The Impact of Macro-Economic Factors on Housing Loan Demand in Singapore

The research aims to evaluate trends and macro economic factors which have influence in the demand of the housing mortgage loan in Singapore. The study is to provide the insight of demand of housing mortgage loan in Singapore over last thirty years and the conclusively important factors that have highly positive effects on the growth of the market and the potential future for the loan market in Singapore. The study intends to demonstrate that the housing mortgage loan in Singapore is not affected by any single macro factor as many previous researchers have done before; it could be affected by other factors such as the GDP (or GNP), interest rate level, inflation rate, population, income tax (housing tax) and other behavioral factors simultaneously. The investigation on the impacts of various factors at aggregate level as mentioned above will be analyzed using unit root test, Johansen Cointegration and Granger Causality test. The empirical results showed that GDP, Employment (measured by the labor force participation rate) would have positive relationship on the size of housing mortgage loan whereas inflation and SIBOR would give negative relationship on the demand of housing loan in Singapore, either direct or indirect way. From the result of this analysis, it is crucial to find out the most important factors on the development of housing loan in order to enhance further. The government’s housing policies are playing a significant role in determining development of Singapore housing market. At the end, the weakness of this study could become initiative for further investigation on housing mortgage loan at primary and secondary as well as the development of models with other more interesting factors such as behavioral factors in other countries with different economical and social background

Level of Determinants Impact on Buyer’s Purchasing Intention in Motor Liability Insurance: Case of Vietnam

Motor liability insurance has been included in the compulsory insurance category that each vehicle owner of every type of motor vehicle must participate in in Vietnam. However, in fact, the participation in this type of insurance is not popular and not strictly managed. This paper presents an approach to modeling and analyzing the possible determinants that may affect the intention to buy motor liability insurance for motor vehicle owners in the North of Vietnam. The target audience of this study is motorcycle owners. Based on the theories of buying intention, buying behavior and the specific characteristics of this insurance, this study has proposed a model with 4 factors influencing intention to participate in the insurance: Attitudes towards risk and insurance, subjective standards, Insurance Perceptions, and Product Accessibility. Taken together, these factors model a consumer's tendency toward insurance intentions for motorbike owners. The results show that all of the above factors have influence on the intention of motorcycle owners to participate in insurance. Keywords: Motor liability insurance, Buying intention, Purchase decision DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/13-8-11 Publication date: April 30th 202

Petrological and Biostratigraphic Characteristics of Pre-Cenozoic Carbonate Rocks in the Northern Song Hong Basin, Vietnam

Pre-Cenozoic carbonate rocks in the northern Song Hong basin, Vietnam that are being considered and studied by oil companies in exploration and exploitation. The hydrocarbon accumulations in these rocks have been discovered and have significantly commercial reserves, in which the porosity plays an important role in estimating the capacity of hydrocarbon. The carbonate rocks are composed mainly of crystalline limestone, packstone, wackestone and mudstone, which have been experienced dolomitization, compaction and dissolution. The main carbonate pore systems include fracture, vuggy and intercrystalline porosity. The predominance of larger benthic foraminiferal assemblages indicates that the carbonate sediments were formed during the late Paleozoic (Carboniferous-Permian) and were deposited in shallow marine environment. Furthermore, the obtained petrological and biostratigraphic characteristics are well-correlated with the carbonate formations exposed in adjacent Cat Ba island area. The results of this study are either used in petroleum exploration or used in a local stratigraphic correlation in northern Vietnam

Agroforestry - The Most Resilient Farming System for the Hilly Northwest of Vietnam

Over 94% of the land of northwestern Vietnam is classified as sloping. Population growth has exerted pressure on local natural resources, with agricultural expansion on steep slopes resulting in forest degradation, landscape fragmentation and severe environmental consequences. Efforts to restore forest ecosystems have been made by the government, however, as the livelihoods of 80% of the population depend on agriculture, the reconversion of land to forest has proven to be an inappropriate solution. Agroforestry offers a potentially sustainable land-use solution, which could re-establish forests, restore ecosystem services, and stabilize local livelihoods. In this paper, we assess the potential of agroforestry development in the region based on the results of two interrelated surveys conducted in 21 representative villages in six districts of three northwestern provinces: 1) a farming system diagnosis implemented in 17 representative villages; and 2) an agroforestry adoption survey with 210 households practising agroforestry in 14 villages. The analysis was strengthened by four years’ experience in implementing an extensive agroforestry project in the region. The studies focussed on assessing key benefits and constraints of existing farming systems, including agroforestry practices, adopted by farmers and identifying the potential for agroforestry development in the region. The results showed that the dominant farming system in the north-western provinces was monoculture of staple crops on slopes, which provided relatively low economic returns. Soil erosion, land degradation, and water shortages resultant from intensive farming practices were the most significant environmental issues in the area. Tree-based farming systems were rare and mostly a result of spontaneous adoption by farmers. Given the mountainous landscape and the need for soil stabilization, agroforestry was seen by farmers as a viable approach. Improving the existing and adopting new, integrated agroforestry systems were identified as viable ways toward sustainable livelihoods in Northwestern Vietnam

A simple, effective, green method for regioselective 3-acylation of unprotected indoles

A fast and green method is developed for regioselective acylation of indoles in the 3-position without the need for protection of the NH position. The method is based on Friedel-Crafts acylation using acid anhydrides. The method has been optimized, and Y(OTf)3 in catalytic amounts is found to be the best catalyst together with the commercially available ionic liquid [BMI]BF4 (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoro-borate) as solvent. The reaction is completed in a very short time using monomode microwave irradiation. The catalyst can be reused up to four times without significant loss of activity. A range of substituted indoles are investigated as substrates, and thirteen new compounds have been synthesized

DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE AND LARGE-SCALE VIETNAMESE AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION SYSTEMS

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems convert human speech into the corresponding transcription automatically. They have a wide range of applications such as controlling robots, call center analytics, voice chatbot. Recent studies on ASR for English have achieved the performance that surpasses human ability. The systems were trained on a large amount of training data and performed well under many environments. With regards to Vietnamese, there have been many studies on improving the performance of existing ASR systems, however, many of them are conducted on a small-scaled data, which does not reflect realistic scenarios. Although the corpora used to train the system were carefully design to maintain phonetic balance properties, efforts in collecting them at a large-scale are still limited. Specifically, only a certain accent of Vietnam was evaluated in existing works. In this paper, we first describe our efforts in collecting a large data set that covers all 3 major accents of Vietnam located in the Northern, Center, and Southern regions. Then, we detail our ASR system development procedure utilizing the collected data set and evaluating different model architectures to find the best structure for Vietnamese. In the VLSP 2018 challenge, our system achieved the best performance with 6.5% WER and on our internal test set with more than 10 hours of speech collected real environments, the system also performs well with 11% WE

Rice farmers' perception and determinants of climate change adaptation measures: a case study in Vietnam

The study used Mann Kendall's and Sen's slope tests to elicit rice farmers' perceptions of climate change due to extreme weather occurrences and compared them to hydro-meteorological data. According to the findings, temperatures increased by 0.4 degrees during the last 35 years. While rainfall has increased, the pattern has been difficult to discern. The test results corroborated farmers' perceptions of increased heat spells, but rainfall frequency and intensity vary and are difficult to anticipate. Three adaptation strategies are frequently employed in the Nong Cong district: adjusting the seasonal calendar to alter transplanting and harvesting timing; increasing fertiliser and pesticide application; and changing variety to short-time kinds. Due to the interdependence of adaption techniques, the study used a multivariate probit model. The regression findings indicated that several relevant variables influence the decision to apply adaption methods. Numerous policy ideas for enhancing adaptation to climate change can be derived from the results of this study. District governments must improve their capacity to forecast weekly weather and train how to adapt production to climate change.Le Phuong Nam (Viet Nam National University of Agriculture (VNUA)), Nguyen Dang Que (National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA)), Nguyen Van Song (Viet Nam National University of Agriculture (VNUA)), Tran Thi Hoang Mai (Vinh University (VU)), Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong (Vinh University (VU)), Nguyen Thi Xuan Huong (Viet Nam National University of Forestry (VNUF)), Nguyen Cong Tiep (Viet Nam National University of Agriculture (VNUA)), Tran Ba Uan (Dien Bien Technical Economic College)Includes bibliographical references

NGHIÊN CỨU THU NHẬN PROTEIN TỪ CÁM GẠO

Rice bran protein, a plant protein, has been recognized as nutritionally superior to other proteins due on its reported hypoallergenicity and anti-cancer activity. Therefore, it is considered as a promising protein resource applicable in variety of fields such as functional food, cosmetics, livestock and medicine. However, as of now, commercial rice bran protein is not widely available on the market, especially in Vietnam, because of a lack of extraction methods currently in use. In particular, the available methods can not be used to obtain protein isolates of high quality at affordable commercial price. Vietnam is one of the bigest rice export countries in the world, that makes rice bran an abundant agricultural by-product and thus, a readily sufficient source for protein extraction. This study aimed to establish a simple processing method for extraction of high content of protein isolates from rice bran. The obtained results indicated that rice bran was effectively hydrolysed in 20 minutes with α-amylase (Ternamyl) at concentration of 0.25%, pH 7.0 and 90oC. A procedure of 8 steps for protein extraction was given: i) Suspend rice bran in water and stir for 30 minutes at room temperature; ii) Adjust the suspension to pH 9.0 with NaOH 1N and stir for 4 hours; iii) Adjust the suspension to pH 7.0 with HCl 1N, add 0,25% Ternamyl at 90 oC and hydrolyse for 20 minutes; iv) Centrifuge at 4000 rpm for 20 minutes to collect the supernatant; v) Precipitate protein isolates at pH 4.0 by adding HCl 1N; vi) Centrifuge at 4000 rpm for 20 minutes to collect protein isolates; vii) Wash protein isolates twice with water; viii) Dry the isolates at 50oC. The content of protein isolates from this procedure was 41.77% and the yield of processing was 13,41%. The technological indexes including foaming capacity and emulsion activity were 20% and 73.50, respectively, which were higher compared to the same  product from China.Protein cám gạo là loại protein thực vật có giá trị dinh dưỡng vượt trội do có khả năng chống ung thư và không gây dị ứng cho người sử dụng. Vì thế, nó được xem là một protein lương thực cao cấp, có thể ứng dụng trong nhiều lĩnh vực như chăn nuôi, thực phẩm chức năng, thực phẩm dinh dưỡng, mỹ phẩm và y học. Protein này vẫn chưa được thương mại phổ biến trên thị trường, đặc biệt là ở Việt Nam, vì những hạn chế của các phương pháp tách chiết đang sử dụng hiện nay chưa cho phép thu được sản phẩm có chất lượng cao với giá thành phù hợp. Việt Nam là nước sản xuất lúa gạo đứng thứ hai trên thế giới nên nguồn nguyên liệu phụ thải cám gạo cho mục đích tách chiết protein là vô cùng phong phú. Bài báo này trình bày nghiên cứu về xây dựng một quy trình tách chiết protein cám gạo tương đối đơn giản, cho phép thu nhận được protein có hàm lượng tương đối cao. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy α-amylase (Ternamyl) ở nồng độ 0,25%, pH 7.0, nhiệt độ 90­oC, thời gian thủy phân 20 phút có khả năng loại bỏ hiệu quả  tinh bột từ nguyên liệu. Quy trình công nghệ thu nhận protein từ cám gạo xây dựng được gồm 8 bước chính: i) Dịch cám gạo trong nước cất (1:7) được khuấy trong 30 phút; ii) Điều chỉnh dịch cám gạo tới pH 9.0 bằng NaOH 1N và tiếp tục khuấy trong 4 giờ ở nhiệt độ phòng; iii) Điều chỉnh dịch cám gạo về pH 7.0 bằng HCl 1N, bổ sung Termamyl 0,25% ở 90oC và tiến hành thủy phân trong 20 phút; iv) Ly tâm 4000 vòng trong 20 phút để thu dịch trong; v) Tủa protein ở dịch ly tâm bằng HCl 1N tại pH 4.0; vi) Ly tâm thu cặn tủa ở 4000 vòng trong 20 phút; vii) Rửa cặn tủa 2 lần bằng nước khử trùng; viii) Sấy khô mẫu ở 50oC thu protein. Protein thu được từ quy trình này có hàm lượng đạt 41,77% và hiệu suất là 13,41%. Các chỉ số công nghệ của chế phẩm bao gồm độ tạo bọt đạt 20%, độ tạo nhũ tương đạt 73,45, đều cao hơn so với protein đối chứng của Trung Quốc

THE CURRENT CONDITIONS OF PROMOTING THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HO CHI MINH CITY

The purpose of the study was to have a comprehensive understanding of the existing conditions assured to give physical education (PE) programs to students at Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City (VNUHCM). Through document synthesis, interviews, and statistical processing, the article gained a general evaluation of the current PE conditions according to the following aspects: facilities, administration, and curriculums. In terms of facilities, the total space for sports activities at VNUHCM is measured at 25,454m2, besides, the ratio of sports field area per student is 0.44m2/student. This indicates that VNUHCM’s students do not have enough space for their sports practice as standard. In terms of faculty, teachers at VNUHCM Sports Center are comprised 67.6% male, 88.2% at the age of thirty to fifty, and 100% holding postgraduate qualifications. In addition, 79.4% of the staff at the VNUHCM Sports Center graduated with PE specialized degrees, and 64.7% of them have less than five years of seniority. However, 68.8% of those who are currently delivering PE courses at this Center are visiting teachers. The statistic number reveals that the ratio of students per teacher at VNUHCM is 814.75 students/teacher, which reveals that the number of PE lecturers has not met the standard, and they have been in charge of a large teaching volume. In terms of curriculums, PE programs are conducted with 06 credits in total (90 periods), divided into 02 modules with 3 credits per each (45 periods). Students are allowed to choose their favorite PE content among 10 sports courses including football, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, tennis, badminton, martial arts, aerobics, swimming, and chess. The results indicate that VNUHCM’s students actively participate in sports training and competitions to advance their physical fitness.  Article visualizations