Introduction.

Given the rich rainforest flora of Papua New Guinea, which includes some 8000 known plant species, it is understandable why this land mass contains such a rich dacine fauna, with the largest number of species of any land mass across the entire Asian/Pacific region. Major collections of Dacini have been obtained, over the past two decades, by male lure trapping and host fruit sampling across large areas of Papua New Guinea. These surveys have provided the specimens for the descriptions of the new species in this book. In particular, the use of vanillylacetone has resulted in the collection of a number of previously unknown species.

«The Beginning of Glorious Deeds…»: Excerpts from the History of Verhneudinsk and Kyakhta Agencies of the Russian-Chinese Bank from 1898 to 1900

The article considers the history of establishment and initial phase of the activity at Verhneudinsk and Kyakhta Agencies of the Russian-Chinese Bank. After succeeding in reaching economic growth of the Russian Empire in the 1890s the state authorities intensified the efforts in the Asian-Pacific region to find new markets for national industrial products. Strengthening the influence in the countries of Inner Asia the autocracy could also solve another important problem of creating conditions for integration of remote Asian areas into the single economic space of the country. The territory of Western Trans-Baikal region became one of these areas. The Trans-Siberian Railway and branches of biggest Russian banks were used as the main tools for reaching the goal. The Russian-Chinese Bank, founded in 1895 and sponsored by the Russian Imperial Government, played a significant role in this process. The bank’s agencies in Verhneudinsk and Kyakhta, opened in 1898, became the first active credit and finance institutions in the region. In spite of some limitations in their legal status, the institutions managed to conduct successful activity on lending for local commerce and industry. The operation of Verhneudinsk and Kyakhta Agencies of the Russian-Chinese Bank laid the basis for its future leadership in the local financial market.

“Hybrid” scientific conference: lessons learned from the digital annual meeting of the CARS international conference during the Covid-19 pandemic

Objectives Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, all scientific conferences in the year 2020 had to be adapted in their form of presence to accommodate for safety regulations, postponed, or canceled entirely. As organizers of the annual Computer Assisted Radiology & Surgery International Conference & Exhibition (CARS)-Conference 2020, we decided to hold a “hybrid” conference, i.e., a virtual conference with partial presence to mitigate the drawbacks of a purely virtual conference. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the results and experience gained by our first hybrid conference. Methods Besides technical necessities like an online conferencing tool, we introduced additional personal namely the technical chairs and communication officers ensuring a smooth flow of presentations. To measure the success of the hybrid conference, we assessed various parameters during the conference (e.g., counting of adverse events, delays, and no-shows) and sent a questionnaire to participants for evaluation after the conference. Results We offered four types of presentation formats, whereas the majority of speakers presented their pre-produced videos including live discussions. Significant delays in sessions occurred during the morning sessions, which could be reduced during lunch breaks. The analysis of the influence of the distribution of the audience’s location/time zone toward the attendance rate showed a high relevance for the American zone and only little influence for the Asian-Pacific region. Based on the questionnaire, 60% of responders considered the hybrid approach as superior and 12% as inferior to purely virtual conferences. Conclusions Most scientific associations in 2020 had to struggle with a dramatic change: Regular, traditional meetings with personal communication and exchange, networking, and creation of new visions became obsolete almost instantly. As an alternative, virtual conferences became increasingly popular, and are offering additional advantages (e.g., reduction of cost for travel, lodging, and time on transit). To overcome the drawbacks of purely virtual conferences, we introduced a hybrid concept for the CARS-Congress. While certainly, those with the privilege to take part personally on-site did benefit most from the hybrid format. Facing upcoming waves of the Covid-19 Pandemic, with ongoing changes to the regulations on meetings and transit, hybrid conferences are a viable option for scientific conferences for the future.

Seismic Design for Offshore Wind Farms – Lessons Learnt From the ACE Joint Industry Project

In the past, most of the offshore wind farms have been installed in European countries. In contrast to offshore wind projects in European waters, it became clear that the impact from earthquakes is expected to be one of the major design drivers for the wind turbines and their support structures in other areas of the world. This topic is of high importance in offshore markets in the Asian Pacific region like China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea as well as parts of the United States. So far, seismic design for wind turbines is not described in large details in existing wind energy standards while local as well as international offshore oil & gas standards do not consider the specifics of modern wind turbines. In 2019, DNV GL started a Joint Industry Project (JIP) called “ACE -Alleviating Cyclone and Earthquake challenges for wind farms”. Based on the project results, a Recommended Practice (RP) for seismic design of wind turbines and their support structures will be developed. It will supplement existing standards like DNVGL-ST-0126, DNVGL-ST-0437 and the IEC 61400 series. This paper addresses the area of seismic load calculation and the details of combining earthquake impact with other environmental loads. Different options of analysis, particularly time-domain simulations with integrated models or submodelling techniques using superelements will be presented. Seismic ground motions using a uniform profile or depth-varying input profile are discussed. Finally, the seismic load design return period is addressed.

Features of the manifestations of terrorism in the Asian-Pacific Region

The target of research is discussing the terrorism and its manifestation in some countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The authors used the following research methods: systemic, complex, historical, logical-legal, statistical, etc. The main conclusions of the study are: 1. after the end of the cold war, problems of ethnicity, religion and separatism emerged again. 2. The restructuring of power institutions on a global scale, as well as the expansion of international socio-political and democratic life are one of the main reasons that led to ethnic and religious conflicts around the world, as well as in the Asia-Pacific region. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that the analysis concerning the features of manifestation of terrorism in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region was carried out by studying ethnic, religious, interethnic and separatist conflicts in the APR countries, their causes and impact on the terrorist situation in the region.

ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

The paper considers the content and features of the efficiency assessment system of the Asian Development Bank. The article presents the basic requirements for the creation of reliable systems for assessing the activities of development banks, based on foreign experience. The author gives a brief description of Asian Development Bank’s activities, emphasizes the importance of Asian Development Bank’s Independent Evaluation Department. The author’s analysis of the Asian Development Bank performance assessment system showed that the bank uses both classical financial indicators and specialized generalized economic indicators that are quantitatively measurable. The entire system of economic indicators is divided into 4 levels, which makes it possible to separately assess both the development in the Asian Pacific Region, the contribution of Asian Development Bank to this development, and the quality of management in the Asian Development Bank itself; for each level of assessment the author used its own set of indicators (indicators). Asian Development Bank’s corporate performance cascade system ensures that all staff are engaged in achieving set goals. It is important that Asian Development Bank uses the transition from quantitative data to qualitative characteristics, which solves the problem of inaccurate data: clusters of indicators are formed. Asian Development Bank’s performance assessment system is not linked to the use of a single performance criterion.

DIGITALIZATION PROCESSES DEVELOPMENT IN ASEAN REGIONAL INTEGRATION ASSOCIATION

The expansion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic capacity appears to be driven by digital factors. Current research analyses the digitalization processes in ASEAN, determines the digitalization strategy for the integration block, provides with the relevant dynamics of digitalization level indicators. The analysis of digital indicators revealed the rapidly growing level of dissemination of information and communication technologies and the dynamic development of the digital economy as a whole. Despite ASEAN's digital potential, a number of problematic issues remained, such as government regulation, protection against digital fraud, and protection of intellectual property rights. A successful initiative for the digitalization development in the Asian Pacific region could be the development of an appropriate legal framework, the development of transport infrastructure, the public-private partnership tools usage and budgetary incentives. For ASEAN member countries leadership in the digital race it seems advisable to organize training sessions, create jobs in digital industries, develop social impact bonds (SIB) projects, and create a global digital ecosystem.

LUNG MORPHOLOGY IN MARAL FETUSES

Maral breeding is a promising branch of animal hus-bandry in the Altai Region and the Republic of Altai. Being semi-wild animals, marals travel long distances, mainly in mountainous areas in larch and pine forests and on high-altitude plateaus of the Republic of Altai. The following deer species range in the Altai Region and the Republic of Altai: Siberian musk deer(Moschus moschiferus), elk(Alces alces), sika deer(Cervus nippon), reindeer(Rangifer tarandus), and maral (Cervus elaphus sibiricus, Severtzov 1872). According to V.G. Lunitsyn, the regions of the Re-public of Altai account for 98% of all velvet antler products produced in Russia which are exported to the countries of the Asian-Pacific Region. The specimens were taken from maral fetuses of the age from 1 to 3 months obtained at forced slaughter. The fetuses were weighed, the lungs were extracted and weighed, and the specimens were for-malin-fixed (10-12% solution), washed in tap water;and slices were prepared by a freezing microtome. The slices were hematoxylin-eosin stained according to Van Gieson. The tissue specimens show that all orders of bronchioles in the lungs of maral fetuses, especially in the caudal lobes, are clearly expressed. In the bronchi of the lungs of fetuses at the age of 3 months, the muscle layer of smooth muscle cells is expressed. At this age, the spaces similar to alveo-lar passages are visible.The diameter of the alveoli in the form of tubes at this age is about 2-5 μm. In the micro-slides under study, vessels in the lungs of fetuses at the age of 1-3 months are characterized by rapid growth. Con-nective tissue elements surrounding the bronchial tubes with capillaries are formed.

COVID-Induced Investor Sentiments and Market Reaction under Extreme Meteorological Conditions: Evidence from Clean Energy Sector of Asia-Pacific

The unprecedented global economic and social crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak has not spared the energy sector. Using a dynamic model, we investigated the effect of COVID-19 cases on investor sentiments and stock returns of clean energy in the Asian-Pacific region. The results show that coronavirus cases negatively affect stock returns using investor sentiments as a transmission channel. We also find a negative effect of air pollution on stock returns. Since COVID-19 restricted trade and plummeted the oil prices, economies relied on non-renewable sources to meet energy demands. Nevertheless, the investor’s optimism and high sentiment level may deteriorate this link. On the other hand, we do not find any significant effect of low-high temperature on either investor sentiments or clean energy stock returns. Clean energy stocks were viewed as more sustainable and less vulnerable to external shocks, however, the fear and pessimism among investors induced by corona-virus are spilled over the renewable energy sector.