Impacts of agricultural land acquisition for urbanization on smallholder agriculture and gender issues in affected communes: A case study in Huong Thuy town, Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam

Abstract Agricultural Land Acquisition for Urbanization (ALAFU) is an inevitable process that has been happening around the world, especially in developing countries. It is the process by which the government acquires agricultural land from various users, converts it to non-agricultural land, and constructs and develops roads, buildings, residential areas, parks, and other infrastructure on the acquired agricultural land. ALAFU has significantly contributed to social-economic development but has caused many impacts, such as agricultural land scarcity, land grabs, transforming agricultural systems, interrupting local livelihoods, and changing gender issues. In the context of increasing population and food demand as well as requesting gender equality improvement, the questions are whether small agriculture and gender issues in affected communities could get any benefits associated with ALAFU and what should the ALAFU program do to limit the negative impacts on small agriculture and gender issues? This study answered these questions through a case study in Huong Thuy, Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam. Thua Thien Hue province, a central province of Vietnam, has a severe climate and poor soil resources. Under the pressure of economic development, the provincial authorities have promoted urbanization and industrialization by expanding Hue City to the south of the province. As a result, between 2010 and 2015, 7083 ha of agricultural land has been acquired to be converted to non-agricultural land. The government planned to expand Hue city to five times its current size in 2014, so 19,000 ha of agricultural land will be converted between 2016 and 2020. Agriculture has been facing challenges because the soil quality of agricultural land areas is poor, while flooding and drought are increasing. Cultivation and livestock are the main activities, contributing 65% and 25% of the total value of the agricultural sector, respectively. In addition, under the long-lasting culture of the Nguyen dynasty, the division of the roles of women and men in economic activities and the family has been typical and rooted deeply in each family. Women often stay at home, take care of family members and do all the domestic work that is requested rather fussily and strictly than in other places, while men go out, ensure the family economy, and participate in public events and family events. So, men often make all the decisions for the family and women accept this division. To build the research framework, this study applied the sustainable livelihood framework of DIFD (1999) and the theory of natural resource access. The case study method and the mixed method were applied in this study, in which qualitative data dominated. Primary data, which included both qualitative and quantitative data, were collected using a survey of 200 households, eight group discussions, 17 key informant interviews, and participatory observation at the study site. The quantitative data was coded and analyzed into statistical data, while the qualitative data was documented as stories, quotes, and pictures. Out of the primary data, I also collected secondary data from reports, papers, statistical data, and previous studies of my colleagues on the study sites that were related to the research topic. I also used Google Earth to collect images of land-use changes in study sites over time. The research findings have shown the opportunities and challenges that ALAFU created for small agriculture and gender issues in affected communes. Regarding smallholder agriculture, after ALAFU it has gradually transformed from traditional agriculture to peri-urban or urban agriculture (PUA). Rice cultivation and livestock production have declined sharply because of the reducing of rice land and the merging of affected communities into urban areas (livestock is prohibited in urban areas). Moreover, non-farm jobs with higher incomes are now more available after ALAFU, which is also the main reason for this change. As a result, a part of the remaining rice land has been abandoned after ALAFU, and the rest of it is concentrated in several households that still follow rice cultivation as one of their main incomes. In contrast, potted flower plantation (PFP) has rapidly developed due to the increasing consumer demand of urban dwellers. Until now, it has become the main income of 34% of surveyed households. However, while rice land is abandoned, PFP has to deal with a lack of space or area to put flowerpots, which will lead to challenges in the near future when the free spaces around the village, where PFP is happening at present, are narrowed by increasing population and housing. Regarding gender issues, we found both negative and positive impacts associated with ALAFU. By comparing the changes in socio-economic status (SES) of affected women in three zones where the purposes of agricultural land acquisition (ALA) are different, the SES of affected women by ALAFU has improved the most through the benefits of urbanization. ALAFU has greatly contributed to the changes in the jobs of affected women. New jobs gave them higher incomes and required them to be more active. Improving employment status has created domino effects on women's income and social knowledge. ALAFU has created the most opportunities, but the support programs for all ALA projects are the same and very limited. This causes inequality for the affected people, especially the affected women in ALA projects for hydropower development. The change in household gender quality (HEG) in affected communes is also studied by comparing the roles of husband and wife after and before ALAFU, and by comparing the groups of affected and non-effected households. HGE in both groups has improved through the benefits of ALAFU, especially the HGE of the affected households group. The income contribution of women to the household’s income has greatly improved and reached almost that of husbands. Women are busier with their income activities than men, but their responsibilities for unpaid work burden, household decision-making, and social activities have not changed significantly. As a result, ALAFU has a positive impact on HGE, but women still have to face the potential risks of temporary jobs without security and continue to bear the UPW burden. Based on the findings, this thesis suggests some recommendations that support policy-making processes related to supporting programs of ALA and urbanization programs. The government should pay more attention to PUA development in affected communes by the ALAFU project to not only create livelihoods for local people but also contribute to the sustainable development of urban areas. They should also improve the support program of ALA projects to limit the negative impacts on gender issues. The support needs to be based on the needs and characteristics of each affected group. It should not be transferred to cash as the present, instead of that, it should be an action plan in the long term.2022-01-1

Comparing Adobe’s Unsharp Masks and High-Pass Filters in Photoshop Using the Visual Information Fidelity Metric

The present study examines image sharpening techniques quantitatively. A technique known as unsharp masking has been the preferred image sharpening technique for imaging professionals for many years. More recently, another professional-level sharpening solution has been introduced, namely, the high-pass filter technique of image sharpening. An extensive review of the literature revealed no purely quantitative studies that compared these techniques. The present research compares unsharp masking (USM) and high-pass filter (HPF) sharpening using an image quality metric known as Visual Information Fidelity (VIF). Prior researchers have used VIF data in research aimed at improving the USM sharpening technique. The present study aims to add to this branch of the literature through the comparison of the USM and the HPF sharpening techniques. The objective of the present research is to determine which sharpening technique, USM or HPF, yields the highest VIF scores for two categories of images, macro images and architectural images. Each set of images was further analyzed to compare the VIF scores of subjects with high and low severity depth of field defects. Finally, the researcher proposed rules for choosing USM and HPF parameters that resulted in optimal VIF scores. For each category, the researcher captured 24 images (12 with high severity defects and 12 with low severity defects). Each image was sharpened using an iterative process of choosing USM and HPF sharpening parameters, applying sharpening filters with the chosen parameters, and assessing the resulting images using the VIF metric. The process was repeated until the VIF scores could no longer be improved. The highest USM and HPF VIF scores for each image were compared using a paired t-test for statistical significance. The t-test results demonstrated that: • The USM VIF scores for macro images (M = 1.86, SD = 0.59) outperformed those for HPF (M = 1.34, SD = 0.18), a statistically significant mean increase of 0.52, t = 5.57 (23), p = 0.0000115. Similar results were obtained for both the high severity and low severity subsets of macro images. • The USM VIF scores for architectural images (M = 1.40, SD = 0.24) outperformed those for HPF (M = 1.26, SD = 0.15), a statistically significant mean increase of 0.14, t = 5.21 (23), p = 0.0000276. Similar results were obtained for both the high severity and low severity subsets of architectural images. The researcher found that the optimal sharpening parameters for USM and HPF depend on the content of the image. The optimal choice of parameters for USM depends on whether the most important features are edges or objects. Specific rules for choosing USM parameters were developed for each class of images. HPF is simpler in the fact that it only uses one parameter, Radius. Specific rules for choosing the HPF Radius were also developed for each class of images. Based on these results, the researcher concluded that USM outperformed HPF in sharpening macro and architectural images. The superior performance of USM could be due to the fact that it provides more parameters for users to control the sharpening process than HPF

Assessment of Patient Waiting Consultation Time in an Primary Healthcare Clinic -- The Outpatient Department of Cho Ray Hospital

Long patient waiting times in primary healthcare clinics in South Vietnam such as Thong Nhat Hospital and An Giang Hospital are a common phenomenon. In South Vietnam, especially at the Cho Ray Hospital, long patient waiting times were to be expected. Unfortunately, very little knowledge exists regarding potential causes of this problem or how it impacts patients. The purposes of this non-experimental, exploratory field study were to (a) assess the process and outcomes of an outpatient clinic as they related to waiting times, factors contributing to waiting times, and associated factors (outcomes) that influenced patient satisfaction levels in the outpatient department in public hospitals and to (b) provide recommendations for clinic structure by suggesting changes to the flow chart for future health checks. In the analysis section, data were extracted from the hospital information system: time when the patient completed the registration, time patient waited for the doctor, and consultation time begun at the beginning of the consultation until the end for the consultation--the latter was noted at the moment patients had their prescriptions. The mean time for waiting to see the doctor was 37 minutes, the mean time from patients’ registration until end of the consultation was 47 minutes, and mean consultation time was 9.3 minutes. Longest times recorded for waiting to see a doctor and time from registration until completion were 83 minutes and 93 minutes, respectively. Patient responses ranged from 60% to 100%: 15 respondents scored this area at 80% or below and 20 respondents scored this area at 90%. Regarding the question “If you have a medical need, will you come back or introduce others to this clinic,” 34 or 97.1% of survey respondents indicated they would definitely come back or recommend the clinic to others

TEXT-BASED VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION AS A LEARNING TOOL FOR EFL FRESHMEN’S READING COMPREHENSION

This paper reports a study which examines how text-based vocabulary instruction influences English as a foreign language (EFL) freshmen’s reading comprehension and explore their perceptions on this type of instruction in reading comprehension. It was a quasi- experimental study with control and experimental groups including eighty freshmen at a university. The quantitative data from reading tests for pre-test and post-test were used to examine students’ reading comprehension over nine weeks. The qualitative analysis used semi-structured interviews to examine students’ perceptions towards text-based vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension. The findings reveal that text-based vocabulary instruction influenced positively students’ reading achievement after the experiment and that they had positive perceptions towards this type of instruction in their reading lessons.   Article visualizations

THE IMPACT OF SERVICE QUALITY ON CUSTOMER LOYALTY AT KIM THAI HOTEL

Every hotel's satisfaction and loyalty depend on the quality of its service. As a result, the question of service quality has long been a key research topic in the hospitality business. The study used methods such as secondary data collection and processing, expert interviews to build evaluation models, customer opinion collection, and quantitative data processing to clarify the impact of service quality aspects on loyalty. The study used correlation analysis and linear regression to show how six service quality parameters influenced client loyalty when using various Kim Thai hotel services. Among them, the security element has the most influence, while the empathy factor has the least influence on consumer loyalty to the hotel service. Among them, the security element has the most influence, while the empathy factor has the least influence on consumer loyalty to the hotel service. This research serves as the scientific foundation for the hotel to use when implementing solutions that improve service quality in order to promote customer return intentions.  Article visualizations

PRIMARY TEACHERS’ CODE-SWITCHING IN EFL CLASSROOMS

Teaching English has never been easy especially for countries where English is a foreign language. It becomes more challenging if the learners are primary students because their English proficiency is low. Therefore, primary teachers are required to have appropriate teaching methods for them. Code-switching is considered one of teaching methods which is adopted by primary teachers frequently in the classroom. It not only assists teachers in teaching but also in classroom management effectively. Thus, research is conducted to find out functions of CS as well as to the reasons why primary English teachers use it in their classroom. This research is qualitative research. The participants of this study are English teachers who are teaching at primary schools in the Mekong Delta. The instruments of this study were observation, audio-recording, and interview. The results showed that CS was actually used a lot by primary English teachers in their classroom. However, code-switching serve their teaching most. Teachers also admitted that it provided great support for them in teaching such as helping students understand the lesson better and saving time. This study is expected to benefit EFL teachers, especially those who are teaching English for primary schools in general and for young learners in particular. Furthermore, it enables primary EFL teachers to have insights into the functions of CS as well as when it is used in teaching practices. In addition, primary EFL teachers are expected to have critical thinking of the CS and make suitable choices in applying CS effectively. Article visualizations

EFL TEACHING PRACTICES UNDER THE WASHBACK OF HIGH-STAKES TESTS: WHAT ASPECTS ARE AFFECTED?

Washback, or the effects of tests on learning and teaching, is one of the important test qualities (Bachman & Palmer, 1996). There have been a few empirical studies on the washback of different tests on different stakeholders and their actions under the test use such as those by Brown (1997), Cheng (1997), McKinley & Thompson (2018), Nguyen (2017), Pizarro (2010), Shih (2009), Xu & Liu (2018), to name but a few. The results of such studies have shown that the washback of different tests varies in terms of mechanism, direction, and intensity of teaching and learning. This study explores the washback of the high-stakes English tests in the Vietnamese National High School Graduation Exam on the teaching of EFL high school teachers. Six teachers, who were teaching English to students at grade 12 in the research site of Buon Ma Thuot City (Dak Lak Province, Vietnam) were purposefully selected for the study. As a case study, the research employed was a two-phase explanatory design with the use of a questionnaire and follow-up interviews. The findings reveal that various aspects of teaching, such as the teachers’ choices of textbook coverage, time allotment for teaching content, provision of extracurricular content, in-class assessment tasks, their choices of teaching methods, application of new teaching techniques, choices of classroom organization and language for instructions were affected by the high—stakes English tests. In addition, the study discloses the unique teacher factors of the participants under the influence of the tests

Outcome Assessment of General Education 21st Century Competency Skills: Close the Loop Efforts in the United States

Over the past several years, various stakeholders have continued to express concerns about the quality of U.S. higher education. Under the accountability and transparency pressures, institutions must provide evidence of student learning, especially the value of general education programs upon graduation. Therefore, a case study at a U.S. comprehensive university was conducted to assess five general education competency skills (written, oral, quantitative literacy, critical thinking and information literacy). To facilitate “close the loop” conversations with faculty and committees, in addition to descriptive analysis, the university disaggregated the assessment data in a non-traditional way by examining the relationship of student factors (race, year and college) and student learning. The researcher used ANCOVA and ANOVA to identify significant differences. Results indicated year and race were related to student outcomes, except for critical thinking skills. The researcher provided suggestions for use of the study’s findings to close the loop in the general education program