Educational administration and supervision in Japan

The administration and supervision of education represents one of the most controversial issues in post-war Japanese education. The basic issue is one of centralization or decentralization. The left wing teachers union favours local control, the conservative government, central control. The American Occupation established a system of local school boards which, as a result of political lobbying, were largely controlled by teachers union sympathisers. In 1956, four years after the end of the Occupation, the Japanese government eliminated the election of board members and replaced voluntary compliance with compulsory compliance with Ministry of Education objectives. This compulsory compliance was most clearly demonstrated in the central authorization of textbooks and in the implementation of theshunin system, which, the teachers union claims, introduces too many administrative positions into schools and further bureaucratized education. The Ministry claims that theshunin positions serve a guidance rather than an administrative function; the union on the other hand foresees the disruption of the unity of its rank and file members as a result of the insertion of a middle management wedge. Theshunin controversy clearly demonstrates how the administration of Japanese education has become enmeshed in partisan politics and Japanese history and tradition.     

Charging for Admission to Museums and Galleries: A Framework for Analysing the Impact on Access

The Labour Government recently stated that access is a cornerstone of all its cultural policies, including those for museums and galleries. This paper therefore outlines a robust paradigm by means of which the impact of admission charges on access can be analysed. In applying that paradigm to museums, it demonstrates a number of analytical and theoretical red herrings which serve only to confuse a study of charges, including the zero marginal cost argument for free admission. Unless it uses this framework, the Government cannot be sure that it has secured access for the many instead of the few.     

Integrated dynamic wet spinning of core-sheath hydrogel fibers for optical-to-brain/tissue communications

Hydrogel optical light-guides have received substantial interest for applications such as deep-tissue biosensors, optogenetic stimulation and photomedicine due to their biocompatibility, (micro)structure control and tissue-like Young''s modulus. However, despite recent developments, large-scale fabrication with a continuous synthetic methodology, which could produce core-sheath hydrogel fibers with the desired optical and mechanical properties suitable for deep-tissue applications, has yet to be achieved. In this study, we report a versatile concept of integrated light-triggered dynamic wet spinning capable of continuously producing core-sheath hydrogel optical fibers with tunable fiber diameters, and mechanical and optical propagation properties. Furthermore, this concept also exhibited versatility for various kinds of core-sheath functional fibers. The wet spinning synthetic procedure and fabrication process were optimized with the rational design of the core/sheath material interface compatibility [core = poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate-co-acrylamide); sheath = Ca-alginate], optical transparency, refractive index and spinning solution viscosity. The resulting hydrogel optical fibers exhibited desirable low optical attenuation (0.18 ± 0.01 dB cm⁻¹ with 650 nm laser light), excellent biocompatibility and tissue-like Young''s modulus (<2.60 MPa). The optical waveguide hydrogel fibers were successfully employed for deep-tissue cancer therapy and brain optogenetic stimulation, confirming that they could serve as an efficient versatile tool for diverse deep-tissue therapy and brain optogenetic applications.     

The Role of Family Characteristics for Students’ Academic Outcomes: A Person‐Centered Approach

Using data from 1,571 ninth‐grade students (M_age = 14.62) from 82 academic track schools in Germany and their predominantly Caucasian middle‐class parents, configurations of different family characteristics reported by parents were investigated. Latent profile analyses considering academic involvement, family interest, parents’ self‐concept, child's need for support, and parents’ time and energy identified average, indifferent, motivated and engaged, motivated and disengaged, and involved families. Cross‐sectional and longitudinal associations with students’ motivational (self‐concept, effort, and interest) and achievement outcomes (achievement test and grades) in math were analyzed. Students from families classified as motivated and disengaged showed higher initial levels motivation and achievement. Over 5 months, these students also showed an increase in self‐concept and higher achievement than students from other family types.