Abstract: The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred at 14:46 on Friday, March 11, 2011. It was the most powerful known earthquake to have hit Japan. The earthquake triggered extremely destructive tsunami waves of up to 40.5 meters in height. We focus on the ship’s evacuation from tsunami. Then we analyze about ships evacuation from tsunami using multi-agent simulation and we want to prepare for a coming earthquake. We developed a simulation model of ships that set sail from the port in order to evacuate from the tsunami considering the ship carrying dangerous goods.
Abstract: Recently, there have been a lot of earthquakes in Japan.
It is necessary to promote seismic isolation devices for buildings. The
devices have been hardly diffused in attached houses, because the
devices are very expensive. We should develop a low-cost seismic
isolation device for detached houses. We suggested a new seismic
isolation device which uses a two-layer circular tube as a unit. If
hysteresis is produced in the two-layer circular tube under lateral
compression load, we think that the two-layer circular tube can have
energy absorbing capacity. It is necessary to contact the outer layer
and the inner layer to produce hysteresis. We have previously reported
how the inner layer comes in contact with the outer layer from a
perspective of analysis used mechanics of materials. We have clarified
that the inner layer comes in contact with the outer layer under a lateral
compression load. In this paper, we explored contact area between the
outer layer and the inner layer under a lateral compression load by
using FEA. We think that changing the inner layer’s thickness is
effective in increase the contact area. In order to change the inner
layer’s thickness, we changed the shape of the inner layer. As a result,
the contact area changes depending on the inner layer’s thickness.
Additionally, we experimented to check whether hysteresis occurs in
fact. As a consequence, we can reveal hysteresis in the two-layer
circular tube under the condition.
Abstract: Rice straw pellets are a promising fuel as a renewable
energy source. Financial analysis is needed to make a utilization
system using rise straw pellets financially feasible, considering all
regional conditions including stakeholders related to the collection and
storage, production, transportation and heat utilization. We conducted
the financial analysis of feasibility for a heat utilization system using
rice straw pellets which has been developed for the first time in
Nanporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Especially, we attempted to clarify the
effect of factors required for the system to be financial feasibility, such
as the heating energy demand and collection and storage method of
rice straw. The financial feasibility was found to improve when
increasing the heating energy demand and collecting wheat straw in
August separately from collection of rice straw in November because
the costs of storing rice straw and producing pellets were reduced.
However, the system remained financially unfeasible. This study
proposed a contractor program funded by a subsidy from Nanporo
local government where a contracted company, instead of farmers,
collects and transports rice straw in order to ensure the financial
feasibility of the system, contributing to job creation in the region.
Abstract: Japanese society is experiencing an aging population and declining birth rate along with the popularization of higher education, spread of economic globalization, rapid progress in technical innovation, changes in employment conditions, and emergence of a knowledge-based society. Against this background, interest in career education at Japanese universities has increased in recent years. This paper describes how the government has implemented career education policies in Japan, and introduces the cases of two universities that have successfully linked career education to university education in Japan.
Abstract: Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs), Social Enterprises and other actors play an important role in political decisions in governments at the international levels. Especially, such organizations’ and activists’ network in civil society is quite important to effect to the global politics. To solve the complex social problems in global era, diverse actors should corporate each other. Moreover, network of protesters is also contributes to diffuse tactics, information and other resources of social movements.
Based on the findings from the study of International Trade Fairs (ITFs), the author analyzes the network of activists in anti-globalism movement. This research focuses the transition of 54 activists’ whole network in the “protest event” against 2008 G8 summit in Japan. Their network is examined at the three periods: Before protest event phase, during protest event phase and after event phase. A mixed method is used in this study: the author shows the hypothesis from social network analysis and evaluates that with interview data analysis.
This analysis gives the two results. Firstly, the more protesters participate to the various events during the protest event, the more they build the network. After that, active protesters keep their network as well. From interview data, we can understand that the active protesters can build their network and diffuse the information because they communicate with other participants and understand that diverse issues are related.
This paper comes to same conclusion with previous researches: protest events activate the network among the political activists. However, some participants succeed to build their network, others do not. “Networked” activists are participated in the various events for short period of time and encourage the diffusion of information and tactics of social movements.
Abstract: On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred off the coast of Sanriku, Japan. It is important to build a sustainable society through the reconstruction process rather than simply restoring the infrastructure. To compare the goals of reconstruction plans of quake-stricken municipalities, Japanese language morphological analysis was performed by using text mining techniques. Frequently-used nouns were sorted into four main categories of “life”, “disaster prevention”, “economy”, and “harmony with environment”. Because Soma City is affected by nuclear accident, sentences tagged to “harmony with environment” tended to be frequent compared to the other municipalities. Results from cluster analysis and principle component analysis clearly indicated that the local government reinforces the efforts to reduce risks from radiation exposure as a top priority.
Abstract: In recent years, many high intensity earthquakes have occurred around the world, such as the 2011 earthquake in Tohoku, Japan. These large-scale disasters caused huge casualties and losses. In addition, inefficient disaster response operations also caused the second wave of casualties and losses, and expanded the damage. Effective disaster management can be used to respond to the chaotic situation, and reduce the damage; however, some inefficient disaster response operations are still used. Therefore, this case study chose the 921 earthquake for analyzing disaster emergency logistics problems and proposed the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) to solve disaster emergency logistics problems. Moreover, it analyses the effect of human factors on system operation, and suggests a solution to improve the system.
Abstract: There is long history of konjac tubers being used as a cure for certain diseases in China and Japan. Konjac flour is prepared from konjac tubers and it contains high concentration of glucomannan. Konjac Glucomannan (KGM) is dietary fiber and the role of which has been demonstrated in weight reduction, lowering blood cholesterol and sugar level, promoting intestinal activity etc. Konjac glucomanan has a property of swelling by absorbing water, more than a hundred times its own weight. Therefore it helps increasing weight of feces, water content of feces, and promotes satiety feeling. Mode of actions of dietary fibre as laxatives agents includes holding water inside the bowel lumen, inhibition of water absorption in the colon and stimulating colonic motility. Number of fecal pellets did not effected in rats were fed on 300 and 600 mg/kg of konjac flour, as well as constipated control and Dulcolax treatment. Water content, weight of fecal pellets and gastrointestinal transit ratio were higher in rats treated with 600 mg/kg than 300 mg/kg of konjac flour. Rats were administered with Dulcolax showed the highest gastrointestinal transit ratio, followed by 600 mg/kg konjac flour. The lowest feed consumption was noted in 600 mg/kg konjac flour diet group.
Abstract: This paper gives a consideration of the achievement of productive level parallel programming skills, based on the data of the graduation studies in the Polytechnic University of Japan. The data show that most students can achieve only parallel programming skills during the graduation study (about 600 to 700 hours), if the programming environment is limited to GPGPUs. However, the data also show that it is a very high level task that a student achieves productive level parallel programming skills during only the graduation study. In addition, it shows that the parallel programming environments for GPGPU, such as CUDA and OpenCL, may be more suitable for parallel computing education than other environments such as MPI on a cluster system and Cell.B.E. These results must be useful for the areas of not only software developments, but also hardware product developments using computer technologies.
Abstract: Remote sensing image processing, spatial data analysis through GIS approach, and analytical hierarchy process were introduced in this study for assessing the vulnerability area and inundation area due to tsunami hazard in the area of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Appropriate input parameters were derived from GSI DEM data, ALOS AVNIR-2, and field data. We used the parameters of elevation, slope, shoreline distance, and vegetation density. Five classes of vulnerability were defined and weighted via pairwise comparison matrix. The assessment results described that 14.35km2 of the study area was under tsunami vulnerability zone. Inundation areas are those of high and slightly high vulnerability. The farthest area reached by a tsunami was about 7.50km from the shoreline and shows that rivers act as flooding strips that transport tsunami waves into the hinterland. This study can be used for determining a priority for land-use planning in the scope of tsunami hazard risk management.
Abstract: The underground shopping mall has the constructional
problem of the fire evacuation. Also, the people sometimes lose their
direction and information of current time in the mall. If the
emergencies such as terrorist explosions or gas explosions are
happened, they have to go out soon. Under such circumstances, inside
of the mall has high risk for life. In this research, the authors propose a
way that he/she can go out from the underground shopping mall
quickly. If the narrow exits are discovered by using active RFID
(Radio Frequency Identification) tags and using cellular phones, they
can evacuate as soon as possible. To verify this hypothesis, the authors
design the model and carry out the agent-based simulation. They treat,
as a case study, the Tenjin mall in Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan. The
result of the simulation is that the case of the pedestrian with using
active RFID tags and cellular phones reduced the amount of time to
spend on the evacuation. Even if the diffusion of RFID tags and
cellular phones was not perfect, they could show the effectiveness of
reducing the time of evacuation.
Abstract: TTV is an unenveloped circular single-stranded DNA
virus with a diameter of 30-32 nm that first was described in 1997 in
Japan. TTV was detected in various populations without proven
pathology, including blood donors and in patients with chronic HBV
and HCV hepatitis. The aim of this study was to determine the
prevalence of TTV DNA in Iranian patients with chronic hepatitis B
and C. Viral TTV-DNA was studied in 442 samples (202 with HBV,
138 with HCV and 102 controls) collected from west south of Iran.
All extracted serum DNA was amplified by TTV ORF1 gene specific
primers using the semi nested PCR technique. TTV DNA was
detected in the serum of 8.9% and 10.8% patients with chronic
hepatitis B and C, respectively. Prevalence of TTV-DNA in the serum
of 102 controls was 2.9%. Results showed significant relation of TTV
with HBV and HCV in patients by using T test examination (P
Abstract: In this study, we discussed the effects on the thermal
comfort of super high-rise residences that how effected by the high
thermal capacity structural components. We considered different
building orientations, structures, and insulation methods. We used the
dynamic simulation software THERB (simulation of the thermal
environment of residential buildings). It can estimate the temperature,
humidity, sensible temperature, and heating/cooling load for multiple
buildings. In the past studies, we examined the impact of
air-conditioning loads (hereinafter referred to as AC loads) on the
interior structural parts and the AC-usage patterns of super-high-rise
residences.
Super-high-rise residences have more structural components such
as pillars and beams than do ordinary apartment buildings. The
skeleton is generally made of concrete and steel, which have high
thermal-storage capacities. The thermal-storage capacity of
super-high-rise residences is considered to have a larger impact on the
AC load and thermal comfort than that of ordinary residences.
We show that the AC load of super-high-rise units would be
reduced by installing insulation on the surfaces of interior walls that
are not usually insulated in Japan.
Abstract: This paper has examined the energy consumption characteristics in six different buildings including apartments, offices, commercial buildings, hospitals, hotels and educational facilities. Then 5-hectare (50000m2) development site for respective building-s type has been assumed as case study to evaluate the introduction effect of Combined Heat and Power (CHP). All kinds of CHP systems with different distributed generation technologies including Gas Turbine (GT), Gas Engine (GE), Diesel Engine (DE), Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) and Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (PEFC), have been simulated by using HEATMAP, CHP system analysis software. And their primary energy utilization efficiency, energy saving ratio and CO2 reduction ratio have evaluated and compared respectively. The results can be summarized as follows: Various buildings have their special heat to power ratio characteristics. Matching the heat to power ratio demanded from an individual building with that supplied from a CHP system is very important. It is necessary to select a reasonable distributed generation technologies according to the load characteristics of various buildings. Distributed generation technologies with high energy generating efficiency and low heat to power ratio, like SOFC and PEFC is more reasonable selection for Building Combined Heat and Power (BCHP). CHP system is an attractive option for hotels, hospitals and apartments in Japan. The users can achieve high energy saving and environmental benefit by introducing a CHP systems. In others buildings, especially like commercial buildings and offices, the introduction of CHP system is unreasonable.
Abstract: The balance between nitrogen loading and runoff in the
forested headwater streams of the Kanna River was estimated to
elucidate the current status of nitrogen saturation in a forested
watershed. NO3-N concentration in the study area was far higher than
the average value in Japan. Estimated nitrogen runoff accounted for
55–57% of nitrogen loading; suggesting that the forest-s nitrogen
retention capacity is most likely in decline. Since the 1970s, Japan-s
forestry industry has been declining due to the decrease in lumber
demand and increase in cheap imported materials. Thus, this decline
will contribute significantly to further reducing nitrogen saturation in
forest ecosystems.
Abstract: We develop a new interface for Bus-Net which is
optimized for a smartphone. We are continuing to develop the shortest
path planning system of public transportation called "Bus-Net" in
Tottori prefecture as web application to improve the usability of
public transportation. Recent trend of computing platform, however
has shifted to an advanced mobile device called a smartphone such as
iPhone and Android in Japan. A smartphone has different characters
with existing feature phone in terms of OS, large touche panel, and
several other features. We derive a guideline to design the new interface
for a smartphone to full use of the functionality. The guideline is
about simplicity of user-s operation, location awareness and usability.
We developed the new interface for “Bus-Net" on iPhone referring
to the guideline. Due to the evaluation, the application interface we
developed is better than the existing web-based interface in terms of
the usability.
Abstract: In this paper, the authors examine whether or not there Institute for Information and Communications Policy shows are differences of Japanese Internet users awareness to information security based on individual attributes by using analysis of variance based on non-parametric method. As a result, generally speaking, it is found that Japanese Internet users' awareness to information security is different by individual attributes. Especially, the authors verify that the users who received the information security education would have rather higher recognition concerning countermeasures than other users including self-educated users. It is suggested that the information security education should be enhanced so that the users may appropriately take the information security countermeasures. In addition, the information security policy such as carrying out "e- net caravan" and "information security seminars" are effective in improving the users' awareness on the information security in Japan.
Abstract: Along with the increased morbidity of glaucoma or
diabetic retinitis pigmentosa, etc., number of people with vision loss is
also increasing in Japan. It is difficult for the visually impaired to learn
and acquire braille because most of them are middle-aged. In addition,
number of braille teachers are not sufficient and reducing in Japan, and
this situation makes more difficult for the visually impaired. Therefore,
we research and develop a Web-based e-learning program for tactile
braille, that cooperate with braille display and voice assistance.
Abstract: The study aimed to verify a hypothesis that a sense of
fulfillment in student life and perceived stress in training in the
facilities could affect vocational identity among social welfare
university students, in order to acquire implications for enhancing the
vocational consciousness. A questionnaire survey was conducted with
388 third- and fourth-year students of training course for certified
social workers in three universities in A prefecture in Japan. The
questionnaire was returned by 338 students, and 288 responses
(85.2%) were valid and used for the analysis. As a SEM result, the
hypothesized model proved to be fit to the data. Path coefficient of
sense of fulfillment of student life to vocational identity was
statistically positive. Path coefficient of training stress to vocational
identity was statistically negative.
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to present the
development of the frame of Chulalongkorn University team in TSAE
Auto Challenge Student Formula and Student Formula SAE
Competition of Japan. Chulalongkorn University's SAE team, has
established since year 2003, joined many competitions since year 2006
and became the leading team in Thailand. Through these 5 years, space
frame was the most selected and developed year by year through six
frame designs. In this paper, the discussions on the conceptual design
of these frames are introduced, focusing on the mass and torsional
stiffness improvement. The torsional stiffness test was performed on
the real used frames and the results are compared. It can be seen that
the 2010-2011 frame is firstly designed based on the analysis and
experiment that considered the required mass and torsional stiffness.
From the torsional stiffness results, it can be concluded that the frames
were developed including the decreasing of mass and the increasing
torsional stiffness by applying many techniques.