PROFIT EFFICIENCY AND DETERMINANTS OF PROFITABILITY IN VIETNAM BANKING FROM 2009-2014

Employing a translog profit function, we first estimate and compare profit efficiency of 44 commercial banks in Vietnam over the period 2009-2014. The efficiency scores are estimated by stochastic frontier approach (SFA) under the assumption that inefficiency term follows a truncated normal distribution with only positive values and is directly affected by environmental factors. Our results reveal a relatively high profit efficiency of 83% on average. Regarding types of ownership, Joint venture banks are more efficient than foreign-owned banks and state-owned banks, while private-owned banks are found to be the least efficient during the period. Profit efficiency estimation in the 1st stage is then included in the 2nd stage model as a suspected endogenous regressor. Together with efficiency variable, other bank-specific, industry-specific and macro-economic variables are also captured in the model to identify the driving factors of bank profitability. The endogeneity problem and dynamic nature of the profit model is addressed by using system generalised method of moments (SGMM). The regression results support the X-efficiency hypothesis that profit efficiency is positively correlated to bank profitability. However, they are not identical in explaining the relative ranking of bank performance. However, there is no evidence to support the structure conduct performance (SCP) hypothesis since concentration is found to have negative impact on bank profitability. Vietnam commercial banks appear to be highly sensitive with the changes in its operating environment. While the increase of money supply growth and inflation negatively affect the bank performance, the rise in GDP growth can lead to the improvement of the profit ratio

EVALUATING FUTURE WATER QUALITY OF URBAN RIVERS IN HANOI UNDER EFFECT OF URBANIZATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE - THE APPLICATION OF WEAP MODEL FOR CAU BAY RIVER

Every day, up to 750,000 cubic meters of wastewater in Hanoi metropolitan areas is discharged directly into rivers and lake, of which only 10% is treated to the Vietnamese standards. According to the water drainage development master plan for the capital city of Hanoi until 2030, the government aim at dealing with flooding and improve environmental sanitation for local residents. With respect to the baseline and Master plan implementation scenarios, this study evaluates the future water quality of urban rivers in Hanoi under the effect of urbanization and climate change using Water Evaluation And Planning tool (WEAP) and take the Cau Bay catchment as the case study. The result shows that, without implementation of wastewater treatment plant, the water quality of Cau Bay River will be worse with the DO in dry season is 0.2-1.2 mg/l and BOD is 52.0-55.0 mg/l. With the implementation of Master plan, the level of DO and BOD would be 7.1-7.3 mg/l and 7.0-13.8 mg/l respectively in the dry season whereas the values are 3.7 mgO/l and 36.1-41.8 mg/l in the wet season. The degradation of wastewater during the wet season is results from the combine- overflow sewage system as designed in the master plan

Credit composition and income inequality in Vietnam: an empirical analysis

Purpose This paper examines credit composition and income inequality reduction in Vietnam. In particular, the authors focus on the distinction between policy and commercial credits and investigate whether these two types of credit adversely affect on income inequality. The authors also examine whether the educational level and institutional quality condition the impact of policy credit on income inequality. Design/methodology/approach The authors use the primary data set, which contains a panel of 60 provinces collected from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam from 2002 to 2016. The authors employ the generalized method of moments to solve the endogenous problem. Findings The authors show that while commercial credit increases income inequality, policy credit reduces income inequality in Vietnam. In addition, we provide evidence that the institutional quality and educational level condition the impact of policy credit on income inequality. Based on the findings, the paper implies that it was not the size of the private credit but its composition that mattered in reducing income inequality due to the asymmetric effects of different types of credit. Practical implication The government should focus on credit for the poor by helping them to exit poverty through investing in human capital, health and micro enterprises activities. Originality/value This is the first study that examines the links between the two components of credit and income inequality as well as the constraints of the links. The authors argue that analyzing the separate effects of commercial and policy credits is more important for explaining the role of credit in income inequality than the size of total credit

Software compensation in particle flow reconstruction.

The particle flow approach to calorimetry benefits from highly granular calorimeters and sophisticated software algorithms in order to reconstruct and identify individual particles in complex event topologies. The high spatial granularity, together with analogue energy information, can be further exploited in software compensation. In this approach, the local energy density is used to discriminate electromagnetic and purely hadronic sub-showers within hadron showers in the detector to improve the energy resolution for single particles by correcting for the intrinsic non-compensation of the calorimeter system. This improvement in the single particle energy resolution also results in a better overall jet energy resolution by improving the energy measurement of identified neutral hadrons and improvements in the pattern recognition stage by a more accurate matching of calorimeter energies to tracker measurements. This paper describes the software compensation technique and its implementation in particle flow reconstruction with the Pandora Particle Flow Algorithm (PandoraPFA). The impact of software compensation on the choice of optimal transverse granularity for the analogue hadronic calorimeter option of the International Large Detector (ILD) concept is also discussed

An Assessment of the Values of French Colonial Townhouses in Hanoi Towards A More Sustainable Conservation

As the capital city of French Indochina, Hanoi was well planned by the French and immensely invested in the construction of public buildings as well as houses. In addition to public buildings and villas designed in French colonial styles that shaped the so-called distinctive architectural heritage in Hanoi throughout the colonial years, a large number of townhouses built during 1920 - 1950 which formed the cityscape of Hanoi in the first half of the 20th century should be noted. After nearly 70 years since the French army withdrew from the city, the number of French townhouses has considerably decreased. The remaining houses have shown that this is a real “treasure” that needs to be conserved because of their important values, not only in terms of urban architecture but also in cultural and historical aspects. However, a fact requiring special attention is that French townhouses in Hanoi - unlike French public buildings and villas - have not yet been recognised as heritage so that they can be kept to avoid the risk of deterioration or demolition under the impact of rapid urbanisation in the market economy. One of the main reasons for this negative urban development is that there has been no concrete or comprehensive rating system to assess the values of those townhouses which will closely correspond to their characteristics and contexts. Therefore, the authors - based on site surveys and by applying some appropriate methods such as expert consultations and case studies - have developed a full set of criteria to help evaluate those remaining townhouses as accurately as possible. This system can be used as a basis for a systematic assessment and classification towards a more effective conservation and even promoting the values of those townhouses with regard to the development of a modern society and in consideration of sustainable heritage conservation as a mainstream in the world.

Orange Peel Essential Oil Nanoemulsions Supported by Nanosilver for Antibacterial Application

This study is devoted to the synthesis of King Orange peel essential oil in water nanoemulsions combined with nanosilver by ultrasonic method supported by mechanical stirring for antibacterial application. The samples were characterized by Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Ultraviolet–visible (UV-Vis), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Dynamic light scattering (DLS) methods. According to the above-experimental results, it was found that the emulsions based on orange essential oil (without nanosilver) and the ones combined with nanosilver have the average particle size from 66.2 nm and 42.9 nm, respectively. The obtained nanoemulsions were also tested to examine their antibacterial ability against Escherichia coli (E. coli) by the disc diffusion method. It has been also found that nanoemulsions based on orange essential oil supported by nanosilver have the superior antibacterial ability, compared with individual components of the materials

The role of nutritional risk evaluation in predicting adverse outcomes among patients with severe COVID-19 in Vietnam

IntroductionAs sufficient nutrition helps alleviate catabolic stress and modulate the systemic inflammatory response of the body, it plays an indispensable role in the good prognosis of critically ill patients. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the malnutrition of patients with severe COVID-19 and its association with adverse treatment outcomes.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study in two provincial hospitals in Hanoi from February to April 2022. Participants were patients with severe COVID-19 admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Malnutrition risk were evaluated by Nutritional Risk Screening-2002 (NRS), Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM), Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), and the adverse prognosis was assessed by Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II). The multivariate receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to estimate the predictive ability of those criteria regarding worse treatment results.ResultsThe percentages of malnutrition measured by NRS, GLIM, PNI, and BMI were 62.6, 51.5, 42.9, and 16.6%, respectively. Patients with more severe malnutrition assessed by GLIM, PNI, and having above target fasting blood glucose (FBG) (≥10.0 mmol/L) were more likely to have higher APACHE scores. PNI had a better diagnostic performance than NRS and BMI (AUC = 0.84, 0.81, and 0.82, respectively). In addition, FBG revealed a good prognostic implication (AUC = 0.84).ConclusionA relatively high percentage of patients experienced moderate and severe malnutrition regardless of screening tools. Individuals at higher risk of malnutrition and high FBG were predicted to have more adverse treatment outcomes. It is recommended that nutritional screening should be conducted regularly, and personalizing nutritional care strategies is necessary to meet patients’ nutrient demands and prevent other nutrition-related complications

The Control of Typhoid Fever in Vietnam.

Typhoid fever, caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi), is a diminishing public health problem in Vietnam, and this process may represent a prototype for typhoid elimination in Asia. Here, we review typhoid epidemiology in Vietnam over 20 years and assess the potential drivers associated with typhoid reduction. In the 1990s, multidrug resistant S. Typhi were highly prevalent in a sentinel hospital in southern Vietnam. A national typhoid incidence rate of 14.7/100,000 population per year was estimated around the new millennium. The Vietnamese government recognized the public health issue of typhoid in the 1990s and initiated vaccine campaigns to protect the most vulnerable members of the population. At their peak, these campaigns immunized approximately 1,200,000 children in 35 provinces. Concurrently, Vietnam experienced unprecedented economic development from 1998 to 2014, with the gross national income per capita increasing from $360 to$1,890 over this period. More recent typhoid incidence data are not available, but surveillance suggests that the current disease burden is negligible. This trajectory can be considered a major public health success. However, a paucity of systematic data makes it difficult to disaggregate the roles of immunization and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions in typhoid reduction in Vietnam. Given the limitations of typhoid vaccines, we surmise the practical elimination of typhoid was largely driven by economic development and improvement in general population living standards. Better designed WASH intervention studies with clinical endpoints and systematic incidence data are essential to glean a greater understanding of contextual factors that impact typhoid incidence reduction

The induction and identification of novel Colistin resistance mutations in Acinetobacter baumannii and their implications.

Acinetobacter baumannii is a significant cause of opportunistic hospital acquired infection and has been identified as an important emerging infection due to its high levels of antimicrobial resistance. Multidrug resistant A. baumannii has risen rapidly in Vietnam, where colistin is becoming the drug of last resort for many infections. In this study we generated spontaneous colistin resistant progeny (up to >256 μg/μl) from four colistin susceptible Vietnamese isolates and one susceptible reference strain (MIC <1.5 μg/μl). Whole genome sequencing was used to identify single nucleotide mutations that could be attributed to the reduced colistin susceptibility. We identified six lpxACD and three pmrB mutations, the majority of which were novel. In addition, we identified further mutations in six A. baumannii genes (vacJ, pldA, ttg2C, pheS and conserved hypothetical protein) that we hypothesise have a role in reduced colistin susceptibility. This study has identified additional mutations that may be associated with colistin resistance through novel resistance mechanisms. Our work further demonstrates how rapidly A. baumannii can generate resistance to a last resort antimicrobial and highlights the need for improved surveillance to identified A. baumannii with an extensive drug resistance profile

A Phase 2/3 double blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study in healthy adult participants in Vietnam to examine the safety and immunogenicity of an inactivated whole virion, alum adjuvanted, A(H5N1) influenza vaccine (IVACFLU-A/H5N1)

Abstract Background A global shortfall of vaccines for avian influenza A(H5N1) would occur, especially in low- and-middle income countries, if a pandemic were to occur. To address this issue, development of a pre-pandemic influenza vaccine was initiated in 2012, leveraging a recently established influenza vaccine manufacturing capacity in Vietnam. Methods This was a Phase 2/3, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study to test the safety and immunogenicity of IVACFLU-A/H5N1 vaccine in healthy adults. Phase 2 was a dose selection study, in which 300 participants were randomized to one of the three groups (15 mcg, 30 mcg, or placebo). Safety and immunogenicity were assessed in all participants. In Phase 3, 630 participants were randomized to receive the IVACFLU-A/H5N1 vaccine dose selected in Phase 2 (15 mcg, n = 525) or placebo (n = 105). Safety was assessed in all Phase 3 participants and immunogenicity was measured in a subset of participants. Results The vaccine was well tolerated and most of the adverse events were mild and of short duration. Mild pain at the injection site was the most common adverse event seen in 60 percent of participants in the vaccine group in Phase 3. In Phase 2, both 15 mcg and 30 mcg doses were immunogenic, so the lower dose was selected for further testing in Phase 3. In Phase 3 overall seroconversion rates were 68 percent for hemagglutination inhibition (HI), 51 percent for microneutralization (MN) and 56 percent for single radial hemolysis (SRH). The seroprotection rates were 44 percent for HI, 41 percent for MN and 55 percent for SRH. The GMT ratio was 5.31 and 3.7 for HI and MN respectively; GMA was 4.75 for the SRH. Conclusion The IVACFLU A/H5N1 was safe and immunogenic. Development of this pandemic avian influenza vaccine is a welcome addition to the limited global pool of these vaccines. ClinicalTrials.gov register NCT02612909