Search

Recruiting competent faculty members and encouraging their good practices are unquestionably important for university management. Although faculty assessment is a basic tool for such managerial tasks, Japanese universities had long underestimated faculty assessment. In the 1990s, university standards changed in Japan so that internal evaluation and publication of its results became mandatory. Since then, a series of university reform activities have boosted universities' awareness of public accountability and caused universities to place much value on showing easy-to-understand results of their assessments. Accordingly, objective university assessment has been touted, and research assessment by bibliometric indicators has been a focus of constant attention. This paper describes the faculty assessment scheme typically used in Japanese universities and points out its problems. It then focuses on the use of bibliometric indicators in this assessment, discusses problems with their use, and concludes by suggesting ways in which bibliometric indicators could be used effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision Intelligence is a methodology that integrates complex systems, machine learning, and decision analysis. It is increasingly interested in finding optimal solutions to the uncertainties noted in machine learning in today's complex AI systems. Furthermore, Decision Intelligence is a new engineering discipline that augments data science with theories from various sciences. Since decisions are made in all kinds of situations, they will become even more critical in a wide range of academic fields in the future. This paper introduces the ideas of proponents of Decision Intelligence, the promotion of digital decisioning toward automation, and trends in Western companies and Japan. Then, using risk management procedures, our examination of methods to ensure safety in the case of automated driving will be described. In addition, I will describe the challenges of each technology that promotes Decision Intelligence. I will also introduce a new synchronous AI that I am currently working on with the inventor of the challenge. This algorithm generation method is based on a metaphysical view of the synchronous nature of life activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Radiological technologists serve as risk communicators who aim to lessen patients' anxiety about radiation exposure, in addition to performing radiological examinations. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a fact-finding survey on knowledge and awareness of radiation disasters among the radiological technologists to reveal their literacy and competencies regarding radiation disasters. METHODS: A paper questionnaire was distributed to 1,835 radiological technologists at 166 National Hospital Organization facilities in Japan. The 28-item questionnaire covered knowledge and awareness of radiation protection and radiation disasters. Radiological technologists were divided into 2 groups by regionality: areas where a nuclear power station was present/nearby (NPS areas) and non-NPS areas. RESULTS: Completed questionnaires were returned from 148 facilities with a facility response rate of 89.2% and from 1,391 radiological technologists with a response rate of 75.8%. There were 1,290 valid responses with a valid response rate of 70.3%. The correct answer rate for knowledge of radiation protection and radiation disasters was high in the 24 NPS areas. There were no differences in awareness of radiation disasters between NPS and non-NPS areas. CONCLUSIONS: Establishing a nationwide, region-independent training system can be expected to improve literacy regarding radiation disasters among radiological technologists. Willingness to assist during disasters was high among radiological technologists irrespective of area, indicating that the competencies of radiological technologists represent a competency model for radiation disaster assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scheduled transportation service is a proper system for mass transportation and it is adopted by wide range of transportation modes, such as railway, airline, maritime container shipping and bus. The providers of the service are required to generate effective routes and networks. For this issue, this paper tackles the problem of generating Public Transport Network for stranded commuter in a disaster. The stranded commuter problem in the Tokyo Metropolitan area was posed by the Great East Japan Earthquake in the year 2011, where several millions of commuters had difficulties to return their homes due to the out of service of the railway's transportation system. In such a situation, bus and waterbus are expected as alternative transportation modes and transportation networks should be generated from scratch for bus and waterbus. In particular, the hub-spoke network is effective for a mass transportation. However, it is a tough problem to design trunk lines and branch lines simultaneously from scratch. As the first step towards the goal, this paper starts to focus on the local transportation network (branch lines), which connect to the trunk line. The method in this paper is based on a network evolution model that is investigated actively in the research field of complex networks. The characteristic and capability of the developed method are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Index tracking is one of the most popular passive strategy in portfolio management. However, due to some practical constrains, a full replication is difficult to obtain. Many mathematical models have failed to generate good results for partial replicated portfolios, but in the last years a data driven approach began to take shape. This paper proposes three heuristic methods for both selection and allocation of the most informative stocks in an index tracking problem, respectively XGBoost, Random Forest and LASSO with stability selection. Among those, latest deep autoencoders have also been tested. All selected algorithms have outperformed the benchmarks in terms of tracking error. The empirical study has been conducted on one of the biggest financial indices in terms of number of components in three different countries, respectively Russell 1000 for the USA, FTSE 350 for the UK, and Nikkei 225 for Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a conceptual model of the factors affecting competence building in an Engineering university is developed. The extent to which each faculty member can exert his/her potential to the fullest has a profound impact on the overall competences in an Engineering university. Identifying the bottlenecks in the system, which are the inhibiting factors, would lead to concrete solutions to strengthen competences. Having put forward a conceptual model, a detailed case study of competence building analysis in an Engineering School in Japan, Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) is presented. The study was carried out as a 2 step process. At first, ranking surveys by the media were reviewed to assess how Tokyo Tech was assessed by external agents. Secondly, a comprehensive survey based on a questionnaire was carried out within the Engineering School in the main areas affecting competences, namely admissions process, teaching, research, internationalization, contribution to society and organizational, administrative processes. In this paper, I have focused on the analyses of teaching and research competences. The data obtained was used as a basis to provide concrete policy recommendations to top administrators of the university to strengthen competences. Among the national universities in Japan, this study marks the first time that such a path breaking in-depth survey has been carried out in an Engineering School. This approach may be readily adapted to be used as a strategic management analysis tool in other types of research institutions such as national research laboratories or corporate basic research laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to identify current trends and practices that have been influencing Japanese business environment and their consequences to corporate world by conducting a review of existing empirical evidence on this topic. An in-depth review of more than 1,600 articles published in high-quality academic journals in the areas of Business Management, Accounting, Social Sciences, Engineering, Economics, Econometrics, Operations Research Management Science, Psychology, Public Administration, Finance and Decision Sciences was pursued following a multiple-step process. Furthermore, the trends were classified into six categories based on their occurrence frequency and described in detail. These trends involve: reformulating strategic management principles, less lifelong employment orientation and change of traditional HRM practices, raising labour force participation, female participation in management and improving education, use of non-financial performance indicators, decomposition of a large organization into smaller units and opening up to outside influence. Each of the categories contained specific practices that interacted with each other, shaping and giving strength to each individual category. Finally, the insights extracted from the literature review were synthesized and directions to future research were provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, deteriorated water pipes are increasing more and more now. Therefore, the setting of the priority to update these pipes effectively is required. As a solution of this problem, we proposed a new sensor using the principle of SLOFEC [1] and the structure of a focusing eddy current sensor [2]. In this paper, we verify the performances of the proposed sensor by 3D-FEM analysis. The effectiveness of the proposed sensor is also verified through measurements on a prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to grasp the role of ClOs for the super ageing society in Japan based on the surveys on ICT applications for Elderly people. which the Institute of e-Government of Waseda University conducted in 2010-2011. The paper reviews the damage of 3.11 in Japan. Next is an analysis of the results of questionnaires to find the best ICT solutions for elderly people in order to reduce the damage of disasters. Finally, these were evaluated against the availability of special infrastructure, devices interfaces, and services and applications for elderly people in Japan. The paper concludes with an outline of proposed measures for promotion of ICT applications and the role of ClO based on the innovation for the ageing society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an approach to analyze the tourism information and data derived from the Web, particularly seat availability data of bullet trains in Japan, and to discover some useful knowledge for the tourism. For the fast development of information and communication technologies, the relation between the web data and tourism is inseparable. However, the Web data include various types of information such as numerical, linguistic, and graded data. Furthermore, the expert tourism planner's subjectivity is also an important factor to develop new favorable plans. A simplified fuzzy reasoning method, which is one of the useful approaches in Data mining, is introduced in order to deal with these data mathematically. The analysis of the tourism data and the knowledge discovery are performed using actual data of bullet trains in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Mood and adjustment disorders are two major causes of long-term sick leave among employees, leading to large social losses. Therefore, a return to work (RTW) intervention was attempted, targeting patients with mood and adjustment disorders. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the outcome of an interdisciplinary RTW intervention including occupational therapy implemented within the Japanese healthcare framework. METHODS: An interdisciplinary RTW intervention including occupational therapy was conducted five times a week for approximately three months, targeting individuals with mood and adjustment disorders who took a leave of absence. Their mental symptoms, cognitive functioning, job performance, temperament, social adaptation, psychosocial state, and readiness to RTW before and after the intervention were evaluated. Full-time RTW ratios at 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months from baseline were followed up and compared with those of prior studies. RESULTS: A total of 30 individuals completed the intervention. After the intervention, participants' psychological symptoms, cognitive function, vocational aptitude, temperament, social adaptation, psychosocial state, and readiness to RTW improved (p≤0.001–0.0279). The ratios of RTW at 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months from the baseline were 6.7%, 46.7%, 73.3%, 77.8%, and 82.6%, respectively, reflecting a higher pattern than prior reports. CONCLUSIONS: The interdisciplinary RTW intervention including occupational therapy has the potential to improve not only depressive symptoms but also cognitive functioning, job performance, social adaptation, and readiness to RTW. They can also raise RTW ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Congress on Fracture (ICF) was created through the vision of Takeo Yokobori in Sendai, Japan in 1965. The primary emphasis of Yokobori was to join the micro- and macro-mechanics aspects of fracture research. The outstanding growth of ICF demonstrates that the founding effort was the right approach to the right topic at the right time. The 'ICF Brand' is now recognised around the world as one of the leading international societies in the broad field of structural integrity, fracture, fatigue, creep, corrosion and reliability - from biological to geophysical materials, from nano to macro scales, from basic science to practical engineering and technology and systems modelling. In this paper we trace the history of the development of fracture research and of ICF via the many threads of, for example, the E24/E9 committees of ASTM; the US Committee on Ship Steel linked to work on the Liberty Ships in the Engineering Laboratories, Cambridge, England; early work in Germany, France and Japan - culminating in the MIT Swampscott Fracture Conference of 1959 ('ICF0'), the pre-cursor to ICF1 in Sendai in 1965. We then examine the impact of the ICF quadrennial series of international fracture conferences from ICF1 through to ICF12 in Ottawa, Canada in 2009. The key is the original research presented in some 5000 scientific papers and to be made available online on the new ICF website (www.icf-wasi.org). Finally we examine the evolution of ICF since 2009 towards ICF13 in Beijing, China in 2013 (www.ICF13.org) and forward for the next decade and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In a previous paper, we described the major health tragedy that occurred in Japan involving the use of gefitinib, and recommended steps to prevent such problems occurring again. In that paper, we argued that erlotinib should only be approved on the condition that all users are subject to surveillance. Erlotinib was subsequently approved for use in Japan on October 19, 2007. In the present paper, we examine whether our recommendations have been implemented in the safety measures established for erlotinib use. Methods: We comprehensively reviewed reports regarding erlotinib treatment published between 2007 and 2009 by regulatory agencies and the manufacturer of the erlotinib-containing drug. We evaluated the safety measures established for erlotinib in view of three problems we identified with the treatment of gefitinib marketing: (1) the results of animal experiments and pre-marketing clinical trials, and reports of adverse drug reactions from other countries were not properly incorporated into the product information; (2) indications for the drug were expanded without strict evaluation of the external validity of pre-marketing clinical trials; and (3) despite many serious cases of interstitial lung disease being spontaneously reported, well-designed post-marketing surveillance was not conducted immediately after these problems became evident. Results: We found that appropriate measures were taken for erlotinib in relation to each of the three above-mentioned problems. We found that there were fewer fatal adverse reactions to erlotinib after marketing relative to the pre-marketing period. Conclusions: Our recommendations following the health tragedy caused by gefitinib were implemented in the safety measures for erlotinib, which probably explains the smaller number of fatal adverse reactions to erlotinib in post-marketing surveillance than in pre-marketing trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on the 10th International Symposium on Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics which was held in Tokyo, Japan on May 13-16, 2001. Sessions; Number of papers, lectures and panel presentations presented.

BACKGROUND: The paper is a research review focusing on occupational safety in the construction industry. OBJECTIVE: The purpose is to present research that highlights the areas of occupational safety and risks and to identify areas where research is lacking. METHODS: 146 articles from scientific journals, mainly covering the construction industry in Europe, Canada, USA, Australia and Japan have been studied. The findings are presented under 11 categories: accident statistics; individual factors; legislation and regulations; ethical considerations; risk management; leadership, management, organization; competence; safety design; cost-benefit calculations; programs and models; and technical solutions. RESULTS: The research is dominated by initiatives from researchers and government authorities, while the construction industry only appears as the object for the research. There is a scarcity of research on integrated systems encompassing subcontractors, as well as a lack of research with sociological perspectives on accidents. Furthermore, only a few studies have applied a gender perspective on safety in construction, i.e. there is a need of further research in this particular area. CONCLUSIONS: A range of initiatives have been taken to increase safety in the construction industry and the initiatives are mainly reported to be successful. There are some cultural differences, but basically researchers present similar results regardless of country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crude oil which flows inside the steel tube of a heating furnace of an oil-refining plant is gasified by being heated with the burner from the surface outside the steel tube. Since this steel tube is used in Japan for 30 years or more, both the inner side and outer side of the steel tube is carburized. If the carburization depth is increased, the steel tube will be exploded suddenly and a big accident may occur. In this paper, the electromagnetic inspection method for measuring the carburized depth of both the inner side and the outer side of the steel tube is proposed. The both depth is obtained by evaluating the flux density in layers with and without carburization in the steel tube using the 3-D nonlinear FEM. It is shown that the inspection for the both depth is possible by using the differential electromagnetic characteristics of the layers with and without carburization in the steel tube. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of a survey that investigated the practice and experience of task management of university students. A total of 202 tasks identified by 24 university students were analyzed. The results suggest that participants had a reasonable sense of priority of tasks, that they tend to perceive a task as a big chunk, not a series of small chunks, that estimated time can be a good indicator of task completion, that time management and loss of coordination are the major factors for uncompleted or non-started tasks, and finally that their notion of task grouping was dominated by task themes or topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, midwives perform Japanese hands-on (perineal support), which is important to prevent perineal tears and to deliver safely. However, it is difficult for trainee midwives to acquire the procedures. Therefore, the advanced delivery simulator that enables the midwives to evaluate the skill objectively is demanded. In this paper, for realizing the delivery simulator, we focus on the pressure of midwives' fingers and palms during Japanese hands-on. Fundamental experiments were carried out using flexible pressure sensors. In experiments, six experts perform the Japanese hand-on using normal delivery phantom. From the analysis of pressure profile, the cooperation of the left and right hand was investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working-age Japanese with disabilities (ages 15-64) experience substantially lower employment rates compared to non-disabled Japanese, indicating a need for policy and programs that promote disability employment opportunities in competitive settings. Historically, the vocational rehabilitation (VR) service system in Japan has involved two government administrations - the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Health and Welfare - that, despite the merger in 2001, continue to focus on competitive and facility-based(sheltered) employment, respectively. In this paper, the authors provide an overview of the enabling legislation, key policies and measures, and personnel resources of the VR service system under labour. A cornerstone policy and practice issue is the engagement of a mandatory disability employment quota for public-sector and private-sector employers administered by public employment security offices (PESO), and public employment and rehabilitation services delivered through a network of PESO offices, local and regional vocational centers, vocational training centers and employment support centers for persons with disabilities. The authors conclude with a discussion of current issues and trends in rehabilitation in Japan and implications for future cross-national comparative research. The information presented in this paper is based on a literature review and key informant interviews conducted between May 2012 and June 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined the long-term effects of the use of telecare (e-Health) on the residents of Nishi-aizu Town, Fukushima, Japan, between 2002 and 2010. We compared medical expenditure and days of treatment between telecare users (treatment group) and non-users (control group) based on receipt data obtained from the National Health Insurance, which is operated by the government. In previous studies, we used receipt data obtained for the years 2002 to 2006; this study expands the analysis period four more years with respect to respondents who were included in previous analyses. Ninety users and 118 non-users were included in both analyses. Using rigorous statistical methods, including system generalized method of moments (GMM), this paper demonstrates that telecare users require fewer days of treatment and lower medical expenditure than non-users with respect to the chronic diseases of stroke, hypertension, heart failure, and diabetes. To date, there have been no publications examining the long-term economic effects of the use of telemedicine, so the current study presents a new facet to the research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes Cognitive Chrono-Ethnography (CCE), a new study methodology for understanding people's in situ behavior selections in daily life. People select their next behavior to maximize their satisfaction for a given behavioral needs. They appropriately coordinate available cognitive resources to make the best decisions by using their knowledge of past experiences and by processing input from the environment and individual intrinsic state. When a study field is specified, CCE starts by defining critical parameters for understanding people's behavior by considering the nature of behavior selection processes in the field in question, and then designing ethnographical field observations by taking into account the fact that their results will be described in terms of the specified critical parameters. The participants' behavior is recorded, followed by a series of structured retrospective interviews for the purpose of describing their present behavior and obtaining their history of behavioral development. Analysis of the interview results aid in developing models of present behavior selections and their chronological changes in the past. These models serve as defining future needs of persons who follow the same developing paths with a certain amount of delay, e.g., a few years of delay. This paper describes a CCE study of spectators of professional baseball games at a ballpark who have become frequent visitors to a baseball stadium in 5 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we focus on a new transport system called on-demand bus system which is introduced on a trial basis to local cities in Japan. In the system, share-ride buses transport customers door-to-door according to user's requests. A user can specify the position and time to get the bus in the service area, thus the on-demand bus is more flexible and profitable system compared to traditional transport systems (i.e., fixed route bus). Electrical vehicles are also attracting attention as a new transportation device in these years. The electric vehicles are environmentally friendly because they produce zero emissions and do not pollute the air. However, there is some issues to be solved for practical use of electrical vehicles, i.e., the price of charger and the mileage per charge. Therefore, we adopt an evolutionary approach to solve a path optimization problem for the on-demand bus with electrical vehicles. It is very important to reduce the amount of recharge time for effective operation of electrical vehicles. An evolutionary algorithm minimizes the traveling distance of vehicles by a mutation operation (i.e., the exchange of sub-routes of vehicles) in order to reduce the amount of recharge time. We will show some comparison experiments by computer simulation, and show the performance of our algorithm for the on-demand bus with electrical vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent paper reported that a variant (rs2986017) of the calcium homeostasis modulator 1 (CALHM1) gene affects risk for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study aims to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the CALHM1 gene are associated with AD. SNPs in the genes of two other CALHM subtypes, CALHM2 and CALHM3, were also studied. Our study failed to detect any association between the SNPs of the three genes and AD. Although rs729211 showed marginal association in the APOE4 negative group, the linkage disequilibrium analysis results suggest this to be a false positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the dynamic relationship between the yield spread and the growth rate of output when the economic states are driven by a hidden Markov chain. The results for three industrialised countries (USA, UK and Japan) confirm that the response of output growth rate to yield spread is more effectively captured by this state switching approach than a single state model. The two distinct states are characterised by the levels of growth rates, volatility and risk-aversion. This also allows us to analyze the international co-movements of the economic states between these countries using a non-parametric measure of concordance. We detect strong co-movements of the economic states between USA and Japan over the sample period. We then postulate that the U.S. yield spread might have explanatory power over and above the domestic yield spread in explaining the economic activity in Japan. We are able to confirm this assertion when we extend the model, but only in case Japan. In the case of UK, the domestic yield spread retains the dominant influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, the electro dynamic suspension (EDS) has been studied. EDS using shorted coils, however, has the disadvantages that the pulsation of lift force occurs and the construction cost becomes high. In order to solve these defects, EDS having a conductive plate has been studied. These studies, however, assume that a plate is infinite. This paper presents the analysis of electromagnetic force of EDS having a finite conductor with quasi-three dimensional analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social networks and social participation have protective effects on cognitive function maintenance and Alzheimer's disease and general dementia development. Objective: We aimed to investigate the association between conversations and dementia incidence in older adults. Methods: This longitudinal prospective cohort study used population data from the National Center for Geriatric and Gerontology–Study of Geriatric Syndromes (NCGG–SGS) from September 2015 to February 2017. The database included 4,167 individuals in Japan aged ≥60 years who were generally healthy and without major cognitive impairment. Participants were classified into two groups according to six daily conversation measures at baseline. The conversation index was calculated as a composite score for these measures. Participants were tracked monthly over 60 months for new-onset dementia. Results: Data from 2,531 participants were analyzed (72.7±6.7 years; range: 60–96 years). Dementia incidence per 1,000 person-years was 15.7 (95% confidence interval, 13.6–18.1). The Youden index determined the cut-off point for dementia incidence, with a conversation index of 16/17 points. The low conversation group included more participants with new-onset dementia. Cox proportional hazards regression crude models showed remarkable relationships between dementia onset and specific conversation measurements, including conversation index. According to the Cox regression adjusted model, the cut-off point of the conversation index showed only a remarkable relationship with dementia onset. Conclusions: Dementia risk was extensively associated with low daily conversation statuses. The assessment of conversational factors may be useful as a risk indicator for the development of Alzheimer's disease and general dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, "smart cities" have rapidly increased in discourses as well as in their real number, and raise various issues. While citizen engagement is a key element of most definitions of smart cities, information and communication technologies (ICTs) would also have great potential for facilitating public participation. However, scholars have highlighted that little research has focused on actual practices of citizen involvement in smart cities so far. In this respect, the authors analyse public participation in Japanese "Smart Communities", paying attention to both official discourses and actual practices. Smart Communities were selected in 2010 by the Japanese government which defines them as "smart city" projects and imposed criteria such as focus on energy issues, participation and lifestyle innovation. Drawing on analysis of official documents as well as on interviews with each of the four Smart Communities' stakeholders, the paper explains that very little input is expected from Japanese citizens. Instead, ICTs are used by municipalities and electric utilities to steer project participants and to change their behaviour. The objective of Smart Communities would not be to involve citizens in city governance, but rather to make them participate in the co-production of public services, mainly energy production and distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) rates in Japan and developing countries have risen rapidly in recent years. Researchers have associated factors such as the Western diet, obesity, alcohol consumption, and smoking with risk of AD. Objective: This paper evaluates whether the dietary transition might explain the rising trend of AD prevalence in Japan and in developing countries, evaluating other factors when possible. Methods: This study used two approaches to see whether dietary or other changes could explain AD trends in Japan and developing countries. One approach involved comparing trends of AD in Japan with changes in national dietary supply factors, alcohol consumption, and lung cancer mortality rates from zero to 25 years before the prevalence data. The second compared AD prevalence values for eight developing countries with dietary supply factors from zero to 25 years before the prevalence data. Results: For Japan, alcohol consumption, animal product, meat and rice supply, and lung cancer rates correlated highly with AD prevalence data, with the strongest correlation for a lag of 15-25 years. In the eight-country study, total energy and animal fat correlated highly with AD prevalence data, with a lag of 15-20 years. Mechanisms to explain the findings include increased obesity for the eight countries, and increases in cholesterol, saturated fat, and iron from increases in animal products and meat supply for Japan. Conclusion: Evidently AD rates will continue rising in non-Western countries for some time unless we address major risk factors involving diet, obesity, and smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this paper is to review the methods and the activities of occupational therapists (OTs) in the field of work support for persons with mental disabilities in Japan. METHODS: Necessary information is gathered through review of literatures. RESULTS: Japanese OTs are working in myriad locations across a number of areas in the field of mental disabilities, including medical institutions, self-support facilities, public employment security offices, employment and life support centers for persons with disabilities, public health centers, and vocational rehabilitation centers. Work support has been implemented in each setting, and there is a diverse range of implementations. In discussing work support in Japan, it is important to note that it is still often implemented in a conventional way - that is to say, through a gradual-support methodology, based on the working-readiness model. However, some of the work support initiatives have begun to embrace cutting-edge approaches, such as network-oriented implementation. CONCLUSION: It is necessary for OTs in Japan to implement work support using the most effective means available. Repeating such efforts will drive a paradigm shift facilitating a transition from the outdated working-readiness model, andhelp persons with disabilities to have decent jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of Japanese working age persons who have experienced a stroke is significantly increasing. In such cases work support is an urgent issue. Although an active cooperation between medical institutions and work support agencies is critical, it has been insufficient, due to an absence of key coordinators with sufficient knowledge in both occupational therapy and work support or vocational rehabilitation. The present paper introduced two case studies to illustrate the importance of the cooperation between medical institutions and work support agencies and discussed reasons why medical institutions have difficulties in supporting persons who have experienced a stroke in their return to work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: This paper intends to review the historical development and related issues involved in the employment of persons with disabilities under the Law on Employment Promotion of Persons with Disabilities in Japan in light of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). METHODS: The actual situations of the special subsidiary company system, which was established by the Law to assist large-sized enterprises in achieving their legally mandated quota, were analyzed, based on the relevant data and materials published by the government and other sources. CONCLUSIONS: The targeted enterprises could achieve the highest employment rates of persons with disabilities through the establishment of special subsidiary companies. However, various studies on these companies have revealed that more effort is needed to improve the quality of employment of their workers with disabilities in light of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the asymmetry of financial data in detail, we have considered both the tail dependence with diverse copulas and Jung et al.'s [8] directional dependence by copula. From the empirical study in this paper, we have found that the tail dependence by Patton's [11] modified symmetrized Joe-Clayton copula function did not show the asymmetry property sufficiently because there is no tail dependence for the currency exchange rates of Republic of Korea and Japan against the US dollar after the 2008 financial crisis. However, by using the copula approach for directional dependence, we showed that there exists the asymmetry of the currency exchange rates of Republic of Korea and Japan against the US dollar before and after the 2008 financial crisis because the directional dependence only when existing an asymmetry of data can be found. We conclude that the copula approach for directional dependence can be supplemented to explain the asymmetry property in addition to the tail dependence approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the life assessment procedure for weldment of high Cr steel (ASME Code Case P91 and P92) was reported as the Japanese results for the VAMAS Project and JSPS 120 Committee. This report indicates that in order to predict the total fracture life for weldment, it is important to clarify the incubation process and path on a structural mechanical basis in order correctly determine the incubation time of creep crack growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an approach of how Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) and Ergonomics could be implemented in the field of work. The Toyota's Team Members are the owners of this job, applying tools and techniques to improve work conditions using the Kaizen Philosophy in a QCC Activity (Quality Control Circle). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The national project of the development technology of next generation applied electromagnetic machinery was founded in Oita as Oita Prefecture Innovative JST (Japan Science and Technology Agency) Research Program. In this paper, outline of this project is introduced and the basic technology which is based on vector magnetic property is described. Especially the vector magnetic properties in high flux density level of 1.9 T are shown. As the example results, the dynamic vector magnetic characteristic is applied to the surface permanent magnet motor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presented in this paper is the original seismic design and the seismic performance retrofit study against large-scale earthquakes of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge is the world's longest suspension bridge and was completed in 1998. In the original seismic design, an inland near-field earthquake with large magnitude was not considered for the seismic design force. Although the bridge encountered the Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake in 1995, it was not seriously damaged since the earthquake occurred during its construction. Therefore, a seismic performance retrofit study against large-scale earthquakes has been started. In the seismic performance retrofit study, site-specific large-scale earthquakes including inland near-field earthquakes were defined based on the latest seismological information. As a result, it was found that target seismic performance was ensured by taking some minor countermeasures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of biorheology-related research papers that were featured at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Biorheology held on June 6 & 7, 2002 in Matsumoto, Japan. Current topics of lymph dynamics: Metastasis of carcinoma cells and inflammation; Perspectives in cardiovascular diseases.

The authors have proposed new compensation methods for a solution of the end effect of the linear induction motor (LIM), which is to supply the eddy current with minimum power loss in front of LIM. As one of proposed methods, the magnet rotator type compensator is discussed in the paper. The effect is studied analytically on the LIM parameters used in subways in Japan. The thrust density distribution of the LIM with the compensator clearly shows the improvement in the front r egion. The thrust and the output kW per input kVA of the LIM at the slip of 0.1 increase by 58% and 45% respectively by using the compensator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the information and communication technology applied in the Japanese pharmaceutical industry. Safety information systems; Electronic transfer of safety reports; Process of regulatory submission.

Telecommunications had been a difficult task for persons with hearing impairments in Japan. Recently, pager communications and new cellular phone service, focusing not only on speech but also on non-speech communications, provide persons with hearing impairments with more active communications possibilities. In this paper, we clarify details of our questionnaire surveys, and describe the future view of telecommunications for persons with hearing impairments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental exposures transported across air, land and water can affect our health making us more susceptible to developing a disease. Therefore, researchers need to face the complex task of integrating environmental exposures and linking them to health events with the relevant spatiotemporal and health context for individuals or populations. We present a usability evaluation approach and study of a semantic framework (i.e. Knowledge Graph, Methodology and User Interface) to enable Health Data Researchers (HDR) to link particular health events with environmental data for rare disease research. The usability study includes 17 HDRs with expertise in health data related to Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) in Ireland and Kawasaki Disease in Japan, and with no previous practical experience in using Semantic Web (SW) technologies. The evaluation results are promising in that they indicate that the framework is useful in allowing researchers themselves to link health and environmental data whilst hiding the complexities of SW technologies. As a result of this work, we also discuss the limitations of the approach together with the applicability to other domains. Beyond the direct impact on environmental health studies, the description of the evaluation approach can guide researchers in making SW technologies more accessible to domain experts through usability studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional crafts such as tategu (door and window fittings), kimono (clothes), and shikki (lacquerware) are regarded as important items for daily life in Japan; however, in recent years, the industry that manufactures and sells these products has experienced various problems and has continued to decline. Conversely, overseas demand for traditional crafts has been gradually increasing with the increase in foreign visitors to Japan in recent years. For these reasons, there is a need in the traditional crafts industry to provide information and promote traditional crafts to overseas customers. Accordingly, in this study, we implement a high presence traditional crafts experience system using virtual reality technology. Our proposed system provides users with a highly realistic virtual space experience using a head-mounted display and a data glove. In addition, multiple users can share the space via the network. Further, we consider the promotion of traditional crafts to overseas customers by combining multicultural architectural styles and Japanese culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract--The aim of this paper is to clarify the pattern and process of changes of landscape in riverside open spaces in urbanized area. The area between the old banks of the Furukawa River in Hiroshima City was examined in this research. The land-use maps of the study area were drawn at seven different times were analyzed, and the number, sizes and perimeters of all patches of all land-use types were measured. In these areas, temporal patterns of land-use change over the past 30 years were divided to three stages: 1966-1976, 1976--1988 and 1988--1997. As a result of human disturbance, the riparian forest patches in urbanized areas have decreased in average size and have also become longer and narrower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract--The ecosystem and biodiversity conservation plan in progress in Hiroshima City was reviewed. Hiroshima City had prospered as a castle town, but severely suffered from A-bomb damage at the end of World War II. Since then, Hiroshima City performed greenery activities with restoration and planted trees in public facilities. At present, Hiroshima City is promoting a 3rd tree-planting campaign. As part of this campaign, the master plan of greenery of Hiroshima City is being laid. This plan aims not only at beautification in city area but also at ecosystem and biodiversity conservation in expanded city areas. In this paper, we report on the development of the situation in Hiroshima City since the end of World War II and the conservation planning of greenery which, for the most part, concerns zoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on public opinion surveys in Japan. Organizations carrying out social surveys; Efforts of establish a national data library which would preserve survey data in computer-readable form.