XQuery Streaming by Forest Transducers

Streaming of XML transformations is a challenging task and only very few systems support streaming. Research approaches generally define custom fragments of XQuery and XPath that are amenable to streaming, and then design custom algorithms for each fragment. These languages have several shortcomings. Here we take a more principles approach to the problem of streaming XQuery-based transformations. We start with an elegant transducer model for which many static analysis problems are well-understood: the Macro Forest Transducer (MFT). We show that a large fragment of XQuery can be translated into MFTs --- indeed, a fragment of XQuery, that can express important features that are missing from other XQuery stream engines, such as GCX: our fragment of XQuery supports XPath predicates and let-statements. We then rely on a streaming execution engine for MFTs, one which uses a well-founded set of optimizations from functional programming, such as strictness analysis and deforestation. Our prototype achieves time and memory efficiency comparable to the fastest known engine for XQuery streaming, GCX. This is surprising because our engine relies on the OCaml built in garbage collector and does not use any specialized buffer management, while GCX's efficiency is due to clever and explicit buffer management.Comment: Full version of the paper in the Proceedings of the 30th IEEE International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE 2014

The Impact of Teachers Sharing Their Opinions Within a Semi-controversial Class in Japan: A Case Study on a Discussion of Lowering the Age of Candidacy in a Junior High School Social Studies Class.

This paper examines how teachers expressing their political views influence students’ opinion formation and discussions in classrooms regarding controversial issues. We used the methods of Journell (2011) and built on the scholarship of Hess and McAvoy (2015) and Iwasaki (2021). As a case study, we observed a junior high school social studies class and the teacher’s approach to a lesson on lowering the age of candidacy in Japan, especially concerning how and if the teacher’s personal opinions influenced the students. Teachers’ political neutrality is a growing issue of concern in citizenship education. Some Japanese educators and education authorities argue that teachers should avoid expressing their personal views on controversial issues because of how it may impact students. However, we found that teachers’ opinions may have a limited influence on student opinions, thus adding nuance and insight to the existing literature. Namely, the impact of teachers’ expressing political opinions in a classroom should be considered with factors such as their choice of teaching materials and methods

A Study on the Development of Junior High School Social Studies Lesson Plan for Developing the Perspective about Elections: To Aim to Move Away from Citizenship Education That Appeals to a Sense of Duty as a Citizen

本研究は，従来の主権者教育の課題を克服し，選挙の意義や価値について生徒自身が主体的に考える学習を通して，選挙に対する見方・考え方を身に付けることを目指した中学校社会科の授業を開発しようとするものである。従来の主権者教育は，投票の重要性を理解させ，学習者の国民として義務感を強調し，投票への意欲を喚起しようとするものであった。そのような主権者教育は，学習の直後に一時的に投票への意欲を高めることはできたとしても，その意欲を持続させることはできない。本研究では，そのような課題に応えるため，学習者が選挙制度それ自体のあり方について検討し，自分なりによりよい制度のあり方を考えることを通して，選挙の本質を捉えることができる授業を提案する。これにより，従来の義務感に訴える主権者教育から脱却する方向性を示したい

Utility of Plain Chest Computed Tomography in Diagnosing Cardioembolic Stroke due to Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

Background：Diagnosing cardioembolic stroke due to paroxysmal atrial fibrillation（PAF）is difficult, mainly due to low detection rate. We evaluated whether left atrial volume, which can be simply measured using non-contrast chest computed tomography（CT-LAV）, can contribute to the diagnosis of cardioembolic stroke due to PAF（PAF-CE）.Methods：Fifty-one consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke within 24 h of onset were included in this study. Upon admission, we measured the left atrial diameter using transthoracic echocardiography（TTE-LAD）and CT-LAV. Patient background factors such as sex, age, and stroke risk factors were noted as well as brain natriuretic peptide（BNP）value and QTc interval were evaluated on admission. Utilities of BNP value, CT-ALV, and TTE-LAD in PAF-CE diagnosis were compared.Results：Patients were classified into three groups：cerebral thrombosis（CTB）group including large-artery atherosclerosis and small-vessel occlusion（n＝16）, cardioembolic stroke due to non-valvular atrial fibrillation（AF-CE）group（n＝20）, and cardioembolic stroke due to paroxysmal atrial fibrillation（PAF-CE）group（n＝15）. BNP value was highest in the AF-CE group（240.5 pg/mL）, followed by the PAF-CE（187.9 pg/mL）and CTB groups（35.0 pg/mL）（p＜0.001）. There was a significant difference in TTE-LAD among the groups（AF-CE group, 43.8 mm；PAF-CE group, 38.3 mm；CTB group, 34.1 mm）（p＜0.001）. CT-LAV was higher in the AF-CE group（142 mm3）than in the PAF-CE（95.8 mm3）and CTB groups（95.8 mm3）（p＜0.001）. In differentiating PAF-CE, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.867, 0.742, and 0.845 for BNP value, TTE-LAD, and CT-LAV, respectively. A cut-off CT-LAV value of ≥ 69.6 mm3 had a high diagnostic rate（＞80％ of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy）.Conclusion：CT-LAV can be useful in diagnosing PAF-CE. Further studies with larger sample size are required to confirm our findings and determine better cut-off value for CT-LAV

量的緩和政策と不良債権問題,構造問題 : 論点整理を中心に(下澤洋一先生追悼号)

量的緩和は4年目を迎えた。金融政策論議は,景気の循環的回復,株価底入れなどから,現在のところ小休止状態にある。しかし,日本経済の基盤は依然脆弱で,デフレも持続しており,量的緩和が奏効したわけではない。回復が頓挫すれば,緩和要求が再び高まる公算も強い。長期間にわたる金融政策論議が未だ大きくすれ違っている背景には,デフレ問題が不良債権問題,構造問題などとも絡んで,日本経済の長期停滞を如何に捉えるかという論議と密接不可分になったことなどがある。近年の政策論議の論点を横断的に整理するため,主要論者の主張を,日本経済長期低迷の主因という視点でグループ化すると,デフレ主因説,構造問題主因説,不良債権問題主因説などに分けられる。論点をさらに細分化して再整理した上で,特に鍵となる論点を傍証的に検証した結果は,日本経済の長期停滞・デフレ化の要因としては,財政・金融政策のミスもあったが,基本的には企業の資本効率低下,地価神話の崩壊も含めた構造問題が主因で,金融仲介機能不全論には疑わしい面も強いと考えられる。望ましい政策対応には奇手妙手はなく,様々な政策の組み合わせでいく他なく,金融政策では副作用を考慮すれば,「デフレ脱却のためには如何なる手段も辞さず」との領域までは踏み込むべきではない

A soft-core processor for finite field arithmetic with a variable word size accelerator

This paper presents implementation and evaluation of an accelerator architecture for soft-cores to speed up reduction process for the arithmetic on GF(2m) used in Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) systems. In this architecture, the word size of the accelerator can be customized when the architecture is configured on an FPGA. Focusing on the fact that the number of the reduction processing operations on GF(2m) is affected by the irreducible polynomial and the word size, we propose to employ an unconventional word size for the accelerator depending on a given irreducible polynomial and implement a MIPS-based soft-core processor coupled with a variable-word size accelerator. As a result of evaluation with several polynomials, it was shown that the performance improvement of up to 10.2 times was obtained compared to the 32-bit word size, even taking into account the maximum frequency degradation of 20.4% caused by changing the word size. The advantage of using unconventional word sizes was also shown, suggesting the promise of this approach for low-power ECC systems.24th International Conference on Field Programmable Logic and Applications, FPL 2014; Technische Universitat MunchenMunich; Germany; 1 September 2014 through 5 September 201

Immunohistochemical Detection of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in the Lung of Child Autopsy Cases

Viral infection in the respiratory tract is suspected in some cases of infant death; however, in most of those cases, routine postmortem examination has been unable to determine a definitive etiology. Using immunohistochemistry with a specific antibody to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in paraffin sections, we investigated a possible association of RSV infection with interstitial pneumonia or bronchitis in four child autopsy cases while two adult cases with cytomegalic inclusion disease, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, or acute interstitial pneumonia were also included as negative control. Immunoreactivity for RSV was detected in one of the 4 child cases; the bronchial and bronchiolar epithelium were immunostained. No immunoreactivity was observed in the two adult cases. Retrospective microscopic examination in routinely stained slides could find no distinctive findings indicating RSV infection in this case as well as the other three cases. Although further evidence, e.g., detection of the viral nucleic acid in specimens, may be needed, the present results suggest that this antibody can be utilized for detection of RSV infection in autopsy samples

Endoscopic submucosal dissection of a minute intramucosal adenocarcinoma in Barrett\u27s esophagus.

A 73-year-old man with short segmental Barrett\u27s esophagus underwent esophagoscopy, and a slightly depressed, discolored lesion was found on the anterior wall of the lower esophagus. Under a provisional diagnosis of differentiated adenocarcinoma without local lymph node metastasis, endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) was carried out. En bloc resection with tumor-free lateral/basal margins was accomplished without complication. The resected area was 12 x 15 mm in size, whereas the neoplastic lesion was 4 x 4 mm. Histopathological examination confirmed intramucosal well-differentiated tubular adenocarcinoma without angiolymphatic invasion adjacent to the muscularis mucosae. Repeated esophagoscopy 6 months after ESD showed neither locally recurrent nor metachronous lesions. Considering that Barrett\u27s esophagus is a precancerous condition, one may recommend eradication of both the neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesion with using ESD.Without Figure