Language and Cultural Learning Through Student-Generated Photography

This paper discusses the need for including a strong cultural awareness and instruction component in the curriculum of Communication classes for Japanese students at university. Important training in cultural awareness skills is sometimes lacking in classes or only lightly covered with short reading sections on selected cultural topics. Paying inadequate attention to this essential element of language learning can greatly hinder students in their desire for effective communication with native speakers. This paper presents a brief synopsis and explanation of a course taught in the English 1 Communication Course at Kansai University. The aim of this course is to develop linguistic competence in conjunction with cultural competence through the use of student-generated photographs of their own culture

Bäcklund transformations in the Hauser–Ernst formalism for stationary axisymmetric spacetimes

It is shown that Harrison's Bäcklund transformation for the Ernst equation of general relativity is a two-parameter subset (not subgroup) of the infinite-dimensional Geroch group K. We exhibit the specific matrix u(t) appearing in the Hauser–Ernst representation of K for vacuum spacetimes which gives the Harrison transformation. Harrison transformations are found to be associated with quadratic branch points of u(t) in the complex t plane. The coalescence of two such branch points to form a simple pole exhibits in a simple way the known factorization of the (null generalized) HKX transformation into two Harrison transformations. We also show how finite (i.e., already exponentiated) transformations in the B group and nonnull groups of Kinnersley and Chitre can be constructed out of Harrison and/or HKX transformations. Similar considerations can be applied to electrovac spacetimes to provide hitherto unknown Bäcklund transformations. As an example, we construct a six-parameter transformation which reduces to the double Harrison transformation when restricted to vacuum and which generates Kerr–Newman–NUT space from flat space

Relationship between the inverse scattering techniques of Belinskii–Zakharov and Hauser–Ernst in general relativity

We make a quantitative comparison between the pure-nonsoliton part of the inverse scattering method of Belinskii and Zakharov (BZ) and the homogeneous Hilbert problem of Hauser and Ernst (HE), these being two independent representations of an infinite-dimensional subgroup [script K] of the Geroch group K of invariance transformations for spacetimes with two commuting Killing vectors. An explicit formula for the BZ representing matrix function G0(lambda) in terms of the HE representing matrix function u(t) is derived. It is shown how certain solution generating techniques (e.g., Harrison's Bäcklund transformation, HKX transformation, generation of Weyl solution from flat space, generation of n-Kerr–NUT solution from n-Schwarzschild) can be derived directly from the BZ formalism, including the soliton part in some cases, thereby bringing our understanding of the BZ formalism up to the level of the more fully developed HE formalism. A technical point which needed to be resolved along the way was how to analytically continue the complex matrix potential F(t) across a quadratic branch cut and onto the second Riemann sheet. Finally, we consider how the subgroup [script K][subset, equals]K represented by the BZ and HE formalisms can be enlarged either by simple limiting transitions or by relaxing boundary conditions

Language and Cultural Learning Through Student Generated Photography

This paper examines and discusses the unique teaching context and the inherent problems faced by foreign English teachers in the Japanese University System. It contains a personal account of the process the author went through to develop a new and interesting curriculum to overcome these problems. This curriculum is based on student-generated photographs of their lives and is an effective method of both language learning and culture learning. Included in the paper is a step-by-step course description of twenty-four lesson plans based on the photographs

Understanding the factors that influence motivation and experiences in high school physical education

Intro: In comparison to children, adolescents achieve significantly less physical activity (PA). Additionally, activity differences exist among genders and race/ethnicities. One way to influence the PA habits of adolescents is through high school physical education (PE). Though PE class reaches students of all ages, genders and races, motivation and experiences across these groups appear to differ. Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to determine if physical education descriptors, motivators, and experiences in ninth and tenth grade students differ across gender, race/ethnicity, and grade. Methods: Students completed a questionnaire about the factors that influence their motivation and experiences in PE class. Responses were compared across gender, race/ethnicity, and grade. Results: Primary findings show that boys and freshmen had more positive experiences in PE class than girls and sophomores, respectively. Additionally, Caucasian students had more negative experiences in PE class in comparison to students of any other race/ethnicity. Discussion: These findings illustrate the necessity for PE teacher sensitivity when teaching students of different genders, grades, and ethnic backgrounds and for attention to the social aspect of PE classes among females. Also, the results demonstrate the need for future research in this area

Integration of a generalized H\'enon-Heiles Hamiltonian

The generalized H\'enon-Heiles Hamiltonian $H=1/2(P_X^2+P_Y^2+c_1X^2+c_2Y^2)+aXY^2-bX^3/3$ with an additional nonpolynomial term $\mu Y^{-2}$ is known to be Liouville integrable for three sets of values of $(b/a,c_1,c_2)$. It has been previously integrated by genus two theta functions only in one of these cases. Defining the separating variables of the Hamilton-Jacobi equations, we succeed here, in the two other cases, to integrate the equations of motion with hyperelliptic functions.Comment: LaTex 2e. To appear, Journal of Mathematical Physic

Topology Change in (2+1)-Dimensional Gravity

In (2+1)-dimensional general relativity, the path integral for a manifold $M$ can be expressed in terms of a topological invariant, the Ray-Singer torsion of a flat bundle over $M$. For some manifolds, this makes an explicit computation of transition amplitudes possible. In this paper, we evaluate the amplitude for a simple topology-changing process. We show that certain amplitudes for spatial topology change are nonvanishing---in fact, they can be infrared divergent---but that they are infinitely suppressed relative to similar topology-preserving amplitudes.Comment: 19 pages of text plus 4 pages of figures, LaTeX (using epsf), UCD-11-9

On the gravitational field of static and stationary axial symmetric bodies with multi-polar structure

We give a physical interpretation to the multi-polar Erez-Rozen-Quevedo solution of the Einstein Equations in terms of bars. We find that each multi-pole correspond to the Newtonian potential of a bar with linear density proportional to a Legendre Polynomial. We use this fact to find an integral representation of the $\gamma$ function. These integral representations are used in the context of the inverse scattering method to find solutions associated to one or more rotating bodies each one with their own multi-polar structure.Comment: To be published in Classical and Quantum Gravit