Introduction: fractal geometry has been implemented to study natures’ irregular objects with diverse applications in medicine, from characterizations of human structures such as the division of bronchial or arterial trees to the diagnosis of abnormal cells, as it has been evidenced in the study of neoplasms. In this investigation, a characterization of the degree of irregularity of histologic samples of normal and thyroid gland neoplasms was developed in the context of fractal and Euclidean geometry.

Methods: photographs of normal and neoplastic thyroid histologic samples obtained as surgical pieces were processed by a software that allows to delimit the borders of cellular structures. Then, grids of 5 and 10 pixels were superimposed over the images in order to measure their surfaces and occupation spaces through the Box-Counting method.

Results: For nucleus measures values between 14 to 34 in the 5 pixels grid and values between 7 to 16 in the 10 pixels grid suggest normality.

Conclusions: The surface of the nucleus and the cytoplasm measured by grids of 5 and 10 pixels, allow to carry out a more objective characterizations of both normal and abnormal thyroid cells.

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The revitalization of rural community can be accomplished by a appropriate environmental conservation.
However, the appropriate rural environmental conservation is the difficult situation, because the wreaking community and land improvement district has been conserved it in a lot of rural areas. Such a situation the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries administration might try to be viewed the new actor composed by participation of various subjects is invented in which more rural communities cooperate in the large area and the city community and the rural community are collaborated. It is necessary to reorganize the local system for this view. Because an environmental preservation is a basis of local . If the city resident and NPO, etc. that do not take part in immediately are made to participate in this act, it is necessary to review the local system.
For the reorganization of the local system, a new logic to revolutionize the management(political process) first of all will be requested. New logic is a method of the reach a consensus (new public space). It is an adjusting method to compete for not the adjusting method for mutual agreement but various opinions. However, a rural community that becomes accustomed to a past adjusting method doesn't easily accept new logic. What is the reason why a present rural community refuses the revolution of the management? And, what is the hint that enables the reorganization of the regional system? This research examines the method of reorganizing the local system that executes appropriate rural environmental preservation.
This thesis observes the correspondence process of local according to the introduction of “The policy for conservation of farmland, water, and environment”, and looks for the problem of the local system reorganization.

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Local governments can't last in this time when the social structure itself begins to change a great deal. But, consolidation of municipalities is a big happening for the local administration to change the zone of its self-governing body again. It is also the best opportunity for the new self-governing body to make its future plan. Is the present cities joint conference being done based on such important recognition as expected?
The viewpoint of the inhabitant is important from the viewpoint of the self-governing body management. Administrative services to the inhabitant in the outlying regions of the city tend to decline due to the consolidation. This is a fact that many local governments have since experienced by the consolidation. “Chiiki Jichi Soshiki: Community organization” is being discussed anew to solve such conditions. This “Chiiki Jichi Soshiki: Community organization” is being expected as a plan to secure inhabitant on the inside of the fundamental self-governing body after its consolidation. Through examining a case of “Chiiki Jichi Soshiki: Community organization” which is now being undergone, it gropes for a method with “Chiiki Jichi Soshiki: Community organization” of the inhabitant subject which copes with a consolidation of municipalities.

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Using survey data from 564 Japanese workers, we investigate whether family-to-work facilitation (F →WF) influences employee creativity. We also examine the moderating effect of job and centralization on the relationship between F→WF and creativity. The results show that F→WF, job , and centralization displayed significant relationships with employee creativity. In addition, the moderating effects of job and centralization are found. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

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[Purpose] The present study aimed to cross-culturally translate and evaluate the reliability and validity of the Thai version of the Impact on Participation and (IPA) in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). [Subjects] One hundred and thirty-nine persons with SCI who lived in the community were recruited for this study. [Methods] The IPA was translated following the guideline for cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures. The reliability and validity was examined in 139 persons with SCI. For the test-retest reliability, 30 participants completed the Thai version of the IPA twice with a 2-week interval. [Results] The translated questionnaire and its items had moderate to good reliability, with the ICC_(3,1) ranging from 0.76 to 0.93. The internal consistency for all domains was high, with Cronbach’s alpha ranging from 0.86 to 0.90. The convergent validity, discriminant validity, and construct validity were supported. [Conclusion] The Thai version of the IPA is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the level of community participation in Thai persons with spinal cord injury.

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 Consent fatigue is one of the major problems for privacy protection. Why is consent to provide personal information necessary, then? Instrumentalists regard consent as an instrument to secure the interests of the consenter. The -based theory rgues respect for requires consent. This paper aims to show how instrumentalist explanation is justified, whilst the -based theory is not. Instrumentalism can obtain plausible justifications and guide practice sufficiently based on utilitarianism. On the contrary, the -based theory cannot propose any guidance for practice because of the problem of the incommensurability of value.

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The characteristic features of Pestalozzi's (1746-1827) concept of '' are considered to be structurally speaking the three structural levels of economic , of legal or civic , and moral or internal , and internally speaking the harmonious development of the internal powers of man stemming from self-activity. This is the trust put into the spontaneity of human nature based on Leibniz' anthropology, and in this regard Pestalozzi follows the same line as Rousseau. Furthermore, according to Pestalozzi in the sense that it implies the potential condition of free self-determination it ressembles Kant's , on the other hand, because it is based on love rooted in faith, it differs from Kant's . In other words, starting from the negative education founded in an absolute and optimistic faith in nature (Rousseau), then standing on the rational will of moralizing man living in society (Kant), furthermore transcending this, too, a positive formation concept arises putting its hope in the purification of man as an organic whole by faith and love (Pestalozzi).

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of teachers’

support in synchronous online learning environments. The participants included 197 Japanese undergraduates. The hypothetical model posited that perceived teachers’ support was related to students’ intrinsic motivation and metacognition, which, in turn, were related to self-evaluated achievement. The results showed that perceived teachers’ support was related to students’ self-evaluated achievement, and this relationship was mediated by intrinsic motivation. Perceived teachers’ support was also related to metacognition, although metacognition did not have a mediating effect. The role that teachers play in synchronous online learning environments is also discussed.

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Many will agree that independent learning (IL) is important for learning languages successfully, but incorporating IL in a curriculum can be challenging. As part of a project to meet one of the three learning goals associated with an Assurance of Learning (AOL) initiative, researchers at a Japanese university worked towards enhancing the independent learning skills among English learners. To do this, they set up a scaffolded approach to support studentsʼ independent learning. In the spring semester of 2019, students created personalized study plans aimed at improving their targeted English skill(s). Study plans were periodically checked by teachers and revised by students. This paper explains how independent learning is incorporated into English courses and presents the results of a student survey (n=947) and a teacher survey (n=35). Most students found the IL assignments useful yet reported difficulty with locating resources or finding time to study independently. The findings led researchers to revise the IL system and to develop language learning strategies that can guide studentsʼ IL more effectively.

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It is said that the most important part of learning a foreign language is learning vocabulary. The top-down, naturalistic and communicative approaches, which have put great emphasis on implicit, incidental learning of vocabulary, teach us the importance of directing students to recognize clues in context and to infer word meaning from context. Guessing is the primary vocabulary skill in these approaches. It seems to have much to do with students' motivation to learn English as well. It is natural that students learning English should encounter unknown words at a great rate. What should they do if they encounter unknown words while reading books in English ? They may very well try to guess the meanings of unknown words. It is our inclination to try to probe the unknown and guessing is a natural process of our thinking, which gives us a sense of achievement and satisfaction if it is successful. In this paper, the author points out that "learner " for learning English might be fostered in students' minds through guessing. He believes that students will come to challenge new reading materials on their own some day when they are given enough training for guessing as one of learning strategies, while enjoying it as a soft of game activity in class.

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Fostering learner in language learning has increasingly been seen as important by educational institutions in Japan. Previous studies have shown that metacognitive strategies (MS) are strongly linked to one’s degree of . Despite its well-known significance, however, there are few empirical studies investigating whether or not can be developed by enhancing students’ MS use in secondary school settings. This article examines how students’ MS use and learner were fostered by adopting a learning-recording tool called a logbook, which enables learners to make learning visible and make reflection easier. In an 11-week logbook intervention, pre- and post-questionnaires related to participants’ MS use and semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed from the dataset of 79 Japanese high school students. The findings revealed that those students who used logbooks on a weekly basis became aware of their increasing use of MS, while the way of logbook use as well as the frequency was important for a higher level of MS use and greater . Based on these results, pedagogical implications for teachers who seek to utilize this reflective tool are discussed.

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This paper describes how learner can be enhanced through adapting extensive listening activities in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom. Seven non-English major junior students participated in a small-scale action research project, conducted in a listening class. They were encouraged to listen to English materials outside the classroom and to write a listening report (a summary of the content and their reflection on it). The teacher-researcher and students shared their reports in class in English. Analyses of research notes and participants’ reports, as well as their end-of-semester reflections, showed how they became more autonomous learners and why. All the students enjoyed the activity, valued sharing their reflection, and increased perceived self-efficacy in their English skills. These findings are compatible with previous research claims that extensive listening enhances self-efficacy and that metacognitive knowledge gained by engaging in activities and reflections influences behaviour and positively affects learning. Focus group interviews confirmed the benefits of encouraging extensive listening activities and sharing reflections in the classroom. Their appreciation of the activity indicates enhanced learner .

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We propose to promote in digital ecosystems so that it provides agents with information to improve the behaviour of the digital ecosystem in terms of stability. This work proposes that, in digital ecosystems, autonomous agents can provide fundamental services and information. The final goal is to run the ecosystem, generate novel conditions and let agents exploit them. A set of diversity measures must will be defined as well. We propose an outline of some global indicators, such as heterogeneity and diversity, and establish relationships between agent behaviour and these global indicators of system stability.

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