Factors Affecting Business Angels Investment in Vietnam

The paper aims at investigating and comparing the factors determining investment decisions by business angels (BAs) from the viewpoints of BAs and startups in Vietnam based on a framework synthesized from a literature review and primary data from in-depth interviews conducted with 8 startups and 15 angel investors. The results show that the startups’ founder, working team, financial issues, product and market, and strategy related to exit and the roles of BAs are startup-related factors determining BAs’ investment in Vietnam. For BA-related factors, the BAs’ experience, investment objectives and preferences, and culture are key determinants. The novelty of the paper is to find out the gaps between the perspectives of BAs and startups, and the difference between Vietnamese and foreign BAs’ viewpoints. The finding is that BAs, more strictly than startups, assess their business plan, financial state, product, market, and targeted consumers. Startups neglect the exit strategy and role of BAs in invested startups. In addition, foreign and domestic BAs have different opinions on startups’ market scale, and expectation of profits and BAs’ roles in startups. The paper ends by providing some implications for Vietnamese startups to attract more angel investment, focusing on improving the quality of human resources, developing a profitable, honest, and realistic business plan, and setting up a long-run vision towards the global market. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-02-07 Full Text: PD

Optimal Selection of Number and Location of Meteo-Hydrological Monitoring Networks on Vu Gia – Thu Bon River Basin using GIS

Meteorological data play a particularly important role in hydrologic research because the climate and weather of an area exert a profound influence on most hydrologic processes. Meanwhile, hydrological data are critical for performing a range of purposes, including water resources assessment, impacts of climate change and flood forecasting and warning. It can be said that the prevention of disasters caused by floods and droughts would be impossible without rational forecasting technology based on an understanding of the rainfall-runoff phenomenon and statistical analysis of past hydrological data, which cannot be achieved without meteo-hydrological observations. The lack of adequate meteo-hydrological data affects the ability to model, predict and plan for catastrophic events such as floods and droughts which have obvious negative impacts on public health and socio-economic aspects. The accurate estimation of the spatial distribution of meteorological and hydrological parameters requires a dense network of instruments, which entails large installation and operational costs. It is thus necessary to optimize the number and location of meteo-hydrological stations. This paper presents a GIS-based approach to establishing an optimal meteo-hydrological station network on Vu Gia- Thu Bon river basin for developing an up-to-date real time flood warning system. Based on statistical analysis of the annual rainfall total data at 9 existing gauges in the study area from 1980 to 2013, it showed that the error of the existing network was about 7.47%. Considering 9 rain gauges as a standard representative of rainfall over the region, if the error decreases from 7.47% to 5%, the number of additional rain gauges should be 20. For adequate and economical network design, these additional rain gauges were spatially distributed between the different isohyetals after considering the relative distances between rain gauges, their accessibility, personnel required for making observations using multi-layers analysis and spatial interpolation. For hydrological stations, based on consideration existing network with the requirements set out by the flood warning system, the number of stations should be five. In terms of spatial distribution, three stations were distributed across two main tributaries of Vu Gia- Thu Bon river basin, behind the dams for water discharge calibration and the others were located on downstream for water stage calibration. The results of the study provided a scientific approach can be applied to optimizing the meteo-hydrological station network over the river basin

Monitoring the Conformity to the Unemployment Insurance Law in Binh Duong province between 2013 and 2015

From the context of Binh Duong province, I choose the issues of unemployment law monitor as the topic of my master thesis. In order words, my topic is “Monitoring the Conformity to the Unemployment Insurance Law in Binh Duong province between 2013 and 2015”. Binh Duong is an emerging province that is a place for FDI companies to choose for their investment. The labor migration to Binh Duong then increases considerably. This situation challenges the unemployment insurance management in this province. The control of managing and implementing the unemployment insurance legislation is not effective. The number of unemployment insurance inspections is low that leads to the violation of unemployment insurance law. The post-inspection and inspection process in some localities has not received serious attention from the government. The ineffective monitoring of post-inspection has hindered the quality and efficiency of inspections. For examining the monitor of unemployment law, the thesis uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The thesis firstly collects secondary data on implementation of the unemployment insurance law in enterprises in Binh Duong from 2013 to 2016. Then the thesis uses quantitative to examine the factors that influence the obedience of the enterprise in Binh Duong to unemployment insurance. Thirdly, the thesis uses case study, deep-interview to discover the reasons that cause the law disobedience about unemployment insurance in enterprises in Binh Duong. The sample size is 100. Likert Scale with 5 point is used. For quantitative data, the thesis use SPSS 20.0 to carry out regression analysis to examine the relation between dependent variable (law conformity) and independent variables developed in theoretical framework. Coefficient rate is 95% with p = 0.5%. The process of analyzing data was conducted through 4 phases that are descriptive, reliability, validity and regression analysis. There is the strong relation between IT Application and Law Compliance Monitor. The other three factors (Profession of Public Servants, Labor Union and Relevant State Organizations, The reinforced legal status Social Insurance Organization) also had positive effects on Law Compliance Monitor and these predictors should be used in developing and improving Law Compliance. However, one remaining factor including Volume of Cost did not have impact on Law Compliance Monitor

THE PERCEIVED EFFECTS OF TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES INSTRUCTION ON EFL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS' MULTIPLE-CHOICE TESTS OF READING COMPREHENSION

This study aims to investigate whether the use of a text-taking strategy could enhance EFL high school learners' reading comprehension. It draws on the test-taking strategies suggested by Cohen and Upton (2007), to focus on the two main aspects, (1) the influence of applying test-taking strategies on EFL high school students’ reading comprehension tests and (2) their attitudes toward these strategies. In the pretest-posttest one-group design and descriptive quantitative research, the reading comprehension test and the questionnaire were used to collect the data of 90 EFL high school students in a school in rural Can Tho City. These students were assigned to apply test-taking strategies in a workshop every week in the second Semester of 2021-2022. The findings showed that (1) participating students’ reading comprehension scores improved after following the test-taking strategies after 07 weeks; and (2) students were positive about their being active in their testing practice despite certain challenges. As a result of such positive attitudes, they had high motivation for continuing their practice test-taking strategies for the future examination.  Article visualizations

Recommending Surface Water Quality Monitoring for the Nature Reserve Using Multivariate Statistical Methods

Lung Ngoc Hoang Nature Reserve has a crucial role in conserving and protecting the natural ecosystem and biodiversity in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, and the local communities also receive great benefits from aquatic resources in this nature reserve. This study was conducted to assess water quality in the Lung Ngoc Hoang Nature Reserve and to provide important information for the monitoring program using multivariate statistical methods. Water samples were collected bimonthly from fifteen locations belonging to five functional zones of the nature reserve (i.e., buffer zone, main canal, administrative and service zone, ecological restoration zone, and strictly protected zone). The physiochemical properties of water samples were measured, including temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total suspended solids (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), sulfate (SO42-), iron (Fe2+), and aluminum (Al3+). The results showed that the levels of TSS, COD, and Fe2+ exceeded the Vietnamese standard on surface water quality, and the DO level was also far below the standard. Besides, the concentrations of TN, TP, and Al3+ in the nature reserve area showed the risk of eutrophication and negative effects on aquatic organisms. Problems of water quality were observed in the main canal and the administrative and service zones more than in the other zones. Cluster analysis (CA) suggested a reduction in the number of monitoring frequencies and locations to four months (i.e., January, April, July, and September) and twelve locations, respectively. This reduction allows for a decrease in the effort and cost of the monitoring program with adequate information to evaluate water quality. Moreover, principal component analysis (PCA) identified five principal components, which could explain 80.98% of the total variance of the initial dataset. Potential pollution sources were also recognized based on PCA, including the nature properties of sulfate-acid soils, livestock, fertilizer, and domestic activities. The findings of this study can enhance our understanding of water quality in the nature reserve area and the effectiveness of future monitoring programs. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-SP2023-09-015 Full Text: PD

Differentiation Effect of Two Alkaloid Fractions from Vietnamese Lycopodiaceae on Mouse Neural Stem Cells

Various Lycopodium alkaloids have been studied for their various biological activities including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and neuroprotective activities. Moreover, these alkaloid compounds have high potential in the treatment of neuron degenerative disease. This study has been carried out to test the effect of Huperzia serrata (Thunb.) Trevis, and Lycopodium clavatum L alkaloid fractions on the mouse neural stem cells (NSCs). Firstly, the alkaloid fractions were used to verify its toxicity on NSCs. The multiple concentrations of alkaloid fractions from H. serrata (0.044; 0.088; 0.175; 0.35; 0.7; 1.4 mg/ml) and L. clavatum (0.031; 0.063; 0.125; 0.25; 0.50; 1.0; 2.0 mg/ml) have been used for the treatment of NSCs at period of 48h incubation. Results of the study suggested that the IC50 value of H. serrata and L. clavatum was 0.56 mg/ml and 0.50 mg/ml, respectively. Then, the NSCs were differentiated in the presence of 5 and 10 µg/ml of alkaloid fraction from H. serrata; 0.625 and 1.25 µg/ml of alkaloid fraction from L. clavatum for 6 days. Here, we observed the primary NSCs treated with alkaloid fraction extract from H. serrata showed the increased gene expression level of early neuron TUBB3 and neuron-specific cytoskeleton MAP2. On the other hand, the L. clavatum alkaloid fraction increased the expression of neural stem cell marker genes (Nestin and PAX6) and decreased neuron marker genes. In conclusion, these results established that alkaloid fraction from H. serrata promoted differentiation of the mouse NSCs to neuron cells, and L. clavatum extract had a capacity for stemness maintenance

Integrated Cross Sections of the Photo-Neutron Reactions Induced on 197^{197}Au with 60 MeV\text{MeV} Bremsstrahlung

Abstract. Seven photo-neutron reactions 197Au(γ,xn)197-xAu (with x=1-7) produced by the bremsstrahlung end-point energy of 60 MeV were identified. In this work, we focus on the measurement of integrated sections. Experiments were carried out based on the activation method in combination with off-line gamma-ray spectrometric technique. The integrated cross sections of the investigated reactions were determined relative to that of the monitoring reaction 197Au(γ,n)196Au. To validate the experimental results, theoretical predictions were also made using the computer code TALYS 1.9. The current integrated cross-sections of the 197Au(γ,xn)197-xAu reactions with 60 MeV bremsstrahlung end point energy are measured for the first time

An Image-Based Rice Weighing Estimation Approach on Clock Type Weighing Scale Using Deep Learning and Geometric Transformations

AI impacts surrounding human life, such as the economy, health, education, and agricultural production; however, the crop prices in the harvest season are still on manual calculation, which causes doubts about accuracy. In this study, an image-based approach is proposed to help farmers calculate rice prices more accurately. YOLOv5 is used to detect and extract the scales in the images taken from the harvesting of rice crops. Then, various image processing techniques, such as brightness balance, background removal, etc., are compiled to determine the needle position and number on the extracted scale. Lastly, geometric transformations are proposed to calculate the weight. A real dataset of 709 images is used for the experiment. The proposed method achieves good results in terms of [email protected] at 0.995, mAP@[0.5:0.95] at 0.830 for scale detection, and MAE at 3.7 for weight calculation