The Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on First-generation, Low-income and Rural Students in Indonesia and Vietnam: A cross-cultural comparative study

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact worldwide, affecting 600 million students in higher education institutions across 200 countries. However, comparative studies by country on this topic are limited. In this paper, we explore the question: how has the COVID-19 pandemic affected higher education students and which ones have been impacted the most? Indonesia and Vietnam are our focus. We leveraged a rich set of data collected online from college/university students from both countries involving over 2600 participants, and used regression analyses to measure the students\u27 outcomes, including the dimensions of their wellbeing, financial hardships, access to technology, and educational satisfaction. As expected, we find that there are statistically significant differences between both countries, especially among first-generation, low-income and rural students in almost all the outcomes in our four domains. We observed that low-income students and rural students in both countries were less likely to have access to technology during the pandemic than their more affluent and urban counterparts. They also were more likely to endure financial hardships during the pandemic. We did not find any statistically significant estimates for students’ burnout measures among the students in these two countries. In addition, we observed lower likelihood of satisfaction from rural and low-income students in Indonesia. We provide our policy recommendations for both countries

TÀI NGUYÊN VỊ THẾ VÙNG BỜ KHÁNH HÒA: TIỀM NĂNG VÀ TRIỂN VỌNG

Coastal area in Khanh Hoa Province belongs to Coastal South Central Region, where the Vietnam mainland juts out farthest into the west of the East Sea, and has a special relationship in space with the offshore Spratly islands, the geo-strategic Highlands and economic - political centre of Ho Chi Minh City. This coastal area is close to the sloping and deep continental shelf; possesses the diverse landforms and complex spatial structure with the systems of peninsula, islands, bays, lagoons and river mouths etc. that creates enormous potential for geo-natural position resources, of which highlights are the values of coastal bays and islands. In the geo-economic position resources, Khanh Hoa coastal area has great potential to build the base for exploiting offshore resources, establish large  marine economic zones, and develop the economy of marine services, especially the port - navigation and coastal ecotourism. In the geo-political position resources, this is one of leading sites for defending and protecting the country from sea, and ensuring the sovereignty and national interests in the East Sea including the direct administration of Spratly island district. The detailed investigation and assessment of the position resources in this coastal area will be an important scientific basis for the sea and island development in Khanh Hoa province.Vùng bờ tỉnh Khánh Hòa nằm ở duyên hải Nam Trung Bộ, thuộc phần nhô ra xa  nhất của đất liền Việt Nam ra vùng giữa bờ tây Biển Đông, có quan hệ đặc biệt về không gian với quần đảo xa bờ Trường Sa, vùng địa bàn chiến lược Tây Nguyên và trung tâm kinh tế - chính trị thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Đây là vùng bờ có thềm lục địa phía ngoài sâu và dốc; hình thể và cấu trúc không gian đa dạng và phức tạp với hệ thống các bán đảo, đảo, vũng vịnh, đầm và cửa sông ... tạo ra tiềm năng to lớn về tài nguyên địa - tự nhiên, mà nổi bật là giá trị của hệ thống các vũng vịnh và đảo ven bờ. Về tài nguyên địa - kinh tế, vùng bờ Khánh Hòa có tiềm năng lớn xây dựng cơ sở hậu cần khai thác tài nguyên biển xa, xây dựng các cơ sở kinh tế biển lớn, phát triển kinh tế dịch vụ biển, đặc biệt là cảng - hàng hải và du lịch sinh thái biển. Về tài nguyên địa - chính trị, đây là một trong những vị trí có vai trò quan trọng trong việc phòng thủ và bảo vệ đất nước từ biển, đảm bảo chủ quyền và lợi ích quốc gia trên Biển Đông, trong đó có việc trực tiếp quản lý huyện đảo Trường Sa. Việc điều tra, đánh giá chi tiết tài nguyên vị thế vùng bờ sẽ là cơ sở khoa học quan trọng để phát triển biển đảo tỉnh Khánh Hòa

IMPROVEMENT OF CO2 PURIFYING SYSTEM BY PHOTOCATALYST FOR APPLICATION IN MICROALGAE CULTURE TECHNOLOGY

By reactive grinding method Vanadium-doped rutile TiO2 nanoparticle material was obtained with an average particle size of 20‐40nm, the Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) specific surface area about 20 m2g−1 and it absorbed strongly in the UV region and increased at the visible wavelength of 430 – 570 nm. This study focused on the improvement of exhaust gas treatment from coal-fired flue gas of the traditional adsorption-catalysis system (Modular System for Treating Flue Gas - MSTFG) by using the V2O5/TiO2 Rutile as photocatalyst. The results showed that integrating both catalytic systems mentioned above increased the gas treatment efficiency: CO from 77 % to over 98 %, NOx from 50 % to 93 %, SO2 was absent as opposed to the input gas component. Also it showed that V2O5/TiO2 Rutile integrated with MSTFG has got high efficiency of CO treatment, also secured the high obtained CO2 concentration as a valuable carbon source for microagal mass culture as well as saving energy and simplifying devices

The influence of brand equity on consumer responses toward Cho Gao dragon fruits brand

This thesis study wants to implement a model test for better understandings of brand equity and consumer responses toward Cho Gao Dragon Fruit brand. With the rapid growth of agriculture, including domestic consumption and export of the dragon fruits, it is crucial to differentiate the Cho Gao Dragon Fruits to other competitors in both domestic and foreign markets. Using Structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the data of 274 questionnaires to investigate the effects of brand equity and its dimensions on consumer responses. The results show that brand equity dimensions such as brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality are interrelated and those dimensions have a direct and significant effect on brand equity, except brand awareness. The results support the assumption that brand equity has a positive relationship with consumer responses. The findings shed light on the current issues of the market for dragon fruits, which enables us to provide some suggestions for the Government to facilitate farmers and traders in building brand names, marketers for doing marketing activities, and students to know about brand equity of agricultural product such as dragon fruits

ĐIỆN CỰC NANO CẤU TRÚC 3D - PHÂN LỚP DỊ THỂ CỦA CdS/ZnO/Pt/WO3 TRONG VIỆC NÂNG CAO HIỆU SUẤT TÁCH NƯỚC QUANG ĐIỆN HÓA

In this work, we report the synthesis of the hierarchical structure of a CdS/ZnO/Pt/WO3 electrode for photoeletrochemical water splitting application. The photoanode was synthesized via the hydrothermal and atomic layer deposition methods. The morphological and structural properties of CdS/ZnO/Pt/WO3 nanoplates were carefully investigated by using SEM, TEM, and XRD techniques. The CdS/ZnO/Pt/WO3-based photoelectrode has a photocurrent density of 8,5 mA·cm-2 and a photoconversion efficiency of 7.9% at a supplied potential of –0,85 V in a 0.5 M Na2S solution. This photocurrent density is twice higher than that of the CdS/ZnO/FTO electrode. Due to built-in potential and efficiently collecting the photo-carriers generated from the ZnO/CdS heterojunction under illumination, the CdS/ZnO/Pt/WO3 electrode exhibits enhanced performance of the photoelectrochemical cell. This is a promising approach to the synthesis of heterojunction layers of semiconductor together with nanostructures for fabricating photoelectrodes of the photoelectrochemical cell to enhance hydrogen production efficiency.Trong bài báo này, chúng tôi nghiên cứu chế tạo điện cực có cấu trúc 3D phân lớp dị thể (cây – cành – nhánh) CdS/ZnO/Pt/WO3 ứng dụng cho tách nước quang điện hóa. Điện cực được tổng hợp bằng phương pháp thủy nhiệt và lắng đọng lớp nguyên tử. Hình thái học, cấu trúc tinh thể, và thành phần nguyên tố của điện cực này được nghiên cứu bằng kính hiển vi điện tử quét (FE–SEM), kính hiển vị điện tử truyền qua (HR–TEM) và nhiễu xạ tia X (XRD). Nghiên cứu tính chất quang điện hóa của cấu trúc CdS/ZnO/Pt/WO3, chúng tôi thu được mật độ dòng quang điện là 8,5 mA·cm-2 và hiệu suất chuyển đổi năng lượng ánh sáng mặt trời thành năng lượng hydro 7,9 %% tại thế cung cấp –0,85 V trong dung dịch chất điện ly Na2S với nồng độ 0,5 mol/L. Cấu trúc 3D phân lớp này có mật độ dòng quang điện của điện cực cao hơn gấp hai lần so với các cấu trúc CdS/ZnO trên điện cực thủy tinh phủ oxit thiếc pha tạp bằng flo. Đây là một hướng tiếp cận rất hứa hẹn tổng hợp các cấu trúc nano phân lớp dị thể nhằm nâng cao hiệu quả sản xuất hydro

Behavioral Improvements and its Molecular Mechanism of Ilex kudingcha C.J. Tseng on Animal Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common chronic neurodegenerative disease with well-defined pathophysiological mechanisms. Ilex kudingcha (IK) C.J. Tseng is commonly known as bitter tea or “Khom” tea in Vietnam. The present study was conducted to investigate the anti-dementia effect of IK using olfactory bulbectomized (OBX) mice. OBX mice were daily treated with IK extract (540 mg/kg) or reference drug, tacrine (2.5 mg/kg) 1 week before and continuously for 3 days after the OBX surgery. The object recognition test, modified Y maze test and fear conditioning test were employed to analyze non-spatial short-term, spatial short-term and long-term memories of the mice respectively. Administration of IK extract and tacrine attenuated these OBX-induced cognitive deficits in mice. The effects of IK and tacrine on spatial short-term memory impairment were reversed by scopolamine, a muscarinic receptor antagonist. The amyloid-beta (Aβ) production in adult transgenic Drosophila brain flies was also investigated by using Western blotting with APP-HA antibody. These results indicated that IK extract improves short-term and long-term memory disturbances in OBX mice and that muscarinic receptor may play a role on these actions. In addition, our result also showed that IK extract reduces the expression of amyloid precursor protein (APP) in brain of AD model using Drosophila melanogaster

Enzimatska obrada iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja i njihova primjena u proizvodnji čajnog peciva s velikim udjelom prehrambenih vlakana

Research background. By-products of food industry have been studied as sources of high fibre and antioxidant ingredients for healthy food products, because of their economic and environmental benefits. However, the soluble dietary fibre content of these materials is usually lower than the recommended value that is claimed to bring positive health effects. Enzymatic treatment could be an efficient method for modifying insoluble and soluble dietary fibre contents of these materials. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of enzymatic treatment conditions on soluble, insoluble and total dietary fibre mass fractions in spent green tea leaves, and evaluate the quality of dough and cookies when different mass fractions of untreated and treated leaves were added to the recipe. Experimental approach. The mass fractions of soluble, insoluble and total dietary fibre in spent tea leaf powder was evaluated after the leaves were treated with cellulase amount of 0−25 U/g for 0 to 2 h. Wheat flour was replaced by untreated and treated spent tea leaf powder at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% in cookie formulation. Textural properties of dough, proximate composition, physical properties and overall acceptability of cookies were analysed. Results and conclusions. The appropriate conditions for enzymatic treatment were enzyme loading of 20 U/g and biocatalytic time of 1.5 h, under which the mass fraction of soluble dietary fibre in spent tea leaves increased by 144.5% compared to that of the control sample. The addition of spent tea leaves led to the increase in dough hardness. Increase in the spent tea leaf amount also enhanced fibre mass fraction, antioxidant activity and hardness of cookies but reduced their overall acceptability. Moreover, the enzymatic treatment of spent tea leaves improved the soluble to total dietary fibre ratio of the cookies, which influenced their textural properties and health benefits. The cookies with added 20% untreated or treated spent tea leaves were overall accepted by the panel. Novelty and scientific contribution. For the first time, spent tea leaves have been treated with enzymes to improve their soluble to total dietary fibre ratio. The treated spent tea leaves are a new promising high-fibre antioxidant ingredient for cookie preparation.Pozadina istraživanja. Nusproizvodi prehrambene industrije ispituju se iz ekonomskih i ekoloških razloga kao izvori sastojaka s velikim udjelom prehrambenih vlakana i antioksidacijskim učinkom koji se mogu upotrijebiti u proizvodnji zdrave hrane. Međutim, udjel topljivih prehrambenih vlakana u nusproizvodima je obično manji od preporučenih vrijednosti koje mogu imati pozitivan učinak na zdravlje. Enzimatska obrada bi mogla biti učinkovita metoda modificiranja netopljivih i topljivih prehrambenih vlakana iz otpada prehrambene industrije. Svrha je ovog rada bila ispitati utjecaj različitih uvjeta enzimatske obrade na masene udjele topljivih, netopljivih i ukupnih prehrambenih vlakana u iskorištenim listićima zelenog čaja, te procijeniti kakvoću tijesta i čajnog peciva s dodatkom različitih masenih udjela obrađenih i neobrađenih listića. Eksperimentalni pristup. Maseni udjeli topljivih, netopljivih i ukupnih prehrambenih vlakana u prahu od iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja mjereni su nakon njihove obrade s 0–25 U/g celulaze tijekom 0 do 2 h. U smjesi za čajno pecivo je pšenično brašno zamijenjeno s 0, 10, 20, 30 i 40 % obrađenog ili neobrađenog praha iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja. Ispitani su tekstura tijesta te kemijski sastav, fizikalna svojstva i ukupna prihvatljivost dobivenog čajnog peciva. Rezultati i zaključci. Pri povoljnim uvjetima enzimatske obrade, a to su 20 U/g enzima i vrijeme trajanja biokatalitičkog procesa od 1,5 sata, maseni udjel topljivih prehrambenih vlakana u iskorištenim listićima zelenog čaja porastao je za 144,5 % u usporedbi s kontrolnim uzorkom. Dodatkom iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja povećala se tvrdoća tijesta. Povećanjem količine listića čaja povećali su se i maseni udjel vlakana, antioksidacijska svojstva i tvrdoća čajnog peciva, ali se smanjila njihova prihvatljivost. Osim toga, enzimatskom se obradom iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja poboljšao omjer topljivih i ukupnih vlakana u čajnom pecivu, što je utjecalo na njegovu teksturu i pozitivan učinak na zdravlje. Panel ocjenjivača je okarakterizirao čajno pecivo s dodatkom 20 % obrađenih ili neobrađenih iskorištenih listića čaja kao prihvatljive. Novina i znanstveni doprinos. Prvi put je enzimatskom obradom iskorištenih listića zelenog čaja poboljšan njihov omjer topljivih i ukupnih prehrambenih vlakana. Obrađeni iskorišteni listići zelenog čaja novi su obećavajući sastojak s antioksidacijskim svojstvima koji se može upotrijebiti u pripremi čajnog peciva

Usporedba enzimske i ultrazvučne ekstrakcije albumina iz praha kondicioniranih sjemenki bundeve (Cucurbita pepo)

In this study, ultrasound- and enzyme-assisted extractions of albumin (water-soluble protein group) from defatted pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) seed powder were compared. Both advanced extraction techniques strongly increased the albumin yield in comparison with conventional extraction. The extraction rate was two times faster in the ultrasonic extraction than in the enzymatic extraction. However, the maximum albumin yield was 16 % higher when using enzymatic extraction. Functional properties of the pumpkin seed albumin concentrates obtained using the enzymatic, ultrasonic and conventional methods were then evaluated. Use of hydrolase for degradation of cell wall of the plant material did not change the functional properties of the albumin concentrate in comparison with the conventional extraction. The ultrasonic extraction enhanced water-holding, oil-holding and emulsifying capacities of the pumpkin seed albumin concentrate, but slightly reduced the foaming capacity, and emulsion and foam stability.U ovom su radu uspoređena dva postupka izolacije albumina, proteina topljivog u vodi, iz praha kondicioniranih sjemenki bundeve (Cucurbita pepo), i to ekstrakcijom pomoću ultrazvuka te pomoću enzima. U usporedbi s konvencionalnom ekstrakcijom, oba su postupka znatno povećala prinos albumina. Ultrazvučna je ekstrakcija bila dva puta brža od enzimske, međutim, najveći je prinos albumina od 16 % dobiven enzimskom ekstrakcijom. Ispitana su funkcionalna svojstva koncentrata albumina dobivenog iz sjemenki bundeve enzimskom, ultrazvučnom i konvencionalnom ekstrakcijom. Enzimska hidroliza nije utjecala na funkcionalna svojstva koncentrata albumina, za razliku od konvencionalne ekstrakcije. Ultrazvučnom su ekstrakcijom poboljšana svojstva zadržavanja vode i ulja te emulgiranja, a neznatno smanjena svojstva pjenjenja te stabilnost pjene i emulzije koncentrata albumina

Adsorption of ammonium, nitrite, and nitrate onto rice husk biochar for nitrogen removal

This study aims to investigate the adsorption capacity of ammonium NH4+, nitrite NO2- and nitrate NO3- onto rice husk biochar (RHB) obtained from 550 °C pyrolysis temperature in the context of using low-cost absorbent for recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Raw RHB at its original size 5–8 mm has been choosen for testing its adsorption capacity as well as several key material properties (pHPZC, surface area, and elemental analysis). From surface functional group analysis, there existed the O–H group (at frequency 3443 cm-1), –CH3 (2360 cm-1), and either –C=O or C=C group (in the range of frequency 1600–1650 cm-1) as well as –COOH (1456 cm‒1) that helped enhance chemical adsorption. The experimental adsorption data has been roughly consistent with Langmuir and Freundlich models that used to calculate the maximum saturated monolayer adsorption capacity Q0max of ammonium, nitrite, and nitrate were 0.1003, 0.2477, and 0.1290 mg/g respectively. Therefore, RHB could be a potential candidate for biofilter application in both targets cost-efficient and sustainable that worth applied at scale