Avifauna of Shokanji Pond or Lake Saiko, National Institute of Technology, Gunma College was investigated for 100 months from April 2007. More than 80 species of birds including semi-endangered species were observed on the pond. In 2011, the pond was dredged and the construction work for the environmental preservation was completed. By comparing the avifauna before and after the construction, the effect of the construction on the biodiversity was evaluated. Little effect of the construction was shown when the number of the species and individuals of the wild birds of the pond such as ducks, herons and other waterfowls were compared before and after 2011.

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LinuxCNC is a non-industrial PC-based CNC software which controls motor drivers with step/dir signals via LPT port, so that a new PC having no LPT port cannot drive an actual machine. However, the simulator mode is useful for playing with g-code on screen. In order to lean the kinematics and trajectory control of multi-axis machine tools, the way for simulating simultaneously on some PC’s is discussed. In five-axis CNC machine, kinematics is treated as a serial link with five degrees of freedom, just like a robotic manipulator while the cutter is treated as an end effector. Such multi-machine tools are easily simulated by applying the appropriate kinematics module, or the trivial kinematics module which is used for the most common milling machine. As LinuxCNC employs a trapezoidal velocity profile generator, it is easily shown by using the Sampler module and Excel chart that the accelerated velocity region corresponds to the parabolic region of the joint position vs. time charts. And also, it is shown that the trajectory planner in LinuxCNC uses parabolic blends applying the feed velocity and angles for every segment-segment transition in default operations, or follows G61 command to stop at the end of the next segment.

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As a part of activities to improve the skills of technical staff members through exchange with staff in other disciplines, mechanical engineering staff members were assigned to a Chemistry and Materials Science Experiment Course (qualitative analysis) offered to first year students of the Department of Chemistry and Materials Science. Asking the mechanical engineering staff members to perform assignments as efficiently as experienced chemical engineering staff without any preparatory measures would have been unreasonable, in addition to the fact that the assignment already put mental pressure on both the group dispatching the mechanical engineering staff and the group receiving them and caused feelings of uneasiness in both groups. To dispel the uneasiness, various efforts were repeatedly made; for example, teaching staff members elucidated and explained in detail to the mechanical engineering staff members about the four themes of the experiment course, which they would work on over the course of a semester, and the mechanical engineering staff members conducted preparatory experiments with the teaching and chemical engineering staff members. By its nature, the experiment course required its participants to conduct extensive observations. It was felt that there were many experiment phenomena which could be noticed only after they had been explained. These included cases where, for example, observation was very difficult because barely visible precipitate formed in the solution inside a test tube, but became transparent when the test tube was shaken, or where after the precipitate had dissolved, it transformed into crystalline precipitate when it was recrystallized. Furthermore, the mechanical engineering staff members were taught that in some cases, it was very important to observe different deposits and compare them with each other.
During the regular experiment classes, the staff members are very busy carrying out their duties, such as preparing chemical reagents, receiving reports, and monitoring and managing students’ safety and the progress of their experiments. Test tube racks for small test tubes used for the department’s student experiment classes were blackened, and some 3 mm long sections between test tube holes were corroded and had disappeared due to more than 30 years of aging deterioration and degradation by chemicals and other materials. However, the experiment staff members could not afford to take the time to solve the test tube racks’ problems due to being so busy and under budgetary constraints. The test tube racks were not commercially available goods, but hand-made products created by a craftsman. Therefore, even if a decision to replace them with new ones was made, arranging for the replacements would be problematic. According to the results of the preparatory experiments conducted by the staff members, it was hard to detect a minute amount of precipitate as well as to observe the colors, crystallization and other precipitate characteristics with the test tube rack because the rack’s upper plate creates a shade while the blackened bottom plate reduces reflectivity, leading to an insufficient amount of light reaching the test tubes inserted in the rack.
While the wooden test tube racks were hand-made by a craftsman, the authors proposed new designs from the point of view of the mechanical engineering staff, using stainless steel, acrylic and other plates to produce prototypes, and a laser beam machining tool to finely process acrylic plates to mass produce new rack units to be used in class. In this report, the authors describe their activities to design and manufacture new acrylic test tube racks, and use them for an experiment class. Furthermore, the authors report that the acrylic test tube racks contributed to improving test tube observation results as expected and that this technical staff exchange between different disciplines was successful.

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This is a close examination of the English translation (2005) of Miyuki Miyabe’s Crossfire (1998) so as to show how the Japanese mystery is translated into English. It will be helpful for future translators to know some rules and methods revealed in this paper. By following the painful efforts of the two translators, Deborah Stuhr Iwabuchi and Anna Husson Isozaki, I have generalized such know-how. While evaluating the two women’s work, I point out their careless mistakes. Whether on purpose or not, some omissions seem to be rather serious defects. Of course, other seeming weak points are not necessarily their faults. There are definite limits of translation, especially from Japanese into English: The nuances of some Japanese words like ofukuro and obasan are impossible to express in English. The young waiter’s distinctive way of talking also cannot be translated; his funny tones completely disappear in the English version, but that is an exact example of the impossibility of translation.
The paper consists of seven sections: Introduction: a summary of Crossfire, 1) the opening dream (contrary to the original, the English version cannot hide that the dreamer is a woman), 2) various ways of using italics (effective for emphasis, especially in inner monologues), 3) English counterparts of police terms (because of Captain Ito, the original "Captain" is changed into "Skipper"), 4) Chinese characters (in most cases, the meanings of kanji are just ignored, yet the ironical, literal meaning of Kei-ichi, the name of a criminal, is explained properly; Seika-Gakuen, a proper noun, is even translated as Essence Academy), 5) the limits of English translation and some countermeasures (literal translation is often meaningless to foreign readers, so English substitutes will be useful like cake for sekihan), and Conclusion: examples of bad omission and good translation (although several impressive scenes and words are carelessly removed, most of the thematic lines are duly translated). The best thing about the English version is that it includes the key word "crossfire," because it is not found in the original text, and most Japanese readers do not know what it really means even though it is the title of the novel they have enjoyed.

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This paper is a guide to 25 Easy Story House books and 15 Popcorn ELT Readers, both of which are a kind of picture books for young learners of English in about the same levels, though they are from different publishers. The former collects a wide range of famous stories for children from legendary folk tales, mostly Grimm’s Fairy Tales such as Thumbelina, Rumpelstiltskin, and Rapunzel, to modern creations like Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant, and Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit. The latter gathers animated films, especially Hollywood’s hit series like Shrek, Ice Age, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda.
In comparison, it is likely that Popcorn ELT Readers produced by the larger publishing firm Scholastic will attract more readers because of their much familiar, movie characters, which feature the front covers. It is surely fun to look at still pictures from the movies; yet, it is rather boring to read the outline of an animation movie just because it is stripped of its motions, voices, music, and special effects, all of which make the movie interesting. Easy Story House books are more enjoyable to read even if young readers are less interested in unfamiliar, old folk tales. Above all Grimm’s Fairy Tales (I recommend The Wonderful Musician and Henny Penny) are immortal and definitely worth reading. WorldCom ELT decorates the series with unique illustrations by talented Korean artists.

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This paper is a comparative study on four graded reader versions of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818, revised 1831) in order to show how the original (all the readers except Macmillan are based on the 1831 book in which Frankenstein’s mother finds and adopts Elizabeth) is changed into simplified books depending on each writer’s interpretations. Eight important elements, which seem to make up the plot, are closely examined: 1) the beginning of the book, 2) Frankenstein’s relationship with Elizabeth, 3) Frankenstein’s interest and study, 4) the death of William, 5) the monster’s language acquisition, 6) the monster’s hope and despair, 7) the death of Elizabeth, and 8) Frankenstein’s revenge.
On the whole Compass Classic Readers is the truest to Mary Shelley’s 1831 original story, keeping Captain Walton’s letters to his sister as the framework of this novel, as well as the Turkish lady Safie (Oxford changes to Sophie, and the other two ignore) whose lessons of the French language make it possible for the monster to learn how to speak and read. Although the Compass writer, Ken Methold, forgets to mention the death of Frankenstein’s loving mother, he manages the conflicting views of Frankenstein and the monster. Penguin Active Reading also retains the atmosphere of the original, keeping Walton’s letters, which are much shortened though. Penguin is the only book which includes Frankenstein’s last words. The adapter Deborah Tempest, however, apparently fails to grasp the importance of the fire motif: The monster does not learn the word "fire" at the de Lacey’s and says that he will die in the ice, not flames. In Oxford Bookworms, Patrick Nobes removes the letter frame but makes use of Walton as a witness: He happens to catch a glimpse of the monster from his ship, which makes the first page most exciting among the five books including the original. Yet, Nobes misses writing about Walton’s expedition to the North Pole, so Frankenstein’s story does not become a lesson to him. Contrary to Mary Shelley’s text, the Oxford writer describes how Frankenstein uses the electricity of lightning to create the monster, which is obviously influenced by Hollywood movies like James Whale’s 1931 Frankenstein. This addition may satisfy the readers’ curiosity since Mrs. Shelly herself did not clear the way to give life.
The most unique adaptation of Frankenstein (seemingly the first 1818 edition, as Frankenstein’s father takes in Elizabeth) is Macmillan Readers. Margaret Tarner is bold enough to omit Captain Walton and to let Frankenstein tell his own story directly to the readers of her adapted book. Accordingly the change leads to a completely different ending: Instead of Walton, Frankenstein himself meets and talks with the monster at the end; in striking contrast to Mrs. Shelly’s original ending, it is Frankenstein who apologizes; after the monster leaves to kill himself, Frankenstein also decides to die in the cold. It cannot be denied that the Macmillan version has become a powerful story on its own, but it is doubtful that this graded reader deserves the name of Mary Shelley on its front cover.

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Six students in the twelfth grade had made an research and attended at the "10th Grand Contest on Chemistry for High School Students", held on November, 2013, and gave a poster presentation. This review shows the outline of the contest first, and then, presents the results of questionnaire surveying the educational effect on participation in the contest.
From the results of the survey, it is manifested that the students had decided the theme of the research and had executed experiments with great enthusiasm. It is manifested also that the research they had made for the participation in the contest was the good chance for them to experience and feel the difficulty by their own body, and roused their deep curiosity.

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Calcium alginate fibers were prepared by drying the fibroid gel made by ejecting the sodium alginate solution from a needle of a syringe to calcium chloride solution. The shapes of the fibers were observed, and physical properties such as the thickness and the tensile strength were evaluated. It was shown that according to the conditions of drying the fibroid gel, the shapes of the fibers were altered. For example, the structure like the joint of bamboo was formed by drying the gel put levelly on the waste paper. Concentration of the sodium alginate solution influenced the tensile strength of the fibers, but the thickness.

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Fractal image compression is a unique image compression method based on self-similarity in images. The main disadvantage of this, however, is the high computational cost. Meanwhile, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) which is one of the techniques of biogeography based optimization attracts much attention in various computer science problems. In this study, we apply the PSO technique for the fractal image compression. Experimental results show that the PSO is about 70% faster than the traditional exhausted method. Furthermore, PSO algorithm is suitable for parallel computing, thus we also implement this program on Graphics Processors Unit (GPU) for more speedup. Finally the GPU-PSO mthod is about 60% faster than CPU-PSO method.

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The author reports the activities and issues on the Smart Science School (SSS) for junior high students. The junior high school students have learned at National Institute of Technology, Gunma College and carried out several experiments. In this paper, synthesis of fluorescent ceramics using a domestic microwave oven is reported. The participants learned the synthesis and characterization of the fluorescent ceramics. YVO₄:Eu³⁺ fluorescent ceramics were prepared using a domestic microwave operated with 730 W. When the mixture of starting materials is a pellet form or the mass of them is larger, the desired phosphors were obtained after the irradiation of microwave. The X-ray diffraction patterns are in good agreement with those reported by other workers and the desired YVO₄:Eu³⁺ phosphors could be prepared as single-phase materials.

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Design and drawing is a core courses in mechanical engineering. Fourth grade student designs a two-stage gear reducer for 1 year. Performing design calculations using C language. It's modeled by 3D-CAD and the safety factor is confirmed using a CAE analysis. Then shaped it using three-dimensional printers. Finally the students have a presentation using the PowerPoint and video for each group. In this paper, based on the curriculum of courses that they are exercises, we will introduce our efforts in the lecture.

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The purpose of this paper is to give the absolute mathematics for the differential equations. Absolute mathematics was introduced by N. Kurokawa in order to solve the Riemann conjecture. One of the idea for absolute mathematics is the prime differential on the rational integer. We obtain a solution of absolute differential equations on rational integer, rational number, irrational number and complex number respectively. We also define the connection and curvature using the simultaneous equations of two variables.

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We started the KYT as safety education for students . KYT (K: kiken (hazard), Y: yochi (prediction), T:(training)) Using illustrations showing the workplace and work conditions, or while supervising or demonstrating work in real situations on site, discuss in small groups hazardous factors in the workplace and in work conditions (unsafe conditions and unsafe behavior that may lead to industrial accidents or accidents). Discuss, think about, and understand (or ask yourself about) the phenomena (type of accidents) that may arise from such factors, and determine the danger points and the kind of action to take, confirming these with pointing and calling, and pointing and saying out louder together. Conduct this training so that you can take steps on preemptive action for safety before you act.
Although we were conducted three times KYT until April of this year from last year , it has a good reputation in the students , and it has helped very much to the safety awareness of students .
At the same time, we started a collection of the near miss accidents cases . These are also , is expected to be utilized for safety education in the future.

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After the Black Death of the fourteenth century, England was repeatedly attacked by plague. The Privy Council, the headquarters of the central government in the seventeenth century, bore the responsibility of dealing with plague and gave directions to local officers. The Council was concerned about infection among persons and gave orders to segregate infected patients and their family from the rest by shutting up the infected houses. And the Council was also concerned about supposed sources of infectious miasma and gave orders to clean the streets and ditches in time of sickness. The unruly base sort of people and especially Irish vagrants were supposed to transmit the disease and the Council commanded that they should be savagely punished and expelled from towns. The Council endeavoured to prevent the transmission of the disease from town to town, or county to county, by controlling human movements. Through an intensive research on the letters issued by the Privy Council to the local officers in 1630, this article tries to show how the Privy Council tackled the problem of plague infection and how it enforced its policy on the local government.

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In this study, we research moldability and shape-holding property by FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) type 3D printer as teaching works by students in total design education. Its lecture has learned at department of mechanical engineering in fourth grade of National Institute of Technology, Gunma College. Though 3D printer is easy and fast for make objects, it is important for strength and shaping to make design.
The test specimens printed with several direction by FDM 3D printer and made by several color ABS (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene resin). The evaluation examined the correlation between the density, dimensional precision and Stress–strain curves. Elastic modulus measured by general gauge length method. These results valuated dimension errors and tensile strength data of the 3D objects by various materials and conditions of the printer.

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