This study examined the change in the attitudes of husbands and wives along the stages of infantile development. Three aspects were mainly investigated: a) affection toward children, b) parental involvement in child-rearing, and c) anxiety over child-rearing. A longitudinal questionnaire study was conducted on the sample of 97 couples in their first-time parenthood during the transition from pregnancy to three years of postpartum. The results of the study suggest that the affection toward children declined on the part of both parents, and parental involvement became more strict rather than gentle in accordance with the infantile development. There was more anxiety over child-rearing by mothers, while there was only insignificant difference between fathers and mothers in terms of affection toward children. The above observations were further discussed from the viewpoint of various stages of infantile development; notable changes on the part of parents were discussed particularly in the crucial stage of upbringing.

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In recent years, sales of electric dishwashers for household use (called dishwashers) have increased rapidly due to the increasing number of women in the workplace and also to the appeal of these devices in reducing housework. For these reasons, dishwashers have become popular within a short period of time. This study examined the environmental load of dishwashing using one old and one new dishwasher compared with washing by hand, under conditions of constant cleaning efficiency, and examined ways to reduce the environmental load of dishwashing. Cleaning efficiency was evaluated after washing using the BLT-DW method and the ATP method. In addition, the average amounts of power and water consumed for one dishwashing were also measured. As a result, it became clear that the amounts of CO₂ emissions during use greatly exceeded the amounts of CO₂ emissions during manufacturing for both dishwashers, regardless of the age of the dishwasher or the dishwashing program selected. In addition, the CO₂ emissions attributable to power consumption comprised the highest group of such emissions compared with emissions corresponding to the use of detergent and water. A method that included presoaking for 20 min was shown to reduce CO₂ emissions significantly by reducing the amount of detergent used, although the total amount of water used increased. Therefore, we confirmed that presoaking was an effective method for reducing the environmental load when using dishwashers. The CO₂ emissions through dishwashing by hand in cold water were shown to be approximately 25% of those generated using a dishwasher. However, it became clear that the CO₂ emissions for dishwashing by hand exceeded those of a dishwasher if the water was gas-heated by 5°C or more. Therefore, it was confirmed that dishwashing using a dishwasher represented a more environmentally-friendly method in the winter, when water is cold.

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Four different fertilizer solutions were tested: food waste was fermented by methane bacteria to produce methane gas and give solution; this solution A was passed through a membrane filter to produce a filtrate and give solution B; swine waste-water was treated by activated sludge to give solution C; and a standard nutrient solution produced by Otsuka Chemical Co. gave solution D. Leaf lettuce (Saradana), a cultivar (Lactuca sativa L.) was cultivated with these four fertilizer solutions. The total polyphenol content determined by the Folin reagent and the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity evaluated by measuring the decrease of DPPH detected by its absorption at 517 nm were measured in leaf lettuce cultivated with each of these four fertilizer solutions. Lettuce leaves cultivated by fertilizer solutions, A, B, C, and D, were extracted by 80% ethanol, the order of total polyphenol content being A<C<D<B, and that of DPPH radical-scavenging activity being C<A<D<B. These results indicate significantly different effects of the fertilizer solutions on the total polyphenol contents and DPPH radical-scavenging activity.

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This paper aims to examine how the change in land-use was undertaken in some of the residential-industrial area. The land-use analysis, which compared the features of the target regions, was made on the basis of the existing land-use maps. The analytical results may be summed up by three types of change; a change to a residential area, a change to a semi-industrial area, a change to an industrial area. The results of the observations and analysis indicate that the region had been changed to a residential area was naturally welcomed by residents, while the region that had been changed to an industrial area had to restrict the increase of the number of houses, and the region that had been changed to a semi-industrial area brought about complications. In the meantime, the number of vacant lots increased by all three types of change, which may not benefit the environment. There is another trend observed, i.e., the decrease of factories which would not turn into an increase. Such being the case, there is a need to take into consideration the inevitable formation of vacant lots in planning a change of land-use in region where both the residential use and the industrial use coexist.

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