Chinese-Invested Smart City Development in Southeast Asia - How Resilient Are Urban Megaprojects in the Age of Covid-19?

Smart cities are emerging as major engines for deploying intelligent systems to enhance urban development and contribute to the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG). In developing economies facing rapid urbanization and technological change, new cities are being built with smart technologies and ideals, complete with business districts and residential, retail, entertainment, medical, education facilities to entice businesses and talents to relocate. Governments tout the potential of such “greenfield” smart cities for innovation and sustainability. Yet such urban megaprojects are often extremely expensive, prompting governments to partner with private players such as property developers, investors, and tech firms to share the cost, and supply infrastructure and technologies

Chinese-backed FinTech Lending Boom: How did Indonesia Respond?

Peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending has the potential to boost innovation and financial inclusion in emerging markets, yet it can also incur investment and borrower-related risks, such as privacy breaches. Driven by regulation control in China, Chinese investments flocked to Indonesia, causing a rapid expansion of online lending platforms. Similar to what happened in China prior to the regulatory crackdown, the P2P lending boom in Indonesia saw a rise in unethical and illegal business practices. The government responded by creating new regulations and institutions to mitigate risks without stifling the potential for financial inclusion. A proactive approach towards monitoring and regulating emerging high-tech industries should be sought by strengthening links with industry and civil society, and through international cooperation for policy and knowledge sharing

Governing the Gold Rush into Emerging Markets: A Case Study of Indonesia’s Regulatory Responses to the Expansion of Chinese-Backed Online P2P Lending

Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending has the potential to boost financial inclusion in emerging markets. This paper contributes to the literature on fintech governance in emerging Asian markets. It examines the case of the Indonesian government’s approach in regulating the P2P lending sector using both primary interviews and secondary firm-level data. Driven by regulation tightening in China and regulatory gaps in Indonesia, Chinese investments became the largest in this sector contributing, however, to growing risks from illegal business practices. The Indonesian government responded by creating new regulations and institutions, mitigating risks without stifling the potential for financial inclusion. We conclude a proactive approach towards monitoring and regulating emerging high-tech industries should be sought by strengthening links with industry and civil society, and through international cooperation for policy and knowledge sharing

Expression and Localization of Ryanodine Receptors in the Frog Semicircular Canal

Several experiments suggest an important role for store-released Ca2+ in hair cell organs: drugs targeting IP3 and ryanodine (RyRs) receptors affect release from hair cells, and stores are thought to be involved in vesicle recycling at ribbon synapses. In this work we investigated the semicircular canal distribution of RyRs by immunofluorescence, using slice preparations of the sensory epithelium (to distinguish cell types) and flat mounts of the simpler nonsensory regions. RyRs were present in hair cells, mostly in supranuclear spots, but not in supporting cells; as regards nonsensory regions, they were also localized in dark cells and cells from the ductus. No labeling was found in nerve terminals, although nerve branches could be observed in proximity to hair cell RyR spots. The differential expression of RyR isoforms was studied by RT-PCR and immunoblotting, showing the presence of RyRα in both ampulla and canal arm and RyRβ in the ampulla only

Synthesis of ethylene–norbornene–1-octene terpolymers with high 1-octene contents, molar masses, and tunable Tg values, in high yields using half-titanocene catalysts

Synthesis of unique poly(E-ter–N-ter–O)s using half-titanocene catalysts: 1-octene does not behave as a chain termination/transfer agent unlike ansa-metallocenes

Aspetti problematici e di regolamentazione in relazione alla tutela della privacy e delle nuove tecnologie nell’ambito dell’attività di controllo della Corte dei conti

Nel presente contributo si esamina il rapporto tra tutela della riservatezza e attività di controllo della Corte dei conti a livello regionale, per comprendere se essa possa considerarsi assimilabile all’attività giurisdizionale, quale sia la normativa di riferimento, quali siano le relazioni tra tutela della privacy e dovere di trasparenza ed inoltre secondo quali modalità possa assicurarsi il rispetto del diritto di riservatezza nei confronti dei relativi titolari. This contribution is focused on the question of the relationship between the protection of confidentiality and the control activities of the Court of Auditors at regional level, in order to understand first of all whether it can be considered similar to judicial activity, what is the reference legislation, what are the relationships between privacy protection and the duty of transparency and also how it can ensure respect for the right of confidentiality towards the relative owners