Sintering of Platinum-Containing Conjugated Polymers: Gas Adsorption and Catalysis of the Formed Pt-Carbon Composites.

Pt-containing meta- and para-linked poly(phenyleneethynylene)s were synthesized by the dehydrochlorination coupling polymerization of PtCl2(PBu3)2 with m- and p-diethynylbenzenes. The formed polymers were sintered at 900 °C to obtain Pt-graphene hybrids, whose structures were examined by Raman scattering spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. Shapes─facets, terraces, and steps─with average diameters of 2.0-3.4 µm were observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The Pt-graphene hybrids moderately adsorbed CO2 and O2 and slightly adsorbed ethylene and methane. Epoxidation of stilbene was carried out using Pt-graphene hybrids as catalysts to obtain stilbene oxide.

The Nature of Haptic Working Memory Capacity and Its Relation to Visual Working Memory.

I conducted three experiments to investigate haptic working memory capacity using a haptic change detection task with 2D stimuli. I adopted a single-task paradigm comprising haptic single-feature (orientation or texture) and haptic multifeature (orientation and texture) conditions in Experiment 1 and a dual-task paradigm with a primary haptic orientation or texture change detection task and a concurrent secondary visual shape or colour change detection task in Experiments 2-3. I observed that in the single-task paradigm, haptic change detection capacity was higher for single features than it was for multiple features. In haptic working memory, unlike in visual working memory, features of two different dimensions within an object cannot be integrated. In the dual-task paradigm, interference was observed when the concurrent visual shape change detection task was combined with the haptic orientation change detection task although interference was not observed when the concurrent visual colour change detection task was combined with it. In addition, the concurrent visual shape or colour change detection task did not interfere with the capacity for haptic texture memory, which was higher than that for haptic orientation memory. These findings demonstrate that geometric properties perhaps retained a common storage system shared between haptic working memory and visual working memory; however, haptic texture might be retained in an independent stable storage system that is haptic-specific.

[Effective encoding for the recognition of spatial configuration and color].

Three experiments examined the types of encoding that were effective for the recognition of spatial and color information. In Experiments 1 and 2, four experimental groups (each asked to form a different type of mental image of stimuli) and one control group (not asked to form an image) were presented spatial configuration patterns with different numbers of black dots. In both experiments, for the group that formed motor images with actual movement, the average score was higher for stimuli with a larger number of dots than for stimuli with fewer dots. Two groups, which formed dynamic visual images and motor images with no actual movement, respectively, showed similar limited effects. In Experiment 3, the five groups were presented two types of chromatic stimuli (colored panels and colored dots). Static visual images were effective for encoding the colored panels; however, static visual images and motor images with actual movement were effective for encoding the colored dots. These results suggest that motor and dynamic encodings facilitate memory for objects where spatial configuration is important for identification, while static visual images of the whole picture facilitate memory for objects where multiple colors are significant.

[Mechanisms of cross-modal priming between visual and haptic modalities].

We explored mechanisms of cross-modal priming between visual and haptic modalities. Specifically, we investigated a mechanism of the visual-to-haptic transfer (Experiment 1) and vice versa (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, three experimental groups, presented visual prime stimuli using novel three-line patterns, were asked to form visual images matching only with shape, haptic images matching only with shape, or haptic images matching with both shape and texture of haptic targets. Priming occurred only when induced haptic images of prime stimuli coincided with the actual texture of haptic targets. In Experiment 2, two experimental groups, presented haptic prime stimuli, were asked to form visual images matching only with shape, or visual images matching with both shape and material (i.e., monochromatic contrast between foreground and background) of visual targets. Priming occurred regardless of experimental conditions, including the control group. Thus, both shape and material representations significantly contributed to the visual-to-haptic transfer. Contrastingly, only shape representation played a significant role in the haptic-to-visual transfer.