ONLINE LEARNING AND ITS POTENTIAL IN DEVELOPING EFL LEARNER AUTONOMY: ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS

Learner autonomy is now regarded as a desirable goal in tertiary education as it is found to comply with learner-centered approaches and enable students to pursue life-long learning (Sinclair, 2000a; Ciekanski, 2007). In the time of COVID-19 pandemic, the essential to conduct in-depth investigations into leaner autotomy and online learning has become more urgent, especially in the context of a university in Vietnam. This quantitative research responded to such a pressing call by exploring two aspects: (1) the students’ perception of online learning, and (3) the potentiality of online learning for developing learner autonomy. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaires administered to 199 English-majored students in the context of a university in Mekong Delta. The results revealed that the students possessed positive perceptions toward online learning. Furthermore, the potentiality of online learning was explored including the ability of (1) planning learning experience, (2) evaluating learning performance, (3) determining learning goals, (4) self-controlling learning process, (5) taking responsibility for learning decision. Last but not least, this study expected that the proposed pedagogical implications will contribute to the innovation of promoting learner autonomy in online learning in the context of a university in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam.  Article visualizations

Stochastic finite element analysis of the free vibration of non-uniform beams with uncertain material

This paper deal with the stochastic finite element method for investigating the eigenvalues of free vibration of non-uniform beams due to a random field of elastic modulus. The formulation of stochastic analysis of the non-uniform beam is established using perturbation method in conjunction with finite element method. Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) used for validation with stochastic finite element approach. The spectral representation was used to generate a random field to employ the Monte Carlo simulation. The performance of results of the uncertain eigenvalue problem of non-uniform beams with random field of elastic modulus by comparing the first-order perturbation technique with the same moments evaluated from the Monte Carlo simulation. The numerical results show that the response of coefficient of variation of eigenvalue increases when the ratio of correlation distance of random field increases

Stochastic finite element analysis of the free vibration of non-uniform beams with uncertain material

This paper deal with the stochastic finite element method for investigating the eigenvalues of free vibration of non-uniform beams due to a random field of elastic modulus. The formulation of stochastic analysis of the non-uniform beam is established using perturbation method in conjunction with finite element method. Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) used for validation with stochastic finite element approach. The spectral representation was used to generate a random field to employ the Monte Carlo simulation. The performance of results of the uncertain eigenvalue problem of non-uniform beams with random field of elastic modulus by comparing the first-order perturbation technique with the same moments evaluated from the Monte Carlo simulation. The numerical results show that the response of coefficient of variation of eigenvalue increases when the ratio of correlation distance of random field increases

Evaluation of Lecture Hall Service and Infrastructures Construction Rules of Vietnam Universities Via A Case of Neu in Hanoi

Building a university design regulations and standards is not only necessary for units in the industry but also contributes to bringing to society modern educational models, suitable to the economic conditions of the country. The standard applies to the design, renovation and new design of university buildings throughout Vietnam, based on the document issued by the Ministry of Construction No. TCVN 3981:1985. This paper also suggest: Improve the quality of the teaching /lecture service staff. First, Develop a reasonable monitoring, evaluation and reward mechanism to motivate people to work hard; Second, Each faculty member on duty has a job description with clear responsibilities, rights and obligations; Third, Conduct ongoing training. It is necessary to regularly organize training and training courses on serving, communicating, and dealing with customers

THE FACTORS OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE THAT AFFECT LOYALTY AT NOVOTEL HANOI THAI HA HOTEL, VIETNAM

Customer experience is gradually becoming important in improving the efficiency of hotel business operations because it contributes to attracting, retaining customers and increasing loyalty to the hotel. Loyalty plays an important role in creating a competitive advantage and increasing hotel brand value. Therefore, this research has built a model to evaluate experiential factors that affect customer loyalty at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel. This research uses secondary data collection methods and expert interviews to determine the evaluation model. The method of surveying customers using questionnaires to collect opinions on the effect of their experiences when using the service has contributed to increasing their loyalty to the hotel. These data were processed quantitatively using SPSS 25.0 software to test Cronbach's Alpha reliability and EFA exploratory factor analysis. Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis show that the factors of customers' experience at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel, such as service product, quality service, service price, brand image, service space, customer loyalty program and customer care are all positively affect their loyalty. Among them, service product factors have the strongest effect, and customer care has the least effect on loyalty. This research is the scientific basis for hotels to refer to when proposing solutions to improve customer experience and increase loyalty. At the same time, the established model can also be applied to studies on the effect of experience on customer loyalty in hotel businesses.  Article visualizations

A metric learning-based method for biomedical entity linking

Biomedical entity linking task is the task of mapping mention(s) that occur in a particular textual context to a unique concept or entity in a knowledge base, e.g., the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). One of the most challenging aspects of the entity linking task is the ambiguity of mentions, i.e., (1) mentions whose surface forms are very similar, but which map to different entities in different contexts, and (2) entities that can be expressed using diverse types of mentions. Recent studies have used BERT-based encoders to encode mentions and entities into distinguishable representations such that their similarity can be measured using distance metrics. However, most real-world biomedical datasets suffer from severe imbalance, i.e., some classes have many instances while others appear only once or are completely absent from the training data. A common way to address this issue is to down-sample the dataset, i.e., to reduce the number instances of the majority classes to make the dataset more balanced. In the context of entity linking, down-sampling reduces the ability of the model to comprehensively learn the representations of mentions in different contexts, which is very important. To tackle this issue, we propose a metric-based learning method that treats a given entity and its mentions as a whole, regardless of the number of mentions in the training set. Specifically, our method uses a triplet loss-based function in conjunction with a clustering technique to learn the representation of mentions and entities. Through evaluations on two challenging biomedical datasets, i.e., MedMentions and BC5CDR, we show that our proposed method is able to address the issue of imbalanced data and to perform competitively with other state-of-the-art models. Moreover, our method significantly reduces computational cost in both training and inference steps. Our source code is publicly available here

INVESTIGATING THE EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES WITH E-LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN VIETNAMESE HIGHER EDUCATION

This study uses a mixed-methods approach to investigate the experiences of Vietnamese university students with disabilities (visual/mobility impairments) with e-learning as a consequence of emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of the ideas of 20 surveyed students with disabilities at eight universities in Ho Chi Minh City and six students interviewed afterward shows that students can change their study habits to adapt to e-learning and to enjoy this model of learning. However, the participants revealed that they also want to experience face-to-face learning so that they can interact with their lecturers and peers more effectively and in more diverse ways, as well as assimilate lectures more easily. Furthermore, the research shows that various adjustments should be made by system designers, universities, and lecturers to make e-learning friendlier to disabled students. The recommended adjustments include designing easy-to-use learning tools and platforms, providing lecturers with the necessary tools and facilities to design lessons appropriate for all students, providing psychological and technical support for disabled students, choosing user-friendly learning applications and platforms, providing students with suitable learning resources, and modifying testing and assessment methods

Mediating Effect of Social Commerce Continuance Use Intention on the Relationship Between Perceived Values and Brand Loyalty

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of social commerce continuance use intention on the relationship between perceived values and brand loyalty in the social commerce context. The data was collected from 176 members of the Apple Watch Social Commerce site in Vietnam via an online questionnaire. Applying the structural equation modelling method, we found that social commerce continuance use intention has mediating effects on the relationship between perceived values and brand loyalty. Keywords: Perceived values, continuance use intention, brand loyalty, social commerce, Vietnam DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-11-07 Publication date: April 30th 202