The COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) project is a large international collaborative effort to analyze individual-level phenotype data from twins in multiple cohorts from different environments. The main objective is to study factors that modify genetic and environmental variation of height, body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and size at birth, and additionally to address other research questions such as long-term consequences of birth size. The project started in 2013 and is open to all twin projects in the world having height and weight measures on twins with information on zygosity. Thus far, 54 twin projects from 24 countries have provided individual-level data. The CODATwins database includes 489,981 twin individuals (228,635 complete twin pairs). Since many twin cohorts have collected longitudinal data, there is a total of 1,049,785 height and weight observations. For many cohorts, we also have information on birth weight and length, own smoking behavior and own or parental education. We found that the heritability estimates of height and BMI systematically changed from infancy to old age. Remarkably, only minor differences in the heritability estimates were found across cultural–geographic regions, measurement time and birth cohort for height and BMI. In addition to genetic epidemiological studies, we looked at associations of height and BMI with education, birth weight and smoking status. Within-family analyses examined differences within same-sex and opposite-sex dizygotic twins in birth size and later development. The CODATwins project demonstrates the feasibility and value of international collaboration to address gene-by-exposure interactions that require large sample sizes and address the effects of different exposures across time, geographical regions and socioeconomic status.

The crack initiation and early growth behaviors of a TC4 titanium alloy under high cycle fatigue and very high cycle fatigue were experimentally investigated. The results show that it exhibits the duplex S–N curve characteristics associated with surface and interior failures at a stress ratio of 0.1, while it represents the similar S–N curve characteristics only related to surface failure at a stress ratio of −1. The interior failure is accompanied with the occurrence of facets, granular bright facets (GBFs), and fisheye. Slip-like patterns are observable on the facets easily formed under positive stress ratio. The interior failure process is characterized as (i) occurrence of slip lines on partial α grains under cyclic loading, (ii) initiation and growth of microcracks within some α grains, (iii) coalescence of microcracks and formation of GBF, (iv) stable long crack growth within fisheye, (v) unstable crack growth outside fisheye, and (vi) final momentary fracture.

This cross-sectional study aimed to examine and compare prevalence and correlates of whole blood Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA between HIV-positive and HIV-negative men who have sex with men (MSM). Five hundred and four HIV-positive MSM and 504 age-matched HIV-negative MSM were recruited from an HIV counseling and testing clinic in Shanghai, China from November 2014 to November 2015 and were administered with a face-to-face questionnaire interview. Whole blood EBV DNA was tested by nested polymerase chain reaction assays on EBNA-1, EBNA-2, and LMP-1 genes. The prevalence of whole blood EBV DNA was 56·0% (95% CI 51·7–60·3%) among HIV-positive MSM and 26·0% (95% CI 22·4–30·0%) among HIV-negative MSM. Whole blood EBV DNA positivity was significantly associated with HIV infection (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 3·43, 95% CI 2·58–4·57) and frequent intake of pickled, smoked, or salty food (aOR 1·71, 95% CI 1·02–2·86) in the whole sample, and with <200 cells/μl CD4 cell counts (aOR 1·79, 95% CI 1·05–3·05) and pickled, smoked, or salty food intake (aOR 3·14, 95% CI 1·39–7·08) in HIV-positive group. HIV-infected MSM are at higher risk of active EBV replication than HIV-uninfected MSM, underscoring needs of surveillance and research on EBV-related carcinogenesis in this population.

As one of the most typical ancient cultural relics in southern China's minority regions near Changsha in Hunan province, the magnificent Laosicheng ruins excavated recently have been included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Tentative List. Urgent conservation of excavated Laosicheng ruins brings about the need for a study of the formulation and properties of construction materials used, including earth, stone, mortar, and brick. In the present study, comprehensive analyses were carried out to determine their raw material compositions, mineralogical, and microstructural properties using sheet polarized optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometer, thermogravimetric/differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray powder diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Special attention was paid to mortars, which were the most widely used in building the Laosicheng. Results show that mortar used as external render of the city wall is mainly built up from inorganic CaCO3 and MgCO3 based hybrid materials produced by the carbonation of Ca(OH)2 and Mg(OH)2 with a small amount of sticky rice. In contrast, mortar used to bond stones of the city walls is a traditional mortar that does not contain sticky rice. This study is a part of a huge interdisciplinary project aimed to clarify the role of organics in ancient China’s organic-inorganic hybrid mortar, which can be considered as one of the greatest invention in construction material history. The results provide valuable basic data and restoration strategies that can be used in the conservation of the ruins as well.

Numerical and theoretical investigations are carried out for the stability of the dust acoustic waves (DAWs) under the transverse perturbation in a two-ion temperature magnetized and collisionless dusty plasma. The Zakharov-Kuznetsov (ZK) equation, modified ZK equation, and Extended ZK (EZK) equation of the DAWs are given by using the reductive perturbation technique. The cut-off frequency is obtained by applying higher-order transverse perturbations to the soliton solution of the EZK equation. The propagation velocity of solitary waves, the real cut-off frequency, as well as the growth rate of the higher-order perturbation to the solitary wave are obtained.

The Point-Deflection Method is a potentially useful technique for measuring the internal stresses of freestanding thin films. By applying a small concentrated transverse load at the center of a pre-stretched film, and measuring the corresponding out-of-plane displacement at appropriate locations, the average internal stress can be readily determined. The load-deflection relationship has been derived for both circular and rectangular shapes. The method involves no additional micromachining in sample preparation and has low sensitivity to the variations in boundary constraints. Its feasibility has been further substantiated with finite element simulations from a variety of perspectives, as well as experimental correlations from the stress measurements of a photomask pellicle film.

A confocal x-ray fluorescence microscope was built at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) to determine the composition of buried paint layers that range from 10–80 μm thick in paintings. The microscope consists of a borosilicate monocapillary optic to focus the incident beam and a borosilicate polycapillary lens to collect the fluorescent x-rays. The overlap of the two focal regions is several tens of microns in extent, and defines the active, or confocal, volume of the microscope. The capabilities of the technique were tested using acrylic paint films with distinct layers brushed onto glass slides and a twentieth century oil painting on canvas. The position and thickness of individual layers were extracted from their fluorescence profiles by fitting to a simple, semi-empirical model.

We present a fluid dynamics model for the drawing of hollow multilayer polymer optical fiber. A newtonian model is considered assuming slender geometries. Hollow core collapse during drawing and layer thickness non-uniformity are investigated as a function of draw temperature, draw ratio, feeding speed, core pressurization and mismatch of material properties in a multilayer.

This paper argues that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, stock return synchronicity (or R2) can increase when transparency improves. In a simple model, we show that, in more transparent environments, stock prices should be more informative about future events. Consequently, when the events actually happen in the future, there should be less “surprise” (i.e., less new information is impounded into the stock price). Thus a more informative stock price today means higher return synchronicity in the future. We find empirical support for our theoretical predictions in 3 settings: namely, firm age, seasoned equity offerings (SEOs), and listing of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).

All-polymer multilayer hollow core photonic fiber preforms were fabricated using consecutive deposition from a solvent phase of two polymers with high and low refractive indices (RI). Processing techniques for two polymer pairs—polystyrene (PS)/poly(methyl methylacrylate) (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC)/poly(vinylene difloride) (PVDF)—were established. The fabrication process involved consecutive film deposition by solvent evaporation of polymer solutions on the inside of a rotating PMMA or PC tube, used as a cladding material. By injecting right volumes of the polymer solutions into a spinning tube the thickness of each layer could be reliably controlled from 20 to 100 μm. Proper selection of solvents and processing conditions was crucial for ensuring high optical and mechanical quality of a resultant preform, as well as compatibility of different polymer films during co-deposition. Preforms of 10 layers for PMMA/PS material combination and 15 layers for PVDF/PC were demonstrated. Fabrication of preforms with higher number of layers is readily possible and is only a question of preform fabrication time. An alternative method of preform fabrication by co-rolling of polymer bilayers is also presented in this paper, drawing of PMMA/PS, PVDF/PC fibers with up to 32 layers is demonstrated.

Polycapillary optics are utilized in a wide variety of applications and are integral components in many state of the art instruments. Polycapillary optics operate by collecting X-rays and efficiently propagating them by total external reflection to form focused and parallel beams. We discuss the general parameters for designing these optics and provide specific examples on balancing the interrelations of beam flux, source size, focal spot-size, and beam divergence. The development of compact X-ray sources with characteristics tailored to match the requirements of polycapillary optics allows substantial reduction in size, weight, and power of complete X-ray systems. These compact systems have enabled the development of portable, remote, and in-line sensors for applications in industry, science and medicine. We present examples of the utility and potential of these optics for enhancing a wide variety of X-ray analyses.

The performance of a tapered, monocapillary optic was compared to double-pinhole optics by measuring the intensity and widths of powder diffraction peaks generated using Cr Kα and Cu Kα X-rays (46 kV, 46 mA). A microdiffractometer and curved image-plate system was used to collect diffraction patterns displayed by an alumina intensity standard. A monocapillary optic with a 20 μm beam width (measured at half the maximum intensity, FWHM) was compared to collimating pinhole optics with two apertures: one with 30 μm diameter pinholes and another with 50 μm pinholes. The average, integrated intensity of the diffraction peaks in the patterns collected using the 20 μm monocapillary optic was 6 to 7 times greater than the average diffraction intensity obtained with the 50 μm pinhole collimator and 25 times greater than the intensity obtained with the 30 μm collimator. The average increase in the FWHM of the diffraction peaks in the patterns obtained with the monocapillary optic was ∼2 times greater than the pinhole collimators.

Retrotransposons and retroviruses replicate by reverse transcription of an mRNA intermediate. Most retroelements initiate reverse transcription from a host-encoded tRNA primer. DNA synthesis typically extends from the 3′-OH of the acceptor stem, which is complementary to sequences on the retroelement mRNA (the primer binding site, PBS). However, for some retrotransposons, including the yeast Ty5 elements, sequences in the anticodon stem-loop of the initiator methionine tRNA (IMT) are complementary to the PBS. We took advantage of the genetic tractability of the yeast system to investigate the mechanism of Ty5 priming. We found that transposition frequencies decreased at least 800-fold for mutations in the Ty5 PBS that disrupt complementarity with the IMT. Similarly, transposition was reduced at least 200-fold for IMT mutations in the anticodon stem-loop. Base pairing between the Ty5 PBS and IMT is essential for transposition, as compensatory changes that restored base pairing between the two mutant RNAs restored transposition significantly. An analysis of 12 imt mutants with base changes outside of the region of complementarity failed to identify other tRNA residues important for transposition. In addition, assays carried out with heterologous IMTs from Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Arabidopsis thaliana indicated that residues outside of the anticodon stem-loop have at most a fivefold effect on transposition. Our genetic system should make it possible to further define the components required for priming and to understand the mechanism by which Ty5's novel primer is generated.

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) was used to characterize the surface topography of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers before and after electrochemical treatment, stretch resistance test, and high-temperature treatment. A new kind of spiral structures was found, which was not only on the surface but also in the inner layer. The spiral structure of the fibers was caused by the spinning process. The fiber structure contained the shape of the precursor. There were some large cracks in the carbon fibers after the stretching resistance test. The large cracks can result in carbon fiber breaking under certain stress conditions. The difference in the structures of the carbon fibers before and after the high-temperature treatment was determined.