More Tourists Green Up: Bringing the Charm back to Vietnam

More and more tourists have chosen attractions in Vietnam as destinations of their travel not only to explore their hidden charms but also make them greener through their role as green value co-creators. Vietnam is filled with hidden charms for tourists’ discovery such as Sa Pa Mountains, Ha Long Bay, Phong Nha Cave, Hoi An Ancient Town, Da Nang Beach, Mekong Delta, and Phu Quoc Island. Nonetheless, these charms are increasingly less charming and losing the returns of tourists, both international and local, due to the destruction of their green. Although people and factories in the localities are the main “terminators” to the green of tourist attractions, tourists themselves also contribute to their agony. Yet, there have been more and more instances of international tourists who, on their travel journey in Vietnam, volunteered with their companions to clean a part of a beach or a riverbank. They not only “planted” the green in the destinations but also shared green values with other tourists and the local community and fanned the green flames in them. Tourists, in other words, are likely to join hands with tour companies to make tours greener and return the green to tourist attractions. Here is a snapshot of how tourists green up with tour companies

Balanced Scorecard Implementation at Rang Dong Plastic Joint-stock Company (RDP)

From the balanced scorecard (BSC) framework, which encourages the use of both financial and non-financial measures of performance, allowing the firm to pinpoint its strategic objectives via balancing four perspectives – financial, customers, internal business processes, and learning and growth – to measure firm performance (Kaplan and Norton, 1992; Kaplan and Norton, 1996b), the paper sought to explore how balanced business scorecards were designed and to what extent of success they were implemented at Rang Dong Plastic Joint-Stock Company (RDP) in terms of its organizational structure and company philosophy. Keywords: balanced scorecard; performance measuremen

Teaching Ways and Learning Ways Revisited

In learning and teaching of languages, numerous theories have been put forward. These theories, normally influenced by developments in the fields of linguistics and psychology, have inspired several approaches to the teaching of second and foreign languages. This paper revisits English language teaching approaches, both traditional and modern, as well as learning styles and teaching styles. Such learning style models as The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI); Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model; the Felder-Silverman Learning Styles Model are explored in-depth in this paper. Keywords: teaching approach; learning style; teaching styl

Village Baseline Study – Site Analysis Report Ma village-Yen Binh district, Vietnam

Ma village, Vinh Kien commune, Yen Binh district, Yen Bai province has been selected to be one of Climate Smart Villages (CSVs) under the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in Southeast Asia. The village baseline survey (VBS) of Ma village, was therefore conducted as part of the baseline effort. This VBS aimed to provide baseline information at the village level about some basic indicators of natural resource utilization, organizational landscapes, and information networks for weather and agricultural information, which can be compared across sites and monitored over time. The study was conducted using the method developed and provided by CCAFS. The study’s findings show that Ma Village is rich and diverse in natural resources. There are three main resources of vital importance for the local people livelihoods, namely farmland, forest and water resources. However, improper exploitation and management have caused negative impacts on these resources. As mentioned by farmers, in the past, farmland of the village used to be very fertile, but has now become severely degraded due to overexploitation and improper management. Regarding forest resources: before 1980s, natural forests existed in large areas and consisted of valuable timber and wild animals. Today, much of the forest area has been converted to production forests or to food crop production land. Water resources, including lakes, rivers and streams have been severely polluted with pollutants from processing cassava, wood and also from animal husbandry and crop production. Degradation of water, farmland and forest resources are causing increasing challenges to agricultural production and also to other human activities. Results of farmer group discussions also demonstrate that there are 34 organizations operating in the village. Most of them are governmental. Very few are private or non-governmental organizations. The number of organizations involving in food security accounts for nearly 50%, the figure for those involving food crisis is 41.6% and in natural resources management is 25%. Those organizations working in food security and food crisis focus mainly on providing support (financial, seed and agricultural inputs) to local farmers to implement some production activities. Insufficient attention and input spent for sustainable development by these 34 organizations, especially those working in the area of natural resources management, could be one of the main reasons for the degradation and erosion of natural resources. There was no activity supporting Ma Village to develop production systems which can respond well to climate change. The study findings however show that local people are very flexible and creative, especially in exploitation of information. Among media channels, television is the most popular. Nevertheless, organizations, in particular, extension networks, Farmers’ Union, local authorities, etc., also have an important role in information dissemination. Exploitation of information from the internet and mobile phones has also been given attention, but mostly by young people only

HIV-Associated TB in An Giang Province, Vietnam, 2001–2004: Epidemiology and TB Treatment Outcomes

BACKGROUND: Mortality is high in HIV-infected TB patients, but few studies from Southeast Asia have documented the benefits of interventions, such as co-trimoxazole (CTX), in reducing mortality during TB treatment. To help guide policy in Vietnam, we studied the epidemiology of HIV-associated TB in one province and examined factors associated with outcomes, including the impact of CTX use. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We retrospectively abstracted data for all HIV-infected persons diagnosed with TB from 2001-2004 in An Giang, a province in southern Vietnam in which TB patients receive HIV counseling and testing. We used standard WHO definitions to classify TB treatment outcomes. We conducted multivariate analysis to identify risk factors for the composite outcome of death, default, or treatment failure during TB treatment. From 2001-2004, 637 HIV-infected TB patients were diagnosed in An Giang. Of these, 501 (79%) were male, 321 (50%) were aged 25-34 years, and the most common self-reported HIV risk factor was sex with a commercial sex worker in 221 (35%). TB was classified as smear-positive in 531 (83%). During TB treatment, 167 (26%) patients died, 9 (1%) defaulted, and 6 (1%) failed treatment. Of 454 patients who took CTX, 116 (26%) had an unsuccessful outcome compared with 33 (70%) of 47 patients who did not take CTX (relative risk, 0.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.3-0.5). Adjusting for male sex, rural residence, TB smear status and disease location, and the occurrence of adverse events during TB treatment in multivariate analysis, the benefit of CTX persisted (adjusted odds ratio for unsuccessful outcome 0.1; CI, 0.1-0.3). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In An Giang, Vietnam, HIV-associated TB was associated with poor TB treatment outcomes. Outcomes were significantly better in those taking CTX. This finding suggests that Vietnam should consider applying WHO recommendations to prescribe CTX to all HIV-infected TB patients

Metaphors in Advertising Discourse

Metaphors are the mappings of the abstract world into the concrete world through human senses or experiences. In Vietnamese advertisements, brands are metaphorized and brand metaphors can be categorized into ontological and structural metaphors. BRAND IS MOTION is a structural metaphor, and BRAND IS A CONTAINER, BRAND IS A VALUABLE RESOURCE, BRAND IS A COMPANION, and BRAND IS A GLADIATOR are instances of ontological metaphors. Keywords: conceptual metaphors; ontological metaphors; structural metaphors; brand; Vietnamese advertisement

Teaching writing through genre-based approach

This research is an endeavour to examine the impact of genre-based approach on students’ writing performance as well as students’ attitudes towards the implementation of genre-based approach in writing learning. Research findings reveal that most of the students gained the control over the key features of the required recount genre in terms of social purposes, language features and schematic structure. The necessity and usefulness of the application of teaching-learning cycle into learning the recount genre was predominantly recognized among student