MDPI AGActa Medica Okayama2073-445X1522026A Study on the Development of an Image Classification System for Urban Sprawl Areas in Japan275ENRyotaHemmiGraduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityTakehitoUjiharaFaculty of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityRyosukeAndoNational Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure Transport and TourismSeijiHashimotoFaculty of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityIn Japan, unlike in many other countries, urbanization has progressed while original rural road structures have been retained, leading to distinctive urban sprawl areas with intermingling residential lots and farmland. Currently, much of Japan’s urban areas consist of urban sprawl areas, posing considerable challenges for infrastructure development. However, for such urban sprawl areas in Japan, it is difficult to say that methods have been established to identify their spatial distribution based on quantitative evaluation. Therefore, for this study, we used machine learning to investigate a system that extracts sprawling urban areas from aerial photographs divided into meshes. In the system’s design, we prioritized precision to ensure the reliable detection of urban sprawl areas. Consequently, the accuracy of identifying sprawl areas achieved precision of 0.81, recall of 0.63, and an F-score of 0.71. Examination of the classification results of sprawl areas revealed that most misclassifications occurred near class boundaries. By contrast, areas with particularly high levels of urban sprawl showed few misclassifications.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.MDPIActa Medica Okayama2071-105015182023The Relationship between the Evaluation of Public Transport Services and Travel-Based CO2 Emissions from Private Transport Modes in Regional and Metropolitan Areas in Japan13296ENShreyasPradhanGraduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityTakehitoUjiharaFaculty of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversitySeijiHashimotoFaculty of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama UniversityPromoting public transport use is expected to contribute to reducing CO2 emissions in the transport sector. Using Okayama City and Central Tokyo as representative case studies of regional and metropolitan areas in Japan, this study examines the impact of the evaluation of the 'hard' and 'soft' attributes of rail and bus services on the overall evaluation. This study then explores the relationship between the overall evaluation and usage frequency of rail and bus services, as well as the relationship between the usage frequency and travel-based CO2 emissions from private transport modes. Furthermore, this study investigates whether the emissions cause differences in the evaluation of the 'hard' and 'soft' attributes of public transport services. The findings suggest prioritising an improvement in 'hard' rather than 'soft' attributes in order to reduce emissions through the use of public transport in regional areas. However, in metropolitan areas, no relationship was found between the evaluation of public transport services and emissions, presumably because of the lower ownership rate of private cars that residents can use freely and the markedly higher level of rail and bus services. This study provides a methodological reference for analysing the potential to reduce travel-based emissions from private transport modes by enhancing public transport service contents.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00712821994Numerical Simulation of Quantum Systems -Dynamics of Electrons in Microstructures-4552ENHirooTotsujiSeijiHashimotoShigetoshiNara10.18926/15460Difficulties in simulating systems composed of classical and quantum particles lie in the treatment of the many-body interactions between quantum particles and the geometrical variety of configurations of classical particles. In order to overcome these difficulties, we have developed some numerical methods and applied them to simple cases. As for stationary states, the finite element method provides us with sufficient geometrical freedom.
Combined with the Kohn-Sham equation based on the density
functional theory, this method virtually satisfies our requirement. In order to investigate time-dependent phenomena, we apply the time-dependent Kohn-Sham equation. Adopting the finite difference method, we are able to follow the development of quantum many-body system. As an example, we estimate the effects of the potential height, the electric field, and many-body interactions in some transition processes in quantum wells coupled by a tunneling barrier. This example is important in itself in relation to semiconductor superlattices and also serves as a benchmark for quantum simulations, variety of geometry
corresponding to that of classical particles.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.Faculty of Engineering, Okayama UniversityActa Medica Okayama0475-00712711992Intrinsic Bistability of Coupled Quantum Wires: Localization due to Many-Body Effects5564ENHirooTotsujiShigetoshiNara10.18926/15394The ground state of a system of electrons accumulated in a pair of coupled symmetric quantum wires is analyzed on the basis of density functional theory. It is shown that, in a domain of physical parameters, electrons are localized in either of wires. The main contribution to the total energy of this system comes from the Hartree energy, or the electrostatic energy, and the exchange-correlation energy between electrons. The ground state is determined by a competition between these contributions: We have symmetric electron distributions when the Hartree energy dominates and asymmetric (localized) states are realized in the opposite case. This kind of simple system with bistable electronic states may be applied to semiconductor memory devices.No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.岡山大学教育学部附属教育実践総合センターActa Medica Okayama1346-3705712007岡山大学大学院理科教育専攻で行った教材・授業案開発講義の試み17ENYoshihikoInadaSeijiKakiharaMasakazuKitaNobuhikoYamashitaTeruhikoIshikawaHisakazuOguraMotonoriAndoIsaoKusachiKuranoshinKatoTsutomuYoshiokaYukiKawataMotoshiHirakawaSeijiHashimotoTetsuyaAkazakiNobuhikoHigashiAkioBecchaku10.18926/14367岡山大学大学院教育学研究科の理科教育専攻の講義として、教材開発・授業案開発をテーマとした新しい講義を試みたのでその報告を行う。本講義は、理科教育講座に所属する大学院生、理科教育講座の大学教員、附属学校の理科関係の教諭が三者協働で進めることが特徴である。課題設定、教材開発を含めた実践準備および実践を院生チームを組み遂行させ、さらに経験や専門性の異なる人材と論議を重ねて活動を進めることを通じ、将来、協働で学校現場の課題提案・解決を行うことのできる能力を養うことを目標とした。No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.