Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contribution to autophagy research, which was first studied using electron microscopy. To celebrate and commemorate this historical moment, I describe the role of electron microscopy in autophagy research and suggest a role for next-generation electron microscopy in this research field.

The automatic equipment for three-dimensional electron microscopy (3DEM) can acquire serial sections of a large sample in a relatively short time, and is especially suitable for the connectomics, which is a field related to understanding the brain structure as a whole. As many results obtained through 3DEM using automatic serial sections have been published in the field of brain research, many researchers continue to apply this technique to various samples. We reviewed the equipment for automatic serial sectioning, the block preparation method, the limitations of 3DEM, and future directions.

The ultrastructures of the secretory acinar granules of submandibular and parotid salivary gland were examined in the Korean striped field mouse, Apodemus agraius. The acini of the submandibular salivary gland had serous and mucous acinar cells filled with numerous secretory granules. The serous acinar granules had uniformly fine dense contents and were round typed with a definite boundary between the granules. The mucous acinar granules were relatively coarse, with moderate density, and clustered together as a result of the indistinct boundaries between the granules. The acini of the parotid salivary glands contained only serous cells filled with numerous round-typed serous acinar granules. Serous acinar granules had uniformed dense matrix and definite boundaries. The ultrastructures without substructure in a matrix of serous and mucous acinar granules in the submandibular and parotid salivary glands of A. agraius were similar to those of species of Rodentia but different from those of Soricidae in Korea with a characteristic substructure in a matrix. This ultrastructure and charateristics in secretory acinar granules provide fundamental data for molecular comparisions of genetic relationships and are one of the key methods for classifying A. agraius.

High-quality graphene was synthesized on Cu foil and $Fe_2O_3$ film using $CH_4$ gas via inductively-coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICPCVD). The graphene film was formed on $Fe_2O_3$ at a temperature as low as $700^{\circ}C$. Few-layer graphene was formed within a few seconds and 1 min on Cu and $Fe_2O_3$, respectively. With increasing growth time and plasma power, the graphene thickness was controllably reduced and ultimately self-limited to a single layer. Moreover, the crystal quality of graphene was constantly enhanced. Understanding the ICPCVD growth kinetics that are critically affected by ICP is useful for the controllable synthesis of high-quality graphene on metals and oxides for various electronic applications.

Since graphene was discovered in 2004, two-dimensional (2D) materials have been actively studied. Especially, 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), such as $MoS_2$ and $WS_2$, have been the subject of significant research because of their exceptional optical, electrical, magnetic, catalytic, and morphological properties. Therefore, these materials are expected to be used in a variety of applications. Furthermore, tuning the properties of TMDs is essential to improve their performance and expand their applications. This review classifies the various doping methods of 2D TMDs, and it summarizes how the dopants interact with the materials and how the performance of the materials improves depending on the synthesis methods and the species of the dopants.

Transverse magnetic field annealing (TFA) was carried out on $Fe_{73.5}Cu_1Nb_3Si_{15.5}B_7$ nano-crystalline magnetic core with the aim at decreasing coercivity ($H_c$) while keeping high inductance ($L_s$). The magnetic field generated by direct current (DC) was applied on the magnetic core during different selected annealing stages and it was proved that the nanocrystalline magnetic core achieved lowest $H_c$ when applying transverse field during the whole annealing process (TFA1). Although the microstructure and crystallization degree of the nanocrystalline magnetic core exhibited no obvious difference after TFA1 compared to no field annealing, the TFA1 sample showed a more uniform nanostructure with a smaller mean square deviation of grain size distribution. $H_c$ of the nanocrystalline magnetic core annealed under TFA1 decreased along with the increasing magnetic field. As a result, the certain size nanocrystalline magnetic core with low $H_c$ of 0.6 A/m, low core loss (W at 20 kHz) of 1.6 W/kg under flux density of 0.2 T and high $L_s$ of $13.8{\mu}H$ were obtained after TFA1 with the DC intensity of 140 A. The combination of high $L_s$ with excellent magnetic properties promised this nanocrystalline alloy an outstanding economical application in high frequency transformers.

Field electron emission measurements were performed on dielectric-coated tungsten emitters, with apex radii in the nanometer and micrometer range, which were prepared by electrochemical etching in NaOH solution. Measurements were performed in a field electron microscopy (FEM) with a base pressure <$10^{-6}$ Pascal ($10^{-8}$ mbar). Four different types of dielectric were used, namely: (1) Clark Electromedical Instruments epoxylite resin, (2) Epidian 6 produced by Ciech Sarzyna S. A., (3) a Radionox solution of colloidal graphite; and (4) Molyslip 2001 E compound ($MoS_2$ and MoS). Current-voltage measurements and FEM images were used to investigate the characteristics of these composite emitters, and to assess how the different types of dielectric coating affect the suitability of the composite emitter as a potential electron source.

A new method was introduced to distinguish the ferrite, bainite and martensite in transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steel by using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). EBSD is a very powerful microstructure analysis technique at the length scales ranging from tens of nanometers to millimeters. However, iron BCC phases such as ferrite, bainite and martensite cannot be easily distinguished by EBSD due to their similar surface morphology and crystallographic structure. Among the various EBSD-based methodology, image quality (IQ) values, which present the perfection of a crystal lattice, was used to distinguish the iron BCC phases. IQ values are very useful tools to discern the iron BCC phases because of their different density of crystal defect and lattice distortion. However, there are still remaining problems that make the separation of bainite and martensite difficult. For instance, these phases have very similar IQ values in many cases, especially in deformed region; therefore, even though the IQ value was used, it has been difficult to distinguish the bainite and martensite. For more precise separation of bainite and martensite, IQ threshold values were determined by a correlative TEM analysis. By determining the threshold values, iron BCC phases were successfully separated.

The microstructure, the crystallization behavior, and magnetic properties of FeSi-based soft magnetic alloys (FINEMET) were investigated using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and coercive force measurements. The amorphous $Fe_{73.28}Si_{13.43}B_{8.72}Cu_{0.94}Nb_{3.63}$ alloys particles, prepared in $10^{-4}$ torr by gas atomization process, were heat treated at $530^{\circ}C$, $600^{\circ}C$, and $670^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour in a vacuum of $10^{-2}$ torr. Nanocrystalline Fe precipitation was first formed followed by the grain growth. Phase formation and crystallite sizes was compared linked to its magnetic behavior, which showed that excellent soft magnetic property can directly be correlated with its microstructure.

This paper describes experiments aimed at characterizing the behavior of field electron emitters fabricated by coating carbon fibers with epoxylite resin. Polyacrylonitrile carbon fibers of type VPR-19, thermally treated at $2,800^{\circ}C$, were used. Each was initially prepared in a "uncoated" state, by standard electro polishing and cleaning techniques, and was then examined in a scanning electron microscope. The fiber was then baked overnight in a field electron microscope (FEM) vacuum chamber. Current-voltage characteristics and FEM images were recorded on the following day or later. The fiber was then removed from the FEM, coated with resin, "cured" by baking, and replaced in the FEM. After another overnight bake, the FEM characterization measurements were repeated. The coated fibers had significantly better performance than uncoated fibers. This confirms the results of earlier experiments, and is thought to be due in part to the formation of a conducting channel in the resin over layer. For the coated fiber, lower voltages were needed to obtain the same emission current. The coated fibers have current-voltage characteristics that show smoother trends, with greater stability and repeatability. No switch-on phenomena were observed. In addition, the emission images on the phosphor-coated FEM screen were more concentrated, and hence brighter.