Many sacoglossan sea slugs utilize chloroplasts ingested from food algae for photosynthesis (functional kleptoplasty), and the extent and duration of kleptoplast retention differs greatly among sacoglossan species. Although most recent studies focus on the genetic, microscopic, or physiological mechanisms responsible for this unique phenomenon, its effects on the life history traits of sacoglossans have not been fully explored. To study the effects of light conditions on survival and weight retention, adult individuals of two sacoglossan species, Elysia trisinuata and Plakobranchus ocellatus (‘black type'), were reared under light conditions (a 14-hour light: 10-hour dark photoperiod with an irradiance level of 28 µmol m−2s−1) or complete darkness for 21 days. There was no significant difference in the survival rate between the light and dark treatments for E. trisinuata, and its wet weight relative to the initial weight was smaller in the light than in the dark. However, both the survival and relative weights were greater in the light than dark for P. ocellatus. Based on the fluorescent yield measurement using pulse-amplitude-modulated fluorometry, the retention duration of functional chloroplasts was longer (>17 days) for P. ocellatus than E. trisinuata (<4 days). These results indicate that P. ocellatus benefits from photosynthesis for survival and growth, whereas E. trisinuata does not under starved conditions. This interspecific difference is likely related to the period of functional chloroplast retention.

The set of non-constant holomorphic mappings between two given compact Riemann surfaces of genus greater than 1 is always finite. This classical statement was made by de Franchis. Furthermore, bounds on the cardinality of the set depending only on the genera of the surfaces have been obtained by a number of mathematicians. The analysis is carried over in this paper to the case of Riemann surfaces of finite analytic type (i.e. compact Riemann surfaces minus a finite set of points) so that the finiteness result, together with a crude but explicit bound depending only on the topological data, may be extended for the number of holomorphic mappings between such surfaces.

A weight-balanced tree (WBT) is a binary search tree, whose balance is based on the sizes of the subtrees in each node. Although purely functional implementations on a variant WBT algorithm are widely used in functional programming languages, many existing implementations do not maintain balance after deletion in some cases. The difficulty lies in choosing a valid pair of rotation parameters: one for standard balance and the other for choosing single or double rotation. This paper identifies the exact valid range of the rotation parameters for insertion and deletion in the original WBT algorithm where one and only one integer solution exists. Soundness of the range is proved using a proof assistant Coq. Completeness is proved using effective algorithms generating counterexample trees. For two specific parameter pairs, we also proved in Coq that set operations also maintain balance. Since the difference between the original WBT and the variant WBT is small, it is easy to change the existing buggy implementations based on the variant WBT to the certified original WBT with a rational solution.

High-energy protons are generated by focusing an ultrashort pulsed high intensity laser at the Advanced Photon Research Center, JAERI-Kansai onto thin (thickness <10 μm) Tantalum targets. The laser intensities are about 4 × 1018 W/cm2. The prepulse level of the laser pulse is measured with combination of a PIN photo diode and a cross correlator and is less than 10−6. A quarter-wave plate is installed into the laser beam line to create circularly polarized pulses. Collimated high energy protons are observed with CH coated Tantalum targets irradiated with the circularly polarized laser pulses. The beam divergence of the generated proton beam is measured with a CR-39 track detector and is about 6 mrad.

A 5-year-old boy with focal cortical dysplasia was referred to our hospital because of epileptic seizures. He showed mild weakness of the left hand without sensory disturbance. Brain MRI revealed extensive cortical dysplasia with pachygyria and microgyria around the right central sulcus. On EEG examination, interictal spikes were noted over the right fronto/centro/parietal region. A 37-channel magnetometer revealed that the sources of the spikes were in a small, restricted region of the normal frontal lobe adjacent to the dysplastic brain. Somatosensory evoked magnetic fields indicated that the location of the current source of N20 was in the same area. Our patient shows a unique case of plasticity and reorganization of the somatosensory function due to cortical dysplasia.

An atomistic computer simulation of mode I crack extension in cubic silicon carbide has been performed using a realistic many–body interatomic potential computed by Tersoff. The crack front is parallel to the [110] direction and the crack plane lies in the (111) plane. The stable crack tip configurations were calculated and the effective stress intensity factor and the effective crack tip position were evaluated in the relaxed atomic configuration by the least-square method. The crack was stable over a wide range of the stress intensity factors from 0. 6KG to 3. 4KG, where KG is the Griffith critical stress intensity factor. At 3.5KG an interatomic bond near the tip across the (001) plane ruptured and the crack advanced. When the crack is stable, the effective K is larger than the given K by nearly 0. 2KG to 0.4KG. Crack tip process was also simulated over a range of temperatures. At 1000K. secondary cracks were nucleated and grew like voids around the main crack, and thus the main crack was blunted.