Building Innovative Communities: Lessons from Japan's Science City Projects

Japan's Science City projects are examined in this paper to find the extent that they promote catalytic mechanisms within their communities. It is arguable that the concept of a Science City is little more than a theme for funneling public funds into infrastructural development in support of select high-technology industries. Is this the situation in Japan? Attention focuses on cumulative causation, resource sharing and the shifting mix of private sector initiative and public policy in the evolving cases of Tsukuba and Kansai Science Cities. Regional technopolis projects are also discussed. Can we expect any of these areas to fulfill the promise, detailed in the Kansai Science City Second Stage Plan Report, of being a "pilot model city" deploying "innovative and experimental community development"?technopolis; regional planning; development; cumulative causation; catalytic mechanisms

Expo 2015: an impact analysis on international trade.

In the last decades an increasing number of countries candidates to host a mega-event. This paper analyze (in the light of Expo Milan will host in 2015) if an exposition impacts in a significant manner on interna-tional trade, justifying countries’ interest in their organization. Based on performed analysis using gravity model, we conclude that a permanent and significant exposition effect exists on host country international trade flows; it involve both an increase of exports and an increase of imports, pointing out a commercial openness of host country; this effect exists also for candidates countries. So, we propose an hypothesis about the nature of exposition impact on international trade: it’s interpretable as a true and proper political and in-stitutional signal with which host country sends a signal to general public of a liberalisation process of its commerce in progress, showing own competences, abilities, means and resources. In the light of results, we point out potentialities and risks of Expo Milan 2015.

Building the educational museum: Japan's encounter with Canada at the 1876 EXPO

Not peer reviewe

Born Under a Lucky Star?

This paper suggests that people can learn to behave in a way which makes them unlucky or lucky. Learning from experience will lead them to make choices which may lead to "luckier" outcomes than others. By so doing they may reinforce the choices of those who find themselves with unlucky outcomes. In this situation, people have reasonably learned to behave as they do and their behaviour is consistent with their experience. The lucky ones were not "born under a lucky star" they learned to be lucky.

Human-Like Guide Robot that Proactively Explains Exhibits

We developed an autonomous human-like guide robot for a science museum. Its identifies individuals, estimates the exhibits at which visitors are looking, and proactively approaches them to provide explanations with gaze autonomously, using our new approach called speak-and-retreat interaction. The robot also performs such relation-building behaviors as greeting visitors by their names and expressing a friendlier attitude to repeat visitors. We conducted a field study in a science museum at which our system basically operated autonomously and the visitors responded quite positively. First-time visitors on average interacted with the robot for about 9 min, and 94.74% expressed a desire to interact with it again in the future. Repeat visitors noticed its relation-building capability and perceived a closer relationship with it

Institute for Computational Mechanics in Propulsion (ICOMP)

The Institute for Computational Mechanics in Propulsion (ICOMP) is a combined activity of Case Western Reserve University, Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) and NASA Lewis. The purpose of ICOMP is to develop techniques to improve problem solving capabilities in all aspects of computational mechanics related to propulsion. The activities at ICOMP during 1991 are described

Avant-garde art display recreations historised: Muzeum Sztuki in Lódz as a referential case?

Museums can no longer pretend to be mere containers of art or other cultural treasures; their fascinating legacy for posterity is definitely not just the respective collection, but also its idiosyncratic articulation and ulterior resignification. This essay surveys sifting trends in the re-staging of modern museographies; but instead of using New York’s MoMA as the obvious paradigm, pride of place is given here to the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź (Poland). Its original Neoplastic Hall survived only from June 1948 until October 1950; but it was reconstructed ten years later, prefiguring other museographical remakes of avant-garde art displays. Thereafter, it also became, in many ways, a typical example characterising postmodern museological trends. All in all, it could perhaps be discussed nowadays in the light of critical museology as a referential case in the history of heritagised museographies

Modules of finite projective dimension over nice weakly triangular algebras

Modules of finite projective dimension over nice weakly triangular algebras

Mobile display design

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Industrial Design, Izmir, 2004Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 87-89)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxi, 89 leavesThe purpose in the stand design is to introduce the product face-to-face. The success in introducing the product is directly related with the success of the stand. That.s why the aim of this thesis is to guide the designer to use the design criteria in a right way, with harmony, through out the design process to achieve a good way to express, to show, and to explain the product. The aim of this thesis is to provide an explanation for the design of fair stands. In the first chapter of the study, the concept of fair will be defined, and its commercial significance will be mentioned. In addition to this, the development of fairs within history will be explained, and the conditions before and after fairs both in Turkey and abroad will be evaluated in these chapters. You will also find how the fairs today have become an important means of improving trade, selling and promoting goods and maintaining commercial relationships in these chapters. In the second chapter, organization of fairs and types of fairs will be studied. In a few words, fair is a kind of exhibition. In the past, there was only one type of fair whereas many types of it can be observed these days; general fairs, specialized fairs, consumers. fairs, single-country fairs and single-firm fairs. Prior to the participation in a fair, it is essential that aims for participation should be established, and the fair that will best suit those aims should be chosen. Choosing an unsuitable fair is doomed to failure, and the aim will not be achieved in spite of a successful stand design. Therefore, different types of fairs will be discussed. In the third chapter, design criteria of the fairs will be discussed. These criteria are the advantages of participation in fairs, the factors that are relevant to the product which makes participation in a fair a success, the analysis of the product, the factors that are relevant to the visitor which makes participation in a fair a success, the analysis of the visitor, circulation and arrangement of stands, and attractiveness in stand design. Systems of displaying in the fairs having commercial aims, and criteria for the design of the elements that comprise these systems will be clarified. In the fourth chapter, the factors that determine the arrangement of the venue for the fair will be dealt with, and the significance of stand design will be emphasized. Types of stands will be mentioned, and different ways of arrangement of the stands will be discussed. Stand systems will be dealt with in two parts; stands that are designed in advance and stands that are designed specially. In this chapter, the factors that affect the arrangement of stands in fairs will be explained under six sub-titles; functional factors, constructional-structural factors, visual-perceptual factors, auditory factors and psychological factors. The process of designing the venue for the fair will be examined as having four different stages, which are the stages of planning, design, application and using, and demounting. Although these stages have a linear character in appearance, they are interconnected in the designing process as all of them relevant to each other. Thus, they cannot be definitely separated from each other. However, in order to ease the analysis, it is deemed appropriate to examine these processes under different headings within this thesis. Additive to these the duties of a fair stand designer will be explained. Finally, the thesis includes a case study; Vestel commercial goods stand in İzmir International Fair