This paper investigates the influence of intellectual capital (IC) and its sub-elements on the efficiency of Vietnamese commercial banks over the period 2007 – 2019. Using the two-steps Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach, different banks’ efficiency scores are firstly estimated, while the IC – bank efficiency relationship is examined in the second stage. The empirical results indicate the positive relationship between IC and banks’ pure technical efficiency (TE), allocative efficiency (AE), and total cost efficiency (CE). In terms of IC decompositions, only human capital is found to be positively significant to all three efficiency measures. Further, bank size and liquidity risk are also the significant drivers of Vietnamese bank efficiency. Our findings, therefore, provide important policy implications to develop the intellectual capital, particularly human capital in the long term.

This study aimed to use copepod (Arctodiaptomus salinus) meal as a carotene source in the coloring of goldfish (Carassius auratus). In addition, it was evaluated the effect of copepod meal on the growth and fatty acid profile of goldfish. Copepod meal, including 4,338 µg/g of total carotene and 1,655.78 µg/g of β-carotene per gram dry weight was added to the diet containing 0 (control), 50, 150 and 300 µg/g of β-carotene. Four diets with similar protein (35.17 % HP) and energy (3745 kcal/g) levels were prepared. The fish were fed with diets twice a day until 60 days. The results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between body weight, total length, condition factor and survival rates of the groups fed on different diets. The L* a* b* values increased with the increase of copepod meal. In all experimental groups, copepod meal replaced with fish meal had a significant effect on the fish flesh fatty acid profile (P<0.05), especially in terms of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid compared to those of the control group. However, a positive trend was observed in terms of all parameters in the group fed with the diet containing 300 µg/g of β- carotene.

Fuel woods are smokier and dirtier than modern fuel, women’s health are impaired by such fuel wood use. The public health burden of household as a result of insufficient combustion of biomass fuel leads to an estimated more than four million premature deaths each year. The study was conducted through comparative cross-sectional design to assess the effect of the improved stoves in improving respiratory health of women. The study subjects were identified through systematic random sampling from respective kebeles which was selected by systematic random sampling among 550, of which 275 (50%) households was from traditional stove user and the remaining 275 (50%) was encompasses improve cook stove users. All 550 households was examined for kitchen Particulate matter/PM10 & PM2.5/ and Temperature level while cooking takes place and other related factors. Data was coded and entered into epi data version 3.1 exported to SPSS, IBM V 21 for the analysis. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the study variables. The presence of association between independent variables and respiratory illness was examined by using multivariable logistic regression. The prevalence of respiratory illness among the woman from both Improved cook stoves (ICS) user and non-user household groups was 172 (33.5%). No formal education, above 5 family member, women who had not use improved cookstove, used stove without chimney, and Women who had no permanent ventilation in roof of cooking area were more exposed to respiratory illness as compared to their counterparts.

Objectives: Biofilms formed in food-processing environments are of special importance as they have the potential to act as a persistent source of microbial contamination that may lead to food spoilage or transmission of diseases. The creation of microbial biofilms, which can be a source of food product contamination with food spoilage and foodborne pathogenic bacteria, is one of the most critical elements in the food industry. The goal of this study was to see how well magnesium oxide (MgO) and copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles (NPs) inhibited growth and biofilm formation of two common foodborne bacterial pathogens. Methods and Results: This study was completed in the year 2020. Resazurin reduction and micro-dilution procedures were used to assess the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of magnesium oxide and copper oxide nanoparticles for Escherichia coli O157: H7 (ATCC 35218) and Listeria monocytogenes (ATCC 19118). The bacterial adhesion to hydrocarbon technique was used to determine the cell-surface hydrophobicity of the selected bacteria. The surface assay was also used to calculate the influence of the NPs coated surfaces on the biofilm formation of the selected bacteria. Magnesium oxide nanoparticles had MICs of 2 and 2 mg/ml, while copper oxide nanoparticles had MICs of 0.16 and 1 mg/ml against E. coli and L. monocytogenes, respectively. At the MIC, the magnesium and copper nanoparticles inhibited biofilm formation of E. coli and L. monocytogenes by 89.9 and 96.6 percent and 93.6 and 98.7 percent, respectively. The hydrophobicity of E. coli and L. monocytogenes was determined to be 74% and 67%, respectively. The surface assay revealed a substantial reduction in bacterial adhesion and colonization on NPs-coated surfaces. Conclusions: Both compounds had inhibitory effects on E. coli and L. monocytogenes, according to our findings. Even at sub-MICs, NPs were found to be able to prevent biofilm development. The microbial count and production of microbial biofilms were reduced on surfaces coated with MgO and CuO nanoparticles. Significance and Impact of Study: MgO and CuO nanoparticles can be utilized as a cleaning agent for surfaces to avoid the formation of foodborne bacterial biofilms, which is important for public health.

The removal of dyes from water now become a major issue in various industries especially the textile industry. However, the present study aims to use cement kiln dust (CKD)-based adsorbent for the sequestration of malachite green (MG) from its aqueous solution. CKD was obtained from the local cement factory in Libya. The BET surface area of CKD was obtained to be 14.55 m2/g. Experiments were carried out via batch adsorption process under various adsorption conditions such as contact time, initial dye concentration and mass of the adsorbent. Whereas, other adsorption parameters (solution temperature and pH, agitation rate) were kept constant at room temperature, 6.5, and 250rpm, respectively for the whole experiments. The isotherms data best fitted the Langmuir isotherm model with R2 = 0.999, while the kinetic data followed the pseudo-second order equation. The maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 52.65 mg/g. This study indicated that cement kiln dust is a potential by-product waste for the removal of dyes from industrial effluents.