Periodical reports are important information sources for investors and society to monitor, contribute to, and allocate resources to listed companies contributing to environmental sustainability. This article provides a preliminary investigation into environment-related information disclosure in annual reports of 61 representative companies in Vietnam, a country that has a rapidly developing stock market and is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. It was found that although most of the companies’ reports disclosed the goals to pursue sustainability and environmental protection (...) (over 93%), only one-third of them genuinely reported investment in or research on environmental directions. The proportion of companies reporting detailed information on greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, water consumption, and waste production is relatively low; even among leading companies in sustainable development, the reporting rates for these indicators remained below 60%. We suggest that a separate mandatory annual report on environmental issues will increase businesses’ and society’s consciousness of environmental impacts. Transparent disclosure of environmental information will also offer an avenue to empower society to monitor, participate, and steer businesses toward sustainable development, thereby fostering an eco-surplus culture throughout the economic system. (shrink)

Effective stakeholder engagement and inclusive governance are essential for effective and equitable ocean management. However, few cross-national studies have been conducted to examine how stakeholders’ economic and cultural benefit perceptions influence their support level for policies focused on ocean preservation. The current study aims to fill this gap by employing the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics on a dataset of 709 stakeholders from 42 countries, a part of the MaCoBioS project funded by the European Commission H2020. We found that economic (...) and cultural benefit perceptions are generally negatively associated with the policy support level. Regarding economic aspects, stakeholders considering transportation and shipping, renewable energy generation, and oil and gas provision as the most crucial benefits their countries’ oceans provide tend to obtain less support for policies focusing on ocean preservation. Meanwhile, for cultural aspects, perceiving recreation and tourism, aesthetic pleasure, mental health and well-being support, and sense of identity provision as the most important benefits provided by the country’s ocean are negatively associated with the policy support level. The perceived economic, cultural, and environmental tradeoffs when supporting policies focused on ocean preservation were discussed. Recommendations for improving the effective management of multi-use marine space are also provided to reduce the perceived competing interests among stakeholders. (shrink)

The nationwide economic reform in 1986 transformed Vietnam from a centrally planned economy to a socialist-oriented market economy. Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial spirits within the populace are suggested to fuel the structural changes. Despite the importance of entrepreneurship in Vietnam’s economy, studies in Vietnam mainly pay attention to the practical aspects of entrepreneurial activities and neglect the cognitive and theoretical aspects of entrepreneurship. Thus, the current study employs the information-processing perspective of the Mindsponge Theory to explore how entrepreneurs’ knowledge accumulation can (...) affect their perceived likelihood of business success. Bayesian analysis indicates that business-related experience positively affects entrepreneurs’ business success likelihood. Greater willingness/readiness to transform thinking, acting, and beliefs can improve the business success of entrepreneurs who study others’ failures carefully. However, for entrepreneurs who perceive learning from others’ failures as unnecessary, higher willingness/readiness to transform diminishes their chance of success. Based on these findings, we recommend Vietnamese entrepreneurs accumulate knowledge through experience, learning, and an open mind for better decision-making and innovation creation capabilities. However, the learning process should be selective. (shrink)

In the trust-health relationship, how trusting other people in society may promote good health is a topic often examined. However, the other direction of influence – how health may affect trust – has not been well explored. In order to investigate this possible effect, we employed Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics to go deeper into the information processing mechanisms underlying the expressions of trust. Conducting Bayesian analysis on a dataset of 1237 residents from Cali, Colombia, we found that general health (...) status is positively associated with generalized trust, but recent experiences of illnesses/injuries have a negative moderating effect. Personalized trust is largely unchanged across different general health conditions, but the trust level becomes higher with recent experiences of illnesses/injuries. Psychophysiological mechanisms of increasing information filtering intensity toward unfamiliar sources during a vulnerable state of health is a plausible explanation of found patterns in generalized trust. Because established personal relationships are reinforced information channels, personalized trust is not affected as much. Rather, the results suggest that people may rely even more on loved ones when they are in bad health conditions. This exploratory study shows that the trust-health relationship can be examined from a different angle that may provide new insights. (shrink)

Working in academia is challenging, even more so for those with limited resources and opportunities. Researchers around the world do not have equal working conditions. The paper presents the structure, operation method, and conceptual framework of the SM3D Portal's community coaching method, which is built to help Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and researchers in low-resource settings overcome the obstacle of inequality and start their career progress. The community coaching method is envisioned by three science philosophies (cost-effectiveness, transparency spirit, and proactive (...) attitude) and established and operated based on the Serendipity-Mindsponge-3D knowledge (SM3D) management framework (i.e., mindsponge thinking and Bayesian Mindsponge Framework analytics serve as the coaching program's foundational theory and analytical tools). The coaching method also embraces Open Science's values for lowering the cost of doing science and encouraging the trainees to be transparent, which is expected to facilitate the self-correcting mechanism of science through open data, open review, and open dialogue. Throughout the training process, members are central beneficiaries by gaining research knowledge and skills, acquiring publication as the training's product, and shifting their mindsets from “I can't do it” to “I can do it,” and at the same time transforming a mentee to be ready for a future mentor's role. The coaching method is thus one of the members, for the member, by the members. -/- • The paper provides the structure, operation method, and conceptual framework of the SM3D Portal's community coaching method, which is built to help Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and researchers in low-resource settings overcome the obstacle of inequality and start their career progress. • The paper presents three major science philosophies envisioning the establishment and operation of scholarly community coaching. • The paper employs the mindsponge theory and BMF analytics to construct a conceptual framework explaining how an environment is created to help shift members’ mindsets from “I can't do it” to “I can do it.”. (shrink)

Community and stakeholder support for marine and coastal ecosystem conservation policies is crucial. However, extant multinational studies on climate change-related factors that constrain stakeholders’ willingness to protect the ocean are limited. Therefore, the dataset from 709 marine stakeholders across 42 countries, part of the MaCoBioS project funded by the European Commission, was analyzed using the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) method to fill the knowledge gap. The findings reveal that for individuals who think society is doing too much to address climate (...) change, new technologies can solve climate change. Responses to climate change can damage the country’s economy and might not be productive in supporting actions protecting the ocean. Based on the study results, we recommend policymakers raise awareness among individuals engaged in marine and coastal ecosystems about the crucial role of marine protection in combating climate change, taking into account the limitations of technology in solving climate change problems and the inadequacy of current efforts. The findings also provide insights for enhancing the effectiveness of awareness and knowledge-raising campaigns, conservation programs, and eco-surplus culture-building agenda. (shrink)

The water scarcity crisis is becoming more severe across the globe and recycled water has been suggested as a feasible solution to the crisis. However, expanding the use of potable and recycled public water has been hindered by public acceptance. Previous studies suggest threat perception and trust of provided information have positive linear relationships with recycled water acceptance. However, given the complex filtering role of trust in the human mental process, we argue that the effects of threat perception and trust (...) may have non-linear relationships with acceptance of recycled water for drinking. To support and validate this argument, we employed Bayesian Mindsponge Framework analytics on 726 Spanish residents. We found that individuals more concerned about water shortage are less likely to accept using recycled water for drinking if their trust in the water quality and safety is low. Meanwhile, people more concerned about water shortage are more likely to accept using recycled water for drinking if they trust the water quality and safety. The findings suggest the non-linear relationships between threat perception, trust, and recycled water acceptance while validating mindsponge-based reasoning. Moreover, the results also highlight the importance of trust in influencing the mental process’s outcome: recycled water acceptance. (shrink)

The current study is conducted to examine the following research questions: -/- - Do perceptions that mitigate climate change risk (e.g., developing technology to help address climate change) reduce stakeholders’ willingness to protect the ocean? - Do perceptions of the costs associated with combating climate change (e.g., the belief that responding to climate change will harm economies and societies that are already actively addressing the issue) reduce stakeholders’ willingness to protect the ocean? -/- The findings from this study are expected (...) to provide insights into how perceptions of climate change mitigation and cost beliefs influence stakeholders’ willingness to protect the ocean. This information can inform targeted strategies for policymakers and conservationists to enhance support for marine protection and build the eco-surplus culture in the face of climate change challenges. (shrink)

La reseña se traduce de su original "A novel perspective on thinking about thinking: Review of Mindsponge Theory".

Hiện tượng băng tan ở Nam Cực đang ngày càng nguy hiểm với sức khỏe Trái Đất nói chung, và các cộng đồng cư dân bao gồm cả con người nói riêng. Nghe thì xa xôi vậy, nhưng tác động đang trở nên gần hơn bao giờ hết. Về mặt chu kỳ thời tiết, theo quy luật tự nhiên, giai đoạn hiện nay đáng ra phải là thời kỳ Trái Đất dịu mát đi. Thế nhưng trên thực tế, nhiệt độ (...) lại đang gia tăng. Suốt ba thập niên vừa qua, nhiệt độ Trái Đất liên tục tăng ở các mức kỷ lục chưa từng thấy kể từ khi dữ liệu bắt đầu được thống kê. (shrink)

Trung Quốc là nền kinh tế lớn hàng đầu thế giới, vận hành với hiệu suất cao để đáp ứng nhu cầu sinh kế của hơn 1,4 tỷ người dân, và cung cấp một lượng hàng hóa công nghệ, tiêu dùng và cả nông phẩm tới thế giới. Hệ quả tất yếu của quá trình tăng trưởng liên tục hơn 4 thập niên là việc sử dụng tài nguyên, và trong quá trình sản xuất, chế tạo, chế biến cũng sản (...) sinh ra một lượng khí nhà kính (GHG) tích lũy khổng lồ phát thải vào khí quyển. Trong một thống kê được đăng trên The Guardian năm 2017, thế giới đã nhận thấy trong giai đoạn 1988-2015, 100 tổ hợp công nghiệp hàng đầu thế giới chịu trách nhiệm cho việc phát thải tới 71% tổng tồn lượng GHG trong khí quyển. Dẫn đầu danh sách này trên phương diện quốc gia là Trung Quốc, với thống kê chỉ 5 đại công ty Trung Quốc đã chiếm tới gần 17% tổng lượng phát thải, trong đó tổ hợp ngành than có trách nhiệm lớn nhất, tới 14,32%. Sau những tiến bộ công nghệ vượt bậc cũng như tích lũy thặng dư nền kinh tế, quá trình hiện đại hóa ở Trung Quốc sang thời kỳ Chủ tịch Tập Cận Bình đã chuyển hướng sang bảo vệ môi trường với các mục tiêu phát thải nghiêm ngặt. Chẳng hạn như xác định nhóm ngành sản xuất gang thép với vai trò lớn trong mục tiêu giảm phát thải GHG, chính phủ và lãnh đạo công nghiệp liên tục tìm kiếm giải pháp cho sự hạn chế nguồn tài nguyên, thúc đẩy khuếch tán công nghệ, ứng dụng tiến bộ trong giảm phát thải và thu giữ, chôn lấp các-bon, thích hợp với ngành thép, dựa trên đánh giá bằng hệ thống phân tích hướng tới giải quyết mục tiêu biến đổi khí hậu có tên viết tắt “C3IAM/NET-IS.”. (shrink)

The analysis shows that inviting students to answer questions and responding to their questions are two oral communication strategies that can improve students’ concentration and active interactions with teachers during online learning (see Figures 1 and 2, respectively). Both these strategies have almost equivalent effect magnitudes on students’ concentration and active interactions with teachers. We also find that students’ sex does not affect their concentration and active interactions with teachers.

Xuan-Hung Doan, Phuong-Tram T. Nguyen, Viet-Phuong La, Hong-Kong T. Nguyen (2019). Chapter 5. Researchers who lead the trends. In Quan-Hoang Vuong, Trung Tran (Eds.), The Vietnamese Social Sciences at a Fork in the Road (pp. 98–120). Warsaw, Poland: De Gruyter. DOI:10.2478/9783110686081-010 -/- Online ISBN: 9783110686081 © 2019 Sciendo.

The analysis shows that poor internet connection, lack of ICT skills, and psychological issues are associated with lower online learning comfort among secondary school students. Among these effects, the impact of psychological problems, like concentration difficulties, is the strongest (see Figure 1). We also find that learning comfortability is positively associated with learning effectiveness (see Figure 2).

Đêm ngày 28-7-2023, bài NS đã lăn qua mốc 40 vạn lượt đọc, chính xác là hết ngày 28-7, đạt mốc mới 401066 lượt đọc duy nhất tính theo IP [1]. Đây là cách tính lượt đọc rất khắt khe, vì từ một địa chỉ IP, có cả trăm người đọc thì vẫn chỉ được tính là 1 mà thôi.

The AISDL team discloses the pre-peer-reviewed results of a research project exploring the non-linear effects of threat perception and trust on recycled water acceptance. The research project was contributed by six authors. The project’s outcome has been sent to the academic journal for peer review. -/- .

This thesis consists of three substantive studies about the Vietnam stock market. In particular, I study the asymmetric information, corporate governance (CG) practices, and foreign investment of publicly listed companies in Vietnam, presented in Chapters 2, 3, and 4, respectively. In Chapter 2, I investigate the effectiveness of a market surveillance system (MSS) on improving the market quality of the Vietnam stock market, as measured by liquidity and informed trading level. I find that market liquidity decreased after the introduction of (...) the MSS, and that the effect is more pronounced for small firms. Although informed trading, on average, does not change significantly after the MSS, subsample analysis indicates a significant decrease in informed trading among large and liquid firms. In Chapter 3, I investigate the relationship between firms’ CG practices and informed trading. I find a negative relationship between the two variables. Firms with better CG practices have a lower level of informed stock trading. Moreover, a natural experiment on a shock of firms’ CG practices generated by the CG policies shows that the negative relationship between CG practices and informed trading is a causal one, in which a change in the former causes a change in the latter. In another analysis around the implementation of the MSS, I find that the implementation of the surveillance system affects the relationship between the two variables, and this effect is driven by large and liquid firms. In Chapter 4, I investigate whether foreign investors in the Vietnam stock market are informed about firms’ performance. Using the residuals of foreign investor ownership as a measure of the abnormal foreign investor holding, I find that the abnormal foreign investor holding is positively correlated with firm performance in the following one year. I also find a positive correlation between abnormal foreign investor holding and the stock returns in the next three quarters. These findings indicate that foreign investors are informed about the firms up to a one-year period. (shrink)