日本の大学における外国人教員のインテグレーションに関する研究

内容の要約広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(教育学)Doctor of Philosophy in Educationdoctora

Smartphone dependency and mental health among Chinese rural adolescents: the mediating role of cognitive failure and parent–child relationship

BackgroundWith the widespread use of smartphones in daily life, smartphone dependency has become a global problem, especially among adolescents. Existing research studies have supported the association between smartphone dependency and the mental health of Chinese rural adolescents, but the underlying mechanism is still unclear.ObjectiveThe present study used a survey to test whether smartphone dependency may be associated with mental health in Chinese rural adolescents. The mediating role of cognitive failure and parent–child relationship was also examined.Materials and methodsIn total, 941 adolescents (45.91% male; mean age = 14.05, SD = 1.04) in rural areas of mainland China were recruited to complete four scales, including the Mobile Phone Dependence Scale (MPDS), Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ), Family Adaption and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES), and Mental Health of Middle School Students Scale.ResultsThe results showed that both cognitive failure and parent–child relationship acted as mediators in the effect of smartphone dependency on mental health among Chinese rural adolescents, and smartphone dependency also affected parent–child relationship by influencing cognitive failure, thus affecting mental health among Chinese rural adolescents indirectly.ConclusionThe present study suggests that improving parent–child relationships and reducing cognitive failure can reduce the impact of smartphone dependency on the mental health of Chinese rural adolescents

Neoliberalism, internationalization, Japanese exclusionism: the integration experiences of international academics at Japanese universities

The study examines the role of neoliberalism, institutional internationalization, and Japanese exclusionism in shaping the academic environment of Japanese higher education institutions by exploring international academics’ integration experiences at Japanese universities. Specifically international academics’ perceptions of the academic environment, and their practical behaviors while integrating into Japanese universities were investigated via semi-structured interviews with 40 international faculty with various backgrounds. Employing Nvivo12, the interview data was managed based on a six-step thematic analysis procedure. Drawing on the integration experiences of international academics, the data analysis indicates that international academics perceived various subtle and overt constraints while integrating into Japanese universities, and they tend to seek private solutions to navigate their professional and social lives at Japanese universities. Moreover, although no differences in their practical behaviors were found, the study acknowledges the perceptual differences of the participants by suggesting that international academics, particularly those in the Humanities, those without previous experience in Japan, those who possess propaganda value due to their international appearance, and those who are not from countries that use Chinese characters, were more likely to perceive an integration deficit at Japanese universities. The research findings are indicative of the complex academic environment of Japanese HEIs caused by neoliberalism, institutional internationalization, and Japanese exclusionism, which is competitive, exclusionary, and pragmatic. Both theoretical and practical implications for policymakers, researchers, and university administrators are provided.Chen L., Huang F.. Neoliberalism, internationalization, Japanese exclusionism: the integration experiences of international academics at Japanese universities. Studies in Higher Education , (2023); https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2283094

Literature Review and Issues Concerning Integration of International Faculty at Japanese Universities

The purpose of this study is to review the previous studies in the integration of international faculty at Japanese universities. This paper begins with illustrating the research background, research purpose, and research focuses or questions. The paper then reviews previous studies relating to the integration of foreigners and international faculty based on migration theories. The main points include that the terminology of integration is originally from English, however, there exists no clear concept in this regard. In addition, the interpretation of integration varies considerably depending on the fields of scholars and professionals. The third part of this paper focuses on reviewing prior literature of international faculty at Japanese universities. Although a number of previous studies in the demographic characteristics, professional roles, and perceptions of international faculty have been conducted, the attention paid to the integration of international faculty is extremely limited. Based on the literature review above, the paper identifies major issues concerning the existing research and presents the author’s definition of the integration of international faculty at Japanese universities

Effect of Cooking Time on Volatile Compounds of Pixian Bean Paste Determined by Gas Chromatography-Ion Mobility Spectrometry Combined with Chemometrics

Sensory evaluation, gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) and chemometrics were applied to analyze the change of volatile flavor compounds in Pixian bean paste during cooking. The results indicated that Pixian bean paste showed the strongest fruity aroma after four minutes of stir frying, and strongest woody, nutty and burnt aromas after five minutes. As the stir-frying time increased, the spicy aroma of Pixian bean paste was weakened. The volatile components of Pixian bean paste with different stir-frying times were well separated by GC-IMS and a total of 97 volatile components were detected at five stir-frying times, aldehydes, ketones and esters being the major ones. The relative contents of aldehydes and esters increased as the stir-frying time prolonged, including butanal, isobutenal, 2-methylpropanal, valental, 3-methylbutanal, isobutyl butyrate, ethyl butyrate and methyl acetate. Totally 34 signature volatile components were identified by orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). Pearson correlation analysis showed that the woody, nutty and burnt aromas were strongly negatively correlated with the concentrations of most aroma compounds. The spicy aroma was strongly positively correlated with the concentrations of most aroma components

Enhanced GSA-Based Optimization for Minimization of Power Losses in Power System

Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) is a heuristic method based on Newton’s law of gravitational attraction and law of motion. In this paper, to further improve the optimization performance of GSA, the memory characteristic of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is employed in GSAPSO for searching a better solution. Besides, to testify the prominent strength of GSAPSO, GSA, PSO, and GSAPSO are applied for the solution of optimal reactive power dispatch (ORPD) of power system. Conventionally, ORPD is defined as a problem of minimizing the total active power transmission losses by setting control variables while satisfying numerous constraints. Therefore ORPD is a complicated mixed integer nonlinear optimization problem including many constraints. IEEE14-bus, IEEE30-bus, and IEEE57-bus test power systems are used to implement this study, respectively. The obtained results of simulation experiments using GSAPSO method, especially the power loss reduction rates, are compared to those yielded by the other modern artificial intelligence-based techniques including the conventional GSA and PSO methods. The results presented in this paper reveal the potential and effectiveness of the proposed method for solving ORPD problem of power system

Probiotic Characteristics of Human-Residential Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum Strains

This study was conducted to isolate and identify Bifidobacterium from the feces of Kazakh school-age children in Yining, Xinjiang and evaluate the in vitro probiotic characteristics of B. longum subsp. longum isolates. By groEL gene sequencing and repetitive element sequence-based polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR) fingerprinting, 416 Bifidobacterium strains were identified to belong to B. longum, B. bifidum, B. pseudocatenulatum, B. catenulatum and B. breve. According to the fingerprints of B. longum subsp. longum, 27 genotypes showed genetic differences between individual strains and the coexistence of multiple strains in the gut was found. The in vitro experimental results showed that out of 27 representative strains, strains 2B3-21, 1B23-11, 2B33-3, and 1B68-16 were optimal in acid and bile salt tolerance, strains 1B68-16, 2B13-5, 2B33-3, and 1B39-2 had broad-spectrum antibacterial properties, and strains 1B38-1, 2B33-3, 1B68-16, and 2B13-28 showed a strong antioxidant capacity. Considering the antibiotic resistance of all strains and their ability to utilize plant-derived glycans, strains 1B38-1 and 2B13-28 were selected to assess their in vivo probiotic potentials. This study may lay the foundation for the development of excellent probiotics and related products for populations from specific areas

Isolation and in Vitro Probiotic Characteristics of Akkermansia muciniphila from Maternal and Infant Feces in Three Different Regions

In this study, a combination of an improved mucin enriched medium with real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) was used to test 48 samples of maternal and infant feces for Akkermansia muciniphila (Akk). Under optimized conditions, 24 Akk strains were isolated from eight positive samples. All these strains were confirmed as Akk by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and PCR with Akk-specific primers. Repetitive extragenic palindrome-polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR) fingerprinting classified the 24 strains into four genotypic groups. Subsequently, these strains were tested in vitro for simulated gastrointestinal fluid tolerance, hydrophobicity, antibiotic susceptibility, and glycan utilization capacity. The results showed that strains HN18D-1, HN18D-3, and WW48D1-13 had the highest tolerance to simulated gastric and intestinal fluids. All Akk strains were resistant to vancomycin, clindamycin, kanamycin and erythromycin. Xylooligosaccharides and soybean oligosaccharides had prebiotic effects on the Akk strains. Collectively, Akk isolates HN18D-1, HN18D-3 and WW48D1-13 can be used as potential probiotic candidates for subsequent in-depth studies

Altered Topological Properties of Gray Matter Structural Covariance Networks in Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy

Background and Aims: Liver cirrhosis commonly induces brain structural impairments that are associated with neurological complications (e.g., minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE)), but the topological characteristics of the brain structural network are still less well understood in cirrhotic patients with MHE. This study aimed to conduct the first investigation on the topological alterations of brain structural covariance networks in MHE.Methods: This study included 22 healthy controls (HCs) and 22 cirrhotic patients with MHE. We calculated the gray matter volume of 90 brain regions using an automated anatomical labeling (AAL) template, followed by construction of gray matter structural covariance networks by thresholding interregional structural correlation matrices as well as graph theoretical analysis.Results: MHE patients showed abnormal small-world properties of the brain structural covariance network, i.e., decreased clustering coefficient and characteristic path length and lower small-worldness parameters, which indicated a tendency toward more random architecture. In addition, MHE patients lost hubs in the prefrontal and parietal regions, although they had new hubs in the temporal and occipital regions. Compared to HC, MHE patients had decreased regional degree/betweenness involving several regions, primarily the prefrontal and parietal lobes, motor region, insula and thalamus. In addition, the MHE group also showed increased degree/betweenness in the occipital lobe and hippocampus.Conclusion: These results suggest that MHE leads to altered coordination patterns of gray matter morphology and provide structural evidence supporting the idea that MHE is a neurological complication related to disrupted neural networks

17β-Estradiol Enhances Schwann Cell Differentiation via the ERβ-ERK1/2 Signaling Pathway and Promotes Remyelination in Injured Sciatic Nerves

Remyelination is critical for nerve regeneration. However, the molecular mechanism involved in remyelination is poorly understood. To explore the roles of 17β-estradiol (E2) for myelination in the peripheral nervous system, we used a co-culture model of rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) explants and Schwann cells (SCs) and a regeneration model of the crushed sciatic nerves in ovariectomized (OVX) and non-ovariectomized (non-OVX) rats for in vitro and in vivo analysis. E2 promoted myelination by facilitating the differentiation of SCs in vitro, which could be inhibited by the estrogen receptors (ER) antagonist ICI182780, ERβ antagonist PHTPP, or ERK1/2 antagonist PD98059. This suggests that E2 accelerates SC differentiation via the ERβ-ERK1/2 signaling. Furthermore, E2 promotes remyelination in crushed sciatic nerves of both OVX and non-OVX rats. Interestingly, E2 also significantly increased the expression of the lysosome membrane proteins LAMP1 and myelin protein P0 in the regenerating nerves. Moreover, P0 has higher degree of colocalization with LAMP1 in the regenerating nerves. Taking together, our results suggest that E2 enhances Schwann cell differentiation and further myelination via the ERβ-ERK1/2 signaling and that E2 increases the expression of myelin proteins and lysosomes in SCs to promotes remyelination in regenerating sciatic nerves