Suchergebnisse

Explores some of the influences that have shaped the existing 'method of questioning' within English-language studies of Japanese economic development. A particular issue of concern is the communication of ideas between scholars working in the Japanese and English languages.

An examination is made of how the development of the Internet in Japan is likely to affect civic rights and the relationship between citizens and their government. This was undertaken to determine if the trajectory of Internet development in Japan, with its distinct locational and corporate biases, has followed the predictions of two prominent Japanese commentators: the visionary Kumon Shumpei who espoused an expansive international perspective that citizens will be transformed into 'netizens' in a virtual community; and the media analyst Kogawa Tetsuo, whose pessimistic views were targeted primarily at a national audience and concerned the adaptability of the Japanese to the 'permanent autonomous zones' created by information technology. The observations of these commentators on the relationship between the Internet and civil society are tested in an examination of the degree to which the social and political uses of the Internet have followed their conjectures by means of two case studies: the protest movements over United States bases in Okinawa, and the Nibutani Dam in southern Hokkaido—an area with a predominantly indigenous Ainu population. Although the authors report evidence that the Internet has extended the sphere of grass-roots political activity, they believe its effect is likely to be limited until there is a restructuring of Japanese political organisations and attitudes.

THE VISION OF CHEAP ENERGY INDEPENDENCE THROUGH CIVIL NUCLEAR POWER HAS FADED IN THE LATE 1980S AS THE COSTS OF NUCLEAR PROGRAMMES HAVE COME TO LIGHT. BUT PRESENT NUCLEAR PLANS IN JAPAN, FRANCE AND BRITAIN ARE SET TO PRODUCE QUANTITIES OF PLUTONIUM IN THE 1990S WHICH, THE AUTHORS ARGUE, WILL BE SURPLUS TO REQUIREMENTS AND VERY DIFFICULT TO USE. THE OVER-PRODUCTION OF PLUTONIUM WILL POSE POLITICAL AND SECURITY PROBLEMS--PARTICULARLY FOR JAPAN, WHICH OWNS LARGE STOCKS OF SEPARATED PLUTONIUM IN EUROPE THAT IT MAY NOT BE ABLE TO BRING BACK HOME. NUCLEAR STRATEGY IN JAPAN AND EUROPE NEEDS TO BE RETHOUGHT IF SERIOUS INTERNATIONAL PROBLEMS ARE TO BE AVOIDED.

Due to ongoing climate change, overtopping risk is increasing. In order to have effective countermeasures, it is useful to understand overtopping processes in details. In this study overtopping flow on a dike with gentle and shallow foreshores are investigated using a non-hydrostatic wave-flow model, SWASH (an acronym of Simulating WAves till SHore). The SWASH model in 2DV (i.e., flume like configuration) is first validated using the data of long crested wave cases with second order wave generation in the physical model test conducted. After that it is used to produce overtopping flow in different wave conditions and bathymetries. The results indicated that the overtopping risk is better characterized by the time dependent h (overtopping flow depth) and u (overtopping flow velocity) instead of hmax (maximum overtopping flow depth) and umax (maximum overtopping flow velocity), which led to overestimation of the risk. The time dependent u and h are strongly influenced by the dike configuration, namely by the promenade width and the existence of a vertical wall on the promenade: the simulation shows that the vertical wall induces seaward velocity on the dike which might be an extra risk during extreme events. ; This research was part of the CREST (Climate REsilient CoaST) project (http://www.crestproject.be/en), funded by the Flemish Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology, grant number 150028. Corrado Altomare acknowledges funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No.: 792370. ; Peer Reviewed ; Postprint (published version)

Low lying coastal areas are ones of the most vulnerable zones to the effects of sea level rise and storm surge. An example is the Belgian coastline. In order to protect it from erosion and flooding on the long-term, the Flemish Government approved in 2010 the Coastal Safety Master Plan, a driving plan that provides general solutions for coastal protections looking ahead to the year 2050. The coastal town of Wenduine is one of the weakest links along the Belgian coastal defense line due to the low freeboard of the existing dike and the high population density in this area. A solution could be to heighten the existing sea walls. However, a compromise needs to be found between social and technical requirements since the elevated touristic and recreational value of the area makes very high storm return walls not acceptable as solution for the upgrading of the existing dike. Therefore the construction of a new curve-faced wave return walls, coupled with beach nourishment has been adopted to meet required mean wave overtopping discharge standards foreseen in the Master Plan. The wave loading on such kind of walls have to be characterized for a proper design. The present work illustrates the final results of the experimental campaign conducted at Flanders Hydraulics Research (Antwerp) to assess the forces exerted by sea waves onto those curve-faced walls within a stilling wave basing concept.