In this study, we sought to collect primary data for fostering the relationship between children and nature. We examined kindergarten children’s understanding of 15 typical insect species including ...small arthropods and spiders, commonly found in a kindergarten. We interviewed 91 children aged 3, 4, and 5 years old and presented them with pictures of insects. We asked them if they knew the names of the insects, had seen them, liked them, or could touch them. Responses indicated that the percentage of correct answers for insect names increased with age. Additionally, while 3-year-olds generally liked insects, 5-year-olds, particularly girls, increasingly disliked them. Namely, negative feelings toward insects were shown to increase already at the preschool age. Finally, we found that insects such as roly-poly bugs, ladybugs, and butterflies were familiar and liked, whereas spiders, stink bugs, and mosquitoes were disliked. Consequently, we categorized these findings on children’s understanding of insects into five types for further discussion from an educational perspective.
In natural sciences, almost all the papers not accepted by the referees of academ ic journals can besupposed to be worthless. But in social (or cultural) sciences, the evaluation of the papers issom ...ew hat more com plicated. Generally, the judgem ents of papers consist of a double process. Thefirst phase is recognition of discipline it attributes. Judgem ent of contents of the research is thesecond. The two phases of the process cause twofold difficulties in acceptance of the papers that arearound boundary areas of different disciplines. Such papers could be simply rejected because oftheir mism atch to the discipline. Otherwise, they are easily m isunderstood by referees notacquainted with the contents. W e must recognize that so m any papers rejected in the current peer review system are rich in contents and worth reading.
The wearing behaviors of a hybrid composite resin for crown and bridge (ES) were examined using a two-body impacting-sliding wear test with a porcelain (PO), Au-Ag-Pd alloy (PD), direct restorative ...composite resin (CR) and tooth enamel (TO). Although PO was the hardest of all, it showed the largest wear together with ES in the combination of ES-PO, which was probably initiated from the superficial destruction by their impact. The wear in ES-PD was the second largest. It was noted in this combination that the surface of ES was partially contaminated by scraped thin layers of PD to a degree distinguished by the naked eye. The mutual wears of the components were relatively low in the combination of ES with CR, TO or ES itself. It is suggested from these findings that the hybrid composite resin may be useful as an alternative to porcelain for posterior crown and bridge unless it opposes porcelain or alloys.
Purpose
: A case of a urethral recurrence found 15 years after radical cystectomy is reported.
Methods/Results
: A 78‐year‐old man, who had undergone radical cystectomy at age 63, presented with ...urethral bleeding and positive cytology in urethral washing. The urethra was surgically resected. Pathologic examination revealed transitional cell carcinoma located in the distal and mid portion of the penile urethra.
Conclusion
: Evidence suggested that urethral recurrence resulted from the implantation from the primary bladder tumor; in addition, the urethral neoplasm had scarcely grown in the penile urethra for 15 years.
The clone of the ciliated protozoan Paramecium caudatum has the immaturity period of about 60 fissions and the lifespan of about 600 fissions. These life cycle figures have been depicted through ...laboratory experiments that allow continuous cell divisions for hundreds, which never occur in nature. We here constructed the nature-mimicking model culture that alternated the log- and stationary phases to allow conjugation, and computer-simulated the age structure modifying parameters such as cell distributions to start the culture, fission rates, death rates, immaturity periods, probabilities of conjugation, proportions of transplantation and so on. The average and maximum ages in the culture after thousands of alternations were converged to 43±2 and 140±5 fissions, respectively, when parameters for the immaturity period and the maximum clonal lifespan were set at 60 and 600 fissions. This result explains why cells collected in nature are usually young and vigorous. The average and maximum ages proportionally prolonged as the immaturity period was prolonged, as reported true for species of the ciliate. These results indicate the validity of our simulation. The average and maximum ages remained unchanged when the initial condition for starting the culture was changed from two complementary mating-type cells to a population with a quadratic-function distribution, and when the fission rate at the log-phase and the death rate at the stationary phase were modified for older ages. The average and maximum ages changed slightly when either the conjugation rate or the proportion of transplantation was somewhat lowered. Although they changed considerably when such parameters as the immaturity period, conjugation rate and death rate were extremely modified, no clones with the age over 230 fissions appeared in any simulations. These results indicate the robustness of the model, which provides us with fresh insight into the structural system of the clonal lifespan of P. caudatum in nature.
We report a case of a sonographically‐detected impalpable embryonal cell carcinoma with bulky retroperitoneal metastases. A 34‐year‐old man, who presented with left flank pain, was presumed to have ...an extragonadal retroperitoneal germ cell tumor. Scrotal sonography revealed a hypoechoic lesion, 7 mm in diameter, which was histologically diagnosed as a primary embryonal cell carcinoma. Evidence suggested that the primary tumor had grown slowly, as the tumor was well encapsulated. This case suggests that some extragonadal germ cell tumors arise from a primary testicular cancers, and that successful treatment of these tumors should include consideration that they may have arisen as a primary testicular mass.
We report a case of metastatic adrenocortical carcinoma detected 7 years after adrenalectomy. A 52‐year‐old woman, who. had undergone adrenalectomy for an aldosterone‐producing adrenocortical ...carcinoma at age 45, was found on examination by computerized tomography to have enlarged paraaortic lymph nodes. These nodes were surgically resected, and the histological diagnosis from the resected tissue was metastatic adrenocortical carcinoma. The patient has now survived for more than 9 years following the original adrenalectomy. Evidence suggests that this was a slow‐growing tumor, because the primary tumor was sharply demarcated and the metastases were found 7 years after the original operation. We believe that aggressive surgical resection of metastatic lesions could lead to prolonged survival in patients with adrenocortical carcinomas of this type.
In this study, 53 pairs of 5-6 year-old children were videotaped playing with a robot dog ("AIBO" or "DOG.COM") for five minutes, and interviewed about their understanding of a dog's "mind and life." ...DOG.COM spoke in human words and AIBO is characterized by electronic sounds and smooth movements. The results showed that children communicated well with the robots. Age group comparisons indicated that 6-year-olds spoke to the robots more frequently and a larger number of 6-year-olds referred to AIBO's mental state. In comparing the two types of robots, children interacted with each robot in a different way but responded similarly in the interviews. Half of the children responded that the robot dogs were alive, and depending on the questions over 90% of the children attributed mental states to the robots. These findings suggested the possibility that children perceive robots as having a new type of existence distinct from that of both living beings and inanimate objects.
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