Junior Eco-Club is a support measure for environmental conservation activities or environmental studies for children in Japan. It has an influence on children's environmental consciousness and action. It is also considered that Junior Eco-Club may also have a direct or indirect influence on supporting and other relating adults' environmental consciousness and action. In this study, a questionnaire for residents (adults) in Nagano City, which is a town with an advanced environmental strategy, was carried out to determine the effect of Junior Eco-Clubs on residents' environmental consciousness and action. The results indicate that a Junior Eco-Club is raising the environmental consciousness and action of women in their 40’s in Nagano City.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify the problem of the planting ground and the effect of ring-shaped application of compost on growth in unsuccessful Prunus jamasakura plantation. We investigated soil profiles and chemical characteristics, microbial activity, hardness, permeability of the soil, leaf SPAD value, vitality, relative height, relative diameter at breast height, and the relative crown width of trees. As a result we found that this study site was always in an infertile soil condition for the planting trees because of the removal of forest top soil. This study indicated that the ring-shaped application of compost could improve planting ground just as well as a mixed A and B layer of forest soil. It was shown that the measurement of leaf SPAD value during summer is effective to evaluate tree growth planting.

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In order to examine agricultural channels from the aspect of migration hindrances to creatures such as frogs that perform terrestrial migration, it is critical to investigate locomotive abilities of those creatures that inhabit paddy field areas with agricultural channels. In this study, I investigated horizontal and vertical jumping abilities of Japanese Tree frog (Hyla japonica), Black-spotted pond frog (Rana nigromaculata), Montane Brown frog (Rana ornativentris), and Wrinkled frog (Rana rugosa). In the horizontal jumping tests. Montane Brown frog showed the maximum score of 980 mm and Black-spotted pond frog showed the maximum score of 450mm in vertical jumping tests. Japanese Tree frog showed the minimum scores in both categories. Based on the results, we proposed ideal dimensions of agricultural channels for frogs to live with. Each frog was able to consider becoming a factor of migration hindrances and population loss on a scale of the channel more than 300*150mm in the period of sub-adult.

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In order to prevent the expansion of bamboo forests, possibility of sustainable use of column for fuel and management of bamboo forests on the basis of the estimation of weight and volume of bamboo culm was investigated. The column density, raw weight, dry weight, apparent culm volume and culm volume was 10,460 ha^-1, 247.3t ha^-1, 120.5t ha^-1, 563.3 m³ ha^-1 and 234.2 m³ ha^-1, respectively. The dry weight of culm in Awaji Island was estimated to be 320,599 t. The culm volume recovered in eight years after having felled the bamboo by 50% density. The amount of culm consumption was 2.0t/year when the boiler was used twice a week. It seems that the selective cutting of intervals of 8 year seems to lead the sustainable use and management of bamboo forests.

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Rapid urbanization of Ulaanbaatar (UB) has caused serious urban issues such as the expansion of its urban extents, owing to the increased migration of Mongolians from rural areas. This study analyzes the population concentration of UB from 2005-2011 using the migration preference index (MPI) and multiple regression models. The MPI results show constant and excessive outflows from rural to UB. The multiple regression models indicate that these flows are related to high wage, small numbers of unemployed people, and proximity to UB. Large livestock losses were also an important factor during the period in which the huge natural hazard, called the dzud, occurred.

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This study aims to reveal the vascular plant species hotspots in Kyushu. Using niche-based modeling techniques, vegetation records and environmental variables, we build models for both the total and rareplant speciesnumber.Theresultsshowedthat theclimaticvariablesrestrictedthedistribution ofboththe total and rare species richness. Non-climatic factors, including landform, soil type and cloudy index, was also affected to the distribution of low-frequency species richness. The hotspots of total species are mainly found in the warm and humid conditions, such as Pacific Ocean side of southern Kyushu. The hotspots of rare species are not only found in the warm and humid conditions but also in the unique conditions (e.g. volcanic topography), such as Aso-Kuju regions. These findings indicate that the hotspots of total species were not alwayscongruent with thehotspotsofrare species in Kyushu.

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Though numerous studies into household energy-saving behaviors exist, studies tracing long-term behavioral change are rare. Addressing this gap in research, the present study focuses on participants'qualitative change in energy-saving. The study wascarried out over one year, aspart of a local energy-saving campaign. Participants in the current study were all enrolled in the year-long campaign, and participated in group interviews. Participants' statements were analyzed via text mining, after which expression frequencies and relationships between words were examined. Results showed that economic gain, heating, and ease of seeing the fruits of one's efforts presented at the beginning of the project were often mentioned during the first half-year group interview. In the final half-year group interview, however, there was an increase in comments regarding how not only oneself but also how family life had changed, and also regarding new initiatives put into practice by participants themselves.

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In Japan, knowledge of factors in the social impacts produced by wind farms is not enough. This study conducted an interview survey for residents living near the coastal wind farm in the hilly area, and then analyzed how and why the perception/annoyance of noise and shadow flicker occur. As a result, it was clarified that the distance between wind turbines and residents was not a significant factor. On the other hand, a visual element, how they could see wind turbines, was a significant factor. In addition, followings were found: adverse impacts due to shadow flickers had greatly generated in the coastal area, the rate of annoyance became worse when residents recognize plural social impacts, and residents tended to evaluate scenery of turbines negative.

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This study aimed to estimate the artificial retarding basin as refugia for a freshwater minnow (Zacco platypus) in a river. Fish samples were collected from the Sakaigawa River channel, Izumi River channel of branch river in Sakaigawa River, and two ponds in retarding basin of the Sakaigawa Yusuichi Park before and after rain flush events in 2010 and 2011. Stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) were determined for the fishes. The δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N for the fish in the river channels (around -26‰ and 16‰, respectively) were different from those in the retarding basin (around -22‰ and 11‰) before rain flush events. The stable isotope ratios for the fish samples have shown that some fish which had lived in the river channel moved to the retarding basin during flood events.

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It was clarified the importance of the use of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) by inhabitants of rural areas, and examined the current state of preservation and utilization. There are various types of NTFPs, but their respective economic values can be compared by converting the amount collected into currency using the current market price. Results showed that in N Village the NTFPs used were primarily foodstuffs used for self-support. Broom grass (Thysanolaena maxima) was the main source of cash income, different from its use in the northern regions. NTFPs have a much higher economic value than rice cultivation, and are estimated to make up roughly 10% of a representative household's cash income.

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Waterbloom has occurred due to eutrophication in lakes during the summer season. Because some cyanophyceae has the function of air nitrogen fixation ability, they can grow even if the phosphorus is in the water. The objective of this study is to remove phosphorus by using the shells as regional unused resources for eutrophication countermeasure in the eutrophocated pond, and it aimed to investigate the influence of the burning treatment. In addition, adsorption isotherm was calculated by microcosm culture experiments of bottom sediment material improvement. And adsorption effect of the nutrient in each processing was assessed. Results showed that, inhibition rate of phosphorus showed a high percentage with much quantity of dispersion. By assessment with Langmuir’s adsorption isotherm, high adsorption effect was provided in calcium dispersion with phosphorus and in regional unused resources with nitrogen. And phytoplankton succession was observed with phosphorus adsorption by the sprinkled shells.

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This paper proposes the evaluation method of climate change mitigation technologies in agriculture so that the method can feed useful information back to developers. Private cost-benefit ratio, unit greenhouse gas abatement cost, and technology applicable range are adopted as evaluation indices. Actual technical data of some technologies under development is applied to the method to obtain these indices. Comparison of these indices among the target technologies clarifies their merit and demerit in terms of stability of carbon storage, efficiency as mitigation measures, dissemination potential induced by private benefit, and potential area of introduction.

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The reed is a wetland vegetation which has ecological and economical values. Development of large-scale monitoring method of the reed is needed for effective habitat management. This research studies the reed of Xianghai wetland in China, and aims to construct four models to predict occurrence of the reed, height, stem diameter, and density, using the field measurement and satellite data. Based on predictive models and GIS, habitat conditions of reed in Xianghai Wetland at northeast China in 2010 was evaluated spatially. Habitat condition of reed and its important environmental variables are discussed.

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We revealed the effect of differences in landscape pattern of water and green give the ecological network by landscape ecology with middle resolution satellite images in five cities of Asia and Europe. We understood the distribution of green and water areas by landscape ecology approach, and created 4 indicators. We performed the extraction of foraging and nesting environment as indicator species of small species of Picidae for the ecological network. Ties of the patch (adjacent probability) and the variance of the patch (communicability) have an effect on the ecological network. It is considered that rather than increasing the green and water area simply, and distributing them around the primary core satellite is also effective.

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This study is based on Itoshiro district Shirotori town Gujo city Gifu prefecture, Japan. It aims to elaborate the suitable introduction of small hydropower and the role in a community, as well as to examine achievements and tasks of introduction of small hydropower, community development. And an interview survey was carried out personnel from group involved. As a result, it was found out that 1)Groups share common awareness of the issues and goal,2)By careful attention to use agricultural water 3)Using the power for community and spreading to the community development through the introduction of small hydropower.

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In this study, amount of soil movement of Anthropogenic Disturbance (AD) at Kinki region was estimated by using Geographic Information System(GIS) and Digital Elevation Model(DEM). After the pre and post surface model was created, height decrease area and earth surface imagery contribute to estimate amount of soil movement at soil extraction site as indicators of AD. Consequently, on the one hand, the amount of soil movement by statistical data achieved 517 million m³. On the other hand, the amount of soil movement by DEM achieved 900 million m³. The result shows that about 3.83 million m³ of soil movement, such as Hidden Material Flow was not covered by statistics data.

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In this study, the Authors considered the deterioration prediction the information based on the frequency of environmental terminology in medium such as Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, newspaper, academic paper, Minutes, National Diet Library, and the White Paper. The selected environmental terminology, the Authors analyzed the frequency of 1984-2010. Degradation years of information were calculated from deterioration prediction formula and appearance frequency of environmental terminology. As a result, each environmental terminology, it was found that the information is degraded in from 6 years average. It was concluded that results showed the possibility to calculate the degradation of the information on environmental issues.

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This research targeted the potential evaluations of CO₂emissions and woody biofuel when the cultivated arable land isexpanded by increase of cropproduction. In orderto consider the issuesas well as the soaring crop prices and population growth in developing countries, food supply-demand balance model is constructed, and then the worldwide mid-term market analysis of major crops is accomplished. The analysis results show that demand of all main crops is increasing especially that of soybean. Moreover the largest impact of increasing demand is appearing in China and South America and result of such situations is that much more production and cultivated arable land in South America isrequired to fulfill the increasing demand. Finally asone of research results, South America would act asa dominating role in maintaining the supply-demand balance of cropsin the future.

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The main factors for building energy consumption were found through the measurement of office building electricity. We developed the simulation model to generate a profile of electricity demand of office building. The feature of this model is the approach in modeling employee behavior and using Monte Carlo Simulation. This model calculates electricity demand from energy consuming equipment such as air conditioner and office automation equipment. The model can estimate electricity demand profile reflecting the operational condition of the building. The result of a case study applying the electricity demand profile model is presented. This case study appraises the energy saving effects due to energy saving measures such as improving an air conditioning operation and/or distributing power collectively received at high voltage to buildings.

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Text mining was applied to analyze the point of the energy and environmental issues based on the minutes of conferences in the Advisory Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Frequency of appearances and co-occurrence rates of keywords was analyzed thorough morphological analysis. Strengths of associations among keywords were presented on scatter charts using multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis and. Based on the results, we discussed the associations between energy, nuclear power and other keywords, and issues that were debated from the medium- to long-term perspective. It was presented that nuclear problems and the demand side of energy had separately been discussed, and that a novel point of issues including power technologies was raised in conferences after the disaster.

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Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are currently attracting attention as a new form of zero-emission vehicles, just as the commercialization of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is underway. In the prior 20 years, however, FCEVs failed to be properly commercialized. In this paper, a new approach to the emerging economy of FCEVs and a hydrogen refueling station (HRS) network are studied from a practical points of view based on a detailed analysis of internal combustion engine vehicles(ICEVs) which hasachieved an independent progressin the past.

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Recently high economic growth in Mongolia increases power demand rapidly. Meanwhile, it is assumed that water demand for power supply has risen because power generation requires much water. Additionally, Mongolia belongs to water scarce areas, thus it is important to consider sustainable power supply under the situation of limited water resources. Therefore, in this study, I have evaluate water requirements of power supply by organizing a water inventory of power supply in Mongolia using a bottom-up approach. As the results, the power supply withdraws water of 230 to 266 million cubic meter (MCM) while consumes 7.4 to 8.6 MCM Furthermore I found that 12% to 21% of the water requirement caused by imported electricity from Russia. Finally, I consider three alternatives for appropriate importation systems of electricity in environmental perspectives.

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We conducted a questionnaire survey of 46 prefectures to know the current status of ecosystem conservation for land improvement projects. We revealed that there was a bias against introduction procedures of ecosystem conservation measures. In addition, many facilities were built with poor preliminary studies for their appropriate distances or numbers so that the efficiency of the facilities remained uncertain in many cases. Subsequently, monitoring studies on ecosystem conservation measures, which were required to evaluate the efficiencies of facilities, tended to be more conducted before the project acception than after the acception. The method of the monitoring studies seemed to be used with little discussion and examination.

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Deer damage to the forest vegetation on the Ohdaigahara subalpine plateau was first found in the beginning of 1980, and Ministry of the Environment (MOE) has taken anti-deer measures for about 30 years since then. This study clarifies two points: (1) the nature conservation measures implemented for the plateau by MOE were divided into four phases from the aspects of deer population management and the participation of various actors in the region, and (2) deer population management and the participation of various actors were both started after the establishment of a national legal system. As a result, the study reaffirmed the importance of establishing a national legal system for improving nature conservation measures in the field.

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Urban forestry plays a major role in the mitigation of hot urban environments. The author has developed a new type of weight scale able to measure the amount of evapotranspiration from a large, full-sized tree (maximum weighing capacity 3t, measurement precision 100g), and is using the large-sized scale to carry out long-term measurements comparing the evapotranspiration of individual trees and those located in forests. Measurements of the individual Zelkova serrata tree specimen in a temperate region of Japan during the summer season showed a maximum evapotranspiration of 44.6kg within a 12-hour daytime period. The trend of transpiration rate through the year has been shown ,and the study compares the data with the previous data were further considered for the cause of the low value.

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I estimated the relationship of the water level and flood distribution along the southern Lake Biwa using the results of previous studies on historical water level fluctuations, and ground elevation data created approximately 30 years ago. In 1718 - 1904, it was estimated that the water level reached +1.5m once in two or three years, and the flooded area of the southern lake was estimated to correspond to 16% of the lake area when the water level is 0m. On the other hand, the aerialphoto analysis for two periods with a large difference in water level in recent years showed that the rate of change in the southern lake area was less than 1%.

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Environmental assessment of nonradioactive CsCl was conducted using experimental model ecosystems. The m-NOEC was determined as less than 1mg・l^-1 and the transition of ecosystem occuerd in 1mg・l^-1 Cs loading in Gnotobiotic type microcosm system. The activity of ecosystem was decreased to about 40% in 1mg・l^-1 Cs loading in Stress selected type microcosm system. Furthermore, approximately 10 times difference was recognized between radiation exposure (hot run) and metal loading (cold run) in comparison with gamma-irradiation experiment.

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Effects of nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) concentrations and light exposure on the buoyancy of subcultured Microcystis aeruginosa strain (UTEX LB 2061) were experimentally investigated, and the cellular content of polysaccharide (ballast) was measured to examine its relation to the buoyancy. The results showed that although vertical migration of subcultured M. aeruginosa was found out, its buoyancy seemed weak compared to that of wild Microcystis strain as often observed in lakes. The buoyancy of subcultured M. aeruginosa was affected by nutrient concentration rather than light exposure, and limitation of nitrogen or phosphorus resulted in cell settling. By contrast, the cellular content of polysaccharide depended on not nutrient concentration but light exposure. Consequently, the buoyancy of subcultured M. aeruginosa would be mainly regulated by gas vesicle volume but not ballast.

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It was examined that the possibility of the introduction of the solar photovoltaic generation and wind power generation in a lot of abandoned farmland in Wakayama pref. We did a screening with electric grid and wind speed data, and visualized some applicable areas in Wakayama pref. by Geographic Information System based on statistics. In addition, we interviewed every municipality to ask them how the abandoned farmlands were managed. We found that 45 abandoned farmlands which are greater than 2ha existed in Wakayama pref. In addition, we revealed 22 proper areas for solar photovoltaic generation and 5 proper areas for wind power generation.

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This paper investigates the land-use zoning for wind energy in Germany, focusing on acceptance and streamlining of the planning process. The main findings are: (1) zoning helps increase acceptance of individual projects if the public could participate in the planning process for the zoning adequately; (2) although zoning provides high licensing predictability at an early stage, zoning doesn't reduce developers' burden for site selection; (3) information gathered for zoning accelerates impact assessments for individual projects; (4) zoning streamlines decision making for individual licensing, this excludes areas that are unsuitable and intricate in terms of legal aspects at the initial stage.

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This paper contributes to clarify roles community council in making process of community-based renewable energy(RE) project through case study about seven cases including Odawara city. Case study was conducted from three viewpoints -resource mobilization, stakeholder involvement, and effectiveness of decision. As a result, three points as following are clarified; 1) municipality can play the role of publicity in site selection; 2) selection of member who can coordinate opinions between members is important to manage community council; and 3) coupling process of making RE vision and making project is important problem for effective decision about method of fund-raise and profit reduction to community.

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To achieve sustainable development, it is necessary for multinational enterprises to transfer their environmental practices and technologies to developing countries. With our concern about environmental management transfers, we collected data from 51 subsidiaries in a questionnaire survey in Thailand. External factors, environmental strategy, organization are key factors in an analytical framework that depends on resource-based view. A multi-regression method was used for analysis. We found that environmental organization in parent firms are positively related to the international transfer of these practices. Further, top leadership and voluntary environmental goal significantly affect the environmental performance of subsidiaries.

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This paper investigates the relationship between environmental regulation and innovation in a homogeneous duopoly market. Most of existing studies in this field have analyzed the effect of environmental regulation on the optimal behavior of firms when one innovation is feasible. In our model, firms have multiple types of innovation and have to choose one innovation among them. We examine the effect of environmental regulation on the choice of innovation. Our main contributions are as follows. First, we derive the conditions that environmental friendly and cost-reducing innovation is selected in Bertrand competition. Second, we show how environmental regulation affects on the choice of innovation.

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This study aims to understand the effective management of forests by investigating the various types of property that people have in Nichinan town, one of the most depopulated areas in Japan. Specifically, this study focuses on “absentee landlords” who own their property away from their current residence. The descriptive analysis on the relationship between recognition of management of planted forest and other related variables found that the absentee landlords who cannot manage their forests properly also cannot manage paddy fields and houses properly. This case study suggests that to better understand the forest management by the absentee landlords, we should also focus on their other property statuses.

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In this study, two objectives were determined. One is to investigate the situation of Escherichia coli (E. coli) efflux around the field in which cow dung was heaped. And the other is to consider conservation strategy for E. coli efflux. Based on the experimental results, E. coli and coliform bacteria were observed from bottom muds. In addition, more E. coli and coliform bacteria survived in sedimentation tank. On the other hands, as a results of model experiment of sedimentation tank, E. coli and coliform bacteria were eliminated by alkaline filter. Therefore, it was considered that E. coli and coliform bacteria may be released with bottom muds. Moreover, it was concluded that sedimentation tank with high alkaline filter material is applicable to eliminate E. coli.

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Segregation of food scraps from general households and resource recovery have succeeded in Oki-machi, Fukuoka prefecture. Previous studies focused on the reduction of waste, but this study focused on multidimensional aspects, specifically agriculture. By methane fermentation of food scrap, human waste and septic tank sludge, and using the digestive juice as a fertilizer for around 100ha of farm land, the farmers could reduce chemical fertilizer cost by about 9.5million yen. The farm products are sold at a nearby farm stand and served at restaurants, etc, resulting in more than 200 million yen in sales and an increase in local enrollment of 26 people. This circulation project was also highly praised by the town people.

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We investigated appropriate processing conditions required for stably and efficiently separating the fibers from bamboos by using a pressurized hot water treatment, and we could confirm 210 °C as the appropriate treatment temperature. We also found that the fibers can be separated and collected efficiently by extracting an appropriate amount of lignin from the bamboos. Although the bamboo fibers treated at 210 °C have lower tensile strength than those treated at 200 °C and 190 °C, they can be separated efficiently. Thus, the optimum temperature for the separation of bamboo fibers is 210 °C.

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The EIA Law was revised based on the re-examination of a decade implementing. These improvements of the EIA practice of the national government potentially improve practices of local governments, after EIA ordinances affected by. However, although all local governments have set up their own EIA review committee, the Law amendment didn't deal the committee system because of lack of such committee system in national practices. On this background, we conducted a questionnaire survey of local governments on the practices of the EIA review committee in 2006 and 2012. And we compared the results of our survey and clarified the actual condition of the review committee and challenges for improvements in these years. We also point out the potential for improvements from results of an additional questionnaire survey to some committee member.

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The purpose of this paper is to understand consumer preference for food produced near the Fukushima nuclear plant in order to debunk radiation rumors. To achieve this goal, the paper mainly investigated the effects of environmental consciousness on the purchase behavior for food produced near the nuclear plant. According to our analysis, using consumer survey data, consumers that have high environmental consciousness tend to show preference for food produced near the nuclear plant. Our study also reveals that consumers who have trust in the current Japanese food radiation standards, aged, and male have positive effects on preference for food produced near the nuclear plant. On the other hand, income, education, number of children, and distance from the plant have negative effects on the preference.

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There are growing concerns about severe water shortages in recent years. One of the factors of the water shortages is the recurrent depletion of dams caused by extreme little rain due to climate change. At present 90% of organic effluent treatment used in the aeration tanks at sewage treatment facilities is activated sludge method. The process has to include dilution in pretreatment because there is a limitation in processable concentration. This dilution process has caused many shortcomings, such as water waste, prolonged treatment time and expansion of facilities. This study aimed at continuous treatment over long periods by inclusion immobilization method with the focus on actinomycetes which can treat highly-concentrated wastewater. The result showed that the continuous treatment by inclusion immobilization method lasted for one month with added inclusion at intervals of fifteen days, and it can be a new treatment method.

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Recently, cause of localized torrential rain especially in urban area, numbers of city flood is increasing. In such situation, it is encouraging to introduce detention tank not only in public facilities but also in conventional home in SUMIDA ward in Tokyo-met, but the diffusion rate of them are only 2%. In this point of view, the questionnaire survey was implemented and it is pointed out that “awareness to the risks of city flood” and “understandings to the effectiveness of rain water utilization” are both relevant factors to the awareness for introduction, but these factors have influence only in concurrent presence.

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This study was aimed to find the effective way to transform people’s water use behavior into water saving one and become established in the long run. For that， we examined the continuous feedback of the water consumption of one’s own by comparing with others， who were similar in the level of living， who were similar in the family structure， and who were living in the same area. There was no difference among the way of feedback and control group. From the questionnaire survey， those who got the feedback were tended to feel that their way of water use were changed and that the interest to water were increased.

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The purpose of this paper is to estimate benefits of (unknown) mortality risk reductions caused from tsunami disaster. Individuals' perceived risks were asked and set as mortality risks in contingent valuation questionnaires. As results, individuals' willingness to pays ranged from 657 yen to 2,976 yen under their perceived risks which ranged from 0.3 per 100,000 people to 2.3 per 100,000 people. Finally, it was shown that these values were as same as values of benefits from mortality risk reductions of water accidents.

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Although, the fishery plays important parts in the nutrient flow of body of waters, these effects have not been clarified appropriately. Thus, we evaluated transportation of nutrient in a case of Lake Kasumigaura, Japan. We first calculated amounts of nutrients exported to the outside of the system via fisheries, then compared with various elements to discuss their position in the valley. As a result, export amounts were estimated at 60,000 kg of total nitrogen and 4,500 kg of total phosphorus. They are equivalent to 1.5 % and 3 % of total pollution load of the valley, respectively. From above, fishery should be regarded as one of the environmental improvement technology.

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In recent years, a large number of material researches have focused on building and maintaining infrastructure which use regional resources effectively. The purpose of this study is to examine material properties of the magnesium improved soil mixed with rice husk ash (RHA) and rice straw fibers in splitting test. Splitting test was conducted on three types of soil (normal, mixed with RHA, and mixed with RHA and rice straw fibers). Fracture process was qualitatively evaluated by image analysis and acoustic emission (AE). These results indicate that RHA and rice straw fibers change the mechanical property of magnesium improved soil. Three improved soils tend to different characteristics of AE in spitting fracture. Image analysis and SiGMA analysis suggest a concentration of horizontal stain and internal fracture process.

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Soil moisture is important information for agricultural fields. Applying remote sensing techniques are useful for soil moisture estimation, while it is difficult to measure on a routine basis over large areas. Although the data acquired by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is sensitive for soil moisture, several factors, such as surface roughnessand vegetation, can also interfere the data. Water Cloud Model is widely used and improved for soil moisture estimation over vegetated areas. In this paper, the Improved Water Cloud Model developed by Saradjian and Hossseini(2011) was modified to estimate soil moisture over winter wheat fields using gamma naught from the TerraSAR-X. The method applied in this study has a RMS error of 6.3 % on volumetric soil moisture values over vegetated areas.

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Wheat is an important crop for many countries, and monitoring of its planted area is viewed as an important issue. Optical sensors have been used for agricultural land use monitoring, and these have shown good classification and monitoring capabilities. However, the observations using optical sensors sometimes suffer from the interference of cloud cover or rain and often the observations are failed even though the satellite passes above the interested area. In order to solve this problem, in some missions the opportunity to generate new products are increased by designing to form a constellation. SPOT 6 was launched on September 9, 2012 while the proposed launch date for SPOT 7 is in the year of 2014. And then, they will form a constellation of Earth-imaging satellites designed to provide continuity of high-resolution, wide-swath data up to 2024. The objective of this study is to analyze the potential of SPOT 6 images for discriminating of winter wheat fields using the three machine learning algorithms. The accuracies of approximately 95 % were achieved.

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This paper presents the results of monitoring the growth of crop vegetation using multi-temporal TerraSAR-X data. TerraSAR-X HH/VV images were collected in this study, and the temporal responses to the agricultural crops including beans, beet, maize and potato were analyzed using sigma nought. The crop height and canopy cover were measured during the data acquisition. For beans and beet, strong relationships between the sigma naught and crop height or canopy cover were observed. These results confirm that X-band SAR data have great potential for developing operational systems to monitor crop vegetation.

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Master plan for municipalities is to be appropriately formulated, to indicate the basic direction of urban development and land use. The natural environmental conservation should be included therein. However, such information as the transformation of natural environment and the living space and presence of animals and plants is difficult to be obtained from the geographic information only. For this purpose, we used oral history interview technique. Asking the people living in the case study area of Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture, we obtained the information for natural environmental conservation, and combined it with the geographic information. This paper describes the result of the combination, and clarifies the effectiveness and the problems to be improved.

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The latest Nankai Trough earthquake occurred in 1946, and there is 70 % probability that the next Nankai Trough earthquake will occur during the period between 2014 and 2044. In order to mitigate the damage, it is necessary to know the situation as fast as possible just after the earthquake. In this study, a method for estimating buildings density was explored using ALOS/PALSAR polalimetric data in Takamatsu.

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