Designing Learning Communities among APEC Economies: Finding New Values in Collaboration

Kenichi Kubota,Insook Lee APEC국제교육협력원 2007 Asia-Pacific Cybereducation Journal Vol.3 No.1

It is an important issue for APEC economies to build mutual understanding in order to promote friendship and cooperation among the economies. Some schools and organizations have set up international communication projects to correspond by email or video conferencing periodically. There are, however, some barriers that hinder these activities. Firstly, most schools do not have experience. Secondly, teachers have difficulty in such endeavors speaking and writing in English. Thirdly, funding is not adequate. The World Youth Meeting (WYM) is one successful international collaboration project lasting six years. In this research, we investigate the WYM as a model case in order to understand how the WYM is organized so that we can develop guidelines for other international collab-oration projects.

Analysis of Limited Information Technology Education Implementation in Japanese Schools

Satoshi Noguchi,Kenichi Kubota 한양대학교 교육공학연구소 2011 학습과학연구 Vol.5 No.1

Japan has been promoting Information Technology Education. The government developed a policy for Information Technology Education 10 years ago. It started with the Millennium Project in 1999. However, Information Technology Education has not been successful in Japan. The purpose of this study is to clarify the problems faced by teachers using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in Japanese schools. Finding reasons why teachers are not using ICT tools can help other regions or countries with similar problems. The responses to each question in the first part of a questionnaire give to elementary and junior high school teachers in Osaka were analyzed using an Affinity Diagram. The total number of idea units was 372. The author classified the free answers into 21 categories. In addition, these categories were further divided into five groups of similar ideas.

The Outcomes of the Workshop on ICT with Learner Centered Approach in Palestinian Schools in Syria

Takayuki Konno,Makiko Kishi,Yasuko Minoura,Kenichi Kubota 한양대학교 교육공학연구소 2009 학습과학연구 Vol.3 No.1

This paper is generally concerned with the outcomes of the workshop conducted under the project program with the cooperation of Kansai University, Japan and United Nation Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in respect of quality improvement of Palestinian refugees’ schools (UNRWA schools) in Syria. The workshop aims to support UNRWA in order to promote ICT with Learner Centered Approach (LCA) in Palestinian refugees’ school teaching-learning practices. In the workshop, problem-based learning and collaborative learning approaches were employed as LCA. And Japanese good practical lessons using ICT with LCA in “integrated study” period were introduced to the teachers. The teachers who attended the workshop needed to understand ICT with LCA and apply it to their classes. This study clarified, as an initial finding, the effect of the workshop training --- if they applied what they learned in the workshop in practice.

The isopropylation of biphenyl over H-mordenite - Roles of 3- and 4-isopropylbiphenyls

Yoshihiro Sugi,Chokkalingam Anand,Tomonori Sugimura,Kenichi Komura,Yoshihiro Kubota,Jong Ho Kim,Gon Seo,Ajayan Vinu 한국화학공학회 2013 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.30 No.5

The isopropylation of biphenyl (BP) and 3- and 4-isopropylbiphenyls (3- and 4-IPBPs) was examined over H-mordenites (MOR) to elucidate the mechanism of shape-selective formation of 4,4'-diisopropylbiphenyl (4,4'-DIPB). The isopropylation of BP occurred predominantly to form 4-isopropylbiphenyl (4-IPBP) from BP and 4,4'-DIPB from 4-IPBP. However, 3-IPBP, a minor isomer from BP, cannot participate effectively in the formation of 3,4'-DIPB due to steric restriction of its isopropyl moiety with MOR channels. Selective formation of 4,4'-DIPB was observed at low to moderate temperatures: 225-275 oC. However, the selectivities for 4,4'-DIPB were decreased at high temperatures,300-350 oC under propene pressure, 0.8MPa, by the isomerization of 4,4'-DIPB at external acid sites. The isomerization of 4,4'-DIPB occurred under low propene pressure even at 250 oC. The roles of 3- and 4-IPBPs in the formation of DIPB isomers were examined in the isopropylation of their mixtures. 4-IPBP was consumed much faster than 3-IPBP in all cases examined. 4-IPBP was an exclusive precursor to DIPB isomers, particularly 4,4'-DIPB. 4,4'-DIPB was also found as a predominant isomer in encapsulated products at all conditions examined. These results show that 4-IPBP can preferentially establish active transition state with propene and acid site in MOR channels, resulting in selective formation of 4,4'-DIPB. It is concluded that the isopropylation of BP over MOR occurs through reactant selectivity mechanism and restricted transition state mechanism, but not through product selectivity mechanism.

Isopropylation of naphthalene over H-mordenite, H-Y, and H-beta zeolites: Roles of isopropylnaphthalene isomers

Yoshihiro Sugi,Yukio Hasegawa,Hiroshi Tamada,Kenichi Komura,Yoshihiro Kubota,김종호 한국화학공학회 2011 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.28 No.2

Isopropylation of naphthalene (NP) was examined over H-mordenite (MOR), H-Y zeolite (FAU), and HBeta zeolite (BEA) in order to elucidate roles of isopropylnaphthalene (IPN) isomers during the catalysis. 2-IPN was the predominant isomer over MOR and works as a precursor for the selective formation of β,β-DIPN, particularly, 2,6-DIPN. In contrast, 1-IPN was predominant (with 2-IPN as a minor isomer) over FAU and BEA at low temperatures;dialkylation accompanied by the consumption of 1- and 2-IPN led to predominant formation of α,α- and α,β-DIPN. The formation of β,β-DIPN from 2-IPN was enhanced at higher temperatures. Bulky transition states of 1-IPN in IPN isomers and α,α- and α,β-DIPN among DIPN isomers were hindered by the interaction with MOR channels, resulting in the selective formation of β,β-DIPN, particularly 2,6-DIPN through the less bulky 2-IPN. FAU and BEA allow the formation of α,α- and α,β-DIPN from both of 1- and 2-IPN isomers because their channels are too large to exclude bulky transition states. The catalysis over FAU and BEA occurred under kinetic control at lower temperatures, and thermodynamic control also participates at higher temperatures.

Vapor-Phase Ethylation of Biphenyl over MTW Zeolites

Mulla, Shafeek Abdul Rashid,Waghmode, Suresh B.,Watanabe, Seiji,Maekawa, Hiroyoshi,Komura, Kenichi,Kubota, Yoshihiro,Sugi, Yoshihiro,Kim, Jong-Ho,Seo, Gon The Chemical Society of Japan 2006 Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan Vol.79 No.9

<P>Vapor-phase ethylation of biphenyl (BP) with ethanol over the MTW zeolites was examined by using a fixed-bed flow reactor, and compared to the catalyses over MOR and MFI zeolites. Two types of MTW zeolites: MTW-S (small crystal) and MTW-L (large crystal) were synthesized under hydrothermal conditions. The selectivity for 4,4′-diethylbiphenyl (4,4′-DEBP) over the MTW zeolites was the highest among the other zeolites, such as MOR and MFI. The catalytic activity of MTW-S was higher than MTW-L. The selectivities for 4,4′-DEBP at 300 °C were ca. 30% for MTW-S and ca. 22% for MTW-L among the DEBP isomers. The dealumination of the MTW zeolites enhanced the selectivity for 4,4′-DEBP although the catalytic activity was slightly decreased. In particular, the selectivity for 4,4′-DEBP over dealuminated MTW-L by steaming and subsequent refluxing in hydrochloric acid increased from 22 to 42% at 300 °C. The enhancement of the selectivity for 4,4′-DEBP is due to the decrease in non-selective reactions at external acid sites because these sites are removed by the dealumination. The selectivities are higher than those of equilibrium mixtures, and the slimmest isomer. 4,4′-DEBP is preferentially formed due to the steric interaction of reactants and products with acidic sites in the MTW channels. Molecular modeling on the diffusion of products in the MTW channel suggests that 4,4′-DEBP isomer can diffuse most easily among DEBP isomers. 4,4′-DEBP and other isomers easily diffuse inside MOR channel; however, they cannot in the MFI channels. These results show that the formation of 4,4′-DEBP is the most favorable due to the diffusion and the restriction of transition state in the MTW channels.</P>