Effectiveness of Morita Therapy-Based Consultation for a School-Refusing Adolescent with Psychogenic Fever

Morita therapy, developed by Shoma Morita (1874-1938) in Japan, is a type of psychotherapy that has been applied to deal with neurotic symptoms. This therapeutic approach is based on the conviction that neurotic symptoms are universal issues that eventually subside if the symptoms are accepted and everyday activities are carried out. By examining a school-refusing female adolescent suffering from somatic complaints (mainly psychogenic fever), the present study explores the effectiveness of Morita therapy-based consultation on the adolescent’s school refusal tendencies. The findings indicate that, after the school counselor provided Morita therapy-based consultation to the parents of the school-refusing adolescent and the school staff members, the adolescent returned to school and psychogenic fever became afebrile after several days of resuming regular school attendance. The implication of the results is that Morita therapy can be effective for dealing with school-refusing adolescents suffering from neurotic symptoms

An Approach for School Counselors: Behavioral Consultation with Parents of Youth with School Attendance Problems

The current study investigates and discusses the effectiveness of behavioral consultations that school counselors can apply to students with school attendance problems (SAPs). A school counselor adopted the rapid school return approach in a school-based behavioral consultation with parents of a 13-year-old Japanese male student who refused to attend school. After the parents implemented the approach, the student resumed his regular school attendance, which continued until the end of junior high school. The A–B design in a single case study was employed as the research design. Throughout the implementation of the approach, the findings indicated that: (a) school counselors should conduct behavioral consultation sessions with parents periodically; (b) school counselors and parents should discuss who is responsible for the escorting process; (c) school staff and school counselors should collect accurate attendance data of students with SAPs daily until the end of the academic year; and (d) school counselors should view SAPs as a persistent problem for students, which can relapse at certain points during compulsory school. This current case study suggests that behavioral consultation with parents of youth with SAPs can be effective in dealing with students who refuse to attend school and are unwilling to seek specialists’ help

Narrowing Trees for Syntactically Deterministic Conditional Term Rewriting Systems

A narrowing tree for a constructor term rewriting system and a pair of terms is a finite representation for the space of all possible innermost-narrowing derivations that start with the pair and end with non-narrowable terms. Narrowing trees have grammar representations that can be considered regular tree grammars. Innermost narrowing is a counterpart of constructor-based rewriting, and thus, narrowing trees can be used in analyzing constructor-based rewriting to normal forms. In this paper, using grammar representations, we extend narrowing trees to syntactically deterministic conditional term rewriting systems that are constructor systems. We show that narrowing trees are useful to prove two properties of a normal conditional term rewriting system: one is infeasibility of conditional critical pairs and the other is quasi-reducibility

Prevention of School Attendance Problems in Japan: A Macro-Level Perspective on Avoidance Behaviour

In this study, we examined government policies and the relevant law on prevention measures for school attendance problems in Japanese compulsory education schools from the perspective of school avoidance behaviour. In summary: (a) the number of students with school attendance problems has been increasing rapidly since 2017; (b) despite an increase in school counsellors as a government-initiated prevention measure, the number of students with school attendance problems has risen; (c) government policies and the relevant law seek to foster social independence even for students unable to return to school and to provide spaces where students with school attendance problems feel comfortable, which may inadvertently reinforce or perpetuate school avoidance behaviour; and (d) in the Japanese compulsory education system, stakeholders have limited opportunities to block school avoidance behaviour. We propose two measures to prevent school attendance problems drawing on a macro-level behavioural perspective: (a) employing data on class absences in mainstream schools, regardless of the reason for the absence, as an evaluation criterion for prolonged school absenteeism, and (b) implementing appropriate grade repetition for students who miss classes in their mainstream school over a certain threshold, including withholding the school diploma

Japan's Foreign Policy and the Kishi-CKS Talks in 1957

The Nobusuke Kishi administration sought to implement a realistic foreign policy towards Taiwan and China, it is the policy of separation of politics and economics (so called SeiKei BunRi). This article argues Japan-Taiwan Relations in 1950s with analyses 2 talks of Kishi and Chiang Kai-shek held in 1957, which shows the differences between Japan's China policy and Taiwan's mainland China policy. Both Japan and Taiwan had showed no willingness to reach to agreement, these attitudes set the tone for the diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1960s

ガク カンセツショウ カンジャ ノ MR ガゾウ ニヨル ヘイコウイ ト カイコウイ ノ カンセツ エンバン ケイタイ ブンセキ

MR images of the temporomandibular joint in 302 patients who consulted the Clinic for Temporomandibular Disorders, Tokushima University Hospital, with temporomandibular symptoms between January 2007 and April 2013, and underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were examined. Articular disc morphology in closed and open mouth positions was investigated, and classified it into 3 types: no morphological change, change into another morphology, and anteroposterior compression. The morphology of folding was classified into 2 subtypes: superior and inferior convex types. The association between these and other MRI/clinical findings were examined. (1) The morphology of the disc in the closed mouth position was evaluated as biconcave on 397 sides, biconvex on 5, even thickness on 32, enlargement of the posterior band on 54, folding on 82, and other types on 11. It was compared with that in the open mouth position. There was no morphological change on 369 sides, an altered morphology on 45, and anteroposterior compression was noted on 167. The most frequent morphological change was one from biconcave to folding (superior convex), which was observed on 16 of the 45 sides. In patients with no morphological change, the incidence of joint effusion was significantly lower than in those with an altered morphology or anteroposterior compression, and the glenoid fossa was deeper. Concerning clinical symptoms, crepitus was significantly more frequent in patients with anteroposterior compression. There were no significant differences in the incidences of the other symptoms among the 3 groups. (2) There were significant differences in the presence or absence of joint effusion and reposition between patients with superior and inferior convex folding. Briefly, in these patients, joint effusion was more frequent than in those with the other disc morphologies. However, effusion of the superior articular cavity was observed in all patients with inferior convex folding, whereas effusion of the superior and inferior articular cavities was noted in those with superior convex folding. In patients with inferior convex folding, reduction was significantly more frequent than in those with superior convex folding. Concerning clinical symptoms, there were no significant differences between the two groups. The results of this study showed that the condition markedly differed between joints with and without mouth opening-related changes in the morphology of the articular disc, suggesting that this parameter is useful for clarifying the pathogenesis of temporomandibular joint arthrosis, selecting treatment, and predicting the prognosis

Two-fingered Hand with Gear-type Synchronization Mechanism with Magnet for Improved Small and Offset Objects Grasping: F2 Hand

A problem that plagues robotic grasping is the misalignment of the object and gripper due to difficulties in precise localization, actuation, etc. Under-actuated robotic hands with compliant mechanisms are used to adapt and compensate for these inaccuracies. However, these mechanisms come at the cost of controllability and coordination. For instance, adaptive functions that let the fingers of a two-fingered gripper adapt independently may affect the coordination necessary for grasping small objects. In this work, we develop a two-fingered robotic hand capable of grasping objects that are offset from the gripper's center, while still having the requisite coordination for grasping small objects via a novel gear-type synchronization mechanism with a magnet. This gear synchronization mechanism allows the adaptive finger's tips to be aligned enabling it to grasp objects as small as toothpicks and washers. The magnetic component allows this coordination to automatically turn off when needed, allowing for the grasping of objects that are offset/misaligned from the gripper. This equips the hand with the capability of grasping light, fragile objects (strawberries, creampuffs, etc) to heavy frying pan lids, all while maintaining their position and posture which is vital in numerous applications that require precise positioning or careful manipulation.Comment: 8 pages. Accepted at IEEE IROS 2023. An accompanying video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAO7Qb2ZGN