To cope with the complex economical, societal, science and engineering challenges in the new era, it is proposed to promote the spirit of renaissance scientists and engineers, as well as the spirit of open mind, and the inspiration of innovative ideas. The definition and characters of renaissance scientists and engineers are given. Renaissance scientists and engineers are those not only understand Why and How Things work but also on Why and How the World works. The importance of horizontal and vertical integration, as well as the relationship among mass, energy and information are discussed.

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A large-size battery for future industrial applications requires a higher capacity and longer cycle-life than that for the consumer applications. The Ni(OH)2 was granulated with conductive and binder materials, and the granulated particles were sandwiched between two nickel-foam pieces to form a plate-like positive electrode. The capacity was estimated to be 54 mAh/cm2, which was higher than that of the conventional paste-type one (36 mAh/cm2), loading the Ni(OH)2 slurry on the nickel-foam substrate. In this electrode structure, the granulated particles can be easily maintained on the substrate in the electrolyte. The battery test using the granulated Ni(OH)2 electrode showed that the cycle-life performance could be improved by increasing the amount of separator compression. The high compression suppressed the electrode expansion by electrolyte absorption, which causes electrolyte loss during the charge and discharge processes.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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Chitosan, an aminopolysaccharide, has been used in biomedical fields due to its high biocompatibility, non-toxicity and biodegradability. Conventional chitosan gels contain toxic chemicals such as chemical crosslinkers. The characteristic of the chitosan gels limit their applications to biomedical fields. To overcome the limitation, we previously developed a novel chitosan hydrogel containing no additives (Takei et al., 2012). The hydrogels are formed by freeze-thawing the precursor solution (cryogelation). The cryogel material is chitosan-gluconic acid conjugate. In this study, we examined (i) whether chitosan derivatives containing chemically-incorporated aldonic acid with different molecular weight from gluconic acid formed gels through freeze-thawing process, and (ii) whether the resultant hydrogels possessed similar biological properties to chitosan-gluconic acid conjugate cryogels. We selected threonic acid and xylonic acid as aldonic acid incorporated into chitosan. Aqueous solutions with dissolved chitosan-threonic acid or chitosan-xylonic acid conjugates formed gels by freeze-thawing as that of the chitosan-gluconic acid conjugate did. Chitosan-threonic acid conjugate had low cytotoxicity, and the cryogels had low cellular adhesiveness.

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The selenium distribution in the scales or skin as one of the inedible tissues of several species of fish (Yellow tail Seriora quinqueradiata, Red sea bream Pagrus major and Puffer Takihugu rubripes) was investigated in order to clarify the possibility of the utilization of selenium from those discarded tissues, in relation with the mercury distribution involving tissue. Both distributions were compared with those of the ordinary muscle. As a result, each selenium level in the scales or skin was about the same or somewhat higher than that involving muscle between those cultured and wild species of subjected fish in the present study. On the other hand, the mercury level was extremely low or nearly zero and Se/Hg (the molar ratio of selenium to mercury) was drastically high compared with that involving muscle, suggesting that the scales or skin will be usually inedible but significantly safe tissue which few heavy metals such as mercury will tend to accumulate. These findings suggested that the available utilization of selenium may be expected from the scales or skin of fish, including the improvement of environment.

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[in Japanese]

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"Kana-ami" is one of the traditional craft products of Kyoto. It was made all by hand and, for this reason, there was no industrial pollution produced during the manufacturing process. The product's quality was judged by the standard structure of "Kana-ami", which was established and developed in the long course of history and culture. That aesthetical standard has already been deeply and consistently rooted into Japanese peoples' hearts. However, production has decreased dramatically year by year due to mechanization difficulty and a lack of heritage consciousness of craft techniques. Therefore, there is an urgency time to pay attention to do something to keep this traditional wealth of culture and skill for the next generation. In this research, expert-A and expert-B were employed from "Kana-ami Tsuji" workshop, which is one of the most outstanding workshops in Kyoto. The best three products were chosen by expert-A and expert-B respectively from 38 products made by 38 different students to be compared as non-experts with the excellent products of experts. So, the average hexagon angles by experts were treated as the standard in this study. All hexagon angles of the experts and non-experts final products were investigated and measured, at the same time, angle degrees at corresponded label location were calculated and compared between experts and non-experts in order to explain the structure distribution. Their mean and standard deviation values of corresponding vertex angles for 48 hexagons were calculated and analysed. In this current study, the characteristics of metal wire network structure made by different people were discussed and analyzed through mathematical measurement. Based on this structure evaluation system, the hexagon angles of experts' products showed complete uniformity and consistence. Further more, Kana-amis' hexagon structure evaluation standard of expert-A, with 45 years experience, was considered to be achieved better aesthetic requirements and appreciation.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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