The influence of CEO characteristics on corporate environmental performance of SMEs: Evidence from Vietnamese SMEs

Drawing on upper echelon theory, this study investigates the impact of CEOs’ (chief executive officers) demographic characteristics on corporate environmental performance (CEP) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We hypothesized that CEO characteristics, including gender, age, basic educational level, professional educational level, political connection, and ethnicity, affect SMEs’ environmental performance. Using the cross-sectional data analysis of 810 Vietnamese SMEs, this study provides evidence that female CEOs and CEOs’ educational level (both basic and professional) are positively related to the probability of CEP. We also find that based on the role of institutional environment on CEP, political connections had a negative effect on CEP in the context of Vietnam. Another finding is that SMEs with chief executives from ethnic minority groups show a higher level of the probability of corporate environmental performance than companies operated by Kinh chief executives. Since CEP is an essential dimension of corporate social responsibility, a strategic decision for SMEs, it is crucial for the company to select appropriate CEOs based on their demographic characteristic

The effects of question prompt-based scaffolding and social presence enhancement on students' argumentation and ill-structured problem solving

Asynchronous online discussions have the potential to facilitate meaningful learning activities, such as ill-structured problem-solving, due to their asynchronicity and connectivity. However, the literature identifies two significant challenges in effectively supporting students' ill-structured problem-solving in these environments - argumentation and social interactions. Although argumentation is critical for ill-structured problem-solving, students tend to avoid engaging in critical argumentation activities, such as generating rebuttals and counterarguments, to construct meaning in discussion forums. Similarly, social interactions are essential to ill-structured problem-solving, but students tend to display low levels of engagement in asynchronous online discussions. This study aimed to explore how these two critical components of problem-solving can be supported in asynchronous online discussions using question prompt-based argumentation scaffolds in combination with social presence enhancement strategies. The primary focus was to compare the differential effects of question prompts alone and the combination of question prompts with social presence enhancement prompts on students' argumentation behaviors, problem-solving processes during discussions, and post-test problem-solving performance. This study randomly assigned 44 students to three conditions (control, question prompt-based, and question prompt with social presence enhancement) to analyze their argumentation behaviors, problem-solving processes, and problem-solving performance in asynchronous online discussions. The findings reveal that: (1) lower level interactive argumentation behaviors dominate over higher level interactive ones; (2) students focus more on identifying problem representations and generating solutions than on justifying and evaluating them; (3) there is no significant difference in argumentation behaviors and problem-solving processes in asynchronous online discussions across the conditions. However, students who received both the question prompt scaffolds and the social presence enhancement strategies consistently showed more evidence of engaging in argumentation, especially higher level interactive argumentation, and in problem-solving processes; and (4) there is a significant difference in post-test problem-solving performance across conditions, where students in the condition that received both the question prompt scaffolds and the social presence enhancement strategies performed significantly better than students in the control condition. The study's findings underscore the importance of supporting students' social presence to engage them in interactive argumentation and problem-solving processes, thereby enhancing their problem-solving performance. This study contributes to the understanding of argumentation scaffolding and social interactions in asynchronous online discussion environments and provides design recommendations for instructional designers and instructors seeking to support students' argumentation and social presence in these environments.Includes bibliographical references

An analysis of use and performance data aggregated from 35 institutional repositories

Purpose – This study demonstrates that aggregated data from the Repository Analytics and Metrics Portal (RAMP) have significant potential to analyze visibility and use of institutional repositories (IR) as well as potential factors affecting their use, including repository size, platform, content, device and global location. The RAMP dataset is unique and public. Design/methodology/approach – The webometrics methodology was followed to aggregate and analyze use and performance data from 35 institutional repositories in seven countries that were registered with the RAMP for a five-month period in 2019. The RAMP aggregates Google Search Console (GSC) data to show IR items that surfaced in search results from all Google properties. Findings – The analyses demonstrate large performance variances across IR as well as low overall use. The findings also show that device use affects search behavior, that different content types such as electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) may affect use and that searches originating in the Global South show much higher use of mobile devices than in the Global North. Research limitations/implications – The RAMP relies on GSC as its sole data source, resulting in somewhat conservative overall numbers. However, the data are also expected to be as robot free as can be hoped. Originality/value – This may be the first analysis of aggregate use and performance data derived from a global set of IR, using an openly published dataset. RAMP data offer significant research potential with regard to quantifying and characterizing variances in the discoverability and use of IR content

ANALYSIS OF THE POPULARITY OF VOCABULARY USED WHEN PERFORMING SPEAKING ACTIVITIES IN THE CLASS OF FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDENTS IN THE DIRECTION OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Vocabulary learning is extremely important when learning a foreign language. Fluency in a language depends on vocabulary and its use in specific situations. Speaking well is using vocabulary flexibly and speaking fluently. Researching the popularity of vocabulary is analyzing the prevalence of vocabulary used by linguistics students in communication from discourse analysis. This is a topic the research team is working on. This project will help the researchers learn about common vocabulary that students often use to communicate outside or in the classroom. Thereby understanding whether the vocabulary that students use is diverse, rich, and for the right purpose or not. This study will help students have a more comprehensive view of the ways to use words in communication. In addition, it also helps students improve their communication vocabulary, helps in exams and can be useful for later work. In this study, the research team will investigate the students' ability to use spoken vocabulary, i.e., frequency and extent of vocabulary usage.  Article visualizations

The Impact of FDI, International Trade, and National Economy on People’s Standard of Living in ASEAN Countries

This research paper analyzes the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI), international trade, and national economy on the standard of living of people in ASEAN member countries, using data from 2012-2021. The study uses data from this period to examine the effects of these variables on the standard of living in ASEAN member countries. The results indicate that international trade and national economy have a significant influence on people's standard of living in the region. However, the effect of FDI varies depending on the level of development of the country. While FDI doesn't have much effect on developing countries, it has a negative impact on developed countries. The study also provides insights for policymakers on how to promote economic growth and improve the quality of life for people in the ASEAN. Keywords: FDI, international trade, national economy, the standard of living, ASEAN DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/15-6-10 Publication date:March 31st 2023

Mediating Effect of Social Commerce Continuance Use Intention on the Relationship Between Perceived Values and Brand Loyalty

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of social commerce continuance use intention on the relationship between perceived values and brand loyalty in the social commerce context. The data was collected from 176 members of the Apple Watch Social Commerce site in Vietnam via an online questionnaire. Applying the structural equation modelling method, we found that social commerce continuance use intention has mediating effects on the relationship between perceived values and brand loyalty. Keywords: Perceived values, continuance use intention, brand loyalty, social commerce, Vietnam DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-11-07 Publication date: April 30th 202

Evaluation of water loss and solute uptake during osmotic treatment of white radishes (Raphanus sativus L.) in salt-sucrose solution

White radish, scientifically known as Raphanus sativus L., is a yearly vegetable. Currently, it was being grown and widely used in the world, including Vietnam. These plants have been used as food or food processing. The osmotic treatment of vegetables involves the removal of water from plants in which the solids from the osmotic solution are transported to the plant material by osmosis. By this procedure, sucrose and saline solution are usually performed. White radishes were dehydrated in different hypertonic solutions by combined sucrose and NaCl at three different concentrations, including 9 runs. Mass transfer behaviour was applied according to three common models such as Fick’s second law, Weibull and Peleg’s equations based on the change of moisture and solid content of white radish during osmotic dehydration. The obtained results showed that the mass transfer was fast at initial stage and became slowly at the later stage. The effective moisture (Dm) and solid diffusivities (Ds) were ranged from 1.0186 to 1.2826x10-8 and from 1.0692 to 2.3322x10-8 (m2/s) respectively. The Peleg’s equation was found to be the best fitting for water loss and solid uptake thanks to the high determination coefficient (>97.64%) and the low average relative error (<3.174%). Raised up solution concentration resulted in higher water loss and mass gain

CHARACTERIZATION AND MITIGATION OF VIETNAM COASTAL HAZARDS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

Trichinellosis in Vietnam

Trichinellosis is a zoonotic parasitic disease with a worldwide distribution. The aim of this work was to describe the epidemiological and clinical data of five outbreaks of trichinellosis, which affected ethnic minorities living in remote mountainous areas of northwestern Vietnam from 1970 to 2012. Trichinellosis was diagnosed in 126 patients, of which 11 (8.7%) were hospitalized and 8 (6.3%) died. All infected people had consumed raw pork from backyard and roaming pigs or wild boar at wedding, funeral, or New Year parties. The short incubation period (average of 9.5 days), the severity of the symptoms, which were characterized by diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, myalgia, edema, weight loss, itch, and lisping, and the high mortality, suggest that patients had ingested a high number of larvae. The larval burden in pigs examined in one of the outbreaks ranged from 70 to 879 larvae/g. These larvae and those collected from a muscle biopsy taken from a patient from the 2012 outbreak were identified as Trichinella spiralis. Data presented in this work show that the northern regions of Vietnam are endemic areas for Trichinella infections in domestic pigs and humans

HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY ASSAY FOR DETERMINATION OF MOXIFLOXACIN IN HUMAN PLASMA

A simple reversed phase HPLC method with UV detection has been successfully developed and validated for determination of moxifloxacin in human plasma. The sample pretreatment involves only single-step protein precipitation with tricloroacetic acid. Moxifloxacin was measured in plasma using a validated HPLC method with UV detector at 295 nm, C18 column (25cm×4.5mm, 5µm), a mixture of phosphate buffer pH 4.0 and acetonitrile (70:30, v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min. Retention time of moxifloxacin was found to be 7.4 min. The mean recovery for the drug was obtained 97.30%. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range of 0.3 to 25.0 µg/mL with coefficient correlation of 0.9991. This method was successfully applied for therapeutic drug monitoring