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Purpose. This study aims to elucidate the gender gaps in the strategies for maintaining the social participation and interaction of older adults with people in a local community. Methods. The subjects were 130 older adults aged 65 years or older and independently living in their homes in Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. The authors conducted an anonymous questionnaire survey on paper and performed multiple regression analysis for men and women separately using the Lubben Social Network Scale-6 (LSNS-6) as the dependent variable. Results. Among the independent variables used for the analysis, those that significantly influenced LSNS-6 in men were social activities related to the daily life satisfaction of the elderly (SARDS). The independent variables that significantly influenced LSNS-6 in women were SARDS, sense of coherence-13 (SOC-13), and the number of family members living with the subjects. Discussion. Health promotion is not associated with interaction with people in men compared with women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Candida auris is a relatively novel pathogen first described in 2009 in Japan. It has increased its presence worldwide, becoming a public health concern due to its innate resistance to antifungals and outbreak potential. Methods. We performed a query using the word "Candida auris" from the Scopus database, further performing a bibliometric analysis with the open-source R package Bibliometrix. Results. 907 original articles were retrieved, allowing us to map the principal authors, papers, journals, and countries involved in this yeast research, as well as analyze current and future trends and the number of published articles. Conclusion. C. auris will continue to be a pivotal point in fungal resistance research, either for a better understanding of its resistance and pathogenic mechanisms or for developing novel drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although individual factors play a vital role in determining professional autonomy, their specific impact during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has not been studied. This study aimed to compare nurses' professional autonomy when caring for patients with COVID-19 and for other patients and explore factors related to autonomy when caring for these patients. A paper-based questionnaire survey was conducted from June to August 2022 among nurses working at a university hospital in Japan. The survey included demographic factors (10 items, including, age, section, years of nursing experience, position, educational background, ladder level, and having certified nurse specialists or certified nurse qualifications) and individual experience factors (4 items: number of COVID-19 patients experienced, frequency and contents of searching for the latest information about COVID-19, frequency of using scientific sources, and frequency of training/study sessions on COVID-19 attended at the hospital). Additionally, basic knowledge of COVID-19 was evaluated. The scale for nurses' professional autonomy was developed based on a previous study. A paired t-test and stepwise multiple linear regression were used for the analyses. Overall, 241 nurses participated in the survey. The average length of nursing experience was 10.3 ± 9.2 years. The total scores for nurses' professional autonomy in all 5 factors 27 items were significantly lower (t = −12.1, p < 0.001) when caring for COVID-19 patients than when caring for other patients. Specifically, Factor 1 (Cognition) exhibited the most decreased scores when caring for COVID-19 patients than when caring for other patients. Factor 4 (Abstract judgment) differed the least between caring for COVID-19 and for other patients, but the average score was the lowest. More years of nursing experience (β = 0.208, p = 0.001) and a higher number of patients with COVID-19 cared for (β = 0.140, p = 0.026) were associated with higher autonomy scores. In conclusion, to enhance professional autonomy during an unprecedented pandemic, nurses must enhance cognition and abstract judgment. In the event of a future pandemic, nurses need to create an environment in which they routinely access and utilize the latest information and scientific evidence to provide high-quality nursing care based on their professional judgment and competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the close cultural exchanges between China and Japan, the demand and quality of Japanese talents are gradually increasing. Traditional Japanese teaching modes and measures cannot meet the basic requirements. With the rapid development of network multimedia technology and virtual reality technology, in the process of Japanese teaching, virtual reality technology is used to reform the traditional teaching mode and to improve the quality of Japanese teaching. Based on virtual reality technology, this paper studies the online Japanese teaching mode, analyses the characteristics of Japanese teaching, combines modern information technology to assist teaching, comprehensively improves the quality of Japanese teaching, and improves the traditional Japanese teaching mode. By describing the concept, basic features, and components of the AR system in detail and by introducing the virtual construction method based on the geometric model, this paper improves the traditional Japanese teaching mode and establishes the online Japanese teaching mode. Finally, the online Japanese teaching mode for one semester is applied in colleges and universities to analyze whether this mode can improve students' interest in Japanese learning and the effect of Japanese learning. The results show that 59% of the students using this mode expressed an increased interest in Japanese learning, while only 25.8% of the students not using this mode showed an increased interest in Japanese learning. 72% of students indicated that they could improve their oral Japanese performance after using this model, while 45% of students who did not use this model could improve their oral Japanese performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The present study aimed to examine the effects of a learning programme for nurse managers on connecting learning with their own experiences and fostering competence. Background: In Japan, second‐level programmes for certified nurse administrators represent the main opportunity for formal training for nurse managers. However, it is difficult for nurse managers to transfer second‐level programme learning to their workplace. Methods: This quasi‐experimental study used a two‐group pretest–posttest design with purposive sampling and non‐random assignment of 29 consenting Japanese nurse managers who were participating in a second‐level programme through a prefectural nursing association. The programme provided reflection papers and feedback from a researcher, as well as reflective group sessions. The outcome measure was the Japanese First‐Line Nurse Managers Competence Inventory (JNMCI) score. Results: The intervention group showed significant improvement in JNMCI scores after participating in the programme. A significant difference in JNMCI scores was also observed between the intervention and comparison groups. Conclusion: This learning programme led to improved competency among nurse managers. Implications for Nursing Management: Nurse manager development programmes should include reflection papers and feedback, as well as reflective group sessions, to improve competency among nurse managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. On the basis of inheriting the classical aesthetic orientation of Japanese literature, contemporary Japanese literature changes the creative methods of traditional Japanese writers, strives to transcend the national limitations of Japanese literature, and strives to capture literary materials with a "modern feel." Combined with modern western literary techniques to express the "modern self," and integrating popular literature with pure literature, Japanese writers created a "healing" literature that is popular all over the world. There is some value in exploring the correlation between Japanese literature and the influence of psychotherapy. Method. In this paper, an equation diagnosis algorithm based on iterative learning for a class of linear discrete systems is studied, and the existing discrete iterative learning diagnostics are improved. We exchange the order of time domain and iterative domain to achieve the purpose of point-by-point equation diagnosis. On this basis, a virtual influence initial value estimation algorithm with a sliding window is proposed. The impact that has not been diagnosed is estimated and used as the initial value of the impact, so as to reduce the number of iterations and improve the efficiency of equation diagnosis. This paper takes the public and readers as different perspectives, based on the use and satisfaction theory and prospect theory, and uses interviews and questionnaires to study the communication effect of Japanese literature from the three dimensions of cognition, emotion, and behavior. The cognitive part includes the public's understanding and readers' understanding and reading; the emotional part includes the public's and readers' impressions and emotional attitudes; the behavioral part includes the public's reading situation and readers' behavior changes. Results/Discussion. In the survey of loyal readers, although readers' understanding of Japanese literature has improved compared with the general public, it is not high, and their liking and influence on behavior are slightly lower than the preset level. This paper believes that the existing problems of Japanese literature dissemination are mainly concentrated in three aspects: the market is somewhat biased, which narrows the cognitive scope of users; as a cross-cultural literary work, Japanese literature still makes readers feel that it exists; there is some sense of estrangement, which will affect their enjoyment in reading; as a niche interest, readers lack timely communication and sharing objects after reading, so it is difficult to enhance their sense of identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influenced by cultural background, economic development, social system, education system, and other factors, there is still a big gap between Chinese institutions and developed countries in flute teaching, even with our neighbors, South Korea and Japan. Under the influence of cultural background, economic development, social system, and educational system, there is still a very big gap between Chinese colleges and universities and developed countries in flute teaching, even with our neighbors, South Korea and Japan. Because of its local perception and weight-sharing structure, the convolutional neural network is closer to the biological neural network in the real world. The weight-sharing structure reduces the complexity of the neural network, which can avoid the complexity of feature extraction and classification process in data reconstruction. This paper studies the analysis and optimization of flute playing and teaching system based on a convolutional neural network. By applying local perception field and parameter sharing in a convolutional neural network at the same time and adding multiple filters, it can not only effectively reduce the number of parameters but also extract features layer by layer. In the process of convolution, the parameters of the characteristic map obtained by each layer decrease layer by layer, but the number increases gradually. Based on the analysis of the problems faced by the flute performance teaching, this paper puts forward the corresponding solutions in order to promote the flute performance teaching in China to achieve better results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As climate change has become a pressing concern, promoting electric vehicles' (EVs) usage has emerged as a popular response to the pollution caused by fossil-fuel automobiles. Locating charging stations in areas with an expanding charging infrastructure is crucial to the accessibility and future success of EVs. Nonetheless, suitable planning and deployment for EV fast-charging stations is one of the most critical determinants for large-scale EV adoption. Installing charging stations in existing fuel/gas stations in the city may be an effective way to persuade people to adopt EVs. In this paper, we aim to optimally locate a fast-charging station in an existing gas station in the real-world scenario of Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The purpose is to locate and size fast-charging stations in such ways that drivers can get access to these charging facilities within a rational driving range while considering real-world constraints. Furthermore, we include the investment cost and the EVs users' convenience cost. This problem is formulated by five integer linear programming using a weighted set covering models. The developed model determines where to locate charging stations as well as how many chargers should be installed in each charging station. The experimental results demonstrate that an appropriate location scheme can be obtained using the model M 5 . A computational experiment identifies the best infrastructure solutions for policymakers to consider in the context of growing environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper proposes a framework for estimating tensions of stay cables of cable‐stayed bridge with and without lateral attachments under limited information on cable properties. For stay cables without lateral attachments, tension is estimated using three known parameters, namely, cable length, mass per unit length, and measured frequency while still accounting for unknown features like cable bending stiffness, axial stiffness, cable inclination, and restraint boundary conditions at the cable ends. The methodology is then extended to stay cables with lateral attachments (dampers and cross ties), whose properties are also considered as unknown parameters. The framework is proposed via the application of back‐propagation artificial neural networks (ANNs). The finite difference formulation of the cable model is derived to create datasets for training, validation, and testing in the ANNs scheme. The feasibility and robustness of the proposed framework were confirmed through numerical verifications. The results indicated that tension in cables without lateral attachments was successfully evaluated using at least two measured frequencies, whereas cables with lateral attachments needed at least three measured frequencies to achieve high accuracy. Finally, the proposed framework was applied to estimate tensions in stay cables of Tatara Bridge, the longest cable‐stayed bridge in Japan. The results demonstrated that the proposed method could estimate the cable tension with acceptable accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-language information cognitive retrieval has grown in importance as a study area due to the multilingual character of Internet resources and the diversifying languages spoken by users. This paper analyses and illustrates the key characteristics of Japanese literature from three aspects: ideological structure, structural form, and emotional expression, and makes a straightforward comparison with Chinese literature using a number of well-known Japanese literary masterpieces as examples. An important aspect of this literature is that it is full of lingering feelings, leaving room for the readers to imagine. The lingering charm is endless, obscure, and meaningful, which is the traditional style of Japanese literature. It also focuses on the depoliticization of Japanese literature, that is, the relative separation between literature and politics. The subjectivity of Japanese writing, which goes beyond just conveying feelings but involves less objective description, is related to this. The process of cross-language information retrieval in foreign nations is primarily separated into three stages, according to the changes in research objects. Currently, adding a language conversion mechanism to a monolingual information retrieval system serves as the primary language information retrieval solution. Currently, nearly 40% of the global popularity of literature comes from Japan. In this article, the background and concept of cross-language information retrieval are introduced, and its types, system models, and several key cross-language information retrieval methods are explained, and some solutions to the factors influencing the cross-language information retrieval effect are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction direction of Japanese teaching evaluation system based on hybrid teaching mode is to give full feedback to teaching process, diversify evaluation subjects and evaluation methods, and obtain comprehensive and objective evaluation results. Compared with most similar studies, more EEG data of teachers' emotional stress relief and healthy people in Japanese teaching process were collected, and a large number of features were extracted. An experiment of teachers' emotional stress relief recognition in Japanese teaching process based on EEG signal was designed. The feature selection algorithm was used to screen the EEG feature combinations of teachers' emotional stress relief and healthy subjects, and the classification experiment was carried out to verify the difference. Finally, this paper uses the feature selection algorithm of tree model and the random forest model classifier to establish the recognition model of teachers' emotional stress discharge in Japanese teaching process based on EEG signals and achieves the effect of more accurate recognition of teachers' emotional stress discharge in Japanese teaching process. First, the connotation, value, and influencing factors of teachers' emotion management ability are logically integrated and systematically expounded. Second, based on emotional psychology, emotional intelligence theory, psychotherapy theory, and management theory, teachers' emotional management ability is constructed according to the three-dimensional structure theory of intelligence and information processing theory. It is constructed from three dimensions: object dimension (teachers themselves, students, and students), content dimension (positive and negative emotions), and operational dimension (emotional perception, emotional understanding, emotional expression, and emotional regulation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The use of zirconium carbide (ZrC) as a substitute for silicon carbide (SiC) has been proposed to improve the performance of coated particles for high‐temperature gas‐cooled reactor (HTGR) fuel. Irradiation test on ZrC has proved that it has excellent characteristics for HTGR fuel compared with SiC, such as fission product retention capabilities and better resistance on fission product corrosion. Neutronic analysis on 30 MWt HTGR using ZrC and SiC has been performed in many previous studies. The research presented in this paper was conducted as a further continuation of the aforementioned studies. The present study was directed to analyze tristructural isotropic (TRISO)‐coated particles with ZrC as a substitute for the SiC layer on an HTGR with different power rates. Here, we used high‐temperature test reactor design, an experimental scale prismatic HTGR built and operated in Japan. The power was varied at the range of 50‐100 MWt, while the reactor geometry was modified by applying an additional fuel layer in the axial and radial directions. Neutronic analysis of the reactor was investigated by calculating the k‐eff, k‐inf, power peaking factor, burn‐up level, neutron spectrum, and Doppler effect using ZrC and SiC layers for TRISO‐coated fuel particles. The result shows the coated fuel particle using the ZrC layer has the same performance as SiC with an insignificant difference in the values on neutronic aspects calculation. Neutronic calculations are performed using the SRAC code with the Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library 4.0 nuclear data library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]