Let’s Play Cards. Grammar is Fun. (How and Why I Have Taught English to My Students)

In Japan, most students have to memorize grammar rules to pass entrance examinations to high schools as well as universities. As speaking skills are not required in those exams, many students regard grammar as nothing but rote learning. However, grammar is not dried bones but a vivid creature, which can be formed by students. Grammar can be learned with the four skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing), which is addressing diverse learning styles. It can be taught with stories, poems, plays, songs, games, puppets, picture books, and playing cards. Once students learn the rules of grammar, they will be able to enjoy the process of learning grammar and will know how to put grammar into practice by using the rules. Once students get an idea what grammar is, they will surely be able to generalize and develop it. They will be able to retain the idea of grammar and use it as a tool to understand English

Preparation and Characterization of Nitridation Layer on 4H SiC (0001) Surface by Direct Plasma Nitridation

A nitride layer was formed on a SiC surface by plasma nitridation using pure nitrogen as the reaction gas at the temperature from 800°C to 1400°C. The surface was characterized by XPS. The XPS measurement showed that an oxinitride layer was formed on the SiC surface by the plasma nitridation. The high process temperature seemed to be effective to activate the niridation reaction. A SiO2 film was deposited on the nitridation layer to form SiO2/nitride/SiC structure. The interface state density of the SiO2/nitride/SiC structure was lower than that of the SiO2/SiC structure. This suggested that the nitridation was effective to improve the interface property.ArticleMaterials Science Forum, Vols. 778-780, pp. 631-634 (2014)journal articl

Plasma Nitridation of 4H-SiC by Glow Discharge of N2/H2 Mixed Gases

The mixed gas of nitrogen and hydrogen was used for the plasma nitridation of SiC surface.A small amount of hydrogen was effective to activate the nitridation reaction and suppress the oxidationreaction. The interface properties were improved by using nitride layer as an interfacial bufferlayer of SiC MIS structure.ArticleMaterials Science Forum, Vols. 821-823, pp. 504-507 (2015)journal articl

Development of icterus gravis in a preterm infant with G71R UGT1A1 polymorphism

BACKGROUND: Uridine diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) gene family is involved in the detoxification of biomaterials and drugs in the liver. Among the UGT gene family members, only UGT1A1 is involved in bilirubin conjugation. As a result, deficient UGT1A1 activity causes jaundice. One disease that is characterized by reduced UGT1A1 activity is Gilbert’s syndrome. Two prevalent UGT1A1 polymorphisms responsible for Gilbert’s syndrome have been identified: G71R in exon 1 and A(TA)7TAA in the TATA box of the promoter region. Recently, the G71R polymorphism has been associated with breastfeeding jaundice and neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in term infants. However, its association with jaundice in very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs) has never been reported. CASE PRESENTATION: The patient was a female born at 28 weeks, 4 days gestation with a birth weight of 1172 g. On day 21, intense yellowing of the skin and eyes was noted, and the patient’s total bilirubin level was 23.7 mg/dL (her direct bilirubin level was 2.1 mg/dL). Therefore, an exchange transfusion was conducted. She had neither blood type incompatibility nor a family history of constitutional jaundice. Metabolic screens for amino and organic acids were negative. No elevation of any of the examined antibody titers was noted, and no evidence of an inflammatory reaction was observed. In addition, no hematological abnormalities were detected. The direct/indirect Coombs test, irregular antibody test and red blood cell antibody dissociation test were all negative, and her thyroid function was normal. We performed sequence analysis of the UGT1A1 gene after the patient’s parents provided written informed consent. Exon 1 of the UGT1 gene on chromosome 2 was analyzed by direct sequencing. A heterozygous substitution from G to A (211G→A: G71R) in base 211 was noted. CONCLUSION: We speculated that this preterm infant with carrying the G71R polymorphism reduced UGT1A1 activity and developed severe jaundice that was likely triggered by factors such as breast feeding and medications. The polymorphism appears at some frequency among VLBWIs, which would necessitate adequate care of severe jaundice even after the acute phase

Near-Infrared Lasing at 1 mu m from a Dilute-Nitride-Based Multishell Nanowire

A coherent photon source emitting at near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths is at the heart of a wide variety of applications ranging from telecommunications and optical gas sensing to biological imaging and metrology. NIR-emitting semiconductor nanowires (NWs), acting both as a miniaturized optical resonator and as a photonic gain medium, are among the best-suited nanomaterials to achieve such goals. In this study, we demonstrate the NIR lasing at 1 mu m from GaAs/GaNAs/GaAs core/shell/cap dilute nitride nanowires with only 2.5% nitrogen. The achieved lasing is characterized by an S-shape pump-power dependence and narrowing of the emission line width. Through examining the lasing performance from a set of different single NWs, a threshold gain, g(th), of 4100-4800 cm(-1), was derived with a spontaneous emission coupling factor, beta, up to 0.8, which demonstrates the great potential of such nanophotonic material. The lasing mode was found to arise from the fundamental HE11a mode of the Fabry-Perot cavity from a single NW, exhibiting optical polarization along the NW axis. Based on temperature dependence of the lasing emission, a high characteristic temperature, T-0, of 160 (+/- 10) K is estimated. Our results, therefore, demonstrate a promising alternative route to achieve room-temperature NIR NW lasers thanks to the excellent alloy tunability and superior optical performance of such dilute nitride materials.Funding Agencies|Swedish Energy Agency [P40119-1]; Swedish Research Council [2015-05532]; Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT) [JA2014-5698]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University [2009-00971]; KAKENHI from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [16H05970, 23686004]; Kato Foundation for Promotion of Science; Kurata Memorial Hitachi Science and Technology Foundation; Murata Science Foundation</p

Preparation and Characterization of Nitridation Layer on 4H SiC (0001) Surface by Direct Plasma Nitridation

A nitride layer was formed on a SiC surface by plasma nitridation using pure nitrogen as the reaction gas at the temperature from 800°C to 1400°C. The surface was characterized by XPS. The XPS measurement showed that an oxinitride layer was formed on the SiC surface by the plasma nitridation. The high process temperature seemed to be effective to activate the niridation reaction. A SiO2 film was deposited on the nitridation layer to form SiO2/nitride/SiC structure. The interface state density of the SiO2/nitride/SiC structure was lower than that of the SiO2/SiC structure. This suggested that the nitridation was effective to improve the interface property.ArticleMaterials Science Forum, Vols. 778-780, pp. 631-634 (2014)journal articl

Effects of thermal annealing on localization and strain in core/multishell GaAs/GaNAs/GaAs nanowires

Core/shell nanowire (NW) heterostructures based on III-V semiconductors and related alloys are attractive for optoelectronic and photonic applications owing to the ability to modify their electronic structure via bandgap and strain engineering. Post-growth thermal annealing of such NWs is often involved during device fabrication and can also be used to improve their optical and transport properties. However, effects of such annealing on alloy disorder and strain in core/shell NWs are not fully understood. In this work we investigate these effects in novel core/shell/shell GaAs/GaNAs/GaAs NWs grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (111) Si substrates. By employing polarization-resolved photoluminescence measurements, we show that annealing (i) improves overall alloy uniformity due to suppressed long-range fluctuations in the N composition; (ii) reduces local strain within N clusters acting as quantum dot emitters; and (iii) leads to partial relaxation of the global strain caused by the lattice mismatch between GaNAs and GaAs. Our results, therefore, underline applicability of such treatment for improving optical quality of NWs from highly-mismatched alloys. They also call for caution when using ex-situ annealing in strain-engineered NW heterostructures.Funding Agencies|Swedish Energy AgencySwedish Energy Agency [P40119-1]; Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Research Council [2015-05532]; Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT) [JA2014-5698]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University [2009 00971]; KAKENHI from the Japan Society for the Promotion of ScienceMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT)Japan Society for the Promotion of ScienceGrants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) [16H05970, 23686004]; Kato Foundation for Promotion of Science; Kurata Memorial Hitachi Science and Technology Foundation; Murata Science Foundation; Linkoping University</p