In Japan, administrative divisions are classified in 47 prefectures. Among them, eight that do not face the sea are designated as “inland prefectures.” These inland prefectures are considered to have different properties than “coastal prefectures”—those that face the sea. Therefore, in this study, we quantitatively analyze the influence of several factors on the value of manufactured goods shipments from inland and coastal prefectures, based on our previous studies. These factors include population, area, value of forestry goods shipments, value of fishery goods shipments, presence of ordinance-designated city, before and after the collapse of the bubble economy, before and after the Lehman shock, and so on. This analysis model is characterized by handling time series quantitative and qualitative data. We validate the model by conducting an empirical analysis using time series data. Furthermore, we attempt to quantitatively grasp the common points and differences between the industrial structures of inland and coastal prefectures, based on estimates of parameters obtained from the empirical analysis. Furthermore, we will consider expanding the application of our analysis model not only to domestic but also overseas data.

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Goal Structuring Notation (GSN), which expressing an assurance case, is possible to visualize structuralizing the application targets with multiple viewpoints. However, the above visualization can only handle multiple viewpoints that users of the assurance case can recognize. In other words, it is difficult to visualize as well as structuralize multiple viewpoints that users of the assurance case cannot recognize. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to confirm whether the users can learn the ability to consider every state and make a judgment based on the understandings by using an assurance case with others, in order to learn the mindset to respect diversity. Next, we will indicate that 1) using an assurance case continuously will lead to learn the mindset to respect diversity, and 2) respecting diversity is nearly equal to the ability to consider every state and make a judgment based on the understandings. The evaluation method of this study is to confirm whether the users can learn the ability to consider every state and make a judgment based on the understandings as well as to learn the mindset to respect others using assurance case in communication between others by writing out assurance case together as a pair. Specifically, one person is a listener and another one is a speaker. The listener listens to what the speaker considers correct, and they write and confirm an assurance case. This study evaluates by using questionnaire and interview after writing the assurance case. As a result, this study suggested that using an assurance case with the other users is effective in order to learn the mindset to respect the diversity that the users cannot recognize. Finally, this study concludes future research topics.

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Japanese companies have begun integrating their businesses to reduce costs and increase competitiveness. In a previous study, we interviewed subjects who had experienced corporate integrations to clarify how organizational design could be implemented during integrations. Results revealed many conflicts among integrated companies but not how integration leaders could recognize conflict and trust behaviors and cultivate trust. This study completes that previous study and shows how the conflict and trust cultivated via corporate integration relate to items in the trustworthy behavior model. We organize interview results and the nine major types of interdepartmental conflicts. Then we map conflict-handling modes and show relations between interview results and conflict types, interdepartmental conflicts, and conflict-handling modes in tree diagrams for each interviewee. As with conflict, we map interview results concerning trust and the trustworthy behavior. Finally, this study indicates factors of perceived trustworthiness, trustworthy behavior, and risk-taking in relationship in a tree diagram. Interviews clarify that the trustworthy behavior model proposed by Matsuura et al. relates to actual corporate integration.

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Japanese companies have begun integrating their businesses to reduce costs and increase competitiveness. In the previous study, we organized various studies on organizational Conflict, Trust, and Trustworthy behavior; clarified the results of their studies; and proposed a trustworthy behavior model that solves the issue of corporate integration by organizing and integrating the previous studies. The Trustworthy behavior model seems to be closely related to actual corporate integrations. This study shows the process of recognizing Conflict from the perspective of trustor party and trustee party and cultivating Trust by extracting three processes from the trustworthy behavior model. Furthermore, this study proposes three hierarchy structures and performs subjective verification, indicating the potential for practical use in corporate integrations. This study shows that the trustor party and the trustee party in corporate integrations use three processes to indicate how to perceive Conflict, address Conflict, perceive Trustworthiness, perceive Trustworthy behavior, and cultivate Trust.

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In this study, we conducted a disequilibrium analysis from data such as the number of vehicles and driver wages related to taxi mileage in order to verify whether excess demand has occurred in the taxi market as a result of government supply and demand adjustments. As a result, the policy of protecting drivers did not have a positive effect on taxi actual vehicle kilometers which we defined as the total distance of the taxi ride, but rather those kilometers could be increased by increasing the number of taxis. In particular, in urban areas where excess taxi demand is occurring, increasing the number of taxis will increase user convenience.

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The previous study argued that companies which do not consider or clarify managed objects as either a monolithic system or a system-of-systems (SoS). They are likely to confront problems in their analysis of cost and benefit relationships. In addition, managed objects are Systems-of-Systems that need to assume changing whether they are closed systems or open systems. Specifically, open Systems-of-Systems dynamically connect to each other in order to collectively provide a superordinate functionality, which could not be provided by a single system alone. In addition, the components and the structure of an open system-of-systems cannot be completely predicted at design stage, so that a typical top-down approach based on a concrete system would not work. Therefore, the aim of this study is to propose an architecture description method that clarifies the objects to reduce misunderstanding the scopes of managed objects at the designing open System-of-Systems. In other words, the proposed description method in this study is an open SoS design approach which is emergence-aware, in order to predict both components and the structure of an open SoS at design stage. The description methods dealt with in this study are life cycle, context diagram, use case specification (use case description), function flow block diagram, and allocation. The evaluation method is to confirm from the two viewpoints of whether the subjects can describe the managed objects as open SoS (Descriptability) and whether the subject can explain the managed objects as open SoS (Explainability). The results of this study suggested that the proposed architecture description method is effective for the subjects to recognize open SoS from the viewpoints of Descriptability and Explainability.

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Collision probability is one of the most important factors relating to the productivity of a manufacturing line, and focused investigation of collision probability has recently been taking place. There are two areas of collision probability studies: theoretical studies, which focus on the analysis of collision probability, and algorithmic studies, which focus on the computation of collision probability using simulation. The results of theoretical studies so far have been somewhat limited in comparison to the results of their algorithmic counterparts. Recently, a computation method for collision probability in a series-parallel machines model was presented. In this paper, we present a new method for computing collision probability in the series-parallel machines model. The previous method includes a sorting procedure, and this sorting procedure has an influence on the time complexity of the previous method. On the other hand, the proposed method utilizes a priority queue, and does not require a sorting procedure. Consequently, we offer an efficient method to compute collision probability in the series-parallel machines model. Moreover, we carry out computational experimentation in order to show that our method is actually fast. We also show the computational results relating to an optimal machine allocation.

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In the field of business, “Digital Transformation (DX)”—which creates new value by utilizing digital technology and big data—is rapidly progressing. While Japanese companies understand the need for DX, its companies' DX is not as advanced as that of other developed countries. The purpose of this study is to clarify the factors that prevent DX from progressing in Japanese companies by comparing Japanese and American companies' “people” and “information systems” in terms of their roles in DX. This study reveals that the factors that prevent DX in Japanese companies are their lack of in-house IT personnel and their use of scratch-developed information systems.

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With the launch of 3G technology in 2001 in Japan, the Attention, Interest, Search, Action, Share model (AISAS) arose to lead advertising during that era. However, in 2010, 4G technology was launched, and online diffusion models like AISAS were no longer suitable. This paper proposes a new model, the Attention, Awareness, Affection, and Action (4A) model, and explores how a series of advertisements influence consumers' purchasing decisions. Structural equation modeling(SEM) was used to test the 4A model, and it was supported in this research experiment.

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In this paper, we treat a problem for locating facilities within a train network. Concretely, given the number of facilities, a train network, and a distribution of facility users in an area, the problem objective is to minimize the sum of journey times to the nearest facilities for all users, where each facility is located on a station. The problem is referred to as a discrete median problem including a train network. We first introduce three models for accessing a facility. We then formulate the problem under each model, the first of which reduces to a p-median problem, whilst the remaining two are formulated as two geographical optimization problems. For each problem, we also implement a simple solution method using a standard local search,and show some computational results.

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Sound design can enhance industrial products' emotional value because sound plays a functional role and also provides an emotional experience. Nevertheless, limited research has been conducted on product sound, especially startup sounds—the first sounds heard when a product is touched. This study focused on the possibility that attachment to a product could be created through startup sounds, which could consequently create loyalty. We verified the hypothesis that strength of the startup sound's impression affects repurchase intention by using personal computer (PC), robot vacuum cleaner (VC), and car (CA) as research objects. To prevent the subject from being overly conscious of startup sounds, we focused research in an actual consumer environment, not an experimental environment. Thus, PC and VC's odds ratios were ≥1.7, supporting the hypothesis, but CA showed no significant difference. We conclude that through proper startup sound design, loyalty to a product can be increased.

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The increasing labor shortages in Japan and the country's need to enhance its international competitiveness, necessitate an increase in the participation of diverse human resources, including women, in the labor force. Therefore, this study examines three research issues: the interaction between diversity management and corporate performance, the qualitative and quantitative effects of the promotion of diversity, and the negative effects of promoting diversity on corporate performance. The study aims to confirm the bidirectional effects between diversity and corporate performance, and identify the possibilities resulting from these interactions. Using Toyo Keizai's CSR database from FY 2010 to FY 2017, we conduct ordinary least squares estimations and confirm that regardless of job rank, diversity encourages good corporate performance, particularly in companies that face a labor shortage or operate in industries where diversity is low. Furthermore, the effects of a high return on assets (ROA) are stronger in companies with a lower duration of overtime, and those with a high take-up rate of paid leave. Our findings have implications for policy change, and provide suggestions to improve the quality of management.

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With the rapid development of AI technology and 5G in China, the country’s advertising industry has changed significantly, perhaps even more than in other countries. This paper suggests that the magnitude of change means traditional definitions of advertising are no longer appropriate. Specifically, it considers such definitions of advertising with Chinese characteristics in the context of short video viewers by using grounded theory to code interviews with 14 Chinese netizens. In addition to providing a new definition of advertising for Chinese advertising, the paper forecasts advertising in the future for practitioners and academics in other countries.

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This paper uses a Citespace-based bibliometric analysis of 4,617 articles from the Social Sciences Citation Index in the Web of Science Core Collection database to understand how advertising research has developed and evolved. The analysis began with deep data collection and expansion. Then, the research moved from the macro-level toward the micro-level, enabling observation of the ways that, while advertising research might have produced comprehensive theoretical findings based on a wide range of research, the field lacks a unified research community. Finally, the paper suggests three future research directions based on the results of the analysis.

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There seems to be no end to the current COVID-19 pandemic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of Nov. 25, 2020, there were 58,900,547 confirmed cases globally of COVID-19, including 1,393,305 deaths. Many pharmaceutical companies worldwide have been developing treatments; however, there is currently no cure for COVID-19, although there are a limited number of medications which treat the symptoms. Under these circumstances, attention has been focused on COVID-19 vaccines. Many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies globally are actively developing COVID-19 vaccines. According to WHO, 48 vaccine candidates are undergoing clinical studies, while 164 are in pre-clinical studies stages. To date, no vaccine has been approved by any regulatory body. Wealthy nations, such as the U.S., U.K., and EU, have rushed to pre-purchase COVID-19 vaccines, which WHO criticized as “vaccine nationalism.” An international NGO/NPO working to secure access to COVID-19 vaccines has set up a scheme for fair allocation. Some leading countries expressed their commitment to this program; however, some large vaccine-producing nations, such as the U.S., China, and Russia, have not. This article first presents an overview of the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic, including treatment and vaccine development, then discusses possible implementation of an international effort to secure equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccines once they are available.

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In the field of inventory problems, several researchers have been interested in inventory control for a perishable product such as blood, fresh fruit, milk, film etc. Though there are huge number of research papers on perishable inventory, we only cite related papers ([1], [2],[3], [4]). This paper considers two types of products for same perishable goods such as matured tomato and un-matured one, fresh milk and processed milk etc. That is, one is very fresh and so its lifetime is one. The other is not so fresh and its lifetime is two. We consider how to order two products.

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