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Background: Evaluating multiple biomarkers including human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), mismatch repair (MMR) status, programed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), and claudin 18.2 (CLDN18.2) is essential for selecting appropriate first-line therapy of metastatic gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (mGEA). However, this can be challenging if tumor tissue amount is limited and may cause delays in the initiation of chemotherapy. Therefore, we assessed the feasibility of multiple biomarkers testing in routine clinical practice. Materials and methods: We reviewed the medical records of treatment-naïve patients with mGEA who underwent prospective multiple biomarkers testing between April 2022 and October 2023 in our institution. Eight biomarker status including HER2, MMR, PD-L1, CLDN18.2, Epstein–Barr virus, fibroblast growth factor receptor 2, epidermal growth factor receptor and mesenchymal epithelial transition expressions were simultaneously examined using biopsy or surgical specimens. Results: A total of 203 patients with mGEA were analyzed. Most patients underwent gastroendoscopy and tumor biopsy shortly after referral to our institution. Biomarkers testing was successfully completed on the first attempt in 198 patients (97.5%). With additional steps including additional biopsy or asking remaining tumor samples from the referring hospital, the biomarker results were eventually available in all cases. The median turnaround time from sample collection to reporting results was 7 days. Consequently, 178 patients (87.7%) could receive first-line treatment after obtaining the biomarker status. Conclusions: Multiple biomarkers testing for patients with mGEA was feasible in clinical practice. Establishment of a testing infrastructure based on the collaboration with multiple departments is essential for implementing biomarker-driven precision treatment.

Abstract In magnetic fusion plasmas, a transport barrier is essential to improve the plasma confinement. The key physics behind the formation of a transport barrier is the suppression of the micro-scale turbulent transport. On the other hand, long-range transport events, such as avalanches, has been recognized to play significant roles for global profile formations. In this study, we observed the impact of the avalanche-type of transport on the formation of a transport barrier for the first time. The avalanches are found to inhibit the formation of the internal transport barrier (ITB) observed in JT-60U tokamak. We found that (1) ITBs do not form in the presence of avalanches but form under the disappearance of avalanches, (2) the surface integral of avalanche-driven heat fluxe is comparable to the time rate change of stored energy retained at the ITB onset, (3) the mean E × B flow shear is accelerated via the ion temperature gradient that is not sustained under the existence of avalanches, and (4) after the ITB formation, avalanches are damped inside the ITB, while they remain outside the ITB.

Introduction: Germline SAMD9 and SAMD9L mutations (SAMD9/9Lmut) cause a novel bone marrow failure and pediatric myelodysplastic syndrome. Despite >400 patients reported, evaluating variants remains challenging with >70% of germline SAMD9/9Lmut classified as variants of uncertain significance, mainly due to heterogenous phenotypes and lack of functional assays. Many patients acquire compensatory clones including secondary SAMD9/9Lmut and UPD7q with loss of the mutant allele, along with maladaptive, stress-induced monosomy 7. Monosomy 7 poses unique surveillance challenges as it may disappear spontaneously over time, precluding the need for HSCT. Methods: We utilized our prospective somatic surveillance database to identify genetic patterns and evolution in SAMD9/9Lmut patients (median age 8 years). Using high-sensitivity myeloid gene panel and SNP array, we evaluated hematopoietic specimens of 23 patients with SAMD9/9L syndromes. For comparison, we analyzed a cohort of 132 patients with other BMF/MDS conditions. Serial analysis was performed in 39% (61/155) of patients for a median duration of 15.7 (1.4-53.2) months. Results: We found 33 somatic SAMD9/9Lmut in 61% (14/23), UPD7q in 26% (6/23), and monosomy 7 in 48% (11/23) of patients with germline SAMD9/9Lmut. Somatic SAMD9/9Lmut and UPD7q were not identified in the comparative cohort, resulting in 100% specificity and positive predictive value to rule-in germline SAMD9/9L syndromes. Notably, no patient (including monosomy 7 cases) developed advanced MDS, leukemia, or cancer driver mutations with up to 4.4 years of follow-up. Conclusions: Somatic SAMD9/9Lmut and UPD7q act as a “natural functional assay” confirming pathogenicity of germline SAMD9/9Lmut. Despite high rates of monosomy 7, leukemic progression is rare in SAMD9/9L syndromes.

A cloud identification and profiling algorithm is being developed for the multi-spectral imager (MSI), which is one of the four instruments that the Earth Clouds, Aerosols, and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) spacecraft will feature. During recent work, we noticed that the MSI response function could shift substantially among some wavelengths (0.67 and 1.65 µm bands) owing to the spectral misalignment (SMILE), in which a shift in the center wavelength appears as a distortion in the spectral image. We evaluated how SMILE affects the cloud retrieval product qualitatively and quantitatively. We chose four detector pixels from bands 1 and 3 with the nadir pixel as the reference to elucidate how the SMILE error affects the cloud optical thickness (τ) and effective cloud droplet radius (re) by simulating the MSI forward radiation with Comprehensive Analysis Program for Cloud Optical Measurement (CAPCOM). We also evaluated the error in simulated scenes from a global cloud system-resolving model and a satellite simulator to measure the effect on actual observation scenes. For typical shallow warm clouds (τ = 8, re = 8 µm), the SMILE error on the cloud retrieval was not significant in most cases (up to 6 % error). For typical deep convective clouds (τ = 8, re = 40 µm), the SMILE error on the cloud retrieval was even less significant in most cases (up to 4 % error). Moreover, our results from two oceanic scenes using the synthetic MSI data agreed well with the forward radiation simulation, indicating that the SMILE error was generally within 10 %. Generally, this negligible impact of the SMILE is true for water surfaces, but it still needs to be investigated further for land surfaces in future works.

We developed a redundant logic for predicting Vertical Displacement Events (VDEs) using only magnetic diagnostics with a Support Vector Machine (Inoue et al 2022 Nucl. Fusion 62 086007). This logic was experimentally validated in the integrated commissioning of JT-60SA. Triggering of VDEs results in significant asymmetric heat loads on first walls and electromagnetic loads on conducting materials. These concerns are mitigated by a newly proposed direction control for VDEs. We successfully detected VDEs in experiments and controlled their direction by setting the control voltage to zero upon detection, thus guiding VDEs in an intended direction and reducing the risk to the device from unmitigated VDEs in either direction, although completely avoiding VDEs remains the ideal. In the developed predictor, VDEs are predicted using proxies to monitor the controller’s performance with an adaptive voltage allocation scheme (Inoue et al 2021 Nucl. Fusion 61 096009). For future experiments, we plan to extend our approach to monitor more detailed information from the equilibrium controller, including control values of each PID component, which has been shown to enhance the prediction accuracy of VDEs.

Disruption database in the JT-60SA first plasma operation period has been constructed. The disruptions have been divided into three categories based on their characteristics, and the characteristics of each category have been discussed. The most commonly observed disruptions were vertical displacement events (VDEs). As expected by simulations using the MHD equilibrium control simulator (MECS), a highly elongated plasma was likely to disrupt by VDE when the gap between the plasma surface and the wall is large. Despite the quite high edge safety factor $q_\mathrm{95}$ of above 10 in the initial operation, some discharge disrupted because of control failure caused by the n = 1 tearing mode. One possible cause of the n = 1 tearing mode is the edge cooling in high density. The last category is the radiative disruptions, which is characterized by slow current decay with multiple spikes in soft x-ray signals. These spikes are thought to be related to the MHD activity that occurred when the cooling front crossed the rational surface. The radiative disruptions are attributed to a sudden change in edge power balance.

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.

The avalanche type of transport can induce a long-radial transport and thus can contribute to the global profile formation. In this study, we observed the heat perturbations exhibiting avalanche-like transport in the stellarator/heliotron device, Heliotron J, and the tokamak device, JT-60U. We found that the electron heat propagation in Heliotron J is mainly generated from the heating source region. The relatively high value of the Hurst exponent, which is a signature of avalanches, depends on the total heating power. On the other hand, the electron and ion heat avalanches measured in JT-60U tend to spread from the local peak of the temperature gradient and are not influenced by the heating source profiles. The contrasting features of avalanches in stellarator/heliotrons and tokamaks potentially imply the difference in the temperature profile formation, such as the presence of stiffness.

The world’s largest superconducting tokamak, JT-60SA, has successfully achieved its first plasma operation under the constraint of a low toroidal inductive electric field of 0.15 V m ^−1 . A plasma start-up scenario, leveraging the effective confinement of electrons accelerated by the electron cyclotron wave, proved to be instrumental in reaching this milestone under the challenging conditions. The demonstration of plasma start-up using second harmonic electron cyclotron heating, with an applied toroidal electric field of 0.15 V m ^−1 , strongly validates the feasibility of achieving first plasma operation in ITER.

We developed a new aerosol satellite retrieval algorithm combining a numerical aerosol forecast. In the retrieval algorithm, the short-term forecast from an aerosol data assimilation system was used as an a priori estimate instead of spatially and temporally constant values. This method was demonstrated using observation of the Advanced Himawari Imager onboard the Japan Meteorological Agency's geostationary satellite Himawari-8. Overall, the retrieval results incorporated strengths of the observation and the model and complemented their respective weaknesses, showing spatially finer distributions than the model forecast and less noisy distributions than the original algorithm. We validated the new algorithm using ground observation data and found that the aerosol parameters detectable by satellite sensors were retrieved more accurately than an a priori model forecast by adding satellite information. Further, the satellite retrieval accuracy was improved by introducing the model forecast instead of the constant a priori estimates. By using the assimilated forecast for an a priori estimate, information from previous observations can be propagated to future retrievals, leading to better retrieval accuracy. Observational information from the satellite and aerosol transport by the model are incorporated cyclically to effectively estimate the optimum field of aerosol.

In many strongly correlated systems the coupling of electronic and lattice degrees of freedom leads to ambiguity over the mechanism driving electronic phase transitions. Here the authors show that inter-layer effects play an important role in the charge ordering transition of 1T-TaS2.

Characteristics of the early current quench (CQ) time in mitigated disruptions are studied for a full-current (5.5 MA) scenario in the JT-60SA superconducting tokamak. Self-consistent evolution of the plasma temperature and current density profiles during the early CQ phase before the plasma moves vertically is simulated using the axisymmetric disruption code INDEX for given impurity source profiles. It is shown that the hollow (flat) impurity density profiles peaks (flattens) the current density, and it causes a temporal change in the internal inductance in this phase. However the resultant CQ time is found to be insensitive to the impurity source profile for the same assimilated quantity. The simulation results are interpreted by the L/R model including the temporal change in the internal inductance as well as the effect of a gap between the plasma and the conducting vessel structures and stabilizing plates. This results will improve the accuracy to estimate the amount of impurity assimilated into plasma from the observed CQ rate in the massive gas injection (MGI) experiment planned in JT-60SA. The accessible range in which the CQ time can be scanned as well as the electron densities to suppress runaway electrons is also shown for different injected amounts of neon, argon, and their deuterium mixture under the limitation of the MGI gas amount. Mitigated disruptions in JT-60SA typically lead to the CQ time shorter than the vessel wall time, which is expected to produce relevant contributions to disruption mitigation in ITER and future reactors.

Plasma with an internal transport barrier (ITB) will be developed in JT-60SA as an attractive operation appropriate for a steady-state fusion reactor. To achieve the ITB plasma while avoiding magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, it is advantageous to simultaneously control the safety factor ( q ) profile and the normalized beta ( $\beta_\mathrm{N}$ ). In this study, a control system for simultaneous control of the q profile and $\beta_\mathrm{N}$ is studied in simulations prior to the real experiment in JT-60SA. The bootstrap current dominates the total current in the ITB region, which results in a coupling between the pressure profile and the q profile. Thus, it is crucial to control the q profile and $\beta_\mathrm{N}$ according to the strength of the ITB. A two-stage neural network (NN)-based control system was developed to address this problem. The first stage estimates the transport properties (i.e. ITB strength) of the plasma from measurements. The second stage consists of several NNs for control of the q profile and $\beta_\mathrm{N}$ . According to the ITB strength estimated by the NN in the first stage, the appropriate NN for control is selected from those in the second stage. Each NN in the second stage is trained to control plasmas with different ITB strengths through reinforcement learning employing RAPTOR, an integrated transport code. To validate this system, it is tested in a simulation employing another integrated transport code, TOPICS, to mimic the plasma control in JT-60SA plasmas with various ITB strengths. Stable control of the q profile and $\beta_\mathrm{N}$ is achieved in ITB plasmas simulated by both the RAPTOR and TOPICS codes.

A transient TRansport Analysis method for Modulation (t-TRAM) has been developed. This method consists of two methods. One is an instantaneous modulation analysis method using the Hilbert transform (HT) with the analytical mode decomposition (AMD). In the modulation experiments, plasma transport can be changed periodically by modulated external input. Profiles of the modulation amplitude and phase change in time due to the change in the plasma transport. The HT with AMD method can evaluate an instantaneous analytic signal in the presence of changes in the modulation amplitude and phase in time. The other is a transport analysis method to evaluate the diffusion coefficient and the convection velocity from the analytic signal. The t-TRAM has enabled us to evaluate a momentum diffusion coefficient and momentum convection velocity in the presence of a momentum source. The t-TRAM is applied to momentum modulation experiments in JT-60U. The evaluation reveals that a normalized momentum flux has a linear dependence on a normalized momentum gradient during a half cycle of the modulation.

In this study, hydrogen electron plasma is irradiated on an aluminum plate, and negative hydrogen ions are produced on the plate surface. Hydrogen ionic plasma is maintained near the surface, where a deflection magnetic field is applied using a pair of magnets in the vicinity of the surface. When no magnetic field is applied, ionic plasma is not formed. The interface position between the ionic and the electron plasma depends on the quantity of negative ions produced and the deflection magnetic flux density. The deflection magnetic field that controls the electron flux toward the surface, while maintaining quasi-neutrality, is indispensable for the formation of ionic plasma.

The plasma startup with ITER-relevant sub-mPa neutral pressures in the JT-60SA superconducting tokamak is studied using a zero-dimensional (0D) power balance model for the plasma burn-through phase. In the ohmic startup scenario assumed here, the lower limit of the operational neutral pressure is determined by the condition for the Townsend avalanche at a high $E/p$ limit, whereas the upper limit depends on the available ohmic heating power for the burn-through with the base power supply (PS) of the superconducting coils, corresponding to 0.2–0.3 V m ^−1 . The operational conditions that lead to RE generation are evaluated to mitigate the risk of RE discharges. The simulation shows that startup REs are generated during the temperature rise immediately after the burn-through under relatively low-density conditions, and then the RE current value is gradually increased in balance with the RE loss processes on the timescale of I _p ramp-up. Therefore, it is expected that REs can be avoided or mitigated if the electron density during the early build-up phase is tuned by a combination of prefill gas and additional fuelling. However, a startup with an excessive prefill gas will lose the margin of the density control, and a full RE discharge can be triggered when the plasma burn-through fails owing to a high concentration of impurities such as oxygen, if the operational point is marginal to the burn-through limit. The present modelling work implies that preparing the operation with sufficient margins against the failure of impurity burn-through is important for mitigating the risk of unintended plasma termination. Although the carbon wall environment may have a lower risk of RE generation, to alleviate the operational uncertainties of the new device, strategies for expanding the operational window are also discussed in support of JT-60SA initial operation.

Turbulent transport is undoubtedly important in magnetic confinement plasmas. It has been reported that a lot of transport dynamics are not satisfying the local diffusive models. Here, we report the quantitative measurement of electron heat flux associated with ballistic propagating long-range transport events, which is considered to be a component of avalanches. In addition, we show the first observations of the substantial impact of avalanche-driven transport on profile resilience (or profile stiffness) observed in JT-60U. We found that, in the channel of the electron heat flux, the ratio between the increment of the avalanche-driven component to that of the total plasma heating becomes dominant (∼80%) in the case of the high-heating limit. This suggests a possible role for avalanche-driven transport to induce profile resilience, which has been evidenced by flux-driven simulations.

The crystallization behaviors of safflower and olive oils were investigated according to changes in volume and transmitted light intensity during isothermal storage at low temperature. The changes between the oils were significantly different even though their fatty acid compositions were similar, with oleic acid accounting for more than 75% (w/w) of the total oil. It was expected that minor components with high melting points would affect the crystallization behaviors of these oils. The crystallization processes of the oils were then analyzed using a kinetic model in which the oil crystallizes through two different processes. It is suggested that although the crystallization behaviors were apparently different, the crystallization mechanisms of these oils are essentially the same.

TLC autographic assays revealed in the hexane extract of Iryanthera juruensis (Myristicaceae) the presence of two compounds, with antioxidant properties towards β-carotene. They were isolated and identified as 3-methyl-sargachromenol (1) and sargachromenol (2). Further investigation of the hexane extract led to isolations of 3-methyl-sargaquinoic acid (3) and sargaquinoic acid (4). The electrochemical behaviour of these compounds was studied in CH 2 Cl 2 /Bu 4 NBF 4 at glassy carbon electrode. The phenolic group in both tocotrienols 1 and 2 are oxidized at +0.23V and +0.32V and their oxidation potentials are correlated with the observed antioxidant activities and oxidation mechanism of α-tocopherol. The reductive voltametric behaviour of quinone function in both plastoquinones 3 and 4 is discussed.

Chirality affects many properties of materials, but how it affects superconductivity remains unclear. Here, Qinet al. report nonreciprocal supercurrent flows in individual nanotubes of WS2via ionic gating, evidencing chiral superconducting transport.

In this study, a hydrogen ionic plasma with relatively low residual fractional electron concentration (ne/n+ ∼ 10−2) is generated using an aluminum plasma grid for the production of negative hydrogen ions and a control grid for negative ion extraction and electron removal. The ionic plasma is composed of negative and positive ions, containing molecular ions. Negative ions are in part produced using positive ions with several electron volts. A positive ion beam with 50 eV or more contributes to increase the density of the ionic plasma. The positive ion beam energy and the control grid bias voltage are tuned in such a way that a high-density ionic plasma is maintained.

Electron-phonon-driven charge-density waves can in some circumstances allow electronic correlations to become predominant, driving a system into a Mott insulating state. New insight into both the Mott state and preceding charge-density wave may result from observations of the coupled dynamics of their underlying degrees of freedom. Here, tunneling injection of single electrons into the upper Hubbard band of the Mott charge-density-wave material 1T-TaS_{2} reveals extraordinarily narrow electronic excitations which couple to amplitude mode phonons associated with the charge-density wave’s periodic lattice distortion. This gives a vivid microscopic view of the interplay between excitations of the Mott state and the lattice dynamics of its charge-density wave precursor.

In general, it was assumed that the chromosome aberration induced by ionizing radiation is proportional to the chromosome size. From this viewpoint, the higher chromosome size, the more resistant to radiation. However, different opinions, in which chromosomes are particularly sensitive or resistant to radiation, are also still followed until now. Here in this research, we compared the chromosome sensitivity between chromosomes number 1, 2, and 4 using the FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) technique. From this research, we expect that the information obtained could show clearly whether a longer chromosome is more frequently involved in translocations and also more resistant to radiation than a shorter one. The type of chromosome aberration considered was limited only to translocation and we used one sample donor in order to avoid donor variability. The whole blood from a healthy female was irradiated with γ-rays with doses of 1, 3 and 5 Gy, respectively. Isolated lymphocytes from the whole blood were then cultured for 48 hours. After the culture process was completed, preparations of harvest and metaphase chromosomes were carried out. Chromosomes 1, 2, and 4 were stained with different fluorochromes. The translocation of each chromosome at each dose point was subsequently evaluated from 50 images obtained from an automated metaphase finder and capturing system. An additional analysis was performed to identify which chromosome arm was more frequently involved in translocation. Further analyses were also conducted with the aim of determining which chromosome band had a higher frequency of radiation-induced breakage. The experimental results showed that chromosome number 4 was more frequently involved in translocations compared to chromosomes 1 and 2 at 5 Gy. In contrast, at doses of 1 and 3 Gy translocations involving chromosomes number 1 and 2 were more numerous compared to the ones involving chromosome 4. However, if the number of translocation was accumulated for all the doses applied, the chromosome number 4 was the chromosome most frequently involved in translocations. Breakpoint analysis revealed that in chromosome 1, chromosome 2, and chromosome 4, the highest chromosome bands as break position were in band q32, p13, and q21, respectively. It can be concluded that chromosome 4 is more sensitive to radiation in all doses point, despite having less DNA content than chromosomes 1 and 2. Thus, it was showed that our research cannot support the general assumption about chromosome aberration induced by radiation being proportional to DNA content.

A quantum spin liquid (QSL) is an exotic state of matter characterized by quantum entanglement and the absence of any broken symmetry. A longstanding open problem, which is key for fundamental understanding the mysterious QSL states, is how the quantum fluctuations respond to randomness due to quenched disorder. Transition metal dichalcogenide 1T−TaS_{2} is a candidate material that hosts a QSL ground state with spin-1/2 on the two-dimensional perfect triangular lattice. Here, we performed systematic studies of low-temperature heat capacity and thermal conductivity on pure, Se-substituted, and electron-irradiated crystals of 1T−TaS_{2}, where the substitution of S by Se induces weak disorder and electron irradiation induces strong quenched disorder. In pure 1T−TaS_{2}, the linear temperature term of the heat capacity γT and the finite residual linear term of the thermal conductivity in the zero-temperature limit κ_{0}/T≡κ/T(T→0) are clearly resolved, consistent with the presence of gapless spinons with a Fermi surface. Moreover, while the strong magnetic field slightly enhances κ_{0}/T, it strongly suppresses γ. These unusual contrasting responses to magnetic field imply the coexistence of two types of gapless excitations with itinerant and localized characters. Introduction of additional weak random exchange disorder in 1T−Ta(S_{1−x}Se_{x})_{2} leads to vanishing of κ_{0}/T, indicating that the itinerant gapless excitations are sensitive to the disorder. On the other hand, in both pure and Se-substituted systems, the magnetic contribution of the heat capacity obeys a universal scaling relation, which is consistent with a theory that assumes the presence of localized orphan spins forming random singlets. These results appear to capture an essential feature of the QSL state of 1T−TaS_{2}; localized orphan spins induced by disorder form random valence bonds and are surrounded by a QSL phase with spinon Fermi surface. Electron irradiation in pure 1T−TaS_{2} largely enhances γ and changes the scaling function dramatically, suggesting a possible new state of spin liquid.

Neutron diffraction experiments have been performed on single crystalline samples of CePtSi3. We found that the incommensurate magnetic propagation vector τ1 = (±0.283, 0, 0) in the phase I (2.2 ∼ 4.8 K) switches to the commensurate vectors τ2 = (±0.25, 0, 0) and τ3 = (±0.25, 0, ±1) in the phase III (∼ 2.8 K) at zero field. Although the magnetic structure of CePtSi3 in the phase I is a spin density wave similar to those in CeRhSi3, CeIrSi3, and CePdSi3, the magnetic structure in the phase III is commensurate unlike other CeTSi3 (T = Rh, Ir, Pd) compounds.

There is great uncertainty regarding the role of mineral dust aerosols in Earth's climate system. One reason for this uncertainty is that the optical properties of mineral dust, such as its single scattering albedo (the ratio of scattering to total extinction), are poorly constrained because ground observations are limited to a few locations and satellite standard products are not available due to the excessively bright surface of the desert in the visible wavelength, which makes robust retrievals difficult. Here, we develop a method to estimate the spatial distributions of the aerosol single scattering albedo (ω0) and optical depth (τa), with daily 1°×1° spatial resolution using data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) as well as model simulations of radiative transfer. This approach is based on the "critical surface reflectance" method developed in the literature, which estimates ω0 from the top of the atmospheric radiance. We estimate the uncertainties in ω0 over the Sahara (Asia) to be approximately 0.020 and 0.010 (0.023 and 0.017) for bands 9 and 1, respectively, while the uncertainty in τa is approximately 0.235 and 0.228 (0.464 and 0.370) for bands 9 and 1, respectively. The 5–95% range of the spatial distribution of ω0 over the Sahara (Asia) is approximately 0.90–0.94 and 0.96–0.99 (0.87–0.94 and 0.89–0.97) for bands 9 and 1, respectively, and that of τa over the Sahara (Asia) is approximately 0.8–1.4 and 0.8–1.7 (0.7–2.0 and 0.7–1.9) for bands 9 and 1, respectively. The results for the Sahara indicate a good correlation between ω0 and the surface reflectance, and between ω0 and τa. However, the relationships between ω0, τa, and surface reflectance are less clear in Asia than in the Sahara, and the ω0 values are smaller than those in the Sahara. The regions with small ω0 values are consistent with the regions where coal-burning smoke and carbonaceous aerosols are reported to be transported in previous studies. Because the coal-burning and carbonaceous aerosols are known to be more absorptive and have smaller ω0 values than dust aerosols, our results indicate that the dust aerosols in Asia are contaminated by these anthropogenic aerosols. The spatial distribution of dust optical properties obtained in our work could be useful in understanding the role of dust aerosols in Earth's climate system, most likely through future collaboration with regional and global modelling studies.

Aurantiochytrium sp has been recognized as one of the most suitable sources of high valuable fatty acids (FA) including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), docosapentaenoic acid, arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and saturated FA; however it’s necessary to improve total biomass production and high value FA specially DHA. The aim of this research is to improve the production of biomass and DHA on the novel Aurantiochytrium sp NYH-2 strain via an optimization of culture time (2, 3 and 5 days) and removal of culture (20, 50 and 80% v/v) using a 23 experimental design. It was found that in order to improve biomass production a large amount of culture media must be replaced (>90%), however after the third cycle biomass production was reduced from 10 g/L to 9 g/L; similarly under the same conditions lipids and DHA production increased from 15% to 20% (w/w) and from 3 to 5% (w/w) respectively in the first 3 cycles and then reduced in cycle 5. Finally results suggest that in a semi-continuous process the algae is only functional 3 cycles (9 to 12 days) and in order to improve total biomass lipids and DHA production, a volume of culture media between 80-92% must be removed every 3-4 days.

Seamless positioning techniques in indoor and outdoor environments are necessary for obtaining sensor locations. However, no definitive indoor-outdoor navigation system simultaneously provides high accuracy, high availability and low installation cost. Furthermore, crowded indoor-outdoor navigation systems consisting of multiple techniques will destructively interfere with each other, but an exclusive navigation environment will have difficulty providing stable location services for users. This anticipated issue needs to be investigated with experimental data and simulation results. However, experiments that are deliberately overcrowded with disparate location systems are rare. Therefore, the initial focus in our research was the construction of a test environment for indoor-outdoor seamless navigation experiments. Based on "Standards and Recommended Practices" (SARPs), we focused on accuracy, availability, continuity and integrity to verify the effects of seamless navigation under a combination of as many disparate systems and sensors as possible. We then conducted data acquisition and data analysis in seamless navigation through four integrated experiments. Based on the results of our experiments, we summarize some observations about seamless navigation using multiple navigation systems, and offer examples of the representative issues in our research. We also suggest some directions in indoor-outdoor navigation environment construction for seamless positioning using disparate systems and sensors.

This paper describes a proposal for a compact x-ray source based on parametric x-ray radiation (PXR). The PXR, which is produced when a single crystal is bombarded with relativistic electrons, has good monochromaticity and spatial coherence, and is expected to be well suited for imaging of low-Z materials and medical application. The proposed system employs a pair of copper accelerating structures which are operated at a cryogenic temperature of 20 K and arranged to form a resonant ring configuration. The electron beam is once accelerated up to 75 MeV in one of the structures, being decelerated down to lower than 7 MeV in the other structure after generating PXR at a single crystal, and then dumped. The expected x-ray yield is 10^{9} photons/s at a center energy of 15 keV or higher.

Relatively long-period (4 years) data on different propagation paths by means of Japanese-Pacific VLF/LF network observation, are used to obtain further statistical significance on the correlation of ionospheric perturbations as revealed by VLF/LF propagation anomalies with earthquakes. Earthquakes with magnitude greater than 6.0, taken place only within the fifth Fresnel zone of each great-circle path are selected for the correlation study. It is finally found based on the superimposed epoch analysis that the nighttime trend (average amplitude) exhibits a significant decrease exceeding 2σ (σ: standard deviation) several days before the earthquake and the nighttime fluctuation exceeds the corresponding 2σ again several days before the earthquake when the earthquake depth is smaller than 30 km (shallow earthquakes). However, when we treat all earthquakes including deep earthquakes, the trend shows a significant decrease (just approaching 2σ line), and the nighttime fluctuation shows a less significant broad enhancement before the EQ.

In order to investigate any precursory effect of ionospheric perturbations associated with the large 2007 Niigata Chuetsu-oki earthquake (16 July 2007) (magnitude, 6.8), we have made full use of our VLF/LF network observation in Japan by examing the four propagation paths; JJI transmitter (Kyusyu, Ebino)-MSR (Moshiri, Hokkaido), JJY transmitter (Fukushima)-MSR, JJY-KOC (Kochi) and JJI-CBA (Tateyama, Chiba). For the former two paths of JJI-MSR and JJY-MSR, we have observed significant propagation anomalies (both a decrease in nighttime average amplitude and an enhancement in nighttime amplitude fluctuation both satisfying the 2σ (σ: standard deviation) criteria) on 8–9 July, about one week before the earthquake. However, the lack of observation for the path from JJY-KOC, has enabled us to make no conclusion for this path. On the other hand, the path from JJI-CBA does not seem to be perturbed. Although this earthquake is very big and shallow, the amount of VLF anomaly for this earthquake is not so pronounced as expected, probably because the epicenter is not unfortunately located within the sensitive areas of any propagation paths. These observational facts suggest that the lower ionosphere above the epicenter is perturbed definitely prior to the earthquake, with radius of a few hundred kilometers.

The signals from VLF/LF transmitters are known to propagate in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide, so that the subionospheric propagation characteristics are very sensitive to the condition of the lower ionosphere. We know that there appear the terminator times just around the sunrise and sunset in the diurnal variation of subionospheric VLF/LF signal (amplitude and phase). These terminator times are found to shift significantly just around an earthquake, which enables us to infer the change in the ionosphere during the earthquake. In this paper we try to understand the physical mechanism on the generation of those terminator times for relatively short propagation path (less than 2000 km) by means of wave-hop method. It is found that the lowering of the ionosphere boundary during an earthquake decreases the path length of the sky wave and this alters the interference condition of this wave with the ground wave, which lead to an appearance of terminator times as the destructive interference between the ground and sky waves. Finally, we suggest a possible use of terminator time shifts to investigate the lower ionospheric plasma changes during the earthquakes.

There have been recently reported a lot of electromagnetic phenomena associated with earthquakes (EQs). Among these, the ground-based reception of subionospheric waves from VLF/LF transmitters, is recognized as a promising tool to investigate the ionospheric perturbations associated with EQs. This paper deals with the corresponding whistler-mode signals in the upper ionosphere from those VLF/LF transmitters, which is the counterpart of subionospheric signals. The whistler-mode VLF/LF transmitter signals are detected on board the French satellite, DEMETER launched on 29 June 2004. We have chosen several large Japanese EQs including the Miyagi-oki EQ (16 August 2005; M=7.2, depth=36 km), and the target transmitter is a Japanese LF transmitter (JJY) whose transmitter frequency is 40 kHz. Due to large longitudinal separation of each satellite orbit (2500 km), we have to adopt a statistical analysis over a rather long period (such as 3 weeks or one month) to have reliable data set. By analyzing the spatial distribution of JJY signal intensity (in the form of signal to noise ratio SNR) during a period of 4 months including the Miyagi-oki EQ, we have found significant changes in the intensity; generally the SNR is significantly depleted before the EQ, which is considered to be a precursory ionospheric signature of the EQ. This abnormal effect is reasonably explained in terms of either (1) enhanced absorption of whistler-mode LF signals in the lower ionosphere due to the lowering of the lower ionosphere, or (2) nonlinear wave-wave scattering. Finally, this analysis suggests an important role of satellite observation in the study of lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere coupling.

We present the detailed description of a successful design and cold testing of the dielectric assist accelerating (DAA) structure. The DAA structure consists of ultralow-loss dielectric cylinders and disks with irises which are periodically arranged in a metallic enclosure. The advantage of the DAA structure is that it has an extremely high quality factor and a very high shunt impedance at room temperature since the electromagnetic field distribution of accelerating mode can be controlled by dielectric parts so that the wall loss on the metallic surface is greatly reduced. A prototype of the five-cell DAA structure was designed and built at C-band (5.712 GHz), and cold tested. Three types of dielectric cell structure, “regular,” “end,” and “hybrid” dielectric cells, are fabricated by sintering high-purity magnesia. The prototype was assembled by stacking these cells in the hollow copper cylinder, whose two ends are closed by copper plates. The resonant frequency of the prototype was tuned to the desired frequency by machining only end copper plates. The unloaded quality factor of the accelerating mode was measured at 119,314 and the shunt impedance per unit length of the prototype was estimated from the experimental results of the bead pull measurement as Z_{sh}=617 MΩ/m, which were within 2 percent of the design values. The field distribution of accelerating mode was also measured by the bead pull method, and its results agreed well with simulation results.

A new muon beam line, the muon science innovative channel, was set up at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics, Osaka University, in Osaka, Japan, using the 392 MeV proton beam impinging on a target. The production of an intense muon beam relies on the efficient capture of pions, which subsequently decay to muons, using a novel superconducting solenoid magnet system. After the pion-capture solenoid, the first 36° of the curved muon transport line was commissioned and the muon flux was measured. In order to detect muons, a target of either copper or magnesium was placed to stop muons at the end of the muon beam line. Two stations of plastic scintillators located upstream and downstream from the muon target were used to reconstruct the decay spectrum of muons. In a complementary method to detect negatively charged muons, the x-ray spectrum yielded by muonic atoms in the target was measured in a germanium detector. Measurements, at a proton beam current of 6 pA, yielded (10.4±2.7)×10^{5} muons per watt of proton beam power (μ^{+} and μ^{-}), far in excess of other facilities. At full beam power (400 W), this implies a rate of muons of (4.2±1.1)×10^{8} muons s^{−1}, among the highest in the world. The number of μ^{-} measured was about a factor of 10 lower, again by far the most efficient muon beam produced. The setup is a prototype for future experiments requiring a high-intensity muon beam, such as a muon collider or neutrino factory, or the search for rare muon decays which would be a signature for phenomena beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. Such a muon beam can also be used in other branches of physics, nuclear and condensed matter, as well as other areas of scientific research.

We have developed an interdigital H-mode (IH) drift-tube linac (DTL) design with an alternative phase focusing (APF) scheme for a muon linac, in order to measure the anomalous magnetic moment and electric dipole moment (EDM) of muons at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). The IH-DTL accelerates muons from β=v/c=0.08 to 0.28 at an operational frequency of 324 MHz. The output beam emittances are calculated as 0.315π and 0.195π mm mrad in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively, which satisfies the experimental requirement.

A higher-order TM_{02n} mode accelerating structure is proposed based on a novel concept of dielectric loaded rf cavities. This accelerating structure consists of ultralow-loss dielectric cylinders and disks with irises which are periodically arranged in a metallic enclosure. Unlike conventional dielectric loaded accelerating structures, most of the rf power is stored in the vacuum space near the beam axis, leading to a significant reduction of the wall loss, much lower than that of conventional normal-conducting linac structures. This allows us to realize an extremely high quality factor and a very high shunt impedance at room temperature. A simulation of a 5 cell prototype design with an existing alumina ceramic indicates an unloaded quality factor of the accelerating mode over 120 000 and a shunt impedance exceeding 650 MΩ/m at room temperature.

Plasma levels of endotoxin and various cytokines were assessed in 70 patients with gastrointestinal tract perforation. Sepsis developed in 29 of them, and eight of these (27.6%) had on admission endotoxin levels higher than 9.8 pg ml-1. The clinical outcome correlated with the level of tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα), rather than with the endotoxin level. The high interleukin 6 (IL-6) level was shown in septic patients and no correlation was observed between the IL-6 level and the clinical outcome. Plasma TNFα levels tended to change independently from endotoxin levels, suggesting that TNFα may have been locally produced in inflammatory lesions.

Circular dichroism is widely used for characterizing organic and biological materials, but measurements at a single-molecule level are challenging because differences in absorption for opposite helicities are small. Here, we show that extrinsic chirality can induce giant circular dichroism in individual carbon nanotubes, with the degree of polarization reaching 65%. The signal has a large dependence on the incidence angle, consistent with extrinsic-chirality-induced effects in which symmetry is broken by the optical wave vector. We propose that the field-induced charge distribution on the substrate results in an efficient polarization conversion, giving rise to the giant dichroism. Our results highlight the possibility of polarization manipulation at the nanoscale for applications in integrated photonics and novel metamaterial designs.