By probing nuclear regions and the overall properties of AGN hosts as a function of their environments, we aim to observationally examine how AGN activities are related to their surroundings. We have selected a representative sample of AGN hosts in the Virgo cluster. The selected galaxies are located in a range of density regions showing various morphologies in 1.4 GHz continuum emission. High-resolution obser- vations with the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) allow us to access the inner region of the AGN without suffering from dust extinction and synchrotron self-absorption. Since a number of our targets are too weak to be detected at K-band (22 GHz) within their coherence time, we applied phase referencing to calibrate fast atmospheric phase uctuations.

Quasars are among the farthest and brightest objects known in the universe. Because quasars are mostly observed in the redshift range between 1 and 3, they can be used to study large scale structure in the universe, and its evolution over the past billion years. An important issue is the evolution of the quasar luminosity function, which has been investigated for relative small samples of the 2QZ catalog. Here we extend the study to 3 quasar samples, the most recent data of the Milliquas, Master and 2QZ quasar catalogs to determine the luminosity function of quasars and its evolution, using the Standard cosmological ΛCDM model with ΩΛ = 0.73, ΩM = 0.27, and H0 = 70kms-1Mpc-1. For the purpose of this analysis we initially used 0.25-mag bins and approximately 0.180-redshift bins, then calculated the comoving distance and comoving volume for each bin of redshift and calculated the number of objects in each bin per unit volume, in order to find the number density per absolute magnitude bin. Our analysis on the basis of these new and much more complete datasets is largely in agreement with earlier studies of the luminosity evolution of quasars.

SnS-TiO2 nanocomposites are synthesized using simple, cheap, and less toxic SnCl2 as the tin (II) precursor. The prepared nanoparticles are characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS). The XRD and TEM results indicate that the prepared product has SnS nanoparticles and a grain diameter of 30 nm. The DRS demonstrate that SnS-TiO2 possesses the absorption profile across the entire visible light region. The generation of reactive oxygen species is detected through the oxidation reaction from 1,5-diphenyl carbazide (DPCI) to 1,5-diphenyl carbazone (DPCO). It is found that the photocurrent density and photocatalytic effect increase with the modified SnS. Excellent catalytic degradation of Texbrite BA-L (TBA) solution is observed using the SnS-TiO2 composites under visible light irradiation. It is proposed that both the strong visible light absorption and the multiple exciton excitations contribute to the high visible light photocatalytic activity.

In this paper we introduce the Plasma Physics of Active Galactic Nuclei project, which is an ongoing experiment with Korean VLBI Network (KVN) and KVN and VERA Array (KaVA) to study multi- frequency polarimetric properties on parsec scales of active galaxies. The goal of the project is to improve our understanding of fundamental jet physics, especially evolution of the relativistic out ow coupled with the large-scale magnetic field. We selected six radio-loud AGN as our targets. So far we (i) detected resolved emissions regions at 86 and 129 GHz on VLBI scales, (ii) constructed 2D spectral index maps of the out ows, and (iii) found polarizations at 22 and 43 GHz for a few targets. Here we present spectral index distributions of 3C 120 between 22 and 43 GHz and a linear polarization map of BL Lac at 43 GHz obtained with KVN.

We provide results of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic observations of 83 nearby (0.002< z <0.48) and bright (K <14 mag) type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). For the observations, we used the Infrared Camera (IRC) on AKARI allowing us to obtain the spectrum in the rarely studied spectral range of 2.5-5.0 μm. The 2.5-5.0 μm spectral region suffers less dust extinction than ultra violet (UV) or optical wavelength ranges, and contains several important emission lines such as Brβ (2.63 μm), Brα (4.05 μm), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH; 3.3 μm). The sample is selected from the bright quasar surveys of Palomar Green and SNUQSO, and AGNs with black hole (BH) masses estimated from rever- beration mapping method. We measure the Brackett line properties for 11 AGNs, which enable us to derive BH mass estimators and investigate circum-nuclear environments. Moreover, we perform spectral modeling to fit the hot and warm dust components by adding photometric data from SDSS, 2MASS, WISE, and ISO to the AKARI spectra, and estimate hot and warm dust temperatures of ~1100K and ~220 K, respectively.

We present a kinematic study of the parsec-scale radio jet in OJ 287, one of the most studied BL Lac objects, during γ-ray ares, to explore the relation between parsec-scale radio jet activity and γ-ray emission. The 22-GHz light curve of OJ 287 show three obvious are events around 2011 May, 2011 October, and 2012 March. The second radio are occurred during the γ-ray aring period, and the third radio are seemed to precede the γ-ray are by one month. One jet component moved outward with respect to the core component with an apparent superluminal speed (~ 11c) from 2010 November to 2011 November. Then it changed direction, moving apparently inward in 2011 November, when the γ-ray are occurred. The observed apparent inward motion of the jet at 22 GHz could be caused by a new jet component, unresolved at 22 GHz, in the innermost region.

We carried out near-IR photometric and optical spectroscopic observations of V582 Aur, which is a FU Orionis type object, to investigate any periodic and/or aperiodic variations. We obtained light curves on the scale of a night and a year, in J, H and Ks bands with KASINICS (KASI Near Infrared Camera System) attached to the BOAO (Bohyun-san Optical Astronomy Observatory) 1.8-m reflector in Youngcheon, South Korea and examined photometric variations on the two time scales. So far we have not found any periodic brightness variations on the scale of a night. On the other hand, we have found that there seems to be a periodic brightness variation with a period of approximately 45 days. In addition, high-resolution optical spectroscopic observations of V582 Aur were performed from February 2013 to May 2014 with the high-resolution echelle spectrograph BOES attached to the BOAO 1.8-m re ector. We analyzed several spectral lines to understand the physical state of V582 Aur. The P Cyg profiles are clearly shown in the Hα line and Na I D line.

One of the long-standing problems in modern astronomy is the curious division of globular clusters (GCs) into two groups, according to the mean period (hPabi) of type ab RR Lyrae variables. In light of the recent discovery of multiple populations in GCs, we suggest a new model explaining the origin of the Sandage period-shift and the difference in mean period of type ab RR Lyrae variables between the two Oosterhoff groups. In our models, the instability strip in the metal-poor group II clusters, such as M15, is populated by second generation stars (G2) with enhanced helium and CNO abundances, while the RR Lyraes in the relatively metal-rich group I clusters like M3 are mostly produced by first generation stars (G1) without these enhancements. This population shift within the instability strip with metallicity can create the observed period-shift between the two groups, since both helium and CNO abundances play a role in increasing the period of RR Lyrae variables. The presence of more metal-rich clusters having Oosterhoff-intermediate characteristics, such as NGC 1851, as well as of most metal-rich clusters having RR Lyraes with the longest periods (group III) can also be reproduced, as more helium-rich third and later generations of stars (G3) penetrate into the instability strip with further increase in metallicity. Therefore, although there are systems where the suggested population shift cannot be a viable explanation, for the most general cases, our models predict that RR Lyraes are produced mostly by G1, G2, and G3, respectively, for the Oosterhoff groups I, II, and III.

개맥문동(Liriope spicata (Thunb.))이 검정주머니나방(Mahasena aurea (Butler))의 새로운 기주식물로 처음으로 확인되었기에 보고한다. 또한 본 연구를 통해 본 종의 유충과 암컷이 우리나라에서는 처음으로 채집되었다. 이들의 암컷과 수컷에 대한 외부형태적 특징을 재기재함과 동시에 수컷생식기, 성충, 애벌레, 번데기 등의 특징을 도해하여 제시하였다.

A 10-year-old spayed female Yorkshire Terrier visited for a physical checkup. The bitch had a history of ovariohysterectomy for treatment of pyometra a year ago. On physical examination, the dog was bright and alert. Complete blood counts, serum biochemistry and blood gas analysis results did not show any deviations within normal ranges. Radiographic and ultrasonographic examinations revealed unilateral hydronephrosis and hydroureter of the right kidney and ureter, and obstruction of the distal ureter was observed. On the basis of these results, nephroureterectomy was performed. During the operation, the adhesion of the distal ureter and surrounding tissue cells were observed without the evidence of the ureteral ligation. The distal ureteral obstruction was presumed to be adhesion caused by fibrous tissue formation between ureter and retained broad ligament, or incompletely removed blood clots following ovariohysterectomy. This case report describes the occurrence of hydroureteronephrosis caused by adhesion of the distal ureter following ovariohysterectomy in a bitch.

Recent narrow-band Ca photometry discovered two distinct red giant branch (RGB) populations in some massive globular clusters (GCs) including M22, NGC 1851, and NGC 288. In order to investigate the dierences in light/heavy elements abundances between the two subpopulations, we have performed low-resolution spectroscopy for stars on the two RGBs in these GCs. We find a significant difference (more than 4) in calcium abundance from the spectroscopic HK0 index for both M22 and NGC 1851. We also find a more than 8 difference in CN band strength between the Ca-strong and Ca-weak subpopulations. For NGC 288, however, we detect the presence of a large difference only in the CN strength. The calcium abundances of the two subpopulations in this GC are identical within errors. We also find interesting differences in CN-CH relations among these GCs. While CN and CH indices are correlated in M22, they show an anti-correlation in NGC 288. However, NGC 1851 shows no dierence in CH between two groups of stars having different CN strengths. The CN bimodality in these GCs could be explained by pollution from intermediate-mass asymptotic giant branch stars and/or fast-rotating massive stars. For the presence or absence of calcium bimodality and the differences in CN-CH relations, we suggest these would be best explained by how strongly type II supernovae enrichment has contributed to the chemical evolutions of these GCs.

Three growing wethers were used to investigate the differences in nitrogen (N) retention, blood plasma metabolite concentration and energy-yielding nutrient supply to muscle and adipose tissue. The wethers were fed one of three diets: timothy hay with concentrate (THD), Italian ryegrass with concentrate (IRD), and rice straw with concentrate (RSD) for 11 days. The experimental diets were adjusted to the animals to provide 100 g of daily gain. The triglyceride (TG) concentration of blood plasma in arterial and portal veins was higher with THD and IRD than with RSD. Conversely, the available amount of TG in tissues was higher with IRD. The daily amount of glucose and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) supplied to muscle tissue and adipose tissue was numerically higher with THD than IRD or RSD. Although N retention did not differ among the diets, it was numerically higher with THD than with IRD or RSD. The results suggest that the difference in the amount of glucose and NEFA delivered to muscle tissue may reflect the N retention in response to forage based diets.

The calibration of the period luminosity relation (PLR) for Galactic Mira variables is one of the principle aims of the VERA project. We observe H2O maser emission at 22 GHz associated with Mira variables in order to determine their distances based on annual parallaxes. We conduct multi-epoch VLBI observations over 1{2 years with a typical interval of one month using VERA in order to obtain annual parallaxes with an accuracy of better than than 10%. Recently, the annnual parallax of T Lep was determined to be 3.060.04 mas corresponding to a distance of 3274 pc (Nakagawa et al., 2014). The circumstellar distribution and kinematics of H2O masers was also revealed. With accurate distances to the sources, calibrations of K-band absolute magnitudes (MK) can be improved compared to conventional studies. By compiling Mira variables whose distances were determined with astrometric VLBI, we obtained a PLR of MK = 3.51 logP + 1.37 ± 0.07.

We have initiated single-dish monitoring observations of 400 methanol maser sources at 6.7 GHz using the Hitachi 32-m radio telescope from December 2012 to systematically research periodic ux variations, which are observed in some methanol maser sources associated with high-mass (proto-)stars. In our monitoring, we have made daily monitoring, so that each source has been observed every nine days with an integration time of 5 min (typical 3  detection sensitivities of 0.9 Jy). The monitoring observations help us statistically understand periodic ux variations with a period longer than 50 days. As an initial result, we present a new detection of periodic ux variations in the 6.7 GHz methanol maser source G 036.70+00.09. The period of the ux variations is ~53 days (~0.019 cycles day-1), and seems to be stable over 9 cycles, at least until the middle of August 2014.

A 26-month-old male mixed-breed dog of Korean origin was subjected to necropsy following death after a history of decreased appetite and weight loss. Necropsy revealed generalized lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly. Histopathological examination of samples from the spleen, mandibular lymph nodes, liver, kidney, and large intestine showed granulomas with numerous macrophages containing intracytoplasmic Leishmania amastigotes. Transmission electron microscopy revealed Leishmania amastigotes in the macrophage cytoplasm. All tissues with granulomas were positive for Leishmania spp, which was confirmed to be Leishmania infantum by conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real-time PCR, and in situ hybridization. To our knowledge, this is the second case of canine visceral leishmaniasis in Korea.

We report our measurements of the trigonometric distance and proper motion of IRAS 20056+3350, obtained from the annual parallax of H2O masers. Our distance of D = 4:69+0:65 -0:51 kpc, which is 2.8 times larger than the near kinematic distance adopted in the literature, places IRAS 20056+3350 at the leading tip of the Local arm and proximal to the Solar circle. We estimated the proper motion of IRAS 20056+3350 to be (μα cos δ, μδ) = (—2:62 ± 0:33, —5:65 ± 0:52) mas yr-1 from the group motion of H2O masers, and use our results to estimate the angular velocity of Galactic rotation at the Galactocentric distance of the Sun, Ω0 = 29:75 ± 2:29 km s-1 kpc-1, which is consistent with the values obtained for other tangent points and Solar circle objects.

We report results of the measurement of the trigonometric parallax of an H2O maser source in IRAS 22555+6213 with the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA). The annual parallax was determined to be 0.2780.019 mas, corresponding to a distance of 3.66+0:30 -0:26 kpc. Our results conrm that IRAS 22555+6213 is located in the Perseus arm. We computed the peculiar motion of IRAS 22555+6213 to be (Usrc; Vsrc;Wsrc) = (0 ± 1,-32 ± 1, 9 ± 1) km s􀀀1, where Usrc, Vsrc, and Wsrc are directed toward the Galactic center, in the direction of Galactic rotation and toward the Galactic north pole, respectively. IRAS 22555+6213, NGC7538 and Cepheus A lie along the same line of sight, and are within 2 on the sky. Their parallax distances, with which we derived their absolute position in the Milky Way, show that IRAS 22555+6213 and NGC7538 are associated with the Perseus arm, while Cepheus A is located in the Local arm. We compared the kinematic distances of IRAS 22555+6213 derived with at and non- at rota- tion curve with its parallax distance and found the kinematic distance derived from the non- at rotation assumption (—32 km s-1 lag) to be consistent with the parallax distance.

We made phase-referencing Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations of Galactic 22 GHz H2O maser sources with VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA). We measured the parallax dis- tances of G48.61+0.02, G48.99-0.30, G49.19-0.34, ON1, IRAS 20056+3350, IRAS 20143+3634, ON2N, and IRAS 20126+4104, which are located near the tangent point and the Solar circle. The angular ve- locity of the Galactic rotation at the LSR (i.e. the ratio of the Galactic constants) is derived using the measured parallax distances and proper motions of these sources. The derived value of Ω0 = 28:8  1:7 km s-1 kpc-1 is consistent with recent values obtained using VLBI astrometry but 10% larger than the International Astronomical Union (IAU) recommended value of 25.9 km s-1 kpc-1 = (220 km s-1) / (8.5 kpc).

The Korean National Residue Program (KNRP) use three plans for the sampling of domestic meats: monitoring, surveillance, and exploratory testing. We analyzed the results of monitoring and surveillance for residual veterinary drugs and pesticides in meat during 2012 and 2013. KNRP targets food-producing animals including cattle, pigs, chickens, ducks, sheep (goats), and horses. Sampling mainly focuses on veterinary drugs and pesticide residues found in tissues such as muscle, kidney, and liver. A total of 548 residue violations occurred between 2012 and 2013, mainly in pigs (427 violations) and cattle (113 violations). The most commonly found compounds were antimicrobials such as penicillins, fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, sulfonamides, and macrolides. Pig residue violations were mainly for the presence of penicillins (34%) and fluoroquinolones (28%), while most residue violations in cattle were due to the presence of penicillins (32%) and aminoglycosides (27%). The overall rates of violations were 0.21% in 2012 and 0.10% in 2013. A major cause of violations was the failure to follow the appropriate withdrawal periods (68.8%). The results of the KNRP were analyzed to provide information on agricultural chemical residues that are of public health concern and to help control and prevent residue violations for ensuring food safety.

We present [Fe ii] ⋋ 1.257 μm spectra toward the interacting binary UY Aur with 0:0014 angular resolution, obtained with the Near infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) combined with the adaptive optics system Altair of the GEMINI observatory. In the [Fe ii] emission, UY Aur A (primary) is brighter than UY Aur B (secondary). The blueshifted and redshifted emission between the primary and secondary show a complicated structure. The radial velocities of the [Fe ii] emission features are similar for UY Aur A and B: ~ —100 km s-1 and ~ +130 km s-1 for the blueshifted and redshifted components, respectively. Considering the morphologies of the [Fe ii] emissions and bipolar out ow context, we concluded that UY Aur A drives fast and widely opening out ows with an opening angle of ~90° while UY Aur B has micro collimated jets.