The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute plans to develop a coronagraph in collaboration with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and to install it on the International Space Station (ISS). The coronagraph is an externally occulted one-stage coronagraph with a field of view from 3 to 15 solar radii. The observation wavelength is approximately 400~nm, where strong Fraunhofer absorption lines from the photosphere experience thermal broadening and Doppler shift through scattering by coronal electrons. Photometric filter observations around this band enable the estimation of 2D electron temperature and electron velocity distribution in the corona. Together with a high time cadence ($<$12~min) of corona images used to determine the geometric and kinematic parameters of coronal mass ejections, the coronagraph will yield the spatial distribution of electron density by measuring the polarized brightness. For the purpose of technical demonstration, we intend to observe the total solar eclipse in August 2017 with the filter system and to perform a stratospheric balloon experiment in 2019 with the engineering model of the coronagraph. The coronagraph is planned to be installed on the ISS in 2021 for addressing a number of questions (e.g., coronal heating and solar wind acceleration) that are both fundamental and practically important in the physics of the solar corona and of the heliosphere.

We built a 8 μm selected sample of galaxies in the NEP-AKARI eld by defining 4 redshift bins with the four AKARI bands at 11, 15, 18 and 24 microns (0:15 < z < 0:49, 0:75 < z < 1:34, 1:34 < z < 1:7 and 1:7 < z < 2:05) . Our sample contains 4079 sources, 599 are securely detected with Herschel/PACS. Also adding ultraviolet (UV) data from GALEX, we fit the spectral energy distributions using the physically motivated code CIGALE to extract the star formation rate, stellar mass, dust attenuation and the AGN contribution to the total infrared luminosity (LIR). We discuss the impact of the adopted attenuation curve and that of the wavelength coverage to estimate these physical parameters. We focus on galaxies with a luminosity close the characteristic L* IR in the different redshift bins to study the evolution with redshift of the dust attenuation in these galaxies.

The recent updates of the North Ecliptic Pole deep (0.5 deg2, NEP-Deep) multi-wavelength survey covering from X-ray to radio-wave is presented. The NEP-Deep provides us with several thousands of 15 μm or 18 μm selected galaxies, which is the largest sample ever made at these wavelengths. A continuous filter coverage in the mid-infrared wavelength (7, 9, 11, 15, 18, and 24 μm) is unique and vital to diagnose the contributions from starbursts and AGNs in the galaxies out to z=2. The new goal of the project is to resolve the nature of the cosmic star formation history at the violent epoch (e.g. z=1{2), and to find a clue to understand its decline from z=1 to present universe by utilizing the unique power of the multiwavelength survey. The progress in this context is brie y mentioned.

In 1999, Professor Philip Nichols argued that FCPA-style home country laws are efficient in combating transnational bribery, unlike host country regulation and corporate selfregulation. Observing feeble results obtained in 15 years of OECD Anti-bribery Convention, we find arguments for amending this assertion; home countries, aside from enforcing their own laws banning foreign bribery, should reconsider the classical ways of fighting transnational corruption, by helping host governments in their anti-corruption efforts and by encouraging their own corporations to join international dialogic webs. After presenting an original analysis of the reasons behind the limited impact of FCPA-style action, we would then further argue for the two alternative solutions backed by home states, looking respectively at the spectacular results of the anti-corruption campaign in Romania with US support, and at China’s recent position that her corporations should adhere to international private standards on foreign bribery.

We have been performing daily VLBI monitoring of the ux density of Sagittarius (Sgr) A* at 22 GHz from February 2013 to August 2014 using a sub-array of the Japanese VLBI Network (JVN). The purpose of this monitoring is to explore the ux density variability at daily time resolution for a period longer than one year with the G2 cloud approaching. The ux density of Sgr A* is basically stable during the observational period, though there are some small variations. The average and scattering range are consistent with the previously observed values. We have observed no strong are of Sgr A* although it is near the expected peri-center passing.

We describe a survey of nearby core-collapse supernova (SN) explosion sites using integral field spec- troscopy (IFS) techniques, which is an extension of the work described in Kuncarayakti et al. (2013). The project aims to constrain SN progenitor properties based on the study of the immediate environment of the SN. The stellar populations present at the SN explosion sites are studied by means of integral field spectroscopy, which enables the acquisition of both spatial and spectral information of the object simultaneously. The spectrum of the SN parent stellar population gives an estimate of its age and metal- licity. With this information, the initial mass and metallicity of the once coeval SN progenitor star are derived. While the survey is mostly done in optical, the additional utilization of near-infrared integral field spectroscopy assisted with adaptive optics (AO) enables us to examine the explosion sites in high spatial detail, down to a few parsecs. This work is being carried out using multiple 2-8 m class telescopes equipped with integral field spectrographs in Chile and Hawaii.

The β-transus temperature in titanium alloys plays an important role in the design of thermo-mechanical treatments. It primarily depends on the chemical composition of the alloy and the relationship between them is non-linear and complex. Considering these relationships is difficult using mathematical equations. A feed-forward neural-network model with a back-propagation algorithm was developed to simulate the relationship between the β-transus temperature of titanium alloys, and the alloying elements. The input parameters to the model consisted of the nine alloying elements (i.e., Al, Cr, Fe, Mo, Sn, Si, V, Zr, and O), whereas the model output is the β-transus temperature. The model developed was then used to predict the β-transus temperature for different elemental combinations. Sensitivity analysis was performed on a trained neural-network model to study the effect of alloying elements on the β-transus temperature, keeping other elements constant. Very good performance of the model was achieved with previously unseen experimental data. Some explanation of the predicted results from the metallurgical point of view is given. The graphical-user-interface developed for the model should be very useful to researchers and in industry for designing the thermo-mechanical treatment of titanium alloys.

We show how the rotation emission from isolated interstellar Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) can explain the so-called anomalous microwave emission (AME). AME has been discovered in the last decade as microwave interstellar emission (10 to 70 GHz) that is in excess compared to the classical emission processes: thermal dust, free-free and synchrotron. The PAHs are the interstellar planar nano-carbons responsible for the near infrared emission bands in the 3 to 15 micron range. Theoretical studies show that under the physical conditions of the interstellar medium (radiation and density) the PAHs adopt supra-thermal rotation velocities, and consequently they are responsible for emission in the microwave range. The first results from the PLANCK mission unexpectedly showed that the AME is not only emitted by specific galactic interstellar clouds, but it is present throughout the galactic plane, and is particularly strong in the cold molecular gas. The comparison of theory and observations shows that the measured emission is fully consistent with rotation emission from interstellar PAHs. We draw the main lines of our PLANCK-AKARI collaborative program which intends to progress on this question by direct comparison of the near infrared (AKARI) and microwave (PLANCK) emissions of the galactic plane.