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Since Marx reported on osteonecrosis of the jaw caused by the injectable bisphosphonates (BPs) pamidronate and zoledronate, there have been numerous reports not only in Western countries, but in Japan as well, of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) as a pathology similar to radiation-related osteonecrosis/osteomyelitis of the jaw, which is accompanied by exposure of the bone. Osteonecrosis of the jaw similar to that occurring with BPs is also produced with the anti-receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-Β ligand (RANKL) antibody denosumab, a bone resorption inhibitor that has a different mode of action from BPs, and there is also a report of osteonecrosis of the jaw related to bevacizumab, an angiogenic inhibitor. Because of this, in its newest position paper (2014), the AAOMS changed the nomenclature from BRONJ to "medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw" (MRONJ). This article presents an overview of the position paper on medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw and the current status of the MRONJ in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing presence of e-books (electronic books) has become a major focus in countries around the world. In the United States, e-books represented 28% of the total book sales for 2012. In Japan, the conversion from paper books to e-books is expected to accelerate by the prevalent use of smartphones and tablet PCs. It is therefore important to quantitatively evaluate the environmental load of paper books and e-books for a sustainable society. In this study, paper books are compared to e-books read on different electronic devices (e-ink tablets, tablets, cell phones, smartphones, laptop computers, desktop computers and portable music players) through a case study on a 224-page book. The study is based on key primary data such as use time and reading speed for each device and aims to minimize assumptions made in other studies. GHG emissions for paper books are 1.24 kg-CO 2 e/book, and are reduced to 1.11 kg-CO 2 e/book when the effect of paper recycling is taken into consideration. The results for e-books under average use-time conditions range from 0.25 to 0.91 kg-CO 2 e/book with the e-ink tablet having the lowest emissions. When the average use time of each e-book device is applied, the paper book has a higher impact than all the e-books. However, sensitivity analysis shows that the impact of paper books can be lower than that of e-books for larger screen devices such as tablets, laptops and desktops when the reuse of books is considered or the e-book reading device is hardly used during its life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study demonstrates how the environmentally weighted material consumption (EMC) indicator can be used to assess the resource efficiency of bioeconomy policies by calculating thirteen categories of environmental impacts associated with the production and the use of 146 biomass resources in Japan. The total environmental impact, expressed in the Japanese life cycle database in Japanese yen (JPY), decreased from 2,444 × 109 JPY in 1990 to 1,870 × 109 JPY in 2010. Supply chain related emissions (upstream) represented more than 98% of the impacts for all years. Land use, resource consumption, global warming, and urban air pollution were the main impact categories accounting respectively for 45%, 32%, 14% and 8% of the impacts. Ten products were found responsible for more than half of the impacts: rice, raw milk, beef cattle, painted printing paper, broiler, rolls of newsprint, hen egg, squares, common plywood and lumbers. Improvement of the production processes, reduction of consumed amounts and dietary change were identified as potential strategies for reducing the environmental impacts of these materials. Still, finding the best policy option may require the development of a life cycle assessment database able to differentiate organic and conventional agriculture and to better represent the production and environmental specificities of importing countries. • Environmentally weighted material consumption as an indicator of bioeconomy. • Detailed analysis of 146 biomass materials' environmental impacts. • Land use and resource consumption are the main impact categories. • Ten products are responsible for 50% of the total impacts. • Yield increase, diet shift, and paper recycling can reduce biomass related impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does a country embark on large-scale R&D programs? Among R&D programs, this is an intriguing question for large scale Science and Technology (S&T) projects such as space programs, because of the necessity for large resource commitments, and the difficulty of being accountable to the taxpayers when the outcome is not always known. It can be assumed that engineers, scientists, bureaucrats, and politicians play respective roles. This paper aims to shed light on the specific role of politics, through the examples of policies of and decisions by NAKASONE Yasuhiro. Nakasone was the minister for science and technology (1959–1960, 1972), and later became the prime minister (1982–1987). He played a crucial role in establishing the Science and Technology Agency and the National Space Activities Council in the 1950s, which would be the foundational institutions responsible for space policy for the next half century. As prime minister, he decided to participate in the Space Station program. Within his vision for Japan for the 21st century, he emphasized the need for radical change in economic policy, education, defense and S&T investment. He was one of the few politicians that had vision to promote S&T and recognized the strategic value to the nation. He was able to explain to the nation why Japan should promote the development of a launch vehicle, when the engineers faced development difficulties in doing so. Thus, he was influential both in the policy layer and in promoting specific programs to support his national vision. Politics intersects with S&T projects because of the uncertainty and tradeoffs associated with these efforts. Japan did not address space programs for national security and commercial space for a long time. It is a politician's role to create institutions, to allocate resources and, more importantly, to explain to the taxpayers why policy measures or programs are necessary. R&D investment is a societal activity: it reflects the social, political, and economic situation, as well as being important for diplomacy and international relations. Bearing in mind that it would be misleading to attribute the initiation of largescale S&T projects to the leadership of a single individual, this paper will attempt to show the driving forces behind, and fundamental objective of Japan's space policy, in addition to the historical shift in that policy by examining the influence of this notable politician. • Nakasone played the key role in establishing institutions promoting space development in post-war Japan. • Nakasone made the best use of close relationships with the U.S. in promoting Japan's space activities. • Nakasone made decisions on space policy process, resource allocation with vision, thus integrating the stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Human resources development aided the developing space program of the Philippines. • Most of the selected personnel for training came from the academia. • Trainees taken from the industry followed later to support the push for space. • Most of trained personnel opted to stay in the country to support the space program. The Philippines has experienced a shift of interest in space technology development and utilization over the past decade, culminating with the establishment of its national space agency in 2019. In cooperation with different universities in Japan, the Philippines successfully developed and launched two microsatellites, DIWATA-1 and DIWATA-2, and six nanosatellites, MAYA-1 to MAYA-6. By sending personnel to Japan and other space-faring countries, the country was able to rapidly ramp up its satellite development and utilization capabilities. In this paper, we examine and evaluate the complex human resources development efforts conducted by the country to support the creation of a local space ecosystem and ensure its long-term sustainability. Through a careful review, we identify how many people benefited from training programs, studies abroad or other forms of capacity building, and how these skilled individuals were retained in the budding Filipino space sector. Precisely, we looked at the backgrounds of the different people trained by the country, what type of training they received (funding, location, and duration), and how they are supporting the local space ecosystem at the time of writing this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to classify the types of stress experienced by women undergoing infertility treatment in Japan and to clarify the causes of such stress. To achieve this, tweets posted by infertility patients were used to identify the causes of stress through a learning model, followed by dependency analysis. A system is proposed to extract causal relations using dependency analysis, where the dependents are the causes and the leaders are the effects. The study focuses on the stress experienced by infertility patients and limits the analysis to "family issues" and "work." Consequently, the incentives for the causes were clarified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Devising an appropriate dental treatment plan for patients with pre-existing medical conditions is a demanding task. Dentists must consider the sometimes life threatening, interactions between ongoing medical conditions and dental treatment. Stakes are particularly high for the elderly on prescription drugs and other therapies for medical conditions while they seek dental care for advanced oral diseases. Given that Japan is an ageing society, it is crucial to create avenues for medical and dental practitioners to share patient information and collaborate.to,improve care This paper examined trends from demographic data to suggest that there is an impending further rise in the number of medically compromised elderly seeking dental treatment. For patient safety and improved public health, it is important that dental practitioners evaluate the nature and ongoing treatment of pre-existing medical conditions amongst new patients and account for their impact on dedicated and dental status. This paper supports the relevance of comprehensive clinical practice guidelines and the need to train dental practitioners to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to dental care. In order to meet the future needs of an ageing population, the Japanese Society of Dentistry for Medically Compromised Patients needs to take initiative and suggest mechanisms to exchange patient information freely and encourage multidisciplinary dental practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper studies the impact of oil shocks on systemic risk of G7 stock markets. • We construct a risk spillover network among G7 stock markets by TVP-VAR. • The results indicate that the impact of oil supply shock is insignificant. • Demand shock contributes the most to systematic risk in the short term. • G7 stock markets play a role as receiver and all oil structural shocks as emitter. In this paper, we delve into the critical role of oil shocks in influencing the systematic risk of G7 stock markets—a concern of paramount importance given the interconnectedness of global economies and the pivotal role of energy markets. We employ Delta Conditional Value at Risk (ΔCoVaR) and Marginal Expected Shortfall (MES) to measure the systematic risk of G7 stock markets due to volatility in the oil market. By decomposing oil price change into oil supply shocks, aggregate demand shocks, and oil-specific demand shocks using a structural vector autoregression model, we offer a more granular perspective to investigate the time-varying effects of oil price fluctuations on the systematic risk of G7 stock markets. The results indicate that the impact of oil supply shock is insignificant compared with aggregate demand shock and speculative demand shock. Speculative demand shock contributes the most to systematic risk in the short term, but their impact declines as the number of periods increases. In the long term, the biggest impact on systematic risk is aggregate demand shock. Additionally, we construct a network among G7 stock markets and oil structural shocks based on time-varying spillover and the empirical results show that G7 stock markets play a role as receiver and all oil structural shocks as emitter. Besides, Japan is the country in G7 countries most affected by oil shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper aims to explain the role of GEE in seismic anomalies detection. • Two recent powerful earthquakes in Japan (13 February and 20 March 2021) were discussed. • Time series of AOT, Chlorophyll and Ozone precursors deduced from GEE platform. • They were investigated using Median and LSTM methods. • Our satisfactory results show that we will see a significant leap forward in studies of earthquake precursors. Nowadays, satellite data is an appropriate and undeniable source for studying earthquake precursors due to their diversity, wide coverage, being up to date and low cost. Time series analysis of satellite data plays an important role in the process of detecting seismic anomalies in earthquake warning systems. But in order to reduce uncertainty during the seismic anomalies detection, it is necessary the use a variety of satellite data, although it leads to increase of data size and processing time. This paper aims to explain the role of Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform in considerable progress of seismo-Lithospheric Atmospheric Ionospheric (LAI) anomalies detection in earthquake early warning systems. Among the different studied earthquakes, for example two recent powerful earthquakes in Japan (13 February and 20 March 2021) have been discussed. Deduced time series of three precursors (i.e. Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT), Chlorophyll and Ozone) from GEE platform were investigated using Median method and a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network to detect potentially seismo-LAI anomalies. Our satisfactory results show that with the addition of other various satellite data and also known predictors intelligent algorithms such as deep learning to GEE platform, we will see a significant leap forward in studies of earthquake precursors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For policymakers who intend to make decisions on the policy to stimulate economic growth and enhance job opportunities, business demography statistics serve as important data sources for promoting entrepreneurship, which is a key for the policy. Business demography, which usually consists of annual demographic information such as the number of births, deaths, and survivals of businesses, can be produced from a business register in many countries. In Japan, however, it is difficult to produce business demography directly from the Japanese business resister called Establishment Frame Database because the major data source for the database is the Economic Census, conducted twice every five years. Alternatively, business demography can be estimated using the data of the Economic Census. However, it has been pointed out that short-lived births of businesses are hardly grasped by the estimation using the data of statistical surveys such as the Economic Census at intervals of more than one year. This paper introduces a stochastic model to cope with the above issue and proposes a calculation formula to estimate the number of short-lived births of businesses as well as other demographic indicators of business demography. Then the paper is followed by a numerical example, which proves to overcome the shortcomings of previous methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to study the birth of space age and the distinguished achievements in the space-age painting aesthetics inspired by space exploration. It has been 66 years ever since the first successfully launch of the artificial satellite Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, generally recognized as the first year of space age. Exemplified by the best and most well-known "NASA Art Program", many major space agencies have sponsored the art program. In Japan, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) supports the art program through its Public Affairs Department. In the European Space Agency (ESA), one of its well-known residence artists is Aoife van Linden Tol. For 66 years of the space age, there are many outstanding painters with many distinguished achievements and heritage of aesthetic paintings created. In particular, Robert Rauschenberg's work " Buffalo II " painted in 1964 has become a classic masterpiece that realized the price of $ 88 million at Christie's auction in 2019. • It has been 65 years since the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 generally recognized as the first year of space age. • After the well-known "NASA Art Program", many major space agencies have sponsored the art program. • In Japan, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) supports the art program through its Public Affairs Department. • In the European Space Agency (ESA), one of its well-known residence artists is Aoife van Linden Tol. • Robert Rauschenberg's work " Buffalo II " painted in 1964 priced $88 million at Christie's auction in 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing number of dementia patients is one of the major social problems in Japan. Early detection and prevention of dementia is important. Many welfare facilities use check tests to measure the progression of dementia. However, some elderly people can be very nervous about assessment tests. In addition, the evaluation tests should be conducted regularly to assess the cognitive function of the patient over time, which can be a huge burden for medical and care providers. On the other hand, research papers have recently reported that it is possible to measure cognitive functions by focusing on brain functions and eye movements. In this paper, the authors aimed to develop a new dementia evaluation system to reduce the burden on medical staff and elderly persons. As the first step of this project, we focused on eye movement and employed a simple puzzle game to collect a patient's eye movement. Because of COVID-19, we could not conduct experiments at care houses; instead, we conducted a preliminary experiment with healthy subjects and collected eye movement data during the puzzle game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University campuses are known to be a driving force of knowledge. Moreover, due to campuses' impact on their surroundings, they are also considered as a driving force of physical, social, cultural, and economic change. Therefore, this paper conducts a statistical multi-variate analysis to uncover campus-neighbourhood interaction and the following socio-economic outcomes. Thirteen different variables related to 43 university campuses in Japan and their neighbourhoods' attributes have been collected and measured. Principal component analysis and multi-linear regression analysis have been applied to uncover associations between selected variables. Additionally, k-means cluster analysis has been applied to discover hidden spatial trends between selected cases studies. Findings have shown that campuses located in highly urbanised accessible neighbourhoods create numerous benefits for students such as maximising students' residential preferences and modes of transportation. The main outcome of this paper lies in providing the grounds for a holistic framework towards a better decision making for campus development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan is one of the world's leading super-aging societies, with the highest average life expectancy in the world. 30.3% of the population will be 65 years old or older by 2025, and 13.0% will be 75 years old or older. In addition, the number of heart failure patients is increasing yearly. The number of heart failure patients is increasing by about 10,000 each year and is estimated to reach 1.2 million by 2020 and 1.3 million by 2030. The reason for the rapid increase in the number of heart failure patients in Japan is the aging of the population. Therefore, machine learning to predict atrial fibrillation is employed in this paper. We conducted a trial using risk assessment of cerebral infarction and other factors. As a result of the analysis, we extracted highly influential evaluation indices for each characteristic of atrial fibrillation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes three creative teaching activities that motivate and engage students into active learning. The teaching methods used include hybrid e-learning and virtual reality. The hybrid e-learning style is a combination of e-learning and a hands-on activity in a laboratory setting. For one hybrid e-learning project, students are asked to design, build, and test seawalls to help protect Japan from future tsunamis. In the other hybrid e-learning project, student teams are challenged to invent the best tasting nutritious fruit juice by using various fruits, blenders, water, plasticware, and other items. For the third project, participants use virtual reality (VR) headsets to learn about rollercoasters and to experience the thrill of riding on one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early estimation of biological growth of organisms is an indispensable task in ecology and related research areas. The biological growth is always time-continuous, while our observations of the phenomenon are time-discrete in practice. The formalism of the discrete costly observation (DCO) enables us to mathematically bridge the two qualitatively different processes. This formalism is still germinating, and its practical applications have not been carried out. This paper presents a first application of the DCO formalism to a cost-effective early estimation problem of the biological growth, and its mathematical and numerical analysis. Growth dynamics of organisms, which are fishery resources in this paper, is governed by a stochastic differential equation whose solution is observed discretely. The optimality equation to be solved for finding the most cost-effective observation policy is derived as a fixed point problem based on degenerate parabolic partial differential equations. The fixed point problem turns out to be uniquely solvable. A recursive approximation of the fixed point problem is presented and its solvability in a viscosity sense is discussed. A finite different scheme is then employed to fully-discretize the recursive equations. The present model is finally applied to a problem of Japanese smelt Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis (Ayu): an important inland fishery resource in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents comprehensive parametric analyses on the behavior of damage-repaired steel-concrete composite girders using CFRP sheets. Cross-sectional loss was considered on the lower steel flange at midspan to replicate corrosion damage in the girder. Damage was repaired using CFRP sheets to the underside of the lower flange. Non-linear Finite Element (FE) analyses were conducted on the repaired and intact composite girders. The FE models were validated using experimental results and a parametric study was carried out considering the variables such as number of CFRP sheets, CFRP elastic modulus, damage amount, epoxy resin elastic modulus, concrete strength, flange strength, and CFRP bonding area. The effect of parameters on failure components was studied for Limit States 1, 2, and 3 defined in the revised Design Specification for Highway Bridges in Japan (JSHB) (2017). Limit States 1 and 3 correspond to the service limit and ultimate Limit States in AASHTO, respectively. However, Limit State 2 is JSHB unique Limit State located between 1 and 3 in terms of functionality. Regression models were proposed to determine the load-carrying capacity of the repaired composite girder for 3 Limit States. Comparison between the proposed equation and FE-predicted values showed good agreement with prediction errors of ±10% to ±19%. The study showed that to restore the stiffness and load capacities for Limit State 1 high-modulus CFRP sheets and resins are more suitable options than the low-modulus sheets and resins. Finally, the study proposes the optimal repair method for damaged composite girder considering the Limit States. • Parametric analyses of damage repaired steel-concrete composite girder were conducted using CFRP sheets. • Effect of various parameters has been investigated. • Equations for loadcapacities of repaired composite girders for Limit States 1, 2 and 3 have been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• RF conditioning of RFQ of IFMIF/EVEDA accelerator (LIPAc) reached stable CW at 80 % of nominal voltage at the end of 2021. • Conditioning towards nominal voltage at CW was stopped in March 2022 because of vacuum leak from one of the O-Ring of the RF windows, damaged by high temperature. • Several coupled RF and thermal simulations of the couplers of the RFQ were performed with FEM codes. Thermal weak point was identified in the contact between the anchor of the RF window and the cooled inner conductor of the coupler. • A solution to improve cooling of the RF window that could be implemented quickly with minor modifications of the RF windows parts of the couplers was found. • After the testing and validation of the modification in a prototype, the couplers with the modified parts were successfully installed in RFQ and RF conditioning of RFQ resumed in June 2023. Under the Broader Approach (BA) agreement, the Accelerator Facility validation activities aim at demonstrating the acceleration of 125 mA D+ beam up to 9 MeV. This is the main goal of the Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator (LIPAc) under installation and commissioning in Rokkasho, Japan [ 1 , 2 ]. The LIPAc commissioning by accelerating the beam through the entire line is currently on-going at Rokkasho Fusion Institute [ 3,4 ]. Other than the beam commissioning, in 2021 and 2022 extensive conditioning experimental campaigns have been carried out on the Radio Frequency Power System (RFPS)-RFQ system to reach CW [5]. The RFPS-RFQ is composed of 8 RF-RFQ tetrode based chains injecting RF power into the RFQ by 8 couplers. The target of the RFQ conditioning campaigns is to reach CW operation at nominal vane-voltage of 132 kV. RFQ could achieve CW field of 105 kV at the end of 2021 [ 5,8 ]. During the RFQ conditioning campaigns in 2022, the conditioning was stopped because of abnormal increase of vacuum pressure due to a leak from one O-Ring of the couplers. The 8 couplers are equipped with a ceramic window (vacuum barrier) using O-ring for sealing purposes [ 9 ]. Extensive simulation and design studies have been carried out and an upgraded design of the parts near the RF window of RFQ coupler has been proposed and validated for implementation. This paper will focus on the RFQ couplers technical issue, analysis of the design upgrade, implementation of the upgraded solution and perspective for future improvements of the RFQ couplers designs in view of FNS and DONES application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 4th Asia Partnership Conference of Regenerative Medicine (APACRM) was held online on April 15, 2021, to promote regulatory harmonization of regenerative medicine products throughout Asia. Recognizing domestic regulatory guidelines within each country and region, and their underpinning rationales, is an important initial step toward a convergence of regulations. The 4th APACRM consisted of an open dialog with regulatory agencies regarding nonclinical and quality settings for cell therapy products (CTPs) through industry presentations and panel discussions with regulatory agencies. The latest updates on regenerative medicine fields in each country and region, and specific regulatory schematics in Japan, were also introduced. The objective of this paper is to summarize the proceedings of the 4th APACRM for public dissemination and to foster further discussion in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Decoupling of GDP from all energy sources under multiple principles are examined. • World economy achieved weak energy decoupling in most years during 2000–2011. • World economy coupled with coal use and tended to couple with cleaner energy use. • None of studied economies achieved long-term GDP-embodied energy decoupling. • Decoupling delusions occurred when only considering direct and total energy use. Decoupling indicators are widely used to understand links between economic growth and energy use. However, traditional decoupling analyses mostly focus on domestic energy consumption (i.e., the production-based principle) and neglect off-site energy use across global supply chains to satisfy an economy's final consumption (i.e., the consumption-based principle). Moreover, analyses for total primary energy conceal an economy's preference for different energy sources. Therefore, this paper evaluates decoupling states of GDP from all types of primary energy use under consumption-based principle, for world economy and eight typical economies during 2000–2011. Regarding total primary energy, world economy witnessed weak decoupling in most years, and most economies studied (e.g., USA, Japan and China) achieved decoupling initially but performed negative decoupling finally. For EU, USA, Japan, Russia and India, production-based decoupling performances were generally better than consumption-based ones. Decoupling phenomena detected under production-based principle even became coupling or negative decoupling under consumption-based principle in some cases. As for each energy source, world economy decoupled from oil use, but still coupled with coal use, and gradually showed a trend to couple with natural gas and renewables use. Different energy sources showed distinct decoupling degrees from GDP, affected by individual embodied energy requirement structure. This paper uncovers potential energy decoupling delusions to deepen the understanding of relationships between energy use and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rational rheology model is critical for the numerical simulation of debris-flow behavior. The Bingham model commonly used in many current studies has failed to simulate the shear thickening and thinning phenomenon in experiments. We report an alternative solution by incorporating the Herschel-Bulkley-Papanastasiou (HBP) model with the smoothed particle hydrodynamic (SPH) method. The SPH simulation is based on the open-source DualSPHysics scheme, upon which we built a development by the Bingham-based rheology model in our previous study. In this paper, a straightforward improvement is made such that the HBP model is incorporated to describe the constitutive law between particles, extending the compatibility of the simulation to dilatant and pseudoplastic fluids. To illustrate the performance of the HBP-based SPH method, first, a sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the influence of important rheological coefficients. The proposed method was then verified by a dam-break experiment of water-clay mixtures and the case study of the 2010 Yohutagawa debris-flow event in Japan. The results indicate a good accordance between simulation and observation. A discussion regarding the potential and limitations of the current method concludes the paper. • An HBP-based SPH method is proposed for numerical simulation of debris flows. • Shear thickening and thinning phenomenon of debris-flow mixture can be simulated. • A sensitivity analysis on the HBP rheological model is conducted. • The performance of the proposed method has been verified by experiment and case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the order acceptance and scheduling problem with worker–operation assignment considering the precedence constraint in the divisional seru production system, which is a new production type derived from Japan and can achieve responsiveness, flexibility, and efficiency simultaneously. With limited production capacity and workers with different skill sets and skill levels, the problem considered in this paper includes three sub-problems: (i) assigning workers to each seru , (ii) making the order acceptance and scheduling plan, and (iii) allocating workers to operations for each order. Subsequently, a nonlinear integer programming model is established for improving the total net revenue, and a bi-level nested heuristic algorithm is designed due to its intractable computation. Computational experiments are made finally, and results show that the objective value obtained by the bi-level nested heuristic algorithm is 3% better than the bi-level genetic algorithm, and the running time is shortened by 99.23%. That is, the proposed bi-level nested heuristic algorithm can achieve better results and higher efficiency for divisional seru order acceptance and scheduling problems. • A new production system, seru , is introduced and the divisional seru order acceptance and scheduling problem is studied. • The integer programming model for the studied problem is presented, and a bi-level nested heuristic algorithm is designed. • The experimental results indicate that the proposed solution methodology is effective and robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a fractional-order SIRD mathematical model is presented with Caputo derivative for the transmission of COVID-19 between humans. We calculate the steady-states of the system and discuss their stability. We also discuss the existence and uniqueness of a non-negative solution for the system under study. Additionally, we obtain an approximate response by implementing the fractional Euler method. Next, we investigate the first and the second waves of the disease in Iran and Japan; then we give a prediction concerning the second wave of the disease. We display the numerical simulations for different derivative orders in order to evaluate the efficacy of the fractional concept on the system behaviors. We also calculate the optimal control of the system and display its numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyze the relationship between the marketing mix and new product diffusion models. The goal is to obtain a general new product diffusion model that incorporates the classic 4Ps model of the Marketing Mix: Product, Price, Place, Promotion. An empirical study was conducted using mobile broadband adoption data in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-scale woody biomass energy systems have an inherent ability to aid in emissions reduction while stimulating local economies and, as collective energy systems, are strongly connected to supply chain design based on local conditions and stakeholder integration. Despite an abundance of forest area alongside the promotion of biomass in energy policies, however, woody biomass utilization still remains low in Japan. The woody biomass supply chain, considered as a socio-technical system, involves a complex, cross-sectoral stakeholder network in which inter-organizational dynamics necessitates well-organized management based on an understanding of formal factors such as technology, as well as informal factors such as social relations and culture. In this paper, success factor perceptions from across the woody biomass supply chain are investigated based on semi-structured interviews with four stakeholders in the Kyushu region of Japan. Identified success factors here are: 1) respect of values & traditions, 2) transportation infrastructure, 3) business model integration, 4) relationship & trust, 5) local vitalization and 6) biomass quality control. A convergence as well as divergence of perceptions are observed, involving both formal and informal dimensions. Aiming to balance perceptions and to enable long-term success of woody biomass in Japan, a series of policy implications are drawn, including cross-ministerial integration, knowledge building on wood logistics, forest certification, local coordinators, biomass quality control standards and a feed-in-tariff for heat. This paper suggests a new arena of policy-making based on the importance of considering both informal and formal dimensions in energy policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents investigating the fraud transaction detection in the mail order industry. These kinds of detection made intensively but the outcome of the research was not shared among the industry. As the B2C industry expands their market size, the fraud transactions increase in number. As a matter of course, this phenomenon is not only continuing but cleverly. One of the conclusive factors for this phenomenon is payment method. That is, the deferred payment method is primarily employed in Japan. The conventional primary indicator for the fraud detection is the ordered time-based information. They are the shipping address, the recipient name, and the payment method. Since conventional detecting method for the fraud depends on some heuristic knowledge, their market size enlargement makes hard to detect fraud transaction. For this background, this paper is presented investigating for comparing algorithms with the actual transaction data gathered from the mail-order industry in Japan. The comparison of weaker learner algorithms is made. The analytical results suggest Random forest is more accurate than XGBoost not only AUC score but parameter tuning costs. This result will make it use for the decision support knowledge for screening customer at the order received phase in the mail order industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because transport in the port hinterlands heavily depends on roads with negative externalities, much social interest has been in modal shifts (MSs) to rail and shipping with lower environmental impact. Currently, leading industry sectors to ambitiously embrace technological innovations to decarbonize—consequently, in line with these changes, the significance of MSs should change; however, no previous studies have comprehensively presented the overall CO 2 emissions and transport mode shares for future regional cargo transport. This paper presents a scenario analysis of CO 2 emission reductions in the Japanese domestic hinterland of international maritime container transport based on future scenarios of technological innovation and change in shipper behavior. The simulation results using the global logistics intermodal network simulation model showed that up to 87% CO 2 reduction is possible, and the primary driver for this is technological innovation. Moreover, the significance of MSs fluctuates depending on the advancement of technological innovation, suggesting that MSs hold a degree of import as a decarbonization measure during the transitional phase toward carbon neutrality (CN) as technological innovation advances. The results of this study, which fluctuated considerably by scenario and timing, have policy implications with respect to the path to be followed toward CN, including whether to promote MSs. • Scenario analysis of CO 2 emission reductions in Japanese maritime transportation. • Up to 87% CO 2 reduction possible using technological innovation. • Significance of modal shifts fluctuated with the degree of technological innovation. • Policy implications suggesting that the path toward carbon neutrality is crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ongoing climate change has increased the impact of landslides and related slope disasters on infrastructure and human lives. Microwave satellite remote sensing, particularly interferometric analysis of synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data, is a powerful tool for routine monitoring of the displacement of slopes on small wavelength scales, independently from solar illumination and cloud coverage. Although various sophisticated techniques for time-series InSAR have been developed, practical application in conjunction with geological analysis to reveal intrinsic and triggering factors of slope displacement is still limited. In this paper, we describe a practical case of time-series InSAR analysis with a special focus on its geological implications in northwestern Kyushu, a high-risk area for slope-related disasters in Japan. The extracted susceptible polygons from the InSAR results show accuracy comparable with that of other recent research on landslide mapping. Intrinsic factor analysis based on a geographic information system reveals that the displacement occurs on relatively gentle slopes instead of steep areas, corresponding to the transient zone of Paleogene-Neogene sedimentary rocks and basalt. Triggering factor analysis based on correlation coefficients reveals a significant link between some displacement areas with mean and/or maximum precipitation for each observation duration. Those findings confirm the importance of carefully accounting for the geological background for landslide susceptibility assessment and policy making, apart from topographic and meteorological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The blanket testing facility for WCCB TBM was newly built in Rokkasho Fusion Institute, Japan. • An apparatus for flow accelerated corrosion testing under coolant condition of TBM was installed. • An apparatus for high heat flux testing under cooling with pressurized water using electron beam gun was installed. • An apparatus for ingress testing of pressurized water inside TBM was installed. • An apparatus for evaluating characteristics of beryllium-water reaction was installed. Intensive research and development activities have been conducted for designing a water-cooled ceramic breeder (WCCB) blanket system. In this system 325 °C/15.5 MPa of pressurized water removes heat injected and accumulated in blanket containers made of a reduced activation ferritic/martensitic steel, F82H. The container has lithium ceramics and beryllium pebbles as tritium breeder and neutron multiplier, respectively. In order to demonstrate performance of the system, especially for high-temperature pressurized water coolant, experimental apparatus have been installed in Rokkasho Fusion Institute, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Japan. These apparatuses enable to conduct the following experiment on full-scale mockups: 1) high heat flux (HHF) test to demonstrate heat removal of surface heat flux by electron beam gun simulating plasma, 2) flow assisted corrosion, 3) coolant ingress into dummy pebble beds, and 4) beryllium-water reaction between the coolant and the pebbles. In this paper, overviews, specifications, early results of these apparatus are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the automatic analysis of natural environment images acquired with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) has rapidly gained popularity. UAVs are specially important in mountainous forests where access is difficult and large areas need to be surveyed. In Zao mountains in northeastern Japan, regenerated fir saplings are competing with sub-alpine vegetation shrubs after a severe fir tree mortality caused by bark beetle infestation. A detailed survey of vegetation distribution is key to improve our understanding of species succession and the influence of climate change in that process. To that end, we evaluated the suitability of deep-learning-based automatic image classification of UAV images in order to map sub-alpine vegetation succession in large areas and the potential of fir regeneration. In order to assess the contribution of this technology in this research field, we first conducted an observer study to assess the difficulty for humans of the task of classifying vegetation from images. Afterwards, we compared the observers' accuracy to four state-of-the art deep learning networks for automatic image classification. The best observer accuracy of 55% demonstrates the limitations of species classification using only images. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of the sources of error showed that even though humans could differentiate between deciduous and evergreen species with an accuracy of 96%, identifying the correct species within each group proved much more challenging. In contrast, deep learning networks achieved accuracy values in the range of 70–80% for species classification, clearly demonstrating capabilities beyond human experts. Our experiments also indicated that the performance of these networks was significantly influenced by the similarity between the datasets used to fine-tune them and evaluate them. This fact highlights the importance of building publicly available images databases to further improve the results. Nevertheless, the results presented in this paper show that the analysis of UAV-acquired with deep learning networks can usher in a new type of large-scale study, spanning tenths or even hundreds of hectares with high spatial resolution (of a few cms per pixel), providing the ability to assess challenging vegetation dynamics problems that go beyond the ability of conventional fieldwork methodologies. • UAV Shrub image classification. • Deep Learning vs human expert comparison. • Focus on Practical use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Broader Approach (BA) activities aim to complement the ITER project and to promote the early realization of fusion energy through research, development, and tests of technologies supporting the future demonstration fusion reactor (DEMO). These activities are implemented under the BA agreement, which was signed and ratified in 2007 between Euratom and the Government of Japan. In essence, the BA activities consist of three projects: a) The Satellite Tokamak Programme Project JT-60SA, the world's largest superconducting tokamak until ITER starts, aims to support the assembly, commissioning and preliminary operation of ITER, and carry out demonstration and optimisation of steady-state operation of advanced plasma configurations for DEMO; b) The International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC), which comprises three different sub-projects: the DEMO Design Research and Development Coordination Centre to coordinate design and R&D on materials and components for DEMO, the Fusion Computer Simulation Centre for the simulations of fusion plasmas, the analysis of experimental data, modelling of ITER operation, and contribution to the design of DEMO, and the Remote Experimentation Centre to allow scientists to participate remotely in fusion experiments from its control room in Japan; c) The Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities for the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF/EVEDA) focused on the design and validation of key components needed for the future Fusion Neutron Source facilities to characterize materials envisioned for DEMO. After 13 years of fruitful collaboration, Euratom and Japan launched the second phase of the BA activities in 2020. It is focused on exploiting and enhancing the facilities that have already been built and on working more closely than ever with ITER as the latter advances towards the first plasma. This paper will present a synthesis of the achievements already obtained thanks to the three BA projects and will address the future developments planned in 2023 and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a fusion reactor, the plasma based on a deuterium-tritium reaction generates high energy neutron flux interacting with the materials of the plasma facing components. In order to study the irradiated behavior of these materials, the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) was conceived to generate these fusion relevant neutrons through d -Li stripping source. IFMIF is presently in its Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities (EVEDA) phase under the Broader Approach agreement signed between EURATOM and Japanese Government in 2007. This agreement mandates the IFMIF/EVEDA project to validate the design of the different systems of IFMIF and to produce an integrated engineering design of IFMIF, together with the data necessary for future decisions on its construction and operation. While the Engineering Validation Activity (EVA) of the Lithium Target Facility and the Test Facility was completed by constructing prototypes, the EVA of the Accelerator Facility with the Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator (LIPAc) is still on-going at the Rokkasho Fusion Institute, Japan. This paper overviews the achievements in the previous phase ended on 31 March 2020 and the progress in the current phase to complete the commissioning of the LIPAc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an analysis of audiovisual data from multidisciplinary rehabilitation team meetings in Japan, this paper investigates how Japanese rehabilitation team members collaboratively negotiate decisions about dietary prescriptions when treating stroke patients suffering from dysphagia (difficulty swallowing). Dysphagia can be scaled by the level of patients’ swallowing capacity; the lower the level, the more elaborate food modification is required. The paper first conducts componential analysis to uncover semantic relations among a set of dysphagia diets. Next, the paper draws on occasioned semantics to systematically illustrate how such relations are realized in actual interactive talk. Analysis shows that members utilize the pre-existing semantic structures of dysphagia diets as the basis for achieving various interactional activities, such as categorizing types of food, achieving rhetorical effects, and evaluating the level of dysphagia. Moreover, analysis reveals that the use of scaling diagrams is helpful in illustrating scalar relations co-constructed in actual conversation and understanding the mechanism of regrading (up/downgrading) phenomena. The paper integrates ethnographic information regarding the use of dysphagia diets into the analysis of formulation practices in decision-making activities. In so doing, the paper explores the interplay between a culturally shared, scaled semantic system and the emergent structure of meaning in medical team talk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we propose necessary conditions for antifragile project management, based on the Deming paradigm (a much richer version of statistical process control), named after W.E.Deming, who revolutionized the industry in Japan. We analyze in detail the concept of antifragility and extend it from probability theory to epistemology by proposing mechanisms that make a system antifragile, with application to knowledge as a complex system. These mechanisms are related with the internal dynamics of the system such as recursiveness, rather than the response to external stimuli. We built upon a previous work in which we propose quality of product or service as a payoff instead of short-term revenue. An antifragile project management strategy therefore means convexity of quality as a function of random events, uncertainty and lack of information, with quality itself being the random variable towards which the probability density distribution is locally convex. We propose Deming paradigms of management as necessary conditions in achieving antifragility of project management. They are related to the ability to extract the maximum of information from the smallest of errors – i) understanding variation ii) having a theory, iii) managing teams as complex systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee engagement has become a critical issue in Japanese companies. One way to develop it is to improve the relationship among employees through gratitude expressions. In the post-COVID-19 remote work environment, digital devices are essential. This paper confirms that expressions of gratitude delivered via digital devices enhance the relationship between employees. We experimented in a small-town government office where participants (n = 88) were asked to (1) use the Thanks App, an app we developed to express gratitude, for two months and (2) respond to an engagement survey we developed before and after the experimental period. Through cross-analysis of the data from the app and questionnaire, we found that the "trust in colleagues" factor had a strong correlation (r = 0.80, p < 0.001) with our new index computed by the app's data. The results suggest that the use of the Thanks App may help visualize the trust relationship among teams. This study has a practical value in providing a new team management tool for visualizing team trust. In addition, it provides a new research method for emotional and social psychology using digital devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is a science mission led by the European Space Agency, being developed for launch in 2023. The Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA) is an instrument onboard JUICE, whose main scientific goals are to understand ice tectonics based on topographic data, the subsurface structure by measuring tidal response, and small-scale roughness and albedo of the surface. In addition, from the perspective of astrobiology, it is imperative to study the subsurface ocean scientifically. The development of GALA has proceeded through an international collaboration between Germany (the lead), Japan, Switzerland, and Spain. Within this framework, the Japanese team (GALA-J) is responsible for developing three receiver modules: the Backend Optics (BEO), the Focal Plane Assembly (FPA), and the Analog Electronics Module (AEM). Like the German team, GALA-J also developed software to simulate the performance of the entire GALA system (performance model). In July 2020, the Proto-Flight Models of BEO, FPA, and AEM were delivered from Japan to Germany. This paper presents an overview of JUICE/GALA and its scientific objectives and describes the instrumentation, mainly focusing on Japan's contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a contrastive approach to speaker-audience interaction in political speeches, specifically, in relation to culture. It begins with a review of seminal and subsequent research based in the UK, which has shown how speakers use rhetorical devices to invite audience responses, typically applause. This is followed by evaluation of political speech research set in other nations – both Eastern (Japan and South Korea) and Western (USA and European), English-speaking and non-English-speaking – investigating how the behaviour of speakers and audiences contrasts across cultures. Proposals include, that whereas speakers in Western nations predominantly use rhetorical devices to invite audience responses implicitly , their counterparts in East Asian nations are more inclined to use explicit invitations. Furthermore, whereas invited booing is a salient feature from observations of American and French political speeches, the same cannot be said of others, particularly Japan, where such behaviour is reportedly absent. Speech-making was once regarded as monologic, but studies reported herein show how political speeches can be considered dialogic, akin to how people in conversations take turns. However, it is shown here that behavioural specifics of this form of dialogue need to be understood in the context of culture. • Review of UK political speech research: speakers use rhetoric to invite applause. • Evaluation of comparable research set in other nations. • Includes Eastern (Japan/South Korea) and Western (European/USA). • How does the behaviour of speakers and audiences contrast across cultures? • Strong evidence for cultural differences in speaker rhetoric and audience responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analysed CO 2 emission pathways for the Japanese iron and steel industry towards 2030, taking into account the likely development of process capacities that could flexibly adapt to a range of projected future crude steel production levels (“optimal capacities”) while maintaining minimum capacity utilisation rates. Coke and pig iron production capacities were optimised to the levels that enable flexible operation for 90–120 Mt-crude steel/y, compared to 110 Mt/y in 2010. Operational constraints were applied to the capacity utilisation rates (minimum of 85%) and the maximum use of coke and pig iron substitutes. This paper also assessed the implications of the aforementioned flexible operation across a range of crude steel production levels on the future scrap balances. This study calculated the optimal capacities for coke ovens and blast furnaces in 2030 to be 29 Mt-coke/y (compared to 43 Mt/y in 2010) and 83 Mt-pig iron/y (compared to 90 Mt/y in 2010). Under these optimal capacities and the aforementioned range for crude steel production levels, the projected total CO 2 emissions were 4–21% below 2010 levels. If the 2030 production level remains at 105 Mt/y, which equals the 2015 production level and the 1973–2015 average, the total emissions will be 9–16% below 2010 levels, depending on the level of emissions reduction effort. These results indicate that the industry is likely to considerably overachieve its voluntary emissions reduction target for 2030 (0.1% below 2010 levels). Moreover, it was found that the lifetime extensions for existing blast furnaces and coke ovens have limited impact on CO 2 emissions while significantly reducing the investment needs. The study also showed that the low crude steel production (90 Mt/y) combined with high pig iron and coke consumption levels to maintain minimum capacity utilisation rates may lead not only to an increase in specific CO 2 emissions per tonne of crude steel but also to a net export of obsolete scrap up to 17 Mt, which is nearly twice the historical high. Towards 2030, Japan would need to consider not only opportunities to maximize the use of steel scrap but also the development of an extended steel scrap trade infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One proposed strategy to solve current environmental challenges is industrial and urban symbiosis (I/UrS); however, appropriate evaluation methods are needed so that the potential benefits of I/UrS can be quantified. Several evaluation methods have been applied separately to study I/UrS, but no integrated studies have been conducted by applying different methods in the same case study area. Therefore, this study aimed to establish a comprehensive framework to evaluate I/UrS by combining the material flow analysis (MFA), carbon footprint (CF) and emergy methods. First, we developed a unified database and step-by-step process to clarify the waste distribution and recycling processes in an industrial city. Then a baseline scenario and an I/UrS scenario were set up to define the baselines and effects of I/UrS and compare the results. Finally, the three methods were applied to identify physical features in the I/UrS system. The MFA-based results showed that the use of I/UrS led to a 6.4% reduction in the physical value of material use. The CF-based results indicated that reduction of waste and by-products results in a 13.8% reduction in CO 2 e emissions. The emergy-based results showed that, with the implementation of I/UrS, the value of the emergy sustainability index (excluding labor and services) improved greatly (a 49.2% emergy reduction) as compared with the baseline case (a 14.3% reduction). In addition, the effects of implementing I/UrS by waste and by-product exchanges for blast furnace slag, scrap steel, waste paper, and waste plastic were evaluated. Whereas the CF reductions of unit ton of blast furnace slag is relatively low, emergy reductions of that is comparatively high. If policymakers only consider CF results when addressing the issue of climate change, the effects on emergy will be underestimated in this case. We conclude that the main actors in this area release huge emissions, but they also have a high potential to reduce their environmental loads. In addition, with appropriate designs, waste paper and plastics recycling could be highly efficient. Finally, the integration of the three evaluation methods should contribute to creating a low carbon and more resource independent society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastics (MPs) are non-biodegradable substances that can sustain our environment for up to a century. What is more worrying is the incapability of modern technologies to annihilate MPs from om environment. One ramification of MPs is their impact on every kind of life form on this planet, which has been discussed ahead; that is why these substances are surfacing in everyday discussions of scholars and researchers. This paper discusses the overview of the global occurrence, abundance, analysis, and remediation techniques of MPs in the environment. This paper primarily reviews the event and abundance of MPs in coastal sediments and agricultural soil of three major Asian countries, India, China, and Japan. A significant concentration of MPs has been recorded from these countries, which affirms its strong presence and subsequent environmental impacts. Concentrations such as 73,100 MPs/kg in Indian coastal sediments and 42,960 particles/kg in the agricultural soil of China is a solid testimony to prove their massive outbreak in our environment and require urgent attention towards this issue. Conclusions show that human activities, rivers, and plastic mulching on agricultural fields have majorly acted as carriers of MPs towards coastal and terrestrial soil and sediments. Later, based on recorded concentrations and gaps, future research studies are recommended in the concerned domain; a dearth of studies on MPs influencing Indian agricultural soil make a whole sector and its consumer vulnerable to the adverse effects of this emerging contaminant. [Display omitted] • Film & fibre shaped microplastics (MPs) are more abundant in India, China and Japan. • Plastic mulching is the root cause of major MPs pollution in soil and sediment. • Estuarian soil/sediment are more prone to MPs pollution than terrestrial and coastal. • FT-IR is highly used for MPs identification; mass spectrometry & microscopy are least. • MPs work as a vector for metals, PPCPs, surfactants and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing effective and fast data transfer system for the huge amount data between Europe and Japan is a critical issue for the ITER Remote Experimentation Center (REC). To implement the system, effective data transfer methods and wide bandwidth international network are required. This paper describes results of data transfer experiments. We have evaluated two data transfer methods: Packet Pacing and MMCFTP. By using Packet Pacing and 2.4 Gbps line, we achieved 2.2 Gbps data transfer from NIFS to IFERC. By using MMCFTP and 10 Gbps line, we achieved 2.5 Gbps data transfer from NIFS to Dublin, Ireland. Furthermore, by using MMCFTP and 100Gbps line, we successfully achieved the stable transmission of 1PB of data at approximately 84 Gbps, one of the world’s fastest transmission speeds. This paper also describes the upgrade plan of SINET (a Japanese academic backbone network), which is used for ITER and REC communications. SINET will be upgraded to the network based on 100-Gigabit Ethernet technology in April 2016. Furthermore, direct lines of 20 Gbps (10 Gbps × 2) between Japan and Europe will be introduced. These direct lines will reduce latency between Europe and Japan and will realize higher speed data transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID 19 pandemic, the importance of global academia-industrial alliances has increased. It is hoped that the alliances will help us to solve the current problems caused by the pandemic. In this paper, we introduce the application of IT tools and communication skills utilized in a special educational project for an academia-industrial collaboration. Some concrete examples from 2020 are provided from the viewpoint of the national alliance project in Japan. A discussion is included that describes the plans available to increase and strengthen the national project in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary role of a teacher from a technical high school in Japan is to teach the students the specialized knowledge and skills for the target industry such as manufacturing. At the same time, it is nothing to say to enhance the humanity of the students. The society of teachers is aging same as the aging and the birth rate decline society as the whole environment of Japan. From those backgrounds, teachers in the technical high school with educational capability who can teach students appropriately are required. One of the methods to improve the educational capability of teachers more than ever, we propose a method to quantify the educational capability in this paper. The educational capability of each teacher can be confirmed objectively at the same time by our proposed method. From the result of analyses, the educational capability of teachers is obtained from the results of the questionnaire. Based on our proposed method, the optimal composition of teachers by each subject is generated. This is research in progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores pragmatic socialization by examining episodes of two to three - year-old children's crying and adults' responses to this crying in two preschools: Sweden and Japan. Based on approximately 100 hours of naturally occurring interactions, it focuses on crying episodes that emerged within peer conflict, and analyzes ways that teachers structured a triadic framework of mediation. The results show how teachers mediated by using (1) question-response sequences to clarify what happened and (2) directives and declaratives to convey norms of behaving/speaking and to attune children to the crying of others as a negative affective act that requires a remedial response. The results reveal similarities and variations in adults' responses to children's crying in the two preschools. Although the findings in part instantiate traditional models of socialization in these two societies, they also suggest ways that departed from these models. • Analysis examines preschool teachers' responses to crying in peer conflict. • Methods utilize multimodal conversation analysis. • Analysis shows teachers' triadic mediation utilizing questions, directives, and declaratives. • Findings are discussed in relation to children's pragmatic socialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, many elderly people choose to live in nursing homes with the high-speed advancement of the aging society in Japan. In the aging society, the shortage of nurses in nursing homes is growing and the demand for medical staff is also increasing. Recording the daily distribution of medicines for the elderly in a nursing home is difficult, which is a time-consuming and labor-consuming task. With the development of artificial intelligence, researchers have tried to realize the automatic recognition of characters using deep learning and achieved exciting performance. This paper aims to realize the automatic medicine package character recognition by combining image processing and deep learning, which may help distribute medicines in nursing home. To be specific, we first detect character area on the image of medicine package, then use dilation and erosion to extract characters. Finally, we design a slight seven-layer deep learning model for character recognition. The experimental results show the deep learning based character recognition accuracy achieved at 97.16%. Furthermore, the tablets are also recognized correctly, which may help staff check the medicine information in the package. Insert here your abstract text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

JT-60SA is a joint international fusion experiment being built and operated in Japan under the framework of the Broader Approach Agreement and Japanese National Fusion Programme, aiming at an early realization of fusion energy by conducting supportive and complementary work for the ITER project, all towards supporting the basis for DEMO. In this context, a collaboration has been established via EUROfusion between Fusion for Energy and CEA to develop actively cooled targets of the JT-60SA divertor. The first Actively Cooled Divertor (ACD) target, planned to be operated in 2029, has graphite as armour material and TZM as heat sink material. To be DEMO relevant, ACD target with tungsten armour is planned to be operated in 2033, with either CuCrZr or TZM as heat sink material. This paper focusses on the choice of the design (material, dimensions) of these targets. Results of thermal and structural analysis of these targets are presented. The calculations, carried out in the environment of Ansys 2021R2 code, have taken into account the heat loading under plasma operation (with a peak heat flux of 10 MW/m2) and the electromagnetic loads from a representative plasma disruption (VDE 30 ms). In order to check the compliance with nuclear requirements, RCC-MRx 2015 has been used for the mechanical assessment of metallic components, while for the graphite the comparison between the maximum stress and the yield stress has been considered. The performed analyses show that the thermal load on target during the plasma heat loading drives target designs due to differential expansion at the interface between the heat sink and the flat tiles. Additionally, on-going assessments on these divertor targets are presented, focussing on experimental High Heat Flux testing, as well as computational thermal-hydraulic studies on enhanced target configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban resilience is being increasingly recognized by scholars as the approach to healthier and more sustainable cities facing various challenges. Among the characteristics of urban resilience, there is a wide consensus that the capability of capital building for local areas is an indispensable attribute. Based upon this understanding, this paper takes the example of Kesennuma City, a small coastal town in Miyagi Prefecture of Japan that was severely damaged by the aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (EJET), to illustrate how the pursuit of building local capital was incorporated into the agenda of its reconstruction planning. The research relies on the on-site field work together with meetings of local stakeholders and the analysis of various documents and reports. Kesennuma City, facing problems of declining fishery industry, long-time depopulation and severe tsunami damages, has been vigorously exploring for new approaches of diversifying its economy and sustaining its future development, as reflected in the goals of the city's reconstruction plan devised in October of 2011, and other machi-zukuri projects. Besides, the evidence of capital building is also discovered in the planning process with high degree of involvement from and cooperation between various stakeholders, including the government, citizens, NGOs and incoming wisdoms, such as universities. In regard of this, this paper scrutinizes the agenda of reconstruction plans together with their functioning mechanisms. It finally concludes with the lessons from this specific case to similar cities with limited resources that face challenges of building local capitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 1997 to 2012, 114 Japanese industry associations implemented voluntary action plans, which are not enforced by laws or regulations, to reduce carbon emissions. This paper investigates whether the establishment of these voluntary action plans by industry associations contributed to the adoption of a carbon emissions target at the firm level within the associations. Using a survey of approximately 1000 firms in Japan, this paper finds that small and medium-sized firms in sectors with voluntary action plans were 2–4 times more likely to establish their own carbon emissions targets than were firms belonging to industry associations without voluntary action plans. In contrast, the paper finds that voluntary action plans did not affect the establishment of emissions targets among firms with more than 3000 employees. This result is consistent with the survey responses, which found that periodic follow-ups under a voluntary action plan helped small firms to obtain important pieces of information and that industry associations played an important role in this process. In general, small firms have relatively large potential for energy saving, but the lack of information prevents its realization. The results confirm the importance of voluntary action plans in removing the information barriers of relatively small firms and encouraging them to implement carbon emissions targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hand sign recognition is one of most challenging issues in computer vision and human computer interaction, and many researchers tackle this issue. In this research, we focus on JFSL (Japanese Finger-spelled Sign Language) which is one of hand signs. The tasks for achieving high performance of JFSL recognition as well as other hand signs are how to extract hand region precisely and how to recognize hand signs accurately. To deal with the former task, in this paper, we propose an automatic hand region extraction method with a depth sensor. The characteristic points of our proposed method are to utilize Time-Series Curve, which is one of contour features, and to extract hand region accurately without wearing landmark object such as a color wristband. On the other hand, to tackle the latter task, in this research, we focus on a deep neural network based recognition method since such a method is reported that it allows us to achieve high performance for various recognition tasks. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate JFSL recognition performance with a deep neural network approach compared to that with the conventional image recognition method (HOG+SVM). From the experimental results with 8 subjects, we have confirmed that our proposed method allows us to extract hand region accurately regardless of subjects and JFSL signs. In addition, from the experimental results with a deep neural network based recognition method for JFSL recognition, we have achieved at least average recognition rate over 88%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we focus on ethical education as a means to improve artificial companion's conceptualization of moral decision-making process in human users. In particular, we focus on automatically determining whether changes in ethical education influenced core moral values in humans throughout the century. We analyze ethics as taught in Japan before WWII and today to verify how much the pre-WWII moral attitudes have in common with those of contemporary Japanese, to what degree what is taught as ethics in school overlaps with the general population's understanding of ethics, as well as to verify whether a major reform of the guidelines for teaching the school subject of "ethics" at school after 1946 has changed the way common people approach core moral questions (such as those concerning the sacredness of human life). We selected textbooks used in teaching ethics at school from between 1935 and 1937, and those used in junior high schools today (2019) and analyzed what emotional and moral associations such contents generated. The analysis was performed with an automatic moral and emotional reasoning agent and based on the largest available text corpus in Japanese as well as on the resources of a Japanese digital library. As a result, we found out that, despite changes in stereotypical view on Japan's moral sentiments, especially due to historical events, past and contemporary Japanese share a similar moral evaluation of certain basic moral concepts, although there is a large discrepancy between how they perceive some actions to be beneficial to the society as a whole while at the same time being inconclusive when it comes to assessing the same action's outcome on the individual performing them and in terms of emotional consequences. Some ethical categories, assessed positively before the war, while being associated with a nationalistic trend in education have also disappeared from the scope of interest of post- war society. The findings of this study support suggestions proposed by others that the development of personal AI systems requires supplementation with moral reasoning. Moreover, the paper builds upon this idea and further suggests that AI systems need to be aware of ethics not as a constant, but as a function with a correction on historical and cultural changes in moral reasoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]