Factors Affecting Business Angels Investment in Vietnam

The paper aims at investigating and comparing the factors determining investment decisions by business angels (BAs) from the viewpoints of BAs and startups in Vietnam based on a framework synthesized from a literature review and primary data from in-depth interviews conducted with 8 startups and 15 angel investors. The results show that the startups’ founder, working team, financial issues, product and market, and strategy related to exit and the roles of BAs are startup-related factors determining BAs’ investment in Vietnam. For BA-related factors, the BAs’ experience, investment objectives and preferences, and culture are key determinants. The novelty of the paper is to find out the gaps between the perspectives of BAs and startups, and the difference between Vietnamese and foreign BAs’ viewpoints. The finding is that BAs, more strictly than startups, assess their business plan, financial state, product, market, and targeted consumers. Startups neglect the exit strategy and role of BAs in invested startups. In addition, foreign and domestic BAs have different opinions on startups’ market scale, and expectation of profits and BAs’ roles in startups. The paper ends by providing some implications for Vietnamese startups to attract more angel investment, focusing on improving the quality of human resources, developing a profitable, honest, and realistic business plan, and setting up a long-run vision towards the global market. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-02-07 Full Text: PD

The effectiveness of exercise interventions targeting sleep in older adults with cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease and related dementias ( AD / ADRD ): A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Summary: Sleep loss is associated with reduced health and quality of life, and increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Up to 66% of persons with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias experience poor sleep, which can predict or accelerate the progression of cognitive decline. Exercise is a widely accessible intervention for poor sleep that can protect against functional and cognitive decline. No previous systematic reviews have investigated the effectiveness of exercise for sleep in older adults with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. We systematically reviewed controlled interventional studies of exercise targeting subjectively or objectively (polysomnography/actigraphy) assessed sleep in persons with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. We conducted searches in PubMed, Embase, Scopus and Cochrane‐Library (n = 6745). Nineteen randomised and one non‐randomised controlled interventional trials were included, representing the experiences of 3278 persons with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Ten had low‐risk, nine moderate‐risk, and one high‐risk of bias. Six studies with subjective and eight with objective sleep outcomes were meta‐analysed (random‐effects model). We found moderate‐ to high‐quality evidence for the beneficial effects of exercise on self‐reported and objectively‐measured sleep outcomes in persons with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. However, no studies examined key potential moderators of these effects, such as sex, napping or medication use. Our results have important implications for clinical practice. Sleep may be one of the most important modifiable risk factors for a range of health conditions, including cognitive decline and the progression of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Given our findings, clinicians may consider adding exercise as an effective intervention or adjuvant strategy for improving sleep in older persons with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Spindle Oscillations in Sleep Disorders: A Systematic Review

Measurement of sleep microarchitecture and neural oscillations is an increasingly popular technique for quantifying EEG sleep activity. Many studies have examined sleep spindle oscillations in sleep-disordered adults; however reviews of this literature are scarce. As such, our overarching aim was to critically review experimental studies examining sleep spindle activity between adults with and without different sleep disorders. Articles were obtained using a systematic methodology with a priori criteria. Thirty-seven studies meeting final inclusion criteria were reviewed, with studies grouped across three categories: insomnia, hypersomnias, and sleep-related movement disorders (including parasomnias). Studies of patients with insomnia and sleep-disordered breathing were more abundant relative to other diagnoses. All studies were cross-sectional. Studies were largely inconsistent regarding spindle activity differences between clinical and nonclinical groups, with some reporting greater or less activity, while many others reported no group differences. Stark inconsistencies in sample characteristics (e.g., age range and diagnostic criteria) and methods of analysis (e.g., spindle bandwidth selection, visual detection versus digital filtering, absolute versus relative spectral power, and NREM2 versus NREM3) suggest a need for greater use of event-based detection methods and increased research standardization. Hypotheses regarding the clinical and empirical implications of these findings, and suggestions for potential future studies, are also discussed

Spindle Oscillations in Sleep Disorders: A Systematic Review

Measurement of sleep microarchitecture and neural oscillations is an increasingly popular technique for quantifying EEG sleep activity. Many studies have examined sleep spindle oscillations in sleep-disordered adults; however reviews of this literature are scarce. As such, our overarching aim was to critically review experimental studies examining sleep spindle activity between adults with and without different sleep disorders. Articles were obtained using a systematic methodology with a priori criteria. Thirty-seven studies meeting final inclusion criteria were reviewed, with studies grouped across three categories: insomnia, hypersomnias, and sleep-related movement disorders (including parasomnias). Studies of patients with insomnia and sleep-disordered breathing were more abundant relative to other diagnoses. All studies were cross-sectional. Studies were largely inconsistent regarding spindle activity differences between clinical and nonclinical groups, with some reporting greater or less activity, while many others reported no group differences. Stark inconsistencies in sample characteristics (e.g., age range and diagnostic criteria) and methods of analysis (e.g., spindle bandwidth selection, visual detection versus digital filtering, absolute versus relative spectral power, and NREM2 versus NREM3) suggest a need for greater use of event-based detection methods and increased research standardization. Hypotheses regarding the clinical and empirical implications of these findings, and suggestions for potential future studies, are also discussed

Capsule network with shortcut routing

This study introduces "shortcut routing," a novel routing mechanism in capsule networks that addresses computational inefficiencies by directly activating global capsules from local capsules, eliminating intermediate layers. An attention-based approach with fuzzy coefficients is also explored for improved efficiency. Experimental results on Mnist, smallnorb, and affNist datasets show comparable classification performance, achieving accuracies of 99.52%, 93.91%, and 89.02% respectively. The proposed fuzzy-based and attention-based routing methods significantly reduce the number of calculations by 1.42 and 2.5 times compared to EM routing, highlighting their computational advantages in capsule networks. These findings contribute to the advancement of efficient and accurate hierarchical pattern representation models.Comment: 8 pages, published at IEICE Transactions on Fundamentals of Electronics Communications and Computer Sciences E104.A(8

Characterization of pig farms in Hung Yen, Hai Duong and Bac Ninh provinces

peer reviewedIn order to characterization of pig farms in the Red River Delta, a study was conducted on 90 pig farms in Hung Yen, Hai Duong and Bac Ninh provinces from June to December 2006. Results show that most of the pig farms had been built for five years with a small size (0.5 hectare per farm). The invested capital was about 300-400 millions VND per farm. Four main sow groups used in the farms included crossbred exotic sows (51.1%), crossbred sow between local and exotic breeds (14.4%), purebred Landrace and Yorkshire breeds (15.6 and 18.9%, respectively). The boars were various (Duroc 30%, Yorkshire 21%, Landrace 13%, PiÐtrain × Duroc 36% and others). The pigs farms were faced with several difficulties such as limited land, lack of invested capital, uncontrolled quality of breeding pigs, high costs of feed, poor hygiene condition and diseases

EGG QUALITY COMPARISON OF TWO VIETNAMESE CHICKEN BREEDS (RI AND MIA)

In the context of the valorization of poultry biodiversity, this work represents a step toward a better knowledge of the production abilities of local chicken breeds in Vietnam. Local chicken breeds are indeed particularly well suited for low-input rearing systems, as widely practiced in rural households of Vietnam. The socio-economic importance of these breeds might be underpinned by a market valorization through the mounting of differentiated quality value chains. Such a strategy needs the production potential of these local breeds to be assessed using parameters of egg quality and quantity. This study presents data about egg quality traits in two chicken breeds, the Ri and the Mia. The former is the most widespread breed in Vietnam, while the latter is known to be in danger of extinction. Nineteen parameters of quality of ninety eggs of Ri chickens and sixty eggs of Mia chickens were measured, each for both 40 and 60-weeks old hens to take hens ages into account.Mean egg weight of Mia eggs (44.70g) was significantly (p<0.001) higher than that of Ri eggs (41.68g). The yolk to albumen ratio was not significantly different (p>0.05) between the two breeds at the age of 40 weeks (Ri: 0.55; Mia: 0.58). For 60-weeks old hens, the ratio became significantly (p<0.05) higher in Mia eggs compared to Ri eggs (0.64 vs. 0.57). No significant difference (p>0.05) was recorded between the two breeds for parameters used for egg freshness assessment (Haugh’s units and pH of albumen and yolk) or eggshell resistance (maximal breakage force). Despite the small sample available for the study (due to the low availability of Mia hens and eggs), significant differences in egg quality traits were thus observed between these two breeds.Peer reviewe

Chronic scrotal heat stress causes testicular interstitial inflammation and fibrosis: An experimental study in mice

Background: Chronic heat stress is a risk factor that adversely affects the reproduction system. Inflammation and fibrosis are 2 important response processes to damaged tissues. Objective: This study investigates the association of chronic scrotal heat stress with testicular interstitial inflammation and fibrosis in mice. Materials and Methods: For all experiments, 8-10 wk old male Swiss mice (Mus musculus) (20-23 gr) were divided into 3 groups (n = 10/each). The heat-stress groups were submerged in a water bath at 37°C and 40°C, while the control group was treated at 25°C. The testicular tissues underwent hematoxylin and eosin staining, picro sirius red staining, and immunohistochemistry for intercellular adhesion molecule-1, fibroblast-specific protein 1, F4/80, collagen I, and Ki-67 staining to determine the testicular interstitial inflammation and fibrosis. Results: Chronic scrotal heat stress impairs spermatogenesis and reverses testicular histological structure. In this study, heat stress significantly induced increased interstitial cell proliferation and upregulation of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 expression in the interstitial testicular tissue. In the interstitial testicular tissue, the number of F4/80-positive macrophages and the number of fibroblast-specific protein 1- positive fibroblasts were significantly increased in the heat-exposed groups compared to those in the control group. The heat exposed groups had substantially increased extracellular matrix collagen accumulation in their testicular interstitial tissues. Conclusion: Heat stress adversely affects the testicular structure and spermatogenesis, causes inflammation, and leads to testicular interstitial fibrosis. Key words: Heat stress, Testicular, Inflammation, Fibrosis

MỘT SỐ KẾT QUẢ NGHIÊN CỨU BƯỚC ĐẦU VỀ ĐỘNG LỰC TRẦM TÍCH LƠ LỬNG TRONG MÙA LŨ TẠI VÙNG BIỂN VEN BỜ CỬA SÔNG HẬU

Land-ocean interactions in the coastal zone are severely influenced by tidal processces. In regions of high sediment discharge like the coast of Hau river estuary, these processes are even more significant when we analyse data in flood season (September) - which belongs to Agreement of Cooperation in Science and Technology between Vietnam and US (2013-2015) and project VAST-DLT.06/15-16 (2015-2016). Our goal is to investigate the sedimentation  processes. Additionally, we investigated the influence of the tidal currents in relation to the suspended sediment. Salinity (PSU - Practical salinity unit), suspended sediment concentration (NTU - Nephelometric Turbidity Units) were measured by Compac-CTD (Depth temperature conductivity chlorophyll turbidity) and OBS-3A (Turbidity and Temperature Monitoring System) instruments. The results show that the suspended sediment concentration (SSC) correlate with tidal current velocities. The tidal current velocities are up to 60 cm/s near the surface and 40 cm/s near the bottom, increasing SSC in the water column at bottom layer (24 NTU) and decreasing SSC at surface layer (8 NTU). Processes of sediment transport and deposition in flood tide in flood season are influenced by tidal currents more significantly than those in dry season. This leads to an asymmetry of the tidal ellipses and the different deposition between seasons. The analytical results imply the influence of tide and tidal currents on SSC in the coast of Hau river estuary, hence, the spread, sea water and fresh water mixing processes have difference during tidal phases and seasons.Các mối tương tác biển - đất liền trong vùng ven bờ bị chi phối chủ yếu bởi các quá trình thủy động lực như sóng, dòng chảy, lưu lượng nước sông, thủy triều trong đó thủy triều đóng vai trò quan trọng. Tại các khu vực có lưu lượng phù sa lớn như vùng ven biển sông Hậu, các quá trình này càng trở nên rõ rệt khi phân tích từ số liệu khảo sát trong thời kỳ mùa lũ (tháng 9) thuộc chương trình hợp tác khoa học và công nghệ giữa Việt Nam và Hoa Kỳ (2013 - 2015) và đề tài độc lập mã số VAST-ĐLT.06/15-16 (2015 - 2016). Trong chuyến khảo sát này, mục đích là điều tra sự lắng đọng và phân bố theo không gian, thời gian của hàm lượng trầm tích lơ lửng. Ngoài ra, chúng tôi còn khảo sát ảnh hưởng của dòng triều trong mối tương quan với hàm lượng trầm tích lơ lửng. Độ muối (đơn vị PSU - Practical Salinity Unit), hàm lượng trầm tích lơ lửng (đơn vị đo NTU - Nephelometric Turbidity Units) được đo bằng thiết bị Compac-CTD (Depth temperature conductivity chlorophyll turbidity), và thiết bị đo độ đục OBS-3A (Turbidity and Temperature Monitoring System). Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy hàm lượng trầm tích lơ lửng tương quan với vận tốc dòng chảy. Tốc độ dòng chảy khi triều lên đến 60 cm/s ở lớp mặt và 40 cm/s ở đáy tạo nên sự tăng nồng độ trầm tích lơ lửng trong cột nước ở tầng đáy 24 NTU và 8 NTU tại tầng mặt. Trong pha triều lên, quá trình vận chuyển và lắng đọng trầm tích lơ lửng bị chi phối bởi dòng triều dài hơn so với mùa khô. Điều này cho thấy sự bất đối xứng của elip thủy triều và dẫn đến sự lắng đọng trầm tích lơ lửng trong các mùa là khác nhau. Từ kết quả phân tích có thể thấy vùng biển ven bờ cửa sông Hậu, hàm lượng trầm tích lơ lửng chịu sự chi phối bởi dòng chảy triều và thủy triều là rất lớn, do đó quá trình lan truyền, xáo trộn nước sông và biển có sự khác biệt đáng kể trong các điều kiện triều và điều kiện mùa