Background: Dementia is one the major problems of aging societies, and, novel and effective non-drug therapies are required as interventions in the oldest-old to prevent cognitive decline.Objective: This study aims to examine the efficacy and safety of reminiscence using immersive virtual reality focusing on anxiety that often appears with cognitive decline. The secondary objective is to reveal the preference for VR image types for reminiscence: live-action or computer graphics.Methods: This was a pilot, open-label, and randomized crossover study which was conducted (...) on January 2020 at a single nursing home. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups in equal numbers, and they alternately viewed two types of VR images themed on the mid- to late Showa era in Japan. In group A, the CG images were viewed first, and then the LA images were viewed. In group B, the images were viewed in the opposite order. Before VR viewing, subjects responded to Mini-Mental State Examination Japanese version and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Japanese version. After viewing the first and second VR, subjects responded to STAI and the numerical rating scale for satisfaction and side effects.Results: Ten subjects participated in this study. The values of analyses are presented in the mean. The age was 87.1 years, and the MMSE was 28.5. The total STAI score before VR viewing was 36.1, but it significantly decreased to 26.8 after the first VR viewing, and further decreased to 23.4 after the second VR viewing. The NRS score for satisfaction tended to be higher after viewing LA in group A vs. 8.6, P = 0.0993), while in group B, the score after CG was slightly lower than that after LA. There were no serious side effects.Conclusions: This study suggests that iVR reminiscence can reduce anxiety in the oldest-old without causing serious side effects. Furthermore, the impacts might be better with LA images. (shrink)

Sustained peripheral somatosensory stimulations, such as high-frequency repetitive somatosensory stimulation (HF-RSS) and vibrated stimulation, are effective in altering the balance between excitation and inhibition in the somatosensory cortex (S1) and motor cortex (M1). A recent study reported that whole-hand water flow (WF) stimulation induced neural disinhibition in the M1. Based on previous results, we hypothesized that whole-hand WF stimulation would lead to neural disinhibition in the S1 because there is a strong neural connection between M1 and S1 and aimed to (...) examine whether whole-hand WF stimulation would change the neural balance between excitation and inhibition in the S1. Nineteen healthy volunteers were studied by measuring excitation and inhibition in the S1 before and after each of the four 15-min interventions. The excitation and inhibition in the S1 were assessed using somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) and paired-pulse inhibition (PPI) induced by single- and paired-pulse stimulations, respectively. The four interventions were as follows: control, whole-hand water immersion, whole-hand WF, and HF-RSS. The results showed no significant changes in SEPs and PPI following any intervention. However, changes in PPI with an interstimulus interval (ISI) of 30 ms were significantly correlated with the baseline value before whole-hand WF. Thus, the present findings indicated that the whole-hand WF stimulation had a greater decreased neural inhibition in participants with higher neural inhibition in the S1 at baseline. Considering previous results on M1, the present results possibly show that S1 has lower plasticity than M1 and that the duration (15 min) of each intervention may not have been enough to alter the balance of excitation and inhibition in the S1. (shrink)

1. Seikyō ronkō -- 2-3. Shibunrui -- 4-10. Rangai shorui -- 11-12. Genshi shiroku -- 13-14. Fukureki.

Some of the basic substructural logics are shown by Ono to have the disjunction property (DP) by using cut elimination of sequent calculi for these logics. On the other hand, this syntactic method works only for a limited number of substructural logics. Here we show that Maksimova's criterion on the DP of superintuitionistic logics can be naturally extended to one on the DP of substructural logics over FL. By using this, we show the DP for some of the substructural logics (...) for which syntactic methods don't work well. (shrink)

We can easily discriminate self-produced from externally generated sensory signals. Recent studies suggest that the prediction of the sensory consequences of one’s own actions made by forward model can be used to attenuate the sensory effects of self-produced movements, thereby enabling a differentiation of the self-produced sensation from the externally generated one. The present study showed that attenuation of sensation occurred both when participants themselves performed a goal-directed action and when they observed experimenter performing the same action, although they clearly (...) reported that the tones were produced by other during action observation and by themselves during their own action. These results suggest that sensory prediction of action modulates ongoing auditory processing irrespective of who produces the sounds and that the explicit judgment of agency does not necessarily rely on the same mechanisms on which implicit perceptual measures such as sensory attenuation rely. (shrink)

This paper addresses some problems related to the relation of truthmaking, especially those concerning its necessity, adopting an essentialist point of view and focusing on the nature of truthbearers. According to the orthodox view in truthmaker theory, the relation of truthmaking is necessary in some sense. Thus, an important question involves how the relation of truthmaking is made necessary. I adopt a version of Jonathan Lowe’s essentialist approach to this question. However, contra Lowe, I take token acts of predication as (...) the primary truthbearers. This is Peter Hanks’ view in the philosophy of language. I shall argue that some problems with the essentialist approach can be solved by taking the nature of token acts of predication to be the source of necessity in truthmaking. At the end of this paper, I shall also briefly outline two general consequences related to truthmaking that I suppose this move about truthbearers should have. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Ōmori Shōzō and Kotodama Theory: How Can We Overcome the Need for Bodily Encounters?Maki SatoIntroductionŌmori Shōzō is known for his theory of tachi-araware monism. Tachiaraware monism is his attempted counter-argument to the Cartesian dualism of the object–subject divide, or in his words, a divide between physical (butsuri, mono, science, object) and non-physical consciousness (ishiki, koto, perception, incident), perception (chikaku, 知覚) and conception (shikō, 思考). His concept of Kasane-egaki is (...) also often cited as a core concept of his theory of time.1 The main aim of this paper is to first overview the works of Ōmori since there is only a limited amount of his translated work so far.2 Consecutively, the paper focuses on Ōmori’s theory of kotodama and its related arguments with an intention to expand his concept of Kowaburi into the ethics of online encounters during the pandemic.The world in 2020 was suddenly forced to face the pandemic caused by COVID-19. What COVID-19 alerted us to is tremendous, and there are countless problems that the invisible virus has revealed. Among those are the hidden problems of contemporary society, not limited to the discrimination among races, gender, and jobs (white-collars versus essential workers), the problem of zoonosis, and the related environmental problems (climate change and intrusion into wild nature) caused by over-exploitation of nature. In developed countries, most students and those serving as intellectual workers face their daily lives being overly occupied with online lectures and meetings. COVID-19 worked to normalize remote work, which further normalized and forced our everyday life to shift to cyberspace. [End Page 101]In introducing and overviewing Ōmori’s philosophy, this paper attempts to see the current situation through Ōmori’s philosophy to draw out some ethical implications related to non-physical online encounters and how we can perceive human interactions and relationships under such conditions. Under the constraints caused by COVID-19, humans’ limitless desires to interact with others are expanding more so to the sphere of cyberspace, leading to technological development, such as VR. In short, first, the paper overviews Ōmori’s philosophy. Second, through the overview of Ōmori’s philosophy, the paper seeks adaptable philosophy of his that may work as soft binding grounding ethics for cyberspace encounters where substantial bodily encounters are void. In doing so, the paper intends to draw out weak binding ethics implied in Ōmori’s philosophy that may work to empathetically engage with others in cyberspace where embodied encounters with others are dissolved.Ōmori Shōzō and His Philosophy: A Short Introduction and OverviewIn his short essay introducing the Japanese philosophy of the 1970s, Yasuo Kobayashi coined the term “Komaba quartet” by selecting four active eminent philosophers based on the Komaba campus at the University of Tokyo.3 Among them is Ōmori Shōzō (1921–97), aligning with Hiromatsu Wataru (1933–94), Sakabe Megumi (1936–2009), and Inoue Tadashi (1926–2014). Ōmori is the oldest of the Komaba quartet and received higher education before World War II. He served at the Naval Technology Institute Mitaka Laboratory during the war with his physics degree from the Tokyo Imperial University.4 After the war, he studied philosophy at the University of Tokyo with an interest in phenomenology, leading him to study at Harvard and Stanford in the United States.During his professorship at the University of Tokyo, he inspired countless students who are now leading the philosophy academy in Japan, such as Noe Keiichi (1949–) and Noya Shigeki (1954–). In the round-table discussion titled “Explanatory Round-Table on the Charm of Ōmori’s Philosophy,” four of his former students—Iida Takashi and Tanji Nobuharu, in addition to Noe and Noya—worked on selecting his works. It is impressive to read that all four [End Page 102] of them recall how exciting and inspiring it was to take his classes.5 Iida recalls that Ōmori’s classes were exceptional since philosophy courses were all about reading, with might and main, the texts written in a language other than Japanese at the University of Tokyo. However, Ōmori, with his postwar American education, welcomed discussion with the students and was keen on questioning... (shrink)

Firstly I characterize Simple Partial Logic (SPL) as the generalization and extension of a certain two-valued logic. Based on the characterization I present two definitions of validity in SPL. Finally I show that given my characterization these two definitions are more appropriate than other definitions that have been prevalent, since both have some desirable semantic properties that the others lack.

La présente étude examine comment les intellectuels japonais tentèrent d’introduire l’utilitarisme lors du premier stade d’un processus de modernisation dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle. Elle décrit les efforts significatifs qu’ils consacrèrent à la traduction des œuvres ou des textes de Bentham et de Mill en créant de nombreux mots japonais nouveaux. Car, jusqu’à la fin de la société agraire quasi féodale du shogunat Tokugawa, il n’y avait quasiment pas eu de concepts équivalents pour des notions telles que l’individu, (...) la liberté, le droit, la démocratie, par exemple. La Restauration de Meiji de 1868, au premier abord, suggère par son nom une restauration de l’ancien régime ; mais en réalité c’était l’inverse, car il s’agissait d’un tournant décisif pour le Japon, dont le but était d’établir une nouvelle société industrielle moderne. La présente recherche fournit tout d’abord une liste chronologique des traductions des œuvres de Bentham et Mill réalisées au cours des deux premières décennies après la Restauration. Ensuite, elle évalue la précision et la validité du résultat de la traduction, en prenant comme exemple le premier paragraphe de l’Introduction aux Principes de la Morale et de la Législation. En troisième lieu, elle examine dans quelle mesure les intellectuels japonais de cette époque comprirent l’utilitarisme dans le processus de création des nouvelles traductions en japonais. Ce processus était issu de la tradition consistant à créer différents concepts japonais uniques, sous forme de mots composés de caractères hiéroglyphiques chinois, ancrés profondément dans l’influence culturelle du confucianisme qui domina longtemps à partir du VIe siècle. Enfin, la présente étude évalue comment les premières présentations de Bentham et Mill influencèrent la génération suivante d’intellectuels japonais. Ce résultat peut expliquer dans une certaine mesure pourquoi le Japon ne compte démographiquement que 0,8 % de chrétiens, et pourquoi la société japonaise est fondamentalement laïque et tournée vers le succès économique. (shrink)

現代の物質像の根本的変容に対し、アリストテレス以来の実体主義を洗練、実在の本性に迫る包括的形而上学理論の構築。.

This paper considers methodological issues of awareness during adult second language acquisition. Specifically, the paper deals with the issue of instructional orientations, the issue of biases in knowledge measurement, and the issue of reactivity in the online think-aloud protocol. Detailed reviews of prominent SLA research that has investigated the possibility of implicit SLA reveal that the instruction on implicit learning does not guarantee that learners engage in the implicit learning mode, that the majority of SLA research has employed only tests (...) of “explicit learning” such as untimed grammaticality judgment, and that there is some evidence that the online think-aloud protocol causes negative reactivity particularly when it is metalinguistic in nature. (shrink)

Actions shape what we see and memorize. A previous study suggested the interaction between motor and memory systems by showing that memory encoding for task-irrelevant items was enhanced when presented with motor-response cues. However, in the studies on the attentional boost effect, it has been revealed that detection of the target stimulus can lead to memory enhancement without requiring overt action. Thus, the direct link between the action and memory remains unclear. To exclude the effect of the target detection process (...) as a potential confounder, this study assessed the benefit of action for memory by separating items from the response cue in time. In our pre-registered online experiment, participants responded to visual Go cues by pressing a key or counting while ignoring No-go cues. In each trial, two task-irrelevant images were sequentially presented after the cue disappearance. After encoding the Go/No-go tasks, participants performed a surprise recognition memory test for those images. Importantly, we quantified the impact of overt execution of the action by comparing memories with and without motor response and the impact of covert motor processes by comparing memory between the motor and cognitive tasks. The results showed no memory differences between Go and No-go trials in the motor task. This means that the execution itself was not critical for memory enhancement. However, the memory performance in the motor No-go trials was higher than that in the cognitive No-go trials, only for the items presented away from the cues in time. Therefore, engaging the motor task itself could increase incidental memory for the task-irrelevant items compared to a passive viewing situation. We added empirical evidence on the online interaction between action and memory encoding. These memory advantages could be especially brought in action preparation and planning. We believe this fact may expand our present understanding of everyday memory, such as active learning. (shrink)

The Drosophila compound eye is an excellent experimental system for analysing fate induction of identifiable single cells. Each ommatidium, a unit eye, contains eight photoreceptors (R1‐R8), and the differentiation of these photoreceptors occurs in the larval eye imaginal disc in discrete steps: first R8 is determined, then R2/R5, R3/R4, R1/R6 and finally R7. Induction of R7, in particular, has been extensively studied at the molecular level. The R8 photoreceptor presents on its surface a ligand, Bride of Sevenless, that binds and (...) activates Sevenless receptor tyrosine kinase in the R7 precursor. Autophosphorylated Sevenless initiates a Ras1‐mediated cascade, which eventually activates transcription factors in the nucleus via Raf1 and MAP kinases, resulting in R7 development. However, recent studies indicate that Sevenless (Sev) functions just to neuralize the cell and has no role in R7 fate determination per se. It appears that the R7 fate may represent the lowest rung of a ‘neuronal ground state’, which is attained without any specific inductive cue. It is plausible that the R7 precursor is actively prevented from taking on the neuronal fate and this inhibition is removed by activation of Sev. (shrink)

For a large natural class of forcing notions, we prove general equivalence theorems between forcing absoluteness statements, regularity properties, and transcendence properties over and the core model . We use our results to answer open questions from set theory of the reals.

The number of competing-brands changes by new product's entry. The new product introduction is endemic among consumer packaged goods firm and is an integral component of their marketing strategy. As a new product's entry affects markets, there is a pressing need to develop market response model that can adapt to such changes. In this paper, we develop a dynamic model that capture the underlying evolution of the buying behavior associated with the new product. This extends an application of a dynamic (...) linear model, which is used by a number of time series analyses, by allowing the observed dimension to change at some point in time. Our model copes with a problem that dynamic environments entail: changes in parameter over time and changes in the observed dimension. We formulate the model with framework of a state space model. We realize an estimation of the model using modified Kalman filter/fixed interval smoother. We find that new product's entry (1) decreases brand differentiation for existing brands, as indicated by decreasing difference between cross-price elasticities; (2) decreases commodity power for existing brands, as indicated by decreasing trend; and (3) decreases the effect of discount for existing brands, as indicated by a decrease in the magnitude of own-brand price elasticities. The proposed framework is directly applicable to other fields in which the observed dimension might be change, such as economic, bioinformatics, and so forth. (shrink)

In the second book of Soliloquia, Augustine queries: what is ‘true’ and what is ‘false’. Through the examination, Augustine (Ratio) expresses the idea that ‘true’ is that which exists. Therefore, whatever exists is true; nothing will be false. But then, what is ‘false’? This paper will first clarify that the examination of ‘false’ in Soliloquia relates to Augustine’s awareness of the problem of sin. Already in Soliloquia, Augustine finds that the soul can have in itself the cause of sin so (...) as to be unable to have the truth. Secondly, the author examines how the epistemology of falsehood is developed in the early Augustine by examining his articles after Soliloquia, focusing on the concept of lying in De Genesi contra Manichaeos and De vera religione. This will show that Augustine's understanding of falsehood and lying is related to his soteriology. Thirdly, the paper focuses on q. 63 of De diversis quaestionibus LXXXIII, in order to clarify what Augustine thinks about the relationship between God and human soul, where Augustine notes the significance of knowing and confessing sin as the means of cooperative salvation already described in his early works. (shrink)

本書構畫「忠」概念在中國春秋戰國時代的演變，並嘗試藉此闡明其功能與特質。在春秋到戰國早期的政治思想中，「忠」和「忠信」概念對於國家社稷的生存幾乎是最高價值，而且到戰國中期更具有涵蓋「天下」的普遍性。然 而在戰國中期以後，道家與稷下思想家如慎到等人開始批判「忠」的價值，並且將原本以道德動機為主要內涵的「忠」概念、轉變成以個人利益為主要實踐動機的「忠」概念。面對此趨勢，戰國晚期的《荀子》和《呂氏春秋》都 試圖重新界定「忠」對國家運作的正面價值，而《韓非子》雖然基本上接受稷下學者之「反忠論」，但還是肯定「忠臣」是國家社稷安定的關鍵角色。本書也對中日韓及歐美學者過去研究「忠」概念的成果有詳細評述。.

Dr. Sato's volume deals with the origin and formation of the political thought of pre-imperial Xun Zi, with close focus on this synthesizer's formative theory ...

This article reports that some robustness of the notions of predicativity and of autonomous progression is broken down if as the given infinite total entity we choose some mathematical entities other than the traditionalω. Namely, the equivalence between normal transfinite recursion scheme and newdependent transfinite recursionscheme, which does hold in the context of subsystems of second order number theory, does not hold in the context of subsystems of second order set theory where the universeVof sets is treated as the given (...) totality. (shrink)

By obtaining several new results on Cook-style two-sorted bounded arithmetic, this paper measures the strengths of the axiom of extensionality and of other weak fundamental set-theoretic axioms in the absence of the axiom of infinity, following the author’s previous work [K. Sato, The strength of extensionality I — weak weak set theories with infinity, Annals of Pure and Applied Logic 157 234–268] which measures them in the presence. These investigations provide a uniform framework in which three different kinds of (...) reverse mathematics–Friedman–Simpson’s “orthodox” reverse mathematics, Cook’s bounded reverse mathematics and large cardinal theory–can be reformulated within one language so that we can compare them more directly. (shrink)

... because the thing-in-itself has no abnormality. Anything unusual will appear, after I myself see it: Abnormality belongs not to the thing-in-itself, but to myself. Kuo P'u (276-324), Shan-hai ching (Scriptures of the Mountains and the Seas).

Methodological problems of how awareness during learning should be measured have been extensively discussed and investigated in cognitive psychology. This review considers; 1)whether amnesics can perform implicit learning tasks at a similar level to normal controls, 2) whether differences in instructional orientations create dissociations in performance in tests of implicit and explicit knowledge, and 3) whether participants can retrospectively verbalise the learning outcomes. The paper concludes that; amnesics’ implicit learning abilities differ from the normal controls, instructions on implicit learning do (...) not guarantee the occurrence of implicit learning, and objective and subjective awareness measures used in the literature face inherent problems and so the awareness controversy remains unsettled. (shrink)

As a criterion of a good firm, a lucrative and growing business has been said to be important. Recently, however, high profitability and high growth potential are insufficient for the criteria, because social influences exerted by recent firms have been extremely significant. In this paper, high social relationship is added to the list of the criteria. Empirical corporate social performance versus corporate financial performance (CSP–CFP) relationship studies that consider social relationship are very limited in Japan, and there are no definite (...) conclusions for the studies in the world, because of scant data and the inappropriate methods, especially for supporting linear hypothesis which these studies are based on. In this paper, the CSP–CFP relationship is analyzed by an artificial neural networks model, which can deal with a non-linear relationship, using 10-year follow-up survey data. (shrink)

Cultures are constituted by binary oppositions: the absolute and the relative; the perfect and the imperfect; the stable and the unstable. Many of the world’s cultures have looked to revealed religion to discover the absolute: that which transcends the human, the intellect, and space and time. By positing a God who is omniscient and omnipotent, they conceive of an eternal and absolute that continues to exist in an immutable state.In such cultures new perspectives for reinterpreting the past are continually propounded. (...) This allows history to be rewritten and re-rewritten. History simply becomes a method for becoming conscious of the past.By contrast, many East Asian cultures have not developed such a concept of revealed religion. For them, history itself constitutes an absolute, something on which one can rely. History in East Asia is endowed with a normative function, a source of authority that does not permit easy rewriting. (shrink)

Despite the police preventing special fraud victimisation of older adults, both the number of cases and the amount of damage have remained high in Japan. ‘Special fraud’, in Japan, is a crime in which victims are tricked by fraudsters who through phone or postcards impersonate the victims’ relatives, employees and other associates, to dupe the victims of their cash or other valuables. The number of recognised cases of special fraud has been turned to increase in 2021. Although police or consumer (...) affairs administrations have been conducting all-encompassing enlightenment or public education for prevention, it is also necessary to reach out to those who are vulnerable to fraud. In this study, we determine the psychosocial characteristics of victims of special fraud in Japanese older adults. We analysed the age, gender, education, residential status, household satisfaction, risk perception and scam vulnerability scale of 56 older adults aged 60 years or older who had been victims of special fraud and 99 older adults aged 60 years or older who had never been victims of special fraud. The study found that the victimised older adults were more likely to be females who live alone and go out less frequently than the non-victimised older adults. The total scores of the scam vulnerability scale were higher among the elderly victims of special fraud compared to those who had never been scammed, suggesting that the psychosocial characteristics of victims of special fraud among older adults are being female, living alone, going out infrequently, having high confidence against fraud victimisation and responding quickly to phone calls and unknown visitors. Therefore, government agencies or family members should take care of older women who meet these characteristics to reduce their contact with fraudsters. (shrink)