‚l‚q‚r-J News Vol.15 No.4  Nov. 2003

To the Overseas Members of MRS-J

¡Research and Ken-Kyucp.1
Prof. Dr. Yotaro YAMAZAKI, Department of Materials Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Engineering
@The English word of research which comes from gsearchh was translated into Japanese long ago as gken-kyuh. The ken means gpolishh and the kyu means gstudy thoroughlyh or gattain the summit of a mountainh. We can find a large difference in the meanings between the gresearchh and gken-kyuh. It is interesting to investigate the origin of the discrepancy. It may be because the word was made in Europe by the people who were not researcher, and was made in Japan by researchers who have pride to a certain degree. We can discern the expectation of Japanese people to the academic activity by thinking over those meanings of the words.

¡Synthesis of metal-alkoxides by method of electrolysisccp.2
Kazuki BABA, Research and Development Division, Kojundo Chemical Laboratory Co., Ltd.
@New synthesis method of metal-alkoxides by electrolysis has been investigated to obtain highly pure metal-alkoxides. The metal-alkoxide is generated by electrolysis in alcohol (for example, ethylalcohol in case of metal-ethoxide) electrolyte introducing hydrogen chloride, applying target metal as anode and same metal or carbon as cathod. The metal-alkoxide generated is extracted with solvent such as hexane, octane, toluen, after neutralization treatment by NH3 gas. Finally highly pure metal-alkoxide can be obtained by reduced pressure distillation.

¡Toray Research Center, Inc. (TRC)ccp.4
Youichi NAKAYAMA, Manager, Research Planning Department, TRC
@Toray Research Center, Inc. (TRC) was founded in June 1978, as a wholly owned subsidiary company of Toray Industries, Inc., with the guiding principle of gcontributing to the industrial world through advanced technologiesh. TRC has been providing customers with technical support primarily for gproblem solvingh in research, development and manufacturing. This article presents various aspects of TRC's activity briefly from a viewpoint of research department and quality assurance system.

¡IUMRS-ICAM 2003ccp.7
@The 8th International Conference of Advanced Materials (IUMRS-ICAM 2003) including the 2nd Workshop on Nanotechnology Networking and International Cooperation was held from October 8th to 13th, 2003, at the Pacifico Yokohama, in Yokohama. The conference was organized by The Materials Research Society of Japan (MRS-J), sponsored by Nanotechnology Researchers Network Center of Japan and supported by commemorative Organization for the Japan World Exposition '70. Attendance of more than 2300 materials scientists and engineers from all over Asia, the USA and Europe, the meeting and exposition is large materials research event in Japan. It featured 2144 technical papers (oral 1259; poster 855) presented in 39 technical symposia and two FORUM on materials education and research strategy. The Exposition, held in conjunction with the Conference, host international and domestic companies in the materials industries. Proceedings will be published as a series of the the Transactions of the Materials Society of Japan. The Conference was cofunded by the 73 institutions and companies, and also supported by the following governments (MEXT, METI and ME) and City of Yokohama.

¡2003 SOMIYA Award on International Collaborationccp.7
@The 2003 So~miya Award for International Collaboration in Materials Research was awarded to a Dutch-Chinese research team led by Professors Klaas de Groot, IsoTis NV and FuZhai Cui, Tsinghua University for their investigation of Biomimetic Calcium Phosphate Composites. Soœmiya Award Ceremony and Lecture was held at the IUMRS-ICAM 2003, October 11, 2003 in Yokohama, Japan.

¡Members in the News
@Dr. Teruo Kishi, a president of the MRS-J and president of the National Institute of Materials Science, was appointed as the vice-president of the Science Council of Japan.