Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ethnography, Multiplicity and the Global Childhoods Project: Reflections on Establishing an Interdisciplinary, Transnational, Multi-Sited Research Collaboration

This article offers a description and rationale of the Global Childhoods Project, initiated by a group of researchers from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia. This transnational and interdisciplinary network embarked on a collaborative research endeavour concerned with investigating questions of childhoods and globalization in the Asia-Pacific region. A central premise of the group is that researching global childhoods is best conducted by local researchers with knowledge of their own culture and contexts. This article considers the ways in which such collaboration offers opportunities to productively explore the possibilities and dilemmas associated with collaborative interdisciplinary, transnational, multi-sited ethnographic research. While all the researchers taking part in what we termed the Global Childhoods Project are established scholars and experienced researchers, the group quickly realized that the multiplicity of cultures, languages, perspectives and research backgrounds that furnished us with such potentially rich ground for collaborative work also presented us with a number of unanticipated conundrums and challenges.
Relief from Menopausal Symptoms by Non-hormonal Treatment with PycnogenolÂ® (French Maritime Pine Bark Extract)

Declining estrogen levels are connected to endothelial dysfunction and weakening of antioxidative defense. Endothelial dysfunction is linked to vasomotoric and sexual problems. Reduced synthesis of antioxidants as consequence of fading estrogen supply results in oxidative stress and promotes painful menstrual problems. In addition, psychosomatic symptoms as insomnia, depression and deficits in cognitive function are frequent. Compensation for loss of estrogen by hormone replacement therapy is problematic for some women because of adverse effects so that there is a need for a nonhormonal option for relief from menopausal symptoms. The ability of French maritime pine bark extract (Pycnogenol®) to alleviate climacteric symptoms was tested in clinical trials with perimenopausal women. The Woman’s Health Questionnaire was used in Taiwan and Japan in randomized, placebo-controlled, doubleblind studies with 155 and 156 women respectively. An Italian study compared symptoms by Menopause Symptoms Questionnaire in a Pycnogenol® group of 38 women with 32 controls. Climacteric symptoms decreased dependent on the length of treatment. The highest dose, 200 mg/day Pycnogenol® improved all symptoms relative to placebo, lower doses improved only some symptoms, suggesting a dose-dependent effect. Vasomotoric problems were ameliorated in all 3 studies, insomnia decreased with 200 mg and 60 mg Pycnogenol® daily. In addition, in the most informative study from Taiwan, a consistent improvement of psychosomatic symptoms was reported. A rationale for the attenuation of vasomotoric and sexual problems is proposed based on enhanced availability of nitric oxide (NO) via interaction of Pycnogenol® with endothelial nitric oxide synthase. Enhanced availability of NO is potentially also involved in the improvement of sleep, memory and psychic symptoms following Pycnogenol® intake. The relief from menstrual problems is connected with the anti-inflammatory properties of Pycnogenol®. By improving endothelial function and antioxidative status Pycnogenol® offers a versatile non-hormonal option for relief of climacteric symptoms.
Comparative Gender Differences In FacultyJob Satisfaction At Higher Education:Taiwan And China

The study examined the IT and gender differences in job satisfaction between Taiwan and China higher education faculty. The data of job satisfaction was obtained from 194 Taiwanese faculty (48 IT faculty) and 211 Chinese faculty at college levels. It is hypothesized that faculty perceptions of job satisfaction affect their attitudes toward the educational reforms. The SPSS v10 software, which included descriptive statistics, analysed the data: t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficient. The mean score of job satisfaction for Taiwanese IT faculty was 13.04, and the mean score for Chinese IT faculty was 10.83. In the total score for job satisfaction, there were no statistically significant IT faculty differences between Taiwanese faculty (t=-0.802, p=0.423) and Chinese faculty (t=-0.887, p=0.376) after educational reforms. Moreover, the mean score of job satisfaction for Taiwanese male faculty was 14.57, and the mean score for Chinese female faculty was 12.96. In the total score for job satisfaction, there were no statistically significant gender differences between Taiwanese faculty (t=-0.649, p=0.517) and Chinese faculty (t=-0.195, p=0.846) after educational reforms.
Characteristics of Children Referred for Drainage of Sub-cutaneous Soft Tissue Infections

Purpose: Severe skin and soft tissue infections in children are a common cause of hospital admission. Surgical drainage is often required for definitive therapy. Our aim was to review common characteristics of children requiring surgical incision and drainage (I&D) for subcutaneous abscesses. Methods: IRB approval was obtained for a retrospective chart review of children requiring I&D of subcutaneous abscesses between July 2006 and June 2011. Data points included patient demographics, abscess location, surgical procedure, microbiology cultures, and hospital length of stay. Results: Surgical I&D were performed on 1042 children, and 781 patients (75%) were admitted to the surgical service. The average age was 3.4 years. 605 patients (58%) were female. 637 abscesses (61%) were located in the groin/buttock/perineum area. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was identified in 70% of the culture specimens. The average length of stay was 2.8 days. The rate of recidivism was 10.9%. Conclusions: Soft tissue infections requiring hospital admission and I&D are common in the pediatric population. The vast majority of these are due to MRSA infections. Infections requiring drainage most frequently occurred in the diaper area of girls less than 3 years old. A significant number of children have recurrent skin infections and represent an important patient subpopulation.
A Note on Misconceptions about Market and Non‐market Economies

The traditional analysis of the Soviet‐type economies denies the existence of markets to these economies. The usual argument is that these economies lack freedom and are characterized by the absence of private property. Additionally, the conventional analysis implies that theory of markets is a theory of free markets, one characterized by free economic interaction among economic units (individuals or businesses) regardless of the degree of market perfection. Argues that the conventional economic analysis is wrong in denying the existence of markets and capitalism to certain modern societies (e.g. the former Soviet bloc countries). The central thesis is that the environment in which buyers and sellers interact does not have to be free in the Western sense to be considered as a market. Points out that the economic systems of the former Soviet Union, China, Cuba and others may be characterized as totalitarian state capitalism.
Temporal Power-laws on Preseismic Activation and Aftershock Decay Affected by Transient Behavior of Rocks

A constitutive law for rock behaviors including the brittle, transient and steady-state behaviors is derived to recognize the temporal seismicity patterns on surface displacement or prior and subsequent to mainshocks, and formulated as the relaxation modulus (i.e., the ratio of stress to strain) following a temporal power-law relaxation. This constitutive law is transformable into the empirical power-law creep equation, and the exponent of the constitutive law is the valuables reflecting the fractal structures of rocks in response to the different deformation mechanisms. By the time-scale invariance in our law, the temporal seismicity pattern is recognized on the surface displacement owing to major large earthquake with many small events, on the power-law increase in the cumulative Benioff strain-release as the preseismic activation, and on the power-law aftershock decay represented by the modified Omori's law. The exponents of the temporal power-laws on the cumulative Benioff strain-release and the aftershock decay are linked to that of the constitutive law of rocks, and change coupled with the fractal structure of the crustal rocks.
Explaining U.S.-China Policy in the 1990s: Who is in Control?

S. ` policy since the political crackdown at Tiananmen Square in in 1989 has resulted in some important adjustments in U.S. relations with China. The new policy departs from the earlier China policies that aimed to improve bilateral relations and to promote cooperation on issues of mutual concern. For the first time since normalization in 1978, the United States has made its China policy contingent upon Chinese domestic affairs and has reevaluated its China policy interests and goals. Although the change was less explicit in the Bush administration's China policy, Congressional positions were unambiguous. As a result, a pattern of decision making emerged from an interbranch policy process that developed when Congress showed an assertive posture in China policymaking, and the president was equally determined to defend his China policy. This process was the result of the U.S. response to the 4 June 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen and the interbranch politics that responded to public opinion, the changing international environment, and China policy differences. In this article, I will focus on the role of interbranch politics in the development of post-Tiananmen U.S.-China policy. My study does not aim to account for the total change of China policy or to recapitulate China policy since Tiananmen; instead, I will concentrate on the interbranch politics between the president and Congress in order to illustrate and explain China policymaking and its outcomes.
Understanding Restaurant Switching Behavior from a Cultural Perspective

Research focusing on the impact of culture on switching behaviors is sparse. To bridge that gap, this study examined the role of culture in influencing consumers’ switching intentions, vanity-seeking, and exploratory behaviors of novelty-seeking, curiosity-seeking, and variety-seeking. In this study, the authors summarized the dominant Chinese cultural values and discussed their implications for Taiwanese subjects’ switching behaviors in the context of casual or trendy restaurants. Data from two countries (United States and Taiwan) were used to gain insight into cultural differences between Taiwanese and U.S. consumers’ dining habits. The study results indicate that Taiwanese consumers (i.e., college-aged) are more likely to switch restaurant providers and to exhibit exploratory behaviors than their U.S. counterparts. The findings also provide support for the argument that college-aged Taiwanese consumers might seek to express their individuality in consumer choices while being otherwise bounded by collectivist, core cultural values.
Articles : From B2C to B2B: Selling Korean Pop Music in the Age of New Social Media

The once prevailing myth held among scholars of East Asian Studies that Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, was over has now lost much of its credibility, as Korean TV dramas continue to attract and maintain an impressive audience base in Japan, China, Taiwan, South East Asia, and the Middle East. Particularly interesting is the resurgence of the popularity of Korean pop music not only in Asia but also in Europe and North America as well. This paper discusses the impact of new social media on the sudden explosion of K-pop popularity. We argue that the Korean entertainment industry is now rapidly changing its conventional business model from the audience-based B2C strategy to a new social media-dependent B2B model. In this new model Google through its subsidiary company You Tube acts as a key provider of the new social media market to the K-pop music industry that is now targeting royalty income as its main source of revenue. We use both archival and in-depth interview data to arrive at our conclusion that major Korean K-pop talent agencies, including SM, JYP, and YG, are exploiting a large profit potential through new social media and the B2B model.
Sexual Practices and the Duration of Last Heterosexual Encounter: Findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Health and Relationships

This study investigated the association between sexual practices and duration of a sexual encounter. Using data from a population-based computer-assisted telephone survey of 8,656 Australians aged 16 to 64 years, four distinct patterns of sexual practices among respondents were found: “basic sexual encounter” (involving mainly kissing, cuddling, stroking one's partner and being stroked, and vaginal intercourse), “basic sexual encounter plus oral sex,” “all assessed sexual practices” (all sexual behaviors included in the survey), and “mainly vaginal intercourse” (characterized by lower levels of kissing, cuddling, and stroking). For both men and women, respondents classified in the basic sexual encounter plus oral sex, and all assessed sexual practices clusters reported significantly longer durations than those in the basic sexual encounter group, whereas respondents in the mainly vaginal intercourse cluster reported shorter durations. These differences were found even after allowing for demographic differences in sexual duration—specifically, age and partner type of the most recent opposite-sex partner. These findings add to the understanding of what typically happens in a sexual encounter. Overall, longer sexual encounters appear to be associated with the inclusion of the least common sexual practices—namely, oral sex and self-stimulation.
Explaining autonomy variations across value-chain activities in foreign-owned subsidiaries

This article is one of the first to combine the asset bundling model and neo-configurational perspective to explain autonomy variations across different value-chain activities in foreign-owned subsidiaries. We develop tentative answers to three research questions based on survey data of subsidiaries located in Taiwan and Thailand. We use fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis technique to analyze the data. We found that competence bundles in primary and support activities are key for autonomy development across basic and advanced value-adding activities. Strong relationships with local business networks are more important for autonomy development than links to universities or governmental institutions. The global city location plays a lesser role than expected and the geographic distance is a hindrance to autonomy development in basic as well as advanced value-chain activities.
Empirical Comparison of Common Dynamic Features in Stock Returns between Taiwan and Thailand Stock Markets

The purpose of this study is to investigate the empirical comparison of common dynamic differences and similarities between stock returns. We introduce a volatility-based method for clustering analysis of financial time series. Using the threshold generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (TGARCH) model, we calculate the distances of the stock return volatilities parameters between stocks from the certain measures. The proposed method uses the volatility behavior of the time series and takes into account the problem of different lengths in time. In this study, we examine the similarities between stocks in two international stock markets, Taiwan and Thailand, using daily stock prices with sample sizes from 21 April 2005 to 6 May 2010. We employ the clustering to investigate further the similarities and dissimilarities between the constituent stocks used to compute the FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 and SET 50 indices.
Financial Market Manipulation and Insider Trading: An International Study of Enforcement Approaches

This empirical study applies the authors’ model of enforcement intensity to quantify the severity of sanctions imposed on defendants for market manipulation and insider trading in Australia, Canada (Ontario), Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, providing comparative measures of the relative levels of enforcement intensity in each jurisdiction. The enforcement sanctions studied are custodial sentences, monetary sanctions (both punitive and corrective/restorative) and banning orders. Under the model, the level of enforcement intensity is influenced by both the level of enforcement activity and the severity of the sanctions imposed. The authors find significant differences between the severity of sanctions and levels of enforcement intensity relating to insider trading and market manipulation between the five jurisdictions, which may indicate differences in regulatory enforcement priorities. For example, sanctions for insider trading were more severe than for market manipulation in each of the jurisdictions apart from Singapore. In addition, the stronger enforcement focus in Hong Kong and Singapore is on market manipulation, while in Australia, Ontario and the UK it is on insider trading. The authors’ findings have implications in terms of the ability of the various regulators to create a credible deterrent against insider trading and market manipulation.
Article in press-uncorrected proof Performance analysis of the ARCHITECT anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis

Background: Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibody is emerging as an important diagnostic marker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We evaluated the analytical and diagnostic performance of the ARCHITECT anti-CCP (Abbott Diagnostics), a new fully automated chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. Methods: Serum samples from 69 patients with RA and 86 non-RA patients were used to evaluate the performance of the ARCHITECT anti-CCP assay, and the results were compared with those of EliA CCP (Phadia). The optimal cut-off value was calculated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Within-run and total imprecision (%CV) of the ARCHITECT anti-CCP were -6% and good linearity was observed over the claimed range. The areas under the ROC curves for the ARCHITECT anti-CCP and EliA CCP were 0.90 and 0.89, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity were 76.8% and 95.3% for the ARCHITECT anti-CCP and 78.3% and 95.3% for EliA CCP using the manufacturer’s cut-off thresholds. Both assays showed sensitivity of 84.1% and specificity of 94.2% using the optimal cut-off values. Conclusions: The analytical performance of the ARCHITECT anti-CCP was satisfactory and diagnostic performance was comparable to that of EliA CCP. The use of optimal cutoff thresholds can yield higher sensitivity with minimal loss of specificity. Clin Chem Lab Med 2010;48:225–30.
Human Papilloma Virus

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a small DNA virus composed of an icosahedral viral particle. It has a genome of 8000 base pairs approximately surrounded by a protein capsid [1]. In sexually transmitted infections and veneral diseases including vaginal intercourse, oral sex and anal sex, HPV has become more common in adults and accounts for 11% of cancer incidence in women worldwide [2]. It has become more common in sexually transmitted diseases. There are many types of HPV that are specific for specific diseases, but HPV type-16 is associated with HNSCC [2]. HPV has genomic DNA and almost 15-20% of HNSCC has the genomic DNA which is present in HPV. The distribution of HPV positive oropharyngeal cancer is highest in the tonsils, not frequently in the hypopharynx and very rare in the oral cavity. In tonsils the HPV DNA is found in 45%-67% of the cases, in hypopharynx the HPV DNA is found in 13%-25% of the cases and in the oral cavity and larynx the rate is 12%-18% and 3%-7% respectively. This shows the variation of HPV infection with the site of the tumor [3]. Detection of HPV in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma depends on the methodology used and type of tissue examined. Yield of HPV DNA extracted from oral samples is usually low and hence, it is very important to adopt sensitive and accurate techniques. In many studies HPV is thought to cause infection in stem cells within the basal layer of mucosa [4]. HPV replicates in the basal cells of the stratified epithelium [5]. If we compare tobacco users and never-tobacco users, it is concluded from a study that increased risk of diseases are found in tobacco users with advanced HPV+OSCC than never-tobacco users [6].
A NEW TREEFROG OF THE GENUS RHACOPHORUS (ANURA: RHACOPHORIDAE) FROM HAINAN ISLAND, CHINA

Faunal studies of Hainan, China, have recently been conducted to better understand the biodiversity of pristine montane rainforest on the island. A new green treefrog species, Rhacophorus yinggelingensis, is described. This new medium-sized species possesses the combination of characteristics: (1) snout rounded, without protruding process; (2) green dorsum with few fine white spots, dorsolateral folds absent; (3) skin on dorsum smooth, flanks and venter granulate; (4) metatarsal skinfolds faint; (5) fingers and toes webbed; (6) front of thigh yellow and red-tinged, rear of thigh and inner side of tibia red; (7) white- tipped tuberculous dermal ridges on cloaca present, not well developped; (8) iris silvery, partly light golden in upper half. Among the green Rhacophorus frogs from China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Laos, R. yinggelingensis can be distinguished from R. omeimontis, R. pingbianensis, R. gongshanensis, R. duboisi, R. dugritei, R. puerensis and R. zhaojuensis by lack of black or brown spots or patches on dorsum. The new species seems closely related to R. arvalis, R. aurantiventris, R. chenfui, R. dorsoviridis, R. hungfuensis, R. moltrechti, R. nigropunctatus, R. prasinatus, R. taipeianus, and R. yaoshanensis on the basis of adult morphology. This species is currently known only from high-altitude (at or above 1,300 m) primary rainforest in the Yinggeling mountain range of Hainan Island.
The taxonomic status of the three subspecies of Cuculus saturatus

The breeding ranges of the three forms of Cuculus saturatus are allopatric. C. (s.) horsfieldi breeds across northern Eurasia from north-east Europe to Japan and north-east China. C. (s.) saturatus breeds across the Himalayas, southern China, Taiwan and the extreme northern part of south-east Asia. C. (s.) lepidus is resident in Malaya, and the Greater and Lesser Sunda Islands. C. (s.) horsfieldi and C. (s.) saturatus winter from southern India east and south to New Guinea and Australia. Recent field work and museum study suggests that the taxonomic status of these forms should be revisited.