Polymorphism of Xenobiotic Detoxification Genes and Male Infertility

Infertility is a multifactorial disease caused by both genetic and environmental factors. It is observed in 10–15% of couples, among which male infertility contributes for half the cases. Thus, identifying underlying causes of male infertility and for proper methods for treating and/or preventing sperm damage is of paramount importance. It is found that one of the factors that has been recently implicated in male infertility is oxidative stress, mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are produced during the metabolic process, as well as during the exposure to environmental chemical agents and their interaction with tissue-specific enzymes. Several studies have identified genetic variations at different loci, connected with male infertility, that may shed light on some idiopathic cases of seminal fluid abnormalities. In this chapter, we make an effort to decipher the contribution of polymorphisms in xenobiotic detoxification genes in the male infertility development

An inquiry into the determinants of Vietnamese product export

Export led growth is the model of economic development that Vietnam has been following. While there are a great number of studies on the determinants of aggregate export of Vietnam, there are few that analyze the impacts of different factors on the export of different product groups. This paper aims at filling this gap in research on international trade of Vietnam. The results show that the fast GDP growth of Vietnam, the large population of importing countries, the wide economic gap between Vietnam and the importing countries, the depreciation of domestic currency, the free trade agreements that Vietnam signed and the shared border with the importing countries contribute to the increase of Vietnam’s export of all product groups. In contrast, the GDP of importing countries and population of Vietnam have no clear impacts on the export of any product groups.

Workload doesn’t mean exhaustion: Antecedents of teacher burnout

Workload has consistently been found to be a predictor of burnout in teachers.  However, while academia considers workload a psychological concept, the public tends to simplify workload as the number of tasks assigned. This study seeks to provide further evidence of the psychological nature of workload by examining if workload understood in terms of quantity of work had any effect on teacher burnout and whether this relationship was moderated by psychological processes such as self-efficacy and mediated by stress. 117 primary and high school teachers holding at least two roles at school participated in the study. Teacher burnout was measured using MBI-ES, self-efficacy was measured by OSTES and stress and workload were measured by single-item questions. Results showed that workload (i.e., the number of roles assigned) did not have a main effect on burnout. Perceived stress and self-efficacy had direct effects on teacher burnout: stress increased burnout while self-efficacy reduced burnout. Self-efficacy had a significant moderation effect on workload-burnout interaction. Workload increased burnout only in teachers with low self-efficacy  while stress did not moderate the workload-burnout relationship. These findings support the psychological nature of the relationship between workload and burnout among teachers. They also point out the importance of enhancing teacher stress management and self-efficacy in protecting them from burnout

Relationship Between Transformational Leadership and Organizational Learning Support Employee Creativity: Evidence from Vietnamese SMEs

Purpose: The current study aims to investigate the mediating role of organizational learning (OL) on the relationship between transformational leadership (TFL) and employee creativity (EC) in Vietnamese SMEs.   Theoretical framework:  The world underwent enormous and ongoing changes in SMEs after the Covid-19 pandemic. Leaders and employees must be more effective and adaptive to enhance systems and processes and meet client requests. Recently, SMEs in Vietnam have struggled to improve CEOs and staff with the professional credentials necessary to compete in the market and integrate.   Design/methodology/approach:  The framework and hypotheses were examined using SEM on SPSS and AMOS software to analyse the data after receiving 397 valid responses from SMEs in Vietnam.   Findings: Findings confirmed that TFL positively affects EC and OL. The role of individual motivation on individual consideration outweighs those of the other characteristics of TFL. OL played a partly mediator role in the relationship between TFL and EC.   Research, Practical & Social implications: This study provides an inventory of knowledge about the reality of OL and its mediating role on the relationship between TLF and EC, which contributes to enriching the library in overall and Vietnamese in specific in this subject.   Originality/value: This paper is one of the first papers in the Vietnamese SMEs context to address the mediating effect of OL between TLF and EC.

VOLATILE COMPOSITION, ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTY AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES AGAINST FOOD-BORNE BACTERIA OF VIETNAMESE THYME (Thymus vulgaris L.) ESSENTIAL OIL

The essential oil (EO) obtained from the leaves of the thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) grown in Vietnam was found to contain thymol (39.79%), cymene (17.33%), and γ-terpinene (13.45%) as the main volatile components. The antimicrobial activities of this oil were screened against several food-borne bacteria and fungi species. Significant growth inhibition effects against food-borne bacteria Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Salmonella Typhimurium were observed using the standard disc diffusion method. Thyme EO showed the antibacterial effect against all the test pathogenic strains with the inhibition zones were 23.3 ± 0.4 mm, 24.7 ± 0.4 mm, 29.0 ± 0.7 mm, 32 ± 0.7 mm in diameter against B. subtilis,  E. coli, S. Typhimurium and S. aureus, respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determined by micro-dilution method in MHB liquid medium was 1.56 µl/ml. The bactericidal concentrations (MBC) was 3.13 µl/ml for three isolates from B. subtilis,  E. coli, and S. aureus, while the MBC tested for S. typhi was 1.56 µl/ml. The antifungal properties of the thyme EO were also determined in this study against three important pathogenic fungi such as Candida albicans, Rhizoctonia solani and Fusarium oxysporum with the inhibition zones ranging approximately from 23.20 ± 0.06 to 44.10 ± 0.03 mm. On the other hands, the results also showed the antioxidant activity of Vietnamese thyme EO and suggested that thyme EO can be applied in food industries as natural flavoring preservatives/additives to control food spoilage and food born bacteria and fungi

Working in response to managerial controls under the influences of national culture: Vietnamese academics’ lived experiences

This study investigates the nature of academic work in contemporary academia, which is set in an under-researched context, Vietnam. The research context is unique in its blending between long and rich cultural values and Western ideologies in management. The study examines how Vietnamese academics practice their academic roles in response to the interactions of those two domains. Avoiding the approach of seeking for evidence of negative impacts of managerial controls on aspects of academic life as commonly used in the existing literature, this study focuses on analysing the complexities in relationships of individual academics with management and other actors including managers, colleagues, students and scholar community. This approach is advanced in understanding both social and individual meanings in academic work as well as the social and cultural values which shape their perception of academic roles. The research enquiry of producing an insight into academics’ work life and experience in contemporary academia informs a qualitative and interpretive research. The findings suggest that the application of managerial controls is less challenged whilst highly accepted in Vietnamese higher education as a context under the influence of Confucianism. The evidence of academics’ compliance and collective actions underpinned by Vietnamese cultural values in this study offers to reconsider the discrepancy of the nature of these phenomena in the belief of the West and the East. The study’s exploration of being an academic as multi-layered meanings expanding from within and outside of university roles proposes academics’ potential strengths in coping with insecurity and ambiguity at work. It then sharpens the suggestion that contemporary management in higher education needs to be mindful of the emotional-related and meaningful nature of academic profession for the best outcomes of both individual work and organisational aims rather than relying on either soft or hard controls

The Factors of Consumer Intension of Using Mobile Payment in Vietnam

Purpose: Within the context of emerging mobile technologies, Mobile payment or M-payment has been introduced as the new trend for payment methods bringing more value and convenience to consumers. However, the development of M-payment services is still quite timid in some Southeast Asia countries including Vietnam. This is also the reason and motivation for the author to do this research.   Theoretical framework: The goal of this study is to spot some factors that affect the use behavior (UB) of M-payment consumers in five major metropolises that were most influential on the economy in Vietnam.   Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative questionnaire was used to measure the responses of participants and Partial Least Squares (PLS) method was employed to analyze the collection data as well as test all hypotheses.   Findings: The results indicated that SI has been the important factor leading to the BI to use M-payment followed by SV and SC issues and BI also had a strong influence on the UB of consumers. Since M-payment is still in the infancy stage and is one of the most exciting mobile applications for the next few years in Vietnam, the identification of important factors concerning M-payments.   Research, Practical & Social Implications: To investigate the factors affecting UB of Vietnamese M-payment consumers, the researcher proposed a research model which analyzes the impact of various variables extracted from system quality (ST), service quality (SV), security (SC), social influence (SI) on behavioral intention (BI) to use and BI on M-payment UB.   Originality/value: This study will assist merchants and software developers to design and improve the systems and services to ensure the full acceptance and continuous use of the systems. Finally, a set of suggestions for the subsequent research works also was listed at the end of this study

Effect of Ethical Leadership and Leader-Member Exchange on Voice Behavior – Moderating Impact of Empowerment

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of ethical leadership and leader-member exchange on employee voice behavior and moderating effect of employee empowerment.  Data collected from 718 full time working employees via questionnaires, incorporating ethical leadership, leader-member exchange, employee voice behavior and employee empowerment. Correlation and regression analysis was to examine the relationship, association and effect of the variables on each other. Results indicated a strong, positive and significant association between ethical leadership, leader-member exchange and employee empowerment and employee voice behavior. Further regression results specify that ethical leadership, leader-member exchange and employee empowerment effect employee voice behavior positively and significantly. Results point out that interactive effect of employee empowerment is there in between leader-member exchange and employee voice behavior. Current study provides a new aspect to focus for the organizations that is importance of ethical leadership to enhance employee voice behavior through leader-member exchange and employee empowerment. Organization needs to acknowledge the significance of ethical leadership behavior to training and enhancing ethical behavior of leader in order to maximize employee voice behavior for organization efficiency. Keywords: Ethical leadership;leader-member exchange; Employee voice behavior; Employee empowerment; DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-9-15 Publication date:March 31st 201

Understanding Transformational Leadership – Employee Performance Links: The Role of Trust and Commitment

This study analyzes the influences of transformational leadership on employee performance through the mediating role of trust and commitment. Although these indirect interrelations are very important for enhancing employee performance, prior research has not usually explored them. The study confirms these influences empirically, basing the analysis on a sample of 25 Vietnamese firms with 326 employees. The results reveal that (1) transformational leadership influences employee performance positively through employee trust and organizational commitment; (2) employee trust influences employee performance, both directly and indirectly through organizational commitment; (3) organizational commitment influences employee trust positively. Keywords: Transformational leadership, employee trust, organizational commitment, employee performance

Barriers and Coping Strategies of Students with Disability During Inclusive Learning in Higher Education

Abstrak: JJumlah penyandang disabilitas yang mengikuti sistem Pendidikan inklusi di perguruan tinggi semakin meningkat seiring dengan adanya Kartu Indonesia Pintar (KIP) Kuliah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan tantangan hambatan yang dihadapi mahasiswa disabilitas selama mengikuti kuliah inklusi dan strategi koping mahasiswa dalam mengatasinya. Penelitian ini bersifat deskriptif kualitatif dan data dikumpulkan dengan teknik interview, observasi, dan dokumentasi. Data dianalisis dengan metode analisis studi kasus. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa mahasiswa tunanetra menghadapi hambatan belajar terkait teks, gambar atau simbol/angka, sedangkan mahasiswa tunadaksa memiliki hambatan terkait aktiVitas fisik. Strategi koping yang dilakukan oleh mahasiswa adalah dengan menggunakan Assistive Technology (AT), meningkatkan komunikasi dengan dosen, dan melakukan diskusi kelompok. Dari temuan di atas, disimpulkan bahwa teknik pengajaran dan materi perkuliahan harus beaptasi dengan kebutuhan murid dan dapat digunakan secara universal.Abstract: The number of disabled students enrolled in the inclusive system in higher education has increased due to a card used to access colleges issued by the Indonesian government known as Kartu Indonesia Pintar Kuliah (KIP Kuliah). The research aims to describe learning barriers encountered by students with visual and physical disabilities during inclusive class and their coping strategies to overcome this predicament. The research is qualitative descriptive, and data were collected by interview, class observation, and documentation. The data were analyzed by using the case study analysis method. The results indicate that written material containing text, pictures, and symbols/numbers are barriers for visually disabled students, while physically disabled students have barriers in terms of class that requires physical activities. Students’ coping strategies are using Assistive Technology (AT), increasing communication frequency with the lecturers, and conducting study groups after class. It is concluded that the lecturer’s teaching technique and material should be adapted to meet the students’ needs and should be universal