A varieties of small lot production and complicated processes are the principal forms of specialty-steel manufacturing. However, the amount of rolled products in Chita Plant, the largest specialty-steel plant in the world, exceeds 130, 000mT per month. This large tonnage could not be achieved without the computerized manufacturing systems including production-planning, process-controlling and quality-assurance programs. This paper, describes MERODY-System (Melting and Bloom Rolling Dynamic Control System) which makes the basis of the whole systems.
MERODY consists of, fundamentally,
(1) Schedule and technical-planning by dialogues between planners and computer;
(2) On-line process-controlling with various sub-systems and direct instructions through CRT displays to work shops.
This system had been developed in 1978 as the first step, and it was revised with a new large computer (ACOS 800-III) in 1980 in response to the installation of the new continuous casting machine. And at the present time, the efficient production of specialty steels with satisfactory properties are conducted through this system.

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Studies of self-assembly of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) are briefly reviewed and X-ray fiber diffraction analysis of TMV is described. The fiber diffraction analysis has enabled a molecular model of the intact virus to be built, based on a map at 3.6A resolution derived from five separated Bessel orders. This has been made possible by advances in the solution of the fiber diffraction phase problem. It is now possible to understand much of the chemical basis of TMV assembly, particularly in terms of inter-subunit electrostatic interactions and RNA binding. Consideration of the molecular structure in conjunction with physical chemical studies by other groups suggests that the nucleating aggregate for initiation of TMV assembly is not the 34-subunit disk, but a short (about two turns) helix of protein subunits, probably inhibited from further polymerization by the disordering of a peptide loop near the inner surface of the virus.

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Although numerous theoretical and empirical articles investigate factors affecting corporate demand for insurance, empirical tests of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are very limited. Also, empirical tests of life insurance demand is limited. This article is one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the demand for life insurance demand of manufacturing SMEs. This study uses data obtained from questionnaire survey and accounting data for 909 manufacturing SMEs in Japan to test the determinants of life insurance demand. Regarding insurance demand of Japanese SMEs, firm size, bankruptcy probability and ownership structure are important factors in determining life insurance purchase by SMEs. Also, the results indicate that life insurance purchase is associated with relationship with banks in some firms.

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Salinas Valley, California, is the leading lettuce-producing area in the United States. Production, processing and marketing of vegetables based in Salinas Valley are typical of the industrialized farming in the United States. This article intends to depict the dynamics of American agriculture by examining the activities of agribusiness with special reference to farming practices, land use, salad processing, and labor. Field studies were conducted in Salinas Valley and Imperial Valley.
Production of lettuce in Salinas Valley began in the early 1920s when ice-packed lettuce began to be shipped by rail to the eastern market. Lettuce growers originally marketed lettuce in the spring, summer, and fall from Salinas Valley. From the mid-1920s they began winter harvesting of lettuce in the dry areas of southern California and Arizona, typically in Imperial Valley and Yuma Valley. With the completion of the California Aqueduct, Huron in the western part of San Joaquin Valley grew as a new lettuce-producing area in the 1970s to supply lettuce in April and October. The system of year-round production of vegetables was thus established in the 1970s. Outside capital was invested in Salinas Valley during this period to promote the agribusiness venture of lettuce production and marketing. Some growers shifted to processing ready-pack fresh vegetables in the 1980s by establishing large plants in Salinas Valley.
The system of year-round supply of vegetables in Salinas Valley, Imperial Valley-Yuma Valley, and western San Joaquin Valley makes this part of the United States the leading produc of fresh vegetables in the world. Differences in climatic conditions, modern technology for preserving and transporting fresh vegetables, influx of large amounts of capital, availability of cheap labor, and improved infrastructure have combined to create this production complex. It plays an important role in the global supply of fresh vegetables as the produce is consumed not only in North America but also in Europe and Asia, including Japan.

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