Shame leads to devaluation of the social self, and thus to a desire to improve self-esteem. Money, which is related to the notion of one’s ability, may help people demonstrate competence and gain self-esteem and respect from others. Based on the perspectives of feelings-as-information and threatened ego, we tested the hypothesis that a sense of shame heightens the desire for money, prompting self-interested behaviors as reflected by monetary donations and social value orientation. The results showed that subjects in the shame condition donated less money (Experiment 1) and exhibited more self-interested choices in the modified decomposed game (Experiment 2). The desire for money as reflected in overestimated coin sizes mediated the effect of shame on self-interested behavior. Our findings suggest that shame elicits the desire to acquire money to amend the threatened social self and improve self-esteem; however, it may induce a self-interested inclination that could harm social relationships.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the primary staple crop in Taiwan, and it can be grown twice a year. The prevalent subspecies grown in Taiwan is Japonica, and a transplanting system is used for rice production. Although the transplanting system is known for efficient weed control at the seedling stage, weedy red rice (WRR, O. sativa f. spontanea) infestation is progressively being reported. Fieldwork and previous studies have suggested that WRR infestation in Taiwan is probably related to growers’ operating practices and their perception of WRR. However, no data are available for a detailed investigation. The present study aimed to collect data on rice growers’ backgrounds, farming practices, and perceptions of WRR to quantify and characterize the patterns of farming operations for rice growers in Taiwan and to investigate factors contributing to WRR infestation. We collected 408 questionnaires completed by rice growers from 17 counties covering all rice production regions in Taiwan. The growers’ median age was 51 to 60 yr, and 75% of respondents had paddies from 0.25 to 2.75 ha in size, which corresponded with nationwide data for farmers’ backgrounds. In general, growers applied similar farming practices for both cropping seasons. Most respondents did not notice WRR infestation or consider it to be a problem: only 9.8% noticed a moderate to severe infestation of WRR in their fields. The major perceived causes of WRR infestation was seed impurity (55.1%) or cultivar degeneration (18.6%). Correlation analysis and farming patterns estimated with a nonnegative matrix factorization algorithm showed that WRR contamination rate was due to the use of dry or wet tillage. The present study provides the first quantitative and qualitative evidence of rice production practices and growers’ perceptions of WRR infestation in Taiwan.

Accumulating evidence suggests that changes in dietary folate intake may modulate the risks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) through as yet unknown mechanisms. The aims of the present study were to investigate how dietary folate affects the brain folate distribution, levels of oxidised lipid and DNA damage in the absence/presence of β-amyloid(25–35) (Aβ) peptide challenge, a pathogenic hallmark of AD. Male Wistar rats were assigned to diets with folic acid at 0 (folate deprivation; FD), 8 (moderate folate; MF) and 8 mg folic acid/kg diet+0·003 % in drinking-water (folate supplementation; FS) for 4 weeks. A single injection of Aβ peptide (1 mg/ml) or the vehicle solution was intracerebroventricularly (icv) administrated to rats a week before killing. Brain folate, a marker of oxidative injury, and neuronal death were assayed. In the absence of an Aβ injection, FD rats showed reduced folate levels, and increased 2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances and a mitochondrial (mt)DNA 4834 bp large deletion (mtDNA4834 deletion) in the hippocampus compared with the counterpart brains of control rats (P < 0·05). A single icv injection of Aβ peptide potentiated lipid peroxidation in the medulla of FD rats, which was ameliorated by feeding FD rats with the MF and FS diets (P < 0·05). Feeding the FS diet to Aβ-injected rats enriched brain folate levels and reduced mtDNA4834 deletion in the hippocampal and medullary regions compared with corresponding tissues of Aβ+FD rats (P < 0·05). Aβ+FS rats had reduced rates of neuronal death in the frontal cortex compared with Aβ+FD rats (P < 0·05). Taken together, our data revealed that folate deprivation differentially depleted brain folate levels, and increased lipid peroxidation and mtDNA4834 deletions, particularly, in the hippocampus. Upon Aβ challenge, the FS diet may protect various brain regions against lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial genotoxicity and neural death associated with folate deprivation.

Epitaxial GaAs layers had been grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition at 620°C on Ge(100) susbtrates. The surface roughness of the GaAs is greater than that of GaAs bulk wafers and epilayer morphology is influenced by miscut of the Ge substrate. The GaAs/Ge interface is of good quality and devoid of misfit dislocations and antisite defects. However, Ge diffusion into GaAs occurred during epitaxy and resulted in auto-doping. ZrO2 was deposited by magnetron sputtering onto the epi-GaAs. Capacitance voltage measurements show that the TaN/ZrO2/epi-GaAs capacitor has an interfacical with more defects than a ZrO2/bulk GaAs interface. An improved interface with smaller frequency dispersion can be formed by atomic layer deposition of the high-k dielectric layer onto the epi-GaAs.

ZnO films were grown on (0001) sapphire substrates by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using diethylzinc (DeZn) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in an inductively heated reactor operated at atmospheric pressure. Low-temperature (LT) ZnO buffer layers having various thicknesses were deposited at 400¢J followed by subsequent growth of ZnO films at 600¢J. Some of the ZnO films were then post-annealed at 1000¢J in the N2O flow. Under certain growth conditions, ZnO nanowires were formed on the post-annealed ZnO samples. Room temperature (RT) photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the ZnO nanowires show strong ultraviolet (UV) near band edge emissions at 3.27 eV with a typical full width at half-maximum ( FWHM ) of ~130 meV and quenched defect luminescence at 2.8 eV. 10 K PL spectra of the post-annealed ZnO all exhibit sharp excitonic emissions with the dominant emission being located at 3.36 eV having a FWHM of 4.6 meV.