Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assimilation and Rising Taiwanese Identity: Taiwan-born Immigrants in the United States, 1990-2000

This study examines why a growing percentage of Taiwan-born immigrants in the U.S. have identified themselves as Taiwanese rather than ethnic Chinese in the U.S. decennial censuses between 1990 and 2000. The trend appears inconsistent with the assimilation theory, which postulates that ethnic groups will become more detached from ethnic politics and identity the longer they stay in the United States. The application of a double cohort method enables us to separate the period effect from the duration effect, which is critical to analyzing the changes. Results show sharp temporal differentiation and large geographical variation. The older generation of Taiwanese immigrants and recent arrivals to the United States, as well as those who live in Los Angeles, are the most likely to regard themselves as Taiwanese rather than ethnic Chinese. In contrast, Taiwanborn immigrants who have greater English proficiency, who have less education, and who have [mainland] Chinese as their neighbors are less likely to do so. Moreover, age-at-arrival is a key determinant in identity formation and change. Those who came to the U.S. when they were young are least likely to regard themselves as Taiwanese. Over time, Taiwan-born immigrants have indeed become more acculturated. Young Taiwan-born immigrants who came to the U.S. before the 1970s are least likely to make a switch to Taiwanese during the period. However, acculturation alone does not prevent one from claiming Taiwanese identity on the census form. For Taiwan-born immigrants, writing in Taiwanese on the census form appears to be a ”rebellious” or ”awakening” act and a symbolic expression of solidarity with their compatriots in Taiwan, empowered by a growing sense of Taiwanese consciousness. Globalizationmay now have allowed immigrants to maintain a closer tie with their country of origin than before, especially in times of crisis.
COVID-19 Mask Usage and Social Distancing in Social Media Images: Large-scale Deep Learning Analysis

Background: The adoption of nonpharmaceutical interventions and their surveillance are critical for detecting and stopping possible transmission routes of COVID-19. A study of the effects of these interventions can help shape public health decisions. The efficacy of nonpharmaceutical interventions can be affected by public behaviors in events, such as protests. We examined mask use and mask fit in the United States, from social media images, especially during the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, representing the first large-scale public gatherings in the pandemic. Objective: This study assessed the use and fit of face masks and social distancing in the United States and events of large physical gatherings through public social media images from 6 cities and BLM protests. Methods: We collected and analyzed 2.04 million public social media images from New York City, Dallas, Seattle, New Orleans, Boston, and Minneapolis between February 1, 2020, and May 31, 2020. We evaluated correlations between online mask usage trends and COVID-19 cases. We looked for significant changes in mask use patterns and group posting around important policy decisions. For BLM protests, we analyzed 195,452 posts from New York and Minneapolis from May 25, 2020, to July 15, 2020. We looked at differences in adopting the preventive measures in the BLM protests through the mask fit score. Results: The average percentage of group pictures dropped from 8.05% to 4.65% after the lockdown week. New York City, Dallas, Seattle, New Orleans, Boston, and Minneapolis observed increases of 5.0%, 7.4%, 7.4%, 6.5%, 5.6%, and 7.1%, respectively, in mask use between February 2020 and May 2020. Boston and Minneapolis observed significant increases of 3.0% and 7.4%, respectively, in mask use after the mask mandates. Differences of 6.2% and 8.3% were found in group pictures between BLM posts and non-BLM posts for New York City and Minneapolis, respectively. In contrast, the differences in the percentage of masked faces in group pictures between BLM and non-BLM posts were 29.0% and 20.1% for New York City and Minneapolis, respectively. Across protests, 35% of individuals wore a mask with a fit score greater than 80%. Conclusions: The study found a significant drop in group posting when the stay-at-home laws were applied and a significant increase in mask use for 2 of 3 cities where masks were mandated. Although a positive trend toward mask use and social distancing was observed, a high percentage of posts showed disregard for the guidelines. BLM-related posts captured the lack of seriousness to safety measures, with a high percentage of group pictures and low mask fit scores. Thus, the methodology provides a directional indication of how government policies can be indirectly monitored through social media.
The Characteristics of Neonatal Outcomes of HIV-Infected Mothers with the Use of Antiretrovirals (ARVS)

---Objective: The purpose of the scoping review is to find out the characteristics of neonatal outcomes of HIV-infected mothers with antiretroviral use. Design: Writing a scoping review following the writing rules of PRISMA ScR. Method: The results of the review show that there are 10 articles obtained from the search process through the Proquest, Pubmed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases. As well as following the criteria for inclusion and exclusion. Results: This review raises the theme of outcomes from HIV pregnant women with antiretroviral use before conception and after conception. The administration of ARVs in pregnancy causes various kinds of neonatal outcomes, namely babies born normally, babies with lightweight, babies born prematurely, abortions, IUFD and babies infected with HIV. It was concluded that there is an impact of giving ARVs to pregnant women, but prevention of vertical transmission by taking ARVs immediately and routinely is better done to reduce the incidence of HIV transmission. Conclusion: Factors causing babies born with BBLR, premature, IUFD, and abortion are not necessarily due to factors of ARV use in pregnant women. Other factors cause poor output, namely due to the high maternal CD4 factor and low maternal viral load, thus the administration of ARVs during pregnancy is still given for prevention from mother to baby and increased morbidity rates in mothers and transmission in babies.
Comparison of the efficacy and safety of different doses of atropine for myopic control in children: a meta-analysis

Purpose: To comprehensively reassess the efficacy and safety of different concentrations of atropine for retarding myopia progression and seek the most appropriate therapeutic concentration for clinical practice. Methods: We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Chinese Science and Technology Periodicals (VIP) and China National Knowledege Infrastructure (CNKI) from their inception to 23 March 2023, to obtain eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies that had atropine in at least one treatment arm and placebo/no intervention in another arm. We evaluated the risk of bias of the RCTs according to the recommendations of the Cochrane Collaboration for RCTs and quality of cohort studies by the Newcastle‒Ottawa Scale. Weighted mean difference (WMD), 95% confidence interval were calculated for meta-analysis. All data analyses were performed using Review Manager 5.3, STATA 12.0 and SPSS 26.0 software. Results: A total of 44 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Weighted mean difference (WMD) were 0.73 diopters (D), 0.65 D, 0.35 D per year in refraction progression (χ 2 = 14.63, I 2 = 86.3%; p < 0.001) and −0.26 mm, −0.37 mm, −0.11 mm per year in axial length progression (χ 2 = 5.80, I 2 = 65.5%; p = 0.06) for high (0.5%–1%), moderate (0.1%–0.25%), and low (0.005%–0.05%) dose atropine groups, respectively. Logarithmic dose‒response correlations were found between atropine and their effect on change of refraction, axial length, accommodation and photopic pupil diameter. Through these curves, we found that atropine with concentrations ≤0.05% atropine resulted in a residual value of accommodation of more than 5 D and an increase in pupil diameter no more than 3 mm. Higher doses of atropine resulted in a higher incidence of adverse effects, of which the incidence of photophobia was dose-dependent (r = 0.477, p = 0.029). Conclusion: Both the efficacy and risk of adverse events for atropine treatment of myopia were mostly dose dependent. Comprehensively considered the myopia control effect and safety of each dose, 0.05% may be the best concentration of atropine to control myopia progression at present, at which myopia is better controlled and the side effects are tolerable. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd. york.ac. uk/PROSPERO/#recordDetails, CRD42022377705.
The Impact of Sustainability Model on Sustainable Production during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Purpose: This research aims to give managers and organizations with the best means and practices for maintaining sustainable production with the use of SSCM practices during challenging periods, such as global crises, pandemics, or any other circumstance that impacts the business. Design/Methodology: The research sample comprised of managers and department heads employed by enterprises in the Industrial area of Jeddah who were situated in various industries. This research used a non-probability sampling approach with roughly 260 responses from diverse industries. Findings: Each of the variables of the sustainability model have a positive impact on sustainability production during the pandemic with organizational culture, as an exception. Based on the findings, it was found that organizational culture did not affect the sustainability production. Research Implications: In terms of profitability, sustainable enterprises with a networked structure and strong virtuality outperform hierarchical organizations. In difficult situations, shared leadership should be utilized to quickly gather information from all functional areas. People-driven companies are better positioned to endure COVID-19 and future viral outbreaks. Before and after crises, successful organizations utilize ICT to build trust and relationships with employees, stakeholders, and customers. Finally, balancing resource hoarding with resilience is crucial. Continuous functioning of companies requires equipment, cognitive, and human capital. After a pandemic, an organization's capacity
Qualitative and quantitative monitoring of drinking water through the use of a smart electronic tongue

The aim of this work was to evaluate a smart electronic tongue device as an alternative for qualitative and quantitative monitoring of drinking water. The smart electronic tongue consisted of a voltametric polypyrrole sensor array, linked with a multi-channel electronic system (multipotentiostat) based on PSoC (programable system on chip) technology controlled by a smartphone with a data acquisition and control app. This device was used in the monitoring of drinking water from the Sincelejo city water supply system; also, water samples collected and analyzed by the public health agency were used. The voltammetric measurements carried out with the smart electronic tongue showed cross-sensitivity of the polypyrrole sensor array, which allowed the discrimination of the samples through of principal component analysis by artiﬁcial neural networks. In addition, the voltammetric signals registered with the smart electronic tongue allowed, through partial least square (PLS) by artiﬁcial neural networks analysis, estimating the concentrations of some important analytes in the evaluation of the physicochemical quality of drinking water with R 2 values higher than 0.70. The results allowed to conclude that the smart electronic tongue can be a valuable analytical tool that allows, in a single measure, to perform qualitative and quantitative chemical analysis (alkalinity, calcium, residual chlorine, chlorides, total hardness, phosphates, magnesium, and sulfates), it is also
Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series Working

This paper studies the link between competition and technical efficiency of public hospitals in the State of Victoria, Australia by accounting both quantity and quality of hospital output using a two-stage semi-parametric model of hospital production and Data Envelopment Analysis. On the one hand, it finds a positive relationship between efficiency and competition measured by the Hirschman-Herfindahl Index (HHI). On the other, it finds that efficiency and the number of competing hospitals, in particular the number of competing private hospitals, to be negatively correlated. More importantly, it finds that whether or not quality is treated as an endogenous output variable, as opposed to as an exogenous control variable, may impact on the statistical estimates of the link between efficiency and competition. Also, how the effect of competition on efficiency is modelled empirically may matter, though the impact of the treatment of quality as described above appears to be more important. Overall, the results highlight the importance of quality consideration in assessing the effects of competition on efficiency and points to possibly undesirable resource allocation effects when public hospitals are made to compete with a large number of private hospitals.
Submersible observations of the invertebrate fauna on the continental-slope southwest of ireland (ne atlantic-ocean)

Relatively little is known of the fauna found on rock substrates in the deep ocean. As a result of the Franco-British deep diving cruise Cyaporc in 1986 using the submersible Cyana we present observations of a highly diverse sponge, cnidarian and echinoderm fauna occurring between 1 800 and 3 000 m on the steep slopes to the west of the Porcupine Bank and Goban Spur. This fauna is dominated. by suspension feeders and appears to show a vertical zonation corresponding to water mass structure. The highest biomass and variety of echinoderms are found between 2 100 and 2 600 m bathed in northward flowing North East Atlantic Deep Water. We present also additional observations of species known from previous sampling programmes but rarely photographed in their natural environment.
Evaluation of the hillslope-storage Boussinesq model with leakage

The hillslope-storage Boussinesq (hsB) model (Troch et al., 2003) has been extended to allow for leakage through a hypothetical aquitard at the hillslope bottom. A leakage term has been incorporated by extending the mass balance and combining it with the Boussinesq equation. To evaluate the extended hsB model, simulated water table levels are compared with results of a three-dimensional surface-subsurface flow model solving the Richards equation. Numerical experiments are performed on an inclined straight hillslope. Results from the extended hsB model are in reasonable agreement with those from the benchmark model, indicating that the hsB model can be used to simulate recharge to a deep semi-confined aquifer. The leakage rates calculated by the 3-D model show significant spatial variability, indicating the requirement for further extension of the hsB model to account for spatially distributed leakage.
Multifaceted roles of mitochondria in wound healing and chronic wound pathogenesis

Mitochondria are intracellular organelles that play a critical role in numerous cellular processes including the regulation of metabolism, cellular stress response, and cell fate. Mitochondria themselves are subject to well-orchestrated regulation in order to maintain organelle and cellular homeostasis. Wound healing is a multifactorial process that involves the stringent regulation of several cell types and cellular processes. In the event of dysregulated wound healing, hard-to-heal chronic wounds form and can place a significant burden on healthcare systems. Importantly, treatment options remain limited owing to the multifactorial nature of chronic wound pathogenesis. One area that has received more attention in recent years is the role of mitochondria in wound healing. With regards to this, current literature has demonstrated an important role for mitochondria in several areas of wound healing and chronic wound pathogenesis including metabolism, apoptosis, and redox signalling. Additionally, the influence of mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy has also been investigated. However, few studies have utilised patient tissue when studying mitochondria in wound healing, instead using various animal models. In this review we dissect the current knowledge of the role of mitochondria in wound healing and discuss how future research can potentially aid in the progression of wound healing research.
Stock Market Volatility around National Elections

This paper investigates a sample of 27 OECD countries to test whether national elections induce higher stock market volatility. It is found that the country-specific component of index return variance can easily double during the week around an election, which shows that investors are surprised by the election outcome. Several factors, such as a narrow margin of victory, lack of compulsory voting laws, change in the political orientation of the government, or the failure to form a government with parliamentary majority significantly contribute to the magnitude of the election shock. Furthermore, some evidence is found that markets with short trading history exhibit stronger reaction. Our findings have important implications for the optimal strategies of institutional and individual investors who have direct or indirect exposure to volatility risk.
Milk Casein Inhibits Effect of Black Tea Galloylated Theaflavins to Inactivate SARS-CoV-2 In Vitro

Continuing caution is required against the potential emergence of SARS-CoV-2 novel mutants that could pose the next global health and socioeconomical threats. If virus in saliva can be inactivated by a beverage, such a beverage may be useful because the saliva of infected persons is the major origin of droplets and aerosols that mediate human-to-human viral transmission. We previously reported that SARS-CoV-2 was significantly inactivated by treatment in vitro with tea including green tea and black tea. Catechins and its derived compounds galloylated theaflavins (gTFs) bound to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the S-protein and blocked interaction between RBD and ACE2. Black tea is often consumed with sugar, milk, lemon juice, etc., and it remains unclarified whether these ingredients may influence the anti-SARS-CoV-2 effect of black tea. Here, we examined the effect of black tea on Omicron subvariants in the presence of these ingredients. The infectivity of Omicron subvariants was decreased to 1/100 or lower after treatment with black tea for 10 s. One or two teaspoons of milk (4~8 mL) completely blocked the anti-viral effect of a cup of tea (125 mL), whereas an addition of sugar or lemon juice failed to do so. The suppressive effect was dose-dependently exerted by milk casein but not whey proteins. gTFs were coprecipitated with casein after acidification of milk-supplemented black tea, strongly suggesting the binding of gTFs to casein. The present study demonstrates for the first time that an addition of milk cancelled the anti-SARS-CoV-2 effect of black tea due to binding of casein to gTFs.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Trade Performance in the World Economy

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted international economic activities. This study examines its impact on the world economy, analyzing different regions and income groups separately. The empirical findings reveal that COVID-19 had a negative and substantial impact on global trade performance. Surprisingly, high-income countries experienced a positive impact on trade due to COVID-19, showing greater adaptability and, in some cases, emerging as exporters of medicines and COVID-19-related products. In contrast, middle-income and low-income countries did not observe any significant impact on trade performance from COVID-19. This finding implies that trade deterioration during the pandemic might be attributed to mediating factors rather than the direct influence of COVID-19 itself. Furthermore, when examining the effects by region, the results are mixed, reflecting the diverse characteristics of different regions. Consequently, it becomes evident that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities, with the trade performance of affluent and advanced countries being the least negatively affected. In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic had far-reaching consequences on global trade, impacting various regions and income groups differently. The study highlights the need for targeted policies to address the disparities in trade performance and foster a more resilient and equitable global economy.
Welfare-Improving Employment Protection

This paper derives new results on the welfare effects of employment protection. Using data from 17 OECD countries, we show that there exists an inverse U-shape relationship between employment protection and economic growth. Using a simple theoretical model with non-contractible specific investments, we show that over some range increasing employment protection does indeed raise welfare. We also show that the optimal level of employment protection depends on other labour market features, such as the bargaining power of workers and the existence of wage rigidities like the minimum wage.
Application of Transformer-Based Language Models to Detect Hate Speech in Social Media

: Detecting and removing hateful speech in various online social media is a challenging task. Researchers tried to solve this problem by using both classical and deep learning methods, which are found to have limitations in terms of the requirement of extensive hand-crafted features, model architecture design, and pretrained embeddings, that are not very proficient in capturing semantic relations between words. Therefore, in this paper, we tackle the problem using Transformer-based pretrained language models which are specially designed to produce contextual embeddings of text sequences. We have evaluated two such models — RoBERTa and XLNet — using four publicly available datasets from different social media platforms and compared them to the existing baselines. Our investigation shows that the Transformer-based models either surpass or match all of the existing baseline scores by significant margins obtained by previously used models such as 1-dimensional convolutional neural network (1D-CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM). The Transformer-based models proved to be more robust by achieving native performance when trained and tested on two different datasets. Our investigation also revealed that variations in the characteristics of the data produce significantly different results with the same model. From the experimental observations, we are able to establish that Transformer-based language models exhibit superior performance than their conventional counterparts at a fraction of the computation cost and minimal need for complex model engineering.