Effects of gall volume on survival and fecundity of gall-making aphidsAdelges japonicus (Homoptera: Adelgidae)

Summary The number of larvae reaching maturity within the gall ofAdelges japonicus was positively related to gall volume, and the relationship between the number of mature larvae and gall volume did not change with different densities of colonized larvae. The population changes in the bud galls ofA. japonicus were surveyed by collecting the galls, which did not suffer predation or parasitism within the galls, from young artificial plantations ofPicea jezoensis over two years. In the year when the density of colonized larvae was high, they suffered a 42% mortality within the galls, whereas mortality was nearly zero in the low density year. The numbers of larvae per gall were positively correlated with gall volume. The regression lines of the number of colonized larvae on gall volume did not differ significantly in the regression coefficients between the two years, whereas the intercept was significantly higher in the year when the density of colonized larvae was higher. However, different within-gall mortality nullified this difference, and the regression lines of the number of mature larvae on gall volume had no significant difference both in the regression coefficients and the intercepts. This suggests that the number of mature larvae per gall was limited by available resources within the gall which were positively related to gall volume. In 25% of the galls in which mature larvae inhabited, the space within the galls were completely filled by the larvae, indicating that space was one of the limiting resources. Gall volume also affected the number of adults that emerged from the gall and the potential number of their progeny.     

Assessing NGO Empowerment in Housing Development Frameworks: Discourse and Practice in the Philippines

Amid the rise of democratization movements since the 1980s, many governments in developing countries have proactively introduced the ideas of decentralization and devolution into the policy arena. In the pursuit of democratic planning processes where civil society is encouraged to be a part of the formal decision-making system, articles advocating the empowerment of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been included into a series of legislations. This shift was soon reflected in housing development frameworks for the poor, leading to the formulation of a new approach called "enablement." The Philippines' experience for the last two decades follows this line of development. Filipino NGOs are now prescribed as a catalyst to add further dynamism to the improvement of substandard living environments. Empirical findings of this study exemplify that NGO empowerment has been increasingly accelerated by the combination of NGOs' self-endeavors and governments' initiatives. By utilizing the paradigm shift under the enablement approach, NGOs are engaged in the attempt of alliance-formation and network-building to expand their influence. Contrary to ideals, however, NGO empowerment may reveal some adverse effects such as excessive dependency on NGOs and distorted representation by NGOs. Moreover, the professionalization of NGOs is an additional factor which generates hierarchization at the grass-roots level. This study suggests that further research analyze the depth and width to which NGO empowerment has been penetrated in order to precisely capture the processes and consequences resulting in disempowerment.     

A Single Garbage Can Model and the Degree of Anarchy in Japanese Firms

This paper refreshes an empirical examination ofthe garbage can model, particularly in a sample drawnfrom Japanese firms. The garbage can model oforganizational decision making was originally developed by Cohen, March, and Olsen (1972) to describeorganized anarchy. This paper incorporates twomethodologies in an attempt to both validate and extendthe garbage can model: Simulation is first used togenerate a research hypothesis, then several surveys areconducted to test that hypothesis and to empiricallydevelop an ex-post model of decision ambiguity, flight,and anarchy. The data support our hypothesis and we find out new conditions of ambiguity:(i) fluid participation, (ii) divorce of solution fromdiscussion, and (iii) job performance rather thansubjective assessments, which are clearly related to the simulation assumption of our single garbagecan model. By using our new conditions of ambiguity, wedevelop a measure of degree of anarchy, and theregression analysis indicates a linear relationship between the flight ratio and the degree ofanarchy.     

Deme formation in gall-making aphidsAdelges japonicus (Homoptera: Adelgidae)

The deme formation hypothesis in herbivorous insects states that herbivores differentiate genetically into small demes, each specialized in the idiosyncratic traits of individual plants. We examined this hypothesis in gall-forming aphids,Adelges japonicus, by reciprocal transfers of aphids among three susceptible clones ofPicea jezoensis standing in proximity. Performance of aphids transferred to their natal clone was compared with that of aphids transferred to other novel clones. ANCOVA showed no significant donor (source of aphids) by receptor (recipient of aphids) interactions for both total aphid performance on the host tree over a life cycle and its three subdivisions(q ₁,q ₂ andq ₃). In addition, the total performance on the natal clone was lowest among those in the three clones, which was explicitly against the prediction from the local adaptation. In contrast, there were significant receptor effects onq ₁ (fecundity of gallicolae multiplied by survivorship of fundatrices while feeding on needles) andq ₃ (fecundity of fundatrices multiplied by survivorship of gallicolae before emergence from the galls), suggesting genetic differences in resistance among clones. The two-fold difference inq ₃ among clones was due to different gall size, which was highly correlated with the number of gallicolae that emerged from the gall. The two-fold difference inq ₁ seemed to be caused by different survivorship of larval fundatrices while feeding on needles.     

Cultural Hegemony of Singapore among ASEAN Countries: Globalization and Cultural Policy

Abstract: Singapore had been called a Cultural Desert since its independence in 1965, but from the beginning of 1990s, there has been a significant change. The Singapore Government started to call their city a “Global City for the Arts”, making numerous cultural policy changes. They also worked on various cultural experiments to establish their cultural leadership or hegemony among Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. The development of arts policies, cultural industries and people's positive commitment towards cultural exchanges are examples of this change. Singapore therefore is now playing the role of the cultural hub among the ASEAN countries. As an example of this, the present study discusses “Esplanade”, which opened as a huge cultural complex in October 2002. Then the paper will also discuss both bright and dark sides of the cultural development in Singapore. As a conclusion, this paper discusses the possibility of the cultural contribution of Singapore to ASEAN countries, in spite of having serious epistemological discontinuity among ASEAN.     

Asymptotic expansions in non-linear renewal theory

We obtain first order asymptotic expansions for the distribution of the excess of a standard normal random walk over a curved boundary and the error probabilities of some repeated significance tests. The key step in the analysis is an asymptotic expansion for the conditional probability that the random walk has not crossed the boundary before the N step, given that it is near the boundary after the n^th step.     

Gender gaps in STEM in Japanese academia: The impact of research productivity,outside offers,and home life on pay

To understand differences in labor market outcomes between genders, economists must examine a complex array of potentially significant factors, such as institutional context, productivity differences, child-bearing and home production, and bargaining behavior. Many of these factors are not well captured by standard data sources. We use a new survey of academics in Japan to better understand the sources of gender pay differences. We find a 6% pay gap which persists when we control for research productivity, despite an institutional context shaped by explicit salary tables. We do not find a motherhood wage penalty, and the gender salary we document is not affected by differences in outside job offers.     

Fetal movement frequency and the effect of associated perinatal factors: Multicenter study

Background

Decreased fetal movements are associated with adverse perinatal outcomes, including stillbirth. Delayed maternal visits to a health care provider after perceiving decreased fetal movements are frequently observed in stillbirths. Informing pregnant women of the normal range of fetal movement frequency is essential in their earlier visits in order to prevent stillbirth.

Measuring Information Behavior: A Time Budget Survey in Japan

This paper discusses the results of a time budget survey which was conducted nationwide in Japan in 1995 on ‘information behavior’, that is, the amount of time people spent communicating and using information media ranging from conversations to computers. We propose a three-dimensional time budget survey as a method for measuring information behavior in actual life. The method classifies information behavior into 24 categories and measures them with respect to three factors, i.e. time, location and purpose of behavior. Our survey revealed that the total time spent on information behavior was about seven hours per day, of which about 45% was spent watching TV. The displacement effect of PC use on TV watching was estimated by a “time-shift matching” design. The results demonstrated that use of a PC does not significantly affect TV viewing, despite a large difference in TV viewing time between PC users and non-users.