Interactive Visualization System for Psychological Topology

Recently, there is increasing interest in mental support activities, including mental health care, counseling, and mental training in workplaces, schools, and sports teams. As a background to these things, various analysis methods have been developed to clarify and visualize the subject’s mental state based on these data. We tried to reveal and visualize the transition patterns of the subjects’ mental states by analyzing their utterances. Furthermore, we developed an interactive system of visualization of psychological state to support visual understanding of psychological topology. Features have been implemented to enable multidimensional data to visualize the movements shown on the SOM map. In this paper, we describe the system that can interactively visualize psychological states

高学歴独身男性の結婚意思に関する事例研究

現在,日本において,初婚年齢は年々上昇傾向にあり晩婚化が進んでいる.これを学歴別に見ると,高学歴層の者において顕著であることがわかる.その中でも調査・研究が少ない男性に注目し,彼らの結婚意思とそれに影響を与える結婚観について,個人別態度構造分析を用い,事例を通して検討した.その結果,従来の調査・研究において支持されている男性が結婚難に陥っているという結果は,本研究の高学歴の独身男性についてはあてはまらないことが明らかになった.対象者は自らの意思により結婚するか否かを選択しており,自分の理想とするライフスタイルと結婚によるライフスタイルの変化,結婚相手との価値観の一致などを真剣に考え,結婚に対する葛藤を抱き,結婚を躊躇していた.さらに,長時間労働により家庭生活と仕事での自己実現を両立させ難いためライフスタイルを決めかね結婚意思が低下するという可能性と,結婚を前提としないようなライフスタイルを選択しても生活に困らないため結婚に消極的になる可能性も示唆された

Altered functional organization within the insular cortex in adult males with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder: evidence from connectivity-based parcellation

Determination of the optimal number of clusters based on VI and MI in intracalcarine cortex. The intracalcarine cortex was selected as a control region. The VI and MI values are shown for every clustering solution for k values ranging from 2 to 10. Arrows indicate either local minima of VI or local maxima of MI. Dashed lines denote the optimal number of solutions as determined using both VI and MI. The error bars denote standard errors of the mean for 100 repetitions of the split-half procedure (see the “Estimation of the optimal number of clusters” section). “n.s.” indicates no statistically significant difference between points. (PDF 334 kb

綿チップ押しつぶし課題の舌圧測定への応用と嚥下課題教示手段としての効果

研究報告Original articles　本研究では，“綿チップ押しつぶし” 課題の有用性について検討した．第１実験では，嚥下障害者を含む102 名を対象に“綿チップ押しつぶし” 課題後の綿球のつぶれ具合とJMS 舌圧測定器の最大舌圧の相関分析，回帰分析を行い，綿球のつぶれ具合で舌圧を推測できるかを調べた．第２実験では，健常若年者20 名を対象に，綿チップ押しつぶしを教示に用いた嚥下（MS），Effortful swallow（ES），普通嚥下の舌圧発現様相を比較し，嚥下課題の教示に用いることの有効性を調べた．その結果，第１実験では，舌圧=12.117 ＋ 67.961 ×綿球水分変化量の回帰式が得られ（R2 =0.568），第２実験では，MS はES とほぼ同等に舌圧持続時間と舌圧最大値が高値を示し，さらに，MS では綿チップの押しつぶし課題でターゲットとした部位の舌前方部（Ch1）の舌圧発現が他測定点より有意に早く，Ch1の舌圧持続時間はES より有意に延長した．以上のことから，“綿チップ押しつぶし” 課題は，嚥下訓練において多彩な訓練ツールとして用いることができることが示された．The present study investigated the usefulness of a “cotton swab squashing” task to patients with dysphagia. The first experiment involved 102 subjects, including dysphagia patients. To determine whether the post-task state of the cotton swab could be used to measure tongue pressure, the state of the cotton swab after the squashing task was evaluated, and a correlational analysis with maximum tongue pressure measured with a JMS tongue pressuremeasurement device as well as regression analysis were conducted. To investigate the efficacyof the squashing task for use in swallowing task instructions, a second experiment, involving 20 young healthy volunteers, compared tongue pressure during swallowing, using cotton swab squashing （CS）, effortful swallowing （ES）, and normal swallowing. The results of the firstexperiment indicated a regression equation of maximum tongue pressure: 12.117 ＋ 67.961 ×the amount of change in the cotton tip moisture content （R2 ＝ 0.568）. The second experiment indicated high values for tongue pressure duration and maximum tongue pressure, which were roughly identical for both CS and ES. Furthermore, tongue pressure expression in CS at the tongue anterior site（ Ch1）, which was targeted in the cotton swab squashing task, was significantly faster than at other measurement sites, and the tongue pressure duration, at Ch1 in CS, was significantly longer than in the ES. The above findings demonstrate that the cotton swab squashing task can be used in diverse ways for dysphagia training

小学第5学年の自己概念とジェンダー・アイディンティティに関連した実態調査 : 「命の授業」前後の比較から

本研究では、小学第5学年37名を対象に命の授業を行い、独自に作成した自己概念とジェンダー・アイデンティティに関連した質問紙を用いて、授業の前後における変化と男女別の特徴について調査した。その結果、授業前は「違う性別の方が幸せだ」「不満があると聞いてくれる人がいる」という2項目に性差が見られ、授業後は授業前の項目に加えて「この性別に生まれて良かった」、「将来赤ちゃんが欲しい」、「元気がないと気づいてくれる人がいる」、「私の存在を認めてくれる人がいる」の6項目に増えた。男女別の詳細を見ると、男子は女子に比べ有意に「この性別に生まれて良かった」とする割合が高く、自己の性別に関して肯定的であるという特徴があった。一方、女子は男子に比べ有意に「違う性別の方が幸せだ」、「将来赤ちゃんが欲しい」、「不満があると聞いてくれる人がいる」、「元気がないと気づいてくれる人がいる」、「私の存在を認めてくれる人がいる」とする割合が高く、母性意識の目覚めや周囲のサポートや尊重してくれる存在に気づくという特徴があった。すなわち、性別によって自己の性に関する認識の違いが明確になっていくことが示唆された。The objective of this study is to clarify the self-concept and gender identity of fifth grade students in elementary school. The subjects were 37 fifth grade students (male: 21, female: 16) who took two 45-minute classes for thinking about life. Data were collected by using questionnaires distributed before and after the classes. The contents of the questionnaires was composed of originally created items concerning self-concept and gender identity. The results indicated that the girls ranked the following 2items, collected before the classes, significantly higher than the boys: "The opposite sex is happier." and "I have someone who listens to my concerns" Three further items - "I want a baby in the future", "I have someone who notices when I feel down." and "I have someone who accepts me as I am" were ranked higher by girls after completion of the classes. Additionally, boys ranked the item "I was lucky to be born the sex I am" significantly higher than girls. In short, it became clear that the gender gap was wider after the classes. Therefore, it was suggested that differences in recognition of one\u27s own gender become clearer by attending the classes

家庭での新生児の沐浴をイメージできる視聴覚教材の開発 : 看護学生の評価による新教材と既存教材の比較

本研究は、家庭で母親が実際の新生児を沐浴させる場面を用いた視聴覚教材(DVD)を作成し、その教材の効果を既存の教材との比較により明らかにすることを目的とする。看護学生を対象に質問紙調査を行った結果、1.新教材は、旧教材に比べ沐浴時の新生児の反応や家庭での沐浴方法を理解しやすいと評価された。2.新教材では、映像と同時に音声での説明と字幕表示があることにより理解しやすいと評価された。3.新教材では、沐浴に伴う観察や移動などについての説明が不十分であると評価された。The objective of this study is to develop new audiovisual materials demonstrating how to bathe newborn infants at home and to measure their effectiveness by comparing them with existing educational materials. A questionnaire was given to nursing students, the results of which reveal that the new materials give a better understanding of newborn infants\u27 reactions in the bath and the method of bathing at home because of the simultaneous visual enactment, audio explanation and written subtitles. However, respondents indicated that explanations for the observation, preparation and transfer of infants were insufficent

GM-CSF and IL-4 synergistically trigger dendritic cells to acquire retinoic acid-producing capacity

Retinoic acid (RA) produced by intestinal dendritic cells (DCs) imprints gut-homing specificity on lymphocytes and enhances Foxp3+ regulatory T-cell differentiation. The expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) 1A in these DCs is essential for the RA production. However, it remains unclear how the steady-state ALDH1A expression is induced under specific pathogen-free (SPF) conditions. Here, we found that bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BM-DCs) generated with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) expressed Aldh1a2, an isoform of Aldh1a, but that fms-related tyrosine kinase 3 ligand-generated BM-DCs did not. DCs from mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) and Peyer's patches (PP) of normal SPF mice expressed ALDH1A2, but not the other known RA-producing enzymes. Employing a flow cytometric method, we detected ALDH activities in 10–30% of PP-DCs and MLN-DCs. They were CD11chighCD4−/lowCD8αintermediateCD11b−/low F4/80low/intermediateCD45RBlowCD86highMHC class IIhighB220−CD103+. Equivalent levels of aldehyde dehydrogenase activity (ALDHact) and ALDH1A2 expression were induced synergistically by GM-CSF and IL-4 in splenic DCs in vitro. In BM-DCs, however, additional signals via Toll-like receptors or RA receptors were required for inducing the equivalent levels. The generated ALDH1A2+ DCs triggered T cells to express gut-homing receptors or Foxp3. GM-CSF receptor-deficient or vitamin A-deficient mice exhibited marked reductions in the ALDHact in intestinal DCs and the T cell number in the intestinal lamina propria, whereas IL-4 receptor-mediated signals were dispensable. GM-CSF+CD11c−F4/80+ cells existed constitutively in the intestinal tissues. The results suggest that GM-CSF and RA itself are pivotal among multiple microenvironment factors that enable intestinal DCs to produce RA