Public judgment on science expenditure in the national budget of Japan: An experimental approach to examining the effects of unpacking science.

How does the public assess an appropriate financial allocation to science promotion? This article empirically examined the subadditivity effect in the judgment of budgetary allocation. Results of the first experiment showed that the ratio of the national budget allocated for science promotion by participants increased when science was decomposed into more specific categories compared to when it was presented as "science promotion" alone. Consistent with these findings, results of the second experiment showed that the allotment ratio to science promotion decreased when the number of other expenditure items increased. Meanwhile, the third experiment revealed that in the case of a budgetary cutback, the total amount taken from science promotion greatly increased when science was decomposed into subcategories. The subadditivity effect and increase in the total allotment ratio by unpacking science promotion was confirmed by these three experiments not only on budgetary allocation but also on budgetary cutback.

Write your paper on the motherland?

'Write your paper on the motherland' is an influential Chinese slogan encouraging researchers to focus on domestic issues and prioritize local applications of their work, though interpretations differ. The 2024 'International Journal Early Warning List' update sparked renewed debate over the slogan's meaning. This letter argues that misinterpreting this slogan as merely promoting domestic journal submissions could lead to a more conservative submission behavior and a more closed academic system. This reflects a common challenge among non-English-speaking countries to balance international reach with local contributions in publications.

Effect of providing gender equality information on students' motivations to choose STEM.

The social climate for women studying STEM subjects is changing, but the proportion of women taking STEM subjects in Japan is small. Only 27.9% of university students in the department of science is women in 2019. In this study, we used an online survey to investigate whether randomly providing three types of gender equality information increased the motivation of junior high school students to choose STEM subjects and the motivation of their parents to support that choice. Information on STEM, especially about social equality, and information on math stereotypes and STEM occupations, increased students' motivations for studying STEM. This suggests that providing gender equality information is an effective way to change students' attitudes toward STEM.

Masculinity in the public image of physics and mathematics: a new model comparing Japan and England.

Women are a minority in science, technology, engineering and mathematics academic careers. In particular, few women in Japan choose to study physics and mathematics. In this study, we investigated the factors contributing to the masculine image of physics and mathematics based on the framework of our expanded model. We conducted online questionnaire surveys in Japan and England, and found that physics and mathematics occupations, and mathematical stereotypes were both related to a masculine image. Only in Japan were social factors, such as a person's attitude to intellectual women, related to viewing mathematics as 'masculine'. However, the experience of being told or having heard that the choice of a particular course of studies would make someone less attractive to the opposite sex was evident only in England. This finding suggests that social factors affect the masculine image of physics and mathematics, and that this could vary depending on the country.

Treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia using transurethral microwave thermotherapy and dilatation with double-balloon catheter.

PURPOSE: To improve the outcome of transurethral microwave thermotherapy (TUMT) for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, we combined TUMT and balloon dilatation (BD) with a double-balloon catheter and investigated its effects. PATIENTS AND METHODS: For a short-term trial, 40 patients were divided randomly into two groups: 20 patients received TUMT alone, and the other 20 received TUMT followed by BD. The degrees of symptoms were graded according to the International Prostate Symptom Score and Quality of Life score, and the peak urinary flow rate was measured before and 10 weeks after treatment. A historic control study of 527 patients was also performed to evaluate the long-term re-treatment rate: 98 of the patients received TUMT alone, and the other 429 patients received TUMT followed by BD. RESULTS: The symptom scores improved significantly in both groups. The peak uroflow rate was significantly increased in the group who received TUMT followed by BD (P < 0.01), whereas the change was not significant in the TUMT-alone group. Significant sustainability of long-term effects was more evident in patients receiving TUMT plus BD than in the TUMT-alone group, as judged by the higher proportion of BD-treated patients who required no further treatment during the 5-year study period in comparison with patients who received TUMT alone (66.3% v 28.6%, respectively; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Combined TUMT and BD achieves sufficient subjective and objective improvement and a sustainable long-term effect. We consider this combination technique to be useful for the treatment of prostatic hyperplasia.