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Abstract. A magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurred on 28 September 2018 at 10:02:43 UTC
near the city of Palu on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. It was a
shallow, strike-slip earthquake with a rupture extending to a length of about
150 km and reaching the surface. Moreover, this earthquake was identified as
one of very few events having a super-shear rupture speed. Clear and long-lasting infrasound signatures related to this event were
observed by four infrasound arrays of the International Monitoring System of
the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization as well as by one
national infrasound station in Singapore. Although these infrasound stations
SING (Singapore), I39PW (Palau), I07AU (Australia), I40PG (Papua New Guinea)
and I30JP (Japan) are located at large distances of between 1800 and 4500 km
from the earthquake's epicentral region, the observed infrasound signals
associated with this event were intense, including both seismic and acoustic
arrivals. A detailed study of the event-related infrasound observations and the
potential infrasound generation mechanisms is presented, covering
range-dependent infrasound transmission loss and propagation modeling and
characterization of the atmospheric background conditions, as well as
identification of the regions of seismoacoustic activity by applying a back-projection method from the infrasound receivers to potential source regions.
This back projection of infrasonic arrivals allows one to estimate that the main
infrasound source region for the Sulawesi earthquake is related to the
extended rupture zone and the nearby topography. This estimation and a
comparison to other super-shear as well as large regional earthquakes
identify no clear connection between the earthquake's super-shear nature
and the strong infrasound emission.

Every year, the US business magazine Fortune selects 500 global companies based on their annual revenue. Despite its many limitations, the Fortune Global 500 rankings provide a useful reference to the economic power and global competitiveness of each country. The 2018 results show that six Southeast Asian companies made the Fortune Global 500. Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia had one each and three are from Singapore. When compared with other Asian countries, these numbers are small. China had 161 companies on the list, Japan 55 and Korea 17. When standardized by the size of each economy, the number of Fortune 500 companies per USD 1 trillion dollars of GDP is 2.2 for Thailand, 3.2 for Malaysia, 1.0 for Indonesia and 9.3 for Singapore. This is similar to 2.7 in India, yet significantly smaller than 10 each for China, Japan and Korea. Looking at individual Southeast Asian companies on the Fortune Global 500 list reveals further insights into the region's corporate sector. The top company in the region is Thailand's oil and gas giant PTT, ranked 163rd with a revenue of USD 58.8 billion. The second place went to Malaysia's Petronas, ranked 191st with a revenue of USD 52 billion. The third place was taken by Indonesia's Pertamina, ranked 253rd with a revenue of UDS 43 billion. Three Singaporean companies made the list, yet only one can be reasonably considered a genuine Singaporean firm while the others include an asset-holding investment group hailing from Switzerland and an electronic company co-headquartered in California, US. The only remaining Singaporean company is Wilmar International, a commodity trading company specialized in palm oil. It ranked 248th on the Fortune Global 500 with a revenue of USD 44 billion.

This data article provides macroeconomic data that can be used to generate macroeconomic volatility. The data cover a sample of seven selected countries in the Asia Pacific region for the period 2004–2014, including both developing and developed countries. This dataset was generated to enhance our understanding of the sources of macroeconomic volatility affecting the countries in this region. Although the Asia Pacific region continues to remain as the most dynamic part of the world's economy, it is not spared from various sources of macroeconomic volatility through the decades. The reported data cover 15 types of macroeconomic data series, representing three broad categories of indicators that can be used to proxy macroeconomic volatility. They are indicators that account for macroeconomic volatility (i.e. volatility as a macroeconomic outcome), domestic sources of macroeconomic volatility and external sources of macroeconomic volatility. In particular, the selected countries are Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines, which are regarded as developing countries, while Singapore, Japan and Australia are developed countries. Despite the differences in level of economic development, these countries were affected by similar sources of macroeconomic volatility such as the Asian Financial Crisis and the Global Financial Crisis. These countries were also affected by other similar external turbulence arising from factors such as the global economic slowdown, geopolitical risks in the Middle East and volatile commodity prices. Nonetheless, there were also sources of macroeconomic volatility which were peculiar to certain countries only. These were generally domestic sources of volatility such as political instability (for Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines), natural disasters and anomalous weather conditions (for Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan and Australia) and over-dependence on the electronic sector (for Singapore).

The World Bank's East Asia-Pacific region received a trust fund from the Korean government to promote skills development and job creation in the region including in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar,Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam over a period of three years, starting in June2014. The three-year grant program has a broad objective to promote effective policies and programs in skills development and job creation. It aims to: 1) Develop a knowledge base on skills supply, demand and systems by conductinganalytical work with innovative methodological approaches; 2) Provide a forum on National Competency Standards as well as National and RegionalQualifications Frameworks within ASEAN+3 countries; and 3) Promote dissemination and learning exchanges on promising policies and programs inskills development and job creation within and beyond the East Asia-Pacific region,including examples of best practices.Specifically, in Component (2) of the program it was identified that there is aneed to take stock of the current country level progress and challenges with regard to development of national competency standards and national qualifications frameworks (NQF). Further, there is a need to understand the various types of standards currently being used in different countries and their definitions, comparability, and the process and stakeholders involved in the development of such standards. Finally, it is important toevaluate to what extent they truly reflect the requirements of today and tomorrow's labour market demands.This synthesis report brings together research undertaken in 12 participating EAP countries (Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines,Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) who responded to a survey related to national qualifications systems, including the barriers and issues facing implementation of quality assurance strategies such as NQF development, existence and implementation.

This journal entitled "Comparative Study Concerning The Principles of Government's Shares in State Owned Enterprise". Problems being research in this thesis are, first: the legal standing of the state's equity in Persero according to Indonesian corporate law and its comparison to Singapore corporate law. The second problem, what are legal implications of the government's shares in Persero. The method being used is normative legal research through legislation and regulation approach and comparative approach. Legal materials used are primary legal materials, legal materials and secondary and tertiary legal materials, the analysis done by descriptive, evaluative, interpretative, analytical and argumentative. This research shows that according to Indonesian corporate law, the state's equity being placed in Persero belongs to Persero and according to Singapore Law, the government's equity being placed in Persero as the Government Linked Company belongs to the said company. Legal consequences of the government equity in Persero are: the management of the said equity is no longer subject to state budget's principals but to good corporate government principals; contracts made by Persero binds Persero and not the government, hence compliance and liability arising from the said contracts are Persero's liability only and therefore Persero's claim arising from contracts belong to the said Persero. However, in practical level, there are still some inconsistency in Persero's equity treatment (i.e. financial audit and Persero's inability to act as the guarantor to another company). On the other side, the Government of Singapore's equity in Temasek is managed by corporate mechanism and almost without government intervention (except for past reserves). Therefore Temasek is free to make any contract with third parties and can act as the guarantor for its subsidiary.

Abstract Background Anti-viral prophylaxis is used to prevent the transmission of influenza. We studied serological confirmation of 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) infections during oseltamivir prophylaxis and after cessation of prophylaxis. Methods Between 22 Jun and 16 Jul 09, we performed a cohort study in 3 outbreaks in the Singapore military where post-exposure oseltamivir ring chemoprophylaxis (75 mg daily for 10 days) was administered. The entire cohort was screened by RT-PCR (with HA gene primers) using nasopharyngeal swabs three times a week. Three blood samples were taken for haemagglutination inhibition testing - at the start of outbreak, 2 weeks after completion of 10 day oseltamivir prophylaxis, and 3 weeks after the pandemic's peak in Singapore. Questionnaires were also administered to collect clinical symptoms. Results 237 personnel were included for analysis. The overall infection rate of 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) during the three outbreaks was 11.4% (27/237). This included 11 index cases and 16 personnel (7.1%) who developed four-fold or higher rise in antibody titres during oseltamivir prophylaxis. Of these 16 personnel, 8 (3.5%) were symptomatic while the remaining 8 personnel (3.5%) were asymptomatic and tested negative on PCR. Post-cessation of prophylaxis, an additional 23 (12.1%) seroconverted. There was no significant difference in mean fold-rise in GMT between those who seroconverted during and post-prophylaxis (11.3 vs 11.7, p = 0.888). No allergic, neuropsychiatric or other severe side-effects were noted. Conclusions Post-exposure oseltamivir prophylaxis reduced the rate of infection during outbreaks, and did not substantially increase subsequent infection rates upon cessation. Asymptomatic infections occur during prophylaxis, which may confer protection against future infection. Post-exposure prophylaxis is effective as a measure in mitigating pandemic influenza outbreaks.

PurposeThe primary purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between intellectual capital disclosures in initial public offerings (IPOs) and post‐issue stock performance.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on a sample of 259 IPOs listing on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) between July 1, 1999 and June 30, 2005. Post‐issue stock performance is measured using market‐adjusted buy‐and‐hold returns across a 500 trading day observation window after listing. Intellectual capital disclosure is measured using an 81‐item index.FindingsThe study's major finding is a negative association between the level of intellectual capital disclosure in IPO prospectuses and post‐issue stock performance. The negative association persists regardless of industry type but is stronger for small IPOs relative to larger counterparts.Research limitations/implicationsThe study includes only Singapore IPOs within a specific timeframe concentrating on a single disclosure mechanism. Furthermore, the analysis focuses on an association rather than causal relationship.Practical implicationsThe findings imply greater intellectual capital prospectus disclosure may contribute to investor over‐optimism leading to higher IPO mispricing. As information becomes available post‐issue, and over‐optimistic expectations are not immediately met, investors aggressively discount shares leading to greater negative post‐issue stock performance for high IC disclosing IPOs. Pre‐listing owners/management may exploit the speculative environment generating higher wealth transfers from investors. Policymakers may need to introduce (some) uniform intellectual capital disclosure requirements to reduce speculative market conditions.Originality/valueThis paper documents the first study to provide empirical evidence of the association between intellectual capital disclosures and post‐issue stock performance; thus, it offers a new path for future intellectual capital disclosure research and understanding.

AbstractEasier travel and communication technologies, together with the global demand and supply labour market exchanges occurring under post‐Fordist capitalism, create the conditions that make transnational family formations more common than before. Geographically dispersed family members are governed by different citizenship regimes that affect familial interactions and the possibility of family reunification. Such family formations have significant implications for the nation‐state framework and the way that citizenship is practised in a transnational world. Singapore, a young city‐state in Southeast Asia, provides an insightful case‐study to examine migrant motivations and citizenship behaviour. The political leaders in Singapore represent the nation‐state's internationalising drive – which includes encouraging Singaporeans to live and work overseas for a period of time – and its domestic nation‐building goals as strategies that are both necessary and yet in tension with one another.This paper draws on discourse analysis to examine the ways in which the Singaporean state plays upon familial logics and citizenship regulations as one of its strategies to bind overseas citizens to the country. I also employ findings from in‐depth interviews with Singaporean transmigrants in London to discuss the manner in which the above considerations frame their decisions on migration and citizenship. In doing so, I argue that research on migration and the transnational family should consider how they both articulate and are in turn articulated by the nation‐state. I then show how my research results have important implications for citizenship policymaking in a transnational world, particularly with respect to gendered familial discourses and nation‐building processes. I also suggest that my research findings indicate areas for further academic enquiry into the morphology, strategies and temporality of transnational family formations.

AbstractNegative word‐of‐mouth is one form of consumer response to dissatisfaction that has received Utile attention from business firms, yet it is a silent and potent force that is capable of wreaking havoc on a firrn's bottomline. This study examines the influence of some individual and situational factors affecting negative word‐ofmouth behaviour. The results reveal that product involvement, purchase decision involvement, self‐confidence, perceived worthiness of complaining, and proximity of others ajfect negative word‐of‐mouth behaviour in both Singapore and Canada. Two additional factors, attitudes towards business in generai and the perceived reputation of the firrn, affect negative word‐of‐mouth behaviour in the Singapore sample, while an additional factor, sociability, affects negative word‐of‐mouth behaviour in the Canadian sample.RésuméLe bouche à oreille négatif est une forme de réponse des consommateurs à leur propre insatisfaction qui a reçu peu d'attention de la part des entreprises, et qui cependant, représente une force silencieuse et puissante, capable de nuire aux succès de l'entreprise. Cette étude examine l'influence de facteurs individuels et situationnels sur les comportements de bouche à oreille négatif.Les résultats révèlent que le degré de contact avec le produit, le degré d'implication dans la décision d'achat, la confiance en soi, la perception qu'a le consommateur du suivi donné à une éventuelle plainte, et l'influence d'autrui affectent les comportements de bouche à oreille négatif, aussi bien à Singapour qu'au Canada. Deux facteurs supplémentaires, l'attitude vis‐à‐vis du monde des affaires en général et la réputation de l'entreprise, affectent le bouche à oreille négatif dans l'échantillon singapourien, alors qu'un facteur supplémentaire, la sociabilité, influence le bouche à oreille négatif dans l'échantillon canadien.

Includes bibliographical references ; published_or_final_version ; Introduction / D.J. Dwyer pvii ; Conference participants p285 ; Economic, social and political change ; Population dynamics ; Housing problems ; The future of the Asian City ; 1 Urbanization and economic growth (3 tables) / Bert F. Hoselitz p3 ; 2 The Manilenos: significant elites in Urban Development and Nation-building in the Philippines (7 tables) / Leandro A. Viloria p16 ; 3 Becoming an Urbanite: the neighbourhood as a learning environment / Mary R. Hollnsteiner p29 ; 4 The Asian City and the Political Process / Aprodicio A. Laquian p41 ; 5 Urbanization processes in developing countries: a Markov Chain Approach / R. S. Mathieson p59 ; 6 Geographic mobility of Industrial Workers in India: a case study of four factory labour forces / Stewart F. Richards p72 ; 7 Population dynamics and contemporary Singapore / Warwick Neville p96 ; 8 Rural-Urban migration in a plural society: a case study of Malays in West Malaysia / T.G. McGee p108 ; 9 Kampong Pandan: a study of a Malay Kampong in Kuala Lumpur / W.D. McTaggart and R. McEachern p125 ; 10 Urban Housing and economic development / William L.C. and Margaret F. Wheaton p141 ; 11 Economics of Housing Policy in development nations / Wallace F. Smith p152 ; 12 Attitudes towards spontaneous settlement in third world cities / D.J. Dwyer p166 ; 13 Housing and planned urban change: the Calcutta experience / Colin Rosser p179 ; 14 Housing problems in Urban Korea / Chung-Hyun Ro p191 ; 15 Public and private housing in Hong Kong / Keith Hopkins p200 ; 16 Some social implications of rehousing programmes in Singapore / Ann Wee p216 ; 17 Innovative techniques in low cost housing: the North Bengal experience / Sujit Banerji p231 ; 18 Planning the future of Bangkok / Larry Sternstein p243 ; 19 Future development stages for Seoul / Tai-Joon Kwon p255 ; 20 Planning the future of the Asian City / Norton Ginsbury p269