Eukaryotic genes are divided into three categories according to the machineries by which they are transcribed. Ribosomal RNA genes (rDNA) are the only ones that are transcribed by RNA polymerase I and are under different control from other genes transcribed by RNA polymerase II or III. None the less, the regulation of rDNA is of prime interest in view of its close relationship to cell growth and differentiation. In this review I shall discuss the recent progress in the study of (...) transcription mechanisms of rDNA by the RNA polymerase I system. The structure of the rDNA promoter and the presence of possible upstream enhancer regions will be described. In addition, factors involved in the transcription initiation of this gene will be discussed with special reference to the formation of an initiation complex. (shrink)

La réception d’Adam Smith au Japon est l’occasion d’expériences variées de comparaison internationale et interdisciplinaire. Smith paraît ce que l’on pourrait déjà nommer un « philosophe-économiste » tout en étant regardé comme « l’économiste par excellence » et, au Japon aussi, le « professeur de tous les économistes ». Il continue d’y être considéré comme un représentant du libéralisme économique, ce qui prête à des erreurs et des errances que cet essai entend dénoncer. L’objet principal de ce texte est de (...) présenter comment la doctrine smithienne a été conceptualisée au Japon sur les plans historique, social et intellectuel : ce n’est pas seulement la réception de sa théorie économique, mais aussi la relation à sa philosophie qui est questionnée. (shrink)

What determines whether interest groups choose to contact politicians or bureaucrats? Despite the importance of this question for policymaking, democracy, and some prominent principal-agent understandings of politics, it is relatively unexplored in the literature. We argue that government stability plays a major part in interest groups decisions is their assessment of the likelihood that politicians currently in power will continue to be in the future. We deduce logical, but totally contrasting hypotheses, about how interest groups lobby under such conditions of (...) uncertainty and then test these using a heteroskedastic probit model that we apply to a unique longitudinal survey of interest groups in Japan. We find that when it is unclear if the party controlling the government will maintain power in the future, interest groups are more likely to contact the bureaucracy. When it is believed that the party in power will retain control for a considerable period, interest groups are more inclined to contact politicians. In addition, during times of government uncertainty, interest groups that are supportive of the governing party (or parties) are more likely to contact politicians and those that are less supportive will be more likely to contact bureaucrats. (shrink)

O problema da causação descendente é um ponto central na formulação do fisicalismo não-redutivo e na compreensão da emergência de propriedades. Duas interpretações possíveis da causação descendente, nas quais a contribuição do pensamento aristotélico é importante, são examinadas. Os requisitos do programa de matematização da natureza na mecanica clássica, que levaram ao abandono de três dos modos causais aristotélicos, nao parecem igualmente importantes nas ciencias especiais. Isto sugere que a contribuição de Aristóteles pode ser, de certa maneira, retomada. Uma definição (...) de propriedade emergente é apresentada, sendo a causação descendente interprerada de acordo com os modos causais formal e funcional.The problem of downward causation is a key subject in the formulation of nonreductive physicalism as well as in the understanding of property emergence. Two possible interpretations of downward causation, to which Aristotelian thought is relevant, are examined. In the mathematical understanding of nature in classical mechanics, the principle of causality should meet requirements that entailed the rejection of three among the four Aristotelian causal modes. Those requirements do not seem equally important in the special sciences and one may suggest, then, that Aristotle’s contribution may be taken into account. A definition of an emergent property is proposed, in which downward causation is interpreted according to the formal and functional causal modes. (shrink)

O problema da causação descendente é um ponto central na formulação do fisicalismo não-redutivo e na compreensão da emergência de propriedades. Duas interpretações possíveis da causação descendente, nas quais a contribuição do pensamento aristotélico é importante, são examinadas. Os requisitos do programa de matematização da natureza na mecanica clássica, que levaram ao abandono de três dos modos causais aristotélicos, nao parecem igualmente importantes nas ciencias especiais. Isto sugere que a contribuição de Aristóteles pode ser, de certa maneira, retomada. Uma definição (...) de propriedade emergente é apresentada, sendo a causação descendente interprerada de acordo com os modos causais formal e funcional.The problem of downward causation is a key subject in the formulation of nonreductive physicalism as well as in the understanding of property emergence. Two possible interpretations of downward causation, to which Aristotelian thought is relevant, are examined. In the mathematical understanding of nature in classical mechanics, the principle of causality should meet requirements that entailed the rejection of three among the four Aristotelian causal modes. Those requirements do not seem equally important in the special sciences and one may suggest, then, that Aristotle’s contribution may be taken into account. A definition of an emergent property is proposed, in which downward causation is interpreted according to the formal and functional causal modes. (shrink)

Student-instructor relationships outside of the classroom have existed for hundreds of years and remain an important topic in the literature. Universities are increasingly concerned with legislating student-instructor relationships. Few empirical investigations of undergraduate student-instructor relationships are reported in the literature, and such relationships are often considered only in the context of sexual harassment or ethics policies. Most of the writings are opinion based or seated in anecdotal evidence, and seldom are students' opinions considered. In this study, 480 undergraduate students attending (...) a medium-sized Western university were surveyed for their opinions about a variety student-instructor relationships. Factor analysis revealed 5 types of student-faculty relationships: sexual, group activities, doing favors, spending time alone with a faculty member, and business relationships. The students' opinions about these relationships varied, with sexual relationships considered inappropriate, whereas group activities were considered very appropriate. These data suggest that university officials who are building policy regarding faculty-student relationships need to consider different types of relationships along with students' developing autonomy. (shrink)

The EU has launched targets for energy efficiency and the reduction in pollutant emissions in the transport sector. It establishes a framework to foster the promotion and development of a market for clean vehicles. In 2011 the EU passed a “Roadmap to a single European transport area—Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system”. This roadmap includes 40 concrete initiatives for the next decade to build a competitive transport system that will increase mobility, remove major barriers in key areas and (...) fuel growth and employment. The objectives concern well-functioning passenger and freight links that are vital for European undertakings and citizens. At the same time, the proposals will dramatically reduce Europe’s dependence on imported oil. All in all the EU transport policies aim at fostering clean, safe and efficient travel throughout Europe, which requires innovations in many areas—like safe electric cars—and needs to engage not just the users but the entire transport industry facing drastic structural changes. (shrink)

Recently I have read in succession the four articles on formal logic and dialectics in the current year's Hsin chien-she: Mr. Chou Ku-ch'eng's "Formal Logic and Dialectics" in the second issue, Mr. I Chih's "A Criticism of Confused Concepts on Problems of Logic" in the fourth issue, Mr. Shen Ping-yuan's "A Discussion of ‘Formal Logic and Dialectics,’ " and Mr. Chou Ku-ch'eng's "Further Discourse on Formal Logic and Dialectics," both in the seventh issue. In my opinion, in Mr. Chou's articles, (...) several main theses on formal logic and on the relationship between formal logic and dialectics are erroneous; basically, I agree with the criticisms of Messrs. I and Shen. Nonetheless, I believe that Mr. Chou's errors have had their source in the theory of cognition in that he has unilateralized and absolutized certain aspects that were originally correct, thus leading himself in the wrong direction. In criticizing Mr. Chou, both Messrs. I and Shen failed to proceed from this premise, so they could not make others see where Mr. Chou's errors basically lie. Based on this approach, I am merely offering some personal views on several main problems concerning formal logic and the relationship between formal logic and dialectics as mentioned in Mr. Chou's article. It is hoped that Mr. Chou and other comrades will correct me. (shrink)

With a vaulting ambition to usurp Party power, the "Gang of Four" has audaciously opposed Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. Lacking truth in their allegations, they have been compelled to invoke sophistry. Their sophistry runs counter to materialist dialectics and even formal logic. Alien class element Yao Wen-yuan used to accuse others of "violating even formal logic," but it is the "Gang of Four" that ignores the definiteness and distinctiveness of thinking, says black is white, and tramples on formal logic.

Exploiting the skills of others enables individuals to reduce the risks and costs of resource innovation. Social corvids are known to possess sophisticated social and physical cognitive abilities. However, their capacity for imitative learning and its inter-individual transmission pattern remains mostly unexamined. Here we demonstrate the large-billed crows' ability to learn problem-solving techniques by observation and the dominance-dependent pattern in which this technique is transmitted. Crows were allowed to observe one of two box-opening behaviours performed by a dominant or subordinate (...) demonstrator and then tested regarding action and technique. The observers successfully opened the box on their first attempts by using non-matching actions but matching techniques to those observed, suggesting emulation. In the subsequent test sessions, dominant observers (i.e. those dominant to the bird acting as demonstrator) consistently used the learned technique, whereas subordinates (i.e. those subordinate to the bird acting as demonstrator) learned alternative techniques by explorative trial and error. Our findings demonstrate crows' capacity to learn by observing behaviours and the effect of dominance on transmission patterns of behavioural skills. Keywords: social learning; imitation; emulation; affordance; culture; innovation. (shrink)

Exploiting the skills of others enables individuals to reduce the risks and costs of resource innovation. Social corvids are known to possess sophisticated social and physical cognitive abilities. However, their capacity for imitative learning and its inter-individual transmission pattern remains mostly unexamined. Here we demonstrate the large-billed crows' ability to learn problem-solving techniques by observation and the dominance-dependent pattern in which this technique is transmitted. Crows were allowed to observe one of two box-opening behaviours performed by a dominant or subordinate (...) demonstrator and then tested regarding action and technique. The observers successfully opened the box on their first attempts by using non-matching actions but matching techniques to those observed, suggesting emulation. In the subsequent test sessions, dominant observers consistently used the learned technique, whereas subordinates learned alternative techniques by explorative trial and error. Our findings demonstrate crows' capacity to learn by observing behaviours and the effect of dominance on transmission patterns of behavioural skills. Keywords: social learning; imitation; emulation; affordance; culture; innovation. (shrink)

Christian Piska, one of the leading Austrian authorities in constitutional and administrative law, published a seventh revised edition of his Casebook—Introduction to Legal Studies in 2019. The work is intended to assist first-year law students in dealing with the challenging of the Written Module Examination Introduction to Legal Studies (“Schriftliche Modulprüfung ‘Einführung in die Rechtswissenschaften’” (University of Vienna, Faculty of Law. 2024). This reflective essay focuses not only on the question what is taught and exemplified as the foundations of legal (...) skills and knowledge first-year law students are expected to acquire, but also how and to which degree Piska’s Casebook is likely to achieve the goal it sets, i.e. to provide strategic guidance in preparing for one of the most challenging entrance examinations at the University of Vienna. We find that Piska’s Casebook constitutes a useful resource for students seeking to prepare for the Module Entrance Examination at the University of Vienna but also for legal educators and legal language teachers in legal literacy programmes. We find that the work lives up to its purpose of providing strategic guidance in preparing for the entrance examinations at the University of Vienna. We recommend integrating the growing body of research in applied legal linguistics, legal semiotics and in legal language teaching in future editions of the work which would likely enhance its educational value for students of law and those interested in advancing legal language teaching, legal language learning and legal language assessment. (shrink)

Background Nurses frequently experience ethical issues in their area of practice. In the challenging reality of today’s healthcare environment, nursing students need to be prepared to deal with ethical issues in their future roles. Nevertheless, Chinese nursing students’ ethical sensitivity status and the factors influencing it have not been described. Objective This study aims to explore the level of ethical sensitivity and its influencing factors among Chinese nursing students. Research design This was a cross-sectional study. We firstly cross-culturally adapted the (...) Japanese version of the Ethical Sensitivity Questionnaire for Nursing Students (ESQ-NS) into a Chinese version. Then, we administered the Chinese version of ESQ-NS, the Caring Ability Inventory (CAI), and general information questionnaire to nursing undergraduates. Participants and research context The invitations were sent to 600 nursing undergraduates from four universities in Hunan, China. Ethical considerations The study was supported by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the lead university. The Approval No. was E202092. Results A total of 489 undergraduate nursing students participated in the study. The mean score for ethical sensitivity of the samples was 36.34 ± 4.90, and 187.99 ± 22.64 for their humanistic care ability. Pearson’s correlation coefficient test indicated a meaningful and positive relationship between the ethical sensitivity and humanistic care ability (r = 0.576 and p <.01). And regression analysis showed that age, school year, experience in studying nursing ethics, how much you like nursing major, and humanistic care ability were of relevance to nursing students' ethical sensitivity. Discussion Our findings suggest that the mean ethical sensitivity score of Chinese nursing students is 36.34 (13–52). The humanistic caring ability of Chinese nursing students is still at a low level. Conclusion Future interventions for improving the ethical sensitivity of the nursing students should consider general information of participants and their humanistic care ability. (shrink)

Cortical stimulation has been used for brain mapping for over a century, and a standard assumption is that stimulation interferes with task execution due to local effects at the stimulation site. Stimulation can however produce afterdischarges which interfere with functional localization and can lead to unwanted seizures. We previously showed that cognitive effort can terminate these afterdischarges, when termination thus occurs, there are electrocorticography changes throughout the cortex, not just at sites with afterdischarges or sites thought functionally important for the (...) cognitive task used, and thresholds for afterdischarges and functional responses can change among stimulation trials. We here show that afterdischarge termination can occur prior to overt performance of the cognitive tasks used to terminate them. These findings, taken together, demonstrate that task-related brain changes are not limited to one or a group of functional regions or a specific network, and not limited to the time directly surrounding overt task execution. Discrete locations, networks and times importantly underpin clinical behaviors. However, brain activity that is diffuse in location and extended in time also affect task execution and can affect brain mapping. This may in part reflect fluctuating levels of attention, engagement, or motivation during testing. (shrink)