Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Are Associated with Increased Risk of Dementia among the Elderly: A Nationwide Study

Studies show a strong association between dementia and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). The aim of this study was to investigate whether LUTS are a risk factor for cognitive impairment. We enrolled 50-year-old and older subjects with LUTS (LUTS[+]) (n = 6801) and controls without LUTS (LUTS[−]) (n = 20,403) from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. LUTS, dementia, and other confounding factors are defined by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification Codes. Participants were recruited from 2000 to 2004 and then followed up until death or the end of 2011. The outcome was the onset of dementia, which was assessed using Poisson regression analysis, Cox hazards models, and Kaplan-Meier survival curves. The incidence of dementia was significantly higher in the LUTS[+] group than in the LUTS[−] group (124.76 versus 77.59/1000 person-years). The increased risk of dementia related to LUTS remained significant after adjustment for potential confounders (adjusted hazard ratio (AHR): 1.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.47–1.76, P < 0.0001) and higher than that related to cerebrovascular disease (AHR: 1.43, 95% CI 1.26–1.61, P < 0.0001). The outcome suggests the need for early screening and appropriate intervention to help prevent cognitive impairment of patients with LUTS.
EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA SINCE 1949: OSCILLATING POLICIES AND ENDURING DILEMMAS

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, Chinese society has undergone tumultuous changes in its socio-economic, political and cultural realms. Led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Chinese people have been plunged into national experiments, the scale of which have been unmatched by previous ones in the written history of humankind. Among these experiments, observers of contemporary China can easily point out the bold Great Leap Forward campaign to march towards communism in 1958-1960, the social upheaval of the Great Pro letarian Cultural Revolution during the ten year period of 1966-1976 and the gigantic economic transition from a centrally-planned economy to wards a market-oriented socialist economy in the post-1978 period. These experiments in national development have been characterized by big policy changes and controversies; they have also been associated with impressive successes and heart-wrenching human dislocations. Educational policies in China in the past five decades have also been characterized by bold moves, major shifts and reversals. Educational change is inextricably linked to change in the larger society. Some observers may point out the substantial gain in literacy of the great masses of people, the large expansion of the education system and the nurturing of some world class scientists and engineers. Others may instead lament the education loss resulting from the major disruption in educating a generation of Chinese during the period of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. The Chinese government certainly thinks that splendid achievements have
Building Monolingual Word Alignment Corpus for the Greater China Region

For a single semantic meaning, various linguistic expressions exist the Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan variety of Mandarin Chinese, a.k. a. , the Greater China Region (GCR). Differing from the current bilingual word alignment corpus, in this paper, we have constructed two monolingual GCR corpora. One is a 11,623-triple GCR word dictionary corpora which is automatically extracted and manually annotated from 30 million sentence pairs from Wikipedia. The other one is a manually annotated 12,000 sentence pairs GCR word alignment corpus from Wikipedia and news website. In addition, we present a rule-based word alignment model which systematically explores the different word alignment case, e.g. 1-1, 1-n and m-n mapping, from Mainland China to Hong Kong or Taiwan. Evaluation results on our two different GCR word alignment corpora verify the effectiveness of our model, which significantly outperforms the current Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based method, GIZA++ and their enhanced versions.
Prevalence of condomless anal intercourse and recent HIV testing and their associated factors among men who have sex with men in Hangzhou, China: A respondent-driven sampling survey

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are a large high-risk population for HIV infection in recent years in China. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Hangzhou, China, to determine rates of condomless anal intercourse (CAI), recent HIV testing (in the recent year) and associated factors using respondent-driven sampling. Questionnaires using face-to-face interviews were employed to collect data on sexual risk behaviors and HIV testing. Five hundred eleven MSM were recruited, of which 459 (89.8%) had anal intercourse in the past 6 months. Of these 459 participants, 457 (99.6%) answered whether they had taken an HIV test in the recent year, so only their data were analyzed. Weighted data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. The CAI rate with male partners in the past 6 months was 43.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 34.0–51.5%), while the rate of condomless vaginal intercourse (CVI) was 21.6% (95% CI, 15.6–32.3%). The prevalence of recent HIV testing was 56.8% (95% CI, 48.7–66.5%), while the prevalence of HIV and syphilis were 8.8% and 6.5%, respectively. Multivariate analysis indicated that CAI was associated with earlier homosexual debut, suicidal inclinations, childhood sexual abuse, HIV testing in the recent year, and lower estimate of HIV prevalence. Recent HIV testing was associated with homosexual debut age, engaging in CAI with male partners in the past 6 months, having oral sex in the past 6 months, self-perceived higher likelihood of HIV infection, knowing about antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS, receiving AIDS/sexually transmitted infection (STI) interventions in the past year, and syphilis infection. Given high prevalence of HIV and syphilis, high levels of CAI and CVI, and low HIV testing rate, the results indicated high risk of HIV infection and transmission among MSM. HIV prevention interventions should target MSM with early homosexual debut and psychosocial health problems, while HIV/AIDS education among MSM should focus on increasing knowledge of HIV risk, estimated HIV prevalence and antiretroviral therapy, and improving risk perception of HIV acquisition.
Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction

Why are some countries rich and others poor? In 1500, the income differences were small, but they have grown dramatically since Columbus reached America. Since then, the interplay between geography, globalization, technological change, and economic policy has determined the wealth and poverty of nations. The industrial revolution was Britain's path breaking response to the challenge of globalization. Western Europe and North America joined Britain to form a club of rich nations by pursuing four polices-creating a national market by abolishing internal tariffs and investing in transportation, erecting an external tariff to protect their fledgling industries from British competition, banks to stabilize the currency and mobilize domestic savings for investment, and mass education to prepare people for industrial work. Together these countries pioneered new technologies that have made them ever richer. Before the Industrial Revolution, most of the world's manufacturing was done in Asia, but industries from Casablanca to Canton were destroyed by western competition in the nineteenth century, and Asia was transformed into 'underdeveloped countries' specializing in agriculture. The spread of economic development has been slow since modern technology was invented to fit the needs of rich countries and is ill adapted to the economic and geographical conditions of poor countries. A few countries - Japan, Soviet Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, and perhaps China - have, nonetheless, caught up with the West through creative responses to the technological challenge and with Big Push industrialization that has achieved rapid growth through investment coordination. Whether other countries can emulate the success of East Asia is a challenge for the future. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Corporate Governance, Product Market Competition and Managerial Incentives: Evidence from Four Pacific Basin Countries

This paper examines how firm-level governance mechanisms affect the role of competition in influencing managerial incentives. Specifically, we examine how concentrated ownership structures affect the positive association between competition and pay-performance sensitivity. Using samples from four Pacific Basin markets, namely, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, from 2001 to 2012, we found that competition leads to strong pay-performance sensitivity for widely-held firms, but not for family- or state-controlled firms. This result suggests that the governance role of industry competition is weakened when firms are controlled by family or the state. Our study deepens our understanding on how product market competition shapes managerial incentives and offers insights to policy makers who are interested in enhancing the effectiveness of industry-level corporate governance in shaping managerial incentives.
Resting energy expenditure is not associated with disease activity in women with rheumatoid arthritis: cross-sectional study

Background/Aims Increased resting energy expenditure (REE) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients is thought to be caused by hypermetabolism associated with production of proinflammatory cytokines. Our aim in the present study was to explore the possible association between REE and disease activity in females with RA. Methods A total of 499 female RA patients were recruited to this cross-sectional study assessing REE scores on disease activity indices (the routine assessment of patient index data 3 [RAPID3], the disease activity score 28, and the clinical/simplified disease activity index [CDAI/SDAI]) and the levels of RA-associated autoantibodies (rheumatoid factor and anticyclic citrullinated peptide [anti-CCP] antibodies). Age-matched healthy female controls (n = 131) were also enrolled. Results REE did not differ between RA patients (all patients, and those in remission or not) and controls, or between RA patients in remission or not (p > 0.05 for all comparisons). Increased REE in total RA patients was associated with younger age and a higher body mass index (BMI) (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively), but not with disease activity index scores on any of RAPID3, CDAI, or SDAI. BMI was the only clinical parameter exhibiting a significant relationship with REE quartiles (Q1 to Q4; p < 0.001); none of disease duration, functional status, or anti-CCP antibody titer in RA patients was significantly related to REE, based on analysis of covariance. Conclusions We found no association between REE and disease activity in RA patients, implying that energy metabolism in RA patients might be independent of RA-associated systemic inflammation.
Gender and East Asian Welfare States: from Confucianism to Gender Equality

How can we understand the gender logic underpinning the welfare states/systems of East Asia? Does the comparative literature, which has largely been concerned with western Welfare states, whether in The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Esping-Andersen 1990), or in gender-based analysis of the male breadwinner model (Lewis 1992, 2001, 2006), have anything to offer in understanding the gender assumptions underpinning East Asian welfare states? Are the welfare systems of East Asian countries distinctive, with Confucian assumptions hidden beneath the surface commitment to gender equality? We will use the (mainly western) comparative literature, but argue that Confucian influences remain important, with strong assumptions of family, market and voluntary sector responsibility rather than state responsibility, strong expectations of women’s obligations, without compensating rights, a hierarchy of gender and age, and a highly distinctive, vertical family structure, in which women are subject to parents-in-law. In rapidly changing economies, these social characteristics are changing too. But they still put powerful pressures on women to conform to expectations about care, while weakening their rights to security and support. Nowhere do welfare states’ promises bring gender equality in practice. Even in Scandinavian countries women earn less, care more, and have less power than men. We shall compare East Asian countries (Japan, Korea, Taiwan where possible) with some Western ones, to argue that some major comparative data (e.g. OECD) show the extreme situation of women in these countries. Some fine new qualitative studies give us a close insight into the experience of mothers, including lone and married mothers, which help us to understand how far the gender assumptions of welfare states are from Scandinavia’s dual earner model. There are signs of change in society as well as in economy, and room for optimism that women’s involvement in social movements and academic enquiry may be challenging Confucian gender hierarchies.
Cross‐market dynamics in property stock markets: Some international evidence

Purpose – Aims to investigate the long‐run and short‐term relationships among four Asian property stock markets of Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia; and four European property stock markets of UK, France, Germany and Italy. Additionally, aims to examine the relationships between equally‐weighted Asian and European regional property stock indices.Design/methodology/approach – The long‐term analysis is undertaken using Johansen multivariate cointegration approach. The degree of short‐term dependence is investigated with an extended EGARCH model for evidence of mean and volatility spillovers across the property stock markets.Findings – The combined findings of minimal cointegration, weak mean transmission and lack of significant evidence of cross‐volatility spillovers among the Asian and European property stock markets imply that investors would benefit from diversifying property stock portfolios internationally in Asia and Europe in the short‐ and long‐run.Originality/value – This study contributes .
Investor Overreaction in Asian and US Stock Markets: Evidence from the 2008 Financial Crisis

This study explored the effectiveness of the contrarian and momentum strategies in the United States stock market-S&P 500 and Chinese stock markets (Taiwan, Hong Kong, & Singapore) both during the 2008 financial crisis and during the pre-crisis period. Additionally, the study examined the similarities and differences between investor behavior (specifically overreaction and underreaction) in western and eastern countries, to assist global investors and fund managers in their decision-making in those regions. The sample period was from May 2003 to October 2012, providing both long-term and short-term analysis and including a non-crisis financial period and a crisis period. This study used an empirical research design and was non-experimental in nature. Results showed that in the short-term, the momentum strategy is significant in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, but not in the S&P 500. Additionally, the momentum strategy is not significant in the financial crisis period in the Asian markets. However, the momentum strategy did provide significant profit in the financial crisis period in the U.S. market. The contrarian strategy is significant in the long-term except in the S&P 500, but it is also not significant in the crisis period.
Tourism Forecasting and its Relationship with Leading Economic Indicators

This article investigates the application of three time-series forecasting techniques, namely, exponential smoothing, univariate Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), and adjusted ARIMA to predict travel demand (i.e., the number of arrivals) from different countries to Hong Kong. The third approach, adjusted ARIMA, is an enhancement of univariate ARIMA. This uses influential economic indicators that are highly correlated with travel demand to adjust univariate ARIMA. According to the analysis, adjusted ARIMA with economic indicators seems to be the best forecasting method for Japan, whereas univariate ARIMA is the best predictor for the United States and United Kingdom. Univariate ARIMA and adjusted ARIMA behave similarly for countries like Taiwan, Singapore, and Korea. Among the three forecasting methods, exponential smoothing is the least accurate. This shows that univariate ARIMA and adjusted ARIMA are more suitable and can be applied to forecast the fluctuating series of visitor arrivals.
The Effects of Creative Problem Solving Training on Creativity, Cognitive Type and R&D Performance

The effects of Creative Problem Solving (CPS) training on creativity, cognitive type, and R&D performance were investigated with 106 R&D workers of a large government-owned manufacturing company in Taiwan. Seventy-one of them volunteered to participate in the CPS training and were divided into three groups. Each group received 12 hours of CPS training and two follow-up training sessions over a one-year long period in a time-series design. The "Circle Test of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking", and the "Myers-Briggs Type Indicator" were administered before and after the CPS training. R&D performance averaged over the past three years before the CPS training and one year after the pretest were obtained from the company. Results showed that participant's scores on fluency and flexibility of ideas were higher after the CPS training. There was also an increase in the number of persons being classified as extrovert or feeling type of cognition. In terms of R&D performance, the participants' number of co-authored service projects increased significantly from pretest to posttest, whereas no such change was observed among those 35 R&D workers who did not participated in the CPS.
Change for the better via ISO 9000 and TQM

The fundamentals of TQM are revisited for providing a relevant perspective on business excellence. Judging from the experience of the Japanese TQM movement, there is a need for a step‐by‐step approach towards TQ. As a result of exploratory research, a model called TQMEX standing for TQM EXcellence model has been developed based on sound TQM practices. The theoretical background, personal experience and results of an intensive questionnaire survey conducted in Hong Kong, Japan and the UK have highlighted the importance of the Japanese 5‐S, BPR, QCC, ISO 9000 and TPM to TQM practice. The findings are useful for firms wanting to benchmark against the business excellence of leading firms which have survived and grown despite the two global oil crises and the recent Asian financial turmoil.
Asthma Insights and Management in India: Lessons Learnt from the Asia Pacific - Asthma Insights and Management (AP-AIM) Study.

BACKGROUND Despite a better understanding of the pathophysiology of asthma, presence of reliable diagnostic tools, availability of a wide array of effective and affordable inhaled drugs and simplified national and international asthma management guidelines, asthma remains poorly managed in India. OBJECTIVE The Asia-Pacific Asthma Insight and Management (AP-AIM) study was aimed at understanding the characteristics of asthma, current management, level of asthma control and its impact on quality of life across Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. This paper describes the results of asthma management issues in India in detail and provides a unique insight into asthma in India. METHODOLOGY The AP-AIM India study was conducted in eight urban cities in India, viz: Ajmer, Delhi, Kolkata, Rourkela, Chennai, Mangalore, Mumbai and Rajkot from February to July 2011. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in adult asthmatics and parents of asthmatic children between the ages of 12 and 17 years with a confirmed diagnosis or a treatment history of 1 year for asthma. RESULTS Four hundred asthmatics (M:F::1:1.273), with a mean age of 50 ± 17.8 years, from across India were studied. 91% of the asthmatics in India perceived their asthma to be under control, however, none of the asthmatics had controlled asthma by objective measures. Asthmatics in India believed that their asthma was under control if they have up to 2 emergency doctor visits a year. The quality of life of these patients was significantly affected with 93% school/work absenteeism and a loss of 50% productivity. Seventy-five percent of the asthmatics have never had a lung function test. The common triggers for asthmatics in India were dust (49%) and air pollution (49%), while only 5% reported of pollen as triggers. Eighty-nine percent of Indian asthmatics reported an average use of oral steroids 10.5 times a year. Only 36% and 50% of Indian asthmatics used controller and rescue inhalers with a majority preferring the oral route of asthma medication. CONCLUSIONS This study has clearly highlighted the fact that asthma management in India remains very poor, with a significant proportion of patients experiencing bothersome symptoms and worsened quality of life. There is a need for an urgent review of this situation and initiate active measures at local as well as national levels to improve asthma care in India.
Obstructive sleep apnea and risk of osteoporosis: a population-based cohort study in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with metabolic, endocrine, and cardiovascular diseases. It is characterized by repetitive episodes of apnea/hypopnea and hypoxia in tissues, which might also impact bone metabolism. This study investigates the possible association between OSA and osteoporosis. METHODS Random samples of 1 million individuals were collected from Taiwan's National Health Insurance database. A total of 1377 patients with newly diagnosed OSA from 2000 to 2008 were recruited and compared with a matched cohort of 20 655 patients without OSA. All patients were tracked until an osteoporosis diagnosis, death, or the end of 2011. RESULTS During the 6-year follow-up period, the incidence rates of osteoporosis in the OSA cohort and comparison group were 2.52 and 1.00 per 1000 person-years, respectively. Patients with OSA were found to be at 2.74 times the risk of osteoporosis than patients without OSA (95% confidence interval 1.69-4.44, P < .05), after adjustment for age, gender, diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, obesity, stroke, hyperlipidemia, chronic kidney disease, gout, monthly income, and geographical location. Subgroup analysis showed that older patients and female patients had a higher risk for osteoporosis than their younger and male counterparts. Log-rank analysis revealed that patients with OSA patients had significantly higher cumulative incidence rates of osteoporosis than the comparison group (P < .0001). CONCLUSION People diagnosed with OSA are at increased risk for subsequent osteoporosis.
Comparative Analysis of Economic Development in South Korea and Taiwan: Lessons for Other Developing Countries

Abstract:Economic development in South Korea and Taiwan has received considerable scholarly attention, as they are two of the most successful cases since the 1960s. For all their similarities, differences also exist. Thus, we revisited economic development in South Korea and Taiwan to draw lessons for other developing countries. Our analysis indicates that no single development model will work in every country. Countries may learn from the successful cases but need to adjust the development model according to their political and economic conditions.