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This paper explores the genre of flexible architecture - buildings that are intended to respond to changing situations in their use, operation, or location. This is architecture that adapts rather than stagnates; responds to change rather than rejects it; is motive rather than static. It is a design form that is by its essence cross-disciplinary and multi-functional and consequently, is frequently innovative and expressive of contemporary design issues. By revealing its basis and the factors that are determining its development, the value and relevancy of flexible architecture to contemporary problems associated with technological, social and economic change can be revealed.

The characteristics of flexible architecture are explored by examining the design decisions that lead to culturally responsive buildings. It examines the underlying factors that generate a sense of place and why traditional and historic building patterns have been successful in creating genuinely adaptable architecture. It relates the characteristics of flexible architecture to Open Building principles and examines the effect that such design can have within the different levels in the built environment. The paper focuses special attention on contemporary architecture by examining the recent work of the Japanese architect Toyo Ito, in particular his recently completed Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Based on conversation with the designer and first-hand study of the building, the specific factors that make this new design a valuable resource in the search for flexible architecture strategies are explored.

This paper expands on the author's previous research into the foundation areas of this topic, in particular the genre of portable architecture, the impact of technology on the development of architectural form, and the development of experimental and innovative house design in the twentieth century. Its subject is expanded in his forthcoming book Flexible: Architecture That Responds to Change to be published by Laurence King, London, in 2006.

The 1997-98 financial crisis has had a profound effect on how East Asian economies the role of the IMF and its strategic interests relative to those of the United States in the international financial regime. It has prompted them to create a regional mechanism for financial and monetary cooperation, ranging from deeper policy dialogue and surveillance, to a system of financial cooperation, and common exchange rate arrangements. This paper analyses the economic and strategic motivations behind this and outlines recent developments in financial cooperation in East Asia to provide possible directions for the future.

A network of bilateral swap arrangements under the Chiang Mai Initiative(CMI) needs stronger policy dialogue and surveillance to develop into a regional financing facility, a sort of East Asian IMF. The facility plays a role as an regional lender of last resort, providing short-term funds to a member country facing a temporary liquidity shortage and for market intervention to stabilize foreign exchange rate. East Asian countries need to achieve regional exchange rate stability. In the long run, the region may develop a common currency arrangement, but it cannot be expected in the very near future because there is no convergence of macroeconomic conditions, economic structure and systems. A realistic approach would be for East Asian developing countries to adopt a currency basket system to minimize the impact of dollar/yen exchange rate volatility on their economies. Strong political will and a vision for regional integration will be required to introduce it.

This paper aims to present a preliminary experimental result on a large-scale experiment on a cyber-physical hybrid discussion support environment in a panel discussion session in an international conference.

In this paper, the authors propose a hybrid (cyber-physical) environment in which people can discuss online and also offline simultaneously. The authors conducted a large-scale experiment in a panel discussion session in an international conference where participants can discuss by using their online discussion support system and by physical communications as usual.

The authors analyzed the obtained date from the following three viewpoints: participants’ cyber-physical attention, keywords cyber-physical linkage and cyber-physical discussion flow. These three viewpoints indicate that the methodology of the authors can be effective to support hybrid large-scale discussions.

Online large-scale discussion has been focused as a new methodology that enable people to discuss, argue and make consensus in terms of political issues, social complex problems (like climate change), city planning and so on. In several cases, the authors found that online discussions are very effective to gather people opinions and discussions so far. Moreover, this paper proposes a hybrid (cyber-physical) environment in which people can discuss online and also offline simultaneously.

This chapter examines the impact of macroeconomic factors on the financial performance of Chinese companies. Using multiple regression analysis, the study finds that gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate, inflation rate, interest rate, exchange rate, and government expenditure are significant predictors of the financial performance of Chinese companies. The results show that GDP growth rate, leverage, size, liquidity, profitability, and growth in sales all have significant positive impacts on financial performance, while growth in assets has a negative impact. The study provides insights into the impact of macroeconomic factors on the financial performance of Chinese companies. Policymakers and investors should take these findings into account when making decisions about economic policies and investments, and companies operating in China should be aware of the potential impact of these factors on their financial performance and look for ways to manage them effectively. The chapter also includes a model specification test and a robustness test to validate the accuracy of the results. The findings have important guiding significance for policy makers and investors in making economic policies and investment decisions. However, the study has limitations such as the use of horizontal panel data and the limited data sources used.

The renminbi (RMB) has evolved in four phases since its mid-2005 unpegging from the US dollar. After a year's transition, the RMB's effective exchange rate traded for two years within narrow bands around an appreciating trend. That is, the RMB behaved as if it were managed to strengthen gradually against trading partners’ currencies. This experiment was interrupted in mid-2008 and the RMB stabilized against a strong dollar amidst the global financial crisis. If Chinese policy were to return to effective currency stability and other East Asian countries were to pursue similar policies, regional currency stability would be enhanced. That would create more favorable conditions for an evolution towards monetary cooperation.

In this paper we investigate the relationship between loose monetary policy, low inflation, and easy bank credit and house price booms.

Using a panel of 11 OECD countries from 1920 to 2011 we estimate a panel VAR in order to identify loose monetary policy shocks, low inflation shocks, bank credit shocks, and house price shocks.

We show that during boom periods there is a heightened impact of all three “policy” shocks with the bank credit shock playing an important role. However, when we look at individual house price boom episodes the cause of the price boom is not so clear. The evidence suggests that the house price boom that occurred in the United States during the 1990s and 2000s was not due to easy bank credit.

Shocks from the shadow banking system are not separately identified. These are incorporated into the fourth “catch-all” shock.

Our evidence on housing price booms that expansionary monetary policy is a significant trigger buttresses the case for central banks following stable monetary policies based on well understood and credible rules.

This paper uses historical evidence to evaluate the relative importance of three main causes of house price booms. Our results bring into question the commonly held view that loose bank credit was to blame for the U.S. house price bubble of the later 1990s.

This paper tests for longrun relationships among the national equity markets of the G'7 countries using the Engle‐Granger two‐step procedure. Results indicate that cointegration is the norm among these seven equity markets in the post‐Bretton Woods period. Further, market adjustments to system equilibria are accelerating as one moves toward the present implying that markets are becoming more integrated.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the modeling accuracy of the magnetostrictive hysteretic characteristics by introducing hysteresis energy instead of pinning energy in the assembled domain structure model (ADSM).

First, the magnetostrictive characteristics and the domain movement process in an electrical steel sheet are measured and observed. The reasons for the influence of stress on magnetostriction are discussed on the mesoscopic level. Second, the ADSM model using the hysteresis energy is investigated to estimate the influence of external stress. Finally, the simulation results of the modified ADSM model are compared with the experimental data under the same calculation conditions.

The results show that the improved model not only explains the cause of hysteresis clearly from the perspective of the magnetic moment but also improves the modeling ability of magnetostrictive hysteretic.

The magnetostriction in electrical steel lags behind the external magnetic field, and it is significant for reducing core vibration to estimate the magnetostrictive hysteretic property accurately. This paper proposes an effective approach to model the hysteretic characterization of magnetostriction.

This study aims to examine the association of frontal functioning with subclinical bipolar spectrum by a newly developed convenient method. We investigated subclinical bipolar tendency and frontal lobe activation during word productions using multi-channel near infrared spectroscopy. Participants: 44 healthy university students (mean ages 20.5 years old, and 29 female) gave their written informed consent, and we strictly protected privacy and anonymity was carefully preserved. A 13-items self-report questionnaire (Mood Disorders Questionnaire; MDQ) and a 16-channel near-infrared spectroscopy were used to compare frontal activations between two samples divided by median (4 points) of the total MDQ scores and to analyze correlations between relative changes of cerebral blood volume and bipolarity levels. There was no case suspected as bipolar disorders by MDQ screening (mean 3.4, max 10). Significant differences in lower activations were noted in the right and left pre-frontal cortex (PFC) with higher bipolarity scores using the specific software to analyze the NIRS waveform (P<0.05). Total MDQ were correlated significantly with frontal activation negatively in many channels; therefore, we conducted multiple linear regression to select significant frontal activations using the MDQ as a dependent variable. Stepwise method revealed that activation in left lateral PFC was negatively associated to bipolar tendency, and this regression model was significant (R2=0.10, F=4.5, P=0.04). Differences in frontal functioning suggest that subclinical bipolar tendencies might be related to left lateral PFC activations. It should be confirmed whether the identical pattern can be identified for clinical subjects with bipolar disorders.