Anti-DreamBooth: Protecting users from personalized text-to-image synthesis

Text-to-image diffusion models are nothing but a revolution, allowing anyone, even without design skills, to create realistic images from simple text inputs. With powerful personalization tools like DreamBooth, they can generate images of a specific person just by learning from his/her few reference images. However, when misused, such a powerful and convenient tool can produce fake news or disturbing content targeting any individual victim, posing a severe negative social impact. In this paper, we explore a defense system called Anti-DreamBooth against such malicious use of DreamBooth. The system aims to add subtle noise perturbation to each user's image before publishing in order to disrupt the generation quality of any DreamBooth model trained on these perturbed images. We investigate a wide range of algorithms for perturbation optimization and extensively evaluate them on two facial datasets over various text-to-image model versions. Despite the complicated formulation of DreamBooth and Diffusion-based text-to-image models, our methods effectively defend users from the malicious use of those models. Their effectiveness withstands even adverse conditions, such as model or prompt/term mismatching between training and testing. Our code will be available at \href{https://github.com/VinAIResearch/Anti-DreamBooth.git}{https://github.com/VinAIResearch/Anti-DreamBooth.git}.Comment: Project page: https://anti-dreambooth.github.io

DNA barcoding for identification of some fish species (Carangidae) in Vietnam coastal area

Carangidae family has got about 148 species belonging to 32 genera. In Vietnam, Carangidae is of high commercial value and playing an important role in the ecosystem. In the context Vietnam has received yellow card for seafood since Nov. 2017 by the EU, in which one of the main reasons was related to the restriction of traceability. In this study, DNA barcoding technique of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene was used to classify 56 specimens of Carangidae from three coastal areas (Northern, Central and Southern) in Vietnam to evaluate the effectiveness compared to the morphological classification method. Results showed that 21 species belonging to 16 genera were determined by the COI barcode while 18 species (16 genera) were determined when using morphological method. Seriola quinqueradiata and Trachinotus anak were newly recorded in Vietnam. From 56 sequences with 660 bp of mtDNA (COI), total 27 haplotypes were detected; haplotype diversity (h) and nucleotide diversity (π) were 0.903 ± 0.00060 and 0.14%, respectively. The DNA barcodes of COI gene of 21 species in Carangidae which were developed in this study could be used as a basis for comparison and traceability of their products. In addition, the results showed the high potentiality in using COI barcode to identify Carangidae fish in Vietnam

Abietane diterpenoids and neolignans from the roots of Pinus kesiya

The phytochemical investigation of the ethyl acetate extract of Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon roots led to the isolation of two abietane diterpenes, 7-oxo-15-hydroxy-dehydroabietic acid (1) and dehydroabietic acid (2) as well as two neolignans, cedrusin (3) and cedrusin-4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (4). Their structures were determined by combination of spectral analysis and comparison with reported data. Among them, compound 1 was isolated from the genus Pinus for the first time. Keywords. Pinus kesiya, abietane diterpenes, neolignans, dehydroabietic acid, cedrusin

Prospects of Blended Learning Implementation at FPT University Can Tho, Vietnam

Drawing on the evaluations of students’ attitudes toward learning aspects the mixed-method research aims to examine the prospects of Blended Learning at FPT University in Can Tho. Four hundred sixty-seven students partook in the study by providing answers for a 30-item questionnaire with open-ended questions. The results showed that most students have positive attitudes towards factors constructing their Blended Learning adaptability, including (1) Study Management and Online Learning, (2) Classroom Learning, and (3) Learning Flexibility. The results of Binary Logistic Regression also clarified the good promise of Blended Learning implementation and the discovery of other concerns that hindered informants’ willingness, namely Worriment about Learning Effectiveness, Online Learning Barriers, and Learners’ Ego. The research findings served as a reference for FPT University and other higher institutions to better grasp how students perceive Blended Learning to develop strategies for successful practices

Chemical constituents of Chirita drakei Burtt collected in Ha Long bay, Quang Ninh province, Viet Nam. Part 1. Compounds isolated from the n-hexane and ethyl acetate extracts.

Two triterpenes, an anthraquinone, two lignans and a phenolic compound were isolated from the n-hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of the aerial part of Chirita drakei Burtt collected in islands, on mountain slopes of Ha Long bay, Quang Ninh province. Their structures have been elucidated by mass, NMR spectroscopy and comparison with published data. There are no report on the chemical constituents of Chirita drakei before our study. Keywords. Chirita drakei, triterpene, anthraquinone, lignin

Impact of climate change on meteorological, hydrological and agricultural droughts in the Lower Mekong River Basin: a case study of the Srepok Basin, Vietnam

peer reviewedThe objective of this study is to assess future changes in meteorological, hydrology and agricultural droughts under the impact of changing climate in the Srepok River Basin, a subbasin of LMB, using three drought indices; standardized precipitation index (SPI), standardized runoff index (SRI) and standardized soil moisture index (SSWI). The well-calibrated Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is used as a simulation tool to estimate the features of meteorological, hydrological and agricultural droughts. The climate data for the 2016–2040 period is obtained from four different regional climate models; HadGEM3-RA, SNU-MM5, RegCM4 and YSU-RSM, which are downscaled from the HadGEM2-AO GCM. The results show that the severity, duration and frequency of droughts are predicted to increase in the near future for this region. Moreover, the meteorological drought is less sensitive to climate change than the hydrological and agricultural droughts; however, it has a stronger correlation with the hydrological and agricultural droughts as the accumulation period is increased. These findings may be useful for water resources management and future planning for mitigation and adaptation to the climate change impact in the Srepok River Basin

CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF HEDYOTIS PINIFOLIA WALL. COLLECTED IN THUA THIEN HUE

This study reports the chemical constituents from the whole plants Hedyotis pinifolia Wall. Ex G. Don (now accepted as Oldenlandia  pinifolia (Wall. Ex G. Don) Kuntze) collected  in Thua Thien Hue province. Thirteen compounds were isolated by chromatography method. Their structures were elucidated using MS and NMR analysis and compared with reported data. They contain three anthraquinones, a carotenoid, two triterpenes, four iridoid glucosides and three flavonoid glycosides. Four of them were found for the first time in this genus

Diterpenoids from Fokienia hodginsii.

In continuous research on the chemical constituents of the twigs and leaves of Fokienia hodginsii (Dunn) A. Henry et Thomas growing in Highland, Lam Dong province 4 diterpenoids, including 3-oxo-totarol (totarolone, 1), 3β-hydroxytotarol (2), 15-nor-labda-8(17),12E-diene-14-carboxaldehyde-19-oic acid (3) and 13-oxo-15,16-dinorlabda-8(17),11E-diene-19-oic acid (4) were isolated. Their structures were elucidated by the spectroscopic methods and comparison with reported data. This is the first report on the isolation of compounds 1, 2 and 3 from this plant. Keywords. Fokienia hodginsii; totarane; nor-labdane diterpenoid

Inequalities between peri-urban and urban areas in urbanization process of Ho Chi Minh city: an urban political-ecology perspective

Thanks to the implementation of Vietnam’s economic renovation or ‘Doi Moi’ policy since 1986, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) urban has grown quickly. However, this also leads to an increase in inequality. Its peri-urban area, which undergoes higher level of urbanization than urban area, faces more problems such as land use change, inadequate development process, unequal allocation of services and investment, and ignorance of environmental protection and cultural preservation. These impacts show inequality in standards of living between residents of the two areas. Using the framework of the Peri-Urban Political-Ecology, this paper aims to depict a general picture of the situation and analyse the causes of social inequalities between these two areas in terms of economy, public services, and environment through “everyday practices” (i.e. events, problems, stories, etc.). The paper uses HCMC’s statistical data in 2015-2017 periods and research findings from previous studies. The results shows that the main causes in inequalities between these two areas are the inevitability of urban metabolism and the unequal power interaction among the state, society and market

Terpenoids from Dacrycarpus imbricatus.

The phytochemical investigation of the hexane extract from the twigs and leaves of Dacrycarpus imbricatus (Blume) de Laub led to the isolation of a rare sesquiterpene, spathulenol (1) along with three diterpenes named pimaric acid (2), trans-communic acid (3) and cis-communic acid (4). Their structures were determined by combination of spectral analysis and comparison with reported data. This is the first report on isolation of compound 1 from the Podocarpaceae family. Keywords. Dacrycarpus imbricatus, spathulenol, pimaric acid, communic acid