245 research outputs found

    Nature, Self, and Being in the World: Revealing a Flourishing Ethics in Landscape Architecture through Poignant Landscape Experiences

    Get PDF
    Poignant landscapes are gateways to our existential belongingness because they allow us to be moved by the world. Landscape architects have the potential to shape the worlds landscapes, as settings for poignant life experiences, and yet, an issue lies in the praxis of the profession. Contemporary landscape architecture and environmental ethics, as part of contemporary society, are enmeshed in binary narratives. Because interpretations of landscapes are inseparable from notions of nature, which hermeneutically carry existential stories of human-world relationships, when an enigmatic natural world was abandoned for the objectivity of biology and space, the worldview of landscapes also split into binary narratives of human versus nature, sacred versus profane, and poetic versus practical. Moreover, with the expansion of secularism and nondualist cosmologies such as Daoism and Indigenous teachings into the Western world, polarised moral judgements, which are loosely based on past Christian narratives, become paradoxical and unsupportive towards resolving contemporary social and ecological disputes. Therefore, this project argues for an approach to ethics based on the idea of flourishing, which sees morality as relational and that ethical individuals make autonomous choices to flourish within a world of social and ecological systems. To return to the roots of being, this research asks landscape architects what a flourishing life and a flourishing environment really means to them. Poignant experiences with landscapes are used to provoke memory and awareness of being in the world and the sense of connectivity with other existences in the human, ecological, or spiritual worlds. Through the analysis of professional codes and mandates, a survey of landscape architects, and interviews with flourishing landscape architects, the research explores how the landscape architect, as a professional identity and as an archetype in the collective consciousness, is interpreted, performed, and communicated in landscape architecture. A hermeneutic approach was used to unravel concepts of nature, landscape, experience, poignancy, and ethical choice-making. The analysis reveals that a reflexive process that is simultaneously personal and collective can increase experiential awareness, expand horizons for meanings, and create opportunities for shifting paradigms essential to achieving a sense of human belongingness in the world

    FATTY ACID COMPOSITION AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF CAMELLIA NINHII SEED OIL COLLECTED IN LAM DONG PROVINCE

    Get PDF
    The seed oil of Camellia ninhii was studied for the first time on its fatty acid composition by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and antioxidant activity by the DPPH method. The results show that unsaturated fatty acids account for the largest amount, especially oleic acid with 45.43% of the total sample analyzed. In addition, other fatty acids, palmitic, linoleic, pentadecanoic, and two aromatic acids, benzoic and cinnamic, were present. The sample of C. ninhii seed oil exhibited mild antioxidant activity against DPPH free radicals with IC50 = 0.94 mg/mL

    Vector abundance and species composition of Anopheles mosquitoin Central Region and Central West Highlands, Viet Nam

    Get PDF
    Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Viet Nam. In 2008, World Health Organization reported an estimated value of 243 million cases with a mortality of about 863 thousand in the world. Malaria transmission in the Central Region and Central West Highlands of Viet Nam is known to be holoendemic and perennial. High humidity (80%) and a high mean temperature of 25°C in this area favour the bionomics of the principal malaria vectors. Vector control is a major component of the Global Malaria Control Strategy and still remains the most generally effective measure to prevent malaria transmission. Successful application of vector control measures requires the understanding of the bionomics of Anopheles species responsible for malaria transmission, including correct and precise identification of the target species and its distribution.This study was conducted to provide information on the vector abundance and species composition of Anopheles mosquito at Quang Binh, Binh Đinh, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Gia Lai, Dak Lak ofCentral Region and Central West Highlands of Viet Nam. A total of 18 Anopheles species were collected in these provinces, therein, the 2main vectors are An. minimus and An. dirus, and the 3 secondary vectors are An. aconitus, An. jeyporiensis, An. maculatus. An. dirus and An. minimus species are present in most of the studied communes in 6 provinces, An. aconitus, An. jeyporiensis and An. maculatusare present in Binh Dinh, Ninh Thuan and Gia Lai provinces, whileAn. jeyporiensisdoes not seem to be found in the other provinces

    Simulation of proton-induced and iron-induced extensive air showers at extreme energies

    Full text link
    The development of extensive air showers at extreme energies is studied using a simulation model much simpler and cruder, but also more transparent and flexible, than existing sophisticated codes. Evidence for its satisfactory performance is presented. As an illustration, shower elongation rates are evaluated in the 101810^{18} to 102010^{20} eV region and compared with recently published data. Lateral distribution functions of both muons and electrons/photons are also briefly discussed. Reliable results are obtained in the comparison between proton-induced and iron-induced showers.Comment: 22 pages, Preprint submitted to Astroparticle Physic

    PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES OF OPHIOCORDYCEPS SOBOLIFERA

    Get PDF
    The aim of study was to determine preliminary phytochemical analysis and the antioxidant potential of Ophiocordyceps sobolifera. The antioxidant activity of Ophiocordyceps sobolifera was evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and total antioxidant activity methods. Phytochemical analyses revealed the presence of steroids, triterpenoids, alkaloids, phenolics, flavoinods, protein, carbohydarte and saponins. The antioxidant activity of the ethanol extracts and water extracts showed high antioxidant activity with the lowest half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values to 0.70 from 0.95mg/mL, realtively. Total antioxidant capacity of the O. sobolifera showed contained from 5.52 ± 0.14 to 12,71 ± 0.23 mg GA/g or from 3.55 ± 0.15 to 7.87 ± .05 μmol AS/g. These data suggest that O. sobolifera is a natural source of antioxidants

    The VATLY Radio Telescope

    Get PDF
    A small radio telescope (SRT) has been installed on the roof of the Hanoi astrophysics laboratory VATLY. It is equipped with a 2.6 m diameter mobile parabolic dish remotely controlled in elevation and azimuth and with super-heterodyne detection around the 21 cm hydrogen line. First results of observations of the Sun and of the centre of the Milky Way are presented. They demonstrate the high quality of the telescope performance and are used to evaluate lobe size, signal to noise ratios, anthropogenic interferences and measurement accuracies. Particular attention is given to the measurement of the pointing accuracy. The rich measurement programme that is now at hand is briefly sketched

    Vietnam’s Scientific Publications in the Period of COVID-19

    Get PDF
    The COVID-19 pandemic is considered a global disaster that affects all areas of the world; however, it is also seen as a motivation for domestic and foreign scientists to focus on researching solutions to reduce its damage. This article aims to explore the correlation of scientific publications of countries in Southeast Asia, among research fields in Vietnam and among topics published by Vietnamese educational institutions in the context of a pandemic. 1392 Southeast Asian countries’ publications related to COVID-19 were referenced from the Scopus database, including 123 articles from Vietnam (up to August 27th, 2020). Statistics show that Vietnam ranks fifth in the number of scientific publications with research cooperation of researchers from 20 different countries. Regarding the research fields of Vietnam, medicine is the main research topic, social science ranks third following environmental science. In the field of social science, articles focus on four key topics: epidemic prevention, reduction of pandemic effects on life and socioeconomics, factors related to online learning of students, healthcare for the elderly. From the analysis results, the authors recommend that researchers should pay attention to other topics in the social sciences that have not been published, such as psychological effects of infected or suspected nCovi, the impact of COVID-19 to disadvantaged groups in society..

    Extent to which people perceive and accept Covid-19 vaccines in north central Vietnam

    Get PDF
    To achieve herd immunity against Covid-19, the willingness of residents to get vaccinated and successful vaccination policies go hand in hand. This paper aims to understand the perceptions, acceptance, hesitation, and refusal of Covid-19 vaccines in Nghe An, Vietnam. We used an online survey to collect data during March of 2021. The Bayesian regression model (BRM) was used to identify the factors affecting vaccination decisions. The empirical results show that respondents’ livelihoods were considerably affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and there was a subtle difference in Covid-19 impacts on the lives of urban residents and their rural counterparts. In addition, respondents reported an overall positive attitude towards Covid-19 vaccination in which 84.28% were willing to get vaccinated, 14.85% were hesitant, and 0.87% refused vaccination. Their vaccination decisions were associated with vaccine side effects, information, income, job type, gender, and trust in government. Our findings offer policy implications for devising strategies for vaccine distribution in the study area and beyond

    Circulating Biomarkers for Early Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

    Get PDF
    Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors, which is also often fatal. An early and accurate diagnosis is a decisive step towards the survival of the patients. Molecular biology improved significantly the prognosis of liver cancers through learned use of tumor markers like proteantigens, cytokines, enzymes, isoenzymes, circulating RNAs, gene mutations and methylations. Nevertheless, much improvement is still achievable and needed in this area, which is crucial in order to make an early diagnosis and monitor the progression of the disease. We present in this review what we believe to be the most relevant data regarding tissue and serum biomarkers related to HCC

    A Measure of Smoothness in Synthesized Speech

    Get PDF
    The articulators typically move smoothly during speech production. Therefore, speech features of natural speech are generally smooth. However, over-smoothness causes "muffleness" and, hence, reduction in ability to identify emotions/expressions/styles in synthesized speech that can affect the perception of naturalness in synthesized speech. In the literature, statistical variances of static spectral features have been used as a measure of smoothness in synthesized speech but they are not sufficient enough. This paper proposes another measure of smoothness that can be efficiently applied to evaluate the smoothness of synthesized speech. Experiments showed that the proposed measure is reliable and efficient to measure the smoothness of different kinds of synthesized speech
    corecore