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Jun. 6, 1998
Part1: What is "Polymer"?

Polymer industry is very big industry. The amount of polymer products is $500,000,000,000 per year. (GDP of Japan is about $3,000,000,000,000). Polymer is a chain of tiny particles. ("Poly-" means "Many".) We can find easily Polymer in our daily life. For example, "plastic-bag" is polymer, "tire" is polymer, and so on.
Polymer is classified into following 3 types.

  1. Elastmers/Rubbers
  2. Thermoplastics
  3. Thermosets
"Elastmers/Rubbers" is used for tire. The most significant feature of this material is high extensibility.

The example of "Thermoplastics" are "Polyethylene", "Polypropylene", "Nylon", and "Polyesters". There are many "Polyethylene" and "Polypropylene" industries around Nagoya. Their products are mainly used for automobile's parts.

"Thermosets" are epoxies. They are used for glues.

New Materials
Kevler is one of new materials, which is a kind of Nylons. The feature of this material is light weight and high strength. This is used for bulletproof jacket.

Problems
Plastics would never change its shape. This is good feature, but also bad feature. This is not good for environment. If fish or bird eats plastic-bag, it may be choked to death. We have to prevent those wastes from taking bad effests to our global environment.

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Jun. 6, 1998
Part2: College Education in US

Current Status of Higher Education in United States and England
Rate of University Graduates
United States40%
England12%

Snapshot at Dr. Mead's LectureDifference of university students' atitude between in Japan and in United States or England
In Japan, almost university students help each other in studying. However, generally, in US or in England, students studies individually.

Difference of industrial support to university between in Japan and in United States or England In Japan, industries send their employees to university and support him and his university.
On the other hand, in US, industries support professor. It means professor is a businessman selling his idea or intellectual property rather than a teacher of university.

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