Changes in the Factors Influencing Public Acceptance of Nuclear Power Generation in Japan Since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster

Public support for nuclear power generation has decreased in Japan since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in March 2011. This study examines how the factors influencing public acceptance of nuclear power changed after this event. The influence factors examined are perceived benefit, perceived risk, trust in the managing bodies, and pro‐environmental orientation (i.e., new ecological paradigm). This study is based on cross‐sectional data collected from two online nationwide surveys: one conducted in November 2009, before the nuclear accident, and the other in October 2011, after the accident. This study's target respondents were residents of Aomori, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures in the Tohoku region of Japan, as these areas were the epicenters of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the locations of nuclear power stations. After the accident, trust in the managing bodies was found to have a stronger influence on perceived risk, and pro‐environmental orientation was found to have a stronger influence on trust in the managing bodies; however, perceived benefit had a weaker positive influence on public acceptance. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

Infinite Variation Tempered Stable Ornstein–Uhlenbeck Processes with Discrete Observations

We investigate transition law between consecutive observations of Ornstein–Uhlenbeck processes of infinite variation with tempered stable stationary distribution. Thanks to the Markov autoregressive structure, the transition law can be written in the exact sense as a convolution of three random components; a compound Poisson distribution and two independent tempered stable distributions, one with stability index in (0, 1) and the other with index in (1, 2). We discuss simulation techniques for those three random elements. With the exact transition law and proposed simulation techniques, sample paths simulation proves significantly more efficient, relative to the known approximative technique based on infinite shot noise series representation of tempered stable Lévy processes.     

Japan and international migration: situation and issues

The author discusses issues concerning labor migraton to Japan. Topics covered include the current debate in Japan over the role of labor migrants in supporting a population undergoing demographic aging, attitudes toward foreigners in Japan, and the economic benefits and costs of training migrants.     

The Contingent Effects of Role Ambiguity and Role Novelty on Expatriates' Work‐related Outcomes

Research on work stress has highlighted its negative outcomes for both individuals and their employers. Overseas assignments are more stressful than domestic assignments, and their relatively high failure rates are well documented. We suggest, however, that certain types of stress can positively affect expatriate performance. Based on role theory and the distinction between hindrance and challenge stressors, we develop hypotheses regarding the influence of role ambiguity and role novelty on expatriate success. We also conceptualize and empirically investigate the moderating influence of expatriates' perceptions of organizational support and supervisor support. Our hypotheses are tested using a sample of 125 Japanese expatriate managers in Germany. We find that role ambiguity is a hindrance stressor and negatively affects job satisfaction and work adjustment, while role novelty acts as a challenge stressor and positively affects job satisfaction, task performance and work adjustment. Our findings also show that perceived organizational support attenuates the negative effects of role ambiguity on work adjustment and strengthens the positive effect of role novelty on job satisfaction. We also find that supervisor support positively moderates the positive effect of role novelty on job satisfaction and work adjustment.     

On the likelihood function of small time variance Gamma Lévy processes

We investigate the likelihood function of small generalized Laplace laws and variance gamma Lévy processes in the short time framework. We prove the local asymptotic normality property in statistical inference for the variance gamma Lévy process under high-frequency sampling with its associated optimal convergence rate and Fisher information matrix. The location parameter is required to be given in advance for this purpose, while the remaining three parameters are jointly well behaved with an invertible Fisher information matrix. The results are discussed with relation to equivalent formulations of the variance gamma Lévy process, that is, as a time-changed Brownian motion and as a difference of two independent gamma processes.     

A Higher Order Approximation to a Percentage Point of the Distribution of a Noncentral t-Statistic Without the Normality Assumption

Noncentral distributions appear in two sample problems and are often used in several fields, for example, in biostatistics. A higher order approximation for a percentage point of the noncentral t-distribution under normality is given by Akahira (1995 Akahira, M. 1995. A higher order approximation to a percentage point of the non-central t-distribution. Communications in Statistics–Simulation, 24(3): 595–605. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and is also shown to be numerically better than others. In this article, without the normality assumption, we obtain a higher order approximation to a percentage point of the distribution of a noncentral t-statistic, in a similar way to Akahira (1995 Akahira, M. 1995. A higher order approximation to a percentage point of the non-central t-distribution. Communications in Statistics–Simulation, 24(3): 595–605. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) where the statistic based on a linear combination of a normal random variable and a chi-statistic takes an important role. Its application to the confidence limit and the confidence interval for a noncentrality parameter are also given. Further, a numerical comparison of the higher order approximation with the limiting normal distribution is done and the former one is shown to be more accurate. As a result of the numerical calculation, the higher order approximation seems to be useful in practical situations, when the size of sample is not so small.     

Longitudinal assessment of social attention in preterm and term infants: Its relation to social communication and language outcome

Preterm birth has been reported to be associated with an increased risk of social communication and language problems. Recently, we found that preterm infants showed atypical patterns of social attention compared with term infants. However, it is still unknown how social attention develops and whether the individual differences are associated with developmental outcomes for social communication and language in preterm infants. The social attention of preterm and term infants at 6, 12, and 18 months was investigated using two types of social attention tasks (human-geometric preference task and gaze-following task). The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) and the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory adapted for Japanese were measured at 18 months. We found that compared with term infants, preterm infants spent less time looking toward dynamic human images and followed another's gaze directions less frequently through 6, 12, and 18 months. Moreover, hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that less preference for dynamic human images and gaze-following abilities was associated with high M-CHAT and low language scores in preterm and term infants, respectively. These findings suggest that birth status affects development of social attention through 18 months and individual differences in social attention reflect differences in social communication and language outcomes.     

Preference for Dynamic Human Images and Gaze‐Following Abilities in Preterm Infants at 6 and 12 Months of Age: An Eye‐Tracking Study

Preterm children are reported to be at higher risk of social communication problems such as autism spectrum disorder compared with full‐term infants. Although previous studies have suggested that preference for social stimuli in infancy is a possible indicator of later social communication development, little is known about this relation in preterm infants. We examined the gaze behavior of low‐risk preterm and full‐term infants at 6 and 12 months' corrected ages using two types of eye‐tracking tasks, which measured 1) preference for social stimuli by biological motion and human geometric preference and 2) ability to follow another's gaze direction. We found that preterm (compared with full‐term) infants at both 6 and 12 months of age spent less time looking toward dynamic human images, followed another's gaze less frequently, and looked for a shorter time at an object cued by another. Moreover, we found a positive correlation between looking time toward dynamic human images and frequency of gaze following at 12 months of age in full‐term, but not preterm, infants. We discuss the relation between the atypical patterns of gaze behavior in preterm infants and their higher risk of later social communication problems.     

Fisher Information for Fractional Brownian Motion Under High-Frequency Discrete Sampling

We investigate the issue of the validation of the local asymptotic normality property of three characterizing parameters of the fractional Brownian motion under high-frequency discrete sampling. We prove that the local asymptotic normality property holds true for the likelihood only when at least one of the volatility parameter and the Hurst exponent is known. We provide optimal rates of convergence of the three parameters and Fisher information matrix in closed form.