Background: The Japanese writing system has two distinctive orthographies: morphographic Kanji and syllabographic Kana. The difference between Kanji and Kana in terms of both character-sound ...correspondences (i.e., pronunciation predictability) and the character-meaning relationship is quite striking. Research on acquired dyslexia in Japanese means studying "monolingual-bi-scriptal readers" with brain damage, giving us a rare chance to examine whether the identical brain damage has similar or discrepant effects on the processes of reading aloud in different orthographies.
Aims: This article mainly reviews cognitive neuropsychological research on Japanese acquired dyslexia and proposed reading models for Japanese, then asks how well existing reading models can explain patterns of impaired oral reading in Japanese.
Main Contribution: This review attempts to provide a comprehensive picture of research on Japanese acquired dyslexia, which is still not especially well-known in the English literature and has not even been critically considered in Japan. Such a review may offer a better understanding of dyslexia patterns in bi-scriptal writing system. Theoretical interpretations of Japanese acquired dyslexia using the triangle model and the Dual Route Cascaded (DRC) model developed for English also provide implication about common cognitive procedures for reading across different orthographies.
Conclusion: Cognitive neuropsychological studies which used well-manipulated and well-controlled reading stimuli revealed that Japanese patients with acquired dyslexia display effects of the same psycholinguistic variables as those observed in English acquired dyslexic patients and in both Kanji and Kana. This suggests (i) that patterns of Japanese acquired dyslexia are script-nonspecific (i.e., script-independent) and (ii) that the manner in which brain disease/injury disrupts reading processes is probably the same across different orthographies (i.e., a universal basis for acquired dyslexia). Together, these two outcomes imply universal mechanisms underlying oral reading. The triangle model could account for patterns of Japanese acquired dyslexia, whereas the DRC model needed to incorporate additional assumptions. So, certain features of the models and results may favour the former model.
Inspired by the dicationic nature of the electrophilic fluorinating reagent, Selectfluor (1), we rationally designed a series of dicarboxylic acid precatalysts (2), which, when deprotonated, act as ...anionic phase-transfer catalysts for asymmetric fluorination of alkenes. Among them, 2a having the shortest linker moiety efficiently catalyzed unprecedented 6-endo-fluoro-cyclization of various allylic amides, affording fluorinated dihydrooxazine compounds with high enantioselectivity (up to 99% ee). In addition to cyclic substrates, acyclic trisubstituted alkenes underwent the reaction with good diastereoselectivity, whereas low diastereoselectivity was observed for linear disubstituted alkenes. Results suggest that the reaction proceeds via a fluoro-carbocation intermediate.
In super-aged societies, high salt intake substantially increases the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease. Perceived low salty taste often prompts the addition of table salt to food. However, ...it remains unclear how older adults perceive the nature and intensity of salty taste in the mouth and brain. We compared the perceptions of salty taste intensities of older adults with those of young adults. Participants were 74 healthy adults: 31 older (age, 60-81 years 65.0 ± 5.5 SD) and 43 young (age, 21-39 years 25.0 ± 3.6 SD). Our research project comprises three sequential experiments. This article reports on the first two, which were (1) static and (2) dynamic sensory evaluations of taste perceptions in the mouth. Participants assessed the taste of 0.3 M and 0.5 M sodium chloride solutions in two types of sensory evaluations: (1) a cup tasting test, in which they sipped the solution from cups, spat it out, and rated static salty taste intensity, and (2) a time-intensity sensory evaluation, in which the solutions were delivered to participants' tongues through a custom-made delivery system while they recorded dynamic taste intensities on a hand-held meter. Older adults perceived significantly lower taste intensities than young adults (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001 for 0.3 M and 0.5 M, respectively). Reaction timings for both solutions did not differ, but the slopes for both concentrations were significantly lower for older adults than for young adults (p < 0.001). Using a standardized system allowed us to evaluate and directly compare real-time feedback on taste intensities according to age. This study is the first to characterize the time-intensity profiles of salty taste intensity in older adults. Our findings show that older adults do not take longer to recognize a salty taste, but their perception of taste intensity slowly increases, and yet remains lower than that of young adults. This suggests that older adults should be aware of the tendency to add more salt to their food to compensate for their low perceptions of salty taste. We would like to suggest them to savor and chew sufficiently during eating to optimize the perceived salty taste. Furthermore, our results offer a reference for ordinary citizens' taste-intensity perceptions; our standardized system could be usefully integrated into clinical follow-up examinations and treatments.
The identification of activity locations in con- tinuous GPS trajectories is an essential preliminary step in obtaining person trip data and for activity-based trans- portation demand forecasting. In ...this research, a two-step methodology for identifying activity stop locations is pro- posed. In the first step, an improved density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise （DBSCAN） algorithm identifies stop points and moving points; then in the second step, the support vector machines （SVMs） method distin- guishes activity stops from non-activity stops among the identified stop points. A time sequence constraint and a direction change constraint are applied as improvements to DBSCAN （yielding an improved algorithm known as C-DBSCAN）. Then three major features are extracted for use in the SVMs method： stop duration, mean distance to the centroid of a cluster of points at a stop location, and the shorter of distances from current location to home and to the workplace. The proposed methodology was tested using GPS data collected from mobile phones in the Nagoya area of Japan. The C-DBSCAN algorithm achieves an accuracy of 90 % in identifying stop points in the first step, while the SVMs method is 96 % accurate in distin- guishing the locations of activity stops from non-activity stops in the second step. Compared to other variants of DBSCAN used to identify activity locations from GPS trajectories, this two-step method is generally superior.
Abstract
Periodontal disease is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects various peripheral organs. The periodontal inflamed surface area (PISA) quantifies periodontitis severity and the spread ...of inflammatory wounds. This study aimed to investigate the association between PISA and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), a systemic inflammation marker. This study included 250 community-dwelling septuagenarians (69–71 years). We collected information on their medical (e.g., diabetes and dyslipidemia) and dental examinations (e.g., measurement of the probing pocket depth). Generalized linear model analysis was used to explore the association between PISA and hs-CRP levels. There was a significant difference in hs-CRP levels between groups with PISA ≥ 500 and < 500 (p = 0.017). Moreover, the generalized linear model analysis revealed a significant association between PISA and hs-CRP levels (risk ratio = 1.77; p = 0.033) even after adjusting other factors. Further, we found a correlation between PISA and hs-CRP (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, rs = 0.181; p = 0.023). Our findings suggest that PISA is an effective index for estimating the effect of periodontitis on the whole body, enabling medical-dental cooperation.
To stabilize SN2 transition state‐like penta‐coordinate carbon species, triaryl‐substituted cationic carbon compounds bearing a moderately flexible 7‐6‐7‐ring skeleton with sulfur donors were ...synthesized and characterized. Electronic effects of para substituents (R=Cl, F, H, CH3, SMe, OMe) of the two equatorial aryl groups bound to the cationic central carbon were investigated systematically along with a planar bidentate thioxanthene derivative. X‐ray analysis on their solid‐state structures showed that the parent (R=H), chloro‐, fluoro‐ and methyl‐derivatives were tetracoordinate carbon (sulfonium) structures, while the p‐MeO and thioxanthenyl system were pentacoordinate carbocation structures. The Hammett substituent constants for the para substituents (σp+) correlates well with the bonding in these compounds. The methylthio‐derivative with intermediate Hammett substituent constants (p‐MeS; σp+=−0.60) showed a tetracooridnate solid‐state structure, though solution UV‐Vis properties suggested the presence of a penta‐coordinate structure. These findings amount to the first unambiguous solution evidence of the hypervalent apical 3c–4e interactions in pentacoordinate carbon compounds.
Electronic tuning of ground‐state structures for tetra‐ and penta‐coordinate carbon species has been achieved by changing electronic properties of the equatorial aryl groups on the central carbon, confirmed by a correlation between Hammett para‐substituent constant and solid‐state structures of a series of cationic species based on a 7‐6‐7 tricyclic framework.
This study investigates which factors can influence bicycle accidents for a variety of age groups at the traffic analysis zone level. The cyclists were divided into four age groups: child, young, ...adult, and elderly. To accommodate for the potential variation in the influence of exogenous factors for these age groups, we utilized the multivariate Poisson gamma mixture model. The formulated model not only incorporates the heterogeneity and over-dispersion of the unobserved factors but also allows for the variance of the covariance between the age groups among the zones. The zone-level variables considered in this study include sociodemographic characteristics, socioeconomic characteristics, the built environment, road network characteristics, and traffic characteristics. The model was estimated using bicycle accident data for the year 2011 in Nagoya, Japan. The estimated results clarify the impacts of the explanatory variables for the respective age groups. Children tend to experience more accidents in their residential zones, while the young and adult age groups have more accidents in zones that have many companies. All age groups are more likely to have accidents in the area of many shops. The elderly group is greatly affected by both the number of bicycle trips and its spatial spillover effect, implying that they are most prone to bicycle accidents among all age groups. The findings of this research can assist decision-makers in making proactive decisions to improve bicycle safety.
In the vitrification of high-level radioactive waste, it is important to understand the crystallization behavior because precipitation of molybdenum (Mo) phase reduces the chemical durability of the ...waste form. In this study, the crystallization of Mo phase under slow cooling conditions was investigated with glasses of SiO2–B2O3–Al2O3–CaO–Na2O–MoO3 systems and simulated high-level waste (HLW) compositions. When the B2O3 in the glass decreases and the Al2O3 increases, the phase separation of Na2MoO4 and the crystallization of powellite (CaMoO4) were promoted. The waste components included in the HLW glass has the effect of increasing the MoO3 solubility and suppressing crystallization. Furthermore, it was found that the suppressing effect was further enhanced by addition of rare earth element oxides. In contrast, there was no suppressing effect of addition of V2O5 on the crystallization of powellite. The precipitation of the Na2MoO4 is mainly related to liquid-liquid immiscibility, while the crystallization of powellite depends on the multiple factors, an equilibrium MoO3 solubility at high temperature, nucleation and growth rates under slow-cooling and crystallization of Ca-silicate phase. The compositional effects on the crystallization can be described using the melt viscosity.
In the context of global suburbanization and population aging, a low-speed, automated vehicle (LSAV) system provides essential mobility services in suburban residential areas. Although extensive ...studies on shared autonomous vehicle (SAV) services have been conducted, quantitative investigations on the operation of suburban LSAV systems are limited. Based on a demonstration pilot project of an autonomous vehicle called “Slocal Automated Driving”, we investigated the performance of an SAV system considering several scenarios in Kozoji Newtown, a suburban commuter town in Japan. The agent-based simulation results revealed that 40 LSAVs can satisfy the demands of 2263 daily trips with an average wait time of 15 min. However, in the case of a high-speed scenario, the same fleet size improved the level of service (LOS) by reducing the average wait time to two and a half minutes and halving the in-vehicle time. By contrast, the wait time in terms of the average and 95th percentile of the no-sharing ride scenario drastically deteriorated to an unacceptable level. Based on the fluctuations of hourly share rates, wait times, and the number of vacant vehicles, we determined that preparing for the potential fleet insufficiency periods from 7:00–13:00 and 15:00–18:00 can improve the LOS.
GPS technology was used in person trip (PT) survey since mid-1990, and this technology achieved its popularity because of the improvement of accuracy and portability of GPS device. Although GPS data ...could provide precise spatiotemporal information of vehicular or personal movements, the transportation mode (in the case of personal movements with wearable GPS devices) and trip purpose are unable to be obtained from the GPS directly. In addition, the GPS data error identification and the trip segment from the continuous GPS data are quite fundamental to transportation mode identification and trip purpose inference. In this paper, we summarized the methodologies and input variables utilized to segment trip, infer trip purpose as well as identify transportation mode in the existing researches. Compared to probability method and criteria-based method, Machine Learning are often applied in detecting transportation mode. On the other hand, rules-based methods are more popular than probabilistic method and machine learning as the tool for inferring the trip purpose. Finally, researches attempting to utilize the data from accelerometer which are popularly integrated in smartphones demonstrates the potential of more accurate personal trip data derivation from smartphones can be achieved with much less burden on the respondents in the future.
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