Non‐hierarchical learning: sharing knowledge, power and outcomes

Arguing that every student has the capacity to succeed and that every student must be provided with the opportunity to reach their full potential, this article introduces a new pedagogic approach that draws on a wide range of influences. Linking theoretical practices from sociology, pedagogy, social and educational psychology, and cultural studies, the approach posits that teaching and learning should be conducted in non‐hierarchical classrooms where all members are equal and working towards shared objectives. A theoretical frame is outlined and the factors that helped shape it are reflected on. A conceptual framework which covers the goals of instruction, instructional materials, classroom management, instructional methods, and assessment is also presented. It is hoped that educators will consider the concepts included in this article and, if possible, incorporate them into their teaching practices

UNIFIED LANGUAGE SYSTEM FOR SOLVING PROBLEMS IN WORKPLACES - an INTEGRATED & INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY -

This paper describes analyzed working environment issues from statistics, ISO ergonomics standards and ecology of work theories in order to identify the requirements for the information system analysis and design, i.e., abstraction hierarchy with shift of languages, closed bottom up loop work system, etc. These requirements are satisfied by a methodology called ULS (unified language system). As a base platform of Ecological Approach to Human Machine Systems, ULS is a theory with technique for translating business languages (manuals: natural language) into modeling language (systems language) i.e. DFDs (Data Flow Diagrams), ERDs (Entity Relationship Diagrams) and Mini-specs (Miniature specifications) which are ready to be fed to the programming language generation process. Also, this study proposes successful integration of all the business systems related languages, i.e., natural/mathematical/logic languages, systems language and programming language in the form of unified language operating platform. It is concluded that the integration of business languages relying on ecological approach is promising to further enhance the worker oriented management systems theory and practice in the Web-based business world

On Structured Manuals Analysis and Design for Japanese Enterprises

This paper tries to establish an analysis and design method for internationally intelligible Japanese business manuals compilation, using a theory of transformation between a natural language and a systems language which consists of DFDs (Data Flow Diagrams), ERDs (Entity Relationship Diagrams) and Mini-specs. In Japanese enterprises nowadays, business manuals are virtually a kind of policy statement or a list of “kitei”, or regulations which do not specify detailed business procedures. On the other hand, a typical American business manual defines step-by-step business processes in greater detail. Moreover, unlike American companies, Japanese enterprises are not utilizing business manuals for the purpose of analyzing and design of computer systems and software. Recently, however, because of the now de facto global standards in terms of quality control (ISO9000s), environment protection (ISO14000s) and accounting procedures (IAS) or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) computer application package which contains some parts of these standards, Japanese enterprises have come to realize the importance of incorporating American style business manuals. With this background in mind, this paper firstly defines the major characteristics essential for an “ideal” business manual that on the one hand takes into consideration current global business standards and on the other hand is compatible with the notion of systems analysis or design. Also, optimal business manual written in a natural language should be able to be transformed automatically into systems language expressed in DFDs and ERDs and Mini-specs. Finally this paper tries to establish a transformation theory called Structured Manuals Analysis and Design Theory. First of all, in researching preceding works related to systems language, this paper found that the current systems languages are designed to easily be translated directly from natural language (English) with only several basic transformation rules. Secondly, this paper found that the structure of a typical American business manual is closely related and coherent to the structure of a systems language, i.e. the policy part corresponding to ERD, the procedure part to the DFD and the process part to the Mini-spec. Thirdly, to apply the transformation rules to manuals written in the Japanese language, this paper utilizes such linguistic concepts as “surface structure” and “deep structure” (N.Chomsky) with “structured inter-language” which will be defined precisely later in this paper. To convert a natural language into the systems language, the structured inter-language supported by “Deep Case Theory” (C.Fillmore) plays the most important role in terms of verifying the semantic equivalence between natural and systems languages. Finally this conversion theory is computerized into a software package named SMAD (Structured Manuals Analysis and Design). The SMAD has already been successfully applied to Japanese enterprises’ business procedures and proven to be valid. The transformation theory also covers reverse transformation, i.e. from the systems language into a natural language – in our case, English or Japanese. Although there are some points to be improved, the transformation theory will contribute to Japanese enterprises that are about to be globalized by letting them utilize an effective business procedure manual

A Connectionist Simulation of the Form-Meaning Relationship in Japanese Business Manuals

For improving natural/computer language conversion algorisms, this paper proposes an account of the acquisition of semantic relations (form-meaning relationship) of Japanese complex sentences using the basic concepts of connectionism and a construction-based theory of grammar (Fillmore 1988), especially those parameters extensively asserted in Ohori (2001). Firstly, this paper proposes that semantic relation (form-meaning relationship) emerges in causal chain (Croft 1991) and tries to map each complex sentence to semantic relations (i.e., cause and reason). The motivation behind the network is the notion that merely the drive to map an input sequence of sentences to a semantic relations-output is sufficient to induce the necessary internal abstractions to facilitate the mapping. To test this hypothesis, a Simple Recurrent Network (Elman 1990) has been created and tested. This paper demonstrates the emergence of the notion of "meaning" in the neural network that successfully learns to map from "sequence of sentences (form)" to "semantic relations (meaning)"

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

Bridging Information Systems and Workplaces with Unified Systems Language (USL)

To solve part of current working places\u27 problems, this study attempted to utilize unified systems language (USL) based on information science and linguistics. USL is an interdisciplinary method with technique for translating business languages (natural language) into modeling languages i.e. DFDs (Data Flow Diagrams), ERDs (Entity Relationship Diagrams) and Mini-specs (Miniature specifications), universal modeling language UML and object constraints language OCL(OMG 2003), etc., which are ready to be fed to the systems development, software design, and/or programming language generation process. The USL method is applied to a job in one of the service industries in Japan and proven to be valid and both employer and employee are well motivated to achieve a harmonious relationship. This study also finds that efficiency rates are strongly correlated to the degree of environmental factors in working places. In other words, the degree of working place efficiency can be measured and controlled by the USL factors. It is concluded that the USL application to designing working places should be promising to further enhance the integrated Workplace-management with ecological approach

On Structured Manuals Analysis and Design for Japanese Enterprises

publisher多摩　本論文は国際的に通用する日本企業の業務マニュアルの分析・設計手法を、自然言語からシステム言語（DFD:Data Flow Diagrams,ERD:Entity Relationship Diagrams,Mini‐ spec ）への変換理論を利用し開発するものである。変換理論は自然言語（本論文では日本語及び英語）からシステム言語への逆変換も範囲に含めている。いくつか改善の余地は残すものの本変換理論は日本企業に最適な業務マニュアルの作成を可能にし、国際化に直面している日本企業に資することが出来ると思われる。 　This paper tries to establish an analysis and design method for internationally intelligible Japanese business manuals compilation, using a theory of transformation between a natural language and a systems language which consists of DFDs (Data Flow Diagrams), ERDs (Entity Relationship Diagrams) and Mini-specs. The transformation theory also covers reverse transformation, i.e. from the systems language into a natural language - in our case, English or Japanese. Although there are some points to be improved, the transformation theory will contribute to Japanese enterprises that are about to be globalized by letting them utilize an effective business procedure manual.