Ainohelix editha from Hokkaido, Japan, exhibit great geographical variation in their shell morphology. In particular, A. editha in two quite separate locations, Shimamaki and Samani, are striking because they are extremely flat and have a sharp keel, whereas at adjacent sites the shells are globular or depressed-globular. We used mitochondrial 16S rRNA and nuclear ITS-2 sequences to infer a phylogeny among 47 snails from 29 locations. Snails from the two keeled-flat populations clustered separately in the phylogeny, suggesting that this unusual shell form could have evolved independently. A morphological analysis of shells collected along a transect between keeled-flat and globular snail sites showed a cline for shell shape and the angle of the keel. Two different mtDNA lineages were found across the transect, with a cline for an ITS-2 single nucleotide polymorphism. Together, the results may suggest a lack of reproductive isolation between keeled-flat and globular snails, with possible introgression by hybridization.

Aim Based on seven consecutive seasons of biotic survey and inventory of the terrestrial and freshwater plants and animals of the 30 major islands of the Kuril Archipelago, a description of the biodiversity and an analysis of the biogeography of this previously little known part of the world are provided.Location The Kuril Archipelago, a natural laboratory for investigations into the origin, subsequent evolution, and long-term maintenance of insular populations, forms the eastern boundary of the Okhotsk Sea, extending 1200 km between Hokkaido, Japan, and the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia. A chain of more than 56 islands, the system is only slightly smaller than the Hawaiian Islands, covering an area of 15,600 km 2 and providing 2409 km of coastline.Methods Collections of whole specimens of plants and animals, as well as tissue samples for future molecular studies, were made by teams of scientists from Russia, Japan, and the USA, averaging 34 people for each of the seven annual summer expeditions (1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000). Floral and faunal similarities between islands were evaluated by using Sorensen's coefficient of similarity. The similarity matrix resulting from pair-wise calculations was then subjected to UPGMA cluster analysis.

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SUMMARYThe quantity and state of fishery resources must be known so that they can be sustained. The fish culture industry is also planning to investigate resources. The results of investigations are used to estimate the catch size, times fish are caught, and future stocks. We have developed a method for extracting scallop areas from gravel seabed images to assess fish resources and also developed an automatic system that measures their quantities, sizes, and states. Japanese scallop farms for fisheries are found on gravel and sand seabeds. The seabed images are used for fishery investigations, which are absolutely necessary to visually estimate, and help us avoid using the acoustic survey. However, there is no automatic technology to measure the quantities, sizes, and states of resources, and so the current investigation technique is the manual measurement by experts. There are varied problems in automating technique. The photography environments have a high degree of noise, including large differences in lighting. Gravel, sand, clay, and debris are also included in the images. In the gravel field, we can see scallop features, such as colors, striped patterns, and fan-like shapes. This paper describes the features of our image extracting method, presents the results, and evaluates its effectiveness.

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Faults that impair performance can occur in a heat source system because it comprises various devices and has complex controls. This article presents a novel method for fault detection and diagnosis (FDD). This study focused on a real system with a water thermal storage tank. First, system behaviors in response to faults were determined using a detailed system simulation. Then, a fault database was generated using the simulation results with fault labels. We preprocessed the database and converted the data into images. Then, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) were trained using the database, and the trained CNNs were used for diagnosing real data. The accuracy of the CNNs was 98.7% in training, and real data were diagnosed with probabilities. We analyzed the real data, where the probability indicated the likely presence of a fault and reviewed how the real data were similar to the fault assumed in the simulation. We concluded that the proposed FDD method will help in analyzing real data, as it indicates faults emerging in the real data with probability, whereas conventional data analysis requires checking the data using expert knowledge.

The life cycle of Dilophus okamurae and the associated benthic invertebrate fauna were studied monthly or bimonthly from June 1998 to September 1999 at a depth of 4-7 m in Onagawa Bay along the Pacific coast of north-eastern Honshu, Japan (38∞28¢N, 149∞29¢E). Dry biomass ranged from 230 g/m 2 in June to 10 g/m 2 in October. Sporophytes with tetrasporangia appeared during July to September 1998. Gametophytes with oogonia or antheridia were observed for the first time in May 1999 during observation. The absence of mature sporophytes in 1999 suggests that the life cycle is completed over two years. The sympatric gastropods Lirularia iridescens, Homalopoma sangrarense, Conotalopia minima and Cantharidus callichroa synchronized with seasonal changes in biomass of this algae. In contrast, Barleeia angustata and B. trifasciata fluctuated independently. The juvenile sea urchin Strongylocentrotus nudus appeared in the algal population starting in October at 0.7 mm mean test diameter at high density, and disappeared after March.

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