JSCE Magazine
Latest Magazine
vol.100 No.4 Apr. 2015
Feature Articles : Making the best use of limited resources –From the viewpoint of construction materials
Our present life is built on consuming limited resources on the earth. As far as we try to maintain and further develop our present society, it is necessary to consider the scenario that the economically utilizable natural resources would be exhausted in the near future.
Facing the problem of the depletion of high quality natural resources, various efforts have been undertaken in the field of construction materials. This special issue focuses on one of the these efforts, the technology that utilizes alternative materials as construction materials, such as wastes and industrial by-products, or natural resources regarded as not suitable for construction materials so far.
This special issue consists of a keynote article that comprehensively discusses the application of underutilized materials and four articles on case studies. It is our intention that it can make civil engineers, who are involved in consuming a large amount of resources for social infrastructure development, to think about what should be done in order to “make the best use of limited resources”.
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＜Back Number＞
Feature Articles : The power of Civil Engineering to support the height of reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake –Forefront of recovery and reconstruction of social
infrastructure–It has been almost four years since the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred in March 2011. JSCE magazine has disseminated information in a variety of viewpoints from both hard and soft perspectives through an “Earthquake Special Column” in each issue over one year after the earthquake. Later, articles focused on the efforts of JSCE related to the earthquake, and the current situation of the recovery and the reconstruction have been published in a “special issue” every six months, and messages from the site by people in various fields working in the affected areas for the recovery and the reconstruction have been published as a “series” in each issue until today. The “Special issues” published in the third year after the earthquake introduced examples of reconstruction projects utilizing a wide variety of technologies.
As a report in the fourth year after the earthquake, this special issue presents the current situation of social infrastructure development, and introduces the achievements in the past four years and future prospects based on the latest knowledge and trends through representative facilities and structures in various fields.Feature Articles : Education for International Engineers in Universities－for ASEAN students who like civil engineering in Japan and for Japanese students who like ASEAN countries
In recent years, education programs that aim to cultivate human resources that can play an active role in the international arena have been implemented in many universities. Although previously the counterparts of international exchange education programs are mainly universities in the U.S and European countries, in recent years, the number of education programs that place attention on Asian countries, in particular ASEAN countries have been increasing. The objectives of these education programs are cultivating Japanese students to acquire the ability to understand what people in ASEAN countries, their potential counterparts, are thinking of, and giving opportunities to students in ASEAN countries to familiarize with technologies and management techniques of Japan. This special issue, focusing on international exchange education programs with ASEAN countries, aims to find out a desirable way for international engineer education, in order to foster fans of ASEAN countries in Japan, and fans of Japanese civil engineering in ASEAN countries. It is our intention that this special issue will provide an opportunity to think about the direction to take in order to cultivate international engineers which is an urgent issue.-
Feature Articles : Evolution and expansion of spatial information – Innovation from integration of services
Along with the dramatic change of the environment for acquiring data in recent years, it has become indispensable to aggregate vast amounts of information and to take a comprehensive view of the whole. Spatial information, the information associated with location, is important in the field of Civil Engineering, and has a wide range of variety. Recently, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been given great attention, and its expression and content is deepening and has increasing diversification. In addition, the “Basic Act on the Advancement of Utilizing Geospatial Information” was enacted in 2007, in an effort to promote actions relating to Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Moreover, its fields of application are also expanding by combining spatial information freely. It is expected that innovations can be born from the services that integrate data of position, and from the further integration of these services. This special issue gives an overview of the true value and issues of spatial information, and it is our intent that it can provide an opportunity to think about the further evolution of spatial information in the future and expansion of its new applications.-
No.12 2014(PDF)
Feature articles: Public-Private-Partnership of civil engineering–Challenge to the new structure–-
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Facing the shrinking population, declining birthrate, and the aging society, it is a common forecast that the financial resource of the government will continue to decrease. Downfall of the government budgets leads to reduction of public investment, and this fact is making it more and more difficult for the stakeholders to keep up with the ongoing system of construction and maintenance of civil engineering related to public facilities. This is why the civil engineering system is said to be facing a big challenge, growing out of the long-established direct provision of the public infrastructure by the government alone.
- No.11 2014(PDF)
Feature articles:Reflecting on the Origins of Civil Engineering in the Centennial Year
Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2014. The "JSCE Magazine" issued in November 2014, exactly 100 years since the establishment of JSCE in November 24, 1914, focuses on rethinking what is “Life of Affluence” of people contributed by civil engineering. To achieve this, the role of civil engineering is identified from three perspectives: “Expand”, “Support”, and “Protect”.In addition, attention is given to "Nurture" people who work for it. This special issue aims to provide an opportunity, energy and support to JSCE members to reflect on the “origins of civil engineering” in the centennial year, through reviewing the history of society and civil engineering in Japan in these 100 years.
- No.10 2014(PDF)
Feature articles:New Approach to Teach Civil Engineering-Efforts of Practice-Based Learning- -
The necessary skills that are generally required of civil engineers are,
（1）Communication skills, leadership skills and a wide range of expertise to integrate technicians in various disciplines.
（2）Problem finding, analyzing and solving ability to advance projects based on the comprehensive analysis of problems with various elements intricately interrelated.
（3）International way of thinking to play an active role on the world stage in a globalized society.
Higher education institutes for civil engineering such as universities and professional colleges are making efforts continuously with an aim to develop human resources with the above abilities. In addition to conducting traditional passive learning based education through lecturing for acquiring solid knowledge of basic specialized subjects, in recent years, an increasing number of institutions have begun to provide opportunities to improve above abilities by increasing the share of “Practice Based Learning” in the curriculum. This special issue introduces specific examples of these efforts and their effects to educators who have actively adopted Practice Based Learning.
No.9 2014(PDF)
Feature articles:Centennial Jubilee of Civil Engineering Legacy and the Resolute Mission for Evolutionary Designs-
Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2014. When JSCE was established in 1914, Midosuji Boulevard and subway Midosuji Line beneath the Boulevard had already been completed in Osaka. These facilities even after more than 100 years, are fulfilling their mission and objectives. This is exactly the type of large-scale project that is suitable as a prime example for the long-term planning for centennial year.
Feature articles:Sustainable Urban Development Advancing Together with the Integration of Transport Systems ─Utilizing Environmental friendly transport systems─
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Japan has progressed into an automobile society rapidly since 1960. This has greatly improved the convenience of mobility and expanded the urban area at a fast pace. However, this has also brought about several problems such as chronic traffic congestion, air pollution, and increase in traffic accidents. In addition, taking a look at our lives, life styles are changing along with “population declining” or “reducing birth rate and aging population”, resulting in diversified issues surrounding the living environment. Under such circumstances, currently many efforts to redesign transport systems and regenerate urban infrastructure have been made all over Japan.
Therefore, this special issue focuses on “Urban development advancing with the integration of transport systems”, which has growing importance in both reducing environmental impact, and coping with declining birth rate and population aging. Through introduction of the “Best practices of urban development advancing together with the integration of transport systems”, and “Cases of introducing and utilizing environmental friendly transport systems”, it is our intention to provide an opportunity to think about “what should civil engineers do” in order to create a comfortable living environment.
- No.7 2014(PDF)
- Feature articles:Present and future asset management─Progress, Outcomes and Problems in 10 years─
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Ten years have passed since the asset management system had been widely introduced in Japan. The word “Asset Management” first appeared in the 2003 report of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Then, Challenge for Asset Management was published by JSCE, Japan Society of Civil Engineering, in 2005. The asset management system became well known, and many studies have been conducted in order to construct theories and seek practical methods of asset management system. Meanwhile, deterioration-prediction-method and Information and Communications Technology made marked progress.
- No.6 2014(PDF)
- Feature articles:Civil Engineering Tourism" Nowadays -for satisfying intellectual curiosity-
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Civil engineers always need to gain understanding from the public. “Civil Engineering Tourism” is a useful means of communication for this purpose. Recently, citizen activities to promote the attractiveness of surrounding civil engineering facilities (Doboku Mania) have become very active. Civil engineers should actively publicize the role of the civil engineer to society, and the means of tourism is the key to achieve this. If experts can share specialized information with the general public in a way that is easy to understand, it can stimulate the intellectual curiosity of the public, and facilitate the understanding of civil engineering.
- No.5 2014(PDF)
- Feature articles: Working in the Middle East, Challenges for Civil Engineers
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The Middle East has attracted world’s attention in various aspects such as oil, war, economy and religion. In construction industry, several big projects are undergoing in Dubai and Abu Dhabi such as construction of Masdar smart city and Sudeiri industrial park. Many countries have expanded business in the Middle East as this area is expected to have high demand for social infrastructure. However, very few Japanese construction companies consider the Middle East as main market. Though some Japanese trading and engineering companies are involved in plant construction, their business partners are not only Japanese companies.
- No.4 2014(PDF)
- Feature articles:Discussion on extreme weather events and growing mega-disasters
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This special issue focuses on intensifying extreme weather events with low frequency of occurrence, provides basic knowledge of extreme weather events, and presents voices from affected areas suffering from disasters that happened one after another. This issue also introduces “Facing growing mega-disasters, how should civil engineers plan to take actions in cooperation with experts in related fields”. In particular, focusing on the contents of the Fifth Assessment Report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in September 2013, which provides an important perspective to climate change in the future, the intent of this special issue is to gain understanding and cooperation from readers in preparing for disaster prevention and taking necessary countermeasures against disasters, resulting from extreme weather events and climate change.
- No.3 2014(PDF)
- Feature articles:Recent Efforts in Civil Engineering for Post-Earthquake Restoration ─ Demands on Civil Engineer's Originality and Creativity ─
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It is three years after the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The recovery of the affected areas has moved to a full-scale recovery stage from a restoration stage focusing on debris disposal. However, several serious issues have impeded the recovery plan. These issues, which include difficulties in consensus building between related organizations and local residents in the reconstruction of embankments devastated by the tsunami, a standstill of recovery process due to the delay of decontamination, and leakage of contaminated water from the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, will lead to an uncertain future.
- No.2 2014(PDF)
- Feature articles:What is an attractive industry? ─ What is the industry that motivates the young generation considering their career options to dream of "I want to work in this industry"? This question is the start point of the theme of this special issue.─
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The Civil Engineering industry faces various challenges in our society, such as the rapidly declining birth rate and growing aging population, maintenance of infrastructure built during the period of high economic growth, and restoration after the Great East Japan Earthquake; and plays an important role in overcoming these challenges. In order to solve challenging issues in an efficient and timely manner with a priority for ensuring safety of the people, the Civil Engineering industry should place emphasis on "human resources". How to develop and secure excellent human resources, and create an environment where people can actively work with a feeling of "worth doing", is a significant challenge necessary for the development of the industry.
- No.1 January 2014(PDF)
- Feature articles:Aim to build a relationship of trust with society
- ─Discuss about challeges and prospects of the media in civil engineering.─
- It is often discussed that the images for civil engineering need to be reconsidered.
It might be true that there are many civil engineers who doubt that the media, such as newspaper and Television, for public enterprise broadcast the images of civil engineering in wrong ways for a long time. And, the words to make its reputation good have been increasing nowadays. - More>>>
- No.12 December 2013(PDF)
- Feature articles:Remote Islands of Japan - To Understand, Protect and Utilize
- Japan consists of 6,852 islands which are the basis for the vast Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Various marine resources exist in the EEZ which is also important as an area for the preservation of marine resources. Neritic waters are formed in the surrounding areas of those islands, and they function as a habitat for marine creatures. In particular, due to the importance of marine management and the expectations of the development of marine resources and energy, the Basic Act on Ocean Policy was enacted in 2007, and a new Basic Plan on Ocean Policy was approved by the Cabinet in April 2013, in which the strategically important role of remote islands to the nation has been highlighted.
- Feature articles:The frontiers of infrastructure condition evaluation and future prediction
- The safety and security of infrastructure is a major concern, in particular, after recent accidents and detection of severe structural damage in bridges, tunnels, and other critical infrastructure. There is an urgent need to address efficient management of infrastructure, damage prevention, and preparation against disaster, with a long-term perspective. The effectiveness of infrastructure management depends mainly on condition assessment and future performance prediction, which are in principle, based upon visual inspection and design documents. Such evaluations are by and large very effective, although relatively expensive and time consuming. Nonetheless, large uncertainties could remain even after the evaluation.
- Feature articles:Urban Transport System in the Smart Era - Learning from the past to think about the future of data utilisatin -
- Words that are associated with and preceded by ‘smart’ are now prevalent. Several definitions can be found for the word ‘smart’ in the dictionary. The current trend of usage for ‘smart’ seems to be focused on conveying the sense of information processing functions. In the infrastructure industry, words such as ‘smart infrastructure’ and ‘smart city’ are gaining traction. Given the constant advancements in information technology, the demand for the use of information technology in constructing better infrastructure is likely to increase.
- Feature articles:The role and future of a base to Kanto block for the personal exchange, logistics and infrastructure development
- In this special number, we focused Chiba Prefecture as a front door of Kanto block and analyzed the role of the local area which supported the personal exchange, logistics, human lives and economical activities for Kanto block. After analyzed the role of this area from the point of the past, the present, and the future, summarized the role of the local area which has supported the Kanto block and the future direction of it. The special number consists of three sections.
Part I focuses the infrastructure of traffic, logistics and energy related facilities which have been used for 30 years and explores the new directivity of infrastructure of the urban areas with conducting of Ex-post Evaluation of them.
- Feature articles:Global Human Resources to safegurd the future of Civil Engineering
- While the presence of Japan in the international community is decreasing, it becomes a critical challenge for Japanese industry, mainly in the manufacturing sector, to develop human resources from the global era, the so-called "global human resources". However, there are many problems to be solved, such as the delay of global human resource development in major universities and enterprises, inward thinking and inadequate international experience of young people, unclear career paths, and exclusive devotion to leadership development.
- No.7 July 2013(PDF)
- Feature articles:What is the nature of maintenance of social infrastructure? -For gaining a better public understanding-
- Since most of social infrastructure in Japan was built during the period 1960-1980, we are now entering the period where aging facilities that have been in service for more than 50 years will increase rapidly, and the maintenance and management of these facilities has become a long-term social problem. Though civil engineers have been making great efforts to solve this problem, there still remain many unsolved issues.
- No.6 June 2013(PDF)
- Feature articles:The Problem and Future of Research Institutes ～ For the Development of the Civil Engineering Technology ～
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The "Science and Technology Basic Law" of Japan was enacted in 2005. This Law stipulates the guidelines for the promotion of science and technology, and also stipulates that besides the formulation of the Science and Technology Basic Plan, endeavors shall be undertaken to ensure the availability of necessary funds for the implementation of the plan.
- Conserving the sandy beaches in Japan - Various approaches to coastal erosio-
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Japan surrounded by sea on all sides has a very long shoreline. Due to this topographical feature, costal hazards such as tsunamis and storm surges occur frequently. While the protective function of coast has been enhanced by constructing coastal structures so far, in recent years, increasing attention has also been given to the protective function of sandy beaches. Although the devastating tsunami that resulted from the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011 caused major damage in coastal areas, there are reports of cases where direct damage was reduced due to coastal forests and sandy beaches that attenuated the tsunami. The preservation of a safe and abundant coastal environment can be said to be the mission of civil engineering not only in the event of a coastal disaster but also at other times for public use. In recent years, the need for integrated sediment management has received much attention since local optimization could not be a fundamental solution.
- No.4 April 2013(PDF)
- Feature articles:Marine national Japan's Renewable Energy - Practical applications of offshore wind power generation -
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The energy portfolio of Japan is heavily depending on imported fossil fuels including LNG, oil and coal. Share of these fossil energy sources leach to 95%. Self-sufficiency rate of energy of Japan is 4.8% including 1.4% of renewable energy in the year of 2010.
Japan is surrounded by sea and we are the 6th largest country in the world in terms of sea surface area. Energy production at sea by wind, wave, and tide has great potential for the improvement of self-sufficiency rate.
Because of reason above, energy production at sea is demanded by the society, however, this attempt is a novel challenge for energy-related industries.
This feature article provides vision for civil engineers from the viewpoint of various fields including finance, planning, environmental assessment, planning and construction. Role and responsibility of civil engineering in the renewable energy industry will be proposed.
- No.3 March 2013(PDF)
- Feature articles:Current topics on performance based design
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In Japan, a country frequently affected by earthquakes, the anti-seismic criteria have been repeatedly revised since the time it was first introduced by earthquake legislation after the Great Kanto earthquake occurred in 1923. In addition to earthquakes, other natural disasters including inundation damage due to storm surge in coastal areas, flood damage of rivers, roads and railways caused by heavy rains, and sediment damage have also frequently occurred in Japan. In such a harsh environment, in order to reasonably construct and maintain safe and secure infrastructure, starting with the transition of design method from conventional Specification Based Design to Performance Based Design (“PBD”), a variety of technical standards and categories of standards have been developed specifically, based on types of facilities like rivers, roads, railways, ports, and power transmission, or types of materials like soil, steel-concrete, while various research and development have been carried out and advanced technologies have been introduced.
- Feature articres:Two years from Great East Japan Earthquake
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Two years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. The JSCE magazine has reported various articles on the damages and restoration activities stemming from the disaster. Additionally, various proposals from member engineers have also been introduced to ensure the planning of safe societies recovering from major disasters.
- No.2 February 2013(PDF)
- Feature articles:Thinking about the Super-Aged Society -The Role of Civil Engineering for Building a Sustainable Society-
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It is estimated that the population aging rate in Japan will continue to rise in the future and the aged population will reach 39.9% of the total population in 2060, a number that would remain the highest in the world at least until 2060. Japan is facing a Super-Aged Society that no country in the world has ever experienced, and this situation will continue for the next 50 years.
- No.1 January 2013(PDF)
- Feature articles:The Water Issues of the Megacity Tokyo -Thinking about the World's Top Megacity Tokyo from the Viewpoint of Water-
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One of the important pillars of civil engineering is water-related issues. The JSCE Magazine “Civil Engineering”, No. 7, 2011 featured “International development in the field of water supply and sewage infrastructure – in an attempt to become Water baron”, which takes up the topics of international contributions and business models in the water sector. In this special issue, we would like to feature water issues in metropolitan areas where the majority of the people live.
2012
- No.12 December 2012(PDF)
- Feature articles: The leading figure of the local infrastructure
- No.11 November 2012(PDF)
- Feature articles: Development of Infrastructure -Efforts on Financial Resources and Implemention Schemes-
- No.10 October 2012(PDF)
- Feature articles: The compass of civil engineers -Gradual improvement of their passion and knowledge-
- No.9 September 2012(PDF)
- Feature articles: Regional Design toward Future Human Life
- No.8 August 2012(PDF)
- Feature articles: The compass of civil engineers -Outreach of civil engineers-
- No.7 July 2012(PDF)
- Feature articles: Toward the practical use of satellite technology for our life and country
- No.6 June 2012(PDF)
- Feature articles: Non-Structual Measures:Safety Ensuring in Time of Disaster
- No.5 May 2012(PDF)
- A Special Report on 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (1): The New Growth Strategy in the Civil Engineering Technology
- No.4 April 2012(PDF)
- Feature articles: One Year after the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake
- No.3 March 2012(PDF)
- A Special Report on 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (1): One Year after the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake
- No.2 February 2012(PDF)
- Feature articles: Gather the best that advanced engineering has to offer：Now of the nuclear energy back-end in Japan
- No.1 January 2012(PDF)
- Feature articles: Taking lessons from the past civil engineers for future infrastructure
2011
- No.12 December 2011(PDF)
- No.11 November 2011(PDF)
- No.10 October 2011(PDF)
- No.9 September 2011(PDF)
- No.8 August 2011(PDF)
- No.7 July 2011(PDF)
- No.6 June 2011(PDF)
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