Finding the social, economic and technological barriers and opportunities in the developing countries for designing the technology transfer and innovation regime in climate change

This paper addresses the social, economic and technological barriers and opportunities in the developing countries for designing the technology transfer and innovation regime in climate change. The author identifies the barriers and opportunities through case studies in India, Thailand and China. The author also overviews previous research on the subject and suggests social, economic and technological issues that needs to be incorporated in designing the technology transfer and innovation regime. Technology transfer and innovation is a central issue in climate change negotiations. The parties agreed to establish the “Technology mechanism” in the Copenhagen Accord and the Expert Group on Technology Transfer (EGTT) is working to produce a recommendation on the institutional design. However, no concrete proposals have been put forward yet partly due to the lack of understanding of the issue and partly due to the lack of research demonstrating the unique barriers and opportunities in the developing countries. The paper highlights several issues that the author came to recognize through case studies. One issue relates to the fact that there are different social expectations for technology transfer and innovation. Some countries are willing to invite “technology transfer” and successfully adopt technologies in operation, while some countries tend to focus on “technology innovation”. One needs to incorporate the different social expectations and needs to design multilateral projects and programs to diffuse or develop technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Another issue to discuss is the different concepts and levels of technology transfer. In some cases, technology transfers are not successful in the operational phase of the technologies due to the social, economic and technologies barriers. The author also emphasizes the opportunity side in the paper that there are also social, economic and technological conditions to bring leapfrogging technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the developing countries

Business Strategy of Climate Change: Empirical Study of the Steel Industry Sector

There is a broad scientific consensus that our plant is warming and that post industrial revolution human activities are contributing significantly to the process. If global warming continues at the present and projected pace, it will cause significant damages to the global eco-system upon which humans are dependent. There is also a consensus that in order to limit the temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius and prevent risky anthropogenic interference with the climate system, it is critical to stabilize carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration at no more than 550 parts per million (ppm). The latest report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007 calls for the developed countries to reduce their CO2 emissions 60% by 2050 relative to the present level and for the developing countries to control their emissions starting around 2030. As the first tangible step to cope with global climate changes, countries adopted the UN brokered, ‘Kyoto Protocol,’ that was developed in 1997. Under the Protocol, the European Union (EU) and Japan established targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 8% and 6% respectively between 2008 and 2012 relative to 1990. The developing countries including China, Brazil and India ratified the Protocol without specific emission reduction targets. Two countries with the highest CO2 emission releases per capita, the United States and Australia did not ratify the Protocol (In December 2007, however, Australia ratified the Protocol as soon as Rudd was elected as the prime minister). Intensive discussion has begun among policymakers and policy-minded social scientists with regard to how to include these countries in the post Kyoto regime. At Conference of the Parties (COP) 13 which took place in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007, the negotiators attempted to agree on the schedule for the discussion of the post Kyoto regime. As we know, the Kyoto Protocol is only the starting point of the forthcoming marathon-like multilateral negotiations

Application of Geodetic VLBI Data to Obtaining Long-Term Light Curves for Astrophysics

The long-term light curve is important to research on binary black holes and disk instability in AGNs. The light curves have been drawn mainly using single dish data provided by the University of Michigan Radio Observatory and the Metsahovi Radio Observatory. Hence, thus far, we have to research on limited sources. I attempt to draw light curves using VLBI data for those sources that have not been monitored by any observatories with single dish. I developed software, analyzed all geodetic VLBI data available at the IVS Data Centers, and drew the light curves at 8 GHz. In this report, I show the tentative results for two AGNs. I compared two light curves of 4C39.25, which were drawn based on single dish data and on VLBI data. I confirmed that the two light curves were consistent. Furthermore, I succeeded in drawing the light curve of 0454-234 with VLBI data, which has not been monitored by any observatory with single dish. In this report, I suggest that the geodetic VLBI archive data is useful to obtain the long-term light curves at radio bands for astrophysics

Experimental Hypertension by Long-Term Cold Stress and Changes of Cardiovascular System

Stress-induced hypertension was produced in rats by exposure to 4±1 °C temperature from one month of age for one hour everyday over several months. Subsequently, significant changes of the cardiovascular system were observed in cold-stress rats. The present experiment used Sprague-Dawley rats (SD rats) and Wistar rats (W rats). There were a few differences between the two. In SD rats, angionecrosis of the coronary artery, fibromuscular sclerosis of the myocardial artery and PN-like lesion in the heart, kidneys and mesentery were observed. In W rats myocardial cell degeneration, fibrosis and mononuclear cell infiltra ion were detected and when compared to non-stress rats there was significant medial thickening of the myocardial artery under 100μm in stressed rats. The implications of exposure to cold in the analysis of cardiovascular pathology accompanied by stress-induced hypertension are discussed

Detection of Fungi in Tissue Sections Using Peroxidase-labeled Lectins

A battery of 8 peroxidase-labeled lectins was tested on sections of paraffin-embedded human tissues to determine which lectin could be used in the microscopic diagnosis of fungi. The lectin hitochemistry was more clearly in identifying Candida, Aspergillus, Mucor, and Cryptococcus than fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled lectins because these fungi were fluorescent in sections of paraffin-embedded tissue under ultraviolet illumination. Five lectins, from Ricinus communis (RCA-120), Lens culinaris (LCA), Ulex europaeus (UEA-1), Canavalin eniformis (ConA), and Triticum vulgare (WGA), were found to react with fungal pathogens commonly encountered in nosocominal infections. Three lectins, from Arachis hypoaea (PNA), Phaseolus vulgaris (PHA-E), and Dolichos biflorus (DAB) were stained weakly or not at all with fungi

Elevation of Ammonia Contents in the Cerebral Hemisphere under the Blood-Brain Barrier Opening

Elevation of ammonia contents was observed 1 hr following infusion of 4% ammonium acetate only in the cerebral hemisphere where reversible opening of the blood-brain barrier was induced by intracarotid injection of 0.1% deoxycholic acid. This finding suggests that ammonia may contribute to hepatic encephalopathy, when the permeability of the blood-brain barrier is altered