As we all know, great progress has been made in medical technology for humans. We often see TV documentaries and medical dramas such as "ER" that show EKG wires attached to patients. But did you know the same technology is being applied to plants?


A "leaf sensor" is a device that measures water loss or stress in plants by monitoring the moisture level in plant leaves. The first leaf sensor was developed by an Israeli company that was granted a US patent for a mechanical leaf thickness sensing device in 2001. This company has made progress using their leaf sensory technology in fruit orchards in Israel. A solid state smart leaf sensor technology was developed by the University of Colorado at Boulder for NASA in 2007. It was designed to help monitor and control agricultural water demand.


Leaf sensor technology has the potential to save between 30% and 50% of irrigation water by reducing irrigation from once every 24 hours to about every 2 to 2.5 days by sensing water deficit stress. Leaf sensor technology indicates water deficit stress by measuring the water pressure of a leaf, which decreases dramatically at the beginning of leaf dehydration. Early detection of impending water deficit stress in plants can be used as an input parameter for precision irrigation control by allowing plants to communicate water requirements directly to humans and/or electronic interfaces. For example, a base system utilizing the wirelessly transmitted information of several sensors appropriately distributed over various sectors of a round field irrigated by a center-pivot irrigation system could tell the irrigation lever exactly when and what field sector needs to be irrigated.


Wow, what's next? Talking plants?!

▼▽▼▼【講師】Rob先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━

・【No Swimming Pool Needed】2009.11.13 (Fri)

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Posted By: Robin Tschudi on January 15, 2010

Happy New Year everyone. I trust you all celebrated well and relaxed much. I had a really great vacation. It was actually the best New Year's vacation of the three that I've had in Japan so far.


I heard something really simple but really good over the vacation. Someone was saying how there's three ways to live life in regards to learning from mistakes. The easy way, the hard way, and the tragic way. The easy way is to learn from others' mistakes; the hard way is to learn from your own, and the tragic way is to not learn from any. This sounds pretty simple because it is pretty simple. And I guess those really are the only three options. I guess you might have a combination of them... Anyway, and this person said that every year you should reflect and think of what your mistakes have been and then for the next year just not make them. Again really simple, but easier said than done.


Well I thought it was a really good idea. And a really good idea that's often overlooked. It's really incredible how many people go through life not learning from mistakes, not learning how to solve their problems, solve problems. There's a proverb I really like: "Like a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." You know how dogs eat their own throw up? If you've never had a dog maybe you don't. Well they do. It's really disgusting. And any sane person would think it's crazy and would never do the same thing. Well the proverb means that fools do the same things with their mistakes. Mistakes are mistakes and not good to be made, especially twice. But fools keep making the same mistakes again and again, and it's just as bad as going back and eating your own throw up, just as crazy.


So I thought about what my main mistake has been this past year and decided it was pride. Pride is an ugly thing that takes many forms and has many consequences. In myself, pride takes the form of reservedness (not a real word) and shyness. That might sound strange, being proud and being shy sound pretty different. But my pride makes me not want to look bad, not want to look stupid. So if I'm in unfamiliar territory, I'll become "shy" so as to shield myself from embarrassing mistakes that I'm too proud to make. Pride holds me back from a lot I think.


A couple of examples. I love singing but am horrible at it, so I don't join in karaoke when I really want to. I love dancing but am bad at it, so don't join my friends when they invite me salsa dancing. I'm curious all the time about new things but am afraid I'll do them wrong so I don't do them (like onsen for a long time). Sometimes pride even stops me from helping others, how horrible! Whenever I see homeless people, I really want to give them food. In America, this is a totally acceptable thing, but in Japan, I don't know. So I'm afraid that if I try to give them food, they'll get angry or yell at me because they're embarrassed or crazy, so I don't give them food. And the reason is not because I'm worried about hurting their pride, I'm worried about hurting my own should they yell at me and make me look strange in front of people on the street. But trying, and having the possibility of giving someone food, should be worth the risk of my possible embarrassment. And generally, the more I think this way, the more I think about myself, the less I think of others, the less capable I am to care for others. And a world in which you only live for yourself is a very small world indeed.


So this year I really want to try and stop thinking about myself and how I look all the time. I want to enjoy and care for what's around me, the people around me. Imagine walking in a beautiful paradise but only watching your reflection in the river waters as you pass. (Like many people do with their reflections in building windows in Tokyo.) What a waste! I want to caste my eyes upward and forward, not down at my own feet.


So, over the break I sang karaoke with people who were not my fiancé for the first time ever. I'm going salsa dancing Friday. Something new... I haven't figured that out yet. And this very morning I gave something to a homeless woman that I pass everyday on my way to work.


There's a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt (the wife of a president of America). She said, "Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself." This is what my friend would call the easy way. I want to encourage you all to at all costs learn from your own mistakes, be really active in trying to find what they are and in fixing them. But you could be even more ahead of the game and learn from those of others. Maybe some of you can even learn from mine.


▼▽▼▼【講師】Amberly先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━
・【Reading 3: Skimming】2009.12.02 (Wed)

来る1月10日（日）に開催される KAPLAN TPP発表会の詳細です☆

英語プログラムの選択クラス、TPP(Team Presentation Project)の発表は
今回、ビジネス・アカデミックプレゼンテーションとドラマプレゼンテーションの2種類です。
ビジネス・アカデミックプレゼンテーション、ドラマプレゼンテーション共に製作期間の3ヶ月間、週1回100分間のクラスでグループワークのディスカッションを重ね、現在にいたりました。

また、当日は発表の前後を利用して暗誦大会も行います!

詳細は下記の通りです。

■開催日：1月10日（日）　
■開演時間：12:00
■会場：TKP新宿ビジネスセンター　28階スカイ会議室
※当日は10:30より開場いたします。

■上演スケジュール:
1　12:00-12:50
暗誦大会　予選

2　13:00-13:25（表参道・土曜日グループ）
ビジネス・アカデミックプレゼンテーション

3　13:30-13:55　（銀座・月曜日グループ）
ビジネス・アカデミックプレゼンテーション

4　14:00-14:20（表参道・土曜日グループ）
ドラマ・プレゼンテーション

5　14:25-14:45 （銀座・月曜日グループ）
ドラマ・プレゼンテーション

6　14:55-15:25　
暗誦大会　決勝

7　15:25-16:00　

表彰式・閉会式

※TPP発表会の詳細PDFはコチラからダウンロードしてください。

※当日の発表会に参加される方は10時30分より会場いたしますので、暗唱大会開始12時までリハーサルに使用できます。入場時に受付をお済ませください。

製作期間3ヶ月間、週1回100分のクラスで、グループワークのディスカッションを重ね、現在にいたりました。受講生の方はもちろん、外部の方もご覧いただけますのでお誘い合わせのうえ是非ご来校くださいね！