Chafe’s Semantic Structure Processes Versus Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar Processes

Processes are seen as a language phenomenon involving the participant of various language elements realized by verbals, nominal groups or adverbials. How these elements occur in the processes depends on linguists’ concepts of processes. The paper aims to consider Chafe’s processes and Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar processes to see what similarities and differences are. The study was conducted with qualitative methods in order to analyse materials and analyse the data collected. The data include samples extracted from four literary works in English which are The Man of Property, The Old Man and the Sea, the Call of the Wild and the Moon and Sixpence. The findings can point out some differences and similarities of processes by Chafe and Halliday. At the same time, the results will help those who pay much attention to this language phenomenon have a deeper understanding in order to equip themselves with background knowledge of language learning and research

Utilization of services provided by village based ethnic minority midwives in mountainous villages of Vietnam

Introduction: Since 2011, the Vietnam’s Ministry of Health implemented the ethnic minority midwives (EMMs) scheme in order to increase the utilization of maternal health services by women from ethnic minorities and those living in hard-to-reach mountainous areas. This paper analyzes the utilization of antenatal, delivery, and postpartum care provided by EMMs and reports the key determinants of utilization of EMM services as perceived by service users. Methods: A structured questionnaire was administered in 2015 to all mothers (n=320) who gave birth to a live-born during a 1-year period in 31 villages which had EMM in two provinces, Dien Bien and Kon Tum. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to examine the association between all potential factors and the use of services provided by EMMs. Results: We found that EMMs provided more antenatal care and postnatal care as compared with delivery services, which corresponded to their job descriptions. The results also showed that utilization of antenatal care provided by EMMs was lower than that of postnatal care. The proportion of those who never heard about EMM was high (24%). Among the mothers who knew about EMM services, 33.4% had antenatal checkups, 20.1% were attended during home deliveries, and 57.3% had postnatal visits by an EMM. Key factors that determined the use of EMM services included knowledge of the location of EMM’s house, being aware about EMMs by health workers, trust in services provided by EMMs, and perception that many others mothers in a village also knew about EMM services. Conclusion: EMM seems to be an important mechanism to ensure assistance during home births and postnatal care for ethnic minority groups, who are often resistant to attend health facilities. Building trust and engaging with communities are the key facilitators to increase the utilization of services provided by EMMs. Communication campaigns to raise awareness about EMMs and to promote their services in the village, particularly by other health workers, represent an important strategy to further improve effectiveness of EMM scheme

RECOVERY OF POLY(3-HYDROXYBUTYRATE) FROM Yangia sp. ND199 BY SIMPLE DIGESTION WITH SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is a biodegradable polymer synthesized intracellularly by many microorganisms. After extraction from the cells, they possess the common features of non-toxic, biocompatible, biodegradable and recyclable. These features render them highly competitive with polypropylene or other petroleum-derived plastics, especially in medicine. The isolation and purification of PHA from bacterial cells are the key step of PHA production process. There are several methods have been used for OHA purification, these include solvent extraction, enzymatic hydrolysis, and chemical digestion. In this study we used chemical digestion method for purification of PHB from Yangia sp. ND199. Among various chemical tested (NaOH, HCl, KOH, NaOCl, and SDS), NaOCl was found as an efficient chemical for PHB recovery and PHB purity from Yangia sp. ND199. The optimal purity and recovery conditions were a ratio of 1:1 (v/v, solution containing 100 g/l bacterial cells and solution containing 6% NaOCl), a 30 oC temperature and a 1 h treatment time. Under such conditions, a purity of 99% and a recovery of 94% were obtained. This method is sumple and can be developed and used for industrial scale

Efficient Finetuning Large Language Models For Vietnamese Chatbot

Large language models (LLMs), such as GPT-4, PaLM, and LLaMa, have been shown to achieve remarkable performance across a variety of natural language tasks. Recent advancements in instruction tuning bring LLMs with ability in following user's instructions and producing human-like responses. However, the high costs associated with training and implementing LLMs pose challenges to academic research. Furthermore, the availability of pretrained LLMs and instruction-tune datasets for Vietnamese language is limited. To tackle these concerns, we leverage large-scale instruction-following datasets from open-source projects, namely Alpaca, GPT4All, and Chat-Doctor, which cover general domain and specific medical domain. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first instructional dataset for Vietnamese. Subsequently, we utilize parameter-efficient tuning through Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA) on two open LLMs: Bloomz (Multilingual) and GPTJ-6B (Vietnamese), resulting four models: Bloomz-Chat, Bloomz-Doctor, GPTJ-Chat, GPTJ-Doctor.Finally, we assess the effectiveness of our methodology on a per-sample basis, taking into consideration the helpfulness, relevance, accuracy, level of detail in their responses. This evaluation process entails the utilization of GPT-4 as an automated scoring mechanism. Despite utilizing a low-cost setup, our method demonstrates about 20-30\% improvement over the original models in our evaluation tasks.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2304.08177, arXiv:2303.16199 by other author

SEASONAL VARIATION OF PHYTOPLANKTON FUNCTIONAL GROUPS IN TUYEN LAM RESERVOIR, CENTRAL HIGHLANDS, VIETNAM

Seasonal changes in freshwater phytoplankton assemblages at Tuyen Lam Reservoir in the Central Highlands of Vietnam were classified into 23 functional groups based on physiological, morphological, and ecological characteristics. A total of 168 species were recorded during 10 surveys from 2015 to 2019 at 7 sampling sites, with Chlorophyta dominating in number of species. Phytoplankton abundance varied from 0.18×105 to 21.2×105 cells/L during the study period, mainly due to cyanobacteria. Seven of the 23 functional groups were considered to be dominant (relative density > 5%).  The dominant functional groups were groups M and G in the dry season and groups M, G, P, and E in the rainy season. Group M (Microcystis aeruginosa) was the most common in both seasons, while group P (Closterium, Staurastrum, Aulacoseira), group E (Dinobryon, Synura), and group G (Sphaerocystis, Eudorina) were more common in the rainy season. The Shannon diversity index (H¢) showed that phytoplankton communities were relatively diverse and that most of the study sites were lightly polluted. However, the ecological status has deteriorated at some locations due to the overgrowth of group M, leading to eutrophication in this reservoir. This study highlights the usefulness of functional groups in the study of seasonal changes in phytoplankton dynamics. Functional groups are applied for the first time at Tuyen Lam Reservoir and can be used to predict early-stage cyanobacterial blooms in future studies

VIETNAMESE STUDENT RESEARCHERS’ EXPECTATIONS OF THEIR SUPERVISOR AND SUPERVISION PROCESS

In Vietnam, scientific research is no longer just the work of scientists, graduate students, scholars, or lecturers; tertiary students are also encouraged to conduct scientific research. Therefore, the scientific research work of students receives more attention from educators. The research on carrying out scientific research of students is also therefore increasing. However, researchers do not seem to have paid enough attention to the role of supervisors during the supervision process. The evidence is that there are few studies on supervisors in Vietnam. Therefore, this study was conducted to learn about the role of supervisors from the student's perspective and expectations. Specifically, this study was conducted quantitatively with the use of a questionnaire consisting of 49 questions with a 5-point Likert scale. A total of 100 English-major students at a university in Southwest Vietnam participated in this study by answering the questionnaire. The results from the questionnaire show that students had high expectations from their supervisors. Specifically, students expect their supervisor to be someone who respects their opinions, has good scientific research knowledge, can give constructive comments, and is always willing to help them when needed. Based on research findings, supervisors are encouraged to participate in professional development training related to scientific research to improve their research knowledge and skills. Along with that, supervisors need to be aware of their role during the process of guiding students to do scientific research.  Article visualizations

Expression of Pax2 and patterning of the chick inner ear

Early regionalized gene expression patterns within the otocyst appear to correlate with and contribute to development of mature otic structures. In the chick, the transcription factor Pax2 becomes restricted to the dorsal and entire medial side of the otocyst by stage 16/17. The dorsal region of the otocyst forms the endolymphatic duct and sac (ED/ES), and the cochlear duct is derived from the ventromedial region. In the mouse, however, Pax2 expression is reported only in the ventromedial and not the dorsal otocyst. In Pax2 null mice, the cochlea is missing or truncated, but vestibular structures differentiate normally. Here we demonstrate that in the chick, the emerging ED/ES express high levels of Pax2 even when the position of the emerging ED is altered with respect to its environment, either by 180° otocyst rotations about the anterior/posterior axis or transplantation of the otocyst into the hindbrain cavity. However, the Pax2 expression pattern is plastic in the rest of the otic epithelium after 180° rotation of the otocyst. Pax2 is upregulated on the medial side (formerly lateral), and downregulated on the lateral side (formerly medial and expressing Pax2) indicating that Pax2 expression is influenced by the environment. Although Pax2 is upregulated in the epithelium after 180° rotations in the region that should form the cochlear duct, cochlear ducts are truncated or absent, and the ED/ES emerge in a new ventrolateral position. Ablation of the hindbrain at the placode or early otic pit stage alters the timing of regionalized Pax2 expression in the otocyst. The resulting otocysts and ears are generally smaller, vestibular structures are abnormal, ED/ES are missing but cochlear ducts are of normal length. The hindbrain and dorsal periotic mesenchyme provide unique trophic and patterning information to the dorsal otocyst. Our results demonstrate that the ED is the earliest structure patterned in the inner ear and that the hindbrain is important for its specification. We also show that, although normal Pax2 expression is required for cochlear duct development, it is downstream of ventral otocyst patterning events.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47457/1/11068_2004_Article_262514.pd

Optical pulse Self-compressor combined the Nonlinear coupler with Backward Raman fiber amplifier

Based on the nonlinearity of the nonlinear optical coupler (NOC) and the amplifying capacity of the backward Raman fiber amplifier (PBRFA), a new optical system to compress the optical pulse (optical pulse self-compressor: OPSC) is proposed. Using the expressions describing relationship between output intensities from both output ports and input one of NOC and the expression describing the amplification of the PBRFA, the compressing process of the optical pulse propagating through OPSC is simulated. The results show that the peak of optical pulse will be enhanced and the duration of optical pulse will be reduced significantly, and the shape of input pulse is completely compressed with certain efficiency. It means the optical pulse is self-compressed without the pump pulse

Interventional Treatment of Lymphatic Leakage Post Appendectomy: Case Report

BACKGROUND: Postoperative lymphatic complications are not common, and lymphatic leakage complication post appendectomy (LLCPC) is even rarer. However, the number of this operation is high so LLCPC can occur. CASE REPORT: Here, we report a female patient post appendectomy with severe chylous ascites. This patient underwent six operations. A leakage point at the right iliac-fossa, which was embolized successfully after two sessions, was spotted during intranodal lymphangiography. After 6 months, the ascites were significantly reduced while some lymphatic aneurysms still existed in the lumbar-retroperitoneal region. CONCLUSIONS: Basing the knowledge of this clinical case and literature, we have concluded that lymphatic leakage can be diagnosed and embolized by percutaneous intervention

Prevalence and associated factors of chronic constipation among Japanese university students

BackgroundChronic constipation (CC) is one of the most frequently reported gastrointestinal disorders in the general population and a prominent problem among university students. The study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and the associated factors of CC among Japanese university students.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted among university students at Hiroshima University, Japan. Students answered the web questionnaire when making a web reservation for the health checkup (April 1 to May 31, 2023). The web questionnaire consisted of four sections, including baseline characteristics, lifestyle factors, family history of CC, and three scales to assess depression and eating disorders: the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Eating Attitudes Test (EAT)-26 and Bulimic Investigatory Test (BITE). CC was diagnosed using Rome IV criteria. The multivariate logistic regression model was used to determine CC-related factors.ResultsOut of 10,500 individuals who participated in the annual health checkup, 7,496 participants answered the web questionnaire, of whom 5,386 answered all the survey questions. The mean age of the students was 21.1 ± 4.1 years. The male-to-female ratio was 1:1.17. The prevalence of CC was 13.7%. Factors significantly associated with CC in the multivariate model were first-degree family members with CC [Odd ratio (OR): 2.77, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.31–3.31], severe depression according to BDI scale (OR: 2.59, 95% CI: 1.96–3.43), female sex (OR: 2.00, 95% CI: 1.69–2.36), and short sleep duration of 6 hours or less per day (OR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.09–1.50). Lack of physical exercise tended to be associated with CC (OR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.00–1.40).ConclusionsCC is prevalent among Japanese university students. Significant risk factors for CC included the first-degree family history of CC, severe depression, female sex, and short sleep duration. Lack of physical exercise tended to be associated with CC. This may contribute to implementing suitable education health programs, health care professionals, and public health policies to identify individuals at risk for CC to prevent and treat CC effectively