Construction of Mega Individuals Competency Model in Business Environment: A Grounded Theory Approach

The purpose of this research is to explore the new practices derived from the influences of information technology among a certain group, i.e., “mega individuals”. Based on Grounded Theory and interviews from 53 companies, which consist of responses from 56 domestic and international founders, entrepreneurs, professional managers, partners and business elites, this study expounds that “mega individuals”, who constantly develop individual attainment and ability under the influence of business ecosystem evolution, have broken the traditional employment relationship. Through Grounded Theory, the following conclusion can be drawn: “mega individuals” are composed of three key traits: compound ability, collaboration ability and personal intellectual property (IP) know-hows. This research takes the initiative to create the “mega individuals competency model” (MICM) and elaborates on the dynamic capabilities theory to interpret the MICM, dedicated to enriching the dynamic capabilities theory by merging the current rapid and continuous changes in the business world from the promising and potential individual’s perspective.

Consumption-Related Health Education Inequality in COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study in China.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic influences various aspects of society, especially for people with low socioeconomic status. Health education has been proven to be a critical strategy in preventing a pandemic. However, socioeconomic characteristics may limit health education among low socioeconomic status groups. This study explores consumption-related health education inequality and the factors that contribute to this, which are variable across China during COVID-19. Methods: The 2020 China COVID-19 Survey is a cross-sectional study in China, based on an anonymous online survey from 7,715 samples in 85 cities. It employed machine-learning methods to assess household consumption and other contributing variates associated with health education during the pandemic. Concentration Index (CI) and Horizontal Index (HI) were used to measure consumption-related inequalities in health education, respectively. Moreover, Wagstaff decomposition analysis was employed to identify other contributing variables to health education inequality. Results: The result indicates that participants with more education, better income, and positive consumption preferences undertake higher health education during COVID-19. The CI and HI of consumption-health education inequality are 0.0321 (P < 0.001) and 0.0416 (p < 0.001), respectively, which indicates that health education is concentrated in wealthy groups. We adapted Lasso regression to solve issues and omit variables. In terms of other socioeconomic characteristics, Annual Income was also a major contributor to health education inequalities, accounting for 27.1% (P < 0.001). The empirical results also suggests that education, health status, identification residence, and medical health insurance contribute to health education inequality. Conclusions: The difference in Household consumption, annual income, rural and urban disparity, and private healthcare insurance are critical drivers of health education inequality. The government should pay more attention to promoting health education, and healthcare subside policy among vulnerable people. Significantly to improve awareness of undertaking health education with lower education, rural residential, to enhance confidence in economic recovery and life after COVID-19.

Efficacy and safety of app-based remote warfarin management during COVID-19-related lockdown: a retrospective cohort study.

This study aimed to explore the effectiveness, and safety of internet-based warfarin management during the pandemic. In this single-center retrospective cohort study, we compared the safety and efficacy of online warfarin management using a smartphone app (the Alfalfa app) versus conventional outpatient clinic management from January 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020. Patients in the online management group used the Alfalfa app to communicate coagulation test results and other relevant information to a doctor or clinical pharmacist, who then responded with the dose adjustment plan and the date of the next blood test. The outcomes examined were the time in therapeutic range (TTR), incidence of clinical events (i.e., bleeding events, thrombotic events, warfarin-related emergency department visits, and warfarin-related hospital admissions), and the distribution of international normalized ratio (INR) values. Data from 117 patients were analyzed in this study. TTR was significantly higher in the online group than in the offline group (61.0% vs. 39.6%, P < 0.01). Incidence of major bleeding events, thrombotic events, and warfarin-related hospital admissions were comparable between the online and offline groups. However, minor bleeds (5.3% vs. 28.3%, P < 0.01) and warfarin-related emergency department visits (1.8% vs. 23.3%, P = 0.02) were significantly fewer in the online group than in the offline group. The proportion of INR values in the therapeutic range (53.8% vs. 40.1%, P < 0.01) was significantly higher in the online group. Warfarin management using the Alfalfa app appears to be a safe and effective method for warfarin management when patients cannot physically visit hospitals for follow-up.

Antiviral Activities of Carbazole Derivatives against Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus In Vitro.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), an enteric coronavirus, causes neonatal pig acute gastrointestinal infection with a characterization of severe diarrhea, vomiting, high morbidity, and high mortality, resulting in tremendous damages to the swine industry. Neither specific antiviral drugs nor effective vaccines are available, posing a high priority to screen antiviral drugs. The aim of this study is to investigate anti-PEDV effects of carbazole alkaloid derivatives. Eighteen carbazole derivatives (No.1 to No.18) were synthesized, and No.5, No.7, and No.18 were identified to markedly reduce the replication of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) inserted-PEDV, and the mRNA level of PEDV N. Flow cytometry assay, coupled with CCK8 assay, confirmed No.7 and No.18 carbazole derivatives displayed high inhibition effects with low cell toxicity. Furthermore, time course analysis indicated No.7 and No.18 carbazole derivatives exerted inhibition at the early stage of the viral life cycle. Collectively, the analysis underlines the benefit of carbazole derivatives as potential inhibitors of PEDV, and provides candidates for the development of novel therapeutic agents.

Investor Sentiment and Stock Returns During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In this paper, we regard the Baidu index as an indicator of investors' attention to China's epidemic stocks. We believe that when seeking information to guide investment decisions, investor sentiment is usually affected by the information provided by the Baidu search engine, which may cause stock prices to fluctuate. Therefore, we constructed a GARCH extended model including the Baidu index to predict the return of epidemic stocks and compared it with the benchmark model. The empirical research in this paper finds that the forecast model including the Baidu index is significantly better than the benchmark model. This has important reference value both for investors in predicting stock trends and for the government's formulation of policies to prevent excessive stock market volatility.

The way back home: Trading behaviours of foreign institutional investors in China amid the COVID-19 pandemic

By using foreign institutional investors' daily trading data on 958 firms in China and COVID-19 infection data of six countries, this paper aims to investigate how the pandemic has influenced foreign institutional investors' trading behaviours during the first half year of 2020. In addition to domestic returns and foreign returns, ‘pull factors’ of COVID-19 pandemic in host country and ‘push factors’ of COVID-19 pandemic in home country were used to explain net foreign inflows. We find that ‘push factors’ of COVID-19 in home country are dominant in explaining the reduction of net foreign inflows in five out of 11 sectors, and ‘pull factors’ of domestic returns are dominant in explaining net foreign inflows in most sectors. The price impact of net foreign flows differs across sectors as well. A strong negative correlation between net foreign outflows and same-day return could be identified in the Financials sector. On the flip side, positive correlation between net foreign inflows and same-day return could be identified in seven other sectors. Finally, a pattern of flight-to-liquidity was discovered, as foreign institutional investors strategically sell illiquid stocks to conserve liquidity when market uncertainty is heightened.

Epidemics, Public Sentiment, and Infectious Disease Equity Market Volatility.

Background: This article studies the relationship between the COVID-19 epidemic, public sentiment, and the volatility of infectious disease equities from the perspective of the United States. We use weekly data from January 3, 2020 to March 7, 2021. This provides a sufficient dataset for empirical analysis. Granger causality test results prove the two-way relationship between the fluctuation of infectious disease equities and confirmed cases. In addition, confirmed cases will cause the public to search for COVID-19 tests, and COVID-19 tests will also cause fluctuations in infectious disease equities, but there is no reverse correlation. The results of this research are useful to investors and policy makers. Investors can use the number of confirmed cases to predict the volatility of infectious disease equities. Similarly, policy makers can use the intervention of retrieved information to stabilize public sentiment and equity market fluctuations, and integrate a variety of information to make more scientific judgments on the trends of the epidemic.