Agricultural Diversification in Japan

In recent few decades, Japanese agriculture has been facing many problems such as low profit rate, lack of labor force, abandonment of farmland, losing competitive competence for low-price, imported products, and so forth. One of the trials for encouraging Japanese agriculture by the government is agricultural diversification, which is a kind of restructuring value chain in order to gain profitability of farmers. The strategy is that, by integrating some elements of value chain of food industries including primary industry (agricultural production), secondary industry (processed food manufacturing), and tertiary industry (food retails and restaurants), and re-allocating farmers’ business resources, farmers could be much more activated and their profit would be gained. In the past several decades, Japanese agricultural supply chain has strongly depended on Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA), and this caused some issues such as mismatching of demand and supply and low profitability of farmers. The policy of agricultural diversification was proposed to induce new integration of value chain and restructuring supply chain for solving these issues. This chapter presents some successful cases of agricultural diversification in Japan and infers the Key Factor of Success (KFS) of such trials

Historical processes of urban form and land-use change at Shwedagon Pagoda’s surrounding area in Yangon, Myanmar

Shwedagon Pagoda is located at the centre of Yangon, Myanmar. It is one of the nation’s most respected religious monuments. The objective of this research was to identify the details of the historical processes of urban form and land-use change in the area surrounding the pagoda in relation to political regime transition. This research also focused on the evolving processes of the pagoda festival and its land use in the surrounding area; the festival is a typical occasion during which the relationship between the pagoda and the surrounding area is prominently visible. An interview survey, newspaper review survey, field survey, mapping work, and literature review were conducted to accomplish this research’s goals. The pagoda’s land property and the land use of the surrounding area have undergone significant changes. This research identified the historical processes through which temporary, multi-purpose open spaces in the area surrounding the pagoda have been divided, fixed for individual land uses, and segmentalized according to role during the pagoda festival. For example, this includes markets and stalls that have been altered for use as permanent shops and restaurants, entertainment and amusement facilities that were enclosed in parks, and smaller forms of lodging that have become hotels

Contribution of Historical Social Capital to Innovation-Oriented Learning? Case of Chinese Logistics Public Corporation

21st century is called as the era of “Knowledge Society”. Knowledge is increasingly recognized by modern organizations as their most important tool and basis of innovation and the indispensable source of lasting competitive advantage. China has been in the transition stage from planned economy to market economy since 1978. Generally speaking, Chinese firms’ internal and external environments have changed greatly. It is essential for Chinese firms to accumulate and create knowledge through effective organizational learning for innovation capacities and future development. In this research, one successful case of a Chinese public corporation in the background of China’s transit economy is studied. The case company tried to make full use of its social resources, such as government authorities, universities, research institutes, to educate and train its employees, to maintain its brand fame, and to establish its own operation routines and knowledge base. Inside the enterprise, several measures were taken to establish close human networks, based on some historical heritage, such as Youth League1. It is implied in the paper that: 1. Human network as a platform of knowledge communication is more and more important for Chinese firms’ organizational learning, especial when the learning is innovation-oriented. 2. Shared vision is an indispensable element of forming a close human network favorable for innovation-oriented learning. 3. To establish such a human network, some kind of social capital, such as historical culture, social relations, may be very helpful

Enzyme-free release of adhered cells from standard culture dishes using intermittent ultrasonic traveling waves.

Cell detachment is essential in culturing adherent cells. Trypsinization is the most popular detachment technique, even though it reduces viability due to the damage to the membrane and extracellular matrix. Avoiding such damage would improve cell culture efficiency. Here we propose an enzyme-free cell detachment method that employs the acoustic pressure, sloshing in serum-free medium from intermittent traveling wave. This method detaches 96.2% of the cells, and increases its transfer yield to 130% of conventional methods for 48 h, compared to the number of cells detached by trypsinization. We show the elimination of trypsinization reduces cell damage, improving the survival of the detached cells. Acoustic pressure applied to the cells and media sloshing from the intermittent traveling wave were identified as the most important factors leading to cell detachment. This proposed method will improve biopharmaceutical production by expediting the amplification of tissue-cultured cells through a more efficient transfer process

Food Tourism Planning Support System within Urban Sightseeing Areas in Japan

The present study aimed to design, develop, operate and evaluate a tourism planning support system that can be used to decide on places to eat lunch and dinner, sightseeing spots to visit along the way, and routes for visiting these destinations. This system was developed by integrating a web geographic information system (Web-GIS) and a sightseeing plan creation system (an eatery search system and a sightseeing route creation system). Additionally, the system was operated for one month in Central Yokohama City of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan, and the total number of users was 79. Based on the results of the web questionnaire survey, user evaluations were particularly high for the function of sightseeing spot selection and the function of display of sightseeing plan information, and also for the entire system. From the results of the access analysis of users’ log data, the total number of sessions in the system was 263, 67% used mobile devices, and smartphones were used most frequently. Therefore, it is evident that the system was used by different types of devices just as it was designed for, and that the system was used according to the purpose of the present study, which is to support the food tourism planning of users

大学教育と地域資源開発 -福知山公立大学での PBL 教育事例を通じて-

福知山公立大学で行われたいわゆる「実践教育」（PBL＝project-based learning による地域協働型教育）の事例を通じて、大学教育により地域資源開発を行う手法とその課題について考察する。ここでいう地域資源とは、学生と地域住民あるいは地域の若年世代との協働を通じて発掘・開拓される有形・無形の資産としての観光資源であり、ソーシャル・キャピタル(社会資本)としての要素も持つものである。具体的な事例としては、地域の小・中学生と大学生が地元の伝統工芸である和紙を使って灯篭を作り、地元の自然林である竹林の周辺で地域住民等と開催したイベント「竹林と光のプロムナード祭」に向けた教育実践事例をとりあげる。事例の分析から得られた示唆として、学生が取り組む地域課題は、地域コミュニティの様々な担い手が緩い紐帯を結びながら関われるような複合的なものとして設定することが、活動の幅を広め地域社会への影響を強めるうえで効果的である

Introduction of Low-Carbon Community Energy Systems by Combining Information Networks and Cogeneration-Type District Heating and Cooling Systems

Achievement of a low-carbon society is becoming extremely important. In this report, we introduce an example of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reductions and energy savings, using a local energy-control system. Our research is focused on the town of Shinchi in the Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Shinchi is pursuing initiatives to create a low-carbon, energy-efficient society and a disaster-resilient community. The National Institute for Environmental Studies provides academic support for the design and planning of low-carbon community energy systems by the local government of Shinchi, based on the Basic Cooperation Agreement. For the redevelopment of the Japan Railway (JR) Shinchi Station district that is being carried out, construction of a cogeneration-type district heating and cooling system is currently in progress. CO2 reductions of about 20% can be expected by introducing this community energy system. To support these initiatives, we have developed an information and communication technology (ICT) system that shares a wide range of local information to support energy conservation. By analyzing electricity consumption data from the ICT, we evaluated the pattern of residential power consumption and confirmed that the project supports energy-saving behavior within the community. Additionally, the community energy project in the JR Shinchi Station district enables adjustment of the supply and demand balance

Distal migration of a floating carotid thrombus in a patient using oral contraceptives: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>We report the case of a patient with distal migration of a floating carotid thrombus caused by oral contraceptives.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 48-year-old woman using oral contraceptives suffered from dysarthria and gait disturbance. Examinations, including ultrasound and cerebral arteriogram, revealed a floating thrombus at the left carotid bifurcation with no stenosis. Despite antithrombotic therapy, the floating carotid thrombus migrated to the ipsilateral middle cerebral artery, resulting in a severe stroke.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Some floating thrombi are resistant to conservative therapy and have a risk of distal migration, which may cause a major stroke in the acute stage.</p