"Global Warming and Transport Policies"

The Japanese government has advocated a wide range of policy measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, e.g. improvements of gas mileage, development of alternative fuel vehicles, shifts to walking, bicycles and public transportation for passenger transportation and to trains and ships for cargos, greening of highways. The details of these policies and their effectiveness are not clear, however. Furthermore, virtually no analysis has been provided on the costs and benefits of these policy measures. Unfortunately, the Japanese government has been slow to develop the data infrastructure needed for such an evaluation. This article reviews the studies conducted in the U.S. and Europe, and examines what sort of research is necessary in Japan.

"Consumption Side Agglomeration Economies in Japanese Cities"

We estimate the consumption values of urban agglomeration economies and social overhead capital for Japanese metropolitan areas. Following the pioneering work of Tabuchi and Yoshida (2000), our approach exploits the fact that consumers tolerate higher living costs if they benefit from urban agglomeration economies and/or better social overhead capital. This living cost approach requires an appropriate measure of the representative living cost in a metropolitan area; however, it is not easy to estimate because housing prices vary widely within a metropolitan area. Tabuchi and Yoshida (2000) choose the average land price for commercial use as a measure of housing costs in a metropolitan area. Because the prices of residential land are typically much lower than those of commercial land, this might have resulted in biased estimates. We estimate bid rent functions for suburban municipalities within metropolitan areas to cope with the aggregation problem. According to our estimation results, the elasticity of the real wage with respect to city size is about -9.3% if we use the land price as the housing price variable and about -7.9% if we use housing rent data. These numbers are comparable to those obtained by Tabuchi and Yoshida (between -7% and -12% depending on the specification). Another finding is that social overhead capital in a municipality has much larger and more significant effects than city size: the elasticity of the real wage with respect to social overhead capital is about -24.4% in the housing rent estimation and about -45.7% in the land price estimation.

A Review of Lexical Semantics, Syntax, and Event Structure : Ed. by Malka Rappaport Hovav, Edit Doron, and Ivy Sichel, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010, xvi+401pp.

Article信州大学人文社会科学研究 7: 205-212(2013)departmental bulletin pape

Incorporating Space and Play in the Study of Contemporary Contentious Politics: The Case of the Critical Mass Movement RK

Processes of globalization are unevenly developing with economic activities further concentrated in urban spaces. This increased urbanization has exacerbated global issues and significantly altered the way of life for many people. It has also changed the composition of cities, in some cases created global cities, which have opened up new spaces and possibilities for contention as the local and global levels are intimately connected. Urban social movement actors’ activities are informed through this spatial understanding. Thus, research on contentious politics can benefit from observing how spatialities affect contentious action. Spatial perspectives illuminate the connections between daily life experiences and broader social, political, and economic processes. Urban spaces reveal the continuities between culture and structure, both cultural and structural approaches can benefit by incorporating spatial analyses for studying contemporary contentious politics. One of the tactics employed by activists is their use of play to reclaim space, inscribing it with new values and meanings to challenge hegemonic groups. Investigating the intersection of play and space can enhance our understandings on the development and trajectories of contentious action. This thesis examines the Critical Mass movement as a case study to illustrate how space and play are a part of an integral process through which these actors perceive, shape, and participate in contentious politics

Light Pollution Research through Citizen Science

Light pollution (LP) can disrupt and/or degrade the health of all living things, as well as, their environments. The goal of my research at the NOAO was to check the accuracy of the citizen science LP reporting systems entitled: Globe at Night (GaN), Dark Sky Meter (DSM), and Loss of the Night (LoN). On the GaN webpage, the darkness of the night sky (DotNS) is reported by selecting a magnitude chart. Each magnitude chart has a different density/number of stars around a specific constellation. The greater number of stars implies a darker night sky. Within the DSM iPhone application, a user must put the iPhone above his/her head, orient the camera up towards the sky, while ensuring the phone is level, before telling the application to take a snapshot of and measure the DotNS. LoN is an Android application, which asks the user to try and locate at least seven different stars in the night sky. The stars vary in magnitude of brightness. Once an observer specifies whether or not they can see the stars, then the LoN application calculates the DotNS. All DSM, LoN, and GaN measurements were juxtaposed against handheld and stationary night sky quality meter readings, which are scientifically calibrated to exhibit minimal error. Nevertheless, all three applications offer Dark Sky conservationists a window into an extraordinary future. With students, teachers, and community members recording LP data internationally, more sites can be identified as either: Dark Sky certified or in need of night sky conservation/education/legislation

Simultaneous Measurement of Torsional Oscillator and NMR of Very Dilute 3He in Solid 4He

We have investigated the NMR properties of dilute 3He impurities in solid 4He contained in a torsional oscillator (TO) by the simultaneous measurement of the NMR and the torsional oscillator response of the so-called supersolid 4He. From measurements on samples with one hundred to a few hundred ppm of 3He, we have found three different states of 3He. The first is the homogeneously distributed isolated 3He atom in a solid matrix of 4He. The second is the 3He cluster in a homogeneous 4He matrix, which appears below the phase separation temperature of a solid mixture. The third is the 3He cluster in some nonuniform part of a 4He crystal. We find that 3He atoms contained in the third component remain in a nearby location even above the phase separation temperature. Based on the fact that even a ppm of 3He affects the supersolid response in a TO below and above the phase separation temperature, we propose that the nonuniform part of a crystal that holds the third type of 3He and thus has a higher local concentration of 3He plays an important role in the supersolid phenomenon in a TO.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Theories of urban externalities

In this monograph several aspects of externalities in cities are analyzed using extensions of a standard residential land use model. Topics covered are optimal and market city sizes, local public goods, traffic congestion, externalities between different types of households, and the growth of a system of cities.City; Externality; City size; Local public goods; Traffic congestion; Growth of cities

Who Cares About Their Names: Case Study in Starbucks

According to Institute of International Education report (2013), 764,495 international students enrolled in the U.S universities in 2012. The number of international students in the U.S continues growing. This study focuses on a common experience among international students on university campuses: their names are misspelled or mispronounced by cashiers or workers at on-campus coffee stores. The researchers chose a Starbucks at a Midwestern mid-size University as a site to conduct this study. It is possible for anybody to have their name misspelled or mispronounced. Through observation and focus group, this study focuses on revealing how international students interpret the situation when their names are misspelled and mispronounced. As the first step, two researchers conduct multiple eight-hour observations to examine the behavioral patterns among international students. Then, through focus groups, the researchers will reveal the international students\u27 interpretation about their experience. The naming invokes expectations with regards to each other\u27s and one\u27s own behaviors. Naming is an important part of social identity and self-categorization. Therefore, this study utilizes identity theory as the theoretical framework in order to understand the experience among international students

Cultural Transformation of Masks as Etiquette, Threat, and Prevention

Journal #59 from Media Rise's Quarantined Across Borders Collection by Emi Kanemoto and Sasha Allgayer. From Japan and Bosnia-Herzegovina . Quarantined in United States (New York State).We reflect on our experiences with (not)wearing masks within different cultures and how these experiences have shifted across borders and time.Media Rise Publications. Quarantined Across Borders Collection. Edited by Dr Srividya "Srivi" Ramasubramanian