Japanese Conceptions of Privacy: An Intercultural Perspective

This paper deals with intercultural aspects of privacy, particularly with regard to important differences between Japanese and the Western views. This paper is based on our discussions with Rafael Capurro – a dialogue now represented by two separate but closely interrelated articles. The companion paper is broadly focused on the cultural and historical backgrounds of the concepts of privacy and individualism in “Western” worlds; our main theme focuses on different concepts of privacy in Japan and their sources in related aspects of Japanese culture. The interrelationship between our two papers is apparent in our taking up identical or similar topics in each paper. Reading our two papers in conjunction with each other will bring about deeper and broader insights into the diverse values and worldviews of Japan and Western cultures that underlie concepts of privacy that at a surface level appear to be similar     

Information visualisation: a holistic tool to discover knowledge. Case study – what video-telephone care? What elderly?

Today all parties within the health-care system demand more information and evidence to take more efficient and pinpointed management decisions. Their goal is a better patient and patient-care management. This paper presents an information visualisation approach to discover knowledge for the management of tele-home care for the elderly using the video-telephone: what type of elderly need what type of video-telephone interventions? This document focuses on the synthesis aspects of data mining with a view to knowledge discovery: the global, holistic, synthesis approach. More specifically, it summarises visually the relationships among the types of video-telephony care, among the segments of elderly, and between the types of interventions and the segments of elderly simultaneously. The graphical display allows delineating areas that group elderly with a similar/dissimilar video-telephony care profile. Information visualisation is a promising approach to provide insight into large multidimensional data sets. It fosters knowledge discovery.     

Aidan Chambers’ <Emphasis Type="Italic">Breaktime</Emphasis>: Class Conflict and Anxiety in the Work of a Scholarship-Boy Writer

Aidan Chambers’ Breaktime (1978) is famous for its unique narrative style and sexual content. This focus has obscured another significant aspect of the novel: the role of social class in Breaktime and Chambers’ working-class background have rarely been explored. Chambers was an example of what Richard Hoggart calls “the scholarship boy,” a working-class boy educated in a grammar school in mid-twentieth-century Britain. In this article, Haru Takiuchi argues that Chambers’ scholarship-boy experiences are crucial for understanding Breaktime. For his analysis of the cultural and psychological aspects of class that concern representations of scholarship boys in British children’s literature of the 1960s and 1970s, he draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of class habitus, more focused studies of class in Britain and research into the experiences of scholarship boys. Using material from the author’s archive supplemented with interviews, Haru Takiuchi highlights Chambers’ unique representation of the scholarship boy and social class in the book.     

A tale of Wootz steel

The extraordinary romance and thrilling adventure associated with the tale of wootz steel shows how Indian metallurgists were the world leaders in antiquity in the manufacture of this legendary high-grade steel. In many ways this material was brought to global attention by the writings of Cyril Stanley Smith. Modern metallurgy and materials science rest on the foundation built by the study of this steel during the past three centuries.     

应对突发事件的思想政治教育机制设计

思想政治教育机制的完善,有利于思想政治教育在应对突发事件方面的效能和作用的发挥。预警机制、处置机制、善后机制、导向机制和动员机制,是思想政治教育应对突发事件的几个主要机制。科学设计这些机制,对建立应对突发事件的思想政治工作预案、完善突发事件应急机制意义重大。     

开发行业协会资源促进实践教学及毕业生就业工作的研究

本文简要剖析了我国高等院校工程应用型高级人才培养工作中实践教学及毕业生就业工作方面所面临的主要问题,结合行业协会的特点和优势,深入探讨了加强高校/行业协会合作,对促进高校实践教学及毕业生就业工作的重要意义,并结合自己的实践,就如何开发利用行业协会资源及双方可能的合作模式提出了自己的建议。     

美国大学校园建筑设计纵横谈

校园建筑规划涉及多方面的问题,诸如成本、不断发展的技术与美学、对环境的影响以及各种相关政策等。四位研究者从不同的角度对有关问题发表了自己的见解。     

公共教育服务体制创新:治理的视角

为了满足多元化的公共教育需求,解决公共教育产品短缺和公共教育服务不到位等问题,有必要从治理的视角重新思考政府在公共教育产品与服务中的角色和作用,运用治理的理念和精神变革公共教育服务体制,实现公共教育服务供给主体的多元化、公共教育治理权力的多中心化和公共教育服务结构的多样化。     

敦煌石窟本生故事画的形式——以睒子本生图为中心

啖子本生图盛行于北朝时期,莫高窟与西千佛洞保存着诸多图例。啖子故事以孝道为主题与中国传统伦理道德思想十分吻合,特别是北周至隋代十分流行。本文主要分析啖子本生图,对其构图形式,即横幅多场景画卷形式的展开与样式上的发展进行探讨;并与印度、犍陀罗、克孜尔及麦积山、云冈石窟的例证进行比较,详细验证敦煌壁画中啖子本生的画卷形式、连环画形式及异时同图法等,认为敦煌壁画中的睒子本生并非汉代传统形式的延续,而是在印度·犍陀罗的影响之下所形成的。     

There’s something about Mary: The moral value of things <Emphasis Type="Italic">qua</Emphasis> information objects

Luciano Floridi argues that every existing entity is deserving of at least minimal moral respect in virtue of having intrinsic value qua information object. In this essay, I attempt a comprehensive assessment of this important view as well as the arguments Floridi offers in support of it. I conclude both that the arguments are insufficient and that the thesis itself is substantively implausible from the standpoint of ordinary intuitions.