Development of Japanese elementary curriculum that emphasises spoken-ness

This paper discusses the curriculum development which aims to enhance the spoken-ness or naturalness of two-way spoken conversation in Japanese. There are many special features in Japanese spoken conversation, such as particle omission, sentence-final particles, response tokens, fillers, repeat/repair and inversion. Being special characteristics of spoken Japanese, these features are indispensable to �natural� Japanese, and should be included in Japanese learning process if the goal of the Japanese education is to acquire natural Japanese. Despite their significance, these features have not sufficiently and systematically been taught in the current Japanese education. This is due to the fact that these features have not been recognised as formal learning objectives by Japanese teachers. However, there is no theoretical or empirical evidence that these features are too difficult for beginners and should not be taught at the elementary level. The study will discuss the curriculum development in the elementary courses of Japanese program at the Australian National University (ANU), which systematically adopts these features at the early stage of learning process. It will detail the development background, curriculum contents, and assessment of the special features. Since the curriculum was first implemented in the Japanese elementary courses at the ANU five years ago, no students or teachers have provided negative comments about learning/teaching these features. It is crucial that teachers first recognise those features as formal learning objectives and include in their Japanese courses

Associations between Physical Activity and Obesity Defined by Waist-To-Height Ratio and Body Mass Index in the Korean Population

Objective This study investigated the associations between physical activity and the prevalence of obesity determined by waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and body mass index (BMI). Methods This is the first study to our knowledge on physical activity and obesity using a nationally representative sample of South Korean population from The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We categorized individuals into either non-obese or obese defined by WHtR and BMI. Levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were classified as ‘Inactive’, ‘Active’, and ‘Very active’ groups based on the World Health Organization physical activity guidelines. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the associations between physical activity and the prevalence of obesity. Results Physical activity was significantly associated with a lower prevalence of obesity using both WHtR and BMI. Compared to inactive men, odds ratios (ORs) (95% confidence intervals [CIs]) for obesity by WHtR ≥0.50 were 0.69 (0.53–0.89) in active men and 0.76 (0.63–0.91) in very active men (p for trend = 0.007). The ORs (95% CIs) for obesity by BMI ≥25 kg/m2 were 0.78 (0.59–1.03) in active men and 0.82 (0.67–0.99) in very active men (p for trend = 0.060). The ORs (95% CIs) for obesity by BMI ≥30 kg/m2 were 0.40 (0.15–0.98) in active men and 0.90 (0.52–1.56) in very active men (p for trend = 0.978). Compared to inactive women, the ORs (95% CIs) for obesity by WHtR ≥0.50 were 0.94 (0.75–1.18) in active women and 0.84 (0.71–0.998) in very active women (p for trend = 0.046). However, no significant associations were found between physical activity and obesity by BMI in women. Conclusions We found more significant associations between physical activity and obesity defined by WHtR than BMI. However, intervention studies are warranted to investigate and compare causal associations between physical activity and different obesity measures in various populations

Correlates of Total and domain-specific Sedentary behavior: a cross-sectional study in Dutch adults.

BACKGROUND: Sedentary behavior (SB) is associated with increased risks of detrimental health outcomes. Few studies have explored correlates of SB in physically active individuals. Furthermore, SB correlates may depend on settings of SB, such as occupation, transportation and leisure time sitting. This study aims to identify subject-, lifestyle- and health-related correlates for total SB and different SB domains: transportation, occupation, and leisure time. METHODS: Dutch participants were recruited between June, 2015 and December, 2016. Participant characteristics (i.e. age, sex, weight, height, marital status, education level, employment), lifestyle (sleep, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity) and medical history were collected via an online questionnaire. SB was assessed using the Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire and estimated for 9 different activities during weekdays and weekend days. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the association between correlates and SB. Total SB was dichotomized at > 8 h/day and > 10 h/day, and being sedentary during transportation, occupation and leisure time at the 75th percentile (60 min/day, 275 min/day and 410 min/day, respectively). RESULTS: In total, 8471 participants (median age 55, 55% men) were included of whom 86% met the physical activity guidelines. Median SB was 9.1 h/day (Q25 6.3-Q75 12.0) during weekdays and 7.4 h/day (Q25 5.5-Q75 9.5) during weekend days. SB was most prevalent during leisure time (5.3 h/day; Q25 3.9-Q75 6.8), followed by occupation (2 h/day; Q25 0.1-Q75 4.6) and transportation (0.5 h/day; Q25 0.2-Q75 1.0). Younger age, male sex, being unmarried, higher education, employment and higher BMI were significantly related to higher levels of total SB. Younger age, male sex, employment, and higher BMI increased the odds for high SB volumes during occupation and transportation. Higher education, being unmarried and smoking status were positively associated with high volumes of occupational SB only, whereas older age, being unmarried, unemployment, higher BMI and poor health were positively linked to leisure time SB. CONCLUSIONS: SB is highly prevalent in physically active individuals, with SB during leisure time as the most important contributor. Correlates for high volumes of SB vary substantially across SB domains, emphasizing the difficulty to target this unhealthy lifestyle

Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics at p-n Junction of Cu(In,Ga)Se2- Based Solar Cells Measured by Optical Pump Terahertz Probe Spectroscopy

Among other materials, the p-type Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) alloy has attracted attention as the most efficient absorber in thin-film solar cells. The typical CIGS layer is deposited with a polycrystalline structure containing an amount of native defect states, which serve as carrier traps and recombination centers. These defect states in the CIGS layer can be easily changed after deposition of an n-type buffer layer, due to the formation of p-n junctions. To understand the influence of the p-n junction on these defect states, the behavior of photoexcited carriers, from the CIGS absorber to the buffer layer, is considered to be an important issue and is closely related to solar cell performance. In this study, we performed experiments to investigate the ultrafast carrier dynamics of CIGS-based solar cells, using optical pump terahertz (THz) probe (OPTP) spectroscopy, and demonstrated the correlation between solar cell performance and the behavior of photoexcited carrier dynamics

Discrete tonal noise of NACA0015 airfoil at low reynolds number

This paper is a pilot study of the effect of external forcing and passive control on the generation of airfoil whistle noise. Interaction between instability travelling inside laminar boundary layer with the airfoil trailing edge produces discrete tonal noise. This phenomenon commonly found at low-to-moderate Reynolds numbers. The characteristics and behavior of tonal emissions at low Reynolds number differs from that at higher Reynolds number. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to study the discrete tonal noise generated by laminar boundary layer instability at low Reynolds number as well as at a variation of angle of attack. Experimental testing on NACA0015 was done in the anechoic wind tunnel to measure the sound spectrum at Reynolds number of Re~104 and angle of attack of 0°≤α≤5°. This work is intended to provide additional information to the tonal behavior of NACA series airfoil. Flow separation without reattachment occurs on the suction side within the selected Reynolds number and angle of attack. No tonal sound was found if fs falls below 40dB. At low Reynolds number, airfoil discrete tone consists of high intensity fs accompanied by more pronounced fn as freestream velocity increases. Airfoil tonal noise gradually decreases as angle of attack increases from α=0^° before disappearing beyond α=5°. Moreover, previously proposed empirical models to predict fs were found to have limitation in predicting tonal frequency at low Reynolds number at a variation of angle of attack. In addition, general observation shows fn has a velocity dependency of ~U0.8 while f_s is prone to exhibit ladder structure behavior with velocity dependency of ~U1.3

Prospective study of alcohol consumption and the incidence of the metabolic syndrome in US men

Few studies have evaluated the effects of alcohol consumption on the incidence of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). Therefore, the objective of the present study was to examine the association between alcohol consumption and incident MetS in a population of US men. This is a prospective study of 7483 Caucasian men, who were free of the MetS and CVD at baseline. Information was collected on alcohol consumption, health status and fitness level at an initial clinical examination. Additional health information and determination of incident cases of the MetS were obtained at follow-up clinical examinations between 1979 and 2005. Compared with non-drinkers, the multivariate hazard ratios of the MetS for light (1–3 drinks/week), moderate (4–7 drinks/week), moderate–heavy (8–13 drinks/week) and heavy ( ≥ 14 drinks/week) drinkers were 0·81 (95 % CI 0·68, 0·95), 0·68 (95 % CI 0·57, 0·80), 0·70 (95 % CI 0·59, 0·83) and 0·78 (95 % CI 0·66, 0·91), respectively. This association was seen across age groups, in men with one or more pre-existing MetS risk factors, and those with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2, and in all alcohol beverage types at most levels of alcohol consumption. An inverse dose–response association between alcohol consumption and low HDL concentrations was observed, while significant associations were observed between high fasting glucose concentrations and moderate, moderate–heavy and heavy levels of alcohol consumption. Alcohol consumption was not significantly associated with central obesity, hypertriacylglycerolaemia or hypertension. All levels of alcohol consumption provided significant inverse associations with incidence of the MetS. In particular, this effect was observed in overweight and/or obese individuals, in those who had pre-existing risk factors for the MetS, and extended across all types of alcoholic beverages consumed

Evaluation of the effectiveness of a trophy Blue Catfish regulation in Oklahoma

Growing interest in trophy Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus angling has resulted in implementation of trophy regulations by some natural resource agencies. On January 1, 2010, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation adopted a regulation that only one Blue Catfish over 760 mm can be harvested per day to redirect angler harvest towards smaller fish, control harvest of large fish, and improve the overall size structure of these populations. This study evaluates whether the 762 mm length regulation has resulted in improved size structure of Blue Catfish in Oklahoma reservoirs. We compared pre- (2003-2006) and post- (2017-2018) regulation population parameters from seven Oklahoma reservoirs and found significant differences in length frequencies in all sampled reservoirs and age frequencies on the three reservoirs where otoliths were collected, although not necessarily congruent with expectations from the trophy regulation. Two lakes, for example Texoma and Ellsworth, exhibited significant increases in PSD, indicating a greater abundance of larger fish, but the other five lakes exhibited opposite or no clear trend. As of 2018, it appears the regulation change has been ineffective at meeting its stated goals, at least on a state-wide basis

EffectiveSan: Type and Memory Error Detection using Dynamically Typed C/C++

Low-level programming languages with weak/static type systems, such as C and C++, are vulnerable to errors relating to the misuse of memory at runtime, such as (sub-)object bounds overflows, (re)use-after-free, and type confusion. Such errors account for many security and other undefined behavior bugs for programs written in these languages. In this paper, we introduce the notion of dynamically typed C/C++, which aims to detect such errors by dynamically checking the "effective type" of each object before use at runtime. We also present an implementation of dynamically typed C/C++ in the form of the Effective Type Sanitizer (EffectiveSan). EffectiveSan enforces type and memory safety using a combination of low-fat pointers, type meta data and type/bounds check instrumentation. We evaluate EffectiveSan against the SPEC2006 benchmark suite and the Firefox web browser, and detect several new type and memory errors. We also show that EffectiveSan achieves high compatibility and reasonable overheads for the given error coverage. Finally, we highlight that EffectiveSan is one of only a few tools that can detect sub-object bounds errors, and uses a novel approach (dynamic type checking) to do so.Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of 39th ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI2018