Researchers and non-commercial institutions negotiate complex legislation and guidance when planning and conducting research studies. The documents and processes required differ across nations and their regulatory bodies and it can be challenging to conduct an international study, especially for non-commercial organisations. In this study, colleagues from Japan and the UK worked closely together focusing on the legislation, organisations, trial processes, ethics review and quality assurance frameworks of clinical trials in two countries, the UK, demonstrated on the model of practices in (...) the University of Bristol and University Hospital Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, and Japan, based on the model in Kyoto University Hospital. Although the ICH tripartite guidelines were developed with participation from both the EU and Japan the set-up and approval processes for clinical trials are different between the two countries while the expectations for quality assurance are similar. We will argue that the f... (shrink)

The progress of electronic health technologies and biobanks holds enormous promise for efficient research. Evidence shows that studies based on sharing and secondary use of data/samples have the potential to significantly advance medical knowledge. However, sharing of such resources for international collaboration is hampered by the lack of clarity about ethical and legal requirements for transfer of data and samples across international borders. Here, the International Clinical Trial Center Network reports the legal and ethical requirements governing data and sample exchange (...) across four continents. The most recurring requirement is ethical approval, whereas only in specific conditions approval of national health authorities is required. Informed consent is not required in all sharing situations. However, waiver of informed consent is only allowed in certain countries/regions and under certain circumstances. The current legal and ethical landscape appears to be very complex and under constant evolution. Regulations differ between countries/regions and are often incomplete, leading to uncertainty. With this work, ICN illuminates the unmet need for a single international collaborative framework to facilitate DSE. Harmonising requirements for global DSE will reduce inefficiency and waste in research. There are many challenges to realising this ambitious vision, including inconsistent terminology and definitions, and heterogeneous and dynamic legal constraints. Here, we identify areas of agreement and significant difference as a necessary first step towards facilitating international collaboration. We propose the establishment of a working group to continue the comparison across jurisdictions, create a standardised glossary and define a set of basic principles and fundamental requirements for DSE. (shrink)

We consider several variants of Keisler’s isomorphism theorem. We separate these variants by showing implications between them and cardinal invariants hypotheses. We characterize saturation hypotheses that are stronger than Keisler’s theorem with respect to models of size $\aleph _1$ and $\aleph _0$ by $\mathrm {CH}$ and $\operatorname {cov}(\mathsf {meager}) = \mathfrak {c} \land 2^{<\mathfrak {c}} = \mathfrak {c}$ respectively. We prove that Keisler’s theorem for models of size $\aleph _1$ and $\aleph _0$ implies $\mathfrak {b} = \aleph _1$ and $\operatorname (...) {cov}(\mathsf {null}) \le \mathfrak {d}$ respectively. As a consequence, Keisler’s theorem for models of size $\aleph _0$ fails in the random model. We also show that for Keisler’s theorem for models of size $\aleph _1$ to hold it is not necessary that $\operatorname {cov}(\mathsf {meager})$ equals $\mathfrak {c}$. (shrink)

これまでの哲学が再三にわたって論じてきた「私」という問題。しかしそこには、大きな見落としがあったのではないか?産まれる、子をはらむ、産む、死んでいく、だけど誰かが残る。こうしたことを、それ自身として真 正面からとらえる。そのための哲学が、ここからはじまる。.

本書は、日中両国の世界への対応の差異が典型的に表れた幕末・清末の歴史を「託古改制」という新たなキーワードを用い、明治維新のシナリオを書いた知られざる思想家・横井小楠、明治維新に範をとった戊戌変法を開始 せしめた清の思想家・康有為を始め、佐久間象山と馮桂芬、吉田松陰と章炳麟という三組六人の大思想家の比較を行い、「儒教文化圏・漢字文化圏」などと概括されがちな両国の差異を浮き上がらせ、東アジアの将来の展望 に資することを目指すものである。.

構造主義からアクターネットワークセオリーまで、哲学と人類学という二つの知的実践は交錯してきた。その現代的な意義を考える。 ドゥルーズ=ガタリ、メルロ=ポンティ、サルトル、モース、デュルケム、ヴィヴェイロス・デ・カストロ、デスコラ、ストラザーン――いずれも「自然」をめぐり、レヴィ=ストロースの神話論理の再解釈や「構造」の捉 えなおしとして進行してきた哲学と人類学について、思考様式の違いや歴史的な影響関係、主題の反復を浮き彫りにする。.

偶然性や身体論などこれまで論じてきた問題にもさらに深いまなざしを向けつづける著者による集大成。.

According to the widespread use of Web Services, composition of multiple services is becoming a main issue. BPEL was proposed as a Web Services workflow language in this context. Then, in many cases we need much interactions between a service requester and a BPEL process execution engine. However for the end user under the ubiquitous environment where the service is executed with a cellular phone or PDA, the interaction means simply a burden. The reason is: (1)it is hard to carry (...) out the operation manually, (2)a network connection is unstable, (3)a connection charge is relatively high. In this paper, we propose middle agents between ubiquitous users and Web Services. The agents analyze BPEL, extract the interaction which the ubiquitous users would need, then produce action operators. It makes a plan in order to achieve a service request from the user. Here the planning agent can reduce operations of the user by collecting the necessary information at the beginning which will be inputted during the IP execution. We show the architecture of the agents and an example regarding ATM service, then evaluate the number of inputs, the performance, and the quantity of data transmitted on network. Finally, we consider adaptability of this approach to generic BPEL flow. (shrink)

Negative attitudes toward robots are considered as one of the psychological factors preventing humans from interacting with robots in the daily life. To verify their influence on humans‘ behaviors toward robots, we designed and executed experiments where subjects interacted with Robovie, which is being developed as a platform for research on the possibility of communication robots. This paper reports and discusses the results of these experiments on correlation between subjects’ negative attitudes and their behaviors toward robots. Moreover, it discusses influences (...) of gender and experience of real robots on their negative attitudes and behaviors toward robots. (shrink)

To investigate whether people with social anxiety have less actual and “anticipatory” anxiety when interacting with a robot compared to interacting with a person, we conducted a 2 × 2 psychological experiment with two factors: social anxiety and interaction partner. The experiment was conducted in a counseling setting where a participant played the role of a client and the robot or the confederate played the role of a counselor. First, we measured the participants’ social anxiety using the Social Avoidance and (...) Distress Scale, after which, we measured their anxiety at two specific moments: “anticipatory anxiety” was measured after they knew that they would be interacting with a robot or a human confederate, and actual anxiety was measured after they actually interacted with the robot or confederate. Measurements were performed using the Profile of Mood States and the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory. The results indicated that participants with higher social anxiety tended to feel less “anticipatory anxiety” and tension when they knew that they would be interacting with robots compared with humans. Moreover, we found that interaction with a robot elicited less tension compared with interaction with a person regardless of the level of social anxiety. (shrink)

A great deal of research has been performed recently on robots that feature functions for communicating with humans in daily life, i.e., communication robots. We consider it important to develop methods to measure humans’ attitudes and emotions that may prevent them from interaction with communication robots, as indices to study short-term and long-term interaction between humans and communication robots. This study is aimed at exploring the influence of negative attitudes toward robots, focusing on applications of communication robots to daily-life services. (...) First, a scale of negative attitudes toward robots consisting of three subordinate scales, “negative attitudes toward situations of interaction with robots,” “negative attitudes toward the social influence of robots,” and “negative attitudes toward emotions in interaction with robots,” was developed based on a data sample comprising of 263 Japanese university students. This scale was administered to 240 Japanese university students to confirm its validity and reliability. In this paper, we report on the results of analyses of these data samples. Moreover, we discuss some future problems including a comparison of attitudes toward robots between nations. (shrink)

Reinforcement learning has recently received much attention as a learning method for complicated systems, e.g., robot systems. It does not need prior knowledge and has higher capability of reactive and adaptive behaviors. However increase in dimensionality of the action-state space makes it diffcult to accomplish learning. The applicability of the existing reinforcement learning algorithms are effective for simple tasks with relatively small action-state space. In this paper, we propose a new reinforcement learning algorithm: “Q-learning with Dynamic Structuring of Exploration Space (...) Based on Genetic Algorithm ”. The algorithm is applicable to systems with high dimensional action and interior state spaces, for example a robot with many redundant degrees of freedom. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm simulations of obstacle avoidance by a 50 links manipulator have been carried out. It is shown that effective behavior can be learned by using the proposed algorithm. (shrink)

十九世紀後半における英国唯美主義を支えた日本趣味の実態はどのようなものだったのか。ロセッティ、スウィンバーン、ペイター、ワイルド、ホイッスラーらの藝術について、さらに英国唯美主義の素地としてのギリシア のエピクーロス的世界、西脇順三郎を初めとする日本の詩人達とワイルド受容、ロセッティやペイターの系譜に連なる唯美主義者としてのハーンなど、両国の藝術の関わりを悠遠な視座から読み解く比較藝術論。図版多数。 .

死後の魂のヴィジョンと永遠回帰の宇宙論を語るこの破天荒な構想力、九鬼周造とはいったい何者か。.

40億年に及ぶとされる、地球における生命の歴史。共通の祖先から進化した生きものたちは、多様でありながら共通点もあわせ持っています。いのちとは何か?いのちはどのようにして生まれたのか?どのように考えられ てきたのか?その歴史をひもときながら、私たちの来た道と、これから行く道を、探ってみましょう。.

Reinforcement learning is very effective for robot learning. Because it does not need priori knowledge and has higher capability of reactive and adaptive behaviors. In our previous works, we proposed new reinforcement learning algorithm: “Q-learning with Dynamic Structuring of Exploration Space Based on Genetic Algorithm (QDSEGA)”. It is designed for complicated systems with large action-state space like a robot with many redundant degrees of freedom. And we applied it to 50 link manipulator and effective behavior is acquired. However optimality and (...) fault tolerance of the proposed algorithm were not considered and to demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed algorithm other applications are necessary. Acquiring of locomotion patterns by a multi-legged robot is a very interesting problem. As it has many redundant degrees of freedom, application of usual reinforcement learning is difficult and an optimal locomotion has not been acquired using previous reinforcement learning algorithm. And the redundancy of the robot is effective to the fault tolerance and various locomotion patterns can be acquired for adapting the faults of the legs. In this paper, we applied QDSEGA to acquiring of locomotion pattern by the multi-legged robot and considered the optimality and fault tolerance. Effective behavior has been obtained by using our proposed algorithm. (shrink)

For each intermediate propositional logicJ, J * denotes the least predicate extension ofJ. By the method of canonical models, the strongly Kripke completeness ofJ *+D(=x(p(x)q)xp(x)q) is shown in some cases including:1. J is tabular, 2. J is a subframe logic. A variant of Zakharyashchev's canonical formulas for intermediate logics is introduced to prove the second case.

In Matter and Memory, Bergson identifies a problem with perception and resolves it by arguing that matter is an aggregate of images. However, it is unclear whether and how Bergson justifies this thesis, and interpreters differ considerably on this question. This paper formulates and analyzes Bergson’s arguments for this thesis in Chapter 1 of Matter and Memory. Bergson presents five arguments, some of which echo arguments in early modern philosophy. They jointly compose a substantive, well-structured defense of his thesis. This (...) paper also illuminates an aspect of Bergson’s method that departs from his famous reliance on intuition and is grounded in his conception of the clarity required in philosophy. (shrink)

We found that children sometimes abused a social robot placed in a shopping mall hallway. They verbally abused the robot, repeatedly obstructed its path, and sometimes even kicked and punched the robot. To investigate the reasons for the abuse, we conducted a field study in which we interviewed visiting children who exhibited serious abusive behaviors, including physical contact. We analyzed interview contents to determine whether the children perceived the robot as human-like, why they abused it, and whether they thought that (...) the robot would suffer from their abusive behavior. We obtained valid interviews from 23 children over 13 days of observations. We found that 1) the majority of the children engaged in abuse because they were curious about the robot’s reactions or enjoyed abusing it and considered it human-like, and 2) about half of them believed the robot was capable of perceiving their abusive behaviors. (shrink)

Shuzo Kuki is a Japanese philosopher, belonging to the Kyoto school, who lived about a hundred years ago. He learned philosophy in Europe and developed an original theory of contingency, by accommodating the Asiatic way of thinking on the one hand, and Western philosophy on the other. In this article, I show that we can find similarities between his theory of contingency and the philosophy of Deleuze, especially in regard to the subject of temporality and eternal return. Needless to say, (...) the theory of the third time is a crucial theme in Difference and Repetition, and is closely related to the time of eternity, and the original or primitive contingency. Taking into consideration these aspects of time is indispensable in examining in depth the concepts of difference and virtuality. Kuki's theory of contingency, which incorporates early twentieth-century European philosophy, elucidates these concepts in an unexpected way. Therefore, my aim in this article is not to attempt a comparison between Eastern and Western thought by quoting Deleuze, but to illustrate a hidden lineage of thought, which runs from the nineteenth century into the philosophy of virtuality of the twentieth century. This same lineage appears in Japan in Kuki's theory, and Deleuze's thought is, at least in one aspect, a modern manifestation of the same roots. (shrink)

The concept of the ‘island’ constitutes a unique theme in Deleuze's thought: desert islands and perversion, continental islands and isolated islands, the connection between the emergence of life and orogeny, the relationship between imagination and islands, and the sea as a rhizome. To think from this point of view on Japan, it is neither an isolated island nor an oceanic island in Deleuze's sense. Rather, it is a place where a unique stratum of thought has accumulated like a multilayered plateau. (...) Japan has often been portrayed as a malignant kind of rhizome, as an oriental land, a land of animism. However, the Japanese islands, as part of the Pacific Rim island arc, and, on the other hand, as a place which bears the forces from the continent, can also be depicted as a manifold location, bearing the rhizome called the sea in a unique way. Not only does it have only a virtual signifier = signifiant of One-ness, but it can also be said to hold multiple strata of signifiers = signifiants within its arc between the continent and ocean. My aim in this paper is to explicate this place called ‘Japan’ as a case study of what Deleuze calls geophilosophy in his last book with Guattari, What is Philosophy? (shrink)

「順序よく漏れなく」、「人が関わるあらゆる事柄の基本的な筋道について、言葉による地図を作成すること」。松永澄夫の哲学。.