International Research Center for Japanese Studies

This paper presents a method to automatically and efficiently detect face tampering in videos, and particularly focuses on two recent techniques used to generate hyper-realistic forged videos: Deepfake and Face2Face. Traditional image forensics techniques are usually not well suited to videos due to the compression that strongly degrades the data. Thus, this paper follows a deep learning approach and presents two networks, both with a low number of layers to focus on the mesoscopic properties of images. We evaluate those fast networks on both an existing dataset and a dataset we have constituted from online videos. The tests demonstrate a very successful detection rate with more than 98% for Deepfake and 95% for Face2Face.

More than 250 carbon-14 accelerator mass spectrometry dates of terrestrial macrofossils from annually laminated sediments from Lake Suigetsu (Japan) provide a first atmospheric calibration for almost the total range of the radiocarbon method (45,000 years before the present). The results confirm the (recently revised) floating German pine chronology and are consistent with data from European and marine varved sediments, and combined uranium-thorium and carbon-14 dating of corals up to the Last Glacial Maximum. The data during the Glacial show large fluctuations in the atmospheric carbon-14 content, related to changes in global environment and in cosmogenic isotope production.

The formation of the autophagosome, a landmark event in autophagy, is accomplished by the concerted actions of Atg proteins. The initial step of starvation-induced autophagy in yeast is the assembly of the Atg1 complex, which, with the help of other Atg groups, recruits Atg conjugation systems and initiates the formation of the autophagosome. In this review, we describe from a structural-biological point of view the structure, interaction, and molecular roles of Atg proteins, especially those in the Atg1 complex and in the Atg conjugation systems.

Issues of Evolution and Chronology: Evolutionary Implications of Altered Perspectives on Hominine Demes and Populations in the Later Pleistocene of Western Eurasia F.C. Howell. Chronological and Biogeographic Perspectives on Later Human Evolution C. Stringer. The Chronology of the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant O. Bar-Yosef. Archaeological Assemblages: Cultural Interpretations and Subsistence Strategies: The Earliest Paleolithic Occupation in Syria S. Muhesen. Site Formation Processes in Kebara and Hayonim Caves and Their Significance in Levantine Prehistoric Caves P. Goldberg, O. Bar-Yosef. Intrasite Spatial Patterns and Behavioral Modernity: Indications from the Late Levantine Mousterian Rockshelter of Tor Faraj, Southern Jordan D.O. Henry. The Human Fossils: Climatic Changes, Paleogeography, and the Evolution of the Neandertals J.-J. Hublin. Sapiens and Neandertals: Rethinking the Levantine Middle Paleolithic Hominids B. Arensburg, A. Belfer-Cohen. Cultural and Human Evolution: Views from Neighboring Regions: The Evolution of Culture: A Comparative Perspective K.N. Laland. Domestic Fire as Evidence for Language A. Ronen. 24 Additional Chapters. Index.

Dense‐media separation, frequently adopted as a standard pollen extraction method for use with minerogenic sediment samples, was adapted for use with organic‐rich sediment and peat samples. A total of 15 organic‐rich sediment samples, obtained from sites in Corsica and the Southern European Alps, was treated using both dense‐media separation and the conventional preparation method in order to compare the relative efficiencies of the two methods. The dense‐media separation method consistently achieved a remarkably higher purity of extracted pollen grains. This was especially true for the Corsican peat samples, the dense‐media separations being quite pure, whereas the classical method produced samples that were so severely polluted with organic fragments that it was impossible to carry out a satisfactory pollen analysis. The percentage values of each taxon were generally similar using both methods, showing that the two methods are compatible for pollen analytical studies. Total pollen concentrations were generally higher with the dense‐media separation method (especially for gyttja samples). In conclusion, dense‐media separation is an efficient method for pollen extraction from organic as well as from minerogenic sediments and deposits.

Pollen records from the annually laminated sediment sequence in Lake Suigetsu, Japan, suggest a sequence of climate changes during the Last Termination that resembles that of the North Atlantic region but with noticeable differences in timing. An interstadial interval commenced a few centuries earlier [approximately 15,000 years before the present (yr B.P.)] than the North Atlantic GI-1 (Bölling) event. Conversely, the onset of a Younger Dryas (YD)-like cold reversal (12,300 to 11,250 yr B.P.) postdated the North Atlantic GS-1 (YD) event by a few centuries. Climate in the Far East during the Last Termination reflected solar insolation changes as much as Atlantic influences.

A sequence of annually laminated sediments is a potential tool for calibrating the radiocarbon time scale beyond the range of the absolute tree-ring calibration (11 ka). We performed accelerator mass spectrometric (AMS) 14 C measurements on >250 terrestrial macrofossil samples from a 40,000-yr varve sequence from Lake Suigetsu, Japan. The results yield the first calibration curve for the total range of the 14 C dating method.

Based on the morphological characteristics of the skull and teeth, Hanihara ([1991] Japan Review 2:1-33) proposed the "dual structure model" for the formation of modern Japanese populations. We examine this model by dividing it into two independent hypotheses: 1) the Upper Paleolithic population of Japan that gave rise to the Neolithic Jomon people was of southeast Asian origin, and 2) modern Ainu and Ryukyuan (Okinawa) populations are direct descendants of the Jomon people, while Hondo (Main Island)-Japanese are mainly derived from the migrants from the northeast Asian continent after the Aeneolithic Yayoi period. Our aim is to examine the extent to which the model is supported by genetic evidence from modern populations, particularly from Japan and other Asian areas. Based on genetic distance analyses using data from up to 25 "classic" genetic markers, we find first that the three Japanese populations including Ainu and Ryukyuan clearly belong to a northeast Asian cluster group. This negates the first hypothesis of the model. Then, we find that Ainu and Ryukyuans share a group contrasting with Hondo-Japanese and Korean, supporting the second hypothesis of the model. Based on these results, we propose a modified version of the dual structure model which may explain the genetic, morphological, and archaeological evidence concerning the formation of modern Japanese populations.

In eastern Hokkaido, 60 to 80 kilometers above a subducting oceanic plate, tidal mudflats changed into freshwater forests during the first decades after a 17th-century tsunami. The mudflats gradually rose by a meter, as judged from fossil diatom assemblages. Both the tsunami and the ensuing uplift exceeded any in the region's 200 years of written history, and both resulted from a shallow plate-boundary earthquake of unusually large size along the Kuril subduction zone. This earthquake probably induced more creep farther down the plate boundary than did any of the region's historical events.

BACKGROUND: Ixekizumab, an anti-IL-17A monoclonal antibody, demonstrated a high level of efficacy in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis (PP) patients. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of open-label ixekizumab in Japanese patients with moderate-to-severe PP, erythrodermic psoriasis (EP) and generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP). METHODS: Patients received 160-mg subcutaneous ixekizumab injection at Week 0, 80-mg every 2 weeks through Week 12 and 80-mg every 4 weeks through Week 24. Efficacy and safety are reported through 24 weeks; additional safety data are available for some patients. RESULTS: A total of 78 patients with PP, 8 with EP and 5 with GPP enrolled. In PP patients, PASI75 and PASI90 response rates were 98.7% (77/78) and 83.3% (65/78) at Week 12 respectively. In EP patients, PASI75 and PASI90 were 100.0% (8/8) and 62.5% (5/8) and in GPP patients were 80.0% (4/5) and 60.0% (3/5). Overall, 84.0% (76/91) had a treatment-emergent AE through ≥24 weeks. There were no serious AEs, deaths, cases of tuberculosis or invasive fungal infections. LIMITATIONS: No control group and small sample sizes, especially for EP and GPP. CONCLUSION: By Week 12, nearly all patients with PP, EP and GPP achieved PASI75. The safety profile was consistent with reported results and no unexpected safety signals were observed.

Five polymorphisms involving two paternally inherited loci were surveyed in 38 world populations (n = 1,631) to investigate the origins of Native Americans. One of the six Y chromosome combination haplotypes (1T) was found at relatively high frequencies (17.8-75.0%) in nine Native American populations (n = 206) representing the three major linguistic divisions in the New World. Overall, these data do not support the Greenberg et al. (1986) tripartite model for the early peopling of the Americas. The 1T haplotype was also discovered at a low frequency in Siberian Eskimos (3/22), Chukchi (1/6), and Evens (1/65) but was absent from 17 other Asian populations (n = 987). The perplexing presence of the 1T haplotype in northeastern Siberia may be due to back-migration from the New World to Asia.

In most parts of the world where people have colonized and modified their landscapes for several millennia or more, it is often difficult to discriminate anthropogenic burning from natural fire regimes that are linked to climate regimes. New Zealand provides a unique setting for identifying human influence on fire occurrence because it was settled recently ( c. AD 1280) at a time when climates are considered to be similar to today. Late-Holocene pollen and charcoal records from New Zealand provide striking evidence for initial Polynesian (Māori) arrival being strongly associated with widespread burning and loss of native forest. The duration of initial forest clearance and the spatial pattern of burning that led to this transformation are still poorly understood. We present high-resolution charcoal and pollen analyses of sediment cores from five lakes, located on the deforested eastern side of the Southern Alps. These records document the local fire history of the last 1000 years and the response of vegetation and watersheds to burning. Our results suggest that one to several high-severity fires occurred within a few decades of initial Māori arrival, and this ‘Initial Burning Period’ (IBP) resulted in the majority of forest loss and erosion. Changes in sedimentation rates, soil chemistry and magnetic susceptibility occurred simultaneously with the first fires at some sites, and marked the end of the IBP at others, suggesting substantial and rapid alteration of watershed vegetation, soil and biochemistry. Timing of the beginning of the IBP varied across sites but the duration of this period was brief (decades to a century). Our results suggest that Māori burning of native forests was deliberate and systematic. These forests had no previous history of fire and thus showed little resilience to the introduction of a new disturbance.

Journal Article Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization Get access Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization, by Ian Condry. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2006, 249 pp., $79.95 (hardcover ISBN 0-8223-3876-9), $22.95 (paperback ISBN 0-8223-3892-0) Shūhei HOSOKAWA Shūhei HOSOKAWA International Research Center for Japanese Studies Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Science Japan Journal, Volume 11, Issue 1, Summer 2008, Pages 159–162, https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyn006 Published: 05 March 2008

BACKGROUND: The incidence of melanoma among those of an Asian ethnicity is lower than in Caucasians; few large-scale Asian studies that include follow-up data have been reported. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the clinical characteristics of Japanese patients with melanoma and to evaluate the prognostic factors. METHODS: Detailed patient information was collected from the database of Japanese Melanoma Study Group of the Japanese Skin Cancer Society. The American Joint Committee on Cancer seventh Edition system was used for TNM classification. The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards model were used to estimate the impact of clinical and histological parameters on disease-specific survival in patients with invasive melanoma. RESULTS: In total, 4594 patients were included in this analysis. The most common clinical type was acral lentiginous melanoma (40.4%) followed by superficial spreading melanoma (20.5%), nodular melanoma (10.0%), mucosal melanoma (9.5%), and lentigo maligna melanoma (8.1%). The 5-year disease-specific survival for each stage was as follows: IA = 98.0%, IB = 93.9%, IIA = 94.8%, IIB = 82.4%, IIC = 71.8%, IIIA = 75.0%, IIIB = 61.3%, IIIC = 41.7%, and IV = 17.7%. Although multivariate analysis showed that clinical classifications were not associated with survival across all stages, acral type was an independent poor prognostic factor in stage IIIA. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed the characteristics of melanoma in the Japanese population. The 5-year disease-specific survival of each stage showed a similar trend to that of Caucasians. While clinical classification was not associated with survival in any stages, acral type was associated with poor survival in stage IIIA. Our result might indicate the aggressiveness of acral type in certain populations.

We made accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14 C measurements on terrestrial macrofossils from the Late Pleistocene/Holocene of the annually laminated sediments of Lake Suigetsu (central Japan). The AMS 14 C dates of terrestrial macrofossils showed agreement between varve counting years and calibrated ages (tree rings and U/Th on coral) in the interval of 10.5 and ca. 11.5 ka cal bp. Beyond 11.5 ka cal bp, the age difference between 14 C and varve counting years gradually diminish, contradicting published data on corals dated by U/Th and 14 C.

Vascular calcification is a common pathologic condition in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and aging individuals. It has been established that vascular calcification is a gene-regulated biological process resembling osteogenesis involving osteogenic differentiation. However, there is no efficient treatment available for vascular calcification so far. The natural polyamine spermidine has been demonstrated to increase life span and protect against cardiovascular disease. It is unclear whether spermidine supplementation inhibits vascular calcification in CKD. Alizarin red staining and quantification of calcium content showed that spermidine treatment markedly reduced mineral deposition in both rat and human vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) under osteogenic conditions. Additionally, western blot analysis revealed that spermidine treatment inhibited osteogenic differentiation of rat and human VSMCs. Moreover, spermidine treatment remarkably attenuated calcification of rat and human arterial rings ex vivo and aortic calcification in rats with CKD. Furthermore, treatment with spermidine induced the upregulation of Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) in VSMCs and resulted in the downregulation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signaling components, such as activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein (CHOP). Both pharmacological inhibition of SIRT1 by SIRT1 inhibitor EX527 and knockdown of SIRT1 by siRNA markedly blocked the inhibitory effect of spermidine on VSMC calcification. Consistently, EX527 abrogated the inhibitory effect of spermidine on aortic calcification in CKD rats. We for the first time demonstrate that spermidine alleviates vascular calcification in CKD by upregulating SIRT1 and inhibiting ER stress, and this may develop a promising therapeutic treatment to ameliorate vascular calcification in CKD.

We describe a series of preliminary experiments undertaken to investi-gate the relationship between complicated tool-making and the presence or absence of language in its communicative role. The experiments involved teaching two groups of university students how to make Levallois flakes by either verbal or non-verbal demonstration. The rates and mean times of acquisition of the Levallois technique and of successful flake production were compared. They did not differ significantly between the two groups. From these results, we infer that spoken language was not indispensable for Levallois flake production in the Middle Palaeolithic.

the Earths ecosystems, nothing is more telling than a complete failure in the reproductive success of a sentinel species: a zero year. Here, we found that unusual environmental conditions in the Terre Adlie sector of Antarctica disrupted the breeding activity of Adlie penguins <i>Pygoscelis adeliae</i> on land but also their foraging activity at sea to such a degree that no chicks survived in the 2013/2014 breeding season. Uncommonly heavy precipitation for this normally dry desert killed chicks en masse, while weak katabatic winds maintained a persistent sea ice around the colony, thereby impacting chick provisioning by adults. Extreme events such as this have direct repercussions for the species in question, and may also affect the wider sea-ice dependent food web. Understanding the nature, frequency, and consequences of such events are central to the management and conservation of this remote yet crucial ecosystem.

Research Article| July 01, 2006 Seasonally specific responses of the East Asian monsoon to deglacial climate changes Takeshi Nakagawa; Takeshi Nakagawa 1Department of Geography, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Pavel E. Tarasov; Pavel E. Tarasov 2Institute for Geological Sciences, Free University Berlin, Malteserstrasse 74-100, Hause D, 12249 Berlin, Germany Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Hiroyuki Kitagawa; Hiroyuki Kitagawa 3Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Yoshinori Yasuda; Yoshinori Yasuda 4International Research Center for Japanese Studies, 3-2 Goryo Oeyama-cho, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 610-1192, Japan Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Katsuya Gotanda Katsuya Gotanda 4International Research Center for Japanese Studies, 3-2 Goryo Oeyama-cho, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 610-1192, Japan Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Geology (2006) 34 (7): 521–524. https://doi.org/10.1130/G21764.1 Article history received: 29 Nov 2005 rev-recd: 25 Jan 2006 accepted: 03 Feb 2006 first online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Takeshi Nakagawa, Pavel E. Tarasov, Hiroyuki Kitagawa, Yoshinori Yasuda, Katsuya Gotanda; Seasonally specific responses of the East Asian monsoon to deglacial climate changes. Geology 2006;; 34 (7): 521–524. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G21764.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract The deglacial meltwater pulse in the North Atlantic that induced the Younger Dryas event also prompted climate cooling in East Asian monsoon regions such as Japan and coastal mid-latitude China. However, very little is understood about the mechanism that can transmit changes in the North Atlantic to the Far East. Here we show that the shutdown of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation brought about significantly lower temperatures and higher precipitation in the Japanese winter, whereas the change in the Japanese summer climate was considerably smaller. The cooling of the Siberian air mass seems to have caused an increased pressure gradient between Siberia and the West Pacific in winter, intensifying the winter monsoon. The Mongolian high-pressure system and the westerly jet stream played an important role in the teleconnection. In contrast, the warming at the onset of the late glacial interstadial (GI-1; Bølling-Allerød) in the West Pacific did not have season-specific features, implying that the principal driving mechanism of this warming event may lie in a pan-hemispheric or global factor, such as insolation changes. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

In the mid 1990s, it was shown that the statistics of aggregated time series from Internet traffic departed from those of traditional short range-dependent models, and were instead characterized by asymptotic self-similarity. Following this seminal contribution, over the years, many studies have investigated the existence and form of scaling in Internet traffic. This contribution first aims at presenting a methodology, combining multiscale analysis (wavelet and wavelet leaders) and random projections (or sketches), permitting a precise, efficient and robust characterization of scaling, which is capable of seeing through non-stationary anomalies. Second, we apply the methodology to a data set spanning an unusually long period: 14 years, from the MAWI traffic archive, thereby allowing an in-depth longitudinal analysis of the form, nature, and evolutions of scaling in Internet traffic, as well as network mechanisms producing them. We also study a separate three-day long trace to obtain complementary insight into intra-day behavior. We find that a biscaling (two ranges of independent scaling phenomena) regime is systematically observed: long-range dependence over the large scales, and multifractallike scaling over the fine scales. We quantify the actual scaling ranges precisely, verify to high accuracy the expected relationship between the long range dependent parameter and the heavy tail parameter of the flow size distribution, and relate fine scale multifractal scaling to typical IP packet inter-arrival and to round-trip time distributions.