Challenges Facing India, Myanmar and Thailand: The Future of Democratic Progress

In addition to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, India, Myanmar and Thailand face a myriad of crises that pose a serious challenge to each society's democracy, development and equality. The chapter probes into the influence external powers may have on the region's democratic progress by asking the following questions: What are the implications of China's rise for the rest of Asia, and in particular, India, Myanmar and Thailand? Has China or the US contributed to the recent illiberal trends in the region? In any case, the effect of US-China relations in the region's security, development and the respect of democratic values will have an enduring and profound influence on Asia after the pandemic. As the world moves towards meeting UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is up to India, Myanmar, Thailand and other countries in Asia to also uphold them, including democratic values. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Sellers' inflation, profits and conflict: why can large firms hike prices in an emergency?

The dominant view of inflation holds that it is macroeconomic in origin and must always be tackled with macroeconomic tightening. In contrast, we argue that the US COVID-19 inflation is predominantly a sellers' inflation that derives from microeconomic origins, namely the ability of firms with market power to hike prices. Such firms are price makers, but they only engage in price hikes if they expect their competitors to do the same. This requires an implicit agreement which can be coordinated by sector-wide cost shocks and supply bot-tlenecks. We review the long-standing literature on price-setting in concentrated markets and survey earnings calls and compile firm-level data to derive a three-stage heuristic of the inflationary process: (1) Rising prices in systemically significant upstream sectors due to commodity market dynamics or bottlenecks create windfall profits and provide an impulse for further price hikes. (2) To protect profit margins from rising costs, downstream sectors propagate, or in cases of temporary monopolies due to bottlenecks, amplify price pressures. (3) Labor responds by trying to fend off real wage declines in the conflict stage. We argue that such sellers' inflation generates a general price rise which may be transitory, but can also lead to self-sustaining inflationary spirals under certain conditions. Policy should aim to contain price hikes at the impulse stage to prevent inflation from the onset.

An Competency Level and Implications of Resident Community on Managed Residential Environment Projects in Seoul-Focused on the 34 Community organizations in project areas of completion

This study analyzes the actual status and level of capacity of organization, activity, and accounting for the Seoul Metropolitan Government's managed residential environment improvement project and derives implications for future sustainability. Until now, the difference according to the type and composition of organizational competency has been insignificant, and in the case of activity competency, it tended to shrink due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the level of activity and accounting competency differed greatly depending on the competency within the organization, but there was an aspect of efforts to maintain such as operating reserves. This analysis result implies that the existing resident organizations were required to promote the conversion to cooperatives and CRCs to strengthen their independent operation, strengthen management and rational public support for existing resident communities through self and public monitoring. It is urgent to apply a step-by-step action plan that can fundamentally improve the financial soundness of a resident community. This study is meaningful in that it confirms the level of competence of the local community for this project and suggests a direction for self-reliant village management in the future. © 2023, Architectural Institute of Korea. All rights reserved.

Project (e)mergency Remote Instructional Skills Enhancement (e-RISE): Implications to Nursing Education in Times of a Global Health Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic urged higher learning institutions to initiate an agile response to ensure quality online teaching and learning. In response to the challenges of transitioning from traditional to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers explored the lessons uncovered from the (e)mergency Remote Instructional Skills Enhancement (e-RISE), an intervention that comprised a series of faculty mentoring sessions towards full adoption of an online platform for professional nursing courses. This action research utilized the Look, Think, Act cycle of Stringer (1996) involving eleven nurse faculty as participants. Using thematic analysis, various themes were revealed such as advancing technological knowledge and competence, accepting personal limitations, values acquisition, and teacher empowerment. Firstly, the technological knowledge and competence of the nurse faculty require further improvement. Secondly, the acceptance of personal limitations in terms of putting up online learning modules implies the need to enhance pedagogy and design. Values acquisition in terms of life skills was also dominant in response to the need to change and adapt during the pandemic -challenged teaching and learning. As another significant finding, reverse mentoring is highly recommended to sustain Project e -RISE. To make remote teaching and learning more feasible, effective, and efficient, teacher empowerment must be prioritized. Generally, the study findings suggest that Project e -RISE may be adopted by institutions of higher learning as a sustainable mechanism to capacitate the nurse faculty in their migration from traditional to remote teaching.

Africa's Strategic Pivots: From China's Rise to Tradeoff Between Battling Covid-19 and Violent Extremism

Spurred by the expansive shared prosperity of its Belt and Road Initiative, China was winning the economic component of its Great Power Competition with the United States in Africa. Then Covid-19 spread to Africa in February 2020. By spring Africa's honeymoon with China was over. China's Covid-19 related discrimination against Africa as well as disruption in both the supply chain and the Belt and Road Initiative weakened bilateral ties. While nobody expects China to lose its place as Africa's biggest bilateral lending and trading partner, Sino-African ties are strained. Not surprisingly, Africa turned inward and focused on its fight against the invisible Covid-19 enemy. But Africa soon found itself in a new tradeoff between battling Covid-19 and violent extremism. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Residential clustering of COVID-19 cases and efficiency of building-wide compulsory testing notices as a transmission control measure in Hong Kong.

We described the frequency of residential case clusters and the efficiency of compulsory testing in identifying cases using buildings targeted in compulsory testing and locally infected COVID-19 cases matched by residence in Hong Kong. Most of the buildings (4246/7688, 55.2%) with COVID-19 cases identified had only one reported case and 13% of the daily reported cases were detected through compulsory testing. Compulsory testing notices could be essential in attempting to eliminate infections ('zero covid') and impactful early in an epidemic but appears to be relatively inefficient in response to sustained community transmission.

Analysis of COVID-19 clusters involving vertical transmission in residential buildings in Hong Kong.

Multiple clusters of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hong Kong have involved vertical transmissions in residential buildings, wherein the flats of confirmed cases were often vertically aligned. Data on the buildings and cases associated with 19 such clusters were retrieved and compared with the corresponding data on the entirety of Hong Kong. Vertical transmissions usually occurred in old high-rise buildings with small flat areas and low estate prices during winter. In addition, infection occurred frequently among the elderly and among upstairs neighbours of index cases. Virus-laden aerosols may have been transmitted between flats mostly via shared drainpipes, and the vertical distribution of the confirmed cases in a building varied by its drainage system design. For buildings with their entire drainpipes installed indoors, both the upstairs and downstairs neighbours of the index case flats could be infected. By comparison, buildings with their drainage stacks installed outdoors had lower infection risks and demonstrated a clearer pattern of vertical transmission: most infected cases resided upstairs from the index case flats, indicating that the virus spread could be dominated by the stack effect. This study provides valuable data and analysis for developing epidemic control strategies for residential buildings. Electronic Supplementary Material ESM: The Appendix is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s12273-022-0929-5.

Some recent developments and testing strategies relating to the passive fire protection of concrete using intumescent coatings: a review

PurposeIn the present article, the authors have conducted a review on some of the recent developments given in the literature pertaining to the passive protection of concrete structures using intumescent coatings. Here, the main thrust is placed on the spalling phenomenon of concrete elements when exposed to elevated temperatures and fires.Design/methodology/approachIn this context, it has been long established that prolonged thermal insult on concrete members will lead to egress of water, both physically bound as well as those present as water of hydration within the concrete matrix, in the form of steam through microchannels and associated pathways of least resistance, often resulting in the flaking of the surface of the structure. The latter process can ultimately lead to the exposure of the ferrous-based reenforcement elements, for instance, to higher temperatures, thus inducing melting. This, in turn, can result in substantial loss of strength and load-bearing capacity of the structural element that is already undergoing disintegration of its base matrix owing to heat/fire. Even though spalling of concrete structures has long been recognized as a serious problem that can often lead to catastrophic failure of infrastructures, such as buildings, bridges and tunnels, the utility of intumescent coating as a mitigation strategy is relatively new and has not been explored to its fullest possible extent. Therefore, in the latter parts of the review, the authors have endeavored to discuss the different types of intumescent coatings, their modes of actions and, in particular, their wider applicability in terms of protecting concrete elements from detrimental effects of severe or explosive spalling.FindingsGiven that spalling of concrete components is still a very serious issue that can result in loss of lives and destruction of critical infrastructures, there is an urgent need to formulate better mitigating strategies, through novel means and methods. The use of the intumescent coating in this context appears to be a promising way forward but is one that seems to be little explored so far. Therefore, a more systematic investigation is highly warranted in this area, especially, as the authors envisage a greater activity in the building and commissioning of more infrastructures worldwide incommensurate with augmented economic activities during the post-COVID recovery period.Originality/valueThe authors have conducted a review on some of the recent developments given in the literature pertaining to the passive protection of concrete structures using intumescent coatings. The authors have also included the results from some recent tests carried out at the facilities using a newly commissioned state-of-the-art furnace.

Spatial Identification, Prevention and Control of Epidemics in High-Rise Residential Areas Based on Wind Environments

The wind environment in residential areas can exert a direct or indirect influence on the spread of epidemics, with some scholars paying particular attention to the epidemic prevention and control of residential areas from the perspective of wind environments. As a result, it is urgent to re-examine the epidemic prevention response of residential spaces. Taking high-rise residential areas in Xi'an as an example, the article defines the air flow field area based on on-site wind environment measurements, crowd behavior annotation, and CFD simulation. Using the double-effect superposition of crowd behavior and risk space, the paper undertook a multiple identification strategy of epidemic prevention space. The identification methods and management and control strategies of epidemic prevention in high-rise residential areas are proposed. Additionally, the living environment of residential areas is optimized, and a healthy residential space is created. The transformation from concept and calls for action to space implementation is made to provide a reference for improving the space management and control capabilities in high-rise residential areas in China. The results of this study can be used as a guideline for future residential planning and design from the perspective of preventing airborne diseases.

Community centres in increasingly diverse neighbourhoods: policies and practices of community building in post-war housing estates in Switzerland

This paper uses research conducted in Swiss post-war high-rise estates to focus on policies and practices of community building in neighbourhoods with an increasingly diverse population. Initially, the estates were mainly populated by Swiss and Southern European lower to middle income families, but latterly the household structures have become very heterogeneous with residents coming from all over the world. The planning and development policies of the estates are based on specific ideas about creating a community, which are still evident in the building and management of community centres but also in various facilities for common use (playgrounds, football and sport fields, community rooms and kitchens, libraries, petting zoos, cafés, crafts rooms, etc.). The community centres, along with community work, are key to encouraging encounters, connecting people and activating cultural life in the neighbourhoods and have played a pioneering role far beyond the boundaries of their respective estates. However, individualisation and pluralisation processes, the aging of the facilities and built structures, and economic pressures pose challenges for the community centres. The current Covid-19 crisis reinforces these challenges by limiting and impeding cultural activities and direct (physical) social encounters. The paper analyses the potential and the challenges of community building in the context of growing diversity among residents, and acknowledges what we can learn from these experiences when thinking about creating and strengthening communities in a multi-faceted world today. Copyright © 2022 (Althaus, E., Christensen, L.)

Month-Wise Investigation on Residential Load Consumption Impact during COVID-19 Period on Distribution Transformer and Practical Mitigation Solution

This paper investigates the month-wise impact of COVID-19 conditions on residential load due to people's presence at home during office hours in Memphis city, Tennessee, USA. The energy consumption patterns of four consumers are analyzed based on the data available from pre-COVID to continuing COVID-19 situations. It is observed that the energy consumptions from April 2020 to June 2021 for all families have increased during office hours than that of pre-COVID months. Therefore, the impacts of the increased loads on distribution transformer are analyzed in terms of hottest spot, top-oil temperature, and loss of transformer life. Moreover, an experimental setup is made to produce the harmonics in currents of non-linear residential load which has detrimental effects on temperature rise of distribution transformer. In addition, this work proposes implementation of harmonic filter at the load side considering the impact of harmonics produced by loads to reduce the temperature rise due to the increased load consumption and presence of harmonics in currents produced by the load. The rise in temperatures and the loss of life of distribution transformer with and without the proposed solutions are simulated in MATLAB to show the efficacy of the proposed solution. Moreover, cost value analysis among different methods, which can be implemented to reduce the adverse impact on distribution transformer, are provided to rank the available methods. © 2023 by the authors.

Local perspectives on the cultural significance of rejuvenated heritage shophouses in George Town, Penang

PurposeThis research presents a comparative perception study towards rejuvenated, community-driven shophouses in George Town, Penang.Design/methodology/approachIt captures the opinions of two distinct age groups by utilizing a mixed-methods approach encompassing quantitative (main) and qualitative (supporting) research to obtain a dynamic understanding of perceptions between younger and older residents in the city and how these impact the long-term sustainability of heritage conservation efforts. The distribution of questionnaires to residents of Penang was the primary data collection method, with the structure of the questionnaires supported by recent academic literature and past perceptional research studies about built heritage.FindingsThe four main findings from the study are therefore as follows: 1. Both age groups have a similar, positive perception towards the tangible, physical elements of rejuvenated shophouses. 2. Intangible, functional factors play an equal or stronger role in influencing people and their attitude towards public participation and overall "Sense of Place”. 3. The pessimistic "Sense of Place” responses from the "Older” group reflect an equally pessimistic attitude towards intangible, functional factors surrounding rejuvenated shophouses. 4. Youth-led changes to George Town's heritage shophouses are degrading the "sense of place” connecting the older generation to the city.Originality/valueThe study can serve as a guide for the development of more inclusive and socially sustainable conservation and adaptive re-use policies for safeguarding the heritage identity and value of shophouses for current and future generations to experience in a post-COVID world.

Situation Awareness Based Smart Contract for Modular Construction

Modular construction has been implemented to achieve shorter project duration, lower cost, and higher productivity for construction projects. This option is especially helpful to reduce on-site activities and interaction under and after COVID impact. However, additional planning and support in engineering, procurement, and delivery are required to facilitate modular construction. Unreliable prefabrication and delivery can deteriorate subsequent activity productivity and overall project performance. This research aims to develop an automatic incentive—penalty enforcement system for modular construction based on the situation awareness of delivery tracking. The research selected a high-rise residential project in Singapore as a case study. The project used modular construction for making and installing 120 Prefabricated Bathroom Units. Based on the empirical data of delivery, on-site lifting, and installation, we built STROBOSCOPE simulation models to understand the impact on productivity and schedule from five scenarios at various delivery reliability levels of the Prefabricated Bathroom Units. Smart Contract rules were developed based on the impact. A Blockchain platform was established so that once a real-time delivery is identified and the information is entered into the Smart Contract, the associated incentive or penalty can be triggered instantly. The Smart Contract based incentive—penalty enforcement system will be beneficial for construction projects to monitor and track modular delivery, motivate reliable supply, reduce payment disputes, and improve productivity. © 2023, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.

The mobilisation potential of anti-containment protests in Germany

The Covid-19 pandemic triggered polarisation across Europe. While most citizens supported governments' containment measures, others took to the streets and voiced their dissatisfaction. The article focuses on the mobilisation potential related to this heterogenous protest wave. It examines individuals that show sympathy and are willing to engage in anti-containment demonstrations based on 16 waves of a rolling cross-section survey fielded in Germany in 2020/2021. The results show a considerable and stable mobilisation potential: every fifth respondent sympathises with the protesters, and around 60% of those are ready to participate themselves. Political distrust, far-right orientations and an emerging 'freedom divide' structure the potential, as do Covid-19-related economic and health threats. Moreover, the findings indicate a radicalisation process and show how ideology and threat perceptions drive the step from sympathy to willingness to participate, suggesting that ideological polarisation may quickly spill over to the streets given an appropriate supply of protest opportunities.

The Persistence of Ethnopopulist Support: The Case of Rodrigo Duterte's Philippines

The past few years have seen an emergence of populist leaders around the world, who have not only accrued but also maintained support despite rampant criticism, governance failures, and the ongoing COVID pandemic. The Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte is the best illustration of this trend, with approval ratings rarely dipping below 80 percent. What explains his high levels of robust public support? We argue that Duterte is an ethnopopulist who uses ethnic appeals in combination with insider vs. outsider rhetoric to garner and maintain public support. Moreover, we argue that ethnic affiliation is a main driver of support for Duterte, and more important than alternative factors such as age, education, gender, or urban vs. rural divides. We provide evidence of Duterte's marriage of ethnic and populist appeals, then evaluate whether ethnicity predicts support for Duterte, using 15 rounds of nationally representative public opinion data. Identifying with a non-Tagalog ethnicity (like Duterte) leads to an 8 percent increase in approval for Duterte, significantly larger than any other explanatory factor. Among Duterte supporters, a non-Tagalog ethnicity is associated with 19 percent increase in strong versus mild support. Ethnicity is the only positive and significant result, suggesting that it strongly explains why Duterte's support remains robust. Alternative explanations, such as social desirability bias and alternative policy considerations, do not explain our results.

Chinese and Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Diplomacy during the Health Emergency Crisis

Health diplomacy has played a vital role worldwide during the coronavirus outbreak. One crucial mechanism in this regard has been "vaccine diplomacy," which describes country efforts to share COVID-19 vaccines. China and India are ahead of other countries in bilateral vaccine donations due to their South-South Cooperation policies. Looking forward, how and why are these two countries employing their vaccine diplomacy strategies? We compare the engagement of both in this field using a Comparative Foreign Policy Analysis framework. Our results suggest that neither is acting only for altruistic reasons, because economic and political interests are the main drivers behind their strategies.

Support for Small Businesses Amid COVID-19

How should the government support small and medium-sized enterprises amid a pandemic crisis while balancing the trade-off between short-run stabilization and long-run allocative efficiency? We develop a two-sector equilibrium model featuring small businesses with private information on their likely future success and a screening contract. Businesses in the sector adversely affected by a pandemic can apply for government loans to stay afloat. A pro-allocation government sets a harsh default sanction to deter entrepreneurs with poorer projects, thereby improving long-run productivity at the cost of persistent unemployment, whereas a pro-stabilization government sets a lenient default sanction. Interest rate effective lower bound leads to involuntary unemployment in the other open sector and shifts the optimal default sanction to a lenient stance. The rise in firm markups exerts the opposite effect. A high creative destruction wedge polarizes the government's hawkish and dovish stances, and optimal default sanction is more lenient, exacerbating resource misallocation. The model illuminates how credit guarantees might be structured in future crises.

High-Rise Residential Outdoor Space Value System: A Case Study of Yangtze River Delta Area.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has drawn wider attention from residents with growing demand for outdoor space in residential areas because of restrictions on residents' mobility, especially in China. However, the high-rise residential complex in China is featured with a high population density along with less outdoor space per household. This means that the current status of outdoor space in residential areas is far from satisfying residents' growing needs. This is consistent with our preliminary survey that highlights general low satisfaction of residents with outdoor space. According to the hierarchical theory of needs, a literature review, and a questionnaire survey, a framework is proposed in this study to examine the universal value system of high-rise residential outdoor space using the Yangtze River Delta Area as a case study. This framework consists of six dimensions, i.e., space physical comfort (physical environment and space size), space function (functional complexity and scale, age-range, and time-range), space safety (daily, social, and hygiene safety), space diversity (spatial layerings, forms, and scales diversity), accessibility (spatial attraction and concentration and path clarity) and sustainability (cultural, social, ecological, and financial sustainability). Consequently, a questionnaire was designed according to the framework and 251 valid questionnaires were received. Then, structural equation modeling (SEM) was undertaken to examine the impact of each dimension on the value of outdoor space and the framework was optimized into four dimensions, i.e., space physical comfort, space function, space safety, and DAT (space diversity, accessibility, and sustainability). Finally, the mechanism of how outdoor space quality influences the high-rise residential complex is analyzed. These findings provide useful input for the future planning and design of high-rise residential areas.

COVID-19 impact on Global Network Performance

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has created a profound impact on every sector of our life. The most significant effect of this global pandemic is "global lockdown.>> The lockdown has brought many changes in our lifestyle. One of the substantial changes in the usage of network connectivity. Many people have started to work from home, the number of online learning other uses like the OTT, social media, etc., have increased. It's observed that internet traffic has significantly increased by 25%-30%. In this paper, the authors have analyzed the global network connectivity performance concerning the changes in usage. They examined various service providers' or companies' feedback to these unprecedented conditions. The authors used secondary research methodology for quantitative analysis to understand the increase in usage. Also, this pandemic is opening up new opportunities for the service provider as this pandemic is accelerating remote working, so the service provider is going for more and more automation which reduces the field headcount and the cost. Also, operators have started to offer new collaboration apps, video conferencing tools, and learning platforms which open up new business opportunities. Many new businesses have begun to transform their business in digital, which also opens up a unique opportunity.

US-China Economic Rivalry and the Reshoring of Global Supply Chains

Since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, the USA has changed its economic priorities and policy preferences in a concerted effort to bolster its weight in the global economy, reduce over-reliance on global supply chains, and create more employment within its borders. This change has become more apparent in the wake of the Trump presidency and the COVID-19 pandemic. Reviving the manufacturing industry through reshoring is now the main goal of US politicians. This article analyses the two strategies, in light of heightened technological competition with China, that the USA has brought into effect to reshore its factories from the People's Republic of China and so revitalise the American manufacturing industry. They are neo-protectionism and smart automation. Arguing that neo-protectionist policies and smart automation technologies are interrelated factors that have been used strategically to bring American multinational companies in China back to the USA, we examine whether or not these two strategies-each elements of the US-China tech war-can support the reshoring and revitalisation of the American manufacturing industry. We find that increased neo-protectionist measures and proliferation of smart automation technologies alone will not empower the USA sufficiently to consolidate its technological superiority over China, add impetus to its manufacturing investments, and create well-paying jobs for the broader segments of American society through the reshoring of manufacturing activities. To achieve these goals, the USA should instead implement an integrated policy framework that spans industrial policies to technology policies and tax policies to labour market policies. Otherwise, even though reshoring may gain a certain momentum, new industrial facilities will not expand productivity enough to raise the competitiveness of the US economy to satisfactory levels, and such investments might not provide enough new job opportunities to remediate socioeconomic problems.