Period Of High Economic Growth Research Articles

Deep learning-based corrosion inspection of long-span bridges with BIM integration

Infrastructure operation and maintenance is essential for societal safety, particularly in Japan where the aging of infrastructures built during the period of high economic growth is advancing. However, there are issues such as a shortage of engineers and inefficiencies in work, requiring improvements in efficiency and automation for their resolution. Nevertheless, there are still many inefficiencies in the current procedures for bridge inspections. Usually, inspection engineers check for damage on bridges through close visual inspections at the site, then photograph the damaged parts, measure the size by touch, and create a report. A three-dimensional representation, considering the front and back of the structural elements, is needed for identifying damage, necessitating the creation of multi-directional three-dimensional drawings. However, this process is labor-intensive and prone to errors. Furthermore, due to the lack of uniformity in records, it is challenging to refer to past inspection histories. Especially for long bridges, without resolving such issues, the required labor and the number of mistakes could exceed acceptable limits, making proper management difficult. Therefore, in this study, we developed a method for automatically measuring the position and area of corroded parts by capturing images of the lower surface of the stiffening girder using a bridge inspection vehicle and utilizing image diagnosis technology. By integrating these results into a 3D model called BIM (Building Information Modeling), it becomes possible to manage the bridge more efficiently. We verified this method on actual long bridges and confirmed its effectiveness.

Development of the recording device to reduce an overlook of a defect for the impact acoustic method

Several concrete structures in Japan built during a period of high economic growth—including bridges (40%) and tunnels (25%)—are now at least 40 years old and are withering. Recent years have witnessed several accidents caused by falling concrete debris from these structures. To ensure safety, these buildings are regularly inspected with non-destructive tests such as the impact acoustic method (IAM). In this method, the surface of the concrete structure under inspection is impacted by a hammer and the resulting sound vibrations are used to detect defects. According to the current inspection standard, inspection records only contain information of detectable defects, because the method relies on the physical capabilities and expertise of the professional. Consequently, there are no records of imperceptible defects. In this study, we developed a recording device that consists of an accelerometer and a microphone and connected it to an impact hammer. The device saves the output from the two components in a single file. A set of concrete specimens were then tested using the IAM with the new device and hammer. Furthermore, the contact time and striking power of the hammer were estimated using a load sensor.

Impact of Tire Shape on Localization Accuracy in Piping Inspection Robots

The sewerage pipes laid in Japan are extensive, spanning approximately 470,000 km, with most of them constructed during the high economic growth period from around 1955 to around 1973. According to indicators from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, the service life of sewerage pipes is estimated at 50 years. This suggests that many sewer pipes across Japan, installed over 50 years ago, are becoming obsolete. Consequently, piping inspections using robots have commenced in Japan. Currently, stand-alone types that can be inspected by a single robot are garnering attention. Meanwhile, we have been conducting research and development with the aim of implementing a small, easily portable, stand-alone piping inspection robot. Furthermore, numerous stand-alone types have been employed to prevent falls by adjusting the tire shape or the distance between the axles. However, this hardware approach does not completely prevent falls. Therefore, we have opted for a software approach to explore measures to prevent falls by controlling driving, aiming to achieve the advanced localization required for this purpose. We are currently in the stage of verifying the localization. However, accurately measuring the robot's position and orientation using general measuring instruments is challenging due to the curved piping. Hence, we developed a specialized three-dimensional position-measuring instrument for piping inspection robots. In this paper, we utilize the instrument to examine the influence of tire shape on localization. Additionally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the localization method in an environment where tire shape does not affect the outcome.

Survey of Changes in the Japanese Family since the High Economic Growth Period

Survey of Changes in the Japanese Family since the High Economic Growth Period

A study on the impact of rural finance on high-quality agricultural development in China—a test based on intermediation, threshold and spillover effects

Achieving high-quality agricultural development (HQAD) has become an urgent and important task for many countries. This paper selects panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2019 and uses the mediation model, panel threshold model and spatial econometric model to explore the impact of rural finance (RF) on high-quality agricultural development. The study found that: 1) RF can effectively promote high-quality agricultural development, and the conclusions still hold after multiple robustness tests; 2) The results of heterogeneity analysis show that RF has a significant role in promoting high-quality agricultural development during the period of high economic growth, and the effect is not obvious during the period of slow economic growth. In addition, under the conditions of heterogeneity of functional grain production areas and heterogeneity of financial literacy, RF has a significant positive effect on high-quality agricultural development, and the intensity of the effect is shown as main grain production areas > main grain marketing areas > balanced grain production and marketing areas, and higher financial literacy areas > lower financial literacy areas; 3) Farmland scale management plays a partially mediating role in the process of RF influencing high-quality agricultural development, and the share of the mediating effect in the total effect is 24.64%; 4) There is a single threshold effect of rural finance efficiency (RFE) and the share of agricultural technicians in the impact of RF on high-quality agricultural development, and the threshold values are 0.940 and 0.448, respectively. In the process of crossing the threshold, the enhancement effect of RF on high-quality agricultural development shows a marginal incremental feature; 5) There is a significant spatial correlation between China’s inter-provincial agricultural high-quality development, and RF in the region can act on the agricultural high-quality development of neighboring regions through spatial spillover effects. Our study enriches the existing literature and provides empirical evidence and policy insights on how RF in China contributes to high-quality agricultural development.

Corrosion Damage Detection in Headrace Tunnel Using YOLOv7 with Continuous Wall Images

Infrastructure that was constructed during the high economic growth period of Japan is starting to deteriorate; thus, there is a need for the maintenance and management of these structures. The basis of maintenance and management is the inspection process, which involves finding and recording damage. However, in headrace tunnels, the water supply is interrupted during inspection; thus, it is desirable to comprehensively photograph and record the tunnel wall and detect damage using the captured images to significantly reduce the water supply interruption time. Given this background, the aim of this study is to establish an investigation and assessment system for deformation points in the inner walls of headrace tunnels and to perform efficient maintenance and management of the tunnels. First, we develop a mobile headrace photography device that photographs the walls of the headrace tunnel with a charge-coupled device line camera. Next, we develop a method using YOLOv7 for detecting chalk marks at the damage locations made during cleaning of the tunnel walls that were photographed by the imaging system, and these results are used as a basis to develop a system that automatically accumulates and plots damage locations and distributions. For chalking detection using continuous wall surface images, a high accuracy of 99.02% is achieved. Furthermore, the system can evaluate the total number and distribution of deteriorated areas, which can be used to identify the causes of change over time and the occurrence of deterioration phenomena. The developed system can significantly reduce the duration and cost of inspections and surveys, and the results can be used to select priority repair areas and to predict deterioration through data accumulation, contributing to appropriate management of headrace tunnels.

Non-performing Assets and Institutional Quality Indicators: Evidence from Developing Countries

This research studies the drivers of non-performing assets (NPAs) in developing countries. The author applied panel regression methodology to establish the links between bank-specific macroeconomic factors and institutional environment NPAs on country-level panel data of developing countries for the period spanning from 2010 to 2020. The long-held theory that NPAs cause economic growth is tested using the panel Granger causality test. Panel cointegration tests were further applied to look at whether there is a long-term relationship between the two variables. The findings of the study indicated that loan defaults often occur at a lower rate during periods of high economic growth, which consequently leads to reduced amounts of NPAs. A bigger banking sector should be more stable than a small banking sector if a strong systemic risk regulatory framework is in place. Finally, the present research shows how crucial the institutional environment is in enhancing banks’ credit quality. NPAs are significantly decreased in developing nations when there is a greater improved institutional environment.

Characteristics of Export-oriented Technological Progress and Total Factor Productivity of China's Manufacturing Industry

Since the reform and opening up, it is an important means of industrial technology innovation in China to realize technology upgrading by introducing and imitating innovation. The characteristics of the supply of technical elements and the demand of technical products "both ends are outside" constitute the export-oriented technological progress mode of China's industrial technological innovation .In this paper, the export-oriented technology progress of China's manufacturing industry from 1992 to 2020 is divided into three stages, and the DEA-Malmquist method is used to measure the total factor productivity changes of 26 manufacturing industries in China during this period. The results show that from 1992 to 2000, the total factor productivity index of China's manufacturing industry showed a fluctuating trend during the period of high economic growth driven by accelerated export expansion. During the period of optimizing commodity structure and promoting industrial upgrading from 2001 to 2011, the total factor productivity index of China's manufacturing industry first increased steadily, and then decreased from 2008 to 2011. Since 2012, in the stage of building a trade powerful country and promoting innovation, the total factor productivity of China's manufacturing industry has entered the growth stage again in 2016 after a period of decline. Finally, this paper puts forward some suggestions.

Solving Pakistan’s Poverty Puzzle: Whom Should We Believe? What Should We Do? (The Omer Asghar Khan Memorial Lecture)

Understanding Pakistan’s economic performance has never been easy. Its capacity to generate impressive rates of economic growth in the 1960s and 1980s with low levels of savings, investment and very poor human development indicators confounded its critics. Indeed during the overall period 1960-1990 Pakistan’s growth performance would place it in the top ten countries in the world. This made an eminent economist Professor Richard Eckaus remark, “Pakistan is a puzzle, a miracle of levitation. With one of the lowest domestic savings rate in Asia, its economy has performed quite creditably. Since we do not believe in miracles, we have to wonder whether the capital inflows that have sustained this growth will last”.1 Unfortunately they did not. Pakistan’s growth rate in the 1990s came tumbling down, the result of a number of factors of which a decline in capital inflows also played a significant part. If Pakistan’s growth performance has been in part difficult to justify then understanding or explaining changes and wide fluctuations in its poverty levels has posed even a more challenging task. Pakistan has witnessed over the last three decades periods of high economic growth, as in the 1960s, accompanied with increasing poverty levels, periods of low economic growth, as in the 1970s, accompanied by reductions in poverty levels, periods of high economic growth leading to a decline in poverty as in the 1980s and periods of low economic growth as in the 1990s accompanied by as we shall see by increasing poverty levels.

Changes in workplace chemical risk management in Japan

Legally compliant chemical risk management in the Japanese workplace was completed in the middle of the period of high economic miracle. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is currently considering a shift from legally compliant risk management to autonomous risk management in in response to the growing risk management of new chemicals in the industrial sector in the 21st century. This paper summarizes the transition of chemical risk management in Japanese workplaces from the period of high economic growth to the present day.

Numerical Analysis for Ground Subsidence Caused by Extraction Holes of Removed Piles

Around the world, and especially in Japan, the tearing down of social infrastructure, including civil engineering structures, has been increasing due to the aging of these constructions, which were built during a period of high economic growth, and a decrease in their utilization caused by a recent drop in the population. The number of existing pile foundations being pulled out has gradually risen to a higher number than that of pile foundations being newly installed. However, after the pulling-out of a pile foundation, the mechanical characteristics of the surrounding ground are of great concern due to the existence of the holes that form when the existing piles are removed (extraction holes). In this study, a three-dimensional elasto-plastic consolidation analysis was performed to examine the effect of the extraction holes of removed piles on the static properties of the surrounding ground. As examples of the results of the analysis, if an extraction hole of a removed pile is left as it is, large ground subsidence will occur near the extraction hole of removed pile, especially at the lower part of the clay layer near the hole. The greater the number of extraction holes of removed piles, the greater the compressive stress acting on the extraction holes after the pile removal. Therefore, the filler should exhibit strength early as the number of extraction holes of removed piles increases.

Ingredients Used in Menus for School Lunches during the Period of High Economic Growth in Japan —Using the Menus Provided in Hiroshima City—

Ingredients Used in Menus for School Lunches during the Period of High Economic Growth in Japan —Using the Menus Provided in Hiroshima City—

Renewable energy and economic growth: A Markov-switching approach

This paper examines the dynamic causal relationship between renewable energy prices and economic growth in the cases of Norway, New Zealand, and two Canadian provinces. A Markov-switching vector autoregression (MS-VAR) model is used with model parameters being governed by a hidden Markov chain, allowing the causal relationship to vary amongst different states of the economy. A unidirectional causal link, running from economic growth to renewable energy is found in the case of New Zealand, Alberta, and Ontario. The causality emerges in the cases of New Zealand and Ontario, during periods of high economic growth, whilst it materializes in the cases of Alberta during periods of low economic growth. Our empirical results document the existence of a time-dependent causal relationship between renewable-energy prices and economic growth.

The Role and Problems of Aftercare by Hogojutakusha (Shokuoya, Vocational Parent): The Change of Hogojutakusha Systems and Practices from Postwar to the Period of High and Low Economic Growth

The Role and Problems of Aftercare by <i>Hogojutakusha</i> (<i>Shokuoya</i>, Vocational Parent): The Change of <i>Hogojutakusha</i> Systems and Practices from Postwar to the Period of High and Low Economic Growth

Evaluation of nitrogen loading in the last 80 years in an urbanized Asian coastal catchment through the reconstruction of severe contamination period

Most semi-enclosed seas have experienced severe eutrophication owing to high nutrient loading from rivers during rapid population growth periods. In Japan, the coastal areas of some megacities (e.g. Tokyo and Osaka) experienced considerable economic growth during the 1960s–1970s. Therefore, determining the amount of nutrient loading during this period is essential to undertake measures for the conservation of coastal environments. However, determining the nutrient loading that occurred several decades ago is generally difficult owing to lacking water quality records. In this study, the nitrogen loading in the Yamato River catchment, an urbanized coastal catchment in Asia, for 80 years from the 1940s to the 2010s is reconstructed using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool. We considered factors such as population growth, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) construction, and changes in land and fertilizer usage in different urbanization stages. Results show that the total nitrogen loading in the catchment peaked in the 1970s at 6616 tons yr−1 owing to untreated wastewater discharge and rapid increase in population growth. By reducing 57% of the nitrogen loading in the 2010s from the catchment, WWTPs have been instrumental in improving the water environment. The decrease in and integration of agricultural land has reduced nitrogen loading attributed to nonpoint sources; however, this reduction was not obvious because of the high fertilizer usage before the 2000s. Overall, the findings of this study provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of rapid urbanization in an Asian coastal catchment on nitrogen loading during the high economic growth period in the past. This study will be useful for the long-term assessment of nutrient loading in other.

Territorial Cohesion and the Pandemic in Romania

Abstract Convergence and economic and social cohesion remain priorities for the EU, beyond failures to achieve the objectives of the ‘Europe 2020’ strategy. Convergence and territorial cohesion, as a prerequisite for sustainable and durable development, have been the fundamental objectives that generated and developed the strategic planning in the EU, including through the two global strategies, ‘Lisbon’ and ‘Europe 2020’. The sustainability of these processes, even in periods of high economic growth, is questionable since real national convergence is based in many countries, including Romania, on large and widening divergences between regions and counties. In recent years, Romania has seen one of the most enhanced improvements in convergence compared to the EU average, from 60% in 2016 to 69% of the European average in 2019 respectively. During the same period, disparities between regions and counties have deepened. More than 10 years after EU accession and participation in the Community cohesion policy, there is still a third of the counties with less than 70% of the national average of gross domestic product per capita. The health crisis has deeply affected economic activity, but in a differentiated way, depending on the specific territorial economic structures. As a result, the objective of improved and sustainable real convergence, by bringing regions and counties closer together in terms of their level of development, is receding. The economic situation in the counties in 2020 indirectly provides support for assessing the impact of the pandemic on the territorial cohesion process. The implicit conclusion revealed by the latest statistical data is that the level of development has been the support for better resilience to the health crisis. Although the restrictions on international movement and the closure of tourist and industrial capacities have had general validity, the counties with a higher degree of disparity have been more affected.

The Economic Miracle revisited: social-status angst and ambivalence towards high-growth policies in 1960s Japanese youth film

The Period of High Economic Growth has gone down in the Japanese collective memory as a golden era stoking sentiments of nostalgia. Ever since the downturn of the economy in the early 1990s, the Japanese have sought to recharge their dreams by looking back at a period supposedly permeated with an energetic and optimistic, forward-looking spirit. Yet, when we turn to contemporary films for testimony, we find this retrospective sentiment complicated by an ambivalent attitude towards ongoing social developments. This article focuses on three mainstream popular youth films – Foundry Town (Kyūpora no aru machi), Always Keep the Dream (Itsudemo yume o), The Sunshine Girl (Shitamachi no taiyō) – that share critical perspectives on issues pertaining to social class, economic inequality, and the attainability of worthwhile education. Set in ‘low town’ industrial districts in Tokyo and populated with unprivileged factory workers who went under the epithet of ‘golden eggs’, the films deliver a socio-political critique that ultimately questions the very desirability of the promises of social and spatial mobility built into high growth policies. It argues that the contemporary sararīman dream shared by the proverbial one hundred million Japanese in which everyone is able to join the ranks of elite white-collar employees, was disavowed by the films just as the plans started to unfold.

The space-time compression of Tokyo street drinking

ABSTRACT In postwar Japan vast black market districts surrounded urban commuter train stations with warrens of small-scale retail, food and alcohol vendors. Most were bulldozed during the period of high economic growth and replaced with modern shopping centers. Only a few of these dense, lively pedestrian alleyways survived into the 21st century, including the one called “Willow Alley” described in this paper. Recently there has been a widespread revival of these vintage yokochō. Still as spaces for drinking and eating, the forced intimacy in these cramped interstitial spaces fosters sociability and association among strangers, but with changes in recent years. One trend is the opening up of windowless doors and walls and the use of the alleyway itself as a space of eating and drinking. Another is their transformation from semi-private male-oriented bars to more welcoming mixed-gender venues. In general, the case study shows how both historical legacies and the spatial organization and scale of public drinking streets influence the forms of sociability and community that are sustained there.

Autonomous Driving System with a Planar LiDAR-based Localization Method for a Magnetic Wheeled-type Bridge Inspection Robot—BIREM-IV-P

Since the period of high economic growth, several social infrastructure facilities have been aging. Regular inspections are conducted for safety; however, current bridge inspections are visually performed, which is problematic with regard to cost and safety. Therefore, robots are being considered for inspections. In previous research, a bridge inspection robot was developed, and the small bridge inspection robot BIREM with high driving performance was developed. However, as BIREM-IV is manually operated, autonomous driving is required. In this study, a planar light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor, which was developed in the previous study, and a camera was mounted to perform localization for the autonomous driving of the bridge inspection robot BIREM-IV. In addition, in order to mount the sensor necessary for localization in the robot, the driving performance evaluation according to the change of the robot's additional weight and center of gravity was conducted as a previous study, and a new robot was designed and manufactured based on the results. The newly manufactured BIREM-IV-P is path planning by comparing it with the coordinates of the destination point based on the robot's localization information obtained from the mounted planar LiDAR and the camera and analyzes the possibility of autonomous driving to the destination through path tracking.

Militarization of Japanese Local Communities during the High Economic Growth Period

本稿は，高度経済成長期の日本の地域社会の軍事化について，石川県小松市に1961年に設置された自衛隊と民間航空が共用する小松飛行場／基地と，基地開設を記念して開催された「伸びゆく日本産業と防衛大博覧会」（小松防衛博）を事例に検討した．小松市には戦時中に海軍飛行場が建設されたが，当時の市長や市議会議長らは，飛行場建設を契機に小松市を軍都として発展させることを構想していた．軍都計画は終戦により頓挫したが，軍事施設と地域発展を結びつける思考は戦後にも継承された．終戦後，小松飛行場滑走路を航空自衛隊のジェット機基地化することが計画された．だが市長や市議会は誘致に積極的だった一方で，住民からは反対の意見が上がり，市の意見は二分された．しかしながら，基地開設を記念して1962年に開催された小松防衛博は成功を収めた．成功の伴となったのは，小松防衛博の〈地域博覧会〉と〈防衛博覧会〉としての二面性だった．小松防衛博は，「裏日本」のアイデンティティから脱却し，先進性の象徴であるジェット機を象徴として新たなアイデンティティを提示した．同時に，自衛隊の装備品や兵器を，科学技術製品として電化製品や農業機械製品と並列し，軍事を近代的な消費生活のイメージの中で再定義した．高度経済成長期の消費主義と軍事を接合させることにより軍事を地域社会の日常生活の中に埋め込んだのである．