Global Warming: Risk Perception and Risk-Mitigating Behavior in Japan

Global warming is a major concern for the Japanese public. However, because the influence of global environmental risks, particularly global warming, is long-term and widespread, it seems difficult for the public to recognize it as a familiar and important problem that necessitates firm action. This study attempts to determine the causal structure promoting risk-mitigating behavior with regard to global warming, using Covariance Structure Analysis (CSA) with data from a survey of a subset of the Japanese population. We model the causal structure promoting risk-mitigating behavior population. There are four main stages in the process of decision-making for and values, risk perception, mitigating behavior intention, and personal environmental policies has three stages: concerns and values, risk perceptions, ectively accelerate the public’s participation in policy decisions, by translating their risk-mitigating into practical actions. Increased knowledge through improved access should improve the interaction between the public and environmental policy-makers with regard to global warming, using CSA with data from a survey of a subset of the Japanese personal actions: concerns actions. Support for andmitigating behavior intentions. Our results suggest that improved access to information concerning the risks associated with global warming in particular, and environmental issues in general, will be sufficient to effintentions for to information in Japan.     

MODELING FLOOD DAMAGE: CASE OF TOKAI FLOOD 20001

ABSTRACT: In conventional flood damage reduction studies, flood damage is usually estimated with a damage function according to the depth of inundation. However, this method may not reflect the conditions of each family residing in the floodplain because it ignores not only the distribution of flood damage but also the effect of building characteristics and residents' preparedness. This paper uses data from a questionnaire based survey (N= 3,036) conducted 17 months after the Tokai Flood of 2000 that caused disastrous losses to household properties. It provides a conceptual “doughnut structure” model of flood damage to houses and house contents and a mathematical basis for models to explore the determinants of flood damage. Besides the inundation depth, house type significantly affects both the house structural and content damage probabilities, while house ownership and house structure affect house damage probability but not house content damage probability at a given depth. Inundation depth, residing period, and household income significantly affect both house and content damage values. In addition, house ownership has a significant impact on the house damage value, while house structure has an impact on content damage value.     

Metabolism and body composition of two euphausiids (Euphausia superba and E. crystallorophias) collected from under the pack-ice off Enderby Land,Antarctica

Oxygen consumption, ammonia excretion and phosphate excretion rates were measured for Euphausia superba and E. crystallorophias captured under the pack-ice off Enderby Land, Antarctica, during November 1985. Water, ash, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus composition were also determined. Compared with summer data, body composition of E. superba at this time of year was characterized by low carbon (40.2 to 40.7% of total dry wt), high nitrogen (11.8 to 12.0%), high phosphorus (1.2%) and high water (80.6 to 81.7% of total wet wt) content. Metabolic rates, expressed as percentage daily losses of body carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus were 1.3 to 1.6%, 0.38 to 0.42% and 1.9 to 2.2%, respectively; these fall within the ranges of summer data. E. superba fed on algae growing on the bottom of the ice, but body compositional features of this species suggest limited contribution of ice-algae to nutrition. Compared to E. superba, E. crystallorophias displayed greater metabolic rates and much higher body carbon content (40.9 to 45.0%), implying that feeding conditions under the ice were better suited to the requirements of E. crystallorophias. The only gravid females found belonged to E. crystallorophias.     

WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR FLOOD RISK REDUCTION AND ITS DETERMINANTS IN JAPAN1

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to clarify public preferences for flood control measures in Japan, willingness to pay (WTP), and the main factors involved in WTP by applying the contingent valuation method. Findings showed that most residents surveyed expected some flood control measures, and revealed a diversity of interest in river management. WTP levels for different measures ranged from a mean of ¥2,887 to ¥4,861 and from a median of ¥1,000 to ¥2,000. However, WTP for additional flood risk reduction beyond initial levels was found to be zero. This was considered to be because WTP for flood risk reduction must be determined within a multi‐risk context. WTP for flood control measures may increase with per capita income, individual preparedness, and/or experience with flooding, but may decrease with distance from a river, acceptability of flood risk, and provision of environmental information. Furthermore, perception of flood risk may increase WTP, while perception of other risks may decrease it. Methods of dealing with environmental risk that were proposed in the survey may have affected WTP levels.     

Ecological and biological features of a mesopelagic ostracod,Conchoecia pseudodiscophora,in the Japan Sea

The abundance and vertical distribution pattern of a halocyprid ostracod,Conchoecia pseudodiscophora, were investigated in the Japan Sea in 1985, 1987 and 1989. Vertical sampling from 500 m depth to the surface in the water around Yamato Rise revealed that this ostracod was second in dominance by number and third to fourth by biomass of the total zooplankton collected with a 0.35 mm mesh Norpac net. Horizontal net tows in Toyama Bay indicated that the major population ofC. pseudodiscophora was distributed below 250 to 300 m depth. No diel migration pattern was evident. Its contribution to total zooplankton there was 5 to 10% or more in terms of biomass. A total of five subadult instars (II to VI) and adult males and females were identified from instar analysis based on sizes and morphological characteristics of specimens collected with 0.10 mm mesh Norpac nets. Data on body length, wet weight and dry weight of each instar are presented. Carbon content of 35 to 48% of dry weight, and nitrogen content of 5.3 to 7.3% of dry weight, were recorded on fresh, freeze-dried specimens of selected instars (subadult Instars IV to VI, adult females). Water and ash contents of mixed specimens of these four instars were 76% of wet weight and 25% of dry weight, respectively. Feasibility of laboratory maintenance ofC. pseudodiscophora was tested, and it produced characteristic J shaped faecal pellets. Oxygen consumption rates of subadult instars V and VI, and adult female ranged 0.011 to 0.021µl O₂ ind.^–1 h^–1 at 1 °C, or 2.9 to 6.1µl O₂ (mg body N)^–0.85 h^–1 in terms of Adjusted Metabolic Rate (AMR_{o 2}). There was no appreciable metabolic reduction inC. pseudodiscophora compared to other ostracods, despite their mesopelagic life mode. Subdominance in total zooplankton and nonreduced metabolic activity ofC. pseudodiscophora suggest that this species may be an important link in mesopelagic energy-flow and matter cycling in the Japan Sea.     

The effect of laboratory conditions on the extrapolation of experimental measurements to the ecology of marine zooplankton. IV. Changes in respiration and excretion rates of boreal zooplankton species maintained under fed and starved conditions

Herbivorous zooplankton species (Calanus plumchrus, Paracalanus parvus and Euphausia pacifica) and carnivorous species (Parathemisto pacifica and Pleurobrachia pileus) collected from Saanich Inlet, British Columbia, Canada, were maintained in the laboratory under fed and starved conditions. Respiration rate and excretion rates of ammonia and inorganic phosphate were measured successively on the same batch populations of each species in different feeding conditions. Respiration rate remained at a constant level or increased during the feeding experiment but decreased progressively in starved individuals. Herbivorous, but not carnivorous, species showed a rapid decrease in both excretion rates for the first few days of an experiment irrespective of feeding conditions. However, the general level of excretion rates of fed specimens was higher than that of starved ones. The O:N, N:P and O:P ratios were calculated from respiration, ammonia excretion and phosphate excretion and discussed in relation to metabolic substrates of animals during the experiment. A marked difference was shown in the O:N ratio between fed hervivores (>16) and fed carnivores (7 to 19), suggesting highly protein-oriented metabolism in the latter. One unknown factor causing variation in excretion rates is speculated to be the physiological stress on animals during sampling from the field. It is suggested that the laboratory measurement of realistic excretion rates of zooplankton is difficult owing to their large fluctuations, but this is not the case with respiration rate.     

Highly efficient polishing technology for glass substrates using tribo-chemical polishing with electrically controlled slurry

The outstanding advantage of the novel polishing technology developed by the authors is a considerable reduction in cerium oxide consumption for polishing of glass substrates. This has been realized by introducing tribo-chemical polishing method along with a technique to control the movement of abrasives using an AC electric field. In this paper, we have analyzed the characteristics of the new polishing technique from the viewpoint of slurry distribution in the polishing area under various electric field conditions using a digital image processing and its influence on polishing performance using the experimental setup consisting of high speed polishing method under AC electric field. The results confirmed the increase of slurry distribution in the polishing area under appropriate AC electric field conditions and consequently led to enhanced removal rate, which was 2.5 times higher than that of the conventional CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) method. Furthermore, in spite of enhanced removal rate the surface roughness was comparable to CMP method.     

Influence of model grid resolution on NO2 vertical column densities over East Asia

NO₂ vertical column densities (VCDs) over East Asia in June and December 2007 were simulated by the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) version 4.7.1 using an updated and more elaborate version of the Regional Emission Inventory in Asia (REAS) version 2. The modeling system could reasonably capture observed spatiotemporal changes of NO₂ VCDs by satellite sensors, the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2), the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Cartography (SCIAMACHY), and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), even at the coarsest horizontal resolution of 80 km. The CMAQ simulations were performed in a sequence of three horizontal resolutions (80 km, 40 km, and 20 km) for June and December 2007 to investigate the influence of changes of horizontal resolution on the obtained NO₂ VCDs. CMAQ-simulated NO₂ VCDs generally increased with improvements in resolution from 80 km to 40 km and then to 20 km. Increases in the CMAQ-simulated NO₂ VCDs were greater for the change from 80 km to 40 km than for those from 40 km and 20 km, in which the increases of NO₂ VCDs due to the improvement of horizontal resolution were approached convergence at the horizontal resolution of approximately 20 km. Conversely, no clear convergences in NO₂ VCDs changes were found at near Tokyo and over the East China Sea. The biases of the NO₂ VCDs simulated at a resolution of 20 km against the satellite retrievals were ～36% near Beijing (CHN1) and ～78% near Shanghai (CHN2) in summer; these errors were found to be comparable to the horizontal resolution-dependent errors, which were 18–25% at CHN1 and 44–58% at CHN2 from 80 km to 40 km. Conversely, the influence of changes of horizontal resolution in winter was relatively less compared to that in summer.

Implications: NO₂ VCDs over East Asia in June and December 2007 were simulated using CMAQ version 4.7.1 and REAS version 2. The modeling system could reasonably capture observed spatiotemporal changes of NO₂ VCDs by satellite sensors. The CMAQ simulations were performed in a sequence of three horizontal resolutions, 80, 40, and 20 km, to investigate the influence of changes of horizontal resolution on the obtained NO₂ VCDs. The results suggested that the influence of changes of horizontal resolution was larger in summer compared to that in winter. The magnitude of the influence was comparable to the biases of the NO₂ VCDs simulated at a resolution of 20 km against the satellite retrievals.     

Sensitivity analysis of source regions to PM2.5 concentration at Fukue Island,Japan

The authors analyze the sensitivities of source regions in East Asia to PM_2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤2.5 µm) concentration at Fukue Island located in the western part of Japan by using a regional chemical transport model with emission sensitivity simulations for the year 2010. The temporal variations in PM_2.5 concentration are generally reproduced, but the absolute concentration is underestimated by the model. Chemical composition of PM_2.5 in the model is compared with filter sampling data in spring; simulated sulfate, ammonium, and elemental carbon are consistent with observations, but mass concentration of particulate organic matters is underestimated. The relative contribution from each source region shows the seasonal variation, especially in summer. The contribution from central north China (105°E–124°E, 34°N–42°N) accounts for 50–60% of PM_2.5 at Fukue Island except in summer; it significantly decreases in summer (18%). Central south China (105°E–123°E, 26°N–34°N) has the relative contribution of 15–30%. The contribution from the Korean Peninsula is estimated at about 10% except in summer. The domestic contribution accounts for about 7% in spring and autumn and increases to 19% in summer. We also estimate the relative contribution to daily average concentration in high PM_2.5 days (>35 μg m^?3). Central north China has a significant contribution of 60–70% except in summer. The relative contribution from central south China is estimated at 46% in summer and about 30% in the other seasons. The contributions from central north and south China on high PM_2.5 days are generally larger than those of their seasonal mean contributions. The domestic contribution is smaller than the seasonal mean value in every season; it is less than 10% even in summer. These model results suggest that foreign anthropogenic sources have a substantial impact on attainment of the atmospheric environmental standard of Japan at Fukue Island.

Implications: The contribution from several source regions in East Asia to PM_2.5 concentration at Fukue Island, a remote island located in the western part of Japan and close to the Asian continent, is estimated using a three-dimensional chemical transport model. The model results suggest that PM_2.5 that is attributed to foreign anthropogenic sources have a larger contribution than that of domestic pollution and have a substantial impact on attainment of the atmospheric environmental standard of Japan at Fukue Island.