Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Horizontal and Vertical Views of Chinese Psycholinguistics *

During the past twenty years, there has been a very significant increase in research on Chinese psycholinguistics. Much work has been done by investigators in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and elsewhere. Western researchers have also contributed, their interest in many instances aroused by Chinese students, who have entered Western graduate programs in linguistics, psycholinguistics, and psychology in increasing numbers. But nowhere has this development been manifested more directly than in the series of Symposia on Cognitive Aspects of the Chinese Language, of which this is the sixth. Motivating much of this research has been a basic question: How similar are the psycholinguistic processses of Chinese speakers to those of speakers ofIndo-European languages? China has a rich and ancient culture that developed completely independently from Western culture. Moreover, there are certain striking differences between Sino-Tibetan languages and Indo-European languages: Chinese has lexical tones, its syllable structure is relatively limited, its morphemes are mostly monosyllabic, and it lacks inflectional morphology. Again, the Chinese writing system appears to be very different from any present-day European writing system. Its symbols are complex patterns of strokes that stand for monosyllabic morphemes, not phonemes, and no word boundaries are indicated. There are differences in word order and vocabulary between written and spoken Chinese to which European languages offer no paralleL Finally, the Chinese writing system is central to Chinese culture, whereas the European writing systems are little more than traditional tools, having no deep cultural resonance. Given all these differences, are psycholinguistic processes for the two language families likely to be very similar?
India-China Border Learning from History

The main rule of 'The Great Game' on the India-China border for the previous 150 years was that it be played quietly and as surreptitiously as possible. In the 1950s these rules still seemed to prevail and the two contesting governments decided to keep the lid on the problems while jockeying for local advantage. On the surface it was all Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai and the practice of the Panchsheela philosophy, but underneath was the realisation that the titles to large tracts of territory under the control of both parties were under dispute. The lid blew off when in March 1959 the Dalai Lama fled to India and was given political asylum.
The dragon's brood : conversations with young Chinese

In this experimental insight into China through Chinese eyes, young Chinese break their enforced silence with a devastating frankness that exposes both their profound dissatisfaction with present-day life in China and their hopes and desires for the future. The author of this book was training journalists for the Chinese government at Beijing's New China News Agency before, during and after the events in Tiananmen Square. Later he returned privately to China and, in conditions of secrecy, interviewed at length over 300 young Chinese students, workers, police, soldiers, teachers, doctors, nurses and businessmen about their attitudes to communism, sexuality, race, religion, foreigners, population control and the West.
Taiwan in 1995: Electoral Politics and Cross-Strait Relations

Taiwan went through a year of political turbulence in 1995. Across the Taiwan Strait, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) GeneralSecretary Jiang Zemin's eight-point policy proposal in January for peaceful reunification generated a sense of optimism for improved Taiwan-mainland relations. But this had subsided in July when the Beijing authorities launched the first of four military exercises aimed at intimidating Taiwan after President Lee Teng-hui visited the United States. By year's end, the cross-strait relationship had suffered serious political setbacks, as Beijing's bellicose rumblings damaged the atmosphere of reconciliation that had developed since 1987 through trade, investment, tourism, and semi-official contacts. Not since the early 1960s has the People's Republic of China (PRC) displayed such military belligerence toward its Taiwanese "compatriots. " As Beijing authorities poise themselves for continued military intimidation, at least through Taiwan's first popular presidential election in March 1996, security in the Taiwan Strait could get worse before it gets better. On the domestic front, partisan politics perforated this young democracy; the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) was saddled with internal dissension over the nomination of candidates for president and vice-president. Three leading figures left the KMT to run against the party ticket of incumbent President Lee Teng-hui and Premier Lien Chan. The departures of KMT Vice-Chairman Lin Yang-kang and former Premier Hau Pei-ts'un further split the party. This political dissension had the immediate effect of diluting the KMT vote in the December election for the Legislative Yuan and benefiting the New Party, whose leaders had left the KMT in 1993. The outcome of the parliamentary election, as well as the political dynamics of the upcoming presiden-
Mucosal HIV transmission and vaccination strategies through oral compared with vaginal and rectal routes

Importance of the field: There are currently over thirty million people infected with HIV and there are no vaccines available to prevent HIV infections or disease. The genitourinary, rectal and oral mucosa are the mucosal HIV transmission routes. An effective vaccine that can induce both systemic and local mucosal immunity is generally accepted as a major means of protection against mucosal HIV transmission and AIDS. What the reader will gain: Structure and cells that comprise the oral, vaginal and rectal mucosa pertaining to HIV transmission and vaccination strategies through each mucosal route to prevent mucosal and systemic infection will be discussed. Areas covered in this review: Covering publications from 1980s through 2010, mucosal transmission of HIV and current and previous approaches to vaccinations are discussed. Take home message: Although oral transmission of HIV is far less common than vaginal and rectal transmissions, infections through this route do occur through oral sex as well as vertically from mother to child. Mucosal vaccination strategies against oral and other mucosal HIV transmissions are under intensive research but the lack of consensus on immune correlates of protection and lack of safe and effective mucosal adjuvants and delivery systems hamper progress towards a licensed vaccine.
Changes of Chinese Beginning Date of Vegetation Greenness Period Based on NOAA NDVI

Beginning date of greenness period of vegetation(BGP)is closely related to seasonal dynamics of the lower atmosphere and is therefore an important variable in influences and feed-back mechanisms of global climate variation to terrestrial ecosystem.Detecting BGP using remote-ly sensed data at regional or global scales has become an advanced topic in geography and ecolo-gy.Based on the processed NOAA/AVHRR NDVI data,the study is to use Logistic fitting model on cumulative frequency of NDVI to compute BGP of China by pixels from 1982 to 1999,count the annual average BGP of every vegetation type and bio-climate district,and analyze the inter-annual change trends,spatio-temporal dynamic change feature of BGP of various spatial types.The results indicate that:(1)BGP have an advance trend in most regions and obviously advance in North China Plain,northeast Guizhou,the middle and south Hunan,west Guangxi and typical grassland area of east Inner Mongolia. (2)The regions in which inter-annual fluctuation of BGP are over 10 days are mainly distributed in the area covered with agricultural vegetation types,the areas covered with evergreen vegetation types and the areas covered with steppe vegetation types.Thereinto,the fluctuation of BGP in Hetao plain,Guanzhong basin,east Henan,west Sichuan basin,Guangdong,Taiwan and so on,are over 15 days. (3)BGPs of the other vegetation types ex-cept temperate desert show an advance trends. (4)With the reduction of annual accumulative tem-perature and increase of drought indices,BGP of various bio-climate areas delay.An advance of BGP is found in South China,East China,Central China,North China,Inner Mongolia,Northeast China and Tibet,whereas a delay occurred in Shaanxi,Shanxi and Northwest China. (5)BGP of all vegetation types evidently delay in 1982,1983 or 1984,which may be associated with the strong EI-Nino effect in the 1982-1983 period.
Seasonal-spatial distributions, congener profile, and risk assessment of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS) in the surficial sediments from the coastal area of Bangladesh

ABSTRACT A comprehensive congener specific assessment of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was conducted for the first time in Bangladesh. All 209 PCB congeners in the surficial coastal sediments from the coastal areas of Bangladesh were analyzed by GC-MS/MS. The total concentrations of PCBs (∑PCBs) varied from 5.27 to 92.21 and 4.61 to 105.3 ng/g dw in winter and summer, respectively, and the ranges were comparable to or higher than those recorded in the sediments from the coastal areas of India, Korea, China, and Taiwan. The seasonal difference in the levels of PCBs was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The spatial distribution revealed that the areas with recent urbanization and industrialization (Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Sundarbans) were more contaminated with PCBs than the unindustrialized area (Meghna Estuary). Moderately chlorinated (4–6 Cl) homologs dominated PCB profiles. A set of congeners based on their detection frequencies and abundance were identified and categorized as potential environmental marker PCBs, which can be used for the future selective monitoring studies where there would be limitations on whole congener assessment. Ecotoxicologically, the sedimentary PCB concentrations exceeded some of the existing environmental quality standards, suggesting a potential threat to the aquatic organisms in the Bangladeshi coastal areas.
Gender differences in intention to remain a virgin until marriage among school pupils in rural northern Tanzania

Abstinence is often promoted in HIV-prevention programmes for adolescents, but little is known about the factors that influence adolescents' intentions to abstain from sex until marriage. This study was conducted in ten districts in the Kilimanjaro, Arusha, and Manyara regions of northern Tanzania, in July 2005. Out of 65 villages, four were randomly selected. In total, 953 primary school pupils, aged 10 to 14 years, participated in an interview and questionnaire: about 54% were girls and 41% were aged 12 to 13. Thirty-four percent of boys and 28.5% of girls said they had the intention to remain a virgin until marriage. Among the male respondents, having the intention to remain a virgin until marriage was associated with sharing a bedroom with a brother under age 18 years (odds ratio [OR] = 3.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.48-6.87) and with saying that girls have the right to say ‘no’ to sex (OR = 8.51, 95% CI 2.93-24.72); among males, the intention was also negatively associated with saying they had the confidence to refuse sex with someone they had known for less than three months (OR = 0.12, 95% CI 0.04-0.32). Among the female respondents, having the intention to remain a virgin until marriage was associated with living with both parents (OR = 2.60, 95% CI 1.23-5.50) and saying that they had the confidence to refuse sex with someone who has authority or power (OR = 3.69, 95% CI 1.31-10.48). The findings highlight that young adolescents may benefit from community-based HIV-prevention programmes that include building lifeskills and increasing one's confidence to abstain from sex or delay sexual debut until marriage.
Highest clinical effectiveness of rituximab in autoantibody-positive patients with rheumatoid arthritis and in those for whom no more than one previous TNF antagonist has failed: pooled data from 10 European registries

Objective To assess the 6-month effectiveness of the first rituximab (RTX) course in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to identify possible predictors of response. Method 10 European registries submitted anonymised datasets (baseline, 3- and 6-month follow-up) from patients with RA who had started RTX, and datasets were pooled and analysed. Heterogeneity between countries was analysed by analysis of variance. Predictors of response were identified by logistic regression. Results 2019 patients were included (mean age/disease duration 53.8/12.1 years, 80.3% female, 85.6% rheumatoid factor (RF) positive and 76.8% (456/594 patients) anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP) positive). For these patients an average of 2.7 disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) (range 0–10) had failed, and RTX was given as the first biological agent in 36.6% of patients. There was significant heterogeneity between countries for several baseline characteristics, including the number of previous biological agents. Disease Activity Score based on 28 joint counts (DAS28) decreased from 5.8±1.4 at baseline to 4.2±1.4 at 6 months (p<0.0001) and 22.2%/42.5% achieved European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) good/moderate response. Larger 6-month improvement in DAS28 was observed in RF-positive and anti-CCP-positive versus seronegative patients. The following predictors of EULAR good response at 6 months were identified in a multivariate analysis: anti-CCP positivity (OR=2.86, p=0.003), number of previous DMARDs (OR=0.84, p=0.06), ≤1 previous biological agents (OR=1.89, p=0.04), baseline DAS28 level (OR=0.74, p=0.003). Conclusion In this large observational cohort of patients with RA treated with RTX, seropositive patients achieved significantly greater reductions in DAS28 at 6 months than seronegative patients. Effectiveness was best when RTX was used as the first biological agent or after failure of no more than one anti-tumour necrosis factor agent.
Metformin and lung cancer risk in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

This study evaluated whether metformin might reduce lung cancer risk. The reimbursement database of the Taiwan's National Health Insurance was used. A sample of 15414 never users and 280159 ever users of metformin (original sample) and a 1:1 matched-pairs of ever and never users (n=15414 in each group, matched sample) were recruited from patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus during 1999-2005. They were followed until December 31, 2011. Cox regression incorporated with the inverse probability of treatment weighting using propensity score was used to estimate hazard ratios. Results showed that the respective incidence of lung cancer in ever and never users was 173.36 and 292.65 per 100000 person-years in the original sample; and was 211.71 and 292.65, respectively, in the matched sample. The overall hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of 0.586 (0.509-0.674) in the original sample and 0.717 (0.584-0.881) in the matched sample suggested a significantly lower risk among metformin users. Hazard ratios comparing the first (<22.60 months), second (22.60-46.67 months) and third (>46.67 months) tertile of cumulative duration of metformin use to never users was 1.163 (1.005-1.348), 0.612 (0.526-0.711) and 0.176 (0.148-0.210), respectively, in the original sample; and was 1.465 (1.131-1.897), 0.758 (0.566-1.016) and 0.228 (1.460-0.357) in the respective tertile of the matched sample. Sensitivity analyses after excluding patients with certain risk factors of cancer and subgroup analyses supported a favorable effect of metformin. In conclusion, metformin use may reduce lung cancer risk in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Evaluating the Impact of Collectivism and Individualism on Argumentative Writing by Chinese and North American College Students

Analyzes writing features conceptually linked to collectivist or individualist orientations among students from Taiwan and the United States. Notes that theses features were indirectness, personal disclosure, use of proverbs and other canonical expressions, collective self, and assertiveness. Makes comparisons across languages and nationalities and also across language alone.
Personal Ties, Meritocracy, and China's Anti-Corruption Campaign

In order to maintain popular support or at least acquiescence, autocrats must control the rapacious tendencies of other members of the governing elite. At the same time, the support of this elite is at least as important as the support of the broader population. This creates difficult tradeoffs and limits the autocrat's ability to enforce discipline. We explore this issue in the context of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's ongoing anti-corruption campaign. There have been two schools of thought about this campaign. One holds that it is nothing but a cover for intra-elite struggle and a purge of Xi's opponents, while the other finds more credibility in the CCP's claim that the movement is sincere. In this article, we demonstrate three facts, using a new dataset we have created. First, we use the political connections revealed by legal documents and media reports to visualize the corruption network. We demonstrate that although many of the corrupt officials are connected, Xi's most prominent political opponent, Bo Xilai, is less central by any network measure than other officials who were not viewed as challenging Xi's leadership. Second, we use a recursive selection model to analyze who the campaign has targeted, providing evidence that even personal ties to top leaders provided little protection. Finally, using another comprehensive dataset on the prefectural-city level, we show that the provinces later targeted by the corruption campaign differed from the rest in important ways. In particular, it appears that promotion patterns departed from the growth-oriented meritocratic selection procedures evidence in other provinces. Overall, our findings contradict the factional purge view and are more consistent with the view that the campaign is indeed primarily an attempt to root out systemic corruption problems.
Was Mao really a monster? : the academic response to Chang and Halliday's Mao, the unknown story

Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday was published in 2005 to a great fanfare. The book portrays Mao as a monster – equal to or worse than Hitler and Stalin – and a fool who won power by native cunning and ruled by terror. It received a rapturous welcome from reviewers in the popular press and rocketed to the top of the worldwide bestseller list. Few works on China by writers in the West have achieved its impact. Reviews by serious China scholars, however, tended to take a different view. Most were sharply critical, questioning its authority and the authors’ methods , arguing that Chang and Halliday’s book is not a work of balanced scholarship, as it purports to be, but a highly selective and even polemical study that sets out to demonise Mao. This book brings together sixteen reviews of Mao: The Unknown Story – all by internationally well-regarded specialists in modern Chinese history, and published in relatively specialised scholarly journals. Taken together they demonstrate that Chang and Halliday’s portrayal of Mao is in many places woefully inaccurate. While agreeing that Mao had many faults and was responsible for some disastrous policies, they conclude that a more balanced picture is needed.
Acute kidney injury in patients with pulmonary embolism

Abstract Acute kidney injury (AKI) is overlooked in patients with pulmonary embolism (PE). Risk factors for and long-term outcomes of this complication remain unknown. This study evaluated the predictors and prognosis of AKI in patients with PE. This retrospective cohort study used Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. We enrolled a total of 7588 patients who were admitted to a hospital for PE from January1997 to December 2011 and administered anticoagulation or thrombolytic agents. All demographic data, risk factors, and outcomes were analyzed. AKI was diagnosed in 372 (4.9%) patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed pre-existing chronic kidney disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, massive PE, anemia, and sepsis as independent risk factors for AKI. In the long-term follow-up, the survival rate was similar in the AKI and non-AKI groups. Careful risk factor screening and intensive intervention in patients with AKI might yield outcomes similar to those in patients without AKI.
Risk of epilepsy in stroke patients receiving acupuncture treatment: a nationwide retrospective matched-cohort study

Objective To investigate the risk of epilepsy in stroke patients receiving and not receiving acupuncture treatment. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting This study was based on Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database that included information on stroke patients hospitalised between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2004. Participants We identified 42 040 patients hospitalised with newly diagnosed stroke who were aged 20 years and above. Primary and secondary outcome measures We compared incident epilepsy during the follow-up period until the end of 2009 in stroke patients who were and were not receiving acupuncture. The adjusted HRs and 95% CIs of epilepsy associated with acupuncture were calculated using multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression. Results Stroke patients who received acupuncture treatment (9.8 per 1000 person-years) experienced a reduced incidence of epilepsy compared to those who did not receive acupuncture treatment (11.5 per 1000 person-years), with an HR of 0.74 (95% CI 0.68 to 0.80) after adjustment for sociodemographic factors and coexisting medical conditions. Acupuncture treatment was associated with a decreased risk of epilepsy, particularly among stroke patients aged 20–69 years. The log-rank test probability curve indicated that stroke patients receiving acupuncture treatment had a reduced probability of epilepsy compared with individuals who did not receive acupuncture treatment during the follow-up period (p<0.0001). Conclusions Stroke patients who received acupuncture treatment had a reduced risk of epilepsy compared with those not receiving acupuncture treatment. However, the protective effects associated with acupuncture treatment require further validation in prospective cohort studies.
A Panel Cointegration Analysis: An Application To International Tourism Demand Of Thailand

This paper sought to find the long-run relationships between international tourist arrivals in Thailand and economic variables such as GDP, transportation cost and exchange rates during period of 1986 to 2007. Also this paper used five standard panel unit root tests such as LLC (2002) panel unit root test, Breitung (2000) panel unit root test, IPS (2003) panel unit root test, Maddala and Wu (1999) and Choi (2001) panel unit root test and Handri (1999) panel unit root test. Moreover, the panel cointegration test based on Pedroni residual cointegration tests, Kao residual cointegration tests and Johansen fisher panel cointegration test were used to test in panel among the variables. The OLS estimator, DOLS estimator and FMOLS estimator were used to find the long-run relationship of the international tourism demand model for Thailand. The long-run results indicated that growth in income (GDP) of Thai’s Asia major tourist source markets (Malaysia, Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and Taiwan) have a positive impact on international tourists arrival to Thailand. In addition, the transportation cost of these countries has negative impact on the number of international tourist arrivals to Thailand. Finally Thailand’s currency has positive impact on the number of international tourist arrivals to Thailand. Most of findings from this study were consistent with economic theory and the implications of the model can be use for policy making.