"Effects of Information Technology and Aging Work Force on Labor Demand and Technological Progress in Japanese Industries: 1980-1998"

The purpose of this paper is two-folds. First, we examine the direction and the magnitude of substitutability or complementarity between information- and communication-related capital stock and various labor inputs to know about differential impacts of information and com-munication technology on labor demand. In this way, we can obtain information about what segments of workers information and communication technology can effectively substu-tute for. Second, we estimate contribution of information- and communication-related capital stock and various labor inputs on the value-added growth of the Japanese economy in the recent turbulent era (1980s and 1990s) and explore factors determining technological progress. In particular, we investigate whether rapid accumulation of information-related capital stock has a positive effect on technological progress, examining IT externality. We also discern the effect of compositional changes in labor inputs on technological progress, examining the inflexibility issue and IT-induced technological obsolescence issue. Three remarkable facts emerge from our result with respect to substitutability/complementarity issues. First, IT capital stocks are shown to be significant substitutes for young workers with a low education level, whereas old workers with a low education level are consistently quasi-fixed in all industries under investigation. Second, IT capital stocks have complemen-tary relationship with workers with a high education level in many industries. Third, workers with a high education level and those with a low education level are substitutes. These all suggest that IT investment and human capital accumulation are of utmost importance to overcome possible shortage (in relative terms) of young workers with a low education level caused by rapidly aging population. As for IT externality, we find at first positive correlation between IT stocks and techno-logical progress in manufacturing, suggesting a strong externality effect of IT capital stocks. In the first glance it is very promising, since this suggests that this IT externality can be used for boosting productivity growth. However, the correlation is not robust. First, if non-manufacturing industries are included, the correlation vanishes. Second, if "Electrical Machinery" is excluded from the sample of manufacturing, the correlation also vanishes. Thus, we fail to discern clear-cut evidence for IT externality. Thus, the proposition that IT "revolution"can pop up productivity growth and can counter the pressure of aging population is not supported by our data, although investment in IT-producing industries is surely an important driving force for economic growth through substitution effects. As for the effect of labor force composition on the rate of technological progress, the results do not support that the "inflexible old worker" hypothesis of productivity slowdown. There is no correlation between the rate of technological progress and the ratio of old workers with low education in the total labor inputs. However, the results suggest that information technology development in the 1990s has a negative impact on the past strength of the Japanese economy: productivity increase through high-education workers' learning by doing. In manufacturing industries where Japan has been strong, the rate of technological progress in the 1980s has positive (though weak) correlation with "maturing" high-education labor force. That is, the ratio of old well-educated workers in the total labor inputs has a positive (though weak) effect on technological progress. This suggests that the increased average skill among well-educated workers due to longer experience has a positive effect to improve productivity. However, the relationship changes significantly in the 1990s, and we have rather negative relationship. The nature of technological progress apparently changed adversely.

Milnor-Selberg zeta functions and zeta regularizations

By a similar idea for the construction of Milnor's gamma functions, we introduce "higher depth determinants" of the Laplacian on a compact Riemann surface of genus greater than one. We prove that, as a generalization of the determinant expression of the Selberg zeta function, this higher depth determinant can be expressed as a product of multiple gamma functions and what we call a Milnor-Selberg zeta function. It is shown that the Milnor-Selberg zeta function admits an analytic continuation, a functional equation and, remarkably, has an Euler product.Comment: 32 pages, 7 figure

Hierarchy of the Selberg zeta functions

We introduce a Selberg type zeta function of two variables which interpolates several higher Selberg zeta functions. The analytic continuation, the functional equation and the determinant expression of this function via the Laplacian on a Riemann surface are obtained.Comment: 14 page

The binding specificity of Translocated in LipoSarcoma/FUsed in Sarcoma with lncRNA transcribed from the promoter region of cyclin D1

Background: Translocated in LipoSarcoma (TLS, also known as FUsed in Sarcoma) is an RNA/DNA binding protein whose mutation cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In previous study, we demonstrated that TLS binds to long noncoding RNA, promoter-associated ncRNA-D (pncRNA-D), transcribed from the 5' upstream region of cyclin D1 (CCND1), and inhibits the expression of CCND1. Results: In order to elucidate the binding specificity between TLS and pncRNA-D, we divided pncRNA-D into seven fragments and examined the binding with full-length TLS, TLS-RGG2-zinc finger-RGG3, and TLS-RGG3 by RNA pull down assay. As a result, TLS was able to bind to all the seven fragments, but the fragments containing reported recognition motifs (GGUG and GGU) tend to bind more solidly. The full-length TLS and TLS-RGG2-zinc finger-RGG3 showed a similar interaction with pncRNA-D, but the binding specificity of TLS-RGG3 was lower compared to the full-length TLS and TLS-RGG2-zinc finger-RGG3. Mutation in GGUG and GGU motifs dramatically decreased the binding, and unexpectedly, we could only detect weak interaction with the RNA sequence with stem loop structure. Conclusion: The binding of TLS and pncRNA-D was affected by the presence of GGUG and GGU sequences, and the C terminal domains of TLS function in the interaction with pncRNA-D

Integral representations of q-analogues of the Hurwitz zeta function

Two integral representations of q-analogues of the Hurwitz zeta function are established. Each integral representation allows us to obtain an analytic continuation including also a full description of poles and special values at non-positive integers of the q-analogue of the Hurwitz zeta function, and to study the classical limit of this q-analogue. All the discussion developed here is entirely different from the previous work in [4]Comment: 14 page

Influence of and Risk Factors for Axillary Web Syndrome Following Surgery for Breast Cancer

In this study, we examined whether axillary web syndrome (AWS) in patients with breast cancer following axil-lary lymph node dissection affects range of motion (ROM), upper extremity function, and quality of life (QOL). The risk factors for AWS were also evaluated in a total of 238 consecutive breast cancer patients follow-ing axillary lymph node dissection. At 1, 2, and 3 months after surgery, there were no significant differences between the AWS group and the non-AWS group in upper-limb function or QOL. At 2 months after surgery, shoulder flexion and abduction ROM were significantly higher in the AWS group than in the non-AWS group (p < 0.05). Self-training time at home was not significantly different between the groups at 1, 2, or 3 months. Only age was a significant predictor of AWS at 1 month after surgery (p < 0.05). The AWS group in the present study did not have worse results for shoulder joint ROM, upper-limb function, and QOL than the non-AWS group. Younger age should be useful for predicting the development of AWS in the early postoperative period

A simple environment-dependent overlap potential and Cauchy violation in solid argon

We develop an analytic and environment-dependent interatomic potential for the overlap repulsion in solid argon, based on an approximate treatment of the non-orthogonal Tight-Binding theory for the closed-shell systems. The present model can well reproduce the observed elastic properties of solid argon including Cauchy violation at high pressures, yet very simple. A useful and novel analysis is given to show how the elastic properties are related to the environment-dependence incorporated into a generic pairwise potential. The present study has a close link to the broad field of computational materials science, in which the inclusion of environment dependence in short-ranged repulsive part of a potential model is sometimes crucial in predicting the elastic properties correctly.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Investigation of Factors Affecting Early Quality of Life of Patients after Breast Cancer Surgery

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors related to early quality of life (QOL) three months after surgery in breast cancer patients with axillary lymph node dissection. Methods: The subjects of this study were 195 consecutive patients who underwent axillary lymph node dissection for breast cancer. Age, body mass index, level of lymph node dissection, marriage, children, co-resident household members, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, postoperative chemotherapy, postoperative hormonal therapy, postoperative radiotherapy, upper limb function (disabilities of the arm, shoulder, and hand (DASH)), and QOL (European Organization for the Treatment and Research of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30)) were evaluated. For each item of the EORTC QLQ-C30, compared with preoperative status and three months after surgery, those who improved or remained unchanged in the three months after surgery were classified as the maintenance and improved groups, and those with worsening status were classified as the worsened group. Results: Age, level of lymph node dissection, DASH, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, postoperative chemotherapy, and postoperative radiotherapy were significantly associated with QOL (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The early QOL of postoperative patients with breast cancer is affected by multiple factors, such as upper limb function and postoperative chemotherapy, and thus comprehensive intervention is required