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In the preceding studies, an analysis of Saga Prefectural sightseeing information by a Self-Organizing Map (SOM) has been tried. And recent development on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will help us to access any results via the mobile devices easily. This is why the mobile devices, e.g., smartphones and tablet computers, have an operating system installed, and we can improve their functions by downloading any applications on the Web. Then, in order to realize this basic idea, development of an application for the mobile devices is investigated through some computer simulations on the standard desktop PC in this paper. As a result, it is found that i) a developed feature map is useful to identify some candidate topics, ii) a touchscreen is suitable to show the feature map, and iii) arrangement of the feature map can be modified based on our interests. Then, it is concluded that the proposed idea seems to be applicable, even though further consideration is required to brush it up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes design and development of a system that supports continuous creation of hazard maps by local residents in their daily life. We made an interview survey to design our system in a model traditional town in Saga, Japan. The results show that in spite of continuous efforts, many practical problems remain and residents feel unsafe. Based on these results, we designed and developed a unique ICT-based support system which contributes to community-based disaster prevention/reduction. The continuous resident participation and posting design are core concept for our sustainable community-based approach. Our system continues to support making a hazard map by integrating the community-based hazard information. Local residents register information about the spot (disaster types, a risk level, a photograph, comments, positional information) that can be dangerous in case of disaster. We have evaluated the usefulness and possibilities of our prototype system implemented as an iOS application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Hahoe Village" in Andong region is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. It should be protected against various disasters such as fire, flooding, earthquake, etc. Among these disasters, flooding has drastic impact on the lives and properties in a wide area. Since "Hahoe Village" is adjacent to Nakdong River, it is important to monitor the water level near the village. In this paper, we developed a hydrological modelling using multi-layer perceptron (MLP) to predict the water level of Nakdong River near "Hahoe Village". To develop the prediction model, error back-propagation (EBP) algorithm was used to train the MLP with water level data near the village and rainfall data at the upper reaches of the village. After training with data in 2012 and 2013, we verified the prediction performance of MLP with untrained data in 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relative entropy is a divergence measure between two probability density functions of a random variable. Assuming that the random variable has only two alphabets, the relative entropy becomes a cross-entropy error function that can accelerate training convergence of multi-layer perceptron neural networks. Also, the n-th order extension of cross-entropy (nCE) error function exhibits an improved performance in viewpoints of learning convergence and generalization capability. In this paper, we derive a new divergence measure between two probability density functions from the nCE error function. And the new divergence measure is compared with the relative entropy through the use of three-dimensional plots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When developing a classifier using various objective functions, it is important to compare the performances of the classifiers. Although there are statistical analyses of objective functions for classifiers, simulation results can provide us with direct comparison results and in this case, a comparison criterion is considerably critical. A Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) graph is a simulation technique for comparing classifiers and selecting a better one based on a performance. In this paper, we adopt the ROC graph to compare classifiers trained by mean-squared error, cross-entropy error, classification figure of merit, and the n-th order extension of cross-entropy error functions. After the training of feed-forward neural networks using the CEDAR database, the ROC graphs are plotted to help us identify which objective function is better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel concept of Disaster Prevention Design (DPD) and its derived subjects and topics for the safety of folk villages in both Korea and Japan. Nowadays, design concepts are focused on 'human-oriented nature' as a whole and this tendency fits to be appropriate for disaster prevention against real dangers of a future society, which is expected to have far more complicated features. On the other hand, convergences have performed with other areas in the field of Information Communication Technology (ICT) so that we can easily find examples like 'the strategy of ICT-based convergence' of the Korean Government in 2014. Modern content designs including UI (user interface) and USN (ubiquitous sensor network) have been developed as one of the representative areas of ICT & UD (universal design) convergences. These days this novel concept of convergence is overcoming the existing limitations of the conventional design concept focused on product and/or service. First of all, from that point our deduced topic or subject would naturally be a monitoring system design of constructional structures in folk villages for safety. We offer an integrated model of maintenance and a management-monitoring scheme. Another important point of view in the research is a safety sign or sign system installed in folk villages or traditional towns and their standardization. We would draw up and submit a plan that aims to upgrade signs and sign systems applied to folk villages in Korea and Japan. According to our investigations, floods in Korea and earthquakes in Japan are the most harmful disasters of folk villages. Therefore, focusing on floods in the area of traditional towns in Korea would be natural. We present a water-level expectation model using deep learning simulation. We also apply this method to the area of 'Andong Hahoe' village which has been registered with the World Cultural Heritage of UNESCO. Folk village sites include 'Asan Oeam', 'Andong Hahoe' and 'Chonju Hanok' villages in Korea and 'Beppu Onsen' village in Japan. Traditional Streets and Markets and Safe Schools and Parks are also chosen as nearby test-beds for DPD based on ICT. Our final goal of the research is to propose and realize an integrated disaster prevention and/or safety system based on big data for both Korea and Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]