Charge storage mechanism in nanoporous carbons and its consequence for electrical double layer capacitors

Electrochemical capacitors, also known as supercapacitors, are energy storage devices that fill the gap between batteries and dielectric capacitors. Thanks to their unique features, they have a key role to play in energy storage and harvesting, acting as a complement to or even a replacement of batteries which has already been achieved in various applications. One of the challenges in the supercapacitor area is to increase their energy density. Some recent discoveries regarding ion adsorption in microporous carbon exhibiting pores in the nanometre range can help in designing the next generation of high-energy-density supercapacitors

Seasonal Migration of Sika Deer in the Oku-Chichibu Mountains, Central Japan

Movements and seasonal home ranges of 6 GPS collared sika deer were investigated at the Oku-Chichibu Mountains, central Honshu, from April 2009 to March 2010. All deer migrated between discrete summer and winter home ranges. The linear migration distance ranged from 2.5 to 31.9 km. Mean elevation during the summer and the winter ranged from 980 to 1,782 m, and from 1,204 to 1,723 m, respectively. Two deer were upward migrants and 4 deer were downward migrants. Taking into consideration of the relatively small snow accumulation in the summer home range, the possibility of autumn migration to avoid deep snow is low. The percentage of steep slope in the winter home range was higher than that in the summer. Bamboo grass was not found in the summer home range, but was predominant in the winter home range. Road density decreased in the winter home range compared to the summer. Only 2 out of 6 deer stayed mainly in the wildlife protection area during the winter. Our results indicate that the autumn migration was affected by winter forage and human disturbance, thereby assured the survival of the deer during winter.ArticleMAMMAL STUDY. 37(2):127-137 (2012)journal articl

Tuning of Electrical and Optical Properties of Highly Conducting and Transparent Ta-Doped TiO2 Polycrystalline Films

We present a detailed study on polycrystalline transparent conducting Ta-doped TiO2 films, obtained by room temperature pulsed laser deposition followed by an annealing treatment at 550°C in vacuum. The effect of Ta as a dopant element and of different synthesis conditions are explored in order to assess the relationship between material structure and functional properties, i.e. electrical conductivity and optical transparency. We show that for the doped samples it is possible to achieve low resistivity (of the order of 5×10-4 Ωcm) coupled with transmittance values exceeding 80% in the visible range, showing the potential of polycrystalline Ta:TiO2 for application as a transparent electrode in novel photovoltaic devices. The presence of trends in the structural (crystalline domain size, anatase cell parameters), electrical (resistivity, charge carrier density and mobility) and optical (transmittance, optical band gap, effective mass) properties as a function of the oxygen background pressures and laser fluence used during the deposition process and of the annealing atmosphere is discussed, and points towards a complex defect chemistry ruling the material behavior. The large mobility values obtained in this work for Ta:TiO2 polycrystalline films (up to 13 cm2V-1s-1) could represent a definitive advantage with respect to the more studied Nb-doped TiO2

Crystallographic reconstruction study of the effects of finish rolling temperature on the variant selection during bainite transformation in C-Mn high-strength steels

The effect of finish rolling temperature (FRT) on the austenite- () to-bainite () phase transformation is quantitatively investigated in high-strength C-Mn steels. In particular, the present study aims to clarify the respective contributions of the conditioning during the hot rolling and the variant selection (VS) during the phase transformation to the inherited texture. To this end, an alternative crystallographic reconstruction procedure, which can be directly applied to experimental electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) mappings, is developed by combining the best features of the existing models: the orientation relationship (OR) refinement, the local pixel-by-pixel analysis and the nuclei identification and spreading strategy. The applicability of this method is demonstrated on both quenching and partitioning (Q&P) and as-quenched lath-martensite steels. The results obtained on the C-Mn steels confirm that the sample finish rolled at the lowest temperature (829{\deg}C) exhibits the sharpest transformation texture. It is shown that this sharp texture is exclusively due to a strong VS from parent brass {110}, S {213} and Goss {110} grains, whereas the VS from the copper {112} grains is insensitive to the FRT. In addition, a statistical VS analysis proves that the habit planes of the selected variants do not systematically correspond to the predicted active slip planes using the Taylor model. In contrast, a correlation between the Bain group to which the selected variants belong and the FRT is clearly revealed, regardless of the parent orientation. These results are discussed in terms of polygranular accommodation mechanisms, especially in view of the observed development in the hot-rolled samples of high-angle grain boundaries with misorientation axes between and

Induction of cortical plasticity and improved motor performance following unilateral and bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation of the primary motor cortex

BACKGROUND: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique that modulates the excitability of neurons within the primary motor cortex (M1). Research shows that anodal-tDCS applied over the non-dominant M1 (i.e. unilateral stimulation) improves motor function of the non-dominant hand. Similarly, previous studies also show that applying cathodal tDCS over the dominant M1 improves motor function of the non-dominant hand, presumably by reducing interhemispheric inhibition. In the present study, one condition involved anodal-tDCS over the non-dominant M1 (unilateral stimulation) whilst a second condition involved applying cathodal-tDCS over the dominant M1 and anodal-tDCS over non-dominant M1 (bilateral stimulation) to determine if unilateral or bilateral stimulation differentially modulates motor function of the non-dominant hand. Using a randomized, cross-over design, 11 right-handed participants underwent three stimulation conditions: 1) unilateral stimulation, that involved anodal-tDCS applied over the non-dominant M1, 2) bilateral stimulation, whereby anodal-tDCS was applied over the non-dominant M1, and cathodal-tDCS over the dominant M1, and 3) sham stimulation. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was performed before, immediately after, 30 and 60 minutes after stimulation to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying any potential after-effects on motor performance. Motor function was evaluated by the Purdue pegboard test. RESULTS: There were significant improvements in motor function following unilateral and bilateral stimulation when compared to sham stimulation at all-time points (all P 0.05). Furthermore, changes in corticomotor plasticity were not related to changes in motor performance. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that tDCS induced behavioural changes in the non-dominant hand as a consequence of mechanisms associated with use-dependant cortical plasticity that is independent of the electrode arrangement

Genome-Wide Association Studies in an Isolated Founder Population from the Pacific Island of Kosrae

It has been argued that the limited genetic diversity and reduced allelic heterogeneity observed in isolated founder populations facilitates discovery of loci contributing to both Mendelian and complex disease. A strong founder effect, severe isolation, and substantial inbreeding have dramatically reduced genetic diversity in natives from the island of Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia, who exhibit a high prevalence of obesity and other metabolic disorders. We hypothesized that genetic drift and possibly natural selection on Kosrae might have increased the frequency of previously rare genetic variants with relatively large effects, making these alleles readily detectable in genome-wide association analysis. However, mapping in large, inbred cohorts introduces analytic challenges, as extensive relatedness between subjects violates the assumptions of independence upon which traditional association test statistics are based. We performed genome-wide association analysis for 15 quantitative traits in 2,906 members of the Kosrae population, using novel approaches to manage the extreme relatedness in the sample. As positive controls, we observe association to known loci for plasma cholesterol, triglycerides, and C-reactive protein and to a compelling candidate loci for thyroid stimulating hormone and fasting plasma glucose. We show that our study is well powered to detect common alleles explaining ≥5% phenotypic variance. However, no such large effects were observed with genome-wide significance, arguing that even in such a severely inbred population, common alleles typically have modest effects. Finally, we show that a majority of common variants discovered in Caucasians have indistinguishable effect sizes on Kosrae, despite the major differences in population genetics and environment

Long-latency modulation of motor cortex excitability by ipsilateral posterior inferior frontal gyrus and pre-supplementary motor area

The primary motor cortex (M1) is strongly influenced by several frontal regions. Dual-site transcranial magnetic stimulation (dsTMS) has highlighted the timing of early (<40 ms) prefrontal/premotor influences over M1. Here we used dsTMS to investigate, for the first time, longer-latency causal interactions of the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) and pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) with M1 at rest. A suprathreshold test stimulus (TS) was applied over M1 producing a motor-evoked potential (MEP) in the relaxed hand. Either a subthreshold or a suprathreshold conditioning stimulus (CS) was administered over ipsilateral pIFG/pre-SMA sites before the TS at different CS-TS inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs: 40-150 ms). Independently of intensity, CS over pIFG and pre-SMA (but not over a control site) inhibited MEPs at an ISI of 40 ms. The CS over pIFG produced a second peak of inhibition at an ISI of 150 ms. Additionally, facilitatory modulations were found at an ISI of 60 ms, with supra-but not subthreshold CS intensities. These findings suggest differential modulatory roles of pIFG and pre-SMA in M1 excitability. In particular, the pIFG-but not the pre-SMA-exerts intensity-dependent modulatory influences over M1 within the explored time window of 40-150 ms, evidencing fine-tuned control of M1 output