Lectin-histochemical detection of degenerative glycoconjugate deposits in human brain

Several lectins were used to study the localization of glycoconjugates in brain of elderly people and patients with Alzheimer type dementia (ATD) and Down's syndrome (DS). Five kinds of degenerated or deposited materials stained clearly by lectins specific to GalNAC, Gal, Fuc, and/or Man were recognized much in ATD and DS, less in elderly peoples, in addition to the binding of the lectins to neurons. (i) Round shape deposits called corpora amylacea (CA) which consisted of various sizes of round material, existed mainly on the surface of cerebral cortex and some in white matter of the brain. They were colored by Alcian blue (AB), Aldehyde fucsin (AF) and periodic acid shiff (PAS) and weakly by Hematoxylin (H), but not by Eosin (B). They showed clear reactivity with lectins specific to GalNAC, Gal, Fuc and Gal-GalNAC. (ii) Amorphous and variform amyloid deposits existed around blood vessels in the white matter were stained by thioflavin and lectins specific to GalNAC, Gal and Fuc, but not with Man specific lectins and PAS, AB, AF and HE. (iii) Another kind of amyloid deposits which showed a similar characteristic to the previous one and were recognized mainly in white matter and independent blood vessels. These deposits were stained by thioflavin but not by PAS, AB, AF and HE and showed good reactivity with lectins specific to GalNAC, Gal, Fuc, Gal-GalNAC, Gal-GIcNAc and Man. The reactivity with lectins specific to Gal, Fuc, and Man was seen in senile plaques (iv) and neurofibrillary tangles (v). Although at present we are unable to explain the origin of these deposits, it is clear from this study that the glycoconjugates form an integral part of the degeneration in the brain. The lectin staining with GS-I is useful in the forensic pathology to diagnose brain disorders at postmortem examination, since these lectin were able to detect five types of degeneration changes and/or deposits.     

Impact of university intellectual property policy on the performance of university-industry research collaboration

Despite the expectation of various advantages, university-industry research collaboration (UIC), a relationship between two different worlds, often faces serious conflicts. The performance of UIC depends on the research partners’ strategies and institutional designs through which they seek to mitigate these conflicts and increase partner incentives. We pay special attention to the role of the university intellectual property (IP) policy, formally introduced to Japan in 2003, as the basis of UIC contracts and empirically examine its impact on the performance of UIC projects, considering the factors in firms’ participation in UIC. We argue that the university IP policy that is equitable in sharing revenue and royalty from innovative outcomes and applied flexibly according to the partner’s needs may contribute to improving project performance by enhancing the commitment of firms, and we test our hypotheses using a sample of Japanese firms obtained from our original survey. The estimation results support the hypotheses, although the mediation via the firm’s commitment only partially explains the relationship between the university IP policy and UIC performance.     

Distributing Responsibility for Wrongdoing Inside Corporate Hierarchies: Public Judgments in Three Societies

The decision rules individuals use to judge wrongdoing committed inside corporations and other hierarchical organizations are not well understood. We explore this issue by asking random samples of individuals in Moscow, Tokyo, and Washington, D. C., to respond to four short vignettes describing acts of wrongdoing by people in corporations. The vignettes are experiments that manipulate the actor's mental state, the actor's position in the organization, and whether the actor's decision was influenced by others in the organization. We examine (1) the distribution of responsibility among people in the organization, (2) how individual responsibility affects the attribution of responsibility to the organization itself, and (3) cross-national differences in attributions. We find that both what the actors did (their deeds) and the position they occupied (their roles) significantly influence the responsibility attributed to them. The responsibility attributed to the organizations themselves is a function of the responsibility attributed to the actors inside the organization, but not a function of the independent variables in the experiments. Cross-national differences emerge with respect to the responsibility assigned both to individuals and to the organizations themselves. We discuss implications of these results for past and future work.     

Angola and Kenya Pavilions in the 2013 Venice Biennale: African Contemporary Art and Cultural Diplomacy in the “Olympics of Art”

A record six African states were awarded a national pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale, the premier venue for showcasing a nation's contemporary art, from which Africa has historically been excluded. While first-time participant Angola won the top prize, Kenya's pavilion was the target of bafflement and ire. Using a cultural diplomacy framework that integrates the insights of leading scholars, this research makes concrete recommendations for practitioners vis-à-vis a comparative case study of the two pavilions. Analysis and recommendations consider the interests of a variety of stakeholders and offer insights relevant to Africa and other emerging regions.     

R&;D productivity and the organization of cluster policy: an empirical evaluation of the Industrial Cluster Project in Japan

Industrial clusters have attracted increasing attention as important locations of innovation. Therefore, several countries have started promotion policies for industrial clusters. However, there are few empirical studies on cluster policies. This paper examines the effects of the “Industrial Cluster Project” (ICP) in Japan on the R&D productivity of participants, using a unique dataset of 229 small firms, and discusses the conditions necessary for the effective organization of cluster policies. Different from former policy approaches, the ICP aims at building collaborative networks between universities and industries and supports the autonomous development of existing regional industries without direct intervention in the clustering process. Thus far, the ICP is similar to indirect support systems adopted by successful European clusters. Our estimation results suggest that participation in the cluster project alone does not affect R&D productivity. Moreover, research collaboration with a partner in the same cluster region decreases R&D productivity both in terms of the quantity and quality of patents. Therefore, in order to improve the R&D efficiency of local firms, it is also important to construct wide-range collaborative networks within and beyond the clusters, although most clusters focus on the network at a narrowly defined local level. However, cluster participants apply for more patents than others without reducing patent quality when they collaborate with national universities in the same cluster region.     

Climate Change Diplomacy and the Way Forward for Japan

Climate change is affecting economics, lifestyles, culture and societies around the world. In Japan average temperatures have risen higher than the average global figure, and ramifications are seen in plant and animal life. Analysis of the consequences of global warming was reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Paris in 2007. The international community must begin renewed international cooperation as the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol concludes in 2012. The basic mechanism must improve on the framework of the Kyoto Protocol. Japan, with scarce natural resources, must establish energy security and devise an overall policy in its aim to become a low carbon society.