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The present study assessed the construct validity of the Nursery Teacher Rating Development Scale for Children (NDSC). Data were obtained from 9,074 preschoolers over four years of longitudinal investigation at nursery schools. Principal component analysis yielded nine subscales, and all subscales exhibited sufficient internal consistency. Four subscales, (Calmness, Attention, Sociality, and Adaptability) showed a comparatively weak relation with age and a strong relation with scores on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), a screening tool for behavioral and emotional problem of children. This finding indicated that these subscales reflect children's maladaptive behaviors or symptoms of developmental disorders. Inversely, the other four scales (Curiosity, Self-care, Fine movement, and Gross movement) showed a relatively strong relation with age and a weak relation with SDQ scores. This indicated that these subscales measured children's developmental level of adaptive behaviors. In conclusion, the balanced scale composition of NDSC may enable early detection and appropriate treatment of children who have special needs and contribute to planning nursery education that is adaptable to suit children's developmental state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Items for a parental child rearing scale were developed by several clinical psychologists and pediatricians who had experience with parent training and had worked with parents of children with developmental disabilities. A questionnaire survey was taken by more than 7,000 parents and caregivers of preschool, elementary school, and middle school children. Factor analysis of their data revealed a 5-factor solution: positive rearing, consultation/care, scolding, difficulty in upbringing up, and difficulty in care. Positive rearing and consultation/care were negatively related to ADHD tendencies, whereas scolding, difficulty in bringing up, and difficulty in care were positively related to ADHD tendencies. In addition, subscales of parental child rearing style, except for positive rearing, changed non-linearly as the children's age increased. The discussion focused on the use of the Parental Child Rearing Scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined 200 stress fractures in lower limbs including the pelvis in our hospital. The stress fractures occurred in all bones, but occurred mostly in the tibia. As a whole, diagnosis by X-ray was possible earlier than previously claimed. The rate of X-ray diagnosis by each week from onset was different and the direction of callus formation was characterized by each affected bone. For early diagnosis, it is necessary to take X-ray photographs repeatedly from the appropriate direction. The fracture sites of the tibia in long-distance runners are usually said likely to occur in the proximal and distal third and are rare in the mid third. But actually those were widely distributed proximally to distally including the middle third. Fibular stress fractures occurred in the proximal third or the distal third. Distal type fibular stress fractures occurred a lot in the distal seventh of the fibula more than in the distal third as previously claimed. The concept of the height in the tibia and fibula of the runner's stress fracture was wrong and should be corrected. Fracture sites were revealed by fracture line, edema of bone marrow, periosteal thickening or elevation by MRI. Edema of bone marrow was sometimes detected by STIR image alone. Therefore, MRI was useful for early diagnosis especially using the STIR image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wide-band-gap semiconductors such as silicon carbide, gallium nitride, and diamond are known as hard-to-process materials. In this study, two types of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP)-related processing equipment were designed to create novel high-efficiency and high-quality processing technology for these crystal substrates. Applying these apparatuses, the processing mechanisms are discussed and the processing characteristics of the hard-to-process substrates investigated. The two types of prototype processing equipment were the closed chamber-type processing environment control CMP equipment and the plasma fusion CMP equipment. In the former, high-efficiency processing was attempted by introducing a photocatalytic reaction while adding ultraviolet (UV) irradiation to a high-pressure oxygen atmosphere. In the latter, we expected a synergistic effect that could bring out the features of atmospheric pressure plasma chemical vaporization machining (P-CVM) and CMP, especially with a diamond substrate that is very hard and chemically stable. When the processing mechanisms of these equipment were examined, the processing was promoted while forming reaction products such as hydrated and oxide films on the extreme surface. Therefore, the chamber-type CMP equipment by UV irradiation was particularly effective in a high-pressure oxygen environment. In the plasma fusion CMP equipment, high-efficiency processing of the diamond substrate was possible when P-CVM and CMP were simultaneously operated in an oxygen atmosphere. Furthermore, based on the studied processing mechanism, a "cyclic processing method" consisting of two steps, a pseudo radical field / reaction product formation step and a new surface contact magnetorheological finishing step, was proposed as a highly efficient processing process.