This volume explores what happened in the Asian transition economies of China, Vietnam and Myanmar from both macro and micro perspectives. These economies opted for the gradual transition approach rather than the big bang approach that Russia and some CIS economies took. This ensured that institutional change was possible, unlike with the big bang approach. However the processes organized are done so by the governments, the same entities responsible for the planning during the planned economic eras, and whose incentive to reform may be debatable. This book questions whether these governments are capable of implementing effective reform and transformation.

Since 2002, the Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry has proposed "Interface Oral Health Science" as a major theme for next-generation dental research. That theme is based on the innovative concept that healthy oral function is provided by biological and biomechanical harmony among three systems: (1) oral tissues including the teeth, mucosa, bones, and muscles (host); (2) parasitic microorganisms of the oral cavity (parasites); and (3) biomaterials. The concept posits that oral diseases such as dental caries, periodontal disease, and tempo- mandibular disorders should be interpreted as interface diseases that result from disruption of the intact interfaces among these systems. The uniqueness of this concept rests on the fact that it not only encompasses the entire ? eld of dentistry and dental care, but also expands the common ground shared with many other ? elds, including medicine, pharmaceutical science, agriculture, material science, and engineering. Our Graduate School of Dentistry aims to promote advances in dental research and to activate interdisciplinary research with related ? elds by putting interface oral health science into practice. On this basis we organized the First International Symposium for Interface Oral Health in February 2005, with productive discussions stimulated by two special lectures, three symposia, and poster presentations. A monograph titled Interface Oral Health Science that s- marized the contents of the symposium was published in the autumn of 2005 (International Congress Series 1284, Elsevier, Amsterdam). The Second International Symposium was the most recent.

This book explores what happened in the transition economies of China, Vietnam and Myanmar from both macro and micro perspectives, and questions whether the governments of these countries are capable of implementing effective reform and transformation.

Since 2002, the Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry has proposed "Interface Oral Health Science" as a major theme for next-generation dental research. That theme is based on the innovative concept that healthy oral function is provided by biological and biomechanical harmony among three systems: (1) oral tissues including the teeth, mucosa, bones, and muscles (host); (2) parasitic microorganisms of the oral cavity (parasites); and (3) biomaterials. The concept posits that oral diseases such as dental caries, periodontal disease, and tempo- mandibular disorders should be interpreted as interface diseases that result from disruption of the intact interfaces among these systems. The uniqueness of this concept rests on the fact that it not only encompasses the entire ? eld of dentistry and dental care, but also expands the common ground shared with many other ? elds, including medicine, pharmaceutical science, agriculture, material science, and engineering. Our Graduate School of Dentistry aims to promote advances in dental research and to activate interdisciplinary research with related ? elds by putting interface oral health science into practice. On this basis we organized the First International Symposium for Interface Oral Health in February 2005, with productive discussions stimulated by two special lectures, three symposia, and poster presentations. A monograph titled Interface Oral Health Science that s- marized the contents of the symposium was published in the autumn of 2005 (International Congress Series 1284, Elsevier, Amsterdam). The Second International Symposium was the most recent.

The Maya of Santiago Chimaltenango have experienced increasingly rapid, even violent, integration into Guatemalan society in the last fifty years, yet they still distinguish themselves ethnically from Spanish-speaking Guatemalans and other Maya. Why this sense of ethnic identity persists--and also changes--over time is the focus of Maya Saints and Souls in a Changing World, a beautifully written ethnography of a Mam-speaking Maya town in the western highlands of Guatemala.

John Watanabe uniquely explores how Chimaltecos themselves define their local distinctiveness. This approach uncovers significant continuities in lifeways and world view that might otherwise remain imperceptible to an outsider.

Another important feature of the study is that it updates Charles Wagley's pioneering research in the community during the 1930s. Watanabe identifies both the external, historical factors that have prompted change in the community since Wagley's time and the people's responses to these changes.