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This study developed a Self-Regulated Second Language Self-Study Questionnaire that addresses the self-regulated learning (SRL) skills of learners of English as a foreign language in a self-study setting. Much attention has been paid to SRL in second language acquisition; however, contexts outside school have hardly been explored. To address this issue, based on the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, a new questionnaire was created and applied to a sample of 112 Japanese university students. The exploratory factor analyses extracted three factors (i.e., self-efficacy, learner values, and test anxiety) from the motivation section of the questionnaire. Additionally, four factors (i.e., metacognitive strategies, problem solving, learning maintenance, and learning effort) were extracted from the learning strategy section. All seven factors showed adequate internal reliability. Additional confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated sufficient model fit indices for construct validity, whereas some were disputable.

Children's attitudes are shaped by the information to which they are exposed. To foster improved peer relationships in inclusive settings, there is a need for typically developing children to exhibit positive attitudes toward peers with disabilities. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between children's attitudes toward their peers with disabilities and the available information about disabilities. Furthermore, through this study, we sought to report the process of developing a Japanese version of the Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps Scale (CATCH-J). The participants were 215 children in fourth through sixth grades who attended an elementary school that does not provide special education services. A questionnaire containing the CATCH-J and other pertinent information was administered to the participants. Three sources of information about disabilities were investigated: conversations; school lessons; and media including books, television, or the internet. After removing some items, the CATCH-J demonstrated good validity and reliability. Participants who obtained information about disabilities through conversations showed more positive attitudes than those who did not. Meanwhile, there were no significant differences between those who obtained information from school lessons or media and those who did not. The findings imply that typically developing children's participation in academic lessons or exposure to television programs or internet content is not sufficient to foster positive attitudes toward peers with disabilities. Talking about disabilities with family could be the first step in this direction.

This study measures the perceptions of English language teachers at Japanese universities. It combines the results of online questionnaires on assessment practices and another one on teacher autonomy. Results suggest that according to teachers' self-reports of assessment practices, certain measures of assessment quality are being affected by the high levels of teacher autonomy present in the Japanese university system. The results imply that increased top-down coordination may increase the quality of assessment according to the measures outlined in the study.

Achievement Emotions Questionnaire--Teachers (AEQ-T) measures teachers' anger, anxiety, and enjoyment related to instruction. The purpose of this research is to revise and validate AEQ-T to include pride and frustration. Also, this study aimed to replicate previous research on anger, anxiety, and enjoyment and validate this expanded measure in an Asian context. The revised AEQ-T was tested using Exploratory Factor Analysis for 150 Japanese teachers, and then cross-validated with 208 Korean teachers using Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Results showed that four emotions of anger, anxiety, enjoyment, and pride had acceptable levels of internal consistency and clear factor structure. However, frustration items had low reliability and cross-loaded with anger factor. This study provides empirical evidences to include pride to measure teachers' emotions, and suggests the need to develop a more refined understanding and distinction between anger and frustration.

Little is known about the across time stability of autistic traits during the transition period from preschool to school age in the general population. The current study compared autistic traits assessed by a mother-reported quantitative measure, the Social Responsiveness Scale, at age 5 and 8 years and examined the intraclass correlation coefficients of scores across the period for 168 Japanese community-based children. Results showed that total and two subdomain-related autistic trait scores remained primarily stable in males and females. This stability was observed for both children with higher and lower autistic traits scores with a possible sex-specific pattern. Our findings suggest that autistic traits in the general population can be reliably assessed using quantitative measures for this age period.

It is common practice for K-12 schools to assess multilingual students' language proficiency to determine language support program placement. Because such programs can provide essential scaffolding, the policies guiding these assessments merit careful consideration. It is well accepted that quality assessments must be valid (representative of the constructs of interest) and reliable (error-free and consistent). However, a tension exists between validity and reliability, known as the attenuation paradox. Validity is strengthened when the range and depth of the assessed construct align with the target domain. Yet, increased domain coverage can introduce construct-irrelevant variance and greater potential for error, negatively impacting reliability. On the other hand, narrowing the assessed construct, which tends to increase reliability, also weakens validity due to construct-underrepresentation. In this paper, we revisit the validity-reliability paradox by examining initial assessment policies for K-12 English language support programs in six nations. We report on each nation's policies for language placement assessment and the associated language support programs and funding mechanisms. We compare the assessment policies on the validity and reliability spectrum, framed by Bachman's assessment use argument heuristic. We conclude with a discussion of implications related to educational equity.

E-learning and online education has made great improvements in the recent past. It has shifted the teaching paradigm from conventional classroom learning to dynamic web based learning. Due to this, a dynamic learning material has been delivered to learners, instead ofstatic content, according to their skills, needs and preferences. In this article, the authors have classified eight different types of student learning attributes based on National Centre for Biotechnical Information (NCBI) e-learning database. The eight types of attributes are Anxiety (A), Personality (P), Learning style (L), Cognitive style (C), Grades from previous sem (GP), Motivation (M), Study level (SL) and Student prior knowledge (SPK). In this article the authors have proposed an approach which uses principal components of student learning attributes and have later independently classified these attributes using feed forward neural network (NN) and Least Square-Support Vector Machine (LS-SVM).

In this article, we have examined how historical events shape the research process, even when research is carefully planned and rigorously executed. Through an examination of our experiences conducting international data collection during a three-year SSHRC funded period in which the War on Terrorism and the War in Iraq began, we suggest that social context affects all aspects of every research project, from planning, to funding, to data collection, analysis, and dissemination. History, particularly significant world events, should be re-examined and redefined so that it is no longer understood as a variable that affects poorly planned research, but rather as an integral part of the research design and process. (Contains 2 notes.)

The constructs of complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) have been used extensively to investigate learner performance on second language tasks. However, a serious concern is that the variables used to measure these constructs are sometimes used conventionally without any empirical justification. It is crucial for researchers to understand how results might be different depending on which measurements are used, and accordingly, choose the most appropriate variables for their research aims. The first strand of this article examines the variables conventionally used to measure syntactic complexity in order to identify which may be the best indicators of different proficiency levels, following suggestions by Norris and Ortega. The second strand compares the three variables used to measure accuracy in order to identify which one is most valid. The data analysed were spoken performances by 64 Japanese EFL students on two picture-based narrative tasks, which were rated at Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) A2 to B2 according to Rasch-adjusted ratings by seven human judges. The tasks performed were very similar, but had different degrees of what Loschky and Bley-Vroman term "task-essentialness" for subordinate clauses. It was found that the variables used to measure syntactic complexity yielded results that were not consistent with suggestions by Norris and Ortega. The variable found to be the most valid for measuring accuracy was errors per 100 words. Analysis of transcripts revealed that results were strongly influenced by the differing degrees of task-essentialness for subordination between the two tasks, as well as the spread of errors across different units of analysis. This implies that the characteristics of test tasks need to be carefully scrutinised, followed by careful piloting, in order to ensure greater validity and reliability in task-based research.

The purpose of this study is to validate the widely adopted Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) for the East Asian context. The researchers seek to find out whether TSES holds validity and reliability and is appropriate for use to measure teacher efficacy in China, Korea, and Japan. 489 teachers from the three countries participated in the study. CFA models were used to test the factorial structures of TSES for both 24-item long and 12-item short forms, and three-factor models were tested for both forms. The results showed that three-factor models did not fit well for all three country groups for the long form. The short form models' fit indices for all three countries were acceptable. The researchers proposed an 11-item three-factor model by removing one item from the original TSES short form and further tested the revised 11-item TSES for the three Asian groups. Results suggested that the 11-item model provided good model-data fit. In the following measurement invariance test, the 11-item TSES was used as the baseline model. The results from the test of the measurement invariance of the revised 11-item TSES scale suggested that this scale can be used in cross-culture studies about teacher efficacy in the East Asian context. The instrument may produce results that are possible to conduct comparisons across the three cultures.

We used population sample data from 25 societies to answer the following questions: (a) How consistently across societies do adolescents report more problems than their parents report about them? (b) Do levels of parent-adolescent agreement vary among societies for different kinds of problems? (c) How well do parents and adolescents in different societies agree on problem item ratings? (d) How much do parent-adolescent dyads within each society vary in agreement on item ratings? (e) How well do parent-adolescent dyads within each society agree on the adolescent's deviance status? We used five methods to test cross-informant agreement for ratings obtained from 27,861 adolescents ages 11 to 18 and their parents. Youth Self-Report (YSR) mean scores were significantly higher than Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) mean scores for all problem scales in almost all societies, but the magnitude of the YSR-CBCL discrepancy varied across societies. Cross-informant correlations for problem scale scores varied more across societies than across types of problems. Across societies, parents and adolescents tended to rate the same items as low, medium, or high, but within-dyad parent-adolescent item agreement varied widely in every society. In all societies, both parental noncorroboration of self-reported deviance and adolescent noncorroboration of parent-reported deviance were common. Results indicated many multicultural consistencies but also some important differences in parent-adolescent cross-informant agreement. Our findings provide valuable normative baselines against which to compare multicultural findings for clinical samples. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)

"Coping flexibility" was defined as the ability to discontinue an ineffective coping strategy (i.e., evaluation coping) and produce and implement an alternative coping strategy (i.e., adaptive coping). The Coping Flexibility Scale (CFS) was developed on the basis of this definition. Five studies involving approximately 4,400 Japanese college students and employees were conducted to test the hypothesis that flexible coping produces more adaptive outcomes. Studies 1, 2, and 3 provided evidence of the reliability of the CFS scores as well as of its convergent and discriminant validity for Japanese samples. Study 4 further demonstrated that flexible coping was positively associated with improved psychological health, including reduced depression, anxiety, and distress. In Study 5, coping flexibility as measured by the CFS was associated with reduced future depression, even after controlling for the effects of other coping flexibility measures and popular coping strategies. Overall, these results suggest that a valid approach for assessing coping flexibility has been developed and that flexible coping can contribute to psychological health. The implications of these findings for clinical practice are discussed. (Contains 3 footnotes and 4 tables.)

This study developed the Japanese version of the Gerotranscendence Scale Type 2 (the GST2) and examined reliability and validity of the scale. In Japan, 525 community-dwelling older adults (Male = 260, Female = 265) answered a questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis of the Japanese version of the GST2 revealed the same three-factor structure including the Dimensions of the Cosmic, the Coherence, and the Solitude, which had been reported by Tornstam with the omission of item 1. Reliability and construct validity of the Japanese version of the GST2 were confirmed. These findings provide support for use of the Japanese version of the GST2 as a measure of lifespan development among the oldest old in Japan. The GST2 can be applicable not only for older adults in Sweden but also for older adults in Japan. (Contains 3 tables.)

This study examines generalized trust and trust in institutions in Confucian Asia, covering six countries namely, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, and one dependent region, Hong Kong. Using data from the 2006 AsiaBarometer Survey, our study affirms the reliability and validity of using a two-item scale to measure generalized trust. Our analysis suggests that due to demographic differences, there are variations in the level of generalized trust of countries in Confucian Asia, despite the fact that these societies share a similar background in Confucian philosophy. The relationships between generalized trust and political trust, and between generalized trust and trust in public institutions, are weak but positive. The positive relationship between generalized trust and trust in economic institutions is only significant for some of the economies, while trust in international institutions has the weakest relationship with generalized trust for all societies. We conclude the paper with research implications.

Numerous studies have pointed to a gap between the attitudes people express about the natural environment and their subsequent behaviors toward that environment. Variables identified within these studies include: how significant others view behaviors related to the attitudes; demographic variables such as sex, age or education; self-perceived ability to do the attitude-related behavior; attitude strength; and personal relevance of the attitude. This study proposes the concept of environmental desirability responding (EDR) as another factor which might contribute to the attitude-behavior discrepancy. The development and construct validation of the Environmentally Desirable Response Scale (EDRS), which is designed to identify the existence and level of EDR, is described. The EDRS contains items designed to measure two types of socially desirable responding--"Self-deception" and "Image management". A total of 1024 usable data sets were obtained from a sample of respondents in several countries (Japan, the US and Australia). Principal factors and correlation analyses revealed that the EDRS comprises three factors identified as "Self-deception/Assertion of positives", "Image management" and "Self-deception/Denial of negatives". Cronbach alpha estimates of reliability for the three factors were 0.74, 0.66, and 0.61. Suggestions for further research regarding the scale and EDR are offered. (Contains 6 tables.)

The resource-based view of the firm and social exchange perspectives are invoked to hypothesize linkages among high-performance work systems, collective human capital, the degree of social exchange in an establishment, and establishment performance. The authors argue that high-performance work systems generate a high level of collective human capital and encourage a high degree of social exchange within an organization, and that these are positively related to the organization's overall performance. On the basis of a sample of Japanese establishments, the results provide support for the existence of these mediating mechanisms through which high-performance work systems affect overall establishment performance. (Contains 4 tables, 1 figure and 3 footnotes.)

Developers of museum service systems want to know what users think about their systems and they often design questionnaires to capture users' opinions. However, there are usually serious gaps between what developers want to know and what the users really think about the system. The present research aims to develop a questionnaire that takes into consideration the user's point of view, including opinions of people who do not want to use the system. We put the plan into practice by gathering opinions such as feelings, demands, and expectations about the systems from the general public. (Contains 1 table and 3 notes.)

This study develops a quality of life instrument for older Japanese people experiencing dementia (QLDJ). Quality of life (QL) for these older adults is defined as a three dimensional construct including 1) interacting with surroundings, 2) expressing self, and 3) experiencing minimum negative behaviors. From 53 items in the initial item pool, 24 were selected based on item reliability and validity using data from 3 studies that involve ten dementia-care experts (Study A) and 36 and 623 older persons and their formal caregivers in various care settings (Study B & C). Factor analysis of these items identified three domains that correspond to the conceptual definition of QL for older adults with dementia. The domain and total QL scores were calculated considering the relative weights of each item. Resultant domain and total scores of the QLDJ showed satisfactory reliability and evidence of validity. (Contains 5 tables, 1 figure and 4 footnotes.)

Recent establishment of degree programs in quality and reliability at several leading American academic institutions provides evidence that quality is making ivory tower in-roads. One critical difference in the orientations of U.S. and Japanese firms is in the shouldering of responsibility for product/service quality and reliability. (MLW)

With the increasing adoption of industrial Ethernet in train communication network (TCN), the limitations of insufficient reliability and incompatibility between different Ethernet technologies have become increasingly apparent. To address these challenges, time‐sensitive networking (TSN) has emerged as a solution, enabling multi‐network convergence and enhancing data transmission determinism and reliability through techniques such as frame replication and elimination for reliability (FRER). However, the utilization of these policies will adversely affect schedulability due to increased network load. To address the issue of link failures in TCN topologies, a routing policy based on faulty link diagnosis is proposed. The proposed policy utilizes an improved max‐min ant system (IMMAS) for diagnosing and resolving faulty links. Furthermore, a routing optimization algorithm is introduced to enhance transmission reliability by planning alternative paths for traffic. To evaluate the performance of the proposed routing algorithm, multiple sets of test cases are conducted separately under different failure scenarios to compare them with other routing policies. The results demonstrate the superior reliability of the proposed routing policy over alternative approaches. Additionally, the traffic utilizing the proposed routing policy show improved schedulability following integer linear programming (ILP) scheduling. © 2024 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is widely used to assess medical students' clinical skills. Virtual OSCEs were used in place of in-person OSCEs during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, their reliability is yet to be robustly analyzed. By applying generalizability (G) theory, this study aimed to evaluate the reliability of a hybrid OSCE, which admixed in-person and online methods, and gain insights into improving OSCEs' reliability. During the 2020–2021 hybrid OSCEs, one examinee, one rater, and a vinyl mannequin for physical examination participated onsite, and a standardized simulated patient (SP) for medical interviewing and another rater joined online in one virtual breakout room on an audiovisual conferencing system. G-coefficients and 95% confidence intervals of the borderline score, namely border zone (BZ), under the standard 6-station, 2-rater, and 6-item setting were calculated. G-coefficients of in-person (2017–2019) and hybrid OSCEs (2020–2021) under the standard setting were estimated to be 0.624, 0.770, 0.782, 0.759, and 0.823, respectively. The BZ scores were estimated to be 2.43–3.57, 2.55–3.45, 2.59–3.41, 2.59–3.41, and 2.51–3.49, respectively, in the score range from 1 to 6. Although hybrid OSCEs showed reliability comparable to in-person OSCEs, they need further improvement as a very high-stakes examination. In addition to increasing clinical vignettes, having more proficient online/on-demand raters and/or online SPs for medical interviews could improve the reliability of OSCEs. Reliability can also be ensured through supplementary examination and by increasing the number of online raters for a small number of students within the BZs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with Gaucher disease (GD), a rare lysosomal storage disorder, have reduced health-related quality of life (HRQOL). A patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) for HRQOL developed for type 1 GD (GD1) is not appropriate for patients with neuronopathic GD (nGD) types 2 (GD2) and 3 (GD3). In this study, we developed a new PROM for use in all GD types. We previously reported the qualitative analysis of interviews with Japanese patients with nGD, which was used to create nGD-specific PROM items. Here we evaluated the full PROM combining the type 1 questionnaire with the new nGD-specific items. Methods: Patients with confirmed GD were recruited (Association of Gaucher Disease Patients in Japan or leading doctors) for pre-testing (May 2021) or the main survey (October–December 2021). The PROM had three parts: Parts 1 and 2 were translated into Japanese from the pre-existing GD1 PROM, whereas Part 3 was newly developed. Patients (or their caregivers, where necessary) completed the PROM questionnaire on paper and returned it by mail. Mean scores were determined overall and by GD type. Inter-item correlations, content consistency (Cronbach's alpha), and test–retest reliability (Cohen's kappa; main survey only, taken 2 weeks apart) were calculated. Results: Sixteen patients (three with GD1; six with GD2; seven with GD3) and 33 patients (nine with GD1; 13 with GD2; 11 with GD3) participated in the pre-test and main survey, respectively. All GD2 patients and one-third (6/18) of GD3 patients required caregivers to complete the questionnaire. Mean scores indicated that the burden was highest in GD2 and lowest in GD1. In the main survey, internal consistency was high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.898 overall, 0.916 for Part 3), and test–retest reliability was high for Part 3 (kappa > 0.60 for 13/16 items) but low for Part 1 (kappa < 0.60 for 12/15 items). Conclusions: We have developed a flexible and reliable PROM that can be tailored for use in all types of GD and propose using Parts 1 and 2 for GD1, Parts 2 and 3 for GD2, and Parts 1, 2, and 3 for GD3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four hundred decommissioned solar photovoltaic (PV) modules from nine utility‐scale solar power plants in Thailand have been surveyed on site by means of visual inspection, insulation testing and outdoor current–voltage (I–V) curve measurement. These included amorphous silicon (a‐Si), cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS or CIS) and multi crystalline silicon (multi c‐Si) PV modules after 6–9 years of operation. The most observed visual defect was the permanent edge soiling for all types of PV modules. The degradation rate (DR) for maximum power output (Pm) of the PV modules has varied widely, from 1.5%/year to 9%/year. 83% of the total amount of modules in this study still has the Pm of above 70% of their initial value, suggesting a potential for second use. Our findings are informative for a further study on PV reliability in the tropics and also can be used to develop mechanisms for handling decommissioned PV modules from solar farms, e.g., screening procedure concerning performance, safety, and reliability aspects before their second life application. © 2023 Institute of Electrical Engineer of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Although the importance of sarcopenia control has been suggested, there are no minimal detectable change (MDC) studies of older adults with sarcopenia, to our knowledge, and the criteria for determining the effectiveness of interventions are unknown. The purpose of this study was to calculate the MDC in the five times sit-to-stand test (FTSST) in older Japanese adults with sarcopenia and use it as an index to determine the effectiveness of future interventions. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in January and February 2023. The participants of this study were older Japanese adults using daycare rehabilitation. Thirty-eight participants performed the FTSST twice a week. Grip strength, walking speed, and skeletal muscle mass were measured to determine the presence of sarcopenia. The diagnosis of sarcopenia was defined as low skeletal muscle mass and low muscle strength and/or low physical function, based on the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 diagnostic criteria. Participants were further classified as sarcopenic or non-sarcopenic. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and MDCs were calculated for the overall, sarcopenia, and non-sarcopenia groups using the two FTSST measures. The average and difference of the two variables were used to calculate the MDC. Results: Overall, the ICC (1,1) was 0.94, MDC was 2.87 s, and MDC% was 23.3%. The sarcopenia group had an ICC (1,1) of 0.93, MDC of 3.12 s, and MDC% of 24.0%. The non-sarcopenia group had an ICC (1,1) of 0.95, MDC of 2.25 s, and MDC% of 19.2%. Conclusions: Despite the limitation of the data being only from this study population, we found that a change of ≥3.12 s or ≥24.0% in the FTSST of older adults with sarcopenia was clinically meaningful and may help to determine the effectiveness of sarcopenia treatment. The improvement or decline in older Japanese adults with sarcopenia should be determined by changes in the FTSST over a longer period of time than that for other conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The present study aimed to develop and validate the Character Strengths Test 24 (CST24), a simple scale consisting of 24 character strengths represented by one concept word and one sentence each. Three studies were conducted to examine the validation and utility of the CST24 for future research. Methods: Three internet-based surveys were conducted in Japan to investigate the psychometric properties of the CST24. Study 1 comprised 846 adults and focused on test development, including the evaluation of well-being and strengths scales, as well as retest reliability. Study 2 involved 1137 high school students and 1101 college undergraduates, aiming to investigate the factor structure of the CST24 and reaffirm its validity by utilizing happiness and meaning in life scales. In Study 3, 524 working adults participated to explore the scale's potential for future research. This study incorporated various psychological scales, such as value orientation, moral foundation, and work-related scales, to assess the utility of the CST24. Results: In Study 1, the CST24 items exhibited a well-distributed response pattern, demonstrating favorable retest reliability and internal consistency. Significant positive correlations were found between the CST24 items and measures of subjective well-being, meaning in life, positive self-compassion, and knowledge or utilization of strengths. Study 2 confirmed the stability of the factor structure across diverse sample groups, consistent with prior studies utilizing larger-scale measures. Study 3 identified both core and peripheral strengths, highlighting specific strengths that made substantial contributions to well-being, value orientation, moral foundation, sense of mission, and work-related indices through multiple regression analysis. Conclusion: The findings support the reliability and validity of the CST24 as a concise assessment tool for measuring 24 character strengths. Its potential utility for screening and exploratory research warrants attention in future studies, enhancing our understanding of the role of character strengths in various domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study developed a Japanese version of the Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAS‐J) and its short form (GAS‐10‐J) to evaluate anxiety in Japanese older adults and assess its psychometric properties using a cross‐sectional design. Methods: A total of 331 community‐dwelling older adult participants (208 men, 116 women, seven unknowns; mean age = 73.47 ± 5.17 years, range = 60–88 years) recruited from two Silver Human Resources Centres in the Kanto region, Japan, answered a set of self‐report questionnaires. Of these respondents, 120 participated in a follow‐up survey to evaluate test–retest reliability. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that, as with the original GAS, the GAS‐J had a three‐factor structure and the GAS‐10‐J had a unifactor structure with high standardised factor loadings. Test–retest correlations and internal consistency analyses indicated that these scales were reliable. Correlations between the GAS‐J/GAS‐10‐J with the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory, Generalised Anxiety Disorder‐7, Geriatric Depression Scale‐15, World Health Organization‐Five Well‐Being Index, and Kihon Checklist were mostly consistent with our hypotheses, thereby supporting the construct validity of the GAS‐J/GAS‐10‐J. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the GAS‐J and GAS‐10‐J have robust psychometric properties for assessing late‐life anxiety in Japanese older adults. Further GAS‐J studies are required for clinical groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the reliability and validity of the public transportation use assessment form (PTAF), which was developed for assessing the performance of tasks during public transportation use. Fifty consecutive patients admitted after a stroke to a convalescent rehabilitation hospital and received field-based practice for public transportation use were enrolled. A physical therapist (PT) and an occupational therapist (OT) independently evaluated actual participant performance using the PTAF. Its internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and construct validity were examined against other clinical measures related to the ability to use public transportation. Cronbach's coefficient alpha for the internal consistency for overall PTAF was 0.84 and 0.88 for PTs and OTs, respectively. Cohen's weighted κ coefficient for the inter-rater reliability for each item ranged from 0.61 to 0.83. Intraclass correlation coefficients for the inter-rater reliability for the mean scores of the items comprising the PTAF were 0.90 for all 14 items, 0.76 for items required for train use only, and 0.88 for items required for bus use only. The correlation coefficients for the construct validity between PTAF and clinical measures ranged from 0.38 to 0.59 (p < 0.05). The PTAF showed sufficient internal consistency, intra-rater reliability, and construct validity. This study illustrated the inter-rater reliability of the public transportation use assessment form (PTAF), indicating that the PTAF can be used for reliable assessment independent of the rater. The PTAF showed good internal consistency, indicating that each item in the PTAF consistently assessed the ability of patients with stroke to use public transportation. The PTAF correlated with assessment tools such as walking ability, balance, motor paralysis, intelligence, and activities of daily living, indicating that it reflects the functions and abilities necessary to use public transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immense impacts of tsunamis can inflict substantial damage on coastal infrastructure systems during their lifetime and lead to considerable economic loss. However, with the increasing intensity and variability of sea‐level rise due to climate change, evaluations of the life‐cycle tsunami risk associated with cumulative loss have become increasingly complex since tsunami hazards are time‐dependent. In addition, the number of earthquake events and the corresponding arrival times are substantially uncertain. Therefore, an accurate life‐cycle tsunami risk assessment methodology should be established to appropriately develop disaster mitigation measures. This paper provides a novel life‐cycle risk assessment of building portfolios subjected to tsunami hazards under non‐stationary sea‐level rise effects due to climate change. The cumulative loss of a building portfolio is evaluated through a compound renewal process based on earthquake interarrival time uncertainties and time‐dependent risk. The earthquake interarrival times are modeled using a non‐Poisson process based on historical data. Tsunami hazard curves that consider the effects of sea‐level rise, estimated based on climate models, are obtained with tsunami propagation analysis. The time‐variant annual risk is estimated based on reliability and building unit loss. Finally, a numerical procedure is proposed to estimate the life‐cycle tsunami risk of building portfolios. An illustrative example is provided by applying the framework to several municipalities in the Kochi Prefecture of Japan to assess the effects of climate change on the life‐cycle tsunami risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The child anxiety impact scale-parent version (CAIS-P) is a useful measure to assess the impact of anxiety on a child's daily life; however, a Japanese version of the CAIS-P has not been developed, and whether the CAIS-P can be utilized in Eastern countries remains unascertained. The purpose of this study was to develop a Japanese version of the CAIS-P and examine its reliability and validity. Parents of 400 children (aged 7 to 15 years) from the Japanese community completed the CAIS-P. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the factor structure of the original CAIS-P, consisting of school activity, social activity, and home/family activity factors, provided a good fit for the Japanese version of the CAIS-P. Estimated Spearman's correlation coefficients showed moderate correlations between the total and factor scores of the CAIS-P, anxiety symptoms (Spence Child Anxiety Scale-parent version), and depressive symptoms (Child Depression Inventory). Furthermore, the item response theory model revealed that each factor of the CAIS-P is a high information reliable measure for children with high trait anxiety. These results provide support for the Japanese version of the CAIS-P's factorial validity, convergent validity, and reliability and its potential for application in child anxiety research in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Foreign nationals residing in Japan account for approximately 2% of the total population (i.e., approximately 2.6 million people). Of these, 12% are not proficient in speaking Japanese and 25% experience difficulty reading Japanese. Therefore, a simple, convenient, and accurate scale in the native language of foreign nationals is required to support their mental health. In this study, the Public Health Research Foundation Stress Checklist Short Form (PHRF-SCL (SF)) was translated into five languages and the reliability and validity of the translations were confirmed. Methods: The five translated versions of the PHRF-SCL (SF) have been reverse-translated into the original language, Japanese. The creator confirmed that there were no inconsistencies between the Japanese and reverse-translated versions. A total of 777 adults aged 18–64 years participated in the study. They were asked to complete the native language versions of the PHRF-SCL (SF) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21 (DASS 21) online. Results: An exploratory factor analysis yielded the same four-factor structure as the original. Internal consistency was confirmed by the alpha coefficients of the subscales. Participants were classified into two groups on the basis of the severity classification obtained from each subscale of the DASS 21. Scores of PHRF-SCL (SF) are significantly higher in groups classified as symptomatic by DASS 21, thereby confirming construct validity. Concomitant validity was confirmed based on correlations with the DASS 21. Conclusions: English, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, and Vietnamese versions of the PHRF-SCL(SF) have been prepared. Although these versions are subject to further statistical analysis, the results were sufficiently substantiated for practical use. This scale is expected to contribute to the promotion of mental health services for people from these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Work performance of nurses is a critical aspect that concerns the safety of both nurses and patients, but also secondarily influences nurses' turnover due to serious fatigue and burnout. Monitoring nursing performance as well as fatigue is important for appropriate safety management of patients and nurses, and the development of a monitoring tool is essential. The Nursing Performance Instrument (NPI) can provide comprehensive and brief monitoring of nursing performance. This study aimed to verify the validity and reliability of a Japanese version of the NPI (NPI‐J). Methods: A cross‐sectional study was conducted on nurses who work in inpatient care across five Japanese hospitals. We considered appropriate factor numbers with parallel analysis and the Velicer's minimum average partial test. The construct validity was evaluated using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and Pearson's correlation analysis. Cronbach's alpha was calculated for the internal consistency. Results: A three‐factor model eventually showed acceptable fit indices in the CFA. Moreover, the correlation results among the three factors indicated discriminant validity comparable to the original NPI. The correlation results with acute fatigue, chronic fatigue, and burnout verified convergent validity. Internal consistency was insufficient. Conclusion: The NPI‐J demonstrated acceptable construct validity. This instrument can assess nurses' perceptions of their performance by measuring each item. Future work on the reliability of the sub‐concepts will require additional items or reliability testing based on generalizability theory and item response theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By virtue of a great progress of semiconductor fabrication technologies, micro electro‐mechanical systems (MEMS) have been developed for a wide variety of industries. For reliability of MEMS, micromaterials in MEMS need to be examined experimentally, and the obtained results need to be reflected in the design of MEMS. In addition, with the benefit of such the MEMS technology, nowadays mechanical characteristics of nanomaterials have been evaluated precisely. Nanoscale mechanical testing provides an opportunity to find new unique physical phenomena, such as plastic deformation in Si at intermediate temperatures. In this review paper, mechanical testing technologies developed for investigating micro and nanoscale materials are reviewed. Then, mechanical characteristics of Si and other materials evaluated using the micro and nano mechanical testing technologies are introduced. © 2022 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Personal Outcomes Scale is a measurement tool to examine quality of life among persons with intellectual disability. This paper addressed the validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the scale using both self-reports and reports of others. Data were collected from 128 people with intellectual disability (90 men and 38 women; Mage = 37.19 ± 11.90 (range = 19–69) years) and 27 support workers. Reliability was examined by Cronbach's alpha coefficients, inter-respondent reliability coefficients, and test-retest reliability. Validity was examined by construct validity and criteria-related validity. Self- and other-reported versions showed adequate internal consistency (α = 0.79); however, some domains had relatively low internal consistency. Validity tests showed weak to moderate correlations between the total score and the domain scores in both versions. The scale is reliable overall; however, cultural aspects should be considered to bolster its reliability for practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to translate the Early Clinical Assessment of Balance (ECAB) from English to Japanese and examine the content validity, inter-rater reliability, intra-rater reliability, construct validity, and minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for children with cerebral palsy (CP). The ECAB was translated into Japanese per international standards. The study included 106 children with CP and, aged 1.5–12 years. The ECAB, the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), and the Gross Motor Function Measure 66 Basal & Ceiling (GMFM-66-B&C) were measured. The content and construct validity were examined based on therapist feedback and correlations between the ECAB and GMFM-66-B&C. The inter-rater reliability and the intra-rater reliability were examined by the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). The MCID was calculated by the anchor-based method with the GMFM-66-B&C. High content validity (more than 80% agreement), inter-rater and intra-rater reliability (ICC = 0.99 & 0.99, respectively), and construct validity (r = 0.96) were demonstrated, with MCID values of 7.39, 5.32, and 6.88 observed for the GMFCS I/II, III, and IV/V, respectively. The Japanese version of the ECAB is a reliable and valid measure of balance ability in children with CP. Furthermore, the MCID of the ECAB was established, appears to be useful in helping to provide rehabilitation. The Japanese version of the Early Clinical Assessment of Balance is easy, safe, and low-cost, and has high reliability and validity for assessing balance ability in children with cerebral palsy. The use of the Japanese version of the Early Clinical Assessment of Balance is beneficial for determining the therapeutic effect, appropriate treatment, and prediction of prognosis regarding balance ability in children with cerebral palsy. The minimal detectable change of the Japanese version of the ECAB suggest that a score exceeding 6 is a true change and the minimal clinically important difference of the Japanese version of the ECAB suggest that the scores exceeding 8, 6, and 7 for the GMFCS I/II, III, and IV/V, respectively, is a clinically useful change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale has been widely used as patient-reported outcome measures for community stroke rehabilitation and its short version is beginning to be used. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the short version of the ABC scale-Japanese (Short ABC-J). Eighty-four participants with chronic stroke (mean age was 66.4 ± 9.7 years, mean time post stroke was 4.7 ± 3.5 years) including 66 test-retest samples were analyzed. The Short ABC-J was assessed with the ABC-J, the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I), the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and the Timed Up and Go Test (TUG-T). The internal consistency was good (Cronbach's alpha 0.90), reproducibility was excellent [intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC2,1) 0.92], and levels of absolute reliability were acceptable (standard error of measurement and minimal detectable change 8.32 and 23.07, respectively). Concurrent, convergent, and discriminative validity were supported for the FES-I, ABC-J, BBS, and TUG-T (all |rho| > 0.60, p <.001), and identifying balance and mobility (the area under the curve estimates ≥ 0.80) and discriminative power of the Short ABC-J were better than those of the FES-I and equal to or better than those of ABC-J. The Short ABC-J has good psychometric properties and is a valid and reliable measure of balance self-efficacy in Japanese community-dwelling people with chronic stroke. Further replication studies as well as other psychometric studies are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Trauma-informed care is recommended to avoid the inadvertent retraumatization of patients by health care providers. Psychometric evaluation of trauma-informed care instruments is needed. The Japanese version of the Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care (ARTIC-10) Scale has not yet been psychometrically validated. Objective: The study's objective was to examine the reliability and validity of the ARTIC-10. Methods: This psychometric study of the ARTIC-10 compared with five other scales associated with attitudes related to trauma-informed care used a cross-sectional survey design conducted in November 2020 with a convenience sample of Japanese physicians and nurses recruited from an internet research agency. Participants completed self-administered questionnaires including the (a) ARTIC-10; (b) the Japanese version of the Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire 2018; (c) Patient Health Questionnaire-9; (d) Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7; (e) Stress Underestimation Beliefs; and (f) Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised. Cronbach's α measured reliability internal consistency, and construct validity was measured by Spearman's rank. Results: A total of 794 physicians and nurses completed the surveys. Cronbach's α value of ARTIC-10 was 0.56. Higher scores of ARTIC-10 were positively and significantly correlated with Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire 2018 and negatively and significantly correlated with other scales (r =−.12 to.30). Conclusion: This study found only modest internal consistency and construct validity of the Japanese version of ARTIC-10 in physicians and nurses. Further study is needed to identify factors that affect the reliability and validity of this Japanese scale to improve its psychometric properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the reliability and validity of judging system scores of past hip-hop dance competitions in Japan. The analysis focused on the scores for each assessment category separately. Judges' scores were obtained from national dance competitions held annually in Japan between 2014 and 2019. In these competitions, five experienced judges evaluated the dancers' performances. The judges scored on a 10-point scale in five categories as follows: creativity, expression and interpretation, impression, technical quality, and synchronisation. This study found that the technical quality category demonstrated good reliability, whilst the impression showed poor reliability. Systematic bias was significant for all categories. There are no levels of difficulty defined for technique, no criteria set for correct movement and no explanation provided for each scoring level, which suggests that each judge may have interpreted the criteria for evaluating hip-hop dance differently. Developing these definitions and identifying the biases that affect evaluation would ensure a reliable evaluation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The original version of the Nurse Managers' Empowering Behavioral Scale for Staff Nurses (NMEB-SN) was both unique and comprehensive. However, it was considered lengthy. Hence, the intention of this particular study was to develop a shortened version of the NMEB-SN comprising 15 items across five subscales. Responses from 1268 staff nurses working at 10 Japanese hospitals were included in the analysis to confirm the validity and reliability of the scale. The results ensured internal consistency, construct and criterion-related validity, and test–retest reliability. The NMEB-SN short version is applicable in the context of practical and efficient nursing management to attract more nurses to the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An LRFD framework for embankments considering climate change effects is established. • Additional partial factors are introduced to account for the climate change effects. • Non-stationary maximum flood depth is developed using a peak-over-threshold method. • Embankment reliability is evaluated against overtopping and slope failure. • The proposed framework can serve as a reference for future code design. Riverine floods have become increasingly prevalent on a global scale, posing significant risks to infrastructure systems and communities. The escalating impacts of climate change associated with the increase in rainfall intensities and frequencies necessitate the improvement of the existing design methodologies to account for the non-stationary climate change effects to ensure that the reliability is above the target level and mitigate future flood disasters. This paper presents a novel LRFD approach for river embankments subjected to extreme rainfall under non-stationary climate change effects. This approach introduces an additional partial factor to account for the effects of climate change. Precipitation and temperature projections are collected from various climate models considering several cases of emission scenarios. An integrated hydrological and hydraulic modeling of the analyzed river is carried out to estimate the associated time-variant river discharge and water surface elevation. The non-stationary extreme value associated with the maximum flood level is leveraged using the peak-over-threshold approach. The embankment reliability and the corresponding most probable points are evaluated using limit states associated with overtopping and slope failures. Based on the estimated and target reliability indexes, the design point for each random variable is assessed considering the cases with and without climate change effects. Finally, the partial factors associated with climate change effects are determined. As an illustrative example, the proposed framework is applied to the Ashida River in Fukuyama city of Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although there are many tools to assess medical professionalism, they rarely address patients' perspectives. The instrument for patient assessment of medical professionalism (IPAMP) comprises 11 items and has been established and validated as a valuable tool for assessing trainees' professionalism from the patient's perspective. However, there is no instrument to assess professionalism from the patient's perspective in Japan. The purpose of the present study was to develop a Japanese version of the IPAMP (J-IPAMP) and test its validity and reliability. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey to examine the reliability and validity of the J-IPAMP in two hospitals (one each in an urban and rural area) in Japan. Receptionists or surveyors distributed the anonymous questionnaire to 276 inpatients; all participants were aged above 20 years and assigned to medical trainees. We evaluated its structural and criterion-related validity, as well as internal consistency reliability. Results: Data of 235 (85.1%) patients were analyzed. Using the split-half validation technique, we performed an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) along with a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The EFA showed a one-factor solution. Then, to compare the model fitness between two models (the two-factor model from the original English version vs. unidimensional model suggested by the EFA), the CFA was performed. The CFA showed that almost all of the fit indices met their respective criteria and were approximately the same for the two models. Thus, we adopted a single-factor model. The Pearson correlation coefficients between the total J-IPAMP scores and the global ratings were 0.738, indicating adequate criterion-related validity. The Cronbach's alpha of the 11 items of the instrument was 0.96 (95% confidence interval: 0.96–0.97) and the omega value was 0.96, demonstrating acceptable internal consistency reliability. Conclusions: We developed the Japanese version of the IPAMP. Its validity and reliability were verified through analysis. This instrument can be utilized for professionalism education in the postgraduate training setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Disability in ambulation has a critical impact on activities of daily living in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The 12-item Multiple Sclerosis Walking Scale (MSWS-12) is a self-reported instrument developed to assess the impact of MS on walking. The scale's 12 items assess various aspects of walking-related tasks during the past 2 weeks. MSWS-12 has been used in multiple clinical studies and translated into several languages. In the present study, we translated the MSWS-12 into Japanese and evaluated its psychometric properties in a cross-sectional study., Methods: The original English MSWS-12 version 2 (v2) was translated into Japanese through a standard procedure. Sixty consecutive Japanese MS patients completed the newly prepared Japanese MSWS-12v2 questionnaire and repeated the test 14 days later. Physical disability was assessed by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), Timed 25-foot Walk (T25FW), and 9-hole Peg Test (9HPT). Cognitive performance was evaluated using the Processing Speed Test (PST). Fatigue and health-related quality of life were assessed using the Japanese versions of the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and the Functional Assessment of MS (FAMS)., Results: The mean age of the patients was 42.5 years, with median disease duration of 10 years, and median EDSS of 2.0 (range 0, 6.5). Forty-seven patients (78.3 %) had relapsing-remitting, 9 (15.0 %) had secondary-progressive, and 4 (6.7 %) had primary-progressive phenotypes. The median score of the MSWS-12v2 was 5.95 (interquartile range 0, 50.6). Twenty-seven patients (45 %) scored the lowest possible score (0 points), while one (1.7 %) scored the highest possible score (100 points). Cronbach's alpha was 0.98 (95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.97, 0.98), and the test-retest intraclass correlation was 0.95 (95%CI 0.94, 0.96). MSWS-12v2 score was strongly correlated with EDSS (Spearman's ρ = 0.73 [95%CI 0.58, 0.83]), T25FW (ρ = 0.70 [95%CI 0.55, 0.81]), and total FAMS score (ρ = -0.80 [95%CI -0.88, -0.69]), and moderately correlated with 9HPT (ρ = 0.65 [95%CI 0.47, 0.77] for the dominant hand; ρ = 0.62 [95%CI 0.43, 0.75] for the non-dominant hand), PST (ρ = -0.65 [95%CI -0.78, -0.47]), and FSS (ρ = 0.68 [95%CI 0.52, 0.80]). Among the subcomponents of FAMS, the mobility subcomponent showed the most robust correlation with MSWS-12v2 score (ρ = -0.91 [95%CI -0.94, -0.81]). In patients with minimal or no objective disability (EDSS < 3.0, n = 40), only the mobility subcomponent of FAMS was strongly correlated with MSWS-12v2 score (ρ = -0.76 [95% CI -0.87, -0.58]). In contrast, correlations of MSWS-12v2 score with EDSS and T25FW were weak in this subgroup (ρ = 0.28 [95%CI -0.03, 0.55] for EDSS; ρ = 0.25 [95%CI -0.06, 0.52] for T25FW). Response patterns for the single items showed that 32.5 % of the patients with EDSS below 3.0 reported having problems with balance, followed by climbing stairs and standing while doing things (both 25 %)., Conclusion: The Japanese version of the MSWS-12v2 developed in this study is reliable, valid, and helpful for screening walking disability in Japanese MS patients, including those with minimal objective disability., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Yusei Miyazaki has received travel and speaker honoraria from Alexion Pharma, Biogen Japan, Chugai Pharmaceutical Company, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Novartis Pharma, and Teijin Pharma. Masaaki Niino has received travel and speaker honoraria from Alexion Pharma, Biogen Japan, Chugai Pharmaceutical Company, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Novartis Pharma, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. Naoya Minami has received travel and speaker honoraria from Argenx Japan. The other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)