The Japanese Murrelet Synthliboramphus wumizusume is a rare, globally ‘Vulnerable’ seabird, endemic to Japan and South Korea. However, little is known of its at-sea distribution, habitat or threats. We conducted several years of at-sea surveys around Japan to model Japanese Murrelet density in relation to habitat parameters, and make spatial predictions to assess the adequacy of the current Japanese marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) network for the species. During a five-year period, 3,485 km of at-sea surveys recorded 3,161 Japanese Murrelets around four breeding locations. Maximum murrelet group size was 90 individuals with a mean group size of 2.9 ± 4.2 individuals. Models of Japanese Murrelet at-sea density around the two largest breeding locations predicted that almost all murrelets occur within 30 km of the breeding colony and most within 10 km. Murrelets were predicted closer to the colony in May than in April and closer to the colony at a neritic colony than at an offshore island colony. Additionally, murrelets breeding on an offshore island colony also commuted to mainland neritic habitat for foraging. The marine habitat used by Japanese Murrelets differed between each of the four surveyed colonies, however oceanographic variables offered little explanatory power in models. Models with colony, month and year generated four foraging radii (9–39 km wide) containing murrelet densities of > 0.5 birds/km2. Using these radii the Japanese marine IBA network was found to capture between 95% and 25% of Japanese Murrelet at-sea habitat while breeding and appears appropriately configured to protect near-colony murrelet distributions. Given the range of marine habitats that breeding murrelets inhabit, our simple models offer an applicable method for predicting to unsampled colonies and generating ecologically-informed seaward extension radii. However, data on colony populations and further at-sea surveys are necessary to refine models and improve predictions.

This article presents results from the first 3 rounds of an international intercomparison of measurements of Δ14CO2 in liter-scale samples of whole air by groups using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The ultimate goal of the intercomparison is to allow the merging of Δ14CO2 data from different groups, with the confidence that differences in the data are geophysical gradients and not artifacts of calibration. Eight groups have participated in at least 1 round of the intercomparison, which has so far included 3 rounds of air distribution between 2007 and 2010. The comparison is intended to be ongoing, so that: a) the community obtains a regular assessment of differences between laboratories; and b) individual laboratories can begin to assess the long-term repeatability of their measurements of the same source air. Air used in the intercomparison was compressed into 2 high-pressure cylinders in 2005 and 2006 at Niwot Ridge, Colorado (USA), with one of the tanks “spiked” with fossil CO2, so that the 2 tanks span the range of Δ14CO2 typically encountered when measuring air from both remote background locations and polluted urban ones. Three groups show interlaboratory comparability within l% for ambient level Δ14CO2. For high CO2/low Δ14CO2 air, 4 laboratories showed comparability within 2%. This approaches the goals set out by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) CO2 Measurements Experts Group in 2005. One important observation is that single-sample precisions typically reported by the AMS community cannot always explain the observed differences within and between laboratories. This emphasizes the need to use long-term repeatability as a metric for measurement precision, especially in the context of long-term atmospheric monitoring.

The simplified magnetic Bénard; equations (SMB) are derived from the two-dimensional magnetic Bénard system and extend the well-known Lorenz equations (L). (SMB) contains a parameter Q associated with the magnetic field. When Q = 0, the long time dynamics of (SMB) agrees with that of (L). In this paper, we investigate the long time behaviour of (SMB) as Q→0. We prove analytically that the global attractor of (SMB) converges to the one of (L) as Q→0 upper semicontinuously in the Hausdorff sense. However, numerical computation indicates that generically there is no continuity in the dimension of the attractor.

Fast electrons are effectively generated from solid targets of cone-geometry by irradiating intense laser pulses, which is applied to fast ignition scheme. For realizing optimal core heating by those electrons, understanding the characteristics of electrons emitted from cone targets is crucial. In this paper, in order to understand the generation and transport processes of hot electrons inside the cone target, two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations were carried out. It is shown that hot electrons form current layers which are guided by self-generated surface magnetic field, which results in effective energy transfer from laser pulse to hot electrons. When the hot electrons propagate through the steep density gradient at the cone tip, electrostatic field is induced via Weibel instability. As a result, hot electrons are confined inside and emitted gradually from the target, as an electron beam of long duration. Energy spectrum and temporal profile of hot electrons are also evaluated at the rear side of the target, where the profile of rear side plasma is taken from the fluid code and the result is sent to Fokker-Planck code.

The reasons why the open circuit voltage (Voc) of high-x CuIn1-xGaxSe2 (CIGS)/ZnO solar cells remain low are discussed. Here it is shown that the Voc ceiling can be interpreted simply on the basis of a model that the valence-band energy (Ev) of CIGS is almost immovable irrespective of x. When the conduction-band energy (Ec) of ZnO is lower than that of high-x CIGS (DEc<0), the built-in potential (Vbi) of a CIGS/ZnO junction is equivalent to the flat-band potential (Vbi) that arises from the separation between the Fermi energies of the two materials. If the Ev (and therefore the Fermi energy) of p-type CIGS is constant with increasing x, the Vbi and Voc that follows the Vbi remain unchanged since the Fermi energy of ZnO is constant. This unchangeable Voc reduces the conversion efficiency of high-x CIGS cells in cooperation with reduced photocurrents due to a larger bandgap. A positive offset, ΔEc>o gives rise to a photoelectrons barrier in the conduction-band that partially cancels Voc, thus the Voc of a low-x CIGS cell is governed by the Ec of CIGS. Based upon this concept, a material selection guideline is given for the windows and transparent electrodes appropriate for high-x CIGS absorbers-based solar cells.

A violet root rot fungus recently found in Japan was identified as Helicobasidium brebissonii. The fungus was compared with another violet root rot fungus, H. mompa, which is distributed throughout Japan, in terms of morphological characteristics of the basidiospores and the conidial state, sequences of rDNA ITS regions, and pathogenicity on carrot, sweet potato and apple rootstock. The two species were clearly discriminated by these features and the taxonomic status of both species is discussed.

The diversity and vertical transmission of double-stranded (ds) RNA in Helicobasidium mompa and Rosellinia necatrix was examined by electrophoresis and Northern hybridization. These two fungi share the similar niche as root rot pathogens of trees in forests and orchards, and had diverse dsRNAs. The detection frequency of dsRNA in both fungi was different; in H. mompa, 68.4% (132 out of 193 MCGs; mycelial compatibility groups) had dsRNA, whereas 20.9% (53 out of 254 MCGs) in R. necatrix. dsRNA banding patterns and Northern blot analyses revealed the presence of various dsRNA elements in both fungi. Hyphal tip isolation was mostly unsuccessful to remove dsRNA with some exceptions. Sexual reproduction functioned to remove dsRNA in both fungi since dsRNA was not detected from single sexual spore cultures. Possible explanations for the difference in the detection frequency of dsRNA are discussed in terms of the differences in their sexual reproduction and other factors.

Helicobasidium mompa is a clampless basidiomycete and binucleate both in secondary and primary hyphae. Single basidiospore isolates were paired in sibling and non-sibling combinations. We did not observe any alterations in colony morphology, such as tuft formation, but mycelial incompatibility, as indicated by the presence of a dark demarcation line between colonies, occurred in a unifactorial manner. Techniques using DNA molecular markers, such as internal transcribed spacer-restriction fragment-length polymorphism (ITS-RFLP), inter–simple-sequence-repeat polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and universally primed PCR, failed to identify nuclear migration to opposite single basidiospore isolates in all but one of the 92 pairings. These results imply that single basidiospore isolates of H. mompa may be incompetent to mate under laboratory conditions and that a single mycelial incompatibility factor operates in single basidiospore isolates.

We propose a new nano-probe-assisted technique which enables the formation of site-controlled InAs quantum dots (QDs). High-density two-dimensional indium (In) nano-dot arrays on a GaAs substrate were fabricated by using a specially designed atomic-force-microscope (AFM) probe (the Nano-Jet Probe). This developed probe has a hollow pyramidal tip with a sub-micron size aperture on the apex and an In-reservoir tank within the stylus. By applying a voltage pulse between the pyramidal tip and the sample, In clusters were extracted from the reservoir tank within the stylus through the aperture, resulting in the In nano-dot formation. These In nano-dots can be directly converted to InAs QD arrays by subsequent irradiation of arsenic flux.

Genetic relationships among the violet root rot fungi were studied by hyphal anastomosis and sequencing of the ITS-5·8S rDNA regions. Twelve isolates of Helicobasidium mompa, one isolate each of H. purpreum and H. compactum, two isolates of Helicobasidium sp., eight isolates of Rhizoctonia crocorum, and three isolates of R. violacea anastomosed in most combinations, resulting in the death of fused cells and adjacent cells. Phylogenetic analyses of the ITS-5·8S rDNA regions separated 31 violet root rot fungal isolates into five lineages: H. mompa from Japan and Korea; R. crocorum from Europe and New Zealand; H. purpureum, R. crocorum, and R. violacea from Europe; Helicobasidium sp. from Japan; and H. compactum from the USA. Within each lineage there was no more than one nucleotide substitution, and similarity ranged from 81·8% to 98·2% between lineages. The discrepancy between the results from the two methods are discussed in terms of the biological species concept in the complex.

Seasonal variations of δ13C were analyzed for two Japanese cypress trees (Chamaecyparis obtusa), one buried and one living. Both trees were different in age but sampled in areas geographically close to each other in central Japan. A buried cypress with 394 annual rings was excavated from Old Fuji mudflow, the last glacial strata of the dormant Mt. Fuji volcano. The accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon date of this glacial sample was 18,600 ± 120 BP (NUTA–4884). A living tree stem, which has 192 rings, was cut from the Izu Peninsula in 1986. In order to measure the seasonal δ13C fluctuation, the tree rings were divided equally into three earlywood and one or two latewood consecutive sections. The δ13C value within an annual ring generally increased from the first to the third or fourth sections then decreased in the last section. This pattern of the variation was similar in the glacial and modern samples. The δ13C value within an annual ring seems to be controlled by environmental factors (not plant physiological ones), since there was no isotopic shift in the seasonal δ13C variation at the earlywood-latewood boundary, which was controlled by plant physiology. The result suggests the potential to reconstruct the paleoenvironment within a year using the seasonal δ13C variation, though site-specific conditions such as soil characteristics would also affect to its fluctuation.

We propose a novel site-control technique for strained quantum dots (QDs) based on nano-lithography using an STM integrated into a UHV STM/MBE multi-chamber system. A nano-scale deposit was formed on a GaAs surface by applying voltage between the GaAs surface and the tungsten tip of the STM. Since the deposit acted as a nano-mask, the subsequent GaAs growth formed a nano-hole just above the deposit. Subsequent InAs supply produced a QD on the hole site, and no QD was observed in any undesirable regions. We also observed the QD formation processes involved in the technique, based on step-by-step STM observations of the QD formation process. The observation directly revealed an InAs wetting layer formation with 1-ML thickness on the GaAs terraces followed by the QD formation in the Stranski-Krastanow growth mode.

Reliability of lnGaAlAs mesa-waveguide photodiodes suitable for low-cost surface integration modules applied to access network systems is investigated. A passivation technique including silicone-based polymer encapsulation was used to ensure high reliability. Under a non-humidity condition of 200°C/10 V, a 9,600-hour stable operation was observed, and the estimated median lifetime is more than 100 years at the field service temperature of 85°C. A measured slight change in the dark current is explained in terms of hole accumulation at the semiconductor-insulator interface. Under a humid condition of 85°C/85% RH/10 V, there was no change in the dark current over 10,000 hours. The observed median lifetime at 135°C/85% RH/10 V of 1,500 hours would lead to an estimated median lifetime at 45°C/50% RH of about 50 years. These results suggest that the WG-PD is applicable to low-cost non-hermetic optical modules for optical access networks.

We made accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C measurements on terrestrial macrofossils from the Late Pleistocene/Holocene of the annually laminated sediments of Lake Suigetsu (central Japan). The AMS 14C dates of terrestrial macrofossils showed agreement between varve counting years and calibrated ages (tree rings and U/Th on coral) in the interval of 10.5 and ca. 11.5 ka cal bp. Beyond 11.5 ka cal bp, the age difference between 14C and varve counting years gradually diminish, contradicting published data on corals dated by U/Th and 14C.