Housing and home ownership has been strongly embedded in East Asian socioeconomic and policy models. Based on the primacy of national economic growth objectives, it was promoted as a means of, on the one hand, contributing directly to economic growth through the motor of the construction industry, and, on the other, supporting a low-taxation, low-public-expenditure economy with minimal social protection measures based on the support of the family. In recent years, however, this housing pillar is facing new social, economic, political and demographic challenges, including a decline in the political authority of authoritarian states, the undermining of traditional developmental logic, fragmentation of families and household types and the growing volatility of housing markets. Most of these have been generated or exacerbated by intensified globalization and economic crises in recent years.
Through contextual, conceptual and empirically focused chapters, nine of which deal with a different country - China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand - this book explores the development of housing policies and practices that have responded to dynamic socioeconomic and demographic restructuring.

Since the introduction of ciprofloxacin in 1987, fluoroquinolones have expanded far beyond their early role in the treatment of urinary tract infections. Clinical applications beyond genitourinary tract infections include upper and lower respiratory infections, gastrointestinal infections, gynecologic infec- tions, sexually transmitted diseases, and some skin and soft tissue infections. Their ease of administration, favorable pharmacokinetic properties, excellent tolerability, and efficacy give them enormous potential for use and misuse alike. Quinolones have few common adverse effects, most notably nausea, headache and dizziness. Less frequent but more serious adverse events include prolongation of the corrected QT interval, phototoxicity, liver enzyme abnor- malities, arthropathy, and cartilage and tendon abnormalities. While possess- ing many of the favorable properties of intravenous agents, most fluoro- quinolones offer the convenience of oral administration, thus contributing to decreased health-care costs through increased outpatient therapy and short- ened hospital stays. With the recent introduction of agents such as gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin, the traditional Gram-negative coverage of fluoroquinolones has been expanded to include Gram-positive organisms, most importantly Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Demand for owner-occupied housing expanded dramatically across modern, industrialized societies in recent years leading to volatile increases in residential property values. Entry into the owner-occupied sector has become increasingly critical to households, while the viability of rental-tenure has been undermined. This book explores the rise of modern home-ownership as a cultural, socio-political and ideological phenomenon. It focuses on housing consumption across a range of societies dominated by a political and cultural commitment to home-ownership, which has been largely manipulated and ideologically charged.

Housing policy has been central to the economic success stories of the major East Asian economies as well as a pillar of social and welfare provision. This book explores not only the development of their distinctive approach, but also the challenges posed in recent years, and currently, by rapid socio-economic and demographic change.

Since the introduction of ciprofloxacin in 1987, fluoroquinolones have expanded far beyond their early role in the treatment of urinary tract infections. Clinical applications beyond genitourinary tract infections include upper and lower respiratory infections, gastrointestinal infections, gynecologic infec- tions, sexually transmitted diseases, and some skin and soft tissue infections. Their ease of administration, favorable pharmacokinetic properties, excellent tolerability, and efficacy give them enormous potential for use and misuse alike. Quinolones have few common adverse effects, most notably nausea, headache and dizziness. Less frequent but more serious adverse events include prolongation of the corrected QT interval, phototoxicity, liver enzyme abnor- malities, arthropathy, and cartilage and tendon abnormalities. While possess- ing many of the favorable properties of intravenous agents, most fluoro- quinolones offer the convenience of oral administration, thus contributing to decreased health-care costs through increased outpatient therapy and short- ened hospital stays. With the recent introduction of agents such as gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin, the traditional Gram-negative coverage of fluoroquinolones has been expanded to include Gram-positive organisms, most importantly Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Demand for owner-occupied housing has expanded dramatically across modern-industrialized societies in recent years leading to volatile increases in residential property values. This book explores the rise of modern home-ownership as a cultural, socio-political and ideological phenomenon.

How do we take stock of the state and direction of the world’s environment, and what can we learn from the experience? Among the myriad detailed narratives about the condition of the planet, the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) reports—issued by the United Nations Environment Programme—stand out as the most ambitious. For nearly three decades the GEO project has not only delivered iconic global assessment reports, but through its multitude of contributors has inspired hundreds of similar processes worldwide from the regional to the local level. This book provides an inside account of the evolution of the GEO project from its earliest days. Building on meticulous research, including interviews with former heads of the United Nations Environment Programme, diplomats, leading contributing scientists, and senior leaders of collaborating organizations, the story is told from the perspective of five GEO veterans who all played a pivotal role in shaping the periodic assessments. The GEO’s history provides striking insights and will save valuable time to those who commission, design and conduct, as well as critique and improve, assessments of environmental development in the next decade.

Additional Contributing Authors Include Bryden B. Hyde, B. H. Dickenson, Robert H. Noble And Others.