Evaluation of world Englishes among Japanese junior and senior high school students

With the rapid spread of globalization, nonnative speakers of English have overwhelmingly outnumbered native speakers; 375 million native English speakers, 375 million second language speakers, and 750 million foreign language speakers (Graddol, 1997). The concept of World Englishes (WEs) alongside English as an International Language (EIL) or English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) have drawn attention from many researchers and the issue of mutual intelligibility has become a paramount concern. As such, some researchers pay attention to two contradictory orientations: the nativeness principle and intelligibility principle (Levis, 2005); the former posits that it is desirable to achieve native-like pronunciation and the latter that one simply needs to be understandable. To examine how young learners of English in Japan perceive different varieties of phonological features of English, we focused on their response to the recorded passage read by six speakers representing Inner, Outer and Expanding Circle (Kachru, 1985). Recurrent features we identified in their response are characterized by: (a) Native speakerism (Holliday, 2006); (b) Use of reference to own previous experiences, and (c) Familiarity. Noteworthy is that native speakerism embedded deeply in Japanese EFL context influences how they exhibit affiliation and disaffiliation with varieties of Englishes as they shift their footing (Goffman, 1981) from animator, author and to principal. They evaluated Outer and Expanding Circle English negatively and Inner Circle English positively. A segment of elicited data, however, elucidated a potential ownership (Norton, 1997; Peirce, 1995; Widdowson, 1994) emerging among younger learners as they evaluated Japanese English speaker in positive light. The study aims to identify how they perceive different varieties of Englishes and ultimately to foster the awareness among learners of English and teachers alike for the realistic models to pursue through shedding light on the notions of WEs, EIL or ELF

Mathematical modeling of a thermovoltaic cell

A new type of battery named 'Vaporvolt' cell is in the early stage of its development. A mathematical model of a CuO/Cu 'Vaporvolt' cell is presented that can be used to predict the potential and the transport behavior of the cell during discharge. A sensitivity analysis of the various transport and electrokinetic parameters indicates which parameters have the most influence on the predicted energy and power density of the 'Vaporvolt' cell. This information can be used to decide which parameters should be optimized or determined more accurately through further modeling or experimental studies. The optimal thicknesses of electrodes and separator, the concentration of the electrolyte, and the current density are determined by maximizing the power density. These parameter sensitivities and optimal design parameter values will help in the development of a better CuO/Cu 'Vaporvolt' cell

The art of dissembling in three Elizabethan writers: John Lyly, Robert Greene, and Shakespeare

'Dissembling', derived from courtiers' practice of sprezzatura. has the rhetorical ability to present one ostensible meaning/intention while simultaneously harbouring another meaning/intention. In this thesis, I suggest that three Elizabethan, writers - Lyly, Greene, and Shakespeare have selected this deceptive act as a means to amplify their writing. Lyly exerts the art of dissembling with the intention of enriching his writing verbally. The art enables him to write fiction of love, while he presents his works as either didactic treatises or encomiastic writings. As far as Greene's art of dissembling is concerned, it is a class-conscious one. In his courtly love romances, Greene explores both strengths and weaknesses of women as a way of reflecting his interest in both of the two different social positions of courtiers and shepherds. In his social pamphlets where he depicts middle-class traders in the framework of the prodigal son story, Greene attempts to marry the uneducated with the learned. Greene's tries at theatrical devices with the intention of lifting the boundary between reality and illusion in his plays help Shakespeare to gain an insight into the attainment of dramatic moments in his plays. Shakespeare, by dint of his art of dissembling, takes to multiplying the dissembling of the courtly and the lowly, the elite and the non-elite, reality and illusion which Greene has achieved throughout his career. In Shakespeare's good hands, Greene's art of dissembling is enriched by a movement towards 'bafflement' in both poetic and dramatic terms. An exploration of the way in which the art of dissembling is handed down from Lyly through Greene to Shakespeare encourages us to reconsider a connection between courtly culture and popular culture, the significance of Greene on the Elizabethan literary scene, a most neglected of the major Elizabethan writers, and the relationship of Shakespeare to Greene

FGF23 and Hypophosphatemic Rickets/Osteomalacia

Purpose of review X-linked hypophosphatemia and tumor-induced osteomalacia are diseases characterized by hypophosphatemia with impaired proximal tubular phosphate reabsorption. Complete resection of responsible tumors is the first line therapy for patients with tumor-induced osteomalacia. In contrast, phosphate and active vitamin D have been used for patients with X-linked hypophosphatemia and inoperable ones with tumor-induced osteomalacia. The purpose of this review is to summarize the pathogenesis of these diseases and discuss about the new treatment. Recent findings Excessive FGF23 production has been shown to underline several kinds of hypophosphatemic rickets/osteomalacia including X-linked hypophosphatemia and tumor-induced osteomalacia. Burosumab, an anti-FGF23 monoclonal antibody, was approved for clinical use while the indications of burosumab are different depending on countries. Summary The inhibition of excessive FGF23 activity has been approved as a new therapy for several kinds of hypophosphatemic diseases. Further studies are necessary to clarify the long-term effects and safety of burosumab

Forced Convection Heat Transfer Coefficient and Pressure Drop of Diamond-Shaped Fin-Array

After reading Professor Ali Farazmand's essay "Building Administrative Capacity in the Age of Rapid Globalization: A Modest Prescription for the Twenty-First Century," one is reminded that the list of capacities we need to develop is long, the tasks are diverse, and the challenges are tremendous. By offering a "modest" prescription, Farazmand departs emphatically from recent attempts to rewrite administrative capacity by downgrading it and outsourcing it to the market or by making it imitate corporate structures and techniques. Such exercises of yesteryear are correctly being excoriated now, but it would be well to remember that this failed model was inspired and facilitated by the stagnation and many perversities of the state-centered model that it replaced. As we stand at the cusp of a new generation of public administration reforms, we are reminded by Professor Farazmand's exposition that we no longer have any widely accepted and integrative theories left to guide our practice of reform, and that a search must begin to look at past evidence with a critical eye toward developing practical and theoretical insights to advance the public administration agenda

The Making of a Buddhist Heretic:A Case Study of Sky-Blue Sect

I examine Mòpyar Gaing: a new Buddhist sect that came to prominence in Myanmar in the 1980s and its founder monk; U Nyanar, who was arrested in the early 1980s for propagating the concept of ‘this-worldly karma’, which posed a major challenge to traditional beliefs in karmic causality and rebirth in the conservative Theravada tradition. The article examines how his re-interpretation of Buddhist doctrine brought against him charges of heresy and eventually led to lengthy prison terms until his release in 2016