CeO2 based catalysts for the treatment of propylene in motorcycle's exhaust gases

In this work, the catalytic activities of several single metallic oxides were studied for the treatment of propylene, a component in motorcycles' exhaust gases, under oxygen deficient conditions. Amongst them, CeO2 is one of the materials that exhibit the highest activity for the oxidation of C3H6. Therefore, several mixtures of CeO2 with other oxides (SnO2, ZrO2, Co3O4) were tested to investigate the changes in catalytic activity (both propylene conversion and CO2 selectivity). Ce0.9Zr0.1O2, Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 solid solutions and the mixtures of CeO2 and Co3O4 was shown to exhibit the highest propylene conversion and CO2 selectivity. They also exhibited good activities when tested under oxygen sufficient and excess conditions and with the presence of co-existing gases (CO, H2O)

An efficient approach to measure the difficulty degree of practical programming exercises based on student performances

oai:ojs.www.rev-jec.org:article/282This study examines the generality of easy to hard practice questions in programming subjects. One of the most important contributions is to propose four new formulas for determining the difficulty degree of questions. These formulas aim to describe different aspects of difficulty degree from the learner's perspective instead of the instructor's subjective opinions. Then, we used clustering technique to group the questions into three easy, medium and difficult degrees. The results will be the baseline to consider the generality of the exercise sets according to each topic. The proposed solution is then tested on the data set that includes the results of the two subjects: Programming Fundamentals, Data Structures and Algorithms from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. The most important result is to suggest the instructors complete various degrees according to each topic for better evaluating student's performance

Effects of dietary tryptophan on cannibalism, survival and growth of Wallago attu (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) juveniles

This study aims to evaluate the effects of supplemented commercial diets with tryptophan (TRP) on plasma serotonin, cannibalism, survival rate, and growth of Wallago attu (helicopter catfish). After one week of acclimation, 3,200 juveniles of helicopter catfish (BW = 2.5 ± 0.27 g, total length = 5.6 ± 0.43 cm) were randomly assigned for the experiment in fifteen plastic tanks (200 L). The experiment was conducted with five treatments (CT – 0 g TRP/kg – control group, T1 – 5 g TRP/kg, T2 – 10 g TRP/kg, T3 – 20 g TRP/kg, and T4 – 40 g TRP/kg) in a completely randomized design with three replications for four weeks. The results from the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay reveal that TRP-supplemented diets effectively increased the serotonin level (5-HT) in the plasma of the catfish. The serotonin level increased with the dose of TRP added to the feed. Furthermore, a higher TRP level significantly decreased cannibalism and improved the final survival of the fish. However, the fish’s growth rate among treatments T1, T2, T3, and T4 was not significantly different, but there was a statistical difference between the experimental treatments and the CT treatment. The findings of this study suggest that TRP could be supplemented at a dose of 20 g·kg–1 to the feed to reduce cannibalism and improve the final survival of helicopter catfish

CONNECTING MATHEMATICS AND PRACTICE: A CASE STUDY OF TEACHING EXPONENTIAL FUNCTIONS

There is a need for teaching exponential functions to show the necessity for a better match between the knowledge of exponential functions in high schools with the practical application of it in fields. In this research, a teaching process was built in association with teaching situations to show students the relationship between mathematics and real life. The research sample included 76 students in high schools in Vietnam. Additionally, two problems of compound interest and population growth were integrated and were the main research instruments. Data were collected, including student work, and they were analyzed qualitatively. The results showed that students had improved their problem-solving skills and saw the relationship between mathematics and practice. Furthermore, there were some recommendations suggested for textbook authors and teachers. Article visualizations

Geographical variation in morphological leaf traits of Huperzia serrata (lycopodiaceae) from Vietnam

Morphological leaf traits can be used to assess adaptive responses of plants to environmental conditions. To assess how the representation of Huperzia serrata leaf traits, such as leaf length (LL), leaf width (LW) and leaf area (LA) response to changes in mean annual temperature (MAT), sunshine duration (SuH), mean annual precipitation (MAP), air humidity (Hu), intraspecific variation of the morphological leaf traits of the species was analyzed along a geographical gradient of Vietnam. The results showed that among the three populations at the three sites, leaf sizes increased with MAT and MAP. Huperzia serrata, climatic factors, morphological leaf traits, Vietnam.

Tropical Forest Fire Susceptibility Mapping at the Cat Ba National Park Area, the Hai Phong city (Vietnam) using GIS-Based Kernel Logistic Regression

-The Cat Ba National Park area (Vietnam) with the tropical forest is recognized to be part of the world biodiversity conservation by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Oranization (UNESCO) and is a well-known destination for tourist with around 500,000 travellers per year. This area has been the site for many research projects; however no project has been carried out for the forest fire susceptibility assessment. Thus, protection of the forest including fire prevention is one of the main concerns of the local authority. This work aims to produce a tropical forest fire susceptibility map for the Cat Ba National Park area, which may be helpful for the local authority in the forest fire protection management. To obtain this purpose, first, historical forest fires and related factors were collected from various sources to construct a GIS database. Then a forest fire susceptibility model was developed using Kernel logistic regression. The quality of the model was assessed using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve, area under the ROC curve (AUC), and five statistical evaluation measures. The usability of the resulting model is further compared with a benchmark model, the Support vector machine. The results show that the Kernel logistic regression model has high performance on both the training and validation dataset with a prediction capability of 92.2%. Since the Kernel logistic regression model outperform the benchmark model, we conclude that the proposed model is a promising alternative tool that should be considered for forest fire susceptibility mapping also for other areas. The result in this study is useful for the local authority in forest planning and management

Genetic diversity of Panax vietnamensis var. fuscidiscus K. Komatsu, s. Zhu & S.Q. cai population in western north of vietnam detected by inter simple sequence repeat markers

Panax vietnamensis var. fuscidiscus is a precious medicinal plant which was recently discovered in Sin Ho and Muong Te district, Lai Chau province of Vietnam. Over exploitation of the species in the native habitat poses a serious threat to its existence. Adequate information on the nature and the extent of genetic diversity in this important species is required for developing suitable strategy for its conservation. In this study, inter simple sequence repeat markers were employed to investigate the genetic diversity and variability of 46 individuals belonging to a naturally distributed population of this variety in Vietnam. Genetic diversity at the population level was high (He = 0.2300, I = 0.3665, and PPB = 96.98 %). The group of mature individuals possessed the higher genetic diversity (HeO = 0.2291, IO = 0.3563, and PPBO = 84.34 %) as compared to group of young individuals (HeY = 0.2086, Iy = 0.3291, and PPBY = 81.5 %). The intergroup gene differentiation was high (GST = 0.0499) with the genetic distance among groups was 0.0298. The similarity coefficient among mature individuals was more moderate (Maximum = 0.873, Minimum = 0.614 and Average = 0.741) than among young individuals (Maximum = 0.916, Minimum = 0.596 and Average = 0.759). Otherwise, the number of discovered individuals was small, distribution area is narrow habitats, and the population showed the reduction in genetic diversity due to the human affects in the habitat and over-exploitation. Results on genetic diversity and variability showed that the investigated population has coped with the risk of decline and needed to be protected