ADAPTABILITY OF VIETNAMESE SMEs TOWARD OUTSOURCING TREND

This article is to determine the adaptability of Vietnamese SMEs (small and toward international outsourcing trend. Organizations in developed countries usually find some less developed countries within which they may outsourceoperations. Outsourcing has become an effective good way for companies to increase profits by reducing production costs. This is attractive to less developed and developing countries as it encourages economic growth. However, to become an attractive destination of outsourcers, these developing countries need to possess high level human resources, attractive policies and business climate in conjunction with excellent infrastructure but low operation costs. Vietnamese SMEs only focus on labor-based outsourcing services which can bring about much lower benefits than aknowledge based services. A survey was done to get the viewpoints of Vietnamese SMEs’ managers about outsourcing requirements. After that we use the zero-sum method to determine which factors Vietnamese SMEs’ managers think the outsourcers should consider the most important when seeking outsource destination. Beside, we also base on background knowledge to understand Vietnamese SMEs’ entrepreneurship basing on this aspect. The result shows that Vietnamese SMEs think costs, especially labor costs, operation costs and administration costs are most important elements encourage outsourcers choose an outsourcing place

Antibody survey on avian influenza viruses using egg yolks of ducks in Hanoi between 2010 and 2012

In Vietnam, numerous surveillance programs are conducted to monitor the prevalence of avian influenza (AI) viruses. Three serological methods-the agar-gel immunodiffusion test, hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-are well established for detection of AI virus antibodies in poultry sera. Several recent reports have validated egg yolk as an alternative source for detection of AI virus antibodies. In this study, we investigated AI virus antibodies in ducks by HI testing using egg yolk. Ten duck eggs were collected every month from 10 randomly selected markets in Hanoi from April 2010 to March 2012. The HI test was performed using low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) viruses (H3, H4, H6, H7, H9, and H11 subtypes) and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses (H5N1 clade 2.3.4 and 2.3.2.1) as antigens. HI testing for H3, H6, and H9 was 29% positive in November 2010, 50% positive in October and November 2010, and 12% positive in June 2011. These results indicated that several epidemics of LPAI viruses had occurred during the study period. In addition, antibodies against H7 were negative. The results of HI testing for H5N1 showed that the reactivity of the dominant HI antibody shifted from H5N1 clade 2.3.4 to clade 2.3.2.1. In conclusion, egg yolk is useful for long term monitoring of AI virus antibodies and the use of egg-based antibody detection may contribute to improvements in animal welfare

Epidemiology of facial fractures: Incidence, prevalence and years lived with disability estimates from the Global Burden of Disease 2017 study

Background: The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) has historically produced estimates of causes of injury such as falls but not the resulting types of injuries that occur. The objective of this study was to estimate the global incidence, prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs) due to facial fractures and to estimate the leading injurious causes of facial fracture. Methods: We obtained results from GBD 2017. First, the study estimated the incidence from each injury cause (eg, falls), and then the proportion of each cause that would result in facial fracture being the most disabling injury. Incidence, prevalence and YLDs of facial fractures are then calculated across causes. Results: Globally, in 2017, there were 7 538 663 (95% uncertainty interval 6 116 489 to 9 4

Yellow Pattern 577-nm Micropulse Laser: Treatment of Macular Edema from Radiation Retinopathy – A Case Report

We report a case of a 60-year-old Asian male who developed radiation retinopathy 23 years after initial radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma and was successfully treated with yellow pattern 577-nm micropulse laser. Secondary macular edema and visual acuity improved following a single treatment session with minimal scarring. Yellow pattern micropulse laser is a safe and effective treatment for macular edema secondary to radiation retinopathy

PERCEPTION, PREPAREDNESS AND SEVERITY OF CLIMATE CHANGE TRIGGERED EVENTS IN BEN TRE PROVINCE, VIETNAM

Eight provinces, including Ben Tre, located in the Mekong River Delta, are among Vietnam’s most vulnerable areas to climate change (CC) triggered events. We conducted a study to identify the impacts of CC on Ben Tre Province coastal communities; to evaluate their knowledge, preparedness, perception of severity; and the effects of CC triggered events on aquaculture. We conducted three focus group discussions and a survey of 300 households. Farmers were aware of changing climatic conditions and pointed out indicators of these changes: (1) Changes in production and culturing patterns, (2) Changes in housing designs, and (3) Construction of dikes to prevent salt water intrusion. About 35, 40 and 26 percent of the total sample said they suffered losses to their aquaculture farms from typhoons, salt intrusion and erosion, respectively. Age, education and previous effects from CC events affected knowledge, preparedness, and severity of CC triggered events. Farmers who were engaged in aquaculture were more likely to be prepared for CC events than those who were not

New perspective on the convergence to a global solution of finite-sum optimization

Deep neural networks have shown great success in many machine learning tasks. Their training is challenging since the loss surface of the network architecture is generally non-convex, or even non-smooth. We propose a reformulation of the minimization problem allowing for a new recursive algorithmic framework. By using bounded style assumptions, we prove convergence to an \epsilon-(global) minimum using O(1/\epsilon^3) gradient computations. Our theoretical foundation motivates further study, implementation, and optimization of the new algorithmic framework and further investigation of its non-standard bounded style assumptions

A Novel Method for Multispectral Image Classification by Using Social Spider Optimization Algorithm Integrated to Fuzzy C-Mean Clustering

In remote sensing, Fuzzy C-Means clustering (FCM) is a robust method in determining membership grades of a pixel belonging to 1 or more classes. This paper proposes a novel approach by using the social spider optimization (SSO) algorithm in solving the search for optimal cluster centers in FCM. Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, was chosen as a case study because of its spatial complexity. Multispectral satellite datasets of Landsat 8, Sentinel 2A and SPOT 7 were used. The experiment started with the segmentation process, followed by an examination of the model, then the results were compared with several conventional clustering methods. For accuracy assessment, the FCM minimizing objective functions, user and producer accuracies and overall accuracy were used. The results showed that SSO significantly improved the performance of FCM and outperformed the benchmarked classifiers or other common optimization algorithms. It could be concluded that the model was successfully deployed in the study area and could be suggested as an alternative solution for urban pattern detection. In a broader sense, classification methods will be enriched with the active and fast-growing contribution of nature-inspired algorithms

How can climate change and its interaction with other compounding risks be considered in evaluation? Experiences from Vietnam

While evaluations play a critical role in accounting for and learning from context, it is unclear how evaluations can take account of climate change. Our objective was to explore how climate change and its interaction with other contextual factors influenced One Health food safety programs. To do so, we integrated questions about climate change into a qualitative evaluation study of an ongoing, multi-sectoral program aiming to improve pork safety in Vietnam called SafePORK. We conducted remote interviews with program researchers (n = 7) and program participants (n = 23). Based on our analysis, researchers believed climate change had potential impacts on the program but noted evidence was lacking, while program participants (slaughterhouse workers and retailers) shared how they were experiencing and adapting to the impacts of climate change. Climate change also interacted with other contextual factors to introduce additional complexities. Our study underscored the importance of assessing climate factors in evaluation and building adaptive capacity in programming