幼稚園の保育者の動物飼育に対する「知識」と「態度」の向上を図る試み : 幼児と飼育動物に配慮した「動物介在教育」の実現を目指して

内容の要約広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(学術)Philosophydoctora

Support for Decision-making Regarding Continuing or Suspending Terminal-Stage Dialysis

【Purpose】The aim of this study was to clarify the state of discussion regarding terminal-stage dialysis,advance directive preparation, and opinions of patients and their family members regarding terminal-stagedialysis to facilitate support for decision-making regarding terminal-stage dialysis by nurses.【Methods】Study design was a Mixed-method research. Study subjects comprised 948 dialysis patients whowere members of the Kidney Disease Patient Association of Prefecture A, Japan. The response rate was 41.0%(n = 389), and the valid response rate was 38.8% .(n = 368) We distributed questionnaires to dialysis patients,that included questions about Patient characteristics, Status of discussion regarding terminal-stage dialysis andadvance directive preparation, and Free response comments regarding terminal-stage dialysis and advancedirective preparation. Results were then analyzed using Pearson’s chi-square test (for small-size samples,Fisher’s exact test was used). K-J method was used to analyze free comments regarding terminal-stage dialysis.This study was approved by the institutional review board of Naragakuen University. (approval no: 27-004)【Result/Consideration】Fewer than 40% of the subjects had discussed terminal-stage dialysis with their familymembers, whereas <10% had discussed the issue with a healthcare provider. Moreover, only 3% of the subjectshad prepared an advance directive. When offering support for decision-making regarding terminal-stage dialysis,nurses should provide necessary information while confirming the health state and current status of patients,particularly those who have received dialysis for a certain period of time and are interested in terminal-stagedialysis, as well as informing their family members. In addition, nurses should make adjustments such thatpatients can thoroughly discuss terminal-stage dialysis

Web-based System for Designing Game-based Evacuation Drills

A game-based evacuation drill (GBED) using the program Real-World Edutainment is effective disaster education. For the successful GBED, an evacuation scenario and digital materials are important. We are developing a web-based system to design GBEDs through community survey, digital material creation and evacuation scenario composition. This system works with a standard web browser and allows a wide range of people to participate in the GBED design process through simple operations

Relationship between mammary gland structures during pregnancy and breast-feeding

Study Purpose Diagnostic indices for prediction of breast milk production and assessment of care necessary for mammary gland structure during the pregnancy period were investigated. Methods Development of mammary gland during the pregnancy period was examined via ultrasound methodology. Each subject underwent three measurements once per trimester. Quantity of post-partum breast milk production was also measured ; furthermore, the relationship between mammary gland image and production quantity was evaluated. Results and conclusion As previously reported, mammary gland reaches a certain level of development during the course of pregnancy. Four distinct types of developmental pattern were observed. Mammary gland exhibited remarkable development up to the 15th week of pregnancy in comparison with non-pregnant adult females in type 1. In type 2, mammary gland displayed significant development from the 16th to the 35th week of pregnancy. In types 3 and 4, mammary gland tissue development, which was apparent from 35 weeks, was characterized by gland thickness of > 20 mm and < 20 mm, respectively. Among these four types, type 1 mammary gland demonstrated the largest level of breast milk production. Therefore, we suggest that understanding with respect to mammary gland structure during pregnancy contributes toward individual support in breast-feeding following childbirth

Basic study of new diagnostic modality according to noninvasive measurement of the electrical conductivity of tissues

The purposes of this study were to estimate the electrical conductivity of tissues by non-invasively measuring the electrical bio-impedance, to develop a new method for tissue diagnosis, i.e., electrical impedance tomography (EIT). Tissue models were first designed taking into consideration the distribution of the fat tissue, muscle and bone in the human forearm, and then the intra-tissue distributions of electrical potential and field, and the electrical impedance in the models was theoretically analyzed by the three-dimensional finite element method. The electrical impedance of both forearms was measured in healthy human subjects, and estimated the electrical conductivity of individual local tissues. The results of the analysis showed that the distributions of electrical potential and field were affected by the presence of fat tissue but not by the presence or absence of bone. In addition, as a result of calculation of the electrical resistance of the extracellular fluid (Re) in each model, it was found that the value of bio-impedance was influenced by the presence of fat tissue, and the value of bio-impedance was increased by the intervention of a fat layer. The electrical conductivity estimated by fitting the observed values to the values obtained by finite element analysis was 0.40 S/m and 0.15 S/m for male muscle and fat tissue, and 0.35 S/m and 0.11 S/m for female muscle and fat tissue, respectively. The sex difference in the slope of linear approximation in the estimation of electrical conductivity of the males and females was thought to be due to sex differences in the properties and structure of fat tissue. These results suggest that local tissues can be diagnosed differentially and electrically by percutaneous measurement of local bio-impedance and subsequent estimation of the electrical conductivity of each tissue

L1 transfer in the acquisition of manner and path in Spanish by native speakers of English

In this article the authors argue that L1 transfer from English is not only important in the early stages of L2 acquisition of Spanish, but remains influential in later stages if there is not enough positive evidence for the learners to progress in their development (Lefebvre, White, & Jourdan, 2006). The findings are based on analyses of path and manner of movement in stories told by British students of Spanish (N = 68) of three different proficiency levels. Verbs that conflate motion and path, on the one hand, are mastered early, possibly because the existence of Latinate path verbs, such as enter and ascend in English, facilitate their early acquisition by British learners of Spanish. Contrary to the findings of Cadierno (2004) and Cadierno and Ruiz (2006), the encoding of manner, in particular in boundary crossing contexts, seems to pose enormous difficulties, even among students who had been abroad on a placement in a Spanish-speaking country prior to the data collection. An analysis of the frequency of manner verbs in Spanish corpora shows that one of the key reasons why students struggle with manner is that manner verbs are so infrequent in Spanish. The authors claim that scarce positive evidence in the language exposed to and little or no negative evidence are responsible for the long-lasting effect of transfer on the expression of manner