Dissertation

At first I would like to say my sincerest thank to my classmates, and teachers - professors of the University of Nottingham. Especially, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to my Supervisor Dr. Richard Simper for his valuable guidance, enthusiastic supports, and dedicated supervision as well as the inspiration and motivation. Furthermore, I want to send my thankful gratitude to my sister, Lily Tran, my best friends Khanh Chi Nguyen, Aroosha and Adam Nguyen for staying next to me in difficulties. Finally, I would love to say a gratefully thank to my family, especially Mom and Dad who always behind me to motivate and support

Evaluating factors affecting attitudes of IT-intensive and non-IT-intensive students towards e-assessment

Despite the significant shift to distance computer-based test as an inevitable outcome of Industry 4.0 and the public lockdown of COVID-19, little effort has been made to research this new testing mode. To address this issue, this study targets two groups of information technology (IT)-intensive and non-IT-intensive students with an aim of investigating factors that effectively encourage each group to adopt online assessment and whether their majors cause any differences in the students’ attitudes. Based on the student perception of e-assessment questionnaire (SPEAQ) with some slight modifications, a final 28-item survey was formed and distributed to 400 students. Results have shown that the factors of security, and affective factors were the top factors to impact both groups of students, while the impact of validity and practicality varied among the two groups and reliability and teaching-learning were at the bottom. Besides, there were no noticeable differences in the attitudes of students coming from different majors

Wind induced vibration of stay cable bridge evaluation based on the operational accelerometers monitoring data and field testing

Wind induced vibrations are considering as one of the major concerns of the owner, the engineers and contractors of stay cable bridges. This paper presents in premier lieu the assessment of the vibration monitoring data from the pre-installed accelerometers on the longest cables of the Bach Dang bridge, Quang Ninh province. The identified cables natural frequencies based on the ambient vibration monitoring data were then compared to the taut string vibrating model calculation based on lift-off tension forces showing a good concordant. The enhanced damping of the cables stayed were then estimated and compared to the damping test results of another stay cables bridge recently performed in Vietnam with similar range of cables length. The damping prediction are quite in line with the damping test results and comparable also to those given in most of International Standard for stay cable. Finally, the identified natural frequencies and predicted intrinsic damping were used for an assessment of the wind induced vibration instability including the wind/rain induced vibration, wake galloping and vortex excitation

Wind induced vibration of stay cable bridge evaluation based on the operational accelerometers monitoring data and field testing

Wind induced vibrations are considering as one of the major concerns of the owner, the engineers and contractors of stay cable bridges. This paper presents in premier lieu the assessment of the vibration monitoring data from the pre-installed accelerometers on the longest cables of the Bach Dang bridge, Quang Ninh province. The identified cables natural frequencies based on the ambient vibration monitoring data were then compared to the taut string vibrating model calculation based on lift-off tension forces showing a good concordant. The enhanced damping of the cables stayed were then estimated and compared to the damping test results of another stay cables bridge recently performed in Vietnam with similar range of cables length. The damping prediction are quite in line with the damping test results and comparable also to those given in most of International Standard for stay cable. Finally, the identified natural frequencies and predicted intrinsic damping were used for an assessment of the wind induced vibration instability including the wind/rain induced vibration, wake galloping and vortex excitation

A Simple Procedure for Extraction of Surface Protein of Salmonella Serotypes and Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Poultry and Pigs

Salmonella and E.coli possess different surface protein structures that can induce protective immune responses. Identification of these proteins capacitates development of diverse applications in prevention and diagnosis that contribute to effectively control disease-causing enterobacteria pathogens such as Salmonella and E.coli. A simple procedure for obtaining protein complexes of Salmonella serotypes and E.coli is performed in this study. A sonication process with heat treatment of whole bacteria induced the release of protein complexes. Concentration of the protein extract was quantified using protein quantification Kits-Rapid, and protein complex profile was obtained by SDS-PAGE (Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) and silver staining. The concentrations of protein ranged from 29.45 to 45.35 µg/mL in the  Salmonella protein extracts, and from 25.35 to 36.72 µg/mL in the E.coli protein extracts. Six major groups of proteins from E. coli (YfiO, NipB, OmpF, YfgL, Talc, YaeT) and four major groups of proteins from Salmonella (Flagellin, OmpA, Porin, SEF21) were preliminarily determined by a simple procedure of extraction based on the molecular weight

Drought stress - related functional characterization of transcription factor GmNAC085 in soybean

Studies on soybean GmNAC085 transcription factor revealed that the gene expression in plants was induced by water shortage treatments and its overexpression in the model plant Arabidopsis displayed improved plant tolerance characteristics towards drought stress. In this study, we continued analyzing the biological functions of GmNAC085 using transgenic soybean system overexpressing GmNAC085 gene, by targeting at a number of plant physiological features and biochemical activities in response to limited water growing condition. Compared to the wild-type, the transgenic line demonstrated that it possessed stress tolerance characters, including enhanced elongation of taproot, minimized reduction of shoot growth, lower intracellular H2O2 content and stronger peroxidase enzyme activity under drought condition. The results of this study therefore suggest the transgenic plants had better drought tolerance and the GmNAC085 plays important role in aiding plants to cope with water deficit condition, probably via regulating the growth of roots and shoots, and activities of reactive-oxygen-species- scavenging enzymes

Intervention Design Elements Are Associated with Frontline Health Workers\u27 Performance to Deliver Infant and Young Child Nutrition Services in Bangladesh and Vietnam

Background: Frontline health workers (FLWs) are needed for delivering interventions at scale to reduce maternal and child undernutrition, but low- and middle-income countries often face inadequate FLW performance.Objectives: We examined whether and how intervention design elements such as training, supervision, and mass media improved FLW performance in delivering nutrition services.Methods: Survey data were collected in 2010 and 2014 as part of impact evaluations of Alive & Thrive (A&T) interventions to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in Bangladesh and Vietnam. FLWs in A&T intensive (A&T-I) areas received specialized IYCF training, job aids, and regular supportive supervision. Those in non-intensive (A&T-NI) areas received standard government training and supervision. There was mass media exposure in both areas. Multiple regression was used to test differences in exposure to intervention design elements and performance outcomes between the 2 program areas. Path analyses were conducted to examine the paths from exposure to performance outcomes measured at FLW and end-user levels.Results: Compared to FLWs in A&T-NI areas, those in A&T-I areas had higher scores in training (by 1.3-3.6 of 10 points), supportive supervision (0.3-3.5 points), and mass media exposure (0.3-3.5 points). These intervention design elements were significantly associated with FLW knowledge and motivation, which in turn improved service delivery. FLW-level performance outcomes contributed to improving end-user-level outcomes such as higher service received (beta = 0.12-1.04 in Bangladesh and 0.11-0.96 in Vietnam) and maternal knowledge (beta = 0.12-0.17 in Bangladesh and 0.04-0.21 in Vietnam).Conclusions: Training, supervision, and mass media exposure can be implemented at large scale and contribute to improved FLW service delivery by enhancing knowledge and motivation, which in turn positively influence mother\u27s service utilization and IYCF knowledge. Training, supervision, and mass media to enhance service provision should be considered when designing interventions. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01678716 (Bangladesh) and NCT01676623 (Vietnam)

Investigation on Air Pollution in Vietnam : Concentration of Water-soluble Ions in Suspended Particulate Matters

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

Determinants of organic food purchasing intention: an empirical study of local consumers in Da Nang city, Central Vietnam

With the rapid economic development in the past decades, Vietnamese people are more and more aware of the role of safe food for their health and that of their families. Currently, the trend of organic food consumption is happening faster, especially in urban areas. The study aims to determine the influence of transparent information and knowledge about organic products on consumers' attitudes, trust, and subjective norms affecting their purchase intention of organic products. Data were collected from 420 consumers in Da Nang city, Central Vietnam. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) method and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were used to evaluate the scale's reliability and identify the impact factors. The results show that attitudes and trust have a positive relationship with the intention to buy organic food. In addition, research shows that trust is a predecessor of attitudes and mediates the relationship between information, knowledge about organic food, and intention to buy organic food. The study's findings are consistent with previous literature and provide implications for food managers, organic food businesses, and the community

DRY DEPOSITION MONITORING IN VIETNAM AND REMOVAL OF AIR POLLUTANTS BY USING BIODIESEL FUEL

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart