How Should One Evaluate Fiscal Conditions - A Study Based on the Comparison between Japan and Australia

In comparing fiscal indicators of Japan and Australia, it is generally perceived that Japans fiscal conditions are very serious and those of Australia are very sound. However, in Australia the rising ratio of foreign liabilities to GDP is the source of anxiety in the market, which in turn reduces the flexibility of fiscal policy. If such economic conditions are considered, the evaluation of Australias fiscal conditions is worse than one based on fiscal indicator alone, while the opposite relationship is the case for Japan. The fiscal conditions of the two countries are a good example to demonstrate that fiscal conditions should be evaluated as part of economic conditions.Fiscal Conditions, Japan, Australia

The Flow of Funds through a Government – A Case Study on Japan

In Japan, the sustainability of public finance including that of social security is of serious concern. The underlying cause is that Japan is in transition to a new phase of economy and society because of medium-term changes in the revealed preferences of people about their lifestyle. Nevertheless, the socio-economic systems and institutions, which are founded on public opinion (or the stated preferences of people), have not kept up those changes. This would contribute to the distortion in the flow of funds through the government, adversely influencing the fiscal sustainability. That distortion should be corrected based on such an understanding.

Foreword

To tackle global issues in an era of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity the Human and Social Sciences must take action to go beyond interdisciplinary education and research and to seek collaboration with the natural sciences, engineering, medicine, and so on. To cite Japan’s new Science, Technology, and Innovation Basic Plan issued in 2021, “it will become increasingly important to accumulate ‘knowledge’ with depth in the humanities and social sciences, and to create and utilize ‘convergence of knowledge’ that contributes to comprehensive understanding and problem-solving of issues regarding human beings and society through fusion with ‘knowledge’ in the natural sciences

Foreword

The pandemic this year reminded us more than ever that we live in ‘VUCA’, volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Many things that used to be taken for granted up until a year ago crumbled abruptly and globally. The pandemic struck many aspects of our societies such as public health, economy and social bonds, thereby uncovering the vulnerability of the modern society. Universities are no exception to this. One nation by itself cannot tackle these global challenges, nor can these challenges be solved by a single discipline. Triple helix collaboration across academia, industry and government beyond all borders is imperative to achieve a sustainable new normal. That is precisely why, for Tsukuba Global Science Week 2020, we organized a symposium (entitled Creating a Post-Corona Society: Cities and Universities in Collaboration) so that academia and local government could discuss how to work together against the COVID-19 pandemic

Preface

This fourth issue of Inter Faculty presents some of the results of transdisciplinary research activities carried out under the various programmes and projects of the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Tsukuba

Dependence of tunnel magnetoresistance on ferromagnetic electrode materials in MgO-barrier magnetic tunnel junctions

We investigated the relationship between the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio and the electrode structure in MgO-barrier magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). The TMR ratio in a MTJ with Co40Fe40B20 reference and free layers reached 355% at the post-deposition annealing temperature of Ta=400 degree C. When Co50Fe50 or Co90Fe10 is used for the reference layer material, no high TMR ratio was observed. The key to have high TMR ratio is to have highly oriented (001) MgO barrier/CoFeB crystalline electrodes. The highest TMR ratio obtained so far is 450% at Ta = 450 degree C in a pseudo spin-valve MTJ.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. to be published in J. Magn. Magn. Mate

<Readers\u27 Forum>Research Metrics for the Rest of Us

This paper proposes a new way of quantifying an aspect of the quality of an academic journal which we call ‘Diversity Factor’ (DF). DF is applicable to any field of study, including the humanities and social sciences, as well as to academic journals of any language for DF can be calculated by a very simple formula.要旨本稿は、学術雑誌の質の一側面を定量化する新たな指標として「ダイバーシティ・ファクター」（DF）を提案する。DFは非常に簡単な式で算出できるため、人文社会科学を含むあらゆる分野およびあらゆる言語の学術雑誌に適用可能である

Research Metrics for the Rest of Us

This paper proposes a new way of quantifying an aspect of the quality of an academic journal which we call ‘Diversity Factor’ (DF). DF is applicable to any field of study, including the humanities and social sciences, as well as to academic journals of any language for DF can be calculated by a very simple formula.要旨 本稿は、学術雑誌の質の一側面を定量化する新たな指標として「ダイバーシティ・ファクター」（DF）を提案する。DFは非常に簡単な式で算出できるため、人文社会科学を含むあらゆる分野およびあらゆる言語の学術雑誌に適用可能である

Effect of high annealing temperature on giant tunnel magnetoresistance ratio of CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunnel junctions

We report tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratios as high as 472% at room temperature and 804% at 5 K in pseudo-spin valve (SV) CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) annealed at 450oC, which is approaching the theoretically predicted value. By contrast, the TMR ratios for exchange-biased (EB) SV MTJs with a MnIr antiferromagnetic layer are found to drop when they are annealed at 450oC. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis shows that annealing at 450oC induces interdiffusion of Mn and Ru atoms into the MgO barrier and ferromagnetic layers in EB-SV MTJs. Mechanisms behind the different annealing behavior are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure