A Dynamic Decision Model of Marriage, Childbearing, and Labor Force Participation of Women in Japan

This paper empirically examines the life-time joint decision problem of marriage, childbearing, and labor force participation for women in Japan, motivated by the recent decrease in the number of marriages and the total fertility rate. Using the 1993-95 Japanese Panel Surveys of Consumption, the structural estimation result of a dynamic decision model suggests that women benefit from labor force participation, and that this gain exceed financial benefits from earnings. However, the probability of finding full-time work within a year for housewives or part-time workers is estimated as less than 20%, and is even lower for less-educated women. As regards family formation, utility gains and losses from the first child are insignificant or rather negative, those from the second child are significantly positive, those from the third or subsequent child are generally insignificant. Utility gains and losses from marriage are significantly negative if one leaves out financial advantages gained from the husband's earnings. The estimation using a recent sample suggests that the sum of the estimated values of marriage and two children as a typical family unit is negative for women in the labor force.dynamic programming, female labor supply, fertility, marriage

Uncovering the Goodhart's Law: Theory and Evidence

This paper addresses the Goodhart's Law in a cash-in-advance economy with monetary policy regime switching. Using the Japanese data of the money velocity, we found that although our cash-credit model fails to generate a downward trend in the actual velocity, the model succeeds in terms of velocity's variation and correlations with money growth rates or nominal interest rates, with procyclicality of velocity unpredictable.Goodhart' Law; velocity of money; Taylor rule; Markov regime swiching; cash-credit model

Language, Nation, Race

A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. Language, Nation, Race explores the various language reforms at the onset of Japanese modernity, a time when a “national language” (kokugo) was produced to standardize Japanese. Faced with the threat of Western colonialism, Meiji intellectuals proposed various reforms to standardize the Japanese language in order to quickly educate the illiterate masses. This book liberates these language reforms from the predetermined category of the “nation,” for such a notion had yet to exist as a clear telos to which the reforms aspired. Atsuko Ueda draws on, while critically intervening in, the vast scholarship of language reform that engaged with numerous works of postcolonial and cultural studies. She examines the first two decades of the Meiji period, with specific focus on the issue of race, contending that no analysis of imperialism or nationalism is possible without it

Extensive reading and the effect of shadowing

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of extensive reading (ER) and shadowing on performance on reading comprehension tests. This study addressed the following research questions: (a) Can extensive reading improve students’ reading comprehension? and (b) can shadowing enhance the effects of extensive reading? The participants in the study were 89 Japanese university students majoring in human science. Based on two experimental groups and two control groups, we examined the relationships and interactions of the two variables (ER and shadowing) over a one-year treatment (two semesters), using ANOVA. Three reading comprehension tests, a pretest, posttest 1 (after the first semester), and posttest 2 (after the one-year treatment), were administered. The results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference among groups, but a significant difference was found between the three test scores. Results are also considered in terms of an increased understanding of shadowing, and implications for curricula and classroom applications are discussed

Continuous decrease in serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in a neuropsychiatric syndrome of systemic lupus erythematosus patient with organic brain changes

In the present study, the authors reported on a case in neuropsychiatric syndromes of systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) with irreversible organic brain changes. The authors also longitudinally investigated serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in the patient. We found that serum BDNF levels in the NPSLE patient with irreversible organic brain change were consistently low, independent of the severity of psychiatric symptoms. Thus, the longitudinal measurement of serum BDNF levels might be useful in predicting the prognosis of NPSLE

Disturbed hippocampal intra-network in first-episode of drug-naïve major depressive disorder

Complex networks inside the hippocampus could provide new insights into hippocampal abnormalities in various psychiatric disorders and dementia. However, evaluating intra-networks in the hippocampus using MRI is challenging. Here, we employed a high spatial resolution of conventional structural imaging and independent component analysis to investigate intra-networks structural covariance in the hippocampus. We extracted the intra-networks based on the intrinsic connectivity of each 0.9 mm isotropic voxel to every other voxel using a data-driven approach. With a total volume of 3 cc, the hippocampus contains 4115 voxels for a 0.9 mm isotropic voxel size or 375 voxels for a 2 mm isotropic voxel of high-resolution functional or diffusion tensor imaging. Therefore, the novel method presented in the current study could evaluate the hippocampal intra-networks in detail. Furthermore, we investigated the abnormality of the intra-networks in major depressive disorders. A total of 77 patients with first-episode drug-naïve major depressive disorder and 79 healthy subjects were recruited. The independent component analysis extracted seven intra-networks from hippocampal structural images, which were divided into four bilateral networks and three networks along the longitudinal axis. A significant difference was observed in the bilateral hippocampal tail network between patients with major depressive disorder and healthy subjects. In the logistic regression analysis, two bilateral networks were significant predictors of major depressive disorder, with an accuracy of 78.1%. In conclusion, we present a novel method for evaluating intra-networks in the hippocampus. One advantage of this method is that a detailed network can be estimated using conventional structural imaging. In addition, we found novel bilateral networks in the hippocampus that were disturbed in patients with major depressive disorders, and these bilateral networks could predict major depressive disorders

Follistatin-like 5 is expressed in restricted areas of the adult mouse brain: Implications for its function in the olfactory system

Follistatin‐like 5 (Fstl5), a member of the follistatin family of genes, encodes a secretory glycoprotein. Previous studies revealed that other members of this family including Fstl1 and Fstl3 play an essential role in development, homeostasis, and congenital disorders. However, the in vivo function of Fstl5 is poorly understood. To gain insight into the function of Fstl5 in the mouse central nervous system, we examined the Fstl5 expression pattern in the adult mouse brain. The results of in situ hybridization analysis showed a highly restricted pattern of Fstl5, namely, with localization in the olfactory system, hippocampal CA3 area and granular cell layer of the cerebellum. Restricted expression in the olfactory system suggests a possible role for Fstl5 in maintaining odor perception

ニホンゴ ケンシュウ ニ オケル コース デザイン ノ ケントウ ヘイセイ 12ネンド ケンキュウシャ ニホンゴ ケンシュウ オ イチレイ ト シテ

関西国際センター研究者日本語研修では、学習者それぞれの研究活動とそれに必要な日本語能力の多様性を分析し、その上での策定が試みられてきた。 本稿は、平成12年度研究者日本語研修におけるコースデザインについて報告し、研修の評価と学習者と教師との間に設定されたの場の重要性について考察する。 本研修では、(1)日本語、(2)日本語による情報収集、(3)日本語による発信技能の習得 のためのカリキュラムをに、それらの成果を学習者自身が自己評価し、個人のニーズを把握するための場を活動として配置した。その際、センター内外の活動を円滑に進めるためのの場を随時設け、教師と学習者が話し合ったうえ最も適切な研修活動が設計、実行できるよう図った。コースデザインが研修全体に果たした役割について考察するため、研修修了後も日本で研究活動を続けているに対し詳細な聞き取り調査を行った。その結果、K氏は教師が意図していた「核としての教室内学習⇒教室外・センター内発信⇒センター外運用」への流れを意識し、専門的文脈など自己の置かれた状況に応じて、学習した技能や内容を運用しモニターしていたことがわかった。 学習者の自律性を引き出すためには、学習者自身が自分の日本語学習をとして捉えられる環境の整備が必要である。また、その活用には学習方策の提示や研修設計を相談する場として、学習者と教師とのが重要であり、そこが軸となってとしての教室ととしての実践の場との間に循環が生まれていく。さらに、その対話には準備されたコースデザインの一つ一つを、学習者にとって意味のあるものとなすための重要な機能も存在すると考える