The multiphase simulations are conducted with the kinetic-magnetohydrodynamics hybrid code MEGA to investigate the spatial and the velocity distributions of lost fast ions due to the Alfvén eigenmode (AE) bursts in the Large Helical Device plasmas. It is found that fast ions are lost along the divertor region with helical symmetry both before and during the AE burst except for the promptly lost particles. On the other hand, several peaks are present in the spatial distribution of lost fast ions along the divertor region. These peaks along the divertor region can be attributed to the deviation of the fast-ion orbits from the magnetic surfaces due to the grad-B and the curvature drifts. For comparison with the velocity distribution of lost fast ions measured by the fast-ion loss detector (FILD), the ‘numerical FILD’ which solves the Newton–Lorentz equation is constructed in the MEGA code. The velocity distribution of lost fast ions detected by the numerical FILD during AE burst is in good qualitative agreement with the experimental FILD measurements. During the AE burst, fast ions with high energy (100–180 keV) are detected by the numerical FILD, while co-going fast ions lost to the divertor region are the particles with energy lower than 50 keV.

The neutral beam (NB) fast ion confinement in the Large Helical Device (LHD) is studied for several full field ($B_{t}\sim 2.75~\text{T}$) magnetic configurations by a combination of neutron measurement and simulations. To investigate the NB fast ion confinement, we have performed a series of short-pulse NB injection experiments. The experiment results are analysed by the integrated code TASK3D-a. From this investigation, the effective particle diffusion coefficients of the tangential and perpendicular NBs are approximately $D^{\text{eff}}\sim 0.1~\text{m}^{2}~\text{s}^{-1}$ and $D^{\text{eff}}\sim 1~\text{m}^{2}~\text{s}^{-1}$ in the standard configuration. It is clarified that the NB fast ion confinement improves when the plasmas are shifted inward. Moreover, it is also found that the simulation, which considers the deuteron dilution effect due to the presence of impurity ions, can describe a neutron emission rate consistent with the measurement.

Ligophorus satunensis n. sp. was collected from the bluetail mullet, Crenimugil buchanani (Bleeker, 1853), caught off Satun, Thailand, representing the first report of the Ligophorus species in Thailand. The new species is most similar to Ligophorus fenestrum Soo & Lim, 2012 in its fenestrated dorsal hamuli, a ventral bar with a long, bifurcated anteromedian protuberance (AMP) without lateral pieces, and a non-sclerotized vagina. However, it differs from the latter in its dorsal hamuli (up to two layers of fenestrations of the dorsal hamuli in L. satunensis n. sp. vs six layers in L. fenestrum), ventral hamuli (nonfenestrated vs fenestrated), penis (turning a full circle before reaching the genital pore vs turning less than half a circle), and its accessory piece (non-grooved basally and grooved distally vs simply grooved along its entire length). A single specimen, very similar to L. satunensis n. sp., obtained from the same host fish, which can be differentiated from the latter by a considerably shorter AMP of the ventral bar and a smaller and slender dorsal hamuli, is tentatively designated here as Ligophorus sp. Moreover, the phylogenetic trees constructed from the concatenated sequences of partial large-subunit nuclear ribosomal DNA (28S) and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) regions support that L. satunensis n. sp. is a new species closely related to L. fenestrum.

Measurements in the infrared wavelength domain allow direct assessment of the physical state and energy balance of cool matter in space, enabling the detailed study of the processes that govern the formation and evolution of stars and planetary systems in galaxies over cosmic time. Previous infrared missions revealed a great deal about the obscured Universe, but were hampered by limited sensitivity.

SPICA takes the next step in infrared observational capability by combining a large 2.5-meter diameter telescope, cooled to below 8 K, with instruments employing ultra-sensitive detectors. A combination of passive cooling and mechanical coolers will be used to cool both the telescope and the instruments. With mechanical coolers the mission lifetime is not limited by the supply of cryogen. With the combination of low telescope background and instruments with state-of-the-art detectors SPICA provides a huge advance on the capabilities of previous missions.

SPICA instruments offer spectral resolving power ranging from R ~50 through 11 000 in the 17–230 μm domain and R ~28.000 spectroscopy between 12 and 18 μm. SPICA will provide efficient 30–37 μm broad band mapping, and small field spectroscopic and polarimetric imaging at 100, 200 and 350 μm. SPICA will provide infrared spectroscopy with an unprecedented sensitivity of ~5 × 10−20 W m−2 (5σ/1 h)—over two orders of magnitude improvement over what earlier missions. This exceptional performance leap, will open entirely new domains in infrared astronomy; galaxy evolution and metal production over cosmic time, dust formation and evolution from very early epochs onwards, the formation history of planetary systems.

Intercalation of an ammonium amphiphile having an azobenzene chromophore, 4-dodecyloxy-4 ‘-(trimethylammoniopentyloxy)azobenzene and 4-(ω-trimethylammoniodecyloxy) -p’- (octyloxy)azobenzene bromide, into the layered silicate magadiite (ideal formula Na2Si14O29·nH2O) was carried out by a conventional ion exchange reaction in an aqueous medium. An intercalation compound with the ideal formula {(C12AzoC5N+)1.4H0.6·Si14O29·nH2O} was obtained. Based on the change in the basal spacing (to 4.21 nm) after the reaction and the visible absorption spectrum of the product, the intercalated azo dyes appear to form a J-aggregate in the interlayer space of magadiite. Under UV and visible light irradiation, the intercalated azo chromophore exhibited reversible transcis isomerization in the interlayer space of magadiite. This is the first successful report of photochemical reactions of guest species in the interlayer space of magadiite.

Photochemical isomerization of azobenzene intercalated in the hydrophobic, interlayer spaces of swelling fluor-tetrasilicic micas exchanged with dialkyldimethylammonium ions, with the alkyl chain length from 10 to 18, was investigated. Thin films of the organoammonium-mica-azobenzene intercalation compounds were obtained by depositing a suspension of the organoammonium-micas (prepared using a toluene/methanol solution of azobenzene) on quartz substrates. The intercalated azobenzene showed reversible photochromic reactions induced by UV and visible light irradiation. The fraction of the photochemically formed cis-isomer in the photostationary states decreased with a decrease in temperature. The observed change in the photochemical reactions is thought to reflect changes in the states of the dialkyldimethylammonium ions in the interlayer space of the swelling fluor-tetrasilicic mica.

A fully coherent free electron laser (FEL) seeded with a higher-order harmonic (HH) pulse from high-order harmonic generation (HHG) is successfully operated for a sufficiently prolonged time in pilot user experiments by using a timing drift feedback. For HHG-seeded FELs, the seeding laser pulses have to be synchronized with electron bunches. Despite seeded FELs being non-chaotic light sources in principle, external laser-seeded FELs are often unstable in practice because of a timing jitter and a drift between the seeding laser pulses and the accelerated electron bunches. Accordingly, we constructed a relative arrival-timing monitor based on non-invasive electro-optic sampling (EOS). The EOS monitor made uninterrupted shot-to-shot monitoring possible even during the seeded FEL operation. The EOS system was then used for arrival-timing feedback with an adjustability of 100 fs for continual operation of the HHG-seeded FEL. Using the EOS-based beam drift controlling system, the HHG-seeded FEL was operated over half a day with an effective hit rate of 20%–30%. The output pulse energy was $20~{\rm\mu}\text{J}$ at the 61.2 nm wavelength. Towards seeded FELs in the water window region, we investigated our upgrade plan to seed high-power FELs with HH photon energy of 30–100 eV and lase at shorter wavelengths of up to 2 nm through high-gain harmonic generation (HGHG) at the energy-upgraded SPring-8 Compact SASE Source (SCSS) accelerator. We studied a benefit as well as the feasibility of the next HHG-seeded FEL machine with single-stage HGHG with tunability of a lasing wavelength.

Mariculture is a rapidly developing industrial sector. Generally, fish are maintained in net cages with high density. Cage culture systems allow uncontrolled flow of sea water containing potentially infectious stages of fish parasites. In such culture conditions, prevention of such parasitic infections is difficult for parasites with life cycles that complete within culture sites, among which monogeneans and blood flukes are the most important platyhelminthes. Intense monogenean infections induce respiratory and osmo-regulatory dysfunctions. A variety of control measures have been developed, including freshwater bath treatment and chemotherapy. The potential to control monogenean infections through selective breeding, modified culture techniques to avoid infection, and general fish health management are discussed. It should be noted that mariculture conditions have provided some host-specific monogeneans with a chance to expand their host ranges. Blood flukes sometimes induce mass mortality among farmed fish. In-feed administration of praziquantel is the best solution to treat infected fish. Some cases are described that show how international trade in marine fish has resulted in the spread of hitherto unknown parasites into indigenous farmed and wild fish.

Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) is a severe invasive infection characterized by the sudden onset of shock, multi-organ failure, and high mortality. In Japan, appropriate notification measures based on the Infectious Disease Control law are mandatory for cases of STSS caused by β-haemolytic streptococcus. STSS is mainly caused by group A streptococcus (GAS). Although an average of 60–70 cases of GAS-induced STSS are reported annually, 143 cases were recorded in 2011. To determine the reason behind this marked increase, we characterized the emm genotype of 249 GAS isolates from STSS patients in Japan from 2010 to 2012 and performed antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The predominant genotype was found to be emm1, followed by emm89, emm12, emm28, emm3, and emm90. These six genotypes constituted more than 90% of the STSS isolates. The number of emm1, emm89, emm12, and emm28 isolates increased concomitantly with the increase in the total number of STSS cases. In particular, the number of mefA-positive emm1 isolates has escalated since 2011. Thus, the increase in the incidence of STSS can be attributed to an increase in the number of cases associated with specific genotypes.

We investigated electronic structure of one-dimensional biradical molecular chain which is constructed by exploiting the covalency between organic molecules of a diphenyl derivative of s-indacenodiphenalene (Ph2-IDPL). To control the crystallinity, we used gas deposition method. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) revealed developed band structure with wide dispersion of the one-dimensional biradical molecular chain.

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

Hydrothermal formation reaction of tobermorite in the autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) process has been investigated by in situ X-ray diffraction. High-energy X-rays from a synchrotron radiation source in combination with a newly developed autoclave cell and a photon-counting pixel array detector were used. XRD measurements were conducted in a temperature range 100–190°C throughout 12 h of reaction time with a time interval of 4.25 min under a saturated steam pressure. To clarify the tobermorite formation mechanism in the AAC process, the effect of Al addition on the tobermorite formation reaction was studied. As intermediate phases, non-crystalline calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H), hydroxylellestadite (HE), and katoite (KA) were clearly observed. Consequently, it was confirmed that there were two reaction pathways via C-S-H and KA in the tobermorite formation reaction of Al containing system. In addition, detailed information on the structural changes during the hydrothermal reaction was obtained.