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Renewable energy is one of the most promising technologies for developing sustainable energy systems. This paper presents empirical evidence on the finance-green energy nexus. We use an extensive database on financial development (depth, access, efficiency, stability) from 1960 to 2017 for 214 countries, providing the first, to our knowledge, comprehensive empirical investigation on all four dimensions. We show macroeconomic and energy development conditions (public/social awareness and willingness, policy and legal framework, fossil fuels orientation, energy sector competition) are crucial to leverage financing and improve financing conditions for renewable energy entrepreneurs. Our empirical findings show that the financial system in East Asia and the Pacific is a significant constraint for investments in sustainable technologies. The cost of capital and debt, as well as the cost of equity and assets, for green investors, is commonly 30% higher than for non-green investors. Our findings support the crowding-in effect for South Asia. Here we supply empirical knowledge on the policymakers' and investors (governments, institutions, markets) goals, policies, and instruments targeting green financing and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of the "Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival" in developing and sustaining regional identities within the context of rural regeneration, sustainability, and the creation of closer relationships between production and consumption in the countryside. It focuses on Donggang, Southern Taiwan, an area with rural development issues, increasing tourism impacts, and contested issues of local identity, sustainability, and an aging society. This paper draws on public discourse and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in Donggang to understand the conditions required for substantiating authenticity of the gastronomic products and experiences and the promotion of an appealing gastronomic image. This study traces the process of embedding bluefin tuna in Donggang through marketing, branding and provides a preliminary conceptualization of interrelations between gastronomic tourism and community development in East Asia. The paper draws attention to these particular issues issues: the commodification of local heritage and countryside capital, strategies and challenges of hosting culinary festivals and resolving the issue of return migration. • Local food is a marker of openness and balance between fine palate and sustainability. • Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival connects consumers to perceived culture and heritage. • Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival shows that local food can enhance visitor experience. • Social relationships with food are at odds with the ecosystem's health and longevity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of projects translating the concept of eco-city into practices has accelerated during the last fifteen years, making the eco-city a global phenomenon. Asia in particular has witnessed notable developments, characterized by strong governmental intervention and national initiatives to create model eco-cities. In Japan, the central government launched an “Eco-Model Cities” program in 2008 and has designated twenty-three model cities. In China, hundreds of municipalities have pursued plans to become an eco- or low-carbon city following the government’s demonstration projects. Across East Asia, the eco-city is promoted as an innovative urban policy capable of advancing the agendas of sustainable urbanization and the realignment of the post-industrial urban economy. This paper compares the policies and strategies of developing eco-cities in Japan and China using Kitakyushu and Tianjin Eco-city as case studies. It examines these cities’ common and contrasting approaches to ecological urbanism, their respective technological and urban design strategies, the relationship between eco-city building and local economic development, and the roles played by different stakeholders in this effort. The research focuses on their Key Performance Indicator systems and the spatial qualities they anticipate, which reflect fundamentally different ideas about what societal role an eco-city should best play. The comparative method sheds light on debates around important aspects of planning and managing an eco-city––namely, between new town and retrofit development, between top-down directive and bottom-up force, and between the eco-city as technology and as culture. This paper thus offers critical insight into the changing notions of urbanity within Asian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By examining comparatively two recent projects of university-led large-scale real estate development in South Korea and Singapore, this paper contributes to the ongoing efforts to problematise the methodological statism in the study of East Asian urbanisation, i.e., understanding it as a process dominated by state actors, on the one hand, and to challenge the perspective that university-led real estate projects are a neoliberal strategy as conventionally understood in the West on the other. To this end, this paper uses qualitative research methods to investigate how and why East Asian universities participate in real estate development projects; how the universities pursue their material goals by negotiating with the state, which is known to have led condensed urbanisation and industrialisation in East Asia (Global East). This paper concludes that speculative real estate development activities of East Asian universities are variegated based on their developmental legacies and need to be understood as more nuanced processes. The case studies demonstrate that East Asian universities have worked beyond their social roles by directly participating in the urban process, pursuing the accumulation of real estate assets that would eventually undermine their public role as educational institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important branch of medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been applied for the treatment of diseases for thousands of years in China and other countries in East Asia. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia (ChP) is a drug code formulated by the Chinese government, and it includes a special volume for the monographs of TCM, which plays an important role in ensuring the quality of drugs. The use of quality control technology has always been a complex and important factor in TCM. Owing to the chemical diversity of TCM, chromatography technology has been proven to be a comprehensive strategy for the assessment of the overall quality of TCM and has become the main analytical method in the ChP. This article provides an overview of the classical and modern chromatographic technologies applied in the ChP, and summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of each technique in the TCM monographs. In 2020, the new edition of the ChP (the 2020 edition) has been implemented at the end of 2020. This paper also contains a brief introduction about the application of chromatographic technologies in the new edition of the ChP. [Display omitted] • An overview of the classical and modern chromatographic technologies applied in the ChP. • A discussion of the reason why each chromatographic technologies was chosen in the quality control of TCM. • Introduction of the chromatographic technologies applied in the 2020 edition of ChP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative food networks are embedded in sociocultural contexts and have developed distinctive features in different regions, but the literature has generally overlooked how AFNs interact and build networks across countries. This paper fills this gap by analyzing how consumer cooperatives in Taiwan have been inspired by pioneers in Japan, and how Taiwan AFNs now influence their counterparts in China. It shows that specific social material arrangements consist of translated books, the intermediary organizations and mutual visits facilitating a sequence of influence among consumer cooperatives across national borders. These social material arrangements disseminate a specific morality of consumption, teiki , that has reframed the food consumer as a 'life person', designed solidarity economies for 'collective purchasing', and established local distribution stations for agrifood education or policy advocacy. The paper illustrates how AFNs in East Asia share similar moralities of consumption, but have also adapted teiki to different social contexts and developed different imaginations of consumer citizen. • Examines the interactions and learning among consumer cooperatives and CSAs across countries. • Highlights how specific social material arrangements supported interactions and help disseminate specific discourses and practices. • Advances understanding of the characteristics of East Asian AFNs that share a similar morality of consumption. • Argues that it is useful to analyze the morality of consumption to understand consumer-farmer relations and political agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic and industrial literature highlight the importance of airport-driven development (ADD) for the 21st Century. Several different types of ADD concepts have been defined, such as aerotropolis and airport city, but there are often substantial differences between authors about definitions. Such differences can potentially create confusion when ADD concepts are used by airport planners in their planning documents (e.g., master plans) and the marketing materials (e.g., brochures and airport websites). Given that large amounts of investment can often depend upon the marketing of a particular ADD concept, such confusion is highly problematic for the air transport industry. However, previous research has not explicitly addressed this issue. To help fill this research gap, the current paper has four different purposes, to: (1) compare definitions of the airport-driven development concepts in the academic literature, (2) compare definitions with real-life examples given by researchers; (3) compare academic definitions and examples with industry usage, as found on airport websites and in airport planning documents; and (4) investigate aspects of the transferability of the ADD concepts (from one region to another and from the academic literature to the industry and vice-versa). Using information from airport websites and master plans, it was found that the terms aerotropolis and airport city are used interchangeably by researchers but not by the industry. However, the use of terms by the industry depends heavily upon the (continental) location of airports, with the analysis presented in the paper distinguishing between airports in North America, Latin America, South and East Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Such analysis enables conclusions to be made about the transferability of ADD concepts, originating in the Global North, to the Global South. • Airports examples of airport-driven development concepts differ by researchers.. • Airports examples of airport-driven development concepts in the academic literature diverge from the industry. • The way the industry classifies airports to airport-driven development concepts depends on the location of airports. • Proximity and strategic investments influence the transferability of the concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to provide judicial perspectives for Public Participation in Environmental Matters in East Asia based on the example of the European Union (EU). This is done both by means of an in-depth literature review which covers research papers, legislative documents and court decisions, and by means of a comparative analysis of court cases. The focus is on the implementation by the EU of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Aarhus Convention, which applies and details Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration. The assessment starts by providing an overview of several legislative documents issued by the EU for different policy sectors and briefly describes the contents regarding the implementation of the Aarhus Convention. Based thereon, the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union is analysed. Seventeen judgements enforcing the Aarhus Convention for the EU level are described and their significance to a regional integration process is outlined. This provides valuable information to a region such as East Asia which plans to enter soon into a stronger regional integration process and which has the clear potential for improvement toward increased Public Participation in Environmental Matters based on the globally applicable Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 18 new Ancestry informative markers (AIMs) were screened from the 1000 Genomes Project. • A novel panel of 18 AIMs can improve ancestry distinctions among Asian populations. • Our panel could distinguish the GIH (Gujarati Indian in Houston, TX) from other South Asian groups. At present, several mature ancestry informative SNP (AISNP) panels are used to distinguish between continental regions of the world, but a more accurate division within the continent requires a secondary panel to complete. However, many AISNPs for the subgroup ancestry inference are selected from the Kidd Lab panel of 55 AISNPs or other published papers. These panels inevitably lack valuable markers for subgroup ancestry inference. Therefore, instead of choosing from the published panels, we used the 1000 Genomes Project to screen potentially informational markers in Asian populations, including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertion/deletion polymorphisms (InDels). The allele frequencies of all autosomal SNPs and InDels of the 1000 Genomes Project were compared between 10 populations in Asia to identify markers with the largest pairwise allele frequency differences. Finally, we established a second-tier panel of 18 AIMs in this study, which not only divided the 26 populations of the 1000 Genomes Project into six clusters, but also divided the Asia subgroup into four clusters: Gujarati, East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights how the Sino-character system, because it lacks a plural form, hinders promulgating and popularizing the concept of plural and diverse futures in Korea, Greater China, and Japan. Difficulties are revealed when East Asian futurists emphasize the plural concept of ‘future + s’, because the linguistic conventions of Sino-character languages and cultures do not clearly express plurality. The singular-form wording for ‘future + s’ excused by East Asian futurists tends to unintentionally stick a knowledge divide between public and futurists. It also shapes a more uniform, less diverse image of the future. This paper suggests that those engaged in East Asian futures studies adopts a standardized and more intuitively understandable Sino-character term for ‘future + s’ to enable futurists to effectively publicize and popularize the more plural, diverse and alternative values of futures studies. It also suggests related guidelines for creating and establishing a more popular term for ‘future + s’. Finally, author coins the term ‘multi + future’ in Sino-characters as a useful term to effectively spread a more diverse, pluralistic concept of alternative futures in East Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper draws upon the findings and key lessons from the ten papers that are featured in this Special Issue in utilizing science to advance ecosystem-based management (EBM) in the context of the East Asian region. The paper highlights the East Asian region's long experience in integrated coastal management (ICM) implementation, which has provided the foundation for advancing geographic and functional scaling up to cover wider geographic and administrative boundaries and ecosystems, respectively. The experiences in China and Japan, although vary in terms of mode of implementation, demonstrated common elements that characterize EBM practice – that is, recognizing the interconnectedness of marine, coastal and terrestrial systems, including human communities; protecting ecosystem structure, function and processes from the perspective of ecosystem services; addressing cumulative impacts and managing for multiple objectives; addressing multiple spatial and temporal scales in the design and implementation; promoting integrated and multi-sectoral planning; advocating for policy and functional integration and coordination and transforming policy into on-the-ground actions. The paper also highlights the application of innovative approaches and science-based tools to understand and monitor ecosystem functioning and changes; the use of scientific information to identify appropriate management policy and interventions at varying scales and offers some key actions for consideration to support a more comprehensive EBM implementation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper represents an “editorial” introduction to this issue, which is one of two special issues of Cretaceous Research on the geology and paleontology of East Asia. This paper makes special reference to the results of joint Japanese, Chinese, and North American expeditions that investigated more than 70 fossil footprint sites and other fossiliferous localities in China, Japan, Korea, Laos, Mongolia, and Thailand. More than 50 of the track sites are considered Cretaceous in age, though in some cases dating is uncertain. We herein present summaries of selected important sites not previously described in detail based on new maps, tracings, and replicas of representative type specimens and related materials that have been assembled in accessible reference collections. Other sites are described in detail elsewhere in this issue and are placed in broader paleoenvironmental context in conjunction with papers that deal with floras, invertebrate and vertebrate body fossils, paleoecosystem reconstruction, and their stratigraphic, sedimentological, and tectonic settings in the second of the two special issues. Preliminary syntheses suggest that Cretaceous vertebrate ichnofaunas of East Asia contain various distinctive elements that are neither typical nor common in other regions. These include an abundance and significant diversity of bird tracks, some with web impressions, various small theropod tracks including diminutive examples (Grallator and Minisauripus) with foot lengths of 2.0–3.0cm, probable small dromeosaurid tracks (Velociraptorichnus), probable coelurosaurid tracks with bilobed heel impressions (Siampodus), and various small ornithopod tracks that resemble Anomoepus. Giant pterosaur tracks (Haenamichnus) are also unique to this area. A review of the ichnotaxonomy generously accepts about eleven valid ichnogenera of dinosaurs, two of pterosaurs, and nine of birds. At least ten other ichnogenera are dubious and among these several have already been rejected. A preliminary overview of these ichnotaxa in broader context suggests that the dominance of bird and theropod ichnotaxa is a valid reflection of a corresponding dominance of birds and theropod body-fossil taxa. We also note partitioning of ichnofaunas into saurischian-dominated assemblages from low, tropical latitudes and semi-arid, inland basin paleoenvironments, and ornithopod-rich assemblages from higher, more temperate latitudes and humid, coastal paleoenvironments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper shows descriptively how the knowledge network in East Asia has been formed. In addition, the correlation between the knowledge network and economic growth is also examined. Evidence is provided to show that plugging into the knowledge network of developed economies could be a key for increasing innovativeness in an economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the role of social capital in entrepreneurial RIS (Regional Innovation Systems). We disaggregate the features of mature entrepreneurial RIS into three dimensions of social capital: structural, relational, and cognitive. We apply these features of mature entrepreneurial RIS to the still-evolving entrepreneurial RIS from East Asia including Daedeok Innopolis of Korea and Hsinchu Science Park of Taiwan. The spawning effect of representative companies within focal industries, collaboration among the key organizational actors, and attraction and retention of talent are taken into account. The study uncovers a new aspect of still-evolving entrepreneurial RIS, which complements the existing typology categorizing RIS into institutional RIS and entrepreneurial RIS. Whereas the conventional literature has viewed the East Asian RIS as institutional RIS, the findings of this study allow scholars to view the East Asian RIS as entrepreneurial in their own distinctive manner. Meanwhile, we also find an important implication for making a shift from a top-down to a bottom-up approach in order for the still-evolving entrepreneurial RIS to vitalize cognitive social capital. Thus, we suggest the transitions from outward-looking social capital to inward-looking social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airborne particulate matter (PM) emissions are mainly comprised of dust and biomass produced by ground-level combustion and fossil fuel emissions. PM retention by plant leaves can reduce PM pollution from atmosphere, but in urban areas winds can cause PM resuspension, thereby preventing retention and worsening airborne pollution. Unlike winds, rainfall events can cause PM to be washed off leaves and onto the ground, which represents a net removal of PM from the atmosphere. This systematic review examines previous studies of leaf-PM interaction events involved PM retention, PM resuspension, or PM wash-off from leaves. Publication frequency of studies on using plants for airborne PM reduction in urban areas had grown over the past decade and we focused on 65 published papers in this review. Most of these studies were performed in Europe and East Asia, and involved PM retention on the leaves of varied urban trees in different time and space. In general, these studies indicated that rough leaves showed higher degree of PM retention than glabrous leaves. However, only six out of the 65 papers considered PM wash-off from leaves; as shown in these studies, smooth leaves may have a higher PM wash-off level than rough leaves. We conclude by recommending that future researches should be focused on studying leaf-retained PM wash-off in greater detail. We also suggest that urban plant species associated with a higher PM wash-off efficiency should be identified. Moreover, we may be able to increase PM net removal mass and thereby reduce winter haze by adding more evergreen plants with a higher leaf-retained PM wash-off efficacy. Finally, establishing a standard evaluation system for airborne PM reduction based on leaf-retained PM wash-off mass may be highly useful for landscape planning and design in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Increasing income levels and greater leisure time give people the opportunity to pursue new types of tourism ventures. As one of the fastest growing areas in the leisure travel industry, the cruise industry is increasing rapidly. Due to the benefits that cruise tourism brings to each port of call and the hinterland, it is necessary to be able to analyze the factors that affect cruise lines' port selections. The main objective of this paper is to identify the main factors motivating cruise lines to select specific ports of call and to provide information to port operators that will enable them both to improve their management strategies and to attract more cruise ships, thereby contributing to the revenues of the port and regional economy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper aims to examine how gender interacts with various recovery actions on perceived employee effort, complaint handling satisfaction, and behavioral intention in the case of deviant customer behavior in an East-Asian context. Study 1, a qualitative study, reveals that consumers expect companies to take appropriate remedial actions when a service consumption experience is affected by deviant customer behaviors (e.g., smoking in non designated area). Study 2 employed a 2 (gender)×6(recovery actions) between subject design in a restaurant setting. Results show that confronting the deviant customer received the highest customer ratings in terms of perceived employee effort, complaint handling satisfaction, and behavioral intention. However, gender moderated the relative effectiveness of recovery actions. Relocating the focal customer was equally good as compensation for women while men were less appreciative of relocation than compensation. In sum, service providers are advised to initiate some form of recovery action in response to deviant customer behaviors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The concept that underlies the interventions of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) International Waters Program is adaptive management at the Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) scale across the sequence of interventions from assessment and analysis to development of regional strategic action programs and national implementation of action plans to address transboundary environmental concerns. The GEF has provided grants to recipient countries in the East Asian Seas region covering five LMEs since the early 1990s and amounting to about US$200 million. This paper analyses GEF support to the Seas of the East Asian Region to draw lessons for future investments in LME management. To identify investment gaps and the overarching drivers of environmental degradation across scales, transboundary diagnostic analysis of LMEs need to be linked to analysis of existing investment flows. Most funding for implementation of strategic action programs should be targeted at the national level, as interventions at this level are on average leveraging much more co-financing to GEF projects than regional interventions. Better coordination and agreed procedures and methodologies among different regional entities, programs and projects are necessary in regions, such as the EAS, with multiple regional initiatives at different scales. Better coordination of financial support to programs and projects operating at different scales would also strengthen the extent to which ecosystem-based management could be applied through better harmonization of management frameworks and tools for marine and coastal management from local to national to regional levels. Strategies towards achieving sustainable financing should be encouraged and implemented to ensure adaptive management and achievement of goals and targets under SAPs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recreation ecology, the scientific study of visitor impacts and their effective management, has been developed largely in North America, Europe, and more recently in Australia, in response to growing impacts of visitor use to protected area resources. A body of literature has been accumulated that contributes to sustainable visitor management in protected areas. This paper traces the development of recreation ecology research in East Asia and examines the field''s relevance to East Asia''s protected natural areas which endure both a long history of human utilisation and contemporary recreation and tourism pressure, much of which originates from surrounding densely populated urban areas. The formative, expanding and strengthening stages of recreation ecology research in this region were identified through an extensive review of literature published in English and East Asian languages. Each of these three developmental stages was illustrated with examples and compared with the general state of research during the same period. Key challenges and opportunities for future recreation ecology research in the region are discussed in light of this review. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper provides an overview of the climate change trends and their potential effects on children in East Asia and the Pacific that appeared in studies covering five countries that were commissioned by the United Nations Children''s Fund. The purpose of the studies was to analyse children''s specific vulnerabilities to climate change that need to be taken into account in policy development. Scientific research indicates that existing vulnerabilities are likely to be exacerbated by continued climate change. Because children have unique perspectives of their environment, they can be important actors in enhancing community capacity to address climate-related risks. In the UNICEF research, children noted a range of experiences, ranging from livelihood insecurity in Mongolia to threats of sea level rising in the Pacific Islands to massive flooding of their neighbourhoods in the Philippines and crop failures in Indonesia. Involving children in the design of policy, and designing climate change policies with children''s rights in mind, are essential to creating policies that do not have unintended negative consequences. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of International Economics (2110-7017) is the property of Elsevier B.V. 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.)

Abstract: For a long time, the Russian government has aimed to diversify gas exports to East Asian countries. This gearing of Russia towards Asia will have great consequences on world energy, the global economy, and geopolitics in the coming years. This paper analyzes the growth potential of Russia''s diversification strategy and the impact this policy would have on sales to Europe. As the most likely scenario is for total gas exports to grow at a moderate rate from 2010 to 2030, any increase in sales to Asia could make difficult the raising of exports to Europe. Our thesis is that this trade-off will depend primarily on domestic consumption trends, geographic targeting of investments, and commercial and financial alliances with foreign partners. However, imports from Central Asia, declining exports to Ukraine and Belarus, and Gazprom investments in other gas-producing countries could also affect gas exports and gas distribution among different markets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Port system is a research focus of transport geography, and most studies believe carriers are important factors in the development and concentration of the port system. Since the 1990s, carriers have played an important role in organizing the global shipping network and reorganizing the port system. But there isn’t a perfect method to evaluate carriers’ influence and the roles of each port in the maritime shipping networks. In this paper, we use the monthly schedule table of international carriers to describe and model the spatial pattern of the global shipping network and identify its hub-and-spoke system. The result shows that a hierarchical structure exists in the global shipping network. The North Hemisphere, especially the East Asia and the Southeast Asia, is a dominant region of the worldwide shipping network. East Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Europe, and East coast of the USA are the concentration regions of worldwide shipping lines. The ports of Hong Kong, Singapore, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Kaohsiung etc have advanced capacity for maritime shipping and high potentials for being hub ports in the global shipping network. Today, the worldwide shipping network is transforming from the multi-port calling system to 44 regional hub-and-spoke systems. Meanwhile, the sub-networks with hub ports of Antwerp, Singapore, and Hong Kong have become the most important ones and dominate the whole global shipping network. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The term social exclusion has been the catalyst for extensive debate regarding the nature of social differentiation in European capitalist societies () and is now widely used and differently interpreted (see ) in national and international policy arenas. However, whilst there has been some examination of the value of the concept for exploring and explaining homelessness in East Asia (), the concept has had little influence on existing policy paradigms. This paper seeks to explore the nature, extent, and dynamics of housing insecurity and homelessness and its relationship with social exclusion in East Asia. It will consider the nature and dynamics of housing insecurity, homelessness, and regimes of inclusion, as well as the institutional and policy responses to dispossession in three East Asian societies: Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, and Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Residential highrise building fire of height above 200 m is now a concern in the Far East. Long-term survey study on fire load density indicated that high amount of combustibles over the local upper limit of 1135 M Jm−2 used to be stored in residential flats. Wind-induced air-flow rates through openings at upper levels of those tall buildings can be very high. Stack effect in areas with large indoor and outdoor temperature differences (such as 14 °C indoor and − 30 °C outdoor at Harbin, Heilongjiang, China) will also give high ventilation rate through leakage areas. Adequate oxygen is then supplied to burn up all stored combustibles to give a big fire. In applying performance-based design to determine the fire safety provisions, heat release rate of the design fire is the first parameter to decide. In this paper, stack effect and wind action on possible increase in the heat release rate for fires in supertall residential buildings will be explored. Air intake rates through openings to rooms at high levels due to stack effect and wind action are estimated by simple empirical formula. The maximum heat release rates for well-developed room fires in these tall buildings under different stack and wind conditions are determined by varying two parameters. Air flow rate through openings in an 800 m tall building induced by wind gust can be over 20 times the value at ground level. Consequently, heat release rate can be much higher, confirming experimental studies on building fires under wind action. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of International Economics (2110-7017) is the property of Elsevier B.V. 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.)

Abstract: Oil, chemicals and unexploded ordinances onboard sunken World War II (WWII) warships and merchant vessels pose a real and significant marine pollution risk to the nations of the Pacific and East Asia. A recent project of the South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), through its Pacific Ocean Pollution Prevention Program, has highlighted the extent of the risk posed by vessels lost in WWII to Member Governments. Some of these vessels have already begun to leak fuel oil and cargo into the fragile environment of the Pacific atolls. The oil spills from the oil tanker USS Mississinewa sunk in Ulithi Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia, will be used as an example of the problems associated with WWII wrecks in the region. A Regional WWII Wreck Strategy was formulated and endorsed by the Members of SPREP, and a preliminary risk assessment of WWII shipwrecks was carried out by the program, as part of this exercise. This led to the development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) database, which details the types of ships, the tonnage and location of over 3800 vessels lost in the Pacific and East Asia. Although not complete, the Pacific WWII Shipwreck Database totals over 13 million tons of sunken vessels—ranging from aircraft carriers to battleships and including over 330 tankers and oilers. As a major proportion of vessels lost during WWII rest in the East Asian–Pacific sea area, close collaboration needs to be established between the regional environmental bodies and their affected Member Governments to address the scale of marine pollution risk. Complex maritime jurisdictional issues, along with overlapping claims on Economic Exclusion Zones and the interrelationships of the marine environments in the region, also underscore the need to address the issue on a multilateral basis. This paper aims to highlight the extent of the risks posed by sunken WWII vessels to fisheries, marine and coastal resources of the Pacific and East Asian regions, as well as the issues of ownership and responsibility for the WWII shipwrecks of the Pacific. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates empirically the feasibility of creating a currency union in East Asia following closer monetary cooperations in recent years. Relying on a four-variable structural VAR model, we identify various types of shocks in nine East Asian economies, with nine European Monetary Union countries adopted as benchmarks. The analysis of structural disturbances suggests that it may be beneficial for Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to take the lead in endorsing and fostering a common currency zone. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents an analysis of the competitive status of major airports in the East Asia region. The analysis assesses these airports based on five factors: service, demand, managerial, facility, and spatial qualities. In order to analyze the competitive status of the selected airports, this study has applied a multi-decision criteria approach and is based on a comparison of qualitative data. The competitive status of each airport can be categorized as one of the following levels: most, more, less, or least competitive. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Introduction: Approximately 35% of NSCLC patients in East Asia have EGFR mutations. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) provides a comprehensive mutational profile in lung cancer patients. Material and Method: Clinicopathologic characteristics and mutational profiling data was analyzed from nonsmall cell lung carcinoma /Adenocarcinoma over a duration of 42 months (October 2014 to March 2018) using next-generation sequencing Ion Ampliseq Cancer Hotspot panel v2 (Ampliseq, Life Technologies) on the Ion torrent PGM platform. Results: A total of 154 cases were processed during this period. The average number of mutations/case varied from one to four 72.07% (111/154), of these cases had minimum one genetic alteration. The most common mutated gene was TP53 gene (37.6%, n = 58) followed by EGFR (32.4%, n = 50), KRAS (18.18%, n = 28), ERBB2 (3.2%, n = 5), BRAF (1.94%, n = 3). EGFR positivity was more in females (43.3%) and non-smokers (52.08%) in comparison to males (26.7%) and smokers (16.1%). Conclusion: In this paper, we have described the comprehensive mutational profiling of a large cohort of advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients from the eastern part of India. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the largest studies from the country describing mutations in BRAF, ERBB2, TP53 genes and their clinicopathologic/histopathologic associations in lung cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]