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Asian Century; Asia's middle class; Urbanisation in Asia; Asian demographic challenges; Democracy and politics in Asia; Asia's global value chains; Economic crime in Asia; Power transition in Asia; China and US rivalry; Inclusive growth in Asia

Asian Century; Asia's middle class; Urbanisation in Asia; Asian demographic challenges; Democracy and politics in Asia; Asia's global value chains; Economic crime in Asia; Power transition in Asia; China and US rivalry; Inclusive growth in Asia

When the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was created half a century ago in 1961, its members accounted for the lion's share of the world economy and that remained the case for almost three decades. Major international developments occurred from the late 1980s like the end of the Cold War; and the return of stability, open markets and democracy to Latin America. But the OECD countries' global economic predominance was only really challenged by the rise of East Asia through its export-oriented growth strategies. The OECD responded to all these developments by inviting countries to join the Organisation and participate in outreach activities. But what is striking in this opening of the OECD membership is the lack of a visible presence of Asia and a growing "eurocentricity". The OECD's membership has grown by 10 countries (to 34) over the past 17 years, but only one of these new members (Korea) comes from Asia. Based on current trends, the OECD seems condemned to represent an ever declining share of the world economy. As the OECD enters its second half century, it is very much at a crossroads. This paper argues that for the OECD to be a more effective and legitimate player in global governance, it needs to make a major and immediate effort to recruit large Asian countries as members, even if it means adopting a more flexible approach to membership criteria and adapting the organisation. While Asia's leading economies would have much to gain from joining the OECD and accepting and committing to the Organisation's policy standards, the OECD has to recognize that the global financial crisis has brought the "Western brand" (which the OECD represents) into serious disrepute. This underlines the argument for greater flexibility with respect to membership criteria. As major beneficiaries of globalization, Asia's leading economies arguably have a responsibility to adopt more of the OECD's values-based culture in terms of good governance and transparency. Just as importantly Asia can contribute to this organizational culture which has always evolved and needs to evolve further. This would ultimately be beneficial to them and the global economy, and they would thereby become more responsible stakeholders in the global system. ; Cuando la OCDE fue creada hace medio siglo, en 1961, sus miembros representan la mayor parte de la economía mundial y esa proporción se mantuvo durante las tres décadas siguientes. Algunos acontecimientos internacionales tuvieron importancia durante la década de 1980, como el final de la Guerra Fría, el inicio de una nueva fase de estabilidad y apertura de los mercados y la instauración de la democracia en América Latina. Pero el predominio de los países de la OCDE en economía mundial fue tan sólo desafiado por las economías de Asia Oriental, como resultado de sus estrategias de crecimiento orientado a la exportación. La OCDE respondió a todos estos acontecimientos, invitando a los países a integrarse en la organización y participar en algunas de sus actividades de difusión. Pero lo que sorprende en esa apertura de la OCDE es la falta de presencia relevante de Asia y un creciente "eurocentrismo". En los últimos 17 años, los países miembros de la OCDE han aumentado en diez (34), pero sólo uno de estos nuevos miembros (Corea) proviene de Asia. Sobre la base de las tendencias actuales, la OCDE parece condenada a representar un porcentaje cada vez menor de la economía mundial. La OCDE entra así en su segundo medio siglo en una encrucijada. Este documento sostiene que para que la OCDE sea un agente más eficaz y legítimo en la gobernanza mundial, es necesario que haga un esfuerzo importante e inmediato para integrar grandes países asiáticos como miembros de pleno derecho, incluso si esto significa la adopción de un enfoque más flexible de los criterios de ampliación y adaptación de la organización. Mientras que las principales economías de Asia tienen mucho que ganar al integrarse a la OCDE, aceptando y comprometiéndose con las normas de política de la organización, la OCDE tiene que reconocer que la crisis financiera mundial tiene un claro carácter "occidental" (representativa de la OCDE) que implica un grave descrédito. Esto pone de relieve el argumento que exige una mayor flexibilidad con respecto a los criterios de adhesión Como principales beneficiarios de la globalización, las principales economías de Asia tendrían la responsabilidad de adoptar una la cultura basada en los valores de la OCDE, tanto en términos de buen gobierno como de transparencia. Asimismo, estos países pueden contribuir a una cultura que ha permitido evolucionar a la organización. En última instancia, esto sería beneficioso para Asia y la economía mundial, y constituiría a los países asiáticos en agentes más responsables en el sistema global.

A husband and wife, both medical professionals, are gravely ill. Rather than living in pain, they choose to end their lives, and they turn to their son for help. Despite the legal risks and certain emotional turmoil, he agrees-and ultimately performs an act of love more difficult than any other.The Last Goodnights provides a unique, powerful, and unflinching look inside the reality of one of the most galvanizing issues of our time: assisted suicide. Told with intensity and bare honesty, John West's account of the deaths of two brave people is gritty and loving, frightening and illuminating, ne

Currently Australian pre-service teachers' levels of personal numeracy are under a great deal of scrutiny. There are calls for universities to raise entry standards into teaching degrees and counter-calls that the output of universities should be gauged rather than inputs. In 2015, doubts about the ability of graduate teachers to convey the desired skills, knowledge and attitudes in mathematics led the Australian Government to mandate the introduction of the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students. From 2017, all pre-service teachers in Australia will be required to pass prior to graduation. The present research sought to identify specific areas of support that may be needed by first year primary education students in order to meet the anticipated numeracy requirements of the test.Students' understandings were inferred from the analysis of the examination scripts of 471 first year primary education students. Common errors were identified and coded to reveal aspects of students' mathematical content knowledge requiring further attention. The results suggested that students would benefit from further support in areas such as operations with fractions, order of operations, line symmetry, converting fractions to decimals, and metric conversions. The results were used to inform the development of a series of online numeracy support videos. The perceived efficacy of these resources was examined in a series of focus group interviews conducted with students, leading to recommendations for the subsequent development and deployment of online numeracy support resources.

The efficiency of pulmonary gas exchange has long been assessed using the alveolar-arterial difference in PO(2), the A-aDO(2), a construct developed by Richard Riley ~70years ago. However, this measurement is invasive (requiring an arterial blood sample), time consuming, expensive, uncomfortable for the patients, and as such not ideal for serial measurements. Recent advances in the technology now provide for portable and rapidly responding measurement of the PO(2) and PCO(2) in expired gas, which combined with the well-established measurement of arterial oxygen saturation via pulse oximetry (SpO(2)) make practical a non-invasive surrogate measurement of the A-aDO(2), the oxygen deficit. The oxygen deficit is the difference between the end-tidal PO(2) and the calculated arterial PO(2) derived from the SpO(2) and taking into account the PCO(2), also measured from end-tidal gas. The oxygen deficit shares the underlying basis of the measurement of gas exchange efficiency that the A-aDO(2) uses, and thus the two measurements are well-correlated (r(2)~0.72). Studies have shown that the new approach is sensitive and can detect the age-related decline in gas exchange efficiency associated with healthy aging. In patients with lung disease the oxygen deficit is greatly elevated compared to normal subjects. The portable and non-invasive nature of the approach suggests potential uses in first responders, in military applications, and in underserved areas. Further, the completely non-invasive and rapid nature of the measurement makes it ideally suited to serial measurements of acutely ill patients including those with COVID-19, allowing patients to be closely monitored if required.

Abstract ContextFeral cat is a favoured food item in some Australian Indigenous communities. We describe how cats are hunted and whether cat hunting can contribute to the persistence of threatened species. AimsTo determine whether cat hunting by expert trackers has the potential to be an effective method of managing predation impacts on threatened species at key sites. MethodsWe recorded all cats captured on the Kiwirrkurra Indigenous protected area (Kiwirrkurra IPA) over a 5-year period by offering incentive payments for hunters to report their catch. For a subset of hunts, we measured the duration and distance of the hunt. We compared the frequency of occurrence of cat tracks in 2-ha track plots between the hunting zone and more remote, unmanaged areas. At a finer scale, we compared cat presence at bilby burrows inside and outside the hunting zone. Key resultsIn all, 130 cats were removed from the Kiwirrkurra IPA from 2014 to 2019. Hunts took an average of 62min to complete and a team of four hunters could catch up to four cats in a single day. Although cats still occurred throughout the hunting zone, we found that cat detections at track plots were less likely in the areas where cats were hunted. Long-term data suggest that threatened species have persisted better in areas where there is an active presence of hunters. ConclusionsCat hunting by Indigenous tracking experts is an efficient method of despatching cats at localised sites. Following footprints on foot facilitates the targeting of individual cats that are hunting at threatened species burrows. More rigorous studies are required to determine whether cat hunting significantly reduces predation on threatened species, or whether there are other co-benefits of maintaining a presence of hunters in the landscape (such as fine-scale fire management) that are more important for the persistence of vulnerable prey. Implications Wherever open sandy substrates occur, there is potential to employ Indigenous expert trackers to assist with the removal of problem cats, such as, for example, to complete cat eradication inside fenced reintroduction sites, or at times of peak prey vulnerability, such as breeding events or after bushfires.

AbstractAimsMagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have identified structural and functional differences in salience network nodes of individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) after chronic exposure to alcohol. However, no studies have investigated cerebral blood flow (CBF) in nontreatment-seeking (NTS) individuals with AUD.MethodsIn this work, we sought to quantify putative CBF deficits in NTS individuals relative to social drinking (SD) controls and determine if CBF in the salience network is associated with AUD severity. Fifteen NTS (36.5 ± 11.2 years old, 30.0 ± 22.7 drinks/week) and 22 SD (35.6 ± 11.9 years old, 9.1 ± 5.7 drinks/week) underwent pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling MRI.ResultsCompared with social drinkers, NTS individuals had significantly lower CBF in the right and left dorsal anterior insula, and the left ventral anterior and posterior insula. The Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) score showed a significant negative relationship with CBF in the bilateral caudal anterior cingulate cortex. In addition, a significant negative correlation was present between number of standard drinks consumed per week and the left frontal opercular CBF.ConclusionThese results provide evidence that insular CBF is negatively associated with heavy drinking, and that severity of alcohol use is related to CBF deficits in key nodes of the salience network. Longitudinal data are needed to understand if disruptions of CBF in the insula and the salience network are a predisposition for or a consequence of chronic AUD.