IROAST Symposiums
No.

Title

Organizer

7th IROAST Symposium -Advanced
1

Research in Science and Technology for
Developing Social Well-Being-

2

3

Kazuki Takashima
Director, IROAST

8th IROAST Symposium on X-Ray CT

Toshifumi Mukunoki

Visualization for Socio -Cultural

Professor, FAST

Engineering & Environmental Materials

Akira Satoon X-Earth “Challenge of Medicine,

Associate Professor,

Science - Engineering Collaboration”

FAST

9th IROAST Symposium “Nano-organics

Makoto Takafuji

and Nano-hybrids”

Professor, FAST

FAST: Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology

-222-

Date

November 22, 2021

December 7, 2021
~ December 8, 2021,

January 21, 2022

IROAST Symposium Report 1
Name

Kazuki Takashima

Affiliation

IROAST

Organizer 1

Symposium Title

Title

Director

7th IROAST Symposium -Advanced Research in Science and Technology for
Developing Social Well-BeingHybrid style

Venue

Online: Zoom
Venue: Meeting Rm. A, Kurokami South C2 (Faculty of Engineering Bldg. I)

Time & Date

13:30-15:30, November 22, 2021
Higaki Takumi (Assoc. Prof., FAST, KU)
Matsuo Hiroki (Assoc. Prof., IROAST, KU)

Speaker’s Name/
Title/Affiliation

Lee Ruda (Assoc. Prof., IROAST, KU)
Nakashima Yuta (Assoc. Prof., FAST, KU)
Aida Mitsuhiro (Prof., IROAST, KU)

Number ofParticipants

From KU

From outside KU

FAST: Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology
Faculty: 42(Int'l participants: 3 )Students: 18(Int'l participants: 0 )
Total
139
Others: 19
60(Int'l participants: 2)

On November 22, the International Research Organization for Advanced Science and Technology(IROAST) of Kumamoto University held the 7th Kumamoto University IROAST Symposium in a hybrid
online and in-person style.
This symposium was held as part of the National University Festa 2021 with the aim of introducing
cutting-edge innovative research by IROAST and its wide application to applied technologies.
In his opening remarks, President Hisao Ogawa emphasized the importance of the development ofscience and technology for the realization of people’s physical and mental well-being. Then, I, Kazuki
Takashima, Director of IROAST, introduced IROAST and the many outstanding results obtained throughinternational joint research with world-class universities and research institutes, as well as crossdisciplinary research projects, such as medical-engineering collaboration. He also discussed theprospects for how future research can contribute to the development of a well-being society, new humanfriendly science and technology, and safe and secure society. After that, five young researchers gave
presentations on their researches developed from their unique perspectives and exchanged opinions withthe participants. After the symposium, videos of each presentation were distributed on the symposium’s
special website, which was open only to registered participants until the end of November, and a Q&A
section was set up with the presenters.
In the end, more than 139 people, including those from the education and industry sectors, registered
for the symposium, which was a great success as IROAST’s extensive research were widely shared andactive discussions were held with the participants. In the future, we will continue to lead the University’sefforts to improve its research capabilities by conducting advanced international joint research withoverseas universities and research institutes.

-223-

Symposium Poster

KU President Ogawa Hisao

IROAST Director Takashima Kazuki-224-

Assoc. Prof. Higaki Takumi

Assoc. Prof. Matsuo Hiroki

Assoc. Prof. Lee Ruda

Assoc. Prof. Nakashima Yuta

Prof. Aida Mitsuhiro-225-

IROAST Symposium Report 2
Name

Toshifumi Mukunoki

Affiliation

Faculty of Advanced Science and
Title
Technology

Name

Akira Sato

Affiliation

Faculty of Advanced Science and
Title
Technology

Organizer 1

Organizer 2

Professor

Associate Prof.

8th IROAST Symposium on X-Ray CT Visualization for Socio-Cultural
Symposium Title

Engineering & Environmental Materials on X-Earth“Challenge of Medicine, Science - Engineering Collaboration”

Venue

Time & Date

Online via Zoom
Tue, December 7, 2021,
Morning session 9:00-12:30, Afternoon session 17:00-18:50
Wed, December 8, 2021,
Morning session 9:00-14:30, Afternoon session 16:00-18:45
Melvin Diaz, PhD, Korea Maritime & Ocean University, Korea
Agus Sasmito, Associate Professor, McGill University, Canada
Toshifumi Mukunoki, Professor, FAST, KU
Akira Sato, Associate Professor, FAST, KU
Kenichi Okubo, Nikon Solutions Co., Ltd.
Alessandro Tengattini, PhD, Université Grenoble Alpes, France
Ilija Vego, PhD candidate, Université Grenoble Alpes, France
Yuichiro Arima, Associate Professor, IRCMS, KU

Speaker’s Name/
Title/Affiliation

Buluke, Researcher, KU hospital
Patrice Jean Delmas, Associate Professor, The University of Auckland, New
ZealandSanae Takasugi, Bruker Japan
Zeinab Aliabadian, Postdoctoral fellow, FAST, KU
Jiaxi Yang, Doctoral student, FAST, KU
Hideharu Sugimoto, PhD candidate, FAST, KU
Shuhei Matsumoto, FAST, KU
Kamil Souček, The Czech Academy of Science, Czech Republic

Number ofParticipantsEomzi Yang, PhD candidate, Yonsei University, Korea
Faculty: 17(Int'l participants: 4)
Students: 37
From KU(Int'l participants: 7)
Other: 6
Total
Faculty: 71(Int'l participants:53)
Students: 20
From outside KU(Int'l participants: 14)
Other: 34
-226-

185

1. Symposium Overview
X-Earth Center has organized several international workshops over the last decade as a place toestablish an international network and provide international education whilst boosting international
exchanges. In 2020, two new X-ray CT scanners were introduced to the X-Earth Center: a high-power,
high-resolution micro-focused X-ray CT scanner and a nano-focused X-ray CT scanner, both of whichhave been in operation since April, 2021. So now X-Earth center can use three different kinds of CTdevise. The newly introduced micro-focused X-ray CT scanner is an excellent device that can irradiate
more powerful X-rays than the previous device. Also, the new micro-focused X-ray CT has anenvironment that allows various mechanical experiments to be performed in the CT chamber. Then, thenano-focused X-ray CT scanner is a device that can also be called a 3D X-ray microscope with nanoscale resolution. By overcoming the technical limitations with these novel CT systems, we are now
able to make a further contribution. Kumamoto University is a rare academic institution in Japan andabroad with this kind of research environment. Our research activity using these newly introduced CTs
has just begun.
In light of the installation of the new X-ray CT scanners, X-Earth center has decided to hold the 8thinternational workshop with the help of IROAST. This workshop aims at further extending theengineering field of application, disseminating research outcomes obtained from the cooperation withthe field of medicine, and developing the cooperation between fields of engineering and science.
Furthermore, another objective of this workshop is to provide an opportunity to enhance international
cooperative research through exchanges with graduate students and distinguished researchers.
2. Symposium Outcomes and Future Plan
Eventually, 185 participants made a registration for this workshop from all over the world, includingSouth Korea, Australia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Indonesia, USA, New Zealand,
Mauritius, Makassar, Vietnam, and Zambia. All the attendees enjoyed this workshop whilst being
intellectually stimulated by cutting-edge technologies and research outcomes. The presentations
covered a wide range of topics in fields of engineering, science, and medicine, such as study on liquidliquid two-phase flow mechanism in pore scale for granular materials and visualization of blood vessel
microstructure by CT. As there are not many opportunities for researchers to see researches in the otherfields, it seemed that such presentations attracted much attention. In addition to that, the student session
has provided an opportunity for PhD candidates at Kumamoto University to give a presentation in
English and to communicate with outstanding oversea researchers, which provided a valuable
experience for them.
We are planning to hold the 9th IWX in the near future. Our goal is the same, but we will try to gather
speakers of which fields are different from those of the 8th IWX. In this way, the attendees can enjoy
the next IWX as well.

-227-

3. Poster & Photos

Professor Mukunoki, Kumamoto University-228-

Associate Professor Sato, Kumamoto University

Professor Sasmito, McGill University

Dr. Tengattini, Université Grenoble Alpes

Dr. Buluke, Kumamoto University

Professor Delmas, University Auckland-229-

IROAST Symposium Report 3
Name
Organizer 1
Affiliation
Symposium Title
Venue
Time & Date

Makoto Takafuji
Faculty of Advanced Science andTechnology

Title

Professor

9th IROAST Symposium “Nano-organics and Nano-hybrids”
Online via Zoom
Fri, January 21, 2022
10:00-17:20
Yutaka Okazaki, Assistant Prof., Kyoto University
Takunori Harada, Associate Prof., Oita University
Yoshiro Kaneko, Associate Prof., Kagoshima University
Shunsuke Shiba, Assistant Prof., Ehime University

Speaker’s Name/
Title/Affiliation

Yasuchika Hasegawa, Professor, Hokkaido University
Hiroshi Yabu, Professor, Tohoku University
Aya Tanatani, Professor, Ochanomizu University
Tatsuo Taniguchi, Professor, Chiba University
Takashi Hirose, Associate Prof., Kyoto University
Yutaka Kuwahara, Assistant Prof., Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology,
Kumamoto University

From KU
Number ofParticipants
From outside KU

Faculty: 21(Int'l participants: 0)
Students: 74(Int'l participants: 4)
Other
Faculty: 23(Int'l participants: 0)
Students: 6(Int'l participants: 0)
Other

Total

124

Please describe the following 1 to 3.
1. Symposium Overview
The 9th IROAST symposium titled “Nano-organics and Nano-hybrids” was held on January 21st, 2022
online by the Zoom instead of planed a face-to-face international meeting at Kumamoto University, due
to the COVID-19 world crisis. This symposium involved ten invited lectures by Japanese researchers
from Hokkaido to Kagoshima. More than 120 participants including almost 80 students joined this
symposium.
Invited lectures: Y. Okazaki (Kyoto University), T. Harada (Oita University), Y. Kaneko (Kagoshima
University), S. Shiba (Ehime University) Y. Hasegawa (Hokkaido University), H. Yabu (Tohoku
University), A. Tanatani (Ochanomizu University), T. Taniguchi (Chiba University) T. Hirose (Kyoto
University), Y. Kuwahara (Kumamoto University)
Organizing committee members: Makoto Takafuji, Masashi Kunitake, Tsuyoshi Fukaminato, Soichiro
Yoshimoto, Satoshi Watanabe and Nanami Hano from Kumamoto Univ.

-230-

2. Symposium Outcomes and Future Plan (e.g. about contribution to the development of young
researchers and the initiation of international collaborative research aiming for the publication ofinternational collaborative papers, etc.)
The “Nano-organics and Nano-hybrids” research unit of IROAST has several international collaboration
research projects, with some grants, with researchers from France, China, Spain, Turkey, Bangladesh,
Lithuania and USA. These international collaborations will contribute to the development of young
researchers and graduate students at Kumamoto University, and the start of new international
collaborations with Kumamoto University.
3. Others

Makoto Takafuji,
Symposium organizer

Kazuki TAKASHIMA,
Director of the IROAST

Invited lectures-231-

IROAST Seminars
No.

1

Title

Organizer

The 77th IROAST Seminar -Discussion

Toshifumi Mukunoki

seminar for Study on particle and fluid

Professor, FAST

behaviors in granular materials using

Gioacchino Viggiani
Professor, UGA
Visiting Professor, IROAST

micro tomographyThe 78th ~ 81st IROAST Seminar 2

IROAST Research Unit ResearchPresentation Series FY2021 (1st3

Vision and Mapping toward Inspection
and Maintenance-

May 12, 2021

Kei Toda
Vice Director, IROAST

December 22, 2021
January 26, 2022
February 21, 2022
March 2, 2022

Makoto Kumon
Professor,FAST

January 7, 2022

Kazuki Takashima
Director, IROAST
Toshio Suda
Director, IRCMS

March 8, 2022

Session-4thSession)-

The 82nd IROAST Seminar -Robotic

Date

The 8th IRCMS-IROAST Joint Seminar(76th IRCMS Seminar/ 83rd IROAST
4

Seminar) -Creation of joint researches
which develops interdisciplinary
research fields-

IRCMS: International Research Center for Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University

FAST: Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology
UGA: 3SR, Grenoble University, Alps-232-

IROAST Seminar Report 1
Name

Toshifumi Mukunoki

Affiliation

X-Earth Center, Faculty of Advanced
Science and Technology

Name

Gioacchino Viggiani

Affiliation

3SR, Grenoble University, Alps(UGA)

Organizer 1

Organizer 2

Title

Professor

Title

Professor

Discussion seminar for Study on particle and fluid behaviors in granularmaterials using micro tomography

Seminar Title
Venue

Online seminar by Zoom

Time & Date

16:00-19:00, May 12, 2021
Professor Gioacchino Viggiani’s Lab
・Dr. Cyrille Couture, 3SR
・PhD candidate Gustavo Pinzón

Speaker’s Name/
Title/Affiliation

Number ofParticipants*Including speakers

Professor Mukunoki Toshifumi’s Lab
・PhD candidate Nohara Shintaro, Central Research Institute of Electric Power
Industry・Dr. Sato Takahiro, Technical Division, Faculty of Engineering, KU
Faculty: 6(Int'l participants: 0)
From KU
Students: 27(Int'l participants: 5)
Total
43
Faculty: 9(Int'l participants: 9)
From outside KU Students: 1(Int'l participants: 1)

1.Seminar Overview
Program of seminar
Time (CEST)

Time (JST)Talk

09:00-09:15

16:00-16:15

09:15-09:45

16:15-16:45

Opening
Prof. Kazuki Takashima (KU)
Prof. Gioacchino Viggiani (UGA)Prof. Toshifumi Mukunoki (KU)
Evaluation of particle structure evolution in shearing process using X-ray CT
Shintaro Nohara (KU)

09:45-10:15

16:45-17:15

Experimental study on 3D fingering of immiscible fluids in porous media
Cyrille Couture (UGA)

10:15-10:30

17:15-17:30

Break

10:30-11:00

17:30-18:00

11:00-11:30

18:00-18:30

11:30-12:00

18:30-19:00

An experimental study on the influence of grain shape on fabric andthe mechanical properties
Takahiro Sato (KU)
Strain localisation in inherently anisotropic granular materials measured
using x-ray tomography
Gustavo Pinzón (UGA)
Closing discussion
Prof. Gioacchino Viggiani-233-

Prof. Mukunoki took a charge of the entire seminar and so he was MC. Prof. Takashima, who was a
new director of IROAST gave his opening speech. Then, Prof. Viggiani reviewed the collaborated
activities of X-Earth center organized by Prof. Otani and 3SR and his activity as a visiting professor of
IROAST so far.
This seminar had two speakers from each and each of them gave 20-25 minutes presentation and 10
minutes discussion.
2. Seminar Outcomes and Future Plan
Of the four speakers, three (Mr. Nohara, Dr. Sato, and Mr. Gustavo) modeled soil particle shape as anellipsoid to obtain the movement (displacement and rotation) of particles under loading, and used it toevaluate the deformation behavior of granular materials more microscopically. We were able toexchange information on reference papers, and there was a suggestion to consider using each other's
image analysis methods to evaluate the same phenomenon, which may lead to joint research. In
addition, one of the other researchers (Dr. Cyrille) was studying the phenomenon of oil seepage in soil,
which was in line with Prof. Mukunoki's research theme, and we proposed to actively promote
discussions in the future.
3. Comments from Prof. Viggiani
It was a very fruitful and good seminar as both institutions were able to give suggestions and comments
on each other's research.
4. Others
At the end of the meeting, Prof. Mukunoki gave a short notice of IWX2021 to be held on December
7-8, 2021, and students who will be studying at Grenoble University from this September introduced
themselves, and the meeting ended peacefully.

Prof. Takashima (KU)
Director of IROAST

Prof. Viggiani (UGA)
Visiting professor of
IROAST

Prof. Mukunoki (KU)
Organizer

Prof. Otani (KU)
Trustee and Vice Presidentof Kumamoto University

Mr. Nohara (KU)

Dr. Couture (UGA)Dr. Sato (KU)

Mr. Pinzón (UGA)

Scene 1 of seminar

Scene 2 of seminar-234-

IROAST Seminar Report 2
Name

Kei Toda

Affiliation

IROAST

Organizer 1

Seminar Title
Venue

Time & Date

Speaker’s Name/
Title/Affiliation

Number ofParticipants*Including speakers

Title

Vice Director

The 78th ~ 81st IROAST Seminar-IROAST Research Unit Research Presentation Series FY2021Online seminar by Zoom
12:00-12:45 on;
December 22, 2021
January 26, 2022
February 21, 2022
March 2, 2022--The 78th seminar -Mitsuhiro Aida, Professor, IROAST
Makiko Kobayashi, Associate Professor, FAST
Ruda Lee, Associate Professor, IROAST--The 79th seminar -Mitsuru Sasaki, Associate Professor, IINa
Keitaro Takahashi, Professor, FAST
Takumi Higaki, Associate Professor, FAST--The 80th seminar -Kei Ishida, Associate Professor, CWMD
Atsushi Sainoki, Associate Professor, FAST
Shin-ichi Ohira, Professor, FAST--The 81st seminar -Gaochuang Cai, Associate Professor, IROAST
Yutaka Kuwahara, Assistant Professor, FAST
Hiroki Matsuo, Associate Professor, IROAST
Faculty: 48(Int'l participants: 7)
Students:
16
From KU(Int'l participants: 4)

Others: 24
Total
90
Faculty: 2(Int'l participants: 0)
From outside KU Students: 0(Int'l participants: 0)
The 78th ~ 81st IROAST Seminar entitled IROAST Research Unit Research Presentation Series
FY2021 were held from 12:00 to 12:45 between December 2021 to March 2022.
In this presentation series, 12 IROAST Research Unit representative speakers reported their work
progress and introduce their research.
The seminar was held 4 times. Though the seminars were held in remote in limited time, audiences
frequently asked questions and discussions were actively carried out. We were also able to confirm
the progress of young researchers' progresses. We could share the research results that are expected
to impact on future science and to be applied in advanced technology.
Recently, there have been few opportunities among IROAST researchers to get to know each otherbecause of the COVID-19 situation. However, the young research members could understand seeds
and aims of other members through this seminar.
It is expected that joint research will develop on this occasion. It is hoped that we will be able tohave face-to-face meetings or hybrid meetings soon next fiscal year.
-235-

Opening＆Closing

Kazuki Takashima,
Director of IROAST

Kei Toda
Vice-director of IROAST

The 78th seminar-236-

Prof. Aida, IROAST

Assoc. Prof. Kobayashi,
FAST

Assoc. Prof. Lee, IROAST

Prof. Takahashi, FAST

Assoc. Prof. Higaki, FAST

The 79th seminar

Assoc. Prof. Sasaki, IINa
The 80th seminar

Assoc. Prof. Ishida, CWMD

Prof. Ohira, FAST

Assoc. Prof. Sainoki, FAST

Assist. Prof. Ito, FAST
(from Sainoki Unit)

The 81st seminar

Assoc. Prof. Cai, IROAST

Assist. Prof. Kuwahara, FAST

-237-

Assoc. Prof. Matsuo,
IROASTIROAST Seminar Report 3
Name

Makoto Kumon

Affiliation

Faculty of Advanced Science and
Title
Technology

Organizer 1

Seminar Title
Venue
Time & Date
Speaker’s Name/
Title/Affiliation

Number ofParticipants*Including speakers

Professor

Robotic Vision and Mapping toward Inspection and Maintenance（The 82nd IROAST seminar）
Online seminar by Zoom
14:40-16:10, January 7, 2022
Tomonari Furukawa/Professor/University of Virginia

From KU

From outside KU

Faculty: 5(Int'l participants: 0)
Students: 17(Int'l participants: 5)
Others: 5
Faculty: 1(Int'l participants: 0)
Students: 0(Int'l participants: 0)

Total

28

1. Seminar Overview
The talk was about the framework of the robotic vision system to realize significantly accurate map of
the environment that is useful for not only the navigation but also for the industrial level inspection andmaintenance. The framework proposes multi-stage approach that consists of the coarse and rough but
global mapping step, and the fine and precise local mapping step.
The second half of the talk was about the novel accurate three-dimensional reconstruction method
using photometric-stereo approach. The method handles both speculator and diffusive reflection toprovide pixel resolution normal information of the surface, and the surface structure can be obtained byintegrating the normal distribution under mild assumptions.
2. Seminar Outcomes and Future Plan
Building Inspection and Maintenance (BIM) was a new viewpoint for the use of robotic systems in thepractical purposes, and the talk revealed how the academic works and approaches could be translated
into the industry. The host is certain that this talk broadened the participants’, especially young
researchers’ minds on their own researches.
Photometric-stereo based three-dimension reconstruction as a robot sensor is a novel approach, andsome of the students who attended the talk were interested in the technique, and there might be achance to initiate a new international collaborative project in the future.
3. Comments from the invited speaker
Since the seminar was held when the number of Omicron cases started to increase, most of theparticipants attended the seminar in a Zoom room. The hybrid arrangement resulted in success as thenumber of participants was larger than what we expected. The seminar also attracted international
students successfully. The speaker enjoyed the talk partly because his new ideas were shared withstudents and partly because some students showed interest in the presented approaches.
4. Others-238-

IROAST Seminar Report 4
Name

Kazuki Takashima

Affiliation

IROAST

Name

Toshio Suda

Affiliation

IRCMS

Organizer 1
Title

Director

Title

Director

Organizer 2

Seminar Title

The 8th IRCMS-IROAST Joint Seminar(76th IRCMS Seminar/ 83rd IROAST Seminar）“Creation of joint researches which develops interdisciplinary research fields”

Venue

Online seminar by Zoom

Time & Date

13:30-15:20, March 8, 2022

Speaker’s Name/
Title/Affiliation

Number ofParticipants*Including speakers

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Hidenobu Mizuno, Associate Professor, IRCMS
Yuichiro Arima, Associate Professor, IRCMS
Guojun Sheng, Professor, IRCMS
Kenichi Miharada, Professor, IRCMS
Hiroki Matsuo, Associate Professor, IROAST
Faculty: 32(Int'l participants: 7)
Students:
12
From KU(Int'l participants: 7)

From outside KU

Others: 7
Faculty: 0(Int'l participants: 0)
Students: 0(Int'l participants: 0)

Total

51

1. Seminar Overview
The 8th IRCMS-IROAST Joint Seminar (76th IRCMS Seminar/ 83rd IROAST Seminar)“Creation of joint researches which develops interdisciplinary research fields” was held from 13:30
to 15:20 on March 8, 2022.
Since their establishment, both IROAST and IRCMS have been actively engaged in joint researchthat takes advantage of their respective strengths, and have contributed to enhancing theinternational presence and reputation of the University.
It goes without saying that there are many unexplored research seeds lying dormant in theboundary areas of research fields such as life science and engineering.
In order to discover such valuable research seeds, we have supported joint research groups
consisting of researchers in the life sciences and natural sciences with financial support from the
President and have achieved significant results to date. The results have been reported anddemonstrated in seminars held seven times in the past.
In this seminar, in addition to presentations from the joint research groups, new researchseeds that will lead to future collaborations were presented. The names of the researchers and theirresearch titles are listed below in the attached flyer.
2. Seminar Outcomes and Future Plan
The seminar was jointly organized by Prof. Toshio Suda, Director of the International
Research Center for Medical Sciences (IRCMS) and Prof. Kazuki Takashima, the director ofInternational Research Organization for Advanced Science and Technology (IROAST). We haveheld eight seminars so far, but this seminar was the last. We have achieved a number of results
during this period. We would like to further expand the medical-industrial collaboration based on
the past cooperation.
3. Comments-239-

Like last year, the seminar was held online due to the expansion of COVID-19 infection, but
active discussions were conducted and the advantages of online were put to good use.

Opening address:
Kazuki Takashima,
Director, IROAST

MC1: Guojun Sheng,
Professor, IRCMS-240-

MC2: Kei Toda,
Vice Director, IROAST

Hidenobu Mizuno,
Associate Professor, IRCMS

Kenichi Miharada,
Professor, IRCMS

Yuichiro Arima,
Associate Professor, IRCMS

Guojun Sheng,
Professor, IRCMS

Hiroki Matsuo,
Associate Professor, IROAST

Closing address:
Hitoshi Takizawa,
Vice Director, IRCMS-241-