Who consumes illegal wildlife? : an analysis of bear bile usage in Vietnam

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on April 6, 2011).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Mark Cowell.M.A. University of Missouri--Columbia 2010.Vietnam is home to two species of bears: Asiatic Black bear (Ursus thibetanus) and Malayan sun bear (Helarctos malayanus). Both of these species are under serious threats, mainly from illegal hunting and trade. Bears are hunted from the wild and sold to farms to support the growing bear bile industry in Vietnam. There are currently about 4,000 captive bears in Vietnam, most of which originate from the wild; these bears are often kept in small iron cages and milked for bile on a regular basis. For this study, more than 3,000 of people from three major cities in Vietnam - Hanoi (north), Da Nang (central) and Ho Chi Minh (south) were surveyed to analyze the demographics and motiviations of bear bile consumers. Results indicate that 22% of surveyed participants have used bear bile in the past. Hanoi (35%) has a much higher percentage of people using bear bile than both Da Nang (14%) and Ho Chi Minh City (16%). Both men and women consume bear bile, but the percentage of men (29%) using bear bile is much higher than women (17%). Most bear bile consumers (73%) use bear bile to cure specific health problems while only a small percentage (14%) of them use bear bile for entertainment purposes. Women mostly use bear bile to cure specific ailments (88%) while men use bear bile for many different purposes, including entertainment. Survey results indicate that bear bile consumption tends to rise as age increases, with purposes for usage also varying among age groups. During this survey, participants ranked medical alternatives to bear bile as the most effective method to reduce bear bile consumption and phase out bear farming operations in Vietnam.Includes bibliographical reference

Effect of Rare Earth on M7C3 Eutectic Carbide in 13% Chromium Alloy Cast Iron

The crystallization process of hypoeutectic white cast iron consists of the first secreted austenite branch after the reaction of the austenite -carbide crystal is formed, and the phase crystal fills in the middle of the austenite branches. If the austenite branches are small and smooth, the crystals carbide are fine. The cast iron with 13% chromium which has 3 – 3.2% carbon, have the carbide crystalline as M7C3. The elements in rare earth have a strong affinity for oxygen and sulfur to produce rare earth oxides. These rare earth oxides can create heterogeneous germ center for austenite phases and smooth down these phases. The effect of rare earth on the M7C3 and crystals of 13% chrome white iron has been elucidated. Along with the increase of rare earth content, the microstructure of M7C3 with fine finely graded, more uniformly distributed, dispersed throughout the sample surface. When the carbide is fine and dispersion, will contribute to improving the properties of cast iron especially the impact strength as well as the abrasion resistance of the alloy. The research results show that in the presence of rare earth, rare earth elements created with oxygen and form La2O3 and Ce2O3 as the nucleation for the solidification process and create the small fineness of phases. The orientation of the crystal structure of these oxides is similar to the crystal structure orientation of Fe-γ phase. Finding and proving the oxides of rare earth has crystal structure with phase γ which will be small smooth exogenous minds that the microstructure has a smooth, small size

IDENTIFICATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF ACTINOMYCETES STRAINS ISOLATED FROM SAMPLES IN THE COASTAL AREA OF THANH HOA – QUANG BINH – QUANG TRI

In this study, we isolated 46 strains of actinomycetes from 40 samples including: sediments, sponges, soft corals, echinoderms and starfish collected from three sea areas of Vietnam: Thanh Hoa – Quang Binh – Quang Tri. The strains were fermented in A+ medium and fermentation broths were extracted 5 times with ethyl acetate then the extracts were evaporated under reduced  pressure to yield crude extracts. Quantitative assay was used to determine MIC (Minimum inhibitory concentration) of extract against 7 reference strains. From the results of screening, we chose 5 strains of actinomycetes that have the highest biological activity (Code: G212, G222, G233, G227 and G241). In particular,  strains G222, G233, G227 and G241 were resistant 6/7 strains of microorganisms test, with values  MICs from 64µg/ml to 256µg/ml; Moreover, All of the five strains were highly resistant to yeast Candida albicans ATCC10231. These strains were then subjected to morphological and phylogenetic investigations based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. The results showed that strains G212, G222 and G227 belonged to Genus Streptomyces; strains G233 and G241 were identified as Genus Micromonospora

Nonlinear analysis for proposing limit state criteria of reinforced concrete road bridge superstructures

In the research of long-time operating road bridge superstructures, it should note that when the internal forces in the beam elements reach specific values, the stiffness of the cross-section of these elements should decrease. Besides that, if there are damaged places in the beam-element of the road bridge superstructures, the element could not work normally, and the redistribution of internal forces between elements in the whole system would happen. This phenomenon was not taken into account in the initial design calculation. In practice, it shows that many road bridges are subjected to greater loads than the calculated loads in the design process, but they still normally operate. This article proposes the other limit state criteria in evaluating the load capacity reserve of road-bridge superstructures using nonlinear analysis based on nonlinear deformational models of modern construction codes. The proposed calculation procedure is established to explain the load capacity reserve of long-time operating road bridge superstructures in the case of the lack of experimental evaluation. From the obtained results, the suitable limit state criteria for road bridge superstructures are suggested, and the conclusions about the accuracy of the proposed approach of nonlinear structural analysis are recommended

The Mediating Effects of Switching Costs on the Relationship between Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty: A Study in Retail Banking Industry in Vietnam

This paper develops and empirically tests the mediating role of switching costs in service quality - loyalty and satisfaction-loyalty relationships. Especially, different types of switching costs are tested separately providing more insights into their roles. A research model about the interrelationships between service quality, customer satisfaction, switching costs and customer loyalty is developed. Based on this model, a survey is conducted with retail banking customers, with and 261valid respondents. The hypotheses are then proposed and tested using Structural equation modeling technique (SEM). The analysis reveals that: positive switching cost is a significant mediator for both service quality-loyalty and satisfaction-loyalty relationships, while negative switching cost only mediates the service quality-loyalty relationship. These findings suggest that building and managing switching costs are necessary following-up steps after customer satisfaction for achieving long-term customer loyalty

The mediating effects of switching costs on the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty: A study in retail banking industry in Vietnam

This paper develops and empirically tests the mediating role of switching costs in service quality - loyalty and satisfaction-loyalty relationships. Specially, different types of switching costs are tested separately providing more insights about their roles. This approach extended the insights on mediating effects of switching costs by differentiate the roles of positive switching costs and negative switching costs in the model. A research model about the interrelationships between service quality, customer satisfaction, switching costs and customer loyalty is developed. Based on this model, a survey is conducted with retail banking customers, with and 261 valid respondents. The hypotheses are then proposed and tested using Structural equation modeling technique (SEM). The analysis reveals that: positive switching cost is a significant mediator for both service quality-loyalty and satisfaction-loyalty relationships, while negative switching cost only mediates the service quality-loyalty relationship. These findings suggest that building and managing switching costs are necessary following-up steps after customer satisfaction for achieving long-term customer loyalty. However, using the right types of switching costs is necessary to significantly boost the loyalty from customers. © ExcelingTech Pub, UK

Isolation, screening antimicrobial activity and identification of fungi from marine sediments of the area Thanh Lan, Co To, Vietnam

Marine environment is rich in natural product resources, including marine microorganisms, especially fungi which are not only seen as a potential source of highly applicable bioactive substances but also can provide for science new chemical structures. The objective of this study is to isolate and screen fungal strains with antibacterial activity from the marine environment. Twenty five strains of fungi were isolated from marine sediments of Thanh Lan, Co To island and assessed on antibiotic activity against 7 tested microbial strains, including three Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli ATCC25922, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC27853, Salmonella enterica ATCC13076), three Gram-positive bacteria (Enterococcus faecalis ATCC29212, Stapphylococus aureus ATCC25923, Bacillus cereus ATCC 13245), and the yeast Candida albicans ATCC10231. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against the tested microorganisms was determined for the crude extracts obtained from the culture broths after ethyl acetate extraction and vacuum rotary evaporation. Three strains with the highest antimicrobial activity M26, M30 and M45 were capable of inhibiting 4 - 5 of the 7 tested microorganisms with MIC values from 64 to 256 μg/ml, depending on each tested strain. Morphological and phylogenetic investigations based on 18S rRNA gene sequences of the three selected strains showed that strains M26 and M30 belonged to the genus Penicillium, whereas strain M45 belonged to the genus Neurospora. The sequences of 18S rRNA gene of three strains M26, M30 and M45 were registered on GenBank database with accession numbers: MH673730, MH673731, MH673732, respectively. Research results showed that marine environment has a great potential in isolation of fungal strains for the search for antibacterial substances as well as other biologically active compounds