An economic valuation and the sustainable development of a marine protected area: A case study of Cu Lao Cham, Vietnam: A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University

The Vietnamese shoreline stretches for over 3,200 km with over 3,000 islands but the marine and coastal resources of Vietnam are under increasing threat from human activities. This includes Cu Lao Cham (Cham Island Marine Protected Area (CLC MPA)), which is recognised as an important area in terms of biodiversity and fish stocks in Vietnam. The important habitats in CLC MPA, such as coral reefs, seagrass beds, rocky shore, and sandy bottoms in the waters surrounding the CLC, have been seriously over-exploited. This exploitation is blamed as the main cause of the decline in marine resources. Conservation efforts have recently been implemented in the CLC MPA. However, economic analysis of the CLC MPA’s natural values has not yet investigated what may affect policy decisions on CLC MPA’s sustainable development. An economic valuation of the CLC MPA marine and coastal resources can provide a framework to sustainably manage the allocation and use of the resources. This study estimates the recreation and conservation values of marine resource in the CLC MPA using an onsite survey with a structured questionnaire. The Travel Cost Method was used to estimate the recreational values for respondents based on their visitation rate and their trips to the CLC MPA from 2013 to 2018. The results show that the respondents’ visitation rate and trips are significantly affected by their socio-economic characteristics (such as income, household size, gender, occupation and education), their transport means to travel between home and the CLC MPA, and other factors (travel and other expenses, time and purpose for visiting CLC MPA). Empirical evidence from Zonal Travel Cost Models (the OLS log-log form) suggests that the relationship between the respondents’ visitation rate and their travel cost is inelastic, which means that a change in the respondents’ travel costs nominally affects their visitation rate. The findings from the zero-truncated Poisson count models reveal that the aggregate recreational benefits in 2018 from the CLC MPA are estimated to be approximately VND950 billion (US$42.4 million). The consumer surplus is overestimated if multi-destination trips are omitted from the demand model, with approximately a 2.7The Contingent Valuation Method is used in this study to estimate the respondents’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the conservation of the CLC MPA (paying additional entrance fees). The results from Generalised Linear Models show that the WTP estimation varied among three different groups of respondents (combined, Vietnamese, and foreign visitors). Foreign respondents were willing to pay the highest amount and Vietnamese respondents pay the lowest amount (US$3.56 and US$1.99 per person per visit, respectively). On average, respondents visiting CLC MPA were willing to pay US$2.26 per person per visit

KHÁM PHÁ CÁC KHÍA CẠNH CỦA TRẢI NGHIỆM ẨM THỰC HUẾ CỦA KHÁCH DU LỊCH NỘI ĐỊA

Although the local cuisine in many tourist destinations has played an important role in attracting tourists, and the local culinary experience could significantly influence tourists’ behaviours, the topic of the culinary experience of tourists has just emerged in the tourism literature in Vietnam. Through the case of Hue cuisine, this study aims to explore aspects of the culinary experience of tourists using the Experience Economy framework. Based on the qualitative data obtained in semi-structured interviews with twenty domestic tourists, the thematic analysis results show that four themes emerged in the culinary experience with Hue traditional cuisine. They include esthetics, education, escapism and entertainment. Based on these findings, several recommendations are proposed to enhance the culinary experience of domestic tourists visiting Hue, such as: telling stories about Hue specialties to tourists, enabling tourists to observe or get involved in certain cooking or decorating activities, or creating attractive check-in area with Hue local food.Mặc dù ẩm thực của một điểm đến có sức hấp dẫn thu hút khách du lịch và trải nghiệm ẩm thực địa phương có tác động đáng kể đến hành vi du lịch của du khách, tuy nhiên, chủ đề nghiên cứu về trải nghiệm ẩm thực của khách du lịch vẫn còn rất mới mẻ ở Việt Nam. Thông qua trường hợp ẩm thực Huế, nghiên cứu này nhằm khám phá các khía cạnh nội dung của trải nghiệm ẩm thực của du khách sử dụng khung lý thuyết về Kinh tế trải nghiệm. Dựa trên dữ liệu định tính thu được thông qua các cuộc phỏng vấn với 20 khách du lịch nội địa, kết quả phân tích chủ đề cho thấy rằng có bốn chủ đề xuất hiện trong trải nghiệm ẩm thực dân gian Huế của du khách. Các chủ đề này bao gồm: trải nghiệm thẩm mỹ, trải nghiệm học hỏi, trải nghiệm thoát ly thực tế và trải nghiệm giải trí. Dựa trên kết quả này, một số khuyến nghị được đưa ra nhằm nâng cao trải nghiệm của du khách đến Huế, chẳng hạn như: kể chuyện về món ăn đặc sản Huế, cho khách xem hoặc tham gia vào một số công đoạn chế biến trình bày món ăn, hoặc tạo các điểm check-in đẹp với món ăn đặc sản Huế

Concepts of Agri-Competitiveness in Theorical and Imperical Researchs

The purpose of this study is to analyze the competitiveness of exported agricultural products through theoretical and empirical studies, estimation methods and determinants. Not only summarizing the competitiveness theories of agricultural products exported from previous studies, the article also clarifies the concept of competitiveness of agricultural products at the level of products/services, firms/ farms, industry, thereby helping firms from agricultural countries - which rely heavily on agricultural production and agricultural products export to find the right ways to identify definitions and concepts, then choose the right methods of measurement, compare its export agricultural products competitiveness. Since, the study also proposed the use of synthetic indicators to measure the competitiveness of agricultural exports which is an important basis for the state agencies in the study and propose their export policy of agricultural products in the near future

Higher chromatic rendition with Cr3+-doped yellow Y3Al5O12:Ce3+ for double-layer remote phosphor white-light-emitting diodes

Remote phosphor designs of white-light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) have been recognized for their high thermal stability and excellent luminous efficiency but not for the chromatic rendering. The study presents an approach for the remote phosphor structure to overcome the low-color-rendering issue by enriching its red-light spectral intensity through co-doping Cr3+ and Ce3+ ions into the yellow  Y3Al5O12 (YAG) phosphor compound. This ion co-doping process probably enhances emission spectra in the far-red range because of the energy transfer of the integrated ions: Ce3+ Cr3+. Additionally, the luminescence and color properties of the phosphor layer significantly depend on the doped concentration of the Cr3+ ion. Here, with 0.008% Cr3+ in the phosphor composite, either internal or external quantum performances of the dual-layer WLED light are enhanced, which achieved the number of 58.9% and 46.7%, respectively. The color rendering index (CRI) would also be higher if Cr3+ is added, about 77.9, compared to the CRI of 63.2 when using the original  YAG:Ce3+ phosphor layer

Sustainable management of a marine protected area in Vietnam: An application of visitors’ willingness to pay for conservation in Cu Lao Cham

As an important area in terms of biodiversity and fish stocks in Vietnam, Cu Lao Cham or Cham Islands (CLC) marine protected area (MPA) is under increasing threat from human activities. Conservation efforts have recently been implemented but economic analysis of the CLC MPA’s natural values did not investigate what may affect policy decisions on CLC MPA’s sustainable development. Using a structured questionnaire and a payment card technique (based on the contingent valuation method), we estimate visitors’ willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation of marine resources in the CLC MPA. The log-normal regression results indicate that the visitors’ WTP for conservation is affected by their characteristics, perceptions of environmental protection and conservation, and their assessment of the current CLC MPA entrance fee. Visitors are WTP an additional amount of US$2.26 per person for conservation while visiting the CLC MPA. This indicates that with the introduction of the proposed entrance fee (the mean WTP added to the current entrance fee), the CLC MPA management would not only have sufficient funds for their management and conservation programmes, but also that the number of visitors may decline slightly, which would reduce some of the pressure on the environment, natural resources, and coral reefs

Impacts of using cartoons as an instructional tool on English communicative skills of young learners at a Vietnamese primary school

This study examined the impact of the use of cartoons on the speaking and listening skills of students in a primary school in a rural area in Vietnam and their attitudes towards the use of cartoons as a learning tool in their English classes. The study employed an experimental research design to collect data. Participants included 70 fifth-graders divided into two groups, the control group and the experiment group. The control group was taught regular English lessons. The experiment group learned similar lessons but cartoons were added to the English lesson to practice speaking and listening skills for six weeks. Before and after the experiment, the speaking and listening skills of the two groups were measured by a pretest and a posttest. In addition, the students in the experiment group were surveyed using a questionnaire to examine their attitudes towards watching cartoons for learning purposes. The findings show the English speaking and listening skills of the students in the experimental group improved more significantly than those of the students in the control group. Besides, the students in the experiment group expressed positive attitudes towards watching cartoons in English classes. The findings had implications for English language teachers at primary schools in Vietnam and in other non-dominant English speaking countries to include visual materials in their English lessons to enhance young learners’ English proficiency

INFLUENCE OF MICROENCAPSULATION PARAMETERS ON THE SIZE AND MORPHOLOGY OF MICROCAPSULES BY ECO-FRIENDLY SOLVENT EVAPORATION METHOD ORIENTED TO MEDICAL TEXTILES

Application of microcapsules in medical textile has been studied and commercially developed widely in recent years. The aim of this work was to propose an eco-friendly microencapsulation by solvent evaporation method that can contribute to the manufacture of medical textile products using microcapsules. Quillaja saponin was used as bio-sourced surfactant and ethyl acetate was used as the less toxic, non-halogenated organic solvent. The influences of saponin concentration, stirring speed during emulsification step and the volume of ethyl acetate used to saturate the aqueous phase before emulsification on the microcapsule size and morphology were investigated. The results showed that eudragit microcapsules of ibuprofen with diameter in range from 17 to 34 µm, which were suitable for medical textile applications, were successfully elaborated. The saponin concentration varied from 0.025 to 0.1 wt%. The stirring speed was changed from 700 to 600 rpm. The volume of ethyl acetate used in saturation step was 0, 8 and 12 ml. In the scope of investigation, the saponin concentration and the volume of ethyl acetate used in saturation step did affect the microcapsule size and morphology while the stirring speed did not. The saturation step really helped to reduce the formation of irregular microparticles and to narrow the size distribution, but the microcapsules became more porous, weaker and were deformed significantly by drying in the fabric treatment process