Kagoshima Immaculate Heart University

Updating self-related rules and beliefs is a common process in psychotherapy. Surprisingly, little is known about the psychological mechanisms underlying belief and rule updating. In this theoretical review, which links the gap between cognitive, behavioral (learning), and computational sciences, we propose a multiple propositional theory for understanding belief and rule updating. The multiple propositional theory posits that individuals generate propositions for understanding current experiences and environments. These propositions compete with each other and are selected to reduce prediction errors in light of an individual’s current and past experiences. A focal proposition can be updated by the Bayesian rule in principle, but a large prediction error encourages the generation of new propositions. This theory highlights the importance of generating propositions and hypothetical thinking in therapeutic processes and facilitates the understanding of clinical observations and techniques. We provide a way to compute this theory and discuss research topics derived therefrom.

In this study, we compared the disaster relief practices of nurses who worked in welfare shelters in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures, areas in which only natural disasters occurred, and nurses who worked in Fukushima Prefecture, an area in which both nuclear and natural disasters occurred during the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, in order to identify commonalities and differences between them. We conducted semi-structured interviews with two nurses from each prefecture. The results revealed that “nursing practice with minimal available materials and personnel” and “nursing practice based on knowledge and experience as a nurse” were common themes in the content of nursing practices, whereas “securing human resources during disasters and considering ideal welfare evacuation centers” and “recording the difficulties in dealing with nuclear disasters” were uncommon themes. The findings confirmed that even in Fukushima Prefecture, in which the nuclear disaster occurred, participants did not talk about their concerns regarding radiation exposure while working at welfare evacuation shelters where people with special requirements were evacuated, and that they were expected to respond in the same way as they would in natural disasters. However, participants reported several difficulties relating to nuclear disasters that should be considered in future disaster support.

Aim Fenofibrate (FF) is known to block ATP synthesis in mitochondria by inhibiting electron transport at NADH–ubiquinone (UQ) oxidoreductase (complex I) in the respiratory chain.

We obtained anti-allergic oligosaccharides from a sweet potato-shochu distillery by-product (SDB). Oral administration of oligosaccharides A and B in SDB to ovalbumin/aluminum-sensitized mice for 4 weeks resulted in a significant decrease in serum IgE concentration. The release of β-hexosaminidase from rat basophilic leukemia cell line RBL-2H3 was also suppressed by the addition of oligosaccharides A and B to the cell culture. The molecular weights of oligosaccharides A and B were about 730 and 530, respectively, determined from the retention time on Bio-Gel P-2. Oligosaccharide A was composed of galactose, glucose and uronic acid in a molar ratio of 2:1:1. Oligosaccharide B was composed of galactose, glucose and arabinose (1:1:1 molar ratio) or galactose, glucose and uronic acid (1:1:1 molar ratio), showing that oligosaccharide B is a heterogeneous mixture of other oligosaccharides. Oligosaccharides A and B exhibited growth-stimulating activity with Bifidobacterium lactis BB-12. The present results indicate that the oligosaccharides in SDB are promising ingredients for the effective control of allergic diseases via suppression of IgE production and inhibition of basophilic leukemia cells degranulation.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure for collaboration with regional universities and colleges, and management are discussed. The infrastructure consisted of Moodle servers at each institution, Moodle Lite, backup servers, test servers, a Video On Demand (VOD) server, a video meeting system, and other supporting systems. ICT infrastructure was designed and managed by a committee in charge of the collaboration. Members of the committee consisted of fifteen faculty members from each institution in the collaboration. Five technical support staff members were employed for managing the infrastructure.

The aim of this introduction is to clarify various cultural, traditional and social differences between East and West which awaited Western writers who went to Japan to teach or lecture at universities and various literary venues.KeywordsJapanese CultureJapanese StudentJapanese EducationWestern MindFull DebateThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Stephen Spender wrote to William Plomer on 6 June 1958: My trip to Japan was most interesting. I did not at all ‘get over’ Osamu, in fact I feel much fonder of him than before, and could be very dependent on him, as he on me … Osamu is in a family situation in Japan which may mean he has no future there, and I am quite determined to do a lot about him.