Eastern Central Asia Research Articles

The influence of informal and foreign competition on innovation: does size matter

This study examines whether micro or large firms in emerging economies produce innovation as a response to threats from informal and foreign competitors. This research focuses on firm size because it captures micro and large firms' resource similarity and market commonality with informal and foreign competitors. Specifically, this study theorises how threats from informal and foreign competitors influence emerging economy firms' engagement in innovation activities depending on firm size, such as micro and large firms. Results from the empirical analyses, with survey data of a large sample of firms located across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, provide support to hypotheses.

A Preliminary study on deep geodynamic process of Xar Moron tectonic belt in eastern Central Asia Orogenic Belt

板块汇聚边缘的陆壳厚度变化与构造和岩浆过程的动态相互作用有着错综复杂的联系,也是对深部地球动力学背景的直接响应。西拉木伦构造带是中亚造山带东部重要的汇聚板块边界,查明其浅部构造变形及深部动力学过程对于理解中亚造山带构造演化具有重要意义。本文通过野外地质工作查明晚二叠世-早三叠世西拉木伦构造带的上地壳发育一系列北东向、轴面向南东倾的宽缓褶皱以及向南东逆冲的断层,变形样式属于薄皮构造,显示出由北西向南东挤压的单向构造应力背景,平衡剖面恢复显示此时期构造变形造成地表~30%的缩短以及~4km的浅部地壳增厚。利用林西地区火成岩全岩La/Yb比值和锆石Eu/Eu^*参数构建的年龄-地壳厚度曲线揭示,二叠纪早-中期地壳厚度从49km连续减薄到33km,反映此时期整体处于伸展环境。二叠纪晚期至三叠纪初期,地壳厚度增加了~15km,峰值厚度达~48km,这个迅速的地壳增厚过程可能是岩浆作用导致的地壳垂向增生和构造作用产生的造山带物质堆叠综合作用的结果。本文根据构造带同汇聚期岩浆岩面积和地壳厚度估算造山作用形成了~11%的新生陆壳。同时,两个时期的深部壳幔相互作用方式也有不同,二叠纪早期西拉木伦构造带火成岩锆石的<i>ε</i>_Hf(<i>t</i>)值相对较高(6.1~19.9;均值10.1),<i>δ</i>¹⁸O值较分散(5.1‰~8.3‰),指示岩浆在形成过程中有幔源物质的加入,示踪了林西地区深部与软流圈上涌有关的伸展过程;而晚二叠世至三叠纪初期花岗岩锆石<i>ε</i>_Hf(<i>t</i>) 值相对下降(-1.1~17.2;均值9.3),<i>δ</i>¹⁸O值仍高于幔源值(＞5.9‰),揭示同源地幔岩浆的持续重融改造过程。综合沉积环境、地壳厚度变化、岩浆岩同位素变化、地壳增生量及地表单向构造应力背景等特征,本文提出西拉木伦构造带可能经历了地幔俯冲;而早-中二叠世的软流圈上涌和晚二叠世-早三叠世的下地壳及岩石圈地幔密度增大,可能是发生地幔俯冲的深部地球动力学原因。

The Eastern Turkic Translation of Kalila wa-Dimna

Kalila wa-Dimna is a version of Panchatantra, a work comprising the writings of Indian oral culture, extended across a long period of time. With these extensions of time, in fact, entirely new works were created in different languages and cultures. Translations of Kalila wa-Dimna were made in both the Eastern Turkic areas and in Anatolian lands. For this study, a translation of Kalila wa-Dimna into Eastern Turkish, archived in Sweden with the Lund University Library’s Jarring Collection (Prov.) 46, has been examined. The book contains 97 pages with 10 lines on each page. The work under examination was brought to Sweden from the Eastern Turkistan region by the Swedish orientalist Gunnar Jarring. The language of the work is similar to a dialect spoken in the Kashgar-Yarkant area. Despite having aspects of Eastern Turki, this Kalila wa-Dimna translation contains different phonological features.

Yury N. Roerich on the Spread of Indian Visual Images along the Great Silk Road

The paper discusses the studies of Yury N. Roerich (1902–1960) in the field of Central Asian art. In his opinion, the Great Silk Road should be considered not only as a caravan road providing trade routes between the countries of the ancient and medieval world, but also as an important arterial system of cultural interchange. The Kushan Empire, founded by the Tochars, who adopted Buddhism as the dominant religion, played a special role in the development of the art of the Great Silk Road region. Buddhism began to spread along the arteries of the Great Silk Road, forming a belt of Buddhist culture of great extent, based on Indian art, rethought by the masters of local traditions. According to Yury N. Roerich, this process should be considered a unique historical and cultural phenomenon. In 1923–1928 Yury N. Roerich made a great journey as a member of his father’s Central Asian expedition. Part of the expedition ran along the ancient routes of the Great Silk Road. During the expedition, the scholar managed to explore dozens of Buddhist art masterpieces, described, and photographed some of them. Yury Roerich believed that Central Asia, the Western and Eastern Turkestan regions became a kind of melting pot, where the interconnected and synthesized Indian, Iranian, and Chinese artistic styles, influencing the Buddhist art of Tibet, as well as the Chinese art of the 13th–14th centuries of Yuan and Ming Dynasties.

Происхождение этнонима цонгоол

The article deals with the origin of the tribal name Coŋgōl or Tsongool, in other orthography. It also known as Soŋgōl or Songool in Buryat pronunciation, where the Written Mongolian [č] developed into [s] through the step [ts] in position before a vowel other than [i]. We argue the connection of the word with the ethnic name Čuŋul ~ Čumul, attested in different spelling forms in Chinese, Old Turkic, Khotanese Saka and Persian texts, in connection with the history of Eastern Turkestan and Gan-su Province of China, at least from the of the 7th to the 11th centuries A. D., and also preserved now among the ethnonyms of the Sarïg-Yogur people as Čoŋïl ~ Čuŋïl. In the latter case, the fact of historical continuity cannot raise any doubts. According to the results of this research, it is possible to argue that the community arrived to territory of modern South Buryatia to become subjects of the Russian Tsar at the end of the 17th century had already pronounced the name Tsongool (&lt; WMong. Čongγol) in the variant Tsoŋgol, taking into account the fact that the designation of a vowel in the second syllable as a long one is a later orthographic phenomenon in Buryat. In other words, they were attested the resulted phonetic development [č] &gt; [ts] and consistent vowel labialization in both syllables of the word, regardless of the peculiarity of the Tsongol dialect of Buryat language, where the development of WMong. [u] &gt; [o] is observed. In this manner it can be interpreted the form of the tribal name known among the Barguzin Evenks čåŋgå̄lʹi̯r as reflected the first mentioned process. This point can also be confirmed by the data on onomastics of the persons associated with the Tsongols, attested in the later 17th century, where it can be found the development [č] &gt; [ts] &gt; [s]. It is discussed the problem of correlating two phonetic forms in connection with the chronology of the appearance of Tsongols in the territory of modern Buryatia. Despite the absence of any earlier information about the existence of a group with this name in the region, they are known the legends according to which the territory of origin of the Tsongols is localized in the valley of the Kuda River (in modern Irkutsk region), where a small group with the name Songool (Tsongool) was recorded back in the 19th century. Explaining the chronology of phonetic changes in a historical context requires future research.

OZANTÜRK’ÜN “TURNALAR” DESTANI ÜZERİNE MİLLİYETÇİLİK KURAMLARI BAKIMINDAN BİR İNCELEME

Various theories have emerged as a result of evaluations and studies on nationalism. Among these theories, "primordial theory", "modernist theory" and "ethno-symbolist theory" came to the fore. Primordial theory argues that nations come from the same lineage and share a common religion, language, culture and history. In this theory, there are “naturalistic”, “biological” and “cultural” perspectives. According to modernist theory, nationalism is a social necessity of that period. In this theory, nationalism is evaluated together with the modernization process, which affects social, political and economic developments and changes. In the ethno-symbolist theory, nationalism, ethnic origin and cultural characteristics of nations are emphasized. National symbols are frequently encountered in Turkish oral and written cultural products. Symbols reflecting Turkish nationalism are widely used, especially in Minstrel Literature, a product of Turkish Folk Literature. These symbols appeal to the subconscious of the Turks with their deep meanings. Each symbol has its own semantic national value. The "Turnalar" epic of Ozantürk emphasizes the shared cultural heritage of the Turkish people. In the epic of Turnalar, which consists of three separate works connected to each other, the Turkish communities that make up the Turkish World are described. In the first of these texts, the Turks of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Uzbekistan, Turkey and of Turkmenistan are mentioned. In the second text, Turkish tribes living in a wide geography including countries such as Iraq, Iran, East Turkestan, Crimea, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Yakutia / Sakha, Chuvashia, Altai Republic, Tuva Republic, Khakas Republic are presented. In the third text, the Turks living in countries such as Greece / Western Thrace, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova / Gagauzeli, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Hungary, and Turks who struggle for existence" along with the Turkish presence in Europe are spoken of. The epic of "Turnalar" is a work of Bayram Durbilmez, who also wrote poems in minstrel manner under the pseudonym Ozantürk. Durbilmez is a scholar known for his works in the fields of minstrel literature, tekke-sufi literature and folklore of the Turkish World. This scholar is also known as a Turkist, nationalist intellectual who has served as a member of the board of directors, chairman of the board of directors and a delegate to the headquarters in various non-governmental organizations, foundations and associations that defend Turkish nationalism. The fact that he usually uses the pseudonym Ozantürk in his poems shows that Durbilmez has a nationalist attitude also in the world of art. In this article numerous national symbols that occurs in Ozantürk / Bayram Durbilmez's epic "Turnalar" about the Turkish World and that are shared by Turkish states and communities that exist across many geographical areas will be analysed. The national symbols in question are evaluated within the framework of nationalist theories, some of which through the primordial theory which states there are natural nations, some of which through modernist theory that emerged with the effect of modernization, and some of which through the ethno-symbolist theory that adopts ethnic cultural values. There are also symbols that are evaluated within these three theories. While determining the nationalist attitude in the epic, the scientific foundations of nationalism will also be tried to be shown through the mentions of the poet's academic studies on the Turkish World.

Doğu Türkistan’da Yaşanan İnsan Hakları İhlalleri ve Uygulanan Ayrımcılık Politikaları

In this study, human rights violations and discrimination policies in East Turkestan, focusing on human rights violations in question-discrimination policies of the causes and consequences will be briefly discussed. As is known, it is completely prohibited by international law for a person to encounter preventive and restrictive behaviors due to his nationality and national origin, to be subjected to practices that involve discrimination. However, as is clearly seen in the practices of East Turkestan, the human rights violations and discrimination policies applied to the people of East Turkestan have become a regular method of assimilation. Ignoring and ignoring the basic human rights of the people of East Turkestan irreversibly deeply injures the national identity and dignity of the people of East Turkestan. In this study, a literature review was conducted using previously written scientific articles, books, journals, reports prepared by research organizations related to the region, news that have appeared in the media. Key Words: East Turkestan, Human Rights, Discrimination

Afghan-China Mutual Security Interests

The history of the Sino-Afghan relationship can be traced back to the 7th Century when Chinese monks traveled to Afghanistan through the Silk Road, to visit the Buddha statues in Bamyian, a province in Afghanistan. The continued China-Afghanistan relationship was disrupted following 9/11 and the subsequent US-NATO military presence in Afghanistan. The former played a leading role in the reconstruction of a new Afghan government and training of the Afghan forces. There was no Chinese involvement in Afghanistan during the US-NATO years. Instead, a mutual relationship was formed after the US-NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. In a post2014 combat forces withdrawal of the US-NATO forces, China started playing an active role in resolving the Afghan conflict. China has security interests in Afghanistan, and as long as the security threats in Afghanistan remain unsolved, China may hesitate to strengthen its economic and investment relationship with Afghanistan. When talking about the Chinese security interests in Afghanistan, East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) is one of the grave concerns for China. In order to secure the China-Afghan relationship, the Chinese would require that the Afghan government contain ETIM and prevent their operation from Afghanistan. This is necessary so that ETIM is unable to function from Afghanistan and use the country as a safe haven for cross-bordered operations. Further, any subsequent strengthening of Afghan-China relations would require mutual interlards investment, and the success of investments is pegged on eliminating security threats. This paper discusses the Afghan-China mutual security interests and how an insecure Afghanistan is not only a threat to Chinese national security, but it will also have a grave impact on Chinese investment and the connectivity program of the region. Keywords: Afghan-Chinese relations; security; terrorism.

Afghan-China Mutual Security Interests

The history of the Sino-Afghan relationship can be traced back to the 7th Century when Chinese monks traveled to Afghanistan through the Silk Road, to visit the Buddha statues in Bamyian, a province in Afghanistan. The continued China-Afghanistan relationship was disrupted following 9/11 and the subsequent US-NATO military presence in Afghanistan. The former played a leading role in the reconstruction of a new Afghan government and training of the Afghan forces. There was no Chinese involvement in Afghanistan during the US-NATO years. Instead, a mutual relationship was formed after the US-NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. In a post- 2014 combat forces withdrawal of the US-NATO forces, China started playing an active role in resolving the Afghan conflict. China has security interests in Afghanistan, and as long as the security threats in Afghanistan remain unsolved, China may hesitate to strengthen its economic and investment relationship with Afghanistan. When talking about the Chinese security interests in Afghanistan, East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) is one of the grave concerns for China. In order to secure the China-Afghan relationship, the Chinese would require that the Afghan government contain ETIM and prevent their operation from Afghanistan. This is necessary so that ETIM is unable to function from Afghanistan and use the country as a safe haven for cross-bordered operations. Further, any subsequent strengthening of Afghan-China relations would require mutual interlards investment, and the success of investments is pegged on eliminating security threats. This paper discusses the Afghan-China mutual security interests and how an insecure Afghanistan is not only a threat to Chinese national security, but it will also have a grave impact on Chinese investment and the connectivity program of the region.

European interprofessional postgraduate curriculum in palliative care: A narrative synthesis of field interviews in the region of Middle, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe and Central and West Asia.

In 2018, a study was conducted in the Eastern and South-eastern Europe and Central Asia. National leaders of palliative care were asked to describe developments in postgraduate education in their region. They were asked whether the introduction of a European curriculum would be useful in their country. The aim was to explore the structures of postgraduate education at country level in order to define the barriers and opportunities. This is an ethnographic study based on semi-structured field interviews. A thematic analysis was chosen for data extraction and a narrative synthesis for the systematic presentation and critical discussion of the results. Thirty-two interviews were recorded in 23 countries. The analysis revealed 4 main themes: (1) general barriers to access, (2) necessary to improve palliative care education, (3) palliative care core curriculum - the theoretical framework, and (4) challenges in implementation. These main themes were complemented by 19 subthemes. Palliative care is understood as a universal idea, which in practice means accepting social pluralism and learning to respect unique individual needs. This makes teaching palliative care a very special task because there are no golden standards for dealing with each individual as they are. In theory, a European curriculum recommendation is useful to convince governments and other key stakeholders of the importance of postgraduate education. In practice, such a curriculum needs to be adapted to the constraints of health services and human resources. Validated quality assessment criteria for palliative care education are crucial to advance postgraduate education.

Equity Market Performances: Evidence from South East, South West, Central and North East Asia Regions

This work takes a comprehensive look at the macroeconomics and equity market performances from the Asia perspective, using five indicators namely inflation rate (CPI), interest rate (IR), money supply (MS), exchange rate (ER), economic growth (GDP), against six equity market indexes of FBM KLCI (Malaysia), IDX (Indonesia), SENSEX (India), BIST-100 (Turkey), SSE (China), and Nikkei-225 (Japan) based on the framework of the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT). The annual data from 1988:2021 are sourced from World Bank, FRED of Federal Reserve Bank, and Central Bank Official website for selected countries. The analysis technique employed is Pooled Ordinary Least Square (POLS). The study established that all four variables which are CPI, IR, ER, and GDP are strongly significant with the actual direction in affecting the performances of six Asia stock exchanges. Our results confirm the economic theories and empirics that there are strong relationships between macroeconomic indicators and equity market performances in six Asia regions. The current study reveals new insights where a modified version of APT Model multi-factor is correctly specified when more than one variable is dominant, which suggests that all four independent variables are crucial in explaining the variation of the equity market performances in South East, South West, Central and North East Asia regions.

Public Debt Management Experience: The Case of EECCA Countries

The aim of this study is to cluster the most widely used public debt management tools peculiar to the EECCA (Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia) markets. Overall, the results show that the volume of EECCA countries’ public debt relative to GDP declined from 2000 to 2015. However, as their public debt enhanced after 2016 and until 2020, inclusive, the need to choose proper tools for its management intensified. The main cause of public debt in most EECCA countries is the state budget deficit (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan). The second place was taken by the balance of payments deficit (Armenia, Belarus). The only unique country was Azerbaijan, since it is likely to use public debt to finance economic and infrastructure development projects. No less interesting is that not all EECCA member states generate internal public debt. Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Uzbekistan have external public debt exclusively due to the lack of free resources that can be attracted from within the economy. In general, the investigation revealed that the main tool for managing internal public debt in EECCA countries is public bonds issued in national and foreign currencies. As for external public debt management, the top position is taken by external public bonds and international loans. The study has only two limitations: methodological and implementation. Other macroeconomic indicators of economic development were not considered, even though they may change the assessment of the effectiveness of the selected tools of public debt management. Meanwhile, the results can only be applied to those countries whose financial market is already formed and who have access to international financial markets. Otherwise, the tools of public debt management are limited.

Detrital zircon U–Pb ages and geochemistry of Devonian–Carboniferous sandstones and volcanic rocks of the Hida Gaien belt, Southwest Japan: Provenance reveals a Gondwanan lineage for the early Paleozoic tectonic evolution of proto-Japan

Devonian–Carboniferous strata in the Hida Gaien belt, Southwest Japan, are characterized by a change in the dominant lithology from clastic rocks and limestones to volcanic rocks. The sandstone compositions and detrital zircon U–Pb ages indicate that the Devonian sedimentary rocks were derived from various basement rocks, including granite and basalt, that were uplifted, exposed, and eroded during the Early–Middle Devonian (398–383 Ma). The source of sediment to these strata changed to basalts and rhyolites in the early Carboniferous (∼346 Ma). Early Carboniferous bimodal volcanic rocks are present in the Hida Gaien and South Kitakami belts, the southeastern margin of the South China block (Hainan), and the Jilin area (NE China) of the eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). The Cambrian–Silurian zircon grains (540–480 Ma and 460–420 Ma) in the Hida Gaien belt were derived from arc basement of a similar age to the South Kitakami and Kurosegawa belts, the Jiamusi–Khanka–Bureya (NE China and the Russian Far East) and Songliao–Xilinhot (Inner Mongolia) blocks in the eastern CAOB, and the eastern South China and Indochina blocks. The Devonian strata also contain Precambrian zircon grains derived from Mesoarchean basement (∼3000 Ma) and the Grenvillian tectonothermal event (∼1000 Ma), suggesting sediment supply from NE Gondwana (the Thomson and Lachlan orogens of eastern Australia) or related continental remnants. Detrital zircon U–Pb age spectra similar to those of the Devonian strata of the Hida Gaien belt are also observed in Silurian–Devonian metasedimentary rocks in the Jilin area. During the early Paleozoic, the Hida Gaien belt, the eastern margin of the South China block, and the magmatic arcs and microcontinents in the eastern CAOB were located close to NE Gondwana along the western margin of the Paleo-Pacific Ocean.

R&D synergy between local and foreign-owned enterprises in post-communist economies

This study examines how internal research and development (R&D), external knowledge acquisition, and R&D contracted with other companies interact in local and foreign-owned enterprises in post-communist economies. A large sample of firm-level data from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) across 26 post-communist countries (including European Union (EU) members and non-EU states of Eastern Europe, Caucasian countries, and Central Asian countries) and country-level data from the Global Innovation Index and the International Property Rights Index were used. The findings show that enterprises with majority foreign ownership are relatively more likely to acquire external R&D. We demonstrate that the R&D behavior of enterprises with majority foreign ownership and local firms are interrelated, that is, we find a synergy effect. According to the results, decisions on internal R&D and the purchase of external knowledge for enterprises with majority foreign ownership are similar to those of local firms. However, enterprises with foreign ownership contract R&D with other companies more often if local firms conduct internal R&D. These results indicate the presence of knowledge spillover and cross-learning effects in both types of enterprises in post-communist countries. Finally, we find that the national innovation environment is not significant for the R&D intensity of enterprises with majority foreign ownership, which suggests their high dependence on the parent structures of multinational enterprises.

Asynchronicity of dietary transformation in different regions along the Bronze Age Eastern Silk Road

The eastern ancient Silk Road (EASR)—an area critical in linking Central China with the pastoralist societies of the eastern Eurasian Steppe and Central Asia—was a key component to trans-Eurasian exchange since the Bronze Age. Despite the area's importance, not much is known regarding the spatio-temporal variation of human diets and the associated subsistence practices during the Bronze Age. This dearth of information is largely due to the absence of key evidence from the EASR during 3000–2200 years before present (yr B.P.). In this study, we report new carbon and nitrogen isotopic data, including radiocarbon dates of human and animal bones unearthed from the Shijia-Yucun (SJ-YC) site in the EASR, dated between ∼2700 and 2500 yr B.P. During our target period of study, the humans, pigs and dogs living in SJ-YC mainly consumed C4 foods (millets and millet by-products), while herbivorous livestock consumed a mix of C3 and C4 plants. Combined with published isotopic and archaeobotanical data, we detected an asynchronous transformation of dietary patterns in different regions of the EASR during the Bronze Age. Between 3500 and 2200 yr B.P., staple foods for most western EASR humans shifted from C4 to mixed C3 and C4 foods. In the eastern EASR, C4 foods remained dominant in human diets throughout the Bronze Age. Patterns in dietary changes are not completely consistent with the various trajectory of crop cultivation. We propose that, in the context of Bronze Age trans-Eurasian exchanges, humans adopted different livelihoods throughout the EASR to deal with the survival pressures and social customs associated with variations in climate, population, and geopolitical factors. Our work provides vital evidence for dietary and subsistence variation in the EASR and explores the complicated relationship between Bronze Age humans and their environment.

A CHAGATAI MANUSCRIPT ON TRADITIONAL PROFESSION IN UYGHURS: KİTĀB-I GARÎBÎ

Uyghurs, who had a rich cultural background in fields such as architecture, painting, miniature, music and traditional professions, had a great influence on the development and spread of Turkish culture. This rich cultural heritage, shaped in oral tradition, has started to spread in written form in Chagatai Turkish since the 15th century. While the author or copyist of some of these written works, which are about cultural heritage and fed from oral tradition, are unknown, the date and author of some of them are known. Especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, most of the poets, who lived in East Turkestan and wrote classical works, wrote works in the genre of mesnevi and tezkire, which deal with the historical and cultural heritage of the Uyghurs. One of the names who produced works in this style is Turdi Nâzım Garîbî. The work of Garîbî, which was written in 1841 and is about traditional professions, was written in Chagatai Turkish and in mesnevi verse and is called Kitāb-ı Garîbî. The work consists of an introduction, 32 chapters and 978 couplets. Written upon the request of Zuhûriddin Beg, the ruler of Kashgar at the time, the work includes information about such widely practiced traditional professions among the Uyghurs as farming, blacksmithing, adobe crafting, jewelry, carpentry, cloth weaving, trader, bakery, boiler making, miskerçilik, furriery, taming (building craftsmanship), rug making, shoemaking, fabric dyeing, dyeing, blacksmithing and weaving, and information about their characteristics. In some parts of the work, there are debates of the professionals. The work, which includes information about 32 professions in total, is important in terms of revealing the place of traditional professions in the socio-cultural and economic life of the Uyghurs. In the article, the formation and development process of traditional professions among the Uyghurs, the works on the professions, the professions that have survived until today and the traditional professions included in Kitāb-ı Garîbî will be introduced and evaluated. Keywords: Uyghurs, Traditional Profession, Chagatai Turkish, Mesnevi, Futuwwatnāme.

CHINA GEO-POLITICAL CONTOURS IN AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan as pivotal in this region as it provides a land bridge between Greater Central Asia northern and southern parts and between Middle East and Greater Central Asia as well. The US intervention in Afghanistan has opened a channel for Beijing geo-political objectives in Afghanistan. China’s economic interests are connected with Afghanistan and investing in Afghanistan’s infrastructure development but threats from Islamic extremism has inundated the region which has been infested into Xinjiang province with enhanced drug trade. This research investigates the interests of China through analytical and qualitative approaches. China’s interests in Afghanistan revolve around various geo-political imperatives. China has longer presence and investment plans in Afghanistan because Afghanistan has huge oil and natural gas reserves in northern part. Besides, China wants an access to natural gas supply of Central Asia and Afghanistan. China is interested in stable Afghanistan that has military capability to secure its borders. For regional aspiration China is to counter United States hegemonic designs. Besides, the other significant contour is having foothold in Pakistan especially through strategic designs in Balochistan.

Triassic volcanism on the North margin of the North China Craton: Insights for lithospheric modification during closure of Paleo-Asian Ocean

As a key tectonic region linking the northern margin of the North China craton (NCC) and eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), western Liaoning, with extensively distributed magmatic activity, provides natural samples to investigate the evolutionary history of the Paleo-Asian Ocean plate subduction to closure. The Middle Triassic (ca. 241 Ma) trachyandesites and Late Triassic (ca. 223 Ma) basaltic andesites were first identified from the Tiaojishan Formation, western Liaoning. They have variable SiO 2 contents (52.48–60.31 wt%) and alkaline or high-K calc-alkaline to shoshonite compositions, and belong to the metaluminous series. Middle Triassic trachyandesites are enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILEs), high field strength elements (HFSEs), and light rare earth elements (LREEs) with high Nb/La ratios (0.63–0.76). They have homogeneous whole-rock Sr Nd ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr i = 0.704684–0.704808, ε Nd (t) = −4.6 to −4.0) and variable zircon Hf isotopic signatures (ε Hf (t) = −10.3 to 8.2), indicating that they probably originated from the partial melting of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle with the addition of asthenosphere materials. In contrast, the Late Triassic basaltic andesites show arc-related geochemical affinities, such as LILEs and LREEs enrichment and HFSEs depletion. They have more enriched whole-rock 87 Sr/ 86 Sr i (0.704895–0.705394), ε Nd (t) (−16.1 to −14.0), and zircon ε Hf (t) (−13.1 to −8.8) than the Middle Triassic trachyandesites, suggesting that they probably represent partial melts of the subduction-related fluids-modified lithospheric mantle. The modification of the northern margin of the NCC lithospheric mantle is closely related to the final subduction of the Palaeo-Asian oceanic plate and the subsequent post-orogenic extension. • Triassic volcanic rocks are founded in Tiaojishan Formation, Western Liaoning. • Study area was in a post-orogenic extensional setting in the Middle-Late Triassic. • Ocean Subduction modified the North China Craton lithosphere in the Triassic.

Trace element and Nd isotope analyses of apatite in granitoids and metamorphosed granitoids from the eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt: Implications for petrogenesis and post-magmatic alteration

We present in situ trace element and Nd isotopic data of apatites from metamorphosed and metasomatized (i.e., altered) and unaltered granitoids in the Songnen and Jiamusi massifs in the eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt, with the aim of fingerprinting granitoid petrogenesis, including both the magmatic and post-magmatic evolution processes. Apatites from altered granitoids (AG) and unaltered granitoids (UG) are characterized by distinct textures and geochemical compositions. Apatites from AG have irregular rim overgrowths and complex internal textures, along with low contents of rare earth elements (REEs), suggesting the re-precipitation of apatite during epidote crystallization and/or leaching of REEs from apatite by metasomatic fluids. εNd(t) values of the these apatites are decoupled from zircon εHf(t) values for most samples, which can be attributed to the higher mobility of Nd as compared to Sm in certain fluids. Apatites from UG are of igneous origin based on their homogeneous or concentric zoned textures and coupled Nd-Hf isotopic compositions. Trace element variations in igneous apatite are controlled primarily by the geochemical composition of the parental melt, fractional crystallization of other REE-bearing minerals, and changes in partition coefficients. Sr contents and Eu/Eu* values of apatites from UG correlate with whole-rock Sr and SiO2 contents, highlighting the effects of plagioclase fractionation during magma evolution. Apatites from UG can be subdivided into four groups based on REE contents. Group 1 apatites have REE patterns similar to the host granitoids, but are slightly enriched in middle REEs, reflecting the influence of the parental melt composition and REE partitioning. Group 2 apatites exhibit strong light REE depletions, whereas Group 3 apatites are depleted in middle and heavy REEs, indicative of the crystallization of epidote-group minerals and hornblende before and/or during apatite crystallization, respectively. Group 4 apatites are depleted in heavy REEs, but enriched in Sr, which are features of adakites. Some unusual geochemical features of the apatites, including the REE patterns, Sr contents, Eu anomalies, and Nd isotopic compositions, indicate that inherited apatites are likely to retain the geochemical features of their parental magmas, and thus provide a record of small-scale crustal assimilation during magma evolution that is not evident from the whole-rock geochemistry.

The development and initial validation of the Russian version of the BASIS-24

BackgroundEfficient and linguistically appropriate instruments are needed to assess response to addiction treatment, including severity of addiction/mental health status. This is critical for Russian-speaking persons in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) where Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) remain underscaled to address expanding and intertwined opioid, HIV, HCV and tuberculosis epidemics. We developed and conducted a pilot validation of a Russian version of the 24-item Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale (BASIS-24), an addiction/mental health severity instrument with six subscales, previously validated in English.MethodsUsing the Mapi approach, we reviewed, translated, and back-translated the content to Russian, pilot-tested the Russian-version (BASIS-24-R) among new MOUD patients in Ukraine (N = 283). For a subset of patients (n = 44), test-rest was performed 48 h after admission to reassess reliability of BASIS-24-R. Exploratory principal component analysis (PCA) assessed underlying structure of BASIS-24-R.ResultsCronbach alpha coefficients for overall BASIS-24-R and 5 subscales exceeded 0.65; coefficient for Relationship subscale was 0.42. The Pearson correlation coefficients for overall score and all subscales on the BASIS-24-R exceeded 0.8. Each item loaded onto factors that corresponded with English BASIS-24 subscales ≥ 0.4 in PCA.ConclusionInitial version of BASIS-24-R appears statistically valid in Russian. Use of the BASIS-24-R has potential to guide MOUD treatment delivery in the EECA region and help to align addiction treatment with HIV prevention goals in a region where HIV is concentrated in people who inject opioids and where healthcare professionals have not traditionally perceived MOUD as effective treatment, particularly for those with mental health co-morbidities.