Previous studies do not provide information on which channel governance exporters should use in combination. Moreover, they neglect the role of multiple channel system and psychic distance in the implementation of channel governance. Accordingly, this study investigates the combined effects of channel governance, multiple channels, and psychic distance on export performance. The methodology used in this study is a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), which is a powerful method for analyzing whether combinations of conditions (i.e., configurations) lead to certain outcomes. The results show that which channel governance combination leads to higher export performance depends on multichannel use and on psychic distance. This study contributes to the advancement of international marketing channel research by identifying patterns in superior combinations of governance mechanisms.

The control of crop diseases still largely relies on spray applications of standard synthetic fungicides. As a result, the development of fungicide resistance by pathogens is a major limiting factor for the control of diseases. In this paper, the recent outbreak of practical resistance to fungicides including sterol demethylation inhibitor (DMI), Quinone outside inhibitor (QoI), and succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI) fungicides as well as the progress of related research will be discussed. To combat resistance development, the Research Committee on Fungicide Resistance, the Phytopathological Society of Japan, was established in 1991 and has been conducting several activities. The Committee made a guideline indicating how to use at-risk fungicides. The occurrence of fungicide resistance may rather increase in the future as the choice of fungicides is often difficult due to the lack of effective alternatives. Development and integration of disease management tools such as disease-resistant or -tolerant cultivars and non-fungitoxic disease resistance inducers need to be accelerated more rapidly not only to dissolve the problem of fungicide resistance but also to reply public concerns about agrochemicals.

As maritime criminal activities are increasingly committed across the borders, States have come to establish mechanisms of international cooperation to be implemented in territorial seas. This article examines such mechanisms with regards to the crime of piracy and armed robbery at sea from the perspective of public international law. This article tackles the significance of the mechanisms imposed on the zonal approach, particularly paying attention to the nature of these crimes. It concludes that under the frameworks, States are allowed to pursue various objectives such as securing the safety of navigation, maintaining security, or protecting the local economy. They do not, however, fundamentally alter the nature of the zonal approach. Nonetheless, by setting up a forum of dialogue between the coastal States and the user States, it promotes maritime governance of territorial seas.

We investigated that the effect of based compound on machinability of two types of PM steels. One is a copper steel which is selected as a general PM steel, and the other is a diffusion alloyed steel selected as a high strength PM steel. It is found that based compound addition improves machinability in drilling of both of the PM steels. Although the compound addition degrades the mechanical properties of PM steels, it is considered that decrease of the properties can be compensated by increasing density.

Recently, automotive engines have changed to the silent chain system in order to reduce noise and to improve reliability. High contact fatigue strength is needed for the sprockets of silent chain system. As a result, a high-contact-fatigue-strength P/M material was developed using the technology of surface rolling, which densifies the surface layer of sintered parts. It was established that the contact fatigue strength of the developed material was a great improvement over that of the conventionally used sintered material.