The concept of emotion can be organized within a hypothetical space comprising a limited number of dimensions representing essential properties of emotion. The present study examined cultural influences on such conceptual structure by comparing the performance of emotion word classification between Japanese and Korean individuals. Two types of emotional words were used; central concepts, highly typical examples of emotion, and less typical peripheral concepts. Participants classified 30 words into groups based on conceptual similarity. MDS analyses revealed a three-dimensional structure with (...) valence, social engagement, and arousal dimensions for both cultures, with the valence dimension being the most salient one. The Japanese prioritized the social engagement over the arousal while the Koreans showed sensitivities to the arousal dimension. Although the conceptual structure was similar for the two countries, the weight of importance among the three dimensions seems to be different, reflecting each culture’s values and communication styles. (shrink)

This study explores the development of the interactional competence of an 8-year-old, Japanese learner of English over three cooking sessions with native speakers of English at her home during her period of residence in Australia. The study draws upon Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development in order to elucidate the L2 child’s process of acquiring interactional competence in this unfamiliar social practice. The analysis reveals marked changes in the child’s participation pattern over time, moving from making relevant minimal responses to more (...) initiated, and autonomous participation. The child recycled some of the interlocutors’ utterances from the previous sessions, showing that the earlier cooking sessions provided her with a linguistic challenge and became a resource of language learning for her. She also made use of a textual resource as a scaffold to move toward more autonomous participation. In addition, the role of the recipe became less central as her participation became increasingly more independent. (shrink)

It is essential for scientists to introduce their research in a comprehensible manner and to communicate with colleagues in the same/different fields and with the public. As genome research requires the massive expenditure of public funds, and raises ethical, legal, and social issues, genome scientists have communicated extensively with the public. In addition, they have established interdisciplinary collaborations that resulted in the creation of a new research field known as bioinformatics.We examined the history of communication activities involving Japanese genome scientists (...) between 1989 and 2005 using extensive literature surveys and interviews. We found that genome researchers went through much trial and error, particularly with respect to collaborative interdisciplinary efforts, and although they early on recognized the necessity of communicating with colleagues in different fields, it was not until the introduction of a large governmental research budget, the Millennium Project (2000 - 2004), that individual researchers began to be actively engaged in communication activities. In conclusion, to facilitate the participation of scientists in communication activities, researchers who are acquainted with different research fields, community, and society should proactively function as coordinators of interdisciplinary programs or mediators of collaborative research. It is also of primal importance to present to scientists the advantage of dialogue with society scientifically and to design effective communication programs that provide researchers with such opportunities. (shrink)

Combining human embryonic stem cells with SCNT has been a gold standard of stem cell research. Adding a particular individual's genes to pluripotent stem cells might lead to the development of personalized tissue repair or replacement. Enthusiasm for human embryonic stem cell research had flagged in recent years due to controversy over the moral status of in vitro embryos, scientific misconduct by researcher Woo Suk Hwang, and the discovery that induced pluripotent stem cells could be produced from somatic cells. Energy (...) shifted to research on somatic cells, but three successes in the United States during 2013 and 2014 may reinvigorate embryonic stem cell research. (shrink)

Summary This study was conducted in Slovenia, and explored the views of a sample of 226 pupils (aged 14?15 years) regarding their motivation to learn English and the views of a sample of 95 student teachers regarding their motivation to become a teacher of English. The data consisted of two questionnaires. The first questionnaire asked the pupils to rate the importance of each of 15 reasons for wanting to learn English. The most frequent reasons given by pupils were ?Because English (...) is an international language?, ?Because English helps me with advanced study? and ?Because English will help me with my future career?. The second questionnaire asked the student teachers to rate the importance of each of 20 reasons in influencing their decision to become a teacher of English. The most frequent reasons given by the student teachers were ?I enjoy the subject I will teach?, ?English is important to me? and ?I want to help children succeed?. The findings are further explored in terms of the relative importance of the different types of motivation involved. (shrink)

This study was conducted in Slovenia, and explored the views of a sample of 226 pupils regarding their motivation to learn English and the views of a sample of 95 student teachers regarding their motivation to become a teacher of English. The data consisted of two questionnaires. The first questionnaire asked the pupils to rate the importance of each of 15 reasons for wanting to learn English. The most frequent reasons given by pupils were ‘Because English is an international language’, (...) ‘Because English helps me with advanced study’ and ‘Because English will help me with my future career’. The second questionnaire asked the student teachers to rate the importance of each of 20 reasons in influencing their decision to become a teacher of English. The most frequent reasons given by the student teachers were ‘I enjoy the subject I will teach’, ‘English is important to me’ and ‘I want to help children succeed’. The findings are further explored in terms of the relative importance of the different types of motivation involved. (shrink)

Metaphors used to describe new technologies mediate public understanding of the innovations. Analyzing the linguistic, rhetorical, and affective aspects of these metaphors opens the range of issues available for bioethical scrutiny and increases public accountability. This article shows how such a multidisciplinary approach can be useful by looking at a set of texts about one issue, the use of a newly developed technique for genetic modification, CRISPRcas9.

Cet article s’intéresse aux mutations de la famille japonaise au XXe siècle à travers les manga de Machiko Hasegawa (Sazae-san), première dessinatrice de bande dessinée au Japon, et de Kyoko Okazaki (La maison du bonheur et Au bord de la rivière), qui appartient à la génération actuelle. L’analyse comparée de plusieurs de leurs albums montre, notamment à travers les scènes de repas, la déstructuration de la famille japonaise d’après-guerre, dans un contexte d’industrialisation qui a poussé les Japonaises à délaisser (...) en partie le foyer familial pour travailler. (shrink)