As part of the Genes, Environment and Development Initiative, the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research (MCTFR) undertook a genome-wide association study, which we describe here. A total of 8,405 research participants, clustered in four-member families, have been successfully genotyped on 527,829 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers using Illumina's Human660W-Quad array. Quality control screening of samples and markers as well as SNP imputation procedures are described. We also describe methods for ancestry control and how the familial clustering of the MCTFR sample can be accounted for in the analysis using a Rapid Feasible Generalized Least Squares algorithm. The rich longitudinal MCTFR assessments provide numerous opportunities for collaboration.

The frontier between Gubbio (ancient Umbria) and Perugia (ancient Etruria), in the northeast part of the modern region of Umbria, was founded in the late sixth century bc. The frontier endured in different forms, most notably in the late antique and medieval periods, as well as fleetingly in 1944, and is fossilized today in the local government boundaries. Archaeological, documentary and philological evidence are brought together to investigate different scales of time that vary from millennia to single days in the representation of a frontier that captured a watershed of geological origins. The foundation of the frontier appears to have been a product of the active agency of the Etruscans, who projected new settlements across the Tiber in the course of the sixth century bc, protected at the outer limit of their territory by the naturally defended farmstead of Col di Marzo. The immediate environs of the ancient abbey of Montelabate have been studied intensively by targeted, systematic and geophysical survey in conjunction with excavation, work that is still in progress. An overview of the development of the frontier is presented here, employing the data currently available.

Future microprocessor technologies will require interlayer dielectric (ILD) materials with a dielectric constant (κ-value) less than 2.5. Organosilicate glass (OSG) materials must be nanoporous to meet this demand. However, the introduction of nanopores creates many integration challenges. These challenges include 1) integrating nanoporous films with low mechanical strength into conventional process flows, 2) managing etch profiles, 3) processinduced damage to the nanoporous ILD, and 4) controlling the metal/nanoporous ILD interface. This paper reviews research to maximize mechanical strength by engineering optimal pore structures, controlling trench bottom roughness induced by etching and understanding its relationship to pore size, repairing plasma damage using silylation chemistry, and sealing a nanoporous surface for barrier metal (liner) deposition.