When the law is silent: stigma and challenges faced by male sex workers in Japan

This study considers how invisibility under the law can lead to stigmatisation. It examines how legal silence affects the stigmatisation process and the identity of male sex workers in Japan. Since male sex work is currently not recognised under Japanese law, male sex workers are not subject to control, regulation, punishment or protection. However, the number of male sex workers in Japan is increasing. Many studies have noted that male sex workers may experience double stigmatisation – referring to the stigma associated with homosexuality and the stigma associated with commercial sex. Male sex workers in Japan, however, may face an additional stigma caused by the fact that the law essentially ignores their existence. This paper draws on fieldwork interviews to show how the silence of the law can exacerbate the marginalisation and disempowerment of a vulnerable social group.

Sensing In/Security: Sensors as Transnational Security Infrastructures

Sensing In/Security investigates how sensors and sensing practices enact regimes of security and insecurity. It extends long-standing concerns with infrastructuring to emergent modes of surveillance and control by exploring how digitally networked sensors shape securitisation practices. Contributions in this volume examine how sensing devices gain political and epistemic relevance in various forms of in/security, from border control, regulation, and epidemiological tracking, to aerial surveillance and hacking. Instead of focusing on specific sensory devices and their consequences, this volume explores the complex and sometimes invisible political, cultural and ethical processes of infrastructuring in/security.

Peer Regulation in a Peer-to-Peer Business Model

Peer-to-peer (P2P) businesses in the hospitality and tourism industry pose a regulatory challenge that has disrupted traditional regulatory schemes. This article proposes peer regulation as a form of regulation that complements and supplements command-and-control regulation and platform self-regulation in a P2P business model. Using the polycentric coregulation framework and impression management theory as a theoretical basis, this study systematically explores peer regulation at intrapeer (i.e., self-monitoring and prosocial behaviors), interpeer (i.e., trust-enforcing mechanism and belongingness-enhancing mechanism), and platform (i.e., peer-centric platform self-regulation and de-individualization) levels. The article also discusses critical peer regulation issues such as P2P evaluation and reputation systems in a multifarious regulatory environment, P2P employment, and leveraging platform self-regulation and jurisdictional regulation. This article offers a theoretical account of multilevel peer regulation as a form of P2P regulation and provides future research directions on the topic.

STRUCTURED FORMATION OF RESERVES FOR FUTURE EXPENSES AND PAYMENTS AT THE ENTERPRISE: ACCOUNTING MOMENTS

The method of accounting is clarified operations of formation of collateral of the following costs and payments. The task of accounting in the work the use of existing mechanisms is determined formation of collateral and selection of the best option to create such reserves. The methodological approach to the formation of reserves in the traditional models of accounting in agricultural enterprises is analyzed. Generalized concepts of formation and use of reserves in national regulations (standards) of accounting and international standards of financial reporting. The conceptual direction in accounting provides economic information on costs, which is used in management functions, namely in planning, analysis, control, regulation, incentives, justification of decisions on strategic development and financial and economic security.

023 Sleep in a Brainless Animal - The Relationship Between Centralization and Sleep in the Upside-down Jellyfish

Introduction Though sleep is pervasive in animals, its fundamental roles, and the processes involved in generating the behavior, remain poorly understood. A key outstanding question in sleep regulation is whether sleep is controlled strictly by a top-down mechanism via activity of specific central nervous system (CNS) neurons or is controlled partially by bottom-up signals from neural and non-neural tissue. Recently, we showed that the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea sleeps, providing an opportunity to study sleep control, regulation, and function in an animal without a CNS. Methods Cassiopea have a decentralized nervous system (DNS) of radially spaced interconnected ganglia called rhopalia along their bell margin that control muscle contractions. The signal to contract is sent to muscle fibers local to the initiating ganglion, and the contraction propagates outwards as a point source wave. We have developed computer programs to detect the controlling ganglion, which allows us to non-invasively determine ganglia activity, and to understand how a simple network of ganglia controls behavior. We are also using immunofluorescence, in situ hybridization, qPCR, and RNAseq to characterize the effect of sleep deprivation (SD) on the jellyfish nervous system. Results We have discovered a temporally centralized form of behavioral control that changes between day and night, and during SD. A subset of ganglia share behavioral control—while some almost never initiate contractions, others are active both day and night, or are mostly day-active or night-active, and SD drastically changes ganglia usage. Regions that increase activity at night are less active the following day, perhaps evidence of homeostatic regulation. Using RNAseq we found that during SD, one nAChRα subunit increases expression ~3.8-fold and we are studying its role in arousal and sleep. Conclusion We are investigating a different kind of nervous system, one that is morphologically decentralized (a network of discrete ganglia), and yet temporally centralized (a subset of ganglia dominate activity control). Wake, sleep, and SD involve different ganglia activity patterns, different levels of centralization, and different gene expression. Thus, temporal centralization could provide a mechanism to explain how local sleep, via a bottom-up mechanism, can result in organismal sleep behavior. Support (if any) UC Berkeley Miller Postdoctoral Fellowship

Harpophora maydis (late wilt of maize).

H. maydis is a soilborne and apparently seedborne fungus, related to the root-infecting species in the genus Gaeumannomyces. It is known from only a few scattered countries, where it can cause significant losses, but may have been unobserved in others in which the primary host, maize [Zea mays], is grown. This fungus was reported recently from Portugal and Spain (Molinero-Ruiz et al., 2010). No dispersal by fungal propagules has been demonstrated, so that, other than in soil, its likely means of spread over borders would be in seed. Importation of the fungus with seed is considered to be the source in Hungary (Pécsi and Németh, 1998). Although research has been carried out on chemical and biological control methods, the development and use of resistant varieties is the most practical means of control. Regulation and testing of imported seed should prevent transport of the pathogen to new regions.

Environmental regulation, green innovation, and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in China: From the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools

Based on combined data from the China Patent Database, China Industrial Enterprise Database, and China Customs Import and Export Database for the period 2004–2010, this study investigates the impact of heterogeneous environmental regulations on the export technological sophistication of manufacturing enterprises. Given deepening international market segmentation of production and the increasing proportion of intermediate trade, and compared with the traditional method based on exports, the export technological sophistication calculated here, based on value-added, is closer to the true level. Since there has been no in-depth comparative study on the relationship between heterogeneous environmental regulation and export technological sophistication, this study fills the gap. The results show that all three regulation types bear a U-shaped impact on export technological sophistication. Command-control regulation exhibits a restraining effect on mixed trade, eastern, and foreign-funded enterprises. Market-incentive regulation promotes processing and mixed trade enterprises as well as domestic and foreign-funded enterprises. Voluntary-participation regulation promotes all enterprises with different trade patterns and ownership. The mechanism analysis shows that command-control and market-participation environmental regulations affect export technological sophistication through the green invention and green utility innovation channels, while, additionally, market-incentive environmental regulation affects export technological sophistication through the green design innovation channel. Considering the environmental governance issues, the policy implications for enhancing the entire industrial chain and enterprises’ export competitiveness are clear. Due to the unclear functions and powers of competent departments and a rigid threshold, command-control regulation is not conducive to cleaner production technology and the promotion of enterprises’ export competitiveness; it should thus be discouraged. Although both market-incentive and voluntary-participation regulations have promoted cleaner production technology and enterprises’ competitiveness significantly, the environmental tax system requires continuous improvement. The government should continue to raise public involvement in environmental protection to enrich the channels and forms of environmental management.

Mitigating Bycatch: Novel Insights to Multidisciplinary Approaches

Fisheries bycatch conservation and management can be analyzed and implemented through the biodiversity mitigation hierarchy using one of four basic approaches: (1) private solutions, including voluntary, moral suasion, and intrinsic motivation; (2) direct or “command-and-control” regulation starting from the fishery management authority down to the vessel; (3) incentive- or market-based to alter producer and consumer behavior and decision-making; and (4) hybrid of direct and incentive-based regulation through liability laws. Lessons can be learned from terrestrial and energy conservation, water management, forestry, and atmospheric pollution measures, such as the use of offsets, tradeable rights to externalities, and liability considerations. General bycatch conservation and management principles emerge based on a multidisciplinary approach and a wide array of private and public measures for incentivizing bycatch mitigation.