A design process of means to solve social problems, which we call “Design loop”, consists of “a) method of recognizing overall image of a problem”, “b) method of devising solution“, “c) method of analyzing the impact of social changes (when the solution has on society)”, “d) method of assessing solution based on multidimensional values”. It is believed that utilizing “Design loop” is useful for designing appropriate solution to emerging social problems. By our research for these five years, each method has been developed. In this article, we try to verify practical effectiveness of “Design loop”, through applying each method (a)-d)) by rotation to issue of promoting intra-firm disaster-prevention measures, which is unresolved problem in Japan.

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Since Shakai-Gijutsu is related with various norms and values and its influence reaches far and wide, it must be evaluated by a multidimensional and multimethodological framework which is used for policy evaluation. I employ Fischer's framework of policy evaluation to evaluate the case of the Medical Diagnosis Navigation System. The framework consists of first-order of evaluation that deals with the concrete situational context and second-order of evaluation which considers the societal system as a whole, and in each of these, both empirical and normative evaluations are carried out. As a result, I find Fischer's framework useful since we can identify the case with this framework that Shakai-Gijutsu does not lead to a desirable social order at the social level even if it can be considered successful at the contextual level.

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To promote science and technology in safety and security field, building systems of matching technology seeds with public sectors needs and scientists networks is needed. We conducted a case study of the domestic counter-terrorism. As the result, without overview of the current state of the countermeasure and extraction of problems, promoting R&D in this field can't be done. It is important to build the stakeholder network at first.

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For the purpose of the enhancement of the medical quality and safety, the investigation system is required, which locates the cause of patients death in the process of the medical treatment., probes the cause of the accident with the analysis of the medical treatment substance and aims to prevent similar incidents. This study aims to find legal and political issues for the establishment of the third body for medical accidents investigation through analysis of the issue of the recent medical investigation system and operation of the Model project, "Investigation and analysis model project concerning mortalities related to medical practice", which is organized MHLW from Oct.2005.We found some issues,securing and training of proper persons, regional differnce,consistency with hospital investigation, data handling and relationship with police.

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It is important to increase care power while keeping care worker's health to enable care of disabled elderly in home in order to maintain a low birthrate aged society stability. Up to 80 percent of the home care workers have been afflicted by lumbago in Japan. Research of British regulations where the remarkable reduction of musculoskeletal-disorders (MD) has been realized has been compared to Japanese research related to the labor regulations. The consciousness, measure and its present condition towards MD reduction were investigated and clarified in the care work front. In order to decrease MD within the field of nursing and home care in Japan, the necessity for maintenance of the regulations was proved and described.

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We developed a piece of game software “Panic 2005” for enhancing organizational members' skills in foreseeing failure. Each time played, the game gave questions about similar failures to measure the player's process of acquiring abstract knowledge. Average results indicate that the players solved the quizzes faster and gained higher points as they accumulated the number of times they had played the game. Among the 25 that played the game over three times, however, 60% acquired knowledge. Among the 24 that answered a questionnaire after finishing the series of games, 80% enjoyed the knowledge gaining process through playing games, however, they suggested that the quizzes should reflect actual events closer to their everyday experience.

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Causal networks have been utilized as a tool for structuring complex social phenomena systematically and visually. However, in many cases creating a causal network necessitates a great deal of interpretive works by analyzers. In this study, we have developed a new method for automating the creation of causal networks by utilizing text data on the Web. Examples of its application are illustrated using real cases. It is argued that the proposed method provides ways for verifying the validity of daily life policy discourse through existing causal statements.

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Nanotechnology is expected to have a big positive impact on society, but at the same time there are big concerns about its negative impacts. In the present paper, firstly I clarify the characteristic of the problem of social implications of nanotechnology, and at the same time I will imply that existing frameworks are not enough to successfully deal with this complex problem. Secondly, I will propose a new framework to analyse this problem. Then finally I will apply this new framework to the problem of nanotechnology, and show its feasibility. There is a possibility that it will serve as a common ground for discussion among people with different recognitions.

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Recently we are faced with the threat of terrorism all over the world. Japan also is no exception. We, therefore, must assess the risk for the first step and take countermeasures against terrorism as soon as possible. In this study, a risk assessment model for terrorism was proposed. Risk of a terrorist attack (probability of occurrence and expected loss) is assessed for cities using traditional hazard-vulnerability modeling framework. Hazard and vulnerability data are derived from terrorism statistics for the US, Iraq and Japan. The model developed was applied to some cities for assessing their terrorism risk.

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This paper proposes a method to generate future scenarios with an analysis on the reciprocal expectation of stakeholders and applies it to a case of regional transport planning. Our method covers both macroscopic uncertainty and microscopic uncertainty. The macroscopic uncertainty originates from five factors: natural, political, economics, social and technological, whereas the microscopic uncertainty originates from interrelations among stakeholders. We demonstrate an empirical application of the proposed method to a case of regional transport planning of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

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In siting a repositogy for higjh level radioactive wastes it is essential for consensus building to give a simple explanation as to why the area has been selected as a suitable site. However asymmetry of information exists between society and experts because various types of investigation/analysis or assessment are implemented and a wide variety of advanced consideration of issues concerning science and technology are required. This paper shows 'IT-based Site Investigation Flow Diagram' developed as a means for information sharing and collective decision making between society and experts. This tool is considered as a very effective social technology which can enhance the transparency and traceability of decision-making process and relative technology during siting stage, and describe the process easily to society by visual expression.

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The framework for analyzing energy science and technology policy for citizens (general public) is developed for designing and implementing energy science and technology policy with the public understanding and trust. Firstly, the concept of citizens is defined based on public interest theories, and the benefits for citizens are analyzed from various viewpoints. Then, a constitutional political economic model is developed that describes the relationship between citizens and the government as two processes: the trust of citizen on the government and the enjoyment of policy benefits by the citizens. Finally, the gap between the citizen's expectation and the benefits of the policy for citizens are analyzed.

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"Independence" is given to safety regulatory institutions in order to get social trust to safety regulatory institutions. Independence can be categorized into political independence in various contexts and technical capability independence. Through in depth study of US NRC institution and its implementation, in comparison with Japanese experience, it is learned that it is important to have technical independence in addition to political independence to acquire social trust.

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In this paper, we propose the system which will make arrangement of much information in real time possible and support for decision making. The system consist of four tools, tool for supporting communication in the normal situation, tool for supporting communication in emergency condition, tool for supporting construction of database from communication, and tool for supporting information presentation. In addition, we discuss the necessity of the construction of method for operating this system. The system and the operation technique are offered as a package. And it expected that the package will facilitate implementation of the system in organizations and social group. Therefore, it expected that the package will heighten an effect of the system.

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User study of a multimedia presentation system called SPOC and Weblog system for risk communication is reported. Understanding availabilities and limitations of SPOC and Weblog system for risk communication is important for planning an implementation of a socio-technical tool. We had an experiment using SPOC and Weblog system for risk communication, and analyzed results obtained from this experiment. From analysis results, we found that (1) SPOC and Weblog are accepted by ordinary people, (2) an important reminder of using Weblog for posting opinions, (3) important reminder of the management of portal site on risk communication.

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