Extended stirling family of discrete probability distributions

In this paper. introduced is a family of discrete probability distributions. whose probability function includes explieitly the Striling-Carlitz polynomial of the first or the second kind. The new family extends the stirling family of distributions. Sibuya (1988) includes the conditional distributions of the orginal ones and enlarges the application area.     

Risk Assessment of the Carbon Nanotube Group

This study assessed the health risks via inhalation and derived the occupational exposure limit (OEL) for the carbon nanotube (CNT) group rather than individual CNT material. We devised two methods: the integration of the intratracheal instillation (IT) data with the inhalation (IH) data, and the “biaxial approach.” A four‐week IH test and IT test were performed in rats exposed to representative materials to obtain the no observed adverse effect level, based on which the OEL was derived. We used the biaxial approach to conduct a relative toxicity assessment of six types of CNTs. An OEL of 0.03 mg/m³ was selected as the criterion for the CNT group. We proposed that the OEL be limited to 15 years. We adopted adaptive management, in which the values are reviewed whenever new data are obtained. The toxicity level was found to be correlated with the Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller (BET)‐specific surface area (BET‐SSA) of CNT, suggesting the BET‐SSA to have potential for use in toxicity estimation. We used the published exposure data and measurement results of dustiness tests to compute the risk in relation to particle size at the workplace and showed that controlling micron‐sized respirable particles was of utmost importance. Our genotoxicity studies indicated that CNT did not directly interact with genetic materials. They supported the concept that, even if CNT is genotoxic, it is secondary genotoxicity mediated via a pathway of genotoxic damage resulting from oxidative DNA attack by free radicals generated during CNT‐elicited inflammation. Secondary genotoxicity appears to involve a threshold.     

WRN's tenth anniversary

Werner syndrome (WS) is a segmental progeroid syndrome in which patients display pleiotropic features of aging seen in the normal population. The advent of positional cloning in the 1990s markedly accelerated the identification of human disease-causing genes. In 1996, mutations in WRN, which was shown to encode a new, putative member of the family of RecQ DNA helicases, were identified in four patients as the cause of WS. Ten years after the identification of WRN, what have we learned about its role in WS, and its contribution to normal aging?     

人虎山月间--中岛敦及其《山月记》解读

中岛敦生平与创作有三个特点 ,其代表作《山月记》与中国唐代传奇小说《人虎传》比较 ,两者有六大不同点 ,主人公李征的形象有一定的含义     

学科范式转变中的"民俗志"——以《中国民俗文化志》的"标志性文化统领式"民俗志为例

自1950年代至今,中国民俗学·民间文艺学学术史上出现了几次关于田野作业的大型讨论,2006年12月在京召开的"民族志、民俗志的理论与实践学术研讨会"便是其最新进展。主持人刘铁梁在会上介绍了《中国民俗文化志》的首批成果,对于中国民俗学·民间文艺学目前关心的一个问题——"我们究竟如何撰写当前的民俗学·民间文艺学所期待的民俗志?"——做了回答。本文将《中国民俗文化志》所依赖的概念("标志性文化")与写作模式("标志性文化统领式")加以批评,重启它所蕴含的可能性,以促使当前中国民俗学·民间文艺学有关田野作业的讨论继续发展。     

In Search of Perfect Foresight? Policy Bias,Management of Unknowns,and What Has Changed in Science Policy Since the Tohoku Disaster

The failure to foresee the catastrophic earthquakes, tsunamis, and nuclear accident of 2011 has been perceived by many in Japan as a fundamental shortcoming of modern disaster risk science. Hampered by a variety of cognitive and institutional biases, the conventional disaster risk management planning based on the “known risks” led to the cascading failures of the interlinked disaster risk management (DRM) apparatus. This realization led to a major rethinking in the use of science for policy and the incorporations of lessons learned in the country's new DRM policy. This study reviews publicly available documents on expert committee discussions and scientific articles to identify what continuities and changes have been made in the use of scientific knowledge in Japanese risk management. In general, the prior influence of cognitive bias (e.g., overreliance on documented hazard risks) has been largely recognized, and increased attention is now being paid to the incorporation of less documented but known risks. This has led to upward adjustments in estimated damages from future risks and recognition of the need for further strengthening of DRM policy. At the same time, there remains significant continuity in the way scientific knowledge is perceived to provide sufficient and justifiable grounds for the development and implementation of DRM policy. The emphasis on “evidence‐based policy” in earthquake and tsunami risk reduction measures continues, despite the critical reflections of a group of scientists who advocate for a major rethinking of the country's science‐policy institution respecting the limitations of the current state science.     

Satisfaction of basic psychological needs in an interdependence model of fathers’ own aspirations and those of their adolescent children

Anchored in self‐determination theory (SDT), we used a sample of 310 Japanese father‐child dyads (fathers Mage = 47.95; children Mage = 14.98, 50% female), to investigate: (a) the structure of aspirations in a Japanese sample, (b) the association between fathers’ own intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations and the aspirations reported by their adolescent children, (c) the links between child‐reported father autonomy support and children’s self‐ reported aspirations, and (d) the associations between fathers’ own and children’s own aspirations and the basic psychological needs satisfaction of both fathers and children. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated acceptable fit for the theorized model of intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations specified by SDT. Correlation analysis revealed positive associations between the aspirations of fathers’ and those endorsed by their children, which were not moderated by father’s autonomy support. Actor‐partner interdependence modeling indicated that when fathers were relatively intrinsic in their orientations, basic psychological need satisfaction was higher for both themselves and their children. These findings highlight the relevance of intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations to the well‐being of youth and the interplay between fathers’ and children’s aspirations, suggesting that both fathers’ intrinsic aspirations and parenting styles are associated with children’s basic psychological needs satisfaction.     

“It’s Understandable Enough,Right?” The Natural Accountability of a Mathematics Lesson

A fundamental problem for all educational reform efforts is one of specifying in practical terms just what the reform requires of teachers and students. In addressing it, educational designers have introduced the term “accountability” to characterize something missing in classroom discourse. This term, however, held special significance in the writings of the American sociologist Harold Garfinkel. Livingston applied Garfinkel’s treatment of accountability to understanding the lived-work of doing mathematics, particularly proving work. We examine an 8th-grade student’s presentation during a Japanese geometry lesson as a proof-account. Within it we see elements of both classical and natural accountability placed on display.     

A voluntary participation game through a unit-by-unit cost share mechanism of a non-excludable public good

The strategic analysis of voluntary participation in the public good provision has shown two distinct results. First, when the provision of public goods is binary, there are Nash equilibria supporting efficient allocations, and these are Strong Nash equilibria of the game. On the other hand, a model of a continuous public good (Saijo–Yamato, J Econ Theory 84:227–242, 1999) showed that the participation of all agents is not an equilibrium in many situations. This article considers the provision of a discrete and multi-unit public good, and examines a unit-by-unit participation game. Namely, people are asked to participate in each unit of public good provision, and those who chose to participate share the marginal cost of public good. In this game of public good provision, there are subgame-perfect equilibria that are Pareto efficient. We also use the refinement concepts to eliminate inefficient subgame-perfect equilibria and also to characterize the efficient subgame-perfect equilibria.     

Supplier quality assessment to identify depth technical knowledge of component reliability

As a result of global competition, international companies that manufacture photocopiers, printers or car navigation systems have to purchase low-cost electronic components such as semiconductors and hard disk drives by outsourcing production. However, it is often difficult for these companies to evaluate the quality of their suppliers through interviews and technical documentations. This article proposes new measures for supplier assessment and a systematic approach to select suppliers that have in-depth knowledge of component reliability and technology. The measures for selection not only include the physical quality of components but also information disclosures provided by suppliers, which consist of failure analysis, reliability data and details of the design-manufacturing process. The proposed measures are applied to real data of photocopier manufacturing enterprises. Experiments conducted show that a systematic assessment will enable selecting appropriate suppliers with a lower failure rate.