Adopting Moodle:Case Studies in the Diffusion of Innovation

This joint research paper among five part-time English teachers at Maebashi Kyoai Gakuen University, hereafter called Kyoai University, represents a focused practical application of Action Research based on CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) in the classroom and syllabus. This research builds upon the history and development of CALL at the University, including previous research based on student perceptions of CALL (Deadman, 2014) and teacher’s perceptions and evaluations of multimedia technologies (Mason, 2014). The paper details and investigates how CALL is adopted amongst the teachers in this study, through the existent software Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment). Two of the members of this group have used Moodle, whereas the three other part-time teachers have had limited exposure and experience using it. The aim of this research group is to peer-teach each other in a community of practice, in order that our own technology skills increase, ultimately transferring this to better learning experiences for the students. The paper will use teachers experience, observations and planning to detail the purposefulness of technology in the curriculum; the teacher’s own perceptions of the technology; the subsequent selection, planning and design of appropriate class-specific Moodle applications; and each teacher’s initial evaluations of Moodle as they begin to construct their own Moodle accounts for various classes.　A general　e-mail was sent to all Japanese part-time teachers who would be interested in jointly partaking in a research paper, based on the above considerations. As such, the members of this research paper are equal in membership and responsibility for the research, as per the ethical considerations of practitioner research (Hammersley, M., Gomm, R., and Woods, P., 2003)

Prevalence of Anti-Toxoplasma Antibodies and Hygienic Problems among Unmarried Young Women

We investigated the prevalence of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies in the general population, and among unmarried young women who were freshmen in the College of Medical Care and Technology, Gunma University. The frequency of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies among general population increased gradually from 0.7% in the under 19 year age group to 35% in the 80 to 99 year age group. Up to the age of 29 years (young age group), 2.8% had the antibody, between the age of 30 to 59 years (middle age group) 18.6%, and from the age of 60 and over (old age group) 34.2%. However, the level of titers in the young age group was higher than the others. The finding indicates recent infection of Toxoplasma gondii in the young age group. In the study of the year-to-year changes among freshmen from 1987 to 1992, there has been an obvious decrease in frequency. Nineteen out of 472 subjects (4.0%) had the antibody in 1987, and 12 out of 503 (2.4%) in 1992. The result indicates the risk of primary infection among young people

A new, major C27 biliary bile acid in the Red-winged tinamou (Rhynchotus rufescens):(25R)-1β,3α,7α-trihydroxy-5β-cholestan-27-oic acid*

The chemical structures of the three major bile acids present in the gallbladder bile of the Red-winged tinamou (Rhynchotus rufescens), an early evolving, ground-living bird related to ratites, were determined. Bile acids were isolated by preparative reversed-phase HPLC. Two of the compounds were identified as the taurine N-acylamidates of (25R)-3α,7α-dihydroxy-5β-cholestan-27-oic acid (constituting 22% of biliary bile acids) and (25R)-3α,7α,12α-trihydroxy-5β-cholestan-27-oic acid (constituting 51%). The remaining compound, constituting 21% of biliary bile acids, was an unknown C27 bile acid. Its structure was elucidated by LC/ESI-MS/MS and NMR and shown to be the taurine conjugate of (25R)-1β,3α,7α-trihydroxy-5β-cholestan-27-oic acid, a C27 trihydroxy bile acid not previously reported. Although C27 bile acids with a 1β-hydroxyl group have been identified as trace bile acids in the alligator, this is the first report of a major biliary C27 bile acid possessing a 1β-hydroxyl group