Intercultural Communication in English Communication Courses

The drive for globalization of universities in Japan has affected the focus of many programs and courses at these universities. English courses in particular have seen their focus be moved more towards a communicative approach, often to the point where the title of the course itself is changed to reflect this. However, this shift in approach does not always align with what it means to communicate in an international or intercultural setting. This paper will share data collected from an English communication course utilizing participant developed mind maps to analyze student knowledge of intercultural communication. This analysis will show the effectiveness and alignment of one such course in enhancing student knowledge of communication. This data will be shared and suggestions for future research and course development are given

Assessing Student Interest and Prior Knowledge in Global Education

In the period of“ Super Global University Initiative” in Japan, many universities have made global education part of their core mission. The objectives of most of these courses and programs are not student-centered, however, resulting to decrease the possibilities for students’ successful engagement in the course content. For this purpose, this paper examines the prior knowledge and learning interest of undergraduate students participating in a course on a comparative study of education in Japan and education in several countries around the world. The KWL strategy was employed to gather the needed information. The result illustrates the aspects of global education the participants were interested in and the relationship between previous knowledge and what they desired to learn. Furthermore, the result suggested several pedagogical implications with respect to developing programs for global education

A Cross-Cultural Evaluation of Human Values in Mainstream Education

Human values are the essence of social wellbeing of all societies. However, at present, they are considered rather as means to promote human rights, while their function in creating a sense of humanity plays a secondary role. The aim of this study is to review and evaluate the influence of human values on mainstream education in a cross-cultural context. The study is based on qualitative research that uses focus group and individual interviews on mainstream education systems and models in order to understand the differences and the similarities with respect to universal human values in cross cultural settings. Results show that human values should play a significant part in shaping mainstream education and also there are considerable cross-country differences with regard to human values in mainstream education. The study concludes that improving of human values in mainstream education would enhance opportunities for better personal development and perfection of human relations at every level of human interaction

Application of GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Decision Technique in Exploration of Suitable Site Options for Anaerobic Digestion of Food and Biodegradable Waste in Oita City, Japan

Recently, the popularity of anaerobic digestion (AD) has been increasing, and selecting a site for AD is a complex process for both individuals and decision-makers. This process requires the selected site to fulfill all regulation requirements, simultaneously reducing environmental, sociocultural, technical, political, economic, and public health costs. A geographic-information-system-based multi-criteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA) is presented in this study to evaluate and examine the suitability of the study area in order to propose a suitable site for an AD facility in Oita City, Japan. Multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) was used to standardize the map layers into fuzzy membership functions. The proximity variables were classified into seven factors and three constraint groups, specifically, environmental, sociocultural, and technical/economic criteria. The proximity and criteria maps were combined using weighted linear combination (WLC) techniques, and the resulting suitability map was evaluated on a grading scale of 0–255 B. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) ranking analysis indicated that an area of about 13.36 km2 from the entire study area is the most suitable and that the remaining two options are still suitable for the intended purpose, but the entire decision will be entrusted to the decision-makers’ judgment

Application of GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Decision Technique in Exploration of Suitable Site Options for Anaerobic Digestion of Food and Biodegradable Waste in Oita City, Japan

Recently, the popularity of anaerobic digestion (AD) has been increasing, and selecting a site for AD is a complex process for both individuals and decision-makers. This process requires the selected site to fulfill all regulation requirements, simultaneously reducing environmental, sociocultural, technical, political, economic, and public health costs. A geographic-information-system-based multi-criteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA) is presented in this study to evaluate and examine the suitability of the study area in order to propose a suitable site for an AD facility in Oita City, Japan. Multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) was used to standardize the map layers into fuzzy membership functions. The proximity variables were classified into seven factors and three constraint groups, specifically, environmental, sociocultural, and technical/economic criteria. The proximity and criteria maps were combined using weighted linear combination (WLC) techniques, and the resulting suitability map was evaluated on a grading scale of 0–255 B. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) ranking analysis indicated that an area of about 13.36 km2 from the entire study area is the most suitable and that the remaining two options are still suitable for the intended purpose, but the entire decision will be entrusted to the decision-makers’ judgment

A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis of Waste Treatment Options for Food and Biodegradable Waste Management in Japan

Dealing with large-scale Food and Biodegradable Waste (FBW) often results in many logistical problems and environmental impacts to be considered. These can become great hindrances when the integration of solid waste management is concerned. Extra care is needed to plan such waste disposal or treatment services and facilities, especially with respect to the ecological impact. Decision-making with regards to the sustainable use of these facilities also involves tradeoffs between a number of conflicting objectives, since increasing one benefit may decrease the others. In this study a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is presented to evaluate different waste management options and their applicability in Japan. The analytical process aims at selecting the most suitable waste treatment option, using pairwise comparisons conducted within a decision hierarchy that was developed through the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results of this study show that anaerobic digestion should be chosen as the best FBW treatment option with regards to resource recovery. The study also presents some conditions and recommendations that can enhance the suitability of other options like incineration and composting