Children's stroke sequence errors in writing Chinese characters

Each Chinese character is a two dimensional logograph and if character writing is seen as drawing a diagram, then there is no obvious correct sequence in the writing process. However, over the ages and to this day, Chinese children have been taught the proper stroke sequence for forming the characters based on some calligraphic rules when they begin to learn to write in Chinese. The rationale for the teaching of stroke sequence has traditionally been argued on the basis of facilitating better calligraphy and as a memory aid for the exact reproduction of the correct form of the character. This paper reports on a study that tries to determine how far young children can master the correct stroke sequences in writing and the common kinds of errors children made. It further explores the importance of and the possible educational implications for the teaching of stroke sequences in the teaching of handwriting based on the empirical results.     

Solfeggio learning and the influence of a mobile application based on visual,auditory and tactile modalities

Traditional methods of learning solfeggio (music theory) generally do not take advantage of computer-based support, meaning that, when learning individually, students cannot receive instantaneous feedback on their activities. The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of an interactive mobile application, mySolfeggio, for learning solfeggio. Using a mobile device, students can take advantage of visual, auditory and tactile modalities to recognise musical notes. Students can also practice and learn notation, rhythm and melody, for which the mobile application provides corrective feedback. To evaluate students’ perceptions of the mobile application and its effect on knowledge, we conducted an experiment with 42 students, from 9 to 13 years old. After learning a particular song during a regular lesson, one group of students practiced it individually with only the musical notation, while the other group used both the musical notation and the mobile application. The results of the experiment illustrated only a small effect on students’ performance in singing and tapping when using the mobile application. However, they demonstrated higher scores in terms of musical intervals and rhythmic accuracy when compared to students in the control group. The students did not find the use of the application difficult, thus allowing it to be used as a tool for improvement of their homework practice.     

Using the revised EM algorithm to remove noisy data for improving the one-against-the-rest method in binary text classification

Automatic text classification is the problem of automatically assigning predefined categories to free text documents, thus allowing for less manual labors required by traditional classification methods. When we apply binary classification to multi-class classification for text classification, we usually use the one-against-the-rest method. In this method, if a document belongs to a particular category, the document is regarded as a positive example of that category; otherwise, the document is regarded as a negative example. Finally, each category has a positive data set and a negative data set. But, this one-against-the-rest method has a problem. That is, the documents of a negative data set are not labeled manually, while those of a positive set are labeled by human. Therefore, the negative data set probably includes a lot of noisy data. In this paper, we propose that the sliding window technique and the revised EM (Expectation Maximization) algorithm are applied to binary text classification for solving this problem. As a result, we can improve binary text classification through extracting potentially noisy documents from the negative data set using the sliding window technique and removing actually noisy documents using the revised EM algorithm. The results of our experiments showed that our method achieved better performance than the original one-against-the-rest method in all the data sets and all the classifiers used in the experiments.     

海桑属的新分类群

Sonneratia, a small genus of Sonneratiaceae, is widely distributed throughout SE. Asia, E. Africa and N. Australia, extending from 18˚S. to 20˚N. and from 45˚ to 150˚E. In China it occurs only in the Hainan Island. In this paper,  two new sections areproposed and six species are recognized, of which one is described as new.     

Takamine Go: a possible Okinawan cinema 1

Abstract

Despite little improvement in the socio‐political predicament of Okinawa since its reversion to Japan, culturally there has recently been something of an ‘Okinawa boom’ in mainland Japan. This has involved a huge interest in Okinawa and Okinawan cultures in mainland Japan and an increasing ‘consumption’ of Okinawan goods and cultural artefacts. One of the symptoms of this trend has been the growth in the last five years or so, in the number of films set in Okinawa. Many of these films present conventional stereotypical images of Okinawa and, whether wittingly or not, have contributed to the ‘cosmetic operation’ of Japan’s multiculturalism by providing a utopian vision of Okinawanness and erasing Okinawa’s problems from the screen. However, an Okinawan filmmaker, Takamine Go, critically challenges such stereotypes and Japan’s cosmetic multiculturalism. This paper focuses on Takamine’s Untamagirū (1989 Takamine, Go. 1989. Untamagirū  [Google Scholar]) and Tsuru‐Henry (1999). It examines the cinematic strategies mobilised by these films – the use of different languages, allegorical implications, complex montages of image and sound, and the departure from conventional narrative realism. These strategies, it will be suggested, not only enable the films to explore complex forms of public memory and history but also to challenge the notion of a homogeneous Japan and its ‘quasi‐orientalist’ gaze towards Okinawa. The paper then proceeds to argue that Takamine’s films should not simply be regarded as a ‘regional’ variant of Japanese cinema but as a ‘specifically Okinawan cinema’ that both overlaps with and opposes a ‘national’ Japanese cinema.     

Is the globalization of the economy creating values for a new civilization?

Conclusion In response to the globalization of the economy, the international community must be resolute in promoting universality in the most profound sense of the word: a type of universality which both challenges all models and acknowledges and respects the contribution of all peoples to universal civilization. UNESCO sees globalization as extending far beyond economic issues. It disrupts life styles and behaviour patterns, and overturns habits of decision-making and governance and forms of artistic expression. The challenge that it poses for UNESCO is that of perceiving all the complexity of its ramifications, so that in an interdisciplinary and intercultural spirit we can devise strategies and policies to ensure that it works for the benefit of all, particularly those who are at present excluded from it. Original language: English/French Ko?chiro Matsuura Since November 1999 Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). After a long career in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs—Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 1994—Mr Matsuura became successively Japanese Ambassador to Andorra, then Djibouti, and then France. He was Sherpa for Japan at the G-7 Summit in 1993 and Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in 1998–99. He studied at the University of Tokyo and Haverford College (United States of America), and received a doctoratehonoris causa from the Université Jean Moulin, France. This text has been adapted from a speech made at the closing meeting of the Rencontres de Versailles on the theme of ‘Is the globalization of the economy creating values for a new civilization?’, held at the Chateau de Versailles, France, on 17 June 2000.     

Dimensions of Market Demand Associated with Taekwondo Schools in North America: Development of a Scale

Since the introduction of martial arts in the United States, the sport of Taekwondo (TKD) has rapidly grown and developed. Although the elevated interest in this sport has increased the magnitude of the TKD market, no systematic studies have been conducted to investigate the market demand variables associated with TKD schools in North America. To a great extent, lack of study has been due to the unavailability of a viable measure. The purpose of this study was to identify the dimensions of market demand for TKD schools and develop the Scale of Market Demand Associated with Taekwondo School (SMD-TKD). Research participants (N = 205) were TKD school members who were 18 years and older from 22 TKD schools in major cities of Florida. A factor analysis using principal component extraction and varimax rotation produced six factors with 51 items returned (i.e., Personal Benefits, School Operation, Instruction Quality, Program Offering, Locker Room, and Cultural Learning). Multiples regression analysis revealed that all market demand factors, except for Program Offering and Cultural Learning, were positively (p < .05) predictive of TKD consumption, suggesting that the SMD-TKD is useful for marketing studies on TKD consumers.     

Is too much help an obstacle? Effects of interactivity and cognitive style on learning with dynamic versus non-dynamic visualizations with narrative explanations

Educational technology research and development - The aim of this study was to investigate the role of visual/verbal cognitive style and interactivity level in dynamic and non-dynamic multimedia...     

Delay-dependent stability criteria for systems with asymmetric bounds on delay derivative

This paper discretizes the states, a method introduced in [18] for constant delayed systems, not only in constructing the Lyapunov-Krasovskii (L-K) functional but also in designing the integral inequality technique [17] and [19] for time-varying delayed systems, which increase the order of uncorrelated augmentation [5], [21] and [22]. Based on the discretized state, [10] and [27]'s piecewise analysis method is applied to confirm the system stability in whole delay bound. Asymmetric variation of the delay derivative is assumed so that direct extension to all constraints of the delay derivative can be achieved. Examples show the resulting criteria improve the allowable delay bounds over all existing ones in the literature.