Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Peer Migration in China *

This paper highlights the role of social networks in the internal migration of China. With over 130 million rural labors migrating to the city each year, China is experiencing the largest internal migration in the human history. Using the 2006 China Agricultural Census, we show that individual migration decision is not only dependent on individual attributes (such as age, gender, education and distance) but also highly clustered: migration pattern varies greatly across close-by villages; but migrants from the same village tend to go to the same destination for the same occupation. After using China’s one-child policy as instruments for neighbors’ migration decision in the same village, we conclude that the clustered migration is most likely driven by same-origin villagers helping each other in moving cost and job search at the destination. * Contact information: Yuyu Chen, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. Email: chenyuyu@gsm.pku. edu.cn. Ginger Jin, Department of Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. Email: jin@econ.umd. edu. Yang Yue, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. Email: shananyueyang@gmail.com. This project is a collaborative effort with a local government of China. We would like to thank Hongbin Cai, Wei Li, Brian Viard, Roger Betancourt, Loren Brandt, Judy Hellerstein, John Ham and Matthew Chesnes for helpful comments. All errors are our own.
An Avalanche of Images on Telegram Preceded Russia's Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine

Governments use propaganda, including through visual content -- or Politically Salient Image Patterns (PSIP) -- on social media, to influence and manipulate public opinion. In the present work, we collected Telegram post-history of from 989 Russian milbloggers to better understand the social and political narratives that circulated online in the months surrounding Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Overall, we found an 8,925% increase (p<0.001) in the number of posts and a 5,352% increase (p<0.001) in the number of images posted by these accounts in the two weeks prior to the invasion. We also observed a similar increase in the number and intensity of politically salient manipulated images that circulated on Telegram. Although this paper does not evaluate malice or coordination in these activities, we do conclude with a call for further research into the role that manipulated visual media has in the lead-up to instability events and armed conflict.
Microbenchmarks for GPU Characteristics: The Occupancy Roofline and the Pipeline Model

In this paper we present microbenchmarks in OpenCL to measure the most important performance characteristics of GPUs. Microbenchmarks try to measure individual characteristics that influence the performance. First, performance, in operations or bytes per second, is measured with respect to the occupancy and as such provides an occupancy roofline curve. The curve shows at which occupancy level peak performance is reached. Second, when considering the cycles per instruction of each compute unit, we measure the two most important characteristics of an instruction: its issue and completion latency. This is based on modeling each compute unit as a pipeline for computations and a pipeline for the memory access. We also measure some specific characteristics: the influence of independent instructions within a kernel and thread divergence. We argue that these are the most important characteristics for understanding the performance and predicting performance. The results for several Nvidia and AMD GPUs are provided. A free java application containing the microbenchmarks is available on www.gpuperformance. org.
The Pursuit of Happiness Measurement: A Psychometric Model Based on Psychophysiological Correlates

Everyone is interested in the pursuit of happiness, but the real problem for the researchers is how to measure it. Our aim was to deeply investigate happiness measurement through biomedical signals, using psychophysiological methods to objectify the happiness experiences measurements. The classic valence-arousal model of affective states to study happiness has been extensively used in psychophysiology. However, really few studies considered a real combination of these two dimensions and no study further investigated multidimensional models. More, most studies focused mainly on self-report to measure happiness and a deeper psychophysiological investigation on the dimensions of such an experience is still missing. A multidimensional model of happiness is presented and both the dimensions and the measures extracted within each dimension are comprehensively explained. This multidimensional model aims at being a milestone for future systematic study on psychophysiology of happiness and affective states. It seems everyone has a view on happiness. Joan Collins, theDalai Lama and over 100 others have released new titles on the subject since the beginning of 2001 Richard Tooth “The Psychology of Happiness (2nd Edition)” Michael Argyle, Routledge
Testing for the martingale hypothesis in Asian stock prices: a wild bootstrap approach

This paper tests for the martingale (or random walk) hypothesis in the stock prices of a group of Asian countries. The selected countries include well-developed markets (Hong Kong and Japan) as well as emerging markets (Korea, Taiwan and Thailand). This paper adopts a joint variance ratio test based on the wild bootstrap technique. This test has been found to exhibit superior small sample properties to those of the conventional tests. In addition, the test for the martingale hypothesis is conducted with moving-subsample windows, to control the sensitivity of the results to the particular sample periods. The overall result indicates that the stock prices of Hong Kong, Japan and Korea follow the martingale, suggesting that these stock markets have been efficient.
Identification of Human LRG1 Polymorphisms and Their Genetic Association with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract Human leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) was first identified as a trace protein in human serum. The primary sequence of LRG1 includes repeated leucine residues and putative membrane-binding domains. But, there is no published information on the genetic varia-tion of this gene. In this study, LRG1 was identified as one of several upregulated genes in RA patients. We examined the expression levels of LRG1 between an RA patient and a healthy control by RT-PCR and validated that LRG1 was highly expressed in RA patients com-pared with controls. We identified the possible variation sites and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human LRG1 gene by direct sequencing and analyzed the association of genotype and allele frequencies be-tween RA patients and a control group without RA. We further investigated the relationship between these poly-morphisms and the level of RF or anti-CCP in RA patients. We identified a total of three SNPs (g.-678A＞G, g.-404C＞T and g.1427T＞C) and two variation sites (g.-1198delA and g.-893delA) in the LRG1 gene. Our re-sults suggest that polymorphisms of the LRG1 gene are not associated with the susceptibility of RA in the Korean population.Keywords: HRM, LRG1, polymorphism, rheumatoid arthritis
Dynamic Relatedness Analysis of Three Exchange Rate Markets’ Volatility: Study of Korea, Taiwan and Thailand’s Countries

This paper studies the association and the model construction of the Korea’s, the Taiwan’s and the Thailand’s exchange rate markets. In this paper we can construct a dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) and a trivariate IGARCH (1, 2) model to evaluate the association and there are not exist an asymmetrical effect among the three exchange rate markets. The empirical results of correlation analysis also show that Korea exchange rate market positively affects the Taiwan’s and the Thailand’s exchange rate markets, and the volatility of the three exchange rate market interact with one another. Furthermore, for example, the variation risk of the Korea exchange rate markets’ volatility affects the variation risks of the Taiwan and Thailand exchange rate markets. The empirical result suggests that the investors or international fund managers of the exchange rate markets must evaluate their markets on the previous of the exchange rate investment decision. They also need to consider the risk and relationship of the three exchange rate markets’ volatility. Index Terms exchange rate market, asymmetrical effect, DCC, trivariate IGARCH model.
Neuroscience and Sex/Gender: Looking Back and Forward

Phoenix et al. (1959) reported that treating pregnant guinea pigs with testosterone had enduring effects on the sex-related behavior of their female offspring. Since then, similar enduring effects of early testosterone exposure have been found in other species, including humans, and for other behaviors that show average sex differences. Phoenix et al. (1959) reported that treating pregnant guinea pigs with testosterone had enduring effects on the sex-related behavior of their female offspring. Since then, similar enduring effects of early testosterone exposure have been found in other species, including humans, and for other behaviors that show average sex differences. In humans, the affected outcomes include gender identity, sexual orientation, and children's sex-typical play behavior. The evidence linking early testosterone exposure to sex-typed play is particularly robust, and sex-typed play is also influenced by many other factors, including socialization by parents and peers and self-socialization, based on cognitive understanding of gender. In addition to influencing behavior, testosterone and hormones produced from testosterone affect mammalian brain structure. Studies using human autopsy material have found some sex differences in the human brain similar to those seen in other species, and have reported that some brain sex differences correlate with sexual orientation or gender identity, although the causes of these brain/behavior relationships are unclear. Studies that have imaged the living human brain have found only a small number of sex differences, and these differences are generally small in magnitude. In addition, they have not been linked to robust psychological or behavioral sex differences. Future research might benefit from improved imaging technology, and attention to other brain characteristics. In addition, it might usefully explore how different types of factors, such as early testosterone exposure and parental socialization, work together in the developmental system that produces sex/gender differences in human brain and behavior.
Increased serum levels of microfibrillar-associated protein 4 (MFAP4) are not associated with clinical synovitis in rheumatoid arthritis but may reflect underlying cardiovascular comorbidity.

OBJECTIVES To study circulating MFAP4 in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its associations with clinical phenotype. METHODS Early RA (ERA): 47 patients with newly diagnosed, treatment naïve RA were included. Serum MFAP4, clinical and laboratory disease variables were recorded serially during 12 months of intensive synovitis suppressive treatment. Long-standing RA (LRA): 317 patients participated, all receiving DMARD treatment. Disease activity, autoantibody status, extra-articular manifestations and cardiovascular morbidity were recorded. Paired serum and synovial fluid samples were obtained from 13 untreated ERA patients. Healthy blood donors served as reference points. MFAP4 was quantified by AlphaLISA immunoassay. Univariate, multivariate and mixed effects regression models were applied in the statistical analysis. RESULTS ERA: MFAP4 increased from baseline and was significantly elevated at the 12-month follow-up, 17.8 U/l [12.6;24.1] vs. healthy controls, 12.7 U/l [9.5;15.6], p<0.001. MFAP4 did not correlate with joint counts or C-reactive protein. LRA: MFAP4 was increased, 25.9 U/l [20.4;33.7] vs. healthy controls, 17.6 U/l [13.7;21.2], p<0.0001, but did not correlate with disease activity measures or presence of extra-articular manifestations. Notably, MFAP4 correlated inversely with smoking (p<0.0001) and presence of antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptides (anti-CCP), p=0.005. There was a positive association with systolic blood pressure, p=0.001 and co-occurrence of three cardiovascular events and/or risk factors, p<0.0001. The serum:synovial fluid MFAP4 ratio was 2:1. CONCLUSIONS MFAP4 increases from diagnostic baseline despite intensive treatment but does not associate with synovitis at early or late stages of RA. Correlation patterns indicate that increased MFAP4 may reflect enhanced RA-related vascular remodelling.
MRI bone oedema is the strongest predictor of subsequent radiographic progression in early rheumatoid arthritis. Results from a 2-year randomised controlled trial (CIMESTRA)

Objective: To identify predictors of radiographic progression in a 2-year randomised, double-blind, clinical study (CIMESTRA) of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: Patients with early RA (n = 130) were treated with methotrexate, intra-articular betamethasone and ciclosporin/placebo-ciclosporin. Baseline magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the wrist (wrist-only group, n = 130) or MRI of wrist and metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints (wrist+MCP group, n = 89) (OMERACT RAMRIS), x-ray examination of hands, wrists and forefeet (Sharp/van der Heijde Score (TSS)), Disease Activity Score (DAS28), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP), HLA-DRB1-shared epitope (SE) and smoking status were assessed. Multiple regression analysis was performed with delta-TSS (0–2 years) as dependent variable and baseline DAS28, TSS, MRI bone oedema score, MRI synovitis score, MRI erosion score, anti-CCP, smoking, SE, age and gender as explanatory variables. Results: Baseline values: median DAS28 5.6 (range 2.4–8.0); anti-CCP positive 61%; radiographic erosions 56%. At 2 years: DAS28 2.0 (0.5–5.7), in DAS remission: 56%, radiographic progression 26% (wrist+MCP group, similar for wrist-only group). MRI bone oedema score was the only independent predictor of delta-TSS (wrist+MCP group: coefficient = 0.75 (95% CI 0.55 to 0.94), p<0.001; wrist-only group: coefficient = 0.59 (95% CI 0.40 to 0.77), p<0.001). Bone oedema score explained 41% of the variation in the progression of TSS (wrist+MCP group), 25% in wrist-only group (Pearson’s r = 0.64 and r = 0.50, respectively). Results were confirmed by sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: In a randomised controlled trial aiming at remission in patients with early RA, baseline RAMRIS MRI bone oedema score of MCP and wrist joints (and of wrist only) was the strongest independent predictor of radiographic progression in hands, wrists and forefeet after 2 years. MRI synovitis score, MRI erosion score, DAS28, anti-CCP, SE, smoking, age and gender were not independent risk factors. Trial registration number: NCT00209859.
Investigation of the Co-Movement Relationship between Medical Expenditure and GDP in Taiwan-Based on Wavelet Analysis

In this study, using the medical expenditures of the Taiwanese government and gross domestic product (GDP) as variables, the wavelet analysis method was used to empirically study the correlations and lead-lag relationships in quarterly data in the period from 1996 to 2016. In addition, the dependent population of the insured was used as the control variable. Results: After the dependent population was included as a control variable, there was a period of low- frequency (one to four years, short-term) linkage correlation, as well as a period of high- frequency (four to eight years, long-term) linkage correlation. In addition, for more than eight years, there was a high degree of linkage correlation, indicating that the linkage between medical expenditures and GDP occurred over the long- term. Moreover, since medical expenditures positively affected GDP, one-way causality was observed. However, after 2008, regardless of whether long or short- term was examined, there was almost no linkage correlation. Before 2008, the medical expenditures of the government were positively correlated with economic growth. After 2008, this effect had already disappeared. The universal health insurance system has long been denounced as a waste of medical resources. The government needs to find a new solution.
History of Diabetes Mellitus and Risk of Prostate Cancer: A Meta-Epidemiological Study of Population-Based Cohort Studies in East Asian Men

Purpose: Seven quantitative systematic reviews previously published showed that the direction of risk of prostate cancer associated with history of diabetes mellitus was in the opposite. The aim of this meta-epidemiological meta-analysis (MEMA) was to evaluate the effect size and direction of the prostate cancer risk associated with history of diabetes mellitus in Far East Asian men from population-based cohort studies. Materials and Methods: The primary subjects of MEMA were the 7 Asian cohort studies selected by related systematic reviews. Additional articles were searched from the primary subjects using citation discovery tools. The study having the longest follow-up period was selected from studies having the same cohorts. Random effect model was applied to estimate a summary relative risk (sRR) and its 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Egger test was used to evaluate a publication bias. Results: Three cohort studies were selected finally. These participants were population of Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, respectively, and total participants were 1,475,465. The direction of risk among 3 studies of Far East Asian men was in the opposite direction. The sRR (and its 95% CI) (I-squared value) was 1.07 (0.71–1.62) (86.1%). Conclusions: This MEMA found that the direction as well as effect size of risk of prostate cancer associated with history of diabetes mellitus in Far East Asian men were inconsistent and heterogenous. To overcome them, it would be necessary to elongate cohort follow-up period, to adjust for potential confounders including socioeconomic status, and to consider conducting rates of prostate specific antigen test by national screening guideline. (Korean J Urol Oncol 2019;17:119-124) 󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏
Lian-Hee Wee (2019). Phonological tone. (Key Topics in Phonology.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. xxii + 322.

This book is a comprehensive, well-detailed guide to tones in both tonal and nontonal languages. In addition to considering basic topics, the author delves deeper into a variety of tonal languages that have been relatively less well highlighted in the previous literature, such as Yip (2002), Gussenhoven (2004) and Ladd (2008). The discussions in the present work centre around a wide range of mostly Asian tone languages, in particular various Chinese dialects (Tianjin, Hangzhou, Taiwanese Min, etc.), and ‘tonal’ Englishes (Hong Kong, Singapore), which is informative, resourceful and very refreshing. Each chapter develops issues from basic to advanced, and identifies areas that need more research. The author supports his arguments with cross-dialectal, cross-linguistic and historical data, going back as far as Old Chinese. This is an ideal textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses focused on tone. It can also serve as a valuable reference for researchers who are interested in tones, tone–segment interactions, tone–music interactions and tonogenesis. Each chapter begins with fundamental questions, and then unpacks the answers. The book is an accessible read even for those who do not have much background in tone. Even seasoned scholars may find it inspiring and enjoyable to see how a novel, rich set of data is used to expound on the basic, familiar topics related to tone. The book begins with discussions on rather well-known tone languages such as Mende and Shona (e.g. Kenstowicz 1994), and develops these discussions with examples from mostly Asian tone languages. In addition, pictures from ancient documents are provided to illustrate the tonogenesis of Chinese tones, from Ancient to Middle to Modern Chinese dialects. This is of particular interest for linguists wanting to know more about tone in Chinese languages other than Standard Chinese. The book is geared to readers whose familiarity with linguistic theories is limited. For example, in Chapter 5, the author develops optimality-theoretic analyses of tones, accompanied by explanation of the fundamentals of Optimality Theory (e.g. Prince & Smolensky 1993). This is the only chapter where the OT framework is used.
Will Microblogs Shape China's Civil Society Under President's Xi's Surveillance State?

Western scholars have previously predicted Weibo and social media will provide Chinese netizens with an opportunity to foster its nascent civil society. However, the growing applications of surveillance technologies have challenged this rosy, yet deterministic prediction. This chapter argues that Jürgen Habermas’s concept of public sphere is less likely to function properly, given the pervasive applications of surveillance technologies in China, which has fundamentally challenge its many assumptions. Using Habermas’s analytical framework that is used to better comprehend the role of social media in Chinese politics, the authors argue that information technologies turn out to deteriorate the formation and maintenance of a public sphere for Chinese civil society. The authors employ a case study to examine the interrelations among social media, surveillance technologies, civil society, state power, economic development, political process, and democratization in China as demonstrated in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Law Protests. Will Microblogs Shape China’s Civil Society Under President’s Xi’s Surveillance State? The Case of Anti-Extradition Law Protests in Hong Kong
Grafting of Vegetables(Grafting and Raising of Seedlings, For Further Development of Horticulture in East Asia)

The cultivation of grafted vegetable is one of the essential cultural techniques for certain vegetables in many parts of the world where intensive and successive cropping is routinely practiced. More than 95% of the watermelons and oriental melons in Japan, Korea, Taiwan are being grafted on squash and gourd rootstocks before transplanting. The number of vegetables being grafted is estimated to be 540 million seedlings per year in Korea and 750 million in Japan. The benefits of grafting are well recognized so that illustration on vegetable grafting has become the key portion of the crop production guide pamphlets published by the government. Even though several grafting robots have been introduced to Korea from Japan, none of them are used now for practical grafting, possibly because of several unexpected limitations. In addition, most of these robots are too big to be handled and too expensive to be purchased by individual growers. Reasonably priced and easy-to-handle grafting machines are also urgently needed for the individual growers. Growing highly uniform seedlings in tray is vital for efficient grafting operation, especially for grafting by robots. Research relevant to seed germination and ways to obtain fast and uniform seed germination should be conducted to maximize the efficiency of vegetable grafting.
A Systematic Review of Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Delayed Sternal Closure in Children

Antibiotic prophylaxis following delayed sternal closure in pediatric cardiac surgery is not standardized. We systematically reviewed relevant literature published between 1990 and 2019 to aid future trial design. Patient characteristics, antimicrobial prophylaxis regimens, and postoperative incidence of infection were collected. Twenty-eight studies described 36 different regimens in over 3,000 patients. There were 11 single-drug regimens and 25 multidrug regimens. Cefazolin-only was the most common regimen (9/36, 25%). The overall incidence of surgical site infection was 7.5% (217/2,910 patients) and bloodstream infection was 7.4% (123/1,667 patients). In the 2010s, multidrug regimens were associated with a significantly lower incidence of both surgical site infections (4.6% vs. 20%, P < .001) and bloodstream infections (6.0% vs. 50%, P < .001) compared to single-drug regimens.