The globalization in business and tourism becomes crucial more and more for the economical sustainability of local communities. In the presence of an epidemic outbreak, there must be such a decision on the policy by the host community as whether to accept visitors or not, the number of acceptable visitors, or the condition for acceptable visitors. Making use of an SIRI type of mathematical model, we consider the influence of visitors on the spread of a reinfectious disease in a community, (...) especially assuming that a certain proportion of accepted visitors are immune. The reinfectivity of disease here means that the immunity gained by either vaccination or recovery is imperfect. With the mathematical results obtained by our analysis on the model for such an epidemic dynamics of resident and visitor populations, we find that the acceptance of visitors could have a significant influence on the disease’s endemicity in the community, either suppressive or supportive. (shrink)

This article reviews recent findings that bear on the mechanism(s) of tumor‐specific Lyt‐1+2− T cell‐mediated tumor eradication in vivo A tumor‐immune Lyt‐1+2− T cell subset has been identified which is distinct from T cells mediating in vitro cytotoxicity (Lyt‐1+2+/1−2+). The Lyt‐1+2− cells have a crucial role in rejecting tumor cells when adoptively transferred into T cell‐deprived B cell mice. This indicates that Lyt‐1+2− T cells do not necessarily require recruitment of the host's cytotoxic T cell precursors for implementation of in (...) vivo immunity. Instead, this T cell subset exerts its anti‐tumor effect in collaboration with macrophages as shown with an in vivo tumor cell culture system utilizing a diffusion chamber. A pathway of Lyt‐1+2− T cell‐macrophage interaction leading to tumor cell killing is discussed in terms of its probable relevance to the eradication of tumor cell masses consisting of tumor cells expressing quantitatively and/or qualitatively different tumor antigens. (shrink)

The word sautrāntika is known to designate one of the philosophical schools in later documents, but its earlier phase remains uncertain. The discovery of this term in the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra thus brings forward new evidence essential for solving the problem of sautrāntika. In this paper, I will attempt to establish the interpretation of the context, in which the phrase vinayadharaḥ sautrāntikaḥ appears.

The Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews produced The Gifts and Calling of God Are Irrevocable, in which supersessionism is firmly rejected. In this document, the term fulfillment occurs frequently to describe the relationship between the Old and New Covenant. It implies an evolutionary development from old to new, or from promise to fulfillment. Therefore, the use of this term may lead one to suspect that it is merely a synonym for supersession or a progression from good to better. (...) To avoid this connotation, I redefine this term by locating it within the Israelite cult. Through a study of Aaron’s ordination to the high priesthood in Leviticus and the claims for Jesus’s high priesthood in the Epistle to the Hebrews, I show that fulfillment already occurs in the Old Covenant by relating the historical, earthly cult to the eternal, heavenly cult. (shrink)

This study aimed to: (1) develop and evaluate the Moral Distress Scale for Psychiatric nurses (MDS-P); (2) use the MDS-P to examine the moral distress experienced by Japanese psychiatric nurses; and (3) explore the correlation between moral distress and burnout. A questionnaire on the intensity and frequency of moral distress items (the MDS-P: 15 items grouped into three factors), a burnout scale (Maslach Burnout Inventory — General Survey) and demographic questions were administered to 391 Japanese psychiatric nurses in 2007—2008. These (...) nurses experienced relatively low levels of moral distress despite the fact that they were commonly confronted by morally distressing situations. All the circumstances in which the participants experienced moral distress were included in the ‘low staffing’ factor, which reflects the characteristics of Japanese psychiatric care. The frequency score of the low staffing factor was a significant predictor of burnout. (shrink)

Background Japanese people have become increasingly interested in the expression and enhancement of their individual autonomy in medical decisions made regarding medical treatment at and toward the end of life. However, while many Western countries have implemented legislation that deals with patient autonomy in the case of terminal illness, no such legislation exists in Japan. The rationale for this research is based on the need to investigate patient's preferences regarding treatment at the end of life in order to re-evaluate advance (...) directives policy and practice. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey with 418 members of the general middle-aged and senior adults (aged between 40 and 65) in Tokyo, Japan. Respondents were asked about their attitudes toward advance directives, and preferences toward treatment options. Results Over 60% of respondents agreed that it is better to express their wishes regarding advance directives (treatment preferences in writing, appointment of proxy for care decision making, appointment of legal administrator of property, stating preferences regarding disposal of one's property and funeral arrangements) but less than 10% of them had already done so. About 60% of respondents in this study preferred to indicate treatment preferences in broad rather than concrete terms. Over 80% would like to decide treatment preferences in consultation with others (22.2% with their proxy, 11.0% with the doctor, and 47.8% with both their proxy and the doctor). Conclusion This study revealed that many Japanese people indicate an interest in undertaking advance directives. This study found that there is a range of preferences regarding how advance directives are undertaken, thus it is important to recognize that any processes put into place should allow flexibility in order to best respect patients' wishes and autonomy. (shrink)

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become indispensable in our lives. The development of a quantitative scale for AI ethics is necessary for a better understanding of public attitudes toward AI research ethics and to advance the discussion on using AI within society. For this study, we developed an AI ethics scale based on AI-specific scenarios. We investigated public attitudes toward AI ethics in Japan and the US using online questionnaires. We designed a test set using four dilemma scenarios and questionnaire items (...) based on a theoretical framework for ethics, legal, and social issues (ELSI). We found that _country_ and _age_ are the most informative sociodemographic categories for predicting attitudes for AI ethics. Our proposed scale, which consists of 13 questions, can be reduced to only three, covering ethics, tradition, and policies. This new AI ethics scale will help to quantify how AI research is accepted in society and which area of ELSI people are most concerned with. (shrink)

Perceptual grouping has traditionally been thought to be governed by innate, universal principles. However, recent work has found differences in Japanese and English speakers' non-linguistic perceptual grouping, implicating language in non-linguistic perceptual processes (Iversen, Patel, & Ohgushi, 2008). Two experiments test Japanese- and English-learning infants of 5-6 and 7-8 months of age to explore the development of grouping preferences. At 5-6 months, neither the Japanese nor the English infants revealed any systematic perceptual biases. However, by 7-8 months, the same age (...) as when linguistic phrasal grouping develops, infants developed non-linguistic grouping preferences consistent with their language's structure (and the grouping biases found in adulthood). These results reveal an early difference in non-linguistic perception between infants growing up in different language environments. The possibility that infants' linguistic phrasal grouping is bootstrapped by abstract perceptual principles is discussed. (shrink)

Recent technological advances have accelerated the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the world. Public concerns over AI in ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) may have been enhanced, but their awareness has not been fully examined between countries and cultures. We created four scenarios regarding the use of AI: “voice,” “recruiting,” “face,” and “immigration,” and compared public concerns in Japan, the US, Germany, and the Republic of Korea (hereafter Korea). Additionally, public ELSI concerns in respect of AI were measured (...) using four items: ethics, tradition, law and social benefit. Respondents with AI knowledge tended to exhibit stronger concern about ELSI in various situations. In terms of law concerns, Japanese respondents displayed greater concerns. In contrast, the US, when compared Japan, expressed a relatively optimistic view of the current law landscape. Regarding social benefits, Korea, compared to Japan, exhibited a more positive outlook, whereas Germany, in comparison to Japan, expressed heightened concerns about it across different scenarios. (shrink)

A challenge in human genome research is how to describe the populations being studied. The use of improper and/or imprecise terms has the potential to both generate and reinforce prejudices and to diminish the clinical value of the research. The issue of population descriptors has not attracted enough academic attention outside North America and Europe. In January 2012, we held a two-day workshop, the first of its kind in Japan, to engage in interdisciplinary dialogue between scholars in the humanities, social (...) sciences, medical sciences, and genetics to begin an ongoing discussion of the social and ethical issues associated with population descriptors. (shrink)

In studies publishing identifying personal information, obtaining consent is regarded as necessary, as it is impossible to ensure complete anonymity. However, current journal practices around specific points to consider when obtaining consent, the contents of consent forms and how consent forms are managed have not yet been fully examined. This study was conducted to identify potential issues surrounding consent to publish identifying personal information.

While freedom has traditionally been discussed in philosophy and political theory, this paper proposes an anthropological approach to the study of freedom. The focus is on the Japanese word amae, which Takeo Doi calls the ‘key’ to Japanese culture and contrasts with the ‘Western’ concept of freedom. After discussing Doi’s influential work, meanings are reconstructed from interviews and group discussions with Japanese people about amae. The interviewees define amae literally in terms of social ‘non-independence’ and, unlike Doi, understand it in (...) a complex intertwining with freedom on the one hand and autonomy on the other. Overall, the paper argues that amae can hardly serve as a ‘key’ to understanding the Japanese, but can stimulate fruitful anthropological reflections not only on Japanese culture, but also on the concept of freedom. (shrink)

Este artigo descreve e comenta a criação, por parte de Allan Kardec, de um complexo arcabouço de divulgação de sua produção no novo campo de estudos a que denominou “Espiritismo”, ou “ciência espírita”. Embora não fazendo parte do mundo acadêmico, no sentido institucional do termo, o pesquisador francês efetivamente se aproximou, no desenvolvimento dessa interface com o público, daquilo que à época começava a se tornar padrão nas áreas mais maduras da ciência. Criou uma sociedade de estudos, a Sociedade Parisiense (...) de Estudos Espíritas, em que fatos, hipóteses e métodos eram apresentados e discutidos, antes de eventualmente serem incorporados em textos e divulgados mais amplamente. Para essa divulgação, conjugou a publicação de livros temáticos a uma revista de assuntos espíritas gerais, a Revista Espírita, para veicular ensaios e resultados preliminares, servindo também de via de mão dupla para a interação com assinantes e correspondentes, interessados em contribuir com a elaboração da teoria espírita. Dado, porém, que o Espiritismo não era, nem pretendia ser, uma disciplina científica inserida no meio acadêmico oficial, existem diversas diferenças entre essas duas instituições espíritas e suas análogas na academia. Estas diferenças são aqui apontadas, explicadas e justificadas, como aspectos típicos do programa kardequiano. (shrink)

Both in the Treatise of Human Nature and in the Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Hume defends that “there is no chance in the world”, and that “what the vulgar call chance is nothing but a secret and conceal’d cause”. This view plays a crucial role in Hume’s influential analysis of free will and moral responsibility. It functions also as a central presupposition in his discussion of miracles. However, Hume himself argued convincingly that the “maxim of causality”, according to which “whatever (...) begins to exist, must have a cause of existence” cannot be established a priori, by either intuition or demonstration. He concludes, then, that such “opinion must necessarily arise from observation and experience”. In the present article I analyse this latter statement, showing, first, what was Hume detailed proposal for funding the principle of causality on experience. Given the apparent weakness of this proposal, I then speculate on what kind of firmer empirical foundation could, instead, have been given, in Hume’s time, to the principle of causality, namely, the indirect support offered by Newtonian mechanics. Finally, I show how this theoretical link between experience and the principle, and also Hume’s straightforward, inductive argument, were undermined by the inception of quantum physics, at the beginning of the 20th century. (shrink)

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2008v12n1p49 The aim of this article is to offer a rejoinder to an argument against scientific realism put forward by van Fraassen, based on theoretical considerations regarding microphysics. At a certain stage of his general attack to scientific realism, van Fraassen argues, in contrast to what realists typically hold, that empirical regularities should sometimes be regarded as “brute facts”, which do not ask for explanation in terms of deeper, unobservable mechanisms. The argument from microphysics formulated by van Fraassen is based (...) on the claim that in microphysics the demand for explanation leads to a demand for the so-called hidden-variable theories, which “runs contrary to at least one major school of thought in twentieth-century physics”. It is shown here that this argument does not represent an insurmountable obstacle to scientific realism, not even when a series of important theoretical and experimental results against hidden-variable theories — and not merely a conflict with a certain school of thought—is taken into account. (shrink)

Ao defender, nos Princípios matemáticos de filosofia natural, a existência de uma força de gravitação universal, Newton desencadeou uma onda de dúvidas e objeções filosóficas. Suas próprias declarações sobre a natureza da gravitação não são facilmente interpretáveis como formando um conjunto consistente de opiniões. Por um lado, logo após fornecer as três definições de "quantidades de forças centrípetas" (Defs. 6-8), Newton observa que está tratando tais forças "matematicamente", sem se pronunciar sobre sua realidade física. Mas, por outro lado, no Escólio (...) Geral inserido no final da segunda edição do livro, Newton diz que foi capaz de "explicar" vários fenômenos de movimento por meio da força de gravidade - que ele mostrou ser um tipo de força centrípeta -, embora não tivesse ainda conseguido explicar a causa dessa força. Uma interpretação plausível dessas últimas afirmações é que Newton acreditava que pôde inferir, a partir dos fenômenos, a existência da força de gravidade, enquanto agente causal real de certos movimentos, mas que ainda não havia tido sucesso em descobrir a causa dessa causa. O objetivo principal do presente artigo não é aprofundar a análise histórica das declarações de Newton, mas examinar como essa questão se insere no debate mais geral sobre o estatuto epistemológico das hipóteses científicas que transcendem a experiência imediata. Segundo a posição defendida, entre muitos outros, por John Locke, tais hipóteses devem ser interpretadas como tentativas legítimas de descrever aspectos inobserváveis da realidade. Em contraste com isso, no caso específico das hipóteses sobre forças - de gravitação ou quaisquer outras -, George Berkeley argumentou vigorosamente a favor de sua interpretação como meros artifícios teóricos úteis às "demonstrações matemáticas" na ciência da mecânica. Ao longo da análise das vantagens e desvantagens filosóficas dessas posições opostas, indica-se aqui que, embora a interpretação realista pareça fazer mais justiça ao desenvolvimento real da física após os Princípios matemáticos, a interpretação instrumentalista de Berkeley tem o mérito filosófico inegável de representar uma adesão mais firme ao empirismo, que é, de um modo ou de outro, valorizado por ambas as partes envolvidas na disputa sobre a natureza da gravitação. Newton's defence, in the Principia, of the existence of a universal force of gravity immediately gave rise to a wave of philosophical doubts and objections. His own remarks on the nature of gravitation are not easily amenable of a consistent, uniform interpretation. This paper begins by reviewing briefly these remarks. Its primary objective is, however, to examine how this important scientific issue contributed to demarcate two main epistemological positions on the status of scientific hypotheses transcending immediate experience. In Newton's time, two exponents of these positions were, respectively, Locke and Berkeley. Intriguingly, Newton fuelled both the Berkeleyan, instrumentalist interpretation, and the Lockean, realist interpretation. On the one hand, immediately after offering the definitions of "quantities of centripetal forces" (Definitions 6-8), he warned that he was treating these forces "mathematically", without pronouncing on its physical status. This remark lends support to Berkeley's anti-realist interpretation of forces, as Berkeley himself was keen to point out. But in the General Scholium, at the end of the book, Newton declared that he could "explain" certain important phenomena of motion by the force of gravity, although he had not yet been able to explain the cause of this force, adding, famously, that he would "feign no hypotheses" about this issue. A natural, realist interpretation of this statement is that Newton believed that he could infer, from the phenomena, the existence of gravity, as a real, causal physical agent, but that he had not yet succeeded in discovering the cause of this cause. In discussing the shortcomings and advantages of these opposing views, we indicate that although the realist interpretation appears to do more justice to the actual development of physics after the Principia, Berkeley's interpretation has the philosophical merit of representing a firmer adherence to empiricism, a position valued, in one way or another, by all parties involved in the dispute on the nature of gravitation. (shrink)

This paper discusses an argument for scientific realism put forward by Anthony Quinton in The Nature of Things. The argument – here called the controlled continuity argument – seems to have received no attention in the literature, apparently because it may easily be mistaken for a better-known argument, Grover Maxwell’s “argument from the continuum”. It is argued here that, in point of fact, the two are quite distinct and that Quinton’s argument has several advantages over Maxwell’s. The controlled continuity argument (...) is also compared to Ian Hacking’s “argument from coincidence”. It is pointed out that both arguments are to a large extent independent from considerations about high-level scientific theories, and that both are abductive arguments at the core. But these similarities do not dilute an important difference related to the fact that Quinton’s argument cleverly seeks to anchor belief in unobservable entities in realism about ordinary objects, which is a position shared by most contemporary scientific anti-realists. (shrink)

In christian experience, the flesh of Christ is not only a theological concept relating to Church or Eucharisty, but a place where spiritual an psychological desires establish themselves. In this essay we would illustrate the artistic and visionary access to an essential section of Christ's body, his protective and nourishing breast.

En el seno de la historia es el resultado de no pocas horas de reflexión de dos amigos que comparten algunas pasiones, como son -y por este orden- la historia y la universidad. Hartos de oír hablar de crisis en las dos, salieron de su cubículum y vieron, primero, que nunca como ahora había habido tantos libros buenos de historia, algunos verdaderos best-seller, segundo, que jamás en la universidad española había habido tantos estudiantes -y estudiosos- y nunca se había (...) investigado más y mejor que ahora. ¿Dónde está, pues, la crisis? La intentaron buscar en el impacto producido por las novedades, desde lo postmoderno a la historia basura, pero acabaron por ver que incluso en los más rabiosos rupturistas afloraba la solidez de la historia y la fortaleza de algunas grandes tradiciones científicas. Sin embargo, notaron que ni así se consuelan los defensores de una Clío amenazada por mil peligros. Sospachando alguna razón inconfesable -externa al oficio, queremos decir- que explique la paradoja, los dos amigos se contentan por ahora con poner por escrito lo que tienen más seguro: lo que está probado en la mejor tradición clásica y lo que de bueno aporta la novedad. Siempre,... en el seno de la historia. (shrink)

Partiendo del análisis de una fetua en la que se plantea la posibilidad de condenar a la lapidación a una mujer acusada de haber mantenido relaciones sexuales ilícitas con un hombre, se analiza la doctrina legal sobre zinā de Ibn Rušd el abuelo (m. 520/1126), uno de los juristas mālikíes más relevantes de todos los tiempos. El análisis de esta doctrina conduce a una reflexión acerca de tres cuestiones: 1) la escasez de referencias a la aplicación del castigo de lapidación (...) en el período pre-moderno, 2) la actitud contradictoria de los juristas musulmanes de ese mismo período, los cuales, por una parte sostienen la vigencia del castigo y por otra parte insisten en el respeto escrupuloso de una doctrina que hace que sea prácticamente imposible aplicarlo y 3) la vigencia del corpus de opiniones creado por estos juristas en los debates contemporáneos acerca de la práctica de la lapidación. (shrink)

: La moderna fenomenología del cuerpo del hombre en su condición subjetiva se revela hoy como interlocutor fructífero de una antropología cristiana interesada en redefinir la condición teologal del hombre en su especificidad cristológica. Este artículo se interesa por la aportación de la condición corporal del hombre a su realización personal-trascendente; concebida ésta como gramática antropológica sobre la que el Dios que es comunión traza el camino de la redención como participación en la filiación del Hijo hecho carne.

I first heard about renshi from Hiromi Itō, a remarkable and justifiably celebrated Japanese poet and writer, who has also been our neighbor in Encinitas, California, for most of the last two decades. Her presence among us goes back to 1991 and to my first visit to Japan, a contact I hadn’t had before but have been able to repeat six times since then.