Introduction to KATACHI Society (Society for Science on Form)

What is "KATACHI"? It means "Form". It is going to become an international term. The scope of this Society includes the following four fields. They interact each other to promote a synthetic understanding of FORM. This society was established in 1985, and is registered as a scientific organization by the government.

Geometry and Properties of space :

polygons and polyhedra, divisions or packings of space,

crystals, quasi-crystals, cell arrangements, social regions, etc.

Mechanisms of pattern formation:

patterns in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, geology, etc.

(both mathematical frameworks and experiments)

Measurements of shapes:

morphometry, image analysis, stereology (a technique to

reconstruct 3D objects from 2D cross sections), etc.

Application to art and design:

applications of studies to architecture, civil engineering,

art, design, etc.

Activities of the Society

Local Symposia in Japan

Local symposia are held two or three times per year at various cities in Japan. Central topics of recent symposia are listed below.

2000: Artificial Forms, Forms around Nature, Forms of Groups

2001: Form and Statistics, Evolution and Form

2002: Science of Forms in Biology, Contact of Macro and Micro Worlds

2003: Motion- Deformation and Form, Intelligence-Form and System
For precise see http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/form/index-e.html

Organizing and Sponsoring International Symposia

1st International Symposium for Science on Form (Tsukuba, 1985)

Chairman: Prof. S. Ishizaka, Proceedings: Science on Form (Scipress, Tokyo, 1986)

2nd International Symposium for Science on Form (Tsukuba, 1988)

Chairman: Prof. S. Ishizaka, Proceedings: Science on Form, 3D Dynamic Morphology for Bridge between Structure and Function, - (Scipress,Tokyo,1990)

1st KATACHI U SYMMETRY Symposium (Tsukuba, 1994)

Chaiman: Prof. T. Ogawa, Proceedings: KATACHI U SYMMETRY (Springer Verlag, 1986)

2nd KATACHI U SYMMETRY Symposium (Tsukuba, 1999)

Chaiman: Prof. T. Ogawa, Proceedings: Special Issues of FORMA Vol.14(4) (1999), Vol.15(1,2) (2000) (Scipress)

Order of Proceedings should be addressed to the Publisher: SCIPRESS: forma@terrapub.co.jp

(for "Proc.1st Katachi U Symmetry Symp." o Dr. T.Ogawa ogawa-t@koalanet.ne.jp)

Image Database

A collection of flow visualization photos by Emeritus Professor S. Taneda.
Anyone can see thumb-nail images. High resolution images can be seen only by members of the society. http://haga.cc.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp/kei/index.html

Publications

Bulletin of The Society for Science on Form (in Japanese, three issues per year):
Secretary: Dr. T. Hirata (Fukui Univ., Email: d970062@icpc00.icpc.fukui-u.ac.jp)
Editor-in-chief: Dr. R. Takaki (Tokyo Univ. Agr. Tech., Email: takaki@cc.tuat.ac.jp)

FORMA (in English, four issues per year): for precise see the back side

Call for papers to FORMA

Scope of FORMA

FORMA is an English journal published by Society for Science on Form (4 issues/y, 60-100p. /issue) and contains original papers, reviews, letters, forums. It accepts any qualified paper which is related to Forms irrespective of research fields of author(s). Examples of topics are given in the first page.

Editorial board

Editor-in-chief: Dr. R. Takaki (Tokyo Univ. Agr. Tech., : takaki@cc.tuat.ac.jp)

Secretary: Dr. K. Miyamoto (Dokkyo Univ. of Medicine, :miyamoto@dokkyomed.ac.jp)

Regional Editors :

G. BERNROIDER (Biology, Austry) Gustav.Bernroider @ sbg.ac.at

K. MAINI (Mathematics, UK) maini @ maths.ox.ac.uk

S.C. MUELLER (Chemical physics, Germany) stefan.mueller @ physik.uni-magdeburg.de

M. NAKAGAWA (Civil engineering, USA) mnakagaw @ mines.edu

N. RIVIER (Physics, France) nick @ ldfc.u-strasbg.fr

S. ROY (Physics, USA/India) sroy @ scs.gmu.edu, sisir @ isical.ac.in

T. TARNAI (Structural engineering, Hungary) tarnai @ ep-mech.me.bme.hu

D.L. WEAIRE (Physics, Ireland) dweaire @ tcd.ie

Associate Editors : scientists from Japan, Advisory Editors : scientists both from Japan and abroad.

Submission

Send manuscripts to one of editors. Regional and associate editors also have a right to accept papers. Editors have wide views to treat papers from other fields. INSTRUCTIONS for authors and STYLE MANUAL are available at editors.

Why Form now ?

Forms appear in all fields of sciences and technologies. It is valuable to discuss on forms by scientists from various fields. For example, tree shapes are discussed by biologists, civil engineers, medical doctors, geophysicists, et al. Form is a communication tool among many fields.

Motivation of the elliptical orbits of planets by Kepler was his interest in the Platonic regular polyhedra. Wegener proposed the moving continents by observing coastal lines of North and South Americas and Africa. There is a possibility in future that interest in Forms leads to a great discovery.

Subscription

The only condition for subscription is that you are interested in scientific studies of forms. Your fields of activity or personal histories are not asked. Subscription fee is not required. Annual fee differs according to your status. Application of subscription should be addressed to the Secretary (Dr. S. Matsuura, see below)

Members living in Japan: 8,000 Jap. Yen (Students: 4,000 Jap.Yen) including FORMA and Bulletin

Group members in Japan: 10,000 Jap. Yen including 4 issues of FORMA and Bulletin

Members living abroad: 50 US $ including 4 issues of FORMA with shipping

Group members (including institutes, laboratories, companies, etc.,) abroad:

125 US $ including 4 issues of FORMA with shipping

Back numbers of FORMA (for information see Web site below) are available at the Publisher (15 US $/issue).

Links

President of the Society: Dr. Eiji Tokunaga (tokusan @ tamacc.chuo-u.ac.jp)

Secretary of the Society: Dr. Shu Matsuura (shum @ wing.ncc.u-tokai.ac.jp)

Home page of the Society: http://www.soc.nii.ac.jp/form/index.e-html

Web site of FORMA: http://www.terrapub.co.jp/

Publisher of FORMA: SCIPRESS forma @ terrapub.co.jp

Image Database: http://haga.cc.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp/kei/index.html