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Since diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan were officially established in September 1973, the relationship between the two countries has increasingly expanded and achieved outstanding achievements in many aspects of economy, socio-culture, science and technology, especially in the fields of education and training. At the higher education level, the two governments have been promoting cooperation programs and projects such as transnational education, exchange of students and lecturers. Additionally, every year, Japan offers more than one hundred scholarships to Vietnamese undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students to study and research in Japan. These projects have significantly contributed to improving the quality of Vietnam’s higher education, helping Vietnam to train high-quality human resources for the country’s industrialization and modernization. In order to further stimulate higher education cooperation between the two countries, however, it is necessary to examine what has been accomplished so far and what problems remain, so as to propose recommendations that might enhance education cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in the coming years. The objective of this study is to briefly introduce the basis of higher education cooperation between Vietnam and Japan. It also seeks to analyze and assess the current situation and policy as well as achievements and challenges of higher education cooperation between the two countries over the past 20 years. Thenceforth, it proposes a number of recommendations for further strengthening higher education cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in the coming years.

BackgroundFecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT) has proven effective in treating recurrentClostridioides difficileinfection (rCDI) and has shown some success in treating inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). There is emerging evidence that host engraftment of donor taxa is a tenet of successful FMT. However, there is little known regarding predictors of engraftment. We undertook a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study to characterize the response to FMT in children and young adults with mild to moderate active Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC).ResultsSubjects with CD or UC were randomized to receive antibiotics and weekly FMT or placebo in addition to baseline medications. The treatment arm received seven days of antibiotics followed by FMT enema and then capsules weekly for seven weeks. We enrolled four subjects with CD and 11 with UC, ages 14-29 years. Due to weekly stool sampling, we were able to create a time series of alpha diversity, beta diversity and engraftment as they related to clinical response. Subjects exhibited a wide range of microbial diversity and donor engraftment as FMT progressed. Specifically, engraftment ranged from 26% to 90% at week 2 and 3% to 92% at two months. Consistent with the current literature, increases over time of both alpha diversity (p< 0.05) and donor engraftment (p< 0.05) correlated with improved clinical response. Additionally, our weekly time series enabled an investigation into the clinical and microbial correlates of engraftment at various time points. We discovered that the post-antibiotic but pre-FMT time point, often overlooked in FMT trials, was rich in microbial correlates of eventual engraftment. Greater residual alpha diversity after antibiotic treatment was positively correlated with engraftment and subsequent clinical response. Interestingly, a transient rise in the relative abundance of Lactobacillus was also positively correlated with engraftment, a finding that we recapitulated with our analysis of another FMT trial with publicly available weekly sequencing data.ConclusionsWe found that higher residual alpha diversity and Lactobacillus blooms after antibiotic treatment correlated with improved engraftment and clinical response to FMT. Future studies should closely examine the host microbial communities pre-FMT and the impact of antibiotic preconditioning on engraftment and response.

In this study, the use of shear strength ratio (SSR) in analysing asphalt mixture’s susceptibility to moisture was investigated and verified. Three surface and two base mixtures were considered for...

The dressing regime parameters in the process of grinding are the most important enabling factors that need to be determined. In this study, the influence of dressing regime parameters (the rough dressing depth, the dressing feed rate, the fine dressing depth, rough dressing times, fine dressing times, none-feeding dressing times) on roundness tolerance for external grinding of SKD11 steel is introduced. The Taguchi technique in designing the experiment and analyzing of variance (ANOVA) have been applied to define the influence of dressing regime parameters on the roundness tolerance. The results show that the impact level of fine dressing times (nf), none-feeding dressing times (n0), fine dressing depth (af), rough dressing times (nr), rough dressing depth (ar), dressing feed rate (Sd), and errors on roundness tolerance (Rt) are 62.88%, 19.70%, 9.85%, 3.79%, 1.52%, 1.52% and 0.76% respectively. Finally, by analyzing experimental results, optimized dressing parameters with fine dressing times (nf) of 3, none-feeding dressing times (no) of 3, fine dressing depth (af) of 0.01 mm, rough dressing times (nr) of 3, rough dressing depth (ar) of 0.03 mm and dressing feed rate (Sd) of 1.0 m/min have been determined, that allow getting the best roundness tolerance.

Soluble human lectins are critical components of innate immunity. Genetic models suggest lectins influence host-resident microbiota, but their specificity for commensal and mutualist species is understudied. Elucidating lectins’ roles in regulating microbiota requires an understanding of which microbial species they bind within native communities. To profile human lectin recognition, we developed Lectin-Seq. We apply Lectin-Seq to human fecal microbiota using the soluble mannose-binding lectin (MBL) and intelectin-1 (hItln1). The microbial interactomes of MBL and hItln1 differ in composition and diversity. MBL binding is highly selective for a small subset of species commonly associated with humans. In contrast, hItln1’s interaction profile encompasses a broad range of lower-abundance species. Our data uncover stark diffearences in the commensal recognition properties of human lectins.One-Sentence SummarySoluble human lectins bind distinct bacterial species in fecal microbiota.

This paper presents an optimization of dressing conditions for SKD-11 steel grinding using HaiDuong grinding wheel made in Vietnam. Taguchi method was used to design experiment and calculate the optimized dressing conditions. Effects of the six input parameters including feed rate (S), depth of rough dressing cut (aedr), rough dressing times (nr), depth of finish dressing cut (aedf), finish dressing times (nf) and non-feeding dressing (nnon) with 4 levels on the machined surface roughness were investigated for optimization process. To find out the influence degree of each input parameter on output results, S/N ratio was analysized. Experimental results show that the average surface roughness after 3 times of the repeated experiments was 0.208 μm and deviation was 11.23% comparing with the predicted values.

Nowadays, surface grinding is one of the most common of metal finishing methods. The efficiency of this process is affected by the so-called process parameters such as dressing feed rate (S), rough dressing depth (ar), rough dressing times (nr), fine dressing depth (af), fine dressing times (nf), and non-feeding dressing (nnon). etc. In this paper, the optimization of dressing parameters in surface grinding SKD11 tool steel is studied. The aim of the study is to find the most appropriate value set of dressing parameters to maximize the material removal rate (MRR). In order to solve the problem, the Taguchi method is used. Based on an orthogonal array L16(44x22), sixteen experiments have been conducted. By analyzing the experimental results, an optimal solution of such optimization problem has been solved, presenting the most appropriate dressing parameters as follows: ar = 0.015 mm, nr = 2 times, af = 0.005 mm, nf = 0 times, nnon = 0 times, S = 1.6 m/min. The discovered technology mode has been applied to the real machining process and the outcome shows out a much better result in comparison with default setting modes, that the difference between the model values and the real values of the roughness average is controlled within 3.87% of the ranges.

This study is to determine effects of the dressing parameters to the flatness tolerance (Fl) when grinding SKD11 steel using HaiDuong grinding wheel and also propose the suitable dressing parameters to obtain the smallest flatness tolerance. In this paper, the effects of the six input parameters including feed rate (S), depth of rough dressing cut (ar), rough dressing times (nr), depth of finish dressing cut (af), finish dressing times (nf) and non-feeding dressing (nnon) to the flatness tolerance were investigated. To find out the influence of each input parameter on output results, the S/N ratio was analysized. Evaluated experimental results show that, the average flatness tolerance was 4.05μm and deviation of this value was 11.38% compared with the predicted value.

This article describes an optimization of dressing parameters to improve the wheel life in surface grinding of hardened SKD 11 steel by using the Taguchi method. Dressing parameters including dressing feed rate, coarse dressing depth, coarse dressing times, fine dressing depth, fine dressing times, and non-feeding dressing were investigated to determine their influence on the wheel life. The DOE method developed by G. Taguchi was selected to design the experiments. An analysis of the signal-to-noise (S/N) response and ANOVA were conducted to obtain the optimal values of dressing parameters for maximizing the wheel life. In the results section, the coarse dressing times and the coarse dressing depth are determined to be the most influential factors which give a statistically significant effect on wheel life. Also, a predictive value of the average wheel life is given with a 3.6% deviation from the verification experiment.

A comprehensive study from Curcuma longa to powder nano curcuminoids has been carried out. Combining both a low-energy method (phase inversion temperature) and a high-energy method (ultrasonication), a series of narrow size curcuminoid nanoemulsions with average diameters (Z-average) from 10.3 to 27.5 nm and a polydispersity index (PDI) from 0.103 to 0.330 (a.u.) have been prepared. The antioxidant activity of the prepared nano curcuminoid nanoemulsions (NCEs) was investigated. The permeabilities via Frank-cell membrane have been tested and reached a maximum of 85.57% after 90 min. The accumulation of curcuminoids in intestinal rats has been checked and achieved saturated values from 124.97 to 153.56 μg cm−2 after 90 min. All NCEs were stable at the NaCl solution concentration of 0.1–1.0 M. After 60 days of cold-storage, the Z-averages have changed slightly. Moreover, NCEs have been used to prepare instant drinking powder by the spray-drying method.

In this study, a supervised machine learning network model is proposed to detect and classify various types of cracks developed in asphalt pavements, including lane markers. Crack images captured from a digital camera are classified into nine categories following the pavement distress identification manual proposed by the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA). These categories are three different types of cracks, such as fatigue, longitudinal, and transverse cracks with three severity levels of the low, medium, and high for each crack type. To establish a training dataset for crack detection, 1000 images with the original size of 3704 × 10,000 pixels are divided into 20,000 smaller images of 1852 × 1000 pixels image size. The training images are labeled based on the nine categories and trained using an updated version of faster R-CNN called RetinaNet. The trained network model is validated using pavement surface images obtained from 2400 m of two road sections. It is observed from the validation study that the detection and classification accuracy of the trained network model is 84.9% considering both the crack type and severity level. When considering the crack type only, the detection accuracy of the network model is 89.1%.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of process parameters on the surface roughness in suface grinding 90CrSi tool steel. In this paper, many process parameters including the coolant concentration, the coolant flow, the cross feed, the table speed and the depth of cut were taken into account. Based on conducting and analysing 25 experiments which were created by using full factorial design, the influence of the process parameters on the surface roughness was evaluated. Also, a predicted model to calculate the surface roughness was proposed.

This paper introduces a study on multi-criteria optimization of the dressing parameters in surface grinding for 90CrSi tool steel. The aim of the study is to minimize the surface roughness, the normal shear force and maximize the grinding wheel life by using Taguchi method and Grey Relational Analysis (GRA). This multi-objective optimization is obtained by optimizing four four-level and two two-level dressing parameters in sixteen experiments based on an orthogonal array L16(44×22). From the results of the study, the optimum dressing parameters were proposed. Also, to evaluate the optimum dressing model, an experiment was performed. The results of the comparison between the predicted model and the experiment show that the proposed model has been proven and it can be used for further applying of surface grinding.

The MCDM problem is very important and often encountered in life and in engineering as it is used to determine the best solution among various possible alternatives. In this paper, the results of the MCDM problem in the dressing process for internal grinding are presented. To perform this work, an experiment with six input parameters, including the depth and the time of fine dressing, the depth and the time of coarse dressing, non-feeding dressing, and dressing feed rate, was conducted. The experiment was designed according to the Taguchi method with the use of L16 orthogonal arrays. In addition, TOPSIS, MARCOS, EAMR and MAIRCA methods were selected for the MCDM to obtain the minimum SR and the maximum MRR simultaneously. In addition, the weight determination for criteria was implemented by MEREC and entropy methods. From the results, the best solution to the multi-criteria problem for the dressing process in internal grinding has been proposed.

We overview our recent progress in mitigating the effects of stimulated Brillouin scattering in the fibre-based optical phase conjugation of high-order quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM) signals, which are sensitive to the phase noise (PN) arising from residual pump dithering, by discussing two different approaches. The first approach is based on optimising the pump dithering setup in order to achieve the best possible cancellation of the residual phase modulation. We demonstrate an improved counter-dithering scheme which realises a penalty below 0.2dB, thus enabling, for the first time, performance improvement in a 400-km long 256-QAM system. The second approach relies on the use of a suitable PN compensation algorithm in the receiver digital signal processing block to reduce the penalties associated with residual dithering. We demonstrate a new two-stage compensation scheme which achieves large performance improvement relative to conventional PN compensation when it is used with 16-/64-/256-QAM signals at high pump-phase mismatch levels.

Grinding cost is an essential factor in a grinding process. In external cylindrical grinding, there has been an absence of various input grinding process parameters which have significant effects on the grinding cost. This paper presents an optimization of the grinding cost to determine the optimum exchanged grinding wheel diameter based on the seven input grinding parameters consisting of the initial grinding wheel diameter, the grinding wheel width, the wheel life, the radial grinding wheel wear per dress, the total depth of dressing cut, the machine tool hourly rate, and the grinding wheel cost. Combined with the screening experiments, the influence of the grinding parameters on the optimum exchanged grinding wheel diameter for the external cylindrical grinding process was examined. In addition, the effect of the interactions between the input grinding parameters was also evaluated. Finally, the regression equation for computing the optimum exchanged grinding wheel diameter was introduced. Therefore, the proposed model can be further applied for the external grinding process effectively.

One of the widely used parameters in evaluating moisture susceptibility of asphalt mixtures is tensile strength ratio (TSR). From a mechanical point of view, TSR is only appropriate at the bottom o...

Currently, motorcycles are the dominant mode of transport not only in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) but also in the major cities in Vietnam. How did motorcycle pass from the ego of the bicycle in the 1990s, and can we avoid an automobile boom that is experienced by the industrialized countries? Demography is a powerful explanatory factor for long-term changes in mobility. Indeed, the distance traveled per person per day (both overall and in the dominant mode) follows a bell curve during the life cycle, which peaks when people are at the age of forty. The demographic transition (slowdown in population growth and aging) should lead to a slowdown in overall mobility. The aim of this paper is to understand the impact of demographic factors on long-term travel demand. By using a demographic-based model, the author estimated the motorcycle trend in HCMC, in particular, estimated the share of the motorcycle in the total mode of transport; the total travel distance, and the trip rate by motorcycle.

Prebiotic fermentation in the gut often leads to the coproduction of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and gases. While excess gas production can be a potential problem for those with functional gut disorders, gas production is rarely considered during prebiotic design. In this study, we combined the use of theoretical models and an ex vivo experimental platform to illustrate that both the chemical composition of the prebiotic and the community composition of the human gut microbiota can affect the volume and content of gas production during prebiotic fermentation. Specifically, more prevalent metabolic processes such as hydrogen production were strongly affected by the oxidation state of the probiotic, while rare metabolisms such as methane production were less affected by the chemical nature of the substrate and entirely dependent on the presence of Methanobacteria in the microbiota., Prebiotics confer benefits to human health, often by promoting the growth of gut bacteria that produce metabolites valuable to the human body, such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). While prebiotic selection has strongly focused on maximizing the production of SCFAs, less attention has been paid to gases, a by-product of SCFA production that also has physiological effects on the human body. Here, we investigate how the content and volume of gas production by human gut microbiota are affected by the chemical composition of the prebiotic and the community composition of the microbiota. We first constructed a linear system model based on mass and electron balance and compared the theoretical product ranges of two prebiotics, inulin and pectin. Modeling shows that pectin is more restricted in product space, with less potential for H2 but more potential for CO2 production. An ex vivo experimental system showed pectin degradation produced significantly less H2 than inulin, but CO2 production fell outside the theoretical product range, suggesting fermentation of fecal debris. Microbial community composition also impacted results: methane production was dependent on the presence of Methanobacteria, while interindividual differences in H2 production during inulin degradation were driven by a Lachnospiraceae taxon. Overall, these results suggest that both the chemistry of the prebiotic and the composition of the microbiota are relevant to gas production. Metabolic processes that are relatively prevalent in the microbiome, such as H2 production, will depend more on substrate, while rare metabolisms such as methanogenesis depend more strongly on microbiome composition.

Background Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a promising new strategy in the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, but long-term delivery systems are lacking. This randomized study was designed as a safety and feasibility study of long-term FMT in subjects with mild to moderate UC using frozen, encapsulated oral FMT (cFMT). Methods Subjects were randomized 1:1 to receive FMT induction by colonoscopy, followed by 12 weeks of daily oral administration of frozen encapsulated cFMT or sham therpay. Subjects were followed for 36 weeks and longitudenal clinical assessments included multiple subjective and objective markers of disease severity. Ribosomal 16S bacterial sequencing was used to assess donor-induced changes in the gut microbiota. Changes in T regulatory (Treg) and mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cell populations were evaluated by flow cytometry as an exploratory endpoint. Results Twelve subjects with active UC were randomized: 6 subjects completed the full 12-week course of FMT plus cFMT, and 6 subjects received sham treatment by colonic installation and longitudinal oral placebo capules. Chronic administration of cFMT was found to be safe and well-tolerated but home storage concerns exist. Protocol adherence was high, and none of the study subjects experienced FMT-associated treatment emergent adverse events. Two subjects that received cFMT achieved clinical remission versus none in the placebo group (95% CI = 0.38-infinity, p = 0.45). cFMT was associated with sustained donor-induced shifts in fecal microbial composition. Changes in MAIT cell cytokine production were observed in cFMT recipients and correlated with treatment response. Conclusion These pilot data suggest that daily encapsulated cFMT may extend the durability of index FMT-induced changes in gut bacterial community structure and that an association between MAIT cell cytokine production and clinical response to FMT may exist in UC populations. Oral frozen encapsulated cFMT is a promising FMT delivery system and may be preferred for longterm treatment strategies in UC and other chronic diseases but further evaluations will have to address home storage concerns. Larger trials should be done to explore the benefits of cFMT and to determine its long-term impacts on the colonic microbiome. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02390726). Registered 17 March 2015, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02390726?term=NCT02390726&draw=2&rank=1.

Industrialization has impacted the human gut ecosystem, resulting in altered microbiome composition and diversity. Whether bacterial genomes may also adapt to the industrialization of their host populations remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the extent to which the rates and targets of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) vary across thousands of bacterial strains from 15 human populations spanning a range of industrialization. We show that HGTs have accumulated in the microbiome over recent host generations and that HGT occurs at high frequency within individuals. Comparison across human populations reveals that industrialized lifestyles are associated with higher HGT rates and that the functions of HGTs are related to the level of host industrialization. Our results suggest that gut bacteria continuously acquire new functionality based on host lifestyle and that high rates of HGT may be a recent development in human history linked to industrialization.

Background: Several lines of evidence have been focused on the roles of tryptophan metabolism genes like indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) and tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO2) in bladder cancer progression. However, the alternative way of targeting in cancer immunotherapy has been not yet investigated in bladder cancer. Method: We explored and validated the clinicopathological significance and the correlation with immune infiltrates of IDO1 and TDO2 expression in bladder cancer using Bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA) and other Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets (GSE13570, GSE31684, GSE48277) downloaded from https://xenabrowser.net/ and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/. The correlation between IDO1, TDO2 expression and the immune infiltrates as well as PD-L1 gene expression in BLCA dataset was explored with TIMER2.0, http://timer.comp-genomics.org/. Immunohistochemistry was performed to validate the relationship between TDO2 and PD-L1 expression in bladder cancer. Results: We figured out the IDO1 and TDO2 expressions were significantly upregulated in basal type compared with other molecular subtypes in BLCA. P53 mutations were associated with upregulation of IDO1 and TDO2 expression (p Citation Format: Quoc Thang Pham, Thanh Tu Nguyen, Thao Quyen Nguyen, Duc Tung Luu, Thi Nhu Diem Pham, Thi Thanh Tam Bui, Thanh Tu Duong, Dang Anh Thu Phan, Quoc Dat Ngo. Comprehensive analyzing the expression of IDO1 and TDO2 in bladder cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 5884.

This study examines the relationships between images of God, the imaginary and experiences of loss among Vietnamese immigrants living in Canada. One hundred twenty-nine participants completed four ...

Horizontal Gene Transfer, the process by which bacteria acquire new genes and functions from non-parental sources, is common in the human microbiome 1,2. If the timescale of HGT is rapid compared to the timescale of human colonization, then it could have the effect of ‘personalizing’ bacterial genomes by providing incoming strains with the genes necessary to adapt to the diet or lifestyle of a new host. The extent to which HGT occurs on the timescale of human colonization, however, remains unclear. Here, we analyzed 6,188 newly isolated and sequenced gut bacteria from 34 individuals in 9 human populations, and show that HGT is more common among bacteria isolated from the same human host, indicating that the timescale of transfer is short compared to the timescale of human colonization. Comparing across 9 human populations reveals that high rates of transfer may be a recent development in human history linked to industrialization and urbanization. In addition, we find that the genes involved in transfer reflect the lifestyle of the human hosts, with elevated transfer of carbohydrate metabolism genes in hunter gatherer populations, and transfer of antibiotic resistance genes among pastoralists who live in close contact with livestock. These results suggest that host-associated bacterial genomes are not static within individuals, but continuously acquire new functionality based on host diet and lifestyle.

Bike Sharing System (BSS) has become a popular travel mode to satisfy urban residents travel in many cities in the world. This paper examines the influencing factors of BSS choice of 2 group: visitors and local people. For tourists, they are the person who has used the bicycle in the past; have travel duration from 3 to 7 days and most of them come from the US (for foreign tourists). Besides, the visitors who use the car/coach during their trip are negative for BSS. The residents who are students or individual business, have habit to use bike, undertake 3-4 trips per day with the short travel distance and have lower income, are more likely to use the BSS. The identification of these influencing factors plays an important role in the deployment of bike-sharing systems in the big cities in Vietnam. Several policy recommendations are proposed based on these results for government and BSS investor in order to have the effective BSS in Vietnam.

GPS-based data collection methods have become particularly popular in travel behavior research, mainly because of the worldwide coverage and the accuracy of the GPS system. This paper identifies the missing trip data obtained by two methods survey reported and GPS recorded in the same days. This study shows that the GPS survey can be used successfully to complete the conventional transport surveys, but it is still too early to predict the complete substitution of conventional survey by the GPS mobility survey.