The Dynamic and Heterogeneous Effects of COVID-19 Vaccination Mandates in the USA.

Mandatory vaccination for COVID-19 has received intense political and ethical debates, while the literature on the causal effects of vaccination mandates on vaccination outcomes is very limited. In this study, we examine the effects of the announcement of vaccine mandates (VMs) for workers working in three sectors, including health, education, and state governments, on the uptake of first-dose and second-dose vaccination across 50 states in the United States of America. We show that VM announcements have heterogeneous effects; hence, standard two-way fixed effects and difference-in-differences estimators are biased.

The kinetics of a light irradiation enhanced room temperature NO gas sensor using hybrid ZnO/ZnTe nanorod structures.

This study focuses on fabricating a hybrid structure consisting of ZnO nanorods and ZnTe nanoparticles for NO gas detection, particularly exploring the impact of light irradiation at room temperature (RT). The morphology, physical characteristics, and chemical properties of the ZnO/ZnTe hybrid structure are carefully studied under diverse analytical methods such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and other measurements. The ZnO/ZnTe composite displayed an improved response toward 500 ppb NO under the blue light radiation effect.

A modification of normalized difference drought index to enhance drought assessment using remotely sensed imagery.

Drought is one of the common natural disasters with a wide range of occurrences in terms of space and time, and with varying levels of severity, that may result in economic damage and health issues to humans. This study focuses on assessing drought severity in the Central Highlands of Vietnam based on ground meteorological stations and multispectral remote sensing data. A Modification of the Normalized Difference Drought Index (MNDDI) was developed to enhance the effectiveness of remote sensing indices in the drought assessment.

Patch-Level Feature Selection for Thoracic Disease Classification by Chest X-ray Images Using Information Bottleneck.

Chest X-ray (CXR) examination serves as a widely employed clinical test in medical diagnostics. Many studied have tried to apply artificial intelligence (AI) programs to analyze CXR images. Despite numerous positive outcomes, assessing the applicability of AI models for comprehensive diagnostic support remains a formidable challenge.

Image-Based Ship Detection Using Deep Variational Information Bottleneck.

Image-based ship detection is a critical function in maritime security. However, lacking high-quality training datasets makes it challenging to train a robust supervision deep learning model. Conventional methods use data augmentation to increase training samples.

A novel adaptive neural network-based time-delayed estimation control for nonlinear systems subject to disturbances and unknown dynamics.

This paper presents an adaptive backstepping-based model-free control (BSMFC) for general high-order nonlinear systems (HNSs) subject to disturbances and unstructured uncertainties to enhance the system tracking performance. The proposed methodology is constructed based on the backstepping control (BSC) with radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) -based time-delayed estimation (TDE) to overcome the obstacle of unknown system dynamics. Additionally, a command-filtered (CF) approach is involved to address the complexity explosion of the BSC design.

Rethinking Feature Generalization in Vacant Space Detection.

Vacant space detection is critical in modern parking lots. However, deploying a detection model as a service is not an easy task. As the camera in a new parking is set up at different heights or viewing angles from the original parking lot where the training data are collected, the performance of the vacant space detector could be degraded.

The impact of cold waves and heat waves on mortality: Evidence from a lower middle-income country.

We estimate the impact of temperature extremes on mortality in Vietnam, using daily data on temperatures and monthly data on mortality during the 2000-2018 period. We find that both cold and heat waves cause higher mortality, particularly among older people and those living in the hot regions in Southern Vietnam. This effect on mortality tends to be smaller in provinces with higher rates of air-conditioning and emigration, and provinces with higher public spending on health.

The expression and mutation of BRCA1/2 genes in ovarian cancer: a global systematic study.

Introduction: This systematic review was designed to summarize the findings on expression and mutation of genes in ovarian cancer (OC) patients, focusing on mutation detection technology and taking clinical decisions for better treatment.

Areas Covered: We conducted a systematic review by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses document selection guidelines for the document selection process and the PICOT standard for developing the keywords to search for. A total of 5729 publications were included, and 50 articles were put into the final screening.

Modelling optimal lockdowns with waning immunity.

This paper studies continuing optimal lockdowns (can also be interpreted as quarantines or self-isolation) in the long run if a disease (Covid-19) is endemic and immunity can fail, that is, the disease has SIRS dynamics. We model how disease related mortality affects the optimal choices in a dynamic general equilibrium neoclassical growth framework. An extended welfare function that incorporates loss from mortality is used.

The relative roles of domestic and foreign capital in aggregate production of GDP and CO-equivalent emission across OECD countries.

This paper adopts a two-stage stochastic frontier analysis framework to analyse the roles of foreign and domestic capital in the aggregate production of gross domestic product (GDP) and CO-equivalent emissions across 36 OECD countries from 1990 to 2014. The first stage estimates a quadratic output directional distance function to derive the marginal products of foreign and domestic capital with respective to GDP and emissions. The second stage examines explanations for variations in the marginal rate of technical substitution (MRTS) of foreign and domestic capital across OECD countries.

Evaluation of methods to detect circular RNAs from single-end RNA-sequencing data.

Background: Circular RNA (circRNA), a class of RNA molecule with a loop structure, has recently attracted researchers due to its diverse biological functions and potential biomarkers of human diseases. Most of the current circRNA detection methods from RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) data utilize the mapping information of paired-end (PE) reads to eliminate false positives. However, much of the practical RNA-Seq data such as cross-linking immunoprecipitation sequencing (CLIP-Seq) data usually contain single-end (SE) reads.

COVID-19 and a Green Recovery?

Preliminary evidence indicates that pollution increases the severity and likelihood of COVID-19 infections similar to many other infectious diseases. This paper models the interaction of pollution and disease preventive actions, either pharmaceutical or non-pharmaceutical interventions, on transmission of infectious diseases in a neoclassical growth framework. There are two externalities - households do not take into account how their actions affect disease transmission, and productive activity results in pollution which increases the likelihood of infections.

pn-Heterojunction of the SWCNT/ZnO nanocomposite for temperature dependent reaction with hydrogen.

A hydrogen breath test is a non-invasive and safe diagnostic tool to explore the functional gastrointestinal disorders. For the diagnosis of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth syndrome as well as carbohydrate malabsorption such as fructose, lactose, and sorbitol malabsorption, a hydrogen breath test is considered one of the gold criterions. Since the more sensitive hydrogen sensor enables the more accurate prediction about the disease, many efforts have been to the development of the high performance H sensor.

Defect-Induced Gas-Sensing Properties of a Flexible SnS Sensor under UV Illumination at Room Temperature.

Tin sulfide (SnS) is known for its effective gas-detecting ability at low temperatures. However, the development of a portable and flexible SnS sensor is hindered by its high resistance, low response, and long recovery time. Like other chalcogenides, the electronic and gas-sensing properties of SnS strongly depend on its surface defects.

X-Ray Enhancement Based on Component Attenuation, Contrast Adjustment, and Image Fusion.

Inspecting X-ray images is an essential aspect of medical diagnosis. However, due to an X-ray's low contrast and low dynamic range, important aspects such as organs, bones, and nodules become difficult to identify. Hence, contrast adjustment is critical, especially because of its ability to enhance the details in both bright and dark regions.

Assessing the burden of human cysticercosis in Vietnam.

Objectives: To describe the occurrence of cysticercosis in patients living in rural areas of Northern Vietnam presenting clinical signs of neurocysticercosis.

Methods: Serological antigen detection, reflecting current infection with viable larval stages of Taenia solium, was used to estimate the prevalence of active cysticercosis in this patient population.

Results: The seroprevalence in epileptic patient population was <10%.

A randomized controlled trial of Tai chi for balance, sleep quality and cognitive performance in elderly Vietnamese.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of Tai chi exercise on balance, sleep quality, and cognitive performance in community-dwelling elderly in Vinh city, Vietnam.

Design: A randomized controlled trial.

Participants: One hundred two subjects were recruited.

The effects of Tai Chi training on physical fitness, perceived health, and blood pressure in elderly Vietnamese.

Objective: Evaluating the effects of Tai Chi exercise on physical fitness, blood pressure, and perceived health in community-dwelling elderly.

Design: A randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Community-dwelling elderly in Vinh city, Vietnam.

Human Plasmodium knowlesi infections in young children in central Vietnam.

Background: Considering increasing reports on human infections by Plasmodium knowlesi in Southeast Asian countries, blood samples collected during two large cross-sectional malariometric surveys carried out in a forested area of central Vietnam in 2004 and 2005 were screened for this parasite.

Methods: Blood samples collected at the 2004 survey and positive for Plasmodium malariae were randomly selected for PCR analysis detecting P. knowlesi.