The Implications of Social Skills on the Formation of Relationships Between Indonesian Muslims and Japanese

This study aims to investigate social skills adopted by Japanese people in Indonesia relevant to developing satisfactory interpersonal relationships with Indonesian Muslims. Twenty-seven Japanese people living in Indonesia were questioned on coping strategies used to overcome interpersonal difficulties (Nakano & Tanaka, 2016, July) and behaviors used to form satisfactory relationships. The results indicated that the subjects used two coping strategies: (1) cognitive, which involves understanding and tolerating cultural and religious characteristics or differences; and (2) behavioral, which involves accommodating one’s behavior to characteristics and differences, observation, and mimicry. It was also revealed that three specific skills are needed: a) Religious consideration, b) Frank self-expression, and c) Well-mannered behaviors and common sense. The narratives of informants showed that these skills are used to resolve the stress and problems in interpersonal relationships with Indonesian Muslims and to have comfortable relationships. This study was able to identify specific social skills that proved effective in maintaining interpersonal relationships with Indonesian Muslims. In future research, it is necessary to examine these behaviors among native Indonesian Muslims and to enhance the credibility of the skill list

Reorganization of higher education in Sweden : Acceptance and development of the Bologna Process

グローパル化の中で大学間の国際競争が強まり，高等教育の再編が世界的に進展している。ヨーロッパにおいては，アメリカの大学の影響力拡大への危機感から，各国の高等教育制度を収斂し，「ヨーロッパ高等教育圏」を創る動きがボローニャ・プロセスとして進んでいる。そこでは学士課程と大学院課程の2段階化の統一，欧州レベルで互換可能な単位制度の導入などが求められている。スウェーデンにおいても2007年に修士制度を創設するとともに大学院課程を整備し学士3年，修士2年，博士4年の学位制度に再編された。また欧州レベルで互換可能な単位制度も導入された。しかしスウェーデン固有の高等教育制度の特徴はこの再編過程でも失われていない。したがって，ひとつの統一的な「ヨーロッパ高等教育園」として，標準的なものに収斂していくだけでなく，スウェーデン高等教育の個性が浮かび上がってきており，その魅力が増しているとみることができる。With the progress of globalization, international competition among universities has been intensifying, and the reorganization of higher education has accelerated all over the world. In Europe, to address fear of the growing dominance of US universities in the academic world, the Bologna Process has been promoted to create a "European Higher Education Area," which integrates the different higher education systems in each country. The Process aims to adopt a system based on two cycles (undergraduate and graduate) and establish a credit system that is compatible across Europe. The Swedish government also introduced a Master's course system in 2007 and reorganized into a three-cycle structure offering Bachelor's and Master's degrees and Doctorates in 3, 2, and 4 years, respectively. A system that provides compatible credits across Europe was also implemented by the Swedes. Nevertheless, the specific features of Swedish higher education have not been lost as a result of this reorganization. This means that, although the integrated European Higher Education Area provides a standardized education system, the features of Swedish higher education continue to become even prominent and increasingly attractive

CO2 レーザーでアパタイトを溶着させたPEEK ディスク上における、ラット骨髄間葉系細胞の骨形成能に関する培養実験

Background: Polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) is increasingly being used for spinal applications. However, because of its biologically inactive nature, there are risks of false joint loosening and sinking. PEEK materials are coated with apatite to enhance the osteoconductive properties. In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether strontium apatite stimulate osteogenesis on the surface of PEEK by using the CO2 laser technique. Methods: We prepared non-coated disks, laser-exposed disks without apatite, and four types of apatite-coated by laser PEEK disks (hydroxyapatite (HAP), strontium hydroxyapatite (SrHAP), silicate-substituted strontium apatite (SrSiP), and silicate-zinc-substituted strontium apatite (SrZnSiP)). A part of the study objective was testing various types of apatite coatings. Bone marrow mesenchymal cells (BMSCs) of rats were seeded at a density of 2 × 104/cm2 onto each apatite-coated, non-coated, and laser-irradiated PEEK disks. The disks were then placed in osteogenic medium, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining and Alizarin red staining of BMSCs grown on PEEK disks were performed after 14 days of culture. The concentrations of osteocalcin (OC) and calcium in the culture medium were measured on days 8 and 14 of cell culture. Furthermore, mRNA expression of osteocalcin, ALP, runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), collagen type 1a1 (Col1a1), and collagen type 4a1 (Col4a1) was evaluated by qPCR. Results: The staining for ALP and Alizarin red S was more strongly positive on the apatite-coated PEEK disks compared to that on non-coated or laser-exposed without coating PEEK disks. The concentration of osteocalcin secreted into the medium was also significantly higher in case of the SrHAP, SrSiP, and SrZnSiP disks than that in the case of the non-coated on day14. The calcium concentration in the PEEK disk was significantly lower in all apatite-coated disks than that in the pure PEEK disks on day 14. In qPCR, OC and ALP mRNA expression was significantly higher in the SrZnSiP disks than that in the pure PEEK disks. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that laser bonding of apatite-along with trace elements-on the PEEK disk surfaces might provide the material with surface property that enable better osteogenesis.博士（医学）・甲第809号・令和4年3月15日© The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data