Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An In Silico Identification of Common Putative Vaccine Candidates against Treponema pallidum: A Reverse Vaccinology and Subtractive Genomics Based Approach

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are caused by a wide variety of bacteria, viruses, and parasites that are transmitted from one person to another primarily by vaginal, anal, or oral sexual contact. Syphilis is a serious disease caused by a sexually transmitted infection. Syphilis is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. Treponema pallidum (T. pallidum) is a motile, gram-negative spirochete, which can be transmitted both sexually and from mother to child, and can invade virtually any organ or structure in the human body. The current worldwide prevalence of syphilis emphasizes the need for continued preventive measures and strategies. Unfortunately, effective measures are limited. In this study, we focus on the identification of vaccine targets and putative drugs against syphilis disease using reverse vaccinology and subtractive genomics. We compared 13 strains of T. pallidum using T. pallidum Nichols as the reference genome. Using an in silicoapproach, four pathogenic islands were detected in the genome of T. pallidum Nichols. We identified 15 putative antigenic proteins and sixdrug targets through reverse vaccinology and subtractive genomics, respectively, which can be used as candidate therapeutic targets in the future.
Must Development Economists Watch Hamlet without the Prince

Hamlet. Development economics, according to the non-believers, has changed hands in the last 30 years of its existence from the visible hand of the State to the invisible hand of the market - and, a fortiori, from being to nothingness. Correspondingly, the vision of an economic universe beset by all-pervading market failures seems to have been replaced by one of total government failure. In this revised vision, government intervention only spoils the utility /profit-maximizing show by giving rise to various activities of a rent-seeking type [Krueger (1974)]. The development experience of the last four decades - especially of the "Gang of Four", i.e., South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong - has been cited to establish the superiority of the market-based solutions to the dirigiste solutions of the development problem. Notwithstanding the Hume's Law - which prohibits deducing 'prescriptive' statements from factual statements alone - the agnostics have used these reallife happenings to prove the central point that (neo-classical) economists have made all along: optimal allocative efficiency is (best) guaranteed by following faithfully the first-best rules of competitive efficiency, which free markets alone are believed to satisfy. Citing the (glaring) contrast between free markets and centrally-planned economies, and the recent disavowal of the socialist economic philosophy by Eastern Europe, Haberler concludes: "I still maintain my early belief in the validity of classical or neo-classical theory and in the superiority of relying largely on
Parametrization of the Muon Response in the Tile Calorimeter

The TILECAL response to muons has been described by the convo-lution of Landau and Gaussian distribution. This function describes the muon signal distribution better than the Moyal function, in particular it correctly determines the most probable signal. The software providing the mentioned tting procedure has been worked out and a short description of its usage is given as well. 1 Landau Distribution Let us consider a minimum ionizing particle (mip) passing through a thin block of matter. Its energy loss distribution obeys the Landau probability density function (see 1]) L(x) = 1 2i Z c+i1 c? i1 exp(s ln s + xs) ds; c > 0 (1) The integral (1) is c-independent and describes the special Landau distribution with the maximum at x 0 = ? 0:22278 and a certain width 1]. Therefore, a general Landau distribution L depends on 3 parameters L(xjp 1 ; p 2 ; p 3) = p 1 L x ? p 2 0:5860 p 3 (2) where p 1 is a normalization factor. The parameters p 2 and p 3 are connected with the most probable value 1 (MOP) and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the distribution by the relations MOP(L) = p 2 ? 0:13054 p 3 (3a) FWHM(L) = 2 p 2 ln 2 p 3 = 2:355 p 3 (3b) 1 The most probable value of a distribution represents the peak position of the respective probability density function.
Technological intensities in East and Southeast Asian electronics firms: Does network strength matter?

This paper examines the importance of network strength (NS) on the technological intensities (TI) of electronics firms. TI was disentangled into the categories of human resource (HR), process technology (PT) and R&D (RD) intensities, and the differences between foreign and local firms. The results show that firms in Korea and Taiwan endowed with superior NS enjoy significantly higher skill intensity, TI and RD than firms in Malaysia and Thailand, which have inferior NS. There were no obvious differences in HR practices between foreign and local firms in the four countries. Local firms enjoyed higher TI and RD than foreign firms in Taiwan. There was no statistical difference involving all the technological categories between foreign and local firms in Korea. Foreign firms in Malaysia enjoyed statistically superior TI compared with local firms. Local firms in Thailand showed higher TI and PT than foreign firms. TI and RD of firms are strongly correlated with NS, which showed a stronger impact on TI and RD among local rather than foreign firms. The superior NS of Korea and Taiwan has helped firms participate in higher technological activities and pay higher wages than firms in Malaysia and Thailand.
Ethnicity and capital: Changing relations between China and Southeast Asia

ABSTRACT This article seeks to debunk the persistent myth of an ethnically-based Chinese capitalism and the culturalist view of an “economic miracle” created by Asians of Chinese descent. This myth claims that Chinese entrepreneurs constitute a closed category with homogenous ethnic attributes and cultural values that have enabled them to achieve economic success. This article disputes such primordialist views and proposes an alternative analysis of the cultural economy of regionalisation and constructions of Chineseness. It deconstructs the politics of culture and identity, and argues for the need to analyse Southeast Asian Chinese entrepreneurship within specific historical, geographical, economic, political and socio-cultural contexts.
A Low-Cost Accelerometer Developed by Inkjet Printing Technology

In this paper, an inkjet-printed sensor in the mesoscale is presented with the aim to investigate its behavior as an accelerometer in the low-frequency domain (up to 20 Hz), which properly fits with the need of typical applications in the field of human and seismic monitoring. The accelerometer consists of a Polyethylene terephthalate membrane clamped by four spring legs to a fixed support. The sensing readout strategy is implemented through four strain gauges directly printed onto the flexible substrate. The advantages of the approach proposed are mainly related to the adopted low-cost direct printing technology, which allows for the realization of cheap and customizable devices. The sensor behavior has been deeply investigated. The device responsivity and resolution are 9.4 mV/g and 0.126 g, respectively, at 10 Hz, and 41.0 mV/g and 0.003 g, respectively, at 35 Hz. The performances obtained encourage the development of the all-inkjet-printed sensor proposed, especially taking into account its low cost and disposable features.
Tourism and Politics:

Hong Kong is a world renowned city and tourism destination. Its growing tourism industry is now a vital part of its economy. Intraregional tourism has been increasing rapidly, and Hong Kong is receiving more short-haul regional tourists. Furthermore, the rapproche ment between Taiwan (ROC) and China (PRC) and the booming economy of China have led to dramatic changes in the composition of visitor arrivals to the territory in recent years. However, the current political environment and the 1997 change in sovereignty from Britain to China will inevitably impact Hong Kong's current markets and its future market position and strategies. These issues are discussed and the likelihood of a cooperative marketing strategy for the emerging greater Hong Kong area is presented.
CULTURAL VALUES, MARKET INSTITUTIONS, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP POTENTIAL: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE UNITED STATES, TAIWAN, AND VIETNAM

This study examines the impact of national cultural values and the development of market institutions on three aspects of entrepreneurship (desire, intention, and confidence in creating new ventures). We ask: What different kinds of effects do cultural and institutional factors have on different aspects of entrepreneurship? Our samples come from Vietnam, Taiwan, and the United States (US). The use of three countries allows us to distinguish the separate influences of culture and market institutions on entrepreneurship. Our results suggest that only culture has a significant impact on individuals' desires to create new ventures. However, we found mixed results on whether culture or institution affects individuals' intentions and confidence in creating new ventures. Contrary to our hypotheses, the Vietnam sample had higher scores on intention to create new ventures than both the US and Taiwan samples. The Vietnam sample was also higher than Taiwan on the confidence in creating new ventures. This may suggest an interaction effect of cultural and institutional factors on entrepreneurship. This interaction deserves more attention in future research.
Will Both Direct Financial Development and Indirect Financial Development Mitigate Investment Sensitivity to Cash Flow? The Experience of Taiwan

The Taiwanese government introduced a financial reform plan to encourage financial development. This paper examines this reform strategy to determine whether investment sensitivity to cash flow has actually been reduced. We find that financial development in Taiwan has resulted in improved access to external capital, which reduces firms' reliance on internally generated funds for investment. However, the reduction of investment sensitivity to cash flow is due to indirect financial development (development of financial intermediaries), but not direct financial development (stock market development). After several robustness tests, the main findings remain unchanged.
Economic integration and the cross‐Taiwan Strait reconciliation

Abstract In this paper, I aim to explain the puzzle of why economic integration leads to political separation in a cross‐Strait exchange. Being a political economist heavily influenced by Marxist tenets, I argue two things here. First, the base structure, or the economy, is an indispensable element of the politics of cross‐Strait integration. More importantly, I argue that the effect of economic integration is an issue of class‐based analysis and, accordingly, the struggle between class alliances in varied sub‐national regions. In fact, the prevailing model of cross‐Strait economic integration resulted in both social and regional polarization in both Taiwan and China. Only a small number of people and regions benefit, and most of the rest, the people and regions, suffer. The arch criminal of the injustice was the zoning techniques, used as common practice in spatial selective disclosure in neo‐liberal discourse on both sides of the Strait to attract inward investments. Finally, I argue that the solution to the cross‐Strait reconciliation resides in fixing the state's failure. On the one hand, it has to allow the right hand of the state (capital accumulation) to function. Instead of subsidizing capital to stop it from sneaking to China, the state should render the implementation of globalization strategies easy for the capital. On the other hand, the state should design an institutional mechanism to render the trickle‐down effect, both socially and geographically, possible and effective. Rather than following neo‐liberal discourse and preferential policies to serve big businesses, the cross‐Strait integration should take care of the interests of small and medium sized firms and obsolete regions with taxation and redistribution policies. Only by doing this can a sound and just economic integration infrastructure be expected for cross‐Strait reconciliation. The real political reconciliation should be built on a class‐cum‐region base.
Serum leptin and vascular risk factors in obstructive sleep apnea.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To define the metabolic profile relevant to vascular risks in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and the role of leptin resistance in this risk profile. DESIGN Case control study. SETTING Sleep Laboratory, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, China. METHODS Thirty OSA subjects were matched with 30 non-OSA subjects for body mass index (BMI), age, sex, and menopausal status. Neck, waist, and hip girth, skinfold thickness, and fasting serum levels of lipids, glucose, insulin, and leptin were compared between these two groups. RESULTS Compared with control subjects with a similar BMI but without OSA, the OSA group had a significantly more adverse vascular risk factor profile, including dyslipidemia, higher diastolic BP, insulin resistance, and greater adiposity reflected by skinfold thickness. OSA subjects also had higher circulating leptin levels (9.18+/-4.24 ng/mL vs 6.54+/-3.81 ng/mL, mean +/- SD, p = 0.001). Serum leptin levels correlated positively with BMI, skinfold thickness, serum cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, insulin, insulin/glucose ratio, apnea-hypopnea index, and oxygen desaturation time; multiple stepwise regression analysis identified skinfold thickness, waist/hip ratio, serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and diastolic BP as independent correlates, while only serum insulin and diastolic BP were independent correlates in OSA subjects. After treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure for 6 months, there was a significant decrease in circulating leptin (p = 0.01) and triglyceride levels (p = 0.02) without change in other parameters. CONCLUSION Despite controlling for BMI, OSA subjects showed distinct profiles with clustering of vascular risk factors. Hyperleptinemia was present in the OSA subjects, but it can be normalized by treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure, suggesting that increased leptin resistance was not the cause of OSA or its associated vascular risks.
Female sexual dysfunction among young and middle-aged women in Hong Kong: prevalence and risk factors.

INTRODUCTION Sexual dysfunction is a serious public health problem that affects women's quality of life. However, there is very little epidemiological data on its incidence in Hong Kong Chinese women. AIM To estimate the prevalence of, and risk factors associated with sexual dysfunction among young and middle-aged women in Hong Kong. METHODS The study was part of the ninth Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice survey conducted by the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong in 2007. The dataset comprised 1,510 face-to-face interviews with Hong Kong Chinese women aged 19-49 living in the community. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition classification of sexual dysfunction was used to measure female sexual dysfunction (FSD). RESULTS At least one form of FSD was reported by 37.9% of the sample. Multivariate analysis showed that having sought medical help for sexual problems (odds ratio [OR] = 4.20), having a partner with erectile dysfunction (OR = 2.44) and premature ejaculation (OR = 2.56), perceiving sex as unimportant to marriage (OR = 1.57), and reporting marital dissatisfaction (OR = 1.45) were all significant risk factors for FSD and its specific components among the sample. However, having liberal attitudes to sex (OR = 0.63) was a protective factor. CONCLUSION The prevalence of FSD is lower among Hong Kong Chinese young and middle-aged women than in the United States and some Asian countries. Factors contributing to the risk of FSD span the domains of sexual experience, attitudes to sex, and relationship factors. These findings suggest future directions for the delivery of services addressing the prevention and treatment of FSD.
Asian herbal-tobacco cigarettes: “not medicine but less harmful”?

Objective: To describe the development and health claims of Asian herbal-tobacco cigarettes. Methods: Analysis of international news sources, company websites, and the transnational tobacco companies’ (TTC) documents. PubMed searches of herbs and brands. Results: Twenty-three brands were identified, mainly from China. Many products claimed to relieve respiratory symptoms and reduce toxins, with four herb-only products advertised for smoking cessation. No literature was found to verify the health claims, except one Korean trial of an herb-only product. Asian herbal-tobacco cigarettes were initially produced by China by the 1970s and introduced to Japan in the 1980s. Despite initial news about research demonstrating a safer cigarette, the TTC analyses of these cigarettes suggest that these early products were not palatable and had potentially toxic cardiovascular effects. By the late 1990s, China began producing more herbal-tobacco cigarettes in a renewed effort to reduce harmful constituents in cigarettes. After 2000, tobacco companies from Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand began producing similar products. Tobacco control groups in Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand voiced concern over the health claims of herbal-tobacco products. In 2005, China designated two herbal-tobacco brands as key for development. Conclusion: Asian herbal-tobacco cigarettes claim to reduce harm, but no published literature is available to verify these claims or investigate unidentified toxicities. The increase in Asian herbal-tobacco cigarette production by 2000 coincides with the Asian tobacco companies’ regular scientific meetings with TTCs and their interest in harm reduction. Asia faces additional challenges in tobacco control with these culturally concordant products that may discourage smokers from quitting.
Evaluating a measure of content quality for accounting narratives (with an empirical application to narratives from Australia, Hong Kong, and the United States)

This paper evaluates a texture-based approach developed by Sydserff and Weetman (1999), to examine corporate annual report narratives. This is achieved by using the texture index to evaluate information content (which includes readability) in accounting narratives. Specifically, we examine the letter to shareholders of reports from Australia, Hong Kong and the United States. We suggest a texture-based evaluation provides a robust measure of narrative quality due to the incorporation of readability and content analysis. The ability to measure content quality assists in promoting accountability, with the aim of improving usefulness of corporate information and disclosures, and greater investor confidence in capital markets. This paper also investigates these exploratory results to consider variations in quality between different countries. Considerable differences were found between the countries with Hong Kong reports generally superior. These tentative findings provide a small contribution to the comparative annual report literature and the emerging area of narrative evaluation.
Prenatal Care and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes among Women with Depression: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Objective: To evaluate the quantity of prenatal care as a risk factor for giving birth to low birth weight (LBW), preterm, and small for gestational age (SGA) infants in a sample of women diagnosed with depressive disorder. Method: Our study used a population-based dataset, Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, which we linked to Taiwan's birth certificate registry to identify a total of 5283 new mothers with depressive disorder. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to measure the risk of giving birth to LBW, preterm, and SGA infants, relating to the number of prenatal care visits (10 or more, 8 to 9, and 7 or less) made by mothers with depressive disorder. Results: After adjusting for a woman's age, monthly income, urbanization level of place of residence, geographic location, marital status, substance abuse, arterial hypertension, diabetes, anemia, coronary heart disease, malpresentation, insufficient or excessive fetal growth, placenta or previa abruption, and infant's sex and parity, regression analyses revealed that mothers with a history of depressive disorder who received prenatal care 7 times or less were 4.21 (95% CI 3.34 to 5.32, P < 0.001), 5.37 (95% CI 4.33 to 6.67, P < 0.001), and 2.41 (95% CI 2.03 to 2.86, P < 0.001) times as likely to have LBW, preterm, and SGA babies, respectively, compared with mothers with depressive disorder who received prenatal care visits 10 times or more. Conclusions: Mothers with a history of depressive disorder who make fewer prenatal care visits were at an increased risk of LBW, SGA, and preterm birth, compared with women with a history of depressive disorder who made an adequate number of prenatal visits.
BotArtist: Twitter bot detection Machine Learning model based on Twitter suspension

Twitter as one of the most popular social networks, offers a means for communication and online discourse, which unfortunately has been the target of bots and fake accounts, leading to the manipulation and spreading of false information. Towards this end, we gather a challenging, multilingual dataset of social discourse on Twitter, originating from 9M users regarding the recent Russo-Ukrainian war, in order to detect the bot accounts and the conversation involving them. We collect the ground truth for our dataset through the Twitter API suspended accounts collection, containing approximately 343K of bot accounts and 8M of normal users. Additionally, we use a dataset provided by Botometer-V3 with 1,777 Varol, 483 German accounts, and 1,321 US accounts. Besides the publicly available datasets, we also manage to collect 2 independent datasets around popular discussion topics of the 2022 energy crisis and the 2022 conspiracy discussions. Both of the datasets were labeled according to the Twitter suspension mechanism. We build a novel ML model for bot detection using the state-of-the-art XGBoost model. We combine the model with a high volume of labeled tweets according to the Twitter suspension mechanism ground truth. This requires a limited set of profile features allowing labeling of the dataset in different time periods from the collection, as it is independent of the Twitter API. In comparison with Botometer our methodology achieves an average 11% higher ROC-AUC score over two real-case scenario datasets.