Potential for Tomato Cultivation Using Capillary Wick- watering Method

This research was conducted to investigate any potential problems that may be encountered while using capillary wick irrigation system. Medium-fruited tomato plants were cultivated in spring up to the 10th truss. In the first experiment, a 1/5,000a wagner pot was used, and small openings were made 5mm or 50mm from the bottom of the pots. Capillary wicks, 4 cm in width and 45 cm in length were inserted into the slits and aligned to the pot’s inner wall perpendicularly to the soil surface. The other end of the wick was dipped in half or full strength Ohtsuka-A nutrient solution. The wick was covered with water permeable root-barrier material to prevent root penetration into wick. This resulted in good growth and relatively high yield. Without covering, roots grew vigorously into the wicks and 1 month after transplanting extended to the reservoir solution. Removal of root overgrowth caused wilting in some of the plants. This symptom was more pronounced where the wick insertion points were 50 mm from the base. Root contexture was observed in non-covered and imperfectly covered wicks. These results indicate that it is important to make a wick with a perfect covering for stable plant growth and fruit yield. In the second experiment, the capacity of 2 cm or 4 cm wide with and single or double layers of capillary wicks to transport water to the plant root-zone was examined. Some of the plants wilted in the 2 cm single layer, while no differences were observed in other treatments. Furthermore, a high percentage of blossom-end rot was recorded in all treatments. In response to water uptake by the plants, the nutrient solution was supplied daily depending on the decrease of water in the reservoir, in order to maintain the water level fluctuation within a 3 cm range. This fluctuation may account for the blossom-end rot prevalence observed, probably due to water-stress imposed on the plants by unstable water level in the reservoir.「毛管給水ひも」によるトマト栽培の可能性を探るため，中玉トマトの10段摘心栽培を試み，ひもの特性と栽培上の問題点を明らかにした．1/5,000ａワグネルポットの底から5㎜位と50㎜位に小穴を開け，そこへ毛管ひも（幅4㎝，長さ45㎝）の一端を導入し，そのまま鉢中央を横切り対壁に沿って土壌表面まで配置した．他の一端は培養液に浸した．この毛管ひもを遮根透水シートで被覆し（接着あるいは機械織りによるチューブ状管にひもを挿入），その「被覆ひも」を「無被覆ひも」と比較したところ，被覆ひもでは根の侵入が強く抑制でき成育が旺盛で収量も高かった．被覆しないと1か月後には根が毛管ひも内に伸長して貯液槽にまで達した．この根を除去すると多くの個体は萎れの症状を呈した．この症状は50㎜位の方が著しかった．被覆が不完全だと接着部あるいは織り込み部から根は毛管ひもに侵入する．従って，毛管ひもは完全被覆されることが重要であるといえる．また，遮根透水ひもを2㎝幅，4㎝幅としシングル状とダブル状で比較したところ，成育半ばでシングル2㎝幅では萎れ症状が観察され枯死する個体も現れた．その 他では成育等に大きな差異は認められなかったが，いずれの処理区においても多くの尻腐れ果が発生した．トマトの吸水に伴って水位は低下するため本試験では毎日，培養液を手で補給した．しかし，水位変化は最大で3㎝と大きかった．尻腐れ果発生はこの液槽の水位レベル管理に起因するところ大と推察され，今後の課題として残された

Education for Disaster Prevention in England : Analysis of Secondary Geography Textbooks

The purpose of this study is to clarify the aims, contents and activities of education for disaster prevention on geographical education in England, by analysis of secondary textbooks. Thereby, we want to contribute the improvement of Japanese geographical education. As a result, we clarified the following: 1) when students study a natural disaster in UK, they learn a plurality of cases including domestic and foreign regions, 2) all textbooks contain activities that students can form attitudes and decide what to do for disaster prevention. On the basis of these results, we suggest improvements of education for disaster prevention. The first is to develop a clear understanding of a natural disaster with multi-area including Japan. The second is to place contents and activities for forming a value relevant to awareness of disaster prevention into Japanese geography textbook. The third is to set an activity to learn practical strategies for disaster prevention in the real world

Characteristics of the stone monuments in Saijo, Higashi-Hiroshima City, southwest Japan, and their significance for teaching materials of social studies.

本稿の目的は，広島県東広島市旧西条町に分布する石碑の特徴を明らかにすると共に，小学校や中学校社会科の地域学習における石碑の教材的意義を検討することである。調査の結果，202基の石碑が確認され，寺社や公共施設，溜池などに石碑の立地が多くみられた。石碑の建立年との関連を検討すると，第二次世界大戦の終戦を境に，石碑の主な建立目的が地域社会に貢献した人物や行為の顕彰から，寺社への寄附に関連したものへと変化していったことが明らかになった。社会科教材としての意義については，1）学習指導要領への適合と2）石碑の情報量という観点から検討を行い，石碑のもつ教材的意義を3つに分類した。各分類において，具体的な活用方法を考察し想定される学習の展開を提示した。本稿は，「地域学習」の不振の要因のひとつである，地域に即した資料の不足の改善の一助になると期待される。An objective of this study is to clarify the characteristics and distribution of the stone monuments in Saijo, Higashi-Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and discuss their significance for elementary and junior high school social studies teaching materials. Two hundred two monuments were recognized in this area. They were mostly located in temples, shrines, public institutions, roadsides, and irrigation ponds. The purpose of erecting monuments has changed over 150 years from the Meiji era to the present day, which reflects the transition of the history of the local community or local people’s consciousness about their community. All monuments were classified into three levels considering their significance for elementary and junior high school social studies teaching materials: i.e., A. Useful and sufficient information; B. Useful but insufficient information; and C. Others. As a result, we defined 6 monuments as level A, 71 as level B, and 125 as level C. We propose an example of a social studies teaching plan including information about the monuments according to each level. The monuments directly provided information about the history of the local community and the location of historical events; therefore, the teaching plan using information about the monuments has possibility to improve for social studies

Compression Stockings Improve Lower Legs Symptom in Patients with Pulmonary Artery Hypertension Treated by Pulmonary Vasodilators—A Pilot Study

Pulmonary vasodilators have improved pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) symptoms and prognosis; however, the drugs cause some side effects, including lower legs pain, which impair quality of life (QOL). The present study examined if compression stockings improved lower extremity symptoms and QOL caused by pulmonary vasodilators in PAH patients. We retrospectively enrolled consecutively ten patients with PAH treated by pulmonary vasodilators, who were regularly followed in Kurume University Hospital from January 2022 to June 2022. Oral questionnaire surveys, the Numeric Rating Scale for Pain (NRS) and the Pain Disability Assessment Scale (PDAS), were conducted regarding lower extremity symptoms before wearing elastic stockings and one month later, to evaluate how the lower extremity symptoms affected daily life. All ten patients were female, with a mean age of 50.2 ± 11.5 years, out of whom intravenous prostacyclin analogue (PGI2) was administered in five patients. In no intravenous PGI2 group, NRS score was significantly improved from 4.6 ± 2.3 to 2.8 ± 1.2 (p = 0.037), while from 9.4 ± 1.2 to 5.4 ± 1.6 (p = 0.002) in intravenous PGI2 group. PDAS score was also significantly improved [no intravenous PGI2 group; 18.0 (15.0–24.0) to 15.0 (10.0–19.0), intravenous PGI2 group; 25.0 (17.0–37.0) to 17.0 (5.0–27.0)]. Lower extremity symptoms in patients using pulmonary vasodilators were improved by wearing compression stockings

Long-term survival outcome for pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension at a Japanese single center

In recent years, several treatment options for patients with pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension (PH) have improved the short-term prognosis. However, the long-term survival for pre-capillary PH has not been well investigated. This study sought to investigate the long-term survival for pre-capillary PH in Kurume University Hospital. A total of 144 patients with pre-capillary PH (110 women, mean age 55.1 ± 17.9 years) were enrolled. The maximal duration of followup was 15 years with a mean followup of 5.77 years. The 15 year survival was 59.1% for pre-capillary PH, 68.5% for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and 44.3% for chronic thromboembolic PH. The 5 year survival was 50.9% for PH due to lung disease (PH-LD), indicating the worst in the pre-capillary PH subgroups. The survival for portopulmonary hypertension was the lowest among PAH groups, and PAH associated with connective tissue disease and congenital heart disease decreased 10 years after diagnosis. A 6 min walk distance and elevated brain natriuretic peptide were significantly associated with survival outcome in pre-capillary PH patients and diastolic pulmonary arterial pressure was related to survival for PH-LD. The survivals were different among pre-capillary PH groups in our hospital. Above all, the long-term survival was better than in previous reports.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author