Residue and Ecological Risk Assessment of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) in Sediment from CauBay River, Vietnam

This research presents the first comprehensive survey of congener profiles (7 indicator congeners) of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in sediment samples covering ten sites in CauBay River, Vietnam. Chemical analyses were carried out in gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) for tri- to hepta- brominated congeners. Results pointed out a non-homogenous contamination of the sediment with ∑7 PBDE values ranging from 8.93 to 25.64ng g−1, reflecting moderate to low contamination closely in conformity to other Asian aquatic environments. The general order of decreasing congener contribution to the total load was: BDE 47 > 99 > 100 > 154, similar to the distribution pattern worldwide. PBDEs had rare risks in the sediment of studied area. However, due to the propensity of PBDEs to accumulate in various compartments of wildlife and human food webs, evaluation of biological tissues should be undertaken as a high priority

Hierarchical robust fuzzy sliding mode control for a class of simo under-actuated systems with mismatched uncertainties

The development of the algorithms for single input multi output (SIMO) under-actuated systems with mismatched uncertainties is important. Hierarchical sliding-mode controller (HSMC) has been successfully employed to control SIMO under-actuated systems with mismatched uncertainties in a hierarchical manner with the use of sliding mode control. However, in such a control scheme, the chattering phenomenon is its main disadvantage. To overcome the above disadvantage, in this paper, a new compound control scheme is proposed for SIMO under-actuated based on HSMC and fuzzy logic control (FLC). By using the HSMC approach, a sliding control law is derived so as to guarantee the stability and robustness under various environments. The FLC as the second controller completely removes the chattering signal caused by the sign function in the sliding control law. The results are verified through theoretical proof and simulation software of MATLAB through two systems Pendubot and series double inverted pendulum

Effect of Halothane Genotype, Gender on Carcass Characteristics and Meat Quality of Stress Negative Piétrain Pigs

peer reviewedThis study was carried out at the animal farm of Hanoi University of Agriculture from August 2012 to April 2013 to evaluate effects of halothane genotype (CC and CT) and gender (intact males and gilts) on carcass characteristics and meat quality of Piétrain stress negative pigs. Backfat thickness, depth of longissimus dorsi muscle and lean meat percentage at 7.5 months were collected from 83 pigs (31 females and 52 intact males). Data on carcass performance were collected from 43 pigs (28 females and 15 intact males). The organoleptic quality of longissimus dorsi muscle was determined from 35 samples (19 females and 16 intact males) of longissimus dorsi muscle. For meat chemical compositions, 24 samples (14 females and 10 intact males) were analyzed. Slaughter weight (88.75 kg), carcass weight (58.40 kg), eye muscle area (57.54 cm²), backfat thickness (9.26 mm) and depth of longissimus dorsi muscle (58.01 mm) of gilts were higher than those of intact males (81.29 kg, 52.77 kg, 51.04 cm², 8.01 mm and 52.76 mm). Killing out percentage, carcass percentage and carcass length were similar between gilts and intact males (P>0.05). The pH of longissimus dorsi muscle at 24 hours post mortem between gilts (5.34) and boars (5.50) were significantly different (P<0.001). Gilts had more lipids than intact males (P<0.01). Halothane genotype did not affect carcass characteristics, meat quality and meat chemical composition (P>0.05). The results indicate that Piétrain stress negative pigs had high carcass percentage and good meat quality. Individuals with halothane genotype CC and CT can be choose for the breeding without affecting the carcass performance and meat qualit

Pecuniary versus Non-pecuniary Interventions to Influence Farmers’ Behavior: Evidence from Field Experiment in Vietnam

Encouraging farmers to adopt pro-environmental production is vital to the promotion of sustainable agriculture. Previous observational studies emphasize the importance of economic incentives and information access to the farmer's decision; however, due to endogeneity issues, little strong causal evidence is available. This study makes an original contribution by experimentally examining the impacts of subsidy and information treatments on farmers' adoption of organic fertilizer. To do so, we analyze data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted on 1287 small-scale tea farmers in Vietnam. We find significant impacts of our information treatment and a 50% price subsidy. Interestingly, the effect of the former is approximately one-third that of the latter. Subgroup treatment analysis reveals that the information treatment performs well for members of certification groups. Thus, to induce farmers to adopt pro-environmental production behaviors, information provision can partially substitute for subsidies to reduce the burden on the public budget.This work is supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 18J13432 and 17K03692.SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS: pp.1-

Novel Reinforcement Learning based Power Control and Subchannel Selection Mechanism for Grant-Free NOMA URLLC-Enabled Systems

Reducing waiting time due to scheduling process and exploiting multi-access transmission, grant-free non-orthogonal multiple access (GF-NOMA) has been considered as a promising access technology for URLLC-enabled 5G system with strict requirements on reliability and latency. However, GF-NOMAbased systems can suffer from severe interference caused by the grant-free (GF) access manner which may degrade the system performance and violate the URLLC-related requirements. To overcome this issue, the paper proposes a novel reinforcementlearning (RL)-based random access (RA) protocol based on which each device can learn from the previous decision and its corresponding performance to select the best subchannels and transmit power level for data transmission to avoid strong cross-interference. The learning-based framework is developed to maximize the system access efficiency which is defined as the ratio between the number of successful transmissions and the number of subchannels. Simulation results show that our proposed framework can improve the system access efficiency significantly in overloaded scenarios

Growth performance and sperm quality of stress negative Piétrain boars and their hybrids with Duroc

peer reviewedThis study was conducted to evaluate the effects of genetic background and season on growth performance and semen quality of boars. Five genetic groups were evaluated, including stress-negative Piétrain boars with CC (PiCC) or CT (PiCT) halothane genotypes, and Piétrain x Duroc hybrid boars with various compositions (25% (PiDu25), 50% (PiDu50) or 75% (PiDu75) of Piétrain origin). The results showed that genetic group has a significant effect on growth performance and semen quality. The hybrid boars PiDu25, PiDu50 and PiDu75 had better growth rate, but lower lean meat in comparison with pure stress-negative Piétrain, except PiDu75 boars. PiDu25, PiDu50 and PiCC boars demonstrated high semen quality. A season effect was observed on most of semen quality traits of pure stress-negative Piétrain as well as hybrid boars with different genetic constitution. Sperm concentration was lower in Summer and Autumn, higher in Winter and Spring. The Piétrain x Duroc hybrid boars, especially PiDu75 seem to be promising as terminal boars

The Role of Multi-Sensory Experience Toward Perceived Medical Service Quality: A Research at Vietnam Public Hospital

The theory of Sensory Marketing has been developed as a special approach to help managers understand customers through creating multi-sensory experiences. In medical services, a patient's multi-sensory experience with a medical facility will shape each customer's different perception of service quality. The article evaluates the role of multi-sensory experience in customers’ perceived service quality at public hospitals in Vietnam. Research results have shown that tactile, olfactory, visual and taste stimuli have a significant influence on the perceived service quality of customers when experiencing medical services. Besides, the authors also detected that customer’s expectation and satisfaction have a proportional relationship. Discussions and recommendations on the application of sensory marketing to improve people's perception of the medical service quality have been proposed to enhance the brand image of Vietnam's public hospitals as well as to ensure the interests of the customer during the use of the service. Keywords: sensory marketing, perceived service quality, medical service, public hospital. DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/83-02 Publication date: December 31st 202