In this paper, a system called Caretta that integrates personal and shared workspaces to support face-to-face collaboration is described. We use PDAs for individual users' personal workspaces that enable them to reflect on their own idea. A shared workspace has been implemented by using a multiple-input sensing board, which allows a group of users to simultaneously manipulate physical objects. In order to raise the level of awareness among users, we have used augmented reality technologies and created an immersive environment for (...) the users' shared workspace. Users of Caretta can discuss and negotiate with each other in the shared workspace, while they individually examine their ideas in their own personal workspaces. Therefore, Caretta allows users to participate in group activities interchangeably and seamlessly by using both these workspaces. Caretta can be used for several types of group activities. In this paper, it is used for supporting a group of users in urban planning tasks by allowing the users to actually construct a town on the shared space and evaluate the town through computer simulations. User studies to evaluate Caretta were conducted. Usage logs of Caretta, video analyses, and comments from users proved that each user could utilize personal and shared space interchangeably at their own pace and without being hindered by other users. (shrink)

In this study, Knauff and Johnson-Laird's visual impedance hypothesis is applied to the domain of external representations and diagrammatic reasoning. We show that the use of real objects and augmented real objects can control human interpretation and reasoning about conditionals. As participants made inferences, they also moved objects corresponding to premises. Participants who moved real objects made more invalid inferences than those who moved AR objects and those who did not manipulate objects. Our results showed that real objects impeded conditional (...) reasoning, but AR objects did not. These findings are explained by the fact that real objects may over-specify a single state that exists, while AR objects suggest multiple possibilities. (shrink)

「国制知」とは、国家の成り立ちと諸制度―国制を構想し、その支柱となってそれを運営していく知的営み、ないしそれに携わる学識集団である。本書は、明治日本の「国制知」をドイツ国家学に求め、ローレンツ・フォン ・シュタイン、伊藤博文、渡辺洪基の思想と活動を追いながら、ドイツ国家学の成立と展開、わが国への伝播とその帰趨を見届け、その「国制知」としての実態と機能に比較法史の視角からアプローチする。.

In his paper “Non-human moral status: problems with phenomenal consciousness,” Joshua Shepherd emphasized an objectivist understanding of welfare to establish the moral status of non-human entities...

The largest transcriptome reported so far comprises 60,770 mouse full‐length cDNA clones, and is an effective reference data set for comparative transcriptomics. The number of mouse cDNAs identified greatly exceeds the number of genes predicted from the sequenced human and mouse genomes. This is largely because of extensive alternative splicing and the presence of many non‐coding RNAs (ncRNAs), which are difficult to predict from genomic sequences. Notably, ncRNAs are a major component of the transcriptomes of higher organisms, and many sense–antisense (...) pairs have been identified. The ncRNAs function in a range of regulatory mechanisms for gene expression and other biological processes. They might also have contributed to the increased functional diversification of genomes during evolution. In this review, we discuss aspects of the transcriptome of various organisms in relation to the mouse data, in order to shed light on the regulatory mechanisms and physiological significance of these abundant RNAs. BioEssays 26:833–843, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Research on bias in peer review examines scholarly communication and funding processes to assess the epistemic and social legitimacy of the mechanisms by which knowledge communities vet and self-regulate their work. Despite vocal concerns, a closer look at the empirical and methodological limitations of research on bias raises questions about the existence and extent of many hypothesized forms of bias. In addition, the notion of bias is predicated on an implicit ideal that, once articulated, raises questions about the normative implications (...) of research on bias in peer review. This review provides a brief description of the function, history, and scope of peer review; articulates and critiques the conception of bias unifying research on bias in peer review; characterizes and examines the empirical, methodological, and normative claims of bias in peer review research; and assesses possible alternatives to the status quo. We close by identifying ways to expand conceptions and studies of bias to countenance the complexity of social interactions among actors involved directly and indirectly in peer review. (shrink)

Human brain organoids are three-dimensional masses of tissues derived from human stem cells that partially recapitulate the characteristics of the human brain. They have promising applications in many fields, from basic research to applied medicine. However, ethical concerns have been raised regarding the use of human brain organoids. These concerns primarily relate to the possibility that brain organoids may become conscious in the future. This possibility is associated with uncertainties about whether and in what sense brain organoids could have consciousness (...) and what the moral significance of that would be. These uncertainties raise further concerns regarding consent from stem cell donors who may not be sufficiently informed to provide valid consent to the use of their donated cells in human brain organoid research. Furthermore, the possibility of harm to the brain organoids raises question about the scope of the donor’s autonomy in consenting to research involving these entities. Donor consent does not establish the reasonableness of the risk and harms to the organoids, which ethical oversight must ensure by establishing some measures to mitigate them. To address these concerns, we provide three proposals for the consent procedure for human brain organoid research. First, it is vital to obtain project-specific consent rather than broad consent. Second, donors should be assured that appropriate measures will be taken to protect human brain organoids during research. Lastly, these assurances should be fulfilled through the implementation of precautionary measures. These proposals aim to enhance the ethical framework surrounding human brain organoid research. (shrink)

朱熹の思想は「朱子学」となって東アジアに影響を与えてきた。その学の基本的枠組みである修養論を実効性に留意しつつ再検討。.

Although Caenorhabditis and Drosophila proved invaluable in unraveling the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis, it is now clear that these animals are of limited value for understanding the evolution of apoptotic systems. Whereas data from these invertebrates led to the assumption that the extrinsic apoptotic pathway is restricted to vertebrates, recent data from cnidarians and sponges indicate that this pathway predates bilaterian origins. Here we review the phylogenetic distribution of caspase‐8, the initiator caspase of the extrinsic apoptotic pathway, its paralogs and (...) other components of the network. The ancestral caspase‐8 gave rise to four paralogs early in vertebrate evolution, and these have been maintained in many tetrapods. However, eutherians have lost caspase‐18 and myomorph rodents have lost caspase‐10, these losses suggesting functional redundancy amongst caspase‐8 paralogs. The apoptotic network of the eumetazoan ancestor appears to have been complex and vertebrate like, and is only now being revealed by studying simple animals. (shrink)

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)

The notion of the unconscious resulted in a reversal of optics concerning the evidence of consciousness, and the split which Freud created in the analysis of mental activities elicited many reactio...

In experiments of games, players frequently make choices which are regarded as irrational in game theory. In papers of Khrennikov (Information Dynamics in Cognitive, Psychological and Anomalous Phenomena. Fundamental Theories of Physics, Kluwer Academic, Norwell, 2004; Fuzzy Sets Syst. 155:4–17, 2005; Biosystems 84:225–241, 2006; Found. Phys. 35(10):1655–1693, 2005; in QP-PQ Quantum Probability and White Noise Analysis, vol. XXIV, pp. 105–117, 2009), it was pointed out that statistics collected in such the experiments have “quantum-like” properties, which can not be explained in (...) classical probability theory. In this paper, we design a simple quantum-like model describing a decision-making process in a two-players game and try to explain a mechanism of the irrational behavior of players. Finally we discuss a mathematical frame of non-Kolmogorovian system in terms of liftings (Accardi and Ohya, in Appl. Math. Optim. 39:33–59, 1999). (shrink)

Crutchfield and Redinger (2024) maintain that “being conscious is a basic liberty,” and infer from this that without informed consent, deep sedation, by intruding upon one’s consciousness, is an in...

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Journal of Aesthetic Education 37.4 (2003) 64-73 [Access article in PDF] Postmodern Approach to Art Appreciation for Integrated Study in Japan This essay aims to clarify the issues of art appreciation education in Japan, and to examine a viewpoint for considering the issues in relation to a "Period for Integrated Study" established in 2002. Though ideas of art educationhave expanded in recent years, we are facing the difficulty (...) of approximately |a 20% cut in the number of art classes offered in Japanese compulsory education. In addition to this, involvement of art with Integrated Study, a new attempt to transcend the conventional learning of subjects, has presented urgent issues in art education along with current educational reforms.Based on analyses of the developmental characteristics of Japanese students' aesthetic sensitivity, we consider the issues of art appreciation education, and present a vision for involvement of art appreciation with Integrated Study. For example, Japanese students show a keen interest in formal elements with an inclination for expressiveness as a legacy received from the study of modernism in art education. On the other hand, students also show weakness in skills in finding artistic contexts. This should be considered as the most important issue of art appreciation education in Japan. It is necessary to enhance students' viewing in relation to social and cultural contexts in order to address this issue. We propose that this can be achieved through Integrated Study. Art appreciation in Integrated Study should take a postmodern approach to Japanese art education, which now has a strong inclination toward modernism. Educational Reform and Integrated Study With a rapid decline in the number of children, a rapidly aging society, and the advent of computerization and globalization, we now face problems which cannot be solved by conventional systems presently in place in Japanese society. In order to address these problems, drastic reforms that also include educational reform must be undertaken. Specific reform in education [End Page 64] can be seen in changes in the Course of Study. The most notable feature in the latest revision of the Course of Study is the establishment of the Period for Integrated Study. Integrated Study was established as a new project for the most highly prioritized issue of how students can acquire the so-called "Zest for Living." 1 Integrated Study is a required subject, with 105 to 110 class hours/year in third grade and above in elementary school, and 70 to 130 class hours/year in junior high school. The Course of Study does not prescribe the contents in detail but the periods are organized and implemented by each school according to regions and schools. However, it is suggested that schools proceed with the study of international understanding, conversation in foreign languages, information, the environment, social welfare, and health in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary way. IntegratedStudy puts an emphasis on students' initiative in identifying issues forthemselves, and on the cultivation of their talent and ability to solve those issues. Based on students' own interests, great importance is placed on problem-solving, open-ended activities, and the cultivation of independent and creative attitudes. Unlike the conventional unilateral teaching of knowledge for subjects, Integrated Study's purpose is to shift the direction of education so students can learn and think for themselves. In addition, Integrated Study focuses on authentic way and develops the skills of collecting, investigating, and connecting information, and reporting, announcing, and discussing. 2On the other hand, in curricula for elementary and junior high schools, the hours of art classes were reduced so that Japanese art education was put in a more difficult situation compared to previous curricula. Respectivesubjects are designed for students to learn basic abilities for the development of Integrated Study. Therefore, while educational reform is underway in Japan, art education faces the problem of maintaining basic learning at the same level as previously, relating art to Integrated Study.Relations between Integrated Study and art education have been discussed in various ways. 3 Two general problems can be pointed out. One isour concern that the originality of art as... (shrink)

We show that K-generic projective planes have Morley rank either two or infinity. We also show give a direct argument that such planes are not Desarguesian.

This is the translation of the so-called Morioka&Sugimoto proposal on brain death and transplantation. We proposed that the prior declaration of a brain dead child should be respected, and that when the child does not have a donor card the organ removal should be prohibited. A material for understanding an unprecedented bioethics debate now occurring in Japan.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Journal of Aesthetic Education 37.4 (2003) 64-73 [Access article in PDF] Postmodern Approach to Art Appreciation for Integrated Study in Japan This essay aims to clarify the issues of art appreciation education in Japan, and to examine a viewpoint for considering the issues in relation to a "Period for Integrated Study" established in 2002. Though ideas of art educationhave expanded in recent years, we are facing the difficulty (...) of approximately |a 20% cut in the number of art classes offered in Japanese compulsory education. In addition to this, involvement of art with Integrated Study, a new attempt to transcend the conventional learning of subjects, has presented urgent issues in art education along with current educational reforms.Based on analyses of the developmental characteristics of Japanese students' aesthetic sensitivity, we consider the issues of art appreciation education, and present a vision for involvement of art appreciation with Integrated Study. For example, Japanese students show a keen interest in formal elements with an inclination for expressiveness as a legacy received from the study of modernism in art education. On the other hand, students also show weakness in skills in finding artistic contexts. This should be considered as the most important issue of art appreciation education in Japan. It is necessary to enhance students' viewing in relation to social and cultural contexts in order to address this issue. We propose that this can be achieved through Integrated Study. Art appreciation in Integrated Study should take a postmodern approach to Japanese art education, which now has a strong inclination toward modernism. Educational Reform and Integrated Study With a rapid decline in the number of children, a rapidly aging society, and the advent of computerization and globalization, we now face problems which cannot be solved by conventional systems presently in place in Japanese society. In order to address these problems, drastic reforms that also include educational reform must be undertaken. Specific reform in education [End Page 64] can be seen in changes in the Course of Study. The most notable feature in the latest revision of the Course of Study is the establishment of the Period for Integrated Study. Integrated Study was established as a new project for the most highly prioritized issue of how students can acquire the so-called "Zest for Living." 1 Integrated Study is a required subject, with 105 to 110 class hours/year in third grade and above in elementary school, and 70 to 130 class hours/year in junior high school. The Course of Study does not prescribe the contents in detail but the periods are organized and implemented by each school according to regions and schools. However, it is suggested that schools proceed with the study of international understanding, conversation in foreign languages, information, the environment, social welfare, and health in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary way. IntegratedStudy puts an emphasis on students' initiative in identifying issues forthemselves, and on the cultivation of their talent and ability to solve those issues. Based on students' own interests, great importance is placed on problem-solving, open-ended activities, and the cultivation of independent and creative attitudes. Unlike the conventional unilateral teaching of knowledge for subjects, Integrated Study's purpose is to shift the direction of education so students can learn and think for themselves. In addition, Integrated Study focuses on authentic way and develops the skills of collecting, investigating, and connecting information, and reporting, announcing, and discussing. 2On the other hand, in curricula for elementary and junior high schools, the hours of art classes were reduced so that Japanese art education was put in a more difficult situation compared to previous curricula. Respectivesubjects are designed for students to learn basic abilities for the development of Integrated Study. Therefore, while educational reform is underway in Japan, art education faces the problem of maintaining basic learning at the same level as previously, relating art to Integrated Study.Relations between Integrated Study and art education have been discussed in various ways. 3 Two general problems can be pointed out. One isour concern that the originality of art as... (shrink)

This article attempts to examine Nihonjinron, the popular essentialist genre in Japan, which purports to analyse Japan's quintessence and cultural core by using three concepts - nationality, ethnicity and culture - synonymously. The focus of the paper will be placed on: (1) the widespread political bases of Nihonjinron and its internal divisions; (2) its changing features in the face of globalization; (3) the possible productive uses of Nihonjinron at both conceptual and theoretical levels; and (4) the dilemma of inter-societal and (...) intra-societal cultural relativism, which the Nihonjinron debate has highlighted. The paper presents an outline of an inductive, pluralistic, multicultural model of analysis as a possible alternative. (shrink)

An evaluation method, similar to the two-valued one for the classical logic, is introduced to give a decision procedure for some of intermediate logics. The logics treated here are obtained from some logics by adding the axiom av a.

We investigated the key anatomical structures mediating interhemispheric integration during the perception of apparent motion across the retinal midline. Previous studies of commissurotomized patients suggest that subcortical structures mediate interhemispheric transmission but the specific regions involved remain unclear. Here, we exploit interindividual variations in the propensity of normal subjects to perceive horizontal motion, in relation to vertical motion. We characterize these differences psychophysically using a Dynamic Dot Quartet (an ambiguous stimulus that induces illusory motion). We then tested for correlations between (...) a tendency to perceive horizontal motion and fractional anisotropy (FA) (from structural diffusion tensor imaging), over subjects. FA is an indirect measure of the orientation and integrity of white matter tracts. Subjects who found it easy to perceive horizontal motion showed significantly higher FA values in the pulvinar. Furthermore, fiber tracking from an independently identified (subject-specific) visual motion area converged on the pulvinar nucleus. These results suggest that the pulvinar is an anatomical hub and may play a central role in interhemispheric integration. (shrink)

The notion of quasi-minimal structures was defined by B. Zil'ber as a natural generalization of minimal structures. Inspired by his work, we study here basic model theoretic properties of quasiminimal structures. Main result is the construction of ω-saturated quasi-minimal models under ω-stability assumption.

数理論理学の基本となる命題・述語論理から、チューリング機械・形式手法・ブール代数といった「少し先」の内容までを丁寧に解説。.

We study the following conjecture. Conjecture. Let T be an ω-stable theory with continuum many countable models. Then either i) T has continuum many complete extensions in L1(T), or ii) some complete extension of T in L1 has continuum many L1-types without parameters. By Shelah's proof of Vaught's conjecture for ω-stable theories, we know that there are seven types of ω-stable theory with continuum many countable models. We show that the conjecture is true for all but one of these seven (...) cases. In the last case we show the existence of continuum many L2-types. (shrink)

We study the following conjecture. Conjecture. Let $T$ be an $\omega$-stable theory with continuum many countable models. Then either i) $T$ has continuum many complete extensions in $L_1$, or ii) some complete extension of $T$ in $L_1$ has continuum many $L_1$-types without parameters. By Shelah's proof of Vaught's conjecture for $\omega$-stable theories, we know that there are seven types of $\omega$-stable theory with continuum many countable models. We show that the conjecture is true for all but one of these seven (...) cases. In the last case we show the existence of continuum many $L_2$-types. (shrink)

We show that is a quasi-minimal torsion-free divisible abelian group. After discussing the axiomatization of the theory of this structure, we present its ω-saturated quasi-minimal model.

The recent discovery of the medullary circuit driving “hunger responses” – reduced thermogenesis and promoted feeding – has greatly expanded our knowledge on the central neural networks for energy homeostasis. However, how hypothalamic hunger and satiety signals generated under fasted and fed conditions, respectively, control the medullary autonomic and somatic motor mechanisms remains unknown. Here, in reviewing this field, we propose two hypothalamomedullary neural pathways for hunger and satiety signaling. To trigger hunger signaling, neuropeptide Y activates a group of neurons (...) in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVH), which then stimulate an excitatory pathway to the medullary circuit to drive the hunger responses. In contrast, melanocortin‐mediated satiety signaling activates a distinct group of PVH neurons, which then stimulate a putatively inhibitory pathway to the medullary circuit to counteract the hunger signaling. The medullary circuit likely contains inhibitory and excitatory premotor neurons whose alternate phasic activation generates the coordinated masticatory motor rhythms to promote feeding. (shrink)

Neuronal activities have recently been reported to exhibit power-law scaling behavior. However, it has not been demonstrated that the power-law component can play an important role in human perceptual functions. Here, we demonstrate that the power spectrum of magnetoencephalograph recordings of brain activity varies in coordination with perception of subthreshold visual stimuli. We observed that perceptual performance could be better explained by modulation of the power-law component than by modulation of the peak power in particular narrow frequency ranges. The results (...) suggest that the brain operates in a state of self-organized criticality, modulating the power spectral exponent of its activity to optimize its internal state for response to external stimuli. (shrink)