Counting the Number of Paths in a Graph via BDDs

This paper proposes a unified approach by means of the binary decision diagram, BDD in short, to solve #P-hand problems of counting the number of paths between two terminals in undirected and directed graphs. Our approach provides algorithms running in O (2O (√n) ) time for typical planar graphs such as grid graphs. In fact, for any class of graphs having a good elimination ordering, this paradigm provides efficient solutions.Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications

看護学生の内発的動機づけと授業形態別にみた学びたい気持ちの変化との関連

【目的】本研究は，授業を受けたことによる看護学生の学びたい気持ちの変化が，内発的動機づけに影響を及ぼすかを，授業形態別に明らかにすることで，自律的な学習を支援するための教育の示唆を得ることを目的とした．【方法】関東地方の看護系大学3校の1 ～ 4 年生1,089人を対象に，平成25年7月から10月にかけて，自記式質問紙調査を行った．調査内容は，①対象者の背景（性別，年齢，学年，入学動機，将来の目標，良好な人間関係を築けると思う），②看護学生の学習動機づけ尺度，③授業形態別（講義形式，グループワーク，ゼミナール形式，看護技術演習，施設見学実習，基礎看護学実習［受け持ち患者あり］，各論実習）受講の有無，④授業形態別の「学びたい気持ちの変化」5件法であった．分析方法は，SPSS ver.21 を用いて基礎統計量，尺度と質問項目はKruskal-Wallis 検定とMann-Whitney U 検定（Bonferroni 調整），Spearman の相関係数をみた．本研究は，A 大学倫理審査委員会の承認を得て，郵送法で行った．【結果】回収数542人（回収率49.8％）で，そのうち511人（有効回答率94.3％）を分析対象とした．性別は男性56人（11.0％），女性455人（89.0％），平均年齢は20.4±1.8（SD）歳であった．〈看護への内発的動機づけ〉は，全ての授業形態で「学びたい気持ちが強くなった」学生の得点は有意（p＜.001）に高く，看護技術演習と正の相関（p＜.01，r＝.434）があった．【結論】看護を学習するための全ての授業形態において，受講することにより学びたい気持ちが強まる学生は内発的動機づけが高く，中でも看護技術演習では，「学びたい気持ちの変化」との間に正の相関がみられたことから，看護技術演習で看護学生の自尊心や有能性を高められるような授業を行うことで学生の学びたい気持ちは強くなり，〈看護への内発的動機づけ〉を高めることが示唆された

Novel Prophylactic Vaccine Using a Prime-Boost Method and Hemagglutinating Virus of Japan-Envelope against Tuberculosis

Objective. Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is a major global threat to human health. The only tuberculosis (TB) vaccine currently available is bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), although it has no efficacy in adults. Therefore, the development of a novel vaccine against TB for adults is desired. Method. A novel TB vaccine expressing mycobacterial heat shock protein 65 (HSP65) and interleukin-12 (IL-12) delivered by the hemagglutinating virus of Japan- (HVJ)- envelope was evaluated against TB infection in mice. Bacterial load reductions and histopathological assessments were used to determine efficacy. Results. Vaccination by BCG prime with IgHSP65+murine IL-12/HVJ-envelope boost resulted in significant protective efficacy (>10, 000-fold versus BCG alone) against TB infection in the lungs of mice. In addition to bacterial loads, significant protective efficacy was demonstrated by histopathological analysis of the lungs. Furthermore, the vaccine increased the number of T cells secreting IFN-γ. Conclusion. This vaccine showed extremely significant protection against TB in a mouse model, consistent with results from a similar paper on cynomolgus monkeys. The results suggest that further development of the vaccine for eventual testing in clinical trials may be warranted

基礎看護技術演習における看護学生の学習動機づけの推移 ─看護学生用学習動機づけ尺度を使用して─

【目的】 第1段階として看護学生用学習動機づけ尺度を作成し，第2段階として，作成した尺度を用いて基礎看護技術演習における学生の学習動機づけの推移を明らかにする．【方法】 岡田が作成した大学生用学習動機づけ尺度を基に看護学生用学習動機づけ尺度を作成し，関東地方の看護系大学生1,089名を対象に検証を行った．その尺度を用いて，平成28年4月～平成29年2月に，A大学看護学部1年次生102名に対して，計3回アンケート調査を行った．分析は，SPSS Ver. 24 for Win. を使用し，記述統計，尺度の因子分析（最尤法・プロマックス回転），因子ごとのFriedman の検定（Bonferroni 調整）を行った．本研究は獨協医科大学看護研究倫理委員会にて承認を得た（看護27022）．【結果】 看護学生用学習動機づけ尺度は，第Ⅰ因子〈取り入れ・外的〉13項目，第Ⅱ因子〈同一化的〉10項目，第Ⅲ因子〈内発的〉9項目，第Ⅳ因子〈資格取得的〉8項目であり，Cronbach’s a 信頼係数は，全体は.92，第Ⅰ因子は.87，第Ⅱ因子は.88，第Ⅲ因子は.89，第Ⅳ因子は.84であった．基礎看護技術演習における学生の動機づけで，もっとも得点が高かったのは〈資格取得的〉で，もっとも得点が低かったのは〈取り入れ・外的〉であった．基礎看護技術演習における学習動機づけを縦断的にみると，第3因子〈内発的〉では，学内演習初日の得点は1セメスター後および2セメスター後より有意に高く（p＜.05，p＜.01），第4因子〈資格取得的〉では，2セメスター後の得点は1セメスター後より有意に高かった（p＜.05）．【結論】 看護学生用学習動機づけ尺度は40項目4因子から構成され，看護学生の学習動機づけは，自律的な動機づけは高く，統制的な動機づけは低い傾向にあった．看護大学1年次生の学習動機づけにおいて，〈取り入れ・外的〉と〈同一化的〉は時期により有意差はなく，〈内発的〉は学内演習初日が有意に高く，〈資格取得的〉は2セメスター後に有意に高かった

Seaweed intake and blood pressure levels in healthy pre-school Japanese children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Few studies have examined whether dietary factors might affect blood pressure in children. We purposed to investigate whether seaweed intake is associated with blood pressure level among Japanese preschool children.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The design of the study was cross-sectional and it was conducted in autumn 2006. Subjects were healthy preschoolers aged 3-6 years in Aichi, Japan. Blood pressure and pulse were measured once by an automated sphygmomanometer, which uses oscillometric methods. Dietary data, including seaweed intake, were assessed using 3-day dietary records covering 2 consecutive weekdays and 1 weekend day. Of a total of 533 children, 459 (86.1 percent) agreed to be enrolled in our study. Finally, blood pressure measurement, complete dietary records and parent-reported height and weight were obtained for 223 boys and 194 girls.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When we examined Spearman's correlation coefficients, seaweed intake was significantly negatively related to systolic blood pressure in girls (<it>P </it>= 0.008). In the one-way analysis of covariance for blood pressure and pulse after adjustments for age and BMI, the boys with the lowest, middle and highest tertiles of seaweed intake had diastolic blood pressure readings of 62.8, 59.3 and 59.6 mmHg, respectively (<it>P </it>= 0.11, trend <it>P </it>= 0.038). Girls with higher seaweed intake had significantly lower systolic blood pressure readings (102.4, 99.2 and 96.9 mmHg for girls with the lowest, middle and highest tertiles of seaweed intake, respectively; <it>P </it>= 0.037, trend <it>P </it>= 0.030).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study showed that seaweed intake was negatively related to diastolic blood pressure in boys and to systolic blood pressure in girls. This suggests that seaweed might have beneficial effects on blood pressure among children.</p

Development of a Nursing Care Guideline to Support Families Face on Organ Donation as the Choice of Their Child’s End-of-Life

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Hyperoxemia and excess oxygen use in early acute respiratory distress syndrome : Insights from the LUNG SAFE study

Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Background: Concerns exist regarding the prevalence and impact of unnecessary oxygen use in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We examined this issue in patients with ARDS enrolled in the Large observational study to UNderstand the Global impact of Severe Acute respiratory FailurE (LUNG SAFE) study. Methods: In this secondary analysis of the LUNG SAFE study, we wished to determine the prevalence and the outcomes associated with hyperoxemia on day 1, sustained hyperoxemia, and excessive oxygen use in patients with early ARDS. Patients who fulfilled criteria of ARDS on day 1 and day 2 of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure were categorized based on the presence of hyperoxemia (PaO2 > 100 mmHg) on day 1, sustained (i.e., present on day 1 and day 2) hyperoxemia, or excessive oxygen use (FIO2 ≥ 0.60 during hyperoxemia). Results: Of 2005 patients that met the inclusion criteria, 131 (6.5%) were hypoxemic (PaO2 < 55 mmHg), 607 (30%) had hyperoxemia on day 1, and 250 (12%) had sustained hyperoxemia. Excess FIO2 use occurred in 400 (66%) out of 607 patients with hyperoxemia. Excess FIO2 use decreased from day 1 to day 2 of ARDS, with most hyperoxemic patients on day 2 receiving relatively low FIO2. Multivariate analyses found no independent relationship between day 1 hyperoxemia, sustained hyperoxemia, or excess FIO2 use and adverse clinical outcomes. Mortality was 42% in patients with excess FIO2 use, compared to 39% in a propensity-matched sample of normoxemic (PaO2 55-100 mmHg) patients (P = 0.47). Conclusions: Hyperoxemia and excess oxygen use are both prevalent in early ARDS but are most often non-sustained. No relationship was found between hyperoxemia or excessive oxygen use and patient outcome in this cohort. Trial registration: LUNG-SAFE is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02010073publishersversionPeer reviewe

Computing the Tutte Polynomial of a Graph and the Jones Polynomial of an Alternating Link of Moderate Size

The problem of computing the Tutte polynomial of a graph has been a hot topic in recent years, because its computation is very useful not only in graph theory but also in many problems in statistical physics, knot theory, etc. This problem is #P-hard, and there have been known only algorithms taking time at least proportional to the number of trees of a given graph which is exponential in nature. This paper presents a new algorithm by utilizing a fact that many 2isomorphic minors appear in the process of computation. The complexity of the algorithm is analyzed in terms of Bell numbers and Catalan numbers in combinatorics. By this algorithm, we can compute the Tutte polynomial of any graph with at most 14 vertices and 91 edges and that of a planar graph such as 12 2 12 lattice graph with 144 vertices and 264 edges by a standard workstation in about an hour. ANY OTHER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION OF THIS REPORT DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT First issue 40 copies. This technical report is available ..

Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams, Graph Theory and Computational Geometry

Ordered binary decision diagrams (OBDDs in short) have been shown as a powerful paradigm in handling Boolean functions and have been applied to many fields such as VLSI CAD, AI, combinatorics, etc. In this paper, we consider Boolean functions representing some concepts in graph theory such as spanning trees, matchings, cliques, etc., as well as concepts in computational geometry such as planar triangulations. We demonstrate that the problem of finding a good variable ordering for these functions is strongly related to Gaussian elimination of graphs. This generalizes a framework of applying OBDDs to combinatorics of graphs first done by Semba and Yajima [17] and further extended by Tani and Imai [19]. Since many fertile graph properties underlie the corresponding Boolean functions, many graph-theoretic techniques can be applied to find a good ordering, which may be regarded as an extension of the work by Berman mentioned above. Our results have many implications. From the viewpoint of O..