Spectral measurement was applied to monitor degradation of steppe grassland in Inner Mongolia, China. Supply of drinking water for domestic animal is an important for nomadic peoples in Xilingol steppe. There is only one main drinking place (site-00) for animals at the center of Branch No.4 of Baiyinkulun Livestock Farm. So the distance from the village (site-00) can be used as an effective indicator for grazing intensity since the water tank in the village is the main drinking place for animals. In addition to the measurement of surface reflectance, vegetation surveys were carried out as a function of the distance from site-00 at every 1-㎞ interval to each four directions until the 5-㎞ point. It has cleared that the effects of grazing on vegetation mitigated according to the distance from site-00. Negative plant indicators of grazing intensity such as Stipa grandis increased in dominance with distance from site-00, whereas positive indicators of grazing intensity, such as Cleistogenens squarrosa decreased. Changes in growth parameters along the environmental gradients were reflected on NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), in which NDVI was positively correlated with the aboveground biomass (r=0.77), plant height (r=0.69) and coverage (r=0.89), respectively. These results suggested that a spectral vegetation index is effective for the detection of the degradation in free grazing grassland.

Recently the Marangoni convention is supposed to be an important phenomenon that significantly affects the solidification. For understanding the Marangoni convection mechanism, visualizing the convention phenomenon of molten tin with ultrasonic has been conducted. This paper reports developing a tracer material of micro metal balloon that is used in the molten system. We have succeeded in coating the surface of Shirasu-ballons with nickel by plating process. The obtained metal balloon is spherical and some characterizations were conducted.

Because hand-written characters, especially drawn by a brush can give readers various impressions, they are not only a communication method but also art works. Authors have already investigated the relationship between brush motion analytical results and sensory testing results obtained from Japanese hiragana and reported quantitative evaluation method for the beauty of hiragana, In this paper, sensory tests for South Koreans who cannot recognize the word are carried out, compared with sensory testing results of Japanese. The evaluation objects are 6 hiragana drawn by 4 beginners and 2 experts, Semantic Differential Method based on 30 paired evaluation words are used in the sensory tests. Therefore South Koreans also feel the beauty in hiragana drawn by experts, as compared with by beginners. On the other hand it was confirmed that South Koreans couldnt recognize the difference among beginners. Judging from the factor analysis results, both Japanese and South Koreans selected stability as the 1st factor, there is interesting difference in the following orders.