To develop an autonomous power generation technology to support an internet-of-things (IoT) society, we proposed low-cost and nontoxic Fe−Al−Si-based thermoelectric (FAST) materials consisting of an Fe 3 Al 2 Si 3 phase. Because of the cost-effectiveness and easy disposal of FAST materials, they are attractive for autonomous power supplies to drive IoT sensors and devices. While bismuth−tellurium-based thermoelectric power generation modules have been commercialized, the discovery of FAST materials opens an additional route to generate power from waste heat at room temperature under a small temperature difference, which will expand the diversity of applications of thermoelectric power generation modules. This paper reports the thermoelectric properties of FAST materials synthesized by conventional laboratory-scale synthesis and mass production processes, enhancement of power factor less than 600 K through homogenization and removal of metallic precipitations, development of thermoelectric power generation modules, and the results of power generation tests. The operation of temperature/humidity sensors and wireless transmission by Bluetooth low energy communication using FAST materials-based modules under a small temperature difference at room temperature was demonstrated.

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This paper summarizes beliefs and values about child-rearing and education in Japan at a time when direct Western influence was minimal. The chief materials for the analysis are documents written by experts of those times for the general public. Japanese writers argued that children are innately good rather than evil; environmental factors rather than innate ones account for differences among children; and children are autonomous learning beings rather than passive to experience. Goals were related either to maintenance of harmonious human relationships or to faithful performance of one's assigned task. The basic method of training was to observe children's maturation and assign age-appropriate tasks to them. Young infants were conceived as competent beings in the sensory and perceptual domain, but they were also thought to be unstable and fragile. Observational learning and internal regulation of behavior by older children were emphasized. Up to the age of seven, adults did not deal with boys and girls differently; both sexes were treated permissively, even indulgently.

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