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Purpose: This study introduces the idea of "Kyouzai Kenkyuu" and examines its potentiality as a conceptual tool to point to the curriculum design process with a case of social science education. By doing so, this study can contribute to expanding the target of reflection from the practices "inside" classrooms toward the curriculum design "outside" classrooms and the strengthening of teacher professionalism by understanding teachers as curriculum designers. Approach: The authors utilised literature review to illustrate how "Kyouzai Kenkyuu" can be a conceptual tool to point to the curriculum design process. Subsequently, the authors conducted interpretative practitioner research to showcase how "Kyouzai Kenkyuu" can be taught in pre-service teacher education and how teacher educators can educate pre-service teachers as curriculum designers utilising insider's perspectives. Finally, the authors discussed the potential of "Kyouzai Kenkyu" as a conceptual tool to indicate the content and method of designing the curriculum and as an approach to enhance teachers' development as curriculum designers. Findings: "Kyouzai Kenkyuu"--"Kyouzai" meaning learning material(s) and "Kenkyuu" meaning study or research in the Japanese language--is a practice for curriculum design and one of the dispositions to define teachers as professionals. In Japan, teachers are expected to be practitioners who conduct "Kenkyuu" (research) about discipline, students, and the context surrounding students to design suitable "Kyouzai" (learning material[s]) and a curriculum for individual classrooms. In method courses, pre-service teachers verbalize and reflect on their "Kyouzai Kenkyuu" and how it impacts curriculum design. Through these experiences, social science teachers in Japan can enjoy the opportunities to develop their design and teaching rationales. Research limitations: This study is limited to three method courses that the authors have taught; thus, the findings on how to teach "Kyouzai Kenkyuu" may not be generalizable.

Cultivating preservice teachers' "shutaisei" has been the focus of Japanese university-based teacher education since the late 1990s. This article contains the self-study of three teacher educators at different Japanese universities. All three of us believe that helping students cultivate their "shutaisei" should be an important part of our teaching practices; however, framing "shutaisei" and pursuing it in practice poses complex dilemmas. In this article, we explore our individual understandings of "shutaisei's" meaning in theory and practice, and reflect on how and why we considered it in these ways. We discussed our practices every two weeks online; all the conversations were videotaped and analyzed. Ultimately, through this self-study, we (teacher educators) found: (1) We had defined what "shutaisei" means based on our own educational experiences; and (2) We had suggested our own "shutaisei" to the students without being aware that it is based on our own educational experience. Teacher education institutions, we recommend, should provide opportunities for faculty members to explore themselves and their practices.

We have previously identified Ertredin (3-(2-amino-5-bromophenyl) quinoxalin-2(1H)-one) as a compound that suppresses 3D spheroid formation and tumorigenesis in NIH3T3 cells induced by Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor variant III (EGFRvIII) transduction. One of its targets has been shown to be NDUFA12 (NADH Dehydrogenase (Ubiquinone) 1 Alpha Subcomplex Subunit 12), a component protein of oxidative phosphorylation complex I. In this report, we compared the growth inhibitory activity of Ertredin with its methylated analogue 7MeERT (3-(2-amino-5-bromophenyl)-7-methylquinoxalin-2(1H)-one) on human cancer cells. 7MeERT induced the inhibition of the proliferation of various cancer cells similarly to Ertredin and showed higher activity in glioblastoma cells, A431 cells overexpressing EGFR (wild type), and multiple myeloma cells. Molecular docking analysis and a Cellular Thermal Shift Assay (CETSA) suggested that 7MeERT binds to NDUFA12 similarly to Ertredin. The binding of 7MeERT and Ertredin to NDUFA12 in glioblastoma was further supported by the inhibition of the oxygen consumption rate. These results suggest that 7MeERT also binds to NDUFA12, inhibits oxidative phosphorylation, and has a higher anti-cancer cell growth inhibitory activity than Ertredin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the use of hydrogels, specifically interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) hydrogels, in various applications such as catalyst support, reactors, and drug release systems. The authors focus on a specific IPN hydrogel called IPN PEG, which has temperature-responsive and chemical-responsive properties. They discuss its synthesis and characterization, as well as its potential use as a reactor vessel for organic reactions, specifically the oxidative coupling of 2-naphthol. The authors provide details on the synthesis and characterization of IPN PEG gels with different compositions. While the IPN hydrogel showed promise as a reactor, it had limitations in its recyclability in basic media. Further research is being conducted on the IPN hydrogel reactor and its capabilities. [Extracted from the article]