Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Achievement Gap, Revisited: An Empirical Assessment of What We Can Learn from East Asian Education.

International mathematics assessments have established students in East Asia as among the best in the world and their U.S. counterparts as mediocre. What is not clear is why this “achievement gap” exists. The last major study to address this question, Stevenson and Stigler’s (1992) The Learning Gap, was published prior to empirical and methodological advances in international comparative research on education. Prevailing wisdom points to unverified differences in cultural beliefs, which often leads to defeatist conclusions. This dissertation offers a fresh perspective by applying sociological theory and methods to the issue. Specifically, I rely on underutilized data from the 2003 and 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) of fourth graders to compare educational systems across three major factors that influence math achievement: curriculum, teachers and parents. My main empirical findings are that there is greater uniformity of math instruction across classrooms in the participating East Asian nations of Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan than in the U.S. and that, among all participating educational systems, average achievement tends to be higher in those with greater uniformity of instruction. The implication is that the institutional arrangements that allow for less uniformity of instruction across classrooms in the U.S. might be partially responsible for the gap. Cross-regional differences in teacher effectiveness might also account for part of the gap, as three-level, hierarchical linear models of achievement in each nation indicate that U.S. math teachers are less effective than their East Asian counterparts—even after the quantity of instruction provided is taken into account. The main theoretical contribution is an alternative explanation for the apparent cross-regional Professor Mary C. Brinton, Advisor Katherine J.D. Czehut iv disparity in the proportion of involved parents, which highlights how schools can make a difference in whether or not parents become involved. Such an approach promises a way out of the dead-end reached by previous theorists. However, this dissertation also draws attention to the limitations of the existing data. At present, there is not enough information available to substantiate the policy recommendations made in previous studies. As such, a central aim of this dissertation is to put research onto sounder methodological footing.
Educational contributions to students’ belongingness to the society, neighbourhood, school and family

Abstract A way that education is desirable is its integrative function for society and its sectors, according to structural-functionalist theory. This function consists in the promotion of the student’s belongingness to society and its sectors. In consolidating empirical support for the function, this present study analyses survey data on 417 students in Hong Kong, China. Results show that the student’s academic achievement had significant positive effects on belongingness to the society, neighbourhood and school. In addition, the student’s educational level displayed a significant positive effect on belongingness to society. In endorsing the integrative function of education, the results imply the merit of promoting education to enhance the student’s belongingness.
Container throughput estimation leveraging ship GPS traces and open data

Traditionally, the port container throughput, a crucial measurement of regional economic development, was manually collected by port authorities. This requires a large amount of human effort and often delays publication of this important figure. In this paper, by leveraging ubiquitous positioning techniques and open data, we propose a two-phase approach to estimation of port container throughput in real-time. First, we obtain the number of container ships arriving at berth by analyzing the ships' GPS traces. Then we estimate the throughput of each ship, in terms of number of containers transshipped, by considering the ship's berthing time, capacity, length, breadth, and crane operation performance, as extracted from different data sources. Evaluation results using real-world datasets from Hong Kong and Singapore show that the proposed approach not only estimates the container throughput quite accurately, but also outperforms the baseline method significantly.
Computational Neural Network for Global Stock Indexes Prediction

In this paper, computational data mining methodology was used to predict four major stock market indexes. Two learning algorithms including Linear Regression and Neural Network Standard Back Propagation (SBP) were tested and compared. The models were trained from two years of historical data from January 2006 to December 2007 in order to predict the major stock prices indexes in the United States, Europe, China and Hong Kong. The performance of these prediction models was evaluated using two widely used statistical metrics. The comparison showed that using Neural Network Standard Back Propagation algorithm resulted in better prediction accuracy then using linear regression algorithm. In addition, traditional knowledge shows that a longer training period with more training data could help to build a more accurate prediction model. However, as the stock market in China has been highly fluctuating in the past two years, this paper shows that data collected from a closer and shorter period could help to reduce the prediction error for such highly speculated fast changing environment. Index Terms Neural network, Computational Data Mining, Stock Market Forecast
Supply Chain Management : An International Journal Emerald Article : Knowledge creation in a supply chain

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze how organizational conditions, technology adoption, supplier relationship management and customer relationship management affect knowledge creation through socialization-externalization combination, internalization (SECI) modes, and various ba, as proposed by Nonaka and Konno, in a supply chain. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative inquiry with thematic analysis, which focuses on a thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel manufacturer and an integrated circuits (IC) packaging and testing manufacturer, is presented in order to identify how these key factors affect knowledge creation in a supply chain environment through the SECI modes and ba. Findings – The results show that these critical factors facilitate different types of knowledge conversion process in order to achieve successful knowledge creation in a supply chain. Knowledge of the significant factors that were found in this study may be applicable to countries or areas such as Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore or other developing countries, whose dominant businesses are similar to the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)/ original design manufacturers (ODMs) in Taiwan. Research limitations/implications – This paper considers the case study only as one empirical illustration of many other possible implementation processes. The study does not assume that these companies are a paradigm or that the specific situation is applicable to all other business enterprises. Future researchers interested in this field are therefore encouraged to triangulate its findings by examining variables generated from this study. Originality/value – This study employs a quantitative approach to investigate critical knowledge creation factors for supply chain performance. Through empirical study, a better understanding of the dynamics of knowledge creation in a supply chain can be gained.
Equality of interest rates revisited: the multi‐country evidence

One influential aspect of international integration of financial markets is the possibility of reducing divergences between domestic interest rates and foreign interest rates or increasing the degree to which yields in different financial markets move together over time. In this study, we investigate the convergence of the real interest rates using the Kalman filter. Applying the modified Hall et al. (1997) approach, we model the risk premium and convergence of real interest rates using the time‐varying parameter estimation techniques. We present evidence of risk premium and convergence for two blocks of countries—The Asian‐Pacific countries including the US, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea and the US‐European group including France, the UK, Germany and the US.
Institutional effects on project arrangement: high‐speed rail projects in China and Taiwan

Previous studies recognize institutional impacts on the arrangement of large infrastructure projects but they have not analysed the process by which a host country’s institutions shape infrastructure projects. Institutional theory was applied as an analytical lens to identify different effects of regulatory, normative and cultural institutions on project arrangements. A cross‐case comparative study of high‐speed rail projects in China and Taiwan was conducted to investigate the processes through which political cultures and industrial structures determined the decisions for project arrangements, including delivery method, financing, participants’ roles, the degree of private and foreign participation, and organization. Longitudinal archival methods combined with exploratory case studies were employed to examine project decisions by analysing government regulations, official publications, news articles, project documents and 20 interviews. A conceptual model was presented to integrate the findings. The political culture in each host country defines the political goals and legitimate approaches of large infrastructure projects, while industrial structure limits feasible alternatives for project arrangements. Collectively, they shape project arrangements and largely dictate the roles played by the government, private enterprises and foreign actors.
The Role of Home and Host Country Characteristics in FDI: Firm-Level Evidence from Japan, Korea and Taiwan

Abstract There is a large and growing empirical literature that investigates the determinants of outward foreign direct investment (FDI). This literature examines primarily the effect of host country characteristics on FDI even though home country characteristics also influence the decision of firms to invest abroad. In this paper, we examine the role of both host and home country characteristics in FDI. To do so, we constructed a firm-level database of outward FDI from Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Our empirical analysis yields two main findings. First, host countries with better environment for FDI, in terms of larger market size, smaller fixed entry costs and lower wages, attract more foreign investors. Second, firms from home countries with higher wages are more likely to invest abroad. An interesting and significant policy implication of our empirical evidence is that policy-makers seeking to promote FDI inflows should prioritize countries with higher wages.
The Future of Chinese Capitalism: Choices and Chances

Much has been said about the re-emergence of China to its historical position of eminence in the world economy, yet little is understood about the kind of economic system China is evolving. What are the rules of the game of business in today's China, and how are they likely to change over the next decades? The answers to these questions are crucial to business persons formulating strategy toward China, but also for policy-makers concerned with retaining the competitiveness of their nations in the face of Chinese competition and for researchers seeking to gain deeper insights into the workings of economic systems and institutional change. Written by two leading experts in the field, this book sheds much-needed light on these questions. Building on recent conceptual and empirical advances, and rich in concrete examples, it offers a comprehensive and systematic exploration of present-day Chinese capitalism, its component parts, and their interdependencies. It suggests that Chinese capitalism, as practiced today, in many respects represents a development from traditional business practices, whose revival has been greatly aided by the influx of investments and managerial talent from the Regional Ethnic Chinese. On the basis of present trends in the Chinese economy as well as through comparison with five major types of capitalism - those of France, Germany, Japan, Korea, and the United States - the book derives a prediction of the probable development paths of Chinese capitalism and its likely competitive strengths and weaknesses.
Entrepreneurial State: The Role of Government in the Economic Development of the Asian Newly Industrialising Economies

The 1980s are often regarded as a triumphant period for the free market economists. In many socialist countries 1989 saw the end of communism as a legitimate ideology (Boettke, 1991). Even Mainland China, though maintaining its socialist intonation, has in reality made drastic moves towards a market economy. The increasing popularity of Western liberal economic ideologies in these countries cannot be denied. 1 The 1980s also witnessed massive deregulation, liberalisation and privatisation in the OECD countries and in developing countries, largely promoted by the World Bank and the IMF (Chia, 1993: 7). Observing these changes, James Fallows, an economic writer on the Wall Street Journal , claimed, ‘With a few exceptions , . it seems that the ideas of Adam Smith, of Alfred Marshall, of Milton Friedman, have triumphed. We are all capitalists now’ (Fallows, 1994: 192). However, the experiences of the Asian Newly Industrialising Economies (NIEs), namely Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong, have embarrassed the free market economists. With the active intervention of their governments in economic affairs, they have created what the World Bank (1993) has called the East Asian ‘miracle’. In response, the neo-classical free market economists contend that government intervention policies in the Asian NIEs were in general market-conforming or market-sustaining (World Bank, 1993; Chia, 1993). Furthermore, they insist that these NIEs were able to grow
Cross-Correlations between Chinese Renminbi Onshore- and Offshore-Markets: A MF-DCCA Approach

Using multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis (MF-DCCA), this paper studies cross-correlations between Chinese Renminbi (RMB) onshore and offshore markets. The dataset consists of 2,137 closing daily prices of exchange rates from 1 January 2005 to 9 July 2013, which covers seven major RMB offshore markets, including Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and United Kingdom. Our empirical results suggest that the cross-correlation between Chinese Yuan and British Pound is the strongest in the short term, while the cross-correlation between Chinese Yuan and Malaysian Ringgit is the strongest in the long term. In addition to MF-DCCA approach, cross-correlation statistics test and cross-correlation coefficient are carried out to confirm the existence of cross-correlations. Further, we use rolling window method to investigate the impact of RMB exchange rate reforms on cross-correlations between onshore and offshore markets. We find that enhancement of RMB exchange rate flexibility can effectively reduce the multifractality of cross-correlations, indicating that the RMB exchange rate regime reforms have significantly improved the efficiency of the currency markets.
Female Sexual Subjectivity and Verbal Consent to Receiving Oral Sex

Women are less likely than men are to report receiving oral sex from their partners. Elements of sexual subjectivity may have implications for women's communication of consent to specific sexual acts. Sexually active women (n = 237) between 18 and 71 years of age (M = 28.85 years) completed an online survey measuring sociodemographic variables, entitlement to pleasure from partner, self-efficacy in achieving sexual pleasure, and consent communication at last receptive oral sex event. Participants were predominantly White (84.8%, n = 201) and in exclusive or monogamous sexual relationships (54.9%, n = 130). The authors used a 4-step test of mediation to determine whether self-efficacy in achieving sexual pleasure mediated the relation between entitlement to pleasure from partner and verbal consent communication. Self-efficacy emerged as a significant predictor of verbal consent communication (p <.01) in the fourth step, while entitlement to pleasure dropped out of the model (p >.05), indicating full mediation. Therefore, entitlement to pleasure predicted verbal consent to oral sex as a function of self-efficacy in achieving sexual pleasure. Sex-positive educational interventions may improve disparities between men and women in receiving oral sex from their partners. Results of this study offer insight into the ways in which culture-level forces affect interpersonal and intraindividual sexual health behaviors.
Hostages to Democracy

This article explores the aporias of democracy to show how both procedural and substantive democracy, or at least certain constructions of “need,” operate to render the lives of sections of the citizenry precarious. More specifically, in the context of an ongoing civil war in central India between Maoist guerillas and the Indian state, I argue that, far from being a palliative for or alternative to insurgency, Indian democracy as practiced today—both in its procedural electoral aspects and its substantive welfare aspects—may serve as an active tool of counterinsurgency and a means of evading accountability.
Anticitrullinated protein/peptide antibody multiplexing defines an extended group of ACPA-positive rheumatoid arthritis patients with distinct genetic and environmental determinants

Introduction The second generation anticycliccitrullinated peptide (anti-CCP2) assay detects the majority but not all anticitrullinated protein/peptide antibodies (ACPA). Anti-CCP2-positive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with HLA-DRB1* shared epitope (SE) alleles and smoking. Using a multiplex assay to detect multiple specific ACPA, we have investigated the fine specificity of individual ACPA responses and the biological impact of additional ACPA reactivity among anti-CCP2-negative patients. Methods We investigated 2825 patients with RA and 551 healthy controls with full data on anti-CCP2, HLA-DRB1* alleles and smoking history concerning reactivity against 16 citrullinated peptides and arginine control peptides with a multiplex array. Results The prevalence of the 16 ACPA specificities ranged from 9% to 58%. When reactivity to arginine peptides was subtracted, the mean diagnostic sensitivity increased by 3.2% with maintained 98% specificity. Of the anti-CCP2-negative patients, 16% were found to be ACPA positive. All ACPA specificities associated with SE, and all but one with smoking. Correction for arginine reactivity also conveyed a stronger association with SE for 13/16 peptides. Importantly, when all ACPA specificities were analysed together, SE and smoking associated with RA in synergy among ACPA positive, but not among ACPA-negative subjects also in the anti-CCP2-negative subset. Conclusions Multiplexing detects an enlarged group of ACPA-positive but anti-CCP2-negative patients with genetic and environmental attributes previously assigned to anti-CCP2-positive patients. The individual correction for arginine peptide reactivity confers both higher diagnostic sensitivity and stronger association to SE than gross ACPA measurement.
Mapping Geo-Hazard by Satellite Radar Interferometry

This paper describes the application examples of satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) in exploring potential geo-hazards and mapping geo-related disasters, including earthquakes, landslides, and land subsidence, triggered by natural forces and/or human activities. Satellite images were acquired from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA's) ALOS-PALSAR satellite, the Euroeapn Space Agency's (ESA's) Envisat-ASAR satellite, and the German Aerospace Center's (DLR's) TerraSAR-X satellite, covering frequency bands of L, C, and X, respectively. The study areas include Taiwan and Vietnam because both regions are prone to greater risks of geo-hazards and natural disasters. A series of C-band and L-band both ascending and descending mode SAR imagery data were used to map the deformation and subsidence of the environmentally sensitive areas. With the historical information and fast updated data sets, long-term and short-term subsidence patterns can be effectively and efficiently obtained. Excellent agreements were obtained as compared with Global Positioning System (GPS) and leveling measurements. Stacking of dual-beam mode as ascending and descending mode could extract the vertical displacement more easily and reduce the influence from the horizontal displacement. In summary, the advance of satellite radar interferometry provides a vital mapping to detect and identify geo-hazard and potential geo-disaster in general.
Gender Development in Children with Gay, Lesbian, and Heterosexual Parents: Associations with Family Type and Child Gender.

OBJECTIVE To examine whether the gender development of 120 Italian children (40 born to gay fathers [GFs] through surrogacy, 40 born to lesbian mothers [LMs] through sperm donation, and 40 born to heterosexual parents [HPs] through sexual intercourse) aged 3 to 9 years differed as a function of family type and/or child gender. METHODS Children took part in observed free-play sessions while primary caregivers and nonparent caregivers were administered standardized interviews. Hierarchical linear modeling, analysis of covariance, simple effects analysis, and bootstrapping were conducted. RESULTS Boys and girls of GFs and HPs were reported to show less gender flexibility in their activities and characteristics than boys and girls of LMs. They also received higher scores of gender conforming dress-up play and spent more time playing with gender-conforming toys. In all family types, boys and girls were reported to show low levels of gender-nonconforming dress-up play and observed to spend less time playing with gender-nonconforming toys. Overall, comparisons within genders indicated that boys and girls of GFs and HPs were considered more masculine and feminine, respectively, in their behavior and play, relative to boys and girls in LM families. Age was not a significant covariate in any analysis. CONCLUSION Our findings do not support the idea that children of gay or lesbian parents show greater gender nonconformity relative to children of HPs. The findings are informative to those concerned with the effects of the absence of a male or female live-in parent on child gender development.