The growth and sophistication of science and technology in the latter half of this century, while having been beneficial to our society, has produced difficult problems. The problems a multifarious, including effects of large-scale developments on environmental and ecological systems, disposal of chemical substances and wastes, effects of radiation on human body, life control based on genetics, and changes in the human life style caused by advanced communication technologies. In addition, possible shortage of food and energy, and exhaustion of metallic and other resources will be of great concern in the 21st century. Scientists and engineers, however, will remain enthusiastic in the search of new knowledge and in creation of new technology. Such new knowledge and technology includes what induces new risks along with what will be useful in solving above mentioned problems. The close relationship of science and technology with corporate and national interests and with socio-economic factors that vary in a complicated manner in the global scale makes control of their evolution difficult. Yet, as far as science and technology should contribute to physical and mental health of the humans, everyone associated with science and technology must have a piece of awe before the great Nature in order not to err.

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Increasingly multifarious and complex environmental risks of chemical substances has prompted their autonomous management. OECD recommends PRTR as a method of autonomous management of chemical substances. Japan is now practicing PRTR in a pilot scale, which requires reporting by the operators of the amount emitted into air, water and soil of the 178 selected substances of high environmental risk, as well as their amount transferred to disposal specialists, while the administration is responsible for estimating the amount of substances discharged by households and mobile sources. Successful implementation of PRTR will depend on harmonization with measures taken by individual enterprises, improvement in data quality, and the use of reported data. While the Japanese pilot program is bound to publish overall data only but not data pertaining to individual facilities, the latter are necessary for satisfactory risk communication. Publication procedure will therefore be a major item to be studied. The Fundamentals of Environment Law, a new principle of environmental protection, requires that each participant plays his/her own role in environmental protection. In this context, PRTR that solicits autonomous management will provide a useful tool for risk management of chemical substances. A cost-effective PRTR system will hopefully be developed on the basis of the pilot project.

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The eco-label supports "green purchase" of goods or services by emphasizing their environmental aspects. The present paper reviews the definition and the ISO classification of eco-labels, and discusses the present situation of the Eco-Mark, a representative Japanese eco-label, the characteristics of the rapidly expanding green purchase networks (GPN), and implications of the eco-labels for consumers. The Eco-Mark is based on the "Items Selection Table for Environmental Load Evaluation in Life Stages" associated with life cycle analysis. This table, although convenient, does not provide satisfactorily quantitative criteria. Moreover, the process of consensus formation in relevant working groups should be disclosed for better transparency of decisions on the guidelines. The green purchase means preferred purchase of goods and services of law environmental leads. GPNs provide purchase guidelines and data books for individual commodities which define environmental aspects to be taken into account on purchase. The networks need further increase in membership and clearer definition of information targets. Since no single eco-label system can be perfect, it is hoped to develop a label mix that comprises individual systems optimized for particular targets and products.

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"Generally accepted ideas" represent moral criteria against which events in the modern society, based on such principles as liberalism, market principle and interdiction of abuse of rights, are judged by the public. An important element in this judgment is that on the fulfillment of the "duty of care" which obliges prediction and avoidance of undesired outcome of events. With progress of science and technology, along with increased complexity of social and economic activities, what duty of care prohibits has been evolve d from faults to causal events, them to harmful results; it is now interpreted as obliging the best possible effort to prevent any harmful event as far as one's ability and resources available permit. The level of responsibility has accordingly been shifting from that of a good manager to that of occupational manager, then to that of a specialist. On the other hand, ethical belief of the public is constantly changing according to changes in their scope and means of activities and in knowledge and experience, although it is based on a universal, unchanging fundament. Such changes in watching duty and ethical belief is largely affected by progress of science and technology, changes in primordial experiences of people, and TV journalism. Neglecting these factors today may result in serious consequences.

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While aviation represents one of the most conspicuous technological achievements in the 20th century, its history is an incessant struggle against risk of flight. In comparison with early days of commercial jet transport, aviation safety has remarkably been improved today. Yet an aviation accident remains to be an event of major sociopsychological impact. The present paper discusses human factors, involved in 70% of air accidents, and improved design and manufacture of high-reliability hardware, as requirements for achieving an accident rate less than one in 10 million flight hours.

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This paper examines how the Japanese government could improve working relationships between researchers in universities and in private companies to provide a more stimulating environment for economic growth in Japan.After discussing Japanese university regulations which preclude cooperation between universities and private companies, I will document how Stanford University has contributed to the rapid growth of Silicon Valley, using examples Stanford University, such as consultant activities, sponsored projects, and gifts. Finally, I will have some recommendations about cooperation between universities and private companies based on the above discussions. My recommendations are that 1) Japanese companies should imitate U.S. companies that give gifts to universities without expectation of any direct return, 2) the Japanese government should encourage professors to do consulting work furthermore though administrative rules have already been amended to allow off-duty consulting from April 1997, 3) provide tax exemptions for gifts from individuals to universities, and 4) try various methods to encourage cooperation between universities and private companies.

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日本の大抵の製造業企業は最適化状態に収斂しており、各企業が擁する製品(群)の(下限)販売単価は事業の利益極大化(下限)販売単価に等しく、税前利益は極大化していると既報で述べた。利益極大化(下限)販売単価は事業の研究開発要因倍率と企業規模とに依存するが、この両者間には、従業員1人当りの売上高と研究員1人当りの研究開発費の比率の関数として定義されるパラメター、Siを介した相互依存関係が見出されており、それを利用して利益極大化(下限)販売単価及び極大化税前利益の企業規模依存性に関する関係式をそれぞれ導いた。これらの関係式によるシミュレーション計算から、極大化税前利益〜企業規模の関係は1つの極大点を、利益極大化(下限)販売単価〜企業規模の関係は1つの極小点を持つことを示した。またこれらの極点の座標はいずれもSi のみの関数で、Si値が大きくなるほど利益は大きく、販売単価は小さく、極点を与える企業規模は大きくなる。組立て型最終製品企業のSiの実績値は素材製品企業のそれより一般に小さく、組立て型最終製品を生産する大企業の企業規模は、極点を与える企業規模と大差ないものと推定された。付文において、Siを媒介変数とする研究開発要因倍率と企業規模との相互依存関係式は、研究開発費の規模効果の記述式に他ならぬことを指摘した。

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製造業企業の経営を主導するとされる商社、銀行およびメーカーの3論理の間のバランスの問題を、JSR-RDMモデルと名付けた統計的シミュレーションモデルを利用して解析した。まず各論理に対応する入力経営指標と報告した3指標について2組の指標間比率を求め、各比率はいずれも研究開発要因倍率、λのみにより制御されることを示した。次にこれらの指標間比率のλ依存性は、各論理に対応する出力経営指標群について同様に計算される指標間比率のそれと同じになることを示した。次に経営活動が最適化状態にある場合のλの記述式は、従業員1人当りの売上高が企業共通の値に収斂しているとする経験的事実を利用して求められることを示した。そしてこれを管理項目および管理標準として新たに追加することにより、さきに提案した研究開発主導型経営の経営管理法は補完されて、より完成度の高いものになるものとした。さらに上述した指標間比率のλ依存性は、3論理に対応する各入力経営指標の企業規模依存性の違いを反映するものと推定した。

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