Zooplankton from Can Giuoc River in Southern Vietnam

In this study, the variables of zooplankton and water quality were investigated in the Can Giuoc River, Southern Vietnam. Zooplankton was monitored in April and September 2015 at 5 sampling sites in the river. Some basic water quality parameters were also tested, including pH, total suspended solid (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD5), inorganic nitrogen (NH4+), dissolved phosphorus (PO43-), and coliform. The zooplankton biodiversity indices were applied for the water quality assessment. The results showed that pH ranged from 6.7 to 7.6 during the monitoring. The TSSs were between 34–117 mg/L. The DO and BOD5 were from 0.6 to 3.8 mg/L and from 6.3 to 13.2 mg/L, respectively. The NH4+ and PO43- concentrations ranged from 0.44 to 3.23 and from 0.08 to 1.85 mg/L, respectively. The coliform number was between 9.3x103–9.3x104 MPN/100 mL. The zooplankton analyses showed that there were 31 species of coelenterates, rotatoria, oligochaetes, cladocerans, copepods, ostracods, mysidacea, and 8 larval types. Thereof, the species of copepods were dominant in the species number. The zooplankton density ranged from 9 500 to 23 600 individuals/m3 with the main dominant species of Moina dubia (Cladocera), Thermocyclops hyalinus, Acartia clausi, Oithona similis (Copepoda), and nauplius copepods. The biodiversity index values during the monitoring were from 1.47 to 1.79 characteristic of mesotrophic conditions of the aquatic environment. Besides, the species richness positively correlated with pH, TSS, DO, BOD5, NH4+, PO43-, and coliform, while the zooplankton densities got a positive correlation with DO, BOD5, NH4+, PO43-, and coliform. The results confirmed the advantage of using zooplankton and its indices for water quality assessment

Consistency of control performance in 3d overhead cranes under payload mass uncertainty

The paper addresses the problem of effectively and robustly controlling a 3D overhead crane under the payload mass uncertainty, where the control performance is shown to be consistent. It is proposed to employ the sliding mode control technique to design the closed-loop controller due to its robustness, regardless of the uncertainties and nonlinearities of the under-actuated crane system. The radial basis function neural network has been exploited to construct an adaptive mechanism for estimating the unknown dynamics. More importantly, the adaptation methods have been derived from the Lyapunov theory to not only guarantee stability of the closed-loop control system, but also approximate the unknown and uncertain payload mass and weight matrix, which maintains the consistency of the control performance, although the cargo mass can be varied. Furthermore, the results obtained by implementing the proposed algorithm in the simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed approach and the consistency of the control performance, although the payload mass is uncertain. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Isolation and determination of Vibrio spp. pathogen from Sciaenops ocellatus suffering from hemorrhagic disease under cage culture in Vietnam

This study was carried out to isolate and determine the Vibrio spp. from the Red drum fish (Sciaenops ocellatus) suffering from the hemorrhagic disease in Vietnam.  In this study, 18 strains of Vibrio bacteria were identified from 27 samples of Red drum fish. The isolated bacterial strains were identified with the 16S rRNA sequencing method and checked for morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics by using the API 20E KIT. Results of the study revealed the presence of twelve strains of V. alginolyticus, three strains of V. fluvialis, and three strains of V. orientalis. All Vibrio strains have gene similarities with those on the Genbank ranging from 98.05 to 100%. The biochemical characteristics of these 18 isolates were similar and these are susceptible to tetracycline and doxycycline and entirely resistant to ampicillin, amoxicillin, and erythromycin

How Digital Natives Learn and Thrive in the Digital Age: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

As a generation of ‘digital natives,’ secondary students who were born from 2002 to 2010 have various approaches to acquiring digital knowledge. Digital literacy and resilience are crucial for them to navigate the digital world as much as the real world; however, these remain under-researched subjects, especially in developing countries. In Vietnam, the education system has put considerable effort into teaching students these skills to promote quality education as part of the United Nations-defined Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4). This issue has proven especially salient amid the COVID−19 pandemic lockdowns, which had obliged most schools to switch to online forms of teaching. This study, which utilizes a dataset of 1061 Vietnamese students taken from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s “Digital Kids Asia Pacific (DKAP)” project, employs Bayesian statistics to explore the relationship between the students’ background and their digital abilities. Results show that economic status and parents’ level of education are positively correlated with digital literacy. Students from urban schools have only a slightly higher level of digital literacy than their rural counterparts, suggesting that school location may not be a defining explanatory element in the variation of digital literacy and resilience among Vietnamese students. Students’ digital literacy and, especially resilience, also have associations with their gender. Moreover, as students are digitally literate, they are more likely to be digitally resilient. Following SDG4, i.e., Quality Education, it is advisable for schools, and especially parents, to seriously invest in creating a safe, educational environment to enhance digital literacy among students

Robust control for a wheeled mobile robot to track a predefined trajectory in the presence of unknown wheel slips

In this paper, a robust controller for a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot (WMR) is proposed for tracking a predefined trajectory in the presence of unknown wheel slips, bounded external disturbances, and model uncertainties. The whole control system consists of two closed loops. Specifically, the outer one is employed to control the kinematics, and the inner one is used to control the dynamics. The output of kinematic controller is adopted as the input of the inner (dynamic) closed loop. Furthermore, two robust techniques were utilized to assure the robustness. In particular, one is used in the kinematic controller to compensate the harmful effects of the unknown wheel slips, and the other is used in the dynamic controller to overcome the model uncertainties and bounded external disturbances. Thanks to this proposed controller, a desired tracking performance in which tracking errors converge asymptotically to zero is obtained. According to Lyapunov theory and LaSalle extension, the desired tracking performance is guaranteed to be achieved. The results of computer simulation have shown the validity and efficiency of the proposed controller

Double-Curvature Test of Reinforced Concrete Columns Using Shaking Table: A New Test Setup

This paper proposes a new test setup to study the double-curvature behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) columns using shaking table. In this setup, the seismic action is simulated by the horizontal movement of a long-heavy rigid mass sitting on the top of only one test specimen. The double-curvature mechanism of specimen is affected by the movement of the concrete mass on a test rig consisting four steel hollow-section columns fully anchored to the shaking table. Application of axial load on the specimen is made possible through a pre-stressing equipment connecting to its top and bottom bases. The current setup offers two improvements over the previous ones. First, it makes available greater ranges of test data for conducting bigger sizes of the specimens. Second, it allows to directly measure the variation of axial force in the test specimens while the test implementation can be fast and easy with a high safety margin even until the complete collapse of the test units. The current test setup has been successfully applied on two ½ scaled V-shaped columns. It has been shown that the column specimen with a low axial load level of 0.05f’cAg, where f’c is the concrete strength and Ag is the cross-sectional area of the specimen, can well survive at a ground peak acceleration up to 5.5 (m/s2) with a drift ratio of approximately 2.91%. Meanwhile, the column subjected to moderate axial load level of 0.15f’cAg can survive at a higher ground peak acceleration of 8.0 (m/s2) with a drift ratio of 3.75%. Furthermore, it is experimentally evidenced that the V-shaped cross-section does not deform in-plane under seismic action. The angle between two planes corresponding to the column web and flange are up to 0.03 (rad). This finding is significant since it contradicts the plane strain assumption available in the current design practice

The Impact of Coexisting Coeliac Disease on Type 1 Diabetes

Coeliac disease (CD) coexists with type 1 diabetes (T1D) substantially more than in the general population. This body of work examines the broad and pervasive relationship between CD on T1D, including the epidemiology, screening practices, microvascular complications, quality of life (QoL), nutrition, glycaemic variability, and bone health. In particular, the contribution of gluten free diet (GFD) adherence is explored. Study 1: The 20-year incidence of CD in 4,379 people with T1D aged 5 years. Study 2: We systematically reviewed the epidemiology of CD in 11,157 youth with T1D alone and 587 with coexisting CD; 55% of CD cases were diagnosed within 2 years of T1D and 79% within 5 years. We concluded that CD screening should be performed at T1D diagnosis and repeated within 5 years of T1D. Study 3: Comparing 129 youth with T1D and CD vs 2,510 with T1D alone, retinopathy, albumin excretion rate (AER) and neuropathy did not differ. HbA1c was lower in those with CD (8.3% vs 8.6%, p=0.04), however elevated AER was more prevalent in those who did not adhere to the GFD (40% vs 23%, p=0.04). Study 4: In a case control study of 35 youth with T1D and 35 with coexisting CD, and their carers, generic and diabetes-specific QoL did not differ. Youth using insulin pumps had similar generic and diabetes specific QoL to those using multiple daily injections. However, those who did not adhere to the GFD had lower diabetes specific QoL and lower general wellbeing, as did their carers. Study 5: In a case control study using continuous glucose monitoring, youth with T1D and CD had greater glycaemic variability, with a shorter time to peak blood glucose levels (BGL), higher peak, and higher postprandial BGLs than T1D alone, despite similar pre-meal BGLs. Both groups had inadequate calcium, folate and fibre, with excessive saturated fat and sodium intake. Study 6: In a case control study utilising dual energy x-ray absorptiometry and peripheral quantitative computational tomography, youth with coexisting T1D and CD had lower bone mineral content, abnormal trabecular and cortical bone development, and a lower bone turnover state with reduced muscle pull vs T1D alone. These studies further our understanding of the impact of coexisting CD in T1D. The findings inform screening and management of CD, and provide evidence in support of GFD adherence to optimise clinical, dietary, and psychosocial management

DNA barcoding for identification of some fish species (Carangidae) in Vietnam coastal area

Carangidae family has got about 148 species belonging to 32 genera. In Vietnam, Carangidae is of high commercial value and playing an important role in the ecosystem. In the context Vietnam has received yellow card for seafood since Nov. 2017 by the EU, in which one of the main reasons was related to the restriction of traceability. In this study, DNA barcoding technique of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene was used to classify 56 specimens of Carangidae from three coastal areas (Northern, Central and Southern) in Vietnam to evaluate the effectiveness compared to the morphological classification method. Results showed that 21 species belonging to 16 genera were determined by the COI barcode while 18 species (16 genera) were determined when using morphological method. Seriola quinqueradiata and Trachinotus anak were newly recorded in Vietnam. From 56 sequences with 660 bp of mtDNA (COI), total 27 haplotypes were detected; haplotype diversity (h) and nucleotide diversity (π) were 0.903 ± 0.00060 and 0.14%, respectively. The DNA barcodes of COI gene of 21 species in Carangidae which were developed in this study could be used as a basis for comparison and traceability of their products. In addition, the results showed the high potentiality in using COI barcode to identify Carangidae fish in Vietnam