Coordinators Bridge Residents And Artists In Regional Japan: A Case Study Of The Art Project Hanarart

In the age of globalisation, the transiency of individuals has been increasing. Consequently, some regional communities face the risk of collapse and disappearance. Particularly in Japan, centralisation in and around global cities such as Tokyo has accelerated the decline of regional communities. Given this current clime, residents of regional areas would beneft from building ties with outsiders in order to keep their communities strong. Certain individuals could take on the role of coordinator, who can work to bridge the gap between the residents and outsiders. The role of the coordinator, however, is not yet clear. This study introduces a case study of the art project Hanarart ( はならぁと) which involves residents and outside artists in regional areas of Nara, Japan. Part of the art project intends to renovate and reuse the machiya buildings in Japanese traditional style, with the help of site-specifc contemporary art that will ft well with the machiya style. In the art project, outside artists prepare their artworks in the abandoned buildings, which are managed by the residents. During the frst stage of the project, residents and artists did not communicate well due to either their indifference or ignorance toward each other's interests. In the next stage, however, assigned coordinators promoted communication between the residents and artists for the sake of contemporary art. Through the process of trial and error, the project resulted in contributing to the community in a number of ways

The compression of deaths above the mode

Kannisto (2001) has shown that as the frequency distribution of ages at death has shifted to the right, the age distribution of deaths above the modal age has become more compressed. In order to further investigate this old-age mortality compression, we adopt the simple logistic model with two parameters, which is known to fit data on old-age mortality well (Thatcher 1999). Based on the model, we show that three key measures of old-age mortality (the modal age of adult deaths, the life expectancy at the modal age, and the standard deviation of ages at death above the mode) can be estimated fairly accurately from death rates at only two suitably chosen high ages (70 and 90 in this study). The distribution of deaths above the modal age becomes compressed when the logits of death rates fall more at the lower age than at the higher age. Our analysis of mortality time series in six countries, using the logistic model, endorsed Kannisto’s conclusion. Some possible reasons for the compression are discussed.compression of mortality, lexis model, logistic model, modal age of death, oldest old mortality decline, standard deviation

Effect of intermittent liver ischemia on outcome in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma on liver cirrhosis

The influence on postoperative liver function of intermittent normothermic hepatic ischemia in cirrhotic patients was studied retrospectively. The mean total ischemia time was 88 (range30 - 140) minutes in the hemi-hepatic occlusion group, and68 (range 10 - 187) minutes in the total occlusion group. There were no operative deaths due to hepatic failure. Postoperative liver function improved within 1 week of the opera-tion. There was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative complications between the groups. Thus normothermic hepatic ischemia is tolerated for up to 180minutes in the cirrhotic liver when an intermittent technique (15 minutes clamped and5 minutes unclamped) is used

Reduced N-acetylaspartate levels in mice lacking aralar, a brain- and muscle-type mitochondrial aspartate-glutamate carrier

Aralar is a mitochondrial calcium-regulated aspartate-glutamate carrier mainly distributed in brain and skeletal muscle, involved in the transport of aspartate from mitochondria to cytosol, and in the transfer of cytosolic reducing equivalents into mitochondria as a member of the malate-aspartate NADH shuttle. In the present study, we describe the characteristics of aralar-deficient (Aralar-/-) mice, generated by a gene-trap method, showing no aralar mRNA and protein, and no detectable malate-aspartate shuttle activity in skeletal muscle and brain mitochondria. Aralar-/- mice were growth-retarded, exhibited generalized tremoring, and had pronounced motor coordination defects along with an impaired myelination in the central nervous system. Analysis of lipid components showed a marked decrease in the myelin lipid galactosyl cerebroside. The content of the myelin lipid precursor, N-acetylaspartate, and that of aspartate are drastically decreased in the brain of Aralar-/- mice. The defect in N-acetylaspartate production was also observed in cell extracts from primary neuronal cultures derived from Aralar-/- mouse embryos. These results show that aralar plays an important role in myelin formation by providing aspartate for the synthesis of N-acetylaspartate in neuronal cell

オスタチ ノ キョウソン センジュツ : ニホンザル ヤセイグン ノ ケンキュウ

京都大学0048新制・課程博士博士(理学)甲第10656号理博第2798号新制||理||1412(附属図書館)UT51-2004-G503京都大学大学院理学研究科生物科学専攻(主査)教授 西田 利貞, 教授 山極 壽一, 教授 堀 道雄学位規則第4条第1項該当Doctor of ScienceKyoto UniversityDA