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Hydrogen energy technologies are envisioned to play a critical supporting role in global decarbonisation. While low-carbon hydrogen is primarily targeted for reducing industrial emissions, alongside decarbonising parts of the transport sector, environmental benefits could also be achieved in the residential context. Presently, gas-dependent countries such as Japan and the United Kingdom are assessing the feasibility of deploying hydrogen home appliances, as part of their national energy strategies. However, prospects for the transition will hinge on consumer acceptance, alongside an array of other socio-technical factors. To support potential ambitions for large-scale and sustained technology diffusion, this study advances a Unified Theory of Domestic Hydrogen Acceptance. Through an integrative, comparative literature review targeting hydrogen and domestic energy studies, the paper proposes a novel Domestic Hydrogen Acceptance Model (DHAM), which accounts for the cognitive and emotional dimensions of human perceptions. Through this dual interplay, the proposed framework can increase the predictive power of hydrogen acceptance models. [Display omitted] • A unified theory of domestic hydrogen acceptance is proposed. • Researchers should integrate multiple acceptance constructs into survey studies. • Comprehensive perceived risks, costs, and benefits predict attitudes toward hydrogen. • Cognitive and emotional processes influence perceptions of hydrogen homes. • Community-level factors should be incorporated into hydrogen acceptance research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, many seriously ill children requiring medical equipment are being recommended to transition from hospital to home care in Japan. Since 2011, our recovery center has provided a support program for the transfer process from hospital to home for ill children and their families. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the factors related to high care burden after completing the discharge-support program. A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted on all primary caregivers whose children received the program in our center and moved from hospital to home (30 children and 29 families) from May 2011 to May 2018. Fifteen children came from the neonatal intensive care unit. The questionnaire consisted of three parts: characteristics of children and families and life after the program; the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI); and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Twenty-three primary caregivers responded (79% response rate). All children received tracheostomy and 71% received home mechanical ventilation. Primary caregivers were all mothers. High ZBI score was not related to the severity and type of medical equipment. There were relationships between high ZBI score and following factors: 'unimproved relationship between patients and family members without primary caregivers' and 'additional medical equipment after discharge'. The result of PANAS showed that positive attitude was not different between those with high and low ZBI scores. It is crucial to reach out to family members without a primary caregiver. Additional medical care/equipment after the program is related to the care burden of primary caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A stochastic technology interaction framework is developed in this work. • Differentiated scale-dependence effects are identified for wind and solar markets. • Technology interactions are dominated by mutualism and prey-predator types. • Stochastic technology diffusion orbits closely relates to deterministic equilibrium. • Mean tech-orbits of random orbits converges to the analytic equilibrium orbits. By using stochastic Lotka-Volterra model, we make a cross-country analysis to potential interactions between penetrations of wind and photovoltaic (PV) technology within uncertain technology ecological systems, and explore the possible distributions of stochastic technology proliferation orbits. We find both positive and negative scale effects for wind markets, while PV solar markets are consistently scale-restrictive for all the target countries; the current technology interactions are dominated by mutualism and prey-predator types, of which prey-predator relationships mainly exist in the US, China and Italy, with PV solar to be predators. Most importantly, we find significant relationships between stochastic technology diffusion orbits and deterministic technology equilibrium orbit; specifically, random orbits of cumulative installed capacity for both wind and PV solar oscillate around the equilibrium orbit under the deterministic Lotka-Volterra model, normally distributed, and the mean orbit of such large-scale random orbits converges to the analytic equilibrium orbit. This finding makes great sense to identify countries with stable technology diffusion distributions, and contributes to exploit predictive features of stochastic Lotka-Volterra model. On this basis, we recognize 3 countries with normally distributed random orbits of technology penetration, i.e., India, Japan and Italy, and three-year forecasts to 2020 are provided for both wind and PV solar technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to advance a model able to explain the synchronization tendency in energy consumption, under the impact of international technology transfers. The key argument is related to the differences in energy consumption efficiency of local and foreign technologies. One direct testable consequence of the model is that there might be a certain correlation between the energy consumption between countries and/or economic areas where a free movement of capital goods and technologies takes place. Hence, it is further tested, in the framework of a multivariate spectrum analysis, the case of energy consumption synchronization between Europe and, respectively, United States and Japan for a time span between 1981 and 2011 based on the data provided by U.S. Energy Information Administration. There are evidences of a leading behavior of energy consumption in United States and Japan in respect to Europe as well as of short-run phase delays of 2 up to 5 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Government organizations have to justify high expenditure during periods of financial crisis such as the one we are experiencing today. Space agencies have attempted to increase the returns on their investments in space missions by encouraging the commercial use of advanced technologies. This paper describes two technology transfer (TT) cases promoted by JAXA, in order to identify the organizational models and determinants of TT. The development of a TT process from space to Earth not only benefits the aerospace industry but also the network of national companies. The aim of the paper is to investigate who the actors are and the nature of their role, as well as the determinants of the TT process in the Japanese space sector. The case studies confirm the typical path of transfer as ‘Earth–space–Earth’. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Initiated by a speech by the Japanese Prime Minister in 2002, an improved strategy for the creation, protection and use of intellectual property in the Japanese economy has rapidly evolved. The author outlines the major elements and achievements of the new strategy under five categories: (1) Creativity and inventiveness (e.g. facilitating technology transfer from universities to the private sector). (2)Protection (e.g. trilateral sharing of search and examination results, speedier examination, and the establishment of an IP high court). (3) Exploitation (e.g. widening the range of organisations allowed to assist SMEs). (4) Contents (mainly aspects of IP in the movie industry). (5) Cultivating human resources (e.g. increased emphasis on IP education in universities). Future work, in phase 2 through to 2009, in making Japan an ‘IP Rich Country’, will concentrate on building on these changes to integrate IP more fully into business growth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]