Effects of a timed dictation activity in the introductory course in Japanese focusing on the accuracy and fluency of writing Katakana

The importance of mastering one of the Japanese syllabaries, Katakana, is acknowledged by both Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) learners and teachers. Katakana is a phonetic syllabary that is used to transcribe loanwords primarily from European languages and onomatopoeia words. These loanwords are nowadays called Katakana words. The number of Katakana words in Japanese language has been increasing, and it is reported that many JFL learners in Japan often encounter difficulty in understanding these words. Though teachers are also aware of the importance of teaching Katakana, it is treated less importantly. For example, after spending some time and effort teaching Hiragana, the other primary syllabary, Katakana can be thought of as additional, and allocating some set amount of time during the class for Katakana teaching is challenging. In order to solve these current issues, the present study utilized the timed-dictation with the timed-dictation player (Fukada, 2015). The goal of this study is to examine if this method has an effect to enhance learners’ fluency and accuracy in writing Katakana. The subjects were 74 JFL learners in the Timed Dictation (TD) group, who had timed-dictation activities through a semester, and 113 in the Written Test (WT) group, who had traditional Katakana writing practices as a treatment. During the timed-dictation activities, students were asked to transcribe an audio recording within a limited time frame. The students were able to practice dictation on their own using the timed dictation player before having the timed-dictation test during the class. At the end of semester, an identical Katakana test was administered to both groups. It asked students to convert as many Hiragana symbols into Katakana symbols as they can within three minutes. The result showed that though the timed-dictation activity did have a positive effect, the impact was insufficient for the TD group to achieve overall higher Katakana writing proficiency than the WT group. Further analysis involving the learners’ first languages and questionnaire responses was also conducted. It is found that the level of difficulty of dictation materials should be adjusted to the learners’ proficiency levels

Mobilizing the Donor Public: Dynamics of Development NGOs' Message Framing

In industrialized, donor societies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) engaged in international development are one of the few sources of information through which the public learns about poverty in Third World countries. With limited knowledge and familiarity with the cause, the donor public builds their understanding and opinions through NGOs’ explanations of the problems, potential solutions, and rationales for getting involved. Highlighting development NGOs’ role as discourse makers, this dissertation applies framing theory to present NGOs as strategic framing agents, with the power and the ability to decide what information to present in what manner. I conduct framing analysis to examine dynamics of message framing in print documents that NGOs in Japan use to mobilize the people towards international development. The study finds the tendency of development NGOs in Japan to emphasize actionability of international development, representing global poverty as an issue that can be solved through organizational and individual actions, rather than describing the nature and complexity of the problem. At the organizational level, NGOs’ emphasize their experience, accomplishments, and credibility. At the individual level, NGOs incentivize the audience by emphasizing their ability to contribute to eradicating poverty without much difficulty. NGOs decide to present such message framings through interpretation of external and internal contexts in which they operate, taking into account audience receptivity, organizational characteristics, and ethical soundness. This study makes its primary contribution to the study of development NGOs in three ways. First, by introducing the perspectives of strategic communication and social marketing, I expand the scope of NGOs’ message framing from a focus on how NGOs represent problems and interventions made in developing countries, to a focus on how they motivate the donor public to join the cause. I find that development NGOs in Japan are distancing themselves from their role of describing the complexity of global poverty and international development. Second, by applying framing theory, the study sheds light on decision making processes that take place as NGOs frame communication messages. Third, the study provides an empirical study of development NGOs’ strategic communication practices in Japan, adding a case of underexplored non-Western contexts

THE CHALLENGE OF DEVELOPMENT NGO ADVOCACY IN JAPAN

Since the late 1980s, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) engaged in international development in Japan have become increasingly interested in incorporating advocacy into their operations. Despite the enthusiasm, however, NGO advocacy in Japan has been rather stagnant, not yet experiencing a dramatic boost. Given such situation, this paper analyzes the challenges development NGOs in Japan face in undertaking advocacy work. In doing so, the paper dissects NGO advocacy into aim, approach, and audience.During the 1980s and 1990s, development NGOs in Japan faced an unfavorable legal structure that led these organizations to suffer from chronic financial instability. Forced to emphasize fundraising for service delivery, many of the development NGOs in Japan did not have the capacity to undertake other types of public communication programs, i.e. advocacy. The restricted environment allowed only a limited number of NGOs to engage in advocacy during this period, which were mostly policy recommendation to the Japanese government through lobbying. The unfavorable legal structure began to show dramatic change in the 2000s. The new NPO Law enacted in 1998 and the new tax system for nonprofits instituted in 2001 eased the financial issue of development NGOs, thus allowing them to incorporate more advocacy work. Increased involvement to advocacy led to successful implementation of Hottokenai Sekai no Mazushisa Campaign of 2005, a major turning point of NGO advocacy in Japan. In addition to lobbying the decision-makers, the campaign intentionally attempted to mobilize the general public. This expansion of approach and audience led to a new challenge in NGO advocacy in Japan; the Japanese public with a tendency to regard NGOs as fundraisers for service delivery rather than advocates now stands as the new obstacle. The paper thus finds a shift of NGO advocacy challenge in Japan from 1980s and 1990s to 2000s. In-between these two periods, constraining factor shifted from incapacity for advocacy resulting from unfavorable legal structure to unreceptive audience. The new stage for NGO advocacy in Japan thus calls for careful attention to the qualitative aspect of advocacy work, i.e. messages articulated and delivered to the audience

Industrial Clusters in India: Evidence from Automobile Clusters in Chennai and the National Capital Region

This study analyzes the patterns of agglomeration of some modern manufacturing sectors in India, and in particular the Indian automobile sector. It also examines and contrasts the factors that have led to different patterns of cluster development in two leading auto clusters in India-Chennai and the National Capital Region (NCR). Moreover, the study analyzes whether firms in clusters perform better than those that are excluded and whether the relative importance of variables that determine the behavior of firms differs among clusters. Our analyses, which employ a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, show that Indian industrial clusters are largely concentrated in the three clustered regions: NCR, Mumbai-Pune, and Chennai-Bangalore, across different manufacturing sectors. Our study of the auto clusters in Chennai and the NCR find considerable differences in the patterns of cluster formation, due partly to the historical and policy conditions under which firms, particularly, the lead firms must operate. Moreover, our econometric analyses confirmed that being part of a cluster positively influences the performance of the auto component firms and those belonging to a cluster perform better

Skills Development for Youth in India : Challenges and Opportunities <Special Issue : Youth, Education, and Work>

This paper reviews the current state of education, skills development, and employment for Indian youth, and considers the challenges facing India's skills development system. Drawing from the experience of Karnataka, one of India's most industrially developed states, the paper discusses recent initiatives to facilitate young people's transition to the world of work. In India, young people who will soon be entering the labor market, constitute the largest segment of the demographic structure. The majority of young people have limited access to education and training, and most find work in the informal sector. In recent years India has rapidly expanded the capacity of educational institutions and enrollments, but dropout rates remain high, and educational attainment remains low. While India has a well-institutionalized system of vocational training, it has not sufficiently prepared its youth with the skills that today's industries require. Thus, to speed its economic growth and take advantage of its "demographic dividend," the country has recently embarked on drastic policy reforms to accelerate skills development. These reforms have led to important changes, both in the national institutional framework and at the institutional level

Workers' learning through inter-firm linkages in the process of globalization : lessons from the Indian automobile industry

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 246-252).This dissertation examines the conditions under which firms foster the development of their workers' skills in the process of globalization, using a case study of the automobile industry in India based on extensive fieldwork in India in 1996, 1997 and 1998. As India underwent economic reforms over the past decade, the Indian automobile industry has experienced remarkable growth and dynamic transformations, with an increased inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) and intensifying competition within the domestic market, leading to considerable restructuring. In this process, two leading vehicle manufacturers, one with FDI, and the other without it, have played key roles in promoting growth in production and export, while increasing their competitiveness, through their massive investment in skill development for their workers. Indeed, both firms have well-structured internal incentive mechanisms to encourage and reward workers' learning. They have also strengthened their backward linkages by institutionalizing various learning mechanisms through their supply chains, altering the model of supplier relations that had prevailed in India. My questionnaire survey of 50 component suppliers revealed that the nature of skills has recently changed with increased emphasis on behavioral traits, resulting in considerable upskilling, particularly among workers at component suppliers. These findings markedly contrasts with the experiences elsewhere documented in the literature, where few FDI-affiliated firms develop backward linkages, and where local firms weaken comparatively in the face of growing dominance by FDI. Challenging the growing literature that suggests FDI plays a role in brining new knowledge and skills to developing countries, this study finds that even in the process of globalization, the interplay of various institutional forces both inside and outside the firms still crucially shape the patterns of in-firm skill development. Such institutional forces include: 1) the peculiar historical imperatives under which firms needed to operate and develop their technological capabilities; 2) national institutional frameworks; 3) the government's involvement; 4) institutional alliances between firms and training institutions; and 5) vertical inter-firm linkages. In particular, inter-firm linkages are critical in promoting skill development among smaller local suppliers, thus spreading workers' learning widely across the economy. The Indian government has played an important role in 1) developing a key firm that would lead the growth of the industry, set operational and performance standards, and serve as a catalyst for the industry-wide learning; 2) forcing that firm to develop backward linkages through various policy measures; and 3) creating mechanisms for firms to promote in-firm training through policies such as statutory apprenticeship schemes. Thus, contrary to the claim by human capital theorists, various institutional conditions created rather than reduced incentives for firms to promote in-firm training not only for their own workers but also for workers at their suppliers.by Aya Okada.Ph.D

Usefulness of FDG, MET and FLT-PET Studies for the Management of Human Gliomas

The use of positron imaging agents such as FDG, MET, and FLT is expected to lead the way for novel applications toward efficient malignancy grading and treatment of gliomas. In this study, the usefulness of FDG, MET and FLT-PET images was retrospectively reviewed by comparing their histopathological findings. FDG, MET, and FLT-PET were performed in 27 patients with WHO grade IV, 15 patients with WHO grade III, and 12 patients with WHO grade II during 5.5 years. The resulting PET images were compared by measuring SUVs and T/N ratios (tumor to normal tissue ratios). Although there were no significant differences in FDG-PET, there were significant differences in the T/N ratios in the MET-PET between WHO grades II and IV and in the FLT-PET between the WHO grades III and IV. In glioblastoma patients, the SUVs of the areas depicted by MRI in the MET-PET were different from those SUVs in the FLT-PET. Importantly, the areas with high SUVs in both MET-PET and FLT-PET were also high in Ki-67 index and were histologically highly malignant. PET imaging is a noninvasive modality that is useful in determining a tumor area for removal as well as improving preoperative diagnosis for gliomas

Episodic Volunteering in Sport Events : A Seven-Country Analysis

Given its ubiquitous nature, sport events are one of the most popular venues for episodic volunteering around the world. This article explores the rare dataset of volunteering in sport events in seven countries-Finland, Ghana, India, Japan, Switzerland, Tanzania, United States-to overview the differences and similarities identified in demography, volunteers' reactions to hosts' management strategies, satisfaction, and intention to volunteer again. Key findings include differences in the level of satisfaction, where responses among American volunteers were the highest. We also find that although well-organized management strategies such as quality training, communication, and proper appreciation led to higher satisfaction, these factors did not contribute to volunteers' intent to volunteer again. Such management style might be too impersonal with less autonomy on the part of volunteers that they may not feel needed in future events. Somewhat messy management might motivate volunteers to participate again.Peer reviewe

Accretion Disk Spectra of the Ultra-luminous X-ray Sources in Nearby Spiral Galaxies and Galactic Superluminal Jet Sources

Ultra-luminous Compact X-ray Sources (ULXs) in nearby spiral galaxies and Galactic superluminal jet sources share the common spectral characteristic that they have unusually high disk temperatures which cannot be explained in the framework of the standard optically thick accretion disk in the Schwarzschild metric. On the other hand, the standard accretion disk around the Kerr black hole might explain the observed high disk temperature, as the inner radius of the Kerr disk gets smaller and the disk temperature can be consequently higher. However, we point out that the observable Kerr disk spectra becomes significantly harder than Schwarzschild disk spectra only when the disk is highly inclined. This is because the emission from the innermost part of the accretion disk is Doppler-boosted for an edge-on Kerr disk, while hardly seen for a face-on disk. The Galactic superluminal jet sources are known to be highly inclined systems, thus their energy spectra may be explained with the standard Kerr disk with known black hole masses. For ULXs, on the other hand, the standard Kerr disk model seems implausible, since it is highly unlikely that their accretion disks are preferentially inclined, and, if edge-on Kerr disk model is applied, the black hole mass becomes unreasonably large (> 300 M_solar). Instead, the slim disk (advection dominated optically thick disk) model is likely to explain the observed super-Eddington luminosities, hard energy spectra, and spectral variations of ULXs. We suggest that ULXs are accreting black holes with a few tens of solar mass, which is not unexpected from the standard stellar evolution scenario, and that their X-ray emission is from the slim disk shining at super-Eddington luminosities.Comment: ApJ, accepte

The first Japanese MDPL case

Mandibular hypoplasia, deafness, progeroid features and lipodystrophy (MDPL) syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant disorder caused by heterozygous POLD1 mutations. To date, 13 patients affected by POLD1 mutation-caused MDPL have been described. We report a clinically undiagnosed 11-year-old male who noted joint contractures at 6 years of age. Targeted exome sequencing identified a known POLD1 mutation [NM_002691.3:c.1812_1814del, p.(Ser605del)] that diagnosed him as the first Japanese/East Asian MDPL case