Stress and coping among migrant labourers in urban Vietnam : an adaptation cycle and health vulnerabilities

Rural-urban migration continues to grow in many developing countries including Vietnam. The experience of stress and coping associated with this process may vary for people from different circumstances. However, there has been little research on migrants to date. This study adopts a qualitative approach to research on unregistered, male, migrant freelance labourers in urban Vietnam and to explore factors contributing to stress and coping among this population. The study revealed an array of stressors related to migrants' life experiences in urban space, including physical, financial and social factors. Coping was diverse, including problem-focused coping (PFC) and emotion-focused coping (EFC), pro-social and anti-social, active and passive. Less active and anti-social coping appeared common. Together, weak social network and lack of support from formal systems placed coping and adaptation in a cyclic relationship. The results highlight a multi-disciplinary approach to help cope and adapt effectively for these men.

Profiling the offence patterns of disqualified drink drivers in Queensland, Australia.

While unlicensed driving does not play a direct causative role in road crashes, it represents a major problem for road safety. A particular subgroup of concern is those offenders who continue to drive after having their licence disqualified for drink driving. Surveys of disqualified drivers suggest that driving among this group is relatively common. Method This paper reports findings from an analysis of the driving records of over 545,000 Queensland drivers who experienced a licence sanction between January 2003 and December 2008. The sample included drivers who were disqualified by a court (e.g., for drink driving); those who licence had been suspended administratively (e.g., for accumulation of demerit points); and those who were placed on a restricted licence. Results Overall, 95,461 of the drivers in the sample were disqualified from driving for a drink driving offence. During the period, these drivers were issued with a total of 2,644,619 traffic infringements with approximately 12% (n = 8, 095) convicted of a further drink driving offence while disqualified. Other traffic offences detected during this period including unlicensed driving (18%), driving an unregistered vehicle (27%), speeding (21%), dangerous driving (36%), mobile phone use (35%), non-restraint use (32%), and other moving violation (23%). Offending behaviour was more common among men than women. Conclusions While licence disqualification has previously been shown to be a relatively effective sanction for managing the behaviour of drink driving offenders, the results of the current study highlight that it is a far from perfect tool since many offenders continue to commit both drink driving and other traffic offences while disqualified. As such, this study highlights the ongoing need to enhance the detection of disqualified and unlicensed driving in order to deter this behaviour.

Amendments to the Land Title Act 1994 (Qld)

Wholesale amendments to the Land Title Act 1994 (Qld) were recently introduced with the passing of the Natural Resources and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2005 (Qld). The amendments were preceded by an extensive review of issues associated with the operation of the freehold land register and consultation with a number of stakeholders. The three articles that follow address different issues associated with these statutory amendments. The first article provides a brief overview of the amendments. The second article deals with particular amendments designed to combat mortgage fraud. In the third article, the question posed is whether further statutory amendment could better protect unregistered interests.

To have your caveat and claim it, too : steps to take to protect an interest in land or water allocation

Caveats as protection for unregistered interests - lapsing and non-lapsing caveats - caveator - use only in appropriate circumstances

How long is a tweet? Mapping dynamic conversation networks on Twitter using Gawk and Gephi

Twitter is now well established as the world’s second most important social media platform, after Facebook. Its 140-character updates are designed for brief messaging, and its network structures are kept relatively flat and simple: messages from users are either public and visible to all (even to unregistered visitors using the Twitter website), or private and visible only to approved ‘followers’ of the sender; there are no more complex definitions of degrees of connection (family, friends, friends of friends) as they are available in other social networks. Over time, Twitter users have developed simple, but effective mechanisms for working around these limitations: ‘#hashtags’, which enable the manual or automatic collation of all tweets containing the same #hashtag, as well allowing users to subscribe to content feeds that contain only those tweets which feature specific #hashtags; and ‘@replies’, which allow senders to direct public messages even to users whom they do not already follow. This paper documents a methodology for extracting public Twitter activity data around specific #hashtags, and for processing these data in order to analyse and visualize the @reply networks existing between participating users – both overall, as a static network, and over time, to highlight the dynamic structure of @reply conversations. Such visualizations enable us to highlight the shifting roles played by individual participants, as well as the response of the overall #hashtag community to new stimuli – such as the entry of new participants or the availability of new information. Over longer timeframes, it is also possible to identify different phases in the overall discussion, or the formation of distinct clusters of preferentially interacting participants.

Service difficulties - Will UCPR r 117 provide the answer?

In Amci Pty Ltd ACN 124 249 485 v Corcoal Management Pty Ltd [2013] QSC 50 Jackson J considered an application for an order under r117 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld) (UCPR) in relation to informal service of an originating process on a corporation registered in the Ajman Free Zone in the United Arab Emirates. The decision appears to be the first time a Queensland court has examined the scope of r117 of the UCPR, and relevant considerations influencing the exercise of the discretion under the rule, when the defendant is outside Australia.

Risks for HIV infection among male street laborers in urban Vietnam

Risks for HIV infection remain unknown in male street laborers. This research investigates patterns of self-reported risk behaviors among these men in urban Vietnam. In a cross-sectional survey using a social mapping technique, 450 men, mostly low-skilled and unregistered migrant laborers across 13 districts in Hanoi were approached for interviews. The study revealed that male street laborers were at high risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV. One in every 12 men reported homosexual or bisexual behavior. These men on average had three sexual partners within the preceding year, and condom use was inconsistent. Close to 95 % of the men had reported sexual encounters with regular partners. One-third with commercial sex workers (CSW) and 24.2 % with casual partners, but just under one-third had ever used condoms with regular partners and CSWs and very few (17.6 %) with casual partners at their last sexual encounter. 17.11 % used illicit drugs sometimes, with 66.7 % of them frequently sharing injecting equipment with peers. These men had limited HIV knowledge; 51.4 % incorrectly believed that, once you trust your partner, you no longer need to use condoms and 42.4 % believed that you can tell by looking at someone if they have HIV. Access to HIV prevention was also limited; only 19.8 % of men had been tested for HIV during the previous 12 months, almost 10 % of whom neither returned for the result nor knew their HIV status. The study provides interesting directions for future research and suggests ways to effectively design prevention strategies for these men.

Modeling predictors of risky drug use behavior among male street laborers in urban Vietnam

Background The application of theoretical frameworks for modeling predictors of drug risk among male street laborers remains limited. The objective of this study was to test a modified version of the IMB (Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model), which includes psychosocial stress, and compare this modified version with the original IMB model in terms of goodness-of-fit to predict risky drug use behavior among this population. Methods In a cross-sectional study, social mapping technique was conducted to recruit 450 male street laborers from 135 street venues across 13 districts of Hanoi city, Vietnam, for face-to-face interviews. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze data from interviews. Results Overall measures of fit via SEM indicated that the original IMB model provided a better fit to the data than the modified version. Although the former model was able to predict a lesser variance than the latter (55% vs. 62%), it was of better fit. The findings suggest that men who are better informed and motivated for HIV prevention are more likely to report higher behavioral skills, which, in turn, are less likely to be engaged in risky drug use behavior. Conclusions This was the first application of the modified IMB model for drug use in men who were unskilled, unregistered laborers in urban settings. An AIDS prevention program for these men should not only distribute information and enhance motivations for HIV prevention, but consider interventions that could improve self-efficacy for preventing HIV infection. Future public health research and action may also consider broader factors such as structural social capital and social policy to alter the conditions that drive risky drug use among these men.

Locating people in video from semantic descriptions : a new database and approach

The location of previously unseen and unregistered individuals in complex camera networks from semantic descriptions is a time consuming and often inaccurate process carried out by human operators, or security staff on the ground. To promote the development and evaluation of automated semantic description based localisation systems, we present a new, publicly available, unconstrained 110 sequence database, collected from 6 stationary cameras. Each sequence contains detailed semantic information for a single search subject who appears in the clip (gender, age, height, build, hair and skin colour, clothing type, texture and colour), and between 21 and 290 frames for each clip are annotated with the target subject location (over 11,000 frames are annotated in total). A novel approach for localising a person given a semantic query is also proposed and demonstrated on this database. The proposed approach incorporates clothing colour and type (for clothing worn below the waist), as well as height and build to detect people. A method to assess the quality of candidate regions, as well as a symmetry driven approach to aid in modelling clothing on the lower half of the body, is proposed within this approach. An evaluation on the proposed dataset shows that a relative improvement in localisation accuracy of up to 21 is achieved over the baseline technique.

Predictors of recent HIV testing among male street laborers in urban Vietnam

This study assessed the prevalence of and factors associated with HIV testing among male street laborers. In a cross-sectional survey, social mapping was done to recruit and interview 450 men aged 18–59 years in Hanoi. Although many of these men engaged in multiple risk behaviors for HIV, only 19.8 percent had been tested for HIV. A modified theoretical model provided better fit than the conventional Information–Motivation–Behavioral Skills model, as it explained much more variance in HIV testing. This model included three Information–Motivation–Behavioral components and four additional factors, namely, the origin of residence, sexual orientation, the number of sexual partners, and the status of condom use.

Factors associated with depression among male casual laborers in urban Vietnam

This study examined the level, the prevalence of and the factors associated with depression among male casual laborers in Hanoi. Social mapping was done to recruit and interview 450 men aged over 18 years, mostly unskilled and unregistered laborers from 135 street venues across 13 districts of the city using a structured questionnaire. Most were from rural and mountainous provinces and did manual works such as motorbike taxi drivers, porters, construction workers, small traders and others in the current city. The prevalence of self-reported depressive symptoms (25 %) was high. Structural equation modeling showed that marriage, family separation and living with peers or partners were three significant distal risk factors, while illicit drug use and low social connectedness were proximal predictors of depression. Of all factors, social connectedness appeared to be the most important because it plays a mediating role. Drug use was an independent risk factor. This study provides a model to understand the mental health of male casual laborers and to develop culturally appropriate intervention programs for these men

Ernest W. Michel Papers, 1698, 1938-1996 (bulk 1946-1987)

This collection contains the papers of Ernest W. Michel, Holocaust Survivor Journalist and public speaker,including clippings of newspaper articles written by and about Michel, correspondence between Michel and many important Jewish and political figures and autograph files, which Michel collected. Many of these files concern Michel’s Holocaust experiences, speaking engagements, the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, and Michel’s work with the United Jewish Appeal.

Kirkon vai valtion kirjat? : Uskontokuntasidonnaisuuden ongelma Suomen väestökirjanpidossa 1839-1904

The Population Register – run by the Church or the state? The problem posed by the obligation to belong to a religious community in the registration of births and deaths in Finland between 1839 and 1904 The Lutheran Church of Finland is the nation’s largest church; approximately 82 per cent of Finns were members in 2007. The Church ran an official register of its members until 1999, when the state then undertook this task. The registration of births and deaths by the Church has a long history dating back to the 17th century, when Bishop Johannes Gezelius Sr. decreed that all parish members would have to be recorded in parish registers. These registers were used to control how well parish members knew the Christian doctrine and, gradually, also if they were literate. Additionally, the Church attempted to ensure by means of the parish registers that parish members went to Holy Communion annually. Since everyone was a member of the Lutheran Church, the state also took advantage of the parish registers and used them for the purposes of tax collection and conscription. The main research theme of “The Population Register – run by the Church or the state?” goes back to these times. The actual research period covers the years of 1839–1904. At that time Finland was under Russian rule, although autonomous. In the late 19th century the press and different associations in Finland began to engage in public debate, and the country started moving from a submissive society to a civic one. The identity of the Lutheran Church also became more prominent when the Church Act and the General Synod were realised in 1869. A few years earlier, municipal and parish administrations had been separated, but the general registration of births and deaths was left to the Church to see to. In compliance with the constitution of the country, all the inhabitants in principle still had to be Lutheran. In practice, the situation was different. The religious and ideological realms diversified, and the Lutheran concept of religion was no longer acceptable to everyone. The conflict was reflected in the registration of births and deaths, which was linked to the Lutheran Church and its parish registers. Nobody was allowed to leave the Church, there was no civil register, and the Lutheran Church did not consent to record unbaptized children in the parish registers. Therefore such children were left without civil rights. Thus the obligation to belong to a religious community had become a problem in the registration of births and deaths. The Lutheran clergy also appealed to the 1723 privileges, according to which they had been exempted from the drawing up of additional population registers. In 1889 Finland passed the Dissenters Act. By virtue of this act the Baptists and the Methodists left the state Church, but this was not the case with the members of the free churches. The freethinkers had to retain their church membership, as the law did not apply to them. This meant that the unbaptized children of the members of the free churches or those of freethinkers were still not entered in any registers. The children were not able to go to school, work for the state or legally marry. Neither were they able to inherit property, as they did not legally exist. The system of parish registers was created when everyone was required to be a member of the Lutheran Church, but it did not work when liberal attitudes eventually penetrated the sphere of religion, too. The government´s measures to solve the problem were slow and cautious, partly because Finland was part of Russia, partly because there were only about 100 unbaptized children. As the problem group was small and the state´s resources were limited, no general civil register was established. The state accepted the fact that in spite of the problems, the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the congregations of dissenters were the only official establishments to run populations registers in the country, and for social purposes, too. In 1900 the Diet of Finland finally approved a limited civil register, which unbaptized children and unregistered foreigners would be recorded in. Due to political reasons the civil register did not come into existence until 1917, after the actual research period.

Valoa itään? : Kansanlähetys ja Neuvostoliitto 1967-1973

Light to the East? The Finnish Lutheran Mission and the Soviet Union 1967 1973 The Cold War affected the lives of Christian churches, especially in Europe. Besides the official ecumenical relations between east and west, there existed unofficial activity from west to east, such as smuggling Bibles and distributing information about the severe condition of human rights in the USSR. This study examines this kind of unofficial activity originating in Finland. It especially concentrates on the missionary work to the Soviet Union done by the Finnish Lutheran Mission (FLM, Suomen Evankelisluterilainen Kansanlähetys) founded in 1967. The work for Eastern Europe was organised through the Department for the Slavic Missions. FLM was founded within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, but it was not connected to the church on an organisational level. In addition to the strong emphasis on the Lutheran confession, FLM presented evangelical theology. The fundamental work of the Department for the Slavic Missions was to organise the smuggling of Bibles and other Christian literature to the Soviet Union and other countries behind the iron curtain. They also financed several Christian radio programmes produced and aired mainly by the international Trans World Radio. The Department diversified its activity to humanitarian help by distributing material help such as clothes and shoes to the unregistered evangelical and baptist groups, which were called the underground churches . In Finland the Department focused on information services. It published its own magazine, Valoa idässä (Light in the East), 5 to 6 times per year. Through the magazine and by distributing samizdat material received from the unregistered Christian groups, it discussed and reported the violations of human rights in the Soviet Union, especially when the unregistered Christian groups were considered the victims. The resistance against the Soviet Union was not as much political but religious: the staff of the Department were religious and revivalist young people who thought, for instance, that communism was in some way an apocalyptic world power revealed in the Bible. Smuggling Bibles was discussed widely in the Finnish media and even in parliament and the Finnish Security Police (SUPO, Suojelupoliisi) and in the Lutheran Church. From the church s point of view, this kind of missionary work was understandable but bothersome. Through their ecumenical connections, the bishops knew the critical situation of churches behind the iron curtain very well, but wanted to act diplomatically and cautiously to prevent causing harm to ecumenical or political relations. The leftist media and members of parliament especially accused the work of the Department of being illegal and endangering relations between Finland and the Soviet Union. SUPO did not consider the work of the Department as illegal activity or as a threat to Finnish national security.