This research aimed to clarify through an experiment the influence of the existence of the interviewee’s eye contact through the monitor on the interviewer’s impressions during online interviews and to provide useful information about online interviews for the students. In the experiment, five versions of the video of the online interview each consisting of one of five interviewee gaze patterns were prepared, as follows; A: staring at the camera and the monitor alternatively, B: staring at the monitor only when answering questions, C: staring at the camera all the time, D: staring at the monitor all the time, and E: looking at different places erratically. Thirteen participants were required to evaluate their impressions of the interviewee after watching each video. The results of the experiments revealed that the interviewer’s impressions when the interviewee stared at the camera only while he/she was answering (Pattern B) and when staring at the camera during the interview (Pattern C) were better than the other gaze patterns. It suggested that the existence of the interviewee’s eye contact while he/she answered the questions had a better influence on the interviewer’s impressions.

To enhance research activities in universities, it is crucial to cultivate non-cognitive skills among seminar students, such as autonomy, a sense of belonging, perseverance, grit, and collaboration. This study explores the impact of incorporating the manga Dragon Ball into a university seminar setting. Over three months, changes in students' interest in Dragon Ball and their grit levels were examined. The results indicate that students who received motivational messages derived from this manga exhibited higher grit scores and notable improvements in the perseverance subscale. Future work will focus on enhancing the seminar environment and organizing events to support effective seminar management.

Design thinking or human-centered design (HCD) approaches are least implemented in infrastructure projects in Japan. Part of the reason is the need for an HCD process suitable for infrastructure with multiple users and stakeholders. The authors proposed an HCD process that considers two stakeholders with unmatched interests and implemented it in an in-person training course for government personnel. A training course designed for the MLIT Hokkaido Bureau, with 40 participants in six groups, revealed that all groups successfully considered the personas of tourists and residents and proposed an information platform, enhancing the existing tourist hub by utilizing the discontinued railway station, among other ideas. Through the discussion outcomes, the record of the wrap-up session, and the feedback from each participant, it became clear that the training program needed to be modified to incorporate more realistic settings.