The relationship between aversion to school, tendency to neglect one's schoolwork and ibasho in undergraduate students: Typology based on dislike of school and tendency to neglect studies

The purpose of this study is to typologies college students' dislike of school and their tendency to neglect studies, and to understand the characteristics of each type. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to develop the typology. The analysis extracted the following three types: I) Students who desired to transfer to a different university, 2) students who were inactive and negligent of their studies, and 3) students who adapted to college life. The group of students who desired to transfer to a different university not only did not actively interact with others during their college life, they also displayed the characteristic of feeling that there were no places where they belonged in the university (ibasho). The group of students who were inactive and negligent of their studies showed reduced desire to attend classes and do classwork; at the same time, they also displayed the characteristic of not disliking school so much that they wished to transfer out of it. The group of students who adapted to college life displayed the characteristic of being satisfied overall with college life. The above results suggest that in the case of students who desired to transfer to a different university, interpersonal relationships in college and the existence of places where they feel they belong have a greater influence on their dislike of school and intensity of the desire to transfer to a different university than does anxiety or dissatisfaction with college classes and study

The relationship between aversion to school, tendency to neglect one's schoolwork and ibasyo in undergraduate students: ibasyo inside and outside the university

In this study, Minakochi, Takano, and Ikeda (in press) investigated the relationship between three types of students extracted from students' dislike of school and their tendency to neglect studies - (a) students who desired to transfer to a different university, (b) students who were inactive and negligent of their studies, and (c) students who adapted to college life - and ibasyo inside and outside the university. The subjects were 298 university students (106 men, 191 women, I unknown). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted with the three types of students as the independent variable and ibasyo inside and outside of school as the dependent variable. The results revealed that compared with other groups, (a) students who desired to transfer to a different university felt they did not have ibasyo within the school. Next, a x 2 test of the existence or absence of ibasyo outside school and the type of students was performed. No significant difference could be observed. This study suggests that support is needed to create ibasyo within the school for (a) students who desired to transfer to a different university

The relationship between aversion to school, tendency to neglect one's schoolwork and ibasho in undergraduate students : The factorial structures of passive area scale and unwillingness to attend school scale.

In this study, we investigate factorial structure of the passive area scale and the unwillingness to attend school scale. A total participant is 298 undergraduate student (male is 106, female is 191 and unknown is 1). Our exploratory factor analysis data and confirmatory factor analysis data indicate that the passive area scale has a four-factorial structure in first analysis. Each factors are named 'passive school-life", "passive one's schoolwork", "passive learning", and ''inattention". The factors which are ''passive learning" and ''inattention" show low a coefficients. Therefore, it is need to be paid attention, when these factors are used In second analysis, our exploratory factor analysis data and confirmatory factor analysis data indicate that the unwillingness to attend school scale has a four-factorial structure. Each factors are named "aversion to school" and "desire to move out". A total of scale and both factors show adequate a coefficients

Usefulness of brain natriuretic peptide for predicting left atrial appendage thrombus in patients with unanticoagulated nonvalvular persistent atrial fibrillation

AbstractBackgroundThe CHADS2 scoring system is simple and widely accepted for predicting thromboembolism in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). Although congestive heart failure (CHF) is a component of the CHADS2 score, the definition of CHF remains unclear. We previously reported that the presence of CHF was a strong predictor of left atrial appendage (LAA) thrombus. Therefore, the present study aimed to elucidate the relationship between LAA thrombus and the brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level in patients with unanticoagulated NVAF.MethodsThe study included 524 consecutive patients with NVAF who had undergone transesophageal echocardiography to detect intracardiac thrombus before cardioversion between January 2006 and December 2008, at Hiroshima City Asa Hospital. The exclusion criteria were as follows: paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, unknown BNP levels, prothrombin time international normalized ratio ≥2.0, and hospitalization for systemic thromboembolism.ResultsReceiver operating characteristic analysis yielded optimal plasma BNP cut-off levels of 157.1pg/mL (area under the curve, 0.91; p<0.01) and 251.2pg/mL (area under the curve, 0.70; p<0.01) for identifying CHF and detecting LAA thrombus, respectively. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that a BNP level >251.2pg/mL was an independent predictor of LAA thrombus (odds ratio, 3.51; 95% confidence interval, 1.08–10.7; p=0.046).ConclusionsIn patients with unanticoagulated NVAF, a BNP level >251.2pg/mL may be helpful for predicting the incidence of LAA thrombus and may be used as a surrogate marker of CHF. The BNP level is clinically useful for the risk stratification of systemic thromboembolism in patients with unanticoagulated NVAF

Autoantibodies against the replication protein A complex in systemic lupus erythematosus and other autoimmune diseases

Replication protein A (RPA), a heterotrimer with subunits of molecular masses 70, 32, and 14 kDa, is a single-stranded-DNA-binding factor involved in DNA replication, repair, and recombination. There have been only three reported cases of anti-RPA in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjögren syndrome (SjS). This study sought to clarify the clinical significance of autoantibodies against RPA. Sera from 1,119 patients enrolled during the period 2000 to 2005 were screened by immunoprecipitation (IP) of (35)S-labeled K562 cell extract. Antigen-capture ELISA with anti-RPA32 mAb, immunofluorescent antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and western blot analysis with purified RPA were also performed. Our results show that nine sera immunoprecipitated the RPA70–RPA32–RPA14 complex and all were strongly positive by ELISA (titers 1:62,500 to 1:312,500). No additional sera were positive by ELISA and subsequently confirmed by IP or western blotting. All sera showed fine speckled/homogeneous nuclear staining. Anti-RPA was found in 1.4% (4/276) of SLE and 2.5% (1/40) of SjS sera, but not in rheumatoid arthritis (0/35), systemic sclerosis (0/47), or polymyositis/dermatomyositis (0/43). Eight of nine patients were female and there was no racial predilection. Other positive patients had interstitial lung disease, autoimmune thyroiditis/hepatitis C virus/pernicious anemia, or an unknown diagnosis. Autoantibody specificities found in up to 40% of SLE and other diseases, such as anti-nRNP, anti-Sm, anti-Ro, and anti-La, were unusual in anti-RPA-positive sera. Only one of nine had anti-Ro, and zero of nine had anti-nRNP, anti-Sm, anti-La, or anti-ribosomal P antibodies. In summary, high titers of anti-RPA antibodies were found in nine patients (1.4% of SLE and other diseases). Other autoantibodies found in SLE were rare in this subset, suggesting that patients with anti-RPA may form a unique clinical and immunological subset

A basic study on hybrid systems for small race car to improve dynamic performance using lap time simulation

A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle with two or more power sources. We propose a hybrid system in which the engine torque converted by the transmission is combined with an electric motor torque. The proposed system reduces transmission because engine torque only acts during transmission. Furthermore, the proposed hybrid system’s simple structure uses lightweight chains and sprockets that can be laid out in various ways. The realization of the proposed hybrid system requires independent control algorithms for the two power systems, engine and electric motor, that take into consideration the state of the vehicle and the driver’s input; this system can be assumed to be a servo model system with multiple inputs and outputs and analyzed to obtain the optimal operation algorithm. To apply these controls to race cars, which are required to be fast, it is necessary to obtain the reference input, which is the optimal velocity and yaw angle while traveling the course of the servo system, and simulations of the competition track must be carried out. Therefore, the dynamic performance of the hybrid system was investigated by calculating the lap times on a given circuit using a quasi-steady-state method with low computational load and high prediction accuracy. In this study, the effects of changing the electric motor and final gear ratios on the driving performance of a rear-wheel-drive parallel hybrid system for optimization were investigated. The simulation results show that not only can the optimum settings be obtained by changing the final and electric motor reduction ratios on the evaluation circuit, but also that the optimum values vary across different speed ranges on different circuits

Ultraflex Stent Placement for Palliation of Esophageal Cancer

Nine patients with malignant esophageal obstruction were treated with non-covered or covered Ultraflex stents. All patients achieved palliation, six of nine patients showed improvement of at least one dysphagia grade, and five patients could tolerate a normal or near-normal diet. Major (massive bleeding) and minor complications (ingrowth, overgrowth, stent migration, and bleeding) were encountered during follow-up in 2 and 4 patients, respectively. Ultraflex stents for esophageal cancer offer effective palliative treatment and quickly improve dysphagia. However, care should be exercised particularly of potentially serious life-threatening complications such as massive bleeding

Seismic Exploration Using Active Sources at Kuchierabujima Volcano, Southwest Japan

Seismic exploration using artificial sources was conducted at Kuchierabujima volcano, southwest Japan in November 2004 by 40 participants from 9 national universities andJapan Meteorological Agency to investigate the subsurface seismic structure. The exploration was the 11th joint experiment under the National Project for Prediction of Volcanic Eruptions. A total of 183 temporal stations equippedwith a 2 Hz vertical component seismometer (including 75 3component seismometers) and a portable data logger were deployed on Kuchierabu Island. Dynamite shots with charges of 10-115 kg were detonated at 19 locations, and seismic signals were successfully recorded. To reveal the P-wave velocity structure, 2955 arrival times of the first motion were picked from the seismograms, and 2187 were classified into ranks A and B. From the record sections and the arrival time data, characteristics reflecting the geological structure were identified. Refracted waves of 5 km/s were observed at stations＞5km from the shot points. Apparent velocities near the shot points depend on the surface geology around the shots. P-wave arrived earlier at stations near the summits. Strongly scattered waves were observed similarly near the summits