Greening textile industry in Vietnam

The textile and garment industry has made a remarkable contribution to the economic development of Vietnam and employs currently a large labor force of 2.5 million people.However, the textile industry is also seen as a most polluting and unsustainable industry due to the use of excessive amounts of materials and the release of large amounts of pollutants into the environment. In order to improve the environmental sustainability and effectiveness of the textile industry in Vietnam this study has looked into preventive measure, reuse/recycling options and improved end-of-pipe technologies, separately and in combination. The end-of-pipe treatment is the last step in the greening production model. Textile wastewater is very difficult to treat, especially regarding the high color intensity. Removal of color from textile wastewater was studied by varying the pH, the application of a biological treatment step, the application of coagulation/flocculation and of Advanced Oxidation Processes (O3, O3/H2O2, Fenton’s reagent). The coagulation process was very effective in color removal of insoluble dyestuffs (98%), but this process is not so suitable for wastewater containing only soluble dyestuffs (12-55%). Of the Advanced Oxidation Processes, the Fenton’s reagent process was the most effective method for color removal (81-98%)for the four types of wastewater tested. The decolorization with the ozone process at low pH (pH 5)showed that direct oxidation by molecular ozone is much more selective in color removal than the oxidation by hydroxyl radicals. The presence of colloidal particles caused a 12-fold increase for ozone needed to obtain the same color removal efficiency as for a wastewater without colloidal particles.Each of the investigated processes could only remove one or a few types of pollutants from the wastewater, with the consequence that effluents could not meet all the discharge regulations. The combination of an activated sludge process, and a coagulation and ozone process yielded the best color (45 Pt-Co) and COD (30 mg O2/L) removal at the lowest costs (0.3 €/m3), compared with all other tested combinations. Separate collection of wastewater streams in a factory can also strongly contribute to the efficiency and sustainability of wastewater treatment. In the wet processes of the textile industry 75% of the total water consumption is for rinsing purposes. Wastewater from most rinsing steps contains low amounts of pollutants and can be reused in other process stages or can be discharged without treatment. An industrial ecology zone model, integrating preventive cleaner production approaches, a waste exchange network for reuse and recycling, and new end-of-pipe technologies, has been developed and assessed in two case studies: the Thanh Cong Company and the Nhon Trach 2 Industrial Zone. The greening production model developed for the Thanh Cong Company, a large-scale textile company in Hochiminh city, included the combination of cleaner production, external waste exchange and end-of-pipe technology. The dyestuffs, auxiliary chemicals, water and energy consumption can be reduced significantly when the proposed cleaner production, the external waste exchange options and the improved end-of-pipe technologies are implemented. Total benefits in savings per day can be more than 1,000 US$. The industrial ecology zone model was designed in three steps. Firstly the greening production model developed for the Thanh Cong Company was applied to all textile enterprises in the industrial ecology zone that was considered. Secondly an outside waste exchange network was designed. The outside network includes reuse of waste plastics, waste paper and waste oil at recycling companies in the neighborhood. The last step is to treat solid waste and polluted air and to treat and reuse wastewater for irrigation (cotton cultivation), for use in sanitary systems and to water plants in the industrial zone. The case studies of the greening production model and of the industrial ecology zone model demonstrated that a successful industrial ecology practice not only depends on the interaction between enterprises inside but also on the interaction with the actor networks outside the industrial system:the economic networks, the social networks and the policy networks. These networks can contribute in different ways to the implementation of the models. In the case study of a large textile company the economic network is very important in the implementation of the greening production model and in the case study of an industrial ecology zone the policy network play the most important role in the implementation of the industrial ecology model. </p

The epidemiology and aetiology of diarrhoeal disease in infancy in southern Vietnam: a birth cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies indicate a high burden of diarrhoeal disease in Vietnamese children, however longitudinal community-based data on burden and aetiology are limited. The findings from a large, prospective cohort study of diarrhoeal disease in infants in southern Vietnam are presented herein. METHODS: Infants were enrolled at birth in urban Ho Chi Minh City and a semi-rural district in southern Vietnam, and followed for 12 months (n=6706). Diarrhoeal illness episodes were identified through clinic-based passive surveillance, hospital admissions, and self-reports. RESULTS: The minimum incidence of diarrhoeal illness in the first year of life was 271/1000 infant-years of observation for the whole cohort. Rotavirus was the most commonly detected pathogen (50% of positive samples), followed by norovirus (24%), Campylobacter (20%), Salmonella (18%), and Shigella (16%). Repeat infections were identified in 9% of infants infected with rotavirus, norovirus, Shigella, or Campylobacter, and 13% of those with Salmonella infections. CONCLUSIONS: The minimum incidence of diarrhoeal disease in infants in both urban and semi-rural settings in southern Vietnam was quantified prospectively. A large proportion of laboratory-diagnosed disease was caused by rotavirus and norovirus. These data highlight the unmet need for a rotavirus vaccine in Vietnam and provide evidence of the previously unrecognized burden of norovirus in infants

Physicians, Primary Caregivers and Topical Repellent: All Under-Utilised Resources in Stopping Dengue Virus Transmission in Affected Households

BACKGROUND: Primary health care facilities frequently manage dengue cases on an ambulatory basis for the duration of the patient’s illness. There is a great opportunity for specific messaging, aimed to reduce dengue virus (DENV) transmission in and around the home, to be directly targeted toward this high-risk ambulatory patient group, as part of an integrated approach to dengue management. The extent however, to which physicians understand, and can themselves effectively communicate strategies to stop focal DENV transmission around an ambulatory dengue case is unknown; the matter of patient comprehension and recollection then ensues. In addition, the effectiveness of N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET)-based insect repellent in protecting dengue patients from Aedes aegypti mosquitoes’ bites has not been investigated. METHODOLOGY: A knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey, focusing on the mechanisms of DENV transmission and prevention, was performed using semi-structured questionnaires. This survey was targeted towards the patients and family members providing supportive care, and physicians routinely involved in dengue patient management in Southern Vietnam. An additional clinical observational study was conducted to measure the efficacy of a widely-used 13% DEET-based insect repellent to repel Ae. aegypti mosquitoes from the forearms of dengue cases and matched healthy controls. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Among both the physician (n = 50) and patient (n = 49) groups there were several respondents lacking a coherent understanding of DENV transmission, leading to some inappropriate attitudes and inadequate acute preventive practices in the household. The application of insect repellent to protect patients and their relatives from mosquito bites was frequently recommended by majority of physicians (78%) participating in the survey. Nevertheless, our tested topical application of 13% DEET conferred only ~1hr median protection time from Ae. aegypti landing. This is notably shorter than that advertised on the manufacturer’s label. No differences in landing time between febrile dengue cases or matched healthy controls (n = 19 experiments) were observed. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study identifies missed opportunities for primary care physicians to improve public health through communication of strategies that could prevent focal dengue transmission in and around a case household. We advocate better access to more efficient communication methods for physicians and auxilliary health workers, supporting to educate those at high risk of DENV transmission. Our empirical testing of a widely-available 13% DEET-based repellent was limited in its protective efficacy against Ae. aegypti mosquito bites, and therefore DENV transmission, suggesting more frequent application is necessary to be beneficial

Mapping for engagement: setting up a community based participatory research project to reach underserved communities at risk for Hepatitis C in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Background: Approximately 1. 07 million people in Vietnam are infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). To address this epidemic, the South East Asian Research Collaborative in Hepatitis (SEARCH) launched a 600-patient cohort study and two clinical trials, both investigating shortened treatment strategies for chronic HCV infection with direct-acting antiviral drugs. We conducted ethnographic research with a subset of trial participants and found that the majority were aware of HCV infection and its implications and were motivated to seek treatment. However, people who inject drugs (PWID), and other groups at risk for HCV were under-represented, although injecting drug use is associated with high rates of HCV. Material and Methods: We designed a community-based participatory research (CBPR) study to engage in dialogues surrounding HCV and other community-prioritized health issues with underserved groups at risk for HCV in Ho Chi Minh City. The project consists of three phases: situation analysis, CBPR implementation, and dissemination. In this paper, we describe the results of the first phase (i.e., the situation analysis) in which we conducted desk research and organized stakeholder mapping meetings with representatives from local non-government and community-based organizations where we used participatory research methods to identify and analyze key stakeholders working with underserved populations. Results: Twenty six institutions or groups working with the key underserved populations were identified. Insights about the challenges and dynamics of underserved communities were also gathered. Two working groups made up of representatives from the NGO and CBO level were formed. Discussion: Using the information provided by local key stakeholders to shape the project has helped us to build solid relationships, give the groups a sense of ownership from the early stages, and made the project more context specific. These steps are not only important preliminary steps for participatory studies but also for other research that takes place within the communities

A Sequence Matching Network for Polyphonic Sound Event Localization and Detection

Polyphonic sound event detection and direction-of-arrival estimation require different input features from audio signals. While sound event detection mainly relies on time-frequency patterns, direction-of-arrival estimation relies on magnitude or phase differences between microphones. Previous approaches use the same input features for sound event detection and direction-of-arrival estimation, and train the two tasks jointly or in a two-stage transfer-learning manner. We propose a two-step approach that decouples the learning of the sound event detection and directional-of-arrival estimation systems. In the first step, we detect the sound events and estimate the directions-of-arrival separately to optimize the performance of each system. In the second step, we train a deep neural network to match the two output sequences of the event detector and the direction-of-arrival estimator. This modular and hierarchical approach allows the flexibility in the system design, and increase the performance of the whole sound event localization and detection system. The experimental results using the DCASE 2019 sound event localization and detection dataset show an improved performance compared to the previous state-of-the-art solutions.Comment: to be published in 2020 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP

Determining the Causal Link of Honey Bee Gut Microbial Composition on Behavioral Maturation

Emerging studies have supported the association between gut microbiome and host behaviors. However, it is unclear whether changes in the gut microbiome cause changes in host behaviors or vice versa. The European honey bee, Apis mellifera, is an excellent animal model for identifying the causal link between microbiome and behavioral changes over the lifetime of the host as the honey bee gut contains a simple microbiome composed of only nine bacterial taxa clusters. In honey bees, division of labor occurs through behavioral maturation where age determines what task a bee does. For example, older bees forage while younger bees perform brood care (nursing) and other in-hive tasks. Single cohort colonies (SCCs), or colonies composed of individuals of the same age, uncouple chronological age effects on honey bee behavioral maturation (nursing → foraging). SCCs results from our previous experiment reveal a highly significant difference in the gut microbiota between nurses and foragers, independent of age, specifically in the abundance of Lactobacillus mellis and Bifidobacterium asteroides

Enhancing the organizational citizenship behavior for the environment: the roles of green training and organizational culture

The environmental concern has become an emerging topic in organization's human resource management strategy, especially in improving employee's environmental behavior at work Thus, the organizational citizenship behavior toward the environment (OCBE) has been currently attracting scholars in management. However, published studies contain research gaps in investigation of the relationships between both green training and organizational culture and OCBE, especially in the hotel industry. Following the social exchange and Ability-Motivation Opportunity theories, this study aims to examine the effects of two green practices on OCBE and the moderating role of green organizational culture to the effect of green training on OCBE. A quantitative approach with survey strategy is employed and conducted in 4-5 star hotels to test these relationships. The PLS-SEM and K-means Cluster Analysis techniques are applied to analyze data. The findings reveal that green training and organizational culture positively influence OCBE. Also, the effect of green training on OCBE is moderated by green organizational culture. Finally, our study provides limitations of research and further studies, and the implications for management practices concerned with improving employee's voluntary eco-behavior in the hotel industry.Internal Grant Agency of FaME TBU [IGA/FaME/2018/009

Streptococcus suis, an Important Cause of Adult Bacterial Meningitis in Northern Vietnam

Streptococcus suis can cause severe systemic infection in adults exposed to infected pigs or after consumption of undercooked pig products. S. suis is often misdiagnosed, due to lack of awareness and improper testing. Here we report the first fifty cases diagnosed with S. suis infection in northern Viet Nam.In 2007, diagnostics for S. suis were set up at a national hospital in Hanoi. That year there were 43 S. suis positive cerebrospinal fluid samples, of which S. suis could be cultured in 32 cases and 11 cases were only positive by PCR. Seven patients were blood culture positive for S. suis but CSF culture and PCR negative; making a total of 50 patients with laboratory confirmed S. suis infection in 2007. The number of S. suis cases peaked during the warmer months.S. suis was commonly diagnosed as a cause of bacterial meningitis in adults in northern Viet Nam. In countries where there is intense and widespread exposure of humans to pigs, S. suis can be an important human pathogen

Seasonal variation of phytoplankton in My Thanh River, Mekong delta, Vietnam

A study on the seasonal variation of phytoplankton composition was conducted at the upper, middle, and lower parts of the My Thanh River, which supplies an important source of water for aquaculture. Qualitative and quantitative samples of phytoplankton were collected monthly at both high and low tide. The results showed that a total of 171 phytoplankton (algae) species were recorded, belonging to 59 genera and 5 phyla. Diatoms were the most abundant group with the highest species number, followed by green algae. The other phyla possessed a lower number of species. The species composition was more diverse in the rainy season and at high tide at most of the sampling sites. The mean density of algae varied from 30,900-43,521 ind.L^-1^. The density of diatoms was higher in the middle and lower parts. At the same time, euglenoids displayed the highest density in the upper part, showing a difference in the dominant algae group under the influence of salinity. Salinity was found to be significantly positively correlated (p<0.01) with diatoms, whereas it was negatively correlated (p<0.05) with blue-green algae and euglenoids. The algae composition was quite diverse, with the H' index ranging from 2.0-3.3, showing the water quality was slightly to moderately polluted