The dissertation chooses Vietnam as a typical case to address the gap in microfinance studies. Instead of focusing on the beneficiaries of the microfinance system, as many studies have been done, the subjects of this study are microfinance institutions (MFIs). The objective is to suggest a balanced sustainability approach for MFIs in Vietnam that refers to governance practices, legal environmental, and social and financial objectives as equally important. Particularly, it identifies the constraints and the potential, and suggests workable approaches to support Vietnam microfinance providers in extending and developing services throughout the country in a financially sustainable manner. / 博士(現代アジア研究) / Doctor of Philosophy in Contemporary Asian Studies / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

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Vietnam currently faces a social skills deficit among college graduates. This lack of sufficient social skills significantly affects Vietnam's economy where it is one of the main factors that drives higher unemployment in Vietnam. Research has shown that although social skills have been increasingly perceived by employers as one of the most important factors for graduate employability and career success, the absence of social skills training in colleges and universities have caused graduates to be ill-prepared for the workplace, which lead to dissatisfactions among employers and complications when seeking for potential hires in Vietnam. Therefore, this study aims to examine and compare perceptions of Vietnamese college graduates and employers on graduates' social skill performance. Given the objectives of this study, an online survey was distributed to potential participants across Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Analysis of the responses not only demonstrated a disconnect of perceptions between employers and newly hired graduates (NHGs) on how these two groups rated graduates' performance of interpersonal skills but also revealed a mismatch in the perceptions of the comparing groups on how they perceive the importance of social skills in graduate employment. As a result, it is recommended that Vietnam need to promote and support educators to incorporate more social skills training into their curricular so that students can be able to engage and develop those essential social skills during their time in college.

What makes real life contractual arrangements? How does the law influence real life contractual arrangements? These are everyday questions for businesspeople and commercial lawyers. The traditional ‘imperative’ view of law assumes that business people contract ‘in the shadow of the law’ and contractual arrangements conform to what the law says. But empirical studies on contract practice suggest that contract law may, in fact, play a very insignificant role in real life contractual arrangements. This thesis provides a sociological view of the role of contract law in real life contractual arrangements in the context of the Vietnamese market. Specifically, this thesis applies an institutional law & economics approach to investigate how social structures of the market influence contractual arrangements to marginalize contract law in the Vietnamese market. Drawing on two surveys of contract behaviour in the Vietnamese market, this thesis finds that real life contractual arrangements respond to the institutional structure of the market as a whole, rather than only ‘the shadow of the law’. Institutional changes in the Vietnamese market suggest that there exists a merchant law system, constituted of traditional moral norms and social structures in the market. This merchant law system continues to order contractual arrangements in the market, despite the introduction of a transplanted contract law system. Disagreeing with the imperative approach, this thesis claims that contract law reform should conform to the institutional structure of the market to reduce transaction costs of contracting and to provide an effective framework for real life contractual arrangements.

English Studies / (M.A. (English))

The freshwater crab fauna of Vietnam has a high diversity and endemism, 49 species have been recorded and 42 of them are only known from this country. In addition, many species are undescribed or undiscovered while at least 10% of known species are facing extinction. Water pollution, urban, industrial and agricultural development, habitat loss and fragmentation, deforestation and overexploitation are the main threats to this fauna. The first conservation recommendation is keeping rain forest tracts large enough to maintain habitat and water quality for long-term survival of these crabs. More research on taxonomy, distribution, population dynamics, main pressures, conservation status are needed in order to assess conservation status and create efficient conservation actions for freshwater crabs in Vietnam. / Khu hệ cua nước ngọt ở Việt Nam có mức độ đa dạng và đặc hữu cao với 49 loài đã được ghi nhận, trong đó có tới 42 loài chỉ được biết đến ở Việt Nam. Ngoài ra, nhiều loài cua nước ngọt còn chưa được mô tả hay chưa được khám phá, trong khi có tới 10% trong tổng số loài đã biết đang phải đối mặt với nguy cơ tuyệt chủng. Ô nhiễm môi trường nước, đô thị hóa, phát triển công nghiệp và nông nghiệp, nơi sống bị phân mảnh và mất, phá rừng cùng với khai thác quá mức là những mối đe dọa chính đối với khu hệ này. Công tác bảo tồn trước hết phải giữ cho diện tích rừng đủ lớn để duy trì chất lượng môi trường sống cho sự tồn tại lâu dài của các loài cua này. Các nghiên cứu về phân loại học, phân bố, động lực quần thể là rất cần thiết để đánh giá tình trạng bảo tồn và đưa ra những hành động bảo tồn hiệu quả cho các loài cua nước ngọt ở Việt Nam.

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This study reports on investigation of ways of improving the breeding programme for growth-related traits in common carp in Vietnam. The base population was synthesized following a single pair mating scheme from six carp stocks: (1) 2nd generation of family selection; (2) Hungarian 6th generation of mass selection; (3) Hungarian scaled carp; (4) Indonesian yellow 6th generation of mass selection; (5) Indonesian yellow carp; and (6) Vietnamese 6th generation of mass selection. The next two selected generations were produced using a partial factorial mating scheme, with each family being split and reared using communal early rearing (CER) or separate early rearing (SER) methods. The second generation (G2) was produced from selected fish from the CER G1 group. The total number of selection, control and reference families was 135 in the G1 and 101 in the G2 respectively. The control and reference (Hungarian P33 line) families were produced by single pair mating (reference families with the G2 only). Seven microsatellite loci were used for parentage assignment in the CER groups: 96.8% of the offspring (1284 individuals) and 96.2% offspring (1341 individuals) were unambiguously assigned to 113 families (selection, control) in the G1 and 99 families (selection, control and reference) in the G2 generations, respectively. Restricted maximum likelihood in the individual model was used to estimate phenotypic and genetic parameters. In CER, the estimated heritability values of common carp were from 0.20 ± 0.04 to 0.29 ± 0.05 for both weight and length at final harvest, indicating substantial additive genetic variation for selection on growth-related traits. The overall obtained maternal and common environmental effects were consistently close to zero. The average of direct response to selection for body weight was 15.0% per generation. In SER, the number of families in the G1 and G2 were 135 (selection and control) and 101 (selection, control and reference), respectively. The heritability estimates were from 0.20 ± 0.07 to 0.31 ± 0.08 at final measurement. Common environmental (full-sib family) effect were all lower at tagging and slightly higher at last measurement, ranging from 0.05 to 0.22. The response in each generation of selection as the difference between the selection and control lines was 8.1% on average for weight at final harvest, lower than under CER. The high genetic correlations of growth-related traits between the third (one year old, mature) and second (7 months old) measurements could allow selection to be based on the earlier assessment, reducing handling stress close to spawning. The benefits of using microsatellite markers to ascertain parentage, achieve greater growth rate (close to farming systems), shorten time to maturity and selection, and the overall relative merits of using CER v’s SER in this genetic improvement programme are discussed.

This thesis examines the role of communist special operations forces during the Vietnam War and the relevancy of the lessons learned from these units. The United States military, specifically Army Special Forces, Rangers, and Navy SEALS, were not the only forces capable of conducting successful special operations during the conflict. The People's Army of Vietnam also had a highly organized, well trained, and well equipped organization capable of carrying out special operations. This organization was the sapper arm, and it was composed of three separate types of units. The Urban Sapper was concerned with intelligence gathering, terrorism, assassination, and special operations in the large urban areas such as Saigon and Hue. The Naval Sapper was responsible for attacking shipping, bridges, and bases located near waterways. The Field Sapper conducted operations against deployed US and South Vietnamese troops, trained other communist troops as sappers, and gave the communist leadership an elite force for lightning raids. The sapper force had certain operational principles, organizational constructs, and functional methods that set it apart from any other communist military element used during the Vietnam War.