The piano, born at the end of the 18th century at the start of the Industrial Revolution, was improved as a kind of industrial product in the 19th century and took its present form. Pianos began to use more and more steel parts, and like automobiles, they were mass-produced to a uniform standard. In the latter half of the 20th century, small European piano workshops that used wooden parts were increasingly eliminated, and the Steinway-like steel piano model became the global standard.

This paper examines the relationship between camera image size, image quality, and representation. Various image sizes have been devised and released for film cameras that can be held in the hand, but ultimately, all sizes except for the full-frame size of 24 × 36 mm have fallen into disuse. Even with the advent of digital cameras, high-end models have returned to this size. As a basis for examining this phenomenon, this paper organizes the relationship between camera image size, image quality, and representation from the perspectives of optical systems and image sensors.

This report covers the activities of the “Culture X Engineering” research group in academic year 2024 as well as the progress of the “Koma Ni Music Festival” held on the Komaba II (“Koma Ni”) campus. Four times a year, leading Japanese musicians are invited to perform at the Koma Ni Music Festival, which is based on the concept that the arts and the sciences share the same aspirations. In order to promote talent for many years to come, “Koma Ni” campus was designed as an environment where the sciences and the arts are in close proximity.

This essay tells the story behind the development of the “Engineering as a Liberal Art” lectures, as well as a summary of the main points covered in the series. “Engineering as a Liberal Art,” was offered in academic year 2023-2024 to first- and second-year students of all majors in the University of Tokyo College of Arts and Sciences, with each lecture in the series delivered by faculty in the University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science. The fact that the lecturers were speaking about their own research set this series apart from previous lecture series. In advance of the new series for graduate students set to take place in the first semester of academic year 2025, this essay covers the main developments up to the present.