A Combined Delay-Throughput Fairness Model for Optical Burst Switched Networks

Fairness is an important feature of communication networks. It is the distribution, allocation, and provision of approximately equal or equal performance parameters, such as throughput, bandwidth, loss rate, and delay. In an optical burst switched (OBS) network, fairness is considered in three aspects: distance, throughput, and delay. Studies on these three types of fairness have been conducted; however, they have usually been considered in isolation. These fairness types should be considered together to improve the communication performance of the entire OBS network. This paper proposes a combined delay-throughput fairness model, where burst assembly and bandwidth allocation are improved to achieve both delay fairness and throughput fairness at ingress OBS nodes. The delay fairness and throughput fairness indices are recommended as metrics for adjusting the assembly queue length and allocated bandwidth for priority flows. The simulation results showed that delay and throughput fairness could be achieved simultaneously, improving the overall communication performance of the entire OBS network

An in-depth Analysis of Undergraduates’ Study Skills: A Study at Nong Lam University

Study skills are critical to students’ achievement. The objective of this study is to assess the study skills of undergraduates. The Inventory of College Level Study Skills developed by Dennis H. Congos (2011), in which study skills were divided into six categories or subscales: textbook reading, note-taking, memorizing, test preparation, concentration, and time management, was adopted to collect data. The results of the analysis revealed that skimming for main ideas appeared to be the most frequently used reading technique among the participants; taking note in lectures is the most preferred skill. Regarding memory skills, the most popular skill was reviewing notes more than once or twice for exams and quizzes, and the least popular skill was using visual in notes such as sketches, mind maps, diagrams, charts, etc. In terms of test preparation skills, the most frequently-used skill was submitting homework assignments on time while the least favoured test preparation sub-skill was reviewing lecture note soon after classes. As for concentration skills, getting all study equipment ready for learning was considered the most important skill, while avoiding study in the evenings as much as possible was the least prioritized method. Accordingly, the researchers would recommend students be provided with suitable guidelines in order to practice good study skills

Language Learning Strategies Employed by Non-English Majors at Nong Lam University, Vietnam

Learning strategies have a strong effect on students’ success in foreign language learning. In fact, they are considered tools for active and self-directed engagement, which is vital for developing communicative competence. Language learning strategies also enable students to take responsibility for their own learning progress. This study was carried out to identify the preferred language learning strategies which are most frequently employed by non-English major students at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The research was conducted with 725 undergraduate students with a descriptive quantitative method. The data was collected using a Vietnamese questionnaire adapted from Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) originally developed by Oxford (1990). The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 software was used to analyze the data obtained from the questionnaire. The findings revealed that non-English majors used language learning strategies at a medium level of frequency. They didn’t equally use all 6 strategies in their learning, which probably impeded their progress of language learning. The most frequently used strategies by the learners were metacognitive strategies, followed by memory, affective, cognitive compensation and social strategies as the least preferred ones. Pedagogical recommendations for lecturers are also discussed in the paper

Factors Contributing to Academic Boredom among English-Major Students at Nong Lam University Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Academic boredom can detrimentally impact students' motivation, engagement, and academic performance. Recognizing the challenges faced by English-major students at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh city, the authors of this paper conducted a study to investigate the underlying factors contributing to academic boredom within this specific academic context. A quantitative research method was employed in the current study to investigate the antecedents of academic boredom among the English-majored students. The population of this study consists of 427 English language majors at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. A convenience sampling method was utilized. Correlation and regression analyses were used to explore the relationships between the antecedent factors and academic boredom among students. The findings reveal a combination of internal and external factors contributing to boredom. It was also found that the most common causes of boredom are the students’ attitude toward their learning and the university’s environment while no significant correlation was observed between the level of boredom and teaching contents, teaching methods and pedagogical style. Some implications concerning how to reduce EFL classroom boredom are also presented in this paper

Status of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) and other emerging diseases of penaeid shrimps in Viet Nam

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND), formerly called early mortality syndrome (EMS), was first reported in 2010 among penaeid shrimps cultivated in the Mekong Delta Region of Viet Nam albeit without any laboratory confirmation. The disease subsequently spread to a wide range of shrimp production areas in the same region (Soc Trang: 1,719 ha; Bac Lieu: 346 ha; and Ca Mau: 3,493 ha), so that the Government of Viet Nam requested for technical assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 2011. In 2012, FAO supported Viet Nam through the project TCP/VIE/3304 Emergency assistance to control the spread of an unknown disease affecting shrimps in Viet Nam, under which the Department of Animal Health of Viet Nam (DAH) collaborated with the University of Arizona and FAO experts to carry out indepth studies to identify the etiologic agent of the disease. As a result, unique isolates of Vibrio parahaemolyticus was identified as the causative agent of AHPND in 2013. Viet Nam has been vigilant and transparent with regard to aquatic animal diseases through official notifications to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA). AHPND outbreaks have no clear temporal pattern with black tiger (Penaeus monodon) and whiteleg (P. vannamei) shrimps showing similar incidence risk. The disease occurs at any stage of shrimp cultivation, i.e. on average about 35 days after stocking. To date, unwarranted outbreaks of AHPND in major shrimp-producing provinces in Viet Nam have been apparently regulated. Aside from AHPND, white spot disease (WSD) has also been a persistent problem responsible for serious economic losses in many shrimp-producing areas in Viet Nam. To prevent and control the further spread of infectious diseases of shrimps including AHPND and WSD, multiple control measures have been implemented including guidance of farmers to improve production conditions, facilities and biosecurity application, active surveillance of shrimp production areas for early warning, screening of broodstock and postlarvae for any OIE listed diseases, regulation on movement of stocks, and collaboration with regional and international organizations in carrying out in-depth epidemiological studies that will be needed in the formulation of pragmatic and holistic disease interventions

Geotrophic and drift current in the South China Sea, Area IV: Vietnamese waters

The water circulation in area IV was calculated by 2 methods. The circulation for the area where water depth exceeded 600m was calculated by the geostrophic balance method. In shallow water area effect of wind absolutely surpasses geostrophic balance, so wind induced drift current is greater than geostrophic current many times. So, for the whole area (shallow deep) the drift current was calculated by two-dimensional nonlinear shallow water equation based on typical monsoon fields. The results of 2 methods showed common picture of the circulation with divergence and convergence changing by season

Secondary Network Throughput Optimization of NOMA Cognitive Radio Networks Under Power and Secure Constraints

Recently, the combination of cognitive radio networks with the nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) approach has emerged as a viable option for not only improving spectrum usage but also supporting large numbers of wireless communication connections. However, cognitive NOMA networks are unstable and vulnerable because multiple devices operate on the same frequency band. To overcome this drawback, many techniques have been proposed, such as optimal power allocation and interference cancellation. In this paper, we consider an approach by which the secondary transmitter (STx) is able to find the best licensed channel to send its confidential message to the secondary receivers (SRxs) by using the NOMA technique. To combat eavesdroppers and achieve reasonable performance, a power allocation policy that satisfies both the outage probability (OP) constraint of primary users and the security constraint of secondary users is optimized. The closed-form formulas for the OP at the primary base station and the leakage probability for the eavesdropper are obtained with imperfect channel state information. Furthermore, the throughput of the secondary network is analyzed to evaluate the system performance. Based on that, two algorithms (i.e., the continuous genetic algorithm (CGA) for CR NOMA (CGA-CRN) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) for CR NOMA (PSO-CRN)), are applied to optimize the throughput of the secondary network. These optimization algorithms guarantee not only the performance of the primary users but also the security constraints of the secondary users. Finally, simulations are presented to validate our research results and provide insights into how various factors affect system performance

Secondary Network Throughput Optimization of NOMA Cognitive Radio Networks Under Power and Secure Constraints

Recently, the combination of cognitive radio networks with the nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) approach has emerged as a viable option for not only improving spectrum usage but also supporting large numbers of wireless communication connections. However, cognitive NOMA networks are unstable and vulnerable because multiple devices operate on the same frequency band. To overcome this drawback, many techniques have been proposed, such as optimal power allocation and interference cancellation. In this paper, we consider an approach by which the secondary transmitter (STx) is able to find the best licensed channel to send its confidential message to the secondary receivers (SRxs) by using the NOMA technique. To combat eavesdroppers and achieve reasonable performance, a power allocation policy that satisfies both the outage probability (OP) constraint of primary users and the security constraint of secondary users is optimized. The closed-form formulas for the OP at the primary base station and the leakage probability for the eavesdropper are obtained with imperfect channel state information. Furthermore, the throughput of the secondary network is analyzed to evaluate the system performance. Based on that, two algorithms (i.e., the continuous genetic algorithm (CGA) for CR NOMA (CGA-CRN) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) for CR NOMA (PSO-CRN)), are applied to optimize the throughput of the secondary network. These optimization algorithms guarantee not only the performance of the primary users but also the security constraints of the secondary users. Finally, simulations are presented to validate our research results and provide insights into how various factors affect system performance

Throughput Optimization for NOMA Energy Harvesting Cognitive Radio with Multi-UAV-Assisted Relaying under Security Constraints

This paper investigates the throughput of a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)-based cognitive radio (CR) system with multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted relays under system performance and security constraints. We propose a communication protocol that includes an energy harvesting (EH) phase and multiple communication phases. In the EH phase, the multiple UAV relays (URs) harvest energy from a power beacon. In the first communication phase, a secondary transmitter (ST) uses the collected energy to send confidential signals to the first UR using NOMA. Simultaneously, a ground base station communicates with a primary receiver (PR) under interference from the ST. In the subsequent communication phases, the next URs apply the decode-and-forward technique to transmit the signals. In the last communication phase, the Internet of Things destinations (IDs) receive their signals in the presence of an eavesdropper (EAV). Accordingly, the outage probability of the primary network, the throughput of the secondary network, and the leakage probability at the EAV are analyzed. On this basis, we propose a hybrid search method combining particle swarm optimization (PSO) and continuous genetic algorithm (CGA) to optimize the UR configurations and the NOMA power allocation to maximize the throughput of the secondary network under performance and security constraints

ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA TỈ LỆ Ba/Ti LÊN ĐẶC TRƯNG CỦA HẠT NANO BaTiO3 TỔNG HỢP BẰNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP THỦY NHIỆT

Highly dispersed BaTiO3 nanospheres with a uniform particle size were synthesized with the hydrothermal method. The influence of Ba/Ti molar ratios on the formation of BaTiO3 nanospheres was studied by analyzing the XRD and SEM data. The TiO2·H2O synthesized with the sulfuric acid method assisted by ultrasonication was used as a starting material. Highly dispersed BaTiO3 nanospheres with an average size of about 100 nm were obtained at 200 °C in 12 hours with a Ba/Ti ratio of 1.5. The Ba/Ti ratios have a strong influence on the formation of nano BaTiO3 and the phase transition. The particle size increases with the Ba/Ti ratio, while the uniformity decreases.Vật liệu BaTiO3 nano hình cầu phân tán cao với kích thước đồng đều được tổng hợp bằng phương pháp thủy nhiệt. Ảnh hưởng của tỉ lệ mol Ba/Ti lên sự hình thành vật liệu được nghiên cứu bằng cách phân tích dữ liệu XRD và SEM. TiO2·nH2O tổng hợp bằng phương pháp axit sunfuric với sự hỗ trợ sóng siêu âm được sử dụng làm nguyên liệu ban đầu. Vật liệu nano BaTiO3 hình cầu với độ phân tán cao và kích thước trung bình khoảng 100 nm đã thu được tại 200 °C trong 12 giờ với tỉ lệ Ba/Ti = 1,5. Tỷ lệ Ba/Ti ảnh hưởng mạnh đến sự hình thành BaTiO3 nano hình cầu với quá trình chuyển pha. Khi tăng tỉ lệ Ba/Ti, kích thước hạt tăng và tính đồng nhất giảm