Function of taking care of elderly people in Vietnamese families at present time

Although Vietnamese government spitulated a lot of policies for elderly people, but the public support that is currently available to the elderly is extremely limited. The state´s inability to provide full support to  elderly people so that the responsibility of taking care of them actually belongs to family. It is confirmed by the number of elderly people living with their children when they are old and a lot of policies required families take care of elderly people. The family undoubtedly continues to play a crucial role in providing older persons with care in Vietnam. Keywords: Elderly people, Family, Vietna

Novel Split-Based Approaches to Computing Phylogenetic Diversity and Planar Split Networks

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Experimental Determination of Photo Luminesscense Quantum Yield of CdSe Quantum Dots

The fluorescence quantum yield or the efficiency of the fluorescence process is defined as the ratio of the number of photons emitted to the number of photons absorbed. In this report the experimental method to determinate photo luminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) of CdSe quantum dot will be described. The experimental condition which depends on QY will be investigated. The QY values of CdSe which were prepared at Nano Materials Physics Laboratory Research Center for Dielectric and Advanced Matters Physics Pusan National University will be carried out and compared with the commercial CdSe sample

Mesoporous catalysts for ammoxidation of acrolein to acrylonitrile

L’acrylonitrile est une matière première importaite de l’industrie des polymères, produite à grande échelle à partir de matériaux d’origine fossile. Les tendances de recherche actuelles pour une industrie chimique plus écologique favorisent l’utilisation de molécules plateformes d’origine biologique telles que le glycérol. De plus, la conception de catalyseurs est un élément essentiel pour développer ces produits. Les catalyseurs hétérogènes, en particulier les catalyseurs à base d’oxydes métalliques mésoporeux jouent un rôle majeur dans l’industrie pétrochimique. Par conséquent, l’objectif de cette thèse est de développer des catalyseurs nouveaux, efficaces et utiles, à base d’oxydes métalliques mixtes pour l’ammoxydation de l’acroléine ex-glycérol en acrylonitrile. Sur la base des catalyseurs traditionnels pour l’ammoxydation du propène/propane en acrylonitrile, une série de catalyseurs à base de molybdates et d’antimonates supportés sur une silice mésoporeuse a été développée. Tout d’abord, les molybdates de bismuth ont été supportés sur la silice mésoporeuse KIT-6 en utilisant une méthode de gabarit solide (hard template). Différentes phases de molybdates de bismuth ont été synthétisées, caractérisées et testées pour l’ammoxydation de l’acroléine en acrylonitrile. Les conditions réactionnelles ont été soigneusement optimisées à différentes températures, débits et rapports molaires de réactifs. Les catalyseurs obtenus ont montré une bonne activité catalytique, une sélectivité et une stabilité, en particulier les échantillons contenant des phases mixtes de molybdates de bismuth. Deuxièmement, une série de mélanges de molybdates et d’antimonates supportés sur une silice mésoporeuse à l’aide d’une méthode de gabarit flexible (soft-template) a également été étudiée. Cette nouvelle méthode de soft template a été développée en utilisant la technique d’auto-assemblage induite par évaporation (EISA) et de tensioactifs comme agents structurants. Les catalyseurs obtenus présentaient une surface spécifique élevée et un grand volume de pores. De plus, les résultats catalytiques indiquent que les molybdates mixtes jouent un rôle majeur dans l’ammoxydation de l’acroléine. Certains des catalyseurs ont été choisis pour étudier le mécanisme de réaction de l’ammoxydation de l’acroléine en acrylonitrile. Parce que l’oxygène (l’air) et l’ammoniac sont des réactifs dans ce procédé, les effets des lacunes d’oxygène et de la réduction par l’ammoniac sur l’activité catalytique ont ensuite été étudiés. Les résultats obtenus ont démontré que les catalyseurs ayant plus de lacunes d’oxygène et qui étaient facilement réduits par l’ammoniac présentaient une activité catalytique plus élevée. Tous les catalyseurs contenant des molybdates ont montré une bonne activité catalytique et une bonne sélectivité pour l’ammoxydation de l’acroléine. Ainsi, un nouveau mécanisme de réaction a été proposé pour l’ammoxydation de l’acroléine sur les catalyseurs à base de molybdates.Acrylonitrile is a raw material in polymer industry with a large scale demand and it has been produced from fossil origin. Current research trends for a greener chemical industry are promoted by using platform molecules of biological origin such as glycerol. Designing catalysts becomes an essential part to develop these products. Heterogeneous catalysts, especially mesoporous metal oxide catalysts, play a major role in petrochemical industry. Therefore, the scope of this thesis is to develop new, effective and useful mesoporous catalysts for ammoxidation of ex-glycerol acrolein to acrylonitrile. Based on the traditional catalysts for propene/propane ammoxidation to acrylonitrile, a series of molybdates and antimonates based catalysts supported in mesoporous silica was developed. First, bismuth molybdate oxides were supported in mesoporous silica KIT-6 using the hard-templating method. Different phases of bismuth molybdates were synthesized, characterized and tested for ammoxidation of acrolein to acrylonitrile. The reaction conditions were carefully optimized at different temperatures, flow rates and reactant ratios. The obtained catalysts showed good catalytic activity, selectivity and stability, especially, the samples containing mixed phases of bismuth molybdates. Second, a series of molybdate and antimonate mixtures supported on mesoporous silica using a soft-templating method was also studied. This new soft-templating method was developed based on the evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) technique and dual surfactants as structure directing agents. The obtained catalysts exhibited high specific surface area and large pore volume. In addition, the catalytic results indicated that molybdates in mixture state play a major role in acrolein ammoxidation. Some of the above catalysts were chosen to study the reaction mechanism of acrolein ammoxidation to acrylonitrile. Because oxygen (air) and ammonia are reactants in this process, the effects of oxygen vacancies and ammonia reduction on catalytic activity were then investigated. The obtained results demonstrated that the catalysts having more oxygen vacancies and being readily reduced by ammonia showed higher catalytic activity. All catalysts containing molybdates showed good catalytic activity and selectivity for acrolein ammoxidation. Thus, a new reaction mechanism was proposed over molybdates oxides as catalysts

Vulnerability and adaptation to salinity intrusion in the Mekong delta of Vietnam

The overall objective of this study is aimed at measuring the vulnerability of different social groups to salinity intrusion and related issues in coastal communities of the Mekong delta to improve our understandings on slow-onset hazards as salinity intrusion which receive less attention on one hand and help decision makers develop suitable adaptation measures on the other hand. The study employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to measure vulnerability. First, a participatory vulnerability analysis approach was used to identify the most vulnerable groups and their capacities. Second, by using factor analysis technique based on 512 respondents at household level, twenty indicators belong to three elements of vulnerability such as exposure, susceptibility and adaptive capacity were selected to construct a vulnerability index. The results showed that salinity intrusion, freshwater scarcity, drought and tidal influences are the most important hazards in the coastal areas of the Mekong delta and they seem to be increased recent years. To cope with and to adapt to such hazards the governments and local people have been developed many strategies and measures including dyke buildings, changes in farming techniques, financial supports for production recovery from disasters, ground water exploitation and income diversifications. However, the current adaptation options have shown some limitations because they do not fully consider the differences in terms of ecological, social and economic environments. The results obtained with the help of composite indicators depicted that the vulnerability of people highly depends on such conditions. Therefore, future adaptation strategies should take into account these in order to identify different social groups, especially the most vulnerable ones as the poor, minority ethnic groups and people living outside the dyke systems. Through the study, a VAFSLO framework (Vulnerability Assessment Framework for Slow-onset hazard) and LIWISLO approach (Living With Slow-onset hazard) have been developed which can be used for vulnerability assessment and management of slow-onset hazards, especially under climate change and sea level rise contexts.Vulnerabilität und Anpassung gegenüber Salzwasserintrusion in das Mekong Deltas in Vietnam Das Ziel dieser Studie ist die Messung von Vulnerabilität von ausgewählten Küstengemeinden des Mekong Deltas in Vietnam gegenüber Salzwasserintrusion. Bisher hat diese schleichende Naturgefahr vergleichsweise wenig Aufmerksamkeit von Forschung und Politik erhalten. Die vorliegende Arbeit zielt daher darauf ab, Entscheidungsträgern mögliche Anpassungsmöglichkeiten lokaler Gemeinden aufzuzeigen. Zur Messung der Vulnerabilität werden in dieser Arbeit eine Kombination aus quantiativen und qualitativen Methoden herangezogen. Durch eine partizipative Vulnerabilitätsanalyse wurden in einem ersten Schritt die am stärksten gefährdeten Gruppen und deren Kapazitäten identifiziert. In einem zweiten Schritt wurde mithilfe der Faktorenanalyse zwanzig Indikatoren identifiziert und drei Vulnerabilitätselemente klassifiziert: Exposition, Anfälligkeit und Anpassungskapazität. Als Datengrundlage diente die Befragung von 512 Haushalten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Salzwasserintrusion, Süßwasserknappheit, Dürre und den Einluss der Gezeiten die wichtigsten Naturgefahren in den Küstenregionen des Mekong Deltas darstellen. Alle vier Naturgefahren scheinen sich in jüngerer Vergangenheit zu intensivieren. Bewältigungsund Anpassungsstrategien von lokalen Regierungen und Gemeinden schließen den Deichbau, technische Veränderung in der Argrawirtschaft, finanzielle Unterstützung für den Wiederaufbau, Grundwassererschließung sowie Einkommensdiversifizierung ein. Diese Anpassungstrategien sind oftmals durch eine Missachtung von ökologischen, sozialen und ökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen lokaler Gemeinden gekennzeichnet. Die Ergebnisse der Faktorenanalyse in dieser Studie deuten allerdings darauf hin, dass gerade diese Rahmenbedingungen von entscheidender Beudetung für lokale Vulnerabilität sind. Zukünftige Anpassungsstrategien sollten diese Rahmenbedingungen daher beachten um ihre Wirkung auch für marginalisierte soziale Gruppen wie etwa ethnische Minderheiten und Bewohner außerhalb des Deichsystems zu entfalten. Auf Grundlage der empirischen Ergbnisse entwickelt diese Studie die VAFSLO (Vulnerability Assessment Framework for Slow-onset hazard) und LIWISLO (Living With Slow-onset hazard) Analyserahmen für die Vulnerabilitätsmessung und für das Management von schleichenden Naturgefahren im Kontext des Klimawandels und des Meeresspiegelanstiegs

Aspects of cardiovascular risk in an Australian population study

Prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), a leading cause of death in men and women, is both a global and national public health priority. Prevention efforts have generally focused on well-known lifestyle (e.g., physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, smoking) and metabolic (e.g., overweight/obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia) risk factors. It is also important for public health strategies to consider emerging risk factors, innovative approaches to risk factors, and evidence in middle-aged men and women, to develop effective prevention strategies. This thesis explored innovative aspects of cardiovascular risk in a large cohort of middle-aged and older Australian men and women (“the 45 and Up Study”) by examining: 1) emerging or lesser known risk factors such as raw vegetable intake (Chapter 3), sedentary behaviour (Chapter 4, Appendix 1) and psychological distress (Chapter 5); 2) the single versus joint influence of lifestyle risk factors on incident type 2 diabetes (Chapter 4, Appendix 1) and hypertension (Chapter 5); 3) potential gender differences (Chapters 3-5, Appendix 1), and female-specific behaviours such as breastfeeding (Chapters 6-7). Overall, findings support Australian recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, alcohol intake and infant breastfeeding. While the importance of reducing known risk factors for CVD prevention was evident, the role of raw vegetable intake, sedentary behaviour and psychological distress was inconclusive. Breastfeeding was associated with a lower maternal risk of CVD. Findings confirmed that adopting a cluster of healthy lifestyle behaviours can reduce CVD risk in the middle-aged and older population. Potential gender differences were explored and identified. This thesis contributes to the literature by exploring innovative aspects of cardiovascular risk that are relevant to middle-aged adults, particularly women, as well as informs health care providers, researchers and policy makers

Trapped modes in finite quantum waveguides

The Laplace operator in infinite quantum waveguides (e.g., a bent strip or a twisted tube) often has a point-like eigenvalue below the essential spectrum that corresponds to a trapped eigenmode of finite L2 norm. We revisit this statement for resonators with long but finite branches that we call "finite waveguides". Although now there is no essential spectrum and all eigenfunctions have finite L2 norm, the trapping can be understood as an exponential decay of the eigenfunction inside the branches. We describe a general variational formalism for detecting trapped modes in such resonators. For finite waveguides with general cylindrical branches, we obtain a sufficient condition which determines the minimal length of branches for getting a trapped eigenmode. Varying the branch lengths may switch certain eigenmodes from non-trapped to trapped states. These concepts are illustrated for several typical waveguides (L-shape, bent strip, crossing of two stripes, etc.). We conclude that the well-established theory of trapping in infinite waveguides may be incomplete and require further development for being applied to microscopic quantum devices