Politicized Gender and Politicized Religion : Same-Sex Marriage in the Discourse of 21st Century American Politics

Keiko Ishihara 한국아메리카학회 2006 美國學論集 Vol.38 No.1

  Along with the abortion issue, gay marriage became the focus of the 2004 presidential election. Since the Clinton administration enacted the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), there already existed some signs of politicization of this issue, but a recent series of attempts by some states to legalize the rights for same-sex couples heated the debate. For example, under the name of civil union, Vermont officially gave same-sex couples the same kinds of benefits of marriage. In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court decided to order the state to apply the rights to marriage of same-sex couples within 180 days without finding any persuading reasons to prevent it. California also gave some rights to same-sex couples as a partnership.<BR>  These recent trends among the liberal states raised a national debate. Many interest groups reacted to these developments. Many gay-groups welcomed these changes, on the other hand, conservative religious and family value groups were against them and began to move actively by mobilizing many people and money. Federal congressmen also chose to not ignore the situation. Even if only one state legalized various rights of a same-sex marriage, the license would be effective in the other states. Although DOMA allows each state to ignore the license of same-sex marriage issued outside the state, the possibility still remained that the courts might overturn the stipulation of DOMA. So some conservatives in Congress attempted to amend the Constitution to define marriage as a union between men and women only. Their intent was to prevent a few judges from deciding the course of this issue. Rather they wanted the issue to be decided by elected officials.<BR>  Using legal rulings such as the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision and the state code of Vermont, state and federal reactions, the results of the election and referendums, the opinions of various church and interest groups, polls, academic arguments, and the mass media, I intend to critically analyze the discourse of this issue.

HIERARCHICAL CLUSTER ANALYSIS by arboART NEURAL NETWORKS and its APPLICATION to KANSEI EVALUATION DATA ANALYSIS

( Shigekazu Ishihara ),( Keiko Ishihara ),( Mitsuo Nagamachi ) 한국감성과학회 2002 춘계학술대회 Vol.2002 No.-

ART (Adaptive Resonance Theory [1]) neural network and its variations perform non-hierarchical clustering by unsupervised learning. We propose a scheme "arboART" for hierarchical clustering by using several ART1.5-SSS networks. It classifies multidimensional vectors as a cluster tree, and finds features of clusters. The Basic idea of arboART is to use the prototype formed in an ART network as an input to other ART network that has looser distance criteria (Ishihara, et al., [2,3]). By sending prototype vectors made by ART to one after another, many small categories are combined into larger and more generalized categories. We can draw a dendrogram using classification records of sample and categories. We have confirmed its ability using standard test data commonly used in pattern recognition community. The clustering result is better than traditional computing methods, on separation of outliers, smaller error (diameter) of clusters and causes no chaining. This methodology is applied to Kansei evaluation experiment data analysis.

Morphometrics for Shape Analysis in Kansei Engineering

Shigekazu Ishihara,Keiko Ishihara 대한전자공학회 2008 ITC-CSCC :International Technical Conference on Ci Vol.2008 No.7

In Kansei engineering, we have been treated sample shapes as categorical variable (nominal scale). For example, categories like wide / tall. These categories were assigned as x variables and evaluation values on a Kansei word was assigned as a y variable of linear equation. This equation has been computationally solved by Quantification theory type 1 or similar regression methods. Although qualitative analysis of shapes is relatively robust and commonly used, but shapes are not directly treated. In this study, we attempted to treat shapes as statistical values with the various methods of Morphometrics those have been developed between paleontology, biology and statistics. By treating shapes as statistical values, we can apply various statistical methods from basic statistics such as testing distribution to multivariate analysis techniques (i.e., classification, projection onto lower numbers of dimension).

Associations of Ambient Air Pollutant Concentrations With Respiratory Symptoms and Perceived Health Status in Japanese Adults With and Without Chronic Respiratory Diseases: A Panel Study

Motoyuki Nakao,Keiko Yamauchi,Satoshi Mitsuma,Tetsuro Odaira,Hideto Obata,Yoichi Chijimatsu,Yoko Ishihara 대한예방의학회 2019 예방의학회지 Vol.52 No.6

Objectives: In recent years, transboundary air pollution from mainland East Asia has led to growing concerns about air pollution in Japan. Air pollution is reportedly associated with the exacerbation of respiratory diseases. In this study, we assessed the effects of air pollution on respiratory symptoms and the health status of participants with and without chronic respiratory diseases. Methods: Participants (n=2753) with and without chronic respiratory diseases who visited healthcare facilities in Japan during February from 2010 to 2015 filled out a self-report questionnaire regarding their symptoms and perceived health status. Participants were followed up during April-May and June-July. Results: Oxidant concentrations were associated with respiratory symptoms, overall health, and quality of life (QoL). Suspended particulate matter (SPM) and particulate matter <2.5 μm levels were associated with physical fitness; SPM was also associated with QoL. Recent experience of an Asian sand dust event had a significant effect on allergic symptoms, change in health, and QoL. Conclusions: Respiratory symptoms were more strongly affected by oxidants than by other pollutants. Significant associations of air pollutants were found with a comprehensive range of items related to perceived health status, including overall health and QoL. Although the effects of air pollutants on respiratory symptoms and health status were more apparent among patients with respiratory diseases, the adverse effects of air pollutants were significant even among participants without such conditions.

Associations of Ambient Air Pollutant Concentrations With Respiratory Symptoms and Perceived Health Status in Japanese Adults With and Without Chronic Respiratory Diseases: A Panel Study

Nakao, Motoyuki,Yamauchi, Keiko,Mitsuma, Satoshi,Odaira, Tetsuro,Obata, Hideto,Chijimatsu, Yoichi,Ishihara, Yoko The Korean Society for Preventive Medicine 2019 Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health Vol.52 No.6

Objectives: In recent years, transboundary air pollution from mainland East Asia has led to growing concerns about air pollution in Japan. Air pollution is reportedly associated with the exacerbation of respiratory diseases. In this study, we assessed the effects of air pollution on respiratory symptoms and the health status of participants with and without chronic respiratory diseases. Methods: Participants (n=2753) with and without chronic respiratory diseases who visited healthcare facilities in Japan during February from 2010 to 2015 filled out a self-report questionnaire regarding their symptoms and perceived health status. Participants were followed up during April-May and June-July. Results: Oxidant concentrations were associated with respiratory symptoms, overall health, and quality of life (QoL). Suspended particulate matter (SPM) and particulate matter <$2.5{\mu}m$ levels were associated with physical fitness; SPM was also associated with QoL. Recent experience of an Asian sand dust event had a significant effect on allergic symptoms, change in health, and QoL. Conclusions: Respiratory symptoms were more strongly affected by oxidants than by other pollutants. Significant associations of air pollutants were found with a comprehensive range of items related to perceived health status, including overall health and QoL. Although the effects of air pollutants on respiratory symptoms and health status were more apparent among patients with respiratory diseases, the adverse effects of air pollutants were significant even among participants without such conditions.