ASSESSMENT OF THE HEALTH AND ECOLOGICAL RISKS CAUSED BY FUNGICIDES IN CHRYSANTHEMUM CULTIVATION BY ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT QUOTIENT

This study uses the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ) to assess the health and ecological risks caused by fungicides used in chrysanthemum cultivation upstream of Xuan Huong Lake, Da Lat city. Survey results reveal that 134 farmers use 21 fungicides with 18 active ingredients on a total area of 35.2 hectares. In all, 18 fungicides with an EIQ at the level of “unlikely to be hazardous” (EIQ < 25) are used on about 95% of the acreage, and 3 fungicides with an EIQ of “slightly hazardous” (25 < EIQ < 50) are used on the rest of the area. The Field Use EIQ of fungicide was rated very low in only 8.2% of the survey area and moderate in 48%. Areas with high and very high ratings account for 3% and 41%, respectively. Using fungicides according to the instructions can reduce the Field Use EIQ values in cultivated areas by 38% and return areas with high and moderate ratings to a low rating. Therefore, it is necessary to instruct farmers on the safe use of fungicides and to recommend those with low EIQ values for chrysanthemum cultivation

A Brief Theology of Inculturation: A Pastoral Method to Understand and Ease the Generational Tension between Vietnamese Immigrants and Their U.S.-born Children

Encountering different languages, cultures, living conditions, and so on, many immigrants face challenges when arriving to a new country. They often live in-between their native culture and the new culture they are forced to adapt to. They experience both belonging and not belonging, and they are sometimes considered strangers or aliens in a new land. In particular, the generational tension between Vietnamese immigrants and their U.S.-born children produces difficulties within their families, faith communities, and daily life. This leads to specific pastoral concerns in the Church, forcing us to ask how pastoral ministry can cater to different generations effectively especially in light of assimilation into U.S culture. Thus, the aim of this paper will be to demonstrate that the Vietnamese American Church can use a theology of inculturation as a pastoral method to understand and ease the generational tension between Vietnamese immigrants and their U.S.-born children. This paper will illuminate a theological methodology of the pastoral circle, which includes reflexivity, as an insertion recounting concrete stories within the Vietnamese American community. In order to understand why there is a pastoral challenge at all, this paper will provide a social analysis in terms of history, society, and language differences between Confucian and American culture. From analyzing these contexts, I will offer a theological reflection by using the Scriptures and a theology of inculturation as a pastoral foundation. It is important for Christians to use inculturation to nurture the relationship between culture and faith in their own communities and families. Inculturation is a process of incarnation that enables Christians to live their faith in their cultural context. Inculturation is used in a theological context to discuss people of faith in their respective cultural contexts. In particular, it is true that the Catholic Church is the “universal” Church, but it is also diverse in terms of cultures and languages. This reality urges the faithful to create and adapt dialogue within the Vietnamese American Church around the Incarnation of the Word (Jesus), who became a human being in a particular context. Therefore, inculturation can help the Vietnamese American Church understand the process of adaptation for a community of immigrants and their U.S.-born children in terms of pastoral ministry. Finally, this paper will create an effective pastoral plan for different generations of Vietnamese Americans. By following Jesus’ example of incarnation into particular cultures and engaging in dialogue with them, the Vietnamese American Church may do ministry more fruitfully

Allelic polymorphism of crtRB1 and LcyE genes related to the β-carotene content in Vietnamese traditional maize accessions,

Maize is the third most important food crop after wheat and rice. Maize is used as food for more than a billion people around the world and is used as animal feed, especially, poultry. The concentration of carotenoids, especially, β-carotene in maize grains, is very low. Therefore, the study of increasing the amount of provitamin A carotenoids including β-carotene is important. In maize, different alleles of crtRB1 and LcyE genes have a significant effect on β-carotene content. In this paper, we present the results of the study of allele polymorphism of these two genes related to the provitamin A carotenoid content in some traditional maize accessions collected from several regions in North and Central Highlands of Vietnam. The results showed that there were polymorphisms at the 3’ and 5’ ends of the crtRB1 and LcyE genes. Among 22 maize accessions, the proportion of favorable alleles at the 3’ end of crtRB1 gene was relatively high (5/22 = 22.73%). Similar results were obtained for alleles at 3’ end of the LcyE gene. Especially, there is an accession (Northern white gold maize) that carries favorable alleles at the 3’ ends of both crtRB1 and LcyE genes. While all investigated maize accessions did not carry favorable alleles at the 5’ end of both crtRB1 and LcyE genes. The identification of traditional maize accessions that carry favorable alleles for increasing b-carotene content opens up potential to exploit indigenous genetic resources for genetic research as well as to develop maize varieties with high β- carotene content.

How scientific research changes the Vietnamese higher education landscape: Evidence from social sciences and humanities between 2008 and 2019

Background: In the context of globalization, Vietnamese universities, whose primary function is teaching, there is a need to improve research performance. Methods: Based on SSHPA data, an exclusive database of Vietnamese social sciences and humanities researchers’ productivity, between 2008 and 2019 period, this study analyzes the research output of Vietnamese universities in the field of social sciences and humanities. Results: Vietnamese universities have been steadily producing a high volume of publications in the 2008-2019 period, with a peak of 598 articles in 2019. Moreover, many private universities and institutions are also joining the publication race, pushing competitiveness in the country. Conclusions: Solutions to improve both quantity and quality of Vietnamese universities’ research practice in the context of the industrial revolution 4.0 could be applying international criteria in Vietnamese higher education, developing scientific and critical thinking for general and STEM education, and promoting science communication

Synthesis and photocatalytic property of Prussian blue/g-C3N4 composite applied to degradation of rhodamine B under visible light

In this work, the Prussian blue/g-C3N4 (PB/g-C3N4) composite was synthesized from Prussian blue and g-C3N4 via a simple method. The composite was characterized by using X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The material’s photocatalytic performance was studied via the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB). The results show that the composite degraded RhB more than pristine Prussian blue under visible light after 60 min. This material is promising for organic waste treatment

Effects of hormone and fertilizers on early flower induction of Dendrobium anosmum hybrid seedlings under ex vitro condition

Early flowering of new orchids is important to save time for selecting valuable flowers and artificial induction of flowering is a critical consideration in the orchid production industry. In this study, a new Dendrobium anosmum hybrid was generated by cross-breeding between D. anosmum ‘Chau Nhu’ and D. anosmum ‘Di Linh’. The ancestors and hybrid seedlings from in-vitro culture were trained in the net house and their growth and flowering were evaluated under ex vivo conditions with specific fertilizers and hormones. The results suggest that the hybrid plants grew better than their parents in terms of stem height, stem diameter, and leaf number. Growth hormones were applied to stimulate early flowering in matured hybrids and it was discovered that ‘Keiki pro’, a commercial hormone product, produced the best results, with a flowering rate of 66.67% after two applications. Hybrid flowers varied in width from 36.36% (3.0-6.0 cm) to 63.64 % (more than 6.0 cm) from ancestral width in medium-sized and large-sized flowers, respectively. Also, the hybrid flower colours was mostly a combination of pink/violet (75C) and purple/pink (68A), which is different from their parents. Importantly, the dorsal sepal, petal colours, and shape of hybrid flowers varied significantly among individual hybrids, between hybrids and their progenitors. Some mutations in the lips and columns of the novel hybrid flowers were also visualized. Hence, the D. anosmum hybrid seedlings successfully induced flowers after a year of culture under optimal hormones and fertilizers conditions. The results can serve as a critical reference for the early flowering of the orchid seedlings

tqix.pis: A toolbox for large-scale quantum simulation platforms

We introduce tqix.pis, a library of tqix for executing various algorithms in large-scale quantum simulation platforms. The program emulates basic functions of a quantum circuit, including initialization qubits, quantum gates, and measurements. It utilizes the collective processes in ensembles of two-level systems to reduce the dimension, and facilitates the simulation time with multi-core processors and Graphics Processing Units. The library is thus programmable for different large-scale quantum simulation platforms, such as trapped ions, ultracold atoms in optical lattices, Rydberg atom arrays in optical tweezers, and nitrogen-vacancy centers. It is applicable for examining spin squeezing, variational quantum squeezing, quantum phase transition, many-body quantum dynamics, and other quantum algorithms.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figure

THE READING CULTURE OF ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

In the 21st century, the development of many modern entertainment facilities makes people rarely focus on reading books. So, the reading culture gradually fell into oblivion. In reality, when teachers ask students about their reading habit, students often say “we seldom read books”, they mostly read books because of teacher requests or school assignments. Therefore, the research “The reading culture of English majored students at Tay Do University” was conducted with the purpose of helping English linguistic students to acknowledge the importance of reading books. Thanks to this, they can find their own situations and spend more time reading books. The participants of this study were 100 English majored students of four classes including English Linguistic 10B, 11A, 12C and 13A at Tay Do University that were chosen randomly. The instrument used in this thesis was the questionnaire. The data from questionnaires were statistically analyzed by SPSS English version 20.0 package. Based on research results, the researcher found out some common students’ thoughts on reading culture as well as solutions to develop their reading culture in the future.  Article visualizations