Regulatory reform and market opening in Japan

This paper examines the nature of Japanese regulation, its effect on international trade, and the reasons for the slow progress of deregulation. It argues that theinformal and discretionary power of the Japanese bureaucracy, combined with acontinued protectionist, pro-producer, and pro-insider bias to the manipulation of the regulatory system, continues to maintain high prices and discourage imports into Japanese markets. The paper also argues that Japans weak anti-trust enforcementallows cartels to play an important role in regulating Japanese markets, particularly inindustries such as steel and chemicals. While liberal initiatives have introduced some important regulatory reforms, they have not fundamentally transformed the Japanese regulatory system because neither business nor the bureaucracy genuinely wantdrastic reform or free-wheeling markets. Liberal reformist measures in Japan are animportant corrective and supplement to mercantilist policy, but are not likely tofundamentally transform Japans political-economic system -- In dieser Studie werden Konzept und Realisierung der japanischen Regulationspraxis analysiert sowie ihre Auswirkungen auf den internationalen Handel und die Ursachen für den langsamen Fortschritt bei der Deregulation. Dabeiwird die Meinung vertreten, daß als Folge der informellen Macht der japanischenBürokratie mit ihrem großen Ermessensspielraum, kombiniert mit der fortdauernden protektionistischen, Unternehmer- und Insiderfreundlichen Grundeinstellung zur Beeinflussung des regulatorischen Systems, sowohl hohe Preise als auch die Abschottung der japanischen Märkte vor Importen aufrechterhalten werden.Außerdem ist zu berücksichtigen, daß die nur schwach entwickelte japanische Anti-Trust-Politik den Kartellen die Möglichkeit gibt, eine einflußreiche Rolle bei derRegulierung der Märkte zu spielen, vor allem in der Stahl- und Chemiebranche. Auchwenn einige Liberalisierungsinitiativen durchaus erkennbare regulatorische Reformen gebracht haben, so haben sie doch nicht das japanische regulatorische System in seiner prinzipiellen Wirkungsweise verändert. Weder die Unternehmen noch die Bürokratie wollen eine wirklich durchgreifende Reform oder freie Märkte. Liberale Reformmaßnahmen in Japan sind wichtig als Korrektiv und Ergänzung der merkantilistischen Politik, aber es ist unwahrscheinlich, daß sie Japans politikökonomisches System verändern.

Image segmentation by iterative parallel region growing with application to data compression and image analysis

Image segmentation can be a key step in data compression and image analysis. However, the segmentation results produced by most previous approaches to region growing are suspect because they depend on the order in which portions of the image are processed. An iterative parallel segmentation algorithm avoids this problem by performing globally best merges first. Such a segmentation approach, and two implementations of the approach on NASA's Massively Parallel Processor (MPP) are described. Application of the segmentation approach to data compression and image analysis is then described, and results of such application are given for a LANDSAT Thematic Mapper image

Contextual classification of multispectral image data: Approximate algorithm

An approximation to a classification algorithm incorporating spatial context information in a general, statistical manner is presented which is computationally less intensive. Classifications that are nearly as accurate are produced

Contextual classification on the massively parallel processor

Classifiers are often used to produce land cover maps from multispectral Earth observation imagery. Conventionally, these classifiers have been designed to exploit the spectral information contained in the imagery. Very few classifiers exploit the spatial information content of the imagery, and the few that do rarely exploit spatial information content in conjunction with spectral and/or temporal information. A contextual classifier that exploits spatial and spectral information in combination through a general statistical approach was studied. Early test results obtained from an implementation of the classifier on a VAX-11/780 minicomputer were encouraging, but they are of limited meaning because they were produced from small data sets. An implementation of the contextual classifier is presented on the Massively Parallel Processor (MPP) at Goddard that for the first time makes feasible the testing of the classifier on large data sets

Archean crust-mantle geochemical differentiation

Isotope measurements on carbonatite complexes and komatiites can provide information on the geochemical character and geochemical evolution of the mantle, including the sub-continental mantle. Measurements on young samples establish the validity of the method. These are based on Sr, Nd and Pb data from the Tertiary-Mesozoic Gorgona komatiite and Sr and Pb data from the Cretaceous Oka carbonatite complex. In both cases the data describe a LIL element-depleted source similar to that observed presently in MORB. Carbonatite data have been used to study the mantle beneath the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield one billion years (1 AE) ago. The framework for this investigation was established by Bell et al., who showed that large areas of the province appear to be underlain by LIL element-depleted mantle (Sr-85/Sr-86=0.7028) at 1 AE ago. Additionally Bell et al. found four complexes to have higher initial Sr ratios (Sr-87/Sr-86=0.7038), which they correlated with less depleted (bulk earth?) mantle sources, or possibly crustal contamination. Pb isotope relationships in four of the complexes have been studied by Bell et al

Innovation, Productivity Growth, and the Survival of the U.S. Copper Industry

Mining is widely viewed as an old industry with mature and stable technologies. Companies and countries with the best deposits are the most productive and efficient producers. As these deposits are depleted, mining shifts to countries with the next best deposits. This tendency to exploit poorer quality ores tends to push productivity down and the prices of mineral commodities up over time. Copper mining in the United States, however, calls into question this conventional view. After leading the world in output for decades, the U.S. industry lost its ability to compete and suffered a major decline during the 1970s and early 1980s. In the face of predictions of complete collapse, it staged a remarkable revival, and today mines more copper than in 1970. A handful of companies achieved this recovery, in large part through their efforts to introduce a wide range of cost-reducing innovations. These efforts, in turn, helped double labor productivity in copper mining during the 1980s. The known copper endowment of the United States hardly changed over this period, aside from the depletion arising from mining, and had little to do with either the decline or the recovery. The experience of copper mining in the United States holds a number of lessons for countries competing in global mineral markets and for countries striving to raise their labor productivity and standard of living. In particular, it highlights the stimulating influence of global competition on industry productivity and comparative advantage, even in the mining sector where mineral endowment is widely thought to be of overriding importance.

Coastal zone management

A panel of federal and state representatives concerned with coastal zone affairs discussed their problems in this area. In addition, several demonstrations of the application of remote sensing technology to coastal zone management were described. These demonstrations were performed by several agencies in a variety of geographical areas