Aomori Public University

Abstract. We investigate bidirectional wake effects between two identical wind turbines in a hill region of northern Japan using Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) data and validate the performance of 12 wake models. The two turbines are located 3.7 times a rotor diameter apart with a different elevation of half of a rotor diameter. We identify the wake effects in terms of wind speed ratio, which is defined as a ratio of wind speed at the downstream wind turbine to that at the upstream wind turbine. By comparing the conditions according to the operating state of the upstream wind turbine, the wakes are clearly detected as minimum wind speed ratios for northeasterly and southwesterly winds. The wind speed ratio decreases with inflow wind speed below the rated wind speed. Increase in turbulence intensity and decrease in power output are greater for southwesterly wind than for northeasterly wind because of the combined effects of the turbine-induced wake and the terrain-induced reduction in wind speed. Then, we compare the simulated wakes from the validate the wake models implemented in PyWake software by using simulated wind fields derived from Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The wind speed ratios derived from the models show strong dependence on inflow wind speed, reflecting the thrust curve used in the engineering wake models. The wake models commonly overestimate the reduction in wind speed for northeasterly wind and underestimate it for southwesterly wind. Thus, this study demonstrates that additional topographic effects alter the wake effects.

Abstract Shiga toxin (Stx)-producingEscherichia coli(STEC) causes serious gastrointestinal illness, including hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome. Although all known Stxs (Stx1 and Stx2) are encoded by bacteriophages (Stx phages), the production of Stx2 is known to be a major risk factor for severe STEC infections. The production of Stx2, but not Stx1, is tightly coupled with the induction of Stx phages, and Stx2 production levels vary between STEC strains, even within the same serotype. Here, we analyzed the genomic diversity of all Stx phages in 71 strains representing the entire O145:H28 lineage, one of the major STECs. Our analysis revealed the highly dynamic nature of the Stx phages in O145:H28, including the independent acquisition of similar Stx phages by different sublineages and the frequent changes in Stx phages in the same sublineages due to the gain and loss of Stx phages. Analyses of Stx2 production levels in O145:H28 strains and K-12 lysogens of Stx2 phages of specific groups and types, which were defined by their early region sequences and CI repressors, respectively, revealed that short-tailed Stx2a phages (S-Stx2a phages) confer significantly greater Stx2 production to host strains than long-tailed Stx2a phages (L-Stx2a phages). However, L-Stx2a phages that encode a specific type of CI repressor promoted Stx2 production, comparable to the level of production among S-Stx2a phages, as well as promoted virulence to host strains, exceeding the level among other L-Stx2a phages. We also showed a clear link between the phage induction efficiency, which was primarily determined by the early region of each phage, and the level of Stx2 production by host strains. These results provide important insights into the diversification and dynamism of Stx phages and the relationship between the variations in Stx2 phages and the amount of Stx2 production by their host strains.Author summaryShiga toxin (Stx)-producingEscherichia coli(STEC) is an important human intestinal pathogen that causes severe illnesses. These bacteria produce Stx1, Stx2 or both toxins, but the production of Stx2 is an important measure of the virulence of STEC strains. While both types of Stx are encoded by bacteriophages (Stx phages), Stx2 production is tightly coupled with phage induction, and variations in Stx2 phages have been associated with variations in Stx2 production levels by their host O157:H7 STEC strains. However, in non-O157 STEC strains, the variation in Stx phages and its association with host strain production of Stx2 have not yet been fully analyzed. This systematic study of Stx phages in O145:H28 STEC reveals not only the marked genomic diversity and dynamism of Stx phages in this STEC lineage but also that short-tailed Stx2 phages and a specific group of long-tailed Stx2 phages induce high levels of Stx2 production by host strains, and this increased production is linked to the efficient induction of phages.

Previous empirical studies have not paid enough attention to the effect of adult mortality rate, which is defined as the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60, on differences in educational attainment among countries. We hypothesise that the adult mortality rate negatively affects educational attainment because a lower probability of surviving after retirement discourages human capital accumulation in the youth. We conducted an empirical analysis using cross-country panel data of OECD countries, with a sample in which retirement was more common. We compared the results with those of non-OECD countries. We found that adult mortality rate had a significantly negative effect on educational attainment for OECD countries, but we could not find significant results for non-OECD countries. A lower adult mortality rate could increase educational attainment in countries where retirement at old age is common. The empirical results also showed that income per capita and fertility do not significantly influence educational attainment in OECD countries; rather, parents’ educational attainment and accessibility to education influence educational attainment in OECD and non-OECD countries.

Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) has been identified as a potential bioenergy feedstock in arid regions, but knowledge of the diversity of its chemical characteristics is limited. In this study, 61 Jatropha accessions growing in Botswana, where both severe drought and winter frosts frequently occur, were analyzed for their seed chemical properties. Histogram analyses and meta-analysis comparisons with seeds from other countries/continents showed that the median/mean dry seed weight, toxic compound phorbol esters, and C18:0 fatty acid levels in the Botswanan accessions were lower than those from other countries/continents. A clustered heat map analysis indicated five clades for the Botswanan accessions, and their physicochemical traits were also categorized into five groups. Many positive and negative correlations were observed among the chemical traits, including negative correlations between the C18:3 (linolenic acid) content and yield-related traits (lipid content and dry seed weight). Principal component analysis highlighted the existence of accessions with highly deviated seed chemical compositions, such as those enriched in C18:0/C18:1 and C16:0/C16:1/C18:3 fatty acids. Overall, the present study suggests considerable diversity in the seed chemical compositions of Botswanan Jatropha accessions. Various accessions could be useful as feedstock for specific industrial products, as well as for breeding materials for the fortification of specific chemical ingredients.

The use of IT is one of the most important strategies for the future of agriculture. In Yabu City in Hyogo prefecture, not many, but some private farmers are interested in it. We analyze the determinants of IT use and willingness of farmers to pay for IT in agricultural management, using the farm household data of Yabu City. Our empirical results based on ordered probit and Tobit models find that the number of days engaged in agriculture, intention of machine renewal, having PCs, smartphones, and mobile phones, and agricultural income have positive correlations and older age has negative correlations with IT use and willingness to pay for IT. Farmers who know what companies of the National Strategic Special Zone in Yabu City do are willing to spend more money on IT. Moreover, a sense of fulfillment with agriculture increases IT use and willingness to pay for IT. However, feeling worth living does not do significantly.

Human norovirus (HuNoV) GII.P17-GII.17 (Kawasaki2014 variant) reportedly emerged in 2014 and caused gastroenteritis outbreaks worldwide. To clarify the evolution of both VP1 and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) regions of GII.P17-GII.17, we analyzed both global and novel Japanese strains detected during 2013–2017. Time-scaled phylogenetic trees revealed that the ancestral GII.17 VP1 region diverged around 1949, while the ancestral GII.P17 RdRp region diverged around 2010. The evolutionary rates of the VP1 and RdRp regions were estimated at ~2.7 × 10−3 and ~2.3 × 10−3 substitutions/site/year, respectively. The phylogenetic distances of the VP1 region exhibited no overlaps between intra-cluster and inter-cluster peaks in the GII.17 strains, whereas those of the RdRp region exhibited a unimodal distribution in the GII.P17 strains. Conformational epitope positions in the VP1 protein of the GII.P17-GII.17 strains were similar, although some substitutions, insertions and deletions had occurred. Strains belonging to the same cluster also harbored substitutions around the binding sites for the histo-blood group antigens of the VP1 protein. Moreover, some amino acid substitutions were estimated to be near the interface between monomers and the active site of the RdRp protein. These results suggest that the GII.P17-GII.17 virus has produced variants with the potential to alter viral antigenicity, host-binding capability, and replication property over the past 10 years.

ABSTRACTWe study how the quality of hospital management and medical care both affect efficiency in Japanese local public hospitals. The efficiency is estimated by a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and is regressed against the quality scores in hospital accreditation by the Japan Council for Quality Health Care (JCQHC). We find that rule-based hospital management relates to high efficiency, while the suitable management of beds and supplies relates to low efficiency.

This article is a genealogical research based on the hypothesis on transformations of class strategies of bourgeoisie in the 18th Century Europe. It relies on the Foucault?s genealogical method and general assumption that power has its own history and that deconstruction of ?old? Hobbesian diagram of power and sovereignty opens the possibility for the genealogical research of the class strategies of bourgeoisie. The question is not whether the bourgeoisie is the dominant class, but what discursive strategies and practices of power/knowledge were at stake in the processes of the legitimization of domination. We claim that historical emergence of the class strategies signified new ways of spatializing rationality in Western Europe, but also the new approach to life. Their aim was not to support the status quo in ancien r?gime but to enhance the productivity and to preserve the economic and biological balances. Those hybrid moduses of practices of power/knowledge that we call class strategies were the tools of bourgeoisie in the processes of the establishment of political, legal and state control with the ideological strategies of universalization and rationalization. We conclude that 18th Century in Europe was the period of the appearance of new, subtle forms and practices of class strategies that needed to be implemented in the emergent field of the social, through the processes of institutionalization and etatization. This century was also the time for development of discursive practices identified in terms: to see, to speak, to know.