The development of inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 ORF8

An unexpected outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 caused a worldwide pandemic in 2020. Many repurposed drugs were tested, but there are currently only three FDA approved antivirals (Merck’s antiviral Molnupiravir, Pfizer’s antiviral Paxlovid, and Remdisivir).1 Most of the antiviral drugs tested SARS-CoV-2 main protease and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. However, it is important to explore different drug targets of SARS-CoV-2 to prepare for the virus mutations of the future. This research looks at an alternative approach in which SARSCoV- 2 Open Reading Frame 8 (ORF8), which has been shown to be a rapidly evolving hypervariable gene, was chosen to be the protein of interest. A series of computational strategies were developed to generate pharmacophores and identify lead compounds. In addition to the lead compound identification pipeline, this thesis also presents an automated method for generating pharmacophore models from molecular docking output. The pharmacophore-based models resulted in four potential FDA-approved compounds. This thesis focuses on the binding activity of one of the four compounds, novobiocin. To collect data on the binding activity, the ORF8 protein was expressed and purified. Results suggest that novobiocin binds to ORF8, and it might be a potential inhibitor for further developments of an antiviral for SARS-CoV-2.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the stressful relationship between parents and children

The stressful relationship between children and parents is the pain both go through when they find themselves unable to cope as a parent or a child. In order to find out the status, causes, and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and suggest some solutions to reduce stress between parents and children, we surveyed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stressful relationships between parents and children at high school age in Da Nang city. The findings of a survey conducted on 550 randomly selected parents and 550 high school students using the Perceived Stress Scale reveal a high rate of tension between parents and their children, particularly up to 51.1% and 38.5%, respectively. In reality, many factors are affecting the stressful relationship between parents and their children at this age, in which psychological fear about health; social distancing policy; closed schools; students staying at home 24 hours a day and learning online; the disruption in children's daily routine; excessive use of electronic devices are major causes of stress in the relationship between parents and their children. From this practice, our research team has proposed such solutions as participating in creative activities and consulting the handbook instructing parents' behaviour rules toward children and vice versa, designing extra-curricular activities, and organizing training courses on life values for both parents and children to increase happiness and reduce stress in the parent-child relationship

The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Awareness and Purchase Intention: Case Study of Vietnam's domestic fashion brands

The study aimed to examine the impact of social media marketing on brand awareness and purchase intention for Vietnamese domestic fashion brands. Quantitative research was conducted on 302 Vietnamese people of Generation Z. The questionnaire designed on Google forms was sent to research samples who were willing to participate. Research results determined the role and benefits of social media marketing in 2 aspects: (1) information about the brand of social media marketing on social networks and (2) brand engagement on social networks. Social media marketing has a positive impact on brand awareness and purchase intention of Vietnamese domestic fashion brands. In particular, brand information when communicating on social networks has a direct and positive impact on brand awareness and purchase intention. Brand engagement on social networks has a positive direct impact on brand awareness and a positive indirect impact on purchase intention through brand awareness. The research results show that Vietnamese domestic fashion brands do quite well in social media marketing, and are highly appreciated by the online community of generation Z in Vietnam. In the future, in order to improve brand awareness and purchase intention, Vietnamese domestic fashion brands need to pay attention to the brand information properties of social media marketing programs and need to invest more in brand engagement characteristics of social networks. Keywords: social media marketing, brand awareness, purchase intentio

Heat Stress Affects Seed Set and Grain Quality of Vietnamese Rice Cultivars during Heading and Grain Filling Period

Environmental stress trigger a variety of rice plant response, ranging from alters seed set, grain yield and grain quality during flowering and grain filling stage.  Efforts are required to improve our understanding of the impact of heat stress on rice production, which are essential strategies in rice cultivation. This article investigated the seed set, yield components and grain yield of Vietnamese rice cultivars (Indica germplasm) under high temperature environment during the flowering and grain filling stage. Six rice cultivars, including popular cultivars and new cultivars of Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute, and one popular extraneous cultivar with differences in maturing time, were grown in pots at high temperature (HT) and natural temperature condition as control (CT). All rice cultivars were subjected to the high temperature starting from the heading stage to the harvest maturity, applied by greenhouse effect. The greenhouse has about 25 cm window opening on 3 sides for air ventilation. The seed set rate of the heat-sensitive rice genotypes decreased significantly under HT, leading to a significant reduction in grain yield. The lowest seed set was recorded in “OM4900” (44.3%) and “OM18” (39.9%) under high temperature environment. The lower yield in all rice cultivars at an elevated temperature resulted in a dramatic decrease of filled grains and contributed to a loss of 1000-grain weight. ‘“OM892” is a potential rice cultivar for heat tolerant breeding program due to the seed set percentage was above 80% in both HT and CT conditions. High temperature during the grain filling stage resulted in a decreased amylose and increased chalkiness for all OM cultivars

Factors affecting the creativity of high school students

Creativity is a vital personality quality of each individual. Each person has their potential for creativity, and it can be nurtured and developed in an appropriate and safe environment. The purpose of the study was to find out which factors from schools and students themselves affect creativity as well as the association between creativity and age, gender and giftedness of students, which then a basis to adjust and establish appropriate methods from schools, families, and students themselves to develop elements and their creativity. The study was conducted on 108 high school students in three grades from giftedness and non-giftedness schools. The data was collected through a survey method using a self-constructed questionnaire and drawing creativity test TCT-DP to determine students' creativity levels and personal information. The study's finding, which uses mathematical methods and one-way analysis of variance, reveals that factors affecting elements and creativity level are objective factors including education environment from school; behavior of teachers, and subjective factors including interests, perspectives, and thoughts of students. It was also found that there were no significant differences in the components of creativity and creativity among students in different grades, gender, and groups of giftedness schools

Factors Affecting Successful Quality Assurance Implementation in Vietnamese Higher Education: A Qualitative Study

Quality assurance and accreditation was officially introduced into the higher education system in Vietnam over ten years ago. It is evident that quality assurance has resulted in positive impacts on university management, teaching, learning and research activities. This paper aims to explore factors that aid the successful implementation of higher education quality assurance and accreditation in Vietnam. Through semi-structured interviews with 32 participants, this study identified a number of factors that contributed to quality assurance processes, including awareness of the importance of quality assurance, better institutional manager leadership, support of university lecturers, staff, and students, and the vital responsibility of internal quality assurance staff. These confirm that internal stakeholders play an important role in undertaking quality assurance programmes and activities

Screening yeast strains for alcohol fermentation from the dried traditional yeast

Methods to produce rice alcohol by dried traditional yeast are unstable because the yeast system in dried traditional yeast has depended on nature and not been controlled. In this study, a total of 15 different kinds of dried traditional yeast were prepared and screened. Each yeast strain was evaluated by analyzing its fermentation property and alcohol tolerance. There are 19 yeast strains were isolated and their growth conditions and ethanol producing properties were examined. Results showed that three strains S1, BT, BL3 grew and produced ethanol at temperature 28-30oC, and pH 5-5.5. Especially, high concentration ethanol tolerance ability of the three strains was at 8-18%. Our results showed that these strains were valuable microorganisms and could be utilized as a basis for further study of dried traditional yeast in traditional alcoholic beverages

Stakeholder Perceptions towards the Quality of Coursera MOOCs Blended Learning in Vietnam: A Qualitative Study

Coursera MOOCs blended learning (CMBL) has been implemented at a Vietnamese Higher Education Institute (HEI) since the Fall 2019 semester. Our case study, which shows how Coursera MOOCs and the traditional classroom may work together, is unique in the context of Vietnamese higher education. In this case, students must complete the courses and earn certifications through Coursera MOOCs to qualify for the HEI’s offline final examinations. Meanwhile, students also engage in offline mentoring sessions with their classmates and lecturers (mentors). By employing the Service Quality (SERVQUAL) and 3P models, the research was conducted to explore how key factors might influence the quality of CMBL. This research conducted semi-structured interviews and employed thematic analysis with thirty interview participants, including ten administrators, eleven lecturers, three curriculum developers, and six students across four campuses of the HEI. We found that assessment, learning outcomes, learning content, Coursera staff’s responsiveness, offline mentors’ responsiveness and assurance, interaction, and student satisfaction might have considerably significant relationships with the quality of CMBL. On the other hand, Coursera instructors and offline mentors’ reliability have insignificant relationships with the quality of CMBL. This study has both theoretical and practical implications for universities and academics. Regarding the theoretical implications, this qualitative study provides critical criteria to measure the quality of the CMBL. Regarding the practical implications, it provides implications for curriculum development, teaching and learning, and assessment to improve the quality of CMBL. However, the authors could not travel across Vietnam to conduct face-to-face interviews in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, twenty-eight online interviews were conducted via Microsoft Teams and two email interviews. A downside of an online interview is that personal qualities that are critical to a study may be amended during the interview, forcing the researcher to rely on the participant’s words. Additionally, unlike a face-to-face interview, an email interview lacks simultaneous communication between the interviewer and the interviewee. Keywords: Higher Education Institution (HEI), blended MOOCs, Coursera MOOCs Blended Learning (CMBL), Coursera MOOCs, offline mentoring, sustainable developmen

Antibacterial Nanocomposites Based on Fe 3

For the vulcanized natural rubber (NR), incorporation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) into the NR matrix did not exhibit the bactericidal property against Escherichia coli (E. coli). However, incorporation of AgNPs into polyethylene (PE) matrix showed good antibacterial activities to both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. In the present work, NR/PE (85/15) blends have been prepared by melt blending with presence of compatibilizer in an internal mixer. To possess antibacterial property, AgNPs (5–10 nm) or Fe3O4–Ag hybrid nanoparticles (FAgNPs, 8 nm/16 nm) were added into PE matrix before its blending with NR component. The tensile test indicated that the presence of compatibilizer in NR/PE blend significantly enhanced the tensile strength and elongation at break (up to 35% and 38% increases, resp.). The antibacterial activity test was performed by monitoring of the bacterial lag-log growth phases with the presence of nanocomposites in the E. coli cell culture reactor. The antibacterial test showed that the presence of FAgNPs in NR/PE blend had a better antibacterial activity than that obtained with the lone AgNPs. Two similar reasons were proposed: (i) the faster Ag+ release rate from the Fe3O4–Ag hybrid nanoparticles due to the electron transfer from AgNP to Fe3O4 nanoparticle and (ii) the fact that the ionization of AgNPs in hybrid nanostructure might be accelerated by Fe3+ ions

NGHIÊN CỨU ĐA DẠNG DI TRUYỀN TẬP ĐOÀN CÁC GIỐNG SẮN (Manihot esculenta Crantz) DỰA VÀO ĐA HÌNH TRÌNH TỰ GEN GBSS1

GBSS1 gene regulates the biosynthesis of starch in cassava, Manihot esculenta Crantz, and its allelic diversity relates to variation in their starch production. In this research, genetic diversity of the recent conserved cassava germplast was estimated based on DNA polymorphism of a targeted fragment on GPSS1 gene of 14 representatives selected from 44 cassava varieties, whose genetic diversity was previously determined with SSR markers. The results from analyses of boostrap values on Neighbor Joining tree, of genetic indice from DNAsp 4.10.9 software, and of typical mutated points of 612bp-fragments on GBSS1 gene of the studied varieties revealed high genetic diversity and were in agreement to previous analyses with SSR markers. All 14 varieties were separated into 3 clusters on Neighbor Joining tree, in accordance with the variation in tuber-starch percentage and fresh root yield between groups. All three groups showed high genetic diversity with 53-99% of bootstrap values, high genetic differentiation (Kst=0.74, χ2=28; P=0.036), high number of allele (A=9) and high allenic diversity (Ad=0.91). The varieties of each group had 2-5 typical alleles. Results of this study could be applied for estimation of effectiveness of cassava germplast conservation. Together with the relevant SSR markers, the typical alleles of GBSS1 gene of different groups could be used as additional markers for selection and breeding of cassava with high starch yield in their tubers. GBSS1 (Granule bound starch synthase 1) là gen điều khiển sinh tổng hợp tinh bột ở cây sắn (Manihot esculenta Crantz) và đa dạng alen của gen phản ánh đa dạng về năng suất và chất lượng tinh bột. Trong nghiên cứu này đa dạng di truyền của tập đoàn giống sắn đang lưu giữ được đánh giá dựa vào đa hình trình tự ADN dọc đoạn đích trên gen GBSS1 của 14 giống đại diện trong 44 giống sắn đã đươc đánh giá bằng chỉ thị SSR. Kết quả phân tích dựa vào giá trị bootstrap trên cây phát sinh chủng loại theo phương pháp Neighbor Joining, dựa vào hệ số di truyền trên phần mềm DNAsp4.10.9 và dựa vào đột biến điểm dọc đoạn đích 612bp trên gen GBSS1 của các giống sắn nghiên cứu đều phản ánh đa dạng di truyền cao và phù hợp với kết quả đánh giá bằng chỉ thị SSR. Các giống sắn được phân thành 3 nhánh tách biệt trên cây phát sinh chủng loại theo tỷ lệ tinh bột và năng suất củ tươi trung bình đặc trưng của từng nhóm. Giữa các nhóm có giá trị bootstrap từ 53-99% và khác biệt di truyền tin cậy (Kst= 0,74, χ2=28; P=0,036) với số lượng alen (A=9) và đa dạng alen (Ad =0,91) cao. Mỗi nhóm sắn có 2-5 alen đặc trưng. Kết quả nghiên cứu có thể áp dụng để đánh giá hiệu quả công tác lưu giữ nguồn gen các giống sắn. Các alen đặc trưng của từng nhóm có thể sử dụng kết hợp với chỉ thị SSR liên quan làm cơ sở để chọn lọc hiệu quả các dòng sắn có tỷ lệ tinh bột cao