Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of Vietnamese stock market: Influence of domestic macroeconomic environment and regional markets

This study has analysed the role of the domestic economic environment and regional markets (Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong and China) in explaining the dynamics of Vietnamese stock market. In so doing, we employed a TVSVAR framework which accounts for time variations (in coefficients as well as in the variance-covariance matrix of innovations) on the data from July 2000 to December 2016. Our key findings suggested that the easing of monetary and credit conditions, stable and stronger currency and economic growth have played a significant and positive role in the development of the stock market in Vietnam. Inflation shocks did have a negative impact which implied that in policy setting the price stability is very important for the financial stability in Vietnam. The Vietnamese stock market is also heavily influenced by the regional markets, as there is strong evidence of co-movement. However, it was also witnessed that despite having a similar direction of impact and co-movement, different markets have an influence of different degrees and intensity on the Vietnamese stock market. Lastly, we also witnessed that as compared to the Global Financial Crisis, the recent periods showed comparatively lesser responsiveness. This could be associated with the intensive reaction during the period of financial turmoil as well as with an increase in the stability of the Vietnamese stock market as it matures.
Three essays on human capital in China

This dissertation consists of three chapters on human capital in China. Chapter 1 studies the relationship between prenatal exposure to air pollution and youth cognitive skill development in China. It finds that early exposure to air pollution in utero has a significant detrimental impact on youth cognitive skill development. The effect of prenatal health shock on human capital becomes more apparent as the child ages. The early health shock also has a more significant impact than late shocks on human capital outcomes since early shocks accumulate through time. Prenatal exposure to air pollution also adversely affects youth health, weight, and height in later childhood. The findings provide additional evidence supporting the “fetal origins” hypothesis, which predicts early shocks in utero affect outcomes later in life. Chapter 2 focuses on the impact of the Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976) on life-cycle earnings. The Cultural Revolution significantly lowered educational attainment, education quality and accumulated work experience for affected cohorts. Because of reduced education quantity and quality, the affected cohort earned a 12 percent less income than the youngest generation in 1995. Four percent of this twelve percent was caused by shortened education. The adverse effect on returns to human capital diminishes over time, but the losses due to smaller accumulations of human capital persist. The affected generations were further disadvantaged by being more likely to be laid off during the reform of state-owned enterprises in the late 1990s. Chapter 3 examines the impact of three government policies on Chinese food production. Three events fundamentally changed modern Chinese economic history: the Great Leap Forward (1958~1961), the Cultural Revolution (1966~1976) and economic reform initiated in 1978. We apply the Caselli and Coleman (2006) framework to explore the dynamics of labor efficiency of grain production from 1952 to 2008. We apply non-linear least squares estimation allowing for
Policy Disparities in Response to COVID-19 between China and South Korea

Objectives: This study analyzed the effects of COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical measures between China and South Korea to share experiences with other countries in the struggle against SARS-CoV-2. Methods: We used the generalized linear model to examine the associations between non-pharmaceutical measures adopted by China and South Korea and the number of confirmed cases. Policy disparities were also discussed between these two countries. Results: The results show that the following factors influence the number of confirmed cases in China: lockdown of Wuhan city (LWC); establishment of a Leading Group by the Central Government; raising the public health emergency response to the highest level in all localities; classifying management of “four categories of personnel”; makeshift hospitals in operation (MHIO); pairing assistance (PA); launching massive community screening (LMCS). In South Korea, these following factors were the key influencing factors of the cumulative confirmed cases: raising the public alert level to orange (three out of four levels); raising the public alert to the highest level; launching drive-through screening centers (LDSC); screening all members of Shincheonji religious group; launching Community Treatment Center (LCTC); distributing public face masks nationwide and quarantining all travelers from overseas countries for 14 days. Conclusion: Based on the analysis of the generalized linear model, we found that a series of non-pharmaceutical measures were associated with contain of the COVID-19 outbreak in China and South Korea. The following measures were crucial for both of them to fight against the COVID-19 epidemic: a strong national response system, expanding diagnostic tests, establishing makeshift hospitals, and quarantine or lockdown affected areas.
Diagnostic and therapeutic delay in Rheumatoid Arthritis patients: Impact on disease outcome

Objective: To identify factors causing diagnostic and therapeutic delay in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and to evaluate relationship of diagnostic and therapeutic delay with disease outcome. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Rheumatology Department, Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, from May 2018 to July 2018. In this study 102 patients fulfilling ACR/EULAR criteria 2010 were enrolled. Lag times were calculated in months: lag-1 (delay in initial medical consultation); lag-2 (delay in consulting rheumatologists); lag-3 (diagnostic delay); lag-4 (therapeutic delay). Disease activity and functional outcome were measured by DAS28, HAQ-DI respectively. Association of lag-3 and lag-4 with HAQ-DI and DAS28 was calculated by Pearson correlation. Results: Median (IQR) disease duration of study group was 6(2-10) years. Initial consultations were with; orthopedic surgeon 40(39.2%), general practitioner 27(26.5%), rheumatologist 13(12.7%), medical specialists 14(13.7%). Median (IQR) lag times in months: lag-1 (delayed initial consultation): 2(0-5), lag-2 (delay in consulting rheumatologist): 30(7.7-72), lag-3 (diagnostic delay): 12(3-48), lag-4 (therapeutic delay):18(5.7-72). Factors attributed to lag-3 (diagnostic delay) and lag-4 (therapeutic delay) (p<0.05): older Age (r= 0.2), education level(r= - 0.2), initial consultation (non-rheumatologist) (r=0.2), lag-2(r=0.8), >three doctors visited before diagnosis(r=0.6). Positive anti-CCP antibodies(r=0.2) and lag-1 (delayed initial consultation) (r=1) were associated with lag-3 (diagnostic delay) only; no association was found with positive RA factor. Significant correlation (p=<0.05) of lag-3 (diagnostic delay) was found with both DAS28(r=0.2) & HAQ-DI(r=0.2). Similarly lag-4 (therapeutic delay) also correlated with both & DAS28(r=0.2) & HAQ-DI(r=0.3) (p=<0.05). Conclusion: Diagnostic and therapeutic delay were associated with older age, lower education and delayed consultation with rheumatologist but not with positive RA factor. Positive anti-CCP antibodies were associated with diagnostic delay only. Diagnostic and therapeutic delay led to high disease activity and poor functional outcome in RA patients.
American Attitudes Toward COVID-19: More Trumpism Than Partisanship

We investigate how support for President Donald Trump, beyond partisanship, guided Americans’ attitudes toward COVID-19. This speaks to not just how “Trumpism” and the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic influenced public attitudes but to the larger issue of how Trump’s hold on voters within and beyond the Republican Party provides further evidence that leaders surpass the role of parties in influencing public opinion. Using longitudinal data with individual fixed-effects, we find that from the start of the pandemic, support for Trump above and beyond partisanship drove public attitudes capturing skepticism toward COVID-19, fears of personal vulnerability, compliance with public-safety measures, and viewing the pandemic in racist terms. Between March and August 2020, this gulf in attitudes between Trump voters and non-supporters, and between Republicans and Democrats, widened; the widening was more pronounced between Trump voters and non-supporters. Trump’s influence on Independents and non-voters also grew over the same period. While the use of terms like “China virus” was related to partisanship and support for Trump, we find an increase in awareness across groups that these terms were racist.
Isolation and Characterization of Mouse Monoclonal Antibodies That Neutralize SARS-CoV-2 and Its Variants of Concern Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta by Binding Conformational Epitopes of Glycosylated RBD With High Potency

Antibodies targeting Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 have been suggested to account for the majority of neutralizing activity in COVID-19 convalescent sera and several neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) have been isolated, characterized and proposed as emergency therapeutics in the form of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). However, SARS-CoV-2 variants are rapidly spreading worldwide from the sites of initial identification. The variants of concern (VOC) B.1. 1.7 (Alpha), B.1. 351 (Beta), P.1 (Gamma) and B.1. 167.2 (Delta) showed mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein potentially able to cause escape from nAb responses with a consequent reduction of efficacy of vaccines and mAbs-based therapy. We produced the recombinant RBD (rRBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein from the Wuhan-Hu 1 reference sequence in a mammalian system, for mice immunization to isolate new mAbs with neutralizing activity. Here we describe four mAbs that were able to bind the rRBD in Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay and the transmembrane full-length spike protein expressed in HEK293T cells by flow cytometry assay. Moreover, the mAbs recognized the RBD in supernatants of SARS-CoV-2 infected VERO E6 cells by Western Blot under non-reducing condition or in supernatants of cells infected with lentivirus pseudotyped for spike protein, by immunoprecipitation assay. Three out of four mAbs lost their binding efficiency to completely N-deglycosylated rRBD and none was able to bind the same recombinant protein expressed in Escherichia coli, suggesting that the epitopes recognized by three mAbs are generated by the conformational structure of the glycosylated native protein. Of particular relevance, three mAbs were able to inhibit Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 infection of VERO E6 cells in a plaque-reduction neutralization test and the Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 as well as the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta VOC in a pseudoviruses-based neutralization test. These mAbs represent important additional tools for diagnosis and therapy of COVID-19 and may contribute to the understanding of the functional structure of SARS-CoV-2 RBD.
Modified PRDG Model for Caregiver Segmentation Using Zarit Burden Interview Instrument

The increasing demand for Indonesian workers in Taiwan has an impact on caregiver problems which can be triggered by the burden of caring for the elderly. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify the characteristics of caregivers who are resilient to burdens based on Indonesian female caregivers who work in Taiwan data to be a guide for selecting prospective caregivers. The process includes analyzing the personal characteristics that have the most influence on the burden using multiple regression and then clustering caregiver data using K-Means with the Elbow Method and Silhouette Index. Then, segmentation in each cluster based on a comparison of the average values. The results of clustering accuracy on dimensions (PRDG) and modified dimensions (S+PRDG) were compared and the smallest error cluster was in case 4 in the S+PRDG dimension with the Elbow Method of 3.6%. Based on segmentation on that dimension, cluster 2 is a resilient caregiver cluster. Then the results of the multiple regression analysis (Number of Children, Education and Work Location) were studied further for each caregiver in cluster 2 and the conclusions are, their average number of children is 1, final education is in junior high school and their work location is in the capital of Taiwan.
A new species of Bathynomus Milne-Edwards, 1879 (Isopoda: Cirolanidae) from the southern Gulf of Mexico with a redescription of Bathynomus jamesi Kou, Chen and Li, 2017 from off Pratas Island, Taiwan

ABSTRACT Bathynomus jamesi Kou, Chen and Li, 2017 from Zhengbin fishing port in Keelung, Taiwan, was identified by the shape of the distolateral corner of the uropodal endopod, the shape of the clypeus, and the nucleotide sequences of the COI (cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1) and 16S rRNA genes. Only two species of Bathynomus have previously been recorded from Taiwan, B. doederleini Ortmann, 1894 and B. decemspinosus Shih, 1972. Bathynomus kensleyi, previously known from the South China Sea as well as the south-east Swain Reefs, Coral Sea, was primarily differentiated by the elongate and upturned pleotelson spines, but that character is now shown to also occur in mature Bathynomus jamesi. Two specimens from the Gulf of Mexico (obtained from the Enoshima Aquarium in Japan) were compared to species of Bathynomus from the western North Atlantic. Sequence data showed that one of two samples was not B. giganteus Milne-Edwards, 1879, as had been assumed, and it did not match any other species of Bathynomus. That specimen was collected off the Yucatán Peninsula and is morphologically distinct from both B. giganteus (in the relative length of the antennal flagellum and the length:width ratio of the pleotelson) and B. maxeyorum Shipley, Brooks, and Bruce in Shipley et al., 2016 (the number of pleotelson spines is seven and the distolateral corner is produced on the uropodal exopod). Therefore, it is here described as B. yucatanensis sp. nov. Bathynomus is currently a very minor fisheries resource in Taiwan and Japan, but this find demonstrates the continuing importance of the fishing industry to marine biological exploration. http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:399605D3-356E-402D-9ED1-E36A649A3F1B
Uncertainty breeds anxiety and depression: The impact of the Russian invasion in Ukraine on a Swedish clinical population receiving internet-based psychotherapy

Background Recent global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, have contributed to a rise in the global prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders. This study examines the indirect impact of the Ukraine war on emotional disorders within a Swedish clinical population. Method The sample comprised participants (n = 1,222) actively engaged in an internet-based psychotherapeutic intervention (cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, and waitlist) when the war broke out. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scale and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale were used to measure depression and anxiety. Results Anxiety and depressive symptom severity increased following the war's onset, with an average weekly increase of 0.77-points for anxiety (p = .001, Cohen's d = 0.08) and 0.09-points for depression (p = .70, Cohen's d = 0.01); however, the increase was negligible for depression. Furthermore, higher socioeconomic status (SES) predicted declines in depression and anxiety during the study period, with a 0.69-point average weekly decrease in anxiety (p < .001, Cohen's d = 0.32) and a 1.09-point decrease in depression (p < .001, Cohen's d = 0.48) per one unit increase in SES, suggesting that SES may serve as a protective factor that buffers against psychopathological development during crises. Conclusions These findings have implications for mitigating the development of psychopathology during crises and interpreting treatment efficacy estimates during such events. Our findings also emphasize the potential of internet-based psychotherapy in addressing emotional disorders during crises. This study presents up-to-date information about the reaction of treatment-seeking individuals to abrupt uncertainty.
Risk factors for oral HPV infection among young men who have sex with men — 2 cities, United States, 2012–2014

Background— Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at risk for cancers attributable to human papillomavirus (HPV), including oropharyngeal cancer. HPV vaccination is recommended for U.S. MSM through age 26 years. Oral HPV infection is associated with oropharyngeal cancer. We determined oral HPV prevalence and risk factors among young MSM. Methods— The Young Men’s HPV study enrolled MSM aged 18–26 years from clinics in Chicago and Los Angeles during 2012–2014. Participants self-reported demographics, sexual behaviors, vaccination and HIV status. Self-collected oral rinse specimens were tested for HPV DNA (37 types) by L1-consensus PCR. We calculated adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for risk factors associated with oral HPV among participants not previously vaccinated. Results— Oral HPV was detected in 87/922 (9.4%); 9-valent vaccine (9vHPV) types were detected in 37/922 (4.0%). Among HIV-positive participants, 2.44; CI:1.16–5.12); HIV infection (aPR:1.99; CI:1.14–3.48); >5 sex partners within the past month (aPR:1.93; CI:1.13–3.31); performing oral sex on >5 partners within the last 3 months (aPR:1.87; CI:1.12–3.13); and having >5 male sex partners within the last 3 months (aPR:1.76; CI: 1.08–2.87). Only 454/922 (49.2%) were aware HPV can cause oropharyngeal cancers. Conclusions— Many oral HPV infections were with types targeted by vaccination. Oral HPV infections were significantly associated with HIV and sexual behaviors. Fewer than half of participants were aware HPV could cause oropharyngeal cancer.
Self-Esteem and “At Risk” Women: Determinants and Relevance to Sexual and HIV-Related Risk Behaviors

ABSTRACT In this study, we describe the relationship between self-esteem and HIV-related risk behaviors, and explore what factors predict self-esteem levels of “at risk” women. Interviews were conducted with 250 (predominantly African American) women living in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area between August 1997 and August 2000. A community identification process was used to identify potential study participants, with further expansion of the sample via targeted and theoretical sampling and ethnographic mapping procedures. Self-esteem was related to the number of times having oral sex, the number of times having sex with paying partners, the frequency of sexual risk-taking (all during the 90 days prior to interview), the number of different HIV risk behaviors practiced during the previous year, and condom use attitudes and self-efficacy. Greater involvement HIV risk behaviors was associated with lower self-esteem. Multivariate analyses revealed five significant predictors of women's self-esteem levels: race, religiosity, childhood experiences with emotional neglect, the number of money-related problems experienced, and the number of drug-related problems experienced. The findings indicate that self-esteem is highly relevant to “at risk” women's HIV risk behavior practices, and this has important implications for HIV intervention programs.
The distribution of net benefits under the National Health Insurance programme in Taiwan.

The redistributive effects of a social insurance programme are determined by how the programme is paid for-who pays and how much do they pay? -and how the benefits are distributed. As a result, the redistributive effects of a social health insurance programme should be evaluated on the basis of its net benefit-the difference between benefits and payment. Among the rich body of empirical analysis on equity in health care financing, however, most studies have relied on partial analysis, assessing equity by source of financing while ignoring the benefit side, or looking at equity in benefits but ignoring the funding side. Either approach risks misleading findings. In this study, therefore, the primary objective was to assess the distribution of net benefits across income groups under Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) programme. This study observed a nationally representative sample of 74 012 NHI enrolees from 1996 to 2000. The unique NHI databases in Taiwan provide comprehensive enrolment and utilization information, and allowed linkage to each enrolee's income tax files. In addition to crude estimates, two-part models and ordinary least-square models were used to adjust inpatient and outpatient benefits for health care needs (age, sex, major disease status and physical disability). After adjusting for health care needs, the distribution of net benefits showed an apparent pro-poor pattern, with the lowest income group receiving the highest net benefits (NT$3353) and the top income group receiving the lowest net benefits (-NT$3072) in 1996. Although a clear pro-poor pattern was observed among those enrolees who paid wage-based premiums, this vertically equitable pattern was less evident among the enrolees who paid fixed premiums. Overall, a trend of increasing net benefits was observed in all income groups between 1996 and 2000, and all the NHI enrolees can be considered better off over time. In addition to contributing to the limited literature on equity in net benefits, the study provides an important policy reference to developing countries with large underground economies and relatively small populations of regular wage-earners as it indicates that using fixed premiums as a major financing scheme may pose a serious equity concern and policy challenge.
Race and Masculinity

This study examines how men of different races are displayed in terms of masculinity types and product types by analyzing the content of 636 ads collected from the three most popular men’s lifestyle magazines in Taiwan, China, and the United States between 2008 and 2010. Western models were found more frequently portrayed as Tough, Macho, and Androgynous, but less frequently than Asian models as Vigorous and Sunny. Global marketers use more Asian models when targeting Asian markets than when targeting American markets. Racial difference was also revealed in types of advertised products.