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Nowadays, the corporate governance quality (CGQ) of a company has become increasingly important as it is the benchmark for the investment decision-making process. However, there are not many studies of CGQ in the Vietnamese public sector. In this regard, this study adopted and adapted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) corporate governance scorecard and the Vietnamese Listed Company Awards scorecard to evaluate the CGQ of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Vietnam. Data from 220 equitized SOEs were collected from a self-administered survey and double-checked with information from in-depth interviews with the company’s managers and their documents. Collected data were analyzed to score the CGQ of surveyed companies. Results showed that the CGQ of survey companies met the basic requirements that comply with the legal framework. The analysis also showed the differences between two groups of state-owned enterprises: listed versus unlisted joint-stock companies. Based on the findings, we suggested companies improve and adjust their governance policies following 77 scorecard criteria and apply international best practices in corporate governance to promote their brand value to become more appealing to investors.

This article investigates the predictors of purchase behavior of the generation Z (Gen Z) in the Vietnamese organic food sector. We proposed a research model by extending the theory of planned behavior (TPB) with the motivation–opportunity–ability (MOA) framework to address the gap between purchase intention and behavior in the organic food market. Data from a self-administered online survey with 426 respondents living in the three biggest cities of Vietnam were analyzed in SmartPLS software to test proposed hypotheses. Our findings show that trust is the most crucial factor affecting the purchase behavior of Gen Z in the Vietnamese organic food sector. Notably, perceived barriers (PB) were found to positively influence purchase behavior. The present study suggests the organic food producers and suppliers to change their marketing strategies and policies in response to the demanding Vietnamese Gen Z.

Salinity is a severe stress that causes serious losses in rice production worldwide. This study, for the first time, investigated the effects of fulvic acid (FA) with various concentrations of 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0 mL/L on the ability of three rice varieties, Koshihikari, Nipponbare, and Akitakomachi, to cope with a 10 dS/m salinity level. The results show that the T3 treatment (0.25 mL/L FA) is the most effective in stimulating the salinity tolerance of all three varieties by enhancing their growth performance. T3 also promotes phenolic accumulation in all three varieties. In particular, salicylic acid, a well-known salt-stress-resistant substance, is found to increase during salinity stress in Nipponbare and Akitakomachi treated with T3 by 88% and 60%, respectively, compared to crops receiving salinity treatment alone. Noticeably, the levels of momilactones A (MA) and B (MB) fall in salt-affected rice. However, their levels markedly rise in rice treated with T3 (by 50.49% and 32.20%, respectively, in Nipponbare, and by 67.76% and 47.27%, respectively, in Akitakomachi), compared to crops receiving salinity treatment alone. This implies that momilactone levels are proportional to rice tolerance against salinity. Our findings suggest that FA (0.25 mL/L) can effectively improve the salinity tolerance of rice seedlings even in the presence of a strong salt stress of 10 dS/m. Further studies on FA application in salt-affected rice fields should be conducted to confirm its practical implications.

Plant growth inhibitors (PGIs) in rice (Oryza sativa), or rice allelochemicals, are secondary metabolites that are either exudated by rice plants to cope with natural competitors or produced during the decomposition of rice by-products in the paddy fields. Of these, the major groups of rice PGIs include phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, steroids, and fatty acids, which also exhibit potential medicinal and pharmaceutical properties. Recently, the exploitation of rice PGIs has attracted considerable attention from scientists worldwide. The biosynthesis, exudation, and release of PGIs are dependent on environmental conditions, relevant gene expression, and biodiversity among rice varieties. Along with the mechanism clarification, numerous analytical methods have been improved to effectively support the identification and isolation of rice PGIs during the last few decades. This paper provides an overview of rice PGIs and techniques used for determining and extracting those compounds from rice. In particular, the features, advantages, and limitations of conventional and upgraded extraction methods are comprehensively reported and discussed. The conventional extraction methods have been gradually replaced by advanced techniques consisting of pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), and solid-phase extraction (SPE). Meanwhile, thin-layer chromatography (TLC), liquid chromatography (LC), gas chromatography (GC), mass spectrometry (MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), high-resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS), infrared spectroscopy (IR), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), and X-ray crystallography are major tools for rice PGI identification and confirmation. With smart agriculture becoming more prevalent, the statistics of rice PGIs and extraction methods will help to provide useful datasets for building an autonomous model for safer weed control. Conceivably, the efficient exploitation of rice PGIs will not only help to increase the yield and economic value of rice but may also pave the way for research directions on the development of smart and sustainable rice farming methods.

Study region: The Mekong basin, where climate change and anthropogenic interventions (e.g., dams, sand mining, and sluice gates) have intensified in the recent decades affecting the pristine flow regime and salinity intrusion. Study focus: This paper aims at quantifying the flow regime alterations in the entire Mekong from 1980 to 2015 and linking with the controlling drivers of alterations. In this regard, various indicators, analytical methods, and a semi two-dimensional hydrodynamic and advection-dispersion model were used. New hydrological insights for the region: The flow regime alterations in the high-dam development period (2009–2015) are more pronounced than in the low-dam development period (1993–2008), compared to the no-dam development period (1980–1992), based on most of the indicators analyzed. In the high-dam development period all existing dams with large reservoir capacity seemed to have cumulatively reduced the flood pulses and frequency and increased the low-flow discharge along the entire Mekong through reservoir operations, exceeding climate change effect. In the recent years the water levels in the low-flow season in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) have decreased, possibly because of increased riverbed incision caused by reduced sediment supply and increased sand mining. The reduced water levels together with the increased number of the sluice gates constructed seemed to have increased salinity intrusion in the VMD which may be partly reduced by early emergency water release from upstream dams.

This article investigates the concepts and issues of social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, their sustainability and strategic dimension. Regarding the current two contradictory forms of entrepreneurship (commercial and social entrepreneurship) in terms of their nature, motivation, purpose and orientation toward sustainable development, this research shows that both of them could to stay in an alliance to successfully bridge social and commercial capital for corporate sustainable development and social sustainable development. However, the article revealed that in contrast to the commercial entrepreneurship, currently, social entrepreneurship, due to higher level of sophistication, lacks and needs more strategic approach and understanding as well as its full reflection not only in theoretical debates but also in the business reality. This way, enterprises and society could benefit from it in terms of supporting overall sustainable development in rural areas of Vietnam. Finally, the article proposed some feasible solutions to enhance strategic impact of social entrepreneurship and promote its further expansion for the purpose of sustainable development.

OBJECTIVE: To report on the use of lot quality-assurance sampling (LQAS) surveys undertaken within an area-sampling framework to identify priority areas for intervention with trachoma control activities in Viet Nam. METHODS: The LQAS survey method for the rapid assessment of the prevalence of active trachoma was adapted for use in Viet Nam with the aim of classifying individual communes by the prevalence of active trachoma among children in primary school. Schoolbased sampling was used; school sites to be sampled were selected using an area-sampling approach. A total of 719 communes in 41 districts in 18 provinces were surveyed. FINDINGS: Survey staff found the LQAS survey method both simple and rapid to use after initial problems with area-sampling methods were identified and remedied. The method yielded a finer spatial resolution of prevalence than had been previously achieved in Viet Nam using semiquantitative rapid assessment surveys and multistage cluster-sampled surveys. CONCLUSION: When used with area-sampling techniques, the LQAS survey method has the potential to form the basis of survey instruments that can be used to efficiently target resources for interventions against active trachoma. With additional work, such methods could provide a generally applicable tool for effective programme planning and for the certification of the elimination of trachoma as a blinding disease.

AbstractAssessing the contamination of paper and board (P&B) food packaging materials poses significant challenges due to the sensitivity limits of analytical methods and the low precision of sampling processes. This study aims to enhance the understanding of P&B food packaging contamination by investigating the distribution of contaminants at different scales using a combination of chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. A total of 36 substances were targeted, including phthalates, photoinitiators, and bisphenol A. Key findings reveal that intra-packaging variability can lead to concentration variations by a factor of 2–7. Recycled materials generally exhibit higher contamination levels, with concentrations of certain contaminants reaching up to 700 mg/kg. Microscopy, including confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and Raman micro-spectroscopy, enabled the identification and differentiation of contaminants, highlighting specific marker molecules and characteristic Raman bands. The study underscores the necessity of comprehensive sampling strategies, advocating for the grinding of entire packaging to obtain representative samples. The introduction of contamination "fingerprints," based on occurrences and correlations between concentrations, offers a promising approach for hazard identification and risk assessment. Overall, the findings contribute to the development of safer and more sustainable food packaging solutions, emphasizing the need for improved analytical techniques and standardized sampling methods in the context of increasing use of recycled materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contamination of recycled paper and board food packaging by mineral oil hydrocarbons caused several crises in the past years. Although the migration from paper and board to foodstuffs has been proved many times, the contamination mechanisms and causalities remain undetermined and face unresolved issues. This study takes part in the collaborative project FoodSafeBioPack, which aims at evaluating the migration of potentially carcinogenic polyaromatic molecules from recycled paper and board packaging to food. New chemical imaging methods are used to follow this contamination at the microscopic scale (fibers and fibrous network). The first images acquired of polyaromatic molecules distribution on fibers were used to develop a methodology that will help to follow their migration. The influence of using different solvents and molecules on the initial chemical potential is discussed. The description of the paper structure and initial conditions of transfer will support the development of a microscopic mass transfer model.