Provincial foreign direct investment absorptive capacity of Vietnam

Objective: The objective of the article is to examine the importance of absorptive capacity in the relationship between foreign direct investment and economic performance in 63 Vietnamese provinces from 2007 to 2015. Research Design & Methods: The absorptive capacity at provincial level includes six components tested by confirmatory factor analysis, which allows for the argument that absorptive capacity of domestic firms is an important component of absorptive capacity of provinces. Besides this one, there are five other components, including financial development, human capital, the level of openness, the absorptive capacity of domestic firms, institutions, and infrastructure. The generalized two-stages least squares (G2SLS) random effect with instrumental variables regression is used with panel data. Findings: Firstly, foreign direct investment has a positive impact on the development of the 63 provinces in Vietnam. Secondly, among the six components, the four most important ones are infrastructure, the level of openness, human capital, and the absorptive capacity of domestic firms. Moreover, the article finds that foreign direct investment can bring negative impacts to provinces with a low level of trade openness. Implications & Recommendations: The government should focus on infrastructure, trading policy, human capital and capability of domestic firms. Contribution & Value Added: There is a lack of connection between absorptive capacity at the firm level and the macro level. Therefore, this article attempts to create this connection by constructing absorptive capacity at the firm level as a component of absorptive capacity at the provincial level. © 2020, Cracow University of Economics. All rights reserved.[IGA/FaME/2018/019 FDI

Air Emission Inventory

Emission inventory (EI) is a comprehensive listing of pollutants from all sources in a geo-graphical area during a period of time. The development of EI database is very important to air quality management and helps us to find out main sources. In general, to develop a reliable EI for one specific area, the following steps are involved: (i) list the types of sources, (ii) determine the types of air pollutant emission from each of the listed sources, (iii) find out the emission factor (EF) for each of the concerned pollutants, (iv) determine the number and size of specific sources in the area, and (v) multiply the appropriate numbers from step (iii) and (iv) to obtain the total emissions and then sum up the similar emissions to obtain the total for the area. With emission inventory, we can define the main sources in the study area and have the best solution for clean air action. Besides, the result from EIs can be used to study in other sectors related to human health, economic loss from air pollution, etc. This chapter will describe the method for development of an air emission inventory for developing and developed countries

On how religions could accidentally incite lies and violence: folktales as a cultural transmitter

Folklore has a critical role as a cultural transmitter, all the while being a socially accepted medium for the expressions of culturally contradicting wishes and conducts. In this study of Vietnamese folktales, through the use of Bayesian multilevel modeling and the Markov chain Monte Carlo technique, we offer empirical evidence for how the interplay between religious teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism) and deviant behaviors (lying and violence) could affect a folktale’s outcome. The findings indicate that characters who lie and/or commit violent acts tend to have bad endings, as intuition would dictate, but when they are associated with any of the above Three Teachings, the final endings may vary. Positive outcomes are seen in cases where characters associated with Confucianism lie and characters associated with Buddhism act violently. The results supplement the worldwide literature on discrepancies between folklore and real-life conduct, as well as on the contradictory human behaviors vis-à-vis religious teachings. Overall, the study highlights the complexity of human decision-making, especially beyond the folklore realm

On how religions could accidentally incite lies and violence: Folktales as a cultural transmitter

This research employs the Bayesian network modeling approach, and the Markov chain Monte Carlo technique, to learn about the role of lies and violence in teachings of major religions, using a unique dataset extracted from long-standing Vietnamese folktales. The results indicate that, although lying and violent acts augur negative consequences for those who commit them, their associations with core religious values diverge in the final outcome for the folktale characters. Lying that serves a religious mission of either Confucianism or Taoism (but not Buddhism) brings a positive outcome to a character (βT_and_Lie_O= 2.23; βC_and_Lie_O= 1.47; βT_and_Lie_O= 2.23). A violent act committed to serving Buddhist missions results in a happy ending for the committer (βB_and_Viol_O= 2.55). What is highlighted here is a glaring double standard in the interpretation and practice of the three teachings: the very virtuous outcomes being preached, whether that be compassion and meditation in Buddhism, societal order in Confucianism, or natural harmony in Taoism, appear to accommodate two universal vices—violence in Buddhism and lying in the latter two. These findings contribute to a host of studies aimed at making sense of contradictory human behaviors, adding the role of religious teachings in addition to cognition in belief maintenance and motivated reasoning in discounting counterargument

The determinants of foreign direct investment in ASEAN: New evidence from financial integration factor

This paper examines the impact of financial integration and other variables on foreign direct investment capital inflows in ASEAN3 (Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) and ASEAN5 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore). Other variables are the gross domestic product, interest rate, infrastructure facility, labor cost, and trade openness. This paper uses the panel ordinary least square estimation with the method of first differencing for the period between 1996 and 2016. The authors divide ASEAN member countries into two groups by the level of economic development. The findings indicate that the coefficient of financial integration is positive and significant at 1 % level of significance on foreign direct investment capital inflows. The empirical results also support the hypothesis that foreign direct investment in ASEAN is positively correlated to market size, infrastructure facilities, and negatively correlated to labor cost as well as trade openness in ASEAN3.Internal Grant Agency of FaME TBU [IGA/FaME/2018/019

Financial depth and economic growth: Empirical evidence from ASEAN+3 countries

Nexus between financial depth and economic growth has been studied for long time and still attracts great attention from policymakers. This research examines the relationship among ASEAN+3 countries from 2000 to 2014 based on Cobb-Douglas theoretical framework. The results show that fi-nancial depths measured by domestic credit to private sector, M3 and stock market capitalisation all have significant effects on economic growth. The paper also gives policy recommendations to promote financial development for purposes of long-term economic growth in ASEAN+3 countries

QUANTITATIVE ESTIMATION OF GINSENOSIDES IN DIFFERENT AGES OF PANAX VIETNAMENSIS AND THEIR ANTI-PROLIFERATION EFFECTS IN HELA CELLS

Background: The objective of study was to investigate the major compounds of ginsenosides in Panax vietnamensis in its growing stages and their anti-proliferative activity in HeLa cells. Materials and Methods: The roots with different ages were analyzed by HPLC/MS. Anti-proliferation activity of P. Vietnamensis ginseng in HeLa cells was investigated using MTT assay. Results: Three main compounds of ginsenoside, Rb1, Rg1 and majonoside R2 were increased with the increasing of age. However, ginsenoside Rc, Re, Rd and Rg3 did not show any alteration with growing age. The major compound majonoside R2 was accumulated maximum in 5 years old ginseng. According to the data, the anti-proliferation activity was directly proportional to the growing ages of ginseng. The eleven years old ginseng showed maximum effect than the younger roots. This effect may be related to the concentration of ginsenosides or majonoside R2 content in P. Vietnamensis. Conclusion: The concentration of ginsenoside content in the roots of P. Vietnamensis is directly related to the growing ages. Overall, due to the higher concentration of ginsenoside in mature ginseng root, Panax vietnamensis ginseng can be used as an effective anti-proliferative drug

PATHOGENICITY OF EIMERIA SPECIES ISOLATED FROM CHICKEN IN THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE

Abstract: The present study clarifies the effect of locally isolated Eimeria species on chickens in central Vietnam. Oocysts of Eimeria species were isolated from feces suspected to be infected with coccidiosis in 3 farms in Huong Thuy district, Thua Thien Hue province. A total of 54 2-week-old chickens were randomly allocated to 2 groups: 3 replicates containing 9 chickens in each replicate. The chicken in group 1 were orally inoculated with 2×104 isolated oocysts of Eimeria species, while the chickens in group 2 were inoculated with PBS as a control. Growth performance, oocyst output, gross lesions, and histopathological lesions were measured at 5, 10 and 28 days after infection. The chicks in group 1 showed general signs of ruffled feathers, anorexia, huddling together with diarrhea and/or bloody dropping from 4–7 days post-infection. Feed intake, growth performance and body weight in group 1 were lower than those of the control chicks. The oocyst was detected in the feces of chicks in group 1 from 6–14 days post-infection, among them, the number of oocysts reach the peak at 8 days post-infection. At day 5 post-infection, the most damaged part of the intestine is the ceca with a large amount of blood in the ceca content. The histopathological lesions were detected clearly by HE staining at day 5 and 10 post-infection. In conclusion, the locally isolated oocysts of Eimeria species have high virulence to the chickens. The present study provides useful information related to the pathogenicity of Eimeria species which may contribute to coccidiosis diagnosis and treatment in poultry production.Keywords: Eimeria, coccidiosis, infection, central Vietna

Phenolic compounds from leaves of Amensiodendron chinese (Sapindaceae)

From the ethyl acetate extract of the leaves of Amensiodendron chinense (Merr.) Hu (Sapindaceae), we isolated three known phenolic compounds: 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde (1), methyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate (2), and 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (3). We elucidated their chemical structures from the spectral data and compared them with those reported in the literature.3 hợp chất phenolic được phân lập từ cao chiết ethyl acetate của lá thuộc loài Amensiodendron chinese (Merr.) Hu (Sapindaceae) bao gồm : 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde (1), methyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate (2), 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (3). Cấu trúc hóa học được xác định dựa vào dữ liệu phổ và so sánh với tài liệu tham khảo