We report Hα imaging observations of nearby galaxies with the Kiso Schmidt telescope. For spiral galaxy NGC 628, we found no clear correlation between Hα and CO intensities, and we discuss the star formation efficiency of this galaxy. No nuclear Hα emission in this galaxy was detected. This is consistent with spectroscopic observations which indicate that the nuclear region is in the post starburst phase. We also describe the Hα image of Hickson's compact group 92 in which diffuse emission is detected extending within the group system.

We present the first determination of the 18 μm luminosity function (LF) of galaxies at 0.006 < z < 0.7 (the average redshift is ~ 0.04) using the AKARI mid-infrared All-Sky Survey catalogue. We have selected a 18 μm flux-limited sample of 243 galaxies from the catalogue in the SDSS spectroscopic region. We then classified the sample into four types; Seyfert 1 galaxies (including QSOs), Seyfert 2 galaxies, LINERs and Star-Forming galaxies using mainly [OIII]/Hβ vs. [NII]/Hα line ratios obtained from the SDSS.

As a result of constructing Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 LFs, we found the following results; (i) the number density ratio of Seyfert 2s to Seyfert 1s is 3.98 ± 0.41 obtained from Sy1 and Sy2 LFs; this value is larger than the results obtained from optical LFs. (ii) the fraction of Sy2s in the entire AGNs may be anti-correlated with 18 μm luminosity. These results suggest that the torus structure probably depends on the mid-infrared luminosity of AGNs and most of the AGNs in the local Universe are obscured by dust.

An outbreak of psittacosis related to a bird park occurred in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, Japan, during winter 2001. Seventeen cases of psittacosis (12 visitors, three staff, and two student interns) were confirmed. A cohort study was conducted among the park staff and students to determine the risk factors for the development of acute serologically confirmed psittacosis (SCP) infection. Being ‘bird staff’ had an increased risk of SCP infection (RR 3·96, 95% CI 1·48–10·58). Entering the staff building, where ill birds were maintained without proper isolation, was also associated with an increased risk of SCP infection (RR 3·61, 95% CI 1·03–12·6). Isolation of ill birds and quarantine measures were found to be insufficient. Dehumidifiers and a high-pressure water spray under a closed ventilation environment may have raised the concentration of Chlamydophila psittaci in the hothouses. Bird park staff and visitors should be educated about psittacosis.

The InfraRed Camera (IRC) (Onaka et al. 2004), a wide-field (~10 × 10 arcmin2) NIR-MIR 2–26(μm) camera and spectrograph onboard the AKARI (formerly ASTRO-F) space telescope (Murakami et al. 2004), can perform slit-less spectroscopic survey. Many faint galaxies have been serendipitously detected during its in-orbit performance verification period thanks to the power of the slit-less spectroscopy. They are as faint as a few – several mJy in flux, but they can be easily recognized by their prominent spectroscopic features (e.g., PAH). Their redshift (≲0.3) can be measured through spectral template fitting over the features. We can thus obtain their basic information (redshift, activity type, and luminosity) to investigate nature of galaxies out to much greater distance at MIR than before. With the new IRC/AKARI data, we might be able to address some of the most interesting questions on galaxy evolution at z≃0.3–2 (e.g., Genzel & Cesarsky 2000; Peeters et al. 2004; Pearson 2005): What contributes to the excess found in mid-infrared source count studies with ISO/Spitzer surveys? How does the luminosity function evolve with redshift? How do the spectral features (PAH, etc.) evolve with redshift, and how they correlate with MIR and FIS luminosities with each other? We here demonstrate how MIR galaxy spectra thus obtained are useful for investigation of their basic properties.

This paper describes a fundamental study of evaporation of volatile-liquid lenses due to the heat supply from the substrate of an immiscible, less-volatile liquid under the atmosphere of the common vapours of the two fluid substances. Experiments were performed with single n-pentane lenses placed on the surface of an otherwise quiescent pool of water. The behaviour of each lens throughout its life was observed in detail using laser shadowgraphy. It was found that the time required for complete evaporation of each lens and the behaviour of the lenses change, in a peculiar but rather regular way, with the age of the water surface. This ageing effect is more significant when fluids of higher purities are used, and it is thought to be due to the quantity of contaminants at the surface increasing with its age.

A Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) outbreak in Japan was investigated with an observational study, analytical epidemiology and bacteriological examination (including phage typing). The outbreak occurred among 96 schoolchildren, and was caused by SE phage type 1. The outbreak source was dessert buns served at a school lunch (RR 42·55, 95% CI 5·93–305·11, P<0·001). The buns were probably cross-contaminated from eggs from a factory with a history of SE-contaminated products. The incubation period was longer than usual (3–16 days, median 8 days). A low contaminating dose may account for the long incubation period and low attack rate. Outbreak detection was hampered by the absence of routine Salmonella surveillance in Japan. The investigation was complicated by concurrent illnesses from other SE phage types. It was successful, in part, because adequate food samples were available for microbiological testing.

Electrical properties of the shallow thermal donors (TDs) in n-type CZ-Si diodes by the electron irradiation were investigated. After the electron irradiation, carrier concentration was decreased. From deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements, some peaks related to TDs and vacancy-oxygen complexes were observed for the irradiated samples. The peak related to V-O and/or A-center at EC-0.18 eV increased with the electron fluence. To compare that, the level of EC-0.09 eV related to TDs was independent of electron fluence. In addition to that, reverse current of the diodes was increased with increasing irradiated electron fluence.

We report here the results of deep optical spectroscopy of the very extended emission-line region (VEELR) found serendipitously around the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 4388 in the Virgo cluster. The Hα recession velocities of most of the filaments of the region observed are highly blue-shifted with respect to the systemic velocity of the galaxy. The velocity field is complicated, and there seem to be several streams of filaments ranging from ~ −100 km s−1 to ~ −700 km s−1 with respect to the systemic velocity of the galaxy. The emission-line ratios of the VEELR filaments are well explained by power-law photoionization models with solar abundances. In addition to photoionization, shock heating probably contributes to the ionization of the gas. We conclude that the VEELR was formerly the disk gas of NGC 4388, which has been stripped by ram pressure due to the interaction between the hot intra-cluster medium (ICM) and the galaxy.

We tested symptom-based surveillance during the G8 conference in 2000 as a means of detecting outbreaks, including bio-terrorism attacks, promptly. Five categories of symptoms (skin and haemorrhagic, respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological and unexplained) were adopted for the case definition of the surveillance. The surveillance began 1 week before the conference, and continued until 1 week after the conference ended. We could not detect any outbreaks during this surveillance. Compared to the existing diagnosis-based surveillance system, symptom-based surveillance has the advantages of timeliness and simplicity. However, poor specificity and difficulties in determining epidemic threshold were important limitations of this system. To increase the specificity of surveillance, it is essential to incorporate rapid laboratory diagnoses into the system.

We optically find an unusual emission-line bubble near the tip of the southeastern arm of NGC 7318B. A large number (∼ 106) of supernova remnants would be the most plausible agents.

NGC 7318B in Stephan's Quintet has two optical arms (toward N and S) emanating from the eastern part of the main body. Since these arms are similar morphologically to the tidal tails of merging galaxies such as NGC 4038/9, it is considered that NGC 7318B itself is a major merger with a retrograde orbit. In order to study the emission-line activity in the tidal arms of NGC 7318B, we took CCD narrow-band (Hα ON and OFF) images and then found a large-scale arc in Hα emission which traces closely the arms. This Hα arc resembles both the radio and the soft X-ray arcs morphologically (van der Hulst & Rots 1981; Pietsch et al. 1997), suggesting that a single physical mechanism is responsible for all of these kinds of emission. Our optical spectroscopic observations of the shell-like feature at the southern tip of the arc reveal both broad Hα emission and stronger-than-normal [NII] and [SII] emission lines, which are typical of supernova remnants (SNRs). The required number of SNRs is estimated to be as much as ~ 106.

In order to study environmental effects on the nuclear activity in galaxies, we have been conducting a spectroscopic study of Hickson Compact Groups of galaxies (HCGs, Hickson 1982) which are the densest agglomeration of galaxies. We obtained nuclear spectra of 62 galaxies in 29 HCGs in the spectral range 6200–7000Å with the 188cm telescope at Okayama Astrophysical Observatory. These spectra were classified into the three types by using the emission line ratio [NII]λ6583/Hα; (1) AGN: [NII]λ6583/Hα >0.6, (2) HII nuclei: [NII]λ6583/Hα <0.6, and (3) Absorption: no emission line. We compared the nuclear activity of galaxies in HCGs with that of nearby galaxies (Ho 1996; Ho, Filippenko & Sargent 1997) which provides a representative sample of field galaxies. In early-type spirals (Sa-Sbc), the fraction of HII nuclei in HCGs is smaller than that in the field galaxies, while the fraction of absorption in HCGs is larger than that in field galaxies. On the other hand, in early-type galaxies (E-S0a) and late-type spirals (Sc-P), we found little difference in the nuclear activity between HCGs and field galaxies.

The degradation of the electrical performance of strained Si1-xGex epitaxial diodes by 220-MeV carbon particles is reported and compared with the effect of 20-MeV alpha rays and 20-MeV protons. The macroscopic damage is studied in a broad fluence range and for different Ge contents, ranging from 8 to 16 %. It is shown that the radiation damage of carbon irradiated diodes is about one order of magnitude larger than that for alpha ray irradiation, which can be explained by considering the difference of the nonionizing energy loss (NIEL). It is observed that the reverse current at a fixed bias increases with increasing fluence, while the rate of increase decreases with increasing fluence and/or Ge content. The fact that a close to square root dependence exists between the boron deactivation in the diode depletion region, derived from capacitance-voltage measurements and the reverse current increase suggests that the device degradation is dominated by radiation induced deep levels associated with interstitial boron complexes.

Results are presented of a study on the degradation of the electrical performance of Fe contaminated n+p Si diodes, subjected to a 220-MeV carbon irradiation. The reverse current of the diodes increases after irradiation, while the capacitance and hence the doping concentration decreases. The areal and peripheral components of the leakage current are extracted from diodes with different area to perimeter ratios. Both the generation and the recombination lifetime calculated from I/V and C/V characteristics also decrease. The deep levels in the Si substrate induced by the irradiation are mainly responsible for the degradation of the diode performance. The radiation damage is also studied for 1 -MeV electrons and 1 -MeV fast neutrons. The performance degradation for carbon irradiation is three orders of magnitude larger than that for electron irradiation. The differences in the radiation damage are explained by the differences in the number of knock-on atoms and the nonionizing energy loss (NIEL), which is attributed to the difference of mass and the possibility of nuclear collision with target Si atoms

Results are presented of a study on the degradation of the electrical and optical performance of n+p Si avalanche photodiodes, subjected to 1-MeV fast neutrons and to a 220-MeV carbon irradiation. The dark current increases after irradiation, while the photo current decreases. Two dominant hole capture levels, which are responsible for the degradation of performance, are after irradiation observed by DLTS (Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy). The degradation caused by neutron irradiation is smaller than that for carbon irradiation. The differences in the radiation damage are explained by the differences in the number of knock-on atoms and the nonionizing energy loss (NIEL). The recovery behavior of the device performance by isochronal annealing is also reported.

Results are presented of a study on the performance degradation and the induced lattice defects of In0.53Ga0.47As p-i-n photodiodes, subjected to 220-MeV carbon particles. The effects on both the dark current and the photo-current are investigated as a function of the carbon fluence and correlated with DLTS results. The device degradation is compared with the one observed after exposure to 1-MeV electrons, 1-MeV fast neutrons and 20-MeV alpha rays, respectively. The differences in damage coefficients will be explained in view of the calculated number of knock-on atoms and the nonionizing energy loss (NIEL). The recovery behavior of the diode performance and of the induced deep levels by isochronal annealing is also reported.

Results are presented for the first time of a study on the degradation of the electrical performance of MOSFET's processed on SIMOX substrates and subjected to a 220-MeV carbon irradiation. For the n-MOSFETs an unstable increase of the drain current in linear operation is found, while for the p-MOSFETs, a drastic reduction is observed, both in linear operation and in saturation. The radiation damage is also compared to the results for 1-MeV electrons, 1-MeV fast neutrons and 20-MeV alpha rays. The differences in the damage coefficients are explained by the differences in the number of knock-on atoms and the nonionizing energy loss (NIEL). The recovery behavior of the device performance by isochronal annealing is also reported.

We report a case of a 31-year-old woman with ageusia. Her ageusia was related to a variety of causes including an unbalanced diet, administration of the anti-epileptic drug, carbamazepine and psychological factors. Her taste function recovered after stopping the carbamazepine and treatment with liver extracts and zinc sulphate.

Results are presented of a study on the degradation and recovery behavior of strained Si 1−xGex diodes and heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) by electron and neutron irradiation. The degradation of device performance and the generation of lattice defects are reported as a function of germanium content and radiation source. Isochronal annealing is performed to study the recovery behavior of the irradiated devices. The radiation source dependence of the degradation is discussed taking into account the absorbed energy dunng irradiation.