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This paper examines how unionization affects economic growth through its impact on industry concentration in a two-country model of international trade and endogenous productivity growth. Knowledge spillovers link firm-level productivity in innovation with geographic patterns of industry ensuring a faster rate of output growth when industry is relatively concentrated in the country with the greater labor supply. We show that stronger bargaining power in the relatively large country increases the rate of output growth when labor unions are employment-oriented but decreases the rate of growth when unions are wage-oriented. We then calibrate the model using labor market data for the United Kingdom and France and study the effects of union bargaining power on industry location patterns, output growth, and national welfare.
In the 2000s, Japan-Russia economic relations developed rapidly, aided by rising oil prices, which increased Russia’s exports of oil and gas to Japan and Russia’s imports of passenger cars from Japan. Since the most competitive sector in Japan is the automobile sector and the corresponding sector for Russia is the oil and gas sector, mutual trade between the two countries followed this competitiveness in the next decade as well. The trade volume, however, fluctuated depending on oil prices and Russia’s imports of passenger cars decreased due to stagnant economic growth since 2009. Japan’s FDI in Russia has largely been driven by oil and gas development and the car industry as well.
Introduction
This chapter argues that Japan-Russia relations have been developed through economic rather than political factors. These relations have been largely based on comparative advantages of the two countries, especially since the beginning of this century. Some have argued that if the so-called Northern Territorial Issue is resolved, Japanese-Russian economic relations will make rapid progress. Its contraposition is that if these bilateral economic relations do not develop rapidly, the territorial issue will not be resolved. However, I think that this proposition is a complete myth.
In the 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR and the ensuing political and economic turmoil in Russia, Japan-Russia economic relations did not improve much. Only in the 2000s, when the Russian economy began to grow rapidly due to rising oil prices, did bilateral trade relations enter a new stage of development. We can say that there was a boom in these relations in the period 2003–2008, when the volume of bilateral trade increased by 20–60 percent every year (Figure 8.1). In particular, Japan’s exports to Russia expanded quite rapidly through automobile exports (annual rates of increase were 40–90 percent). However, due to stagnant economic growth since 2009, Russia’s imports of passenger cars have decreased considerably, resulting in stagnation of Japan’s total exports to Russia in the past decade. The corresponding increase in Japan’s imports from Russia in this century was brought about by those of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Those imports had grown until 2014 after a sharp drop in 2009 and have stagnated since 2015 largely due to the decline in energy prices.
In this chapter, I analyze these bilateral relations mainly in the period after the 2010s. Concerning the previous period, refer to Tabata (2012).
Umbrella digital health term (DHT) (digital health, eHealth, mHealth, telehealth, and telemedicine) definitions contain insufficient information about patient value for health economics and outcomes research and health technology assessment (HTA) purposes. Qualitative content analysis of secondary DHT (e.g., telesurgery and teleradiology) definitions was performed by the ISPOR Digital Health Special Interest Group to determine if they were more useful for health economics and outcomes research purposes.
Methods
Secondary DHT definitions were extracted from a previous scoping review and consolidated by reviewer pairs using uniform rules. Definitions were analyzed for explicit (directly stated) or implicit (inferred) information on 24 categories: Patient, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome, Timing, Setting (PICOTS); the Shannon-Weaver communication model (SWE) (sender, message, encoder, channel, decoder, and receiver, extended with mode of information exchange); the quality domains of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable); information related to applied technology or geographic scope; and the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of digital health interventions v1.0 (digital health interventions category, health system challenges, and system categories).
Results
Across 107 unique definitions of 73 secondary DHTs, the number of explicitly or implicitly addressed categories across the frameworks ranged from zero to 15, with references to elements of PICOTS (79.4%), SWE (90.7%), AHRQ (30.8%), applied technology (52.3%), geographic scope (0%), and WHO frameworks (86.9%). PICOTS information was found for Patients in 35 percent of definitions, Intervention in 59 percent, Comparator in 20 percent, and Outcomes in 18 percent.
Conclusions
Secondary DHT definitions do not adequately specify PICOTS or other characteristics of interest for HTA. An online Delphi survey has been launched among a wider group of ISPOR members to identify the minimum information set to define patient facing DHTs for evidence summaries and value assessments. The results of this research should be shared for discussion with other digital health stakeholder groups.
We examine how a subsidy policy for encouraging more individuals to pursue higher education affects economic growth in an overlapping generations model of R&D-based growth, including both product development and process innovation. We show that such a policy may have a negative effect on the long-run economic growth rate. When the market structure adjusts partially in the short run, the effect of an education subsidy on economic growth is ambiguous and depends on the values of the parameters. However, when the market structure adjusts fully in the long run, the education subsidy expands the number of firms but reduces economic growth. These unfavorable predictions of an education subsidy on economic growth are partly consistent with the empirical findings that mass higher education does not necessarily lead to higher economic growth.
Gold in Early Proterozoic Birimian greenstone at Prestea in Ghana is associated with base metal sulphides and sulphosalts including arsenopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, galena, tetrahedrite, bournonite, boulangerite and jamesonite. The occurrence of the gold is intimately associated with arsenopyrite and the sulphosalts, and to a lesser extent with the other sulphides. The tetrahedrites at Prestea constitute the major component of sulphosalts associated with gold and occurring in two distinct types. Type I show ideal stoichiometric composition. Type II tetrahedrites deviated from the ideal stoichiometry and are represented approximately by the average formula (Cu,Ag)9.61(Fe,Zn)2.39(Sb,As)4S13. The tetrahedrites co-precipitated with gold exhibit ideal characteristics indicating an equilibruim state of the mineralizing fluid during precipitation. Three types of pyrites were distinguished by electron-microprobe analyses based on their As, Co and Ni composition. The As content in type I vary from 0.15 to 0.37 wt%, and contain up to 2 wt.% Co.Type II pyrites are As-rich and form the most dominant with As content ranging from 0.2 to 2.69 wt.%. Ni content varies from below-detection to 1000 ppm. Type III pyrites are poor in the trace elements and consistent with the stoichiometric composition. The mineralization occurred in three paragenetic stages from at least a two-phase hydrothermal fluid, with stage II forming a prolonged and main stage of the ore and gold mineralization. Redox changes in ore fluid which were triggered by episodic pressure releases during fissuring and fracturing caused fluctuation of the activity of the As/Ni ratio and subsequent oscillatory zoning of Ni in As-rich ores.
Social cognition tasks, such as identification of emotions, can contribute to the diagnosis of neuropsychiatric disorders. The wide use of Facial Emotion Recognition Test (FERT) is hampered by the absence of normative dataset and by the limited understanding of how demographic factors such as age, education, gender, and cultural background may influence the performance on the test.
Methods:
We analyzed the influence of these variables in the performance in the FERT from the short version of the Social and Emotional Assessment. This task is composed by 35 pictures with 7 different emotions presented 5 times each. Cognitively healthy Brazilian participants (n = 203; 109 females and 94 males) underwent the FERT. We compared the performance of participants across gender, age, and educational subgroups. We also compared the performance of Brazilians with a group of French subjects (n = 60) matched for gender, age, and educational level.
Results:
There was no gender difference regarding the performance on total score and in each emotion subscore in the Brazilian sample. We found a significant effect of aging and schooling on the performance on the FERT, with younger and more educated subjects having higher scores. Brazilian and French participants did not differ in the FERT and its subscores. Normative data for employing the FERT in Brazilian population is presented.
Conclusions:
Data here provided may contribute to the interpretation of the results of FERT in different cultural contexts and highlight the common bias that should be corrected in the future tasks to be developed.
To observe the distribution of pack ice off the coast of the Okhotsk Sea coast of Hokkaido, a radar network consisting of three radar stations was constructed during 1967-69. It covers an area about 70 km wide and 250 km long. The stations are remote-controlled by radio from the Sea Ice Research Laboratory and the information obtained is transmitted back to the laboratory and observed there. Radar has the great advantage of being able to make continuous observations of ice. Usually several special features can be seen on the radar screen, and they are used as markers for the observation of movement. It is ascertained that the average pattern of drift in this area is from north to south-east along the coast line and the ice field undergoes internal deformation during its drift. To get some information on the surface topography of ice from A-scope radar, the intensity of echo signals is classified into 16 steps by computer. To obtain the movement of an ice field from the numerical radar information, a modified two-dimensional cross-correlation method was tested.
We launched a health promotion program called the Hamarassen (“let’s get together”) Farm, which provided farming opportunities for the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake who resided in temporary housing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of this program on physical and mental health in terms of bone mineral density (BMD) and a sense of purpose in life.
Methods
Among 39 female participants in whom BMD was evaluated, there were 12 Hamarassen participants, 8 self-farming control subjects, and 19 non-farming control subjects. BMD was measured by calcaneal quantitative ultrasound immediately after the project launch and 5 months later. A sense of purpose in life prior to and 2 months after the project’s commencement was measured in 21 additional Hamarassen participants by use of the K-I Scale. Interviews were also conducted to qualitatively evaluate the effects of the Hamarassen program.
Results
The mean BMD T-score improved by 0.43 in the Hamarassen group, by 0.33 in the self-farming group, and by 0.06 in the controls (p=0.02). Among the 21 Hamarassen participants in whom mental health was evaluated, the average score for a sense of purpose in life improved from 20.5 to 24.9 (p=0.001).
Conclusions
The Hamarassen Farm provided disaster victims with opportunities for social participation, interpersonal interaction, and physical exercise; such opportunities may improve physical and psychosocial well-being. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:103-110)
The objective of the present study was to investigate whether a previously reported apparent negative relationship between fat mass and daily physical activity in Japanese adult women would also be observed in Japanese adult men. The subjects were grouped into quartiles of BMI and body fat percentage (%BF). The number of steps walked each day and the duration of light- to vigorous-intensity physical activity were assessed by an accelerometer over the same period of time as for the doubly labelled water experiment. The results showed that BMI negatively correlated with the number of steps and time spent in moderate-intensity physical activity, whereas %BF showed a negative relationship with physical activity-related energy expenditure (PAEE)/body weight (BW) and physical activity level. The analysis of data using %BF quartiles revealed that PAEE/BW decreased from the second quartile in which the BMI was < 25 kg/m2. These observations are similar to those reported in our previous study in Japanese adult women. These cross-sectional studies cannot prove causality, and that obesity causes physical inactivity may be the case. However, the results of the present study provide information regarding which physical activity variables should be used in longitudinal studies.
Previous studies have demonstrated that meeting the dietary recommendations for macronutrients was significantly associated with higher cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) levels in adults. However, the relation between the status of micronutrient intake and CRF still remains unclear. This study examined the association between micronutrient intake status (based on adherence to the dietary reference intakes (DRI)) and CRF in Japanese men. The study comprised 373 Japanese men aged 30–69 years. Dietary intake was assessed with a self-administered diet history questionnaire. Overall micronutrient intake status was quantified using an overall nutrient adequacy score (ONAS) for thirteen selected micronutrients. ONAS was calculated based on adherence to the DRI for Japanese. CRF was defined as O2max during a maximal incremental test on a bicycle ergometer. Physical activity was measured using accelerometer-based activity monitors for seven consecutive days. We observed a significant inverse trend for the prevalence of inadequacy for the intake of vitamin A and Ca across incremental CRF categories (P < 0·05). In a multivariate model, the ONAS was positively associated with absolute (β = 0·10, P = 0·02) and relative O2max (β = 0·09, P = 0·04), independent of physical activity. The OR for being unfit (the lowest 25 % of the age-specific distribution of O2max) in the third ONAS tertile compared with the first ONAS tertile was 0·52 (95 % CI 0·28, 0·96). These results demonstrated that the intake of several individual micronutrients and overall micronutrient intake status are independently and positively associated with CRF in Japanese men.
A unique simulation method of epoxy-based chemically-amplified resist by coarse-grained molecular dynamics was proposed. The mechanical properties of an epoxy-based chemically-amplified resists with various cross-linking ratios were simulated using a newly developed coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation that employs a bead-spring model. Models with the different cross-linking ratios were created in the molecular dynamics calculation step and uniaxial elongation simulations were performed. The results reveal that the simulated elastic modulus of the resist modeled by the bead-spring model with an extended angle bending potential depends on the cross-linking ratio; its dependency exhibits good agreement with that determined by nanoindentation tests.
This study focused on structural and optical properties of ZnO films grown epitaxially on Gd3Ga5O12 substrates. ZnO films (a = 3.2439 Å and c = 5.2036 Å) were deposited on the (001) and (111) planes of Gd3Ga5O12 (GGG: a = 12.383 Å) garnet substrates by a pulsed laser deposition method. From out-of-plane and in-plane X-ray diffraction measurements, the obtained ZnO films showed a single phase with the (0001) orientation on the GGG (001) and (111) substrates. The epitaxial relations between the ZnO film and GGG (001) substrate were [10-10] ZnO ‖ [100] GGG and [10-10] ZnO ‖ [010] GGG, while the epitaxial relations between the ZnO film and GGG (111) substrate were [10-10] ZnO ‖ [11-2] GGG ±21°. Furthermore, transmittance electron microscopy revealed sharp interfaces between ZnO films and GGG substrates. From photoluminescent spectra, the ZnO films showed donor bound emissions superimposed with free excitons at a low temperature of 10 K.
The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the indices of body size such as BMI, fat-free mass index (FFMI, FFM/height2), fat mass index (FMI, FM/height2), and body fat percentage (%BF), and physical activities assessed by the doubly-labelled water (DLW) method and an accelerometer in free-living Japanese adult women. We conducted a cross-sectional study in 100 female subjects ranging in age from 31 to 69 years. Subjects were classified in quartiles of BMI, FFMI, FMI and %BF. Daily walking steps and the duration of light to vigorous physical activity were simultaneously assessed by an accelerometer for the same period as the DLW experiment. Only physical activity-related energy expenditure (PAEE)/FFM and PAEE/body weight (BW) decreased in the highest quartile of BMI. Physical activity level, PAEE/FFM and PAEE/BW decreased in the highest quartile of FMI and %BF, whereas they were not different among quartiles of FFMI. Daily walking steps and the duration of moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activities decreased or tended to decrease in the highest quartile of FMI and %BF, but did not differ among quartiles of FFMI and BMI. These results clearly showed that Japanese adult women with higher fat deposition obviously had a low level of physical activities assessed by both the DLW method and accelerometry, but those with larger BMI had lower PAEE/FFM and PAEE/BW only. Our data suggest that the relationship between obesity and daily physical activities should be discussed using not only BMI but also FMI or %BF.
We have recently developed a simple algorithm for the classification of household and locomotive activities using the ratio of unfiltered to filtered synthetic acceleration (gravity-removal physical activity classification algorithm, GRPACA) measured by a triaxial accelerometer. The purpose of the present study was to develop a new model for the immediate estimation of daily physical activity intensities using a triaxial accelerometer. A total of sixty-six subjects were randomly assigned into validation (n 44) and cross-validation (n 22) groups. All subjects performed fourteen activities while wearing a triaxial accelerometer in a controlled laboratory setting. During each activity, energy expenditure was measured by indirect calorimetry, and physical activity intensities were expressed as metabolic equivalents (MET). The validation group displayed strong relationships between measured MET and filtered synthetic accelerations for household (r 0·907, P < 0·001) and locomotive (r 0·961, P < 0·001) activities. In the cross-validation group, two GRPACA-based linear regression models provided highly accurate MET estimation for household and locomotive activities. Results were similar when equations were developed by non-linear regression or sex-specific linear or non-linear regressions. Sedentary activities were also accurately estimated by the specific linear regression classified from other activity counts. Therefore, the use of a triaxial accelerometer in combination with a GRPACA permits more accurate and immediate estimation of daily physical activity intensities, compared with previously reported cut-off classification models. This method may be useful for field investigations as well as for self-monitoring by general users.
from
Part III
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Pathogenesis, clinical disease, host response, and epidemiology: HCMV
By
Lenore Pereira, Departments of Cell and Tissue Biology, Anatomy, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, and the Oral Biology Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA,
Ekaterina Maidji, Departments of Cell and Tissue Biology, Anatomy, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, and the Oral Biology Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA,
Susan J. Fisher, Departments of Cell and Tissue Biology, Anatomy, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, and the Oral Biology Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA,
Susan McDonagh, Departments of Cell and Tissue Biology, Anatomy, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, and the Oral Biology Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA,
Takako Tabata, Departments of Cell and Tissue Biology, Anatomy, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, and the Oral Biology Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA
Congenital cytomegalovirus infection and the placenta
Congenital CMV infection
Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a ubiquitous virus that causes asymptomatic infections in healthy individuals (for review see Pass, 2001). Because breast feeding (Stagno et al., 1980), exposure to young children (Pass et al., 1987) and sexual contact (Fowler and Pass, 1991) are major risk factors for infection, most adults are seropositive. Diverse organs and specialized cells, including polarized epithelial cells (Tugizov et al., 1996) and endothelial cells (Fish et al., 1998; Maidji et al., 2002), are susceptible to CMV infection. CMV establishes latent infection in granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (Kondo et al., 1996) and reactivates upon cellular differentiation (Hahn et al., 1998; Soderberg-Naucler et al., 1997). Congenital CMV infection is estimated to affect 1 to 3% of infants in the United States annually and remains an important public health problem causing significant morbidity and mortality (for review see Britt, 1999).
It has long been appreciated that maternal neutralizing antibodies reduce the risk of symptomatic congenital disease in the fetus (Ahlfors et al., 1984; Boppana and Britt, 1995; Fowler et al., 2003; Stagno et al., 1982). The importance of adaptive immunity to CMV is apparent in women with primary infection, often with low-avidity neutralizing antibodies (Boppana and Britt, 1995; Lazzarotto et al., 1998; Revello et al., 2002). Approximately 15% of these women spontaneously abort in early gestation (Griffiths and Baboonian, 1984).
Spinel ferrite oxides doping non-magnetic ions show the photo-induced magnetization (PIM) effect at high temperature [1-3]. Such a magnetization enhancement by light irradiation is a unique property in this material. In order effectively to use the PIM effect and precisely to control the magnetism, direct light-emission from light-emitting element substrates would be a useful technique. In this study, spinel ferrite Al0.2Ru0.8Fe2O4 (ARFO) thin films, with the high temperature PIM effect, were prepared on GaAs(001) substrates by a pulsed laser deposition technique to aim integration with light-emitting devices based on GaAs lattice-matched materials in the future. Results showed that (001)-oriented ARFO thin films were successfully grown by using MgO buffer layers. The magnetic properties were approximately the same as ARFO films using other substrates such as Al2O3(0001) or MgO(001).
Fatigue fracture under cyclic loading of single crystal silicon (SCS) is concerned and fatigue properties and mechanism are investigated widely. Surface oxide is considered to have an important role on fatigue fractures. In this paper, the tensile testing of SCS whose surface was intentionally oxidized and the effect of the oxide thickness on the mechanical properties were reported. After fabrication of SCS specimens, they were oxidized in dry oxidization at 1100 ºC. Quasi-static tensile testing of SCS specimens with no, 100-nm-oxide, and 200-nm-oxide thick oxide was performed. As the results, the deviation in fracture strain was decreased by oxidation, and the fracture origin was observed to be the inner silicon part. These results might be caused by the decrease of surface roughness and defects formation by oxygen precipitation during thermal oxidation.
The Hypothesis of ‘Subsidies’ Caused by Price Differences
This chapter analyses some financial aspects of the Russian oil and gas industries under circumstances of a rapid increase in oil and gas export revenues (Table 3.1). It begins by considering the following hypothesis: domestic users of oil are receiving ‘subsidies’, because domestic oil prices have not risen sharply in comparison with world prices. Hence domestic non-energy producers are receiving assistance from the oil and gas industries which helps their international competitiveness and restricts the spread of the Dutch disease in contrast to the depression of the 1990s (Tabata, 2000).
The difference between world market prices and domestic purchasers' prices of crude oil increased from USD 5.2 per barrel in 1998 to USD17.2 per barrel in 2004 (Figure 3.1). We can therefore deduce that domestic users of crude oil received huge subsidies. Since domestic users of crude oil are limited to consumers in the oil-refining industry, prices of petroleum products are examined in the next section.
The Case of Petroleum Products
Curiously, we can see in Figures 3.2 and 3.3 that domestic purchasers' prices are higher than export prices in the case of gasoline and diesel fuel, while in the case of heavy fuel oil, export prices have been higher than purchasers' prices since 1998 (Figure 3.4). This is due to the domestic taxation on petroleum products. Value-added taxes (VAT) and excises have been levied on domestic purchases of petroleum products, while exports to non-CIS countries have been exempted from these taxes.
BiFeO3 thin film has been prepared on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrate at a temperature as low as 450°C by pulsed-laser deposition. The BiFeO3 thin film is perovskite single-phase, while any nonperovskite phase, such as orthorhombic Bi2Fe4O9, is not included. Dielectric constant of the film is 87, dielectric loss is 0.03, and leakage current density is low. The coexistence of ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism has been confirmed by means of the P-E and M-H hysteresis characteristics. The BiFeO3 thin film shows a well-saturated hysteresis loop with twice the remanent polarization 2Pr = 54 μC/cm2 and coercive field 2Ec = 100 kV/cm for a maximum applied electric field of 100 kV/cm, and also shows a saturated weak ferromagnetic hysteresis loop, as well as a small remanent magnetization with 2Mr = 0.6 emu/cm3 and 2 Hc = 200 Oe for a maximum magnetic field of 10 kOe at room temperature.
Synthesis of a rutile-type lead-substituted tin oxide with (110) face was investigated. The characterization was performed by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area measurements. The homogeneous rutile-type lead-substituted tin oxide was obtained until 4.1 mol% of tin was substituted with lead. The surface of obtained oxide had a homogeneously lead-substituted (110) face.