Keynote Lectures (under expansion!)

Yusaku Fujii, Ph.D Professor, Gunma University (Japan) President, (NPO) The e-JIKEI Network Promotion Institute (Japan)

[Title]
Distancing-Free Mask as a Social Infrastructure that Eliminates Lockdown
[Abstract]
“Distancing-Free Mask”, which eliminates the lock down, and the social infrastructure using this mask will be discussed. This mask simultaneously achieves the four items, (1) complete screening of viruses, (2) lightweight body, (3) easy breathing, and (4) inexpensive manufacturing costs, at a high level by precise control of pressure and flow rate inside the helmet. The wearer of this mask, just like the antibody carrier, cannot be infected itself with the virus, nor infect others with the virus. (Japanese Patent Application 2020-113097). Currently, a combination of "new lifestyle" and "Lockdown (= going out control, behavior control, business control, economic regulation)" is being taken around the world. Since there is no prospect of developing a vaccine or treatment method, there is no prospect of leaving the current situation. Distributing the "Distance-Free Mask" to each citizen means having a simple and reliable means of converging the infection. Even under the worst infection spread situation, people can go out as long as they wear "Distance-Free Mask". Organizers of events such as the Tokyo Olympics need only take measures in anticipation of situations where masks are mandatory.
　The present status and the future prospect of Distancing-Free Mask are discussed in this keynote.

[Reference]
Save the world by distributing Distancing-Free Mask!
http://www.e-jikei.org/site/Perfect_Mask.htm

Mitra Djamal, Dr.-Ing.   Professor, Institut Teknologi Bandung (Indonesia) Vice Rector for Academic, Institut Teknologi Sumatera (Indonesia) President, Physical Society of Indonesia (PSI), (Indonesia)

[Title]
Surface Plasmon Resonance and Its Application for Biosensing
[Abstract]
The use of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) for biosensor is growing in popularity, especially in fundamental biological studies, health research, medicine, clinical diagnosis, as well as environment and agriculture monitoring. SPR enable qualitative and quantitative measurements of biomolecular interactions in real time without labeling. Currently, the development of SPR as biosensor is focused on compact, inexpensive and sensitive designs. The development of micro to nano sized fabrication technology and integration of opto-electronic components is compatible with SPR. We will focus on the progress we made over the past 4 years. Simulation, fabrication, and applications that have been developed in our laboratory.

[References]
1. N. S. Aminah, C. Themistos,Hendro, R. Hidayat, M. Djamal, and B M A Rahman, “Evolution of Surface Plasmon Supermodes in Metal-Clad microfiber and its Potential for Biosensing,” Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 35(21), pp. 4684-4691, 2017.
2. AH Ulum, L Destarina, N.S. Aminah, N Srisuai, S Boonruang, N Nuntawong, M Horprathum, M Djamal, “Au-Coated PDMS grating for SERS substrate: Comparison of two different grating depths”, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1428(012036), 2020.
3. A H Ulum,L Destarina, N.S. Aminah,N Srisuai,S Boonruang,N Nuntawong,M Horprathum,and M Djamal, “Optimization of sputtered Au film on grating structure as (SERS) substrate for detection of pesticide”, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1428(012035), 2020.

Haruo Kobayashi, Ph.D Professor, Gunma University (Japan)

[Title]
Challenges of Analog and Mixed-Signal IC Testing Technologies in Digital Explosion Era
[Abstract]
This talk introduces production testing research results for analog and mixed-signal IC (Integrated Circuit) performed at the author's laboratory, such as operational amplifier, ADC, sampling circuit, timing, related testing technologies. Notice that production testing and measurement / characterization for ICs are similar but different, and this paper introduces the former. The analog / mixed-signal testing plays a very important role in achieving both reliability and low cost for IoT and automotive systems. It also is a big technological challenge because there is no general method, but it requires state-of-the-art combination and optimization of a wide variety of technologies including circuit and system design as well as signal processing, control and measurement algorithms. Their overview including future technology challenges will be presented.

Osamu Kamatani, Ph.D Professor, Professional University of Information and Management for Innovation (Japan)

[Title]
Application of RDF structured data for innovative context aware services
[Abstract]
Smart phone devices and the relevant application services are widespread and expanding. Users can access their necessary information anytime, anywhere, however the information to the users is mostly provided as a general information rather than a user specific information. In order to provide such user specific information services, it is necessary to obtain the context of the user and provide services tailored to that context. This presentation reviews future technologies which can support the context aware information retrieval and communication services. First, we discuss the need for structured data and show that RDF (Resource Description Framework) may be a potential enabler. We will also show examples of RDF use in network operational management, such as network node topology control and an inference method for fault propagation based on network ontology.

Shu Dong Wei, Ph.D Associate Professor, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)

[Title]
Distancing-Free mask Projects in NTU
[Abstract]
Prototypes of “Distancing-Free Mask” that can almost-completely prevent virus transmission are being developed by Yusaku Fujii, Seiji Hashimoto, and Akihiro Takita of Gunma University. Once this is mass produced and distributed to each citizen, lockdown is unnecessary. The wearer of this mask, like the antibody carrier, can neither be infected by the virus nor infect others. If the mask is worn by all the people at the same time when the infection spreads, the infection will be easily and reliably controlled. The projects in Nanyang Technological University aiming to adapt and improve upon these masks to the conditions of Singapore are described. These projects aim to minimize the fogging up and improve the vision of wearers, to allow wearers to hear and to be heard, to enjoy drink and food with mask on, and to be portable.

Yutaka Kawahara, Ph.D Professor, Gunma University (Japan)

[Title]
Spinning System of Bombyx mori Silkworm
[Abstract]
We have studied the influence of the interaction between fibroin and sericin on the crystal modification directly in the lyophilized silk gland of the fully grown larva of Bombyx mori. In the posterior silk gland, the fibroin formed a silk1 structure according to the polymorphism property of fibroin. In the middle silk gland where sericin P fraction is to be secreted, fibroin showed silk2 crystal diffraction. Following the secretion of sericin P fraction, the sericin M fraction has become secreted indicated by definite silk1 crystal diffraction. However, silk2 crystal diffraction remained almost unchanged, which means that sericin M fraction has a potential to regulate the crystal transformation of fibroin. Furthermore, the influence of the modulation of spinning process or the addition of metal ions into a liquid silk aqueous solution in flow state on the formation of fiber structure was investigated.

Takao Yamaguchi, Ph.D Professor, Gunma University (Japan)

[Title]
Acoustic Black Hole in Some Kinds of Structures
[Abstract]
A fast finite element method is proposed to compute dynamic properties for complicated systems having elastic/viscoelastic/porous structures with acoustic black holes. The acoustic black hole proposed by Krylov is plates having an edge where its thickness decreases sharply as a power function of the thickness. And on the small area of the edge, viscoelastic damping material is laminated. By using this structure, flexural waves cannot be reflected at the edge with the acoustic black holes.
We proposed expressions of modal damping by applying asymptotic expansion to complex eigenvalue problem of the dynamics systems. We can analyze modal couplings in damping of the complicated dynamics systems. This method is named as MSKE (Modal Strain and Kinetic Energy) Method. This proposed method can be applied to calculate impact responses of complicated structure including not only elastic/viscoelastic/porous material but also the acoustic black holes. We applied this method to obtain responses for some kinds of structures with the acoustic black holes.

Mitsunori Mizumachi, Ph.D Associate Professor, Kyushu Institute of Technology (Japan)

[Title]
Acoustic beamforming for selective listening under noisy environments
[Abstract]
Acoustic signals are fragile against interferences such as background noises and reverberation. Human auditory systems cleverly achieve selective listening, that is, noise reduction and dereverberation. On the other hand, it is extremely difficult to enhance the target signal by a computer without any constraints. Beamforming with a microphone array is one of the possible solutions of selective listening. The microphone array consists of spatially-distributed multiple microphones, which capture the mixture of the acoustic signals generated by each sound source. The beamformer can be designed in various manners. In this talk, the state-of-the-art nonlinear acoustic beamformer is introduced besides the traditional linear beamformer. The nonlinear beamformer efficiently optimizes its beampattern using an artificial neural network, and the analytically-designed linear beamformer provides the distortion-free target signal. Some ideas of achieving broadband beamforming are also introduced to deal with wideband acoustic signals in the real world.

Yuki Aoki, Ph.D Associate Professor, Gunma University (Japan)

[Title]
Design of the development environment suitable for IoT/BD/AI education for high school students and above
[Abstract]
Various educational boards have been developed for IoT education, and establishing an education system including AI/BD using them is important. In this study, we constructed a system environment for IoT/AI/BD education by using Raspberry Pi as an edge computer and Jupyter. The developed system enables learning of IoT / AI / BD only with Python from a web browser. This system does not depend on the learner's PC environment and does not require Linux operation knowledge.

Shinichi Maruyama, Ph.D Professor, Gunma University (Japan)

[Title]
Analysis on vibrations of thin-walled continuous body
[Abstract]
Thin-walled elements, such as beams, arches, plates and shell-panels　are widely used in recent downsized and light-weighted machines. Since　 flat beams and plates have low rigidity, curved elements such as　arches and shell-panels are widely used. Rigidity of the curved elements are fairly higher than that of the flat elements, because lateral deflection is coupled to in-plane deflection which enhance the rigidity of the curved structures. Furthermore, when large amplitude vibrations are generated in the flat or curved thin elements due to resonance, the lateral deflection has nonlinear coupling with the in-plane deformation which results in complex nonlinear vibration responses such as, subharmonic resonance, super harmonic response, internal resonance and chaotic vibrations. Recently, shapes of structural elements becomes more and more complex, thus analytical procedures are required to compute vibrations of such complex-shaped elements, precisely considering linear or nonlinear couplings between deflection and in-plane deformation with low computational costs. In this lecture, some recent topics in analysis on vibrations of thin-walled structural elements: (1) nonlinear vibration analysis on beams with variable cross section, (2) linear vibration analysis on rectangular or annular plates dividing finite segments with higher-order-differentiable mode function, and (3) vibration analysis on shell-panels including clamped edges.

[Keywords]
Nonlinear Vibrations, Vibrations of flexible structures, Vibrations Analysis

Yukinori Nakamura, Ph. D Senior Assistant Professor, Okayama University (Japan)

[Title]
State and Parameter Estimation and Its Application to Mechatronic Systems
[Abstract]
The estimation of states or parameters is effective in terms of sensor reduction. Due to this, various estimation algorithms have been actively studied. One approach for the estimation is to utilize the mathematical model of plants. However, in practice, mechatronic systems include nonlinearity, which affects estimation accuracy. This lecture introduces state and parameter estimation approaches and their implementation methods for mechatronic systems. We will show how to estimate the inner pressure of pneumatic vibration isolators over a network. For the estimation of the inner pressure, particle filter with a time stamp is employed. Also, we will explain the parameter estimation of positioning stages with particle swarm optimization. To shorten the time of estimation, the placement of particles is determined by considering the nominal model of the positioning stages.

Hiroshi Sakurai, Ph. D Professor, Gunma University (Japan)

[Title]
Quantitative analysis of light elements by high energy X-rays
[Abstract]
High energy X-rays are applied to imaging techniques because of their high transmittance. X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging techniques are widely applied for medical diagnosis. X-ray Compton scattering imaging (or X-ray back scattering imaging) techniques are applied for non-destructive testing (NDT) and security. These imaging techniques use X-ray intensity contrast, which is caused by characteristic attenuation or scattering of materials. However it is not easy to get quantitative information from the solely X-ray intensity. That is because several tens of keV do not match characteristic electron resonance energies.

Recently we have found that energy spectrum analysis of X-ray attenuation coefficients, which are obtained from X-ray CT measurements, or Compton scattered X-rays can give quantitative information of light elements. In this study we report our recent progress of quantitative analysis of light elements by photon counting CT system and Compton scattering imaging system.

Nobuaki Nakazawa, Ph.D Professor, Gunma University (Japan)

[Title]
Human Detection in Restricted Area at Construction Site
[Abstract]
In this study, we investigated the motion patterns of walking people and moving vehicles by calculating the angle distribution of their movements obtained with Optical Flow. In the analysis of Optical Flow, it was found that people tended to move in various directions, while moving vehicles tended to move in a certain direction. Based on the obtained result, we built a system that distinguishes between the two using Neural Network. As a result, it was possible to accurately distinguish between a person and a moving vehicle.

Key Words: Construction site, Feature point, Optical flow, Neural Network

Wei Jiang, Ph.D Professor, Deputy Director Office of Academic Affairs, Yangzhou University (China)

[Title]
A Cost-effective Hardware-in-the-Loop Development System for Teaching dynamic systems of different time scales
[Abstract]
This paper proposed a low-cost Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) platform for teaching and fast prototyping of dynamic circuits and systems. A dual-core digital signal controller (DSC) based solution is proposed for the HIL system. CPU core A, as the simulation engine, dedicates to circuit & system simulation. The actuation and control logic are implemented in CPU core B, which is working as the control engine. Inter-processor communication is used to interchange variables between two CPUs. The digital-to-analog converter and digital outputs are used to send the duty cycle and other system state variables to the oscilloscope for users' visual feedback. Two typical systems with fast and slow dynamics are modeled and implemented in the simulation engine. Under the excitation generated by the control engine, system dynamics can be observed for studying purposes. Close-loop control for a buck converter is also demonstrated on the developed prototype, where both input voltage and load variations performance are tested. The test results indicate that the digital simulator can well emulate the average small signal model of a power converter in open-loop and close-loop scenario. At the mean time, the control parameters can be modified for system performance evaluation and education purposes. The proposed low-cost HIL system can be easily applied to the engineering teaching as well as fast prototype development phase of product design.

Osamu Takaki, Ph.D Associate Professor, Gunma University (Japan)

[Title]
A perspective on researches on negative effects of digitalization of society
[Abstract]
While conferring tremendous benefits to us, digitalization of society causes various problems, as is the case with other resources or energies. On the other hand, social changes can be divided into two classes: inevitable changes and controllable ones. In this talk, we focus on several negative effects of social digitalization, and characterize them from the viewpoints of inevitable or controllable changes of society. Moreover, we consider how to deal with controllable aspect of such negative effects.

Shu Dong Wei, Ph.D Associate Professor, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)

[Title]
Promising Magnesium Alloys for Mobility and Portability
[Abstract]
This speech presents the basic characteristics of magnesium alloys, their historical applications in civilian and military fields. Examples of applications range from the World War II era German missiles to portable electronics of mobile phones and tablets today. The potential as well as the challenges for the applications of Magnesium alloys the lightest metals in elemental form. The current project attempts to characterize the magnesium materials mechanically under high rate of deformation in impact and collision, with the special equipment of Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar, which obtains the stresses of Magnesium alloys under different strain rates which simulate the practical situation of impact, drop and collision. The talk will also present the light Magnesium alloys under various conditions, and in particular, at various temperatures. The high or low temperatures must be applied to the Split Hopkinson Pressure Bars, which present some obstacles and challenges.

Yusaku Fujii, Ph.D Professor, Gunma University (Japan) President, (NPO) The e-JIKEI Network Promotion Institute (Japan)

[Title]
Will every street be watched by camera network in the near future
[Abstract]
The proposition “Will every street be watched by camera network in the near future?” will be discussed in the lecture. A street camera network, in which many IP cameras are installed at a high density, similar to street lights throughout a nation, will have a stronger positive effect in suspect tracking and crime deterrence in the near future. On the other hand, it will also have a stronger negative effect related to the violation of privacy of ordinary citizens. In order to make such a stronger surveillance camera system, which forcibly captures the images of passersby for the public interest, be accepted as an essential social infrastructure by a society, it is necessary for this camera system to make ordinary citizens be convinced that it is used only for the public interest. To realize this, a new concept, in which the abuse of a street camera network is deterred by recording and disclosing browsing-history, is proposed.

[Reference]
Yusaku Fujii and Noriaki Yoshiura, "Will every streetlight have network cameras in the near future?", SCIENCE, eLetters (21 October 2016) .