Building forecast maps of water quaůity for main rivers and canals in Tien Giang province, Vietnam

This study aims to enhance the mapping of forecast for water quality assessment in Mekong Delta provinces. The data from 32 sites from main rivers and canals in an area of around 2,482 km2 in Tien Giang Province, Vietnam, were used for calculation and mapping. The ArcGIS 9.3 software, Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation method, hydrologic data, and water quality parameters in March (2010-2014) were applied to build the maps showing 2020 water quality predictions for main rivers and canals in Tien Giang Province. The estimation was based on the Water Quality Index (WQI) with 6 parameters such as pH, total suspended solid (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total nitrogen (T_N), and coliform. The results showed that water quality in the studied area in dry season will not be improved by the year 2020. The finding could be a scientific reference for the selection of effective approaches to improve water quality in main rivers and canals in Tien Giang Province

Platformization Practices of Health Information Systems: A Case of National eHealth Platforms

Using electronic health (eHealth) platforms is an approach for reaching more people to get services—for example during pandemics or disasters. eHealth platforms help reduce costs and improve the general quality of healthcare. However, establishing eHealth platforms at the national level is challenging due to legal, privacy, and financial constraints. Furthermore, studies on the national eHealth platform in the public sector are scarce. This motivated us to study and understand the process of implementing a public national eHealth platform. We use a qualitative case study as a research approach and the theory of practice and concept of site as lenses to examine the platformization practices of three national-level eHealth platforms. We contribute to the literature by identifying key features of site-shifting in eHealth and describing the practices and features of involved practitioners and the site regarding the process of establishing the platform. Our findings benefit practitioners, as the platformization phases can be seen as lessons when establishing a national eHealth platform. Additionally, the three approaches discussed in this study could be seen as a guide to creating national eHealth platforms

How Foreign Ownership and Competition Affect the Credit Growth of Commercial Banks: Evidence from A Transitional Economy

This study examines the relationship between foreign ownership and market competition, proxied by bank market power, affecting the credit growth of 32 commercial banks in Vietnam from 2010 to 2020. The Random Effects Model and the Dynamic System Generalized Method of Moments were used to analyze an unbalanced panel of 278 annual observations. The findings report that foreign ownership reduces credit growth, with each percentage increase in foreign ownership reducing credit growth by 0.74%. The results indicate an inverse U-shaped relationship between competitive advantage and credit growth, with a turning point of 0.46. The main findings were found to be robust after employing an alternative market power proxy. The study recommends that bank managers and policymakers limit foreign ownership and control commercial banks’ market power to promote sustainable credit growth

The Nonlinearity of Working Capital and Cross-Sectional Stock Returns: Does Financial Constraints Matter?

This study is the first to examine the impacts of working capital (WC) and financial constraints on cross-sectional stock returns in Taiwan. The findings indicate a non-linear relationship between WC and stock returns. Moreover, the nonlinearity between WC and cross-sectional stock returns is robust after controlling for financial constraints, risk, and growth factors, before the Covid-19 pandemic. In contrast, there is no evidence of nonlinearity between WC and stock returns throughout the Covid-19 outbreak. In addition, the study shows that any deviations from the minimum WC level enhance the stock returns cross-sectionally. It is found that a positive Deviation effect exists in the Taiwan stock exchange before the Covid-19 pandemic by employing portfolio sorting methodologies. The return difference of the long buying highest Deviation and short selling lowest Deviation portfolios earn from 0.6% to 0.9% per month after controlling for financial constraints, risks, and growth factors. Interestingly, it is determined that the deviation effect becomes negative for small stocks during the Covid-19 pandemic, implying that investors prefer small stocks to maintain minimum working capital. The results support the trade-off theory and liquidity preference theory. Finally, the study provides insights into working capital management for managers, and investment strategies for investors during the pandemic

Propagating arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with coffee plant by using the herbaceous host

Coffee (Coffea spp.) is one of important industrial crops. Additionally, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) provide many benefits for plants such as increasing nutrient uptake, enhancing tolerance in drought and stress condition, etc. Therefore, preservation and propagation of AMF spores collected from coffee’s rhizosphere are necessary for coffee cultivation. The AMF preservation on coffee plant is not feasible because coffee is a long-term plants, which led to study on symbiotic ability of AMF on several short-term host plants (maize (Zea mays), plantain (Plantago spp.), rice (Oryza sativa), beggarticks (Bidens pilosa), and bahia grass (Pensacola bahia)) to maintain AM association. Investigation of symbiosis ability with four types of AMF spores showed that maize had the highest rate of fungal infection. The total number of AMF spore per 50g soil after 3 months of inoculation on maize reached 352 spores, which was 4.1 times higher than that of the origin while the lowest figure recorded in bahia grass is with only 2.3 times

Spondylolysis-induced Multilevel Lumbar Spondylolisthesis; Challenges in Lumbar Spine Surgery

Lumbar spondylolysis and multilevel lumbar spondylolysis account for 4.4-5.8% and 0.3% of the general population, and multilevel lumbar spondylolysis resulting in spondylolisthesis is even rarer. Herein, we report two cases of three-level lumbar spondylolisthesis because of spondylolysis: A 49-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital for dull lower back pain over the past 8 months, with exacerbating symptoms when standing and walking. Spasticity at lumbar region and radiculopathy at S1 nerve root was found on examination and a 63-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because of numbness and perianal sensory disturbances with difficulty urinating 2 weeks ago, the symptoms gradually increased to the time of examination. Both patients were diagnosed with multilevel lumbar spondylolisthesis because of spondylolysis and were indicated for posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). After surgery, both patients recovered well without any significant complications. The improved treatment results suggest the application of PLIF technique to treat spondylolysis-induced multilevel lumbar spondylolisthesis