Physical Zero-Knowledge Proofs for Akari, Takuzu, Kakuro and KenKen

Akari, Takuzu, Kakuro and KenKen are logic games similar to Sudoku. In Akari, a labyrinth on a grid has to be lit by placing lanterns, respecting various constraints. In Takuzu a grid has to be filled with 0's and 1's, while respecting certain constraints. In Kakuro a grid has to be filled with numbers such that the sums per row and column match given values; similarly in KenKen a grid has to be filled with numbers such that in given areas the product, sum, difference or quotient equals a given value. We give physical algorithms to realize zero-knowledge proofs for these games which allow a player to show that he knows a solution without revealing it. These interactive proofs can be realized with simple office material as they only rely on cards and envelopes. Moreover, we formalize our algorithms and prove their security.Comment: FUN with algorithms 2016, Jun 2016, La Maddalena, Ital

A Study on the Sports Industry in Edo: Preface to a Study of the History of the Sports Industry in Early Modern Japan

This study discusses what sorts of industries developed in Edo during the early modern period and their characteristics, with a specific look at the sports industry. The results of this study are as follows. 1. In the 17th century, the sports industry in Edo targeted the ruling samurai class. Samurai in Edo were fond of sumo tournaments and archery exhibition competitions; both were heavily influenced by the Kyoto area (then the capital). At the time, traditions carried on since the Middle Ages remained strong in the world of sports. 2. At the end of the 17th century, various urban sports industries targeting ordinary people arose as a result of a sharp increase in the number and economic clout of ordinary people in Edo. The manufacture and sale of sports equipment flourished, and the sports venue industry (supplying venues for events such as benefit sumo tournaments and archery games) also grew. 3. At the start of the 19th century, popular culture flourished, and the sports industry in Edo matured. The massive population of Edo, the increased economic clout of ordinary people, and the preservation of domestic tranquillity promoted the further development of the urban sports industry. As the money economy of the city spread to farming villages in the countryside, the wave of Edo’s sports industry reached the countryside, as exemplified by travelling benefit sumo tournaments

Recast and Elicitation: The Effectiveness of Corrective Feedback on Japanese Language Learners

This paper examines the effectiveness of corrective feedback on learners of the Japanese language. The current study had a total of 25 students who agreed to participate, consisting of both advanced and intermediate levels. There are six main types of corrective feedback established and defined by Lyster and Ranta (1997), this study focused on two particular types, recast (a category of implicit) and elicitation (a category of prompt). Comparing a particular feedback or a category of feedback with another has been one of the ongoing topics in the field of second language (L2) learning. The present study is intended to examine which feedback works better for the learners in terms of repairing their mistakes and to investigate which learner group shows a better effect on each feedback. The results suggest that elicitation is more beneficial to L2 learners than recast in reformulating their utterance. The reason for this is likely that elicitation is not as implicit as recast; thus, the learners had a better opportunity to notice elicitation that was given when they made a mistake. Interestingly, this outcome also provided a comparison between the advanced and intermediate groups. Both repaired their mistakes more after elicitation was given, but the advanced group did better. Since each group displayed almost the same moderate rate of repairing for recast, what truly differentiated one group from the other was elicitation. This result suggests that learners who have more knowledge of the target language will benefit from elicitation

Campaign Speeches and Public Acceptance in Contemporary Japan

Éste es un estudio de los discursos de campaña de dos políticos japoneses durante las elecciones del House of Councilors (Cámara Baja) en el verano de 2010. Aunque el lenguaje "de la información" ("report-talk") utilizado en asuntos de estado aún lo utilizan políticos experimentados, un nuevo estilo de "rapport-talk" (lenguaje "de la afinidad") ha surgido en la escena política japonesa. Este estilo que tiene como finalidad enfatizar las emociones y la empatía ha sido aceptado con entusiasmo por el ciudadano japonés. Esto sugiere que el discurso político japonés está en un periodo de transición

Aesthetics of Japanese Convenience Stores: From the Point of “Eating Alone”

Convenience stores in Japan have a history of over 40 years. It is thought that they have greatly influenced Japanese ways of life. However, convenience stores are rarely the subject of research in aesthetics. This may be because convenience stores are bright and transparent, incompatible with traditional Japanese aesthetics of shadow in close proximity to light. They are also accused of selling so-called "convenience food," one of the causes of unhealthy "solitary eating," or “eating alone.” From this point of view the food comics Hitori Gohan (Eating Alone) sold at convenience stores is interesting because the subject of solitary eating is the exact problem of convenience stores. Does Hitori Gohan show darkness or shadows of convenience stores? My hypothesis is that Hitori Gohan contains light, not just darkness of solitude. After testing this hypothesis directly against the manga and its readers, I conclude what the aesthetic stance is in today’s Japanese conven-ience stores in comparison to sabi, a Japanese traditional aesthetic value, and its contemporary version, mabusabi, which closely relate to the solitude

Mobile Application for Scanning Hitori from Newspapers and Finishing It

Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá vývojem mobilní aplikace s prvky počítačového vidění a umělé inteligence, která je určena pro operační systém Android. Aplikace slouží pro naskenování hry Hitori z fotografie a její následné dohrání v mobilním zařízení. Navíc tato aplikace poskytuje nápovědu, navrácení změny nebo znázornění porušení pravidel hry. Pro zpracování obrazu je použita knihovna OpenCV, pro samotné rozpoznání číslic pak knihovna Tesseract. Naskenované hry jsou ukládány do databáze, která je implementována pomocí knihovny Room. Správné řešení Hitori je hledáno kombinací algoritmu backtracking (zpětného vyhledávání) a známých technik pro řešení této hry. Výsledná aplikace je dostupná na Google Play pod názvem Hitori Scan & Play.This bachelor's thesis deals with development of mobile application with elements of computer vision and artificial intelligence, which is designed for Android operating system. The application is used for scanning Hitori from photo and then finishing it  on a mobile device. Moreover, this application provides hint, undo or shows a violation of rules of the game. The OpenCV library is used for image processing, Tesseract library is used for digits recognition. Scanned games are stored in a database, which is implemented using Room library. Hitori solution is found by combination of backtracking algorithm and known techniques for solving this game. The final application is available on Google Play and is named Hitori Scan & Play.