Structures of K0.05Na0.95NbO3 (50–300 K) and K0.30Na0.70NbO3 (100–200 K)

Rietveld refinement using neutron powder diffraction data is reported for the potential lead-free piezoelectric material KxNa1 - xNbO3 (x = 0.05, x = 0.3) at low temperatures. The structures were determined to be of rhombohedral symmetry, space group R3c, with the tilt system a-a-a- for both compositions. It was found that some of the structural parameters differ significantly in the two structures, and particularly the NbO6 octahedral strains as a function of temperature. The 300 K profile for K0.05Na0.95NbO3 shows the coexistence of rhombohedral and monoclinic phases, which indicates that the phase boundary is close to room temperature; the phase boundary for K0.30Na0.70NbO3 is found to be at approximately 180 K

Cherokee Nation Trip Report: Assessment of Mold and Moisture Conditions

Jeff Gordon from the Building Research Council (BRC) at the University of lllinois Urbana-Champaign, and Robert Nemeth of Magna Systems, conducted a site visit at the Cherokee Nation on January 14-16,2003. The purpose of the site visit was to provide technical assistance to the Cherokee Nation Housing Authority in assessing mold and moisture conditions in housing units. This is a summary report of activities and issues addressed while on site. A detailed analysis of the findings and recommendations is found in the attached reports.U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Native American Program

Crystallographic and optical study of PbHfO3 crystals

The symmetry of the intermediate high-temperature phase of PbHfO3 has been determined unambiguously to be orthorhombic using a combination of high-resolution X-ray diffraction and birefringence imaging microscopy measurements of crystal plates. While lattice parameter measurements as a function of temperature in the intermediate phase are consistent with either orthorhombic or tetragonal symmetry, domain orientations observed in birefringence imaging microscopy measurements utilizing the Metripol system are only consistent with orthorhombic symmetry with the unit cell in the rhombic orientation of the pseudocubic unit cell

X-ray white beam topography of self-organized domains in flux-grown BaTiO3 single crystals

The phenomenon of self-organization of domains into a “square-net pattern” in single-crystal, flux-grown BaTiO3 several degrees below the ferroelectric to paraelectric phase transition was investigated using in situ synchrotron x-ray topography. The tetragonal distortion of the crystal was determined by measuring the angular separation between the diffraction images received from 90° a and c domains in the projection topographs, and shows a rapid decrease towards 110 °C, the onset temperature for self-organization. The onset of self-organization is accompanied by bending of the {100} lattice planes parallel to the crystal surface, which produces a strain that persists up to and beyond the Curie temperature, where the crystal becomes cubic and the self-organized domains disappear. At the Curie point, the bending angle α100=8.1(±0.3)mrad is at a maximum and corresponds to the radius of curvature of the surface being 16.3(±0.6) mm

Ultrahigh Piezoelectric Strains in PbZr1−xTixO3 single crystals with controlled Ti content close to the tricritical point

Intensive investigations of PbZr Ti O (PZT) materials with the ABO perovskite structure are connected with their extraordinary piezoelectric properties. Especially well known are PZT ceramics at the Morphotropic Phase Boundary (MPB), with x~0.48, whose applications are the most numerous among ferroelectrics. These piezoelectric properties are often obtained by doping with various ions at the B sites. Interestingly, we have found similar properties for undoped PZT single crystals with low Ti content, for which we have confirmed the existence of the tricritical point near x~0.06. For a PbZr Ti O crystal, we describe the ultrahigh strain, dielectric, optical and piezoelectric properties. We interpret the ultrahigh strain observed in the region of the antiferroelectric-ferroelectric transition as an inverse piezoelectric effect generated by the coexistence of domains of different symmetries. The complex domain coexistence was confirmed by determining optical indicatrix orientations in domains. The piezoelectric coefficient in this region reached an extremely high value of 5000 pm/V. We also verified that the properties of the PZT single crystals from the region near the tricritical point are incredibly susceptible to a slight deviation in the Ti content

Hundreds of variants clustered in genomic loci and biological pathways affect human height

Most common human traits and diseases have a polygenic pattern of inheritance: DNA sequence variants at many genetic loci influence the phenotype. Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified more than 600 variants associated with human traits, but these typically explain small fractions of phenotypic variation, raising questions about the use of further studies. Here, using 183,727 individuals, we show that hundreds of genetic variants, in at least 180 loci, influence adult height, a highly heritable and classic polygenic trait. The large number of loci reveals patterns with important implications for genetic studies of common human diseases and traits. First, the 180 loci are not random, but instead are enriched for genes that are connected in biological pathways (P = 0.016) and that underlie skeletal growth defects (P < 0.001). Second, the likely causal gene is often located near the most strongly associated variant: in 13 of 21 loci containing a known skeletal growth gene, that gene was closest to the associated variant. Third, at least 19 loci have multiple independently associated variants, suggesting that allelic heterogeneity is a frequent feature of polygenic traits, that comprehensive explorations of already-discovered loci should discover additional variants and that an appreciable fraction of associated loci may have been identified. Fourth, associated variants are enriched for likely functional effects on genes, being over-represented among variants that alter amino-acid structure of proteins and expression levels of nearby genes. Our data explain approximately 10% of the phenotypic variation in height, and we estimate that unidentified common variants of similar effect sizes would increase this figure to approximately 16% of phenotypic variation (approximately 20% of heritable variation). Although additional approaches are needed to dissect the genetic architecture of polygenic human traits fully, our findings indicate that GWA studies can identify large numbers of loci that implicate biologically relevant genes and pathways.

GA4GH: International policies and standards for data sharing across genomic research and healthcare.

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) aims to accelerate biomedical advances by enabling the responsible sharing of clinical and genomic data through both harmonized data aggregation and federated approaches. The decreasing cost of genomic sequencing (along with other genome-wide molecular assays) and increasing evidence of its clinical utility will soon drive the generation of sequence data from tens of millions of humans, with increasing levels of diversity. In this perspective, we present the GA4GH strategies for addressing the major challenges of this data revolution. We describe the GA4GH organization, which is fueled by the development efforts of eight Work Streams and informed by the needs of 24 Driver Projects and other key stakeholders. We present the GA4GH suite of secure, interoperable technical standards and policy frameworks and review the current status of standards, their relevance to key domains of research and clinical care, and future plans of GA4GH. Broad international participation in building, adopting, and deploying GA4GH standards and frameworks will catalyze an unprecedented effort in data sharing that will be critical to advancing genomic medicine and ensuring that all populations can access its benefits

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

RANTES/CCL5 and risk for coronary events: Results from the MONICA/KORA Augsburg case-cohort, Athero-express and CARDIoGRAM studies

Background: The chemokine RANTES (regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted)/CCL5 is involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease in mice, whereas less is known in humans. We hypothesised that its relevance for atherosclerosis should be reflected by associations between CCL5 gene variants, RANTES serum concentrations and protein levels in atherosclerotic plaques and risk for coronary events. Methods and Findings: We conducted a case-cohort study within the population-based MONICA/KORA Augsburg studies. Baseline RANTES serum levels were measured in 363 individuals with incident coronary events and 1,908 non-cases (mean follow-up: 10.2±