Unpacking Japanese Culture in Children’s Picture Books: Culturally Authentic Representation and Historical Events/Political Issues

This study investigated culturally authentic representations and perspectives on historical events and political issues presented in children’s picture books on Japanese culture. Our analysis of the representation of Japanese culture in the texts and illustrations was based on a sample of 37 children’s picture books written in English or English/Japanese and published in the United States between 1990-2016 for ages 3-8. The majority of the sampled books were found to portray a visible and concrete level of Japanese culture, including clothes, food, holidays, festivals, and traditional activities, some of which had outdated and inaccurate descriptions and illustrations. Social customs and behaviors described in the children’s books reflected traditional Japanese values and beliefs well, including respect, harmony, and Wabi Sabi. Books dealing with the crossing of different cultures showed conflicts, confusion, or identity issues in young Japanese protagonists who were often immigrant or biracial. Stories showing Japanese historical events/political issues as background included the voices of the Japanese/Japanese-Americans with their perspectives, instead of mainstream European/American perspectives. Cultural authenticity, going beyond the superficial level to include marginalization at cultural crossings, and the focalization of historical events and political issues portrayed/illustrated in children’s picture books are discussed

Working memory and its relation to interference and facilitation effects on a Stroop task in persons with mild cognitive impairments and normal elderly adults

The current study investigated working memory(WM) and its relation to interference and facilitation effects using a Stroop-like token task in persons with mild cognitive impairments(MCI) and normal elderly adults(NEA). Both groups demonstrated interference effects. MCI group showed greater interference effects than NEA in the accuracy analysis. The results are consistent with the previous findings (Belleville et al., 2010). Both groups showed no facilitation effects in the accuracy rate. However, they showed longer response times in 75%Congruent than neutral condition. Among WM measures, subtract-2 span task was most highly correlated with the incongruent trials of 75%Congruent condition with the highest cognitive demands

Decision Factors in Purchasing Denim Jeans: Comparison of Teens and College Students

A pair of denim jeans is a daily fashion item that almost every teen and college-age individual owns and wears on a regular basis. The population of teens born between 1994 and 2010 is estimated to be more than 23 million and is the fastest growing segment in the apparel industry (Schrorer, 2012). Recent research (Setlow, 2000) has shown that apparel companies are targeting this growing population as they have large discretionary spending power

L1448-MM Observations by the Herschel Key Program, "Dust, Ice, and Gas in Time" (DIGIT)

We present Herschel/Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) observations of L1448-MM, a Class 0 protostar with a prominent outflow. Numerous emission lines are detected at 55 1000 K) environment, indicative of a shock origin. For OH, IR-pumping processes play an important role in the level population. The molecular emission in L1448-MM is better explained with a C-shock model, but the atomic emission of PACS [O I] and Spitzer/Infrared Spectrograph [Si II] emission is not consistent with C-shocks, suggesting multiple shocks in this region. Water is the major line coolant of L1448-MM in the PACS wavelength range, and the best-fit LVG models predict that H2O and CO emit (50%-80%) of their line luminosity in the PACS wavelength range.Herschel Open Time Key Project ProgramNASAJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of TechnologyBasic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)Ministry of Education of the Korean government NRF-2010-0008704, NRF-2012R1A1A2044689Core Research Program of NRFMinistry of Science, ICTFuture Planning of the Korean government NRF-2011-0015816Korea Astronomy and Space Science InstituteKorean government (MEST)Astronom

Dynamic cerebral autoregulation is intact in chronic kidney disease

Article describes how chronic kidney disease patients experience an elevated risk for cerebrovascular disease, and a factor that may contribute to this is an impairment in dynamic cerebral autoregulation. The authors test their hypothesis by comparing dynamic cerebral autoregulation between CKD patients stages III-IV and matched controls (CON) without CKD

A Gaia view on the star formation in the Monoceros OB1 and R1 associations

Stellar kinematics provides the key to understanding star formation process. In this respect, we present a kinematic study of the Monoceros OB1 (Mon OB1) and R1 (Mon R1) associations using the recent Gaia data and radial velocities of stars derived from high-resolution spectroscopy and the literature. A total of 728 members are selected using the criteria based on the intrinsic properties of young stars, parallaxes, and proper motions. The spatial distribution and kinematic properties of members show that these associations have distinct substructures. In Mon OB1, we find one northern group and two southern groups. Mon R1 is composed of three small stellar groups that are spatially and kinematically distinct. Some stars are found in a halo around these two associations. We detect patterns of expansion for most stellar groups in the associations. In addition, two stellar groups in Mon OB1 show the signature of rotation, which provides an important constraint on cluster formation. The star formation history of Mon OB1 is slightly revised. Star formation first occurred in the southern region and subsequently in the northern region. Recent star-forming events ignited deeper into the southern region, while some stars are escaping from Mon OB1, forming a halo. Mon R1 might have formed at the same epoch as the formation of the northern group in Mon OB1. Given that star formation is taking place on different scales along a large arc-like structure, Mon OB1 and Mon R1 may be the results of hierarchical star formation.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in A