Policies and Practices of School Leaderships in Japan: A Case of Leadership Development Strategies in Akita

Reflecting the social and economic change, Japanese education has shifted to decentralization since the 1980s. With an increased autonomy and responsibility, the local government plays an important role to develop competent school leaders. This descriptive study employs case study approach to illustrate current status of leadership development at the local level in Japan. Through the analysis of current policies and practices, it lays out the strategies of leadership development in Akita prefecture. In addition, semi-structured interviews with 17 education leaders were conducted in 2014 and 2015 to explore their perceptions on the leadership development. The study found that the leadership development in Akita is implemented combining formal and informal training activities. While a comprehensive professional development system is implemented strategically, informal learning of competency is commonly exercised. This dual approach enables school leaders to develop their leadership skills and knowledge

A study on Teacher’s Self-efficacy for promoting ICT integrated Education in primary school in Mongolia

Use of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) in education has been received more attention for improving a quality of education, and this is no exception in Mongolia. This study investigates the current climate of ICT integrated education in Mongolia through a lense of teachers’ self-efficacy. The data were collected from 838 primary school teachers in Mongolia. The pairwise correlation coefficient was calculated to assess the relationships between three types of perceived self-efficacy (confidence, competency and satisfaction.) and two education aspects, teacher training activities and practical ICT experience at school level. The study found that perceived influence of school-based trainings had the strongest correlation among teacher training activities. It also found that positive institutional attitude toward ICT integrated education is vital to teacher’s self-efficacy. Based on the findings, following points were implied to increase or maintain teacher’s higher self-efficacy: 1) school-based teacher training activities, especially related to ICT integrated education, should be given a priority; and 2) sessions to understand the pedagogical value of ICT should be included in management level trainings

Appreciation of Japanese Calligraphy by German University Students : Focused on "Hitsumyaku" and Deformation

本研究の目的は、漢字を持たない文化圏における書の観賞について最重要とされる筆脈とデフォルメの感受を明らかにすることである。本稿では、様々な専門をもつドイツの大学生を対象に行った実験結果を、日本における同種の実験結果と比較する。考察の結果以下の結論を得た。 ①書は、可読性が書き手と観賞者の間の共通項として重要な働きを持つ。しかし、一方で観賞者は読むことのできない文字に対しても、内的自己と照らし合わせて観賞することができる ②書き手の制作意識は「筆脈」により観賞者に感じ取られる。 ③書作品は、障害のある書き手による場合でも作品自体の魅力によって観賞者の心をとらえる。 ④書は、漢字文化圏を超えて世界に広がる可能性を持ったグローバルな芸術領域である。Purpose of this study is to examine appreciation of most important factors in Japanese Calligraphy, "hitsumyaku" and "deformation" by German university students of various major field, who have not been grown up out of "kanji" culture. Comparing the results with our former examination for Japanese students, following results were made clear, 1. Even though readability of letters plays an important role between calligrapher and viewer in generally, viewers can appreciate unreadable letters with reference to his/her own inner mind. 2. Calligrapher's intension can be appreciated through "hitsumyaku". 3. Calligraphy by handicapped people can appeal to viewers without knowing about the calligrapher's handicaps and their letters themselves can attract viewers. 4. Calligraphy which is consist of various lines is a global art being able to appeal people across the kanji culture

Development and validation of the short version of metacognitions questionnaire-Insomnia

Waine, Broomfield, Banham, & Espie (2009) developed and validated the Metacognitions Questionnaire-Insomnia (MCQ-I) to assess metacognition about sleep, which was hypothesized to have a two-factor structure consisting of metacognitive belief about sleep, and metacognitive plans about sleep. However, it is unclear if the MCQ-I reflects metacognition about sleep as hypothesized because no item analysis or factor analysis was conducted. The present study was designed to develop a short version of MCQ-I using selected items and investigate its reliability and validity. A cross-sectional survey using the MCQ-I was conducted with undergraduates (N=330) and 27 patients with chronic insomnia disorder. Results of factor analysis and item analysis of their responses indicated that MCQ-I has a two-factor structure as hypothesized, and 25 items had high internal consistency. Moreover, the MCQ-I-25 was correlated with metacognition about worry, comprehensive dimensions of cognitive arousal, and sleep disturbances. Furthermore, the MCQ-I-25 score was higher in insomnia patients than healthy students. These results suggest that MCQ-I-25 reflects metacognition about sleep and could predict cognitive arousal and insomnia

Millimeter-wave Wireless LAN and its Extension toward 5G Heterogeneous Networks

Millimeter-wave (mmw) frequency bands, especially 60 GHz unlicensed band, are considered as a promising solution for gigabit short range wireless communication systems. IEEE standard 802.11ad, also known as WiGig, is standardized for the usage of the 60 GHz unlicensed band for wireless local area networks (WLANs). By using this mmw WLAN, multi-Gbps rate can be achieved to support bandwidth-intensive multimedia applications. Exhaustive search along with beamforming (BF) is usually used to overcome 60 GHz channel propagation loss and accomplish data transmissions in such mmw WLANs. Because of its short range transmission with a high susceptibility to path blocking, multiple number of mmw access points (APs) should be used to fully cover a typical target environment for future high capacity multi-Gbps WLANs. Therefore, coordination among mmw APs is highly needed to overcome packet collisions resulting from un-coordinated exhaustive search BF and to increase the total capacity of mmw WLANs. In this paper, we firstly give the current status of mmw WLANs with our developed WiGig AP prototype. Then, we highlight the great need for coordinated transmissions among mmw APs as a key enabler for future high capacity mmw WLANs. Two different types of coordinated mmw WLAN architecture are introduced. One is the distributed antenna type architecture to realize centralized coordination, while the other is an autonomous coordination with the assistance of legacy Wi-Fi signaling. Moreover, two heterogeneous network (HetNet) architectures are also introduced to efficiently extend the coordinated mmw WLANs to be used for future 5th Generation (5G) cellular networks.Comment: 18 pages, 24 figures, accepted, invited paper

Correlation of diffusion coefficients for naphthalene and dimethylnaphthalene isomers in supercritical carbon dioxide

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科生産プロセスAn equation proposed by Darken, including the thermodynamic factor and tracer diffusion coefficients of solvent and solute, was adopted to correlate the diffusion coefficients for naphthalene and dimethylnaphthalene (DMN) isomers in supercritical carbon dioxide and the correlated results were compared with the experimental data. IML equation of state with mixing rules and combining rules containing two adjustable interaction parameters were used for calculation of the thermodynamic factor. By using the interaction parameters adjusted to the solubility data, the concentration dependence of diffusion coefficients and their anomaly near the critical point of carbon dioxide can be quantitatively represented. In order to improve the reliability of experimental results, some re-measured diffusion coefficient data for naphthalene, 2,6- and 2,7-DMN at 308.2 K, and new data for naphthalene at 318.2 K and for 2,3-DMN at 308.2 K are presented