While changes in response to the different stages of the pandemic remain unknown, this study investigated the longitudinal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on depressive symptoms in Japanese university students and identified factors associated with new onset of depression and suicidal ideation. Two surveys were conducted at one university in Akita, Japan, during the first COVID-19 outbreak period and 1 year later. Moderate depressive symptoms were defined as a Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score ≥ 10 and suicide-related ideation score ≥ 1 (...) on question 9 of the questionnaire. Among 985 students who completed surveys in T1 and T2, participants with moderate depressive symptoms and suicide-related ideation increased from 11 to 17% and from 5.8 to 11.8%, respectively. Among 872 students at risk after excluding those with moderate depressive symptoms at T1, 103 students developed moderate depressive symptoms at T2. Among the 928 students at risk, after excluding those who had suicidal ideation at T1, 79 developed suicidal ideation. Multivariate logistic modeling revealed financial insecurity and academic performance as risk factors, while having someone to consult about worries was a coping factor for depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Our findings demonstrated that socioenvironmental factors may determine depressive symptoms of university students. (shrink)

ヒマラヤ山脈から赤道近辺に及ぶ広大なインド亜大陸。過酷な気象条件のもとに暮らす人々が現代まで連綿と受け継いできた“インド的”な思考の根底にあるものを、ヒンドゥー教ほか正統派とされている思想に焦点を当て ひもとく。.

This paper examines the ethical aspects of organ transplant surgery in which a donor heart is transplanted from a first recipient, following determination of death by neurologic criteria, to a second recipient. Retransplantation in this sense differs from that in which one recipient undergoes repeat heart transplantation of a newly donated organ, and is thus referred to here as “reuse cardiac organ transplantation.” Medical, legal, and ethical analysis, with a main focus on ethical analysis. From the medical perspective, it is (...) critical to ensure the quality and safety of reused organs, but we lack sufficient empirical data pertaining to medical risk. From the legal perspective, a comparative examination of laws in the United States and Japan affirms no illegality, but legal scholars disagree on the appropriate analysis of the issues, including whether or not property rights apply to transplanted organs. Ethical arguments supporting the reuse of organs include the analogous nature of donation to gifts, the value of donations as inheritance property, and the public property theory as it pertains to organs. Meanwhile, ethical arguments such as those that address organ recycling and identity issues challenge organ reuse. We conclude that organ reuse is not only ethically permissible, but even ethically desirable. Furthermore, we suggest changes to be implemented in the informed consent process prior to organ transplantation. The organ transplant community worldwide should engage in wider and deeper discussions, in hopes that such efforts will lead to the timely preparation of guidelines to implement reuse cardiac organ transplantation as well as reuse transplantation of other organs such as kidney and liver. (shrink)

Philosophical and aestethical aspects of music development in Indonesia.

The purposes of this study are to investigate whether current corporate social responsibility (CSR) is at the theoretically derived achievable level (hereinafter referred to simply as achievable level), to introduce “CSR inefficiency” as the difference between actual and achievable levels of CSR, and to specify its determinants. We established that the achievable level of CSR activity is determined by a range of keiretsu group, government, sector, and resource factors, and choosing specific activities can affect the priority levels of social contributions. (...) CSR inefficiency is affected by its own factors such as internal management, which are different from those of CSR activity. Our study suggests the importance of the differences between the achievable levels of CSR among firms. For example, firms in machinery, electrical equipment, public utilities, and service industries have greater inefficiency in environmental CSR than the other industries. Conversely, the achievable levels of construction and petroleum and gum industries for environmental CSR are higher. Service firms can achieve higher level of environmental CSR, although their emissions and wastes are not as large as those of manufacturing firms in general. In retail industries, the achievable level of environmental CSR is lowest among all industries, while those for labor issues and social contribution are as high as those of other industries. Public utilities have large CSR inefficiency compared with other industries, while construction, steel and nonferrous metals have small CSR inefficiency. (shrink)

Japanese English learners have difficulty speaking Double Object than Prepositional Object structures which neural underpinning is unknown. In speaking, syntactic and phonological processing follow semantic encoding, conversion of non-verbal mental representation into a structure suitable for expression. To test whether DO difficulty lies in linguistic or prelinguistic process, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging. Thirty participants described cartoons using DO or PO, or simply named them. Greater reaction times and error rates indicated DO difficulty. DO compared with PO showed parieto-frontal (...) activation including left inferior frontal gyrus, reflecting linguistic process. Psychological priming in PO produced immediately after DO and vice versa compared to after control, indicated shared process between PO and DO. Cross-structural neural repetition suppression was observed in occipito-parietal regions, overlapping the linguistic system in pre-SMA. Thus DO and PO share prelinguistic process, whereas linguistic process imposes overload in DO. (shrink)

It is well established that gratitude favours prosocial tendencies in neutral and amicable social interactions. Less is clear, however, about the role of gratitude in threatening situations that br...

Local government reform in Jamaica aims to refocus local authorities to providing leadership and a coordinating framework for the collective efforts of the people towards local development and to assess local service distribution modalities between central and local governments, the private sector and CSOs for more cost-effective arrangements. The institutional context in which these objectives are to be pursued is characterized by a new local governance framework populated by ‘a federated system of development committees’. Development committees are expected to work (...) in partnership with local authorities in pursuit of economic transformation of geographic spaces. Participatory development that development committees exemplify conjures up images of ownership of local [economic] development projects and an empowered citizenry that has the capacity to direct resources in their favour. Development committees represent a differentiated method of local economic governance. But the concern is: Are development committees fit for purpose? This is the fundamental question with which this research is concerned. A survey of parish development committees was conducted to determine the extent to which the organizations are giving effect to their mandate. The study is exploratory in design and relies on qualitative methodologies. The results of the study will be important for assisting the local governance reform process currently underway in Jamaica but should contribute to the discourse on the alternative approaches to managing development in developing countries. (shrink)

In the trolley problem, a well-known moral dilemma, the intuitive process is believed to increase deontological judgments, while deliberative reasoning is thought to promote utilitarian decisions. Therefore, based on the dual-process model, there seems to be an attempt to save several lives at the expense of a few others in a deliberative manner. This study examines the validity of this argument. To this end, we manipulate decision-making time in the standard trolley dilemma to compare differences among 119 Japanese female undergraduates (...) under three conditions: intuitive judgment, deliberative judgment, and judgment after a group discussion. The current results demonstrate that utilitarian judgments decreased from 52.9% in the intuition condition to 43.7% in the deliberation condition and 37.0% after the discussion. Additional analysis suggests that the decrease in utilitarian judgments may be related to psychological unwillingness to assume responsibility for the lives of others rather than to an increase in deontological judgments. Finally, these results are discussed from an adaptationist perspective. (shrink)

Previous studies have highlighted the communicative limitations of artistic visualizations, which are often too conceptual or interpretive to enhance public understanding of (and volition to act upon) scientific climate information. This seems to suggest a need for greater factuality/concreteness in artistic visualization projects, which may indeed be the case. However, in this paper, we synthesize insights from environmental psychology, the psychology of art, and intermediate disciplines like eco-aesthetics, to argue that artworks—defined by their counterfactual qualities—can be effective for stimulating elements (...) of environmental consciousness. We also argue that different artworks may yield different effects depending on how they combine counter/factual strategies. In so doing, we assert that effective artistic perceptualization—here expressed asaffectivization—exceeds the faithful translation of facts from one mode to another, and cannot be encapsulated in a single example of un/successful art. (shrink)

This paper presents an explanation for the breakdown of dominant party systems. In contrast to previous works that examine how ruling parties lose their dominant position as a result of interparty competition, this paper focuses on how they are undermined from within by factional conflict. Through an overview of dominant party systems in the postwar world, we show that most of the ruling parties suffered from major splits that significantly reduced their electoral strengths before their final electoral defeat. In order (...) to explain why large groups of politicians decide to leave dominant parties that are likely to remain in power, we develop simple game-theoretic models of intraparty bargaining between party factions over the distribution of benefits from office. Our results suggest two mechanisms through which dominant parties break up. First, factional defections from dominant parties are likely to occur when they are experiencing a significant decline in public support. Second, factional defections are likely to occur when a non-mainstream faction is rapidly losing its bargaining power against the party leadership. Importantly, our results show that under certain conditions, dominant parties will break up even when their electoral prospects are much better than the opposition. We briefly discuss how these mechanisms can be applied to actual cases of dominant party systems. (shrink)

Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) is an inherited systemic amyloidosis, characterized by the extracellular deposition of fibrillar amyloid protein, i.e. a variant type of prealbumin, and by prominent peripheral nerve involvement. We recently established the basis of FAP, using a cloned human prealbumin cDNA, restriction endonuclease(s) and Southern blot procedures. This approach clearly revealed a direct link between mutation in the prealbumin gene and FAP; individuals with FAP are heterozygous for the prealbumin gene, carrying one normal and one mutant gene. Molecular (...) analysis of the prealbumin gene yielded pertinent data on the genetic basis for FAP. (shrink)

This article is a first step in a project to study the influence of the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ in the Ottoman world. We argue that, at least from the end of the fourteenth century until well into the second half of the sixteenth, the knowledge presented in the encyclopedic Rasāʾil was a conspicuous scholarly source for the Ottoman cultural milieu, especially at the dynastic court, and played a significant role in forming their epistemological perspective. This argument is developed with reference (...) to three universal histories: (1) in Turkish, the İskendernāme (Book of Alexander) of Taceddin İbrahim İbn Hızır Ahmedi (d. 1413) written between the last quarter of the fourteenth century and the first quarter of the fifteenth; (2) in Arabic, the Naẓm al-sulūk fī musāmarat al-mulūk (The ordering of ways for the conversation of kings) by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Bisṭāmī (d. 1454), a prominent intellectual and expert in occult sciences, protégé of Sultan Murad II (r. 1421–44, 1446–51); (3) in Persian, the first volume of Shāhnāmā-yi Āl-i ʿUsmān (Book of kings of the house of ʿUsmān) by the Sufi intellectual and litterateur Fethullah Çelebi (d. 1561/62), better known by his pen-name ʿArif. The choice of these three histories enables us to mark the time period for the influence of the Rasāʾil, stretching it (in both directions) further than is accepted in present scholarship. These histories enable us also to draw attention to the proximity to the Ottoman dynasty of the cultural milieu attuned to the Rasāʾil, and highlight the relationship between history and knowledge that is central both for the texts under study here and the Rasāʾil. (shrink)

「和歌」「声」「文字」という表現メディアに着目し宣長思想と教育との関わりを検証。幼児教育への応用についても検討する。.

China and Islam examines the intersection of two critical issues of the contemporary world: Islamic revival and an assertive China, questioning the assumption that Islamic law is incompatible with state law. It finds that both Hui and the Party-State invoke, interpret, and make arguments based on Islamic law, a minjian law in China, to pursue their respective visions of 'the good'. Based on fieldwork in Linxia, 'China's Little Mecca', this study follows Hui clerics, youthful translators on the 'New Silk Road', (...) female educators who reform traditional madrasas, and Party cadres as they reconcile Islamic and socialist laws in the course of the everyday. The first study of Islamic law in China and one of the first ethnographic accounts of law in postsocialist China, China and Islam unsettles unidimensional perceptions of extremist Islam and authoritarian China through Hui minjian practices of law. (shrink)

This study aims to investigate the moderating effect of the organizational identification level of the employees on the relationship between their organizational role stress level and job satisfaction. Data were gathered from 460 white-collar employees with snowball sampling. Covariance-based structural equation modeling was used in data analysis. According to the research results, it was found that there is a significant negative relationship between the organizational role stress level of the employees and their job satisfaction. This research also shows that organizational (...) identification has a moderating effect on the negative relationship between organizational role stress and job satisfaction. An employee who has a high level of organizational identification has more job satisfaction than an employee who has less organizational identification. (shrink)

BackgroundThe Act Regarding the Promotion of the Appropriate Supply of Hematopoietic Stem Cells for Transplant regulates only how public banks store and provide umbilical cord blood for research or transplantation. Japan had no laws to regulate how the private banks manage the procedures, harvesting, preparation, and storage of such blood. As a result, the status of UCB distribution remains unknown. We conducted a survey to investigate the current status of UCB storage and provision to private biobanks by Japanese institutions that (...) handle childbirth.MethodsQuestionnaire forms were mailed to 3,277 facilities handling childbirth that were registered in the Japan Council for Quality Health Care website.ResultsOf the 1,192 institutions handling childbirth that participated in the survey, 34.4% responded that they currently provide UCB to private biobanks, while 16.1% of facilities did so in the past. Moreover, some institutions currently provide or formerly provided UCB to medical treatment facilities, research institutions, companies, or overseas treatment facilities, research institutions, or companies. A certain number of institutions handling childbirth did not even provide explanations or obtain consent when the UCB was harvested from private bank users.ConclusionsThis is the first study to determine the status of UCB provision to private banks by Japanese institutions handling childbirth. Future studies will need to examine in detail how institutions handling childbirth provide explanations to private bank users and UCB providers as well as how these institutions obtain consent. (shrink)

The purpose of the current study was to examine the influence of individuals’ help-seeking preference and their collective perception of the organizational climate in school on teachers’ mental health. Previous studies demonstrated that HSP was negatively associated with risk of burnout, suggesting that teachers who hesitate to seek help from their colleagues are more likely to have mental health problems. Thus, the current study hypothesized that a collegial organizational climate would be negatively associated with burnout. To test this hypothesis, we (...) developed a scale to measure schoolteachers’ collective perception of their organizational climate, and the newly developed scale was used to assess its relationship with HSP and teachers’ burnout risk. The results demonstrated that younger teachers, a low level of help-seeking, and a less collaborative climate increased the risk of burnout. The results also showed a significant interaction effect, indicating that HSP was less closely associated with teachers’ burnout risk if their organization was perceived as having a collegial climate. These findings clearly show how the social environment of a school’s organizational climate can affect schoolteachers’ mental health in Japan. (shrink)

Context Autopsy is a useful tool for understanding the cause and manner of unexpected patient death. However, the attitudes of the general public and physicians in Japan about clinical autopsy are limited. Objective To describe the beliefs of the general public about whether autopsy should be performed and ascertain if they would actually request one given specific clinical situations where patient death occurred with the additional variable of medical error. To compare these attitudes with previously obtained attitudes of physicians practising (...) at Japanese teaching hospitals. Design, setting and participants We conducted a cross-sectional study of the general public. We sent standardised questionnaires in 2010 to a randomly selected non-physician adult population using a survey company for participant selection. Respondents gave their opinions about the necessity of autopsy and how they might act given various clinical scenarios of patient death. We compared these results with those of a previous survey of Japanese physicians conducted in 2009. Results Of the 2300 eligible general adult population, 1575 (68.5%) responded. The majority of the general public indicated they believed an autopsy was necessary. However, in cases of unclear medical error or unclear cause and effect relationship of medical care and patient death, the general public were much less likely to indicate they would actually request an autopsy than were physicians (p<0.0001). Currently in Japan the debate about the role autopsy should play in the case of error related to death is underway. The results from this study will be important in informing related decisions. (shrink)