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Abstract: In this paper, I discuss various merchants connected with the transportation and sale of vegetables and fruits in early modern Osaka. Previous research has argued that there was a conflict between the wholesalers and brokers of the Tenma Vegetable Market who possessed special rights, and the markets and merchants of Osaka’s neighboring farming villages. While this conflict did exist, overemphasizing it has meant that the trends and lifestyles of the various levels of vegetable merchants have been obscured. In this paper, which builds on research done in the 1990s on city markets and wholesalers/brokers, I highlight the process by which the Tenma Vegetable Market acquired its rights. Additionally, I examine three merchants or markets which were assumed to be against Tenma: (1) shipping agents or merchants dealing with satsuma imo (a type of sweet potato), which appeared for the first time in the early modern period; (2) Nanba Village Market which was to the south of Osaka; and (3) the so-called “standing sales” merchants in Osaka City. I argue that these three did not necessarily come into being in opposition to the Tenma Market. Finally, I classify the trends of these merchants who operated at various levels in Osaka and its environs by examining their style of trade and their relationship with the Tenma Market. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) employs liquid lithium as D+ beams target. The liquid Li target is formed as flat plane free-surface flow by a nozzle and flows at high speed around 15m/s. This paper focuses on flatness of the liquid Li target. The Li flow experiment was conducted in Osaka University Li Loop with a test section which was 1/2.5 scaled model of IFMIF. The thickness of the Li flow was measured and obtained by a contact method which was developed for the measurement. Analytical study on Kelvin wake and numerical calculation on the wake near the side wall of the flow channel were also conducted and compared with the experimental results. As a result, the positions of the wake crest obtained from both of the experiment and numerical calculation assuming contact angle 140° agreed well with the iso-phase line of the analytical model. The generation of the wake likely depends on wettability between Li and the structural material which is 304SS in the present study. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, the consolidation analysis of a large-scale embankment construction in Osaka City is presented, where a conventional levee with a height of about 8m has been extended to a super levee with a total width of 215m. The ground consists of alluvial sandy layers and soft clay deposits, which have been locally improved by several methods, including deep mixing beneath the conventional levee and the combination of sand drains and sand compaction piles under the extended back slope. A long-term consolidation analysis of this super levee construction is carried out using an elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model. The layered construction procedure is applied to properly simulate the construction sequence of the super levee. The effects of the structural degradation and the strain dependency of the shear modulus, as two aspects of destructuration in clay materials, are studied in terms of the consolidation behavior for the unimproved case. For the improved case, the analysis is implemented by including the ground-improved zones in the finite element simulation. The field observation data obtained during the preloading process, before the construction of the super levee, are employed to verify the assumptions and to calibrate the material properties of the improved layers. The effects of destructuration in the natural ground cases are observed as excess pore pressure build-up after construction and strain localization. The effects of ground improvement techniques are studied through a comparison of the deformation results and the excess pore water pressure responses with the natural ground cases. The numerical results show that it is important to carefully estimate the unequal long-term settlement for the construction of large-scale embankments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: An extensive series of experiments on the parametrically excited rolling motion of a partially restrained post-panamax containership in longitudinal irregular long crested waves has been performed at Osaka University. The paper addresses some basic aspects of the problem such as the influence of the initial conditions, the problem of the length of the initial stochastic transient, the dispersion in the estimated statistical characteristic of measured processes, i.e. roll, pitch and wave elevation. It is shown that the uncertainty in the statistical estimations from time histories for roll can be significantly larger than the uncertainty in the estimations for pitch and waves, especially when the environmental conditions are close to the parametric roll stability boundaries. In that respect, the problem of “practical ergodicity” is also addressed. From the comparison of roll time series obtained from repeated experiments with different initial conditions we have clearly proved the (expected) coexistence of symmetric solutions. In addition, from the same comparisons, the conjecture on the possible presence of multiple non-trivial attractors appears to be supportable. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper analyzes the weekday–weekend differences of ozone, NO x (2) and non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, from 2001 to 2004, in order to investigate the ozone weekend effect (OWE). Data were measured at 24 and 23 general air monitoring stations in Tokyo and Osaka, respectively. We focused on NO x and NMHCs to investigate the causes of OWE. Specifically, we examined weekday/weekend differences in the titration of O3 by NO and the photochemical ozone production. Weekend ozone concentrations were confirmed to be greater than those of weekdays during most periods in both Tokyo and Osaka, although precursor concentrations were higher on weekdays. Weekday ozone concentrations in Tokyo (other than during 2003) and Osaka decreased due to the reaction of O3 with NO, resulting in higher ozone but lower O x (the sum of O3 and NO2) concentrations on weekends than on weekends. In 2003 in Tokyo, however, the effect of the photochemical ozone production on weekends was larger than on weekdays, as determined by the comparison of ozone concentration increase versus NMHCs/NO x ratio and O x between weekdays and the weekend. The weekend NMHCs/NO x ratio would be in the boundary area between volatile organic compound (VOC)- and NO x -limited regime, so it is considered that the difference between 2003 and the other periods in Tokyo might be due to a change in precursor limitation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper aims to rethink creative city theory by analyzing urban regeneration processes in Japan through cultural creativity and social inclusion. The impact of Florida’s theory has led to the common misperception that cities prosper as people of the creative class, such as artists and gays, gather. However, attracting people of the creative class does not automatically make a creative city. Empirical analyses of Kanazawa City, clarify that the creative city needs a ‘culture-based production system’, a well-balanced system of cultural production and cultural consumption that takes advantage of accumulated cultural capital. This paper also examines Osaka City, where creative city policies failed to produce adequate results because they did not take root as a comprehensive urban strategy. However, in spite of these failures, a lively and inclusive grassroots movement has emerged around the creative city. This movement brings Osaka towards being a socially-inclusive creative city. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]