Three new species of Helicopsyche (Trichoptera, Helicopsychidae) from northern Vietnam, with a key to Helicopsyche species of Vietnam

Three new species of Helicopsyche Siebold, 1856 are described from Vietnam: Helicopsyche melina sp. nov., Helicopsyche meander sp. nov., and Helicopsyche lamnata sp. nov. All species were described from Melinh Station for Biodiversity in the Me Linh District of Vinh Phuc Province. The species were collected mainly in Malaise traps situated across a small stream surrounded by lowland forest. Some individuals were also collected on light in traps situated at the stream bank

Infrastructure reporting by New South Wales local government authorities

Infrastructure assets are very important for the functioning of a society or community. In Australia, local government authorities (LGAs) have responsibility for the provision and maintenance of their community public assets such as public buildings, local roads, bridges, footpaths, recreation facilities, parks, water and sewerage assets. As at the end of financial year 2012, LGAs in New South Wales (NSW) are the custodians of approximately $81 billion in net value of infrastructure assets. The Australian accounting profession has encouraged local governments to account for and report on infrastructure using written-down current cost in order to provide stakeholders with relevant information. While the accounting standards have been focusing on asset valuation, the NSW Government has gone further by promulgating reporting requirements anchored in the NSW Local Government Act 1993 and Local Government Amendment (Planning and Reporting) Act 2009. The former requires LGAs to disclose information about asset condition, calculate the projected amount of money to bring the assets to a satisfactory condition and calculate the amount of annual cost to maintain assets at that condition, while the latter requires LGAs to follow the new Integrated Planning and Reporting Framework (IPRF) when planning for and reporting on infrastructure assets. NSW LGAs have recently reported on infrastructure assets in compliance with local government statutes. However, such compliance does not resolve some uncertainties and anomalies in the concept of satisfactory condition, does not affect the poor quality of councils‟ infrastructure reports and does not prescribe a standard format for infrastructure asset disclosure. Accordingly, annual asset reporting continues to be problematic. The purpose of this thesis in its first part is to provide evidence on the quantity and quality of infrastructure asset disclosure under the new IPRF recently introduced by the NSW Government. In the second part, the thesis is aimed at proposing a definition of ‘satisfactory condition’ of infrastructure and examining the different factors influencing the contents of asset reporting. It then evaluates the adequacy and effectiveness of current asset disclosure in serving the information needs of local communities and proposes a list of the most important criteria for infrastructure asset disclosure in councils’ annual reports. Finally, the thesis discusses and presents a proposed model of infrastructure maintenance for NSW local governments

The Epidemiology and Control of Human Influenza in Vietnam

Understanding the epidemiology of human influenza in Viet Nam is important for developing local policies and also for understanding the dynamics of influenza in tropical and subtropical southeast Asia. I have analysed an 18 year time-series of influenza-like-illness (ILI) surveillance data, and assessed the relationship of this time-series with climate variables and with sentinel influenza virus surveillance data. I also conducted a study of influenza A/H1N1 transmission within households. ILI notifications in Viet Nam show a latitudinal gradient, with seasonality in the north but no seasonal pattern observed in low lying areas of central and southern Viet Nam. Seasonality is however observed in the elevated provinces of central Viet Nam, suggesting that the seasonal patterns are driven by climate. Principal component analysis finds that temperature and absolute humidity (AH) are positively correlated and together explain around 59% of total climatic variance, and that there is a strong latitudinal gradient in these variables. Regression tree analysis shows that provinces with strong seasonality of AH have strong ILI seasonality. Although virological surveillance data are limited, increases in ILI notifications are associated with an increase in the proportion of upper respiratory tract swabs that are influenza positive. In a prospective study of H1N1/2009 transmission in a household-based cohort, 11 of 59 household contacts were infected, giving a household secondary infection risk of 18.6% (95%CI 10.7-30.4%), but 5 (45%) did not develop symptoms. Virus genetic sequencing indicated that 10 of the 11 secondary cases (91%) were probably infected within the household rather than from the community. This research provides new insights into the seasonality and climatic determinants of ILI and influenza epidemiology in Viet Nam, and on the transmission of influenza within households. The findings are valuable for national influenza control policies and also add to the current state of knowledge of influenza epidemiology

Determinants of remittances : recent evidence using data on internal migrants in Vietnam

This paper examines the determinants of remittance behavior for Vietnam using data from the 2004 Vietnam Migration Survey on internal migrants. It considers how, among other things, the vulnerability of a migrant's life at the destination, their link to relatives back home, and the time spent at the destination affect remittances. The paper finds that migrants act as risk-averse economic agents and sendremittances back to the household of origin as part of an insurance exercise in the face of economic uncertainty. Remittances are also found to be driven by a migrant's labor market earnings level. The paper highlights the important role of remittances in providing an effective means of risk-coping and mutual support within the family.Population Policies,Access to Finance,Gender and Development,Debt Markets,Remittances