Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tourism Demand in Malaysia: A cross-sectional pool time-series analysis

This paper estimates tourism demand in Malaysia based on the key economic factors like income, price, exchange rate, consumer price index, distance, population and economic crisis using a modified Gravity model. The movement, pattern and changes of international tourist arrivals are also examined. A cross-sectional pool time-series of tourist arrivals from Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Thailand, Taiwan and China through using modified Gravity Model was applied. Log-linear equation indicates that the tourism demand is highly correlated with Gross National Income (GNI) of the countries which showing the impact on the standard of living. On the other hand, tourism demand negatively correlated with Exchange Rate (ER) as tourist from higher purchasing power prefers to visit Malaysia. Consumer Price Index (CPI) or inflation rate reduce number of tourist to travel. The increasing number of tourist arrivals was influenced by population growth and distance may reduce tourism demand. Economic crisis negatively affected the tourism demand from the ASEAN countries but positively correlated with the western and other continents. This study clearly indicates that despite of regional economic crisis Malaysian government can still rely on tourism industry as a means of sustaining the economy through international tourists. During the last several decades' tourism has emerged as one of the major industries in the world economy. Tourism revenues have grown to the third largest industry after oil and automobiles. This sector constitutes nearly 10% of the world gross income, 8% of world exports and up to 35% of world trade in services. The number of tourists' journeys increased from 25 million in 1950 to 700 million in 2003, and is predicted to reach 1.6 billion in 2020 (WTTC, 2006). This implies that average annual growth rate of tourism sector at 3.5%, while the growth rate of heavy industry is 3% (WTTC, 2006). International tourism has becoming a major foreign exchange earner for many low-income countries and small islands, and it is a principal export for 83% of developing countries (WTO, 2002). Many countries attempt to develop tourism sector and increase the number of incoming visitors because of several reasons: international tourists bring foreign currency to the host country; tourism sector is much more merciful toward environment than many industries producing goods; and growth in tourism industry accelerates other related industries (retail, entertainment and
Herding Behavior during the Subprime Mortgage Crisis: Evidence from Six Asia-Pacific Stock Markets

This study examines herding behavior in six Asia-Pacific stock markets, namely, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan, during a period of turmoil, particularly the latest subprime mortgage crisis. We find no evidence of herding in the stock markets of Singapore and Hong Kong, and only partial evidence of herding in the stock markets of South Korea and Japan. However, we document significant evidence of herding in the stock markets of Taiwan and China. This result suggests that herding is more pronounced in developing nations, where markets are dominated by individual investors and where daily price limits are observed. Furthermore, we empirically verify and visually corroborate the comparative co-movement behavior between markets with respect to the “home bias reflection hypothesis” and the degree of market openness. Finally, we find apparent herding behavior in a rising market state and during post-crisis period.
Globalization of Latecomer Asian Multinationals and Theory of Multinational Enterprise

The fast globalization of latecomer multinationals from Asian emerging economies with impetus has appeared to challenge the established theories of Multinational Enterprise (MNE). This chapter reviews extant theories of MNE and provides areas of refinement and extension to these theories to reflect highly contextualized and unique internal and external conditions of these MNEs. In particular, this chapter provides an analysis of the key theoretical perspectives of MNE and highlights four areas that extend existing theories. These areas include country-of-origin effects, ownership advantages, learning processes, as well as global and industry context for internationalization. These areas of refinement are then illustrated by seven case studies of MNEs from mainland China and Taiwan in their accelerated internationalization and their focus on acquisitive growth strategy in terms of speed of internationalization, target countries, and mode of entry.
Internet Pornography: Some Medical and Spiritual Perspectives

The Internet has made pornography available on a massive scale. Data released by “Pornhub” the world’s most popular Internet porn site, reveal that in 2019 alone, there were over 42 billion visits to its website, which in itself is an incredible waste of time and energy, which could be more fruitfully employed. Pornography viewing is poisonous for the conscience and commodifies the human body, reducing it to an object of abusive pleasure. Its negative effects can be broadly seen in three overlapping categories: personal, psychological, and social. The antidote is a renewed call to chastity, that self-mastery that can help direct one’s passions in a more fruitful way. Without prayer, we cannot live chastely as “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). There is an urgency for the new evangelization to help recapture the dignity of the body and counter the lie of pornography, and to ensure that in the digital world, the face of Christ needs to be seen and his voice heard. Summary: The first part of this essay outlines some personal, psychological, and social dangers of pornography. Viewing of pornography is harmful, as it objectifies the human body and distorts one’s vision of sexuality. The second part of the essay gives some practical advice concerning how to ideally halt or reverse the epidemic of porn viewing, emphasizing the dignity of each person as subject, and reminding us of how a chaste gaze helps one rediscover the real beauty and value of the human body.
Mechanism of Evolution Shared by Gene and Language

Li-Min Wang, Hsing-Yi Lai, Sun-Ting Tsai1,†, Shan-Jyun Wu, Meng-Xue Tsai, Daw-Wei Wang, Yi-Ching Su, Chen Siang Ng, and Tzay-Ming Hong1,∗ Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan, Republic of China Department of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan, Republic of China Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology & Department of Life Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan, Republic of China (Dated: December 29, 2020)
Market Challenges for CZTS-Based Thin-Film Solar Cells

Since 2000, total PV production increased almost by two orders of magnitude, with a compound annual growth rate of over 50%. The most rapid growth in annual cell and module production over the last five years could be observed in Asia, where China and Taiwan together now account for about 60% of world-wide production. Between 2005 and 2009, thin film production capacity and volume increased more than the overall industry, but did not keep up from 2010 to 2013 due to the rapid price decline for solar modules. Prices for photovoltaic electricity generation systems have more than halved over the last five years making the technology affordable to an ever increasing number of customers worldwide. With worldwide over 135 GW cumulative installed photovoltaic electricity generation capacity installed at the end of 2013, photovoltaics still is a small contributor to the electricity supply, but its importance for our future energy mix is finally acknowledged. Consistent with the time needed for any major change in energy infrastructure, another 10 to 15 years of sustained and aggressive growth will be required for photovoltaic solar electricity to become one of the main providers of electricity. To achieve this, a continuous improvement of the current solar cell technologies will be necessary. It leads us to the search for new developments with respect to more efficient material use and consumption, device design and production technologies as well as new concepts to increase overall efficiency. This paper shortly describes the challenges for kesterite solar cells to enter the market in light of the other compound thin film technologies already in production. URI: http://eu.wiley. com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-111843787X.html [1] Authors: JAEGER-WALDAU Arnulf Publication Year: 2015 Type:
The Impact of Global Diversification as Growth Corporate Strategy to Performance: An Investigation on Taiwan Electronics Firms

Since Taiwan emerged as an innovation-driven country focused on technology innovation, diversifications as a proactive growth strategy facilitate Taiwan electronics firms to survive and sustain performance under global competitive markets. Furthermore, after the New Southbound Policy (NSP), SEA countries, alongside their unique cultural and institutional characteristics, provides opportunity and challenges to Taiwan electronics firms. The primary goal of this research is to look at the influence of products and international diversification as global growth strategic decisions on Taiwan electronics firms’ performances. First of all, the study examines whether the product and international diversification as firm-level factors influence a firm’s performance. Second, to determine if running both product and international diversity concurrently has a good or negative impact on performance. Lastly, to explore the influence of psychic distance in terms of cultural and corruption dimensions as a countrylevel factor to see its moderating effect. This study applies panel data regression of generalized least squares method to test the sample of 3256 observations with 407 firms during 2013-2020 (8years). The findings show a negative relationship between product diversification and performance; an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between the degree of international diversification and performance, and an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between the interaction of product and international diversification and performance. Notably, the finding also suggests a significant cultural and corruption dimension effect on the correlation between diversification strategies
Interrelationship of Metabolic Syndrome and Rheumatoid Arthritis in North Indian Population

Objective: The metabolic syndrome (MetS) may be responsible for occurrence of high frequency of cardiovascular disease in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. An association between inflammatory activity of RA and MetS has also been speculated. This study was designed to see whether presence of MetS along with RA increases the severity of disease and to find the risk association of the disease severity markers of RA namely TNF-α, anti-CCP, RF, CRP and ESR with MetS. Methodology: 185 patients of RA (EULAR 2010) were recruited and assessed for MetS according to NCEP/ATP III criteria. Serum level of disease specific biomarkers of RA namely TNF-α, anti-CCP, RF, CRP and ESR were quantified in all patients and compared between RA with MetS and only RA patients. Cytokine TNF-α, anti-CCP, RF, and CRP were assayed through ELISA. Results: The prevalence of MetS among RA patients was 41.2%. The mean age of RA cases with MetS is significantly older (55.65yrs) with increased disease duration. The levels of TNF-α, anti-CCP, CRP and ESR along with EULAR & DAS score were significantly (p<0.05) high in RA with MetS. TNF-α showed maximum risk (OR=6.3; p=0.03) in development of MetS. Longer disease duration with high anti-CCP, CRP and DAS-28 were also contributing significantly in MetS development. Conclusion: A positive vicious cycle is working between the pathogenesis of RA and MetS through inflammatory cytokines and biomarkers. MetS in RA is associated with increased disease severity. Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, Metabolic syndrome, Biomarkers, Cytokine TNF-α, Disease severity
Fingerprinting Technique for YouTube Videos Identification in Network Traffic

Recently, many video streaming services, such as YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook, have contributed to video streaming traffic, leading to the possibility of streaming unwanted and inappropriate content to minors or individuals at workplaces. Therefore, monitoring such content is necessary. Although the video traffic is encrypted, several studies have proposed techniques using traffic data to decipher users’ activity on the web. Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) uses Variable Bit-Rate (VBR) - the most widely adopted video streaming technology, to ensure smooth streaming. VBR causes inconsistencies in video identification in most research. This research proposes a fingerprinting method to accommodate for VBR inconsistencies. First, bytes per second (BPS) are extracted from the YouTube video stream. Bytes per Period (BPP) are generated from the BPS, and then fingerprints are generated from these BPPs. Furthermore, a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is optimized through experiments. The resulting CNN is used to detect YouTube streams over VPN, Non-VPN, and a combination of both VPN and Non-VPN network traffic.
Elevated Level of Interleukin-29: A Proinflammatory Role in Synovial Inflammation of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Background: The multiple pro-inflammatory cascades described in RA lead to persistent synovitis, resulting in articular cartilage and bone damages. The up-regulation of interferon-inducible genes has been found in the synovial lining regions and may play an important role in the pathogenesis of RA. Objective: The aim of the current study is to examine the expression of IL-29 and its receptors IL-28Rα in blood and synovial fluid (SF) in RA patients and investigate the correlation of IL-29 with disease activity and other laboratory characters of RA. Methods: The study was carried out on 108 RA patients, 70 OA patients and 80 healthy control subjects. Clinical assessment of disease activity in RA patients and disease activity score with DAS28 had been done. IL29 was detected in the serum and synovial fluid of all samples by ELISA. Real time PCR was used for human IL-29 and IL-28Rα expression from PBMC. Results: expression of IL-29 mRNA was significantly higher in RA PBMCs when compared to OA and HC (132±13.8, 49± 11.2, 33.3± 10.5; respectively P <0.05). Similarly, IL-28Rα mRNA expression was significantly higher in RA PBMCs when compared to OA and HC (30.5±9.7, 13.3±4.5, 8.5± 3.3; respectively P <0.05). The mean level of IL-29 in SF was increased in RA and found also much higher in RA (17.29 ± 10.19pg/ml) than OA (8.33 ±3.89 pg/ml) (P = 0.01). There is a significant correlation between serum levels of circulating IL- 29 and DAS28, CRP, ESR, RF, and anti-CCP. Conclusion: our data have presented new evidence that IL-29 may contribute to RA pathogenesis
What's Left of the Right: Nabeyama Sadachika and Anti-communism in Transwar Japan, 1930–1960

This article examines the thought and career of Nabeyama Sadachika (1901–79) from communist militant in 1920s Japan to his conversion to the emperor system in the 1930s and, finally, to his role in shaping the postwar anti-communist movement. Using Nabeyama's recently released private papers, the article shows how he brokered his anti-communist expertise to a range of postwar actors and institutions—the police, the Self-Defense Forces, business circles, politicians—as well as to foreign states, especially the Republic of China (Taiwan). These networks indicate that important sections of Japan's postwar establishment rallied behind anti-communism in the face of reforms that threatened their power at home and their vision for Japan in the world order after 1945. As a transwar history, this article adds to our understanding of Japan's transition from the age of empire to that of liberal democracy by qualifying narratives about the “progressive” nature of postwar Japanese politics. It argues that the vitality of anti-communism is symptomatic of the durability of particular political traditions, and reveals that, despite the significant reforms that Japan underwent after 1945, the Right was able to claim a space in the country's political culture that has been neglected by historians.
Real-time Alarm, Dynamic GPS Tracking, and Monitoring System for Man Overboard

1Department of Electrical Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Sciences and Technology, No. 415, Jiangong Rd., Sanmin Dist. , Kaohsiung City 80778, Taiwan, Republic of China 2Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chung Cheng Institute of Technology, National Defense University, No. 75, Shiyuan Rd., Daxi Dist. , Taoyuan City 335, Taiwan, Republic of China 3Ph.D Program in Biomedical Engineering, Kaohsiung Medical University, No. 100, Shin-Chuan 1st Road, Sanmin Dist. , Kaohsiung City 80708, Taiwan, Republic of China
First report of a whitefly-transmitted geminivirus infecting Mimosa invisa in Malaysia

A begomovirus was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the weedMimosa invisa, collected from vegetable- and fruit-growing areas of the Malaysia Peninsula. The infected plants displayed yellowing and stunting symptoms. Sequencing of the 1.3-kb PCR amplicon showed that this virus has greatest sequence similarity (92%) toAgeratum yellow vein china virus, a white-fly transmitted begomovirus not yet identified in Malaysia. This is the first report of a begomovirus infection in the potential weedy reservoir,M. invisa.
Modelling of magnetostrictive vibration and acoustics in converter transformer

Suman Yadav, Department of Electrical Engineering, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Email: sumanyd12345@gmail.com Abstract The converter transformers are susceptible to more noise and vibration when compared to power transformers due to the presence of DC bias in the DC transmission line. DC bias occurs mostly due to inaccuracies in valve firing resulting in a small residual DC oscillating around zero. Measurement of magnetostriction becomes significant as it influences the vibration and noise from the core. Hence, a magnetostrictive model of a high‐voltage DC converter transformer has been developed. This work analyses the vibration and noise acoustics under such an occurrence. First, the core of the transformer model is designed in the stepped configuration for 240 MVA; then, magnetostrictive vibration is analysed by using suitable modules of COMSOL Multiphysics at different magnitudes of DC bias. The physics of noise has been interfaced using the Acoustics Module, and the results are recorded. Finally, artificial neural network model is developed for the prediction of vibration and noise characteristics of the model. The fitting process of neural network was then remodelled using various optimisation techniques, namely teaching–learning‐based optimisation, particle swarm optimisation, biogeography‐based optimisation, simulated annealing and binary coded genetic algorithm, and their results were compared to obtain the best‐suited method using % mean‐squared‐error evaluation.
A Pilot Study Using AI for Genetic Effects on Personality: ABO Blood Type in Japan/Korea

It is estimated that genetic factors contribute to approximately 50% of an individual’s personality. However, despite this estimate, statistical analyses have yet to establish a significant and consistent relationship between personality tests and genetic factors. Conversely, a large number of individuals in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan believe in a connection between genetically determined ABO blood type and personality traits. This pilot study aimed to investigate this relationship by analyzing data from a Japanese survey (N=1,827) and a South Korean survey (N=482) using a combination of traditional statistical methods and AI. The findings demonstrated a relationship between ABO blood type and self-reported personality traits, as assessed through several single-question items, consistent with the anticipated outcomes. The findings of this study imply that the relationship between blood type and personality may extend the ABO blood type to other heritable personality traits. Additionally, this study also explores the influence of the level of interest on personality and the potential role of evolutionary psychology.
Prevention of arthropathy in haemophilia: prophylaxis

Summary. At present, when resources allow, the main issue in preventing arthropathy in patients with haemophilia is determining the ‘optimal’ prophylaxis regimen rather than the choice between primary prophylaxis and on‐demand treatment. Barriers to prophylaxis implementation are still relevant and include difficulties with venous access, adherence to treatment regimens and costs. Prospective studies with different prophylactic regimens and objective outcome measures are still needed to determine the best cost–benefit ratio. The results from large retrospective cohorts followed up for decades in several European countries have shown that regular prophylaxis started at an early age is able to reduce physical impairment from haemophilic arthropathy. The efficacy of primary prophylaxis was finally demonstrated also in the setting of a randomized clinical trial.
Examining Neural Synchrony in Autism During Resting State With Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

The present study examined young adult participation in sexting: a transmission of nude or semi-nude images or sexually suggestive text of themselves to others through cell phones. An online survey was conducted Spring 2010 at large northwest university. Results revealed that nearly two thirds of participants had sent nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves. Cell phones were reported as the primary medium in transmission of sext messages. Nearly half of those who have participated in sexting had sent them to a boyfriend or girlfriend, while 15% sent them to someone they only knew online. To be sexy or to initiate sexual intercourse was the main reason given for sending sext messages. There were significant differences found between those who have sent nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves and those who have not. The total number of sexual intercourse partners and number of oral sex (performed) partners appear to be higher among those who have sent sext messages. Given the lack of scientific research on this topic, current and future research will allow educators, parents and communities to make choices that are more informed in regards to sexting and to understand the ever-changing advances that technology and evolution has on society.
Radon-therapy in ankylosing spondylitis reduces auto-antibody titers

Combined low-dose radon/hyperthermia therapy has been reported to improve pain and mobility in patients with rheumatic disorders. The key feature of inflammatory rheumatic diseases is the induction of autoimmune processes via the production of autoantibodies. As reducing the autoantibody level through administration of biologicals is described to correlate with delay of disease progression, we investigated the impact of combined low-dose radon/hyperthermia therapy on the serum levels of antibodies directed against cyclic citrullinated peptides in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. We found that levels of circulating anti-CCP antibodies is significantly reduced immediately after a 3 weeks of radon therapy regimen.