A trend toward greater body size in dizygotic (DZ) than in monozygotic (MZ) twins has been suggested by some but not all studies, and this difference may also vary by age. We analyzed zygosity differences in mean values and variances of height and body mass index (BMI) among male and female twins from infancy to old age. Data were derived from an international database of 54 twin cohorts participating in the COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins), and included 842,951 height and BMI measurements from twins aged 1 to 102 years. The results showed that DZ twins were consistently taller than MZ twins, with differences of up to 2.0 cm in childhood and adolescence and up to 0.9 cm in adulthood. Similarly, a greater mean BMI of up to 0.3 kg/m2 in childhood and adolescence and up to 0.2 kg/m2 in adulthood was observed in DZ twins, although the pattern was less consistent. DZ twins presented up to 1.7% greater height and 1.9% greater BMI than MZ twins; these percentage differences were largest in middle and late childhood and decreased with age in both sexes. The variance of height was similar in MZ and DZ twins at most ages. In contrast, the variance of BMI was significantly higher in DZ than in MZ twins, particularly in childhood. In conclusion, DZ twins were generally taller and had greater BMI than MZ twins, but the differences decreased with age in both sexes.

The Clostridium-related poultry disease, necrotic enteritis (NE), causes substantial economic losses on a global scale. In the present study, a mixture of two plant-derived phytonutrients, Capsicum oleoresin and turmeric oleoresin (XT), was evaluated for its effects on local and systemic immune responses using a co-infection model of experimental NE in commercial broilers. Chickens were fed from hatch with a diet supplemented with XT, or with a non-supplemented control diet, and either uninfected or orally challenged with virulent Eimeria maxima oocysts at 14 d and Clostridium perfringens at 18 d of age. Parameters of protective immunity were as follows: (1) body weight; (2) gut lesions; (3) serum levels of C. perfringens α-toxin and NE B-like (NetB) toxin; (4) serum levels of antibodies to α-toxin and NetB toxin; (5) levels of gene transcripts encoding pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in the intestine and spleen. Infected chickens fed the XT-supplemented diet had increased body weight and reduced gut lesion scores compared with infected birds given the non-supplemented diet. The XT-fed group also displayed decreased serum α-toxin levels and reduced intestinal IL-8, lipopolysaccharide-induced TNF-α factor (LITAF), IL-17A and IL-17F mRNA levels, while cytokine/chemokine levels in splenocytes increased in the XT-fed group, compared with the animals fed the control diet. In conclusion, the present study documents the molecular and cellular immune changes following dietary supplementation with extracts of Capsicum and turmeric that may be relevant to protective immunity against avian NE.

Highly sensitive electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor (EIS) sensors were realized by the integration of Si nanowires (NWs), which were fabricated by using a simple and economic electroless wet etching technique. EIS sensors with NWs longer than 1 μm were observed to have considerably increased capacitance and high pH sensitivity. The pH sensitivity of the EIS sensor with 3.8 μm long NWs was 60.2 mV/pH, which is higher than the theoretical Nernstian of 59 mV/pH. The EIS sensors with NWs exhibited slightly worse pH hysteresis and drift properties than that of the conventional planar type EIS sensor. The increases in pH sensitivity, hysteresis and drift are attributable to the extended surface area of the EIS sensors enabled by the NWs.

Canine oocytes are ovulated at prophase of the first meiotic division and undergo maturation in the distal part of the oviduct for at least 48–72 h. Because of these differences from other domestic mammals, the efficiency of in vitro maturation (IVM) of canine oocyte is very low. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of canine serum on IVM of canine oocytes recovered from ovaries in various reproductive states (follicular, luteal or anestrous stages). Oocytes were recovered by mincing ovaries from bitches presented for ovariohysterectomy at various stages of the estrous cycle. Heat-inactivated canine serum was prepared with blood taken from dogs at the anestrous, estrous or diestrous stage of the estrous cycle as determined by progesterone concentration and vaginal cytology. Oocytes were cultured for 72 h in tissue culture medium (TCM)-199 supplemented with 10% canine anestrous, estrous or diestrous serum or fetal bovine serum (FBS) (experiment 1), or supplemented with 0 (control), 5%, 10% or 20% canine estrous serum (experiment 2). In experiment 1, IVM of oocytes collected at the follicular stage of the estrous cycle to metaphase II (MII) stage was higher (p < 0.05) with canine estrous serum (14.2%) than with canine anestrous (5.2%) or diestrous serum (6.3%), FBS (2.2%) or in the control (2.2%). In experiment 2, oocytes collected at the follicular stage of the estrous cycle cultured in TCM-199 with 10% canine estrous serum showed a higher maturation rate to MII stage (13.5%, p < 0.05) compared with those cultured with 5% (1.3% MII) or 20% canine estrous serum (5.1% MII) or the control (2.7% MII). In conclusion, our results demonstrate that supplementing culture medium with 10% canine estrous serum improves IVM of canine follicular stage oocytes.

The development of lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-based capacitors using common Pt electrodes has been a long-time goal of ferroelectric random access memories (FRAM).In this work, a series of Pb1−xLax(Zr0.55Ti0.45)O3 capacitors (for 0.01 < x < 0.05) having fatigue-free characteristics have been grown on Pt/ Ti/SiO2/Si substrates. Typically 2–3 mol% La-modified PZT capacitors fabricated at 580 °C by applying a PZT seed layer exhibited fatigue-free behavior up to 6.5 × 1010 switching cycles, a low coercive field of 50–55 kV/cm, and a stable charge retention profile with time, all of which assure their suitability for the future nonvolatile FRAM.

Highly c-axis-oriented Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 (BLT) films with a homogeneous in-plane orientation were successfully grown on SiO2/Si(100) and Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) substrates by a sol-coating route. The substitution of lanthanum ions for bismuth ions in the layered perovskite suppressed the formation of pyrochlore phase and enhanced the c-axis-oriented growth. The c-axis-oriented BLT film fabricated on a Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) substrate showed fatigue-free characteristics with a large remanent polarization of 26–28 μC/cm2 and the coercive field of 50–75 kV/cm. These features significantly enhance the potential value of the BLT film for the applications to high-density ferroelectric random-access memories devices. In addition, the c-axis-oriented BLT film, with a homogeneous in-plane orientation on an amorphous surface, can be used as a suitable template material for applications to various electro-magneto-optic devices.

High-quality ZnO thin films were grown epitaxially at 250–550 °C Al2O3(00·1) substrates using low-pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. The reactants for the growth were diethylzinc and oxygen. Growth temperature, one of the important experimental parameters for epitaxial layers, was optimized. The films grown at 500 °C exhibited good crystallinity and strong ultraviolet absorption and emission. Photoluminescence spectra of the films showed a dominant excitonic emission with a weak deep level emission. More importantly, a strong stimulated emission peak was observed even at room temperature.

Based on several experimental observations, Hwang et al. recently proposed “the charged cluster model” [J. Cryst. Growth, 162, 55–68 (1996)] to disentangle the “puzzling thermodynamic paradox” encountered in the gas-activated chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of diamond. Many unusual phenomena observed in the CVD diamond process can be successfully approached by the charged cluster model. However, there are a couple of important subjects still unsolved quantitatively. The first question is connected with the main driving force for this unusual nucleation in the gas phase. The second issue is related to the difference in the thermodynamic stability between graphite and diamond for a nanometer-sized cluster during the growth. In this study, we have theoretically examined the thermodynamic driving forces for the charge-induced nucleation, in general, and have applied this idea to the nucleation of the charged carbon-atom cluster. It was shown that the short-range ion-induced dipole interaction and the ion-solvation electrostatic effect (Born term) were mainly responsible for this unusual nucleation in the gas phase. The theoretical analysis presented in this article is quite generic and, thus, can be applied to any process that involves the charge-induced nucleation.

To account for the dominant formation of diamond over graphite in the gas-activated chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process we have theoretically examined the free energy function of a small carbon-atom cluster as a function of the cluster size. The scalar potential around a charged spherical cluster was derived using the linearized Poisson–Boltzmann equation. It was shown that the repulsive electrostatic energy associated with the growth of the charged diamond cluster was proportional to the fifth power of the cluster size. This suggests the existence of a deep potential-energy-well for the cluster size larger than the critical size corresponding to the free energy barrier for the nucleation. Thus, the growing diamond cluster will be trapped in this potential well before it transforms to the thermodynamically stable graphite. Considering all the relevant thermodynamic driving forces, we have constructed the free energy function in terms of the cluster size. The numerical computation also supports the existence of the potential-energy-well. Therefore, the present theoretical model clearly explains why the charged diamond cluster does not transform to the neutral graphite cluster when the thermodynamic stability is reversed above a certain critical size during the growth.

The limitation of the long-range order parameter and the necessity of the short-range order parameter for the thermodynamic description of Pb()O3-type perovskites are discussed. Based on the discussion, a statistical thermodynamic model that takes into account the configuration of the neighboring B-site ions (B′ and B″ cations) was developed. A pair-correlation approximation was used in the calculation of the configurational entropy and the long-range coulombic interaction energy between the nearest B-site ions. The theoretical calculations using Pb(Sc1/2Ta1/2)O3 (PST) and Pb(Sc1/2Nb1/2)O3 (PSN) systems indicate that the short-range order parameter persists over a wide range of temperatures examined (0–1800 K) and that there possibly occur consecutive long-range order-disorder transitions in the configuration of B-site cations. The possibility of the existence of short-range ordering above the long-range order-disorder transition temperature was also examined using the annealed PSN specimen as a typical example of Pb()O3-type perovskites.

A classification scheme of Pb()O3-type perovskites with respect to the B-site order parameters was proposed based on the theoretical calculation of the short-range order parameter (σ) using the pair-correlation model. The calculated order parameters predict that a Pb()O3-type perovskite without any charge difference between B′ and B″ cations [e.g., Pb(Zr1/2Ti1/2)O3 (PZT)] is represented by a completely disordered state with the absence of a finite coherence length. On the other hand, a Pb()O3-type perovskite system having different ionic charges is characterized either by the short-range ordering with a nanoscale coherence length or by the macroscopic long-range ordering, depending on the magnitude of ionic charge difference between B′ and B″ ions. The normal ferroelectricity in Pb()O3-type complex perovskites was then correlated either with a completely disordered state (σ = 0) or with a perfectly ordered state (σ = 0), whereas the relaxor behavior was attributed to the nanoscale short-range ordering (0 < σ < 1) in the configuration of the B-site cations.

The mechanism of the 1:1 nonstoichiometric short-range ordering in donor-doped Pb(B′1/3B″1/3)O3-type relaxor perovskites was examined using the La2O3-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PMN) system as a typical example. Based on the dielectric analysis and the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation, the observed increase in the degree of diffuse phase transition (DPT) in the presence of La2O3 was interpreted as the enhancement of the 1:1 nonstoichiometric short-range ordering accompanied with the growth of the negatively charged nanodomains. The mechanism of the defect process responsible for the 1:1 nonstoichiometric short-range ordering was elucidated by analyzing the electrical conductivity of the La-doped PMN system as a function of the partial pressure of oxygen. It was shown that the substitution of La3+ ions for Pb2+ ions in the A-site sublattice of perovskite PMN produced the positively charged sites with a concomitant generation of electrons for the electronic compensation. This expedites the growth of the nonstoichiometrically ordered nanodomains in a disordered matrix.

The diffuse phase transition (DPT) characteristics and the associated defect mechanism of Na-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PMN) relaxor perovskite were studied. The enhanced DPT and the decrease in the intensity of the superlattice reflection were observed in the presence of Na2O. These contradictory observations were interpreted in terms of the inhibition of the growth of the 1 : 1 nonstoichiometric short-range ordered domains and the increase in the microcompositional fluctuation of the B-site cations caused by the formation of negatively charged Na′Mg sites. The mechanism of the associated defect process was then elucidated by analyzing the electrical conductivity as a function of the oxygen partial pressure. It was shown that the substitution of Na+ ions for Mg2+ ions in the B-site sublattice of perovskite PMN produced the negatively charged sites with a concomitant generation of oxygen vacancies () for the ionic compensation. This expedites the enhancement of the compositional inhomogeneities of the B-site cations and suppresses the growth of the nonstoichiometrically ordered nanodomains in a disordered matrix.

Chemically homogeneous BaxSr1−xTiO3 (BST with x = 0.6) multicomponent sol was synthesized using barium oxide, strontium chloride, and Ti-alkoxide (titanium isopropoxide) as starting materials. Acetylacetone (AcAc) was introduced as a chelating agent to reduce a rapid hydrolysis rate of Ti-alkoxide. Analysis of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra indicated that the stabilization of BST sols was achieved by the chelation of Ti-alkoxide with the enolic form of AcAc. The effective activation energy associated with the formation of perovskite phase from the xerogel was estimated by the differential thermal analysis (DTA) experiment using various heating rates. It is approximately 400 kJ/mol with the Avrami exponent (reaction order) of n = 1, suggesting that the growth of perovskite BST is diffusion-controlled. The calculated half-life time suggests that the minimum temperature for the crystallization which is practically accessible to a real processing is approximately 600 °C. The BST thin film fabricated on the “Pt(150 nm)/Ti(100 nm)/SiO2(100 nm)/Si” substrate exhibited the relative dielectric permittivity of 310 and can be represented by an equivalent circuit consisting of a resistive component originated from the bulk perovskite grain and a parallel RC component resulting from the presence of the grain boundary.

Effects of thermal annealing on the dielectric/piezoelectric properties of Pb(Zn,Mg)1/3Nb2/3O3-PbTiO3 ceramics (PZMN-PT with Zn/Mg = 6/4) were examined across the rhombohedral/tetragonal morphotropic phase boundary (MPB). Examination of the lattice parameters and the rhombohedral angle indicated that the MPB is in the vicinity of 24 mol% PbTiO3. Both the relative dielectric permittivity (∊r) and the piezoelectric constant (d33)/electromechanical coupling constant (kp) were increased by thermal annealing (800–900 °C) after sintering at 1150 °C for 1 h. The observed improvements in the dielectric and piezoelectric properties were attributed to the elimination of PbO-rich amorphous intergranular layers (about 1 nm thickness) induced by thermal annealing. Both the dielectric analysis using the series mixing model and the microscopic examination by transmission electron microscopy supported this conclusion.

Thin films of Pb(Mg,Zn)1/3Nb2/3O3 (PMZN) were fabricated by spin casting the partially hydrolyzed Pb-Mg-Zn-Nb-O complex alkoxide sols on (111) Pt-coated MgO(100) planes. Analysis of the isothermal transformation data indicated that the growth of perovskite grains from the pyrochlore matrix is a diffusion-controlled process with an initial fast nucleation. The effect of water concentration in the sol on the preferential orientation of perovskite grains in the corresponding thin film was examined. A strong preferential orientation of (100) perovskite was obtained in the PMZN thin film derived from the sol having a molar ratio of H2O to total metal alkoxides (Rw) of 2. A small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) experiment in the Porod region indicated that weakly branched precursor systems led to highly (100)-oriented perovskite grains after thin-film formation. The pyroelectric coefficient and the corresponding figure-of-merit were controlled by suitably varying the degree of preferential orientation during the fabrication of thin films.

The perovskite phase in PZN-PMN-PT (PbZn1/3Nb2/3O3-PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3-PbTiO3) pseudoternary ceramics was stabilized by the addition of excess constituent divalent oxides (PbO, MgO, and ZnO). 5 mol% excess MgO or 7.5 mol% excess PbO was sufficient to eliminate the remnant cubic pyrochlore phase after sintering at 1100 °C for 1 h. The enhanced diffuse phase transition (DPT) and the decrease in the electrical resistivity were observed in the presence of excess ZnO or MgO. These were interpreted in terms of the additional formation of negatively charged, short-range ordered 1: 1 domains with a concomitant generation of charge carriers (holes). The behavior of excess MgO or ZnO at concentrations above 5 mol% was studied by examining complex impedance patterns.

Effects of the scale of precursor mixing on densification behaviors and phase-transformation kinetics of multicomponent aluminosilicate gels were examined using cordierite gels prepared by two different processing routes: a monophasic (single phase) gel having molecular homogeneity, and a triphasic gel in which constitutive precursor phases are uniformly mixed in a nanometer scale (∼50 nm). In the case of the monophasic cordierite gel, homogeneous molecular-scale mixing of precursors induces a direction formation of μ-cordierite without a preceding crystallization, and the densification stops at the onset of crystallization to μ-cordierite at 960 °C. On the other hand, the densification of triphasic cordierite gel was not affected by the crystallization of intermediate spinel phase at 700 °C. The triphasic gel continues to densify until amorphous silica matrix crystallizes to quartz at 1180 °C. The enhanced densification observed in the triphasic gel was attributed to the retarded crystallization of amorphous silica component caused by the increase in diffusion distances.

Thin films of Pb(Mg,Zn)1/3Nb2/3O3 were fabricated by spin casting the Pb-Mg-Zn-Nb-0 complex alkoxide sols on (111)Pt-coated MgO (100) planes. It was observed that the rheological characteristics of sol greatly influenced the orientation of perovskite grains after thin-film formation. A strong preferential orientation of (100)-type planes of the perovskite grains was obtained in the thin films derived from the sols exhibiting pseudoplastic behavior. Small angle X-ray scattering experiment in the Porod region was performed to correlate the observed preferential orientation with the network structure of precursors at various stages of aging. It was shown that weakly branched precursor chains led to highly oriented grains after thin-film formation.