Individual Responsibility for Structural Injustice

In our globalized world, there are many cases of injustices happening due to the capitalistic economic system and the laws and norms that support it. One of the most common cases of these types of injustices is the harms to factory workers caused by sweatshop labor conditions. Although companies and factory managers must bear some responsibility for improving the labor conditions, the harms to factory workers caused by sweatshops are injustices resulting from the structure of international society where all consumers, a factory manager, its owner, and a CEO of the global apparel firm are interconnected by the international economy. Iris Young calls this type of injustice “structural injustice” and argues that all interconnected participants are responsible for it. Therefore, many more people who might not be liable for the injustice must also bear individual responsibility for contributing to the elimination of structural injustice. In this thesis, I will try to analyze why people should care about such structural injustice and how they can discharge their individual responsibilities for solving structural injustice. In chapter 1, I discuss why the structure of society is the main subject of justice. In chapter 2, I introduce some advantages and disadvantages of existing models assigning individual responsibility for rectifying structural injustice. In chapter 3, I introduce sweatshops as a case of structural injustice. In chapter 4, I propose and defend my model, the Global Citizens Model (GCM), that explains how to assign responsibility in relation to structural injustice

「福音的イタリア」とリソルジメント : 自由主義期のヴァルド派牧師エミーリオ・コンバとその歴史叙述

departmental bulletin pape

Artificial neural network approach for selection of susceptible single nucleotide polymorphisms and construction of prediction model on childhood allergic asthma

BACKGROUND: Screening of various gene markers such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and correlation between these markers and development of multifactorial disease have previously been studied. Here, we propose a susceptible marker-selectable artificial neural network (ANN) for predicting development of allergic disease. RESULTS: To predict development of childhood allergic asthma (CAA) and select susceptible SNPs, we used an ANN with a parameter decreasing method (PDM) to analyze 25 SNPs of 17 genes in 344 Japanese people, and select 10 susceptible SNPs of CAA. The accuracy of the ANN model with 10 SNPs was 97.7% for learning data and 74.4% for evaluation data. Important combinations were determined by effective combination value (ECV) defined in the present paper. Effective 2-SNP or 3-SNP combinations were found to be concentrated among the 10 selected SNPs. CONCLUSION: ANN can reliably select SNP combinations that are associated with CAA. Thus, the ANN can be used to characterize development of complex diseases caused by multiple factors. This is the first report of automatic selection of SNPs related to development of multifactorial disease from SNP data of more than 300 patients

Small multimodal thermometry with detonation-created multi-color centers in detonation nanodiamond

微小ナノダイヤモンド量子センサで安定的に温度計測実現--細胞内などの微小領域での量子センシングに期待--.京都大学プレスリリース. 2024-05-16.Detonation nanodiamond (DND) is the smallest class of diamond nanocrystal capable of hosting various color centers with a size akin to molecular pores. Their negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy center (NV⁻) is a versatile tool for sensing a wide range of physical and even chemical parameters at the nanoscale. The NV⁻ is, therefore, attracting interest as the smallest quantum sensor in biological research. Nonetheless, recent NV⁻ enhancement in DND has yet to yield sufficient fluorescence per particle, leading to efforts to incorporate other group-IV color centers into DND. An example is adding a silicon dopant to the explosive mixture to create negatively charged silicon-vacancy centers (SiV⁻). In this paper, we report on efficient observation (∼50% of randomly selected spots) of the characteristic optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) NV⁻ signal in silicon-doped DND (Si-DND) subjected to boiling acid surface cleaning. The NV⁻ concentration is estimated by continuous-wave electron spin resonance spectroscopy to be 0.35 ppm without the NV⁻ enrichment process. A temperature sensitivity of 0.36 K/√HZ in an NV⁻ ensemble inside an aggregate of Si-DND is achieved via the ODMR-based technique. Transmission electron microscopy survey reveals that the Si-DNDs core sizes are ∼11.2 nm, the smallest among the nanodiamond’s temperature sensitivity studies. Furthermore, temperature sensing using both SiV⁻ (all-optical technique) and NV⁻ (ODMR-based technique) in the same confocal volume is demonstrated, showing Si-DND’s multimodal temperature sensing capability. The results of the study thereby pave a path for multi-color and multimodal biosensors and for decoupling the detected electrical field and temperature effects on the NV⁻ center

Effects among healthy subjects of the duration of regularly practicing a guided imagery program

BACKGROUND: We examined a large number of healthy adults in the general community who had individually participated in a guided imagery (GI) program daily and for various durations, to examine the psychophysiological effects of a GI program within a healthy group. METHODS: We studied 176 subjects who had participated in sessions that were part of a guided imagery program, and who had practiced GI at home for 20 minutes once daily in a quiet place after mastering GI in the group sessions. The average duration of GI practiced at home was 6.88 ± 14.06 months (n = 138, range: 0 to 72). The Multiple Mood Scale (MMS), Betts (1909) Shortened Questionnaire on Mental Imagery (QMI), and a visual analog scale (VAS) of imagery vividness, salivary cortisol (C(S)) levels, general stress and general health were used in the sessions. RESULTS: We examined the relationship between the duration of daily GI practiced at home and MMS, QMI, C(S), general health, and general stress at baseline. The subjects who had practiced GI at home longer had lower negative mood scores at baseline and lower severity of stress, and higher positive mood at baseline (both at a session and at home), general health, and QMI scores at baseline. The MMS change during a session and the duration of daily GI practiced at home were not correlated. Repeated-measures analysis of covariance showed that the duration of daily GI practiced as the covariate was not associated with changes in the three C(S )levels. CONCLUSION: Although regularly practicing a GI program daily for 20 min did not affect the C(S )level or mood during a GI session for several hours, it kept a good condition of the general mental, physical well-being and their overall stress of the practitioners as they had practiced it for long duration. We postulate that subjects who have the high ability of imaging vividness showed the better mood, health status and less stress than those subjects who have the low ability of it did. The ability of image vividness of the long-term regular practitioners of GI was higher than its short-term or inexperienced practitioners, which allowed practitioners to produce more comfortable imagery. Consequently, the longer the duration that they had practiced GI program once a day regularly, the lower scores of their stress were and the higher scores of their health were. We suggest that the regular daily practice of a GI program might be connected to less stress and better health

Genetic and environmental factors of atopy

Atopy is a common immune disorder characterized by raised IgE levels, which lead to clinical disorders (i.e. primarily bronchial asthma, atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinoconjuctivitis). Interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13, derived from T-helper cell type 2 (Th2) subsets, are central in mediating IgE production and development of immediate hypersensitivity. Atopy is also characterized by Th1/Th2 skewing that derives from genetic and environmental factors. The prevalence of atopy has increased in recent decades, especially in developed countries among children and young adults. In the present review, we first discuss the relationship between the Th1/Th2 imbalance and the recent rise of allergy. Second, we present evidence that human genetic variation is also a key factor responsible for atopy

13-14世紀転換期イタリア半島における預言者の研究

早稲田大学博士(文学)早大学位記番号:新9583doctoral thesi