Stakeholder Involvement and the Attainment of SDGs at Local Tourism Destinations: A Case Study in Vietnam

This paper explores how the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be achieved at local tourism destinations through the collective efforts of stakeholders. A multiple-case study is conducted at Da Nang and Hue in Vietnam. These destinations experience a controversial concern between tourism development and natural/cultural preservation. A thematic analysis of qualitative data reveals the cooperation of various stakeholders to prevent the encroachment of tourism development in the natural environment in Da Nang or balance heritage preservation and tourism development in Hue. These collective efforts facilitate the achievement of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goal to attain various SDGs in each case. This research contributes to sustainability research by revealing the contribution and effects of collective actions in achieving the common goals related to the sustainable development of local destinations

STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT IN DESTINATION MARKETING: A NETWORK ANALYSIS OF TWO DESTINATIONS IN VIETNAM

Purpose –This paper aims to identify the stakeholders involved in tourism destination marketing networks. The involvement and collaboration of multiple individuals and organisations is widely recognised in destination marketing to promote a destination. Internal stakeholders of a destination and their collaboration are frequently studied in destination marketing research, but little attention is paid to the involvement of external stakeholders. Design/Methodology/Approach – Quantitative social network analysis is an important approach to understanding stakeholder connections and roles in tourism destinations. In this paper, this analysis was conducted using primary data collected from social network surveys in Da Nang and Hue, two local destinations in central Vietnam. Sixty-nine questionnaires were collected in Da Nang, and 60 questionnaires in Hue. The network data were each analysed separately using UCINET software. Findings – The results show the involvement of different stakeholders in marketing activities in these local destinations. Most of the marketing networks of Da Nang and Hue consist of business units. While the Da Nang marketing network focuses on critical stakeholders and fundamental business firms with strong financial resources and big brands, the Hue marketing network includes more diverse stakeholders and more significant participation of small and medium local firms. Originality of research – This research found the participation of national and international stakeholders located outside the two destinations studied in their marketing network. Their involvement was identified through their collaborative relationships with the DMOs and internal stakeholders of the two destinations to promote the destinations nationally and internationally

Optimization of Total Flavonoid Extraction From the Helicteres hirsuta Lour. Roots by Bath Ultrasound Assisted method and cytotoxic activities of these Flavonoids

This study was carried out to optimize the various approaches to analyze the effects of various variables on the total flavonoid content extraction from the roots of Helicteres hirsuta L. The existence of various compounds in the methanol fraction was accessed by using LC-MS/MS analysis. The results of the study identified the ideal parameters such as times (30 minutes); methanol solvent concentration (50%); ultrasonic frequency (12 Hz); and material/solvent ratio [1:30 (w/v)] for extracting the highest total flavonoids from the roots of H. Hirsuta. The study's results suggested that the total flavonoid value was 3.52684 (mg Catechin/g extract). The verified experiment obtained an actual value of 5.205 (mg Catechin/g extract). Further, the results of the study suggested the presence of 20 compounds of a flavonoid nature (66.667%) appearing in the purified methanol fractional extract. These compounds can inhibit DPPH free radicals at 50%, with an IC50 value of 536.760 g/mL, and they also have inhibitory activity on the growth of cancer cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 115.81 and 219.17g/mL. The human leukemia cell line (HL-60) exhibits the most significant cytotoxic response to a methanol extract from H. hirsuta root with an IC50 value of 115.81 g/mL

Simple synthesis of floating Fe2O3/Luffa catalysts for the photo-Fenton degradation of methyl orange at near neutral pH

Although widely used in the textile industry, methyl orange is considered one of the most toxic dyes, which have negative impacts on the aquatic environment and needs to be removed from water bodies. Hence, the present paper reports the synthesis of new floating photo-Fenton catalysts based on the immobilization of Fe2O3 nanoparticles on the surface of Luffa sponges for the oxalate-induced-degradation of methyl orange. The floating catalytic sponges were prepared through a simple precipitation method followed by a reflux heating process and then characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, atomic absorption spectrometry, and nitrogen adsorption-desorption experiments. According to the experimental results, methyl orange was effectively degraded over our floating catalytic sponges under light illumination at near neutral pH. The catalytic activity was also found to be enhanced with the increase in crystallinity of Fe2O3 nanoparticles, which can be achieved by the reflux heating. Besides, owing to the floating feature, these sponges are easily separated from the solution, thereby not forming a secondary source of pollution for wate

Survey on Vietnamese teachers’ perspectives and perceived support during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented damage to the educational system worldwide. Besides the measurable economic impacts in the short-term and long-term, there is intangible destruction within educational institutions. In particular, teachers – the most critical intellectual resources of any schools – have to face various types of financial, physical, and mental struggles due to COVID-19. To capture the current context of more than one million Vietnamese teachers during COVID-19, we distributed an e- survey to more than 2,500 randomly selected teachers from two major teacher communities on Facebook from 6th to 11th April 2020. From over 373 responses, we excluded the observations which violated our cross-check questions and retained 294 observations for further analysis. This dataset includes: (i) Demographics of participants; (ii) Teachers' perspectives regarding the operation of teaching activities during the pandemic; (iii) Teachers' received support from their schools, government bodies, other stakeholders such as teacher unions, and parents' associations; and (iv) teachers' evaluation of school readiness toward digital transformation. Further, the dataset was supplemented with an additional question on the teachers' primary source of professional development activities during the pandemic

Fabrication and Evaluation of the Photocatalytic, Antibacterial Activity of Ag–TiO2_2 Thin Film

Ag–TiO2 thin film was fabricated by DC magnetron sputtering and photoreduction methods. Characteristics of the film such as surface area, crystal structure, and chemical composition were investigated by using scanning electron microscope (SEM), X–ray diffractometry (XRD) and UV–vis spectra. The photocatalytic activity of Ag–TiO2 thin film was determined by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution under various irradiation conditions. The antibacterial property of Ag–TiO2 thin film was conducted in E. coli bacteria. Results showed that the photocatalytic and antibacterial property of Ag–TiO2 thin film are better than those of pure TiO2 thin film in the visible region. Ag–TiO2 thin film shows a great potential application in the antibacterial and environment field

NeCo@ALQAC 2023: Legal Domain Knowledge Acquisition for Low-Resource Languages through Data Enrichment

In recent years, natural language processing has gained significant popularity in various sectors, including the legal domain. This paper presents NeCo Team's solutions to the Vietnamese text processing tasks provided in the Automated Legal Question Answering Competition 2023 (ALQAC 2023), focusing on legal domain knowledge acquisition for low-resource languages through data enrichment. Our methods for the legal document retrieval task employ a combination of similarity ranking and deep learning models, while for the second task, which requires extracting an answer from a relevant legal article in response to a question, we propose a range of adaptive techniques to handle different question types. Our approaches achieve outstanding results on both tasks of the competition, demonstrating the potential benefits and effectiveness of question answering systems in the legal field, particularly for low-resource languages.Comment: ISAILD@KSE 202

Partial purification and characterization of a superoxide distimutase (SOD1) from black tiger shrimps Penaeus monodon

Superroxide dismutase (SOD, EC.1.15.1.1) is the enzyme which dismutates superoxide radicals and plays an important role in protection of living cells against oxidative stress. SOD is also involved in immune response in shrimps. In this study, it was found that the total SOD activity of black tiger shrimp muscular tissues is 10 fold higher than that of the haemolymph, however, the specific activity of SOD in the shrimp haemolymph is 9.2 fold higher than that of muscular tissues. By using active gel electrophoresis, 2 different SOD forms were found in black tiger shrimps (one in muscular tissues and two in haemolymph).Using DE-52 cellulose and Q-Sepharose ion exchange column chromatography, one SOD (SOD1) from black tiger shrimp haemolymph was partially purified, and its purity was 31.2 times higher than that of the starting haemolymph. The SOD1 was shown to have mainly one protein band of approximately 24 kDa on SDS-PAGE. SOD1 was most active at 45oC and pH of 5.5. At a concentration of 5 mM, Mn2+ strongly activated SOD1 (up 200% activity), Ca2+ và Zn2+ could increase approximately 20% activity while Cu2+ inhibited more than 60% ativity of the enzyme.

Research to support and inform the development, implementation and/or evaluation of tobacco control policies in relation to the framework convention on tobacco control in low and middle-income countries

In order to enforce policies on tobacco control in Vietnam, reliable information on health and socio-economic hazards associated with tobacco farming is needed. The study investigates the harmful impact of tobacco cultivation and processing on health of tobacco farmers in a rural community in northern Vietnam. Objectives included estimation of health care costs as well as health beliefs related to tobacco cultivation and processing. The health of those who cultivate the crop is constantly put in peril. The study confirms that tobacco farming does not bring prosperity to the farmers while causing them a lot of health problems, especially among women