Welcome speech

Dear IWX2022 participants,

First of all, I would like to welcome all participants for the 8th international workshop on X-ray CT visualization for Socio-Cultural Engineering & Environmental Materials, 2021 (IWX 2021) which is held with online on December 7th – 8th in 2021. The subtitle of this workshop is “Challenge to Medicine, Science-Engineering Collaboration”. CT scanner is a tool to visualize the inside of materials using X-rays, and it can be used in several fields. It is said that “innovation begins with the fusion of different disciplines”, and I believe that this workshop can be a place to provide a springboard for the fusion and lay a foundation for innovation.

Originally, GeoX center was established in 2006. In 2008, the scope of CT applications was expanded from the geo-environment to include the aquatic environment and materials engineering, and the name was changed from GeoX Center to X-Earth Center (X-ray CT on Eco, Aqua and Resource Technology). In addition, with the introduction of the microfocus X-ray CT scanner in 2010, our X-ray CT activities have become more interdisciplinary. Our activities have been enriched both nationally and internationally with the addition of archaeologists and paleontologists as members. The X-Earth Center was selected as a Core Project B in 2010 in Kumamoto University, and we had been able to gain further research achievements and expand our activities. In 2016, the X-Earth Center completed its mission as a Core Formation Research B, and has been working within the framework of the newly established International Research Organization for Advanced Scienced and Technology (IROAST) so far.

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 which have been in operation since April, 2021. So now X-Earth center can use three different kinds of CT devise. 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 an environment that allows various mechanical experiments to be performed in the CT chamber. Then, the nano-focused X-ray CT scanner is a device that can also be called a 3D X-ray microscope with nano-scale 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 and abroad with this kind of research environment. Our research activity using these newly introduced CTs has just begun. In 2021, we organized the 8th IWX by using online system. We had presenters from France, Czech, Korea and New Zealand. For European friends, we managed the schedule so we could make good communication through online system. 

The 9th IWX will be held in person finally due to keeping a safe environment and protect all participants from COVID-19. Partially, still we will use online system in IWX2022 to involve oversea friends like France, Germany, Indonesia,  Vietnam and Korea in this time. Kumamoto has good foods and drinks so we hope that people will come to Kumamoto will enjoy several Kumamoto’s culture as much as possible. The fun party at Kumamoto will be just postponed, so let’s see the next chance.  Hopefully, friends in Europe and Asia could see each other. We hope that all participants have fruitful discussions on interdisciplinary research issues. I am sure that you will become a witness to a new direction in your research field by using X-ray CT technology.

Best wishes