ABSTRACT
Selective mutism (SM) is a relatively rare, but highly interfering, child anxiety disorder characterized by a consistent failure to speak in certain situations, despite demonstrating fluent speech in other contexts. Exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy adapted for SM can be effective, but the broad availability and accessibility of such specialty care options remains limited. Stay-at-home guidelines to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 further limited the accessibility of office-based specialty care for SM. Building on separate lines of research supporting intensive treatments and telehealth service delivery models, this paper is the first to describe the development, preliminary feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a Remote Intensive Group Behavioral Treatment (IGBT) for families of young children with SM (N=9). Treatment leveraged videoconferencing technology to deliver caregiver training sessions, lead-in sessions, 5 consecutive daily IGBT sessions, and an individualized caregiver coaching session. Remote IGBT was found to be both feasible and acceptable. All families (100%) completed diagnostic assessments and caregiver-report questionnaires at four major study timepoints (i.e., intake, pre-treatment, post-treatment, 4-month follow-up) and participated in all treatment components. Caregivers reported high treatment satisfaction at post-treatment and 4-month follow-up and low levels of burden associated with treatment participation at post-treatment. Approximately half of participating children were classified as treatment responders by independent evaluators at post-treatment and 4-month follow-up. Although these pilot results should be interpreted with caution, the present work underscores the potential utility of using videoconferencing to remotely deliver IGBT to families in their natural environments.
ABSTRACT
The study examines the impact of cash flow volatility on the debt structure of listed enterprises in Vietnam in period from 2009 to 2020. We use general least square method and percentile regression to examine this impact. Research results show that there exists an inverse relationship between cash flow volatility and corporate debt structure (financial leverage, short-term debt and long-term debt) of Vietnamese enterprises during the research period. In particular, unlike previous studies on cash flow volatility, this study further examines impact of the COVID pandemic on the relationship between cash flow volatility and debt structure. The test results show that cash flow volatility in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has an positive impact on debt structure. At the same time, the study also finds that the cash flow volatility will decrease as the percentile of the debt structure increases.
ABSTRACT
Wuhan Tianhe International Airport (WUH) was suspended to contain the spread of COVID-19, while Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA) saw a tremendous flight reduction. Closure of a major international airport is extremely rare and thus represents a unique opportunity to straightforwardly observe the impact of airport emissions on local air quality. In this study, a series of statistical tools were applied to analyze the variations in air pollutant levels in the vicinity of WUH and SHA. The results of bivariate polar plots show that airport SHA and WUH are a major source of nitrogen oxides. NOx, NO2 and NO diminished by 55.8%, 44.1%, 76.9%, and 40.4%, 33.3% and 59.4% during the COVID-19 lockdown compared to those in the same period of 2018 and 2019, under a reduction in aircraft activities by 58.6% and 61.4%. The concentration of NO2, SO2 and PM2.5 decreased by 77.3%, 8.2%, 29.5%, right after the closure of airport WUH on 23 January 2020. The average concentrations of NO, NO2 and NOx scatter plots at downwind of SHA after the lockdown were 78.0%, 47.9%, 57.4% and 62.3%, 34.8%, 41.8% lower than those during the same period in 2018 and 2019. However, a significant increase in O3 levels by 50.0% and 25.9% at WUH and SHA was observed, respectively. These results evidently show decreased nitrogen oxides concentrations in the airport vicinity due to reduced aircraft activities, while amplified O3 pollution due to a lower titration by NO under strong reduction in NOx emissions. © 2022
ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic has spread and seriously affected the whole world since its first appearance in 2019. In early 2021, after two successful anti-epidemic attempts, Covid-19 broke out again with the relatively big number of Coronavirus infected cases in the community in Vietnam. When the government decided to apply social distancing, Vietnamese Ministry of Education immediately allowed pupils and students to be off school and conduct synchronous e-learning at home. The implementation of this form of Synchronous e-learning this time is not new to both learners and lecturers as well as universities. However, it cannot be said that the form of Synchronous e-learning in Vietnam has been well built or met the needs of learners. There are still a few limitations when the adaptation is temporary in the context of the pandemic. Without major changes in methods and programs, the teaching of skill subjects through the Synchronous e-learning has to face challanges. This causes the students to find it very difficult to learn the subjects and the learning results seem to be not high. The authors choose to study these difficulties to give solutions to the problems. © 2021 ACM.
ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic broke out and has strongly affected many countries around the world, including Vietnam. In its fight against the pandemic, Vietnam has chosen to implement social distancing and let students study online at home to prevent the spread of the virus. However, the implementation of online learning is conducted when universities haven't fully prepared the conditions, thus causing many difficulties during the process. These challenges seem to be more severe for public universities where the financial and administrative dependence on the government is relatively large. The implementation of online teaching and learning in response to the pandemic has directly affected students' attitudes and learning efficiency. For this reason, the authors have conducted a survey on students' satisfaction with Synchronous E-learning at public universities in Vietnam. The results of the survey will be used as reference data to help universities improve the quality of online teaching. © 2021 ACM.
ABSTRACT
Despite recent advances in the treatment of early child social anxiety, the broad accessibility of brick-and-mortar services has been limited by traditional barriers to care, and more recently by new obstacles related to efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. The present waitlistcontrolled trial examined the preliminary efficacy of a family-based behavioral parenting intervention (i.e., the iCALM Telehealth Program) that draws on Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and videoconferencing to remotely deliver clinician-led care for anxiety in early childhood. Young children (3-8 years) with a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (N = 40;65% from ethnic/racial minority backgrounds) were randomly assigned to iCALM or wait list. Intent-to-treat analyses found that at post, independent evaluators classified roughly half of the iCALM-treated children, but only 6% of waitlist children, as "Responders" (Wald test = 4.51;p = .03). By Post, iCALM led to significantly greater reductions than waitlist in child anxiety symptoms, fear, discomfort, and anxiety-related social impairment, and also led to greater improvements in child soothability. By 6-month follow-up, the percentage of iCALM-treated children classified as "Responders" rose to roughly 60%. Exploratory moderation tests found iCALM was particularly effective in reducing life impairments and parental distress among families presenting with higher, relative to lower, levels of baseline parental accommodation. The present findings add to a growing body of research supporting the promise of technology-based strategies for broadening the portfolio of options for delivering clinician-led mental health services.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has now spread across China. Self-quarantine and social distancing to prevent infection is being implemented in South Korea. Individuals selfquarantined suffer from social isolation and mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and fear. The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics of Individuals self-quarantined during the COVID-19 outbreak in a city and to help public mental health policy. Materials and method: We analyzed the original data on mental health care through the “New Coronavirus Psychological Support Group” conducted at a satellite city Mental Health Center from February to August 2020. Mental health professionals interviewed Individuals self-quarantined via phone contact and recorded demographic data, Clinical Global Impression-severity (CGI-S). Subjects with more than two CGI scores were defined as a symptomatic status. We reviewed CGI-S score of the study subjects and performed a chisquare test to determine the difference in CGI-S score according to sociodemographic characteristics. Results: We interviewed 3001 subjects, and 1477 subjects (49.2%) were female (mean age;39.86 [SD = 18.10]). There was a statistically significant difference in CGI-S scores according to nationality and gender. A CGI-S score of 2 or higher was found to be 130 for Korean and 4 for foreigners. (X2 = 11.221, p = 0.01). A CGI-S score of 2 or higher was 85 for women and 49 for men (X2 = 11.341, p = 0.01). There was no statistically significant difference in CGI-S scores according to age. Conclusion: Among Individuals self-quarantined due to the COVID-19 in a city, Korean had relatively higher CGI-S scores than foreigners and women had relatively higher CGI-S scores than men. Koreans who arrived from abroad seem to have more mental health stress than foreigners. In the future, there is a need for intensive mental health assessment and crisis intervention for Korean and women among Individuals self-quarantined.
ABSTRACT
International hospitals and healthcare facilities are facing catastrophic financial challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Hospital Association estimates a financial impact of $202.6 billion in lost revenue for America's hospitals and healthcare systems, or an average of $50.7 billion per month. Furthermore, it could cost low- and middle-income countries ~ US$52 billion (equivalent to US$8.60 per person) each four weeks to provide an effective healthcare response to COVID-19. In the setting of the largest daily COVID-19 new cases in the US, this burden will influence patient care, surgeries, and surgical outcomes. From a global economic standpoint, The World Bank projects that global growth is projected to shrink by almost 8% with poorer countries feeling most of the impact, and the United Nations projects that it will cost the global economy around 2 trillion dollars this year. Overall, a lack of preparedness was a major contributor to the struggles experienced by healthcare facilities around the world. Items such as personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers, hospital equipment, sanitizing supplies, toilet paper, and water were in short supply. These deficiencies were exposed by COVID-19 and have prompted healthcare organizations around the world to invent new essential plans for pandemic preparedness. In this paper, we will discuss the economic impact of COVID-19 on US and international hospitals, healthcare facilities, surgery, and surgical outcomes. In the future, the US and countries around the world will benefit from preparing a plan of action to use as a guide in the event of a disaster or pandemic.