Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cell Guidance on Nanogratings: A Computational Model of the Interplay between PC12 Growth Cones and Nanostructures

Background Recently, the effects of nanogratings have been investigated on PC12 with respect to cell polarity, neuronal differentiation, migration, maturation of focal adhesions and alignment of neurites. Methodology/Principal Findings A synergistic procedure was used to study the mechanism of alignment of PC12 neurites with respect to the main direction of nanogratings. Finite Element simulations were used to qualitatively assess the distribution of stresses at the interface between non-spread growth cones and filopodia, and to study their dependence on filopodial length and orientation. After modelling all adhesions under non-spread growth cone and filopodial protrusions, the values of local stress maxima resulted from the length of filopodia. Since the stress was assumed to be the main triggering cause leading to the increase and stabilization of filopodia, the position of the local maxima was directly related to the orientation of neurites. An analytic closed form equation was then written to quantitatively assess the average ridge width needed to achieve a given neuritic alignment (R2 = 0.96), and the alignment course, when the ridge depth varied (R2 = 0.97). A computational framework was implemented within an improved free Java environment (CX3D) and in silico simulations were carried out to reproduce and predict biological experiments. No significant differences were found between biological experiments and in silico simulations (alignment, p = 0.3571; tortuosity, p = 0.2236) with a standard level of confidence (95%). Conclusions/Significance A mechanism involved in filopodial sensing of nanogratings is proposed and modelled through a synergistic use of FE models, theoretical equations and in silico simulations. This approach shows the importance of the neuritic terminal geometry, and the key role of the distribution of the adhesion constraints for the cell/substrate coupling process. Finally, the effects of the geometry of nanogratings were explicitly considered in cell/surface interactions thanks to the analytic framework presented in this work.
Hong Kong Output Dynamics: An Empirical Analysis

Advanced statistical techniques are used to analyze Hong Kong output dynamics. Hong Kong, Japan and the U.S. are found to share some common long-term and short-term cyclical variations. While the Hong Kong economy is susceptible to external shocks and Granger-caused by the other two economies, local factors account for a large proportion of output growth variability and are mainly responsible for her output uncertainty. On the transmission mechanism, the selected trade and financial variables have incremental explanatory power but do not lessen the ability of domestic and foreign output variables to explain Hong Kong growth dynamics. Interestingly, the U.S. does not appear to exert undue influences on Hong Kong.
What and how financial planners experience professionalism: A phenomenographic study (preliminary findings)

The aim of this research is to investigate how Certified Financial Planner professionals experience the phenomenon of the 'professionalism of financial planners'. The study is to be carried out to provide insight to the international financial planning community in establishing relevant and superior professional standards for Certified Financial Planner (CFP) professionals. This will be a qualitative study using phenomenography as a research methodology to describe the qualitatively different ways in which certified financial planners understand or experience the phenomenon of 'professionalism'. Research participants will be interviewed from Australia, Hong Kong and United States of America and these interviews analysed to reveal the variations in the conceptions of 'professionalism' and the attributes that can be identified from the phenomenographic outcome space to inform financial planners, academics and professional associations of what is required to be a CFP professional.
Effects on Clinical Outcomes of Adding Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitors Versus Sulfonylureas to Metformin Therapy in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

BACKGROUND Recent studies concluded that dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors provide glycemic control but also raised concerns about the risk for heart failure in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, large-scale studies of the effects on cardiovascular outcomes of adding DPP-4 inhibitors versus sulfonylureas to metformin therapy remain scarce. OBJECTIVE To compare clinical outcomes of adding DPP-4 inhibitors versus sulfonylureas to metformin therapy in patients with T2DM. DESIGN Nationwide study using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. SETTING Taiwan. PATIENTS All patients with T2DM aged 20 years or older between 2009 and 2012. A total of 10,089 propensity score-matched pairs of DPP-4 inhibitor users and sulfonylurea users were examined. MEASUREMENTS Cox models with exposure to sulfonylureas and DPP-4 inhibitors included as time-varying covariates were used to compare outcomes. The following outcomes were considered: all-cause mortality, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) (including ischemic stroke and myocardial infarction), hospitalization for heart failure, and hypoglycemia. Patients were followed until death or 31 December 2013. RESULTS DPP-4 inhibitors were associated with lower risks for all-cause death (hazard ratio [HR], 0.63 [95% CI, 0.55 to 0.72]), MACEs (HR, 0.68 [CI, 0.55 to 0.83]), ischemic stroke (HR, 0.64 [CI, 0.51 to 0.81]), and hypoglycemia (HR, 0.43 [CI, 0.33 to 0.56]) compared with sulfonylureas as add-on therapy to metformin but had no effect on risks for myocardial infarction and hospitalization for heart failure. LIMITATION Observational study design. CONCLUSION Compared with sulfonylureas, DPP-4 inhibitors were associated with lower risks for all-cause death, MACEs, ischemic stroke, and hypoglycemia when used as add-ons to metformin therapy. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE None.
Evolution of the Chinese Internet: Freedom and Control

China’s emergence as a major global power is reshaping the cyber domain. The country has the world’s largest internet-user community, a growing economic footprint and increasingly capable military and intelligence services. Harnessing these assets, it is pursuing a patient, assertive foreign policy that seeks to determine how information and communications technologies are governed and deployed. This policy is likely to have significant normative impact, with potentially adverse implications for a global order that has been shaped by Western liberal democracies. And, even as China goes out into the world, there are signs that new technologies are becoming powerful tools for domestic social control and the suppression of dissent abroad. Western policymakers are struggling to meet this challenge. While there is much potential for good in a self-confident China that is willing to invest in the global commons, there is no guarantee that the country’s growth and modernisation will lead inexorably to democratic political reform. This Adelphi book examines the political, historical and cultural development of China’s cyber power, in light of its evolving internet, intelligence structures, military capabilities and approach to global governance. As China attempts to gain the economic benefits that come with global connectivity while excluding information seen as a threat to stability, the West will be forced to adjust to a world in which its technological edge is fast eroding and can no longer be taken for granted.
Use of antidepressants in the treatment of depression in Asia: Guidelines, clinical evidence, and experience revisited

Major depressive disorder is prevalent worldwide, and only about half of those affected will experience no further episodes or symptoms. Additionally, depressive symptoms can be challenging to identify, with many patients going undiagnosed despite a wide variety of available treatment options. Antidepressants are the cornerstone of depression treatment; however, a large number of factors must be considered in selecting the treatment best suited to the individual. To help support physicians in this process, international and national treatment guidelines have been developed. This review evaluates the current use of antidepressant treatment for major depressive disorder in six Asian countries (China, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand). No remarkable differences were noted between Asian and international treatment guidelines or among those from within Asia as these are adapted from western guidelines, although there were some local variations. Importantly, a shortage of evidence‐based information at a country level is the primary problem in developing guidelines appropriate for Asia, so most of the guidelines are consensus opinions derived from western research data utilized in western guidelines. Treatment guidelines need to evolve from being consensus based to evidence based when evidence is available, taking into consideration cost/effectiveness or cost/benefit with an evidence‐based approach that more accurately reflects clinical experience as well as the attributes of each antidepressant. In everyday practice, physicians must tailor their treatment to the patient's clinical needs while considering associated external factors; better tools are needed to help them reach the best possible prescribing decisions which are of maximum benefit to patients.
Deconstructing B2B, co-creation and service deployment in East Asia: evidence from Taiwan and PRC manufacturers

Abstract Academia and governments have been advocating service deployment as an upgrading strategy for manufacturers for some time now. Existing research findings show that customer co-creation may be a key to service strategy success. However, prior studies have focused on relatively resource-rich and advanced Western contexts. This research examined co-creation’s role on service deployment performance and the conditions that encourage co-creation in the manufacturing business-to-business context of Taiwan and the PRC. The results indicate that co-creation fully mediates the relationship between a firm’s service deployment and customer-perceived value. Additionally, a firm’s product-service significance, capability specificity, supply chain mode and customer-perceived environmental turbulence may significantly influence co-creation.
Contagion Effects and Volatility Impulse Responses between Us and Asian Stock Markets

In this study, we investigated volatility transmission effects between the US and six Asian markets — China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan — using a bivariate GARCH-BEKK model. We also assessed the impact of shocks on stock market volatility using the volatility impulse response function (VIRF). Our empirical findings extend several recent reports. First, the empirical results of this study show that the US and Asian stock markets are interrelated by their volatility. Second, we found that the 2008 global financial crisis intensified volatility transmission across the US and Asian stock markets. Third, we found that one large shock, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, resulted in an increase in expected conditional volatilities in the post-bankruptcy era. Moreover, the magnitude and the persistence of the volatility impulse responses differed across Asian stock markets due to differing investor reactions to shocks in each market.
Phylogeography of the Coastal Mosquito Aedes togoi across Climatic Zones: Testing an Anthropogenic Dispersal Hypothesis

The coastal mosquito Aedes togoi occurs more or less continuously from subarctic to subtropic zones along the coasts of the Japanese islands and the East Asian mainland. It occurs also in tropical Southeast Asia and the North American Pacific coast, and the populations there are thought to have been introduced from Japan by ship. To test this hypothesis, the genetic divergence among geographic populations of A. togoi was studied using one mitochondrial and three nuclear gene sequences. We detected 71 mitochondrial haplotypes forming four lineages, with high nucleotide diversity around temperate Japan and declining towards peripheral ranges. The major lineage (L1) comprised 57 haplotypes from temperate and subarctic zones in Japan and Southeast Asia including southern China and Taiwan. Two other lineages were found from subtropical islands (L3) and a subarctic area (L4) of Japan. The Canadian population showed one unique haplotype (L2) diverged from the other lineages. In the combined nuclear gene tree, individuals with mitochondrial L4 haplotypes diverged from those with the other mitochondrial haplotypes L1—L3; although individuals with L1—L3 haplotypes showed shallow divergences in the nuclear gene sequences, individuals from Southeast Asia and Canada each formed a monophyletic group. Overall, the genetic composition of the Southeast Asian populations was closely related to that of temperate Japanese populations, suggesting recent gene flow between these regions. The Canadian population might have originated from anthropogenic introduction from somewhere in Asia, but the possibility that it could have spread across the Beringian land bridge cannot be ruled out.
The influence of workplace friendship on work values: Taiwan and China

According to literature review, we know work value have significant influence on workplace friendships. But some research papers result showed that workplace friendship emerged, employee would like to share their value on work. Does it can influence on workplace friendship? The answer is ambiguous. Drawing on 2 regions, from enterprises comprising 700 effective questionnaires, we examined workplace friendship on work values and compared those differences between Taiwan and China. Results show the workplace friendships have significant influence on work values. Both Taiwan and China, workplace friendship significant affect work values and those influences in Taiwan are more strongly than those in China.
Quaternary climate change and social behavior shaped the genetic differentiation of an endangered montane primate from the southern edge of the Tibetan Plateau

Multiple factors, including climate change, dispersal barriers, and social behavior influence the genetic structure of natural populations. While the effects of extrinsic factors such as historical climatic change and habitat topography have been well studied, mostly in temperate habitats, the simultaneous effects of intrinsic factors such as social behavior on genetic structure have rarely been explored. Such simultaneous effect, however, may particularly be common in social mammals such as many primates. Consequently, we studied the population structure of a rare and endangered social primate, the Arunachal macaque Macaca munzala, endemic to the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, located on the subtropical southern edge of the Tibetan Plateau and forming part of the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot. We studied a 534 bp‐long mitochondrial DNA sequence and 22 autosomal microsatellite loci in individuals from three populations, Tawang, Upper Subansiri, and West Siang. The mtDNA data revealed three major divergence events: that between the Arunachal and bonnet macaques (ca. 1.61 mya), the founding of the West Siang population and the ancestral population of the present‐day bonnet macaques (ca. 1.32 mya), and the divergence between the Tawang and Upper Subansiri populations (ca. 0.80 mya) that coincided with the major glacial events in the region. Comparing mitochondrial DNA with autosomal microsatellites, we also found evidence for female philopatry and male‐driven long‐distance gene flow. Arunachal macaques thus appear to be characterized by groups of philopatric females separated by geographical barriers and harsh climate but with dispersing males exerting a homogenizing effect on the nuclear gene pool. Given that severe population differentiation is of major concern in species conservation, we suggest that our study populations represent significant conservation units of this rare, endangered primate but, more importantly, emphasize the complex interplay of extrinsic and intrinsic factors in shaping the population structure of a social mammalian species. Am. J. Primatol. 77:271–284, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Learning and catching up in different sectoral systems: evidence from six industries

This article claims that catching up is a learning process that requires a long time and often differs significantly across economic sectors in the factors leading to success or failure. We support these claims by examining the major factors affecting catching up by several countries in six industries: India and Brazil for pharmaceuticals; Korea, China, and Brazil for autos; India, Ireland, Israel, China, Brazil, and other countries for software; Korea and India for telecommunication equipment; Korea, Taiwan, China, and Malaysia for semiconductors; and China, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Nigeria for some agricultural crops. The article uses the framework of sectoral systems and argues that there are significant differences across these sectors in the variables and mechanisms involved in catching up. The article identifies the common factors affecting catching up and the main differences across sectoral systems. It then discusses the interplay between national systems and sectoral systems. Copyright 2011 The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved. , Oxford University Press.
Child Sexual Abuse, Attachment Style, and Depression

The aim of the current study was to examine the effects of secure, avoidant, and anxious attachment styles on depressive symptomatology in child sexual abuse (CSA) among young female adult victims. The role of attachment style was studied by considering possible interactive effects with the type of abuse, the relationship with the perpetrator, and the continuity of abuse. Participants were 168 female victims of CSA. Information about the abuse was obtained from a self-reported questionnaire. Attachment style was assessed with the Attachment Style Measure (ASM), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to assess depressive symptomatology. Secure and anxious attachment styles were correlated with low and high depression scores respectively. The effects of attachment style were stronger in cases where the abuse consisted of oral sex/penetration, a non-family member as perpetrator, and in isolated, compared with continued, abuse. These results confirm that characteristics of CSA (type of abuse, relationship with the perpetrator, and continuity of abuse) can affect the impact of attachment style on depressive symptomatology.
A cohort study among university students: identification of risk factors for Epstein-Barr virus seroconversion and infectious mononucleosis.

BACKGROUND A vaccine against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is in clinical trials. Up-to-date information on risk factors for EBV infection and infectious mononucleosis (IM) among young adults is required to inform a vaccination strategy. METHODS We carried out a prospective study on a cohort of university students. All EBV-seronegative students were asked to report symptoms of IM and were followed up 3 years later to undergo repeat EBV testing and to complete a lifestyle questionnaire. EBV typing was performed for these subjects, as well as for students who were EBV seropositive at enrollment and for additional students with IM. RESULTS A total of 510 students (25%) who took part in the study were EBV seronegative when they entered the university; of the 241 who donated a second blood sample 3 years later, 110 (46%) had seroconverted to EBV, 27 (25%) of whom developed IM [corrected] Penetrative sexual intercourse was a risk factor for EBV seroconversion (P = .004), but neither condom use nor oral sex significantly altered the rate of seroconversion. EBV type 1 was significantly overrepresented in IM, compared with silent seroconversion (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that acquisition of EBV is enhanced by penetrative sexual intercourse, although transmission could occur through related sexual behaviors, such as "deep kissing. " We also found that EBV type 1 infection is significantly more likely to result in IM. Overall, the results suggest that a large EBV type 1 load acquired during sexual intercourse can rapidly colonize the B cell population and induce the exaggerated T cell response that causes IM. Thus, IM could, perhaps, be prevented with a vaccine that reduces the viral load without necessarily inducing sterile immunity.
Glimpses of Loptuq Folk Botany: Phytonyms and Plant Knowledge in Sven Hedin’s Herbarium Notes from the Lower Tarim River Area as a Source for Ethnobiological Research

This interdisciplinary study discusses the vernacular phytonyms and other ethnobiological aspects of vegetation in the Loptuq (Loplik) habitat on the Lower Tarim River. This small Turkic-speaking group lived as fisher-foragers in the Lopnor (Lop Lake) area in East Turkestan, now the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. Information about this unique group, and especially the folk knowledge of plants in the area, is scant. In 1900, Swedish explorer Sven Hedin collected plant voucher specimens for the Swedish Natural History Museum in Stockholm. He noted local names on herbarium labels, thus providing modern researchers a rare glimpse into the Loptuq world. As the traditional way of life is already lost and the Loptuq language almost extinct, every trace of the former culture is of significance when trying to understand the peculiarities of human habitats and survival in arid areas. The ethnobiological analysis can further contribute to other fields, such as climate change, and define the place of the Loptuq on the linguistic and cultural map of Central Asia.
Effects of Visitors' Novelty Seeking and Flow Experiences on Place Attachments in Taiwan's Night Markets

Objectives: The night market is one of the most important attractions in Taiwan and is the place where visitors can learn about local specialties, historical culture and humanistic allusions. However, the key factor that influences the tourists' visiting to the night market still needs further research. This study uses mainly the ideas of "novelty seeking", "flow experience" and "place attachment" to explore the reasons why tourists visit Taiwan's night markets. Methods: The subjects were the tourists who visited Taiwan's night markets and a purposive sampling was used to distribute surveys. A total of 400 questionnaires were investigated. There were 336 valid questionnaires, achieving an 84% effective recovery rate. Results: Novelty seeking has a positive impact on place attachment, especially with respect to escape from boredom and amazing experience, both showing a significant and positive correlation. Flow experience has a positive impact on place attachment, and total concentration and change in the sense time manifest a significant and positive correlation. The R2 of the overall model was 0.39. Conclusions: This study verifies that the novelty seeking and flow experience have a positive impact on place attachment. The night market offers an escape from boredom, an amazing experience, total concentration and a change in the sense of time, all of which are important factors influencing the tourist visiting Taiwan's night markets. This study offers travel agencies a reference for future planning of night market visits.