Scale In Japan Research Articles

ELPIS-JP: a dataset of local-scale daily climate change scenarios for Japan

We developed a dataset of local-scale daily climate change scenarios for Japan (called ELPIS-JP) using the stochastic weather generators (WGs) LARS-WG and, in part, WXGEN. The ELPIS-JP dataset is based on the observed (or estimated) daily weather data for seven climatic variables (daily mean, maximum and minimum temperatures; precipitation; solar radiation; relative humidity; and wind speed) at 938 sites in Japan and climate projections from the multi-model ensemble of global climate models (GCMs) used in the coupled model intercomparison project (CMIP3) and multi-model ensemble of regional climate models form the Japanese downscaling project (called S-5-3). The capability of the WGs to reproduce the statistical features of the observed data for the period 1981–2000 is assessed using several statistical tests and quantile–quantile plots. Overall performance of the WGs was good. The ELPIS-JP dataset consists of two types of daily data: (i) the transient scenarios throughout the twenty-first century using projections from 10 CMIP3 GCMs under three emission scenarios (A1B, A2 and B1) and (ii) the time-slice scenarios for the period 2081–2100 using projections from three S-5-3 regional climate models. The ELPIS-JP dataset is designed to be used in conjunction with process-based impact models (e.g. crop models) for assessment, not only the impacts of mean climate change but also the impacts of changes in climate variability, wet/dry spells and extreme events, as well as the uncertainty of future impacts associated with climate models and emission scenarios. The ELPIS-JP offers an excellent platform for probabilistic assessment of climate change impacts and potential adaptation at a local scale in Japan.

The ultra-low-frequency magnetic disturbances associated with earthquakes

The ultra-low-frequency (ULF) electromagnetic emission is recently recognized as one of the most promising candidates for short-term earthquake (EQ) prediction. This paper reviews previous convincing evidence on the presence of ULF emissions before three major EQs. Then, we present further statistical study on the ULF occurrence, our networks of ULF monitoring in different spatial scales in Japan and finally we present several signal processings to identify the seismogenic emissions by showing latest results for recent large EQs.

A test of reliability and validity of the social dominance orientation scale in Japan

A test of reliability and validity of the social dominance orientation scale in Japan

Fujoshi: Fantasy Play and Transgressive Intimacy among “Rotten Girls” in Contemporary Japan

This article is a theoretical and ethnographic inquiry into intimate communication and friendship among young women in contemporary Japan. The group I am considering consumes, produces, and reproduces mainstream manga (Japanese comics) and anime (Japanese animation), similar to the phenomenon of fan fiction and fan art in the United States and Europe, with a focus on imagining unintended romance and relationships between male characters, much like slash fiction. Fans produce works not only for personal pleasure but also to share them, facilitate interaction, and bridge a shared imaginary. In Japan, as elsewhere, women account for the majority of this activity, but unique to Japan is the relative autonomy this group has achieved and the high visibility of their activities. The existence of overlapping spheres of virtual and physical fan activity on the present scale in Japan provides a unique opportunity to analyze emergent patterns of intimacy at a time when interactions with media and technology are playing an increasingly important role in shaping communication and friendship. My case study is a group of young women who identify as fujoshi, or “rotten girls.” This article examines how they produce, consume, and share fiction, as well as the discussions and relationships that these practices make possible across physical and virtual space. The major focus is on playful interactions with the text and with other fujoshi, which contributes to “getting out of hand” and exploring what I call “transgressive intimacy,” which is imagined between characters and between fujoshi themselves. I apply the theory of “neta communication” and develop an alternative, “moe communication,” to explain this phenomenon.

Changes in peak flow with decreased forestry practices: Analysis using watershed runoff data

The prevalence of forestry practices such as thinning and pruning have gradually decreased since the 1980s. Researchers have noted an increased flood risk with decreased forestry practices for coniferous plantations in Japan on the basis of infiltration and overland flow measurements at a plot scale (typically several square meters). However, no studies have examined changes in peak flow with decreased forestry practices at a watershed scale (typically several tens or hundreds of square kilometers) even though flood disasters generally occur at this scale in Japan. We examined changes in frequency distributions of daily precipitation (P) and runoff (Q) during the period 1979–2007 at the Terauchi watershed, where forestry practices are known to have decreased. For this purpose, we divided P and Q data into 14 and 15 classes according to the magnitude, respectively, and examined changes in the frequency for each class during the period. We observed no significant increasing trend for any P or Q class. Even when taking into account the effect of interannual variations in precipitation on the frequency for each Q class, there was no significant increasing trend in the frequencies except for two Q classes with moderate Q values. These results suggest that the increase in flood risk due to decreased forestry practices might be less than expected.

Abstracts of Nippon Dojo-Hiryogaku Zasshi

Abstracts of Nippon Dojo-Hiryogaku Zasshi

Internet survey of childhood asthma and use of inhaled therapy in the home in Japan

The aim of the present study is to undertake a survey of childhood asthma and details of the use of inhaled therapy from mothers with asthmatic children </=15 years old, using the Internet. This study was done on a nationwide scale in Japan during the latter half of July 2001. Responses were obtained from 748 mothers. Four hundred and three children (53.9%) had been diagnosed with asthma when </=2 years old and 263 children (35.2%) when 2-5 years old. Three hundred and ninety-seven children (53.1%) were in remission or had mild asthma, 295 children (39.4%) had moderate asthma, and 56 (7.5%) had severe asthma. Of 563 children who required some pharmacological treatment, 266 used inhaled therapy. One hundred and forty-four children used metered-dose inhaler (MDI), 136 used powered nebulizer, and 34 used dry powder inhaler (DPI). Of children treated with inhaled sodium cromoglycate, 63 used MDI, 129 used nebulizer solution and 23 used DPI. Of children treated with inhaled corticosteroids, 43 used MDI and six used DPI. Of children using powered nebulizer, 48 were well satisfied and 76 were slightly satisfied. More than 90% of mothers commented that this form of treatment improved the quality of life both of the asthmatic children and of the family. Internet survey of childhood asthma is effective, and powered nebulizer therapy may be encouraged more acceptable by infants and young children in the treatment of asthma.

Development of a patient safety climate scale in Japan

Although patient safety climate is an important factor in preventing adverse events in health care organizations, there is no usable Japanese scale. To develop a Japanese scale to measure patient safety climate and to evaluate its psychometric properties. Cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted with respect to 9 non-academic general hospitals in Japan. A total of 1878 health care professionals (nurses, therapists, technicians, pharmacists and physicians) were included in a study. The eight dimensions measuring worker attitudes (free communication flow, continuous improvement, reporting/rules compliance and patient/family involvement) and organizational factors (supervisors' safety leadership, allied professionals' safety leadership, patient safety committee leadership and rules/equipment availability) were extracted by factor analysis. The internal consistency (measured by Cronbach's alpha) and repeatability (measured by intraclass correlation) were more than 0.70 for all subscales. In addition, the mean score, the within-group interrater reliability statistic (r(wg)) and the correlation coefficients of the mean score were confirmed at the workplace level. The scale showed acceptable dimensionality, reliability and validity. It also provided workplace team-evaluation and a tool for assessing the patient safety climate at the level of the workplace.

The Reliability and Validity of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale in Japan

[Purpose] To investigate the reliability and validity of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) in Japan, and to determine whether the AIMS score obtained by pediatric physical therapists with different levels of experience differed. [Subjects] The subjects who were assessed were 40 healthy infants (23 males, 17 females) whose parents gave their written consent to participation in this study. [Methods] 40 healthy children were videotaped and evaluated using the AIMS by three physical therapists who were providing physical therapy for the children on weekdays and three physical therapists who were providing physical therapy for the children once per week. The AIMS and the Kyoto Scale of Psychological Development (KSPD) were administered to confirm criterion-related validity. [Results] Reliability of the AIMS was good to high (ICC = .86∼.99), and the correlation between the AIMS and the KSPD was high (r = .97∼.98). Physical therapists with little experience in pediatric physical therapy could perform an assessment. [Conclusion] Both the reliability and the validity of the AIMS were high. Level of pediatric expertise did not affect a rater's reliability.

Determinants of change in the revenue to cost ratio of municipal hospitals by scale in Japan

Determinants of change in the revenue to cost ratio of municipal hospitals by scale in Japan

Preliminary early intervention study using Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale in Japan

Mother-infant interactions have been acknowledged as one of the most important elements in measuring outcomes of parent support and infant mental health interventions. The present study was conducted to measure early intervention outcomes using the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale (NCATS), and to identify factors that affected Japanese mother-infant interactions. Healthy Japanese mother-infant dyads who had lower scores on the NCATS, indicating potential problems, were assigned to an intervention group, and compared with a control group who had higher scores on NCATS. Health-care professionals visited the intervention group dyads in their homes, and gave them positive feedback on their interactions, consultations on parenting, and health advice. The control group dyads had home visitation once every 6 months for assessment only. The home visitations started at 3 months of age and continued until 18 months. NCATS scores in both groups were significantly different at baseline but differences faded by the end, which suggests that the intervention promoted improved interactions in the intervention group. Two of five factors were identified as influencing mother-infant interactions: maternal age; and personal networks, and together they significantly explained 27-30% of NCATS variance. The results appear to support the validity of measuring Japanese mother-infant interactions with NCATS. This study is the first to measure the outcomes of early intervention on Japanese dyads' interactions using NCATS. Additional replication studies should be conducted elsewhere in Japan, and clinical practices for promoting mother-infant interactions should begin to assess their effectiveness with NCATS as an outcome measure.

Reliability and validity of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™) Short Form 15 Generic Core Scales in Japan

To assess the reliability and validity of the Japanese translation version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Short Form 15 (PedsQL 4.0 SF15). The PedsQL 4.0 SF15 was administered to 229 schoolchildren aged 6-13 years and 100 pediatric outpatients aged 5-18 years and their parents. Internal consistency reliability exceeded 0.70 for both proxy-reported and self-reported scales. Test-retest reliability demonstrated large values for parent proxy-report (range: 0.68-0.79) and moderate to large values for child self-report (range: 0.46-0.73). Parent proxy-report health-related quality of life (HRQOL) was higher than child self-report in all scales except for School Functioning. The correlations between the reports of the parents and children were moderate to high. Gender differences were observed in Social Functioning, School Functioning, and Psychosocial Health Summary, with girls reporting higher HRQOL than boys. Factor analysis indicated that four factors were extracted from the PedsQL 4.0 SF15 and these four factors corresponded mainly to the four scales. Known groups validity was established for proxy-report and self-report with higher HRQOL being reported for healthy children than those with psychosomatic complaints including headache and abdominal pain. The Japanese translation version of the PedsQL 4.0 SF15 demonstrates good reliability and validity and could be used as a measure of HRQOL for transcultural comparisons of pediatric research in school settings and healthcare services research.

High performance computing beyond the peta scale in Japan

Since last year, with funding from the Japanese government, RIKEN has been conducting a project to build a next generation supercomputer, which will be capable of carrying out peta or higher scale simulations and will be in full operation by the end of FY2011. Its main objectives are to keep leading edge hardware technology inside Japan, and also to stimulate the use of simulations in R&D in academia and industry in order to investigate sophisticated natural phenomena in ways which are only possible with such large scale simulations, for example, designing novel functional materials to create future industrial technologies. To promote this kind of use of the supercomputer, nano-science and life sciences have been selected as grand challenges, in which specially designed supercomputer codes are to be developed. This paper presents the key features of the project.

Landscape evaluation for ecosystem planning

Landscape evaluation is important in the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development. The objective of this paper is to review and explore methods for evaluation of landscapes for ecosystem planning. Ecosystem planning is the process of land use decision-making that considers organisms and processes that characterize the ecosystem as a whole. Risk assessments, precautionary principles, adaptive management and scenario approaches are adopted to cope with the uncertainty of nature, which is an obstacle in ecosystem planning. Special attention is needed in the analysis of status and troubleshooting in the planning scheme, which is a selection of the appropriate approach and model to find problems in the present situation. There are two approaches to set targets in ecosystem planning, the species approach and the ecosystem approach. The species approach aims to protect particular species, and the ecosystem approach aims to protect total ecosystems including the species. In Europe, ecotope or biotope mapping has been developed in ecosystem planning. An ecotope is often identified by vegetation that represents a group of wildlife, but many species require combinations of different ecotopes. Landscapes have come to be recognized as a unit for ecosystem planning. Potential assessment is a method to estimate a potential of a local space or a landscape to realize an ecosystem or species’ habitat, and this method has been used in HEP and GAP analysis in the USA and Ecological Networks in Europe. Some examples of ecosystem planning of national and regional scales in Japan are introduced.

A hierarchical approach to ecosystem assessment of restoration planning at regional, catchment and local scales in Japan

A hierarchical approach to restoration planning at the regional, catchment and local scales is proposed and examined. Restoration projects limited to a local scale and focused on habitat improvement for individual species ended in failure, which has led to the recognition that there is a need for ecosystem-based management at the landscape level. The first landscape-level restoration in Japan is under way in the Kushiro and Shibetsu River Basins, in northern Japan. However, public consensus on these large-scale restoration projects has not yet matured and there are very few projects that have progressed even as far as mapping to classify intact and disturbed ecosystems. Classification of habitat quality using physical and biological indicators appears to be the core element of analysis of ecological degradation at the regional scale (100–1,000 km2). This mass-screening process is critical to identify areas in potential need of restoration. The causes and mechanisms of ecosystem degradation are then examined at the catchment scale (10–100 km2) by linking material flows and habitat conditions. Direct environmental gradient analysis is useful to determine cause and effect relationships between species and habitat quality. Finally, we recommend implementation of field experiments with a clear hypothesis at the local scale (0.01–1 km2). At this stage, key variables causing degradation of the target ecosystem are manipulated to verify the hypothesis. Based on the results of local-scale analyses, the possibility of restoration success can be evaluated, which directs us to practical schemes for future restoration projects at larger scales.

Organic carbon stock in forest soils in Japan

An accurate estimate of the organic carbon stock in the soil in a country allows the global estimate to be refined. This study estimated the organic carbon stock in forest soil in Japan using available data. Forest soil was classified into 15 soil units, and the extent of each soil unit was determined using digital soil and land use data. A representative value of the organic carbon density for each unit was determined from 3391 soil profiles obtained in a nationwide soil survey. The mean organic carbon density of the forest soils differed in each soil unit; the density to a depth of 1 m ranged from 33.0 kg m −2 for Black soils (Andisols) to 8.2 kg m −2 for Immature soils (Regosols). The variation within soil units was also large, and the coefficient of variation was almost 40%. The area-weighted average organic carbon density was 9.0 kg m −2 in the first 30 cm of soil, and 18.8 kg m −2 in the upper 1 m. The estimated total organic carbon stock in the forest soils of Japan was 4570±500 Tg (1 Tg=10 12 g) in the first 1 m (±95% confidence limit), excluding carbon held in the surface organic horizons and buried horizons. The Brown forest soils group (mostly Cambisols) made the largest contribution, with over 3000 Tg C. Forty-eight percent of the total organic carbon stock (2180 Tg C) was contained in the top 30 cm. The contribution of the surface layers to the organic carbon was clear. The wide variation in organic carbon density by soil type and the high density of organic carbon on a national scale in Japan is related to the distribution of volcanic ejecta. The concentration of organic carbon in the surface layers implies that soil conservation is important both to maintain land productivity and to counter global warming. The analysis of variability in the organic carbon density with soil type demonstrated that estimation methods should be improved.

STUDY ON THE EVALUATION METHOD OF WATER RESOURCE IMPACTS CAUSED BY GLOBAL WARMING ON THE ASSUMPTION OF THE NATIONWIDE SCALE IN JAPAN

STUDY ON THE EVALUATION METHOD OF WATER RESOURCE IMPACTS CAUSED BY GLOBAL WARMING ON THE ASSUMPTION OF THE NATIONWIDE SCALE IN JAPAN

Fermentative Production of Lactobionic Acid by Burkholderia cepacia

Lactobionic acid (LA) is derived from lactose (Lac) and has been reported to have several useful functions. LA has been supplied only as a reagent for study because it has been produced chemically in a small scale in Japan. We aimed to develop microbial production systems of LA and examined LA fermentation conditions. A three-day batch culture produced 200 g/L of LA. A ten-day fed-batch culture with periodic additions of Lac and CaCO3 accumulated 400 g/L of LA. There was no by-product and no loss of Lac, and the yield of LA-conversion was 100%. The addition of ethanol (75 % (v/v), final concentration) to culture supernatant resulted in recovery of 98 % of LA as precipitate.

Development of Wide Field-of-View Cavity Radiometer for Solar Simulator Use and Intercomparison between Irradiance Measurements based on the World Radiometer Reference and Electrotechnical Laboratory Scales

We have developed wide field-of-view cavity radiometers which can be used under the solar simulator radiation and are traceable to the World Radiometer Reference (WRR) scale. Simultaneous measurements of direct solar radiation were performed with these new instruments and the official standard radiometer PMO-6 which was used to maintain the WRR scale in Japan. The results show good agreement within the range of accuracy of the instruments and clarify the relationship of the new instruments to the WRR scale. In addition, the solar simulator irradiance measured by the new instruments was compared with the integrated irradiance measured by the spectroradiometer calibrated against the Electrotechnical Laboratory (ETL) spectral irradiance scale which was employed for the reference cell calibration in Japan. Consequently, we found that the irradiance based on the WRR scale was about 2% lower than the integrated irradiance based on the ETL spectral irradiance scale.

Factor-analytic study of the Anorectic Behavior Observation Scale in Japan: comparisons with the original Belgian study

The Anorectic Behavior Observation Scale (ABOS) is a questionnaire developed to obtain information from relatives about behaviors and attitudes of patients with eating disorders. The original report of the ABOS revealed three factors. This is the first study to confirm the factor structure by use of confirmatory analyses. Relatives of 102 patients with eating disorders completed the ABOS, and exploratory factor analyses were performed. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed for this Japanese sample, and the fitness of the factor structure was compared between that in the original report proposed by Vandereycken and that used in the present study. A three-factor structure was revealed by the data of Japanese patients, including factor I (eating behavior meeting the criteria of anorexia; concern with weight, foods, and denial), factor II (bulimia; including bingeing, disposing, furtive eating and purging, and talk about thinness and dieting), and factor III (hyperactivity, eating slowly, and chopping food into very small pieces). Confirmatory analyses supported the improvement of fitness in this modified three-factor structure in comparison with the original three-factor model. This Japanese ABOS study revealed three dimensions, which differed from the original subscales in Belgium. Cross-cultural differences were observed, though the ABOS may be useful in Japan as an instrument for assessing eating disorders.