Annual Report 1998
CONTENTS
［Introduction］［Outline of Research Activities］［International Cooperative Activities］［Statistical Trends in Recent Years］［Organization of MEL(1998)］［List of Publications(1998)］　Back to [Main Research Areas]

International Cooperative Activities

　　The laboratory actively encourages its members to take part in international activities such as international conferences, collaborative research projects, and exchange programs with foreign research organizations. Each year, several research staff members visit overseas laboratories to do research for periods up to one year, and about one hundred and fifty researchers attend international conferences to present their work.
　　The laboratory also makes active use of a variety of researcher invitation programs supported by the Japanese government and other institutions. Over fifty foreign researchers visit Japan and stay at MEL as guest researchers using fellowship programs supported by STA, AIST, ITIT, and other organisations. The figures below show the number of visits and lengths of stay of foreign researchers over the past decade, and the regional distribution of invited researchers for FY1998. The final table gives a list of the international cooperative research projects now in progress followed by the list of invitations to MEL in FY1998.

Fig.1 Number of researchers sent abroad / accepted from abroad and total length of their stay

Fig.2 Composition of accepted researchers by region (1998 FY)

Table 1 International Cooperative Research Projects

Budgeting system	Project title	Counterpart
Specific International Joint Research	Computer Based Preliminary Design	The University of Strathclyde (UK)
	Production and Evaluation of Functionally Gradient Materials	National Institute of Standards and Technology (USA)
	Efficient Locomotion System in Natural Environment	Helsinki University of Technology (FINLAND)
	Improvement of Properties of Magnesium Alloys by Processing	Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization (AUSTRALIA)
	Development of Supe-Materials in Application of EIectromagnetism in Solid	Washington State University (USA)
	Two Phase Fluid Behavior and its Application under Microgravity Surfaces	University of Toronto (CANADA)
Establishment of Comprehensive International Research Cooperation System	Research and Development of LPG Lean Burn Engine	The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (NETHERLANDS)
	Joint Research on Soft Tissue Biomechanics and its Application to Surgical Simulation	The University of Western Australia (AUSTRALIA)
	Seed-seeking on Application of Chaos Control in Mechanical Engineering	Cornell University (USA)
	Seed-seeking on Analysis of Generation of Nanoparticle by Ion-induced Nucleation	Yale University (USA)
	Seed-seeking on Evaluation of Nucleation in Plasma Process	University of California (USA)

Table 2 Invitation Programs

Program	Number of researchers	Invited from:
AIST Fellowship	1	korea
ITIT Fellowship	14	India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico, Korea, China
STA Fellowship	9	Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, France, Korea, USA
NEDO Felloeship	4	Bulgaria,korea. China
JICA	1	Mexico
JKF	1	korea
Summer Institute Program	3	USA
Winter Institute Program	9	korea
Other (Including self-funding)	17	India, Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belarus, Mexico,korea. China, USA

Table 3 International Workshops

Workshop title	Counterpart
International Workshop on Microfactories	University of Neuchatel (SWITZERLAND),Carnegie Mellon University (USA),Fraunhofer Institute (GERMANY),Smiths Industries (UK), etc.
International Workshop on Environmental and Economic Issues in Metal Processing	RWTH Aachen (GERMANY),Eindhoven University of Technology (NETHERLANDS),Helsinki University of Technology (FINLAND),Harbin Institute of Technology (CHINA), etc.
Precision Forging to Manufacture Near Net Shape Parts	National Physical Laboratory(1NDIA),Regional Research Laboratory, Bhopal (INDIA)

International workshops organised by MEL
　　Three international workshops were organised by the laboratory in order to publish research results and promote international collaboration, as shown in the upper table. The first international workshop on microfactories was of particular interest because of its wide scope and strong orientation to the future. A more detailed description is given below.
　

Fig.3 Presentation at Workshop

Fig.4 Participants of Workshop on Microfactories

The 1st International Workshop on Microfactories
　　The first international workshop on microfactories (JWMF'98) was held from Dec. 7 to Dec. 9 at Auditorium of AIST research center in Tsukuba Science City. It was organized by MEL and supported by the Japan International Science & Technology Exchange Center (JISTEC). Following the opening address by Dr. Y. Nakazawa, director-general of MEL, 20 of oral and 23 of poster presentations were conducted. Through the workshop, attendants had made many discussions about microfactory technologies and related fields. Especially, the panel discussion entitled "How do microfactories stimulate the creation of new industries?" provided valuable time for free discussion about the expected future of microfactories. Attendants of 144 in total filled the session room till the closing address. On agreement of invited foreign researchers and MEL researchers, the preparation is going to start for the second international workshop on microfactories (IWMF2OOO) in Switzerland.
　

produced by General Research Counselor