Na+ has a detrimental effect on the growth of most plants belonging to glycophytes. Although the mechanisms for Na+ exclusion from the upper shoot have been intensively investigated, the sites of Na+ retrieval and loading, and the rate of Na+ retranslocation under continuous Na+ presence have not been clear. In this study, we employed a non-invasive imaging technique using 22Na with a fine spatiotemporal resolution and demonstrated the movement of Na+ in roots.
High energy muons originating from cosmic rays have strong penetrative power and this trait has been utilized extensively to observe the Earth's interior in the last decade such as subsurface volcanoes, faults and caves. Observations of volcanoes in particular have visualized the shapes and positions of magma, and have shown that this technique is applicable to aid in the prediction of eruption sequences. In this paper, the principle and method to view the interiors of geological structures inside the Earth with muons will be reviewed along with recent achievements.
Heat transport phenomena as the thermal conductivity or heat capacity in structurally disordered materials are different from those in crystal materials in low temperature region. These universal thermophysical properties in an atomic scale are directly related to the low-energy excitations, called Boson Peak, observed by neutron inelastic scattering and Raman scattering measurements. In addition, some results of the vibrational density of states obtained by neutron inelastic scattering measurement suggest the validity of two-level-system model which is widely accepted theoretical model of these universal thermophysical properties.