THE NATIONAL TARGET PROGRAM ON BUILDING NEW-STYLE RURAL AREAS IN VIETNAM: THE CURRENT SITUATION AND SOLUTIONS IN ECONOMIC ASPECTS

After 12 years of implementation, the National Target Program on building new-style rural areas in Vietnam has achieved remarkable achievements in terms of both scale and speed of meeting the standards of building new-style rural areas, making an important contribution to the cause of rural socio-economic development in particular and the development of the country in general. However, there are still some limitations in terms of standard local structure, sustainability of criteria, investment resources to build new-style rural areas, quality and value of products, etc. If there is no solution soon, it will become a big barrier, negatively affecting the results of the program in the coming time. This article focuses on analyzing the current situation of the implementation of the National Target Program on building new-style rural areas in Vietnam for the period 2010-2022 in terms of economic aspects, recognizing the successes and identifying the limitations and specifying the cause of the limitations, thereby proposing some remedial solutions to contribute to the effective implementation of the policy of on building new-style rural areas throughout the country.  Article visualizations

The Impact of Financial Liberalization on Bank Efficiency: Evidence from Latin America and Asia

This paper investigates the impact of financial liberalization on bank efficiency, using data for a sample of over 4,000 bank-year observations from ten emerging economies for the period 1991-2000. We use Data Envelop Analysis (DEA) to calculate bank efficiency at the individual bank level. Bank efficiency measures are then aggregated at the country level to investigate the relationship between financial liberalization and bank efficiency, using a panel least square fixed-effects model. Overall, we find strong support for the positive impact of financial liberalization programmes on bank efficiency

Survey on fashion consumption trends of Vietnamese young people

Young people today are increasingly active and always like to try new trends in many fields. Especially in the field of fashion, mixing clothes is applied boldly and extremely diversely by young people. A fashion trend is an innovation in style that is adopted by a group of people at a certain time and area. Trends are formed based on factors: people, acceptance, time, and place. The article surveyed 300 young people of generation Z in Vietnam, the results showed that the number of fashion enthusiasts is very large, 70.7%, personal preference factors are the biggest influence on people’s fashion choices. According to the survey subjects, online fashion shopping is chosen by young people at a large rate. KOL (Key Opinion Leader) currently plays a very important role in building and developing fashion brands. Vietnamese fashion accounts for the highest proportion in choosing fashion products associated with product origin. The survey shows that they are most interested in “Product style and design”, “A neat appearance” ... The article also mentions some opinions about fashion and money that young people are willing and able to pay for per month. From there, the research team launched several exchanges and discussions with Vietnamese fashion businesses to meet consumer needs and build brands in the market

The alignment between the ESP course materials and the English language used in the hotel setting in Vietnam

This article examines the alignment between the ESP course materials – English for hotel majored students – and the English language used in the hotel setting in Vietnam. English textbooks which were commonly used in the ESP courses for hospitality students were reviewed for the limits on the portion of the written materials in comparison with the English language used by the hotel staff in the real-life setting. Content analysis was adopted for analyzing the course materials, particularly the activities provided for students to practice listening and speaking skills. The findings reveal that the textbooks cover a wide range of activities for students to practice communicative skills. However, most activities were situated in environments that were unfamiliar to students and that might limit students’ ability to meet guests’ needs

Modeling and integration of multi-omics data to study regulatory landscapes governing placenta development

The placenta is a transient organ that is crucial during pregnancy. It has multiple functions to ensure optimal fetal growth, including nutrient transport, oxygen exchange and immune protection. The placenta develops in a stage-wise manner and requires precise regulation of gene expression. Abnormalities in placental gene regulation can lead to pregnancy disorders such as preeclampsia, placenta accreta and placental abruption, which can be detrimental to the short and long-term health of both the mother and the fetus. However, the regulatory mechanisms governing placental development, especially with respect to gene regulatory networks, are poorly understood. In this dissertation, we aimed to identify regulatory networks associated with placental development by developing computational methods, and by analyzing and integrating various sequencing data at both the bulk and single-cell level. First, we generated and analyzed transcriptomic data from mouse fetal placenta tissues at embryonic day (e) 7.5, e8.5 and e9.5 to identify groups of genes that regulate placenta-specific developmental processes using cluster analysis, differential expression analysis, and network analysis. Second, we developed a deep learning framework to identify genome-wide chromatin accessibility regions. This framework is applicable for not only for placenta-derived data but also data generated in other tissues. Third, we integrated single-cell transcriptome and single-nucleus chromatin accessibility data generated from the rat uterine-placental interface to identify conserved gene regulatory networks governing rat and human placenta development. The completion of these studies has led to a better understanding of the gene – gene, gene – transcription factor, and transcription factor – cis-regulatory element interactions regulating placental development. Furthermore, the pipelines and tools developed, including the novel deep learning framework for chromatin accessibility analysis, are not limited to rodent and human placenta, but can be used to analyze data generated in any tissue or organism

An investigation into English language use in the Vietnamese hospitality industry: The language of money exchange

Within the tourism and hospitality industry in Vietnam, English is now a dominant means of communication between staff and guests who come from different countries. The ability to communicate effectively in English is therefore an important attribute for those employed within the industry. Courses in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), such as English for Tourism and Hotel (English for Tourism Management/English for Hotel Management), are now part of English language programmes in Vietnamese educational institutions. These courses emphasise the importance of developing high-level English language communication skills for students. However, the teaching of these courses has mainly been conducted in the classroom environment, using textbooks which are written and published outside Vietnam. Given that recent research has focused on the need to teach language as it is used in authentic contexts, it is important for the teaching of ESP to understand how English is used in a real-life setting in the Vietnamese tourism and hospitality sector. This paper reports on the findings from a study which obtained and analysed hundreds of examples of authentic English language used by guests and staff in four different hotels in Vietnam. For illustrative purposes, the paper focuses on the language of interactions related to currency exchange, and examines the implications of the study findings for the teaching of ESP in Vietnam

ELECTROCHEMICAL ACTIVITY OF PtM (M=Co, Cu, Ni) CATALYSTS SUPPORTED ON CARBON VULCAN FOR OXYGEN REDUCTION REACTION (ORR) IN FUEL CELLS

PEMFC - proton exchange membrane fuel cell is electrochemical devices producing electricity and heat from reaction between a fuel (often hydrogen) and oxygen. Therefore, energy production is generally clean and effective without burning the fuel like the tradition way in combustion engines. The obstacles encountered fuel cell commercialization are mainly due to expensive catalyst materials (Platinum) and long-term instability performance. For this reason, numerous investigations have been undertaken with the goal of developing low-cost, efficient electrocatalysts that can be used as alternatives to Pt. In this paper, a two-step procedure at room temperature was applied to prepare a bimetallic Pt-M(M = metal) supported carbon Vulcan. First, the chemical reduction of M metal ions by sodium borohydride in the presence of carbon powder is performed. Second, the partial galvanic replacement of M particle layers by Pt is achieved upon immersion in a chloroplatinate solution. The major size of synthesized metallic particles was around 2-3 nm. From the slope of Koutecky-Levich plot for ORR using PtM/C materials as catalysts it was found that the overall electron transfer number ranged from 3 to 4, leading to the suggestion of H2O2 formation as an intermediate of the ORR

Factors Affecting Business Performance: Expanding Theoretical Measurements

Purpose: The article aims to expand a scale system of factors that impacts on business performance.   Theoretical framework: The paper based on the empirical data collected from various types of participants, including accountants (for information providing), managers (for decision-making), sales staff (for work), and lecturers (for research) in Vietnam.   Design/methodology/approach: By descriptive and comparative statistical analysis of SPSS 20 software with 124 valid observations, the survey has proposed the scale system of influencing factors (03 groups of external factors, 05 groups of internal factors) and business performance measures (10 financial and 11 non-financial indicators).   Findings: This study points out the different evaluations according to the demographic features of survey subjects on the group of financial indicators. Specifically, the group of accountants (representing information providers) obtains a lower score than the group of information users. Likewise, the post-graduated participants show stricter assessments of financial indicators in comparison to the rest of the group.   Research, Practical & Social implications: These results suggest the scale system for measuring influencing factors toward business performance in enterprises for further research.   Originality/value: The value of the study is providing an expansion of the factors affecting the efficiency of an enterprise and points out a commonly used set of financial performance measurement indicators. Research results provide useful references for research on related issues

IDENTIFICATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF ACTINOMYCETES STRAINS ISOLATED FROM SAMPLES IN THE COASTAL AREA OF THANH HOA – QUANG BINH – QUANG TRI

In this study, we isolated 46 strains of actinomycetes from 40 samples including: sediments, sponges, soft corals, echinoderms and starfish collected from three sea areas of Vietnam: Thanh Hoa – Quang Binh – Quang Tri. The strains were fermented in A+ medium and fermentation broths were extracted 5 times with ethyl acetate then the extracts were evaporated under reduced  pressure to yield crude extracts. Quantitative assay was used to determine MIC (Minimum inhibitory concentration) of extract against 7 reference strains. From the results of screening, we chose 5 strains of actinomycetes that have the highest biological activity (Code: G212, G222, G233, G227 and G241). In particular,  strains G222, G233, G227 and G241 were resistant 6/7 strains of microorganisms test, with values  MICs from 64µg/ml to 256µg/ml; Moreover, All of the five strains were highly resistant to yeast Candida albicans ATCC10231. These strains were then subjected to morphological and phylogenetic investigations based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. The results showed that strains G212, G222 and G227 belonged to Genus Streptomyces; strains G233 and G241 were identified as Genus Micromonospora

Excess Volatility and Implied Trading Strategy : A Panel Application in Five Asian Market

It has been known for many years that stock prices frequently undergo changes that do not coincide with changes in prospective dividends. This reveals the evidence of excess volatility which is an implication of market inefficiency. Almost all of the empirical studies done on the excess volatility use the database of developed economies. Therefore, the conclusion of excess volatility in previous studies is excluded from the Asian markets. In order to fill the gap, this paper examines the existence of excess volatility in five Asian markets. Using the cross-sectional variance bound test, the results indicate that most of the time the volatility is greater than expected. Moreover, the long-run relationship between the stock market value and dividends is investigated using Pedroni cointegration test and subsequently, the Error Correction Model (ECM). The results indicate that the two variables are integrated and stock prices tend to drive back to the fundamental values in the long-run. However, the time it takes to adjust prices back to equilibrium might be so long that the derivations from equilibrium are highly persistent. As the equity prices move too much to be attributed to changes in dividends, it is possible for the agents to construct a trading rule which exploits these excess fluctuations. In order to identify that rule, this paper first finds the forecasting ability of the ECM and the Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model. From that, the “buy and hold” strategy is illustrated to outperform in terms of returns, costs, tax and risks in the Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Thai and Malaysian markets. However, the filter strategy is preferable in the Japanese market. Especially, Asian agents can achieve the highest return by taking a “buy and hold” strategy in the Thai market. By examining excess volatility and the implied trading strategy in the Asian markets, a number of policy implications are provided as guiding tools for financing and investment decisions in the Asian markets