Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors Influencing Self-Efficacy and Self-Management among Patients with Pre-End-Stage Renal Disease (Pre-ESRD)

Aim: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an emerging major public health issue that leads to end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Factors influencing the self-management and self-efficacy of ESRD patients are still under investigation. The objective of this study is to evaluate the association of depression and anxiety with self-management and self-efficacy in patients with pre-ESRD. Methods: Patients in the department of nephrology of a regional hospital in Taiwan were invited to participate and were included in our study if they had a confirmed diagnosis of early-stage CKD, were more than 20 years old, and could converse in Mandarin Chinese or Taiwanese. Patients diagnosed with depression, who could not execute self-care, or who had cognitive deficits were excluded. In total, this cross-sectional study included 112 pre-ESRD patients. We used the Chinese versions of the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), the chronic kidney disease self-efficacy instrument (CKD-SE), and the chronic kidney disease self-management instrument (CKD-SM) as the questionnaire. Spearman’s rank correlation and logistic regressions were used to analyze the data. Results: The top quartile of self-management and self-efficacy scores (28 patients) was defined as high self-management and -efficacy, respectively, and the lower three quartiles as low self-management and -efficacy. The logistic regression analysis showed that having depression decreased the odds of having high self-management by 75.4% and high self-efficacy by 75.1%. Having an education level of senior high school or above increased the odds ratios for having high self-management and high self-efficacy to 4.47 and 3.56 (all p-values < 0.05). Conclusion: Controlling depression as well as increasing the level of education can potentially increase self-management and self-efficacy in pre-ESRD patients.
A Comparative Study on the Determinants of Male Attitudes toward Gender Affirmative Action in Asian Countries : Using AsiaBarometer 2006 Data

By using AsiaBarometer 2006 data, this study aims to find the determinants of male attitudes toward gender affirmative action in 6 Asian countries, namely China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. For this purpose, this study explores three theories explaining causes of gender discrimination: two social psychological perspective including Realistic conflict theory, Relative deprivation theory, and Critical aspect of Feminism against Nationalism. Regression analysis of the entire data showed that while relative deprivation theory has no explanatory power, realistic conflict and nationalism factors proved significant. Analyses on individual countries, however, showed that some factors of relative deprivation theory affected male attitudes. Especially satisfaction with social life such as ‘Relationship’, ‘Socio-environment’, and ‘Political rights’ turned out to be effective. These significant variables are likely to be categorized in social scope, compared with other ineffective ones such as ‘Finance’, ‘Personal status’ and ‘Happiness’ related with individual scope. In addition, ‘Ethnocentrism’ and ‘Patriotism’ among traits of nationalism had significance. Two of them are exclusive of out-groups more than ‘Pride of being’. All in all it is revealed that each country has different determinants except China and Hong Kong. In conclusion, we could say that factors on socio-culture level affect male attitude toward gender affirmative action more than individual level factors in 6 Asian countries.
Dividend Payout Policy and Global Financial Crisis: A Study on Asian Non-Financial Listed Companies

This study assesses the dividend payout options of non-financial firms listed on the stock exchanges in four Asian countries: Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong, from 2006–2016. Multinomial logistic regression was used to justify the determinants of four mutually exclusive payout choices (increase, cut, omit or maintain) in the context of catering, signaling and smoothing concerns. The study is split into pre-, during and post-crisis periods. Several dividend patterns were observed across the nations and sub-periods, and the empirical results reveal that firms shifted their dividend policy during the financial crisis. More specifically, firms adopted a conservative strategy and were more concerned about preserving funds rather than distributing dividends during the financial crisis. The consequence is broadly consistent with the view that the dividend payer’s characteristics are the most relevant to explaining the dividend payout options, while cutting dividends was one of the methods used to maintain financial flexibility during the financial crisis period.
17. Health gap in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe: A life-course perspective

The health of the population of post-socialist central and eastern European (CEE) countries lags behind the European Union average. Based on Eurostat data corresponding to the year 2016 and using the EU-28 average as a comparison, life expectancy at both birth and age 65 is approximately 3–6 years shorter than the EU average. These differences are more pronounced among males than among females. Mortality attributable to cancer and ischaemic heart diseases is substantially higher in post-socialist CEE countries than in the rest of the European Union. Laaksonen et al. (2001) argue that the east–west health gap can partly be explained by differences in health behaviours and psychosocial factors. Steptoe and Wardle (2001) arrive at a similar conclusion using a sample of young adults. Health behaviours and psychosocial factors are likely to be related to living conditions during and after the communist era and to the transition itself. In approximately 1990, the dictatorship of the Communist Party ended in CEE, and the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. The transition implied a dramatic restructuring of the economy and the social security system. Such major events could have affected not only the healthcare system but also the health status of the population in CEE. Zatonski (2007) documents that adult mortality rates in post-socialist CEE countries started to diverge from those of western countries in the 1960s. Additionally, during the transition period, adult mortality rose particularly rapidly in post-socialist CEE countries, especially in the Baltics. The dramatic increase in adult male mortality rates during the first years of transition was attributed to
Health Policy in Asia

The book assesses the policy actions of select Asian governments (China, India, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand) to address critical health system functions from a policy design perspective. The findings show that all governments in the region have made tremendous strides in focussing their attention on the core issues and, especially, the interactions among them. However, there is still insufficient appreciation of the usefulness of public hospitals and their efficient management. Similarly, some governments have not made sufficient efforts to establish an effective regulatory framework which is especially vital in systems with a large share of private providers and payers. A well-run public hospital system and an effective framework for regulating private providers are essential tools to support the governance, financing, and payment reforms underway in the six health systems studied in this book.
Psychosocial Correlates of Reactive and Proactive Aggression among Protesters during the Social Movement in Hong Kong

This pioneering study examined how psychosocial factors predicted reactive and proactive aggression among adolescents and young adults in Hong Kong during the Anti-Extradition Bill Movement. A total of 1027 local secondary and tertiary students (578 male, 449 female) aged from 12 to 25 years (M = 16.95, SD = 3.30) completed a questionnaire measuring political participation and attitudes, victimization experiences, aggression, life satisfaction, moral disengagement, and psychopathic traits. ANCOVA and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. The results revealed that compared with non-protesters, protestors had more negative traits and poorer well-being (higher levels of reactive aggression, moral disengagement, narcissism, and impulsivity; lower life satisfaction; more experiences of victimization by strangers related to political disputes). Nonetheless, protesters had similar psychosocial correlates of reactive and proactive aggression when compared to the non-protesters. Among the protesters, reactive aggression was positively predicted by anger towards the government, moral justification, diffusion of responsibility, impulsivity, and narcissism and negatively predicted by satisfaction with the government, advantageous comparison, and dehumanization. Furthermore, proactive aggression was positively predicted by narcissism, euphemistic language, and advantageous comparison and negatively predicted by moral justification. The implications of the findings for psychotherapy, school education, parenting, and social policies are discussed.
Book Review: Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees

Nearly 6 million people have been displaced from Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, marking one of the largest and swiftest displacement crises in history. In major host countries like Poland and Romania, Ukrainian refugees have been met with open arms. Many observers have contrasted welcoming sentiments toward Ukrainian refugees with the much harsher response Central and Eastern European countries have staked against refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and sub-Saharan Africa. What explains these divergent state responses toward refugees? This is the question that political scientist Lamis Elmy Abdelaaty grapples with in Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees. The book begins by outlining two central puzzles overlooked in most extant scholarship, and which bear crucially on the question of how host countries react to forcibly displaced people. First, states respond in different ways to different groups of refugees, affording some extensive freedoms while restricting the rights enjoyed by others. Abdelaaty calls this the “discrimination puzzle. ” Although a growing literature traces variation across countries in the liberality of displacement policies (Blair, Grossman, and Weinstein 2022a, b), much less attention has been paid to systematic variation within countries. Second, many states delegate responsibility for managing refugee affairs to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), despite jealously guarding their sovereignty in other domains. This is the “delegation puzzle. ” The solution to these puzzles hinges on host countries’ considerations about international and domestic pressures. At the international level, interstate relations shape refugee reception. Host countries typically welcome refugees from rival states, since these flows are reputationally costly for sending countries, providing “evidence that people are ‘voting with their feet’” (p. 10). At the domestic level, policy makers have incentives to favor refugees with whom they share ethnic kinship ties. Combining Book Reviews
Large-Scale Circulations Associated with the East Asian Summer Monsoon and the Mei-Yu over South Chi

Grid point data, visible and infrared cloud imageries, and cloud top temperatures during the period of May-June 1981-1986 were used to study the large-scale circulations in Asian monsoon region. Stream function, velocity potential, divergent part of the wind, convection index, cloud top temperature index, and moisture field were analyzed. The distribution of the half-monthly mean of these parameters is presented and discussed to reveal the characteristics of the evolution of large-scale circulations from the pre-Mei-Yu season (1-15 May) to the post-Mei-Yu season (16-30 June) in South China and Taiwan region. Also, convectively active and inactive Mei-Yu seasons and fronts were selected to study the interannual and intraseasonal variations of the large-scale circulation patterns. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) The Mei-Yu over South China and Taiwan occurred concurrently with the onset of the summer southwest monsoon over the South China Sea during the period of May 16-31 (Phase 1). (2) The northward advance of the area of deep convection, ITCZ, and subtropical ridge at the post-MeiYu season (June 16-30) occurred concurrently with the establishment of the quasi-stationary position of Mei-Yu front over the Yangtze Valley and Japan. At the same time, a quasi-equivalent barotropic monsoon circulation system was well developed with the low-level cyclone under the upper-level anticyclone over northeastern Indian and Burma area. (3) The active Mei-Yu season was characterized by the further southward penetration of the northern (baroclinic) system and moisture flux convergence over the Mei-Yu region. The reversed situations were observed for the inactive Mei-Yu season, (4) The difference for the active and inactive Mei-Yu fronts was mainly controlled by the low-level flows. The active Mei-Yu front was accompanied by the southwest monsoonal flows originating from the Bay of Bengal and the tropical western Pacific, whereas the inactive front the southeasterly or easterly flows of the Pacific high circulation prevailed over the Mei-Yu region. Higher mixing ratio, stronger moisture flux, and flux convergence were observed over the Mei-Yu region for the active front as compared to those for the inactive one. (5) More frequent occurrence of the active fronts led to an active Mei-Yu season and the reverse was true for an inactive one
Grounding Mobility: Protest Atmospheres at Hong Kong International Airport

Protest immobilities have political potential because of the affective atmospheres they produce. In 2019, the Hong Kong protest movement targeted Hong Kong International Airport in a series of sit-ins resulting in a two-day shutdown and cancellation of more than 1,000 flights. This article is based on participant observation and interviews with thirty-two people—aviation workers, tourists, expatriates, and demonstrators—who were present at one or more of the sit-ins, and it uses a perspective informed by work on affective atmospheres and social movements in geography. We demonstrate the political potential of four forms of embodied mobility– arrival, friction, waiting, and departing from the airport on foot. Arriving to unexpected scenes produced micropolitical change among passengers, as the fatigue of air travel heightened the emotional impact of the sit-ins. Frictions were politically generative because they forced passengers to slow down and notice the assembly. Waiting produced solidarities between different factions of the protest movement and generated animosity from previously apathetic passengers who were stuck. Walking was an anxious ordeal for those forced to depart the airport on foot after public transport was suspended. The article shows how demonstrators can resist, alter, and transmit affective atmospheres through the grounding of aeromobilities.
Serum sirtuin-1 a potential marker in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract Introduction: To explore the value of serum sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) in the diagnosis and evaluation of joint mobility of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Materials and Methods: Serum was randomly obtained from 212 RA patients,210 non-RA patients and 58 healthy controls in a large tertiary first-class hospital in Jiangxi province from November 2021 to June 2022. The level of serum Sirt1,anti-cyclic citrulline polypeptide antibody (anti-CCP), anti-mutant citrulline vimentin antibody (anti-MCV), rheumatoid factor (RF),high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), collagen triple helix repeat containing 1 (CTHRC1), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were detected by ELISA, to explore the correlation between them and their value in the diagnosis and evaluation of joint range of motion of RA and statistically analyse their diagnostic efficiency. Results: ① The level of all markers was higher in the RA group than in the non-RA group and the healthy controls (p < 0.05). ② The AUC of the SIRT1 was 0.882, second only to the anti-MCV and anti-CCP. ③ The anti-CCP showed the highest sensitivity to RA diagnosis of 0.948. The specificity and positive predictive value of SIRT1 for the diagnosis of RA were the highest, which are 0.959 and 0.934 respectively. ④ In serial combination, SIRT1/anti-CCP、SIRT1/anti-MCV showed the highest specificity.SIRT1/anti-CCP in parallel combination had the highest sensitivity. ⑤ SIRT1 showed a significant correlation with other markers and DAS28 scores (p < 0.01). Conclusion: SIRT1 can be used as a new serological marker for RA diagnosis, which has a significant correlation with RA joint mobility and has a certain reference value in RA differential diagnosis, providing a new detection basis for RA differential diagnosis.
Petrography, mineral chemistry, metamorphism and Raman spectroscopic studies of Mahadevpur fall meteorite, India

The Mahadevpur (27°39′48″ N, 95°51′32″ E; Arunachal Pradesh, India) meteorite is a fall‐type, coarse‐grained rock consisting of a heterogeneous mixture of chondrules of varying types occurring in a matrix comprising mostly chondrule fragments. It was earlier classified as poorly shocked (S1, unshocked) ordinary chondrite (H4/5). The minerals observed in the Mahadevpur meteorite include olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, albitic‐plagioclase, Fe‐Ni alloy and troilite with minor amounts of chromite and phosphate. Olivine and orthopyroxene are almost equilibrated. The textures and compositional features of minerals and chondrule margins indicate a limited degree of recrystallization. The equilibration temperature (700–800°C) for the Mahadevpur chondrite is consistent with the computed temperature (752–902°C) derived from the coexisting orthopyroxene‐clinopyroxene pairs. In the light of new evidences observed during the present study, such as olivine exhibiting undulose extinction and planar to sub‐planar fractures, olivine and orthopyroxene showing strong mosaicism, the shock‐melted plagioclase glasses, the presence of high‐pressure mineral phases and silicate darkening, the earlier proposed shock stage pronouncement has been modified to S4–S5 with supporting petrographic, sub‐microscopic and Raman spectroscopic data. This is the first comprehensive account of the Mahadevpur chondrite with an upgraded shock stage classification.
Do parties adjust their policy proposals to the political context? A study of election promises during the 2022 Italian general election

This paper investigates towards which policy issues Italian political parties oriented their commitments in the run-up to the 2022 parliamentary election. Do parties make more promises in salient domains? Or, do they prioritise those issues in which they enjoy ownership? To answer these questions, we created a novel dataset that contains 3,992 election pledges made by Italian political parties in the 2022 electoral campaign. By looking at the programmatic policies included in the campaign manifestos of the main political parties and coalitions during the last general election, we find that Italian parties seem to compete around the same issues. In particular, in 2022 a large share of election promises was devoted to economic and social matters. Although the Ukrainian war, the resulting energy crisis, and the implementation of EU-funded investments were the backdrop to the 2022 electoral campaign, Italian political parties do not seem to prioritize these issues.
Population change and economic development in East Asia : challenges met, opportunities seized

What role did population change play in East Asia's rapid economic development? A reliable answer to the question is important because the extraordinary economic record of East Asian countries during their high-growth era (1960-90) is central to current development policy debates. This book argues that previous studies have neglected the fundamental ways in which demographic forces have influenced economic growth and regional economic integration. Consequently, the significance of East Asia's remarkable decline in childbearing, the diminished rates of population growth, and the accompanying changes in age structure are not fully appreciated by policymakers. The fifteen essays in this volume address two broad sets of issues. First, did rapid demographic change contribute to East Asian economic development? Specifically, what aspects of the region's development were influenced by such demographic trends as economic growth, inequality, and the economic status of women? Second, what was the role of population policy in East Asia? What policies and programs were implemented, and which of them achieved their goals? Were demographic outcomes a product only of the region's rapid economic development, or did population policies accelerate the transition to low fertility and slower population growth? These questions are addressed through a detailed examination of the experience between 1960 and 1990 of six East Asian economies: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. The essays compare the countries' distinctive approaches to population policies and examine the important channels through which population change has affected economic development. Among the topics covered are the impact of population on productivity and innovation; economic structure; saving, investment, and international capital flows; international labor migration; human resource development; distribution of income; and the economic status of women.
Predictors of illiberalism in Romania: A case study during the Russian invasion in Ukraine

Illiberalism emphasizes traditional values and national sovereignty over liberal democratic ideals, which can lead to the erosion of democratic norms and institutions. Against this background, the paper investigates the relationship between illiberalism and various political and social factors in Romania, taking into account a particular context (the Russian invasion in Ukraine). Romania has experienced a rise in illiberal attitudes and the spread of populist and nationalist rhetoric, which is particularly concerning given its strategic location as a member of the European Union and NATO, and its proximity to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. This study aims to investigate the associations between various attitudes, news consumption habits, and perceived exposure to misinformation, and how these factors relate to levels of illiberalism in Romanian society. Given the increasing prominence of illiberal and populist ideologies globally, a nuanced understanding of these relationships is critical. The study employs a quantitative approach, leveraging an online survey to collect data from a sample of 1000 Romanian citizens. Soft quotas were used to ensure a diverse representation across age, gender, and education levels. Data collection was carried out by Dynata, a globally recognized market research firm, between March 1–9, 2022. Our analysis, informed by multiple regression models, uncovers complex relationships between trust in institutions, attitudes towards Russia and Ukraine, news consumption habits, perceived misinformation, and demographic factors in shaping illiberal perspectives. By providing a comprehensive understanding of the contributing factors, this study aims to inform public discourse and policy-making processes on how to address illiberal tendencies in society.