To effectively promote the new learning environment of using one digital learning device per student, it is necessary to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into well-established teaching methods. This research aims to introduce the ICT educational tool Key Words Meeting (KWM) into first-year junior high school math classes and to clarify how KWM can be used in the school setting. Using KWM, the index of retainment status of each lesson content and each student was obtained and analyzed. A positive correlation was found between the indexes of retainment and regular exam scores and a negative correlation was found between the number of requests for additional explanations and regular exam scores, suggesting that the information submitted through KWM predicts students’ understanding of lesson content. These results indicate that KWM is useful not only for teachers who feel difficulties in integrating ICT but also for teachers who have been integrating ICT effectively, as an ICT educational tool that could be used for supplementary teaching strategies and improvement of teachers’ teaching.

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Many healthcare-oriented recipe recommendation methods are proposed in previous research. In some previous research, optimal recommendation methods have been studied. In other some previous research, approximate recommendation methods with random sampling have been studied. However, in these previous studies, the optimal solution and the approximate solution were not compared. In previous research, an optimal recommendation method considering nutrient intake history or adjustment of ingredient amounts has also not been studied. In this research, new healthcare-oriented recipe recommendation methods considering nutrient intake history and adjustment of ingredient amounts are studied. An optimal method, and approximate methods with random sampling are proposed. The optimal solutions and approximate solutions are compared by some computational examples. Adaptive recipe recommendations considering nutrient intake history and family composition by the proposed optimal method are confirmed. The characteristics of the proposed approximate methods are also confirmed. This research is basic research, and future extended research is required.

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There is a lot of previous research on profit maximization in agriculture. In a previous research, crop rotation problem and cultivation management problem are solved as one integrated management problem in order to maximize the profit in agriculture under cost constraints. But in the previous research, the integrated management problem for only one farm field has been studied. In this research, the cost constrained integrated management problem for multiple farm fields is studied. A new integrated management method for multiple farm fields considering cost constraints is proposed. The cost constrained integrated management problem is odeled by Markov decision processes. The proposed method maximizes the expected profit of multiple farm fields under cost constraints by dynamic programming. In the numerical calculation results, adaptive crop selection examples and cultivation action selection examples of multiple farm fields under cost constraints are confirmed. This　 research is basic research, and future extended research is required. For example, as a more realistic problem setting, the cost constrained integrated management problem for multiple farm fields considering crop price fluctuations is interesting.

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A survey on the current situation of using figurative expressions in nursing was conducted to obtain basic data for examining explanations and educational methods that use “metaphors” to promote student understanding in nursing education. Therefore, this study defined figurative expressions as “explanations expressed in easy-to-understand words or used in easy-to-understand metaphors to promote student understanding in practice and precepting situations.” To understand the current status of the use of figurative expressions in clinical practice, a self-administered questionnaire survey and a group interview survey were conducted among nurses with experiences in teaching practical training. The Ethics Review Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects of Shizuoka University approved the study, an explanatory letter indicating the study purpose and methods was sent by mail, and the　survey was initiated upon submission of a signed and sealed consent form by the survey participants. The survey was conducted from August to September 2021. A progressive model was used for summary content analysis. The results revealed the following explanations: “explanation compared to daily necessities,” “explanation compared to daily activities,” “explanation by demonstration using daily necessities,” “explanation using strong impressions,” “explanation paraphrased in general terms,” “explanation replaced by students’ past experiences,” “explanation using nonverbal expressions (including pictures and gestures),” “explanation from principles to explanation,” “encouraging students to think like the person giving the explanation,” and “encouraging students to think like someone close to them.” The agreement rate among the categories after content analysis was confirmed by calculating the kappa coefficient of five respondents including the analyst using the SPSS Statistics 26 statistical software. The mean agreement rate was 48.1%. The survey revealed that figurative expressions are used in practical instruction. Specifically, paraphrases and similes such as “explanation in general terms,” “explanation compared to daily necessities,” and “explanation compared to daily activities” were used to explain a high percentage of students. To deepen students’ understanding of patients, such as their position and psychological state, they were encouraged to think from the perspectives of the patients and their families. The results also revealed that paraphrases and similes were very commonly used in teaching. Furthermore, the use of metaphors and similes was divided into two types according to the lesson content: those that used metaphors and similes and those related to students’ knowledge and experience, indicating a commonality between the lesson content and explanation method.

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Traditional identity authentication using IDs and passwords cannot cope with the problem when IDs and asswords are leaked or when spoofing occurs. To solve this problem, continuous authentication using behavioral features, which is a biometric authentication method, is effective. In this paper, we use OpenPose to extract features from the skeletal coordinates of the fingers during the Enter keystroke, which is a frequent input keystroke. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether behavioral and physical features are included in the hand geometry during Enter keystrokes, and to discuss the data obtained from the experiments conducted in this paper. Keyboard keystroke video data sets were obtained from 20 participants with different levels of experience in keyboard operation and were evaluated using the equivalent error rate. The results showed that the mean equivalent error rate after removing outliers was 5.6%, suggesting that this feature is effective for continuous authentication.

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The mechanism by which acupuncture stimulation increases blood flow in the remote area has been attributed to the involvement of the supraspinal reflex. However, in our preliminary experiments, we observed phenomena that could not be explained solely by the involvement of supraspinal reflexes. Since nitric oxide is involved in vasodilation and since nitric oxide diffuses into the blood and binds to hemoglobin, we hypothesized that nitric oxide generated by acupuncture stimulation is carried by the blood and causes vasodilation in remote areas. In this study, we conducted experiments to verify the presence of nitric oxide and the resulting vasodilation phenomenon in humans by measuring transcutaneous oxygen saturation (SpO2) and heart rate (HR) using a fingertip volumetric pulse wave meter, and by measuring vascular diameter using a blood flow scope. As a result, the closer the acupuncture point was to the measurement site, the shorter the time until the vasodilation caused by nitric oxide occurred at the measurement site. This suggests that nitric oxide generated by acupuncture diffuses into the blood, binds to hemoglobin, and is transported to peripheral blood vessels, contributing to peripheral vasodilation in remote areas.

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