All Data

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.