First confirmed report of Nassarius sinarum (Mollusca, Gastropoda) in Korea

The marine gastropod mollusc Nassarius sinarum has attracted attention due to its status as a potential invasive species and the ecological impact it may have on local environments and the fishing industry. It was observed exclusively within China initially, but its distribution now seems to have expanded into Japan and Korea. Accurate identification of N. sinarum, particularly in its juvenile stage, is vital for understanding its ecological influences and distribution patterns.This study represents the first comprehensive analysis of N. sinarum samples from Korea. It includes morphological examination, scanning electron microscopy images and molecular sequencing. Two live specimens were collected from the Yeongsan River estuary in Korea and their morphological features were analysed and compared to those of samples from China and Japan. The samples’ species were confirmed by molecular identification, based on cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and histone H3 (H3) genetic markers.It was observed that juvenile N. sinarum shells lack key species-characteristic morphological traits, such as a thick outer lip and diminishing axial ribs. However, COI marker-based molecular identification affirmed that these Korean specimens were N. sinarum. The H3 region was registered with the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) for the first time. Phylogenetic analysis of the H3 region did not resolve species distinctions within the Nassarius, suggesting that the H3 marker is not suitable for species identification within this genus. In this context, multiple genetic markers, when used appropriately, can also be applied to genus-level searches, enhancing species identification accuracy and reducing misidentification.The sequences provided in this study can serve as a valuable reference for future DNA barcoding research. Additional samples and surveys should be conducted through collaborative efforts amongst national and institutional organisations to further clarify the ecological status of N. sinarum and to investigate its distribution and potential impact around East Asia. Finally, a new Korean name, (No-lan-jul-job-ssal-mu-nui-go-dung; 노란줄좁쌀무늬고둥) has been proposed for N. sinarum

A test of the submentalizing hypothesis : apes' performance in a false belief task inanimate control

Financial support came from Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (K-CONNEX to FK), Japan Society for Promotion of Science (KAKENHI 26885040, 16K21108 to FK), JSPS (KAKENHI 26245069, 24000001 to SH), and European Research Council (Synergy grant 609819 SOMICS to JC).Much debate concerns whether any nonhuman animals share with humans the ability to infer others' mental states, such as desires and beliefs. In a recent eye-tracking false-belief task, we showed that great apes correctly anticipated that a human actor would search for a goal object where he had last seen it, even though the apes themselves knew that it was no longer there. In response, Heyes proposed that apes' looking behavior was guided not by social cognitive mechanisms but rather domain-general cueing effects, and suggested the use of inanimate controls to test this alternative submentalizing hypothesis. In the present study, we implemented the suggested inanimate control of our previous false-belief task. Apes attended well to key events but showed markedly fewer anticipatory looks and no significant tendency to look to the correct location. We thus found no evidence that submentalizing was responsible for apes' anticipatory looks in our false-belief task.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

First reliable report of the Nassarius sinarum (Mollusca, Gastropoda) from Korea as an invasive species

Two live specimens of the mud snail, Nassarius sinarum, was collected from the Yeongsan River estuary in Jeollanam-do, Korea, during June 2022. The species was identified based on its morphology and DNA barcoding.Morphological descriptions and photographs of N. sinarum were used to verify its occurrence in Korean waters as an invasive species. The species is characteristic in its axial ribs, which weaken towards the outer lip. Molecular analysis of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene showed that the specimen belonged to N. sinarum with 98.48–99.69% sequence similarity. The new Korean name of “No-lan-jul-job-ssal-mu-nui-go-dung; 노란줄좁쌀무늬고둥” was proposed for the species

First reliable report of the Nassarius sinarum (Mollusca, Gastropoda) from Korea as an invasive species

Two live specimens of the mud snail, Nassarius sinarum, was collected from the Yeongsan River estuary in Jeollanam-do, Korea, during June 2022. The species was identified based on its morphology and DNA barcoding.Morphological descriptions and photographs of N. sinarum were used to verify its occurrence in Korean waters as an invasive species. The species is characteristic in its axial ribs, which weaken towards the outer lip. Molecular analysis of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene showed that the specimen belonged to N. sinarum with 98.48–99.69% sequence similarity. The new Korean name of “No-lan-jul-job-ssal-mu-nui-go-dung; 노란줄좁쌀무늬고둥” was proposed for the species

Low-Temperature Plasma Diagnostics to Investigate the Process Window Shift in Plasma Etching of SiO2

As low-temperature plasma plays an important role in semiconductor manufacturing, plasma diagnostics have been widely employed to understand changes in plasma according to external control parameters, which has led to the achievement of appropriate plasma conditions normally termed the process window. During plasma etching, shifts in the plasma conditions both within and outside the process window can be observed; in this work, we utilized various plasma diagnostic tools to investigate the causes of these shifts. Cutoff and emissive probes were used to measure the electron density and plasma potential as indicators of the ion density and energy, respectively, that represent the ion energy flux. Quadrupole mass spectrometry was also used to show real-time changes in plasma chemistry during the etching process, which were in good agreement with the etching trend monitored via in situ ellipsometry. The results show that an increase in the ion energy flux and a decrease in the fluorocarbon radical flux alongside an increase in the input power result in the breaking of the process window, findings that are supported by the reported SiO2 etch model. By extending the SiO2 etch model with rigorous diagnostic measurements (or numerous diagnostic methods), more intricate plasma processing conditions can be characterized, which will be beneficial in applications and industries where different input powers and gas flows can make notable differences to the results

Artificial Neural Network for Response Inference of a Nonvolatile Resistance-Switch Array

An artificial neural network was utilized in the behavior inference of a random crossbar array (10 × 9 or 28 × 27 in size) of nonvolatile binary resistance-switches (in a high resistance state (HRS) or low resistance state (LRS)) in response to a randomly applied voltage array. The employed artificial neural network was a multilayer perceptron (MLP) with leaky rectified linear units. This MLP was trained with 500,000 or 1,000,000 examples. For each example, an input vector consisted of the distribution of resistance states (HRS or LRS) over a crossbar array plus an applied voltage array. That is, for a M × N array where voltages are applied to its M rows, the input vector was M × (N + 1) long. The calculated (correct) current array for each random crossbar array was used as data labels for supervised learning. This attempt was successful such that the correlation coefficient between inferred and correct currents reached 0.9995 for the larger crossbar array. This result highlights MLP that leverages its versatility to capture the quantitative linkage between input and output across the highly nonlinear crossbar array

Tunable nano-distribution of Pt on TiO2 nanotubes by atomic compression control for high-efficient oxygen reduction reaction

Achieving cost-competitive catalysts with low Pt utilization and improving the durability caused by the corrosion of supports in the catalysts must be solved for the high activity in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Here, we show an innovative technique to synthesize unique nanotube supports for the ORR catalysts based on the combination of experimental and theoretical studies. The method precisely controls the atomic morphology of TiO2 nanotubes by a small amount of atomic substitution, maximizing their efficiency as catalyst supports. The spontaneous change in the size and dispersibility of the Pt nanoparticles appears by only small lattice contraction on the metal-doped TiO2 (M-TiO2) nanotubes. To study this phenomenon, various dopants such as V, Nb, and Cr were added to the M-TiO2 nanotubes. The compression arising out of each metal-support interaction resulted in the diverse shape of the nanoparticles on similar supports, which is revealed based on the X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and the density-functional-theory (DFT) calculations. Based on a comprehensive understanding of inter-and intracrystal interactions in the small substitution doping process, we can control the size and dispersibility of the Pt nanoparticles, catalytic activity, and durability of catalysts for ORR.11Nsciescopu