Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki\u27s Anime Film Spirited Away

Among the anime films by Hayao Miyazaki made available in English translation, Spirited Away contains the most folk and Shrine Shinto motifs. The central locale of the film is a bathhouse where a great variety of creatures, including kami, come to bathe and be refreshed. This feature, plus the portrayal of various other folk beliefs and Shrine Shinto perspectives, suggests that Miyazaki is affirming some basic Japanese cultural values which can be a source of confidence and renewal for contemporary viewers

Model-based fault analysis of communication between supervisors and their subordinates in the Japanese workplace

This paper uses model-based fault analysis to identify the functions and factors that may cause miscommunication between supervisors and their subordinates. In describing the system model, a system-engineering approach is used to clearly define behaviors and interactions between supervisors and subordinates in the Japanese workplace. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to extract system requirements, and the functional architecture is described. The system model was verified by interviewing business persons. Using the system model, we identify the major functions and factors disrupting communication

Diurnal changes in chloroplast positioning and photosynthetic traits of C₄ grass finger millet

Mesophyll (M) chloroplasts in finger millet are known to aggregate to the bundle sheath side when leaves are constantly irradiated with extremely high-intensity light. This aggregative movement of M chloroplasts is also observed in natural environment, but whether a natural light regime is effective in inducing the response remains unclear. Abscisic acid is reported to trigger not only the aggregative movement but also stomatal closure, but photosynthetic responses accompanying the aggregative movement also remain unknown.We investigated changes in chloroplast positioning and photosynthetic traits under diurnal patterns of light, mimicking the natural light environment. M chloroplasts showed the aggregative movement with increasing light intensity whether it frequently fluctuated or not, and kept their aggregative positions in the midday. With decreasing light intensity, M chloroplasts returned to the random position in the evening. These results suggest that M chloroplasts often rearrange their intracellular positions during the daytime and that the chloroplast aggregative movement can be induced by a natural regime of light. The chloroplast aggregative movement was observed with increasing stomatal conductance, suggesting that stomatal closure is not crucial to trigger the chloroplast response

Light stress-induced chloroplast movement and midday depression of photosynthesis in sorghum leaves

Plants are exposed to high light intensity, high leaf temperatures and high air-to-leaf water vapor pressure deficit (ALVPD) during the day. These environmental stresses cause stomatal closure and photoinhibitory damage, leading to midday depression of photosynthesis. Chloroplast positioning is essential for the efficient operation of photosynthesis. However, chloroplast behavior before, during, and even after the midday depression of photosynthesis remains unknown. We investigated changes in the intracellular positioning of chloroplasts and photosynthetic traits under a diurnal pattern of light. Sorghum leaves were exposed to a 12-h regime of light mimicking the natural light environment, with constant leaf temperature and ALVPD. Net photosynthetic rate (Pn) showed a diurnal pattern, and midday depression in Pn was observed at 3.8 h of irradiation. Depression in Pn was attributed to stomatal limitation because the decrease in Pn was in accordance with the decrease in stomatal conductance. The maximum efficiency of photosystem II decreased with the increase in light intensity and remained low after 12 h of irradiation. Bundle sheath chloroplasts swelled after 8 h of irradiation, representing the accumulation of starch. Conversely, mesophyll chloroplasts exhibited avoidance response after 4 h of irradiation, and the avoidance position was maintained during the remainder of the daytime. These data suggest that chloroplasts are subject to light stress during and after the midday depression of photosynthesis. The intensity of natural light is excessive for most of the day and this light stress induces chloroplast avoidance response and depression of photosynthesis

Pre- and Postoperative Ocular Events in Cataract Patients with Small Pupils who Underwent Cataract Surgery

Purpose：To analyze pre- and postoperative surgical events in cataract patients with small pupils who underwent cataract surgery.Patients and methods：We reviewed the medical records of patients who underwent cataract surgery between January 2009 and May 2014 at Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital. Surgery was performed by four experienced surgeons. We included 106 eyes from 83 patients with pupil sizes ＜5 mm in diameter who required iris retractors during the cataract surgery （small pupil group）. The control group was comprised of 447 eyes from 319 patients with pupil sizes ＞5 mm in diameter who did not require a mechanical dilatation of the pupil during cataract surgery. Pre- and postoperative intra- or extraocular surgical events were analyzed.Results：Preoperative intra- or extraocular surgical events were observed in 36 eyes （34.0％） in the small pupil group and 72 eyes （16.1％） in the control group, with a significant difference observed for those who underwent laser iridotomy （P＜0.001） and trabeclectomy （P＜0.01）. Postoperative intra- or extraocular events were observed in 25 eyes （23.6％） in the small pupil group and 61 eyes （13.7％） in the control group, with significant differences observed for those who underwent the following procedures：trabeculectomy （P＜0.001）, sub-Tenon’s injection of triamcinolone acetonide （P＜0.001）, and posterior capsulotomy （P＝0.012）.Conclusion：Cataract patients with small pupils often have pre- and postoperative intra- or extraocular surgical events. It should be recognized that cataract surgery is only one step in the treatment of cataract patients with small pupils

Validity issues in the assessment of alexithymia related to the developmental stages of emotional cognition and language

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>We examined developmental aspects of the emotional awareness of adolescents by evaluating their responses to a self-reported questionnaire based on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The items of the TAS-20 were modified to make them more understandable by adolescents, and nine new items related to a limited capacity for imagination were added. The Japanese Linguistic Ability Test and the multi-dimensional empathy scale for adolescents were administered to examine concurrent validity. Two hundred and two normative young adolescents and thirty-two adolescent patients with psychosomatic and/or behavioral problems participated in the study. Eighty junior high school students also participated in a separate examination of test-retest reliability.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirteen items were extracted after exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and four core factors were identified in the resulting scale: Difficulty Identifying Feelings (DIF), Difficulty Describing Feelings (DDF), Externally-Oriented Thinking (EOT) and Constricted Imaginal Capacities (CIC). Interestingly, scores on the multi-dimensional empathy scale correlated positively with DIF and DDF, but negatively with EOT and CIC. Higher DDF scores were associated with higher Japanese linguistic abilities. DIF/DDF scores were higher for females than males, irrespective of linguistic ability. Test-retest reliability coefficients were significant. The patient group showed significantly higher DIF scores than the normative students.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present findings indicated that subjective difficulties in identifying and describing feelings are associated with empathetic and linguistic abilities. The developmental aspect to emotional awareness herein described suggests that self-reported questionnaires for alexithymia must be carefully constructed and examined, even for adults.</p

Indicator Candidate Traits for Autonomous Fruit Set Ability Under High Temperatures in Capsicum

“Autonomous fruit set” refers to self-pollination and fruit set without pollen vectors such as vibration or insects. Autonomous fruit set under high-temperature stress is an important breeding goal as climate change can reduce fruit yields in Capsicum. We screened Capsicum cultivars for autonomous fruit set ability in a greenhouse environment and investigated pollen germination, viability, pollen grains number, chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm), style length, anther cone length, and anthesis stage under high temperatures in order to identify indicator traits for screening more genotypes with autonomous fruit set ability. The fruit set of the ‘Takanotsume’ (57.7 ± 20.6%) and ‘Goshiki Kyokko’ (52.2 ± 14.2%) cultivars (both C. annuum) were higher than those of other cultivars. Correlation analysis showed that pollen germination had the highest correlation with fruit set in C. annuum cultivars (r = 0.63). These results indicate that ‘Takanotsume’ and ‘Goshiki Kyokko’ are useful cultivars for novel breeding programs focusing on autonomous fruit sets under high temperatures, and pollen germination in C. annuum was a convincing candidate for an indicator trait of autonomous fruit set ability under high temperatures

MIG-seq is an effective method for high-throughput genotyping in wheat (Triticum spp.)

MIG-seq (Multiplexed inter-simple sequence repeats genotyping by sequencing) has been developed as a low cost genotyping technology, although the number of polymorphisms obtained is assumed to be minimal, resulting in the low application of this technique to analyses of agricultural plants. We applied MIG-seq to 12 plant species that include various crops and investigated the relationship between genome size and the number of bases that can be stably sequenced. The genome size and the number of loci, which can be sequenced by MIG-seq, are positively correlated. This is due to the linkage between genome size and the number of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) through the genome. The applicability of MIG-seq to population structure analysis, linkage mapping, and quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis in wheat, which has a relatively large genome, was further evaluated. The results of population structure analysis for tetraploid wheat showed the differences among collection sites and subspecies, which agreed with previous findings. Additionally, in wheat biparental mapping populations, over 3, 000 SNPs/indels with low deficiency were detected using MIG-seq, and the QTL analysis was able to detect recognized flowering-related genes. These results revealed the effectiveness of MIG-seq for genomic analysis of agricultural plants with large genomes, including wheat