Does the Cost‐Cutting Strategy of Closing Public Schools Provide Financial Benefits? Evidence From Ohio

From 1995 through 2014, 15 percent of school districts nationwide closed at least one school without opening any new school. Although budgetary constraints have been claimed as a major reason to close a public school, no empirical study has examined the financial benefits of school closures. This study finds that Ohio school closures reduce an average district's total operating expenditures by $278–$285 per pupil, and that savings come primarily from cuts in classroom instructional services, including teachers. This study provides empirical evidence on the financial implications of school closings needed for stakeholders involved in a school closing process.     

A Local History of Vietnamese Sinology in Early Twentieth Century Annam—the Case of the Bulletin Du học báo 遊學報

During the first two decades of the twentieth century, Sinology was known in Vietnam as “Hán h?c 漢學” (or occasionally as “Trung h?c 中學”), and due to the country’s long history of Confucian civil service examination, “Hán h?c”/“Trung h?c” was identified with Confucianism and Confucian learning. In order to avoid any grand narrative that overlooks the multifacetedness of reality, writing about the history of Vietnamese Sinology should start with “local narrative,” trying to answer a series of “WH-questions” to form a small piece of the jigsaw puzzle. Following this direction, the present paper focuses on the promotion of Confucian ethics in early twentieth century Vietnam through the case of a bulletin called Du h?c báo 遊學報 published under the sponsorship of the Nguy?n court in the protectorate Annam. In order to modernize their “half colonial, half feudal” kingdom technologically without touching the foundation of their political system, the Nguy?n court employed the bulletin as a forum to promote Confucian values interpreted accordingly to Western philosophy and ethics to keep their young elites away from socialist/communist influence during their overseas study.     

Two Intellectual Paths That Cross the Borders: Nguyen Huy Quy,Phan Van Cac,and Humanities in Vietnam’s Chinese Studies

The intellectual paths of two Vietnamese sinologists, Nguyen Huy Quy and Phan Van Cac, tell a distinctive history of Confucian scholarship in Vietnam. Through their intellectual growth, we hope to show how humanities have survived political upheavals of and between the two countries and returned in the process of national reform. The perseverance of humanist concerns demonstrates the relevance of individual determination in the evolution of Vietnamese scholarship on China, indicating an epistemological agency to transcend politics. Three particular aspects emerge as critical in the evolution of their scholarship: family, travelling, and determination. The mechanisms of historical cycles, strategic silencing, self-learning, and human judgment connect the individual paths to the larger historical context of Vietnamese sinology.     

Identity,rights and surveillance in an era of transforming citizenship

This review essay focuses on the problem of citizenship in three different areas, namely human rights, identity politics and surveillance. Heli Askola’s work focuses on the magnitude of demographic challenges that contemporary migrant-receiving states in the Global North face, and specifically focuses on the broader demographic picture of low birth rates, and increasing diversity and populations ageing; thus, focusing the problem of identity politics in the context of citizenship acquisition in Global North states. Richard Sobel’s book explores the empowerment of American citizenship, specifically through a unique reading of constitutional and political apparatus in the United States. Finally, Pramod Nayar’s work addresses state-based surveillance mechanisms like biometrics, biobanks and the internet within the context of citizenship and how new forms of subjectivity are forged within a culture of surveillance. These three works approach citizenship through a legal category of political membership, but also a process of political subjectivization.     

The Vietnam Women's Movement for the Right to Live: a non-communist opposition movement to the American war in Vietnam

This article examines the political and diplomatic struggles in urban South Vietnam from the perspective of women in the Vietnamese Women’s Movement for the Right to Live (WRL) during the Vietnam War. This movement was a timely response to the American war of aggression, which had destroyed the fabric of South Vietnamese society and drastically diminished women’s position within it by 1970. Under the leadership of Mrs. Ngô Bá Thành, the WRL fought for peace and women’s liberation through political action and shrewd diplomacy. Unlike female guerrilla fighters, the WRL maintained political autonomy and neutrality throughout the conflict. As a result, it was violently repressed by the Saigon government and quickly disbanded after the communist victory in 1975. Nevertheless, studying these politically sophisticated women’s anti-war efforts is crucial to understanding the symbiotic yet destructive relationship between Third World women and American imperialism during the twentieth century. It also helps dismantle essentialist assumptions about Asian women as inherently submissive and politically naïve. The WRL is a sterling example of Vietnamese women’s ingenuity in their dual struggle for national liberation and gender equality.     

GEORGE W. BUSH AND ASIA: IN THE SHADOW OF 11 SEPTEMBER

Traditionally seen as a President consumed by the war on terror, George W. Bush is frequently portrayed as being relatively uninterested in Asia, and unable to outline a vision or a strategy to China, America’s Asian allies and Asian multilateral mechanisms. This article will revisit Bush’s policy on Asia and show a president who guided the United States with a policy that balanced the need to combat global terrorism and locate a focus on Asia. He faced the dilemmas of building cooperative relations with a rising China while trying to foster American alliances and partnerships in Asia, and managing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Utilizing qualitative content analysis as the main research method, the article will demonstrate that the Bush administration had not a lack of focus on Asia and that Bush’s diplomacy to Asia should be recognized as one of the most significant achievements of his presidency.     

A Method to Update Poverty Maps

The small area estimation method proposed by Elbers et al. (Elbers, C., Lanjouw, J. and Lanjouw, P. (2003) Micro-level estimation of poverty and inequality. Econometrica, 71(1), pp. 355–364) combines a household survey and a census to generate a disaggregated map of poverty measures. Since censuses are often conducted every 10 years, construction of poverty maps on a regular basis is not straightforward. This article discusses methods to update poverty maps for years between censuses by combining an old census and new household surveys. These discussed methods are illustrated by producing a poverty map in Vietnam for the years 2004 and 2006 using the 1999 Population and Housing Census and Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys in 2002, 2004 and 2006. The validation of the updating methods is examined by comparing poverty estimates in 2006 obtained from the updating methods with benchmark poverty estimates obtained from the standard ‘small area estimation’ method using data from the 2006 Vietnam Household Living and the 2006 Rural Agriculture and Fishery Census.     

Regulating balance sheet audit: A game theoretical analysis

Summary  The decision situation implicit to balance sheet audit is modelled as a game theoretical model and examined for its behavioural implications. Possible types of decisions are identified as Nash equilibria. The basic game model is characterized by an equilibrium in mixed strategies. Its properties are discussed in detail with respect to alternative scenarios of statutory audit. The regulatory propositions of separation between audit and consulting, on the one hand, and the rotation of auditors, on the other, are analyzed in the context of the game. It turns out that these measures may have contradictory effects on the quality of the balance sheet audit and it depends on the specification of regulatory details and the reaction of the agents whether the one or the other effect dominates in the end. Another proposition to enhance the audit performance is the extension of the liability of statutory auditors. Prerequisites for the success of this measure are that either no professional liability insurance exists or that, if otherwise, deductibles are calculated as a fixed percentage of the loss. The examples refer to German legal rules, however, similar legal rules are valid for most of the developed market economies.     

汉语与越南语缩略语构成方式之比较

缩略语是各种语言中最为普遍的语言现象。缩略语是语言经济原则的一种表现。汉语和越南语中都有着数量较多的缩略语，其在人们的生活各领域中使用得十分普遍。汉、越缩略语的构成方式都很繁多。汉语和越南语之间有着许多相同点。那么，汉、越缩略语的构成方式有何异同？本文将做初步探讨。