I decided to take an examination of TOEFL.
TOEFL, Test of English as a Foreign Language is a standard of evaluating the ability of English. Students want to study abroad have to certify their English ability with TOEFL. It includes 4 regions of English utilizing, reading, listening, speaking and writing.
Compared TOEIC, TOEFL is not so common in Japan. However, in world view, TOEFL is more popular as far as I know.
Today, I read a textbook about TOEFL to recognize its quality as a tool for learning English.
The range of Questions in TOEFL is very wide. It examines not only English ability, but also some kinds of abilities demand for scholars. For example, in the speaking section, you are demanded to claim about your own opinion. The conclusion itself is not scored. But the process to the conclusion is looked into. The logical and clear expression is needed to get a high score. To be frank, I can lie about my opinion in TOEFL. Persuasive explanation is preferred.
Some people say that it is no use to prepare for examination, but I disagree. I think that training for TOEFL helps me to improve my skill in debate.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Free textbooks, my opinion
I think textbooks for some kinds of the specialty should be delivered for free.
For example, there are many popular
textbooks about medicine. In psychiatric region, Kaplan & Sadock’s is most essential
one. Almost all beginner psychiatrists are struggling for reading and
understanding this. It costs about $90 in Amazon.com.
In general, books for limited readers tend
to be expensive. The reason for this publishing cost. Bestsellers are printed
well. If publisher print a large amount of books, the cost for each book will be decreased.
Paperback hit the market with cheap price. Besides, books dealing a maniac theme
are not selling well. So publisher cannot print a lot. The price increases.
Academia textbooks are one of the examples.
Moreover, few people can write books about
maniac themes. Few people can edit them. Personal expenses tend to be increased
as well.
However, the environment around publishing has
changed. Desktop publishing with PC or Kindle Store are now available. Digital
publishing made cost for print free. Risk for dead stock is avoidable. That mean we can create a book of maniac themes with extremely low cost.
Now, personal expenses can be cut down.
Writers of textbooks are professors of the university in general. They do not write
textbooks to earn money to live. They teach their pupils to get money. Writing
textbooks are one of tools to teach pupils, or raise their reputation. Many
professors want to publish their own textbooks, even for free.
I also have written some textbooks as a
co-author. I received no money for this task.
If textbooks are delivered to many pupils
for free, they can learn about their specialty, not be annoyed by financial
problem. Better education can improve whole society.
I want to write another textbook of
psychiatry for free, to deliver whoever want to learn about psychiatry.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Second opinion
We sometimes hear the word “second opinion”.
It means to listen to another person about the problem, usually a medical matter.
Medical science is extremely derived to many kinds of specialty. No doctor knows all of the human body and mind. For example, I am a psychiatrist and can introduce myself as a physician in Japan. But I cannot treat a patient with severe pneumonia as well. As well, most physicians cannot treat severe depression like I can.
So no one can treat a whole human. But doctor in charge is to be consulted by his patients. When the patient is suffering from a certain disease which the doctor in charge is not familiar to, he would consult another specialist. It is a second opinion.
It is often misunderstood about the purpose of a second opinion. The patient met another specialist should visit the doctor in charge again to discuss the strategy of treatment. Even if he thought that the specialist doctor was superior to the doctor in charge (it is ordinary, as a specialist is superior to a generalist in the specific matter!), he should not apart from the doctor in charge. Otherwise it would be simply changing doctors.
However, in Japan it happens frequently.
One of the reasons is health insurance in Japan. All Japanese belong to national health insurance (or insurance for employees). Patients can visit any doctor, anywhere they like, to be treated by health insurance. All physicians are obliged to treat any patients in front of them. In Japan free access to health care is certified. This is one of the unique character of the Japanese social health system.
So a patient who does not believe the doctor in charge can change his doctor with free.
Therefore, patient-and-doctor relationship is hardly established in Japan, especially in urban areas. For patients, it is advantageous to choose the best doctor for him. On the other hand, it is difficult to give continuous therapy for a long time, which makes the problem around chronic disease more complicated. In psychiatric region, some patients change doctors very frequently, they are called “doctor shopping”.
In general, a second opinion is hard to function. When you were given an advice, which you do not agree with, you perhaps want to get a second opinion. But it is not second opinion, but you merely want to find someone to agree with you.
It means to listen to another person about the problem, usually a medical matter.
Medical science is extremely derived to many kinds of specialty. No doctor knows all of the human body and mind. For example, I am a psychiatrist and can introduce myself as a physician in Japan. But I cannot treat a patient with severe pneumonia as well. As well, most physicians cannot treat severe depression like I can.
So no one can treat a whole human. But doctor in charge is to be consulted by his patients. When the patient is suffering from a certain disease which the doctor in charge is not familiar to, he would consult another specialist. It is a second opinion.
It is often misunderstood about the purpose of a second opinion. The patient met another specialist should visit the doctor in charge again to discuss the strategy of treatment. Even if he thought that the specialist doctor was superior to the doctor in charge (it is ordinary, as a specialist is superior to a generalist in the specific matter!), he should not apart from the doctor in charge. Otherwise it would be simply changing doctors.
However, in Japan it happens frequently.
One of the reasons is health insurance in Japan. All Japanese belong to national health insurance (or insurance for employees). Patients can visit any doctor, anywhere they like, to be treated by health insurance. All physicians are obliged to treat any patients in front of them. In Japan free access to health care is certified. This is one of the unique character of the Japanese social health system.
So a patient who does not believe the doctor in charge can change his doctor with free.
Therefore, patient-and-doctor relationship is hardly established in Japan, especially in urban areas. For patients, it is advantageous to choose the best doctor for him. On the other hand, it is difficult to give continuous therapy for a long time, which makes the problem around chronic disease more complicated. In psychiatric region, some patients change doctors very frequently, they are called “doctor shopping”.
In general, a second opinion is hard to function. When you were given an advice, which you do not agree with, you perhaps want to get a second opinion. But it is not second opinion, but you merely want to find someone to agree with you.
Monday, March 4, 2013
PC remote control crime cases
Japanese police is implicated in a crime game now.
In 2012, a juvenile guy was arrested because he was deemed to make a notice of a massacre at the internet. He made a confession about his crime, to be punished with the observation by the probation office.
Similar cases of notice of murders occurred subsequently. Some of the suspected were found to not guilty.
One person was prosecuted with the suspect of attempt for airplane bombing. However, it was found that the evidence showed that the PC of the suspect had been cracked by a malware which could manipulate it. It showed the possibility this suspect was innocent. So the prosecution was cancelled.
Then, some mysterious reports were sent to some mass media and lawyers.
In these reports, the author introduced self as the true culprit. And it was proved to be true, as the reports said about the series of crimes in detail. The cracker made a malware to control PCs of other people, to make them out to be blackmailers.
Everybody was astonished about it.
The cracker sent more reports including defiant puzzles, insulting the police.
On Feb 10, one person was arrested. The suspect is continuing to deny the crime still now. The prosecutor is investigating him.
Today, a would-be true culprit published his comment via internet. It is possible that he was just pretending to be the cracker for a fun.
The situation is still chaotic.
A case of PC remote control: Wikipedia (in Japanese)
*This Wiki describes the cases extremely in detail. It is also amazing.
Police False Arrests in Remote Control Virus Case Criticized: Japan Crush
These series of case are very horrible. I feel that as if Sci-Fi.
And many considerations are given to us.
The first suspected is truly innocent but the person confessed to the offense he had not done. It is possible that investigation of police and prosecutors forced him to make a lie. This is also terrible matter.
Mass media in Japan tend to report the cases as if the suspect were true criminal when the suspect is arrested. I think this is a vicious habit. Even if the suspect was proved to be innocent, it is difficult for him to recover his social honor.
Moreover, these cases show that we are all not able to be apart from crime. Cybercrimes and terrorism is nearer to us now.
(*sequel)
(**more sequel)
In 2012, a juvenile guy was arrested because he was deemed to make a notice of a massacre at the internet. He made a confession about his crime, to be punished with the observation by the probation office.
Similar cases of notice of murders occurred subsequently. Some of the suspected were found to not guilty.
One person was prosecuted with the suspect of attempt for airplane bombing. However, it was found that the evidence showed that the PC of the suspect had been cracked by a malware which could manipulate it. It showed the possibility this suspect was innocent. So the prosecution was cancelled.
Then, some mysterious reports were sent to some mass media and lawyers.
In these reports, the author introduced self as the true culprit. And it was proved to be true, as the reports said about the series of crimes in detail. The cracker made a malware to control PCs of other people, to make them out to be blackmailers.
Everybody was astonished about it.
The cracker sent more reports including defiant puzzles, insulting the police.
On Feb 10, one person was arrested. The suspect is continuing to deny the crime still now. The prosecutor is investigating him.
Today, a would-be true culprit published his comment via internet. It is possible that he was just pretending to be the cracker for a fun.
The situation is still chaotic.
A case of PC remote control: Wikipedia (in Japanese)
*This Wiki describes the cases extremely in detail. It is also amazing.
Police False Arrests in Remote Control Virus Case Criticized: Japan Crush
These series of case are very horrible. I feel that as if Sci-Fi.
And many considerations are given to us.
The first suspected is truly innocent but the person confessed to the offense he had not done. It is possible that investigation of police and prosecutors forced him to make a lie. This is also terrible matter.
Mass media in Japan tend to report the cases as if the suspect were true criminal when the suspect is arrested. I think this is a vicious habit. Even if the suspect was proved to be innocent, it is difficult for him to recover his social honor.
Moreover, these cases show that we are all not able to be apart from crime. Cybercrimes and terrorism is nearer to us now.
(*sequel)
(**more sequel)
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Evernote cracked, modern risk for security
Yesterday, I found my Evernote application was not working. I immediately changed my password of Evernote.
Actually, Evernote had been hacked and 50 million passwords were stolen.
Evernote hacked - almost 50 million passwords reset after security breach
Network security is a very important matter now. We are highly dependent on internet connection. If the internet were crippled during one day, a lot of people would be critically damaged.
Needless to say, most companies are taking measures against network cracking. However, I experienced some surprising cases recently.
For example, Sony was hacked and had to stop the service of PlayStation Network for a few months occurred in 2011.
PlayStation Network outage: Wikipedia
The cracker has not been clarified. Some members Anonymous were arrested to be released soon because of lack of evidence.
I cannot imagine the loss of Sony caused by the case. Cost for check and maintain of system, civil action and compensation and chance loss of sales are almost incalculable.
On the other hand, I do not know the merit for the cracker.
In general, goal of the professional crackers is to acquire personal information of customers. I heard some providers buy lists of personal information from crackers. But Sony or Evernote is too big to be dealt with. How much is the cost of the list of customers of Sony?
Nowadays, big data including personal information is growing more and more. At the same time, security risk and the scale of the accident are greater than they ever have been. We face great risk in exchange for convenience.
Actually, Evernote had been hacked and 50 million passwords were stolen.
Evernote hacked - almost 50 million passwords reset after security breach
Network security is a very important matter now. We are highly dependent on internet connection. If the internet were crippled during one day, a lot of people would be critically damaged.
Needless to say, most companies are taking measures against network cracking. However, I experienced some surprising cases recently.
For example, Sony was hacked and had to stop the service of PlayStation Network for a few months occurred in 2011.
PlayStation Network outage: Wikipedia
The cracker has not been clarified. Some members Anonymous were arrested to be released soon because of lack of evidence.
I cannot imagine the loss of Sony caused by the case. Cost for check and maintain of system, civil action and compensation and chance loss of sales are almost incalculable.
On the other hand, I do not know the merit for the cracker.
In general, goal of the professional crackers is to acquire personal information of customers. I heard some providers buy lists of personal information from crackers. But Sony or Evernote is too big to be dealt with. How much is the cost of the list of customers of Sony?
Nowadays, big data including personal information is growing more and more. At the same time, security risk and the scale of the accident are greater than they ever have been. We face great risk in exchange for convenience.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Life-work balance, a paradoxical word
Recently, I sometimes hear the word “Life-work balance”.
I do not know whether you use this word or not in other countries.
In Japan, all men worked hard at highly developing age after WW II to 1970s. Industriousness was a great virtue. I remember that a popular commercial song said “Do you work 24 hours?” in my childhood.
However, the sense of values had changed gradually since 1980s. Some people died after overwork. Women were struggling to get a high class job to fail.
And price bubble occurred in 1988. Some people spent enormous money for worthless purpose. A lot of people borrowed money to buy land.
In 1991, Japan bubble corrupted. Japan began to wander in economic maze. Over 30,000 people committed suicide in a year.
And now, we have not escaped from severe depression yet. Prime Minister Mr. Abe promises to save Japan from fiscal crisis. But the prognosis is unknown.
Now, not a few people take account on life-work balance.
I guess one of the reasons is that we know to make the effort is not always successful.
“Money does not make us happy. Effort does not bring money to us.”
“Do not work so hard. Attach greater importance to quality of life of you.”
So life work balance is important, they say.
However, I am doubtful for this kind of thought above.
From the beginning, life and work are not opposite concepts to each other. Of course, work is a part of life. If you thought that work was apart from life, you would be a ghost at work time!
There are three components in human life. They are, work, family and hobby. Moreover, one-third of life is sleeping. Then work cannot be independent from life itself. It is only one-fourth of life. The problem is how to deal with it.
Second, so called successes are all workaholic. Their “life-work balance” is distorted. Should you not copy them? My answer is “Yes”. If you hope for success, you must distort some balance of your life. It makes your own life unique.
Successes mean they control their life for their own desire. They cannot think about life-work balance.
Drop your balance. And you will do you should do.
I do not know whether you use this word or not in other countries.
In Japan, all men worked hard at highly developing age after WW II to 1970s. Industriousness was a great virtue. I remember that a popular commercial song said “Do you work 24 hours?” in my childhood.
However, the sense of values had changed gradually since 1980s. Some people died after overwork. Women were struggling to get a high class job to fail.
And price bubble occurred in 1988. Some people spent enormous money for worthless purpose. A lot of people borrowed money to buy land.
In 1991, Japan bubble corrupted. Japan began to wander in economic maze. Over 30,000 people committed suicide in a year.
And now, we have not escaped from severe depression yet. Prime Minister Mr. Abe promises to save Japan from fiscal crisis. But the prognosis is unknown.
Now, not a few people take account on life-work balance.
I guess one of the reasons is that we know to make the effort is not always successful.
“Money does not make us happy. Effort does not bring money to us.”
“Do not work so hard. Attach greater importance to quality of life of you.”
So life work balance is important, they say.
However, I am doubtful for this kind of thought above.
From the beginning, life and work are not opposite concepts to each other. Of course, work is a part of life. If you thought that work was apart from life, you would be a ghost at work time!
There are three components in human life. They are, work, family and hobby. Moreover, one-third of life is sleeping. Then work cannot be independent from life itself. It is only one-fourth of life. The problem is how to deal with it.
Second, so called successes are all workaholic. Their “life-work balance” is distorted. Should you not copy them? My answer is “Yes”. If you hope for success, you must distort some balance of your life. It makes your own life unique.
Successes mean they control their life for their own desire. They cannot think about life-work balance.
Drop your balance. And you will do you should do.
Friday, March 1, 2013
What is expert?
The word “Expert” has a unique power. We feel that as if an expert knows everything about his specialized field. We tend to believe the words of experts on newspapers or magazines.
What is the definition of experts? Do you know the standard for someone called an expert?
There are some answers. Vast knowledge about this field; a lot of achievements or prizes; techniques not to be able to be copied by others; and so on.
I have three answers about this question.
One, an expert needs to construct a theory or a system from the beginning, so called zero-based thinking. An expert of politics must have an idea of the most beneficial system of policy. If he were the emperor, he would establish a utopia of an ideal system of politics. Criticizing the present state of policy is not adequate to be an expert on politics. Show me the answer.
Two, an expert must be able to explain everything with his specialized words. An expert of psychology can talk about current issue of politics from a psychological point of view. He analyses the minds of politicians and citizens to explain the current problem of politics. An expert draws any phenomena up to his specialty.
And the last is that expertise is not a privilege but a duty. To be an expert is to be responsible for it. If an expert of martial arts injured other people, he would be punished as if he had heavily armed. An expert should not be defeated by an amateur in a debate. And they must enlighten other people, to prove the value of their specialty.
These 3 standards are very hard to be committed. Specialty is so tough that I hardly introduce myself as an expert of forensic mental health.
What is the definition of experts? Do you know the standard for someone called an expert?
There are some answers. Vast knowledge about this field; a lot of achievements or prizes; techniques not to be able to be copied by others; and so on.
I have three answers about this question.
One, an expert needs to construct a theory or a system from the beginning, so called zero-based thinking. An expert of politics must have an idea of the most beneficial system of policy. If he were the emperor, he would establish a utopia of an ideal system of politics. Criticizing the present state of policy is not adequate to be an expert on politics. Show me the answer.
Two, an expert must be able to explain everything with his specialized words. An expert of psychology can talk about current issue of politics from a psychological point of view. He analyses the minds of politicians and citizens to explain the current problem of politics. An expert draws any phenomena up to his specialty.
And the last is that expertise is not a privilege but a duty. To be an expert is to be responsible for it. If an expert of martial arts injured other people, he would be punished as if he had heavily armed. An expert should not be defeated by an amateur in a debate. And they must enlighten other people, to prove the value of their specialty.
These 3 standards are very hard to be committed. Specialty is so tough that I hardly introduce myself as an expert of forensic mental health.
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