Japan's conciliation with the United States in climate change negotiations

This paper attempts to analyze Japan's conciliation with theUnited States regarding national targets on greenhouse gas emissionsin the multilateral climate change negotiations (1990–2001)for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changeand for the Kyoto Protocol to the Convention. Japan's conciliatoryproposals had nothing to do with bilateral pressure from theUnited States. Why, then, did Japan make special efforts toconciliate with the United States, and offer lenient proposals?I focus on three factors: concern for international status,the costs of the climate change regime and domestic politics.My main argument is that the Japanese Ministry of InternationalTrade and Industry used ‘conciliation’ with theUnited States in its favor as an excuse for making proposalsthat would emasculate the climate change regime and as a meansof receiving support from the United States for differentiationof national targets on greenhouse gas emissions.     

Orosomucoid (ORM) typing by isoelectric focusing: description of two new alleles in a German population and thermostability in bloodstains

The genetic polymorphism of serum orosomucoid (ORM) was studied in 168 unrelated German individuals using isoelectric focusing followed by immunoprinting. Two new alleles, tentatively designated ORM1*14 and ORM2*13, were identified. The method was successfully applied to demonstrate ORM1 types in dried bloodstains. Each type of ORM1 was also correctly determined in bloodstains heated at 130 degrees C for 30 min. The results indicated that ORM1 is a new powerful genetic marker system for the grouping of bloodstains.     

Detection of orosomucoid 1 phenotypes in semen and semen stains

Orosomucoid 1 phenotypes were detected in seminal plasma by isoelectric focusing and immunoprinting. The orosomucoid 1 phenotypes in seminal plasma correlated with the types found in the corresponding serum specimens. Semen stains stored for ten days could be typed for orosomucoid 1. The present work revealed that orosomucoid 1 is a useful genetic marker for the medicolegal grouping of semen stains.     

The provision of public services by government funded decentralized agencies

Public services are often provided by lower level agencies that are funded by higher level government. Since markets for such services do not exist, normal pressures to minimize costs do not operate; indeed, usually these costs are unobservable. We study a principal-agent model which emphasizes the distinction between the financing and provision of public services. Two broad situations are analyzed: (i) the agencies are induced to reveal true costs; and (ii) in addition, to minimize costs, agencies must be induced to exert effort. The characteristics of the optimal funding contract and the marginal cost of public funds are derived in each case.     

Esterase D phenotyping of bloodstains and hair roots by low voltage isoelectric focusing

A new isoelectric focusing method is described for phenotyping of esterase D in blood stains and hair roots. It permitted easy and rapid discrimination of six phenotypes determined by ESD*1, ESD*2 and ESD*7. Experiments showed it to be practicable in forensic stain work. In addition, this technique was also usable in phenotyping of ESD 5.     

Molecular analysis of the human esterase D gene ESD(*)Q0(yonago) responsible for incompatibility in a Japanese paternity case

In a Japanese paternity test, an alleged father was excluded only by reverse homozygosity of esterase D (ESD) phenotypes (mother, ESD 1; child, ESD 1; alleged father, ESD 2) out of 43 classical and DNA markers investigated. To solve the aberrant inheritance of the ESD phenotypes observed between them, fragments for all eight coding exons amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were subjected to DNA analysis. The child and alleged father shared a null allele, originating from ESD(*)1. It was characterized by having TGA for the stop codon instead of TCA for serine at codon 63. Thus, the sharing of a rare null gene, ESD(*)Q0(yonago), increased the probability of paternity.     

Blood typing of blood stains on sweat stains by the iso-agglutinins detection method

When a blood typing is made for mixed stains of sweat and blood, erroneous results may be obtained. The reason is that the blood group substance in the sweat is detected at the same time as that in the blood. In this paper the typing of the blood stain on the sweat stain is carried out by the detection of isoagglutinins which may give additional information to the forensic serologist.     

Orosomucoid 1 phenotyping from human urine by isoelectric focusing

Orosomucoid 1 polymorphism was revealed in human urine by isoelectric focusing and immunoprinting on polyacrylamide gels. The orosomucoid in urine samples was recovered and concentrated by using immobilized allo A lectin. The orosomucoid 1 phenotypes of 60 urine samples correlated with those of the corresponding serum samples.     

Novel paternity testing by distinguishing parental alleles at a VNTR locus in the differentially methylated region upstream of the human H19 gene

Conventional PCR-based genotyping is useful for forensic testing but cannot be used to determine parental origins of alleles in DNA specimens. Here we describe a novel method of combined conventional genotyping and PIA typing (parentally imprinted allele typing) at a minisatellite region upstream from the H19 locus. The PIA typing uses two sets of primers and DNA digested with methylation-sensitive Hha I enzyme. The first amplification produces only the methylated fragment of paternal H19 allele, and the second detects polymorphism in the minisatellite. Hence, this distinguishes paternal and maternal alleles by difference in the DNA methylation. Furthermore, the polymorphism in this polymorphic locus was examined using 199 unrelated Japanese and 171 unrelated Germans, their polymorphism information content being 0.671 and 0.705, respectively. Feasibility of this typing is demonstrated for six families, and the usefulness is shown by application to paternity testing.     

Population genetics of 17 Y-chromosomal STR loci in Japanese

Haplotypes and allele frequencies of 17 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (Y-STR) markers were examined using the AmpFlSTR Yfiler PCR Amplification Kit (Applied Biosystems) in a population sample of 1166 Japanese male volunteers in 6 prefectures: Miyagi, Yamagata, Osaka, Tottori, Fukuoka, and Okinawa. A total of 1058 haplotypes were observed from 1166 males, and the most common haplotype detected in 12 males had a frequency of 1.03% and the discrimination capacity was 0.907. The R_ST analysis showed statistically significant differences between Okinawa and the other subpopulations.