffusion coefficient $A \chi_{\mathrm{eff}}/B_t$ which is around 50% lower in the Tritium plasma throughout the whole plasma radius. The isotope mass dependence in the particle transport channel is negligible, supported also by the perturbative particle transport analysis with gas puff modulation. The comparison of the edge particle fuelling or ionisation profiles from the EDGE2D-EIRENE simulations show that the absolute density differences that are necessary for the dimensionless match in the confined plasma dominate over any isotope mass dependencies of particle fuelling and ionization profiles at the plasma edge. Local GENE simulation results indicate a mild anti-gyroBohm effect at $\rho_\mathrm{tor}$ = 0.6 and thereby a small isotope mass dependence in favour of Tritium on heat transport and a negligible effect on particle transport. A significant fraction of the isotope scaling and reduced heat transport observed in the Tritium plasma is not captured in the GENE and ASTRA-TGLF-SAT2 simulations by simply changing the isotope mass for the same input profiles.

Recently an improved confinement regime, characterized by reduced turbulent fluctuations has been observed in the Large Helical Device upon the injection of boron powder into the plasma (Nespoli et al 2022 Nat. Phys. 18 350–56). In this article, we report in more detail the experimental observations of increased plasma temperature and the decrease of turbulent fluctuations across the plasma cross section, on an extended database. In particular, we compare powders of different materials (B, C, BN), finding similar temperature improvement and turbulence response for the three cases. Modeling of the powder penetration into the plasma and of neoclassical electric field and fluxes support the interpretation of the experimental results. Additionally, we report evidence of the temperature improvement increasing with powder injection rates and decreasing for both increasing density and heating power. Though, plasma turbulence response varies depending on the initial conditions of the plasma, making it difficult to draw an inclusive description of the phenomenon.

Abstract Background Deficiency of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) induces microsatellite instability (MSI). Pembrolizumab, an antibody targeting PD‐1 (an immune checkpoint inhibitor), is more effective against MMR‐deficient tumours than against MMR‐proficient tumours. The status of MMR is a useful biomarker for predicting the effectiveness of pembrolizumab administration. Although the status of MMR has attracted attention in skin tumours, there are few reports on MSI in extramammary Paget's disease (EMPD). Objectives To evaluate the status of MMR in patients with EMPD. Materials & Methods One hundred one patients with EMPD were included. MMR status of the genomic DNA of each subject was analysed using Promega panel (approved as a companion diagnostic agent for the administration of pembrolizumab). Results MSI testing showed the occurrence rates of MSI‐high (more than two markers are unstable), MSI‐low (one marker is unstable) and MSS (all markers are stable) tumour tissues were 0% (0/101), 1.0% (1/101) and 99.0% (100/101), respectively. Conclusion The status of MMR may not be useful for the potential therapeutic application of pembrolizumab.

Abstract There is a substantial gap between the current emissions of greenhouse gases and levels required for achieving the 2°C and 1.5°C temperature targets of the Paris Agreement. Understanding the implications of a temperature overshoot is thus an increasingly relevant research topic. Here we explore the carbon cycle feedbacks over land and ocean in the SSP5‐3.4‐OS overshoot scenario by using an ensemble of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 Earth system models. Models show that after the CO2 concentration and air temperature peaks, land and ocean are decreasing carbon sinks from the 2,040s and become sources for a limited time in the 22nd century. The decrease in the carbon uptake precedes the CO2 concentration peak. The early peak of ocean uptake stems from its dependency on the atmospheric CO2 growth rate. The early peak of the land uptake occurs due to a larger increase in ecosystem respiration than the increase in gross primary production, as well as due to a concomitant increase in land‐use change emissions primarily attributed to the wide implementation of biofuel croplands. The carbon cycle feedback parameters amplify after the CO2 concentration and temperature peaks due to inertia of the Earth system so that land and ocean absorb more carbon per unit change in the atmospheric CO2 change (stronger negative feedback) and lose more carbon per unit temperature change (stronger positive feedback) compared to if the feedbacks stayed unchanged. The increased negative CO2 feedback outperforms the increased positive climate feedback. This feature should be investigated under other scenarios.

We perform systematic high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of iron-chalcogenide superconductor FeSe_{1−x}Te_{x} films on CaF_{2} which exhibit a unique paramagnetic nematicity at x=0 (pristine FeSe) and a gigantic T_{c} enhancement at the critical Te concentration (x_{c}) of x∼0.2. Upon increasing the Te concentration from x=0, the electronlike Fermi-surface shape at the Brillouin-zone corner shows a clear change associated with a remarkable energy shift of the d_{xz/yz} orbital, indicative of the suppression of nematicity near x_{c}. Evolution of band structure at the Brillouin-zone center is characterized by a drastic upward shift of the d_{xy} band with increasing x, leading to an orbital switching from d_{xz/yz} to d_{xz/yz}+d_{xy} accompanied by a mass enhancement. These results demonstrate that the pristine and high-T_{c}FeSe_{1−x}Te_{x} have distinctly different electronic structures. The present study lays the foundation for understanding the origin of high-T_{c} superconductivity and the interplay with electronic nematicity.

The core plasma confinement during detachment phase is investigated in the discharges with application of resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) field in LHD. The RMP application creates a remnant magnetic island in the edge stochastic layer, which largely changes the plasma parameter profiles including impurity radiation. The electron temperature and pressure profiles are flattened at the island, while the electron density is slightly peaked at the edge of the island. The estimated impurity radiation profile is enhanced and fixed around the magnetic island during the detached phase, where the discharge is stably sustained with controlled level of radiation. Without RMP, the radiation penetrates the confinement region, leading to radiation collapse. It is found that in the case of the RMP application the plasma stored energy increases discontinuously at the detachment transition. In spite of the reduced effective plasma volume caused by the edge magnetic island and by the enhanced radiation there, the central plasma pressure finally exceeds the case without RMP. This is caused by the pressure profile peaking at the central region in the case with RMP. These results indicate clear change of core plasma confinement during the detached phase with RMP.

In real-time task scheduling, response time and time complexity are two of important requirements that draw many attentions. Virtual release advancing (VRA) [Tanaka, K. (2015, June). Virtual release advancing for earlier deadlines. ACM SIGBED Review, 12(3), 28–31] is an effective technique for shorter response times in the Earliest Deadline First scheduling [Liu, C. L., & Layland, J. W. (1973). Scheduling algorithms for multiprogramming in a hard-real-time environment. Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery, 20(1), 46–61], but not adaptive to precise systems due to its high time complexity. In order to mitigate the time complexity, a new technique, called enhanced VRA, is presented in this paper. Applied to the Total Bandwidth Server context, the enhanced technique significantly improves the time complexity while guaranteeing the responsiveness and schedulability. The technique is implemented on an ITRON real-time operating system running on an ARM Cortex-A9 processing core with a field programmable gate array. With supporting of accelerator hardware, the new algorithm shows that the maximum additional runtime overhead per tick is reduced by up to 30% compared with that of the original (software) VRA.

Abstract We present possible observing scenarios for the Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA gravitational-wave detectors over the next decade, with the intention of providing information to the astronomy community to facilitate planning for multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves. We estimate the sensitivity of the network to transient gravitational-wave signals, and study the capability of the network to determine the sky location of the source. We report our findings for gravitational-wave transients, with particular focus on gravitational-wave signals from the inspiral of binary neutron star systems, which are the most promising targets for multi-messenger astronomy. The ability to localize the sources of the detected signals depends on the geographical distribution of the detectors and their relative sensitivity, and $$90\%$$ 90% credible regions can be as large as thousands of square degrees when only two sensitive detectors are operational. Determining the sky position of a significant fraction of detected signals to areas of 5–$$20~\mathrm {deg}^2$$ 20deg2 requires at least three detectors of sensitivity within a factor of $$\sim 2$$ ∼2 of each other and with a broad frequency bandwidth. When all detectors, including KAGRA and the third LIGO detector in India, reach design sensitivity, a significant fraction of gravitational-wave signals will be localized to a few square degrees by gravitational-wave observations alone.

In order to study the possible superconductivity at the polar surfaces of 1111-type iron-based superconductors, which is doped with a large amount of holes in spite of the electron doping in bulk materials, we have performed angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies on superconducting PrFeAsO_{1−y} crystals. We have indeed observed the opening of a superconducting gap on surface-derived hole pockets as well as on a bulk-derived hole pocket. The superconducting gap is found to open on the surface-derived hole pockets below the bulk T_{c}, which suggests that the surface superconductivity is possibly induced by proximity effect from the bulk. We have also observed the opening of a large pseudogap on the surface-derived hole pockets, which is similar to the pseudogap in 122-type bulk superconductors doped with a smaller amount of holes. This suggests that the opening of a large pseudogap is a characteristic property of hole-doped iron-based superconductors.

Impurity behavior is studied in a variety of LHD (Large Helical Device) long pulse discharges, i.e. standard hydrogen plasmas, super dense core plasmas, helium plasmas with ICH (Ion Cyclotron Frequency Heating), multi-species plasmas mixed with H and He. Density scan experiments show a specific density range of impurity accumulation for only hydrogen discharges. Strong suppression of impurity accumulative behavior is observed in high temperature plasmas with high power heating. The main contributions to impurity transport are extracted by a comprehensive study on impurity behavior, i.e. investigating the critical conditions for impurity accumulation and the parameter dependences. It is found that the impurity behavior is determined by three dominant contributions, i.e. neoclassical transport mainly depending on radial electric field, turbulent transport increasing with heating power and impurity screening at high edge collisionality in the ergodic layer. The mapping of impurity behavior on n-T (electron density and temperature) space at the plasma edge shows a clear indication of the domain without impurity accumulation and provides operation scenarios to build up fusion-relevant plasmas. Keywords: Long pulse discharge, Impurity accumulation window, Radial electric filed, Impurity screening, Turbulent impurity transport

The charge transport properties in organic semiconductors are affected by the impact of molecular vibrations, yet it has been challenging to quantify them to date. Here, Bussolotti et al. provide direct experimental evidence on the band dispersion modified by molecular vibrations in a rubrene single crystal.

Abstract Background Recent preclinical and phase I studies have reported that rebamipide decreased the severity of chemoradiotherapy-induced oral mucositis in patients with oral cancer. This placebo-controlled randomized phase II study assessed the clinical benefit of rebamipide in reducing the incidence of severe chemoradiotherapy-induced oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). Methods Patients aged 20–75 years with HNC who were scheduled to receive chemoradiotherapy were enrolled. Patients were randomized to receive rebamipide 2% liquid, rebamipide 4% liquid, or placebo. The primary endpoint was the incidence of grade ≥ 3 oral mucositis determined by clinical examination and assessed by central review according to the Common Terminology Criteria of Adverse Events version 3.0. Secondary endpoints were the time to onset of grade ≥ 3 oral mucositis and the incidence of functional impairment (grade ≥ 3) based on the evaluation by the Oral Mucositis Evaluation Committee. Results From April 2014 to August 2015, 97 patients with HNC were enrolled, of whom 94 received treatment. The incidence of grade ≥ 3 oral mucositis was 29% and 25% in the rebamipide 2% and 4% groups, respectively, compared with 39% in the placebo group. The proportion of patients who did not develop grade ≥ 3 oral mucositis by day 50 of treatment was 57.9% in the placebo group, whereas the proportion was 68.0% in the rebamipide 2% group and 71.3% in the rebamipide 4% group. The incidences of adverse events potentially related to the study drug were 16%, 26%, and 13% in the placebo, rebamipide 2%, and rebamipide 4% groups, respectively. There was no significant difference in treatment compliance among the groups. Conclusions The present phase II study suggests that mouth washing with rebamipide may be effective and safe for patients with HNC receiving chemoradiotherapy, and 4% liquid is the optimal dose of rebamipide. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov under the identifier NCT02085460 (the date of trial registration: March 11, 2014).

The electron-doped cuprates are usually characterized by a more robust antiferromagnetic phase and a much narrower superconducting (SC) dome than those of the hole-doped counterparts. Recently, bulk single crystals of Pr_{1.3−x}La_{0.7}Ce_{x}CuO_{4−δ} (PLCCO) prepared by the protect annealing method have been studied extensively and revealed many intriguing properties that were different from those obtained from samples annealed by the conventional methods. Here we report on a systematic angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of PLCCO single crystals after protect annealing. The results indicate that the actual electron concentration (n_{FS}) estimated from the Fermi-surface area is significantly larger than the Ce concentration x and the new n_{FS}-based SC dome of PLCCO is more extended towards the overdoped side than the x-based SC dome derived for samples prepared using the conventional annealing method.

Worldwide observations indicate secular trends of all-sky surface solar radiation on a decadal time scale, termed global dimming and brightening. Accordingly, the observed surface radiation in Japan generally shows a strong decline until the end of the 1980s and then a recovery until around 2000. Because a substantial number of measurement stations are located within or close to populated areas, one may speculate that the observed trends are strongly influenced by local air pollution and are thus not of large-scale significance. This hypothesis poses a serious question as to what regional extent the global dimming and brightening are significant: are the global dimming and brightening truly global phenomena, or regional, or even only local? Our study focused on 14 meteorological observatories that measured all-sky surface solar radiation, zenith transmittance, and maximum transmittance. On the basis of municipality population time series, historical land use maps, recent satellite images, and actual site visits, we concluded that eight stations have been significantly influenced by urbanization, with the remaining six stations being left pristine. Between the urban and rural areas, no marked differences were identified in the temporal trends of the aforementioned meteorological parameters. Our findings suggest that global dimming and brightening in Japan occurred on a large scale, independently of urbanization.

Global dimming refers to the decrease in surface solar radiation (SSR) observed from the 1960s to the 1980s at different measurement sites all around the world. It is under debate whether anthropogenic aerosols emitted from urban areas close to the measurement sites are mainly responsible for the dimming. In order to assess this urbanization impact on SSR, we use spatially explicit population density data of 0.08° resolution to construct population indices (PI) at 157 high data quality sites. Our study extends previous population-based studies by incorporating distance-weighting as a simple aerosol diffusion model. We measured urbanization in the surrounding of a site as the PI change from 1960 to 1990 and found no negative correlation with the corresponding SSR trends from 1964 to 1989 for the 92 sites in Europe and Japan. For the 39 sites in China the correlation coefficients are significant at the 5 % level and reach around −0.35, while for the 26 remaining Asian, mostly Russian sites the correlation coefficients reach around −0.55 at the 1 % significance level. Results are similar, when the absolute levels of PIs are taken as an indicator for urbanization. Our findings call into question the existence of an urbanization effect for the sites in Europe and Japan, while such an effect cannot be ruled out for the sites in Asia, especially in Russia.

To date, many studies have performed numerical estimations of biomass production and agricultural water demand to understand the present and future supply–demand relationship. A crop calendar (CC), which defines the date or month when farmers sow and harvest crops, is an essential input for the numerical estimations. This study aims to present a new global data set, the SAtellite-derived CRop calendar for Agricultural simulations (SACRA), and to discuss advantages and disadvantages compared to existing census-based and model-derived products. We estimate global CC at a spatial resolution of 5 arcmin using satellite-sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data, which corresponds to vegetation vitality and senescence on the land surface. Using the time series of the NDVI averaged from three consecutive years (2004–2006), sowing/harvesting dates are estimated for six crops (temperate-wheat, snow-wheat, maize, rice, soybean and cotton). We assume time series of the NDVI represent the phenology of one dominant crop and estimate CCs of the dominant crop in each grid. The dominant crops are determined using harvested areas based on census-based data. The cultivation period of SACRA is identified from the time series of the NDVI; therefore, SACRA considers current effects of human decisions and natural disasters. The difference between the estimated sowing dates and other existing products is less than 2 months (< 62 days) in most of the areas. A major disadvantage of our method is that the mixture of several crops in a grid is not considered in SACRA. The assumption of one dominant crop in each grid is a major source of discrepancy in crop calendars between SACRA and other products. The disadvantages of our approach may be reduced with future improvements based on finer satellite sensors and crop-type classification studies to consider several dominant crops in each grid. The comparison of the CC also demonstrates that identification of wheat type (sowing in spring or fall) is a major source of error in global CC estimations.

The influence of fiber orientation on the crack propagation behavior was studied with single edgenotched specimens which were cut from an injection-molded plate of short-fiber reinforced plastics of polyphenylenesulphide (PPS) reinforced with 30wt% carbon fibers. Specimens were cut at five fiber angles relative to the molding direction, i.e. = 0° (MD), 22.5°, 45°, 67.5°, 90° (TD). Fracture mechanics parameters derived based on anisotropic elasticity were used as a crack driving force. Macroscopic crack propagation path was nearly perpendicular to the loading axis for the cases of MD and TD. For the other fiber angles, the crack path was inclined because the crack tended to propagate along inclined fibers. For mode I crack propagation in MD and TD, the resistance to crack propagation is improved by fiber reinforcement, when the rate is correlated to the range of stress intensity factor. The crack propagation rate, da/dN, was slowest for MD and fastest for TD. For each material, the crack propagation rate is higher for larger R ratio. The effect of R ratio on da/dN diminished in the relation between da/dN and the range of energy release rate, GI. Difference among MD, TD and matrix resin becomes small when da/dN correlated to a parameter corresponding the crack-tip radius, HGI, where H is compliance parameter. Fatigue cracks propagated under mixed loading of mode I and II for the fiber angles other than 0° and 90°. The data of the crack propagation rate correlated to the range of total energy release rate, Gtotal, lie between the relations obtained for MD and TD. All data of crack propagation tend to merge a single relation when the rate is correlated to the range of total energy release rate divided by Young’s modulus.

As part of the terrestrial branch of the Japan-funded Arctic Climate Change Research Project (GRENE-TEA), which aims to clarify the role and function of the terrestrial Arctic in the climate system and assess the influence of its changes on a global scale, this model intercomparison project (GTMIP) is designed to (1) enhance communication and understanding between the modelling and field scientists and (2) assess the uncertainty and variations stemming from variability in model implementation/design and in model outputs using climatic and historical conditions in the Arctic terrestrial regions. This paper provides an overview of all GTMIP activity, and the experiment protocol of Stage 1, which is site simulations driven by statistically fitted data created using the GRENE-TEA site observations for the last 3 decades. The target metrics for the model evaluation cover key processes in both physics and biogeochemistry, including energy budgets, snow, permafrost, phenology, and carbon budgets. Exemplary results for distributions of four metrics (annual mean latent heat flux, annual maximum snow depth, gross primary production, and net ecosystem production) and for seasonal transitions are provided to give an outlook of the planned analysis that will delineate the inter-dependence among the key processes and provide clues for improving model performance.

The allelic frequency of c.335A>C polymorphisms in the porcine ghrelin/obestatin prepropeptide (GHRL) gene was surveyed among six pig breeds and two subspecies of wild boars. The c.335C was the most frequent allele in Berkshire, Landrace, Large White, Yorkshire, and Clawn miniature pigs and Ryukyu wild boars (Sus scrofa riukiuanus), whereas c.335A was the most frequent allele in Duroc and Meishan pigs and Japanese wild boars (S. s. leucomystax). The association of c.335A>C with performance traits was analyzed in Duroc, Landrace, Large White, and (Landrace × Large White) × Duroc (LWD) cross-bred pigs. No associations between c.335A>C genotype and average daily weight gain, backfat thickness, or intramuscular fat were detected. However, an association was observed between loin eye muscle area (EMA) and c.335A>C genotype in Duroc gilts. The AA genotype group had larger EMA than the AC genotype group in Duroc gilts; however, this association was not significant in Duroc boars and barrows or the other pig populations investigated. These results demonstrate that GHRL c.335A>C is not a major quantitative trait loci candidate on pig chromosome 13 affecting fat deposition.

To search undiscovered superheavy elements, a series of commissioning experiments for the new gas-filled separator GARIS-II at RIKEN was recently carried out. A new data acquisition method was tested to study the short-lived α decay. Both the α decay and evaporation residues were detected by the silicon detectors, and the preamplified waveforms were then directly registered by a flash ADC and analyzed by means of a pulse shape analysis. This paper describes the identification of two sequential pulses (pileup events) from short-lived α decays and the determination of their energy and time difference by the template fitting method. The performance of the present system was evaluated by using a simulated data set and was successfully employed for online experimental data such as 220Ac → 216Fr.

A plasmonic array, consisting of metallic nanocylinders periodically arranged with a pitch comparable to the optical wavelength, is a system in which both the localized surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and diffraction in the plane of the array are simultaneously excitable. When combined with a phosphor film, the array acts as a photoluminescence (PL) director and enhancer. Since the array can modify both excitation and emission processes, the overall modification mechanism is generally complex and difficult to understand. Here, we examined the mechanism by simplifying the discussion using an emitter with a high quantum yield, large Stokes shift, and long PL lifetime. Directional PL enhancement as large as five-fold occurred, which is mainly caused by outcoupling, i.e., the PL trapped in the emitter film by total internal reflection is extracted into free space through the SPPs and diffraction. The present scheme is robust and applicable to arbitrary emitters, and it is useful for designing compact and efficient directional illumination devices.