The effects of the 1990s reforms to the electoral system of Japan's House of Representatives have been among the most frequently discussed topics in political science research on the country. These reforms saw the replacement of a hitherto single nontransferable vote (SNTV) system by a mixed-member majoritarian (MMM) system with a strong Single Member District (SMD) and a weaker Proportional Representation (PR) component. Many studies have suggested that the reforms may have had significant impact on the strategies of political parties. Generally, SMD systems have been widely thought to favor larger parties, while PR systems are more beneficial to small and medium-sized parties. On the content side, larger parties seeking control of the government would try to win the support of large numbers of floating voters by campaigning on universal/programmatic policy appeals, as opposed to particularistic interests. In contrast, smaller parties would cater towards their core supporters’ preferences. Previous studies have noted that the old SNTV system in Japan had produced results similar to PR systems (Reed 2003). Japan's electoral reform may have thus changed the strategy of large parties, which would need to win more seats in the SMDs to gain (or hold onto) power, while smaller parties have continued to try and win seats via the PR tier. Therefore, the reform provides valuable research material in so far as we can simultaneously observe different effects by the SMD and the PR systems on parties of different sizes.
Horseshoe crabs, represented by only four extant species, have existed for around 500 million years. However, their existence is now under threat because of anthropogenic activities. The availability of genomic resources for these species will be valuable in planning appropriate conservation measures. Whole‐genome sequences are currently available for three species. In this study, we have generated a chromosome‐level genome assembly of the fourth species, the Asian coastal horseshoe crab (Tachypleus gigas; genome size 2.0 Gb). The genome assembly has a scaffold N50 value of 140 Mb with ~97% of the assembly mapped to 14 scaffolds representing 14 chromosomes of T. gigas. In addition, we have generated the complete mitochondrial genome sequence and deep‐coverage transcriptome assemblies for four tissues. A total of 26,159 protein‐coding genes were predicted in the genome. The T. gigas genome contains five Hox clusters similar to the mangrove horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda), suggesting that the common ancestor of horseshoe crabs already possessed five Hox clusters. Phylogenomic and divergence time analysis suggested that the American and Asian horseshoe crab lineages shared a common ancestor around the Silurian period (~436 Ma). Comparison of the T. gigas genome with those of other horseshoe crab species with chromosome‐level assemblies provided insights into the chromosomal rearrangement events that occurred during the emergence of these species. The genomic resources of T. gigas will be useful for understanding their genetic diversity and population structure and would help in designing strategies for managing and conserving their stocks across Asia.
Background Dengue fever is the most widespread infectious disease of humans transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. It is the leading cause of hospitalization and death in children in the Southeast Asia and western Pacific regions. We analyzed surveillance records from health centers in Vietnam collected between 2001–2012 to determine seasonal trends, develop risk maps and an incidence forecasting model. Methods The data were analyzed using a hierarchical spatial Bayesian model that approximates its posterior parameter distributions using the integrated Laplace approximation algorithm (INLA). Meteorological, altitude and land cover (LC) data were used as predictors. The data were grouped by province (n = 63) and month (n = 144) and divided into training (2001–2009) and validation (2010–2012) sets. Thirteen meteorological variables, 7 land cover data and altitude were considered as predictors. Only significant predictors were kept in the final multivariable model. Eleven dummy variables representing month were also fitted to account for seasonal effects. Spatial and temporal effects were accounted for using Besag-York-Mollie (BYM) and autoregressive (1) models. Their levels of significance were analyzed using deviance information criterion (DIC). The model was validated based on the Theil’s coefficient which compared predicted and observed incidence estimated using the validation data. Dengue incidence predictions for 2010–2012 were also used to generate risk maps. Results The mean monthly dengue incidence during the period was 6.94 cases (SD 14.49) per 100,000 people. Analyses on the temporal trends of the disease showed regular seasonal epidemics that were interrupted every 3 years (specifically in July 2004, July 2007 and September 2010) by major fluctuations in incidence. Monthly mean minimum temperature, rainfall, area under urban settlement/build-up areas and altitude were significant in the final model. Minimum temperature and rainfall had non-linear effects and lagging them by two months provided a better fitting model compared to using unlagged variables. Forecasts for the validation period closely mirrored the observed data and accurately captured the troughs and peaks of dengue incidence trajectories. A favorable Theil’s coefficient of inequality of 0.22 was generated. Conclusions The study identified temperature, rainfall, altitude and area under urban settlement as being significant predictors of dengue incidence. The statistical model fitted the data well based on Theil’s coefficient of inequality, and risk maps generated from its predictions identified most of the high-risk provinces throughout the country.
Rapti Siriwardane-de Zoysa, Irene Sondang Fitrinitia, Johannes Herbeck
This article explores the normalisation of urban flooding through two distinct sets of securitised practices in two Southeast Asian megacities – localised disaster management surveillance regimes and the policing of informal settlements in Metro Manila and northern Jakarta, respectively. As a point of departure, we problematise the question of how the incidence of recurring floods (and flooding) is diversely interpreted as both event and as an experiential reality, insofar as the manifestation of the floods never entirely occupies a state of either normalcy or exception. It is this fluid state of inbetweenness in which these diverse securitisation trajectories are explored. The first entails the recent emergence of Metro Manila’s disaster Command Centres, marking a break from conventional ways of responding to flood risks. The second case study engages with Jakarta City’s coercive use of its municipal police unit – the Satpol P.P. – in relocating urban informal settlers who have otherwise actively learned to reshape their familiarity to flooding as a non-issue in order to avoid being evicted. While the paper reflects on the formal structures of flood cultures, we illustrate how vernacular interpretations around security entrenched in notions of “living with floods” lead to broader questions of ontological normalisation regarding watery incursions – as both spectacular as well as mundane, routinised events.
History of Asia, Unlocalized maps (Asian studies only)
Surface water reservoirs provide us with reliable water supply, hydropower generation, flood control and recreation services. Yet reservoirs also cause flow fragmentation in rivers and lead to flooding of upstream areas, thereby displacing existing land-use activities and ecosystems. Anticipated population growth and development coupled with climate change in many regions of the globe suggests a critical need to assess the potential for future reservoir capacity to help balance rising water demands with long-term water availability. Here, we assess the potential of large-scale reservoirs to provide reliable surface water yields while also considering environmental flows within 235 of the world’s largest river basins. Maps of existing cropland and habitat conservation zones are integrated with spatially-explicit population and urbanization projections from the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways to identify regions unsuitable for increasing water supply by exploiting new reservoir storage. Results show that even when maximizing the global reservoir storage to its potential limit (∼4.3–4.8 times the current capacity), firm yields would only increase by about 50% over current levels. However, there exist large disparities across different basins. The majority of river basins in North America are found to gain relatively little firm yield by increasing storage capacity, whereas basins in Southeast Asia display greater potential for expansion as well as proportional gains in firm yield under multiple uncertainties. Parts of Europe, the United States and South America show relatively low reliability of maintaining current firm yields under future climate change, whereas most of Asia and higher latitude regions display comparatively high reliability. Findings from this study highlight the importance of incorporating different factors, including human development, land-use activities, and climate change, over a time span of multiple decades and across a range of different scenarios when quantifying available surface water yields and the potential for reservoir expansion.
The Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry and a modified version of the Evaluating the Climate and Air Quality Impacts of Short‐Lived Pollutants (ECLIPSE) 5a emission inventory were used to investigate the sources impacting black carbon (BC) deposition to the Himalaya, Karakoram, and Hindu Kush (HKHK) region. This work extends previous studies by simulating deposition to the HKHK region not only under current conditions but also in the 2040–2050 period under two realistic emission scenarios and in three different phases of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Under current conditions, sources from outside our South Asian modeling domain have a similar impact on total BC deposition to the HKHK region (35–87%, varying with month) as South Asian anthropogenic sources (13–62%). Industry (primarily brick kilns) and residential solid fuel burning combined account for 45–66% of the in‐domain anthropogenic BC deposition to the HKHK region. Under a no further control emission scenario for 2040–2050, the relative contributions to BC deposition in the HKHK region are more skewed toward in‐domain anthropogenic sources (45–65%) relative to sources outside the domain (26–52%). The in‐domain anthropogenic BC deposition has significant contributions from industry (32–42%), solid fuel burning (17–28%), and diesel fuel burning (17–27%). Under a scenario in which emissions in South Asia are mitigated, the relative contribution from South Asian anthropogenic sources is significantly reduced to 11–34%. The changes due to phase of ENSO do not seem to follow consistent patterns with ENSO. Future work will use the high‐resolution deposition maps developed here to determine the impact of different sources of BC on glacier melt and water availability in the region.
International scientific collaboration, a fundamental phenomenon of science, has been studied from several perspectives for decades. In the spatial aspect of science, cities have generally been considered by their publication output or by their citation impact. Only a minority of scientometric studies focus on exploring collaboration patterns of cities. In this visualisation, we go beyond the well-known approaches and map international scientific collaboration patterns of the most prominent science hubs considering both the quantity and the impact of papers produced in the collaboration. The analysis involves 245 cities and the collaboration matrix contains a total number of 7718 international collaboration links. Results show that US–Europe co-publication links are more efficient in terms of producing highly cited papers than those international links that Asian cities have built in scientific collaboration.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES The concept of "food deserts" has been widely used in Western countries as a framework to identify areas with constrained access to fresh and nutritious foods, providing guidelines for targeted nutrition and public health programs. Unlike the vast amount of literature on food deserts in a Western context, only a few studies have addressed the concept in an East Asian context, and none of them have investigated spatial patterns of unhealthy food consumption from a South Korean perspective. SUBJECTS/METHODS We first evaluated the applicability of food deserts in a Korean setting and identified four Korean-specific unhealthy food consumption indicators, including insufficient food consumption due to financial difficulty, limited consumption of fruits and vegetables, excessive consumption of junk food, and excessive consumption of instant noodles. The KNHANES 2008-2012 data in Seoul were analyzed with stratified sampling weights to understand the trends and basic characteristics of these eating patterns in each category. GIS analyses were then conducted for the data spatially aggregated at the sub-district level in order to create maps identifying areas of concern regarding each of these indicators and their combinations. RESULTS Despite significant reduction in the rate of food insufficiency due to financial difficulty, the rates of excessive consumption of unhealthy foods (junk food and instant noodles) as well as limited consumption of fruits and vegetables have increased or remained high. These patterns tend to be found among relatively younger and more educated groups, regardless of income status. CONCLUSIONS A GIS-based analysis demonstrated several hotspots as potential "food deserts" tailored to the Korean context based on the observed spatial patterns of undesirable food consumption. These findings could be used as a guide to prioritize areas for targeted intervention programs to facilitate healthy food consumption behaviors and thus improve nutrition and food-related health outcomes.