Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unfree labour after the Maoist Revolution in western Nepal

What does ‘unfree labour’ mean in a post-revolutionary context? Based on an ethnographic fieldwork undertaken between 2008 and 2009 in the far-western lowlands of Nepal, this article argues that the brick kiln owners on the Nepal–India border continued their attempts to bind labour by handing out advances and delaying payments, despite the fact that the state had prohibited all forms of bonded labour under the Bonded Labour Abolition Act of 2001. However, the employers and the workers accepted this system of unfree labour only as long as it remained within certain boundaries. I conclude by suggesting that the Maoist Revolution should be judged as a partial revolution: although it addressed some inequalities, it neglected others due to an ideologically narrow framing of the meaning of unfree labour.
Exchange Rates under the East Asian Dollar Standard: Living with Conflicted Virtue

The increasingly integrated economies of East Asia—China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand—face the dilemma of how to achieve exchange-rate security in the absence of a unifying "Asian euro. " The US dollar has become the region's dominant intraregional trading currency as well as the monetary anchor to which East Asian economies informally peg their currencies. In this timely and original analysis of the benefits and risks of an East Asian dollar standard, Ronald McKinnon takes issue with the conventional view that urges flexible exchange rates on financially fragile economies. He argues instead that East Asian countries should coordinate their policies to keep their exchange rates stable against the dollar. McKinnon develops a conceptual framework to show where the conventional wisdom on exchange rates has gone wrong. Pressure on the "virtuous" high-saving dollar-creditor East Asian nations to appreciate their currencies leads to a "conflicted" choice between a possible deflationary slump if they do appreciate and threatened trade sanctions if they do not. Analyzing interactions among the East Asian economies, McKinnon explains the rationale, and the need, for greater exchange-rate security in the region, pointing to the soft-dollar pegs adopted by these nations as steps in the right direction. He suggests that the dollar standard in East Asia could be rationalized through collective action by national governments and considers the effect of American monetary and trade policies on the East Asian economy.
Arming the Free World: The Origins of the United States Military Assistance Program, 1945-1950

In this important study, Chester Pach traces the emergence of military assistance as a major instrument of contemporary American foreign policy. During the early Cold War, arms aid grew from a few country and regional programs into a worldwide effort with an annual cost of more than $1 billion. Pach analyzes the Truman administration's increasing reliance on arms aid--for Latin America, Greece and Turkey, China, and Western Europe--to contain Communist expansion during the late 1940s. He shows that a crucial event was the passage of the Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949, the progenitor of a long series of global, Cold War arms measures.Pach demonstrates that the main impetus for the startling growth of military assistance was a belief that it would provide critical political and psychological reassurance to friendly nations. Although this aid was ostensibly provided for military purposes, the overriding goals were insuring goodwill, raising foreign morale, stiffening the will to resist communism, and proving American resolve and reliability.Policymakers, Pach contends, confused means with ends by stressing the symbolic importance of furnishing aid. They sought additional appropriations with the threat that any diminution or cessation of aid suggested a weakening of American commitment. Pach reveals that civilian, not military, officials were the principal advocates of the expansion of military aid, and he shows how the policies established during the Truman administration continued to exert a profound influence throughout the Cold War.Some officials questioned the self-perpetuating qualities of military aid programs, but Pach concludes that their warnings went unheeded. Although fiscal restraints in the Truman administration temporarily stemmed the growth of aid, the Korean War exploded budgetary limitations. MIlitary assistance spending expanded rapidly in size and scope, gaining a momentum that succeeding administrations could not resist.Originally published in 1991.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
An examination of the cumulative capabilities model in selected Asia-Pacific countries

A well-crafted manufacturing strategy enables a company to develop its key competitive capabilities (quality, delivery, flexibility and cost efficiency) and enhance its competitiveness in the marketplace. To date, three models have been proposed to guide companies on the development and improvement of these capabilities. These are the trade-off, cumulative and integrative models. Our study focuses on the popular cumulative model proposed by Ferdows and De Meyer (1990). The cumulative model not only suggests that firms can simultaneously compete on all four capabilities, but also defines how this can be done by following a specific pattern of capability improvements. There has been a wide debate in the literature on the validity and applicability of the cumulative model. We tested the cumulative model using data from 218 manufacturing firms in five Asia-Pacific countries (Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and Australia). We found evidence in support of the model, though this support was not emphatic. Our results suggest that firms, after developing the quality capability, move on to simultaneously cultivate the delivery, flexibility and cost capabilities. Higher level capabilities, such as flexibility and cost, are indirectly related to each other. Our results also show that the pattern of capability development and improvement is not affected by performance. However, the pattern is different across countries. We discuss the implications of these in this article.
Population differences in SLE susceptibility genes : STAT 4 and BLK , but not PXK , are associated with systemic lupus erythematosus in Hong Kong Chinese

W Yang, P Ng, M Zhao, N Hirankarn, CS Lau, CC Mok, TM Chan, RWS Wong, KW Lee, MY Mok, SN Wong, Y Avihingsanon, TL Lee, MHK Ho, PPW Lee, WHS Wong and YL Lau Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Lupus Research Unit, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand; Department of Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Department of Medicine, Tuen Mun Hospital, Hong Kong, China; Department of Medicine, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, Hong Kong, China; Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Tuen Mun Hospital, Hong Kong, China and Lupus Research Unit, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
FACTIONS OF DIFFERENT STRIPES: GAUGING THE RECRUITMENT LOGICS OF FACTIONS IN THE REFORM PERIOD *

The literature on faction suggests that patrons in the party may recruit faction members on the basis of a broad range of shared traits and experience. Some scholars argue reasonably that with increasing specialization of officials, factions are increasingly dominated by those with shared work experience in a set of bureaucracies. Although this trend may be true in general, senior leaders may still recruit those with whom they share birth place and school ties into their factions. To investigate this, we first derive four reasonable ways of measuring factional ties as suggested by the literature. We then explore the factional recruitment strategy pursued by each reform-era (1978–present) party secretary generals of the CCP by evaluating the measures of factional ties which predicted their clients’ promotions to full Central Committee membership. Our results show that Hu Yaobang, Jiang Zemin, and Xi Jinping pursued broadly based factional recruitment strategies, while Hu Jintao recruited faction members mainly from work colleagues. We further uncover signs that the party institutions may allow deposed secretary generals some measure of influence over promotions even after their political demise. At the same time, strict retirement rules on lower level officials gave rise to a cohort effect that gave the general secretary greater influence over the promotion of alternate Central Committee members to the full Central Committee during their first term than in subsequent terms.
Is the Effect of Risk on Stock Returns Different in Up and Down Markets? A Multi-Country Study

Several empirical studies in finance have examined whether or not the risk associated with any stock market responds differently in two different states of the stock market, especially in bull and bear markets. This paper studies this problem in the modelling framework, where (i) the conditional mean specification considers threshold autoregressive model for two market situations characterized as up and down markets, (ii) the conditional variance (as a measure of time-varying risk) specification is asymmetric in the sense of capturing leverage effect, and (iii) the conditional variance directly affects the conditional mean through the risk premium term in the risk-return relationship. Using daily returns on stock indices of eight countries, comprising four developed countries - the USA, the UK, Hong Kong, Japan - and four important emerging economies, called the BRIC group of countries viz., Brazil, Russia, India and China, we have found that the nature of risk-return relationship is different in up and down markets. Furthermore, the risk aversion parameter, which is significant in most of the countries, is positive in the down markets and negative in the up markets. This finding supports the hypothesis of Fabozzi and Francis (1977) and Kim and Zumwalt (1979), namely, that investors require a premium for taking downside risk and pay a premium for upside variation; moreover, the findings confirm that the nature of risk-return relationship is same for the two groups of countries.
Maintaining competitiveness of aviation hub: Empirical evidence of visitors to China via Hong Kong by air transport

Prior studies have not extensively researched and explored the key determinants (aviation and tourism attributes) that could affect Hong Kong’s competitiveness as a transit hub for international visitors using Hong Kong as a stopover to Chinese cities when travelling by air. This study adds to that knowledge to empirically investigate Hong Kong’s eight major tourist source markets (Germany, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the UK, and the US), and also provides an insight to policy-makers in Hong Kong to help them understand the factors that influence Hong Kong’s aviation hub competitiveness and tourism development. The findings of the study suggest that increased air transport capacity from foreign countries and Hong Kong to China, trade volumes between China and its trading partners, air transport costs, and the global financial crisis are the key factors affecting the number of visitors to China by air passing through Hong Kong as their preferred stopover. The policy implications of the findings are discussed.
Celiac Disease Screening in Southern and East Asia

Until 1970s, celiac disease (CD) was considered to be an uncommon disease except in Western Europe. The global epidemiology of CD continues to evolve with improvement in the diagnostic tests, simplification of the diagnostic criteria and increase in awareness about the disease. The Asian region is currently at the crossroads of the frontier of knowledge and awareness of CD. In many Asian nations, CD is still considered to be either nonexistent or very rare. A notable exception is India, where CD has been well recognized, especially in the northern part, and 2 population-based studies have revealed a prevalence of 0.3-1.04%. Initial reports from Malaysia, China, Japan and Singapore suggest the existence of CD in these countries. Furthermore, a meta-analysis of the predisposing factors predicts a high probability of occurrence of CD in fair numbers in China. There are no formal reports on CD from Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan and many other nations in this region. With the impending CD epidemic in Asia, there are many challenges. Some of the efforts which are required include determination of prevalence of CD across the region, spreading of awareness among physicians and patients, training of dieticians for proper counseling and supervision of patients, creation of gluten-free food infrastructure in the food supply and creation of patient advocacy organizations. Although the absolute number of patients with CD at present is not very large, this number is expected to increase over the next few years/decades. It is thus appropriate that the medical community across Asia define the extent of the problem and get prepared to handle the impending CD epidemic.
The predictive value of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies in early arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To assess the additional predictive value of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies above conventional variables for progressive erosive or disabling disease in a cohort of patients with early inflammatory oligo- and polyarthritis. Methods. Consecutive new patients with peripheral arthritis of > 2 joints and < 2 years of symptom duration, referred between 1995 and 1999 were studied. Excluded were patients with bacterial, psoriatic, crystal-induced arthritis or spondyloarthropathy. Optimal cut-off values for serum IgM-rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-CCP were deduced from receiver operating characteristics curves. At 2 year followup, progressive erosive disease was defined as: radiographic progression > 5 (Sharp-van der Heijde units) and low functional capacity as a Health Assessment Questionnaire score > 1. For the statistical analysis, a logistic regression model was used. RESULTS A total of 282 patients [68% female, median age 56 yrs (18-83)] were included. Thirty-two percent of the patients were positive for anti-CCP at baseline. Anti-CCP correlated significantly (p < 0.001) with a progressive erosive disease after 2 years, but not with a low functional capacity. The combination of a positive anti-CCP status and radiographic damage at baseline could predict the radiographic progression with a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 78%, 82%, and 81%, respectively. The positive predictive value (PPV) for radiographic progressive disease was 63%, while the negative predictive value (NPV) was 90%. The accuracy of the model decreased from 81 to 76% after leaving out anti-CCP from the model. In a subgroup of 178 IgM-RF negative patients, the PPV for radiographic progressive disease was 40%, while the NPV was 95%. CONCLUSION Anti-CCP positivity has a small additional value above the conventional prognostic variables for progressive erosive disease in a cohort of patients with early inflammatory oligo- and polyarthritis. The prognostic value of anti-CCP lies mainly in its ability to predict mild disease. This effect is accentuated in the subgroup of IgM-RF negative patients.
Climate change and malaria in India

The focus in this paper is to understand the likely influence of climate change on vector production and malaria transmission in India. A set of transmission windows typical to India have been developed, in terms of different temperature ranges for a particular range of relative humidity, by analysing the present climate trends and corresponding malaria incidences. Using these transmission window criteria, the most endemic malarious regions emerge as the central and eastern Indian regions of the country covering Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal and Assam in the current climate conditions. Applying the same criteria under the future climate change conditions (results of HadRM2 using IS92a scenario) in 2050s, it is projected that malaria is likely to persist in Orissa, West Bengal and southern parts of Assam, bordering north of West Bengal. However, it may shift from the central Indian region to the south western coastal states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. Also the northern states, including Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram in the northeast may become malaria prone. The duration of the transmission windows is likely to widen in northern and western states and shorten in the southern states. The extent of vulnerability due to malaria depends on the prevailing socio-economic conditions. The increase or decrease in vulnerability due to climate change in the 2050s will therefore depend on the developmental path followed by India. Therefore it is important to understand the current adaptation mechanisms and improve the coping capacities of the vulnerable section of the population by helping to enhance their accessibility to health services, improved surveillance and forecasting technologies.
The pro-cyclicality of loan loss provisions: Evidence from selected east Asian countries

This study investigated the evidence of pro cyclical behaviour of loan loss provision in four East Asian countries, namely Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong for the period 1995-2009. Pro-cyclical is defined as building up more loan loss provision during the bad times and reducing them in good times.This study hypothesized that pro-cyclical behaviour of loan loss provision exists in East Asian countries, since they had experienced two types of financial crises – Asian financial crisis in 1997 and global economic crisis in 2008.Utilising a sample of 47 banks, the findings demonstrated that there is evidence of a pro-cyclical pattern in the countries studied, as shown by the negative relationship between loan loss provision and GDP.This study does have a policy implication, where bank regulators should take pro-active action in addressing the issue of pro-cyclicality of loan loss provision because in bad times, increasing loan loss provision would affect the bank’s profit, weaken the bank’s capital, and in turn, diminish its lending activities to creditworthy borrowers.
Trade Verticality and Structural Change in Industries:TheCasesofTaiwanandSouthKorea

This paper documents that a significant portion of trade for Taiwan and Korea follows the trend of world trade in moving toward a pattern of vertical specialization (VS). Noteworthy is the manufacturing sector, whose VS shares of exports has been steadily increasing and has accounted for more than 90% of the total VS shares of manufactured exports. For Taiwan, nearly 57% of the growth in exports is contributed by the growth in VS-based trade; for Korea, it is as high as 64%. In the analysis, we compare VS shares of exports with or without inputoutput circulation among domestic industries in an open economy. Using Taiwan as a case study, we further discuss the implications of trade liberalization through tariff reductions for trade verticality. The last two decades have witnessed a significant portion of world trade moving towards a pattern of “vertical specialization’’ or “global production sharing’’ in which trading countries share different stages of manufacturing (see, e.g., Krugman, 1995; Yeats, 1998; Feenstra, 1998; Hummels et al., 2001; Yi, 2003). Meanwhile, trade liberalization that lowers tariffs and technological improvements in transportation that reduce transaction costs have contributed to the growth of world trade, on the one hand, and have modified the pattern of international production and trade toward vertical specialization, on the other. The economies of outward-oriented countries are deeply integrated through international trade with the rest of the world. Also, production activities are increasingly disintegrated or fragmented in that they involve sequential connections of production stages from one to another with each of trading countries specializing in certain stages of production in a vertical relationship. Vertical specialization in trade arises when the production of an exportable good requires imported intermediate inputs. This type of vertically connected production process involves two or more stages. The seminal work of
Improvement in Depression Scores After 1 Hour of Light Therapy Treatment in Patients With Seasonal Affective Disorder

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate possible rapid effects of light therapy on depressed mood in patients with seasonal affective disorder. Participants received 1 hour of bright light therapy and 1 hour of placebo dim red light in a randomized order crossover design. Depressed mood was measured at baseline and after each hour of light treatment using two self-report depression scales (Profile of Mood States–Depression-Dejection [POMS-D] subscale and the Beck Depression Inventory II [BDI-II]). When light effects were grouped for the two sessions, there was significantly greater reduction in self-report depression scores by −1.3 (p = 0.02) on the BDI-II and −1.2 (p = 0.02) on the POMS-D. A significant but modest improvement was detected after a single active light session. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to document an immediate improvement with light treatment using a placebo-controlled design with a clinical sample of depressed individuals.
Development and validation of the female genital self-image scale.

INTRODUCTION Women's sexual function may be influenced by various factors including medical conditions, trauma or abuse, medications, relationship dynamics, relaxation, mood, and body image. However, few studies have explored the influence of a woman's genital self-image on her sexual function or behaviors. AIMS The purpose of this study was to establish a reliable and valid measure of female genital self-image, the Female Genital Self-Image Scale (FGSIS), and to assess the relationship between scores on the FGSIS and women's sexual function. METHODS The FGSIS was developed in two stages. Phase One involved an analysis of cross-sectional paper-based survey data and a review of the literature. Phase Two involved a cross-sectional internet-based administration of the scale items to a total of 1,937 women. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Psychometric properties of the scale were evaluated through the use of reliability analysis, factor analysis, and score differences based on women's experience of orgasm from receiving cunnilingus or from self-masturbation with a vibrator. Correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between female genital self-image and scores on the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). RESULTS The scale was found to have sufficient reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.88) and one factor that explained 59.23% of the variance. Women who had ever experienced orgasm as a result of cunnilingus or self-masturbation with a vibrator and women who reported having had a gynecological exam in the previous 12 months had significantly higher FGSIS scores than those who had not (P < 0.001). Scores on the FGSIS were positively and significantly correlated with scores on all FSFI domains (P < 0.001), including the Total score, with the exception of the Desire domain. CONCLUSION The FGSIS was initially found to be a reliable and valid measure though further research is needed to understand its properties in diverse populations. In addition, female genital self-image was found to be positively related to women's sexual function.