Foreign direct investment in Vietnam: An overview and analysis the determinants of spatial distribution across provinces

Vietnam has been quite sucessful in attracting FDI inflows since the inception of economic reform in 1986. The inflow of FDI has contributed significantly to the economic development of Vietnam. Still, the determinants of FDI inflow and its impacts on the economy of Vietnam are under-researched. In this paper we provide an overview of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam and attempt to review of the current status of economic research on the determinants of FDI and its impacts on the economy of Vietnam. Our regression analysis of the determinants of FDI spatial distribution across provinces points to the importance of market, labour and infrastructure in attracting FDI. Government policy as measured by the Provincial Competiveness Index (PCI), however, does not seem to be a significant factor at the provincial level. Foreign investors from differenct source countries seem to behave differently in chosing the location of investment.Foreign Direct Investment; Vietnam; multinationals; spatial distribution;

Determinants of Academic Attainment in the US: a Quantile regression analysis of test scores

We investigate the determinants of high school students’ academic attainment in maths, reading and science; focusing particularly on possible effects that ethnicity and family background may have on attainment. Using data from the NELS2000 and employing quantile regression techniques, we find two important results. First, the gaps in maths, reading and science test scores among ethnic groups vary across the conditional quantiles of the measured test scores. Specifically, Blacks and Hispanics tend to fare worse in their attainment at higher quantiles, particularly in science. Secondly, the effects of family background factors such as parental education and father’s occupation also vary across quantiles of the test score distribution. The implication of these findings is that the commonly made broad distinction on whether one is from a privileged/disadvantaged ethnic and/or family background may not tell the whole story that the academic attainment discourse has to note. Interventions aimed at closing the gap in attainment between Whites and minorities may need to target higher levels of the test score distribution.Educational attainment; Quantile regression;

Innovation and Export of Vietnam’s SME Sector

Innovation has long been considered an important factor for creating and maintaining the competitiveness of nations and firms. The relationship between innovation and exporting has been investigated for many countries. However, there is a paucity of research in Vietnam with respect to this issue. In this paper we examine whether innovation performed by Vietnam’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) enhances their exporting likelihood. Using the recently released Vietnam Small and Medium Enterprise Survey 2005, we find that innovation as measured directly by ‘new products’, ‘new production process’ and ‘improvement of existing products’ are important determinants of exports by Vietnamese SMEs.Vietnam; Export; Innovation; Small and Medium Enterprise

Understanding the Socialist-Market Economy in Vietnam

The economic reform started in 1986 has transformed Vietnam from one of the world’s poorest countries 35 years ago to a lower middle-income country (MIC) in 2010. Poverty rates dropped from 70% in 1986 to below 2% in 2021. The transition from a central planning system to a socialist market economy is the fundamental underlying factor of Vietnam's success. Using the historical institutional framework that Lee (2018) [1] developed, this study aims to explore the country’s transition from a central planning system to a socialist market economy over the past three decades. The findings demonstrate that the country’s transition to a socialist market economy has been taking a gradualism and dualism path like China. In addition, the study also illustrates how the economic reform and globalization processes pushed the institutional transformation in Vietnam to meet the demands of multiple economic sectors and ownerships as well as accommodate international commitments that the country entered. Finally, Vietnam has been cautious in its political reform over the past few decades. Yet, this is inevitable as a result of the country’s socio-economic development process as well as the global and regional rapid changing context. The implications for Vietnam include: (i) Vietnam needs to transform its growth model toward a knowledge-based, higher-added-value, and more environmentally-friendly pattern; (ii) while there is significant progress in institutional transformation, bottlenecks and challenges remain. This should be addressed effectively to unlock the country’s potential; (iii) political system reform is inevitable as conditions are mature. Domestic demands and international requirements are putting increasing pressure on the changes. However, this process will likely move forward and take place within the political system rather than by civil society or outsiders. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2022-06-05-03 Full Text: PD

A Study on Whole Blood Cryopreservation for Immunophenotyping by Flow Cytometry and Its Application on COVID-19 Research

Immunophenotyping by flow cytometry (FC) is an established practice to identify immune cells and their cellular changes at the single-cell level. Since preserving the structural integrity of cellular epitopes is vital for immunophenotyping, samples should be processed shortly after being collected. However, the requirements of complex facilities and trained personnel for flow cytometry make it challenging to handle samples immediately. Fixation and cryopreservation extend sample shelf life and allow analysing longitudinal samples simultaneously while minimizing technical variation. Nevertheless, usage of whole blood cryopreservation in flow cytometry is limited due to challenges in preserving epitope structures during fixation and detecting dim antigens. This thesis investigates the performances of four commercial whole blood cryopreserving kits; 1) Cytodelics, 2) Stable-Lyse V2 and Stable-Store V2 (SLSS-V2), 3) Proteomic stabiliser (PROT-1), and 4) Transfix. Peripheral blood samples were processed with these stabilising buffers immediately after the collection and cryopreserved until further analysis by flow cytometry. Here, we measured the stability of major immune lineages, T cell subpopulations, and activated neutrophil profiles in samples treated with these commercial whole blood stabilisers. Our flow cytometry data showed that PROT-1, Transfix and Cytodelics maintained the distribution of major leukocyte subsets – granulocytes, T cells, natural killer cells and B cells, comparable to unpreserved samples despite the attenuation of fluorescence intensities. Moreover, these three stabilisers also preserved phenotypes of activated neutrophils upon stimulation with N-Formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine and Lipopolysaccharides. The upregulation of adhesion molecules (CD11b), Fc receptors (CD16) and granule proteins (CD66b) as well as the shedding of surface L-selectin (CD62L) on activated neutrophils was conserved most efficiently in PROT-1, followed by Cytodelics. On the other hand, none of the stabilisers provided a reliable detection of CCR7 for accurate quantification of T cell subpopulations. COVID-19 is caused by a highly transmissible and pathogenic coronavirus, so-called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2). To test the potential of whole blood cryopreservation kits for flow cytometry in COVID-19 research, we studied the detectability of major leukocyte lineages and granulocyte subsets in longitudinal patient samples processed with Cytodelics. High dimensional analysis with Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) and Self-Organising Maps (FlowSOM) clustering revealed remarkable stability of CD3, CD15, and CD14 expression in samples stored with Cytodelics. It allowed the detection of lymphopenia and emergency granulopoiesis often found during the acute phase of severe SARS-COV-2 infection. Nonetheless, we could not determine signatures of granulocyte subsets, notably suppressive neutrophils, during the acute and convalescent phases of COVID-19. Variable detection of lowly expressed markers and diminished fluorescence intensities in Cytodelics - preserved samples might have hindered the analysis. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that PROT-1, Transfix, and Cytodelics enabled reliable detection of highly expressed leukocyte markers, whereas SLSS-V2 preservation resulted in the most inaccurate identification of studied markers. Notably, our results show that Cytodelics can be applied in COVID-19 studies to immunophenotype major immune lineages by flow cytometry. Nevertheless, more optimisation is needed for less abundant or fixation-sensitive epitopes to enhance the efficacy of whole blood cryopreservation for flow cytometry

Applying Active Teaching Methods in Teaching for Students of Vietnamese studies in the Department of Linguistics and Literature of Ho Chi Minh City University of Education

The Vietnamese studies major at the Department of Linguistics and Literature, Ho Chi Minh City University of Educationis a Scientology. Thisologyprovides basic, systematic, modern, and practical knowledge about Vietnamese studies…. especially about Vietnam tourism. The training of Vietnamese studies always strives to achieve positive effects to meet the needs of learners and the demand for human resources in society. To achieve these, lecturers have applied active teaching methods in teaching. Visualization, project teaching, and experiential teaching... are typical active teaching methods applied in teaching students of Vietnamese studies at the Department of Linguistics and Literature, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education now. The application of these methods received positive feedback from both lecturers and students. Lecturers are always encouraged to apply active teaching methods in teaching to both improve training quality and increase students\u27 interest and capacit

電子地方政府の発展-ベトナムの地方政府を事例に-

早大学位記番号:新7438早稲田大

The Impact of the Economic Stimulus on Domestic, Private Enterprises

In the year 2008 and the first half of 2009, the world witnessed the unfolding and heavy repercussions of the global financial crisis which affected Vietnam, among others, through the reduction of investments inflow, lower global commodity prices and trade. The government of Vietnam has acted quickly with its stimulus package, including a 4% interest rate subsidy for enterprises with the objective of preventing the economy from falling further. While there are some anecdotal evidences about the effectiveness of the stimulus package, there is no systematic evidence of the impact of the stimulus package. This paper makes use of the PCI 2008 enterprise survey data, a unique dataset which is only recently made by available to investigate the impact of the 4% interest rate subsidy component of the stimulus package. We find strong statistical evidence that the 4% interest rate subsidy has positive and important impacts on the enterprises, easing the severe effects of the global crisis.Freeware; Global financial crisis, fiscal stimulus, interest rate subsidy, Vietnam.