This paper aims to analyze the nonlinear impact of control of corruption on economic growth in ASEAN countries - the emerging, frontier, and developping fastest-growing economies in Asia. The authors ...used a combination of threshold effects and system - GMM (Generalized Method of Moments) method for panel data in the period 2002 to 2019 to achieve reliable estimation results. The estimation results show that there is a threshold value of control of corruption of 48.08. This indicates that economic growth is impacted nonlinearly by control of corruption, and this impact is mainly positive in the regions before and after the threshold value. However, when control of corruption surpasses 48.08, the positive impact of control of corruption on economic growth decreases significantly. Accordingly, excessive control of corruption can reduce the effectiveness of economic growth in ASEAN countries. Therefore, ASEAN countries need to combine control of corruption with many other policies, especially policies on improving the effectiveness of resource allocation in the economy to boost economic growth sustainably.
Electron-beam (EB) irradiation was employed to degrade enrofloxacin (ENR) in an aqueous solution. The algal growth inhibition test revealed that ENR exhibited low toxicity against the cyanobacterium
...Arthrospira
sp., with an EC
50
-96 h value of 5.17 mg/L. The Taguchi design also involved finding the best optimum for ENR treatment using EB. Results revealed that the high-efficiency removal of ENR in an aqueous solution was approximately 98.53% under the optimum conditions of an absorbed dose of 5 kGy, a pH of 5.0, and an initial ENR concentration of 10 mg/L and an H
2
O
2
concentration of 2mM. The ERR degradation under a couple of EB irradiation and H
2
O
2
followed pseudo-first-order kinetics, with an R
2
of ∼0.970. The major degradation pathways of ENR were suggested by density functional theory, natural bond orbital calculations, and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) analysis. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was also performed to evaluate the impact of the EB on removing ENR; the industrial process was designed based on laboratory tests aimed with the ReCiPe tool. The obtained results indicated that energy consumption and H
2
O
2
affect environmental impacts with order human health, ecology systems, and natural resource. The LCA also proved that EB could be a green and efficient method for eliminating pharmaceutical contaminants in water.
We investigate the relation between foreign institutional ownership and stock price synchronicity, and whether this relation varies across country-level institutional and information infrastructures. ...Using a comprehensive dataset for firms across 40 countries over the period between 2000 and 2016, we document the following notable findings. First, foreign institutional ownership is negatively associated with stock price synchronicity. Second, we find that improved information transparency is a possible channel underlying the effect of foreign institutional ownership on stock price synchronicity. In addition, the synchronicity-reducing effect of foreign institutional ownership is more pronounced for firms in countries with weaker institutional infrastructures. Finally, our results reveal different impacts of foreign institutional ownership on stock price synchronicity across various types of foreign institutional ownership, highlighting the importance of foreign investor heterogeneity in improving firm information environment.
•Foreign institutional ownership is negatively associated with stock price synchronicity.•The firm information environment plays the role of a channel underlying the relation between foreign institutional ownership and stock price synchronicity.•The negative association between foreign institutional ownership and stock price synchronicity is stronger for firms in countries with weak governance quality or less transparent information environments.•The heterogeneity of foreign institutional ownership matters for stock price synchronicity.
Purpose
This study aims to explore how the inhibitor-loaded nanocontainers can be used in the epoxy coating for protection of steel against corrosion. A self-healing anticorrosive coating can be ...easily fabricated by embedding the inhibitor-loaded nanocontainers into the epoxy coating matrices. For this purpose, first, cerium (a catholic corrosion inhibitor) is encapsulated into silica nanoparticles (SiO2@Ce). Thereafter, an epoxy nanocomposite coating has been prepared on steel substrate using these SiO2@Ce nanoparticles as nanofillers.
Design/methodology/approach
To examine the effect of SiO2@Ce nanocontainers on mechanical properties of epoxy coating, the abrasion resistance, impact resistance and adhesion strength of coating have been evaluated. To reveal the effect of SiO2@Ce nanocontainer on corrosion behavior of epoxy-coated steel, the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has been conducted in NaCl solution.
Findings
Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy/Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses indicate that Ce3+ cations have been successfully loaded into the surface of silica nanoparticles (at the content of approximately 2 Wt.%). Mechanical tests of epoxy nanocomposite coatings indicate that the nanocomposite coatings with nanoparticles content of 2.5 Wt.% provide the highest values of abrasion resistance, impact resistance and adhesion strength. EIS results show that the presence of SiO2@Ce3+ nanocontainers increases both coating resistance and polarization resistance. Along with the improvement the coating barrier performance, Ce inhibitor plays an important role in improving the anticorrosive performance at the steel–electrolyte interface.
Originality/value
The application of self-healing epoxy/SiO2@Ce nanocomposite coatings for the protection of carbon steel is very promising.
Brown Planthopper (BPH) is one of the most dangerous insects that cause damage to rice. Aphids infected rice fields with low productivity can be lost even. Dealing with this situation, the Plant ...Protection industry has invented the light trap - a device based on the specific activity of insects phototaxis. These measures are considered effective and less costly today. However, the current light traps are usually installed next to the home of the staff assigned to manage light traps for easy tracking without attention to the impact of environmental factors around. Currently, the plant protection industry wants more scientific basis in light traps arranged so they want to review and make the factors of climate and geography in the light traps installed but not yet performed. In this paper, we propose an approach to find appropriate positions to replace light traps based on a combination between weather factors and geographical factors with data on infected areas by BPH with various infection levels exhibited on the maps based on Cellular Automata method. We present the simulation results with 8 considered cases to determine positions for light traps in an area of more than 1400 square kilometres including 84 communes in Can Tho city, one of the largest rice granaries in Vietnam.
Background
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia among the elderly and is characterized by loss of memory and other cognitive functions. An increase in AChE (a key enzyme in ...the cholinergic nervous system) levels around
β
-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles is a common feature of AD neuropathology. Amnesic effects of scopolamine (acetylcholine receptor antagonist) can be investigated in various behavioral tests such as Morris water maze, object recognition, Y-maze, and passive avoidance. In the scope of this paper, we report the anti-AChE, anti-BChE properties of the isolated compound and the in vivo effects of the methanolic extract of
Xylia xylocarpa
(MEXX) on scopolamine-induced memory deficit.
Results
In further phytochemistry study, a new hopan-type triterpenoid, (3
β
)-hopan-3-ol-28,22-olide (
1
), together with twenty known compounds were isolated (
2
–
21
). Compound
1
,
2
,
4
,
5
,
7
–
9
, and
11
–
13
exhibited potent acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity in a concentration-dependent manner with IC
50
values ranging from 54.4 to 94.6 μM. Compound
13
was also shown anti-butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activity with an IC
50
value of 42.7 μM. The Morris water Y-maze, Y-maze, and object recognition test were also carried out.
Conclusions
It is noteworthy that MEXX is effective when administered orally to mice, experimental results are consistent with the traditional use of this medicinal plant species.
Improvements in the early diagnosis of dengue are urgently needed, especially in resource-limited settings where the distinction between dengue and other febrile illnesses is crucial for patient ...management.
In this prospective, observational study (IDAMS), we included patients aged 5 years and older with undifferentiated fever at presentation from 26 outpatient facilities in eight countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, El Salvador, Indonesia, Malaysia, Venezuela, and Viet Nam). We used multivariable logistic regression to investigate the association between clinical symptoms and laboratory tests with dengue versus other febrile illnesses between day 2 and day 5 after onset of fever (ie, illness days). We built a set of candidate regression models including clinical and laboratory variables to reflect the need of a comprehensive versus parsimonious approach. We assessed performance of these models via standard measures of diagnostic values.
Between Oct 18, 2011, and Aug 4, 2016, we recruited 7428 patients, of whom 2694 (36%) were diagnosed with laboratory-confirmed dengue and 2495 (34%) with (non-dengue) other febrile illnesses and met inclusion criteria, and were included in the analysis. 2703 (52%) of 5189 included patients were younger than 15 years, 2486 (48%) were aged 15 years or older, 2179 (42%) were female and 3010 (58%) were male. Platelet count, white blood cell count, and the change in these variables from the previous day of illness had a strong association with dengue. Cough and rhinitis had strong associations with other febrile illnesses, whereas bleeding, anorexia, and skin flush were generally associated with dengue. Model performance increased between day 2 and 5 of illness. The comprehensive model (18 clinical and laboratory predictors) had sensitivities of 0·80 to 0·87 and specificities of 0·80 to 0·91, whereas the parsimonious model (eight clinical and laboratory predictors) had sensitivities of 0·80 to 0·88 and specificities of 0·81 to 0·89. A model that includes laboratory markers that are easy to measure (eg, platelet count or white blood cell count) outperformed the models based on clinical variables only.
Our results confirm the important role of platelet and white blood cell counts in diagnosing dengue, and the importance of serial measurements over subsequent days. We successfully quantified the performance of clinical and laboratory markers covering the early period of dengue. Resulting algorithms performed better than published schemes for distinction of dengue from other febrile illnesses, and take into account the dynamic changes over time. Our results provide crucial information needed for the update of guidelines, including the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness handbook.
EU's Seventh Framework Programme.
For the Bangla, Bahasa Indonesia, Portuguese, Khmer, Spanish and Vietnamese translations of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.
Lung cancer is the most common type of cancer with the highest cancer-associated mortality rates worldwide, as well as in Vietnam. Numerous studies have demonstrated that higher numbers and higher ...rate of activity of infiltrating natural killer (NK) cells and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in the tumor are closely correlated with positive prognosis, tumor size decrease and longer survival of lung cancer patients. In the present study, the effectiveness of BINKIT
kit in the
expansion of NK cells and CTLs in the peripheral blood of 7 patients aged between 30 and 84 years with metastatic lung cancer was evaluated. After 21 days of culture, the average number of CTLs (CD3
CD8
) increased by 742.3-fold in the CTL culture, accounting for 72.2% of the cultured cell population, and the mean cell viability was 95.7%. In the NK cell culture, the average number of NK cells (CD3
CD56
) increased by 637.5-fold, accounting for 84.3% of the cultured cell population, with an average viability of 94.7%. The percentage of active NK cells (CD3
CD56
bright) was 82.1%, which increased by 408.9-fold. Notably, a close correlation was identified between the numbers of cytokine-induced killer (CD3
CD56
) and NK (CD3
CD56
) cells in the NK cell culture (P<0.05). In the two culture conditions (namely NK cell and CTL cultures), no clear correlation was identified between the rate of initial immune cells in the peripheral blood and the corresponding number following
expansion (P>0.05). These results revealed that the method of expansion and activation of NK cells and CTLs from peripheral blood was successfully applied using BINKIT, and reached the requirements for clinical applications in cancer treatment in Vietnam.
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