Measuring Economic Localization: Evidence from Japanese Firm-level Data

This paper examines location patterns of Japan’s manufacturing industries using a unique firm-level dataset on the geographic location of firms. Following the point-pattern approach proposed by Duranton and Overman (2005), we find the following. First, about half of Japan’s manufacturing industries can be classified as localized and the number of localized industries is largest for a distance level of 40 km or less. Second, several industries in the textile mill products sector are among the most localized, which is similar to findings for the UK, suggesting that there exist common factors across countries determining the concentration of industrial activities. Third, the distribution of distances between entrant (exiting) firms and remaining firms is, in most industries, not significantly different from a random distribution. These results suggest that most industries in Japan neither become more localized nor more dispersed over time and are in line with similar findings by Duranton and Overman (2008) for the UK. Fourth, a comparison with the service sector indicates that the share of localized industries is higher in manufacturing than in services, although the extent of localization among the most localized manufacturing industries is smaller than that among the most localized service industries, including financial service industriesMicro-geographic data, Economic geography

The Localization of Interfirm Transaction Relationships

Using a unique dataset of more than 140,000 manufacturing firms in Japan containing information on their suppliers and customers, this paper looks at the physical distances be- tween transaction partners to examine the localization of transaction relationships. We find the following. First, ntrols for the location of firms and their potential partners, transaction relationships in about 90-95% of the 150 three-digit manufacturing industries can be labelled as localized at distances of 40km or less. This indi- cates that physical distance is a key factor in firmsf choice of transaction partners. Second, based on a counterfactual that controls for the average distance of transaction relationships in the manufacturing sector as a whole, we find that in about 40% of industries transaction relationships are localized at short distances of up to 40km. Third, the extent of industrial localization and the extent of the localization of transaction relationships are positively cor- related. However, there are a number of exceptions and we provide potential explanations for these

Origin of electronic Raman scattering and the Fano resonance in metallic carbon nanotubes

Fano resonance spectra for the G band in metallic carbon nanotubes are calculated as a function of laser excitation energy in which the origin of the resonance is given by an interference between the continuous electronic Raman spectra and the discrete phonon spectra. We found that the second-order scattering process of the non-zero q electron-electron interaction is more relevant to the continuous spectra rather than the q = 0 first-order process because the q = 0 direct Coulomb interaction vanishes due to the symmetry of the two sublattices of a nanotube. We also show that the RBM spectra of metallic carbon nanotubes have an asymmetric line shape which previously had been overlooked.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters on February 4, 201

Measuring Economic Localization: Evidence from Japanese firm-level data

This paper examines the extent of localization in Japan's manufacturing sector using a unique firm-level dataset on the geographic location of firms. Following the point-pattern approach proposed by Duranton and Overman (2005), we find the following. First, approximately half of Japan's manufacturing industries can be classified as localized and the number of localized industries is largest for a distance of 40 km or less. Second, several industries in the textile mill products sector are among the most localized, which is similar to findings for the UK. This suggests that there exist common factors across countries that determine the concentration of industrial activities. Third, the distribution of distances between entrant (exiting) firms and remaining firms is, in most industries, not significantly different from a random distribution. The results by Durantan and Overman (2008) for the UK and our results for Japan suggest that most industries neither become more localized nor more dispersed over time.

ESTIMATING A RUNNER\u27S STRIDE LENGTH AND FREQUENCY FROM A RACE VIDEO BY USING GROUND STITCHING

This study estimated stride length and frequency of runners in a 100 m race video. One method for measuring stride length and frequency is using infrared sensors. However, this method is not applicable to real races since numerous markers with infrared-reflective material must be attached to the runner’s entire body. Therefore, we proposed a method using a race video. We generated a panoramic image of the 100 m track to estimate the distance of each frame from the start line. We detected the positions of the runner’s steps from the movement of the leg joints. We projected every step to the overview image of the 100 m track. In the experiment, we applied our method to the video of an IAAF World Championship Track and Field 100 m race and obtained data from Usain Bolt. As a result, we can automatically estimate stride length and frequency of real races

Discrimination of Oral Mucosal Disease Inspired by Diagnostic Process of Specialist

A discrimination of oral mucosal diseases is very important in clinical site. Therefore, a development of a screening support system for oral mucosal diseases which supports the diagnosis of clinical dentist is required. In this paper, a discrimination method based on fuzzy inference using four attributes (existence of vitiligos, bulges, granular patterns, and reddening) for oral mucosal diseases is proposed. As the results of the experiment, the discrimination rates of squamous cell carcinoma, leukoplakia and lichen planus were 87%, 70% and 87%, respectively. The results suggest that the proposed method is effective in discriminating oral mucosal diseases