Production Networks in East Asia: What We Know So Far

Production networks in East Asia, particularly in the manufacturing and machinery industries, are well recognized as the most advanced in the world, in terms of their magnitude, extensiveness, and sophistication. This paper tries to link various economic studies on related topics, to see how much we understand about production networks in East Asia. After providing a brief overview of international trade statistics, the paper reviews a number of academic papers concerning (i) the structure and mechanics of production networks, (ii) the conditions for production networks, and (iii) the properties and implications thereof.fragmentation; agglomeration; vertical specialization; multinational enterprises; foreign direct investment

International Production Networks in Machinery Industries: Structure and Its Evolution

This paper intensively employs annual international trade statistics obtained from the UN Comtrade and examines to what degree East Asian countries have participated in global production networks in comparison with countries in other regions and whether East Asia’s intra-regional trade in machinery is different from extra-regional trade and transactions by other regions. It provides strong evidence of the formation of East Asian production networks, particularly in the form of expansion of exports and imports of parts & components, often ICT-related. It also traces the development of intra-regional markets of both parts & components and finished products since 2000.

On the Role of Technical Cooperation in International Technology Transfers

We investigate whether and how technical cooperation aid (TC) facilitates technological diffusion from developed to developing countries, comparing it with foreign direct investment (FDI) and external openness. Extending the model of Benhabib and Spiegel (2005), we estimate the degree to which these three channels contribute to countries total factor productivity (TFP) growth rates. Our econometric model also allows us to identify whether a country will catch up to or diverge from the technological leader nation over time. Two sets of robust findings emerge. First, TC, FDI and openness all contribute to facilitate international technology transfers. Yet, among these three channels, openness seems to contribute the most, followed by TC. Also, TC seems to compensate for the lack of sufficient human capital in developing countries. Second, around 6 to 17 countries out of 85 in our sample fail to catch up to the technological leader over the 36 years. These results suggest that TC can play an important role in facilitating the technological catch up of developing countries.

A Case Report of Lipid-Rich Carcinoma of the Breast Including Histological Characteristics and Intrinsic Subtype Profile

A 57-year-old Japanese woman with schizophrenia, who had received long-term treatment with neuroleptics, noticed a painless, pea-sized lump in her right breast. She was admitted to our hospital and a malignant tumor was diagnosed. The patient underwent a conservative radical mastectomy (Patey's operation). The excised tumor measured 2.0 × 1.2 × 1.1 cm in diameter, and its cut surface was grayish-white. Histologically, tumor cells with clear to foamy cytoplasm were invariably Oil Red O-positive and periodic acid Schiff-negative with or without diastase digestion. The tumor was diagnosed as a lipid-rich carcinoma accompanied by an in situ component. Neuroleptics increase serum prolactin levels by interfering with dopaminergic inhibition of prolactin secretion. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that, although prolactin was not detected, the tumor cells expressed prolactin receptor, indicating prolactin as the genesis of this neoplasm. In immunohistochemical intrinsic subtype analysis, the tumor was negative for estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, human epidermal growth factor receptor 1 and 2, and basal cytokeratins (CK5, CK6, and CK14), indicating an unclassified (all-marker negative) subtype. Axillary lymph nodes were free of metastasis (stage I), and the patient has been well for 20 years without any evidence of recurrence

空港の渋滞解消に向けたイベントモデルの応用

九州大学応用力学研究所研究集会報告 No.20ME-S7 「非線形波動の数理と物理」RIAM Symposium No.20ME-S7 Mathematics and Physics in Nonlinear waves本稿では、イベント会場などの人の出入りがある場所における混雑状況をマクロに把握するためのツールとしてイベントモデルを提案する。さらにイベントモデルの拡張を行なって、拡張されたモデルの安定性・振動性を議論する。本モデルの数値シミュレーションと成田空港の入国審査場における計測の比較を行なう

Introduction of Frictional and Turning Function for Pedestrian Outflow with an Obstacle

In this paper, two important factors which affect the pedestrian outflow at a bottleneck significantly are studied in detail to analyze the effect of an obstacle set up in front of an exit. One is a conflict at an exit when pedestrians evacuate from a room. We use floor field model for simulating such behavior, which is a well-studied pedestrian model using cellular automata. The conflicts have been taken into account by the friction parameter. However, the friction parameter so far is a constant and does not depend on the number of the pedestrians conflicting at the same time. Thus, we have improved the friction parameter by the frictional function, which is a function of the number of the pedestrians involved in the conflict. Second, we have newly introduced the cost of turning of pedestrians at the exit. Since pedestrians have inertia, their walking speeds decrease when they turn, and the pedestrian outflow decreases. The validity of the extended model, which includes the frictional function and the turning function, is verified by both a mean field theory and experiments. In our experiments, the pedestrian flow increases when we put an obstacle in front of an exit. The analytical results clearly explains the mechanism of the effect of the obstacle, i.e., the obstacle blocks pedestrians moving to the exit and decreases the average number of pedestrians involved in the conflict. We have also found that an obstacle works more effectively when we shift it from the center since pedestrians go through the exit with less turning

Value of late gadolinium enhancement by magnetic resonance in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis: characteristic findings and clinical utility

73rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Circulation Society 2009年03月 Osak

Incidence of central serous chorioretinopathy (2011–2018): a nationwide population-based cohort study of Japan

国の診療報酬請求データベースを用いて特殊な網膜剥離の発症率を明らかに --NDBオンサイトリサーチセンター（京都）を活用した初の成果--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-07-19.[Aims] The aim of this study was to elucidate the epidemiological background of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC), including its incidence and treatment pattern. [Methods] This was a population-based longitudinal cohort study using a nationwide health insurance claims database of the Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW). As Japan employs universal health coverage, the database covers more than 95% of claims issued in Japan. We accessed all data stored in the database with permission from the MHLW. We traced all individuals aged 30 years or older and identified individuals with new onset of CSC between January 2011 and December 2018. CSC cases were categorised by age and sex for each year, and incidence rate was calculated. We also identified major treatments for CSC to elucidate the initial treatment pattern. [Results] During the 8-year period, 247 930 incidences of CSC were identified, among which 75.9% were men. The crude incidence rate (per 100 000 person-years) in the general population aged 30 years or older was 34.0 (95% CI 33.9 to 34.2), in men was 54.2 (95% CI 53.9 to 54.4) and in women was 15.7 (95% CI 15.5 to 15.8). The mean age of onset was lower in men than in women (50.5±12.5 years vs 54.7±13.5 years). Most of the patients with newly diagnosed CSC (86.8%) did not receive major treatment. [Conclusions] The current study provides the nationwide population-based evidence to clarify the detailed epidemiology of CSC. These results could help to understand the pathogenesis and mechanisms of CSC in the future