The Ageの記事、'Toyota sackings harsh but fair, say experts' by Clay Lucas (April 18, 2012 - 1:08PM)から。
'TOYOTA'S method of sacking 350 of its workers has been questioned by a human resources expert, who said the process should have been handled more sensitively.
* sacking 解任、首にすること
But labour law academics believe the sackings appear to have been handled within the law, and that unfair dismissal claims being touted by sacked workers at the Altona plant are unlikely to succeed.
* being touted by ... ...によってもてはやされる、売り込まれる
Yesterday, Toyota completed the process of making one in 10 of its 3350 employees at its Altona plant forcibly redundant.
The sackings were flagged in January, but workers did not know who was going until Monday.
Toyota beefed up security at the plant and ferried sacked workers by mini-vans to an adjacent reception centre, where they were formally dismissed.
* beef up ... ...を強化する
They were also given a folder outlining the criteria for why they were losing their job.
Many of those sacked said these criteria had little relevance to how they had performed their job.
The Australian Human Resources Institute's national president, Peter Wilson, said there was never a ''100 per cent successful way'' of taking someone's job away. ''It can get pretty ugly.''
And while Toyota had tried to handle some things thoroughly, he said, it had not gone well.
''The cars steering people over to a hall, that is a little bit militaristic - that wasn't smart,'' he said.
Voluntary redundancies often did not work out well for companies because the best talent ended up leaving, he said, and the least productive who feared they could not find other work stayed.
Toyota's forced redundancy process had given workers an assessment process that had tried to be more honest than other companies often were, said Mr Wilson, whose organisation represents 18,000 Australian firms. ''A lot of employers don't go into the reasons.''
Employees can be made redundant if their company has operational reasons that mean their job is no longer required to be performed by anyone. Companies must also comply with consultation requirements.
Labour law experts said it appeared Toyota had adhered to laws around genuine redundancies. Associate Professor Anthony Forsyth, from Monash University, said some of the criteria outlined by Toyota in employee departure documents were unusual, but others seemed ''pretty legitimate and common''.
However, Toyota's blurring of past performance and possible misconduct with the redundancy process ''might open up the possibility of the employees' union challenging the terminations under the unfair dismissal laws''. It was likely Toyota could successfully defend those sorts of claims, he said.
Among those who lost their jobs was Fadi Hassan, who worked for Toyota for 16 years. A union delegate for 11 years, he said the assessment forms were fabricated to fit a prearranged list of those management wanted gone. ''Whether I was perfect or not, they would have gotten rid of me,'' he said.
He said 13 union representatives had been fired, leaving virtually no shop stewards on the factory floor.
The ''nasty'' process shocked Mr Hassan. ''I don't know how the hell I ended up working for a company like this. They wanted to force us to adopt a Japanese culture.''
Toyota spokeswoman Beck Angel said no one had been targeted in the redundancy process.'
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
'Bank of Japan stands pat but seen keeping finger on trigger'
Reutersの記事、'Bank of Japan stands pat but seen keeping finger on trigger' (12:22am EDT) By Leika Kihara and Rie Ishiguroから。
'TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady as expected on Tuesday, holding off any new steps to help meet its new inflation target and boost activity ahead of a more thorough assessment of the economy later this month.
The decision was widely expected by markets, although the dollar still slid against the yen after the announcement on selling by traders who had speculated that the central bank could surprise them as it did in February.
The market view was BOJ policymakers would prefer to hold fire at least the next policy meeting on April 27, when revised long-term forecasts should show that a sustained end to deflation is a long way off, giving them justification to act.
* hold fire 批判を控える、事実を隠しておく、事実を他人に話さない
Traders are already factoring in a monetary easing in late April, as the government keeps up pressure for bolder steps to pull Japan out of deflation.
"The question now is not whether the BOJ could ease on April 27, but what the bank would do in taking further easing steps," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo.
"Inaction would upset politicians and disappoint markets, possibly sending the dollar below 80 yen."
Japan's economy has shown some signs of recovery on reconstruction spending after last year's earthquake. But business sentiment failed to match that improvement, the BOJ's recent tankan survey showed, suggesting that any recovery will be modest.
The BOJ maintained its assessment the economy is showing some signs of picking up but offered a cautious view on business sentiment, saying it was more or less flat.
PRESSURE REMAINS
The BOJ surprised markets in February by increasing its asset buying and loan scheme by 10 trillion yen ($121 billion) and setting a 1 percent inflation target. It held fire last month, as the yen's retreat from record highs and growing signs Japan is headed for a recovery give it some breathing space.
* give it some breathing space 熟考の機会を与える, に一息つかせる
But renewed expectations of further stimulus by the Federal Reserve, driven by Friday's disappointing U.S. jobs data, have nudged the yen to a one-month high against the dollar, keeping pressure on the BOJ to act again soon.
* nudge ～ ～を少しずつ動かす
Many on the BOJ board are ready to pull the trigger on any signs that the recovery is under threat. While they stick to the view the economy is picking up, they remain worried about risks such as slowing Chinese growth and high oil prices.
In a sign that political pressure has not subsided despite February's action, Economics Minister Motohisa Furukawa said on Tuesday he continued to expect the BOJ to take flexible, bold steps to achieve its 1 percent inflation target.
Finance Minister Jun Azumi also voiced hope for an easing this month, saying that April was key in gauging the outlook for Japan's economy because money set aside under the state budget for reconstruction from last year's earthquake will begin to flow through the economy.
"In April we have to build a solid base from which the economy can expand this year. We also have G20 meetings, and I think the BOJ will look at this closely and respond appropriately as needed," he told a news conference on Tuesday.
BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa may face demands for more action when he attends, as an observer, a new government panel to discuss measures to overcome deflation, which will hold its first meeting by the end of this month.
The BOJ, knowing political pressure will persist, wants to time its action wisely. It now expects core consumer inflation of 0.1 percent for the fiscal year that began in April and 0.5 percent for the following year, well below the 1 percent target.
With few signs of domestic price pressures, the BOJ may find it hard to justify raising its inflation forecast on April 27 unless it is accompanied by another round of stimulus.
When the BOJ next acts, it will probably again expand its 65 trillion yen asset buying and loan program, mostly by committing to purchase more government bonds. In doing so, it may need to extend the maturity of bonds it buys under the program to five years from the current two-year timeframe as two-year yields are already stuck at 0.1 percent.
Azumi and Shirakawa are scheduled to attend the G20 finance leaders' meeting to be held in Washington next week.
($1 = 82.3700 Japanese yen)
(Additional reporting by Stanley White and Rie Ishiguro; Editing by Edmund Klamann and John Mair)
'TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady as expected on Tuesday, holding off any new steps to help meet its new inflation target and boost activity ahead of a more thorough assessment of the economy later this month.
The decision was widely expected by markets, although the dollar still slid against the yen after the announcement on selling by traders who had speculated that the central bank could surprise them as it did in February.
The market view was BOJ policymakers would prefer to hold fire at least the next policy meeting on April 27, when revised long-term forecasts should show that a sustained end to deflation is a long way off, giving them justification to act.
* hold fire 批判を控える、事実を隠しておく、事実を他人に話さない
Traders are already factoring in a monetary easing in late April, as the government keeps up pressure for bolder steps to pull Japan out of deflation.
"The question now is not whether the BOJ could ease on April 27, but what the bank would do in taking further easing steps," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo.
"Inaction would upset politicians and disappoint markets, possibly sending the dollar below 80 yen."
Japan's economy has shown some signs of recovery on reconstruction spending after last year's earthquake. But business sentiment failed to match that improvement, the BOJ's recent tankan survey showed, suggesting that any recovery will be modest.
The BOJ maintained its assessment the economy is showing some signs of picking up but offered a cautious view on business sentiment, saying it was more or less flat.
PRESSURE REMAINS
The BOJ surprised markets in February by increasing its asset buying and loan scheme by 10 trillion yen ($121 billion) and setting a 1 percent inflation target. It held fire last month, as the yen's retreat from record highs and growing signs Japan is headed for a recovery give it some breathing space.
* give it some breathing space 熟考の機会を与える, に一息つかせる
But renewed expectations of further stimulus by the Federal Reserve, driven by Friday's disappointing U.S. jobs data, have nudged the yen to a one-month high against the dollar, keeping pressure on the BOJ to act again soon.
* nudge ～ ～を少しずつ動かす
Many on the BOJ board are ready to pull the trigger on any signs that the recovery is under threat. While they stick to the view the economy is picking up, they remain worried about risks such as slowing Chinese growth and high oil prices.
In a sign that political pressure has not subsided despite February's action, Economics Minister Motohisa Furukawa said on Tuesday he continued to expect the BOJ to take flexible, bold steps to achieve its 1 percent inflation target.
Finance Minister Jun Azumi also voiced hope for an easing this month, saying that April was key in gauging the outlook for Japan's economy because money set aside under the state budget for reconstruction from last year's earthquake will begin to flow through the economy.
"In April we have to build a solid base from which the economy can expand this year. We also have G20 meetings, and I think the BOJ will look at this closely and respond appropriately as needed," he told a news conference on Tuesday.
BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa may face demands for more action when he attends, as an observer, a new government panel to discuss measures to overcome deflation, which will hold its first meeting by the end of this month.
The BOJ, knowing political pressure will persist, wants to time its action wisely. It now expects core consumer inflation of 0.1 percent for the fiscal year that began in April and 0.5 percent for the following year, well below the 1 percent target.
With few signs of domestic price pressures, the BOJ may find it hard to justify raising its inflation forecast on April 27 unless it is accompanied by another round of stimulus.
When the BOJ next acts, it will probably again expand its 65 trillion yen asset buying and loan program, mostly by committing to purchase more government bonds. In doing so, it may need to extend the maturity of bonds it buys under the program to five years from the current two-year timeframe as two-year yields are already stuck at 0.1 percent.
Azumi and Shirakawa are scheduled to attend the G20 finance leaders' meeting to be held in Washington next week.
($1 = 82.3700 Japanese yen)
(Additional reporting by Stanley White and Rie Ishiguro; Editing by Edmund Klamann and John Mair)
Saturday, April 7, 2012
大学という教育機関が人に与える影響力は数値化できるのか？
NYTの記事、'Trying to Find a Measure for How Well Colleges Do' By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑAから。
'How well does a college teach, and what do its students learn? Rankings based on the credentials of entering freshmen are not hard to find, but how can students, parents and policy makers assess how well a college builds on that foundation?
What information exists has often been hidden from public view. But that may be changing.
In the wake of the No Child Left Behind federal education law, students in elementary, middle and high schools take standardized tests whose results are made public, inviting anyone to assess, however imperfectly, a school’s performance. There is no comparable trove of public data for judging and comparing colleges.
Pieces of such a system may be taking shape, however, with several kinds of national assessments — including, most controversially, standardized tests — gaining traction in recent years. More than 1,000 colleges may be using at least one of them.
“There’s a real shift in attitudes under way,” said David C. Paris, executive director of the New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability, a coalition of higher education groups. “We used to hear a lot more of, ‘The value of college can’t be measured,’ and now we hear more of, ‘Let’s talk about how we can measure.’ ”
＊ under way 〔計画・作業などが〕進行中で
In January, the New Leadership Alliance released guidelines calling on colleges to systematically “gather evidence of student learning” — though not explicitly advocating standardized tests — and release the results. The report was endorsed by several major organizations of colleges and universities.
Advocates say the point is not to measure how each college’s students perform after four years, which depends heavily on the caliber of students it enrolls in the first place, but to see how much they improve along the way. The concern is less about measuring knowledge of chemistry or literature than about harder to define skills like critical thinking and problem-solving.'
＊ caliber 〔人の〕力量、器量、手腕
'How well does a college teach, and what do its students learn? Rankings based on the credentials of entering freshmen are not hard to find, but how can students, parents and policy makers assess how well a college builds on that foundation?
What information exists has often been hidden from public view. But that may be changing.
In the wake of the No Child Left Behind federal education law, students in elementary, middle and high schools take standardized tests whose results are made public, inviting anyone to assess, however imperfectly, a school’s performance. There is no comparable trove of public data for judging and comparing colleges.
Pieces of such a system may be taking shape, however, with several kinds of national assessments — including, most controversially, standardized tests — gaining traction in recent years. More than 1,000 colleges may be using at least one of them.
“There’s a real shift in attitudes under way,” said David C. Paris, executive director of the New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability, a coalition of higher education groups. “We used to hear a lot more of, ‘The value of college can’t be measured,’ and now we hear more of, ‘Let’s talk about how we can measure.’ ”
＊ under way 〔計画・作業などが〕進行中で
In January, the New Leadership Alliance released guidelines calling on colleges to systematically “gather evidence of student learning” — though not explicitly advocating standardized tests — and release the results. The report was endorsed by several major organizations of colleges and universities.
Advocates say the point is not to measure how each college’s students perform after four years, which depends heavily on the caliber of students it enrolls in the first place, but to see how much they improve along the way. The concern is less about measuring knowledge of chemistry or literature than about harder to define skills like critical thinking and problem-solving.'
＊ caliber 〔人の〕力量、器量、手腕
Friday, April 6, 2012
'Autistic workers: loyal, talented … ignored'
The guardian記事、'Autistic workers: loyal, talented … ignored'Lynne Wallis (Friday 6 April 2012 22.57)
'Penny Andrews has a long CV for a 31-year-old. Her first job as an editorial assistant ended with her in a disciplinary hearing for publicly discussing colleagues' pay rises. Her next employer let her go for lacking initiative, while yet another insisted she had no common sense and was "ditzy". Both are inaccurate, she insists.
* ditzy 頭の弱い、ぼけてる
Andrews comes across as sharp and self-aware, with a perceptive intelligence. Currently studying for a degree in IT and communications with the Open University, she recalls: "I never fitted in. I was an observer rather than part of the team – 'the tribe' as I thought of them – because I never understood the unwritten rules."
The source of her difficulties was a mystery to everyone including her, until she was diagnosed with autism last year – late diagnosis is typical of females with autism which includes Asperger syndrome. Andrews says she always knew she was different and that the diagnosis was a relief.
"I just thought I was a terrible person who couldn't make a job, or anything else, work out. I dropped out of two previous university degree courses because of similar problems around fitting in and communication," she says.
"Now that I understand more about myself and my autism, I want to raise awareness among employers of what it is; that it isn't a bad thing, just a different thing. I would love a job that took my skills and harnessed them, because of who I am, and what I am, rather than in spite of it."
She says she can be "bubbly" if she tries really hard, but it exhausts her as it is learned behaviour rather than something that comes naturally. "If I was myself, everyone would think I was a boring cow."
Andrews, who wants to secure a place on a graduate scheme for librarianship when she has finished her degree, is one of 100 ambassadors for the National Autistic Society (NAS) and is helping promote its new Undiscovered Workforce campaign.
Launched in the House of Commons in March, with cross-party support, the campaign is aiming to increase employment opportunities. "We need MPs to help us show how much people like me have to contribute," she says. "One in every 100 of their constituents has autism, after all."
Job interviews are a huge barrier to employment because of the requirement for good communications skills. Just 15% of those with autism have full-time jobs according to NAS research, while another 9% are in part-time work. These figures compare unfavourably with the 31% of all disabled people in full-time work in the UK, while more then a quarter of all graduates with autism are unemployed, the highest rate of any disability group nationally.
The key difficulties are social interaction, establishing relationships, lack of emotional reciprocation (which can give an impression of indifference), difficulty with flexibility of thought, forward planning and thinking in abstract ways. The upside, however, is equally considerable.
* reciprocation 返すこと
According to Jane Asher, who is president of NAS, autistic people often make better employees than those known in the word of autism as "neuro-typicals" – ie, the rest of us. She explains: "People with autism tend to be very reliable and punctual. They like routine, and most won't mind doing repetitive tasks. Many are very good with maps and figures. They are usually scrupulously honest – they just don't have the guile to be anything else, and they can't lie.
"There is a huge lack of imagination on the part of employers who are missing out massively by ignoring this untapped pool of labour."
'Penny Andrews has a long CV for a 31-year-old. Her first job as an editorial assistant ended with her in a disciplinary hearing for publicly discussing colleagues' pay rises. Her next employer let her go for lacking initiative, while yet another insisted she had no common sense and was "ditzy". Both are inaccurate, she insists.
* ditzy 頭の弱い、ぼけてる
Andrews comes across as sharp and self-aware, with a perceptive intelligence. Currently studying for a degree in IT and communications with the Open University, she recalls: "I never fitted in. I was an observer rather than part of the team – 'the tribe' as I thought of them – because I never understood the unwritten rules."
The source of her difficulties was a mystery to everyone including her, until she was diagnosed with autism last year – late diagnosis is typical of females with autism which includes Asperger syndrome. Andrews says she always knew she was different and that the diagnosis was a relief.
"I just thought I was a terrible person who couldn't make a job, or anything else, work out. I dropped out of two previous university degree courses because of similar problems around fitting in and communication," she says.
"Now that I understand more about myself and my autism, I want to raise awareness among employers of what it is; that it isn't a bad thing, just a different thing. I would love a job that took my skills and harnessed them, because of who I am, and what I am, rather than in spite of it."
She says she can be "bubbly" if she tries really hard, but it exhausts her as it is learned behaviour rather than something that comes naturally. "If I was myself, everyone would think I was a boring cow."
Andrews, who wants to secure a place on a graduate scheme for librarianship when she has finished her degree, is one of 100 ambassadors for the National Autistic Society (NAS) and is helping promote its new Undiscovered Workforce campaign.
Launched in the House of Commons in March, with cross-party support, the campaign is aiming to increase employment opportunities. "We need MPs to help us show how much people like me have to contribute," she says. "One in every 100 of their constituents has autism, after all."
Job interviews are a huge barrier to employment because of the requirement for good communications skills. Just 15% of those with autism have full-time jobs according to NAS research, while another 9% are in part-time work. These figures compare unfavourably with the 31% of all disabled people in full-time work in the UK, while more then a quarter of all graduates with autism are unemployed, the highest rate of any disability group nationally.
The key difficulties are social interaction, establishing relationships, lack of emotional reciprocation (which can give an impression of indifference), difficulty with flexibility of thought, forward planning and thinking in abstract ways. The upside, however, is equally considerable.
* reciprocation 返すこと
According to Jane Asher, who is president of NAS, autistic people often make better employees than those known in the word of autism as "neuro-typicals" – ie, the rest of us. She explains: "People with autism tend to be very reliable and punctual. They like routine, and most won't mind doing repetitive tasks. Many are very good with maps and figures. They are usually scrupulously honest – they just don't have the guile to be anything else, and they can't lie.
"There is a huge lack of imagination on the part of employers who are missing out massively by ignoring this untapped pool of labour."
'Scientists Link Gene Mutation to Autism Risk'
NYTの記事、'Scientists Link Gene Mutation to Autism Risk' By BENEDICT CAREY (April 4, 2012)から。
'Teams of scientists working independently have for the first time identified several gene mutations that they agree sharply increase the chances that a child will develop autism. They have found further evidence that the risk increases with the age of the parents, particularly in fathers over age 35.
The gene mutations are extremely rare and together account for a tiny fraction of autism cases — in these studies, only a handful of children. Experts said the new research gave scientists something they had not had: a clear strategy for building some understanding of the disease’s biological basis.
Scientists have been debating the relative influence of inherited risk and environmental factors in autism for decades, and few today doubt that there is a strong genetic component.
But biologists have groped in vain for a reliable way to clarify the underlying genetics of these so-called autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger syndrome and related social difficulties that are being diagnosed at alarmingly high rates — on average, in one in 88 children, according to a government estimate released last week.
* grope～ ～を手探りして見つける
Previous studies have produced a scattering of gene findings but little consensus or confidence in how to proceed.
The new research — reported in three papers posted online on Wednesday in the journal Nature — provides some measure of both, some experts said. There are probably hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand, gene variations that could disrupt brain development enough to result in social delays.
An intensified search for rare mutations could turn up enough of these to account for 15 percent to 20 percent of all autism cases, some experts say, and allow researchers a chance to see patterns and some possible mechanisms to explain what goes awry.
* go awry つまずく、失敗する、
“These studies aren’t so much a breakthrough, because we knew this was coming,” said Jonathan Sebat, a professor of psychiatry and cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego, who was not a part of the research teams. “But I’d say it’s a turning point. We now have a reliable way forward, and I think it’s fair to expect that we will find 20, 30, maybe more such mutations in the next year or two.”
Other researchers were more cautious, saying that the genetics of rare mutations was not yet well enough understood to make conclusive statements about their effect on the behavior of specific genes.
“This is a great beginning, and I’m impressed with the work, but we don’t know the cause of these rare mutations, or even their levels in the general population,” said Aravinda Chakravarti of the Institute of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University Medical School, who was not involved in the studies. “I’m not saying it’s not worth it to follow up these findings, but I am saying it’s going to be a hard slog.”
* slog 長くつらい仕事
The three research teams took a similar approach, analyzing genetic material taken from blood samples of families in which parents who have no signs of autism give birth to a child who develops the disorder. This approach gives scientists the opportunity to spot the initial mutations that accompany the condition, rather than trying to work though possible genetic contributions from maternal and paternal lines. In all three studies, the researchers focused on rare genetic glitches called de novo mutations.
De novo mutations are not inherited but occur spontaneously near or during conception. Most people have at least one, and the majority of them are harmless.
In one of the new studies, Dr. Matthew W. State, a professor of genetics and child psychiatry at Yale, led a team that looked for de novo mutations in 200 people who had been given an autism diagnosis, as well as in parents and siblings who showed no signs of the disorder. The team found that two unrelated children with autism in the study had de novo mutations in the same gene — and nothing similar in those without a diagnosis.
“That is like throwing a dart at a dart board with 21,000 spots and hitting the same one twice,” Dr. State said. “The chances that this gene is related to autism risk is something like 99.9999 percent.”'
'Teams of scientists working independently have for the first time identified several gene mutations that they agree sharply increase the chances that a child will develop autism. They have found further evidence that the risk increases with the age of the parents, particularly in fathers over age 35.
The gene mutations are extremely rare and together account for a tiny fraction of autism cases — in these studies, only a handful of children. Experts said the new research gave scientists something they had not had: a clear strategy for building some understanding of the disease’s biological basis.
Scientists have been debating the relative influence of inherited risk and environmental factors in autism for decades, and few today doubt that there is a strong genetic component.
But biologists have groped in vain for a reliable way to clarify the underlying genetics of these so-called autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger syndrome and related social difficulties that are being diagnosed at alarmingly high rates — on average, in one in 88 children, according to a government estimate released last week.
* grope～ ～を手探りして見つける
Previous studies have produced a scattering of gene findings but little consensus or confidence in how to proceed.
The new research — reported in three papers posted online on Wednesday in the journal Nature — provides some measure of both, some experts said. There are probably hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand, gene variations that could disrupt brain development enough to result in social delays.
An intensified search for rare mutations could turn up enough of these to account for 15 percent to 20 percent of all autism cases, some experts say, and allow researchers a chance to see patterns and some possible mechanisms to explain what goes awry.
* go awry つまずく、失敗する、
“These studies aren’t so much a breakthrough, because we knew this was coming,” said Jonathan Sebat, a professor of psychiatry and cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego, who was not a part of the research teams. “But I’d say it’s a turning point. We now have a reliable way forward, and I think it’s fair to expect that we will find 20, 30, maybe more such mutations in the next year or two.”
Other researchers were more cautious, saying that the genetics of rare mutations was not yet well enough understood to make conclusive statements about their effect on the behavior of specific genes.
“This is a great beginning, and I’m impressed with the work, but we don’t know the cause of these rare mutations, or even their levels in the general population,” said Aravinda Chakravarti of the Institute of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University Medical School, who was not involved in the studies. “I’m not saying it’s not worth it to follow up these findings, but I am saying it’s going to be a hard slog.”
* slog 長くつらい仕事
The three research teams took a similar approach, analyzing genetic material taken from blood samples of families in which parents who have no signs of autism give birth to a child who develops the disorder. This approach gives scientists the opportunity to spot the initial mutations that accompany the condition, rather than trying to work though possible genetic contributions from maternal and paternal lines. In all three studies, the researchers focused on rare genetic glitches called de novo mutations.
De novo mutations are not inherited but occur spontaneously near or during conception. Most people have at least one, and the majority of them are harmless.
In one of the new studies, Dr. Matthew W. State, a professor of genetics and child psychiatry at Yale, led a team that looked for de novo mutations in 200 people who had been given an autism diagnosis, as well as in parents and siblings who showed no signs of the disorder. The team found that two unrelated children with autism in the study had de novo mutations in the same gene — and nothing similar in those without a diagnosis.
“That is like throwing a dart at a dart board with 21,000 spots and hitting the same one twice,” Dr. State said. “The chances that this gene is related to autism risk is something like 99.9999 percent.”'
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
この発明どう思います？: 'Google unveils Project Glass augmented reality eyewear'
BBCの記事、'Google unveils Project Glass augmented reality eyewear' (4 April 2012 Last updated at 19:50 GMT)から。
'Google has revealed details of its research into augmented reality glasses.
It posted a brief introduction to Project Glass, photos and a concept video at its Google+ social network.
The images show a minimalist design with a microphone and partly-transparent video screen that places information over the view from the users' right eye.
The product's developers said they wanted feedback on the idea.
They did not give any indication about when the device might go on sale or what it would cost.
"A group of us... started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment," said a statement from Google X - the firm's experimental lab.
"We're sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input."
Guided walks
The video suggests icons offering 14 different services will be offered to the user when the glasses are first put on, including information about the weather, their location and diary appointments.
It appears that several of these services are either triggered by an action taken by the user or the situation they are in.
The film shows one user being reminded he has a date that evening when he looks up at a blank wall, and then warns him that there is a 10% chance it will rain when he looks out of the window.
An alert pops up when a friend sends a text asking if he wants to meet up later in the day. When the user dictates a reply a microphone symbol is superimposed over much of his view.
＊ superimpose 〔文字・画像などを別の画像に〕重ね（合わせ）る
Other functions include Google Maps showing a route to the wearer's destination with small arrows keeping him on track, the ability to take a photo of what he is looking at with an option to share it with friends, and a video conference service.
The glasses are also shown to allow music and other audio to be heard, although they do not appear to include earphones.'
+++写真はBBCのサイトからお借りしました+++
'Google has revealed details of its research into augmented reality glasses.
It posted a brief introduction to Project Glass, photos and a concept video at its Google+ social network.
The images show a minimalist design with a microphone and partly-transparent video screen that places information over the view from the users' right eye.
The product's developers said they wanted feedback on the idea.
They did not give any indication about when the device might go on sale or what it would cost.
"A group of us... started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment," said a statement from Google X - the firm's experimental lab.
"We're sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input."
Guided walks
The video suggests icons offering 14 different services will be offered to the user when the glasses are first put on, including information about the weather, their location and diary appointments.
It appears that several of these services are either triggered by an action taken by the user or the situation they are in.
The film shows one user being reminded he has a date that evening when he looks up at a blank wall, and then warns him that there is a 10% chance it will rain when he looks out of the window.
An alert pops up when a friend sends a text asking if he wants to meet up later in the day. When the user dictates a reply a microphone symbol is superimposed over much of his view.
＊ superimpose 〔文字・画像などを別の画像に〕重ね（合わせ）る
Other functions include Google Maps showing a route to the wearer's destination with small arrows keeping him on track, the ability to take a photo of what he is looking at with an option to share it with friends, and a video conference service.
The glasses are also shown to allow music and other audio to be heard, although they do not appear to include earphones.'
+++写真はBBCのサイトからお借りしました+++
Monday, April 2, 2012
日本、低迷からどう抜け出すか？
Reutersの記事、'Insight: Dynamic CEOs defy Japan Inc's decline' By Linda Sieg and James Topham（Mon Apr 2, 2012 6:06pm EDT）から。
'When Yusaku Maezawa quit playing drums in a punk band to devote himself full-time to his business selling Tokyo street fashion on the Internet, his main goal was to have fun.
Twelve years later, Maezawa, 36, is the billionaire CEO of online fashion retailer Start Today, one of a clutch of growing firms led by a different breed of executives determined to avoid the errors of the global Japanese brands whose faltering fortunes are making Japan Inc synonymous with decline.
* clutch 手中
* faltering 低迷している
"I was in danger of becoming a 'salaryman musician'," Maezawa said in an interview at his company headquarters in a high-rise office building outside Tokyo, where framed T-shirts hand-sprayed by company executives with letters spelling out "NO WAR" adorn the entrance.
"On the other hand, the company was growing dynamically, I was meeting new people to work with and I heard customers were happy, so it felt like there was more dynamism and growth," added Maezawa, who named his firm for an album by punk band Gorilla Biscuits.
The company, which now has about 400 full-time employees, expects operating profits to rise by more than 46 percent to 8.56 billion yen ($104 million) in the year just ended.
Maezawa, whose firm listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's start-up section in 2007 and graduated to the first section in February, may be rare in preaching fun as a management gospel.
* preach 〜を説き勧める
"I want to destroy the old concept that a company is a place where one sacrifices time for the sake of money," he said with an impish grin, confessing he now works a four-day week.
* impish 小鬼の（ような）、いたずらな
But his commitment to innovation and a laser-like focus on making consumers happy are shared traits experts agree set off Japan's emerging successes from once-proud but now-struggling firms such as Sony and Panasonic.
And it's not just those storied electronics groups that are at risk of being left behind in today's fast changing world. The stock market barometer, the Nikkei average, has dropped 74 percent from the heady highs of late-1989.
"Many people just rely on their past success, but things are moving and changing so fast, you need to self-innovate," Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO of e-commerce operator and Amazon rival Rakuten Inc, told Reuters in a telephone interview as he travelled by car through Tokyo.'
'When Yusaku Maezawa quit playing drums in a punk band to devote himself full-time to his business selling Tokyo street fashion on the Internet, his main goal was to have fun.
Twelve years later, Maezawa, 36, is the billionaire CEO of online fashion retailer Start Today, one of a clutch of growing firms led by a different breed of executives determined to avoid the errors of the global Japanese brands whose faltering fortunes are making Japan Inc synonymous with decline.
* clutch 手中
* faltering 低迷している
"I was in danger of becoming a 'salaryman musician'," Maezawa said in an interview at his company headquarters in a high-rise office building outside Tokyo, where framed T-shirts hand-sprayed by company executives with letters spelling out "NO WAR" adorn the entrance.
"On the other hand, the company was growing dynamically, I was meeting new people to work with and I heard customers were happy, so it felt like there was more dynamism and growth," added Maezawa, who named his firm for an album by punk band Gorilla Biscuits.
The company, which now has about 400 full-time employees, expects operating profits to rise by more than 46 percent to 8.56 billion yen ($104 million) in the year just ended.
Maezawa, whose firm listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's start-up section in 2007 and graduated to the first section in February, may be rare in preaching fun as a management gospel.
* preach 〜を説き勧める
"I want to destroy the old concept that a company is a place where one sacrifices time for the sake of money," he said with an impish grin, confessing he now works a four-day week.
* impish 小鬼の（ような）、いたずらな
But his commitment to innovation and a laser-like focus on making consumers happy are shared traits experts agree set off Japan's emerging successes from once-proud but now-struggling firms such as Sony and Panasonic.
And it's not just those storied electronics groups that are at risk of being left behind in today's fast changing world. The stock market barometer, the Nikkei average, has dropped 74 percent from the heady highs of late-1989.
"Many people just rely on their past success, but things are moving and changing so fast, you need to self-innovate," Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO of e-commerce operator and Amazon rival Rakuten Inc, told Reuters in a telephone interview as he travelled by car through Tokyo.'
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