Application of Compressive Wood to the Activity of Making-Things

This is a case study on the application of compressive wood by harnessing its hydrothermal characteristic to the activity of making-things (monozukuli) which could be organized in schools. Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don)sapwood was used to produce the samples of compressive wood. The density of sugi sapwood after oven-drying was 0.480 g/cm^3, and the compression ratio in the radial direction was set as two-thirds of its initial dimmension. To ascertain the effectiveness of the application of compressive wood to making-things, three trial examples were made to display the entropy elastisity of wood utilized in commpressive processing to the students in an elementary school of Kumamoto City. The students' interest and concern about compressive processing of wood by using its hydrothermal characteristics were investigated by conducting a questionnaire survey among 27 sixth graders. Based upon the feedback received from the students, it is revealed that they could understood the entropy elasticity of wood,the key mechanism of compressive processing, through displaying samples combined with an explanation by using a model of wood cells. Consequently, a very higher valuation and a keen interest in such an advanced technology of wood processing were acknowledged. Almost all of the students expressed their wills to be eager to enjoy this kind of making-things

Day-to-day experiences of amae in Japanese romantic relationships

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2011 Wiley-BlackwellThe cultural psychology of romantic relationships is relatively understudied. To redress this lacunae, the present study examined the Japanese concept of 'amae', or the state of expecting a close other's indulgence when one behaves inappropriately, within the day-to-day relationships of 30 Japanese undergraduate romantic couples. For 2 weeks, both partners completed daily diaries that assessed their amae behaviour (requesting, receiving, and providing amae), relationship quality, conflict, and motivation to enhance closeness. Results revealed that amae behaviour was associated with greater relationship quality and less conflict. The motivation to enhance closeness partially mediated the association of amae with relationship quality

GPGCD: An iterative method for calculating approximate GCD of univariate polynomials

We present an iterative algorithm for calculating approximate greatest common divisor (GCD) of univariate polynomials with the real or the complex coefficients. For a given pair of polynomials and a degree, our algorithm finds a pair of polynomials which has a GCD of the given degree and whose coefficients are perturbed from those in the original inputs, making the perturbations as small as possible, along with the GCD. The problem of approximate GCD is transfered to a constrained minimization problem, then solved with the so-called modified Newton method, which is a generalization of the gradient-projection method, by searching the solution iteratively. We demonstrate that, in some test cases, our algorithm calculates approximate GCD with perturbations as small as those calculated by a method based on the structured total least norm (STLN) method and the UVGCD method, while our method runs significantly faster than theirs by approximately up to 30 or 10 times, respectively, compared with their implementation. We also show that our algorithm properly handles some ill-conditioned polynomials which have a GCD with small or large leading coefficient.Comment: Preliminary versions have been presented as doi:10.1145/1576702.1576750 and arXiv:1007.183

A pilot trial of an online guided self-help cognitive behavioral therapy program for bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder in Japanese patients

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to develop an internet-based Guided Self-Help CBT (iGSH-CBT) for Bulimia Nervosa (BN) / Binge Eating Disorder (BED) for Japanese patients and to test its feasibility.MethodsA single-arm feasibility study. After baseline assessment, patients underwent a 16-week iGSH-CBT program, our Japanese adaption of the European-based Salut BN program. During the treatment period, weekly email support from trained counselors was provided. Evaluations were performed at baseline, after 8 weeks, at the end of the 16-week intervention, and at 2 months after treatment had ended. The primary outcome measure was the change in the weekly frequency of objective binging. Secondary outcomes were the change in the weekly frequency of objective purge episodes, responses on self-report questionnaires of the frequencies of binging and purging, psychopathological characteristics of eating disorders found on BITE, EDE-Q, EDI-2, HADS and EQ-5D, measurements of motivation, and completion of intervention (vs. dropout).ResultsParticipants were 9 female outpatients with BN (n = 5) or BED (n = 4), of whom 8 (88.9%) attended the assessment at the end of the 16-week intervention. Mean age was 28 years (SD = 7.9). Percent change of the weekly frequency of objective binging was -4.40%, and at the end of the 16-week intervention 25% of the participants had achieved symptom abstinence.ConclusionsNo adverse events were observed during the treatment period and follow-up, and the implementation and operation of the program could be performed without any major problems, confirming the feasibility of iGSH-CBT for BN and BED for Japanese patients. Although no significant change was observed in the weekly frequency of objective binging, the abstinence rate from bulimic behaviors of those who completed the assessments was 25.0% at the end of treatment, and the drop-out rate was 11.1%. iGSH-CBT may be an acceptable and possibly even a preferred method of CBT delivery for Japanese patients with BN or BED, and our Japanese adaptation of Salut BN seems feasible.Trial registrationUMIN, UMIN000031962. Registered 1 April 2018 - Retrospectively registered, https://center6.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R00003633