Provision of local bus services in Japan: focusing on the roles for local governments and nonprofit organisations

Japan’s bus deregulation program (coach and local) was carried out in February 2002. Its main point was to loosen or eliminate Demand-Supply Balancing (Jukyu-Chosei.) This regulation was a licensing system and functioned as entry/exit regulation. It defended incumbents (approximately 360 operators) and did not let potential entrants respond to increasing demand for some services. It also forced the incumbents to cross-subsidise noncommercial services. In other words, the incumbents were allowed to enjoy a situation of local monopoly but forced to maintain non-commercial services. Although five years have passed since the deregulation, we have not seen major changes in the structure of the local bus market, as there have been few entrants. On the other hand, the incumbents are apt to abandon non-commercial services, because they now have freedom of exit and cross-subsidisation is no longer sustainable. The supply of commercial services can be left to the market mechanism, but the problem is who is in charge of maintaining noncommercial but indispensable services, especially in rural areas. This is why the deregulation has had impact on the transport policy by local governments. In fact, local governments all over Japan have been more involved in policies for public transport. But many of them are now facing a budget deficit and need to cut expenditures, including subsidies for bus services. Thus, nonprofit organisations (NPOs) are also expected to play a crucial role in the local transport market, like community transport in England. Some NPOs have been founded by the inhabitants and have tried to form a partnership with bus operators, local governments, shops, hospitals and so on in their local communities. The aim of this paper is to analyse the roles for NPOs in the local bus market, in comparison with those for local government. First, we describe the Japanese local bus market before and after the deregulation. Secondly, we consider the roles for local governments and NPOs in the local bus market. Next, we analyse some pioneering cases. In conclusion, we give a future prospect of local bus service provision in Japan, from the viewpoint of partnerships among local governments, private operators and NPOs.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Frequency Comb Assisted Diode Laser Spectroscopy for Measurement of Microcavity Dispersion

While being invented for precision measurement of single atomic transitions, frequency combs have also become a versatile tool for broadband spectroscopy in the last years. In this paper we present a novel and simple approach for broadband spectroscopy, combining the accuracy of an optical fiber-laser-based frequency comb with the ease-of-use of a tunable external cavity diode laser. This scheme enables broadband and fast spectroscopy of microresonator modes and allows for precise measurements of their dispersion, which is an important precondition for broadband optical frequency comb generation that has recently been demonstrated in these devices. Moreover, we find excellent agreement of measured microresonator dispersion with predicted values from finite element simulations and we show that tailoring microresonator dispersion can be achieved by adjusting their geometrical properties

Investigating poultry trade patterns to guide avian influenza surveillance and control: a case study in Vietnam

Live bird markets are often the focus of surveillance activities monitoring avian influenza viruses (AIV) circulating in poultry. However, in order to ensure a high sensitivity of virus detection and effectiveness of management actions, poultry management practices features influencing AIV dynamics need to be accounted for in the design of surveillance programmes. In order to address this knowledge gap, a cross-sectional survey was conducted through interviews with 791 traders in 18 Vietnamese live bird markets. Markets greatly differed according to the sources from which poultry was obtained, and their connections to other markets through the movements of their traders. These features, which could be informed based on indicators that are easy to measure, suggest that markets could be used as sentinels for monitoring virus strains circulating in specific segments of the poultry production sector. AIV spread within markets was modelled. Due to the high turn-over of poultry, viral amplification was likely to be minimal in most of the largest markets. However, due to the large number of birds being introduced each day, and challenges related to cleaning and disinfection, environmental accumulation of viruses at markets may take place, posing a threat to the poultry production sector and to public health

A duplication at chromosome 11q12.2–11q12.3 is associated with spinocerebellar ataxia type 20

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 20 (SCA20) has been linked to chromosome 11q12, but the underlying genetic defect has yet to be identified. We applied single-nucleotide polymorphism genotyping to detect structural alterations in the genomic DNA of patients with SCA20. We found a 260 kb duplication within the previously linked SCA20 region, which was confirmed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and fiber fluorescence in situ hybridization, the latter also showing its direct orientation. The duplication spans 10 known and 2 unknown genes, and is present in all affected individuals in the single reported SCA20 pedigree. While the mechanism whereby this duplication may be pathogenic remains to be established, we speculate that the critical gene within the duplicated segment may be DAGLA, the product of which is normally present at the base of Purkinje cell dendritic spines and contributes to the modulation of parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapses

Influenza sequence and epitope database

Influenza epidemics arise through the acquisition of viral genetic changes to overcome immunity from previous infections. An increasing number of complete genomes of influenza viruses have been sequenced in Asia in recent years. Knowledge about the genomes of the seasonal influenza viruses from different countries in Asia is valuable for monitoring and understanding of the emergence, migration and evolution of strains. In order to make full use of the wealth of information from such data, we have developed an integrated user friendly relational database, Influenza Sequence and Epitope Database (ISED), that catalogs the influenza sequence and epitope information obtained in Asia. ISED currently hosts a total of 13 020 influenza A and 2984 influenza B virus sequence data collected in 17 countries including 9 Asian countries, and a total of approximately 545 amantadine-resistant influenza virus sequences collected in Korea. ISED provides users with prebuilt application tools to analyze sequence alignment and different patterns and allows users to visualize epitope-matching structures, which is freely accessible at http://influenza.korea.ac.kr and http://influenza.cdc.go.kr

Conductivity and quasinormal modes in holographic theories

We show that in field theories with a holographic dual the retarded Green's function of a conserved current can be represented as a convergent sum over the quasinormal modes. We find that the zero-frequency conductivity is related to the sum over quasinormal modes and their high-frequency asymptotics via a sum rule. We derive the asymptotics of the quasinormal mode frequencies and their residues using the phase-integral (WKB) approach and provide analytic insight into the existing numerical observations concerning the asymptotic behavior of the spectral densities.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure

Webinar Training: an acceptable, feasible and effective approach for multi-site medical record abstraction: the BOWII experience

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Abstractor training is a key element in creating valid and reliable data collection procedures. The choice between in-person vs. remote or simultaneous vs. sequential abstractor training has considerable consequences for time and resource utilization. We conducted a web-based (webinar) abstractor training session to standardize training across six individual Cancer Research Network (CRN) sites for a study of breast cancer treatment effects in older women (BOWII). The goals of this manuscript are to describe the training session, its participants and participants' evaluation of webinar technology for abstraction training.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>A webinar was held for all six sites with the primary purpose of simultaneously training staff and ensuring consistent abstraction across sites. The training session involved sequential review of over 600 data elements outlined in the coding manual in conjunction with the display of data entry fields in the study's electronic data collection system. Post-training evaluation was conducted via Survey Monkey^©. Inter-rater reliability measures for abstractors within each site were conducted three months after the commencement of data collection.</p> <p>Ten of the 16 people who participated in the training completed the online survey. Almost all (90%) of the 10 trainees had previous medical record abstraction experience and nearly two-thirds reported over 10 years of experience. Half of the respondents had previously participated in a webinar, among which three had participated in a webinar for training purposes. All rated the knowledge and information delivered through the webinar as useful and reported it adequately prepared them for data collection. Moreover, all participants would recommend this platform for multi-site abstraction training. Consistent with participant-reported training effectiveness, results of data collection inter-rater agreement within sites ranged from 89 to 98%, with a weighted average of 95% agreement across sites.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Conducting training via web-based technology was an acceptable and effective approach to standardizing medical record review across multiple sites for this group of experienced abstractors. Given the substantial time and cost savings achieved with the webinar, coupled with participants' positive evaluation of the training session, researchers should consider this instructional method as part of training efforts to ensure high quality data collection in multi-site studies.</p

The initial step of DNA hairpin folding: a kinetic analysis using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

Conformational fluctuations of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) oligonucleotides were studied in aqueous solution by monitoring contact-induced fluorescence quenching of the oxazine fluorophore MR121 by intrinsic guanosine residues (dG). We applied fluorescence correlation spectroscopy as well as steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy to analyze kinetics of DNA hairpin folding. We first characterized the reporter system by investigating bimolecular quenching interactions between MR121 and guanosine monophosphate in aqueous solution estimating rate constants, efficiency and stability for formation of quenched complexes. We then studied the kinetics of complex formation between MR121 and dG residues site-specifically incorporated in DNA hairpins. To uncover the initial steps of DNA hairpin folding we investigated complex formation in ssDNA carrying one or two complementary base pairs (dC–dG pairs) that could hybridize to form a short stem. Our data show that incorporation of a single dC–dG pair leads to non-exponential decays for opening and closing kinetics and reduces rate constants by one to two orders of magnitude. We found positive activation enthalpies independent of the number of dC–dG pairs. These results imply that the rate limiting step of DNA hairpin folding is not determined by loop dynamics, or by mismatches in the stem, but rather by interactions between stem and loop nucleotides

Positive psychology of Malaysian students: impacts of engagement, motivation, self-compassion and wellbeing on mental health

Malaysia plays a key role in education of the Asia Pacific, expanding its scholarly output rapidly. However, mental health of Malaysian students is challenging, and their help-seeking is low because of stigma. This study explored the relationships between mental health and positive psychological constructs (academic engagement, motivation, self-compassion, and wellbeing), and evaluated the relative contribution of each positive psychological construct to mental health in Malaysian students. An opportunity sample of 153 students completed the measures regarding these constructs. Correlation, regression, and mediation analyses were conducted. Engagement, amotivation, self-compassion, and wellbeing were associated with, and predicted large variance in mental health. Self-compassion was the strongest independent predictor of mental health among all the positive psychological constructs. Findings can imply the strong links between mental health and positive psychology, especially selfcompassion. Moreover, intervention studies to examine the effects of self-compassion training on mental health of Malaysian students appear to be warranted.N/

Endothelial CD276 (B7-H3) expression is increased in human malignancies and distinguishes between normal and tumour-derived circulating endothelial cells

Background:Mature circulating endothelial cells (CEC) are surrogate markers of endothelial damage. CEC measured in patients with advanced cancer are thought not only to derive from damaged normal vasculature (n-CEC), bu