The Impact of Income and Education Level to the Perception of Democracy in Vietnam

Democracy is an interesting topic that many scholars pay attention to, since it is the foundation of a civil society. There are many factors that contribute to the country’s democracy. Two of many important factors that have a great impact on democracy are the people’s income and education. This study would investigate the relationship among income, level of education and democracy. The study focuses on the eastern cultured country, which is Vietnam after more than a decade of economic transformation in this case. The data is obtained from World Value Survey (wave 5, 2006). The author found out that there is a positive significant relationship between income and democracy, not level of education and democracy by using the correlation statistical method. The author acknowledges some limitation and suggests recommendations for future search

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A MOBILE ROBOT

Mobile robot nowadays has been used in various sectors of business ranged from sciences and industries to servicing and entertainment, and has posed very unique challenges to the researcher. Due to its autonomous nature, it requires an extensive sensing system to read the surrounding working environment, sufficient controller for data processing and decision-making, and also a very stable actuator system to actuate the robot response with respect to the working environment changes. This report details the final year project of designing and implementing an autonomous wheel-based mobile robot, which has a capability to navigate according to a predetermined path while avoiding any obstacle on its route. It is also equipped with small manipulator to enable simple pick and place action: picking a small object from a predefined location and placing it at another predetermined location on the floor. Hence, in order for it to do all those task, the robot fundamentally consists of four main building functional blocks: (1) Navigation (2) Position tracking (3) Obstacle detection and avoidance (4) Manipulator & gripper control block (Since the robot movement is based on a predetermined plan, the path planner block is skipped in this project). For further improvement, some fine-tuning on the manipulator structure and programming, as well as the development of a user interface to enable to user to select the robot movement path are highly recommended. In summary, the project has been successfully completed, providing a basement for future mobile robot development in UTP

Oral health-related quality of life in US adults with type 2 diabetes.

This dissertation focused on the relationship between type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and the factors associated with this relationship in the US. The objectives of the dissertation research were a three-part process: (1) to understand the relationships of T2DM with poor OHRQoL, clarify risk and preventive factors that affect this association, and identify research gaps in the literature, (2) to analyze risk factors associated with poor OHRQoL in US adults with T2DM using a nationally representative random probability cluster sample, and (3) to apply structural equation modeling (SEM) to a simplified Andersen’s Behavioral Model (ABM) to analyze the causal effects of T2DM and other factors on OHRQoL in adults from a nationally representative survey in the US. The first, second, and third objectives were met in Aim 1, Aim 2, and Aim 3, respectively. In Aim 1, there were 16 empirical articles included the systematic review that examined the association between T2DM and OHRQoL. Half of the reviewed studies did not include a control or comparison group (participants with non-T2DM). All investigations used samples of convenience, or surveys at the community level outside of the US. No studies were conducted at the national level in the US. Five studies included used only bivariate analysis and did not control for confounders. The remaining 11 studies used multivariate analysis, but none of them used a theoretical framework to guide their approach. Limited evidence supported the association between T2DM and poor OHRQoL. Some data support analyses that an increased susceptibility to periodontal disease, dry mouth, and dental caries may have negative effects on well-being and quality of life among individuals with T2DM. The findings of Aim 1 highlight the need for further research. In Aim 2, the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data set was used. The sample included 2,945 participants aged 20 or older sampled with a probability-based cluster design representing 131,397,654 million persons in the US population. Multiple logistic regression was used to predict severity scores (OHIP-ADD) and prevalence scores (OHIP-SC) with the ABM theoretical framework. We found that OHRQoL was poorer among US adults with T2DM, especially those with uncontrolled glycemia. Risk factors for poor OHRQoL included untreated dental caries, periodontal disease, unmet denture needs, obesity, female gender, African American ethnicity, and low income. Higher education, private dental coverage, and annual dental prophylaxis was associated with higher OHRQoL. In Aim 3, the analysis of a nationally representative sample of 2,798 participants aged 20 or older representing 124,525,899 individuals in the US population was done. We applied SEM to a simplified three-factor Andersen’s model to analyze the causal effects of T2DM and other factors on OHRQoL. Causal pathways of the interrelationships of T2DM, need, personal health practices and use of services with OHRQoL were analyzed in a simplified three-factor ABM. Using SEM, T2DM had an impact on need, which in turn, had direct and indirect effects on OHRQoL. Need also influenced personal health practices and use of services, which in turn, affected OHRQoL. Education and income also affected personal health practices and use of services. In summary, a theory-driven, practice-validated conceptual model with rigorous statistical methodology using a nationally representative sample in the US was used to analyze the association and pathways of T2DM and OHRQoL, as well as factors associated with these relationships. The present research indicates that T2DM negatively affected OHRQoL in US adults. Risk factors for poor OHRQoL (in descending order of importance) were current smoking, untreated dental caries, uncontrolled T2DM, unmet denture need, female gender, obesity, African American ethnicity, and periodontal disease. Protective factors from OHRQoL impairment were private dental insurance, college education, and annual dental prophylaxis. Moreover, need directly and indirectly influenced OHRQoL. Personal health practices and use of services also had affected OHRQoL

TCP/IP akitekucha ni okeru kurosureiya sosa moderu ni kansuru kenkyu

制度:新 ; 報告番号:甲3395号 ; 学位の種類:博士(国際情報通信学) ; 授与年月日:2011/7/6 ; 早大学位記番号:新571

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe behavior of foam films is significant in many areas such as mineral flotation, food processing, and oil recovery. The film stability between two bubbles in foams has been motivated by different research interests. This dissertation contributes to the understanding of the film stability based on several methods of evaluation. First, the structure of thin water films during the rupture process was investigated by a new approach, which combines molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) with image processing analysis. The procedure was developed to convert the MDS trajectories to readable 3D images. The films were studied at different thicknesses by MDS to determine the critical thickness at which film ruptures. The potential energy of each thickness during simulation time was analyzed. A new procedure involving the calculation of molecular porosity was developed. Results indicate a critical molecular porosity value of 49% for film rupture. Second, disjoining pressure (DP) in thin films was examined by using Matlab. The surface charge regulation approach was applied to develop a new model for computing of DP. The case of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) adsorption from NaCl solution was studied. A model of film drainage rate was developed accordingly which showed a good agreement with experimental data from the literature. Finally, features of interfacial water at air-water interfaces of anionic SDS and cationic dodecyl amine hydrochloride (DDA) solutions were examined by combining sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy measurements and MDS. The SFG spectra and MDS results revealed that interfacial waters for SDS solutions was highly-ordered compared with those for DDA solutions. SFG results revealed that interfacial waters at pH 9 in both SDS and DDA solutions showed less-ordered than at pH 7. Experiments on foam stability and foam weight were conducted under the same conditions. Results revealed that for SDS solutions, foams were more stable at pH 7 than at pH 9. The opposite was observed for DDA solutions, in which case stability decreased when pH increased. Results were explained based on the extent of surfactant hydration at interfaces which is thought to account for film stability as revealed from results on foam stability

Almost sure behavior of the zeros of iterated derivatives of random polynomials

Let $Z_1,\, Z_2,\dots$ be independent and identically distributed complex random variables with common distribution $\mu$ and set $$P_n(z) := (z - Z_1)\cdots (z - Z_n)\,.$$ Recently, Angst, Malicet and Poly proved that the critical points of $P_n$ converge in an almost-sure sense to the measure $\mu$ as $n$ tends to infinity, thereby confirming a conjecture of Cheung-Ng-Yam and Kabluchko. In this short note, we prove for any fixed $k\in \mathbb{N}$, the empirical measure of zeros of the $k$th derivative of $P_n$ converges to $\mu$ in the almost sure sense, as conjectured by Angst-Malicet-Poly.Comment: 8 page