Development of a trial Food Composition Database System has been put into practice by JST using the Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology for 3 years from 1994 to 1996. It includes not only character data from Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan, 4th revised edition and follow-up tables and food sampling data but also food picture data which are produced by scanning and digitizing. We can use this database by client-server-based-system. In this paper, we introduce this system mainly on user-interface.

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JST developed a database system for pressure vessel materials (Cr-Mo steels) in cooperation with the Subcommittee on Data Collection under contract with the Materials Division of Japan Pressure Vessel Research Council (JPVRC). Now, JST develops an upgraded system on personal computers (PC). It also develops a demonstration system on the Internet to introduce the PC system.

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Museum laboratories have exceptional sources of iconographic information on easel paintings. No standard terminology had been established in view of drawing up a model for their interpretation. The European project NARCISSE has permitted the setting up of a documentary system integrating a thesaurus translated into 3 languages, with part of the vocabulary in fifteen languages. In addition, the construction of digitizer operating with a very high degree of resolution and on large surfaces will allow the creation of a bank of scientific and technical images. The digitization of photographs and radiographs also means they can be processed by computer, which in turn enables new interpretations. The value of research can now be demonstrated by a new means of distribution: electronic publications. Two"Art et Science" CD-ROMs have been issued by the Direction des Musées de France.

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As information has been increasingly distributed in the electronic form, the intellectual property, especially copyright, have become urgent issues in the world. As the first of this lecture series, this paper describes fundamentals of intellectual property; such as the definitions of intellectual property, the history of copyright law in Japan and other major countries including international conventions, the present status of copyright issues being discussed nationally or internationally in order to deal with digital information.

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