The purpose of this study is to investigate whether or not the father-child communication can be improved by intensifying of child-child communication in a particular home economics class in elementary school. For this purpose, home economics class, where the students were to have a discussion time over subjects such as menu planning and cloth planning, was given for two years to the 5th grade students till they completed the 6th grade course. All the students had sufficient opportunity to communicate with each other in their efforts to find a solution to a respective problem. Thirty-three students of the class were studied with respect to the following items : communication with father, communication with mother, communication with friends, self-confidence, and frequency of helping with housework. The results were as follows; 1) The scores indicating the communication with father, communication with mother and communication with friends in July of their 6th grade were respectively increased from the scores in April of their 5th grade. 2) The scores indicating their self-confidence were significantly increased in April of their 6th grade, whereas the frequency of helping with housework remained unchanged.

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The purpose of this research was to investigate the development of junior high school and senior high school students' readiness for parenthood. To begin with, a specific scale was developed for measuring the students' interest in infants and child care. The scale was then used in my research involving 659 junior high school students, of which 333 were boys and 326 girls, and 774 senior high school students, 383 boys and 391 girls. Next, the relationship was analyzed between this scale and a previously developed scale, which was designed to measure SE (self-efficacy) for social interaction with infants. It was found through factor analysis that the scale as a measurement for interest in infants and child care was divided into two subscales-affinity to infants and acceptance in becoming a parent. By examining the developmental process of students' interest in infants and child care from, with comparing the variables of age and sex, and the relation of SE for interaction with infants, the results were as follows : 1) The boys' interest in infants and child care was lower than girls'. 2) The boys' interest grew higher in high school grades as their age increased, with the difference between boys' and girls' interest be-coming smaller. 3) There is a positive relation between SE for social interaction with infants and affinity to infants.

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Today the term 'Sodachi' is used more and more frequently among the practitioners and researchers of the early childhood education in Japan. This brings up a question whether or not its counterpart, a psychological term Hattatsu, ' which has been used in the educational field for many years, is taken over by Sodachi.' A questionnaire survey, in which 365 practitioners answered, shows distinct differences in the image and usage of the two terms, i.e., differences were detected in their usage in discussing educational interdependency, dynamism, abilities, developmental stage, and also in cases of conversation with parents. The questionnaire respondents may be classified into Group H (those who use the term Hattatsu more frequently) and Group S (those who use the term Sodachi more frequently) as well as into generation categories of 20s, 30s, and 40s and above. It is safe to state that there seems to be new significant implications in the usage of Sodachi' in the practical field of early childhood education.

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The removal of heavy metals in water was investigated by using fresh and used coffee grounds. The most effective removal was performed by using 1 g of coffee stirred for 30 min in solution of pH 6 at 25°C. Nine heavy metals were removed by both fresh and used coffee grounds, of which the removal of lead and cadmium was more than 90% by the used coffee grounds. A determination of the polyphenol content in the aqueous solution and a scanning electron microscope analysis of the grounds were carried out in order to clarify the mechanism for the removal of the heavy metals. This removal mechanism may be based on binding with insoluble polyphenols and adsorption to the surface of the grounds. The higher removal ability of the used coffee grounds would have been due to the lower content of water-soluble polyphenols and the greater surface area of the grounds.

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The heating characteristics of five commercial gasgrills were studied, whose internal volume and nominal energy input were different from each other. The heating performance of the gasgrills was measured by bronze blocks of 25 mm in diameter and respective emissivity of 0.94 and 0.04 for convective heating and radiative heating. White bread was used as the cooking sample. The evaporating process and the surface coloring process during heating were each measured. It was found that the heat of convection played a significant role in the total heat flux in all of the grills tested in this study with a range from 59% to 74% after five minutes of heating. The results of a statistical analysis suggest that the heating performance was characterized both by the energy input per unit internal volume and by the internal height. Bread toasted with the gasgrills having higher energy input per unit volume and lower internal height had a higher rate of evaporation and coloring.

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A survey was conducted in Chengdu, China, on some families of two generations living together in a condominium, with a view to clarifying their lifestyle of and consciousness about living together while investigating how the residence space was used and what consideration was paid to the elders. The results of the investigation are as follows : (1) Two generations made it a point to have a meal together at least once a day, which shows that the communication between the two families is closely maintained. (2) Regarding the housework such as cooking and washing, there seems either of the two cases of two families sharing the work or one family doing it more often than the other. In either case, parents tend to pay much more for living together so far as the finances go. (3) Over 60 percent of the two generations are in favor of living together, citing as benefit the security and expectation for mutual help on the part of parents as well as the material pluses and convenience to gain from living together with parents on the part of the younger generations. On the other hand, the minuses cited by both generations are mostly psychological in nature such as, for example, their daily communication becoming stressful on account of the generation difference.

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This study aims to clear several problems of commercial messages in television advertising on foods, and to advance request. Based on the actual conditions of the quantity and contents of the information, the authors try to examine from a viewpoint of functional and psychological benefits. The survey was conducted towards TV programs of two commercial stations in Niigata Prefecture for a week in June 2001. Food advertising number of 2 stations in one week was 2, 069 in total. Four groups were categorized : “processed foods, ” “drinks, ” “alcoholic drinks” and “sweets, ” of which the share of the first two categories was rather high, 36.6% and 34.0%, respectively. In terms of the information contents, frequently counted were the merchandise commodity information such as package/container as well as 'psychological benefits' such as free gift and health improvement. On the other hand, the contents related to 'functional benefit' such as quality/safety were few. The number of the information contents of the raw materials and nutrition components related to the food labeling was extremely few; below 10% of all TV food advertisement, the fact of which may be explained by the absence of legal obligation or self-imposed control of the food industry as regards the Japanese food labeling system so far as the TV commercial messages are concerned.

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Vacuum cooking involves two subsequent processes : storage at refrigeration temperature and reheating in hot water for serving. We investigated the effect of the storage period and reheating method on the physicochemical properties and sensory attributes of chicken breast meat. Reheating was conducted at three temperatures (75°C, 85°C and boiling) in a water bath, the sample being heated until the internal temperature reached 75°C and then held for 1 min. Reheating in boiling water had severe effect on the cooking properties and physical properties. Reheating at 85°C seemed to be useful for reducing the reheating time needed at 75°C. The storage periods tested were 0, 2, 6 and 12 days (including the day of cooking). Decreasing water content and juiciness were related to increasing storage period. To optimize the physicochemical properties and sensory attributes, the usual storage period used in restaurants etc. (6 days, including the day of cooking) seems appropriate.

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