Does Caregiver’s Social Bonding Enhance the Health of their Children?:The Association between Social Capital and Child Behaviors

Little is known about the association between social capital and child behaviors. This study aims to investigate that association. A complete population-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted for all the caregivers with preschool children in a rural town in Okayama prefecture in Japan. Two dimensions of individual-level social capital and unhealthy child behaviors were reported by parent-administered questionnaire. We analyzed 354 preschool children (57.6% of all children for whom questionnaires were completed). Children whose main caregiver had high cognitive social capital were 89% less likely to miss breakfast (odds ratio [OR]＝0.11;95% confidence interval [CI]:0.01-1.03). Children whose caregiver had high structural social capital were 71% less likely to wake up late (OR＝0.29;95% CI:0.12-0.71) and 78% less likely to skip tooth brushing more than once per day (OR＝0.22;95% CI:0.05-0.93). Both cognitive and structural social capital were negatively associated with unhealthy child behaviors. A further intervention study is needed to confirm the impact of social capital on child behavior

Molecular characterization and validation of commercially available methods for haptoglobin measurement in bottlenose dolphin

AbstractHaptoglobin (Hp) is a positive acute-phase protein and a valuable marker of inflammation in both human and veterinary medicine. The aim of this study was to validate the molecular characterization of Hp in dolphins and to validate commercially available Hp measurement methods such as Hp-ELISA (originally designed for pigs) and Hp–hemoglobin (Hb) binding assay. The dolphin Hp (dHp) amino acid sequence appeared most similar to pig Hp by sequence homology and phylogenetic clustering. Amino acid sequence analysis revealed that dHp comprises the Hp1 form of α1 and β chains. The anti-pig Hp antibody cross-reacted with both recombinant dHp, expressed by Escherichia coli, and dHp from serum. The intra- and inter-assay levels of imprecision of pig Hp-ELISA and the Hp–Hb binding assay were found to be tolerable for the determination of Hp in dolphin, and there was no significant discrepancy between the two determination methods. The ability of the assay to differentiate between healthy and inflammation groups was investigated, and a significant increase in Hp concentration was detected in inflammatory conditions. Thus, Hp is a useful inflammation marker for dolphin, and the Hp concentration in dolphin serum samples can be reliably measured using commercially available pig Hp-ELISA and Hp–Hb binding assay

High-resolution FMCW reflectometry using a single-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser

金沢大学理工研究域電子情報学系High-resolution frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) reflectometry is realized by using a single-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) as a frequency-swept light source for the first time. The optical frequency of the VCSEL is swept by the injection current modulation. The experimental spatial resolution of 250 μm was achieved, which is the best value when an injection current tuned laser diode is used as a frequency-swept light source. © 2011 IEEE

山間開発農地の保全に関する実証的研究 試験区の設定と土壌の基礎的諸特性について

In order to control soil erosion in reclaimed sloping lands among the mountains, first of all the important thing in case of the establishment of plot for repeating various experiments may be the interrelated uniformity of a study plot. The location of a study plot is inside of the development project area where there consists of most general and average slopes. 　Due to the interior study plot was on the same slope and soil property, each of the divided A. B, C, and D sub-plots was thought of having the same conditions, and the aim of this experiment was to estimate whether the sub-plots could be regarded as an uniformity or not from their soil characteristics. 　Soil samples were collected at the upper-, middle-, and lower points of four sub-plots and mixed together so as to evaluate their properties at large. The samples were analyzed to clarify such soil physical properties as specific gravity, porosity, soil structure, particle-size distribution, water retentivity (pF), erodibility, and so on. We then made clear of the general soil characteristics as well as investigated their uniformity among four sub-plots from these obtained results. 　The results obtained can be summarized as follows : l) The soil of study plot is an undeveloped structure, low in degree of aggregation which shows resistivity toward dispersion action, and low in porosity of supporting Permeability and water retentivity. The pF values also substantiate these results. 2) Distribution of particle sizes indicates the property peculiar to Masa soil consisting of the uniform mixture of gravel to clay particles. 3) The study soil showed erodibility resulting from its high ratios of dispersion and erosion. Therefore, it was clarified that some proper erosion control practices have to be devised for the use of soil in the future and for agricultural activities. 4) According to the foregoing results, the differences in soil physical properties were not found among four sub-plots, thus they could be regarded as the same experimental plot and be used for carrying the further experiment

Isolating along-strike variations in the depth extent of shallow creep and fault locking on the northern Great Sumatran Fault

The Great Sumatran Fault system in Indonesia is a major right-lateral trench-parallel system that can be divided into several segments, most of which have ruptured within the last century. This study focuses on the northern portion of the fault system which contains a 200-km-long segment that has not experienced a major earthquake in at least 170 years. In 2005, we established the Aceh GPS Network for the Sumatran Fault System (AGNeSS) across this segment. AGNeSS observes large displacements which include significant postseismic deformation from recent large megathrust earthquakes as well as interseismic deformation due to continued elastic loading of both the megathrust and the strike slip system. We parameterize the displacements due to afterslip on the megathrust using a model based on a rate- and state-dependent friction formalism. Using this approach, we are able to separate afterslip from other contributions. We remove predicted deformation due to afterslip from the observations, and use these corrected time series to infer the depth of shallow aseismic creep and deeper locked segments for the Great Sumatran Fault. In the northern portion of this fault segment, we infer aseismic creep down to 7.3 ± 4.8 km depth at a rate of 2.0 ± 0.6 cm/year. In the southwestern portion of the segment, we estimate a locking depth of 14.8 ± 3.4 km with a downdip slip rate of 1.6 ± 0.6 cm/year. This portion of the fault is capable of producing a magnitude 7.0 earthquake