Formation of 7-nm-wide Line&Spaces in Half Pitch by 3 Dimensional Self-assembly of Nano-dots Using Sphere Type PS-PDMS

We have formed nanometer-wide lines & spaces by graphoepitaxy of sphere type polystyrene-poly dimethyl siloxane (PS-PDMS), with a molecular weight (MW) of 14.6 kg/mol., along electron-beam (EB)-drawn resist guide lines. We have 3-dimensionally ordered the sphere type PS-PDMS by controlling a thickness of the PS-PDMS along improved guide lines to form the line and space pattern. We obtained the thickness dependence on the pattern change such as nano-dot arrays and nano-line & space patterns. When the thickness increased to about +4 nm from the upper thickness for formation of the dot arrays, the line & space patterns have been formed with about 7 nm in line width and 14 nm in pitch.

Mnemonic content and hippocampal patterns shape judgments of time

Our experience of time can feel dilated or compressed, rather than reflecting true 'clock time.' Although many contextual factors influence the subjective perception of time, it is unclear how memory accessibility plays a role in constructing our experience of and memory for time. Here, we used a combination of behavioral and fMRI measures to ask the question of how memory is incorporated into temporal duration judgments. Behaviorally, we found that event boundaries, which have been shown to disrupt ongoing memory integration processes, result in the temporal compression of duration judgments. Additionally, using a multivoxel pattern similarity analysis of fMRI data, we found that greater temporal pattern change in the left hippocampus within individual trials was associated with longer duration judgments. Together, these data suggest that mnemonic processes play a role in constructing representations of time.

Landscape Pattern Change of Impervious Surfaces and Its Driving Forces in Shanghai during 1965–2010

Rapid urbanization influences the landscape pattern of impervious surfaces, and potentially affects surface water quality. Using ArcGIS and Fragstats, this study analyzed the temporal change of the landscape pattern of impervious surfaces in Shanghai over the past 45 years, and its driving forces and impact on water quality were also analyzed. The results show that both low and high impervious surfaces showed different degrees of expansion, and as a result, the pervious surfaces and water area reduced by 40.1% and 13.8%, respectively. It proves that the fragmentation and diversity of impervious surfaces in Shanghai notably increased in the past decades, and especially the low and high impervious surfaces show substantial changes. The primary driving forces of the landscape pattern change are population density, unit area Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the percentage of primary industry. The result of Redundancy analysis (RDA) is that the explanatory ability of landscape pattern to water quality variations decreased from 68.7% to 46.4% in the period 2000–2010. It should be stressed that the contribution of the configuration of impervious surfaces to water quality variation is less than that of the percentage of impervious surfaces.

Antifungal Activities of cis-trans Citral Isomers against Trichophyton rubrum with ERG6 as a Potential Target

Trichophyton rubrum causes ringworm worldwide. Citral (CIT), extracted from Pectis plants, is a monoterpene and naturally composed of geometric isomers neral (cis-citral) and geranial (trans-citral). CIT has promising antifungal activities and ergosterol biosynthesis inhibition effects against several pathogenic fungi. However, no study has focused on neral and geranial against T. rubrum, which hinders the clinical application of CIT. This study aimed to compare antifungal activities of neral and geranial and preliminarily elucidate their ergosterol biosynthesis inhibition mechanism against T. rubrum. Herein, the disc diffusion assays, cellular leakage measurement, flow cytometry, SEM/TEM observation, sterol quantification, and sterol pattern change analyses were employed. The results showed geranial exhibited larger inhibition zones (p < 0.01 or 0.05), higher cellular leakage rates (p < 0.01), increased conidia with damaged membranes (p < 0.01) within 24 h, more distinct shriveled mycelium in SEM, prominent cellular material leakage, membrane damage, and morphological changes in TEM. Furthermore, geranial possessed more promising ergosterol biosynthesis inhibition effects than neral, and both induced the synthesis of 7-Dehydrodesmosterol and Cholesta-5,7,22,24-tetraen-3β-ol, which represented marker sterols when ERG6 was affected. These results suggest geranial is more potent than neral against T. rubrum, and both inhibit ergosterol biosynthesis by affecting ERG6.