State–press relations revisited: a case study on how American media portray the post-war Vietnam

This study revisited the state–press relations theory by analyzing the coverage of Vietnam over the 30 years between 1980 and 2009 in two leading American news magazines, Time and Newsweek . A contribution of this research is its context of the long-term and volatile relationship between these two countries. Despite progress in the diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam, the portrayal of Vietnam in US media remained unchanged. This finding indicates that American media do not always support the US government's political stance when covering international news. It suggests a new direction for future research applying this theory.     

Field tested milliliter-scale blood filtration device for point-of-care applications

In this paper, we present a low cost and equipment-free blood filtration device capable of producing plasma from blood samples with mL-scale capacity and demonstrate its clinical application for hepatitis B diagnosis. We report the results of in-field testing of the device with 0.8–1 ml of undiluted, anticoagulated human whole blood samples from patients at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, Vietnam. Blood cell counts demonstrate that the device is capable of filtering out 99.9% of red and 96.9% of white blood cells, and the plasma collected from the device contains lower red blood cell counts than plasma obtained from a centrifuge. Biochemistry and immunology testing establish the suitability of the device as a sample preparation unit for testing alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), urea, hepatitis B “e” antigen (HBeAg), hepatitis B “e” antibody (HBe Ab), and hepatitis B surface antibody (HBs Ab). The device provides a simple and practical front-end sample processing method for point-of-care microfluidic diagnostics, enabling sufficient volumes for multiplexed downstream tests.     

Understanding and Theorizing the Role of Culture in the Conceptualizations of Successful Aging and Lifelong Learning

Successful aging and lifelong learning are value-laden concepts that are culturally determined. To this effect, people with different value systems and cultural backgrounds may perceive and understand these two concepts differently, resulting in different definitions and conceptualizations by people in diverse cultural contexts. There have been studies of successful aging and lifelong learning that considered what role culture plays in these two constructs separately. However, there is a lack of research studying successful aging and lifelong learning alongside each other, using the same culturally relevant approach to examine the impact of culture on how these two constructs are understood and conceptualized. The aim of this paper is, therefore, two-fold. First, it will examine the concepts of successful aging and lifelong learning and consider the role that culture plays in the understanding of these two constructs. Second, it will present a culturally relevant theoretical framework to theorize and explain older people's own value systems and the predominant cultural values that have influenced their understandings and conceptualizations of what successful aging and lifelong learning mean to them in old age. Considering and examining the theoretical framework from the perspectives of elders themselves is necessary if we are to understand the ways in which culture shapes the experiences of aging and learning in later life.     

Contact hours in Dutch and Vietnamese higher education: a comparison

The number of contact hours, one of the important institutional context factors, was examined and compared between Dutch and Vietnamese higher education at institute and student levels in Psychology and Business and/or Economics specializations. The quantity of contact hours per credit point given by institutions was investigated in a number of Dutch and Vietnamese universities. Additionally, 104 students in Groningen, the Netherlands, and 140 students in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, participated in the survey with a self-reported and self-assessed questionnaire on their study time allocation. Beside contact hours, other learning process related factors such as study activities, motivation, quality of instruction, and generic skills were examined to provide a better insight into these two systems. Results showed that Vietnamese students had significantly higher number of contact hours than Dutch students while their generic skills, motivation and time spent on independent study were a lot lower.     

A revised model of e-brand equity and its application to high technology products

Given the growing importance of online social media platforms (OSM) in brand management, the authors attempt to extend the relationship between e-brand equity and repurchase intention with two mediator variables, namely visual appeal and e-preference in which willingness to pay a price premium (WPPP) serves as a moderator. Drawing on the perspective of digitalized engagement (PDE), the authors confirm the mediating effects on the e-brand equity-repurchase intention link while evidencing both positive and negative effects of WPPP on the linkage of e-brand equity and mediators. Contributions to theory, practice, and future studies are also provided.     

Developing and managing school human capital for information and communication technology integration: a case study of a school-based e-learning project in Hong Kong

The application of information and communication technology (ICT) in education has been gaining attention worldwide. Educators and school administrators are interested in the myriad possibilities offered by new technologies to enrich teaching materials and to provide ubiquitous learning environments to enhance students’ learning. This case study examined the implementation of a school-based e-learning initiative in a primary school in Hong Kong by focusing on the development and management of forms of school human capital. The findings drew from interviews with 25 staff members in the case school and elucidated how school reform and transformation were effected through the development and management of intellectual, social, and organisational capitals. The interplay between these three forms of school human capitals highlighted the significance of shared vision, differentiated leadership as well as a culture of learning community in advancing towards ICT integration. Suggestions are made for establishing practices of distributed leadership and professional learning communities in the case school and other settings undertaking ICT integration.     

Switched controller design for stabilization of nonlinear hybrid systems with time-varying delays in state and control

This paper deals with the problem of stabilization for a class of hybrid systems with time-varying delays. The system to be considered is with nonlinear perturbation and the delay is time varying in both the state and control. Using an improved Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional combined with Newton–Leibniz formula, a memoryless switched controller design for exponential stabilization of switched systems is proposed. The conditions for the exponential stabilization are presented in terms of the solution of matrix Riccati equations, which allow for an arbitrary prescribed stability degree.     

An application of document filtering in an operational system

This paper describes an applied document filtering system embedded in an operational watch center that monitors disease outbreaks worldwide. At the initial time of this writing, the system effectively supported monitoring of 23 geographic regions by filtering documents in several thousand daily news sources in 11 different languages. This paper describes the filtering algorithm, statistical procedures for estimating Precision and Recall in an operational environment, summarizes operational performance data and suggests lessons learned for other applications of document filtering technology. Overall, these results are interpreted as supporting the general utility of document filtering and information retrieval technology and offers recommendations for future applications of this technology.