Walking distance and eating time of Holstein (HF) and Brown-Swiss (BS) cows on the temperate pasture were measured on two dairy farms (A and B) in June, August and October to compare the foraging activity using Global Positioning System (GPS) device and voice recorder. The cows on A farm were supplemented concentrate and com silage about 43% of daily dry matter intake and the cows on B farm were supplemented concentrate about 23% of daily dry matter intake. The cows in both farms were grazed in daytime and night except for October in the A farm when the cows were kept in the bam during the night. There was no significant difference in walking distance between HF and BS in the A farm, however the walking distance of BS tended to be longer than HF in the B farm. Eating and ruminating time of the cows in the A farm did not differ between HF and BS. However, eating time of the cows in the B farm was higher in BS than in HF. These results suggest that foraging activity of dairy cows on the temperate pasture differ between HF and BS, and is also affected by amount of supplement.

Fine structures on a plant leaf, such as trichomes or leaf domatia, are considered to affect plant mite community. However, so far, few empirical studies has determined mite fauna and its seasonal dynamics on plants bearing such fine structures on leaf surface. Viburnum erosum var. punctatum is a deciduous shrub, which has dense stellate hairs and hair tufts (domatia) on the abaxial surface of leaf. In this study, to determine the effects of such structures on fauna of leaf mites, we investigated seasonal dynamics of leaf mites on V. erosum in comparison with those on the other 13 tree or shrub species in secondary forests in Kyoto, the central part of Japan. Some mites remained on V. erosum leaves all over the season, with the density of all mite species reaching the maximum, 39.5 individuals per leaf, in June. The density on V. erosum was 10 times higher than on the other target plant species. Phytoseiid mites belonging to Phytoseius stably occurred for most seasons, from May to October, and the density reached the maximum, 2.2 individuals per leaf, in July. Mites of Tydeoidea and Astigmata were frequently observed in the leaf domatia of V. erosum, whereas they were rarely observed on the other plant species. These results indicate that V. erosum harbor more unique and more abundant mite community on its leaf surface, compared to its sympatric tree and shrub species.

Pulsed Current Sintering (PCS) process possesses some problems that need to be resolved. We, therefore aims at understanding phenomena of PCS process by presenting some basic data on in situ sintering behavior of PCS. Special graphite mold equipped with thermo couple and electrodes were designed to measure the temperature, electric current and voltage inside the powder during PCS process. We apply three types of raw materials, especially for ZnO as semiconductor, Al2O3 as non-conductor and WC as good conductor. The electric current and voltage were measured for each powder during PCS process. In addition, their electric resistance properties were calculated.

This paper investigates the characteristic of single-layered and multi-layered compacts made by selective laser sintering using titanium powder (TILOP45 and TILOP150, Sumitomo Titanium Corp.) There were few defects in smooth surface of laser sintered specimen in vacuum as compared to the laser sintered specimen in argon. Maximum tensile strength of singlelayered compact was about 200MPa. Multi-layered compacts show the density of around 75% and the adhesive bonding was not observed between layers, resulted in 70MPa of maximum bending strength and 50MPa of maximum tensile strength.

Austenitic stainless steel has been used as a corrosion resistance material. However, austenitic stainless steel has poor wear resistance property due to its low hardness. In this investigation, we apply powder composite process to obtain hard layer of Stainless steel. The composite material was fabricated from planetary ball milled SUS316L stainless steel powder and WC powder and then sintered by Pulsed Current Sintering (PCS) method. We also added TiC powder as a hard particle in WC layer. Evaluations of wear properties were performed by pin-on-disk wear testing machine, and a remarkable improvement in wear resistance property was obtained.

Recent X-ray observations of the accretion disks in stellar black hole candidates have revealed rather complex behavior, which cannot be fully described by the simple picture of the standard disk model. In this paper, therefore, we discuss the effects of e+e- pair creation on the structure and the stability of hot accretion disks, aiming at the thorough understanding of emission properties of X-ray binaries containing black holes.