Impact of Information Technology and Implications for Monetary Policy

The first half of this paper shows the mechanisms through which innovations in Information Technology (IT) have impacts on our economy. Switching costs from existing technologies and network externalities may play important roles in the propagation of IT on a microeconomic level. In addition to the aggregation effects of such externalities, the costs of reallocating capital and retraining labor will hamper macroeconomic performance. Mismeasurements in economic statistics may prevent us from making optimal decisions based on relative price changes. The second half of this paper discusses the issues for improving efficiency in conducting monetary policy by focusing on the price mechanism. We should be careful whether to accommodate the "supply shocks" or not, considering the possibility of nominal rigidities or fluctuation in the general price level. It is also shown that mismeasurements in the price index may damage the credibility of a central bank, since it will be quite difficult to observe the achievement of monetary policy commitment.

Extraction of Product Evolution Tree from Source Code of Product Variants

Proceedings of the 17th International Software Product Line Conference SPLC '13 Proceedings of the 17th International Software Product Line Conferenc

Scanning Probe Microscopy of Poly(p-phenylene benzobisthiazole) Lamellar Crystal

Rigid polymer, poly(p-phenylene benzobisthiazole), formed lamellar crystals where the molecular chains were oriented perpendicular to the lamellae. It was supposed that, because of wide distribution in the chain length, the lamellar surface bristled with the chain cilia among which many voids were included. Crystallographically, this region afforded us a transitional structure from full to deficient packings of chains. The structure was analyzed using the scanning probe microscope. In the course the method for imaging one molecular chain end was developed. From the images it was concluded that an isolated long cilius did not move so violently at room temperature

Measuring Copying of Java Archives

Copying the whole of a library is one of the major types of reuse in software development.In Java, a single library archive file often contains other libraries it depends on, but users of the library hardly know about such inner libraries.Since reusing libraries is a black-box method, developers may combine some librarieswithout knowing that those libraries contain the same library inside independently.As a result, a library may contain inside several copies of a library it reuses.In this research, we measured copying of jar archives in the Maven Central Repository, a collection of open source Java libraries.Our results show that about 14% of top-level jar files are reused in other jar filesand some of them are duplicated in a single jar file.We also found that some libraries contain two or more different versions of the same library

Public awareness of risk factors for cancer among the Japanese general population: A population-based survey

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to provide information on awareness of the attributable fraction of cancer causes among the Japanese general population. METHODS: A nationwide representative sample of 2,000 Japanese aged 20 or older was asked about their perception and level of concern about various environmental and genetic risk factors in relation to cancer prevention, as a part of an Omnibus Survey. Interviews were conducted with 1,355 subjects (609 men and 746 women). RESULTS: Among 12 risk factor candidates, the attributable fraction of cancer-causing viral and bacterial infection was considered highest (51%), followed by that of tobacco smoking (43%), stress (39%), and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (37%). On the other hand, the attributable fractions of cancer by charred fish and meat (21%) and alcohol drinking (22%) were considered low compared with other risk factor candidates. For most risk factors, attributable fraction responses were higher in women than in men. As a whole, the subjects tended to respond with higher values than those estimated by epidemiologic evidence in the West. The attributable fraction of cancer speculated to be genetically determined was 32%, while 36% of cancer was considered preventable by improving lifestyle. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that awareness of the attributable fraction of cancer causes in the Japanese general population tends to be dominated by cancer-causing infection, occupational exposure, air pollution and food additives rather than major lifestyle factors such as diet