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A “multi-group conversation space” refers to a space, such as restaurant or café, where more than one group of people share a space and make conversation within their respective group. From a field experiment in an actual café, we investigated the acoustic comfort in a multi-group conversation space considering speech intelligibility and speech privacy as major factors. In the experiment, noise measurements and a questionnaire survey taken by customers were conducted for 4 days. We were able to change the volume of the background music during operating hours, setting the level on each of the 4 days to low, mid, high, and none. Indoor noise levels were measured at six representative points with six sound level meters hung from the ceiling. The questionnaire consisted of eight items for subjective evaluation, including ease of conversation, comfort, and room atmosphere. After having their meal or drinks, the customers were asked to fill in the questionnaire at their table. The occupancy of neighboring tables and the number of customers in the café were also recorded. Results show that (1) overall, the respondents evaluated the café space positively; (2) high background music volume levels together with occupied neighboring tables tended to elicit negative evaluations; and (3) customer clustering analysis identified certain influences of distance from loudspeakers, neighboring table occupancy, and personal characteristics.

Proceedings of the ICA 2019 and EAA Euroregio : 23rd International Congress on Acoustics, integrating 4th EAA Euroregio 2019 : 9-13 September 2019, Aachen, Germany / proceedings editor: Martin Ochmann, Michael Vorländer, Janina Fels 23rd International Congress on Acoustics, integrating 4th EAA Euroregio 2019, ICA 2019, Aachen, Germany, 9 Sep 2019 - 13 Sep 2019; Aachen (2019)., Published by Aachen

Accessibility information can allow disabled people to identify suitable pathways bywhich to reach their destinations, but it is difficult to obtain new accessible pathway informationrapidly because of limited local information disclosure. Thus, it is necessary to develop acomprehensive system that acquires accessibility information from various sources and makes thatinformation available in an intuitive form. In this study, we developed a social platform throughwhich to obtain and present appropriate information based on users’ situations, such as disability andlocation, and to share and then evaluate the barrier-free information provided by other users.

Assistive instruments such as slopes and textured paving blocks are installed in order to help the elderly, visually impaired, and physically impaired, who face many inconveniences in moving around outside.Though these precipitous situations affect disabled people’s migration pathways in getting to their destinations,it is difficult to quickly gain new knowledge on barrier-free pathways because of limited local informationdisclosure. It is necessary to develop a comprehensive system that appropriately acquires and arrangesscattered barrier-free information and presents that information intuitively. Our study aims at developing asocial platform that can obtain and present information depending on users’ situations, including users’disabilities and locations, and can share barrier-free information provided by users. This report outlines theconcept design, the implementation progress of the platform, and the results of a needs survey of visuallyimpaired people.

カマイルカは津軽海峡において最も多く発見される鯨種である．本研究では2003年5月から2006年2月までのフェリーからの鯨類の目視発見記録を分析し，津軽海峡内でのカマイルカの季節的・地理的分布について考察した．発見記録から鯨類およびカマイルカの発見群数，遭遇率を算出し，津軽海峡－陸奥湾間を北からＡ,Ｂ,Ｃ,Ｄの4つの区域に分け，この区分を用いて月別発見群数を計数し分布推移を調べた．カマイルカの出現ピークは4～6月であった．また，区域Ｂ,Ｃ,Ｄでは5月に遭遇率が最高値をとり，6月は減少した． 津軽海峡での季節変化として，津軽海峡を通過するカマイルカの大多数が春季に来遊し，夏季以降には稀にしか来遊しないと考えられた．分布推移として，4月～5月に日本海から津軽海峡に入ってきたカマイルカの多くは，一端，陸奥湾入口付近～陸奥湾内に滞留した後，津軽暖流水に乗って太平洋へと移動するものと推察された．, Pacific white-sided dolphins (PWS) are the most frequently observed cetacean in the Tsugaru Strait. In this study, the data of sighting survey conducted from ferry vessels between Hakodate and Aomori from May 2003 to February 2006 was analyzed. Seasonal and geographical distributions of PWS in the strait were discussed. Four areas in the strait were defined according to the latitude, and the number of observations and encounter rate of PWS in each area was calculated monthly for the investigation of the difference of the distribution. The results indicated that PWS were frequently appeared only from April to June. The encounter rates in the southern 3 areas were peaked in May, and then declined in June. It suggests that they appeared frequently in spring in the strait, and appeared occasionally in the other seasons, and most of the PWS stayed once around the mouth or inside of the Mutsu bay, and then moved to Pacific Ocean following the Tsugaru warm current.

This project was started within the Market-Design programme of Elforsk, with the aim of developing representative test systems of Swedish distribution networks. Using such test systems as a basis for reliability and customer interruption cost calculations makes it feasible to analyse the network tariff regulation of Swedish power istribution companies. In particular, it enables studies of the incentives for companies to invest in system reliability. Until now, the available test systems are either not representative of Swedish conditions, or too small in scale and limited in function. Within this project we have created two test systems. In order to represent the diversity of actual Swedish distribution networks, we have created one test system for urban environments and another for rural environments. The test systems contain information about structure, customer composition, load data, component failure statistics and cost of power interruptions. To enable reliability and customer interruption cost calculations, the test systems have been implemented in Matlab. In this project power distribution company representatives and responsible authorities have been valuable as primary information sources. The resemblance of actual systems to the test systems has been confirmed for several individual aspects, including their overall performance. Reliability in terms of frequency and duration of power interruptions is consistent with data found in annual reports submitted to the Swedish Energy Markets Inspectorate. Improvements of the test systems can be made through in-depth studies of both the total system-load distribution among the different customer categories, and the cost incurred by customers from power interruptions. Data for failure statistics and time-dependent load-profiles will be more accurate in the near future, and can be used for updating the test systems.