Internet use and agricultural productivity in rural Vietnam

The use of the internet is growing rapidly and has become an engine for economic development. However, few studies have examined the impact of internet use on agricultural production, and the results are not yet conclusive. Employing a dataset of more than 2000 observations in rural Vietnam, our study analyses the impact of internet use on agricultural productivity using the heteroscedasticity-based instrument approach suggested by Lewbel, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 2012, 30, 67–80 and examines the heterogeneity and distribution of the impact using quantile regressions. Our results show that internet use has significant and positive effects on agricultural productivity. However, these effects are heterogeneous across population groups. The positive effects of internet use are stronger for households with a lower level of education, with a young and female head, and from ethnic minorities. The benefits are also found to be skewed towards the group of farmers at the bottom of the productivity distribution. Therefore, we propose facilitating the diffusion of the internet, since it not only boosts agricultural productivity, but also reduces productivity inequality. In addition, we recommend promoting rural education, supporting local markets, investing more in irrigation systems, and facilitating farm mechanisation as these factors are found to contribute to increasing agricultural productivity

Development of surface roughness model in turning process of 3X13 steel using TiAlN coated carbide insert

Surface roughness that is one of the most important parameters is used to evaluate the quality of a machining process. Improving the accuracy of the surface roughness model will contribute to ensure an accurate assessment of the machining quality. This study aims to improve the accuracy of the surface roughness model in a machnining process. In this study, Johnson and Box-Cox transformations were successfully applied to improve the accuracy of surface roughness model when turning 3X13 steel using TiAlN insert. Four input parameters that were used in experimental process were cutting velocity, feed rate, depth of cut, and insert-nose radius. The experimental matrix was designed using Central Composite Design (CCD) with 29 experiments. By analyzing the experimental data, the influence of input parameters on surface roughness was investigated. A quadratic model was built to explain the relationship of surface roughness and the input parameters. Box-Cox and Johnson transformations were applied to develop two new models of surface roughness. The accuracy of three surface roughness models showed that the surface roughness model using Johnson transformation had the highest accuracy. The second one model of surface roughness is the model using Box-Cox transformation. And surface roughness model without transformation had the smallest accuracy. Using the Johnson transformation, the determination coefficient of surface roughness model increased from 80.43 % to 84.09 %, and mean absolute error reduced from 19.94 % to 16.64 %. Johnson and Box-Cox transformations could be applied to improve the acuaracy of the surface roughness prediction in turning process of 3X13 steel and can be extended with other materials and other machining processe

Experimental Evaluation of Geopolymer Concrete Strength Using Sea Sand and Sea Water in Mixture

This paper presents the experimental strength evaluation of geopolymer concrete and ordinary concrete using sea sand and seawater in the mixture. A series of 30 cubic samples with a 150 mm side length and 12 rectangular specimens with a dimension of 100 × 100 × 400 mm (width × thickness × length) were cast and tested in this study. Specimens were divided equally into two groups. The first group of specimens was cast using geopolymer as the main binder (GPC), while the second group of samples was made using ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). While the compression tests were performed for specimens in two groups at the ages of 3, 7, 28, 60, and 120 days, the tensile tests were only performed for specimens at 7 and 28 days. The testing results revealed that the compression strength of GPC specimens using sea sand and seawater was significantly higher than that of OPC samples using the same type of salted sand and water. Besides, the use of sea sand and seawater for replacing river sand and fresh water in the production of GPC is feasible in terms of compressive strength since GPC produces a higher compressive strength than that of conventional concrete. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-08-03 Full Text: PD

On the Interference Alignment Designs for Secure Multiuser MIMO Systems

In this paper, we propose two secure multiuser multiple-input multiple-output transmission approaches based on interference alignment (IA) in the presence of an eavesdropper. To deal with the information leakage to the eavesdropper as well as the interference signals from undesired transmitters (Txs) at desired receivers (Rxs), our approaches aim to design the transmit precoding and receive subspace matrices to minimize both the total inter-main-link interference and the wiretapped signals (WSs). The first proposed IA scheme focuses on aligning the WSs into proper subspaces while the second one imposes a new structure on the precoding matrices to force the WSs to zero. When the channel state information is perfectly known at all Txs, in each proposed IA scheme, the precoding matrices at Txs and the receive subspaces at Rxs or the eavesdropper are alternatively selected to minimize the cost function of an convex optimization problem for every iteration. We provide the feasible conditions and the proofs of convergence for both IA approaches. The simulation results indicate that our two IA approaches outperform the conventional IA algorithm in terms of average secrecy sum rate.Comment: Updated version, updated author list, accepted to be appear in IEICE Transaction

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

Performance of export-oriented small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in Viet Nam

The study recommends the formulation of policies that support the development of business linkages and networking, and which promote subcontracting arrangements between small and large enterprises or between domestic firms and foreign investment enterprises. It is also necessary to support and facilitate the direct involvement of SMMEs in exporting or indirectly through large manufacturing enterprises.Export-oriented, SME,SMME, Viet Nam

STUDY ON MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION OF THE TURNING PROCESS OF EN 10503 STEEL BY COMBINATION OF TAGUCHI METHOD AND MOORA TECHNIQUE

In this study, the multi-objective optimization problem of turning process was successfully solved by a Taguchi combination method and MOORA techniques. In external turning process of EN 10503 steel, surface grinding process, the orthogonal Taguchi L9 matrix was selected to design the experimental matrix with four input parameters namely insert nose radius, cutting velocity, feed rate, and depth of cut. The parameters that were chosen as the evaluation criteria of the machining process were the surface roughness (Ra), the cutting force amplitudes in X, Y, Z directions, and the material removal rate (MRR). Using Taguchi method and MOORA technique, the optimized results of the cutting parameters were determined to obtain the minimum values of surface roughness and cutting force amplitudes in X, Y, Z directions, and maximum value of MRR. These optimal values of insert nose radius, cutting velocity, feed rate, and cutting depth were 1.2 mm, 76.82 m/min, 0.194 mm/rev, and 0.15 mm, respectively. Corresponding to these optimal values of the input parameters, the surface roughness, cutting force amplitudes in X, Y, Z directions, and material removal rate were 0.675 µm, 124.969 N, 40.545 N, 164.206 N, and 38.130 mm3/s, respectively. The proposed method in this study can be applied to improve the quality and effectiveness of turning processes by improving the surface quality, reducing the cutting force amplitudes, and increasing the material removal rate. Finally, the research direction was also proposed in this stud