MIS‐MATCHED: TAKING A STATE APPROACH TO ENFORCING THE GROWING INTERNATIONAL MATCHMAKING INDUSTRY

Each year, hundreds of U.S. men and foreign women find their future spouses through international matchmaking agencies. Foreign women are attracted to the opportunity for a life in America and men are offered money‐back guarantees to find the perfect wife. An alarming number of these unions however, have resulted in the abuse, exploitation and even death of foreign women at the hands of their U.S. citizen husbands. While the federal International Marriage Broker Regulation Act requires disclosure of a male client's criminal background history prior to communicating with a potential foreign bride, the Act does not impose any requirements for disclosure of information about the international marriage brokers themselves. Thus the peddlers behind the rapidly growing industry are largely unaccounted for, with no one really knowing who they are or where they are operating. This Note proposes that states fill the enforcement gap by adopting a statute requiring international marriage brokers to register and become certified to do business with state residents. This legislation will result in collecting much needed data on international marriage brokers, create more transparency in the international matchmaking industry and prevent potential violence and abuse of foreign women.     

Human herpesvirus-6 and sudden death in infancy: report of a case and review of the literature

Investigation of sudden death in infancy is a vital function of the medical examiner's office. Surveillance of these cases may lead to recognition of new diseases or new manifestations of previously described diseases. Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) is a relatively newly described virus that has been recognized as a cause of acute febrile illness in early childhood. While most cases are apparently self-limited, seven fatal cases have been reported. We present a case of a seven-month-old Latin American male with recent otitis media and vomiting who was found dead in bed. Autopsy revealed interstitial pneumonitis with an atypical polymorphous lymphocytic infiltrate in the liver, kidney, heart, spleen, lymph nodes, and bone marrow, associated with erythrophagocytosis. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue was positive for HHV-6 and negative for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV). HHV-6 was also detected in the atypical lymphoid infiltrate by in-situ hybridization.     

Local Financial Development and Household Welfare in Vietnam: Evidence from a Panel Survey

We examine the impact of local financial development on household welfare in Vietnam. We employ household-level panel data for the periods 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2013 covering three provinces and measure local financial development at the district, sub-district and village levels. To account for potential endogeneity that could emanate from the fact that local economic development could spur local financial development, we employ a recently suggested method of identification through heteroscedasticity. Our results show that local financial development has a significantly positive effect on household annual income, consumption and consumption smoothing.     

Oral fluid drug tests: Effects of adulterants and foodstuffs

An on-site oral fluid drug screen, Oratect^®, was used to investigate the effects of adulterants and foodstuffs on oral fluid test results. Common foods, beverages, food ingredients, cosmetics and hygienic products were demonstrated not to cause false positive results when tested 30 min after their consumption. Evaluations of two commercial oral fluid adulterants, “Clear Choice^® Fizzy Flush™” and “Test’in™ Spit n Kleen Mouthwash” suggest their mechanism of action is the clearing of residual drugs of abuse compounds through rinsing of the oral cavity. They do not directly destroy the drug compounds or change the pH of the oral fluid. It is also suggested that a common mouthwash would perform similar action.     

南宁-河内-海防经济走廊发展潜力的几个特点

2003年7月1日,<中国与东盟全面经济合作框架协议>开始生效,协议中关于开展互惠合作的领域如下:贸易、投资、农业、通讯与传媒技术、合作发展湄公河流域.在2010年完成的东盟-中国自由贸易区,越南和中国位于中心位置,由此可见两国间的经济合作极具潜力.     

An Inquiry into the Development Process of Village Industries: The Case of a Knitwear Cluster in Northern Vietnam

While village industries are known to have high potential to grow, their growth process has seldom been analysed. This study explores the development process of a rapidly growing village-based garment cluster in northern Vietnam. We found that both the human capital and social capital (measured by the kinship ties with overseas Vietnamese traders) of the proprietors facilitated their innovative entry into new export markets. Furthermore, general human capital acquired by schooling and specific human capital acquired by management experience are found to have contributed to the adoption of a vertically integrated production system, which, in turn, contributed to enhanced enterprise performance.     

When Faced with Income and Asset Shocks,Do Poor Rural Households in Vietnam Smooth Food Consumption or Assets?

Vietnamese rural households are exposed to severe covariate and idiosyncratic shocks. However, these households are remarkably resilient and have steadily increased real income and consumption over the survey period 2006 to 2012. To explain household strategies to cope with shocks we test three theoretical models: the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH), Complete Market Hypothesis (CMH), and Asset Smoothing Theory (AST). There is support for AST as households smooth productive assets rather than consumption; and for CMH as households smooth consumption against idiosyncratic, but not covariate shocks. There is no support for PIH.