Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Understanding South Korea’s Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Real-Time Analysis

This case study focuses on the epidemiological situation of the COVID-19 outbreak, its impacts and the measures South Korea undertook during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the first case was confirmed on 20 January 2020, South Korea has been actively experiencing the COVID-19 outbreak. In the early stage of the pandemic, South Korea was one of the most-affected countries because of a large outbreak related to meetings of a religious movement, namely the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, in a city called Daegu and North Gyeongsang province. However, South Korea was held as a model for many other countries as it appeared to slow the spread of the outbreak with distinctive approaches and interventions. First of all, with drastic and early intervention strategies it conducted massive tracing and testing in a combination of case isolation. These measures were underpinned by transparent risk communication, civil society mobilization, improvement of accessibility and affordability of the treatment and test, the consistent public message on the potential benefit of wearing a mask, and innovation. Innovative measures include the mobile case-tracing application, mobile self-quarantine safety protection application, mobile self-diagnosis application, and drive-thru screening centres. Meanwhile, the epidemic has brought enormous impacts on society economically and socially. Given its relationship with China, where the outbreak originated, the economic impact in South Korea was predicted to be intense and it was already observed since February due to a decline in exports. The pandemic and measures undertaken by the government also have resulted in social conflicts and debates, human-right concerns, and political tension. Moreover, it was believed that the outbreak of COVID-19 and the governmental responses towards it has brought a huge impact on the general election in April. Despite of the large outbreak in late February, the Korean government has flattened the COVID-19 curve successfully and the downward trend in the number of new cases remained continuously as of 30 April. The most distinctive feature of South Korea’s responses is that South Korea conducted proactive case finding, contacts tracing, and isolations of cases instead of taking traditional measures of the containment of the epidemic such as boarder closures and lockdowns.
Examining Sexual Behavior Among U.S. Transgender Adolescents

ABSTRACT The health of transgender adolescents (i.e., those identifying with a gender other than their sex assigned at birth) is gaining attention from researchers, yet little work has examined normative sexual behaviors among this population. Self-identified gender minority adolescents, including those identifying as trans boys, trans girls, nonbinary, and questioning their gender identity (age range 14–18, M age = 16, n = 1,223) from all 50 U.S. states responded to anonymous online surveys. Participants reported on their age of initiation and number of sexual partners for four sexual behaviors ranging in intimacy (i.e., sexual touching, oral sex, vaginal sex, and anal sex). Participants also indicated the gender of their sexual partners and experiences with sexually transmitted infections (STIs), STI tests, and pregnancy. Overall, transgender adolescents’ age of initiating sexual behaviors and number of sexual partners are similar to those observed in prior studies of cisgender adolescents. No differences were found between gender identity subgroups on ever engaging, age of initiation, number of partners, and gender of partners across the four sexual behaviors, with some exceptions for anal sex. Participants reported low rates of STIs and pregnancy, but also low rates of STI testing. Implications for sex education and health care are discussed.
A Tale of Two Currencies: The Asian Crisis and the Exchange Rate Regimes of Hong Kong and Singapore

Hong Kong has maintained a pegged exchange rate since 1983, while Singapore has been on a floating regime since the early 1970s. This paper provides an interpretation of the different performance of the Hong Kong and Singapore economy that could be attributable to the differences in their exchange rate regime. We develop a model that can help to interpret the differences in both the longer run trends in inflation and real exchange rates in Hong Kong and Singapore as well as the short differences in macroeconomic and real exchange rate volatility. The difference in the response of the two economies to the Asian crisis is also consistent with our model.
Understanding the Communist Party of China's Information Operations

The Communist Party of China is known to engage in Information Operations to influence public opinion. In this paper, we seek to understand the tactics used by the Communist Party in a recent Information Operation - the one conducted to influence the narrative around the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. We use a Twitter dataset containing account information and tweets for the operation. Our research shows that the Hong Kong operation was (at least) partially conducted manually by humans rather than entirely by automated bots. We also show that the Communist Party mixed in personal attacks on Chinese dissidents and messages on COVID-19 with the party's views on the protests during the operation. Finally, we conclude that the Information Operation network in the Twitter dataset was set up to amplify content generated elsewhere rather than to influence the narrative with original content.
On the systematics and the phylogenetic position of the poorly known, montane dragon-lizard species Pseudocalotes austeniana (Annandale, 1908) (Squamata, Agamidae, Draconinae)

The montane agamid species Pseudocalotes austeniana has had a complicated taxonomic history, as the species was initially described as a member of the genus Salea Gray, 1845. Later, the species was placed in a monotypic genus Mictopholis Smith, 1935, which was erected only to include this species; however, the species was later on transferred to the genus Pseudocalotes Fitzinger, 1843, owing to the morphological similarities, and lack of strong characters to diagnose the genus Mictopholis. Nonetheless, its precise phylogenetic and systematic position has remained unresolved due to the lack of molecular sequence data. During a herpetological expedition to Arunachal Pradesh, specimens of P. austeniana were collected from the hills near the type locality. The mitochondrial 16S rRNA, ND2 and ND4, and the nuclear RAG1 regions were subjected to molecular phylogenetics. Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference gene trees revealed that P. austeniana is a member of the subfamily Draconinae. The analyses showed that the genus Pseudocalotes is polyphyletic, and P. austeniana was embedded within the genus Japalura Gray, 1853 sensu stricto. We here, thus, propose to transfer the species P. austeniana to the genus Japlaura, as Japalura austeniana comb. nov. Biogeographic and evolutionary significance of the findings are discussed.
Sexual Consent Across Diverse Behaviors and Contexts: Gender Differences and Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences

Sexual consent refers to people’s internal willingness to engage in sexual activity with another person—as well as their external communication of that willingness. Internal and external sexual consent can vary by type of sexual behavior; however, previous research on sexual consent has primarily only assessed “typical” sexual behaviors such as genital touching, oral sex, and vaginal–penile sex without providing further context or acknowledging people’s sexual diversity. Therefore, we provided an initial account of people’s sexual consent—and lack thereof—for a broader array of sexual behaviors and contexts in which they occur. Using an online cross-sectional survey of participants in the United Kingdom and the United States (N = 658, 50.5% women), we examined event-level internal and external sexual consent for 20 sexual behaviors or contexts. Women reported significantly lower levels of sexual consent feelings than men for 12 of the 20 sexual behaviors and lower levels of active consent communication for 7 of them. Almost a third of participants (31.0%) had experienced at least one of the listed sexual behaviors against their will. Of those, participants on average reported nonconsensual experiences with 3.1 of the 20 types of sexual behavior listed, ranging from 1 to 11. More women reported at least one nonconsensual experience with one of the sexual behaviors assessed compared with men (47.9% versus 22.3%, respectively). We discussed several behavior-specific findings regarding sexual consent and the lack thereof. We also made recommendations for initiatives aimed at promoting healthy sexual consent practices: embrace sexual diversity, emphasize sexual agency, and encourage active consent communication.
The application situation and determinants of postponement

Purpose – The concept of postponement has been developed over many years. Past empirical research has been conducted almost entirely in Western countries. This paper aims to investigate the current status of postponement applications in Greater China (including Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) to ascertain the effects of some determinants (i.e. environmental uncertainty, production techniques, and information system (IS) maturity) on postponement application.Design/methodology/approach – A field survey of big manufacturers of electronic/information technology, clothing, and electric appliances is conducted. A total of 106 usable responses are received from 411 surveys yielding a satisfactory response rate of 25.8 percent.Findings – The result indicates that the number of applications of postponement in Greater China is growing and the incidence of postponement applications is higher than in the Western countries. Environmental uncertainty, production techniques, and ISs maturity have have positive e.
Evaluation of Genetic Diversity Based on Microsatellites and Phytochemical Markers of Core Collection of Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt Germplasm

Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt is an industrially important crop due to its value in the aromatic, perfumery and pharmaceutical industries. In this study, 72 accessions of C. winterianus were selected for molecular diversity analysis using SSR markers. It revealed a total of 65 polymorphic alleles showing an average of 68.10% polymorphism. The best SSR primer with competency in discriminating the germplasm was 3CM0506 with PIC (0.69), MI (0.69) and Rp (3.12). Genetic variation was studied between Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh populations. A dendrogram based on the Neighbour-Joining Method showed clustering of germplasm on the collection site. A total of six relevant genetic populations were identified through a structure harvester software analysis. Moreover, a dendrogram based on similarity, complete linkage and Euclidean distance was also elucidated differentiating the genotypes with respect to the major phytochemical constituents of the essential oil. GC-FID and GC-MS analyses of the essential oil of the 72 germplasms revealed citronellal content from 2.58–51.45%, citronellol from 0.00–26.39% and geraniol from 0.00–41.15%. This is the first molecular diversity report with 72 accessions of C. winterianus collected from the NE region using 28 SSR primers as well as their diversity based on phytochemical markers. This diversity computation will help with acquisition of the knowledge and relationship among each individual accession leading to the development of improved and essential oil component-rich cultivars.
Incidence of and Risk Factors for Tuberculosis (TB) in Gastric Cancer Patients in an Area Endemic for TB

AbstractTo date, there have been few reports investigating the relationship between tuberculosis (TB) and gastric cancer.We conducted a nationwide population-based matched cohort study using data retrieved from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database to determine the incidence of and risk factors for TB in patients diagnosed with gastric cancer. From 2000 to 2011, we identified 36,972 gastric cancer patients and normal subjects from the general population matched for age, sex, and comorbidities at a 1:1 ratio. The data were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models.Compared with the matched cohort, gastric cancer patients exhibited a higher risk for TB (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.50, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.41–1.79, P < 0.001), and those with TB exhibited higher mortality (adjusted HR 2.29, 95% CI 2.03–2.29, P < 0.001). Old age (adjusted HR 2.40, 95% CI 1.92–2.99, P < 0.001), male sex (adjusted HR 2.13, 95% CI 1.76–2.57, P < 0.001), diabetes mellitus (adjusted HR 1.28, 95% CI 1.05–1.56, P = 0.013), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (adjusted HR 1.44, 95% CI 1.19–1.75, P < 0.001) were identified as independent risk factors for TB in gastric cancer patients. Dyslipidemia was an independent protective factor for both TB (adjusted HR 2.13, 95% CI 1.73–2.62, P < 0.001) and mortality (adjusted HR 1.11, 95% CI 1.08–1.15, P < 0.001) in gastric cancer patients.Old age, male sex, diabetes mellitus, and COPD were independent risk factors for TB in gastric cancer. High-risk gastric cancer patients, especially those in TB-endemic areas, should be regularly screened for TB.
Savior of Diabetes: Antioxidants Savior of Diabetes: Antioxidants

Introduction: The exposure of humans to antioxidants regulating the process and prog- ress of diabetes mellitus (DM) is of major interest. Several phytoactive compounds such as flavonoids, lignans, prophenylphenols, etc . possess antioxidant property. Antioxidants exert free radical scavenging activity, improve the insulin sensitivity and pancreatic β cell activity, stimulate insulin secretion, and reduce the carbohydrate absorption. Antioxidants also combat complications like diabetic wound healing by increasing the collagen deposition, improving the fibroblasts level, and decreasing the 11-β hydroxydehydrogenase level. They revert the cardiovascular changes of DM by reducing the lipid profile level. Antioxidants also exert their regulatory effect on diabetic nephropathy and peripheral vascular diseases. Body-research methods: The terms “diabetes” or “diabetes mellitus” or type 1 diabetes mellitus” or “type 2 diabe- tes mellitus” or “hyperglycaemia” or “antioxidant” or “antioxidant” combined with “diabetic complication” were searched in following databases such as PubMed, Web of Science Scopus , and Google S cholar. Conclusion: Understanding the effects of anti oxidants against DM is beneficial for disease progress assessment and development of prophylaxis regimens. Although several researches are carried out on antioxidants , current population has still less confidence on them. Hence, more detailed analysis and clinical studies investigating on the underlying mechanisms of antioxidants towards DM are mandatory.
Anti-Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide Antibody Index in the Cerebrospinal Fluid for the Diagnosis and Monitoring of Rheumatoid Meningitis

Rheumatoid meningitis (RM) is a rare but often aggressive neurological complication of rheumatoid arthritis. The diagnosis of RM, besides the clinical, radiological, and laboratory criteria, usually requires a cerebral biopsy. Based on the two cases presented in this paper, we propose a new laboratory marker. Cerebrospinal fluid and serum anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) IgG were measured, and the intrathecal synthesis of anti-CCP antibodies (anti-CCP antibody index) was calculated using the hyperbolic function. The anti-CCP antibody index was positive in both cases at first diagnosis and progressively decreased after treatments. Together with clinical and radiological criteria, the calculation of the anti-CCP intrathecal synthesis, more than the simple measurement of serum or cerebrospinal fluid anti-CCP antibody titers, may represent a useful tool for RM diagnosis and, possibly, for treatment response.
A STUDY OF THE BREEDING PERIODS, VARIATION IN SEX RATIO AND IN SIZE OF CALANUS SINICUS BRODSKY

In this paper the results of a study of the morphology of Calanus sinlcus Brodsky collected in our coastal waters from the Gulf of Pohai to the South China Sea and of a comparison of it with the closely-related Calanus pacificus Brodsky of adjacent seas are presented.This species is most abundantly distributed in the Yellow Sea and in the coastal waters of the East China Sea. In offshore waters of the South China Sea, and in the offshore waters off Chekiang under the influence of the Taiwan warm current, it is rarely found. Judging from its geographical distribution, it can be considered as a warm-temperate species.From the seasonal variation in abundance of individuals in different developmental stages, it is possible to divide them into two breeding types. In the Gulf of Pohai, the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, it has three breeding periods-in March-May, in June-August and in October-November. Thus the generation produced in each period may be termed the spring, the summer, and the autumn generation respectively. The number of individuals produced is most abundant in spring and in autumn. In the South China Sea, only one breeding period is apparent-in early spring.The ratio of female to male in stage V copepodites is about 1:1, but for adult individuals, it is greater. It is possible that the period between stage V to maturity is a critical period for male copepodites, many of them probably dying before reaching maturity but it may also be possible that the life span of the adult male is shorter. There is also seasonal variation in sex ratio of adults, but in the whole year female individuals make up the greater part of the total population.There is a marked difference in size of adult individuals during different seasons in one and the same region and in different regions. This difference is largely related, inter alia to changes in temperature conditions. The relationship is an inverse one in which body size decreases with increase in temperature. Thus in the Gulf of Pohai and in the northern Yellow Sea the mean size of individuals--3.2 mm--is recorded in winter when the temperature of the water is between 3-7℃. In late spring, at 15-18℃, it is 2.9 mm, and in early summer, at 20-22℃, it is 2.7 mm. From north to south, a marked decrease in size of adult individuals is also noted. For the Gulf of Pohai and the Yellow Sea, the mean size of individuals is, (? ), 3.00 mm, (? ), 2.85 mm; for the East China Sea, (? ), 2.84 mm, (? ), 2.77 mm; for the South China Sea, (? ), 2.78 mm, (? ), 2.64 mm.
Productivity and Turnover in the Export Market: Micro-level Evidence from the Republic of Korea and Taiwan (China)

Widespread empirical evidence indicates that exporting producers have higher productivity than non-exporters, although the reasons why are unclear. Some analysts argue that exporters acquire knowledge of new production methods, inputs, and product designs from their international contacts, and with this knowledge they achieve higher productivity than their more insulated domestic counterparts. Others argue that the higher productivity of exporters reflects the self-selection of more efficient producers into a highly competitive export market. This article analyzes the link between a producer's total factor productivity and its decision to participate in the export market, using manufacturing data from the Republic of Korea and Taiwan (China). Differences are found between these two economies in the importance of selection and learning. In Taiwan (China) transitions of plants into and out of the export market reflect systematic variations in productivity as predicted by self-selection models. In Korea there are no significant changes in productivity following entry or exit from the export market that are consistent with learning from exporting. A comparison of the two economies suggests that in Korea factors other than production efficiency are more prominent determinants of the export decision.
Recombinant Coxsackievirus A2 and Deaths of Children, Hong Kong, 2012

A natural recombinant of coxsackievirus A2 was found in 4 children with respiratory symptoms in Hong Kong, China, during the summer of 2012. Two of these children died. Vigilant monitoring of this emerging recombinant enterovirus is needed to prevent its transmission to other regions.
Gender and Law in the Japanese Imperium

Beginning in the nineteenth century, law as practice, discourse, and ideology became a powerful means of reordering gender relations in modern nation-states and their colonies around the world. This volume puts developments in Japan and its empire in dialogue with this global phenomenon. Arguing against the popular stereotype of Japan as a non-litigious society, an international group of contributors from Japan, Taiwan, Germany, and the U.S., explores how in Japan and its colonies, as elsewhere in the modern world, law became a fundamental means of creating and regulating gendered subjects and social norms in the period from the 1870s to the 1950s. Rather than viewing legal discourse and the courts merely as technologies of state control, the authors suggest that they were subject to negotiation, interpretation, and contestation at every level of their formulation and deployment. With this as a shared starting point, they explore key issues such reproductive and human rights, sexuality, prostitution, gender and criminality, and the formation of the modern conceptions of family and conjugality, and use these issues to complicate our understanding of the impact of civil, criminal, and administrative laws upon the lives of both Japanese citizens and colonial subjects. The result is a powerful rethinking of not only gender and law, but also the relationships between the state and civil society, the metropole and the colonies, and Japan and the West. Collectively, the essays offer a new framework for the history of gender in modern Japan and revise our understanding of both law and gender in an era shaped by modernization, nation and empire-building, war, occupation, and decolonization. With its broad chronological time span and compelling and yet accessible writing, Gender and Law in the Japanese Imperium will be a powerful addition to any course on modern Japanese history and of interest to readers concerned with gender, society, and law in other parts of the world.