2,428 research outputs found
I remember Ikebana
No full textIn this "I remember" memoir, Mariko Ono describes her career in Ikebana, Japanese flower arrangement. Mrs. Ono participates in annual flower shows, conducts classes at various places, including museums and schools, and has been in charge of the Ikebana exhibit at the annual Chow Mein dinners of the Seabrook Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League. The Seabrook Educational and Cultural Center has been soliciting current and past residents of Seabrook Farms for an "I remember" project. Residents are asked to create narratives regarding their experiences at Seabrook Farms. These memories help preserve the history and multi-cultural heritage of Seabrook Farms
"Industrial Policy Cuts Two Ways: Evidence from Cotton Spinning Firms in Japan, 1956-1964"
No full textA number of studies have revealed that the effect of industrial policy on productivity growth is negative. Is this because industrial policy fails to control the activities of firms, or because it can effectively control them? This paper attempts to answer these questions, using firm-level data from the cotton spinning industry in Japan for the period 1956-64. It has been determined that industrial policy cut two ways during this period. Industrial policy effectively controlled the output of cotton spinning firms, which contributed to the establishment of a stable market structure during the period. On the flip side, such policy constrained the reallocation of resources from less productive large firms to more productive small firms. Combined with the negative productivity growth of large firms during this period, industrial policy resulted in negative industry productivity growth.
Industrial Policy Cuts Two Ways: Evidence from Cotton Spinning Firms in Japan, 1956-1964
No full textA number of studies have revealed that the effect of industrial policy on productivity growth is negative. Is this because industrial policy fails to control the activities of firms, or because it can effectively control them? This paper attempts to answer these questions, using firm-level data from the cotton spinning industry in Japan for the period 1956-64. It has been determined that industrial policy cut two ways during this period. Industrial policy effectively controlled the output of cotton spinning firms, which contributed to the establishment of a stable market structure during the period. On the flip side, such policy constrained the reallocation of resources from less productive large firms to more productive small firms. Combined with the negative productivity growth in large firms during this period, industrial policy resulted in negative industry productivity growth.
Clubiona bachmaensis Ono, 2009, sp. nov.
No full textClubiona bachmaensis sp. nov. (Figs. 1-5) Diagnosis. This new spider is very unique in having wide head, long opisthosoma and long legs without special hair tuft on tarsus of leg II, especially in the structure of male palpal organ. The tibia of male palp is long and simple with a retrolateral apophysis digitiform, the cymbium is relatively long and the tegulum is also long and simple with a short and spiniform embolus and membranous conductor. This structure closely allied to that in the species of the genus Pteroneta established by Deeleman-Reinhold (2001) on the basis of some species recorded from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, Sulawesi and Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia, Borneo, Malaysia and Brunei, and Singapore. However, these Pteroneta species have somewhat small and short body, short legs, robust chelicerae with developed teeth, and special hair tuft on tarsus of leg II, all of which are different in the new spider. Therefore, the present author put it in the genus Clubiona in a wide sense. The general appearance of the new spider resembles species of Clubiona hystrix group defined by Deeleman-Reinhold (2001). Type specimen. Holotype: male from Bach Ma National Park, 1225 m in elevation, Thua Thien Hue Province, Central Vietnam, 7-VI- 2002, by sweeping method, H. Ono leg. (NSMT Ar 8352). Description (holotype). Measurement: Body length 5.45 mm; prosoma length 2.21 mm, width 1.48 mm; opisthosoma length 3.25 mm, width 1.03 mm; lengths of legs [total length (femur+ patella +tibia +metatarsus +tarsus)]: I 7.73 mm (2.06 + 0.75 + 2.48 + 1.69 + 0.75), II 7.62mm (2.06 + 0.79 + 2.43 + 1.63 + 0.71), m 5.51 mm (1.54 + 0.56 + 1.46 + 1.39 + 0.56), IV 8.72mm (2.34 + 0.79 + 2.25 + 2.63 + 0.71). Prosoma (Fig. 1): Carapace longer than wide (length/width 1.49), head wide and three-fifth the width of carapace, median furrow long. Eyes: the anterior eye row slightly recurved and the posterior row straight in dorsal view, all eyes almost same in size, lateral eyes slightly larger than the median eyes, AME-AME=AME-ALE, PME PME>PME-PLE (2:1), clypeus narrow and same as the anterior width of median ocular area, median ocular area wider than long (length/width 0.64), wider behind than in front (anterior width/posterior width 0.30). Labium much longer than wide (length/width 1.50), sternum longer than wide (length/width 1.14). Chelicera furnished with one large and two smaller teeth on promargin of fang furrow, and three teeth on retromargin (Fig. 2). Legs: Spiniformation: Femora I-IV dorsally 0-1-1-1, prolaterally I-II 0-0-1-1, III-IV 0-0- 1; patellae I-IV dorsally 1-0-1 (apical), III-IV retrolaterally 1; tibiae I-II dorsally 1-0-0-0, ventrally 2-0-2, III-IV dorsally 1-0-1, prolaterally 1-1, retrolaterally 1-0-1, ventrally 1-0-1-0; metatarsi I-II none, III-IV prolaterally 1-1-1 or 1-1-1-1, retrolaterally 1-0-1 (apical) (III) or 1- 1-2 (apical) (IV), ventrally 2-0-1 (apical)(III) or 2-0-1-2 (apical)(IV). Leg formula: IV-I-II-III. Male palp (Figs. 3-5): Slender and simple; retrolateral apophysis of tibia digitiform; embolus spiniform and short, with indistinct membranous conductor. Opisthosoma (Fig. 1): Cylindrical, relatively long (length/width 3.15), with some pairs of long hairs. Coloration and markings: Carapace lemon yellow, chelicerae, maxillae and labium light yellowish brown, sternum white, palps and legs yellowish white. Opisthosoma yellowish white without markings dorsally, pale yellowish white ventrally. Distribution. Central Vietnam (at present known only from the type locality). Etymology. The name of the new species is derived from the type locality. Remark. Female unknown.Published as part of Ono, Hirotsugu, 2009, Three New Spiders of the Families Clubionidae, Liocranidae and Gnaphosidae (Arachnida, Araneae) from Vietnam, pp. 1-8 in Bulletin of the National Museum of Natural Sciences (A) (A) 35 (1) on page 2, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.58404
Sinanapis thaleri Ono, 2009, sp. nov.
No full textSinanapis thaleri sp. nov. (Figs. 1 - 14) Diagnosis: This new species is first assumed as a member of the genus Textricella Hickman, 1945, mainly by the presence of a modified patella of the male palp, and resembles T. parva Hickman, 1945 from Tasmania and T. complexa Forster, 1959 from Australia. These species have a complicated structure of the male palpal patella with a grater-like apophysis with many minute teeth. However, this new species can be easily distinguished from these by the simple and filiform embolus (Figs. 10 - 11), the eye-arrangement (Fig. 1) and the shape of the chelicera (Figs. 3 - 5). The new species is more closely related to Sinanapis crassitarsus recently described by Wunderlich & Song (1995) from Southwest China, but differs from the latter in the details. Other than genital features, the new spider resembles the Chinese species by the arrangement of the eyes in three groups, the condition of the chelicera with large teeth and the presence of a distinct posterior plate of the opisthosoma. Type specimen: Holotype: male, from Mt. Lang Biang, 1900 m alt. near peak, Da Lat, Lam Dong Province, Vietnam, 2 - VI- 2002, S. Nomura leg. (NSMT-Ar 5960). Measurement: Body length 1.69 mm; prosoma length 0.79 mm, width 0.62 mm, height 0.71 mm; opisthosoma length 0.85 mm, width 0. 85 mm, height 0.96 mm; lengths of legs [total length (femur + patella + tibia + metatarsus + tarsus)]: I 2.71 mm (0.86 + 0.31 + 0.72 + 0. 28 + 0.54), II 2.13 mm (0.67 + 0.26 + 0.50 + 0. 25 + 0.45), III 1.50 mm (0.44 + 0.18 + 0.31 + 0.20 + 0.37), IV 1.86 mm (0.59 + 0.20 + 0.43 + 0.24 + 0.40). Prosoma (Figs. 1 - 6): Carapace longer than wide (length / width 1.27), very high (height / width 1.15), highest at the ocular area, without setae. Median furrow absent, surface of carapace strongly sclerotized with reticulation forming radial lines, six teeth, 1-1-2- 2 in order, present in the cephalic part behind the eyes, base of pedicel forming a collar. Eyes set in three groups (Fig. 1), six in number, AME lacking, the posterior eye-row re-curved in dorsal view. Both lateral eyes close to each other, all eyes similar in size, but ALE seems to be slightly larger than the others, ALE-ALE sub-equal to their diameter, longer than PME-PLE, clypeus wide (Figs. 2 - 3), much longer than ALE-ALE (15: 4). Chelicerae with three large teeth on the retro-margin of the fang furrow, the distal two teeth on a common protuberance (Figs. 4 - 5), labium fused with anterior margin of sternum, wider than long, maxillae distally wide and obtuse, sternum strongly sclerotized and grained, longer than wide (8: 6) (Fig. 6). Legs: patellae of legs III–IV with a long, apico-dorsal spine, respectively; tibiae III–IV dorsally with a long spine; metatarsus shorter than patella in legs I–II; metatarsus and tarsus of leg I with several ventral, conical spines (Fig. 7); tarsal claws of the legs without distinct teeth. Leg formula: I-II-IV-III. Male palp (Figs. 10 - 14): Femur simple with a few long hairs, without any apophysis, distal margin slightly sclerotized; patella extremely modified, with a large, dorsal apophysis and a complicated process (Fig. 13) and a grater-like apophysis with many teeth on dorsal surface (Fig. 14); tibia not clearly recognizable. Cymbium short and simple, palpal organ fitted in the cymbium, conductor absent, embolus distally filiform (Figs. 10 - 11). Opisthosoma (Figs. 1 - 2, 8 - 9): as long as wide, very high, with a firm collar, the posterior part covered by a large plate rounded and sclerotized (Fig. 8), the surface of the plate relatively smooth and transparent. Anterior spinnerets and posterior lateral spinnerets thick and conical, posterior median spinnerets small but visible, colulus present but indistinct (Fig. 9). Venter of opisthosoma very narrow, cover of booklung distinct, but booklung replaced by trachea and without lung slit, posterior trachea seems to be lacking. Coloration and markings (Figs. 1 - 2, 8): Carapace and chelicerae dark reddish brown, shiny, maxillae and labium reddish brown, sternum reddish brown with black reticulum, femur of palp yellow, palpal organ reddish brown, femora I and II reddish brown, other segments of legs yellowish brown. Opisthosoma dorsally reddish brown, its posterior plate amber with black marking (Fig. 8). Distribution: Vietnam (at present known only from the type locality). Etymology: The specific name is dedicated to the late Dr. Konrad Thaler in memory of his contribution to the study of various spiders mainly from the European Alps. Remarks: The position of the genus Textricella in the phylogeny of Araneoidea is not clear. Although Forster & Platnick (1981) at first used Textricellidae established by Hickman (1945) with Textricella as the type genus, they regarded the small family as a junior synonym of Micropholcommatidae Hickman, 1943, after a few years (Platnick & Forster 1986). The family Micropholcommatidae is characterized by the presence of a cheliceral gland mound and the condition of booklungs and tracheae, and the modified shape of the male palpal patellae. That included several genera known only from the Australian Region and South America, but spiders of the group should occur also in Asia as evidenced by the species of Sinanapis and Enielkenie acaroides Ono, 2006, recently recorded from Taiwan (Ono, Chang & Tso 2006). The present author, however, treats the family Anapidae Simon, 1895, in a broadest sense including micropholcommatids, following Schütt (2003) and Wunderlich (2004), until more information about these spiders, especially those from Asia, will emerge.Published as part of Ono, H., 2009, A new species of the genus Sinanapis (Araneae: Anapidae) from Lam Dong province, southern Vietnam., pp. 1201-1208 in Contrib. nat. Hist. 12 on pages 1022-102
The Value of Prominent Directors
No full textObservers of modern transitional economies urge firms there to ignore stock markets. Stock markets simply will not work in such environments, they explain. Firms should instead rely on debt finance, particularly bank debt. Only then will they be able to keep principal-agent (i.e., investor-manager) slack to manageable levels. Turn-of-the-century Japanese firms faced problems that closely mirrored those in modern eastern Europe. Yet in Japan, the successful large firms did not rely on debt. Instead, they raised their funds through the stock market, and took a variety of steps to mitigate the principal-agent slack involved. As one of those steps, they recruited prominent investors to their boards. Using data on firms in the cotton-spinning industry (arguably the most important industrial sector in turn-of-the-century Japan), we explore why the firms recruited prominent directors. First, we note that firms with such directors had higher profits than others. In part, they probably had higher profits because such investors had an eye for firms that would likely succeed. In part too, however, they seem to have had higher profits because those investors brought basic management skills -- they knew how to monitor and when to intervene. Second, prominence held constant, we find that firms did not have higher profits by having directors affiliated with a bank or with other spinning firms. One might have thought directors with access to a bank or spinning technology would raise profits at a firm. In fact, they did not, for banks did not have the funds to lend, and the technolgy was freely available. Last, we explore whether the directors certified firm quality on behalf of other investors. Although firms with prominent directors apparently did have an advantage in the capital market, we conclude that quality certification was at most a by-product (if even that) of the monitoring and intervention these directors performed.
"Industrial Finance Before the Financial Revolution: Japan at the Turn of the Last Century"
No full textIn a series of pathbreaking articles, Sylla argues that successful economies experience "financial revolutions" before they undergo their periods of rapid growth. In turn, governments generate these revolutions by putting public finance in order, and thereby giving private investors the incentive to create banks and securities markets. In the U.S., suggests Sylla, Hamilton masterminded the revolution. Might Matsukata, he continues, have done the same in Japan? Consistent with much of Sylla's work, Japan did indeed experience a financial revolution in the late 19th century. Matsukata, however, did not mastermind the revolution in advance of private-sector demand. Instead, private investors created the financial infrastructure in response to demand from industrial firms. What is more, most firms (at least in the pivotal silk industry) raised the funds they needed through trade credit rather than securities markets or banks. In this environment, the financial revolution contributed to economic growth in three ways: (a) the new securities markets funded the very largest firms, particularly the railroad firms; (b) the new banks sold the transactional services that merchants used to provide their trade credit, and (c) the banks supplied some of the funds that the merchants as intermediaries then re-lent to the manufacturing firms.
Industrial Finance Before the Financial Revolution: Japan at the Turn of the Last Century (Subsequently published in "Explanations in Economic History", 2005, vol. 43, 94-118. )
No full textIn a series of pathbreaking articles, Sylla argues that successful economies experience "financial revolutions" before they undergo their periods of rapid growth. In turn, governments generate these revolutions by putting public finance in order, and thereby giving private investors the incentive to create banks and securities markets. In the U.S., suggests Sylla, Hamilton masterminded the revolution. Might Matsukata, he continues, have done the same in Japan? Consistent with much of Sylla's work, Japan did indeed experience a financial revolution in the late 19th century. Matsukata, however, did not mastermind the revolution in advance of private-sector demand. Instead, private investors created the financial infrastructure in response to demand from industrial firms. What is more, most firms (at least in the pivotal silk industry) raised the funds they needed through trade credit rather than securities markets or banks. In this environment, the financial revolution contributed to economic growth in three ways: (a) the new securities markets funded the very largest firms, particularly the railroad firms; (b) the new banks sold the transactional services that merchants used to provide their trade credit, and (c) the banks supplied some of the funds that the merchants as intermediaries then re-lent to the manufacturing firms.
Correction: Ono, K. Calibration Methods of Acoustic Emission Sensors. Materials 2016, 9, 508
No full textThe author wishes to make the following corrections to this paper [1].[...]
Sharp ill-posedness result for the periodic Benjamin-Ono equation (ERRATUM : PAPER WITHDRAWN)
No full textERRATUM : This paper has been withdrawn by the author since there were errors in the calculus of the defect coefficient in Page 11. The corrected calculus gives actually zero which do not lead to a contradiction on the continuity of the flow-map of the Benjamin-Ono equation. The author warmly thank Professor Patrick Gérard for having pointing out this error to him.ERRATUM : This paper has been withdrawn by the author since there were errors in the calculus of the defect coefficient in Page 11. The corrected calculus gives actually zero which do not lead to a contradiction on the continuity of the flow-map of the Benjamin-Ono equation. The author warmly thank Professor Patrick Gérard for having pointing out this error to him. (We prove the discontinuity for the weak L^2(\T) -topology of the flow-map associated with the periodic Benjamin-Ono equation. This ensures that this equation is ill-posed in H^s(\T) as soon as and thus completes exactly the well-posedness result obtained by the author.
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