The rapid industrialization and urbanization in Osaka Bay have produced many serious water pollution problems since the 1960s. A symbolic phenomenon is algae bloom (red tide), which occurred 53 times in 1976. The special law was enacted in 1973 and a number of administrative steps were taken, such as cutting COD loading, reductions in phosphorus (P) and restriction of land reclamation. As a result, the pollution of Osaka Bay has gradually been reduced, and the environment has been improved to some extent. In this study, to analyze the relations between water qualities as well as a social, economic activity by the coastal zone, the water quality data in Osaka Bay of 70 years past since 1921 were collected. Data such as population, livestock, fertilizer, industrial product etc. were also collected for estimating nutrients flowing into bay from land. It was found that the water quality was changed of a similar trend of estimated nutrients load, with delay of about four or five years.

The Korea urbanization has been accelerated without regard to regional traits and the environment. Most of rural areas have been overurbanized with proper and long term plan. Especially the case of Yongin-community which is located 50km south of Seoul reveals a typical wrong urbanization policy. Evidence of such wrong policy is proved by this study for last three decades(1970-2000) in political economic approach with special reference to the Manuel Castells' theory. The study concludes that urbanization with no proper development plan is mostly vulnerable and wasteful. And the environment is once spoiled, it is almost impossible to recover, so it is necessary for us long term and proper plan before development.

From the traffic analysis, and model constructions and verifications for speed prediction on the freeway ramp junctions with 70mph speed limit, the following results were obtained : ⅰ) The traffic flow distribution showed a big difference depending on the time periods. Especially, more traffic flows were concentrated on the freeway junctions in the morning peak period when compared with the afternoon peak period. ⅱ) The occupancy distribution was also shown to be varied by a big difference depending on the time periods. Especially, the occupancy in the morning peak period showed over 100% increase when compared with the 24hours average occupancy, and the occupancy in the afternoon peak period over 25% increase when compared with the same occupancy. ⅲ) The speed distribution was not shown to have a big difference depending on the time periods. Especially, the speed in the morning peak period showed 10mph decrease when compared with the 24hours'average speed, but the speed did not show a big difference in the afternoon peak period. ⅳ) The analyses of variance showed a high explanatory power between the speed predictive models(SPM) constructed and the variables used, especially the upstream speed. ⅴ) The analysis of correlation for verifying the speed predictive models(SPM) constructed on the ramp junctions were shown to have a high correlation between observed data and predicted data. Especially, the correlation coefficients showed over 0.95 excluding the unstable condition on the diverge section. ⅵ) Speed predictive models constructed were shown to have the better results than the HCM models, even if the speed limits on the freeway were different between the HCM models and speed predictive models constructed.

During the last decade the world had experienced oil crisis twice: the first one was the fourfold jump in oil prices in 1973 and 1974, the second one came in 1979 with 2.6 times price hike. The current crude oil prices stand around the level of 30 a barrel. The first reaction came quick, with reduced oil consumption and a general decline in economic activity. Furthermore, the second oil crisis has brought about tremendous and varied impacts upon the shipping industry, which is now undergoing an adaptation process to the changing environments. This article is divided into five chapters: chapter I is the introduction on the subject under examination; chapter II is devoted to the trends of the seaborne trade cargoes after the oil crisis; chapter III reveals the impact of the oil price hike on ships and their desion; chapter IV deals with the challenges shipping enterprises face in terms fo economic modus operandi and new international political environments; chapter V sets forth conclusion.