Mathematics & Science Education and Income: An Empirical Study in Japan

Abstract: Since the second half of the 1990s, the decline in academic standards in mathematics and science among undergraduate students in Japan has been noted. Despite this, problems in science education have become increasingly severe, and their impact is having a mounting effect on Japan's economy. This paper studies the return to a university education in Japan by taking into account the relative ranking of the universities. We present an empirical analysis of how annual income differs depending on whether a major is natural science or humanities. We have found that science graduates have a higher average income than humanities graduates indicates that the added value they are producing is higher than that of humanities graduates. Of particular interest is the fact that a comparison of humanities graduates of A rank universities who did not sit admission examinations in mathematics with science graduates of B rank university showed that it was the science graduates who recorded higher average income at every age grade. The above comparison also reveals that even those humanities graduates of A rank universities who did sit admission examinations in mathematics are out-earned by science graduates of B rank universities in the under 30 and 55 and over age groups

Phylogeny and ontogeny of mental time

Humans have mental time in our mind, apart from physical time that is a part of system that governs the physical world, and memory is our key cognitive ability for recognizing the passage of time. Recent studies have suggested that the memory system of several nonhuman animals may have an incidental nature, which is also a feature of episodic memory. In addition, apes, which are phylogenetically close to humans, have an ability to remember a single past event. In the case of humans, preverbal infants under the age of two are able to retain long-term memory of a single event and apply it to predict a future event. Thus, nonhuman animals and preverbal human infants both have their own specific mental time travel abilities, and there is a phylogenetic and ontogenic basis of full-fledged mental time travel that can be found in human adults

Current status of MHI’s CO2 recovery technology and optimization of CO2 recovery plant with a PC fired power plant

AbstractIt is the opinion of the authors that CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) technology can significantly contribute as an effective countermeasure against climate change, allowing us to continue the utilization of fossil fuels for primary energy production. However for this technology to be widely deployed on a commercial basis there are three key issues that need to be addressed; (1) Reduction in energy consumption, (2) Efficient integration with other environmental control equipment of a PC power plant and (3) Reduction in the decrease of net electrical output.MHI has delivered multiple commercial CO2 recovery plants in the chemical and fertilizer industries, which recover CO2 from natural gas fired flue gas, with four commercial plants in operation and another four under construction, all utilizing the proprietary KM-CDR process.In order to gain experience with CO2 recovery from a coal fired flue gas stream, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), together with a subsidy from RITE and cooperation from J-POWER, constructed a 10 metric ton per day (T/D) CO2 recovery demonstration plant at the 2×500 MW Matsushima power station in southern Japan. This demonstration plant has subsequently achieved more than 4,000 hours of successful test operation during 2006–2007 with a further 1,000 hours during 2008, and testing continues today. The demonstration testing confirmed that the KM-CDR process is applicable to coal fired flue gas streams. Future research priorities include the improved integration of the CO2 recovery process with the flue gas pre-treatment components and the additional optimization of removal and separation methods for coal based impurities accumulating in the absorbent.An issue of concern for power plant operators is the reduction of the net electrical output due to the demands of CO2 recovery process. MHI has made significant improvements in this area and in the efficiency of absorbents. However, it is necessary to further reduce the adverse impact on the net electrical output of the power plant via astute integration of the energy transferred between the power plant and the Post Combustion CO2 Capture (PCC) plant. MHI is investigating the following concepts; (1) Utilizing the waste heat of the PCC plant for the power plant, (2) Utilizing heat recovery from the flue gas for the CO2 recovery process and (3) Utilizing the compression heat of the CO2 compressor for the CO2 recovery process

Determination of the Primary Organ is Difficult for Poorly Differentiated Adenocarcinoma with Signet-Ring Cells of the Esophagus and Urinary Bladder

Introduction: Diagnosis of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with signet-ring cells of the esophagus and urinary bladder is very difficult.Presentation of Cases: We report 2 cases of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with signet-ring cells, 1 in the esophagus and 1 in the urinary bladder.Conclusion: Infiltration of cells of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with signet-ring cells occurs in early stage of the cancer development. Therefore, complete removal is difficult for these cancers of the esophagus and urinary bladder

Neonatal Fc receptor induces intravenous immunoglobulin growth suppression in Langerhans cell histiocytosis

The neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) plays a role in trafficking IgG and albumin and is thought to mediate intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy for certain diseases. IVIG can be used for the treatment of human Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH); however, the mechanism remains unclear. The expression and function of FcRn protein have not been studied in LCH, though the expression of FcRn messenger RNA (mRNA) have been reported. In this report, we confirmed the expression of FcRn in 26 of 30 pathological cases (86.7%) diagnosed immunohistochemically as LCH. The expression was independent of age, gender, location, multi- or single-system, and the status of BRAFV600E immunostaining. We also confirmed the expression of FcRn mRNA and protein in the human LCH-like cell line, ELD-1. FcRn suppressed albumin consumption and growth of IVIG preparation-treated ELD-1 cells, but not of IVIG preparation-untreated or FcRn-knockdown ELD-1 cells. In addition, FITC-conjugated albumin was taken into Rab11-positive recycle vesicles in mock ELD-1 cells but not in FcRn-knockdown ELD-1 cells. IVIG preparation prolonged this status in mock ELD-1 cells. Therefore, ELD-1 recycled albumin via FcRn and albumin was not used for metabolism. Our results increase our understanding of the molecular mechanism of IVIG treatment of LCH

Prognostic value of an increased in flourine-18 deoxyglucose uptake in patients with myocardial infarction: Comparision with stress thallium imaging

AbstractObjectives. This study was undertaken to evaluate the prognostic value of an increase in fluorine (F)-18 deoxyglucose uptake compared wilh clinical, angiographic and stress thallium findings in patients with myocardial infarction.Background. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging using F-18 deoxyglucose has been applied to assess tissue viability in patients with coronary artery disease. We hypothesized that patients with a myocardial segment with augmented F-18 deoxyglucose uptake are at high risk for a future cardiac event.Methods. One hundred fifty-eight consecutive patients with myocardial infarction referred for F-18 deoxyglucose PET and stress thallium scans were studied. Follow-up was obtained in 84 patients at a mean interval of 23 months to investigate prognostic implications of radionuclide studies.Results. Seventeen patients had a cardiac event during the follow-up interval. Univariate analysis showed that an increase in F-18 deosyglucose uptake was the best predictor of a future cardiac event (p = 0.0006), followed by the number of stenosed vessels (p = 0.008). In the multivariate analysis, when an increase in F-18 deoxyglucose uptake was entered into the model, only angiographic variables had an independent value, whereas no other radionuclide variables showed value. Among patients who did not show redistribution, a future cardiac event was observed more often in patients with than in those without an increase in F-18 deoxyglucose uptake (p < 0.05).Conclusions. Thus, an increase in F-18 deoxyglucose uptake seemed to be the best predictor of a future cardiac event among all clinical, angiographic and redionuclide variables in this study of stable patients with myocardial infarction. Even when a stress thallium-201 scan does not show redistribution, those patients who have an increase in F-18 deoxyglucose uptake in a PET study may be at risk for a future cardiac event, and these patients may need aggressive treatment to prevent a future cardiac event

Synthesis of YNi2B2C thin films by magnetron sputtering

Thin films of YNi2B2C superconductor by the magnetron sputtering technique have been synthesized. The YNi2B2C phase was found to crystallize very uniformly after annealing at 1050 °C in vacuum. The structure was investigated and the electric and magnetic properties were characterized. The films were c-axis oriented and showed a Tc onset of ~15 K by both magnetization and resistivity measurements. The results of the critical current measurement suggested the existence of anisotropies of pinning force and an upper critical field Bc2

Nepmucin, a novel HEV sialomucin, mediates L-selectin–dependent lymphocyte rolling and promotes lymphocyte adhesion under flow

Lymphocyte trafficking to lymph nodes (LNs) is initiated by the interaction between lymphocyte L-selectin and certain sialomucins, collectively termed peripheral node addressin (PNAd), carrying specific carbohydrates expressed by LN high endothelial venules (HEVs). Here, we identified a novel HEV-associated sialomucin, nepmucin (mucin not expressed in Peyer's patches [PPs]), that is expressed in LN HEVs but not detectable in PP HEVs at the protein level. Unlike conventional sialomucins, nepmucin contains a single V-type immunoglobulin (Ig) domain and a mucin-like domain. Using materials affinity-purified from LN lysates with soluble L-selectin, we found that two higher molecular weight species of nepmucin (75 and 95 kD) were decorated with oligosaccharides that bind L-selectin as well as an HEV-specific MECA-79 monoclonal antibody. Electron microscopic analysis showed that nepmucin accumulates in the extended luminal microvillus processes of LN HEVs. Upon appropriate glycosylation, nepmucin supported lymphocyte rolling via its mucin-like domain under physiological flow conditions. Furthermore, unlike most other sialomucins, nepmucin bound lymphocytes via its Ig domain, apparently independently of lymphocyte function–associated antigen 1 and very late antigen 4, and promoted shear-resistant lymphocyte binding in combination with intercellular adhesion molecule 1. Collectively, these results suggest that nepmucin may serve as a dual-functioning PNAd in LN HEVs, mediating both lymphocyte rolling and binding via different functional domains