Factors influencing adoption of automation at wastewater treatment plants in Japan

Japan stands among several nations in the forefront of applying advanced computer technologies to the automation of wastewater treatment plant operations. Three case studies of implementation of innovative information technologies at Japanese sewage treatment plants are presented. Analysis of the cases demonstrates how sociocultural factors, including personal and professional networks, long-term relationships, lifetime employment, and a sense of social responsibility, have contributed to Japan's ability to transfer new computer technologies from research environments to municipal wastewater treatment plants. Srinija Srinivasan, a graduate of Stanford University's Symbolic Systems Program, is a researcher with Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation. She and her colleagues are working on Cyc, a large-scale artificial intelligence project to encode common-sense knowledge.     

Zimbabwe black population data on the six short tandem repeat loci – CSF1PO, TPOX, THO1, D3S1358, VWA and FGA

Allele frequencies for six tetrameric short tandem repeat (STR) loci CSF1PO, TPOX, THO1, D3S1358, VWA, and FGA were determined in a Black African sample population from Zimbabwe. All loci are highly polymorphic and meet Hardy-Weinberg expectations. An inter-class correlation test analysis detected only one departure from independence out of 15 pair-wise comparisons of the six loci (i.e., CSF1PO/VWA loci, P=0.026). The allele frequency data at four of the six STR loci in the Black African sample population are similar to African American data.     

DEPENDENCY COURT MEDIATION

This article discusses the roles and levels of participation of the various participants in juvenile and dependency court mediation, and also examines potential gains and losses associated with participation for family members and the social worker.