Northern Wei (386–534): A New Form of Empire in East Asia : A Review

We have witnessed great success in the identification of new type 2 diabetes susceptibility loci through genome-wide association (GWA) analysis in the past 5 years. The number of loci robustly implicated in type 2 diabetes risk; that is, those that have attained a genome-wide significance level (P < 5 × 10−8) and also have been repeatedly validated in independent samples, has climbed from just three in 2006 to >50 today. As these GWA studies were carried out almost exclusively in European-descent populations, studies in non-European populations will allow us to assess the relevance of the findings to other ethnic groups. To address this point, a consortium-based GWA meta-analysis of type 2 diabetes was recently carried out in East Asians with a multistage study design (involving >25,000 cases and >29,000 controls in total)1; eight new loci were confirmed to significantly associate with type 2 diabetes. This large-scale GWA meta-analysis was principally carried out in the Asian Genetic Epidemiology Network (AGEN), in which our group participated together with investigators from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore and the USA. Before the AGEN GWA meta-analysis, GWA studies in East Asian populations already reported several type 2 diabetes loci (e.g. KCNQ1, UBE2E2 and C2CD4A-C2CD4B), which had not been identified in European-decent populations until then. However, in the course of such efforts made in East Asians, it has been widely recognized in European-decent populations that for common complex diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, a major part of susceptibility loci can individually exert modest genetic impacts; that is, ∼10–20% increased risk of developing the disease, and hence might not attain a genome-wide significance level unless a large number of individuals are analyzed in both the discovery and replication (or follow up) stages of GWA scans. In this line, it is reported that the number of discovered variants (or loci) is strongly correlated with experimental sample size in GWA studies of type 2 diabetes2. This might particularly hold true in the case that effect sizes (measured as an odds ratio [OR] in case–control studies) of undiscovered variants are almost equivalent to those of discovered ones. In addition to effect sizes, effect allele frequencies (of target variants) have a substantial influence on our chance of identifying significant associations in a given size of samples. When inconsistent results are observed between populations, we should carefully claim the presence of ‘population specific’ genetic association with type 2 diabetes, as discussed later. Because GWA studies interrogate a huge number of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers simultaneously, a stringent statistical threshold (P < 5 × 10−8) should be set in order to avoid false positives from multiple testing. Based on the simulations, such a high significance level of association could be detected in the discovery stage (stage 1) of AGEN GWA meta-analysis (involving 6952 cases and 11,865 controls) for loci with OR ≥ 1.20 assuming 80% power. Indeed, three previously-identified loci –CDKAL1, CDKN2A/2B and KCNQ1– did satisfy the threshold in the discovery stage (OR = 1.17–1.21). This indicates that effect sizes for undiscovered (or new) type 2 diabetes loci are likely to be rather modest (OR < 1.2) and that a larger number of samples (for cases and controls) are required to attain P < 5 × 10−8, and also to confirm the associations independently. Here, it has to be kept in mind that in the GWA scan, the actual genetic effect is typically smaller than its estimate based on the discovery stage data, whose results are affected by an ascertainment bias known as the ‘winner’s curse’3. Another issue to be considered in the overall GWA meta-analysis design is the cost and time of SNP genotyping in the replication stage(s). Although it costs a great deal for the initial GWA genotyping, look-up of target SNPs in the existing GWA-scanned datasets does not require additional cost. In contrast, de novo genotyping in independent samples requires additional cost and a great deal of time. Thus, a combination of the two approaches was taken in the replication/follow-up stages of AGEN GWA meta-analysis1. That is, modest association signals (3756 SNPs from 297 independent loci, showing P < 5 × 10−4 in the discovery panel) were followed up with a stage 2 in silico replication analysis (involving 5843 cases and 4574 controls) and then 19 SNPs showing the most compelling evidence for association (P < 10−5 in stages 1 + 2) were subjected to stage 3 de novo genotyping (involving up to 12,284 cases and 13,172 controls). A total of eight new loci were finally confirmed to show significant evidence of association in East Asians. The replicated associations for a limited number of candidate gene loci have broadly shown the tendency of interethnic similarity. Even though the common (or cosmopolitan) effect of type 2 diabetes susceptibility variants is known for several loci, the extent to which the causation of the disease differs or overlaps between populations remains unknown. With in silico replication analysis, just two of eight loci (25%) discovered in East Asian samples also showed nominally (P < 0.05) significant associations in European-descent populations. For the remaining six loci without reproducible evidence of association, minor allele frequencies were relatively high (0.14–0.46) in European-descent populations. This suggests that failure of replication is not simply a result of cross-population differences in risk allele frequency; that is, it is estimated that low allele-frequency leads to reduced power, even though effect sizes are similar4. By systematically comparing effect sizes (in OR) between East Asians and Europeans for a number of robustly-confirmed type 2 diabetes loci, we can recognize several points highlighted by the extensive GWA meta-analysis of East Asian samples (Figure 1). First, for all eight loci newly discovered in East Asians, effect sizes are modest (OR = 1.08–1.13). Second, approximately one-third (16 of 49 loci included in the plot) of the loci exert a certain level of effect size (OR > 1.1) in both ethnic groups. Here, one of the discovered loci, MAEA, can be categorized to this group, and its minor allele frequency is far less frequent in Europeans than in East Asians (3% vs 42%), similar to the situation for KCNQ14. Third, a number of type 2 diabetes loci that were originally identified in Europeans do not appear to show reproducible associations in East Asians. Roughly, the failure to replicate a nominally significant association between an index SNP and type 2 diabetes in a tested population does not necessarily indicate the absence of an association at the relevant locus. Factors to be considered include sample size, linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, and the potential impact of gene–gene and gene–environment interactions in the individual population. Despite such caveats, it seems to be helpful to know the extent to which type 2 diabetes associations are reproducible between populations. Correlation of effect sizes for type 2 diabetes risk between East Asians (x-axis) and Europeans (y-axis) at 49 single nucleotide polymorphism loci, for which the corresponding data are available in the East Asian genome-wide association (GWA) meta-analysis1. Only the effect size estimate, odds ratios (OR), but not 95% confidence interval, is shown in the figure for the purpose of readability. Symbols colored in red and blue are loci originally reported in GWA studies/meta-analysis (GWAS) of East Asians and Europeans, respectively. The gene names are shown for eight loci newly discovered in East Asian samples, as well as three others –TCF7L2, KCNQ1 and PRC1. AGEN, Asian Genetic Epidemiology Network. Together with the recently reported data on South Asian meta-analysis, which involves studies in India, Pakistan, the UK, Mauritius, Singapore and Sri Lanka5, an arbitrary picture of cross-population difference (or overlapping) can be shown in Figure 2, as for a total of 39 loci, which have been originally identified in European GWA studies/meta-analysis and then subjected to evaluation (i.e. replication) in populations of East and South Asian descent. Almost half of the loci (20 out of 39) are common across three ethnic groups – Europeans, East Asians and South Asians – and 18% of the loci do not show a nominally significant association in non-European populations. Again, this cannot exclude the possibility that the causal variants are not represented by the index SNPs because of cross-population differences in LD structure and/or the possibility that sample size is insufficient to attain statistical significance. Nevertheless, it is possible that some of the negative associations reflect true population-specificity. A schematic representation of cross-population difference (or overlapping) for a total of 39 type 2 diabetes-associated loci that have been originally identified in European genome-wide association studies/meta-analysis, and then subjected to evaluation in populations of East and South Asian descent. Here, an associated locus is assumed to overlap between the ethnic groups when P ≤ 0.05, showing a concordant direction of genetic effect in the population tested for replication. Among eight loci reaching genome-wide significance, the GLIS locus alone has previously been reported in the context of metabolic traits or related diseases. This gene encodes a Kruppel-like zinc finger transcription factor, which has been proposed as a key player in the regulation of pancreatic β-cell development and insulin gene expression. In accordance with such a biological function, SNPs in high LD with this locus have been implicated in association with type 1 diabetes and fasting plasma glucose levels. As the number of discovered loci has recently increased, substantial efforts have been made to show that the genes mapping close to type 2 diabetes loci are enriched for particular biological pathways (or processes), although they have thus far met with only limited success. Among the pathways, the most robust finding is related to cell-cycle regulation; this seems to be consistent with a model in which the regulation of pancreatic islet mass is a principal component of genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes, as is shown for GLIS above-mentioned. Despite the lack of clear physiological evidence on type 2 diabetes, these GWA findings can provide clues to the precise biological mechanisms underlying appreciable differences in the clinical presentation of type 2 diabetes between populations of European and non-European origin. Along with the GWA meta-analyses in individual populations, ‘transethnic’ meta-analysis is currently being carried out and will allow for a better chance to show novel susceptibility loci and pathophysiological pathways of type 2 diabetes, and might also facilitate the fine mapping of common causal variants by utilizing ethnic differences in LD structure.

Purpose – This paper aims to seek to find answers to three questions. First, is there any possibility of long-term cointegration between East and Southeast Asian equity markets? If so, how many cointegrating equations are there? Second, what are the short-term causal relationships between equity markets in East and Southeast Asia? Third, what is the East Asia’s most influential equity market toward their Southeast counterparts, and vice versa? Design/methodology/approach – This study uses Johansen's (1988) cointegration method to test long-run relationships among East and Southeast Asian equity markets. With regards to short-run causal relationships, this study uses Granger-causality test as well as the forecast variance decomposition method. Findings – Johansen test proves that there is cointegration between East and Southeast Asian equity markets, but the integration process is not complete. Cointegrating vector also provides evidence that member countries of ASEAN+3 respond differently to external shocks. With regards to short-run causal direction, this study finds that Japan Granger-causes all equity markets in Southeast Asia, while Singapore and Vietnam Granger-cause all equity markets in East Asia. These results imply that Japan is the market with most linkages in Southeast Asia, while Singapore and Vietnam are the markets with most linkages to East Asia. Furthermore, forecast variance decomposition reveals that Japan is the East Asia’s most influential equity markets, while Singapore is the most influential equity market in Southeast Asia. This study suggests that policymakers in East and Southeast Asian countries to synchronize the capital market standards and regulations as well as to reduce the barriers for capital mobility to spur the regional equity market integration. Research limitations/implications – Increasing integration of East and Southeast Asian capital markets forces policymakers in ASEAN+3 countries to synchronize monetary policies, as it has been found that regionally integrated capital markets reduce the degree of independent monetary policy (Logue et al., 1976). It is therefore important for policymakers in East and Southeast Asian countries to assess the possibility of stock market integration within this region to anticipate the future risks associated with economic integration as well as to build collective regional institutions (Wang, 2004). Click and Plummer (2005) also argued that integrated stock markets is more efficient than nationally segmented equity markets, and the efficiency of Asian capital markets has been questioned in particular after the 1997 Asian financial crises. Yet, the empirical evidence on the extent of financial integration among ASEAN+3 member countries has been limited and inconclusive. This study is therefore an attempt to investigate the recent development of ASEAN+3 equity markets integration. Practical implications – This study focuses its attention on the existence and the extent of financial integration in East and Southeast Asia region, and it provides evidence that equity market integration in ASEAN+3 is far from complete, and for that reason, there is a need for policymakers in ASEAN+3 member countries to synchronize their standards and regulations. Furthermore, the policymakers in East and Southeast Asia can gain benefit from this study, as it provides the evidence that ASEAN+3 member countries respond differently to policy shocks, which may hinder the development of regional financial integration as well as the policy effectiveness of region-wide authority in ASEAN+3. Originality/value – This research is different from previous studies, as it puts the regional financial integration within the context of ASEAN+3 frameworks. Unlike previous research that considers East and Southeast Asian countries as an individual entity, this research considers East and Southeast Asia into two different blocks, following Tourk (2004) who documented that negotiation process for ASEAN+3 financial integration is conducted in sub-regional level (ASEAN vs East Asia), rather than national level (country per country basis). Second, this study covers the period after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. As suggested in Wang (2014), that the degree of stock market integration tends to change around the periods marked by financial crises, the updated study on Asian financial integration in the aftermath of 1997 financial crises is important to document the development of regional financial integration.

Financial integration can improve the efficiency of capital allocation as well as help diversify risks. This study aims to find and analyze four cases. First, to find and analyze the long-term cointegration between East and Southeast Asian. Second, to find and analyze the short-term causal relationship between East and Southeast Asian equity market. Third, to find the most influential equity market from East Asian toward their Southeast Asian and the most influential equity market from Southeast Asian toward their East Asian. Last, to find the forecast structural analysis for five days horizon period of each country’s price, both East and Southeast Asia. This study uses Johansen’s cointegration method to test long-run relationships between East and Southeast Asian equity markets, Granger-causality, forecast variance decomposition method and forecast with VECM. This study uses daily indices prices collected from Refinitive covered from January 2002 to December 2019. Johansen’s test emphasize that there is a cointegration relationship between East Asian and Southeast Asian stock markets, but the integration process is incomplete. The cointegration vector also emphasize that ASEAN+3 members react differently to external shocks. This study found that the Japan Granger-cause will lead to all stock markets in Southeast Asia, while Singapore and Philippine Granger-cause will lead to all stock markets in East Asia. These results show that Japan is the market with the most connections in Southeast Asia, while Singapore and Philippine are the markets with the most connections in East Asia. Another point of this paper is to emphasize that Japan is the most influential stock market in East Asia, while Singapore is the most influential stock market in Southeast Asia. This study shows that policymakers in East and Southeast Asian countries should synchronize capital market standards, regulations and reduce barriers to capital flow to stimulate the integration of regional stock markets.

Systematic Review on Epidemiology of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Asia

Background: East and Southeast Asia face a severe drug epidemic. A detailed analysis of specific drug use disorders (DUDs) is urgently needed to inform targeted interventions. Objective: To quantify trends in the burden of four DUDs in East and Southeast Asia from 1990 to 2021. Methods: Using Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 data, we analyzed trends (1990–2021) in incidence, prevalence, and DALYs for four DUDs across 20 countries/territories. Estimated annual percentage changes and age-period-cohort models assessed trends and independent effects. Results: Significant disparities were observed. Amphetamine DALYs were higher in East Asia (41–79 per 100,000), while cocaine DALYs peaked in high-income Asia-Pacific (15–16 per 100,000). Amphetamine-related DALYs declined sharply in East Asia (net drift: −3.08%; 95% CI: −3.20 to −2.95, p < .001) but increased in Southeast Asia (0.16%; 0.11 to 0.22, p < .001). Cannabis-related DALYs rose in East Asia (0.27%; 0.2 to 0.35, p < .001). Cocaine-related DALYs fell markedly (−3.81%; −3.95 to −3.68, p < .001). Age effects peaked at 15–34 years. Conclusions: The patterns of drug prevalence and their changing trends in East Asia and Southeast Asia show regional characteristics. The proliferation of amphetamines is becoming increasingly severe in Southeast Asia, while in East Asia, although some success has been achieved in controlling other drugs, risks related to cannabis are continuously rising. Public health strategies must focus on subregional interventions, prioritizing the growing problem of amphetamines in Southeast Asia and the emerging trend of cannabis use among young people.

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk differs across Asian subgroups possibly due to differences in hypertension burden. We characterized lifetime blood pressure (BP) trajectories for East and South Asian individuals and compared their age-specific associations with lifetime CVD risk. Methods: Using UK Biobank primary care data, we identified 148,872 individuals with BP measurements since age 18 years. For each sex and self-identified ethnicity, life course BP trajectories were fitted as a function of age. We determined associations of time-averaged young adulthood (age 18-39), middle-age (age 40-64), and later-life (age ≥65) systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) with incident atherosclerotic CVD risk using sex and antihypertensive-adjusted logistic regression. Results: Of 148,872 UK adults (54% women), 376 (0.3%) identified as East Asian, 3077 (2.1%) as South Asian, 143,575 (96.4%) as White European, and 1844 (1.2%) as African or Black. The predicted SBP/DBP [95% CI] at age 30 years was 108 [103-114] / 68 [65-71] mmHg for East Asian and 114 [110-118] / 72 [71-73] mmHg for South Asian individuals. By age 40, South Asian individuals were projected to reach SBP of 130.0 mmHg, whereas East Asian individuals reached the equivalent SBP by age 49. Among South Asian individuals, each standard deviation increase in young adulthood SBP associated with a higher atherosclerotic CVD risk with an odds ratio (OR) [95% CI] of 1.41 [1.12-1.75] but not among East Asians ( P interaction =0.01). Midlife SBP associated with peripheral artery disease among South Asian individuals (OR [95% CI]: 2.08 [1.51-2.88]), and with ischemic stroke among East Asian individuals (3.84 [1.08-5.07]). Later-life SBP associated with myocardial infarction risk by 1.52 [1.15-1.92]-fold among South Asian and ischemic stroke by 2.50 [1.06-3.80]-fold among East Asian individuals. Conclusions: East and South Asian individuals exhibit distinct BP trajectories that age-differentially associate with incident CVD. Disaggregating Asian subgroups may inform tailored hypertension screening and management.

Asia, even excluding Malaysia, has the richest family and subfamily flora of angiosperms in the world, 478 of 755 total families and additional subfamilies recognized in my system of classification. Eastern and southeastern Asia are especially rich in conifers (6 of 7 families plus Agathis of the seventh family, Araucariaceae, in Malaya) and those angiospermous families and subfamilies retaining many primitive features, 27 of 41 families of Magnoliidae (Magnolianae, Nymphaeanae, and Rafflesianae) and Ranunculidae (Ranunculanae) (with 7 more families in Malesia and northeastern Australia that might have migrated from southeastern Asia since the junction of the Asiatic and Australian tectonic plates, possibly 15 million years before the present). Also represented in eastern and southeastern Asia are 9 of 9 families and additional subfamilies of Hamamelidales (Rosidae) and 26 of 32 families of Alismatidae (Triuridanae, Acoranae, Aranae, Alismatanae), and Liliales (Liliidae), which seem to be the least specialized monocots. The much studied close floristic relationships between eastern Asia and eastern North America were much stronger in Cretaceous and Tertiary time. Indeed, many of the archaic genera of seed plants now restricted to eastern Asia once were widely distributed in North America and other parts of the northern hemisphere. Hence, one can state that eastern and southeastern Asia are indeed a living museum of archaic vascular plants, but fossil evidence is presently inadequate to prove that the region is the major birthplace of the conifers and flowering plants. It is probable, however, that some of the gymnosperms and archaic angiosperms did evolve in eastern and southeastern Asia, and especially in the Sino-Japanese Region.

This chapter focused on implicit theories regarding political apologies. Political apologies differ from individual apologies in that they generally are concerned not only with wrongful acts but also with a distinct political quality of wrongful acts committed under the mantel of the nation. Participants from Western Europe, Russia and the Balkan Peninsula, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, East Asia, and the UK/Anglo regions gave qualitative responses regarding the effectiveness of one nation’s apology for reconciliation between two countries, as well as what actions would need to be taken to achieve true reconciliation. Overwhelmingly, participants across all regions – developed versus developing country, Eastern versus Western, or colonized versus colonizer – stated that an apology could help the reconciliation process in one way or another. Participants in South and Southeast Asia, Africa, East Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East offered frequent responses indicating an apology could lead to reconciliation, while Africa and the UK/Anglo regions indicated an apology could lead to healing. The most frequent responses from Russia and the Balkans, East Asia, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa said an apology was a necessary component of reconciliation. In regard to the steps that were needed to make an apology effective, a high proportion of response (84–97 %) indicated that reconciliation is achievable following an apology if certain steps are taken. For instance, participants from East Asia and Western Europe noted that the sincerity of the apology was most important. Africa and Russia and the Balkans had more responses indicating that recognition of wrongdoing was important, while the Middle East and Russia and the Balkans had frequent responses favoring a state sanctioned diplomatic response or treaty. Interestingly, Africa and South and Southeast Asia were most in favor of monetary aid as a step toward reconciliation, perhaps reflecting the more recent experiences of those countries with colonization, war/conflict, and widespread poverty.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most prevalent endocrine disorders among women of reproductive age. This study aims to assess the current burden of PCOS in East and Southeast Asia and analyze its spatiotemporal trends over the past three decades. Data on the prevalence, incidence, and years lived with disability (YLDs) due to PCOS from 1990 to 2021 were extracted from the GBD 2021. The spatiotemporal trends of PCOS were comprehensively analyzed across multiple levels. Age-Period-Cohort (APC) models were utilized to assess the influence of age, period, and birth cohort on the burden of PCOS, and the future burden of PCOS in the next 10 years was predicted using the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. In 2021, the estimated number of prevalent cases of PCOS was approximately 10,490,358.5 (95% UI: 7,423,407.5-14,808,757.1) in East Asia and 10,520,027.7 (95% UI: 7,378,813.9-14,809,823.5) in Southeast Asia. The age-standardized prevalence rates (ASPR) of PCOS in East and Southeast Asia were 1548.4 per 100,000 women (95% UI: 1085.5-2170.7) and 2842.7 per 100,000 women (95% UI, 1993.2-3997.5), respectively. Moreover, the ASPR of PCOS exhibited an upward trend from 1990 to 2021. The burden of PCOS varied substantially between countries and age groups, and was positively correlated with SDI levels. PCOS burden showed an increased trend with age, and the period and cohort risk also showed a significant upward trend when compared to the reference groups. Additionally, the burden of PCOS is expected to continue to increase in East Asia by 2031, while it remains stable in Southeast Asia. The increasing burden of PCOS has become a public health problem in the East and Southeast Asia region. The development of appropriate health measures and strategies to prevent and manage PCOS has become extremely urgent.

Lip and oral cavity cancer (LOC) is a major public health challenge in Asia. Nevertheless, a critical gap remains in understanding the epidemiological burden of LOC among young people (15-44 years) in the region. This study aims to analyze the burden and risk factors of LOC in this age group across the four Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Asian regions from 1990 to 2021 and projects trends to 2030. Data on the incidence, deaths, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and risk factors of LOC from 1990 to 2021 were obtained from the GBD 2021 study for East, South, Southeast Asia, and High-income Asia Pacific. This study assessed the LOC burden among young people (15-44 years) through age- and sex-stratified analyses, evaluated temporal trends via joinpoint regression, examined risk factor contributions, and projected trends to 2030 using the Nordpred age-period-cohort model. From 1990 to 2021, the age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) increased across all subregions, with the largest rise in East Asia. In contrast, age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) and age-standardized DALYs rate declined everywhere except South Asia. In 2021, South Asia bore the heaviest LOC burden among young people in the four Asian subregions. India reported the highest incident cases, deaths, and DALYs in 2021, and Pakistan had the highest ASR for all three metrics. Taiwan (Province of China) showed the largest increase in ASRs over the period. In 2021, smoking had the highest contribution in East Asia, alcohol use in High-income Asia Pacific, and chewing tobacco in South Asia. Projections to 2030 indicate rising ASIR in East, South, and Southeast Asia but declines in High-income Asia Pacific; decreasing ASMR everywhere except South Asia; and increasing age-standardized DALYs rate in East and South Asia but decreases elsewhere. LOC imposes a substantial and growing burden on young people in South, East, and Southeast Asia, marked by rising ASIR since 1990 and projected increases through 2030. South Asia faces the most urgent challenge with concurrent rises in incidence, mortality, and DALYs-most notably in the 20-24 age group. Region-specific interventions targeting predominant risk factors are critically needed.

Aerosol emissions from human activities are extensive and changing rapidly over Asia. Model simulations and satellite observations indicate a dipole pattern in aerosol emissions and loading between South Asia and East Asia, two of the most heavily polluted regions of the world. We examine the previously unexplored diverging trends in the existing dipole pattern of aerosols between East and South Asia using the high quality, two-decade long ground-based time series of observations of aerosol properties from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET), from satellites (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI)), and from model simulations (Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2). The data cover the period since 2001 for Kanpur (South Asia) and Beijing (East Asia), two locations taken as being broadly representative of the respective regions. Since 2010 a dipole in aerosol optical depth (AOD) is maintained, but the trend is reversed—the decrease in AOD over Beijing (East Asia) is rapid since 2010, being 17% less in current decade compared to first decade of twenty-first century, while the AOD over South Asia increased by 12% during the same period. Furthermore, we find that the aerosol composition is also changing over time. The single scattering albedo (SSA), a measure of aerosol’s absorption capacity and related to aerosol composition, is slightly higher over Beijing than Kanpur, and has increased from 0.91 in 2002 to 0.93 in 2017 over Beijing and from 0.89 to 0.92 during the same period over Kanpur, confirming that aerosols in this region have on an average become more scattering in nature. These changes have led to a notable decrease in aerosol-induced atmospheric heating rate (HR) over both regions between the two decades, decreasing considerably more over East Asia (− 31%) than over South Asia (− 9%). The annual mean HR is lower now, it is still large (≥ 0.6 K per day), which has significant climate implications. The seasonal trends in AOD, SSA and HR are more pronounced than their respective annual trends over both regions. The seasonal trends are caused mainly by the increase/decrease in anthropogenic aerosol emissions (sulfate, black carbon and organic carbon) while the natural aerosols (dust and sea salt) did not change significantly over South and East Asia during the last two decades. The MERRA-2 model is able to simulate the observed trends in AODs well but not the magnitude, while it also did not simulate the SSA values or trends well. These robust findings based on observations of key aerosol parameters and previously unrecognized diverging trends over South and East Asia need to be accounted for in current state-of-the-art climate models to ensure accurate quantification of the complex and evolving impact of aerosols on the regional climate over Asia.

Historical Asia was an interconnected system of “open” world orders. This is a crucial theoretical takeaway for International Relations (IR) theory from historical Asia. In other words, there has never been one single order covering all of Asia or any of its subregions. There were multiple, unevenly overlapping orders in historical Asia. This perspective, which is rooted in the global historical approach to IR, challenges the Eurocentric notion of the “containerized” version of Asian regional worlds and world orders that only came into meaningful contact with each other because of the early modern European expansion. At the same time, this global and historical perspective also challenges all essentialist views of the East Asian past that characterize that part of the world as living in splendid Sinocentric isolation for thousands of years until China and East Asia were “opened up” by the West. Two crucial periods and processes of Asian history show the deep and transformative impact of the entanglements between South Asia and East Asia for Asian world orders: the Indic-Buddhist impact on China in the 1st millennium (and into the early centuries of the 2nd millennium), and the role of India in the so-called opening up of China by the West in the 19th and 20th centuries. These processes provide two crucial insights. First, historical East Asia was not a China-centered system for 2,000 years. The Buddhist impact on China had a profound impact on both the Chinese worldview and the world order(s) that existed in (East) Asia. More specifically, the Buddhist interconnections across Asia demonstrate that the “international” (or the global) was larger than East Asia, and that China and its eastern neighbors knew that too. Second, and relatedly, pre-European East Asia was not a “closed” system. While the expansion of Europe may have “opened up” China and East Asia in the 19th century, this represented the “opening up” of that part of the world for the West, and not because East Asia lived in Sinocentric isolation from the rest of Asia. Furthermore, Indian resources played a fundamental role in that Sino-Western encounter, thereby demonstrating the interconnectedness of the world orders of South and East Asia. Asia and its subregions defy singular and all-encompassing orders, and Asian history points toward a plurality of open and overlapping orders. Notably, the emerging regional orders in Asia are also pointing toward such a configuration. Asia is not one, but Asia is not disconnected either.

Part 1: Introduction 1. Managing Across Diverse Cultures in East Asia: Introduction Malcolm Warner Part 2: Themes 2. East Asian Economy: An Overview Dilip X. Das 3. East Asian Culture: An Overview Mischo Minkov 4. East Asian Management: An Overview Keith Jackson Part 3: Societal Case-Studies 5. The Changing Nature of Management and Culture in China Shuming Zhao and Juan Du 6. The Changing Nature of Management and Culture in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Olivia Ip and Sek-Hong Ng 7. The Changing Nature of Management and Culture in Japan John Benson and Philippe Debroux 8. The Changing Nature of Management and Culture South Korea Chris Rowley Part 4: Issues and Challenges in East Asian Management 9. Gender and Management in East Asia Fang Lee Cooke 10. Continuity and Change in Guanxi Networks in East Asia Jane Nolan 11. East Asian Business Systems in Transition Michael A. Witt 12. SMEs in Selected Economies in East Asia Li Xue Cunningham 13. HRM Strategies, Informality and Re-regulation in East Asian Employment Relations Sarosh Kuruvilla and Sun-wook Chung 14. Management and Culture in East, South East and South Asia Shaista Khilji 15. Management Education and Training in East Asia: China, Japan and South Korea Malcolm Warner Part 5: The Future and Conclusions 16. The Future of East Asian Management Rosalie L. Tung 17. Managing Across Diverse Cultures in East Asia: Conclusions Malcolm Warner

Efficacy in Myopia Control: Does Race Matter?

This article reviews academic work on party systems—defined as the patterns of interactions between political parties—in East and Southeast Asia (hereafter “East Asia”). Before drawing a “map” of the relevant literature, it is important to acknowledge the political and cultural diversity of the region. Not only is East Asia characterized by a multiplicity of political systems, ranging from totalitarian regimes to consolidated democracies, but scholars are, in addition, faced with linguistic heterogeneity, which creates incentives to specialize in individual countries rather than theoretical themes. This diversity is clearly reflected in the study of party systems. First, party systems differ significantly between democratic and nondemocratic political systems. What is particularly striking is that parties in the democracies of East Asia are generally only weakly institutionalized. In contrast, regime parties in the region’s autocratic political systems tend to command effective and extensive organizations—a diagnosis that does not just apply to the surviving communist regimes, but also to the region’s “electoral authoritarian” regimes. Second, much of the scholarship on party systems in East Asia takes the form of single-country case studies. While rich in empirical detail, these studies rarely engage in theoretical debates on party systems and thus they do not attract much of a readership beyond regional studies experts. This annotated bibliography aims to address this issue. By organizing academic work on East Asian party systems into a theory-guided framework, the bibliography gives readers an overview of how existing studies may contribute to the general literature on party politics—even though these studies themselves may not make their contribution explicit. Specifically, the bibliography is structured along four key theoretical questions: (1) How can we account for differences in the development of party systems? (2) How do party systems affect the consolidation of (democratic and autocratic) political regimes? (3) How do party systems relate to the state? (4) What is the effect of party systems on the quality of governance? The bibliography covers different conceptual dimensions of party system development, including fragmentation (how many relevant parties are there?), party-voter linkages (how are political parties rooted in the electorate?), party system institutionalization (how stable are patterns of interparty competition?), and party institutionalization (how routinized are party internal processes?).