BEHAVIOR OF THE NGUYEN DYNASTY FOR TEACHERS IN SOUTHERN VIETNAM

This article examines the educational policies and cultural behavior of the Nguyen Dynasty toward teachers in the South to answer the following questions: What were the policies for establishing schools in the South? What was the purpose of the Nguyen Dynasty in regulating teachers and students? What were the differences in behavior of the Nguyen Dynasty toward Southern teachers compared with other localities? What were the similarities and differences between public and private schools in the South? To answer these questions, we collect and document bibliographic sources. Using methods of comparison, analysis, and synthesis, we outline the process of implementing educational policies in general, policies to manage teachers in the South in particular, and assess the role of teachers and teacher standards in improving the quality of education during the Nguyen Dynasty. In addition, this article also compares the differences in the behavior of the Nguyen Dynasty toward teachers in public and private schools in different localities and provides comments and assessments on the cultural behavior of the Nguyen Dynasty toward teachers in the feudal South

Data sharing in international transboundary contexts: The Vietnamese perspective on data sharing in the Lower Mekong Basin

SummaryTransboundary data sharing is widely recognised as a necessary element in the successful handling of water-related climate change issues, as it is a means towards integrated water resources management (IWRM). However, in practice it is often a challenge to achieve it. The Mekong River Commission (MRC), an inter-governmental agency established by Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam, has adopted IWRM in its water strategy plan in order to properly manage the transboundary waters of the Mekong River. In this context, data sharing procedures were institutionalised and have been officially implemented by the four member countries since 2001. This paper uses a systematic approach to identify the extent of data sharing and the factors influencing the willingness of key individuals in the Vietnam National Mekong Committee and its Primary Custodians to share data. We find that the initial objectives of the Procedures for Data and Information Exchange and Sharing (PDIES) have not been fully achieved and, further, that Vietnam has much to gain and little to lose by engaging in data sharing in the MRC context. The primary motivation for data sharing stems from the desire to protect national benefits and to prevent upstream countries from overexploiting the shared water resources. However, data sharing is hindered by a lack of national regulations in the Vietnam context concerning data sharing between state agencies and outdated information management systems

Gender Differences In Job Attribute Preferences And Job Choice Of University Students In China

This study investigates the gender differences in job attribute preferences and job choice among a group of university students in China.  Due to the shortage of well-trained professionals and managers in China, both foreign and Chinese organizations compete for highly trained candidates.  Correlation and regression analysis on data from 1,231 university students in China were used to test three hypotheses. Similarities between how men and women view the importance of advancement, compensation, and learning and overseas opportunities, in employment by foreign and national enterprises, were observed.  But, on issues of job security, firm size, and nationality of supervisor, gender differences were present.  Implications on employee recruitment for Chinese and foreign enterprises are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided

Functional and structural characterization of phage infection protein (Pip) in Lactococcus lactis

This thesis describes an analysis of the structure/function relationship of the phage infection protein (Pip) in Lactococcus lactis. Pip is a protein required for phage infection of L. lactis exclusively by phage c2 species. Pip, which shares no significant homology to previously studied proteins, contains 6 hydrophobic regions; one residing at the N-terminal region is a putative signal sequence, and the other five located in the C terminus, comprise the putative membrane-spanning domain (MSD). No other motifs or domain structures are identified in Pip. Facing outward from the cells lies a hydrophilic region including amino acids 100 to 700 of Pip (Pip 100-700). When purified, Pip 100-700 inactivated phage c2 in vitro. No other component was required for the inactivation. The inactivation of phage c2 was inhibited by adding Pip antiserum to the reaction, indicating that phage c2 inactivation is caused by Pip. The amino acid residues or regions required for inactivation of phage c2 were mapped by mutagenic analysis. A large deletion in Pip removes 451 amino acids from amino acid #193 to #644 of Pip resulting in full resistance to phage c2. An insertion mutation at amino acid #108 resulted in partial resistance to phage c2. These data suggest that the conformation of Pip is important for the binding. An island of charged amino acids from amino acid #227-231 (EIKEK) in Pip was site-directedly mutated into the neutral group AIAAA. When the plasmid containing these missense mutations was electroporated into JK1O1, the transformant remained sensitive to phage c2, indicating that the missense mutations were not critical for phage infection. The Pip gene was randomly mutated, expressed in a Pip negative background, and screened for phage resistance. Fully resistant, partially resistant and temperature sensitive mutants of Pip were identified. All of the mutants created from nonsense or frameshift mutations, resulted in truncations of Pip. Apparently, missense mutations in Pip do not cause phage resistance, at least under the conditions used for screening. All of the mutants have partial or total deletion of the MSD. While the partially resistant and totally resistant mutants have the MSD totally deleted, only parts of MSD in temperature sensitive mutants are deleted, suggesting that the MSD is required for phage infection, but not for inactivation. The lack of the MSD might cause mislocalization of Pip, resulting in partial or total resistance. The mechanism of resistance of the mutants was characterized by measuring absorbance of phage to cells expressing the mutated Pip. Phage c2 adsorbed to all of the mutants collected, suggesting that adsorption of phage c2 is not the cause of resistance. Pip expression was verified in all mutants selected by slot blot and Western blot. For partially or totally resistant mutants, Pip was found in both the whole cell extracts and the cell-free supernatants. The attached Pip enabled partially resistant and temperature-sensitive mutants to form plaques with phage c2. In addition to the Pip attached to the cells, Pip was also released into the growth medium in the mutants with a deleted MSD, shown by Western blots of cell-free supernatants of those mutants. Pip released in the cell-free supernatant was shown to inactivate phage c2, which was similar to the effect of purified Pip 100-700 on phage c2. In a previous report, a 35kDa protein was shown to inactivate c2 (Valyasevi, 1991). In this thesis, the 35kDa protein was further analyzed using a recently made antiserum to PiplOO-700. Western blot analysis of the 35kDa protein using Pip antiserum showed a signal at 94kDa, which was the full length Pip. There was no signal at 3 5kDa, suggesting that 3 5kDa protein is not the proteolytic product of Pip and the "purified" 35kDa sample was contaminated with Pip wild type. The contaminating Pip was probably the component that caused phage c2 inactivation

SPATIAL-SPECTRAL FUZZY K-MEANS CLUSTERING FOR REMOTE SENSING IMAGE SEGMENTATION

Spectral clustering is a clustering method based on algebraic graph theory. The clustering effect by using spectral method depends heavily on the description of similarity between instances of the datasets. Althought, spectral clustering has been significant interest in recent times, but the raw spectral clustering is often based on Euclidean distance, but it is impossible to accurately reflect the complexity of the data. Despite having a well-defined mathematical framework, good performance and simplicity, it suffers from several drawbacks, such as it is unable to determine a reasonable cluster number, sensitive to initial condition and not robust to outliers. In this paper, we present a new approach named spatial-spectral fuzzy clustering which combines spectral clustering and fuzzy clustering with spatial information into a unified framework to solve these problems, the paper consists of three main steps: Step 1, calculate the spatial information value of the pixels, step 2 applies the spectral clustering algorithm to change the data space from the color space to the new space and step 3 clusters the data in new data space by fuzzy clustering algorithm. Experimental results on the remote sensing image were evaluated based on a number of indicators, such as IQI, MSE, DI and CSI, show that it can improve the clustering accuracy and avoid falling into local optimum.

The Rise of the Hung Temple: Shifting Constructions of Place, Religion and Nation in Contemporary Vietnam

This thesis provides an ethnographic exploration of the Hung Temple in Phu Tho province, Vietnam. As a temple dedicated to the Hung Kings at a location that is promoted as a national heritage site, the Hung Temple provides the setting for different debates about ongoing cultural, political and religious transformations in contemporary Vietnam. I focus on the state-led construction of place and the associated efforts to foster nationalism, popular religiosity and a sense of shared identity amongst the Vietnamese. I especially emphasise the meanings that people produce about the Hung Temple as a historically significant location, an important work place and as a sacred site of national veneration to the ancestors that are now revered as deities. My framing of these issues is sensitive to the state’s shifting relationship to religion and to ancestor worship in a period of economic and political transition. I employ practice theory in particular to illuminate the understandings and connections that different facets of society have with the Hung Temple. The use of practice theory is important because it helps me identify how the state has constructed the Hung Temple as well as the potentially unanticipated ways that different people relate to the Hung Kings and the Temple. My approach includes attention to the ambitions of national rulers who construct an official narrative of the nation through their depiction of the Hung Temple’s significance. It also includes the relationship that temple priests, administrators, and bureaucrats have with the temple complex and its surrounding landscape. My practice theory approach additionally gives attention to the people who develop their own individual practices of worship to the Hung Kings and who come to see the Hung Kings as potent deities from whom they can receive the blessings and benefits that will help improve their lives. Finally, by focusing on moments of national celebration on the Hung Kings’ anniversary, I show how these different facets of society come together under the same purpose, but sometimes to different ends. In particular, I use the anniversary celebrations to underline how dynamic the relationships are that people develop with the Hung Kings and how these relationships are not entirely determined by the state’s framing of the Hung Kings. I also show how the people in attendance are not necessarily in harmony despite the state’s efforts to foster a codified, communal practice at the Temple. Through these explorations, the thesis highlights the discourses and actions of a number of social actors who participate in place-based practices at the Hung Temple. The text offers a strongly ethnographic and anthropological engagement with a prominent heritage site that adds to our understandings of the relationship between politics and religion, as well as to our understandings of how these domains impact upon the practices and identities of citizens. Ultimately, the thesis uses the case of the Hung Temple, and of the growing embrace of their ritual worship, as a way to add nuance to discussions of what it means to be Vietnamese in contemporary times.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 201

Stratégies de gestion des risques des ménages dans l'aquaculture côtière au Vietnam: Le cas de l’élevage de palourdes dans la province de Thaibinh

With over 3,260 kilometers of coastal line and 112 estuaries, 226,000 square kilometers of internal waters and territorial waters, the exclusive economic zone of more than 1 million square kilometers, and more than 4,000 islands, forming 12 bays and lagoons with a total area of 1,160 square kilometers, Vietnam has high potentials for aquaculture development. Vietnam's seafood output has been growing steadily in recent years (since 2000 up to 2016) with an average increase of 9% per year. Despite its advantages and positive development trends, Vietnam aquaculture has faced several issues including asymmetric information and high demand for quality products. The main cause of these issues is risks, from production to market risks. This study has explored the main risks faced by the coastal clam farming sector in Thaibinh province located in northern Vietnam. The risks can be classified into two types in term of the nature of their cause: man-made and natural ones, and three types in term of their impact: production, market and financial risks. The causes of these risks include extreme weather events, wasted water flows, production technics; market access or financial capacity. However, man-made risks are more severe and more difficult to cope with than natural ones. These above risks have serious consequences for clam farming. For the three communes examined in this study, less than half of the farmers were yet recovered from the loss caused by several shocks although majority of them had mobilized capital to restart clam farming. About one third of the farmers had to sell their fixed assets to pay debts related to their clam investment, and ten households had left their villages under the pressure of debts. However, in such risky clam farming environments and increased market difficulties, not all farmers were seriously impacted. Indeed, it is surprising that one fifth of the surveyed farmers succeeded in all their clam raising cycles so far, and another quarter remained well resilient after the shocks. Different household risk management strategies applied in clam farming are thus discussed in the comparative analysis and discriminant analysis. In general, the tactics related to increasing farm size, applying technical innovation and accessing financial sources with no or a lower interest rate, provided better conditions for clam growth, reducing clam farming losses. They also facilitated speedier recovery from shocks. There are many internal and external factors in the application of risk management strategies and tactics. Of the internal factors identified, include households’ financial capacity and the experiences of the head of households had more impact while the education level and the job of the head of household seemed to have little influence on the choice and application of households’ risk management strategies. External factors refer to the policy factors and the knowledge capacity enhancing activities in the clam farmers community. Among these activities, those of “groups for experience sharing” were found to have significantly greater impact than the training courses and activities of farmer’s union. Besides, the government had played a role in directing farmers in clam farming practices, but not much in risk management. Given that the tactics addressed the capital issues, land uses, and clam farming techniques had positively contributed to the result of household risk management strategies whilst experience gaining and sharing activities strongly impacted the application of these tactics. The intervention and policies of government in all levels to the farmers should therefore focus more on these issues. It is vital that the government’s support policies, extension programs, training courses and farmer’s union activities be practically oriented and suit farmers’ desires. Furthermore, the addition of policies/interventions in market issues (for both input and output) should be taken into account because those risks were considered as meso level, which farmers cannot solve by themselves and thus definitely need the support from the government, from local to the state level. To support farmers in managing risks, several government interventions are needed: (1) improving the support system to household in clam farming such as increasing farm size, promoting linkages to market and training technic; (2) increasing investment in the treatment of the water management issue and protecting the ecosystem; and (3) promoting participatory policy formulation and its enforcement.Avec plus de 3 260 kilomètres de lignes côtières et 112 estuaires, 226 000 km2 d'eaux intérieures et d'eaux territoriales, une zone économique exclusive de plus d’un million de km2, et plus de 4 000 îles formant 12 baies et lagunes d'une superficie totale de 1160 km2, le Vietnam présente un potentiel élevé pour le développement de l'aquaculture. La production de produits de la mer du Vietnam a connu une croissance régulière ces dernières années (de 2000 à 2016) avec une augmentation moyenne de 9% par an. Malgré ses avantages et ses tendances positives en matière de développement, l'aquaculture vietnamienne a été confrontée à plusieurs problèmes, notamment le phénomène d'information asymétrique et une forte demande de produits de qualité. La cause principale de ces problèmes est le risque, encouru de la production au marché. Cette étude a exploré les principaux risques auxquels est confronté le secteur de l'élevage des palourdes côtières dans la province de Thaibinh, située dans le nord du Vietnam. Les risques peuvent être classés en deux types en fonction de la nature de leur cause: ceux d'origine humaine et ceux d’origine naturelle, et en trois types en termes d'impact: le risque de production, le risque de marché et le risque financier. Les causes de ces risques comprennent les phénomènes météorologiques extrêmes, les écoulements d’eau gaspillée, les techniques de production; l’accès au marché ou la capacité financière. Cependant, les risques créés par l'homme sont plus graves et plus difficiles à gérer que les risques naturels. Les risques cités ci-dessus ont de graves conséquences pour l'élevage de palourdes. Pour les trois communes étudiés dans cette étude, moins de la moitié des agriculteurs avaient encore récupéré de la perte, bien que le majorité d’entre eux aient mobilisé des capitaux pour relancer la culture de la palourde. Environ un tiers des agriculteurs ont dû vendre des immobilisations pour rembourser leurs dettes liées à leurs investissements dans les palourdes, et dix ménages ont quitté leur village sous la pression des dettes. Cependant, malgré les risques de production et les difficultés de marché accrues, tous les agriculteurs n'ont pas été sérieusement touchés. En effet, il est surprenant qu'un cinquième des agriculteurs interrogés aient réussi jusqu'à présent tous les cycles de récolte de palourdes, et qu'un autre quart soit resté résilient après les chocs. Différentes stratégies de gestion des risques des ménages appliquées à la culture des palourdes sont donc discutées dans l'analyse comparative et l'analyse discriminante. En général, les tactiques liées à l’augmentation de la taille des exploitations, à l’application de l’innovation technique et à l’accès à des sources de financement avec un taux d’intérêt inférieur nul ou faible ont permis de produire des palourdes dans de meilleures conditions réduisant les pertes d’exploitation. Elles ont également facilité une récupération plus rapide des chocs. Il existe de nombreux facteurs internes et externes influant l’application des stratégies et des tactiques de gestion des risques. Parmi les facteurs internes identifiés, on note que la capacité financière des ménages et l’expérience du chef de ménage ont eu le plus d’impact alors que le niveau d’éducation et le travail du chef de ménage semblaient avoir peu d’influence sur le choix et l’application des stratégies de gestion des risques des ménages. Les facteurs externes se rapportent aux facteurs politiques et aux activités de renforcement des capacités de connaissance dans la communauté des producteurs de palourdes. Parmi ces activités, celles des «groupes de partage d’expériences» se sont révélées avoir un impact beaucoup plus important que les cours de formation et les activités du syndicat des agriculteurs. En outre, le gouvernement a joué un rôle en dirigeant les agriculteurs dans les pratiques d'élevage de palourdes, mais pas beaucoup dans la gestion des risques. Étant donné que les tactiques concernent les problèmes de capital, les techniques d'utilisation des terres et d’élevage des palourdes ont contribué de manière positive au résultat des stratégies de gestion des risques des ménages. Alors que l'expérience acquise et les activités partagées ont fortement influencé l'application de ces tactiques. L'intervention et les politiques du gouvernement à tous les niveaux en faveur des agriculteurs devraient donc se concentrer davantage sur ces questions. Il est essentiel que les politiques d’appui du gouvernement, les programmes de vulgarisation, les cours de formation et les activités syndicales des agriculteurs soient axés sur les besoins pratiques des agriculteurs. En outre, l’ajout de politiques / interventions sur les questions de marché (à la fois pour les intrants et les extrants) devrait être pris en compte car ces risques sont considérés comme de niveau intermédiaire; les agriculteurs ne peuvent y faire face seuls et ont donc besoin du soutien de l'Etat. Pour aider les agriculteurs à gérer les risques, plusieurs interventions gouvernementales sont nécessaires: (1) améliorer le système de soutien aux ménages dans l'élevage de palourdes comme: augmenter la taille des exploitations; promouvoir les liens avec du marché et les formations des techniques, (2) accroître l'investissement dans le traitement de la gestion de l'eau et protéger l'écosystème, et (3) promouvoir la formulation de politiques participatives et leur application

Factors Affecting Firms’ Performance: The Case of Vietnam construction firms

In the context of Vietnam's international economic integration, improving the performance of enterprises is increasingly important because it not only affects businesses but also affects the development prospects of the economy. The purpose of the paper is to consider the impact of factors on the performance of listed construction companies in the period of 2012-2018. By means of an empirical analysis, this study uses Eviews econometric software and table data techniques. This study found the factors that positively impact on performance are asset structure, capital structure and firm size that negatively impact the performance of Vietnam listed construction firms. These findings support business administrators in selecting appropriate business and production plans to increase the operating performance of businesses in the construction industry. Keywords: Profitability, construction firms DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/11-2-15 Publication date: January 31st 202

Can job turnover improve technical efficiency? : a study of state-owned enterprises in Shanghai

This paper studies the relationship between job turnover and technical efficiency of state-owned enterprise (SOEs) in Shanghai\u27s manufacturing sector during the period of 1989-1992. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used to compute measure of technical efficiency for each enterprise. Our findings indicate that, for non-expanding SOEs, the relationship between job turnover (i.e., downsizing) and technical efficiency is a U-shaped one such that efficiency declines at low levels of turnover,but after a certain level, it starts to increase. In addition, we show that small non-expanding SOEs (i.e., with employment size less than 100) start to increase their efficiency at a lower level of turnover than other medium and large SOEs. We also find that for medium and large expanding SOEs, the turnover-efficiency relationship is a positive and linear one