Vietnam’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic ‘such as War’: Extreme but Sensible

This study aims to explore what actions Vietnam initiated to prepare for the Covid-19 pandemic and the reason why they chose to do it, which seems to be considered successful action at the current level. Firstly, the author examines how Vietnam’s reaction could have been successful and analyzes a variety of features of their Covid-19 response process. At the early stage of this mysterious new pneumonia, Vietnam decided to act quickly in the ways which seems to be quite extreme at that time. With regard to Vietnam government’s action, the author illustrates the detailed process of their response and identifies how they quickly initiated such drastic action such a war with a full consensus from a majority of Vietnamese citizens. In terms of Vietnam’s Covid-19 response, it is quite critical of social distancing and surveillance for Metaphors, Scientific journalism and Patriotism. Secondly, the author analyzes how Vietnam’s reaction that closed the border with other countries, has affected socially and economically, and how these influences are reflected in Vietnam's Covid-19 responses. The author argues that one reaction of Vietnam to Covid-19, which they put all travelers from South Korea’s Daegu under quarantine, has led to an increase in negative responses to Korean and Korean companies in Vietnam, and that the civilian solidarity of Vietnamese companies and the Korean community played an important role in resolving the problem. Furthermore, the blockade at the national level has dragged a national consensus, and it is not a simple logic to sympathize with the authoritarian tendencies of the Vietnamese government. The nation’s capacity based on the government’s leadership and social trust to prepare for Covid-19 issue is insufficient to be considered just as the authoritarian-leaning idea of ‘surveillance’ and ‘control’.

Insight into the Folding and Dimerization Mechanisms of the N-Terminal Domain from Human TDP-43

TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) is a 414-residue long nuclear protein whose deposition into intraneuronal insoluble inclusions has been associated with the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other diseases. This protein is physiologically a homodimer, and dimerization occurs through the N-terminal domain (NTD), with a mechanism on which a full consensus has not yet been reached. Furthermore, it has been proposed that this domain is able to affect the formation of higher molecular weight assemblies. Here, we purified this domain and carried out an unprecedented characterization of its folding/dimerization processes in solution. Exploiting a battery of biophysical approaches, ranging from FRET to folding kinetics, we identified a head-to-tail arrangement of the monomers within the dimer. We found that folding of NTD proceeds through the formation of a number of conformational states and two parallel pathways, while a subset of molecules refold slower, due to proline isomerism. The folded state appears to be inherently prone to form high molecular weight assemblies. Taken together, our results indicate that NTD is inherently plastic and prone to populate different conformations and dimeric/multimeric states, a structural feature that may enable this domain to control the assembly state of TDP-43.

Conceptual framework for assisted dying for individuals with dementia: Views of experts not opposed in principle

Dementia is one of the prominent conditions for which an aging population has been seeking end-of-life solutions such as assisted dying. Individuals with dementia, however, are often unable to meet the eligibility criteria of being mentally competent and are thus discriminated against in relation to assisted dying laws. Provided that the assisted death directive is being made in sound mind, it is still of concern whether these advance directives can be appropriately framed and safeguarded to protect the wish of these vulnerable individuals while preventing harm. Therefore, to establish consensus views of experts on primary issues of, and concerns about, assisted dying for individuals with dementia as well as exploring tentative conceptual framework to safeguard practice and application, a three-round Delphi study was conducted. A core group of 12 experts from five countries was recruited comprising expertise in domains relevant to assisted dying and dementia. A semantic–thematic approach was applied to analyze the 119 generated statements. Evaluation of these research statements resulted in full consensus of 84 (70%) items. Our primary findings highlight seven core domains: applicability of assisted dying for dementia; ethical, practical, and pathological issues regarding the application of assisted dying; and ethical, legal, and professional recommendations for the ways forward. Despite the issues surrounding the provision of assisted death for individuals with dementia, our findings lead us to cautiously conclude that devising “adequate” safeguards is achievable. The result of this research may benefit future research and practice.

Case Study Method and Research Design

Case study is prominent in qualitative research literature, yet the methodologists do not have a full consensus on whether it is an approach, a method, a methodology, or a design. Perhaps this flexibility contributes to ambiguity for the burgeoning researcher. The works of prominent methodologists, namely Robert Yin, Sharan Merriam, and Robert Stake, are explored as an attempt to define case study and then explain how it can be utilized as a ‘road map' for engaging case study to investigate current practices in inclusivity and wellbeing. The author serves as a provocateur and explores the question: “How do you surface deep knowledge in your interview participants?” This chapter contributes knowledge to the field of research, specifically methodological information for the novice researcher considering using case study as a research method. Dually, this chapter brings into focus examples of case study method applied to explore inclusion and wellbeing.

A Fuzzy Collaborative Approach for Evaluating the Suitability of a Smart Health Practice

A fuzzy collaborative approach is proposed in this study to assess the suitability of a smart health practice, which is a challenging task, as the participating decision makers may not reach a consensus. In the fuzzy collaborative approach, each decision maker first applies the alpha-cut operations method to derive the fuzzy weights of the criteria. Then, fuzzy intersection is applied to aggregate the fuzzy weights derived by all decision makers to measure the prior consensus among them. The fuzzy intersection results are then presented to the decision makers so that they can subjectively modify the pairwise comparison results to bring them closer to the fuzzy intersection results. Thereafter, the consensus among decision makers is again measured. The collaboration process will stop when no more modifications are made by any decision maker. Finally, the fuzzy weighted mean-centroid defuzzification method is applied to assess the suitability of a smart health practice. The fuzzy collaborative approach and some existing methods have been applied to assess the suitabilities of eleven smart health practices for a comparison. Among the compared practices, only the fuzzy collaborative approach could guarantee the existence of a full consensus among decision makers after the collaboration process, i.e., that the assessment results were acceptable to all decision makers.