The immense process of economic and social transformation currently underway in China and Vietnam is well known and extensively documented. However, less attention has been devoted to the process of Chinese and Vietnamese legal change which is nonetheless critical for the future politics, society and economy of these two countries. In a unique comparative approach that brings together indigenous and international experts, Asian Socialism and Legal Change analyzes recent developments in the legal sphere in China and Vietnam. This book presents the diversity and dynamism of this process in China and Vietnam-the impact of socialism, constitutionalism and Confucianism on legal development; responses to change among enterprises and educational and legal institutions; conflicts between change led centrally and locally; and international influences on domestic legal institutions. Core socialist ideas continue to shape society, but have been adapted to local contexts and needs, in some areas more radically than in others. This book is the first systematic analysis of legal change in transitional economies.

During the post-communist years that defined the early nineties, Mirela, a young, independent, strong-willed Albanian woman, is studying electronic engineering at the Polytechnic University of Tirana. In the midst of her vibrant social life and rigorous studies, as well as the shifting social and political climate, she falls in love with Teo, a medical student, and embarks on a relationship with him, which is continually waylaid by distance, circumstance, family expectations, social conventions, indecision and, eventually, the spiritual evolution and maturing of Mirela. Through the breaking of her heart by experiencing disappointment and loss, her spirit is expanded, thus launching her to new and distant horizons that she could never have foreseen.

In 1955, Ngo Dinh Diem organized an election to depose chief-of-state Bao Dai, after which he proclaimed himself the first president of the newly created Republic of Vietnam. The United States sanctioned the results of this election, which was widely condemned as fraudulent, and provided substantial economic aid and advice to the RVN. Because of this, Diem is often viewed as a mere puppet of the United States, in service of its Cold War geopolitical strategy. That narrative, Jessica M. Chapman contends in Cauldron of Resistance, grossly oversimplifies the complexity of South Vietnam's domestic politics and, indeed, Diem's own political savvy. Based on extensive work in Vietnamese, French, and American archives, Chapman offers a detailed account of three crucial years, 1953-1956, during which a new Vietnamese political order was established in the south. It is, in large part, a history of Diem's political ascent as he managed to subdue the former Emperor Bao Dai, the armed Hoa Hao and Cao Dai religious organizations, and the Binh Xuyen crime organization. It is also an unparalleled account of these same outcast political powers, forces that would reemerge as destabilizing political and military actors in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Chapman shows Diem to be an engaged leader whose personalist ideology influenced his vision for the new South Vietnamese state, but also shaped the policies that would spell his demise. Washington's support for Diem because of his staunch anticommunism encouraged him to employ oppressive measures to suppress dissent, thereby contributing to the alienation of his constituency, and helped inspire the organized opposition to his government that would emerge by the late 1950s and eventually lead to the Vietnam War.

This volume derives from an unprecedented seminar held at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in November 1990. At the seminar, leading Western diplomatic and military historians and Vietnam scholars met with prominent Vietnamese Communists to reflect on the Vietnam War. The book contains four parts: The Vietnamese Revolution and Political/Military strategy; the war from the American side; the war in the South and Cambodia; and retrospective and postwar issues. In addition to Jane Werner and Luu Doan Huynh, the contributors are Mark Bradley, William Duiker, David Elliott, Christine White, George Vickers, James Harrison, George Herring, Ronald Spector, Paul Joseph, Jeffrey Clarke, Ngo Vinh Long, Benedict Kiernan, Marilyn Young, Keith Taylor, and Tran Van Tra. General Tra was Commander of the People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam from 1963 to 1975. His eye-opening analysis of the Tet Offensive has never before been available in English.

The International Conference on Engineering Research and Applications (ICERA 2018), which took place at Thai Nguyen University of Technology, Thai Nguyen, Vietnam on December 1–2, 2018, provided an international forum to disseminate information on latest theories and practices in engineering research and applications. The conference focused on original research work in areas including Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Mechanics of Materials, Mechatronics and Micro Mechatronics, Automotive Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Information and Communication Technology. By disseminating the latest advances in the field, The Proceedings of ICERA 2018, Advances in Engineering Research and Application, helps academics and professionals alike to reshape their thinking on sustainable development.