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.

An epitaxial NdFeAs(O,F) thin film of 90 nm thickness grown by molecular beam epitaxy on MgO single crystal with Tc = 44.2 K has been investigated regarding a possible vortex glass–liquid transition. The voltage–current characteristics show excellent scalability according to the vortex-glass model with a static critical exponent ν of around 1.35 and a temperature-dependent dynamic exponent z increasing from 7.8 to 9.0 for the investigated temperature range. The large and non-constant z values are discussed in the frame of 3D vortex glass, thermally activated flux motion, and inhomogeneity broadening.

We initiated a long-term and highly frequent monitoring project toward 442 methanol masers at 6.7 GHz (Dec >−30 deg) using the Hitachi 32-m radio telescope in December 2012. The observations have been carried out daily, monitoring a spectrum of each source with intervals of 9–10 days. In September 2015, the number of the target sources and intervals were redesigned into 143 and 4–5 days, respectively. This monitoring provides us complete information on how many sources show periodic flux variations in high-mass star-forming regions, which have been detected in 20 sources with periods of 29.5–668 days so far (e.g., Goedhart et al. 2004). We have already obtained new detections of periodic flux variations in 31 methanol sources with periods of 22–409 days. These periodic flux variations must be a unique tool to investigate high-mass protostars themselves and their circumstellar structure on a very tiny spatial scale of 0.1–1 au.

As many as six levels of emerged Holocene coral terraces occur along 40 km of coastline on the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, recording uplift history since culmination of the postglacial transgression. The Holocene reef crest, ca. 6000 yr B.P., is tilted down to the northwest, parallel to the coast and concordant with the deformation of the last interglacial coral reef terrace, and descends from 23 to 12 m in the study area. The pattern and rate of deformation have been uniform in the late Quaternary because average uplift rates have remained the same since the last interglaciation. The Holocene terraces described here are erosional features with regressive encrusting corals, developed upon the Holocene transgressive reef. The multiple levels represent episodic, probably coseismic uplift, which has occurred repeatedly in the last ca. 6000 yr. Significant longshore variation in the age of the lowest terrace, from 1700 to 2500 yr B.P., suggests independent coseismic uplift on different sectors of the coast. This is supported by age-height relationships of the higher Holocene terraces. Nonlinear uplift during the Holocene, with recurrence intervals increasing toward the present, is clearly recorded by the regressive terraces in each subregion. Some of the Holocene regressive terraces grade laterally into fluvial terraces capped with debris-flow deposits, probably reflecting seismically triggered mass movement.

Experimental Echinococcus multilocularis infection and deworming was repeated three or five times in nine dogs at various re-infection schedules. The mean number of worms decreased more than 91% in dogs with repeated infection, compared to first infection controls (n= 6). The copro-antigen assay and the egg count in the faeces suggested that the worm burden gradually decreased each time the dogs were re-infected. To examine whether such worm exclusion was a non-specific response, five dogs were sequentially infected with the parasite four times and subsequently fed freely for 6 months. Even after the 6-month interval, the five dogs that were infected five times with the parasite were still able largely to exclude the adult worms. The results suggested that the ability of worm exclusion in dogs that developed a resistance did not become rapidly extinct. Observation of the condition of faeces and the excretion of hooks in the faeces of repeatedly infected dogs revealed that the exclusion of worms started at the first week after the re-infection, and it continued during the patent period. Serum antibodies specific to the parasite antigen increased gradually until the third infection and significantly decreased during the 6-month interval. There was little enhancement of serum antibodies after the fifth infection in most dogs, although no clear correlation was observed between the antibody response and the worm burden. These findings suggested the possibility of developing a vaccine.

The superbubble (SB) 30 Dor C with the strong non-thermal X-ray emission is one of the best targets for study of the cosmic-ray (CR) acceleration. We investigated X-ray spectral properties of the SB with a high spatial resolution of ~10 pc. Consequently, the spectra in the east regions can be described with a combination of absorbed thermal and non-thermal models while the spectra in the west regions can be fitted with an absorbed non-thermal model. We found that the observed photon index and intensity in 2-10 keV show variations of 2.0-3.5 and (0.6-8.0) × 10−7 erg s−1 cm−2 str−1, respectively. The results are possibly caused by the spatial variation of the CR acceleration efficiency and/or the circumstellar environment.

We carried out large–scale (4 × 2 degree) CO multi–line observations toward the central molecular zone (CMZ) in the Galactic center (GC) with the NANTEN2 4m telescope and mapped several diffuse molecular features located at relatively high Galactic latitudes above 0°.6. These high–latitude features are composed of diffuse molecular halo gas and molecular filaments according to their morphological aspects. Their high velocities and high intensity ratios between 12CO J = (2−1) and J = (1−0) clearly indicate their location in the GC, and their total mass amount to ∼10% of that of the CMZ. We discuss that magnetic field is a possible mechanism of these high–latitude molecular features lifting up toward high galactic latitude.

We carried out magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to reveal the formation mechanism of molecular towers observed in the central region of our galaxy. These molecular clouds can be formed by the interaction of magnetic tower jet with the interstellar gas. When the jet collides with dense HI clouds, the HI gas is compressed by the bow shock ahead of the jet. Since the density enhancement triggers the cooling instability because it increases the cooling rate, the shocked gas cools down and forms cold, dense gas. We carried out MHD simulations including the cooling. The magnetized jet which triggers the formation of the molecular column appears in global magnetohydrodynamic simulations of accretion disks, in which the magnetic loops emerging from the disk are twisted by the differential rotation between the footpoints of magnetic loops anchored to the disk. Numerical results indicate that the magnetic loops expand, and form a magnetic tower. When the ambient density is small, the propagation speed of the tower can be as large as the rotation speed of the disk. When the ambient density is high, the collision of the jet and the HI cloud forms dense molecular tower.

Epitaxial Fe-Te-Se thin films were deposited by pulsed laser deposition at 250 ~ 600 °C on SrTiO3 (100, STO), MgO (100), LaAlO3 (100, LAO) and CaF2 (100) single crystal substrates. Best superconducting film was grown on CaF2: Tconset = 20.0 K and Tc0 = 16.18 K with Tdep = 300 °C, 45000 pulses, 3 Hz. The critical current density Jc at 4.2 K was 0.41×106A/cm2 at 0 T and 0.23×106 A/cm2 at 9 T. Angular dependence of Jc showed broad c-axis correlated peak when B ≥ 3 T.

Changes in critical current properties depending on growth temperature (Ts) were clarified for Ba-Nb-O-doped YBa2Cu3Oy (Y123) films deposited by YAG- and excimer-PLD. Due to the introduction of Ba-Nb-O-nanorods, a vortex-Bose-glass-like behavior emerged as irreversibility lines and in-field critical current densities (Jcs) were improved. Crossover magnetic fields (Bcr) and in-field Jcs increased with the increase in Ts for the Y123 films with nanorods. These Ts-dependent critical current properties were attributable to the changes in morphology of the nanorods with Ts and were independent of laser source in PLD apparatuses. For the fabrication of RE123 coated conductors containing nanorods, optimization of Ts with taking both materials of RE123 matrix and nanorod into account is necessary to achieve higher in-field Jc.

Porous scaffolds of alkaline-soluble collagen including nanocomposite particles of chondroitin sulfate and low crystalline hydroxyapatite for cartilage regeneration were fabricated by freeze-drying and thermal dehydration treatments; porous collagen scaffolds were also synthesized as a reference. The scaffolds were cross-linked using glutaraldehyde (GA) vapor treatment in order to enhance biodegradable resistance. Microstructural observation with scanning electron microscope indicated that the scaffolds with and without GA cross-linkage had open pores between 130 to 200 μm in diameter and well-interconnected pores of 10 to 30 μm even after cross-linkage. In vitro biodegradable resistance to collagenase was significantly enhanced by GA cross-linking of the scaffolds. All these results suggest that the GA cross-linked scaffolds consisting of collagen, chondroitin sulfate, and low crystalline hydroxyapatite have suitable microporous structures and long-term biochemical stability for cartilage tissue engineering.