Education and the livelihood of households in the Northwest Region, Vietnam

Using the updated data from the 2016 Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey, this study examines the role of education in the livelihood of households in the Northwest Region, the poorest region in Vietnam. Our micro-econometric analysis shows that education has a positive effect on choosing better livelihoods, on household income and poverty reduction, even after controlling for all other factors in the models. However, our quantile regression analysis reveals that the returns on education are substantially heterogeneous across percentiles of income distribution and tend to be higher for better-off households. This implies that education has an increasing effect on within-level income inequality. The finding suggests that a conventional approach employing only mean regression to study the effect of education on income could miss heterogeneity of interest to policymakers

Awareness and preparedness of healthcare workers against the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey across 57 countries.

BACKGROUND: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been concerns related to the preparedness of healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to describe the level of awareness and preparedness of hospital HCWs at the time of the first wave. METHODS: This multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs from February to May 2020. We used a hierarchical logistic regression multivariate analysis to adjust the influence of variables based on awareness and preparedness. We then used association rule mining to identify relationships between HCW confidence in handling suspected COVID-19 patients and prior COVID-19 case-management training. RESULTS: We surveyed 24,653 HCWs from 371 hospitals across 57 countries and received 17,302 responses from 70.2% HCWs overall. The median COVID-19 preparedness score was 11.0 (interquartile range [IQR] = 6.0-14.0) and the median awareness score was 29.6 (IQR = 26.6-32.6). HCWs at COVID-19 designated facilities with previous outbreak experience, or HCWs who were trained for dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, had significantly higher levels of preparedness and awareness (p<0.001). Association rule mining suggests that nurses and doctors who had a 'great-extent-of-confidence' in handling suspected COVID-19 patients had participated in COVID-19 training courses. Male participants (mean difference = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.22, 0.46; p<0.001) and nurses (mean difference = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.53, 0.81; p<0.001) had higher preparedness scores compared to women participants and doctors. INTERPRETATION: There was an unsurprising high level of awareness and preparedness among HCWs who participated in COVID-19 training courses. However, disparity existed along the lines of gender and type of HCW. It is unknown whether the difference in COVID-19 preparedness that we detected early in the pandemic may have translated into disproportionate SARS-CoV-2 burden of disease by gender or HCW type

Spatiotemporal evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Delta variants during large nationwide outbreak of COVID-19, Vietnam, 2021

We analyzed 1,303 SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequences from Vietnam, and found the Alpha and Delta variants were responsible for a large nationwide outbreak of COVID-19 in 2021. The Delta variant was confined to the AY.57 lineage and caused >1.7 million infections and >32,000 deaths. Viral transmission was strongly affected by nonpharmaceutical interventions

Eksperymentalne i mezoskopowe badanie numeryczne sieci krystalicznej wzrostu współczynnika dyfuzyjności chlorków podczas jednoosiowego modelu obciążenia

This paper presents experimental and simulation results of the change in the chloride diffusion coefficient of concrete C40 (f’c=40 MPa) during axial loading. Test Method for Electrical Indication was used to measure the chloride diffusivity of the concrete sample during the axial loading. A mesoscopic lattice model is proposed to describe the variation of chloride diffusion coefficient versus damage variable. In such a model, the domain of material is discretized randomly by using Voronoi tessellation for the transport element and Delaunay triangulation for a mechanical element. At the mesoscale, the concrete is constituted by three phases: aggregate, cement paste and ITZ, in which aggregate is assumed to be elastic while cement matrix and ITZ are represented by a damage model with softening. The experimental and numerical results show that in the first stage, without crack (s < 40%smax), the chloride diffusion coefficient remains almost constant, however in the crack initiation and propagation stage (s = 60-80%smax) chloride diffusion coefficient increases significantly. An empirical power model is also proposed to describe the increase of the chloride diffusion coefficient versus stress level and damage variable.W artykule przedstawiono wyniki doświadczalne i symulacyjne zmiany współczynnika dyfuzji chlorków betonu C40 (f’c = 40 MPa) podczas obciążenia osiowego. Do pomiaru dyfuzyjności chlorków próbki betonu podczas obciążenia osiowego wykorzystano metodę badania wskazań elektrycznych. Zaproponowano mezoskopowy model sieci krystalicznej w celu opisania zmiany współczynnika dyfuzji chlorków w funkcji zmiennej uszkodzenia. W takim modelu domena materiału jest dyskretyzowana losowo przy użyciu teselacji Voronoia dla elementu transportowego i triangulacji Delaunaya dla elementu mechanicznego. W mezoskali beton składa się z trzech faz: kruszywa, zaczynu cementowego i ITZ, w których zakłada się, że kruszywo jest elastyczne, natomiast osnowa cementowa i ITZ są reprezentowane przez model uszkodzenia ze zmiękczeniem. Wyniki eksperymentalne i numeryczne pokazują, że w pierwszym etapie, bez pęknięcia ((σ<40%σmax), współczynnik dyfuzji chlorków pozostaje prawie stały, natomiast w fazie inicjacji i propagacji pęknięcia (σ=60-80% σmax) współczynnik dyfuzji chlorków znacznie wzrasta. Zaproponowano również empiryczny model mocy opisujący wzrost współczynnika dyfuzji chlorków w funkcji poziomu naprężenia i zmiennej uszkodzenia

Notes on culturable endophytic microorganisms isolated from 14 medicinal plants in Vietnam: a diversity analysis to predict the host-microbe correlations

Endophytes can generate a cornucopia of marvelous bioactive secondary metabolites useful for mankind but their biodiversity and associations with host plants are still elusive. In this study, we explored the culturable endophytic microorganisms associated with 14 medicinal plants that are of high socio-economic value and/or reportedly endemic to northern Vietnam. Specifically, we isolated the endophytic microorganisms by applying surface sterilization methods and identified them based on morphological and rDNA sequence analyses. Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used to analyze the correlations between the taxonomic affiliations of the culturable endophytes and the characteristics of their hosts. Most of the culturable endophytes obtained were bacteria (80), and few of those were actinomycetes (15) and fungi (8). Many of them are reported to be endophytes of medicinal plants for the first time. A number of plants (5) are also reported for the first time to contain microbial endophytes, while some plants with powerful pharmaceutical potential harbor unique endophytes. Furthermore, our results reveal a strikingly close relation between the compositions of bacterial and fungal isolates from plants having anti-bacterial activity and those from plants having anti-inflammatory activity, or between the compositions of the microbial endophytic isolates from plants having anti-cancer activity and those from plants having antioxidant activity. Altogether, the results provide new findings which can be inspiring for further in-depth studies to explore and exploit the relationships between medicinal plants and their associated endophytes in northern Vietnam and world-wide.3. Good health and well-bein

Awareness and preparedness of healthcare workers against the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey across 57 countries

BACKGROUND: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been concerns related to the preparedness of healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to describe the level of awareness and preparedness of hospital HCWs at the time of the first wave. METHODS: This multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs from February to May 2020. We used a hierarchical logistic regression multivariate analysis to adjust the influence of variables based on awareness and preparedness. We then used association rule mining to identify relationships between HCW confidence in handling suspected COVID-19 patients and prior COVID-19 case-management training. RESULTS: We surveyed 24,653 HCWs from 371 hospitals across 57 countries and received 17,302 responses from 70.2% HCWs overall. The median COVID-19 preparedness score was 11.0 (interquartile range [IQR] = 6.0-14.0) and the median awareness score was 29.6 (IQR = 26.6-32.6). HCWs at COVID-19 designated facilities with previous outbreak experience, or HCWs who were trained for dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, had significantly higher levels of preparedness and awareness (p<0.001). Association rule mining suggests that nurses and doctors who had a 'great-extent-of-confidence' in handling suspected COVID-19 patients had participated in COVID-19 training courses. Male participants (mean difference = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.22, 0.46; p<0.001) and nurses (mean difference = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.53, 0.81; p<0.001) had higher preparedness scores compared to women participants and doctors. INTERPRETATION: There was an unsurprising high level of awareness and preparedness among HCWs who participated in COVID-19 training courses. However, disparity existed along the lines of gender and type of HCW. It is unknown whether the difference in COVID-19 preparedness that we detected early in the pandemic may have translated into disproportionate SARS-CoV-2 burden of disease by gender or HCW type