Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Experimental Assessment of Public Ownership and Performance

Abstract An experimental research design is adopted to explore the potential impact of cultural differences in East Asia and the United States on perceptions of public ownership and governmental performance (efficiency, equity, and probity). While passionate debate has influenced governments on the merits of public or private organizations’ delivery of public services, the empirical evidence remains ambivalent. Similarly, argument on societal and regional cultures suggests differences within East Asia as compared to the United States, but evidence is scant. Masters of Public Administration students in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and the United States rated vignettes of organizations classified as public, private, or unknown ownership against key dimensions of performance. Findings indicate few public ownership and limited country differences, but a consistency in the rating of vignettes, suggesting convergence. The implications of these findings for the study of public management are considered in conclusion.
Market efficiency and government interventions in prewar Japanese rice futures markets

This study analyzes how the colonial rice trade in prewar Japan affected its rice market, considering several government interventions in the two rice futures exchanges in Tokyo and Osaka. We explore the interventions in the futures markets using two procedures. First, we measure the joint degree of efficiency in the markets using a time-varying vector autoregression model. Second, we examine historical events that possibly affected the markets and focus on one event at a time. The degree of efficiency varies over time within our sample period (1881-1932). The observation, together with historical analysis, leads to the following conclusions: (1) the two major markets in Tokyo and Osaka were nearly efficient; (2) government interventions involving the delivery of imported rice from Taiwan and Korea often reduced futures market efficiency; finally, (3) this relationship continued as long as the quality difference between imported and domestic rice existed. The government interventions that promoted domestic distributions of the colonial goods resulted in confusion in the commodity markets, and decreased efficiency of the markets in the metropole.
Investments Across Cultures: Financial Attitudes of Chinese-Americans

Cultural background affects the attitudes of immigrants long after they have settled in their new countries, and it affects the attitudes of their descendents as well. For example, levels of trust persist among immigrants to the United States, and relatively high levels of trust among immigrants are associated with relatively high levels of trust in their countries of origin.Does cultural background affect financial attitudes as well? This is an important question for financial advisors whose clients include people from many cultures. Here we explore the financial attitudes of Chinese-Americans. Chinese-Americans are one group among many that blend the cultures of their countries or origins into the American culture, shaping American culture as it shapes them. Hispanic-Americans are another prominent group, divided into immigrants from Mexico and other countries in Central and South America. But many other immigrants carry their cultures into the United States, including immigrants from India, Ireland, Italy, and Israel. We present this study as a beginning of a stream of studies about the financial attitudes of immigrants, hoping that others would join the effort and add their studies.For our purposes here, we distinguish between three groups: immigrant Chinese-Americans, first-generation Chinese-Americans, and beyond-first-generation Americans, or beyond-first Americans for short. Immigrant Chinese-Americans were born in China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan. First-generation Chinese-Americans were born in the United States to immigrant Chinese-Americans. Beyond-first Americans were born in the United States to non-immigrant parents, whether of Chinese origins or not. We refer to the first two groups as Chinese-Americans.We find that Chinese-Americans are less willing to carry debt than beyond-first Americans, more willing to invest in real estate, not as inclined to concentrate their investments in the United States, and more inclined toward distinct gender-based financial responsibilities. Nevertheless, Chinese-Americans find saving no easier than beyond-first Americans, and they are no more risk tolerant than beyond-first Americans. We also find significant differences in financial attitudes between men and women across all groups.
A comparative analysis of the propagation of stock market fluctuations in alternative models of dynamic causal linkages

The patterns of dynamic linkages are examined among national stock prices of four Asian Newly Industrializing Countries stock markets - Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong - in models incorporating the established markets of Japan, USA, UK and Germany. Recent time-series techniques are employed, including unit root testing, multivariate cointegration, vector error-correction modelling (VECM), forecast error variance decomposition (VDC) and impulse response functions (IRFs). The results consistently appear to suggest the relatively leading role of all established markets in driving fluctuations in the NIC stock markets. In other words, all established markets and Hong Kong, consistently were the initial receptors of exogenous shocks to the (long-term) equilibrium relationships and the other NIC markets, particularly the Singaporean and Taiwanese markets had to bear most of the burden of short-run adjustment to re-establish the long-term equilibrium relationship. In comparison to all other NIC markets, Taiwan and Singapore appear as the most endogenous, with Taiwan providing evidence of its short-term vulnerability to shocks from the established markets.
Loss of Innate Host Defense Following Unprotected Vaginal Sex.

BACKGROUND Multiple host defense mechanisms protect the female genital tract from pathogens, but the impact of sexual intercourse on defense is unknown. METHODS As part of a hypothesis-generating study, 17 women provided cervicovaginal lavage (CVL) specimens at baseline (all had abstained from sexual intercourse, masturbation, and vaginal product use for 72 hours prior to screening), 2-6 hours and 10-14 hours after vaginal intercourse with a male condom, and 2-6 hours and 10-14 hours after vaginal intercourse without a male condom (5 visits total, including the baseline visit). Vaginal pH, concentrations of immune molecules, and antimicrobial activity at postcoital visits were compared to baseline values. RESULTS Vaginal pH and the transforming growth factor β1 level increased, but human beta-defensin 2 (HBD-2), HBD-3, and interleukin 8 levels decreased after unprotected sex. Median Escherichia coli inhibitory activity in CVL specimens decreased significantly from baseline at the visit 2-6 hours after unprotected sex (63% [range, -34% to 99%] vs 5% [range, -51% to 100%]; P = .02) and remained low at the visit 10-14 hours after unprotected sex (6% [range, -19% to 92%]; P = .02). Pooled human seminal plasma enhanced E. coli growth in vitro in a dose-dependent manner and, when added to CVL samples with high anti-E. coli activity, reversed the inhibition. CONCLUSIONS Unprotected vaginal sex results in a reduction in endogenous anti-E. coli activity, which may reflect, in part, enhancement of bacterial growth by seminal plasma. This finding may contribute to the risk of E. coli vaginal colonization following sexual intercourse.
Accounting for Sustainability in Asia: Stock Market Regulation and Reporting in Hong Kong and Singapore

abstract Sustainability reporting nudges firms into behaving more sustainably by forcing them to account publicly for their wider social and environmental performance. This libertarian paternalist approach to governance through disclosure rather than command-and-control regulation is well established in Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions but comparatively untested in the emerging markets of Asia, where different state traditions and forms of business organization raise questions about its transferability and effectiveness. This article contributes to research on corporate social responsibility, neoliberal environmental governance, and Asian varieties of capitalism by providing the first comparative analysis of the origins, design, and initial impact of new sustainability reporting requirements on the stock markets of Hong Kong and Singapore. In mandating sustainability reporting, both exchanges were similarly concerned with following international norms and competitors but differed in the style and granularity of their company disclosure requirements. These policy design choices reflected different developmental state traditions and the different audiences that market regulators in Hong Kong and Singapore sought to influence through these public accounts. Notwithstanding substantial differences between Hong Kong’s rules-based and Singapore’s principles-based approach to reporting, the response in both markets was remarkably similar. In both cases, sustainability reporting was largely ignored by local market players who dismissed it as a foreign practice of interest to only a small number of Western institutional investors and providing little incentive to go beyond tick box compliance. These findings raise questions about the effectiveness of disclosure requirements at nudging Asian businesses toward sustainability.
Beyond Paradigms

Why did claimant states in the South China Sea (SCS) dispute, especially China, recently increase its militarization activities, in unprecedented ways that were relatively absent in the previous decades? Espousing an analytically eclectic explanation rather than using one single International Relations (IR) paradigm, this essay demonstrates three key exploratory arguments. First, the enduring Chinese military insecurity from American dominance in Southeast Asia has been recently amplified by the confluence of China’s economic rise, and more importantly, the power struggle in the current Xi Jinping-led regime. The article offers a domestic politics-oriented approach in explaining the strategic resolve of Beijing to militarize the disputed SCS region. Second, although many countries in the region uphold a ‘hedging foreign policy strategy’, which refers to their strategic engagement both with China and the USA, the Southeast Asian countries’ patterns of foreign policy behaviour and identity politics suggest that their longterm aspiration still relies on the USA as their primary security guarantor. Third, notwithstanding such perception of Southeast Asian states towards the USA, this article demonstrates that Washington’s long-term commitment of upholding its security guarantees to its Southeast Asian partners is hindered by the US interest to strategically engage with Beijing on broader issues of global governance.
HIV/AIDS prevalence, knowledge, attitudes and related behaviors among young people in Libreville, Gabon

The few available data that exist show that the prevalence of HIV infection among adolescents in Gabon is increasing. This study aimed to assess HIV-related knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAPs) of high school and college students in Libreville, Gabon. A sample size of 601 students(258 males and 343females) aged between 12 and 24 years was selected by systematic random sampling. Results showed that half of the respondents were aware of HIV transmission through sexual intercourse (55.7%), from mother to child (48.3%) and through sharing needles or syringes (51.8%). About 15.14% of students had an idea of unsafe practices related to HIV transmission. About 55.7% of respondents reported to have positive attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS. About 45.3% of the respondents reported willingness to study in a school with HIVpositive friends and 39.3% of the respondents reported that can attend a school with HIV-positive teachers. Only about 25.62% of the respondents who reported to engage in sexual activities used condoms. The study showed that students have inadequate information about HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention and therefore appropriate measures need to be urgently instituted to reduce spread of HIV/AIDS in this population.
Psychosocial Moderators of Perceived Stress, Anxiety and Depression in University Students: An International Study

Extensive research shows university students experience high levels of stress, which can lead to the development of mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. Preliminary evidence supports the role of psychosocial factors such as perceived social support (PSS) and campus connectedness (CC) as protective factors in the development of mental health problems in university students. However, research conducted on the potential ameliorating effects of social support on stress applying Cohen and Wills’ (1985) stress-buffering hypothesis produced weak, inconsistent, and even contradictory results. In addition, little attention has been given to examining the protective role of CC in the relationships between perceived stress, anxiety, and depression. The cur- rent study examined the applicability of CC and PSS in buffering the relationships been perceived stress, anxiety, and depression across an international sample comprised of university students (N = 206) from Australia, Hong Kong, and the United States. The prediction that CC and PSS would moderate the relationships between perceived stress, anxiety, and depression was partially sup- ported. The results indicated CC moderated the relationship between perceived stress and depression but did not moderate the relationship between perceived stress and anxiety. PSS did not moderate the relationship between perceived stress and depression or the relationship between perceived stress and anxiety, thus rejecting the stress-buffering hypothesis. These findings sug- gest less emphasis should be placed on PSS as a protective factor, with universities focusing on enhancing CC to reduce the high prevalence of mental health problems to promote psychological wellbeing among students.
Signal Left, Turn Right: Central Rhetoric and Local Reform in China

How have local officials in China been able to break through central policy restrictions in a unitary and authoritarian political system? Why is China’s official discourse in the reform era often so conservative and unfavorable to reform? I argue the two issues are components of a signaling game between China’s central government and local officials, in which local officials know that the center may be reformist, but the reformist center imitates the rhetoric of a conservative center in order to control the pace of local liberalization. The result is a gradualist reform of “signaling left and turning right”, with glaring incongruity of speech and actions in the process.
Financial Integration in East Asia: How Far? How Much Further to Go?

Despite numerous empirical studies examining various facets of the topic, the degree of intraregional financial integration in East Asia remains a matter of vigorous debate. This paper offers a selective survey of the recent empirical literature on financial integration, the focus being on alternative definitions of financial integration and measurement issues and results. The focus is on the ASEANâ€“5 plus 3 or APT economic group (i.e. Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Korea, China and Japan) as well as Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei. These are the economies that have consciously attempted to intensify intraregional monetary and financial cooperation in the last few years, particularly since the East Asian crisis of 1997-98.
Ancient and modern colonization of North America by hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), an invasive insect from East Asia

Hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae, is an invasive pest of hemlock trees (Tsuga) in eastern North America. We used 14 microsatellites and mitochondrial COI sequences to assess its worldwide genetic structure and reconstruct its colonization history. The resulting information about its life cycle, biogeography and host specialization could help predict invasion by insect herbivores. We identified eight endemic lineages of hemlock adelgids in central China, western China, Ulleung Island (South Korea), western North America, and two each in Taiwan and Japan, with the Japanese lineages specializing on different Tsuga species. Adelgid life cycles varied at local and continental scales with different sexual, obligately asexual and facultatively asexual lineages. Adelgids in western North America exhibited very high microsatellite heterozygosity, which suggests ancient asexuality. The earliest lineages diverged in Asia during Pleistocene glacial periods, as estimated using approximate Bayesian computation. Colonization of western North America was estimated to have occurred prior to the last glacial period by adelgids directly ancestral to those in southern Japan, perhaps carried by birds. The modern invasion from southern Japan to eastern North America caused an extreme genetic bottleneck with just two closely related clones detected throughout the introduced range. Both colonization events to North America involved host shifts to unrelated hemlock species. These results suggest that genetic diversity, host specialization and host phylogeny are not predictive of adelgid invasion. Monitoring non‐native sentinel host trees and focusing on invasion pathways might be more effective methods of preventing invasion than making predictions using species traits or evolutionary history.
Risk Factors for Oral Human Papillomavirus in Adults Infected and Not Infected With Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Background and Objectives: To investigate in a cross‐sectional study the determinants of oral human papillomavirus infection in 287 individuals who are sexually active. Goal: To assess prevalence as well as risk factors for oral human papillomavirus infection. Study Design: One hundred seventy‐eight human immunodeficiency virus‐seropositive (158 men and 20 women) and 109 human immunodeficiency virus‐negative (73 men and 36 women) individuals were recruited consecutively from sexually transmitted disease‐human immunodeficiency virus clinics and gastrointestinal endoscopy clinics. Oral brushings were tested with the L1 consensus polymerase chain reaction assay for human papillomavirus detection. Results: Human papillomavirus DNA was detected in 32 (11.2%) of 287 individuals. Associated with oral human papillomavirus infection on univariate analyses were human immunodeficiency virus infection (odds ratio, 6.9; 95% confidence interval, 2.0–23.2), homosexuality (odds ratio, 3.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.5–9.4), unprotected oral sex (odds ratio, 5.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.6–18.4), syphilis (odds ratio, 2.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.1–6.3), gonorrhea (odds ratio, 4.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.9–9.1), Chlamydia trachomatis (odds ratio, 4.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.8–10.6), and genital herpes (odds ratio, 2.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.3–6.5). Human immunodeficiency virus infection and C. trachomatis were independently predictive of human papillomavirus infection in multivariate stepwise logistic regression. Conclusions: This study suggests that sexual activity plays an important role in the transmission of human papillomavirus in the oral cavity.
Antimicrobial susceptibility and occurrence of resistance genes among Salmonella enterica serovar Weltevreden from different countries.

OBJECTIVES This study was conducted to investigate the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance among Salmonella Weltevreden isolates from different sources in South-East Asia (Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam), Australia, Denmark, New Zealand and the USA. METHODS A total of 503 isolates were examined for susceptibility to antimicrobial agents, and resistant isolates were examined for the presence of selected resistance genes by PCR. RESULTS Only 48 (9.5%) of the isolates were resistant to one or more of the antimicrobial agents tested. A low frequency of resistance was found towards ampicillin (1.8%), chloramphenicol (1.6%), florphenicol (0.4%), nalidixic acid (1.6%), neomycin (0.6%), streptomycin (4.4%), sulfamethoxazole (4.2%), tetracycline (4.0%) and trimethoprim (1.4%), whereas all isolates were susceptible to co-amoxiclav, ceftiofur, ciprofloxacin, colistin and gentamicin. All nine ampicillin-resistant isolates contained a sequence similar to the blaTEM-1b gene, one of the eight chloramphenicol-resistant isolates a sequence similar to the catA1 gene, all three neomycin-resistant isolates a sequence similar to the aphA-2 gene, 16 (73%) of the 22 streptomycin-resistant isolates a sequence similar to the aadA gene, the remaining six (27%) a sequence similar to the strA gene, and all 21 sulfamethoxazole-resistant isolates a sequence similar to the sul2 gene. Thirteen (65%) of the 20 tetracycline-resistant isolates contained the tet(A) gene, four (20%) the tet(B) gene, and one (5%) the tet(C) gene. CONCLUSIONS This study showed a low frequency of resistance among Salmonella Weltevreden isolated from humans and other reservoirs in South-East Asia and elsewhere. There was no major difference in the occurrence of resistance between source or geographical origin.
Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies in ulcerative colitis, and its relation with disease activity

Background: Ulcerative colitis an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and chronically idiopathic immune related that associates with extraintestinal manifestations such as arthritis. Despite of the highly specificity of anticyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibodies for rheumatoid arthritis, their role in IBD remains unclear. There are only a few studies on the prevalence of anti-CCP antibodies in patients with IBD. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of anti- CCP antibodies in ulcerative colitis and to investigate possible associations with their clinical and laboratory characteristics Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 93 consecutive patients with ulcerative colitis referred to gastroenterology clinics in Razi referral hospital of Rasht, Iran, from September 2010 to September 2011. Rheumatologic examination, demographic data and clinical presentation of patients were recorded on specially prepared data sheets. Blood sample was collected for assessment of anti-CCP and other laboratory tests. Data were analyzed by the Chi square test, Fisher Exact test and student t test, using the SPSS 20 software for Windows, and P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Of 93 patients, anti-CCP antibodies detected in 10.8% of cases (CI 95%: 4.5-17.1%). There were a significant relation between the prevalence of anti CCP positivity and aphthous ulcers and ocular manifestations whereas other parameters were not significantly related. Conclusion: Anti CCP may have a possible role in some ulcerative colitis manifestations but there was no association between the presence of these antibodies and activity or extension of inflammatory colitis. We suggest other studies especially molecular studies to investigate other aspects of these antibodies in IBD patients