Search

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated students' mental health challenges worldwide, including in the Philippines. This paper explores the University of the Philippines' response to this crisis, a crucial endeavor given the country's limited mental health resources. This paper reviews the relevant documents to the mental health initiative, titled "Sandigan, Sandalan," which sought to empower university stakeholders to advocate for mental and address mental health needs despite resource constraints and the university's vastness. The authors also share their experiences and insights in the program. This program is one of the few university mental health programs that were documented in the Philippines after the legislation of the Philippine Mental Health Act and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key recommendations arising from this experience include enhancing program visibility, fostering stakeholder collaboration toward a clear set of program objectives, leveraging mental health expertise, empowering stakeholders, and designing replicable program models for the different campuses of the university. The initiative underscores the vital role that educational institutions can play and provides valuable insights into supporting students' mental well-being amid large scale challenges in low-resource settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For thousands of years, mortar-based materials — including bedding mortars, plaster floors, internal wall plasters, external wall renders and stuccos, and concrete — have been key construction materials in many cultures throughout the world. This paper gives an overview and examples of the use and development of mortar-based materials in cultures across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Mesoamerica, prior to the development of hydraulic cements in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in biomarker-based diagnostic modalities, recent approval of anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies for early Alzheimer's disease (AD; mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to AD) and late-stage clinical development of other disease-modifying therapies for AD necessitate a significant paradigm shift in the early detection, diagnosis and management of AD. Anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies target the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of AD and have demonstrated a significant reduction in the rate of clinical decline in cognitive and functional outcome measures in patients with early AD. With growing recognition of the benefit of early interventions in AD, an increasing number of people may seek diagnosis for their subjective cognitive problems in an already busy medical system. Various factors such as limited examination time, lack of expertise for cognitive assessment and limited access to specialized tests can impact diagnostic accuracy and timely detection of AD. To overcome these challenges, a new model of care will be required. In this paper, we provide practical guidance for institutional readiness for anti-amyloid therapies for early AD in Asia, in terms of best practices for identifying eligible patients and diagnosing them appropriately, safe administration of anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies and monitoring of treatment, managing potential adverse events such as infusion reactions and amyloid-related imaging abnormalities, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Education and training will be the cornerstone for the establishment of new pathways of care for the identification of patients with early AD and delivery of anti-amyloid therapies in a safe and efficient manner to eligible patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-acting injectable PrEP, particularly cabotegravir (CAB-LA), has the potential to enhance HIV prevention in Asia, and was the topic of a roundtable held in Singapore in June 2023. Despite proven efficacy, CAB-LA's impact in Asia is hindered by regulatory, manufacturing, and cost barriers. There is an urgent need to address these challenges to expedite CAB-LA's introduction and scale-up, including collaborative research, streamlined regulatory processes, and increased manufacturing capacity. We call for better preparedness in long-acting PrEP in research and implementation science, product licensing and accessibility, and capacity readiness for scale-up, to meet the significant demand among key populations in Asia. In June 2023, a roundtable of experts and stakeholders was held in Singapore focusing on the introduction of long-acting formulations of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis in Asia, particularly long-acting injectable cabotegravir. This paper describes issues discussed at the roundtable related to preparedness in research and implementation science, product licensing and accessibility, and capacity readiness for scale-up of long-acting injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis and future pre-exposure prophylaxis products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green hydrogen provides one solution for a just transition to a low-carbon economy in the Global South. Absorption of green hydrogen into the energy mix will assist in decarbonising the hard-to-abate sectors, and it may even contribute to the economies of these countries when they transport to the Global North which has excess demand for it. However, this new pivot may also introduce new energy injustices, and this is what this paper focuses on. Through a comparative law analysis of three countries each from the Asia-Pacific (China, Vietnam and Thailand), South America (Brazil, Chile and Colombia) and Africa (South Africa, Kenya and Namibia), and by looking through the lens of procedural justice, this paper marks the first comprehensive examination of this concept for green hydrogen. It analyses the trajectory of these countries in terms of their introduction of green hydrogen into their renewable energy mix. Then there is an assessment of their successes and failures, the identification of gaps in policy, and the role of procedural justice in moving the green hydrogen legal frameworks forward is also examined. Finally, policy solutions to future-proof green hydrogen legal frameworks for the attention of policymakers are advanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversity and inclusion scholarship addresses inequality at work across categories of difference marked with historical disadvantages such as gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, and class or categories meaningful for the industrial, organisational or local settings. This scholarship has not considered political ties to be a diversity strand. However, political ties are a considerable source of uneven power relations, unearned privileges, and unjust discrimination in many contexts. Similarly, political ties could be sources of disadvantage, exclusion and discrimination for individuals with weak, absent or oppositional political affiliations. Our paper focuses on the Asian context, where political ties are often a legitimate human and institutional resource that can shape individual choices and chances at work. By defining political ties as a diversity and inclusion strand, we critique the legitimacy of political ties as a dominant and desirable resource and present political tie discrimination as a wicked social problem that entrenches uneven relations of power and authority in workplaces. Highlighting how political affiliation manifests across different national contexts in Asia, we explore the utility of adding political ties to the Asian vernacular to regulate workplace diversity and inclusion. Asia provides an interesting context in which the interplay between political affiliation and workplace relations is often culturally endorsed, remains unregulated and unscrutinised through ethical and anti-discrimination regulations. Thus, Asia provides an ideal setting to explore the emergence of political tie diversity and inclusion at work. We illustrate this through country-specific examples, illustrating the cross-national varieties of political tie diversity in the Asian business context. We also suggest a roadmap to manage political tie diversity and inclusion for this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the recent developments in the delivery of teaching-learning processes when COVID-19 hit the world with a health crisis and pandemic, it is crucial to look into the quality of courses delivered via online means or through distance education modality. This paper examines implementation and application of quality assurance (QA) landscape in Distance Education (DE). A documentary review using bibliographic inquiry is used as a methodology approach to gather relevant information to address the study questions. Previous studies on QA in DE are examined and arranged into themes using thematic analysis. Findings revealed that most of the literature on QA in DE in Africa and Asia based on the reviewed Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions are basically dealing with frameworks, outcomes and performance, instructional design, student services and challenges as well as parity in terms of quality with the traditional institutions. Therefore, this paper concludes that more studies are needed for QA in DE to match the post-COVID-19 trends on improving QA. This implies that there is a need to expand research on QA in DE to include areas of artificial intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The informational domain related to COVID-19 reflects the degree of uncertainty and pace of evolution of the pandemic. This places a burden on peoples' searches for information to guide their choices, importantly including for COVID-19 vaccines. Thus, it is important for health communications that support vaccination campaigns to attenuate vaccine hesitancy to be accessible, including in terms of readability, and adapted to the evolving pandemic. This paper aims to understand internet searches on COVID-19 vaccination, specifically the mix of sources and readability of the sources over a two-year period (2021–2023) in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, for search results in English, as English is a main language for each of these locations. The sources accessed through online searches in June 2021 and May 2023 were categorized by type of source and whether they were from one of the focal locations or elsewhere. The readability of information from web-search results was assessed using a set of readability tests (Flesch–Kincaid Reading Ease, Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog Index, Coleman–Liau Index, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook Grade level). Over the two-year period there was an increase in government sources and reduction in mass media sources with distinct local patterns. Local government sources increased in Singapore whereas foreign government and multi-lateral organization sources increased in Hong Kong, with the Philippines being an intermediate pattern. In contrast to the changing mix of sources, the readability tests indicate a low proportion of URLs scoring within recommended readability thresholds across locations and types of sources over the two years. Information on COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment is an important part of health communications that includes internet search. The paper contributes to understanding health communications during a pandemic, including mix of local and non-local sources and contingency on local social and health context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: HIV or AIDS remains invisible and dismissed by most South Asians living in Canada as HIV or AIDS issues are perceived as an offshoot of Western lifestyle linked with drug use and promiscuity. This paper aims to look into how people living with HIV or AIDS (PLWHA) cope with prejudice and stigma. Design/methodology/approach: To guide this research, a constructivist grounded theory approach was adopted as the theoretical and methodological framework. The authors reached the participants through a Toronto-based group that works with PLWHA. The authors chose their respondents in a snowball method and interviewed them both in person and online. Findings: This paper identifies how South Asian immigrants and refugees/refugees with HIV or AIDS claimants are vulnerable to discrimination in Canada due to the following factors, which include but are not limited to: a lack of information about HIV and AIDS incidence in the community; and the Canadian health system's inability to respond appropriately to the lack of information. Practical implications: HIV service engagements should take place within the context of a constellation of local traditions, or standardized expectations of patient engagement with HIV services can be counterproductive. Originality/value: It is critical that governmental action prioritizes increasing public understanding of stigma. To minimize the consequences of HIV-related discrimination and stigma, misconceptions about HIV transmission must be debunked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to present the intellectual legacy of Albert Wesselski (Vienna, 1871–Prague, 1939), a partly forgotten great figure of literary and textual folkloristic comparatistics of the first half of the 20th century, and argues for his timeliness. While he also played an important role as a literary mediator and translator (e.g. translations and interpretations of Boccaccio and Dante, translations of medieval Italian, French and Flemish folklore texts), he was primarily concerned with questions of the origins of European and Asian fairy tales, the problem of the processes of transmission and genre theory. He presented the transnational and transcontinental connections between individual (fairy-tale) texts in his reflections, which were based on his exceptional erudition and knowledge of the material. His views on the essentially literary origins of fairytale material were disputed by many in his day, but at least some of them now seem to be confirmed. His comparative method can be an inspiration for those working with folklore and literary texts, both here and now. The present paper attempts to provide a sketchy overview of the early stages of Wesselski’s oeuvre and to inspire further reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the impact of economic, environmental, and social indicators on inclusive growth in 19 member countries of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue from 1995 to 2021. This research employed the Driscoll–Kraay standard error regression technique. The findings reveal that the impact of independent variables on inclusive growth differs significantly among three distinct income categories: lower-middle-income countries (LMYCs), upper-middle-income countries (UMYCs), and high-income countries (HYCs). One of the primary contributions of this research is the provision of empirical evidence concerning the role played by fishery and aquaculture production in fostering inclusive growth in the Asian context. This research also highlights the trade-offs between economic development and environmental sustainability in terms of trade openness; agriculture, forestry, and fishing; the ecological footprint; and renewable energy utilization. Enhancing inclusive growth in Asia requires improving fishery and aquaculture management, diversifying economic activities, reducing the ecological footprint, and increasing renewable energy utilization. This paper suggests some future work directions for extending the analysis to other regions and indicators. The paper also suggests some policy implications for fostering inclusive growth in Asia through regional cooperation, capacity building, technology transfer, and green financing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: China exhibits remarkable diversity of the spider genus Belisana Thorell, 1898, with 62 species recorded to date. However, the largest number of Belisana species was found in Yunnan Province (23 ssp.), while only seven species were found in Guizhou Province. New information: In this paper, Belisana wangchengi sp. nov. as a new species is described from Guizhou Province, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age gap between spouses has important implications for a range of outcomes—from fertility and longevity, to gender relationships, marital quality, and stability. This paper examines the age gap between spouses in 12 countries in South and Southeast Asia. The average age difference (husband's minus wife's age) is positive in all countries and ranges from 2.7 in Myanmar to 8.4 in Bangladesh. Age homogamous marriages accounted for 5% of all marriages in Bangladesh to close to half of all marriages in Thailand. The proportion of age hypogamous marriages was uniformly low in all the countries except for Myanmar where it reaches close to 10%. Men's marriage age has a stronger effect in determining the age gap. In general, the age gap for women with lower education was larger than for those with higher education. However, much of this effect was explained by the difference in marriage timing across educational groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 20 years, divorce has increased in Indonesia. Indonesian statistics show that divorces initiated by women exceed those by men. One issue that is often neglected is how socioeconomic differences also play a role in this matter. Drawing on our collaborative research on Muslim divorces in Indonesia, this paper focuses on the interplay between divorce strategies and socioeconomic differences among Muslim couples. Our in-depth interviews with 93 Muslim men and women and 19 judges from Islamic courts show that class differences shape distinctive dynamics of divorce among Muslim Indonesians. Couples from less educated, lower-income backgrounds accept marriage dissolution more easily, with women becoming much less tolerant of men's behaviors such as infliction of domestic violence, infidelity, and failure to provide financial support. Educated, middle-class urban couples divorce for similar reasons but tend to experience a lengthier process accompanied by complex layers of conflict. Many educated women's narratives emphasize their ability to support themselves through working, and a desire to be free of a bad marriage at any cost. Class and education thus contribute to significant differences in the experience and trajectories of divorce in Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine potential diversification benefits between Eurozone (i.e. EURO STOXX 50) and key Asia markets: HSI (Hong Kong), KOSPI (South Korea), NIKKEI 225 (Japan) and TSEC (Taiwan). The sample covers the period from 04-01-2008 to 19-10-2023 in daily frequency. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical investigation is based on the wavelet coherence analysis, which is a localized correlation coefficient in the time and frequency domain. Findings: The results provide evidence that long-term diversification benefits exist between EURO STOXX and NIKKEI, EURO STOXX and KOSPI (after 2015) and there are signs for the pair and EURO STOXX-TSEC (after 2014). During the short term, there are signs of diversification benefits during the sample period. However, during the medium term, the diversification benefits seem to diminish. Originality/value: These results have crucial implications for investors regarding the benefits of international portfolio diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raimonds Cinovskis (1930–1998) devoted his entire life to plants, especially to the research of dendroflora in Latvia, as well as in the Baltic states in general, and he also participated in botanical expeditions in several places in Asia. He introduced many new names of plant taxa, described new taxa, and made new name combinations. Although the plant names he created are widely used by Latvian botanists and can also be found in the seed exchange catalogues issued by local botanic gardens, these names have never been (with some exceptions) evaluated before. This paper summarises all of the names of plant taxa introduced by R. Cinovskis. It was established that R. Cinovskis introduced more than 200 new names of plant taxa or new name combinations for plants belonging to 11 plant families — Betulaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Cupressaceae, Grossulariaceae, Juglandaceae, Pinaceae, Ranunculaceae, Rosaceae, Salicaceae, Sapindaceae, and Ulmaceae. The majority of the names of plant taxa were for plants of the rose family (Rosaceae). Critically evaluating the compliance of the names introduced by R. Cinovskis with the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, it was concluded that the majority of the names were published illegitimately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys the status quo of AI readiness and governance in Asia and identify Asian approaches of doing AI regulation and governance through policy and document analysis. We note that some Asian countries are moving from 'soft regulation' through strategies and guidelines to 'hard regulation' through rule-setting and laws on AI. We argue that their AI governance approaches are greatly influenced by the existing internet governance frameworks and suggest the importance of historical understandings of Internet, telecommunications, and digital technology and governance to identify the connections and influences – and 'path dependency' of past policies upon their current AI strategies and governance. We anticipate that the AI regulatory landscape in Asia will become a diverse and contentious space due to global AI competition among the EU, China and the U.S. as well as the pragmatic paths that many Asian countries may take considering their own histories, economies and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volunteerism among older adults has been actively encouraged and adopted as a policy measure among developed countries in view of its benefits and impact on the wellbeing of the elderly. However, there is a paucity of research related to the same effort in Asia even though this region is projected to have the fastest-growing ageing population by the year 2050. Utilising the eight determinants of active ageing as posited by WHO Active Ageing Policy Framework, this paper aimed to identify emerging themes in the existing literature grounded upon older adults’ recent volunteering policies and practices in Asia. A systematic review was performed to explore the literature on older adults’ volunteerism in peer-reviewed journals published in the past decade in two main databases (Scopus and Web of Science). The findings identified from the 19 articles were analysed according to the following themes: (1) culture, (2) gender, (3) behavioural determinants, (4) personal determinants, (5) physical environment, (6) social determinants, (7) economic factors, and (8) health and social services. From the review, behavioural, personal and social environment determinants appeared to be the focal point of active ageing research agenda. A robust and strategic collaboration between policymakers and volunteering stakeholders is key to amplify older adults’ volunteer efforts in line with successful active ageing in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community Eye Clinics (CEC) increase accessibility of specialist ophthalmic services in the community, reducing demand for tertiary eye services. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of CEC on first-visit referrals from Hougang Polyclinic (HOU) to Tan Tock Seng Hospital Ophthalmology Specialist Outpatient Clinic (SOC). A retrospective analysis was performed on first-visit referrals from Hougang Polyclinic (HOU) to Tan Tock Seng Hospital Ophthalmology Specialist Outpatient Clinic (SOC) over a similar 3-months period before and after the introduction of CEC in August 2018 (1 January to 31 March in 2018 and 2019, respectively). Data pertaining to patients' presenting complaints, referral reasons, final diagnoses, follow-up plans, and need for ophthalmic intervention were obtained. We included 978 patients in our study. There was a 27.5% reduction in the number of first-visit referrals seen at SOC after the establishment of CEC. Patients were more likely to be referred on to sub-specialty eye clinics (10.8% vs. 12.9%, p= p =.304) and receive more ophthalmic interventions (15% vs. 16.3%, p =.066) than prior to CEC. The CEC provides greater accessibility to eye care within the community. Optometrists are upskilled to manage patients with stable eye conditions, whilst eye specialists can provide timely care to the SOC for patients with more severe eye conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies 10 Asian economies' experiences during two episodes of financial crises in 1997–08 and 2007–09. Our analysis of five crisis‐hit Asian countries shows that overinvestment via credit expansion and foreign financing has an adverse effect on banking sectors while income inequality contributes significantly to financial distress. With five no‐crisis emerging markets included in our Asia analysis, we find that export‐oriented growth backed up by domestic savings is financially less risky than investment‐led growth facilitated by capital inflows. Since such different strategies of output growth to deal with falling demand are related ultimately to the same factor–rising inequality, this distributional problem must be overcome effectively to enhance financial stability and ensure growth sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. This study conducts a changes-in-changes analysis to identify the adverse effects of three economic crises and the countercyclical stabilisation effect of the welfare system in South Korea. First, the crises commonly delivered disproportionate effects and the economically vulnerable experienced more severe damages. Second, even though the welfare system has better mitigated negative impacts during the recent crises thanks to welfare expansion, it still provided limited coverage and insufficient benefits. Therefore, the Korean government introduced the Emergency Disaster Relief Funds as the first-ever one-off universal benefit, but it did not mitigate early damages and had temporary positive effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental conditions significantly affected development in the Asian tropics. This paper investigates the relationship between weather risk and agriculture in four regions with distinct climatological features. Using new data, we estimate the scale of crop output sensitivity to rainfall shocks across ecological zones. Output was sensitive to shocks in regions with low levels, concentrated spells and high volatility of rainfall. Canal irrigation protected some districts while unirrigated regions remained vulnerable. Regions with high rainfall levels and long seasons remained protected. Regions with large interruptions deterred investment and were underdeveloped while regions with small interruptions invited investment‐led growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper answers calls from the food regime scholarship for a closer analysis of the implicit rules, transitions, and regional scales of food regimes. Drawing on archival materials from the Japanese colonial administration and Sino-American agricultural cooperation, interviews with key actors, and secondary sources, this paper examines instances of agricultural knowledge production and exchange. We suggest that beyond the profound influence of the US in the postwar food regime, the nuances and historical and regional specificity of agricultural scientists' life stories and individual technological imaginaries can 'scale up' through the translation of agrarian knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]