Fe-sapphire and C-Fe-sapphire interactions and their effect on the growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes by chemical vapor deposition

We previously reported that the quantity of single-walled carbon nanotubes grown on Fe-coated sapphire by chemical vapor deposition depended on the crystallographic faces of sapphires. In this report, we show that the interaction of Fe, sapphire, and carbon depended on the sapphire faces. We deduce that the quantity of Fe available to catalyze the growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes was suppressed by the formation of Fe-Al alloys and whether the Fe-Al alloys were formed on Fe-coated sapphire or not depended on the sapphire-surface structure.     

Graphite formation on Ni film by chemical vapor deposition

Thin film formation of graphite by chemical vapor deposition using 2-methyl-1,2′-naphthyl ketone as a starting material was carried out on Ni film substrates. On Ni films directly deposited on quartz glass, the graphite films were obtained when the Ni film thickness was above 1 000 Å and above 5 000 Å at 700 °C and 1 000 °C, respectively. Depositions on thinner Ni film substrates comprise amorphous carbon (a-C) or graphite tubes which was owing to the thermal coagulation of the Ni film into droplets. On the other hand, graphite film was obtained on the Ni film with thickness 10 Å when a-C was inserted between the Ni film and the quartz glass. The coagulation of the Ni film is considered to be avoided by inserting a-C layer.     

Soluble functionalized carbon nanohorns

Carbon nanahorns (CNH) were functionalized following the methodology of 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylides and found to form stable solutions in either organic solvents or water. The number of added functional units, in the form of pyrrolidine moieties, was calculated when a pyrene chromophore was utilized in the modification scheme. Moreover, complementary theoretical calculations revealed that reactivity enhancement is expected at locations near the conical-shaped tip of CNH, where the highest curvature and strain exist. Finally, additional organic transformation of already modified CNH was exploited by covalently linked ferrocene units.     

Category discrimination of artificial polymorphous stimuli based on feature learning.

Pigeons and humans were trained to discriminate between sets of artificial stimuli defined by a 2-out-of-3 polymorphous concept. Stimuli containing any 2 of 3 positive or negative features were used for training. In Exp 1, pigeons showed complete transfer to stimuli with all 3 positive or negative features and even to stimuli that had 1 of the 3 features replaced with a novel feature. In contrast, humans failed to show transfer to those stimuli. By using a selective reversal procedure for pigeons, Exp 2 revealed that functional equivalence was not formed among either the stimuli or the features. Exp 3 examined how pigeons integrate information from several distinct features to determine the response to any given stimulus. An additive rule and a combination rule were suggested to account for category discrimination by pigeons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facial resemblance to emotions: Group differences, impression effects, and race stereotypes.

The authors used connectionist modeling to extend previous research on emotion overgeneralization effects. Study 1 demonstrated that neutral expression male faces objectively resemble angry expressions more than female faces do, female faces objectively resemble surprise expressions more than male faces do, White faces objectively resemble angry expressions more than Black or Korean faces do, and Black faces objectively resemble happy and surprise expressions more than White faces do. Study 2 demonstrated that objective resemblance to emotion expressions influences trait impressions even when statistically controlling possible confounding influences of attractiveness and babyfaceness. It further demonstrated that emotion overgeneralization is moderated by face race and that racial differences in emotion resemblance contribute to White perceivers’ stereotypes of Blacks and Asians. These results suggest that intergroup relations may be strained not only by cultural stereotypes but also by adaptive responses to emotion expressions that are overgeneralized to groups whose faces subtly resemble particular emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of the ganglioside distributions of fat tissues in various animals by two-dimensional thin layer chromatography

The ganglioside distributions of various fat tissues from human, rabbit, rat, mouse, chicken and frog were compared with pig adipose gangliosides by two-dimensional thin layers chromatography. It was found that there is a remarkable species variation in ganglioside distribution, especially in the composition and relative concentration of complex gangliosides. Differing from pig adipose tissues, those of human, rabbit, rat, mouse, chicken, but not frog, contained GM3 as a most abundant ganglioside. The data for human, rabbit and chicken indicated a simple distribution of only NeuActype gangliosides, while those for rat and mouse indicated a rather complicated pattern containing both NeuAc- and NeuGc-type gangliosides. The ganglioside pattern of the frog fat body differed markedly from those of mammalian fat tissues because of the presence of three different, unsual monosialosylgangliosides as major components. In other respects, a substantial amount of disialosylgangliosides was commonly found in all animal fat tissues.     

Package images modulate flavor perception for orange juice

Most food packages contain images as well as textual information. While the influence of textual information on flavor evaluation has been well studied, the influence of images remains unexplored. Thus, this study investigated how the valence and congruency of images on juice packages influence flavor evaluations. There were 85 participants divided between four experimental conditions: (1) pleasant/congruent, with pleasant orange pictures; (2) unpleasant/congruent, with unpleasant orange pictures; (3) pleasant/incongruent, with pictures of pleasant non-food objects; and (4) unpleasant/incongruent, with pictures of unpleasant non-food objects. In each condition, pictures were attached to cups filled with juice. The participants rated the palatability, goodness of aroma, sweetness, bitterness, sourness, richness, freshness, and artificiality of 6 samples of the same juice. Juices presented with pleasant images were rated as more palatable and fresh. Juices presented with congruent images were rated with better aromas. This data shows that images on juice packages influence flavor evaluation.     

Study of amount of evaporation residue in extracts from plastic kitchen utensils into four food-simulating solvents

The amount of evaporation residue was investigated as an index of total amount of non-volatile substances that migrated from plastic kitchen utensils into four food-simulating solvents (water, 4% acetic acid, 20% ethanol and heptane). The samples were 71 products made of 12 types of plastics for food contact use. The amount was determined in accordance with the Japanese testing method. The quantitation limit was 5 μg/mL. In the cases of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, acrylonitrile styrene resin, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polymethylpentene, polymethylmethacrylate and polyethylene terephthalate samples, the amount was highest for heptane and very low for the other solvents. On the other hand, in the cases of melamine resin and polyamide samples, the amount was highest for 4% acetic acid or 20% ethanol and lowest for heptane. These results enabled the selection of the most suitable solvent, and the rapid and efficient determination of evaporation residue.