American management: Reformation or revolution? The transfer of Japanese management technology to the US

The paper discusses the transfer of management technology from Japan to the US. Before introducing formal economic analysis, ongoing changes in US management theory and practice are outlined, and then the main theoretical point is illustrated with an example from Japanese business history. Three vignettes of change in American management philosophy and techniques are given, focusing on the automotive industry. An explicit economic model of technical change and diffusion is then introduced, concluding by applying this model to predict whether the reformation is a prelude to a revolution in practice, or will fall prey to a counter-reformation

Why Our High Schools Need the Arts

The arts have always had a profound impact on our lives: whether it be to express an idea, emotion, or as a way to communicate. Our worldly artistic experiences and knowledge date as far back as the Pre-historic period. So why is it that music, dance, drama, and visual arts, all cultural subjects so steeped in human history are, for the most part, always on the cutting block in educational curriculum? Why is artistic importance in the curriculum always viewed as mundane and devalued by so many policy makers?   Following her best selling book Why Our Schools Need the Arts, author Jessica Hoffman Davis brings us Why Our High Schools Need the Arts. In arguing for an increase in arts courses within the educational curriculum as a way to engage all students and to alleviate the drop out rates of disenfranchised youth, Hoffman Davis offers vivid accounts from students, teachers, administrators “to provide the reader (the high school student, concerned parent, school administrator, teacher, arts education advocate, and/or policymaker) with the necessary information and perspective with which to argue for a prominent place for the arts in the reformation of high school curriculum” (p. 5)

Japanese macroeconomic dilemmas: The implications of demographics for growth and stability

Japan's post-WWII baby boom and the subsequent drop in fertility resulted in a series of sharp demographic transitions. The macroeconomic impact is large. Due to labor force changes, growth in the 1990s would in any event have been in the range of 1-2%, little better than actual performance; poor monetary and fiscal policy are secondary in importance. Demographic changes also led to swings in domestic savings and investment balances and in the flow-of-funds among sectors. With hindsight it should not be surprising that policymakers made major blunders or that financial institutions incurred large losses attempting to adapt to swings in the structure of their balance sheets. Finally, Japan now faces the demographic transition to an old-age society, from a starting point of large fiscal deficits and with a large stock of government debt. Restoring fiscal sustainability on top of the need to increase revenues to cover age-related transfers will require net taxes to increase by 19% of GDP. Accomplishing that will be a major political and administrative challenge and will inevitably hold growth below its 1% potential level during the coming decade

Contracting with contracts: How the Japanese manage organizational transactions

This book seeks to pull together two approaches to institutions, those of law and organizational theory. As an economist, I stand somewhat apart from both of those approaches. Within economics, law on the one hand is presumed to provide an essential support for "market" transactions, but the nature of that support is seldom specified. On the other hand, organizational studies focus upon "hierarchy," the locus of most day-to-day economic activity in the U.S. Economics, however, typically treats organizations as a black box that is best left unopened. Here my focus is on the presumed centrality of contract law, drawing upon empirical work on the Japanese auto industry

The decline of the Japanese automobile industry: Domestic and international implications

The upheaval in the U.S. auto industry this past decade obscured a fundamental shift in the cost base of the Japanese industry. Wages there in dollar terms more than doubled, to levels slightly higher on average than in the U.S. At the same time the U.S. At the same time the U.S. industry was improving its management, bettering efficiency, quality and the vehicle design process. Now little gap remains there either. This paper explores the sources and implications of these changes in the industry in the two countries, both for assembly and parts manufacturing, and for bilateral trade

Rhizomatic Explorations in Curriculum

A visual and theatrical exercise anchored in the Grades 11 and 12 Ontario Curriculum for Media Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies was enacted and recorded as individual experiences of each participant. The event was re-mastered in a graphic representation that depicts the forces, pushes and pulls of curriculum and students’ needs which educators experience on a daily basis. Students participating in a co-educational public high school course were photographed alongside their yearbook advisor to examine the methodology of a/r/tography, embodiment and time/space/place during a staged photo shoot session. Participants, including the author, documented their experiences of this research creation event through written and photographic feedback. The basic findings resulted in the creation of the Dimension of the Mind Embodied (DOME), a new theory I coined that builds on Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) concept of the rhizome. Chaque participant à un programme d'études en arts des médias et études interdisciplinaires de l'Ontario pour les 11e et 12e années a interprété un exercice visuel et théâtral. L'évènement a été remasterisé en une représentation graphique illustrant tant les forces et les mouvements en opposition du programme d'études que les besoins des élèves auxquels font face les enseignants à chaque jour. On a photographié des élèves qui suivaient un cours dans une école secondaire publique mixte à côté d'un conseiller de sorte à étudier l'a/r/tographie, la concrétisation et le temps/l'espace/le lieu pendant une session de photos publique. Les participants, y compris l'auteur, ont documenté leurs expériences relatives à cet évènement de création en produisant de la rétroaction écrite et photographique. De ces résultats a découlé la création de Dimension of the Mind Embodied (DOME), une nouvelle théorie que j'ai inventée à partir du concept de rhizome de Deleuze et Guattari (1987)

Alternatives in light & space: rethinking public lighting in shared spaces

 This study reconsiders current public lighting design and suggests alternative practices that were determined through a case study involving a main street shopping strip. Using design as an investigative method this thesis seeks to inform and inspire practitioners and decision-makers by illustrating the possibilities of change. Australian cities are witnessing an unprecedented growth in urban density and if we do not change our thinking, the quality of our urban spaces will not match this growth. Public lighting can encourage evening pedestrian activity and help to revive the street as a social domain. People have emotional and psychological responses to light and thus it is a powerful design tool that influences urban character and amenity. Street lighting can fashion unique identities for neighbourhoods, soften cities and create places that people will want to connect with

Cold‐Adapted Reassortants of Influenza A Virus in MDCK Cells

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/101846/1/mim03574.pd

THE INFLUENCE OF GRAVITY TO REMOVE WASTE HEAT OF POWER ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS USING LHP

Given the rapid progress in the electronics industry, the thermal management of electronics components becomes an important and serious issue. Natural and forced cooling for heat sink are often deficient. One possibility of heat dissipation for high heat flux is using loop heat pipe. The loop heat pipe (LHP) is a two-phase device with extremely high effective thermal conductivity that utilizes the thermodynamic pressure difference to circulate fluid. It was invented in Russia in the early 1980’s. This work deals with the design of LHP for cooling of Insulated gate bipolar transistor and impact of tilt angle of LHP on temperature of transistor. The maximum temperature of transistor is 100°C. LHP is made of copper pipe. Working fluid is distilled water