The strategic implications of formation of regional industrial cluster by pluralistic approaches of the regional employment analysis and the competitive development model

The purpose of this study is to consider the strategic implications of formation of regional industrial cluster, especially Kitami region in Japan. At present, Japanese government is wrestling with great problems as the structural reform of Japanese economy and reconstruction of public finance in Japan etc. In this situation, how to inovate the regions of Japan is very important and difficult subject. The regional innovation is complex phenomenon. Accordingly it should be use the complex approach naturally. However, only few attempts have so far been made at complex approach of regional industrial cluster. Therefore, in this study we use the pluralistic approaches of regional economics and management economics and to consider about regional industrial cluster strategically. As the result, this study lead to the below strategic implications. First, the accurate perception of development's phase on the region is very important. Second, the involvement and role of government is very important too. Third, to make the plan of regional industrial cluster on the region is necessary as the driving force towards the goal

Site Effects in the Loma Prieta Earthquake and Comparison with an Earthquake Intensity Prediction Method

Strong motion records of the Loma Prieta Earthquake of October, 17, 1989 have been analyzed in comparison with epicentral distances and types of soil deposits, and site effects and attenuation relations have been studied. Site effects are significantly recognized in the earthquake, as usually found in Japanese earthquakes. And validity of the U.S. seismic intensity prediction method that Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) adopted to prepare some earthquake preparedness maps has been examined on the basis of the Loma Prieta Earthquake data. Finally, soil damping of San Francisco Bay Area has been evaluated from the strong motion records

Numerical and Experimental Simulation of Seismic Site Responses

Prediction of seismic site responses has been one of the most important tasks in geotechnical earthquake engineering. Since Kanai used the multiple wave reflection theory to compute horizontal ground movements against seismic shaking, a number of researchers have extended the basic concept proposed by Kanai. Performance of seismic site response methods, however, has always invited open questions for problems involving extreme seismic shaking and large deformation of soils due, for example, to liquefaction and lateral spreading. A new numerical method SRANG3D (Site Response Analysis of Non-linear Ground in 3 Dimensions) has been developed to improve our prediction capabilities for seismic site responses. SRANG3D computes seismic site responses that involve vertical propagation of two horizontally polarized S waves and one P wave. The most distinct feature of SRANG3D is that the stress-strain relationships of soil can be represented by a combination of various elasto-plastic constitutive soil models and discrete element models. This paper introduces the new site-response analysis method SRANG3D and the paper highlights results obtained from this new method. Our study demonstrated that SRANG3D yields improved predictions of the large-scale experimental data than currently available site-response analysis methods

Large-Scale Shake Table Test on Lateral Spreading of a Sheet-Pile Wall Model and Its Centrifuge Simulation

The purpose of this test was to realistically reproduce soil liquefaction and the lateral spreading of saturated sand deposits behind the sheet-pile quay walls and the consequent deformation and translation of neighboring pile foundations. Therefore, a shake table test was carried out using a large-scale laminar box on the large-scale shake table in Tsukuba. The inside dimensions of the model were 11.6 m in length, 3.1 m in width and 4.5 m in depth. Next, a dynamic centrifuge test on the behavior of a sheet-pile wall and a soil pile system was conducted to simulate that of a large-scale shake table test as a prototype. The shake table test was performed under a centrifuge acceleration of 15g． The large-scale test results showed that the lateral displacement of the sheet-pile is increased by about 5 seconds during the shaking, while the sheet-pile showed significant lateral spreading for about 200 seconds after the shaking. The centrifuge study generally confirmed that it is possible to simulate a large-scale test for lateral spreading of a sheet-pile wall and its backfill