Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stock Performance, Corporate Governance, and Efficiency of China and Taiwan Banks: Is there a Relationship?

This article examines whether the efficiency and ownership structure of banks is related to their stock performance in China and Taiwan. The DEA and DFA estimated the efficiency scores to be 0.3229 and 0.5048, respectively. The mean efficiency from the DFA method is more than the cost efficiency derived from the DEA. Is there a relationship? This article finds that banks have a greater efficiency then is directly reflected in enhanced expectations for the performance of the banks in the stock market, and the DFA efficiency estimates have a more valuable function reflected in the stock return when compared with the DEA efficiency estimates. This suggests that an X-efficiency score is a better indicatory index than the DEA model and traditional financial ratios for explaining stock returns.
Why Is a CCP Failure Very Unlikely?

Central counterparties (CCPs) are designed to be robust enough to withstand generally at least the simultaneous default of their largest two clearing members in extreme but plausible market conditions. This is called a 'cover 2' CCP. However, the extreme-and-implausible case cannot be excluded i.e. where the CCP would exhaust all funded financial resources (i.e. skin-in-the-game and the default fund D) to cover the default losses and would need to resort to unfunded recovery tools. The aim of this paper is to consider the resilience of a CCP for both default losses and non-default losses. For the former case, it is shown under plausible assumptions that the assessment (or cash call) for the surviving members is sufficient to recover a cover 1 CCP provided that the total assessment powers under the CCP Rulebook equals 2D. Given the extreme scenario we also take into account that some surviving clearing members might decide to leave the CCP. Some intuitive results for the cover 2 CCP case are provided as well. For the latter case, it is demonstrated that under plausible assumptions, the likelihood that a non-default loss is larger than the CCP's capital including one year of profits, is equivalent to an AAA risk. These observations together provide substantiation for the very low likelihood of a CCP's failure.
Comprehensive Analysis of Tariff Barriers Worldwide: A Composite Assessment Approach

1 Muhammad Khalid Rashid, 2 Abdul Basit, 3 Tehmina Fiaz Qazi, 4 Abdul Aziz Khan Niazi 1 Govt. College of Science, Lahore, Pakistan, Krkhan55@hotmail.com 2 Lahore Institute of Science & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan, abasit_shahbaz@yahoo.com 3 Hailey College of Banking and Finance, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, tehmina.qazi@gmail.com 4 Institute of Business and Management, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan, azizniazi@uet.edu. pk ARTICLE DETAILS ABSTRACT History Revised format: February 2021 Available Online: March 2021 International trade has fundamental importance for all the countries and the analysis concerning international trade particularly concerning tariff barriers is high on the agenda of researchers in the field of economics, business and politics. Aim of the study is to assess the world tariff barriers of 158 countries. Overall design of the study comprises of a crisp literature review, data extraction and analysis. It is a study of one hundred fifty-eight countries that uses secondary data taken from World Development Indicators (WDI) 2020. It uses Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) as research methodology. Results of GRA show that Macao SAR, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Montenegro, Mauritius, Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar, Chile, Peru and Australia have relatively highest grey relational grades meaning thereby, low tariff trade barriers whereas Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Central African Republic, Nepal, Guinea-Bissau, Fiji, Gabon, Barbados, Djibouti, St. Kitts and Nevis have lowest grey relational grade meaning thereby, these countries have high level of tariff based barriers of international trade. Interestingly, all the member countries of European Union occupy the rank of 27 (i.e. all countries have the same rank) which can be explained in the perspective of their union of tariff. Since, they have uniformed tariff policy as against rest of the world, therefore, have same rank. It is a study based on reliable real time data set. The study has value for all stakeholders i.e. international community, local governments, society at large, policy makers, researchers and international institutions.
The Sales Process of Information Systems: Implications for Project Execution and Business Benefits

This inductive case study research examines the sales cycle of eight information systems (IS) providers situated in Australia, Hong Kong, Europe, and the United States. The study found that the IS sales cycle provides a restrictive covenant for ensuing projects with contractual constraints, having consequences for fundamental project factors such as benefits, scope, and cost. The process also impedes solution design, schedule, extent of customizations, and training. There are many implications for improvements to practice, in particular there should be more focus placed upon business benefits and increased awareness of life cycle cost during the sales process.
The Complete Chloroplast Genome of Endangered Species Stemona parviflora: Insight into the Phylogenetic Relationship and Conservation Implications

Stemona parviflora is an endangered species, narrowly endemic to Hainan and Southwest Guangdong. The taxonomic classification of S. parviflora remains controversial. Moreover, studying endangered species is helpful for current management and conservation. In this study, the first complete chloroplast genome of S. parviflora was assembled and compared with other Stemona species. The chloroplast genome size of S. parviflora was 154,552 bp, consisting of 87 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, 8 rRNA genes, and one pseudogene. The ψycf1 gene was lost in the cp genome of S. sessilifolia, but it was detected in four other species of Stemona. The inverted repeats (IR) regions have a relatively lower length variation compared with the large single copy (LSC) and small single copy (SSC) regions. Long repeat sequences and simple sequence repeat (SSR) were detected, and most SSR were distributed in the LSC region. Codon usage bias analyses revealed that the RSCU value of the genus Stemona has almost no difference. As with most angiosperm chloroplast genomes, protein-coding regions were more conservative than the inter-gene spacer. Seven genes (atpI, ccsA, cemA, matK, ndhA, petA, and rpoC1) were detected under positive selection in different Stemona species, which may result from adaptive evolution to different habitats. Phylogenetic analyses show the Stemona cluster in two main groups; S. parviflora were closest to S. tuberosa. A highly suitable region of S. parviflora was simulated by Maxent in this study; it is worth noting that the whole territory of Taiwan has changed to a low fitness area and below in the 2050 s, which may not be suitable for the introduction and cultivation of S. parviflora. In addition, limited by the dispersal capacity of S. parviflora, it is necessary to carry out artificial grafts to expand the survival areas of S. parviflora. Our results provide valuable information on characteristics of the chloroplast genome, phylogenetic relationships, and potential distribution range of the endangered species S. parviflora.
Activism and non-activism: The politics of claiming environmental justice in Vietnam

This paper aims to explore how under authoritarian regimes, undergoing reform processes, divergent forms of environmental activism may emerge. Two severe cases of environmental degradation serve as our starting points: the marine disaster in the central coast of Vietnam in 2016 and the Mekong Delta's ongoing environmental degradation. While the former offers a case of rural grievances over mass fish death in Central Vietnam triggering protests on a national scale, the latter presents a continuum of environmental changes leading to serious impacts on deltaic livelihoods, albeit with no observable efforts of activism compared to the situation in other countries along the Mekong Delta. Drawing from in-depth interviews and participant observation with NGO workers in Vietnam who focus on environment and community development, we unravel the conditions, methods and rationalities behind their engagement (or lack thereof) with environmental activism in each case. We argue that the difference between the cases can be explained by tracing the process of politicising environmental grievances, taking into consideration culinary nationalism, anti-China nationalism and political opportunities under authoritarianism. Moving beyond current literature on activism under authoritarian regimes which relies mainly on institutional and/or social network approaches, our analysis helps further shed light on how contemporary environmental activism is mobilised in Vietnam from a geographically and politically grounded as well as culturally embedded position.
Handedness and its association with education and spatial navigation assessed in over 400,000 participants across 41 countries

There is an active debate concerning the association of handedness and spatial ability. Past studies used small sample sizes within a single country. Determining the effect of handedness on spatial ability requires a large, cross-cultural sample of participants, and a navigation task with real-world validity. Here, we overcome these challenges via the mobile app Sea Hero Quest. We analysed the navigation performance from 422,772 participants from 41 countries and found no reliable evidence for any difference in spatial ability between left- and right-handers across all countries. Using 749,037 participants from the larger sample, we replicate previous findings that age, gender, and country of residence have an impact on the prevalence of left-handedness, and found an effect of education on left-handedness prevalence in China, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Our study clarifies the factors associated with spatial ability and outlines new ways in which cultural patterns influence handedness. Statement of Relevance What is the relation between handedness and navigation ability? Evidence so far has been mixed, and findings from small-scale and large-scale tasks seem to point in opposite directions. Part of the reason is that cultural and sociodemographic differences have a significant impact on both spatial ability and handedness. Tackling the question requires a large, cross-cultural sample of participants performing an ecologically valid navigation task. Here, we employ a mobile app, Sea Hero Quest, to test the navigation ability of a large number of participants across many different countries. What we find is that there is no reliable connection between handedness and navigation ability. Then, we use our data to explore the prevalence of left-handedness across countries, and find that age, gender, and country of residency all have an effect on the ratio of left-handedness. Moreover, we find an effect of education on left-handedness in China, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Observational Aspects of the Mei-Yu Phenomenon in Subtropical China

The following recent research results of the Mei-Yu phenomenon in southeastern China are reviewed in this paper. 1) Case studies of a Mei-Yu frontal system during June 10-15, 1975. This system was studied in detail for its rainfall characteristics, kinematic and dynaniical structures, budgets of vorticity, moisture, and kinetic energy, and the accompanying mesoscale systems. The results suggested the dynamical processes for maintaining a Mei-Yu trough and the role of a low level southwesterly jet in the formation of mesoscale cb clusters. 2) Composite studies of 8 cases of Mei-Yu frontal systems during the more active years of 1975 and 1977. The structure variation in different stages and different segments of the Mei-Yu trough observed in the individual cases was substantiated. 3) The climatology of Mei-Yu front and its associated frontogenesis and low level jet over southern China and Taiwan for 1968-77. 4) Numerical simulation of the Mei-Yu frontal system. One of the more interesting conclusions in the model simulations is the formation of a low level jet to the south of the Mei-Yu front due to a secondary circulation induced by the convective latent heat release.
Clinical utility of the anti-CCP assay in patients with rheumatic diseases

Objectives: To determine the frequency of antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptides (CCP) in a group of patients with a diversity of rheumatic diseases. Methods: 249 consecutive sera from an arthritis clinic sent for rheumatology testing were selected for testing with the anti-CCP2 assays and for the presence of rheumatoid factor (RF). Patient charts were reviewed for demographic information, clinical diagnosis, radiographic information, and other laboratory data. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of anti-CCP reactivity for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were 66.0% and 90.4%, respectively. This compared with the sensitivity and specificity of RF for RA at 71.6% and 80.3%. Furthermore, 10/29 (34%) RF− patients with RA demonstrated reactivity to CCP. The presence of either anti-CCP or RF increased testing sensitivity for diagnosis of RA to 81.4%; the presence of both RF and anti-CCP demonstrated a testing specificity similar to that of anti-CCP reactivity alone for the diagnosis of RA (91.1%). Conclusions: The detection of anti-CCP is useful for the diagnosis of RA, in fact even more so than RF, because of its higher specificity.
Molecular characterisation and phylogenetic analysis of dengue outbreak in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India

Background and Objectives: Dengue is one of the most prevalent arboviral diseases in the world with 390 million dengue infections per year. In this study, we report the molecular characterisation of dengue outbreak in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India during 2015. Subjects and Methods: A total of 613 dengue-suspected cases were screened for dengue virus by dengue NS1 Ag and anti-dengue IgM antibody depending on the duration of sample collection and onset of symptom. Further, molecular characterisation was done by amplifying the C-PrM region by real-time polymerase chain reaction followed by phylogenetic analysis. Results: Molecular characterisation revealed that the dengue outbreak was predominantly due to dengue virus serotype-1 (DENV-1) (90.9%) while DENV-2 was detected in 7.5% of samples. Co-infection of DENV-1 and DENV-2 was detected in one case. Phylogenetic analysis of the DENV-1 strains with the prototype revealed that the DENV-1 strains were grouped within genotype III. Similarly, DENV-2 strains were clustered within genotype IV. The study revealed a change in the predominant serotype in recent years with DENV-3 in 2012 to DENV-1, 2, 3 and 4 in 2014 to DENV-1 in 2015 in the study region. A unique L24M mutation was observed in the DENV-1 strains of Arunachal Pradesh which was absent in all the circulating strains in India except one strain from the state of Kerala in South India. Marked variation within the DENV-2 strains was observed at A102V and I163V in one strain similar to earlier circulating isolates in India. Conclusions: The present study reveals a shift in the serotype dominance in the study region. As serotype shifts and secondary infection with a heterologous DENV serotype are frequently associated with disease severity, there is an urgent need for sustained monitoring of the circulating serotypes and enhanced surveillance operations, especially in the monsoon and post-monsoon periods to prevent large-scale, severe dengue outbreaks in this region.
The number of elevated cytokines and chemokines in preclinical seropositive rheumatoid arthritis predicts time to diagnosis in an age-dependent manner.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate levels of biomarkers in preclinical rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to use elevated biomarkers to develop a model for the prediction of time to future diagnosis of seropositive RA. METHODS Stored samples obtained from 73 military cases with seropositive RA prior to RA diagnosis and from controls (mean 2.9 samples per case; samples collected a mean of 6.6 years prior to diagnosis) were tested for rheumatoid factor (RF) isotypes, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies, 14 cytokines and chemokines (by bead-based assay), and C-reactive protein (CRP). RESULTS Preclinical positivity for anti-CCP and/or ≥2 RF isotypes was >96% specific for future RA. In preclinical RA, levels of the following were positive in a significantly greater proportion of RA cases versus controls: interleukin-1α (IL-1α), IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p40, IL-12p70, IL-15, fibroblast growth factor 2, flt-3 ligand, tumor necrosis factor α, interferon-γ-inducible 10-kd protein, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, and CRP. Also, increasing numbers of elevated cytokines/chemokines were present in cases nearer to the time of diagnosis. RA patients who were ≥40 years old at diagnosis had a higher proportion of samples positive for cytokines/chemokines 5-10 years prior to diagnosis than did patients who were <40 years old at diagnosis (P < 0.01). In regression modeling using only case samples positive for autoantibodies highly specific for future RA, increasing numbers of cytokines/chemokines were predictive of decreased time to diagnosis, and the predicted time to diagnosis based on cytokines/chemokines was longer in older compared with younger cases. CONCLUSION Levels of autoantibodies, cytokines/chemokines, and CRP are elevated in the preclinical period of RA development. In preclinical autoantibody-positive cases, the number of elevated cytokines/chemokines is predictive of the time of diagnosis of future RA in an age-dependent manner.
Discriminating Characteristics of Gabor Phase-Face and Improved Methods for Face Recognition

In this paper, characteristics of different Gabor phase based facial feature representations are studied for the face recognition problem. Experiments show that, filter responses acquired from larger scales show higher discriminating ability. Based on this study following methods are proposed: I) A faster face recognition method that is forty times faster than the conventional Gabor face representation that can discriminate faces with 91.4% accuracy II) a five times faster method than the conventional representation that showed 95.7% accuracy, III) a novel weighted vote of Gabor filtersbased face recognition method which showed 99% accuracy, and IV) an online face authentication system using global and person specific threshold. The tests are performed using a 1200 subject dataset Iqbal Nouyed Computer Vision and Cybernetics Research Group, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Independent University Bangladesh, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh E-mail: iqbal.nouyed@secs.iub. edu.bd Bruce Poon School of Electrical & Information Engineering, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia E-mail: bruce.poon@sydney.edu. au M. Ashraful Amin Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Independent University Bangladesh, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh E-mail: aminmdashraful@ieee.org Hong Yan Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China School of Electrical & Information Engineering, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia E-mail: h.yan@cityu.edu. hk collected from a combination of three databases: FERET, Indian and in-house.
The greenhouse gas impact of bioenergy in developing economies: Evidence from Taiwan

Greenhouse gas emission induced global climate shift is an immediate threat to the world because of increased likelihood of the occurrence of extreme events. Expanding bioenergy production on currently set-aside land is an attractive option being considered by Taiwanese policymakers to reduce potential damages. This study investigates the impact of pyrolysis-based bioelectricity and ethanol on the greenhouse gas emission using a two-stage dynamic semi-parametric model. The results show that the bioelectricity generation has a significantly positive impact on the emission reduction. It encourages Taiwan to place more public resource on bioelectricity generation. This study is extended to forecast the emission reduction for 2015 to 2017. The quarterly emission reduction forecasts vary between 214,806 and 239,497 tons, which is less than 3% out of total emissions. It implies that the Taiwanese government could move the policy supports from biofuel production to bioelectricity production to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Exploring co-parent experiences of sexuality in the first 3 months after birth.

INTRODUCTION Research on postpartum sexuality has focused primarily on mothers, though new findings suggest that relational perceptions may have a strong influence over sexual desire and behavior. Little investigation exists regarding sexuality in partners of postpartum women. Additionally, recent findings point to the importance of a partner's sexuality for postpartum women's perceptions of their own sexuality in this time. AIMS The goal of this research was to explore women's partners' sexuality in the early postpartum phase taking into account psychosocial context. METHODS Partners (N = 114; 95 men, 18 women, 1 unspecified) of postpartum women completed a retrospective online questionnaire about their sexuality during the 3 months following their youngest child's birth. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Primary measures included sexual desire (Sexual Desire Inventory), latency to sexual behavior, and enjoyment and initiation of sexual behavior. Other psychosocial variables were investigated: partners' perceptions of the birth mother's sexual desire, perceptions of the birth experience (Questionnaire Measuring Attitudes About Labor and Delivery), postpartum stress (Perceived Stress Scale), body image self-consciousness (Body Image Self-Consciousness Scale), social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support), fatigue, and experiences surrounding breastfeeding. RESULTS Partners reported most frequent engagement in intercourse in the postpartum period, earliest engagement in masturbation, and highest enjoyment of receiving oral sex compared with other sexual activities. Partners' sexual desire was not correlated with the psychosocial variables measured in the study. Findings for partners' sexuality were similar by gender, except for perceptions of social support and likelihood to engage in intercourse. CONCLUSIONS This study provided a novel perspective on the study of postpartum sexuality by investigating physical and psychosocial influences on the experiences of partners of parous women. Given parallels between sexuality reported by partners in this study and by birth mothers in past studies, this study provided evidence that sexuality in the postpartum period may be experienced similarly, highlighting the social and relational nature of the postpartum.
Larsenianthus, a new Asian genus of Gingers (Zingiberaceae) with four species

Abstract Larsenianthus W. J. Kress & Mood, gen. nov. is described with one new combination and three new species. Larsenianthus careyanus (Benth.) W. J. Kress & Mood, comb. nov., is widespread in India and present-day Bangladesh; Larsenianthus wardianus W. J. Kress, Thet Htun & Bordelon, sp. nov., is from upper Myanmar in Kachin State; Larsenianthus assamensis S. Dey, Mood, & S. Choudhury, sp. nov., is restricted to Assam, India; and Larsenianthus arunachalensis M. Sabu, Sanoj & T.Rajesh Kumar, sp. nov., has only been found in Arunachal Pradesh, India. A phylogenetic analysis using the plastid trnK intron and nuclear ITS DNA sequence data indicates that the four species of Larsenianthus form a monophyletic lineage that is sister to Hedychium, a geographically widespread genus of about 50 species in tribe Zingibereae of subfamily Zingiberoideae. A dichotomous key and three-locus DNA barcodes are provided as aids for the identification of the four species of Larsenianthus.