Platform Competition in Pay-TV Market

In this paper, we undertake an empirical analysis of the current Japanese pay-TV market, where cable TV carriers and CS digital satellite carriers are the main players. After examining the factors for subscribing to pay-TV and the competitive situation in the market, we have the following findings; (1) Cable TV carriers promote high value-added service provision, such as bundling internet access, and these activities result in competitive superiority over CS carriers. (2) Cable TV carriers receiving bigger investment from local governments tend to gain higher rates of subscription, although they provide smaller numbers of channels with a low charge. (3) The number of terrestrial broadcasting channels which are transmitted via pay-TV carriers can have a large impact on competitive advantage when getting subscribers in the pay-TV market.Platform Competition, Cable Television, Communication Satellite, Pay-TV, subscriber penetration, high-value added service

Severe pediatric asthma with a poor response to omalizumab: a report of three cases and three-dimensional bronchial wall analysis

Omalizumab is used for the treatment of persistent severe allergic asthma in adults and children. However, some patients remain symptomatic even after omalizumab treatment. In bronchial asthma, chronic inflammation of the bronchial wall causes thickening of the airway wall, resulting from irreversible airway remodeling. Progression of airway remodeling causes airflow obstruction, leading to treatment resistance. We report three Japanese children with severe asthma who had a poor response to omalizumab treatment. They had a long period of inadequate management of asthma before initiating omalizumab. Even after omalizumab treatment, their symptoms persisted, and the parameters of spirometry tests did not improve. We hypothesized that omalizumab was less effective in these patients because airway wall remodeling had already progressed. We retrospectively evaluated the bronchial wall thickness using a three-dimensional bronchial wall analysis with chest computed tomography. The bronchial wall thickness was increased in these cases compared with six responders. Progressed airway wall thickness caused by airway remodeling may be associated with a poor response to omalizumab in children with severe asthma

Medial prefrontal cortex suppresses reward-seeking behavior with risk of punishment by reducing sensitivity to reward

Reward-seeking behavior is frequently associated with risk of punishment. There are two types of punishment: positive punishment, which is defined as addition of an aversive stimulus, and negative punishment, involves the omission of a rewarding outcome. Although the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is important in avoiding punishment, whether it is important for avoiding both positive and negative punishment and how it contributes to such avoidance are not clear. In this study, we trained male mice to perform decision-making tasks under the risks of positive (air-puff stimulus) and negative (reward omission) punishment, and modeled their behavior with reinforcement learning. Following the training, we pharmacologically inhibited the mPFC. We found that pharmacological inactivation of mPFC enhanced the reward-seeking choice under the risk of positive, but not negative, punishment. In reinforcement learning models, this behavioral change was well-explained as an increase in sensitivity to reward, rather than a decrease in the strength of aversion to punishment. Our results suggest that mPFC suppresses reward-seeking behavior by reducing sensitivity to reward under the risk of positive punishment

Interprofessional education in Japanese university nursing programs : Current status and evaluation of its impact

This study was aimed to identify the current status and the evaluation of the impact of interprofessional education (IPE) on nursing education in Japanese universities. Two hundred Japanese universities with nursing programs were the target of this study. Backward Binary Logistic Regression Analysis (Pin = 0.14, Pout = 0.15) was performed to determine the relationship between subjective evaluations of IPE and 24 indices such as the founding year of the university and the department of nursing, and the participation or nonparticipation of departments and each profession. One hundred ten valid responses (55.0%) were collected. Among those responses, 58 universities implemented IPE (52.7%) and 52 did not have an IPE program at their institute (47.3%). These results indicated that the significance of IPE program on nursing education tended to be highly evaluated when students of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, and Occupational Therapy participated in the program, whereas the significance of IPE tended to be considered low with the participation of students of the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. Regarding the treatment or support of their clients (i.e., patients), when the IPE participating students shared the areas of responsibility of their intended professions, the impact of IPE was more likely to have the high evaluation score. On the contrary, the tendency of the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences (DSL&HS) indicated that the significance of IPE received low evaluations due to the low recognition by other professions for the contents of DSL&HS’s high expertise

20セイキ ショトウ ハンガリー デ シュッパン サレタ ニホンゴ キョウカショ ト ソノ ジダイ ハイケイ

戦前の中東欧の日本語教育についてはまだ知られていないことが多い。しかし、政治的、経済的な交流の深まりとともに中東欧地域はこれまでになく日本人に身近な存在になりつつあり、 現時点でこの地域の日本語教育の歴史について研究することは意味のあることであると考える。 本稿は20世紀初頭にハンガリーではじめて出版された日本語教科書を題材に、出版された当時の日本についての知識と、背景となった社会状況を明らかにすることを目的とする。ハンガリーではじめての、ハンガリー語で書かれた教科書は1905年に出版された。同書は日本に長期滞在した経験のあるハンガリー語母語話者が自らの経験と知識を総動員して書き上げた著作であると考えられる。今日の目から見ると教科書としては難点が多いとは言うものの、 母語で書かれた教科書の出版は日本語学習の大きな障害の一つを取り除いた点で高く評価されるべきである。また、同書の出版という事実そのものが当時のハンガリー人一般の日本に対する興味の高まりを物語っている。この日本への関心の高まりは日露戦争という政治的事件が契機となったものであるが、この背景には当時のハンガリー人自身が持っていた反露意識と、高揚するナショナリズムが存在していたと考えられる。この反露意識の裏返しとしての親日意識は自ずと限界があった。極東において帝国主義的性格を強める日本がロシアとの協調関係を築き、足元のバルカン半島でスラヴ系諸民族による反オーストリア=ハンガリーの運動が激化するにつれ、日本に関する興味関心は次第に退潮していった。中東欧に限らず、ある地域の日本語教育の歴史を振り返ることは、その国や地域や民族の対日認識の歴史そのものと向き合う作業であり、それを知ることは外国で日本語を教えるものにとっては特に大切なことであると考える。While Central and Eastern Europe is becoming an increasingly popular area for Japanese people and tourism alike, it is widely recognized that little is known about Japanese language education before World War II in this area. However, a publication at the beginning of the 20th century signalled a landmark in this field. This paper examines this landmark publication, which is the first Japanese textbook written in the Hungarian language. It aims to clarify the knowledge about Japanese in this book and the social and historical background that motivated its publication. The first Japanese language textbook in Hungary was published in 1905. This book was written by a Hungarian speaker who had stayed in Japan for a long period. The author fully utilized his experience and knowledge in his writing. From today’s viewpoint, the textbook seems a little crude and involves many mistakes or misunderstandings. Nevertheless, the publication of this textbook in the readers’ mother tongue should be highly regarded because it allowed greater understanding of Japanese study in Hungary. Besides its worth as a textbook, the publication itself indicates the rise of Hungarian people’s interest toward Japan at that time. I believe that the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) stimulated Hungarian nationalism and their anti-Russian attitude, and that this historical situation prompted the publication of the textbook. To look back upon the history of the Japanese language education is to look at the history of the local people’s recognition of Japan and the Japanese people. As far as Japanese language education is carried out in non-Japanese society, it is especially important for Japanese teachers in foreign countries to get to know the history of the Japanese language education in the places where they teach

Platform Competition in Pay-TV Market

In this paper, we undertake an empirical analysis of the current Japanese pay-TV market, where cable TV carriers and CS digital satellite carriers are the main players. After examining the factors for subscribing to pay-TV and the competitive situation in the market, we have the following findings; (1) Cable TV carriers promote high value-added service provision, such as bundling internet access, and these activities result in competitive superiority over CS carriers. (2) Cable TV carriers receiving bigger investment from local governments tend to gain higher rates of subscription, although they provide smaller numbers of channels with a low charge. (3) The number of terrestrial broadcasting channels which are transmitted via pay-TV carriers can have a large impact on competitive advantage when getting subscribers in the pay-TV market