Search Results (123)

Aside from languages having no form of written expression, it is usually the case with every language on this planet that texts are written in a single character. But every rule has its exceptions. A very rare exception is Japanese, the texts of which are written in the three kinds of characters. In European languages, no one can find a text written in a mixture of the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek alphabets. For several Japanese texts currently available, we conduct a quantitative analysis of how the three characters are mixed using a methodology based on a binary pattern approach to the sequence that has been generated by a procedure. Specifically, we consider two different texts in the former and present constitutions as well as a famous American story that has been translated at least 13 times into Japanese. For the latter, a comparison is made among the human translations and four machine translations by DeepL and Google Translate. As metrics of divergence and diversity, the Hellinger distance, chi-square value, normalized Shannon entropy, and Simpson’s diversity index are employed. Numerical results suggest that in terms of the entropy, the 17 translations consist of three clusters, and that overall, the machine-translated texts exhibit entropy higher than the human translations. The finding suggests that the present method can provide a tool useful for stylometry and author attribution. Finally, through comparison with the diversity index, capabilities of the entropic measure are confirmed. Lastly, in addition to the abovementioned texts, applicability to the Japanese version of the periodic table of elements is investigated. Full article

Gerald Horne’s explication of Cold War-era political history as negotiated white supremacy leads to an enhanced understanding of Japan in the Cold War. Although subject to important qualifications, Japanese anti-racism and solidarity with non-white peoples before, during, and after World War II contextualizes the view held by American intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois—and complicated and in places contested by Horne—that Japan was, in many ways, a champion of anti-white supremacy. The experiences of Black American servicemen and -women who served in Japan during the Cold War provide important historical grounding for Du Bois’ initial, state-centered insights about Japan as an anti-racist power. This modified “Du Bois Thesis” in turn guides the Horne Thesis, on the role of white supremacy in modern global history, into a deeper harmony with the history of Cold War Japan. Full article

Background: Semisulcospiridae is a family of freshwater gastropods with over 100 species, primarily distributed in East Asia and North America. They play crucial ecological roles and are of medical importance as intermediate hosts for parasites. However, their phylogenetic relationship remains unclear. Most previous studies, which focused on fewer molecular markers (e.g., COI, 16S, 28S), have shown limitations in resolving relationships with low resolution. Mitochondrial genomes, with their richer phylogenetic information, offer a promising tool to infer the evolutionary relationships within this family. Methods: This study sequenced, assembled, and annotated the complete mitochondrial genomes of three Semisulcospiridae species from China: Koreoleptoxis friniana, Hua textrix, and Hua yangi. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted using Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Bayesian Inference (BI) methods on five distinct datasets derived from the mitochondrial genomes, including nucleotide sequences of protein-coding genes (with and without third codon positions), amino acid sequences, and combinations with two ribosomal RNA genes. Results: The complete (or near-complete) mitochondrial genomes of K. friniana, H. textrix, and H. yangi were 15,474 bp, 15,660 bp, and 15,744 bp in length, respectively, showing typical gene content and an A+T bias. The gene order was highly conserved. Phylogenetic analyses consistently recovered the family Semisulcospiridae as monophyletic and revealed three well-supported, distinct clades corresponding to the genera Semisulcospira, Koreoleptoxis, and Hua. While the overall tree topologies were robust for Semisulcospiridae, some incongruences were observed in the placements of other cerithioidean families depending on the dataset used. Evolutionary rate analysis (Ka/Ks) indicated strong purifying selection across all protein-coding genes, with COX1 being the most conserved. Conclusions: This study provided three new mitochondrial genomes for Semisulcospiridae: K. friniana, H. textrix, and H. yangi. Phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial genome datasets offers new evidence that supports the monophyly of the three Asian genera of Semisulcospiridae. Future research should include broader taxonomic sampling, particularly of the North American genus Juga and the atypical Japanese Semisulcospira lineages, to achieve a comprehensive phylogenetic framework. Full article

Background: Lobectomy has long been the gold standard for early-stage NSCLC, but recent trials challenge its universality. The Japanese JCOG0802 trial demonstrated superior overall survival with segmentectomy versus lobectomy, whereas the North American CALGB140503 trial showed non-inferiority of sublobar resection, including wedge and segmentectomy, compared with lobectomy. Methods: This commentary critically evaluates evidence from JCOG0802 and CALGB140503 in the context of wider thoracic surgical practice. We examine trial disparities, the role of real-world data, heterogeneity in surgical approach and lymph node staging, the impact of robotics on segmentectomy adoption, and the application of segmental resection in pulmonary metastasectomy. Results: The divergent trial findings reflect differences in populations, nodal staging, and surgical definitions. Worldwide, variability in sublobar practice and inconsistent nodal assessment present challenges to oncological reliability. Robotics has facilitated a rapid increase in anatomical segmentectomy but risks shifting surgical intent from necessity to feasibility. In metastasectomy, segmentectomy may improve local control but remains unproven in randomised studies. Emerging strategies such as IVLP and molecular profiling offer potential to refine patient selection and outcomes. Conclusion: Sublobar resection represents a paradigm shift in the surgical management of small NSCLC. Ensuring oncological validity in real-world practice requires rigorous nodal staging, equitable access to technology, and prospective evaluation of segmentectomy in both primary and metastatic disease. Future advances will depend on aligning surgical precision with biologically informed patient selection. Full article

To date, the ordinal pattern-based method has been applied to problems in natural and social sciences. We report, for the first time to our knowledge, an attempt to apply this methodology to a topic in the humanities. Specifically, in an effort to investigate the applicability of the methodology in analyzing the quality of texts that are translated into a language preserving the so-called vowel harmony, computed results are presented for the metrics of divergence between the back-translated and the original texts. As a specific language we focus on Japanese, and as metrics the Hellinger distance as well as the chi-square statistic are employed. Here, the former is a typical information-theoretical measure that can be quantified in natural unit, nat for short, while the latter is useful for performing a non-parametric testing of a null hypothesis with a significance level. The methods are applied to three cases: a Japanese novel along with a translated version available, the Preamble to the Constitution of Japan, and seventeen translations of an opening paragraph of a famous American detective story, which include thirteen human and four machine translations using DeepL and Google Translate. Numerical results aptly show unexpectedly high scores of the machine translations, but it still might be too soon to speculate on their unconditional potentialities. Both our attempt and results are not only novel but are also expected to make a contribution toward an interdisciplinary study between physics and linguistics. Full article

This article examines how two contemporary Zen Buddhist communities in Germany—Zen Peacemakers Germany and Akazienzendo Berlin—engage in ecological activism through the lens of eco-Buddhism. Drawing on eco-Buddhism, the study investigates how these communities integrate traditional Zen teachings with socially engaged responses to the ecological crisis. It argues that eco-Buddhism, when situated within the Mahāyāna framework of interdependence, offers a pathway for reconciling the tension between Western Buddhism’s emphasis on personal liberation and the collective ethical imperative of addressing environmental suffering. Using a qualitative methodology based on semi-structured interviews and ethnographic insights, the article compares the different modalities of ecological engagement practiced by the two groups: Zen Peacemakers’ ritualized and activist forms of bearing witness, and Akazienzendo’s localized, community-oriented environmental projects. By analyzing how ecological practice becomes a vehicle for negotiating Buddhist identity, ethics, and modernity, this study contributes to the growing field of eco-Buddhism and sheds light on how spiritual communities respond to planetary crisis in socially meaningful ways. Full article

This article analyzes how food functions as a cultural and narrative device in Vicente Blasco Ibáñez’s Around the World of a Novelist (1924), offering insight into early-20th-century global encounters as mediated through diet and gastronomy. Framed within literary analysis and food studies, the study focuses on Blasco Ibáñez’s representations of food across Japan, China, India, and the Americas, identifying how culinary practices serve to construct cultural otherness, negotiate identity, and reflect broader ideological frameworks. The methodology involves close textual reading combined with interpretive tools from cultural anthropology and nutritional science, especially regarding traditional versus industrial food systems. The analysis finds that Japanese foodways are portrayed as ritualized and harmonious, Chinese cuisine as ingenious yet unsettling, Indian diets as spiritually driven but materially scarce, and American food systems as abundant and industrialized. Across these accounts, food emerges not merely as sustenance but as a marker of civilization, modernity, and cultural difference. The article concludes that Blasco Ibáñez’s narrative captures a transitional moment in global food history, documenting both the persistence of traditional culinary systems and the rise of industrialized, globalized nutrition, thereby positioning gastronomy as a key lens for understanding travel literature and cross-cultural representation. Full article

Background/Objectives: Methods of estimating the biological profile in forensic anthropology must meet criteria set forth by standards for admissibility in legal proceedings. Subadult biological profile methods have not been as extensively validated due to limited sources of subadult skeletal reference data. Methods: Data for the contemporary Japanese validation sample were collected from full-body, postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) scans (n = 118). Ten subadult age and stature estimation methods using long bone lengths were validated for accuracy, precision, and bias. The methods included both linear and nonlinear regression. Results: Nonlinear regression methods yielded high validation accuracy and precision for age (>90%; <2.5 cm) and stature (>95.89%; <17 cm) and performed better than linear regression methods. Most methods do not meet criteria set by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) Standards Board (ASB) or the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Conclusions: As skeletal data become increasingly accessible, it is important to continue to validate currently available methods for estimating aspects of the subadult biological profile while also prioritizing the creation of new population-specific and generic methods applicable for forensic casework. Particular focus should lie on improving reference skeletal material variation, appropriate statistical modeling, and adherence to standards in forensic anthropology. Recommendations for choosing the most appropriate method, given a subadult forensic case, are provided. Full article

This essay explores the convergence of Decadence, queer sociality, and Pacific imagery in the work of American travel writer Charles Warren Stoddard and Japanese poet Yone Noguchi. For these writers, the “South Seas” seemed to epitomize a prelapsarian sexual innocence, exempted (at least provisionally) from capitalist calculations of value and the impositions of Victorian bourgeois morality. As such, the Pacific furnished a shared imaginary in which they could articulate transgressive homosocial intimacies, both with each other and with others in their bohemian circle. But these expressions of queer, cosmopolitan kinship also depended on well-worn stereotypes about native decline, in which Indigenous peoples were seen to embody an irrecoverable past—one doomed to disappear in the onward march of modernity. Drawing on postcolonial conceptions of extinction discourse and Indigenous agency, this essay will thus contend with one potential “misuse” of Decadence: that is, as the driver of an exoticism that perpetuated imperialist narratives about the inevitable extinction of Indigenous peoples. Full article

The article presents the results of research on the resilience of companies using management concepts such as Lean Management, Agile, and Six Sigma to the crises that companies have had to face in recent years: the COVID-19 pandemic, rising energy prices, and the war in Ukraine. The implementation of these management concepts should lead to process improvements and a reduction in the consumption of production resources, including energy. The aim of the study was to determine how these crises have affected the efficiency of companies and to determine whether the solutions used so far are sufficient or require modification. The authors used three research methods. Firstly, they analyzed the literature—scientific publications, studies, and expert reports. Secondly, they analyzed the financial results (net profits and share of Costs of Goods Sold in the value of Revenues) in the period before (2016–2019) and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2023) of companies using Lean Management, Agile, and Six Sigma strategies and their combinations. To compare the effectiveness of these management methods, they also analyzed the financial results of international corporations and Polish companies. Third, they conducted a survey among Polish companies applying the Lean Management concept. The results of this research show that the crises of recent years, even if they caused a deterioration in financial performance, were short-lived as companies were able to adapt to the new conditions. Japanese companies using Lean Management increased their profits by an average of 55.56% between 2020 and 2023, and “Lean” American organizations even more (71.64%). Polish companies have been steadily increasing their profits for years (134.14% before the pandemic and 143.27% after the outbreak). The share of COGS will remain at a similar (high) level for many years to come. There are no significant increases in these costs due to crises in the companies’ environment (e.g., increase in energy prices), and, on the other hand, there is no tendency for them to decrease in a large proportion of companies. In the years 2020–2023, the largest decreases in the share of these costs occurred in companies combining Lean and Six Sigma (−11.85%). In companies that use the Agile strategy, there was an increase of 8.05%. However, these are average data, and the analysis of the results of companies from individual groups leads to the conclusion that it is not only the management concept that is important, but also how it is implemented in a given company. In addition, streamlining processes only by eliminating waste is not enough these days. It is necessary to use modern technologies (digital technologies, Industry 4.0). Increasing the efficiency of production or logistics processes leads to a reduction in energy consumption and external costs. However, new, specialized solutions are needed. The issue of energy efficiency is indeed gaining more and more importance in companies and is included in management concepts, e.g., in Lean Management. Full article

People are naturally drawn to symmetrical faces, as symmetry is often associated with attractiveness. In contrast to human faces, animated characters often emphasize certain geometric features, exaggerating them while maintaining symmetry and enhancing their visual appeal. This study investigated the impact of geometric parameters of facial features on fixation duration and explored 60 facial samples across two races (American, Japanese) and two conditions (animated, real). Relevant length, angle, and area parameters were extracted from the eyebrows, eyes, ears, nose, and chin regions of the facial samples. Using an eye-tracking experiment design, fixation duration (FD) and fixation count (FC) were extracted from 10 s gaze stimuli. Sixty participants (32 males and 28 females) took part. The results showed that, compared to Japanese animation, American animation typically induced a longer FD and higher FC on features like the eyes (p < 0.001), nose (p < 0.001), ears (p < 0.01), and chin (p < 0.01). Compared to real faces, animated characters typically attracted a longer FD and higher FC on areas such as the eyebrows (p < 0.001), eyes (p < 0.001), and ears (p < 0.001), while the nose (p < 0.001) and chin (p < 0.001) attracted a shorter FD and lower FC. Additionally, a correlation analysis between FD and geometric features showed a high positive correlation in the geometric features of the eyes, nose, and chin for both American and Japanese animated faces. The geometric features of the nose in real American and Japanese faces showed a high negative correlation coefficient. These findings highlight notable differences in FD and FC across different races and facial conditions, suggesting that facial geometric features may play a role in shaping gaze patterns and contributing to the objective quantitative assessment of FD. These insights are critical for optimizing animated character design and enhancing engagement in cross-cultural media and digital interfaces. Full article

The Santa Barbara Sense of Direction scale (SBSoD) is a self-report scale that assesses the ability to orient oneself in the environment. With the current study, we validated the Danish version of the SBSoD (SBSoDDK) and compared performance on the SBSoD across samples with different nationalities. We collected data for a Danish sample consisting of 119 Danish university students and received data from studies validating other versions of the SBSoD using American, German, Japanese, Chinese, Turkish, and British samples. The internal consistency and convergent and discriminant validity of the SBSoDDK, which exhibited a two-factor structure, were affirmed, and differences in performance on the SBSoD across samples with different nationalities were identified and may be linked to cultural variations in the sense of direction. The current study has certain weaknesses, including using nationality as a proxy for culture and variations in the gender compositions of the samples. Future studies should focus on addressing the current study’s weaknesses and revising and further validating the SBSoD. Full article

Age discrimination in nursing may result in judgmental care and compromise the quality of care offered to older adults. While geriatric–gerontological education can address ageism among nursing students, cross-cultural perspectives on aging remain understudied. This study describes the characteristics of nursing students in the USA and Japan and explores their perspectives on aging after completing a life review assignment, both personally and professionally. A mixed-methods study using quantitative surveys and an exploratory–descriptive qualitative design was conducted at two nursing schools (one each in the USA and Japan). Students participated voluntarily with strict anonymity and confidentiality. There were significant differences between American and Japanese nursing students in both demographics and perceived impact of the life review assignment. The American students were predominantly older and had more experience in caregiving for older adults, whereas the Japanese students were younger and lacked such experience. The qualitative analysis revealed an increased awareness of patient-centered care for older adults as a major professional theme across both groups. The life review assignment proved effective in providing meaningful experiential learning opportunities for future nurses across different cultural contexts. This method appears promising in addressing ageism through personalized engagement with older adults. Full article

The COllaborative Carbon Column Observing Network has become a reliable source of high-quality ground-based remote sensing network data that provide column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of carbon dioxide (XCO₂), methane (XCH₄), and carbon monoxide (XCO). The fiducial reference measurements of these gases from the COCCON complement the TCCON and NDACC-IRWG data. This study shows the application of COCCON data for the validation of existing greenhouse gas satellite products. This study includes the validation of XCH₄ and XCO products from the European Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) mission, XCO₂ products from the American Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission, and XCO₂ and XCH₄ products from the Japanese Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT). A total of 27 datasets contributed to this study; some of these were collected in the framework of campaign activities and covered only a short time period. In addition, several permanent stations provided long-term observations. The random uncertainties in the validation results, specifically for S5P with a lot of coincidences pairs, are found to be similar to the comparison with the TCCON. The comparison results of OCO-2 land nadir and land glint observation modes to the COCCON on a global scale, despite limited coincidences, are very promising. The stations can, therefore, expand on the coverage of the already existing ground-based reference remote sensing sites from the TCCON and the NDACC network. The COCCON data can be used for future satellite and model validation studies and carbon cycle studies. Full article

The approach taken by Marvel and Hanna-Barbera to adapting Godzilla for a young American audience is a form of cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation involves removing the subject from its cultural context. In this case, Marvel and Hanna-Barbera removed the character from its origin, where it emerged as a consequence of the atomic bomb. Gojira is first a scourge of Japan and later its savior against invasion from cosmic forces and nefarious kaiju. Godzilla is changed into what is ultimately a sanitized version of imperial inventory. The properties of the 1970s Godzilla, however, were not wholly negative. Indeed, they laid the foundation for an American rediscovery of the original Gojira film and its sequels, which have since been released in their original versions. This article will examine how Marvel Comics and Hanna-Barbera cartoons culturally appropriated Godzilla for American children, but how this also led to an appreciation of the Japanese films. Full article