Millennial Experience in Islamic Banking: A Comparative Study between Clients and non-Clients

This study examines factors affecting millennial loyalty to Islamic banks, from the perspective of both customers and non-customers. It employed the quantitative method and was assessed with an exploratory-descriptive approach. The study was conducted in Bandung by distributing questionnaires to 200 non-customers and 200 customers of Islamic banks who were between 19-39 years old. Partial Least Square analysis was employed to evaluate the data. The results show that the exploratory-descriptive approach is able to provide complete information about the customer and non-customer loyalty toward Islamic banks. This research underlines that service quality is a significant factor in building customer loyalty while opinion leader is an influencing factor for non-customer loyalty. The study, then, provides guidelines for banking management to improve service quality and to develop marketing strategies using opinion leaders. Besides, it is also advisable for the managers to adjust themselves to the latest trends and millennials lifestyles

Quality properties Of Vietnamese cocoa liquors

Vietnam (VN) is an emerging country targeting cocoa as a potential industrial domain. It is however still unclear how the quality of VN cocoa liquors can be positioned in the world cocoa supply. Three VN cocoa liquors exhibiting high to intermediate acidity (pH: 4.7 – 5.2) were selected to produce dark chocolate (48.0% sugar, 17.6% cocoa solids, 34.0% cocoa butter and 0.4% lecithin). A comparison study was conducted to investigate the difference between VN and Ghanaian (GH; pH: 5.6) dark chocolates in terms of Casson flow properties (yield stress sCA and viscosity hCA), hardness (F 20°C and F 30°C), water-soluble organic acid content, aroma profile and sensory evaluation. The impact of pre-treatments of cocoa liquor by ball-milling at different fat contents and conching (-C) was also examined

Risk-based approach to food safety research: Application to pork value chains in Vietnam

Introduction: Food-borne disease is a major public health issue in Vietnam. The contamination of popular foods can occur all along the food value chains. It is important to understand how and where food safety issues arise in order to mitigate and prevent food-borne diseases. Risk-based approach is a tool for managing food safety, however in Vietnam it is rarely applied and the capacity for application is still lacking. This paper describes how food safety risk assessment research has been applied for the pork value chain in Vietnam. Methods: We have conducted a risk assessment research to assess health risks related to pork consumption in the context of pig smallholder value chains and pork traded in informal markets. We collected 216 samples from 72 pig farms (floor swab, drinking and waste water), 545 samples from 49 slaughterhouses (carcass swab, lymph node, rectal feces, floor swab and washing water) and 514 samples from 220 pork retailed shops at informal markets (pork cuts, ground pork and cutting board swab) in Hung Yen and Nghe An provinces in the north and central of Vietnam. These 1275 samples were analyzed to detect qualitatively and quantitatively for Salmonella and E. coli. Chemical hazards (antibiotic, growth promoters, and heavy metal residues) in 190 pork samples from informal markets were also analyzed. Pork consumption behavior and cross-contamination modalities during pork preparation were assessed. Findings and interpretations: Overall prevalence of Salmonella combined from all types of above mentioned samples at pig farms, slaughterhouses and pork shops were 35%, 30% and 37%, respectively. Salmonella contamination in the final product (pork at market) was 45% and an average concentration of 9 MPN/g was recorded. E. coli average loads along different points of the chain were 5.3±1.4 (farm floor swabs), 2.9±0.9 (carcass swabs), 3.1±1.0 (slaughterhouse floor swabs), and 3.3±1.1 (market shop cutting board swabs) logCFU/cm2 , whereas pork from market had 3.4±0.9 logCFU/g. Demonstrated high levels of Salmonella in the final product (pork at market) induces the potential health risks for the consumers. High values for E. coli indicates general poor hygiene along the chain. 50% and 16.7% pooled samples were positive with sulfamethazine and chloramphenicol, with average residue levels of 156 µg/kg and 0.54 µg/kg, respectively. A quantitative risk model is being developed and integrates information on contamination along the pork value chain to characterize the health risk caused by Salmonella. Appropriate hygiene practices and management are required to achieve better pork quality and reduce the risk for the consumers

Burden of diarrheal diseases from biogas wastewater exposure among smallholder farmers in Ha Nam province, Vietnam

Livestock production has developed rapidly in Vietnam in recent years, particularly at the small-scale which account for 65% of the total livestock production. Biogas systems are commonly used to treat livestock waste, however, the health risks from biogas wastewater exposure at smallholder farms are not yet well understood. A quantitative microbial risk assessment approach was applied to estimate the burden of diarrheal diseases from biogas wastewater exposure among 451 smallholder farmers using biogas systems in Ha Nam province. A total of 150 biogas wastewater samples were collected and analysed for E. coli, Giardia, and Cryptosporidium. The study showed that farmers faced diarrheal disease risks due to exposure to biogas wastewater at different exposure scenarios. The calculated annual risk of diarrheal disease by E. coli ranked from 0.15 to 0.21; by Giardia ranked from 0.022 to 0.095; and by Cryptosporidium ranked from 0.006 to 0.015. The estimated diarrheal diseases burden from pathogens in all exposure scenarios largely exceeded the reference level of health outcome target of 10-6DALYs loss per person per year recommended by WHO. The results suggest the importance in reducing concentrations of pathogens in biogas wastewater before use in the fields as a means for mitigating public health impacts

Effectiveness of training programme on nurses wound care competencies after one year of implementation

This study aims to review the impacts of the nursing training programme on the knowledge, skills and attitude among nurses working in seven clinical departments at Viet Duc University Hospital one year after the interventional programme has been conducted. It was carried out in 2014 and 2015 with a sample size of 145 nurses. The data collection tool included a wound care observation checklist to measure two indicators - the mean score and effects of training on wound care competencies. Data was analysed with SPSS 18.0. The study results showed that the post training rate of nurses with adequate practice competencies increased from the pre-training survey (p < 0.001). The effectiveness indicators relating to the competencies of identification, planning, plan implementation and evaluation were 31.9%; 43.3%; 71.3% and 28.3% (p < 0.001). Wound care training programme based on nursing competencies standards has proved to be effective