Native allies are critical to the success of immigrants’ social movements in East Asian countries because of their relatively small number. However, it remains unclear whether advocacy messages from natives or from immigrants are more effective in changing natives’ attitudes toward supporting immigrant-oriented policies. We hypothesize, from the perspective of social identity theory, that the persuasiveness of a message varies, depending on the identity of the group sending the message—that is, whether it is an in-group or an out-group. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a survey experiment using the case of granting local voting rights to immigrants in Japan. We found that support for granting local voting rights to immigrants does not decrease when the Japanese hear advocacy messages from the Japanese, however, it does decrease when they hear messages from Korean immigrants who stand to benefit from the granting of local suffrage. These results suggest that natives’ advocacy messages may increase support for immigrants.

We report fourteen and twenty-eight protocluster candidates at z = 5.7 and 6.6 over 14 and 19 deg2 areas, respectively, selected from 2,230 Lyα emitters (LAEs) photometrically identified with Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) deep images. Six out of the 42 protocluster candidates include at least 1 spectroscopically confirmed LAEs at redshifts up to z = 6.574. By the comparisons with the cosmological Lyα radiative transfer (RT) model reproducing LAEs with the reionization effects, we find that more than a half of these protocluster candidates might be progenitors of the present-day clusters with a mass of ≳ 1014M⊙. We also investigate the correlation between LAE overdensity and Lya rest-frame equivalent width (EW), because the cosmological Lyα RT model suggests that a slope of EW-overdensity relation is steepened towards the epoch of cosmic reionization (EoR), due to the existence of the ionized bubbles around galaxy overdensities easing the escape of Lyα emission from the partly neutral intergalactic medium. The available HSC data suggest that the slope of the EW-overdensity correlation does not evolve from the post-reionization epoch z = 5.7 to the EoR z = 6.6 beyond the moderately large statistical errors.

Amultidisciplinary collaborative study examining cognition in a large sample of twins is outlined. A common experimental protocol and design is used in The Netherlands, Australia and Japan to measure cognitive ability using traditional IQ measures (i.e., psychometric IQ), processing speed (e.g., reaction time [RT] and inspection time [IT]), and working memory (e.g., spatial span, delayed response [DR] performance). The main aim is to investigate the genetic covariation among these cognitive phenotypes in order to use the correlated biological markers in future linkage and association analyses to detect quantitativetrait loci (QTLs). We outline the study and methodology, and report results from our preliminary analyses that examines the heritability of processing speed and working memory indices, and their phenotypic correlation with IQ. Heritability of Full Scale IQ was 87% in the Netherlands, 83% in Australia, and 71% in Japan. Heritability estimates for processing speed and working memory indices ranged from 33–64%. Associations of IQ with RT and IT (−0.28 to −0.36) replicated previous findings with those of higher cognitive ability showing faster speed of processing. Similarly, significant correlations were indicated between IQ and the spatial span working memory task (storage [0.31], executive processing [0.37]) and the DR working memory task (0.25), with those of higher cognitive ability showing better memory performance. These analyses establish the heritability of the processing speed and working memory measures to be used in our collaborative twin study of cognition, and support the findings that individual differences in processing speed and working memory may underlie individual differences in psychometric IQ.

Copy number variations (CNVs) are common structural variations in the human genome that strongly affect genomic diversity and can play a role in the development of several diseases, including neurodevelopmental disorders. Recent reports indicate that monozygotic twins can show differential CNV profiles. We searched CNVs in monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia to identify susceptible loci for schizophrenia. Three pairs of monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia were subjected to analysis. Genomic DNA samples were extracted from peripheral blood lymphocytes. We adopted the Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) Array 6.0 to detect copy number discordance using Partek Genomics Suite 6.5 beta. In three twin pairs, however, validations by quantitative PCR and DNA sequencing revealed that none of the regions had any discordance between the three twin pairs. Our results support the hypothesis that epigenetic changes or fluctuation in developmental process triggered by environmental factors mainly contribute to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia caused by strong genetics factors including copy number alteration or gene mutation may be a small subset of the clinical population.

Molecular electronics devices continue to be pursued as a technology that offers the prospect of scaling device dimensions down to a few nanometers and also promote a practical introduction for high-density memory applications. One of several molecular devices is a cross-bar memory device fabricated by nanoimprint lithography process, which has achieved the production of 30-nm half-pitch patterning. However, today's production procedures such as nanoimprint lithography, optical lithography, and electron-beam lithography, do not allow for the resolution to achieve sub-10-nm line-width structures. Recently we have proposed a double nano-“baumkuchen” (DNB) structure, composed of two thin slices of alternating metal/insulator nano-“baumkuchen” as a lithography-free nano-structure fabrication technology. The DNB has potential application in a high-density memory device, the cross point of which can scale down to ultimately a few nanometers feature sizes because the pattering resolution is determined by the metal-deposition rate, ranging from 0.01 nm/s to the order of 0.1 nm/s. One element of the DNB structure is called a quantum cross (QC) device that consists of two metal nano-ribbons having edge-to-edge configuration. In the area of edge-to-edge QC devices there has been no experimental reports, meanwhile face-to-face devices such as cross-bar devices and spin tunneling devices, have been widely studied both theoretically and experimentally. In our present work, as the first experimental attempt toward the fabrication of QC devices, we have studied gold thin films evaporated on polyethylene naphtalate (PEN) organic films, which can be a candidate of metal/insulator part used for QC devices, by using the atomic force microscope (AFM). Au thin films were thermally evaporated on PEN films in the high vacuum chamber including the film-rolled-up system. The Au thickness was measured by a mechanical method using the stylus surface profiler and an optical method using the diode pumped solid state (DPSS) green laser. Surface morphologies of Au thin films on PEN films were analyzed by the AFM at room temperature. As the thickness of Au films evaporated on PEN films decreases from 20 nm to 5 nm, the AFM surface roughness is reduced from 4.8 nm down to 1.5 nm in the scanning area of 500~500 nm2. The Au grain size is 28.0-4.6 nm for 5-nm-thick Au films and 45.8-5.8 nm for 10-nm-thick Au films, respectively. As a result of the scaling investigation of the surface roughness, the surface roughness of 5-nm-thick Au films is 0.22 nm, corresponding to one atomic size, in the scanning scale of 5 nm. These experimental results indicate that Au thin films on PEN films are suitable as a candidate of metal/insulator(organic films) hybrid materials used for QC devices, and may open up a noble research field to clarify the electric characterization of QC devices using a few atoms or molecules leading to high-density memories.

The single-electron device (SED), which has quantum dot(s), or island(s) in its core, enables the control of electron motion on the level of an elementary charge. The single-electron pump and turnstile are members of the SED family and enable single-electron transfer synchronized with the gate clock. They have the potential for extremely low error rates of electron transfer and are thus expected to be building-block devices for future information processing and electrical metrology. We have been pursuing the fabrication of Si-based SEDs using CMOS technology with the help of electron-beam lithography and have recently demonstrated a Si single-electron pump and turnstile. They are composed of one Si quantum dot and two tiny MOS gates and have dramatically increased the operation temperatures, which opens up the possibility of the practical use of the pump and turnstile.

Another path to realizing single-electron transfer, which we will discuss here, might be to use a localized state in the Si bandgap instead of quantum dots. The localized states could in principle be donor/acceptor levels or any other states created by crystalline imperfections. They are free from the problem of the critical size control of the quantum dots, which might lead to a new era of single-electronics in combination with the rapidly developing research field of “dopant engineering”.

We discuss the radiocarbon chronology of Late Pleistocene archaeology in the Japanese islands. In sum, 429 samples from more than 100 archaeological sites were compiled and then divided into three periods and four stages. The Early Upper Paleolithic, characterized by Trapezoid industries, lasted during approximately 34-26 ka. The Late Upper Paleolithic period includes both the backed-blade stage and point-tool stage, the latter appearing chronologically later than the former. This stage covers ~25–15 ka. The Final Upper Paleolithic and Incipient Jomon are distinguished by the appearance of microblade industries and the emergence of pottery at the end of this period. This period covers approximately 14-12 ka. The microblade tradition, in the broadest sense, is strongly connected to the background of peopling of the New World. New data on the transitional stage from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic are also discussed in regards to three archaeological sites. Issues on the application of the 14C calibration to the whole Japanese Upper Paleolithic are critically evaluated.

Whole-genome scans have identified Dmo1 as a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) for obesity and dyslipidaemia in the Otsuka Long Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rat. We have produced congenic rats for the Dmo1 locus, using marker-assisted speed congenic protocols, enforced by selective removal of other QTL regions (QTL-marker-assisted counterselection), to efficiently transfer chromosomal segments from non-diabetic Fischer 344 (F344) rats into the OLETF background. In the third generation of congenic animals, we observed a substantial therapeutic effect of the Dmo1 locus on lipid metabolism, obesity control and plasma glucose homeostasis. We conclude that single-allele correction of an impaired genetic pathway can generate a substantial therapeutic effect, despite the complex polygenic nature of type II diabetic syndromes.

We have developed two types of devices for silicon-single-electronics; a single-electron transistor (SET) and a single-electron charge coupled device (CCD). Both devices were fabricated on SOI (silicon on insulator) wafers. For the SET fabrication, we used a novel method called pattern-dependent oxidation (PADOX), which exploits special phenomena that occur during thermal oxidation of a small silicon structure. The Si structures are converted into small Si SETs by consequence of stress-induced bandgap narrowing and quantum size effects. Since the size of the resultant Si island is about 10 nm, the SETs operate at relatively high temperatures. We have already developed several kinds of application of Si SETs by utilizing the special features of SETs. In addition, we have developed a single-electron CCD that enables us to manipulate a single electron without tunnel capacitors. The device utilizes small Si-wire MOSFETs connected in series, and an elementary charge can be transferred like in a CCD.

Recently the ℒ(q,λ) spaces have been investigated by many authors and the theory of these spaces has proved to be particularly important for research in partial differential equations (see for example [15], [16] and [18]).

The equations of elliptic type in these spaces were first studied by C. B. Morrey [8], [9], who applied his well-known imbedding theorems, and afterwards by S. Campanato [3], [4] with the aid of isomorphism theorems and the so-called fundamental inequalities due to him.

On the other hand, G. Stampacchia introduced the ℒ(q,λ) spaces of strong type [17], the structures of which are more general and complicated than those of ℒ(q,λ) Spaces in the usual sense, and greater part of them were characterized by him, L. C. Piccinini, Y. Furusho, the author and others (see [5], [11]-[14], [16] and [17]).