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Waste paper, an essential substitute for wood and other plant-based fibers in paper making, is an indispensable part of the circular economy; yet, the impacts of China's ban on global waste paper cycles have not been well understood. We modeled the evolution of the global waste paper trade network during 1995-2019. We found that the cumulative trade volume of global waste paper reached 1010 million tons in the last 25 years and showed a downward trend since 2015. The global import center of waste paper experienced a transfer from Europe to East Asia and then to Southeast Asia. The ban has stimulated some developed countries to reduce the exports of unsorted waste paper since 2017, but for many major importers their changes in waste paper trade patterns were related to waste paperboard, which was not banned by China, suggesting that this import change trend may be inevitable and irrespective of China's ban. Besides, India has replaced China to become a new import hub of unsorted waste paper. Our results lay a foundation for exploring the evolution of the future global solid waste cycle under the background of zero import of solid waste increasingly implemented by China and many other developing countries.

The amount of researchers and scientific papers rapidly grows, annually. The metrics to analyze the quality and quantity of these publications have consolidated in the academic world. A bibliometric mapping of scientific papers on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) published between 2007 and 2016 was carried out. The sample analyzed 2,053 papers, extracted from twenty journals of the Web of Science Core Collection platform. The following were evaluated: total number of publications, production by area of knowledge and by country, authors, periodicals and the most cited words. The results shows that 2012 and 2013 were the most productive periods, and that the annual growth rate of publication was 1.8%. The most significant academic areas were Geography, Computer Science, Physical Geography, and Environmental Sciences/Ecology. The three major publishing clusters were North America, Western Europe, and Eastern Asia. The International Journal of Geographic Information Science was considered the most important journal. The most relevant topics were cellular automata, relationship between GIS and users, integration of GIS with remote sensing, different land use classification methods, and critical reflections on technologies and GIS.

The analysis of the determinants of a successful economic catch-up has been the key focus of many studies on innovation. The emergence of East Asian and Latin American economies, after the Second W...

Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera (L.) Vent.) was one of the most widely distributed crop species in prehistoric Oceania, occurring from continental East Asia to the Polynesian islands. Its broad distribution is largely due to human-mediated dispersal during colonization of the islands of Near and Remote Oceania. We explore the potential for analyses of genetic variation in paper mulberry and the value of such data for the development of a new commensal model species for reconstructing patterns of human mobility in Oceania. We introduce and discuss paper mulberry as another commensal species and outline key features for its contribution to the understanding of human migration and post-colonization interaction. Here, we describe some of the extant B. papyrifera populations in Remote Oceania and Taiwan that were sampled for initial studies. We argue that the unique characteristics of this species and its importance in ancient Pacific island societies may provide the opportunity to collect valuable gen...

This study attempts to investigate the Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC) for eight currencies in the East Asia region, known as Asian Paper Tigers from the period of July 2002 to July 2012. The estimation results generated from DCC model verify that each tested exchange rate's volatility is determined by its own previous volatility shock, however failed to find any evidence with its own residual shock. While for correlation estimation results, we support the evidence that the conditional correlations for all tested pairs currencies are highly affected by their previous correlation. Most of the Asian Paper Tigers currencies recorded a low conditional correlation over the tested sampling period except for CNYJPY, MYRCNY, MYRIDR, MYRTHB, JPYTHB and PHPKRW. The findings further verify that mixing the currencies within different monetary regime plays a significant role in enhancing the currency portfolio diversification results. Although in unstable period, both JPYTHB and MYRJPY are the most promising combinations to be included in the optimal currency investment basket where both pairs have small and stable correlations either during the global recession period or European liquidity crisis period.

How has development studies ? especially the one on and in East Asia in general, and South Korea in particular ? changed over the last decade and a half? We trace the recent trends through a review of articles published in Development and Society (D&S). Bibliographic metadata on a total of 201 authors and 199 papers for the period of 1998-2013 are collected and analyzed. For context, we find that, both in terms of authorship and regional coverage, the range of locales has expanded steadily. For content, research appears to have moved away from topics largely associated with quantity of development toward quality of development during the period. We conclude by discussing the implications for the future direction of development studies and suggesting strategies for D&S to follow in order to enhance its role in the field of development studies.

The peopling of Remote Oceanic islands by Austronesian speakers is a fascinating and yet contentious part of human prehistory. Linguistic, archaeological, and genetic studies have shown the complex nature of the process in which different components that helped to shape Lapita culture in Near Oceania each have their own unique history. Important evidence points to Taiwan as an Austronesian ancestral homeland with a more distant origin in South China, whereas alternative models favor South China to North Vietnam or a Southeast Asian origin. We test these propositions by studying phylogeography of paper mulberry, a common East Asian tree species introduced and clonally propagated since prehistoric times across the Pacific for making barkcloth, a practical and symbolic component of Austronesian cultures. Using the hypervariable chloroplast ndhF-rpl32 sequences of 604 samples collected from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceanic islands (including 19 historical herbarium specimens from Near and Remote Oceania), 48 haplotypes are detected and haplotype cp-17 is predominant in both Near and Remote Oceania. Because cp-17 has an unambiguous Taiwanese origin and cp-17-carrying Oceanic paper mulberries are clonally propagated, our data concur with expectations of Taiwan as the Austronesian homeland, providing circumstantial support for the "out of Taiwan" hypothesis. Our data also provide insights into the dispersal of paper mulberry from South China "into North Taiwan," the "out of South China-Indochina" expansion to New Guinea, and the geographic origins of post-European introductions of paper mulberry into Oceania.

The victory of the conservative Liberal Party led by Tony Abbott in the September 2013 general elections means that Australia is now committed to the preparation of a new defence white paper --the country's third in six years--to be released in early 2015. The timing was pre-determined on the back of public promises by Abbott and then shadow defence minister David Johnston during the campaign to deliver the new white paper within eighteen months of entering government. Plans are already underway to ensure that the document will be delivered on time. (1) While the top priority for defence planners over several decades has been to ensure the "defence of Australia" by acquiring military capabilities to repel any direct enemy advances against the mainland, the 2000, (2) 2009 (3) and 2013 (4) defence white papers delivered by the John Howard, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard governments, respectively, have all upheld the importance of "ensuring strategic stability in the Asia-Pacific" as a critical national security interest. This was reaffirmed in the pre-election policy document released by Senator Johnston who has now been sworn in as Australia's Defence Minister. (5) Although the somewhat meaningless phrase "Asian Century" (6) is now widely used in Australian strategic, defence and economic discourse, some of Australia's neighbours suspect that Canberra focuses too heavily on large Northeast Asian powers such as China and Japan, and not enough on major Southeast Asian players, the latter region defined in this article as the subregion of Asia consisting of countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of Papua New Guinea and north of Australia. To be fair, Canberra's attention is appropriately directed towards its three largest trading partners in Asia--China, Japan and South Korea --which are all in Northeast Asia, while the structural causes of potential region-wide instability is primarily a Northeast Asian phenomenon as possible instability is primarily driven by China's re-emergence as a Great Power. Even so, previous Australian defence white papers have tended to take a predominantly "risk management" approach to Southeast Asia in that they posit that Canberra should ensure that it has adequate military capabilities to manage and contain risks to its national interests should adverse developments occur in that region. While this is a sensible and prudent position to take, little ground has been made in terms of exploring the strategic possibilities of Southeast Asia, and in particular how Australian relationships in Southeast Asia and the capabilities that it brings to the table can contribute to the broader objective of ensuring strategic stability in Asia. In other words, the strategic analysis underpinning the next defence white paper ought to do several things. Rather than treating Southeast Asia as a standalone strategic region, it needs to link bilateral and multilateral opportunities in Southeast Asia with the future shape of strategic decisions made by powerful players in East Asia, and China in particular. In addition, in conceiving of Australia's future place and role in Southeast Asia, Canberra needs to go beyond its risk management approach. Instead, Canberra should view Southeast Asia as a region filled with strategic opportunity, which directly feeds into the goal of ensuring greater stability throughout Asia. In making this argument, the paper comprises three parts. First, it offers a brief summary of recent Australian strategic and defence thinking on Southeast Asia. Second, it outlines why China is the key variable when it comes to strategic stability or instability in the region, and how China's strategy in achieving its objectives can be shaped and influenced by events and relationships in Southeast Asia. Finally, the paper offers some suggestions as to the role Australia can seek to play in Southeast Asia that will contribute to strategic stability in Asia more generally. …

1. Entering 1990 s, world's pulp and pulp and paper market tightened with prices getting firm everywhere in the world, although there were some differences in degree of firmness depending upon areas. From mid-1990 s, however, the market began to soften due to stagnant economic climate and adjustment of speculative demand. As a result, paper manufacturers were forced to curtail production to balance inventory. The sluggish market bottomed out in late 1996, but the tempo of recovery has been rather slow.2. In the meantime, there have been some trends worthy of attention. Among them are changes in supply sources. During the fifteen-year period from 1980 through 1995, production share of North America dropped by 5.2 percent from 41.1 percent to 35.9 percent, and that of Europe was up only 0.8 percent point from 25.6 percent to 26.4 percent, whereas in Asia, it increased by as much as 10.4 percent from 17.5 percent to 27.9 percent. That Japan's production share remained almost unchanged, or from 10.6 percent in 1980 to 10.7 percent in 1995 to be exact, means other Asian nations, Korea, Indonesia and Thailand in particular, expanded a sizeable volume of production capacity during the period.Along with the fast-growing economy in East Asian countries, the industry in Korea, Indonesia and Thailand have been accelerating capacity expansion and it is almost certain that Asia become one of the three largest paper-producing regions in the world comparable to North America and Europe in the year of 2000.The other noticeable trend is concentration of paper manufacturers. A number of mergers among the big paper companies have taken place over the years to be internationally competitive and to be better prepared for the ever-stringent regulation for environmental protection. Consequently, ranking positions of paper companies change every year. In Europe, for example, mergers among the paper manufacturers are in progress to have a competitive edge in the EU market. Stora, SCA and MoDo in Sweden and UPM-Kymmene, Enso Gutzeit and Metsa-Serla became now oligopolistic through mergers and restructuring. In the U.S., International Paper bought out Federal Paperboard and Kimberly-Clark merged with Scott Paper. Likewise, two big paper companies were created in Japan through mergers ; Nippon Paper Industries (merger between Jujo Paper and Sanyo-Kokusaku Pulp) and Oji Paper (mergers between New Oji Paper and Honshu Paper).

A major debate in the literature on the political economy of development centers on the relationship between regime type and economic development. This debate has been heavily influenced by the East Asian development model, where authoritarianism has often gone hand in hand with high growth rates. In South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, development has been propelled by authoritarian or semidemocratic regimes. One key element of this argument is that the repression of labor under these authoritarian regimes has been especially helpful in states' pursuit of high growth rates because it has ensured political stability and checked societal demands.

Preface Maps 1 The Foreign Impact on East Asia WARREN I.COHEN 2 Social and Political Change in Nineteenth-Century China MARY BACKUS RANKIN 3 Visions ofthe Future in Meiji Japan DAVID L. HOWELL 4 Korea's Transition to Modernity: A Will to Greatness CARTER J. ECKERT 5 State and Society in Interwar Japan SHELDON GARON 6 China in the Early Twentieth Century: Tasks for a New World ERNEST P. YOUNG 7 The Nationalist Regime and the Chinese Party-State,1928-1958 WILLIAM C. KIRBY 8 The Search for Social Cohesion in China, 1921-1958 R. KEITH SCHOPPA 9 Society and Politics from Transwar through Postwar Japan ANDREW GORDON BR> 10 Searching for the Appropriate Model for the People's Republic of China MERLE GOLDMAN and ANDREW J.NATHAN Chronologies Notes Contributors Index