Women's empowerment and fertility preferences in Southeast Asia

In this thesis I examine the relationship between women’s empowerment and fertility preferences of women in four Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia; Indonesia; the Philippines and East Timor, using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys. First, micro data are utilized to create measurement models for women’s empowerment using principal axis factoring. Three factors of women’s empowerment are found, which are women’s labor force participation, women’s education and women’s household decision-making. Second, these three women’s empowerment factors are examined to see if they have any associations with women’s fertility preference, measured by the ideal number of children and the ideal number of sons. Results from OLS, Poisson and ordered logit models show that women’s empowerment has significant and negative association with the ideal number of children and the ideal number of sons in the four countries of study. This research overcomes current obstacles in the operationalization of women’s empowerment by moving from the aggregate to the individual level using data from developing countries. The results of this study suggest that female labor force participation is the key in keeping fertility at a balanced level, and son preference is mostly associated with inside-the-household factors such as household decision-making rather than outside-the-household factors such as education and employment. All in all, the impacts of women's empowerment on fertility decision-making are more differentiated than the theoretical literature might suggest, relating specific types of empowerment to specific types of fertility preference

3-Dimensional Visualization of Cardiac Plaque Mapping Data

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) of one of the most prevalent cardiac arrythmia in humans, and also the most studied arrythmias due to its high association with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Diagnosis of AF, which is highly dependent on the observation of the irregular signal in the atria, is often challenging since AF is often asymptomatic at the onset. There has been a lot of effort in exploring different cardiac mapping techniques to understand the dynamics of AF for better intervention. This study aims at developing a MATLAB interface that assists the development of a cardiac plaque mapping data acquisition system in Dr. Zemlin’s Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Laboratory. The interface would load and process input signals, calculate data of interest and visualize them on 3D atrial geometry for analysis and understanding of electrical conduction behavior in the atria

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEARNING STRATEGY USE IN ENGLISH AND MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS AT A COLLEAGUE IN CAN THO CITY, VIETNAM

Among the many factors that increase students’ achievement in the mastery of foreign languages, including English, are motivation and use of language learning strategies. Previous studies by a range of researchers have identified these two elements as the most important in obtaining success in language learning. This study carried out on 152 university students, roughly equal in gender, studying at a university in Can Tho, Vietnam, sought to discover the relationships between these two factors within the Vietnamese language learning context. In particular, the study sought to 1) discover which of two types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic, is most prevalent among the students studied; 2) their use of language learning strategies; 3) reveals the relationship between students' motivation and use of language learning strategies; and 4) describe the differences in their use of language learning strategies based on whether their motivation was high, medium or low. Research instruments included Schmidt et al.'s Questionnaire on Motivation in Learning English, and Oxford's Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (both modified for the Vietnamese language learning context and translated into Vietnamese), plus an interview with 18 of the students to gain greater insight into the answers they gave on the questionnaires. Results were obtained using standard deviations and t-tests. They showed that Vietnamese university students are mainly extrinsically motivated; that all strategies were used at least at a medium level, amidst other fluctuations; and that those metacognitive strategies are most prevalent among medium and high motivated students but affective strategies are most common among low motivation students. Recommendations flowing from these results are that teachers should prioritize the formal teaching of learning strategies and should attempt to increase intrinsic motivation by putting greater emphasis on making language learning fun and relevant to the students' interests and passions. Article visualizations

COMMON CHALLENGES IN VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH-MAJORED JUNIORS AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

It is undoubted that translation plays an indispensable role in exchanging information, news, culture, literature and sciences among people globally. In other words, translation facilitates communication and understanding between people who come from various cultures and speak different languages. Owing to the significance of translation, it is employed as a fundamental subject to English majored students. Nevertheless, it is not an easy subject for students to master. Thus, this study aimed at investigating the obstacles that students often encountered when translating texts from Vietnamese to English. This was a quantitative and qualitative research. The questionnaire and test paper were used as two major instruments to gain the most reliable findings. To achieve the goal, 74 English majored juniors from both English 10A and 10B at Tay Do University were selected as the sample for this research. The results showed that English majored juniors faced many challenges in Vietnamese-English translation, consisting of vocabulary, grammatical structures and cultural aspects. Article visualizations

More Social Needs Endorsed by Caregivers of Young Children Experiencing Everyday Discrimination

Background: Both discrimination and social needs are underlying risk factors for poor health outcomes; however, there are no studies looking at how feelings of discrimination impact reporting of social needs in the pediatric health care setting. Objective: To compare caregiver report of social needs and desire for help addressing social needs in the pediatric primary care setting based on respondents’ experiences with discrimination. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of caregivers of children aged 2-5 in an urban primary care setting. Caregivers completed a tool to screen for 15 social needs and desire for help to address these needs, with in-person assistance available. The tool was adapted based on qualitative data with this same population and included items from the PHQ-2, 2-item food insecurity screener, and WE CARE survey. The short version of the “Everyday Discrimination Scale” was also completed, and caregivers were categorized as experiencing everyday discrimination if they responded “rarely”, “sometimes”, or “often” on any of 5 types of discrimination. If caregivers experienced everyday discrimination, they were also asked about perceived basis for discrimination. T-tests were conducted to compare the number of reported social needs and number of needs for which a caregiver desired help between groups based on experience of everyday discrimination and type of discrimination. Results: One hundred seventy-eight caregivers (94% mothers, mean age 32) of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds (29% white, 61% black; 10% Hispanic) completed the screening tool. Sixty-seven percent had public insurance, and 35% were from households with an annual income below $20,000. Fifty-three percent of caregivers reported everyday discrimination, especially in regards to being treated with less respect and receiving poorer service in stores and restaurants (Figure 1) and most commonly on the basis of race (48%), gender (38%), and age (31%). Both caregivers who endorsed everyday discrimination in general, and those endorsing discrimination specifically by gender and age, reported a significantly higher number of social needs and number of social needs for which they wanted help (Table 1). Conclusions: In an urban population of mostly young Black mothers, the majority endorsed feeling some degree of everyday discrimination. Despite this, caregivers who endorsed feelings of discrimination, especially because of their gender and age, reported more social needs and a greater desire for help addressing these needs. This suggests that caregivers feel comfortable reporting sensitive social needs in the context of a child’s healthcare setting even though they may experience everyday discrimination. These findings may also suggest an association between experienced discrimination and social needs, with both potentially influenced by similar sociodemographic factors

NOVEL HPLC-UV METHOD USING VOLATILE BUFFER FOR SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF AMLODIPINE BESYLATE AND ATORVASTATIN CALCIUM

Objective: The purpose of this work was to develop and validate a novel HPLC-UV method using triethylamine (TEA) as a volatile buffer for simultaneous determination of amlodipine besylate (AML) and atorvastatin calcium (ATV).Methods: System suitability, linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), selectivity, accuracy, and precision was validated using Hitachi L-2000 system with detector: DAD L-2455 at a detected wavelength of 245 nm. Stationary phase: Phenomenex Luna RP-C18 (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 µm) and mobile phase: acetonitrile-methanol-TEA pH 4.0 (ratio 52:18:30 v/v/v) were used. Samples' volume of 20 µl was run at room temperature with the flow rate at 1 ml/min.Results: The linearity demonstrated good correlation in the concentration range at 2-40 ppm and 4-80 ppm for AML and ATV, respectively. The method was repeatable with relative standard deviation (RSD) of the intermediate precision test less than 1%. The recovery rate was 100.03% and 99.58% for AML and ATV, respectively. The method was also validated for dissolution studies with excellent compatibility.Conclusion: A new, simple and easy HPLC-UV method was successfully developed and validated for the determination of AML and ATV in both quantification test and dissolution test.Keywords: Amlodipine, Atorvastatin, Simultaneous, Dissolution, HPLC, Quantification, Volatile buffe

SOME COMMON DIFFICULTIES IN LISTENING OF ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

The aim of the research “Some common difficulties in listening of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University" is to figure out some major factors causing difficulties for students in listening to English. The research is carried out within 12 weeks. Participants of this study are 100 English majored freshmen course 13, chosen randomly (including students in class 13A, 13B, and 13C) at Tay Do University. During the research time, participants are given questionnaires and paper interviews to show their ideas. The questionnaire and paper interview are two main instruments of this study, which are used to gather information about students' problems facing in listening. As a result, the research through the expected outcome will show some difficulties in listening of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University that related to linguistics like vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, accents and intonation, and background knowledge and unfamiliar topics, psychological obstacle, and the length and speed rate of speech. Article visualizations

Thermal effect on magnetoexciton energy spectra in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides

It is widely comprehended that temperature may cause phonon-exciton scattering, enhancing the energy level's linewidth and leading to some spectrum shifts. However, in the present paper, we suggest a different mechanism that allows the thermal motion of the exciton's center of mass (c.m.) to affect the magnetoexciton energies in monolayer dichalcogenides (TMDCs). By the nontrivial but precise separation of the c.m. motion from an exciton in a monolayer TMDC with a magnetic field, we obtain an equation for the relative motion containing a motional Stark term proportional to the c.m. pseudomomentum, related to the temperature of the exciton gas but neglected in the previous studies. Solving the Schr\"odinger equation without omitting the motional Stark potential at room temperature shows approximately a few meV thermal-magnetic shifts in the exciton energies, significant enough for experimental detection. Moreover, this thermal effect causes a change in exciton radius and diamagnetic coefficient and enhances the exciton lifetime as a consequence. Surprisingly, the thermoinduced motional Stark potential breaks the system's SO(2) symmetry, conducting new peaks in the exciton absorption spectra at room temperature besides those of the $s$ states. This mechanism could be extended for other magnetoquasiparticles such as trions and biexcitons.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables for main manuscript; 20 pages, 6 figures, 6 tables for supplementary. Published on Physical Review