Waseda University

δ2-Protocadherins organize parallel indirect basal ganglia circuits

Abstract The basal ganglia (BG) contain multiple parallel neural circuits, each of which may control different behaviors. However, how the distinct parallel BG circuits are molecularly organized is not known. Here we show that two δ2-protocadherins (PCDHs), PCDH17 and PCDH10, whi...

Age-Related Behavioral Changes Across the Adult Lifespan of a Cricket: A Longitudinal Analysis Using DeepLabCut

<title>Abstract</title> Aging in insects is characterized by progressive behavioral changes, including declines in locomotion, altered sleep, and disrupted circadian rhythms. The two-spotted cricket ( <italic>Gryllus bimaculatus</italic> ) is a useful model for behavioral senesce...

Three-Dimensional Real Contact Area at the Tire–Asphalt Interface Revealed by Synchrotron X-Ray CT

Abstract Tire and road wear particles are considered a major source of microplastic pollution globally, necessitating a deeper understanding of friction and wear mechanisms at the tire–road interface. A key parameter governing these phenomena is the real contact area; however, to...

Occlusion-Robust Cattle Pose Estimation for Precision Livestock Monitoring Using Hierarchical Locality Refinement

Accurate cattle pose estimation is important for precision livestock farming because body landmarks can provide quantitative visual inputs for potential health monitoring, behavior analysis, lameness assessment, and welfare evaluation. This study focuses on keypoint-localization...

Neuromuscular Activation Strategies of the Lower Limb During Maximal Sprinting in Youth Track and Field Athletes: Age-Related Differences and Implications for Talent Identification

Sprint performance improves throughout adolescence as a result of both structural and neuromuscular development. In particular, increases in body height, lower limb length, and muscle volume have been consistently linked to improvements in sprint performance. However, allometric...

Psychological profiles of readiness for advance care planning in super-aged Japan

Advance care planning (ACP) helps ensure that future medical care reflects individuals’ values and preferences. However, little is known about how multiple psychological characteristics combine to shape readiness for ACP, particularly in Japan. This study aimed to identify psycho...

Predictive processing as a scalable computational principle for embodied multitask intelligence

Humans exhibit remarkable flexibility in adapting to diverse and uncertain environments—a hallmark arising from the brain’s ability to integrate multimodal sensory streams into coherent predictive models. Drawing on this principle, we introduce a scalable hierarchical multimodal...

Associations between jump-derived mechanical indicators and sprint performance across sprint sections in baseball players

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between sprint performance across discrete distance sections and mechanical indicators derived from ballistic and reactive jumping tasks in male collegiate baseball players. Sixty-two players performed maximal 40-m sprint...

Genome analysis of the glycosphingolipid-producing green alga Tetraselmis sp. NKG400013

Abstract Microalgae are gaining attention as sustainable resources for the production of valuable compounds, including biofuels, pigments, and bioactive metabolites. To support metabolic engineering and genome editing approaches aimed at enhancing these traits, high-quality genom...

Precision Greenhouse Rose Phenotyping from UAV Imagery Using a Multi-Source Dataset and Lightweight BloomRoseNet

Accurate detection of blooming roses and flower buds is essential for greenhouse phenotyping, cultivation scheduling, harvest planning, and yield management. However, UAV-derived greenhouse imagery presents major challenges because rose targets are often small, densely distribute...

Interpretable multi-label prediction of institution-defined IgA nephropathy clinical patterns using routine cross-sectional clinical and laboratory data

IgA nephropathy (IgAN) clinical heterogeneity leads to inconsistent documentation of multiple, institution-specific pattern labels, creating an imbalanced multi-label phenotyping challenge. We developed an interpretable hybrid model, the Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory-Convo...

Ethnicity Engulfed by Nationalization: Who Are the Khmer?

This article seeks, first, to elucidate the actual processes by which ethnic Chinese and ethnic Lao minorities in Cambodia have undergone Khmerization; second, to compare these processes with the Thaification of the ethnic Khmer of northeastern Thailand, who, in contrast to the K...

Ethnicity Engulfed by Nationalization: Who Are the Khmer?

This article seeks, first, to elucidate the actual processes by which ethnic Chinese and ethnic Lao minorities in Cambodia have undergone Khmerization; second, to compare these processes with the Thaification of the ethnic Khmer of northeastern Thailand, who, in contrast to the K...

Prevalence of Hip Skeletal Deformity in Japanese Male Collegiate Long-Distance Runners

This study aimed to examine whether hip deformity has already developed in Japanese male freshman collegiate long-distance runners and to investigate the association with their sports history. A total of 57 elite freshman collegiate long-distance runners participated. We collecte...

Evaluation of Out-of-Plane Thermal Conductivity and Shear Strength of Copper Mesh/Epoxy Adhesive Film

Abstract Thermally conductive adhesives are essential thermal interface materials for high-power electronics, but achieving low out-of-plane thermal resistance while maintaining adhesive strength remains challenging. Herein, we propose a copper mesh/epoxy adhesive in which a prec...

Comparison of different approaches to assess fascicle length using 3D ultrasound with cadaveric dissection as a reference for the human biceps femoris long head

Abstract Purpose The biceps femoris long head (BFlh) has a complex architecture, posing challenges for accurately assessing its fascicle length. This study compared four 3D ultrasound (3DUS)-based methods for estimating mid-belly BFlh fascicle length in human cadavers (n = 6 legs...

Facilitating the supplementary motor area activity reduces variability of ball arrival position in accurate ball throwing performance

Maintaining high accuracy during rapid, dynamic movements is a significant challenge for the central nervous system. The supplementary motor area (SMA) is a key cortical region for orchestrating motor commands and regulating movement variability, yet its causal contribution to ma...

MC-NODE: A Mechanism-Decomposed Neural Differential Model for PLGA Microsphere Drug Release Prediction and Attribution

Background/Objectives: Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microspheres support long-acting drug delivery, but their release profiles are difficult to predict because burst release, diffusion, polymer degradation, and formulation-dependent effects interact across multiple time scal...

Global co-location of carbon storage and hydrogen storage reveals the coupled subsurface of the net-zero energy system

This deposit contains the complete database, analysis code, and derived results underlying the study "Global co-location of carbon storage and hydrogen storage reveals the coupled subsurface of the net-zero energy system." Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and under...

Iwamoto Chizuna's Ventures in Siam and the Formation of Modern Japan–Thailand Relations in the 1890s: Japanese Labor Migration, Private Enterprise, and Consular Diplomacy

This study reconstructs the activities of Iwamoto Chizuna (1858–1920), a former Japanese army officer who became one of the earliest and most active private Japanese figures in Siam (Thailand) during the formative period of modern Japan–Thailand relations in the 1890s. Drawing ex...