Indentation hardnesses of semiconductors and a scaling rule

The Vickers hardnesses of 15 semiconductors, namely Si, Ge, SiC, AlN, GaN, GaP, GaAs, GaSb, InP, InAs, InSb, ZnO, ZnSe, ZnTe and CdTe, have been investigated from room temperature to their melting points. The temperature dependences of the Vickers hardness H V of 11 of these semiconductors, namely those with a cubic structure, obey a universal relationship when H V and the temperature T are scaled respectively by the shear modulus G and by Gb 3 / k B, with b being the magnitude of the Burgers vector. The scaling rule is the same as that found for the temperature dependence of the critical shear stress c for the {111}<110> slip system, satisfying the relationship H V = (70-100) c .     

Multiple phase transitions in CuO

Electrical resistivity, thermoelectric power, magnetic susceptibility and calorimetric measurements were carried out on a single crystal of CuO. In addition the two known antiferromagnetic transitions between 210K and 230K, a new phase transition around 160K was found in CuO. The experimental results show that this new transition is related to changes in the electronic state of CuO.     

Effects of the range and frequency of vibrations on the momentary riding comfort evaluation of a railway vehicle

When trains pass level-crossings, turnouts, and rail joints, they are momentarily subjected to extreme vibrations. In railway engineering, evaluation of the riding comfort under such occasional vibrations is called the momentary riding comfort evaluation, as distinct from the long-term evaluation, which addresses the riding comfort of passengers for certain lengths of train operation. In order to identify the effective vibrational characteristics of the momentary evaluation, an experiment was performed with a riding comfort simulator. Ten adult subjects for each condition, 80 in total, participated in the experiment. The effects of differences in the range of stimuli, frequency of each stimulus, and scores on a rating scale of discomfort were studied. Differences in the range and frequency affected the evaluation such that subjects tended to make a relative judgment on discomfort. They made almost an absolute judgment when the rating scale was well defined, with a small number of categories.     

The Organization of Extrinsic Neurons and Their Implications in the Functional Roles of the Mushroom Bodies in Drosophila melanogaster Meigen

Although the importance of the Drosophila mushroom body in olfactory learning and memory has been stressed, virtually nothing is known about the brain regions to which it is connected. Using Golgi and GAL4–UAS techniques, we performed the first systematic attempt to reveal the anatomy of its extrinsic neurons. A novel presynaptic reporter construct, UAS-neuronal synaptobrevin–green fluorescent protein (n-syb–GFP), was used to reveal the direction of information in the GAL4-labeled neurons. Our results showed that the main target of the output neurons from the mushroom body lobes is the anterior part of the inferior medial, superior medial, and superior lateral protocerebrum. The lobes also receive afferents from these neuropils. The lack of major output projections directly to the deutocerebrum’s premotor pathways discourages the view that the role of the mushroom body may be that of an immediate modifier of behavior. Our data, as well as a critical evaluation of the literature, suggest that the mushroom body may not by itself be a “center” for learning and memory, but that it can equally be considered as a preprocessor of olfactory signals en route to “higher” protocerebral regions.     

Avoidance behavior associated with depressive symptoms in patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators

Objective: Many patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators experience depressive symptoms. In addition, avoidance behavior is a common problem among patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators. We examined the association between avoidance behaviors and depressive symptoms in patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators. Method: We conducted a single-center, cross-sectional study with self-completed questionnaires between May 2010 and March 2011. We measured avoidance behaviors (avoidance of places, avoidance of objects, and avoidance of situations) and depressive symptoms (using the Beck Depression Inventory, Version II) in 119 participants. An avoidance behaviors instrument was developed for this study and we confirmed its internal consistency reliability. Results: Ninety-two (77.3%) patients were aged older than 50 years, and 86 (72.3%) were men. Fifty-one (42.9%) patients reported “avoidance of places”, 34 (28.6%) reported “avoidance of objects”, and 63 (52.9%) reported “avoidance of activity”. Avoidance behavior was associated with increased odds for the presence of depressive symptoms (OR 1.31; 95% CI 1.06–1.62). Conclusions: This was the first study to identify the relationship between avoidance behavior and depressive symptoms among patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators; however, there are a few methodological limitations.     

Automatic auditory disambiguation of visual awareness

Multisensory integration can play a critical role in producing unified and reliable perceptual experience. When sensory information in one modality is degraded or ambiguous, information from other senses can crossmodally resolve perceptual ambiguities. Prior research suggests that auditory information can disambiguate the contents of visual awareness by facilitating perception of intermodally consistent stimuli. However, it is unclear whether these effects are truly due to crossmodal facilitation or are mediated by voluntary selective attention to audiovisually congruent stimuli. Here, we demonstrate that sounds can bias competition in binocular rivalry toward audiovisually congruent percepts, even when participants have no recognition of the congruency. When speech sounds were presented in synchrony with speech-like deformations of rivalling ellipses, ellipses with crossmodally congruent deformations were perceptually dominant over those with incongruent deformations. This effect was observed in participants who could not identify the crossmodal congruency in an open-ended interview (Experiment 1) or detect it in a simple 2AFC task (Experiment 2), suggesting that the effect was not due to voluntary selective attention or response bias. These results suggest that sound can automatically disambiguate the contents of visual awareness by facilitating perception of audiovisually congruent stimuli.     

Gettier Across Cultures1

In this article, we present evidence that in four different cultural groups that speak quite different languages (Brazil, India, Japan, and the USA) there are cases of justified true beliefs that are not judged to be cases of knowledge. We hypothesize that this intuitive judgment, which we call “the Gettier intuition,” may be a reflection of an underlying innate and universal core folk epistemology, and we highlight the philosophical significance of its universality.     

Mental Health Inventory for Infants: Scale Development and Japanese Infants’ Characteristics

Early detection and treatment promote positive outcomes in mental health problems among infants. This study developed a simple and reliable screening inventory for infants’ mental health. Participants were 579 primary caregivers who had Japanese infants aged 2–6 years. Participants evaluated their children using the Mental Health Inventory for Infants (MHII; developed in this study), which contains 24 items. Exploratory factorial analysis identified the MHII factor structure; confirmatory factorial analysis examined its factorial validity. Internal consistency and criterion-related validity were also examined. Irritability (8 items), somatic symptoms (6 items), and signs of insecurity (4 items) were identified as factors in the MHII; each of these factors measures a critical aspect of infants’ mental health. The MHII’s internal consistency and scale homogeneity were acceptable; its criterion-related validity was supported. In this study, male infants exhibited greater irritability and less insecurity than females. The present results support the MHII’s reliability and validity; additionally, they indicate that caregivers may use the MHII to quickly screen for three critical aspects of infants’ mental health. We expect that the MHII will be used for early detection of mental health difficulties in infants to facilitate treatment.     

Is lesion of Exner's area linked to progressive agraphia in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with dementia? An autopsy case report

Agraphia, as a neuropsychological symptom of ALS, especially ALS with dementia (ALS-D), has recently attracted more attention. However, the brain lesion responsible has not been identified. Here we present an autopsy case of ALS-D of a patient with obvious agraphia, without aphasia, that also presented cerebrospinal degeneration with TDP-43-pathology compatible with ALS-D. Of the pre-motor frontal lobe cortices, degeneration and immuno-histochemical pathology were most obvious in the caudal area of the left middle frontal gyrus, or Exner's area. Assuring this area plays a pivotal role in the kanji and kana formation used in writing the Japanese language, this case of ALS-D showed both agraphia and Exner's area stressed pathological lesions. It may thus be the first case to indicate an intimate relationship between the neuropsychological symptoms and an associated lesion for ALS-D.