Rural Communication in the Covid-19 Pandemic: an Empirical Analysis from Thua Thien Hue Province, Central Vietnam

The world has witnessed the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic. Mainstream and social media are playing an important role in Covid-19 pandemic prevention. This research explores awareness, communication channels and effectiveness of communication in the Covid-19 pandemic in rural areas of Thua Thien Hue province, Central Vietnam. Primary information was collected from 181 respondents, who are farmers, non-farmers and students. Secondary information was collected from reports and statistical data. Television, word of mouth and local loudspeakers are the main channels of mainstream media while social media mentions the role of Facebook and Zalo to transfer Covid-19 pandemic information. Mainstream media is still the main channel of farmers and old people while non-farmers and young people tend to access information through social media. Communication has significantly contributed to improving awareness and action of rural people in the Covid-19 epidemic prevention. © 2022 World Association for Triple helix and Future strategy studies. All rights reserved.

Solving resource forecasting in WiFi Network by NeuralProphet

Time series forecasting needs several approaches such as data pretreatment, model construction, etc. During the covid 19 outbreak, the data is very dynamic, therefore data processing and appropriate modeling are worried. Identifying patterns, recognizing abnormal data points, is one of the first stages to enhancing forecast outcomes. A point is considered an anomalous point when it is far distant from the mean of the data series. In this research, we deploy an automated anomaly detection approach that incorporates data preparation of neuralprophet library. After that, we design a model via neuralprophet to predict data after preprocessing data. The strategy is evaluated on a dataset of the times that public wifi was used every day with the purpose of forecasting the value of the following 30 days. The anticipated outcome is compared with that of Prophet, hybrid AR-LSTM, consequently indicating that the suggested technique in the study offers the best outcomes. © 2022 ACM.

HCMUS MediaEval 2021: Multi-Model Decision Method Applied on Data Augmentation for COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Classification

Corona Virus and Conspiracies Multimedia Analysis Task is the task in MediaEval 2021 Challenge that concentrates on conspiracy theories that assume some kind of nefarious actions related to COVID-19. Our HCMUS team performs different approaches based on multiple pretrained models and many techniques to deal with 2 subtasks. Based on our experiments, we submit 5 runs for subtask 1 and 1 run for subtask 2. Run 1 and 2 both introduces BERT[5] pretrained model but the difference between them is that we add a sentimental analysis to extract semantic feature before training in the first run. In run 3 and 4, we propose a naive bayes classifier[4] and a LSTM[8] model to diversify our methods. Run 5 ultilize an ensemble of machine learning and deep learning models - multimodal approach for text-based analysis[3]. Finally, in the only run in subtask 2, we conduct a simple naive bayes algorithm to classify those theories. In the final result, our method achieves 0.5987 in task 1, 0.3136 in task 2. Copyright 2021 for this paper by its authors.

The Impact of Brand Equity on Consumer Intention: A Case Study for COVID-19 Vaccine Products in Vietnam

Maintaining and expanding brand equity is regarded as an essential component of brand development. Effective management of brand equity leads to more opportunities for brand extension and the ability to draw in more customers. Brand equity, in particular, has a positive impact on consumer purchase intention. The purpose of this study is to look into the relationships between brand equity and consumption intention from the perspective of Vietnamese customers of India's COVID-19 vaccine products. Primary data is aggregated from 475 Vietnamese citizens with different occupations and backgrounds 18 years of age or older. The findings of the study show that consumption intention is positively inspired by brand equity, including brand association and brand quality. If consumers perceive high brand equity, it will have a higher impact on promoting consumption intention to the brand. India's COVID-19 vaccine needs to invest more in building brand equity in the Vietnamese market if it wants to increase the consumption choices of Vietnamese people. To create a good brand association and brand quality for India's COVID-19 vaccine, it is necessary to focus on communicating the good properties of the Indian-made vaccine such as safe, high protective effect, high immunity and protection, and long duration of immunity of vaccines.

AUTOIMMUNE HEPATITIS FOLLOWING COVID-19 VACCINATION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Introduction COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to be effective in preventing hospitalization due to COVID-19 infection. However, safety remains a concern. Some studies have linked the vaccine to the development of autoimmune diseases such as myocarditis and immune thrombocytopenic purpura. During the summer of 2021, an increasing number of case reports began to emerge documenting a small number of individuals who developed autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) following COVID-19 vaccination. These cases are rare, novel, and very little is known. In our systematic review, we analyzed every published case of AIH and reviewed their characteristic findings, treatment, and outcomes. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science from 1 December 2019 to 1 November 2021. Keywords included but were not limited to “COVID-19,” “vaccine,” and “autoimmune hepatitis.” Two researchers independently extracted information from the articles about vaccine type, patient history, characteristics, laboratory values, histology results, treatment regimens, and disease course. Results Thirty-two patients developed AIH after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine (16 Pfizer-BioNTech, 13 Moderna, 3 Oxford-AstraZeneca), of whom 17 were from the United States, 11 were from Europe, 3 were from Asia, and 1 was from Australia. Sixty-nine percent of patients were women and 58% had no history of liver or autoimmune disease. Jaundice was the most common symptom (81%). Nineteen percent of patients were initially asymptomatic and presented with abnormal liver enzymes found during routine bloodwork. (Table 1) Mean ALT, AST, and bilirubin were 1231 U/L, 921 U/L, and 14 mg/dL. Anti-nuclear antibody and anti-smooth muscle antibody were positive in 56% and 28% of patients. Liver biopsy was performed in 81% of patients with findings strongly suggestive of AIH. Corticosteroids were used in 74% of patients with a mean time to disease resolution of 28 days. Improvement or complete resolution was seen in 97% of patients. (Table 2) One patient died despite aggressive steroid treatment. Discussion COVID- 19 vaccine-induced AIH is extremely rare with just 32 documented cases in the literature. Although causality cannot be proved, this phenomenon should not be treated as coincidence. Clinicians should be aware of this rare but real complication and suspect vaccine-induced AIH in patients who present with jaundice and abnormal liver enzymes following COVID- 19 vaccination. Treatment with corticosteroids appears to be highly effective, with improvement or resolution in 97% of patients. Our findings highlight the rarity of COVID-19 vaccine-induced AIH and should under no circumstances deter individuals from getting vaccinated as the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks. (Table Presented)

The Effect of the Country of Origin on Brand Trust: A Case Study for COVID-19 Vaccines in Vietnam

Many factors influence brand trust, including manufacturer prestige, product value and quality, country of origin, media marketing, experience, and brand relationship. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the nation of origin on brand trust, using Vietnam as a case study for India's COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 407 Vietnamese people aged 18 and up participated in the survey. The findings of the study show that the nation of origin has a significant impact on brand trust. Specifically, the perceived country image has a negative effect on brand trust, the other two components of the country of origin are perceived value and perceived quality of product have a positive impact on brand trust in India's COVID-19 vaccine. Research results show that if the perceived country image of the country of production is perceived negatively, then there will be a negative impact on brand trust. According to research findings, people in Vietnam who are 30 years old or older, have steady occupations, know about India, have used Indian products in the past, and have strong brand trust in India's COVID-19 vaccinations. India needs to boost its country's image and develop communication to increase brand trust in Vietnam.

Proposition for LMS Integration for Share, Exchange, and Spread of Online Lectures under Covid-19 Environment

There has been a movement to share and spread online lectures through OCW and MOOC systems. This movement would have been spread widely and adopted widely if those courses could be easily exchangeable with other platforms or services. If this function is available, learning activities, resources, learning outcomes can be accessed between different platforms and services. With this function, the credit exchange between different platforms or services will be easier. It also facilitates course sharing and circulation. Because the LMS is the basic platform for online classes, providing sharable and reusable learning activities, resources, and learning outcomes across the different LMSs is very demanding for online education. Analyzing LMS use in Korean universities, Moodle, Canvas, and domestic LMSs are founded to be the significant three kinds that are widely used in Korea. In this paper, a method of integrating Moodle, Canvas, and domestic LMS services is proposed. A central Moodle server is installed as the main LMS server, and the method to connect or complement with a central Moodle server is proposed for each different kind of LMS. LMS users can easily access a different kind of LMS as a form of imported course, tightly connected service, or log in as SSO. This proposition can be applied to various service fields such as KMOOC, KOCW, credit exchange, lecture exchange between universities, regional unification of online educational centers as a practical problem-solver. © 2021, Politeknik Negeri Padang. All rights reserved.

Factors Affecting Green Entrepreneurship Intentions During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Study in Vietnam

At present, environmental problems are gradually becoming quite serious because of the expansion of the business scale of companies, factories, and enterprises, and that is also the reason for the global pollution of the world. Green entrepreneurship is playing an increasingly crucial role in influencing people's intentions, behaviors, and attitudes toward environmental protection through sustainable development. The purpose of this research was to examine the factors affecting university students' green entrepreneurship levels in Vietnam. To do this, we performed a scientific research survey with 773 students from reputable universities in Vietnam, 337 of whom are male and 436 of whom are female. To assess the reliability and correlation between observed and total variables, this study employs scale testing methods such as Cronbach alpha, EFA, CFA, and SEM. After evaluating the influencing elements, the findings reveal that the Subjective norm factor and the Risk-aversion component are two distinct aspects that influence university students' green entrepreneurship intentions in Vietnam and of which, the greatest influence is Risk Aversion. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the level of interest in green entrepreneurship is mostly seen by students with university education between the ages of 18-25.

Agri-Food Value Chain Performance during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Study of Chu-mango Business Linkages in Dong Thap, Vietnam

This study aims to identify important factors that directly influence value chain performance (quality, responsiveness, flexibility and efficiency), which are explained by value chain integration (collaboration, commitment, coordination and joint decision-making) in the case of unexpected risk (the COVID-19 pandemic). This study contributes to maintaining the business linkage model among farmers - cooperatives - enterprises in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic and quickly recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used for data analysis following an iterative process based on theoretical and empirical analyses to obtain a structural model fit and test the research hypothesis. The findings indicate that the VCI positively influenced the VCP of Chu-mango business linkages at the 1% significance level through coordination (Beta = 0.345;construct reliability (CR) = 3.272), collaboration (Beta = 0.289;CR = 3.128), and joint decision-making (Beta = 0.324;CR = 3.245). This study provides empirical data on the relationship between VCI and VCP through the Chu-mango value chain in Dong Thap Province during the COVID-19 pandemic to raise awareness from stakeholders and encourage value chain thinking to improve performance. This result may pave the way for relevant policymakers to look for policies and strategies for better inclusiveness of stakeholders to show the importance of the VCI in improving the performance. Moreover, the study is an empirical case contributing to the agribusiness value chain in a developing country;it applies the agribusiness value chain of the tropical fruit domain and can be used for other agricultural products in other cases of unexpected risks. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Applying Machine Learning to Identify Anti-Vaccination Tweets during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Anti-vaccination attitudes have been an issue since the development of the first vaccines. The increasing use of social media as a source of health information may contribute to vaccine hesitancy due to anti-vaccination content widely available on social media, including Twitter. Being able to identify anti-vaccination tweets could provide useful information for formulating strategies to reduce anti-vaccination sentiments among different groups. This study aims to evaluate the performance of different natural language processing models to identify anti-vaccination tweets that were published during the COVID-19 pandemic. We compared the performance of the bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) and the bidirectional long short-term memory networks with pre-trained GLoVe embeddings (Bi-LSTM) with classic machine learning methods including support vector machine (SVM) and naive Bayes (NB). The results show that performance on the test set of the BERT model was: accuracy = 91.6%, precision = 93.4%, recall = 97.6%, F1 score = 95.5%, and AUC = 84.7%. Bi-LSTM model performance showed: accuracy = 89.8%, precision = 44.0%, recall = 47.2%, F1 score = 45.5%, and AUC = 85.8%. SVM with linear kernel performed at: accuracy = 92.3%, Precision = 19.5%, Recall = 78.6%, F1 score = 31.2%, and AUC = 85.6%. Complement NB demonstrated: accuracy = 88.8%, precision = 23.0%, recall = 32.8%, F1 score = 27.1%, and AUC = 62.7%. In conclusion, the BERT models outperformed the Bi-LSTM, SVM, and NB models in this task. Moreover, the BERT model achieved excellent performance and can be used to identify anti-vaccination tweets in future studies.

Ladies selling breakfast: COVID-19 disruption of intimate socialities among street-engaged food traders in Ho Chi Minh city

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest city, supports a vibrant street food culture. Most of the city’s street-engaged food traders are poor and unskilled women, and there is scant research about how they build social networks and social capital that sustain their micro-businesses. This article focusses on the intimate socialities that street-engaged food traders develop with customers, shop owners and sister-traders in order to stabilise their incomes while their informal street-trading activities are policed and potentially shut down. Recent COVID-19 lockdown and social-distancing measures disrupted the crucial interpersonal relations of street trading and left the traders with no income. This article explores traders’ strate-gies for achieving economic security, and outlines transformations of intimate socialities into mediated and digital relations after the lockdown. © The Author(s).

Increased peripheral blood neutrophil activation phenotypes and NETosis in critically ill COVID-19 patients (preprint)

BackgroundIncreased inflammation is a hallmark of COVID-19, with pulmonary and systemic inflammation identified in multiple cohorts of patients. Definitive cellular and molecular pathways driving severe forms of this disease remain uncertain. Neutrophils, the most numerous leukocytes in blood circulation, can contribute to immunopathology in infections, inflammatory diseases and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a primary cause of morbidity and mortality in COVID-19. Changes in multiple neutrophil functions and circulating cytokine levels over time during COVID-19 may help define disease severity and guide care and decision making. MethodsBlood was obtained serially from critically ill COVID-19 patients for 11 days. Neutrophil oxidative burst, neutrophil extracellular trap formation (NETosis), phagocytosis and cytokine levels were assessed ex vivo. Lung tissue was obtained immediately post-mortem for immunostaining. ResultsElevations in neutrophil-associated cytokines IL-8 and IL-6, and general inflammatory cytokines IP-10, GM-CSF, IL-1b, IL-10 and TNF, were identified in COVID-19 plasma both at the first measurement and at multiple timepoints across hospitalization (p < 0.0001). Neutrophils had exaggerated oxidative burst (p < 0.0001), NETosis (p < 0.0001) and phagocytosis (p < 0.0001) relative to controls. Increased NETosis correlated with both leukocytosis and neutrophilia. Neutrophils and NETs were identified within airways and alveoli in the lung parenchyma of 40% of SARS-CoV-2 infected lungs. While elevations in IL-8 and ANC correlated to COVID-19 disease severity, plasma IL-8 levels alone correlated with death. ConclusionsCirculating neutrophils in COVID-19 exhibit an activated phenotype with increased oxidative burst, NETosis and phagocytosis. Readily accessible and dynamic, plasma IL-8 and circulating neutrophil function may be potential COVID-19 disease biomarkers.

Natural SARS-CoV-2 infection in kept ferrets, Spain (preprint)

We found SARS-CoV-2 RNA in 6 of 71 ferrets (8.4%) and isolated the virus from one rectal swab. Natural SARS-CoV-2 infection does occur in kept ferrets, at least under circumstances of high viral circulation in the human population. However, small ferret collections are probably unable to maintain prolonged virus circulation.

A QUALITATIVE STUDY on MENTAL DISTRESS of VIETNAMESE STUDENTS in the U.S.A. In the COVID-19 ERA

OBJECTIVE This paper aims to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affects the mental distress of the Vietnamese students in the USA. We explore different root causes of mental distress among international students who are away from their home country, their loved ones, and being isolated from school and community due to this outbreak. DESIGN In-depth interviews were conducted to probe the reasons for mental stress during the pandemic and the narrative textual analysis was subsequently performed to analyze the results. This research includes the interviews of 20 Vietnamese students in the USA during the COVID-19 era. RESULTS The textual analysis showed that the mental distress of these Vietnamese students were caused by limited access to on-campus facilities and activities, limited access to public services including grocery shopping, transportations, clinics, the possibility of being infected, isolated living condition due to the lockdown order, and inability to go back to the home country when wanted. CONCLUSIONS We found that both physical attributes (e.g., living condition, internet difficulty, overwhelmed healthcare system, restricted traveling, lack of personal interaction, limited access to public services) and psychological factors (e.g., anxiety of unfamiliar teaching modality, fear of viral infection, uncertain career aspects, cultural barrier and prejudice) directly led to the mental distress of these students. Moreover, other factors such as turbulent future job markets and potential racism toward Asians in relation with “Chinese virus” may cause the mental distress of these students. © 2020 Australasian College of Health Service Management. All rights reserved.

INTRINSIC CULTURAL FACTORS THAT HELPED VIETNAM OVERCOME the COVID-19 PANDEMIC COMPARED with OTHER COUNTRIES

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic emerged in Wuhan, China, spread nationwide and then onto many other countries between December 2019 and early 2020. The implementation of strict quarantine measures in Vietnam has kept a large number of people in isolation and has eventually put the disease under control. Social and physical distancing turned to be an efficient way of slowing the spread of disease and stopping chains of transmission of COVID-19 as well as preventing new ones from appearing (World Health Organization, 2020). Analyzing the World Health Organization (WHO) data, we could see a clear difference in the reported numbers between Vietnam, a developing country, and the USA, one of the leading developed countries in the western hemisphere. We tried to address the question if there are factors that helped local governments to implement helpful rules. We argue that Eastern Asian cultural traits played a role in reducing the spread of COVID-19. We recommend to take this commentary paper, and further research those cultural factors that positively affected the slowdown of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam. © 2020 Australasian College of Health Service Management. All rights reserved.

Understanding mental health services and help-seeking behaviours among college students in Vietnam

OBJECTIVE Mental health is a significant topic, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. While there is higher prevalence, there is less attention, to mental health problems among Asian college students, so the authors decided to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of mental health services and help-seeking behaviors in Vietnamese universities. By conducting this study, the authors hoped to contribute to current literature on the factors that contribute to professional mental health help-seeking behavior of college students in Vietnam and to suggest strategies to reduce possible barriers that prevent them from looking for professional medical help. DESIGN For this cross-sectional research, we first conducted a pilot study to test the reliability and validity of our measurements. We then made necessary adjustments and distributed the final questionnaires to a university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Collected data was analyzed through exploratory factor analysis RESULTS Results indicate that between psychological openness and help-seeking propensity, in our model, help-seeking propensity more significantly explains students' help-seeking behavioral intentions than the other two. CONCLUSIONS Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study examined predictors of professional mental health-seeking behavior among college students in Vietnam. Our findings indicated that help-seeking propensity significantly influences Vietnamese students' intention to obtain professional healthcare. Through this study, we suggested some guidance to the school administrators on the factors that encourage students to seek professional mental care. © Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management 2020. All rights reserved.