Department of Food and Energy Systems Science

Each academic staff (professor) has their own research group.

Department of Bio-Functions and Systems Science

Functional Designing of Materials

OGINO, Kenji

• Profile

• Ogino Group

Degree

Dr. Eng.

Research Area

Functional Designing of Materials

Keywords

Semiconducting polymers, Block copolymers, Nanostructure control

e-mail

kogino (@) cc.tuat.ac.jp

Semiconducting block copolymers are synthesized and characterized for electroluminescent, photovoltaic and photorefractive applications. Characteristics of devices based on block copolymers are discussed from the view point of nanostructures resulting from self-assembly in thin films.

Z. Cao, Y. Abe, T. Nagahama, K. Tsuchiya, K. Ogino, “Synthesis and characterization of polytriphenylamine based graft polymers for photorefractive application”, Polymer, 54 (1), 269-276 (2013)
Y. Tan, Z. Gu, K. Tsuchiya, K. Ogino,” Synthesis and luminescent properties of block copolymers based on polyfluorene and polytriphenylamine”, Polymer, 53 (7), 1444-1452 (2012)
Z. Gu, T. Kanto, K. Tsuchiya, T. Shimomura, K. Ogino,” Annealing effect on performance and morphology of photovoltaic devices based on poly(3-hexylthiophene)-b-poly(ethylene oxide)”,Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, 49 (12), 2645-2652 (2011)

NAGATSU, Yuichiro

• Profile

• Nagatsu Group

Degree

Dr. Eng.

Research Area

Functional Designing of Materials

Keywords

Viscous fingering, Interfacial rheology, Enhanced oil recovery

e-mail

nagatsu (@) cc.tuat.ac.jp

Functional Application of Materials

QIAN, Eika W.

• Profile

• Qian Group

Degree

Dr. Eng.

Research Area

Functional Application of Materials

Keywords

Catalyst, Petroleum hydrotreating, Biomass utilization

e-mail

whqian (@) cc.tuat.ac.jp

Research on production of clean energy and materials from fossil fuels, and biomass. Development of catalysts for high utilization of petroleum to produce clean fuel oil and valuable chemicals. Development of processes and catalysts to produce bio-ethanol and bio-diesel, and bio-materials using catalyst and enzyme from biomass.

S. Gong, N. Chen, S. Nakayama, E. W. Qian, Isomerization of n-Alkanes Derived from Jatropha Oil over Bifunctional Catalysts, Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, 370, 14– 21 (2013).
S. Li, E. W. Qian, M. Hosomi, T. Fukunaga, Preparation of sulfo group bearing mesoporous silica-based solid acid catalysts and its application in direct saccharification, Journal of Chemical Engineering of Japan, Vol. 45, No. 7, 1-9 (2012).
E. W. Qian, T. Horio, I. P. Sutrisna, Temperature-Programmed Elimination of Tritium in Coal Labeled by Tritiated Gaseous Hydrogen, Energy Fuels, , 23(3), 1583-1590 (2009).

INASAWA, Susumu

• Profile

• Inasawa Group

Degree

Dr. Eng.

Research Area

Functional Application of Materials

Keywords

Kinetics in reaction and drying, Silicon materials, Film formation by drying

e-mail

inasawa (@) cc.tuat.ac.jp

Reaction and drying are commonly-used processes in industrial production. Our main concern is formation kinetics of “solids” in these processes because large production rate generally degrades the quality of products. How to increase production rate of functional materials in an efficient way? That is our target.

K. Yamaguchi, S. Inasawa and Y. Yamaguchi “Growth kinetics of needle-like silicon wires formed via the zinc reduction reaction of silicon tetrachloride.” Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2012, 116, 19978-19983.
S. Inasawa and Y. Yamaguchi “Self-organized pattern formation of cracks perpendicular to the drying direction of a colloidal suspension.” Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 2416-2422.
N. Uesawa, S. Shen, S. Inasawa, A. Miyoshi and Y. Yamaguchi “Kinetic study on gas phase zinc reduction of silicon tetrachloride.” Chemical Engineering Journal, 2011, 168, 889-895.

Functional Analysis of Materials

HASHIMOTO, Yohey

• Profile

• Hashimoto Group

Degree

Ph. D.

Research Area

Functional Analysis of Materials

Keywords

Enviromental soil science

e-mail

yhashim（@）cc.tuat.ac.jp

Research and analysis of the the chemical state at the molecular level of the harmful and nutrition elements in the soil.In order for plants and microorganisms to take up elements from the soil, the elements should be dissolved in the soil, but the chemical state of those elements will decide how ease the melt. For example, arsenic is known for toxic metals which present in the chemical state of trivalent [arsenite] and pentavalent [arsenic]. The trivalent, which high in toxic is easy to move in the enviroment than pentavalent.If the chemical state of the element is known, it can lead to the elucidation of the machanism of the absorption and toxicity in the enviroment and organisms.We are working on the analysis og the elemental state of soil and water at the molecular level, dynamics of the elements in the enviroment, the development of high-performance fertilizer which is easily absorbed by the plant, as well as enviromental remediation technology.

Biological Measurement Systems

MASUDA, Kouji

• Profile

• Masuda Group

Degree

Doctor of Engineering

Research Area

Biological Measurement Systems

Keywords

Biomedical Engineering, Acoustic Engineering, Medical Image Processing, Medical Robotics

e-mail

masuda_k（@）cc.tuat.ac.jp

The goal for this laboratory is "the combination of hardware and software of the ultrasonic medical care in the future". We aim to develop the intensive care of effected parts inside the patients body by utilizing the drug transmission treatment and local gene therapy. This is done by forming the combination of radiation force of ultrasonic waves that generated in the vascular structure in the body which have possibility to control the microbubbles in the bloodstream.In this laboratory, we conducted a wide range of research area in order to achieve our goal. Such as the image processing as well as the foundation of interfaces for organ observations, robotics techniques for imparting a reliable therapeutic procedures and also electronic-information-machine across the medical field.

Biomedical Photonics

IWAI, Toshiaki

• Profile

• Iwai Group

Degree

Doctor of Engineering

Research Area

Biomedical Photonics

Keywords

Biomedical Optics, Biophotonics, Enviromental Measurement, Physical and Chemical Measurement

e-mail

tiwai（@）cc.tuat.ac.jp

We can look the color at things around us because the light is scattered in the substance. Phenomenon of light scattering study has been carried out over a wide dynamic range to measurement of single nanoparticles from the familiar natural phenomena represented by the blue of the sky and the seven colors of the rainbow. In this research lab , we study from the standpoint physical optically scattering phenomena of light from a variety of materials, and aim for front line of the development in measurement technology.We are aiming to establish the dynamic light-scattering method. For example, the skin function of human is measured using the OCT method spectral imaging which diffused light topography for 3D vascularity imaging, such as low-coherence dynamic light-scattering method for the super rich quality colorglation. Furthermore, we have developed a multi-beam manipulation techniques, in order to analyze the intracellular networking.

Environmental Monitoring Systems

AKAI, Nobuyuki

• Profile

• Akai Group

Degree

Ph. D.

Research Area

Environmental Monitoring Systems

Keywords

Molecular structure, Low temperature chemistry, Reaction intermediate, Photochemistry

e-mail

akain (@) cc.tuat.ac.jp

Our group is studying accurate chemical reactions and mechanisms in atmosphere using several vibrational spectroscopies with aids of quantum chemical calculations. Vaporization mechanism of ionic liquids is another research topic.
N. Akai et al.“"Matrix-isolation infrared spectra of HOOBr and HOBrO produced upon VUV light irradiation of HBr/O2/Ne system" Chemical Physics Letters . 499, 117-120 (2010).
N. Akai et al."Cryogenic Neon Matrix-Isolation FTIR Spectroscopy of Evaporated Ionic Liquids: Geometrical Structure of Cation-Anion 1:1 Pair in the Gas phase", Journal of Physical Chemistry B , 113, 4756-4762 (2009).
N. Akai et al."First Observation of the Matrix-isolated FTIR Spectrum of Vaporized Ionic Liquid: An Example of EmimTFSI, 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide" Chemistry Letters 37, 256-257 (2008).

Bio-modeled Sensory Systems

FUJINAMI, Kaori

• Profile

• Fujinami Group

Degree

Ph. D in Computer Science

Research Area

Bio-modeled Sensory Systems

Keywords

Ubiquitous Computing, Human-Computer Interaction, Real World Computing, Internet of Things (IoT)

e-mail

fujinami（@）cc.tuat.ac.jp

Our research interests mainly exist in Ubiquitous Computing, or more recent words Internet of Things (IoT) with special focus on human centered design. We aim to investigate technologies for obtaining physical worlds (sensing and modeling) and those for feedback to the users so that applications could give full play their abilities. Besides technology elements, we explore applications that address practical issues or add extra values by leveraging computing technologies in our daily environments such as home, school, and town.

Keita Ichihashi and Kaori Fujinami; “Estimating Visibility of Annotations for View Management in Spatial Augmented Reality Based on Machine-Learning Techniques”, Sensors 2019, Vol. 19, No. 4, Article No. 939, February 2019.
Kaori Fujinami, Mami Kosaka, and Bipin Indurkhya; “Painting an Apple with an Apple: A Tangible Tabletop Interface for Painting with Physical Objects”, Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT), Vol. 2, Issue 4, Article No. 162, December 2018.
Satoshi Murata, Masanori Suzuki, and Kaori Fujinami; “A Wearable Projector-based Gait Assistance System and its Application for Elderly People”, In Proceedings of the 2013 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp’13), pp. 143-152, September 2013.

KOMIYA, Kanako

• Profile

• Komiya Group

Degree

Ph.D.

Research Area

Natural language processing

Keywords

Word sense disambiguation, information extraction, domain adaptation, transfer learning

e-mail

kkomiya(@)go.tuat.ac.jp

Natural language processing is processing of languages such as English and Japanese using computers. This research area is included in research on artificial intelligence. We use machine learning, a technique where computers automatically find some rules from many examples. Our main tasks are word sense disambiguation and information extraction. In addition, we focus on research on domain adaptation and transfer learning, which are the techniques to improve system performance when there are few data on a certain domain but there are many data on domains close to the domain. For example, we develop systems for blogs using newspapers and systems for old documents using contemporary documents.

Environmental Mechanical Systems

ISHIDA, Hiroshi

• Profile

• Ishida Group

Degree

Doctor of Engineering

Research Area

Environmental Mechanical Systems

Keywords

Robotics, Sensors, Olfactory, Virtual Reality

e-mail

h_ishida（@）cc.tuat.ac.jp

Male moth able to follow and search the smell of sec pheromone that transmitted by female moth from a distance. Meanwhile, crayfish and crab use the keen sense of smell in the dark bottom of a lake or ocean to locate the foods. In our laboratory, we have developed the world's first robot to locate the source of the gas smell based on the behaviour of organisms follow the smell. We have developed a olfactory robot which sensing variety of systems, for the applications in gas leak detection and hazardous materials searching. In addtion, we are also working on the development of technology to reproduce a virtual reality system on the olfactory information. We also make collaboration with other oversea laboratories, in order to promote research and eduation.

IKEGAMI, Takashi

• Profile

• Ikegami Group

Degree

Doctor of Engineering

Research Area

Environmental Mechanical Systems

Keywords

Energy management, Renewable energy, Power system operation

e-mail

iket（@）cc.tuat.ac.jp

To establish a sustainable energy supply system, large-scale deployment of renewable energy generation, especially photovoltaics (PV) and wind power generation, is expected all over the world. Since it is difficult to store large amounts of electricity, power stations are operated to produce electricity at the time it is needed. PV generation and wind power generation are characterized by seasonal and hourly variations as well as irregular fluctuations caused by changes in the weather. Therefore, we need to solve various technical problems to maintain a stable power supply at the present level. In that, in the local distribution system, we must account for the excessive voltage increase, whereas in the entire power system, we must account for difficulties with the supply-demand balance control or changes in frequency. In our laboratory, we study about home energy management systems (HEMS) to activate residential power demand, as shown in Figure. To achieve a supply-demand balance in future power systems, it is imperative that we should not only apply pumped-storage power generation or large-scale batteries on the supply side but also activate residential power usage, storage, and generation on the demand side. And, we also study social mechanisms contributing to promote HEMS using the methods of system analysis.

Biological and Environmental Applciation Systems

UEDA, Yuki

• Profile

• Ueda Group

Degree

Doctor of Engineering

Research Area

Biological and Environmental Applciation Systems

Keywords

Thermoacoustic Engineering, Physical Acoustics

e-mail

uedayuki（@）cc.tuat.ac.jp

When sound wave propagates through the narrow tube, the fluid in the tube is subjected to heat exchange with the tube wall due to the pressure fluctuation to sound waves. By making use of the sound that exchange to heat power, it also look like a car engine which exchange the heat to work and the refrigerator at home which exchange the energy conversion from heat to work. Rather use the sound waves to a mechanical mechanism such as in refrigerator valve or piston, thermoacoustic engine refrigerator, we used the pressure fluctuation in sound waves, and it will make most of the part does not move. In our laboratory, we conducted researches on high efficiency and understanding the operation mechanism of refrigerator thermoacoustic engine.

OKANO, Taiji

• Okano Group

Degree

Doctor of Science

Research Area

Biological and Environmental Applciation Systems

Keywords

Microfluidic device, Artificial cell model, Synchronization

e-mail

okano（@）go.tuat.ac.jp

“Lifelikeness” is created by the high-level and elaborate interaction of biomolecules such as DNA and proteins. As it is unlikely that primitive organisms originally possessed such a mechanism, it is speculated that physical phenomena may have greatly influenced the determination of primitive cell behavior. Based on micro engineering, our laboratory utilizes knowledge in nonequilibrium physics and synthetic biology to investigate physical phenomena hidden deep in life phenomena, and explore physically possible scenarios where “lifelikeness” is generated from non-living things with the aim of constructing a physical model of cells.

Biomass Production and Utilization Systems

KAJITA, Shinya

• Profile

• Kajita Group

Degree

Doctor of Agriculture

Research Area

Biomass Production and Utilization Systems

Keywords

Plant engineering, Cell engineering

e-mail

kajita（@）cc.tuat.ac.jp

Plants develop unique ability to respond to changes in the internal and external enviroment because it is imposible for plants to grow and moving like human. Morphogenesis of individuals plants are developed for the response to stress that receive under poor growth enviroment, will developed the function of defence against pests and diseases. From the revealing of the expression mechanisms of such plant-scientefic function, we hope it may be the clue for solving the enviromental and resource problems. In our laboratory, we analyze a variety of metabolic functions of plant cells, such as trees contribute to the recources of plants and biomass contribute to enviroment cleanup for the development of the new plant.

SUZUKI, Takeshi

• Profile

• Suzuki Group

Degree

Doctor of Agriculture

Research Area

Biomass Production and Utilization Systems

Keywords

Insect physiology, Plant Acarology, Environmental Control Engineering

e-mail

tszk (@) cc.tuat.ac.jp

Agricultural pests cause estimated crop losses of about 30% despite pest control measures, causing a major bottleneck in food production. To reduce this bottleneck, we focus on the hard-to-control spider mites, using environmental and genetic engineering techniques to develop novel control applications. Three applications are currently under development: disturbance of pest mite behavior by controlling physical environments; effective utilization of natural enemies; and development of RNAi-based sprayable pesticides. We aim to develop novel measures and to improve conventional measures for controlling spider mites, to enhance integrated pest management, and to expand integrated pest management to integrated biodiversity management in agroecosystems. By combining agricultural and engineering approaches, we are pursuing the goal of sustainable management of agricultural pests to increase food production.

Environmentally Sustainable Production Systems