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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the archaeological transitions among microblade industries in Hokkaido and to propose some possible relations between human activities and natural environment. Hokkaido is situated in the north of the Japanese archipelago, and the microblade industries in this region lasted approximately from 24,000 to 13,000 cal BP, corresponding to the climatic changes of the MIS2 Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) Cold2 and MIS2 Late Glacial Warm (LG Warm). The primary purpose of this paper is to describe the whole picture of transitions observed in microblade industries through a series of examinations on the size of microblades, maintenance of burins, and the stone tool classes. Results suggest that the following changes in hunting-related stone tools were occurred during the LG Warm: 1) miniaturization in the part of spears (microblades), 2) high frequency in burin maintenance, and 3) appearance of the new hunting weapon (i.e., projectile points), and axes. Then, a preliminary discussion on the possible relations between human activities and the natural environment including some significant climate changes is made referring to the recent studies on the analyses of charred deposits on pottery from the Taisho 3 site which belongs to LG Warm. Given the fact that the alterations in the environment and human activities were coincident, I propose the hypothesis that the transitions in microblade industries in Hokkaido was an outcome of human adaptation to the fluctuation in accessible natural resources caused by the globally occurred warming trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Industrial growth in Japan''s largest cities has followed patterns that are distinctive, and are significantly different from those that have been adduced in the recent literature on North America. This paper focuses on Tokyo, and in particular its north-eastern part, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It argues that a process of ‘industrial urbanisation’ occurred in Japan''s capital city, a process that was shaped by the existence of a large proto-industrial base and sophisticated consumer economy and characterised by dynamic but disorderly growth in factories largely supplying consumer goods to the urban market. The paper reviews the disparate, not to say confused, nature of industrial growth in Tokyo, noting the variety in factory size and products as well as production methods. Central to the argument of this paper is that industrialisation preceded attempts at urban planning and that the processes of industrialisation and urbanisation occurred concurrently, laying the base thereby for the large mixed-function districts that became a common feature of Japanese cities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study looks at the state of collaboration in scientific research between universities and industries in Japan by measuring the level of coauthorship of academic publications. The analysis is based on data retrieved from the databases of the National Citation Report for Japan, which was produced by Thomson Scientific (ISI) and included papers published from 1981 to 2003, and the Citation Database for Japanese Papers, which was produced by the National Institute of Informatics, Japan, and included papers published from 1995 to 2004. It is revealed that there is a large 'perception gap' between industries and universities concerning their collaborations. The situation, trends and characteristics of industry-university collaborations are investigated and discussed from international and national perspectives. The disciplinary and regional differences in such collaborations are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923 did enormous damage to industries in Tokyo Prefecture. Around 40% of the buildings in Tokyo Prefecture were completely burnt or destroyed. In this paper, we investigate whether this temporary shock had a persistent impact on the spatial distribution of industries in Tokyo, using ward- and county-level panel data for industrial workers. It was found that while the earthquake caused mean shifts in the shares and numbers of workers, these mean shifts disappeared by the early 1930s. On the other hand, the earthquake caused shifts in the trends in the share and number of workers. The combined effects of these mean shifts and trend shifts were persistent for both the shares and the numbers of workers. The earthquake caused especially serious damage to the old industrial clusters in the southeast of Tokyo, and provided an opportunity for newly developing industrial clusters in non-damaged areas to take over the market. Further, the people and the local governments in non-damaged areas made an effort to take advantage of this opportunity to attract factories. Arguably, these forces made the impact of the earthquake on the spatial distribution of industry persistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fatal accidents caused by electric shock have been occurring since electricity was first introduced. Overall, the number of fatal accidents is decreasing. However, the decrease in the number of fatalities has slowed in recent years. A statistical study is needed to reconsider the preventive measures against these accidents. In this paper, the trend of fatalities by accident type and industry in Japan is studied statistically. These results show that the electric fatality rates differ by industry. The fatalities in the construction and the electrical-construction industries make up approximately 60% of the total fatalities. In addition, the accident type is most frequently contact with electrical lines by either the human body or a tool. In these industries, the elimination of fatal accidents from shocks is an important subject. These results will be helpful in preventing fatal accidents by electric shock. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The amount of garbage emitted from households and industries has been constantly increasing in recent years, and its treatment cost has been a financial burden to municipal governments in Japan. Many municipal governments recommend that their citizens purchase household garbage processors in order to reduce the volume of garbage transferred to and incinerated at their facilities. Actually, 1535 municipal governments subsidize their citizens' purchase of electrical garbage processors and/or compost containers. These subsidies should be assessed from various points of view, such as the costs and benefits to municipal governments and citizens, and also global or local environmental loads. An environmental planning department of a city office sent questionnaires to its residents to investigate the utilization of the subsidized devices. An environmental organization of citizens supported the department with design of the questionnaire form and analysis of the collected questionnaire data. In this paper, the processes of designing the form and analyzing the data are explained, and then an evaluation of the subsidy is presented. The conclusions are as follows: Electrical garbage processors would be beneficial for dealing with local environmental problems such as lack of a final landfill site. However, the processors will increase CO2 emissions unless their electrical consumption efficiency can be improved. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 93(7): 42–52, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecj.10285 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What connection could one possibly make between the Tale of Genji and modern Japanese business practices--one is literary, the other practical, one created predominately by and for women, the other nearly entirely in the purview of men, and both separated by a millennium? They both function by norms of behavior ingrained in culture and derived from similar sources. This paper will examine these norms and consequent behaviors from these two apparently opposing perspectives to gain insight into the traditional cultural foundations of modern ideas. The principles examined are tatemae and honne. Thtemae, means to present a façade and refers to motives or intentions that are socially attuned. Honne means the real truth, what is rarely spoken in public, but kept, as we would say, "close to the bone," especially if it concerns a negative feeling. Two other paired, opposing concepts are also of interest: omote and ura, or face and back, and soto and uchi, outside and inside. An examination of the Talc of Genji, especially a comparison of the monogatari, the 11th century text in 54 chapters and the emakimono, or 12th century painted scrolls illustrating the story, demonstrate the presence of these conventionalized discourses and behaviors as early as the middle Heian period, when themes in art and literature deriving from Japanese life, as opposed to Chinese legends, were first explored. In each type, the verbal text and the visual scroll, honne, ura, and uchi for the former and tatemae, omote, and soto for the latter, are in evidence, as they are also in modern business practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business partnering in Japanese companies stretches far back in history since the family-run zaibatsus began in the 16th century. These financial family groupings or business conglomerates had great influence, and their size allowed for control over significant parts of the Japanese economy. This paper discusses the recent developments in business partnering. Underpinning business partnering in Japan is the traditional cultural tendency of the Japanese to cooperate, placing great social emphasis on the team rather than the individual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore the interrelationship between technological progress and the formation of industry-specific skills by analysing the evolution of the video-game industry in three countries: Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. We argue that the cross-sectoral transfer of skills occurs differently depending on national contexts, such as the social legitimacy and strength of preexisting industries, the socioeconomic status of entrepreneurs or pioneer firms in an emerging industry, and the sociocultural cohesiveness between the preexisting and emerging industries. Each country draws on a different set of creative resources, which results in a unique trajectory. Whereas Japan's video-game industry emerged out of corporate sponsorships in arcades, toys, and consumer electronics industries and drew skills from the comic book and animated-film sectors, the video-game industry in the United States evolved from arcades and personal computers. In the United Kingdom the video-game industry developed bottom-up, through a process of skills formation in the youth culture of `bedroom coders' that nurtured self-taught programmers in their teens throughout the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pharmacovigilance science has traditionally been a discipline focussed on the postmarketing or post-authorisation period, with due attention directed towards pre-clinical safety data, clinical trials and adverse events. As the biological sciences have evolved, pharmacovigilance has slowly shifted toward earlier, proactive consideration of risks and potential benefits of drugs in the pre- and peri-approval stages of drug development, leading to a maturing of drug safety risk management. Further advances in biology, pharmacology and improvements in computational applications to medicine have led to the development of more complex medicines previously unobtainable and have also permitted a more thorough assessment of risks and potential benefits even earlier in the development process. Elevated public concern with the safety of more sophisticated medicines, combined with new science, have led pharmaceutical innovators, regulators and healthcare professionals to collaborate to develop guidelines, which drive enhanced pharmacovigilance and safety risk management earlier in drug development.In this paper, we review international guidelines on pharmacovigilance planning applicable to the pre-approval phases of medicines development and provide author opinion on these guidelines’ potential drug safety implications. We discuss the possible evolution of a pharmaceutical industry model to respond to these guidelines; a view on multidisciplinary safety management teams is provided to encourage refinement of safety-signal identification and risk assessment early in drug development and to communicate important safety concerns to internal research efforts, patients, investigators and regulators. We further describe these functions in the context of the complexities of vulnerable populations, including the example of medicines research for paediatric populations. We also discuss the special role of epidemiology in pre-approval drug development and the impact on epidemiological science of changes to the pharmacovigilance paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rivers have become an important focus of environmental activity in Japan today. In particular, they are a rallying point for a large but disparate number of civil society groups. Faced with a continuing reliance on construction in concrete from many operating within the state and from the construction industry, various key groups have been fighting to win acceptance for a more eco-friendly approach to river relandscaping. In this paper, I use these groups as a prism for a discussion about the nature of civil society in Japan and in particular its relationship to the state. I take issue with conventional interpretations that see civil society as being locked into a close (but sometimes antagonistic relationship) with the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The research and development (R&D) of the high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) has been carried out by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) since the 1960s. The construction of the high temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR) started in March 1991 for the purpose of the establishment and advancement of basic HTGR technology, as well as the application of advanced research. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Fuji Electric, Toshiba, Hitachi, Nuclear Fuel Industries and Toyo Tanso have participated in this project since the R&D stage of HTTR in the area of high temperature equipment design, system design and safety design. The installation was completed in November 1996, and was then handed over to JAERI in September 1997. This paper summarizes the roles of each industrial organization in the HTTR design and construction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents case studies of the performance evaluation of two industrial multivariate model predictive control (MPC) based controllers at the Mitsubishi chemical complex in Mizushima, Japan: (1) a 6-output, 6-input para-xylene (PX) production process with six measured disturbance variables that are used for feedforward control; and (2) a multivariate MPC controller for a 6-output, 5-input poly-propylene splitter column with two measured disturbances. A generalized predictive controller-based MPC algorithm has been implemented on the PX process. Data from the PX unit before and after the MPC implementation are analyzed to obtain and compare several different measures of multivariate controller performance. The second case study is concerned with performance assessment of a commercial MPC controller on a propylene splitter. A discussion on the diagnosis of poor performance for the second MPC application suggests significant model-plant-mismatch under varying load conditions and highlights the role of constraints. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article examines the Number-Average Size (NAS) Rule's applicability to the cluster-based choice cities for industries. It reveals that for Japanese manufacturing industries between 1981 to 2001, the stability of NAS Rule continues, as well as that of the Hierarchy Principle for industries and the Rank Size for cities. The authors disclose that the stability of the NAS Rule does not say much about the actual distribution of industries across cities.

Introduction. This paper is the second report of a research project into the effects of the information service to business in Japanese public libraries. The objective is to analyse the effects of the use of public library business information service in Japan. Method. A semi-structured interview was conducted at four libraries. In all eighteen people were interviewed. Analysis. Interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and analysed with the framework of Miwa's Information Behavioural Grammar model. Results. Three types of problem-solving goals were identified: to start a new business, to cope with problems relating to everyday work, and other. Information-seeking goals and resulting use of the service differed according to those problem-solving goals. Three effects of the use of the service have been identified: 1. getting relevant information, 2. getting connected to relevant people and organizations, and 3. getting affective support. Satisfaction and the perception of usefulness were identified as affective and perceptual consequences of the effects. Conclusions. A provisional model of the effects of a public library business information service was developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]