Okayama Prefecture Education Center

This study assessed the repair strategies used by verbal students with autism (N = 12) when faced with verbal requests for clarification, gestural requests, not attending and not responding, and wrong responses. Data were collected in request contexts contrived by the communication partner during free play. The results indicated that most of the students repaired more than 80% of the communication breakdowns. In addition, they tended to choose communication forms that reflected the social meaning of the breakdown. However, they were likely to rely on unconventional forms when they faced wrong response breakdowns.

ABSTRACT This study was performed to clarify which factors affected damage to tame-ike (small embankment dams for irrigation) in Hokudan Town as a result of the January 17, 1995 Hyogoken-Nambu earthquake. Factors were assumed to be: Location (e.g., Distance to Epicenter, etc.), Structure (e.g., Angle to Nearest Fault, Embankment Volume, etc.), Soil Properties of Embankment, Geology of Dam Site and History (Era of Construction, Repaired, etc.). Multivariate statistical analyses were performed for documentary data (damaged: 181, undamaged: 328). Ordinary statistical analyses were conducted for the data investigated in situ for soil properties of the embankment. The results show that the factors causing damage to dam are: (1) Nearest Fault (Nojima, Mizukoshi and D2), (2) Distance to Nearest Fault (less than 500 m), (3) Distance to Epicenter (approximately 8 to 14 km, which almost agrees with the location of seismic intensity 7 JMA), (4) Elevation of Dam Site (higher than 100 m), (5) Embankment Volume (the greater the volume the more damage was caused), (6) Direction of Dam Axis (normal or diagonal to the epicenter or to nearest the fault), (7) Plan View of Dam Axis (3 or 4 axes), (8) Surface Geology of Dam Site (non-cohesive soil type ground), (9) Era of Construction (prior to 1891) and (10) Soil Properties of Embankment (sand, not silty sand or gravel, penetration resistance that is 10% smaller than the undamaged dams).

In July, 1983, acute trichuriasis of occurred among swine on a breeding farm in Okayama Prefecture. The pig pens of the farm had a so-called sawdust fermentation floor which was composed of sawdust about 70cm in depth. Feces and urine were left in the pen to be treated by fermentation induced by sawdust and bacteria. The sawdust remained unchanegd for about one year. Such pen was developed by a Japanese farmer in 1982 to save the cost of excreta disposal.Diarrhea, mucus and bloody feces were observed in a herd of pigs about 4months old. Of 363 pigs, eight died of the disease. In them, the colon, cecum, and rectum were parasitized with numerous immature Trichuris suis worms, affected with a severe inflammation. In two dead pigs the number of worms was 4, 400 and 5, 350 and the mean body length 10.6 and 18.4mm, respectively. No eggs were recovered from the feces. Trichuris eggs of the developing stage were detected in the sawdust of 20 of 50 pig pens. The disease was treated successfully with parbendazole or flubendazole.