Communist China’s entry into the Korean hostilities and a U.S. proposal for a collective security arrangement in the Pacific offshore island chain

In late 1950, against the background of communist China’s full entry into the Korean War, the U.S. government put forward a Pacific Ocean Pact, which would comprise the United States, Japan, the Philippines, if possible Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. This article, after tracing China’s intervention in the Korean War, discusses U.S. policy planning on the proposal for a Pacific Pact, and examines the precise objectives of the proposal. It is argued that the American proposal for a Pacific offshore island chain pact was basically intended to enhance U.S. security interests in Northeast Asia, particularly Japan. The Pacific Pact proposal therefore contained a scheme for committing formally substantial U.S. armed forces to the defense of the Pacific Ocean; the revitalization of Japanese power; and the welding of the resources of strength of Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines to the defense of Japan.     

An autopsy case of imipramine poisoning

We present a fatal imipramine poisoning. Quantitative analysis of imipramine and its metabolite, desipramine, was performed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The concentrations of imipramine and desipramine were 18.67 microg/mL and 6.21 microg/mL in heart blood and 6.90 microg/mL and 1.77 microg/mL in the femoral venous blood, respectively. We concluded that the cause of death was due to imipramine poisoning.     

Methamphetamine impurity profiling using a 0.32 mm i.d. nonpolar capillary column

Classification of seized methamphetamine by impurity profiling can provide very useful information in criminal investigations of drug traffic routes, sources of supply and relationships between seizures. The aim of this study is to improve and develop an analytical method for detecting impurities such as starting materials and by-products in illegally prepared methamphetamine.HCl samples. A 50mg sample of methamphetamine.HCl was dissolved in 1 ml of buffer solution (four parts 0.1M phosphate buffer pH 7.0 and one part 10% Na2CO3). Impurities were extracted with 0.5 ml of ethyl acetate containing four internal standards (ISs) (n-decane, n-pentadecane, n-nonadecane and n-hexacosane) and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) using a flame ionization detector (FID) on a DB-5 capillary column (0.32 mmi.d. x 30 m, film thickness 1.0 microm). The use of a middle-bore column offered better separation of the impurity peaks. The correction of the retention times of impurity peaks with four ISs made peak identification very accurate for subsequent data processing. Twenty-four characteristic peaks were selected for comparison and similarity and/or dissimilarity between samples, and the data were evaluated by the Euclidean distance of the relative peak areas after logarithmic transformation. The results indicate that the present method would be useful for methamphetamine impurity profiling.     

Lao Wisdom as “Buffer State” in an Emerging Mekong Regional Economy – How a Small Country Behaves among Big Countries –

Lao PDR, located in a geopolitically strategic area of the Mekong region, has served as a “buffer state” without being placed under any one country's influence, contributing to the status quo of regional power balance. The skillful balanced diplomacy of Lao PDR has enabled it to keep this position. Yet, in face of growing Chinese presence, how long will that be the case? With an emerging regional economy across borders in the Mekong region as the background, Lao PDR, a small, land-locked country, has achieved relatively high economic growth rates and has started to attract foreign direct investment in recent years. In this process, Japanese companies have started to invest in manufacturing there, and Japan-Laos business partnership has been taking off. Looking for further development, Lao PDR has been consolidating its position as the “battery of the Mekong,” a net exporter of electricity. By improving its connectivity with neighboring countries, Lao PDR has also been making untiring efforts to become a “land-linked” country, aiming to serve as a “logistic hub” for the region, taking advantage of its geopolitical advantage, Yet, many challenges exist before this goal is achieved.     

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.     

Biopsychosocial Factors that Perpetuate Chronic Pain, Impairment, and Disability

The biopsychosocial model provides the most heuristic account of the complex multifaceted nature of chronic pain and its associated impairment and disability. Although chronic pain, impairment, and disability are related, these are three separate constructs. In order to understand how these three constructs are interrelated, the development of pain from the acute to the chronic stage is discussed. Psychosocial factors as barriers to recovery are emphasized, including those that commonly manifest among patients receiving disability compensation. This is complemented by a review of psychometric instruments used to assess these psychosocial factors in chronic pain. Finally, the major delineation in levels of care for chronic pain is highlighted, emphasizing an interdisciplinary approach that is consistent with pain as a biopsychosocial phenomenon.     

Determination of salvinorin A and salvinorin B in Salvia divinorum-related products circulated in Japan

Two major salvinorins, salvinorin A (SalA) and salvinorin B (SalB), in three Salvia divinorum dried leaf products and nine of its “concentrated extract” products circulated in Japan were determined. These ingredients were extracted twice with acetonitrile and decolored with graphite carbon powder. SalA and SalB were confirmed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry in product ion scan mode, and quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection (for SalA) and by mass spectrometry in single ion monitoring mode (for SalB). The SalA/SalB contents (μg/mg) were in the range of 3.2–5.0/0.10–0.17 in the dried leaf products and 4.1–38.9/0.26–2.42 in the “concentrated extract” products. These findings would be useful for analysis of S. divinorum-related products circulated in the drug market.     

The Effects of Risk Preferences on the Adoption of Post-Harvest Technology: Evidence from Rural Cambodia

We investigate how rice farmers’ risk preferences affect the adoption of post-harvest technology in Cambodia, focusing on moisture meters. We find that risk-averse farmers are more likely to adopt moisture meters, although the degree of farmers’ loss aversion or the extent to which they tended to overweight small probabilities do not affect the adoption. In the setting of our study, the effects of farmers’ risk preferences on agricultural technology adoption can be described by using expected utility theory. However, controlling for loss aversion and probability weighting improves the precision of examining the effects of farmers’ risk preferences on adoption.     

Does the Heterogeneity of Project Implementers Affect the Programme Participation of Beneficiaries?: Evidence from Rural Cambodia

This study employs the dataset collected for the assessment of a post-harvest technology project in rural Cambodia and focuses on the heterogeneous preferences of project implementers, frequently overlooked in the literature on programme evaluation studies. We focus on the ‘implementer effect’ on the programme participation of the treated farmers. We demonstrate that the heterogeneous programme participation of ordinary farmers could be induced due to heterogeneity in the characteristics of the project staff. In particular, we indicate that the baseline altruism of the project staff, measured by the dictator game, consistently increases the participation rate and the number of participations in the training sessions of beneficiaries. This type of heterogeneity in project staffs’ preferences across treatment sites could be a source of treatment heterogeneity for programmes conducted at a certain cluster level. While few studies have focused on the heterogeneity of programme implementers, our empirical results indicate that the preference of implementers could be a source of treatment heterogeneity and imply the importance of implementation of an actual project.     

Development of a Library Search‐Based Screening System for 3,4‐Methylenedioxymethamphetamine in Ecstasy Tablets Using a Portable Near‐Infrared Spectrometer

This is the first report on development of a library search‐based screening system for 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in ecstasy tablets using a portable near‐infrared (NIR) spectrometer. The spectrum library consisted of spectra originating from standard substances as well as mixtures of MDMA hydrochloride (MDMA‐HCl) and diluents. The raw NIR spectra were mathematically pretreated, and then, a library search was performed using correlation coefficient. To enhance the discrimination ability, the wavelength used for the library search was limited. Mixtures of MDMA‐HCl and diluents were used to decide criteria to judge MDMA‐positive or MDMA‐negative. Confiscated MDMA tablets and medicinal tablets were used for performance check of the criteria. Twenty‐two of 27 MDMA tablets were truly judged as MDMA‐positive. Five false‐negative results may be caused by compounds not included in the library. No false‐positive results were obtained for medicinal tablets. This system will be a useful tool for on‐site screening of MDMA tablets.