トクシマ ダイガク キョウツウ キョウイク ニオケル コウダイ セツゾク ノ タメ ノ カイカク : リスウ カモク ノ ホシュウテキ ジュギョウ ノ ジッシ ト カダイ

平成15年度より、徳島大学共通教育において、高等学校の範囲で補習的授業を実施している。今回の補習的授業は、高等学校の数学、理科の科目の理解が不十分な学生に対して、基礎的理解を深めること目的とした。また、点数をとるための勉強ではなく、そこに含まれる勉学の楽しさを体得するとともに、大学での教養科目や専門分野との関連において体系的な理解につなげることを目指してきた。受講生に対するアンケート調査の結果では、「補習的授業の充実を望む」や、「高等学校で履修できる科目を増やすべき」とする声が多かった。来たるべき、大学全入時代に対応するために、共通教育のカリキュラム体系の見直しなどの改革が必須になっている。補習的授業に関しても、今後は数学、物理、生物以外の多様な科目で実施する必要がある。全国的に見て、高等学校の範囲の補習的授業を予備校などの外部に委託する大学も多いが、徳島大学では、大学教員による実施を柱としている。これは、高等学校の内容は、大学教育の中でも重要な基礎知識の礎であるため、補習的授業を共通教育の体系の中に取り入れた系統的な教育プログラムを構築する上で、大学教員の担当が望ましいと考えられるためである。さらに学生の多様な学習レベルや目的に対して高大接続カリキュラムを組み入れることにより、大学全入時代に適合した共通教育のカリキュラムの全体像を構築する必要がある。Supplementary lessons in Mathematics and Sciences were introduced in the general education of Tokushima University from 2003 in order to seal the gap of fundamental studies between the courses of high school and University. The main purpose of these lessons is to cultivate the novel interests on these subjects for students themselves by using textbooks for high school students. The results of student evaluation survey revealed the potential needs of supplementary lessons in other subjects and reevaluation for crowded curriculum of sciences in the course of high school. A designed new curriculum is indispensable including supplementary lessons in other subjects for a coming society with fewer children in Japan. Establishment of systematic course of general education is needed including the fundamental studies by the teaching staff of the university. Further development of the supplementary lessons should be undertaken for students various in their understanding levels or interests

Association Between Visceral Adipose Tissue Area and Coronary Plaque Morphology Assessed by CT Angiography

ObjectivesWe sought to investigate the association between visceral adipose tissue (VAT) with the presence, extent, and characteristics of noncalcified coronary plaques (NCPs) using 64-slice computed tomography angiography (CTA).BackgroundAlthough visceral adiposity is associated with cardiovascular events, its association with NCP burden and vulnerability is not well known.MethodsThe study population consisted of 427 patients (age 67 ± 11 years; 63% men) with proven or suspected coronary artery disease who underwent 64-slice CTA. We assessed the presence and number of NCPs for each patient. The extent of NCP was tested for the difference between high (≥2) and low (≤1) counts. We further evaluated the vulnerable characteristics of NCPs with positive remodeling (remodeling index >1.05), low CT density (≤38 HU), and the presence of adjacent spotty calcium. Plain abdominal scans were also performed to measure the VAT and subcutaneous adipose tissue area.ResultsA total of 260 (61%) patients had identifiable NCPs. Multivariate analyses revealed that increased VAT area (per 1 standard deviation, 58 cm2) was significantly associated with both the presence (odds ratio [OR]: 1.68; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.28 to 2.22) and extent (OR: 1.31; 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.68) of NCP. Other body composition measures, including subcutaneous adipose tissue area, body mass index, and waist circumference were not significantly associated with either presence or extent of NCP. Increased VAT area was also independently associated with the presence of NCP with positive remodeling (OR: 1.71; 95% CI: 1.18 to 2.53), low CT density (OR: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.17 to 2.47), and adjacent spotty calcium (OR: 1.52; 95% CI: 1.03 to 2.27).ConclusionsIncreased VAT area was significantly associated with NCP burden and vulnerable characteristics identified by CTA. Our findings may explain the excessive cardiovascular risk in patients with visceral adiposity, and support the potential role of CTA to improve risk stratification in such patients

Coincidence analysis to search for inspiraling compact binaries using TAMA300 and LISM data

Japanese laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors, TAMA300 and LISM, performed a coincident observation during 2001. We perform a coincidence analysis to search for inspiraling compact binaries. The length of data used for the coincidence analysis is 275 hours when both TAMA300 and LISM detectors are operated simultaneously. TAMA300 and LISM data are analyzed by matched filtering, and candidates for gravitational wave events are obtained. If there is a true gravitational wave signal, it should appear in both data of detectors with consistent waveforms characterized by masses of stars, amplitude of the signal, the coalescence time and so on. We introduce a set of coincidence conditions of the parameters, and search for coincident events. This procedure reduces the number of fake events considerably, by a factor $\sim 10^{-4}$ compared with the number of fake events in single detector analysis. We find that the number of events after imposing the coincidence conditions is consistent with the number of accidental coincidences produced purely by noise. We thus find no evidence of gravitational wave signals. We obtain an upper limit of 0.046 /hours (CL $= 90$) to the Galactic event rate within 1kpc from the Earth. The method used in this paper can be applied straightforwardly to the case of coincidence observations with more than two detectors with arbitrary arm directions.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, Replaced with the version to be published in Physical Review

Results of the search for inspiraling compact star binaries from TAMA300's observation in 2000-2004

We analyze the data of TAMA300 detector to search for gravitational waves from inspiraling compact star binaries with masses of the component stars in the range 1-3Msolar. In this analysis, 2705 hours of data, taken during the years 2000-2004, are used for the event search. We combine the results of different observation runs, and obtained a single upper limit on the rate of the coalescence of compact binaries in our Galaxy of 20 per year at a 90% confidence level. In this upper limit, the effect of various systematic errors such like the uncertainty of the background estimation and the calibration of the detector's sensitivity are included.Comment: 8 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses revtex4.sty The author list was correcte

Observation results by the TAMA300 detector on gravitational wave bursts from stellar-core collapses

We present data-analysis schemes and results of observations with the TAMA300 gravitational-wave detector, targeting burst signals from stellar-core collapse events. In analyses for burst gravitational waves, the detection and fake-reduction schemes are different from well-investigated ones for a chirp-wave analysis, because precise waveform templates are not available. We used an excess-power filter for the extraction of gravitational-wave candidates, and developed two methods for the reduction of fake events caused by non-stationary noises of the detector. These analysis schemes were applied to real data from the TAMA300 interferometric gravitational wave detector. As a result, fake events were reduced by a factor of about 1000 in the best cases. The resultant event candidates were interpreted from an astronomical viewpoint. We set an upper limit of 2.2x10^3 events/sec on the burst gravitational-wave event rate in our Galaxy with a confidence level of 90%. This work sets a milestone and prospects on the search for burst gravitational waves, by establishing an analysis scheme for the observation data from an interferometric gravitational wave detector

Stable Operation of a 300-m Laser Interferometer with Sufficient Sensitivity to Detect Gravitational-Wave Events within our Galaxy

TAMA300, an interferometric gravitational-wave detector with 300-m baseline length, has been developed and operated with sufficient sensitivity to detect gravitational-wave events within our galaxy and sufficient stability for observations; the interferometer was operated for over 10 hours stably and continuously. With a strain-equivalent noise level of $h\sim 5 \times 10^{-21} /\sqrt{\rm Hz}$, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 30 is expected for gravitational waves generated by a coalescence of 1.4 $M_\odot$-1.4 $M_\odot$ binary neutron stars at 10 kpc distance. %In addition, almost all noise sources which limit the sensitivity and which %disturb the stable operation have been identified. We evaluated the stability of the detector sensitivity with a 2-week data-taking run, collecting 160 hours of data to be analyzed in the search for gravitational waves.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure