Vol.3,No.2,
December
Vol.2,No.1,
October 2016
2014

Transactions on

GIGAKUSpecial issue of
The 4th
2ndInternational
InternationalGIGAKUGIGAKU
Conference in Nagaoka(IGCN), 2015
2013

GIGAKU Press
Nagaoka University of Technology

Transactions on GIGAKU: Scope and Policy
Nagaoka University of Technology publishes an online, open access journal titled “Transactions on
GIGAKU”, which is focused on the science and technology related to GIGAKU*. The mission ofthis journal is to spread out the concept of GIGAKU and the fruits of GIGAKU to the global world
and to be a strong network for innovations in science and technology and for development of next
generations of high-level human resources. This journal, therefore, covers research and education
activities related to GIGAKU in broad areas.
*

See ‘What is GIGAKU?’ below.

‘What is GIGAKU?’GIGAKU is a term composed of two Japanese word-roots; GI and GAKU. The word GI〔技〕
literally stands for all kinds of arts and technology, and GAKU 〔学〕 stands for scientificdisciplines in general when used as a suffix.
The term was originally coined to describe the fundamental philosophy of education and research of
Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT) when it was established in 1976. Through this term thefounders of NUT intended to express their recognition that all technical challenges in the real world
require a scientific approach. And NUT has a relentlessly pursued GIGAKU since then.
Thirty-five years have passed and all surrounding conditions have changed dramatically during those
years. We are witnessing rapidly globalizing economics and huge scale changes in demographic,
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GIGAKU. In response to this, NUT recently announced its new “Growth Plan” and a reneweddefinition of the term is given;
GIGAKU is a science of technologies, which gives us an angle to analyze and reinterpret diverse
technical processes and objects and thus helps us to advance technologies forward. By employing abroad range of knowledge about science and engineering, management, safety, information
technology and life sciences, GIGAKU provides us with workable solution and induces future
innovations.

July 2012
Koichi Niihara, President of Nagaoka Univesrsity of Technology

1Editors (2016 to 2017):
Editor-in-chief:
Prof. Masao Fukuda
Head of Library, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka Japan
Co-Editors:
Prof. Nobuhiko Azuma
President of Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka Japan
Prof. Yoshiki Mikami
Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka Japan
Prof. Yasuo Utsumi
Sendai National College of Technology, Sendai Japan
Prof. K. Bhanu Sankara Rao
Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology, Gandipet, Hyderabad India
Prof. Paritud Bhandhubanyong
Panyapiwat Institute of Management (PIM), Nonthaburi, Thailand
Prof. Takumi Fujiwara
Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Submission and Publishing“Transactions on GIGAKU” publishes original papers focusing on education, science, and technology
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The copyright of the papers published in Transactions on GIGAKU is transferred to Nagaoka
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Contactjoho-kiban@jcom.nagaokaut.ac.jp(Revised December 2016)
2

Editorial board of special issue of The 4th International GIGAKU
Conference in Nagaoka (IGCN), Vol.3, No.2. of Transactions on
GIGAKU
EditorDr. Masato Aketagawa, Professor, Department of Mechanical,, Nagaoka University ofTechnology, Japan

Co-Editors
Dr. Shigeru Nagasawa Professor, Department of Mechanical, Nagaoka University ofTechnology, Japan
Dr. Takashi Yukawa, Professor, Department of Management and Information Systems
Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
Dr. Tomoichiro Okamoto, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical, Electronics
and Information Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
Dr. Yukio Miyashita Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical, Nagaoka
University of Technology, Japan
Dr. Yuichi Otsuka, Associate Professor, Department of System Safety, Nagaoka
University of Technology, Japan3

Transactions on GIGAKU
Volume 3, No. 2, December 2016
The 4th International GIGAKU Conference in Nagaoka (IGCN)(June 19-21, 2015, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, Japan)
The IGCN is designed and organized to provide a cross-border, cross-sector,
cross-disciplinary forum for those researchers, educators, and industrial leaders who are
creating and practicing GIGAKU in various technology domains in various countries.
Some papers presented in the IGCN are published in this first volume of Transactions
on GIGAKU.
Table of contents
1. Pages 03001/1-6
Evaluation for corrosion state of the transition area between gusset plates and flanges of
diagonal members on the connections of steel truss bridge.
Xuan Tung Nguyen, Kuniei Nogami, Teruhiko Yoda, Hideyuki Kasano,
Jun Murakoshi, Daiki Tashiro and Hiroaki Honda
2. Pages 03002/1-9
A case study on FD training for Active Learning Promotion : proposal of facilitation
plan and skill
Masanori Takeda, Kuniaki Yajima, Hisashi Takeshima, Hidenori Isami,
Kentaro Noguchi and Takafumi Kojima
3. Pages 03003/1-9
Biomass Bamboo Powder as Filler in Natural Rubber Composites.
Cho Cho, Than Tun, Zaw Naing, Aye Aye Myint
4. Pages 03004/1-7
Forearm Motion Classification based on Time-Frequency Characteristics of EMG
Signals.
Takayuki Mukaeda, Nan Bu, Koki Shibasato Hirohumi Ohtsuka
5. Pages 03005/1-8
Development and Nationwide Spread of a Low Cost ICT System in Agriculture by
KOSEN Network.
Shinji Chiba, Kazuaki Shiraishi, Yukikazu Murakami, Susumu Yoshida,
Tadashi Ishi, Kazuya Kanda, Takaharu Kameoka
46. Pages 03006/1-8
Development of Engineering Design Educational Program Cooperation with Local
Community.
Tsukasa Sato, Michiaki Shishido, Takeshi Houga, Ryoji Onodera
7. Pages 03007/1-6
Product and Service safety schemes of New Zealand
Venkataraman Narayanan
8. Pages 03008/1-5
A Practice of Engineering Design Education through the Development of Educational
Materials using LEGO-Mindstorms
Tetsuro Iyama, Shigehiro Toyama, Yoshinori Tokoi

5Transactions on GIGAKU 3(2)(2016)03001/1-6

Evaluation for corrosion state of the transition area between
gusset plates and flanges of diagonal memberson the connections of steel truss bridge
Nguyen Xuan Tung1, Kuniei Nogami1, Teruhiko Yoda2, Hideyuki Kasano2
Jun Murakoshi3, Daiki Tashiro3, Hiroaki Honda3
1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University,
1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan, 192-0372, knogami@tmu.ac.jp,
nguyen-xuantung@ed.tmu.ac.jp,
2
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Waseda University,
1-104 Totsukamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan, 169-8050, yoda1914@waseda.jp,
kasano@aoni.waseda.jp
3
Center for Advanced Engineering Structural Assessment, Public Works Research Institute,
1-6 Minamihara, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan, 305-0031
murakosi@pwri.go.jp, d-tashiro44@pwri.go.jp, hiro-honda@pwri.go.jp
A huge number of steel bridges were constructed in Japan during the periodof high economic growth from the 1950s to the 1970s. As these bridges age,deterioration and damage resulting from heavy traffic and the effects of thenatural environment are also increasing rapidly. Improved techniques related
to inspection, diagnosis, repair, reinforcement and appropriate maintenanceof such bridges are urgently needed. In the case of steel truss bridges, serious
corrosion damage has been reported recently, especially on diagonal
members and at gusset plate connections. In this study, detailed corrosion
profiles of two gusset plate connections removed from a dismantled steel
truss bridge are obtained using laser measurement equipment then the
corrosion state of the transition area between gusset plates and flanges of
diagonal members the connections is evaluated on the basis of the corrosion
depth distribution over the considered areas.

1. Introduction
Many steel bridges were built in Japan during the period of high economic growth from the
1950s to the 1970s, so the number of aging bridges in the country is now increasing rapidly. With
this rising number of bridges over 50 years old, there have been reports of serious corrosion damage,including the cases of the Kiso river bridge on National Highway Route 23 and the Honjo bridge on
National Highway Route 7 in 2007. Around the same time, the Minneapolis I-35W truss bridge
suddenly collapsed. Steel truss bridges are prone to damage affecting the truss members and theconnections between them. Corrosion has a particularly severe effect on truss bridges and can lead tosignificant sectional loss of truss members which may lead to loss of structural integrity. In order toverify the integrity of an entire bridge system, there is a need for an inspection and maintenanceregime that evaluates the impact of such corrosion efficiently and properly.
In this study, the targeted bridge is the Choshi bridge, a five-span cantilever steel truss bridge,that crossed the estuary of Tone river. This bridge was removed in accordance with the opening of
new bridge in 2009 after approximately 50 years of service. Due to the influence of salt, thecorrosion damage occurred severely on every members of this bridge even the repainting was carriedout several times in its service life. In detailed, the upper connection P25u and P73d were cut out
from an aging steel truss bridge and the pattern of corrosion at these connections was measured indetail. From the obtained results, the corrosion state at the transition areas between gusset plates andflanges of diagonal members were also evaluated.

2. Gusset plate connection
The two connections studied were removed from the Choshi bridge, as shown in Fig. 1

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P73d

P25u

Fig. 1 Connections removed from the five-span cantilever truss bridge

3. Corrosion measurement method
3.1. Laser measurement equipment
1 clamp stand to support
The laser measurement equipment, shown in Photo 1, comprises ○2 laser meter, ○3 stepper motor for Y direction, ○4 A-D converter,
specimens for measurement, ○5
6○measurement-control equipment and ○fixing device. The specifications of the laser
measurement equipment and clamp stand are given in Table 1. In taking measurements, themeasurement grid is selected from 1-3mm depending on the actual corrosion condition of the
3
○
1
○

2
○
4
○
5
○

6
○

Photo 1 Laser measurement
equipment

Table 2 Specifications of equipment
1 Laser measurement equipment○
Measurement range (flat)
1000×1000 mm
Measurement range (Perpendicular direction
100mm
depth)
Measurement speed (1mm interval measurement) 200data/min
Base of frame
Steel
2 Clamp stand○Maximum testing specimen dimensions
700×1000 mm
Horizontal rotation range
3600
Vertical rotation range
3600
Rotation range of microtremors± 50 in 2 axis

Based-surfaceBased-surface
Point without
corrosion

Hl:Measurement
point without
corrosiontiR  t 0  d ir

Plaster specimen

hild il  0

Hr

Point without
corrosion

hird il  H l  hil tiR  t 0  d il
d ir  0Outer
surfacetiR  t0  d ir  d il
d ir  H r  hir

Inner
surface
t0

nne

Ou

(a) Corrosion depth calculation
method(b) Based- surface
identification(c) Remaining thickness
calculation

Fig. 2 Corrosion measurement and corrosion depth calculation method2Transactions on GIGAKU 3(2)(2016)03001/1-6

3.2 Outer surface measurement
In order to measure the corroded profile of the outer surface, the specimen was set up verticallyand parallel to the laser measurement equipment. The equipment has a limited 1m x 1m
measurement range, so for measurements of the outer surface directly from the large specimens, thesurface was divided into segments for measurement. The normal set-up for measuring the surface
corrosion profile of a specimen’s outer surface was carried out as follows:1○
The surface of the specimen to be measured was set up parallel to the axes of the laser
measurement equipment. The distance of the laser measurement equipment from the specimen is
output by the A-D converter, allowing verification that the two planes are parallel.
2○
The origin for measurements is set automatically.
3○
The measurement range is set (start point and end point).
4○
The based-surface is determined using the three-point method. Five points with nocorrosion on the gusset plate were selected, three of these were used to identify the base plane, as
shown in Figure 2(a) and 2(b).
5○
Measurements are started.
At any specific point, the corrosion depth on the right, outer surface, dir (i = 1, 2,..., n), is
calculated by
dir = Hr – hir
where hir is the distance from the laser meter to the corrosion surface at point i and Hr is the
distance from the laser measurement equipment to the based-surface. The value of dir may be either
negative (at a corroded point) or positive (in the area of a rivet head).
3.3 Inner surface measurement
Inner surfaces of the specimens and other tight spaces, such as the inner surface of the gusset
plate, could not be measured directly using the equipment. In these cases, a method using molded
plaster was adopted. Photo 2 illustrates the steps in taking a plaster mold of the specimen. The
surface of a plaster specimen was then measured using the same laser measurement equipment. The
based-surface in the case of inner surface measurements is set using three corrosion-free points on
the plaster specimen surface. If a plaster specimen was not suitable for supporting with the clamp
stand, it was held in a vise on the desk for measurement. The actual measuring procedure was thesame as for outer surface measurements.
At any specific point, the corrosion depth on the left, inner surface, dil (i = 1, 2,..., n), is
calculated bydil = -(Hl - hil)

1 Plaster○2 Mix and stirring○

4 Seal the gap on○
3 Specimen installation○

5 Spray release agent○

bottom plate

6 Reinforcement mesh○processing

7 Reinforcement mesh○installation

8 Plaster pouring○

9 Curing○

10 Demolding○

Photo 2 Procedure for making plasterspecimensequipment to corrosion point i and Hl is thewhere hil is the distance from the laser measurement
distance from the laser measurement equipment to the base plane. The minus sign in the formula
represents use of the indirect method to identify the corrosion using molded plaster. The value of dil

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Transactions on GIGAKU 3(2)(2016)03001/1-6

is either negative (at a corroded point) or positive (in the area of a rivet head).
Then the remaining thickness, tiR, at the specific point i is calculated as follows:tiR = t0 - dir - dil
where dil, dir are the corrosion depths on the left, inner surface and the right, outer surface,respectively, and t0 is the initial thickness of the steel, as shown in Figure 2(a).
4. Corrosion state of gusset plate connections
4.1. Connection P25u
On the gusset plate of the upstream side the corrosion occurred severely on the whole especiallyon the non-rivet-area. Its corrosion depth profile is shown in Figure 3. Due to the severe corrosion,
gusset plate area is reduced by the holes’ appearance on the compression diagonal member side.
There are two holes on the edge of gusset plate and the remaining one is at the end of compression
diagonal member. Corrosion depth profiles of inner surfaces of gusset plate and diagonal members inboth upstream and downstream sides are also shown in Figure 3. As can be seen in this Figure,corrosion occurred severely on the inner surfaces in both upstream and downstream sides, especiallyat the edges area and at the ending of diagonal members. The average corrosion depths of gusset
plate at the upstream and downstream sides are 1.48mm and 1.52mm, respectively. On the flanges of
diagonal members, corrosion also occurred severely at their edges and around the rivet heads.

Upstream side

Downstream side
Upstream side
Outer surface

Downstream side(mm)

Inner surface

Fig.3 Corrosion depth distributions and considered transition areas of connection
P25u P73d
4.2. Connection
The corrosion depth distributions on the outer and inner surfaces of connection P73d are shownin Figure 4. This clearly indicates that corrosion occurred locally around the rivet heads on both
upstream and downstream sides, at the edge of the gusset plate on the upstream side and more
severely on the tensile diagonal member on the upstream than on the downstream side. The
average gusset plate corrosion depth is 1.2mm and 0.6mm, respectively, on the upstream anddownstream sides. As can be seen on Figure 4, on the inner surfaces there is severe corrosion at theedges of the gusset plate on both upstream and downstream sides, as well as on the flange of thetensile diagonal member on the upstream side and on the compressive diagonal member on thedownstream side. The average corrosion depths are 0.9mm and 1.6mm on the upstream anddownstream sides, respectively.

Upstream side

Downstream side

Upstream side

Downstream side(mm)

Inner surface

Outer surface

Fig.4 Corrosion depth distributions and considered transition areas of connection P73d
5. Corrosion state of transition areas
From the measurement results of the two connections, corrosion seems occurred severely attransition area between the gusset plates and the flanges of the diagonal members due to the rubbish
accumulation. The evaluated areas are on the outer surfaces of diagonal members and inner surfacesof gusset plates. These areas were identified by the distance of 10mm from the edges gusset plates ofouter surfaces and the flanges of the diagonal members of inner surfaces. These considered transitionareas of connections P25u and P73d are indicated by the red area in Figure 3 and Figure 4,
respectively.

4

Transactions on GIGAKU 3(2)(2016)03001/1-6

5.1. Connection P25u
There were localized corrosion available in all considered areas.The corrosion depth frequency
distribution of transition areas of diagonal members on upstream and downstream sides ofconnection P25u are presented in Figure 5 and Figure 6, respectively. As can be seen in these
Figures, the convexity or slight deformation is available on the considered transition areas resulting
the availability of the positive values. On the outer surfaces the corrosion depth values mostly range
from 0 mm to 2mm except the transition area on the tensile member on the upstream side where
localized corrosion available. The corrosion only occurred on the whole surface of transition area ofcompression diagonal on the downstream side which has the average corrosion depth of 0.83mm.
On the inner surfaces, corrosion on the transition areas is more severe than that ones on the outersurfaces. The corrosion trend and corrosion depth value are almost the same for tensile side on both
upstream and downstream sides. Corrosion also occurred severely at the end areas of diagonal and at
the edges of these transition areas as shown in Figure 3.

Compression diagonal

Tensile diagonal

Compression diagonal

Tensile diagonal

Upstream side
Downstream side
Fig.5 Corrosion depth frequency of the transition area on outer surfaces of connection P25u

Compression diagonal

Tensile diagonal

Compression diagonal

Tensile diagonal

Upstream side
Downstream side
Fig.6 Corrosion depth frequency of the transition area on inner surfaces of connection P25u5.2. Connection P73d
Figure 7 present the corrosion depth frequency of transition areas of the outer surfaces of
upstream and downstream diagonal of connection P73d. The corrosion on the transition areas on the
upstream side occurred severely. On the compression diagonal, the corrosion less severely than thetensile one and the corrosion depth mostly range from 1.4mm to 2mm, while on the tensile diagonal,
the corrosion depths are variable with the average corrosion depth of 2.81mm. On the downstreamside, the corrosion occurred on the whole transition area of tensile diagonal with the average
corrosion depth is 1.63mm and the corrosion depths mostly range from 0.3mm to 2.5mm. On thecompression diagonal, the corrosion depths area variable and the positive values accumulated almost
half of corrosion values of the transition area.
The corrosion depth frequency of transition areas of the inner surfaces of upstream anddownstream gusset plate of connection P73d is illustrated in Figure 8. As can be seen in this figures,

Compression diagonal

Compression diagonal

Tensile diagonal

Tensile diagonal

Downstream side
Upstream side
Fig.7 Corrosion depth frequency of the transition area on outer surfaces of connection P73d

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half of the transition areas has positive values except the one on the compression side at thedownstream side where corrosion occurred severely in this area with the maximum corrosion depth
reached 9mm. However the positive values are still available on this area which accumulated
one-fifth of the data.

Compression diagonal

Tensile diagonal

Compression diagonal

Tensile diagonal

Upstream side
Downstream side
Fig.8 Corrosion depth frequency of the transition area on inner surfaces of connection P73d
5.3 Discussion
As illustrated in sections 5.1 and 5.2, there was localized corrosion and severely corrosion at theedges in almost transition areas of the two considered connections (P25u and P73d). Corrosion ofboundary areas of second span-connections, P25u, occurred more severely than the one of fifth span,
P73d. In each connection, corrosion of transition areas on the inner surfaces also occurred more
severely than the ones on outer surfaces.
The severely corrosion on the transition areas were caused by the rubbish, salt accumulation
because of the level difference between the gusset plates and the flanges of the diagonal members.
These level differences are equal to the thickness of gusset plates (10 or 12mm depends on theconnections) for the outer surfaces and the thickness of the flange of diagonal members for the innersurfaces (10 or 12mm depends on the connections). On the transition on the outer surfaces, therubbish accumulation percentage may less than that ones of the inner surfaces because they exposed
directly to the environment so the rubbish or salt were washed away easily by wind.
However, in almost transition areas, the positive values are available. Especially in the innersurfaces of connection P25u, the positive values accumulated half of numbers of data. Because thesevalues mostly range from 0 to 1mm, it could be explained by the following reasons:1) The slight deformation of the gusset plates and the flanges of diagonal member occurred
during the service life of bridge. Normally in steel truss bridge design, moment and shear force ineach truss members are neglected because they are small and do not effect to the behavior of theentire truss bridge system. However these moment and shear force still available and the diagonal
members were fixed in their both ends resulting to the torsion and bending occurrence and thenslight deformation.
2) The convexity from the based surface
3) The deformation occurred during the connection removal process or transportation.

6. Conclusion
From the detailed corrosion measurement results of, the summaries are as follows:
1. Localized corrosion is popular type at the transition areas as a result of salt or rubbish
accumulation.
2. Corrosion on the transition areas of connection P25u is more severe than that ones of connection
P73d.
3. The positive values are available on almost of the transitions because of the convexity from thebased surface or existing deformation resulting from service life or removal step.
References[1] K.Nogami, N.Yamamoto, T.Yamasawa, T.Yoda,H.Kasano, J.Murakoshi, N.Toyama, K. Arimura,
M.Sawada : Measurement of corroded gusset plate connections in steel truss bridge andcharacteristics of corrosion state, Journal of Structural Engineering, Vol.58A, 2012, pp.679-691.
(Received: 22 June, 2015, Accepted: 1 June 2016)6

Transactions on GIGAKU 3(2)(2016)03002/1-9

A case study on FD training for Active Learning Promotion: proposal of facilitation plan and skill
Masanori Takeda1*, Kuniaki Yajima2 ,Hisashi Takeshima3
Hidenori Isami4, Kentaro Noguchi5, Takafumi Kojima6
1,2,3)
Sendai National College of Technology (NCT,Sendai college)
4,5,6)
National Institute of Technology(NIT)
4-16-1,Ayashichuou,Aobaku,Sendai,Miyagi,989-3128, Japan*E-mail: takedam@sendai-nct.ac.jp

The active learning (AL) has begun to spread through all education of Japan. The
purpose of this study is to research effective teaching profession developmenttraining for AL promotion. In-service trainings of “FD training of AL promotion”
for teachers was held at National College of Technologies (NCTs) in 2014-2015
years. The contents of this training were an overview of AL constitution modeland Project-Based Learning (PBL) workshop in two-day schedule. The workshops
were held in four places in the East Japan. The number of participants was overhundred including 94 teachers. They were asked to answer questionnaire about
this FD training. The questionnaire date shows that many participants requested
doing more practical examples with listening to simpler overviews of AL. Various
teaching materials of AL were provided for promoting student engagement
including Coach/Facilitator/Consultant (CFC) System, Facilitation Plan (FP), andActivity Program (AP). It is necessary for teachers to provide facilitation plan andto develop our skills for more effective FD training.

1. Introduction
In Japan, university education has been done the human resource development for the highly
technical society. Therefore, the faculty should train students to develop life study force andproactive force. To put it more concretely, we should prompt to teachers about improvement ofclass about the quality, quantity and deepening of knowledge.
Concerning about problem of classroom style, the conventional classroom is one-way type,because teacher teach students only. This class gives a student passive learning. This did thelearning activity. The results suggest that the students cannot improve about education and has
a negative effect on their learning attitude because students do not learn if not taught by teacher,show lack of interest in class. For improvement of such situation, AL has received considerable
attention. Therefore, it is necessary to take consensus building between college teachers. The
question of this learning has on the difference of the teacher ability, a commonality of the classdevelopment. For further direction of this learning, it will be need to make definition of AL as
the school code.
The main objective of this paper is to research effective teaching profession developmenttraining for AL promotion. This paper discusses research on effective contents of FD (faculty
development) training for AL promotion, and on various teaching materials for AL promotion
developed by us.
2. Method
This training was carried out in 2014-2015 years. The purpose of this training was to reform“FD training for AL promotion” for 51 National Colleges. This was planned as a part of thecooperative project of three institutions: National Institute of Technology(NIT), Nagaoka
University of Technology (NUT)and Toyohashi University of Technology(TUT). The training
program for NIT in East Japan area has been conducted at Sendai College. Meanwhile Akashi
College took charge of this training in West Japan area.
1Transactions on GIGAKU 3(2)(2016)03002/1-9

The skill improvement of faculty has been requested by three institutions. Sendai College
which was AL promotion school in the East Japan conducted “AL introduction training” in four
places in Tohoku, Hokkaido, Kanto and Shinetsu areas, as one of the whole country object project
by Nagaoka University of Technology.
The number of participant was 120 people including 94 teachers, where 25 was fromTohoku,14 from Hokkaido,22 from Kanto&Shinetsun area national object 33. The training
schedule consists of two days' program was the following:<Training schedule>●The first day Day1
Point: AL overview
13:30 - 14:00 Ice-breaking & simple practices
14:00 - 15:00 AL constitution model
16:00 - 17:00 Model curriculum of NIT●The second day Day 2
Point:The group work of project cycle management(PCM) method for project-basedlearning(PBL)
9:00 - 9:30 overview PBL
9:30 -12:00 exercise PCM method
3. Contents
The FD training was focused on teaching power of qualitative transformation of AL thatteachers provided. The training contents of AL could be classified into three kinds of AL training
contents: Instructional Design, Facilitation and Activity &ICT. These contents are total amanagement system, ID is Plan, F is Do, ACT&ICT is See. That is “P-D-S” as shown in figure
1 management system. AL play the control role in this management system.
This learning evaluation become outcome which was gotten by learning activity. It is tounderstand about process and achievement.
In this 2-day workshop, participants were controlled to a broad range of AL strategies,
including AL constructional model/ID, F, ICT&ACT/PBL and PCM. (see Fig.1)

Plan

ID
Instructional design

Active Learning
F

ACT＆ICT

Activity&ICT

Facilitation(Achievement)

Do

See

Fig. 1 AL training contents with PDM(plan-do-see) system

2Transactions on GIGAKU 3(2)(2016)03002/1-9

In addition, TEAL (technology enabled active learning) attracts attention recently. It has
relationship with ACT&ICT, because TEAL is needs to use ICT and facilitation. Teachers should
obtain facilitation skill for carrying out AL well, should learn how to use activity and how tomake activity program(AP) for their classes. The activity program combines both an activity anda solution process.
[The first day training contents]
On the first day training contents of the first day was explained about three kinds of elements
in AL for education improvement. It is ID (instructional design), Facilitation, Activity & ICT(information and communication technology).
Three kinds of elements are given as follows.
(1) Instructional Design(ID)ID is constructed by learning commons, professor model, learning assessment, describing
the teaching plan. The model of the ID is “ADDIE model”, “Gagné Nine Events if Instruction”,“First principle of Instruction by m.D.Merrill”,” The ARCS model approach by J.Keller” etc.
Further, learning evaluation will apply portfolio which centered on the activities of the artifacts,
such as rubrics for a self-evaluation.
(2) Facilitation (F)Facilitation which is one of teaching method is classified into business facilitation andlearning facilitation. The facilitation plan is explained by taxonomy perspective of educational
goals, in particular, of “CFC (coach / facilitator / consultant) system”. This system becomes thestrategies and challenges for the facilitation. Figure 2 shows the CFC system .
As the figure shows the teachers alone system or T.T (Team teaching) system. It is the classstyle of AL on conventionally. It is a teaching method which shares a part each other. The CFC
system is deepening T.T system more. This means the part of the teacher by three kinds ofelements. The team member set the part of each teacher, carry out it at class. (see Fig.2)

Fig.2 CFC system(M.Takeda,2012)(Reference: “Learning Facilitation theory” GAKUJI publication, (2014).54,66)
3

Transactions on GIGAKU 3(2)(2016)03002/1-9<CFC system>(a) Individual learning between coaching and facilitation
The coaching uses the skills such as questioning effectively. A coach expects the his own
reflection. In contrast, facilitator expects interaction to be provided by knowing each other's
differences opinion in the group work. It is difference between reflection and interaction.
(b) Collaboration learning between facilitation and consulting
The facilitator supports a group. The consultant assembles a classroom generally, always
analyzes how the class goal is accomplished. It is difference between interaction and total
consulting.
(c) Uniformed learning between consulting and coaching
A consultant analyzes outcome of class by his presentation and portfolio, design next class forstudents.
Teacher do not use only facilitation but also together with coaching and consulting. The threekinds of type have difference of approach. Teacher have focused on using of an individual, agroup and an organization. It is the best to take together depending on the situation. In addition,a teacher should understand a concept of facilitation. The CFC system will be phased approach
before reaching the effectiveness of the design method. Teacher will need to change
consciousness. The class style has designed by the learning scene. This scene can be classified
into three kinds of leaning types uniformed learning, individualized learning and collaborative
learning in Figure 2. They are put together mutually, are formed a place of the learning. They
have a mutual relationship which are applied to the location of the learning.
<Learning activities types and facilitation>(a) Learning type of facilitation (knowledge and comprehension)
This type is a closed question, has a correct answer. Teachers teach it, students understand. This
type will become traditional classroom teaching.
(b) Utilizing type of facilitation (application and analysis)
This type is a semi-closed-question. It has the expected answer. The teacher does not tell theanswer, bring out the best idea in students. This type has focused on teacher experience. This issuitable for solution to the problem-based learning.
(c) Inquiry type of facilitation (evaluation and creation)
This type is an open question. It is heuristic problem. The teacher has the answer, to promotelearning by teacher experience. This type has focused on interaction, is suitable for the projectbased learning. (see Fig.3)
This system has three kind of type lesson such as active learning(AL), problem based learningand project based learning(PBL), Mastery learning(ML)Goal Level

AL Class

Facilitation

High LevelAL

evaluation

GenelicAL

application
comprehension
knowledge

Next-generation education system
Fig. 3 Facilitation type of learning activity(M. Takeda,2012)(Reference: “Learning Facilitation theory” GAKUJI publication, (2014).160)
4

ML Type Lesson

AL Type Lesson

analysis●Inquiry type
There is no fixed answer.
To promote the learning fromtheir experience.
●Utilizing type
There is an answer.
Do not teach it, and isintended notice.
●Learning type
There is a correct answer.
To teach it and tounderstand and learn.

PBL Type Lesson

creation

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In particular, this training is to achieve the learning and understanding of facilitation skills.
The role of this facilitation is aggregated into three "Process design", "Process management","Conflict management". These show in the workshop.
<Learning facilitation element model>(a) Process design
This make teaching plan to design the learning process.
(b) Process management
This is to be inspired by the opinion. Then, the use of ICT tools in order to engage.
(c) Conflict management
This is to develop a learning environment in order to control the class room, explains the solutionof the basic rules setting and discussion.
Finally, the facilitator is to aggregate opinion, to discuss the priorities of the measures
proposed, encourage behavior change of the students from these activities.

Issues explored(3) Activities and ICT (ACT&ICT: development of teaching materials)
Activity has been said to be with tools and knowledge creation techniques. Teachers use theactivities of pair work and group work for learning activities of the AL. This study has focusedon more than 300 activities in the world. The activity becomes the wisdom of ancient people.
Teacher and students should use these. These activities can be defined as ‘the smallest unit ofactivities with a specific goal in learning’. Teacher corresponds to both of this activity andresolution process, make an activity program(AP). These activities should be noted that there isa tendency of the ICT. Therefore, TEAL is noted. Figure 4 shows a complex of activities, named“Activity Cube” as shown in Fig. 4.

o
Pr

te
je c

va

ti
lua

on

Fig. 4 Activity cube (M. Takeda,2009)(Reference: “Learning Facilitation theory” GAKUJI publication, (2014).114)[The second day training contents]
On the second day training contents was the group work of PCM method for PBL (projectbased learning). It can be classified into two: problem-type PBL and project-type PBL. This
training was carried out in PCM (project cycle management) workshop as concrete experience.
First, a theme of problem is set as "Why does not AL promotion proceed at your school?”.
The PCM method will be useful as an international aid technique. This confirms a problem of5

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present status, is useful to explore its solution of the problem, to analyze a cause of problem.
PCM method including the implementation plan becomes the strategic management system. Thisis a combination of brainstorming, logic tree, and PDM. PCM method is used for introducing
into class. It becomes an attractive class deployment. When students work on a theme ofgraduation study, the PCM method will be helpful. If a student submits a portfolio, then teacher
is able to receive the results of the activities of the students. Teacher should develop his best
methods and techniques.
4. Results
In this study a questionnaire survey was carried out after this training where the questionnaire
was given in a description form and a choosing-one form. Then we researched how well a taskof the training were done. Participants of 94 people completed their questionnaire forms. These
reflect the opinion of the participants. The contents are as follows. (see Fig.5)<Question contents>
Question1
1 Training was capitalizing content to your business.
2 Training was advanced in easy-to-understand order.
3 Time of the training was the appropriate length.
4 Lecturer was the appropriate teaching.
5 Training materials was appropriate.
6 You could get the knowledge and skills by training.
7 You could improve the approach to business.
8 You could get satisfaction enough about training.
Qusestion2
What is good point?
Qusestion3
What is improvement point?
Qusestion4
Do you have any questions about AL?

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Fig. 5 Report of FD training questionnaire
After analysis of the results, the following request contents were gotten.
<Request contents by participants>(a) Learning support for students.
(b) Teaching support for teachers.
(c) Teaching evaluation in organization
It is understood that the participants have not negative thoughts about the AL. The results
obtained were contrary to our intention. It was clear that participants are understanding enoughabout AL. However, participants did not fully understand about the definition of AL.
The contents of the first day were explanation of the overview of AL by three kinds ofelements (ID, F, ACT&ICT). The contents of the second day performed were the problem-basedlearning by the PCM method. It was shown from the result of questionnaire that participants
were satisfied with this training and that they had good understanding of contents of the second
day from figure 5. It was clear that many participants have requested a practical example thanoverview of the AL. Participants requested the class visit or the trial lesson. This training should
add trial lesson in this training. Also many participants wished to keep in touch, request further
advices from us (project staff). This training could conclude that this training is highly demanded.
Participants requested to provide proper manual than practical content. (see Fig.5)
5. Discussion (proposal of facilitation plan and skill)
For the reasons mentioned above, teacher need to understanding about facilitation. Because,the purpose of the AL is not teaching, it is that the students learn on their own. It is necessary to
make facilitation plan to teacher in the point of view of creating and cooperation. This study
separated facilitation plan into external process and internal process from the point of view of
the taxonomy by Bloom. The internal process become both thinking aspects and psychologicalaspects. On the other hand, the thinking aspects are expressed about knowledge, comprehension,
application, analysis, evaluation, creation. The psychological aspects are expressed about
receiving, responding, valuing, organization, characterization. Thinking aspects has a connection
with psychological aspects. The following describes the specific measures to AL promotion.
This study makes a facilitation plan in a point of view creating for collaboration of the students
in the same way as a conventional teaching plan. This is comprised of a biaxial model. The
vertical axis become form of learning activities by introduction, development, summary. On
the other hand, the horizontal axis becomes an external process, the internal process, teachingprocess.
(See Fig. 6)
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Fig.6 Facilitation plan form(M.Takeda,2011)(Reference: “Learning Facilitation theory” GAKUJI publication, (2014).166)
This challenge has the evaluation of teacher’s facilitation skill. Teachers reflect on teaching
method which encourage their own behavior change. Therefore, we have set the five evaluation
items for quality guarantee of the education.
The five evaluation items of facilitation skills are as follows.
<The five evaluation items of facilitation skills>(a) Field design
This is ability to create a place, to connect. Teachers prepare the classroom environment, seteffective discussion which is designed to allow. Therefore, the teacher fixes the classroom
environment. The teacher makes the place of effective talks.
(b) Personal relationshipThis is ability to perceive, to pull out. Teachers bring up a rich communication skill in thediscussion. Teachers will promote metacognition of students through the rich communication
obtained by the group work.
(c) Structuration
This is ability to engagement, to organize. Teacher summarizes the various opinions. Students
will help to have the same direction. The teacher set the learning process by notices and question.
(d) Consensus buildingThis is ability to summarize, to share. Teachers collects an opinion, decides the priority of thesolution. The teacher aims at the self-realization through reflection of student.
(e) Information sharing
This is ability to form, to spread. Teachers will send out the solution the students decided at theworkshop on the outside. This takes advantage of the properties of the TEAL, provides results
to the outside. It has a deal with the globalization and accountability in school.

6. Conclusions
In this study effective teaching profession development training for AL promotion was
discussed and the questionnaire data of “FD training for AL promotion” was analyzed. Some
problems of the training are given as follows. AL is one of the learning method. Its purpose of8

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the class is a guarantee of the quality of education. This is to bring out a learning attitude of theindividual student. To do this, teachers will need to know the students of personality andcharacteristics, and should make the attractive instructional design (ID). On the other hand, itshould define the AL as school code. The definition contents will relate with education goal. As
an example, it is related to competency, society basics force, general-purpose ability.
In this study of the AL three kinds of elements in this training have been discussed. These
are ID (instructional design), F(facilitation), ACT&ICT (activity and ICT). Teacher should makefacilitation plan, which needs for trial lesson. It will be a valuable document of the school. It was
found from the result that participants request specific teaching practices. We should understandabout necessary of facilitation skill. The results suggest that participants will be able to make afascinating lesson in school that you belong.
It is concluded that facilitation plan and skill are necessary for this FD training and that thecreation of case studies AL staff training programs for students should be made as futurechallenges.

Acknowledgments
The purpose of this faculty development (FD) is to reform on “FD training for Active
Learning the promotion” for 51 National Colleges of Technology(NCT). This was planned as apart of the cooperative project of three institutions: National Institute of Technology(NIT),
Nagaoka University of Technology(NUT) and Toyohashi University of Technology(TUT).

References[1] Masanori Takeda “Learning Facilitation theory” GAKUJI publication, (2014).
[2] Ausubel, D. P. “The use of advance organizers in the learning and retention of meaningful
about. verbal material, Journal of educational psychology vol.51(5) 267-272(1960)[3] D. A. Kolb, “Experiential: Experience as the source of learning and development”, Vol. 1,
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, (1984).
[4] J.H.Larkin, and H.A.Simon, “Why a diagram is (sometimes) worth ten thousandwords. Cognitive science”11(1), (1987), 65-100.
[5] R. E. Mayer, “The promise of multimedia learning: using the same instructional design
methods across different media”, Learning and instruction, 13 (2), (2003), 125-139.
[6] Y. Uesaka. E.Manalo, and S.Ichikawa, “What kinds of perceptions and daily learning
behaviors promote students use of diagrams in mathematics problem solving?,” Learning andInstruction” ,17,(2007), 322-335.
(Received: 8 July, 2015, Accepted: 11 Octobar 2016)9

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Biomass Bamboo Powder as Filler in Natural Rubber Composites
Cho Cho1, Than Tun2, Zaw Naing2, Aye Aye Myint3
Associate Professor, Universities’ Research Centre, University of Yangon, 2)Lecturer, Department ofChemistry, University of Yangon, ,3)Professor, Universities’ Research Centre, University of Yangon,
Yangon, Myanmar*E- mail: chocho.urc@gmail.com

1)

This work is mainly concerned with the preparation, characterization andapplication of bamboo powder-natural rubber composites (BP-NRC). There
are two types of bamboo powder (unused bamboo powder obtained frombamboo plants and used bamboo powder obtained from waste bamboo
chopsticks) used as fillers in natural rubber composites. The properties of two
types of bamboo powder were determined by conventional methods andmodern techniques. The physicochemical properties of natural rubber(NR)such as Mooney viscosity, plasticity number, plasticity retention index (PRI),
volatile matter, dirt content, nitrogen content, and ash content were
determined by testing methods (ASTM). The natural rubber and bamboo
powder- natural rubber composites were characterized by modern techniques.
The physico-mechanical properties such as hardness, specific gravity, tensile
strength, elongation at break, tensile modulus, tear strength, abrasion
resistance index and compression set of natural rubber composite (A) andbamboo powder-natural rubber composites (B-F, B1-F1) were determined byrubber testing methods. A soil burial test of the two specific composites, fora six months time frame showed that both composites were durable andresilient to rapid bio decay. On the context of physicochemical and physicomechanical data as well as based on the durable composite properties, two
specific composites, comprising the unused bamboo powder-natural rubber
and used bamboo powder-natural rubber were able to be selected for the
production of fabricated mudguard, mouse pad and tea mat. It was found tobe utilized cost effective biomass bamboo powder as fillers to make eco
friendly composite materials.
Keywords: Natural rubber, composites, bamboo

1.

Introduction

Natural rubber (NR) is a known commodity polymer as well as a potential industrial elastomer.
Because of its unique quality of physico-mechanical properties; today, it has been compounded by otheringredients designed to be used for diverse applications such as fan belt, seal ring, conveyor belt, hand cover,power cable, air craft tyres, motor car tyres, brake lining, tractor, mudguard and clutch lining, etc. [1,2]. As
mentioned, natural rubber has been compounded with other renewable resource materials as well as highdurable materials by physical and chemical means, especially to impart and reinforce thermal stability,
hardness and flame-retardant properties [3]. One of the renewable resources, that have been available, isbamboo powder from plants and waste bamboo chopsticks. Many researchers have done systematic researchworks concerning with natural rubber materials relevant to rubber composites. [4-7].
Fillers are incorporated in rubber composites to improve certain properties and reduce the materials
cost. Fillers are one of the most important components and are added at the second highest portion in the
manufacturing of rubber products. Reinforcing fillers improve the modulus and strength of the rubber
products, whereas non-reinforcing fillers have little or no effect on the rubber properties. There are varietiesof fillers available and used commercially in the rubber industry. The use of fillers is necessary to achieve
the level and range properties that are required for technical reasons. Natural rubber does not require the useof fillers to obtain high tensile strength. Reinforcing fillers enhance the already high tensile properties of
gum natural rubber and they improve, in particular, the absorption and tear resistance. Less reinforcing fillers
and high inactive fillers are used for a number of reasons. Depending on their activities, the fillers determine
more or less the hardness and they reduce the rebound elasticity of natural rubber vulcanizates [8].

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Natural fibers are cheaper, pose no health hazards, and provide a solution to environmental pollution
by finding new uses for waste materials. Moreover, natural fibers, being available in many developing
countries, would allow these countries the opportunity to use their own natural resources in their composite
processing industries [9-11]. In Myanmar, bamboo is one of the abundant natural resources and the mostimportant non-wood low cost forest product, which has been extensively utilized in a wide diversity of
applications. The present work is concerned with the production of rubber composites from natural rubberand biomass bamboo powder. This work indicates that it is feasible to utilize cost effective bamboo powder
and waste bamboo chopsticks as fillers to make eco-friendly composites materials.

2. Experiments
2.1. Materials
Natural rubber (Grade-3) was procured from commercial market place, Mawlamyine Region, Mon
State, Myanmar. The rubber compounding ingredients such as Zinc Oxide, Stearic acid, accelerator [ncyclohexylbenthiazylsulphenamide(CBS)], antioxidant [2, 6-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxytoluene (BHT)] andsulphur were of commercial grade and supplied by Department of Research, Technology and Training
Centre for Rubber Products (RTTCRP), Yangon, Myanmar. Other chemicals used in this work were BDH
products, England. Bamboo sample used as filler belongs to the species of Bambusa longispiculata Gamble,
locally known as Tabindaing-wa, which collected from around Mawlamyine Region, Mon State, Myanmar.
2.2. Characterization of Natural Rubber
The physicochemical properties of natural rubber such as Mooney viscosity, plasticity number,plasticity retention index (PRI), volatile matter, dirt content, nitrogen content, and ash content were
determined by the testing procedures and methods as described in ASTM D1646,D1278, BS1673. The data
are shown in Table 1.
Table1. Physicochemical Properties of Natural Rubber (Grade 3)
No.

Tests

*Values

Methods

1.

Mooney viscosity

52.00

ASTM D1646

2.

Plasticity Number

35.60

BS 1673 PT 3

3.

Plasticity retention Index

98.00

BS 1673 PT 3

4.

Volatile matter (%)

0.78

ASTM D1278

5.

Dirt content (%)

0.10

ASTM D1278

6.

Nitrogen content (%)

0.51

ASTM D1278

7.

Ash content (%)

0.46

ASTM D1278* The values of parameters are in agreement with the standard of Natural Rubber (ASTM D).
2.3. Preparation and Characterization of Bamboo Powder
Two types of bamboo powder were subjected in this work. They are unused bamboo powder fromplants and used bamboo powder from waste bamboo chopsticks. The collected bamboo samples were
washed with water and then cut. Bamboo chips were air-dried to obtain constant weight. The dried bamboo
chips were milled to fine powder and then sieved through a mesh of 150µm and collected as bamboo powder
in a desiccator. The properties of two types of bamboo powder were determined by SEM and FT-IR andshown in Table 2 and Figures 1, 2.
2.4. Preparation of Bamboo Powder- Natural Rubber Composites (BP-NRC)
The preparation of bamboo powder-natural rubber composites were step wisely carried out for efficientvulcanization. Natural rubber was first rolled about 5 min by a roller to break out the fibrous bond of rubberpolymer chain. This process is called mastication. Stearic acid and zinc oxide were added simultaneously2Transactions on GIGAKU 3(2)(2016)03003/1-9

and continuously rolled about 4 min. Then, 0.5g of CBS, 1g of BHT and (10, 20, 30, 40, 50g) of bamboo
powder were added in order to make acceleration to prevent oxidize and vulcanise harder. It was then rolledcontinuously for about 10 min with 2.5g of sulphur to obtain a 2 mm thickness sheet. The total mixing time
was approximately 20 min. During the mixing, water was passed through the roller to control the generated
heat. Composite (A) is natural rubber composite without bamboo powder. BP-NR composites were preparedusing the two types of bamboo powder as filler. The amount of filler loading was 10, 20, 30, 40, 50(g)respectively. The BP-NRC with unused BP comprised B to F composites whereas the BP-NR composites
with used BP comprised B1 to F1. Table 3 gives the recipes used in the formulation of BP-NR composites.
Table 3. Compounding Recipes for Prepared BP-NR Composites
Ingredients
Natural rubber

100

Formulation (g)
100
100

100

100

100

Zinc Oxide

5

5

5

5

5

5

Stearic acid

2

2

2

2

2

2

CBS

0.5

0.5

0.5

0.5

0.5

0.5

BHT

1

1

1

1

1

1

Sulphur

2.5

2.5

2.5

2.5

2.5

2.5

0

10

20

30

40

50

A

B

C

D

E

F

B1

C1

D1

E1

F1

FillerCode No. of
Unused BP-NRC
Used BP-NRC

2.5. Characterization of Bamboo Powder-Natural Rubber Composites
BP-NR composites were characterized by SEM (JOEL-JSM-5610, Japan) and TG-DTA (STA-503
Bahr Thermo analyzer, Rigaku Japan). Composites were examined by Scanning Electron Microscope for avisual inspection of surface morphological porosity and topological texture as shown in Figure3. Thermal
stability of composites was investigated by TG-DTA as shown in Figure 4.
2.6. Mechanical Properties of Bamboo Powder-Natural Rubber Composites
The following tests were conducted on the composites using standard methods[12-16]: tensile
strength, tensile modulus, elongation at brake, hardness, specific gravity, tear strength, abrasion resistanceindex and compression set. Characterization and comparison based on physico-mechanical properties of NR
and BP-NR composites are described in section 3.
2.7. Soil Burial Test
The biodegradation of the bamboo powder-natural rubber composites was investigated as a functionof filler loading. A soil burial test was carried out for six months, and the degradation of composites wasevaluated through tensile testing. Morphological properties were determined by using SEM.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Characterization of Bamboo Powder
The SEM microphotographs of bamboo powder (Figure 1) show the surface morphology of thebamboo powder. It was found that unused bamboo powder showed meso porous structure whereas usedbamboo powder showed semi-crystalline nature. According to the comparison of the FT-IR spectra of two
types of bamboo powder, the functional groups contained in both types are nearly the same.

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Transactions on GIGAKU 3(2)(2016)03003/1-9(a) Unused(b) Used
Figure 1. SEM micrographs of (a) unused and(b) used bamboo powder(a) Unused(b) Used
Figure 2. FTIR spectra of (a) unused and(b) used bamboo powder

Table2. Physicochemical Properties of Unused and Used Bamboo Powder

Values
Unusedbamboo powder
9.86
1.63
60.58
1.17
4.95

Properties
Moisture content (%)
Ash content (%)
Fiber content (%)
Bulk density (g/mL)pH

Usedbamboo powder
10.25
1.56
47.03
1.21
4.97

3.2. Characterization of Natural Rubber (A) and Bamboo Powder Natural Rubber (BP-NR)
Composites
Figure 3(a) and (b) show the SEM micrographs of NR(A), unused BP-NR composites and used BPNR composites. NR has almost smooth texture particles of ingredient in rubber compound and others havedifferent morphology depending on the effect of fillers loading.

A

C
D
B
E
Figure 3(a). SEM micrographs of NR (A) and unused BP-NR Composites (B-F)

B1

C1
E1
D1
Figure 3(b). SEM micrographs of used BP-NR Composites (B1-F1)

F

F1

According to the TG-DTA data, all composites show no weight loss in the range of temperature 40120C due to the absence of absorbed water or moisture. Secondly, between the temperature 120-340C,
thirdly, the temperature range of 340-440C and finally the weight loss occurs between 440-540C due tothe decomposition of polymerbackbone. Only for the natural rubber, final weight loss occurs at the range of
440-600C and for the other composites weight loss occur at slightly different temperatures. (Figure 4)4Transactions on GIGAKU 3(2)(2016)03003/1-9

DA
D1
Figure 4. TG-DTA thermograms of NR(A) and BP-NR composites(D,D1)
3.3. Mechanical Properties of NR and BP-NR Composites
The effect of filler loading on tensile strength of natural rubber is presented in Figure 5(a). It can beseen that tensile strength decreases with increasing filler loading. The decrease in tensile strength of rubbercomposites with increase in filler loading has been reported [17]. The authors attributed the decrease intensile strength to poor filling dispersion with filler addition. This behavior can be related to the probabletendency of the filler to form agglomerates. The tensile strength of unused BP-NR composites showed higher
than that of used BP-NR composites. This observation is expected, and it is attributed to better filler
dispersion and filler-matrix interaction.
Figures 5(b) and (c) show the effect of filler loading on tensile modulus and hardness of BP-NR
composites, respectively. The results show that both properties increase with increasing filler loading,indicating increases in stiffness of the composites with the incorporation of filler into the rubber matrix. It isevident from the figure that the tensile modulus and hardness of used BP-NR composites are less than thatof unused BP-NR composites, when the filler loading increases.
Figures 5(d) and (e) show the effect of filler loading on elongation at break (EB) and tear strength (TS)of BP-NR composites. The results showed that EB and TS of unused BP-NR is higher than that of used BPNR composites at the filler loading studied. In general, increase the incorporation of reinforcing fillers into
NR tends to decrease in EB and TS of rubber composites [4, 18]. The decreasing trend in EB and TS withincreasing filler loading is attributed to increase in stiffness and brittleness, which decreased the resistanceto stretch on application of strain. Figures 5(f), (g) and (h) show the effect of filler loading on the specificgravity (SG), abrasion resistance index (ARI) and compression set of BP-NR composites. The figures show
a general increase in these mechanical properties with increase in filler loading. This observation isconsistent with the reports [19, 20]. This may be due to more dispersion of filler (bamboo powder) in thematrix, with the resultant increase in filler-matrix interaction.
1.6

14

Unused BP-NRC
Used BP-NRC

1.4
1.2
Tensile modulus (MPa)Tensile strength(MPa)

12
10
8
6
4

1.0
0.8
0.6
unsed BP-NRC
used BP-NRC

0.4
0.2

2

0.0

0
0

10

20

30

40

50

0

60

10

20

30

40

50

60

Filler loading(g)Filler loading(g)

(b)
(a)

unused BP-NRC
used BP-NRC

70

1600

unused BP-NRC
used BP-NRC

50

Elongation at break (%)

Hardness (IRHD)

60

40

30

20

1200

800

10
0

10

20

30

40

50

400

60

0

Filler loading(g)

10

20

30

40

50

60

Filler loading(g)

(c)

(d)

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1.10

30

1.05

unused BP-NRC
used BP-NRC

1.00
Specific gravity

Tear Strength(kN/m)

25

20

15

0.95
0.90
0.85

10

unused BP-NRC
used BP-NRC

0.80
0.75

5
0

10

20

30

40

50

0

60

10

20

30

40

50

60

Filler loading(g)Filler loading(g)

(f)

(e)
12
unused BP-NRC
used BP-NRC

10230
unused BP-NRC
used BP-NRC

Compression set(%)

Abrasion resistance index

220
210
200
190
180

8
6
4
2

170
160
0

10

20

30

40

50

0

60

0

Filler loading(g)

10

20

30

40

50

60

Filler loading(g)(h)(g)
Figure 5. Effect of filler loading on (a) tensile strength (b) tensile modulus (c) hardness (d) elongation atbreak (e) tear strength (f) specific gravity (g) abrasion resistance index (h) compression set of unused andused BP-NR composites
3.4. Soil Burial Test
Soil burial test was carried out for six months to evaluate the degradation of BP-NR composites (Dand D1) through tensile testing and morphological properties (Figure 6). Table 4 indicates the comparison ofphysico-mechanical properties of composites (D and D1) before and after soil burial test. The data showedthat both composites were durable and resilient to rapid bio decay after burying under soil for six months.

D

D1
BeforeBeforeAfter six months

After six months

Figure 6. SEM micrographs of Composite D and D1 after six months soil burial testing
Table 4.Comparison of Physico-mechanical Properties of Composites (D and D1) before
and after Soil Burial Test
Results
D

Properties

D1

beforeafter

beforeafter

Hardness (IRHD)

56

52

48

45

Specific gravity

1.01

1.22

1.00

1.30

Tensile strength (MPa)

6.90

6.55

7.60

7.40

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Elongation at break (%)

1000

960

768

750

Tensile modulus (MPa)

1.00

0.96

1.00

0.93

Tear strength (kN/m)

15.50

14.00

13.40

12.80

Abrasion resistance index

203

200

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185

Compression set (%)

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7

6

5

3.5. The Production of Rubber Goods using by Two Selected BP-NR Composites
Compression set values of NR and BP-NR composites (D and D1) were 5, 8 and 6 respectively.
Hardness (IRHD) values of these composites were 33, 56 and 48 respectively. Hardness and compression
set values are important parameters for selecting rubber goods, although other mechanical properties are also
considered depending on the nature of finished products. According to the physico-mechanical properties aswell as based on the durable composites properties, two composites, D and D1, were selected for the
production of fabricated mudguard, mouse pad and tea mat shown in Figure 7.

D
Figure7. Production of rubber goods by using BP‐NR composites D and D1

D1

3.6. Physico-mechanical properties of Fabricated Mudguard and Commercial Mudguard
The mechanical properties are important parameters to fabricate the rubber goods. Based on the data
and results recorded as described in 3.3; the mechanical properties of mudguards using two selected BP-NR
composites (D and D1) were examined and compared with a commercial good as shown in Table 5.
Estimated costs for fabricated mudguards are included.
Table5. Physico-mechanical Properties of Fabricated Mudguards from Composites(D and D1) and Commercial Mudguard
ResultProperties
Commercial
D
D1
mudguard
Hardness (IRHD)
56
48
60
Specific gravity
1.01
1.00
1.00
Tensile strength (MPa)
6.90
7.60
8.50
Elongation at break (%)
1000
768
900
Tensile modulus (MPa)
1.00
1.00
1.25
Tear strength (kN/m)
15.50
13.40
16.50
Abrasion resistance index
203
192
200
Compression set (%)
8
6
5
Estimated cost
For one pair (kyats)(viable)

2100-2300

2100 -2300

3500-4000

IV. Conclusion
Based on the comparisons of mechanical properties and durable properties, two types of bamboo
powder-natural rubber (BP-NR) composites can be utilized as modifiers in the process of making rubber
goods: mudguard, mouse pad and tea mat. The results of this work have shown that it is feasible to use

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bamboo powder as low cost fillers and also reutilize biomass waste in an ecologically acceptable way andhelps to reduce the environmental pollution, deforestation and management through recycling.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Professor Dr Pho Kaung, Pro-rector, Universities’ ResearchCentre, Professor Dr Daw Hla Ngwe, Head of Department of Chemistry, University of Yangon, for theirkind permission to carry out the research. We feel indebted to Deputy Director U Kyaw Kyaw (Rtd), Staff
officer U Thein Myint, Special Senior Assistant Daw Su Su Tin, Department of Research, Technology andTraining Centre for Rubber Products (RTTCRP) for their kind advice and guidance, co-operation andpermission to use the research facilities at their department.
References[1] Broutman, J. and R. H. Krock (1974). Composite Materials. New York: 1st Ed., Academic Press, 20-24[2] ASTM D200-99. (2000). Standard Classification System for Rubber Products in Automatic Application.
New York: 4th Ed., ASTM, 30-35[3] Ghosh, A.K. and S.K. Banerjee (1974). “Compounding of Natural Rubber with Card-Phenol in the
Presence of Black Filler and Different Accelerator Systems." Ind. J. Tech.,9, 318-319[4] Ismail, H., M. R. Edyham and B. Wirjosentono.(2002). "Bamboo Fiber Filled Natural Rubber
Composites: The Effect of Filler Loading and Bonding Agent." Polymer Testing, 21, 139-144[5] Ismail, H., M. R. Edyham, and B. Wirjosentono (2001). "Dynamic Properties and Swelling Behavior of
Bamboo Filled Natural Rubber Composites: The Effect of Bonding Agent." Iranian Polymer Journal,
6, 377-383[6] Htoon Nay Oo. (2010). Preparation, Characterization and Application of Some Rubber Composites
using Reclaimed Rubber and Saw Dust as Fillers. PhD Dissertation, Yangon: Department of Chemistry,
University of Yangon[7] Nyo Nyo Myint. (2007). Performance Study on Natural Rubber Composite with Clays. PhD Dissertation,
Yangon: Department of Chemistry, University of Yangon[8] Osabohien, E. and S.H.O. Egboh (2007). "Utilization of Bowstring Hemp Fiber as Filler in Natural
Rubber Compounds." J. App. Polym. Sci., 107, 210-214[9] Hassan, A., A. A. Salema, F. NasirAni and A. AbuBakar (2010). “A Review on Oil Palm Empty Fruit
Bunch Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composite Materials." Polym. Composite ,10, 2079-2010[10] Joseph, K., R.D.T. Filho, B. James, S. Thomas and L.H. De Carvalho (1999). "A Review on Sisal
Fiber Reinforces Polymer Composites." R. Bras. Eng. Agric. Ambiental, 3, 367-379[11] Li, X., L.G. Tabil and S. Panigrahi (2007). "Chemical Treatment of Natural Fiber for Use in Natural
Fiber-reinforced Composites: A Review." J.polym. Envioron.,15, 25-33[12] Osman, H., H. Ismail and M. Mustapha. (2010). “Effect of Maleic anhydride Polypropylene on
Tensile, Water Absorption and Morphological Properties of Recycled Newspaper Filled
Polypropylene/Natural Rubber Composites”, Journal of Composite Materials, 44(12), 1477-1491.
[13] Yang, J., M. Tian, Q. Jia, L. Zhang and X. Li. (2006). “Influence of Graphite Particle Size andShape on the Properties of NBR”, Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 102(4), 4007-4015.
[14] Onyeagoro, G. N. (2012). “Cure Characteristics and Physico-Mechanical Properties of CarbonizedBamboo Fiber Filled Natural Rubber Vulcanizates”. Internal Journal of Modern Engineering Research(IJMER), 2, 4683-4690.
[15] Zhao, M. and Y. Xiang. (2004). “Natural rubber Vulcanizate Reinforced by Modified CoalshaleBased Fillers”. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 93(3), 1397-1400.
[16] Stella, U., O. E. Lawrenceand and M. D. Ayo. (2011). Effect of Carbonization Temperature of Filleron the Tensile Properties of Natural Rubber Compounds Filled with Cassava Peel Carbon, The Pacific
Journal of Science and Technology, 12(1), 339-343.
[17] Ismail, H., H. D. Rozman, R. M. Jaffri, Z. A. Ishak. (1997). “Oil Plam Wood Flour Reinforced
Epoxidized Natural Rubber Composite: Effect of Filler Content and Size”. European Polymer Journal,
33 (10-11), 1627-1632.
[18]
Setua, D. K. and S. K. De. (1983). “Short Silk Fiber Reinforced Natural Rubber
Composites”.
Rubber Chemistry and Technology., 4 (56), 808-826.

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Igwe, I.O. and A. A. Ejim. (2011). “Studies on Mechanical and End-use Properties of Natural
Rubber Filled with Snail Shell Powder”. Materials Science and Application, 2, 802-810.
[20] Mishra, S. and N. G. Shimpi. (2005). “Mechanical Properties of Flame Retardant Properties ofStyrene-butadiene Rubber Filled with CaCo3 as Filler, Linseed Oil as an Extender”. Journal of Applied
Polymer Science, 98(6), 2563-2571.
(Received: 15 July, 2015, Accepted: 26 August 2016)9

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Forearm Motion Classification based on
Time-Frequency Characteristics of EMG Signals

1)

Takayuki Mukaeda1, Nan Bu2*, Koki Shibasato2, Hirohumi Ohtsuka2
Advanced Course of Electr. and Inf. Systems Eng., NIT, Kumamoto College,2)
Dep. of Control and Information Systems Eng., NIT, Kumamoto College,2659-2 Suya, Koushi, Kumamoto 861-1102 Japan*E-mail: bu@kumamoto-nct.ac.jp

Electromyography (EMG) signal cantains significant time-frequency
information for myoelectric control. This paper proposes a motion
classification method based on time-frequency characteristics extracted from
EMG signals. Short-time Fourier transform (STFT) and continuous wavelet
transform (CWT) are utilized to calculate the time-frequency information. To
tackle with “curse of dimensionality”, this method divides the frequency
bandwidth into several sub-bands, and defines feature(s) on each band.Thesefeature patterns are then inputted into a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neuralnetwork to achive classification of forearm motions. Motion classification
experiments have been conducted with three subjects to examine theproposed method. In the experiments, classification was performed off-line.
From the experimental results, high classification performance can be foundwith average classification rate around 90%. Additionally, classification ratesof each motion, for each subject, also indicate the validation.

1. Introduction
Electromyography (EMG) signals, which are generated by muscle during contractions, can becollected noninvasively on the surface of skin. Features extracted from EMG signals contain force
and timing information of muscular activities, and have been widely investigated in the context of
myoelectric control [1]. Moreover, it is possible to measure EMG signals from residual muscles of
amputees, many researchers have applied EMG signals to human-machine interfaces to control
powered prosthetic devices and wheelchair, and so on [2]-[5].
The key part of these human interfaces is a motion classification process, which classifies
motions or intentions from feature patterns extracted from raw EMG signals. Features extracted fromtime and/or frequency domain have been well investigated in the field of EMG motion classification.
Control signals can be generated based on output of the classifiers. So far, a variety of EMG
classification methods has been developed in the literature [1]-[6]. For example, Tsuji et al. utilized
EMG amplitude features to recognize six forearm motions using a multilayer perceptron (MLP)
neural network [7]. Yoshikawa et al. used cepstrum coefficients of integrated EMG signals todeterminate seven motions with a support vector machine (SVM) [8]. A multiple-step method wasdeveloped to classify combined forearm motions, such as a combined motion of wrist extension andhand opening [9]. This method can recognize six forearm motions including four single and two
combined limb functions.
Since EMG signals are inherently non-stationary, features of time-frequency (TF) domain havebeen extensively studied in order to employ time-varying characteristics of EMG signals for motion
classification. Englehart et al. utilized TF features, which were obtained with short-time Fouriertransform (STFT), wavelet transform (WT), and wavelet packet transform (WPT), to classify
motions using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and MLP [10][11]. STFT-based TF features weresuccessfully applied to a single EMG channel to classify four forearm motions [12]. In thesemethods, however, motion classification is often accompanied with high-dimensionality of EMG
features, since the dimension is determined according to number of EMG channels and resolution (ornumber of bands) in frequency domain.
It is widely accepted that when dimension of input features increases classification and11Transactions on GIGAKU 3(2)(2016)03004/1-7

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generalization performances are usually degraded. To deal with this problem, many researchers haveincorporated dimension reduction or dimension projection methods prior to the classifiers, in order
to find a compact feature set to avoid exhaustive training process and to reduce computation burden.
The study by Englehart et al. [10] indicated that principal component analysis (PCA) can consolidate
information effectively in a small-size dimension of feature. Chu et al. developed a linear-nonlinear
feature projection method based on PCA and a self-organizing feature map (SOFM) to perform
dimensionality reduction on WPT features [13]. Zhang et al. conducted nine-motion classification
based on a variety of features: mean absolute value, zero crossings, STFT, WT and so on [14]. In thisstudy, the authors implemented PCA and LDA to achieve dimensionality reduction.
Although dimension reduction methods have been demonstrated critical to the success of EMG
motion classification based on time-frequency features, the eigenvalues or projected features arelargely determined by samples in the training dataset, and, in some cases, important spectral
characteristics or frequency bands may not be preserved in the final feature set. The present study
aims to develop a forearm-motion classification method based on TF features. The total frequency
bandwidth is divided into several pre-defined bands, and features are generated for each band inorder to reduce the feature dimensionality. In this study, TF features are extracted using STFT and acontinuous wavelet transform (CWT), and mean power level of each frequency band is calculated togenerate feature patterns for pattern classification, where a MLP neural network is employed torecognize five forearm motions.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. The feature extraction method and the motion
classification are described in Sections 2 and 3, respectively. In Section 4, validation of the proposed
method is shown with experimental results. Finally, Section 5 gives a conclusion of this paper.

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2. Time-Frequency Feature Extraction using Frequency Division
N channels of raw EMG signals are recorded using electrodes attached on skin surface toclassify five forearm motions: neutral, ulnar flexion (UF), radial deviation (RD), wrist flexion (WF),
and wrist extension (WE), which are shown in Fig. 1. The pre-processed EMG signal is defined as
𝐸𝑛 (n = 1, …, N) for the nth channel. Time-frequency features based on STFT and CWT are definedframe by frame along the timeline. Spectrum of the TF distribution is then divided into U bands, andone feature, mean power level, of each band is determined. So that, for each frame (time slice), thefeature dimension 𝑆 = 𝑁 × 𝑈. The feature vector 𝑿 ∈ 𝑅 𝑆 is then input to the MLP classifier.

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A.

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Feature Extraction using Short-time Fourier Transform (STFT)
With STFT, frequency spectrum 𝐹𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑓) is calculated as
𝐿−1−𝑗2𝜋𝑘𝑓𝐹𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑓) = ∑ 𝑤(𝑘)𝐸𝑛 (𝑘 + 𝑚𝑙) exp (
)
𝐿

(1)

𝑘=0

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for frequency f and frame m. Here, 𝑤(∙) is the window function, L is the length of window (frame),and l is the frame overlap, respectively. Power spectrum 𝑃𝑑𝐵 𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑓) is expressed in decibels inorder to make an observation on features with small power values.
𝑃𝑑𝐵 𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑓) = 10 log10 {3637̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
𝐹𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑓)･𝐹𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑓)}𝐿

Fig. 1 Five forearm motions considered in this study.
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(2)

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Fig. 2 Examples of power spectrums of each EMG channel for four motions.

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Since range of the input data of MLP is set as [0, 1], 𝑃𝑑𝐵 𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑓) is further transformed to fit forthe classifier’s input nodes, and the converted power spectrum 𝐹′𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑓) can be expressed as,
𝐾 + 𝑃𝑑𝐵 𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑓), 𝑃𝑑𝐵 𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑓) ≥ −𝐾
𝐹′𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑓) = {100
0, 𝑃𝑑𝐵 𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑓) < −𝐾

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(3)

where the threshold -K can be set as the minimum power, when K < 100, and -100 otherwise.
In this study, frequency spectrum is divided into four bands (𝑈 = 4), i.e., 5-40Hz, 40-80Hz,
80-150Hz, and 150-500Hz, respectively. These band limits are determined based on carefulobservation of the frequency characteristics. Figure 2 depicts examples of power spectrums of each
EMG channel for four motions. Major characteristic frequency peaks among motions can be foundin the range of 40-150Hz, and frequency features in the lower band, 5-40Hz, and the higher band,
150-500Hz, are set as two elements of feature vectors. The 40-150Hz band is further divided at 80
Hz in order to keep more discriminative information for motion classification. Mean power level ofeach frequency band is obtained as,
𝑓𝑢 +𝐿𝑢1
𝐷𝑢𝑛 (𝑚) =∑ 𝐹′𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑘)
𝐿𝑢

(4)

𝑘=𝑓𝑢

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where 𝑢 represents the frequency band (𝑢 = 1, … ,4), 𝑓𝑢 is the start frequency of band u, and 𝐿𝑢
is width of the frequency band. Then, for the mth frame, feature vector can be defined as 𝛼𝑛 (𝑚) =[𝐷1𝑛 (𝑚), 𝐷2𝑛 (𝑚), 𝐷3𝑛 (𝑚), 𝐷4𝑛 (𝑚)] for the nth EMG channel. Assemble all four channels, theextracted feature has sixteen elements (𝑆 = 16), and the vector 𝑿(𝑚) = [𝛼1 (𝑚), … , 𝛼4 (𝑚)] is used
as input pattern for the MLP classifier at frame m.
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Fig. 3 An example of wavelet transform on EMG Ch. 1 of wrist flexion.
(Upper) EMG signal, (Lower) Wavelet coefficients with Coif5 wavelet.
B.

Feature Extraction using Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT)
Time-frequency distribution, of EMG channel n, is obtained with CWT as follows,
𝑊𝑛 (𝑏, 𝑎) =

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∞
̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
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) 𝑑𝑡
𝑎
√𝑎 −∞

1

where a is a scale parameter, which corresponds to frequency information, b stands for the time shiftparameter, and 𝜓 is the mother wavelet. Figure 3 shows an example of wavelet coefficients
calculated from EMG signals. The wavelet coefficient is modified in a frame manner with anaverage of moduli in the frame m,
1 𝐿
̅̅̅̅𝑊𝑛 (𝑚, 𝑎) = ∑ |𝑊𝑛 (𝑘, 𝑎)|
𝐿
𝑘=1

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(5)

(6)

However, frequency information calculated with CWT has different resolution over the bandwidth,
which is related to the mother wavelet. Similarly, four frequency bands are defined as 5-60Hz,
60-90Hz, 90-180Hz, and 180-500Hz, respectively. The frequency division is set close to that of the
STFT method described in the previous subsection. Then, mean power vector of four bands, 𝛼𝑛 (𝑚),is calculated for the frame m of EMG channel n. Finally, 𝑿(𝑚) is generated from 𝛼𝑛 (𝑚) for
motion classification.
3.

Pattern Classification and Motion Decision

In this section, the feature vector 𝑿(𝑚) is inputted into a MLP classifier to recognize forearm
motions. The MLP is trained with a traditional error back-propagation method. Each output node of
MLP corresponds to a motion, and the motion pattern is defined as 𝑃(𝑚) = [𝑝1 (𝑚), … , 𝑝𝐷 (𝑚)] for
𝑿(𝑚), where D is the number of motions. For training of the MLP, sample data sets are required forall motions. Through the training procedure, weight coefficients of the MLP are tuned to output one
for one node, which is corresponding the motion label for the input sample data, and to output zerofor all other nodes. A mean squared error (MSE) function is defined between the classifier’s outputs
and the training target values.
Since EMG signals are quite unstable, even with a well-trained MLP classifier, misclassification
may happen. To prevent this problem, entropy of the MLP’s outputs is calculated and compared witha pre-defined threshold for motion decision [2]. The entropy of output for the mth frame, 𝐻(𝑚), is
defined as
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𝑂𝑑 (𝑚) =𝑝𝑑 (𝑚)
𝐷∑𝑙=1 𝑝𝑙 (𝑚)(𝑑 = 1, … , 𝐷)

(7)

𝐷𝐻(𝑚) = − ∑ 𝑂𝑑 (𝑚) log 𝑂𝑑 (𝑚)

(8)

𝑑=1

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where 𝑂𝑑 (𝑚) is the normalized output by the sum of D output values. The entropy 𝐻(𝑚)indicates ambiguity of information. If 𝐻(𝑚) is less than a threshold 𝐻0 , specific motion that
corresponds to the largest output of the MLP is determined as the classification result. Otherwise, theclassification is suspended.

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Motion classification experiments have been conducted to examine the proposed method withthree subjects (A, B and C), who are all male, physically unimpaired, and right handed. EMG signals
were measured with an EMG system (Bagnoli-4, Delsys Inc). Four channels of electrodes wereattached on subjects’ right forearms, as shown in Fig. 4. Sampling frequency was set as 1 kHz. For
pre-processing of the EMG signals, a maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) method was applied to
raw EMG to correct differences in EMG activation levels between channels.
In these experiments, length of the window 𝐿 was set as 256 ms, and 𝑙 was 64 ms. In themethod using STFT, hanning window was utilized as 𝑤(∙) in Eq. (1), and K in Eq. (3) was set as100. Additionally, in the method of CWT, three mother wavelets: Coiflets of order 5 (coif 5),
BiorSplines of oder 3.9 (bior 3.9), and Daubechies of order 9 (db 9) were used. The scale 𝑎 was set
as 1, 2, …, 128 in Eq. (5). A three-layer neural network was used in the experiments, which consistsof 16 nodes in the input layer, 12 nodes in the middle layers, and five output nodes, respectively. For
each subject, 360 sample sets were prepared to train the MLP. The training process continued until
the MSE was less than 10-4. However, if the error after 20,000 training iterations was still larger than
10-4, the training procedure was terminated. Classification, on 937 test data sets for five motions
each subject, has been achieved off-line. In the motion decision part, 𝐻0 was set as 0.2.

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Fig. 4 Four EMG channels used in the experiments.

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4.

Experimental Results

Experimental Setup

B.

Motion Classification Results
Classification rates of five motions were calculated for each subject. Table 1 shows classification
rates of three subjects using the STFT-based TF feature vectors. Except for motions WE and RD of
subject C, all classification rates are over 90%. Then, classification results based on three CWT
methods are depicted in Tables 2, 3 and 4. Similar results can be found with those of STFT. In
addition, classification rates of some motions decreases with CWT methods than that of STFT.
General speaking, five motions can be classified for three subjects. It is needed to be mentioned thatsome test samples, which were not classified correctly, were suspended due to entropy values.
Recalculate the classification rates considering suspension would give a practical evaluation of the
proposed method. From these results, validation of the proposed method can be confirmed.
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Table 1 Classification rates of the method using STFT
A
B
C
Neutral

96.07

92.99

93.84

Wrist flexion

95.08

99.03

100.0

Ulnar flexion

96.08

98.68

92.86

Wrist extension

93.48

95.00

79.01

Radial deviation

100.0

100.0

84.75

Table 2 Classification rates of the method using CWT (coif 5)ABC
Neutral

97.70

99.00

96.15

Wrist flexion

96.72

95.15

96.15

Ulnar flexion

92.16

88.16

90.00

Wrist extension

95.65

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79.01

Radial deviation

100.0

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89.83

Table 3 Classification rates of the method using CWT (bior 3.9)
A
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C
Neutral

93.77

92.59

90.29

Wrist flexion

96.72

99.03

100.0

Ulnar flexion

78.43

94.74

100.0

Wrist extension

100.0

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74.07

Radial deviation

100.0

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86.44

Table 4 Classification rates of the method using CWT (db 9)A
BC
Neutral

97.70

99.60

99.54

Wrist flexion

96.72

94.17

85.90

Ulnar flexion

98.04

93.42

81.43

Wrist extension

100.0

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76.54

Radial deviation

100.0

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84.75

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Then, the mean values and the standard deviations of classification rates for four methods are
summarized in Fig. 5. The statistics of classification rates are evaluated over five motions. From Fig.
5, it can be found that the method based on CWT can achieve equally performance as STFT.
Difference of classification performance among three CWT methods indicates that improvement
may be expected if the mother wavelet function and/or the frequency division are optimized andselected according to a motion classification problem. A further investigation is worthy to study how
the parameters of the proposed method and the mother wavelet functions can affect the classification
results. We will make an additional report in our future works.

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5. Conclusions
In this study, we attempt to propose a pattern classification method based on time-frequency
characteristics of EMG signals. With short-time Fourier transform (STFT) and continuous wavelet
transform (CWT), time-frequency-based feature vectors can be extracted. Unlike the traditional
methods, which adopt a feature reduction or projection method, such as PCA, frequency bandwidth
is divided into sub-bands. Then, for each band, feature(s) can be developed so that the finally feature
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Classification rate [%]

100

STFT
90

coif 580bior 3.9
db9

70

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Fig. 5 Mean classification rates over five motions for each subject

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dimension can be kept in a compact size while preserving the frequency characteristics of EMG
signals. In this study, a simple MLP neural network has been utilized for pattern classification. Fromthe experimental results, we can find that the proposed method has conducted relatively highclassification performance, for both TF features extracted with STFT and CWT. However, for somecombination of motion-wavelet function-subject, classification rates are less than 80%. Also,
difference, although not significant, among the classification results for four experimental conditions
can also be found.
As the first step of our study, classification performance and validation of the proposed method
has been evaluated and confirmed in this paper. For our future works, it is necessary to conduct
experiments with more subjects, in order to verify individual difference with the proposed method.
In addition, comparison experiments with the conventional methods using dimension reduction or
projection would be conducted in our future studies.

References[1] M. A. Oskoei and H. Hu, Biomed. Signal Process. Control, 2 (2007) 275.
[2] K. Englehart, B. Hudgins, and P. A. Parker, Intelligent Systems and Technologies in
Rehabilitation Engineering, (2001) 153.
[3] O. Fukuda, T. Tsuji, M. Kaneko, and A Ohtsuka, IEEE Trans. Rob. Autom., 19 (2003) 210.
[4] P. Shenoy, K. Miller, B. Crawford and R.P.N. Rao, IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., 55 (2008) 1128.
[5] N. Bu, M. Okamoto, and T. Tsuji, IEEE Trans. Robot., 25 (2009) 502.
[6] A. Phinyomark, F. Quaine, S. Charbonnier, C. Serviere, F. Tarpin-Bernard, and Y. Laurillau,
Expert Syst Appl., 40 (2013) 4832.
[7] T. Tsuji, H. Ichinobe, K. Ito, M. Nagamachi, Trans. Soc. Instrum. Contr. Eng., 29 (1993) 1213.
[8] M. Yoshikawa, M. Mikawa, and K. Tanaka, IEICE Trans. Inf. Syst., J92-D (2009) 93.
[9] A. Ibe, M. Gouko and K. Ito, “Discrimination of Combined Motions for Prosthetic Hands
Using Surface EMG Signals”, Trans. Soc. Instrum. Contr. Eng., 45 (2009) 717.
[10] K. Englehart, B. Hudgins, P. A. Parker, and M. Stevenson, Med. Eng. Phys., 21(1999) 431.
[11] K. Englehart, B. Hudgins, P. A. Parker, IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., 48 (2001) 302.
[12] D.A.A. Ramirez, M. Jimenez, and M.F. Arevalo, Proc. of the 5th IEEE RAS & EMBS Int. Conf.
on Biomed. Robot. and Bio-mechatronics, (2014) 758.
[13] J. U. Chu, I. Moon, and M. S. Mun., IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., 53 (2006) 2232.
[14] D. Zhang, X. Zhao, J. Han, and Y. Zhao, Proc. of the IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics &Automation, (2014) 4850.
(Received: 27 August 2015, Accepted: 10 June 2016)77

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Development and Nationwide Spread of a Low Cost ICT System
in Agriculture by KOSEN Network
Shinji Chiba1,*, Kazuaki Shiraishi2, Yukikazu Murakami3, Susumu Yoshida4,
Tadashi Ishi5 , Kazuya Kanda6 and Takaharu Kameoka7
1)
National Institute of Technology, Sendai College,
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National Institute of Technology, Toba College,
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National Institute of Technology, Kagawa College,
4)
National Institute of Technology, Anan College,
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Jisedaitech Limited Partnership,
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National Institute of Technology, Tsuruoka College,
7)
Graduate School of Bioresources, Mie University,*4-16-1, Ayashi-chuo, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 989-03128, Japan*E-mail: chiba@sendai-nct.ac.jp
In this paper, we reported on activities of our project in smart agriculture. The
one of big issues of ICT system in agriculture is that there is no standard ofthat. So it is difficult to integrate the existing components of various
manufactures. This is also one of the reasons that the system prices do not fall.
The high cost causes a barrier of adopting ICT system especially for small or
middle scale farmers. It is necessary to clear the barrier in order to realize
nationwide spread of smart agriculture. We are developing low cost ICT
devices in agriculture and try the nationwide demonstration experiment byusing KOSEN network. KOSEN is a college of technology and there are 51
KOSENs organized by the institute of national colleges of technology, Japan.
Since all of KOSENs belong to one organization, it is easy to cooperate witheach other for same objectives. We organized a research project in smart
agriculture with 12 KOSENs. Because those 12 KOSEN places are distributedin various parts of Japan, we can implement nationwide experiments in smart
agriculture. Since each KOSEN has cooperation with the regional farmers, thisexperiment will contribute to promote the usage of ICT system in each region.
This project was started in October 2014 and prototypes of sensor network
system were developed. Currently we are preparing for experiments at each
KOSEN.

1. Introduction
There are severe aging and shortfall of successor in Japanese agriculture. Fig.1 shows the changes
of Japan’s farming population. Each line indicates farming population of each year. The major age
group is shifting to elderly group year by year. In 2010, the major age group came to over age 75. Totalof the farming population is also decreasing year by year. To maintain the productivity of Japanese
agriculture, management size of field per farmer must be increased. But a large scale farming isdifficult by using the way of traditional Japanese farming. Smart agriculture is attracted as a solutionof this big issue. Although smart agriculture have been already adopted in some Japanese farmers, it
still be minor method compared with the traditional way. There are some hindrances that prevent fromspreading smart agriculture in Japan. One of them is high price of ICT systems in agriculture. And
there are no standard of smart agriculture system. If there were a standard of the ICT system, we could
integrate various manufacture's components according to the standard. The standardization also helps
to decrease the price of the ICT system by activating the market.
It is necessary to clear these barriers in order to realize nationwide spread of smart agriculture. We aredeveloping low cost ICT devices in agriculture. The system is designed according to thestandardization roadmap by IT strategic headquarters of the cabinet [2]. And we try the nationwide
demonstration experiment by using KOSEN network.
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Fig. 1 Changes of Japan's farming population (Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, andFisheries, Census of Agriculture and Forestry in Japan [1])2. Experiment
We study this project on KOSEN network. KOSEN is a college of technology and there are 51
KOSENs organized by the institute of national colleges of technology, Japan. We organized a research
project in smart agriculture with 12 KOSENs. Because those 12 KOSEN places are distributed invarious parts of Japan, we can implement nationwide experiments in smart agriculture. Fig.2 shows
locations of KOSENs. The number on the map indicates location of each KOSEN. Red circles indicate
the cooperated KOSENs. Yellow circled KOSENs lead research on low cost ICT system in this team.
These five KOSENs (Sendai, Tsuruoka, Toba marine, Anan, Kagawa) and one company (Jisedaitech
limited partnership) are developing components of the ICT system shown in Fig.3. These components
are going to be assembled as sensor networks and web applications shown in Fig.4. The sensor
networks are set in crop fields. Environmental information and crop situations are measured by theweather sensor, stereo camera sensor and stress sensor. The measured values are send to the databaseby the communication devices. Work of farmers is recorded as worker information, it will be stored in
the database. These stored data in the database will be managed by the cultivation management system.
After the ICT system will be completed, the sensor networks and web applications will be spread toregions of cooperated KOSENs shown in Fig.2 and the measured values in nationwide will be able tobe gathered in the database. Since each KOSEN has cooperation with the regional farmers, thisexperiment will contribute to promote the usage of ICT system in each region.

Fig. 2 Location map of KOSENs
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Fig. 3 Development of components of the ICT
system by the five KOSENs and one company

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Fig. 4 Sensor networks and web applications
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Low cost ICT system
It is important to realize a low cost ICT system in order to spread smart agriculture. We are trying todevelop the low cost ICT system as much as possible. In order to realize low cost, we used popularand cheap embedded boards. Hardware circuits were designed to constitute by the minimum necessary
electronic components. Software was programed to make full use of sleep function to achieve low
power consumption. We have developed the three components shown in Table 1. Each cost is
expressed as current value. Since there are two types of gateways, you can select one of them. Because
other components shown in Fig.3 are under design, we cannot indicate these costs.
Table 1 The developed components and these costs
Component
Weather sensor

Solar powersystemCommunication
devices

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Main parts
Sensors: SEN-08942 (wind speed, winddirection and rain fall), SHT21(temperatureand humidity), MPL115A2(pressure), AM5904(insolation)
Controller: Arduino Pro
Solar panels: 5W * nBattery: 12V5Ah
DC-DC converter: MA78AR05-0.5
ZigBee communication module
Controller: TWE-lite
Gateway
Controller: Raspberry Pi model B+
RTC: DS32301
3G communication module: 3GPI
Wi-Fi dongle: GW-USNANO2A

Cost¥15,000¥8,000 (200mA load Type)¥3,500 ( 50mA load Type)¥1,500¥35,000 (3G Type)¥6,000 (Wi-Fi Type)3.2. Progress in the development of each component
3.2.1. Weather sensor
In recent years, application of ICT to the field of agriculture allows the acquisition and analysis of
the weather data of the farmland, and improvement of the productivity is expected because cultivation
environmental management becomes easy. However, installation in the farmland is difficult, because
the existing meteorological equipment is expensive and large. Therefore, in this study, we developed
a low cost and small meteorological equipment and built the local weather data acquisition system forthe farmland. Measuring objects are wind speed, wind direction, rain fall, atmospheric pressure, airtemperature, humidity and insolation. Fig.5 and Fig.6 show the developed system and results of themeasure experiment.
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Fig.5 The developed weather sensor system

Fig.6 Results of the measure experiment3.2.2. Solar power system
In the farm, we have to secure the power source to construct the environmental sensor and wirelessnetwork. We need to study of reducing the cost of the cost independent power supply to spread the
low cost field environmental monitoring system broadly. We have developed the two kinds of low
cost independent power supplies to use low price solar batteries and storage batteries for themonitoring sensors which consume 5V 50mA and 200mA. The total parts cost of 200mA load type is¥8,000,and that of 50mA load type is ¥3, 500. We experimented with the power supply system for 5V
50mA sensor type by charging and discharging from March to June in southern Tokushima. Fig.7
shows the system configuration diagram. Fig.8 shows the photographs of the power supply systemand the experiment scenery in the farm. We show the result of charging and discharging test in thefarm from April 29 to June 3 in Fig.9. As the result, the device worked properly. However, the device
stopped after rainy weather continues for many days in the beginning of April. As future works, weneed to clarify an index adjusting direction and angle of solar battery to fit each location. And weanalyze local past weather data to be useful in all over Japan. These will help to expand the locations
for installation. We will conduct the experiment in all over the country.

Fig.7 System configuration diagram.

Fig.8 System appearance
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Fig.9 Hours of sunlight and storage battery voltage at 23:00 in farm (4/29~6/3)
3.2.3. Communication devices
The communication devices are used to establish wireless connection among sensor nodes and tocommunicate to the database server. We developed small size ZigBee communication modules thatcan be connect to our developing sensor nodes and gateways. This module has three modes: parent,child and repeater. The parent gathers sensor data from children. So, a module connecting to a gateway
is set as parent mode and that connecting to a sensor node is set as child mode. The repeater is used toextend the communication distance. The sensor data are gathered in the gateway and send the data to
the database by using 3G or Wi-Fi. Since the gateway has SQLite database, the data can be stored
temporarily when the communication condition to the database server is bad. We developed thesecommunication devices as show in Fig.10 and 11. We confirmed the data flow from sensor nodes tothe database server correctly.

Fig.10 ZigBee communication module

Fig.11 Gateway

3.2.4. Database server
We adopted MongoDB as our database. Since Mongo DB is a schema-free database, we don't needto design strict tables like used in SQL database. Farm information is consisted of many kinds of dataand it is difficult to decide what kinds of data should be stored in the tables. Since we can use schemafree design, it is easy to customize data structure for each farm and adapt to future reconstruction. We
designed some collections for data management. Collection is like a table of SQL but the structure is
flexible. The collections were designed according to a standardization roadmap by IT strategic
headquarters of the cabinet [2]. This means that our system can connect easily to other systems basedon the same standardization roadmap. Fig.12 shows the relations among the collections. Naming ruleand relations among entities of gatewayList and sensorNodeList were designed similar to those of
metadata of sensor information and farm work list of the roadmap. edicode is same as vegefru codethat is standard code for name of vegetables and fruits. Sensor data from sensor networks is stored insensorData and information recorded by web applications is stored in cropSituation.

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Fig.12 Relation among collections in The Mongo DB
3.2.5. Stereo sensor camera
In this study, when developing the stereo cameras shown in Fig.13, we considered (1) the
possibility of long-term battery operation (operation at low power consumption), (2) the ability to
exchange data via wireless communication, (3) a compact size that does not restrict installation
locations, (4) a dustproof and waterproof construction suitable for outdoors installation, and (5) theability to set up and operate the cameras easily without any special manipulations. On the basis ofthese considerations, we selected a camera module, wireless module, and DC-DC converter.
Additionally, in consideration of an outdoor installation, we implemented a simple device design thatis lightweight, compact in size, and requires minimal maintenance. Furthermore, we designed thecircuit to be operable with commercially available dry-cell batteries. Table 2 lists the modules selectedin this study.

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Fig.13 Schematic diagram of stereo camera sensor network system
Table 2 Details of each module
ModuleFeaturesCPU board: P430F169 (10Low power consumption, High-speed processing,MHz)

60 KB flash / 2 KB RAM

Wireless module: XBee (2.4

Low power consumption, Low cost, Ad hoc Zigbee protocol

GHz)
Camera module: C1098-SS

VGA image output function (jpg), Low power consumption

IO ports

14 ports (input/output)

Power source

1.5 V dry-cell battery
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Images captured by a stereo camera are first stored in a data collection server. Then those data are sent
via a cloud service to user terminals and synchronized. At the server, the three-dimensional structureof the subject plant is analyzed by using the captured image, and LAI calculations are performed on
the basis of an estimation model. In the preprocessing for the three-dimensional structure analysis,
processing to restore the three-dimensional structure of the object must be performed. Here, we
attempted to use the phase-only correlation method [3, 4] to restore the structure of the subject plant.
3.2.6. Stress sensor
How plants grows can be presumed by measuring water potential. A psychrometer is used formeasurement of water potential or water stress. It is a kind of air moisture sensor. Although we canget correct data of water stress by the psychrometer, it is not very easy to measure and they are very
expensive. Fig.14 shows Section of stoma. A stoma absorbs CO2 to photosynthesize and discharges
the water vapor which is as a result of the photosynthesis. So we are planning to use temperature
and CO2 density to estimate water stress by the sensor fusion method. Fig.15 shows Stressmeasurement by CO2 and tempeareture.

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Fig.15 Stress measurement by CO2 and temperature

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3.2.7. Worker information sensor
Recently, many IT vendors are offering the system which records an agricultural-work diary on
Cloud. However, in these systems, a farmer has to input work record using PC or a tablet. The input
by PC had the heavy burden for the farmer. In this research, we propose the system which creates
agricultural-work record automatically from the RFID tag data attached to farm machines andimplements or farmland. Fig.16 shows the outline of our proposed system. We have completeddevelopment of a prototype system. So, we are planning the verification test in Kagawa Prefecture at
the end of August, 2015.

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Fig.16 Outline of Worker Information Sensor System

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3.2.8. Cultivation management system
Fig.17 shows the top page of the iFarm website, which was designed for assisting cultivation
recording and cost management. Farm work schedules, including who handles each task and where
the tasks take place, are recorded in iFarm. Workers can easily check their tasks from a PC or smart
phone. Workers also submit work reports after tasks are completed, again using a PC or smart phone,making calculating labor costs easy. Any farming costs, including costs for fertilizers, seeds andseedlings, are also recorded to make cost calculation for crops easy. This way, iFarm assists andpromotes stable management of farming households. In addition, we propose a new function that
outputs a predicted harvest date for an input planting date, and vice versa, for different types of crops.
The function is also capable of automatically generating farm work schedules. Fig.18 shows the output
schedule and how the schedule is generated. At first, as shown in the figure, a planting date isdetermined for the harvest date. Then, as in Section 3.2.7 above, based on the schedule intervals oftasks registered in advance, the date for each task will be determined.

Fig.17 The top page of iFarm

Fig.18 Generating work schedules from input harvest dates

4. Conclusion
The low cost sensor network system has been developed by KOSEN network. Schema-freedatabase has been designed according to standardization roadmap by IT strategic headquarters of thecabinet. We confirmed correct data flow from sensor nodes to the database. As future works, thecomponents under design have to be developed as soon as possible. We are also preparing thenationwide experiments in some regions of cooperative KOSENs. We will start the demonstration
experiments of the ICT system in these regions in near the future.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by grants from the Project of the NARO Bio-oriented Technology
Research Advancement Institution (Integration research for agriculture and interdisciplinary fields).
References[1] REPORT ON RESULTS OF 2010 WORLD CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRYIN JAPAN, http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/ListE.do?bid=000001037762&cycode=0, (Jul. 18,
2015 access).
[2] Standardization roadmap according to agriculture information creation and distribution promotion
strategy (in Japanese), http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/it2/senmon_bunka/nougyou.html, (Jul. 18,
2015 access).
[3] Takita, K.; Aoki, T.; Sasaki, Y.; Higuchi, T.; Kobayashi, K. High-accuracy subpixel image
registration based on phase-only correlation. IEICE Transactions on Fundamentals of Electronics
Communications and Computer Sciences E Series A, 2003, 86, 1925–1934.
[4] Horner, J.L.; Gianino, P.D. Phase-only matched filtering. Applied Optics, 1984, 23, 812–816[5] Michael J. Savage, Herman H. Wiebe, and Alfred Cass, In Situ Field Measurement of Leaf Water
Potential Using Thermocouple Psychrometers, Plant Physiol. (1983) 73, 609-613.
(Received: 29 August 2015, Accepted: 5 July 2016)88

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Development of Engineering Design Educational Program
Cooperation with Local Community
Tsukasa Sato*, Michiaki Shishido, Takeshi Houga, Ryoji Onodera
Department of Creative Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tsuruoka College
104 Sawada, Inooka, Tsuruoka, Yamagata 997-8511, Japan*E-mail: tsato@tsuruoka-nct.ac.jp

In order to train engineering design ability for the students in advanced corse
in Tsuruoka college, unique program has been developed and executed.
This program includes unique three policies; 1) Cooperation with local
community type education, 2) Subject crossing type group activity, 3)Training camp activities. After repeating the preliminary meeting between
teachers and officail staffs in local goverment, main theme was decided.
This program was executed in local area, Sagae city park and Tobishimaisland, to tackle problems peculiar to the areas. Detailed contents were
proposed from students by inspection at target area. In Sagae city, forexample, the students tried repairing the park bench, and manufacturing thepark signboard. In Tobishima island they proposed and manufactured solar
cooker and the rocket heater, etc. By experiencing the program, the students
themselves realized the progress especially in motivation to the activity,
contribution to local community, and cooperation and communication ingroup.

1. Introduction
An engineering design is the educational program that pursues the materials and methods
fulfilling social needs by integrating various knowledge and technologies[1]. This program tackles
the problems which do not necessarily have a correct answer, and finds out a realizable solution.
The engineering design ability includes various factors such as problem setting, creativity,
integration of various knowledges, communication skills, and teamwork ability, and so on.
Therefore, the engineering design education can be said to be the basis of engineer education.
From 2012 in Tsuruoka college, the new subject named "practical design engineering exercise" hasbeen established and carried out for the students of 1st year of advanced course since recognition of
the importance of training of engineering design ability. This paper describes introduction andoperation of the new program developed by us as a training of engineering design. The feature ofthis subject is including three policies; 1) Cooperation with local community type education, 2)
Subject crossing type group activity, 3) Training camp activities at target local area[2].

2. Proposed Program
In order to carry out the design education program developed effectively, three policies describedabove were introduced. Details of those are described as follows:
1) Cooperation with local community type education; Students clarify the problems which thelocal area holds, and tackle solutions from various view of points in cooperation with local
community. In the program we tackled the subject in connection with the design of city park in
Sagae city and making eco-house in Tobishima island in Sakata city. The activity area and main
theme were determined by repeating the arrangement beforehand between the teachers andcorresponding local government staffs.
2) Subject crossing type activity; The group of students was composed by mixture of
subject-of-study, i. e., departments of mechanical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering,
control and information systems engineering, and chemical and biological engineering(Fig. 1). The
reason of such group constitution is that the students are able to tackle the problems from various
aspects.
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onstitution oof cross subject type gro
oup in thisFig. 1 Co
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p activities; TrainingT
campp was carried out for the sttudents to undnderstand the values
3) Training campnsibility of thhe individuall in groups. As other puurpose, the stu
udentsof collaboration annd the respono activity alll day. Duriing training camp, lecturre meetings bby invited visitingv
can cconcentrate onkto the studentts.
lecturrers were alsoo held, in ordeer to offer useeful various knowledgestof this programpconnsists of 90hoours(school hours)hand iss equivalent tot two
The operation time
nt for this proggram is show
wn in Table 1.
creditts. The timee arrangemen
Taable 1 Timee distribution for the progrram
Operationn time
Descriptioon
Conteents
1) preeliminary invvestigation
investigattion about tarrget area andd
8hrs
suitable eengineering teechnologies
2) cammp activity inn local area
field studdy, lecture, meeeting, etc.
32～48hrss (4～6days)3) grooup work in campusccontinuinng manufacturring

4) preesentation

proposal about theirr design orr
8hoursproducts
additionaal activity timme
0～6 hrs5) othhers

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The sscholastic evvaluation for students conncerning of thisution:
aspeccts and using score distribu
1. Evaluation fromfauditor ini presentatioon............40%%f
the teachher in charge in presentation……... 25%%
2. Evaluation from............25%
3. The resultingg report after practice............10%
4. Activity in thhis practice%100%
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3. Practice of Program
Sagae City Park Project(2012)
From 2012 we have attempted introducing the program toward the Sagae city park project,which is activity for proposing ideas for the park becoming more comfortable one for citizens. Asa first phase of the activity, inspection of the city park by students was performed at the Sagae citypark. They searched for what are the deficient points in the park facilities. Also, the students
began to clean up to garbage littered in the park and to conduct the maintenance-and-repair
volunteer(Fig. 2). The purpose of this volunteer activity is to find out clearly the deficient points inthe park throughout such activities. There is also the purpose of brewing the atmosphere withwhich the students of a different affiliation subject of study are each other becoming frank. As
results of the inspection, many of the comments about deficient points were proposed, e.g., the map
signboard for visitor is not found, the wooden benches have been decayed(Fig. 3), etc.
3.1

(a)

Fig. 2
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(b)

Volunteer activities in the city park(a) Pruning of thinner timber; (b) Cleaning up to garbage littered

The camp activities were carried out at a training
camp site placed side in the city gymnasium. The
students held the meeting after returning to the site ofa training camp, and designed the plan of activities
after today. During the training camp, the visiting
lecturers were invited and the lecture meetings were
held concerning the engineering design. Each ofthemes of lectures are listed in Table 2. All oflectures contain very helpful information for
constructing the ideas of engineering design, and canlead design solution from various views of points.
The contents of activity are listed in Table 3.
Fig. 3 Wooden benches decayed

Theme of lectures
For
substantial
engineering
education
Investigating the under of a ground

Table 2
Lecturer
design Kazuhiro Mitsumori
Yasuo Honda

Pollution and an environmental problem

Toshio Oiwa

About safety of foods

Matsuda Kiichi

33Affiliation
Consulting engineer,
Sun Forrest Office
Chairman of Japan Consulting
Engineers Association
Consulting engineer,
Oiwa Environmental Consulting
Engineer Office
Division-of-Research Manager
Nitto best Corporation

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Table 3 Contents of activity from respective groups(Sagae city)
group
contents
group 1
Repairing the park benchgroup 2
Manufacturing the park signboard
group 3
City stamp rally which used QR Codegroup 4
Illuminations in the city using a piezoelectric element
group 5
Cafe establishment of the memorial hall contiguous to a parkFor example, details of groups 1 and 2 are as follows:group 1 The old wood blocks of park bench were changed for new ones(Fig.4a). Students
purchased the new wood blocks from the store and carried out cutting, filing, coating painting, andmaking screw holes. In particular, the step of making a screw hole was delayed. Because theposition of a screw hole should be correctly located, punching the holes toward perpendicular must
be very correctly. Punching was performed by the electric twist drill at the park. However, theaccuracy in the perpendicular direction was not enough and the screws were not slightly applied to aflame of benches. Then as redo, new woods were purchased and punching were processed by using
the driller in the college. By experiencing such basic manufacturing processes, the students would
study the important elements in design education, e. g., importance of accuracy of dimensions, andexcellency of processing machines.
group 2 Manufacturing the park signboard was processed by combining thinner timber generated
in the park and wood blocks purchased(Fig. 4b).
After the camp activity was completed, the remaining manufacture steps were continued after
returned back to the Tsuruoka college.
The debrief session for the citizens about results obtained from this activity was held in Sagae cityhall(Fig. 4c). The city personnel, the citizen, and the media representative audited to the debrief
session. After proposal by students, questions and answers were held on each groups. The park
signboard designed and manufactured was presented to the city and was installed inside the city
park.
(a)

Fig. 4
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(b)

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Products and debrief session about the activities(a)Wooden benches repaired(by group 1); (b)Signboard installed(by group 2);(c)Presentation in Sagae city hall.

3.2
Eco-House in Tobishima Island(2014)
Tobishima is only one of remote manned island in Yamagata Prefecture. The area of an island
measures 2.7km2. Population is about 200 persons. An elderly ratio is about 67%. Although theindustries are fishing and sightseeing, the industries should be more activated for sustaining theliving in the island. By holding the preliminary meeting with staff of the city it was recognized thatsocial of the island have required interesting events which can attract tourists from mainland. The
teachers of this subject decided as main theme in Tobishima “the making eco-house” which is theenergy self-support type engineering designs using the natural power sources peculiar to the island.
In the future, this activity would support the island sustaining the people’s life even if the life-line isbroken by a large scale natural disaster. The site of training camp was kindly offered from city staff
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to use the gymnasium of elementary and junior high schools in island. At the beginning of thecamp the students recognized clearly what kind of engineering design is useful for the residents of
the island. Features of environment in Tobishima are warm climate and there are many fine days.
Solar energy seems to be utilized. Since there are also much driftwoods on the sea side and thinnertimbers in woods, a woody fuel is abundant. Therefore, the handmade solar cooker, the rocket
heater by burning drift woods, fresh water generation system from sea water, and so on were
proposed from the students.
Table 4 Contents of activity from respective groups(Tobishima Island)group
contents
group 1 solar cooker
group 2 the rocket heater using drift woods
group 3 vacuum pump for vacuum preservation of the foodgroup 4 system of making fresh water and natural salt by distilling sea water by burning
drift woods
group 5 system of making fresh water generation by evaporating sea water using direct
sunlight
Since public transport in the island was poor, the school car was carried for convenience. Meal was
prepared by themselves borrowing the galley in the school. The students resided in the gymnasium
except outdoor activity. During the camp period, the lecture meetings same as Sagae city park
project were held at the camp site(Fig. 5 a-c).
(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 5 Examples of camp activity scenes(a)Movement of a school car by the ship; (b)Cooking for meal; (c)Site ingymnasium of elementary and junior high schools; (d)Lecture meeting in the camp site

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For exxample, detaiils of groups 1 and 2 are aas follows:
p1 Beginningg of making solarscooker, students reco
ognized that th
he commerciial one is expensive
group
and llarge weight. Therefore it was turneed out that lowlcost andd lightweightt cooker wou
uld beooker by usiing familiar materials su
uch asconveenient. The students tried to make the solar coathe umbbrella(Fig. 6)). As a reesult of expeeriments, theey found ou
ut thatalumiinum foils andtempeeratures at thhe points at lightlconcenttrates rose too 65℃ whenn the outside air temperatture ofble to reach a temperature rise to the moore high tempperature. In
n order
29℃.. However, it was not ab
to atttain the further temperature rise, improovements succh as increassing in area oof an umbrella andhe surface off aluminum foils
fshould beb conductedd. In additio
on, thesmoothing of irreggularity of th
he cooker not blown away by a wind were required.
fixingg instrumentss that make th

g. 6
Fig

Demo
monstration ofo solar coo
oker
manuufactured

p 2 A rockket heater is heating appparatus which
h burns the combustion gas emitted
d fromgroup
burninng woods. Combustion gas burns inn a hot furnacce and generaate heat air(FFig. 7). Thee stackmbustion gas may not flow
w backwards.. The body of thechimnney draft wass attached so that the comu
the disccarded metal container. By burning tthe driftwood
ds, theheaterr was manuffactured by using
bottomm temperaturres of the oill in the pan oon the furnacce reached aro
ound at 250℃℃, and the exxhaustgas teemperature wasw about at 56℃.
5
It wass turn out thaat a high temp
perature requuired for cookking orm. In order tot improve the durability, mmetal at mainn bodyheatinng can be reaalized by using this systemshoulld be high heaat resisting prroperty.
(a)(b)

Fig. 7

Rocket heeater (a) Ou
utside view off heater, (b) MechanismM
off heating
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The debrief seession for th
he citizens aabout results obtained frrom this acttivity was heldhatka 2014” as llarge environ
nmental event in the city hheld on Septtember“Enviironmental faair in Tsuruok
21, 22014 in the city gymnaasium. Studdents presentted in form of poster aand exhibitinng themanuufacture produucts(Fig. 8).

Fig. 8 Debrief seession in “En
nvironmental fair in
Tsuruoka 20014”
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fter the practiice of the pro
ogram in Tobbishima islannd, the questionnaires for the students aboutAft
i order to innvestigate thee change of a student's coonsciousness. The
this pprogram weree conducted inself-eevaluation, hoow are the degree of aachievement for students in his own consciousnesss andcapabbility at beforre and after th
he program w
were conductted. The questionnaires w
were carried out tond received th
he reply fromm all the mem
mbers.
all the 24 studentss who particiipated in thiss program, an
ontribution too local commmunity, 3. prroblem
Questtion items arre 1. motivattion to the aactivity, 2. cosolvinng capability,, 4. responsib
bility, 5. coopperation and communicaticon in group, and 6. confidence.
m 1(weak) too 5(strong), aand all scoress were
Each of items werre evaluated by marking numbers fromudents themsselves realizeed theaveraaged(Fig. 9). As shown in the figuure, it seems that the stu
he activity, co
ontribution too local commmunity,progrress in the alll items, especially in mottivation to th
and ccooperation anda communication in grroup. Although completeness of man
anufacture prooductsuch problem, the studentss realized thee fulfillment and responssibility
was llow and therre is also mu
throughout this praactice.

Fig. 9ults of self-annalysis by stu
udents beforee and after thhe
Resu
prog
gram
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4. Conclusion
Contribution for local type PBL education program for student in advanced course in NCT,
Tsuruoka college has been developed and carried out from 2012. This program includes three of
unique policies; 1) Cooperation with local community type education, 2) Subject crossing type group
activities, 3) Training camp activities. Throughout activities in Sagae city or Tobishima island, thestudents realized the fulfillment and responsibility to tackle the engineering problems in local area,
which make the students engineer possessing elements of engineering design ability.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank official staffs of Sagae city and Tobishima island in Sakata
city for their supports in activities and helpful discussions.
References[1] I. Onaka, “Correspondence to the engineering design education in JABEE; Basic Policy”
http://www.jabee.org/news_archive/news2009/20090318-2/2356/.
[2] M. Shishido, T. Sato, T. Houga, and H. Motohashi, “Engineering Design Education Assigned
Energy Saving and Disaster Prevention Measures of the Remote Island”, Japan Society for
Design Engineering, 50, (2015) 389(Received: 29 August, 2015, Accepted: 18 August 2016)88

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Product and Service Safety Schemes of New Zealand2
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4Venkataraman Narayanan

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Excel Solutions

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36 Dexter Avenue, Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand

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E-mail: nara@asia-oss.net

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New Zealand has two key laws which deal with product safety, the Consumer

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Guarantees Act and the Fair Trading Act. In 2007 the Government issued a12

government product safety policy statement to complement the Consumer

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Guarantees Act. The Consumer Guarantees Act is a general consumer

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protection law which gives minimum standards of quality for goods and15

services. The Fair Trading Act is designed (among other things) to promote

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product safety and to prevent injuries. In relation to product safety, the Fair

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Trading Act allows the government to: recommend the introduction of

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product safety standards; declare goods to be unsafe (a product ban); and19order a compulsory recall. Customs Service can also enforce safety

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provisions, under the Customs Act. There are many ministries and21

government agencies involved in safety of all the four phases of products

22(production, distribution, usage and disposal). Service component is also

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included. Government action will generally be taken by the agency that has

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the lead interest in the class of product, supported by other relevant agencies.

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Industry sector associations and the NZ Retailers Association play an active

26role in promoting self-regulation. Maintaining food safety standards and27

managing recall risk are two increasingly pressing issues for New Zealand28

companies.

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1. Product safety laws

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New Zealand has two key laws which deal with product safety, the Consumer Guarantees
Act and the Fair Trading Act.[1,2] Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) gives consumers certain
guarantees when they purchase goods and services. The Act puts responsibilities on retailers andmanufacturers/importers and sets out rights and remedies consumers can claim if these guarantees
are not met. The guarantees apply to goods (new and second-hand) and services which are purchased
for household use. Excluded from the Act are goods and services that are supplied for business use
and goods supplied by auction. Relevant to product safety are the guarantees contained within the
Act that goods sold are of ‘acceptable quality’. Goods that are unsafe are said to be of ‘substantial

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failure’ and the consumer has the right to reject the goods.

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A government product safety policy statement is designed to complement the Consumer
Guarantees Act by making it clear to manufacturers and importers what is considered ‘ acceptable

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quality’ and ‘fit for purpose’ under the Act. In 2007 the Government issued a government product

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safety policy statement that clarified acceptable levels of formaldehyde in clothing.
The Government has revised consumer laws to help consumers transact with confidence andto support honest business practices. The law changes were included in the Consumer Law Reform
Bill.[3] In December 2013 the Consumer Law Reform Bill went through the final legislative
processes and received Royal Assent.
Avoiding product liability is a stronger incentive in jurisdictions where suppliers andmanufacturers are liable for personal injury or liability for other damages. Reputational damage inthe market place from high profile cases where goods are found to be unsafe probably has a higher
commercial impact than an award of damages by a Disputes Tribunal or other court.
Unlike the statutory guarantee that goods of an acceptable quality should be safe, thestatutory guarantees in relation to services do not expressly refer to services being safe. The safety
requirement is probably implicit in the guarantees that services are carried out with reasonable careand skill and that the services are fit for particular purpose. If consumers suffer physical damage orloss as a result of services being provided which are not safe, then the services are unlikely to havebeen provided with reasonable care and skill, or to have been fit for purpose.
Breaches of the Consumer Guarantees Act are only actionable at the suit of consumers in
the civil courts. Consumers are unlikely to be motivated to take on cases in relation to the lowerpriced goods which are frequently the subject of product safety concerns. Breaches of the Consumer
Guarantees Act are not offences enforceable by the Commerce Commission (or any other publicagency).
Fair Trading Act 1986 includes provisions dealing with product safety (Part III) and thesafety of services (Part IV). The features of these provisions of the Fair Trading Act include:
Regulations may be made establishing product or service safety standards for the purpose of
preventing or reducing the risk of injury to any person (sections 29 and 35).
In relation to product safety, Part 3 of the Fair Trading Act 1986 provides the Minister ofConsumer Affairs with the power to ban products, set standards through regulation and ordercompulsory recalls. The Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 also provides a guarantee that consumer
goods are safe. The FTA is administered by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment(MBIE) and enforced by New Zealand Customs Services and by the Commerce Commission post
importation. These provisions cover all consumer products with the exception of food, gas andelectrical products, motor vehicles and cosmetics that are regulated by other agencies under productspecific legislation.[4]Anyone buying goods or services in New Zealand is protected by consumer laws. Fair
Trading Act makes it illegal for businesses to mislead consumers, give false information, or use
unfair trading practices. It applies to anyone in trade - from big players like hotel chains, airlines anddepartment stores, to small or temporary businesses like a souvenir stall or ice cream stand. Under
this Act, goods must be fit for their normal purpose, safe, durable, have no minor defects and be
acceptable for safe use.
Different government departments and agencies and public organizations implementing
Product safety schemes and handling complaints are presented in figure 1 below.

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Figure 1: Different Players Involved in Product Safety Schemes

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2. Product safety standards

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The Product safety standards may relate to: the performance, composition, contents,
manufacture, processing, design, construction, finish or packaging of goods; the testing of the goods
during or after manufacture or processing; and the form and content of markings, warnings, or
instructions to accompany the goods.[5]Service safety standards may relate to: the maintenance, repair, treatment, processing,installation, assembly, cleaning or alteration of goods; the construction, maintenance, repair, cleaningor alteration of any building or other fixture on land; and the development of land.
There are six current regulated product safety standards in New Zealand. There are no
regulations for service safety standards. The product safety system in New Zealand is generally
consistent with the Australian system under their Trade Practices Act.
Trading Standards investigates complaints about consumer products that are not subject tomandatory product safety standards (this is done by the Commerce Commission), or otherwise
covered by other regulations (e.g. food, medicines). Trading Standards also monitors voluntarycompliance with national standards where there ’ s information that there may be the potential for

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injury but the need for formal government intervention has not yet been established. When an
investigation concludes that critical safety requirements are not being met, the Ministry assesses
whether the powers of the Fair Trading Act are required, depending on the potential injury risk
involved, and the ability and or willingness of the suppliers to voluntarily self-regulate.
Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, draws on consumer complaints, market
place sampling/testing and data and intelligence sourced from other organizations within New

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Zealand and overseas. The Minister is able to take action that ranges from interim bans of a productthrough to permanent regulations. The basis for the majority of these provisions are publishedstandards. The preference is for New Zealand or joint Australia/New Zealand standards, the majorityof which directly relate to the equivalent ISO standards.

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3. Unsafe goods notice and product bans

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The Minister of Consumer Affairs has the power to stop the sale of goods by declaring them
to be ‘unsafe goods’. A ban stays in force for 18 months, unless withdrawn earlier. At this point it can

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be imposed indefinitely or for a further specified time. There are unsafe goods notices for: lead inchildren's toys; hot water bottles; candles with lead in the wicks and candlewicks containing lead;and pistol crossbows. The Commerce Commission investigates complaints about products that havea product safety standard or have an unsafe goods notice attached to them.
The Minister of Consumer Affairs can order a compulsory product recall where goods being
sold do not comply with a product safety standard; or are of a kind which will or may cause injury
and the supplier has not recalled the goods or taken good enough action to recall the goods. New
Zealand does not require notification of voluntary recalls, but Trading Standards does offer
assistance to companies undertaking a recall.

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4. Food safety - Food Act 2014

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Food safety has many ingredients. Robust biological science has been developed on foodhazards. Supply chain integrity is another. Companies must have supply chain traceability that is real,comprehensive and action-able. If food or food ingredients are contaminated, it is just as important
to know the source and current location of the items and substances in question as it is to know thebiological facts of the contamination.
The news in August 2013 of potential Clostridium botulinum contamination was bad for
New Zealand, which prided itself on exporting food of the highest quality. The 38 tonnes of theWhey Protein Concentrate (WPC) in dairy export supply chain fell under suspicion of contamination.
The inquiry concluded that the regulatory framework was fundamentally sound, but recommended
improvements. Underlying many of these was the idea that the dairy industry must anticipate futurerisks as well as counter existing known threats. The Inquiry also observed that, if Fonterra had
possessed a strong food safety culture, this incident would probably not have happened.[6]Scores of consumers were made sick during October 2014 after eating supermarket-bought
fresh vegetables contaminated with the bacteria, Yersinia.[7] The Ministry for Primary Industries isrefusing to confirm carrots and lettuces as the source of a stomach bug that's hit more than 100
people and put 38 in hospital. But in both above cases, existing traceability systems were foundwanting.
Demand for product recall has increased significantly over recent years as consumerawareness increases, legislative requirements become more stringent, supply chains more complex
and contractual conditions more onerous. The impact of a product recall event has the potential tocause severe damage to a company's brand reputation and survival. Maintaining food safety
standards and managing recall risk are two increasingly pressing issues for New Zealand companies.
But while product recalls are becoming larger and more frequent, most food and beverage companies
are unaware of the magnitude of their recall risk.

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Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has established a rigorous and transparent
process for assessing the safety of GM foods. The responsibility for demonstrating the safety of any
new food product on the market lies with the developer of that product. This is also the case for new
chemicals and drugs.
5. Regulatory authorities
Consumer NZ moves from testing products to testing businesses with new accreditation
scheme. Consumer NZ, the non-profit organization started in 1959, delve into the quality of products
and services and investigate consumer issues, and has launched a scheme called Consumer Trusted
to enhance that. Consumer Trusted is based on a Code of Conduct for the accredited business, which
includes the right to exchange or return for a full refund a non-perishable product within 30 days ofpurchase; no bond charge for returning faulty goods; refunds for products worth over $100 that goon sale within a week of purchase; and advisers to help customers of the accredited business. [8]Medsafe is the New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority. WorkSafe
NZ is New Zealand’s workplace health and safety regulator. Biosecurity New Zealand is a division

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of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry charged with leadership of the New Zealand biosecurity
system. It encompasses facilitating international trade, protecting the health of New Zealanders andensuring the welfare of environment, flora and fauna and marine life.
Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) is to safeguard people and theenvironment by regulating the introduction and use of hazardous substances and new organisms
under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act. ERMA regulates the importation,
development and use of plants, animals and other new organisms including genetically modified
organisms.
New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) contributes to an integrated, safe, responsive andsustainable land transport system, in support of the updated New Zealand Transport Strategy.
Many industry sector associations and the NZ Retailers Association play an active role inpromoting self-regulation. They are involved in the development of industry codes of practice,provision to business of advice on suppliers ’ responsibilities under the Consumer Guarantees Act,

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and the development of national standards through participation on standards technical committees.

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The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) is responsible for administering thecountry's universal no-fault accidental injury scheme. The scheme provides financial compensationand support to citizens, residents, and temporary visitors who have suffered personal injuries. ACC
was based on an insurance model that provided cover for all, regardless of fault or cause of injury.
All New Zealanders and visitors to New Zealand who get injured can apply for help from
ACC. It does not discriminate what caused the accident and where the injury happened at work,
during sport or recreation, at home or on the road. ACC can also help a New Zealander returningfrom overseas with an injury, as long as the victim is a permanent resident, and have not been away
for more than six months. Because of the wide range of help available from ACC after an injury,
victims cannot sue for personal injury in New Zealand, except for exemplary damages.
This scheme will also cover accidents due to use of unsafe products and services. In a way it
helps manufacturers and suppliers of unsafe products and services from heavy legal and insurance
liabilities. Suppliers and manufacturers are for practical purposes exempt from liability for physical

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injury to consumers and any third parties under the Accident Compensation scheme. Unsafe products
and services, in addition to causing harm and distress to individuals, it can have an impact on costs
to the government health budget and to the Accident Compensation Corporation.
ACC manages about 1.6 million injury claims each year and collect as much information
about those injuries as possible. These data are used to measure the safety issues with product andservices.
Whilst ACC provides cover for most accidents at work, employees can still sue for workrelated illnesses that the ACC does not cover, including:Mental injury or stress not accompanied
by any physical injury; Nervous shock or fright not accompanied by any physical injury (this may
result in serious illness, such as heart attack or stroke); and Disease brought on over time (egexposure to the elements or extremes of temperature).
So, insurance firms such as Zurich NZ is trying to sell Employers Liability Insurance.
Zurich's policy covers damages and legal costs for employees who have suffered injury or diseasearising from, and in the course of, their employment.
Zurich's product safety and recall insurance provides a combination of recall planning andpreparation advice, broad coverage plus post-loss consultancy to help minimize damage to the brandand the balance sheet. In response to this problem, AIG created NOVI, a free and confidential
service that enables businesses to better understand their product recall risk exposure by estimating
the probable maximum loss from a recall event.

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7. Conclusion

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The most fundamental issue which faces any product safety system is that regulations canonly have a reactive role because the range of goods and services available to consumers is too great
for a regulator to sensibly monitor or test for safety compliance. It can only react to particular
problems which arise. New and emerging product safety risks and concerns challenge the reactivemodel. Increasingly risks and issues are being raised around chemicals and new technologies whererisks are virtually impossible to determine. Many small businesses lack the capacity to test products,
and/or do not consider testing for product safety before they supply goods, which means potentiallyunsafe goods get on to the market un-checked.

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References and Further Reading[1] Consumer Guarantees Act 1993
[2] Fair Trading Act 1986 & Fair Trading Amendment Act 2013 [www.legislation.govt.nz][3] Consumer Law Reform Bill
[4] Consumer Affairs' (including Trading Standards') under Ministry of Business, Innovation and
Employment [www.mbie.govt.nz][5]Standards
websites:www.standards.co.nz;
www.foodstandards.govt.nz;
andwww.foodsafety.govt.nz[6] The WPC80 incident: causes and responses, Government Inquiry into the Whey Protein
Concentrate Contamination Incident November 2014
[7] “Carrots and lettuce cause outbreak in Bay”, www.nzherald.co.nz dated 7th October 2014[8] The Consumer Advisory Service [www.consumer.org.nz][9] Websites of Insurance companies such as ACC, Zurich NZ and AIG(Received: 29 August 2015, Accepted: 7 August 2016)66

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A Practice of Engineering Design Education through the Developmentof Educational Materials using LEGO-Mindstorms
Tetsuro Iyama1,*, Shigehiro Toyama2, Yoshinori Tokoi3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT, Nagaoka College,2)
Department of Electronic Control Engineering, NIT, Nagaoka College,3)
Department of Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering, NIT, Nagaoka College,
888 Nishikatakai-machi, Nagaoka 940-8532, Japan*E-mail: iyama@nagaoka-ct.ac.jp
1)

Recently, cross-sectional education is required for cultivating of engineers who
can be active in multiple fields in addition to the professional expertise andskill attached importance in conventional engineer education. This paper
presents an example of practice of an Engineering Design Exercise (EDE) thatis one of cross-sectional education subjects in National Institute of Technology,
Nagaoka College (NITNC). The design theme of the EDE in last academic
year (2014) was set to “development of educational material, using the LEGOmindstorms for measurements and control with programing”, which is one oflearning contents for technology and home economics classes of junior highschool. It was received over 90% positive feedback from a result ofquestionnaire concerning the EDE by the students and the junior high school
teachers. The students probably could aware the importance of teamwork,
facilitation skill, and cross-sectional ability. Although there are some mismatch
between actual and supposition using the materials, the quality and students
effort were very highly appreciated by the junior high school teachers. Fromthese results, we conclude that the EDE in NITNC could achieve a certain
result as a cross-sectional education.

1. Introduction
Recently, cross-sectional education is required for cultivation of engineers who can be active in
multiple fields, in addition to the professional expertise and skill. However, there are several
suggestions about that Japanese engineering educational system is not enough especially forEngineering Design Education. Although Engineering Design Education is multiply defined, it isclassified to an Active Learning (AL) that enhances followed three skills,(1) Designing skill…Solving skill of society problem with technologies, information and so on.
(2) Accomplishing skill…A skill for accomplishing a task under some restrictions.
(3)Activity skill in a team…Performing skill of tasks as a team or a team member.
Project Based Learning (PBL) is one of effective method to enhance these engineering design skills
and the way for problem solving. It had been reported that many attempt of the PBL with regional
cooperation, but most of them are focused on a relation with companies and societies. [1][2][3] This reportpresents an example of practice of an Engineering Design Exercise (EDE) that is one of project basedand cross-sectional education subjects in National Institute of Technology, Nagaoka College (NITNC).
The EDE has started in 2013 for advanced course students in NITNC and it has performed as not only
the engineer cultivating, also regional cooperation such as awareness campaign for science in Nigata
prefecture. Last academic year, we succeeded to cooperate with local junior high school teachers about
for carrying out the EDE subject in NITNC.

2. Outline of Engineering Design Exercise in NITNC
The EDE has been offered a part of experimental subject called “Advanced Experiment”. Thissubject is arranged in first half of fiscal year of advanced course in NITNC since 2013. Table 1 shows
the time schedule of the EDE in 2014. The EDE was conducted for 15 weeks and the contents are1

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mainly included the following three objectives:(1) Learning facilitation skill (Week 1 and 2)
Participated students start to learn facilitation skill such as importance of ice break, consensus
building methods that needed for the group work and PBL. All students attending the EDE weredivided into eight groups after leaning lecture of the facilitation skill. Each group consists of four orfive students who have graduated from different departments of NITNC. Then, in case of the previous
year, two group work using a multiple axis robot arm and LEGO-Mindstorms were conducted as theice-break. Fig.1(a)(b) shows the photograph of the ice break with LEGO-Mindstoms and a practice ofconsensus building using “Matrix method”.
(2)Learning PDCA cycle (Week 2)
After the ice break, the students learn a method for completing tasks by PDCA cycle which basedon a scheduling sheets and daily reports. The scheduling sheets and the daily reports are prepared byeach group. And subject teacher, in charge of the group, checks the progress situation and evaluatesachievement in practicing of the PDCA. Fig.2 shows an example of scheduling sheet after finishing
the PDCA. The scheduling sheets are revised multiple times based on the progress.
(3)Exercise of PDCA (Week 3-15)
From Week 3, the students start the practicing of the PDCA based on designed theme. The design
theme in 2014 was set to “development of educational material, using the LEGO-Mindstorms formeasurements and control with programing”, which is one of learning contents for technology andhome economics classes of junior high school. Planning presentation and final presentation wereorganized while the PDCA term. The students make a presentation about the research result of market
and competitive products, and formed concepts of educational materials using the LEGO-Mindstorms
in planning presentation. Furthermore, they make again a presentation of developed materials withdemonstration in the final presentation. An actual junior high school teachers were invited the final
presentation as an evaluator of developed materials. The invited teachers participated a technicalseminar of LEGO-Mindstorms before the final presentation.
Table 1 Time schedule and contents of the EDE in 2014

Week
1
2

Contents
Guidance, grouping and ice break 1,
engineering facilitation
Consensus-building, ice break 2

3

Process of planning, explanation ofdesign theme, present state analysis,
forming a concept

4
5

Presentation about the present state
analysisPlanning, making a time schedule sheet

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Preparing the planning presentation

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Planning presentation

8

Practicing based on PDCA cycle

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Practicing based on PDCA cycle

10

Design review

11

Practicing based on PDCA cycle

12

Practicing based on PDCA cycle

13

Final test, mounting the work products,
evaluation

14

Preparing a final presentation

15

Final presentation(a) Ice break(b) Practicing of consensus building
Fig.1 Photograph of the lecture part of the EDE

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Fig.2 Example of the scheduling sheet

3. Developed educational materials
The students started to develop the material from Week 8. Table 2 shows the title and keywordsof developed educational materials by eight groups. These materials are reviewed by each students
group in the design review which held in Week 10, and they discussed about the material concept,
developing approach, developing schedule. Then, students tried to make an educational material that
including the textbook for teachers and junior high school students, teaching plan, evaluation method,
sample programs, and assembled machine with LEGO-Mindstorms. Fig.3 shows an example ofdeveloped materials by group 8. The final presentation is organized at final time of the EDE and thestudents made a poster presentation and conducted the demonstration of developed material to theevaluators. Finally, best material was selected by a vote on the final presentation with seal by juniorhigh school teachers, subject teachers of NITNC and all participated students and staff of NITNC.
Table 2 Title name of developed materials and the keywords
Group

1

Material Easy, Simple
title Mindstorms

2

Learn withpleasure
Measurement
and Control

Simplicty,

KeyMeasurement
Groupwork, Easy
words
and Control

understanding

3

Simple lecture

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Be a LEGO
Master!!

LEGO-Drive6

7

8
Programing is not

Let’s drive risedifficult. Let’s
LEGO is Easy！ reaping machine
challenge the lifewith line tracing!
saving by robot!

Maze, Group
study

Reduction of
Enjoy, Study,
incidence, Group
Creativity
work, Enjoy

Culture of
Rice planting,
Nagaoka,Easy, Teamwork Discussions,SupportRescure robot,
Groupwork,
Programing(a) Assembled machine(b) Textbook
Fig.3 Example of developed materials

3(c) Concept poster

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4. Results of questionnaire2After final presentation, questionnaires were carried out for participated junior high school3
teachers and the students that regarding to the content and the approaching method of the EDE. Fig.4
4shows the result of the questionnaire for the students that asked about difficulty level of the design
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theme. Most students answered the difficulty level was difficult or very difficult. This reason is
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considered that there is no clearly answer of the design theme about developing educational material.
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Fig.5 shows the result of the students’ outcomes through the EDE. The students probably could aware
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the importance of teamwork, facilitation skill, and cross-sectional ability after the EDE.
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Fig.6 shows the result of the questionnaire for junior high school teachers and it was received over10
90% positive feedbacks. Although there are some mismatches between actual and supposition using
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the materials, the quality and student’s effort were very highly appreciated by the junior high school
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teachers. From these results, the EDE in NITNC could achieve a certain result as a cross-sectional
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education and an approach as regional cooperation.
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Very difficult
Other
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Development of the actual
19
Difficultteaching materials
20
To understand theNeither
process of PDCA cycle
21
To understand the
22
Easy
facilitation skill
23
Get a good term with
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Too Easyother course students
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%
0
20 40 60 80 100 %27
Fig. 4 Result of the questionnaire of
Fig. 5 Result of the questionnaire of28
participated students which asked about
participated students which asked
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the difficulty level of the design theme
about the outcomes through the EDE
30(Multiple answered allowed)
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Difficulty level of design theme
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Educational aim planed by student
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Very good / Strongly agree
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Concepts of developed materials
38
Good / Agree a little
Teaching plan
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40 Appropriation level of developed materials
N/A / Neither
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Appropriation level of textbooks
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Bad / Disagree a little
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Appropriation level of other documents
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Very bad / Strongly disagree
45Students’ presentations
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Students’ ambition
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Significance of EDE
49
50 Do you want the continuance of developing
51 material through the EDE?
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Fig. 6 Result of the questionnaire of participated junior high school teachers which asked
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about the contents of the EDE

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5. Discussion
NITNC has started the EDE since 2013. Hence, the design theme using the LEGO-Mindstorms issecond attempt for the EDE at the college. A design theme of first EDE in NITNC was “developmentof an experiment material for Younger’s Science Festival”. After finishing the first EDE, typical voices
were received from participated students and teachers as followed:(1) There was enough leeway about the theme. (Positive)(2) Learning the facilitation skill was new experience and very nice. (Positive)(2) Quality improvement of the developed material is necessary. (Negative)(4) The level of the design theme was easy. (Negative)
It was seemed that the participators of the first EDE have felt satisfactions about the learning contents,
and dissatisfactions about the design theme. In addition, it was very difficult to receive the feedbacks
about the work products from third party such as users of developed materials. On the other hand, incase of the reported design theme, it was seemed that the difficulty level of design theme was improved
and the evaluation of outcomes of the EDE become easy because of questionnaire from participatedjunior high school teachers.
6. Conclusion
This report presented the case study of the cross-sectional education in NITNC. In order to goodefficiency education for enhancing the engineering design skill, the EDE has conducted as the AL andPBL type subject since 2013 in NITNC. It was succeeded to make the cooperation with local juniorhigh school teacher through the EDE in last academic year because of the design theme which focusedon the subject of junior high school. The design theme, “development of educational material, using
the LEGO-Mindstorms for measurements and control with programing”, was a little difficult for the
students because unaccustomed experience. However, participated students could feel and understandthe importance of the facilitation skill for completing group work and many tasks based on the PDCA
cycle by the team. It is concluded from these results that the EDE is going to be continued as a crosssectional education in NITNC with revising the contents.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank cooperated junior high school teachers and Nagaoka Educational Center.
References[1] Hiroshi Hashimoto, Masaya Ando, Toshiyuki Murao, Katsutoshi Otsubo, Hideki Ando,
Hideki Murakoshi, Seiichi Kawata, Shintaro Ishijima, IFAC Proceedings 42-24, (2010), pp.
283-286[2] S.Watanabe, M. Maruoka, S. Hara , T. Matsui, T. Sakurai and K. Yokota, Proceeding ofJapanese Society for Engineering Education, 61 (2014) pp.490-491[3] T. Kawano, H. Suwa, R. Okuno, Y. Fukui and K. PARK, Proceeding of Japanese Society forEngineering Education, 63 (2015) pp.252-253[4] S. Toyama, K. Miyakoshi, and Y. Tazaki, KOSEN Kyouiku, 38 (2015) pp.67-72[5] S. Toyama, Y. Tokoi and T. Iyama, 57th Proceeding of annual meeting of federation for automatic
control, (2014)(Received: 31 August 2015, Accepted: 26 August 2016)5