Since management decision-making becomes complex and preferences of the decision-maker frequently becomes inconsistent, multi-attribute decision-making problems were studied. To represent inconsistent preference relation, the concept of evaluation structure was introduced. We can generate simple rules to represent inconsistent preference relation by the evaluation structures. Further rough set theory for the preference relation was studied and the concept of approximation was introduced. One of our main aims of this paper is to introduce a concept of rough evaluation structure for representing inconsistent preference relation. We apply rough set theory to the evaluation structure, and develop a method for generating simple rules for inconsistent preference relations. In this paper, we introduce concepts of totally ordered information system, similarity class of preference relation, upper and lower approximation of preference relations. We also show the properties of rough evaluation structure and provide a simple example. As an application of rough evaluation structure, we analyze questionnaire survey of customer preferences about audio players.

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Since the surface texture of materials often affects human visual impressions as much as or more than the design, shape, or color properties, texture characteristics have been studied as features of object identification. We have been investigating the effect of texture on visual impression and objective identification using black fabrics that do not exhibit any effects of color. Our studies showed that visual impressions of texture correspond to complex micro-components and global structures of image features of those textures. Our results also showed that some important elements influence human visual impressions and identification of textures. Because of a variety of fibrous structures, it is not easy to provide a systematic analysis of clothing materials. Nevertheless, developing the method and collecting data on these elements and their effects using these image features will be important. To make this research applicable for wider use, we have been studying precisely what it is about an arbitrary texture that influences human visual impressions and sensibility. As a new step, in this paper, a texture is altered and transformed using the parameter estimation method of texture based on mathematical morphology, which is often used for extracting image components that are useful for representation and description. A texture is decomposed into a primitive and grain arrangement which correspond to local and global characteristics, respectively. Different textures are created by modifying the primitive and the arrangement to investigate the effects of modifications of local and global features. The relationship between the parameters and visual impressions of the modified textures were evaluated. This study shows that influence of both local and global structures of the texture along with their combinations and mutual interactions are important for identification of human visual impression.

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In this study, we focus on the melodies of Japanese folk songs, and examine the basic structures of Japanese folk songs that represent the characteristics of different regions. We sample the five largest song genres within the music corpora of the Nihon Min-yo Taikan (Anthology of Japanese Folk Songs), consisting of 202,246 tones from 1,794 song pieces from 45 prefectures in Japan. Then, we calculate the probabilities of 24 transition patterns that fill the interval of the perfect fourth pitch, which is the interval that maintains most of the frequency for one-step and two-step pitch transitions within 11 regions, in order to determine the parameters for cluster analysis. As a result, we successively classify the regions into two basic groups, eastern Japan and western Japan, which corresponds to geographical factors and cultural backgrounds, and also match accent distributions in the Japanese language.

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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the modern architect Le Corbusier's architectural Kansei (sensibility) on wall in site environment through the analysis of his façade design, using Œuvres complètes (1910-1965, 8 vols., Les éditions d'architecture, Artemis, Zurich) and Le Corbusier Archives (1982-1984, 32 vols., Garland Publishing, Inc. and Fondation Le Corbusier, New York, London, Paris). At first, I arrange five façade types, according to the explanation by Le Corbusier ; ‘fenêtre en longueur (strip window)’, ‘pan de verre (glass wall)’, ‘brise-soleil (sun-breaker)’, ‘loggia’ and ‘claustra’. Through the analysis of the relationship between these types and the design process of each building, we find that Le Corbusier's façade design includes the affirmation and the negation of the ‘wall’ at the same time. In fact, the nature of façade modification during design process is divers: increase in transparency, decrease in transparency and spatialization of façade. That means, Le Corbusier studied the environmental condition by these façade types, and tried to realize the phenomenal openness. This trial bases on the function of architectural Kansei as correspondence between body and environment beyond the physical design.

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Reflecting the recent social background where the importance of bridge landscape design is recognized and the new business style of citizen-involved infrastructure development has started, there has been a growing need of design where aesthetic feeling of actual users is reflected. In this research, a focus has been placed on the Kansei engineering technique where users' needs are reflected on product development. A questionnaire survey has been conducted for bridge engineers who are most intensively involved in design work and students as actual users. The result was analyzed by factor analysis and the Hayashi's quantification methods (category I). A tool required at consensus-building occasions has been created to change design elements and display accompanying evaluation difference while using the Kansei database.

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Two experiments, using color images of Japanese lacquer objects, investigated the relation between the strength of blackness and the visual and artistic impression of digital color images presented on a display. The first experiment determined the mean RGB values of black surface areas in the test stimuli where observers began to perceive the areas as “black”, and the mean RGB values where observers perceived the areas “really black”. Results indicate that to perceive a “really black” surface, RGB values should be lower than those of the original image in some pictures. The second experiment investigated, how, and to what degree the RGB values of black areas affect the visual impression of an artistic picture. Three factors, “high-quality axis”, “mysterious axis”, and “feeling of material axis”, were extracted by factor analysis. Results indicate that the Art students seem to be more sensitive in the evaluations along the “high-quality axis” and “mysterious axis” than the Engineering students are, while the opposite tendency is observed in the evaluation along the “feeling of material axis”.

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It is likely that in the near future, human-symbiotic robots will share people's living spaces. Since there are many objects that can cause visual occlusion in these environments, situations in which a robot cannot see an object due to occlusion whereas a user can, and vice versa, will often occur. In such situations, ideally the human-symbiotic robot should be able to interact with the user while taking into consideration the differences between their fields of view. We anticipate that such a “considerate” robot will be friendlier and provide more pleasant interactions with users. In this paper, we aim to test this anticipation. First, we propose a robot that can estimate a user's and its own fields of view and thus behave appropriately due to being aware of the difference between their perceptions. The robot estimates the orientation of the user's head and the structure of its surrounding environment using a stereo camera. By combining these results, it can inform itself of the user's and its own fields of view: that is, what they can see and what they cannot see. Next, we carry out experimental subjective evaluations of the impressions that people gain during interaction with the proposed robot. Participants who observe the interactions are asked to subjectively evaluate their impressions of the robot's behaviors. The experimental results show that the proposed robot, which can guess what the user can see and understand the differences between their different viewpoints, is perceived as more “companionable.” This ability is likely to be one of the basic requirements for achieving interactions that people interpret as “friendly” with robots and other intelligent systems.

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It is necessary to explain the terms used in this research to help the readers better understand the contents of this research. Originally stereotype meant the lead plate cast from a mold of letterpress printing, but now it is used as a term indicating a simplified and fixed notion toward certain group “Knowledge in fixed form” or a term indicating an image simplified and generalized over the members of certain group.[1] Generally, stereotype is used in negative cases, but has both sides of positive and negative view.[2, 3] I believe that a research on the factors of forming stereotype[4] images commonly felt by a large number of persons may suggest a new research methodology for the areas which require high level of creative thinking such as areas of design and researches on emotions. Stereotype images appear between persons, groups and images of countries, enterprises and other organizations. For example, as we usually hear words saying ‘He maybe oo because he is from oo’, we have strong images of characteristics commonly held by the persons who belong to certain categories after tying regions and persons to dividing categories.[5, 6] In this research, I define such images as the stereotype images. This kind of phenomenon appears for the articles used in daily lives. In this research, I established a hypothesis that stereotype images exist for products and underwent the process of verification through experiments.

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This paper has the purpose to inspect differences regarding impression evaluation and eye movement by comparing characteristic expression as elements in abstract paintings. Malewitsch's paintings which emphasize oblique lines and inclined rectangles elicited impression evaluations such as “hard”, “irritable”, “dynamic” and “exciting”. Mondrian's paintings which emphasize vertical and horizontal line elicited impression evaluations such as “cheerful” and “light”. Rothko's paintings which are obscure outlines elicited impression evaluations such as “mild”, “comfortable”, “relaxing”, “static” and “tedious”. Paintings that have clear vertical and horizontal lines elicit a trend toward higher mean line-of-sight velocity. Paintings that have many distinctive expression elements elicit large frequency of long gaze point. This study indicates that vertical lines, horizontal lines, oblique lines, obscure outlines, and other expression elements in abstract paintings are influencing factors for impression evaluation and eye movement. This suggests that mutual interactions of components that constitute paintings cannot be disregarded. This study is inspection of common impression and perception caused by appreciation of paintings.

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This study investigated effects of listening and/or watching commercial-messages (CMs) on audience impressions. We carried out experiments of TV advertisements presentation in conditions of audio only, video only, and audio-video. As results, we confirmed the following two effects: image-multiple effect, that is, the audience brings to mind various images that are not directly expressed in the content, and marking-up effect, that is, the audience concentrates on some images that are directly expressed in the content. The image-multiple effect, in particular, strongly appeared under the audio only condition. Next, we investigated changes in the following seven subjective responses; usage image, experience, familiarity, exclusiveness, feeling at home, affection, and willingness to buy, after exposure to advertisements under conditions of audio only and audio-video. As a result, noting that the image-multiple effect became stronger as the evaluation scores of the responses increased.

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