Japanese University English Language Entrance Exams and the Washback Effect: A Systematic Review of the Research

Simon Paxton,Tae Yamazaki,Hannah Kunert 범태평양 응용언어학회 2022 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.26 No.2

The entrance exams to Japanese universities have long been criticised for creating negative “washback” on English education in high schools in Japan, as teachers have often focused their teaching efforts on teaching grammar to prepare students for these exams rather than helping students to develop competency in spoken English. Many government initiatives have attempted to reform English language education by encouraging a greater focus on speaking competency. This paper outlines the nature of the Japanese university entrance exam system, considers the phenomenon of washback, and critically reviews the body of empirical research related to washback in the Japanese context. A systematic review was conducted on articles published between 1993 and June, 2022. These articles were subjected to thematic analysis in which four broad categories were identified: learner behaviour; washback to teacher behaviour; affective factors; and washback specifically from the introduction of the listening test. Findings suggest that more empirical studies are required to understand the complex nature of washback from university entrance exams, and that future research is required to examine potential washback from four-skills testing and, in particular, from the inclusion of a speaking test.

Microsurgery Training for the Twenty-First Century

Simon Richard Myers,Stefan Froschauer,Yelena Akelina,Pierluigi Tos,Jeong-Tae Kim,Ali M Ghanem 대한성형외과학회 2013 Archives of Plastic Surgery Vol.40 No.4

Current educational interventions and training courses in microsurgery are often predicated on theories of skill acquisition and development that follow a ‘practice makes perfect’model. Given the changing landscape of surgical training and advances in educational theories related to skill development, research is needed to assess current training tools in microsurgery education and devise alternative methods that would enhance training . Simulation is an increasingly important tool for educators because, whilst facilitating improved technical proficiency, it provides a way to reduce risks to both trainees and patients. The International Microsurgery Simulation Society has been founded in 2012 in order to consolidate the global effort in promoting excellence in microsurgical training. The society’s aim to achieve standarisation of microsurgical training worldwide could be realised through the development of evidence based educational interventions and sharing best practices.

Prevalence of Tick-Borne Pathogens from Ticks Collected from Cattle and Wild Animals in Tanzania in 2012

Tae Yun Kim,You Shine Kwak,Ju Yeong Kim,Sung-Hyun Nam,In-Yong Lee,Simon Mduma,Julius Keyyu,Robert Fyumagwa,Tai-Soon Yong 대한기생충학열대의학회 2018 The Korean Journal of Parasitology Vol.56 No.3

This study was aimed to disclose the prevalence rate of tick-borne pathogens from ticks collected from cattle and wild animals in Tanzania in 2012. Ticks were collected from slaughtered cattle and dead wild animals from November 5 to December 23, 2012 and identified. PCR for detecting Anaplasmataceae, Piroplamidae, Rickettsiaceae, Borrelia spp., and Coxiella spp. were done. Among those tested, Rickettsiaceae, Piroplasmidae, and Anaplasmataceae, were detected in ticks from the 2 regions. Rickettsiaceae represented the major tick-borne pathogens of the 2 regions. Ticks from animals in Maswa were associated with a higher pathogen detection rate compared to that in ticks from Iringa. In addition, a higher pathogen detection rate was observed in ticks infesting cattle than in ticks infesting wild animals. All examined ticks of the genus Amblyomma were infected with diverse pathogens. Ticks of the genera Rhipicephalus and Hyalomma were infected with 1 or 2 pathogens. Collectively, this study provides important information regarding differences in pathogen status among various regions, hosts, and tick species in Tanzania. Results in this study will affect the programs to prevent tick-borne diseases (TBD) of humans and livestock in Tanzania.

Comparative Analysis of Alpha Activities of KAERI’s Radioactive Waste Determined by Different Methods

Tae-Hong Park,Kyunghun Jung,Kanghyun Yoo,Kwang Eun Lee,Shinkyoung Lee,Simon Oh,Gi Yong Kim,Kwang-Soon Choi,Jung-Weon Choi,Yang-Soon Park,Hyeju Lee,Minyoung Jung,Jung Bo Yoo,Jai Il Park 한국방사성폐기물학회 2023 한국방사성폐기물학회 학술논문요약집 Vol.21 No.2

Alpha activities can be used for categorization, transportation, and disposal of radioactive waste generated from the operation of nuclear facilities including nuclear power plants. In order to transport and dispose of such low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW) to the Wolsong LILW Disposal Center (WLDC) at Gyeongju, the gross alpha concentration of an individual drum should be determined according to the acceptance criteria. In addition, when the gross alpha concentration exceeds 10 Bq/g, the inventory of the comprising alpha emitters in the waste is to be identified. Gross alpha measurements using a proportional counter are usually straightforward, inexpensive, and high-throughput, so they are broadly used to assay the total alpha activity for environmental, health physics, and emergency-response assessments. However, several factors are thoughtfully considered to obtain a reliable approximate for the entire alpha emitters in a sample, which include the alpha particle energy of a particular radionuclide, the radionuclide that is used as a calibration standard, the uniformity of film in a planchet, time between sample collection and sample preparation, and time between sample preparation and counting. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) have evaluated the inventory of radionuclides in low-level radioactive waste drums to send every year hundreds of them to the WLDC. In this presentation, we revisit the gross alpha measurement results of the drums transported to WLDC in the past few years and compare them with the concentrations of alpha emitters measured from alpha spectrometry and gamma spectrometry. This study offers an insight into the gross alpha measurement for radioactive waste regarding calibration source, self-absorption effect, composition of alpha emitters, etc.

Microsurgery Training for the Twenty-First Century

Myers, Simon Richard,Froschauer, Stefan,Akelina, Yelena,Tos, Pierluigi,Kim, Jeong Tae,Ghanem, Ali M. Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surge 2013 Archives of Plastic Surgery Vol.40 No.4

Current educational interventions and training courses in microsurgery are often predicated on theories of skill acquisition and development that follow a 'practice makes perfect' model. Given the changing landscape of surgical training and advances in educational theories related to skill development, research is needed to assess current training tools in microsurgery education and devise alternative methods that would enhance training. Simulation is an increasingly important tool for educators because, whilst facilitating improved technical proficiency, it provides a way to reduce risks to both trainees and patients. The International Microsurgery Simulation Society has been founded in 2012 in order to consolidate the global effort in promoting excellence in microsurgical training. The society's aim to achieve standarisation of microsurgical training worldwide could be realised through the development of evidence based educational interventions and sharing best practices.

Modeling Autoregressive Conditional Skewness and Kurtosis with Multi-Quantile CAViaR

Halbert White,Tae-Hwan Kim,Simone Manganelli 한국계량경제학회 2008 한국계량경제학회 학술대회 논문집 Vol.2008 No.2

Engle and Manganelli (2004) propose CAViaR, a class of models suitable for estimating conditional quantiles in dynamic settings. Engle and Manganelli apply their approach to the estimation of Value at Risk, but this is only one of many possible applications. Here we extend CAViaR models to permit joint modeling of multiple quantiles, Multi-Quantile (MQ) CAViaR. We apply our new methods to estimate measures of conditional skewness and kurtosis de…ned in terms of conditional quantiles, analogous to the unconditional quantile-based measures of skewness and kurtosis studied by Kim and White (2004). We investigate the performance of our methods by simulation, and we apply MQ-CAViaR to study conditional skewness and kurtosis of S&P 500 daily returns.

Perceived Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Association With Meals in a French Cohort of Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome

( Chloé Melchior ),( Simon Fremaux ),( Pauline Jouët ),( Gilles Macaigne ),( Jean-jacques Raynaud ),( Suzelle Facon ),( Franck Iglicki ),( Yannick Taes ),( Jean-marc Sabate ) 대한소화기기능성질환·운동학회 2021 Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (JNM Vol.27 No.4

Background/Aims The aim of our study is to evaluate the association between meals and perceived gastrointestinal symptoms in real life in a French cohort of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients. Methods This prospective cross-sectional observational study included patients from the French association (association des patients souffrant du syndrome de l’intestin irritable [APSSII]) of IBS. Data were collected on demographics, IBS subtype, dietary food, and meal-induced gastrointestinal symptoms from patient filled self-questionnaires or questionnaires. Results Eighty-four patients with IBS were included; 82.3% female with a mean age of 46.9 ± 15.7 years. Each transit pattern subtype represented one-third of the population. Forty-five percent of patients had severe IBS according to IBS-Severity Scoring System; mean IBS Quality of Life score was 53.9 ± 18.3. Patients believed that food could trigger or exacerbate gastrointestinal symptoms in 73.3% and 93.4%, respectively. Eighty-nine percent had already tried diets, mostly lactose free diet and low fermentable, oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols diet in 61.3% and 53.6% of cases. Thirty-nine percent of meals induced gastrointestinal symptoms. Meal-induced gastrointestinal symptoms were associated with severity and subtype but not with quality of life. Conclusions This study has confirmed the important link between gastrointestinal symptoms and food. Gastrointestinal symptoms induced by meals are frequent and associated with severity and IBS-diarrhea subtype. Our study also underlines patients’ interest in food and diet. More knowledge is needed on food that triggers IBS symptoms but also on diet conditions in order to improve this condition. (J Neurogastroenterol Motil 2021;27:574-580)

Measurement of Recovery for the Validation of Pretreatment Method in Decontamination Paper Samples

Kwang-Soon Choi,Simon Oh,Jae-seok Lee,Hye-Ryun Cho,Tae-Hong Park 한국방사성폐기물학회 2020 한국방사성폐기물학회 학술논문요약집 Vol.2020 No.12

Color temperature tuning of white organic light-emitting diodes via spatial control of micro-cavity effects based on thin metal strips

Lee, Jonghee,Koh, Tae-Wook,Cho, Hyunsu,Hofmann, Simone,Reineke, Sebastian,Lee, Jae-Hyun,Lee, Jeong-Ik,Yoo, Seunghyup,Leo, Karl,Gather, Malte C. Elsevier 2015 Organic Electronics Vol.26 No.-

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>White organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) are one of the most promising technologies to realize future solid-state lighting with high power efficiency, broad and adjustable spectral coverage, and area emission for more effective and natural illumination. In this work, we report a new method of tuning the correlated color temperature (CCT) of WOLEDs via spatially controlling the degree of the micro-cavity effect in an OLED. Varying the width of thin Ag strips deposited on top of a transparent electrode leads to changes in both intensity and phase of reflection at the anode, hence significantly altering emission spectra of proposed WOLEDs. CCT of the implemented WOLEDs span a wide range, from 3000K to 8000K, demonstrating that our proposed approach helps to meet the need for lighting with various CCTs.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> We report a correlated color temperature (CCT) tunable white OLEDs. </LI> <LI> Micro-cavity (MC) effect in an OLED was controlled with a striped thin metal layer. </LI> <LI> MC effect alters emission spectra and intensity of white OLEDs. </LI> <LI> CCT of the implemented white OLEDs span a wide range, from 3000K to 8000K. </LI> </UL> </P> <P><B>Graphical abstract</B></P> <P>White organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) are one of the most promising technologies to realize future solid-state lighting with high power efficiency, broad and adjustable spectral coverage, and area emission for more effective and natural illumination. In this work, we report a new method of tuning the correlated color temperature (CCT) of WOLEDs via spatially controlling the degree of the micro-cavity effect in an OLED. Varying the width of thin Ag strips deposited on top of a transparent electrode leads to changes in both intensity and phase of reflection at the anode, hence significantly altering emission spectra of proposed WOLEDs. CCT of the implemented WOLEDs span a wide range, from 3000K to 8000K, demonstrating that our proposed approach helps to meet the need for lighting with various CCTs.</P> <P>[DISPLAY OMISSION]</P>

Ixodid Tick Infestation in Cattle and Wild Animals in Maswa and Iringa, Tanzania

You Shine Kwak,Tae Yun Kim,Sung-Hyun Nam,In-Yong Lee,Hyung-Pyo Kim,Simon Mduma,Julius Keyyu,Robert Fyumagwa,Tai-Soon Yong 대한기생충학열대의학회 2014 The Korean Journal of Parasitology Vol.52 No.5

Ticks and tick-borne diseases are important in human and livestock health worldwide. In November 2012, ixodid ticks were collected and identified morphologically from cattle and wild animals in the Maswa district and Iringa urban, Tanzania. Amblyomma gemma, A. lepidum, and A. variegatum were identified from Maswa cattle, and A. variegatum was the predominant species. A. marmoreum, Hyalomma impeltatum, and Rhipicephalus pulchellus were identified from Iringa cattle in addition to the above 3 Amblyomma species, and A. gemma was the most abundant species. Total 4 Amblyomma and 6 Rhipicephalus species were identified from wild animals of the 2 areas. A. lepidum was predominant in Maswa buffaloes, whereas A. gemma was predominant in Iringa buffaloes. Overall, A. variegatum in cattle was predominant in the Maswa district and A. gemma was predominant in Iringa, Tanzania.