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In popular thinking, debt evokes notions of vulnerability and bondage, while irregular migration for sex work conjures up the hazards of human trafficking and modern slavery 1 . These perceptions inform ‘safe migration’ policies aimed at ordering and regulating migration and combating informality to increase migrants’ safety and well-being; the assumption being that illegality puts migrants at risk of abuse. This article challenges these assumptions with an ethnographic study of brokerage practices in the quasi-family networks that facilitate the irregular and circular migration of Vietnamese sex workers to Singapore. In these networks, brokers sell a migration package on credit to their clients, the migrant sex workers, who repay it through sexual labour. This package includes all the services necessary for the women to migrate temporarily and work safely in Singapore. Most crucially, it serves as an entree into the broker’s business and social network, as a way of forming an enduring relationship. Without denying the power of debt to create inequality, obligation and exploitation, this article shows that debt can also be a profitable, non-coercive and reciprocal device for brokers and sex workers alike, a vector of ‘safety’ which limits some of the risks they encounter in a repressive and uncertain host environment. This finding stems from a novel framework in economic anthropology, the ‘socio-economy of debt’ (Guerin, 2018), which complicates moral views of debt through an empirical examination of the materiality, power dynamics and social and moral meanings of debt arrangements and relationships.

This study examines requests in Vietnamese, a much under-researched language, with a view to expanding the range of languages under inquiry. Open role-plays in six scenarios with differing social power and perceived imposition levels were used to elicit requests from nine Vietnamese native speakers. Data were analyzed with reference to the categorization of Blum-Kulka, House and Kasper (1989) for level of directness, choice of request strategy and use of modification. The findings suggested that unlike requests in some European languages reported in the literature, requests in Vietnamese as a native language were realized predominantly by means of imperatives in equal power situations and query preparatories in low-to-high power situations, regardless of imposition levels. Requests were modified preferably by means of supportive moves such as steers and grounders, and lexical means such as address terms, honorifics, modal particles, and appealers. These findings are discussed with implications for cross-cultural communication and the teaching and learning of Vietnamese as a second language.

This article reports an eight-month investigation into the long-term impact of explicit instruction on the learnability of different aspects of email requests by a group of Vietnamese university students. Two intact classes were randomly assigned to the treatment (N = 13) and control conditions (N = 19). Over a four-week period, the treatment group received six hours of instruction which comprised consciousness-raising, meta-pragmatic explanation, repeated output practice and teacher feedback. The control group, on the other hand, only followed the usual syllabus. Results of the study indicate that the treatment group obtained significantly greater pre-to-posttest gains than the control group, and that their improvement was retained by the time of the eight-month delayed post-test. Despite the learners’ overall progress, however, it was also found that different aspects of their performance appeared to respond differently to instruction. The article supports the need for instruction of email politeness and discusses implications for future pedagogy and research.

Recently, developing students’ thinking, especially critical thinking (CT), has become a hot issue. Critical thinking has been claimed to have an important impact on learners’ reading comprehension because it can help them analyze, evaluate, construct their thinking, solving problems and reasoning (Ennis, 1989). However, the extent that teachers’ classroom activities contribute to developing students’ critical thinking has rarely been researched. The current case study was conducted with six EFL high school teachers and 10 reading lessons in Vietnam to explore the teachers’ use of questions and to analyze if these questions could facilitate the students’ critical thinking. Classroom observations and the cognitive domain of Bloom’s taxonomy were adapted as the research instruments. The study results reveal common types of questions are often used by high school teachers in their reading lessons. Suggestions are made on types of questions that teachers should function more in their class in order to enhance students’ critical thinking.

This paper addresses the question of whether tourism spending will decrease poverty. Real incomes and tourism spending are usually positively correlated, thus complicating the question of causality from tourism spending to poverty. Regional Vietnamese data are applied in a test of whether tourism spending–in a model of poverty–will increase the forecasting performance compared to a model including only incomes. The test results reveal no improvement of the forecasting performance when tourism spending is included. Thus, there is no evidence of a direct link from tourism spending to poverty, but there may be indirect effects via incomes.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of maternal nutritional supplementation (MNS) in conjunction with a breastfeeding support program on birth outcomes and breastfeeding performance. Methods: A total of 228 singleton Vietnamese mothers aged 20–35 years at 26–29 weeks of gestation with pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) < 25.0 kg/m2 were randomized to the intervention (n = 114), receiving MNS (252 kcal/day) daily up to 12 weeks postpartum and four breastfeeding education and support sessions or to the control (n = 114), receiving standards of care. Results: The intervention was 2.09 times more likely to exclusively breastfeed over the 12 weeks than the control (95%CI: 1.05–4.13, p = .0358), after controlling for potential confounders. Infant’s breast milk intake was significantly higher in the intervention than the control among mothers with baseline mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) < 50th (p = .0251). Infants in the intervention had significantly higher birth weight (p = .0312), birth weight-for-age (p = .0141) and birth head circumference-for-age (p = .0487), and higher head circumference-for-age z-score (p = .0183) development over the postnatal period, compared with the control. Conclusions: Use of MNS and breastfeeding support improve birth outcomes and exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) rate in Vietnamese mothers. Additionally, it promotes breast milk production among mothers with lower baseline MUAC.

Open Access. The published version of this work has been reproduced here in accordance with the Publisher’s self archiving and copyright policies.Information and communications technology (ICT) devices have become increasingly available for teaching and learning in Vietnam. However, availability of ICT facilities and ICT use are two different issues. Teachers’ ICT integration often depends on their level of ICT competency, which is closely linked with ICT training. This paper presents the results of a case study that investigated ICT training for foreign language teachers at a university in Vietnam. Survey participants (n = 222) were asked to report on ICT use in lesson preparation and classroom teaching, and provision of ICT training opportunities. Subsequently data were collected from semi-structured interviews (n = 43), during which interviewees addressed their ICT use, training in ICT and access to suitable technology. The findings of the study provide insights into the relationship between ICT provision and training, and ICT use in foreign language teaching in the Vietnamese context. Consideration of the findings suggests a need for on-going and regularly updated professional development programs with a focus on specific ICT skills for which language teachers profess a need.

This study extends the literature on the role of institutional quality in international migration to an under-researched aspect: the intention of international migrants to return to the home country. We examined whether the perception of differences in institutional quality between OECD destination countries and Vietnam and the stated importance attached to such differences influence the intention of Vietnamese migrants to return home. We used data from a web-based survey (N = 159) conducted in 2016. The countries where the respondents resided comprised approximately 90% of the Vietnamese diaspora in the world. We considered six different dimensions of institutional quality. We found, both descriptively and by means of weighted logistic regression analysis, that Vietnamese migrants who perceive a greater difference in institutional quality between the destination country and Vietnam are less likely to report intentions to return. This effect is stronger for those who attach greater importance to institutional quality. However, gender shows notable heterogeneity, with the effects of institutional quality being more robust and closer to the theoretical expectations for men than for women.

This study focuses on assessing the suitability and condition of various bankruptcy risk models applied to construction companies listed on the Vietnam Stock Market. In this study, the panel data were collected from the disclosed financial statements of the companies from 2012 to 2017. Through the assessment, bankruptcy risks are predicted for the companies that are experiencing initial signals such as delisting, compulsory supervision. In the next step, interviews were conducted to justify which of the following factors may indicate the companies at the risk of being bankrupted: asset management, capital structure, business size, and/or state management.

To examine the associations of excessive internet use with depression, anxiety, and sleep quality among high school students in northern Vietnam, a country experiencing rapid economic growth.A cross-sectional study was conducted in a high school in northern Vietnam from July to September 2019. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were respectively assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale and the Vietnamese Anxiety Scale. Sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Internet use and demographic characteristics were obtained using structured questionnaires. A multiple logistic regression was performed.In total, 678 participants with an average age of 16.1 (standard deviation 0.9) years were included. Nearly one-third of the adolescents (30.7%) exhibited excessive internet use (4 h/day), 19.6% experienced depressive symptoms, 14.5% presented anxiety symptoms, and 58.8% reported poor sleep quality. Compared to non-excessive internet users, excessive internet users (4 h/day) experienced significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms (p = .001), anxiety (p = .008), and poorer sleep quality (p.001). Students who were female and with fair/poor self-rated health experienced higher depression, anxiety, and poor sleep quality (p.05). After adjusting for demographic and health-related factors, students with excessive internet use were 58% more likely to experience poor sleep quality (odds ratio, 1.58, 95% confidence interval [1.06, 2.35]).Excessive internet use in Vietnamese high school students was significantly associated with poor sleep quality, but not with depression or anxiety.

Human sexual behavior research is a multidisciplinary endeavor that seeks to comprehend one of the most vital and complex aspects of our behavioral science. This study aimed to investigate Vietnamese university students' perception of sexual knowledge as well as the relationship between gender, academic year, and sexual orientation. The questionnaire was sent to 666 Vietnamese undergraduate students in four universities which 418 respondents were considered valid for research purposes. The study results showed that there was a significant difference among the four study groups of different (1) academic year; (2) sexual orientations; (3) gender and academic year level; (4) academic year and sexual orientation; (5) gender, academic year, and sexual orientation level when considered jointly on the variables of the three aspects of the Sex knowledge and Attitude Questionnaire II. However, there was no reciprocal relationship between (6) gender; (7) gender, and sexual orientation level. The findings of this study will have implications for school policies that attempt to promote and maintain a positive school climate in an effort to address the issue of sexuality education, including sexual knowledge.

OBJECTIVE The reduction of goal-directed behavior, termed apathy, is a pervasive and debilitating syndrome after traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, understanding of apathy as a multifaceted construct is limited, especially in Southeast Asian nations. This study aimed to investigate the severity, insight, and psychosocial influences of apathy in executive, emotional, and initiation dimensions in Vietnam-a country with high prevalence of TBI. METHOD One hundred and eleven Vietnamese participants (61 individuals with moderate to severe TBI and 50 healthy controls) and their informants completed the self-rated and informant-rated Dimensional Apathy Scale (DAS) for the assessment of executive, emotional, and initiation apathy severity. Insight of apathy was calculated by subtracting DAS self-ratings from informant ratings. Additionally, carers completed measures assessing psychosocial factors of overall family health and overprotective behavior, while participants rated their own self-efficacy. RESULTS Our results showed greater informant-rated apathy for all three dimensions in individuals with TBI relative to controls. However, while people with TBI had greater self-rated initiation apathy, they regarded their executive apathy as lower and their emotional apathy as similar compared with controls. Reduced insight in patients was seen for executive and initiation apathy. Across participants, executive apathy was predicted by family functioning and overprotectiveness, emotional apathy was predicted by family functioning, and initiation apathy was predicted by self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS These findings support the multidimensional characterizations and socio-cultural considerations of apathy after TBI, which will potentially develop both individual-specific and symptom-specific approaches in clinical practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Objectives: Tuberculosis (TB) stigma contributes to diagnostic delay, disease concealment, and reduced wellbeing for affected individuals. Despite the availability of several TB stigma scales, most high-TB burden countries do not have a culturally validated version available. This study evaluated the Van Rie TB stigma scale (VTSS) among people with TB in Vietnam. Methods: This study consisted of two phases. In phase 1, the VTSS was culturally and linguistically adapted to the Vietnamese context. In phase 2, people with TB were invited to complete a survey containing the VTSS, a depression scale, and a quality of life scale. The data analysis included confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), exploratory factor analysis (EFA), construct validity, and floor or ceiling effects. Results: In phase 1, items were reworded from the third person to the first person. The TB/HIV co-infection items (items 7 and 11) were the least relevant for people with TB (62% and 73% relevance, respectively). In phase 2, the CFA demonstrated adequate goodness-of-fit indices (GFI = 0.88, CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.058); however several of the item factor loadings were low. The EFA demonstrated good internal consistency (α = 0.85) and revealed one dominant factor. Construct validity was low. Conclusions: The VTSS demonstrated good psychometric properties in Vietnam. Depending on the purpose of the scale, the HIV co-infection items and item 10 could be considered for removal.

This study aims to appraise the potential impacts of the European Union - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) on Vietnam’s agricultural exports to the European Union (EU). The authors apply the SMART model to quantitatively estimate how tariff elimination under this agreement affects trade value between two parties, with the base year of 2018. By simulating the zero-rate tariff scenario for 17 two-digit HS codes of agricultural goods, the authors analyze the total change in export, trade creation, and trade diversion effects of the whole sector. The four important product groups that witnessed the highest change, including HS 04 (dairy produce, birds’ eggs; natural honey; edible products of animal origin), HS 08 (edible fruit and nuts, peel of citrus fruit or melons), HS 09 (coffee, tea, maté, and spices) and HS 20 (preparations of vegetables, fruit, nuts or other parts of plants) are further classified into products with 4-6-digit HS codes to find out the specific product lines that benefit the most. The SMART outputs reveal that EVFTA positively affects the export of agricultural products from Vietnam to the EU market, with trade diversion dominating trade creation effects. Based on these findings, recommendations are proposed to the state authorities as well as domestic enterprises to promote the export of farm produce.

E-learning has been a trend of higher education. Accounting students need to know how to apply flexible learning methods as they are required to study and practise in a technological environment. Nevertheless, studies on e-learning based on cloud computing for accounting students in Vietnam are still limited. This study aims to find out factors affecting the behavioral intention, the direct influence of habits, the beneficiary motivation, and the favorable conditions for the acceptance of using elearning based on cloud computing. By using data collected from a survey of 696 students and applying the theory of adopting extended UTAUT model, the estimation results from the linear structure models show that there are six determinants of accounting students’ behavioral intention, in which the performance expectancy has the strongest impact, followed by effort expectancy, price value, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, and social influence. Additionally, our findings suggest that despite not affecting the behavioral intention to use e-learning, habits directly impact the application. The hedonic motivation and the facilitating conditions are found to have direct and significant impacts on the use of e-learning based on cloud computing.

The study aims to determine the status of organizing science activities for preschoolers aged 5–6 and teachers' views on improving science education quality for 5–6-year-olds in Vietnam. The research was undertaken on 150 preschool teachers working with 5–6 years old classes in 24 public preschools in 3 provinces, including Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien Hue. Mixed methods, including surveys, interviews with teachers, and observation of science discovery activities, were used. According to the study results, science education activities were regularly organized in the preschools with specific plans following the school-year curriculum and the national ECE framework of Vietnam. Teachers used various methods and forms for organizing scientific activities, but the classroom environment was dominant. The participation of family and society in science activities at preschools was limited. Teachers also highlight some measures to improve the quality of science education in preschools, including providing necessary facilities, equipment, toys for preschools and increasing modern teaching methods. The findings of this study provide necessary evidence on science education for preschool children in practical terms as the basis for further studies on solutions to improve the efficiency of science education for preschool children in Vietnam.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in men is a serious issue because it is associated with genital warts, anogenital cancers, and HPV transmission to their sex partners. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and genotypes of HPVs in Vietnamese male patients hospitalized with sexually transmitted infection (STI) symptoms between 2016 and 2020 by using PCR and reverse dot blot hybridization analysis. HPV DNA was detected in 191/941 (20.3%) penile cell samples. The HPV patient's mean age was 30.3 in the range of 16- and 69-year-old. The highest HPV prevalence (84.7%) was found in patients between 20- and 39-year-old. A total of 313 HPV genotypes were identified. Multiple-infection rate was 42.9%. The most common high-risk (HR)-HPV genotypes were HPV-16 (8.0%), HPV-51 (7.7%), HPV-52 (4.8%), HPV-56 (4.2%), and HPV-18 (3.8%). Furthermore, HPV-11 and HPV-6 genotypes were the two most common low-risk (LR)-HPV genotypes with the rate of 36.7% and 21.4%, respectively. Notably, HPV-52 was found circulating in Vietnam for the first time. In conclusion, this study results showed that HPV prevalence in Vietnamese male patients was common and diverse. In addition, regarding public health and cancer prevention, the inclusion of the HPV vaccination into the national vaccination program for both men and women is recommended. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Using panel data, this study is the first to offer an empirical analysis of the effect that absolute income and three specifications of comparison income have on individual happiness in a transitional country. We use unique data from the Viet Nam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS) in three cycles (2012, 2014, and 2016), including a representative sample of 6,575 respondents from 12 provinces in rural areas in Vietnam. Taking advantage of panel data, we use a fixed-effects regression approach to control for individual unobservable heterogeneity. The approach taken in this paper divides subgroups according to relative income instead of absolute income. This analysis allows the elimination of opposing relations to see the same direction effect of social comparison income on individuals’ happiness The results reveal that individuals compare themselves to more than one reference group, and compare themselves both with those better off and those worse off. Nevertheless statistically significant results only attain when one outweighs the other or when they both look downward or upward in their comparison. Interestingly, the outcome turns from asymmetry to near symmetry when the reference group’s interaction effects change from opposed to the same.

One of the strategic objectives of the Vietnamese government in achieving universal health coverage (UHC) is to develop a sustainable, equitable, and effective health financing system. This study aimed to examine the incidence and intensity of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) and impoverishment in Vietnam at different thresholds of expenditure. The data were obtained from six national representative Household Living Standards Surveys from 2008 to 2018. We found that the incidence and intensity of CHE declined significantly over study years. Additionally, we found a substantial reduction in the incidence and intensity of medical impoverishment in Vietnam. The increase in the poverty gap in 2012 and 2014 was because non-poor households became poor after out-of-pocket (OOP) health payments. However, the rise in poverty gaps in 2008, 2010, 2016 and 2018 was attributable to the worsening state of existing poor households after healthcare payments. In addition, we found that the CHE rate and impoverishment were more concentrated in the poor quintile groups. Furthermore, we found that the Red River Delta had the highest CHE rate, whereas the Northern Midland region experienced the strongest poverty impact of OOP payments. Generally, in Vietnam, the health financing system has had no considerable success in reducing inequality across quintiles and regions. Finally, our findings revealed that health insurance showed positive impacts on households’ financial protection against CHE and impoverishment, after enacting both the first Health Insurance Law in 2009 and the Revised Health Insurance Law in 2015. The results suggest that the health insurance scheme should be reviewed to continue reducing CHE and impoverishment, promoting equity and enhancing the performance of the health financing system in Vietnam.

Background HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have disproportionately affected communities of men who have sex with men (MSM). We describe HIV and STI prevalence and testing patterns among urban Vietnamese MSM. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional community-based study of MSM in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2016. Participants self-reported experiences of social stigma in healthcare settings and previous HIV and STI testing. STI testing included HIV, herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2), syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. Results 205 MSM participated in the study. STI prevalence was HIV (10%), HSV-2 (4%), syphilis (13%), gonorrhea (34%), and chlamydia (19%). More than half (55%) of participants tested positive for at least one STI. Most participants had been previously tested for HIV or another STI (72%), with 24% previously receiving a positive result. Perceived and enacted social stigma in healthcare contexts was negatively associated with previous HIV or STI testing (adjusted prevalence odds ratio (aPOR): 0.22; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.10–0.48). Discussion High prevalence of STIs was observed among Vietnamese MSM, and perceived and enacted stigma was related to HIV and STI testing. Our findings reaffirm the importance of regular STI screening among this population as well as additional outreach to promote safe HIV and STI healthcare engagement.

Summary: Background & aims: Disease-associated undernutrition is common among hospitalized adults around the world, but risk is expected to be even greater in regions of food insecurity, as in Southeast Asia. Our study, which was based in a large Vietnamese hospital, aimed to determine the prevalence of undernutrition and its associated health and economic burdens. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of medical records for a cohort of 1600 adult patients who were admitted to the University Medical Center (UMC) hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam over a 2.5-year interval. Undernutrition or its risk was identified as [1] a diagnosis of malnutrition by a physician, and/or [2] a body mass index (BMI) < 18.5, and/or [3] a score ≥ 3 on the Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS)-2002, and/or [4] in-hospital use of oral nutritional supplements, as recorded in the patient's medical chart. Our study also tracked comorbidities and their severity and compiled data on hospital length of stay and infectious complications during the hospital stay or within 30-days post-hospitalization. We determined costs for the full study population, and we also stratified results by admission source. Results: We found that 2 of every 3 hospital study patients were undernourished or at risk for malnutrition, based primarily on BMI < 18.5 kg/m2 or NRS-2002 score ≥ 3. The highest prevalence of malnutrition risk occurred in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery (84.8%), and the lowest among cardiology patients (48.9%). On average, patients were 80.2 years of age, predominantly female (58%), of Kinh ethnicity (95%), with 2.1 comorbid conditions, and public health insurance (84%). Infectious complications occurred in 4% of patients, and hospital length of stay was 8.4 (±4.6) days. Of patients contacted in post-discharge follow-up (N=987), 20.6% had been readmitted to the hospital within 30-days post-discharge. The average total episode cost was 31.6x106 (±28.1x106) VND. Conclusions: Among hospitalized patients in Vietnam, we found that disease-related undernutrition is highly prevalent, which can worsen patient outcomes, increase healthcare resource use, and elevate healthcare costs. To address these problems, we propose use of a nutrition-focused action plan that aims to enhance awareness of nutrition gaps and improve professional training for identification of undernutrition and for delivery of needed nutrition care.

Asian Americans are the fastest growing and fastest aging U.S. population, and occupy both extremes of socioeconomic and health indices. Using the 2016 NYCgov dataset, multilevel logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship of poverty, acculturation and neighborhood-level variables with disability for different ethnic groups of Asian older adults (Chinese, South Asian, Filipino, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese) in New York City. Findings indicated that South Asian older adults had higher odds for disability compared to other ethnic groups. Living in a neighborhood with higher percentages of persons of the same ethnicity was protective for Chinese older adults only. There is an important opportunity for interprofessional collaborations through education, awareness, screening and intervening to enhance systems of care for Asian older adults. Social workers can play a pivotal role in providing key linkages to form interprofessional solutions and shared efforts to address the needs of this understudied and under-resourced population. Future research is needed to better understand how ethnic enclaves are defined, and how they can benefit different ethnic groups of vulnerable Asian older adults.

The present study aims to investigate perceptions of pre-service teachers of English on the quality of a training course on English Language Teacher Education. Thirty-nine pre-service teachers who had just completed their training program at a university participated in the study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The results show that the pre-service teachers on the whole showed a high level of satisfaction with the quality of the training course. However, the results indicate certain variances in the way the pre-service teachers responded to the issue of quality. The study also indicates suggestions proposed by pre-service teachers regarding how to help the university improve the quality of education and training as well as the services it offers. Accordingly, this study brings significant insights for related stakeholders in achieving a better quality for education.

Le livre Vietnamese Organized Crime in the Czech Republic (Le crime organise des Vietnamiens en Republique tcheque), paru en 2020 aux editions Palgrave MacMillan, s’inscrit dans la collection Crime Preventions And Security Management. Cette serie propose des analyses scientifiques relatives a la criminalite et a la gestion de l’ordre public. Le volume consacre aux reseaux et organisations criminelles vietnamiennes en Republique tcheque presente le resultat de recherches longitudinales socio-a...

Comment se fait-il qu’autant de personnes de la minorite montagnarde brao se sont vu confier des postes importants dans le gouvernement cambodgien des annees 1980, alors qu’elles ne parlaient pas couramment la langue nationale khmere et n’avaient pas, pour la plupart, fait d’etudes avancees ? C’est la question qui s’est imposee a Ian Baird, aujourd’hui professeur de geographie a l’universite de Wisconsin-Madison, lorsqu’ il a entrepris ses recherches de master dans la province de Ratanakiri e...

This paper investigates factors affecting cash holdings of materials firms listed on Vietnamese stock exchanges. By analyzing data collected from 51 companies in a period of 7 years (from 2013-2019), using FGLS procedure based on fixed effect estimation, the study shows that leverage, profitability, cash conversion cycle, cash flows, and growth opportunities significantly affect the level of cash holdings of Vietnamese materials companies. This study adds more insights in the field of liquidity management in general and cash management in particular by determining factors influencing cash holdings. Outcomes from this research would help managers, investors, and consultants in making corporate governance decisions.

Intensive shrimp production is a potential pathway to increasing export quantity and meeting Vietnamese national export targets set for the 2020–2030 period. Vietnamese farmers need to efficiently manage their shrimp farming to compete in global markets. This study aims to investigate input- and output-specific technical and scale inefficiencies in Vietnamese shrimp farming practice and their determinants. The research used a survey among 200 shrimp farmers from Ca Mau, Kien Giang, and Soc Trang provinces in Vietnam, and applied a two-stage approach with a Russell-type (input–output) directional distance function for measuring input- and output-specific technical inefficiency, and a bootstrap truncated regression for exploring the determinants of inefficiencies. Results show that main drivers of technical inefficiencies in Vietnamese intensive white-leg shrimp farms are inappropriate management of energy (inefficiency of 32%), seed (inefficiency of 22%) and shrimp yield production (88%). Furthermore, male farmers experienced in shrimp farming, with proper training and applied plastic-lined ponds are generally better in managing pond areas, use of seed, feed, and labor. Technological innovations, better post larvae quality and their stocking management can help to improve shrimp farming performance.

The purpose of this paper is to unpack the meanings and implications of mobility through the experiences of a group of Vietnamese women who decided to do doctorates in Australia. Drawing on the Deleuzian concepts of rhizome and becoming, our analysis of interview data suggests that mobility is made of multiple connections and is in constant movement, extending often reductive “push-pull” discussions of academic mobility. Each aspect shaping mobility connects to another that is multiscalar and multitemporal, where family, education ideologies, gender norms, economic globalization, neoliberalization within higher education, and the histories and biographies of mobile people come together. Power relations are immanent within structures associated with these connections and the women and mobility come together to create aspirations for educational, professional, and personal becoming. The paper offers a more nuanced understanding of international academic mobility rather than relying on economic perspectives and invites innovative approaches in supporting international doctoral students.

PurposeThis study seeks to investigate the impact of supply chain integration (SCI) practices on economic performance in Vietnamese enterprises.Design/methodology/approachBased on data collected from 144 Vietnamese enterprises, this study employs partial least squares path modeling to analyze the direct and indirect relationships among external integration, information integration, process integration and economic performance.FindingsAnalytical results indicate that of the three SCI practices, external integration has a significant and positive impact on economic performance. Process integration and information integration, on the one hand, reveal insignificant direct impact on economic performance, and on the other, show significant indirect effect on economic performance through external integration.Originality/valueThis study sheds new light on the contribution of SCI to economic performance in developing economies and offers suggestions for not only local management but also foreign investors on the efficient allocation of resources to achieve higher economic performance.

This paper examines how critical thinking is perceived and transmitted in\ud higher education (HE) classrooms using two Vietnamese undergraduate\ud programmes as case studies. The analysis of semi-structured interviews\ud with teachers, supervisors and institutional leaders from both\ud programmes reveals transmission of critical thinking is impacted upon by\ud power relations from not only outside, in the form of cultural and political\ud ideologies, but also within the pedagogic discourse itself. Guided by\ud Bernstein’s concepts of pedagogic device, classification and framing, the\ud discussion centres on how organisational and pedagogic decisions on\ud critical thinking prepare Vietnamese students to think, or not, ‘the\ud unthinkable’. While teachers cannot unilaterally alter official curriculum\ud texts to make critical thinking accessible to all students, it is the former’s\ud engagement, or not, in the re-organisation of curricular texts and the\ud use of particular pedagogic practices that can bring about change.

During the period of French colonization, many Vietnamese people settled in Laos; they were so numerous that some Lao elite members felt that they were experiencing a dual occupation. From 1929 spo...

This study investigates the experiences of vulnerability of women who lived in rural and in other parts of Vietnam and migrated to Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City to earn money. In particular, it explores social vulnerabilities and their causes from a broadly feminist perspective using the concept of hegemonic masculinity. Data was gathered by means of in-depth life story interviews with 15 women migrants who work in the informal sector. In HCM City, these women migrants lacked household registration, lived far away from their families, and lacked an ability to establish social networks within these new urban communities and with the local people who inhabit them. Given this social detachment, they experienced feelings loneliness, hopelessness, and inferiority. Their experiences were also interpreted within in a wider context of the norms of Vietnamese society that are reproduced as part of the migrant women’s cultural matrix of traditional rules that have given power to the men whose role in society and family is always more valued than that of a woman. Moreover, due to the influence of Confucianism, Vietnamese women migrants believe that this is their fate. Viewed through the lens of hegemonic masculinity, the participants’ behaviour was found to be constrained, if not controlled, by these cultural or social norms at two levels: social and institutional levels. It was found that the dynamics of social and institutionalised gender imbalances and a hegemonic masculinity overladen by Confucianism combined to contribute to the social vulnerability of the Vietnamese women migrants.

The officially distinctive mark of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN) is the Fourfold Gospel emblem. It is inherited from A.B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), through the teaching of C&MA missionaries in Vietnam. However, ECVN adapted some of the teachings and reinterpreted the symbols in the Vietnamese context. The reason is that the assimilation of the Fourfold Gospel to the ECVN’s theology has been selected through a fundamentalistic perspective and a serious uneasiness about Pentecostalism, and hence, it has become disconnected from its original theological foundation.

Введение. Несмотря на то, что вьетнамская литература в целом не получила широкого международного признания, некоторые произведения писателей Вьетнама широко известны читателям по всему миру. Одним из таких общепризнанных литературных произведений является сказочная повесть То Хоая «Dế mèn phiêu lưu ký», переведенная на множество языков, в том числе на русский и английский. Цель – выявление особенностей перевода сказки То Хоая «Dế mèn phiêu lưu ký» на русский и английский языки. Материал и методы. Материалами исследования послужил оригинальный текст сказочной повести То Хоая «Dế mèn phiêu lưu ký» и его русско- и англоязычный переводы. В качестве методов исследования применялись общенаучные методы анализа, синтеза и обобщения, а также частнонаучные методы описания и сопоставления, наряду с методом стилистического анализа текста. Результаты и обсуждение. Переводы сказочной повести «Dế mèn phiêu lưu ký» на русский и английский языки могут служить иллюстрацией зависимости конечного результата перевода художественного текста от задач, решаемых переводчиками. Сопоставительный анализ ряда аспектов русской и английской версий исходного текста (перевод имен собственных, описание персонажей, передача элементов национальной культуры и быта, воспроизведение фольклорной составляющей) позволяет говорить о том, что русский переводчик при помощи ряда приемов персонифицирует персонажей, распространяет их описания, иногда домысливая за автором детали портретов и ситуаций. Тенденция к амплификации текста нарушается лишь в случае «подцензурных» фрагментов, смягченных с учетом его адресата. Еще одним решением переводчика является бережный перенос в русский текст, а иногда и намеренное усиление вьетнамского национального колорита, обусловленного вкраплениями в текст повести фольклорных фрагментов и безэквива лентной лексики. Английский перевод, в отличие от русского, строго следует за оригиналом и иногда излишне схематичен. Заключение. Сравнение русской и английских версий сказочной повести То Хоая «Dế mèn phiêu lưu ký» свидетельствует о принципиально различных стратегиях русского и английского переводчиков. Автор английского перевода строго следует за вьетнамским текстом или несколько его упрощает, доместицирует элементы национальной культуры. Русский переводчик нередко прибегает к амплификациям оригинала и подчеркивает вьетнамский колорит сказочной повести. Introduction. Though not being widely known abroad, Vietnamese literature managed to produce some texts enjoying vast popularity all around the world. One of such international masterpieces is “Dế mèn phiêu lưu ký” by To Hoai, which has been regarded as a classic children’s novel through seven decades. Up to now, “Dế mèn phiêu lưu ký” has been translated into more than 40 world languages including Russian and English. The book’s plot revolves around the adventures of a cricket in a world of animals and people, metaphorically introducing the ideas of good and evil, war and peace, ideals and life’s purpose in an insightful way. Aim and objectives. The purpose of the research is to analyze specific features of Russian and English versions of “Dế mèn phiêu lưu ký” by To Hoai. Material and methods. The research is based on 3 text sources: the Vietnamese original text of “Dế mèn phiêu lưu ký” by To Hoai, and its two versions: “Приключения кузнечика Мена” (transl. M. N. Tkachiov) and “Adventures of a Cricket” (transl. Dang Te Binh). The methods applied are general scientific (observation and description) and linguistic (text analysis, comparative analysis). Results and discussion. English and Russian versions of “Dế mèn phiêu lưu ký” may serve as an example of interdependence of the result of translation process and translator’s aims and objectives. Comparison of several aspects of the Russian and the English versions of the literary text (translation of proper names, description techniques, rendering of realia, transferring of folklore element) makes evident different translation techniques while translating the Vietnamese source text into the two languages. While the Russian interpreter emphasizes human features in animal characters and mainly amplifies description, having in mind younger audience, Dang Te Binh sticks to the Vietnamese original. One more distinctive feature widening the gap between the Russian and the English versions is visible intention of the Russian interpreter to emphasize Vietnamese flavor of the original text by deliberate foreignization of realia, preserving and even amplifying inserts of folk material. In this aspect, the English version, too, closely follows the Vietnamese text. Conclusion. Сomparative analysis of the two versions of To Hoai’s “Dế mèn phiêu lưu ký” shows two polar strategies of the Russian and the English interpreters. While Dang Te Binh’s version tends to stick to the source text and (in several utter cases) even simplifies it, the Russian interpreter chooses to amplify the Vietnamese text and underlines its ethnic affiliation.

Objective: Teaching is often described as one of the most emotional-laden professions, and teachers experience a wide range of emotions while teaching. In times of the COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis...

This study investigated the impact of synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) mode and familiarity with partners on learner engagement in second-language task-based interaction, and whether learner engagement is linked to subsequent joint-written-text quality. Ninety-eight Vietnamese learners of English were assigned into (±) familiar groups and performed a picture-sequencing tasks in two SCMC modes (i.e., video and text chat). Scores of 3 types of learner engagement (cognitive, social, and emotional) were compared across the conditions. Results showed that scores of all engagement types in the video chat were significantly higher than in the text chat. Familiar dyads also showed higher engagement than unfamiliar peers during the interaction. Learners reported different reasons for their preferences of video chat over text chat. Language-related episodes, semantically engaged talk, and mutual help as measures of learner engagement were predictive of the subsequent text quality. The results contribute to the general understanding of the characteristics of video and text chat and their impact on learner engagement and text quality.

Rationale: The Southeast Asian tuberculosis burden is high, and it remains unclear if urban indoor air pollution in this setting is exacerbating the epidemic. Objectives: To determine the associations of latent tuberculosis with common urban indoor air pollution sources (secondhand smoke, indoor motorcycle emissions, and cooking) in Southeast Asia. Methods: We enrolled child household contacts of patients with microbiologically confirmed active tuberculosis in Vietnam, from July 2017 to December 2019. We tested children for latent tuberculosis and evaluated air pollution exposures with questionnaires and personal aerosol sampling. We tested hypotheses using generalized estimating equations. Measurements and Main Results: We enrolled 72 patients with tuberculosis (27% with cavitary disease) and 109 of their child household contacts. Latent tuberculosis was diagnosed in 58 (53%) household contacts at baseline visit. Children experienced a 2.56-fold increased odds of latent tuberculosis for each additional household member who smoked (95% confidence interval, 1.27-5.16). Odds were highest among children exposed to indoor smokers and children

We investigated the long-term effects of birthplace favoritism by top-ranking politicians on the quality of education in Vietnam. We used over 1 million test scores from the 2009 and 2014 Vietnamese national university entrance examinations. We examined both the different timing of political terms and the total years of birthplace favoritism. Using the school fixed effects, we found that birthplace favoritism did not have any significant impacts, regardless of the timing and duration of such favoritism. We did not find evidence for such impacts in the distribution of test scores either. The results also suggest that national entrance examinations were unaffected by birthplace favoritism up to 2014.

This paper aims to investigate numerical expression by Vietnamese speakers of English as a foreign language (EFL). The study identifies and explains the causes of interference errors in expressing number of nouns. A descriptive-cognitive research design was conducted error-oriented investigation of 62 high-school students and 30 employees working in English-speaking companies participating in writing a 45-minute essay for numerical errors from the essays collected. The findings revealed that Vietnamese EFL speakers had difficulty in expressing the number of the entities represented by the nouns due to differences in means and manner of numerical expression in English whose sentences are numerically compulsory and grammatically relevant as opposed to those in Vietnamese whose numerical category is grammatically unimportant, but lexically relevant, and seen with number-neutral nouns or general numbers. Errors also occurred as Vietnamese EFL speakers failed to acquire the count-uncount distinction due in part to differences in perceptualizing the numerical meaning of the entities represented by nouns, ascribing the countability wrong and keeping the same property of countable/uncountable nouns despite having referred to different referents. The paper ended with some pedagogical implications to help Vietnamese EFL speakers improve numerical errors when using English.

The internal capital adequacy and assessment process (ICAAP) was first introduced in the second pillar of Basel II in 2004 to offset the deficiencies of Basel I and capital adequacy regulations in the first pillar of Basel II. This process is aimed at identifying and measuring risks generated in banks’ activities, and then provides the requirements for internal capital levels and methods to raise capital to deal with these risks. In fact, the implementation of Basel II and ICAAP in Vietnamese commercial banks has attained notable achievements, but it also revealed some major weaknesses. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the implementation of ICAAP in Vietnamese commercial banks in eight components of the ICAAP addressed by Basel II using the survey method and then to simulate the implementation of ICAAP in a Vietnamese commercial bank. From the facts and the simulation of the ICAAP framework in this study, the authors offer some suggestions for Vietnamese commercial banks to implement ICAAP effectively in their banking operations.

PurposeThis article explores factors influencing the participation of industry professionals in Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) in three Vietnamese public universities. The impact of the unique socio-cultural background of Vietnam on WIL is also addressed.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach that included three focus groups and 15 individual in-depth interviews was applied. In total, 30 key university and industry WIL stakeholders were involved. Thematic analysis was employed to identify enablers and inhibitors to the participation of industry professionals in WIL in Vietnamese universities.FindingsIndustry professionals faced more challenges than support when involved in WIL in three Vietnamese public universities. Four enablers of their participation in WIL stemmed from industry and nine inhibitors emerged from a variety of sources. The overwhelming number of inhibiting factors indicated difficulties associated with implementing WIL.Originality/valueThe rationale behind limited industry involvement in Vietnamese universities has not been explored previously. A holistic understanding of all key WIL stakeholders’ perceptions of factors influencing industry participation in a non-Western tertiary context may provide leads for higher education policy in Vietnam and add to the international literature.

Fake news classification is one of the most interesting problems that has attracted huge attention to the researchers of artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and machine learning (ML). Most of the current works on fake news detection are in the English language, and hence this has limited its widespread usability, especially outside the English literate population. Although there has been a growth in multilingual web content, fake news classification in low-resource languages is still a challenge due to the non-availability of an annotated corpus and tools. This article proposes an effective neural model based on the multilingual Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformer (BERT) for domain-agnostic multilingual fake news classification. Large varieties of experiments, including language-specific and domain-specific settings, are conducted. The proposed model achieves high accuracy in domain-specific and domain-agnostic experiments, and it also outperforms the current state-of-the-art models. We perform experiments on zero-shot settings to assess the effectiveness of language-agnostic feature transfer across different languages, showing encouraging results. Cross-domain transfer experiments are also performed to assess language-independent feature transfer of the model. We also offer a multilingual multidomain fake news detection dataset of five languages and seven different domains that could be useful for the research and development in resource-scarce scenarios.

This study investigated the overall survival (OS) at 1-year, 3-years, and 5-years after colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis and examined the prognostic factors of mortality among patients with CRC in Vietnam's central region.This ambidirectional cohort study included patients newly diagnosed with CRC at a tertiary hospital in Vietnam's central region between 2013 and 2019. Survival duration was calculated from the surgery date or the first day of CRC-specific treatment until the date of death or the study's end date, July 31, 2020. Kaplan-Meier methods and log-rank test were used to estimate and compare the OS between the subgroups, respectively. The Cox proportional-hazards (PH) regression analysis was applied to estimate the magnitude of the effects between prognostic factors and outcome.The median follow-up was 24 months (interquartile range: 13-43 months). The OS rate dropped significantly to 84.7%, 56.19%, and 45.01% at 1-year, 3-years, and 5-years after diagnosis, respectively. The median OS was 48.59 months (39.34 -57.93 months) for the rectum and colon cases. In the multivariate analysis, a higher mortality risk was observed in patients with an advanced-stage CRC (HRadj, 3.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.79-5.18), who were underweight (18.5 kg/m2; HRadj, 1.65; 95%CI, 1.03-2.65), and had elevated preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level (5.0 ng/mL; HRadj, 1.63; 95%CI, 1.03-2.59). Additionally, younger patients (50 years) had a poorer OS than the middle-aged group (60-69 years).Our findings indicate that50% of Vietnamese patients with CRC survive until 5-years after diagnosis. Several individual factors that contribute to the poor OS of patients with CRC, including young age, underweight, and elevated preoperative CEA level, should be evaluated and managed. Early diagnoses through active routine examination of or screening programs for high-risk groups should be prioritized.

Background Delays in diagnosis and treatment from first noticeable breast cancer symptoms are associated with poor outcomes. Understanding the reasons and barriers for patients’ delay in seeking medical care is critical to mitigating the problem. Methods In‐person surveys were conducted among 462 women, aged 18–79, with incident breast cancer cases, recruited from two cancer hospitals in North Vietnam. Delay, defined as the time interval between symptom recognition to the diagnosis and initiation of treatment equal to or exceeding 3 months, was categorized as follows: no delay (, A case cohort study found that delay in diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer is common among Vietnamese women and is affected by financial and physical barriers, psychological barriers, and lack of proper knowledge. Proper policy needs to be developed accordingly to address this public health issue.