Vocal Identity Recognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Voices can convey information about a speaker. When forming an abstract representation of a speaker, it is important to extract relevant features from acoustic signals that are invariant to the modulation of these signals. This study investigated the way in which individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) recognize and memorize vocal identity.

Evaluation of Factors To Determine Platelet Compatibility by Using Self-Assembled Monolayers with a Chemical Gradient.

Intercorrelation among surface chemical composition, packing structure of molecules, water contact angles, amounts and structures of adsorbed proteins, and blood compatibility was systematically investigated with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) with continuous chemical composition gradients. The SAMs were mixtures of two thiols: n-hexanethiol (hydrophobic and protein-adsorbing) and hydroxyl-tri(ethylene glycol)-terminated alkanethiol (hydrophilic and protein-resistant) with continuously changing mixing ratios. From the systematic analyses, we found that protein adsorption is governed both by sizes of proteins and hydrophobic domains of the substrate.

Enhanced segregation of concurrent sounds with similar spectral uncertainties in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

When acoustic signals from different sound sources are mixed upon arrival at the ears, the auditory system organizes these acoustic elements by their features. This study shows that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) performed better in terms of hearing a target sequence among distractors that had similar spectral uncertainties. Their superior performance in this task indicates an enhanced discrimination between auditory streams with the same spectral uncertainties but different spectro-temporal details.

Patterning technique for gold nanoparticles on substrates using a focused electron beam.

We propose a novel patterning technique for gold nanoparticles on substrates that combines a chemical reaction with electron beam irradiation. First, gold nanoparticles are placed in a two-dimensional arrangement on the substrate. Then, particular nanoparticles are fixed on the substrate by irradiation with a focused electron beam to produce a desired pattern.

Noise-robust recognition of wide-field motion direction and the underlying neural mechanisms in Drosophila melanogaster.

Appropriate and robust behavioral control in a noisy environment is important for the survival of most organisms. Understanding such robust behavioral control has been an attractive subject in neuroscience research. Here, we investigated the processing of wide-field motion with random dot noise at both the behavioral and neuronal level in Drosophila melanogaster.

Extraction of conjugate main-stream structures from a complex network flow.

We introduce a method to extract main-stream structures for a given complex network flow by trimming less effective links. As the resulting main streams generally have an almost loopless treelike structure, we can define the stream basin size for each node, which characterizes the importance of the node with regard to the flow. As a real-world example, we apply this method to an interfirm trading network, both for the money flow and its conjugate-the material or service flow-confirming that both basin size distributions follow a similar power law that differs significantly from the basin size distributions of rivers in nature.

Different Roles of COMT and HTR2A Genotypes in Working Memory Subprocesses.

Working memory is linked to the functions of the frontal areas, in which neural activity is mediated by dopaminergic and serotonergic tones. However, there is no consensus regarding how the dopaminergic and serotonergic systems influence working memory subprocesses. The present study used an imaging genetics approach to examine the interaction between neurochemical functions and working memory performance.

Rigidity and soft percolation in the glass transition of an atomistic model of ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium nitrate, from molecular dynamics simulations--Existence of infinite overlapping networks in a fragile ionic liquid.

The typical ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium nitrate (EMIM-NO3), was examined by molecular dynamics simulations of an all-atomistic model to show the characteristics of networks of cages and/or bonds in the course of vitrification of this fragile glass-former. The system shows changes of dynamics at two characteristic temperatures, TB (or Tc) and the glass transition temperature Tg, found in other fragile glass forming liquids [K. L.

Sensorless Viscosity Measurement in a Magnetically-Levitated Rotary Blood Pump.

Controlling the flow rate in an implantable rotary blood pump based on the physiological demand made by the body is important. Even though various methods to estimate the flow rate without using a flow meter have been proposed, no adequate method for measuring the blood viscosity, which is necessary for an accurate estimate of the flow rate, without using additional sensors or mechanisms in a noninvasive way, has yet been realized. We have developed a sensorless method for measuring viscosity in magnetically levitated rotary blood pumps, which requires no additional sensors or mechanisms.

Enhancement in Kinetics of the Oxygen Reduction Reaction on a Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Catalyst by Introduction of Iron via Electrochemical Methods.

The iron (Fe) electrodeposition-electrochemical dissolution has been employed on nitrogen-doped carbon material (P-PI) prepared via multi-step pyrolysis of a polyimide precursor to achieve the introduction of Fe species, and its influence on the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is investigated by cyclic and rotating ring-disk electrode voltammetry in 0.5 M H2SO4. After the electrochemical treatment, the overpotential and H2O2 production percentage of ORR on the P-PI are decreased and the number of electrons transferred is increased in the meanwhile.

Precise calculation of a bond percolation transition and survival rates of nodes in a complex network.

Through precise numerical analysis, we reveal a new type of universal loopless percolation transition in randomly removed complex networks. As an example of a real-world network, we apply our analysis to a business relation network consisting of approximately 3,000,000 links among 300,000 firms and observe the transition with critical exponents close to the mean-field values taking into account the finite size effect. We focus on the largest cluster at the critical point, and introduce survival probability as a new measure characterizing the robustness of each node.

Rumor diffusion and convergence during the 3.11 earthquake: a twitter case study.

We focus on Internet rumors and present an empirical analysis and simulation results of their diffusion and convergence during emergencies. In particular, we study one rumor that appeared in the immediate aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, which later turned out to be misinformation. By investigating whole Japanese tweets that were sent one week after the quake, we show that one correction tweet, which originated from a city hall account, diffused enormously.

Tracking a protein following dissociation from a protein-protein complex using a split SNAP-tag system.

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are important for various biological processes in living cells. Several methods have been developed for the visualization of PPIs in vivo; however, these methods are unsuitable for visualization of post-PPI events such as dissociation and translocation. In this study, we applied a split SNAP-tag system for the visualization of post-PPI events.

Mechanistic studies on the cascade conversion of 1,3-dihydroxyacetone and formaldehyde into α-hydroxy-γ-butyrolactone.

The chemical synthesis of commercially and industrially important products from biomass-derived sugars is absolutely vital to establish biomass utilization as a sustainable alternative source of chemical starting materials. α-Hydroxy-γ-butyrolactone is a useful synthetic intermediate in pharmaceutical chemistry, and so novel biomass-related routes for its production may help to validate this eco-friendly methodology. Herein, we report the specific catalytic activity of homogeneous tin halides to convert the biomass-derived triose sugar 1,3-dihydroxyacetone and formaldehyde into α-hydroxy-γ-butyrolactone.

AFM characterization of chemically treated corneal cells.

We present a characterization of chemically treated cells using atomic force microscopy (AFM) which can observe changes in morphology and elasticity of cells. Since AFM has the significant advantage that it does not require fixation of samples, the method is simple and can capture various properties of living cells. In this study, corneal epithelial and endothelial cells were examined.

Parallel Synthesis of photoluminescent π-conjugated polymers by polymer reactions of an organotitanium polymer with a titanacyclopentadiene unit.

A regioregular organometallic polymer with titanacyclopentadiene unit, obtained by the reaction of a 2,7-diethynylfluorene derivative and a low-valent titanium complex, is subjected to the reaction with three kinds of electrophiles (i.e., sulfur monochloride, hydrochloric acid, and dichlorophenylphosphine) to give π-conjugated polymers possessing both fluorene and building blocks originated from the transformation of the titanacycles in the main chain.

A novel fabrication of a polymeric ionic liquid hybrid film modified electrode and its successful application to the electrogeneration of a superoxide anion in aqueous media.

A novel polymeric ionic liquid hybrid film-modified electrode, in which the electrode surface is coated with a hydrophobic hybrid material composed of an ionene polymer with quaternary ammonium sites in its polymeric backbone and ionic liquids, was fabricated by electropolymerization of N,N-dimethylaniline in a hydrophobic ionic liquid, which can be applied for the electrogeneration of a superoxide anion via one-electron reduction of O2 in aqueous media.

Synthesis of π-Conjugated Polymers Containing Phosphole Units in the Main Chain by Reaction of an Organometallic Polymer Having a Titanacyclopentadiene Unit.

A regioregular organometallic polymer possessing titanacyclopentadiene units in the main chain, which was obtained by the reaction of terminal diyne and a low-valent titanium complex, was subjected to the reaction with dichlorophosphines to give π-conjugated polymers with phosphole or phosphole oxide units in the main chain. For example, a phenylphosphole-containing polymer was obtained in 76% yield by the reaction with dichlorophenylphosphine, whose number-average molecular weight () and molecular weight distribution (/) were estimated to be 6100 and 1.9, respectively, by GPC.

Influence of zeolite pore structure on product selectivities for protolysis and hydride transfer reactions in the cracking of n-pentane.

The conversion of n-pentane was carried out to examine the effects of reaction conditions on changes in product selectivities at 823 K, using zeolites with 10- and 12-membered rings. We also investigated the influence of the pore structure of these zeolites on their catalytic activities for both protolysis and hydride transfer reactions. In the first half of this work, we examined the influence of acidic proton concentration and n-pentane pressure on the reaction rates for protolysis and hydride transfer reactions using ZSM-5 zeolites.

Evaluation of commercially available reagents as a reference material for intramolecular carbon isotopic measurements of acetic acid.

Rationale: Recent advances in analytical techniques for the intramolecular carbon isotopic ratio measurement of some organic compounds have provided important information on carbon cycles in biochemistry, organic geochemistry and food chemistry. These advances have made it necessary to prepare intramolecular isotopic reference materials (RMs) to use for inter-laboratory calibration and/or inter-calibration among different analytical methods.

Methods: We evaluated the feasibility of preparing RMs using commercially available reagents for intramolecular carbon isotopic ratio measurement of acetic acid.

High-resolution MALDI-TOF MS study on analysis of low-molecular-weight products from photo-oxidation of poly(3-hexylthiophene).

High-resolution matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF MS) was used for the analysis of the low-molecular-weight products from the photo-oxidation of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) in solution and thin film. Eight new peak series were observed in the low-mass range of the mass spectra of the products degraded in solution, and the formulas of the eight components were determined from the accurate mass. From SEC/MALDI-TOF MS, two components were identified as the degraded products, and the other six components were derived from the fragmentation of the degraded products during the MALDI process.

Label and Label-Free Detection Techniques for Protein Microarrays.

Protein microarray technology has gone through numerous innovative developments in recent decades. In this review, we focus on the development of protein detection methods embedded in the technology. Early microarrays utilized useful chromophores and versatile biochemical techniques dominated by high-throughput illumination.

Anthropogenic impacts on meiobenthic Ostracoda (Crustacea) in the moderately polluted Kasado Bay, Seto Inland Sea, Japan, over the past 70 years.

Two sediment cores were obtained from Kasado Bay, a moderate-polluted enclosed bay in Japan, to examine anthropogenic impacts on Ostracoda over the past ca. 70 years. We analyzed ostracode abundance and diversity, grain size, and CHN, and used (210)Pb and (137)Cs as the dating method.

Highly reversible capacity at the surface of a lithium-rich manganese oxide: a model study using an epitaxial film system.

Epitaxial films of Li2MnO3 were synthesized using pulsed laser deposition. A 12.6 nm film exhibited a high discharge capacity of over 300 mA h g(-1) following its fiftieth cycle and better stability than 29.