It has been proposed that there are cognitive biases in language learning that favour certain patterns over others. This study examines the effects of such bias factors on the learning of the phonology of proper nouns. I take up the phenomenon of compound voicing in Japanese surnames. The results of two judgment experiments show that, while Japanese speakers replicate various kinds of statistical regularities in existing names, they tend to extend only phonologically motivated patterns to novel names. This suggests that phonological naturalness plays a role even in the learning of a highly faithful category of words, namely proper nouns, and provides evidence for the relevance of learning biases in synchronic grammar.

The COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) project is a large international collaborative effort to analyze individual-level phenotype data from twins in multiple cohorts from different environments. The main objective is to study factors that modify genetic and environmental variation of height, body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and size at birth, and additionally to address other research questions such as long-term consequences of birth size. The project started in 2013 and is open to all twin projects in the world having height and weight measures on twins with information on zygosity. Thus far, 54 twin projects from 24 countries have provided individual-level data. The CODATwins database includes 489,981 twin individuals (228,635 complete twin pairs). Since many twin cohorts have collected longitudinal data, there is a total of 1,049,785 height and weight observations. For many cohorts, we also have information on birth weight and length, own smoking behavior and own or parental education. We found that the heritability estimates of height and BMI systematically changed from infancy to old age. Remarkably, only minor differences in the heritability estimates were found across cultural–geographic regions, measurement time and birth cohort for height and BMI. In addition to genetic epidemiological studies, we looked at associations of height and BMI with education, birth weight and smoking status. Within-family analyses examined differences within same-sex and opposite-sex dizygotic twins in birth size and later development. The CODATwins project demonstrates the feasibility and value of international collaboration to address gene-by-exposure interactions that require large sample sizes and address the effects of different exposures across time, geographical regions and socioeconomic status.

A new generation of high power laser facilities will provide laser pulses with extremely high powers of 10 petawatt (PW) and even 100 PW, capable of reaching intensities of $10^{23}~\text{W}/\text{cm}^{2}$ in the laser focus. These ultra-high intensities are nevertheless lower than the Schwinger intensity $I_{S}=2.3\times 10^{29}~\text{W}/\text{cm}^{2}$ at which the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED) predicts that a large part of the energy of the laser photons will be transformed to hard Gamma-ray photons and even to matter, via electron–positron pair production. To enable the investigation of this physics at the intensities achievable with the next generation of high power laser facilities, an approach involving the interaction of two colliding PW laser pulses is being adopted. Theoretical simulations predict strong QED effects with colliding laser pulses of ${\geqslant}10~\text{PW}$ focused to intensities ${\geqslant}10^{22}~\text{W}/\text{cm}^{2}$.

In this paper, we discuss stress-adapted wild Vigna plants and several important Vigna crops. Seeds, young shoots and/or tubers of many wild Vigna species are edible and are eaten by people in some locations where they grow. We propose the concept of ‘neo-domestication’ of stress-adapted wild edible Vigna species. As the causative change of the mutation resulting in a domestication gene is usually ‘loss-of-function’ type, ‘neo-domestication’ could be achieved by conventional mutation breeding together with screening by TILLING. The ‘neo-crops’ could play an important role in areas unsuitable for growing other crops to increase world food production. We also propose that wild Vigna species can be ‘new model plant species’ for the genetic study of natural adaptation to stresses (e.g. salt, acid, alkali, drought, flood, pests and diseases). To facilitate this, the Vigna Genome Project has been initiated. In addition, sustainable cropping systems may be enhanced by analysis of the nitrogen-fixing systems of stress-adapted Vigna species. Stress-adapted symbiotic bacteria produce nodules on stress-adapted Vigna species. Therefore, analyses of the genetic diversity of symbiotic bacteria and the process of symbiosis under stress environments should be conducted.

Whether increased serotonin (5-HT) release in the forebrain attenuates or enhances anxiety has been controversial for over 25 yr. Although there is considerable indirect evidence, there is no direct evidence that indicates a relationship between acute 5-HT release and anxiety. In particular, there is no known method that can reversibly, selectively, and temporally control serotonergic activity. To address this issue, we generated transgenic animals to manipulate the firing rates of central 5-HT neurons by optogenetic methods. Activation of serotonergic neurons in the median raphe nucleus was correlated to enhanced anxiety-like behaviour in mice, whereas activation of serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus had no effect on anxiety-like behaviour. These results indicate that an acute increase in 5-HT release from the median raphe nucleus enhances anxiety.

It is reported that okadaic acid (OA)-sensitive phosphatase is related to mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/p90rsk activation in mammalian oocytes. OA is also involved in the positive feedback loop between M phase-promoting factor (MPF) and cdc25c in Xenopus oocytes during meiotic maturation. However, the effect of phosphatase inhibition by OA on MPF and MAPK activities at the MII/G1 in oocytes remains unknown. The aim of this study is to clarify the relationship between OA-sensitive phosphatase and mitosis MII/G1 transition in mouse oocytes. MII-arrested oocytes were, isolated from mice, inseminated and cultured in TYH medium (control group) or TYH medium supplemented with 2.5 μM of OA (OA group). Histone H1 kinase and myelin basic protein (MBP) kinase activities were measured as indicators of MPF and p42 MAPK activities after insemination. Phosphorylation of cdc25c after insemination was analized in OA and control group by western blotting. Seven hours after insemination a pronucleus (PN) was formed in 84.1% (69/85) of oocytes in the control group. However, no PN was formed in oocytes of the OA group (p < 0.001). Although MPF and MAPK activities in the control group significantly decreased at 3, 4, 5, and 7 h after insemination, these decreases were significantly inhibited by OA addition (p < 0.05). Furthermore, OA addition prevented cdc25c dephosphorylation 7 h after insemination. In conclusion, OA-sensitive phosphatase correlates with inactivation of MPF and MAPK, and with the dephosphorylation of cdc25c at the MII/G1 transition in mouse oocytes.

Micro-solid oxide fuel cells (Micro-SOFCs) with yttrium-doped barium zirconate (BZY) and strontium and cobalt-doped lanthanum scandate (LSScCo) electrolytes were fabricated for low-temperature operation at 300 °C. The micro-SOFC with a BZY electrolyte could operate at 300 °C with an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.08 V and a maximum power density of 2.8 mW/cm2. The micro-SOFC with a LSScCo electrolyte could operate at 370 °C; its OCV was about 0.8 V, and its maximum power density was 0.6 mW/cm2. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that the electrolyte resistance in both the micro-SOFCs was lower than 0.1 Ωcm2, and almost all of the resistance was due to anode and cathode reactions. Although the obtained maximum power density was not sufficient for practical applications, improvement of electrodes will make these micro-SOFCs promising candidates for power sources of mobile electronic devices.

The Rockwell indentation test was used to generate interface delamination in an EB-PVD thermal barrier coating (TBC) system that was thermally cycled between 300 °C and 1050 °C. Luminescence spectroscopy was applied to measure the thermally grown oxide (TGO) stresses in indentation-affected and perfectly bonded regions. Comparison between experimental stress mapping in bonded and delaminated regions by luminescence spectroscopy and finite element analysis was shown and the effect of delamination paths was presented. Zigzag delamination paths alternating between the top TBC-TGO interface and TGO-bond coat interface were shown to induce TGO stress releases and fluctuations in the delaminated region. Luminescence spectroscopy measurements successfully detect such behavior, making it possible to identify nondestructively the size of the delaminated region, the delamination crack front position, and the delamination paths in part.

Monoenegetic ion beam generation from circularly polarized laser-pulse interaction with a double-layer target is considered. The front layer consists of heavy-ion plasma, and the rear layer is a small thin coating of light-ion plasma. Particle-in-cell simulation shows that the multi-dimensional effects in the ion radiation pressure acceleration are avoided and a highly monoenergetic light-ion beam can be produced. Our simulations reveal that the charge-mass ratio of heavy ions in the front layer and the thicknesses of both layers can strongly affect the proton energy spectra.

Channeling by a train of laser pulses into homogeneous and inhomogeneous plasmas is studied using particle-in-cell simulation. When the pulse duration and the interval between the successive pulses are appropriate, the laser pulse train can channel into the plasma deeper than a single long-pulse laser of similar peak intensity and total energy. The increased penetration distance can be attributed to the repeated actions of the ponderomotive force, the continuous between-pulse channel lengthening by the inertially evacuating ions, and the suppression of laser-driven plasma instabilities by the intermittent laser-energy cut-offs.

Structure change during the reversion process in an Al−12at.%Li alloy above the metastable δ′ solvus was investigated using a time-resolved small-angle x-ray scattering technique with synchrotron radiation. Results showed that the reversion process started after a short incubation time and that the growth of the stable δ phase began before completion of the δ′ dissolution. The radius of gyration of the second phase particles showed little change in the initial stage of reversion, then increased with time, suggesting the presence of diffuse interfaces between the dissolving δ′ particles and the matrix. It is suggested that the undissolved δ′ particles serve as the nuclei of the more stable δ precipitates, which continue to grow with their radii of gyration showing a parabolic power law in the early stage of growth followed by the familiar coarsening kinetics.