Why Do Japanese People Not Speak English? Japanese Elementary Students in a Bilingual School

Japanese schools have invested much money and effort in teaching English, yet why do most Japanese people not speak English? Their reticence has been attributed to various factors including communication apprehension or language anxiety. In this study, qualitative, phenomenological interviews were conducted with 24 Japanese upper elementary students at a bilingual international school in Japan to investigate influences on their willingness to communicate in English. Through open coding of the students’ responses, four themes emerged. Intrinsic factors which made students reticent to speak in English were internal stress and the perceived difficulty of English speaking. Social groups and identity issues were extrinsic factors which were also found to influence Japanese students’ attitudes toward English speaking

THE ROLE OF MEMBRANE DOMAINS IN PROTEIN AND LIPID SORTING DURING ENDOCYTIC TRAFFIC

The lipid and protein composition of the plasma membrane (PM) must be tightly controlled to maintain cellular functionality, despite constant, rapid endocytosis. Because de novo synthesis of proteins and lipids is energetically costly, the cell depends on active recycling to return endocytosed membrane components back to the PM. For most proteins, the mechanisms and pathways of their PM retention remain unknown. The work presented here shows that association with ordered membrane microdomains is fully sufficient for PM recycling and that abrogation of raft partitioning leads to their degradation in lysosomes. These findings support a model wherein ordered membrane domains mediate PM recycling of membrane components from the endosomal system. The next step was to identify the pathways and molecular players responsible for raft-mediated recycling. Using orthogonal transmembrane protein probes for raft and non-raft domains, I identified and validated cellular machinery that act as trafficking mediators specific for recycling of raft-associated proteins to the PM. This raft-mediated pathway is not dependent on the classical recycling pathways defined by Rab4 and Rab11, but instead represents a novel route for PM recycling of raft-preferring cargo from late endosomes. I implicate Rab3 as a central regulator of this pathway and show that the Rab3 family is essential for PM homeostasis, as abrogation of all four members of the Rab3 family disrupts PM recycling of lipid raft associated proteins. The findings reveal a fundamental role for raft microdomains in endocytic sorting and recycling and support a novel role for Rab3 as a central regulator of a previously unrecognized mechanism for PM and endosome homeostasis

Sequentially evaporated thin Y-Ba-Cu-O superconductor films: Composition and processing effects

Thin films of YBa2Cu3O(7-beta) have been grown by sequential evaporation of Cu, Y, and BaF2 on SrTiO3 and MgO substrates. The onset temperatures were as high as 93 K while T sub c was 85 K. The Ba/Y ratio was varied from 1.9 to 4.0. The Cu/Y ratio was varied from 2.8 to 3.4. The films were then annealed at various times and temperatures. The times ranged from 15 min to 3 hr, while the annealing temperatures used ranged from 850 C to 900 C. A good correlation was found between transition temperature (T sub c) and the annealing conditions; the films annealed at 900 C on SrTiO3 had the best T sub c's. There was a weaker correlation between composition and T sub c. Barium poor films exhibitied semiconducting normal state resistance behavior while barium rich films were metallic. The films were analyzed by resistance versus temperature measurements and scanning electron microscopy. The analysis of the films and the correlations are reported

Dissection of a novel molecular determinant mediating Golgi to trans -Golgi network transition

Abstract.: Two major functions of the Golgi apparatus (GA) are formation of complex glycans and sorting of proteins destined for various subcellular compartments or secretion. To fulfill these tasks proper localization of the accessory proteins within the different sub-compartments of the GA is crucial. Here we investigate structural determinants mediating transition of the two glycosyltransferases β-1,4- galactosyltransferase 1 (gal-T1) and the α-1,3-fucosyltransferase 6 (fuc-T6) from the trans-Golgi cisterna to the trans-Golgi network (TGN). Upon treatment with the ionophore monensin both glycosyltransferases are found in TGN-derived swollen vesicles, as determined by confocal fluorescence microscopy and density gradient fractionation. Both enzymes carry a signal consisting of the amino acids E5P6 in gal-T1 and D2P3 in fuc-T6 necessary for the transition of these glycosyltransferases from the trans-Golgi cisterna to the TGN, but not for their steady state localization in the trans-Golgi cistern

Sequentially evaporated thin Y-Ba-Co-O superconducting films on microwave substrates

The development of high T sub c superconducting thin films on various microwave substrates is of major interest in space electronic systems. Thin films of YBa2Cu3O(7-Delta) were formed on SrTiO3, MgO, ZrO2 coated Al2O3, and LaAlO3 substrates by multi-layer sequential evaporation and subsequent annealing in oxygen. The technique allows controlled deposition of Cu, BaF2 and Y layers, as well as the ZrO buffer layers, to achieve reproducibility for microwave circuit fabrication. The three layer structure of Cu/BaF2/Y is repeated a minimum of four times. The films were annealed in an ambient of oxygen bubbled through water at temperatures between 850 C and 900 C followed by slow cooling (-2 C/minute) to 450 C, a low temperature anneal, and slow cooling to room temperature. Annealing times ranged from 15 minutes to 5 hrs. at high temperature and 0 to 6 hr. at 450 C. Silver contacts for four probe electrical measurements were formed by evaporation followed with an anneal at 500 C. The films were characterized by resistance-temperature measurements, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. Critical transition temperatures ranged from 30 K to 87 K as a function of the substrate, composition of the film, thicknesses of the layers, and annealing conditions. Microwave ring resonator circuits were also patterned on these MgO and LaAlO3 substrates

Effectiveness of Snap and A24-Automated Traps and Broadcast Anticoagulant Bait in Suppressing Commensal Rodents in Hawaii

Commensal rodents (invasive rats, Rattus spp.; house mice, Mus musculus) are well established globally. They threaten human health by disease transfer and impact economies by causing agricultural damage. On island landscapes, they are frequent predators of native species and affect biodiversity. To provide managers with better information regarding methods to suppress commensal rodent populations in remote island forests, in 2016 we evaluated the effectiveness of continuous rat trapping using snap-traps, Goodnature®A24 self-resetting rat traps, and a 1-time (2-application) hand-broadcast of anticoagulant rodenticide bait pellets (Diphacinone-50) applied at 13.8 kg/ha per application in a 5-ha forest on Oahu, Hawaii, USA. We compared rat and mouse abundance at the rat trapping site to a reference site by monitoring rodent tracking tunnels, which are baited ink cards in tunnels that allow footprints of animal visitors to be identified. We found that trapping reduced rat, but not mouse, abundance. The rodenticide treatment did not further reduce rat populations (P = 0.139), but temporarily reduced the mouse populations (P \u3c 0.001; from 33% tracking to 0% for 1.3 months). Our study highlighted the role of continuous trapping for rats and rodenticide baiting for mice as effective methods to suppress commensal rodent populations in remote island forests to protect native species biodiversity

In your eyes only? Discrepancies and agreement between self- and other-reports of personality from age 14 to 29

Do others perceive the personality changes that take place between the ages of 14 and 29 in a similar fashion as the aging person him- or herself? This cross-sectional study analyzed age trajectories in self- versus other-reported Big Five personality traits and in self-other agreement in a sample of more than 10,000 individuals from the myPersonality Project. Results for self-reported personality showed maturation effects (increases in extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and emotional stability), and this pattern was generally also reflected in other-reports, albeit with discrepancies regarding timing and magnitude. Age differences found for extraversion were similar between the self- and other-reports, but the increase found in self-reported conscientiousness was delayed in other-reports, and the curvilinear increase found in self-reported openness was slightly steeper in other-reports. Only emotional stability showed a distinct mismatch with an increase in self-reports, but no significant age effect in other-reports. Both the self- and other-reports of agreeableness showed no significant age trends. The trait correlations between the self- and other-reports increased with age for emotional stability, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness; by contrast, agreement regarding extraversion remained stable. The profile correlations confirmed increases in self-other agreement with age. We suggest that these gains in agreement are a further manifestation of maturation. Taken together, our analyses generally show commonalities but also some divergences in age-associated mean level changes between self- and other-reports of the Big Five, as well as an age trend towards increasing self-other agreement

Study Abroad for Preservice Teachers: A Critical Literature Review with Considerations for Research and Practice

This article applies a postcolonial analytical framework to critically review empirical literature on study abroad for preservice teachers (PSTs). Our systematic search of scholarly databases identified 47 empirical studies of study abroad programs for PSTs in the 2000-2019 time period. Our analysis of these 47 studies is driven by the objectives to (a) understand geographic patterns in study abroad of PSTs, (b) examine the topics, conceptual frames, and implementation of study abroad of PSTs, (c) explore how study abroad for PSTs is currently being conceptualized and studied, and (d) critically analyze how these geographic patterns and study abroad programmatic and research trends are situated within broader North-South relations (Major & Santoro, 2016). Using geovisualizations we illustrate patterns in the countries of origin of PSTs and the countries in which they study abroad. We find that the majority of PSTs are from the United States and are traveling to countries in the North. When examining the content and programming of study abroad, we find many programs focus on cultivating professional skills for PSTs such as language fluency for foreign language teachers and intercultural competence. After establishing these patterns, we pay particular attention to the 23 studies in our sample that examine PSTs traveling to regions in the Global South. We conclude by offering considerations for future research and highlighting practices for program design that encourage PSTs to reflect upon global power differentials and complexities