Search

This study used the systematic review methodology to examine peer-reviewed journal articles published in the Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Springer and Emerald Insight during the 2000–2020 period to analyse greenwashing. In an open market, the behaviours of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), private firms and multinational corporations (MNCs) pose an implicit greenwashing threat. Our focal point is to analyse corporate greenwashing in MNCs in host emerging markets, particularly in Asia, for two reasons. First, reports of greenwashing have increased around the world since Volkswagen was revealed to have falsified automobile emissions data. Second, MNCs play an important role in expanding market size and their behaviour is increasingly unpredictable. The analysis shows that MNCs tend to engage in greenwashing immediately after doing business in host emerging markets characterised by restricted regulations, clear market opportunities and low competitive pressure. When greenwashing occurs, it will harm the interests of not only consumers, but also society as a whole, despite offering significant benefits to existing stakeholders. In this case, the authorities should implement regulations to confront MNCs before attracting them, which should be enforced in practice.

Menstrual disorders are abnormalities that occur in the menstrual cycle. There are various menstrual disorders that women can experience, ranging from too little or too much menstrual blood, painful menstruation, to depression before menstruation or premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Physical activity is divided into three levels, namely light, moderate and heavy physical activity. Physical activity of heavy intensity can cause physiological disorders of the menstrual cycle. presence of menstruation (amenorrhoea), thinning of the bones (osteoporosis), menstrual irregularities or intermenstrual bleeding, abnormal growth of the uterine wall, and infertility.

Previous research had already established that sustainable destination outcomes can be realized when stakeholders engage in tourism destination management, yet the state of the needed engagement is still seen as problematic. It is evident that some change is required to enable behavioral change that will awaken a progress. Thus, new knowledge is needed to help advance this important destination management field. The aim of this exploratory case study was to present a new perspective which is underpinned by theories in the leadership and leadership development fields. The case study findings show that tourism-based leadership programs have the capacity to foster development of collective leadership capacity, which is needed to build the effective stakeholder networks that drive change at workplace, tourism destination, and community levels. The study suggests that sustainable development goals and sustained competitive advantage are developed through the bundle of collective leadership capacity and stakeholder causal scope.

Restaurants are constantly adapting towards customers’ wants and needs. Vegan restaurants have become increasingly popular, particularly in Melbourne, which is one of the fastest growing vegan markets in the world. While there is literature and evidence of restaurant selection factors in general restaurants, there are no specific studies in vegan restaurants. The aim of this study is to determine the customer restaurant selection factors in vegan restaurants by way of a qualitative content analysis of 5 popular Melbourne vegan restaurants with 10 reviews each. This study found that similar to general restaurants that serve meat, vegan restaurants are chosen mainly because of their food quality and service quality. Vegan restaurants must continue to build on the quality of their food and prioritize putting the same amount of focus on service quality, as poor service quality can completely tarnish the entire dining experience.

A new Hopfield neural network (HNN) model for downscaling a digital elevation model in grid form (gridded DEM) is proposed. The HNN downscaling model works by minimizing the local semivariance as a goal, and by matching the original coarse spatial resolution elevation value as a constraint. The HNN model is defined such that each pixel of the original coarse DEM is divided into f × f subpixels, represented as network neurons. The elevation of each subpixel is then derived iteratively (i.e., optimized) based on minimizing the local semivariance under the coarse elevation constraint. The proposed HNN model was tested against three commonly applied alternative benchmark methods (bilinear resampling, bicubic and Kriging resampling methods) via an experiment using both degraded and sampled datasets at 20-, 60-, and 90-m spatial resolutions. For this task, a simple linear activation function was used in the HNN model. Evaluation of the proposed model was accomplished comprehensively with visual and quantitative assessments against the benchmarks. Visual assessment was based on direct comparison of the same topographic features in different downscaled images, scatterplots, and DEM profiles. Quantitative assessment was based on commonly used parameters for DEM accuracy assessment such as the root mean square error, linear regression parameters m and b , and the correlation coefficient R . Both visual and quantitative assessments revealed the much greater accuracy of the HNN model for increasing the grid density of gridded DEMs.

There has been an increasing interest among scholars regarding the impacts of climate change on agriculture and possible adaptation strategies for farmers. Little attention has been paid, however, to reviewing adaptation initiatives amongst farmers in Asia. This article fills this knowledge gap by examining the current literature on Asian farmers’ perception of climate change, their adaptation strategies, key factors influencing their choices, and the barriers to change. A systematic quantitative literature review is undertaken of 48 papers taken from a range of sources. The review indicates that farmers’ perceptions of climate change have been consistent with the scientific data. It further identifies farmers’ adaptation strategies with regards to soil conservation, water management and land use changes. The review shows numerous factors influencing, and barriers impacting, farmers’ ability to adapt. Influencing factors were analysed and categorised into five groups: cognitive, demographic, social-economic, resources, and institutional. Barriers hampering their adaptive capacity were identified as: a lack of access to information, a lack of access to extension services, limited awareness and knowledge, and limited financial options. The review finishes with some recommendations for future research.

Background: Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD) is an X- linked recessive disorder and the most common error of the urea cycle, caused by the mutations in the OTC gene. Due to X-inactivation, 15–20% of female carriers present symptoms of OTCD at late onset. Early diagnosis of OTCD by molecular analysis in females is highly desirable. The aim of the study was to identify the mutations in two unrelated Vietnamese girls suspected with OTCD and the carriers in their families for definitive diagnosis and proper counseling.Case Presentation: Two patients presented with an acute encephalopathy at the first admission. Biochemical tests revealed hyperammonemia, hyperlactatemia, elevated glutamine level, elevated transaminase, elevated urinary orotic and uracil acid levels, and disorder of prothrombin time. Brain magnetic resonance imaging indicated cerebral edema. Based on the clinical and laboratory results, the two patients were diagnosed with urea cycle disorders. Therefore, the two patients were managed by stopping feeding, with infused glucose, l-carnitine, l-arginine, and sodium benzoate, and with hemofiltration. The two patients were alert and recovered with normal blood ammonia levels after 72 h of treatment. The family history of patient 1 showed that her brother died at 4 days of age due to a coma and dyspnea, while her parents were asymptomatic. Variable phenotypes were observed in three generations of the patient 2's family, including asymptomatic (mother), affected female adults dying at the first symptom (grandmother and aunt), and affected males dying in the first week of life (uncle, cousin, and siblings). Whole-exome sequencing showed two mutations in the OTC gene, including one novel missense mutation, c.365A>T, in the patient 1 and one previously reported splicing mutation, c.717+1G>A, in the patient 2. The two mutations are evaluated as likely pathogenic and pathogenic, respectively, according to the recommendations of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG). Genetic analyses in the families indicated the mothers were heterozygous.Conclusion: Clinical, biochemical, and molecular findings accurately diagnosed the two patients with late-onset OTCD. Our results explained the genetic causes and proposed the risk in the patients' families, which could be useful for genetic counseling and monitoring in prenatal diagnosis.

International audience; Discovering disjointness axioms is a very important task in ontology learning and knowledge base enrichment. To help overcome the knowledge-acquisition bottleneck, we propose a grammar-based genetic programming method for mining OWL class disjointness axioms from the Web of data. The effectiveness of the method is evaluated by sampling a large RDF dataset for training and testing the discovered axioms on the full dataset. First, we applied Grammatical Evolution to discover axioms based on a random sample of DBpedia, a large open knowledge graph consisting of billions of elementary assertions (RDF triples). Then, the discovered axioms are tested for accuracy on the whole DBpedia. We carried out experiments with different parameter settings and analyze output results as well as suggest extensions.

Increasing numbers of visitors are seeking out culinary experiences when travelling overseas. Food can enhance the destination experience, giving physiological sustenance and providing opportunities to learn about destination cultures through direct encounters with local cuisines. However, engaging with novel local food might arouse certain visitor expectations, particularly among those who have not visited previously. This study aimed to identify international visitor preconceptions of local Indonesian food and the underlying factors influencing expectations prior to their in-country experience of dining on local food. A questionnaire-based survey that was administered to 349 international visitors identified seven factors underlying their expectations: staff quality, sensory attributes, food uniqueness, local servicescapes, food authenticity, food familiarity, and food variety. A number of significantly different dining expectations were also highlighted between first-time and repeat visitors.

Epidemiological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Southern Vietnam has been well reported as in Globocan 2018 while data from the North has still not been fully presented. Therefore, we conducted this retrospective descriptive study on 198 advanced HCC patients treated at 3 major hospitals in Northern Vietnam to describe demographic features, HCC risk factors, and correlation among them in patients with advanced HCC. This information will lead to prevention efforts and provide information for allocating funds for treatment. The median age at diagnosis was 57 years (range: 19-86) and the male/female ratio was 8.9/1. The proportions of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were 81.3% and 5.6%, respectively. Hepatitis C virus infection rate was significantly higher in patients

Introduction: Albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade has been recently used in evaluation of liver function and prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, in Vietnam, the utility of ALBI grade in clinical setting has not been adequately investigated. Methods: This is a retrospective study of 110 patients with HCC treated with sorafenib from January 2010 to November 2018 at 2 tertiary hospitals in Vietnam. Prognostic value of ALBI grade was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional regression model. Results: Results showed that the majority of ALBI grade 1 were Child-Pugh level A (97.5%); ALBI grade 2 was seen in all Child-Pugh score groups of 5, 6, 7, ≥8, whereas ALBI grade 3 was mostly reported in Child-Pugh score ≥8 group (83.3%). Compared with ALBI grade 3, ALBI grade 1 reduced 66.4% risk of death (hazards ratio [HR] = 0.336, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.115-0.981; P = .046). Compared with ALBI grade 3, ALBI grade 2 reduced 67.3% risk of death (HR = 0.327, 95% CI: 0.122-0.875; P = .026). Albumin-bilirubin grade was an independent predictor of survival outcome. Conclusion: Baseline ALBI grade is a simple and objective approach in assessing liver functions of patients with HCC. Baseline ALBI grade is an independent predictor of survival in patients treated with sorafenib.

International audience; oday, with the development of the Semantic Web, LinkedOpen Data (LOD), expressed using the Resource Description Frame-work (RDF), has reached the status of “big data” and can be consideredas a giant data resource from which knowledge can be discovered. Theprocess of learning knowledge defined in terms of OWL 2 axioms fromthe RDF datasets can be viewed as a special case of knowledge discov-ery from data or “data mining”, which can be called “RDF mining”.The approaches to automated generation of the axioms from recordedRDF facts on the Web may be regarded as a case of inductive reasoningand ontology learning. The instances, represented by RDF triples, playthe role of specific observations, from which axioms can be extracted bygeneralization. Based on the insight that discovering new knowledge isessentially an evolutionary process, whereby hypotheses are generatedby some heuristic mechanism and then tested against the available evi-dence, so that only the best hypotheses survive, we propose the use ofGrammatical Evolution, one type of evolutionary algorithm, for miningdisjointness OWL 2 axioms from an RDF data repository such as DBpe-dia. For the evaluation of candidate axioms against the DBpedia dataset,we adopt an approach based on possibility theory.

Background: In neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), the simultaneous administration of drugs requires complex infusion methods. Such practices can increase the risk of drug incompatibilities resulting in the formation of a particulate load with possible clinical consequences. Methods: This paper evaluates strategies to reduce the particulate load of a protocol commonly used in NICUs with a potential medical incompatibility (vancomycin/cefepime combination). The protocol was reproduced in the laboratory and the infusion line directly connected to a dynamic particle counter to evaluate the particulate matter administered during infusion. A spectrophotometry UV assay of cefepime evaluated the impact of filters on the concentration of cefepime administered. Results: A significant difference was observed between the two infusion line configurations used in the NICU, with higher particulate load for cefepime infused via the emergency route. There was no change in particulate load in the absence of vancomycin. A filter on the emergency route significantly reduced this load without decreasing the cefepime concentration infused. Preparation of cefepime seemed to be a critical issue in the protocol as the solution initially contained a high level of particles. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the impact of a reconstitution method, drug dilution and choice of infusion line configuration on particulate load.

The textile industry discharges large amounts of polluted wastewater containing synthetic dyes. A down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) reactor is a novel aerobic wastewater treatment process that utilizes a sponge as a biomass-retaining carrier. This sponge carrier has both aerobic and anaerobic zones owing to different dissolved oxygen concentrations. In this study, the process performance of a DHS reactor treating actual textile wastewater obtained from a factory in Japan was evaluated. The effects of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and effluent recirculation (recirculation ratio = 1) on the DHS process performance were investigated. The DHS reactor showed good organic (up to 93 ± 13% of BOD) and nitrogen removal (56 ± 14% of TN) abilities during the entire experimental period. The color removal efficiencies of the DHS reactor were 55 ± 15%, 53 ± 26%, 72 ± 34%, and 35 ± 22% with HRTs of 4 h, 4 h + effluent recirculation (R = 1), 8 h + effluent recirculation (R = 1), and 8 h, respectively. Microbial community structure analysis of the DHS retained sludge showed that genus Acinetobacter was detected predominantly and reported as an azo dye-degrading bacterium. Effluent recirculation was also observed to increase the presence of aromatic-degrading bacteria and protists in the DHS reactor. These results suggest that the DHS reactor is suitable for textile wastewater treatment. Furthermore, the effluent recirculation is effective for enhancing decolorization performance.

Congenital nephrotic syndrome, a rare and severe disease, is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. The disease manifests shortly after birth and occurs predominantly in families of Finnish origin but has now been observed in all countries and races. Mutations in the NPHS1 gene, which encodes nephrin, are the main causes of congenital nephrotic syndrome in patients. In this study, we report the first mutational analysis of the NPHS1 gene in three unrelated children from three different Vietnamese families. These patients were examined and determined to be suffering from congenital nephrotic syndrome in the Department of Pediatrics, Vietnam National Hospital of Pediatrics. All 29 exons and exon-intron boundaries of NPHS1 were analyzed by PCR and DNA sequencing. Genetic analysis of the NPHS1 gene revealed one compound heterozygous variant p.Glu117Lys, one heterozygous missense mutation p.Asp310Asn, and one heterozygous frame-shifting mutation (c.3250_3251insG causing p.Val1084Glyfs⁎12) in patient 1. In patient 2, one heterozygous variant p.Glu117Lys and one novel heterozygous missense mutation p.Ser324Ala were identified. Finally, a novel missense mutation p.Arg802Leu and a novel nonsense mutation (c.2442C>G causing p.K792⁎) were identified in patient 3.

The role of coordinators in highly knowledge-intensive international business has been increasingly portrayed as filling the communication, cross-cultural, social gaps; or facilitators of knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer. However, they do not mention the process coordinators cooperate with partners to create new knowledge; whereas a critical issue is to facilitate the collaboration among partners in international and cross-cultural context. Our study bridges this gap by studying the knowledge-bridging process of bridge System Engineers (bridge SEs) in software offshore development context. Our analysis pointed out that beside required knowledge, bridge SEs utilized background of long term residence or study abroad; and “bridging-knowledge” to adjust communication contents before information is sent from one side to another. Based on the theoretical work of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) and empirical evidence of bridge SEs in Software Offshoring from Japan to Vietnam; we further develop the model of Knowledge-bridging process to show how the bridge SEs, the vendor and the client interact to create technological, business, bridging knowledge and decrease the cultural gaps.

Visitors are increasingly travelling to destinations in search of culinary experiences. As a consequence, many Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) have sought to stimulate visitation by capitalising on the appeal of dining opportunities involving local food. However, such initiatives will only be effective if tourism providers have a thorough understanding of how visitors respond to the dining experiences that are offered. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of international visitor dining experiences with local food, by examining the experiences in the course of the pre-, during, and post-dining phases. With the visitor experience as its core, the framework takes into account the influence of both internal and external factors on the visitor experience. It is intended that the proposed framework will provide a more complete understanding of the visitor dining experience in destination settings.

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge of nutriation among mothers of children less than two years of age and changes in theoretical knowledge after a nutrition course. Method: A pilot study with a pre-post-test design. Thirty mothers of children who were less than two years of age from outside Hanoi participated in the study. The mothers’ knowledge of breastfeeding, supplementary food and diet when the child was suffering from diarrhea was collected using 19 self-reported questions. A one-day nutrition course at which the mothers answered the same questions before and after the course was run. Results: All the invited mothers were included in the study. There was a lack of knowledge about breastfeeding and nutrition at baseline, but it improved after the nutrition course. The greatest improvement in knowledge related to breastfeeding less than 30 minutes after delivery, not giving milk or fruit juice instead of breast milk, increasing the frequency of breastfeeding in the event of a smaller amount of milk and knowledge about giving supplementary food after six months. Moreover, the results revealed that the mothers reported better knowledge of the consumption and frequency of more healthy food supplements. Conclusion: There was a lack of knowledge about nutrition among the mothers with children less than two years of age. The course demonstrated effectiveness in every aspect of nutritional knowledge, tested in the posttest. The findings in this study could provide important information for authorities in the health sector to improve the nutritional state of children in the community.

Objectives To explore the perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and experiences related to Vietnamese medical students’ binge drinking. Design A qualitative study comprising semi-structured focus groups/interviews with medical students and semi-structured interviews with key informants. Thematic analysis of data. Setting Participants were a convenience sample of usual volunteers from a medical university in Viet Nam. Participants 19 medical students from year 1 to 6 and 4 key informants agreed to participate in the study. Results The study found participants believe medical students drink less than other students and are not binge drinkers yet they experience and/or witness many binge drinking occasions among medical students. Participants consider alcohol use as culturally acceptable in Vietnamese society and a way for medical students to create and improve relationships with their friends, teachers, or work colleagues. Group affiliation and peer pressure to drink excessive alcohol are identified among medical students, especially male students. Conclusion The culture of drinking behaviour was explored among medical students in Viet Nam. This study reveals a dichotomy between the belief of not being binge drinkers and the experience of many binge drinking occasions among medical students. This tension suggests future research about binge drinking behaviour of Vietnamese medical students is required.

Appropriate food of suitable nutritional value is crucial for first-feeding stages of the larvae of cobia Rachycentron canadum, a very fast growing marine fish species. Best survival and growth results in cobia larviculture have been reported with a starter diet of HUFA-enriched rotifers and –as mouth size permits – followed by freshly-hatched and eventually HUFA-enriched Artemia nauplii. Using the smaller-sized Vietnam Artemia franciscana (AF) strain instead of the Great Salt Lake A. franciscana strain, it has been shown that the rotifer-feeding period could be shortened with 3 days, resulting in significant improvements in larval survival and growth. This study verified the possibility to feed umbrella-stage Artemia for further shortening and eventually completely substituting rotifer start feeding. The experiment was conducted in 200-L tanks and lasted 18 days. AF umbrella Artemia was used as sole feed during the whole rotifer feeding period (UAF), compared to the use of enriched rotifers for the first 2 days followed by AF-umbrella (ER + UAF) and the use of enriched rotifers as control (ER). The feeding incidence of UAF treatments was significantly lower (P 0.05). The viability of cobia larvae after exposure to high salinity stress was lower in the ER treatment at day 8 post-hatching, but higher at day 18 post-hatching (P

Background. Reversal, or type 1, leprosy reactions (T1Rs) are acute immune episodes that occur in skin and/ or nerves and are the leading cause of neurological impairment in patients with leprosy. T1Rs occur mainly in patients with borderline or multibacillary leprosy, but little is known about additional risk factors. Methods. We enrolled 337 Vietnamese patients with leprosy in our study, including 169 subjects who presented with T1Rs and 168 subjects with no history of T1Rs. A multivariate analysis was used to determine risk factors for T1R occurrence, time to T1R onset after leprosy diagnosis, and T1R sequelae after treatment. Results. Prevalence of T1Rs was estimated to be 29.1%. Multivariate analysis identified 3 clinical features of leprosy associated with T1R occurrence. Borderline leprosy subtype (odds ratio, 6.3 [95% confidence interval, 2.9-13.7] vs. polar subtypes) was the major risk factor; 2 other risk factors were positive bacillary index and presence of>5 skin lesions. In addition, age at leprosy diagnosis was a strong independent risk factor for T1Rs (odds ratio, 2.4 [95% confidence interval, 1.3-4.4] for patients aged ≥15 years old vs.

Higher education quality assurance and accreditation was officially implemented inVietnamover twelve years ago. From a totally centralized model,Vietnam’s accreditation system has been becoming more independent, especially with the establishment of accrediting agencies. The first accreditation certificates were also awarded to universities that met quality standards and criteria. This paper investigates the development ofVietnam’s higher education quality assurance and accreditation for the last decade since the national quality assurance organization was established. The study first synthesizes the results achieved within this system, both in policy and practice, leadership and management. It also discusses human resources development for quality assurance and accreditation in the national context. Next, the paper highlights the self-evaluation and external evaluation activities, two most important steps of the accreditation process. In addition, building quality culture within higher education institutions is also paid attention to. Finally, lessons from the establishment and development ofVietnam’s accreditation are drawn. This study looks at an overall picture ofVietnam’s higher education quality assurance system since its establishment with a focus on policy, practice, leadership and management. It also hopes to contribute to the literature related to accreditation ofVietnam’s higher education.

An optical imaging system employing frequency domain photon migration (FDPM) technique is used to characterize the TiO2/polyurethane optical phantoms. A standardized model relating the reduced scattering coefficient and the concentration of TiO2scatters is derived.