Quantitative assessment of handedness is required in various clinical and research settings in psychology, neuroscience, and medicine. In the present study we tested the reliability and validity of a Japanese version of the FLANDERS handedness questionnaire, which was a new measure of skilled hand preference originally reported by Nicholls, Thomas, Loetscher, and Grimshaw (2013). Participants (N=431) completed three types of handedness questionnaires: the FLANDERS handedness questionnaire, Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, and H · N handedness test. Factor analysis revealed that the Japanese version of FLANDERS handedness questionnaire had a single-factor structure and high internal consistency. This questionnaire also posssed high test-retest reliability and criterion-referenced validity. These results indicate that the Japanese version of the FLANDERS handedness questionnaire is a valid and useful measure of skilled hand preference for Japanese participants.

Direct growth of anticorrosive magnesium hydroxide films containing Mg-Al layered double hydroxide with anion-exchangeability on magnesium alloy were successfully realized by a simple, easy, environmentally friendly, and chemical-free steam coating method. The crystal structures, chemical composition, surface morphologies, and chemical bonding states of the film were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements. All the films had thicknesses ranging from 2 to 68 mm depending on the preparation conditions. The films had two crystal structures that were composed of crystalline Mg(OH) 2 and carbonate Mg-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH). The corrosion resistant performances of the films in 5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution were investigated by electrochemical measurements.The potentiodynamic polarization curves revealed that the corrosion current density ( j corr ) of a sample treated at 433 K for 6 h decreased by more than six orders of magnitude as compared to that of the bare magnesium alloy, indicating that the film had an inhibiting effect on the corrosion reaction. The formation mechanism of the film was also discussed.

No abstract

An Fe3+-impregnation method was improved to disperse Fe3+ in wood powder more homogeneously, and the wood powder was carbonized at various temperatures. The obtained iron-loaded charcoal samples were analyzed using Mössbauer and Raman spectroscopy to understand the effects of the improved method on the reduction of Fe3+ and graphitization. G′(2D)-band was adopted as a marker of graphitic structure formation among Raman scattering due to sp2-carbon. Mössbauer and Raman characterization confirmed that the reduction from Fe3+ to Fe0 is closely related with the graphitization in charcoal; however, both the chemical changes progressed rapidly from a much lower temperature-range and graphitization occurred more uniformly compared with charcoal synthesized using the previous method containing no decompression-impregnation processes. Moreover, the effects of holding time at carbonization temperature and Fe3+ content in the wood powder were examined in terms of relationship between the reduction of Fe3+ and graphitization. It was suggested that there were multiple reaction paths to graphitization in carbonization.

The recent trend in contemporary Japanese funerals reflects changing family relationships, religious affiliation and individual values. Increasingly, Japanese people are conducting a living-funeral or a non-religious funeral (as opposed to a common Buddhist funeral), and dispersing ashes after cremation. Such funeral ceremonies and mortuary rites demonstrate the isolation of the elderly during the process of dying, the asymmetrical relationship between the deceased and the bereaved, and the attenuating ties between people and Buddhist temples. The fundamental change that underlies these transformation of funerary practices, I argue, is the shift from the ancestor worship that values the deceased for the purpose of household perpetuation, to the memorialism of individuals that celebrates the deceased's personal life based on the bereaved's love toward the deceased.