As children grow, they increasingly encounter situations requiring them to follow multiple steps to manipulate objects or perform actions. This study examines how caregivers adjust their instructional behavior when a child fails to correctly execute part of a multi-step procedure. Thirty-two mothers demonstrated to their 2–3-year-old children how to use a novel toy with three action sequences. A motion capture system measured the movements of each mother’s hand during demonstrations to assess whether mothers modulated their motions during each manipulation phase. (...) Analyses revealed that mothers changed their demonstrations depending on their children’s imitation task performance. Specifically, mothers shortened their demonstrations for the parts that the children could perform and emphasized their movements for the parts that the children could not perform. This study reveal that, unlike in previous studies, infant-directed actions may contain strategies that are more understandable to children depending on the purpose of the action. (shrink)

『日本唯物論史』などで知られるわが国の唯物論哲学の開拓者・永田廣志の生涯をまとめ、その理論活動の意義を解明。哲学研究者と在野の郷土史家との共同研究が生み出した成果。本邦初公開の貴重な資料や秘蔵写真も多 数紹介。.

This paper undertakes a comparative legal study to analyze the challenges of privacy and personal data protection posed by Artificial Intelligence embedded in Robots, and to offer policy suggestions. After identifying the benefits from various AI usages and the risks posed by AI-related technologies, I then analyze legal frameworks and relevant discussions in the EU, USA, Canada, and Japan, and further consider the efforts of Privacy by Design originating in Ontario, Canada. While various AI usages provide great convenience, many issues, (...) including profiling, discriminatory decisions, lack of transparency, and impeding consent, have emerged. The unpredictability arising from the AI machine learning function poses further difficulties, which have only been partially addressed by legal frameworks in the aforementioned jurisdictions. However, analyzing the relevant discussions yielded several suggestions. The first priority is adopting PbD as the most flexible, soft-legal, and preferable approach toward AI-oriented issues. Implementing PbD will protect individual privacy and personal data without specific efforts, and achieve both the development of AI and the advancement of privacy and personal data protection. Technical measures that can adapt to an individual’s dynamic choices according to the “context” should be further developed. Furthermore, alternative technical measures, including those to solve the “algorithmic black box” or achieve differential privacy, warrant thorough examination. If AI surpasses human intelligence, a terminating function, such as a “kill switch” will be the last resort to preserve individual choice. Despite numerous difficulties, we must prepare for the coming AI-prevalent society by taking a flexible approach. (shrink)

This article characterizes Florence Nightingale's nursing reform as the cleaning of the Victorian home which she found unheimlich. She laid strong emphasis on an improvement in the hygiene of the house as a significant part of nursing, and, by establishing the nurse as a new occupation, gave the surplus of unmarried women a decent means of escape from the stifling domesticity in which they had been helplessly trapped. Her nursing at once reformed and reinforced the traditional role of woman as (...) a domestic figure, for she created the nurse as a mother figure in charge of the home space. In the Crimean War, Nightingale successfully nursed the idea of England as Home by attending to the dying soldiers at the front. Her crusade to nurse the unhomely space into a home, however, dismissed one uncanny place inside the imperial Home that needed urgent nursing, that is, Ireland, which had been suffering from the Great Famine and its aftermath. Nightingale confronted Irish Sisters of Mercy, who came to the Crimea to save the lives and souls of the Irish soldiers. These Irish nuns not only embodied the memories of the Famine which they had recently relieved, but also threatened Nightingale's single female authority by representing Ireland as a nation through their equally motherly presence. The service of the Irish nuns in the Crimean War was erased from the myth of the Lady with the Lamp. Nightingale could establish herself as an authoritative female subject and assumed the voice of England only by suppressing another female voice which challenged England's competence in Home management. (shrink)

In the last few years, the molecular and genetic nature of the granulocyte colonystimulating factor, which controls proliferation and differentiation of neutrophils, has been characterized. Recent clinical application of G‐CSF proves that this hormone is effective in the treatment of patients suffering from neutropenia.

人間であること、これを問う政治哲学の徹底。その先に見えるのは、果たして平和的共存の根源性か、戦いのそのとき、自分以外ではありえない人間の生々しさか。.

This thesis focuses on one of the mechanisms for solving the baryon asymmetry of the Universe (BAU) which is a long-standing open question in both particle physics and cosmophysics. Electroweak baryogenesis (EWBG) is one attractive hypothetical scenario to solve this mystery because it can be verified by collider experiments. The author aims to clarify the possibility of EWBG, and to show its verifiability using the Higgs physics and electric dipole moments (EDMs) of an electron, neutron, and proton. The thesis begins (...) with a review of the BAU and EWBG. Subsequently, the possibility of EWBG in one effective model is discussed, which can be applied to some motivated physics beyond the Standard Model. Numerical analyses of electroweak phase transition and sphaleron solution are presented, and the closed time path formalism is also explained to estimate the BAU. After essential calculations for investigation of the possibility of EWBG, the relationship between the BAU and EDMs is described. Through the discussion of the result, it is concluded that both EDMs and the Higgs physics verify the scenario completely. The whole discussion in this thesis causes us to accept the current situation that is ripe for verification of EWBG. (shrink)

Objective—To demonstrate Japanese doctors' and nurses' attitudes towards and practices of voluntary euthanasia (VE) and to compare their attitudes and practices in this regard. Design—Postal survey, conducted between October and December 1999, using a self-administered questionnaire. Participants—All doctor members and nurse members of the Japanese Association of Palliative Medicine. Main outcome measure—Doctors' and nurses' attitude towards and practices of VE. Results—We received 366 completed questionnaires from 642 doctors surveyed (response rate, 58%) and 145 from 217 nurses surveyed (68%). A total (...) of 54% (95% confidence interval (CI): 49-59) of the responding doctors and 53% (CI: 45-61) of the responding nurses had been asked by patients to hasten death, of whom 5% (CI: 2-8) of the former and none of the latter had taken active steps to bring about death. Although 88% (CI: 83-92) of the doctors and 85% (CI: 77-93) of the nurses answered that a patient's request to hasten death can sometimes be rational, only 33% (CI: 28-38) and 23% (CI: 16-30) respectively regarded VE as ethically right and 22% (CI: 18-36) and 15% (CI: 8-20) respectively would practise VE if it were legal. Logistic regression model analysis showed that the respondents' profession was not a statistically independent factor predicting his or her response to any question regarding attitudes towards VE. Conclusions—A minority of responding doctors and nurses thought VE was ethically or legally acceptable. There seems no significant difference in attitudes towards VE between the doctors and nurses. However, only doctors had practised VE. (shrink)

Drawing upon two independent national samples of 201 and 241 psychology graduate students, this article describes the development and psychometric evaluation of 4 Web-based student self-report scales tapping student socialization in the responsible conduct of research (RCR) with human participants. The Mentoring the Responsible Conduct of Research Scale (MRCR) is composed of 2 subscales assessing RCR instruction and modeling by research mentors. The 2 subscales of the RCR Department Climate Scale (RCR-DC) assess RCR department policies and faculty and student RCR (...) practices. The RCR Preparedness scale (RCR-P) and the RCR Field Integrity scale (RCR-FI) measure respectively students' confidence in their ability to conduct research responsibly and their belief in the RCR integrity of psychology as a discipline. Factor analysis, coefficient alphas, correlations, and multiple regression analyses demonstrated each of the scales had good internal consistency and concurrent and construct validity. (shrink)

Prior's three-valued modal logic Q was developed as a philosophically interesting modal logic. Thus, we should be able to modify Q as a temporal logic. Although a temporal version of Q was suggested by Prior, the subject has not been fully explored in the literature. In this paper, we develop a three-valued temporal logic $Q_t $ and give its axiomatization and semantics. We also argue that $Q_t $ provides a smooth solution to the problem of future contingents.

Rho, a member of the Ras superfamily of small GTPases, has multiple biological roles: it regulates signal trasduction pathways linking extracellular growth factors to the assembly of actin stress fibres and focal adhesion complexes; it is required for G1 progression and activates the SRF transcription factor when quiescent fibroblasts are stimulated to grow; and it plays a role later in the cell cycle during cytokinesis. Two groups have recently succeeded in identifying downstream effectors of Rho that may mediate some of (...) these biological effects. One protein identified by both groups is protein kinase N (PKN), a serine/threonine kinase whose catalytic domain is closely related to that of protein kinase C(1,2). (shrink)

This paper examines the history of Japanese genetics in the 1920s to 1950s as seen through the work of Hitoshi Kihara, a prominent wheat geneticist as well as a leader in the development of the discipline in Japan. As Kihara's career illustrates, Japanese genetics developed quickly in the early twentieth century through interactions with biologists outside Japan. The interactions, however, ceased due to the war in the late 1930s, and Japanese geneticists were mostly isolated from outside information until the late (...) 1940s. During the isolation in wartime and under the postwar U.S. Occupation, Kihara adapted to political changes. During wartime, he developed a research institute focusing on applied biology of various crops, which conformed to the national need to address food scarcity. After the war, he led the campaign for the establishment of a national institute of genetics and negotiated with American Occupation officers. The Americans viewed this Japanese effort with suspicion because of the rising popularity of the controversial theory of the Russian agronomist, Trofim Lysenko, in Japan. The institute was approved in 1949 partly because Kihara was able to bridge the gap between the American and Japanese sides. With Kihara's flexible and generous leadership, Japanese genetics steadily developed, survived the wartime, and recovered quickly in the postwar period. The article discusses Kihara's interest in cytoplasmic inheritance and his synthetic approach to genetics in this political context, and draws attention to the relation between Kihara's genetics and agricultural practice in Japan. (shrink)

Establishment of cell lineage identity from multipotent progenitors is controlled by cooperative actions of lineage‐specific and stably expressed transcription factors, combined with input from environmental signals. Lineage‐specific master transcription factors activate and repress gene expression by recruiting consistently expressed transcription factors and chromatin modifiers to their target loci. Recent technical advances in genome‐wide and multi‐omics analysis have shed light on unexpected mechanisms that underlie more complicated actions of transcription factors in cell fate decisions. In this review, we discuss functional dynamics (...) of stably expressed and continuously required factors, Notch and Runx family members, throughout developmental stages of early T cell development in the thymus. Pre‐ and post‐commitment stage‐specific transcription factors induce dynamic redeployment of Notch and Runx binding genomic regions. Thus, together with stage‐specific transcription factors, shared transcription factors across distinct developmental stages regulate acquisition of T lineage identity. (shrink)

Extracellular ATP released from necrotic cells in inflamed tissues activates the P2X7 receptor, stimulates the exposure of phosphatidylserine, and causes cell lysis. Recent findings indicated that XK, a paralogue of XKR8 lipid scramblase, forms a complex with VPS13A at the plasma membrane of T cells. Upon engagement by ATP, an unidentified signal(s) from the P2X7 receptor activates the XK‐VPS13A complex to scramble phospholipids, followed by necrotic cell death. P2X7 is expressed highly in CD25+CD4+ T cells but weakly in CD8+ T (...) cells, suggesting a role of this system in the activation of the immune system to prevent infection. On the other hand, a loss‐of‐function mutation in XK or VPS13A causes neuroacanthocytosis, indicating the crucial involvement of XK‐VPS13A‐mediated phospholipid scrambling at plasma membranes in the maintenance of homeostasis in the nervous and red blood cell systems. (shrink)

In this article, we present evidence that in four different cultural groups that speak quite different languages there are cases of justified true beliefs that are not judged to be cases of knowledge. We hypothesize that this intuitive judgment, which we call “the Gettier intuition,” may be a reflection of an underlying innate and universal core folk epistemology, and we highlight the philosophical significance of its universality.

The genomics community has long acknowledged the lack of diversity in datasets used for research, prompting various stakeholders to confront this issue. In response, the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) formulated a policy framework that recognizes the multiplicity of perspectives on diversity and proposed a systemic approach for more optimal data diversity. Given the importance of the research context, assessing this policy’s applicability within countries where diversity is less discussed is important. This study investigated the feasibility of implementing (...) the GA4GH policy in Japan, a nation with a smaller genetic diversity than many Western countries. As the proportion of East Asian genomic research is limited internationally, focusing on the Japanese genome contributes to enhancing diversity. Meanwhile, labelling findings as “Japanese” can inadvertently reinforce perceptions of homogeneity and overlook ethnic minorities. Regions and socioeconomic status are also recognized as substantial factors of diversity within academia, yet concerns persist among the public regarding the heritability of stigmatized conditions. Social inclusion of sexual minorities has begun in Japan, but research surveys generally still use binary sex and gender categories, which underscores the need for additional variables. This study found that both academia and the public need to confront the overemphasis on homogeneity within Japanese society and hesitancy in addressing genetic factors. By doing so, more inclusive and diverse datasets can advance the field both ethically and scientifically. Perhaps the most important impact of the GA4GH policy will be to draw greater attention to the complex diversity challenges ahead in Japan. (shrink)

As the internet becomes the basic resource of information, not only texts but images retrieval systems have been appeared. However, many of those supply only a list of images, so we have to seek the expecting images one by one. Although, image labeling is one of the solutions of such a problem, various words are labeled to an image if the words are extracted from only one Web page. Therefore, this paper proposes an image clustering system that labels images by (...) words related to a search keyword. This relationships are measured by Web pages in WWW. By the experimental results, users were enabled to find the intended images more faster than the ordinal image search system. (shrink)

In the remainder of this article, we will disarm an important motivation for epistemic contextualism and interest-relative invariantism. We will accomplish this by presenting a stringent test of whether there is a stakes effect on ordinary knowledge ascription. Having shown that, even on a stringent way of testing, stakes fail to impact ordinary knowledge ascription, we will conclude that we should take another look at classical invariantism. Here is how we will proceed. Section 1 lays out some limitations of previous (...) research on stakes. Section 2 presents our study and concludes that there is little evidence for a substantial stakes effect. Section 3 responds to objections. The conclusion clears the way for classical invariantism. (shrink)

This article examines whether people share the Gettier intuition (viz. that someone who has a true justified belief that p may nonetheless fail to know that p) in 24 sites, located in 23 countries (counting Hong Kong as a distinct country) and across 17 languages. We also consider the possible influence of gender and personality on this intuition with a very large sample size. Finally, we examine whether the Gettier intuition varies across people as a function of their disposition to (...) engage in “reflective” thinking. (shrink)