Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bank Ownership vs Credit Growth: Empirical Evidence from Vietnamese Commercial Banks

This paper is aimed at analyzing the relationship between bank ownership and credit growth of Vietnamese commercial banks. With the data of 20 commercial banks in period 2009-2018 period, the REM method is applied. The key findings are: First, credit growth rate of state-owned commercial banks in Vietnam is higher than of private commercial banks, which is opposite to the expected signal. The main reasons are (i) decision making of state-owned commercial banks on lending are backed by the government, which is more straight-forward than private banks; (ii) State Bank of Vietnam considers credit policy as one of the important monetary policy tools, of which state-owned commercial banks are the key drivers; (iii) state-owned commercial banks have stable and cheap funding sources, which create the good base for expanding credit with cheap interest rates. Second, asset size does not have any impact on credit growth. Credit growth rates are determined by the bank’s overall performance and maximum growth rate set by State Bank of Vietnam, not on assets. Third, the other bank-specific factors are statistically significant with credit growth, of which liquidity and ROA have the strongest influences. Recommendations for better credit growth management of commercial banks include: (i) State Bank of Vietnam and the Government to ensure soundness of the banking system, including applying the Basel II requirements to all banks; and establish more support packages in order to boost the lending activities of privately-owned banks. (ii) Commercial banks to reduce its non-performing loans in order to stimulate the growth in lending. Keywords: bank liquidity, bank ownership, credit growth, non-performing loans, ROA.
Evaluation of gastric emptying by means of scintigra-phy using different test meals

Gastroparesis is a disorder characterized by symptoms and evidence of delayed gastric emptying (GE) in the absence of mechanical obstruction. Scintigraphy has been considered a "gold standard" for measuring Gastric Emptying Time (GET) and retention percentage of radio-labeled food, after four hours of ingestion. To obtain the images, it is recommended, worldwide, the use of the Tougas diet (255kcal) as a standard meal. The objective of this study was to compare the GET and the percentage of retention in the time of 4 h, obtained by scintigraphy using the Tougas diet (255 kcal) and the proposed diet (319 kcal). Thirty patients, both genders, aged 23 to 76 years, were selected, they presenting clinical symptoms suggestive of gastroparesis. These parameters were measured for the same patient, but in different days. The results showed that the diet fat content used to obtain EG of solid foods by scintigraphy did not influence the retention percentage results after 4 hours of ingestion of the radiolabeled food. However, the time of two hours is an important parameter to be observed in the result of this examination. In addition, the data suggest that the proposed diet may be more efficient for the classification of the severity of EG delay in patients with clinical signs suggestive of gastroparesis.
The role of seafood in sustainable diets

Recent discussions of healthy and sustainable diets encourage increased consumption of plants and decreased consumption of animal-source foods (ASFs) for both human and environmental health. Seafood is often peripheral in these discussions. This paper examines the relative environmental costs of sourcing key nutrients from different kinds of seafood, other ASFs, and a range of plant-based foods. We linked a nutrient richness index for different foods to life cycle assessments of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the production of these foods to evaluate nutritional benefits relative to this key indicator of environmental impacts. The lowest GHG emissions to meet average nutrient requirement values were found in grains, tubers, roots, seeds, wild-caught small pelagic fish, farmed carp and bivalve shellfish. The highest GHG emissions per nutrient supply are in beef, lamb, wild-caught prawns, farmed crustaceans, and pork. Among ASFs, some fish and shellfish have GHG emissions at least as low as plants and merit inclusion in food systems policymaking for their potential to support a healthy, sustainable diet. However, other aquatic species and production methods deliver nutrition to diets at environmental costs at least as high as land-based meat production. It is important to disaggregate seafood by species and production method in ‘planetary health diet’ advice.
The Prospective Value of Dopamine Receptors on Bio-Behavior of Tumor

Dopamine receptors are belong to the family of G protein-coupled receptor. There are five types of dopamine receptor (DR), including DRD1, DRD2, DRD3, DRD4, and DRD5, which are divided into two major groups: the D1-like receptors (DRD1 and DRD5), and the D2-like receptors (DRD2, DRD3, and DRD4). Dopamine receptors are involved in all of the physiological functions of dopamine, including the autonomic movement, emotion, hormonal regulation, dopamine-induced immune effects, and tumor behavior, and so on. Increasing evidence shows that dopamine receptors are associated with the regulation of tumor behavior, such as tumor cell death, proliferation, invasion, and migration. Recently, some studies showed that dopamine receptors could regulate several ways of death of the tumor cell, including apoptosis, autophagy-induced death, and ferroptosis, which cannot only directly affect tumor behavior, but also limit tumor progress via activating tumor immunity. In this review, we focus mainly on the function of the dopamine receptor on Bio-behavior of tumor as a potential therapeutic target.
Impact of Empowering Leadership, Innovative Work, and Organizational Learning Readiness on Sustainable Economic Performance: An Empirical Study of Companies in Russia during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic shocked the global economy, with numerous companies suffering losses and shutting down. However, some companies proved to be resilient, being able to sustain their economic performance despite the pandemic. The study aims to explain the sustainable economic performance of companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The relationships between empowering leadership, innovative work behavior, organizational readiness to change, and sustainable economic performance were assessed. The data were collected via an online questionnaire from January 2021 to March 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. The respondents were Russian companies’ employees holding management positions, competent to objectively assess organizational circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 337 was used in the analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood estimation was conducted using SPSS AMOS. The structural model was tested with standardized parameter estimates, standard errors, and p-values calculated. The findings of the study suggest that innovative work behavior and organizational readiness to learn have a direct influence on sustainable economic performance. The findings also suggest that empowering leadership impacts innovative work behavior but not sustainable economic performance. The mediation analysis indicates that innovative work behavior is a mediator between empowering leadership and sustainable economic performance, whereas organizational readiness to learn is not a moderator. The study adds to the leadership and sustainability body of knowledge and contributes to the research on the COVID-19 pandemic in the organizational context.
HSR19-102: Direct and Indirect Economic Burden of Cervical Cancer (CxCa) in the United States in 2015: A Mixed-Methods Analysis

Background: An estimated 12,820 women in the United States will be diagnosed with CxCa in 2018, with 4,210 deaths from the disease. The economic burden of CxCa, both in terms of healthcare costs and lost productivity, has not been adequately studied. Methods: This was a mixed-methods study that evaluated the direct and indirect costs of CxCa using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) for prevalent CxCa cases and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) for deaths due to CxCa. Total healthcare costs and number of work days missed were compared between CxCa cases and controls in MEPS, using propensity scores calculated from baseline demographics and comorbidities. Missed work was converted to costs using the average hourly wage for women in 2015. Per-patient incremental healthcare and lost work productivity costs were then multiplied by the number of prevalent cases of CxCa in 2015 obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER). NCHS data on the age-stratified number of CxCa deaths per year (1935–2015) and life expectancy data from the Social Security Administration were then used to calcluate the number of women who would be alive in 2015 if they had not died from CxCa and the lost earnings resulting from early mortality. The primary study outcome was the total direct and indirect cost of CxCa in 2015, calculated as the sum of the incremental direct healthcare costs, incremental lost productivity costs due to missed work, and lost productivity costs resulting from early death due to CxCa. Results: An estimated 257,524 women were alive with CxCa in 2015. Total healthcare costs were $4,221 higher, and an additional 0.37 work days were missed in women with CxCa compared to propensity-matched controls. Of the 488,475 women who died of CxCa prior to 2015, 108,832 would be alive in 2015 and 38,540 would be part of the workforce. Lost earnings in 2015 attributable to these deaths totaled $2.19 billion. The total economic burden of CxCa in the United States in 2015 was thus estimated at $3.3 billion (Table 1). Conclusions: CxCa was responsible for nearly $3.3 billion in direct and indirect costs in 2015. Early death among women with CxCa was the biggest driver of total economic burden.
Antimicrobial Resistance and Genomic Characterization of Six New Sequence Types in Multidrug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Clinical Isolates from Pakistan

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is a major bacterial pathogen associated with a variety of infections with high mortality rates. Most of the clinical P. aeruginosa isolates belong to a limited number of genetic subgroups characterized by multiple housekeeping genes’ sequences (usually 5–7) through the Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) scheme. The emergence and dissemination of novel multidrug-resistant (MDR) sequence types (ST) in P. aeruginosa pose serious clinical concerns. We performed whole-genome sequencing on a cohort (n = 160) of MDR P. aeruginosa isolates collected from a tertiary care hospital lab in Pakistan and found six isolates belonging to six unique MLST allelic profiles. The genomes were submitted to the PubMLST database and new ST numbers (ST3493, ST3494, ST3472, ST3489, ST3491, and ST3492) were assigned to the respective allele combinations. MLST and core-genome-based phylogenetic analysis confirmed the divergence of these isolates and positioned them in separate branches. Analysis of the resistome of the new STs isolates revealed the presence of genes blaOXA-50, blaPAO, blaPDC, blaVIM-2, aph(3′)-IIb, aac(6′)-II, aac(3)-Id, fosA, catB7, dfrB2, crpP, merP and a number of missense and frame-shift mutations in chromosomal genes conferring resistance to various antipseudomonal antibiotics. The exoS, exoT, pvdE, rhlI, rhlR, lasA, lasB, lasI, and lasR genes were the most prevalent virulence-related genes among the new ST isolates. The different genotypic features revealed the adaptation of these new clones to a variety of infections by various mutations in genes affecting antimicrobial resistance, quorum sensing and biofilm formation. Close monitoring of these antibiotic-resistant pathogens and surveillance mechanisms needs to be adopted to reduce their spread to the healthcare facilities of Pakistan. We believe that these strains can be used as reference strains for future comparative analysis of isolates belonging to the same STs.
When Does Less Equal More? Assessing The Mechanisms Driving Compensatory Mortality And The Hydra Effect

Extrinsic mortality applied to negatively density-dependent populations can result in no change in number of survivors (compensation) or an increase in number of survivors (overcompensation) by releasing the survivors from some level of density-dependent effects. Theoretical studies have attempted to elucidate the mechanisms behind this phenomenon, but there is little empirical work testing the predictions of those efforts. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the level of extrinsic mortality (i.e., percentage of mortality) and the level and likelihood of overcompensation. We test the hypotheses that 1) overcompensation is induced at low-to-intermediate levels of extrinsic mortality with additive mortality occurring above a threshold, and 2) different species exhibit varying levels and likelihood of (over)compensation due to differential responses to density. These hypotheses were tested in four container mosquitoes species (Diptera: Culicidae) – Aedes aegypti, A. albopictus, A. triseriatus, and Culex pipiens. Cohorts of 150 larvae were exposed to either artificial harvest ranging from 0-70% on day 2 or exposure to predation by 1, 2, or 3 Mesocyclops longisetus (Crustacea: Copepoda). The number of adults produced per container was recorded and analyzed by species using mixed-effects generalized linear models. Aedes triseriatus and C. pipiens demonstrated overcompensation across all mortality levels. Overcompensation was induced in A. aegypti up to the 50% mortality level, followed by compensation at 70%. Mortality was compensatory from 0-50% in A. albopictus, followed by partial compensation above 50%. Mortality from predation by M. longisetus led to greater adult production compared to artificial harvest in A. aegypti and A. albopictus and less adult
Open innovation in science: assessing the formation and function of SME-university collaborations through the proximity matrix

ABSTRACT As university-industry collaboration is regarded as an important practice within the open innovation in Science (OIS) framework, this paper assesses the formation and function of these collaborations using the ‘proximity matrix’, evaluating similarities between actors through evaluating their closeness in terms of distance, network membership, knowledge base and working practices. Through presenting analysis of 22 in-depth interviews with SMEs, the findings outline that the process of SME-university collaboration is driven by the ability of the firms to both access (through social proximity) and understand (through technological and organisational proximity) their university partners. Furthermore, the results also suggest distinct roles for each proximity.
Net Returns for Grain Sorghum and Corn under Alternative Irrigation Systems in Western Kansas

This study evaluates seven irrigation systems for use in production of grain sorghum and corn. These systems are medium pressure center-pivot (MPCP), low pressure center-pivot (LPCP), low drift nozzle center-pivot (LDN) , low energy precision application center-pivot (LEPA), furrow flood (FF) , surge flood (SF), and subsurface drip (SD). After-tax net present value estimates from investing in and using each system over a 10-year period to produce grain sorghum and corn are compared. The surge flood system, has the highest net returns under typical conditions for irrigation of both grain sorghum and corn. The furrow flood system generates the next highest net returns for both crops, followed by the subsurface drip system. The medium pressure center-pivot system is the least profitable for both crops. Of the center-pivot systems, the low pressure system has the highest net return, but is followed very closely by the low drift nozzle system. The results of the sensitivity analysis indicate that the net return estimates and ranking of the subsurface drip system are very sensitive to the yield response to irrigation. Lower than average crop prices also have a substantial impact on the ranking of this system. The original investment cost is also an important determinant of its net return.
The predictors of exam performance of Kazakh university students and secondary school pupils learning Turkish

The present study investigates the effect of sociobiographical, emotional, attitudinal characteristics and teacher perceptions of 275 Kazakh secondary school pupils and 317 university students on their exam performance in Turkish as a foreign language (FL). Multiple regression analyses reveal that exam results in Turkish of secondary school pupils are predicted by teacher gender, participant’s age, attitude towards the FL and FL Classroom Anxiety. A very different picture emerges for university students, where FL level, participant’s gender, FL Enjoyment, FL Classroom Anxiety and teacher’s age explain more than twice as much variance. FL exam scores for both groups are thus underpinned by different sets of complex interactions between multiple learner-internal and learner-external variables and the effect of emotions is much stronger among university learners.
Understanding the Role of Student Stress, Personality and Coping on Learning Motivation and Mental Health During a Pandemic

The aims explored associations between stress ratings and influences on coping on student mental health and motivation and compared defensive-pessimism against optimism as a strategy for learning motivation. Most research construes stress as distress, with little attempt to consider positive ‘eustress’ experiences. Undergraduate psychology students (N=162) were surveyed on student and pandemic-related stressors, personality, support, control, mental health and learning motivation. Overall, lack of motivation and procrastination were acute. Uplifting ratings of teaching and optimistic thinking were associated with good mental health, but context control was key. Hassle ratings of teaching lowered learning motivation. Support and conscientiousness bolstered learning motivation, with the latter an important buffer against hassle experiences on motivation. Openness was associated with the stress involved in learning. For those anxious-prone, defensive-pessimism was as effective as optimism was for those not anxious-prone, in stimulating learning motivation. Developing context control, support and strategies linked to personality could bolster student resilience during and post Covid-19.
Preparation and Characterization of Polyethylene Biocomposites Reinforced by Rice Husk: Application as Potential Packaging Material

The development of biodegradable materials as food packaging material is important not only due to the reduction in environmental pollution but also because of an improvement in the functionality. Rice husk-reinforced biopolymers have offered a possible solution to waste-disposal problems associated with traditional petroleum-derived plastics. Rice husk-reinforced low density polyethylene (LDPE)-based biocomposites have been of great interest for their use as food packaging material. In this work, the LDPE/RH biocomposites with different rice husk (RH) content (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 wt. %) were prepared by the melt mixing process in a laboratory Brabender mixer. The effect of RH content on the physical, thermal and mechanical properties of LDPE was investigated. More importantly, this work aimed to research the biodegradation of the LDPE/RH biocomposites as well as their effect on ‘Granny Smith’ apples’ respiration. The results showed that the incorporation of RH into the LDPE decreased the thermal stability of LDPE, increased water vapour permeability and water absorption, and increased the degree of crystallinity. The incorporation of RH increased the biodegradability of LDPE as well as the postharvest quality of ‘Granny Smith’ apples. The addition of RH in LDPE film significantly decreased fruit respiration and increased firmness as compared to LDPE film. The composting results showed that after the LDPE/RH biocomposite films were biodegraded for 21 days, the biocomposite films with the highest content of rice husks were the most degraded.
Revitalizing Silk-Road Silk Industry : A Case Study in Fergana Region, Uzbekistan

This study discusses potentials and limitations to reforming traditional sericulture in Central Asia, which is said to have its four-millennium history but has been in a constant decline since the demise of Soviet Union in 1991. Uzbekistan alone produced 23,500 t of cocoon (US$79,252,000) in 2008, contributing to about five percent of the world production. It was the third largest cocoon producer after China and India, while being the world champion in terms of per capita production. In this period, 44% of Uzbek labor force was still in the agricultural sector, which contributed only to 22% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), and yet 26% of the nation was below poverty line, of which the majority presumably resided in the rural villages. Considering these conditions, the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) launched a grass-root technical cooperation project in Fergana Basin in 2009, financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), in order to revitalize local silk production as a model case in Uzbekistan. It was assumed that sericulture was managed by family farms, mainly by women and elders at home, and good income was earned by them in short period of time, so that it would contribute to more balanced distribution of agricultural income among the different farmer classes and genders. After a year of project implementation, interviews were made with the beneficiaries on their perspectives of sericulture promotion, and key factors that would facilitate sustainable cocoon production in Uzbekistan were identified, i.e., flexible planning of production and prompt payment to farmers. While Chinese brokers were actively purchasing cocoons for export, there were promising signs of local institutions in improving silkworm lines and filature facilities. There international technical cooperation was needed with sensible modifications so that it may be accepted well by Uzbek
Spectral Characteristics of EEG during Active Emotional Musical Performance

The research on neural correlates of intentional emotion communication by the music performer is still limited. In this study, we attempted to evaluate EEG patterns recorded from musicians who were instructed to perform a simple piano score while manipulating their manner of play to express specific contrasting emotions and self-rate the emotion they reflected on the scales of arousal and valence. In the emotional playing task, participants were instructed to improvise variations in a manner by which the targeted emotion is communicated. In contrast, in the neutral playing task, participants were asked to play the same piece precisely as written to obtain data for control over general patterns of motor and sensory activation during playing. The spectral analysis of the signal was applied as an initial step to be able to connect findings to the wider field of music-emotion research. The experimental contrast of emotional playing vs. neutral playing was employed to probe brain activity patterns differentially involved in distinct emotional states. The tasks of emotional and neutral playing differed considerably with respect to the state of intended-to-transfer emotion arousal and valence levels. The EEG activity differences were observed between distressed/excited and neutral/depressed/relaxed playing.