Asia Oceania Research Articles

Determining the loss of mining sector tax revenue: Evidence from Mongolia

In recent years, due to significant tax revenue losses, transfer pricing has become an issue of concern for tax authorities, policymakers, and academics. In this study, the authors aim to analyze transfer pricing and its impact on fiscal revenue in the case of Mongolia, a developing country with a mining-dominated economy. In our research, we used the arm's length principle to determine transfer pricing and estimate the loss of corporate income tax due to transferring pricing; moreover, we compared the operating profit margin of Mongolia’s mining companies with the Far East and Central Asia Oceania countries. We found that Mongolia has lost about 44.4 billion MNT in corporate income tax revenue from the mining sector over the past seven years, estimated by adjusting the total operating revenue by an average of 10.5% for coal companies and 16.4% for copper companies. This result shows that mining companies are avoiding taxes by mispricing, which negatively affects the budget revenue in Mongolia. This research will contribute to the implementation of the common principles of transfer pricing and reduce tax evasion in Mongolia and similar countries with a mining-dominated economy.

Does the Financial and Innovation Performance of European and Asian–Oceanian Companies Coincide with the Targets of the Green Deal?

The Paris Agreement, signed in 2015 and put into effect in 2016, led to the European Green Deal. It envisages ensuring climate neutrality by 2050. To achieve this, solutions to the climate challenge have to be implemented globally. This research aims to evaluate interactions among corporate financial, innovation, and environmental performance indicators in European and Asian–Oceanian companies. Financial performance refers to the financial capacity and financial resources of companies that enable the creation of more sustainable innovations. More sustainable innovation could contribute to limiting global warming to 1.5 °C. Science indicates that global greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut down by 43% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels, to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. According to our results, it is possible to compare which region, Europe or Asia, moved towards climate neutrality in the analyzed period of 2008–2019. By determining their starting positions, we seek to disclose how companies can contribute to climate change reduction. The results reveal that for both analyzed regions, financial and innovation indicators have an important impact on environmental performance. We found that the ROA ratio and R&D expenditures are significantly linked to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as an indicator of environmental performance. The interaction between ROA and CO2 emissions was identified as being stronger in Asia–Oceania. The relationship between R&D expenditures and CO2 emissions was more robust in Europe. Therefore, Europe is participating in the race towards sustainable goals by increasing R&D expenditures to stimulate green economy development. In the race to achieve the Green Deal’s long-term 2050 targets, companies will have to combine their strategic decisions, while business survival requires profitability, meaning that the race towards climate neutrality goals will hardly be possible without corporate R&D expenditures.

The Asian Thyroid Working Group, from 2017 to 2023.

The Asian Thyroid Working Group was founded in 2017 at the 12th Asia Oceania Thyroid Association (AOTA) Congress in Busan, Korea. This group activity aims to characterize Asian thyroid nodule practice and establish strict diagnostic criteria for thyroid carcinomas, a reporting system for thyroid fine needle aspiration cytology without the aid of gene panel tests, and new clinical guidelines appropriate to conservative Asian thyroid nodule practice based on scientific evidence obtained from Asian patient cohorts. Asian thyroid nodule practice is usually designed for patient-centered clinical practice, which is based on the Hippocratic Oath, "First do not harm patients," and an oriental filial piety "Do not harm one's own body because it is a precious gift from parents," which is remote from defensive medical practice in the West where physicians, including pathologists, suffer from severe malpractice climate. Furthermore, Asian practice emphasizes the importance of resource management in navigating the overdiagnosis of low-risk thyroid carcinomas. This article summarizes the Asian Thyroid Working Group activities in the past 7 years, from 2017 to 2023, highlighting the diversity of thyroid nodule practice between Asia and the West and the background reasons why Asian clinicians and pathologists modified Western systems significantly.

11th Asia Oceania Human Proteome Organization Congress Report

As the first in-person Asia-Oceania Human Proteomics Organization (AOHUPO) congress since 2018, the 11th AOHUPO congress was an opportune time for the research community to reconnect, and to renew friendships after the long period of restricted travel due to the global pandemic. Moreover, this congress was a great opportunity for the many AO regional proteomics and mass spectrometry scientists to meet in Singapore to exchange ideas and to present their latest findings. Co-hosted by the Singapore Society for Mass Spectrometry (SSMS) and the Malaysian Proteomics Society (MAPS), and held in conjunction with the 7th Asia-Oceania Agricultural Proteomics Organisation (AOAPO) Congress and SSMS 2023, the meeting featured both human and agricultural proteomics. Over five hundred scientists from the AO region converged on the MAX Atria @ Singapore EXPO, Changi, Singapore from May 8-10 for the main congress. The diverse program was made up of 64 invited speakers and panellists for 7 plenary lectures, 27 concurrent symposia, pre- and post-congress workshops, and 174 poster presentations. The AOHUPO society were able to celebrate not only their 20th anniversary, but also the outstanding academic research from biological and agricultural proteomics and related 'omics fields being conducted across the Asia-Oceania region.

Indoor Radon Research in the Asia-Pacific Region

Indoor radon is a major hazard to human health; it is one of the leading causes of lung cancer. Therefore, radon research in Asia has intensified recently due to the growing awareness of the harm that radon poses. An analysis of the collected literature data showed that in Asia–Oceania, some regions have—or are believed to have—little indoor radon problems due to climate and low Rn ground. It can be concluded that countries have their own approaches, techniques, and protocols. Data were not harmonized within each region; however, measurement techniques were compared by regional intercomparison exercises. The situation differs regarding studies on the usability of radon as a tracer or potential predictor of tectonic phenomena, as some countries are in seismically active zones, such as India, Taiwan, China, Japan, etc. India and Taiwan are global leaders in this research, as well as Italy, which is another seismically affected country. We provide an overview of radon-related surveying and research activities conducted in the western, southern, and eastern Asian regions over the past few years. Additionally, we observed that the number of indoor radon measurements per million inhabitants increases as the human development index (HDI) increases.

Integrated psychological care services within seizure settings: Key components and implementation factors among example services in four ILAE regions: A report by the ILAE Psychiatry Commission.

Mental health comorbidities are prevalent and problematic in patients with seizures but often suboptimally managed. To address common gaps in care, the Integrated Mental Health Care Pathways Task Force of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Psychiatry Commission was tasked with providing education and guidance on the integration of mental health management (e.g., screening, referral, treatment) into routine seizure care. This report aims to describe a variety of established services in this area, with a specific focus on psychological care models. Services were identified by members of the ILAE Psychiatry Commission and authors of psychological intervention trials in epilepsy. A total of eight services met inclusion criteria and agreed to be showcased. They include three pediatric and five adult services located across four distinct ILAE regions (Europe, North America, Africa, Asia Oceania). The report describes the core operations, known outcomes, and implementation factors (i.e., barriers and facilitators) of these services. The report concludes with a set of practical tips for building successful psychological care services within seizure settings, including the importance of having local champions, clearly defining the scope of the service, and establishing sustainable funding models. The breadth of exemplars demonstrates how models tailored to the local environment and resources can be implemented. This report is an initial step to disseminate information regarding integrated mental health care within seizure care settings. Future work is needed to systematically examine both psychological and pharmacological care models and to further establish the evidence base in this area, especially around clinical impact, and cost-effectiveness.

Universal health coverage mitigated COVID-19 health-related consequences in Asia Oceania

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a continual challenge since 2020, and it continues to impact people and industries as a disaster caused by a biological hazard. This study examined universal health coverage (UHC) scores in relation to the performance in combating COVID-19 in the Southeast Asian region (SEAR) and the Western Pacific region (WPR), along with the State Party Self-Assessment Annual Reporting (SPAR) index under the international health regulations (IHC). The numbers of infections and deaths per million population from December 2019 to June 2022 were used as primary outcomes to measure countries’ performance. Countries with UHC scores of 63 or higher had a significantly lower number of infected patients and deaths. In addition, several inter-capacity correlations within the SPAR capacities, including with C8 (the National Health Emergency Framework), as well as a very strong correlation to C4 (Food Safety), C5 (Laboratory), and C7 (Human Resources). Furthermore, C9 (Health Service Provisions) has a very strong correlation to C1 (Legislation and Financing), C2 (International Health Regulation Coordination and a National IHR Focal Point function), and C4 (Food Safety), suggesting that the capability to manage an emerging infectious disease form blocks of capacities. In conclusion, UHC clearly mitigated the health-related consequences of COVID-19 in South-East Asia Region (SEAR) and Western Pacific Region (WPR). Investigating the correlation between the SPAR capacities and UHC is a promising approach for future research, including the importance of the provision of health services, points of entry, and, most importantly, risk communications as critical factors for managing pandemic.This study constitutes a good opportunity to apply the SPAR index to define which capacities correlate with the outcome of the pandemic in terms of infections and deaths.

The Risk Contagion between Chinese and Mature Stock Markets: Evidence from a Markov-Switching Mixed-Clayton Copula Model

Exploring the risk spillover between Chinese and mature stock markets is a promising topic. In this study, we propose a Markov-switching mixed-Clayton (Ms-M-Clayton) copula model that combines a state transition mechanism with a weighted mixed-Clayton copula. It is applied to investigate the dynamic risk dependence between Chinese and mature stock markets in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Oceania regions. Additionally, the conditional value at risk (CoVaR) is applied to analyze the risk spillovers between these markets. The empirical results demonstrate that there is mainly a time-varying but stable positive risk dependence structure between Chinese and mature stock markets, where the upside and downside risk correlations are asymmetric. Moreover, the risk contagion primarily spills over from mature stock markets to the Chinese stock market, and the downside effect is stronger. Finally, the risk contagion from Asia-Oceania to China is weaker than that from Europe and the Americas. The study provides insights into the risk association between emerging markets, represented by China, and mature stock markets in major regions. It is significant for investors and risk managers, enabling them to avoid investment risks and prevent risk contagion.

Status of cancer treatment by radiotherapy and requirement of radiation oncology medical physicists in Asia Oceania federation of organizations for medical physics region.

Cancer is a major health problem worldwide including Asian-Pacific region. The region hosts over 4.5 billion people, over 60% of the world population and very divergent socioeconomically. The major cancers in the region in male include lung, stomach, liver, colorectal and esophagus and in female breast, lung, cervix, colorectal, and stomach. Over 60% of cancer patients need radiotherapy alone or in combination with surgery and/or chemotherapy, and therefore, radiotherapy is the main and essential modality of cancer treatment. Radiation oncology medical physicists play a pivotal role in efficient implementation of radiotherapy. This study was aimed to assess the status of cancer treatment by radiotherapy and the requirement of radiation oncology medical physicists in the region. To access the status and requirement of radiotherapy machines, availability of radiation oncology physicists in the region of Asia Oceania Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics (AFOMP), we have carried out a survey by sending questioners to AFOMP National Medical Physics Organizations (NMO). We received response from 21 countries, 100% response, regarding availability of teletherapy units, number of medical physicists working in radiotherapy and related information. Using GLOBOCAN cancer incidence data and considering 62.5% of cancer patients need radiotherapy treatment and up to 500 cancer patients can be treated in a year on one teletherapy machine, the gap between the available and required teletherapy machine to treat all the cancer patients requiring radiotherapy is estimated. Further, we estimated the gap between radiotherapy medical physicists available and required as per International Atomic Energy Agency and European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology guidelines. It was observed that availability of teletherapy machines in AFOMP region is 0.21-14.0 teletherapy machine/million population and radiotherapy medical physicist are 0.82-2.43/teletherapy unit.

The Incidence of Positive Visual Inspection of Acetic Acid in Dr Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital Followed by Liquid Based Cytology, HPV testing and Colposcopy: A Cross Sectional Study

Introduction : Cervical cancer is most common cancer in women in Asia Oceania and worldwide. VIA(Visual Inspection after Acetic acid) is being used as an alternative in low- and middle-income countries due to the minimal equipment required. Data from recent systematic reviews and multicentre trials show that VIA to be moderately sensitive for precancerous lesions, as compared with Pap testing. This study aim to determine the incidence of positive VIA, LBC, HPV DNA testing and colposcopy findings obtained from positive VIA cases in Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Data was collected from cervical cancer screening by VIA examination at Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, Jakarta, Indonesia in 2017. Age, VIA results were recorded. The results showed abnormal and predictive cancer lesions (acetowhite lesion) were defined as a “positive test.” The positive VIA result followed by LBC, HPV DNA testing, and Colposcopy. Only 25 performed LBC and HPV DNA test, and 30 of the VIA positive were performed Colposcopy. Results: A total of 1.960 subjects were recruited for this study. The mean age of the subjects was 34.5 years, and 908 (46 %) subjects belong to the 30-40 years age group. Negative VIA result were found in 1893 subjects (96,58%) and 67 subjects (3,42%) had positive results. From 25 VIA positive subject whose gone through LBC and HPV test, 9 subjects (36%) had abnormal LBC, 3 subjects (12%) had positive HPV DNA test. From 30 positive VIA whose got colposcopy examination 17 subjects (56,6 %) had abnormal colposcopy.Conclusions: The number of VIA screening participants in RSCM, Jakarta, Indonesia with positive VIA results is low. Further studies regarding the validation of VIA are required to evaluate its diagnostic value.

The small world of global marine crude oil trade based on crude oil tanker flows

Global marine crude oil trade is a direct reflection of global economic trends. This study uses the real-world historical ship automatic identification system (AIS) data from 2014 to 2017 to explore the flows of crude oil tanker trade between ports and construct a port-node global crude oil trade model. An analysis framework of “AIS data -> crude oil tanker trade flows -> port-node crude oil trade network -> port-node crude oil trade backbone network” is proposed to realize the progressive analysis of global marine crude oil trade. The global port-node crude oil trade network is a small world, in which there are multiple small world port-node trade communities. Compared with the community structure of the global port-node crude oil trade in previous years, the Middle East–Southern Africa–South Asia–Oceania–Asia Pacific community and the Southern Africa–China community have more activities in port nodes and trade links in 2017, which reflects that the Asia-Pacific region, especially East Asian countries, is making efforts to expand the Oceania and African markets and increase the diversity of crude oil import sources to ensure the security of crude oil supply and demand.

Effects of trade openness on renewable energy consumption in OECD countries: New insights from panel smooth transition regression modelling

This paper investigates the effects of trade openness on renewable energy consumption in 35 OECD countries for the period between 1999 and 2018. A panel smooth transition regression model is built. Imports, exports, and total trade are used as proxy variables of trade openness. To reduce the error of omitted variables, a control variable pool is constructed, consisting of foreign direct investment, access to electricity, international remittances, GDP per capita, domestic inflation rate, and carbon emissions. The empirical results demonstrate the existence of a strongly nonlinear relationship between trade openness and renewable energy consumption. In terms of imports, three structural breakpoints are identified: 33.732, 40.945, and 76.395. When the imports reach 40.945% of the GDP, their effect on renewable energy consumption will switch from promoting to inhibiting. Both exports and total trade have one structural breakpoint and can constantly promote renewable energy consumption. The analyses on the temporal and spatial variations of the effects show that imports, exports, and total trade all positively impacts renewable energy consumption between 1999 and 2018. Their effects first follow a downward trend, which later change to an upward trend. Imports, exports, and total trade exert the least impact on renewable energy consumption of OECD Asia Oceania. Regarding specific countries, exports and total trade most strongly impact the renewable energy consumption in Mexico and exert the least impact on the renewable energy consumption of the United States.

Container Shipment Demand Forecasting in the Australian Shipping Industry: A Case Study of Asia–Oceania Trade Lane

Demand forecasting has a pivotal role in making informed business decisions by predicting future sales using historical data. Traditionally, demand forecasting has been widely used in the management of production, staffing and warehousing for sales and marketing data. However, the use of demand forecasting has little been studied in the container shipping industry. Improved visibility into the demand for container shipments has been a long-held objective of industry stakeholders. This paper addresses the shortcomings of both short-term and long-term shipment demand forecasting for the Australian container shipping industry. In this study, we compare three forecasting models, namely, the seasonal auto-regressive integrated moving average (SARIMA), Holt–Winters’ seasonal method and Facebook’s Prophet, to find the best fitting model for short-term and long-term import demand forecasting in the Australian shipping industry. Demand data from three years, i.e., 2016–2018, is used for the Asia–Oceania trade lane. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), root mean squared error (RMSE) and 2-fold walk-forward cross-validation are used for the model evaluation. The experiment results observed from the selected metrics suggest that Prophet outperforms the other models in its comparison for container shipment demand forecasting.

The global trends and regional differences in incidence and mortality of hepatitis A from 1990 to 2019 and implications for its prevention

Background and purposeDespite decades of improved sanitation and hygiene measures and vaccine introduction, hepatitis A has been spread through numerous outbreaks globally. We used data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study to quantify hepatitis A burden at the global, regional and national levels.MethodsAnnual incident cases, deaths, age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs), and age-standardized mortality rates (ASMRs) of hepatitis A between 1990 and 2019 were derived from the GBD study 2019. Percentage changes of cases and deaths, and estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs) of ASIRs and ASMRs were calculated to quantify their temporal trends.ResultsGlobal hepatitis A incident cases increased by 13.90% from 139.54 million in 1990 to 158.94 million in 2019. ASIR of hepatitis A remained stable (EAPC = 0.00, 95% CI −0.01 to 0.01), whereas ASMR decreased (EAPC = −4.63, 95% CI −4.94 to −4.32) between 1990 and 2019. ASIR increased in low (EAPC = 0.09, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.14) and low-middle (EAPC = 0.04, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.06) socio-demographic index (SDI) regions. For GBD regions, the most significant increases of ASIR were detected in high-income Asia Pacific (EAPC = 0.53, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.66), Oceania (EAPC = 0.31, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.36), and Australasia (EAPC = 0.28, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.44). EAPC of ASIR was positively associated with SDI value in countries and territories with SDI value ≥ 0.7 (ρ = −0.310, p < 0.001).ConclusionThere is an unfavorable trend that hepatitis A is still pending in hyperendemic regions and is emerging in low endemic regions. These highlight the need of targeted and specific strategies to eliminate hepatitis A, such as sanitation measures and a comprehensive plan for surveillance and vaccination against hepatitis A.

PL5. Training and education in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia Oceania chapters, IFCN: An international survey

The chapters of the IFCN, Asia Oceania (AOC), Europe Middle East and Africa, (EMEAC), Latin America (LAC), and North America (NAC), have cooperated to undertake, for the first time, a survey of training and education practice in their national societies. The results have been pooled so that data on aspects of our practice may now be compared and contrasted. The survey looked at the status of clinical neurophysiology, (mono- or subspecialty) within countries, training duration, numbers of cases seen independently for competence, examination methods, the presence of a national curriculum and who controls it, how competency was examined, and accreditation. It also considered training for technicians, clinical practice including waits and methods of funding, revalidation and, lastly, concerns within our specialty. Clinical Neurophysiology remains a monospecialty in 16 out of 59 countries. Training durations vary between 1 and 5 years, with most lasting 2–3 years in the LAC and AOC, whilst in the EMAEC there is a fairly even spread of durations between the 1 to 5 years. An exit exam is present in 50% EMEAC societies, 75% of AOC and in 3 out for 12 LAC ones. The numbers of EMG and EEG tests performed necessary for competence were <250 to >750. In the EMEAC, half the societies required over 500 EMG and EEG tests, whilst the AOC required fewer. Technicians were usually trained for 2–4 years. Within the EMEAC there is no formal requirement for continuing education or for revalidation in 64%. In the AOC, continuing medical education is required in 11 out of 12 countries, but revalidation needed only in 4. The main concerns were over workload in EMEAC and in the provision of training in AOC. Work has also been taking place in a draft curriculum. The utility of these initiatives remains to be determined, but at least, for the first time, some comparative data on training and education around the world is being assembled.

Introduction to the Special Issue on the 8th Asia–Oceania Mass Spectrometry Conference (AOMSC 2020)

Introduction to the Special Issue on the 8th Asia–Oceania Mass Spectrometry Conference (AOMSC 2020)

8th Asia–Oceania Mass Spectrometry Conference (AOMSC)

8^th Asia–Oceania Mass Spectrometry Conference (AOMSC)

Medical physicists in radiology – present status in AFOMP region

The wide use of ionization radiation in healthcare and increasing high radiation procedures like computed tomography [CT] and interventional radiology [IR] procedures have raised serious safety and health concerns for both patients and health professionals necessitating establishment of a radiation protection culture. Responsibilities for radiation protection in the imaging team lies on the radiologists, radiation technologists and medical physicists. However the role of the medical physicist [MP] in radiology imaging is not as well established as it is in radiation oncology. In radiation oncology, clinical medical physicists are mandatory by law but many radiology departments currently operate without MP, though international standards and requirements mandates the role of the MP in radiation protection in radiology. The Asia Oceania Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics [AFOMP] has 19 National Member Organizations [NMO] as members and 2 NMO’s as affiliate members from Asia–Pacific region covering about 4.5 billion population with majority of countries are less-developed countries with lack of appropriate infrastructure and funding, lack of regulations regarding requirement of MPand, awareness of radiation protection. We have carried out survey by sending a questionnaire to AFOMP member countries to get the information about number of MP in radiotherapy, radiology and related details. We have received response from 21 countries, the data collected is analyzed and found that 16/21 counties have MP in radiology and number of MP vary from 0.94% to 69.9% as compared 21/21 countries having MP in radiotherapy varies from 16.7% to 94.4%.

Early-warning signals of risk contagion among global stock markets: evidence from community-level

ABSTRACT In this article, we first identify the community-level structure of risk contagion among global stock markets and then provide the follow-up early-warning signals. The findings underscore the geographic nature of risk communities and their market composition heterogeneity. The core structure of risk contagion among global stock markets can be characterized by the relationship among a small number of communities that are highly coincided with geographic regions of Asia–Oceania, Europe and the Americas. Especially, we observe a more prominent role of emerging markets in communities of the Americas and Asia–Oceania. Moreover, our early-warning signals show that risk contagion within the European community and the outward spillovers to others are more pronounced. Risk spillovers from the community of Asia–Oceania to the Americas cannot be ignored either. The empirical findings may help develop the concept of top-down hierarchical real-time risk management. Risk contagion of markets in Europe and Asia–Oceania should also be attached more importance in the future early-warning system.

Visibility Anomaly of GNSS Satellite and Support from Regional Systems

In a multi-GNSS (global navigation satellite system) environment with operational GPS, GLONASS and Galileo Satellites, the Asia–Oceania region is expected to get better benefits of a large number of GNSS satellites for use. However, it is witnessed that during some parts of the day, no GNSS satellite is present above 60° elevation angle from many parts of the earth, including India. Real-time data from India show the regular absence of usable GPS satellites above 60° elevation angles during some parts of the day; addition of GLONASS and Galileo satellites does not improve the situation much. From Burdwan, West Bengal, India at least twice a day, no GNSS satellite is found above 60° elevation angles for more than 30 min. Simulation study for scattered places of India and data from IGS Centres confirm similar observations, except for the extreme northern region. The global scenario also supports these observations, while the individual operator’s country is free from the problem using their own navigational system. The consequences of the problem affect GNSS-based solutions; for locations with obstruction of GNSS signals from low elevation angles, the concurrent occurrence of this incidence poses a threat for seamless GNSS-based navigation through intermittent loss of solution and degraded solution quality. Regional navigation satellite systems (RNSS) help mitigate this problem within the respective service regions. For a large part of the globe, the problem may be allayed using GNSS–RNSS hybrid operation. The result would be important for location-specific GNSS mission planning in strategic, life and safety-critical applications.