Competencies of the Team of Department Head at Higher Education Institutions in Vietnam in The Context of the Industrial Revolution 4.0

This study aims to investigate the Competencies of the team of department head at higher education institutions in Vietnam to implement higher education development in the context of the industrial revolution 4.0. The authors conducted a Delphi study with 15 experts in educational management in Vietnam to gather their expert views on the competencies of the team of department head at higher education institutions. A total of 24 components of competency related to 4 fields (professional expertise, scientific research, subject management and leadership, social activities and international cooperation) were strongly emphasized by experts. The competence of the team of department head is proposed based on the ideas of a group of experts and the results need to be tested, completed and confirmed by follow-up work. Besides, in this study, we have not determined the level of achievement of each competence as well as developed assessment tools. The specific competencies of the team of department head can be considered as a foundation to contribute to the development of higher education in the context of the industrial revolution 4.0. We know that competence does not exist independently; in stead of, they should be considered in the specific context of teaching, university, culture and society. This study is one of the studies related to the competence contextualization of the team of department head at higher education institutions in the Vietnamese context

How Foreign Ownership and Competition Affect the Credit Growth of Commercial Banks: Evidence from A Transitional Economy

This study examines the relationship between foreign ownership and market competition, proxied by bank market power, affecting the credit growth of 32 commercial banks in Vietnam from 2010 to 2020. The Random Effects Model and the Dynamic System Generalized Method of Moments were used to analyze an unbalanced panel of 278 annual observations. The findings report that foreign ownership reduces credit growth, with each percentage increase in foreign ownership reducing credit growth by 0.74%. The results indicate an inverse U-shaped relationship between competitive advantage and credit growth, with a turning point of 0.46. The main findings were found to be robust after employing an alternative market power proxy. The study recommends that bank managers and policymakers limit foreign ownership and control commercial banks’ market power to promote sustainable credit growth

Cider Production from King Mandarin (Citrus nobilis Lour.) and Its Antioxidant Activity

With the necessity of diversifying alcoholic beverages, cider has become a kind of drink that can fulfill this demand. This is because the cider will be diversified depending on the kinds of fruit that are chosen to be used for the cider fermentation. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of dilution ratio, Brix, pH, and yeast concentration on the production of cider from king mandarin (Citrus nobilis Lour.), and to evaluate the analytical characteristics and antioxidant activity of the product. After the investigation, it can be claimed that the dilution of the juice causes the ethanol content to decrease, whereas the increase of Brix, pH, and yeast concentration makes the ethanol content increase. However, the proportional increase in the ethanol content with Brix, pH, and yeast concentration has its limitations. Specifically, when the Brix and the yeast concentrations were, respectively, higher than 16°Brix and 0.04%, the ethanol content tended to maintain the same. This is also the same when the pH was lower than 4.5. In addition, by using the DPPH and ABTS●+ methods, the antioxidant activity of cider is estimated to be lower than the one of the juice before fermentation, which is smaller than 3.78 times for the DPPH method and 3.76 times for the ABTS●+ method

No Clinical Benefit of Empirical Antimicrobial Therapy for Pediatric Diarrhea in a High-Usage, High-Resistance Setting.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric diarrheal disease presents a major public health burden in low- to middle-income countries. The clinical benefits of empirical antimicrobial treatment for diarrhea are unclear in settings that lack reliable diagnostics and have high antimicrobial resistance (AMR). METHODS: We conducted a prospective multicenter cross-sectional study of pediatric patients hospitalized with diarrhea containing blood and/or mucus in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Clinical parameters, including disease outcome and treatment, were measured. Shigella, nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS), and Campylobacter were isolated from fecal samples, and their antimicrobial susceptibility profiles were determined. Statistical analyses, comprising log-rank tests and accelerated failure time models, were performed to assess the effect of antimicrobials on disease outcome. RESULTS: Among 3166 recruited participants (median age 10 months; interquartile range, 6.5-16.7 months), one-third (1096 of 3166) had bloody diarrhea, and 25% (793 of 3166) were culture positive for Shigella, NTS, or Campylobacter. More than 85% of patients (2697 of 3166) were treated with antimicrobials; fluoroquinolones were the most commonly administered antimicrobials. AMR was highly prevalent among the isolated bacteria, including resistance against fluoroquinolones and third-generation cephalosporins. Antimicrobial treatment and multidrug resistance status of the infecting pathogens were found to have no significant effect on outcome. Antimicrobial treatment was significantly associated with an increase in the duration of hospitalization with particular groups of diarrheal diseases. CONCLUSIONS: In a setting with high antimicrobial usage and high AMR, our results imply a lack of clinical benefit for treating diarrhea with antimicrobials; adequately powered randomized controlled trials are required to assess the role of antimicrobials for diarrhea

Effects of water scarcity awareness and climate change belief on recycled water usage willingness: Evidence from New Mexico, United States

The global water crisis is being exacerbated by climate change, even in the United States. Recycled water is a feasible alternative to alleviate the water shortage, but it is constrained by humans’ perceptions. The current study examines how residents’ water scarcity awareness and climate change belief influence their willingness to use recycled water directly and indirectly. Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics was employed on a dataset of 1831 residents in Albuquerque, New Mexico, an arid inland region in the US. We discovered that residents’ willingness to use direct recycled potable water is positively affected by their awareness of water scarcity, but the effect is conditional on their belief in the impacts of climate change on the water cycle. Meanwhile, the willingness to use indirect recycled potable water is influenced by water scarcity awareness, and the belief in climate change further enhances this effect. These findings implicate that fighting climate change denialism and informing the public of the water scarcity situation in the region can contribute to the effectiveness and sustainability of long-term water conservation and climate change alleviation efforts

The transfer and decay of maternal antibody against Shigella sonnei in a longitudinal cohort of Vietnamese infants.

BACKGROUND: Shigella sonnei is an emergent and major diarrheal pathogen for which there is currently no vaccine. We aimed to quantify duration of maternal antibody against S. sonnei and investigate transplacental IgG transfer in a birth cohort in southern Vietnam. METHODS AND RESULTS: Over 500-paired maternal/infant plasma samples were evaluated for presence of anti-S. sonnei-O IgG and IgM. Longitudinal plasma samples allowed for the estimation of the median half-life of maternal anti-S. sonnei-O IgG, which was 43 days (95% confidence interval: 41-45 days). Additionally, half of infants lacked a detectable titer by 19 weeks of age. Lower cord titers were associated with greater increases in S. sonnei IgG over the first year of life, and the incidence of S. sonnei seroconversion was estimated to be 4/100 infant years. Maternal IgG titer, the ratio of antibody transfer, the season of birth and gestational age were significantly associated with cord titer. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal anti-S. sonnei-O IgG is efficiently transferred across the placenta and anti-S. sonnei-O maternal IgG declines rapidly after birth and is undetectable after 5 months in the majority of children. Preterm neonates and children born to mothers with low IgG titers have lower cord titers and therefore may be at greater risk of seroconversion in infancy

Quantifying antimicrobial access and usage for paediatric diarrhoeal disease in an urban community setting in Asia.

OBJECTIVES: Antimicrobial-resistant infections are a major global health issue. Ease of antimicrobial access in developing countries is proposed to be a key driver of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) epidemic despite a lack of community antimicrobial usage data. METHODS: Using a mixed-methods approach (geospatial mapping, simulated clients, healthcare utilization, longitudinal cohort) we assessed antimicrobial access in the community and quantified antimicrobial usage for childhood diarrhoea in an urban Vietnamese setting. RESULTS: The study area had a pharmacy density of 15.7 pharmacies/km2 (a pharmacy for every 1316 people). Using a simulated client method at pharmacies within the area, we found that 8% (3/37) and 22% (8/37) of outlets sold antimicrobials for paediatric watery and mucoid diarrhoea, respectively. However, despite ease of pharmacy access, the majority of caregivers would choose to take their child to a healthcare facility, with 81% (319/396) and 88% (347/396) of responders selecting a specialized hospital as one of their top three preferences when seeking treatment for watery and mucoid diarrhoea, respectively. We calculated that at least 19% (2688/14427) of diarrhoea episodes in those aged 1 to <5 years would receive an antimicrobial annually; however, antimicrobial usage was almost 10 times greater in hospitals than in the community. CONCLUSIONS: Our data question the impact of community antimicrobial usage on AMR and highlight the need for better education and guidelines for all professionals with the authority to prescribe antimicrobials

PhoBERT: Application in Disease Classification based on Vietnamese Symptom Analysis

Besides the successful use of support software in cutting-edge medical procedures, the significance of determining a disease early signs and symptoms before its detection is a growing pressing requirement to raise the standard of medical examination and treatment. This creates favourable conditions, reduces patient inconvenience and hospital overcrowding. Before transferring patients to an appropriate doctor, healthcare staff must have the patient’s symptoms. This study leverages the PhoBERT model to assist in classifying patients with text classification tasks based on symptoms they provided in the first stages of Vietnamese hospital admission. The outcomes of PhoBERT on more than 200 000 text-based symptoms collected from Vietnamese hospitals can improve the classification performance compared to Bag of Words (BOW) with classic machine learning algorithms, and some considered deep learning architectures such as 1D-Convolutional Neural Networks and Long Short-Term Memory. The proposed method can achieve promising results to be deployed in automatic hospital admission procedures in Vietnam

Production of sweet corn milk yogurt using

This study aimed to produce a new functional fermented food product from sweet corn milk yogurt using Lactobacillus casei. The suitable conditions for lactic acid fermentation in sweet corn milk were investigated, including initial bacterial concentration, ratio of sweet corn milk and cow milk, sugar concentration, fermentation time and temperature. The results showed that the appropriate conditions for sweet corn milk yogurt production as follow: initial bacterial concentration was 106 cells/mL, fermentation time was 12 h at 37°C and sweet corn milk was fortified with cow milk at a ratio of 2:8 and 12% of sugar. The sweet corn milk yogurt was slightly yellow, smooth texture and thick body with the aroma of corn and acidic smell. The product remained acceptable taste and texture within 4 weeks at 0°C and 2 weeks at 5°C

Sustainable Supplier Selection Process in Edible Oil Production by a Hybrid Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process and Green Data Envelopment Analysis for the SMEs Food Processing Industry

Today, business organizations are facing increasing pressure from a variety of sources to operate using sustainable processes. Thus, most companies need to focus on their supply chains to enhance sustainability to meet customer demands and comply with environmental legislation. To achieve these goals, companies must focus on criteria that include CO2 (carbon footprint) and toxic emissions, energy use and efficiency, wastage generations, and worker health and safety. As in other industries, the food processing industry requires large inputs of resources, which results in several negative environmental effects; thus, decision-makers have to evaluate qualitative and quantitative factors. This work identifies the best supplier for edible oil production in the small and medium enterprise (SME) food processing industry in Vietnam. This study also processes a hybrid multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) model using a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) and green data envelopment analysis (GDEA) model to identify the weight of all criteria of a supplier&#8217;s selection process based on opinions from company procurement experts. Subsequently, GDEA is applied to rank all potential supplier lists. The primary objective of this work is to present a novel approach which integrates FAHP and DEA for supplier selection and also consider the green issue in edible oil production in uncertain environments. The aim of this research is also to provide a useful guideline for supplier selection based on qualitative and quantitative factors to improve the efficiency of supplier selection in the food industry and other industries. The results reveal that Decision-Making Unit 1 (DMU 1), DMU 3, DMU 7, and DMU 9 are identified as extremely efficient for five DEA models, which are the optimal suppliers for edible oil production. The contributions of this research include a proposed MCDM model using a hybrid FAHP and GDEA model for supplier selection in the SME food processing industry under a fuzzy environment conditions in Vietnam. This research also is part of an evolution of a new hybrid model that is flexible and practical for decision-makers. In addition, the research also provides a useful guideline in supplier selection in the food processing industry and a guideline for supplier selection in other industries