Aesthetics of austerity in Toda Seiju's posters

Japanese Post-modern posters emerged as a powerful medium that captivated the world’s attention in the 1980s. Their significance arises from their distinctive aesthetics, designers’ attempts to create their own styles, the environment where posters are displayed, and the social and cultural conditions that nurture the creativity of Japanese designers. Among the prominent Japanese designers in the Post-modern poster design field, Toda Seiju is notable for his austerity aesthetics. To find out more, I interviewed him in his Tokyo office on 30 October 2008. This paper sheds light on Toda’s aesthetics of subtraction, and how it informs his design practice. Through three case studies, I suggest that Zen philosophy and aesthetics have been incorporated to produce the intended effects in Toda’s work, with or without his awareness

Tuberculous abdominal abscess in an HIV-infected man: neither infection previously diagnosed

A 38-year-old man had a 1-week history of right lower quadrant abdominal pain; the initial impression was that he had diverticulitis of the ascending colon with an intra-abdominal abscess. Signs of peritonitis mandated an immediate right hemicolectomy. The unusual location of the abscess and the patient’s unusual postoperative course suggested that he might also have a systemic disease. Testing for HIV infection was positive. After 2 weeks in hospital, he was treated as an outpatient for both tuberculosis and HIV with a favourable outcome. In Taiwan a pre-operative HIV test is not performed routinely, and the HIV seroprevalence in surgical patient populations is unknown. Surgeons should keep the possibility of HIV infection in mind in a patient with an unusual clinical course

Cladistic relationships within the genus Cinnamomum (Lauraceae) in Taiwan based on analysis of leaf morphology and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) molecular markers

We examined leaf morphological characteristics, ISSR (inter-simple sequence repeat) genetic polymorphisms and ITS (rDNA internal transcribed spacer) molecular markers in 12 endemic species of Cinnamomum in Taiwan to determine their cladistic relationships. The leaf morphology and ISSR data support the division of the genus into sections Camphora and Cinnamomum. The genetic relationship between Cinnamomum camphora and Cinnamomum micranthum is very close; both species share a specific 11 bp deletion in their ITS sequences. A close relationship between Cinnamomum insularimontanum and Cinnamomum macrostemon was supported by leaf morphology, ISSR and ITS data and the ITS analysis indicates that Cinnamomum subavenium is closely related to these two species. The ITS analysis also indicates that Cinnamomum japonicum, Cinnamomum austrosinense and Cinnamomum reticulatum are closely related. Leaf morphology and ISSRs also support the kinship between C. japonicum and C. austrosinense. The ITS data support a close cluster consisting of C. osmophloeum, C. camphora and C. micranthum, suggesting that Cinnamomum osmophloeum might be a key species in the evolutionary transition from section Camphora to section  Cinnamomum. Our results demonstrate that ISSR and ITS markers can clearly identify the 12 endemic Cinnamomum species in Taiwan.Key words: Cinnamomum, morphology, taxonomy, ISSR (inter-simple sequence repeat), ITS (internal transcribed spacer), phylogeny

INFLUENCE OF PALEOGEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS ON CHEMICAL COMPONENTS OF GROUND WATER IN THE SOUTHERN PLAIN, VIETNAM

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart