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Describes the methodology and results of a study that examined information flow at the technological research front by analyzing a Japanese national project in computer technology. Various formats of information dissemination are identified, and a classification of researchers and engineers by information transfer activities is presented. (4 references) (Author/CLB)

This paper presents the integration of ubiquitous computing systems into classroom settings, in order to provide basic support for classrooms and field activities. We have developed web application components using Java technology and configured a classroom with wireless network access and a web camera for our purposes. In this classroom, the students interact among each other and with the professor through an Internet-enabled personal digital assistant (PDA), using the different modules described in this paper. We include our evaluations about the performance and usability of the system in a computer science related course of the University of Tokushima, other practical uses including outdoor learning activities, and future research and development work. (Contains 2 tables and 10 figures.)

The article profiles Iwao Sasase, candidate for member-at-large of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) Communications Society. Sasase obtained his diploma and doctorate degree in electrical engineering from Keio University in Yokohama, Japan in 1979, 1981, and 1984 respectively. He is the chair and a professor at the Department of Information & Computer Science at Keio University and his research includes topics on broadband mobile, photonic networks, and wireless communications. His position statement notes that he aims to develop cooperation with Sister Societies and boost local chapters around the world.

Embedded systems have been applied widely, not only to consumer products and industrial machines, but also to new applications such as ubiquitous or sensor networking. The increasing role of software (SW) in embedded system development has caused a great demand for embedded SW engineers, and university education for embedded SW engineering has become important. The embedded software engineers should learn system architecture design and hardware (HW) technologies as well as SW technologies. However, only a few universities offer education courses for embedded software engineering that include system architecture design and HW technologies. This paper proposes a student experiment method that is designed to nurture embedded SW engineers by teaching these technologies. The proposed method includes an experiment for embedded SW development, an experiment for embedded HW development and a HW/SW co-design experiment, which help students learn system architecture design skills such as system modeling, HW/SW tradeoff design, and SW and HW module design. A model of each experiment was developed and evaluated. (Contains 5 tables and 11 figures.)

The Japanese Committee for the IOI (JCIOI) had held the second-round contests of the Japanese Olympiad in Informatics (JOI) in which nearly 60 contestants participated. The JCIOI did not employ networks in the second-round contests to avoid high cost. However, contestants sometimes make simple mistakes (e.g., format errors), so the JCIOI adopted wireless networks to respond to submitted source codes in the last second-round contest. This paper describes how we built the contest environment using wireless networks. In addition, we also discuss the judging system used in the second-round and final-round contests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is concerned with redefining the notion of information from a perspective of systems theory. In recent years, the notion of information, which was closely related to the framework of old cybernetics, has been refined in parallel with the emergence of new cybernetics, especially second-order cybernetics and autopoiesis. The systemic view of new cybernetics provides us with the notion of "informationally closed system." This notion is congruent with the epistemological implications of radical constructivism. In order to help understand this argument, we aim at highlighting the development of autopoietic systems theory in Japan. Autopoiesis has often been considered as a thoroughly closed system in Japan, where the relationships between autopoiesis and radical constructivism have frequently been overlooked. This is mainly because the importance which autopoietic systems theory originally attaches to the notion of observer and observation has been inadequately discussed, and autopoietic systems theory is regarded as distinct from second-order cybernetics and radical constructivism. However, they must be dealt with together, and Humberto Maturana should be given credit for his ontology of observing. Since the publication of his paper "Biology of Cognition," Maturana has been attempting to explain the notion of observation as a biological phenomenon in his own way. Likewise, by taking into consideration the notion of observation, we can build a unified theory of information. Fundamental Informatics, which is being developed by Toru Nishigaki, outlines a unified approach to information by putting human observers at the center of his theory. Social and mechanical information is generated only when human observers conduct observations on the basis of biological information, and this mechanism of generation of information is discussed through the notion of "hierarchical autonomous system." For an autopoietic organization to be realized, of course, no hierarchy of systems is required, but observers are likely to construct some hierarchy between two systems. The construction of certain hierarchies of systems by observers is of great use for the explanation of fictitious phenomena of information transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is clear that technology and informatics are becoming increasingly important in disasters and humanitarian response. Technology is a critical tool to recording, analyzing, and predicting trends in data that could not be achieved prior to its implementation. Informatics is the translation of this data into information, knowledge, and wisdom. Combining technology and informatics applications with response efforts has resulted in various enhanced biosurveillance efforts, advanced communications, and information management during disasters. Although these efforts have been well described in the literature, research on the impact of technology and informatics during these efforts has been limited. As a result, this chapter will provide an overview of these technology and informatics solutions and present suggestions for further research in an era when disaster and humanitarian response efforts continue to increase as well. A literature search was performed using PubMed search tools with the National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms of "disasters," "disaster planning," "disaster medicine," "technology," "informatics," and "research." Search limitations were set for 5 years and in English. Because of the limited number of research articles in this field, the MeSH term research was deleted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]