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Many plants exhibit systemic induced resistance (SIR) coordinated among numerous branches after damage to a single localized tissue. Recently, it has been revealed that damaged leaves release a variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into their surroundings that induce SIR. The phenomenon has been described for only four species in field experiments. We investigated induced resistance to herbivory in beech, a dominant tree in Japan. We examined whether volatile cues were required for SIR by determining natural levels of leaf damage for assay branches that were on the same plant as treatment branches. We found when a local branch was mechanically clipped, the proportion of leaf segments that were damaged by herbivores was reduced. However, when a clipped branch was covered with a plastic bag, the proportion of leaf segments that were damaged was the same as that of the control. These results suggested that SIR in beech trees required air contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green ammonia can be produced using fossil fuels or any renewable energy source combined with heat or electricity. Chile has one of the highest rates of solar irradiation and also the environmental conditions that support the development of solar industry. Other renewable sources of energy are the wind and the hydraulic dams. These energies could be used to generate ammonia by a standard method such as the Haber-Bosch process, which transforms hydrogen and nitrogen using high temperatures and a catalyst. The ammonia has several desirable characteristics that suggest its use as a way to store hydrogen. Firstly, it can be liquified under mild conditions. Secondly, the ammonia has a high weight fraction of hydrogen. Thus, it is deemed necessary to study technical and economic variables that may support the use of green ammonia as an energy carrier for hydrogen. The aim of this work is to develop a technical-economic analysis about the production of ammonia using hydrogen by means of electrolysis (carried out with solar, wind, and hydraulic renewable energies). The aforementioned green ammonia would be produced in Chile and it would be necessary to transport it to Japan. Sensitivity analysis of main parameters (plant operating hours, size of the ammonia synthesis plant - related to the capacity of the electrolysis plant size in MW-, electricity price, electrolyzer cost, Haber-Bosch cycle cost, and ammonia sales price) was performed to report what factors are primordial at the moment of carried out techno-economic analyses. An optimization process that minimize the NPV was run in order to settle the most convenient size of the electrolyser stack. A net present value (NPV) of base case is €77,414,525 and 7.62 years of pay-back period were calculated for this green ammonia production plant, which considered hydrogen production via electrolysis, Haber-Bosch processes, and trade values of different operational units. The sensitivity analysis has determined that the main variables affecting the NPV are the size of the ammonia synthesis plant and the electricity price. Furthermore, by considering triangular probability distribution of specific variables, it was observed that with a 95% of confidence, the NPV would be positive with a 76.1% of occurrence. The optimization process defined that a stack of 164.21 MW would be the most convenient electrolyser stack dimension, which was estimated by considering all different effects over the operational expenditure (OPEX), capital expenditure (CAPEX), and investments risk. Therefore, the hydrogen production in Chile and its transportation to Japan using ammonia as an energy carrier would be a technically viable and profitable solution, which also has environmental benefits. • Green ammonia can be produced using renewable energy source and using electricity. • Ammonia has several characteristics in order to be used as a mean to store hydrogen. • A viability analysis for green ammonia production was performed. • NPV of € 88.7 million and a 7.22-year pay-back were obtained for this facility. • With 95% of confidence, the NPV will be positive with an 76.1% of certainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Perinatal mortality increased in contaminated prefectures after the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accidents in Japan in 2011. Elevated counts of surgeries for cryptorchidism and congenital heart malformations were observed throughout Japan from 2012 onward. The thyroid cancer detection rate (2011 to 2016) was associated with the dose-rate at the municipality level in the Fukushima prefecture. Since the birth weight is a simple and objective indicator for gestational development and pregnancy outcome, the question arises whether the annual birth weight distribution was distorted in a dose-rate-dependent manner across Japan after Fukushima.Methods: The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare provides prefecture-specific annual counts for 26.158 million live births from 1995 to 2018, of which 2.366 million births (9.04%) with weights < 2500 g. Prefecture-specific spatiotemporal trends of the low birth weight proportions were analyzed. Logistic regression allowing for level-shifts from 2012 onward was employed to test whether those level-shifts were proportional to the prefecture-specific dose-rates derived from Cs-137 deposition in the 47 Japanese prefectures.Results: The overall trend of the low birth weight prevalence (LBWp) in Japan discloses a jump in 2012 with a jump odds ratio (OR) 1.020, 95%-confidence interval (1.003,1.037), p-value 0.0246. A logistic regression of LBWp on the additional dose-rate after the FDNPP accidents adjusted for prefecture-specific spatiotemporal base-line trends yields an OR per μSv/h of 1.098 (1.058, 1.139), p-value < 0.0001. Further adjusting the logistic regression for the annual population size and physician density of the prefectures, as well as for the counts of the dead, the missing, and the evacuees due to earthquake and tsunami (as surrogate measures for medical infrastructure and stress) yields an OR per μSv/h of 1.109 (1.032, 1.191), p-value 0.0046.Conclusions: This study shows increased low birth weight prevalence related to the Cs-137 deposition and the corresponding additional dose-rate in Japan from 2012 onward. Previous evidence suggesting compromised gestational development and pregnancy outcome under elevated environmental ionizing radiation exposure is corroborated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new method for power system planning which considers uncertainties of various system parameters as a part of the criterion function. The criterion function involves both the expected values of total system costs and the cost variances of different power plants. Previously, the authors proposed that these cost variances be evaluated from the existing power system plans in the form of the solutions to the inverse optimization problem, and then applied this procedure to the planning of power systems in Japan. However, because of the correlation between fuel and facility costs, the cost variances could not be determined as specific values. Here, to overcome this difficulty, the authors now introduce hydropower plants into the model as the so-called nonrisky elements and focus on the expenditure shares rather than the plant capacity shares. As a result, more reasonable results are obtained. This improved methodology is applied and the derived cost variances are shown. Further, using the resultant cost variances, the authors make Pareto-optimal power generation plans and demonstrate also the robustness of the method to price fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We thank Sani Rachman Soleman et al. for three specific points of criticism concerning our investigation of the ecological association between low birth weight (LBW) and radioactive contamination in Japan after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accidents: 1. Ecological variables are not justified enough to adjust potential confounding. 2. The spatiotemporal regression model does not consider temporal reduction in radiation dose rate. 3. Dose-response plot between dose rates and odds ratios overestimates R2 and underestimates p-value. This criticism is a good starting point to explain some of the technical backgrounds of our approach in more detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions (Toshiba ESS) has installed an H 2 PLAZA system, which is producing and dispensing hydrogen for fuel cell powered forklifts at Toyota Industries Corporation's Takahama plant in Aichi Prefecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]