Japlish - English Made In Japan

Foreign residence of Japan frequently chuckle over their discoveries of new forms of Japlish or Janglish, i.e., awkward or ludicrous use of English by Japanese. Other than the ludicrous, there is much of interest to readers of Word Ways; I offer a selection below. A more extensive discussion of the subject can be found in Don C. Bailey\u27s glossary of Japanese neologisms (see References). Although it is a decade out of date and probably out of print, it should be available at universities offering instruction in the Japanese language

General Bounds for Incremental Maximization

We propose a theoretical framework to capture incremental solutions to cardinality constrained maximization problems. The defining characteristic of our framework is that the cardinality/support of the solution is bounded by a value $k\in\mathbb{N}$ that grows over time, and we allow the solution to be extended one element at a time. We investigate the best-possible competitive ratio of such an incremental solution, i.e., the worst ratio over all $k$ between the incremental solution after $k$ steps and an optimum solution of cardinality $k$. We define a large class of problems that contains many important cardinality constrained maximization problems like maximum matching, knapsack, and packing/covering problems. We provide a general $2.618$-competitive incremental algorithm for this class of problems, and show that no algorithm can have competitive ratio below $2.18$ in general. In the second part of the paper, we focus on the inherently incremental greedy algorithm that increases the objective value as much as possible in each step. This algorithm is known to be $1.58$-competitive for submodular objective functions, but it has unbounded competitive ratio for the class of incremental problems mentioned above. We define a relaxed submodularity condition for the objective function, capturing problems like maximum (weighted) ($b$-)matching and a variant of the maximum flow problem. We show that the greedy algorithm has competitive ratio (exactly) $2.313$ for the class of problems that satisfy this relaxed submodularity condition. Note that our upper bounds on the competitive ratios translate to approximation ratios for the underlying cardinality constrained problems.Comment: fixed typo

The Principle of Subsidiarity and Institutional Predispositions : Do the European Parliament, the German Bundestag, and the Bavarian Landtag Define Subsidiarity Differently?

The goal of this working paper is to organize and to clarify the multiple definitions currently being used to describe the principle of subsidiarity within the European context while at the same time highlighting the significance in variations between the “positive” and the “negative” interpretations of the term. To gain insights into how politicians define the principle of subsidiarity, a survey was distributed to members of the European Parliament, the German Bundestag, and the Bavarian Landtag. The results of this project are collected and analyzed in the following paper and show that many of the “crude assumptions” regarding institutional predispositions towards defining the principle of subsidiarity prevail among many of the surveyed politicians

Provocation In The Political Theories Of Plato, Rousseau And Nietzsche

I devise a theoretical model that provides an interpretive framework to define and describe the concept of provocation as well as to analyze and explain the theoretical provocations in Plato, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Friedrich Nietzsche\u27s works. I assess their works as well as a wide-ranging body of scholarship both on the concept and the theorists, to show that--despite Plato, Rousseau and Nietzsche\u27s many peculiarities both in terms of their lives and works--the three separate theoretical projects similarly use the conceptual language of provocation as an integral part of an overall rhetorical strategy to articulate their philosophical systems as ones of provocation themselves in order to theorize a new--and superior--conception of personhood and politics. In addition, I argue that interpreting political provocation through such a methodological framework has relevant applicability extending beyond theory to real-life provocateurs and events whose developments and outcomes are politically consequential, particularly with respect to helping equip citizens with their democratic responsibilities

The principle of subsidiarity and institutional predispositions: do the European Parliament, the German Bundestag, and the Bavarian Landtag define subsidiarity differently?

"The goal of this working paper is to organize and to clarify the multiple definitions currently being used to describe the principle of subsidiarity within the European context while at the same time highlighting the significance in variations between the "positive" and the “negative” interpretations of the term. To gain insights into how politicians define the principle of subsidiarity, a survey was distributed to members of the European Parliament, the German Bundestag, and the Bavarian Landtag. The results of this project are collected and analyzed in the following paper and show that many of the “crude assumptions” regarding institutional predispositions towards defining the principle of subsidiarity prevail among many of the surveyed politicians." (author's abstract