Research during the COVID-19 pandemic precipitated various challenges for data collection and fieldwork. In Indonesia, the pandemic has become a magnifier of long-prevalent inequalities, especially in the education sector. This paper reflects upon the authors’ online and offline field research journeys. We illustrate our strategies of navigating both online and offline methods in a disrupted field. We demonstrate how we overcame dilemmas and carefully assessed the conditions and particularities of our interlocutors to determine our online or offline data collection approach and tools. Taking into account the various emotional, social and economic difficulties faced by our participants, we seek to highlight the importance of constant reflection and multilayered ethical considerations when researching with vulnerable participants, particularly in a disrupted field setting marked by intersecting hazards.
History of Asia, Unlocalized maps (Asian studies only)
Stanislav V. Spichak, Valeriy I. Stogniy, Inna M. Kopas
We consider a class of (1+2)-dimensional linear partial differential of Asian options pricing. Special cases have been used to models of financial mathematics. We carry out group classification of a class equations. In particular, the maximum dimension Lie invariance algebra within the above class is eight-dimensional. It is shown that an equation with such an algebra can be transformed into the linear Kolmogorov equation with the help of the point transformations of variables. Using the operators of invariance algebra symmetry reduction is carried out and invariant exact solutions are constructed for some equations.
The victory of Joko Widodo in the 2014 presidential election and the early phase of his first-term presidency brought some hope to Indonesian rural social movements. However, the structural constraints under oligarchic politics, the elite jockeying surrounding Jokowi, and the president’s lack of willingness to support an agrarian justice agenda rendered the movements’ strategy of intervention by state institutions and policies ineffective. This tension persuaded some sections of rural communities and activists to pursue a more contestational approach in advocating their rights, especially during Jokowi’s second term (2019–2024). This article examines the prevalence of the logic of concessionary capitalism in Jokowi’s rural policies, its devastating impacts on rural communities and the creative, sometimes impromptu, responses of rural social movements to dispossession and marginalisation. It also analyses the limits and gains made by the movements’ actors and provides an overall assessment of state-rural social movement relations under Jokowi’s presidency and the Covid-19 pandemic.
History of Asia, Unlocalized maps (Asian studies only)
In the immediate aftermath of the military coup in Myanmar in February 2021, Western countries and the EU condemned the coup, imposed targeted sanctions against military leaders and military-owned companies, and redirected essential humanitarian aid to NGOs. Japan, however, chose to neither align with its democratic allies nor completely suspend its aid. Despite a long and complicated pre-war history and limited engagement after 1988, Japan-Myanmar relations experienced a resurgence between 2012 and 2021. This article contends that one key driving force in contemporary relations is identity construction. Drawing on the literature on relational identity and foreign policy repertoires, the article demonstrates how the discursive statements and embodied practices of a network of Japanese identity entrepreneurs activate, negotiate and renegotiate the identities of the Japanese Self and its Others. Through an analysis of interviews conducted with elite stakeholders in Myanmar and Japan, the article studies Japan’s constructed identity as an economic great power and post-war development pioneer, peace promoter and diplomatic mediator. It finds that Japan constructs its identity temporally in terms of nostalgia (natsukashisa) and a longing for a time when Japan was a post-war industrial powerhouse, but also spatially in terms of Japan’s legal, moral and industrial superiority over other countries involved in Myanmar’s development, in particular vis-à-vis China.
History of Asia, Unlocalized maps (Asian studies only)
The ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the passage of Indonesia’s first national law based on disability rights, No. 8 of 2016 on Persons with Disabilities, have laid the groundwork for a paradigm shift in understanding and approaching disability in the country. Based on descriptive analysis and long-term observation, this article argues that advances in the legal frameworks that govern disability policies have yet to result in significant improvements in the lives of Indonesians with disabilities. A lack of budget commitment, regulatory discord, and insufficient awareness of disability rights in the public and private sectors all point to a half-hearted approach to disability inclusion. This article illustrates this argument by focusing on three crucial aspects of the realisation of human rights for people with disabilities in Indonesia: the rights to education, health and employment.
History of Asia, Unlocalized maps (Asian studies only)
We present new Galactic dust reddening maps of the high Galactic latitude sky using DESI imaging and spectroscopy. We directly measure the reddening of 2.6 million stars by comparing the observed stellar colors in $g-r$ and $r-z$ from DESI imaging with the synthetic colors derived from DESI spectra from the first two years of the survey. The reddening in the two colors is on average consistent with the Fitzpatrick (1999) extinction curve with $R_\mathrm{V}=3.1$. We find that our reddening maps differ significantly from the commonly used Schlegel et al. (1998) (SFD) reddening map (by up to 80 mmag in $E(B-V)$), and we attribute most of this difference to systematic errors in the SFD map. To validate the reddening map, we select a galaxy sample with extinction correction based on our reddening map, and this yields significantly better uniformity than the SFD extinction correction. Finally, we discuss the potential systematic errors in the DESI reddening measurements, including the photometric calibration errors that are the limiting factor on our accuracy. The $E(g-r)$ and $E(r-z)$ maps presented in this work, and for convenience their corresponding $E(B-V)$ maps with SFD calibration, are publicly available.
Abstract This article investigates the textual productions of the Cao Đài religion through the annotated translation in English of the earliest Cao Đài text published in Vietnamese on October 15, 1926. With the title Phổ Cáo Chúng Sanh – Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ (Universal Manifesto [of the] Great Đạo of the Third Era of Universal Salvation), this publication and our translation aim to highlight the translingual practices at play in the production of Cao Ðài exegetic and spirit-medium texts.
The quality factor value (Q) of the crustal medium, which can describe the anelasticity within the Earth’s interior, is a sensitive indicator of changes in the crystalline structure induced by temperature and phase transformations. Although the velocity structure of the Tianshan region in Central Asia has been extensively studied, studies regarding its Q values are limited. These studies focus mainly on the crustal attenuation structure of the Tianshan region; however, their results are limited to the qualitative analyses of the local areas or averages over large areas. Therefore, in this study, we conducted seismic attenuation tomography to create a Q map of the crust underneath the Tianshan tectonic belt (TTB) at a resolution of 0.8° × 0.8° using data from 24,273 near-source waveforms recorded by 51 observation stations of the Xinjiang regional seismic network from 2009 to 2020. The regional distribution of the static and sliding-average values (Q S) was calculated. The average value (Q 0) of TTB was approximately 523. Additionally, Q s exhibited considerable lateral variations that strongly correlate with the surface tectonics of the TTB region. Furthermore, the velocity and attenuation structures of the TTB were positively correlated. The main part of the TTB exhibited high velocities and Q (indicating low attenuation), whereas the areas adjoining the Tarim and Junggar basins (at the South and North of the TBB, respectively) and their margins exhibited low velocities and Q (indicating high attenuation). This suggested that the attenuation structure of the TTB was highly consistent with its velocity and density structures. Since 1900, most earthquakes in the TTB having magnitudes ≥6.0 earthquakes have occurred at the junctions of high- and low-Q-value areas, or in areas with low Q values. According to the Q s values in different periods, the average Q s of the entire TTB only varied between 500 and 540. However, the average Q s in the middle TTB region portrays an upward trended over time (from 494 in 2010 to 554 in 2020). The average Q s of the southwestern TTB region has been relatively stable, varying between 490 and 530. The Q 0 of the southwestern TTB region was lower than that observed in the middle TTB region in most of the time. This observation is more consistent with the tectonic activity recorded in the southwestern TTB region (with greater intensity) than that observed in the middle Tianshan. In addition, the number of earthquakes with magnitudes ≥4.0 correlated positively with the regional average Q s in the middle and southwestern Tianshan. Notably, the higher the regional average Q value, the larger the number of moderate earthquakes. This correlation suggests that in earthquake-prone regions, the accumulation and release of stress influence the opening or closure of crustal fractures, resulting in noticeable changes in the Q values. The findings of our study provide novel insights into the mechanisms of earthquakes and their correlation with the structure of the Earth’s crust.
Aikaterini Zgouridou, E. Kenanidis, M. Potoupnis
et al.
Purpose Four joint arthroplasty registries (JARs) levels exist based on the recorded data type. Level I JARs are national registries that record primary data. Hospital or institutional JARs (Level II–IV) document further data (patient-reported outcomes, demographic, radiographic). A worldwide list of Level II–IV JARs must be created to effectively assess and categorize these data. Methods Our study is a systematic scoping review that followed the PRISMA guidelines and included 648 studies. Based on their publications, the study aimed to map the existing Level II–IV JARs worldwide. The secondary aim was to record their lifetime, publications’ number and frequency and recognise differences with national JARs. Results One hundred five Level II–IV JARs were identified. Forty-eight hospital-based, 45 institutional, and 12 regional JARs. Fifty JARs were found in America, 39 in Europe, nine in Asia, six in Oceania and one in Africa. They have published 485 cohorts, 91 case-series, 49 case–control, nine cross-sectional studies, eight registry protocols and six randomized trials. Most cohort studies were retrospective. Twenty-three per cent of papers studied patient-reported outcomes, 21.45% surgical complications, 13.73% postoperative clinical and 5.25% radiographic outcomes, and 11.88% were survival analyses. Forty-four JARs have published only one paper. Level I JARs primarily publish implant revision risk annual reports, while Level IV JARs collect comprehensive data to conduct retrospective cohort studies. Conclusions This is the first study mapping all Level II–IV JARs worldwide. Most JARs are found in Europe and America, reporting on retrospective cohorts, but only a few report on studies systematically.
In the wake of the US-led and Pakistan-allied “war on terror”, residents in Northwest Pakistan have faced inconceivable structural and physical violence, in ways that pose ethical challenges in ethnographic writing and research. Over the last few decades, militancy, banditry and overall insecurity have hampered relief efforts in the area and significantly weakened basic infrastructure. In this article, the author illustrates how an initial security plan to undertake fieldwork research in this “volatile” region proved somewhat irrelevant because of her positionality, gender and race/ethnicity. The author explores the implications of these dynamics in contexts characterized by unequal gender relations and strict gender segregation. In addition, undertaking empirical work in the context of epistemological frameworks in a region that has been subjected to active conflict, militarised operations and a singular representation in the global and local media, poses other ethical challenges for anthropologists searching for new areas of study and decolonised models of representation. This paper reiterates the importance of a reflexive approach of ethics that acknowledges the interpenetration of race, gender and the thick web of relationships in the production of knowledge and is, at the same time, respectful of cultural specificity.
History of Asia, Unlocalized maps (Asian studies only)
This paper examines a series of refusals to admit Indian immigrants into North America in the early twentieth century and the resulting protest movements in Canada, the US mainland and the Philippines. By examining these events, the study aims to enhance our comprehension of Indian immigrants’ agency in shaping their interregional mobility and connectivity. Indians repeatedly faced de facto exclusion from these places, but they devised strategies to facilitate migration, and in response, Canadian and US authorities tightened control, leading to further resistance. Throughout these cycles of restriction and resistance, Indian migrants combined the knowledge and experiences acquired in Manila and North America, countering immigration policies and strengthening interregional connectivity. Understanding the interregional connectivity among Indian immigrants is key to understanding why Indians from different regions were actively involved in the anti-British Ghadar movement and the Komagata Maru incident. This paper focuses on the agency of Indians in Manila and examines the reasons behind their engagement in these events.
History of Asia, Unlocalized maps (Asian studies only)
We propose a new generative model of projected cosmic mass density maps inferred from weak gravitational lensing observations of distant galaxies (weak lensing mass maps). We construct the model based on a neural style transfer so that it can transform Gaussian weak lensing mass maps into deeply non-Gaussian counterparts as predicted in ray-tracing lensing simulations. We develop an unpaired image-to-image translation method with Cycle-Consistent Generative Adversarial Networks (Cycle GAN), which learn efficient mapping from an input domain to a target domain. Our model is designed to enjoy important advantages; it is trainable with no need for paired simulation data, flexible to make the input domain visually meaningful, and expandable to rapidly-produce a map with a larger sky coverage than training data without additional learning. Using 10,000 lensing simulations, we find that appropriate labeling of training data based on field variance allows the model to reproduce a correct scatter in summary statistics for weak lensing mass maps. Compared with a popular log-normal model, our model improves in predicting the statistical natures of three-point correlations and local properties of rare high-density regions. We also demonstrate that our model enables us to produce a continuous map with a sky coverage of $\sim166\, \mathrm{deg}^2$ but similar non-Gaussian features to training data covering $\sim12\, \mathrm{deg}^2$ in a GPU minute. Hence, our model can be beneficial to massive productions of synthetic weak lensing mass maps, which is of great importance in future precise real-world analyses.
Morphology and color patterns hold fundamental insights into the early formation history of high-z galaxies. However, 2D reconstruction of rest-frame (RF) color maps of such systems from imaging data is a non-trivial task. This is mainly because the spectral energy distribution (SED) of high-sSFR (starburst) galaxies near and far is spatially inhomogeneous and thus the common practice of applying a spatially constant "morphological" k-correction can lead to serious observational biases. In this study we use the nearby blue compact galaxy Haro11 to illustrate how the spatial inhomogeneity of the SED impacts the morphology and color maps in the observer's frame (ObsF) visual and NIR, and potentially affects the physical characterization of distant starburst galaxies with the JWST and Euclid. Based on MUSE spectroscopy and spectral modeling, we first examine the elements shaping the spatially varying optical SED of Haro11, namely intrinsic stellar age gradients, strong nebular emission and its spatial decoupling from the ionizing stellar background, and differing extinction patterns in the stellar and nebular component both spatially and in their amount. Our simulations show, inter alia, that an optically bright yet dusty star-forming (SF) region may evade detection whereas a gas-evacuated (thus, potentially Lyman continuum photon-leaking) region with weaker SF activity can dominate the ObsF (RF UV) morphology of a high-z galaxy. We also show that ObsF color maps are affected by strong emission lines moving in and out of filter passbands depending on z, and, if taken at face value, can lead to erroneous conclusions about the nature, evolutionary status and dust content of a galaxy. A significant additional problem stems from the uncertain prominence of the 2175 Å extinction bump that translates to appreciable inherent uncertainties in RF color maps of high-z galaxies. (abridged)
In this paper we study the short-time behavior of the at-the-money implied volatility for European and arithmetic Asian call options with fixed strike price. The asset price is assumed to follow the Bachelier model with a general stochastic volatility process. Using techniques of the Malliavin calculus such as the anticipating Ito's formula we first compute the level of the implied volatility when the maturity converges to zero. Then, we find a short maturity asymptotic formula for the skew of the implied volatility that depends on the roughness of the volatility model. We apply our general results to the SABR and fractional Bergomi models, and provide some numerical simulations that confirm the accurateness of the asymptotic formula for the skew.