Assessing decentralised policy implementation in Vietnam : The case of land recovery and resettlement in the Vung Ang Economic Zone

From 2006 plans were implemented to create a deep-sea water port linked to an Economic Zone in the coastal Province of Ha Tinh, located in north central Vietnam. The multi-purpose Zone entitled ‘Vung Ang’, was to attract foreign investors, while the port would provide a link to nearby Laos and Thailand. The project obviously had large implications for the administrations at various levels of governance from Hanoi to the coastal communes and villages, but even more serious impacts on the people living in the affected areas. A large area of about 23,000 hectares was to be cleared, affecting the people of 9 communes, in some of which all inhabitants had to leave their houses and homesteads, to be relocated to completely new settlements about 10 miles inland. These tightly knit communities were not too happy with the prospect to leave their homes and land, the burial places of their ancestors, and the long term comforts of community support networks. While initial decision making process started at the highest levels of Vietnam Governance, the implementation of port and industrial park construction and the related relocation policy was delegated to Ha Tinh province, which is consistent with current decentralisation policies in Vietnam. Actual implementation was carried out by the affected District and Commune level officials – with support from the Communist Party led Mass Organisations – who were in charge of the planning and implementation of the relocation process. This entailed a complex and sensitive series of steps to inform affected households, prepare relocation areas and allocate compensation and alternative housing. This paper describes the implementation dynamics of relocation by depicting and assessing the roles of all stakeholders involved, including the impacts - for better or for worse – of the relocated households. It brings out the way local authorities dealt with affected people, including efforts linked to the ideal of grass-roots democracy. Key areas of contestation are uncovered, such as inadequate infrastructure and low compensation rates. The paper has a second objective to assess the degree to which decentralisation in Vietnam has been actually implemented, and how this affects policy making processes such as the Vung Ang port/industrial zone project. The paper concludes that the relocation policy was implemented in a fairly efficient and harmonious way – with a very intensive engagement of the entire provincial administrative machinery, but that it is too early to assess the livelihood opportunities of the relocated households

BIOLOGICAL AMMONIA REMOVAL BY SUBMERGED AERATED FILTER FROM HANOI GROUND WATER

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

МОДЕЛЬ МЕДИЦИНСКОЙ ДИАГНОСТИЧЕСКОЙ ЛАБОРАТОРИИ: МУЛЬТИМЕДИЙНЫЙ ПОДХОД К БАЗЕ ДАННЫХ

There are two main tendencies in Medical Informatics. One is the development of core theory in the information technology itself and the other one is the use of technologies in applications for health improvement. In recent years, the deployment of Health Information Technology (HIS) applications and Laboratory Information System (LIS) in some big hospitals have enhanced the quality of administrative management and actively supported the diagnosis and treatment tasks of the physician. In this paper, we will present an architectural model of the Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (MDL). В медицинской информатике существуют две основные тенденции. Одной из них является разработка теории в области информационных технологий, а другой – использование информационных технологий в приложениях для медицины. В последние годы развертывание медицинских информационных систем и лабораторных информационных систем в больницах повысило качество административного управления и улучшило процессы диагностики заболеваний и лечения пациентов. В статье представлена архитектурная модель медицинской диагностической лаборатории и показаны ее приложения

Child stunting is associated with child, maternal, and environmental factors in Vietnam

Child stunting in Vietnam has reduced substantially since the turn of the century but has remained relatively high for several years. We analysed data on children 6–59 months (n = 85,932) from the Vietnam Nutritional Surveillance System, a nationally representative cross‐sectional survey. Multivariable Poisson regression models were used to estimate relative risk (RR) of stunting, stratified by child age and ecological region. Covariates at the child, maternal, household, and environmental levels were included based on available data and the World Health Organization conceptual framework on child stunting. Among children 6–23 months, the strongest associations with child stunting were child age in years (RR: 2.49; 95% CI [2.26, 2.73]), maternal height < 145 cm compared with ≥150 cm (RR: 2.04; 95% CI [1.85, 2.26]), living in the Northeast compared with the Southeast (RR: 2.01; 95% CI [1.69, 2.39]), no maternal education compared with a graduate education (RR: 1.77; 95% CI, [1.44, 2.16]), and birthweight < 2,500 g (RR: 1.75; 95% CI [1.55, 1.98]). For children 24–59 months, the strongest associations with child stunting were no maternal education compared with a graduate education (RR: 2.07; 95% CI [1.79, 2.40]), living in the Northeast compared with the Southeast (RR: 1.94; 95% CI [1.74, 2.16]), and maternal height < 145 cm compared with ≥150 cm (RR: 1.81; 95% CI [1.69, 1.94]). Targeted approaches that address the strongest stunting determinants among vulnerable populations are needed and discussed. Multifaceted approaches outside the health sector are also needed to reduce inequalities in socioeconomic status.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151838/1/mcn12826.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151838/2/mcn12826_am.pd

Échanges conformationnels subits par la xylanase B2 de Streptomyces lividans dans sa forme libre et liée

Les xylanases catalysent l’hydrolyse du xylane, une source de carbone très abondante à fort potentiel commercial. Les efforts continus consacrés à l’amélioration catalytique de ces enzymes ont été limités par le peu de connaissances de leurs propriétés moléculaires. Des études cristallographiques et de simulations de dynamique moléculaire ont suggéré que certaines xylanases GH11 comptent sur un mécanisme d’ouverture-fermeture du site actif pour remplir leur fonction catalytique, via une boucle conservée appelée « pouce ». Cependant, ces résultats ne fournissent pas d’informations dynamiques sur l’échelle de temps de la catalyse, c’est-à-dire de la microseconde à la milliseconde. Dans cette étude, nous avons utilisé une combinaison d’expériences de dispersion de relaxation 15N-CPMG, de mutagenèse dirigée et de titrage RMN pour étudier les mouvements de la xylanase B2 de Streptomyces lividans et son mutant non-fonctionnel (E87A) à l’échelle de temps de la catalyse. Dans la forme libre, les résidus dynamiques sont essentiellement regroupés dans les « doigts » et le sillon catalytique. Un modèle bioinformatique de dynamique moléculaire suggère que le « pouce » et les « doigts » initient un mouvement dans la direction opposée lors de la liaison des ligands, permettant à l'enzyme d’ouvrir et de fermer son site de liaison. Ce mouvement nécessite la contribution de Thr120, un résidu situé à la base du « pouce », qui agit comme une charnière. Ces résultats fournissent une preuve expérimentale qui valide le mécanisme d'ouverture-fermeture précédemment postulé et offrent de nouvelles perspectives sur le mécanisme catalytique des xylanases GH11.</p

Logging intensity drives variability in carbon stocks in lowland forests in Vietnam

Forest degradation in the tropics is generating large carbon (C) emissions. In tropical Asia, logging is the main driver of forest degradation. For effective implementation of REDD+ projects in logged forests in Southeast Asia, the impacts of logging on forest C stocks need to be assessed. Here, we assess C stocks in logged lowland forests in central Vietnam and explore correlations between logging intensity, soil, topography and living aboveground carbon (AGC) stocks. We present an approach to estimate historical logging intensities for the prevalent situation when complete records on logging history are unavailable. Landsat analysis and participatory mapping were used to quantify the density of historical disturbances, used as a proxy of logging intensities in the area. Carbon in AGC, dead wood, belowground carbon (BGC) and soil (SOC) was measured in twenty-four 0.25 ha plots that vary in logging intensity, and data on recent logging, soil properties, elevation and slope were also collected. Heavily logged forests stored only half the amount of AGC of stems ≥10 cm dbh as lightly logged forests, mainly due to a reduction in the number of large (≥60 cm dbh) trees. Carbon in AGC of small trees (5–10 cm dbh), dead wood and BGC comprised only small fractions of total C stocks, while SOC in the topsoil of 0–30 cm depth stored ~50% of total C stocks. Combining logging intensities with soil and topographic data showed that logging intensity was the main factor explaining the variability in AGC. Our research shows large reductions in AGC in medium and heavily logged forests. It highlights the critical importance of conserving big trees to maintain high forest C stocks and accounting for SOC in total C stock estimates

Establishing and validating noninvasive prenatal testing procedure for fetal aneuploidies in Vietnam

Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for fetal aneuploidies has been widely adopted in developed countries. Despite the sharp decrease in the cost of massively parallel sequencing, the technical know-how and skilled personnel are still one of the major limiting factors for applying this technology to NIPT in low-income settings. Here, we present the establishment and validation of our NIPT procedure called triSure for detection of fetal aneuploidies.We established the triSure algorithm based on the difference in proportion of fetal and maternal fragments from the target chromosome to all chromosomes. Our algorithm was validated using a published data set and an in-house data set obtained from high-risk pregnant women in Vietnam who have undergone amniotic testing. Several other aneuploidy calling methods were also applied to the same data set to benchmark triSure performance.The triSure algorithm showed similar accuracy to size-based method when comparing them using published data set. Using our in-house data set from 130 consecutive samples, we showed that triSure correctly identified the most samples (overall sensitivity and specificity of 0.983 and 0.986, respectively) compared to other methods tested including count-based, sized-based, RAPIDR and NIPTeR.We have demonstrated that our triSure NIPT procedure can be applied to pregnant women in low-income settings such as Vietnam, providing low-risk screening option to reduce the need for invasive diagnostic tests

Child stunting is associated with child, maternal, and environmental factors in Vietnam

Child stunting in Vietnam has reduced substantially since the turn of the century but has remained relatively high for several years. We analyzed data on children 6–59 months (n = 85932) from the Vietnam Nutritional Surveillance System, a nationally representative cross‐sectional survey. Multivariable Poisson regression models were used to estimate relative risk of stunting, stratified by child age and ecological region. Covariates at the child, maternal, household, and environmental levels were included based on available data and the WHO conceptual framework on child stunting. Among children 6–23 months, the strongest associations with child stunting were child age in years (RR: 2.49; 95% CI: 2.26, 2.73), maternal height < 145 cm compared to ≥ 150 cm (RR: 2.04; 95% CI: 1.85, 2.26), living in the Northeast compared to the Southeast (RR: 2.01; 95% CI: 1.69, 2.39), no maternal education compared to a graduate education (RR: 1.77; 95% CI: 1.44, 2.16), and birthweight < 2500 g (RR: 1.75; 95% CI: 1.55, 1.98). For children 24–59 months, the strongest associations with child stunting were no maternal education compared to a graduate education (RR: 2.07; 95% CI: 1.79, 2.40), living in the Northeast compared to the Southeast (RR: 1.94; 95% CI: 1.74, 2.16), and maternal height < 145 cm compared to ≥ 150 cm (RR: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.69, 1.94). Targeted approaches that address the strongest stunting determinants among vulnerable populations are needed and discussed. Multifaceted approaches outside the health sector are also needed to reduce inequalities in socioeconomic status