A South Korean passenger ferry, the Sewol, carrying 476 people, capsized and sank in 2014 resulting in 295 deaths and 9 missing. Most were high-school students on a school trip (246 deaths, 83.4%) and many parents who lost their children had suffered from a wide range of mental and physical health consequences. This research examines the extent and intensity of ongoing psychological distress and PTSD symptoms among the parents 2 years after the disaster. The 141 parents of the high-school victims agree with research participation were surveyed using a questionnaire on sociodemographic data. We conducted the structured clinical interview including PTSD and suicide assessment for them. Among the 141 subjects, 56.0% (n = 79) meet the PTSD diagnostic criteria, suggesting that, after two full years, more than a half of them are still suffering from chronic psychological pains. This result is higher than any other PTSD study about indirect victims. In particular, 42.6% (n = 60) reported suicidal ideation and 4.3% (n = 6) actually attempted suicide but failed. These figures are on the order of 10 to 100 times higher than the national prevalence. This research is characterized by homogeneity of the subjects in that they were all the parents of young adolescent victims. After two years of traumatic experiences, more than a half of the interviewed parents who lost their children are still suffering from the PTSD. These findings suggest that post-disaster PTSD can be larger and last longer when the relationship was more intimate and the death of the victim was less expected.

In this paper, structural modelling and dynamic analysis methods reflecting the characteristics of a liquid propellant were developed for a pogo analysis. The pogo phenomenon results from the complex interaction between the vehicle structural vibration in the longitudinal direction and the propulsion system. Thus, for an accurate vibration analysis of a liquid propellant launch vehicle, both the consumption of the liquid propellant and the change in the stiffness reflecting the nonlinear hydroelastic effect were simultaneously considered. A complete vehicle structure, including the liquid propellant tanks, was analytically modelled while focusing on pogo. In addition, a feasible liquid propellant tank modelling method was established to obtain an one-dimensional complete vehicle model. With these methods, comparative studies of the hydroelastic effect were conducted. Evaluations of the dynamic analysis of a reference vehicle were also conducted during the first burning stage. The numerical results obtained with the present orthotropic model and the dynamic analysis method were found to be in good agreement with the natural vibration characteristics according to previous analyses and experiments. Additionally, the reference vehicle showed the estimated occurrence of pogo in the first structural mode when compared with the frequencies of the propellant feeding system. In conclusion, the present structural modelling and modal analysis procedures can be effectively used to analyse dynamic characteristics of liquid propellant launch vehicles. These techniques are also capable of identifying the occurrence of pogo and providing design criteria related to pogo instability.

For the success of PAL-XFEL, two critical systems, namely a low emittance injector and a variable gap out-vacuum undulator, are under development. In order to realize the target emittance of the PAL-XFEL injector we carried out an optimization study of various parameters, such as the laser beam transverse profile, the laser pulse length, the laser phase, and the gun energy. The transverse emittance measured at the Injector Test Facility (ITF) is ${\it\varepsilon}_{x}=0.48\pm 0.01~\text{mm}~\text{mrad}$ . An undulator prototype based on the EU-XFEL design and modified for PAL-XFEL was built and tested. A local- $K$ pole tuning procedure was developed and tested. A significant reduction (90%) of the local- $K$ fluctuation was observed. The requirement of undulator field reproducibility better than $2\times 10^{-4}$ and the undulator gap setting accuracy below $1~{\rm\mu}\text{m}$ were achieved for the prototype. The optical phase jitter after the pole height tuning at the tuning gap was calculated to be $2.6^{\circ }$ rms, which satisfies the requirement of $5.0^{\circ }$ .

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

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

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

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

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

While multiple DNase activities occur in the excretory/secretory products (ESPs) of the adult Haemonchus contortus, the DNase activities in ESPs of the infective larvae (L3) have not been studied. Thus, the DNase activities in ESPs of H. contortus L3 were investigated and compared to those of adults for developmental stage-specific analysis. The DNase activities had relative molecular masses (Mrs) of 34 and 36 kDa upon zymographic analysis at pH 5.0 and 7.0 when the larvae were incubated for over 48 h. The 34 and 36 kDa DNases of L3 ESPs were also detected in adult ESPs with similar characteristics. However, the 37 and 38.5 kDa DNases of the adult ESPs were not detected in the L3 ESPs. Since the 37 and 38.5 kDa DNase activities were mainly detected in adult ESPs, these activities appear to be specific to the adult stage whereas the other ESP DNase activities appear to be expressed during multiple stages of the parasite's life cycle. While the difference in DNase activities of L3 and adults remains obscure, the role of DNase in larval development should be further clarified and the identification of stage-specific developmental markers will lead to the discovery of specific factors that stimulate larval development.

There is continued interest in developing more stable contacts to a variety of GaN-based devices. In this paper we give two examples of devices that show improved thermal stability when boride, nitride or Ir diffusion barriers are employed in Ohmic contact stacks. AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) were fabricated with Ti/Al/X /Ti/Au source/ drain Ohmic (where X is TiB2, ZrN, TiN, TaN or Ir) contacts and subjected to long-term annealing at 350°C. For GaN layers with an electron concentration of ∼3×1017 cm-3, the minimum specific contact resistance achieved is 6×10-5 Ω cm2 for Ti/Al/TiN/Ti/Au after annealing at 800°C. The specific contact resistance was found to strongly depend on the doping level, suggesting that tunneling is the dominant mechanism of current flow. By comparison with companion devices with conventional Ti/Al/Ni/Au Ohmic contacts, the HEMTs with boride-based Ohmic metal showed superior stability of both source-drain current and transconductance after 25 days aging at 350°C. The gate current for standard HEMTs increases during aging and the standard Ohmic contacts eventually fail by shorting to the gate contact. Similarly, InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well light-emitting diodes (MQW-LEDs) were fabricated with either Ni/Au/TiB2/Ti/Au or Ni/Au/Ir/Au p-Ohmic contacts. Both of these contacts showed superior long-term thermal stability compared to LEDs with conventional Ni/Au contacts.