Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Institutional Variance in Mortality after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Acute Myocardial Infarction in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan

Background: Although there have been studies that compared outcomes of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) across countries, little focus has been placed on institutional variance of outcomes. The aim of the present study was to compare institutional variance in mortality following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for AMI and factors explaining this variance across different health systems. Methods: Data on inpatients who underwent PCI for AMI in 2016 were obtained from the National Health Insurance Data Sharing Service in Korea, the Diagnosis Procedure Combination (DPC) Study Group Database in Japan, and the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) in Taiwan. Multilevel analyses with inpatient mortality as the outcome and the hierarchical structure of patients nested within hospitals were conducted, adjusting for common patient-level and hospital-level variables. We compared the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the proportion of variance explained by hospital-level characteristics across the three health systems. Results: There were 17 351 patients from 160 Korean hospitals, 29 804 patients from 660 Japanese hospitals, and 10 863 patients from 104 Taiwanese hospitals included in the analysis. Inpatient mortality rates were 6.3%, 7.3%, and 6.0% in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, respectively. After adjusting for patient and hospital characteristics, Taiwan had the lowest variation in mortality (ICC, 1.8%), followed by Korea (2.2%) and then Japan (4.5%). The measured hospital characteristics explained 38%, 19%, and 9% of the institutional variance in Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, respectively. Conclusion: Korea, Japan, and Taiwan had similarly uniform outcomes across hospitals for patients undergoing PCI for AMI. However, Japan had a relatively large institutional variance in mortality and a lower proportion of variation explainable by hospital characteristics, compared with Korea and Taiwan.
Entropy of Financial Time Series Due to the Shock of War

The concept of entropy is not uniquely relevant to the statistical mechanics but, among others, it can play pivotal role in the analysis of a time series, particularly the stock market data. In this area, sudden events are especially interesting as they describe abrupt data changes with potentially long-lasting effects. Here, we investigate the impact of such events on the entropy of financial time series. As a case study, we assume data of the Polish stock market, in the context of its main cumulative index, and discuss it for the finite time periods before and after outbreak of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. This analysis allows us to validate the entropy-based methodology in assessing changes in the market volatility, as driven by the extreme external factors. We show that some qualitative features of such market variations can be well captured in terms of the entropy. In particular, the discussed measure appears to highlight differences between data of the two considered timeframes in agreement with the character of their empirical distributions, which is not always the case in terms of the conventional standard deviation. Moreover, the entropy of cumulative index averages, qualitatively, the entropies of composing assets, suggesting capability for describing interdependencies between them. The entropy is also found to exhibit signatures of the upcoming extreme events. To this end, the role of recent war in shaping the current economic situation is briefly discussed.
Online Advertising in Ukraine and Russia During the 2022 Russian Invasion

Online ads are a major source of information on the web. The mass reach of online advertising is often leveraged for information dissemination, at times with an objective to influence public opinion (e.g., election misinformation). We hypothesized that online advertising, due to its reach and potential, might have been used to spread information around the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thus, to understand the online ad ecosystem during this conflict, we conducted a five-month long large-scale measurement study of online advertising in Ukraine, Russia, and the US. We studied advertising trends of ad platforms that delivered ads in Ukraine, Russia, and the US and conducted an in-depth qualitative analysis of the conflict-related ad content. We found that prominent US-based advertisers continued to support Russian websites, and a portion of online ads were used to spread conflict-related information, including protesting the invasion, and spreading awareness, which might have otherwise potentially been censored in Russia.
Bortezomib-based therapy for transplant-ineligible East Asian patients with newly diagnosed mantle-cell lymphoma

Introduction This subgroup analysis of the LYM-3002 Phase III study (NCT00722137) investigated whether substituting bortezomib for vincristine in frontline R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) therapy could improve outcomes in East Asian patients with newly diagnosed mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL). Materials and methods A total of 121 East Asian patients from China, Taiwan, Japan, and the Republic of Korea with stage II–IV MCL who were ineligible or not considered for stem-cell transplantation were enrolled to six to eight 21-day cycles of R-CHOP or VR-CAP (R-CHOP with bortezomib replacing vincristine). Results The primary end point was progression-free survival. After a median follow-up of 42.4 months, median progression-free survival in East Asian patients was 13.9 (R-CHOP) versus 28.6 (VR-CAP) months (HR 0.7, P=0.157; 43% improvement with VR-CAP). Secondary end points (R-CHOP vs VR-CAP), including complete response rate (47% vs 63%), duration of complete response (median 16.6 vs 46.7 months), and treatment-free interval (median 21 vs 46.5 months), were improved with VR-CAP. VR-CAP was associated with increased but manageable toxicity. The most frequent adverse events were hematologic toxicities. Conclusion VR-CAP was effective in East Asian patients with newly diagnosed MCL, and could be considered for patients in whom stem-cell transplantation is not an option.
Greening the Supply Chain: Drivers and Outcomes in the Korean Manufacturing Industry

This research investigates the determinants of green supply chain management (GSCM) adoption and its impact on organizational performance, while considering the potential moderating factors influencing GSCM adoption. Despite the growing prevalence of GSCM practices among Korean firms, the factors driving their adoption have not received sufficient attention. To bridge this gap, the study uses structural equation modeling, integrating stakeholder theory and resource-based theory to explore how green entrepreneurial orientation (GEO), institutional pressure, and relational capital affect GSCM adoption. Additionally, the study explores the effects of GSCM implementation on competitiveness and economic performance. Drawing data from a sample of 213 Korean manufacturing firms, the PLS-SEM analysis highlights the significant influence of GEO, institutional pressure, and relational capital on GSCM adoption. Additionally, the study emphasizes the positive impact of GSCM implementation on firm competitiveness. These findings provide valuable insights for enhancing sustainability in supply chain management and are applicable to similar context countries such as Taiwan, China, Japan, and the Netherlands.
Exponential increase of publications related to soil water repellency

Soil water repellency is much more wide-spread than formerly thought. During the last decades, it has been a topic of study for soil scientists and hydrologists in at least 21 States of the USA, in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Congo, Nepal, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Mali, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Slovakia, Russia, France, Italy, and Greece. Although, water repellent soils already have been indicated at the end of the nineteenth century, they have been discovered and studied in most countries in the last decades. Water repellency is most common in sandy soils with grass cover and in nature reserves, but has also been observed in loam, heavy clay, peat, and volcanic ash soils. From 1940 to 1970 research was focussed on identifying vegetation types responsible for inducing water repellency and on developing techniques to quantify the degree of water repellency. Of special interest has been the effects of wildfire on the development of soil water repellency and its consequences for soil erosion. Due to increasing concern over the threat to surface and groundwater posed by the use of agrichemicals and organic fertilisers, studies on water repellent soils have also been focused on its typical flow behavior with runoff and the existence of preferential flow paths. Since the end of the 1950s, wetting agents and clay amendments have been studied to ameliorate water repellent soils. Since 1883, more than 1200 articles related to soil water repellency have been published in journals, reports, and theses. An exponential increase in number of publications started in 1960, resulting in an average of 200 publications per 5 years.
Seismic Displacement Analysis of GPS Permanent Stations in Korean and Asian Area Due to the Tohoku-Oki Mega-Thrust Earthquake*

ABSTRACT In this study, we analyzed the effects of seismic displacements due to the mega thrust earthquake occurred near Tohoku-Oki area on Mar. 11, 2011 with Mw 9.0 magnitude in the context of evaluation of position change by the earthquake on the Korean and Asian GPS permanent stations. For this, two weeks GPS data observed around the event of Tohoku-Oki earthquake (Mar. 4 ~ Mar. 18, 2011) were obtained from 22 GPS permanent stations in the vicinity of epicenter (Korea, Japan, Russia, China and Taiwan) and 284 IGS global stations. All available GPS data were processed and adjusted by GAMIT/GLOBK software to estimate the co-seismic horizontal displacements at each station. As the results of GPS analysis, the co-seismic displacements due to Tohoku-Oki earthquake were clearly revealed in the GPS stations of Asian region, Japan and its neighboring countries, and even to affect the horizontal position of GPS station (WUHN in China) which are located about 2,702km away from the epicenter. In conclusion, it was found that the Tohoku-Oki earthquake had resulted in the horizontal displacements ranging from 14.9 mm to 58.3 mm in Korea. So, these displacements can cause the position error of GPS geodetic survey up to 20 mm without updating the coordinates of Korean geodetic network. KEYWORDS:Tohoku-Oki Earthquake, GPS Permanent Station, Seismic Displacement, GAMIT/GLOBK
Butterflies associated with major forest types in Arunachal Pradesh (eastern Himalaya), India: implications for ecotourism and conservation planning

A three year study (from December 2011 to December 2014 and in June 2015) on butterflies covering four major forest sub-types as classified by H.G. Champion & S.K. Seth in 1968 in ‘Forest Types of India’, which occupy 60% of the forest area lying below 2,500m across Arunachal Pradesh State in the eastern Himalaya of India, revealed 415 taxa belonging to six families (Hesperiidae: 74 species of 42 genera; Papilionidae: 37 species of 10 genera; Pieridae: 36 species of 15 genera; Lycaenidae: 85 species of 49 genera; Riodinidae: 7 species of 3 genera & Nymphalidae: 176 species of 71 genera, respectively). These included many endemic and rare species typical of these forest sub-types, i.e., (i) 2B/1S1 Sub-Himalayan Light Alluvial Semi-Evergreen Forest (32 species), (ii) 2B/ C1(a) Assam Alluvial Plains Semi-Evergreen Forests (5 species) , (iii) 2B/2S2 Eastern Alluvial Secondary Semi-Evergreen Forests- (15 species) and (iv) 3/1S2 (b) Terminalia-Duabanga (3 species), respectively. The relative number of species and individuals sampled were the highest at altitudes below 500m, and gradually declined as the altitude increased to 2,000m, and above 2,500m species richness declined sharply. The number of species and their relative abundance were the highest during July–August (Monsoon-first peak) and then again in November-December (Autumn-second peak), while the numbers were lowest during winter. These findings suggest that these four forest types are important both for the purpose of ecotourism as well as conservation of endemic and rare taxa found in the eastern Himalaya and northeastern India at altitudes below 2,000m. A complete list of all the taxa sampled is given along with relative abundance status during sampling, Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 status, and distribution in different forest types in the state. Ten potential butterfly ecotourism zones are suggested for the state. Planning land-use for biodiversity conservation based on butterfly-forest type associations, by taking forest sub-types as units of conservation, is suggested as an option for the eastern Himalaya.
Bioinformatics Original Paper Inferring Causal Relationships among Intermediate Phenotypes and Biomarkers: a Case Study of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Motivation: Genetic association analysis is based on statistical correlations which do not assign any cause-to-effect arrows between the two correlated variables. Normally, such assignment of cause and effect label is not necessary in genetic analysis since genes are always the cause and phenotypes are always the effect. However, among intermediate phenotypes and biomarkers, assigning cause and effect becomes meaningful, and causal inference can be useful. Results: We show that causal inference is possible by an example in a study of rheumatoid arthritis. With the help of genotypic information, the shared epitope, the causal relationship between two biomarkers related to the disease, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) and rheumatoid factor (RF) has been established. We emphasize the fact that third variable must be a genotype to be able to resolve potential ambiguities in causal inference. Two non-trivial conclusions have been reached by the causal inference: (1) anti-CCP is a cause of RF and (2) it is unlikely that a third confounding factor contributes to both anti-CCP and RF.
Ionospheric disturbances triggered by the 11 March 2011 M9.0 Tohoku earthquake

[1] An earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred near the east coast of Honshu (Tohoku area), Japan, producing overwhelming Earth surface motions and inducing devastating tsunamis, which then traveled into the ionosphere and significantly disturbed the electron density within it (hereafter referred to as seismotraveling ionospheric disturbances (STIDs)). The total electron content (TEC) derived from nationwide GPS receiving networks in Japan and Taiwan is employed to monitor STIDs triggered by seismic and tsunami waves of the Tohoku earthquake. The STIDs first appear as a disk-shaped TEC increase about 7 min after the earthquake occurrence centered at about 200 km east of the epicenter, near the west edge of the Japan Trench. Fast propagating disturbances related to Rayleigh waves quickly travel away from the epicenter along the main island of Japan with a speed of 2.3–3.3 km/s, accompanied by sequences of concentric circular TEC wavefronts and followed by circular ripples (close to a tsunami speed of about 720–800 km/h) that travel away from the STID center. These are the most remarkable STIDs ever observed where signatures of Rayleigh waves, tsunami waves, etc., simultaneously appear in the ionosphere.
Efficient virus-induced gene silencing in plants using a modified geminivirus DNA1 component.

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is currently recognized as a powerful reverse genetics tool for application in functional genomics. DNA1, a satellite-like and single-stranded DNA molecule associated with begomoviruses (Family Geminiviridae), has been shown to replicate autonomously but requires the helper virus for its dissemination. We developed a VIGS vector based on the DNA1 component of tobacco curly shoot virus (TbCSV), a monopartite begomovirus, by inserting a multiple cloning site between the replication-associated protein open reading frame and the A-rich region for subsequent insertion of DNA fragments of genes targeted for silencing. When a host gene (sulphur, Su) or transgene (green fluorescent protein, GFP) was inserted into the modified DNA1 vector and co-agroinoculated with TbCSV, efficient silencing of the cognate gene was observed in Nicotiana benthamiana plants. More interestingly, we demonstrated that this modified DNA1 could effectively suppress GFP in transgenic N. benthamiana or endogenous Su in tobacco plants when co-agroinoculated with tomato yellow leaf curl China virus (TYLCCNV), another monopartite begomovirus that does not induce any viral symptoms. A gene-silencing system in Nicotiana spp. , Solanum lycopersicum and Petunia hybrida plants was then established using TYLCCNV and the modified DNA1 vector. The system can be used to silence genes involved in meristem and flower development. The modified DNA1 vector was used to silence the AtTOM homologous genes (NbTOM1 and NbTOM3) in N. benthamiana. Silencing of NbTOM1 or NbTOM3 can reduce tobamovirus multiplication to a lower level, and silencing of both genes simultaneously can completely inhibit tobamovirus multiplication. Previous studies have reported that DNA1 is associated with both monopartite and bipartite begomoviruses, as well as curtoviruses. This vector system can therefore be applied for the study, analysis and discovery of gene function in a variety of important crop plants.
Communicating beyond Information? Mobile Phones and Mobilization to Offline Protests in China

The past decade has seen an increase in the use of the mobile phone as a facilitator for political protests. Yet, to date, how the use of mobile phones affects participation in protests remains unclear. This study employs the distinction between communication and metacommunication to investigate the informational and relational dimensions of the mobile phone in protest mobilization in four cases in China. By drawing upon fifty-three in-depth interviews, the results reveal that, in addition to communicating mobilizing information, participants metacommunicate their mutual relationships via mobile phones in the mobilization process, and this shapes the practice of information exchange and the interpretation of information. As the pivotal driving force for protest participation, this metacommunication involves an engagement of reciprocal relationships, generates a sense of mutual engagement, and enhances a feeling of solidarity. The dynamic of the mobile phone as a facilitator in protest lies in its embedding of metacommunication beyond information dissemination.
An Analysis of China's "Great Cannon"

On March 16th, 2015, the Chinese censorship apparatus employed a new tool, the “Great Cannon”, to engineer a denialof-service attack on GreatFire.org, an organization dedicated to resisting China’s censorship. We present a technical analysis of the attack and what it reveals about the Great Cannon’s working, underscoring that in essence it consitutes a selective nation-state Man-in-the-Middle attack tool. Although sharing some code similarities and network locations with the Great Firewall, the Great Cannon is a distinct tool, designed to compromise foreign visitors to Chinese sites. We identify the Great Cannon’s operational behavior, localize it in the network topology, verify its distinctive side-channel, and attribute the system as likely operated by the Chinese government. We also discuss the substantial policy implications raised by its use, including the potential imposition on any user whose browser might visit (even inadvertently) a Chinese web site.
Perceiving Different Chinas: Paradigm Change in the “Personalized Journalism” of Elite U.S. Journalists, 1976–1989

This article investigates how elite U.S. correspondents recast their journalistic paradigm in response to the momentous collapse of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, which dealt a fatal blow to the validity of much of their previous writings. Elements of the constructed “virtuous socialist China” in the 1970s came to be discredited in the 1980s and were replaced by celebratory discourse on China’s adoption of market economy. The romantic imaginings about China’s “new socialist way” stood in sharp contrast to Western-cum-universal values of freedom, democracy, and individualism, as well as American lifestyles, capital, and know-how. The reporting hinged on how journalists employed the “enduring values” of America as paradigms to make sense of China’s conditions and U.S.–China relations. The “radical” journalistic paradigm of the 1970s was repudiated by the collapse of the Cultural Revolution, whereas the “liberal” paradigm of the 1980s was shattered by the Tiananmen crackdown.
European Direct Investment in China and Sino-French Joint Ventures

‘The achievements are great, the problems considerable, but the future is bright’ (Mao Tse Tung, in Han Suyin, 1975: 229). With the advantage of forty years’ hindsight, serious doubts can be expressed as to the reality of this bright future promised to China. The in-depth reforms undertaken by Deng Xiaoping (with the ‘open door’ policy applied since 1978), then by Jiang Zemin, may have taken China off the straight and narrow path of Maoist orthodoxy to put it on the difficult road of the ‘double system’ (a political system based on communist structures, with an economic system of the free market type), but there still remain many uncertainties regarding the country. Is the experimentation with the ‘one country, two systems’ policy in the process of embodying the slogan ‘a brighter future’, so dear to the hearts of communist leaders? In fact, nothing could be less certain. For the Western economic world’s traditional wariness with regard to China is more than ever prevalent. In the West, and particularly Europe, there has always been a deeply rooted tradition of scepticism regarding the vitality and the future of the Chinese economy. Thus, it was said in the French press in the 1930s that ‘if all the world’s rich nations were to work together to take China out of its mess, they would not succeed’ (in Guillain, 1965: 47). Every time China meets a major difficulty, someone is always ready to announce an imminent economic catastrophe. Very recently, to find proof of the theory of the ‘great leap backward’, one just had to read certain articles expressing the concern that, in the best case scenario, it was possible that the Yuan would be devalued: ‘By not devaluing its currency, the Yuan, China had created an image of a strong country when all its Asian neighbours were slumping. But now, everything is in danger of collapse. The pressures on the Yuan are building up continually’ (Rodier, in Figaro Economie, 28 July 1999: 29); and, in the worst case scenario, there would be economic crisis: ‘Today, the question is one of ascertaining whether China, which sailed through the Asian economic crisis with the composure of a large ocean liner, is the Queen Elizabeth or the Titanic’ (Yukon, in
The Death of the KPD: Communism and Anti-Communism in West Germany, 1945-1956

Why was the West German Communist Party banned in 1956, only 11 years after it had emerged from Nazi persecution? Although politically weak, the postwar party was in fact larger than its Weimar predecessor and initially dominated works councils at the Ruhr pits and Hamburg docks, as well as the steel giant, Krupp. Under the control of East Berlin, however, the KPD was sent off on a series of overambitious and flawed campaigns to promote national unification and prevent West German rearmament. At the same time, the party was steadily criminalized by the Anglo-American occupiers, and ostracized by a heavily anti-communist society. Patrick Major has used material available only since the end of the Cold War, from both Communist archives in the former GDR as well as western intelligence, to trace the final decline and fall of the once-powerful KPD.