EFL STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS ENGLISH TEXTS

Students who learn business or economics subjects might read different business texts related to their majors. However, many English as a Foreign language (EFL) students are still struggling with their reading comprehension abilities The objectives of the study are to identify students’ perceptions of common difficulties when reading Business English texts and to explore their attitude towards a number of solutions. The participants were ninety-six Business English students who enrolled in a Business English Reading course at a public economics university in Ho Chi Minh City. A five-Likert questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were employed to collect the data for the study. The results show that EFL students often encountered difficulties in reading Business texts. The most prominent factors influencing Business English reading comprehension generally are Vocabulary, Timing, and Background Knowledge. To address those issues, Business English students proposed six solutions regarding lexical and grammatical knowledge enhancement, regular practice, metacognitive strategies, participation in business courses, and online dictionary use. These recommendations collectively aimed to empower students in mastering the skills of Business English reading comprehension.  Article visualizations

Banking Relationship Ties to Firm Performance: Evidence from Food and Beverage Firms in Vietnam

This paper is aimed at analyzing the effects of banking relationship on performance of Vietnamese firms in Food and Beverage (F&B), one of the highest potential sectors. Panel data of 170 observations covers 34 F&B firms listed in the Vietnam stock exchanges in the period 2014-2018. The fixed effect model (FEM) is applied. The key findings are: First, short-term loan financing, leverage, and fixed asset ratios all negatively impacted on F&B firm performance, while firm size and net profit margin had positive impacts. These findings were consistent with previous studies. Second, the opposite results with previous studies were: (i) negative corelation of ROE and number of banks firms working with, as F&B firms were inefficient in selecting bank partners; (ii) positive relation of short-term liabilities ratio and ROA/ROE, as F&B firms utilize other non-bank liabilities shortly; (iii) foreign ownership had negative relationship with ROA& ROE. Foreign investors did not have significant roles in most F&B firms. Third, long-term borrowing from banks, state ownership and ages all insignificantly correlated with firm performance. Recommendations to F&B firms include: (1) Reduce the short- term loans and fixed assets investment, while increase the cheap equity funding sources via shareholders (2) Be selective in working with banks to have better fees and interest saved with banks. (3) Utilize other short-term liabilities, including payables and advances – the low-cost funding sources. F&B firms have good bargaining powers in requesting advances from their clients. (4) Have smart buy-in strategies on foreign ownership

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL SKILLS IN STUDENTS’ LEARNING IN CAN THO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

Based on an overview of domestic and foreign research related to the research field of the topic; the research of the topic has determined the urgency of the topic, research objectives, research objects and scope, research hypotheses, research tasks, and methods. The research on the topic has systematized the theoretical basis for the concept and manifestation of social-emotional skills in student learning: generalizing the picture of the current situation of recognizing the importance of social-emotional skills in student learning, the level of assessment of the manifestation and educational measures of social-emotional skills in learning, and finding out the factors that affect social emotions in student learning such as from the external environment, at school, family and external social relationships. Factors from the internal environment are the self-awareness of each student. From the current situation of the problem, the study has proposed educational measures for 504 students from 8 schools and colleges in Can Tho University (CTU), Vietnam. Some measures were to educate social-emotional skills for students through soft skills topics, teach soft skills to students through extracurricular activities, and soft skills education for students through integrated teaching.  Article visualizations

GREEN ECONOMY WITH ECONOMIC GROWTH AND PER CAPITA INCOME IN VIETNAM

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the green economy with economic growth and per capita income in Vietnam, to analyze the quantitative relationship among those factors, and to improve long-term green economic development in Vietnam towards sustainable national economic growth.   Theoretical Framework: In this topic, the main concepts and theories that underpin the research are presented. The inverted U-shaped model of Kuznets; Green economy concept and regression model stand out, providing a solid basis for understanding the context of the investigation.   Method: The methodology adopted for this research comprises desk research methods to clarify the theoretical basis of green economy, economic growth, and per capita income; qualitative research methods; and quantitative research methods. Data collection was carried out through the collection of time-series data: Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDPP), and CO2 emissions from 1995 to 2022 from the World Bank website.   Results and Discussion: The results obtained revealed the positive relationship between economic growth, CO2 emissions, and per capita income in the short term; however, in the long term, when GDP as well as per capita income reach a certain threshold. The level of waste gradually decreases and environmental quality improves. In the discussion section, these results are contextualized in light of the theoretical framework, highlighting the implications and relationships identified. Possible discrepancies and limitations of the study are also considered in this section.   Research Implications: The practical and theoretical implications of this research are discussed, providing insights into how the results can be applied or influence practices in the field of development economics. These implications could encompass many sectors, especially the processing industry.   Originality/Value: This study contributes to the literature by Simon Kuznets - economic growth is not a threat, but rather a means to improve the environment in the future. The relevance and value of this research are evidenced by contributing one more case in Vietnam which approves Kuznets curve on the environment and thus is the basis for future research on this urgent problem all over the world

The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic among healthcare workers at the grassroots level in Vietnam

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs). Therefore, an immediate priority is to monitor rates of mental health issues to understand related factors and inform interventions. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychological and mental health impact of COVID-19 and some related factors among HCWs at the grassroots level in Vietnam. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 675 HCWs working at health facilities through questionnaires. The finding showed the rate of HCWs who were psychologically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic was 37.2%, of which 64.1% of HCWs were afraid to tell their families about the risk of exposure to COVID-19 at work. The 31.0% of HCWs had difficulty sleeping deeply/insomnia due to the COVID-19 epidemic. No statistically significant differences were found in the psychological impact of COVID-19 between HCW groups by age, gender, seniority, and professional qualifications. Some groups of HCWs were found to have poor psychological health. Our research suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic, HCWs working in healthcare facilities experienced an increased psychological burden; psychological interventions for those at high risk and with common mental disorders should be included to reduce this burden and protect HCWs' mental health

APPLICATION OF MIND MAP IN TEACHING GEOMETRY IN GRADE 4

When it comes to mathematics education and learning, mind maps are a graphical representation of ideas and concepts widely used. A mind map can significantly improve student learning and teacher teaching activities by its unique structure and characteristics. This study demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of incorporating a mind map into the geometry curriculum for fourth-grade students. The findings of an experiment conducted on 44 primary students demonstrate that, with the teacher's guidance, most students can create an appropriate mind map to review a lesson and that the mind map contributes to increasing students' learning motivation and subject interests. Several students responded positively to a survey about their attitudes toward using mind maps in mathematics learning, which revealed that they have favorable attitudes toward using mind maps.  Article visualizations

Knowledge of tuberculosis among physicians working at community health stations in Vietnam

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant health problem worldwide, including in Vietnam, where around 174,000 newly diagnosed cases and 13,200 patients died in 2018. There are challenges in the diagnostic process, treatment, and follow-up. The physicians with knowledge of TB working at commune health stations play an essential role in this struggle. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate knowledge of TB and related factors among physicians working at community health stations in the Northern provinces of Vietnam. A cross-sectional survey was implemented on 335 physicians working at community health stations in 5 Northern provinces in Vietnam from September 2019 to October 2020. The result showed that the TB knowledge of physicians was not good. There were some severe knowledge gaps concerning at-risk groups, the main symptoms of TB, sputum tests for both diagnosis and follow-up and management of attack therapy. The TB training participants had better TB knowledge than others (aOR=1.68; 95%CI: 1.047-2.712). This study underlines the importance of clinical experience and TB training to TB knowledge. We suggest that a TB training plan is required for physicians. Our survey results could inform the process of defining the physicians who work at community health stations' role in TB management in the future

QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION AND PREPARATIVE ISOLATION OF TWO MAJOR ALKALOIDS FROM THE VIETNAMESE MEDICINAL HERB EVODIAE FRUCTUS

Objective: To develop a simple and accurate HPLC-DAD method for simultaneous determination, the content of major components: limonin, evodiamine, and rutaecarpine in Evodiae fructus and evaluation the quality of Evodiae fructus sold in markets. Methods: Open column chromatography was used to separate and purify rutaecarpine and evodiamine, the two major alkaloids from Evodiae fructus extract as a laboratory standard. Chromatographic separation was achieved using a Germini C18 column (150 mm × 4.6 mm I.D., 5 µm), detected at 210 nm. The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile (A), methanol (B), and water (C). The validated method simultaneously determined alkaloid content in 40 batches of samples collected from markets in different regions of Vietnam. Results: In one-step purification, our method yielded 326 mg of rutaecarpine and 128 mg of evodiamine from 3.2 g of crude extract, with purities of 98.9 and 98.5%, respectively. The structures of these compounds were identified using 1H NMR and 13C NMR. There was a significant correlation between alkaloid content and fruit size, with a Spearman correlation coefficient of>0.5 (p<0.001), and there was a large difference in alkaloid contents between three maturity degrees of the fruit. Open-mouth fruits and fruits with average sizes of 4 to 6 mm had the highest alkaloid contents, whereas closed-mouth fruits had the lowest. Conclusion: This study provided information on the standardization and quality control of evodiamine and rutaecarpine in Evodiae fructus, as well as a foundation for further pharmacological and toxicological studies

Effect of Molecular Charge Asymmetry on Even-to-odd Ratio of High-order Harmonic Generation

Recently, asymmetric molecules, such as HeH$_2^+$, CO, OCS, HCl, have been evolved much attention since its rich information in the high-order harmonic generation (HHG), whose ratio of adjacent even and odd harmonics characterizes the asymmetry of molecules. In this paper, we study the dependence of even-to-odd ratio on the asymmetric parameters, in particular, the nuclear-charge ratio, and the permanent dipole, by exploiting a simple but general model of asymmetric molecules $Z_1Z_2$ subjected to an intense laser pulse. The HHG is simulated by the numerical method of solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. We find out that this even-to-odd ratio strongly depends on the nuclear-charge ratio. In particular, the even-to-odd ratio reaches its maximum when the nuclear-charge ratio is about from 0.5 to 0.7. Besides, the dependence on the permanent dipole of the even-to-odd ratio has a non-trivial law. To explain, we calculate the analytical ratio of the transition dipole according to the emission of even and odd harmonics, and this ratio is well consistent with the even-to-odd ratio of the HHG