Abstract The increasing concern over chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) caused by industrial pollution from particulate matter, gases, and fumes (PMGF) highlights the critical need for a comprehensive understanding of its spatiotemporal trends to mitigate work-related respiratory disorders effectively. Data from the Global Burden of Disease 2021 were extracted to analyze the mortality of occupational PMGF-attributed CRD. The joinpoint regression model was employed to illustrate its trends in age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) from 1990 to 2021, facilitating the calculation of average annual percentage changes (AAPCs). The age-period-cohort (APC) model was used to isolate and quantify the contributions of age, period, and cohort effects to the observed temporal trends in mortality rates. From 1990 to 2021, the ASMR of PMGF attributed-CRD decreased from 21.74 (13.34, 30.11) to 12.84 (7.80, 18.20), with an AAPC of -1.69 (-1.82, -1.56). A sharper negative AAPC was detected in females, pneumoconiosis cases, middle SDI region, and Southeast Asia, East Asia & Oceania. In addition, some positive AAPCs appeared in low-middle SDI, South Asia, and high-income nations for females. Although the Western Pacific witnessed the steepest ASMR declines, a rising ASMR was noted in Nordic and American female COPD patients, with increasing pneumoconiosis ASMR in the Middle East and North Africa. The total age-specific mortality increased, with a decrease observed in both period and cohort effect, more pronounced among females. COPD mortality exhibited a steeper decline than pneumoconiosis in the period and cohort RR, but not for females. The low-middle SDI region and South Asia led in age-specific CRD mortality, whereas the period and cohort RR experienced the largest reduction in the high-middle SDI region and Southeast Asia, East Asia & Oceania. However, the period and cohort RR showed the weakest attenuation in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Over the past 32 years, progress has been made in managing industrial PMGF pollution-related CRD; however, challenges persist, particularly among sub-Saharan Africans, South Asian women, pneumoconiosis cases in the Middle East and North Africa, and female COPD patients in high-income nations.
The dominant view in proliferation research holds that security guarantees from nuclear patrons reduce client states’ incentives to pursue nuclear armament. Yet in South Korea, public support for indigenous nuclear capabilities remains high despite strong trust in US extended deterrence. Drawing on the “better-now-than-later” logic from preventive war theory, we argue that this support reflects public forward-looking pessimism about the security environment, shaped by perceptions of the relative decline of the US and North Korea’s advancing nuclear capabilities. Analysis of the 2023 EAI Public Opinion Poll shows that concerns about systemic power shifts and pessimism about future inter-Korean relations are significantly associated with support for nuclear armament. South Korean public assessments of US extended deterrence and North Korea’s military threat do not align with conventional alliance theory expectations that high trust in extended deterrence should reduce support for nuclear armament. These findings underscore the need for reassurance strategies that address enduring alliance credibility.
South Asia. Southeast Asia. East Asia, Social Sciences
Abstract Wetland ecosystems are the dominant natural source of atmospheric methane (CH4) in the global methane cycle, yet significant uncertainties remain. Along with the warming climate system, CH4 emissions from these ecosystems are projected to increase, presenting challenges for accurate CH4 budget accounting and climate mitigation efforts. This study assessed CH4 emissions and controlling factors in wetlands across East, South, and Southeast Asia (EA, SA, and SEA) for 2010–2020, using a regional Earth system model coupled online with a microbial functional‐group‐based CH4 model (RegESM‐Microbe). The results from the RegESM‐Microbe model were evaluated against 11 offline wetland models from the Global Carbon Project and revealed consistent hotspots for wetland CH4 emissions, including the Yangtze River floodplain, the Ganges and Brahmaputra River basins, and the Mekong River basin. The annual total wetland CH4 emissions in Asia estimated (34.69 ± 2.55 Tg CH4 yr−1) by the RegESM‐Microbe model was close to the bottom‐up wetland model ensemble (36.66 ± 1.19 Tg CH4 yr−1). The time series of emissions showed a decreasing trend before 2014. Meanwhile, the weakening of anaerobic CH4 oxidation between 2014 and 2020 contributed to increased CH4 flow in the three transport sub‐processes, driving the enhanced CH4 emissions. Most wetlands in the region exhibited an upward trend in CH4 emission, with precipitation and radiation as the primary driver, followed by rising atmospheric CO2. Our study highlighted the critical role of climate change‐induced wetland CH4 emissions in shaping long‐term greenhouse gas mitigation strategies.
This study presents a global aerosol climatology derived from six years (October 2018–October 2024) of the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) observations, using a U-Net Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) machine learning algorithm for Cloud–Aerosol Discrimination (CAD). Despite ICESat-2’s design primarily as an altimetry mission with a single-wavelength, low-power, high-repetition-rate laser, ICESat-2 effectively captures global aerosol distribution patterns and can provide valuable insights to bridge the observational gap between the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) and Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) missions to support future spaceborne lidar mission design. The machine learning approach outperforms traditional thresholding methods, particularly in complex conditions of cloud embedded in aerosol, owing to a finer spatiotemporal resolution. Our results show that annually, between 60°S and 60°N, 78.4%, 17.0%, and 4.5% of aerosols are located within the 0–2 km, 2–4 km, and 4–6 km altitude ranges, respectively. Regional analyses cover the Arabian Sea (ARS), Arabian Peninsula (ARP), South Asia (SAS), East Asia (EAS), Southeast Asia (SEA), the Americas, and tropical oceans. Vertical aerosol structures reveal strong trans-Atlantic dust transport from the Sahara in summer and biomass burning smoke transport from the Savanna during dry seasons. Marine aerosol belts are most prominent in the tropics, contrasting with earlier reports of the Southern Ocean maxima. This work highlights the importance of vertical aerosol distributions needed for more accurate quantification of the aerosol–cloud interaction influence on radiative forcing for improving global climate models.
Shipbuilding is a typical strategic industry and, due to its high importance, is known as a complex one. The authors, based on foreign primary sources, for the first time in Russian scientific literature explore the path that the shipbuilding industry of the PRC has taken from “emergence from nothing” to the position in the largest shipbuilding country in the world, i.e. five main stages of development. The article describes the key steps taken towards the formation of the industry, both at the level of the creation of ministries and departments, and at the level of the emergence and development of scientific centers. The important government documents related to maintaining and stimulating the development of shipbuilding are studied in sufficient detail. The authors analyze the achievements and weaknesses of the modern Chinese shipbuilding industry. It is shown how China gradually rose to a leading position in the world shipbuilding from stage to stage, and what efforts were made by the state along this path.
South Asia. Southeast Asia. East Asia, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
The Belt and Road has developed rapidly in recent years. Constructing a comprehensive traffic network is conducive to promoting the development of the the Belt and Road. To optimize the layout of the Belt and Road comprehensive traffic network, this paper identifies important cities. First, a weighted super adjacency matrix is defined, which includes sea, air, railway transportation and trans-shipment transportation between these transportation modes. With this matrix, the Belt and Road comprehensive traffic network (B&RCTN) is constructed. To identify important node cities, this paper proposes a method to calculate multi-layer centrality which considers inter-layer relationships. With the results of the above four centrality indexes, the Entropy Weight TOPSIS is used to synthesize the evaluation of the four indexes. Finally, the multi-layer comprehensive centrality rank of node cities is obtained. Result shows that there are 72 important cities in B&RCTN. These important cities are mainly distributed in the east and west of Eurasia. Eastern cities are located in East Asia and Southeast Asia, including 36 cities such as Singapore, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Western cities are concentrated in West Asia, Western Europe and North Africa along the Mediterranean coast, including 31 cities such as Istanbul, Dubai, Vienna, Trieste and Koper. There are few important cities in central Eurasia, except Almaty in Central Asia and Colombo in South Asia. In addition, important cities also include Moscow in Eastern Europe, Lagos and Lome in West Africa. Finally, based on the distribution of important cities, this paper puts forward some suggestions on the development of the Belt and Road comprehensive transportation.
Studies about disasters have focused on large-scale and extreme weather events. However, slow-onset hazards such as drought-like seasons and monsoons also pose challenges since they are dynamic and experienced differently from place to place. This paper shows how difficulties in livelihood of the agricultural sector can be made evident using a place-based approach for identifying vulnerability in an island setting. A household survey was conducted to gather perceptions of hazard impacts and coping strategies for extreme weather events and pervasive hazards. Results show that the perceived impacts of hazards differ by events, and respondents cope with extreme weather events and pervasive hazards in almost the same ways. The coping strategies include diversification of livelihood and mutual help, a common tradition among Philippine villages. Community-based disaster risk management strategies through indigenous ways also enabled the island community to bridge the interventions of the national government to the local context in terms of reducing risks. In conclusion, a place-based approach adds value to the current way of assessing vulnerability as it shows that social vulnerability is more dynamic in the local context, and social bonding is crucial for coping during difficult times.
Belinda Rina Marie Spagnoletti, Linda Rae Bennett, Christina Keenan
et al.
Plain language summary Multiple factors shape the quality of life of women affected by gynaecological cancers in Asian countries as elsewhere. We identified 53 articles reporting on 48 studies, most conducted in high- and upper-middle income East Asian countries, with much less attention to women in lower income countries in South and Southeast Asia. Most studies used quantitative research methods to gain an understanding of the impact on women diagnosed with cervical or ovarian cancer who had completed treatment. Women’s quality of life was shaped by their mental and physical health, their support needs, and the changes they experienced in sexual function and sexuality.
The summer (June through September) monsoon 2020 has been very erratic with episodes of heavy and devastating rains, landslides and catastrophic winds over South Asia (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh), East Asia (China, Korea, and Japan), and Southeast Asia (Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia). The withdrawal of the summer monsoon over India was delayed by 2 weeks. The monsoon season over East Asia has been the longest. China recorded a Dam burst in the twentieth century. Furthermore, the Korean Peninsula has experienced back-to-back severe tropical cyclones. Could the lockdown activities initiate to control the COVID-19 spread a possible cause for these major episodes? The strict enforcement of the lockdown regulations has led to a considerable reduction of air pollutants—dust and aerosols throughout the world. A recent study based on satellites and merged products has documented a statistically significant mean reduction of about 20, 8, and 50% in nitrogen dioxide, Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and PM 2.5 concentrations, respectively over the megacities across the globe. Our analysis reveals a considerable reduction of about 20% in AOD over South as well as over East Asia, more-over East Asia than over South Asia. The reduced aerosols have impacted the strength of the incoming solar radiation as evidenced by enhanced warming, more-over the land than the oceans. The differential warming over the land and the ocean has resulted in the amplification of the meridional ocean-land thermal contrast and strengthening of the monsoon flow. These intense features have supported the surplus transport of moisture from the oceans towards the main lands. Some similarity between the anomalous rainfall pattern and the anomalous AOD pattern is discernable. In particular, the enhancement of rainfall, the reduction in AOD and the surface temperature warming match very well over two regions one over West-Central India and the other over the Yangzte River Valley. Results further reveal that the heavy rains over the Yangzte River Valley could be associated with the preceding reduced aerosols, while the heavy rains over West-Central India could be associated with reduced aerosols and also due to the surface temperature warming.
Abstract ‘The Belt and Road’ is a cooperation strategy between China and the relevant countries. The strategy is involved with 65 countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Southern Europe, and Eastern Africa, etc. It is significant to accelerate sustainable economic development, strengthen technical and cultural exchanges. As a key part of infrastructure, electricity plays an important role in paving the way for ‘The Belt and Road’. Meanwhile, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the first station of ‘Maritime Silk Road’ is a key node of China's diplomacy. Therefore, it is required for China to reinforce electricity cooperation with ASEAN countries. This study firstly analyzes resources and demands of electricity sectors in ASEAN countries in the aspects of installed capacity, electricity consumption and electricity planning. Subsequently, electricity cooperation opportunities, complementary advantages and cooperative paths between China and ASEAN countries are further explored based on previous bilateral and multi-lateral cooperation. Then a strategic program is formulated for China-ASEAN electricity cooperation. Finally, the strategic recommendations for China-ASEAN electricity cooperation are proposed from two aspects of national macro-layout and strategic promotion route. It provides references for facilitating overall arrangement of electricity infrastructure in China under ‘The Belt and Road’.
To assess the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic and incidence trends in areas and countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, we analyzed the prevalence, diagnosis, and treatment of tuberculosis through consulting the data of the World Health Organization’s Global Tuberculosis Report. We estimated the tuberculosis incidence trends in these countries using joinpoint regression. Among the 65 countries along the route, in addition to Palestine with no relevant data, the incidence rate was 181.5 per 100,000, and the mortality rate was 23.1 per 100,000 in 2018. Both the incidence rates in 26 countries and the mortalities in 32 countries were higher than in China. Among the regions, the incidence and mortality of tuberculosis were the highest in South Asia, East Asia, and The Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) countries, while the tuberculosis detection rate and positive bacteriological rate were the lowest in East Asia and ASEAN countries. Average yearly incidence rose from 235.7 per 100,000 in 2004 to 181.5 per 100,000 in 2018 (average annual percentage change 1.9%) in these countries. Although TB incidence of most countries along the Belt and Road Initiative was declining, the rate of decrease was not yet fast enough. Therefore, it is essential to establish the exchange and cooperation mechanism of TB prevention and control experience among different countries, strengthen information communication and sharing, and explore a cross-border notification system. In addition, TB detection of international travelers should be carried out and improved.
Infectious and parasitic diseases, Public aspects of medicine
Background African horse sickness, a transboundary and non-contagious arboviral infectious disease of equids, has spread without any warning from sub-Saharan Africa towards the Southeast Asian countries in 2020. It is imperative to predict the global distribution of Culicoides imicola (C. imicola), which was the main vector of African horse sickness virus. Methods The occurrence records of C. imicola were mainly obtained from the published literature and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility database. The maximum entropy algorithm was used to model the current distribution suitability and future dynamics of C. imicola under climate change scenarios. Results The modeling results showed that the currently suitable habitats for C. imicola were distributed in most of the southern part areas of America, southwestern Europe, most of Africa, the coastal areas of the Middle East, almost all regions of South Asia, southern China, a few countries in Southeast Asia, and the whole Australia. Our model also revealed the important environmental variables on the distribution of C. imicola were temperature seasonality, precipitation of coldest quarter, and mean temperature of wettest quarter. Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) is an assumption of possible greenhouse gases emissions in the future. Under future climate change scenarios, the area of habitat suitability increased and decreased with time, and RCP 8.5 in the 2070s gave the worst prediction. Moreover, the habitat suitability of C. imicola will likely expand to higher latitudes. The prediction of this study is of strategic significance for vector surveillance and the prevention of vector-borne diseases.
Panna Chandra Nath, Arun Jyoti Nath, Demsai Reang
et al.
Shifting cultivation, the oldest farming system of the world and is the dominant land use in mountainous regions of South and Southeast Asia. North-East India (NEI) region, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, covers 17.2 million ha of land under forests, constituting ~25% of India's total forest area. The population-driven abrupt decline of the fallow period's duration has aggravated soil erosion, depletion of nutrients, decreased productivity, reduced biodiversity, and weakening of essential ecosystem services. Therefore, the present research aims to explore whether the duration of the fallow period of up to 20-years can restore diversity of tree species, biomass carbon, and ecosystem carbon stock equivalent to those under natural forests. Based on the accessibility and availability of the fallow stands, three categories were selected for the study (1–2, 5–8, and 15–20 years), and these were replicated eight times for each age group. While the 20-years of fallow increased tree diversity, it was still 22% lower than that of the natural forest. Similarly, a 2.7-fold increase in biomass carbon storage was observed with an increase in the fallow period from 5–8-years (33.4 Mg ha−1) to 15–20-years (92.9 Mg ha−1), yet the latter was 40% lower than that under the natural forests. The very labile and labile carbon stocks decreased with increase in the fallow period. In contrast, the less labile and non-labile carbon stocks increased with increase in the fallow age. Because of the absence of a long fallow management system in the region, and to minimize the risks of ecosystem carbon degradation, adopting an integrated approach is recommended to enhance the ecological integrity of the degraded lands under shifting cultivation while also improving the livelihood of the shifting cultivators.
A better understanding of the water and energy cycles at climate scale in the Third Pole Environment is essential for assessing and understanding the causes of changes in the cryosphere and hydrosphere in relation to changes of plateau atmosphere in the Asian monsoon system and for predicting the possible changes in water resources in South and East Asia. This paper reports the following results: (1) A platform of in situ observation stations is briefly described for quantifying the interactions in hydrosphere-pedosphere-atmosphere-cryosphere-biosphere over the Tibetan Plateau. (2) A multiyear in situ L-Band microwave radiometry of land surface processes is used to develop a new microwave radiative transfer modeling system. This new system improves the modeling of brightness temperature in both horizontal and vertical polarization. (3) A multiyear (2001–2018) monthly terrestrial actual evapotranspiration and its spatial distribution on the Tibetan Plateau is generated using the surface energy balance system (SEBS) forced by a combination of meteorological and satellite data. (4) A comparison of four large scale soil moisture products to in situ measurements is presented. (5) The trajectory of water vapor transport in the canyon area of Southeast Tibet in different seasons is analyzed, and (6) the vertical water vapor exchange between the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere in different seasons is presented.
Introduction The majority of low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) have incomplete death registration systems and so the proportion of deaths that occur at home (ie, home death percentage) is generally unknown. However, home death percentage is important to estimate population-level causes of death from integration of data of deaths at home (verbal autopsies) and in hospitals (medical certification), and to monitor completeness of death notification and verbal autopsy data collection systems. This study proposes a method to estimate home death percentage using data readily available at the national and subnational level.Methods Data on place of death from 152 country-years in 49 countries from 2005 to 2019, predominantly from vital registration systems, were used to model home death percentage standardised for population age and cause distribution. A national-level model was developed using Bayesian model averaging to estimate national, regional and global home death percentage. A subnational-level model was also developed and assessed in populations where alternative data on home death percentage were available.Results Globally, it is estimated that 53.4% (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 50.8%–55.9%) of deaths occur at home, slightly higher (59.7%, 95% UI 56.5%–62.7%) in LMICs, substantially higher in low-income countries (79.5%, 95% UI 77.3%–81.5%) and much lower (27.3%, 95% UI 25.2%–29.6%) in high-income countries. Countries with the highest home death percentage are mostly found in South, East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (above 90% in Ethiopia, Chad and South Sudan). As expected, the national model has smaller error than the subnational model.Conclusion The study demonstrates substantial diversity in the location of deaths in LMICs and fills a significant gap in knowledge about where people die, given its importance for health systems and policies. The high proportion of deaths in LMICs that occur at home reinforces the need for routine verbal autopsy to determine the causes of death.
Medicine (General), Infectious and parasitic diseases
Background and Objectives: In the late 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was identified as the cause of an outbreak of acute respiratory illness known as the COVID-19, which began to spread in the world very quickly. Preventive measures have been a significant issue in preventing the spread of COVID-19. This rapid review study was conducted to summarize selected countrieschr('39') preventive policies and strategies in the East and Southeast Asia, including China, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Singapore, during the COVID-19 epidemic.
Methods: In this rapid review study, the Scopus, PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases were searched. The keywords applied in the search strategy were primary health care, public health, prevent* and plan, policy, program, initiative, intervention, measure, and COVID-19 in addition to the name of each country. Furthermore, we searched the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) websites to retrieve more key sources as grey literature. The relevant data were extracted from the final studies and categorized.
Results: After screening, 33 studies met the inclusion criteria. Dominant measures implemented in these countries were categorized into different categories including communication and information, physical distancing, quarantine, monitoring, and testing axes.
Conclusion: Education and information, extensive testing and screening, contact tracing, isolation of infected and suspected cases, and observance of physical distancing has been very effective in reducing Covid-19 transmission and its mortality.
Medical emergencies. Critical care. Intensive care. First aid
Abstract The Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is a small to medium sized mammal, reaching a total length of about 90 cm, and a weight of 3–5 kg, but individuals may weigh more than 8 kg. The species is distributed in East Asia and parts of northern Southeast and South Asia, inhabiting primary and secondary tropical forest, limestone, bamboo, mixed coniferous and broadleaf forest, hill forest, grasslands and agricultural fields. Nocturnal and solitary, the species predates primarily on ants but also termites, and digs burrows in order to find prey and for shelter. There is little quantitative data on populations, but there have been severe declines in China and parts of mainland Southeast Asia, and declines are suspected across the species’ range. The Chinese pangolin is threatened by overexploitation, and is hunted and poached for local consumption and international use, and is trafficked to countries including China. Habitat loss is also a threat.