In the midst of globalization, English is regarded as an international language, or Lingua Franca, but learning it as a second language (L2) remains still difficult to speakers of other languages. This is true especially for the speakers of languages distantly related to English such as Japanese. In this sense, exploring neural basis for translation between the first language (L1) and L2 is of great interest. There have been relatively many previous researches revealing brain activation patterns during translations between L1 (...) and English as L2. These studies, which focused on language translation with close or moderate linguistic distance (LD), have suggested that the Broca area (BA 44/45) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC; BA 46) may play an important role on translation. However, the neural mechanism of language translation between Japanese and English, having large LD, has not been clarified. Thus, we used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the brain activation patterns during word translation between Japanese and English. We also assessed the effects of translation directions and word familiarity. All participants’ first language was Japanese and they were learning English. Their English proficiency was advanced or elementary. We selected English and Japanese words as stimuli based on the familiarity for Japanese people. Our results showed that the brain activation patterns during word translation largely differed depending on their English proficiency. The advanced group elicited greater activation on the left prefrontal cortex around the Broca’s area while translating words with low familiarity, but no activation was observed while translating words with high familiarity. On the other hand, the elementary group evoked greater activation on the left temporal area including the superior temporal gyrus (STG) irrespective of the word familiarity. These results suggested that different cognitive process could be involved in word translation corresponding to English proficiency in Japanese learners of English. These difference on the brain activation patterns between the advanced and elementary group may reflect the difference on the cognitive loads depending on the levels of automatization in one’s language processing. (shrink)

A rare academic study on what John Rawls, Peter Singer, and Derek Parfit acknowledge as the finest book in ethics -- The Methods of Ethics. With a rather shocking conclusion that "none of us can match Sidgwick," Mariko Nakano-Okuno lucidly analyzes Henry Sidgwick's impacts on contemporary ethics.

This article, reporting on selected data from a larger study, discusses some responses to end-of-life questions that elderly Japanese people who were living in small towns gave in a questionnaire survey. Japan is now the country with the largest number of elderly people in the world and confronts numerous social and economic questions concerning how best to cope with its older population. Although it is a highly urbanized society, Japan also has large semirural areas. The focus here is on the (...) questions in the survey that sought responses to ethical dimensions of end-of-life issues. The findings demonstrate the strength of traditional values that still exist throughout small towns in Japan. (shrink)

This article, reporting on selected data from a larger study, discusses some responses to end-of-life questions that elderly Japanese people who were living in small towns gave in a questionnaire survey. Japan is now the country with the largest number of elderly people in the world and confronts numerous social and economic questions concerning how best to cope with its older population. Although it is a highly urbanized society, Japan also has large semirural areas. The focus here is on the (...) questions in the survey that sought responses to ethical dimensions of end-of-life issues. The findings demonstrate the strength of traditional values that still exist throughout small towns in Japan. (shrink)

One of the concerns that citizen science shares with the evolving practice of precision medicine is how to approach oversight for N-of-1 or N-of-many-1’s research. In their target article, Wiggins...

We investigated the relationship between attentional resources and pedaling cadence using electroencephalography to measure P300 amplitudes and latencies. Twenty-five healthy volunteers performed the oddball task while pedaling on a stationary bike or relaxing. We set them four conditions, namely, performing only the oddball task, performing the oddball task while pedaling at optimal cadence, performing the oddball task while pedaling faster than optimal cadence, and performing the oddball task while pedaling slower than optimal cadence. P300 amplitudes at Cz and Pz electrodes (...) under optimal, fast, and slow conditions were significantly lower than those under control conditions. P300 amplitudes at Pz under fast and slow conditions were significantly lower than those under the optimal condition. No significant changes in P300 latency at any electrode were observed under any condition. Our findings revealed that pedaling at non-optimal cadence results in less attention being paid to external stimuli compared with pedaling at optimal cadence. (shrink)

The role of government in East Asian economic development has been a contentious issue. Two competing views have shaped enquiries into the source of the rapid growth of the high-performing Asian economies and attempts to derive a general lesson for other developing economies: the market-friendly view, according to which government intervenes little in the market, and the developmental state view, in which it governs the market. What these views share in common is a conception of market and government as alternative (...) mechanisms for resource allocation. They are distinct only in their judgement of the extent to which market failures have been, and ought to be, remedied by direct government intervention. This collection of essays suggests a breakthrough, third view: the market-enhancing view. Instead of viewing government and the market as mutually exclusive substitutes, it examines the capacity of government policy to facilitate or complement private sector co-ordination. The book starts from the premiss that private sector institutions have important comparative advantages over government, in particular in their ability to process information available on site. At the same time, it recognizes that the capabilities of the private sector are more limited in developing economies. The market-enhancing view thus stresses the mechanisms whereby government policy is directed at improving the ability of the private sector to solve co-ordination problems and overcome other market imperfections. In presenting the market-enhancing view, the book recognizes the wide diversity of the roles of government across various East Asian economiesincluding Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and China and its path-dependent and developmental stage nature. (shrink)

滝沢教授の古稀を祝して捧げられる論文集。生と死をめぐる法的問題と裁判と法をめぐる諸問題について、学恩を受けた気鋭の学者が執筆。.

Kokie veiksmai yra kognityviškai raiškiausi, labiausiai prototipiški moralės transgresijų pavyzdžiai? Deja, šiuo metu yra labai nedaug tyrimų, siekiančių sistemiškai nagrinėti šį klausimą. Šiuo straipsniu siekiame prisidėti prie šio klausimo sprendimo pristatydami preliminarius tyrimo duomenis apie tai, kurie veiksmai tyrimo dalyviams lietuviams buvo raiškiausi. Pirmajame tyrime pritaikius kognityvinės antropologijos metodus buvo nustatyti tyrimo dalyviams iš Lietuvos raiškiausi moralinių transgresijų atvejai. Antrajame tyrime dalyvių buvo prašoma šiuos veiksmus suskirstyti į kategorijas, paimtas iš Haidto moralės pagrindų teorijos. Paėmus kartu, šie tyrimai suteikia preliminarių (...) duomenų, paremiančių idėją, kad labiausiai kognityviškai raiškioms moralės transgresijoms būdinga tai, kad jos susijusios su žala ir šiek tiek mažiau – su neteisingumu. Rezultatai aptariami skirtingų moralės sritį aprašančių teorijų kontekste. (shrink)

„Posocializmas“, „pokomunizmas“, „transformacija“ ir kiti semantiškai susiję žodžiai turi laikinumo atspalvį. Akademikai ir politikos formuotojai suvokė, kad šis laikotarpis bus sunkus eiliniams gyventojams. Svarstoma, kad Lietuvoje transformacijos laikotar­pis baigėsi – pavyzdžiui, 2004 m., šaliai įstojus į ES ir NATO. Tačiau nežinome, kada šis laikotarpis pasibaigė žiūrint iš Lietuvos gyventojų perspektyvos (jeigu apskritai pa­sibaigė). Todėl šiame straipsnyje siekiama atsakyti į klausimą, kokie su transformacija susiję periodai arba lūžiai išryškėja (jeigu išryškėja) socialinėje atmintyje. Straipsnyje laikomasi periodo definicijos, pagal kurią jis turi ribas (...) laike ir pavadinimą, suvokiamas kaip homogeniškas. Kokybiniai interviu, 2021 m. vasarą surinkti Panevėžyje, Jonavo­je ir kaimuose aplink šiuos miestus, analizuojami taikant refleksyviąją teminę analizę (RTA). Daroma išvada, kad transformacija yra glaudžiai įsipynusi į dabartinį Nepri­klausomybės laikotarpį. Viena vertus, kai kurie tyrimo dalyviai pasakojo apie „per­ versmo“, „suirutės“ laiką, kartais jį lygino su pokariu. Kita vertus, atmintyje kur kas ryškesnis bendras atkurtos Nepriklausomybės laikotarpis: jis suvokiamas kaip daug­maž homogeniškas laipsniškos kaitos laikas, kurį įmanu palyginti su stambiu periodu prieš esminį lūžį – sovietmečiu. (shrink)

Šiame straipsnyje nagrinėjamos teorinės bei praktinės mediacijos taikymo prielaidos sprendžiant administracinius ginčus Lietuvoje. Remiantis mokslininkų darbais, teisės aktuose įtvirtintomis nuostatomis, administracinių teismų praktika vertinama, ar Lietuvoje galėtų būti taikoma mediacija, sprendžiant administracinius ginčus, ar šiuo metu egzistuojančiame teisiniame reguliavime galima pastebėti taikaus administracinių ginčų sprendimo galimybes. Straipsnyje pirmiausia akcentuojama galimybė kilusį administracinį ginčą išspręsti taikiai taikant mediaciją, t. y. suderinant skirtingus, konkuruojančius interesus, todėl būtent taikaus administracinių ginčų išsprendimo prielaidų ir buvo ieškoma analizuojant mokslininkų darbus, teisės aktus bei teismų praktiką. (...) Šiame darbe remiantis atliktu tyrimu vertinama, kokie administraciniai ginčai ir tarp kokių subjektų galėtų būti sprendžiami taikant mediaciją. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Zen War StoriesSteven HeineZen War Stories. By Brian Daizen Victoria. London and New York: Routledge-Curzon, 2003. Pp. xviii + 268. Hardcover $124.95. Paper $34.95.Brian Daizen Victoria's Zen War Stories, following his highly acclaimed but also highly provocative Zen at War (Weatherhill, 1997), continues his withering attack on the embracing of wartime ideology by leading Zen masters and practitioners in Japan. Victoria seeks to show that the attitude characteristic (...) of numerous examples of prominent Zen monks and scholars was not simply a matter of benignly resisting, or even passively accepting, the rhetoric of Imperial Way Buddhism by clergy who were under pressure and powerless to stand up to the authorities. Nor was it an example of innocently recognizing historical and ideological affinities between Zen monastic discipline and military training.On the contrary, the Zen masters discussed here eagerly and enthusiastically endorsed some of the most excessive and reprehensible aspects of imperial ideology in the name of a corrupted vision of spiritual realization as a tool to spread the doctrine of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere. They also used Zen wedded to hyper-nationalism and imperialism as a tool to misread the historical records of their own tradition and to help transport Japanese supremacy to China and Korea, while refusing to acknowledge or repent for their actions with the defeat of Japan. This outlook also infected numerous politicians and military figures, who turned to Buddhism as a way of explaining away or masking their roles leading up to, as well as during and after, World War II.In part 1 of Zen War Stories Victoria documents several masters who have become icons in the West for their apparent adherence to a Zen tradition linked with an ability to address contemporary culture. After showing in chapter 4 that Ōmori [End Page 345] Sōgen, praised for his prowess in swordsmanship and other arts, had a fascistic, "Mr. Hyde" side as manifested in the founding in 1932 of the Kinnō Ishin Dōmei (League for Loyalty to the Emperor and the Restoration), Victoria turns to the case of Yasutani Haku'un. In chapter 5, "Zen Master Dōgen Goes to War," we find that Yasutani, known as the teacher of Philip Kapleau and the inspiration for The Three Pillars of Zen, wanted to smash all universities for being traitors. He was a fanatical militarist who "transformed the life and thought of Zen Master Dōgen (1200-1253), the thirteenth-century founder of the Sōtō Zen sect in Japan, into a propaganda tool for Japanese militarism" (p. 68).In particular, Yasutani tried to argue that Dōgen's famed pilgrimage to Song China in 1223 was triggered not by a longing for the Buddhist Dharma but by a disgust with the new shogunate and an infatuation with preserving the Imperial House. According to Victoria, Yasutani's corrupted spirituality did not end with a support for militarism. He was also even more "ethnic chauvinist, sexist, and anti-Semitic" (p. 68) than his teacher Harada Daiun Sōgaku, whose "most memorable wartime quote is: '[If ordered to] march: tramp, tramp, or shoot: bang, bang. This is the manifestation of the highest Wisdom [of enlightenment]"' (pp. 66-67).After discussing in chapter 7, "Zen 'Selflessness' in Japanese Militarism," how Zen's historical relation to the samurai was misinterpreted to support the imperial ideology concerning the acceptance of death by D. T. Suzuki and other prominent representatives of Zen, including former Eiheiji temple abbot Kumazawa Taizen, part 2 takes up examples of the involvement with Buddhist thought by military and political leaders. While this section is less devastating as a critique of Zen than of Japanese Buddhism and society in general, Victoria explains in chapter 10, "Buddhism-The Last Refuge of War Criminals," how easily the moral basis of religion can be distorted and subverted. For example, as recollected by Buddhist studies scholar Hanayama Shinshō, seven Class A war criminals who had been condemned to death continued, while on death row, to cling hypocritically to Buddhism to find some feeling of solace. For instance, Hirota Kōki never abandoned his attachment to Zen and the warrior class and... (shrink)

Straipsnyje aptariami gimnazijas baigiančių jaunuolių tolesnio gyvenimo pasirinkimų ir studijų regioninėse aukštosiose mokyklose motyvacijos sociologinio tyrimo rezulta­tai. Gilinamasi, su kuo artimiausias gyvenimo perspektyvas sieja Pietvakarių Lietuvos regiono III–IV gimnazijos klasių mokiniai: kiek jas sieja su studijų, darbo, kitų veik­lų pasirinkimu, kokie motyvai lemia studijų vietos ir studijų programos pasirinkimą, ypač regioninėse aukštosiose mokyklose. Tyrimo rezultatai atskleidė, kad studijų vietos pasirinkimui įtakos turi studijų proceso kokybė, mokymosi sąlygos (kokybės aspek­tas), gyvenimo sąlygos ir pragyvenimo išlaidos, studijų kaina (finansinis aspektas), atsiliepimai apie instituciją (...) (įvaizdžio aspektas). Rinktis studijų programą labiausiai motyvuoja galimybė studijuoti norimą specialybę, geras švietimo įstaigos įvaizdis, ge­ros mokymosi sąlygos, pažangumo lygmuo. Studijų Pietvakarių Lietuvos regioninėse aukštosiose mokyklose motyvai siejami su galimybe rinktis norimą studijų programą, artumu, geromis mokymosi sąlygomis. (shrink)

Benamystė – tai viena iš socialinės atskirties formų, į kurią patekę žmonės dažnai atsiduria už pilietinės visuomenės ribų. Tyrimai rodo, kad benamių skaičius auga visose pasaulio šalyse. Siekiant kryptingai formuoti socialinės politikos priemones, ieškant būdų, kaip šiuos žmones integruoti į visuomenę, sumažinti jų skaičių arba palengvinti jų būvį, būtina pažinti šį reiškinį. Svarbu suvokti, kas yra benamystė ir kokie asmenys priskiriami benamių grupei, kodėl ir kaip jie netenka savo būsto. Straipsnyje daugiausia dėmesio skiriama benamystės kaip socialinio reiškinio teorinės sampratos klausimams, (...) pateikiamos galimos benamystės kategorijos ir formos. Aptariami benamystę lemiantys veiksniai bei jų tipai, aprašomas tapsmo benamiu procesas ir jo etapai. (shrink)

Pritaikant Davido Riesmano (1989) adaptacijos socialinių pokyčių laikotarpiu koncepciją straipsnyje analizuojama, kokią įtaką besikeičianti institucinė aplinka ir readaptacinis šeimos elgesys turi 1980–2000 metais gimusių ir nepriklausomoje Lietuvoje augusių asmenų gyvenimo scenarijams ir pasirinkimams, susijusiems su profesija ir šeima. Autorė nagrinėja, kokie yra jaunimo profesinės karjeros ir šeiminio gyvenimo pasirinkimai, kokią įtaką tiems pasirinkimams turi šeima kaip vienas iš svarbiausių adaptatorių, kaip šeimos sėkmingos ar nesėkmingos readaptacinės praktikos naujoje socialinėje tikrovėje daro įtaką jaunimo profesinei karjerai ir kokios priežastys lemia ilgalaikių įsipareigojimų, (...) susijusių su šeiminio gyvenimo planais, baimę. Analizė paremta 67 gyvenimo istorijos interviu, surinktais 2021–2022 m. aštuoniose Lietuvos apskrityse, vykdant Lietuvos mokslo tarybos finansuojamą mokslininkų grupių projektą „Užaugę Nepriklausomoje Lietuvoje: 1980–2000 metais gimusiųjų gyvenimo eiga, elgsenos strategijos ir jų kontekstai“ (2021–2024). (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Zen War StoriesSteven HeineZen War Stories. By Brian Daizen Victoria. London and New York: Routledge-Curzon, 2003. Pp. xviii + 268. Hardcover $124.95. Paper $34.95.Brian Daizen Victoria's Zen War Stories, following his highly acclaimed but also highly provocative Zen at War (Weatherhill, 1997), continues his withering attack on the embracing of wartime ideology by leading Zen masters and practitioners in Japan. Victoria seeks to show that the attitude characteristic (...) of numerous examples of prominent Zen monks and scholars was not simply a matter of benignly resisting, or even passively accepting, the rhetoric of Imperial Way Buddhism by clergy who were under pressure and powerless to stand up to the authorities. Nor was it an example of innocently recognizing historical and ideological affinities between Zen monastic discipline and military training.On the contrary, the Zen masters discussed here eagerly and enthusiastically endorsed some of the most excessive and reprehensible aspects of imperial ideology in the name of a corrupted vision of spiritual realization as a tool to spread the doctrine of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere. They also used Zen wedded to hyper-nationalism and imperialism as a tool to misread the historical records of their own tradition and to help transport Japanese supremacy to China and Korea, while refusing to acknowledge or repent for their actions with the defeat of Japan. This outlook also infected numerous politicians and military figures, who turned to Buddhism as a way of explaining away or masking their roles leading up to, as well as during and after, World War II.In part 1 of Zen War Stories Victoria documents several masters who have become icons in the West for their apparent adherence to a Zen tradition linked with an ability to address contemporary culture. After showing in chapter 4 that Ōmori [End Page 345] Sōgen, praised for his prowess in swordsmanship and other arts, had a fascistic, "Mr. Hyde" side as manifested in the founding in 1932 of the Kinnō Ishin Dōmei (League for Loyalty to the Emperor and the Restoration), Victoria turns to the case of Yasutani Haku'un. In chapter 5, "Zen Master Dōgen Goes to War," we find that Yasutani, known as the teacher of Philip Kapleau and the inspiration for The Three Pillars of Zen, wanted to smash all universities for being traitors. He was a fanatical militarist who "transformed the life and thought of Zen Master Dōgen (1200-1253), the thirteenth-century founder of the Sōtō Zen sect in Japan, into a propaganda tool for Japanese militarism" (p. 68).In particular, Yasutani tried to argue that Dōgen's famed pilgrimage to Song China in 1223 was triggered not by a longing for the Buddhist Dharma but by a disgust with the new shogunate and an infatuation with preserving the Imperial House. According to Victoria, Yasutani's corrupted spirituality did not end with a support for militarism. He was also even more "ethnic chauvinist, sexist, and anti-Semitic" (p. 68) than his teacher Harada Daiun Sōgaku, whose "most memorable wartime quote is: '[If ordered to] march: tramp, tramp, or shoot: bang, bang. This is the manifestation of the highest Wisdom [of enlightenment]"' (pp. 66-67).After discussing in chapter 7, "Zen 'Selflessness' in Japanese Militarism," how Zen's historical relation to the samurai was misinterpreted to support the imperial ideology concerning the acceptance of death by D. T. Suzuki and other prominent representatives of Zen, including former Eiheiji temple abbot Kumazawa Taizen, part 2 takes up examples of the involvement with Buddhist thought by military and political leaders. While this section is less devastating as a critique of Zen than of Japanese Buddhism and society in general, Victoria explains in chapter 10, "Buddhism-The Last Refuge of War Criminals," how easily the moral basis of religion can be distorted and subverted. For example, as recollected by Buddhist studies scholar Hanayama Shinshō, seven Class A war criminals who had been condemned to death continued, while on death row, to cling hypocritically to Buddhism to find some feeling of solace. For instance, Hirota Kōki never abandoned his attachment to Zen and the warrior class and... (shrink)