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IAC News No.12, September 2013

Japan Society of Civil Engineers  International Activities Center September 27, 2013 IAC News No.12

The 6th CIVIL ENGINEERING CONFERENCE IN ASIA REGION: CECAR

The 6th Civil Engineering Conference in Asian Region (CECAR 6) was held from August 20 to 22, 2013, in Jakarta, Indonesia. CECAR is a major activity of Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECC) held on a triennial basis. CECAR 6 was hosted by Indonesia Society of Civil and Structural Engineers.

The signing ceremony for Jakarta Protocol was held at the opening ceremony on the first day of the conference. ACECC member societies agreed to take responsibility in their performances for a sustainable future. The presidents of each ACECC member society including Mr. Hashimoto, JSCE president, attended the ceremony and signed the Protocol. (Photo1)

The conference included major activities of keynote speeches, parallel sessions and organized sessions. Prof. Yozo Fujino (The University of Tokyo) was one of the keynote speakers and attracted substantial audiences. Parallel sessions consist of research presentations based on the papers accepted by the CECAR steering committee. 43 out of 239 presentations were made by the researchers in Japan. Organized sessions were planned and operated by the ACECC member societies and the ACECC technical committee. JSCE played a leading part in organizing Asian Board Meeting, Tsunami session and Symposium on Asia and Pacific Collaboration of ITS research.

ACECC presents ACECC Civil Engineering Project Award and Achievement Award at CECAR. This time, ”Shin-Tomei Expressway Constructing Project” by Central Nippon Expressway Company Limited (NEXCO Central) won ”Outstanding Project Award”, which is given to the best project. Meanwhile, Dr. Hiroshi Okada (The 86th JSCE president) became an Achievement Award winner. (Photo2)

Concurrently with this conference, JSCE held an exchange meeting with local civil engineers in Indonesia and a technical tour to ”Urgent Bali Beach Conservation Project”. Both were held with great success. Meantime, JSCE signed cooperative agreement with Indonesia Society of Civil and Structural Engineers (Photo 3), and has renewed the cooperative agreement with Nepal Engineers’ Association.

The upcoming 7th CECAR is to be hosted by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), in Hawaii, in 2016. The ACECC flag was handed over to the next host at the closing ceremony. Prof. Yeung (ASCE) was appointed Chairman of Executive Committee, and Dr. Kenichi Horikoshi (JSCE) was appointed Secretary General.
 


(Phto 2)
Dr.Hiroshi Okada (left) and Mr.Okawa(2nd from right) the ACECC Achivement Award and Outstanding Project Award recipients 

(Photo 3 )
JSCE signs an Agreement of Cooperation with the Indonesian Society of Civil and Structural Engineers
 

FY2013 JSCE Study Tour Grant

Since 1992, the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) has been providing an opportunity for foreign students and young engineers to experience a short stay in Japan through the Study Tour Grant (STG) supported by the International Scientific Exchange Fund (ISEF). This year, three undergraduate students were invited from Vietnam (Mr. Pham Thanh Tung), Cambodia (Mr. Pich Chanvichet), and Pakistan (Mr. Ali Bin Sohail) for the period between August 29 and September 7.
During their stay, they actively visited many sites, such as construction sites, research institutes, universities, and the disaster site in Tohoku; their schedule was always tight.

They confessed to being profoundly impressed by Japan’s high standard of quality control and civil engineering technology at the bridge and road constructions sites managed by NEXCO EAST. They noted the importance of fundamental research as well as state-of-the-art technology through the tours to Public Works Research Institute and Kajima Research Institute. They also visited Tokyo Institute of Technology, where they interacted with Japanese and foreign students, exchanging stories on their daily lives and talking about future dreams, among other things.

Furthermore, the tour this year included a visit to areas in Miyagi affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Although tsunamis are less common in their home countries, they were stunned when they saw a toppled concrete building at one of the sites in Onagawa. One of the students gravely conveyed his feeling of concern about future possible disasters in his country after learning of the situation in Tohoku.

During the last three days of the tour, they participated in The 68th JSCE Annual Meeting held at Nihon University and then attended the 15th International Summer Symposium, where they met many invited international participants as well as key persons from JSCE international branches. They likewise joined the Workshop for Young Engineers, where they engaged in discussions with many other young engineers on how civil engineers should contribute to society. The convivial gathering that followed helped them collect fresh information on studying in Japan from university faculty members as well as foreign students already studying in Japan.  

As the organizers, we would be delighted if the tour could contribute to their future career by providing a broad vision of the industry, anchored on the latest Japanese civil engineering technology. Finally, we wish to express our gratitude to all our collaborators, who warmly welcomed their visit.

The STG Working Group, JSCE International Scientific Exchange Fund Committee

Dr. Hiroshi Takagi (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Dr. Seizo Ueno (Taisei Corp.), Dr. Yasuyuki Suzuki (CTI Engineering Corp.), Mr. Hiroyuki Yanagawa (JSCE)

 

Brief Summary on 2013 JSCE Annual Meeting-International Program

 2013 JSCE Annual Meeting was held at College of Industrial Technology, Nihon University Tsudanuma Campus from September 4th to 6th, 2013. during which, the international program hosted by IAC was held.

1. Summer Symposium (September 4-6, 8:40-10:10, 10:25-11:55)

The 15th International Summer Symposium was held over three days. It was organized as one of technical sessions in the Annual Meeting. 67 papers were submitted, and 67 speakers, who were mainly international students and engineers studying or working in Japan, delivered presentations in the sessions which matched their specific interest among 12 sessions. Looking at any session, the participants appeared enjoying exchanging their views and ideas with each other and gaining new knowledge and information.

2. International Chapter Meeting (September 4, 11:00-12:30)

The JSCE Int’l Sections’ representatives, Board of Directors in charge of International Affairs Division, IAC Senior Director and Directors gathered at the Int’l Chapter Meeting. They reviewed IAC and ICC’s current projects and activities, and also discussed the Sections’ latest projects and future plans. Prof. Kobayakawa, the Information Networking Group Leader, requested the Sections to contribute the information of their projects, essays and reports to the IAC News.
 

3. International Panel Discussion (September 4, 12:40-15:55)

International Panel Discussion was held under the theme “Infrastructure Maintenance and Renewal for Achieving a Sustainable Society,” chaired by Prof. Ieda, the University of Tokyo. The following five panelists and two commentators shared their views and opinions with the audience: Mr. Gregory E. DiLoreto, 2013 ASCE President, Ms. Christine F. Andersen of City of Santa Barbara, Prof. Yin-Wen Chan of Taiwan Construction Research Institute, Mr. Rahul Gupta of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, India, and Prof. Kyoung Soo Kim of Korean Infrastructure Safety and Technology Co, Prof. Benito M. Pacheco of the University of Philippines, Diliman, and Prof. Iswandi Imran of Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia.

4. WFEO-JFES-AIJ-JSCE Joint Symposium (September 5, 9:00-12:00)

The 7th WFEO (World Federation of Engineering Organization) -JFES (The Japan Federation of Engineering Societies) -AIJ (Architectural Institute of Japan) -JSCE (Japan Society of Civil Engineering) Joint Symposium on Disaster Risk Management was held on the second day of the annual meeting. Speakers discussed their research projects, unique viewpoints and innovative ideas on natural disasters reduction, mitigation strategies, risk analyses and others.

5. Workshop for Young Engineers (September 5, 13:00-17:45)

Workshop for Young Engineers was held as a preliminary meeting of “International Workshop for Young Engineers” to be held as part of JSCE’s 100th anniversary celebration events. 33 participants, who were Japanese and international university students, young researchers and engineers, were divided into 6 groups and discussed their career goals and contributions to society as civil engineers, focusing on the theme ”Your Career as a Civil Engineer and Our Future Society.” All participants made a one-minute-speech after the group discussion.

 

 

6. Technical Tour (September 5, 13:00-16:00)

In cooperation with East Nippon Expressway Co., Ltd (NEXCO EAST) the IAC organized a construction site tour for the international guests. The tour visited the under-construction Keiyo Junction on Tokyo Outer Ring Road, and Hamacho South Viaduct on Higashi Kanto Expressway to see state-of-art construction technologies, maintenance and inspection techniques and facilities. The participants showed keen interests in those latest civil engineering technologies, made many questions to NEXCO engineers and took photos of those sites, facilities and machineries.

 

IAC Current News  (Kotaro Hashimoto The 101st JSCE President)

◆ACECC Report

The Asian Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECCC)’s 25th Executive Council Meeting (ECM) and Civil Engineering Conference in the Asia Region (CECAR 6) were held in Jakarta for five days from August 18 to 22.  To these meetings, JSCE formed  and sent the delegation consisting of the President    Mr. Hashimoto, Prof. Isobe, a former president Dr. Okada, the Executive Director Dr. Ohnishi, IAC Senior Director Prof. Ueda, Dr. Sumiyoshi, Dr. Horikoshi, Prof. Yamaguchi, Mr. Torii, Mr. Nakamura, Dr. Dobashi, I myself and others.

Those meetings went well, in which the presidents of 10 ACECC member societies such as HAKI (Indonesia), ASCE (USA), KSCE (Korea), CICHE (Taiwan), PICE (the Philippines) and JSCE participated, renewed their friendship with each other, and also signed “Jakarta Protocol: Civil Engineering for Sustainable Future.”  In the keynote lectures session held on the 22nd, Prof. Yozo Fujino of the University of Tokyo delivered a speech on “Long-Span Bridges Vibration, Control Seismic Retrofit and Monitoring-Recent Studies and Lessons Learned”
 

During the ACECC’s meetings, some other meetings were held: the 2nd Asian Board Meeting on Lessons Learned from Past Natural Disasters, a presidential meeting under the theme “Embracing the Future Through Sustainability,” and JSCE Program which focused on networking with Japanese engineers working in Indonesia.

In addition, JSCE signed an Agreement of Cooperation with Indonesian Society of Civil and Structural Engineers (HAKI) and renewed one with Nepal Engineer’s Association.

After the end of CECAR, JSCE took over the ACECC Secretariat from the HAKI; accordingly, JSCE will in charge of organizing the next CECAR, which will be held in Hawaii in 2016 in cooperation with ASCE. I hope that many JSCE members will attend it.

Thank you very much.

 

 

What's Happening

・ Oct. 9-12 : ASCE 143rd Annual Civil Engineering Conference (Charlotte, N.C) :
 http://content.asce.org/conferences/asce-annual2013/
・ Oct. 23-25 : KSCE Annual Meeting at High 1 Resort, Gangwon-do
 

Updates

The summary of feature articles in the JSCE Magazine is available on the JSCE website.
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine
Concrete Committee International Newsletter No. 34
http://www.jsce.or.jp/committee/concrete/e/newsletter/Newsletter.htm
 

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Y's  Murmuring

“Discussion” comes from the Latin word to mean “examine,” and further, to smash to pieces to be examined. Having a discussion therefore allows us to examine what we are saying in detail by exchanging ideas, views and opinions with each other, and figure out what we are trying to go eventually.  In our exchanging, we may sound exaggerated, rude, harsh, and critical, use offensive tones and arrogant attitudes unintentionally, just because we are so focused on expressing our own points and making ourselves understood.  Through discussions, we are able to see what we are thinking and what we are trying to say, and what our partners are thinking. In other words, we look into our minds, pick up pieces of ideas and put this and that pieces together until fitting them nicely. That is the discussion I think. I see that some are hesitate to express their own ideas and opinions here in Japan. I guess that they are afraid to sound offensive, critical or even to be misunderstood. And since they keep those sentiments, they assume that others share the same sentiments. When they say something, they fear that they may be viewed as arrogant jerks. But if they don’t express themselves, how can they see deep inside themselves and communicate with each other?   They can talk all right, but hardly communicate with each other.  If they, say we want something solid and true, we might want to open up ourselves and have “discussions.”