The study on factors affecting the participation in the organization of the community tourism by farmer households in Tra Ving province, Vietnam

Abstract. The study on the factors influencing farmer households’ participation in the organization of community-based tourism in Tra Vinh province was conducted by the gathering of primary data from 200 households in three islands of Tan Quy (Cau Ke district), Long Tri (Tra Vinh city), and Hoa Minh (Chau Thanh district) in Tra Vinh province. Through the use of the logistic regression model, the study found that there were six factors affecting the decision to participate in tourism, including the age of farmers, householders, and the educational level of householders, household size, family income, social relations and traditional trades. In particular, traditional trades, household income, and social relationships strongly influence farmers’ participation in organizing community-based tourism activities in Tra Vinh province.Keywords. Community tourism, Households, Island, Logistic regression, Income, Traditional trades.JEL. I13, I20, I30

Study of Natural Killer Cells and Their Therapeutic Role in Pediatric Cancer

NK cells are known to play an important role in the natural defense against viral infections and tumor immune surveillance. Through complex interactions between NK cell receptors and target cell ligands, transformed or unhealthy cells are identified and rapidly eliminated. NK cells have been used for therapeutic purposes in pediatric oncology, for example by harnessing the mechanisms of NK cell surveillance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or intervention-augmented antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) in neuroblastoma. However, the underlying cellular mechanisms in these processes are not fully understood. In my thesis research, I sought to gain a deeper understanding of the molecular and cellular changes within NK cells that occur in the tumor microenvironment and with immunotherapy. I discovered that NK cells have attenuated natural cytotoxicity in children with neuroblastoma that correlates with clinical tumor response to chemoimmunotherapy. Compared to age-matched reference data in healthy children, the studied patients had higher proportions of CD56bright NK cells, suggestive of immaturity of the NK cell compartment. Although preactivation with cytokines did not entirely overcome the hyporeactivity in patient NK cells, the therapeutic use of interleukin (IL)-2 or -15 significantly enhanced the natural cytotoxicity and ADCC of tested NK cells against neuroblastoma in vitro and in vivo and therefore warrants further investigation. To provide a suitable animal model for future studies of NK cell dysfunction and immunotherapy, I developed a humanize MISTRG neuroblastoma model. Human NK cells that arise in this model after hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation were functionally intact and capable of suppressing neuroblastoma growth with chemoimmunotherapy in vivo. Despite the discovered molecular differences of NK cell subsets in these mice compared to patient NK cells, the humanized MISTRG neuroblastoma model is a valuable tool to study NK cell biology in neuroblastoma and test whether therapeutic interventions, such as cytokine supplementation, can overcome impaired NK cytotoxicity. Collectively, results from this work are important because they link the cellular capacity of a key effector cell involved in ADCC to antibody-mediated tumor shrinkage in the clinic, revealing potential mechanisms for therapy failure in patients who receive chemoimmunotherapy for neuroblastoma

Development Of A GIS-Based Watershed Modeling Tool

A GIS-based numerical tool makes watershed and water quality studies easier by bringing key data and analytical components under one GIS roof. Using the familiar Windows environment, analysts can efficiently access international and national environmental information, apply assessment and planning tools, and run a variety of proven, robust point and non-point loading and water quality models. With many of necessary components together in one system, the analysis time is significantly reduced, a greater variety of questions can be answered, and data and management needs can be more efficiently identified. Minimal data requirements and an ease of application are a motivation to develop a new simpler GIS-based watershed modeling tool, particularly for developing countries where there are a lack of temporal and spatial series of data. An objective of this study is to develop such GIS-based numerical tool for assessment of water balance and runoff pollutions caused by point and non-point sources in watershed systems. The core of the model is based on Generalized Watershed Loading Functions with a number of additions and enhancements of runoff, sediment and daily time step calculations. The model is programming in VB.NET, and designed to complement and interoperate with enterprise and full-featured MapWindow open source GIS. It has two components: a runoff component included water balance and nutrient load modules, and a routing component engaged with HEC-RAS model. All components are merging under GIS MapWindow functions as plug-ins. The model has been verified and validated for the Spring Creek watershed (Pennsylvania) and the Tri-An watershed (Vietnam). A comparison between the results obtained from the model and observations, as well as with results from a well-known AVGWLF shows very good agreements. This watershed modeling tool can be served as a multipurpose environmental analysis system in performing watershed- and water-quality-based studies

Development of a GIS-Based Numerical Model for Watershed and Water Quality Studies

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

Rice husk gasification for electricity generation in Cambodia in December 2014: Field trip report

Rice husks are the indigestible coatings of grains of rice. They are produced in large quantities by the rice milling industry, more than 1 million ton per year in Cambodia. In recent years, Cambodian enterprises have installed gasifiers, which burn rice husks to generate electricity. This is a two stage process: the biomass is first fed into a gasifier which produces syngas and ashes, then the syngas is cleaned and burned into an engine where it saves diesel fuel. Many of these enterprises have been in local communities currently without electricity or in fuel poverty.To learn more about the benefits and drawbacks of using rice-husk gasifiers, and to study about the sustainability challenges for deploying these technologies, the Clean energy and sustainable development lab (CleanED lab) of the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH), and the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) have conducted a visit of several rice mills and rural electricity enterprises from 18 th to 22nd December 2014.Five rice mills and a rural electricity enterprise in Battambang, Siem Reap and Kampong Thom provinces were selected for the field survey. In addition with desk research, semi-structured interviews with gasifier users, with the representatives of Canadia Bank PLC and the Federation of Cambodian Rice Millers Association (FCRMA) during the field surveys were also conducted. This report present and justifies the main conclusions of the visit

2D-model of contaminant water transmission processes and numerical simulation on a natural lake

Nowadays, the water pollution problems in the lakes are urgent matters. The simulation of contaminant water transmission process plays important role in reality to improve people's life qualities. In this paper the 2D-mathematical model simulating transmission processes of some contaminant substances in one lake of Hanoi is studied. The finite volume method is used in model. The actions between substances are considered and the simulation results are compared with the measurements

Context-driven Policies Enforcement for Edge-based IoT Data Sharing-as-a-Service

Sharing real-time data originating from connected devices is crucial to real-world intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) applications, i.e., based on artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML). Such IoT data sharing involves multiple parties for different purposes and is usually based on data contracts that might depend on the dynamic change of IoT data variety and velocity. It is still an open challenge to support multiple parties (aka tenants) with these dynamic contracts based on the data value for their specific contextual purposes.This work addresses these challenges by introducing a novel dynamic context-based policy enforcement framework to support IoT data sharing (on-Edge) based on dynamic contracts. Our enforcement framework allows IoT Data Hub owners to define extensible rules and metrics to govern the tenants in accessing the shared data on the Edge based on policies defined with static and dynamic contexts. We have developed a proof-of-concept prototype for sharing sensitive data such as surveillance camera videos to illustrate our proposed framework. The experimental results demonstrated that our framework could soundly and timely enforce context-based policies at runtime with moderate overhead. Moreover, the context and policy changes are correctly reflected in the system in nearly real-time.acceptedVersio

The Intention to Participate in Voluntary Social Insurance of Informal Sector Workers: the Case in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Purpose: The objective of this study is to develop the participation of informal sector workers in voluntary social insurance to ensure the Social Security policy of the Government of Vietnam.   Theoretical Framework: Based on the results compiled from expert as: Kotler, 2003; Schiffman and Kanuk, 2007; Ming-Chi Lee, 2009; Holmgren et al., 2016 and Krajaechun and Praditbatuga, 2019. The model was preliminarily designed by the author through eight prefix variables including: Confidence in Benefits, Evaluation of Social Responses, Perception of risks, Beliefs, Motivation, Attitude towards Voluntary social insurance, Subjective norms, and Intention to participate in Voluntary social insurance.   Methodology: This study employs primary data from a survey of 370 people working in informal workers in 04 province of the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam: Kien Giang Province, Tra Vinh Province, Hau Giang Province and Soc Trang Province. The Authors using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Bootstrap analysis in the SEM reliability test employed for data analysis and interpretation.   Findings: Research results show that two factors that affect the intention to participate in voluntary social insurance of workers in the informal sector: Attitude towards social insurance and subjective norms.   Solutions: From the research results, the authors have proposed solutions to further improve the participation in voluntary social insurance of workers in the informal sector in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam in future

The financial protection effect of Ghana National Health Insurance Scheme: evidence from a study in two rural districts

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>One of the key functions of health insurance is to provide financial protection against high costs of health care, yet evidence of such protection from developing countries has been inconsistent. The current study uses the case of Ghana to contribute to the evidence pool about insurance's financial protection effects. It evaluates the impact of the country's National Health Insurance Scheme on households' out-of-pocket spending and catastrophic health expenditure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We use data from a household survey conducted in two rural districts, Nkoranza and Offinso, in 2007, two years after the initiation of the Ghana National Health Insurance Scheme. To address the skewness of health expenditure data, the absolute amount of out-of-pocket spending is estimated using a two-part model. We also conduct a probit estimate of the likelihood of catastrophic health expenditures, defined at different thresholds relative to household income and non-food consumption expenditure. The analysis controls for chronic and self-assessed health conditions, which typically drive adverse selection in insurance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>At the time of the survey, insurance coverage was 35 percent. Although the benefit package of insurance is generous, insured people still incurred out-of-pocket payment for care from informal sources and for uncovered drugs and tests at health facilities. Nevertheless, they paid significantly less than the uninsured. Insurance has been shown to have a protective effect against the financial burden of health care, reducing significantly the likelihood of incurring catastrophic payment. The effect is particularly remarkable among the poorest quintile of the sample.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Findings from this study confirm the positive financial protection effect of health insurance in Ghana. The effect is stronger among the poor group than among general population. The results are encouraging for many low income countries who are considering a similar policy to expand social health insurance. Ghana's experience also shows that instituting insurance by itself is not adequate to remove fully the out-of-pocket payment for health. Further works are needed to address the supply side's incentives and quality of care, so that the insured can enjoy the full benefits of insurance.</p

Total soluble and insoluble oxalate contents of ripe green and golden kiwifruit

Three bulk samples of two different cultivars of kiwifruit, green (Actinidia deliciosa L.) and golden (Actinidia chinensis L.) were bought ripe, ready to eat from a local market. The aim of the study was to determine the oxalate composition of each of the three fractions of kiwifruit, namely skin, pulp and seeds. The pulp consisted of 90.4% of the edible portion of the two cultivars while the skin and seeds made up a mean of 8.0% and 1.6% respectively. Total oxalate was extracted with 2.0 M HCL at 21 °C for 15 min and soluble oxalates extracted at 21 °C in water for 15 min from each fraction. The total and soluble oxalate compositions of each fraction were determined using ion exchange HPLC chromatography. The pulp of golden kiwifruit contained lower amounts of total oxalates (15.7 vs. 19.3 mg/100 g FW) and higher amounts of soluble oxalates (8.5 vs. 7.6 mg/100 g FW) when compared to the green cultivar. The skin of the green cultivar contained lower levels of insoluble oxalates (36.9 vs. 43.6 mg/100 g FW), while the seeds of the green cultivar contained higher levels of insoluble oxalates 106.7 vs. 84.7 mg/100 g FW