2022. 2. 1

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Center

IAC News No.112
International Joint Seminar on
ADVANCES IN CIVIL ENGINEERINGOn December 4, 2021, the “International Joint Seminar on ADVANCES IN CIVIL ENGINEERING (Chairman
Prof. Sci Nguyen Dinh Duc) was held jointly by the Social Infrastructure Program of Vietnam Japan University(Hanoi, Vietnam) and JSCE. Vietnam Japan University is one of the universities under the umbrella of theVietnam National University (VNU) and opened its doors in 2016 with the help of both the Vietnamese andJapanese governments. Vietnam Japan University offers eight master’s programs that were established as partof a technical cooperation project by JICA. The Social Infrastructure Program is one of them.
The theme for this year, which is the first time this event has been held, was “Applications of Advanced Materials
and Machine Learning in Civil Engineering”, and the following five presentations were made:1
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Presentation Title

Presenter

Prediction of steel structures' responses using machine

Dr. Truong Viet Hung,learning: Prospects and challenges

ThuyLoi University, Vietnam

Research and Applications of 3D printing: Current

Dr. Phuong Tran, RMIT University

problems and future directionMelbourne, Australia

On Applications of DC algorithm and machine learning

Dr. Tran Duc Quynh,
VNU International School, Vietnam

45Image-language collaborative AI that reflects expert

Dr. Pang-Jo Chun, Assoc. Prof.,

knowledge to inspect and diagnose bridges

The University Tokyo, Japan

Bridge inspection, damage detection and monitoring

Dr. Ji Dang, Assoc. Prof.,using UAV, AI and IoT

Saitama University, Japan

Despite currently making lots of headlines, AI/machine learning is a difficult field to understand. Nonetheless,
all the presentations were to the point and easy to understand, and there was a lively Q&A session involving
more than 40 attendees in person and remotely.
I would like to thank Dr. Ji Dang and Dr. Pang-Jo Chun who participated from the Japanese side as well as Ms.
Shibuya of JSCE for their hard work in making sure this event was a success, despite having very little time toprepare. Thank you very much. This seminar is scheduled to continue next year, and I sincerely hope thatVietnam Japan University can contribute to further strengthening the ties between Vietnam and JSCE.

1【Reported by Dr. Shinichi Takeda, Assoc. Prof., Vietnam Japan University) 】Initiatives of the YP Group under the Japanese Sectionof the World Association forWaterborne Transport Infrastructure (PIANC-Japan)
Introduction
Established in 1885 with its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, the World Association for Waterborne Transport
Infrastructure (PIANC) is a non-political and non-profit international organization that carries out a wide rangeof activities such as research on the technical issues of ports and shipping routes, etc., as well as giving technicalassistance to developing countries. Currently, PIANC has about 500 corporate members and 1,800 individualmembers in 66 countries all over the world.
In Japan, the Ministry of Transport (currently the Ministry ofLand, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) was involvedin PIANC as a governmental member in 1952, and theFisheries Agency was involved as a governmental memberin 1965. In 1977, PIANC-Japan, the Japanese section ofPIANC, was established. Since then, PIANC-Japan has been
the most active of all the sections in Asia, with the vicepresident of PIANC coming from Japan. In addition, since
the guidelines (technical standards) established by PIANC
are widely referred to internationally, the public and private

Asia-Pacific Seminar in South Korea (2018)sectors are working together to develop Japanese technicalstandards so that Japanese companies can easily adapt to the PIANC guidelines.
These efforts will be introduced at The 5th Annual Seminar on the Internationalization of Technical Standards(PIANC), “The Internationalization of Standards as per the Activities of the World Association for Waterborne

2Transport

Infrastructure(PIANC),”

scheduledtobe

heldonTuesday,March

8,2022(https://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/node/255). The seminar will also introduce the activities of the young
engineers at PIANC-Japan. In advance of the seminar, we would like to take this opportunity to introduce theefforts of the Young Engineers Group (YP Group).
What Is the YP Group?
PIANC-Japan has set up a YP Group for young engineers(Young Professionals: YP) under the age of 40 in Japan,
with the aim of building a network between young
engineers and improving their credentials. The YP Group isvery unique, consisting of about 80 young port engineers(as of January 2022) from various organizations such as theMinistry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism,
Fisheries Agency, research institutes, port managementcompanies, construction companies, design consultants,and manufacturers. Not only exchanges between young

Site Tour of Tobishima Pier Area at Nagoya Port(2019)engineers in Japan but also many exchanges with young
engineers from all over the world are planned at YP-Com (a committee of young engineers), which is made up
of representatives from many different countries.
Changes in Activities during the Coronavirus Pandemic
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the Japanese section met twice a year, and held port-related site tours andtechnical seminars. For international exchange, an overseas event was planned about once a year, with an AsiaPacific seminar held in South Korea in 2018, and a site tour held in Singapore in 2019. As things stand, any
meet-ups in person have been postponed.

An Online Seminar with YPs from Argentina Experiencing a 12-Hour Time Difference (2021)*For information on these past activities, please visit the YP Group website:
http://pianc-jp.org/ypcom/index.html.

3New Developments and What the Future Holds
The best thing about holding activities online is that it is easy to get involved, and the number of YPs who
participate in the activities for the first time through the aforementioned seminar series has increased. By puttingout information about the holding of seminars to a wide audience beyond just PIANC members, the activitiesof the YP Group are beginning to expand in various ways, such as welcoming senior members over the age of
40 and port engineers that are not PIANC members to our seminars. However, the seminars can tend to end up
being one-way communication with the presenter talking and the attendees listening, and we feel that we havenot been able to develop deeper exchanges between the YPs. We hope that if we can hold social gatherings
regularly as before, the interaction between YPs will see new life breathed into them. The number of membersof the YP Group is increasing annually, and we hope that, through various events in the future, the Group will
help young engineers shift some of their attention to what is happening overseas. If you are interested in joining
the YP Group, please feel free to contact us at one of the e-mail addresses below.

【Reported by Masayuki Banno, Representative of YP Japan,
Port and Airport Research Institute (banno-m@p.mpat.go.jp),
Naozumi Yoshizuka, Deputy Representative of YP Japan,Nikken Kogaku Co., Ltd. (yoshizuka@nikken-kogaku.co.jp)】

The 14th EASTS International Virtual Conference
The Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS) was established in1994. As of September 2021, EASTS has 19 national societies from 19 countries
and regions as members, based on the Society's principle of promoting theexchange of many transportation-related professionals. The society holds aninternational conference every two years, and since the first conference in 1995, it
has held 13 conferences until 2020. The 14th conference, to be held in Hiroshima
in 2021, is scheduled on September 12-14 at the Higashi Senda Campus ofHiroshima University, and preparations for the conference have been underway by
the conference committee led by Hiroshima University. Since all the games in theTokyo Olympic Games held from July 23 to August 8, were held without

Assoc. Prof. Makoto Tsukai(The Conference Committeeof EASTS, HiroshimaUniversity)

spectators, and since COVID-19 in Japan was still in the middle of the fifth wave
at the end of July, the Hiroshima EASTS conference was held online using the Zoom system for the first timein the history of the society.

4The conference was supported by the Asian Development
Bank Institute (ADBI) as a conference partner, the Chugoku
Regional Development Bureau of the Ministry of Land,Infrastructure and Transport, Hiroshima Prefecture, theResearch Center for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation ofHiroshima University and the Japan Society of Civil
Engineers. The conference program consisted of 4 plenary
sessions (Keynote speeches, EASTS-ADBI-WCTR, Paneldiscussion, EASTS-ADBI), 13 presentation sessionsorganized by International Research Groups, and 94 generalsessions. In the opening ceremony, some guests of honor:
the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism,

Keynote Speeches

the president of JICA, the governor of Hiroshima Prefecture
and the president of Hiroshima University kindly offered their congratulatory speeches. The contents of thekeynote speeches are shown in Table. In this session, there were about 280 online participants from 25 countries
and regions. Of the 380 participants who answered the questionnaire after the conference, more than 90% weresatisfied with the online session. On the other hand, about 85% of the participants wanted the next conference
to be held face-to-face. The online conference is certainly significant in lowering the hurdle to participation, but
face-to-face discussions have inherent value. At the 2023 conference, we hope to have a conference where manyvaluable research encounters can take place.
The conference was awarded “International Conference Host Award 2020” by Japan National Tourism
Organization (JNTO）.

This conference is supported by International Scientific Exchange Fund.
【Reported by Makoto Tsukai, The Conference Committee of EASTS, Hiroshima University】

5Updates◆ACECC Future Leaders Forum Monthly Webinar (February 19)
https://www.jsce-int.org/node/750◆The 5th Seminar on the Internationalization of Technical Standards(March 8) https://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/node/255◆【YouTube Video】JSCE Construction Site Tour for International Students
https://youtu.be/oC7TLdR_7YY◆3rd JSCE Concrete Committee Webinar "Frontiers of Concrete Technology"
https://www.jsce-int.org/node/745◆American Society of Civil Engineers（ASCE）
・ASCE Lifeline Conference 2021 2022 Dates : Jan 31-Feb 4, 2022
https://samueli.ucla.edu/lifelines2021/
 Conference Program
http://www.icontactarchive.com/archive?c=1808632&f=3957&s=4703&m=47144&t=b05884d7cda0263d3fc8745d9901e6deb
9270d0c4e6b9c9e59669e74b5423010
・Joint Japan-US Symposium on Assessment, Management, and Governance for Infrastructure Resilience*Pre-recorded Presentation Available on the Website.
https://www.infraresil.jp/event/01/◆Korean Society of Civil Engineers (KSCE)
・Message from the 2022 President
https://eng.ksce.or.kr/include/?pidx=104&htop=MN0320&ctop=MN0327&ptop=MN0320◆The 9th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM9)
https://www.icfm9.jp/index.html◆European Council of Civil Engineers E-Journal
http://www.ecceengineers.eu/newsletter/Files/ECCE-E-journal-23.pdf?m=1640190118&◆The International Infrastructure Archives– A Compilation of Japan’s Greatest Projects in Transfer of Civil Engineering Technology in Service –http://www.jsce.or.jp/e/archive/【New Project】Male’ Seawall Project (Maldives)
http://www.jsce.or.jp/e/archive/project/pj14.html◆IAC “News Pick Up!!” on the JSCE Japanese website
https://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/iac_dayori_2021◆Summary of featured articles in JSCE Magazine Vol. 107, No.2 February 2022
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine◆Journal of JSCE
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/journalofjsce§ IAC News Subscription §The IAC News is one of the communication tools to share information and ideas with the members. We would like to inviteyou, your friends and colleagues to join the communication and to subscribe the IAC News. Please register online:(http://www.jsce-int.org/node/150). We look forward to meeting you.
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