The search for life in the Universe is a fundamental problem of astrobiology and modern science. The current progress in the detection of terrestrial-type exoplanets has opened a new avenue in the characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres and in the search for biosignatures of life with the upcoming ground-based and space missions. To specify the conditions favourable for the origin, development and sustainment of life as we know it in other worlds, we need to understand the nature of global (astrospheric), and local (atmospheric and surface) environments of exoplanets in the habitable zones (HZs) around G-K-M dwarf stars including our young Sun. Global environment is formed by propagated disturbances from the planet-hosting stars in the form of stellar flares, coronal mass ejections, energetic particles and winds collectively known as astrospheric space weather. Its characterization will help in understanding how an exoplanetary ecosystem interacts with its host star, as well as in the specification of the physical, chemical and biochemical conditions that can create favourable and/or detrimental conditions for planetary climate and habitability along with evolution of planetary internal dynamics over geological timescales. A key linkage of (astro)physical, chemical and geological processes can only be understood in the framework of interdisciplinary studies with the incorporation of progress in heliophysics, astrophysics, planetary and Earth sciences. The assessment of the impacts of host stars on the climate and habitability of terrestrial (exo)planets will significantly expand the current definition of the HZ to the biogenic zone and provide new observational strategies for searching for signatures of life. The major goal of this paper is to describe and discuss the current status and recent progress in this interdisciplinary field in light of presentations and discussions during the NASA Nexus for Exoplanetary System Science funded workshop ‘Exoplanetary Space Weather, Climate and Habitability’ and to provide a new roadmap for the future development of the emerging field of exoplanetary science and astrobiology.

NUMO and JAEA have been conducting a joint research since FY2011, which is aimed to enhance the methodology of repository design and performance assessment in preliminary investigation stage for the deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. As a part of this joint research, we have been developing glass dissolution models which include various processes derived from glass-overpack-bentonite buffer interaction, considering the precipitation of Fe-silicates associated with steel overpack corrosion, and Si transport through altered layer of glass. The objective of this modeling work is to show comprehensively the lifetime of the vitrified waste due to glass matrix dissolution timescales through sensitivity analysis, and to identify the feature/process that most strongly influences the lifetime, and to identify future R&D issues that would help to improve the nuclide transport analysis with confidential value and the safety case in future. The sensitivity analysis suggested that the duration of the glass dissolution might be predicted in the ranges from 3.8×103 to 1.9×105 years. Also, the results indicated that the precipitation of Fe–silicate has the strongest influence on the long-team behavior of vitrified waste.

Mapping observations of nearby large-extended clusters of galaxies (Coma, Perseus, Virgo, etc.) are being performed with ASCA. Such clusters allow us to map physical parameters of hot gas in the clusters, such as temperature, metal abundance, and X-ray surface brightness. To determine such parameters at each part of a cluster, one should take careful care of X-ray contamination from outside of a pointed field, which is mainly due to “stray-light” X-rays (Honda et al. 1997). For this reason, the only way to obtain the distribution of hot gas parameter is to process the whole cluster data in a self-consistent way. For this purpose, we are developing the new analysis system called TERRA.

Since the discovery of fading X-rays from Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) with BeppoSAX (Piro et al. 1997, Costa et al. 1997), world-wide follow-up observations in optical band have achieved the fruitful results. The case of GRB 970228, there was an optical transient, coincides with the BeppoSAX position and faded (Paradijs et al. 1997, Sahu et al. 1997). These optical observations also confirmed the extended component, which was associated with the optical transient. The new transient are fading with a power-law function in time and the later observation of HST confirmed the extended emission is stable (Fruchter et al. 1997). This extended object seems to be a distant galaxy and strongly suggests to be the host.

Since planetary nebulae(PNe) are defined as the expanding ionized gas surrounding hot central stars, the most important and fundamental subject is to study expansion characteristics. What and how can we determine a typical expansion velocity of individual nebula? In spite of great success of Perek and Kohoutek Catalog(1967) and a recent Strasbourg-ESO Catalogued 992), PNe researchers have suffered from the lack of sufficiently large samples of expansion measurements on various type of PNe.

The Mitaka correlator is an FX-type correlator with 10-station inputs, which is designed for space VLBI and will be used for VSOP mainly. We report here the capabilities of the correlator, the results of model comparisons and the preliminary results of fringe test between the satellite HALCA and Japanese ground telescopes.

We present multi-frequency observations towards the nucleus of NGC 3079 using both Japan VLBI Network (J-Net) and the VLBA including phased VLA and Effelsberg. We detected two continuum components at 1.4 and 8.4 GHz, and determined the spectral indices for each component. Further, we found several H ɪ absorption features towards the continuum components whose velocity gradient is opposite to the galaxy rotation. Assuming rotation, the central mass is estimated to be 3 × 106 M ⊙. The water maser distribution extends in North-South direction along the galactic disk, while no clear indication of a Keplerian rotating disk was found.

CIGS thin films were irradiated with 100 or 250 keV electrons to reveal the radiation defect by analyzing PL measurement. The PL intensity decreased due to non-radiative recombination defects induced by electron irradiation. Furthermore, the intensity 0.8 eV peak of the PL spectrum was observed from CIGS films irradiated with 250 eV electrons and is said to correspond to In-antisite defects in CIGS materials. The defects can usually change into InCu-VCu complex defects combined with VCu, since the formation energy of the complex defect is lower than that of each defect. Cu interstitial defects induced by 250 keV electron irradiation would diffuse to VCu of the complex defect, whereupon the complex defect might become an In-antisite defect due to 250 keV electron irradiation.

A seroprevalence survey on measles, mumps, rubella and varicella was conducted on healthcare workers (HCWs) at Shimane University Hospital, Japan utilizing an enzyme immunoassay. Of 1811 HCWs tested, 91·8% were seropositive to measles, 92·1% to mumps, 89·5% to rubella and 96·3% to varicella. Sex-related differences in seroprevalence were found in rubella (males vs. females: 84·7 vs. 92·2%, P < 0·001). Moreover, males aged 30–39 years were most susceptible to rubella (22·4%), which may be attributed to the design of childhood immunization programmes in Japan. Individuals aged ⩽29 years were more susceptible to measles (14·3%) and mumps (10·9%), compared to other age groups. There were no significant sex- and age-related differences in varicella seroprevalence. The physician occupational group was more susceptible to rubella, but no significant occupational-related difference was observed in the other diseases. Susceptible subjects, with negative or equivocal serological results were given a vaccine which induced seroconversion in most vaccinees. Seroconversion occurred more frequently in the equivocal group than in the negative group. These findings provide a new insight for the seroprevalence survey of vaccine-preventable diseases in Japanese HCWs with special reference to vaccine efficacy.

Vitamin D and folate are associated with decreased colorectal cancer risk and their association with colorectal cancer prognosis is under investigation. We assessed the levels of plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3), folate and vitamin B12 in an international pilot study in order to determine variability of these biomarkers based on geographical location. Plasma 25(OH)D3, folate and vitamin B12 concentrations were measured in 149 invasive, newly diagnosed colorectal cancer cases from Heidelberg (Germany), Seattle (WA, USA), and Tampa (FL, USA) and in ninety-one age- and sex-matched controls. Their associations with potential predictors were assessed using multivariate linear regression analyses. Plasma 25(OH)D3, folate and vitamin B12 concentrations differed by location. Other predictors were season for 25(OH)D3 and tumour stage (vitamin B12). Season-corrected average 25(OH)D3 concentrations were higher in Heidelberg (31·7 ng/ml; range 11·0–83·0 ng/ml) than in Seattle (23·3 ng/ml; range 4·0–80·0 ng/ml) and Tampa (21·1 ng/ml; range 4·6–51·6 ng/ml). In Heidelberg, a strong seasonal variation was observed. Folate (11·1 ng/ml) and vitamin B12 (395 pg/ml) concentrations in Heidelberg were lower than those in Seattle (25·3 ng/ml and 740 pg/ml, respectively) and Tampa (23·8 ng/ml and 522 pg/ml, respectively). Differences in plasma 25(OH)D3 and folate concentrations between Heidelberg and the US sites were observed, probably reflecting variation in outdoor activities and sun-avoidance behaviour during summer as well as in folic acid fortification and supplement use. Intra-site differences at each study location were greater than between-location variability, suggesting that individual health behaviours play a significant role. Nevertheless, the intra-site differences we observed may be due to chance because of the limited sample size. Our pilot study illustrates the value of an international cohort in studying colorectal cancer prognosis to discern geographical differences in a broad range of exposures.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, July 29 – August 2, 2012.

Excitonic resonance energies in a C-plane AlN epilayer on the (0001) sapphire substrate grown by low-pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy were determined as a function of temperature by means of optical reflectance (OR) and cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements. The OR spectra exhibited distinct reflectance anomalies at the photon energies just above the multiple internal reflection fringes, and the spectral lineshape was fitted considering A (???u 7v 7c) and BC (???9v,???1 7v 7c) exciton transitions. The energies of them at 0 K were obtained to be 6.211 and 6.266 eV, giving the crystal field splitting (Δcr) of approximately 55 meV. The AlNfilm exhibited an excitonic emission even at 300 K, which is due to the small Bohr radius of excitons and large longitudinal optical phonon energies. The Einstein characteristic temperature Q E was estimated to be 580 K.

Sorption of selenium (Se) was studied by batch technique by using sedimentary rock samples andcorresponding saline groundwater from Horonobe underground research laboratory (URL)site under reducing condition. Spectroscopic analyses were performed by X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) afterthe sorption experiments to identify the oxidation states of Se on the sedimentary rock. It issuggested thatthe dominant parameters affecting the Se sorption are iron-bearing minerals, especially exchangeable Fe and pyrite, and organic matters. Most of the Se sorbed on the sedimentary rock was Se(0) inthe case of natural saline groundwater, at least at relatively high Se concentration, while only part of the Se was Se(0) in caseof the synthetic groundwater, which contains no organic matters. Incorporationinto pyrite could be the sorption mechanism of Se(0).

PIN-structure small-area solar cells using a-Si have been frequently reported on, but only a few reports are available on the study of solar cells using a large-area (10-cm square) substrate, all with a resultant conversion efficiency of above 9.0 %[1,2]. Our study has been concentrated on solar cells using a batch of ten 10-cm square substrates with an average conversion efficiency of 9.5 % or more.

As a result, without an anti-reflection coating on the surface of the glass substrate, the following values have been obtained: average conversion efficiency (EFF)=9.63 % (standard deviation of 0.195 %) -Open-circuit voltage (Voc)=12.668 V (standard deviation of 0.215 V) -Short-circuit current (Isc)=78.467 mA (standard deviation of 1.619 mA) -Fill factor (FF)=0.6672 (standard deviation of 0.009)

The process, equipment and methods for measurements through which these results were obtained are described below.

Systematic studies have been made on preparation of Si thin films from SiF4 under control over the flow of atomic hydrogens. The gas phase reactions taking place in the mixture of fragments (SiFn) resulting from plasma-induced dissociation and atomic hydrogens were widely investigated by a mass spectroscopy. Chemically active species,i.e., SiF2H and SiH2F were found as those related to the growth of films. The growth in the vicinity of substrates involves either endothermic or radical-enhanced reaction for the propagation of the three dimensional Si networks, accompaning release of terminators such as H and F. Accordingly, Si thin films with structures from amorphous to crystalline were obtained by controlling the flow of atomic hydrogen. A marked improvement in the hole-transport was established in the Si films containing hydrogen less than 5–6 at % due to the reduction in the tail states near the valence band.

Fundamental optical properties of Langmuir-Blodgett polydiacetylene (LB PDA) ultra thin films are investigated. The LB films exhibit a strong absorption peak at about 16000 cm-1 and a weak and broad peak at about 17500 cm-1; the color of the film is blue. After annealing at 90°C, a blue shift of the absorption peaks is observed; that is, the color of the LB films changes from blue to red. The phase transition corresponding to the color change is studied using Raman spectroscopy as a function of annealing temperature. For annealing temperatures between 50 and 60°C, the results show significant change in the ratio of Raman line intensities due to C≡C and C=C stretch modes. Such a transition is also observed for laser annealed LB PDA films. Furthermore, the photoluminescence (PL) properties of pristine (blue), annealed (red) and ion implanted (red) LB PDA films are investigated. The photoluminescence of both pristine and annealed LB PDA films show sharp peaks at about 15500 cm-1. The annealed LB PDA films have an additional small peak or shoulder at about 18000 cm-1. The photoluminescence peaks of red films implanted with 200keV As+ ions are observed at about 16000 cm-1 and become broad with increasing ion implantation dose in the range 1012–1015 cm-2.

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) of Ge-doped GaAs was made, in which As4 to Ga flux ratio :γ and Ge concentration :[Ge] were used as growth parameters. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra at 2K for slightly Ge-doped GaAs revealed that for γ =1 the emission of excitons bound to neutral Ge acceptors (A°,X) was the dominant one. With increasing γ ,(A°,X) was found to be steeply suppressed and at around γ=1.1, (A°,X) was totally quenched. For γ higher than 1.4, the emission of excitons bound at neutral Ge donors (D°,X) was gradually enhanced and for γ =11, (D°,X) became the principal one. Through van der Pauw measurements, samples with [Ge] around 1×1017cm-3 presented type conversion at around γ=1.7. In this series, the sample with γ =1.0 indicated a strong specific emission, [ g-g], which is formed just below (A°,X) and exhibited a strong energy shift towards lower energy sides (red shift) with increasing [Ge]. [g-g] was theoretically attributed to the pairs between excited-state acceptors. Since [g-g] is known to be easily quenched by small amount of donors, the formation of predominant [g-g] for γ =1 assures that very low-compensated p-type GaAs were grown by using this typically am-photeric impurity. We fabricated a series of p-type Ge-doped GaAs by keeping γ =1 in which the net hole concentration, │ NA-ND │ as high as 1×1020cm-3 was attained. We found four emissions which exhibited significant energy shifts with increasing │ NA-ND │ . From │ NA-ND │ ~1×1016 cm-3, [g-g] begins to appear as a dominant emission and at │ NA-ND │ ~ 1×1017 cm-3, another red shift emission, [g-g]2 begins to be formed parralelly on the higher energy side of [g-g]. It is interesting to note that both [g-g] and [g-g]2 seem to be totally quenched by the further increase of [Ge]. The emission due to band to Ge acceptor,(e,Ge) does not change its central energy until [Ge]= 5×-1018cm-3 and for larger [Ge] it turned into a new broad emission,[g-g]β showing a steep red energy shift. [g-g]α was formed on the higher energy side of (e,Ge) and indicated a systematic blue energy shift with growing [Ge] larger than 1×1019cm-3. [g-g]α was theoretically explained to be the emission due to the pairs between ground-state acceptors.

Electrical properties of heavily Be-doped GaAs grown by molecular beam epitaxy were investigated systematically in a wide range of Be-concentration from 1× 1014 up to 2× 1020 cm-3 by using yan der Pauw technique. Probable carrier scattering mechanisms observed in this work are discussed by taking into account the radiative mechanisms of several new photoluminescence emissions previously observed in the band-edge-emission region of the samples. All samples were checked their electrical properties first at room-temperature. Five selected samples out of them were measured from 10° K up to room-temperature. Samples having the carrier concentration from 1014 to 1018 cm3 presented typical semiconductor-like conduction with finite carrier excitation energy. For samples having carrier concentration 7× 1016 cm -3, the conduction mechanism at high temperature region above 30β K was dominated by holes thermally excited into valence band. At low temperature region below 30° K . it was dominated by holes hopping from neutral to ionized acceptors with the assistance of phonons. Hole mobilities of samples having the carrier concentration from 1017 to 1018 cm-3 showed an anomalous behavior in the low temperature region, which suggests the presence of a new type of carrier scattering mechanism. A radiative center denoted by lg-gl observed in this concentration region will be a candidate scattering center to explain these electrical behaviors. Samples having the carrier concentration larger than 1019 cm-3 demonstrated typically metallic electric conduction not owing to thermally excited carriers, which means that an impurity band is formed but merged with valence band. The density of state of this combined valence band mixed with impurity band can be supposed to reflect carrier concentration dependence of the PL emission bands observed in this region, i.e. [g-g]α , [g-g]β and [g-g]γ .