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For the authors of this introduction, home is not always or only sweet home. For us, it is constructed with contradictions, ruptures and anxieties. Indeed, the world never fails to present us with ‘real’ people with ‘real’ issues of home. After ‘rescuing’ the idea of home from its two assumed arch-enemies ‘mobility’ and ‘urbanization’, we will proceed to formulate our appeal to reconceptualize ‘home’ and explicate why and how to do so. We have cited instances from Hong Kong, Beijing and Asia at large, not only because the empirical core of this special issue is on Asia, but, more fundamentally, also because we want to take issue with the Eurocentric bias in the debates on home hitherto. We conclude by making a modest plea – or more accurately, to configure various trajectories of thinking on ‘home’ into a plea – to bracket home as (making) place, (not) belonging and (flexible) citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strong presence of migrant workers and the emergence of transnational mixed families from the region in Singapore and other Asian capital cities is one of the undercurrents of inter-Asia globalization. The term ‘inter-Asian globalization’ here refers to various forms and daily realities of transnational exchanges within the region, as Southeast Asian workers migrate following the flow of capital, meet other workers in the region, make families, and find and make their home. Contrasting the perspectives of middle-class mixed Filipino-Indonesian families of professionals residing in Singapore and returning female migrant domestic workers, this article reflects on the meaning of home, citizenship and sense of belonging in a time of heightened mobility. The article contends that, while Asian globalization creates the context for making ‘in-transit’ hybrid cultural homes, the migrant’s cosmopolitan experience still hinges precariously on their status, gender and class in the hierarchy created by capital, and the interests and politics of sending and host countries concerning citizenship, economic development and space-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The moisture history in arid central Asia (ACA) differs from that in the Asian monsoon region during the Holocene. Much less is known about causes of Holocene moisture changes in ACA than Asian monsoon precipitation changes, hampering our understanding of their spatiotemporal differences. In this study, orbital-scale evolution of winter rainfall in northwestern China (a part of the core zone in ACA) during the Holocene and possible driving mechanisms are investigated using results from a long-term transient simulation performed by an atmosphere–ocean–sea-ice coupled general circulation model, the Kiel Climate Model, forced by orbital variations. Our results reveal a persistent wetting trend in northwestern China in winter throughout the Holocene, which is in response to winter insolation at mid-northern latitudes. Winter insolation can influence the rainfall via three ways. First, increasing latitudinal gradient of the incoming solar insolation at mid-latitudes strengthens the westerly intensity. Second, the evaporation is enhanced because of insolation-induced winter temperature rising, resulting in an increase in the air humidity. Intensified westerly winds and the increased water vapour together are conductive to enhance moisture transport towards northwestern China and thus increase winter precipitation in this area. Third, the increasing trend of winter insolation weakens the East Asian winter monsoon, which is favourable for the formation of rainfall via crippling the Siberian High that is beneficial for atmospheric lifting motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores television landscapes in Asia two decades after the introduction of satellite television in the region. Exploring both past trends and emergent logics, it argues that whereas nation-states in Asia originally saw foreign, particularly Western, media flows as an existential threat to local culture and identity, and sought to limit them via a variety of gatekeeping mechanisms, the contemporary situation is very different. Indeed, television landscapes all over the continent are generally tilting toward greater openness and greater integration with the global television system, the discursive decline of the idea of media imperialism, and the rise of market-oriented media models, in many cases sponsored by states themselves, all over the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The renewed popularity of urban markets has generated substantial attention among policymakers, planners and urban scholars. In addition to their potential local economic impact, markets provide spaces for a variety of social exchanges and interactions that may strengthen communal ties, reproduce existing social tensions or simply reflect everyday diversity; consequently, the social functions of urban markets differ depending on the specific social, political and economic context in which individual markets operate. Based on data from interviews, questionnaires and participant observation, this article examines social exchanges and interactions within wet markets (meat, fish, fruits and vegetable markets) in Singapore. The types of social interactions found in wet markets are wide-ranging and informal, and occur across different ethnicities, generations, social statuses and classes; they can range from casual exchanges to planned gatherings to sustained relations based on mutual reciprocity and trust. Wet markets are significant to Singaporeans because they are spaces of unmediated social interactions and, within the context of state governance and ongoing modernisation, increasingly exceptional. The attachment to wet markets is a collective, social response to an ongoing process in which existing and meaningful social spaces (e.g. neighbourhoods and markets) are being erased by a redeveloped urban landscape, a concomitant disappearance of unregulated community space, and the pervasiveness of normative consumerism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In section I, I identify several mini-theses embedded in Amartya Sen’s theory of human rights – such theses as (1) that human rights are moral, not legal, rights, (2) that nevertheless they are not rights that are awaiting transformation into legal rights, (3) that an expansive doctrine of human rights can incorporate a broad swath of rights (civil, political, economic, social and cultural) without merely mimicking the catalogues in post-Second World War declarations and covenants, and (4) that not all the obligations generated by human rights are (in Kant’s language) ‘perfect’ obligations.In section II, I argue that, both because ‘freedom’ has many interpretations and because not all human freedoms, even when they are life-enhancing, are to be protected as human rights, the distinctive features of Sen’s version of a freedom-emphasizing doctrine would be clearer if the preferred interpretation of ‘freedom’ and the particular human freedoms to be protected were more explicitly identified.While Sen’s doctrine of human rights is a freedom-emphasizing doctrine, its distinctive features – vis-à-vis competing freedom-focused accounts – would be more clearly etched if it were made clearer what the sense is in which it stresses protection of important human freedoms, especially since he concedes that not all freedoms, even when they are life-enhancing for human beings, should be protected as human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In January 2012, the US administration released new strategic guidance for the Department of Defense entitled ‘Sustaining US Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense’. Two different security approaches seem to coincide in this document. By providing a governmental reading of the new strategic guidance, the aim of this article is to discuss if and how the guidance links a sovereign security understanding of great power politics on one side to governmental rationalities on the other. First, the guidance is discussed with regard to its main aims and strategies; then, second, the impact of governmentality in the guidance is revealed and systematized. Finally, the function that governmental logics have in the document, and the conceptual and political role that the minimally mediated encounter of sovereign (military) power politics with governmental rationalities plays, are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on a report from the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development on the promotion of social and economic equalities. It presents several regional perspectives including the recognition of social development activity in Africa, the formal regulation of social work in Asia Pacific countries including Australia, Japan and South Korea, and the apparent decline the quality of service under social work and welfare across Europe following the financial crisis in 2008-2009.

The article focuses on social work and development in the Asia-Pacific region as of 2014. It examines welfare outcomes in the region including the persistence of poverty in nations such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the political conflict and development deficit in the Middle East and parts of the Indian subcontinent and the increase in inequality in wealth and income across the region. Also mentioned are activities associated with the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development.

Social work is contextual yet increasingly internationalized. The development of Global Agenda in 2012 by the IASSW, ICSW and IFSW gave educators and practitioners an opportunity to reflect on challenges of social work education and the profession in their respective countries. The current article discusses the key factors that confront and influence social work education and practice in the Asian region. The article brings out deep-rooted perceptions amongst educators in the region. The authors endeavour to present select views of social work educators from South Asian countries and suggest possible steps to realize the four goals of Global Agenda in the context of those countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We examine the conceptions of science communication, especially in relation to “public engagement with science” (PES), evident in the literature and websites of science research funding bodies in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Oceania, and Africa. The analysis uses a fourfold classification of science communication to situate these conceptions: professional, deficit, consultative and deliberative. We find that all bodies engage in professional communication (within the research community); however, engagement with the broader community is variable. Deficit (information dissemination) models still prevail but there is evidence of movement towards more deliberative, participatory models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landfilling is the most common and cost-effective waste disposal method, and it is widely applied throughout the world. In developing countries in Asia there is currently a trend towards constructing sanitary landfills with gas recovery systems, not only as a solution to the waste problem and the associated local environmental pollution, but also to generate revenues through carbon markets and from the sale of electricity. This article presents a quantitative assessment of climate co-benefits from landfill gas (LFG) to energy projects, based on the case of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, Thailand. Life cycle assessment was used for estimating net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, considering the whole lifespan of the landfill. The assessment found that the total GHG mitigation of the Bangkok project would be 471,763 tonnes (t) of carbon dioxide (CO2)-equivalents (eq) over its 10-year LFG recovery period. This amount is equivalent to only 12% of the methane (CH4) generated over the whole lifespan of the landfill. An alternative scenario was devised to analyse possible improvement options for GHG mitigation through LFG-to-energy recovery projects. This scenario assumes that LFG recovery would commence in the second year of landfill operation and gas extraction continues throughout the 20-year peak production period. In this scenario, GHG mitigation potential amounted to 1,639,450 tCO2-eq during the 20-year project period, which is equivalent to 43% of the CH4 generated throughout the life cycle. The results indicate that with careful planning, there is a high potential for improving the efficiency of existing LFG recovery projects which would enhance climate co-benefits, as well as economic benefits. However, the study also shows that even improved gas recovery systems have fairly low recovery rates and, in consequence, that emissions of GHG from such landfills sites are still considerable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

New technologies offer new interactional possibilities for news journalism, but they also pose a challenge to broadcasters who are accustomed to the practices of ‘old’ television news. The web is one such arena where broadcasters are in the process of mastering a sense of sociability and ‘communicative ease’ in relation to audiences. They struggle to find ways to engage audiences in the roles of both viewers and users in line with the technological affordances of the web. Rather little attention has yet been paid to how the general sociability of broadcasting is influenced by the development of digital media. This article presents a case showing how broadcasters orient to their audience(s) in a so-called live news co-production on the web. The main point is to highlight both possibilities and dilemmas in the management of audience-oriented activities on a new technological platform with its different conditions for production and reception. We argue that broadcasters interested in producing web news both need to adhere to the professional principles and standards of ordinary broadcasting, and at the same time show that they are competent enough to also produce unpolished, layman-like material normally associated with unprofessionality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Through a case study of climate change mitigation measures in Delhi, India, the article explores the inadequacies of Asian city governments' climate change policies in general. After explaining the urbanization process in Asia, the author goes on to explore the impact of climate change on informal areas of Asian cities and, more specifically, Delhi. Other topics addressed include energy sustainability, rainwater harvesting, and waste collection in Delhi.

Australia was an active member of the Colombo Plan for aid to South and Southeast Asia, beginning in 1951 as a loosely organized umbrella of multiple bilateral aid agreements between Commonwealth countries and quickly expanding in geographical reach and membership. Towards the end of the 1950s, as members of this ‘plan’ geared up for a new wave of aid projects, they also attached new importance to information activities associated with aid. In this Australian case study, journalists were thrust to the fore of story-generation relating to Australia’s involvement in the Colombo Plan. These written stories, and also still and moving images, were aimed at both domestic Australian audiences and also overseas audiences. Thus began some of the first important steps in what today is called ‘public diplomacy’, and what, at the time, was a new experiment in foreign policy and reputation-making. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Condominium residents are reluctant to join the management committees (MCs) and contribute to the management of local public goods because of free-riding problems. In studying a sample of condominiums in Taipei, it is found that some degree of outsourcing to third party managers (TPMs) is necessary when the scale of local public goods increases. However, higher management fees paid to TPMs are not directly related to higher utilities derived by the residents in the use of local public goods. When self-selectivity in the outsourcing decision is controlled, the results show that the efficiency in the provision of local public goods increases with the effort levels of the MC members. The MC members who adopt a hands-off approach by fully delegating the management responsibilities to TPMs deliver lower pay-offs in the provision of public goods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses the early findings of a research project examining the role of lifestyle television in Asia. Life-advice programming in East Asia includes a range of ‘popular factual’ formats from cooking and health shows to makeover and consumer advice shows. A growing body of Anglo-American scholarship emphasizes the cultural importance of lifestyle programming, suggesting that the explosion of lifestyle formats at this particular cultural-historical moment connects to broader transformations in western neoliberal states, especially the rise of individualized, consumer-based models of identity and citizenship. Focusing on Singapore, China and Taiwan, this article offers a discussion of the potential of such arguments in these contexts, in light of our findings about the forms of life-advice programming prevalent in these three television industries. In particular, it explores the relevance (or not) of Anglo-American theories of neoliberal selfhood in these sites as read through the lens of lifestyle television. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

If a ‘migrant in the family’ is the prevalent pattern of care work in Mediterranean societies today, what are the emergent patterns in other familialistic societies, and what factors are driving or impeding them? We address these questions by examining the cases of Japan, Korea, Canada, and the US. Our analysis shows that while care work patterns in all these four countries resemble those of the Mediterranean countries in their increased use of migrant care workers, they also differ from the Mediterranean and among themselves, partly because of their varying conceptualizations of nationhood. We argue that concepts of nationhood are significant but not all-determining in efforts to reconcile care work and migration regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information is presented about a conference sponsored by the Special Libraries Association on cooperation among information professionals in Asia. Topics discussed include rural information services, digital libraries and archival preservation, information literacy, and global business trends. Speakers included information professionals such as Jack W. Plunkett, Krishan Lal, and Stephen Abram.

The article reflects on a study conducted to explore the therapeutic impact of including culturally and religiously adapted ceremonies within testimonial therapy with torture survivors. It discusses on the development of testimonial therapy, Asian healing practice and interception, embodied spirituality and healing. It suggests a need to study the potential benefit of including mindfulness, an embodied approach facilitating interception, and other spiritual practices into trauma treatment.

Why did the US prefer multilateral alliances in Europe, but bilateral alliances in Asia after World War II? Rationalists and constructivists debate the impact of power, institutions, and identities in explaining this highly contested question. We introduce a new argument embedded in prospect theory from political psychology — a prospect–threat alliance model — to account for the variation in US alliance strategy toward Europe and Asia after World War II. Through setting the threat level as a reference point for leaders’ prospects of gains or losses, we suggest: (1) high threats frame decision-makers in a domain of losses, and multilateral alliances become a favorable alliance choice because states are more likely to take the risk of constraining their freedom of action in return for more help from multiple allies as well as for avoiding further strategic losses; (2) low threats position leaders in a domain of gains, and bilateral alliances win out because states are risk-averse in terms of maintaining their freedom of action in seeking security through alliances with fewer allies. US alliance policy toward Asia after World War II is a within-case analysis that tests the validity of the prospect-threat alliance model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The similarities and differences between the experiences of prisoners of war and civilian internees of the Japanese have largely been overlooked by studies of Japanese-held prisoners. This article aims to provide this critical comparative perspective by examining the experiences of prisoners of war and civilians in four key theatres of the war in British Asia: Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and Borneo. It draws largely, however, on the intriguing case study of the Lintang Camp in Borneo (Sarawak) where prisoners of war were imprisoned alongside civilian internees during the war. It argues that there were overarching similarities and constraints to both sets of experiences, but key differences in Japanese wartime policies and a variety of other factors such as combatant status, class, rank, active agency, leadership, and gender also contributed to how captivity was experienced during this tumultuous period. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the existing 276 international river basins, the increase in water variability projected by most climate change scenarios may present serious challenges to riparian states. This research maps the institutional resilience to water variability in transboundary basins and combines it with both historic and projected variability regimes, with the objective of identifying areas at potential risk of future hydropolitical tension. To do so, it combs existing international treaties for sources of institutional resilience and considers the coefficient of variation of runoff as a measure of past and future water variability. The study finds significant gaps in both the number of people and area covered by institutional stipulations to deal with variability in South America and Asia. At present, high potential risk for hydropolitical tensions associated with water variability is identified in 24 transboundary basins and seems to be concentrated mainly in northern and sub-Saharan Africa. By 2050, areas at greatest potential risk are more spatially dispersed and can be found in 61 international basins, and some of the potentially large impacts of climate change are projected to occur away from those areas currently under scrutiny. Understanding when and where to target capacity-building in transboundary river basins for greater resilience to change is critical. This study represents a step toward facilitating these efforts and informing further qualitative and quantitative research into the relationship between climate change, hydrological variability regimes, and institutional capacity for accommodating variability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous sedimentological studies on peat sequences from the eastern Tibetan Plateau showed that there have been eolian dust inputs to the wetlands on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, thereby providing an opportunity to reconstruct the history of the Asian winter monsoon at a higher temporal resolution. Here the dust flux and the content of trace metallic elements (Ti, Ni, and V) in a peat sequence from the Hongyuan Swamp (32°46.7′N, 102°31.0′E) are used to reconstruct variations in the intensity of the Asian winter monsoon during the Holocene. This record, when compared with the summer monsoon proxy, can help elucidate the phase relationship between these two systems. Our proxy-based reconstructions show different patterns of changes in the Asian winter and summer monsoons before and after 5.5 cal. ka BP. Generally, the two monsoons varied reciprocally before 5.5 cal. ka BP; however, after 5.5 cal. ka BP, these two systems exhibit synchronous changes. Moreover, both the frequency and amplitude of the variations in these two monsoons are different before and after 5.5 cal. ka BP. The rate of changes in the solar insolation during the Holocene matches well with these monsoon records, implying that the mid-Holocene climate transition may have resulted from orbital forcing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We review the origins and dispersal of rice in Asia based on a data base of 443 archaeobotanical reports. Evidence is considered in terms of quality, and especially whether there are data indicating the mode of cultivation, in flooded (‘paddy’ or ‘wet’) or non-flooded (‘dry’) fields. At present it appears that early rice cultivation in the Yangtze region and southern China was based on wet, paddy-field systems from early on, before 4000 bc, whereas early rice in northern India and Thailand was predominantly dry rice at 2000 bc, with a transition to flooded rice documented for India at c. 1000 bc. On the basis of these data we have developed a GIS spatial model of the spread of rice and the growth of land area under paddy rice. This is then compared with a review of the spread of ungulate livestock (cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goat) throughout the Old World. After the initial dispersal through Europe and around the Mediterranean (7000–4000 bc), the major period of livestock expansion is after 3000 bc, into the Sub-Saharan savannas, through monsoonal India and into central China. Further expansion, to southern Africa and Southeast Asia dates mostly after 1000 bc. Based on these two data sets we provide a quantitative model of the land area under irrigated rice, and its likely methane output, through the mid to late Holocene, for comparison to a more preliminary estimate of the expansion of methane-producing livestock. Both data sets are congruent with an anthropogenic source of later Holocene methane after 3000 bc, although it may be that increase in methane input from livestock was most significant in the 3000–1000 bc period, whereas rice paddies become an increasingly significant source especially after 2000 bc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the effects of conflict onset on asset markets applying the event study methodology. The authors consider a sample of 101 internal and inter-state conflicts during the period 1974—2004 and find that a sizeable fraction of them has had a significant impact on stock market indices, exchange rates, oil and commodity prices. This fraction is inconsistent with pure chance, that is, with the selected probability of type-I errors in our tests of statistical significance. The results suggest that, on average, national stock markets are more likely to display positive than negative reactions to conflict onset. When the authors distinguish between internal and inter-state conflicts, they find that the fraction of significant results is higher for international conflicts. When the authors classify events according to the region where they occur, they find that Asia and the Middle East are the regions where conflicts tend to have the strongest effects. Finally, the article reports evidence that abnormal returns would have accrued to investors systematically exploiting conflict onset to implement conflict-driven strategies. Results are robust to selecting a subset of high-intensity conflicts and to expanding the time window over which conflict events are defined. The findings of the article confirm the economic importance of the effects of conflicts on asset markets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reviewing existing scholarship and drawing on our own experience of micro-level qualitative research on gender in countries in three regions of the Global South (Cambodia, the Philippines, Costa Rica and The Gambia), this article examines patterns of women's altruistic behaviour within poor family-based households. As a quality and practice labeled as 'feminine', the article illuminates the motives, dimensions and dynamics that characterise this apparently enduring female trait. It also makes some tentative suggestions as to how the links between women and altruism might be more systematically examined, problematized and addressed in development, and gender and development (GAD) analysis and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In developing strategies for increasing learner involvement, a key factor is the extent to which these strategies are compatible with learners' own expectations and preferences. In order to explore this factor, tertiary students in four Asian countries were asked (in an online survey designed on the basis of exploratory interviews) to give their conceptions of their ideal English lesson. Factor analysis revealed three main types of lesson that different groups of students preferred: the communication-oriented lesson, the form-oriented lesson and the control-oriented lesson. Students expressed preference for communication-oriented lessons in all countries except Japan and there were differences between countries in the degree and details of students' preferences. Overall, however, students expressed positive attitudes to a varied range of teaching strategies, giving encouragement to teachers who wish to renew their pedagogy in order to suit new individual and social needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws attention to the rise and the problematic of female individualization among young Korean, Japanese and Chinese women in the current context of transnational mobility and media consumption. The claim that education encourages work freedom, economic power and the enlargement of choice can be illusory for educated women in these countries, where gendered socio-economic and cultural conditions persist and continue to structure labour market outcomes and lifestyles. Despite the paradoxical outcomes and anxieties as to where women actually stand in a move towards individualization, multiple ways of imagining such a possibility are widely open in mediated cultural domains, with proliferating resources for the mobilization of self. The women's desire to move is constituted by the contradictory socioeconomic relations, as well as by the cultural-symbolic forms by which everyday life is lived out, re-thought and re-articulated in its intersection with the emergence of precarious individualized identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drivers of sustainable waste management are defined as groups of related factors that influence the development (or lack thereof) of industry. There has been no attempt to reasonably list the drivers that influence sustainable waste management in Asia. In this review, four groups of drivers of sustainable waste management, specifically of Asia, are explained. The four groups of drivers consist of three human elements (human, economic and institutional) and the environment as a single driving group. Typically, the first three groups have been very influential, with the environment driver, noticeably, only considered when preceded by other groups of drivers. The interconnectedness of the drivers and neglect of the environment driver is discussed. It is concluded that while the essence of the four groups of drivers can be found all over Asia, each driving group must be investigated in a local context and all information combined to devise sustainable waste management policies or strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, Kerry Ward responds to reviews of her book "Networks of Empire: Forced Migration in the Dutch East India Company." She discusses the historiography of European colonial studies and cross-cultural histories. The author explores how the academic field of history has changed since the 1980s as a result of improved communications and the rise of the world wide web. She considers the impact of European colonial administrations in Africa and Asia, as well as international trading companies, in forming colonial policies of trade, race, migration, and religion in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Copyright of International Journal of Music Education is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study proposes a simple risk analysis tool and evaluation level for the probable infection due to a contaminated drainage stack in residential high-rise buildings in some Asian cities which have equivalent drainage systems. The methodology would follow the conception of FMEA (Failure Mode Effects Analysis). In particular, key risk factors including connections between appliance and stack, the plumbing system, ventilation, equipment life and maintenance were surveyed and used to evaluate the overall risk associated in high-rise residential buildings with Monte Carlo simulations. With the proposed tool, regional risks of infection due to the building drainage systems were estimated, with respect to the city building age and height profiles. The results showed that a city with a high-rise environment would associate a higher spreading risk due to the drainage system. Practical applications: Following the outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in early 2003, the operational performance of drainage systems in high-rise residential buildings has become a major concern. The assessment system would be practical and sensible for evaluating the infection risk in building drainage systems for both existing buildings and new construction. The assessment tool may provide the government, designers and the occupants a source of reference to judge drainage system performance in either new construction or the existing building, so that improvements would be conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay that examines the role of sugar in the intra-Asian trade of the Dutch East India Co. in the 18th century in the south and west Asia is presented. It expounds on the trajectory of the company's trade and policy towards sugar on Java. It offers information on the performance of the two types of sugars traded in the 17th century.

It has been recognized that there is a need for a cross-country analysis that can be used to identify the factors that contribute to the problems of state incapacity in South and Southeast Asian nations. In taking up this challenge, we explore selected initiatives of new public management (NPM) in the region to analyse cross-country variations. For this purpose we have chosen four South and Southeast Asian countries, namely: Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. This article examines how the contextual factors. namely political history, party politics, macroeconomic considerations, state tradition, role of International Development Agencies (IDAs) and the state of civil society, influence the nature and the outcome NPM initiatives in these four countries. We argue that contextual factors played a determining role for which Singapore and Malaysia are relatively successful on their own terms compared to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which failed to achieve the expected benefits from NPM reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on recent liberal peace and Asian security research, this article assesses the relevance of prominent 'Kantian' hypotheses for understanding the international politics of Asia. While there is some evidence that the dynamics of war and peace are different in Asia than in other parts of the world, this does not mean that liberal theories are irrelevant. There is at best weak support for the pacific effects of democracy or international institutions in Asia. But liberal expectations, and those of some Asia analysts, about the importance of economic interdependence for reducing conflict in Asia are robustly confirmed. This result obtains even with a control for the simultaneous trade-dampening effect of conflict using structural equations. But the strong intra-Asian effect of trade interdependence does not translate into a robust pacific effect between Asian states and those outside the region. A more nuanced picture emerges: the democratic peace appears most relevant for interactions between Asian states and the rest of the world. The findings show that analysts can rely neither on beliefs that Asia is sui generis nor on purely realist models as guides to Asian security issues. Kantian and realist theories are both relevant. The results also indicate that some common assumptions of analysts, especially regarding the importance of alliances and institutions, are not in accord with the regularities of conflict and peace in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers new approaches to media industry development and the field of Asian media studies. It argues that new patterns of integration have emerged within the global media economy. The rise of East Asian ‘newcomers’ such as South Korea, Taiwan and the People's Republic of China has come about from a combination of institutional realignment and strategic (often state-assisted) responses to regional industrial growth. The article proposes a five-part framework of international exchange that encapsulates challenges confronting mid-level markets that are aspiring to target international content markets. The framework is also a critique of the US-centric approaches that argue that global integration effects are normatively disadvantageous to ‘peripheral’ industries and societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The web is important for academic communication and publishing on an international scale, but it is difficult to assess the extent to which globalization actually has occurred. This article examines the connectivity structure of links between university websites in 25 Asian and European countries as a case study of an inter-regional and intra-regional web phenomenon. The five most linked-to universities in each nation-state were selected and network analysis techniques were used. The results suggested that the UK (and to a lesser extent some other European countries) has a high impact on the formation of link- mediated academic networks in Asia and Europe. Universities' websites in Asia are more heavily connected to European universities than linked to each other. The overall findings were indicative of globalization rather than regionalism, but a better characterization might be globalization with regional imbalances and individual high performing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an insight into social work activities in the Asia-Pacific region. Eighteen member associations of "International Federation of Social Workers" are operating in the region. The region has high potential for social work. Fourteen countries of the region falls under the category of least developed countries in the world. Natural disasters, diseases, poverty and famine along with other social causes have opened wide field for social work in the region. Social activities are growing at different levels in the region. Different sectors of the region are working on various socio-economic projects. Several government and non-government organizations are active in social work field in the region. The article mentions that the welfare issues are different in different countries of the region therefore a complete economic and social well-being must be encouraged. It is suggested that citizens and private sectors of a country should be involved in social activities to provide a complete momentum to a social work process.

The article discusses the characteristics of trade unions in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Similarities and differences among the trade unions in those regions are viewed on the unions' density, employer recognition of the unions, and tendencies toward decentralization of collective bargaining. In Asia, big differences in the character and size of trade unionism is possible to identify because of the different level of economic development and political systems of the countries in the region.

Recent developments in East and Southeast Asian media markets provide an opportunity to revisit a common assumption about media globalization. A newly coined phrase - Korean wave - which refers to the popularity of Korean media culture across East and Southeast Asia, is a metaphor for thinking about this recent regional media development. Through an examination of the recent big leap of the Korean media industries, this article argues that the US dominance thesis regarding globalization is not entirely justified. Although popular entertainment forms such as film and television are a Western invention, Koreans have provided their own twists to these media by blending indigenous characteristics and adding their unique flourishes in often innovative ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article is about factory regimes and more particularly about changes in factory regimes in East Asia. Its point of departure is Burawoy's early and highly influential contribution to the understanding of factory regimes (Burawoy, 1985), which has very often been associated with the idea of 'hegemonic despotism' and increased attempts by management at ideological control. The article seeks to go beyond this particular interpretation. Theoretically, it seeks to make explicit and in one case expand elements in Burawoy's original works by distinguishing three aspects of labour regimes; labor control, material support and contract. It then considers three factories in China, Taiwan and South Korea in the light of this reformulation and, by paying due regard to issues related to material support and contract, and not only to control, it advances the claim that some of the most significant changes that are occurring amount in each case to the dismantling of established labour - that is, labour that is generally permanent and relatively privileged not only with respect to wages but usually also other forms of material support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asia is fragmented linguistically and culturally, and most of the region does not share a common language of scholarship, apart from English. But scholars in Asia need to transcend the many limitations of publishing work only within their own countries, in local languages. For the sociology of religion in Asia, the challenge is to participate in the international discourse of the discipline, which is to say the top sociological journals. The major English-language sociology of religion (SR) journals are "Social Compass," "Sociology of Religion," and "Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion." It is evident from this comparison that English-language SR journals devote relatively little space to articles on East, Southeast, or South Asia, or in other words, to about half of the population of the planet. The lack of material on Asia in SR journals does indicate, roughly, the state of competence: knowledge within the discipline about religion in Asian contexts is weak and often superficial.

We have compiled 36 previously published palaeoclimate records to determine the timing and spatial pattern of century-scale abrupt changes in Asian monsoon precipitation since the last deglaciation. We identify abrupt events from (1) the interpretations of the authors of these records and (2) the more objective moving t-test calculation. Our results indicate that abrupt climatic changes occurred at ~11.5 cal. ka, ~4.5–5.0 cal. ka and AD 1300. At the start of the Holocene (~11.5 cal. ka), Asian monsoon precipitation increased dramatically. This climatic change is synchronous with an abrupt warming in the North Atlantic. During the middle Holocene, there was a time of preferred and widespread weakening in monsoon strength (~4.5–5.0 cal. ka). This result contradicts previous notions of either a gradual trend towards drier conditions or a series of abrupt events that occurred in an unorganized fashion across space and time. The middle-Holocene abrupt event could have been synchronous with an abrupt cooling event in the North Atlantic, as well as a warming and intensification of internannual variability in the tropical Pacific. In contrast to previous periods, precipitation changes at AD 1300 have a heterogeneous spatial pattern. We find no conclusive evidence for a change in the Asian monsoon at ~8.2 cal. ka, as suggested by several previous studies. More high-resolution data may be needed to observe this short-lived event. Overall, our results attest to the potential for rapid and major shifts in Asian monsoon precipitation that may be triggered by variations in other components of the climatic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 4000 media workers in South Korea have lost their jobs since the advent of the Asian financial crisis in late 1997. A number of newspapers and television stations have experienced unprecedented downsizing and restructuration. As a matter of fact, the whole media industry has gone through a process of profound transformation. This article attempts to document the difficulties of the Korean media and newsworkers as they experience the unexpected economic crisis. It presents observations about some notable changes in the practice of news making, describing, for example, whether newsroom organizations have changed and if journalistic independence has been weakened. The article also discusses some fundamental implications of these changes for Korean journalism and its future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major ion series developed from new subannual scale sampling of an ice core from central Greenland are calibrated with instrumental series of atmospheric sea-level pressure recording major marine (Icelandic Low) and terrestrial (Siberian High) atmospheric circulation systems to provide proxy records of atmospheric circulation over the past 1400 years. Examination of the proxy records reveals: major changes in behaviour of these systems c. AD 1400, multidecadal- and centennial-scale periodic components, characterization of mean sea-level pressure anomaly fields during the 'Little Ice Age' and the 'Mediaeval Warm Period', the potential role of solar forcing, coupled ocean-atmosphere associations, and a perspective within which the characteristics of instrumental-era climate can be assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the establishment of a British Military Administration (BMA) led by Vice-Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten after Japan surrendered Malaya and Singapore in August 1945. Proclamation to reimpose British rule; Revival of interest in the attempted European 'recolonization' of Southeast Asia after the Japanese surrender; Political contest between Mountbatten and Major-General Herbert Ralph Hone.

A survey of suicide in the four nations in the Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) and among emigrants from those nations in other nations revealed little that was culturally invariant in these groups. The suicide rates and sex ratio varied greatly between the different groups. There was a trend for young females and elderly males to have relatively higher suicide rates, and poisoning (followed by hanging) was the most popular method for suicide. Suggestions are made for future research on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has long been assumed among Western commentators that rapid economic growth in East and South-east Asia has been achieved without the development of social policies. It has often been inferred that growth without social welfare is not only possible, but beneficial to further strong economic growth. The article questions these perceptions and beliefs. First, to what extent did East and South-east Asian countries delay the introduction of social insurance schemes compared to European pioneering countries, in the sense of introducing them only at a much higher level of 'modernization'? Second, to what extent was the economic miracle achieved by some of these countries based on (or accompanied by) attempts to forestall or retrench welfare state schemes? Third, to what extent has the recent financial crisis led to attempts at lowering or changing standards of social protection? The study shows that the Asian countries generally introduced social security programmes at a lower level of 'modernization' than Western European countries; that rapid and strong economic growth in the decade 1985-95 has in general been accompanied by welfare expansion; and that even after the financial crisis of 1997, expansion of state welfare responsibility is more evident than efforts to reduce or dismantle state welfare responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]