A Study of Romanization Practice for Japanese Language Titles in OCLC WorldCat Records

Consistent romanization practice is one of the biggest challenges in cataloging Japanese materials. This study provides a snapshot of how Japanese is inconsistently or incorrectly romanized in Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) WorldCat records, and analyzes factors that might be causing the romanization problems among the records. Particular focus is placed on the analysis of word division problems that might be affected by different interpretations and applications of the ALA-LC Romanization Tables rules. Results revealed major factors behind the inconsistencies that were associated with the ambiguity and complexity of the word division rules. Solutions and ideas for further studies are suggested.     

Quality-oriented technical change in Japanese wheat breeding

The article presents a productivity analysis of Japanese wheat breeding research. We first estimate a hedonic function to determine the marginal implicit values of Japanese wheat characteristics and find that protein contributes substantially to millers’ price offers to farmers. Induced innovation theory implies breeders thus should be responding to new protein-oriented price policies by developing high-protein wheat varieties. We test this hypothesis by estimating a distance function relating breeding resources – including what we call gene-recharge rates – to the yield and protein characteristics of discovered varieties. New varieties indeed have been protein-favoring and yield-disfavoring, suggesting government research programs have been market-oriented.     

Textbooks on the move: Transforming a textbook collection

Recently, The City College of New York (CCNY) libraries engaged in a collaborative project to transfer the bibliographic holdings for textbook course reserves to a new module when their integrated library systems, the Ex Libris Aleph Integrated Library System, underwent a system upgrade. In this article, the Chief of Circulation and the Chief of Cataloging share and analyze the various steps and challenges undertaken to complete this project, which took place over the span of three semesters. This article will serve to assist those who work in circulation and cataloging to aid in the planning of a large collaborative library-wide project.     

Lead soaps in paintings: Friends or foes?

The origin(s) and role(s) of metal soaps in paints are a worldwide concern today. These hybrid compounds, containing both fatty acid chains and metals associated with a carboxylate function, are increasingly identified in paints. As reviewed in the first part of this work, the presence of metal soaps in paints is differently interpreted in scientific publications: metal soaps are sometimes considered to play a positive role as anchor points, during paint drying processes; they can also be considered as responsible for many degradation processes (protrusions, efflorescences, darkening, etc.). Their origins are also interpreted in various ways. In some paintings (in particular from the twentieth century), they have sometimes introduced on purpose, as additives, to modify the physical properties of the painting materials. In older paintings, metal soaps are usually thought to result from an uncontrolled reaction of oil with lead-based pigments, in particular lead white, red lead, and lead tin yellow. In the second part of this work, the review of historical recipes of lead-based paint shows an important number of recipes based on controlled mixing of oil with lead driers. In the third part, the experimental reproduction of such traditional recipes using walnut oil and litharge (PbO) shows that lead soaps can be formed, both in about one hour at ～100°C, or in about one month at room temperature. It shows as well that after a few years, litharge is no longer detected in the paint medium, while different lead carbonates are. Finally, the micro-infrared spectroscopy and micro-X-ray diffraction re-analysis of protrusions from a nine-year model painting shows together with lead soaps, the presence of Pb₅(CO₃)₃(OH)₂O (‘synthetic plumbonacrite’), an unusual phase recently observed in a protrusion from a painting by Vincent Van Gogh. This work highlights (i) the multiple origins and roles of metal soaps in paints and (ii) the importance of combining the analysis of fragments from historical paintings with the analysis and reproduction of historical recipes. In particular, we show that the components detected today in historical paintings may severely differ from those originally used or prepared by the painter, complicating the assessment of the painter's intentions. More than the presence of metal soaps, the key questions to be tackled should be about their origins and (re)mobilization.     

Quantifying the injury of the human eye components due to tennis ball impact using a computational fluid–structure interaction model

Although it might be believed that the eye only comprised a very small area of the face, its injury due to the ball impacts in different sports seems to be severe enough to entice many researchers to determine the level of injury and then attempt to minimize it. Sports-related eye injuries, especially tennis, pose a substantial and preventable problem to the eye due to the high speed of the tennis ball (69 m/s). This is why many ophthalmologists provide a wide range of information for their patients regarding the risks of eye injuries in tennis to prevent the injury to well over 100,000 eyes each year. However, so far although there are some general information regarding the injury to the human eye components due to the tennis ball impact, the details of the stresses and deformations have not been well determined. Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine the stresses and deformations of the eye components, including cornea, aqueous body, iris, ciliary body, lens, vitreous body, retina, sclera, optic nerve, extra and intraconal fats, and muscles, attributable to the tennis ball impact via a Lagrangian–Eulerian computational coupling model. Magnetic resonance imaging was employed to establish a finite element model of the human eye according to a normal human eye. The numerical results revealed the highest amount of stress in the iris (19.2 MPa), whereas the lowest one was observed in the vitreous body (1.77 Pa). The cornea also experienced the stress of 8.27 MPa which might be high enough to invoke rupture in this delicate material. In addition, the results exhibited a decreasing and increasing of the radius of curvature for the cornea and lens, respectively. Finally, the collision of the tennis ball to the eye triggered the resultant displacement of 0.045 µm in the optic nerve which may imply a non-significant injury to that. The findings of this study may have implications not only for understating the values of stresses and deformations in the human eye components but also for helping the ophthalmologists to have a more precise diagnosis about the injury position in the eye due to the tennis ball impact.     

Hopes and challenges for progressive educators in Japan: assessment of the ‘progressive turn’ in the 2002 educational reform

A variety of perspectives exist on the evaluation of Japan’s educational reform of 2002, which has evolved since the 1980s. However, thus far, little attention has been paid to the emerging influence of civil society on educational policies and practices. This paper shows that the origin of the current educational reforms can be traced to reports prepared by various neo‐liberal/conservative business leaders and politicians. Further, it shows their privatization and decentralization principles happen to coincide with the increasing interest of progressive citizens’ groups and educators. Their impact on the Japanese education system remains latent, especially as more scepticism grows towards progressivism as a philosophy behind the current educational reform. However, the expanding civil society and new progressive education movements in Japan are trends worth exploring in the context of globalization at the grass‐roots level.     

E-learning courseware for language education in Japan: its application and student perceptions

Abstract

Commercial e-learning courseware for English education has been widely used in Japanese universities as an effective tool to assist students in improving their overall English skills. The courseware that is described in this paper is believed to be useful for teachers to assess students’ progress and evaluate their dedication to English study. Despite the fact that various remarkable technical features have been discussed, not much research has been done to investigate student evaluation of courseware. This paper outlines a study carried out to investigate how Japanese undergraduate students rate commercial online courseware for their English study and what the relationship is between their appreciation of courseware and their educational background. The findings suggest that although different students exhibit different preferences there is a close relationship between the benefits of courseware and their previous language-learning experiences.     

Co‐evolution of mobile language learning: Going global with games consoles in higher education

Game consoles have been adopted as a learning platform in school education. However, there is a scarcity of studies examining the utility of games consoles with built‐in WiFi as affordable learning platforms in universities. This paper contributes to knowledge about the capacity of the Nintendo DSi to create new learning spaces mediated and supported by DSi consoles, free Flipnote Studio software for DS and a dedicated course website. An application of the DSi is described for remote supplemental language tutorial activities linking a dispersed body of students on a year‐abroad programme. It was found that the use of DSi as a mobile learning platform has great potential if it is used in combination with shared webspace, such as Hatena, by increasing students' learning motivation and eliminating fears/uncertainty about their progress.     

The Selectivity of Motion-Driven Visual Attention in Infants

The onset of motion was used to study stimulus-driven visual attention in 14-week-olds. The movement of an object did not capture attention reflexively at 14 weeks of age. The attention-getting properties of a moving stimulus depended significantly on its color in combination with the colors of other objects in the visual field. Specifically, detection of a green moving target was masked in the presence of mixed red and green static objects. No such masking was observed when the moving target was red or when the green target moved in a visual field that was populated only with green objects. The same effect was observed to a lesser extent when the green bars were replaced with gray bars. The number of distractors in the visual field exerted an effect on the accuracy of detection only when their appearance in the visual field was coincident with the onset of target motion. Attention to motion at this age is not independent of the structure of the visual field; chromatic preferences play a role in how readily infants attend to a moving object. These effects may be mediated by a difficulty in disengaging attention (from distractors) or in suppressing attention to competing objects once attention is engaged on a target.