Hiroshima Shudo University

We aimed to examine whether a member with higher cognitive centrality could make accurate decisions in a multi-attribute decision-making task. Previous studies have indicated that group decisions often result in negative outcomes when relying on shared information. Nevertheless, considering the reliability and validity of shared information, using it in discussions may yield positive results. This study focuses on cognitive centrality, which is defined as the amount of shared information held by group members within a socio-cognitive network. Previous research has shown that members with higher cognitive centrality influence group decision-making, as they are often regarded as experts. This suggests they may be more accurate in their decision-making. However, empirical studies on the relationship between cognitive centrality and decision accuracy are scarce. To test this relationship, a two-choice task concerning the population of Japanese prefectures was administered to 150 participants. The results indicated that there was no clear relationship between cognitive centrality and the accuracy of decision-making.

Traditionally, synthesis of peptides using solid- or liquid-phase methods requires organic solvents, which goes against the fundamentals of green chemistry.

The [Formula: see text]-trace of a knot is the [Formula: see text]-manifold represented by the [Formula: see text]-framing of the knot. In this paper, we survey methods constructing a pair of knots with diffeomorphic [Formula: see text]-traces. In particular, we focus on Gompf–Miyazaki’s dualizable pattern, Abe–Jong–Omae–Takeuchi’s band presentation, and RGB-diagram given by Piccirillo and named by the author, and we draw the relations among these methods directly. As an application, we give a sufficient condition that two knots obtained by Abe–Jong–Omae–Takeuchi’s method coincide.

Checkpoints are the most crucial component of the failure recovery function, established to set the starting point of recovery operations and to limit their quantity. In this study, we explore the effectiveness of checkpointing methods, i.e., checkpoint creation methods in keyboard data entry operations with extremely high access overheads. The most significant feature of checkpointing here is that the overhead for data writing depends on the accumulated amount of input data in primary memory, leading to increased checkpointing overhead and reduced operational efficiency as input operations progress. We evaluate and compare the effectiveness of six checkpointing methods to address this issue. The evaluation model is described by a simple probabilistic model, and the total expected operational time is derived as an evaluation measure. Moreover, in the numerical analysis, results from a small-scale survey and actual measurements are applied to model parameters such as the failure occurrence rate for various considerations. These results show that effective checkpointing is possible with any of the methods, especially the method of strategically splitting the file for input to reduce checkpointing overhead is superior.

We discuss the generalized ordering policy: When an ordered spare is delivered after a randomized lead time, the spare is put into the inventory if an original unit is still operating, and it is replaced/exchanged by the spare in stock when it fails/passes a prespecified time. We derive the expected cost per unit time in the steady state as a criterion of optimality and obtain the optimal ordering policies to minimize the expected cost. We take up either the extreme policy in which the delivered spare is put into the inventory until the original unit fails, or the spare takes over the operation as soon as it is delivered.

Breakfast skipping has been suggested to be associated with cardiovascular diseases. However, whether breakfast skipping affects vascular endothelial function (VEF), a marker of cardiovascular diseases, remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the impact of breakfast consumption (Eating trial) and skipping (Skipping trial) on brachial artery (BA) VEF in healthy breakfast eaters. A total of nine healthy individuals (four females and five males) either had breakfast between 8:30 and 9:00 or skipped it and had lunch between 12:00 and 12:30, followed by a 3-h rest period until 15:30. For BA VEF evaluation, flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was measured using ultrasound before and after breakfast and lunch. FMD was calculated as the percentage change in BA diameter normalized to the shear rate area under the curve (FMD/SR AUC ). Blood glucose, plasma insulin, and plasma free fatty acid levels in capillaries were measured before and after breakfast and lunch. At 15:30, the Eating trial, but not the Skipping trial, significantly increased FMD/SR AUC from baseline ( p = 0.006). The Skipping trial showed significantly lower changes in FMD/SR AUC from 8:30 than the Eating trial at 15:30 ( p < 0.001). We found a significant inverse correlation between changes in FMD/SR AUC between 8:30 and 15:30 and peak glucose levels after lunch (r = −0.882, p < 0.001) and with an incremental area under the curve for glucose between 8:30 and 15:30 (r = −0.668, p < 0.001). These results suggest that a single bout of breakfast skipping can suppress BA VEF in the afternoon due to postlunch hyperglycemia.

This study examines the effects of government guidance funds (GGFs) and local financial environment on the performance of Chinese industrial enterprises. Using a panel dataset (2001–2020) of Chinese industrial firms, it reveals that receiving GGFs significantly boosts firm sales and profits. Additionally, there is a correlation between GGFs and macroeconomic and financial indicators of the provinces where the enterprises are located. Specifically, for small- and medium-sized enterprises, non-state-owned enterprises, and regions in the central and western parts of China, GGFs complement traditional long-term bank lending as a financing channel. However, a substitutive relationship exists for short-term bank lending.

Background Higher vegetable intake is being promoted as an initiative to prevent lifestyle-related diseases. Carotenoids are yellow or red pigment components and are widely present in vegetables. Since ingested carotenoids accumulate in the skin, skin carotenoid levels are a quantitative indicator of vegetable intake. Recently, noninvasive optical sensors for assessing skin carotenoid levels were developed. We here examined the association between skin carotenoid scores measured using optical sensors and the presence of metabolic syndrome. Methods A total of 1618 individuals (604 men and 1014 women) aged ≥ 40 years (mean age 63.1 years) participated in the study. Skin carotenoid scores were determined using a noninvasive optical sensor based on multiple spatially resolved reflectance spectroscopy. Metabolic syndrome was defined based on the Joint Scientific Statement criteria developed by six international scientific societies. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models were used. Results The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 31.3% (n = 506). A remarkably strong association was found between higher skin carotenoid scores and lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome after adjusting for confounders. The multivariable-adjusted odds ratio for the presence of metabolic syndrome in individuals with the highest quartile of skin carotenoid scores was 0.39 (95% confidence interval, 0.28–0.55) compared to those with the lowest quartile. Conclusions Our findings suggest that higher skin carotenoid scores measured by non-invasive optimal sensors are significantly associated with a lower likelihood of having metabolic syndrome in the general Japanese population.

Background Increase in functional disability in aging societies is an international medical and public health issue. Masticatory function may be a potential risk factor for functional disability, but the role of frailty in the association has not been clarified. Methods Forty thousand five hundred sixty-two community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and over who were insured by public health insurance as of April 2018 were followed up for a median of 3.0 years. Masticatory function was categorized as good, moderate, or poor based on a self-reported questionnaire. The development of functional disability was defined as a new certification of the need for long-term care. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results During the follow-up period, 1,397 individuals experienced functional disability. After adjusting for age, sex, comorbidities, medical history, and lifestyle behaviors, the HR for incident functional disability was significantly higher in the moderate and poor groups compared to the good group (moderate, HR 1.21 [95% CI, 1.07–1.37]; poor, HR 1.64 [95% CI, 1.03–2.62]). However, after additional adjustment for frailty-related factors—namely, underweight, regular exercise, and gait speed—the association was attenuated in both the moderate group (HR 1.06 [95% CI, 0.94–1.21]) and the poor group (HR 1.51 [95% CI, 0.94–2.41]). Conclusions Masticatory dysfunction was significantly associated with incident functional disability in a community-dwelling older Japanese population. Our findings suggest that masticatory dysfunction may be a surrogate of frailty rather than a direct cause of functional disability.

This paper seeks to reassess the balance between chaos and systematicity within the Japanese writing system (JWS), which is noted for its complexity. As potential factors for chaos, Section 2 focuses on two important conventions. The first is the simultaneous use of multiple scripts as components of a largely systematic whole, even though it also affords considerable levels of graphematic variation. The second convention of dual-readings turns on kanji graphematically mapping to both Native-Japanese (NJ) and Sino-Japanese (SJ) morphemes, which yields the JWS’s intriguing form of morphography. However, as a factor that is, to a considerable degree, a major source of systematicity, Section 3 outlines the graphematic representation of SJ compound words. More specifically, starting from the morphological structures of two-kanji compound words (2KCWs), Section 3 introduces the dominant morphological patterns of three-kanji (3KCWs) and four-kanji compound words (4KCWs), which underscore the significance of 2KCWs within the Japanese mental lexicon, and concludes by noting Hatano, Kuhara, and Akiyama’s (1981) study about inferring the meanings of SJ compound words.

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the correlations between instrument measurements and sensory attributes of thickened liquids. For this purpose, a series of thickened liquids was prepared using different thickening agent contents from different sources, which were evaluated by sensory analysis for sensory attributes and by instrument measurements for specific physical properties. The texture attributes (hardness, ease of swallowing, and coating (oral cavity, residual feeling in the throat)) of 12 thickened liquid samples were investigated by sensory evaluation. The investigators were 10 panelists trained in evaluating sensory attributes. The line spread test (LST) and the short back extrusion (SBE) method were used for the instrumental analysis. The correlation coefficient between physical properties and each sensory evaluation value was also determined. The results showed that the apparent viscosity from viscosity measurements was highly correlated with each sensory attribute. As thickened liquid is a non-Newtonian fluid, the apparent viscosity was dependent on the shear rate. Hence, the instrumental texture perception of sol (thickened liquid) based on the oral cavity condition could be used to predict human texture perception based on the shear rate, which was obtained from the apparent viscosity similar to gel (strawberry jam). These results indicate that the SBE method is better than the LST for measuring the texture attributes of thickened liquids.

The performance of differential evolution (DE) is influenced by various factors such as algorithm parameters and mutation strategies. JADE (adaptive DE with optional external archive) is recognized as one of the most successful studies on parameter control in DE. In this study, in order to improve the search efficiency of JADE, we propose to integrate two methods we have proposed. One is the method to estimate whether the population of candidate solutions is converging or moving for particle swarm optimization. The normalized distance between the population center and the best solution is used for the estimation. When the population is converging, the search mode is adjusted to enhance the convergence. When the population is moving, the search mode is adjusted to enhance the movement. The other is the method to control DE parameters for extreme individuals in order to improve the search efficiency. The methods are modified to use the former method in JADE and to reduce the interference between the two methods. The effectiveness of JADE incorporating the proposed methods is shown by solving thirteen benchmark problems.

This study measures global financial stability by constructing a global flow of funds (GFF) matrix model based on its inherent market mechanisms. We discuss the basic concept of GFF, integrate the data sources, establish a GFF statistical matrix, which can be used to evaluate the financial risks and influences among its members, and estimate bilateral exposures between countries for three different financial instruments within and across the G20 economies. Then, we use financial network analysis to construct the financial relationships between countries. Moreover, we employ the network theory to discuss an analytical method for the GFF and use countries in the G20 as the research sample to discuss the network centrality, mutual relationships, and the financial risk of foreign direct investment, portfolio investment, and cross-border bank credit among the United States, Japan, and China. This study establishes a GFF statistical matrix and introduces the network theory into the GFF analysis, which opens a new field for measuring and applying GFF.

This chapter establishes an analytical framework for examining the global flow of funds (GFF); expanding on the concept, research object, and analytical method for comprehending GFF. The structural changes of the G20, especially China–United States (US) decoupling, are examined alongside the possibility of a debt crisis using stock data to analyze the GFF matrix (GFFM) from 2018 to 2022. The financial network is used to analyze the basic characteristics and risks in the debt market between China (CN) and the US. Finally, CN’s and the US’ debt securities (DS) market positions and mutual financing relationships are analyzed using financial network technology. It also statistically estimates the impact of debt risk transmission. The issues of China–US are also observed in external financial assets and liabilities by stock data. By compiling the GFFM and using the financial network, we measure the risk exposure changes between CN and US external assets and liabilities, centrality, asset influence and liability sensitivity, and debt risk.

This study constructs an analytical framework of the external flow of funds (EFF) to observe the process and obstacles of China and the United States (US) decoupling, examining the China–US structural relationship in savings and investment imbalance during 1980–2022. We observe the issues between China and the US in the external financial assets and liabilities by stock data, focusing on the external adjustment mode in 2008–2022. We construct a vector error correction model to calculate the quantitative relationship between short-term fluctuations and long-term trends of the EFF in China and the United States and explore the basic causes of economic conflicts between the two sides. This chapter discusses the risk of China–US economic decoupling and US debt, the strategic challenges both sides face, and the prospect of countermeasures.