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

STEM education and outcomes in Vietnam: Views from the social gap and gender issues

United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 4 Quality Education has highlighted major challenges for all nations to ensure inclusive and equitable quality access to education, facilities for children, and young adults. The SDG4 is even more important for developing nations as receiving proper education or vocational training, especially in science and technology, means a foundational step in improving other aspects of their citizens’ lives. However, the extant scientific literature about STEM education still lacks focus on developing countries, even more so in the rural area. Using a dataset of 4967 observations of junior high school students from a rural area in a transition economy, the article employs the Bayesian approach to identify the interaction between gender, socioeconomic status, and students’ STEM academic achievements. The results report gender has little association with STEM academic achievements; however, female students (αa_Sex[2] = 2.83) appear to have achieved better results than their male counterparts (αa_Sex[1] = 2.68). Families with better economic status, parents with a high level of education (βb(EduMot) = 0.07), or non-manual jobs (αa_SexPJ[4] = 3.25) are found to be correlated with better study results. On the contrary, students with zero (βb(OnlyChi) = -0.14) or more than two siblings (βb(NumberofChi) = -0.01) are correlated with lower study results compared to those with only one sibling. These results imply the importance of providing women with opportunities for better education. Policymakers should also consider maintaining family size so the parents can provide their resources to each child equally

Status Poles and Status Zoning to Model Residential Land Prices: Status-Quality Trade off Theory (Short Paper)

This study describes an approach for augmenting urban residential preference and hedonic house price models by incorporating Status-Quality Trade Off theory (SQTO). SQTO seeks explain the dynamic of urban structure using a multipolar, in which the location and strength of poles is driven by notions of residential status and dwelling quality. This paper presents in outline an approach for identifying status poles and for quantifying their effect on land and residential property prices. The results show how the incorporation of SQTO results in an enhanced understanding of variations in land / property process with increased spatial nuance. A number of future research areas are identified related to the status pole weights and the development of status pole index

Study on synthesis of carboxymethyl cellulose from pineapple leaf waste and its potential applications as a thickener

In this study, cellulose and hemicellulose were successfully extracted from pineapple leaf waste at yields of 58.8 and 16.1% by dried weight, respectively. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) was synthesised from pineapple leaf cellulose by an esterification process using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and monochloroacetic acid (MCA) with isopropanol as the supporting medium. Preparation of CMC was investigated by varying three free factors, namely, NaOH concentration, MCA dose, and cellulose size. The carboxymethylation process was optimised to produce CMC with differing degrees of substitution (DS). The highest DS of CMC (0.86) was obtained with 15% (w/v) NaOH solution, 0.6 g of MCA/g cellulose, and 50 μm cellulose. The obtained CMC were characterised by FTIR spectroscopy, SEM images and XRD diffractions. Moreover, the thickening performance of obtained CMC was also determined. The influence of the CMC’s molecular weight and degree of substitution on the viscosity of 1% (w/v) aqueous solution was tested. The experimental results suggest that the viscosity of the solution increases with increasing molecular weight and degree of substitution of CMC

NGHIÊN CỨU THÀNH PHẦN VÀ HÀM LƯỢNG CÁC LỚP CHẤT LIPID, PHOSPHOLIPID, AXIT BÉO, VÀ PHOSPHATIDYLCHOLINE LOÀI SAN HÔ MỀM CAPNELLA SP.

The total lipid content of the soft coral Capnella sp. contained 1.44 ± 0.10% of the fresh weight. In the fatty acid content, the tetracosapolyenoic fatty acids 24:5n-6 and 24:6n-3, which were the typical markers for the soft corals (the eight compartment coral), and the fatty acids that marked for symbiotic microorganism including 18:5n-3, 18:2n-6, 18:3n-6, 18:4n-3, 20:4n-3 were presented. The result of the lipid composition analysis showed that the total lipid contained polar lipid, sterol, free fatty acid, triacylglycerol, monoalkyldiacylglycerol, hydrocarbon and wax. Of these, the polar lipid displayed the highest content with 21.14 ± 1.17% of the total lipid. The phospholipid composition of the soft coral Capnella sp. contained the characteristic phospholipid subclasses of the animals of the phylum Cnidaria, including phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylinositol, and ceramide aminoethylphosphonate (phosphonolipid, CAEP). Of these, phosphatidylcholine exhibited the highest content with 35.53 ± 1.46% of the total phospholipid. This is the first time that the content and composition of the molecular types of the phosphatidylcholine from a Vietnamese soft coral species have been investigated and reported. By using modern mass spectrometry IT TOF LC-MS, the presence of 13 molecular types have been precisely identified, which PC 18:0e/20:4 and PC 16:0e/20:4 were the two ingredients displaying the highest content.Hàm lượng lipid tổng của mẫu san hô mềm Capnella sp. chiếm 1,44 ± 0,10% so với trọng lượng mẫu tươi. Trong thành phần axit béo có mặt các axit béo tetracosapolyenoic 24:5n-6 và 24:6n-3 là axit béo đánh dấu điển hình cho san hô mềm (san hô tám ngăn) và các axit béo đánh dấu cho vi sinh vật cộng sinh như 18:5n-3, 18:2n-6, 18:3n-6, 18:4n-3, 20:4n-3. Kết quả phân tích lớp chất lipid cho thấy trong lipid tổng có mặt các lớp chất lipid chính là lipid phân cực, sterol, axit béo tự do, triacylglycerol, monoalkyldiacylglycerol, hydrocacbon và sáp, trong đó lipid phân cực chiếm hàm lượng cao nhất (21,14 ± 1,17% hàm lượng lipid tổng). Thành phần phospholipid của san hô mềm Capnella sp. có mặt các phân lớp phospholipid đặc trưng của động vật ngành Cnidarian là phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphonolipid là ceramide aminoethylphosphonate, trong đó phosphatidylcholine chiếm hàm lượng cao nhất (35,53 ± 1,46% tổng phospholipid). Đây là lần đầu tiên ở Việt Nam, thành phần và hàm lượng các dạng phân tử trong lớp chất phosphatidylcholine từ loài san hô mềm của Việt Nam được nghiên cứu và công bố, kết quả đã xác định được sự có mặt của 13 dạng phân tử bằng phương pháp phổ khối hiện đại LC-MS IT TOF với độ chính xác cao. Hai dạng phân tử chiếm hàm lượng cao nhất là PC 18:0e/20:4 và PC 16:0e/20:4

The impacts of lead recycling activities to human health and environment in Dong Mai craft village, Hung Yen, Vietnam

Lead (Pb) recycling activities in Dong Mai village, Chi Dao commune, Van Lam district, Hung Yen province have been taking place for more than 30 years. The development of recycling activities contributed to the improvement of the local economics. However, along with economic development, Dong Mai craft village is facing to serious pollution. Soil, air and water polluted by lead (Pb) caused food containing Pb at higher levels than allowed limit from 20 to 40 times. The pollution had the bad effect on human health in this village. The investigation results showed that 100 % of employee who participated on melting lead and 63.5 % of local children were poisoned by Pb. Besides, the local people got diseases relating to skin, eyes, etc. This situation requires the provincial authorities to find immediate solutions to reduce the impacts of Pb recycling activities to environment and human.Hoạt động tái chế chì của thôn Đông Mai, xã Chỉ Đạo, huyện Văn Lâm, tỉnh Hưng Yên đã diễn ra hơn 30 năm nay. Sự phát triển của nghề tái chế đã làm góp phần cải thiện kinh tế của địa phương. Tuy nhiên, cùng với sự phát triển kinh tế, làng nghề Đông Mai đã và đang đối mặt với ô nhiễm môi trường nghiêm trọng. Môi trường đất, nước không khí bị ô nhiễm bởi chì (Pb) dẫn đến thực phẩm nhiễm chì ở hàm lượng cao hơn mức cho phép từ 20- 40 lần. Sự ô nhiễm gây ra những ảnh hưởng xấu tới sức khỏe của người dân làng nghề. Kết quả điều tra cho thấy 100% công nhân tham gia nấu chì và 63.5% trẻ em địa phương bị nhiễm độc chì. Bên cạnh đó, người dân địa phương còn bị mắc của các loại bệnh ngoài da, bệnh về mắt, …. Tình trạng này đòi hỏi chính quyền địa phương phải tìm ra giải pháp khẩn cấp để giảm thiểu tác động của những hoạt động tái chế chì tới môi trường và con người