The block cipher NSABC (public domain)

We introduce NSABC/w -- Nice-Structured Algebraic Block Cipher using w-bit word arithmetic, a 4w-bit analogous of Skipjack [NSA98] with 5w-bit key. The Skipjack's internal 4-round Feistel structure is replaced with a w-bit, 2-round cascade of a binary operation (x,z)\mapsto(x\boxdot z)\lll(w/2) that permutes a text word x under control of a key word z. The operation \boxdot, similarly to the multiplication in IDEA [LM91, LMM91], bases on an algebraic group over w-bit words, so it is also capable of decrypting by means of the inverse element of z in the group. The cipher utilizes a secret 4w-bit tweak -- an easily changeable parameter with unique value for each block encrypted under the same key [LRW02] -- that is derived from the block index and an additional 4w -bit key. A software implementation for w=64 takes circa 9 clock cycles per byte on x86-64 processors.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure

Self-Centering Prestressed Concrete Pier Considering the Effect of Vertical Earthquake Motions with External Aluminum Dissipators

A prototype self-centering prestressed concrete (SCPC) bridge pier and conventional reinforced concrete (RC) pier with similar backbone curves are designed and modeled. The objective of this study is to investigate the seismic performance of the SCPC bridge pier considering the effect of vertical earthquake ground motions. Under a severe vertical earthquake motion, the RC pier damage is much greater than the SCPC pier. The SCPC bridge pier shows a great capability in reducing residual drift at the top of the structure, therefore, the probability of bridge survival is increased. In this study, the external aluminum bars were used to reduce the seismic energy impacts on the bridge pier structure. In addition, The averages of the maximum and residual drifts of bridge piers under a set of 20 earthquake ground motion records impact with different vertical-to-horizontal peak acceleration ratios on the bridge seismic response are presented. The results are compared with the case of horizontal-only excitations, to clarify the effect of the vertical earthquake on the SCPC and RC bridge pier. Hence, the designers can find good solutions for structures in earthquakes resistance

THE APPLICATION OF GENERAL ENDURANCE EXERCISES TO IMPROVE 3000-METER ARMED RUNS OF MALE MILITIA FORCES AGED 25-28 IN HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM

A 3000-meter run with guns, a common physical exercise to train endurance in military force, is one of the training and competition contents for male soldiers of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces in general and militia forces in particular. The purpose of this study was to build up a general endurance exercise for male militia forces aged 25-28 in Ho Chi Minh City. Independent samples t-test was used to compare the difference between the experimental and control groups, while Paired sample t-test was used to identify the difference between the pre- and post-experimental. By using the general methods in sport, 12 general endurance exercises were selected and applied for male militia forces in 3000-meter armed runs. Besides, the result showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups (the experimental group had higher scores when compared with the control one) after eight weeks of training.  Article visualizations

Abelian charge inspired by family number

Quark has an electric charge either $-1/3$ or $2/3$ and a baryon number $1/3$, where the divisions $3$'s match the color number. Although the electric charge and the baryon number have a nature distinct from the color charge, the matching is necessary for the standard model or a relevant $B-L$ extension consistent at quantum level, since the relevant anomaly $[SU(2)_L]^2U(1)_A$ for $A=Y$ or $B-L$ must vanish. If elementary particles have a new $U(1)$ charge differently from $A$, such anomaly is not cancelled for each family. However, if we demand that the anomaly is cancelled over all families, this relates the color number to the family number instead of the electric charge and baryon number, and interestingly the family number guides us to a novel $U(1)$ theory. We will discuss the implication of this theory for neutrino mass, recent $W$-boson mass anomaly, FCNC, and particle colliders.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figure

How Foreign Ownership and Competition Affect the Credit Growth of Commercial Banks: Evidence from A Transitional Economy

This study examines the relationship between foreign ownership and market competition, proxied by bank market power, affecting the credit growth of 32 commercial banks in Vietnam from 2010 to 2020. The Random Effects Model and the Dynamic System Generalized Method of Moments were used to analyze an unbalanced panel of 278 annual observations. The findings report that foreign ownership reduces credit growth, with each percentage increase in foreign ownership reducing credit growth by 0.74%. The results indicate an inverse U-shaped relationship between competitive advantage and credit growth, with a turning point of 0.46. The main findings were found to be robust after employing an alternative market power proxy. The study recommends that bank managers and policymakers limit foreign ownership and control commercial banks’ market power to promote sustainable credit growth

Catalytic Dye Oxidation over CeO2 Nanoparticles Supported on Regenerated Cellulose Membrane

A novel regenerated cellulose (RC) membrane containing cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticles is described in detail. In this work, CeO2 nanoparticles with high surface area and mesoporosity were prepared by a modified template-assisted precipitation method. Successful synthesis was achieved using cerium nitrate as a precursor, adjusting the final pH solution to around 11 by ammonium hydroxide and ethylene diamine, and annealing at 550 °C for 3 hours under a protective gas flow. This resulted in a surface area of 55.55 m².g–1 for the nanoparticles. The regenerated cellulose membrane containing CeO2 particles was synthesized by the novel and environmentally friendly method. The catalyst CeO2 and cellulose/CeO2 membrane were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) measurements. The g-value of 2.276 has confirmed the presence of the surface superoxide species of CeO2 nanoparticles in EPR. The photocatalytic activity of the catalyst and the membrane containing the catalyst was evaluated through the degradation of methylene blue under visible light irradiation by UV-VIS measurements. The cellulose/CeO2 membrane degraded 80% of the methylene blue solution in 120 minutes, showing a better photocatalytic activity than the CeO2 catalyst, which degraded approximately 62% in the same period. It has been proven that the RC membrane is not only a good transparent supporting material but also a good adsorption for high-performance of CeO2 catalyst. Copyright © 2022 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

Cultura de língua étnica minoritária, lugares com elementos originais da língua tay e inconsistência de nomes nas províncias de Tuyen Quang

The article is composed statistically using maps of all types, documents on marital status, family records, and administrative documents (collectively referred to as Vietnamese documents). Place names with elements of Tay origin in Tuyen Quang province based on 4 districts (Chiem Hoa, Lam Binh, Na Hang, and Son Duong) were researched, with the intention of gaining insight into place names with original elements that come from ethnic minority languages in Vietnam, being read and written in different ways. The difference in the phonetics and writing of Tay language compared to Vietnamese, is one of the reasons that place names with elements of Tay origin in Tuyen Quang province, are used inconsistently, resulting in different ways of reading, and writing a place name. Therefore, there is a need to standardize all place names located in the province.El documento se compone estadísticamente a través de mapas de todo tipo, documentos sobre el estado civil, registros familiares y documentos administrativos (denominados colectivamente documentos vietnamitas). Se investigó sobre los nombres de lugares con elementos de origen Tay en la provincia de Tuyen Quang basándose en 4 distritos (Chiem Hoa, Lam Binh, Na Hang y Son Duong), con la intención de obtener ganancias sobre los nombres de lugares con elementos originales que provienen de las lenguas de las minorías étnicas en Vietnam que se leen y escriben de diferentes maneras. La diferencia en la fonética y la escritura de la lengua tay en comparación con el vietnamita, es una de las razones por las que los nombres de lugares con elementos de origen tay en la provincia de Tuyen Quang, se utilizan de manera inconsistente, lo que resulta en diferentes formas de leer y escribir un nombre de lugar. Por lo tanto, es necesario normalizar todos los topónimos situados en la provincia.O artigo se compõe estatisticamente através de mapas de todos os tipos, documentos sobre estado civil, registros familiares e documentos administrativos (coletivamente referidos como documentos vietnamitas). Foi pesquisado acerca dos nomes de lugares com elementos de origem Tay na província de Tuyen Quang baseando-se em 4 distritos (Chiem Hoa, Lam Binh, Na Hang, e Son Duong), com a intenção de obter ganhos sobre os nomes de lugares com elementos originais que são advindos de línguas de minorias étnicas no Vietnã, sendo lidos e escritos de diferentes maneiras. A diferença na fonética e na escrita da língua Tay em relação ao vietnamita, é uma das razões que fazem com que nomes de lugares com elementos de origem Tay na província de Tuyen Quang, sejam usados de forma inconsistente, o que resulta em diferentes maneiras de ler e escrever o nome de um lugar. Portanto, há uma necessidade de padronizar todos os nomes dos locais situados na província

RESEARCH ON THE MANUFACTURING MAGNESIUM FROM THANHHOA DOLOMITE BY PIDGEON PROCESS

The magnesium and magnesium alloys has applied widely in different industrial aspects in Vietnam in the modern life. Especially, the products from magnesium alloys implementing in the automotive have increased rapidly since the car elements tend to be generated by the light alloys in order to save the fuel. However, in the current time, Vietnam has no factories to produce the magnesium to adapt the domestic demand although it owns an enrich resource of raw materials. This research indicates the possibility of using the dolomite ore in Thanhhoa – Vietnam to make the magnesium as well as evaluate the primary factors like recovering temperature, reducing agent rate, recovering time having effect on the reduction efficiency of Thanhhoa dolomite by metallothermic method in vacuum (Pidgeon Process). This is basic process, low investment and suitable for the small and medium scales in Vietnam. The experiment includes heating, indicating the chemical ingredients and recovering experiment on the dolomite after calcination (dolime) by using ferrosilicon. The thermodynamic model is created to estimate the recovering efficiency in the Pidgeon. The result shows that the CaO/MgO molar ratio of calcination dolomite in Thanhhoa is nearly 1.5 which is suitable to produce magnesium in the case of highly-required efficiency and pureness. Besides, the result from the furnace of the experiment is lower than the one in the model. The samples are set up to check the influence of the rate of ferrosilicon in the compound. The result indicates that the ideal efficiency reaches 85 % with 30 % ferrosilicon. Moreover, the study confirms that the optimal operating conditions in this process are recovering during three hours at 1200 °C and 100 Pa pressure. This result proves the potential application of Thanhhoa dolomite in the industry suitable with the current condition in Vietna

Market Competition and Innovation Premium Before and After the Financial Crisis: Evidence from Taiwan

This study explores the influence of innovation and market competition on stock returns in Taiwan before and after the 2008 financial crisis. This study offers marginal contributions to the important topic of innovation investment which is a vital driver of competitiveness and growth. The study employs Fama Macbeth regression and a sorting portfolio to examine a sample of 121,913 firm-month observations from 1991 to March 2021. A Two-Stage Least Squares estimation is also employed to address unobserved endogeneity issues. The empirical findings suggest that innovation premiums persist in Taiwan. However, the findings also report that higher market concentration reduces stock returns in Taiwan. The results support the information asymmetry theory and the resource-based view theory. This study can support policymakers and managers in developing innovative activities sustainably in emerging markets, while also helping individual investors to optimize their investment portfolios. &nbsp