Reconsidering “Eternal Brotherhood”: the Transfer of Nuclear Technology from the Former Soviet Union to the People’s Republic of China in the 1950s

It has been insisted in an authorized historical record compiled in People’s Republic of China that due to incompleteness and insufficiency of the scientific and technological supports from the Soviet Union, the Chinese initial nuclear weapon development had to be conducted by Chinese scientists and engineers through their “single-handed efforts.” Such a view was widely accepted today not only in China but also in Japan or other countries. However, as seen in the two letters with the joint signature of Igor’ Kurchatov, the top scientist in the Soviet nuclear development, and the top managers of the Soviet nuclear industry to the Soviet political leadership which were included in Volume No.6 of Igor’ Kurchatov’s Selected Works published in the autumn of 2013, those influential key-persons recommended more active exportation of nuclear technology to China. This paper is a trial to reexamine and reevaluate the Soviet aids toward People’s China in this field on the basis of those letters, the memoirs of the involved Soviet specialists, such as Evgenii Vorov’yov and the Chinese historiography.The research was supported by the grant-in-aid of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) [Basic research – type C. No. 25350381: Representative – Ichikawa, Hiroshi] and the grant-in-aid of JSPS [Basic research– type B. No. 18H0070101: Representative – Kido, Ei-ichi (Osaka University)]

A Modern History of Technology in Japan (II): Synopsis of a Lecture from the Socio-economic Perspective

This article was prepared with financial support from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (The grant-in-aid for 2019-2022 fiscal years: Basic research - type C. No. 19K00271: Representative - Ichikawa, Hiroshi)

Depth perception from second-order-motion stimuli yoked to head movement

AbstractWe examined whether depth perception was produced by the parallax of second-order motion (i.e., movement of non-luminance features, such as flicker, texture size modulation, or contrast modulation that moved in synchrony with lateral head movement). The results, obtained with second-order motion from a simple grating stimuli, showed that depth order was judged correctly with probabilities well above chance, but the reported depth magnitude did not co-vary with parallax magnitude. When we used a complex spatial pattern for which feature tracking was difficult, the accuracy of depth-order judgments descended to chance level. Our results suggest that the visual system (a) can detect the correct depth order by tracking a relative shift in the salient features of a stimulus pattern, but (b) cannot determine depth magnitude from a velocity field given by second-order-motion stimuli

Actionable gene-based classification toward precision medicine in gastric cancer

BACKGROUND: Intertumoral heterogeneity represents a significant hurdle to identifying optimized targeted therapies in gastric cancer (GC). To realize precision medicine for GC patients, an actionable gene alteration-based molecular classification that directly associates GCs with targeted therapies is needed. METHODS: A total of 207 Japanese patients with GC were included in this study. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor tissues were obtained from surgical or biopsy specimens and were subjected to DNA extraction. We generated comprehensive genomic profiling data using a 435-gene panel including 69 actionable genes paired with US Food and Drug Administration-approved targeted therapies, and the evaluation of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and microsatellite instability (MSI) status. RESULTS: Comprehensive genomic sequencing detected at least one alteration of 435 cancer-related genes in 194 GCs (93.7%) and of 69 actionable genes in 141 GCs (68.1%). We classified the 207 GCs into four The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) subtypes using the genomic profiling data; EBV (N = 9), MSI (N = 17), chromosomal instability (N = 119), and genomically stable subtype (N = 62). Actionable gene alterations were not specific and were widely observed throughout all TCGA subtypes. To discover a novel classification which more precisely selects candidates for targeted therapies, 207 GCs were classified using hypermutated phenotype and the mutation profile of 69 actionable genes. We identified a hypermutated group (N = 32), while the others (N = 175) were sub-divided into six clusters including five with actionable gene alterations: ERBB2 (N = 25), CDKN2A, and CDKN2B (N = 10), KRAS (N = 10), BRCA2 (N = 9), and ATM cluster (N = 12). The clinical utility of this classification was demonstrated by a case of unresectable GC with a remarkable response to anti-HER2 therapy in the ERBB2 cluster. CONCLUSIONS: This actionable gene-based classification creates a framework for further studies for realizing precision medicine in GC

The Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1932-1938): Focusing on the History of Technology

本稿は，2019～2022年度日本学術振興会科学研究費補助金・基盤研究（Ｃ）「マルクス主義技術論の源流－ハイム・ガルベル（1903～1936年）とその周辺－」［研究代表者－市川　浩：課題番号19K00271A］による研究成果の一部である

Strela-1, the First Soviet computer: Political success and technological failure

Which computer was developed first in the Soviet Union? Which one was first successful? Such questions are difficult to answer, but recently declassified archival material may hold the key. The story of the Strela illustrates how competing interests—as institutions and factions jockeyed to gain political advantage-helped determine the fate of this computer, a political success but a technological failure