Those Days in Muramatsu: Diary by Mrs. Yumi Goto

Introduction by Grant K. Goodman, and "Days of Ambivalence" by Elizabeth Schultz."Like other personal writings, Yumi Goto's memoir, _Those Days in Muramatsu_, is both private and public. It reflects upon an interlude not only in her personal history but also in the social history of Japan. More precisely, Mrs. Goto's memoir reflects upon those days from September to December 1945 when she served as an interpreter for the railroad company working with the American military stationed as part of the Allied Occupation in Muramatsu, a small rural town in the province of Niigata in northern Japan; as such, the memoir illuminates a significant moment in the history of Japan-American relations, during which the lives of diverse people in Muramatsu were connected with the lives of 1500 American GIs." --- Introduction by Grant K. GoodmanUniversity of Kansas, Center for East Asian Studie

1940 JASC Diary

This is an online publication of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Kansas. The diary is referred to by http://www.halsema.org/people/JamesJuliusHalsema/JimBio.html. For more information about the Japan-America Student Conference, which is still being held annually, see http://iscdc.org/jasc/ .“Several years ago in a casual conversation Jim Halsema not only told me that he was a student delegate to the 7th Japan-America Student Conference held in Japan, but that he had kept a diary of that experience. Luckily for us Jim had that diary in his possession and has been willing to share it with us. Because Jim Halsema was an incredibly astute and careful observer, even at the relatively tender age of 21, we are able to share his keen perceptions of Japan, Korea, Manchuria, and China on the eve of the Pacific War. And what we are able to discern in retrospect from the Halsema diary is that a) the Japanese government had no intention whatever of diminishing its imperial state in Northeast Asia and b) that Japanese public opinion was extremely supportive of that position. From Halsema's observations one easily deduces that, behind the rhetoric of comity which is endemic in the nature of the Japan-America Student Conference, there was already evident a significant degree of tension at the base of Japanese-American relations. That Halsema was as insightful as he was can surely be attributed to his native intelligence and to his education and in particular, to his exposure to Asia including Japan from his earliest childhood.”—Goodman’s intro

The "Ram Effect": A "Non-Classical" Mechanism for Inducing LH Surges in Sheep

During spring sheep do not normally ovulate but exposure to a ram can induce ovulation. In some ewes an LH surge is induced immediately after exposure to a ram thus raising questions about the control of this precocious LH surge. Our first aim was to determine the plasma concentrations of oestradiol (E2) E2 in anoestrous ewes before and after the "ram effect" in ewes that had a "precocious" LH surge (starting within 6 hours), a "normal" surge (between 6 and 28h) and "late» surge (not detected by 56h). In another experiment we tested if a small increase in circulating E2 could induce an LH surge in anoestrus ewes. The concentration of E2 significantly was not different at the time of ram introduction among ewes with the three types of LH surge. "Precocious" LH surges were not preceded by a large increase in E2 unlike "normal" surges and small elevations of circulating E2 alone were unable to induce LH surges. These results show that the "precocious" LH surge was not the result of E2 positive feedback. Our second aim was to test if noradrenaline (NA) is involved in the LH response to the "ram effect". Using double labelling for Fos and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) we showed that exposure of anoestrous ewes to a ram induced a higher density of cells positive for both in the A1 nucleus and the Locus Coeruleus complex compared to unstimulated controls. Finally, the administration by retrodialysis into the preoptic area, of NA increased the proportion of ewes with an LH response to ram odor whereas treatment with the α1 antagonist Prazosin decreased the LH pulse frequency and amplitude induced by a sexually active ram. Collectively these results suggest that in anoestrous ewes NA is involved in ram-induced LH secretion as observed in other induced ovulators

Nuclear Shell Model Calculations of Neutralino-Nucleus Cross Sections for Silicon 29 and Germanium 73

We present the results of detailed nuclear shell model calculations of the spin-dependent elastic cross section for neutralinos scattering from \si29 and \ge73. The calculations were performed in large model spaces which adequately describe the configuration mixing in these two nuclei. As tests of the computed nuclear wave functions, we have calculated several nuclear observables and compared them with the measured values and found good agreement. In the limit of zero momentum transfer, we find scattering matrix elements in agreement with previous estimates for \si29 but significantly different than previous work for \ge73. A modest quenching, in accord with shell model studies of other heavy nuclei, has been included to bring agreement between the measured and calculated values of the magnetic moment for \ge73. Even with this quenching, the calculated scattering rate is roughly a factor of 2 higher than the best previous estimates; without quenching, the rate is a factor of 4 higher. This implies a higher sensitivity for germanium dark matter detectors. We also investigate the role of finite momentum transfer upon the scattering response for both nuclei and find that this can significantly change the expected rates. We close with a brief discussion of the effects of some of the non-nuclear uncertainties upon the matrix elements.Comment: 31 pages, figures avaiable on request, UCRL-JC-11408

Gossip in organisations: Contexts, consequences and controversies

This article examines the key themes surrounding gossip including its contexts, the various outcomes (positive and negative) of gossip as well as a selection of challenges and controversies. The challenges which are highlighted revolve around definitional issues, methodological approaches, and ethical considerations. Our analysis suggests that the characteristics and features of gossip lend itself to a process-oriented approach whereby the beginning and, particularly, end points of gossip are not always easily identified. Gossip about a subject or person can temporarily disappear only for it to re-surface at some later stage. In addition, questions pertaining to the effects of gossip and ethical-based arguments depend on the nature of the relationships within the gossip triad (gossiper, listener/respondent and target)