English discourse awareness in Vietnamese tertiary education

The term “Discourse Awareness” is a new concept in Vietnam. Discourse awareness, conceptualized as a classroom pedagogy, can improve students’ language capacity and has gained popularity over time. Our literature review suggested that there has been little research into this domain locally in Vietnam. This paper aims to discuss the ecology of the concept, examine its developments in Vietnamese tertiary education, and make some arguments for raising students’ discourse awareness in teaching and learning English. It introduces the literature review on discourse awareness in Vietnam, which presents an overview of the supportive role of discourse awareness development in English language teaching and learning. Findings outlined how discourse awareness-raising activities have extensively and successfully been exploited in language classrooms through teaching and learning practices, teacher education, literacy development, and maximizing the cultural competence of language learners. Since then, it is reasonable to hold a strong belief that discourse awareness can serve as an enabling tool to facilitate students’ communication

Paraphrasing in Academic Writing: a Case Study of Vietnamese Learners of English

Paraphrasing is an important skill in academic writing – it is a cognitive skill that requires higher order thinking and high proficiency inss both reading and writing. This research explored the paraphrasing ability of EFL learners at a tertiary institution in Vietnam and examined the challenges they face when paraphrasing. Data were collected from ten second-year English major students through (i) paraphrasing a given text and (ii) individual interviews. The findings revealed that participants frequently paraphrased using synonyms, but rarely changed syntactic structures. The interviews showed that the learners encountered several language-related difficulties when attempting to paraphrase, such as inadequate understanding of the source text and the lack of vocabulary to use when paraphrasing. This paper provides insights into EFL learners’ paraphrasing abilities and suggests some implications as to what EFL teachers should focus on to help less experienced student writers improve their paraphrasing skills

PREPARATION AND FTIR STUDIES OF PMMA/PVC POLYMER BLENDS, PVC-g-PMMA GRAFT COPOLYMERS AND EVALUATING GRAFT CONTENT

This study presents the qualitative and quantitative analyses of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra of poly(methyl methacrylate)/poly(vinyl chloride) blends (PMMA/PVC), as well as PVC-g-PMMA graft copolymers. Graft copolymerizations of methyl mathacrylate (MMA) onto PVC macromolecules were carried out mixture of cyclohexanone/N,N-dimethylformamide as solvents, dibenzoyl peroxide as initiator and nitrogen medium. FTIR spectra of PMMA/PVC blends showed that there were molecular interactions between C=O groups of PMMA and C-Cl groups of PVC. Assignments of infrared absorption bands for specific groups of PMMA/PVC blends have been contributed. Using regression method, linear calibration curve between PMMA mole content and peak areas of C=O groups in FTIR spectra of the blends has been found when C=O peak areas were multiplied by an appropriate factor. PMMA grafted content and total PMMA formed content in PVC-g-PMMA graft copolymers have been evaluated. The results showed that grafted PMMA content was increased since PVC was initiatly dechlorinated by NaOH solution. The grafted PMMA content and total formed PMMA content were 5.05 wt.% and 11.25 wt.% respectively when MMA monomers were grafted onto neat PVC and modified PVC molecules

Aspects of Life Insurance Agents' Performance in Vietnam: A Study from the Impact of Customer-Oriented Behavior

This study examined the influence of life insurance agents' customer-oriented action research on aspects of agents' personal sales performance. In particular, the agent's performance is considered in terms of behavioral effectiveness and outcome performance. The research was conducted through interviews and surveys of insurance agents of life insurance businesses in Hanoi city, with 158 feedback forms received. Data collection is group processed through supporting software support SPSS and PLS-SEM. The study results show that customer-oriented behavior substantially impacts life insurance agents' behavioral performance more than outcome performance. At the same time, behavioral performance also plays a mediating role in providing the performance of customer-oriented behavior to the performance outcomes of life insurance agents. The research results are the basis for the authors to propose some key tips for life insurance businesses in the current context of Vietnam's insurance market

Penetrating Keratoplasty for Keratoconus in Vietnamese Patients

BACKGROUND: Keratoconus is an ectatic corneal disorder that can impair the visual acuity. Up to now, penetrating keratoplasty (PK) remains the most common surgical procedure to treat severe keratoconus. In Vietnam, most keratoconus patients come to visit doctor at severe stage and were treated by PK, so we conduct this study. AIM: To evaluate the results of PK for keratoconus in Vietnamese patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of 31 eyes with keratoconus who underwent PK in VNIO from January 2005 to December 2014. RESULTS: The average visual acuity was 0.86 ± 0.37 logMAR (20/145). In the group of patients without amblyopia, best spectacle-corrected visual acuity of 20/60 or better was recorded in 75.9% of eyes and 93.1% of eyes achieved a best corrected visual acuity with hard contact lenses of 20/40 or better. Mean postoperative corneal power was 43.8 ± 4.5D. Mean corneal astigmatism was 5.9 ± 2.7D. 94.6% of grafts remained clear. Posterior subcapsular cataract developed in 22.6% of eyes. Graft rejection was recognized in 12.9% of eyes. CONCLUSION: PK is an effective procedure with high rate of graft survival for keratoconus patients. However, patients should be aware of the necessary of optical correction to gain the best VA after surgery

Investigation of Sodium Manganese Oxide Nanowires Synthesized by Hydrothermal Method for Alkaline Ion Battery

Sodium Manganese Oxide (NaxMnO2) has attracted much attention as cathode materials for alkaline ion battery due to the ability of fast charge and discharge ion Na+, in particular in nanoscale. We report on the synthesis of NaxMnO2 nanowires via hydrothermal synthesis route from Mn2O3 and NaOH solution. The morphological observation indicates that the obtained Na0.44MnO2 nanowires with diameters of about 20-30 nm, length up to several micrometers were formed by this process. The electrochemical properties of fabricated materials were investigated by means of cyclic voltammetry technique and show that Sodium Manganese Oxide (NaxMnO2) is a promising material in the field of research and fabrication alkaline ion battery

Structure elucidation off seven steroids from Sinularia conferta.

Seven steroids were isolated from the methanol extract of the soft corals Sinularia conferta. These steroids were elucidated as 7a-methoxyergosta-5,24(28)-diene-3b-ol (1), ergosta-5-ene-3β,7α-diol (2), 3β,7α-dihydroxyergosta-5,24(28)-diene (3), 3β-hydroxyergosta-5,24(28)-diene-7-one (4), ergosta-24(28)-ene-3β,5α,6β-triol-6-acetate (5), ergosta-24(28)-ene-3β,5α,6β-triol (6), and ergosta-3β,5α,6β-triol (7) by 1D and 2D-NMR experiments and comparison with reported data. Keywords. Sinularia conferta, Alcyoniidae, soft coral, steroid

Megastigmans and other compounds from Antidesma hainanensis Merr.

Four megastigmans 7-megastigmene-3-ol-9-one 3-O-[α-L-arabinofuranosyl-(1→6)-β-D-glucopyranoside]  (1),  alangionoside L (2),  alangioside (3), ampelopsisionoside (4), and other constituents as N–trans-feruloyloctopamide (5), trans-linalool-3,6-oxide-β-D-glucopyranoside (6),  5α,8α-dipioxiergosta-6,22-diene-3β-ol (7), and (Z)-2-hexenyl β-D-glucopyranoside (8) were isolated from the methanol extract of the Antidesma hainanensis leaves. Their chemical structures were successfully determined using NMR and ESI-MS analysis as well as in comparison with the reported data. This is the first report of these compounds from Euphorbiaceae family

In-Channel-Grown Polypyrrole Nanowire for the Detection of DNA Hybridization in an Electrochemical Microfluidic Biosensor

A triple electrode setup with a Pt pseudo-reference electrode integrated in a polydimethylsiloxane- (PDMS-) based microchamber was designed and fabricated. The integrated electrodes were deposited onto SiO2/Si substrate by sputtering. The PDMS microchamber was patterned using an SU-8 mold and sealed with electrodes in oxygen plasma. Polypyrrole nanowires (PPy NWs) were electrochemically grown in situ at an accurate position of the working electrode in the sealed microchamber instead of in an open system. The DNA probe sequences were simply introduced into the channel to form bonds with the nanowires. A detection limit of 20 pM was achieved using a lock-in amplifier. The electrochemical characteristics produced by the hybridization of DNA strands in the microchamber showed a good signal/noise ratio and high sensitivity. Measurement of the DNA sensor in narrow space also required much less volume of the analytical sample compared with that in an open measuring cell. Results showed that this simple system can potentially fabricate nanostructures and detect bio/chemical molecules in a sealed system

Anticaries activity of mangiferin isolated from Mangifera indica leaves in Vietnam

Mangiferin (1) was isolated from Vietnamese Mangifera indica leaves. Its antimicrobial activities against the oral bacterium Streptococcus mutans GS-5 were evaluated in terms of inhibition of acid production and biofilm formation. The obtained results indicated that mangiferin at the concentration of 0.5 mM clearly inhibited acid production by this organism with a final pH value of 5.2 compared to 3.9 of the control. The reduction in biofilm biomass was found up to 92 % when it was treated with 1.0 mM mangiferin. Thus, mangiferin possesses moderate anticaries activity against S. mutans GS-5. Keywords. Mangifera indica, mangiferin, Streptococcus mutans, anticaries activity