The Heart of Forgiveness, in Light of Unforgettable Hurt: A Multi-Faceted Perspective on Reconciliation in Northern Uganda

As the prospect of a peace agreement in northern Uganda becomes more likely, there is no greater time than now to address reconciliation and reintegration of formerly abducted persons (FAPs). Rather than focus on the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and reception centers, however, the study utilized focus group interviews, informal and non-formal interviews and secondary sources to gain a deeper understanding of how the community approaches reconciliation and reintegration. The study takes a critical look at Acholi community’s traditional approaches to justice and reconciliation in order to understand its strength and weaknesses in providing true reconciliation and a positive homecoming to returnees and their community members. Even more, the study aims to look at how FAPs and locals understand notions of peace and justice, and how they propose peace and justice can be realized in their communities. This encompasses an analysis of how individuals believe the prospective return of the key figures in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) conflict - Kony and his top commanders - should be dealt with in order to acquire peace and justice. Lastly, the study strives to identify potential avenues from which on the grassroots level, communities recognize their power to bring forth true transformation and reconciliation in post-conflict northern Uganda

Psychological Capital and Quality of Work Life among employees in public sector: evidence from Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports

In the modern world, employee s organizational performance is seen as one of the most important factor in developing an organization for both public and private sectors. The literature review also showed a lack of empirical research on the topic in the context of Vietnam, especially in the public sector about PsyCap in relation with Performance. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of PsyCap and Quality of work life on employee performance in public agencies such as Department of Culture and Sport in Ho Chi Minh City. 28 questions with the seven-point Likert scale were used to the research. Respondents in this study were 157 employees working full-time in this Department in Ho Chi Minh City. SPSS 20 and AMOS 20 were used to analyze the collected data. The research findings proved the significant effect of PsyCap Performance as well as QWL and performance in the public organizations in Ho Chi Minh City. This study provides not only better understanding of the subject but also the practical implications for personnel management of the organization

Nucleotide bias of DCL and AGO in plant anti-virus gene silencing

Plant Dicer-like (DCL) and Argonaute (AGO) are the key enzymes involved in anti-virus post-transcriptional gene silencing (AV-PTGS). Here we show that AV-PTGS exhibited nucleotide preference by calculating a relative AV-PTGS efficiency on processing viral RNA substrates. In comparison with genome sequences of dicot-infecting Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) and monocot-infecting Cocksfoot streak virus (CSV), viral-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs) displayed positive correlations between AV-PTGS efficiency and G+C content (GC%). Further investigations on nucleotide contents revealed that the vsiRNA populations had G-biases. This finding was further supported by our analyses of previously reported vsiRNA populations in diverse plant-virus associations, and AGO associated Arabidopsis endogenous siRNA populations, indicating that plant AGOs operated with G-preference. We further propose a hypothesis that AV-PTGS imposes selection pressure(s) on the evolution of plant viruses. This hypothesis was supported when potyvirus genomes were analysed for evidence of GC elimination, suggesting that plant virus evolution to have low GC% genomes would have a unique function, which is to reduce the host AV-PTGS attack during infections

Extraction of Polyphenols from Mentha aquatica Linn. var. crispa

Mentha aquatica Linn. var. crispa is commonly used as a spice in many Asian countries. Although its biological activities, such as its applications, antimicrobial properties, have been studied, its antioxidation properties have not been investigated. This study establishes the most suitable extraction conditions concerning the independent variables affecting the total polyphenol content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AA) of M. aquatica extract (stem and leaf). Investigated factors include the type of solvent used; solvent concentration, the ratio of raw material to solvent, extraction time and extraction temperature. The efficiency of polyphenol extraction was evaluated by TPC and AA through the ability to neutralize the free radicals 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2\u27-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6- sulfonic acid) (ABTS), and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) was used as the evaluation indicator. The results have shown that acetone at a concentration of 50%, at a ratio of 1:20 (w/v), extraction time of 2 h and a temperature of 40 °C give the highest values of TPC and AA, with values of 120.92 mg GAE g-1 dw for TPC, 169.36 μmol TE g-1 dw by DPPH assay, 264.03 μmol by ABTS assay, and 425.35 μmol Fe2+ g-1 dw by FRAP assay. This study demonstrates that extracts of M. aquatica can be used for research as food antioxidant

New cognitive deep-learning CAPTCHA

CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart), or HIP (Human Interactive Proof), has long been utilized to avoid bots manipulating web services. Over the years, various CAPTCHAs have been presented, primarily to enhance security and usability against new bots and cybercriminals carrying out destructive actions. Nevertheless, automated attacks supported by ML (Machine Learning), CNN (Convolutional Neural Network), and DNN (Deep Neural Network) have successfully broken all common conventional schemes, including text- and image-based CAPTCHAs. CNN/DNN have recently been shown to be extremely vulnerable to adversarial examples, which can consistently deceive neural networks by introducing noise that humans are incapable of detecting. In this study, the authors improve the security for CAPTCHA design by combining text-based, image-based, and cognitive CAPTCHA characteristics and applying adversarial examples and neural style transfer. Comprehend usability and security assessments are performed to evaluate the efficacy of the improvement in CAPTCHA. The results show that the proposed CAPTCHA outperforms standard CAPTCHAs in terms of security while remaining usable. Our work makes two major contributions: first, we show that the combination of deep learning and cognition can significantly improve the security of image-based and text-based CAPTCHAs; and second, we suggest a promising direction for designing CAPTCHAs with the concept of the proposed CAPTCHA.Web of Science234art. no. 233

The state of e-commerce industry after Covid-19 pandemic and some development policies

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic leads to e-commerce’s explosive growth with brands such as Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo and The Gioi Di Dong, etc. Since then, e-commerce activities have been going into practice in the life of every Vietnamese person and are constantly developing. The article presents the current situation of the e-commerce industry in recent years through discussion to analyze, evaluate and have a broader perspective on the development of e-commerce, thereby offering some development policies

INVESTIGATING THE EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES WITH E-LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN VIETNAMESE HIGHER EDUCATION

This study uses a mixed-methods approach to investigate the experiences of Vietnamese university students with disabilities (visual/mobility impairments) with e-learning as a consequence of emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of the ideas of 20 surveyed students with disabilities at eight universities in Ho Chi Minh City and six students interviewed afterward shows that students can change their study habits to adapt to e-learning and to enjoy this model of learning. However, the participants revealed that they also want to experience face-to-face learning so that they can interact with their lecturers and peers more effectively and in more diverse ways, as well as assimilate lectures more easily. Furthermore, the research shows that various adjustments should be made by system designers, universities, and lecturers to make e-learning friendlier to disabled students. The recommended adjustments include designing easy-to-use learning tools and platforms, providing lecturers with the necessary tools and facilities to design lessons appropriate for all students, providing psychological and technical support for disabled students, choosing user-friendly learning applications and platforms, providing students with suitable learning resources, and modifying testing and assessment methods

STRESS AND COPING STRATEGIES OF SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN TRA CU DISTRICT, TRA VINH PROVINCE, VIETNAM

By using a cross-sectional study, this study aimed to determine the ratio of occupational stress, stress levels and the relationship between stress status and social characteristics of the sample, factors at work, as well as how secondary school teachers respond to stress in Tra Cu District, Tra Vinh Province. The study conducted a survey to investigate 466 teachers currently teaching at 14 secondary schools in Tra Cu District, Tra Vinh Province, from May 2020 to June 2020. Research results showed that the percentage of teachers who suffered mild stress and severe stress was 18.9% and 8.1%, respectively. The signs of stress in teachers correlated with several factors such as job demand, work control and ways of coping at work. When the average score of the assessment “job demand” or “work control” increased by one point, the rate of stress on teachers was reduced by 23% (95% CI: 0.73 – 0.81) and 12% (95% CI: 0.84 – 0.93) respectively. By contrast, the average score of “confrontation” increased by one point  leading to 3.21 times higher (95% CI: 2.61 – 3.96) possibility of causing stress. As well as the average score of "avoidance" increased by one point, the possibility of causing stress in teachers increased 3.03 times (95% CI: 2.45 – 3.74). The findings showed that mental health problems in teachers at secondary schools, in general and in Tra Cu District, Tra Vinh Province in particular, had not received sufficient attention. Therefore, the problems should be taken seriously not only by teachers school administration