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Campaigns by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) pressuring companies to adopt sustainability standards have caught academic interest in recent years. Critics of this approach toward increasing biodiversity protection and social justice argue that campaign successes are often short-lived while proponents emphasize the potential of NGO campaigns to achieve positive environmental and social change in the absence of governmental legislation. Focusing on the recent forest conservation policy of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a leading pulp and paper company operating in Southeast Asia, we analyze the challenges companies face in implementing sustainability commitments made as a result of NGO and market pressure. Drawing from research on policy implementation and corporate greening we identify key activities to help entrench APP's commitments in the company's operations. Furthermore, we suggest that a range of actions by different stakeholder groups can achieve broader effects of APP's commitments toward better environmental and social stewardship in the region's pulp and paper sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecosystem services (ES) approach has been widely applied for assessing nature's values and human-nature links. Over the past two decades, this research approach has experienced remarkable growth, exerting global influence on the sustainability policy agenda. Recent literature indicates that North America, Europe, East Asia, and Australia are major contributors to ES research, while other regions are progressing at a slower pace. Many countries in these regions remain under-represented due to various factors, including but not limited to knowledge transfer gaps, disparities in research capacities, as well as distinct needs and challenges among researchers in the Global North and South. Although the ES literature in Asia is growing in topics, methodologies, quality and quantity, many Asian researchers, especially Early Career Researchers (ECRs), still face problems typical of the Global South while conducting ES research. In this paper, we outline four major challenges from the perspective of ECRs. They include: 1) Inequality in career prospects and capacity-building, 2) Inequality and challenges in data access & knowledge transfer, 3) Circulation of research findings in global scientific publishing, 4) Challenges in funding. This perspective paper draws special attention to the challenges faced by ECRs in ES research in Asia. By presenting recommendations, we strongly advocate that the research community work together to make ES research a level playing field for ECRs like ourselves working in Asia and elsewhere. • We provide an overview of the inequalities in scientific production on Ecosystem Services in Asia. • From an early career perspective we highlight four key categories young researchers face difficulties in. • These include: career prospects & capacity-building, data access & knowledge transfer, access to publishing, and funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning is nowadays popular area of science research. As the amount of accessible data is still increasing, therefore the machine learning methods can be used for many applications. One of the more detailed topics, which is commonly analyzed in practice in regard to financial decision supporting, is the support for decision making on stock market. It has been noticed that the main focus is on the developed markets like in Asia, West Europe or USA. As the Polish stock market is also recognized as the developed market, here in opposite to Asia, West Europe or USA markets, the shortage of practical implementation of machine learning algorithms is perceptible. With this paper various learning algorithms have been used to determine its backtesting performance. The main goal of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of selected machine learning algorithms and to find the best one for stock data by comparing several selected algorithms using a backtesting environment on the same data sets and general parameters. For this purpose, experiments were carried out on one random seed and then out on 100 different seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 5th Asia Partnership Conference of Regenerative Medicine (APACRM) was held online on April 7, 2022 to promote regulatory harmonization of regenerative medicine products throughout Asia. The recognition of domestic regulatory guidelines within each country and region and the underpinning rationales are important initial steps toward the harmonization of regulations. The 5th APACRM featured open dialog regarding non-clinical, quality and environmental impact assessment settings for cell and gene therapy products through presentations from the industry and panel discussions with regulatory agencies. The latest updates on regenerative medicine fields in each country and region were also introduced. This paper summarizes the proceedings of the 5th APACRM for public dissemination to foster future discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation for developing a rehabilitation lower-limb exoskeleton robot was to provide functional robot-assisted therapy for assisting physiotherapists in improving hemiplegic patients' walking recovery. Rehabilitation tasks required robust and precise trajectory-tracking performance, mainly achieved with exoskeleton robots. This paper presents a study on the gait trajectory cycles of a rehabilitation lower-limb exoskeleton robot controlled by an Admittance Swarm Initialized Adaptive (ASIA). The aim of this paper was to develop a robust adaptive controller integrated with admittance model to overcome human–robot interaction forces generated by the wearer. The parameters of the ASIA controller were efficiently initialized using swarm beetle antenna searching. An experiment was conducted on a prototype lower limb exoskeleton with four degrees of freedom, involving a healthy human subject for gait trajectory analysis. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method in terms of control performance, steady-state error reduction, and robustness. The statistical analysis revealed that the ASIA performed 63 %, 53 % and 48 % less in average error compared to adaptive conventional controllers used in the same exoskeleton platform. The findings ascertained the potential of the ASIA controller in improving human mobility through lower limb exoskeleton applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phishing attacks, based on social engineering to persuade potential victims to provide valuable information, have significantly increased in the pandemic Covid-19 era, characterised by ubiquitous big data technologies. This paper aims to assess the theoretical and empirical research on phishing emails and big data that has been done to identify trends and recommend new areas for research. Using the VOSviewer program, the search results from the Web of Science (WoS) database were extracted. A mapping technique, using VoS Viewer, was used to examine articles on big data and phishing emails. The findings show that most of the field's research is carried out in nations in Asia and the United States of America and that the number of publications in this area is increasing exponentially. However, it is evident that researchers predominately concentrate on technical fields like computer science. Even though they are used in relatively small quantities, machine learning techniques, particularly artificial neural networks, are associated with most of the phishing publications that have been studied. Six clusters correspond to the main phishing domains: Phishing target or victim, Phishing channel, Big data analytics, Big data machine learning, Phishing attacker, and External phishing protection. The results indicate that real-time data collection and the development of effective algorithms are new approaches to combating phishing assaults. However, research outside of the technical domains is scarce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing pressure from governments and stakeholders has motivated the study of sustainability assessment in the supply chain context at operational, tactical, and strategic levels. Several papers have been published during the last two decades, and the number is still rising. Although several authors present complex models that include environmental and social assessment, the applicability and usefulness of these works is often limited by lack of data availability and lack of consensus in what is to be measured on implementations of sustainable practices and strategies. This paper presents a systematic literature review of works addressing the supply chain network design (SCND) problem, in which at least two of the three dimensions of sustainability are assessed. This paper aims to identify indicators that are used when sustainability is evaluated in real applied cases. A total of 113 papers from 2015 to 2018 were selected, including documents studying forward, reverse, and closed loop supply chains (CLSC). Indicators in the economic, environmental, and social dimensions were classified according to an existing framework in the sustainable supply chain literature. The review finds a highlighted emphasis on environmental considerations; social criteria are still hardly studied. The study country origin analysis also shows an increasing concern for sustainable practices in developing economies, mainly in Asia. Finally, this paper presents a brief description of the areas where research opportunities exist, including sectors, measures, and methodologies to assess sustainability in the SCND problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 4th Asia Partnership Conference of Regenerative Medicine (APACRM) was held online on April 15, 2021, to promote regulatory harmonization of regenerative medicine products throughout Asia. Recognizing domestic regulatory guidelines within each country and region, and their underpinning rationales, is an important initial step toward a convergence of regulations. The 4th APACRM consisted of an open dialog with regulatory agencies regarding nonclinical and quality settings for cell therapy products (CTPs) through industry presentations and panel discussions with regulatory agencies. The latest updates on regenerative medicine fields in each country and region, and specific regulatory schematics in Japan, were also introduced. The objective of this paper is to summarize the proceedings of the 4th APACRM for public dissemination and to foster further discussion in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asian Forensic Sciences Network was formed in 2008 by a small group of six forensic institutes from six countries in Asia, with the vision to create a common platform for scientists in the region to come together to advance forensic science, raise quality standards, and foster collaboration. Since its inception, the network has experienced remarkable growth, now comprising 70 member institutes from 18 countries across Asia. An Annual Meeting & Symposium, hosted by a member institute each year, serves as a cornerstone event for the network. In addition, the network runs nine technical workgroups covering areas in Crime Scene Investigation, Digital Forensics, DNA, Fingerprint, Forensic Medicine, Illicit Drugs, Questioned Document, Toxicology, and Trace Evidence, alongside a dedicated Quality Assurance and Standards Committee. These workgroups and committee work in tandem with the AFSN Board to formulate strategies aligned with the network's core objectives. This paper chronicles AFSN's journey over the past fifteen years, highlighting the pivotal role of the Board and the Workgroups, as well as the dedicated passion and unwavering commitment of the members in shaping the network through numerous activities. • AFSN was formed in 2008 by 6 forensic institutes from 6 countries in Asia. • It now comprises 70 member institutes from 18 countries. • It has 9 Technical Workgroups and 1 Quality Assurance and Standards Committee. • AFSN publishes peer-reviewed newsletter ForensicAsia. • Different member institutes host the AFSN Annual Meeting & Symposium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Garcinia genus is a rich depository of bioactive compounds. • Phytochemistry and pharmacology of lesser-known Garcinia species are discussed. • Toxicity profile of Garcinia species are examined. The tropical plants of Garcinia (Clusiaceae family) have been extensively used in folk medicine apart from its limited use in the preparation of certain dishes. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive and updated report on the diverse range of phytochemicals, the traditional uses, the nutritional values, the major pharmacological attributes, and the toxicological findings of ten Garcinia plants of south-east Asia. This was achieved by compiling data from various scientific journals, and books available on electronic databases viz. Pub Med, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and others, published within the time period of 2010-2020. A myriad of natural products are found in Garcinia sp. The major classes of biomolecules reported to be present in these plants include organic acids, xanthones, benzophenones, flavonoids, phloroglucinols, fatty acids, and terpenoids. The chemical structures of the phytoconstituents presented in this review are drawn using ChemDraw Professional 16.0. Additionally, the important pharmacological properties such as antioxidant, anticancer, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, antimicrobial, and hepatoprotective activities along with the toxicological studies of the Garcinia sp., are discussed. Although a good amount of research has been conducted on Garcinia sp., however some of these species still remain unattended and are becoming endemic. Therefore, this comprehensive review sheds light on the phyto-pharmacological profile of ten known Garcinia sp. to pave a path towards explorating of their traditional uses, isolating new molecules, encouraging in-depth preclinical and clinical research to understand the mechanism of action, thereby help in the development of new drug candidates with lesser side-effects. In addition, measures must be taken to enhance the conservation of endangered Garcinia sp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to develop a refined gravity model for the quantitative assessment of competitive hub status of cities between 2000 and 2012 from the perspective of international air traffic movements. Its focus of attention is Europe and Asia, where cross border competition has been witnessed among major cities for the role as a key international air traffic hub. To this end, the research incorporates global network connectivity (GNC) as a measure of business connections into an established gravity model that previously relied on GDP per head, population and distance to account for international air links. The results confirm the dynamic change of the air transport city hierarchy, demonstrating a stronger presence of a number of previously secondly ranked cities as international air traffic hubs over this period. The paper concludes with suggestions that possible extension of geographical scope and incorporation of domestic air traffic could enrich the insight of this approach. • Hub status of cities is assessed from an international air traffic perspective. • Networks of inter-city air traffic flows in Europe and Asia are explored. • Business connectivity is the most powerful in explaining international air links. • Secondly ranked cities are now more prominent in the region's urban hierarchies. • New airports and integrators' hubs have significant effect on cities' mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Evidence suggests that manufacturing companies have tried to address the current environmental challenges derived from their operations by implementing various operational environmental sustainability approaches, including green manufacturing (GM), cleaner production (CP), green lean (GL), green supply chain management (GSCM), reverse logistics (RLs) and circular economy (CE). However, although their adoption is well documented in developed nations and few other countries, very little has been done to understand such phenomenon in a rapid developing country such as Thailand. This paper aims at filling this gap by providing light into some fundamental issues regarding the implementation of these approaches in the manufacturing sector of Thailand. A survey-based exploratory research was carried out based on 287 Thai manufacturing companies. The data was analysed using a combination of descriptive and inferential statics. The study revealed that a large amount of investment capacity, and proper training & knowledge are needed to fully implement the studied operational approaches. This resulted in some of the weakest elements of Thai manufacturing firms and hence the main barriers to their implementation. The study also showed that Thai manufacturing firms consider the impact on the environment and benefits from adopting these operational approaches as company's policy and own initiative, environmental awareness, and cost saving from conservation of energy as the main reasons for adopting the studied operational approaches. Finally, the findings also indicate that Thai manufacturing firms tend to implement them because of internal factors and that they lack of motivation from external factors and involvement from other stakeholders. The paper extends the current limited knowledge on the deployment of operational environmental sustainability approaches in Asia, and its results can be beneficial for organisations that aim at effectively adopting them to improve their operation's sustainability. Highlights • Evidence of the implementation of sustainability approaches in Thailand is limited. • Paper provides light into fundamental issues regarding their adoption. • 287 Thai manufacturing companies participated in this survey-based exploratory study. • Study reveals degree of implementation, main drivers and barriers of the studied approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Studies of energy poverty have proliferated around the world. While the existing literature provides significant insights into the drivers and dynamics of energy poverty in some parts of the world, there remains little evidence from Asia – a region that combines rapidly changing developed urban conurbations alongside widespread rural poverty. This paper explores a case study of energy poverty in Hong Kong – a global city with high levels of inequality and housing precarity. To date, there has been no published academic work on this topic in the Hong Kong context, and little work in urban Asia. This paper draws on documentary analyses and interviews to present three narratives around the emergence and manifestation of energy poverty in Hong Kong: (a) energy systems, markets and policy (b) urban poverty and inequality and (c) energy services and cooling. By reading energy poverty 'through the city', the paper emphasises the importance of geographically sensitive accounts and proposes an agenda for future research. It thus enables the study of energy poverty to be productively pursued in the context of Hong Kong and urban Asia more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of uninterpreted ancient documents exist in Asia, which record a large amount of information about the politics, economy, and culture. Since the beginning of oracle bone inscription, characters have been developing and evolving, and the forms of ancient documents have also been changing. As a large amount of information is preserved in ancient documents, the interpretation and collation of ancient documents are of great importance. However, due to the age, many ancient documents are moth-eaten, stained, damaged, and other problems. And most ancient documents are written in a style that is no longer in use, leaving few experts able to interpret them. This paper from oracle bone inscription, ancient hand-written character, rubbings three diferent types of ancient documents, introduces the recognition technology of assisted ancient documents re-organization including image processing, deep learning, and data analysis and deep learning combined method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastics pose a significant environmental threat, with potential implications for toxic chemical release, aquatic life endangerment, and human food chain contamination. In Asia, rapid economic growth coupled with inadequate waste management has escalated plastic pollution in rivers, positioning them as focal points for environmental concern. Despite Asia's rivers being considered the most polluted with plastics globally, scholarly attention to microplastics in the region's freshwater environments is a recent development. This study undertakes a systematic review of 228 scholarly articles to map microplastic hotspots in Asian freshwater systems and synthesize current research trends within the continent. Findings reveal a concentration of research in China and Japan, primarily investigating riverine and surface waters through net-based sampling methods. Polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) emerge as the predominant microplastic types, frequently observed as fibers or fragments. However, the diversity of sampling methodologies and reporting metrics complicates data synthesis, underscoring the need for standardized analytical frameworks to facilitate comparative analysis. This paper delineates the distribution of microplastic hotspots and outlines the prevailing challenges and prospects in microplastic research within Asian freshwater contexts. [Display omitted] • Comprehensive review in Asian freshwater environments, based on 228 publications. • Microplastic hotspots identified in Asian rivers, highlighting pollution concerns. • Most studies use nets to sample rivers and surface waters. • PE, PP, and PET are the prevalent types, mainly as fibers or fragments. • Need for standardization of analytical methods for enhanced quantitative comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the nexus between greenhouse gas, financial development, energy consumption, trade and urbanization in 34 upper middle income countries from Asia, Europe, Africa and America (South and North) by using panel data from 2001 to 2014. Vector error correction model explored different results for different regions such as the causality of greenhouse gas for Europe and America; financial development for Asia; trade openness for Asia, Europe and America; and urbanization for Africa and America. The causality of greenhouse gas emission was bi-directional with urbanization in America and trade in Europe. The bi-directional causality of trade was observed with financial development in Asia and urbanization in Africa. The generalized method of moment and fully modified ordinary least square explored a direct association of per capita greenhouse gas emission with financial development in Europe; energy consumption in all panels, and renewable energy in Africa and America. But, the relationship of per capita emission was reciprocal with financial development in Asia, Africa and America; renewable energy in Europe; trade in Europe, Africa and America; and urbanization in Asia, Europe and America. The relationship of variables changes from region to region and country to country. A country-based reciprocal effect on per capita greenhouse gas was observed for financial development, renewable energy, trade openness and urbanization for different countries. This paper provides an insight to policy makers to re-structure the financial system, energy usage pattern, trade and urbanization in accordance with the cleaning of environment at country and regional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on host country's economic growth for a group of 45 developing countries for the period 1990–2014. Using the pooled mean group (PMG) regression method, we estimate the long-run and the short-run impact of FDI inflows on growth rate of GDP per capita. The PMG regression results suggest that the growth rate of GDP per capita and its covariates are cointegrated, implying the presence of a long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. Our results suggest that FDI inflows have significant positive impact on economic growth of the recipient countries both in the long-run and in the short-run. We find that the long-run effect of FDI inflows on economic growth is higher in the emerging market economies as compared to the non-emerging market economies. FDI inflows have significant positive effect on the long-run economic growth in Asia and Africa region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• AMD did not induce higher mortality of P. akamusi. • P. akamusi can accumulate Fe, Ni, and Zn from AMD. • AMD leachates changed the expression of the four stress-related genes. • Eno1 and Hb VII may play important roles in the AMD tolerance of P. akamusi larvae. • P. akamusi could be applied for AMD bioremediation. Acid mine water (AMD) is a global environmental problem caused by coal mining with the characteristics of low pH and high concentrations of metals and sulfates. It is a pertinent topic to seek both economical and environmentally friendly approaches to minimize the harmful effects of AMD on the environment. Insect larvae are considered a promising solution for pollution treatment. Chironomidae is the most tolerant family to contaminants in pools and its larvae have a strong capacity for metal accumulation from sediment. This paper aimed to evaluate the larvae of Propsilocerus akamusi , a dominant species in the chironomid community, as a new species for entomoremediation in AMD-polluted areas. We detected the toxic effects of AMD on P. akamusi larvae based on their survival and the trace metals bioaccumulation capabilities of P. akamusi larvae. Moreover, we analyzed the expression patterns of four stress-response genes, HSP70, Eno1, HbV, and Hb VII in P. akamusi larvae. Our results revealed that AMD exposure did not significantly affect the survival of the P. akamusi larvae and individuals exposed to some AMD gradients even exhibited higher survival. We also observed the significantly accumulated concentrations of Fe, Ni, and Zn as well as higher bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) for Ni and Zn in the P. akamusi larvae exposure to AMD. Induced expression of Eno1 and Hb VII may play important roles in the AMD tolerance of P. akamusi larvae. This study indicated the potential application of P. akamusi larvae in the metal bioremediation of AMD-polluted areas. Acid mine drainage (AMD) is a global environmental problem related to coal mining activities. AMD pollution has become a long-term, worldwide issue for its interactive and complex stress factors. Bioremediation is an effective method to remove the metals of AMD from wastewater to prevent downstream pollution. However, the disadvantages of the slow growth rate, susceptibility to seasonal changes, difficult post-harvest management, and small biomass of hyperaccumulating plants greatly limit the usefulness of phytoremediation. Insect larvae may be useful candidate organisms to overcome these shortcomings and have been considered a promising pollution solution. Propsilocerus akamusi is a dominant species in the chironomid community and is distributed widely in many lakes of eastern Asia. This species has extraordinary abilities to resist various stresses. This research is the first time to our knowledge to evaluate the application of P. akamusi as a new species in entomoremediation in AMD-contaminated areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Resilience’ is the catchword of the moment. For many of the mainstream institutions of international development, building resilience is embedded in a wider commitment to market liberalism. Taking three entry points, the sectoral, spatial and socio-governmental, this paper critically explores the connections, interdependencies and tensions between social resilience and the market imperative. The paper argues that ‘liberal resilience’ plays into a growth-development-resilience ‘trap’ wherein economic growth has become a de facto synonym for development and, often, development a synonym for resilience. Drawing on empirical cases from across rural Asia we highlight the incongruities and inconsistencies in this line of logic. The paper suggests that there is a need to critically judge the market mechanism and the complex and sometimes contradictory ways in which the processes that have been set in train by market integration impinge on resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to inform policy makers and legislators on how to set energy efficiency standards and labelling (S&L) regulations. It draws lessons from the literature on S&L regulations in the Asia–Pacific region and from practical experience in drafting the S&L regulations for Brunei Darussalam. The paper proposes necessary components for effective S&L regulations, as follows: clear liabilities, authoritative administration, open principles for technical systems, and enforceable mechanisms. It also recommends some key issues in good practice toward effective S&L regulations, such as policy making in advance, customised legislation, inclusive and transparent legislative procedure, and flexibility in the legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to modern energy services in households is central to achieving decent living standards and well-being. Almost 3 billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia still lack access to modern energy services and endure energy consumption rates equivalent to a fraction of that in developed countries. While critical for the successful achievement of several internationally agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), closing this energy divide may pose an additional pressure on the already daunting challenge of securing climate stabilization. The ways in which this divide is closed will significantly affect the development of buildings-related emissions. This paper revisits previous work on the potential conflict between efforts towards closing the energy divide and enabling the achievement of higher levels of human well-being, and those associated with climate stabilization. It estimates the additional energy needed to achieve the former in terms of final energy consumption levels in key regions, and the associated emission pathways under different climate action scenarios. It then analyses the impact that such pathways could have on estimated carbon budgets associated with fulfilling the Paris Agreement, and provides some suggestions on how this impact could be minimized in the buildings sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food production is an important source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Quantifying the carbon footprint of all the major food categories in different continents is critical for accurately evaluating various aspects of GHG emissions from food production on a continental and global scale. Such information, however, is lacking. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis of plant-based and animal-based food production in all continents comprehensively using 5353 carbon footprint values from 524 published papers and calculated GHG emissions from food production (system boundary is from cradle to farm gate) at the continental and global scale. Our results indicate that the average carbon footprint of plant-based foods amounts to 0.66 kg CO 2 -eq kg−1, which is only 10.7% of animal-based foods (6.15 kg CO 2 -eq kg−1). The carbon footprint of plant-based food in Asia and Europe is 8.9%–184% higher than that of other continents. Africa has the lowest carbon footprint for plant-based foods, owing to its low agricultural input and limited crop management. However, the carbon footprint of animal-based foods in Africa and Asia is 2.5%–150% higher than that of other continents, with North America and Oceania recording the lowest. Total annual GHG emission from global food production reached 8125 Mt CO 2 -eq, with grains, meat, and milk together accounting for 70.8%. Asia, owing to its large production, emerged as the largest emitter, accounting for 55.4% of global GHG emissions. It was followed by Europe (16.3%) and North America (10.5%), while Africa, South America and Oceania together emit 17.8%. In summary, our study presents the most comprehensive account of the carbon footprint of food production at the continental and global scale to-date, which will help develop strategies and policies to reduce GHG emissions at various levels such as geographical regions, food and nutrition security, resource availability and resource use. • Plant-based food carbon footprint (CF) < 89% than that of animal-based food. • Plant-based food CF in Asia and Europe up to >184% than that of other regions. • Animal-based food CF in Africa, Asia up to >150% than that of other regions. • Global food production GHG emission is 8125 Mt CO 2 yr−1. • Asia emits 55% of global food GHG emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Indian freshwater ecosystems are not well studied, are degraded due to expansive agriculture and are contaminated with pesticides. • Mesocosms identified malathion was the dominant stressor among co-occurring stressors. • In mesocosms malathion reduced richness, organism densities and caused community homogenisation. • Toxicology test comparisons between countries identify that Indian taxa may be relatively pesticide tolerant. Globally, river pesticide concentrations are associated with regional and local stream invertebrate diversity declines. Pesticides often co-occur with elevated nutrients (e.g. nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediments related to agriculture, making their individual effects difficult to disentangle. These effects are also less well studied in Asia, than in other geographic regions. Within Asia, India is one of the largest producers and users of pesticides and has approximately 60% of total land mass used for agriculture. Here we examine the responses of Indian river invertebrate communities subjected to malathion, nutrients, and sediment additions in a semi-orthogonal design, in three sequential (through time) short-term (120 h) mesocosm experiments. Additionally, a series of single-species toxicity tests were run that used 24 h exposure and 72 h recovery to examine the sensitivity of 13 local invertebrate taxa to malathion, and 9 taxa to cypermethrin, comparing these results to those from other biogeographic regions. Mesocosm results indicate that malathion exposure had a major effect compared to other stressors on communities, with a lesser effect of nutrients and/or sediments. In mesocosms, taxa richness, total abundance and the abundance of sensitive species all declined associated with malathion concentrations. Comparisons of organism sensitivities from other geographic locations and those in the current paper suggest taxa in India are relatively tolerant to malathion and cypermethrin. Our results further reinforce that the high observed aquatic pesticide concentrations known to occur in Asian freshwater ecosystems are likely to be negatively affecting biodiversity, homogenising biota towards those most stress tolerant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of climate change, it is essential to rethink how we build to reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry. Timber construction can be a solution to reduce the use of concrete or steel, whose manufacture emits much CO 2. This paper proposes a method to reinterpret tenon and mortise joints for construction. Friction-based assemblies, particularly mortise and tenon wooden joints, have been studied for centuries in Asia and Europe and may offer promising constructive solutions, such as allowing disassembling rather than demolishing a structure. These assemblies can be complex; they initially required a great deal of craftsmanship, which robotics can now replace to manufacture and assemble them. Nevertheless, it is necessary to develop methods to produce these robotic joints. Our method uses non-sequential assemblies, which are by definition, opposed to sequential assemblies. An assembly is said to be sequential when the elements that compose it are assembled one after the other, in a defined order or not. For a non-sequential assembly, all the elements that compose it are in motion and assembled simultaneously. This assembly method has the particularity of being locked only by its kinematics, which makes it possible to easily (dis)assemble the elements by only knowing their motion. After an introduction and defining the terms and hypotheses of our research, we discuss the related word. In the fourth section, the developed method is explained. Then, we introduce the different parameters to control the assembly's design and kinematics. After that, we extend the previous method to the third dimension. Finally, a construction prototype demonstrates the method's efficiency. [Display omitted] • Generality: our method works for pure translation, in 2D or 3D. • Exhaustivity: any kinematic can be generate thanks to parallel transformation. • Control: calculations and parameters are given to choose the kinematics according to external factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the turmoil in the global financial sector over the years, Asian banking stood still with many positive characteristics - stable, balanced competition, good governance, and profitable – becoming a fertile ground for performance studies. This paper departs from previous banking performance studies in Asia by proposing a novel stochastic Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) based on sign decomposition, offering a novel perspective in five analytical fronts. First, criteria decorrelation and filtering from country and time impacts as an initial data treatment. Second, endogenous computation of bank criteria importance for the alternatives comprised by each bank and year under analysis, in a "one-stop-shop" approach. Third, derivation of partial performance scores for each criterion under each alternative, besides traditional overall performance scores for each alternative. Fourth, mapping the exogenous/endogenous relationships among bank filtered criteria from country and year impacts using transfer entropy. Fifth, prediction of the overall performance drivers in terms of country-related contextual variables using neural networks. Our findings indicate that bank liquidity, bank capitalization, net income as well as the ability to generate profit for the shareholders are significantly related to bank performance. In addition, we find that accounting standards have a significant impact on bank performance. Although inflation is found to be positively related to bank performance, the results show that bank performance is helpful to promote people's economic standard and life expectancy. Our study provides important implications to macroeconomic management to balance the development of macroeconomic development and bank performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice is a conventional crop that is produced majorly in the South and the South-East regions of Asia, leading to the generation of a considerable amount of biomass (Rice Straw) in the fields during the harvesting process. Whereas, husked rice, rice bran and broken rice are handled carefully during the processing of rice, however, rice straw is left in the agricultural fields and subjected to open-field burning for the easiest way to get rid of this waste. During the burning process, particulate matter (PM 2.5 , PM 10) and Greenhouse gases (CO, SO x , NO x) are emitted to the atmosphere and tend to cause an adverse effect on soil characteristics, human health and the environment. Considering these problems, many studies have been carried out for the valorization of rice straw in the various technologies as a raw material for composting, paper production, power generation, mushroom production, gasification and pyrolysis, construction material, pellet production, silica extraction, feed for ruminants, biofuel production, as an adsorbent and biochar production. The present paper aims to review the aforementioned technologies on the basis of different parameters for the generation of value-added products. The data presented in the paper is expected to aid local authorities, researchers and stakeholders to improvise the current practices or to invent new possibilities for the sustainable management of rice straw. • The potential use of rice straw in the different applications is elaborated. • The environmental impacts and mitigation strategies for the open-field burning of rice straw are discussed. • The future predictions along with economic aspects associated with the sustainable utilization of rice straw are presented. • The advantages and disadvantages involved in the further inventions to reduce the impact of rice straw are explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The growing cities in developing Asia require a massive provision of infrastructure, public transportation, housing and jobs for their population, as well as a healthy environment. On the other hand, urban Asia contributes increasingly to climate change, and suffers its impacts. The climate co-benefits approach in this paper refers to the development and implementation of policies and strategies that simultaneously contribute to addressing climate change and solving local environmental problems, which also have other development impacts. The co-benefits approach is important especially for developing countries, which have to overcome many challenges simultaneously with limited capacities and resources. Thus, the objective of this paper is to examine the main obstacles, opportunities and challenges to implementation of environmental co-benefit related policies in urban areas. The paper focuses primarily upon sub-national processes, particularly in cities in developing countries, but the research also looked into the links of sub-national processes to national and international processes. The paper relies on the results of research done in China, Indonesia and India. It offers a series of lessons for understanding initiatives that generated co-benefits and the factors that influence them. This paper provides insight on successful ways to promote, design and implement the urban co-benefits approach in urban areas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• This study presents a comprehensive review on fan-use rates and effects in practice. • The main trigger of fan-use is a warm environment rather than building types. • Using fans elevates neutral temperature averages by 3 K in real buildings. • More than 15% air-conditioning-use rate is reduced by fan-use in buildings. • 3-K temperature extension is achieved by using fans for productivity not decreasing. This paper is a literature review of field studies on fan-use rates and their effects on thermal comfort, energy conservation, and human productivity. In the assessed literature, fans are more popular in Asia, and more used in mixed-mode (MM) and naturally ventilated (NV) buildings than in air-conditioned (AC) buildings. On the basis of collected fan-use models, probit regression models of fan-use rates and ambient environments were obtained and indicate that the essential trigger of fan-use is a warm environment rather than building types. This result helps us to understand the control behaviors and comfort requirements of occupants. Also, fans could provide benefits in three aspects: widening neutral temperatures, saving energy, and improving occupants' productivity. First, using fans in buildings elevates the neutral temperature and the upper limit of neutral zone (0.5 thermal sensation scale) averages by about 3 K in ranges from 25.7°C to 28.7°C and 27.5°C to 30.7°C, respectively. Second, fan-use reduces AC-use rates in MM buildings in summer. The regression models based on the collected AC-use rate models illustrate that, on average, AC-use is expected to be reduced by about 15% in summer when fans are used. Third, providing occupants access to fans could improve occupants' productivity. Based on the limited data available, a 3-K temperature extension is achieved by fans ensuring productivity not decreasing. This review could shed some light on the extension of the neutral temperature range, predictions of MM buildings' energy consumptions, and methods to enhance productivity. Additionally, this review suggests some valuable directions for future research on fans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Asian countries are the main players in the recycling industry, there are problems linked to contamination, occupational health, and procedures that are not sustainable. Due to recent regulations in the recycling industry, shipyards outside Asia with sustainable practices can be authorized by the European Union to participate in this market. Considering the fact that, Brazilian shipyards have not been contracting for new ship orders, their production capacity could be used to ship recycling. Then, the novelty of this paper's contribution is that it is the first study to examine the legal, technical, and economic aspects of ship recycling for Brazilian shipyards. The research strategy adopted was based data collected from ships recycled in south Asia in 2016 and the Brazilian fleet with the potential to be recycled over the next 25 years. Semi-structured interviews with maritime sector professionals, as well as shipyard stakeholders and ship owners, were conducted to identify the perception of this activity in Brazil. A statistical descriptive analysis was conducted and an estimate of global market value was determined considering the ships recycled. The findings indicate that, in 2016, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, and China were responsible for 96.64% of the global market. In the same year, approximately 27 ships were recycled out of South Asia showing a change in the predominant countries in ship recycling. The potential Brazilian fleet to be recycled over the next 25 years represents approximately 340 ships with an estimated market value of US $587 million. Brazilian shipyards are an environmentally and technically qualified industry, with an idle capacity of ±900,000 Tons per year. However, local and international stakeholders suggest that Brazilian shipyards need to acquire expertise and expand feasibility studies to develop ship recycling locally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Asian region, most populous and fastest growing in terms of economic growth, has countries with lowest per capita energy/electricity consumption. Barring the Middle East, the rest of the region is, by and large, modest in conventional energy resources. This is also a region where large sections of population suffer from income inequality and inadequate economic development. Economic growth and quality of life of a population depend heavily on per capita availability of energy/electricity, and thus there is an urgent need to increase the per capita electricity production/consumption in the region. Unlike in the past, it is the Asian region that is poised to dwarf the today''s developed world in new capacity addition in the coming years. This fact alone asks for sensible choices to be made. Also, the Asian region is quite vulnerable to the effects of climate change, given the geography and population distribution. Today, governments must seriously consider the environmental impact of electricity generation, in order to help mitigate global warming and its consequences. Nuclear power, being environmentally benign, affords sustainability at the very outset. But that''s not all. The other compelling reasons in favour of nuclear power are its compact nature as a source of energy and the promise of long-term energy security. Nuclear power is, therefore, inevitable for the region. Recognising this, the rapidly developing countries in the region – such as India and China – are pursuing ambitious nuclear power programmes, while several other countries in the region are also planning to embark on the nuclear power route for electricity generation. As nuclear power is inherently technology-intensive, there is a need for greater cooperation, to reach out to countries that presently do not have the technology base for starting nuclear power programmes on their own. Even in the countries with established commercial nuclear power programmes, there is a need to reach out to the people to demonstrate the merits, safety aspects and economic competitiveness of nuclear power, and also the role of nuclear power in the preservation of the environment. The imperatives of the current scenario warrant building confidence among the people regarding nuclear power through sharing of credible information on all its aspects to remove misconceptions. This paper describes the current scenario, key issues, challenges and possible ways to address them. The paper also briefly describes the Indian nuclear power programme for being the second -most aggressive player in the nuclear arena in this region, after China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Globalisation and social inequalities are the central research interests of a number of scholars in the world today. This Special Issue, Social Stratification Studies in East Asia, offers selected papers presented at the Tohoku University - National University of Singapore Joint Forum of Sociology and Stratification Studies held in Singapore in February 2009. This journal issue introduces five enthusiastic research projects presented at the forum on a variety of social stratification issues. These papers highlight the studies of sociologists who delve into inequalities and disparities in globalised Asia today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Global sustainability is increasingly influenced by processes of industrialisation and urbanization in non-OECD countries, especially in Asia. Growth models suggest that developing economies and regions will become first relatively more resource- and pollution-intensive, before converging on more resource-efficient and low-pollution production and consumption patterns expressed in developed countries. Alternative less resource- and pollution-intensive growth models for latecomer countries promise social and economic benefits in the short- and long-term. Drawing on insights from system innovation research on long-run change in socio-technical systems, we discuss the potential role of ‘sustainability experiments’ to generate innovations that will constitute new ‘greener’ growth models. We observe a great number of technology-based initiatives that we characterize as sustainability experiments in East and South Asian countries. These experiments emerge in the context of the growth of new socio-technical regimes in key sectors, including energy, transport, manufacturing, food and the built environment. We set out a conceptual framework for assessing the role of experiments, and for evaluating how they link with and become anchored into alternative more sustainable regimes. In this paper we argue that sustainability experiments represent a significant new source of innovation and capability-formation, linked to global knowledge and technology flows, which could reshape emergent socio-technical regimes and so contribute to alternative development pathways in latecomer countries. We conclude by summarizing the six papers published in this Special Issue. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In recent years, BOT approach has provided an increasingly popular project financing to move toward infrastructure development in Asian countries such as Iran. There are many complexities in projects because of the variety of factors in project’s trend and also the dependence of project on mainly national factors. Due to these complexities and their long-term operating, the projects meet with uncertainty and numerous risks. In this paper, an attempt is made at identifying common risks in BOT projects. A novel hierarchical structure of risks is presented on the basis of the project-oriented point of view; next, some effective criteria for risk ranking in BOT projects are introduced. Then, the problem is defined in Fuzzy Multi Attribute Decision Making (FMADM) field. Therefore, Fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) and Fuzzy Linear Programming Technique for Multidimensional Analysis of Preference (FLINMAP) methods are presented in order to rank high risks in BOT projects. In this study, these two methods are compared in four respects: separation among alternatives, fuzzy error in criteria’s weights, risk response planning, and numerousness of alternatives in proportion to criteria. The proposed model is used for identifying and assessing risks in Iran BOT power plant project. Finally, the rankings of high risks are determined according to their results at the end of this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Human-induced vegetation fires destroy a large amount of biomass each year and thus constitute an important fraction of the human interference with the energy flows of terrestrial ecosystems. This paper presents a quantification of the biomass burned in large-scale as well as small-scale human-induced vegetation fires at the country level for the year 2000. The amount of biomass burned in large scale fires is estimated combining information on the amount of biomass destroyed by large vegetation fires each year, derived by remote sensing, with estimates about the fraction induced by human activities. For biomass flows resulting from shifting cultivation, no comprehensive information is available at the global scale. Therefore, this flow was modelled on the basis of data on the area subjected to shifting cultivation and assumptions about the typical length of the cropping and fallow periods and the amount of biomass destroyed in each rotation cycle. The results show that the amount of biomass consumed in anthropogenic vegetation fires ranges between 3.5 and 3.9billion tons dry matter per year (Pg dm/yr), a considerable amount when compared to the global socioeconomic biomass harvest of 12Pg dm/yr. One third of the biomass consumed in anthropogenic fires each year, 1.0–1.4Pg dm, results from shifting cultivation. Anthropogenic fires are most important in the regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (2202Tg dm/yr), Latin America (795Tg dm/yr), South-Eastern Asia (336Tg dm/yr) and Central Asia (157Tg dm/yr), whereas in regions dominated by industrialized countries, anthropogenic vegetation fires play a minor role. Due to the lack of consistent and spatially explicit data for the year 2000, these numbers do not include agricultural residues burned in the field. The inclusion of residue burning in the year 1985 would increase the total biomass consumed by 0.45Pg dm to a total of between 4.0 and 4.4Pg dm/yr. The paper shows that the current geographic pattern of biomass burning can be explained by a combination of natural factors, such as the type of the potential vegetation, and socioeconomic factors, such as population density and the degree of industrialization of a region, which ultimately determine the application of vegetation fires in land use management. It is expected that the magnitude of anthropogenic vegetation fires will decrease in absolute and relative terms, mainly due to population growth and the diffusion of modern land use technologies, which more and more replace the function of vegetation fires as a land management tool. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the microbiome is a major public health concern globally. Many habitats in the environment are under threat due to excessive use of antibiotics and evolutionary changes occurring in the resistome. ARB and ARGs from farms, cities and hospitals, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) or as water runoffs, may accumulate in water, soil, and air. We present a global picture of the resistome by examining ARG-related papers retrieved from PubMed and published in the last 30 years (1990–2020). Natural Language Processing (NLP) was used to retrieve 496,640 papers, out of which 9374 passed the filtering test and were further analyzed to determine the distribution and diversity of ARG subtypes. The papers revealed seven major antibiotic families together with their respective ARG subtypes in different habitats on six continents. Asia, especially China, had the highest number of ARGs related papers compared to other countries/regions/continents. ARGs belonging to multidrug, glycopeptide, and β-lactam families were the most common in reports from hospitals and sulfonamide and tetracycline families were common in reports from farms, WWTPs, water and soil. We also highlight the 'omics' tools used in resistome research, describe some factors that shape the development of resistome, and suggest future work needed to better understand the resistome. The goal was to show the global nature of ARB and ARGs in order to encourage collaborate research efforts aimed at reducing the negative impacts of antibiotic resistance on the One Health concept. [Display omitted] • Antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) are major public health concerns globally. • The diversity and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are presented. • Factors that affect ARB and ARGs in different environments are discussed. • Different 'omics' tools used to study resistome development are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been claimed that Asia lags behind the rest of the world in the privatization of airports. At the same time, the air transport sector has been growing quickly and this has placed enormous pressure on airport infrastructure. This paper reviews the situation and finds that the private sector is involved extensively with new airports and the upgrading of existing airports in Asia. Although the models used to accommodate the private sector appear similar to those used elsewhere, governments in Asia have retained majority control in every case. Despite the fact that some governments say that efficiency is important to them, the most common and important motive in “privatization” in Asia is to mobilize a new source of finance. Airports remain high on the agenda of public policy. Governments are concerned about abuse of monopoly powers and they want to cross-subsidize regional airports, but they lack the institutional strengths to regulate effectively. By retaining majority control, however, governments risk losing the efficiency benefits of privatization. The paper explores the reasons why airports are such difficult cases to deal with and concludes that there is a greater need than ever to be able to compare the performances of airports. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To realize Malaysia’s vision of becoming a developed country by the year 2020, rapid urbanization and development have taken place in many parts of the country. Despite vast development in Malaysia, the country experiences a myriad of water shortage issues. Therefore, Malaysia needs to carefully manage its freshwater resources to achieve sustainable development. Greywater has proven to be a useful substitute for fresh water for non-potable activities. This paper reviews examples of greywater recycling that have been successfully implemented globally, and identifies constraints of implementing greywater recycling systems for use in Malaysia. Greywater represents 43–70% of total domestic wastewater volume, and reusing greywater for irrigation may have adverse long-term impacts on soil. Greywater should be treated and disinfected before reuse, and can be disinfected via chlorine, UV, or ozone disinfection. Chlorine disinfection is recommended as chlorine is widely available and inexpensive. Malaysia lacks strategies for kick starting greywater recycling projects. To overcome obstacles, Malaysia could establish a moderate treated greywater quality standard (pH 6–9, TSS < 20 mg/L, <5 NTU, BOD 5 < 20 mg/L and <10 CFU/100 mL of E. coli ) for urban reuse and initiate greywater recycling efforts by recycling low strength greywater from ablution activities and bathrooms. Last but not least, researchers and local authorities could work closely to monitor the greywater recycling systems, while the latter could provide subsidies and rebates to financially support the implementation of the greywater recycling system and eventually achieve the goal of water sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Megacities in Asia have been growing and showing dynamic ‘compressed’ changes. Tokyo, Bangkok and Shanghai are serving as the centre of finance, production and other functions of the region, while disparities within the city are widening to form multi-layered stratification. Besides, in the advancement of globalisation, they now experience uncertainty, insecurity, and more difficult new challenges – facing challenges of global cities in developed countries and of cities in developing countries simultaneously. In order to consider social environment where individual can live well in such Asian cities, this paper explores potential urban risks, risk responses, and actual condition of well-being of urban residents in three cities. The data from field survey show that Tokyo residents face to the work-related problems, while shanghai and Bangkok residents to the fundamental economic risks. As the responses to those risks, all three cities use some personal networks to ensure enough resources to overcome, even if what relationships they have developed and how to use those vary. An interesting but not surprising finding is that, despite a better living condition, Tokyo residents show the lowest level of life satisfaction among the surveyed cities. In reality, there is a limit in responding to the public needs due to the austerity, which results in a serious policy dilemma. Managing the urban risks in a creative way by multi-actors in local context, such as involving individuals’ personal networks, is one of the key challenges to be tackled for the future development and economic and social sustainability of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and their associated signaling pathways play pivotal roles in the immune response to invading pathogens. Here, TLR13, TLR22, tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6), and transforming growth factor-β-activated kinase1 (TAK1) were characterized in the soiny mullet (Liza haematocheila), representative mugilid species that is widely cultured in Asia. The four mullet genes, which shared characteristic features with their counterparts in other teleosts, were ubiquitously expressed in all of the examined tissues, albeit with different expression patterns. Following Streptococcus dysgalactiae infection, the four genes were upregulated to different degrees in various mullet tissues. These results indicated that the four genes were involved in the mullet immune response to bacterial infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first characterization of these four genes in mullet. Our results provide a basis for future studies of TLR signaling pathways in mullet, as well as for similar studies in other mugilids. • Two TLRs (TLR13 and TLR22) and two TLR signal transducers (TRAF6 and TAK1) are obtained from soiny mullet. • This paper is the first report on these four genes of Mugiliformes. • This paper investigates the expression of these four genes under gram positive bacterial infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edible bird nest (EBN) production is a major industry in South East Asia, motivated by the perception that consumption of this delicacy can help improve the human immune system while slowing down the aging process. However, processing the raw EBN requires a tremendous amount of human effort, making it a very labour-intensive process. The most critical part of this process is the cleaning of the EBN and this is also the most labour intensive and time consuming. Impurities in each sample have to be painstakingly identified and then removed from the rest of the nest. This paper proposed a method to detect the impurities in edible bird nest using K-Means segmentation to help improve the effectiveness of the conventional cleaning process by accurately identifying the impurities of various shapes and sizes. The accuracy of the proposed method has been compared with Fuzzy C-Means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Household coverage with iodized salt was assessed in 10 countries that implemented Universal Salt Iodization (USI).Objective: The objective of this paper was to summarize household coverage data for iodized salt, including the relation between coverage and residence type and socioeconomic status (SES).Methods: A review was conducted of results from cross-sectional multistage household cluster surveys with the use of stratified probability proportional to size design in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Niger, the Philippines, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda. Salt iodine content was assessed with quantitative methods in all cases. The primary indicator of coverage was percentage of households that used adequately iodized salt, with an additional indicator for salt with some added iodine. Indicators of risk were SES and residence type. We used 95% CIs to determine significant differences in coverage.Results: National household coverage of adequately iodized salt varied from 6.2% in Niger to 97.0% in Uganda. For salt with some added iodine, coverage varied from 52.4% in the Philippines to 99.5% in Uganda. Coverage with adequately iodized salt was significantly higher in urban than in rural households in Bangladesh (68.9% compared with 44.3%, respectively), India (86.4% compared with 69.8%, respectively), Indonesia (59.3% compared with 51.4%, respectively), the Philippines (31.5% compared with 20.2%, respectively), Senegal (53.3% compared with 19.0%, respectively), and Tanzania (89.2% compared with 57.6%, respectively). In 7 of 8 countries with data, household coverage of adequately iodized salt was significantly higher in high- than in low-SES households in Bangladesh (58.8% compared with 39.7%, respectively), Ghana (36.2% compared with 21.5%, respectively), India (80.6% compared with 70.5%, respectively), Indonesia (59.9% compared with 45.6%, respectively), the Philippines (39.4% compared with 17.3%, respectively), Senegal (50.7% compared with 27.6%, respectively) and Tanzania (80.9% compared with 51.3%, respectively).Conclusions: Uganda has achieved USI. In other countries, access to iodized salt is inequitable. Quality control and regulatory enforcement of salt iodization remain challenging. Notable progress toward USI has been made in Ethiopia and India. Assessing progress toward USI only through household salt does not account for potentially iodized salt consumed through processed foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large hydropower infrastructure development is a key energy priority in low and middle income countries as a means to increase energy access and promote national development. Nevertheless hydropower dams can also negatively impact people's livelihoods by reducing access to local natural resources such as land, water and food. This paper analyses equity-based resource allocation from an ecological economics perspective, by looking at local resource use competition between different uses (food, energy, livelihoods) and users (villagers, urban settlers, local government and dam builders) in selected case studies in Asia and Africa. It also illustrates from a political ecology approach divergences between national priorities of energy production and growth and local development needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planning of historic cities in Asia is typically characterised as mixed land use with a hierarchy of streets and open spaces. While the morphology of the built environment is archetypal of the regional context, addressing the concern of thermal comfort essentially through passive systems using locally available resources. Further, most of these cities, centuries old, are vivid example of resilience to change with time, technology and developmental pressures. Also, the majority of such cities are in Asia. These old neighbourhoods are a huge built resource, in sync with locally available materials and indigenous technology, and thus in harmony with the environment; also recognised for their traditional style by the tourism sector. In this paper, the parameters of morphology of these built environments, contextual for arid zones, are spelt out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A damage-control design method was proposed for BRB-moment frame. • Hybrid tests were conducted on a full-scale two-story BRB-moment frame. • Plastic hinges formed in intended positions without local buckling. • Sliding corner gusset connections significantly reduced frame action at the system level. • Enhanced ductility of moment frame helped BRBs fulfil energy dissipation capacity. Buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) are widely adopted as supplementary energy dissipation devices in steel moment frames (MFs) in Asia to improve the energy dissipation capacity of the whole system. Such systems are referred to as buckling-restrained braced moment frames (BRB-MFs). Nevertheless, adopting BRBs does not guarantee desirable seismic performance of the whole system, as frame action may cause premature fracture or buckling of BRB corner gusset connections, and such frame-to-gusset interaction may limit the ductility of such system. In our previous studies, a sliding corner gusset connection was proposed and proved to be able to substantially reduce the detrimental frame action at the connection level. In this paper, study was extended to (1) damage-control design of BRB-MFs with such connections in pursuit of enhanced system ductility, and (2) experimental evaluation on seismic behavior of BRB-MFs with such connections at the system level. The damage-control design method was first presented and a full-scale two-story BRB-MF designed by such procedure was experimentally studied under four levels of earthquake loading through hybrid tests, followed by a pseudo-static test to examine its failure mode. Test results showed that the sliding gusset connections effectively released the frame action at the system level. By adopting the damage-control design procedure, the test BRB-MF exhibited excellent seismic performance up to an inter-story drift ratio of ± 3 %, and plastic hinges of the MFs developed in the controlled positions without fracture or buckling under four levels of earthquake loading. With the improved ductility of MFs, BRBs achieved their full potential as energy dissipation devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As urban populations grow and climate exposure increases, more cities are introducing formal planning processes to adapt to climate change. This paper explains the process applied to eight cities in the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) for developing indicators for planning and monitoring local climate resilience. This process relied on transferring a common conceptual framework for climate resilience, together with a locally led iterative and collaborative process that engaged technical and planning authorities and vulnerable groups. The process varied slightly between cities and generated indicators that were chosen for their contextual fit and availability of data. The main benefit of developing resilience indicators in this way was the local capacity that the process built, in terms of understanding resilience, shared understanding of concepts and measurement and establishment of a common platform for future planning and monitoring of climate adaptation interventions at the city level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is one of the leading causes of chronic liver diseases and mortality in Western countries and Asia. Ultrasound image assessment is most commonly and widely used to identify the Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). It is one of the faster and safer non-invasive methods of NAFLD diagnosis available in imaging modalities. The diagnosis of NAFLD using biopsies is expensive, invasive, and causes anxiety to the patients. The advent of advanced image processing and data mining techniques have helped to develop faster, efficient, objective, and accurate decision support system for fatty liver disease using ultrasound images. This paper proposes a novel feature extraction models based on Radon Transform (RT) and Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). First, Radon Transform (RT) is performed on the ultrasound images for every 1 degree to capture the low frequency details. Then 2D-DCT is applied on the Radon transformed image to obtain the frequency features (DCT coefficients). Further the 2D-DCT frequency coefficients (features) obtained are converted to 1D coefficients vector in zigzag fashion. This 1D array of DCT coefficients are subjected to Locality Sensitive Discriminant Analysis (LSDA) to reduce the number of features. Then these features are ranked using minimum Redundancy and Maximum Relevance (mRMR) ranking method. Finally, highly ranked minimum numbers of features are fused using Decision Tree (DT), k-Nearest Neighbour (k-NN), Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Fuzzy Sugeno (FS) and AdaBoost classifiers to get the highest classification performance. In this work, we have obtained an average accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of 100% in the detection of NAFLD using FS classifier. Also, we have devised an integrated index named as Fatty Liver Disease Index (FLDI) by fusing two significant LSDA components to distinguish normal and FLD class with single number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change in the Arctic is leading to the fast recession of sea ice in the summer. This evolution leads several observers, scientists, media and government officials, to consider the possibility of developing new shipping routes along Arctic routes, as these routes are much shorter between Europe and Asia. The literature displays a strong discourse about interest from Asian countries for these potential shipping routes. This paper tackles with this idea and examines to what extent Asian shipping companies, the ultimate economic agents, are really interested in Arctic shipping routes. The image the research portrayed is that only a minority of Asian shipping companies are indeed interested, and those that are interested stress the destinational dimension of Arctic shipping, not transit shipping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the risk transmissions across the green economy indices of three major regions which include US, Europe and Asia. The econometric analyses are conducted using DCC-GARCH and TVP-VAR connectedness approach to evaluate potential spillover effects within the context of oil and gold. Results indicate that green economy indices of US-Europe exhibit the greatest time-varying correlations among the three pairs during much of 2010–2022 consistent with that of the general equity market. However, co-movements during the COVID-19 pandemic period seem to display a change in pattern for green economy indices. The strength of the co-movements between the US and Europe displayed a declining trend, while that between US and Asia was strengthened, suggesting greater interdependence between these two markets. TVP-VAR connectedness analysis revealed that US and Europe dominate the transmission of the shocks across the years in the green economy, similar to that of the equity markets. However, during the pandemic a pronounced shift occurred in green economies when considering the risk transmissions within the context of commodities: oil and gold. While Asian green economy index was persistently a receiver of risk transmission from oil unlike the other two regions, since pandemic, oil displayed an asymmetric effect and has become the net transmitter of risk in negative returns of the green economies of US and Europe. This may reflect the diversion in environmental policies of the two regions in the recent past, and point to the dominance of energy sector in the green economy. These findings have substantial implications for the development of green economy policies and from an investment perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of data mining technology to food services and the restaurant industry has certain social value. By predicting customer traffic and needs, a restaurant can prepare a reasonable amount of meals for customers according to predicted needs which is conducive to improving the dining experience of customers and also improving the quality of food preparation and making the restaurant itself operate more efficiently. In recent years, we have seen the use of collaborative robots for use in the fast food industry. In Asia and more specifically in Japan, we have seen many fast-food chains implement the use of robots to better serve their customers. By studying the linear regression algorithm and the random forest algorithm, this paper proposes a new interwoven novel fusion approach of combining both algorithms and applies the new model to restaurant data to assist in the prediction of customer traffic in the restaurant industry. This predictive algorithm using cognitive techniques can assist these newly place robots in the food industry better serve their client base and in doing so make the industry more efficient. Experimental, comparison, and analysis are reported in the paper. The error rate of the fusion solution is reduced by approximately 5.503% compared with the linear regression algorithm and is approximately 3.719% lower than the error rate of the random forest algorithm. Results show that the new fusion algorithm can achieve better prediction results of customer traffic prediction for the restaurant industry. Furthermore, we also provide a new take on the application of data mining technology in the restaurant industry itself. • The application of data mining technology to the restaurant industry has certain social value. • Propose a new interwoven novel fusion approach applied to restaurant data to assist in the prediction of customer traffic in the restaurant industry. • This predictive algorithm using cognitive techniques can assist these newly place robots in the food industry better serve their client base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scaling the social impact of inclusive business models that provide solutions to basic needs of Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) communities through firm-centric approaches has proven challenging. Researchers have proposed that scaling strategies at the BoP should go beyond firm-centric approaches by inclusive businesses and involve coordinated synergistic action of their entire ecosystem to overcome systemic challenges and create value for all ecosystem actors. However, current research on this topic remains abstract and difficult to implement. This paper presents an empirically validated scaling framework designed to overcome this weakness and documents its design process. The framework takes account of the fact that inclusive businesses must work out scaling strategies together with key ecosystem actors, and that implementing a scaling strategy will almost always require mutual adaptation of business models. The framework design process entailed an extensive literature review and practitioner interviews as a first step, followed by testing, evaluation and iterative improvement through a series of validation workshops with actors of four inclusive business initiatives in Africa and Asia. The results indicate that the framework helps workshop participants to expand their mental frame, encouraging them to adopt a broader ecosystems perspective on scaling. This leads to identification and exploration of valuable business model adaptations for scaling that can be achieved through collaboration and assessment of the practical feasibility of different scaling strategies. [Display omitted] • Inclusive businesses at the Base of the Pyramid need ecosystem scaling for impact. • Scaling strategies need to be developed collaboratively with key ecosystem actors. • Strategies should entail mutual beneficial business model adaptations. • Collaborative sustainable business modelling can inspire scaling strategy development. • Framework application facilitates a business model ecosystem perspective on scaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]