The following are errata for the original article entitled "Hypothesis of Piezoelectricity of Inner Core As the Origin of Geomagnetism" by Y. Hayakawa.

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The following are errata for the original article entitled "Toward Implementation of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems Data Sharing Principles" by Paul F. Uhlir, Robert S. Chen, Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz & Katleen Janssen.

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Estimation of the scientific risks of high dose radiation has been successfully quantified by many studies using several different approaches. However, the risk for low and low dose-rate radiation is obscure because of a lack of evidence. This risk is currently estimated by extrapolating the radiation response at high doses into low dose ranges for practical purposes. Recent challenges to examine directly the biological responses to low dose radiation using newly developed technologies are unveiling interesting alterations at the molecular level. The interpretation of these data, however, needs careful consideration because they may not be related to any change in biological functions.

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The study goal was to investigate thyroid cancer morbidity in population groups affected by the Chernobyl catastrophe. The study period comprised 1994-2006 for clean-up workers and 1990-2006 for Chernobyl evacuees and residents of contaminated territories. A significant increase of thyroid cancer incidence was registered in all observed population groups. The most significant excess over the national level was identified in clean-up workers. This amounted to a factor of 5.9, while it was 5.5 for the evacuees and 1.7 for the residents. The highest thyroid cancer risk was observed in persons exposed to radioiodine in childhood and adolescence.

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The aim of this paper is to analyze the current evidence on radiocerebral effects following exposure to <5 Sv. Dose-related cognitive and neurophysiological abnormalities among prenatally exposed children after the Chernobyl accident at gestation ages of +8 weeks were revealed at >20 mSv on the fetus and >300 mSv on the thyroid in utero; at 16-25 weeks, abnormalities were >10 mSv and >200 mSv, respectively. In adults, radiation-associated cerebrovascular effects were obtained at >0.15-0.25 Sv. Dose-related neuropsychiatric, neurophysiological, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging abnormalities following exposure to >0.3 Sv and neurophysiological and neuroimaging radiation markers at doses >1 Sv were revealed. Studies on radiation neuropsychiatric effects should be undertaken.

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To understand the effects of low dose-rate radiation on genome structure in vivo, we examined gene mutation and chromosomal abnormality in mouse tissues. The mutation was studied on transgenes in the spleen and liver and also on the Dlb1 gene in intestinal stem cells. The mice were irradiated for 483 consecutive days at three dose-rates of 0.0323, 0.65, and 12.5 ?Gy/min, which resulted in total doses of 21, 414, and 8,000 mGy, respectively. Statistically significant increases were observed for all indices examined when the total dose was 8,000 mGy, whereas no significant difference was observed with 21 mGy or 414 mGy.

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Tumor suppressor protein p53 is a transcription factor that plays important roles in biological responses to a wide range of ionizing radiation doses. Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms for its function after actually relevant doses of radiation is therefore crucial for the accurate understanding of the biological effects of radiation. p21 is one of the p53 target genes, functioning in cell cycle checkpoint regulation. In this article, a comprehensive analysis of the p21 gene promoter after clinically relevant doses of radiation is reviewed, especially emphasizing that a transcription factor Oct-1 plays a cooperative role in p53-mediated regulation of the p21 gene after irradiation. In addition, a potential application of the p21 gene promoter in the development of a low-dose radiation inducible vector for cancer gene therapy is also pointed out.

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The effects of low dose chronic radiation on plant disease resistance and fungal and virus infections have been studied. The results obtained in the 10-km Chernobyl zone demonstrated a decrease in plant disease resistance and appearance of a "new" population of stem rust agents of cereal with a high frequency of more virulent clones. Radionuclide contamination and heavy metals lead to wider virus spread and a higher diversity of virus species. The Chernobyl zone is a territory of enhanced risk and potential threats for the environment. A special type of monitoring of microevolution processes in plant pathogens should provide better understanding of how serious these potential threats are.

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The Yohkoh Legacy Data Archive (YLA) is one of the first group of Resident Archives (RAs) selected for funding for NASA's Virtual Observatories for the Heliophysics Data program. YLA provides the best corrected data set of solar X-ray images and spectra from the Yohkoh satellite with a user-friendly web interface. As a RA, we take responsibility to keep our products well maintained and easily accessible. In addition, we have launched the 'E-consultant service', an e-mail based support to individual users regarding data handling to bolster access and use from a wide range of communities.

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EMScope, a component of the NSF Earthscope project, is installing a 70 km-spaced grid of long-period magnetotelluric stations across the USA. Rapid data quality control and generation of derived data products provides an accessible resource openly available without charge or restriction through the IRIS Data Management Center and EMScope data portals via a set of data discovery tools. These data are available typically within two weeks of acquisition. Initial 3-d inversion of such EMScope data from the US Pacific Northwest shows substantial coherence between crust and mantle electrical conductivity variations, the boundaries of major physiographic provinces, and seismically delineated features.

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Remotely sensed satellite data can provide spatial and temporal coverage for global environmental monitoring. Calibration and validation are very important for more accurate satellite products and can contribute to the detection of climate changes on earth. Calibration and validation of satellite products normally use both ground-based and satellite-based data, which have geospatial metainformation and various data policies. Our proposal adopts both the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards and the virtual organization (VO) concept to develop a calibration and validation system for satellite products. In this research, we construct the Field Observation Network (FON) VO, which provides an interoperable system for various ground-based and satellite-based data by using the OGC standards Sensor Observation Service (SOS). FON VO also makes it possible to protect data policies. Ground-based and satellite-based atmospheric and ground physical parameters are the focus of this study.

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We developed a general-purpose database (DB) system that manages and opens experimental and/or observational data accumulated in universities and academic institutes. This platform works as a web-DB management system in which databases can be easily managed without special skills and facilities. By defining a group manager and data manager, the proposed system defines a flexible access restriction for each user and each unit of datasets under the control of these managers. We demonstrate how a variety of web-DBs are appropriately integrated under one management system in such situations in which each web-DB has a different user interface in its search and data distribution functions and is designed with a different language (or script) and connection method to its DB. In spite of the diversity of web-DBs, the proposed system is highly suitable for practical use.

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Activities performed to develop an information system for the diffusion of Italian polar research (SIRIA project) are here described. The system collects and shares information related to research projects carried out in both the Antarctic (since 1985) and Arctic (since 1997) regions. It is addressed primarily to dedicated users in order to foster interdisciplinary research but non-specialists may also be interested in the major results. SIRIA is in charge of managing the National Antarctic Data Center of Italy and confers its metadata to the Antarctic Master Directory. Since 2003, the National Antarctic Research Program has funded this project, which, by restyling its tasks, databases, and web site, is becoming the portal of Italian polar research. Issues concerning data management and policy in Italy are also covered.

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Archival research shows that the designers of the International Geophysical Year intended the World Data Centers to allow full and open access to scientific workers while respecting the right of individual investigators to publish results. World Data Centers A, B, and C were formulated to cover the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and Asia with multiple copies of datasets to ensure against catastrophic destruction of data and offer multiple access points to researchers and students.

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As the total amount of data measured by scientific spacecraft is drastically increasing, it is necessary for researchers to develop new computation methods for efficient analysis of these enormous datasets. In the present study, we propose a new algorithm for similar data retrieval. We first discuss key descriptors that represent characteristics of the VLF/ELF waves observed by the Akebono spacecraft. Second, an algorithm for similar data retrieval is introduced. Finally, we demonstrate that the developed algorithm works well for the retrieval of the VLF spectrum with a small amount of CPU load.

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The Space Environment Data Acquisition equipment (SEDA), which was mounted on the Exposed Facility (EF) of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM, also known as "Kibo") on the International Space Station (ISS), was developed to measure the space environment along the orbit of the ISS. This payload module, called the SEDA-Attached Payload (AP), began to measure the space environment in August 2009. This paper reports the mission objectives, instrumentation, and current status of the SEDA-AP.

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Academic and industrial users are increasingly facing the challenge of petabytes of data, but managing and analyzing such large data sets still remains a daunting task. Both the database and the map/reduce communities worldwide are working on addressing these issues. The 3^rd Extremely Large Databases workshop was organized to examine the needs of scientific communities beginning to face these issues, to reach out to European communities working on extremely large scale data challenges, and to brainstorm possible solutions. The science benchmark that emerged from the 2^nd workshop in this series was also debated. This paper is the final report of the discussions and activities at this workshop.

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