We evaluated the relationships of daily sleep duration and inconsistency with soft tennis competitive performance among 15 healthy collegiate soft tennis players (13 male, 2 female, mean age = 19.7 ± 0.8 years, height = 170.8 ± 7.3 cm, weight = 60.3 ± 5.6 kg, soft tennis experience = 8.7 ± 2.0 years). Sleep duration and inconsistency were determined by a 50-day sleep diary, which recorded sleep and wake times of sleep. Soft tennis athletic performance was evaluated by a service (...) and baseline stroke accuracy test and the spider run test. Mean sleep duration was 7.4 ± 1.7 h. No correlation was found between long-term mean sleep duration and athletic performance. But inconsistency in sleep duration (SD of sleep duration) was inversely correlated with service score after controlling for soft tennis experience and sex (r = −0.56, p = 0.046). There was no significant relationship between sleep inconsistency and other athletic performance. This result indicates that reducing the instability of sleep duration (i.e., sleep regular hours) in the long-term may have a positive effect on soft tennis players’ service performance. Although participants’ current mean sleep duration (7.4 h) was not as sufficient as the recommendation in sleep extension experiments (9–10 h), it revealed the importance for athletes to maintain regular sleep in daily life. (shrink)

The motor modules during human walking are identified using non-negative matrix factorization from surface electromyography signals. The extraction of motor modules in healthy participants is affected by the change in pre-processing of EMG signals, such as low-pass filters ; however, the effect of different pre-processing methods, such as the number of necessary gait cycles in post-stroke patients with varying steps, remains unknown. We aimed to specify that the number of GCs influenced the motor modules extracted in the consideration of LPFs (...) in post-stroke patients. In total, 10 chronic post-stroke patients walked at a self-selected speed on an overground walkway, while EMG signals were recorded from the eight muscles of paretic lower limb. To verify the number of GCs, five GC conditions were set, namely, 25, 20, 15, 10, and 5 gate cycles with three LPFs. First, the number of modules, variability accounted for, and muscle weightings extracted by the NNMF algorithm were compared between the conditions. Next, a modified NNMF algorithm, in which the activation timing profiles among different GCs were unified, was performed to compare the muscle weightings more robustly between GCs. The number of motor modules was not significantly different, regardless of the GCs. The difference in VAF and muscle weightings in the different GCs decreased with the LPF of 4 Hz. Muscle weightings in 15 GCs or less were significantly different from those in 25 GCs using the modified NNMF. Therefore, we concluded that the variability extracted motor modules by different GCs was suppressed with lower LPFs; however, 20 GCs were needed for more representative extraction of motor modules during walking in post-stroke patients. (shrink)

Aphasia is a language disorder that occurs after a stroke and impairs listening, speaking, reading, writing, and calculation skills. Patients with post-stroke aphasia in Japan are increasing due to population aging and the advancement of medical treatment. Opportunities for adequate speech therapy in chronic stroke are limited due to time constraints. Recent studies have reported that intensive speech therapy for a short period of time or continuous speech therapy using high-tech equipment, including speech applications (apps, can improve aphasia even in (...) the chronic stage. However, its underlying mechanism for improving language function and its effect on other cognitive functions remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated whether intensive speech therapy using a newly developed speech support app could improve aphasia and other cognitive functions in patients with chronic stroke. Furthermore, we examined whether it can alter the brain network related to language and other cortical areas. Thus, we conducted a prospective, single-comparison study to examine the effects of a new speech support app on language and cognitive functions and used resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) regions of interest (ROI) to ROI analysis to determine changes in the related brain network. Two patients with chronic stroke participated in this study. They used the independent speech therapy system to perform eight sets of 20 randomly presented words/time (taking approximately 20 min), for 8 consecutive weeks. Their language, higher cognitive functions including attention function, and rs-fMRI, were evaluated before and after the rehabilitation intervention using the speech support app. Both patients had improved pronunciation, daily conversational situations, and attention. The rs-fMRI analysis showed increased functional connectivity of brain regions associated with language and attention related areas. Our results show that intensive speech therapy using this speech support app can improve language and attention functions even in the chronic stage of stroke, and may be a useful tool for patients with aphasia. In the future, we will conduct longitudinal studies with larger numbers of patients, which we hope will continue the trends seen in the current study, and provide even stronger evidence for the usefulness of this new speech support app. (shrink)

Extracellular ATP released from necrotic cells in inflamed tissues activates the P2X7 receptor, stimulates the exposure of phosphatidylserine, and causes cell lysis. Recent findings indicated that XK, a paralogue of XKR8 lipid scramblase, forms a complex with VPS13A at the plasma membrane of T cells. Upon engagement by ATP, an unidentified signal(s) from the P2X7 receptor activates the XK‐VPS13A complex to scramble phospholipids, followed by necrotic cell death. P2X7 is expressed highly in CD25+CD4+ T cells but weakly in CD8+ T (...) cells, suggesting a role of this system in the activation of the immune system to prevent infection. On the other hand, a loss‐of‐function mutation in XK or VPS13A causes neuroacanthocytosis, indicating the crucial involvement of XK‐VPS13A‐mediated phospholipid scrambling at plasma membranes in the maintenance of homeostasis in the nervous and red blood cell systems. (shrink)

Girard introduced phase semantics as a complete set-theoretic semantics of linear logic, and Okada modified phase-semantic completeness proofs to obtain normal-form theorems. On the basis of these works, Okada and Takemura reformulated Girard’s phase semantics so that it became phase semantics for proof-terms, i.e., lambda-terms. They formulated phase semantics for proof-terms of Laird’s dual affine/intuitionistic lambda-calculus and proved the normal-form theorem for Laird’s calculus via a completeness theorem. Their semantics was obtained by an application of computability predicates. In this paper, (...) we first formulate phase semantics for proof-terms of second-order intuitionistic propositional logic by modifying Tait-Girard’s saturated sets method. Next, we prove the completeness theorem with respect to this semantics, which implies a strong normalization theorem. (shrink)

Japan has been reported as a country with high levels of vaccine hesitancy. However, a lack of comprehensive reviews studying factors for vaccine hesitancy for the COVID-19 vaccines in the Japanese context from the perspective of ethical controversy exists. Using a narrative review method, we reviewed factors associated with vaccine hesitancy to the COVID-19 vaccines and examined issues related to ethical controversy among the Japanese population. Factors associated with vaccine hesitancy include concerns about vaccine safety, suspicion of vaccine inefficacy, mistrust (...) of the government, and low perceived threat. Factors associated with vaccine acceptance include environmental factors, factors related to Japanese cultural values, including collectivism and social norms, and positive attitudes toward information provided by authorities. Unique backgrounds in Japan are historical events such as the anti-HPV vaccine campaigns, the accessible medical system fostering high expectations of zero risk, and cultural factors of caring social norms influencing vaccine acceptance. Ethical controversies arise from preferences and practices at the individual or national level around individual rights versus public health benefits. Healthcare professionals and public health experts should continue dialoguing with the critical mass, practitioners, and policymakers, considering the ethical dilemmas surrounding individual rights and public health benefits. Insights obtained from this study indicate the need to develop tailored strategies to enhance vaccine acceptance while respecting individual autonomy within the Japanese context. (shrink)

In this paper, I will argue from a historical perspective that Gentzen’s 1935 consistency proof of 1st order Peano Arithmetic PA principally aimed to give a finitist interpretation of implication and this aspect of the 1935 proof emerged as the attempt to cope with the non-finiteness in BHK-interpretation of implication. My argument consists of two parts. First, I will explain that the fundamental idea of the 1935 proof is to show the soundness of PA on some finitist interpretation and Gentzen (...) had attempted to use BHK-interpretation as such an interpretation. It is claimed that he eventually thought that there is a ‘circularity’ which is due to the non-finiteness of BHK-interpretation of implication, so it cannot be used as a finitist interpretation. Secondly, I will argue that the principal aim of the 1935 proof is to give his own finitist interpretation of implication which avoids such a ‘circularity’. Finally, this paper’s conclusion and an open question are presented. (shrink)

Gentzen's three consistency proofs for elementary number theory have a common aim that originates from Hilbert's Program, namely, the aim to justify the application of classical reasoning to quantified propositions in elementary number theory. In addition to this common aim, Gentzen gave a “finitist” interpretation to every number-theoretic proposition with his 1935 and 1936 consistency proofs. In the present paper, we investigate the relationship of this interpretation with intuitionism in terms of the debate between the Hilbert School and the Brouwer (...) School over the significance of consistency proofs. First, we argue that the interpretation had the role of responding to a Brouwer-style objection against the significance of consistency proofs. Second, we propose a way of understanding Gentzen's response to this objection from an intuitionist perspective. (shrink)

We show that length initial submodels of S12 can be extended to a model of weak second order arithmetic. As a corollary we show that the theory of length induction for polynomially bounded second order existential formulae cannot define the function division.

Machine generated contents note: Dialectic of Praxis -- I. Philosophy of Subjectivity and -- Historical Materialism 7 -- A. What is the "Toposical Tachiba"? 7 -- B. The Present and Past of Umemoto's Theory of Subjectivity 17 -- C. The Basis and Structure of Degeneration 36 -- II. Confused 'Dialectic of the Subject of Cognition' 48 -- A. Destruction of the Logic of Origo 48 -- 1. Summary of Umemoto's Epistemology 49 -- 2. Umemoto's Defect in Epistemology 56 -- 3. (...) Reversed Hegelianism 60 -- B. Objective Cognition and the Logic of Self-Awareness 68 -- 1. Ontology and Epistemology 68 -- 2. Negation of "Two Circular Structures" 76 -- 3. Objective Cognition and Value Consciousness 82 -- C. Evaporation of Praxiology 89 -- 1. Alienation and Self-Awareness 89 -- 2. Objectivization of Praxis 96 -- 3. Strained Interpretation of Uno's Theory 99 -- 4. Political Economy, Materialist Outlook of History, -- and Praxiology 107 -- 5. A Domain Proper to the Theory of -- Revolutionizing Praxis 116 -- III. Defects in Criticism of Uno's Economics 131 -- A. Problem Awareness 132 -- B. Fall into a "View that the Principles are Lost -- in the Historical Process" 137 -- C. Historicistic Remedy for the Theory of the -- Circulation Form 155 -- 1. Beautification of a Distorting Tendency to -- Emphasize the Circulation Form 156 -- 2. Complementation of the 'Theory of Form -- without the Logic of Substance' 169 -- 3. On the Trans-Historicization of the -- 'Dual Character of Labour' 178 -- IV. Political Economy and -- Materialist Outlook of History 195 -- A. 'Anatomy of Bourgeois Society' and -- 'Anatomy of History' 195 -- B. Consolidation with Reversed Hegelianism 202 -- C. 'Logic of Circularity' and 'Logic of History' 218 -- V, Political Economy and the -- Logic of Revolutionization 231 -- A. Defects in the Understanding of Political Economy 232 -- B. Distortion of 'Labour-Power Commodity' 255 -- 1. On the Dialectic: Commodity Market and the -- Production Process 255 -- 2. Private Property and Capitalist Property 261 -- 3. Negation of the Negation: Sublation of the -- Commoditization of Labour-Power 268 -- C. Capitalist Thingivation and the -- Logic of its Revolutionization 282 -- Afterword 301 -- Supplementary Notes to the English Edition 303 -- Index 309. (shrink)

I identify three functions of language: the communicative, the objectifying, and the objective. I claim that of these three functions, the objective function is the most essential, in the sense specified in the paper, and the communicative the least. I further indicate that language use without the communicative function is more prevalent than might commonly be believed.

We study the finite frame property of some extensions of Fitting, Marek, and Truszczyński’s pure logic of necessitation $$\textbf{N}$$ N. For any natural numbers m, n, we introduce the logic $$\textbf{N}^+\textbf{A}_{m,n}$$ N + A m, n by adding the single axiom scheme $$\Box ^n \varphi \rightarrow \Box ^m \varphi $$ □ n φ → □ m φ and the rule $$\dfrac{\lnot \Box \varphi }{\lnot \Box \Box \varphi }$$ ¬ □ φ ¬ □ □ φ ($${\text {Ros}}^\Box $$ Ros □ ) (...) into $$\textbf{N}$$ N. We prove the finite frame property of $$\textbf{N}^+\textbf{A}_{m, n}$$ N + A m, n with respect to Fitting, Marek, and Truszczyński’s relational semantics. We also prove that for $$n \ge 2$$ n ≥ 2, the logic obtained by removing the rule $${\text {Ros}}^\Box $$ Ros □ from $$\textbf{N}^+\textbf{A}_{0, n}$$ N + A 0, n is incomplete with respect to that semantics. (shrink)