Development of Exchange Activities with the International Students for Nurturing Global Human Resources: Focusing on Communication Skills, Cooperativity and Flexibility

This research project developed and practiced some exchange activities with international university students to nurture global human resources at the kindergarten level. The project was constructed with four strategic approaches to focus on developing communication skills, cooperativity and flexibility in children. The studies concluded that children's amical feeling toward international students have acted as a springboard to seek active interaction and to provide support when needed. Developmental level of children should also be considered to promote communication and flexibility. Further research on flexibility is necessary both in literature and in practice

Study on Multicellular Systems Using a Phase Field Model

A model of multicellular systems with several types of cells is developed from the phase field model. The model is presented as a set of partial differential equations of the field variables, each of which expresses the shape of one cell. The dynamics of each cell is based on the criteria for minimizing the surface area and retaining a certain volume. The effects of cell adhesion and excluded volume are also taken into account. The proposed model can be used to find the position of the membrane and/or the cortex of each cell without the need to adopt extra variables. This model is suitable for numerical simulations of a system having a large number of cells. The two-dimensional results of cell adhesion, rearrangement of a cell cluster, and chemotaxis as well as the three-dimensional results of cell clusters on the substrate are presented.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Three-dimensional results of cell adhesions on the substrate.

<p>The case of 10 cells of the same type is considered. Numerical calculations were performed with in Panel A, in Panel B, and in Panel C. Light and dark gray surfaces are contour plots of and respectively. The diagonal, top, and side views for each result are shown in the top, middle, and bottom rows, respectively. The size of the simulation box is and the size of the spatial grid is The time increment is The remaining parameters are set as follows: and </p

Plots of the total energy <i>E</i> with respect to time.

<p>The solid line shows the results for <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0033501#pone-0033501-g007" target="_blank">Figure 7A</a>, and the dotted line shows the results for <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0033501#pone-0033501-g007" target="_blank">Figure 7B</a>.</p

Two-dimensional results of cell deformation and rearrangement in a cluster.

<p>The cluster is composed of eight cells of two types Light and dark gray areas represent the region of Light gray areas indicate the locations of type-1 cells, and dark gray areas indicate the locations of type-2 cells. Black areas represent the walls Numerical calculations were performed with and in Panel A and and in Panel B. The left and right walls are assumed to move at a uniform velocity, and The size of the simulation box is and the size of the spatial grid is The time increment is The remaining parameters are set as follows: and </p

Schematic diagram of and .

<p>In Panel A, type-1 ( and 2) and type-2 ( and 4) cells are represented by gray and black circles, respectively. The contours of and are indicated by curved lines in Panels B and C, respectively.</p

Two-dimensional result of chemotactic movement of cells.

<p>The case of fifty cells of two types is considered. Light gray (dark gray) areas indicate the region of for the case in which the <i>m</i>-th cell is a type-1 (type-2) cell. Black areas represent the walls Numerical calculation was performed with and The other parameters are set as follows: size of the simulation box size of the spatial grid time increment and </p

Shape of the phase field <i>u</i>.

<p>The integral of <i>u</i> over <b>r</b> is set to be maintained. Panel A: top view. Panels B and C: profiles of <i>u</i> and at the centerline in Panel A, respectively.</p

Two-dimensional result of cell division.

<p>All cells are set to be of the same type Contour plots of are indicated by the black curves. The number of cells is increased by cell divisions: at at at and at The other parameters are set as follows: size of the simulation box size of the spatial grid time increment and </p

Shape of the double-well potential <i>W</i>(<i>u</i>).

<p>The parameters are set as and in Panels A, B, C, respectively.</p