Comparison of sulfur isotope ratio measurements by various techniques, and the δ(34)S values of some sulur standards

Three techniques (combustion of Ag(2)S by Cu(2)O, thermal decomposition of BaSO(4) and KIBA reagent method under vacuum) for sulfur isotope ratio measurements of geological samples are described in detail. The δ(34)S values of three working standards (MSS-2, MSS-3 and MSS-4) obtained by these techniques for the last 13 years were compared (Table 1 and Fig. 3): the most acceptable values of the three standards are +21.5, +3.5 and +4.5‰, respectively

Border-ownership-dependent tilt aftereffect in incomplete figures

A recent physiological finding of neural coding for border ownership (BO) that defines the direction of a figure with respect to the border has provided a possible basis for figure-ground segregation. To explore the underlying neural mechanisms of BO, we investigated stimulus configurations that activate BO circuitry through psychophysical investigation of the BO-dependent tilt aftereffect (BO-TAE). Specifically, we examined robustness of the border ownership signal by determining whether the BO-TAE is observed when gestalt factors are broken. The results showed significant BO-TAEs even when a global shape was not explicitly given due to the ambiguity of the contour, suggesting a contour-independent mechanism for BO coding.This paper was published in Journal of the Optical Society of America. A and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=josaa-24-1-18. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law

Does a Wife’s Employment Affect her Husband’s Retirement Decision? : Evidence from Japanese Longitudinal Data

Based on a large longitudinal dataset on Japanese middle-aged and older individuals, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether women’s labor force participation affects their husbands’ retirement decisions. Employing a simple fixed-effects model, a significant positive effect of wives’ labor force participation on husbands’ retirement decisions was found, which seems to imply that a husband’s leisure is complementary to that of his wife. However, when employing instrumental variables such as the wife’s health condition, the existence of care needs in the household, and statutory pensionable age, no significant effect of the wife’s employment on her husband’s retirement decision was found, regardless of employment type. This result indicates that a Japanese wife’s retirement decision is independent of her husband’s employment and marks a sharp contrast with those of western industrialized countries

Education and Marriage Decisions of Japanese Women and the Role of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act

The Japanese Equal Employment Opportunity Act (EEOA) of 1985 aimed to reduce gender discrimination in the labor market, especially for career-oriented jobs. This paper investigates whether this act had an unanticipated effect on women\u27s marriage decisions. Using micro data from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers, we model women\u27s interrelated decisions on university education and whether to marry, focusing on whether women have married by age 32. Our results show a negative relationship between university education and marriage that is much greater for post-EEOA cohorts of women than for pre-EEOA cohorts, consistent with our hypothesis that the enhanced career opportunities associated with the EEOA stimulated women to delay or forgo marriage

Education and Marriage Decisions of Japanese Women and the Role of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act

Prompted by concordant upward trends in both the university advancement rate and the unmarried rate for Japanese women, this paper investigates whether the Equal Employment Opportunity Act (EEOA), which was passed in 1985, affected women\u27s marriage decisions either directly or via their decisions to pursue university education. To this end, we estimate a model that treats education and marriage decisions as jointly determined using longitudinal data for Japanese women. We find little evidence that the passage of EEOA increased the proportion of women who advance to university, but strong support for the proposition that it increased the deterrent effect of university education on marriage

Structure of carbohydrate chain of a thrombin-like protease from the venom of Agkistrodon halys brevicaudus stejneger snake

The structure of the carbohydrate chain of kangshuanmei, a thrombin-like serine protease isolated from Agkistrodon halys brevicaudus stejneger snake venom, was determined. The carbohydrate content of the kangshuanmei was 18%. The sugar composition was analyzed by the acid hydrolysis followed by aminobenzoic ethyl ester labeling. Galactose, N-acetylglucosamin, mannose, and fucose were detected, indicating that the binding carbohydrate chain is asparagine-linked type oligosaccharides. N-Acetylneuraminic acid located at non-reduced terminal of the carbohydrate chain was identified by neuraminidase digestion. The carbohydrate chain moiety was separated from kangshuanmei by hydrazynolysis treatment followed by aminobenzoic octyl ester (ABOE) labeling. The isolated ABOEmodified carbohydrate chain was compared to the asparagine-linked type standard oligosaccharides. The carbohydrate chains were consisted of sialylated bi(39.4%)-, tri(50.4%)- and tetra(10.2%)- antennary lactosamins complex containing fucose. The structure of the conjugated carbohydrate chain of kangshuanmei was significantly different from that of thrombin, which has a bisected antennary structure of oligosaccharide