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"Takahashi, Hiroshi"
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Tokkatsu : the Japanese educational model of holistic education
\"Though there has been much discussion on the academic aspects of Japanese education abroad (e.g., high scores on international tests, lesson study), there has been little information on the non-academic aspects of Japanese schooling. The non-academic aspect is called Tokkatsu (tokubetsu katsudo). Compared to math and reading, it does not occur during a certain hour of the day, and rather extends throughout the day, and to hours outside of the regular classrooms -- such as school excursions. It includes classroom activities such as classroom discussions, morning and afternoon meetings that take place daily, cleaning and serving lunch, school events such as sports day, school excursions, student councils, and club activities. Such activities occur every single day, throughout one's school years, from elementary school (actually, even kindergarten) to high school. They are, however, bound together by the common goals of the Tokkatsu framework. This book is the foremost attempt to address a gap in English literature on Tokkatsu\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Recent decadal enhancement of Meiyu–Baiu heavy rainfall over East Asia
East of Eurasia, moist air is transported poleward, forming the Meiyu–Baiu front over East Asia in late June and early July. Recently, unusually heavy rainfall may have increased, causing catastrophic flooding in East Asia. Here, unique 23-year precipitation satellite radar data confirm recent enhancement in Meiyu–Baiu heavy rainfall from eastern China to southwestern Japan, which is also evident from independent conventional observations. Decadal changes in rainfall have been physically consistent with enhanced transport of water vapour due to the intensified Pacific subtropical high associated with weakened tropical cyclone activity over the Northwest Pacific. Furthermore, the upper-tropospheric trough, associated with wave train along the subtropical jet, influenced Meiyu–Baiu precipitation over East Asia. Long-term and continuous satellite radar observations reveal that the frequency of heavy precipitation along the Meiyu–Baiu front has increased in the last 22 years. In particular, heavy precipitation (10 mm/h) increased by 24% between 1998–2008 and 2009–2019, and the abruptly-changed level likely induced recent meteorological disasters across East Asia. This trend may also explain the severity of the 2020 Meiyu–Baiu season. Over the last decade, this front has likely transitioned to a new climate state, which requires adaptation of disaster prevention approaches.
Journal Article
Cultivation and biogeochemical analyses reveal insights into methanogenesis in deep subseafloor sediment at a biogenic gas hydrate site
Gas hydrates deposited in subseafloor sediments are considered to primarily consist of biogenic methane. However, little evidence for the occurrence of living methanogens in subseafloor sediments has been provided. This study investigated viable methanogen diversity, population, physiology and potential activity in hydrate-bearing sediments (1–307 m below the seafloor) from the eastern Nankai Trough. Radiotracer experiments, the quantification of coenzyme F430 and molecular sequencing analysis indicated the occurrence of potential methanogenic activity and living methanogens in the sediments and the predominance of hydrogenotrophic methanogens followed by methylotrophic methanogens. Ten isolates and nine representative culture clones of hydrogenotrophic, methylotrophic and acetoclastic methanogens were obtained from the batch incubation of sediments and accounted for 0.5–76% of the total methanogenic sequences directly recovered from each sediment. The hydrogenotrophic methanogen isolates of
Methanocalculus
and
Methanoculleus
that dominated the sediment methanogen communities produced methane at temperatures from 4 to 55 °C, with an abrupt decline in the methane production rate at temperatures above 40 °C, which is consistent with the depth profiles of potential methanogenic activity in the Nankai Trough sediments in this and previous studies. Our results reveal the previously overlooked phylogenetic and metabolic diversity of living methanogens, including methylotrophic methanogenesis.
Journal Article
Impact of spring land-surface conditions over the Tibetan Plateau on the early summer Asian monsoon using an AGCM large ensemble
Influence of land-surface memory effects over the Tibetan Plateau on the Asian summer monsoon has long been studied, but not quantified because of the difficulty of extracting only these effects from observational data. This study examines the impact of spring land-surface conditions, including surface air temperature (SAT) and snow cover, over the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding regions on the early stage of the Asian summer monsoon using large-ensemble experiments produced by an atmospheric global climate model (AGCM). The results show that the above-normal SAT over and around the Tibetan Plateau in May can enhance June monsoon circulation without the sea surface temperature (SST) forcing. The physical mechanism behind this involves warmed surface air over the plateau enhancing the north–south SAT gradient, leading to strengthening the Asian summer monsoon circulation and precipitation. Inter-ensemble correlation analysis indicated that SAT warming over the plateau is clearly associated with upper-tropospheric anti-cyclonic circulation anomalies in May. Also, although winter land-surface signals do not persist until late spring, SAT anomalies in March tend to persist until May, explaining 10–20% of the total SAT variance in May. Interestingly, the spring SAT impacts on June monsoon circulations vary interannually, indicating that the contribution of the land–atmosphere (L–A) coupling process to interannual monsoon variability differs from year to year. Active L–A coupling years tend to coincide with cooler SSTs with anomalous low-level divergence and upper-level convergence over and around the Maritime continent, implying that SST forcing is associated with the L–A coupling strength. Specifically, in May of the developing stage of monsoon circulation, the weak Walker circulation over the equatorial and northern Indian Ocean and undeveloped monsoon circulation are suitable for the L–A coupling to influence the development of the monsoon circulation effectively. However, the well-known oceanic events, such as El Ni
n
~
o, are found to be less connected with the interannual L–A coupling variations.
Journal Article
Seasonal Differences of Precipitation and Microphysical Characteristics over the Asian Monsoon Region Using Spaceborne Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar
This study aimed to reveal the seasonal climatic variations in the microphysical properties of precipitation over the Asian monsoon region. We used the Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar satellite product aboard the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission Core Observatory for 8 years from 2014 to 2021 to statistically analyze the mass-weighted mean diameter ( D m ) and frequency of heavy ice precipitation (graupel and hail). The results showed statistically significant seasonal changes. The microphysical characteristics of large D m and frequent heavy ice precipitation were observed over the Indian subcontinent and Indochina Peninsula in the premonsoon season and over the western Himalayan region in the mature-monsoon season, which can be related to the intense and deeply developed precipitation systems. The relationship between precipitation rate and D m was also examined. The results indicated that changes in D m were not caused only by changes in precipitation rate but were probably induced by changes in precipitation characteristics. In terms of the relationship between the microphysical properties, heavy ice precipitation particles in the upper atmosphere above the melting layer were observed more frequently as D m near the surface increased. We also studied lower-atmospheric instability by investigating the vertical gradients of the dry and moist static energies. The results indicated that instability properties were different; dry and wet instabilities were dominant in the premonsoon and monsoon seasons, respectively, consistent with the results of the precipitation characteristics.
Journal Article
Influence of convective processes on weather research and forecasting model precipitation biases over East Asia
Dynamical downscaling with a 20 km horizontal resolution was undertaken over East Asia for the period May–August in 1991–2015 using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with Grell-3D ensemble cumulus parameterization as a product of the Impact of Initialized Land Temperature and Snowpack on Sub-Seasonal to Seasonal Prediction (LS4P) program. Simulated climatological precipitation biases were investigated over land during June when heavy precipitation occurred. Simulations underestimated precipitation along the Meiyu/Baiu rainband, while overestimating it farther north. Dry and wet biases expanded to south and north of the Yangtze River in China, respectively, marking years with poor precipitation simulations. Model biases in synoptic-scale circulation patterns indicate a weakened clockwise circulation over the western North Pacific in the model due to active convection there, and suppressed northward moisture transport to the Meiyu/Baiu rainband. Moisture convergence was slightly enhanced over central China due to an apparent anticyclonic circulation bias over northern China. In years with large biases, positive feedback between reduced moisture inflow and inactive convection occurred over southern China, while moisture transport to central China intensified on regional scales, with amplification of dry and wet biases over China. The Kain–Fritch scheme was used to test the influence of cumulus parameterization, improving the dry bias over southern China due to the modification of synoptic-scale circulation patterns in the lower troposphere. However, precipitation was further overestimated over central China, with the accuracy of precipitation distribution deteriorating.
Journal Article
Projected Trends in Interannual Variation in Summer Seasonal Precipitation and Its Extremes over the Tropical Asian Monsoon Regions in CMIP5
Long-term changes in the interannual variation in summer seasonal [June–August (JJA)] precipitation over the tropical Asian summer monsoon (ASM) region were investigated using 22 simulations from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) of the representative concentration pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5) run. Objective evaluations were performed with statistical tests to determine if there was an agreement among the multiple models. A robust increasing trend in fluctuations in the interannual variation in JJA precipitation over the ASM region was found. Expansions in both the wet and dry extremes of JJA precipitation anomalies were identified from the beginning to end of the twenty-first century, which were indicative of an intensification in interannual variation. These results indicate that the frequency and/or intensity of floods and droughts will likely increase under global warming. The spatial distribution of the projected expansion of wet and dry extremes differed over the ASM region. The signals in the wet extreme appeared throughout the whole ASM region, whereas those in the dry extreme were strong, particularly over the area from the Bay of Bengal to the equatorial western North Pacific, corresponding with the monsoon trough where the mean JJA precipitation increased.
Journal Article
Traumatic nerve root injury due to unilateral facet fracture of the cervical spine caused by a direct external force; a case report
Background
The incidence of unilateral facet fracture of the cervical spine is approximately 10% of all cases of spinal trauma. Herein, we report an extremely rare case of traumatic nerve root injury due to a unilateral facet fracture of the cervical spine caused by a direct external force.
Case presentation
A 66-year-old Japanese man was injured by a direct hit from an iron object on the right side of the posterior neck at a construction site and was transported to our hospital. At the initial visit, a neurological examination revealed severe paresthesia of the C8 area and motor weakness of finger extension and abduction on the right side. Computed tomography (CT) revealed a unilateral facet fracture of C7/T1 on the right side. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed no injury to the intervertebral disc, supraspinous or interspinous ligament, or spinal cord. We diagnosed him with C8 nerve root injury on the right side due to a unilateral facet fracture of C7/T1 on the right side caused by a direct external force. In the present case, we diagnosed no rotational instability because the cause of injury is a direct external force. Thus, the patient was conservatively treated with Philadelphia collar immobilization for 3 months. His paresthesia in the C8 area on the right side and his motor weakness of finger extension and abduction gradually improved within 2 months after the injury. An X-ray image did not reveal any progression of the C7/T1 facet dislocation. At the final follow-up, 1 year after the injury, his paresthesia or motor weakness was ultimately improved, and CT revealed a complete union of the bony fragment of the facet.
Conclusions
When a unilateral facet fracture of the cervical spine is treated, conservative treatment may be successful despite the nerve root injury in patients with no rotational instability and no disc or posterior ligament injury. This case highlights the potential for conservative treatment as a viable approach in such cases, suggesting that, when carefully selected, patients may benefit from conservative treatment, contributing to clinical decision-making in similar cases.
Journal Article
Recognition of the game situation in baseball
This study examines baseball players’ recognition framework of out, ball, and strike counts in baseball games and clarifies the differences in psychological perspectives between batters and pitchers. The participants were 396 players (294 batters and 102 pitchers) belonging to baseball clubs at eight universities. Participants answered 288 questions for all game situations by combining out, ball, and strike counts and runner position. The advantages for batters or pitchers were evaluated using a 7-point Likert scale (from very advantageous for batters to very advantageous for pitchers). Factor analysis indicated four significant factors (36 items): “Batter’s advantage count,” “Pitcher’s advantage count,” “2 out young count,” and “0 out young count.” In a direct comparison of these factors between batters and pitchers, batters were more aware of their advantage over pitchers in the factors “Batter’s advantage count” and “0 out young count” and disadvantage in the “Pitcher’s advantage count.” Significant differences in recognition of these factors were observed between batters and pitchers. Batters were more susceptible to game situations than were pitchers. Our findings suggest that baseball players recognize several types of game situations, although not an infinite number.
Journal Article
Cloud-Resolving-Model Simulations of Nocturnal Precipitation over the Himalayan Slopes and Foothills
A numerical experiment with a 2-km resolution was conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model to investigate physical processes driving nocturnal precipitation over the Himalayas during the mature monsoon seasons between 2003 and 2010. The WRF Model simulations of increases in precipitation twice a day, one in the afternoon and another around midnight, over the Himalayan slopes, and of the single nocturnal peak over the Himalayan foothills were reasonably accurate. To understand the synoptic-scale moisture transport and its local-scale convergence generating the nocturnal precipitation, composite analyses were conducted using the reanalysis dataset and model outputs. In the synoptic scale, moisture transport associated with the westward propagation of low pressure systems was found when nocturnal precipitation dominated over the Himalayan slopes. In contrast, moisture was directly provided from the synoptic-scale monsoon westerlies for nocturnal precipitation over the foothills. The model outputs suggested that precipitation occurred on the mountain ridges in the Himalayas during the afternoon and expanded horizontally toward lower-elevation areas through the night. During the nighttime, the downslope wind was caused by radiative cooling at the surface and was intensified by evaporative cooling by hydrometeors in the near-surface layer. As a result, convergence between the downslope wind and the synoptic-scale flow promoted nocturnal precipitation over the Himalayas and to the south, as well as the moisture convergence by orography and/or synoptic-scale circulation patterns. The nocturnal precipitation over the Himalayas was not simulated well when we used the coarse topographic resolution and the smaller number of vertical layers.
Journal Article