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As one of the first British diplomats to be posted to Japan, Sir Ernest Satow (1843~1929) became a firsthand observer of the political situation in the country in the years immediately preceding the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Throughout his first posting in Japan (September 1862~February 1869) Satow kept a journal in which he recorded his experiences. Satow later edited this journal for publication as A Diplomat in Japan (henceforth, Diplomat ) published in 1921, many years after the events of the 1860s. The subtitle for the first edition of Diplomat was, ‘The inner history of the critical years in the evolution of Japan when the ports were opened and the monarchy restored, recorded by a diplomatist who took an active part in the events of the time, with an account of his personal experiences during that period.’ This study is an examination of Satow’s ‘personal experiences during that period’ relating to what he ate and drank, and the culinary hospitality he received. This paper will then briefly discuss what can be inferred about the eating habits of Westerners in bakumatsu Japan based on the evidence of Diplomat .

Taiwan is not a party to the Paris Agreement, but the impact of climate change on Taiwan is enough to be one. The Government of Taiwan has set a target of adjusting the power mix to 50% natural gas-fired, 30% coal-fired and 20% renewable energy by 2025, increasing the proportion of relatively low carbon emissions and renewable energy, and aiming to reduce GHG emissions as a climate change policy. One of the key aspects of Taiwan’s energy policy is to phase-out nuclear power generation by 2025, and to increase the share of renewable energy in the power supply configuration and reduce the use of coal-fired power. The phase-out of nuclear power plants was initially faster than the expansion of renewable energy, reducing CO2 emissions from electricity production as needed to a small amount. Nevertheless, since 2016, Taiwan has been evaluating the “energy transition” derived from Germany and is trying to decentralize its power supply using conventional large-scale, inflexible power generation systems. 　With regard to coal-fired power plants, Taiwan will accelerate the improvement of air pollution facilities at existing coal-fired power plants and implement utilization management measures in order to match air quality. Gas-fired and green energy power supplies will be the mainstays of power supply, which is the power stabilization target, in order to maintain 15% of the supply reserve rate. The government needs to plan supply-side measures and implement various tasks to save energy and reduce carbon emission in order to reduce electricity demand. To build clean energy systems and healthy living conditions, to promote the development of new green energy industries, to promote green employment, realize the spirit of energy empowerment, promote energy democracy and justice. Going forward, the focus will be on overall system integration, where all power supplies can ensure a sufficient level of revenue. In this study, we will consider Taiwan’s climate change and energy policy since the Paris Agreement, and summarize the current situation and issues.

We will discuss why Japan succeeded after the Meiji Restoration and why she has been stagnated since 1990s, and propose the conditions for the revitalization of the Japanese economy based on M.E. Porter’s factor condition and Michio Morishima’s view of population history. Michio Morishima maintains that the quantity and quality of population is the foundation of economy and society. This paper focus on values which is one of the qualitative aspects of human beings.

We report the case of a 48-year-old woman with relapsed B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia(B-ALL)following cord blood transplantation, in which leukemic cell CD22 antigens became negative after a single administration of inotuzumab ozogamicin(InO).At relapse, a major part of leukemic cells expressed CD19 and CD22 antigens, however some leukemic cells were negative for CD22. As treatment with blinatumomab proved ineffective, InO therapy was subsequently initiated

The reduction of excessive discharge of phosphate into water bodies is a dominant theme to combat the critical eutrophication issue and requires the development of high-performance materials for effective phosphate treatment. In this study, rice straw was used as a raw material for the synthesis of biochar functionalized with layered double hydroxides (BC-LDHs) as efficacious phosphate adsorbents, and their successful synthesis was corroborated via characterization analysis. Experimental investigations, including pH, coexisting anion, reaction time, and initial phosphate concentration effects were systematically performed with selected BC-LDHs 6 and pure LDHs. An optimum pH of 3.0 was observed in both samples. Kinetic and isotherm studies indicated that phosphate adsorption on these samples was controlled by the pseudo-second-order model and the Freundlich model. Comparative kinetic tests also demonstrated that BC-LDHs 6 and pure LDHs reached the equilibrium within 24 h and 3 h, respectively. Nonetheless, the maximum adsorption capacity of the composite was 192 mg/g, which was higher than that of pure LDHs (166 mg/g). The coexistence of various anions negligibly affected the removal efficiency of the composite; however, fluoride was the most competitive anion for adsorption on pure LDHs. The adsorption mechanisms of the composite involved electrostatic interaction, inner-sphere complexation, pore diffusion, precipitation, and reconstruction. Furthermore, phosphate adsorbed on both materials could be easily recovered by 0.1 M NaOH solution owing to the displacement reaction between phosphate and hydroxyl ions. Additional evidence from reusability experiments exhibited that the composite could maintain its good adsorption performance even after three adsorption-desorption cycles. The transformation of BC-LDHs 6 after its usage in phosphate treatment (P-BC-LDHs 6) into a fertilizer was further explored by using seed germination and early growth assays of lettuce through a comparison with phosphate-loaded LDHs (P-LDHs). Lettuce seeds germinated in all P-BC-LDH 6 treatments showed undesirable growth characteristics compared with the controls, while total germination failure was observed under high concentrations of P-LDHs. In the latter experiments, the optimal application rates for plant growth were 2.5% for P-BC-LDHs 6 and 1.0% for P-LDHs. The considerably greater biomass development and length of lettuce were visible in samples delivered from P-BC-LDHs 6 compared to those from P-LDHs. The results obtained suggest that BC-LDHs 6 is a promising adsorbent for phosphate treatment and post-adsorption BC-LDHs 6 has the application potential to serve as a fertilizer for horticultural crop production.

Phosphorus is an indispensable nutrient to sustain the daily life of all living things on Earth. However, the over-enrichment of the aquatic ecosystem with phosphorus leads to eutrophication, which is still a global environmental problem. More stringent regulations have been put in place for the limit of phosphorus discharge to address this problem and resulted in the removal of phosphorus removal becomes exceptionally crucial. Furthermore, phosphorus deposits are a non-renewable resource and forecasted to deplete until 2170, given the current usage and global population growth. Thus, the removal of phosphorus coupled with the recovery and reuse of phosphorus offer the best strategies to meet the future phosphorus demand. Accordingly, adsorption represents a fascinating separation technique for phosphate from water because of the possibility of phosphorus recovery. Moreover, this approach has many advantages, such as efficient, easy operating conditions, low sludge production, and the possibility of regenerating the adsorbent. Numerous attractive low-cost adsorbents have been studied for phosphate removal, one of which is layered double hydroxides (LDH). Unfortunately, a high phosphate adsorption capacity of LDH can generally be achieved by calcination, which increases the preparation cost of LDH. In this study, LDH is functionalized with amorphous zirconium (hydr)oxide to obtain enhanced adsorption capacity and eliminate the high-temperature requirement during the synthesis process. Although different treatment techniques have been developed to eliminate phosphorus contamination, including for wastewater treatment, treated water often fails to meet quality regulations. Amorphous zirconium (hydr)oxide/MgFe layered double hydroxides composites (am-Zr/MgFe-LDH) with different molar ratios (Zr/Fe = 1.5 2) were prepared in two-stage synthesis by the combination of coprecipitation and hydrothermal methods. The synthesis of the composite could eliminate the requirement of high-temperature calcination in the LDH for phosphate adsorption. Moreover, the phosphate adsorption ability of the composite was higher than that of the individual LDH and amorphous zirconium (hydr)oxide. The presence of amorphous zirconium (hydr)oxide increased the phosphate adsorption ability of composite at low pH. The adsorption capacity was increased by decreasing the pH and increasing the temperature (from 290 to 324 K). The bicarbonate (HCO3 ) was the most competitive anion for phosphate adsorption. The pseudo-secondorder model provided the best description of the kinetic adsorption data. Furthermore, the adsorbed phosphate was easily desorbed by 1 N and reused 2 N of NaOH solutions. The results suggest that the am-Zr/MgFe-LDH composite is a promising material for phosphate removal and recovery from wastewater. A Fixed-bed column has been considered an industrially feasible technique for phosphate removal from water. Besides the adsorption capacity, the effectiveness of an adsorbent is also determined by its reusability efficiency. In this study, phosphate removal by a synthesized am-Zr/MgFe-LDH in a fixed-bed column system was examined. The results showed that the increased bed height and phosphate concentration, and reduced flow rate, pH, and adsorbent particle size were found to increase the column adsorption capacity. The optimum adsorption capacity of 25.15 mg-P g^{-1} was obtained at pH 4. The coexistence of seawater ions had a positive effect on the phosphate adsorption capacity of the composite. Nearly complete phosphate desorption, with a desorption efficiency of 91.7%, could be effectively achieved by 0.1 N NaOH for an hour. Moreover, the initial adsorption capacity was maintained at approximately 83% even after eight adsorption-desorption cycles, indicating that the composite is economically feasible. The am-Zr/MgFe-LDH, with its high adsorption capacity and superior reusability, has the potential to be utilized as an adsorbent for phosphorus removal in practical wastewater treatment. The possible adsorption mechanisms of phosphate by am-Zr/MgFe-LDH were investigated via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and pH at the point of zero charge (pHPZC) analyses. It was suggested that the high phosphate adsorption capacity of the composite involves three main adsorption mechanisms, which are the electrostatic attraction, inner-sphere complexation, and anion exchange, where the amorphous zirconium (hydr)oxide on the surface of the layered double hydroxides likely increased the number of active binding sites and surface area for adsorption. This study provides insights into the design of am-Zr/MgFe- LDH for phosphorus removal and recovery in a practical system.