Japan and the concept of sustainability

This article describes a sustainable human social adaptation. It provides an example of how a human population responds to environmental stresses and modulates its population given technological abilities for food production and population control. The example used is Japan over the past 500 years. The concept of “sustainability” has become a popular concept used in a variety of conflicting and contradictory contexts and with resulting confusion. This eassay is offered as a point of discussion to produce more precise definitions of the concept of sustainability as it applies to human society.     

The "protein-machine" concept and its consequences

Analysis is presented of the concept "protein-machine" and implying consequences, both of theoretical and experimental character. The approach "protein-machine" is compared with other approaches--"coherent excitation", "molecular dynamics" and "limited diffusion". In terms of the approach "protein-machine" valuable information inserted in the biological macromolecule and determining its functions is taken into account. It reflects the biological specificity and at the same time removes mystic shadow from this concept.     

植物激素的概念及其新成员

植物激素,泛指植物体内合成的,对生长发育有显著调节作用的微量有机物质,近年来,其新成员不断被确认,如油菜素甾醇,水杨酸,茉莉酸和多胺等,概括介绍了植物激素的概念,其新成员的种类及有关的生理作用。     

The treatment of herpetic whitlow--a new surgical concept

Characteristics of cutaneous lesions caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) are: Acquired by skin-to-skin contact; humans are the only natural host. Often on the hands of health care personnel. Painful swelling, erythema, vesicles, and ulcerations. Possible involvement of cutaneous digital areas of paronychium, eponychium, and subungual matrix. Similar to a bacterial (septic) or fungal felon. Self-limiting--14- to 21-day course. An aseptic felon, which provides a contraindication to surgical incision and drainage of the deep pulp space. Severe pain: the major complaint from all patients. Relieved of pain by decompression of the involved nail bed, either by segmentally excising or perforating the overlying nail or both to unroof the vesicles.     

The concept of multiple-nutrient-limited growth of microorganisms and its application in biotechnological processes

The "law of the minimum" (Liebig's law) states that usually one nutrient restricts the maximum quantity of biomass that can be produced within a system, whereas all other nutrients are in excess. This general rule has been applied also to the growth of microorganisms, e.g., by adjusting the relative concentrations of the individual nutrients in growth media such that one of them, in the case of heterotrophic microbes, usually the carbon source, determines the maximum cell density that can be obtained in a culture. However, experimental data demonstrated that growth of microbial cultures can be limited simultaneously by two or more nutrients. These authors reported that during growth of bacteria and yeasts at a constant dilution rate in the chemostat, three distinct growth regimes were recognised as a function of the C:N ratio in the inflowing medium: (1) a clearly carbon-limited regime with the nitrogen source in excess, (2) a transition ("double-nutrient-limited") growth regime where both the carbon and the nitrogen source were below the detection limit, and (3) a clearly nitrogen-limited growth regime with the carbon source in excess. Subsequent calculations suggested that the extension and position of this double-nutrient-limited zone should be strongly dependent on the imposed growth rate: Whereas it is very narrow at high growth rates it should become very broad during slow growth. This pattern as a function of growth rate has now been confirmed for a number of different organisms. In industrial processes, microbial growth is always in some way controlled by the limited availability of nutrients, and limitation of specific nutrients is frequently used to force microbial cultures into a productive physiological state. This article will discuss what the consequences of multiple-nutrient-limited growth are for industrial processes and how the concept might be applied. Specific examples will be given that demonstrate the advantages and the potential of multiple nutrient-limited growth conditions for industrial production processes.     

The time of urea treatment and its effects on the succession of ammonia fungi in two warm temperate forests in Japan

We studied the effects of the timing of urea treatment on the succession of ammonia fungi. In two evergreen Castanopsis cuspidata forests and in one deciduous Quercus serrata forest, we applied 343g urea to 25 and 15 plots of 0.5m², respectively, at three different times of the year. Ten of the early-phase (EP) species, considered to be saprotrophic, and 6 of the late-phase (LP) ones, considered ectomycorrhizal, fruited. In both phases, the commencement, peak, and cessation of fruiting took place simultaneously among all the plots treated at the same time. The fruiting occurred in summer and autumn. Quantity and size of the fruit bodies was larger in the LP than in the EP species. Fruiting of EP species was affected by the treatment time and that of LP species by interaction of the treatment time and vegetation type. EP was short and occurred as one period, whereas LP was long and occurred as two or more fruiting seasons. We found that species composition, dominant species, and degree of its dominance in fruiting of the ammonia fungi are predictable for different treatment times of the year and different vegetation types.     

The production-to-respiration ratio and its implication in Lake Biwa,Japan

Production-to-respiration (P:R) ratio was estimated at an offshore site of Lake Biwa in order to examine whether the plankton and benthic community is subsidized with allochthonous organic carbon, and to clarify the role of this lake as potential source or sink of carbon dioxide. The respiration rate of protozoan and metazoan plankton was calculated from their biomass and empirical equations of oxygen consumption rates, and that of bacterioplankton was derived from their production rate and growth efficiency. In addition, the carbon mineralization rate in the lake sediments was estimated from the accumulation rate of organic carbon, which was determined using a ²¹⁰Pb dating technique. On an annual basis, the sum of respiration rates of heterotrophic plankton was comparable to net primary production rate measured by the ¹³C method. However, when the mineralization rate in the lake sediments was included, the areal P:R ratio was 0.89, suggesting that Lake Biwa is net heterotrophic at the offshore site with the community being subsidized with allochthonous organic carbon. Such a view was supported by the surface water pCO₂ that was on average higher than that of the atmosphere. However, the estimate of net CO₂ release rate was close to that of carbon burial rate in the sediments. The result suggests that the role of Lake Biwa in relation to atmospheric carbon is almost null at the offshore site, although the community is supported partially by organic carbon released from the surrounding areas.     

The niche concept: Suggestions for its use in human ecology

The Hutchinsonian concept of the ecological niche can be made operational for studies in human ecology by defining it in terms of thedistinctive ways of using resources for subsistence that set “cultural species” apart. Subsistence variety, the number of resources used for subsistence, and how much each is depended on are measures of distinctiveness, and the amount of variety present can be defined as thewidth of the ecological niche. The calculation of niche width from subsistence data is discussed, and examples are given from several human groups with reference to total resource variety, resource variety in space, and resource variety in time. The importance of selecting niche dimensions for niche width measurement is stressed, and examples are given of width differences resulting from measuring variety in quantity (biomass or calories) and variety in quality (protein, essential minerals, etc.). Finally, some implications of niche width measurements for human ecology are discussed.