Research on the Replacement Business Tax with ValueAdded Tax of Chinese Banking Industry

As the heart of China’s financial system, the banking industry plays an important role in the nation’s economic development. Under Chinese current financial tax system, the main taxes levied to Banks are business tax (BT) and income tax. Shouldering heavy tax burden and being taxed repeatedly, such policies on the Chinese banking industry undermines the integrity of Value-Added Tax (VAT) chain, contrary to the international guiding rule that the financial industry should be lighter taxed. The defect of Chinese financial tax system makes the phenomenon that the capital accumulation rate is lower than business expansion rate. As a result, Chinese banking industry lack a foundation for further development and international competitiveness. This paper, using developed countries’ successful experiences in financial tax system for reference, in combination with China's practices, proposes to include the banks into the levying scale of VAT, handling local and central income distribution properly to consummate Chinese financial tax system reform in replacing the business tax with VATgradually

Dielectric Measurement and Analysis of Ultrastable PMMA Glass

A stable glass, distinguished from an ordinary glass, has phenomenal characteristics such as a high density and a high kinetic stability. In this project, stable glasses of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) are produced by physical vapor deposition (PVD), and the dielectric responses of the vapor-deposited PMMA glasses are measured at 1 kHz with a high precision capacitance bridge. Measurements of the dielectric loss and storage have been done by heating and cooling the vapor-deposited PMMA glasses, where the heating and cooling cycles are used to rejuvenate the vapor-deposited PMMA glasses and to directly compare stable and nominally rejuvenated glasses. A noticeable suppression in β relaxation peak could be observed in the dielectric loss curve for vapor-deposited glasses (stable glasses) as compared to that for rejuvenated glasses (ordinary glasses). This finding implies that the glass stability essentially influences the dielectric relaxation

Chinese international students in the United States: The interplay of students’ acculturative stress, academic standing, and quality of life

Background: Acculturation could cause grave health consequences in international students. However, there is a shortage of research into how acculturative stress might affect international students’ quality of life in light of their academic standing and experience. The lack of research is particularly pronounced among Chinese international students, representing the largest body of international students studying in the United States (U.S.). Thus, to bridge the research gap, this study aims to examine the interplay between international students’ acculturative stress, academic standing, and quality of life among a nationally representative sample of Chinese international students studying in the United States. Methods: An online survey that gauges Chinese international students’ levels of acculturative stress, academic standing, and quality of life was developed. Over 350 higher education institutions across the United States were approached, including public universities, private universities, and community colleges, among which approximately 220 institutions responded positively and supported survey distribution. A total of 751 students completed the survey. Multiple regression analyses were carried out to examine the associations between students’ acculturative stress, academic standing, and quality of life. Results: Findings reveal that acculturative stress negatively affects all four domains of Chinese international students’ quality of life, irrespective of their academic standing. Data analyses also show that compared to master’s and doctoral students, undergraduates experience the highest levels of acculturative stress. Furthermore, a significant difference emerged among undergraduate and doctoral international students’ acculturative stress levels, but not among undergraduate and master’s students, or master’s and doctoral students. Conclusion: Our study found that, compared to master’s and doctoral students, undergraduates had more significant acculturative stress associated with lower levels of quality of life. This finding highlights the potentially positive role of academic experience – while acculturative stress deteriorates international students’ quality of life, students’ academic standing and experience could be the protective factor in the equation. Future research could further examine how universities and colleges can capitalize on their academic apparatuses and resources to improve international students’ academic performance and students’ acculturation experience and quality of life

Classification of rheumatoid arthritis status with candidate gene and genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms using random forests

Abstract Using the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium (NARAC) candidate gene and genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data sets, we applied regression methods and tree-based random forests to identify genetic associations with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to predict RA disease status. Several genes were consistently identified as weakly associated with RA without a significant interaction or combinatorial effect with other candidate genes. Using random forests, the tested candidate gene SNPs were not sufficient to predict RA patients and normal subjects with high accuracy. However, using the top 500 SNPs, ranked by the importance score, from the genome-wide linkage panel of 5742 SNPs, we were able to accurately predict RA patients and normal subjects with sensitivity of approximately 90% and specificity of approximately 80%, which was confirmed by five-fold cross-validation. However, in a complete training-testing framework, replication of genetic predictors was less satisfactory; thus, further evaluation of existing methodology and development of new methods are warranted.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117372/1/12919_2007_Article_2426.pd

High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein: An Independent Risk Factor for Left Ventricular Hypertrophy in Patients with Lupus Nephritis

Objective. To determine the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and its associated risk factors in lupus nephritis (LN) patients. Methods. 287 LN patients (age: 38.54 ± 13.31, 262 female) were recruited. Echocardiography and serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured. Their relationship was evaluated by univariate correlation analysis and multivariate regression analysis. Results. The prevalence of LVH in this cohort was 21.25% (n = 61). Serum hs-CRP level was significantly elevated in patients with LVH compared to those without (8.03 (3.22–30.95) versus 3.93 (1.48–9.48) mg/L, P < .01), and correlated with left ventricular mass index (LVMI) (r = 0.314, P = .001). Multivariate regression analysis further confirmed that hs-CRP was an independent risk factor (β = 0.338, P = .002) for LVH in patients with LN. Conclusions. Our findings demonstrated that serum hs-CRP level is independently correlated with LVMI and suggested that measurement of hs-CRP may provide important clinical information to investigate LVH in LN patients

A race for a better understanding of COVID-19 vaccine non-adopters

In this paper, we aim to underscore the need for a more nuanced understanding of vaccine non-adopters. As the availability of vaccines does not translate into their de facto adoption—a phenomenon that may be more pronounced amid “Operation Warp Speed”—it is important for public health professionals to thoroughly understand their “customers” (i.e., end users of COVID-19 vaccines) to ensure satisfactory vaccination rates and to safeguard society at large