Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chinese computational propaganda: automation, algorithms and the manipulation of information about Chinese politics on Twitter and Weibo

ABSTRACT A 2016 review of literature about automation, algorithms and politics identified China as the foremost area in which further research was needed because of the size of its population, the potential for Chinese algorithmic manipulation in the politics of other countries, and the frequency of exportation of Chinese software and hardware. This paper contributes to the small body of knowledge on the first point (domestic automation and opinion manipulation) and presents the first piece of research into the second (international automation and opinion manipulation). Findings are based on an analysis of 1.5 million comments on official political information posts on Weibo and 1.1 million posts using hashtags associated with China and Chinese politics on Twitter. In line with previous research, little evidence of automation was found on Weibo. In contrast, a large amount of automation was found on Twitter. However, contrary to expectations and previous news reports, no evidence was found of pro-Chinese-state automation on Twitter. Automation on Twitter was associated with anti-Chinese-state perspectives and published in simplified Mandarin, presumably aimed at diasporic Chinese and mainland users who ‘jump the wall’ to access blocked platforms. These users come to Twitter seeking more diverse information and an online public sphere but instead they find an information environment in which a small number of anti-Chinese-state voices are attempting to use automation to dominate discourse. Our understanding of public conversation on Twitter in Mandarin is extremely limited and, thus, this paper advances the understanding of political communication on social media.
IgG1 and IgG4 are the predominant subclasses among auto-antibodies against two citrullinated antigens in RA.

OBJECTIVE Antibody subclasses reflect specific immunological processes and may be indicative of the underlying pathological pattern in an autoimmune disease like RA. We therefore quantified anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides (CCP) and anti- citrullinated vimentin (MCV) IgG subclass titres in RA patients and compared them with the respective titres of antibodies directed against the varicella zoster virus (VZV) and to total serum titres. METHODS Sera of 77 patients fulfilling the ACR criteria for RA were collected. An IgG subclass-specific ELISA system was then established and combined with commercially available MCV, CCP and VZV pre-coated microtitre plates. RESULTS Even though IgG1 is the predominant subclass among antibodies against CCP and MCV in RA patients, IgG4 is second with respect to titres and frequencies. This increase in IgG4 among RA-specific antibodies is independent of disease duration and does not reflect a general skewing of the immune response in these patients as overall serum titres and antibodies directed against VZV show a normal distribution of IgG1, IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4. CONCLUSION Elevated IgG4 titres are specific for auto-antibodies against citrullinated antigens in RA and are indicative of a Th2-biased environment during the generation of auto-reactive plasma cells. We discuss here an indirect role for IgG4 auto-antibodies in hindering the elimination of auto-reactive B and plasma cells and thus driving the autoimmune process.
Democracy and poverty reduction

The past decade was witness to the rapid economic growth of countries whose political systems deviate from conventional democratic philosophy. Countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea, among others, have become big economies rivaling major players like the United States and the United Kingdom. On the other hand, democratic, low-income countries have experienced relatively sluggish growth. In this paper, we explore the influence of democracy and political freedom on economic growth, utilizing poverty reduction as its indicator. We will focus on identifying the requisites of a functioning democracy within the context of developing nations that will enable it to effectively reduce poverty. Utilizing the 2-stage least squares method of estimation, our findings suggest that democracy, in general, has a negative influence on poverty reduction for developing countries. However, when complemented with trade openness, primary education, regulatory quality, effective governance, and voice and accountability, the outcome becomes positive.
Deciding to intervene : the Reagan Doctrine and American foreign policy

Whether to intervene in conflicts in the developing world is a major and ongoing policy issue for the United States. In Deciding to Intervene , James M. Scott examines the Reagan Doctrine, a policy that provided aid to anti-Communist insurgents—or “Freedom Fighters” as President Reagan liked to call them—in an attempt to reverse Soviet advances in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Central America. Conceived early in the Reagan presidency as a means to win the Cold War, this policy was later singled out by Reagan and several of his advisors as one of the administration’s most significant efforts in the the Cold War’s final phase. Using a comparative case study method, Scott examines the historical, intellectual, and ideological origins of the Reagan Doctrine as it was applied to Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Mozambique, and Ethiopia. Scott draws on many previously unavailable government documents and a wide range of primary material to show both how this policy in particular, and American foreign policy in general, emerges from the complex, shifting interactions between the White House, Congress, bureaucratic agencies, and groups and individuals from the private sector. In evaluating the origins and consequences of the Reagan Doctrine, Deciding to Intervene synthesizes the lessons that can be learned from the Reagan administration’s policy and places them within the broad perspective of foreign policy-making today. Scott’s measured treatment of this sensitive and important topic will be welcomed by scholars in policy studies, international affairs, political science, and history, as well as by any reader with an interest in the formation of American foreign policy.
Lost in Transition? The Geography of Protests and Attitude Change in Russia

RUSSIA WAS AMONG MANY COUNTRIES HIT BY PROTEST mobilisations in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Changes in the patterns of political mobilisation seemed to go hand-inhand with attitude change and shifts in the social structure, such as the emergence of a mass urban middle class. These developments stimulated a lively academic debate on the relationships between the patterns of protest, the nature of the political regime, attitude change and social modernisation. Economic success does not preclude the expansion of protest activity; for example, in China since 1994 the annual number of protest events has grown even faster than per capita Gross Domestic Product and in 25 years increased by a factor of 20. Mature liberal democracies also seem to be conducive to protest mobilisations, which allowed Meyer et al. (1998) to define them as ‘movement’ societies. In a recent study of 283 mobilisation episodes from 1900 to 2012, Beissinger and Putnam (2014) conclude that revolutions have become more frequent and have given rise to a new urban model centring on civic purposes rather than goals of social transformation. This model assumes a transition to different tactics (from rural-based rebellions to mass protests in urban spaces) and a different class composition of protesters (from peasants and workers to the urban middle class). Robertson (2011) argues that different types of political regime may be associated with specific protest patterns, which will depend on the geography, protest repertoire, demands and social composition of the protesters. Robertson and many other authors point to the critical role of the emerging urban middle class in this transformation. Studies of recent mobilisation episodes from central Europe and north Africa allow us to capture various phases of such transformation (Beissinger et al. 2012; Beissinger & Sasse 2014). Russia, with its spatial dimensions, economic volatility, social dynamism, diversity of protest events and rich sociological databases, represents an interesting case for empirical validation of the theories of political mobilisation. Patterns of protests in Russia seemed to have been strongly affected by ongoing social transformation which was fostered by spectacular growth of household consumption during the 2000s. It is a well proven fact that the Moscow middle class played a leading role in the protests against unfair elections during 2011 and 2012 (Dmitriev 2012; Robertson 2013; Chaisty & Whitefield 2013; Vogel 2013). This can give some vital clues to understanding the relationship between the transformation
International spillovers and East Asian growth: the experience of Japan, Korea and Taiwan

This study analyses the sources of economic growth for three East Asian economies – Japan, Korea and Taiwan – with special emphasis on international spillovers as an explanation of the differential patterns of growth. Three different proxy measures of international spillovers are constructed in the empirical analysis. Explicitly accounting for country-specific differences, both fixed effect and random effect regressions are applied to obtain coefficient estimates. It is found that technology spillovers going beyond geographic boundaries is a significant determinant of GDP growth for the three East Asian economies. Nevertheless, the direction of the spillover effect differs. For Japan and Korea, the empirical findings support the view that international spillovers contribute to GDP growth. International spillovers, however, are found to have dampened Taiwan's GDP growth during the period 1978 to 1992. These results suggest, for economies whose research effort is relatively low, a negative relationship between productivity and international spillovers might be revealed.
China and East Asia: An Appraisal of Regional Economic Integration

Three Taiwan-based economists evaluate regional economic integration in East Asia, using trade indicators to analyze the degree of trade concentration among East Asian nations, and employing the gravity model to identify key factors influencing bilateral trade flows among them. China is expected to play a key role in East Asia's economic development, and empirical analysis for the period 1990-2005 indicates that East Asia has already evolved into a trading block, expected to become one of three dominant blocks in the global economy. The study, which highlights the key role played by geographical distance and market size, suggests that the impact of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for East Asian trade will remain limited in the future. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F15, F31, O53, P33. 7 tables, 41 references.
China in Africa: South-South Camaraderie or Exploitation?

Many reports regarding Chinese activity in Africa allude to a new era of colonialism that is overburdening African states with debt, pillaging prized natural resources and violating human rights. Beijing, however, claims that its operations are mutually beneficial for Chinese and African development. The Chinese government offers African governments a business-oriented development model based on their own development experience. This model, void of references to human rights, good governance or democracy, challenges the traditional Western development model and appeals to many African leaders. Using analysis of Western, Chinese, and African sources, this study investigates Chinese activity in Africa, determining its nature and consequences. The findings indicate that Chinese activity is neither wholly positive nor negative. What is certain is that the Chinese have institutionalized their presence in Africa and will continue deepening operations there for the foreseeable future. Therefore, to obtain the most benefits from foreign actors, both Chinese and Western, African leaders must coordinate their goals and act in regional blocks or continentally. As a block, Africans can intensify pressure on foreign actors to follow regulations, provide timely aid, and support employment. Through this cooperation, the prospect of enduring African development appears attainable.
Critical success factors for new product development in Hong Kong toy industry

Hong Kong's manufacturers have become some of the most efficient toy production managers in the world and have became the biggest exporter of toys in the world. However, the Hong Kong toy industry is mainly original engineering manufacturing (OEM) and does not invest much in R&D and new product development (NPD). With the rising competition from the Chinese mainland and other Asian countries, Hong Kong toy companies have realized the weakness and started to invest more in R&D and NPD. The research reported in this paper aims to explore the critical success factors (CSF) for new product development in the Hong Kong toy industry.
Dynamic Relationships Between Economic Globalisation and Cross-Public Property Market Correlations

Abstract In this paper, the dynamics and current status of economic globalization and cross-public property market correlations, as well as their linkages, among the three Greater China (GC) economies (mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and across the GC region with their regional and international partners (Japan, Singapore, Australia, the US and the UK) are assessed. Results indicate that there is adequate evidence of economic globalization represented by three international parity variables (real interest differential, uncovered interest differential and relative purchasing power differential) that are likely to hold as a long-run equilibrium condition. The increased cross-public property market correlations and cross-stock market correlations imply that international capital markets have become increasingly linked over the study period. Over the last two decades, there were moderate degrees of co-movements between economic globalization and cross-public property market correlations across the three parity measures. Specifically, the dynamic correlation analysis finds wide differences for different frequencies of cyclical development over the economic cycle. Economic globalization and cross-public property market correlations are moderately linked in the long-run; but in a different manner according to the frequencies and economy-pairs considered, particularly for the short-run frequencies. Moreover, the underlying dynamic relationships between economic globalization and cross-market correlations are different for securitizedproperty and stock markets.
Downstream effects of maternal hypothyroxinemia in early pregnancy: nonverbal IQ and brain morphology in school-age children.

CONTEXT Although maternal hypothyroxinemia is suggested to be related to various adverse consequences in a child's neurodevelopment, the underlying neurobiology is largely unknown. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between maternal hypothyroxinemia in early pregnancy and children's nonverbal intelligence quotient (IQ). Furthermore, we explored whether global brain volumes, cortical thickness, and brain surface area differed between children exposed prenatally to hypothyroxinemia and healthy controls. DESIGN AND SETTING The study included a large population-based prospective birth cohort in The Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS A total of 3727 mother-child pairs with data on prenatal thyroid function at less than 18 weeks of gestation and nonverbal IQ at 6 years participated in the study. In 652 children, brain imaging was performed at 8 years of age. MAIN MEASURES Maternal hypothyroxinemia was defined as free T4 in the lowest 5% of the sample, whereas TSH was in the normal range. At 6 years, children's IQ was assessed using a Dutch test battery. Global brain volumetric measures, cortical thickness, and surface area were assessed using high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS The children of mothers with hypothyroxinemia in early pregnancy scored 4.3 points IQ lower than the children of mothers with normal thyroid status (95% confidence interval -6.68, -1.81; P = .001). After adjustment for multiple testing, we did not find any differences in brain volumetric measures, cortical thickness, and surface area between children exposed prenatally to hypothyroxinemia and controls. CONCLUSIONS Our findings confirm a large adverse effect of maternal hypothyroxinemia on children's nonverbal IQ at school age. However, we found no evidence that maternal hypothyroxinemia is associated with differences in brain morphology in school-age children.
DNA barcoding reveals cryptic diversity in the peanut worm Sipunculus nudus

Peanut worm (Sipunculus nudus) is a cosmopolitan species mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical coastal waters. Analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequences among S. nudus from GenBank revealed high genetic variation (p‐distance, 0.115–0.235; k2p, 0.128–0.297) and paraphyletic relationships. These indicated misidentification and/or cryptic diversity may be present in the genus Sipunculus. To understand the genetic diversity and to manage the recourse of S. nudus, we collected specimens from coastal waters of southern China and Taiwan. In the phylogenetic topology, specimens can be separated into four distinct clades; three of these clades (clade A, B and C) were only represented from this region (southern China and Taiwan), but the clade D grouped with individuals from Central America (Atlantic coast). Furthermore, individuals of clades A and D were collected at the same location, which does not support the hypothesis that this genetic break reflects contemporary geographical isolation. The four distinct clades observed among coastal waters of southern China and Taiwan indicated underestimated diversity. It is noteworthy that the cryptic diversity is vulnerable under high pressure of human activity.
Did Focusing on Asia Pacific Emerging Markets Provide Much Benefit to Portfolio Diversification during the Late 2000s Recession

This research studies the international co-movement among Asia Pacific emerging markets stock price indices during the late 2000s recession by using the monthly observations start from 1st October 2001 until 1st April 2011. The co-integration analysis and parsimonious Vector Error Correction Model employed in this research reveal a long-term relationship and inter-dependencies among seven Asia Pacific emerging market stock price indices. This research finds that the unique co-integration exists on the equations. Specifically, two indices from China and Taiwan having meteor shower potential while the rest indices from Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia are known to have heat waves effects or country specific factors on the equation. Finally, all the results are linked to the international diversification strategies. Keywords: Co-movement, co-integration, emerging market, heat waves, meteor shower, Asia Pacific, inter-dependencies, Vector Error Correction Model, international diversification
Aetiology and outcome of neonatal cholestasis in Malaysia.

INTRODUCTION Little is known about the epidemiology, causes and outcomes of neonatal cholestasis in the Asian population beyond Japan and Taiwan. METHODS This was a prospective, observational study on patients with neonatal cholestasis who were referred to the University of Malaya Medical Centre, Malaysia, between November 1996 and May 2004. RESULTS Biliary atresia (BA) (29 percent) and idiopathic neonatal hepatitis (38 percent) were the two commonest causes of neonatal cholestasis (n is 146) that were referred. Out of the 39 patients (27 percent of the total) who died at the time of review, 35 succumbed to end-stage liver disease. Three of the four patients (three BA, one progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis [PFIC]) who had a living-related liver transplant (LT) died after the surgery (two BA, one PFIC). Six (four percent) of the remaining 107 survivors had liver cirrhosis. The overall four-year survival rates for patients with native liver and LT as well as those with native liver alone for all cases of neonatal cholestasis were 72 percent and 73 percent, respectively, while the respective survival rates for BA were 38 percent and 36 percent. CONCLUSION BA and idiopathic neonatal hepatitis are important causes of neonatal cholestasis in Malaysian infants. In Malaysia, the survival rate of patients with neonatal cholestasis, especially BA, is adversely affected by the lack of a timely LT.
Social Autonomy and Political Integration: Two Policy Approaches to the Government-Nonprofit Relationship since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China

Abstract Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the party-state has established a number of policies on social organizations. Some policies are complementary, whereas some seem to be contradictory. These policies are associated with two policy approaches. The first is socially oriented, allowing social organizations the opportunity for autonomy and encouraging capacity-building. The second is political integration mainly through party-building in social organizations. The two approaches do not exist alone or in isolation. Intertwined they indicate that the Chinese party-state has begun to institutionalize an integrative control mechanism to maximize the utility of social organizations in prioritized fields of work.
Hepatitis B immunization in high risk neonates born from HBsAg and HBeAg positive mothers: comparison of standard and low dose regimens.

A reduced dose of plasma derived hepatitis B vaccine (Hevac B) was tested for efficacy in the prevention of perinatal hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission in high risk neonates born from e-antigen positive HBsAg carrier mothers. Forty newborn infants born of these mothers were given hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) 100 IU intramuscularly immediately after birth, combined with either standard or reduced doses of HBV vaccine. The infants were divided into two groups of 20 infants each. The standard dose of HBV vaccine (5 micrograms) was given to group I, while infants in group II received reduced dose (2 micrograms) at birth and at 1, 2 and 12 months of age. There was no statistically significant difference in the efficacy and antibody responses of these two combined prophylaxis regimens. The protective efficacy rate of HBV vaccine was found to be 94.0 and 93.2 percent in group I and group II, respectively. At twelve months of age, the anti-HBs seroconversion rates were 80.0 percent in group I and 86.7 percent in group II, with geometric mean titres of 84.57 mlU/ml and 78.56 mlU/ml, in group I and group II, respectively. One month after a booster at one year of age, anti-HBs could be detected in 86.7 percent of the infants in both groups. The geometric mean titres were 429.04 and 664.81 mlU/ml, in group I and group II, respectively. Anti-PreS2 antibody was detected in high titre as early as 4 months after the first dose of HBV vaccine, with a geometric mean titre of 116.30 mlU/ml and 107.97 mlU/ml, in group I and group II, respectively. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Chinese Englishes: A Sociolinguistic History

List of maps List of illustrations List of tables Preface Acknowledgements 1. New Englishes and World Englishes: pluricentric approaches to English worldwide 2. The sociolinguistics of English in late colonial Hong Kong, 1980-1997 3. The archaeology of 'Chinese Englishes', 1637-1949 4. The emergence of Hong Kong English as a 'new English' 5. Hong Kong, China and Chinese Englishes Appendices References Index.