Sea quark polarization and semi-inclusive DIS data

We investigate the potential impact of forthcoming Jefferson Lab semi-inclusive polarized deep inelastic scattering proton measurements in the determination of the sea quark polarization in the nucleon by means of a next to leading order global QCD analysis. Specifically, we estimate the resulting improvement in the constraints on polarized parton densities for the different flavors, which is found to be significant for up and strange quarks, and the correlation between remaining uncertainty ranges for each of the parton species.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Version to be published in the European Physical Journal

Bilingualism in Children: What Factors Influence Bilingual Acquisition?

This paper looks at the current literature surrounding bilingualism, its types, acquisition, and factors that might affect this. The author puts forward several questions including whether birth order, location, or parental language competence affect bilingualism, and attempts to answer them with the help of literature and autobiographical accounts

Tertiary learning in the Time of Covid 19: Student Attitudes and Technology

This paper looks at the changing technology that students employ to take university courses online and how that has changed over the course of the year. It also looks at the attitude of students to their classes and their feelings after a full year of online classes. Both a survey and free writing were carried out to obtain a wide range of information

Happy Students are Motivated Students: Psychology for Language Teachers

Students face many problems in the second language classroom. Some of these may be personal but many are caused by cultural differences between the teacher and students or students and students in the multicultural classroom. Cultural issues will always be with us but this paper considers how we can help students, through the use of positive psychology, to achieve their best. First, we consider the concepts of positive psychology and well-being. We then look at how positive psychology can affect studentsʼ sense of well-being, creating a better learning situation. Finally, we consider some practical applications which can be put into practice in the classroom

Study Abroad: Past, Present, and Future

The history of study abroad of Japanese students and the reasons for it are complex. There has been a great change in the numbers of students and their reasons for going over the past 200 years. At the current time, the number of students choosing to go abroad from Japan is falling for several reasons, including economic and social, while the number is increasing in other countries. This paper examines the development of study abroad of Japanese from the time of the Meiji restoration to the present day, the reasons for the current fall in interest, and finally, how the students who do go abroad can be supported in their preparation for making the best of their time there

Design Factors; Tools for Design Thinking

As more and more people find themselves confronted with design issues - in the roles of planners,developers, and producers - tools which can assist communication across different domains of expertise facilitating participation in design processes and supporting evaluation as well as documentation, are required.departmental bulletin pape

Experimental behaviour of RC beams shear strengthened with NSM CFRP laminates

The near-surface mounted (NSM) is one of the most recent techniques applied for the increase of the shear resistance of reinforced concrete (RC) beams. This technique involves the installation of carbon fibre reinforcement polymers (CFRP) laminates into thin slits open on the concrete cover of the elements to strengthen. The effectiveness of this technique for the shear strengthening of T crosssection RC beams was assessed by experimental research. For this purpose, three inclinations of laminates were tested (45º, 60º and 90º) and, for each inclination, three percentages of CFRP were applied in RC beams with a percentage of steel stirrups of 0.10% (qsw). The highest percentage of laminates was designed to provide a maximum load similar to the reference RC beam, which was reinforced with a reinforcement ratio of steel stirrups of 0.28% (qsw = 0.28%). For each percentage of laminates, a homologous RC beam strengthened with unidirectional U-shaped CFRP wet lay-up sheets (discrete strips) applied according to the externally bonded reinforcement technique was also tested, with the purpose of comparing the effectiveness of these two CFRP-strengthening techniques. To evaluate the influence of the percentage of steel stirrups in the effectiveness of the NSM technique, some of the abovementioned CFRP configurations were also applied in beams with qsw = 0.17%The authors wish to acknowledge the support provided by the 'Empreiteiros Casais', Degussa, S&P (R) and Secil (Unibetao, Braga). The study reported in this paper forms a part of the research program supported by FCT, PTDC/ECM/73099/2006

Teacher Attitudes to Teaching Moving on from COVID-19

This paper investigates the teaching situation and attitudes of teachers during the Covid-19 emergency measures. A survey was conducted which asked 19 questions to 74 university and college teachers from all over Japan. Teachersʼ attitudes to using online components in teaching have changed greatly since the start of the pandemic to the point that the majority will now use them in regular face-to-face classes