This exploratory study aims to identify the main characteristics and relationships between artificial intelligence (AI) and broadband development in Asia and the Pacific. Broadband networks are the foundation and prerequisite for the development of AI. But what types of broadband networks would be conducive are not adequately discussed so far. Furthermore, in addition to broadband networks, other factors, such as income level, broadband quality, and investment, are expected to influence the uptake of AI in the region. The findings are synthesized into a set of policy recommendations at the end of the article, which highlights the need for regional cooperation through an initiative, such as the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS). 

Since an outbreak of COVID-19 in the late 2019 in Wuhan in China, the pandemic and contagious nature of coronavirus did not spare Nigeria as the most populous Africa nation from being affected. Statistical records have shown that a large number of citizens were affected and overwhelming literature has explored different dimensions of the impacts of COVID-19 in the country. However, there is a less attention in exploring legal, economic, health and ethical impacts of the pandemic on Nigerian children. The paper primarily aims at filling this gap in the existing body of knowledge. Systematic literature review (SLR) and content analysis of secondary data of online peer-reviewed, scholarly articles among others were used as methodology. The findings revealed that, the general economic impact of COVID-19 that affects trade and small & medium scale business activities of parents also directly or indirectly affected their children. The health consequence of COVID-19 affects provision of nutritious foods that would help their balanced diet and growth. It is further noted that the ethical impact of COVID-19 affects their right to education as a result of lockdown during the first phase of the out-break. It is however reiterated that, there has not been adequate legal framework to address the multifarious im-pacts of COVID-19 on the Nigerian children. In conclusion, this paper has novel contribution specifically showing concern for children during the period of COVID-19 pandemic in the country. It is therefore suggested that efforts should be galvanized by the stakeholders in addressing multifarious challenges of the impact of COVID-19 on the Nigerian children as explored in this study.

This article aims to describe and analyze pattern of management learning communities in frontier area Indoensia-Philippines. The relationship between Indonesia-Phlippines in frontier area represents a unique intersection culture and dynamic interplay onf interaction. The people in frontier area were relating by the historical events in the past. This article using historical methods; heuristic, critics/verification, interpretation and historiography were to emphasize the utilization of primary sources. The primary source collected from the oral tradition between Indonesia-Philippines people in frontier area. This article employs a social scientific approach to elucidate the cultural relationships within border communities. Cultural relationships are indicative of an extensive process that exerts influence on communal living practices in the management of their existence as a unique identity. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the cultural relations in the frontier area between Indonesia and the Philippines. The findings offer insights into the intricate interplay of factors shaping cultural dynamics in border regions, contributing to a deeper understanding of cross-border interactions and the construction of cultural identities.

Ancient Minipe Anicut, Sri Lanka is world-famous for its engineering excellence. Due to its importance, conserving the ancient anicut, another anicut was constructed downstream in the 20th century. Nevertheless, the water diverted from the ancient anicut to the Minipe Left Bank (LB) Canal was kept as it was due to inherited agricultural importance. This research focuses on studying the contributions made by the adjacent catchment along the Minipe LB Canal. There are several level crossings along the Minipe Left Bank Canal from which the runoff of the local catchment flow into the Minipe LB Canal. Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) is used to obtain the yield from each catchment into the Canal, which was compared with the annual diversions from Minipe anicut. The total yield from each stream has been compared with the annual diversion of the Minipe LB Canal from 2014 to 2020. The results obtained from this study reveal that there is sufficient water available for water augmentation in the basin, with an estimated annual average cumulative yield from the catchment of 453.6 MCM. This cumulative yield is 1.7 times the annual average diversion from the Mahaweli River, which is 271.9 MCM. With the findings, it is concluded that there is a potential to augment water from the catchment to address pertaining water shortages conveyance in the command area.

The COVID-19 crisis, which occurred in 2020, brought crisis events back to the attention of scholars. With the increasing frequency of crisis events, the influence of crisis events on stock markets has become more obvious. This paper focuses on the impact of the subprime crisis, the Chinese stock market crash crisis and the COVID-19 crisis on the volatility and risk of the world’s major stock markets. In this paper, we first fit the volatility using EGARCH model and detect asymmetry of volatility. After that, a VaR model is calculated on the basis of EGARCH to measure the impact of the crisis event on the risk of stock markets. This paper finds that the subprime crisis has a significant influence on the risk of the stock market in China, US, South Korea, and Japan. During the COVID-19 crisis, there was little change in the average risk of each country. But at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, there was a significant increase in the risk of each country’s stock market. The Chinese stock market crash crisis had a more pronounced effect on the Chinese and Japanese stock markets and a lesser effect on the US and Korean stock markets.