TACTIC TO IMPROVE THE PROVINCIAL COMPETITIVENESS INDEX (PCI)

This study examines the data of the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) from 2006 to 2020 to look for the causes of its changes in the 63 provinces and central cities of Vietnam. The data processing methods are descriptive statistics, comparative analysis and metaanalysis. The results show a certain confusion in the practice of implementing PCI scores improvements in some provinces. Thereby, the study suggests a tactic of using PDCA and SWOT mod els to design the implementation processes and prioritize the high-weighted component indexes to quickly improve PCI scores, motivating and strengthening the remaining component indexes

CAMELLIA PYRIFORMIS (THEACEAE, SECTION CALPANDRIA), A NEW SPECIES FROM NORTHERN VIETNAM

Camellia pyriformis is described, illustrated, and placed in section Calpandria. Morphological features of this new species are young branches villous; leaves above pubescent, a long midrib, below pubescent; petiole falcate, densely villous; flowers solitary or geminate; pedicel very short, pubescent; bracteoles sparsely pubescent on both sides; sepals, pubescent on both sides; petals, white, glabrous; androecium 5–6 stamens, filaments completely united to form a truncated cone, glabrous, basal adnate to the petal, shallowly dentate at the apex, each filament bearing an anther; gynoecium 3-locular, densely white silky strigose tomentose, styles glabrous; capsule pyriform, pubescent; seed broad pyriform, densely villou

Data Driven Customer Segmentation for Vietnamese SMEs in Big Data Era

Almost Vietnamese big businesses often use outsourcing services to do marketing researches such as analysing and evaluating consumer intention and behaviour, customers’ satisfaction, customers’ loyalty, market share, market segmentation and some similar marketing studies. One of the most favourite marketing research business in Vietnam is ACNielsen and Vietnam big businesses usually plan and adjust marketing activities based on ACNielsen’s report. Belong to the limitation of budget, Vietnamese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) often do marketing researches by themselves. Among the marketing researches activities in SMEs, customer segmentation is conducted by tools such as Excel, Facebook analytics or only by simple design thinking approach to help save costs. However, these tools are no longer suitable for the age of data information explosion today. This article uses case analysing of the United Kingdom online retailer through clustering algorithm on R package. The result proves clustering method’s superiority in customer segmentation compared to the traditional method (SPSS, Excel, Facebook analytics, design thinking) which Vietnamese SMEs are using. More important, this article helps Vietnamese SMEs understand and apply clustering algorithm on R in customer segmenting on their given data set efficiently. On that basis, Vietnamese SMEs can plan marketing programs and drive their actions as contextualizing and/or personalizing their message to their customers suitabl

NEW RECORD OF CAMELLIA SECT. CAMELLIA (THEACEAE) FOR THE FLORA OF VIETNAM

This study provides color illustrations and describes the morphological characteristics and distribution of Camellia pitardii and Camellia mairei var. lapidea, species formerly considered endemic to China but recently discovered and recorded in the flora of Vietnam

Short Tandem Repeats Used in Preimplantation Genetic Testing of Î’-Thalassemia: Genetic Polymorphisms For 15 Linked Loci in the Vietnamese Population

BACKGROUND: β-thalassemia is one of the most common monogenic diseases worldwide. Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) of β-thalassemia is performed to avoid affected pregnancies has become increasingly popular worldwide. In which, the indirect analysis using short tandem repeat (STRs) linking with HBB gene to detect different β-globin (HBB) gene mutation is a simple, accurate, economical and also provides additional control of contamination and allele-drop-out ADO. AIM: This study established microsatellite markers for PGT of Vietnamese β-thalassemia patient. METHODS: Fifteen (15) STRs gathered from 5 populations were identified by in silico tools within 1 Mb flanking the HBB gene. The multiplex PCR reaction was optimized and performed on 106 DNA samples from at-risk families. RESULTS: After estimating, PIC values were ≥ 0.7 for all markers, with expected heterozygosity and observed heterozygosity values ranged from 0.81 to 0.92 and 0.53 to 0.86, respectively. One hundred percent of individuals had at least seven heterozygous markers and were found to be heterozygous for at least two markers on either side of the HBB gene. The STRs panel was successfully performed on one at-risk family. CONCLUSION: In general, a pentadecaplex marker (all < 1 Mb from the HBB gene) assay was constituted for β-thalassemia PGT on Vietnamese population

Enhanced Near-Infrared Fluorescent Sensing Using Metal-Dielectric-Metal Plasmonic Array

This work presents a numerical study of metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) plasmonic structure used to enhance a near-infrared fluorescent sensor. The MDM plasmonic structure consists of silver (Ag) subwavelength disk arrays on a thin silica (SiO2) spacing layer and 100-nm-thick-Ag film on a silicon (Si) substrate. The MDM plasmonic arrays with various structural parameters are designed and numerically investigated using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Results show that the optical properties of designed structures are slightly dependent on the height of the Ag disk and strongly dependent on the Ag disk diameter and SiO2 thickness. In the near-infrared wavelength range, the proposed MDM plasmonic array has low ohmic loss and shows the high fluorescent emitting enhancement and directivity of about 16 times and 625.0, respectively, thus making MDM plasmonic array an alternative approach for near-infrared fluorescence bioimaging and biosensing devices

Spatiotemporal evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Delta variants during large nationwide outbreak of COVID-19, Vietnam, 2021

We analyzed 1,303 SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequences from Vietnam, and found the Alpha and Delta variants were responsible for a large nationwide outbreak of COVID-19 in 2021. The Delta variant was confined to the AY.57 lineage and caused >1.7 million infections and >32,000 deaths. Viral transmission was strongly affected by nonpharmaceutical interventions