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A numerical experiment with a 2-km resolution was conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model to investigate physical processes driving nocturnal precipitation over the Himalayas during the mature monsoon seasons between 2003 and 2010. The WRF Model simulations of increases in precipitation twice a day, one in the afternoon and another around midnight, over the Himalayan slopes, and of the single nocturnal peak over the Himalayan foothills were reasonably accurate. To understand the synoptic-scale moisture transport and its local-scale convergence generating the nocturnal precipitation, composite analyses were conducted using the reanalysis dataset and model outputs. In the synoptic scale, moisture transport associated with the westward propagation of low pressure systems was found when nocturnal precipitation dominated over the Himalayan slopes. In contrast, moisture was directly provided from the synoptic-scale monsoon westerlies for nocturnal precipitation over the foothills. The model outputs suggested that precipitation occurred on the mountain ridges in the Himalayas during the afternoon and expanded horizontally toward lower-elevation areas through the night. During the nighttime, the downslope wind was caused by radiative cooling at the surface and was intensified by evaporative cooling by hydrometeors in the near-surface layer. As a result, convergence between the downslope wind and the synoptic-scale flow promoted nocturnal precipitation over the Himalayas and to the south, as well as the moisture convergence by orography and/or synoptic-scale circulation patterns. The nocturnal precipitation over the Himalayas was not simulated well when we used the coarse topographic resolution and the smaller number of vertical layers.

In Japan, Extratropical cyclone sometimes causes sporadic heavy snow in the coastal cites or heavy rains on snow covers in mountainous areas. Ando and Ueno (2015) identified that heavy precipitation events tend to occur with occluding cyclones. However, three-dimensional structure of precipitation system embedded in the cyclone system are difficult to capture by surface observation network over Japanese archipelago that are composed of complex coastal lines and mountains. This study identified heavy precipitation events during the cold seasons of 2014-2019 by two-day accumulated precipitation data at 137 stations of the Japan Meteorological Agency. The mechanisms for producing heavy precipitation in relation to the structure of an occluding extratropical cyclone were analyzed with the aid of the products of the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar onboard the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite and trajectory analysis on European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts atmospheric reanalysis data. Upper-ranked events with heavy precipitation were mostly due to extratropical cyclones, and many of them were in mature stages. In the top 50 ranked events, three south-coast cyclones were nominated, and relationships between the development of the mesoscale precipitation system and airstreams were intensively diagnosed. Hourly precipitation changes at stations that recorded heavy precipitation were primary affected by a combination of the warm conveyor belt (WCB), the cold conveyor belt (CCB) and the dry intrusion (DI). Wide-ranging stratiform precipitation in the east of cyclone center was composed of low-level WCB over the CCB and the upper WCB, and convective clouds around the cyclone center was associated with the upper DI over the WCB that provided an extreme precipitation rate at the surface, including formation of a band-shaped precipitation system. The convective cloud activities also contributed to moist air advection over the stationary stratiform precipitation areas recognized as the upper WCB. DPR products also identified deep stratiform precipitation in the cloud-head area behind the cyclone center with mid-level (near-surface) latent heat release (absorption) with increased potential vorticity along the CCB that was made feed-back intensification of the cyclone possible. (This study will be published in GPM special issue of JMSJ)

The tendency to form a sea of clouds (SOC) with surface meteorological conditions was observed for 3-year warm periods at the foot of Mt. Yatsugatake by time-lapse camera and meteorological instruments at Fujimi Panorama ski resort, Nagano prefecture. In situ observation revealed large- and small-scale SOCs in the valley. Large-scale SOCs were commonly observed in the early morning, while small-scale SOCs in the eastern valley corresponded with low-level orographic clouds ascending over the slopes of Yatsugatake. An empirical algorithm was developed to detect the occurrence of nocturnal low-level clouds, corresponding to large-scale morning SOCs, using Hiamari-8 images on hourly basis with references to in situ camera observation. SOCs frequently occurred in the large-scale valley or basin in the inland areas in the Japanese Alps region, referred as 12 target areas, and they were infrequent in the coastal areas or high elevations over 2000 m. When we defined days of wide-ranging SOC occurrence, in which SOCs occurred in the half or more of target areas, 67% were associated with a subsidence inversion layer by a synoptic-scale high pressure system. The low-level cloud-top height determined by two camera images at different altitudes almost corresponded with the height of the inversion layer observed by radio-sounding data at Wajima station. We concluded that the synoptic-scale subsidence inversion layer plays an important role in forming large-scale SOCs in the Japanese Alps region in addition to nocturnal radiative cooling conditions.(Publlished in Japanese on Tenki 68, 2021: https://www.metsoc.jp/tenki/year.php)

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between residential land value and the distance to the center of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area from 1970 to 2016. The result shows three trends in the relation: (1) residential land value had increased at all standard sites even while the interest rate was kept high; (2) when the interest rate has become lower, the shorter the distance to the center became, the higher residential land value has increased; and (3) recently the areas where residential land value fluctuate has become narrower. This paper discusses about these trends.

Social signals play powerful roles in shaping self-oriented reward valuation and decision making. These signals activate social and valuation/decision areas, but the core computation for their integration into the self-oriented decision machinery remains unclear. Here, we study how a fundamental social signal, social value (others' reward value), is converted into self-oriented decision making in the human brain. Using behavioral analysis, modeling, and neuroimaging, we show three-stage processing of social value conversion from the offer to the effective value and then to the final decision value. First, a value of others' bonus on offer, called offered value, was encoded uniquely in the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) and also in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (ldlPFC), which is commonly activated by offered self-bonus value. The effective value, an intermediate value representing the effective influence of the offer on the decision, was represented in the right anterior insula (rAI), and the final decision value was encoded in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Second, using psychophysiological interaction and dynamic causal modeling analyses, we demonstrated three-stage feedforward processing from the rTPJ and ldPFC to the rAI and then from rAI to the mPFC. Further, we showed that these characteristics of social conversion underlie distinct sociobehavioral phenotypes. We demonstrate that the variability in the conversion underlies the difference between prosocial and selfish subjects, as seen from the differential strength of the rAI and ldlPFC coupling to the mPFC responses, respectively. Together, these findings identified fundamental neural computation processes for social value conversion underlying complex social decision making behaviors. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In daily life, we make decisions based on self-interest, but also in consideration for others' status. These social influences modulate valuation and decision signals in the brain, suggesting a fundamental process called value conversion that translates social information into self-referenced decisions. However, little is known about the conversion process and its underlying brain mechanisms. We investigated value conversion using human fMRI with computational modeling and found three essential stages in a progressive brain circuit from social to empathic and decision areas. Interestingly, the brain mechanism of conversion differed between prosocial and individualistic subjects. These findings reveal how the brain processes and merges social information into the elemental flow of self-interested decision making.

Wafer Level Package (WLP) has been widely and commonly used in the electronics market, and getting more popular due to its advantages [1]. Liquid molding compound is a major encapsulation for the package. Panel Level Package (PLP) is considered as one of the next solutions after WLP because of more efficient and effective productivity with bigger panel size than WLP [2] [3]. At the moment, granule encapsulation with Compression Mold (CM) process is a major trend for PLP, however in this paper, we will discuss sheet type molding compound (mold sheet) for PLP as an alternative encapsulation material other than granule types. Same as WLP approach, the warpage is the main topic in PLP approach. Therefore, the warpage is key discussion in this paper, but Tg, Storage Modulus (E'), Co-efficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) of Mold Sheet and Glass Carrier are also discussed. Among a lot of parameters, difference of raw materials, solid or liquid, made the biggest impact to warpage. This might be due to difference of capacity for filler content. Making from solid resin can accept more filler than making from liquid resin, which makes CTE of mold sheet much lower. It is expected that Various Mold sheets with Glass carriers combination make more flat products, and we considered about relation between various items.

An impact hammer test of the full-scale mock-up of the ITER blanket remote handling system (BRHS) was carried out to validate the results of the seismic analysis of the BRHS which were performed using a finite element (FE) model. As the FE analysis of the BRHS predicted a vertical mode ∼8 Hz, which coincides with a major natural frequency of the vacuum vessel of ITER, evaluating the dynamic response of the BRHS experimentally and measuring the system's damping is indispensable in verifying the structural design of the system. Recent preliminary impact testing on the full-scale mock-up of the BRHS showed that the mock-up has a vertical major natural mode having a natural frequency of ∼7.5 Hz and a damping ratio of 0.5%. Several other major natural modes having frequencies less than 10 Hz were found to have damping ratios ranging from 0.2% to 2%. It was confirmed that the natural major frequencies obtained in the experiments are in agreement with the major frequencies obtained via analysis.

Sediment transport activities in the periglacial environment are controlled by hillslopes micrometeorological conditions (i.e., air and ground temperatures, ground water content), which are highly affected by vegetation cover. Thus, there is a possibility that forest harvesting, which is the most dramatic change to vegetation cover in mountain areas, may severely impact sediment transport activities in periglacial areas (i.e., soil creep, dry ravel). Knowledge of the effects of forest harvesting on sediment transport are needed to protect aquatic ecosystems as well as to develop better mitigation measures for preventing sediment disasters. In this study, we investigated changes in sediment transport activities following forest harvesting in steep artificial forests located in a humid periglacial area of the Southern Japanese Alps. In the Southern Japanese Alps, rainfall is abundant in summer and autumn, and air temperatures frequently rise above and fall below 0 degrees in the winter. Our monitoring by time laps cameras revealed that gravitational transport processes (e.g., frost creep and dry ravel) dominate during the freeze-thaw season, while rainfall-induced processes (surface erosion and soil creep) occur during heavy rainfall seasons. Removal of the forest canopy by forest harvesting alters the type of winter soil creep from deeper frost creep to diurnal needle-ice creep. Winter creep velocity of the ground surface sediment in the harvested site was significantly higher than that in the non-harvested site. Meanwhile, sediment flux on the hillslopes observed by sediment traps decreased in the harvested site. Branches of harvested trees left on the hillslopes captured sediment coming from upslope. In addition, the growth of understories after harvesting possibly reduced surface erosion. Consequently, removal of the forest canopy by forest harvesting directly impacts micrometeorological conditions and periglacial sediment transport activity, while sediment flux on hillslopes is also affected by branches left on the hillslopes and recovery of understories.

The Third Pole (TP) is experiencing rapid warming and is currently in its warmest period in the past 2,000 years. This paper reviews the latest development in multidisciplinary TP research associated with this warming. The rapid warming facilitates intense and broad glacier melt over most of the TP, although some glaciers in the northwest are advancing. By heating the atmosphere and reducing snow/ice albedo, aerosols also contribute to the glaciers melting. Glacier melt is accompanied by lake expansion and intensification of the water cycle over the TP. Precipitation has increased over the eastern and northwestern TP. Meanwhile, the TP is greening and most regions are experiencing advancing phenological trends, although over the southwest there is a spring phenological delay mainly in response to the recent decline in spring precipitation. Atmospheric and terrestrial thermal and dynamical processes over the TP affect the Asian monsoon at different scales. Recent evidence indicates substantial roles that mesoscale convective systems play in the TP’s precipitation as well as an association between soil moisture anomalies in the TP and the Indian monsoon. Moreover, an increase in geohazard events has been associated with recent environmental changes, some of which have had catastrophic consequences caused by glacial lake outbursts and landslides. Active debris flows are growing in both frequency of occurrences and spatial scale. Meanwhile, new types of disasters, such as the twin ice avalanches in Ali in 2016, are now appearing in the region. Adaptation and mitigation measures should be taken to help societies’ preparation for future environmental challenges. Some key issues for future TP studies are also discussed.

Freezing and thawing processes play an important role for the gravitational transport of surface materials on steep mountain slopes in Japan. The effects of deforestation on frost heave activity were observed through the 2012/2013 winter season in Ikawa University Forest, a southern mountainous area in central Japan (1180–1310 m above sea level). During periods without snow cover, needle ice development prevailed at a clear-cut site, and the downslope sediment movement of upper soil was 10 to 15 cm through the winter season. At a non-cut site, rise and fall in the ground surface level prevailed on a weekly scale, with no evident downslope movements at the surface; ice lens formation in the soil layer is assumed. Abrupt changes in the radiation budget, such as the strengthening of nighttime radiative cooling and increases in daytime direct insolation, induced frequent development/deformation of needle ice at the clear-cut site. In snow-free periods, the day-to-day variability in needle ice growth length and in nighttime averaged net radiation showed significant correlations; cloudy weather with warmer and moist air intrusion associated with synoptic disturbances prevented the occurrence of needle ice. Namely, day-to-day weather changes directly affected the mass movement of the upper soil after deforestation. Shallow snow cover occurred discontinuously through the winter and is likely an important factor in keeping the soil moisture sufficiently high in the upper soil layer for initiating needle ice during snow-free periods. We also discuss contributions of coastal extratropical cyclone activities providing both snow cover and cloudy weather in the southern mountain areas of central Japan to the intra-seasonal variability in frost heave and its indirect effect on soil creep and landslides on the deforested steep slopes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Although the neural correlates that underlie abdominal pain have been investigated, so-called brain processes involved in modulating "gut feelings" remain unclear. In the current study, we used electrointestinography (EIG) to measure intestinal activity of healthy humans at rest. EIG measured myoelectrical activity of intestinal smooth muscles from the abdominal surface and was simultaneously conducted along with brain activity measurement using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Correlations between the frequency powers of EIG and fMRI signals during 30min of rest were then examined to elucidate gut-brain interactions. Neural activity correlating with 0.14- to 0.21-Hz EIG (suggested to reflect intestinal activity) was observed in the right anterior and middle insula. Moreover, this EIG frequency band correlated with anxiety scores along with resting-state functional connectivity between the insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. These findings suggest that the insular cortex could be the core region involved in central visceral processes associated with subjective feelings.

Non-invasive human electroencephalography (EEG) coupled with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is currently used to measure coarse stimulus-response relationships in brain physiology during behavior. However, with key modifications, the TMS-EEG technique holds even greater promise for monitoring fine-scale neural signatures of human behavior. Here, we demonstrate that a novel TMS-EEG co-registration technique can dynamically monitor individual human variation in perception based solely on EEG resting-state intrinsic effective connectivity probed by TMS-based phase resetting of ongoing activity. We used a bistable stimulus task, where the percept is perceived as either horizontal or vertical apparent motion, to record gamma band interhemispheric integration of information. Fine-grained inter-individual behavioral differences in horizontal motion bias could be measured by tracking resting-state gamma-band effective connectivity from right hMT+ to left hMT+. Thus, our method of triggering intrinsic resting-state effective connectivity in oscillatory dynamics can monitor individual differences in perception via the long-range integration of information. This technique will be useful for the manipulative dissection of individual-scale human cognition mediated by neural dynamics and may also expand neurofeedback approaches.

In worldwide semiconductor market has still inflated and required advanced, smaller, and lower cost package. From recently this situation, Fan-Out Wafer Level Package (FOWLP)/Panel Level Package has commercialized to fit for above demands. In this report, our three types of encapsulation materials, i.e., Liquid, Granule/Powder and Sheet encapsulation material, were expressed to apply for FOWLP/Panel Level Package. Those materials have each suitable manufacturing process. For example, one of them is Face up type Compression mold, other one is Face down type Compression mold and Vacuum lamination method and so on. We researched the best condition with each material and manufacturing process. In the future viewpoint, encapsulation for FOWLP/Panel Level Package, the warpage issue must be an especially key point for future application and more scale up process. The warpage issue for each encapsulation material and manufacturing process is discussed in here. We have experimented and verified the tendency of warpage with changing properties, constituent, and processes of each encapsulation. Firstly, in the Liquid area, we have checked as to how much influence different hardeners and encapsulation processes have on warpage. Secondly, in the Mold Sheet area, we verified the impact of process difference to warpage. Lastly, in the Granule/Powder area we verified the relation between several types of hardeners and curing degrees and warpage. In the experiment of influence of hardener on warpage, we have touched not only changing types of hardeners but also effect of catalyst. Also in the verification of curing degrees, we prepared some samples that had different curing degrees, for example, 50%, 70%, 90% before PMC (Post Mold Cure). And we checked the warpage of each sample after PMC. As for encapsulation processes, vacuum lamination and two types of compression mold equipment were used. As above, we tried to reduce the warpage with the combination of various conditions.

We have a social preference to reduce inequity in the outcomes between oneself and others. Such a preference varies according to others. We performed functional magnetic resonance imaging during an economic game to investigate how the perceived moral traits of others modulate the neural activities that underlie inequity-aversion. The participants unilaterally allocated money to three partners (good, neutral, and bad). During presentation of the good and neutral partners, the anterior region of the rostral medial frontal cortex (arMFC) showed increased functional connectivity with the caudate head and the anterior insula, respectively. Following this, participants allocated more money to the good partner, and less to the bad partner, compared with the neutral partner. The caudate head and anterior insula showed greater activation during fair allocation to the good and unfair allocation to the neutral partners, respectively. However, these regions were silent during allocations to the bad partner. Therefore, the arMFC-caudate/insula circuit encompasses distinct neural processes that underlie inequity-aversion in monetary allocations that the different moral traits of others can modulate.

Throughout human history, economic bubbles have formed and burst. As a bubble grows, microeconomic behavior ceases to be constrained by realistic predictions. This contradicts the basic assumption of economics that agents have rational expectations. To examine the neural basis of behavior during bubbles, we performed functional magnetic resonance imaging while participants traded shares in a virtual stock exchange with two non-bubble stocks and one bubble stock. The price was largely deflected from the fair price in one of the non-bubble stocks, but not in the other. Their fair prices were specified. The price of the bubble stock showed a large increase and battering, as based on a real stock-market bust. The imaging results revealed modulation of the brain circuits that regulate trade behavior under different market conditions. The premotor cortex was activated only under a market condition in which the price was largely deflected from the fair price specified. During the bubble, brain regions associated with the cognitive processing that supports order decisions were identified. The asset preference that might bias the decision was associated with the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The activity of the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) was correlated with the score of future time perspective, which would bias the estimation of future price. These regions were deemed to form a distinctive network during the bubble. A functional connectivity analysis showed that the connectivity between the DLPFC and the IPL was predominant compared with other connectivities only during the bubble. These findings indicate that uncertain and unstable market conditions changed brain modes in traders. These brain mechanisms might lead to a loss of control caused by wishful thinking, and to microeconomic bubbles that expand, on the macroscopic scale, toward bust.

Optical manipulation technologies greatly advanced the understanding of the neuronal network and its dysfunctions. To achieve patterned and parallel optical switching, we developed a microscopic illumination system using a commercial DMD-based projector and a software program. The spatiotemporal patterning of the system was evaluated using acute slices of the hippocampus. The neural activity was optically manipulated, positively by the combination of channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) and blue light, and negatively by the combination of archaerhodopsin-T (ArchT) and green light. It is suggested that our projector-managing optical system (PMOS) would effectively facilitate the optogenetic analyses of neurons and their circuits.

Semiconductor market has still expanded and required more advanced and smaller package. To meet these requirements, FOWLP and/or Panel Level Package have marketed in recently. In this report, Liquid, Granule and Sheet materials were described as an encapsulation for FOWLP/Panel Level Package. Especially, warpage might be a key issue from the future standpoint for scaling up process and application. The discussion here touches the warpage issue for each material and process.

The superior capability of cognitive experts largely depends on automatic, quick information processing, which is often referred to as intuition. Intuition develops following extensive long-term training. There are many cognitive models on intuition development, but its neural basis is not known. Here we trained novices for 15 weeks to learn a simple board game and measured their brain activities in early and end phases of the training while they quickly generated the best next-move to a given board pattern. We found that the activation in the head of caudate nucleus developed over the course of training, in parallel to the development of the capability to quickly generate the best next-move, and the magnitude of the caudate activity was correlated with the subject's performance. In contrast, cortical activations, which already appeared in the early phase of training, did not further change. Thus, neural activation in the caudate head, but not those in cortical areas, tracked the development of capability to quickly generate the best next-move, indicating that circuitries including the caudate head may automate cognitive computations.

The effect of an electric field on hydrate nucleation in supercooled tetra-n-butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB) aqueous solution was investigated experimentally. Experiments were carried out by charging electrodes inserted into a test tube containing TBAB aqueous solution using a DC voltage. The electrode material (copper, aluminum, nickel, iron and gold), value of applied voltage and sample concentration were varied as the experimental parameter. When the sample was maintained under a supercooled state, the DC voltage was applied directly to the TBAB aqueous solution for 1 min. It was found that the probability of nucleation depends on the electrode material. The probability of nucleation is especially high in the case of the Cu electrode. It was also found that the probability of nucleation of type 2 TBAB hydrate is lower than that of type 1 hydrate under these experimental conditions.