‘Gender ’ is a troublesome loanword in Japan. While this term has been prevalent in feminist and scholarly circles, it has evoked confusion in the government and stimulated a backlash from the ultra-conservatives against gender equality. Japanese reactionaries have attacked the concept of gender because of their anxiety about cultural destruction – I thus call them the ‘old guard’. Focusing on a dispute over the term ‘gender’ between feminists and the old guard, this paper examines the changes in the term's (...) usage and meanings in the Japanese political context. I first shed light on Japan's reaction to the newly arrived term ‘gender’, outlining different attitudes towards gender between the feminist/scholarly circles and the government. Secondly, I discuss the old guard's condemnation of the concept of gender, in which they distort its significance in order to diminish its positive impact on society. I then scrutinize the old guard's reasons behind their attack on the concept of gender. My findings reveal that the old guard, whose political cause is to protect traditional Japanese culture, asserts that gender equality damages this culture. Moreover, I refute their emphasis on Japan's uniqueness, demonstrating that Japanese women's traditional virtues under the patriarchal family system are not peculiar to Japan. To gauge how the concept of gender has been interpreted politically, I highlight legislative debates about the term ‘gender’. In doing so, I elucidate the extent to which the concept of gender has infiltrated Japanese society through the dispute.Export citation Request permission. (shrink)

During brain development, neural precursor cells (NPCs) in different brain regions produce different types of neurons, and each of these regions plays a different role in the adult brain. Therefore, precise regionalization is essential in the early stages of brain development, and irregular regionalization has been proposed as the cause of neurodevelopmental disorders. The mechanisms underlying brain regionalization have been well studied in terms of morphogen‐induced expression of critical transcription factors for regionalization. NPC potential in different brain regions is defined (...) by chromatin structures that regulate the plasticity of gene expression. Herein, we present recent findings on the importance of chromatin structure in brain regionalization, particularly with respect to its regulation by Polycomb‐group proteins and chromatin accessibility. (shrink)

西が中心に据える〈虚〉という概念に注目し、「平和・和解」理論としての可能性を問うた。.

The PIWI-interacting RNA pathway, one of the major eukaryotic small RNA silencing pathways, is a genome surveillance system that silences selfish genes in animal gonads. piRNAs guide PIWI protein to target genes through Watson–Crick RNA–RNA base-parings. Loss of piRNA function causes genome instability, inducing failure in gametogenesis and infertility. Studies using fruit flies and mice as key experimental models have resulted in tremendous progress in understanding the mechanism underlying the piRNA pathway. Recent work using cultured silkworm germline cells has also (...) expanded our knowledge of piRNA biogenesis in particular, since these silkworm cells are the only cells of germline origin that can be cultured. In this review, we describe elucidation of the piRNA pathway using cultured silkworm cells as an experimental model by focusing on recent work in biochemistry and structural biology. Earlier studies that made important contributions to the field are also described. PIWI-interacting RNAs are germline-enriched small RNAs that silence transposons to maintain genome integrity. Recently, cultured silkworm germline cells such as BmN4 made great contributions to understand the mechanism underlying piRNA biogenesis in particular. In this review, we highlight the recent progress in biochemical and structural biology. (shrink)

Graphical AbstractEnvironmental oxygen might have been the key for the evolution of novel developmental mechanisms, such as the interdigital cell death of amniotes. Increased amount of oxygen can also induce cell death in interdigital regions of an amphibian that typically lacks it. To learn more about the role of environmental oxygen in the evolution of new traits, see the article number 2000025 by Ingrid Rosenburg Cordeiro and Mikiko Tanaka. Cover image by Itoko Tanaka and Mikiko Tanaka.

Oxygen is a key regulator of both development and homeostasis and a promising candidate to bridge the influence of the environment and the evolution of new traits. To clarify the various ways in which oxygen may modulate embryogenesis, its effects are reviewed at distinct organizational levels. First, the role of pathways that sense dioxygen levels and reactive oxygen species are reviewed. Then, the effects of microenvironmental oxygen on metabolism, stemness, and differentiation throughout embryogenesis are discussed. Last, the interplay between ecology (...) and development are reexamined with a focus on the evolution of tetrapods, including during the emergence of a novel mechanism that shapes amniote limbs—interdigital cell death. Both genetic and environmental components work together during the formation of organisms, highlighting the importance of a multidisciplinary approach for understanding the evolution of new traits. (shrink)

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)

The principles that govern the functioning of science and visions of the ethics of scientific research are changing. Many researchers who are examining these changes observe a shift from the academic ethos to the industrial — or “corporate” — ethos. Under the new law on higher education and science, which was passed by the Polish Parliament in 2018, new regulations to the Polish state university system have come into effect. The basic aim of my article has been to examine the (...) scientific ethos in Poland. I based my research on the new statutes adopted by university senates, in which I focused on the value statements and declarations that express the beliefs of university authorities about the most important and desirable model of science. I compared two groups of universities, those which have obtained the status of research universities and colleges from the Upper Silesian Metropolis. My goal was to answer the following questions: 1. What values create the declared ethos of science? 2. What is their hierarchy? 3. To what extent is the ethos of both groups of universities similar? 4. Has the scientific ethos present in the new statutes changed in relation to what was declared earlier? In order to answer these questions, I have applied the technique of document content analysis. My research shows that 1. The ethos of science is changing; 2. The set of declared values in the material under scrutiny is rich and varied. (shrink)

The Tarnowski family was one of the most distinguished families in the history of the Polish Commonwealth. The times of their glory date back to the reign of Ladislaus the Short, when their progenitor, Spycimir, became one of the most important figures in the country. At the beginning of the 16th century, after losing their native Tarnów, they established a new family estate in Dzików, where they resided continuously until 1944. The story of the Tarnowski Family from Dzików is also (...) the account of their service to the motherland. The aim of this article is to present this service over the centuries, with a particular emphasis laid on their contribution to the defence of freedom of the Republic of Poland. This service resulted from the knightly ethos which was being kept alive in the family, the model for which was the figure of Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski. The attitude of the Tarnowski family, both during the 19th century national uprisings, as well as during the wars of 1920 and 1939–45 are the examples of faithfulness to this ethos and to their own past. The article was based on the published literature about the Tarnowski family and the concept of ethos. The latter was only used as a basis for defining the phenomenon. The archives were also consulted, with a particular stress on the family resources, as they show the most fully and precisely the attitude of the subsequent generations of Tarnowski towards their great ancestor. By means of critical analysis of these sources and the available literature, the author put forward the thesis that the peculiar “cult” of Hetman Jan Tarnowski, cultivated by successive family representatives, was an imperative for subsequent generations of the Tarnowski family to maintain their patriotic attitudes. An important conclusion that emerges from this article is that it shows once again how important the knightly ethos, the faith and other imponderables are in the lives of individuals and communities. (shrink)

Academic ethos is a set of norms that are binding for a scholar as such. (1) A scholar should especially take up useful research, do it guardedly (so without infringing higher values), formulating well asked questions, using effective methods of searching for true and sufficiently justified answers to those questions — and expressing the research results in an exact, adjusted to the object of the research, simple, forcible, concise and beautiful language. (2) A scholar should undertake vital, i.e. new, fundamental, (...) creative and difficult research. (3) Conducting research should be accompanied by passion, concentration, reliability, imagination, and self-criticism. 4) A scholar should be a guide,minder and supervisor for his pupils and co-workers. (5) A Catholic scholar should also be expected to behave in a morally impeccable way, and if he does not meet this expectation, at least he should feel ashamed of it. (shrink)

Liberalism and marxism are two forms of economism, which separate economic activity from ethics. The social teaching of the Church accepted continued by pope Benedict XVI recognizes the necessity of free market and limited intervention of the state in economy, but first of all postulates creativity of civil society in the field of economic life. The main arguments for observance of moral rules in the economic activity are following: 1. Every conscious and free men’s action is responsible for the effects (...) – economic activity cannot be any exception; 2. The same ethics ought to be applied in the individual-private life and in the public domain – also economy; 3. Ethos of economic activity is connected with three virtues – truth, love and justice (also social justice); 4. Christian-personalistic ethics is based on the principles auxialiarity (personalism) and common good (solidarity). Economic activity completely separated from ethics is inhuman. (shrink)

Fenomenološki etos, po katerem je povzet naslov knjige, izhaja iz etične prenove v evropski filozofiji, ki se je začela na začetku 20. stoletja. Zasnoval ga je oče fenomenologije Edmund Husserl in se ob tem deloma navezal na Schelerjev koncept materialne etike, etike vrednot. Avtor v knjigi prikaže, kaj to pomeni na eni strani za etiko samo, na drugi strani pa za odnos med etičnostjo in religioznostjo. Celotno problematiko pa konkretizira z analizo in interpretacijo razmerja med kategoričnim imperativom in zlatim pravilom (...) kot najstarejšim moralnim pravilom vseh svetovnih civilizacij, tako da ga danes obravnavamo kot ključni element svetovnega etosa. V tem kontekstu sta prek Assmannovega in Girardovega tematiziranja krščanstva problematizirana tudi monoteistična ekskluzivnost in nasilnost. V sklepnem delu knjige je prikazan razvoj fenomenološkega etosa od Husserl prek Heideggerja in Levinasa do Derridaja in Mariona. Knjiga se sklene s predstavitvijo vloge in pomena fenomenološkega etosa v kontekstu globalne krize sodobnega sveta. (shrink)

On concept of Islam as the religion with ethics in life with reference to Indonesia; collected articles.