The old articles on the table talk, which were carried in the magazines of the Meiji period, were investigated with a view to locating the first publication citing the advantages of the table talk as well as clarifying the types of those articles. The magazines including those for women by eight different publishers were studied. The results are as follows: 1) The very first article on the table talk in Japan was found in Tsushin Jogaku Kogiroku or Correspondence Course of Study for Women by Yoshiharu Iwamoto in 1887. 2) 23 articles are related to the table talk, and they may be classified into six types: (a) Those that acknowledge it as strengthening the family tie, (b) Those that cite good effects on the education of children, (c) Those recommending it to help rationalize the family system, (d) Those describing in reference to food preparation and table manners, (e) Those that emphasize how happy conversation at the table is good for health, and (f) Those describing how the table talk should be in the new form and function of the dining room.

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This study aims to clarify how eating together with friends benefits as childcare support for mothers raising children; in other words, how it affects their mental state, specifically their childcare anxiety as well as their satisfaction with life and diet. Responses to a questionnaire for this study were received from 725 mothers rising infants in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Four hundred ten full-time housewives, who had had meals with their friends in the past twelve months, were singled out for a multiple regression analysis, the main findings of which are as follows: 1) The respondents were given stronger emotional and instrumental support in their childcare by increased frequency of eating together. The mothers also increasingly received instrumental support as the number of dining friends increased. Additionally, the negative support tended to decrease as the frequency of eating together and the number of dining friends increased. 2) The childcare anxiety proportionally decreased in accordance with higher rating given both to emotional and instrumental support, while both the satisfaction with life and that with diet proportionally increased in accordance with higher rating given to emotional support. On the other hand, the childcare anxiety tended to decrease and the satisfaction with diet tended to increase as they felt they were given less negative support. The above results suggest that eating together with friends serving as childcare support has a positive effect on mothers' mental state.

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The sol-gel transition of agar, κ-carrageenan and gellan gum in the presence of sodium chloride (NaCl) were investigated by thermal and rheological measurements. The G', G" and DSC curves for the agar solution during cooling and heating were slightly affected by added NaCl. In respect of the κ-carrageenan and gellan gum solutions, G' and G" were increased, and the DSC curve shifted to a higher temperature in the presence of NaCl. The rheological and thermal behavior in the presence of NaCl may have been affected not only by the charge density of macroions but also by the gelation mechanism, since gelation of the gellan gum sol was much more accelerated than the κ-carrageenan sol.

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The oxidative stability is reported of herbal oil samples containing fresh rosemary leaves or basil leaves which were exposed to bright sunlight for 14 days. POV, the radical scavenging activity (analyzed by the DPPH method), the total polyphenol content and the tocopherol content were each measured. POV of all the herbal oil samples did not exceed 20 meq/kg untill 70 days had elapsed. The contents of α-tocopherol and polyphenol in the oil samples decreased slightly during the initial 14 days when exposed to bright sunlight. The radical scavenging activity of the basil oil was substantially decreased. Although the contents of chlorophyll and carotenoid were decreased in the oil samples exposed to direct sunlight, these contents were increased in the oil samples stored in the dark. No oxidation of the herbal oil samples was apparent in any cases. It is therefore considered favorable to prepare herbal oils in the dark.

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To gain the basic knowledge of “life and death education,” the Japanese students' consciousness of the fear of death and after death was studied by a questionnaire survey. The responses were processed by the multidimentional fear of death scale (MFODS). The survey results showed: 1. Five factors about fear or anxiety of death and after death were distilled by the factor analysis. The results were different from those of a similar survey in the United States. The difference indicates the importance of a consideration for local religious and customs in developing the life and death education. 2. About 60% of the respondents stated that they had no religious faith, but it is to be noted that the average Japanese often show some religious behaviors whether or not they claim to be non-religious. Such being the case, it is important to induce this fact into the life and death education. 3. Of the gender difference regarding the fear or anxiety of death and after death, the female respondents showed higher results with all factors. 4. Those with lower level of religious faith produced lower factors of the fear of death and after death as well as the anxiety of their body after death while the factors of the fear of death body was higher. 5. It is considered that the five factors of the fear or anxiety of death and after death indicates what the contents of the life and death education should be. Therefore, much is expected of further studies on the five factors.

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This study aims to grasp the outline of the organizational structure and the housing production in the sector of housing industry that focuses public attention on the use of local wood. A questionnaire was distributed to 325 organizations and responses were received from 110 businesses. The survey clarified the following five items: (1) Organizational structure (cooperation or coordination, leadership, constituent members and scale or size), (2) Purpose and content of activity, (3) Housing supply and cost, (4) House definition and wood used, and (5) Problems. Seventy-two point seven percent are managed in cooperation of businesses of different types: the majority of the constituent members are design offices, construction companies and sawmills. Those members are mostly small or medium scale businesses. Leadership-wise, the respondents may be divided into two types: those by the housing industry and those by the forestry or wood producing industry. They aim to conserve natural environment while trying to create closeness between producers and customers. It is to be noted that the number of houses respectively supplied by 68.2% of the organizations in a year averaged only less than ten. More than 60% of the wood used by many respondents were locally produced, but about half of the organizations used imported wood either limited by budget or otherwise. A problem cited by 60.4% was the difficulty of obtaining customers. The direct participation by wood producers in the housing industry may lead to an increased use of domestic wood. However, the organizations are divided into those led by the housing industry and those by the wood producers. Therefore, it will be necessary to clarify the commonness as well as the differences between the two in terms of their structure and housing philosophy.

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