Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sex Workers’ Perspectives on Condom Use for Oral Sex with Clients: A Qualitative Study

The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 46 female brothel-based sex workers to explore their perceived barriers and approaches in getting clients to use condoms for oral sex. Reasons given by sex workers for not using condoms for oral sex as compared to vaginal sex included self-perception of low vulnerability to AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, misconceptions on transmission of the HIV virus, lack of negotiation skills, lack of support from brothel keepers and peers, and unpleasant taste and smell of condoms. Some sex workers could get all their clients to use condoms for oral sex by using negotiation skills, including the positive approach, the fear approach, the emotional appeal approach, and the assertive approach. Findings from this study would help design more appropriate messages and improve negotiation skills of sex workers to increase consistent condom use for oral sex.
Fundamental factors and stock returns : evidence from Asian stock markets

This paper examines the relation between fundamental factors and stock returns of 9 Asian markets (Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand). Following Fama and French (1993, 2015), we form the market risk premium, size, B/M, profitability, investment, momentum, P/E, and dividend yields factors for each market. The empirical results suggest that the eight-factor model that includes all above fundamentals can better explain the variations of stock returns than the original Fama-French three-factor model. By replacing local fundamental factors with international factors, we find that the model with local factors outperforms the models with international factors. In addition, the evidence reveals that the eight-factor model can better explain stock returns when market is under stress. When we test the relation between the fundamental factors and industry portfolio stock returns, the results suggest that portfolio returns of different industries are associated with different sets of fundamental factors. JEL Classification: G12, G15, G01
Long Non-coding RNAs Genes Polymorphisms and Their Expression Levels in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are increasingly recognized to play important roles in multiple autoimmune diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the association of four lncRNAs (ANRIL, lnc-DC, MALAT1, ZFAS1) genes single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, as well as their expression levels. Seventeen SNPs of the four lncRNAs were genotyped in a cohort of 660 RA patients and 710 controls using improved multiple ligase detection reaction (iMLDR). The lncRNAs expressions in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 120 RA patients and 120 controls were detected by qRT-PCR. No significant differences were found for the allele and genotype frequencies distribution of ANRIL SNPs (rs1412830, rs944796, rs61271866, rs2518723, rs3217992), lnc-DC SNPs (rs7217280, rs10515177), MALAT1 SNPs (rs619586, rs4102217, rs591291, rs11227209, rs35138901), ZFAS1 SNPs (rs237742, rs73116127, rs6125607, rs6125608) between RA patients and normal controls (all P > 0.05). The genotype effects of dominant and recessive models were also evaluated, but no significant association was found. In addition, our results demonstrated that the rs944796 G allele, rs2518723 T allele, rs3217992 T allele frequencies were significantly associated with anti-CCP in RA patients (all P < 0.05). The haplotype CGTA frequency for ZFAS1 was significantly higher in RA patients (P = 0.036). Compared with normal controls, the expression levels of ANRIL, lnc-DC, MALAT1, ZFAS1 in PBMCs were significantly reduced in RA patients (all P < 0.001). Moreover, ZFAS1 expression was negatively associated with CRP in RA patients (P = 0.002). In summary, ANRIL, lnc-DC, MALAT1, and ZFAS1 genes SNPs were not associated with RA susceptibility, while altered ANRIL, lnc-DC, MALAT1, ZFAS1 levels in RA patients suggested that these lncRNAs might play a role in RA.
COVID-19 Patient Health Prediction using Artificial Intelligence Boosted Random Forest Algorithm

In the current times, there is high demand for artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to be integration with real-time collection, wireless infrastructure, as well as processing in terms of end-user devices. It is now remarkable to make use of AI for detection as well as prediction of pandemics that are extremely large in nature. Coronavirus pandemic of 2019 (COVID-19) began in Wuhan, China and caused the deaths of 175,694 deaths around the world, while the number of active patients stands at 254,4792 patients around the world. In Pakistan, from January 2020 March 2021, there have been 658,132 positive cases, 603,512 recovered cases of COVID-19 with 16,208 deaths, reported by world health organization. Nonetheless, the quick and exponential increase in COVID-19 patients has made it necessary that quick and efficient predictions be made in terms of the possible outcomes with respect to the patient for the sake of suitable treatment by making use of AI techniques. A fine-tuned random forest model has been proposed by this paper, which has been given a boost by AdaBoost algorithm. The COVID-19 patient’s health, geographical area, gender, and marital status are used for the prediction of severity in terms of cases as well as possible outcomes, either recovery or no recovery (i.e. death). The model is 90% accurate and has a 0.76 F1 Score on the set of data used. Analysis of data shows a positive correlation with respect to the gender of patient, and death. It also shows that most of the patients had ages between twenty years and seventy years.
Prisoners’ Perceived Violence and Hair Regulation in Hong Kong Prisons: Gender-Based Differences

Hair regulation is an essential policy for maintaining hygiene, security, and discipline in correctional institutions. However, the implementation of any hair-regulating policy should include a consideration of gender needs and differences. This study investigated Chinese prisoners’ perceived influence of hairstyles on their behavioral responses. Data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire survey from 500 male and 500 female prisoners in 11 correctional institutions of Hong Kong, China. Descriptive analyses and chi-square tests were used to explore the perceived violence of prisoners and gender differences. Mediation analysis was adopted to examine the prisoners’ perceived behavioral responses and mental and psychological well-being under different hairstyle situations, using self-esteem, procedural fairness, and negative emotional responses as mediators. The study found that male prisoners are inherently more tensive than the female group in terms of violent proclivities. In addition, perceived violent behavior is associated with hairstyle, and the influence path is gender related. Restrictive hair regulations that do not address unique social and cultural meanings and gender differences would decrease male prisoners’ self-esteem, while increasing all prisoners’ negative emotional responses and reducing their perceived procedural fairness. To maintain security inside institutions, we recommend short hair for male prisoners and long hair for female prisoners in Chinese prisons. Given that many prisons in Asian and African nations have an authoritarian style of governance similar to that of China, this study is of considerable international relevance.
‘English is our 2nd language, konglish is our mother tongue’: Recolonizing English Through Translingual Activism in a Social Movement

This paper probes alternative meanings and processes for decolonizing English that arise from the particular geopolitical histories and identities of Hong Kong and engagement with political and translingual activism. I illustrate the positioning and tension between English, ‘Kongish’ (a mix of English and localized linguistic resources in Hong Kong), and Chinese in 1,355 comments from four live-streamed videos of clashes between the police and protesters. Despite the default language of the news page being Chinese (standard written Chinese and written Cantonese), a vast majority of the comments are written in English and Kongish. I analyse the commenters’ metalinguistic discourse that represents their alignment and non-alignment stances towards the various linguistic practices in the comment threads. I draw on ‘translingual activism’ (Pennycook 2019) to understand the linguistic resourcefulness of the commenters who support the protests and the indexing of an us–them relationship between Hong Kong and mainland China. Rather than decolonizing English, I argue that the Hong Kong commenters recolonize English for new subversive purposes to maintain an ideological ‘separation’ between their Hong Kong and Chinese identities in times of political transformations.
ASEAN Member States Responses to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Abstract: The military aggression that occurred on February 24, 2022, triggered a global crisis that certainly impacted the Southeast Asian region in various fields such as economics, politics, and security. ASEAN as an international organization in the region has made a statement to seek peaceful dialogue and urge a ceasefire so that military aggression in Ukraine can find a peaceful way and reduce civilian casualties and losses. Purpose: To find out the response of ASEAN members to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. Design/Methodology/Approach: Data was collected through a literature study of previous works and official documentation from ASEAN and its member states. From this research, it can be seen how each ASEAN member country responds to Russia's military aggression invasion of Ukraine. In addition, this research also comparatively describes the responses of the ASEAN members. Findings: The comparison of ASEAN member states responses to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine varies. Some condemned the military aggression such as Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Some only did not respond or were neutral such as Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Some support the military aggression, such as Myanmar. The difference in response is due to the national political interests of each country. Originality/Value: This study focuses on ASEAN member countries that responded to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, so the author believes that no one has studied with the same focus as this research.
CAM, eCAM, Bioprospecting: The 21st Century Pyramid

Pyramids touch us in many ways. According to a popular definition which most of us will understand, a pyramid is a stone structure with a flat (usually) square base and with sloping sides that meet at the top, especially built by the ancient Egyptians as a tomb or by the Aztecs and Mayas as a platform for a temple, raised for edification. Then there are food pyramids that propose to solve the obesity epidemic. How does such a definition fit within the confines of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), eCAM and bioprospecting? What is more, how do we move the ancient and familiar definition to signify the 21st century pyramid and one that is relevant to CAM? At the moment, I do not yet have data on the ancient practices of the Egyptians nor the Aztecs and Mayas as their approaches relate to CAM or to eCAM. We do know about historical practices of similar ages in history from Japan and Taiwan, just to cite two recent examples of rigorous presentations (1,2). The relevant CAM pyramid that I will detail could continue to be a hard impenetrable structure unless we are willing to in effect dismantle it, to deconstruct it from bottom up from those points that gird it to unfavorable approaches that are less acceptable in the evidence-based approach to CAM. A pyramid has recently been published in Nature Immunology entitled: ‘Complementary and alternative medicine: assessing the evidence for immunological benefits’ (3). In this pyramid, there is a hierarchy of evidence. Information regarding the efficacy and safety of any clinical approach, including those of CAM, spans a continuum that ranges at the base all the way to the peak or the pyramid’s point, from anecdotes and retrospective studies to small randomized, controlled trials (phase II clinical trials) and large randomized, controlled trials (phase III clinical trials). In my opinion, this paper and its contents, and the pyramid represent a seminal tribute to the role of the immune system in CAM.
Self‐Reported Effect of Childhood Incontinence on Quality of Life

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to generate an understanding of the child's perception of the impact of bladder and bowel dysfunction on aspects of their life, in order to inform the later development of a continence-specific pediatric quality-of-life tool. DESIGN A 28-item instrument, measuring 6 domains of quality of life, was developed based on a modified Delphi consultation process and administered to children being treated for incontinence in 10 countries. RESULTS Data from 156 children between 6 and 17 years of age in Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, United States, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and Denmark were analyzed. Mean domain scores, when ranked in descending order, were self-esteem 57%, mental health 52%, independence 48.5%, family 46%, social interaction 43%, and body image 39.5%. Significant variables associated with a high total score (indicating greater impairment in quality of life) were combined day-and-night symptoms (P = .031) and male gender (P = .027). All domain scores were more significantly impaired (higher scores) when a bowel disorder coexisted with bladder dysfunction. Low treatment efficacy was significantly associated with more impaired self-esteem and mental health scores (r = −0.125, P = .025; r = −0.241, P = .005; r = −0.174, P = .045, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Multiple domains reflecting quality-of-life effects are adversely affected in children with incontinence, indicating the need to measure the impact of impairment in affected children and the influence of treatment. Boys who experience day-and-night lower urinary tract symptoms and experience bowel dysfunction are at greatest risk.
Poster : Machine Learning-Based Fingerprinting of Network Traffic Using Programmable Forwarding Engines

With the recent development of programmable forwarding engines (PFEs), systems designers are now able to extract information-rich, flow records at high rates of speed. The growth of PFEs and rich flow generation systems, provide us with the data and speed necessary for network, flow-based fingerprinting and classification. In this project, we explore the efficacy of classifying large amounts of network traffic using PFEgenerated, rich flow records. We write a stream processor and use a random forest, binary classifier to utilize these flow records in fingerprinting ransomware and Shadowsocks, a censorship circumvention tool, without requiring deep packet inspection. Our ransomware classification model achieves a detection rate in excess of 0.86, while our Shadowsocks classifier achieves a detection rate close to 0.987. Our initial results show the efficacy of utilizing high-rate, PFE-generated, rich flow records to fingerprint various types of web traffic.
IFRS Adoption and Financial Reporting Quality: A Review of Evidences in Different Jurisdictions

Conventional and commonly held wisdom with respect to the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is that they lead to improved financial reporting quality and comparability and thereby favorable economic consequences. There are however contradicting evidences disproving this conventional wisdom or rejecting its gross generalization over the entire jurisdictions harmonizing on IFRS. Driven by this fact, quests for knowledge about the dynamics and contexts that lead to differential effects of IFRS get momentum. In an attempt to explore the insight into the effects of international accounting harmonization by way of IFRS adoption, this paper reviews selected literatures on consequences of IFRS adoption. This review discusses some empirical evidences that have been reported in various countries that include Europe, USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Norway, Greece, Poland, Belgian, France, Italy, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Jordan, China, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Kenya and Nigeria. Our review focuses on the aspects of value relevance, disclosure quality, cost of capital, earning management and financial statement impact due to the IFRS adoption. This review reveals that economic consequences of IFRS adoption significantly differ across jurisdictions though being its impact reported to be positive in majority of cases. There are also notable number of studies that report indifferent and or negative effects of IFRS adoption. When IFRS studies report mixed evidence with respect to value relevance of book value of equity and earing, book value of equity supersedes the earning parameters. IFRS are found to supersede many other domestic financial reporting standards in terms of volume and quality of disclosures in financial statements. This review also obtains that IFRS’ impact on the reduction of cost of capital depends on financial reporting incentives, law enforcement, types of legal systems and various other country and capital market specific characteristics. Further, though there are some evidences to the contrary, the quality of earnings reported under IFRS has been established to be superior to that under other local standards.
High-Resolution Seismic Velocity and Attenuation Structure of the Sichuan-Yunnan Region, Southwest China, Using Seismic Catalog and Waveform Data

Abstract : The Sichuan-Yunnan region in southwestern China lies in the transition zone between the uplifted Tibetan plateau to the west and the Yangtze continental platform to the east. This region has a very complicated geological structure and is one of the most active areas of continental earthquakes in the world. This two-year project is to develop high-resolution models of the velocity and attenuation structure of the Sichuan-Yunnan region (longitudes ~97-108 degrees E and latitudes ~21-35 degrees N) using seismic catalog and waveform data. There are four main components in this project: (1) using waveform alignment methods (waveform cross-correlation and bispectrum analysis) to obtain more accurate differential arrival times, (2) using regional scale adaptive-grid double-difference tomography to obtain detailed P- and S-wave velocity models of the Sichuan-Yunnan region, (3) using the adaptive-grid triple-difference seismic attenuation method to determine the detailed attenuation structure for both Qp and Qs for the Yunnan region, and (4) assembling a ground truth database.
Cash Management Strategies for Private Equity Investors

Committing capital to a private equity fund is different from buying a publicly-listed security. One central difference with private equity fund investing is that you do not invest all the money immediately, as when acquiring the share of an individual company or mutual fund. Instead, the money you choose to invest is contributed (“drawn” or “called” in private equity parlance) in periodic installments, typically over up to five years. For investors who are new to the asset class, and indeed for many experienced investors as well, this can pose a number of questions and challenges. How will I ensure I have adequate cash to hand when I am “drawn”? Is there an optimal way for me to invest the cash that has not yet been drawn? Overall, how do I make my entire cash management process as simple and efficient as possible?
The Volatility Spillovers in Asian Listed Property Companies in Developed and Emerging Markets

Abstract This paper uses exponential-generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) model to examine empirically the volatility spillovers of listed property companies in 13 Asian country markets. The capitalisation-weighted index for 3 tiers of developed markets (Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore), emerging markets (Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Korea) and lesser emerging markets (China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam) were analysed. The results showed that property companies returns in individual countries have no excessive return compared to the stock index, are more aggressive than the respective local equity indices whilst lagged property companies returns provided little explanatory power in the current property returns. At the tier level, tier 1 determined its stable role in the region with significant spillovers to the other two tiers, and the heteroskedasticity in the tier series whilst tier 3 showed the significant, yet unstable role in the region. The tier 2 countries saw no spillover from the local stocks, yet received some impact from the US market. Tier 3 countries show reducing spillover factors from high spillover (China) to moderate (India and Indonesia) and low spillover (Vietnam, Philippines, and Sri Lanka), which reflects the low integration of these countries to the global market.
Title Factors Affecting Inactive Land Transactions in a Semi-arid Area: Case of Tank-irrigated Village in Tamil Nadu

The factors and mechanism underlying inactive land transaction in a semi-arid area were examined by studying a tank-irrigated village in the state of Tamil Nadu. Although a gradual shift of land ownership from communities belonging to a higher caste to those from a lower caste was observed, agricultural production in the study village declined not only in the dryland, but also the tank command area. This might be caused by the low groundwater availability in the hard rock area and a deterioration in the functioning of the tank management body caused by domestic out-migration. Government promotion of crops requiring less water, such as millets, might be the only way to secure their livelihood if rapid economic development has to continue in Tamil Nadu.
Sub-optimality of Achievable Regions in Two Fundamental Network Information Theory Settings

of thesis entitled: Sub-optimality of Achievable Regions in Two Fundamental Network Information Theory Settings Submitted by YAZDANPANAH, Mehdi for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in December 2018 This thesis establishes the sub-optimality of two specific achievable regions: one for the interference channel and the other for the three-receiver broadcast channel with two degraded message sets. Determining the optimality or the suboptimality of the two achievable regions were posed as open questions in the book Network Information Theory, [11]. An interference channel models multiple point-to-point communication links over a shared medium. Han and Kobayashi formulated an achievable region for two receiver interference channels in 1981. In particular, open problem 6.4 in [11] asks: Is the Han–Kobayashi region tight in general? We answer this question in the negative by exhibiting specific interference channels where achievable rates are found that lie outside the Han–Kobayashi region. A broadcast channel models a downlink scenario where a single sender wishes to reliably communicate (possibly) different messages simultaneously to different receivers. A two degraded message sets setting is one where there are two independent messages, and there is a set of receivers that wishes to decode one of