The time to shut down

At each time, a firm facing uncertainty over future market conditions have to make a decision whether they should continue to produce or stop the process? As the traditional principle, the firm will go out of production when the price of the typical unit does not cover the average variable cost that it must incur to produce the typical unit. In reality the firm can suffer losses today however it can get more gains tomorrow that is enough to make up the losses. It means that this rule seems not be suitable absolutely in an uncertainty environment. And it leads to a rule that the firm only stop producing if average variable costs of unit exceed the price of unit by a positive amount. This paper expects to find this exceeding amount and when a firm will stop producing. Under uncertainty, the price of unit and the average variables cost are assumed to follow a continuous time stochastic process. We wish to apply the optimal stopping time approach in order to solve it.

Technical Feasibility of Cultivating Local Seaweed Species in Inland Saline Water of Western Australia

This research investigated the technical feasibility of cultivating local seaweed species from Perth region in potassium-fortified inland saline waters (ISW). Different levels of potassium fortification into the ISW were essential for their culture and out of six seaweed species studied, Ulva lactuca, Lomentaria catenata and two Sargassum spp. could successfully be cultured in 33 to 100% potassium-fortified ISW. Seasonality, nutrient enrichments, pH and temperature were able to influence different seaweed species to different degrees

Training High-Quality Human Resources: from the Perspective of Development Policy and Strategy

Purpose: The objectives of this study are (1) to Clarify some theoretical issues about high-quality (H-Q) human resource (HR), and policies to develop H-Q HR; (2) to Structure H-Q HR; (3) to Role of HR in national construction and development; (4) Policies and strategies for developing H-Q HR in Vietnam; (5) Proposing some solutions to improve policies and develop H-Q HR in the future.   Theoretical framework: This study found the need to develop H-Q HR in Vietnam. Factors affecting the decision to develop H-Q HR. Then, all the data is combined to finalize Vietnam’s H-Q Human resource development policy and strategy.   Design/methodology/approach: This study includes quantitative and qualitative research methods. However, the author focuses on qualitative research based on legal documents of the Party and the State of Vietnam on the building and development of H-Q HR. In addition, to be able to draw accurate conclusions and propose appropriate solutions, the author consults the research of some other authors on the same topic. Methods such as comparison, analysis, synthesis, logic, etc. are used to determine the reasonableness of the conclusions.   Findings: Research results show that in recent years, policies and strategies for developing H-Q HR have been reflected in many undertakings and guidelines of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CP of V) and the Government’s policies. These guidelines and policies have contributed to training H-Q HR on the importance of industrialization, modernization, and international integration in Vietnam. However, these problems still have certain limitations when implemented into practice. Therefore, making some recommendations to the Party and the State of Vietnam to improve the development strategy of H-Q HR will contribute to improving the quality of training H-Q HR for Vietnam in the present and future.   Research, Practical & Social implications: Without a policy suitable to the actual situation of the country and the trend of the times, the policy’s purpose can hardly be achieved. Therefore, providing suitable solutions to the world and the domestic situation has theoretical and practical significance in policy formulation.   Originality/value: The study has supplemented and clarified theoretical and practical issues on policies and strategies for developing H-Q HR in line with the reality of Vietnam. At the same time, it can be a policy reference for some countries when developing a policy to deliver H-Q HR to the country

A Comparison of Videoconferencing and In-person Administration of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale

Although effective empirically-based OCD assessments and treatments exist, access to these resources can be challenging (Himle et al., 2006). Fortunately the advent of telemental health (TMH) to provide mental health services via videoconferencing may ameliorate some of these access challenges. Participants were 30 undergraduates identified as having subclinical obsessive compulsive symptoms. Each participant underwent Y-BOCS assessments twice, once over videoconferencing and once in-person. As hypothesized, videoconferencing and in-person administrations of the Y-BOCS Symptom Checklist and Severity Ratings were functionally equivalent. However, the results did not support the hypothesis that a TMH environment would be more conducive for increased comfort in disclosure of symptoms. The results build upon prior research demonstrating that TMH is feasible and acceptable for a wide range of underserved populations and settings. Research to establish assessment measures like the Y-BOCS as reliable and acceptable when used over videoconferencing may promote the further dissemination of gold-standard assessments and treatments to underserved populations

LARGE DEFLECTION OF CANTILEVER FUNCTIONALLY GRADED SANDWICH BEAM UNDER END FORCES BASED ON A TOTAL LAGRANGE FORMULATION

A two-node beam element for large deflection analysis of cantilever functionally graded sandwich (FGSW) beams subjected to end forces is formulated in the context of total Lagrange formulation. The beams consist of three layers, a homogeneous core and two functionally graded layers with material properties varying in the thickness direction by a power gradation law. Linear functions are adopted to interpolate the displacement field and reduced integral technique is applied to evaluate the element formulation. Newton-Raphson based iterative algorithm is employed in combination with arc-length control method to compute equilibrium paths of the beams. Numerical investigations are given for the beam under a transverse point load and a moment to show the accuracy of the element and to illustrate the effects of material inhomogeneity and the layer thickness ratio on the large deflection behavior of the FGSW beams

Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil from leaves of Magnolia coriacea (Hung T. Chang & B. L. Chen) figlar growing in Vietnam

Leaf essential oil of Magnolia coriacea (Hung T. Chang B. L. Chen) Figlar growing wild in the Bat Dai Son Nature Reserve, Ha Giang Province, Viet Nam was obtained by hydrodistillation and its chemical composition was analyzed using GC/MS. In total, 45 compounds were detected in the essential oil, accounting for 87.1% of the oil, in which 37 compounds were identified accounting for 66.9%. Bicyclogermacrene (12.6%) and spathulenol (17.0%) were the main components of the leaf essential oil of M. coriacea. Antimicrobial activity of the essential oil sample was tested against three microorganism strains using an agar disk diffusion method. The results show that the inhibitory zone diameters ranged from 8.5 to 20.5 mm. Median inhibitory concentration (IC50) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the essential oil was determined using microdilution broth susceptibility assay against seven test microorganism strains. Bacillus subtilis had the highest sensitivity with IC50 and MIC values of 185.9 and 512 µg/mL, respectively. 

INVESTIGATING DIFFICULTIES OF ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS IN WRITING ACADEMIC ESSAYS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difficulties faced by English-majored students in writing academic essays. To collect the data for the investigation, the sample involved was twenty-seven English-majored students who have been studying English as their specialization at a public university in Vietnam. The instruments of this study conducted a mix-method as a qualitative and quantitative approach. To achieve the purpose of this study, the questionnaire was administered as the quantitative data collection and the semi-structured interview as the qualitative data collection. Then, five of the total participants were randomly interviewed to gain insight ideas of the difficulties that they face when writing academic essays in their writing course. The results of this study demonstrated that the majority of students had obstacles related to insufficient linguistic knowledge namely, lexicon-grammar, vocabulary, and the structure of sentences. The findings from the interviews also indicated that the participants had encountered linguistic knowledge difficulties. Based on the findings, both some recommendations and implications are presented.  Article visualizations

Cultivated meat in tourism and hospitality: setting the scene and outlining future research agenda

The major societal challenges of climate change and animal welfare call for novel solutions to produce food. Cultivated meat may represent one of such solutions and research is emerging to understand its implications for food consumption. However, to date research has excluded the sector of foodservice provision as part of the wider tourism and hospitality industry from analysis. The current conceptual paper addresses this critical gap in knowledge by introducing cultivated meat to the context of food consumption outside the home. The paper elaborates upon the implications of cultivated meat for global foodservice provision and outlines an agenda for future research. This agenda considers the interests of multiple stakeholders, including developers/manufacturers of cultivated meat, foodservice providers, consumers, policymakers, and digital technology providers to highlight research avenues that warrant in-depth empirical investigation