EXPRESSING VOICE IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: MULTIWRITING HAIKU PEDAGOGY IN THE EFL CONTEXT 

One of the crucial perspectives in the teaching of second language (L2) writing is to develop voice (Iida, 2010; Paltridge et al., 2009). While scholars have discussed the significance of teaching voice from theoretical viewpoints, there is scant reporting on how to teach the concept and how to train L2 writers to express their own thoughts in the target language in the composition classroom. The aim of this article is to discuss how L2 writers can develop their voice through poetry writing in the L2 composition classroom. After describing the concept of voice and the feature of multiwriting, this article will explore the potential of multiwriting haiku pedagogy as a way to develop and express voice in the EFL freshman college writing classroom. It will also present a step-by-step approach for multiwriting haiku in the EFL classroom and then illustrate how Japanese EFL writers express voice and articulate self in the poetic text with the pedagogical guidelines.Â

Recent Status of Small Satellite Study in Japan

This paper describes the recent status of small satellite study in Japan focusing on the activities of the Small Payload WorkShop (SPWS) which was established in January, 1990. The objectives of SPWS are to review the development of small satellite and its launching system, to study the possible mission, to exchange information, to pick up and study the issues to be solved and to contribute to the good and efficient development of the future plan of small satellite utilization in Japan. The discussion to initiate the SPWS is reviewed briefly. The paper describes the recent studies of small satellites missions and launching systems as well as the Japanese small satellites which have been launched so far

Lattice QCD at finite baryon density using analytic continuation

We simulate lattice QCD with two flavors of Wilson fermions at imaginary baryon chemical potential. Results for the baryon number density computed in the confining and deconfining phases at imaginary baryon chemical potential are used to determine the baryon number density and higher cumulants at the real chemical potential via analytical continuation.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, Contribution to ICNFP2017, to be published in EPJ Web of Conference

Functional peptide KP24 enhances submandibular gland tissue growth in vitro

AbstractIntroductionSalivary gland hypofunction, also known as xerostomia, occurs as a result of radiotherapy for head and neck cancer, autoimmune diseases, or aging. Xerostomia leads to oral health problems and thus affects the quality of life. Biological salivary gland tissue generated in vitro would provide an alternative mode of treatment for this disease.MethodsTo develop a novel method for modulating salivary gland tissue growth in vitro, we prepared a KP24 peptide-immobilized hydrogel sheet, wherein the peptide comprised repeating proline and lysine sequences, and evaluated the effect of this peptide on salivary gland tissue growth.ResultsWe found that the KP24 peptide has the potential to enhance glandular tissue growth in vitro. This enhancement is associated with neurite outgrowth and increasing neural innervation.ConclusionKP24 peptide modified material would be a promising material for the modulation of salivary gland tissue growth in vitro

Super-chiral vibrational spectroscopy with metasurfaces for high-sensitive identification of alanine enantiomers

Chiral nature of an enantiomer can be characterized by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, but such a technique usually suffers from weak signal even with a sophisticated optical instrument. Recent demonstrations of plasmonic metasurfaces showed that chiroptical interaction of molecules can be engineered, thereby greatly simplifying a measurement system with high sensing capability. Here, by exploiting super-chiral field in a metasurface, we experimentally demonstrate high-sensitive vibrational CD spectroscopy of alanine enantiomers, the smallest chiral amino acid. Under linearly polarized excitation, the metasurface consisting of an array of staggered Au nano-rods selectively produces the left- and right-handed super-chiral fields at 1600 cm−1, which spectrally overlaps with the functional group vibrations of alanine. In the Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer measurements, the mirror symmetric CD spectra of D- and L-alanine are clearly observed depending on the handedness of the metasurface, realizing the reliable identification of small chiral molecules. The corresponding numerical simulations reveal the underlying resonant chiroptical interaction of plasmonic modes of the metasurface and vibrational modes of alanine. Our approach demonstrates a high-sensitive vibrational CD spectroscopic technique, opening up a reliable chiral sensing platform for advanced infrared inspection technologies