Teacher Perceptions of an Online Extensive Reading Platform

Extensive reading (ER) has been shown to have a number of positive effects on learning a foreign language. Improvements in vocabulary size, reading fluency and comprehension, and grammatical accuracy are just some of the outcomes of extensive reading programs. Since 2011, extensive reading at Sojo University has been carried out through the use of graded readers, typically in the form of physical books made available to students either in class or through the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC). Recently, the popularity of reading texts in digital format has increased with the ubiquitous ownership of portable devices such as smartphones, tablets, and lightweight laptops. In April 2018, all second-year students at Sojo University were required to purchase a subscription to a website known as Xreading (www.xreading.com), which offers hundreds of graded readers in digital format. This study examines teacher perceptions of the platform. A total of nine teachers participated in the study, including the authors of the paper, and the results appear to indicate that teachers feel extensive reading in general is a worthwhile activity but difficult to implement in this context. Results also show that teachers feel the online platform, Xreading, needs to improve in several areas before providing a significant advantage over physical books

Mapping the evolution of scientific fields

Despite the apparent cross-disciplinary interactions among scientific fields, a formal description of their evolution is lacking. Here we describe a novel approach to study the dynamics and evolution of scientific fields using a network-based analysis. We build an idea network consisting of American Physical Society Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme (PACS) numbers as nodes representing scientific concepts. Two PACS numbers are linked if there exist publications that reference them simultaneously. We locate scientific fields using a community finding algorithm, and describe the time evolution of these fields over the course of 1985-2006. The communities we identify map to known scientific fields, and their age depends on their size and activity. We expect our approach to quantifying the evolution of ideas to be relevant for making predictions about the future of science and thus help to guide its development.Comment: v3: re-ran analysis with new noise parameter choice; 10 pages for main paper; 11 pages for suppl. inf

Student perceptions of an online extensive reading platform

Extensive reading (ER) has been shown to have a number of positive effects for learning a foreign language. Improvements in vocabulary size, reading fluency and comprehension, and grammatical accuracy are just some of the outcomes of extensive reading programs. Since 2011, extensive reading at Sojo University has been carried out through the use of graded readers, typically in the form of physical books made available to students either in class or through the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC). Recently, the popularity of reading texts in digital format has increased with the universal ownership of portable devices such as smartphones, tablets, and lightweight laptops. In April 2018, all second-year students at Sojo University were required to purchase a subscription to the Xreading website (www.xreading.com), which offers hundreds of graded readers in digital format. This study examines student perceptions of this platform. A total of 730 second-year students participated in the study, and the results appear to indicate that students feel extensive reading in general is a worthwhile activity to help them improve their English, but that the digital format provided by Xreading is not necessarily an improvement over physical books

Student Feedback on SILC Online Learning Provisions During the Covid-19 Pandemic

This paper elaborates on a survey relating to online learning experiences of second-year students on the SILC English programme during the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey was delivered online, in the first face-to-face class following a 4-week period of online instruction at the beginning of the 2020/21 academic year. Student feedback was important in providing SILC teachers with an impression of students’ experiences as well as students’ general perspectives towards online learning. Feedback also helped in gauging the effectiveness of the online learning provision and in identifying emerging challenges. Results showed variation in the extent to which students engaged with online learning. Analyses of survey data had implications for educational practices during the remainder of the semester as the SILC adapted to a hybrid face-to-face and ‘on demand’ online system

First Direct Double-Beta Decay Q-value Measurement of 82Se in Support of Understanding the Nature of the Neutrino

In anticipation of results from current and future double-beta decay studies, we report a measurement resulting in a 82Se double-beta decay Q-value of 2997.9(3) keV, an order of magnitude more precise than the currently accepted value. We also present preliminary results of a calculation of the 82Se neutrinoless double-beta decay nuclear matrix element that corrects in part for the small size of the shell model single-particle space. The results of this work are important for designing next generation double-beta decay experiments and for the theoretical interpretations of their observations.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Development of a fast cyclotron gas stopper for intense rare isotope beams from projectile fragmentation: Study of ion extraction with a radiofrequency carpet

Research and development has been performed in support of the design of a future rare isotope beam facility in the US. An important aspect of plans for earlier RIA (Rare Isotope Accelerator) and a requirement of FRIB (Facility of Rare Isotope Beams) to be built at Michigan State University are the availability of so-called “stopped beams” for research that contributes to answering questions like how elements in the universe are created and to provide better insight into the nature of Fundamental Interactions. In order to create “stopped beams” techniques are required that transform fast rare isotopes beams as they are available directly after addresses questions like the origin of that will allow and High priority is given to the evaluation of intensity limitations and the efficiency of stopping of fast fragment beams in gas cells and to the exploration of options to increase the efficiency and the reduction of space charge effects. Systematic studies performed at MSU as part of the RIA R&D with a linear gas cell under conditions close to those expected at RIA and related simulations confirm that the efficiency of stopping and extracting ions decreases with increasing beam intensity. Similar results have also been observed at RIKEN in Japan. These results indicate the concepts presently under study will not be able to cover the full range of intensities of fast beams expected at RIA without major losses. The development of a more robust concept is therefore critical to the RIA concept. Recent new beam simulation studies performed at the NSCL show that the stopping of heavy ions in a weakly focusing gas-filled magnetic field can overcome the intensity limitation of present systems while simultaneously providing a much faster ion extraction. We propose to design and build such a cyclotron gas stopper and to test it at the NSCL under conditions as close as possible to those found at RIA

An analysis of Lapanese university students\u27 English language learning beliefs

Through administration of an English/Japanese 45-item multiple choice survey, this project seeks to collect data on current SILC students’; (a) beliefs about a contemporary (communicative) orientation to learning English, (b) beliefs about a traditional orientation to learning English, (c) beliefs about the quality and sufficiency of classroom instruction for learning English, and (d) beliefs about foreign language learning aptitude and difficulty (see Sakui and Gaies, 1999)

The Role of the IMF in Future Sovereign Debt Restructurings: Report of the Annenberg House Expert Group

A meeting of international finance and insolvency experts was held on November 2, 2013 at the Annenberg House in Santa Monica, California. The meeting was co-hosted by the USC Law School and the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands. The goal was to solicit the views of experts on the implications of the IMF’s April 26, 2013 paper captioned “Sovereign Debt Restructuring -- Recent Developments and Implications for the Fund’s Legal and Policy Framework”. The April 26 paper may signal a shift in IMF policies in the area of sovereign debt workouts. Although the Expert Group discussed a number of the ideas contained in the April 26 paper, attention focused on paragraph 32 of that paper. That paragraph states in relevant part: “There may be a case for exploring additional ways to limit the risk that Fund resources will simply be used to bail out private creditors. For example, a presumption could be established that some form of a creditor bail-in measure would be implemented as a condition for Fund lending in cases where, although no clear-cut determination has been made that the debt is unsustainable, the member has lost market access and prospects for regaining market access are uncertain.” This Report summarizes the consensus views of the Expert Group on the practical implications of the suggestions contained in paragraph 32 of the April 26 paper

Analysis of an Extensive Reading Program

This paper seeks to expand on findings from a SILC project undertaken in the 2011/12 academic year, which examined the implementation of an Extensive Reading (ER) program into the EC4 curriculum. Since that time, extensive reading has become an integral element of both the EC3 and EC4 curricula. The expansion of the program since its inception in 2011 has created new challenges and also necessitated continued research to assess its on-going effectiveness. Thin study will analyse how well the expanded program is supporting established extensive reading principles, and also look at student performance within the program, with a particular focus on data gathered from Moodle Reader

Crystal-clear neuronal computing

Induced progressive crystallization in chalcogenide-based materials can be used to closely mimic neuronal functions, opening new paths to neuromorphic computing