Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on the dietary habits of the Japanese population have shown that an effect rs671 allele was inversely associated with fish consumption, whereas it was directly associated with coffee consumption. Although meat is a major source of protein and fat in the diet, whether genetic factors that influence meat-eating habits in healthy populations are unknown. This study aimed to conduct a GWAS to find genetic variations that affect meat consumption in a Japanese population. We analysed GWAS data using 14 076 participants from the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort (J-MICC) study. We used a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire to estimate food intake that was validated previously. Association of the imputed variants with total meat consumption per 1000 kcal energy was performed by linear regression analysis with adjustments for age, sex, and principal component analysis components 1–10. We found that no genetic variant, including rs671, was associated with meat consumption. The previously reported single nucleotide polymorphisms that were associated with meat consumption in samples of European ancestry could not be replicated in our J-MICC data. In conclusion, significant genetic factors that affect meat consumption were not observed in a Japanese population.

Emanating from coronals holes (CHs), high speed streams (HSSs) cause recurrent geomagnetic disturbances in the Earth’s magnetosphere. For this reason being able to predict the occurrence and timing of the high speed solar wind is one of the more important issues in space weather forecasting. Currently, it is still difficult to estimate the effect of a CH in case that it extends from high latitudes to lower ones. To monitor the global solar wind condition we have therefore developed a three-dimensional MHD simulation code, the REProduce Plasma Universe (REPPU) code, that is driven by the solar magnetic field from the solar surface to 1AU. The connectivity of magnetic field lines from CHs to Earth’s orbit via HSSs has been investigated. Simulation results are presented and the usefulness of our model is discussed.

We present the development of physics-based models of solar-terrestrial regions from the solar surface to the Earth’s atmosphere at NICT. Our models consist of three regions: (1) the solar surface and solar wind, (2) the Earth’s magnetosphere-ionosphere, and (3) a model of the whole atmosphere from the troposphere to the ionosphere, called the Ground to Topside Model of Atmosphere and Ionosphere for Aeronomy (GAIA). We also have a solar wind and CME model, Space-weather-forecast-Usable System Anchored by Numerical Operations and Observations (SUSANOO). Furthermore, we have developed a high-resolution plasma bubble model. The coupling of these models is a future work.

This paper discusses suitable mechanisms and functions of a mobile microrobot from the point of view ofscale effects. Several assumptions are made using animalscaling. A large scale model is shown to demonstrate these mechanisms. Moreover, microsized models have been built on silicon wafers by using polysilicon as rigidplates and polyimide as elastic joints. The results showthat suitable mechanisms and functions may be different from those of a conventional robot.

In this study, bulky titanate nanotubes with dense microstructures were successfully fabricated by a hydrothermal hot-pressing (HHP) technique with water as a reactive solvent. Titanate-based nanotubes of about 10 nm outer diameter and 5 nm inner diameter and a few hundred nanometers in length were synthesized by a hydrothermal treatment of anatase-type TiO2 powder in a 10 M NaOH aqueous solution. From results of N2-adsorption and transmission electron microscopy observation, it was obvious that HHP processed samples were composed of nanotubular structures and that the obtained bulks possessed mesopores and high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area. These results suggested that the obtained bulks possessed functionality as good as that of powders of titanate nanotubes. Thus, the HHP technique may be a useful method for fabricating bulky titanate nanotubes and may be applied in the solidification of the other some nanotubular materials.

The static second hyperpolarizabilities (γ) of open-shell organic nonlinear optical (NLO) systems composed of singlet diradical molecules are investigated using ab initio molecular orbital (MO) and density functional theory (DFT) methods. It is found that neutral singlet diradical systems with intermediate diradical characters tend to enhance γ as compared to those with small and large diradical characters. This suggests that the diradical character is a novel control parameter of γ for singlet diradical systems.

Thin-film samples of La1-xSrxMnO3 (x = 0.20 – 0.30) were grown by pulsed-laser deposition using various target compositions, substrate materials, growth temperatures, oxygen partial pressures, and laser-pulse repetition rates. The crystal structure and the transport and magnetic properties of these films were then examined. Of the growth conditions, the oxygen partial pressure (Po2) had the greatest influence on the electrical and magnetic properties. Films grown under a low Po2 had a low ferromagnetic transition temperature (Tc) and a wide resistive transition width. None of the heat treatments done after growth improved these films’ quality. The film morphology was significantly affected by the substrate material. Our x-ray diffraction analysis and AFM measurements revealed that the films deposited on both MgO (100) and LaAlO3 (100) were epitaxially grown but contained defect structures. In contrast, grain-free thin films were epitaxially grown on the SrTiO3 (100) substrates. The surface roughness of films grown on SrTiO3 was less than 0.3 nm, even for films up to 150 nm thick. Under optimized growth conditions, as-deposited films for x ≥ 0.2 showed a sharp transition in resistivity at Tc. Magnetoresistance at far below Tc was as low as that reported for single-crystal sample. Since large magnetoresistance was often observed in polycrystalline samples and believed to be a grain boundary effect, these results indicate the high quality of the films grown on the SrTiO3 substrates.

The decision rules individuals use to judge wrongdoing committed inside corporations and other hierarchical organizations are not well understood. We explore this issue by asking random samples of individuals in Moscow, Tokyo, and Washington, D. C., to respond to four short vignettes describing acts of wrongdoing by people in corporations. The vignettes are experiments that manipulate the actor's mental state, the actor's position in the organization, and whether the actor's decision was influenced by others in the organization. We examine (1) the distribution of responsibility among people in the organization, (2) how individual responsibility affects the attribution of responsibility to the organization itself, and (3) cross-national differences in attributions. We find that both what the actors did (their deeds) and the position they occupied (their roles) significantly influence the responsibility attributed to them. The responsibility attributed to the organizations themselves is a function of the responsibility attributed to the actors inside the organization, but not a function of the independent variables in the experiments. Cross-national differences emerge with respect to the responsibility assigned both to individuals and to the organizations themselves. We discuss implications of these results for past and future work.

Tl2Ba2Cuo6+δ(T1-2201) single crystals are prepared by a KCI flux method. In-plane and out-of plane resistivities (ρabρc as well as the in-plane Hall coefficient are measured for the single crystal samples with various 7c's. The ρc values are as large as ∼10−1 Ω cm, which is larger than that of YBa2Cu3O7, but smaller than that of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8. Temperature dependences of ρc show metallic behaviors for both normal metallic and 75-K superconducting samples. Temperature dependence of in-plane resistivity par changes from ∼T2 to ∼T1 with increasing Tc In-plane Hall coefficient RH shows a characteristic maximum at about 100 K for all samples. Although both ρab and RH have rather a complicated temperature dependence, inverse Hall mobility μH(=ρab/RH always exhibits clear T2 dependence for all samples. These results suggest that the intrinsic scattering rate of this material varies as ∼T2, just like in an ordinary Fermi liquid, and that the carrier concentration actually changes with temperature like that observed in nH(=1/RHe).