Effect of carbon particles on heavy metal emissions under ash-melting conditions

In Japan, incineration ash is subjected to a melting process to reduce waste volume and to stabilize hazardous heavy metals. In previous articles, we reported that large quantities of volatile metals are emitted under ash-melting conditions at temperatures higher than 1200°C and that such emissions are considerably increased under reducing conditions. However, the emission behavior in the presence of large amounts of char particles was unclear, and we suspected that emissions under these conditions might differ from emissions under the previous conditions. Therefore, we investigated heavy metal emissions and the melting characteristics of ash in the presence of carbon particles. In this experiment, a small crucible with ash and carbon was rapidly heated using a high-frequency induction-heating furnace to simulate the melting ash gasification with carbon. As a result, it was found that additive carbon can promote emissions of heavy metals such as zinc and lead and control the melt of the ash.     

New energy policy and low-carbon society in Japan after the Great East Japan Earthquake

The Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 devastated the eastern region of Japan.Due to the resulting nuclear accident,Japanese Cabinet decided to revise its energy policies.The Energy and Environment Council in National Policy Unit published options on the nation’s scenarios for energy and economy in 2030.We estimated the economic impacts of the options to national economy and households in 2030.Finally,we clarified significant factors to establish a secure,affluent and low-carbon society based on the energy scenarios.     

和谐社会能源需求情景的构造

本文采用协整分析理论，论证了资本存量和城市化率是影响中国GDP的两个变量。运用建立的GDP模型。对中国未来的GDP进行了情景分析。我们比较了德国，日本等一些发达国家能源消耗的历史和现状。对中国未来单位GDP的能源需求作出了情景假设，构建了对中国和谐社会建设、可持续发展有利的能源需求情景一环境友好情景。在这一情景下，到2050年。一次能源总消耗量达到43．1亿tce（吨标准煤）；人均能耗为3．06tce。是中国2005年人均能耗的1．8倍，是日本2003年人均能耗的51％。在这一情景下。中国2050年单位GDP的能耗虽然比2003年的德国要低20％，但比2003年日本的单位GDP能耗仍高出37％。我们认为．只要艰苦努力。这一情景具有一定的可实施性。但是。节能减排是一项长期的工作，它不但涉及制造业能耗．还将越来越多地涉及生活能耗。     

Transepithelial transport and cellular accumulation of steroid hormones and polychlorobiphenyl in porcine kidney cells expressed with human P-glycoprotein

Endocrine disrupters such as sex hormone-like chemicals and the non-physiological ligands for aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) exert many adverse biological effects. The ligands for AhR disturb gene expression downstream of the gene induced by estrogen receptor at a very low concentration. Thus, transepithelial transport and cellular accumulation of cortisol (COR) and estrogen as congeners of sex hormone-like chemicals, and 3,3^′,4,4^′-tetrachlorobiphenyl (TeCB) as one of the ligands for AhR were examined in a monolayer of porcine kidney cells transfected with human P-glycoprotein (LLC-COL). The net basal-to-apical transport of COR increased in LLC-COL compared to that in the wild type cells (LLC-PK1) the same as in vinblastine, whereas the net transport of estradiol (EST) was not detected in either cell group. Though the diffusion transports of EST for both directions, basal-to-apical and apical-to-basal, were higher than that of COR, cellular accumulation of EST was higher than that of COR. Transepithelial transport of TeCB was very low and the net basal-to-apical transport was not detected, while it was highly accumulated in the epithelial cells. The accumulation was slightly higher in LLC-COL than in LLC-PK1 at high dose.     

Creating an academic landscape of sustainability science: an analysis of the citation network

Sustainability is an important concept for society, economics, and the environment, with thousands of research papers published on the subject annually. As sustainability science becomes a distinctive research field, it is important to define sustainability clearly and grasp the entire structure, current status, and future directions of sustainability science. This paper provides an academic landscape of sustainability science by analyzing the citation network of papers published in academic journals. A topological clustering method is used to detect the sub-domains of sustainability science. Results show the existence of 15 main research clusters: Agriculture, Fisheries, Ecological Economics, Forestry (agroforestry), Forestry (tropical rain forest), Business, Tourism, Water, Forestry (biodiversity), Urban Planning, Rural Sociology, Energy, Health, Soil, and Wildlife. Agriculture, Fisheries, Ecological Economics, and Forestry (agroforestry) clusters are predominant among these. The Energy cluster is currently developing, as indicated by the age of papers in the cluster, although it has a relatively small number of papers. These results are compared with those obtained by natural language processing. Education, Biotechnology, Medical, Livestock, Climate Change, Welfare, and Livelihood clusters are uniquely extracted by natural language processing, because they are common topics across clusters in the citation network.     

Which insect species numerically respond to allochthonous inputs?

Herons (Ardeidae) frequently breed in inland forests and provide organic material in the form of carcasses of prey (that they drop) and chicks (that die) to the forest floor. Such allochthonous inputs of organic materials are known to increase arthropod populations in forests. However, the exact species that show numerical responses to allochthonous inputs in heron breeding colonies remains unclear. Very few studies have clarified which factors determine numerical responses in individual species. We used pitfall and baited traps to compare the densities of arthropods between forest patches in heron breeding colonies (five sites) and areas outside of colonies (five sites) in central Japan. The density of all arthropods was not significantly different between colonies and non-colony areas. However, significant differences between colonies and non-colony areas were found in four arthropod groups. Earwigs (Dermaptera: Anisolabididae), hister beetles (Coleoptera: Histeridae), and carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae) were more abundant in colonies, while ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) were less abundant in colonies. We detected numerical responses to heron breeding in two earwig, one histerid, five silphid, and one ant species. Chick and prey carcasses from herons may have directly led to increases in consumer populations such as earwigs, histerids, and silphids in colonies, while microenvironmental changes caused by heron breeding may have reduced ant abundance. In the Silphidae, five species showed numerical responses to allochthonous inputs, and the other two species did not. Numerical responses in individual species may have been determined by life history traits such as reproductive behaviour.     

Medaka (Oryzias latipes) for use in evaluating developmental effects of endocrine active chemicals with special reference to gonadal intersex (testis-ova).

Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) has been widely used for the evaluation of the toxicity of endocrine active chemicals (EACs) and other chemicals as well as for monitoring the adverse effects of effluent discharges in relation to sexual development and function. It is useful for these evaluations for many reasons including the following: 1) it has a short life cycle facilitating studies extending over long phases of development and over multigenerations, 2) it is easy to rear, 3) male and female phenotypes can easily be distinguished on the basis of secondary sex characteristics, and 4) a genetic marker (DMY) is available for identifying the true genotypic sex. Several biomarkers have been found to be useful for identifying the effects of exposure to estrogenic and androgenic chemicals in medaka and they include increased levels of hepatic vitellogenin (VTG) and testis-ova induction in males for exposure to estrogenic chemicals, and decreased levels of hepatic VTG in females and an altered morphology of dorsal and anal fins and formation of papillae for androgenic chemicals. In this paper, we present a critical analysis of the use of medaka as a test species for studies of endocrine disruption and report on the use of sex-related genetic markers and alterations in gonadal development, including the induction of testis-ova formation, for assessing the disruptive effects of EACs. In this paper, we focus on some of the more recent studies and findings.     

Multi‐phase non‐steady state equilibrium model for evaluation of environmental fate of organic chemicals

A simple mathematical fate model, Multi‐Phase Non‐Steady State Equilibrium Model (MNSEM) is proposed to evaluate distribution, persistence, and concentrations of chemicals in a model environment consisting of air, water, soil and sediment phases. The model is applied to evaluation of environmental fate and concentration of trichloroethylene and 1,4‐dichlorobenzene under generic conditions representative of Japan.

Evaluated chemical concentrations in air are within a factor of 3 of average values in Japanese atmosphere, and evaluated concentrations in water, sediment, or fish are greater than an order of magnitude below detection limits in real environments, so that evaluated concentrations are in reasonable agreement with environmental measurement data in Japan.

Although MNSEM is not a model for site‐specific evaluation of environmental fate, results suggested that this model is an adequate method to aid in evaluation of fate of chemicals under generic environment conditions. Evaluated concentration‐profiles may be used to estimate average chemical exposure concentrations for humans and the environment.     

d-Pinitol as a key oviposition stimulant for sulfur butterfly, Colias erate: chemical basis for female acceptance of host- and non-host plants

The sulfur butterfly, Colias erate, utilizes various legumes as host plants. We examined the chemical constituents of its primary host plant, Trifolium repens (white clover), to identify phytochemicals inducing oviposition by C. erate females. Since one of the four aqueous subfractions prepared from a methanolic extract of the plant has previously been shown to be the most responsible for the oviposition-stimulatory activity exerted by the plant, chemical analyses were conducted of the fraction concerned. Activity-directed fractionation of the subfraction by ion-exchange chromatography revealed that the key substance(s) resided in the neutral fraction. Preparative TLC of the neutral fraction and subsequent spectral analyses identified d-(+)-pinitol, glycerin, methyl β-d-glucoside, and myo-inositol as characteristic components together with ubiquitous sugars (e.g., sucrose and glucose). Of these, only pinitol singly evoked significant oviposition responses at concentrations over 0.05%. In dual-choice bioassays, however, females laid significantly more eggs on pinitol solutions admixed with glycerin or methyl β-d-glucoside than on pinitol alone. Two cyanoglucosides, linamarin, and lotaustralin, occurring in the other aqueous subfractions, also synergistically increased the oviposition response in combination with pinitol. The results clearly indicated that pinitol is a crucial oviposition stimulant involved in host recognition, while glycerin, methyl β-d-glucoside, linamarin, and lotaustralin function as synergists. We further examined the oviposition responses of C. erate females to aqueous fractions, along with their chemical compositions, that had been prepared from five other host plants and a non-host plant, Aristolochia debilis (Aristolochiaceae), on which oviposition occasionally took place in an outdoor cage during the experiments. The plant species accepted by ovipositing females were all found to contain pinitol in amounts enough to induce egg laying by the butterfly, thus leading to the conclusion that pinitol serves as the essential mediator in recognizing and accepting potential host plants.     

Severe leaching of calcium ions from fir needles caused by acid fog

We have measured the components of the throughfall under fir trees (Abies firma) in the field around Mt. Oyama, where the forest appears to be declining, for the period 1994-1998. Exposure experiments of a simulated acid fog to fir twigs were performed under field conditions. There was a similarity between the acid response in the field and that in the laboratory. In both studies, the severe leaching of calcium ions from the needle surface was caused by exposure to acid fog. We also applied acid fog to fir seedlings over 1 year and observed a decrease in the growth of the seedlings due to this application in the dormant season. These results suggest that the severe leaching of calcium ions due to acid fog may cause the deficiency of calcium and be responsible for the decline of the fir trees.