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Establishing and maintaining a highly-trained pharmaceutical workforce is crucial for serving the healthcare needs of the population. Globally, various factors have been associated with the decision of students leaving high school to pursue an undergraduate degree in pharmacy, however, this topic has not yet been explored in Vietnam. To explore the motivations of first-year undergraduate pharmacy students to study pharmacy at university. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 428 first-year pharmacy students enrolled in undergraduate pharmacy programs from across all universities in Can Tho, Vietnam, including one public university (193 students) and two private universities (235 students), from November 2022 to February 2023. Exploratory factor analysis identified five underlying factors associated with the choice of students to study pharmacy, with internal consistency assessed using Cronbach's Alpha ([alpha]): personal factors ([alpha] = 0.86), career ([alpha] = 0.88), advice ([alpha] = 0.74), reputation ([alpha] = 0.84), and promotion ([alpha] = 0.76). Of these factors, personal factors had the greatest impact (mean = 4.13), while the least influential factor was promotion (mean = 2.92). Compared to public university students, private university students were more influenced by career (p = 0.019), advice (p = 0.002), and promotion (p < 0.001) when making the decision to study pharmacy. This study identifies the factors associated with the decision to pursue pharmacy education. These findings may be of interest to educational institutions addressing how they attract students and meet the workforce needs of the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare system.

The learning effects of task-based interaction is an emerging topic in the field of instructed pragmatics for ESL learners. Specifically, researchers are exploring the impact of different task features on pragmatics learning. This article reports a review of the extant research. First, the review aimed to identify specific task design and implementation characteristics that appeared to enhance learners' use of pragmatic features during task performance. Inter alia, the review indicated greater benefits from tasks which learners completed collaboratively versus individually and tasks which presented learners with relatively complex versus relatively simple cognitive demands. Secondly, the review aimed to assess evidence of learning across this body of research. The review could not establish whether the enhanced pragmatic language use observed during task performance equated with long-term learning as very few studies included delayed post-tests, an obvious lacuna in the body of research to date.

Electro-hydraulic actuators offer advantages over traditional hydraulic actuators, particularly for high-precision force or position control, but their nonlinear dynamics complicate modelling and control. This study proposes a predictor-integrated adaptive controller to address these challenges. By combining a proportional-integral-derivative controller with a sliding surface, the system tracks desired trajectories, while a parameter optimization rule minimizes errors. Additionally, a smart grey prediction model with dynamic step size adjusts parameters and generates control signals to reduce noise and disturbances. Simulations show improved accuracy and control performance, with a root mean square error reduction of over 50% compared to traditional control algorithms. This adaptive approach ensures precise control in varying conditions, making it suitable for aerospace, automotive, and robotics applications.

This study introduces a highly efficient and straightforward method for synthesizing gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) within a glucosamine/alginate (GluN/Alg) nanocomposite via an ionotropic gelation mechanism in aqueous environment. The resulting nanocomposite, AuNPs@GluN/Alg, underwent thorough characterization using UV–vis, EDX, FTIR, SEM, TEM, SAED, and XRD analyses. The spherical AuNPs exhibited uniform size with an average diameter of 10.0 nm. The nanocomposites facilitated the recyclable reduction of organic dyes, including 2-nitrophenol, 4-nitrophenol, and methyl orange, employing NaBH4 as the reducing agent. Kinetic studies further underscored the potential of this nanocomposite as a versatile catalyst with promising applications across various industrial sectors.

Prostatic stromal sarcoma (PSS) is a rare malignant tumor that often occurs in young people. Despite the fact that their clinical pathological characteristics are well known, our understanding of the imaging characteristics still seems to be limited. In our search of the literature, PSS articles are mainly present as case reports. In this case series of PSS, we aimed to thoroughly describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features, histopathological findings, and distinguishing hallmarks from prostate cancer (PCA).

The evaluation of training programs is usually conducted in at least two stages: self-assessment and external assessment, based on domestic and international standards. The evaluation results according to these standards, especially Vietnam's set of standards, serve as a foundation for developing improvement solutions to enhance the quality of training programs. The research team selected a method based on the statistical analysis of external evaluation results of training programs according to the standards issued in Circular 04/2016/TT-BGDĐT by the Ministry of Education and Training. From there, they forecast and manage existing issues as a basis for proposing 17 groups of quality assurance solutions for training programs, meeting the minimum requirements of stakeholders.