Manufacturing experiments are one of the features of Kosen education. In this study, we introduce experiments that can be learned in a fun way in electronic information engineering subjects. Namely, Ohm’s law, flip-flop circuits, EXCEL simulations for learning AM modulation, Fourier transform processing, pulse measurement, lighting experiments of fluorescent lamps and neon tubes by electromagnetic excitation related to applied physics. By experiencing these experiments, we expect that it will be possible to practically practice almost all of the basic knowledge of electricity and electronics.

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The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the technological development of pesticides (chemicals and application methods) has affected relationships between pesticides and farmers, and to show what should be kept in mind when discussing pesticides in the present day. To this end, we refer to the framework of the philosophy of technology when discussing how ethics related to pesticides are practiced, and examine the results of fieldwork interviews. First, in order to confirm the framework of the discussion, we refer to the concept of “ethics accompanying technology” proposed in the philosophy of technology, and discuss the importance of practicing ethics at sites of individual use and design, the so-called “bottom-up” type of ethical practice. As a specific example of bottom-up ethical practice, the Pesticide Reduction Movement in Fukuoka Prefecture in the late 1970s is described. Then, we review the technological development of pesticides for paddy rice farming in postwar Japan, showing that it has developed in two directions: the use of less toxic chemicals and the use of labor-saving spraying methods. Subsequently, we examine the results of fieldwork on farmers who participated in the Pesticide Reduction Movement, and show that the development of pesticide technology have had the derivative effect of weakening relationships between pesticides and farmers. Finally, based on the above insights, we discuss what should be kept in mind when discussing pesticides in the present day.

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Scandium, lutetium, and gadolinium were selected from rare earth elements, and their effects on amylase activity secreted into the culture supernatant were examined when they were added to the NG medium. NG medium was prepared using bacto tryptone, meat extract, glucose, and NaCl. Using each rare earth element chloride, aqueous solutions were prepared so that the rare earth element concentrations were 2, 5, 10, and 20 µg/mL. After adding each rare earth aqueous solution to NG medium and inoculating Bacillus subtilis, cultivation was carried out. After 24, 48, 72, and 96 h of cultivation the cells were removed by centrifugation to obtain a culture supernatant. Amylase activity increased 3.3 times after 96 h of cultivation for scandium with 2 µg/mL addition, 2.1 times after 96 h of culture for lutetium with 5 µg/mL addition, and 1.1 times after 96 h of culture for gadolinium with 5 µg/mL. A significant improvement in amylase activity was observed when scandium was added.

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Multi-story car parking systems were invented to increase the capacity of car park buildings. However, it is pointed out that the systems have problems such as accidents (in-park movement, theft), searching for parking spaces, boarding/deboarding at narrow designated places, and difficulties in using for beginners and elderly people. To solve these issues, the authors of this paper propose to introduce electric pallets that are called automatic pallets for transporting vehicles and realize automated valet parking that automates procedures for entrance and exit. With the introduction of automatic pallets, a wide variety of vehicles can fit into specific configurations. This facilitates automation. Also, the authors propose a system for improving the time efficiency of exit operations. The time efficiency of automatic pallet exiting is improved by automatically repeating movement to approach the exit side elevator after entering. However, it is unclear how good the time efficient exit operation in that system is. Also, the authors decided to simulate the proposed auto valet parking to find out what kind of problems there are. A simulation was performed on the entering reception and the exit operation. In addition, although random numbers are used in the simulation, two random number generation methods were used for comparison.

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[in Japanese]

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A novel main-chain polyurethane initiator was obtained by the ternary polyaddition of mesogenic diol, aliphatic azodiol (initiator component), and diisocyanate. The mesogenic diol, in which 6-hydroxyhexyloxy groups linked to both sides of azobenzene, was synthesized. Subsequently, the novel liquid crystalline block copolymer, which has a multiblock structure consisting of alternately linked main-chain polyurethane and polymethacrylate units, was obtained by the radical polymerization of a methacrylate monomer (M11) having benzoic acid as the end group using the main-chain polyurethane initiator. The main-chain polyurethane initiator formed a nematic phase on the heating and cooling processes. Furthermore, the homopolymethacrylate (HPM11) obtained from M11 exhibited a smectic A phase. The main-chain polyurethane initiator could not be miscible with HPM11, and the phase separation was formed. However, the liquid crystalline block copolymer uniformly exhibited the nematic phase on the heating and cooling processes.

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An area means a kind of largeness of a shape on planes and curved surfaces. It is used when the largeness of a land or an office space are derived as a familiar case. There is a wide range of applications. For example, various kinds of physical quantities, population and number of votes are predicted using area density and there are many methods to derive the area largeness. Simple formulas are used to derive the area of a circle or square, and these are learned in elementary and junior high schools. Also, when finding the area of land, Heron’s formula is used by laying out some triangles. Furthermore, there is a method to obtain it by the definite integral. However, the definite integral cannot be used when a formula of the indefinite integral for the shape is not understood. Namely, it is not suitable in the case of complex function. On the other hand, the Monte-Carlo method and trapezoidal rule are well known as methods of computer processing at deriving approximate area. The performance comparison of area approximation by the Monte-Carlo method and trapezoidal rule is performed in this study, in which both simple and complex shapes are processed. Optimal number of iteration and divide number are implemented to introduce a target accuracy, when using the Monte-Carlo method and trapezoidal rule. Moreover, the iteration number n1 in the Monte-Carlo method and the divided number n2 in trapezoidal rule are derived and the CPU times for both of the methods are introduced in the same precision.

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This study statistically examined the industrial cluster structure of four cities in the Tohoku region (Yonezawa, Koriyama, Iwaki, and Aizuwakamatsu) in terms of the relationship between each industry and the total value of industrial manufactured goods shipped. Industrial statistics were obtained from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) website, and statistical analysis was performed using Excel. The correlation coefficients and regression coefficients of the regression lines between the value of manufactured goods shipments of each industry and the total value of industrial manufactured goods shipments revealed the following. The industry sector for which the correlation coefficient between total industrial manufactured product shipments and the value of manufactured product shipments for each industry sector in the four cities in the Tohoku region (Koriyama City before 2000 and Aizu Wakamatsu City before 2006) exceeded 0.9 was the electronics, information and communications industry. It was then found that the regression coefficients between the total value of industrial manufactured product shipments and the value of shipments of information and telecommunications and electrical machinery and equipment, where the correlation coefficient exceeded 0.9, represented the percentage of the total value of shipments. The ratio of the value of shipments of information and telecommunications and electrical machinery and equipment to the total value of shipments in Yonezawa City and Aizu Wakamatsu City before 2006 was as high as over 50 %, compared to around 30 % in Koriyama City and Iwaki City, while the ratio in Yonezawa City was extremely high at 70 %. On the other hand, when the correlation coefficient is less than 0.8, the regression coefficient does not necessarily represent the share of total value of shipments, but the industry is less affected by the trend of total value of industrial manufactured goods shipments in the industrial cluster structure. These results are considered to provide important suggestions for considering the reconstruction of the industrial agglomeration structure of the region using the value of industrial manufactured goods shipments as an indicator.

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With the improvement of communication speeds and the spread of smartphones and IoT devices, there is an abundance of sports video content on the Internet, and users can watch game broadcasts and highlight videos without any time or location restrictions. Although sports games are very long and difficult to watch continuously, users find it more attractive and valuable to watch them in real-time than to record them. In this research, we develop a breaking news system that automatically identifies a specific player’s cue, results, and chance scenes by understanding the context of real-time tweets on Twitter and sports commentary from commentators using BERT. This system will enable users who have difficulty in watching in real-time or who are only interested in specific players to watch, as well as to automate breaking news that is currently done manually.

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The fundamental objective of image encoding is to transfer the image at high speed and transmit the image contents clearly. It is essential to reduce the use of memory capacity in the study on high speed transmission of images. However, the transfer time is determined by the total time of the following items: namely, encoding time, transfer time, and time to return to original image. Therefore, the investigation of high speed processing for encoding is also important. A consideration on image encoding is examined in this study, in which notable parts in a still image can be easily identified. The encoding process of an image, in which the notable parts are considered, is proposed specifically in this study, and a smoothing process is also proposed to decrease the image size and processing time so as not to degrade the image quality with the naked eye as much as possible. Moreover, this study proposes to increase the quality for high complexity images and degrade the quality for low image quality. Objects are extracted from the original image in the image encoding considering the notable parts and the original image is processed to understand easily using ‘outputting still image.’ And, the effectiveness of the proposed method is made clear by conducting comparative experiments with related other image encoding methods.

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