Topic: Japan/Science and technology

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πŸ”— Poka-yoke

πŸ”— Business πŸ”— Engineering πŸ”— Japan πŸ”— Japan/Science and technology πŸ”— Japan/Business and economy

Poka-yoke (ポカヨケ, [poka yoke]) is a Japanese term that means "mistake-proofing" or "inadvertent error prevention". A poka-yoke is any mechanism in any process that helps an equipment operator avoid (yokeru) mistakes (poka). Its purpose is to eliminate product defects by preventing, correcting, or drawing attention to human errors as they occur. The concept was formalised, and the term adopted, by Shigeo Shingo as part of the Toyota Production System. It was originally described as baka-yoke, but as this means "fool-proofing" (or "idiot-proofing") the name was changed to the milder poka-yoke.

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πŸ”— Mojibake

πŸ”— Technology πŸ”— Linguistics πŸ”— Japan πŸ”— Japan/Science and technology πŸ”— Japan/CJKV

Mojibake (Japanese: ζ–‡ε­—εŒ–γ‘; IPA:Β [modΝ‘Κ‘ibake]) is the garbled text that is the result of text being decoded using an unintended character encoding. The result is a systematic replacement of symbols with completely unrelated ones, often from a different writing system.

This display may include the generic replacement character ("οΏ½") in places where the binary representation is considered invalid. A replacement can also involve multiple consecutive symbols, as viewed in one encoding, when the same binary code constitutes one symbol in the other encoding. This is either because of differing constant length encoding (as in Asian 16-bit encodings vs European 8-bit encodings), or the use of variable length encodings (notably UTF-8 and UTF-16).

Failed rendering of glyphs due to either missing fonts or missing glyphs in a font is a different issue that is not to be confused with mojibake. Symptoms of this failed rendering include blocks with the code point displayed in hexadecimal or using the generic replacement character. Importantly, these replacements are valid and are the result of correct error handling by the software.

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πŸ”— Utau – a Japanese singing synthesizer application

πŸ”— Software πŸ”— Software/Computing πŸ”— Musical Instruments πŸ”— Electronic music πŸ”— Japan πŸ”— Japan/Science and technology

UTAU is a Japanese singing synthesizer application created by Ameya/Ayame. This program is similar to the VOCALOID software, with the difference being it is shareware instead of under a third party licensing.

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πŸ”— Seki Takakazu

πŸ”— Biography πŸ”— Mathematics πŸ”— Astronomy πŸ”— Japan πŸ”— Japan/Science and technology πŸ”— Japan/Biography

Seki Takakazu (ι–’ ε­ε’Œ, 1642 – December 5, 1708), also known as Seki Kōwa (ι–’ ε­ε’Œ), was a Japanese mathematician and author of the Edo period.

Seki laid foundations for the subsequent development of Japanese mathematics known as wasan; and he has been described as "Japan's Newton".

He created a new algebraic notation system and, motivated by astronomical computations, did work on infinitesimal calculus and Diophantine equations. A contemporary of German polymath mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Leibniz and British mathematician Isaac Newton, Seki's work was independent. His successors later developed a school dominant in Japanese mathematics until the end of the Edo period.

While it is not clear how much of the achievements of wasan are Seki's, since many of them appear only in writings of his pupils, some of the results parallel or anticipate those discovered in Europe. For example, he is credited with the discovery of Bernoulli numbers. The resultant and determinant (the first in 1683, the complete version no later than 1710) are attributed to him. These achievements are astonishing, considering that Japanese mathematics before his appearance was at such a primitive stage. For example, comprehensive introduction of 13th century Chinese algebra was made as late as 1671, by Kazuyuki Sawaguchi.

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πŸ”— Ichiki Shirō

πŸ”— Biography πŸ”— Biography/arts and entertainment πŸ”— Japan πŸ”— Photography πŸ”— Japan/History πŸ”— Japan/Science and technology πŸ”— Photography/History of photography πŸ”— Japan/Biography

Ichiki Shirō (εΈ‚ζ₯ ε››ιƒŽ, January 29, 1828 – February 12, 1903) was a pioneering Japanese photographer.

Ichiki was born in Satsuma Province (now Kagoshima Prefecture) in Kyūshū on 24 December 1828. He excelled in the study of topics related to gunpowder production in the Takashima-ryū school of gunnery. This talent was recognized by Shimazu Nariakira, the daimyō of Satsuma, who selected Ichiki to be one of his personal retainers. In 1848, Shimazu obtained the first daguerreotype camera ever imported into Japan. Ever fascinated by Western technology, he ordered his retainers (including Ichiki) to study it and produce working photographs. Due to the limitations of the lens used and the lack of formal training, it took many years for a quality photograph to be created, but on 17 September 1857, Ichiki created a portrait of Shimazu in formal attire. All this was recorded in detail in Ichiki's memoirs, which were compiled in 1884.

This photograph became an object of worship in Terukuni jinja after Shimazu's death, but it later went missing. Lost for a century, the daguerreotype was discovered in a warehouse in 1975 and was later determined to be the oldest daguerreotype in existence that was created by a Japanese photographer. For this reason, it was designated an Important Cultural Property by the government of Japan in 1999, the first photograph so designated.

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πŸ”— Karōshi, death by overwork

πŸ”— Medicine πŸ”— Death πŸ”— Health and fitness πŸ”— Japan πŸ”— Medicine/Society and Medicine πŸ”— Japan/Culture πŸ”— Japan/Science and technology

Karoshi (過労死, Karōshi), which can be translated literally as "overwork death" in Japanese, is occupational sudden mortality. The major medical causes of karoshi deaths are heart attack and stroke due to stress and a starvation diet. This phenomenon is also widespread in other parts of Asia.

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