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The generation, diffusion, absorption, and application of new technology, knowledge, or ideas are crucial drivers of development. The authors examine the exceptionally fast growth in domestic innovation efforts in Korea, Taiwan (China), Singapore, and China, drawing on information about R&D as well as patent and patent citations data. They also use the World Bank Investment Climate Surveys to investigate sources of technological innovation in the other middle- and low-income East Asian economies. They then evaluate the role of three main channels for knowledge flows to East Asia—international trade, acquisition of disembodied knowledge, and foreign direct investment. Results from estimating an international knowledge diffusion model using patent citations data show that, while East Asian innovations continue to draw heavily on knowledge flows from the US and Japan, citations to the same or to other East Asian economies are quickly rising, indicating the emergence of national and regional knowledge stocks as a foundation for innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artemisia frigida is a temperate grassland species that has the largest natural range among its genus, with occurrences across the temperate grassland biomes of Eurasia and North America. Despite its wide geographic range, we know little about the species' distribution history. Hence, we conducted a phylogeographical study to test the hypothesis that the species' distribution pattern is related to a potential historical migration over the 'Bering land bridge'. We applied two molecular approaches: genotyping‐by‐sequencing (GBS) and Sanger sequencing of the plastid intergenic spacer region (rpl32 – trnL) to investigate genetic differentiation and relatedness among 21 populations from North America, Middle Asia, Central Asia and the Russian Far East. Furthermore, we identified the ploidy level of individuals based on GBS data. Our results indicate that A. frigida originated in Asia, spread northwards to the Far East and then to North America across the Bering Strait. We found a pronounced genetic structuring between Middle and Central Asian populations with mixed ploidy levels, tetraploids in the Far East, and nearly exclusively diploids in North America except for one individual. According to phylogenetic analysis, two populations of Kazakhstan (KZ2 and KZ3) represent the most likely ancestral diploids that constitute the basally branching lineages, and subsequent polyploidization has occurred on several occasions independently. Mantel tests revealed weak correlations between genetic distance and geographical distance and climatic conditions, which indicates that paleoclimatic fluctuations may have more profoundly influenced A. frigida's spatial genetic structure and distribution than the current environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fossil eudicot, Gansufructus saligna gen. et sp. nov. is reported from the Early Cretaceous (late Aptian–early Albian) of the Gansu Province, Northwest China, based on numerous well-preserved axes with attached leaves and infructescences. The leaves are alternate, short petiolate and linear-lanceolate with low rank pinnate to reticulate venation. The infructescences are loose panicles bearing fruits in different stages of maturity, each containing four partly free carpels borne in a whorled arrangement. Each carpel has three to five seeds borne along its ventral margin. The nature of the leaves and axes indicates a terrestrial, herbaceous habit. In general organization, Gansufructus is closely similar to the fruit-bearing axes of Sinocarpus decussatus from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota, as well as other more or less contemporaneous angiosperms from the Far East, which together provide evidence of diverse eudicot angiosperms of low stature colonizing areas close to environments of deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compares the growth and financing patterns of East Asian corporations with other countries before the 1997 financial crisis. Influence of a weak financial structure on company performance; Differences in the rate of return on assets among East Asian corporations; Maturity of debt structures of East Asian companies compared with European and Latin American countries.

Focuses on the elements of financial crisis in East Asia. Brief background details on the Asian crisis; Analytical framework of the model of credit cycles; Discussion on how wholesale financial collapse can be averted by coordinated loan roll-overs in the form of a general financial freeze.

The tea family (Theaceae) has a highly unusual amphi-Pacific disjunct distribution: most extant species in the family are restricted to subtropical evergreen broadleaf forests in East Asia, while a handful of species occur exclusively in the subtropical and tropical Americas. Here, we used an approach that integrates the rich fossil evidence of this group with phylogenies in biogeographic analysis to study the processes behind this distribution pattern. We first combined genome-skimming sequencing with existing molecular data to build a robust species-level phylogeny for c.130 Theaceae species, resolving most important unclarified relationships. We then developed an empirical Bayesian method to incorporate distribution evidence from fossil specimens into historical biogeographic analyses and used this method to account for the spatiotemporal history of Theaceae fossils. We compared our method with an alternative Bayesian approach and show that it provides consistent results while significantly reduces computational demands which allows analyses of much larger data sets. Our analyses revealed a circumboreal distribution of the family from the early Cenozoic to the Miocene and inferred repeated expansions and retractions of the modeled distribution in the Northern Hemisphere, suggesting that the current Theaceae distribution could be the remnant of a larger continuous distribution associated with the boreotropical forest that has been hypothesized to occupy most of the northern latitudes in the early Cenozoic. These results contradict with studies that only considered current species distributions and showcase the necessity of integrating fossil and molecular data in phylogeny-based parametric biogeographic models to improve the reliability of inferred biogeographical events. [Biogeography; genome skimming; phylogenomics; plastid genome; Theaceae.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies on paleogenomics have reported some Paleolithic and Neolithic genomes that have provided new insights into the human population history in East and Northeast Asia. However, there remain some cases where more recent migration events need to be examined to elucidate the detailed formation process of local populations. Although the area around northern Japan is one of the regions archaeologically suggested to have been affected by migration waves after the Neolithic period, the genetic source of these migrations are still unclear. Thus, genomic data from such past migrant populations would be highly informative to clarify the detailed formation process of local populations in this region. Here, we report the genome sequence of a 900-year-old adult female (NAT002) belonging to the prehistoric Okhotsk people, who have been considered to be the past migrants to northern Japan after the Neolithic period. We found a close relationship between NAT002 and modern Lower Amur populations and past admixture events between the Amur, Jomon, and Kamchatka ancestries. The admixture dating suggested migration of Amur-related ancestry at approximately 1,600 BP, which is compatible with the archaeological evidence regarding the settlement of the Okhotsk people. Our results also imply migration of Kamchatka-related ancestry at approximately 2,000 BP. In addition, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing detected the HLA-B*40 allele, which is reported to increase the risk of arthritis, suggesting the genetic vulnerability of NAT002 to hyperostosis, which was observed around her chest clavicle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jogaejeot, seasoned Venerupis philippinarum, is a traditional Korean fermented food, and hepatitis A virus (HAV) can be transmitted through contaminated food, especially bivalve shellfish, causing acute gastroenteritis worldwide. Here, we carried out a phylogenetic analysis to identify and characterize HAV strains in jogaejeot samples associated with hepatitis A (HA) outbreaks in Seoul, South Korea, in 2019. The HAV strains were identified using blast and molecular analysis of the amplified HAV VP1‐P2B genome region. The HAV strains identified in the five jogaejeot samples shared at least 99% sequence identity, were all classified as genotype IA and were most closely related to strains that are widespread in East Asia. These results support a link between the consumption of jogaejeot and the HA outbreaks observed in 2019 in Seoul. In addition, they indicate a need for more stringent enforcement of food safety regulations for the shellfish industry, especially against HAV, and the value of widespread vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotic resistance (ABR) has been identified as a critical threat to global health at the highest policy fora. A leading cause of ABR is the inappropriate use of antibiotics by both patients and healthcare providers. Although countries around the world have committed to developing and implementing national action plans to tackle ABR, there is a considerable gap in evidence about effective behaviour change interventions addressing inappropriate use of antibiotics in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where ABR is growing at an alarming rate. We conducted a systematic review to synthesize evidence about the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of behaviour change interventions to reduce inappropriate use of antibiotics in LMICs. Three databases were searched using a set of predefined search terms and exclusion criteria. The search identified 43 relevant articles. A narrative synthesis of results was conducted using the Behaviour Change Wheel framework to categorize intervention components. The majority of the reviewed studies were set in lower-middle-income or low-income countries located in Sub-Saharan Africa or East Asia and the Pacific. Twenty-four articles evaluated multi-faceted interventions over a period of 12 months or less. Despite the widespread use of antibiotics in the community, interventions were primarily implemented in public health facilities, targeting health professionals such as doctors, nurses, and other allied medical staff. Although education for providers was the most widely used strategy for influencing antibiotic use, it was shown to be most effective when used in conjunction with training or other enabling and supportive measures to nudge behaviour. Six articles included an evaluation of costs of interventions and found a reduction in costs in inpatient and outpatient settings, and one article found a training and guidelines implementation-based intervention to be highly cost-effective. However, the small number of articles conducting an economic evaluation highlights the need for such analyses to be conducted more frequently to support priority setting in resource-constrained environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been argued that scale is the central problem in ecology (Levin, 1992). Studies on carbon cycles and global climate change, the current major themes in modern ecology, require the interfacing of phenomena that occur on different scales of space, time, and ecological organization. For several decades, tremendous efforts have been made to reveal the general patterns of, and the mechanisms for the global carbon cycles. However, many uncertainties remain, particularly on local to regional scales. To reduce these uncertainties, regional collaborations across the board of nations are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the fundamental role played by factor accumulation in explaining the extraordinary postwar growth of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Participation rates, educational levels, and (excepting Hong Kong) investment rates have risen rapidly in all four economies. In addition, in most cases there has been a large intersectoral transfer of labor into manufacturing, which has helped fuel growth in that sector. Once one accounts for the dramatic rise in factor inputs, one arrives at estimated total factor productivity growth rates that are closely approximated by the historical performance of many of the OECD and Latin American economies. While the growth of output and manufacturing exports in the newly industrializing countries of East Asia is virtually unprecedented, the growth of total factor productivity in these economies is not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary science is marked by expanding and diverse forms of teamwork. Collaboration across organizational and cultural boundaries extends the possibilities of discovery. International collaborative research projects often provide findings beyond what one team could achieve alone. Motivated to maintain existing relationships and grow their scientific network, researchers increasingly collaborate, despite often unrecognized or underappreciated costs, since such projects are challenging to manage and carry out. Rarely studied in-depth and longitudinally, the perspectives of scientific team members are crucial to better understand the dynamics of durable collaboration networks. Thus, this retrospective case study of a sociology of science project applies the novel method of autoethnography to examine teamwork benefits, motivations, and challenges. Key challenges found include spatial distance and differences of culture, language, and career stage. This study, spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia, focused on collaborators' characteristics and evolving perceptions of team dynamics over a decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis, East Asia's efforts to enhance regional financial cooperation raised the possibility of East Asia playing a more assertive role in global financial governance. However, despite the region's increased voice in governance and economic weight, East Asian financial systems and markets have mostly adapted to global norms developed in New York, London, and Washington, DC. We argue that the failure of East Asia to push an alternative vision of financial governance reflects both the lack of regional political unity and, more crucially, the divisions of interests both between and within key East Asian economies. Despite nearly universal regional dissatisfaction with global standards and institutions in the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis, these two factors have combined to prevent the development of a distinctive regional model that could be promoted at the global level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological character displacement predicts that interspecific resource competition results in greater trait divergence between species in sympatry than in allopatry. However, other processes, such as ecological sorting, result in the same pattern of trait variation. In this study, we characterize character displacement in eight species of snail-feeding Acoptolabrus ground beetles in the Far East. Acoptolabrus exhibit divergent feeding phenotypes, including species with a slender forebody that is able to intrude into large shells and species with stout heads and mandibles for crushing small shells. The pattern of character displacement in feeding phenotypes was confirmed by multivariate analysis of body dimensions. Molecular phylogenetic analysis, divergence time estimation and biogeographical analysis revealed that sympatry and phenotypic divergence occurred repeatedly during the Pleistocene and almost simultaneously within each geographical area. Comparative analysis revealed that the evolution of feeding phenotypes best fitted a selective model with three adaptive optima, corresponding to the three cases of sympatry with a congener. Repeated coincidences of sympatry and adaptive differentiation in feeding phenotypes suggested causal relationships, although the precise order of events was difficult to discriminate. This study provides insight into the spatiotemporal dynamics of interspecific interactions and adaptive phenotypic diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The invasive freshwater hydromedusa Craspedacusta sowerbii Lankester, 1880 (phylum Cnidaria, class Hydrozoa, family Olindiidae) is native from East Asia but for more than 20 years, reports of this species have been increasing in Europe, North America, and Australia. Due to the sporadic presence of the medusa stage and difficulties in the sample polyp stage, there is a lack of data on the physiological parameters of C. sowerbii and its potential impact. We present data on growth and ingestion rates of the medusa stage measured at 29°C, temperature at which polyps are maintained in the Cinéaqua Aquarium (Paris). Medusa growth increased from 0.60 ± 0.08 to 9.0 ± 2.1 mm (mean: 0.28 ± 0.26 mm d−1), and gonads appeared after 11.5 ± 3.0 days. Ingestion rates increased significantly from 28 ± 16 prey ind−1 d−1 (<1 mm) to 442 ± 170 prey ind−1 d−1 (>7 mm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Trump administration, Sino-American relations have deteriorated to the point where the new consensus in the U.S. foreign policy establishment is that a new Cold War has begun between the U.S. and China. This article looks at the origins of the "first Cold War" for insight into how a second Cold War might be avoided. There is a danger of the Cold War turning hot because of power transition dynamics. This article also invokes the pre-1914 Anglo-German rivalry, and argues that if conflict is to be avoided, the U.S. must accommodate China's rise by yielding hegemony in East Asia and meeting China's status claim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pilumnid crab Pilumnopeus convexus (Maccagno, 1936), native to the Arabian Sea and western Indian Ocean, has been discovered among intertidal fouling communities along shores of Hong Kong. The species was first discovered in 2011 and is believed to have become established by around 2016. Material from local sites was compared with specimens from Iran and Pakistan, and the identification was supported by molecular analyses using mtDNA COI gene sequences. This species is not yet known from East and Southeast Asia, and was probably transported to Hong Kong by international maritime shipping, likely in the ballast water or on the hulls of ships, and subsequently survived as a non-indigenous species (NIS). This represents the first case of west-to-east invasion of brachyuran crabs from the Indian Ocean reaching sub-tropical East Asia. Past studies on the local intertidal fauna, and documentations of NIS, are briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phylogenetic relationships of the two largest species groups in the genus Amiota [the Amiota alboguttata group (29 known and six new species) and the Amiota basdeni group (17 known and three new species)] were reconstructed using two mitochondrial gene sequences (COI and ND2). The paraphyly of the A. alboguttata group was identified based on molecular evidence. The monophyletic A. basdeni group is found to be nested in the A. alboguttata group, rendering the latter paraphyletic. Automatic barcode gap discovery and Bayesian phylogenetics and phylogeography methods were used to assess species limits of the A. alboguttata and A. basdeni groups. The results indicate that most analysed species could be delimited clearly, including nine new species (Amiota beama sp. nov. , Amiota cyclophylla sp. nov. , Amiota flormontana sp. nov. , Amiota obtusa sp. nov. , Amiota planiceps sp. nov. , Amiota scrobicula sp. nov. , Amiota jianjuni sp. nov. , Amiota tentacula sp. nov. and Amiota xinglaii sp. nov.), except for some closely related morphospecies. Furthermore, based on the highly biased distributions of these two groups, southwestern China is hypothesized to be a possible centre of origin and diversification for Amiota in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wedge strategy is a state's attempt to prevent, break up, or weaken a threatening or blocking alliance. An asymmetric alignment consists of a great power (the alignment leader) and a small/middle power (the weaker ally). So when does the wedge strategy of a great power (a divider) towards a competitive asymmetric alignment work? I propose, based upon the 'Crawford–Izumikawa debate', an 'interdependence theory' of wedge strategies. In the case of an asymmetric alignment that is symmetrically interdependent, the wedge strategy of a divider that accommodates the weaker ally is most likely to succeed. However, a wedge strategy towards an asymmetric alignment that is asymmetrically interdependent is highly likely to fail. I evaluate the theory based upon four wedge strategies adopted in Cold War Asia through analysing American, Russian, and Chinese archival sources. As asymmetrically interdependent, the US–Japan and US–Taiwan alliances offset the impact of Chinese wedge strategies. Between 1955 and 1965, therefore, neither Chinese accommodation nor Chinese pressure could detach weaker American allies from the United States in East Asia. However, China successfully exploited the symmetric interdependence of the US–Pakistan alliance. Between 1962 and 1965, China's accommodation of Pakistan prevented Pakistan from being used as an American base for containment purposes. Likewise, the Soviet Union took full advantage of the Sino–Vietnamese alignment's symmetric interdependence, whereby Soviet aid to North Vietnam caused rifts in Sino–Vietnamese relations that eventually wrecked the Sino–Vietnamese alignment. According to the theory, therefore, given the asymmetric interdependence of the hub-and-spokes system, any Chinese attempts to weaken US-sponsored alliances in East Asia would not be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Familial dysalbuminaemic hyperthyroxinaemia (FDH), most commonly due to an Arginine to Histidine mutation at residue 218 (R218H) in the albumin gene, causes artefactual elevation of free thyroid hormones in euthyroid individuals. We have evaluated the susceptibility of most current free thyroid hormone immunoassay methods used in the United Kingdom, Europe and Far East to interference by R218H FDH. Methods: Different, one- and two-step immunoassay methods were tested, m easuring free T4 (FT4) and free T3 (FT3) in 37 individuals with genetically proven R218H FDH. Results: With the exception of Ortho VITROS, FT4 measurements were rais ed in all assays, with greatest to lowest susceptibility to interference being Beckman ACCESS > Roche ELECSYS > FUJIREBIO Lumipulse > Siemens CENTAUR > Abbott ARCHITECT > Perkin-Elmer DELFIA. Five different assays recorded high FT3 le vels, with the Siemens CENTAUR method measuring high FT3 values in up to 30% of cases. However, depending on the assay method, FT4 measurements were unexpectedly normal in some, genetically confirmed, affected relatives of index FDH cases. Conclusions: All FT4 immunoassays evaluated are prone to interference by R2 18H FDH, with their varying susceptibility not being related to assay architecture but likely due to differ ing assay conditions or buffer composition. Added susceptibility of many FT3 assays to measurement interference, resulting in high FT4 and FT3 with non-suppressed TSH levels, raises the possibility of R218H FDH being misdiagnosed as resistance to thyroid hormone beta or TSHsecreting pituitary tumour, potentially leading to unnecessary investigation and inappropriate treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Accurate estimates of bamboo biomass and net primary productivity (NPP) are required to evaluate the carbon sequestration potential of bamboo forests. However, relevant data that are important for climate change mitigation, have rarely been collected in regions outside of East Asia and India. Information on seasonal patterns of NPP and its components will enable the quantification of factors that influence the carbon balance in bamboo forests. In this study, we quantified the aboveground biomass (AGB) and aboveground NPP of five major bamboo species in northern Laos using monthly data collected over a 12-month period. Methods All live culms in 10, 2 m × 2 m plots (for one monopodial bamboo species: Indosasa sinica) and 30 clumps per species (for four sympodial bamboo species: Bambusa tulda , Cephalostachyum virgatum , Dendrocalamus membranaceus and Gigantochloa sp.) were numbered and measured at breast height. We set 10 or 20 litter traps per species to collect litterfall. Censuses of dead and recruited culms and litterfall collection were performed once per month for 12 months. Important Findings The AGB was highest in I. sinica (59.87 Mg ha−1) and lowest in C. virgatum (11.54 Mg ha−1), and was mostly below the plausible global range for bamboos (32–256 Mg ha−1). The sympatric distribution of multiple bamboo species at the study sites may have suppressed the AGB in four of the five studied species. The aboveground NPP estimates were between 3.43 and 14.25 Mg ha−1 yr−1; those for D. membranaceus (8.20 Mg ha−1 yr−1) and I. sinica (14.25 Mg ha−1 yr−1) were comparable to mean global estimates for temperate evergreen forests (8.78 Mg ha−1 yr−1) and tropical moist forests (10.56 Mg ha−1 yr−1). High culm recruitment rates (15.20–23.39% yr−1) were major contributors to aboveground NPP estimates. Seasonal patterns of aboveground NPP were largely influenced by the phenology of the new culms. In the four sympodial bamboo species, new culms began to emerge following the onset of persistent rainfall, mainly in July and August. However, the sprouting of new culms in the monopodial species I. sinica followed a trend of increasing temperatures, mainly in March and April. Thus, our results indicate that bamboos have considerable potential for sequestering carbon in northern Laos, but that this potential may be affected by climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dibamid reptiles have a known current distribution on two continents (Asia and North America). Although this clade represents an early-diverging group in the Squamata and thus should have a long evolutionary history, no fossil record of these peculiar burrowing squamate reptiles has been documented so far. The fossil material described here comes from the early Oligocene of the Valley of Lakes in Central Mongolia. This material consists of jaws and is placed in the clade Dibamidae on the basis of its morphology, which is further confirmed by phylogenetic analyses. In spite of the fragmentary nature of this material, it thus forms the first, but putative, fossil evidence of this clade. If correctly interpreted, this material demonstrates the occurrence of Dibamidae in East Asia in the Palaeogene, indicating its distribution in higher latitudes than today. The preserved elements possess a unique combination of character states, and a new taxon name is therefore erected: Hoeckosaurus mongoliensis sp. nov. The dentary of Hoeckosaurus exhibits some characters of the two extant dibamid taxa. However, the open Meckel's groove, together with other characters, show that this group was morphologically much more diverse in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of religion and international religions has witnessed an exponential growth in recent decades. Courses and programs exploring the complex entanglements between faith and global politics have likewise mushroomed around the world. Despite this ferment, reflections on teaching religion and international relations have so far lagged behind. This forum seeks to remedy this general silence. It brings together a diverse range of scholars from a multiplicity of national, religious, methodological, and theoretical backgrounds who teach across a variety of different geographical settings including North America, Europe, and East Asia. Contributors reflect on three broad themes. First, how do we engage with the contested character of religion as a category of analysis and practice, and with the multidisciplinary nature of its study? Second, how does the context within which we operate—be it geographical, cultural, institutional, or historical—influence and shape who, what, and how we teach? Third, how do we address the important and, at times, contentious personal and ethical challenges that our research and teaching on religion and politics inevitably raises in the classroom? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oligoneuriidae is a Pantropical family of Ephemeroptera, with 68 species described in 12 genera. Three subfamilies are recognized: Chromarcyinae, with a single species from East Asia; Colocrurinae, with two fossil species from Brazil; and Oligoneuriinae, with the remaining species distributed in the Neotropical, Nearctic, Afrotropical and Palaearctic regions. Phylogenetic and biogeographical analyses were performed for the family based on 2762 characters [73 morphological and 2689 molecular (COI , 16S, 18S and 28S)]. Four major groups were recovered in all analyses (parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference), and they were assigned to tribal level, namely Oligoneuriini, Homoeoneuriini trib. nov. , Oligoneuriellini trib. nov. and Elassoneuriini trib. nov. In addition, Yawari and Madeconeuria were elevated to genus level. According to Statistical Dispersal-Vicariance (S-DIVA), Dispersal Extinction Cladogenesis (DEC) and divergence time estimation analyses, Oligoneuriidae originated ~150 Mya in the Gondwanan supercontinent, but was probably restricted to the currently delimited Neotropical region. The initial divergence of Oligoneuriidae involved a range expansion to Oriental and Afrotropical areas, sometime between 150 and 118 Mya. At ~118 Mya, the family started its diversification, reaching the Nearctic through dispersal from the Neotropical region and the Palaearctic and Madagascar from the Afrotropical region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East Asia is a region of signal importance for global order because of its economic dynamism and growing heft, China's challenge to the United States as incumbent regional and global hegemon, and other conflict hotspots like the Korean peninsula. This requires academic analysis that both appreciates the subtleties inherent to this region and can relate them to the wider systemic context. Many analysts have begun to allude to the challenging characteristics that are present in the international relations of East Asia, in particular struggling to explain how growing levels of economic interdependence can coexist with heightened security tensions. This article offers a research prospectus that suggests ways of analyzing these apparently contradictory trends. It proposes the development of research questions and approaches that are more suited to studying the international relations of a region with characteristics that we define as dual, hybrid, and contingent. We propose a Conjunctions Analytical Framework that explores what happens at the conjunctions of the regional-global and the unit-regional/global levels of analysis—the "grey areas" where social formations meet and interact. We aim to help shape the future study of the IR of East Asia and to suggest more effective ways of analyzing the complex reality of East Asia's regional and global politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims The inverse correlation between atmospheric CO2 partial pressure (p CO2) and stomatal frequency in many plants has been widely used to estimate palaeo-CO2 levels. However, apparent discrepancies exist among the obtained estimates. This study attempts to find a potential proxy for palaeo-CO2 concentrations by analysing the stomatal frequency of Quercus glauca (section Cyclobalanopsis , Fagaceae), a dominant species in East Asian sub-tropical forests with abundant fossil relatives. Methods Stomatal frequencies of Q. glauca from three material sources were analysed: seedlings grown in four climatic chambers with elevated CO2 ranging from 400 to 1300 ppm; extant samples collected from 14 field sites at altitudes ranging from 142 to 1555 m; and 18 herbarium specimens collected between 1930 and 2011. Stomatal frequency– p CO2 correlations were determined using samples from these three sources. Key Results An inverse correlation between stomatal frequency and p CO2 was found for Q. glauca through cross-validation of the three material sources. The combined calibration curves integrating data of extant altitudinal samples and historical herbarium specimens improved the reliability and accuracy of the curves. However, materials in the climatic chambers exhibited a weak response and relatively high stomatal frequency possibly due to insufficient treatment time. Conclusions A new inverse stomatal frequency– p CO2 correlation for Q. glauca was determined using samples from three sources. These three material types show the same response, indicating that Q. glauca is sensitive to atmospheric p CO2 and is an ideal proxy for palaeo-CO2 levels. Quercus glauca is a nearest living relative (NLR) of section Cyclobalanopsis fossils, which are widely distributed in the strata of East Asia ranging from the Eocene to Pliocene, thereby providing excellent materials to reconstruct the atmospheric CO2 concentration history of the Cenozoic. Quercus glauca will add to the variety of proxies that can be widely used in addition to Ginkgo and Metasequoia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural change is a vital element of successful development. Between 1985 and 2015, however, falling barriers to trade and transfer of technology shifted sectoral structures in different directions in different countries by intensifying endowment-related specialization. In skill-abundant developed countries, manufacturing became more skill-intensive and employed fewer workers. In land-scarce developing East Asia, labor-intensive manufacturing expanded, especially and hugely in China. In land-abundant Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, by contrast, manufacturing shares fell, while in land-scarce South Asia labor-intensive manufacturing was constrained by low literacy and inadequate infrastructure. This pattern of structural change contributed to higher average growth rates during this period in land-scarce than in land-abundant developing countries. Future changes in sectoral structures and growth rates will continue to be shaped by differences among countries in land abundance and skill supplies that matter for development policy choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How much war was there in early modern East Asia? This article empirically corroborates characterizations of relations between Sinic East Asian polities as being unusually peaceful and stable, which we attribute to the participants' shared subscription to a common and accepted hierarchy framed by a Confucian worldview. More broadly, we provide direct empirical evidence that international hierarchies derive their stability from cultural consensus rather than simply asymmetries in material power. We make these claims by addressing the extent, range, and patterns of war in early modern East Asia by introducing and describing an extensive dataset of over 1,100 entries that measures war and other violence in early modern East Asia from 1368 to 1841 and relies principally on both Chinese and Korean language sources. The combination of these two Asian language sources forms the basis of a unique dataset that will substantially widen and complement the largely Chinese or English language sources that are generally used in debating war in early modern East Asia. Asia was composed of much more than simply China, and bringing in scholarship from other areas of early modern East Asia reflects a trend of moving past national studies to research the region more holistically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars of international relations ( IR) simultaneously believe that their work is policy-relevant and that a gap exists between the academic and policy worlds of IR. Using data from the 2011 Teaching, Research, and International Policy ( TRIP) survey and the TRIP journal article database, we explore this disjuncture in one specific area, research on East Asia. If US scholars' work addresses policy-relevant issues, as they believe, we would expect academic work to provide insights on a region that US policy makers have long thought to be growing in strategic importance. We find that academics recognize the strategic significance of East Asia, but comparatively few scholars teach about or do research on the region. Compared with the IR discipline more broadly, published research on East Asia is more paradigmatic, qualitative, and oriented toward the study of international political economy. The neglect of East Asia and the systematic differences in the way it is studied have potentially important consequences for the study and practice of IR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary scholarship on policy making in Africa tends either to view the process as being entirely divorced from international policy lessons and experiences, or to portray policy makers as prone to unreflective imitation of whichever countries happen to be economically and politically ascendant. Kenya's Vision 2030 demonstrates both of these assumptions to be flawed: not only have Kenyan planners and technocrats consciously emulated foreign models in the formulation and execution of this long-term development plan, but the way in which they have done this is embedded in a historical reading of Kenya's development trajectory as well as the trajectories of those countries from which lessons are drawn. Thus, Vision 2030 bears the imprint of Singaporean and Malaysian policies, rather than only the more modish “Chinese Model”. Far from heralding the birth of an entirely new East Asia-inspired development paradigm, this emulation echoes the early years of post-colonial Kenya, when technologically optimistic planners such as Tom Mboya sought to guide the country along the path of modernization, deploying tools such as technocratic rule, rapid economic growth, and social engineering. The Kenyan case therefore demonstrates processes of policy emulation in Africa to be both more prevalent and more nuanced than is commonly assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Health professionals often undertake private work whilst also employed by government. Such dual practice (DP) is found in both high-income and lower- and middle-income countries (LMIC) around the world, with varying degrees of tolerance. This review focuses on DP in South and East Asia in the context of the rapidly expanding mixed health systems in this region. Although good data are lacking, health service uptake in South and East Asia is increasing, particularly in the private sector. Appropriately regulated, DP can improve health service access, the range of services offered and doctors’ satisfaction. By contrast, weakly regulated DP can negatively affect public health service access, quality, efficiency and equity, as doctors often pursue the balance of public and private work that maximizes their income and other benefits. The environment for regulation of DP is changing rapidly, with improved communications opportunities, increasing literacy and rising civil society, particularly in this region. Currently, the options for regulating DP include (1) those which restrict the opportunities for dual practitioners to prioritize income and other benefits over their responsibility to the public; these require a level of regulatory capacity often missing in LMIC governments; and (2) those which not only tolerate public-sector doctors’ private work but also encourage adequate health services for the general public. Growth of the private sector and weak regulation in South and East Asia increases the risk that dual practitioners will ignore the poor. Responsive and decentred regulation of doctors involving professional associations, civil society and other stakeholders is increasingly recommended. Moreover, as governments in LMIC strive for universal health coverage, market and financing opportunities for regulation of DP may arise, particularly involving insurers. This may also help to improve the current imbalance in the urban–rural distribution of doctors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origin of intraplate volcanoes in Northeast Asia is considered to be associated with upwelling of hot and wet asthenospheric materials in the big mantle wedge above the stagnant Pacific slab in the mantle transition zone. Among these intraplate volcanoes, Changbai is the largest and most active one, and very deep earthquakes (500–650 km depths) in the Pacific slab under East Asia occur ∼300 km to the east of the Changbai volcano. Integrating the findings of geophysical, geochemical and petrologic studies so far, we suggest a link between Changbai volcanism and the deep earthquakes in the Pacific slab. Many large shallow earthquakes occurred in the Pacific Plate in the outer-rise areas close to the oceanic trench, and sea water may enter down to a deep portion of the oceanic lithosphere through the active normal faults which generated the large outer-rise earthquakes. Sea water or fluids may be preserved in the active faults even after the Pacific Plate subducts into the mantle. Many large deep earthquakes are observed that took place in the subducting Pacific slab under the Japan Sea and the East Asian margin. At least some of the large deep earthquakes are caused by the reactivation of faults preserved in the subducting slab, and the fluids preserved in the faults within the slab may cause the observed non-double-couple components of the deep earthquake faulting. Fluids preserved in the slab may be released to the overlying mantle wedge through large deep earthquakes. Because large deep earthquakes occur frequently in the vicinity of the Changbai volcano, many more fluids could be supplied to this volcano than in other areas in Northeast Asia, making Changbai the largest and most active intraplate volcano in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expertise recognition is challenging in teamwork, particularly in intercultural collaboration. This research seeks to investigate how cultural differences in communication styles may affect expertise recognition and influence in face-to-face ( FtF) versus text-based computer-mediated communication ( CMC). Using experimental intercultural groups, we found that in FtF groups East Asian experts had a lower participation rate, and were perceived as less competent, less confident, and less influential than experts from Western culture. No such differences occurred in CMC. The results support mediated moderation effect of perceived confidence on expert influence such that changes in perceptions of Chinese and American experts' confidence accounted for their different levels of influence in CMC versus FtF. No such effect was found with participation rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East Asia and the Asia-Pacific are core components of the global economy, and there have been important recent developments in the regionalism of both regions. After the 1997-1998 financial crisis, East Asian countries initiated more exclusive regional cooperation and integration ventures mainly through ASEAN Plus Three, but lately this process has stumbled. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum has also failed to make substantial progress. Attention has instead increasingly turned to free trade agreements (FTAs), yet these have hitherto been overwhelmingly bilateral in nature. There are still only a few truly regional FTAs in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific-and these are on a sub-regional scale. However, various frustrations over the messy and fractious pattern of heterogeneous bilateral agreements led to the recent initiation of 'grand regional' FTA talks. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an Asia-Pacific-based, United States-led project while the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is an East Asia-centred project. Each contains highly diverse memberships and the successful conclusion of TPP and RCEP talks is not assured. It is argued that, if negotiated, the RCEP is more likely to advance meaningful and effective regionalism than the TPP due to the former ascribing more importance to regional community-building. Furthermore, bilateral FTAs already in force may over the long term transform into more comprehensive economic agreements that address new regional and global challenges such as energy security and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explain financial contagion between two stock markets with uncorrelated fundamentals using fluctuations in international investors' attention allocation. We also show that the degree of (non)anticipation of a crisis is crucial for the existence of contagion. Using daily data on stock market prices and news stories in the Financial Times, we find evidence supporting the attention reallocation mechanism of financial contagion: The higher the price volatility of the Asian market, the more absolute and relative attention allocated to the Asian market, and the more relative attention allocated to the Asian market, the higher the price volatility of Latin American markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay discusses early post-World War II Sino-Japanese relations. Focus is given to Japan's relationship with Chinese Nationalists (KMT), who would come to rule Taiwan following the rise of China's Communist government, based on the Japanese military's and civil society's reaction to defeat in World War II. Also examined is how such dramatic international relations changes in East Asia impacted Japanese and Taiwanese nationalism and national identity in the post-war era.

The article focuses on the power shift narrative in Sino-Japanese interaction regarding the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in 2010. It states that the notion showing the rising of China, the declining of Japan, and the power shift in East Asia is compatible with the epistemological core of constructivism. It also discusses bilateral relationship between China and Japan, Japanese policymaking, and sovereign competition on two parties.

Working as both lecturers and researchers within the theory and practice of international law, we are regularly confronted with materials and issues that raise the question of the relationship between this form of legal regulation and the political exercise of sovereign power. In turn, this persistent confrontation raises the question of which type (or types) of analytical perspective is most likely to illuminate how this relationship appears within the East Asian and other geopolitical contexts? For example, have we, as the German law professor Carl Schmitt suggested in the mid-20th century, been entering a new global order comprising multiple and co-existing regional hegemonic bodies, each possessing its own spheres of influence and located at an intermediary level between the United Nations and the traditional individual nation State? In this order of large political spaces, will China's growing status as a regional superpower, projecting its sovereign power and influence well beyond its own national borders, require legal recognition by a modified and realist form of international law and, if so, then in which particular ways? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An essay is presented on tributary system and interstate relations in pre-modern East Asia, particularly China. The author says that relocating the history of East Asia into a global context leads to deeper understanding of the modern international relations (IR) of China as well as the tributary system. The author mentions that an organic part of the world history is East Asian regional history.

Since the 1990s, Japan and the Republic of Korea have chosen dissimilar policy options with respect to the US-led missile defense (MD) systems in East Asia. What explains the two countries' dissimilar MD strategies? Inspired by neoclassical realism, this study introduces a framework of domestic hurdles that combines Randall Schweller's cohesion model and Jeffry Taliaferro's resource extraction model. It sheds light on the degree of elite cohesion and social and economic impediments as key causal determinants that impede balancing against external threats. Although the influence of systemic variables that suppose optimal policy options, such as balancing, domestic hurdles impede or delay such options. This study will provide useful contributions to international relations by offering comparative and theoretical analyses on different paths that Tokyo and Seoul have chosen for their MD policies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a study on legitimacy and authority in international relations of Japan and Korea under the early modern East Asian international system. It argues that different international systems entail different institutional norms and rules. It also discusses the role of the Tsushima clan in the Japan-Korea relations.

Information on dietary supplements, medications, and other xenobiotics in epidemiologic surveys is usually obtained from questionnaires and is subject to recall and reporting biases. The authors used metabolite data obtained from hydrogen-1 (or proton) nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) analysis of human urine specimens from the International Study of Macro-/Micro-Nutrients and Blood Pressure (INTERMAP Study) to validate self-reported analgesic use. Metabolic profiling of two 24-hour urine specimens per individual was carried out for 4,630 participants aged 40–59 years from 17 population samples in Japan, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States (data collection, 1996–1999). 1H NMR-detected acetaminophen and ibuprofen use was low (∼4%) among East Asian population samples and higher (>16%) in Western population samples. In a comparison of self-reported acetaminophen and ibuprofen use with 1H NMR-detected acetaminophen and ibuprofen metabolites among 496 participants from Chicago, Illinois, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, the overall rate of concordance was 81%–84%; the rate of underreporting was 15%–17%; and the rate of underdetection was approximately 1%. Comparison of self-reported unspecified analgesic use with 1H NMR-detected acetaminophen and ibuprofen metabolites among 2,660 Western INTERMAP participants revealed similar levels of concordance and underreporting. Screening for urinary metabolites of acetaminophen and ibuprofen improved the accuracy of exposure information. This approach has the potential to reduce recall bias and other biases in epidemiologic studies for a range of substances, including pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements, and foods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A number of commentators have claimed that the strategic relevance of extended nuclear deterrence is declining in the twenty-first century. This claim is based on three key arguments. First, that the positive effects of extended nuclear deterrence have been exaggerated by its proponents; second, that the rational actor logic underpinning extended nuclear deterrence is increasingly redundant; and third, that extended deterrence using conventional weapons is equally, if not more, effective as extended nuclear deterrence. This article applies these arguments to East Asia, a region where nuclear weapons continue to loom large in states' security equations. In applying each of the above arguments to the East Asian context, the analysis finds that not only is extended nuclear deterrence alive and kicking in the region, but also that in the coming decades it is likely to become more central to the strategic policies of the United States and its key allies, Japan and South Korea. Despite predictions of its demise, US extended nuclear deterrence remains a critical element in East Asia's security order and will remain so for the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anticipating future political transitions in East Asia, many scholars worry that Chinese democratization and Korean unification will fuel regional instability. To inform this debate, this article examines theories that make competing claims about the stability of these potential transitions: theories within the 'democratization and war' school and economic interdependence theory. I compare the predictions of these theories in the cases of previous East Asian transitions in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Process-tracing evidence shows that (i) xenophobic nationalism or logrolling by political coalitions were not present and that none of these countries pursued bellicose foreign policies during their democratic transitions. Evidence from these cases undermines the broad formulation of democratization and war theory and is consistent with a more recent, narrower version of this theory. Second, (ii) process tracing reveals the stabilizing processes of economic interdependence in all of these cases. Third and finally, contrary to prevailing views that warn of instability during future transitions, (iii) both the narrow version of democratization and war theory and economic interdependence theory forecast stability during the upcoming political transitions in China and Korea. These findings support foreign policy strategies of economic and institutional engagement toward China and the Korean peninsula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many temperate plant species, prolonged cold treatment, known as vernalization, is one of the most critical steps in the transition from the vegetative to the reproductive stage. In contrast to recent advances in understanding the molecular basis of vernalization in Arabidopsis non-vernalization mutants or the spring growth habits of cereal crops such as wheat and barley, natural variations in winter growth habits and their geographic distribution are poorly understood. We analyzed varietal variation and the geographic distribution of the degree of vernalization requirements in germplasms of domesticated barley and wild barley collections. We found a biased geographic distribution of vernalization requirements in domesticated barley: Western regions were strongly associated with a higher degree of spring growth habits, and the extreme winter growth habits were localized to Far Eastern regions including China, Korea and Japan. Both wild accessions and domesticated landraces, the regions of distribution of which overlapped each other, mainly belonged to the moderate class of winter growth habit. As a result of quantitative evaluations performed in this study, we provide evidence that the variation in the degree of winter growth habit in recombinant inbred lines was controlled by quantitative trait loci including three vernalization genes (VRN1, VRN2 and VRN3) that account for 37.9% of the variation in vernalization requirements, with unknown gene(s) explaining the remaining two-thirds of the variation. This evidence implied that the Far Eastern accessions might be a genetically differentiated group derived for an evolutionary reason, resulting in their greater tendency towards a winter growth habit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the determinants of public preferences for regional economic integration in East Asia. Despite the “wave of scholarly enthusiasm” in support of regional integration, the public demand side of the story has not been clearly elucidated. Focusing on the public preferences for regional economic integration, this article employs two theoretical approaches: the economic approach and the cultural approach. The results of empirical analysis using the 2006 Chicago Council on Global Affairs-East Asia Institute survey on public perceptions of international relations indicate that both the economic and cultural approaches help explain variations in public preferences for regional economic integration in East Asia. Korean citizens with a positive view of economic globalization or higher levels of cultural tolerance tend to support Northeast Asian economic integration. Furthermore, the results find that perceived security threats from Japan hinder the support for regional economic integration, whereas perceptions of increasing fair trade with China and anti-Americanism increase public support. These findings suggest that the factors driving public preferences for regional economic integration in East Asia are multifaceted and context-specific. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

East Asia has experienced a drastic decline in incidences of warfare and has had exceptionally low levels of battle deaths after 1979. However, East Asian peace had already begun in 1967 inside ASEAN. Is it possible that East Asian peace began in ASEAN and spread to the rest of East Asia? This is the question that this article aims to tackle by showing the association between a reasonable and plausible explanation, the ASEAN Way, and East Asian peace after 1979. The argument about the role of the ASEAN approach in the pacification of East Asia is based on an examination of the patterns of frequency of conflicts, numbers of battle deaths and conflict termination. In this kind of examination, it seems that the recipes for peace in East Asia after 1979 are similar to those of ASEAN after 1967, and that their relationship to conflicts was also very similar. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the mid-1990s, China has adopted various multilateral policies to shape a more favorable regional environment. The policy of integration, which accommodates both the United States and neighboring countries’ core interests, can succeed in achieving China's goals in regional multilateral cooperation. On the contrary, the policies of dominance, co-governance, and guidance have been suffering from frustration or failure because they threaten the core interests of either the United States or China's regional partners. The efficiency of China's multilateral policies is strongly shaped by two factors: the dominant United States wary of China's rapid rise and the substantial power gaps between the two states. In the coming decade, China may rise to the second rank in terms of economic capabilities, but the United States can still maintain its dominant position. So China will adhere to the policy of integration to maintain its favorable regional environment in East Asia. China's rising position and its integration policy will result in the continuation of competition in the regional cooperation mechanisms and the stability of the US regional alliance system in the decade to come. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the history of the Loochoo Naval Mission established by the Royal Navy of Great Britain in the mid-19th century on the Ryukyu Islands (later Okinawa) off the coast of Japan. The mission sent the first Protestant missionaries to modern Japan, and was meant to serve a variety of ends: to counter Catholic influence and to facilitate British evangelical, commercial, and colonial expansion in East Asia. The history of the mission is seen as a study in the relationship between Christian missionary activity and Western imperialism in East Asia.