Suchergebnisse

Die Untersuchung der technologischen Stärke Japans zeigt, daß trotz der Fortschritte in vielen Bereichen der Spitzentechnologie auch Rückstände mit Abhängigkeit von den USA existieren, nämlich Kernenergie und Weltraumtechnologie. Japans Stärke liegt im Bereich von (Mikro-)Elektronik und neuen Werkstoffen, auch in der Bio-Technologie. Diese Technologien sind für die gesamte Industrie relevant und werden Japans wirtschaftliche Stellung weiter stärken, ohne aber die Kooperation mit den USA zu behindern. Wenn Westeuropa sich auf die Entwicklung der Weltraumtechnologie konzentriert, wird es sich ebenfalls gegenüber Japan behaupten können. (AuD-Hng)

Japan, a Technological Power : Présent and Future, by Marc Dupuis
Even if Japan has been recently drawing attention by progress made in a continuously increasing number of high technology fields, there still exists some area in which a gap has to be filled ; it is in particular the case of nuclear energy and, more especially, space, in which the present dépendance on the United States is very strong, and the materialization of future independance plans will be hampered by an incomplete development scheme. As for biotechnologies, Japan is quite in the competition, but its main asset is a very strong position in the fields of electronics and new materials, because relevant technologies have applications in the whole industrial field and will contribute to increase in the coming years its economical power. Such an increase should not destabilize the US-Japan industrial and technological axis, in which cooperation will prevail over competition through the natural build up of relations between high technology firms. Europe, on the other hand, may reequilibrate its technological position with respect to Japan, if a complete program of space development can be carried out successfully and without delay.

Research administration in Japan.
A detailed description of the various Japanese policy-making bodies is followed by a discussion of how scientific policies are arrived at. Although the general scientific policy and targets are pre-eminently defined by the Council of Science and Techniques, there is no controlling body having its say over the allocation of crédits, the coordination of programmes, and the evaluation of results. Taking the French System as a yardstick, the author concludes that in Japan there is no institution with powers over how research funds are spent.

This study investigates the potential stages of drug use. Data from the longitudinal Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors were used ( N = 5,116). Drug use (alcohol, tobacco, and 16 illicit drugs) over the previous 12 months was assessed at two time points. Patterns and trajectories of drug use were studied using latent transition analysis (LTA). This study's substantive contributions are twofold. First, the pattern of drug use displayed the well-known sequence of drug involvement (licit drugs to cannabis to other illicit drugs), but with an added distinction between two kinds of illicit drugs ("middle-stage" drugs: uppers, hallucinogens, inhaled drugs; and "final-stage" drugs: heroin, ketamine, GHB/GBL, research chemicals, crystal meth, and spice). Second, subgroup membership was stable over time, as the most likely transition was remaining in the same latent class.

Abstract. Aim: To summarize published findings in peer-reviewed journals of the first two waves of the Swiss Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors (C-SURF), a longitudinal study assessing risk and protective factors of 5,987 young men during the phase of emerging adulthood (20 years at baseline, followed-up 15 months later). Methods: Included were 33 studies published until November 2014 focusing on substance use. Results: Substance use in early adulthood is a prevalent and stable behavior. The 12-month prevalence of nonmedical use of prescription drugs (10.6 %) lies between that of cannabis (36.4 %) and other illicit drugs such as ecstasy (3.7 %) and cocaine (3.2 %). Although peer pressure in the form of misconduct is associated with increased substance use, other aspects such as peer involvement in social activities may have beneficial effects. Regular sport activities are associated with reduced substance use, with the exception of alcohol use. Young men are susceptible to structural conditions such as the price of alcohol beverages or the density of on-premise alcohol outlets. Particularly alcohol use in public settings such as bars, discos or in parks (compared with private settings such as the home) is associated with alcohol-related harm, including injuries or violence. Being a single parent versus nuclear family has no effect on alcohol use, but active parenting does. Besides parenting, religiousness is an important protective factor for both legal and illegal substance use. Merely informing young men about the risks of substance use may not be an effective preventive measure. At-risk users of licit and illicit substances are more health literate, e. g., for example, they seek out more information on the internet than non-at-risk-users or abstainers. Discussion: There are a number of risk and protective substance use factors, but their associations with substance use do not necessarily agree with those found outside Europe. In the United States, for example, heavy alcohol use in this age group commonly takes place in private settings, whereas in Switzerland it more often takes place in public settings. Other behaviors, such as the nonmedical use of prescription drugs, appear to be similar to those found overseas, which may show the need for targeted preventive actions. C-SURF findings point to the necessity of establishing European studies to identify factors for designing specific preventive actions.