Species diversity preserved in different numbers of nature reserves of the same total area

Conclusion and Summary The expected number of species occurring in different numbers of reserves of the same total area is examined on different assumptions of the spatial distribution and the probability of extinction. The advantage of one large reserve or several smaller ones of equal total area depends on the spatial distributions of species and the stage after the establishement of reserves. In general, several smaller reserves maintain more species immediately after the establishments unless the spatial distribution are uniform or random, whereas one large reserve excels several smaller ones after some rare species have gone extinct unless the spatial distributions are strongly contagious. Since the extinction of rare species must be facilitated as the size of each reserve reduces, the area of a reserve should be larger than the critical area that ensures the persistence of the species. Hence it is concluded that one or a few large reserves are a better strategy in order to maintain the species diversity.     

The controversial promises of cholinesterase inhibitors for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: A qualitative study of caregivers' experiences

Since their introduction, clinicians have been engaging in debates over the therapeutic benefits of cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Against this backdrop of controversy, caregivers' views and experiences have been largely ignored. This has occurred despite the fact that this group may provide insights into these drugs in ways not captured by clinical research. To address this gap in knowledge, the current study examines 25 caregivers' narratives about the treatment of relatives diagnosed with mild to moderate ADRD and treated with ChEIs. The findings reveal an appraisal of cholinergic effects whereby caregivers question the benefits of the drugs, generally not knowing whether to attribute stabilization or improvements to them or not but also fearing termination of the drug ‘just in case’ there is some benefit. Caregivers justify their belief in ChEIs' long-term effectiveness primarily by invoking non-medicated prognostic scenarios of more rapid decline and loss of self. In addition, the study explores the meaning caregivers attribute to ChEI effects vis-à-vis a pharmaceutical discourse which frames these drugs as a source of hope.     

Division of Household Labor and Marital Satisfaction in China, Japan, and Korea

In this study, we compared the association of marital satisfaction with the division of household labor in China, Japan, and Korea. Results revealed that wives’ marital satisfaction was negatively associated with their burden of housework in the three Asian countries, as generally observed in Western countries. However, there were noticeable cross-country differences. Chinese couples were relatively in favor of an egalitarian division of household labor. Japanese couples were supportive of traditional specialization, with wives flexibly shifting their efforts between work outside the house and housework. Korean couples were under pressure from conflicts between the wife’s labor force participation and the traditional division of labor. These findings underscored the importance of the socio-institutional context in the study of marital satisfaction.     

Gender,Parental Control,and Risk Preferences: Evidence from Japanese College Students

Power-control theory, in its original formulation, links patriarchal family structures to parental control, and then to gender differences in risk preference. In previous studies, most of which have been conducted in North America, direct tests of the links have shown that parental control is a key mediating variable explaining the relationship between gender and risk preferences for those raised in patriarchal families. With data from a sample of college students in Japan, the present study tests the hypothesis that the tendency for females to have a lower affinity for risks, globally defined, than males is attributable to different patterns of parental control imposed on daughters compared to sons. We have found that female students have a significantly lower penchant for risk than males, but that such a difference cannot be explained by gender differences in the intensity of instrumental kinds of parental controls, neither mothers' nor fathers' supervision and surveillance.     

Methods for estimating the number of the Cryptomeria red mite, especially with the removal by solutions

Summary We compared the removal by solution, the represented count-area method and the beating, for the purpose of estimating the number of the Cryptomeria red mite. Among them the solution procedure provided the smallest standard error as per cent of the mean. 0.25 per cent unheated solution of sodium hydroxide is used for the summer generation, and also 0.25 per cent boiling one for the winter eggs. The mean proportion removed±standard error for the summer eggs and the winter eggs were 0.8770±0.0316 and 0.7920±0.0281 respectively, while 0.9894±0.0050 for the mites.     

Have Japanese People Become Asexual? Love in Japan

This article examines changing romantic relationships in contemporary Japanese society. It specifically investigates whether Japanese people in their twenties and thirties have become asexual; that is, whether they tend to have few sexual experiences or interests. Data were collected through an internet survey; this article uses a subsample of 9,940 respondents. The dependent variables were the number of lovers respondents had during and after junior high school; the independent variable was the respondents’ age. Regression analyses found a clear trend toward asexual behavior among young men (in their twenties and thirties). However, young women are not as asexual as the previous generation. This asexualization of men may have contributed to Japan’s sharply declining marriage and birth rates. If so, other Asian societies may learn lessons from Japan’s experiences in the future.     

Production seat booking system for the combination of make-to-order and make-to-stock products

This study deals with the problem of the production seat booking system. Like an airline or train booking system, customers' orders are assigned a production seat. Using the production seat booking system, inquiries about the delivery for individual orders can be answered quickly. The key issues in the production seat booking system are: (1) In which manufacturing environments are the production seat booking system appropriate and efficient? (2) How should the production seat be set? (3) How should orders be assigned a production seat? A production planning model is formulated for a production seat booking system with a combination of make-to-order and maketo-stock as production environment. Two kinds of variables are set as policy in the model: one is a variable for setting production capacity and the other a variable for assigning orders a production seat. By focusing on the characteristics of market demand, this paper clarifies the following points: (1) How do these policy variables affect the manufactuiring performance? (2) How does the buffer inventory for make-to-stock product affect the degree of the delivery date satisfaction for make-toorder products? (3) Within what range should the two policy variables be set in order to maintain the unfilled-rate of maketo-stock product under the specified level and the degree of delivery date satisfaction for make-to-order products over the specified level? This paper presents a basis for designing for a production seat booking system through a series of numerical experiments.     

Teaching Note—Asserting Social Work’s Role in Developing an Interprofessional Education Project

ABSTRACT

Interprofessional (IP) education is an essential component of today’s health care education. IP education has been recognized and supported for its potential to educate workforce-ready health care clinicians with the knowledge and skills, necessary to collaboratively deliver high-quality, client-centered care. While social work’s reflective, patient-centered, and holistic approach to care is invaluable in addressing healthcare challenges at all levels, social work’s lack of involvement in IP health care team practice is evident in the development of IP education curriculum with other health care disciplines. This article describes how one School of Social Work at a regional public university became part of a longitudinal IP education project in collaboration with a large R-1 research university, creating an IP opportunity for Master’s in Social Work (MSW) students. It also discusses the process taken for social work inclusion in the IP project, an experiential elective course designed to supplement the project, as well as Transformative Learning Theory, the conceptual framework used.     

Renationalisation of space in everyday life in Singapore

As globalisation becomes more and more familiar in our everyday lives, one readily visible phenomenon is the increasing number of migrants from outside the borders of nation states. This influx of migrants inevitably makes societies more complicated racially and culturally, and a ‘multi-racial’ or ‘multi-cultural’ society is no longer the monopoly of migrant societies such as the United States or Australia. This spread of multi-racial and multi-cultural societies in the world, however, does not mean that we have achieved racial and cultural co-existence (among nationals, and needless to say between host society and migrants) without hierarchies. In the face of a constant flow of migrants, both the host states and host societies need to control migrants, to ensure that migrants will co-exist with the host society as the host society wishes. Hierarchy and difference need to be created and maintained by the host society to control the influx of migrants in their everyday life. This paper explores how Singapore society draws a border between itself and female migrant domestic workers. For this purpose, it examines both everyday discourses of Singaporean employers about female migrant domestic workers and the efforts of the Singapore Muslim Converts’ Association to teach such workers to become ‘good Muslims'.