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Copyright of Studii de Ştiintă şi Cultură is the property of Studii de Stiinta si Cultura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

For Japan's former prime minister Abe Shinzō, security cooperation with Southeast Asia was central to preventing the South China Sea from turning into a "Lake Beijing" - completely under Chinese control. This paper explains why Abe's security engagement in the region focused mainly on providing Capacity Building Assistance (CBA) to Southeast Asian coast guards agencies to counter China's maritime assertiveness. Answers are provided by looking at not only international but also domestic factors. Based on key variables of post-Cold War Japan's foreign policy, namely the US-Japan alliance, the dominance of economic tools, and normative and institutional constraints on the use of force, the analysis concludes that CBA was an ideal response to the complex demands and restrictions of Japan's security policy. In particular, the economic benefits of providing CBA are an important finding of the analysis and one that has not yet received much scholarly focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an asynchronous, transnational virtual exchange between university students from Japan and China. Students from two different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, in two different physical locations, collaborated to produce a video on the broad theme of sustainability in a mutual second language, English. Through pre- and post-project surveys and the written reflections of students, it was found that students were able to develop greater intercultural awareness and improve their English language communication skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastics (MPs) are non-biodegradable substances that can sustain our environment for up to a century. What is more worrying is the incapability of modern technologies to annihilate MPs from om environment. One ramification of MPs is their impact on every kind of life form on this planet, which has been discussed ahead; that is why these substances are surfacing in everyday discussions of scholars and researchers. This paper discusses the overview of the global occurrence, abundance, analysis, and remediation techniques of MPs in the environment. This paper primarily reviews the event and abundance of MPs in coastal sediments and agricultural soil of three major Asian countries, India, China, and Japan. A significant concentration of MPs has been recorded from these countries, which affirms its strong presence and subsequent environmental impacts. Concentrations such as 73,100 MPs/kg in Indian coastal sediments and 42,960 particles/kg in the agricultural soil of China is a solid testimony to prove their massive outbreak in our environment and require urgent attention towards this issue. Conclusions show that human activities, rivers, and plastic mulching on agricultural fields have majorly acted as carriers of MPs towards coastal and terrestrial soil and sediments. Later, based on recorded concentrations and gaps, future research studies are recommended in the concerned domain; a dearth of studies on MPs influencing Indian agricultural soil make a whole sector and its consumer vulnerable to the adverse effects of this emerging contaminant. [Display omitted] • Film & fibre shaped microplastics (MPs) are more abundant in India, China and Japan. • Plastic mulching is the root cause of major MPs pollution in soil and sediment. • Estuarian soil/sediment are more prone to MPs pollution than terrestrial and coastal. • FT-IR is highly used for MPs identification; mass spectrometry & microscopy are least. • MPs work as a vector for metals, PPCPs, surfactants and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electric discharge bases of the technological advantages of diamond spark grinding make it possible to consider this processing method among the environmentally promising in nature. A decrease in the thermo-mechanical tension of mass micro-cutting in the zone of diamond spark grinding, which is ensured by the development of its working relief, supported by the action of electric discharges on the bond of the wheel, also makes it possible to consider approaches to organizing this process using the minimum lubrication methodology. The paper presents and summarizes the experimental results of using a number of solid lubricants, gives practical recommendations and defines the tasks of further research. Work in this direction is focused on reducing the use of water in servicing industrial needs, which is an urgent global environmental challenge to the development of civilization and meets the modern technocratic strategies of the European Union (Industry 4.0), Japan (Society 5.0), China (Made in China 2025) and other leading world economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open access mega journals represent an increasingly important part of the scholarly communications. The current research aims to introduce eight international mega journals and to investigate their performance in a five-year time span (2012-2016). The current study is an applied research in terms of objectives while it is a descriptive study in terms of data analysis and conducted using scientometric indicators. Research population comprised of 195011 articles published in eight mega journals during 2012-2016 and indexed by the Web of Science. Data was collected using three products of the Clarivate Analytics, namely Web of Science, Journal Citation Reports as well as InCites. Data analysis was conducted using Microsoft Excel. Results of the study showed 101% growth in 2016 compared to 2012 with regard to publications in eight studied mega journals. A total of 195011 articles have been published in eight mega journals during 2012-2016. Considering article processing fees of each journal, we can assume that roughly 300 million USD has been charged by eight mega journals. Papers published in mega journals were found to have higher citation impact compared with the average of the Web of Science database. Results revealed that two mega journals, namely PLoS One and Scientific Reports, were accountable for 91.6% of total publications and 96.1% of total citations. The highest share of publications in eight mega journals was found to be in the following research categories: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Multidisciplinary Sciences, Neurosciences, Oncology and Immunology. Moreover, the US, China, the UK, Germany and Japan had the highest number of publications in eight studied mega journals. Reputable publishers have identified a market demand for publication of scholarly output and are offering their services using open access mega journals. The mega journal market seems likely to keep increasing in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the dynamic changes in comparative advantage of the ASEAN, China, Republic of Korea and Japan (commonly abbreviated as the ASEAN+3). By applying statistical and econometric methods on Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) index, this paper concludes that there have been changes in the patterns of comparative advantage in the ASEAN+3. The increases in overall comparative advantage are encouraged by the higher increases in comparative advantage of groups of products that had no or lower comparative advantage in the past. The comparative advantage pattern of the ASEAN is becoming similar with that of Japan. However, there is no stationary level of similarity in the patterns of comparative advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Issues in Ethnology Anthropology is the property of Issues in Ethnology Anthropology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper argues that a China-Korea-Japan Free Trade Agreement (CJK FTA) will have large benefits to the three Northeast Asian countries and significant implications for global multilateral trade. However, several hurdles seem to make an expeditious completion of a CJK FTA, or even bilateral FTAs between Japan and China or between Japan and Korea extremely difficult. Thus, a pragmatic approach would be to follow a dual-track approach in which China and Korea fast-track the completion of a bilateral FTA between them and the three countries continue their negotiations for a trilateral FTA on a steady track. Neither of these attempts should, however, deter these countries from joining the larger multilateral deals they are pursuing such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) or the Transpacific Partnership (TPP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of charter services on international tourism in Japan. Particularly, charter flows between Japan and China are analyzed to examine their role in Sino-Japanese tourism. The results show that charters have contributed to geographic spread of tourism destinations in China, and that they meet dispersed and seasonal travel demand from Japanese regions. Scheduled services have not been able to entirely replace charter services, but cause uneven patterns in charter services. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the mainland of China, the constraints of environments, resources, especially energy resources, has increasingly become the bottleneck of economic development after reform policy for more than thirty years. In this paper, we illustrate the basic structure of energy conservation and emission reduction from historic, institutional and comparative analysis based on Japan''s case as an example of energy conservation. Our investigation shows the evolution of Japan''s energy conservation policies from a view of energy security to the view of environment protection and low carbon economy. We also analyze the tools that Japan adopted to remove energy conservation barriers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper represents the first attempt to trace the historical development of the double-reed pipe melodies in tōgaku, a musical repertory imported into Japan from China between the seventh and the ninth centuries and performed to this day. In this study, I analyze the double-reed pipe melody in each historical period, and by comparing it with the development of the transverse flute, which plays similar melodies to those of the double-reed pipe today, I shed light on the differences in melodic development between the double-reed pipe and transverse flute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Since Kyoto Protocol is going to be expired in 2012, all the develop ed and developing countries are very concerned about the future of clean development mechanism. By using the game theory the paper analyzes the market of clean development mechanism, especially the projects of CDM between the U.S., EU, Japan and China. Based on this, the prospects of Chinese CDM market are provided. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The technology of hot metal pretreatment had tremendous improvements in past decades and was widely used by the overwhelming majority of steelworks in Japan. While, since the first hot metal pretreatment station was established in Taiyuan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd in the later period of 1980s, this process began to be applied in domestic steel plants. And now 30 years have passed, the desilionization and dephosphorization process are still rarely seldom used in China except desulphurization process in most carbon steel plants. So in this paper, the metallurgical principles and effects of hot metal desiliconization were analyzed in great details. Meanwhile, the optimum silicon content of hot metal between iron-making and steelmaking process was summarized and calculated. The necessity of hot metal desiliconizaiton was discussed for the iron and steel companies in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses the developments of Japan-China relations during the third quarter of 2008. Upon the request of Japan, China accelerated efforts to prosecute suspects at the Tianyang Factory involved in the contamination of frozen gyozas. In a Defense White Paper 2008 issued by Japan in September 2008, China was criticized for its military modernization and its lack of transparency. China denied Japanese speculation that an unidentified submarine spotted in Japanese territorial waters belonged to the Chinese Navy.

We argue in this paper that in the WTO regime the role of efficiency seeking FDI and location advantages are likely to emerge more important. A primary survey was conducted and the Japanese MNEs were asked to assess location advantages for India in relation to China and the East Asian countries. The results support the earlier studies on the importance of infrastructure development in attracting FDI hut do not back the emphasis on controls and administrative complexities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]