Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shifting cultivation in north-east India

- Shifting cultivation (locally known as jhum cultivation) is also the main form of agriculture in the north-eastern states of India such as, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Assam. Shifting cultivation is described as slash or burn or swidden agriculture and is widely practised by the hill tribes. It is the predominant form of agriculture where the hill tribes are dependent for their livelihood. This system of farming is regarded as the first stage in the evolution of agriculture-the transitional stage from hunting and gathering to settled cultivation. The implements used in this cultivation are primitive and is a labour intensive form with an extensive use of land. The study will examines the practice of shifting cultivation by the hill tribes and reflect on the various rituals and practices link to this method of cultivation. This paper attempts to understand shifting cultivation as a source of livelihood to the hill tribes and how it has direct bearing to their socio- cultural system which is linked to their religious rites and festivals. The sources used for the purpose are both primary and secondary. It includes Proceedings of Revenue Department, Forest Department, Progress Report of Forest Administration in Assam, journals and relevant related books. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________
The vulnerability variation from government roles in disaster risk reduction plans for sediment disasters in Taiwan

According to a concept discussed in a previous study, vulnerability consists both of the so‐called inner factor and the outer factor. Inner factor pertains to the community conditions in a hazardous area, whereas the outer factors are those outside of the community that affect the loss. In this study, we focused on how the effects outside the community affect disasters. The disaster risk reduction plans led by governments were considered to be an important factor and we intend to connect this idea with the concept of vulnerability in this paper. As a first step, we examined the disaster risk reduction plans in Taiwan, Japan, and the USA. Second, insufficiency in the Taiwanese disaster risk reduction plan was listed according to a comparison between disaster risk reduction plans, which were listed as whole disaster risk reduction plans through all stages: before the disaster occurs – mitigation resource, during the disaster – emergency response, and after the disaster – recovery. Then, the vulnerability assessment was carried out through the measurements provided from 1999 to 2009. The result shows that the resource for debris flow disaster prevention is increasing each year. Finally, some suggested improvements were made and conclusions were drawn on the basis of the results. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Measurement of biomarkers in juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients and their significant association with disease severity: a comparative study.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients a biomarker panel of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies, cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), IgM rheumatoid factor (RF), IgG RF, and IgA RF and compare to the presence of joint erosions (JE), joint space narrowing (JSN), and synovitis in order to evaluate aggressive disease. METHODS Sixty-eight JIA patients (19 RF positive polyarthritis, 23 RF negative polyarthritis, 17 persistent oligoarthritis, and 9 systemic-onset) were evaluated using the biomarker panel and compared to 18 healthy controls. All RF isotypes, anti-CCP antibodies, and COMP were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Statistically significant differences and associations were assessed for each biomarker in relation to JE, JSN, and synovitis. Multiple regression analysis was used to find the variables associated with joint damage and synovitis. RESULTS Patients with JE and JSN had significantly elevated levels of IgA RF, IgM RF, and anti-CCP antibodies. COMP levels were higher in early disease, but also later in disease in patients with no JE or JSN. ESR, CRP, and IgA RF were significantly elevated in patients with active synovitis. Regression analysis showed IgM RF and disease duration to be associated with JE and JSN. Anti-CCP antibodies and COMP were also associated with JSN. CRP and IgA RF were associated with synovitis. CONCLUSION Our findings demonstrate the importance of measuring IgM RF and IgA RF by ELISA and anti-CCP antibodies by ELISA, in addition to COMP in the assessment of JIA patients to determine severity of disease.
Clonal Seborrheic Keratosis Versus Pagetoid Bowen Disease: Histopathology and Role of Adjunctive Markers

Abstract: Clonal seborrheic keratosis (CSK) and pagetoid Bowen disease (squamous cell carcinoma in situ) (PBD) share similar histological features making it sometimes difficult to differentiate the 2. The study group included 29 and 13 cases of CSK and PBD, respectively. Both groups were examined histopathologically (suprabasal mitotic figures, broad rete ridges, crowding of nuclei, nuclear pleomorphism, necrotic keratinocytes, parakeratosis, and dermal inflammation) and immunohistochemically (CK10, Ki-67, and p16). P values for all parameters were calculated using Fisher exact test, 2 tailed. Significant differences were seen regarding mitosis, crowding, nuclear pleomorphism (more common in PBD), and broad rete ridges (more common in CSK). Significant differences were also noted with Ki-67, CK10, and p16 antibodies. Increased Ki-67-positive cells and the presence of >75% positive p16 cells were commonly seen in PBD, whereas CK10-negative cells were a common finding in CSK. A spectrum of staining patterns was observed with CK10 and p16. There is no single reliable criterion to distinguish CSK from PBD. A panel of markers comprising CK10, Ki-67, and p16 seems to be useful in the context of relevant histology.
Central serous chorioretinopathy and risk of ischaemic stroke: a population-based cohort study

Background Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) is a common maculopathy that features choroidal circulatory disturbance. This population-based cohort study aimed to explore the relationship between CSCR and the future development of ischaemic stroke. Methods Data were obtained from Taiwan's national health insurance research database. From 2000 to 2007, 1814 patients with newly diagnosed CSCR were eligible for inclusion in the study cohort. Using stratified random sampling, 9648 enrollees matched with the study subjects in terms of sex, age, monthly income, geographical location and time of enrolment were selected as the control group. Stroke-free survival analysis was assessed using a Kaplan–Meier method. Cox proportional hazard regressions were performed to calculate the HR of ischaemic stroke for the two groups after adjusting for possible confounding variables. Results Of the sampled patients, 45 (2.5%) from the CSCR cohort and 157 (1.6%) from the control group developed ischaemic stroke during a mean follow-up period of 3.9±2.2 years. CSCR patients had a significantly higher incidence of ischaemic stroke than those without a diagnosis of CSCR (p=0.003). After adjusting for age, sex and chronic comorbidities at baseline, CSCR patients were found to have a 1.56-fold (95% CI 1.11 to 2.18, p=0.010) greater risk of a subsequent ischaemic stroke than the matched controls. Conclusions CSCR is an independent indicator for the increased risk of subsequent ischaemic stroke development.
Seroprevalence of Syphilis among known HIV Patients in Khartoum State-Sudan

Background: HIV and syphilis co-infection is complex and can occur through sexual intercourse, blood transfusion and vertical transmission. Objective: The aim of this study was to detect serofrequency of syphilis among HIV Patients in Khartoum state during February to March 2016. Method: A total of 90 HIV patients were enrolled in this study, serum tested for anti-syphilis total antibodies using ELISA. The Results: Anti-syphilis rate among known HIV patients was 8( 8.9%). The highest seroprevalence was observed among HIV Patients of 41-60 years age range with average 3(3.3%). Conclusion: This study reflected the high frequency of syphilis among known HIV patients.
Gender Quotas in Taiwan: The Impact of Global Diffusion

Two things distinguish Taiwan from other Asian countries regarding women's political representation: a high level of female political representation by Asian standards and an early implementation of quotas by global standards. Women constitute 33.6% in the country's parliament, second in Asia only to East Timor (38.5%). Taiwan has also achieved a higher level of women's parliamentary representation than Japan (8.1%), South Korea (15.7%), and Singapore (23%). Unlike other young democracies that adopted gender quotas in the 1990s or even later, Taiwan has had reserved seats for women since the early 1950s when the country was under authoritarian rule. Quota reforms were later instigated subsequent to Taiwan's democratization.
Du Bois on citizenship: Revising the ‘Du Bois as sociologist’ canon

This essay surveying W.E. B. Du Bois’ views on citizenship contends that the conventional canon in ‘Du Bois as sociologist’ studies tends to fixate on his pre-First World War years as a Social Darwinian reformer, focusing on the cultural and legal exclusion of African American and Pan-African citizens. Ignored in this focus is his turn to the left after his 1926 visit to the Soviet Union, which contributed to his gradual transformation into a Marxist-oriented world peace advocate and, during his last years, into a Communist. The Red Scare, the Cold War, the factor of race in Jim Crow America, and the anti-Marxist and anti-Communist perspectives of the third-generational sociologists who would come to define post-Second World War American sociology would assure Du Bois’ political burial in American sociology and in American intellectual thought in general until a new Black pride generation emerged in the 1960s. But even then, post-1960s sociologists have yet to come to terms with Du Bois’ post-1920s Marxist and otherwise left-of-center perspectives on the experiences of citizenship injustice among people of color and other dehumanized peoples around the world, which read so much like contemporary post-modern and restorative justice theories and parallel C. Wright Mills’ The Power Elite, published in the 1950s.
Evolution of Chinese Settlement Geographies in Sydney, Australia

In 1996, there were 250,000 people of Chinese ancestry in metropolitan Sydney. Eighty percent of the first generations among Chinese who arrived in Australia after 1973 were migrants from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia and 20% from China. Some of the migration from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia is skilled migration, a portion of which comprises business professionals in producer services associated with Sydney's emergent global city role. There is no strong level of residential concentration except for those of refugee origin. The sponsored family reunion relatives of the skilled migrants are present indirectly because of the globalization process, although others from the former Indochina are of refugee migration origin. There are thus economic inequalities among different origin groups of Chinese in Sydney. Complex Chinese presences have evolved in Sydney at the neighborhood level partly related to social class, and there are visible impacts in a rejuvenated Chinatown and in several suburban shopping and commercial centers. These presences overlap in terms of community origins, social class, language, and religion but there are discrete impacts in the context of diversity.
Between Orthodoxy and Eclecticism: on the Religious Transformations of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine

Dissolution of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communism brought a radical change in the position of religion in countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The legal position of the Churches changed to a model recognizing freedom of religion as a basic human right. Under these conditions in Eastern Europe, where the dominant religion was Orthodoxy, people moved towards that religion. The number of those who declared their belief in God and their adherence to the Orthodox tradition rose as dramatically as the number of atheists under communist persecution of religion. However, the nature of this religious revival, and the meaning of the “return” to Orthodoxy and being Orthodox, are unclear because the religiosity of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarussians also includes elements of New Age spirituality. Commitment to the Church, and the level of religious practice, are as low as in the most secularized Western European societies. Thus the author claims that, paradoxically, the picture of religiosity in countries where atheism was imposed for so many years is quite similar to that in countries where secularization has developed spontaneously.
Toward an understanding of condom use behaviours: A theoretical and methodological overview of Project SAFER

This paper describes the theoretical and methodological approach underlying Project SAFER, a longitudinal study to predict and understand condom use behaviours among populations at high risk for HIV (i.e. men who have sex with men (MSM), injecting drug users (IDUs), commercial sex workers (CSWs) and multi-partnered heterosexuals (MPHs)). Based on an integrative behavioural prediction model incorporating constructs from several psychosocial theories and on extensive formative research, a questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire assessed beliefs, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, intentions and behaviour with respect to consistent condom use for vaginal, anal and oral sex with regular and occasional partners and clients. At baseline (Time 1), 993 subjects (58.7% male, 41.3% female) with diverse ethnic and risk backgrounds were interviewed. Three months later (Time 2), 686 subjects (57.6% male, 42.4% female) returned for follow-up interviews. Based on responses to the Time 1 questionnaire, seven non-overlapping populations at high risk for acquiring or transmitting HIV or other STDs were identified.
Chinese Conceptions of “Rights”: From Mencius to Mao—and Now

The recent explosion of popular protest in China, often framed as a demand for the fulfillment of “rights,” has captured widespread attention. Some observers interpret the protests as signs of a “moral vacuum. ” Others see the unrest as signaling a powerful new “rights consciousness. ” In either case, the protests are often regarded as a major challenge to the stability of the political system. In this article, an examination of Chinese conceptions of “rights,” as reflected in the ethical discourses of philosophers, political leaders, and protesters (and as contrasted with American understandings of rights), provides the basis for questioning prevailing assumptions about the fragility of the Chinese political order. For over two millennia, Chinese political thought, policy, and protest have assigned central priority to the attainment of socioeconomic security. As a result, the meaning of “rights” in Chinese political discourse differs significantly from the Anglo-American tradition. Viewed in historical context, China's contemporary “rights” protests seem less politically threatening. The Chinese polity appears neither as vacuous nor as vulnerable as it is sometimes assumed to be.Elizabeth J. Perry is Henry Rosovsky Professor of Government at Harvard University and is the current President of the Association for Asian Studies (eperry@latte.harvard.edu). A preliminary draft of this paper was delivered as a keynote address at the conference on Socioeconomic Rights and Justice in China held at Dickinson College in April 2004. The author is grateful to the conference organizer, Neil Diamant, for the invitation to consider these issues and to the other conference participants (especially David Strand and Jerome Cohen) for their challenging comments and questions. A substantially revised version was presented at the conference in memory of Benjamin Schwartz, held in Shanghai at East China Normal University in December 2006. Thanks are due to the conference organizers and participants (particularly Zhu Zhenghui, Xu Jilin, Zhang Jishun, Tong Shijun, and Roderick MacFarquhar) for their stimulating suggestions. Appreciation is also extended to Stephen Angle, Nara Dillon, Mary Gallagher, and Kevin O'Brien for their critical reading of an earlier draft.
An External Orientation to the Study of Causal Beliefs

Characteristic differences between Chinese and Western cultures are argued to have meaningful implications for attributional belief research and its extension into new cultural settings. This study examined attributional beliefs within and across samples from Taiwan and the United States. To meet unique demands inherent in Chinese culture, an externally oriented perspective was introduced. Accordingly, a new instrument for the assessment of attributional beliefs was developed and demonstrated as providing reliable dimension measurement. Results indicated that although the internal structure of the attributional belief construct appeared valid across the samples, the patterns of dimension relations within each sample were unique. Furthermore, internal and external locus dimensions, assessed separately, appeared to represent distinct concepts and show differential association with adjustment variables. Findings were interpreted based on sociocultural differences between the samples.
"Extramarital" sex: is there an increased risk for HIV transmission? A study of male couples of mixed HIV status.

This report describes the sexual behavior with "extramarital" partners of men who are in committed relationships with men of opposite HIV status. We examined the rates of unprotected anal sex with outside partners and compared these rates with the prevalence of such activity within the couple, during the year prior to the assessment. Seventy-five couples were interviewed, of whom 50 (67%) reported sex outside of the primary relationship by one or both members of the couple. Rates of unprotected anal sex with one-night stands and "other" partners were 25% and 33%, respectively among men who engaged in anal sex with such partners. In contrast, 54% of the men who engaged in anal sex with their primary partner did not always use condoms. Data from men who engaged in anal sex with both their primary partner and one-night stand(s) revealed that condoms were used less frequently within the primary relationship when the HIV negative men were the insertive partner; otherwise the rates of unprotected anal sex were similar. Approximately 75% of HIV negative men who engaged in receptive anal sex always used condoms, and a similar proportion of HIV positive men always used condoms during insertive anal sex, regardless of partner type. The vast majority of unprotected anal sex occurred without ejaculation inside the rectum. Unprotected oral sex was highly prevalent regardless of partner type. Implications for public health policy and primary prevention research are discussed.
Nonparametric Efficiency Testing of Asian Stock Markets Using Weekly Data

The efficiency of speculative markets, as represented by Fama's 1970 fair game model, is tested on weekly price index data of six Asian stock markets - Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand - using Sherry's (1992) non-parametric methods. These scientific testing methods were originally developed to analyze the information processing efficiency of nervous systems. In particular, the stationarity and independence of the price innovations are tested over ten years, from June 1986 to July 1996. These tests clearly show that all six stock markets lacked at least one of the two required fair game attributes, and, accordingly, Fama's Efficient Market Hypothesis must be rejected for these Asian markets. However, Singapore emerged from these tests as the most efficient regional Asian stock market. A tentative ranking in order of stock market efficiency is: Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Singapore's stock market pricing is closest to the speculative market behavior which can support stock options. Our tests show both Hong Kong and Taiwan to be inefficient markets. Both exhibit non-stationary (likely because of continuing institutional changes) and dependent price innovations, making them particularly unsuitable for stock option pricing. In Taiwan the weekly price innovations show even higher order (Markov) dependencies. Although the price innovations in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are at least stationary at the weekly level, they exhibit regular higher-order transitions and the large sustained movements in both bull and bear markets, which are so characteristic for illiquid emerging markets. All six Asian stock markets exhibit strong price trend behavior, which, perhaps, can be profitably exploited by technical analysis with first- order Markov filters (e.g., Kalman filters) in windows of between a week and more than a month.
A Retrospective Study of Clinical Characteristics of Interstitial Lung Disease Associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Chinese Patients

Background Interstitial lung disease (ILD) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with a poor prognosis. The purpose of this study was to assess the characteristics of ILD that are associated with RA. Material/Methods This was a retrospective study of 544 Chinese patients with RA (427 women and 117 men). RA-ILD was diagnosed by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). Patients with RA-ILD or with RA alone were compared in terms of age, sex distribution, duration of disease, clinical and laboratory parameters, history of smoking, and medication. Results Based on HRCT imaging, 83 (15.26%) patients with RA were diagnosed with ILD. ILD was more frequent in older patients (59.60±9.66 vs. 50.54±13.76 years, P<0.001), in those with a longer duration of disease (7.46±7.40 vs. 5.27±6.32 years, P=0.013) and in male patients (34.9% vs. 19.1%, P=0.001). RA-ILD was found to be associated with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positivity (odds ratio [OR]=2.56, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.02–6.43) and smoking (OR=3.38, 95% CI 1.65–6.95). Higher levels of C-reactive protein (OR=3.59, 95% CI 1.58–8.15), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) (OR=2.24, 95% CI 2.09–4.13), and rheumatoid factor (OR=3.72, 95% CI 1.56–8.86) were detected in association with RA-ILD. RA-ILD was more frequently observed in patients treated with steroids (OR=1.91, 95% CI 1.18–3.09) or Tripterygium wilfordii (OR=2.56, 95% CI 1.21–5.40). Age (OR=2.20, 95% CI 1.04–4.65), age at RA onset (OR=2.55, 95% CI 1.11–5.90), anti-CCP (OR=2.47, 95% CI 1.19–5.17), and steroid use (OR=1.83, 95% CI 1.04–3.20) were independently associated with RA-ILD in multivariate analysis. Conclusions RA-ILD was associated with age, age at RA onset, anti-CCP, and steroid use. Anti-CCP antibodies might be important biomarkers of RA-ILD.