Economic Analysis of the Environment and Trade (1) - Environmental policies and trade policies - (Japanese)

In this discussion, we analyze the following issues with regard to the environment and trade. (1) How reasonable is the "win-win" argument that trade and the environment have a mutually favorable impact in comparison with the argument that trade has an unfavorable effect on the environment? (2) What kinds of problems will arise if trade policies are used on behalf of environmental policies (e.g., the case in which protectionist trade policies are used for the purpose of protecting the environment), or if environmental policies are used as an alternative to trade policies, as environmental regulations affect competitive conditions? (The latter is particularly important. As tariffs have been lowered through consecutive negotiations of GATT and the WTO, policies other than trade are being used as alternatives to tariffs. The TBT Agreement and the SPS Agreement are responses to this trend.) In addition, what are the second-best policies? (3) Is the pollution haven hypothesis reasonable? This states that if competition with overseas products increases through trade, industries will move to countries with more lenient environmental regulations from those with stricter regulations. Conversely, how does trade affect environmental policies?

Economic Analysis of the Environment and Trade (2) - Cross-border or global environmental problems and trade - (Japanese)

In this discussion paper, we analyze the following issues with regard to the environment and trade. (1) What kind of consideration will be necessary for the case in which external diseconomies such as pollution are cross-border, or global, in comparison with the case in which external diseconomies are local? (2) It is generally said that the emissions tax and the trading of emissions quotas have the same effect and that the emissions tax is more desirable if the double dividend of the tax is taken into account. However, even under an open economy in which trade can take place, do the equivalence of the emissions tax and emissions trading, as well as the advantage of the emissions tax, reasonably apply? What are more desirable environmental policies under an open economy? (3) Although technologies that reduce the pollution intensity of pollution goods seem desirable from a common sense perspective, does the non-pollution-intensive technological progress of pollution goods improve a country's economic welfare? What kinds of technological progress are desirable under an open economy?

Proposals for the Environment and Trade to the WTO (Japanese)

This paper analyzes the desirable direction of the interpretation of various rules and regulations of GATT and the WTO from the standpoint of economics, based on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Particularly, the following legal issues are examined. (1) Externality related to the consumption of goods and goods themselves (2) Eco labels on non-product-related process and production methods (PPM) (3) PPM regulations-the classification of products based on whether they are legal or illegal (4) Discipline with regard to the replacement of trade polices by environmental policies (e.g., environmental dumping) (5) Border tax adjustment (6) Extraterritorial application of domestic environmental standards (unilateralism) In addition, we also examine to what extent the trade-related rules of the Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA) can be interpreted to be consistent with the WTO, and what alternative methods are conceivable if the interpretation is insufficient.

Legal Analysis of the Environment and Trade (Japanese)

Until the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) ended in 1994, the allowance of exceptions for the environment was rigorously judged from the stand point of promoting free trade. However, this type of strict interpretation was relaxed after the formation of the WTO. This was partly due to the belief that the WTO would be unable to gain the support of organizations such as environmental NGOs unless non-trade concerns such as the environment were also considered. Setting down a provision for the environment in the preamble to the agreement for the establishment of the WTO contributed significantly to such an interpretation. The provisions of the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement), which carefully consider the environment, also appear to have an impact on the interpretation of Article 20 of GATT. This discussion explains how the interpretation of the provisions of GATT and the WTO has been changing and analyzes other WTO-related agreements, which included the following: the necessity of Article 20 (b) in the GATT (the fact that the requirements of "a less trade restrictive alternative," taking into consideration the interest of exporting countries, are "reasonably available" for importing countries, and will work in the opposite direction; the impact on the interpretation of the necessity stipulated in Article 5, Paragraph 6 of the SPS Agreement; the balancing test presented by the Appellate Body on the beef distribution regulation incident in South Korea; etc.), the interpretation of measures "relating to" the conservation of exhaustible natural resources in Article 20 (g) of GATT (the fact that non-product-related processes and production methods [PPMs] in foreign countries are admitted), the interpretation of the chapeau of Article 20 of the GATT (the fact that this Article provides discrimination, etc., "between countries under similar conditions," instead of discrimination between "products," as stipulated in Article 3 of the GATT, and the fact that the SPS Agreement clarifies this point, etc.), and the TBT Agreement.

公立中学校特別支援学級在籍生徒の読み書きの機能代替及び補助を目的とした定期考査受験時の支援技術活用に関する報告 : デバイスの選定，導入工程，活用の変容に着目して

読み書きに困難さを示す児童生徒への支援として支援技術（Assistive Technology: AT）を利用した事例報告は数多くある。一方で、学校単位で実施される入学時テストや中間考査・期末考査などの定期考査（以下、試験）におけるAT の導入から活用についてまとめた報告は見られない。そこで、本研究では、公立中学校特別支援学級（自閉症・情緒障害）に在籍する生徒の読み書きの機能代替及び補助を目的とした試験のAT デバイス活用について、PDCA サイクルの枠組みから探索的に課題を明らかにし改善を図った取り組みについて報告する。合計４回の継続した実践から、中学校内で自立した実施環境設定、教師の教育的評価とAT の利用に関する意識、受験者の受験時のAT 活用スキルの３つの視点で検討をすることの必要性が推察された。各視点に立って検討することで、今後、多くの学校で試験時のAT 活用が適切に行われることを目指している。There are many case reports on the support use of Assistive Technology Devices for children with disabilities reading and writing. On the other hand, there are no reports on the introduction and use of AT Devices in examinations such as school entrance examination and mid-term / end-of-term tests, which are conducted at school level. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to report on our project to make use of AT as an alternative support for reading and writing during exams at a public junior high school, where we used exploratory approach within the PDCA cycle to find challenging issues around introduction of AT Devices in exams and to solve them. It was inferred that, in order to examine ongoing practice, it was necessary to consider the following three perspectives: the setting of an independent implementation environment within the implementing school; the educational evaluation and awareness of AT use among teachers; and AT use skills of examinees at the time of the examinations. By examining the requirements from each of these perspectives, we aim to help ensure that AT is appropriately used in school tests at many schools in the future.本研究は、JSPS 科学研究費補助金基盤研究B（課題番号: 21H0088800）（研究代表: 氏間和仁）の助成を受けた

Relationship between postprandial glucose level and carotid artery stiffness in patients without diabetes or cardiovascular disease

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between postprandial glucose level and atherosclerosis in patients without diabetes and cardiovascular disease by determining carotid ultrasonographic variables and serum levels of 1,5-anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG). METHODS: The subjects were 72 patients without diabetes and cardiovascular disease being treated for hypertension or dyslipidemia. The clinical characteristics of all subjects, including the serum level of 1,5-AG, which appears to be well suited for monitoring postprandial hyperglycemia, were evaluated after an overnight fast. The average intima-media thickness (IMT) and the average pulsatility index (PI) of the right and left common carotid arteries were determined with high-resolution ultrasonography and used as ultrasonographic variables. The subjects were divided into a Lower 1,5-AG group (n = 36) and a Higher 1,5-AG group (n = 36). We evaluated the relationship between clinical characteristics and ultrasonographic variables of the carotid artery in both groups. RESULTS: The average PI in the Lower 1,5-AG group was significantly higher than that in the Higher 1,5-AG group, but the average IMT did not differ between the groups. Linear regression analysis, with the ultrasonographic variables as the dependent variables, with 1,5-AG as the independent variable, and adjusted for other clinical characteristics, showed significant correlation between 1,5-AG and the PI but not between 1,5-AG and IMT. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that postprandial hyperglycemia increases carotid artery stiffness, but not morphological change, in patients without diabetes or cardiovascular disease

Structure–function studies of ultrahigh molecular weight isoprenes provide key insights into their biosynthesis

Some plant trans-1,4-prenyltransferases (TPTs) produce ultrahigh molecular weight trans-1,4-polyisoprene (TPI) with a molecular weight of over 1.0 million. Although plant-derived TPI has been utilized in various industries, its biosynthesis and physiological function(s) are unclear. Here, we identified three novel Eucommia ulmoides TPT isoforms—EuTPT1, 3, and 5, which synthesized TPI in vitro without other components. Crystal structure analysis of EuTPT3 revealed a dimeric architecture with a central hydrophobic tunnel. Mutation of Cys94 and Ala95 on the central hydrophobic tunnel no longer synthesizd TPI, indicating that Cys94 and Ala95 were essential for forming the dimeric architecture of ultralong-chain TPTs and TPI biosynthesis. A spatiotemporal analysis of the physiological function of TPI in E. ulmoides suggested that it is involved in seed development and maturation. Thus, our analysis provides functional and mechanistic insights into TPI biosynthesis and uncovers biological roles of TPI in plants