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Organic phosphate triesters (OP) are a range of compounds widely used as additive flame retardants in ceiling and wall coverings. To date, only a limited number of studies have been conducted that measure OP in house dust and only two have investigated OP levels and inhabitants’ health. The aim of this study was to measure OP levels in homes and to evaluate their relation to Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) symptoms among elementary school pupils, a known high risk group. Case and control pupils were selected from a baseline questionnaire survey conducted at 12 elementary schools in Sapporo in 2009, and 80 agreed to participate. Floor dust was collected from the living room of each pupil’ homes and analyzed by GC/MS to determine the concentrations of 11 OP compounds. Questionnaires were given to all pupils at the same time to assess any SBS symptoms. Among all subjects, 39 pupils reported having SBS symptoms and gender and grade (±1)-matched controls were selected. Significantly more allergies were reported in the case pupils, who tended to live in older houses with more reports of dampness. Tris(butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBEP) had the highest concentration among the OP; the median value (detection rate) among the case and control houses was 56.01 μg/g dust (89.7%) and 59.70 μg/g dust (87.2%), respectively. There was no difference in the levels of OP between the case and control groups. Although there was no relation between OP and SBS in this study, further studies of OP should be continued as the level of TBEP in Japan was much higher than that of Europe.

Dairy farming regions are important contributors of nitrogen (N) to surface waters. We evaluated the N budget and relationships to riverine N exports within the Shibetsu River catchment (SRC) of a dairy farming area in eastern Hokkaido, Japan. Five drainage basins with variable land cover proportions within the SRC were also evaluated individually. We quantified the net N input (NNI) to the catchment from the difference between the input (atmospheric deposition, chemical fertilizers, N fixation by crops and imported food and feed) and the output (exported food and feed, ΔSliv and ΔShu, that are the differences between input and output in livestock and human biomass, respectively) using statistical and measured data. Volatilized ammonia (NH3) was assumed to be recycled within the catchment. The riverine export of N was quantified. Agricultural N was a dominant source of N to the SRC. Imported feed was the largest input (38.1 kg N ha^[-1] yr^[-1]), accounting for 44% of the total inputs, followed by chemical fertilizers (32.4 kg N ha^[-1] yr^[-1]) and N fixation by crops (13.4 kg N ha^[-1] yr^[-1]). The exported food and feed was 24.7 kg N ha^[-1] yr^[-1], and the ΔSliv and ΔShu was 7.6 and 0.0 kg N ha^[-1] yr^[-1], respectively. As a result, the NNI amounted to 54.6 kg N ha^[-1] yr^[-1]. The riverine export of TN from the five drainage basins correlated well with the NNI, accounting for 27% of the NNI. The fate of the missing NNI that was not measured as riverine export could possibly have been denitrified and/or retained within the SRC. A change in the estimate of the deposition-rate of volatilized NH3 from 100 to 0% redeposited would have decreased NNI by 37%, although we show that most NH3 was likely redeposited. This study demonstrated that the focus should be on controlling agricultural N to reduce the impact of environmental pollution as well as on evaluating denitrification, N stocks in soil and the fate of NH3 volatilization in the SRC.

This article clarifiesthe introduction and implementation of the award system for graduates of modern schools circa the time of the abolishment of the civil examinations, and the processes that lead to their being criticized within the court and educational circles. It also considers the causes of the transformation of the educational structure under the civil examination system that linked regional society state to the monarchial. The award system for modern school graduates, which provided traditional degree titles (jinshi 進士, juren 舉人, etc.) and official posts to students whose grades met the standard at graduation, was introduced with the aim of extending the control function of the culture and thought behind the civil examination system into the modern educational system. The "integration of the modern schools and the civil examination system, "which would order the modern schools according to degree titles and testing systems just as had been done in the period of the civil examinations, was regarded at first as a necessary measure by the enlightened gentry who sought to promote modern education. It had seemed that the award system would function efficiently due to this integration. However, the standardization of the modern school that was to be achieved through the system of awards, had to depend in reality on the capacity of local officials and provincial commissioners of education who served under the provincial governors. Ironically, this caused the phenomenon of people cutting back their years of education and skipping over lower-ranking schools completely and seeking degree titles in upperranking schools. The control function of the award system for graduates of modern schools grew weaker than that of the civil examination system. On the other hand, within and outside the court criticism of the award system arose early on from the view point of the spread of the national education system, and particularly in the Xuantong era (1909-11) the gentry, who aimed for the overthrow of despotism and the establishment of constitutionalism, vehemently criticized the "integration of the schools and the civil examinations" and pursued the ministry of education to change the awards system. For the constitutionalist gentry and the intellectuals the abolishment of the awards system was a political struggle to separate the students from the authority of the monarchy. The rejection of the awards system that promised individual success in the world in return for following the moral standards designated by the state was a necessary outcome for those who promoted the constitutional movement and saw the system as a relic of despotism.

科学研究費補助金（特定領域研究） = Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas

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