HMông students’ funds of knowledge : a case study of Kinh primary school teachers’ practices

Underachievement and low study engagement by HMông ethnic minority students in disadvantaged primary schools in Việt Nam evidence a need for more effective teaching practices to support these minority students’ learning and reduce inequality within their educational environment. Learning about students’ funds of knowledge (FoK) and incorporation into their learning enables teachers to increase relevant learning experiences, empowering a socio- constructivist approach to teaching and learning (Moll et al., 1990; González et al., 2005) and obviating cultural deficits facing disadvantaged students in school (Rodriguez, 2013). Moll et al. (1992, p. 134) defined FoK as “historically accumulated and culturally-developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and well-being.” This study investigates the potential for using FoK in the education of ethnic minority primary students in Việt Nam. Specifically, the purpose for doing so is to answer the questions as to whether and in what ways Kinh (ethnic majority) primary school teachers use practices related to a FoK approach in serving HMông ethnic minority primary students. The study has produced three key findings. First, Kinh primary teachers identified HMông students’ FoK as an educational resource. Their FoK include their mother tongue, funds of identity, experiences in daily life and cultural artefacts. Second, each group of Kinh teachers interpreted HMông students’ FoK in different ways and introduced various pedagogical practices for the application of FoK in the classroom environment. They included: using the FoK of HMông students as a context during instructional practices; scaffolding their FoK to make better sense of academic knowledge; and employing FoK to enhance teacher-student relationships. Third, there are difficulties and educational potentials for Kinh teachers’ uses of HMông students’ FoK in primary school curricula. However, the difficulties appear to outweigh the advantages that suggest implications for policy and practices improve teachers’ uses of the FoK approach in teaching HMông primary students in Việt Nam. Further research for teaching ethnic minority students toward a FoK approach in Việt Nam are identified

Review of Literature of Faculty Motivation for Doing Research in Universities

Faculty research in the universities plays a very important role in the education and development of every country in the world. The purpose of this research is to review studies in this field, different approaches in studies, and fundamental theories used for studies. The results obtained from the literature review show that many scholars have conducted researches on the determinants influencing the faculty productivity to do research. Most of studies apply the theories of working motivation. However, not many scholars conduct research on the faculty motivation to do research. The final result of this research provides follow-up suggestions for studies of the motivation for conducting research on the side of lecturers, thereby guiding managers to enhance faculty motivation to do research. Keywords: Motivation, productivity, research, lecturer/faculty. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-20-10 Publication date:July 31st 201

Professional development for ESL lecturers – a struggle to integrate ICT into teaching

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) plays a crucial role in our daily life. In fact, students are considered digital citizens and have become accustomed to being always connected to their devices and the Internet. Given the importance ICT plays in our lives, education institutions nowadays have a duty to incorporate ICT into teaching and learning in order to better prepare students for 21st Century skills and careers. Although certain technological equipment may be available in classrooms, there are several external and internal factors that affect the proper implementation of ICT in classrooms. In preparing students to be career-ready, ICT integration is imperative. This paper will discuss factors affecting ESL lecturers’ professional development in terms of ICT application in the classroom. A total of 61 lecturers from 12 non-English-majored universities in Vietnam voluntarily completed this quantitative study’s survey questionnaire. The findings show that although ESL lecturers are aware of the significance of some factors affecting ICT implementation in classrooms, they are struggling to learn, to adapt, and to integrate ICT into their classrooms

Professional development for ESL lecturers – a struggle to integrate ICT into teaching

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) plays a crucial role in our daily life. In fact, students are considered digital citizens and have become accustomed to being always connected to their devices and the Internet. Given the importance ICT plays in our lives, education institutions nowadays have a duty to incorporate ICT into teaching and learning in order to better prepare students for 21st Century skills and careers. Although certain technological equipment may be available in classrooms, there are several external and internal factors that affect the proper implementation of ICT in classrooms. In preparing students to be career-ready, ICT integration is imperative. This paper will discuss factors affecting ESL lecturers’ professional development in terms of ICT application in the classroom. A total of 61 lecturers from 12 non-English-majored universities in Vietnam voluntarily completed this quantitative study’s survey questionnaire. The findings show that although ESL lecturers are aware of the significance of some factors affecting ICT implementation in classrooms, they are struggling to learn, to adapt, and to integrate ICT into their classrooms

A Robust Mobile Robot Navigation System using Neuro-Fuzzy Kalman Filtering and Optimal Fusion of Behavior-based Fuzzy Controllers

This study proposes a control system model for mobile robots navigating in unknown environments. The proposed model includes a neuro-fuzzy Extended Kalman Filter for localization task and a behaviorbased fuzzy multi-controller navigation module. The neuro-fuzzy EKF, used for estimating the robot’s position from sensor readings, is an enhanced EKF whose noise covariance matrix is progressively adjusted by a fuzzy neural network. The navigation module features a series of independently-executed fuzzy controllers, each deals with a specific navigation sub-task, or behavior, and a multi-objective optimizer to coordinate all behaviors. The membership functions of all fuzzy controllers play the roles of objective functions for the optimizer, which produces an overall Pareto-optimal control signal to drive the robot. A number of simulations and real-world experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of this model

How scientific research changes the Vietnamese higher education landscape: Evidence from social sciences and humanities between 2008 and 2019

Background: In the context of globalization, Vietnamese universities, whose primary function is teaching, there is a need to improve research performance. Methods: Based on SSHPA data, an exclusive database of Vietnamese social sciences and humanities researchers’ productivity, between 2008 and 2019 period, this study analyzes the research output of Vietnamese universities in the field of social sciences and humanities. Results: Vietnamese universities have been steadily producing a high volume of publications in the 2008-2019 period, with a peak of 598 articles in 2019. Moreover, many private universities and institutions are also joining the publication race, pushing competitiveness in the country. Conclusions: Solutions to improve both quantity and quality of Vietnamese universities’ research practice in the context of the industrial revolution 4.0 could be applying international criteria in Vietnamese higher education, developing scientific and critical thinking for general and STEM education, and promoting science communication

Impacts of flood on health: epidemiologic evidence from Hanoi, Vietnam

Vietnam is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. The country suffers from many kinds of natural disasters, of which the most common and serious one is flooding. Long and heavy rainfall during the last days of October and the first week of November 2008 resulted in a devastating flood unseen for over three decades in the capital city of Hanoi. It caused a substantial health impact on residents in and around the city and compromised the capacity of local health services. The aim of this study is to ascertain the vulnerability and health impacts of the devastating flood in Hanoi by identifying the differences in mortality, injuries, and morbidity patterns (dengue, pink eye, dermatitis, psychological problems, and hypertension) between flood affected and non-affected households. A cross-sectional study was carried out involving 871 households in four selected communes (two heavily flood affected and two comparatively less affected) from two severely flooded districts of Hanoi. Participants were interviewed and information collected on the social, economic, and health impacts of the devastation within 1 month after the flood. The self-reported number of deaths and injuries reported in this study within 1 month after the heavy rainfall were a bit higher in severely affected communes as compared to that of the less affected communes of our study. The findings showed higher incidences of dengue fever, pink eye, dermatitis, and psychological problems in communes severely affected by flood as compared to that of the controlled communes. For people in flood prone areas (at risk for flooding), flood prevention and mitigation strategies need to be seriously thought through and acted upon, as these people are exposed to greater health problems such as psychological issues and communicable diseases such as pink eye or dermatitis

Isolation an agar degradation Bacillus sp. AT6 and preliminary application for seaweed saccharification

Background: Agar is a common polysaccharide found in nature. However, agar is strongly resisted to the degradation processing, leading to limitation of its application in various areas. Thus, finding an effective solution for agar saccharification significantly improves the economically effects of agar based substrates.Methods: Soil samples were collected from TienPhong Forestry Ltd. Company, ThuyXuan District, ThuaThien Hue province, Vietnam. Potential agar degrading bacteria were screened on a mineral salt agar medium. The isolate was identified based on 16S rRNA nucleotide sequence, morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics. Agarase production was evaluated by modification culture conditions including incubation time, shaking speed, and initial inoculum size. Molecular mass of extracellular agarase was determined by native SDS-PAGE. The effect of pH, temperature, metal ions, and organic solvents were conducted for enzyme characterization. Application of enzyme was investigated on seaweed saccharification.Result: An agar degrading bacterial strain was isolated from soils and identified as Bacillus sp. AT6. Maximal agarase accumulation obtained in the culture containing an inoculum size of 10% (v/v), shaking speed of 210 rpm, and 96 hours incubation. The agarase revealed a single band on zymogram analysis with an apparent molecular weight of 180 kDa. The optimal temperature and pH were 40°C and pH 8.0, respectively. All tested metal ions and organic solvents partially decreased enzyme activity. Treatment seaweed by agarase resulted in reducing sugars release present in the reaction, indicating the saccharification of seaweed was succeeded.Conclusion: Bacillus sp. AT6 is a new report of agarolytic bacteria that produces extracellular agarase enzymes. The present results promise strain AT6 is a great candidate for agar saccharification for industrial application

Factors affecting career turnover intention after graduation among nursing students: A cross-sectional study in Central Vietnam

Background & Aim: Turnover intention can predict the actual turnover behavior of nurses. Previous studies identified a variety of factors influencing nurses' turnover intention. However, few studies investigate nursing students' career turnover intention. This study aimed to examine turnover intention and associated factors among nursing students in Central Vietnam. Methods & Materials: A cross-sectional study was implemented among 425 nursing students recruited through a multistage sampling technique from April to May 2022. Data were collected using a questionnaire including demographic characteristics, fear of COVID-19, perceived academic stress, and turnover intention. Descriptive statistics were used to describe demographic characteristics and study variables. Independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson's correlation coefficients were computed to examine the association between variables. Results: Approximately one-third (32.5%) of the respondents will look for jobs without patient contact, 32.2% would not study nursing if given a choice, and 31.1% often think of not staying in the nursing profession. The sum scores of turnover intention ranged from 3 to 15 with a mean of 9.19 (SD= 2.49). The turnover intention was associated with the year of study, the reason to study nursing, and preparation for nursing school (p<.05). Perceived academic stress had a moderate correlation with turnover intention (r= -.325, p<.05). In contrast, the association between fear of COVID-19 and turnover intention was not significant. Conclusion: A considerable number of nursing students had turnover intention upon graduation. Factors affecting turnover intention should be considered to retain students in educational programs and avoid a future nursing shortage