Dynamic Estimation of the Consumer Demand System in Postwar Japan

This report explores the dynamic demand relations operative in Japan in the period 1951-80 in order to elucidate the dynamic nature and characteristics of the varied structures of consumer demand. The analysis was conducted at the subgroup level on the basis of time series of family budget data, using Powell's version of the linear expenditure system. A taste variable was incorporated into the expenditure functions and five alternative specifications of the taste variable were utilized to take account of recent structural changes in demand. The first two are based on current annual increase in income and on current annual rate of increase in income. The next two incorporate lagged annual increase in income and lagged annual rate of increase in income, and the last specification is based on the time trend. The analysis was based on a 21-commodity breakdown and numerous individual segments of the total observation period were chosen for estimating the dynamic model. The taste variables had the effect of stabilizing the demand system as a whole and they considerably reduced the instability of important estimates, such as those for money flexibility, subsistence consumption levels, etc. Consumption patterns in Japan are considered to have changed substantially toward more "Westernized" living and eating habits since the beginning of the 1960s. Per capita consumption of rice and fish went down with the increase in deflated income, whereas the consumption of animal protein food, fruit, beverages, and food away from the home all increased rapidly. Owing to income and taste effects, transportation, recreation, and rent showed a notable upward shift in average shares, while rice consumption declined remarkably in terms of its reduced marginal share. Broadly speaking, estimated average substitution elasticity in Leser's model is inversely proportional to estimated money flexibility, which itself has a close relation to price elasticities. High values of money flexibility were obtained for the lower levels of per capita income in the early years of the period studied. For periods of more rapid economic growth, money flexibility estimates dropped to some extent, while for recent years they rose appreciably, reflecting the smaller response of consumer demand to price changes

Earthquake Induced Slope Failure Simulation by SPH

Majority of slope stability, slope displacement and soil liquefaction analyses subjected to earthquake loading condition employed the finite element method (FEM) as the standard numerical tool. However, mechanism of soil failure in such condition often involved extremely large deformation and failure behaviors, which were unable to be modeled by FEM since this method was suffered from the grid distortion. In an attempt to overcome this limitation, we present herein our first attempt to extend the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method to analyze slope failure behavior due to seismic shaking. For the sake of simplicity, effect of pore-water pressure was not taken into consideration. The numerical framework was then applied to simulate the failure behavior of a slope subjected to a seismic loading. Experimental model was also conducted to verify the numerical performance. It is shown that SPH can simulate fairly well the slope failure behavior in the model test, especially in prediction of the failure surface. The paper suggests that SPH should be considered as a powerful alternative for computation of geomaterials subjected to earthquake loading conditions

Temperature Response Comparison of Controlled and Field Environments for Four Tropical Grasses

Tropical grasses are cultivated mostly as annuals in the warm region of SW Japan. They have a long-term sowing time after harvesting temperate Italian ryegrass. We compared the early growth of tropical grasses in a controlled environment vs. field data at 2 sowing times to determine their temperate response

V1647 Orionis (IRAS 05436-0007) : A New Look at McNeil's Nebula

We present a study of the newly discovered McNeil's nebula in Orion using the JHKs-band simultaneous observations with the near-infrared (NIR) camera SIRIUS on the IRSF 1.4m telescope. The cometary infrared nebula is clearly seen extending toward north and south from the NIR source (V1647 Orionis) that illuminates McNeil's nebula. The compact nebula has an apparent diameter of about 70 arcsec. The nebula is blue (bright in J) and has a cavity structure with two rims extending toward north-east and north-west. The north-east rim is brighter and sharp, while the north-west rim is diffuse. The north-east rim can be traced out to ~ 40 arcsec from the location of the NIR source. In contrast, no cavity structure is seen toward the south, although diffuse nebula is extended out to ~ 20 arcsec. New NIR photometric data show a significant variation in the magnitudes (> 0.15 mag) of the source of McNeil's nebula within a period of one week, that is possibly under the phase of eruptive variables like FUors or EXors.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures in JPEG format. Accepted for the publication in PASJ Letter

Mevastatin reduces cartilage degradation in rabbit experimental osteoarthritis through inhibition of synovial inflammation

SummaryObjectiveTo examine the therapeutic efficacy of an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (statin) in rabbit osteoarthritis (OA) in vitro and in vivo.MethodsIn the presence or absence of mevastatin, rabbit chondrocytes and synoviocytes were incubated with Interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and analyzed by biochemical methods. Thirty-two mature rabbits that underwent bilateral anterior cruciate ligament transaction (ACLT) received six consecutive weekly intra-articular injections of mevastatin at three different concentrations or a control solution. All animals were sacrificed 6 weeks after ACLT, and the knee joints were assessed by morphological, histological, immunohistochemical, and biochemical methods.ResultsMevastatin inhibited IL-1β stimulation of gene expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and matrix-metalloproteinases 3 (MMP-3), in synoviocytes but not chondrocytes. The levels of MCP-1 and MMP-3 productions in synoviocytes were significantly reduced by statin-treatment. In rabbit with OA, intra-articular injection of mevastatin significantly reduced cartilage degradation, as assessed by morphological and histological examinations. Synovial tissues of knees treated with mevastatin showed less severe inflammatory responses with reduced thickness of synovial cell lining and less infiltration of subsynovial CD68+monocyte lineage cells compared to untreated control knees. Relative mRNA expressions of MCP-1, IL-1β, MMP-3, and MMP-13 were reduced in synovial tissues, but not articular cartilage, of knees treated with mevastatin compared with untreated control knees.ConclusionDuring the development of experimental OA, intra-articular administration of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (statin) reduces inflammatory cell infiltration and matrix-degrading enzyme expression, thus limiting cartilage degradation

Interferometric Observations of the T Tauri Stars in the MBM 12 Cloud

We have carried out a millimeter interferometric continuum survey toward 7 YSOs in the MBM 12 cloud. Thermal emissions associated with 2 YSOs were detected above the 3-$\sigma$ level at 2.1 mm, and one also showed a 1.3 mm thermal emission. Another object was marginally detected at 2.1 mm. Spectral energy distributions of the YSOs are well fitted by a simple power-law disk model. Masses of the circumstellar disks are estimated to be an order of 0.05 M_{\sun}. The circumstellar disks in the MBM 12 cloud have properties in common with the disks in nearby star-forming regions, in terms of disk parameters such as a disk mass, as well as an infrared excess.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted by ApJ Letter