Enforcement of Contracts in Vietnam and the Risks of Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) Disputes

The Constitution in force (1992) consists of 147 articles divided into twelve chapters after a preamble, embodying the policy and legislation of Doi Moi. As for the political system, it is stipulated that: “The State promotes a multi-component commodity economy functioning in accordance with market mechanisms under the management of the State and following a socialist orientation. The multi-component economic structure with various forms of organization of production and trading is based on a system of ownership by the entire people, by collectives, and by private individuals, of which ownership by the entire people and by collectives constitutes the foundation.” This article provides an acute analysis of the structural and procedural provisions of the frameworks for contract enforcement in Vietnam, addressing both domestic and foreign transactional disputes and the key issues associated with these. The link between Doi Moi, and consequential integration with the international economy and the influence of collective interests stipulated in the Constitution are discussed in this article, and we also consider examples from other jurisdictions to provide both insight and an understanding into this relationship that defines contract enforcement in Vietnam

ELITE ROWERS APPLY DIFFERENT FORCES BETWEEN STATIONARY AND SLIDING ERGOMETERS, & ON-WATER ROWING

Rowing on ergometers is often required due to on-water conditions and testing requirements. Force generation between on-water sculling, fixed and sliding ergometers, has been examined, but there are only a few studies with elite level rowers. Forces at the handle, rowing gate, and foot block were recorded for four elite rowers during 1,000-m on a fixed ergometer, sliding ergometer and an on-water double scull. Handle forces were greater on the fixed and sliding ergometer than the on-water double. There was a trend for the foot forces to be similar between all three conditions. However, the timing of application of force was considerably earlier on the fixed and sliding ergometer than the on-water condition. The use of ergometers as a substitute for on-water rowing needs to be reconsidered in light of these results

Weak temporal signals can synchronize and accelerate the transition dynamics of biopolymers under tension

In addition to thermal noise, which is essential to promote conformational transitions in biopolymers, cellular environment is replete with a spectrum of athermal fluctuations that are produced from a plethora of active processes. To understand the effect of athermal noise on biological processes, we studied how a small oscillatory force affects the thermally induced folding and unfolding transition of an RNA hairpin, whose response to constant tension had been investigated extensively in both theory and experiments. Strikingly, our molecular simulations performed under overdamped condition show that even at a high (low) tension that renders the hairpin (un)folding improbable, a weak external oscillatory force at a certain frequency can synchronously enhance the transition dynamics of RNA hairpin and increase the mean transition rate. Furthermore, the RNA dynamics can still discriminate a signal with resonance frequency even when the signal is mixed among other signals with nonresonant frequencies. In fact, our computational demonstration of thermally induced resonance in RNA hairpin dynamics is a direct realization of the phenomena called stochastic resonance (SR) and resonant activation (RA). Our study, amenable to experimental tests using optical tweezers, is of great significance to the folding of biopolymers in vivo that are subject to the broad spectrum of cellular noises.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure

GaAs interfacial self-cleaning by atomic layer deposition

The reduction and removal of surface oxides from GaAs substrates by atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Al2O3 and HfO2 are studied using in situ monochromatic x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Using the combination of in situ deposition and analysis techniques, the interfacial "self-cleaning" is shown to be oxidation state dependent as well as metal organic precursor dependent. Thermodynamics, charge balance, and oxygen coordination drive the removal of certain species of surface oxides while allowing others to remain. These factors suggest proper selection of surface treatments and ALD precursors can result in selective interfacial bonding arrangements

Transport dynamics of single ions in segmented microstructured Paul trap arrays

It was recently proposed to use small groups of trapped ions as qubit carriers in miniaturized electrode arrays that comprise a large number of individual trapping zones, between which ions could be moved. This approach might be scalable for quantum information processing with a large numbers of qubits. Processing of quantum information is achieved by transporting ions to and from separate memory and qubit manipulation zones in between quantum logic operations. The transport of ion groups in this scheme plays a major role and requires precise experimental control and fast transport. In this paper we introduce a theoretical framework to study ion transport in external potentials that might be created by typical miniaturized Paul trap electrode arrays. In particular we discuss the relationship between classical and quantum descriptions of the transport and study the energy transfer to the oscillatory motion during near-adiabatic transport. Based on our findings we suggest a numerical method to find electrode potentials as a function of time to optimize the local potential an ion experiences during transport. We demonstrate this method for one specific electrode geometry that should closely represent the situation encountered in realistic trap arrays.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Analysis of Soft Tissue Changes after Genioplasty in Skeletal Class III Dentofacial Deformity

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure the anteroinferior changes and the degree of vertical changes to facilitate the prediction of treatment outcome in patients undergoing genioplasty only, genioplasty with bilateral sagittal split ramus osteotomy (BSSRO), genioplasty, or BSSRO and Lefort I osteotomy. Materials and Methods: Serial cephalometry was performed on 25 patients at 1-year follow-up after genioplasty, to assess skeletal changes and relapse. Surgery was performed using conventional techniques. Results: The mean ratio was 0.9: 1 of soft tissue to skeletal movement at pogonion, but the average difference between hard and soft tissue was large; thus, the prediction of anteroposterior soft tissue changes was quite inaccurate. Conclusion: We observed a good correlation between the amount of hard versus soft tissue change with surgery in the horizontal direction, but a poor correlation in the vertical plane. Key Words: Soft tissue changes, genioplasty, skeletal class III dentofacial deformit

Frequency dispersion reduction and bond conversion on n-type GaAs by in situ surface oxide removal and passivation

The method of surface preparation on n-type GaAs, even with the presence of an amorphous-Si interfacial passivation layer, is shown to be a critical step in the removal of accumulation capacitance frequency dispersion. In situ deposition and analysis techniques were used to study different surface preparations, including NH4OH, Si-flux, and atomic hydrogen exposures, as well as Si passivation depositions prior to in situ atomic layer deposition of Al2O3. As–O bonding was removed and a bond conversion process with Si deposition is observed. The accumulation capacitance frequency dispersion was removed only when a Si interlayer and a specific surface clean were combined