Et hamskifte i den norske kinobransjen: en empirisk analyse av billettpriser

I Norge har det siden de første filmene ble vist offentlig tidlig på 1900-tallet vært viktig å danne et skille mellom kommunale og private kinoer. Der kommunale kinoer følger kulturpolitiske mål, søker private kinoer etter profittmaksimering. Norske konsumenter har historisk dratt stor nytte av et kvalitativt filmtilbud til lave priser under det særnorske kommunale kinosystemet. De siste femten årene har kapitalsterke private kinokjeder tatt over stadig flere kommunale kinoer, og i media deles det en utbredt bekymring for denne utviklingen. Vi har i lys av privatiseringen ønsket å se nærmere på hvordan eierskap- og konkurranseforholdene for bedriftene i kinobransjen påvirker billettpriser. Utredningen baserer seg på årlige data i perioden 2001-2014 for de 57 største kinobedriftene i Norge per 2013, der disse data er hentet fra Film & Kino og SSB. Vi har benyttet oss av regresjonsanalyser og komparative trendanalyser for å komme frem til våre funn. Resultatene viser at en kinos eierskaps- og konkurranseforhold kan være av betydning for kinoenes priser. Der ser vi at private kinoersetter signifikant høyere pris enn andre kommunale kinoer. Vi kommer videre frem til at kommunale kinoer som overtas av private aktører har en høyere prisøkning relativt til kommunale kinoer i perioden etter eierskapsskiftet. Når det gjelder konkurranse, finner vi at konkurrerende kinoer generelt setter lavere pris enn kinoer som ikke møter konkurranse. Nærmere undersøkelser viser at private kinoer med og uten konkurranse setter tilnærmet lik pris, mens konkurrerende kommunale kinoer setter merkbart lavere pris i forhold til kommunale kinoer uten konkurranse. Oppgaven konkluderer med at privatiseringen har elementer som bidrar til både høyere og lavere pris på sikt, men at dette vil kun holde under antakelse om at kinolandskapet er under liknende forhold som det er i dagnhhma

Assessing Student’s Acceptance of Digital Transformation in Business and Management Universities in Vietnam

In recent years, the trend of digital transformation in education has increased significantly. A series of policies to promote the digital transformation of education have been issued, gradually completing the legal corridor such as the regulations on applying information technology, information in management, organization of online training, the use of the entire industry database system. Therefore, this article is the result of a more comprehensive research project and aims to analyze the digital transformation acceptance of college students in Economic - Business Universities in the North of Vietnam. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and independent variable Perceived Security (PS) have been combined together in order to support the survey. The data was analyzed using the method of multiple regression. These findings shed the light on the digital transformation acceptance level of students with the positive link of Performance Expectancy (PE), Social Influence (SI), Perceived Security (PS) and Facilitating Conditions (FC) on Behavioral Intention of digital transformation and its Use Behavior. Moreover, the study also has the contribution to provide orientations and solutions that will be proposed to approach the trend encouraging the application of digital transformation into higher education specifically in the business field. Keywords: UTAUT, digital transformation, perceived security, higher education DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-8-02 Publication date: April 30th 202

ASSESSMENT OF GEOMORPHIC PROCESSES AND ACTIVE TECTONICS IN CON VOI MOUNTAIN RANGE AREA (NORTHERN VIETNAM) USING THE HYPSOMETRIC CURVE ANALYSIS METHOD

the Day Nui Con Voi (DNCV) area of Vietnam. For this purpose, a spatial database was collected and constructed, including DEM (Digital Elevation Model) and a geological map. The hypsometric curve (HC) analysis method and its statistical moments were adopted to use for the assessment. These methods have been widely used for the assessment of geomorphic processes and active tectonics in many areas in the world showing promising results. A total of 44 sub-basins of the Red River and the Chay river were analyzed. The result shows that 3 curve-types such as "straight- shape", "S- shape", and concave were found; with the concave curve being the dominant and widely distributed in the northeast side and in the south of the southwestern side of the study area. The hypsometric integral (HI) values are rather small with the largest value is 0.37 and the smallest one is 0.128. Other statistical moments of the hypsometric curve, i.e. skew (SK), kurtosis (KUR), and the density function (density skew - DSK and density kurtosis-DKUR) show great values, which increased in the south direction of the area study. Accordingly, recent active tectonics (uplift-lower) in the study area is generally weak; however, they are also not completely homogeneous and can be distinguished by different levels. The southwestern side is being lifted higher than the northeastern side. The northern part is being lifted larger than the southern part. In the region, the uplift activities were increased gradually in the Pliocene-Quaternary and could have stopped at certain time in the past. The current geomorphic processes are mainly headward erosion in the upstream.References Allen, C.R., Gillepie, A.R., Han, Y., Sieh, K.E., Zhu, C., 1984. 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PSSA- INTERNATIONAL SOLUTION TO PROTECT THE BIODIVERSITY IN HA LONG BAY - CAT BA MARINE AREA

A Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) is an important management tool for biodiversity protection of a marine area. At the time of designation of a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area, an associated protective measure, which meets the requirements of the appropriate legal instrument establishing such measure, must have been approved or adopted by IMO to prevent, reduce, or eliminate the threat or identified vulnerability. Information on each of the Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs) that has been designated by IMO is available on the nautical chart. The Vietnam’s coastal zones and islands are the isolated oceanic habitat of extremely rich marine life in very good condition which is important to the maintenance and dispersal of the marine life of the western tropical Pacific. Vietnam coastal areas are very high risk areas affected by maritime activities, particularly international shipping, therefore in the future identification of some Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs) is necessary. The first Particularly Sensitive Sea Area for Vietnam in Ha Long - Cat Ba was initially proposed in this paper

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Policy of Holding the Second Dose of Vaccination: Lessons from the Outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a lot of ethical controversy in the equal provision of healthcare, including vaccination. Therefore, our study was designed to assess the impact of Ho Chi Minh City’s policy to hold the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Using a cross-sectional study design to assess low saturation of peripheral oxygen (SPO2) risk based on vaccination status, we included patients who were confirmed to have SARS-CoV-2 and were treated at home. The stepwise method was used to determine participants’ low SPO2 risk-related factors. The average age of the 2836 respondents was 46.43 17.33 (years). Research results have shown that seven factors are related to the low SPO2 status of participants, including age, sneezing, shortness of breath, coughing, and fainting as COVID-19 symptoms, the number of people living with COVID-19, and a history of lung disease. A statistically significant (p = 0.032) finding in this study was that fully vaccinated patients had a 6% lower risk of low SPO2 compared to the first dose less than 21 days group. This result was similar in the vaccine holder group (p < 0.001). Holding the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is associated with a lower SPO2 risk than that of fully vaccinated patients. Therefore, this approach should be considered by governments as it could bring a greater benefit to the community

Elevated Levels of Cell-Free Circulating DNA in Patients with Acute Dengue Virus Infection

BACKGROUND: Apoptosis is thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of severe dengue and the release of cell-free DNA into the circulatory system in several medical conditions. Therefore, we investigated circulating DNA as a potential biomarker for severe dengue. METHODS AND FINDINGS: A direct fluorometric degradation assay using PicoGreen was performed to quantify cell-free DNA from patient plasma. Circulating DNA levels were significantly higher in patients with dengue virus infection than with other febrile illnesses and healthy controls. Remarkably, the increase of DNA levels correlated with the severity of dengue. Additionally, multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that circulating DNA levels independently correlated with dengue shock syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: Circulating DNA levels were increased in dengue patients and correlated with dengue severity. Additional studies are required to show the benefits of this biomarker in early dengue diagnosis and for the prognosis of shock complication

Penicillium digitatum as a Model Fungus for Detecting Antifungal Activity of Botanicals: An Evaluation on Vietnamese Medicinal Plant Extracts.

peer reviewedMedicinal plants play important roles in traditional medicine, and numerous compounds among them have been recognized for their antimicrobial activity. However, little is known about the potential of Vietnamese medicinal plants for antifungal activity. In this study, we examined the antagonistic activity of twelve medicinal plant species collected in Northern Vietnam against Penicillium digitatum, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Candida albicans. The results showed that the antifungal activities of the crude extracts from Mahonia bealei, Ficus semicordata, and Gnetum montanum were clearly detected with the citrus postharvest pathogen P. digitatum. These extracts could fully inhibit the growth of P. digitatum on the agar medium, and on the infected citrus fruits at concentrations of 300-1000 µg/mL. Meanwhile, the other tested fungi were less sensitive to the antagonistic activity of the plant extracts. In particular, we found that the ethanolic extract of M. bealei displayed a broad-spectrum antifungal activity against all four pathogenic fungi. Analysis of this crude extract by enrichment coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography revealed that berberine and palmatine are major metabolites. Additional inspections indicated berberine as the key compound responsible for the antifungal activity of the M. bealei ethanolic extract. Our study provides a better understanding of the potential of Vietnamese medicinal plant resources for combating fungal pathogens. This work also highlights that the citrus pathogen P. digitatum can be employed as a model fungus for screening the antifungal activity of botanicals

A randomised controlled trial of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDITOF-MS) versus conventional microbiological methods for identifying pathogens: Impact on optimal antimicrobial therapy of invasive bacterial and fungal infections in Vietnam.

OBJECTIVES: We assessed the impact of MALDITOF-MS on the timeliness of optimal antimicrobial therapy through a parallel-arm randomised controlled trial in two hospitals in Vietnam. METHODS: We recruited patients with a pathogen (bacterial or fungal) cultured from a normally sterile sample. Samples were randomly assigned (1:1) to identification by MALDITOF-MS or conventional diagnostics. The primary outcome was the proportion on optimal antimicrobial therapy within 24 h of positive culture, determined by a blinded independent review committee. Trial registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02306330). RESULTS: Among 1005 randomised patients, pathogens were isolated from 628 (326 intervention, 302 control), with 377 excluded as likely contaminants or discharged/died before positive culture. Most isolates were cultured from blood (421/628, 67.0%). The proportion receiving optimal antimicrobial therapy within 24 h (the primary outcome) or 48 h of growth was not significantly different between MALDITOF-MS and control arms (135/326, 41.4% vs 120/302, 39.7%; Adjusted Odds ration (AOR) 1.17, p = 0.40 and 151/326, 46.3% vs 141/302, 46.7%; AOR 1.05 p = 0.79, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: MALDITOF-MS, in the absence of an antimicrobial stewardship programme, did not improve the proportion on optimal antimicrobial therapy at 24 or 48 h after first growth in a lower-middle income setting with high rates of antibiotic resistance

The Association of Cytokines with Severe Dengue in Children

Background: Dengue virus infection is a major public health problem. A hypothesis put forward for severe dengue is the cytokine storm, a sudden increase in cytokines that induces vascular permeability. Previous studies and our recent meta-analysis showed that IL-6, IL-8, IFNγ, TNFα, VEGF-A and VCAM-1 are associated with dengue shock syndrome. Therefore, in this study we aim to validate the association of these cytokines with severe dengue. Methods & Findings: In a hospital based-case control study in Vietnam, children with dengue fever, other febrile illness and healthy controls were recruited. Dengue virus infection was confirmed by several diagnostic tests. Multiplex immunoassay using Luminex technology was used to measure cytokines simultaneously. A positive association with dengue shock syndrome was found for VCAM-1, whereas a negative association was found for IFNγ. Furthermore, multivariate logistic analysis also showed that VCAM-1 and IFNγ were independently correlated with dengue shock syndrome. Conclusion: IFNγ and VCAM-1 were associated with dengue shock syndrome, although their role in the severe dengue pathogenesis remains unclear. Additional studies are required to shed further light on the function of these cytokines in severe dengue

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