Population decentralization policies: the experience of Taiwan

"Social and economic policies and programs adopted by the government of Taiwan have slowed the pace of population concentration and prevented the highly concentrated distribution of population experienced by many developing countries. After presenting a brief analysis of Taiwan's population growth and distribution during the past three decades, this text examines the policies and programs credited with having curbed population concentration. They include both spatial development policies established for the purpose of decentralizing the population and its economic activities, and development policies that, although not designed expressly to curb population concentration, have had such an effect."     

Urban and population decentralization policies: the experience of Taiwan,R.O.C.

The policies that have been successfully implemented in Taiwan to minimize the impact of urbanization and to slow the pace of population concentration are described. Consideration is given to policies designed to affect spatial distribution both directly and indirectly.     

Toward a closer integration of population in development policies in Taiwan

The author examines the process whereby research on population topics has been evaluated and either included in or excluded from public policy formation and implementation in Taiwan. Sections are included on the relationship between agricultural development and family planning activities and on demographic concerns in economic planning.     

建设骨干企业 推进技术创新 努力实现跨世纪的战略目标

2000年是世纪交替之年,是承上启下之年,也是实现跨世纪战略目标的第一年。2000年要以建设一批骨干企业为抓手,以推进产品为中心的技术创新为支撑,提高参与国际国内市场的竞争能力,确保当年经济目标的实现。力争产值达115亿元,增长3％;销售收入达168亿元,增长8％;利润达2.1亿元(含债转股因素),增长10％;创汇达11亿     

Population distribution and quality of life in the Taiwan area

The unbalanced distribution of population in Taiwan is first described, together with the problems posed by both uneven distribution and overpopulation. The characteristics of migrants are examined, and their motives for migration are reviewed. In the second part, a design for a more rational urban hierarchy is proposed. The design involves a redistribution of the population away from the Taipei metropolitan area.     

World food consumption: Can we achieve a balance?

This article sets out to analyse the problem of inequalities in consumption levels between countries, and within countries between people in different income groups. It first examines food consumption, then an attempt is made to establish certain quantitative relationships between overconsumption and malnutrition. Finally, it explores methods which might make it possible to transfer food from one part of the world to another, entailing a reduction in food consumption in the industrialised countries.     

Government and food distribution in LDCs: The Turkish experience

Opinions differ over the extent to which governments directly intervene in the actual buying and selling of food products, and thus act as intermediaries. Although private sector intermediaries continue to be the central core of the food distribution system in developing countries, the recent trend has been toward increasing government involvement. Patterns and characteristics of food distribution systems in use differ within developing countries. In this article, these differences are related systematically to the differences in the government environment, and is specifically illustrated by the situation in Turkey. Governmental factors are analyzed to show that differing food distribution practices are the result of the prevailing environmental conditions. The author also suggests that the introduction of certain food distribution insitutions, methods and techniques in developing countries is dependent upon appropriate governmental conditions.     

Creating a quantum design schema: Integrating extra-rational and rational learning processes

The traditional, linear, rational models of designing have over-simplified a complex process; unfortunately, this simplification misrepresents reality. Students need to become aware of the ambiguous nature of a complex process such as designing just as they need to be introduced to the ambiguous nature of living in a modern world. The challenge is to develop a design process to be used as a teaching/learning strategy that is non-linear, that integrates processes from the rational and extra-rational levels of the mind and which captures the ambiguous nature of the design process. Using the counter-intuitive behaviour that exists in quantum theory as an analogy seems best to describe the true nature of designing.Dr. Tom Puk is Coordinator of Continuing Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. He teaches in preservice, continuing education and graduate programs, and has conducted major research for Ontario Ministry of Education on Technology Education and Design Processes in 1991; this research was used to develop two provincial curriculum guidelines for all schools in Ontario. Email: tpuk@sky.LakeheadU.CA     

The art of building a car: the Swedish experience re-examined

The Swedish automobile industry has recently encountered significant difficulties. This article reviews a major study of the relationships between production, technology and work organisation in Volvo and Saab. It compares the Swedish approach to automobile production with those of the American and Japanese companies and speculates on whether the Swedish industry will survive in the coming decade.     

Telephone number distribution: a snapshot at the beginning of 2000

The United States is depleting its stock of telephone numbers for assignment to telecommunications carriers. If current trends continue the industry could run out of numbers as soon as 2015. There is little empirical examination of this problem in the economics literature. This analysis examines the distribution of telephone numbers across the United States and quantifies the effects of several key factors. The authors examine the effects that population density, competition for local telephone service, wireless telephone service provision and rate exchange area consolidation have on telephone number assignment.     

Liberalisation of telecoms: the Ghanaian experience

Ghana has positively responded to global restructuring in the telecoms sector by enabling the citizens to enjoy some of the benefits of the restructuring process. As part of the national Accelerated Development Plan for the telecoms sector, the sector has been liberalised and structures have been put in place to foster the participation of other providers. It is argued in this paper that liberalisation has contributed towards increased telecoms penetration in the country. However, poor quality of service and the seeming inability of the National Communication Authority to deal with problems of the sector appear to have crowded out the benefits of liberalisation.     

ICT and economic development in Taiwan: analysis of the evidence

The IT-led development strategy adopted by Taiwan has been greatly recognised by other Asian newly industrialised economies (NIEs) in their own NII initiatives. This paper discusses the impact of ICT on economic growth in Taiwan based on longitudinal data over 16 years. It highlights the joint impact of national IT capabilities and national IT investment on economic growth, and the findings imply that the payoff effect of IT investment on economic growth can be achieved only through a robust national information infrastructure that supports IT adoption and application.     

Realities of R&D as a business: MBI's experience

The level of effort in a R&D activity on research or development depends upon whether the R&D activity is basic or applied. In general, the R&D at a university is focused more on the research (R of R&D) whereas the emphasis in an industrial R&D is more on the development (D of R&D) and less on research. In the past, this created a gap difficult to bridge between the R&D needs of an industrial sector and the R&D output from university and governmental laboratories. The recent success in R&D as a business has mainly been due to understanding the critical steps needed to take an idea to a marketplace and, thus, the emphasis on R or D has become a moving target depending upon the need. MBI International, a non‐profit R&D organization, was created to bridge the gap between academic and industrial R&D and to validate, develop and demonstrate technologies having commercial potential in the industrial sector. In the process, MBI developed partnerships with universities, governmental agencies, foundations, and industries to resource innovative technologies, funds, physical facilities and market opportunities to make the R&D business a reality. In this paper, we present MBI's experience in developing and commercializing R&D technologies in several new spin‐off companies, joint ventures, and out‐licensing.     

做一个新时期的创业者

当前中国正处在一个关键时刻。中国的人均GDP已经超过了1000美元．按照全世界发展中国家的比较来看．人均GDP超过1000美元以后有两类国家，一类国家比如韩国、新加坡，超出1000美元以后，经济很快上去了，另外一些国家像拉丁美洲，却长期徘徊不前。因此，我们一定要避免拉美现象的发生，使我们的经济能够很快地成倍增长。     

在和谐社会中构建和谐图书馆

构建和谐图书馆是顺应和谐社会的发展要求,是图书馆建设的必然趋势。图书馆建设应是与时俱进的,紧紧跟随时代的发展,为读者提供更全面、更准确的信息,使图书馆的服务由被动逐渐转为主动,拉近与读者的距离,充分发挥图书馆的作用。     

From experience: applying the risk diagnosing methodology

No risk, no reward. Companies must take risks to launch new products speedily and successfully. The ability to diagnose and manage risks is increasingly considered of vital importance in high-risk innovation. This article presents the Risk Diagnosing Methodology (RDM), which aims to identify and evaluate technological, organizational and business risks in product innovation. RDM was initiated, developed and tested within a division of Philips Electronics, a multinational company in the audio, video and lighting industry. On the basis of the results the senior Vice President (R&D) of Philips Lighting decided to include the method in the company's standard innovation procedures. Since then, RDM has been applied on product innovation projects in areas as diverse as automobile tires, ship propellers, printing equipment, landing gear systems and fast-moving consumer goods such as shampoo, margarine and detergents.
In this article we will describe how Unilever, one of the world's leading companies in fast-moving consumer goods, adopted RDM after a major project failure in the midnineties. At Unilever, RDM proved very useful in diagnosing project risks, promoting creative solutions for diagnosed risks and strengthening team ownership of the project as a whole. Our results also show that RDM outcomes can be used to build a knowledge base of potential risks in product innovation projects.     

Introducing students to bio-inspiration and biomimetic design: a workshop experience

In recent years, bio-inspired approach to design has gained considerable interest between designers, engineers and end-users. However, there are difficulties in introducing bio-inspiration concepts in the university curriculum in that they involve multi-disciplinary work, which can only possibly be successfully delivered by a team with integrated competencies. The aim of this work is summarising the results of the first workshop on bio-inspired design carried out at the Hybrid Design Lab of Seconda Università di Napoli, involving Year 2 students of the BSc in Industrial Design. The common theme proposed for their projects was “Bio-inspired design of sport”. Ideally, a sport item would need to respond to a number of exigencies, including safety, comfort, zero-energy balance and/or use of renewable energy sources, multi-functionality. The common aim of the projects was investigating in which cases bio-inspiration can assist in the fulfilment of the above exigencies. The students were asked to present examples from nature and, via an abstraction process, to apply them to the design of sport items. Finally, they were required to clarify the nature and the extent of bio-inspiration in their projects. Some of the projects, which were considered more interesting and realisable, are reported and briefly commented, especially on the nature, extent and appropriateness of their bio-inspiration. A test for feedback has been given to the students, whose scope, structure and general outcome is also discussed.     

把握经济走势 促进纺织发展

代的车轮不停的旋转，人类 跨入了一个新的历史世纪。作为我国国民经济的支柱产业，一个世纪以来,纺织工业在满足人民生活需求、促进经济发展、保持社会稳定等方面作出了突出的贡献，在圆满完成“九五”计划和纺织突破口攻坚任务的大好形势下，纺织工业也将进入一个新的发展阶段。现就今年以来纺织经济运行情况、2001年的形势预测和采取的应对举措谈一点粗浅的看法： 2000年以来，我国国民经济发展呈现出了较好的发展势头，主要经济指标大多已摆脱多年来的下降趋势，经济形势出现重要转机：经济增长由回落转向回升，各项需求增幅出现…     

地质遗迹的保护和合理开发

地质遗迹是地球演化历史中形成、发展并遗留下来的一种不可再生的自然资源,记载着丰富的地球历史信息,具有很高的科研价值和社会价值。加强地质遗迹的保护,合理开发利用地质遗迹资源,将会产生很好的社会、经济和环境效益。