What does your favourite colour say about your personality? Not much

The claim that favourite colours reveal individuals’ personalities is popular in the media yet lacks scientific support. We assessed this claim in two stages. First, we catalogued claims from six popular websites, and matched them to key Big Six/HEXACO trait terms, ultimately identifying 11 specific, systematic, testable predictions (e.g., higher Extraversion among those who prefer red, orange, yellow, pink, or turquoise). Next, we tested these predictions in terms of the Big Six personality trait scores and reports of favourite and least favourite colours from 323 French-speaking participants. For every prediction (e.g., red-extraversion), we compared trait scores between participants who chose or did not choose the predicted colour using Welch’s t-tests. We failed to confirm any of the 11 predictions. Further exploratory analyses (MANOVA) revealed no associations between colour preferences and personality trait. Favourite colours appear unrelated to personality, failing to support the practical utility of colour-based personality assessment.

CREATING A SENSE OF THE UNUSUAL WITH CHROMATIC LIGHT

Due to the influence of COVID-19, there is a need to create an environment where people can relax and feel special in a separated space. Therefore, in this study, we will clarify the psychological changes that occur when people are surrounded by an unusual environment. This study prepared eight LED lighting colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, light blue, purple, and white. The room was illuminated, and the participants were asked to evaluate their impressions using the SD method on a 7-point scale. As a result of impression evaluation, red gave a warm impression, yellow gave a bright impression, blue gave a cold impression, and purple gave a mature impression, just like the psychological effects of colours. Green gave an artificial impression that was different from the psychological effects of the other colours. From these results, we can conclude that impressions do not correlate with colour symbolism when the entire room is illuminated with coloured light. In the future, we will clarify the relationship between wavelength and impression by studying the spectral distribution of each light source.

Enhancement of Temperature Fluorescence Brightness of Zn@Si Core-Shell Quantum Dots Produced via a Unified Strategy

Despite many dedicated efforts, the fabrication of high-quality ZnO-incorporated Zinc@Silicon (Zn@Si) core–shell quantum dots (ZnSiQDs) with customized properties remains challenging. In this study, we report a new record for the brightness enhancement of ZnSiQDs prepared via a unified top-down and bottom-up strategy. The top-down approach was used to produce ZnSiQDs with uniform sizes and shapes, followed by the bottom-up method for their re-growth. The influence of various NH4OH contents (15 to 25 µL) on the morphology and optical characteristics of ZnSiQDs was investigated. The ZnSiQDs were obtained from the electrochemically etched porous Si (PSi) with Zn inclusion (ZnPSi), followed by the electropolishing and sonication in acetone. EFTEM micrographs of the samples prepared without and with NH4OH revealed the existence of spherical ZnSiQDs with a mean diameter of 1.22 to 7.4 nm, respectively. The emission spectra of the ZnSiQDs (excited by 365 nm) exhibited bright blue, green, orange-yellow, and red luminescence, indicating the uniform morphology related to the strong quantum confinement ZnSiQDs. In addition, the absorption and emission of the ZnSiQDs prepared with NH4OH were enhanced by 198.8% and 132.6%, respectively. The bandgap of the ZnSiQDs conditioned without and with NH4OH was approximately 3.6 and 2.3 eV, respectively.

The Color Expressions in the Traditional Costumes of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples

With respect to both fiber and color the clothing material of Taiwan’s indigenous people came predominantly from nature. Atayal woven materials are a distinct example of how ethnic symbolism can be expressed through the combining of color and fabric patterns in weaving and dying. In order to understand Atayal fabric color use and distribution, this research first utilizes PANTONE FASHION + HOME cotton planner to contrast fabric color, and after comparison, color specimens are input one at a time into Color Schemer Studio’s color wheel statistics system. In order to analyze Atayal fabric colors, this study particularly performs color scope analysis on sub-groups for which research specimens are relatively abundant, such as the Tayal’s Beishi group and Nanao Group; and the Sediq’s Wushe Group, Wanda Group, and Taroko Group. Beishi group fabrics use a comparatively wide range of color and a more diverse number of combinations. The main colors they use include white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and other colors. The colors used by the Wushe Group and Wanda Group in their fabrics include white, red, blue and others. While the number of specimens collected for this study is limited, it is possible to understand, what the color preferences of sub-tribes are through their color schemes. The most predominant color schemes involve similar colors, contrasting colors, and complimentary colors.

Development of a new method for determining the degree of ripeness of tomato fruits with different colors of ripe fruits

The paper evaluates the most common sensory, physical, physicochemical and biochemical methods of determining the degree of ripeness of tomato fruits. On the example of small-fruit varieties with red, orange, yellow and brown colors of ripe fruits, an attempt was made to create a universal scale to assess the degree of ripeness of tomato fruits based on the physiological state of the fruits. The paper presents data on the quantitative content of endogenous ethylene in fruits with certain ripeness level.

Lack of neophobic responses to color in a jumping spider that uses color cues when foraging (Habronattus pyrrithrix)

Chemically defended prey often advertise their toxins with bright and conspicuous colors. To understand why such colors are effective at reducing predation, we need to understand the psychology of key predators. In bird predators, there is evidence that individuals avoid novelty—including prey of novel colors (with which they have had no prior experience). Moreover, the effect of novelty is sometimes strongest for colors that are typically associated with aposematic prey (e.g., red, orange, yellow). Given these findings in the bird literature, color neophobia has been argued to be a driving force in the evolution of aposematism. However, no studies have yet asked whether invertebrate predators respond similarly to novel colors. Here, we tested whether naive lab-raised jumping spiders (Habronattus pyrrithrix) exhibit similar patterns of color neophobia to birds. Using color-manipulated living prey, we first color-exposed spiders to prey of two out of three colors (blue, green, or red), with the third color remaining novel. After this color exposure phase, we gave the spiders tests where they could choose between all three colors (two familiar, one novel). We found that H. pyrrithrix attacked novel and familiar-colored prey at equal rates with no evidence that the degree of neophobia varied by color. Moreover, we found no evidence that either prey novelty nor color (nor their interaction) had an effect on how quickly prey was attacked. We discuss these findings in the context of what is known about color neophobia in other animals and how this contributes to our understanding of aposematic signals.

Extent of variability in fruit morphological characters of local mango germplasm

A study was conducted on twenty five genotypes of seedling Mangoes to examine fruit morphological characters. Fruit shape of the evaluated germplasm varied enormously and fruits of obovoid, elliptic, round and oblong shapes were found. Fruit apex shape in the evaluated plants was round, acute and obtuse. Depth of fruit stalk cavity was either absent, shallow and of medium type, whereas, fruit neck prominence was absent to slightly prominent in the tested plants. Shape of fruit ventral shoulder was varied and found to be slopping abruptly, rising and then rounded and long curve type in the evaluated germplasm. Fruit beak varies from pointed to perceptible type and fruit sinus was absent to shallow type in the fruits from different plants. Fruit attractiveness varies from very good to excellent and fruit colour from greenish yellow to green colour of fruit skin at maturity was noted in fruits from selected trees. Peel colour of AA-15 was different amongst all the genotypes which were green with red blush. Pulp colour varied from light orange, yellow orange, orange yellow, yellow and light yellow, whereas, pulp texture was soft to intermediate in the evaluated germplasm. Key words: Mangifera indica; Genotype susceptibility; Punjab; India.

First report of alternate hosts of willow rust disease caused by Melampsora ferrinii in China

Corydalis acuminata Franch., C. edulis Maxim. and C. racemosa (Thunb.) Pers. of family Papaveraceae are rich in multiple alkaloids and widely used as Chinese medicinal herbs, for treating cough, pruritus, sores tinea and snake venom (Zhang et al. 2008, Iranshahy et al. 2014). In April 2021, orange rust pustules were observed on C. acuminata, C. edulis and C. racemosa in Shaanxi Province (34°4’56’’ N, 108°2’9’’ E, alt. 770 m), China. Samples were collected and voucher specimens were preserved in the Herbarium Mycologicum Academiae Sinicae (nos. HMAS249947–HMAS249949), China. Consequent geospatial investigations revealed that diseased plants can be observed at an altitude of 400–1000 m, and show an incidence from 40% to 80% varied by altitude. Spermogonia epiphyllous, subcuticular, densely grouped, oval or round, 0.14–0.36 × 0.09–0.30 mm, pale orange-yellow, and type 3 of Cummins and Hiratsuka (1963). Aecia mostly hypophyllous, subepidermal without peridia, Caeoma-type, erumpent, densely grouped, oval or round, 0.27–0.85 × 0.15–0.43 mm, and orange-yellow; hyaline peridial cells produced in a periphery of the sorus under the ruptured epidermis of host plants. Aeciospores globoid or broadly ellipsoid, catenulate with intercalary cells, 15.7–20.1 × 10.8–15.7 μm, yellow to pale orange; walls hyaline, verrucose, 1.7–3.1 μm thick. This fungus was morphologically identified as Melampsora (Melampsoraceae). The rDNA-28S and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions were amplified using primers NL1/NL4 and ITS1/ITS4 (Ji et al. 2020; Wang et al. 2020). Bi-directional sequences were assembled and deposited in GenBank (accession nos. MW990091–MW990093 and MW996576–MW996578). Phylogenetic trees were constructed with the ITS+rDNA-28S dataset based on maximum-likelihood (ML), maximum-parsimony (MP) and Bayesian Inference (BI). ML and MP bootstrap values were calculated by bootstrap analyses of 1,000 replicates using MEGA-X (Kumar et al. 2018), while BI posterior probabilities (Bpps) were calculated using MrBayes ver. 3.1.2 (Ji et al. 2020; Wang et al. 2020). Phylogenetic analyses grouped our specimens and Melampsora ferrinii Toome & Aime into one clade, highly supported by bootstrap values of ML, MP, and Bpps of 100%/100%/1. Inoculations were conducted with 1-year-old plants of original host, Salix babylonica L. (Toome & Aime 2015). Aeciospores suspension with a concentration of 106 spores/ml were sprayed on 20 healthy leaves, with another 20 healthy leaves sprayed with sterile water as the control. The inoculated plants were kept in darkness at 20–25 °C for 2 days and then transferred into greenhouse at 23°C with 16 h light per day. After 8–10 days of inoculation, yellow pustules of uredinia appeared on abaxial surfaces of the inoculated leaves, which were identical to Toome & Aime (2015) reported, while the control leaves remained healthy. Inoculations with the same method were conducted by spraying urediniospores, and the same rust symptoms developed after 8 days. Genus Corydalis was verified as the alternate host of M. chelidonii-pierotii Tak. Matsumoto, M. coleosporioides Dietel, M. idesiae Miyabe and M. yezoensis Miyabe & T. Matsumoto (Shinyama & Yamaoka 2012; Okane et al. 2014; Yamaoka & Okane 2019), and C. incisa (Thunb.) Pers. was speculated as the potential alternate host of M. ferrinii (Toome & Aime 2015). Based on morphology, phylogeny and pathogenicity, we firstly report M. ferrinii in mainland China and verify C. acuminata, C. edulis and C. racemosa instead of C. incisa as its alternate hosts.

A review of the genus Anthocomus Erichson, 1840 (Coleoptera, Cleroidea, Malachiidae) species of Inner Asia

The distribution and species diversity of the genus Anthocomus Erichson, 1840 of Inner Asia are discussed. Nine species, Anthocomus (Celidus) equestris (Fabricius, 1781), Anthocomus (Anthocomus) abdominalis Pic, 1903, A.( A.) coreanus Pic, 1911, A. (A.) cyaneipennis Wittmer, 1940, A. (A.) limbellus (Wittmer, 1953), A. (A.) lineatipennis Wittmer, 1995, A. (A.) mongolicus Wittmer, 1969, A. (A.) similicornis Wittmer, 1999 and A. (A.) testaceoterminalis Wittmer, 1995 known from the region and adjacent territories are reviewed. The placement of four species, ? A. (A.) coreanus Pic, 1911, ? A. (A.) cyaneipennis Wittmer, 1940, ? A. (A.) limbellus (Wittmer, 1953) and ? A. (A.) mongolicus Wittmer, 1969 in the genus Anthocomus Erichson is discussed as doubtful. A new species, Anthocomus (Anthocomus) kovali Tshernyshev, sp. n. from Wexi mountains, Yunnan Province, China is described and illustrated. The new species differs in its monochromous orange-yellow elytra with orange-red apical impressions yellow within, appendages orange-brown, head, pronotum, scutellum and palpi dark brown to black and lacking metallic luster, antennae dark brown.