Colour-odour correspondences in women during the menstrual cycle: Comparative analysis between the menstrual and ovulation phases

Women might experience modulation in their perception and cognition of colours and odours during the menstrual cycle, but how women's impressions of and correspondence between colours and odours differ according to the cycle changes remains unknown. Here, we experimentally examined women's performance of several tasks, including evaluation of impressions of colours and odours, matching/nonmatching of colours with odours, and identification of odours, comparing two phases: the beginning of menstruation and ovulation. The results showed that participants had similar impressions of colours and odours and made similar colour choices for odours in both the menstrual and ovulation phases, while “pleasant-unpleasant” impressions of colour and odour might vary according to the menstrual cycle. We found no significant differences in odour identification between the phases. The findings imply that hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle might affect “pleasant-unpleasant” impressions of colour and odour but not other features regarding impressions or crossmodal correspondence. In future studies, examination with a large number of participants is necessary.     

Correspondence between colour and odour for women in pre‐menopause and post‐menopause

Cross‐modal correspondences in the human sensory systems often appear for different levels of sensory inputs, such as colour and odour. However, whether there is hormonal modification of such colour‐odour correspondence has remained unclear. Here, we experimentally investigated the influence of hormonal changes in menopausal women by conducting evaluations of colour and odour impressions, matching tasks between colour and odour, and odor identification tasks, comparing two groups of women: premenopausal and postmenopausal. The results showed that both premenopausal and postmenopausal women had similar impressions and images of colours for odors, while postmenopausal women had significantly lower abilities of odor identification than premenopausal women. This suggested that the degree of conviction about an odor's identification might slightly affect the subjects’ impressions of odors and their corresponding colour choices. Menopause might not directly affect cognitive aspects regarding colour or odor, but might instead affect their perceptions.     

Depression of melting point of eutectic metal alloy by the interaction with polyacrylates in metal-polymer composites

The composites of polyacrylates and eutectic metal alloy composed by Bi, In, and Sn were prepared by mixing the metal and polymer above the melting point of the metal alloy (80 °C) with a homogenizer. Two melting peaks, which were assigned as the melting peak of the original metal alloy and that of the interfacial phase of the metal alloy interacting with polyacrylates (70 °C) by differential scanning calorimetry. Metal particles with the diameter of about 100 nm which were stabilized by the interfacial interaction with polyacrylates were observed by transmission electron microscopy. The melting peak at 70 °C was assigned as the melting peak of these small particles.     

The NMR sensitivity achievable with a slotted-tube resonator

The signal-to-noise ratio achievable with the slotted-tube resonator (STR), a fundamental type of high radiofrequency coil for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments, was formulated in an equation. This equation is based on formulae presented by Hoult and Richards [J Magn Reson 24, 71 (1976)] and Hoult and Lauterbur [J Magn Reson 34, 425 (1979)]. The equation assumes that the sample is positioned within the homogeneous region of magnetic fluxB ₁ generated by the STR, and involves no unknown factors. The NMR sensitivity of an experiment with an STR can therefore be predicted, and the equation is applicable to any nuclear species, static field strength, and dimensions of the sample and STR.     

Modulation of visual attention assessed using the Stroop task during the menstrual cycle: Comparison between the menstrual and ovulation phases

Women might have changes in perception and cognition of colours according to hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle. Colours are often associated with specific emotional facial expressions, but how these two factors interact with each other and differ according to the cycle has remained unclear. We investigated attentional interference between colours and emotional facial expressions for women in the menstrual compared to the ovulation phases by colour judgment based on the Stroop tasks. Participants identified the colours (either red, yellow, or blue) of three types of face stimuli (happy, neutral, or sad) and corresponding scrambled face stimuli by pressing buttons, and we recorded participants' reaction times. The results showed better performance in the menstrual phase than in the ovulation phase. An interference effect was not observed. However, in the scrambled face stimuli task, only the reaction time for happy scrambled face shape and red did not differ between the phases. Thus, participants might pay stronger attention to faces with colours in the menstrual phase than in the ovulation phase but weaker attention to scrambled face shapes in the menstrual phase.     

Genetic and chemical diversity of Eleutherococcus senticosus and molecular identification of Siberian ginseng by PCR-RFLP analysis based on chloroplast trnK intron sequence

Siberian ginseng (SG), the rhizome and root of Eleutherococcus senticosus, has been used as a tonic and anti-fatigue agent in northeastern Asia from ancient time. In recent years, SG has been becoming fairly popular as dietary supplements and health foods worldwide. In order to establish a convenient and sensitive method for authentication, chloroplast trnK intron sequences of 6 Eleutherococcus species were determined and compared. Genetic polymorphism, representing by 14 types of trnK intron sequence, in E. senticosus was observed. However, characteristic nucleotide markers stable within this species enabled clear discrimination of it from other congeners. A PCR-RFLP method was further developed, which was demonstrated to be efficient for authentication of crude drugs as well as health foods. Quantitative evaluation of three main bioactive constituents indicated chemical diversity in E. senticosus collected from northeast China and the results suggested good producing areas of SG. The chemical data clearly revealed that E. sessliflorus was unsuitable to be used as SG.     

A method of compressing trie structures

A trie structure can immediately determine whether a desired key is in a given key set or not, and can find its longest match easily. Thanks to these attractive properties, a trie structure is frequently used for various fields, such as natural language dictionaries, database systems and compilers. However, the total number of states of a trie becomes large, so space requirements are not good for a huge key set. To resolve this disadvantage a new structure which reduces the total number of states in a traditional trie, called a double-trie, is introduced in this paper. Insertion and deletion operations, as well as key retrieval for this double-trie, are presented. The efficiency of this method is shown by the results of simulations for various key sets.     

Distribution of deoxynivalenol and nivalenol in milling fractions from fusarium-infected Japanese wheat cultivars

The fate of the Fusarium mycotoxins deoxynivalenol and nivalenol during the milling of Japanese wheat cultivars artificially infected with Fusarium was investigated. Grain samples with different mycotoxin concentrations were milled using a laboratory-scale test mill to produce eight fractions: three breaking flours (1B, 2B, and 3B), three reduction flours (1M, 2M, and 3M), wheat bran, and wheat shorts. Patent flour for human consumption was made from the 1B, 2B, 1M, and 2M flours, and low-grade flour was made from 3B and 3M flours. The four resulting samples (patent flour, low-grade flour, bran, and shorts) were analyzed for deoxynivalenol and/or nivalenol with an in-house validated analytical method using high-performance liquid chromatography with UV absorbance detection. In samples with different mycotoxin concentrations, the distribution of those toxins differed among the milling fractions. Grains with a lower level of contamination produced bran and shorts samples with a high relative concentration of nivalenol. A high percentage of nivalenol was found in patent flour, followed by bran. Contrary to the less-contaminated sample, the concentration of nivalenol in moderately contaminated grain was high only in the shorts sample. The highest percentage of deoxynivalenol and nivalenol was observed in the patent flour. The results of this study indicate that the distribution of deoxynivalenol and nivalenol in milled Japanese wheat could be influenced by the contamination level of the original grain, and the milling process is not always effective for removal of toxins from wheat grains.     

A wind tunnel study on control methods for cable dry-galloping

The common vibration of cable caused by rain-wind combination has been known as most typical type and a lot kind of its countermeasures has been proposed for suppressing this phenomenon. Recently, stayed-cables were also proved that they could be excited in dry state (without rain), which is called dry-galloping. Recently, its mechanisms have been explained by axial flow, Reynolds number and so on. To clarify the characteristics of this galloping, wind tunnel test of a cable model with various kinds of wind angle was conducted. Then, three types of countermeasure were examined to suppress dry- galloping of bridge cable. The tests confirmed that the occurrence of dry-galloping depends on relative wind attacked angles and onset reduced wind speed. Furthermore, single spiral wire, double spiral wire and circular ring were found to have high effectiveness in mitigating this galloping when those are installed properly.