Impact of bacteria and yeast with probiotic properties on performance, digestibility, health status and gut environment of growing pigs in Vietnam

This thesis aimed to evaluate the effects of six lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains and Bacillus subtilis H4, Saccharomyces boulardii Sb, and a microbial enzyme mixture, supplemented to basal diets on the performance, diet digestibility, health status, and gut environment of growing pigs under Vietnamese conditions. The results showed that three different 3-strain-LAB complexes, comprising combinations of Enterococcus faecium 6H2, Lactobacillus acidophilus C3, Pediococcus pentosaceus D7, L. plantarum 1K8 and L. plantarum 3K2 improved performance, digestibility, health status and gut environment of the LAB-supplemented piglets in the first two weeks post-weaning (Per I), but not in the following 3 weeks (Per II). Adding an LAB strain (L. fermentum NC1) alone or combined with the Bacillus, or combined with a Bacillus and yeast complex, to a 3-strain-LAB complex showed improvements in the performance, diet digestibility, health status and gut environment of the probiotics-supplemented piglets in both Per I and II. The inclusion of Bacillus resulted in higher nutrient digestibility, and the addition of Saccharomyces showed improvements in the scouring scores of the piglets. Supplementation with either a microbial enzyme mixture alone or a combination of a 3-strain-LAB complex and yeast in a weaner diet improved the performance and diet digestibility in piglets in Per I. In Per II, no changes in performance or digestibility were found in enzymes-fed piglets, while improved performance and diet digestibility were obtained in piglets fed the LAB-yeast diet. There was lack of response of piglets to this enzyme mixture when these enzymes were supplemented to the diet that contained the complex of LAB and yeast in both Per I and II. Dietary supplementation with the combination of Bacillus, Saccharomyces and 4-strain-LAB complex had positive effects on performance and digestibility in grower pigs, but not in finisher pigs, while supplementation with the Bacillus alone or combined with Saccharomyces did not affect the performance and digestibility in grower and finisher pigs. The results of these studies suggest that combinations of suitable strains of Bacillus, Saccharomyces and LAB can be used as an alternative to antibiotic feed additives in pig production under the conditions of Vietnam

ベトナムにおける企業の生産性及びその決定要因に関する研究

内容の要約広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(学術)Doctor of Philosophydoctora

Identification of Medical Interpreter Services in Atlanta Metropolitan Area

Background: Over 73,000 refugees entered the U.S. in 2010. The majority of the refugee population has limited English proficiency (LEP), which is a challenge for those seeking healthcare. People with LEP are often deterred by language barriers from seeking healthcare. Interpreter services are available in some healthcare settings to help improve the communication between physicians and these patients. The availability of interpreters at primary care offices could help encourage the utilization of health services among patients with LEP. Objectives: To identify primary care offices that provide medical interpreter services in areas around the city of Clarkston, GA. To produce a reference sheet that identifies primary care doctors and the languages available for interpretation at those offices. Methods: Data on the availability of medical interpreter services was collected through the phone. Google Map was used to identify public transit routes (bus/train) and time to travel from the center of Clarkston to the medical offices. Results: Less than 50% of family practice, internal medicine, and pediatric offices provide medical interpreter services. It was found that the most common languages available for interpretation are Vietnamese, Spanish, and Mandarin. Interestingly, the current refugee populations arrive from various regions in Africa and Asia. The common languages among these groups are Bhutanese, Burmese dialects, and Farsi. The offices that provide interpreter services with languages relevant to the current refugee population are located more than 30 minutes of travel time by public transit from the center of Clarkston

The Analytic Hierarchy Process: A Mathematical Model for Decision Making Problems

The ability to make the right decision is an asset in many areas and lines of profession including social work, business, national economics, and international security. However, decision makers often have difficulty choosing the best option since they might not have a full understanding of their preferences, or lack a systematic approach to solve the decision making problems at hand. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) provides a mathematical model that helps the decision makers arrive at the most logical choice, based on their preferences. We investigate the theory of positive, reciprocal matrices, which provides the theoretical justification of the method of the AHP. At its heart, the AHP relies on three principles: Decomposition, Measurement of preferences, and Synthesis. Throughout the first five chapters of this thesis, we use a simple example to illustrate these principles. The last chapter presents a more sophisticated application of the AHP, which in turn illustrates the Analytic Network Process, a generalization of the AHP to systems with dependence and feedback

The Vietnamese Vowel System

In this dissertation, I provide a new analysis of the Vietnamese vowel system as a system with fourteen monophthongs and nineteen diphthongs based on phonetic and phonological data. I propose that these Vietnamese contour vowels - /ie/, /ɯɤ/ and /uo/ - should be grouped with these eleven monophthongs /i e ɛ a ɐ ʌ ɤ ɯ u o ɔ/ based on their similarities in phonetic and phonological behaviors. The phonetic characteristics of these vowels are studied acoustically using normalized and scaled acoustic values of 13,925 tokens, spoken by female Hanoian speakers from my speech corpus, The Vietnamese Speech Corpus . Phonetic analysis shows that the eleven monophthongs and three contour vowels are similar in terms of formant frequency targets, formant dynamic trajectories, and duration. Phonologically, monophthongs and contour vowel can be rhymed with each other in poems, and the two elements within each contour vowel should be analyzed as two halves of one root node in the syllable structure. In chapters 1 and 2, I give the current analysis of the Vietnamese sound system, review different approaches to the acoustic features of vowels, and the phonemic status of diphthongs. In chapter 3, I give a detailed description of the Vietnamese Speech Corpus. In chapter 4, I show the difference in formant targets between monophthongs and glides, as well as the importance of duration in distinguishing vowels in Vietnamese. I also give evidence for the differences in duration between the diphthongs and the monophthongs-and-contour-vowels group. In chapter 5, I analyze the natural class of monophthongs and contour vowels in terms of feature geometry and give evidence from Vietnamese phonological processes to support the analysis of contour vowels as being in the same natural class as monophthongs. I also re-analyze Vietnamese triphthongs as diphthongs in this chapter. Finally, in chapter 6, I summarize the similarities and differences across the monophthongs, contour vowels, and diphthongs, and suggest possible future studies to test this hypothesis of the Vietnamese vowel system

Coagulation for treatment of swine slaughterhouse wastewater

In this study, wastewater taken from the Nam Phong swine slaughterhouse, Ho Chi Minh City, was used to evaluate the treatment efficiency of common coagulants, including Alum (Aluminum Sulfate - Al2(SO4)3.18H2O), Poly-Aluminum Chloride (PAC), and Ferrous Sulfate (FeSO4.7H2O), using a jar-test system. The experiments were conducted using the one-factor-at-a-time method to examine three variables which are pH, stirring speed, and coagulant dosage. The results showed that both Alum and PAC perform over 90% removal of colour, turbidity, COD, and total phosphorus (TP) from slaughterhouse wastewater at pH 7 with a stirring speed of 75 revolutions per minute (RPM) and average coagulant dosages of 450 mg/L for Alum and 550 mg/L for PAC. Meanwhile, under the appropriate conditions of pH equal to 10 and 75 RPM with a chemical dosage of 350 mg/L, COD and TP removal efficiencies by Ferrous Sulfate exceed 87%, but those of turbidity and colour only reach 25%. This finding could be a promising coagulation method as a pre-treatment for the swine slaughterhouse wastewater