Asian Research Research Articles

Mapping octocoral (Anthozoa: Octocorallia) research in Asia, with particular reference to the Indian subcontinent: trends, challenges, and opportunities

Octocorallia (Cnidaria, Anthozoa) comprising over 3,600 nominal species within three orders, Alcyonacea, Helioporacea and Pennatulacea, is one of the most poorly known groups of marine invertebrates. Half of known octocoral species occur in the Indo-Pacific, but not much is understood about research efforts and outputs in this region, particularly in the Asian context. A review of the literature on Asian octocorals during a 40-year period from 1978 to 2018 revealed that most research was concentrated in particular regions/countries. An analysis of research originating from India indicated several issues, including low quality data and local taxonomic impediment. This paper examines the general trends and geographic disparity in Asian octocoral research over the past four decades, analyses the extent and source of such disparity by drawing parallels between India and the rest of Asia, and provides recommendations for improving octocoral studies in the region. 

Experiences from Southeast Asia on nursing education, practice, mobility and influencing policy.

In this report from the field, we describe the challenges and opportunities for nursing practice and education, and ways to improve nurse mobility across Asia. We also explain the collaboration within the Southeast and East Asian Nursing Education and Research Network to influence policy development and review. The collaborative process was supported by evidence drawn from discussions at Network meetings, and with nursing and other leaders, an examination of literature and policy documents, and member surveys. We reviewed the region's regulatory statutes which all support diversity in the nursing workforce. The Southeast Asian Nursing Education and Research Network was established in 2015 to support policy development around the upgrading of nurse education, clinical competencies and research capacity, in hospital and primary health care; and facilitating the movement of nurses across national boundaries. Most countries have tried to address policy gaps and their efforts to implement changes are seen in policy expansion and development at the national level. We focus on two policies from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations from 2006 and 2012, that cover nurse mobility, information exchange, nurse capacity building and education and mutual professional recognition of nurses' credentials. However, we found significant variances in education, regulatory policies and clinical competencies that have restricted, and continue to restrict policy implementation. Nursing in South-East Asia has made significant progress in upgrading standards for education by increasing bachelor degree bridging programs, master and doctoral degrees. Participating countries have passed legislation on licensure, competencies and credentialing of internationally qualified nurses wishing to practice in various contexts. However, much work remains to be done. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING POLICY, EDUCATION AND PRACTICE: Governing bodies determine entry into practice law which requires dialogue to enhance policies for domestic and international practitioners for mutual exchange and recognition. Nursing practice and education are under government regulatory bodies but require new policies and laws to ensure adequate educational requirements for safe quality practice.

Service Research in Asia: Research Paradigm and Productivity

This article traces the journey of service research by analyzing the articles contributed by researchers from Asia based on research productivity and research paradigm. The research analyzes top service journals from 2009 to 2016. The findings suggest high productivity of researchers from Taiwan. Survey research is widely used followed by mathematical modeling, lab experiments, interviews, conceptual modeling, theoretical modeling, and case study. Most researched topics observed such as customer satisfaction and relationship, service quality and performance, service marketing, service delivery, and service operations. The study provides valuable insights and highlights the contributions of Asian researchers to the field.

Special Section on Asian Research

Special Section on Asian Research

Дарьгангын лаавын тавцан дахь Шилийн Богд галт уулын геоморфологийн хэлбэр

The Cenozoic volcanism, which has been active in the territory of Mongolia since the beginning of the last century, has attracted the attention of Central Asian researchers. The purpose of this study is to analyze the geological research materials of the previous study and to determine the morphological origin and morphology of Shiliin Bogd volcano as the key representative of Cenozoic volcanism. In general, due to the lava flow of basic composition, several types of geomorphological forms have been identified, and the identification of the type of dominant distribution is associated with a relation with origin problem that has not been encountered in our country before, and because of the current importance, the selection of the Shiliin Bogd volcano in Dariganga Plateau becomes important. The morphometric analyses were performed in-field measurements and previous studies, also highlighted the faults in satellite and other images using the morpho-structure method in order to depict the geomorphology of the Shiliin Bogd volcano. By comparing the results of the morphometric analysis, the Shiliin Bogd volcano morphological type was determined and a schematic diagram of the volcano's origin was developed. A large lava flow of fundamental composition flowed along to the large faults that stretched from the northeast to the southwest of the Shiliin Bogd volcano, which resulted in the current morphological forms of Shiliin Bogd and other volcanoes. The lava flow had a flow rate of less than 50% SiO2, which led to the creation of a Lava Plato. The morphological formations of lava cones, which are semicircular and basal in composition, with the average slope of the Shiliin Bogd volcano crater in 410, depth 63 meters and crater average diameter 302 meters, have been compared with morphology of other volcanoes by morphometric analysis. Based on the researchers' research data, the age of the trap of Shiliin Bogd volcano can be traced to the late Quaternary age, possibly to the Holocene age. Further details of the age of the basalt rock need to be precise.

대만의 아시아예술사 연구 - 국립고궁박물원의 예를 통해 -

대만의 아시아예술사 연구 - 국립고궁박물원의 예를 통해 -

The knowledge, ability, and skills of primary health care providers in SEANERN countries: a multi-national cross-sectional study

BackgroundPrimary health care (PHC) is usually the initial point of contact for individuals seeking to access health care and providers of PHC play a crucial role in the healthcare model. However, few studies have assessed the knowledge, ability, and skills (capacity) of PHC providers in delivering care. This study aimed to identify the capacity of PHC providers in countries of the Southeast and East Asian Nursing Education and Research Network (SEANERN).MethodsA multi-national cross-sectional survey was performed among SEANERN countries. A 1–5 Likert scale was used to measure eight components of knowledge, ability, and skill of PHC providers. Descriptive statistics were employed, and radar charts were used to depict the levels of the three dimensions (knowledge, skill and ability) and eight components.ResultsTotally, 606 valid questionnaires from PHC providers were returned from seven countries of SEANERN (China, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia), with a responsive rate of 97.6% (606/621). For the three dimensions the ranges of total mean scores were distributed as follows: knowledge dimension: 2.78~3.11; skill dimension: 2.66~3.16; ability dimension: 2.67~3.06. Furthermore, radar charts revealed that the transition of PHC provider’s knowledge into skill and from skill into ability decreased gradually. Their competencies in four areas, including safe water and sanitation, nutritional promotion, endemic diseases prevention, and essential provision of drugs, were especially low.ConclusionsThe general capacity perceived by PHC providers themselves seems relatively low and imbalanced. To address the problem, SEANERN, through the collaboration of the members, can facilitate the appropriate education and training of PHC providers by developing feasible, practical and culturally appropriate training plans.

The US policy of “Rebalance” and China’s counter-tactics

In 2011, National Bureau of Asian Research at the US Department of State was “absolutely panicked” that Beijing would understand that American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were drawing down so sought to describe this more positively, and initially they put forward the term “the turn to Asia”. In the article “America’s Pacific Century”, which appeared in the November 2011 issue of Foreign Policy, Hillary Clinton used the concept of “Pivot” instead of “Turn”, its content included the statements and deployments towards Asia - Pacific, becoming one of the highlights of the Barack Obama government’s security and foreign policy. This policy achieved initial successful deployments, especially when President Obama announced an agreement for 2,500 US Marines based in Darwin (Australia), and he became the first America President attending the East Asia Summit (in Bali), the “Pivot” became seemingly unknown after those successes. If the US can turn to Asia, it can turn away in the future. Washington needs something long-term and “Pivot” has become “Rebalance” within six months.

THE SPATIO-TEMPORAL VARIATIONS OF WIND SPEED DURING HARMATTAN SEASON IN NORTHEASTERN NIGERIA

Wind speed is the principal climatic element that drives the Marmaton season in West African sub region. It drives the season by conveying huge amount of dust across the Northeastern Nigeria. The presence of dust in the atmosphere brought by the Northeast trade winds during the Harmattan season plays a vital role in absorbing and scattering solar radiation. The study examines the spatial and temporal variations of wind speed in Northeastern Nigeria during the Harmattan season with the sole aim of ascertaining its variability, patterns and trends from1984 to 2014. Descriptive and statistics such as mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and time series analysis with ArcGIS 10.3 was used in examine the temporal and spatial variations of wind speed from 1984–2014 in six synoptic stations of Northeastern Nigeria. The findings show that wind speed varied both temporally and spatially in the last three decades. The pattern of variations in the six synoptic stations shows rising trends within the study years. It was also found that latitude playing a crucial role in determining the speed of the wind in the study area and as the speed of the wind increases with increasing latitude.
 Keywords: Wind speed, Harmattan, Season, Northeast, Variation and ITD.
 References
 Adaramola,M.S.andOyewola,O. M. (2011). Wind Speed Distribution and Characteristics in Nigeria. Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences.ISSN 1819-6608.www.arpnjournals.com 
 Amadi, S. O., Udo, S. O. and Ewona, I. O. (2014). Trends in Monthly Mean Minimum and Maximum Temperature Data over Nigeria for the Period 1950-2012. International Research Journal of Pure and Applied Physics, 2(4), 1-27.
 Ayoade, J.O. (2004). Introduction to Climatology for the Tropics.2nd ed. Spectrum Books Limitted, Spectrum House Ring Road Ibadan, Nigeria.
 Balarabe, M., Abdallah, K., and Nawawi, M. (2015). Long- Term Trend and Seasonal Variability of Horizontal Visibility in Nigerian Troposphere.Journal of Atmosphere 6:1462-1486; doi:10.3390/atmos6101462.
 Dahuwa, D., Promise, K. U., Umar, W., Bello, I. and Mohammed, R. (2018). Analysis of Wind Speed And Frequency InAzare North eastern Part of Nigeria. IOSR Journal of Applied Physics (IOSR-JAP) e-ISSN: 2278-4861.Volume 10, Issue 1 Ver. I. PP 09-17 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/4861-1001010917 www.iosrjournals.org
 Danlami, D., Gwari, M., Suleiman, S., and Bara, A. (2018). Temporal and Spatial variations of Groung Surface visibility during Harmattan Season in North-Eastern Nigeria.Ceylon Journal Science, 47(4), 337 – 346. DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/cjs.v47i4.7551.
 Danlami, D. (2017). Spatio-Temporal Variations of Harmattan Season in Northeastern Nigeria.M.Sc. Dissertation (Not published) Submitted to the Department of Geography, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria.
 De Longueville, F., Hountondji, Y. C., Henry, S. and Ozer, P. (2010). What do we Know about the Effects of Desert Dust on Air Quality and Human Health in West Africa compared to other regions? Journal: Science of Total Environment
 Fagbenle, R.L., Fasade, A.O., Amuludun A.K. andLala,P.O.( 1980). Wind power potentials of Nigeria. 12th Biennial conference of the West African Science Association, University of Ife, Nigeria.
 Getis, A., Getis, J., Bjelland, M. and Fellmann, J.D. (2011).Introduction to Geography. 13thed. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, NY10020.
 Karabulut, M., Demirci, A. and Kora, F. (2012). Analysis of spatially distributed annual, seasonal and monthly temperatures in Istanbul from 1975 to 2006.World Applied Sciences Journal, 12(10), 1662-1675
 Ojosu, J.O. and Salawu, R.I. (1990).An evaluation of wind energy potential as a power generation source in Nigeria.Solar & Wind Technology.ELSEVIER.Volume 7, Issue 6, 1990, Pages 663-673
 Schwanghart, W. and Schutt, B. (2007). Meteorological causes of Harmattan dust in West Africa. Journal of Science Direct Geomorphology.
 Shuman, M. (2007) Evaluation of five GIS basedInterpolation techniques for estimating the Radonconcentration for unmeasured zip codes in thestate of Ohio, Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering, University of Toledo, 28-29 Pp.
 Waewsak, J., Chancham, C., Landry, M. and Gagnon, Y (2011).An Analysis of Wind Speed Distribution at Thasala, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.Journal of Sustainable Energy & Environment 2 pp 51-55
 Willmott, C., Robeson, S. and Philpot, W. (1985). Small- scale climate maps: A sensitivity analysisof some common assumptions associated withgrid-point interpolation and contouring. American Cartographer 12(1):5-16.
 Copyright (c) 2019 Geosfera Indonesia Journal and Department of Geography Education, University of Jember
 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share A like 4.0 International License

Expanding the Depth and Breadth of Asian Communication Research

Expanding the Depth and Breadth of Asian Communication Research

Influence of the Afghan drug traffic on the system of regional security of Central Asia

Nowadays one of the topical issues the international community faces is illegal traffic in drugs. Transportation of drugs becomes the reason of growth of organized crime, corruption, violence, threatens safety of the states and has an impact on development of the international community. The research of a problem of the Afghan drug traffic is relevant as it constitutes danger not only on a national level, but also at the regional and international levels, promotes distribution of terrorism, extremism and religious radicalism. In this regard, in article prerequisites of the Afghan drug traffic, the level of their distribution in the states of Central Asia and the factors influencing it are analyzed, the degree of threat to the Afghan drug traffic is defined on regional security. On the basis of consideration of prerequisites of the Afghan drug production the reasons of transformation of the state into the center of a narcoturn,a branch of drug traffic in the certain countries of the region and their influence on a social and economiccondition of neighboring countries are analyzed. Authors carried out the statistical analysis of acondition of drug traffic in the region on the basis of historical, comparative, causal and retrospectivemethods of a research. Also authors note importance of holding actions of the regional organizations forfight against the Afghan drug traffic. During the research this problem in the system of regional securityis comprehensively considered, works of national, Russian, Central Asian and western researchers areused. Special attention is paid to the factors influencing the reasons of transformation of the Afghan drugtraffic into a problem of the regional level, the effectiveness of joint actions of the countries of the regionin permission of this problem is noted.Key words: drug traffic, Afghan factor, regional security, regional policy, regional organizations.

A3 foresight network on natural products.

Discovery and development of natural products (NPs) have played important roles in the fields of human medicine and other biotechnology fields for the past several decades. Recent genome-mining approaches for the isolation of novel and cryptic NP biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) have led to the growing interest in NP research communities including Asian NP researchers from China, Japan, and Korea. Recently, a three-nation government-sponsored program named 'A3 Foresight Network on Chemical and Synthetic Biology of NPs' has been launched with a goal of establishing an Asian hub for NP research-&-personnel exchange program. This brief commentary describes introduction, main researchers, and future perspective of A3 NP network program.

Networking for local and global change: The Southeast and East Asian Nursing Education and Research Network

Networking for local and global change: The Southeast and East Asian Nursing Education and Research Network

Publisher Correction: Growing Asian research networks

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Growing Asian research networks

Planning and design expert Jinhyung Chon, deputy director of the OJeong Eco-Resilience Institute at Korea University and one of the directors of the Asia Resilience Center (ARC), tells Nature Sustainability about the making of ARC.

Introduction

Introduction Nadège Rolland (bio) In recent years the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), previously known as the "One Belt, One Road" strategy, has emerged as the cornerstone of China's foreign policy under Xi Jinping. Presented as a cooperative endeavor motivated by China's willingness to bring economic prosperity, growth, and stability to its wider periphery, BRI nevertheless has more than one purpose. As part of its New Silk Road project launched in 2015, the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) has been studying BRI in detail over the last several years. We have unpacked its drivers, ambitions, and strategic implications.1 We have analyzed its possible impact on the Eurasian continental and maritime energy environment,2 described and assessed regional responses,3 underlined the challenges and uncertainties it faces,4 and participated in policymaking assessments of the initiative.5 This Asia Policy roundtable follows in the footsteps of these groundbreaking research activities, this time with the intention to shed light on BRI's military and security implications in South Asia. The roundtable has been made possible by the generous support of the Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security, which partnered with NBR on a new project launched in 2018 dedicated to examining how China's expanding interests along the belt and road affect its military and security calculations and shape its external security behavior. [End Page 2] As China's economic and political footprint expands along the continental Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, an increasing number of Chinese diplomats, businessmen, and workers are venturing into areas that were until now largely outside China's traditional reach. Along the belt and road, the security situation is often volatile due to insurgency and destabilizing spillovers from regional conflicts. How the Chinese military and security elite are trying to protect and secure China's interests along the new Silk Roads is one of the issues critical to BRI's sustainability and success. Nowhere is China's tentative response to BRI's security challenges more apparent than in South Asia. The significance of this geographic space is self-evident, as this subregion is where the continental "belt" meets the maritime "road" and connects three continents—Europe, Africa, and Asia—via land and the Indian Ocean, a crucial artery for international commerce and energy supplies. But it is also where BRI faces a whole gamut of serious security challenges, from traditional conflicts centered on territorial and border disputes, to potential naval competition with India, to nontraditional terrorist and religious insurgencies, to energy security challenges. Pakistan epitomizes most of the security challenges BRI faces. Using the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as a test case to assess how China attempts to secure its assets, Filippo Boni finds that the responsibility to protect Chinese citizens and assets is delegated to the Pakistani military and police forces, who have benefited from increased cooperation with their Chinese counterparts. Pakistan is also the only example of a South Asian country where Chinese private security companies operate so far. Meia Nouwens notes that the lack of either international or domestic regulations, combined with these companies' relative inexperience with operating in hostile environments, increases risks of miscalculation. Widening the geographic focus to the entire Indian Ocean, Nilanthi Samaranayake looks at China's first attempts in securing the Maritime Silk Road. Although Beijing's efforts still seem limited in scope and constricted by local and regional counterbalancing, the situation could change in the long run. It is precisely against the possibility of losing their strategic edge in the Indian Ocean to an expanded Chinese naval presence that both India and the United States should strengthen their countervailing response, argue Gurpreet Khurana and Arzan Tarapore. Considering the national security risks posed by China's expanded influence on its traditional periphery, India should promote military and geoeconomic [End Page 3] solutions, argues Khurana. Viewing BRI as an essential element of China's grand strategy, Tarapore advocates enhanced U.S. partnerships with regional states, with India at the core, and a comprehensive U.S. strategy that blurs the traditional economic and security fault lines (not unlike BRI itself). Taken together, the essays presented in this roundtable offer a...

A Vision for Malaysian and Other ASEAN Researchers to Contribute to the International Agency Theory-based Literature

Manuscript type: Review paperResearch aims: This paper offers Southeast Asian researchers, particularly those from ASEAN, a vision to contribute to international agency theory literature.Design/Methodology/Approach: Most of the studies reviewed were identified during the author’s preparation for this paper which involves Malaysia.Research findings: Three research streams to which Malaysian researchers can contribute are: political connections, family companies and corporate recovery. The socio-political contexts thathave resulted in Malaysia being a suitable environment are also discussed. This paper identifies gaps in the literature; it accumulates arguments defining why the Malaysian setting is apposite and it also offers research design suggestions for Malaysians and researchers from Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, with some defining differences, to follow.Theoretical contributions/Originality: The outcome drawn from this paper assists Malaysian researchers in utilising the agency based theory to approach various topic selections and executions. The comparisons and contrasts made between Malaysia and the other three ASEAN countries may further motivate researchers of the ASEAN region to engage agency theory as a base for their research. Research limitation: A limitation to this paper is that the boundaries between the proposed categories of shareholder political connections are blurred. Keywords: Agency Theory, ASEAN, Malaysia, Review PaperKeywords: Agency Theory, ASEAN, Malaysia, Review PaperJEL Classification: G31, G33, G38, M41

Transdisciplinary research for food and nutrition security: Examining research-policy understandings in Southeast Asia

Interacting human and environmental drivers influence food and nutrition security outcomes. The way food and nutrition security problems and solutions are understood by decision makers and researchers inevitably influences interventions in food systems. One novel way of capturing different and potentially competing understandings of food and nutrition security problems and solutions is transdisciplinary research. In this paper, we examine how Southeast Asian policy and research experts working in food and nutrition security frame challenges and solutions, and the implications of this understanding for their capacity to adopt initiatives from emerging transdisciplinary research in the region. We conducted a workshop with research and policy experts from four countries in Southeast Asia and used a systems based human ecology framework to capture the common understanding participants have of the main challenges in their food systems. The systems exercises revealed similarities in the dominant framing presented by researchers and policy makers, and of the respective agencies of key stakeholders. We found that formal government policy and training was commonly perceived as major drivers of change, with smallholder farmers viewed as passive recipients of knowledge. We also found there is ongoing interest in increasing productivity of key commodities, but there is critical awareness of the environmental consequences of production-oriented agriculture. These dominant understandings have implications for current regional initiatives in transdisciplinary research that seek to build farmer capacity, reduce inequality, and include different stakeholders in research and policy activities. We conclude by arguing that research agencies aspiring to inform policy interventions based on transdisciplinary processes will face challenges given the current dominant frames of food systems in the region. We show how human ecology and systems frameworks can guide transdisciplinary food systems research that aims to improve food and nutrition security.

Interest-driven creator theory: towards a theory of learning design for Asia in the twenty-first century

Asian education is known for its examination-driven orientation, with the downsides of distorting the processes of learning and teaching, diminishing students’ interest in learning, and failing to nurture twenty-first century competencies among students. As a group of Asian researchers, we have been developing Interest-Driven Creator (IDC) Theory, a design theory based on three anchored concepts, namely interest, creation, and habit. Each of these anchored concepts is represented by a loop composed of three components. In the interest loop, the three components are triggering, immersing, and extending. The components of the creation loop are imitating, combining, and staging. The habit loop consists of cuing environment, routine, and harmony. These three loops are interconnected in various ways, with their characteristics revealed by the design process. We hypothesize that technology-supported learning activities that are designed with reference to IDC Theory will enable students to develop interest in learning, be immersed in the creation process, and, by repeating this process in their daily routines, strengthen habits of creation. Furthermore, students will excel in learning performance, develop twenty-first century competencies, and become lifelong interest-driven creators. To sharpen our understanding and further the development of the theory, we need more discussion and collaborative efforts in the community. Hypotheses arising from this theory can be tested, revised, or refined by setting up and investigating IDC Theory-based experimental sites. By disseminating the framework, foundations, and practices to the various countries and regions of Asia, we hope that it will bring about compelling examples and hence a form of quality education for the twenty-first century, which is an alternative to the examination-driven education system. In this paper, we present an overall introduction to IDC Theory and its history, and discuss some of the steps for advancing it in the future.

African and Asian researchers are hampered by visa problems

Researchers from these continents are three to four times more likely to experience visa problems when travelling for work than are Europeans and Americans. Researchers from these continents are three to four times more likely to experience visa problems when travelling for work than are Europeans and Americans.