The startup dynamics of three wet snow avalanches in central Japan were evaluated by computer modeling the occurrences and comparing leading edge position-time data. Results were compared between three finite difference based computer codes, which were used to model the startup transients. Two of the computer codes use equations of uniform flow hydrodynamics, the third uses transient viscous fluid mechanics. The latter two codes also incorporate a material description of snow as a locking material. Results show a general increasing of frictional and/or viscous coefficients in the avalanche startup zones in order to match the kinematics of startup. Differences in results between the codes is attributed to the shape of the startup zones, whether convex or concave. The results indicate the magnitude of perturbation of startup on total avalanche runout time, which is likely to be negligible on long-duration avalanche occurrences.

Computer analysis is carried out to predict the force that bears upon a horizontal beam embedded in settling snowpack. Use is made of extensive experimental data on snow depth, layering and density, and on measured force on a test beam, in order to evaluate the internal structural arrangement in a finite element representation of the region in the vicinity of the beam. The compressive secondary-creep viscoelastic properties and the densification properties of the snow are accounted for in the computer modelling. Results show that the bearing force on the beam develop from direct snow weight, from shear transfer by adjacent snowpack, from basal weakening below and to the side of the beam, and from snow densification above and to the side of the beam producing a bridging mechanism. These findings corroborate with related experimental results and point out the need for further refinement in definition, particularly of the bridging mechanism, which produces large force incrementation on the beam compared to the other mechanisms noted.

Documenting past changes in the East Antarctic surface mass balance is important to improve ice core chronologies and to constrain the ice-sheet contribution to global mean sea-level change. Here we reconstruct past changes in the ratio of surface mass balance (SMB ratio) between the EPICA Dome C (EDC) and Dome Fuji (DF) East Antarctica ice core sites, based on a precise volcanic synchronization of the two ice cores and on corrections for the vertical thinning of layers. During the past 216 000 a, this SMB ratio, denoted SMBEDC/SMBDF, varied between 0.7 and 1.1, being small during cold periods and large during warm periods. Our results therefore reveal larger amplitudes of changes in SMB at EDC compared with DF, consistent with previous results showing larger amplitudes of changes in water stable isotopes and estimated surface temperature at EDC compared with DF. Within the last glacial inception (Marine Isotope Stages, MIS-5c and MIS-5d), the SMB ratio deviates by up to 0.2 from what is expected based on differences in water stable isotope records. Moreover, the SMB ratio is constant throughout the late parts of the current and last interglacial periods, despite contrasting isotopic trends.

Detaching the crystals from the melt revealed the real state and dynamic change of intrinsic point defects. From this observation it is confirmed that the predominant point defects near the melting point are vacancies. Clusters of interstitial-type dislocation loops (CDL) are eliminated by taking an extremely low growth rate under 0.2 mm/min and nitrogen doping. The anomalous oxygen precipitate (AOP) of the crystals grown in a nitrogen ambient is enhanced. AOP and ring-oxidation induced stacking fault (R-OSF) coexist at the periphery in nitrogen doped crystals. Almost all crystals have defect boundaries between periphery and center region which may be attributed to a stress field in the crystals during growth.

We present long term site testing statistics based on DIMM and GSM data obtained at Dome C, Antarctica. These data have been collected on the bright star Canopus since the end of 2003. We give values of the integrated turbulence parameters in the visible (wavelength 500 nm). The median value we obtained for the seeing are 1.2 arcsec, 2.0 arcsec and 0.8 arcsec at respective elevations of 8m, 3m and 20m above the ground. The isoplanatic angle median value is 4.0 arcsec and the median outer scale is 7.5m. We found that both the seeing and the isoplanatic angle exhibit a strong dependence with the season (the seeing is larger in winter while the isoplanatic angle is smaller).

The ASTEP project aims at detecting and characterizing transiting planets from Dome C, Antarctica, and qualifying this site for photometry in the visible. The first phase of the project, ASTEP South, is a fixed 10 cm diameter instrument pointing continuously towards the celestial South Pole. Observations were made almost continuously during 4 winters, from 2008 to 2011. The point-to-point RMS of 1-day photometric lightcurves can be explained by a combination of expected statistical noises, dominated by the photon noise up to magnitude 14. This RMS is large, from 2.5 mmag at R = 8 to 6% at R = 14, because of the small size of ASTEP South and the short exposure time (30 s). Statistical noises should be considerably reduced using the large amount of collected data. A 9.9-day period eclipsing binary is detected, with a magnitude R = 9.85. The 2-season lightcurve folded in phase and binned into 1,000 points has a RMS of 1.09 mmag, for an expected photon noise of 0.29 mmag. The use of the 4 seasons of data with a better detrending algorithm should yield a sub-millimagnitude precision for this folded lightcurve. Radial velocity follow-up observations reveal a F-M binary system. The detection of this 9.9-day period system with a small instrument such as ASTEP South and the precision of the folded lightcurve show the quality of Dome C for continuous photometric observations, and its potential for the detection of planets with orbital periods longer than those usually detected from the ground.

Until recently, the epidemiology and control of schistosomiasis in sub-Saharan Africa have focused primarily on infections in school-aged children and to a lesser extent on adults. Now there is growing evidence and reports of infection in infants and pre-school-aged children (⩽6 years old) in Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Uganda, with reported prevalence from 14% to 86%. In this review, we provide available information on the epidemiology, transmission and control of schistosomiasis in this age group, generally not considered or included in national schistosomiasis control programmes that are being implemented in several sub-Saharan African countries. Contrary to previous assumptions, we show that schistosomiasis infection starts from early childhood in many endemic communities and factors associated with exposure of infants and pre-school-aged children to infection are yet to be determined. The development of morbidity early in childhood may contribute to long-term clinical impact and severity of schistosomiasis before they receive treatment. Consistently, these issues are overlooked in most schistosomiasis control programmes. It is, therefore, necessary to review current policy of schistosomiasis control programmes in sub-Saharan Africa to consider the treatment of infant and pre-school-aged children and the health education to mothers.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

We have investigated an effect of hydrogen gas-charging on the microstructure and the mechanical property of a Ti-49at.%Al alloy. After hydrogen-charging performed under an atmospheric pressure of hydrogen gas at 1023K for 3 hours, the alloy with γ-single phase has become completely brittle, while this hydrogen-induced embrittlement is suppressed for that with (γ+α2) two-phase microstructure composed of lath-precipitates in the γ matrix. A significant microstructural change was found to occur for the two-phase alloy (approximately 340ppm hydrogen in the alloy); a thin amorphous layers with a few nm thickness appear at the preexisting γ/α2 interfaces in the lath-precipitates after hydrogen-charging. In-situ TEM observation confirmed that the amorphous region transforms to a nano-crystalline state after heating to 1000K at which the hydrogen could be removed (degassed), indicating that the amorphous phase is not a binary Ti-Al phase but a ternary Ti-Al-H one. This, in turn, suggests that the γ/α2 interface in the lath packets act as the most preferential sites for hydrogen storage. Therefore, the scavenging is expected to occur effectively for the microstructure composed of γ-α2 fine lamellae in which a large number of γ/α2 interfaces exist. It is worthwhile mentioning that the fine-scale of the lamellae makes it possible to have a large number of interfaces for a given volume of the α2 phase.

We have succeeded in pulsed laser annealing of N+ ion-implanted n-type 6H-SiC for increasing the carrier density near surface in order to decrease contact resistance, which induces little redistribution of implanted impurities after laser irradiation. By repeated laser irradiation at low energy density, the ion–implanted impurities were electrically activated without melting the surface region. SiC substrates with impurity concentration of 2×1018 /cm3 were implanted with 30 keV N+ ions with dose of 4.7×1013/cm2. After pulsed laser annealing, a contact resistance was measured to be 5.7×10−5 Ωcm2 using Al electrode on the N+ -implanted layer.

We report the results of comparison of radiation-induced defects (1 MeV electrons) in n+-p-p+ Si diodes doped with gallium or boron ranging in concentration from 8 × 1014 to 5 × 1016 cm-3, together with the impact of oxygen on radiation –induced defects. Present results provide evidence for new defects states in addition to those previously reported in gallium- and boron-doped Si. The combined boron and gallium data provide enough information to gain valuable insight into the role of the dopants on radiation-induced defects in Si. The interesting new future of our results is that the gallium appears to strongly suppress the radiation induced defect, especially hole level EV+0.36 eV, which is thought to act as a recombination center. Similarly the dominant electron level at EC-0.18 eV in B-doped Si (which act as a donor) has not been observed in Ga-doped CZ-grown Si.

Single crystals of Ba8CoRh6O21 were grown out of a potassium carbonate flux. The structure was solved by a general method using the superspace group approach. The superspace group employed was R3m(00γ)0s with a = 10.0431(1) Å, c1 = 2.5946(1) Å and c2 = 4.5405(1) Å, V = 226.60(1) Å3. Ba8CoRh6O21 represents the first example of an m = 5, n = 3 member of the A3n+3mA'nB3m+nO9m+6n family of 2H hexagonal perovskite related oxides and contains chains consisting of six consecutive RhO6 octahedra followed by one distorted CoO6 trigonal prism. These chains in turn are separated from each other by [Ba]∞ chains.

Stable icosahedral quasicrystals have been found in ternary Cd65Mg20RE15 (RE=Y, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Lu, Yb and Ca) and binary Cd85Ca15 and Cd84Yb16 alloys. These icosahedral quasicrystals have a primitive quasilattice. Their quasilattice parameters range from 0.5571 to 0.5731 nm. Formation mechanism of the quasicrystals is discussed.

The method for the direct measurement of subcritical crack growth in silica optical fiber with 125μm in diameter was developed. The obtained crack velocity da/dt as a function of stress intensity factor KI was expressed by means of log da/dt vs log KI linear relation with slope n. The obtained value of n showed 22.6 (25 °C,60%r.h.) with small standard deviation 0.7. These results indicate that the postulated crack growth law used for the lifetime prediction is valid and the present approach can solve the problem in the conventional method for evaluating the value of n where the evaluated value has been widely scattered.

Well-crystallized Y2O3 -ZrO2 powder of 12nm crystallite size was synthesized by RoAogenious precipitation under hydrothermal condition at 180°C for 1 hour. This powder consisted of tetragonal zirconia. After calcination and ball milling, the crystiilite size was 22 nm and the tetragonal phase was reduced to 55% by ball milling. The average grain size was 0.5 µm and specific: surface area was 20 m /g. Highly dense TZP(> 99%) with a homogeneous microstructure was obtained by sintering this powder at 1400°C for 2 hours.

Reaction sequence of the massive transformation from the high-temperature α-Ti phase to the γ-TiAl phase (αm) in a Ti-48at.% Al alloy has been examined in terms of optical and transmission electron microscopes. Both transformed and untransformed regions were macroscopically observed in the sample quenched from the high-temperature α phase field, when the sample was held there for a extended period of time prior to quenching. The transformed region consists of randomly oriented fine α single phase grains, in which many thermal anti-phase domains (TAPDs), together with a number of stacking faults were observed. In contrast, the untransformed region comprises extremely fine lamellae of the α and α2-Ti3Al phases, and the α plates were found to run through the TAPDs caused by α ə α2 ordering. Subsequent aging at 1273K causes the microstructure change in the untransformed region from α2/γ lamellae to γ/γ lamellae spontaneously and expands the γm region. These observations suggest that the α ə γm transformation proceeds through formation of fine γ plates.

An extremely fine lamellar structure formed in a Ti-48at.%Al alloy, which was heat treated in the high-temperature α-Ti (disordered hcp) single phase field (1683K), followed by ice water quenching, has been examined by high-resolution and analytical transmission electron microscopy. The microstracture consists of thin plates of ordered α2-Ti3Al (D019: ordered version of hcp) and γ-TiAl (Ll0: ordered version of fcc) phases, and interfaces of lamellae are atomically flat in a wide range. From detailed analyses of the microstructure and composition in nm scale, the α→γ phase transformation, which occurs during quenching and produces the extremely fine α2-γ lamellae, has been discussed.