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The 4th Asia Partnership Conference of Regenerative Medicine (APACRM) was held online on April 15, 2021, to promote regulatory harmonization of regenerative medicine products throughout Asia. Recognizing domestic regulatory guidelines within each country and region, and their underpinning rationales, is an important initial step toward a convergence of regulations. The 4th APACRM consisted of an open dialog with regulatory agencies regarding nonclinical and quality settings for cell therapy products (CTPs) through industry presentations and panel discussions with regulatory agencies. The latest updates on regenerative medicine fields in each country and region, and specific regulatory schematics in Japan, were also introduced. The objective of this paper is to summarize the proceedings of the 4th APACRM for public dissemination and to foster further discussion in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological relevance Gastrodia elata Blume ( Orchidaceae ) is commonly called Tian ma in Chinese and mainly distributed in the mountainous areas of eastern Asia, such as China, Korea, Japan and India. It is an extensively used traditional Chinese herbal medicine in the clinical practice of traditional Chinese medicine, to treat headache, migraine, dizziness, epilepsy, infantile convulsion, tetany and so on. The present paper reviews the advancements in investigation of botany and ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology and quality control of Gastrodia elata Blume. Finally, the possible tendency and perspective for future investigation of this plant are also put forward. Materials and methods The information on Gastrodia elata Blume was collected via piles of resources including classic books about Chinese herbal medicine, and scientific databases including Pubmed, Google Scholar, ACS, Web of science, ScienceDirect databases, CNKI and others. Plant taxonomy was validated by the databases “The Plant List”, and “Mansfeld’s Encyclopedia”. Results Over 81 compounds from this plant have been isolated and identified, phenolics and polysaccharides are generally considered as the characteristic and active constituents of Gastrodia elata Blume. Its active compounds possess wide-reaching biological activities, including sedative, hypnotic, antiepileptic, anticonvulsive, antianxietic, antidepressant, neuroprotective, antipsychotic, anti-vertigo, circulatory system modulating, anti-inflammationary, analgesic, antioxidative, memory-improving and antiaging, antivirus and antitumor effects. Conclusion Despite the publication of various papers on Gastrodia elata Blume, there is still, however, the need for definitive research and clarification of other bioactive compounds using bioactivity-guided isolation strategies, and the possible mechanism of action as well as potential synergistic or antagonistic effects of multi-component mixtures derived from Gastrodia elata Blume need to be evaluated. It is also necessary and important to do more quality control and toxicological study on human subjects in order to maintain its efficacy stable in the body and validate its safety in clinical uses. In addition, more investigations on other parts of this plant beyond the tubers are needed. Further studies on Gastrodia elata Blume will lead to the development of new drugs and therapeutics for various diseases, and how to utilize it better should be paid more attention to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalisation and social inequalities are the central research interests of a number of scholars in the world today. This Special Issue, Social Stratification Studies in East Asia, offers selected papers presented at the Tohoku University - National University of Singapore Joint Forum of Sociology and Stratification Studies held in Singapore in February 2009. This journal issue introduces five enthusiastic research projects presented at the forum on a variety of social stratification issues. These papers highlight the studies of sociologists who delve into inequalities and disparities in globalised Asia today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of data mining technology to food services and the restaurant industry has certain social value. By predicting customer traffic and needs, a restaurant can prepare a reasonable amount of meals for customers according to predicted needs which is conducive to improving the dining experience of customers and also improving the quality of food preparation and making the restaurant itself operate more efficiently. In recent years, we have seen the use of collaborative robots for use in the fast food industry. In Asia and more specifically in Japan, we have seen many fast-food chains implement the use of robots to better serve their customers. By studying the linear regression algorithm and the random forest algorithm, this paper proposes a new interwoven novel fusion approach of combining both algorithms and applies the new model to restaurant data to assist in the prediction of customer traffic in the restaurant industry. This predictive algorithm using cognitive techniques can assist these newly place robots in the food industry better serve their client base and in doing so make the industry more efficient. Experimental, comparison, and analysis are reported in the paper. The error rate of the fusion solution is reduced by approximately 5.503% compared with the linear regression algorithm and is approximately 3.719% lower than the error rate of the random forest algorithm. Results show that the new fusion algorithm can achieve better prediction results of customer traffic prediction for the restaurant industry. Furthermore, we also provide a new take on the application of data mining technology in the restaurant industry itself. • The application of data mining technology to the restaurant industry has certain social value. • Propose a new interwoven novel fusion approach applied to restaurant data to assist in the prediction of customer traffic in the restaurant industry. • This predictive algorithm using cognitive techniques can assist these newly place robots in the food industry better serve their client base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Provide a comprehensive overview of the solidarity in health and long-term care sectors. • The overall direction of reforms is developing toward universal coverage. • Reforms might be possible without overall consensus on solidarity. • The pay-as-you-go financial arrangements will require strong intergenerational solidarity. • The capacity of informal caregiving of family could be considered. Different from the development of health sector, there are significant variations in the underpinnings and formation timings of solidarity-based long-term care (LTC) systems. This paper compares the historical developmental trajectories and identifies factors of the transitions of the actual practices of solidarity - the scope of community, the scope of interdependence, and the costs of joint action - in the health and LTC sectors in four East Asian countries: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. Comparative policy analysis. Healthcare tends to be considered a universal value such that its boundary should include all residents, while LTC is closer to an entitlement of citizens. The differing solidarity reflects path dependency as well as historical legacies and policy diffusion between the health and LTC sectors. In both health and LTC sectors, the costs involved in collective service provision are not distributed evenly between generations. Centralized governance is a prevailing feature of health and LTC sectors in East Asia, allowing solidarity-based institutional arrangements to be established without an overall sense of solidarity. The relationship between solidarity and health and LTC systems is complex and dynamic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While houses in Asian countries have attracted international attention for the active new housing construction and rapid demolition of existing houses, empirical evidence on the structure depreciation curve is scarce. Employing a unique dataset of nationwide housing transaction prices collected by the Japanese government, which is decomposed into structure and land values by market participants, this paper formally estimates the structure depreciation curve of Japanese detached houses. First, structure value is lost by as much as 50% during the initial 10 years following construction, and the depreciation gradually continues until the property is around 30 years old. This implies that "taste for newness" at an early stage of building life (or depreciation between new houses and relatively new resale houses) is significant, and structure value is lost much faster than measured by demolition during the latter stage of building life. Second, while this trend is robust across regions and over time, the depreciation from new houses to relatively new resale houses is becoming smaller in recent years, and it is smaller in urban areas than in rural areas. This implies a recent potential for utilizing existing housing stocks, especially in urban areas in a matured society, to which other developed Asian countries or developing countries may proceed in the future. • Estimate the structure depreciation curve of Japanese detached houses. • Structure value is lost by as much as 50% during the initial 10 years. • This cannot be measured by demolition during the latter stage of building life. • The taste for newness is becoming smaller in recent years. • Imply a recent potential for utilizing existing housing stocks in a matured society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper uses the traditional variance ratio test of Lo and MacKinlay (1988, 1989), the non-parametric-based variance ratio test of Wright (2000) and the multiple-variance ratio test of Chow and Denning (1993), to re-examine the validity of the weak form efficient market hypothesis for foreign exchange markets in four floating-rate markets in neighboring Asian economies (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines). The results show that the random walk patterns of the exchange rate return series cannot be rejected, with the one exception of Taiwan, where inefficiency is shown to be most prominent. We therefore conclude that the foreign exchange markets of Japan, South Korea and the Philippines are weak form efficient, while the foreign exchange market of Taiwan is inefficient. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]