The Cult of Mazu in Hainan,China and Among Vietnamese Hainanese Diaspora:A Comparative Study of Mazu Culture

The cult of Mazu is a common folk belief in China and Vietnam.Originating from the Song and Yuan Dynasties,particularly during the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the cult of Mazu spread to Vietnam through maritime trade and migration from coastal regions of China.After centuries of integration and development,it evolved into its own cultural system of Mazu worship,becoming an important component of Vietnamese folk culture.Hainan,China,as a crucial supply station on the Maritime Silk Road,has close connections with the transmission of Mazu culture to Vietnam.This paper adopts field investigations and literature research methods to explore the Mazu worship and culture in Hainan,China,and the Qiongfu Assembly Halls in Vietnam.

Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Visualization with a Large Vietnamese X-Ray Image Dataset

Tuberculosis is a dangerous disease to human life,and we need a lot of attempts to stop and reverse it.Significantly,in theCOVID-19 pandemic,access to medical services for tuberculosis has become very difficult.The late detection of tuberculosis could lead to danger to patient health,even death.Vietnamis one of the countries heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,andmany residential areas as well as hospitals have to be isolated for a long time.Reality demands a fast and effective tuberculosis diagnosis solution to deal with the difficulty of accessingmedical services,such as an automatic tuberculosis diagnosis system.In our study,aiming to build that system,we were interested in the tuberculosis diagnosis problem from the chest X-ray images of Vietnamese patients.The chest X-ray image is an important data type to diagnose tuberculosis,and it has also received a lot of attention from deep learning researchers.This paper proposed a novel method for tuberculosis diagnosis and visualization using the deeplearning approach with a large Vietnamese X-ray image dataset.In detail,we designed our custom convolutional neural network for the X-ray image classification task and then analyzed the predicted result to provide visualization as a heat-map.To prove the performance of our network model,we conducted several experiments to compare it to another study and also to evaluate it with the dataset of this research.To support the implementation,we built a specific annotation system for tuberculosis under the requirements of radiologists in the Vietnam National Lung Hospital.A large experiment dataset was also from this hospital,and most of this data was for training the convolutional neural network model.The experiment results were evaluated regarding sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy.We achieved high scores with a training accuracy score of 0.99,and the testing specificity and sensitivity scores were over 0.9.Based on the X-ray image classification result,we visualize prediction results as heat-maps and also analyze them in comparison with annotated symptoms of radiologists.

Detecting Tuberculosis from Vietnamese X-Ray Imaging Using Transfer Learning Approach

Deep learning created a sharp rise in the development of autonomous image recognition systems,especially in the case of the medical field.Among lung problems,tuberculosis,caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis,is a dangerous disease because of its infection and damage.When an infected person coughs or sneezes,tiny droplets can bring pathogens to others through inhaling.Tuberculosis mainly damages the lungs,but it also affects any part of the body.Moreover,during the period of the COVID-19(coronavirus disease 2019)pandemic,the access to tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment has become more difficult,so early and simple detection of tuberculosis has been more and more important.In our study,we focused on tuberculosis diagnosis by using the chestX-ray image,the essential input for the radiologist’s profession,and researched the effectiveness of the transfer learning approach in the case study of Vietnamese chest X-ray images.We proposed four strategies to clarify our hypothesis in different ways of applying transfer learning and different training set types.We also prepared a Vietnamese X-ray image dataset with the support of the VRPACS team to provide the basis for training and testing deep learning models.Our experiments were carried out by applying three different architectures,Alexnet,Resnet,and Densenet,on international,Vietnamese,and combined X-ray image datasets.After training,all models were verified on a pure Vietnamese X-rays set.The results show that transfer learning is suitable in the case study of Vietnamese chest X-ray images with high evaluating metrics in terms of AUC(Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve),sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy.In the best strategy,most of the scores were more than 0.93,and all AUCs were more than 0.98.

Emotional Vietnamese Speech Synthesis Using Style-Transfer Learning

In recent years,speech synthesis systems have allowed for the produc-tion of very high-quality voices.Therefore,research in this domain is now turning to the problem of integrating emotions into speech.However,the method of con-structing a speech synthesizer for each emotion has some limitations.First,this method often requires an emotional-speech data set with many sentences.Such data sets are very time-intensive and labor-intensive to complete.Second,training each of these models requires computers with large computational capabilities and a lot of effort and time for model tuning.In addition,each model for each emotion failed to take advantage of data sets of other emotions.In this paper,we propose a new method to synthesize emotional speech in which the latent expressions of emotions are learned from a small data set of professional actors through a Flow-tron model.In addition,we provide a new method to build a speech corpus that is scalable and whose quality is easy to control.Next,to produce a high-quality speech synthesis model,we used this data set to train the Tacotron 2 model.We used it as a pre-trained model to train the Flowtron model.We applied this method to synthesize Vietnamese speech with sadness and happiness.Mean opi-nion score(MOS)assessment results show that MOS is 3.61 for sadness and 3.95 for happiness.In conclusion,the proposed method proves to be more effec-tive for a high degree of automation and fast emotional sentence generation,using a small emotional-speech data set.

Assessment of the Quality of Frozen-Thawed Semen or Epididymal Sperm in Three Native Vietnamese Pig Breeds

Our aim was to evaluate the quality of ejaculated and epididymal frozen-thawed pig sperm of endangered Vietnam native pig breeds. Ejaculated sperm was collected from live boars and epididymal sperm was collected from slaughtered boars of the MuongTe, Kieng Sat and Co BinhThuan breeds and frozen in 0.25 ml straws using a protocol established earlier for modern pig breeds. We evaluated the sperm quality after thawing in terms of motility and rates of viable and abnormal spermatozoa. Our results revealed that the sperm motility and rates of viable and abnormal frozen-thawed sperm were >30%, >44%, and <14%, respectively. The origin of sperm had an effect on the production of pig embryos in vitro. In the Co BinhThuan breed, ejaculated sperm generated higher cleavage, blastocyst and hatching rates than did the epididymal sperm (60.11% vs 56.02%, 17.23% vs 14.31%, 3.78% vs 2.34%, respectively, P < 0.05). Although no difference in cleavage rate, blastocyst formation rate and the average number of cells/blastocysts, the hatching blastocyst rate was different between the breeds (P > 0.05). In the Co BinhThuan breed, the rate of pregnancy of ejaculated groups was similar to that of the epididymal group. In conclusion, the ejaculated and epididymal sperm of native Vietnamese pigs were successfully frozen. We succeeded in creating embryos in vitro and pregnant pigs after artificial insemination from frozen-thawed semen in three native Vietnamese pig breeds for the first time. The use of the ejaculated sperm improved the production of native pig embryos in vitro efficiency.

Drumming the Future： Vietnamese Drumming as a Bridge Between Tradition and Popular Entertainment

The fascination of Vietnamese with drums and drumming reaches back into the pre-historic when bronze drums （Dong Son）, from the Red River Delta region of Vietnam＇s north, were prized trading commodities throughout the Asian world of that time. Now in the 21st century the Dong Son and other historically renowned drum types have become symbols for Vietnam＇s emergence into an international cultural and economic arena. This paper charts three Vietnamese international events that illustrate the emblematic use of traditional drumming as a nationalistic symbol of modern Vietnam： The Third Asian Indoor Games held in Hanoi in 2009 opened with a drumming spectacle using battle drums; the Jubilee celebrations of the Vietnamese Catholic Church in 2010, opened in the north in the Ha Nam province with an immense traditional drumming performance within its religious setting; the 2012 Hue International Arts Festival incorporated ＂Resounding the Vietnamese Spirit＂, a specific drums and percussion festival, with performances using Binh Dinh war drums, royal drums from Hue, Dong Son drums, and Tay Son battle drums. These displays of traditional drumming it is argued have popularised particular nationalistic styles of drumming amongst Vietnamese youth, extending from the use of drumming in lion dance performances to the emergence of small, youth drumming groups who perform in the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City

On“Pestilences”in an Ancient Vietnamese Medical Book,Nan Yao Shen Xiao(《南药神效》Miraculous Vietnamese Medicine)

Nan Yao Shen Xiao(《南药神效》Miraculous Vietnamese Medicine)is“an ancient Vietnamese medical book in Chinese language”that is extant in Vietnam and plays an important part in Vietnamese medical development history.In the chapter of“Pestilences,”the characteristics,prevention,and treatment of pestilences were described in detail.By comparing Miraculous Vietnamese Medicine with Chinese medical books including Ben Cao Gang Mu(《本草纲目》Compendium of Materia Medica),it can be seen that the prevention and treatment of pestilences were profoundly influenced by Chinese medical books.The folk-proven prescriptions in Compendium of Materia Medica,Zhou Hou Bei Ji Fang(《肘后备急方》Handbook of Prescriptionsfor Emergency),Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang(《备急千金要方》Important Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold for Emergency),and other Chinese medical books were included directly or after adaptation(slight modification in dosage and usage)in Miraculous Vietnamese Medicine.This form of“foreign acceptance”witnessed the history of medical culture communication between China and Vietnam,expanded the application scope of Chinese medicine in prevention and treatment of pestilences in a foreign land,promoted the overseas spread of folk-proven prescriptions in Chinese medicine to treat pestilences,and played a major part in treatment and prevention of disease in ancient Vietnam.

Internationalisation and the Development of Vietnamese Theatre

Dinh Thi Nguyen,Director of the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema,introduces his theory of Internationalisation in Vietnamese theatre.He suggests that traditional performance forms are always being intermingled with foreign performance forms,with intercultural mixing of forms creating“internationalisation”.In this paper the development of Vietnamese theatre forms are examined through the lens of internationalisation.Starting with Cheo and Tuong,this paper follows the ways in which adaptations and absorption of introduced forms of theatre have shaped traditional forms developing into the contemporary theatre practices seen today in modern Vietnam.

Value of a new stick-type rapid urine test for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection in the Vietnamese population

AIM: To assess the value of a new test for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, Rapirun®H. pylori Antibody Stick (Rapirun® Stick), in a Vietnamese population.

An improved CRNN for Vietnamese Identity Card Information Recognition

This paper proposes an enhancement of an automatic text recognition system for extracting information from the front side of the Vietnamese citizen identity(CID)card.First,we apply Mask-RCNN to segment and align the CID card from the background.Next,we present two approaches to detect the CID card’s text lines using traditional image processing techniques compared to the EAST detector.Finally,we introduce a new end-to-end Convolutional Recurrent Neural Network(CRNN)model based on a combination of Connectionist Temporal Classification(CTC)and attention mechanism for Vietnamese text recognition by jointly train the CTC and attention objective functions together.The length of the CTC’s output label sequence is applied to the attention-based decoder prediction to make the final label sequence.This process helps to decrease irregular alignments and speed up the label sequence estimation during training and inference,instead of only relying on a data-driven attention-based encoder-decoder to estimate the label sequence in long sentences.We may directly learn the proposed model from a sequence of words without detailed annotations.We evaluate the proposed system using a real collected Vietnamese CID card dataset and find that our method provides a 4.28%in WER and outperforms the common techniques.

Traditional Vietnamese Medicine between Chinese Heritage and National Tradition

The influence of Chinese medical theory and practice on traditional VietNam medicine in the past is undeniable.We can discuss about a Chinese heritage.This Chinese School of Traditional Medicine has trained a large number of Vietnamese doctors.There is,however,throughout the history of medicine in Viet Nam and along with the native genius,the birth of a Vietnamese specificity.What is the part of the heritage in this tradition,what is its own distinctiveness?Hence the title of this article.

Productivity Growth, Technological Progress, and Efficiency Change in Vietnamese Manufacturing Industries: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

This study applies a stochastic frontier production approach to decompose the sources of total productivity (TFP) growth into technical progress and changes in technical efficiency of 8057 firms in Vietnamese manufacturing industries during 2003-2007. Using both total manufacturing industry and sub-manufacturing industrial regressions, the analysis focuses on the trend of technological progress (TP) and technical efficiency change (TEC), and the role of productivity change in economic growth. According to the estimated results, the annual technical progress for the manufacturing industry and sub-manufacturing industries are calculated directly from the estimated parameters of the translog stochastic frontier production function by taking a partial derivative of output with respect to time t. The average technical changes in manufacturing industry and sub-manufacturing industries are positive, with an average technical change about 5.2%, 5.8%, 5.4%, 11.8%, 4.6%, 4.1%, 7.3%, 4.8%, 4.8% and 4.8% for total sample, food products & beverages, textile & wearing apparel, footwear, paper & products, industrial chemicals, rubber & plastic products, non- metallic mineral, basic & fabricated metal and other sub-industries, respectively. Total TFP in the manufacturing sector has grown at the annual rate of 0.052, although the rate of growth decreased continuously during the sample period. For the sub-industry estimates during the sample period, TFP grew fastest in the footwear sub-industry, with annual average growth rate of 11.8%, followed by the rubber & plastic products with a rate of 7.3%, and the food products & beverages with a rate of 5.8% per annum.

Investigation and development on processing of Vietnamese lacquer

Vietnamese sap and lacquerware have a splendid history. In order to promote a sustainable Vietnamese lacquer value chain, this review was carried out for us to investigate at site Vietnamese lacquer cultivation and processing of lacquer sap, then introduce the chemical components, HPLC-MS characteristic, properity and polymerization mechanism, as well as processing techniques of Vietnamese lacquer sap. Combined with the experience of lacquer cultivation and processing of Chinese lacquer, key problems to restrict the development of lacquer value chain were analyzed in Vietnam, and some suggestions would also be proposed in this investigation.

Preliminary Risk Assessment Posed by Formaldehyde Residues in Clothing to Vietnamese Consumers

The assessment of potential health risks posed by formaldehyde in clothing to consumers is of increasing concern worldwide. Because of this, it is necessary to develop an exposure model that can realistically mimic clothes wearing conditions. This study aims to preliminarily develop a health risk assessment model for formaldehyde in clothing, and then to assess the potential health risk posed by formaldehyde in textiles to adults and infants in Vietnam using the model. Finally, this study aims to examine the plausibility of the adopted permissible values for formaldehyde in cloth- ing in Vietnam. In the model, two exposure factors for dermal exposure and overall exposure routes, i.e. sweat type and perspiration area, were considered. The margins of exposure (MOE) were calculated to estimate the health risks from worst case and average exposures. The assessment shows that acute exposure via inhalation can pose health risks to Vietnamese consumers in both cases. In regards to chronic exposure, dermal exposure is about four (for infants) and seven (for adults) times higher than exposure via inhalation, but no risks were found for average exposure. If a MOE of 100 is defined as ‘safe’ used, dermal and total chronic exposure to worst case cause potential risks, whereas no health risks were found for exposure to average case. With the model, the adopted Vietnamese permissible values for formaldehyde in clothing were assessed as not posing a health risk to Vietnamese consumers, hence they are accepted.

Vulnerability to Flood in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta： Mapping and Uncertainty Assessment

The Vietnamese Mekong Delta is located at the end of the Mekong River, one of the 10 largest rivers in the world. It plays an important role, especially in terms of food security for not only Vietnam but also the world. However, the Vietnamese Mekong Delta is projected to be heavily affected by： （1） the annual （fluvial） flood, which would be changed in terms of time and spatial distribution after impacts of climate change scenarios （i.e., sharper hydrograph with shorter flood period）; and （2） sea level rise. Such combination would result in significant changes of surface water resources, leading to consequent impacts on the existing fanning systems in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. Therefore, this paper presents a new approach of integrating a one-dimensional hydrodynamic model （ISIS-1 D） with GIS （Geographic Information System ） analyses to： （1） identify priority areas for flood adaptation and mitigation; （2） provide an insight to local decision-makers in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta in changes of future floods.

A Contrastive Analysis of the Order of Combination of the Components in Coordinate Compounds in the Korean and Vietnamese Languages

Coordinate compounds are compounds in which the constituent components are grammatically equivalent.This study focuses on the contrastive analysis of the combination order of the words”constituent components making up coordinate compounds in both the Korean and Vietnamese languages to find the differences as well as similarities under the lens of cognitive linguistics.Specifically,this study looks into the combination order of the compounds”constituent components through the system of the senses—cognition through sensory perception,psychological mechanism—psychological cognition and social cognition of the Korean and Vietnamese people.

A Vietnamese version of the 14-item oral health impact profile (OHIP-14VN)

Aim: To validate a Vietnamese short version (OHIP- 14VN) for use in epidemiological studies. Methods: The original English-language version was translated into Vietnamese, back translated and after some revisions tested for psychometric properties. Subjects (n = 724) were asked to self-administer a questionnaire but could ask for assistance. Convergent validity was tested by investigating associations between OHIP domain and total scores, and dichotomized self-reported satisfaction with 1) the dentition in general, 2) chewing function, and 3) esthetics. Groups validity was evaluated by comparing OHIP scores of subjects having ≤6 molars vs. >6 molars and tooth decay vs. no decay. Test-retest reliability was investigated in a convenience sample (n = 54) and expressed in Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICCs). Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha and average interitem correlation coefficients. Results: Validity: all associations were in the hypothesized directions. Differences in mean OHIP total were statistically sig-nificant for all discriminative variables. OHIP scores completed with assistance were significantly lower than those from self-administered questionnaires and therefore analyzed separately. For both administration formats differences in mean scores were still significant for “satisfaction” but for having ≤6 molars or decay the differences lost significance for most domain and total scores. Reliability: ICCs ranged from 0.54 - 0.74. Internal consistency: Cronbach’s alphas for OHIP total scores were 0.93 (self-administered) and 0.91 (with assistance). Average interitem correlation coefficients ranged from 0.26 - 0.67 (self-administered) and 0.28 - 0.69 (with assistance). Conclusions: This Vietnamese version of the OHIP-14 demonstrated good construct validity and acceptable reliability for OHIP total scores however OHIP-14VN domain scores should be interpreted with caution.

National Identity in Conflict： The Reconstruction of King Ly Thai To on Vietnamese Screen

Born as Ly Cong Uan, Ly Thai To is the first king of the Ly Dynasty. The most important contribution of Ly Thai To in Vietnamese history is to move the capital from Hoa Lu to Dai La, and rename it as Thang Long （Ascending Dragon） in 1010. Nowadays, it is known as Hanoi. Ly Thai To promoted Buddhism, and reduced the centuries-old influence of Confucianism in the kingdom. The growth and prevalence of Buddhism brought about a long period of peace, where Buddhist literature consequently flourished with seminal achievements. Due to King Ly Thai To＇s enormous contributions, the Vietnamese have created several legends and anecdotes to mystify his life. Thus, although a historical figure, his life remains a mystery and controversy. In 2010, Hanoi celebrated the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long. On this occasion, Vietnamese historical films about Ly Cong Uan were produced. This created intriguing variations within historical facts, legends, and on-screen stories. This paper will explore the reconstruction of Ly Cong Uan＇s life from an adaptation studies perspective through four historical films： Legend of the Capital Relocation （Huyen su thien do）, Thang Long Aspiration （Khat vong Thang Long）, Ly Cong Uan The Road to Thang Long Citadel （Ly Cong Uan： Dtrong toi thanh Thang Long）, Child of the Dragon （Ngtroi con cua Rong）. This research also wants to clarify the issues of national identity, nationalism, and cultural interaction reflected through the representations of Ly Thai To in those cinematic products

Vietnamese final stop consonants/p, t, k/described in terms of formant transition slopes

It is well known that both bursts and formant transitions serve as separate cues to the place of articulation of initial stop consonants. In Vietnamese, final voiceless stop consonants/p, t, k/are unreleased （i.e., produced without an audible burst）. This provides an opportunity to study these final stop consonants and to compare their characteristics with those of the corresponding initial stop consonants. As unreleased final consonants have not been previously studied, this paper analyses the Vowel-Consonant （VC） and Consonant-Vowel-Consonant （CVC） productions in terms of the transition duration, the starting formant transition values and the slopes of the VC transitions. Measurements have shown that in the same preceding vowel contexts, the 3 final stop consonants/p, t, k/are always clearly differentiated by at least one of the 3 slopes of Fl, F2 or F3. In perception tests, synthesized consonant C in the context/a/-C are recognized as/p/, or/t/, or/k/when the slopes of the/a/-C transition ofF2 and F3 are varied. It means that slopes of the VC transition are an important parameter that allows Vietnamese distinguishing the 3 final voiceless stop consonant/p, t, k/in Vietnamese language. These final stop consonants can also be differentiated in the locus equation space. The study also pointes out that the effects of the final consonants on either long vowels or short vowels. The results explain why Vietnamese can not pronounce the short vowels in isolation.

Poetry and Literary Diplomacy: On the Literary Exchange Between Vietnamese Envoys and Chinese Literati

This paper mainly discusses the diplomatic way of Vietnamese envoys through literature during their mission toChina, including the group, communication mode and reason of the literary exchange between Vietnam envoy andChinese literati. The article points out that the Chinese literati contacted by Vietnamese envoys could be dividedinto Lingnan literati group (Guangdong and Guangxi provinces), Huguang literati group (Hunan and Hubeiprovinces), Jiangnan literati group (Southern Anhui and Jiangsu provinces), and Northern literati group (Henan &Hebei provinces and Beijing). There are three main ways of literary communication between Vietnamese envoysand Chinese literati: the first is to give poems to each other according to fixed rhythm;the second is to communicateby writing;the third is to comment on poems each other. There are two main reasons for the literary exchangebetween Vietnamese envoys and Chinese literati: on the one hand, they wanted to achieve the purpose of “poetrydiplomacy” with literature, and took the initiative to communicate with Chinese literati;on the other hand, Chineseliterati were curious about Vietnamese envoys, so they asked Vietnamese envoys to give poems, or even paid fortheir literary works. The literary exchange between Vietnamese envoys and Chinese literati is a direct reflection ofthe literary exchange between China and Vietnam, from which we can see that the Chinese literature of Vietnam inthe feudal period is an important part of the Chinese cultural circle.