Language learning strategies of Vietnamese EFL students and their correlation with learning experience and language anxiety.

In general, exploring the strategy use of good language learners and its influenced factors seems to be highly practical for pedagogical strategy training. However, knowing the learning strategy of less proficient learners may also be useful in order to identify the fail rationale and cast light on the differences between two groups. A mixed method approach was used in this dissertation to investigate the language learning strategies (LLSs) of the non-English major students in a university in the North of Vietnam. The study also explores whether previous learning experience and language anxiety impact on the choice of LLS. The study found that Vietnamese EFL students were medium strategy users. A comparison of the disparity in LLS utilisation generally revealed that the more successful students used strategies more frequently than the less successful learners, with the exception of memory and compensation strategies. The degree of memory strategy use of both groups was found to be at medium-use range, whilst the higher effective students employed moderately less compensation strategies than their lower effective peers. Moreover, whilst interplay may exist between LLS utilisation and previous language learning experience, there is no relationship between the overall use of LLS and language anxiety

An algorithm for hybrid regularizers based image restoration with Poisson noise

summary:In this paper, a hybrid regularizers model for Poissonian image restoration is introduced. We study existence and uniqueness of minimizer for this model. To solve the resulting minimization problem, we employ the alternating minimization method with rigorous convergence guarantee. Numerical results demonstrate the efficiency and stability of the proposed method for suppressing Poisson noise

The debates and the long-awaited reform

Trung Tran, Phuong-Thao T. Trinh, Thu-Trang Vuong, Hiep-Hung Pham (2019). Chapter 1. The debates and the long-awaited reform. In Quan-Hoang Vuong, Trung Tran (Eds.), The Vietnamese Social Sciences at a Fork in the Road (pp. 17–32). Warsaw, Poland: De Gruyter / Sciendo. DOI:10.2478/9783110686081-006 Online ISBN: 9783110686081 © 2019 De Gruyter / Sciend

On Building a Community to Exchange and Share Sustainable Fashion Applications

Sustainable development is a standard plan for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future, set forth by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was adopted by all United Nations member states and agreed to in 2015. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an urgent call to action for all developed and developing countries in relation to global cooperation. Many factors cause environmental pollution, but the fashion industry is considered by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as the second most polluting industry in the world. It accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions due to the energy used in production, manufacturing, and transportation. In particular, the factors that strongly affect the environment in the fashion industry are the textile materials, the fabric dyeing industry, and the rapid development of fast fashion. The data was collected through an online survey of 101 fashion consumers and interviews with nine target audiences who need to buy and sell used clothes or are interested in buying and selling used clothes or sustainable fashion. Sustainable design is not a new concept, but it is still quite strange to the Vietnamese. Consumer ignorance about sustainable consumption and the harmful effects of the fashion industry on planet Earth is a big reason why consumers constantly plunge into the shopping vortex. The problem of wasteful and unsustainable fashion consumption is a big global problem at a time when the fashion industry is gradually emerging into the sustainable fashion movement. This is an opportunity to build a community by connecting consumers through their essential needs, helping them raise awareness, change their behavior, and make each individual part of a sustainable fashion community. They are thus contributing to sustainable development in the future. Keywords: SDGs, sustainable fashion, sustainable consumption, communit

1M parameters are enough? A lightweight CNN-based model for medical image segmentation

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and Transformer-based models are being widely applied in medical image segmentation thanks to their ability to extract high-level features and capture important aspects of the image. However, there is often a trade-off between the need for high accuracy and the desire for low computational cost. A model with higher parameters can theoretically achieve better performance but also result in more computational complexity and higher memory usage, and thus is not practical to implement. In this paper, we look for a lightweight U-Net-based model which can remain the same or even achieve better performance, namely U-Lite. We design U-Lite based on the principle of Depthwise Separable Convolution so that the model can both leverage the strength of CNNs and reduce a remarkable number of computing parameters. Specifically, we propose Axial Depthwise Convolutions with kernels 7x7 in both the encoder and decoder to enlarge the model receptive field. To further improve the performance, we use several Axial Dilated Depthwise Convolutions with filters 3x3 for the bottleneck as one of our branches. Overall, U-Lite contains only 878K parameters, 35 times less than the traditional U-Net, and much more times less than other modern Transformer-based models. The proposed model cuts down a large amount of computational complexity while attaining an impressive performance on medical segmentation tasks compared to other state-of-the-art architectures. The code will be available at: https://github.com/duong-db/U-Lite.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Invited review. Bond dissociation enthalpies in benzene derivatives and effect of substituents: an overview of density functional theory (B3LYP) based computational approach

In this review, we have mainly focused on the recent computational studies on the bond dissociation enthalpies (BDE) of the X‒H bonds of the para and meta substituted benzene derivatives (3Y-C6H4X‒H and 4Y-C6H4X‒H with X = O, S, Se, NH, PH, CH2, SiH2 and Y = H, F, Cl, CH3, OCH3, NH2, CF3, CN, NO2). In addition, the remote substituent effects on the BDE(X‒H), the radical stability and parent one have also been discussed in terms of the calculated ground state effect, radical effect and total effect. Model chemistry of ROB3LYP/6-311++G(d,p)//B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) can reproduce the BDE values with the accuracy of 1.0‒2.0 kcal/mol. The good linear correlations between Hammett constants and BDE values were discovered for both para and meta substitutions in phenols, thiophenols, benzeneselenols, anilines and phenylposphines with the R-squared lager than 0.94. In contrast, it does not occur in case of toluenes and phenylsilanes.Keywords. Benzene derivatives, density functional theory, bond dissociation enthalpies, substituent effects, radical effect, ground state effect, total effect, Hammett constants

Influence of biofertilizer produced using drumstick (Moringa oleifera L.) unused parts on the growth performance of two leafy vegetables

The non-edible parts of Moringa oleifera, such as stems, branches or leaf petioles, have often been discarded while the leaves are consumed as a vegetable or are used to produce organic fertilizer. This study aimed to determine the optimal conditions for producing Moringa organic fertilizer (MOF) from previously unused parts and to compare these fertilizers with cow manure and bio-organic fertilizer. Seventy kilograms of the unused Moringa parts were blended with fifty kilograms of manure, 0.2 kilogram of Trichoderma-based product and two kilograms of superphosphate. The mixture was incubated at different intervals, including 5, 7 or 9 weeks. Next, the effects of MOF on the growth, yield, ascorbic acid content and Brix of lettuce and mustard spinach were also determined and compared with other organic fertilizers (cow manure and bio-organic fertilizer). Results of the study revealed that 25 tons per ha of MOF were significantly superior to those treated with cow manure and bio-organic fertilizer in the case of vegetable yields. Further, 7 weeks of MOF incubation was found suitable to produce an optimal yield during the various incubation period. These results suggested that the Moringa non-edible parts can make organic fertilizer and enhance growth, yield, and leafy vegetable production

Estimating Water Content and Grain Size of Intertidal Flat Sediments Using Visible to Shortwave-Infrared Reflectance and Sentinel 2A Data: A Case Study of the Red River Delta, Vietnam

Sediment properties such as water content (WC) and grain size (GS) are essential to characterize the environmental conditions of tidal flats. This article aimed to develop appropriate models to estimate the WC and GS of surface sediments for an intertidal flat on the Red river delta (Vietnam) using Sentinel 2A (S2A) images. The spectral reflectance, WC, and GS of 96 sub-samples from 12 sediment samples collected on December 17, 2017 were measured to clarify their relationships. The WC was highly correlated with the reflectance ratio of two shortwave-infrared bands, R(2190)/R(1610) (R² = 0.93). The median GS (D₅₀) at 0%, 15%, and 20% of WC was significantly correlated with the reflectance ratio of the near-infrared band (842 nm) versus the visible-green band (560 nm) (R² > 0.78). Next, D₅₀ was estimated from a multivariate regression model using this band ratio, the visible-red band (665 nm), and WC. The accuracy of the models was verified by comparisons with WC and D₅₀ from 20 samples collected on March 12th 2019 (RMSE of both WC and D₅₀ 30%) in very fine sediments (silts), which is consistent with other intertidal flats with similar sediment types. This article was limited to fine sediment samples. Therefore, our next step is to incorporate coarse sediments into the models to provide more universal mapping of WC and sediment types

HYBRID END-TO-END APPROACH INTEGRATING ONLINE LEARNING WITH FACE-IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM

To date, facial recognition has been one of the most intriguing, interesting research topics over years. It requires some specific face-based algorithms such as facial detection, facial alignment, facial representation, and facial recognition as well; however, all of these algorithms derive from heavy deep learning architectures that cause limitations for development, scalability, flawed accuracy, and deployment into publicity with mere CPU servers. It also calls for large datasets containing hundreds of thousands of records for training purposes. In this paper, we propose a full pipeline for an effective face recognition application which only uses a small Vietnamese celebrity dataset and CPU for training that can solve the leakage of data and the need for GPU devices. It is based on a face vector-to-string tokens algorithm then saves face’s properties into Elasticsearch for future retrieval, so the problem of online learning in Facial Recognition is also tackled. Comparison with another popular algorithm on the dataset, our proposed pipeline not only outweighs the accuracy counterpart, but it also achieves a very speedy time inference for a real-time face recognition application

LEARNING IDIOMS FOR ENGLISH MAJORS: VIETNAMESE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF DIFFICULTIES AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

Learning idioms play an influential role in language generally and in English notably. Comprehending idioms assists language learners in integrating culture, enhancing skills, and ameliorating English levels. Numerous studies have analyzed the function of idioms in second language acquisition (Cieślicka, 2015). This study investigates the difficulties and strategies used in learning idioms by English-majored students at a regional public university (PU) in the south of Vietnam. This paper furnishes data showing learners’ perceptions of facing complications and learning methods. The samples consisted of 150 undergraduate EFL students from English-medium instruction programs. The data was analyzed by utilizing descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings reveal that students struggle to understand idiomatic terms without specific, understandable contexts. Furthermore, the results indicate that the most frequently employed strategies are guessing the meaning of idioms, learning idioms through keywords, and learning from a range of sources, particularly via media. The findings also mentioned that low-proficiency and high-proficiency students encounter identical challenges, with no significant differences. The study's results revealed that the majority of students have difficulty acquiring, recognizing, and interpreting idioms. The findings indicated that guessing the implication of idioms is the most used strategy.  Article visualizations