Nishihara Laboratory

大学では、毎年健康診断が義務。後半のほうが人は少ないと思ったら、大間違い！20分たってようやく入り口にたどり着いた。 Every year we must undergo a health check. I thought it would be less crowded in the second half of the checking period, but boy was I wrong. Took 20 minutes just to get to the door !

先週末、 ボイスカウト ボーイスカウトの活動のため、長崎市内に流れる 長島川 中島川を散歩してみた。 目的は、眼鏡橋などの石橋の観察でした 。  Last weekend, I went out to take a look at the stone bridges that criss-cross Nakashima River in Nagasaki City as part of a Boyscout activity. 市民なら知っていると思うが、川添の壁にはこのようなハートストーンを１２箇所にあるらしい。 I think most locals are already aware of this, but there are about 12 places where you can see a "heart stone" along the walls lining the river. しらんかった。 I didn't know that.

そういえば、7月にM岡研のH出君がメソコゾムの実験をするために、あらゆる測器をかりにkた。来月も貸してほしいんだって。データはたくさんとれるけど、どうやって解析するんだろう… Just this past July, Mr. H from Dr. M's lab came by to borrow a bunch of my equipment to run some experiments in a mesocosm. He wants to borrow them again next month. Boy, he's accumulated a lot of data. I wonder how he's going analyze it all... 来年から忙しそうだな。 I have a bad feeling that I'm going to be busy next year. 彼はこのようなフレームを大村湾にある漁港に設置し、溶存酸素やクロロフィルaなどを測りながら、 水質の分析と渦鞭毛藻の同定をしている。 He's setup a frame along the edge of a fishing port in Omura Bay, and is measuring dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll. He's also taking water quality data as well as identifying dinoflagellates. こんな感じです。 Looks sort of like this:

昨日大学院の院試があった。午前中は筆記試験、午後は口述試験。今年は、新大学院ができたため、大学院には二つのコースにわかれ、区分制と5年一貫制が存在する。区分制は前期課程・後期課程にわかれている。5年一貫制コースは前期と後期課程が一体化され、国際的に活躍できる研究者を育てる目的としてたてられた。基本的に英語で授業をうけ、海外の連携大学でも研究し、多様な経験のできるコースだ。さらに、5年一貫制の学生には毎月奨学金がでる。現在は3人の学生はいるが、噂では、今年は5人の出願者がいる。区分制の出願者の数は分からないが、僕の研究室に所属している卒論生はその一人だ。 The entrance exams for the graduate school was held yesterday. Written exam in the morning and an oral exam in the afternoon. Since the grad school was reorganized this year, there are now two courses available. A 2+3 year course (MS + PhD) and a 5 year course (PhD) aimed at nurturing scientists and researchers that are internationally active. In principle courses are in taught in English, students will also study in affiliated overseas universities, and in general gain a boat-load of experience. Plus we will dole out a scholarship (monthly stipend). Right now, there are 3 students, and according to rumors there are at least 5 applicants for next year. I'm not sure how many for the 2+3 course, but my stud...

最近パナソニックのDMC-FT3防水・耐震・GPS付きデジカメをつかっている。１２m防水だが、４０mの防水ハウジングにいれた。 I took all the photos with a Panasonic DMC-FT3 GPS/Waterproof camera. It's goo to 12 m, but I put it in a 40 m waterproof case for good measure. 素潜りでとった写真なので、ちょったピンとがあってないかもしれないが… So I took these while skin-diving, so some of the photos might be a bit blurry...  

前回男女群島 でたくさんの写真とったはが、防水カメラにもかかわらず水没しちゃったので、今年は慎重活動した。今回はカヤックをつかったCTDキャストと素潜りでの調査をした。 Last time I went to the Danjo Islands, I took along a waterproof camera that decided to take on water. So this time, I was very careful in the way I went about taking photos. This year, I also took along the kayaks to make CTD casts as well as the usual skin-diving work. カヤックとCTDによって、９４回も計測した。さらに、流速計やクロロフィル計を24時間設置した。生物調査は写真でおこない、藻類は小型のものがおおく、サンゴとイソギンチャクがめだっていた。魚もたくさんいた。 With the kayak and the CTD, 94 casts were completed. I also setup a velocity datalogger and chlorophyll-a logger, which took measurements for 24 hours. The flora/fauna survey was conducted mostly with photos. There were alot of small benthic macrophytes, but the corals and anemones  stood out. Not to mention the plethora of fish. K邊研のD1のN塚 さんは「K村くん以上におろします！」と宣言し、CTDの観測を頑張ってくれた。N塚さん、申し訳ないがK村くんは 西表島 で、２００回以上やったよ。 Dr. K's PHD student, Mr. N proclaimed that he would do more CTD casts than Mr. K (my student), and so he did a g...

今年も男女群島の生物調査をしてきた。今回も2調査隊にわかれ、海鳥班と沿岸調査班はそれぞれ夜と昼の調査をした。海鳥班の班長はK邊研の卒業生M本さん（現在名古屋大の院生）。彼らは親鳥の都合にあわせて、真夜中の調査だった。 I had another chance to go to the Danjo Island this year to do some light field work. Again, there were two teams; one team went into the mountain at night to look for seabirds and the other that took a look at what was under the waves. The leader of the seabird survey team was Dr. K's student that graduated last year, and is now at Nagoya Univ. for her MS.  ちなみに、 前回 カメラを水没して写真はなかったが今回はバッチリです！ By the way, the last time we went my camera took on water, but this time I have a number of photos! 彼らは灯台を基地にして、まわりにすも海鳥のヒナの体重や親鳥にGPSロガーなどをてけた。They setup up base near the lighthouse and went after chicks to determine their weight and their parents, so that they could attach GPS loggers. 沿岸調査班はそこの下の海の生物とCTD調査（YSI社製の携帯CTD）をした。 The coastal survey team examined the flora and fauna of the area, as well as making CTD casts with our handy YSI Castaway.