Teaching practicum: The impacts on classroom management skills of novice lecturers

This research investigates the perspectives of the novice lecturers in the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education (FELTE) regarding Teaching Practicum’s impacts on their classroom management skills. Using survey research, data was gathered through questionnaires distributed among the whole population of 29 participants, followed by semi-structured interviews to gain a deeper insight into participants’ experience. The study’s results showed that novice lecturers generally made considerable progress in classroom management skills, especially in attention-drawing and response encouragement, creation of a motivating environment as well as physical and emotional interactions with students. On the other hand, it was discovered that inadequate duration and inappropriate timing generally impeded novice lecturers’ gains during their Teaching Practicum. However, some challenges related to supervisor and school choice turned out to be significant factors from which participants could derive considerable benefits, which is opposed to previous research. At the end of the study, some recommendations were suggested for future research on this topic

CSA: Thực hành nông nghiệp thông minh với khí hậu ở Việt Nam

During the last five years, Vietnam has been one of the countries most affected by climate change. Severe typhoons, flooding, cold spells, salinity intrusion, and drought have affected agriculture production across the country, from upland to lowland regions. Fortunately for Vietnam, continuous work in developing climate-smart agriculture has been occurring in research organizations and among innovative farmers and entrepreneurs. Application of various CSA practices and technologies to adapt to the impact of climate change in agriculture production have been expanding. However, there is a need to accelerate the scaling process of these practices and technologies in order to ensure growth of agriculture production and food security, increase income of farmers, make farming climate resilient, and contribute to global climate change mitigation. This book aims to provide basic information to researchers, managers, and technicians and extentionists at different levels on what CSA practices and technologies can be up scaled in different locations in Vietnam

Safety and efficacy of fluoxetine on functional outcome after acute stroke (AFFINITY): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Trials of fluoxetine for recovery after stroke report conflicting results. The Assessment oF FluoxetINe In sTroke recoverY (AFFINITY) trial aimed to show if daily oral fluoxetine for 6 months after stroke improves functional outcome in an ethnically diverse population. Methods AFFINITY was a randomised, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial done in 43 hospital stroke units in Australia (n=29), New Zealand (four), and Vietnam (ten). Eligible patients were adults (aged ≥18 years) with a clinical diagnosis of acute stroke in the previous 2–15 days, brain imaging consistent with ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke, and a persisting neurological deficit that produced a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 1 or more. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 via a web-based system using a minimisation algorithm to once daily, oral fluoxetine 20 mg capsules or matching placebo for 6 months. Patients, carers, investigators, and outcome assessors were masked to the treatment allocation. The primary outcome was functional status, measured by the mRS, at 6 months. The primary analysis was an ordinal logistic regression of the mRS at 6 months, adjusted for minimisation variables. Primary and safety analyses were done according to the patient's treatment allocation. The trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12611000774921. Findings Between Jan 11, 2013, and June 30, 2019, 1280 patients were recruited in Australia (n=532), New Zealand (n=42), and Vietnam (n=706), of whom 642 were randomly assigned to fluoxetine and 638 were randomly assigned to placebo. Mean duration of trial treatment was 167 days (SD 48·1). At 6 months, mRS data were available in 624 (97%) patients in the fluoxetine group and 632 (99%) in the placebo group. The distribution of mRS categories was similar in the fluoxetine and placebo groups (adjusted common odds ratio 0·94, 95% CI 0·76–1·15; p=0·53). Compared with patients in the placebo group, patients in the fluoxetine group had more falls (20 [3%] vs seven [1%]; p=0·018), bone fractures (19 [3%] vs six [1%]; p=0·014), and epileptic seizures (ten [2%] vs two [<1%]; p=0·038) at 6 months. Interpretation Oral fluoxetine 20 mg daily for 6 months after acute stroke did not improve functional outcome and increased the risk of falls, bone fractures, and epileptic seizures. These results do not support the use of fluoxetine to improve functional outcome after stroke

A liquefaction criterion for fine-grained sand constituting Nam O formation subjected to uni-directional and multi-directional cyclic shear

In this paper, fine-grained samples at nominally 50% relative density of Nam O sand were tested using several series of uni-directional and multi-directional cyclic shears. The changes of cyclic shear-induced effective stress reduction were observed for a wide range of shear strain amplitudes and various cyclic shear directions and number of cycles. The effects of such cyclic shearing conditions on the liquefaction resistance of the soil were then clarified. It is indicated from experimental results that the effective stress in Nam O sand reduces quickly by the application of the cyclic shear and that the soil is liquefied even when the cyclic shear strain is at small amplitude (y = 0.1%). The effects of cyclic shear direction on the effective stress reduction and also on the liquefaction resistance of the soil are evident at small shear strain amplitude; these effects, however, decrease with y and become negligible when y &gt;= 1.0%, at which the soil is liquefied after a very few numbers of cycles. The occurrence of liquefaction in Nam O sand can be observed precisely for various cyclic shear directions by using relations between the shear strain amplitude and the number of cycles. The liquefaction criterion of Nam O sand was finally obtained and discussed for both cases of uni-directional and multi-directional cyclic shears

Combining Process Simulation and Agent Organizational Structure Evaluation in order to Analyze Disaster Response Plans

International audienceThis paper shows how to simulate and evaluate disaster response plans and in particular the process and the organization set up in such situations. We consider, as a case study, the tsunami resolution plan of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We firstly examine the process model corresponding to this plan by defining three scenarios and analyzing simulations built on top of them. Then, we study the agent organizational structure involved in the plan by analyzing the role graph of actors and notably the power, coordination and control relations among them according to the Grossi framework. These evaluations provide recommendations to improve the response plan

Discovering crisis models to help assess coordination plans: a case study of tsunami response plan given by Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

International audienceRecently, we have witnessed an increasing number of crises, not only natural disasters but also man-made ones. Coordination among several stakeholders is the key factor to reduce the damage caused by a crisis. However, the plan for coordination can be expressed under various representations, including textual format—the most used one in reality but hard to analyze its efficiency. We consider in this paper a combination of process and organization aspects of a coordination plan. Process models (e.g Petri Net, Business Process Model and Notation) could be used to capture the processes of activities and messages exchanged between the actors involved in a crisis, while organization models (e.g. Role graph, agent-centred multi-agent system, organization centred multi-agent system) are used to highlight the roles, their interactions and the organizational structures. We then describe a proposal that allows performing an automatic transformation from process models to organization models. Our proposal is illustrated with a coordination plan for tsunami response, given by People Committee of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam

Numerical Simulation of Single-Point Mount PZT-Interface for Admittance-Based Anchor Force Monitoring

This study investigates the dynamic characteristics of a smart PZT interface mounted on a prestressed anchorage to verify the numerical feasibility of the admittance-based anchor force monitoring technique. Firstly, the admittance-based anchor force monitoring technique through a single-mount PZT interface is outlined. The admittance response of the PZT interface-anchorage system is theoretically derived to show the proof-of-concept of the technique for anchor force monitoring. Secondly, a finite element model corresponding to a well-established experimental model in the literature is constructed. The effect of anchor force is equivalently treated by the contact stiffness and damping parameters at the bottom surface of the anchorage. Thirdly, the admittance and the impedance responses are numerically analyzed and compared with the experimental data to evaluate the accuracy of the numerical modelling technique. Fourthly, the local dynamics of the PZT interface are analyzed by modal analysis to determine vibration modes that are sensitive to the change in the contact stiffness (i.e., representing the anchor force). Finally, the admittance responses corresponding to the sensitive vibration modes are numerically analyzed under the change in the contact stiffness. The frequency shift and the admittance change are quantified by statistical damage indices to verify the numerical feasibility of the anchor force monitoring technique via the smart PZT interface. The study is expected to provide a reference numerical model for the design of the single-point mount PZT interface

A Tool for Assessing Quality of Rescue Plans by Combining Visualizations of Different Business Process Perspectives

International audienceRescue plans for crisis situations such as natural or man made disasters are mostly presented in a textual format by the relevant authority. Assessing the quality of a rescue plan requires analyzing different perspectives, such as plan complexity, resources costs, service time, allocation strategy and organization efficiency. Unfortunately, textual rescue plans lack a formal structure to ease the navigation through the document. To address this problem we are composing tailored visualizations, each visualization represents a particular perspective. We provide a domain specific language to describe domain specific visualizations of processes. We validate our approach using static and dynamic analysis of the Ho Chi Minh city rescue plan in case of tsunami. Our approach provides recommendations useful for the authority to improve the original rescue plan

The characteristics of gmchi gene isolated from soybean cultivars with different isoflavone content

In this study, isoflavone content of five soybean varieties disseminated grown in North Vietnam have been surveyed, and the GmCHI gene encoding chalcone isomerase, a key enzyme in metabolizing synthetic isoflavone in soybeans, was analyzed. Content of isoflavone (daidzein, genistein) in 3-day-old germinated seeds of soybean cultivar DT26 was the highest (64.27 mg/100g) and higher 2.18 times and 2.45 times compared with DT84 and DT2008 respectively. GmCHI gene isolated from mRNA of the soybean cultivars DT26, DT51, DT2008, DT84 is 657 nucleotides in length, encoding 218 amino acids. Similarity coefficient of nucleotide sequence of GmCHI gene of four soybean DT26, DT51, DT2008, DT84 ranged from 96.8% to 98.9% and similar to those of NM_001248290 on GenBank from 98% to 99%. Genetic distances of DT26 compared with DT51 DT26, DT2008, DT84 and other varieties based on nucleotide sequences of GmCHI gene was 19.3% and based on the amino acid sequence deduced was 4.4%. Coding region of GmCHI gene has been used as a material for design transfomation vector for the improvement of isoflavone content in soybean by gene transfer technique.