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The 1941 outbreak of war between the United States and Japan was proximately precipitated by the Imperial Japanese Navy at Pearl Harbor. Yet, the IJN was building and cultivating intelligence networks on the U.S. mainland prior. This article presents a comprehensive view of Japanese intelligence efforts against the U.S. based in California and Mexico. A surprising number of relevant sources have only recently come to light. These complement Japanese Foreign Ministry files, oral histories, and Mexican sources to present a more complete story of the IJN's intelligence preparations, successes, and failures before and immediately after Pearl Harbor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Precise biomarkers for predicting prognosis could help to identify high‐risk Crohn's disease (CD) patients to facilitate better follow‐up during the postoperative course. In this study, the primary aim is the identification of the most reliable nutrition marker that predicts surgical relapse in CD patients. Method: We first evaluated the predictive value of various nutrition markers for postoperative surgical relapse in CD patients and identified the advanced lung cancer inflammation index (ALI) as a promising biomarker. Then, we assessed the clinical significance of preoperative ALI in CD patients using two cohorts. Results: Preoperative ALI showed the highest correlation with reoperation rate compared with other nutritional parameters in CD patients receiving surgical resection (sensitivity 53%, specificity 86%, area under the curve 0.71). Lower levels of preoperative ALI were significantly correlated with the presence of perianal disease. A lower level of preoperative ALI was an independent prognostic factor for reoperation rate after an intestinal resection (hazard ratio 3.37, 95% CI 1.38–10.12, P = 0.006), and the prognostic impact of preoperative ALI was successfully validated in an independent cohort using the same cut‐off value. Conclusion: Preoperative ALI might be useful for postoperative management of CD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microstructure just below the fracture surface in hydrogen-charged stable austenitic SUS 316L stainless steel, which was subjected to a low strain rate tensile test at −70°C, was studied by a combination of the focused-ion-beam method and transmission electron microscopy. An amorphous region with a chemical composition almost identical to that of the polycrystalline region was found under the lath-like structure on the fracture surface, although no deterioration of tensile properties by hydrogen appeared. In the amorphous region, band-like regions with wavy contrasts were observed, which were often accompanied by cracks at the boundaries. The presence of the amorphous region with band-like regions implies that amorphization occurred due to high-density vacancies accompanied by agglomerations of excess vacancies in the hydrogen-charged SUS 316L stainless steel that was tensile-tested at low temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Toyota Production System and Kanban System introduced in this paper was developed by the Vice-President of Toyota Motor Company, Mr. Taiichi Ohno, and it was under his guidance that these unique production systems have become deeply rooted in Toyota Motor Company in the past 20 years. There are two major distinctive features in these systems. One of these is the ' just-in-time production ', a specially important factor in an assembly industry such as automotive manufacturing. In this type of production, "only the necessary products, at the necessary time, in necessary quantity" are manufactured, and in addition, the stock on hand is held down to a minimum. Second, the system is the ' respect-for-human ' system where the workers are allowed to display in full their capabilities through active participation in running and improving their own workshops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]