DERTERMINANTS OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT: A CASE STUDY IN VIET NAM

FDI have more and more important role in the world, especially with developing countries, which have great demand of capital for economic development. It accounts for in the share of total of social investment and GDP of countries. Moreover, contributions of FDI are also in employment, technology transfer, and balance of payment, etc. This paper will justify contributions of FDI in Vietnam in terms of economic growth, industrial manufacturing and export, job creation, State Budget and macroeconomic balances. Thesis also endows information about process, guarantee, supporting, and policy incentive of FDI in Vietnam. In addition, thesis surveys Eclectic Theory developed by Dunning, J. in case of Vietnam, to find the factors influence of decision of foreign investors, when they invest in Vietnam. Thesis uses empirical analysis, namely regression analysis. The result shows that market size, labor cost, trade openness, and infrastructure are determinants of FDI in Vietnam. Finally, thesis also provides information of economy and FDI of Vietnam. Keywords: Determinant, FDI, OLI, Dunnin

Modelling and Experimental Validation of a VNT Turbocharger for Improving Performances of a Marine Diesel Generator Engine

This paper presents modelling and experimental validation for improving the performances of a marine diesel generator engine. Based on the diesel engine theory, the laws of conservation of energy, and the principle of movement of flow through turbocharger nozzle, a mathematical model of a real turbocharged engine was built, concentrating on the mathematic model of flow through nozzles. This model is simulated by Matlab/Simulink program, the results of simulation showed the relationships between the engine and the turbocharger, the turbine and the compressor, and between the nozzles and the turbocharger. The experiments were carried out to validate this model, the errors between the simulation and measure were acceptable. The measure and simulation results also determined that at the low load conditions (≤50% load) engine performances can be improved by adjusting nozzle opening degree (from fully opening to 90% and 80% opening)

SELECTION OF FITNESS AND TECHNICAL EVALUATION TESTS FOR MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS AGED 15 TO 16 YEARS OLD IN BA RIA - VUNG TAU PROVINCE, VIETNAM

This paper is written to select fitness and technical tests for male football players in the province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau who are between the ages of 15 and 16. The study executes three processes of document synthesis, interviews, and reliability assessment of each test by using traditional research methods in sports including reference materials, interviews, pedagogical tests, and statistical analysis. In order to evaluate the fitness and technical competence of young male football players in Ba Ria - Tau province, the research has chosen 09 tests (05 fitness tests and 04 technical tests): 15m sprint (s), 5x30m Running (s), Long jump (cm), Test Cooper (m), Doing a short throw-in without momentum (cm); Dribbling a ball to go through poles and shoot the goal (s), Juggling a ball with feet (times), Shooting a ball from a distance of 16.5 meters (times), Doing a standard pass (times).  Article visualizations

Recovered Energy from Salinity Gradients Utilizing Various Poly(Acrylic Acid)-Based Hydrogels

Hydrogels can be utilized to extract energy from salinity gradients when river water mixes with seawater. Saline-sensitive hydrogels exhibit a reversible swelling/shrinking process when they are, alternately, exposed to fresh and saline water. We present a comparison of several poly(acrylic acid)-based hydrogels, including poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), poly(acrylic acid-co-vinylsulfonic acid) (PAA/PVSA), and poly(4-styrenessulfonic acid-co-maleic acid) interpenetrated in a poly(acrylic acid) network (PAA/PSSA-MA). The hydrogels were synthesized by free radical polymerization, copolymerization, and by semi-IPN (interpenetrating polymer network). The hydrogels were placed in a piston-like system to measure the recovered energy. Semi-IPN hydrogels exhibit a much higher recovered energy compared to the copolymer and PAA hydrogel. The recovered energy of 60 g swollen gel was up to 4 J for the PAA/PSSA-MA hydrogel. The obtained energy per gram dried gel was up to 13.3 J/g. The swelling volume of the hydrogels was maintained for 30 cycles without decline in recovered energy.publishedVersio

Two algorithms for detection of mutually occluding traffic signs

The robust identification of the traffic signs represents the first and one of the most important steps in the development of a traffic sign recognition (TSR) system. Traffic signs detection usually involves a color segmentation process that uses the information related to the chromatic properties of the road signs. Since the traffic video data is captured in diverse road and weather conditions, the problem relating to traffic sign detection is quite challenging. Among several issues that need to be addressed during this processing stage, the problem generated by mutually occluding traffic signs (mutual occlusion occurs when one traffic sign partially occludes the surface of other road signs) that are attached to the same pole require special attention. In these situations the color segmentation process fails to correctly identify the regions that are associated with the traffic signs. These traffic sign detection failures compromise the performance of other stages of the TSR system and in this paper we propose two approaches that address the segmentation of mutually occluding traffic signs. The first approach uses the information associated with the inner parts of the traffic signs, while the second approach applies the watershed transform to identify the signs that have their borders in contact or are mutually occluding

A SIMPLIFIED ASSESSMENT OF THE LOAD BEARING CAPACITY OF SUCTION CAISSON FOR OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES BASED ON FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Suction caisson is widely used for offshore wind turbine applications. Its loadbearing capacity depends on the bucket geometry and its embedded soil properties. This paper presents a simplified assessment of the loadbearing capacity of suction caisson based on finite element analysis using the Plaxis 2D program. The load-bearing capacity of the suction caisson is determined based on the resulting load-displacement curve via the tangent intersection method. In addition, this study developed an equivalent equation exploring the relationship between the load-bearing capacity of the suction caisson and the surface foundation. The findings in the study showed that the geometry of the suction has a significant influence on its loadbearing capacity. The suction caissons whose aspect ratios are larger resulted in higher loadbearing capacities. Besides, the equivalent equation in this study could be applied to effectively estimate the load-bearing capacity of suction caisson based on its geometry. The finite element program and the soil ground model analyzed in this study was only an assumption. In the future, experimental studies should investigate the loadbearing capacity of a suction caisson related to its geometry and the embedded soil profile using centrifuge models and large-scale models

Thermal analysis of multi-layer walls containing geopolymer concrete and phase change materials for building applications

publishedVersio

Energy Lost in a Hydrogel Osmotic Engine Due to a Pressure Drop

Utilizing hydrogels to harvest salinity gradient energy from solutions of different salinities has recently attracted interest. Polyelectrolyte hydrogels exhibit cyclic swelling/deswelling when alternately exposed to freshwater and seawater. This can be utilized to convert the mixing energy of the two solutions into mechanical energy. Hydrogels consisting of a semi-interpenetrating network (semi-IPN) of poly(4-styrene sulfonic acid-co-maleic acid) sodium salt and polyacrylic acid was prepared at various cross-linking densities. The energy lost due to a pressure drop in the system during the deswelling/swelling process of these hydrogels is examined, and the effects of tubing dimensions, hydrogel cylinder size, gel particle size, and the volume fraction within the hydrogel cylinder occupied by the flowing liquid (ε) are investigated. In addition, a small-scale osmotic engine was compared to a scaled-up system. ε was found to be the factor that had the largest effect on the energy loss. It was found that ε is strongly dependent on the degree of swelling of the hydrogels. When the hydrogels swell, they deform more easily under pressure. This markedly decreases ε, thereby inducing a high pressure drop in the system and a correspondingly large energy loss. Accordingly, the pressure drop when pumping through the hydrogel is the major contributor to the energy loss in the system. When the hydrogel particles deform too much, the energy needed to pump the flowing liquid through the hydrogels exceeds the energy produced by the system. Developing a hydrogel system that deforms less in its swollen state is therefore essential for improving the energy efficiencies of these osmotic engines.publishedVersio

Osmotic engine converting energy from salinity difference to a hydraulic accumulator by utilizing polyelectrolyte hydrogels

Efficient harvesting of the mixing energy from the salinity gradient between sea and river water remains a challenge. Recently, utilization of the swelling/shrinking properties of hydrogels has been explored as a new means for extracting this energy. However, former investigations are mainly limited to examining the performance of the hydrogels when lifting applied weights, and calculating the energy that could potentially be extracted. In this study, we demonstrate a novel osmotic engine with a mechanical energy transmission prototype, which can convert and store the green mixing energy in a form that can be utilized to perform mechanical work. The osmotic engine includes a cylinder containing the hydrogel, an oil-hydraulic cylinder and a hydraulic accumulator. The lifting energy from the hydrogel is transferred to the oil-hydraulic cylinder through a lever, which acts as a pump and accumulate the hydraulic oil under high pressure in the hydraulic accumulator. The system was tested with a hydrogel of poly(acrylic acid) semi-interpenetrated with poly(4-styrenessulfonic acid-co-maleic acid) sodium. This hydrogel produced up to 36 J per shrinking/swelling cycle, and exhibited an efficiency of 0.53% at optimum conditions.publishedVersio