Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology has two events participating in 10 outstanding science and technology events in 2023

Awarding certificates to elected representatives of 10 outstanding science and technology events in 2023

Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology is honored to contribute 02 out of 10 outstanding science and technology events in 2023 in the field of natural sciences (event 3) and applied science (event 5): 
• Natural sciences (event 3): "Application of large language models in rare language translation software" by the research team of the Institute of Information Technology – Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.
• Field of applied science (event 5): "Mastering the technology of solar thermal reflective paint using domestically produced nanomaterials" of the research team of Institute of Tropical Technology – Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.

Large language model application in rare language translation software

In 2023, the research team of Institute of Information Technology (under Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) has successfully developed a Vietnamese-centered translation system, capable of two-way translation between Vietnamese and resource-poor languages of Southeast Asia with the same quality as famous commercial products in the world. Up to now, the system has the ability to translate bidirectionally between language pairs including Vietnamese - Lao, Vietnamese - Khmer, Vietnamese - Thai, Vietnamese - Malaysian and Vietnamese - Indonesian. The system is researched and developed based on the latest advances in the world in the field of natural language processing in general and machine translation in particular. Languages such as Lao, Thai, and Khmer present enormous challenges when building machine translation models, not only because of the scarcity of bilingual data but also because these languages are morphologically rich, lacking word separation, sentence separation, and polysemantics. The model of machine translation of the IT Institute has learned to adapt to all these special characteristics of the aforementioned languages. Machine translation models are trained on the Nvidia A100 server system at Institute of Information Technology with the most advanced configuration in Vietnam today. Machine translation systems can be easily expanded to new target languages including ethnic minority languages in Vietnam (often very poor in data resources) such as Muong, Thai and also popular foreign languages such as Chinese, French and , Russian, as needed. In particular, the system has the ability to fine-tune to adapt to intensive language domains such as healthcare or, law at the partner's own request.

The main features of this multilingual translation system include: The software is installed and run on the unit's server system, allowing the unit full control over data and applications; Ability to update data, retrain models to improve translation quality, adapt to the unit's field of expertise; Ensure absolute information security during use; Can be deployed both in the intranet and on the Internet; Exploited through 2 forms, a web interface for users to directly translate and an API communication form that allows other systems to connect operations; Allows automatic translation with many different formats, including text format (.txt), digitized text file format (.rtf, .doc, .docx, .pdf, .html ...): Keep the main format of the translated text.

Mastering solar heat reflective paint technology using domestically produced nanomaterials

Absorbing and inheriting advanced science and technology achievements in the world in general and of Vietnam in particular, in 2023, Institute of Tropical Technology (under Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) will successfully develop solar thermal reflective paint technology. Currently, the Institute of Tropical Engineering has completely mastered the technology of manufacturing heat-reflecting additives on the basis of nano-sized materials and applying them in making highly effective solar heat-reflecting paints. Solar thermal reflective paint products manufactured by the Institute fully meet strict foreign technical standards and are equivalent to imported products but have higher economic efficiency that have been applied in civil and defense projects (construction roofs, petroleum tanks, fishing vessels...). With a structure consisting of highly heat-reflecting nanoparticles scattered interspersed between microparticles to create a tight structure in a transparent polymer substrate, the coating has a high reflectivity in the near-infrared region, so when using nano-reflective paint, the surface temperature of the steel tank can be reduced by up to 10-19 degrees Celsius and the temperature in the tank is about 8-15 degrees Celsius lower compared to when using conventional paint. In addition, the weather resistance of nanocoating is higher than 1500 hours of weather acceleration test.

Structure of heat-reflecting coating microparticle structure (a), nanoparticle structure interspersed between microparticles (b)

The solar thermal reflective paint products of Institute of Tropical Technology (ITT symbol) have been tested and evaluated by SuzukaFine (1 of the 5 largest paint companies in Japan, established since 1948) according to Japanese standard JIS K 5675. The results of the analysis showed that samples of solar thermal reflective paints developed by the Institute of Tropical Engineering had much higher thermal reflectivity than domestic and international commercial solar thermal reflective paints. The application of solar heat-reflective paint suitable for surfaces outside buildings, volatile fuel/chemical tanks is an effective and low-cost solution to combat the urban heat island effect, which can save up to 40% of energy consumption by cooling equipment,  combating the loss of volatile fuels/chemicals contributinges to ensuring energy security, preventing climate change, and contributing to sustainable development, towards the goal that Vietnam committed to at the United Nations climate change summit (COP26).

List of 10 outstanding science and technology events in 2023

Some other photos at the announcement ceremony of 10 outstanding science and technology events in 2023:

Photos at the unveiling ceremony

Mr. Ha Hong, Chairman of the Vietnam Science and Technology Journalists Club, speaks at the launching ceremony

Vice President of Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Prof. Chu Hoang Ha speaks at the unveiling ceremony 

Comrade Vo Thanh Phong, Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Central Committee for Propaganda and Education

Translated by Phuong Ha
Link to Vietnamese version