幼稚園児の食べ物の名前認知度と母親の食意識との関連

We conducted the questionnaire survey on the mothers' interest in eating and examined a possible relationship between the mothers' interest and the results of their children's the food name familiarity test. The survey was carried out on 68 and 71 mothers of five- and four-year-olds, respectively, in November, 2008. The questionnaire contains 19 questions about their interest in eating and 20 about their training in eating at home. The subjects of the survey were the mothers of the children belonging to a private kindergarten, where the food name familiarity test was performed using 20 kinds of food (whole and cut foods) . The mean percentage scores of correct answers among the five-year-old children were 77.0% and 70.5% for the wholes and the cuts, respectively, and among the four-year-old children 68.0% and 60.5% for the whiles and the cuts, respectively. There was a significant relation between the number of mothers who buy food after checking its label for produced area and the percentage of a correct answer, both for wholes and cuts, among the four-yearold children(p=0.049,p＜0.0001). And there was also a significant relation between the number of mothers who teach their children to chew well during meal and the percentage of a correct answer, both for wholes and cuts, among the five-year-old c hildren(p=0.0021,p=0.007). It was suggested that the kindergarteners can learn the names of food quickly and easily through their rich exposure to food at home when their mothers have much interest in eatin

幼児の食育推進に関する一考察 : 幼稚園と保育所の給食の観点から

The Fundamental Law of Shokuiku was established on June, 2005, and The Basic Plans for "Shokuiku" Promotion was issued on March, 2006, which puts much focus on "shokuiku" so that children can learn "the zest for living". It is desirable that the proper "shokuiku" is introduced to children in their early stage. Most of the pre-school children go to kindergartens or nursery schools. In 2004, 58.9% of them finished kindergartens and 37.8% finished nursery schools. The school-lunch system has been compulsory in nursery schools, while not in kindergartens. This is why we conducted the questionnaire in order to understand how much kindergarten teachers know "shokuiku" and what they think about "shoku" and food. As one of the results, a significant difference of consciousness of kindergarten teachers has been found between the kindergartens which have their own kitchens and cook lunch themselves and those which buy lunch instead of cooking themselves. It is necessary that the school-lunch system should be considered as part of education and nursing in the kindergartens

Optical and radiographical characterization of silica aerogel for Cherenkov radiator

We present optical and X-ray radiographical characterization of silica aerogels with refractive index from 1.05 to 1.07 for a Cherenkov radiator. A novel pin-drying method enables us to produce highly transparent hydrophobic aerogels with high refractive index by shrinking wet-gels. In order to investigate the uniformity in the density (i.e., refractive index) of an individual aerogel monolith, we use the laser Fraunhofer method, an X-ray absorption technique, and Cherenkov imaging by a ring imaging Cherenkov detector in a beam test. We observed an increase in density at the edge of the aerogel tiles, produced by pin-drying.Comment: To be published in IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 7 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl

Indoor particle counts during Asian dust events under everyday conditions at an apartment in Japan.

[Objective]Asian dust storms originating from arid regions of Mongolia and China are a well-known springtime phenomenon throughout East Asia. Evidence is increasing for the adverse health effects caused by airborne desert dust inhalation. Given that people spend approximately 90 % of their time indoors, indoor air quality is a significant concern. The present study aimed to examine the influence of outdoor particulate matter (PM) levels on indoor PM levels during Asian dust events under everyday conditions. [Methods]We simultaneously monitored counts of particles larger than 0.3, 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 μm using two direct-reading instruments (KC-01D1 airborne particle counter; Rion), one placed in an apartment room and another on the veranda, under everyday conditions before and during an Asian dust event. We also examined how indoor particle counts were affected by opening a window, crawling, and air purifier use. [Results]An Asian dust event on 24 April 2012 caused 50- and 20-fold increases in PM counts in outdoor and indoor air, respectively. A window open for 10 min resulted in a rapid increase of indoor PM counts up to 70 % of outside levels that did not return to baseline levels after 3 h. An air purifier rapidly reduced PM counts for all particle sizes measured. [Conclusions]It is important to account for occupant behavior, such as window-opening and air purifier use, when estimating residential exposure to particulate matter