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Breaking with discriminatory views and segregated education for children with disabilities, regions often referred to as Confucian Heritage Regions (CHRs) have been moving towards inclusive education. Although some of these regions have been at the centre of attention in global education recently, there is a lack of research and information about how they 'do' inclusive education. Considering that reinforcing legislative foundations is of foremost importance for its fulfillment, this study examines legislation on the education of children with disabilities in four neighbouring CHRs: the Chinese Mainland , Japan, South Korea and China's Taiwan. The core principles that frame such legislation were analyzed and cross-compared. The findings show that despite the common Confucian heritage that is attributed to them systematically in studies of inclusive education -- which is often said to influence the way disability is perceived and dealt with -- the four Regions treat inclusion differently in terms of legislation. While some CHRs are clearly influenced by e.g. the USA, others are trying to design a specific perspective on inclusive education. The authors argue that the complex example of these CHRs can serve as an important template for studies on both inclusive and comparative education. The article also calls for the careful treatment of inclusive education beyond an essentialist and somewhat simplistic perspective that could reduce certain regions to a monolith.

This article explores the role of national culture in the culinary consumption behavior of international tourists and the moderating influence of different types of travel companions. Study 1 adopted a text-mining, topical modeling approach to process useful reviews (n = 7,803) posted at TripAdvisor by users from 86 countries. Study 2 develops and tests a conceptual model of the relationships between national culture and culinary choices including culinary types and range of culinary choices, based on a secondary dataset of large-scale surveys from the tourism authority of the destination containing 9,141 responses by tourists from over 60 countries or regions. The results reveal that both Uncertainty Avoidance and Individualism-Collectivism have significant effects on tourist food consumption categories and the range of culinary choices. The study also evaluated the role of the moderating effect of travel companions, and results supported the significant relationship on the range of culinary choices when the tourists were accompanied by different types of travel companions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pufferfish of the family Tetraodontidae possess tetrodotoxin (TTX) and/or saxitoxins (STXs), but the toxin ratio differs, depending on the genus or species. In the present study, to clarify the distribution profile of TTX and STXs in Tetraodontidae, we investigated the composition and intra-body distribution of the toxins in Canthigaster valentini. C. valentini specimens (four male and six female) were collected from Amami-Oshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, and the toxins were extracted from the muscle, liver, intestine, gallbladder, gonads, and skin. Analysis of the extracts for TTX by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and of STXs by high-performance liquid chromatography with post-column fluorescence derivatization revealed TTX, as well as a large amount of STXs, with neoSTX as the main component and dicarbamoylSTX and STX itself as minor components, in the skin and ovary. The toxins were also detected in the other tissues, but in much lower amounts than in the skin and ovary. The TTX/STX ratio varied greatly, depending on the tissue, but TTX was the major toxin component in the whole body, and STXs accounted for 25% and 13% of the total toxin amount in males and females, respectively. Like the marine pufferfish of the genus Arothron, C. valentini should be considered a pufferfish with considerable amounts of both TTX and STXs present simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Comprehensive analyses of water, GHG and air pollutant footprints are conducted. • Environmental consequences among major sectors are depicted. • Resource management recommendations are provided for decision-makers. • Food production is the main culprit behind water demand and carbon emission. • Electricity, gas, and heat supply transfers most sewage and air pollutants. Due to the challenges of an increasing planetary temperature and limited natural resources, quantifying anthropogenic pressure on the natural environment is of increasingly great importance. Although "footprint" has been widely discussed for describing certain anthropogenic impacts on the environment, comprehensive analyses of multiple environmental footprints are seldom conducted. Hence, this study tries to evaluate consumption-based footprints covering water, greenhouse gasses, and pollutants by using the environmentally extended input-output table. Taking Japan as an example, six water sources, including potable water, non-potable water, underground water, green water, reclaimed water, and seawater, are thoroughly analyzed to determine the water footprint from production to consumption. In addition, the greenhouse gas footprint and pollutant footprint are also analyzed separately. The comprehensive insights from consumption-based accounting provide another picture of environmental burdens, which will benefit future consumption-based measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Regional electricity consumption database in Japan 2001–2015 by sector is built. • Driving forces of electricity consumption are analyzed. • How electricity consumption reflects and responds to social events is analyzed. • Pathway for prefectural recovery with electricity consumption reduction is explored. Investigating electricity consumption is vital for identifying the driving forces for national onsite energy use and pathways for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. However, before any electricity conservation measures are implemented, a well understanding of the driving forces behind sectoral electricity consumption variation are of great importance. Therefore, this research constructed an assessment framework on how electricity consumption reflects and responds to social and natural events, and how far the Japanese electricity consumption decouples economic development by estimating the changes in electricity consumption in Japan from 2001 to 2015. The results revealed that electricity consumption intensity and economic activity effect were both dominant but obtained opposite impacts in terms of electricity consumption changes. Moreover, differences in driving forces that caused spatial variance for regional changes in electricity consumption were found during the economic recession and recovery periods. The decoupling status showed that the decoupling degree in Japan changed from an extensive negative decoupling state to a weak decoupling state during the study periods. Subsequently, the results also shed light on how to mitigate regional electricity consumption stress sustainably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate whether nighttime surgical procedures contribute to higher in-hospital mortality in patients with acute type A aortic dissection., Methods: All patients with acute type A aortic dissection who underwent surgical procedures at Fuwai Hospital in Beijing, China from 2010 to 2015 were included in the present study. Depending on the start and end time of the surgical procedures, patients were divided in daytime and nighttime groups. Propensity-matching analysis was used to compare in-hospital mortality and postoperative complications between these groups., Results: A total of 698 patients with acute type A aortic dissection underwent operation. Of these, 321 (45.98%) patients underwent nighttime surgical procedures, whereas 377 (54.02%) patients underwent daytime procedures. The operation time, cardiopulmonary bypass time, and aortic cross-clamp time showed statistical differences between the two groups (p < 0.01). There was a significant difference between the daytime and nighttime groups in in-hospital mortality (6.42% vs 12.08%; p < 0.05). The nighttime group had a higher incidence rate of reintubation and continuous renal replacement therapy compared with the daytime group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, patients who underwent nighttime operations had significantly higher adjusted in-hospital mortality than patients who underwent daytime operations (odds ratio, 2.13; 95% confidence interval, 1.19 to 3.81; p = 0.01)., Conclusions: Patients with acute type A aortic dissection and certain serious medical conditions were more likely to die in the hospital if they underwent emergency nighttime surgical procedures., (Copyright © 2018 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)