This research aimed to determine the structure that elderly females who live alone and require support need for social interaction. We included 10 elderly females who required support and lived alone in Iwatsuki-ward, Saitama Prefecture. Next, we conducted semistructured interviews and analyzed the collected data according to the KJ method. Results showed that these females had requirements such as “spending valuable time every day for themselves” and “wanting to realize their own role” for them to enjoy interacting with people. These requirements were influenced by a strategy termed “deciding for themselves whether or not they can devise a method on their own.” Hence, incorporating activities that help them realize their roles while respecting their strategies is necessary.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of the program focused on activities/participation for the affected elderly, and the feasibility of conducting the large-scale program. A program of 120 minutes was conducted once a week for the elderly people who started living in permanent housing after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and 14 times in all. As a result, the participation rate of the program was as high as 90% or more, and responses were shown to meet the needs of the participants. Positive changes were recognized before and after the program in the agendas in daily living and HRQOL that the participants recognized, and the effect size was moderate to large and the accuracy was also high. It indicates that there is a high possibility that the program could be conducted on a larger scale.

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This study aimed to understand connections in occupational meaning and function of former professional soccer players with no health problems between doing “professional soccer player” and doing “work other than soccer-related work.” Nine former professional soccer players with no health problems took part in semi-structured interviews, and a continuous comparison method was used for qualitative analysis. It was understood that there were “connection through acquisition of the same meaning and function” and “connection through changes based on meaning and function of the past work”. It was also understood that, even if former professional soccer players do work other than soccer-related work, they continue to have the same core recognition as a professional soccer player.

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In the field of diagnostic X-ray radiography, radiation quality is evaluated via the half-value layer（ HVL）, which is measured through the Aluminum（Al）-attenuation method using a nonenergy-dependent dosimeter. As the Al-attenuation method performs measurements using a succession of added filters, it requires a large amount of X-ray radiation and measurement time. In recent years, instruments that can measure X-ray tube voltage, irradiation time, exposure dose, and other factors, at the same time as HVL, using one shot of X-rays （the oneshot method） have been developed. These machines are capable of providing simple and easy HVL measurements. In this study, HVL measurements using one-shot and Al-attenuation methods were conducted using six non-invasive measuring instruments with the one-shot HVL measurement functionality and a traditional non-invasive measuring instrument without the one-shot HVL measurement functionality. A comparative study was performed with the HVL values obtained by the Al-attenuation method, using standard ionization dosimeters. The relative error in the one-shot method in measuring HVL reached a maximum of 6.4%. It maintained accuracy as a quality control tool. The one-shot method yielded a reduced to about 1/10 in the measurement time as compared to the Al-attenuation method. The quick and easy measurements performed with the one-shot HVL method should prove highly useful for daily quality control in diagnostic X-ray equipment.

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