Reitaku University

This study specifies and validates a three-layer Structural Equation Model (SEM) that accounts for how tourists’ evaluations of destination attributes translate into loyalty; the model is based on UN Tourism’s sustainability pillars. Guided by service-science and Customer Experience (CX) logics, and adopting a Tourist Experience (TX) framework that treats Tourist Experience as a domain-specific case of CX, we define five first-order antecedents—Emotions (EMS), Local Culture (CTL), Authenticity (AUT), Entertainment (ENT), and Servicescape (SVS)—that load onto a higher-order appraisal, Global Perception (GEN), which in turn drives Destination Loyalty (LOY). Using ordinal indicators and a robust diagonally weighted least squares estimator (WLSMV), the model exhibits a good global fit (CFI/TLI = 0.970/0.968; SRMR = 0.049; RMSEA = 0.073 [90% CI = 0.070–0.076]). Standardized effects indicate that GEN is primarily explained by Emotions (β = 0.445, p < 0.001), Authenticity (β = 0.271, p < 0.001), and Servicescape (β = 0.241, p < 0.001), whereas CTL and ENT are not significant when competing with these other predictors. GEN strongly predicts LOY (β = 0.967, p < 0.001), mediating sizable indirect effects from EMS, AUT, and SVS to LOY. The findings corroborate a parsimonious mediational chain in which affective, meaning-related, and infrastructural inputs cohere into a single global appraisal that is proximal to loyalty. Our study provides a decision-focused blueprint for designing emotion-rich, authenticity-protecting, and well-orchestrated servicescapes to enhance GEN and, consequently, LOY; it adheres to established SEM reporting standards and articulates a holistic transactional conceptualization grounded in recent tourism literature. Improvements in GEN reflect not only better experiences but also designs consistent with long-run destination sustainability.

Gerald Horne’s explication of Cold War-era political history as negotiated white supremacy leads to an enhanced understanding of Japan in the Cold War. Although subject to important qualifications, Japanese anti-racism and solidarity with non-white peoples before, during, and after World War II contextualizes the view held by American intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois—and complicated and in places contested by Horne—that Japan was, in many ways, a champion of anti-white supremacy. The experiences of Black American servicemen and -women who served in Japan during the Cold War provide important historical grounding for Du Bois’ initial, state-centered insights about Japan as an anti-racist power. This modified “Du Bois Thesis” in turn guides the Horne Thesis, on the role of white supremacy in modern global history, into a deeper harmony with the history of Cold War Japan.

Deep learning-based object detection has seen a surge in applications for sensing systems on mobile devices. In this context, objects are identified and tracked across video frames, facilitating the calculation of associated events of interest. A significant research challenge refers to the acceleration of processing speed, which is constrained by deep learning-based object detection due to its intensive resource requirements. This paper focuses on a typical mobile sensing scenario, wherein sequences of frames containing objects of interest are sparsely dispersed throughout the video stream. Given that many of the frames lack objects, allocating substantial computational resources to detect them becomes inefficient. In light of this, we propose a stochastic scheduling algorithm, JumpQ. JumpQ performs per-frame detection when anticipating the presence of objects in the current frames. Consecutive negative detections prompt a transition to intermittent detection with a probability that undergoes further decay if the negative detection persists until reaching a predefined limit. Upon a positive detection, JumpQ swiftly reverts to per-frame detection and retraces a specific number of previously buffered frames to ensure the inclusion of potentially missed true frames. A comprehensive experimental study using the garbage bag counting technique was conducted to show the efficiency of JumpQ in accelerating the processing speed by nearly 1.92 times while maintaining a negligible impact on sensing accuracy.

This study aimed to examine gender differences in the computer science motivation of Japanese primary school students using Eccles' expectancy-value theory and to explore the motivational factors contributing to such differences.The results suggested that girls had lower self-efficacy, less interest in learning programming, and a greater concern about failure in programming than boys.Furthermore, within the components of the expectancy-value theory, sixth-grade girls may have initiated their motivation for learning programming with intrinsic value before extending it to other components.These findings indicate that gender differences in computer science motivation may emerge as early as primary school and point to potential motivational factors that may underlie these differences.

To realize a human-centered society, it is essential to develop advanced display technology that can artificially recreate tactile sensations for users. However, because the mechanoreceptors in human skin are microscopic, it is challenging to stimulate these receptors with currently available actuators. Thus, to cover the limitations of current actuators, we focused on the tactile illusion known as the velvet hand illusion (VHI), in which a sensation of smoothness occurs when people rub two parallel wires between the palms of their hands. In addition, it is known that a smooth sensation similar to the VHI can be induced using a dot matrix display when two lines composed of pins move in an apparent reciprocating motion on the palm. It is interesting that this smooth sensation is created by the uneven stimulation of the pins. To apply this sensation, it is necessary to elucidate the mechanism behind it. Therefore, in this study, we conducted psychophysical experiments and brain function measurements to determine whether this sensation produced by a dot matrix display is the VHI, and to clarify how sensations differ between displays. First, in the psychophysical experiments, we used the semantic differential method and factor analysis to construct tactile dimensions to investigate the characteristics of the VHI sensation. As a result, it was found that the stronger the VHI, the greater the sense of smoothness and softness. This characteristic was also confirmed in the VHI induced by the dot matrix display. Next, we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to investigate brain activation related to VHI generation. The investigation confirmed that the strength of the illusion is related to the activity level of the hand area in the left primary somatosensory cortex for both the wire display and the dot matrix display.

This chapter highlights the significance of assessing smart cities from a citizen's perspective to foster a society where residents experience happiness. It is crucial to measure quality of life (QoL) and satisfaction with the everyday activities of residents for this kind of assessment. The proposed metrics, ActiveQoL, is designed to measure subjective satisfaction in daily activities including sleep, work, meals, and leisure. ActiveQoL considers four key factors: a fondness for the activity, time spent on the activity, the conditions under which the activity is performed, and the presence of others during the activity. The chapter outlines how ActiveQoL will be implemented using wearable sensors and smartphones to automatically estimate activity and situational factors. Additionally, it discusses the use of surveys and data collection methods to obtain meaningful data. ActiveQoL enables the evaluation of urban programs by measuring individual QoL and aggregating the data across the population. The article provides examples of ActiveQoL’s application in evaluating exercise and sports activities, as well as programs aimed at elderly individuals. These examples highlight the benefits of incorporating ActiveQoL into urban and policy evaluations, such as quantifying the impact of soft and hard programs and tailoring evaluations to specific target groups. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the importance of having a clear vision for the city and conducting objective evaluations to create a happy and distinctive community.

本研究では、市街地内での太陽光発電導入拡大に向け、大規模小売店舗の駐車施設を対象に、太陽光発電設備を駐車施設内に整備した場合の発電ポテンシャルと、市街地内に立地する太陽光発電設備を活用した地域内の地産地消型再エネ活用のインパクトについて定量的に検証した。その結果、 福岡市では発電量が消費量を上回る大規模小売店舗と消費量の方が多い施設の数が拮抗しているが、浜松市では福岡市と比較すると発電量が多い施設の占める割合が多くなっていること、太陽光発電による発電量に対して大規模小売店舗の電力消費量が大きく、周辺に配電するほどの余裕がないとしても、地域全体の中での系統電力の消費量削減効果が期待できることを明らかにした。

Corpus-based studies have offered the domain definition inference for test developers. Yet, corpus-based studies on temporal fluency measures (e.g., speech rate) have been limited, especially in the context of academic lecture settings. This made it difficult for test developers to sample representative fluency features to create authentic listening passages. To address this issue, the Fluency Corpus of Academic English Lectures (FCAEL) was created to offer insight into the thresholds for temporal fluency features in academic lecture settings. The current study compared the corpus data to the academic lecture passages in the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-based test (TOEFL iBT) and International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to examine the domain definition inference of these tests. In total, 14 temporal fluency measures were examined. A bootstrapped one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), followed by a series of bootstrapped analyses of variances (ANOVAs), independent t-test, and Tukey tests showed some support for the tests, although many limitations were also found. The study suggests the 25th–75th percentile of FCAEL as tentative thresholds for each temporal fluency feature. The proposal may be useful for test developers to create and revise test materials. Coding schemes, analysis codes, and raw corpus data are available on the project’s Open Science Framework page, exemplifying how Open Science can provide benefits beyond the academic community.

Abstract This chapter discusses the relation of Japanese religious tradition to the rise of modern Japan by focusing on the religious thought and moral teaching of Ishida Baigan, the founder of Shingaku, who is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers on the economic morality in the pre-modern Edo Period. It opens with a discussion of Japanese religious tradition that has been developed as a complex syncretization of Shinto, Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, and examines the world view established through this syncretization. Next, it analyses Baigan’s thought and moral teaching, which emphasizes the ethics of honesty and frugality, as a typical example of such syncretization, the foundation of which, he maintains, consists in the worship of Japanese kami. Taking his moral teaching as a signpost, the chapter finally explores how the world view of Shinto, as a deep substratum of Japanese society, contributed to establishing the central value system underlying the development of Japanese economic ethics.