• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.117-126
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• 2019

Activated carbon is carbon produced from carbonaceous source materials, such as coconut shells, coals, and woods. In this study, an activated carbon production system was analyzed by carbonization and activation in terms of environmental impact and human health. The feedstock of wood wastes for the system reduced fossil fuel consumption and disposal costs. Life cycle assessment methodology was used to analyze the environmental impacts of the system, and the functional unit was one tonne of wood wastes. The boundary expansion method was applied to analyze the wood waste recycling process for activated carbon production. An environmental credit was quantified by avoided impact analysis. Specifically, greenhouse gases discharged from 1 kg of activated carbon production system by feeding wood wastes were evaluated. We found that this system reduced global warming potential of approximately $9.69E+00kg\;CO_2-eq$. compared to the process using coals. The environmental benefits for activated carbon production from wood wastes were analyzed in contrast to other disposal methods. The results showed that the activated carbon system using one tonne of wood wastes has an environmental benefit of $163kg\;CO_2-eq$. for reducing global warming potential in comparison with the same amount of wood wastes disposal by landfilling.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.7
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• pp.2277-2288
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• 2021

To regulate the safety protocols in nuclear facilities, radioactive aerosols have been extensively researched to understand their health impacts. However, most measured particle-size distributions remain at low resolutions, with the particle sizes ranging from nanometer to micrometer. This study combines the high-resolution detection of 500 size classes, ranging from 6 nm to 10 ㎛, for aerodynamic diameter distributions, with a regional lung deposition calculation. We applied the new approach to characterize particle-size distributions of aerosols generated during the plasma arc cutting of simulated non-radioactive steel alloy wastes. The high-resolution measured data were used to calculate the deposition ratios of the aerosols in different lung regions. The deposition ratios in the alveolar sacs contained the dominant particle sizes ranging from 0.01 to 0.1 ㎛. We determined the distribution of various metals using different vapor pressures of the alloying components and analyzed the uncertainties of lung deposition calculations using the low-resolution aerodynamic diameter data simultaneously. In high-resolution data, the changes in aerosols that can penetrate the blood system were better captured, correcting their potential risks by a maximum of 42%. The combined calculations can aid the enhancement of high-resolution measuring equipment to effectively manage radiation safety in nuclear facilities.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.93-102
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• 2021

The world is facing an unprecedented economic, social and political crisis with the spread of COVID-19. The Corona Virus (COVID-19) and its global spread have resulted in declaring a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The deadly pandemic of 21st century has spread its wings across the globe with an exponential increase in the number of cases in many countries. The developing and underdeveloped countries are struggling hard to counter the rapidly growing and widespread challenge of COVID-19 because it has greatly influenced the global economies whereby the underdeveloped countries are more affected by its devastating impacts, especially the life of the low-income population. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) were particularly useful in spreading key emergency information and helping to maintain extensive social distancing. Updated information and testing results were published on national and local government websites. Mobile devices were used to support early testing and contact tracing. The government provided free smartphone apps that flagged infection hotspots with text alerts on testing and local cases. The purpose of this research work is to provide an in depth overview of emerging technologies and recent ICT developments to combat COVID-19 Pandemic. Finally, the author highlights open challenges in order to give future research directions.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.15-25
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• 2021

Purpose: The greatest asset to all organizations is the employees and they should be guarded against factors hindering their work ability. Nevertheless, most organizations are always more concerned about making profits to the extent of forgetting their employee's welfare. On this point, this study aims to examine employee's work-related stress and its relationship with work ability. Research design, data and methodology: This study focused on obtaining mostly peer-reviewed works to suggest research findings, assuming that qualitative literature approach allows researchers to explore in-depth information concerning complex issues in a standard life setting. Numerous prior researchers applied their research design in content analysis, especially where various concepts are present for analysis. Results: Based on numerous qualitative textual resources, this study found that human resource practitioners should plan stress management strategies for their employees to apply five kinds of solutions that the current study suggests because it is vital to ensure their wellbeing towards sustaining their performance. Conclusions: All in all, based on the findings, this study concludes that employee's work stress negatively impacts their work ability with affecting their mental health. As a result, there is little doubt that practitioners should regularly monitor the working environment for stress-related factors besides creating a healthy working environment for all employees.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.441-468
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• 2020

Capital inflows have a strong presence that influences destination countries' development of institutions, which can in turn help resuscitate a stopped economy and re-attract capital that was lost during crises such as the recent public health crisis. While the previous literature emphasizes the mechanism that foreign investors press or even threaten the local government for change, this paper explores empirically whether institutional improvement can be achieved through the channel that host countries voluntarily reform institutions in anticipation of potential investments predicted by the exogenous geographical and cultural characteristics of the recipient countries. Given that countries with better institutional quality can accumulate larger FDI stocks, we still find that the need for more FDI, in contrast to FPI and debt, gives higher incentives to host countries to strategically improve their institutions before seeking capital overseas. Moreover, the predicted FDI exerts more prominent impacts on institutions on constraining elite than those involved in launching a business, enforcing contracts, and protecting properties. The results imply that a long-run plan for upgrading elite constraint institutions is crucial for a post-pandemic FDI reboot.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.157-163
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• 2022

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD), which encompasses alcoholic steatosis, alcoholic hepatitis, and alcoholic cirrhosis, is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although the economic and health impacts of ALD are clear, few advances have been made in its prevention or treatment. We recently demonstrated that the insect-derived antimicrobial peptide CopA3 exerts anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory activities in various cell systems, including neuronal cells and colonic epithelial cells. Here, we tested whether CopA3 inhibits ethanol-induced liver injury in mice. Mice were intraperitoneally injected with ethanol only or ethanol plus CopA3 for 24 h and then liver injury and inflammatory responses were measured. Ethanol enhanced the production of proinflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, interferon (IFN)-γ, and IL-10. It also induced hepatocyte apoptosis and ballooning degeneration in hepatocytes. Notably, all these effects were eliminated or significantly reduced by CopA3 treatment. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that CopA3 ameliorates ethanol-induced liver cell damage and inflammation, suggesting the therapeutic potential of CopA3 for treating ethanol-induced liver injury.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.115-126
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• 2022

The study's goal is to determine the amount of climate change's impact on ethnic minority (EM) households' livelihoods, as well as their adaptability to climate change and long-term viability. The research was conducted in Vietnam's Northwestern Sub-region, where ethnic minorities account for more than half of the overall population. The study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods based on a survey of 480 households in 04 provinces severely affected by climate change in the Northwest sub-region of Vietnam. The results show that: climate change (extreme weather events) occurs with increasing frequency, mainly affecting the life expectancy, health, and capital of households; Vulnerable groups (women, ethnic minorities) have a poor adaptive capacity and mainly suffer the consequences of shocks, are afraid to change their livelihoods; Microfinance plays an important role in enhancing the sustainability of livelihoods through increasing capital and financial assets and reducing the vulnerability of ethnic minority households. Finally, research has some solutions for microfinance - special credit specifically for ethnic minority households in the Northwest Sub-region: support for microfinance advice, home credit with transition orientations to adapt to climate change response and relieves its impact on the social lives.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.648-660
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to develop an emerging infectious disease (COVID-19) simulation module for nursing students and verify its effectiveness. Methods: A one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study was conducted with 78 under-graduate nursing students. A simulation module was developed based on the Jeffries simulation model. It consisted of pre-simulation lectures on disaster nursing including infectious disease pandemics, practice, and debriefings with serial tests. The scenarios contained pre-hospital settings, home visits, arrival to the emergency department, and follow-up home visits for rehabilitation. Results: Disaster preparedness showed a statistically significant improvement, as did competencies in disaster nursing. Confidence in disaster nursing increased, as did willingness to participate in disaster response. However, critical thinking did not show significant differences between time points, and neither did triage scores. Conclusion: The developed simulation program targeting an infectious disease disaster positively impacts disaster preparedness, disaster nursing competency, and confidence in disaster nursing, among nursing students. Further studies are required to develop a high-fidelity module for nursing students and medical personnel. Based on the current pandemic, we suggest developing more scenarios with virtual reality simulations, as disaster simulation nursing education is required now more than ever.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.101-108
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• 2022

The outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused serious impacts not only on human health but also on the economies around the world. Enterprises play an important role in the development of every country but it is also one of the most affected sectors during the pandemic. Drawing on panel data of 131 enterprises listed on the Vietnamese stock exchange from 2016Q1 to 2021Q3, this study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on firm performance. Enterprises are classified into seven industries including Agriculture, Material, Industry, Real estate and Construction, Energy, Consumer, and Service. The paper also analyzes the variation of the effects among companies, focusing on differences in revenue and capital structure. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affects business performance. In addition, the empirical findings indicate that revenue and debt decreasing can cause deterioration of firm performance during the pandemic period. The decrease in revenue has a direct impact on firm profitability. The reduction of debt levels affects the corporate leverage leading to adverse effects on firm performance. The negative effect is more pronounced for companies in some specific sectors including industry, real estate, construction, consumption, and services.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.389-399
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• 2022

This study aims to investigate and analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the adopt electronic services in education sector in Jordan, where the COVID-19 pandemic has left huge threats in terms of health and led to a significant decrease in economic output and a rise in unemployment. This study also aims to know the steps taken by the Jordanian governments and higher education ministry and universities to overcome this crisis and mitigate the economic and financial impacts that would enhance the resilience of the education sector. To achieve the goal of the study, both methods of deductive and inductive analysis were used, which helped us to systematically consider the economic and other consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as statistical analyses and other tools that helped us in this study. The results of this study, showed that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant increase in adopt electronic services in education sector in Jordan, and decline in economic growth, a significant rise in unemployment, an increase in market instability, and a decrease in the financial position of companies. The recommendations concluded that Jordan should begin to change its policies according to the new data, and take Measures to advance the education sector by relay on electronic services and directing investment in education sector through saving policies and infrastructure equipment in parallel with the population boom in Jordan.