This study attempts to observe the regional variation of diseases and to clarify the regional contexts by considering the relations between diseases and regional elements. For the analysis the records of the physical examinations taken in 1910 for military conscription in the Austria-Hungarian Empire have been used. For each examinee, besides the success or failure of the conscription, names of diseases as reason for failure, the name of the place of residence, stature and mother tongue (German or Italian) are recorded. A total of 4, 790 persons, i.e. 1, 661 persons in South Tyrol and 3, 129 in Trentino, which both lie in northern Italy today, has been analysed for comparison of the health condition between both regions which have distinct regional characteristics.
As a result of the analysis, it has been clarified that the percentage of failures was much higher in Trentino than in South Tyrol. In regard to the regional variation of diseases, skin diseases and diseases of the thyroid gland are relatively dominant in rural and mountainous regions in Trentino, which may point to endemic pellagra and goiter prevalent in the early 20th century. Furthermore, by using the military conscription data the complex relationships between disease and regional (i.e. physical and socioeconomic) elements in Trentino have been described qualitatively.

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This paper investigates the spatio-temporal dynamics of Japan's birth rates in the post-World War II period. The results of our analyses suggest that the spatial manifestations of the tail end of the demographic transition in Japan have been influenced by cyclical fluctuations, with a boom which produced a reversal of the traditional rural-urban birth rate differentials. Our analyses implement the research philosophy and the techniques of the Expansion Methodo-logy.

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This article attempts to explain spatial diffusion of Japanese enterprises within the Federal Republic of Germany as a spatial process following the shift of regional economic power from the northern to the southern part. Hitherto studies have only gone as far as the indication off a concentration of Japanese enterprises in Dusseldorf. But, from the viewpoint of a dynamic approach, this does not seem to fit into today's existing conditions. In fact Japanese enterprises have already entered a stage of diffusion. The innovation centers of the hierarchical diffusion are Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munchen. From these centers, a wavelike diffusion into the surrounding areas took place according to the various diffusion centers in different phases. The hierarchical diffusion can be seen as being carried out from the trade and service sector and with a wavelike motion from the production sector. The main diffusion direction was laid to the south. For the interpretation of the diffusion process described, several hypotheses have been derived and examined with the aid of a non-linear multiple regression model of the gravitation type. The results supported the hypothesis of a hierarchical wavelike diffusion and three determinants explaining the mechanism of the diffusion process were significantly discovered; first the information network of Japanese enterprises, established by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dusseldorf; second, the spatial distance from Dü sseldorf; third, the centrality in the German urban system.
The locational behavior of Japanese enterprises has been influenced, on the one hand, by the altering of the west German urban system, on the other hand, by the changing firm structure itself. For the three sectors, trade, other services and production, it is obtained that each sector has a characteristic location pattern, which received certain alterations during the investigated period. The results suggest that, in an advanced stage of diffusion, the presence of foreign enterprises can be used as a simple indicator for alterations of economic growth in an urban system.

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A study of variations of the oxygen isotopic composition (δ¹⁸O), in precipitation, surface waters and shallow groundwaters collected around the University of Houston Coastal Center (UHCC) in Galveston County, southeast Texas was undertaken.
Isotopic spikes caused by natural atmospheric phenomena were found in a collection of rainfall samples from January 1985. The weighted mean isotopic composition of the rainfalls from January 1985 to December 1989 was about -4.48‰. However, precipitation had a very large variation of oxygen isotopic composition. Especially, two storms in late June (tropical storm “Allison”) and early August (hurricane “Chantal”), 1989 produced heavy rainfall with very low δ¹⁸O values, -9.5‰ and -13.6‰, respectively.
Groundwater from shallow wells was monitored for oxygen isotopic composition from January, 1989. The weighted mean oxygen isotopic composition of groundwater was about -4.0‰. Spikes found in the rainfall have not yet been identified in the wells. In sharp contrast to this, the isotopic compositions observed in the surface waters very greatly. This is to be expected because the surface waters receive rainfall runoff after every significant rainfall event whereas the wells contain water representing numerous rainfall events integrated over a long time, or else the recent rainfalls may not have reached the shallow silt layer.

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[in Japanese]

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