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A new paper sheet feeding mechanism using a friction force owing to electrostatic adhesion is proposed to realize long-term reliability and reduction in maintenance work. In this mechanism, friction force owing to electrostatic adhesion of an electrostatic pad acts as a resistance force to make paper sheets separate successively instead of a friction force of rubber parts used in the conventional feeding mechanism. The electrostatic pad with comb-type electrodes and whose upper surface is coated with an insulator with high wear resistance generates the resistance force. First, the width of the electrode and the spacing between electrodes of the electrostatic pad that generate a large electrostatic adhesion at the lowest possible voltage are determined from an experiment using the evaluation electrostatic pad. Then, the feed force acting on the first and the second paper sheets, and the resistance force owing to the electrostatic pad are measured by pulling the paper sheets in the separation mechanism. Furthermore, the performance of the paper sheet feeding mechanism is measured while changing the value of the voltage applied to the electrostatic pad. Consequently, it was found that the paper sheets could be accurately fed successively by adjusting the applied voltage to an appropriate value.

Industrial waste generated in the domestic paper industry in Japan was 5.1 million tons in 2015, and after reduction and recycling, 152 thousand tons of the waste was consequently disposed. Organic sludge (paper sludge), which occupies two-thirds of the industrial waste generated in the paper industry, is incinerated for the purpose of volume reduction and thermal recycling, and then it becomes paper sludge ash (PS ash). PS ash is recycled as aggregate, roadbed material in the civil engineering field and cement raw material, but it is necessary to further expand the application and reduce the final disposal amount. From the above background, in this research, the strength characteristics, the durability performance and the environmental impact of low carbon concrete produced by reducing cement usage to 45% by using PS ash as admixture in addition to fly ash and blast furnace slag fine powder, were investigated. Experimental results show that the low carbon concrete produced in this research has long term strength development, and that PS ash does not contribute to long term strength. Moreover, the clay mineral contained in the PS ash has an effect of reducing drying shrinkage by water retention and expansion. With respect to durability performance, neutralization is promoted by decreasing the total cement amount, while salt tolerance resistance is improved. Frost damage resistance tends to decrease. The elution amount of toxic substances is less than the soil environmental standard value.

A versatile method is proposed to predict the shape of a paper model of a three piece brassiere cup. A brassiere cup consists of several cloth and wire parts and the shapes of cloth parts called patterns are determined by repeating creation of a paper cup model, check of its 3D shape, and modification of 2D shapes of patterns. For efficient design of a brassiere cup, prediction of its 3D shape with a simulation is required. The deformed shape of a paper pattern is represented as a single or multiple developable surfaces. So, a model that can represent a pattern both as a single surface and as multiple surfaces is proposed. Which case is selected depends on the magnitude of the potential energy of the pattern in each case. The potential energy of the pattern and geometric constraints imposed on the pattern are formulated based on the model. Minimizing the potential energy under geometric constraints derives the stable shape of the pattern in either case. The validity of the proposed method was verified by comparing predicted and measured 3D shapes of paper models of two types of three piece cups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a group of five articles dealing with interrelations of text and film in the field of Japanese studies. The articles are based on presentations given in February 2016 at a Japanese studies conference hosted by the Seminar of East Asian Studies (Japanology) of Freie Universität Berlin.

A method to predict the shape of a paper model of a two piece brassiere cup is proposed. A brassiere cup consists of several cloth parts referred to as patterns, and wires. The shapes of patterns are designed by repeatedly making a cup model composed of paper patterns and then checking its 3D shape. To reduce such trial and error process, it is required to predict the 3D shape of such model with simulation. As a model is made of paper, each part is inextensible and its deformed surface is developable. Then, the potential energy of a pattern can be represented as a function of its principal curvature and principal direction. Minimizing the potential energy under geometric constraints derives the stable shape of the cup model. The computed shape of a cup almost coincided with the measured shape of an actual paper model. Especially, the shape of the joint line between two patterns was predicted with the average position error of 1.53 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper-cut is not simply a form of traditional Chinese folk art. Lucky motifs developed in paper-cut certainly acquired profound cultural connotations. As paper-cut is a time-honoured skill across the nation, interpreting those motifs requires cultural receptiveness and anthropological sensitivity. The author of this article analyzes examples of paper-cut from Northern Shaanxi, China, to identify the cohesive motifs and explore the auspiciousness of the specific concepts of Fu, Lu, Shou, Xi. The paper-cut of Northern Shaanxi is an ideal representative of the craft as a whole because of the relative stability of this region in history, in terms of both art and culture. Furthermore, its straightforward style provides a clear demonstration of motifs regarding folk understanding of expectations for life.

Purpose: One typical document retrieval method is to use to co-citation. The method is based on the premise that the degree of similarity among co-cited papers is equal in a particular paper. The degree is calculated with binary values: "co-cited" or "not-cited". To improve upon this method, the author proposes a multivalued co-citation measure based on semantic distance between co-cited papers. Methods: To determine the distance between citations, the author measured two machine parseable relationships (location and citing words) between places where papers are cited. In order to evaluate the proposed method, we identified two categories of co-citation: a group with strong relationships indicating "enumerated co-citation" (papers cited within one statement) and a group with weak relationships showing "non enumerated co-citation". Similarities within each group were calculated and compared using the CiteSeer dataset and 6 major similarity indicators. Results: All of the similarity indicators showed that degree of "enumerated co-citation" is higher than "non enumerated co-citation". Consequently, it became clear that the proposed co-citation measure can be used to distinguish the strength of co-citation more precisely and the it can be applied to large-scale document collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic refraction experiments were carried out to investigate the crustal structure in Antarctica by the wintering party of the 21st Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition. Five experiments were made from May 1980 to January 1981 in the vicinity of Syowa Station and in Mizuho Plateau, East Antarctica. The outline of the experiments is reported with respect to the field operation and the preliminary results. In May and June 1980,the shallow structure of an ice-free area in the vicinity of Syowa Station, Ongul Islands, was revealed by small-scale experiments. The P-wave velocity in this area is 6.0-6.3km/s. In July a preliminary experiment was conducted in the ice field on the Soya Coast along a line of about 10km long, in which many tests were performed for ice drilling, blasting of dynamite and installation of recording system at air temperature as low as -30℃. Shallow structure of this area was also obtained in the experiment. The P-wave velocity under the ice sheet is 6.0-6.2km/s which is nearly the same as that of the ice-free area. After the success of the experiments two large experiments were conducted along a line of about 300km long between Syowa and Mizuho Stations from October 1980 to January 1981. Explosions of 1400 and 1000kg in charge amount were fired in an ice hole of 143m deep at one end of the line near Mizuho Station and 100m deep at the middle of the line, respectively. In addition to the shots a large explosion of 3000kg in charge amount was detonated at a depth of 160m in Lutzow-Holm Bay off the Soya Coast, the other end of the line. The waves generated by the explosions were recorded successfully at 27 observation stations set up along the line. The former experiment was carried out by ten to fifteen persons for a period of forty days and the latter for a period of fifteen days. The apparent velocity of P-wave in the upper crust varies from 6.0 to 6.4km/s, suggesting gradual increase with depth in the layer. The apparent velocity of 7.9km/s for P_n wave was observed as first arrivals and that of 6.9km/s for P^* as later arrivals.

In der vorliegenden Rezension soll der 2020 im be.bra wissenschaft verlag, Berlin, erschienene Sammelband Sprachlich-literarische literarische »Aggregatzustände« im Japanischen: Europäische Japan-Diskurse 1998 – 2018 näher besprochen werden. Neben der Herausarbeitung der Hauptargumentationslinien einer Reihe von inhaltlich teils stark divergierender Beiträge, welche durch die Kernthemen Transmedialität, Freizeit und Literatur lose zusammengehalten werden, richtete ich mein Augenmerk auf die Frage, inwiefern es dem Herausgeber und den Autor*innen gelungen war, ihr selbstgestecktes Ziel, nicht nur ein akademisches, sondern auch ein interessiertes Laienpublikum anzusprechen, zu erreichen. Meiner Einschätzung nach konnte dieser Selbstanspruch zu weiten Teilen erfolgreich umgesetzt werden. Als entscheidende Faktoren identifiziere ich einerseits die Bitte des Herausgebers um einen zugänglichen, an der mündlichen Ausdrucksweise angelehnten Schreibstil und andererseits die Einarbeitung kurzer thematischer Einführungen in die meisten der eingereichten Aufsätze. Mit der vorliegenden Evaluierung dieses Projektes hoffe ich zur Ausarbeitung vertiefender Strategien beizutragen, die – auch jenseits der Populärwissenschaft – einer breitenwirksameren Verbreitung japanologischer Inhalte zuträglich sein werden.

We reviewed hearing recovery in 3,430 patients with sudden deafness reported between 1989 and 1998 in Japan, evaluated using standards of the Research Group on Sudden Deafness of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan. Complete recovery was seen in 30.8%, marked in 24.7%, slight in 23.3% and no change in 21.8%. No remarked improvement in recovery of hearing was seen in patients with sudden deafness in these 10 years. The number of patients studied in evaluating the efficacy of therapies may thus affect results. Complete recovery from sudden deafness was nearly 30% in proportion to the increase of number of patients studied in the literature. At least 200 patients should be studied to make a reliable evaluation.

On the flaming combustion of highly densified cypress cylindrical briquette of which diameter/length ratio is 1/2 in the high temperature air, it was reported that the flaming combustion duration is proportional to the product of the inverse square of the specific surface area and the briquette density. However, the influence of biomass raw material on the combustion behavior is not clarified yet. To utilize various biomass as raw material of briquette fuel, the knowledge on this should be obtained. The objective of the present study is to confirm the influence of biomass raw material on the flaming combustion behavior, especially, the flaming combustion duration. Cypress, bamboo, rice husk and paper are used as raw material of the briquette. From the results of the thermogravimetric analysis and the estimation of lignin content in the biomass samples, it was observed that the activation energy decreases with increasing the lignin content. From the results of combustion experiments, it was found that the flaming combustion durations for each biomass raw material are proportional to the product of the inverse square of the specific surface area and the briquette density. It is suggested that these proportional constants have the correlation with the mass percentage of the cellulose in the biomass.

The Japanese colony of Manchuria appeared numerous times in Soseki’s works: he wrote “Travels in Manchuria and Korea” (Mankan Tokoro Dokoro) after being invited on a tour to these colonies. Other works featuring the colonies include “The Heredity of Taste” (Shumi no iden), a novella that showed the naked realities of war in Manchuria, “And Then” (Sorekara), and “The Gate” (Mon), written after his tour of the colonies. This paper investigates the portrayal of Manchuria in the aforementioned novels, comparing and contrasts how the colony is depicted before and after Soseki’s visit. Through this process, further understandings of Soseki’s feelings towards the colony are revealed.

Argon ion sputter-etching of SUS420J2 and SUS316 stainless steels was carried out at a power of 250W for 10.8ks to form cone-shaped sharp protrusions with bottom diameter of 10-30 μm and fine quasi-column-shaped protrusions with diameter smaller than 500 nm respectively by using a radio-frequency magnetron sputter-apparatus. Effects of two types of plasma-nitriding on gripping ability were examined; one is the nitriding of both steel specimens using nitrogen gas of 0.53 Pa mixed with argon gas of 0.67 Pa at a power of 50W for 1.8 ks to maintain the original sharpness of protrusions, and another is the nitriding of SUS420J2 steel specimen using only nitrogen gas of 1.2 Pa at a power of 200 W for 7.2 ks to obtain the cone-shaped protrusions with round top. The coefficient of static friction, or gripping ability, of the plasma nitrided sharp protrusions of SUS420J2 steel specimen to polyethylene, polyvinyl-chloride, polyethylene-naphthalate sheets and a copy paper was about 1.8, 2.4, 1.1 and 1.5, respectively, at a large nominal compressive stress of 18 kPa. The reason for such large frictional coefficients is due to localized deformation of sheet under the sharp protrusions or piercing of the protrusions into the sheet. Although the sharp protrusions were partly broken, the frictional coefficients of these sheets were still about 1.6, 1.8, 1.1 and 1.4 after the second series of tests, which are more than twice as large as that of the specimen ground with #100 emery paper. The plasma-nitrided round protrusions of SUS420J2 steel and the fine protrusions of SUS316 steel were not broken during the friction tests of the polyethylene sheet and the copy paper but the frictional coefficients are smaller than those of the sharp protrusions. The protrusions with large frictional coefficients can be applied to the surface of a frictional conveying roll.

Copyright of Quarterly Journal of Marketing is the property of Japan Marketing Academy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Quarterly Journal of Marketing is the property of Japan Marketing Academy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Quarterly Journal of Marketing is the property of Japan Marketing Academy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Quarterly Journal of Marketing is the property of Japan Marketing Academy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Quarterly Journal of Marketing is the property of Japan Marketing Academy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Quarterly Journal of Marketing is the property of Japan Marketing Academy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Quarterly Journal of Marketing is the property of Japan Marketing Academy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Quarterly Journal of Marketing is the property of Japan Marketing Academy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Quarterly Journal of Marketing is the property of Japan Marketing Academy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper is concerned with the interface problem: An action is guided both by an intention, whose format is propositional, and a motor representation, whose format is non-propositional. How can an intention and a motor representation interlock, while the formats of intention and motor representation are different? In this paper, first, I review the existing solutions to this problem, and point out the defects in them. Then, I propose a new solution, namely a conceptualistic solution, according to which both the format of executable action concept which constitutes an intention and the format of motor representation are not only non-propositional but also conceptual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kei Yoshida’s recent book Philosophy of the Social Sciences: An Introduction is the first introductory textbook on the philosophy of the social sciences written in Japanese. It concisely expounds on a wide range of topics in the discipline, while its explication of those topics is not impartial or neutral as the author himself says. This paper gives a critical review of the book. The first half of it briefly overviews and assesses the book as a whole. The latter half of the paper reconstructs the gist of the author’s exposition of the naturalism/interpretivism debate and criticizes it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing literature on political scandals predominantly focuses on their detrimental effects on society at large. This paper aims to offer an alternative perspective, arguing that political scandals can lead to positive change. It does so by examining the case of Japan’s ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its ties to the controversial religious organization, the Unification Church (UC). These ties were brought into public attention, following the assassination of the former Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. Drawing on the framework of scandal mediation process (Prusa, 2010), this paper defines scandal as a form of communication between the elite and the masses, that facilitated by the media. By consulting data from newspapers and government reports, this paper investigates the progression of the scandal. It highlights how the communication unfolded during the progression of the scandal through public pressure, intense media coverage, public apologies by members of the political elites, and attempts to mitigate the damage. Moreover, this paper argues that the swift response from the government, notably the passing of anti-malicious donation law, shows that a political scandal can positively impact the functioning of social order. Focusing on how and under what circumstance a political scandal may have a positive impact introduces a richer nuance to the discussion of Japanese political scandals as demonstrated by these findings.

After the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake in Japan, rock structures, including rock slopes and underground cavities, were required to be evaluated for seismic resistance. Understanding the dynamic deformation properties of hard rock is essential for performing dynamic response analysis of large deformations of rock structures. This paper discusses the effect of confining pressure on the strain level dependence of the Young’s modulus and damping ratio of water-saturated sandstone based on the results of cyclic triaxial tests. The relationship between the axial strain and equivalent Young’s modulus ratio is different for quasi-elastic deformation below 2,000 με and elastoplastic deformation above 2,000 με and hence can be approximated by two logarithmic functions. The relationship at the quasi-elastic strain level can be approximated by the same function regardless of the confining pressure. However, at the elastoplastic strain level, the slope of the logarithmic function decreases with increasing confining pressure. Furthermore, the relationship between the axial strain and damping ratio is distributed on the same curve regardless of the confining pressure in the axial strain range below 4,000 με. However, when the axial strain exceeds 4,000 με, this relationship deviates from the curve and the damping ratio rapidly increases with decreasing confining pressure. The experimental results for water-saturated sandstone were compared with those for dry sandstone presented in a previous paper. At the quasi-elastic strain level, the relationship between the axial strain and equivalent Young’s modulus ratio can be approximated by the same function regardless of the water content. However, at the elastoplastic strain level, the slope of the logarithmic function is greater for water-saturated sandstone than for dry sandstone. Meanwhile, the relationship between the axial strain and damping ratio, regardless of the water content, is distributed on the same curve in the range from quasi-elastic to elastoplastic strain.

Wondertrunk & Co., founded in 2016, is an inbound company with a mission to transform local regions in Japan into global travel destinations. Based on the difference between tourism marketing, which considers tourist destinations as products, and conventional marketing, this paper examines Wondertrunk & Co.’s approach in the context of tourism marketing. This approach targets wealthy Western travelers to fulfill the objectives of Japan’s tourism policy of “sustainable tourism,” “expansion of consumer spending,” and “promotion of regional tourism”. The analysis focuses on destination marketing campaign projects carried out in collaboration with the Japan Tourism Agency and local governments, as well as the tourism business tailored to wealthy Western travelers. This paper concludes that the key success factors are (1) comprehensive marketing analysis and STP strategy development, (2) relationship building with international travel agencies, and (3) customization of luxury tourism services.

Counterfeit luxury goods refer to goods that closely resemble the original luxury goods, and consumers purchase these goods while being aware that they are counterfeits. To explain this consumer purchasing behavior, existing research has explored consumers’ motivations for purchase of counterfeit luxury goods. However, no study has thoroughly reviewed the latest trends in this field. Therefore, this paper selects the ten latest articles published in major academic journals in the field of marketing and organizes them from four perspectives: social, moral, cognitive, and online behavioral. The paper also identifies two future directions for research in this area: exploration of the impact of secondary markets and subscription services for luxury goods on counterfeit purchases, and exploration of the impact of the experiential value offered by luxury goods on counterfeit purchases.

Avoiding failures in the service delivery process is challenging, even for outstanding service companies. Service failure refers to the situation where the provided service falls short of customer expectations. Customer responses to such failures range from direct or indirect expression of dissatisfaction to negative word-of-mouth. These responses are collectively referred to as “customer complaining behavior”. With a focus on the cognition-emotion approach, this paper synthesizes two crucial bodies of prior literature on customer complaining behavior. The first concentrates on the conceptual development of this behavior, revealing its multifaceted nature. The second examines the antecedents of customer complaining behavior, considering cognitive, emotional, personality, and situational factors. By systematically organizing these bodies of prior research, this paper elucidates the theoretical advances in understanding customer complaining behavior and identifies research gaps. In particular, the paper proposes three directions for future research to advance scholarly inquiry and deepen understanding of the complexity of customer complaining behavior in service environments.

Our laboratory has reported in many papers on the coloration of fiber materials with amino groups, such as wool, silk, and nylon, using the Maillard reaction, i.e., the reaction with sugars. In particular, by using oxides of reducing sugars oxidized by the Fenton reaction, we have succeeded in significantly shortening the coloration time compared to conventional reducing sugars. For example, in the case of D-glucose, it was revealed that its color concentration was increased by about 200 times. Therefore, in this work, leather with low heat resistance was colored using reactions with oxides of reducing sugar and the relationship between the color concentration and mechanical strength was investigated in detail. First, the coloration of chrome-tanned leather was studied using oxides of D-glucose. Similar to the coloration of wool previously studied, the reaction was highly reactive to leather, and the leather could be colored to a dark, almost dark brown color even under the low temperature condition of 40 °C. In addition, the mechanical strength of leather is reduced by hydrochloric acid, a byproduct during the formation of glucose oxide. The concentration of glucose oxide, temperature of the reaction solution, and pH of the reaction solution were investigated in detail in order to darken the leather and control the reduction of its mechanical strength. As a result, not only was it possible to achieve a darker, almost black coloration, but the reaction in an aqueous solution containing a strongly basic glucose oxide produced interesting results in that the mechanical strength of the leather increased compared to that of the leather before treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors developed a vibration suppression device (VSD) that has variable moment of inertia using magneto-rheological (MR) fluid in order to get series inertia mass effect for vibration reduction. In previous paper, the proto-type VSD was manufactured and the variable series inertia mass effect was confirmed. From the experimental results, the series inertia mass effect can be switched by the current of electromagnets. And theoretical model of solidified form of the fluid was proposed by formula and the trend were closed the experimental results. Then the vibration tests of 1DOF system with the VSD were conducted by a shaking table. Vibration reduction of the VSD was confirmed. The current of the electromagnet was controlled by using the reinforcement learning. But the fluid behavior inside the flywheel has not investigated before. In this paper, to investigate the fluid behavior inside the flywheel, it is analyzed by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Three types of the flywheels are manufactured, and 2 types of electromagnets are used here. Equivalent inertia mass in totally 20 cases of the flywheel and the electromagnets are numerically calculated by using the OpenFOAM, and also measured in experiments. From the analytical results, convection is initially occurred in the direction of the magnetic poles when the magnetic field applies, and then the particles are eventually solidified at locations other than near the magnetic poles. Finally, the analytical results are compared with the theoretical and the experimental results.

In general, the life of a rolling bearing is calculated as the total number of rotations until rolling fatigue occurs on the raceway. However, when rolling bearings are used under light loads and high rotational speeds, they are damaged not by rolling fatigue on the raceways but by cage wear due to lubrication life. In such cases, the conventional method for calculating the rolling bearing life is not applicable. Rolling bearings for traction motors of railway vehicles (hereafter referred to as traction motor bearings) are one example of this and are replaced primarily due to lubrication life. However, there is no practical way to calculate lubrication life and these rolling bearings are replaced empirically. The purpose of this paper is to obtain basic data to create a method for calculating lubrication life. Therefore, traction motor bearings were rotated under conditions like actual operating conditions to reproduce damage due to lubrication life. As a result, damage due to lubrication life could be reproduced, so the next step was to investigate the effect on lubrication life when the operating conditions of traction motor bearings were varied as parameters. The parameters considered were “bearing temperature”, “vibration acceleration”, and “grease mass”. As a result of these verifications, lubrication life decreased exponentially when the bearing temperature was increased. In addition, lubrication life decreased exponentially when vibration acceleration was increased. Furthermore, lubrication life increased logarithmically when the grease mass was increased. The effects of these verified parameters on lubrication life could all be formulated within this paper.

This paper presents a data augmentation method for generating a surrogate model of numerical analysis results. The proposed method focuses on the relative frequency of learning data for generating a learning model using deep learning techniques. Generally, data augmentation techniques are known to be useful for improving prediction accuracy. Adding noise and data duplication are commonly used for predicting numerical simulation results, but it is essential to carefully consider the amount of noise or choose a duplication target. However, these techniques are not appropriate for generating surrogate models. The reason is that the numerical analysis results mostly have high data imbalance, and no specific solution has been presented. The method proposed in this paper solves this problem and aims to be a simple and highly versatile data augmentation method. This paper describes the application of the proposed method to predict two-dimensional stress fields. It was confirmed that by increasing the number of data augmentations using the proposed method, the prediction errors were reduced for three different stress components stably. Additionally, it was confirmed that the prediction accuracy improved 5.81 to 27.0% compared to that of the data augmentation by simple duplication.

This paper describes a method for continuously measuring the contact position between the wheel and rail using strain gauges. The authors investigated the relationship between the bridge output sensitivity rate and the change in the placement of strain gauges using the result of finite element analysis for the instrumented wheelset. It is noted that the bridge output sensitivity rate is defined as the bridge output change per unit distance of the contact position (load position). Based on the result, strain gauges position suitable for measuring contact position was identified. On the other hand, static load tests were conducted on the instrumented wheelset with strain gauges attached to measure contact forces (wheel load, lateral force, and tangential force) and positions, respectively. The test results were found to be generally consistent with the finite element analysis results, and it was also observed that the load position of each contact force influenced each bridge output. Finally, this paper proposes a method for calculating the contact position by solving a nonlinear equation. The calculation uses the results of the load tests and also wheel rotation angle, bridge outputs, wheel load, lateral force and tangential force which measured in running railway vehicle. Simulations were performed for various cases, and the contact positions were obtained stably and continuously. This suggests that the proposed method is reasonable and applicable to various situations.

The Korean Neonatal Network (KNN), which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, currently has more than 100 staff and researchers from >70 neonatal intensive care units nationwide in Korea. More than 85% to 90% of the population of very low birth weight infants in Korea are registered yearly, and more than half are followed up for up to 3 years at the KNN. A total of >19,000 cases have been accumulated through a strict data quality management process of the KNN. Based on this, >100 research projects have been proposed, >70 peer-reviewed papers have been published in leading international journals, and the cornerstone of the quality improvement project has been launched. In addition, we recently expanded the number of subjects for registration to very premature infants <32 weeks of age and continue to provide essential evidence data for establishing national health policies, such as linking with government policy projects of the Ministry of Health and Welfare for preterm infants. In such manner, the KNN is confident to be successfully and actively moving toward reaching the ultimate goal of standardizing neonatal intensive care and management of preterm infants in Korea by providing essential data for national health policy establishment along with quality improvement through evidence-based interactive data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the coexistence of humans and nature that is required in our lives, we need not only the general concept of a sustainable relationship between humans and nature, but also the elements specific to the region and their characteristics. For this purpose, if we can elucidate not only the current situation but also the process of change over time and the relationship with the factors that affect that change, we will be able to clarify the characteristics of the local community. This paper compares the resource utilization characteristics of geographically close villages in Fiji, to demonstrate the process of long-term (12-14 years) transformation of human-nature relationships. Considering the future use of resources, changes in the villages are suggested, and it is necessary to build a new resource use and management system from a long-term perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the pressing issues in the methodology of metaphysics is the relationship between (analytic) metaphysics and empirical science. In her recent paper, L.A. Paul has defended the methodological continuity of metaphysics and empirical sciences. According to her account, metaphysics and empirical science have distinct subject matters, but share the same methodology. More specifically, she argues that both metaphysical theorizing and scientific theorizing can be understood as model-building. In this article, I critically examine her argument and point out some non-negligible problems with the view that metaphysical theorizing is modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a transformative virtue that counteracts testimonial injustice by responding to two critiques of the virtue of testimonial justice. First, I demonstrate that self-reflection can function in more varied ways than the direct detection of oneʼs own prejudices, as previously assumed in the literature. Hence, self-reflection can holistically be effective in neutralizing the influence of oneʼs prejudices on oneʼs beliefs. Second, I propose a virtue that encourages epistemic agents to be epistemically acute enough to experience dissonance between perceiving a particular testifier (who is talking in person) as trustworthy and having biased beliefs about the testifierʼs trustworthiness: transformative virtue. Third, I argue that the development of a proper indirect contact theory with relevant epistemic practices can offer epistemic environments that facilitate peopleʼs critical imagination to cultivate a transformative virtue, considering the risk of victimized epistemic agentsʼ vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The later Wittgenstein’s philosophy is often characterized as therapeutic. According to the idea of therapeutic philosophy, Wittgenstein never intends to propound a theory of philosophy; rather he attempts to show us that philosophical problems are merely pseudo-problems generated by philosophical confusions. The aim of this paper is to clarify what Wittgenstein’s therapeutic philosophy is. In order to do so, I shall investigate the methodological similarities between Wittgenstein and Freud. I attempt to show that the analysis of Freud’s method of psychoanalysis gives us various insights on what Wittgenstein’s therapeutic philosophy is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]