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In the context of the rapid development of multimedia and information technology, machine translation plays an indispensable role in cross-border e-commerce between China and Japan. However, due to the complexity and diversity of natural languages, a single neural machine translation model tends to fall into local optimality, leading to poor accuracy. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a general multimodal machine translation model based on visual information. First, visual information and text information are used to generate a visual representation of perceptual text information. Then, the two modal information are encoded separately, and the proportion of visual information in the whole multimodal information is controlled by a gating network. Finally, experiments are conducted on the image description datasets MSCOCO, Flickr30k, and video dataset VATEX, respectively. The results show that the algorithm in this paper achieves the best performance on both the BLEU and METEOR evaluation metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the emergence of digital technologies, we have witnessed a rapid growth of the sharing economy in recent years. In fashion industry, sharing economy concept is also widely applied. Instances can be found all over the world, like Rent the Runway, Golden Tote, Stitch Fix, and Le Tote in the US, Air Closet in Japan, Y Closet, Ms Paris, and Dora's Dream in China, etc. In this paper, motivated by the industrial practices of fashion sharing platforms, we first conduct a literature review on business operations of sharing platforms, including the sharing platform operations, digital and information technologies employed in sharing economy, business models, and sustainability and circularity in business operations. Afterwards, we analyze the challenges faced by fashion sharing platforms by exploring the two leading fashion sharing platforms in the US and in China, respectively. At last, we propose future research directions on fashion sharing platform operations and conclude the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the impact of exchange rate changes on the trade balance of China and its major trading partners. In the past, many studies have been focussed on the linear effect of exchange rate change, but in this paper, a non-linear Autoregressive Distribution Lag (NARDL) model is proposed. Empirical results show that there are nonlinear and asymmetric effects on the trade balance of exchange rate. In particular, the effect of exchange rate appreciation on Sino-US trade balance is more significant than that of depreciation. A genuine devaluation of the domestic currency would improve the balance of the domestic trade. However, the opposite effect is found in the case of Sino-Japan and the Euro, and the depreciation of the currency will make the trade balance worse. These results provide a solid basis for understanding the relation of exchange rate variation and trade balance. In terms of economic reality, it is also a useful reference for adjusting exchange rate and commercial policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The maritime route connecting the Chinese continent and the Japanese archipelago facilitated a significant exchange of commercial goods and sociocultural knowledge throughout the Southern Song dynasty. Within this context, Japanese pilgrim monks traveling along this route acted as key conduits for the transmission of Buddhist teachings. Their journeys profoundly influenced the establishment and development of new Buddhist monasteries in Japan. Focusing on biographical accounts that portray the experiences of these pilgrim monks during their twelfth- and thirteenth-century sea voyages, this paper aims to explore how these accounts drew on intertextual links with existing Buddhist records to fulfill the compilers' intentions. Specifically, this paper examines the structure and sources of biographical accounts detailing miraculous encounters between pilgrim monks and Buddhist deities during perilous situations at sea. By interpreting the role of these deities in the corpus of Buddhist literature and within Japanese Buddhist monasteries founded by pilgrim monks, this paper argues that the increasing emphasis on pilgrim monks' attainment of divine protection in their biographical records suggests a growing concern for reinforcing the authority of their dharma lineages. Moreover, the composition and reception of these miraculous accounts reflected the changing religious needs and reshaped strategies for promoting specific Buddhist sects in subsequent periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is commonly defined as a transitional subclinical state between normal aging and dementia. A growing body of research indicates that health behaviors may play a protective role against cognitive decline and could potentially slow down the progression from MCI to dementia. The aim of this study is to conduct a bibliometric analysis of literature focusing on health behaviors and MCI to summarize the factors and evidence regarding the influence of health behaviors on MCI. Methods: The study performed a bibliometric analysis by retrieving publications from the Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index subdatabases within the Web of Science Core Collection. Utilizing VOSviewer and CiteSpace software, a total of 2,843 eligible articles underwent co-citation, cokeywords, and clustering analyses. This methodology aimed to investigate the current status, trends, major research questions, and potential future directions within the research domain. Results: The bibliometric analysis indicates that research on healthy behaviors in individuals with MCI originated in 2002 and experienced rapid growth in 2014, reflecting the increasing global interest in this area. The United States emerged as the primary contributor, accounting for more than one-third of the total scientific output with 982 articles. Journals that published the most articles on MCI-related health behaviors included "Journal of Alzheimer's Disease," "Neurobiology of Aging," "Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience," and other geriatricsrelated journals. High-impact papers identified by VOSviewer predominantly cover concepts related to MCI, such as diagnostic criteria, assessment, and multifactorial interventions. Co-occurrence keyword analysis highlights five research hotspots in health behavior associated with MCI: exercise, diet, risk factors and preventive measures for dementia, cognitive decline-related biomarkers, and clinical trials. Conclusion: This study provides a comprehensive review of literature on health behavior in individuals with MCI, emphasizing influential documents and journals. It outlines research trends and key focal points, offering valuable insights for researchers to comprehend significant contributions and steer future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several Artemisia species are used as herbal medicines including the dried aerial parts of Artemisia capillaris, which are used as Artemisiae Capillaris Herba (known as “Injinho” in Korean medicinal terminology and “Yin Chen Hao” in Chinese). In this study, we developed tools for distinguishing between A. capillaris and 11 other Artemisia species that grow and/or are cultured in China, Japan, and Korea. Based on partial nucleotide sequences in the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) that differ between the species, we designed primers to amplify a DNA marker for A. capillaris. In addition, to detect other Artemisia species that are contaminants of A. capillaris, we designed primers to amplify DNA markers of A. japonica, A. annua, A. apiacea, and A. anomala. Moreover, based on random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis, we confirmed that primers developed in a previous study could be used to identify Artemisia species that are sources of Artemisiae Argyi Folium and Artemisiae Iwayomogii Herba. By using these primers, we found that multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was a reliable tool to distinguish between A. capillaris and other Artemisia species and to identify other Artemisia species as contaminants of A. capillaris in a single PCR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the China and Japan rivalry on economic assistance policy in Africa using a qualitative method and national interest as the conceptual framework. The land of Africa has abundant reserves of natural resources, such as dense forestry and mineral resources which naturally will attract foreign investors. The first foreign investors in Africa were westerners. Within the grip of their iron fists, Africa experienced a bitter history of slavery and colonialization. This rooted problem remains unresolved and causes a significant political atrophy until this day, and has resulted in the incapability of the Africa nations to resolve their own respective problems. Given such a state of affairs, these former colonies in Africa have always been longing for foreign assistance, especially after the post-Cold War Era. Thus, the abandonment of former colonies gave the opportunity for the Eastern powers, such China and Japan to establish a foothold in Africa, namely Japan with its Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) and China its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Through the TICAD, Japan emphasizes the importance of "Africa's Ownership" in all its infrastructure development cooperation initiatives. On the other hand, Chinese assistance can be characterised as indiscriminate, reciprocal, and non-interference in internal affairs. This paper suggests that both China and Japan have their own respective agenda on how to conduct diplomacy in Africa. They even share the same goals vis-a-vis Africa, which are economic and political domination and a keen interest in exploiting the available natural energy resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the close cultural exchanges between China and Japan, the demand and quality of Japanese talents are gradually increasing. Traditional Japanese teaching modes and measures cannot meet the basic requirements. With the rapid development of network multimedia technology and virtual reality technology, in the process of Japanese teaching, virtual reality technology is used to reform the traditional teaching mode and to improve the quality of Japanese teaching. Based on virtual reality technology, this paper studies the online Japanese teaching mode, analyses the characteristics of Japanese teaching, combines modern information technology to assist teaching, comprehensively improves the quality of Japanese teaching, and improves the traditional Japanese teaching mode. By describing the concept, basic features, and components of the AR system in detail and by introducing the virtual construction method based on the geometric model, this paper improves the traditional Japanese teaching mode and establishes the online Japanese teaching mode. Finally, the online Japanese teaching mode for one semester is applied in colleges and universities to analyze whether this mode can improve students' interest in Japanese learning and the effect of Japanese learning. The results show that 59% of the students using this mode expressed an increased interest in Japanese learning, while only 25.8% of the students not using this mode showed an increased interest in Japanese learning. 72% of students indicated that they could improve their oral Japanese performance after using this model, while 45% of students who did not use this model could improve their oral Japanese performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the utilization of the mantra of light and its associated maṇḍala practices by Wang Hongyuan 王弘願 (1876–1937), a Chinese Buddhist during the Republican Period, and his adherents, which has not yet been noticed by previous scholars. With the import of esoteric Buddhist doctrines and practices from Japan, the mantra of light, which was a rarely used mantra in pre-modern China, gained renewed significance. This led to the widespread adoption of the ritual practices of this mantra by Wang Hongyuan and his surrounding Buddhist groups in early modern China. The rituals of this mantra were used as a supplement or substitute for near-death Pure Land practices. This paper presents Pure Land Buddhist practices intertwined with esoteric Buddhist elements or "esoteric" approaches to Pure Land rebirth in modern Chinese Buddhism which have been overlooked by previous scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the test proposed by Generalized Supremum Augmented Dickey-Fuller to identify whether there are multiple bubbles in copper price. The empirical results show that base on market fundamentals, there are seven bubbles existed from January 1980 to March 2023. Through analyses, the first two bubbles can be explained by the demand from Japan by the industry concentration and persistent supply constraint. The third to sixth bubbles are mainly negatively impacted by the global financial crisis and growing demand of China. The last bubble is caused by the economic recovery from Covid-19. The logit regression has stated that aluminum price, copper production, all metals index and GDP have a positive impact on copper bubbles, while China's copper imports and precious metals price negatively explains copper bubbles. The main contributions are the investigation of the copper price bubbles, its determinants and the different technique of GSADF to detect copper price bubbles. Furthermore, it provides helpful information for those investors to make reasonable investment decisions and thus, avoid potential price risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rubus chingii Hu 1925 is an important medicinal vine shrub in the Rosaceae family, widely distributed in China and Japan. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome of R. chingii was sequenced and identified. The chloroplast genome was 155,563 bp in size with a total GC content of 37.06%. Two 25,749-bp inverted repeat (IRA and IRB) regions divided the genome as four sections, with the remainder forming a large single-copy (LSC, 85,322 bp) and a small single-copy (SSC, 18,743 bp) regions. This genome contained a total of 131 genes, of which 86 were protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. The phylogenetic analysis showed that R. chingii, along with several other R. longisepalus, R. tsangii, R. hirsutus, R. taiwanicola, R. rubroangustifolius, and R. glandulosopunctatus, formed the monophylic group. Interestingly, the chloroplast genome structure we reported was different from the previously reported structure and provided richer phylogenetic analysis information in the Rubus genus compared to previous studies. The genome information reported in this paper will provide some useful information for further investigation on the evolution of the family Rosaceae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: A scientometric analysis to obtain knowledge mapping of Coptis revealed the current research situation, knowledge base and research hotspots in Coptis research. Methods: Coptis -related documents published from 1987 to 2020 were selected through the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace, VOSviewer and Microsoft Excel were used to construct knowledge maps of the Coptis research field. Results: A total of 367 documents and their references were analyzed. These papers were primarily published in mainland China (214), followed by Japan (57) and South Korea (52), and they each formed respective cooperation networks. The document co-citation analysis suggested that the identification of Coptis Salisb. species, the production of alkaloids, and the mechanisms of action of these alkaloids formed the knowledge bases in this field. A keyword analysis further revealed that the research hotspots were primarily concentrated in three fields of research involving berberine, Coptis chinensis Franch, and Coptis japonica (Thunb) Makino. Oxidative stress, rat plasma (for the determination of plasma alkaloid contents), and Alzheimer's disease are recent research hotspots associated with Coptis. Conclusion: Coptis research was mainly distributed in three countries: China, Japan, and South Korea. Researchers were concerned with the identification of Coptis species, the production of Coptis alkaloids, and the efficacy and pharmacological mechanism of the constituent alkaloids. In addition, the anti-oxidative stress, pharmacokinetics, and Alzheimer's disease treatment of Coptis are new hotspots in this field. This study provides a reference for Coptis researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an unconventional clean resource with huge reserves and a wide distribution, natural gas hydrates (NGHs) have good application prospects. However, due to limited understanding and available production technology for NGHs, there is still a large gap between current production tests and commercial exploitation. A breakthrough in reservoir stimulation technologies is key to realizing the industrialization of NGHs in the future. Through a comprehensive summary of hydrate production test cases in Japan and China, this paper highlights the difficulties in the transformation of weakly-consolidated reservoirs. By systematically reviewing the theory and technology of hydrate reservoir transformation and engineering applications, this paper elucidates in detail the technical principles and mechanisms of several available stimulation technologies for weakly-consolidated reservoirs, and assesses the feasibility of their application to increase the production of NGHs. Existing problems and challenges are summarized and future prospects are discussed. Finally, suggestions are put forward for research and development of transformation technology for weakly-consolidated NGHs reservoirs in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This research paper investigates the evolving defense cooperation between India and Japan in the context of the strategic landscape in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly considering China's rise. The existing literature recognizes China's increasing influence as a significant factor in India-Japanese security cooperation, but tends to overlook the dynamics behind India's shifting stance. The study reveals that India initially hesitated to actively engage in anti-China security cooperation with Japan until the mid-2010s, but later adopted a more proactive partnership. An analysis of policy documents, political speeches, and government records attributes India's initial reluctance to its commitment to non-alignment and strategic autonomy, its desire to balance relations with both China and Japan, and its domestic political priorities favoring economic development over military expansion or strategic alliances. However, growing concerns over China's assertiveness, military modernization, a change in political leadership, and the Quad's development as a regional security platform have prompted India's attitude shift. The research's recommendations not only offer a roadmap for India, Japan, and other Indo-Pacific countries with deep economic ties to China, but also help combat China's military threats to contribute to regional stability and security, address common challenges, and foster a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the history of English textbooks and the challenges they are facing in the current EFL contexts of Japan and mainland China. In these countries, English textbooks, and textbooks for all other subjects, can only be used in classrooms following governmental evaluation and approval. The main set of criteria for textbook evaluation is provided by the national curriculum, which also serves as a guideline for compiling textbooks; it illustrates the purpose and objectives of each subject, contains descriptions of achievement levels for each grade, as well as suggestions for teaching, assessing and compiling textbooks. In effect, textbooks are the direct materialization of the national curriculum implemented in real classrooms, particularly in textbook dominated English classes. This paper starts by discussing the significance of textbook research before presenting a historical review of English textbooks in Japan and mainland China. The focus of the review is to delineate the current challenge of underestimating the use of the first language in EFL textbooks. The final section draws trajectory maps of the two countries and explores a new approach to overcoming the challenge of creating engaging activities that incorporate both student's first language and target language in EFL classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Japanese government has announced a commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It envisages an important role for hydrogen in the nation's future energy economy. This paper explores the possibility that a significant source for this hydrogen could be produced by electrolysis fueled by power generated from offshore wind in China. Hydrogen could be delivered to Japan either as liquid, or bound to a chemical carrier such as toluene, or as a component of ammonia. The paper presents an analysis of factors determining the ultimate cost for this hydrogen, including expenses for production, storage, conversion, transport, and treatment at the destination. It concludes that the Chinese source could be delivered at a volume and cost consistent with Japan's idealized future projections. Hydrogen is regarded as important to Japan's clean energy transition. Here the authors consider the production of hydrogen by electrolysis fueled by offshore wind power in China, and the potential for delivery to Japan as part of Japan's transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its long-term negative health effects and increasing emissions, the PM2.5 issue has caused rising concerns in recent years. Although official media from East Asian countries tend to avoid blaming PM emission sources on their neighboring countries, researches have proved the existence of pronounced long-range trans-boundary particulate matters transported by nature force and by human activities. In this context, this paper included the structural path analysis (SPA) to quantify trans-boundary PM2.5 at sector level, track its transaction paths and figure out the linkages between consumption and production responsibilities of China, Japan and Korea. Based on the results and policy reviews of current environmental cooperation mechanisms, this paper found that: Considering the China-Japan and China-Korea trades, China's net exportation of embodied PM2.5 emissions has exceeded the importation rates over 10 times (CHN → JPN, 56.53 kt, JPN → CHN, 3.58 kt; CHN → KOR, 59.19 kt, KOR → CHN, 5.31 kt). Japan and Korea benefited from importing raw materials with high emission intensity from China to meet domestic consumption needs and keep a low national emission level. China, the largest emitter in the world, should first take the responsibility to mitigate its huge domestic PM2.5 emission. However, the relocated emissions from its neighboring countries should not be ignored. For Japan or Korea, due to the close economic interdependence and geographical position, any contribution to the reduction of the trans-boundary emissions or to the solution of atmosphere problems within China also helps those countries themselves. In the long run, all three countries would benefit from enhancing subregional environmental cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, conventional island shield buildings (CISBs), which are situated close to the nuclear islands of nuclear power plants, are class III seismic items. This is the most important level in the seismic fortification standard. Calculations to check resistance overturning under extremely safe seismic action should be carried out. Although strict seismic design has been carried out, many beyond-design-basis events, such as the 3/11 earthquake in Japan, have occurred in recent years. Under the action of such accidental loads, there is still the possibility that the important vertical bearing components of a CISB will be damaged or destroyed, which will lead to the progressive vertical collapse of the CISB structure, and ultimately threaten the safe operation of the nuclear power plant. Therefore, it is necessary to study the progressive collapse resistance mechanism of the CISB in order to further optimize and improve its design. In this paper, we take the CISB as a research object and consider the failure mechanism of its vertical progressive collapse synthetically, using SAP2000 finite element software to study the causation and strength of resistance force and internal force redistribution characteristics due to progressive collapse under different column removal conditions (long-side middle, short-side middle, internal, and corner columns) using the instantaneous unloading method. The results show that the residual structure is at risk of collapse under the corner and long-edge middle column removal conditions, and there is no risk of collapse under the short-edge middle and internal column conditions. The failure and collapse resistance of the corner column only has a beam mechanism, and the long-side middle column forms a catenary mechanism in the Y direction. The short-side middle column can resist collapse by the beam mechanism, while the internal column forms a bidirectional catenary mechanism in the X and Y directions. The axial force of the column in the residual structure is mainly redistributed to column members with adjacent spans to the failure column, and column members with separated spans are less affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the financial system has illustrated an increasingly prominent characteristic of inextricable connections, information theory is gradually utilized to study the financial system. By collecting the daily data of industry index (2005-2020) and region index (2012-2020) listed in China as samples, this paper applies an innovative measure named partial mutual information on mixed embedding to generate directed networks. Based on the analysis of nonlinear relationships among sectors, this paper realizes the accurate construction of "time-varying" financial network from the perspective of risk spillover. The results are presented as follow: (1) interactions can be better understood through the nonlinear networks among distinct sectors, and sectors in the networks could be classified into different types according to their topological properties connected to risk spillover; (2) in the rising stage, information is transmitted rapidly in the network, so the risk is fast diffused and absorbed; (3) in the declining stage, the network topology is more complex and panic sentiments have long term impact leading to more connections; (4) The US market, Japan market and Hongkong market have significant affect on China's market. The results suggest that this nonlinear measure is an effective approach to develop financial networks and explore the mechanism of risk spillover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Recent empirical studies by Antonakakis, Chatziantoniou and Filis (2013), Brogaard and Detzel (2015) and Christou et al. (2017) present evidence, which supports the notion that a rise in economic policy uncertainty (EPU) will lead to a decline in stock prices. The purpose of this paper is to examine US categorical policy uncertainty on stock returns while controlling for implied volatility and downside risk. In addition to the domestic impacts of policy uncertainty, this paper also presents evidence that changes in US policy uncertainty promptly propagates to the global stock markets. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a GED-GARCH (1, 1) model to estimate changes of uncertainties in US monetary, fiscal and trade policies on stock returns for the sample period of January 1990–December 2018. Robustness test is conducted by using different set of data and modeling techniques. Findings: This paper contributes to the literature in several aspects. First, testing of US aggregate data while controlling for downside risk and implied volatility, consistently, shows that responses of stock prices to US policy uncertainty changes, not only display a negative effect in the current period but also have at least a one-month time-lag. The evidence supports the uncertainty premium hypothesis. Second, extending the test to global data reveals that US policy uncertainty changes have a negative impact on markets in Europe, China and Japan. Third, testing the data in sectoral stock markets mainly displays statistically significant results with a negative sign. Fourth, the evidence consistently shows that changes in policy uncertainty present an inverse relation to the stock returns, regardless of whether uncertainty is moving upward or downward. Research limitations/implications: The current research is limited to the markets in the USA, eurozone, China and Japan. This study can be extended to additional countries, such as emerging markets. Practical implications: This paper provides a model that uses categorical policy uncertainty approach to explain stock price changes. The parametric estimates provide insightful information in advising investors for making portfolio decision. Social implications: The estimated coefficients of changes in monetary policy uncertainty, fiscal policy uncertainty and trade policy uncertainty are informative in assisting policymakers to formulate effective financial policies. Originality/value: This study extends the existing risk premium model in several directions. First, it separates the financial risk factors from the EPU innovations; second, instead of using EPU, this study investigates the effects from monetary policy, fiscal policy and trade policy uncertainties; third, in additional to an examination of the effects of US categorical policy uncertainties on its own markets, this study also investigates the spillover effects to global major markets; fourth, besides the aggregate stock markets, this study estimates the effects of US policy uncertainty innovations on the sectoral stock returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: China's population aging situation is severe, but the construction of the long-term care insurance system is still in its infancy. Through summarizing the long-term care experience in Japan, this paper explores the suggestions for the development of long-term care in China. (2) Methods: Based on literature research and policy review, we sorted out the relevant practices and safeguard measures of the long-term care insurance system in Japan, and summarized the characteristics of Japanese community care. (3) Results: In the development of long-term care services, Japan has gradually established a multi-level, systematic, and precise elderly care service model. Its community care has the characteristics of policy support, intensive intervention, complete elements, and strict evaluation. China's long-term care services should learn from Japan's experience, strengthen institutional guarantees, improve relevant supporting policies, encourage multiple subjects to participate in community care based on integrating community resources, and establish community care evaluation mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BioScience Trends (BST) is a peer-reviewed journal belongs to the International Research and Cooperation Association for Bio & Socio-Sciences Advancement (IRCA-BSSA) Group of Japan. Despite a decade of existence, no study was performed to measure the bibliometric profile of the journal. The objective of this study was to investigate the bibliometric characteristic of BST. A bibliometric analysis will specifically measure: 1) growth rate of the scientific publications, 2) dynamics of authorship and collaboration pattern; 3) core research themes of articles that have been published, and 4) citation pattern of BST. Bibliographical archives of BST were obtained from the Core Collection database of the Web of Science (WoS). We divided the dataset into three interval periods, 2007-2010, 2011-2014 and 2015-2017 respectively. Data processing and analysis was performed using Bibliometrix, a bibliometric analysis package in R software, VOSViewer 1.66, Orange 3.15 and CitNetExplorer. Within one decade of scientific production, BST continues to attract global researchers in life sciences. However, it is still dominated by authors from China and Japan. Annual journal growth of BST is 12.83 %. Reaching the end of the first decade, number of first author and the country origin multiplied, 20 and 5 times respectively, compared to the first-year. Research themes are consistent with the Aims and Scope of the Journal with strong emphasizes on molecular biology, biochemistry, and clinical research. Entering the second decade, strategies to promote and enlarge authors participation from countries that are not in the current list are encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is an important aquatic product import and export country. Since China joined WTO in 2001, the import and export volume of China has been increasing continuously, and the fishery economy has achieved rapid development. Based on the United Nations trade statistics data, this paper uses CMS model to analyze the status quo of China's export of aquatic products to the Japanese market, and further puts forward reasonable Suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the interplay of major international infrastructure initiatives, in particular China's Belt and Road Initiative, Japan's Partnership for Quality Infrastructure and the EU strategy on "Connecting Europe and Asia". Their co-evolution is interpreted as the creation and further development of a new market, whose characteristics like its complexity, its properties as an international public good and its oligopolistic supply structure create interesting insights. The paper finds that initiatives have adjusted to each other, in line with expectations from a market perspective. While China's initiative at first followed a "low-price" strategy, Japan reacted with a "quality infrastructure" approach, also winning support from multilateral fora like G7 and G20. With the Second Belt and Road Forum, China has signaled to move closer to this line as well, and the EU is pursuing a similar approach as Japan, signing a partnership agreement with it. Interpreting this interaction as an oligopolistic structure, a chaotic competitive process has so far been avoided. The contest is actually evolving towards superior solutions, raising the quality of institutional infrastructure initiatives and, hopefully, of specific projects as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harmony Search (HS) is a music-inspired optimization algorithm for solving complex optimization problems that imitate the musical improvisational process. This paper reviews the potential of applying the HS algorithm in three countries, China, South Korea, and Japan. The applications represent several disciplines in fields of study such as computer science, mathematics, electrical/electronic, mechanical, chemical, civil, and industrial engineering. We anticipate an increasing number of HS applications from these countries in near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by the advancement of technology, emergence of financial institutional bodies superseding geographical constraints, as well as cross-regional liberalization paired with the removal of restrictions, global stock markets tend to become increasingly interconnected. On the one hand, it is believed that the globalization has made stock markets more efficient and alleviated the inherent risk thereof, resulting from greater access to financial assets, and thus the possibility to diversify therein. On the other hand, this may, however, lead to increased stock price volatility and trading instability, due to the major stock markets being increasingly correlated. Increasing interconnectedness between companies leads to the assumption that stock prices especially depend on the business sector and industry in which they operate. Thus, the interest in correlation network models is on the rise. However, despite the large number of literature providing network models, there is still uncertainty about their validity as well as true predictive power. Thus, this paper aims to identify stock return correlations between companies of selected industries. The quantitative analysis of historical daily stock returns is encompassing the correlation of the Japanese and Chinese corporate data from pharmaceutical, energy and banking sectors for the time period from 2009 until 2015 with relevant external events. The results show that the Japanese market reacts strongly to specific events during the observation and does not affect the Chinese market in any way, while events relating to the Chinese market have an immediate impact on the Japanese market behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: Carrying out the state-of-the-art study of the different applications of extremely low frequency (ELF) waves has enabled the determination of the importance of these signals in different fields. They are of special interest for the knowledge of natural phenomena, the development of communications, and in various medical applications. The great diversity of existing applications is reflected in the numerous investigations developed over the years. At present, ELF waves are still considered to be a subject of special interest due to their great potential, a fact that has been highlighted in this paper. This paper describes the characteristics of contributions made by researchers worldwide in the field of ELF (extremely low frequency) waves from 1957 to 2019. The data were collected through the Scopus database and processed with analytical and bibliometric techniques. The selection of the keywords is an essential step, because ELF has a very different meaning in some areas of medicine, where it is associated with a gene. A total of 12,436 documents were worked on in 12 thematic communities according to their collaborative relationships between authors and documents. Studies included authors publishing in the different thematic areas and the country where the USA stands first with more researchers in this theme than China and Japan. Documents were analyzed from the temporal perspective, their overall contribution, means of publication, and the language of the publication. Research requires extra effort and multidisciplinary collaboration to improve the knowledge, the application, and influence of these fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Assessing the nonlinearity of a site plays a crucial role in earthquake engineering. For some building structures and lifeline projects that need safety assessment after earthquakes, the analysis of nonlinear degree of sites can help accurately revealing the amplification effect of sites and evaluating the damage degree of buildings which is convenient for subsequent reinforcement and demolition work. The quantitation of nonlinear threshold of sites is an important method to evaluate the degree of site nonlinearity. In this paper, a nonlinear characteristic index reflecting the degradation of shear modulus is proposed based on the instantaneous frequency of the site calculated by using the vector auto-regression moving average (VARMA) model. Then, seismic records of class I, II, III and IV sites specified as per code for seismic design of buildings in China are selected from the KiK-net network in Japan, and the threshold value of ground motion acceleration characterizing the nonlinear response of sites are provided. Finally, the variation of the nonlinear characteristic index (shear modulus degradation) vs. different (peak ground acceleration) PGA for four types of sites are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to identify the most prolific countries in the field of special education and to discuss the widespread impact of their papers by taking into account the country's h-index. Through a bibliometric analysis, the data were collected in the Web of Science Core Collection category "Education, Special" in the Social Science Citation Index during 2011-2020. The 25 most prolific countries in the field of special education were determined in terms of paper productivity, and it was seen that the leading country was undisputedly the USA (54.42%). Meanwhile, a strong positive correlation was found between the h-index and the number of papers published by the countries (r=0.864). On the other hand, when the ranking in terms of the number of papers was reconfigured by the h-index, it was relatively changed. The possible reasons for this change for the countries with the most changing rankings were discussed by considering some definitive criteria such as the journal quartiles, the percentage of international and domestic, and the percentage of open access papers. This study reports a positive correlation between the quality and quantity in the field of special education for the publications of countries. It has been shown that where the positive correlation deviates, then especially, the journal quartiles, the percentage of international collaboration and the percentage of open access papers have a significant effect. The bibliometric findings may be useful to enrich the discussion about the widespread impact of papers and debate whether the use of h-index is acceptable for cross-national comparisons.

A major hurdle in pediatric formulation development is the lack of safety and toxicity data on some of the commonly used excipients. While the maximum oral safe dose for several kinds of excipients is known in the adult population, the doses in pediatric patients, including preterm neonates, are not established yet due to the lack of evidence-based data. This paper consists of four parts: (1) country-specific perspectives in different parts of the world (current state, challenges in excipients, and ongoing efforts) for ensuring the use of safe excipients, (2) comparing and contrasting the country-specific perspectives, (3) past and ongoing collaborative efforts, and (4) future perspectives on excipients for pediatric formulation. The regulatory process for pharmaceutical excipients has been developed. However, there are gaps between each region where a lack of information and an insufficient regulation process was found. Ongoing efforts include raising issues on excipient exposure, building a region-specific database, and improving excipient regulation; however, there is a lack of evidence-based information on safety for the pediatric population. More progress on clear safety limits, quantitative information on excipients of concern in the pediatric population, and international harmonization of excipients' regulatory processes for the pediatric population are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, Korea and Japan have increasingly exhibited different strategic priorities in trade in face of China's rising global economic prowess and worsening USChina trade conflict. Japan's trade policy decisions have worked to reinforce its economic and security ties with the US as a means to counter China. Japan has used both bilateral and multilateral means to secure its ties with the US against China. In contrast, Korea's trade policy positions have been one of 'strategic ambiguity'. Korea has been more conciliatory towards China, reluctant to take actions that would counter China's interest. Korea has mainly resorted to bilateral channels to maintain favorable relations with both China and the US. Korea's reluctance to clearly ally with the US against China has been observed across different administrations with opposing political orientations. This paper examines Korea and Japan's diverging strategic priorities in trade through the 2017 World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference; the 2017 US imposition of Section 232 on steel; the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Korea-US FTA renegotiation and the Korea-China FTA Phase Two Negotiation; and the 2019 Japan-US Trade Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing popularity of the EC (e-commerce) market, more and more consumers' consumption approaches have shifted from physical stores to online shopping. Due to the different popularity of networks in various countries, there are also differences in the products and frequencies of online purchases. At the same time, the network usage rate of the young people in Japan and China has reached more than 90%, with college students around 20 years old accounting for the highest percentage. Therefore, this paper focused on the college students' online purchase of clothing, and compared the consumption behaviors of Japanese and Chinese college students to explore the characteristics of Japanese and Chinese college students' consumption behaviors. After summarizing the theoretical research in the past, based on the online sales of clothing, we conducted a questionnaire survey among college students in Japan and China from the perspective of Marketing Mix. The results show that when the college students in Japan and China purchase clothing, there was a big difference in ① purchase channel, ② commodity price, ③ commodity quality and ④ network comments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the first study to examine the financial contagion from the U.S., Japanese and Chinese markets to Asian markets during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis. We employ the DCC-EGARCH methodology and daily data of stock returns from 2005 to 2021 to estimate the time-varying correlations and the volatilities of stock markets. Our results show that the correlation between the U.S. and Japanese markets with emerging Asian ones is quite high, implying the interdependence between these markets. Furthermore, we find significant contagion effects from the U.S. equity market to markets in both advanced and emerging economies during the GFC. Nonetheless, during the Covid-19 pandemic, only 3 out of 10 Asian emerging markets had experienced the contagion from the U.S. Our findings also suggest that contagion effects are not strongly related to the level of global integration and Asian markets seem to be more affected by the contagion from Japan and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Since in the early seventies after the Japanese economy had been rebuilt from the destruction of WWII and had become competitive based on preeminent manufacturing and infrastructure, high technological advancement, networked production and distribution networks, Japan has been considered the leading power base in Asia from the early 1970’s. After an initial competitive phase with the US, Japan and the U.S. have maintained a long standing economic and political relationship. However, the continued outsourcing of US manufacturing to low cost countries, specifically to China, an evolving balance of power can be clearly observed since China’s opening up to foreign trade and investment and implementing free-market reforms in 1979. This article examines the economic developments over the last two decades (2000-2019), coincident with China’s joining the World Trade Organization (as well as the dot.com bubble and the 2008 Recession) and its rise in economic and political might to determine how Japan’s role may develop in the future. The article begins with an examination of political power theory and moves to specific economic indicators over the time period in question (2000-2019) as well as drawing on current political and economic developments from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to the lackluster Japanese economic growth and development and increase in debt/GDP. The text contrasts the US theoretical model (Kindleberger, Krasner & Gilpin), which represents a field balanced by hegemonic stability, as opposed to the UK model (Cohen, Strange) which is based more on a framework of cooperation and a more theoretical examination of power. It is posited that national power has increasingly ceded to global corporate power (Stopford, Henley, Strange). Against this theoretical background the economic indicators of the region are examined from 2000-2019. The analysis carried out in the study is based on several research methods: a critical analysis of the literature, a descriptive method, and a method of inference based on statistical data. Trade and FDI flows in the region are presented and examined to make assumptions on the waxing or waning influence of the players. It was found that there is neither specific evidence that Japan will recede in relative importance nor garner increased relevance. Finally, there is an ensuing discussion of geopolitical factor which are analyzed within the current developmental context, which have the potential to greatly influence future economic and political power in the region, and beyond. Specific policy measures are beyond the scope of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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By reviewing regulative documents and extant literature, this paper explores the realities and trends of international students in East and Southeast Asia (ESA). It also shows motivation and strategies of four new players in the international higher education sector in East and Southeast Asia i.e., China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia. Apart from showing that intraregional students have not predominated the overall international student population in the region anymore, the paper highlights that ESA region has become an established hub of international students rather than a new emerging destination as it was in previous years. The overall net flow of international students in this region was still deficit prior to 2010s, but the deficit in 2017 is still less than that of 2010?s. This is probably the first study of its kind to examine the trends of international students as well as of higher education policies of countries in the ESA region. The findings of this study shall provide an insight into international higher education trends among the ESA countries for stakeholders, including policymakers, university managers, faculty, students, and parents.

The various possibilities that social media offers to language learners and teachers have long been recognized by researchers within the field of language instruction, and many studies have been carried out in an attempt to address and unpack its potential contributions. This paper aims to review such research on the use of mainstream social media in language teaching and learning published in "Computer Assisted Language Learning," a top tier (i.e., Q1) journal indexed in major citation index systems (e.g., Arts & Humanities Citation Index, the Social Sciences Citation Index and Scopus), between the years 2016-2020 inclusive. For the purposes of the study, a total of 23 articles that meet the selection criteria is reviewed and presented in five sections. The first section deals with the majority of the articles, which are found to be on the use of social networking in language teaching and learning. In the following sections, studies on the use of videoconferencing, wikis, blogging and forums are discussed. Collectively, the studies reviewed in this paper outline a critical role for the use of social media in language instruction and the study aims to provide valuable insights for researchers, teachers and learners.