Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Advanced Operating Technique for Centralized and Decentralized Reservoirs Based on Flood Forecasting to Increase System Resilience in Urban Watersheds

The frequency of inundation in urban watersheds has increased, and structural measures have been conducted to prevent flood damage. The current non-structural measures for complementing structural measures are mostly independent non-structural measures. Unlike the current non-structural measures, the new operating technique based on flood forecasting is a real-time mixed measure, which means the combination of different non-structural measures. Artificial rainfall events based on the Huff distribution were used to generate preliminary and dangerous thresholds of flood forecasting. The new operation for centralized and decentralized reservoirs was conducted by two thresholds. The new operation showed good performance in terms of flooding and resilience based on historical rainfall events in 2010 and 2011. The flooding volume in the new operation decreased from 6617 to 3368 m3 compared to the current operation in 2010, and the flooding volume in 2011 decreased from 664 to 490 m3. In the 2010 event, the results of resilience were 0.831835 and 0.866566 in current and new operations, respectively. The result of resilience increased from 0.988823 to 0.993029 in the 2011 event. This suggestion can be applied to operating facilities in urban drainage systems and might provide a standard for the design process of urban drainage facilities.
Social Media Versus Traditional Vietnamese Journalism and Social Power Structures

This paper analyzes the core essences of social media in Vietnam in the era of Facebook prominence, from 2013 to the establishment of the Cyber Security Law in June 2018. With the growth of social media, unprecedented opposition forces have emerged on social media and challenged the political structures of the single-party country. This paper juxtaposes social media and journalism in Vietnamese political and cultural contexts. First, it indicates a sharp contrast between social media and journalism in six perspectives: function, content, the concept of freedom, content generators, legal framework, and cost. Second, it discusses the differences between traditional Vietnamese social power structures and social media, focusing on the characteristics of religions in Vietnam, the Power Distance Index, and the theories of high and low-context communication. The paper concludes that the essences of social media undermine the existent structures of journalism and social power by creating a space for public criticism and activism to challenge the government. Many opposition groups have been formed and institutionalized on social media, resulting in pluralism in Vietnamese politics and society. The analysis of Tôi và sứ quán (Embassies and Me) Facebook Page provides examples to clarify the differences between social media, and journalism and social power structures in Vietnam, as well as the institutionalization of the opposition groups on Facebook.
Word-list-based EAP Vocabulary Teaching to Science Students in China

Since EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teaching is being paid greater attention to in China, a trend appears that EAP courses are becoming the mainstream university EFL (English as a Foreign Language) courses. This paper looks into science-specific college students in China in the pedagogical EAP setting. We analyzed two effective and systematic word lists: Academic Word List and Science Word List, and provided a three-step method to utilize word lists in the EAP vocabulary classroom. We also offered suggestions about EAP vocabulary teaching to Chinese teachers in tertiary education and the future work that needs to be done. Background: EAP Teaching in Chinese Higher Education In recent years, a heated debate is going on in China: should EAP (English for Academic Purposes) replace EGP (English for General Purposes) in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching in domestic higher education [1]. It is noted that the English curriculum in Chinese universities should concern students’ needs in real life, rendering transition from the college English classroom to the learning environment abroad. The necessity of promoting EAP courses has been emphasized [2]. The publication of A Framework of Reference for EFL Teaching at Tertiary Level in Shanghai (Trial Implementation) [3] (shortened as Framework in this paper) in 2013 marks the determination of adapting to this imperative trend. In the Framework, it is clearly stated that EAP courses are the mainstream of EFL teaching in Chinese universities, and a number of those in Shanghai are serving as pioneers. Academic Word List One important aspect of learning a foreign language is to have a good command of the vocabulary. EAP teaching is of no exception. A survey about students’ need analysis towards EAP environment has been done in China [4]. 85.1% participants, all undergraduates from four universities in Shanghai, regarded ―lacking vocabulary, especially academic and semi-technical vocabulary‖ as one of the primary difficulties in learning EAP. In dealing with this problem, Academic Word List (AWL) has been proved to be effective and systematic across many countries [5]. AWL was developed by Coxhead [6]. She compiled a 3.5-million-running-word academic corpus including four subcorpora: arts, commerce, law and science, and each subcorpus was divided into 7 subject areas. Three word selection principles were observed: words occur in at least 15 of all 28 subjects, at least 100 times across the four disciplines and at least 10 times in each discipline. 570 word families met the criteria, the number already excluding the 2000 most frequent English words in 2nd International Conference on Humanities and Social Science (HSS 2017) Copyright © 2017, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 83
Canadian Industrial Policy in Comparative Perspective

This thesis utilizes an institutional theory of economic organization and technological innovation called regime theory to explain the origins, operation, and outcomes of industrial policy in Canada. The first part of the thesis elaborates the theory using formal logic, spatial modelling techniques, and game theory. The second part evaluates cross-national quantitative evidence in support of the theory and undertakes three detailed case studies involving shipbuilding, agricultural biotechnology, and green energy manufacturing. Consistent with the varieties of capitalism literature, it is demonstrated that liberal political economies are institutionally-poised toward radical innovation but struggle with late innovation. The introductory chapter defines industrial policy, explains why the study of industrial policy is important, details the argument of the thesis, summarizes the methods used, and lays out how the thesis is organized. The second chapter engages with the literature on collective action and entrepreneurship to advance three components of regime theory: a theory of regime origins, a theory of regime operation, and a theory of regime outcomes. The third chapter introduces the structure of the economy and state of technological development as situational variables, consideration of which yields four archetypical models of industrial policy and ten predictive hypotheses about the causes and consequences of industrial policy coordination. Chapter 3 concludes with a summary of the propositions and implications of the theory. The fourth chapter analyzes three cases studies —aluminum shipbuilding industrial policy in British Columbia; federal-provincial biotechnology policy in support of the canola industry; and Ontario’s green energy industrial strategy— and evaluates the ability of regime theory to explain industrial policy in Canada. The fifth and final chapter summarizes the theory and evidence presented in the thesis and discusses the inferences that can be drawn from the
Hedge disclosures, future prices, and production distortions

In this paper, we identify social benefits to hedge accounting disclosures that have not previously been examined. We show that from the perspective of price efficiency in the futures market the key information that is provided by hedge accounting is information about firms' underlying risk exposures. Without this information, the futures price confounds information regarding firms' hedge-motivated trades with their speculative trades, making the futures price inefficient. Our model shows that an inefficient futures price causes significant externalities by distorting the production choices of an entire industry. In the presence of hedge disclosures, the futures price appropriately informs production decisions in the whole industry. In addition to distortion in production choices, we also investigate the effect of an inefficient futures price on the risk-sharing role of the futures market. We find that lack of appropriate information about hedge disclosures also distorts the risk-sharing role of the futures market, thereby resulting in an increase in risk premium embedded in the futures price. Using numerical calculations, we demonstrate that the magnitude of the distortions in expected industry output can be substantial.
Some obstacles to wage-led growth

I begin by providing a non-technical summary of the Post-Keynesian model of wage-led growth. I then summarise the work of microeconomists and industrial relations researchers on the reasons why real wages have failed to keep pace with labour productivity, leading to a steady decline in the wage share of GDP. These include the decline of trade unions, the erosion of the welfare state and (especially) the increasing ability and willingness of employers to evade and avoid labour market regulation. I conclude that these microeconomic problems need to be solved for a macroeconomic strategy of wage-led growth to be possible.
Parkinson’s Disease: A Systemic Inflammatory Disease Accompanied by Bacterial Inflammagens

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a well-known neurodegenerative disease with a strong association established with systemic inflammation. Recently, the role of the gingipain protease group from Porphyromonas gingivalis was implicated in Alzheimer’s disease and here we present evidence, using a fluorescent antibody to detect gingipain R1 (RgpA), of its presence in a PD population. To further elucidate the action of this gingipain, as well as the action of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from P. gingivalis, low concentrations of recombinant RgpA and LPS were added to purified fluorescent fibrinogen. We also substantiate previous findings regarding PD by emphasizing the presence of systemic inflammation via multiplex cytokine analysis, and demonstrate hypercoagulation using thromboelastography (TEG), confocal and electron microscopy. Biomarker analysis confirmed significantly increased levels of circulating proinflammatory cytokines. In our PD and control blood analysis, our results show increased hypercoagulation, the presence of amyloid formation in plasma, and profound ultrastructural changes to platelets. Our laboratory analysis of purified fibrinogen with added RgpA, and/or LPS, showed preliminary data with regards to the actions of the protease and the bacterial membrane inflammagen on plasma proteins, to better understand the nature of established PD.
Focusing on the Place Model for Optometrists

Background: The Place Model was developed in order to conceptualize the various roles and career pathways of the teaching profession. It can be used to evaluate long-term professional career trajectories and to encourage the student-teacher to visualize their future personal and professional development. Methods: In the present study, the Place Model has been applied to the Optometric profession. The four categories of the place model have been discussed in terms of Optometry and a survey of undergraduate Optometrists highlights the perception of the model amongst pre-qualified professionals. Results: The majority of participants placed qualified optometrists in the Professional area on the Place Model (87%, n = 88) with the remainder placing qualified optometrists in the De-Professional area on the Place Model (13%, n = 13). There was no statistically significant difference between responses from male and female participants (t-test, p = 0.38). There was also no statistically significant difference between responses from participants in year 1, 2 or 3 of their undergraduate program (one-way analysis of variance [ANOVA], p = 0.10). Conclusion: The Place Model may be an opportunity to discuss with Optometry students their future career pathways and to ensure that we maintain a highly skilled and caring profession that provides high quality eyecare for the public.
Learning about student success from students' stories : a narrative study of successful business degree students at a New Zealand university

The purpose of this study was to better understand how students’ prior experiences and contexts contributed to their success in an undergraduate business degree in a New Zealand University. The study used a narrative approach underpinned by hermeneutics. I undertook semi-structured interviews with ten students about their family background and educational history, followed by a two-stage analysis process. Firstly the data were developed into stories and then the data were re-analysed using a Bourdieusian lens. Three different developments by scholars of Bourdieu’s thinking tools, namely the concepts of learning career, habitus tug and interrupted trajectories, were combined to provide the theoretical framework to analyse the data. The findings revealed diverse backgrounds and experiences of the student participants but all had a positive fit with the university environment, and possessed attitudes and behaviours consistent with possessing the habitus of an educated person. While the narratives did not disclose significant parental involvement in the students’ education, they did disclose emotional support by parents, reinforcing the value the parents placed on education. The study also revealed differing journeys in the development of academic confidence, with experiences of success in education fostering academic confidence to varying degrees. The study makes a contribution to our knowledge about student success through extending the concept of educated habitus to higher education as an explanation for success, and using a combination of the concepts of learning career, habitus tug and trajectory interruption as a means to explore how the students developed that educated habitus. The application of those concepts in the New Zealand higher education context, where Bourdieu’s thinking tools have seldom been used, resulted in some nuances to be added to these concepts including that the study showed that cultural and peer attitudes can trigger habitus tug, and that the devastation of failure appeared to be less about being a non-traditional student and more related to fragile levels of academic confidence. The implications for practice in supporting students in the business degree include recognition of the individuality of students’ lives and the role experiences outside university have to play in success, suggesting holistic rather than only academically-focused support for students is desirable, along with encouragement for students to specifically address their concept of success and how to achieve it. A further area for study is analysis of the experiences and context of students who are not successful. Keywords: narrative analysis, hermeneutics, student success, educated habitus, interrupted trajectories, habitus tug
Stéréotomie et vision artificielle pour la construction robotisée de structures maçonnées complexes

Ce travail de these s'inscrit dans le contexte du developpement de la robotique dans la construction. On s’interesse ici a la construction robotisee de structures maconnees complexes en ayant recours a de la vision artificielle. La construction sans cintre etant un enjeu important en ce qui concerne la productivite sur un chantier et la quantite de dechets produits, nous explorons, a cet effet, les possibilites qu'offre la rigidite en flexion inherente aux maconneries topologiquement autobloquantes. La generation de ces dernieres, classique dans le cas plan, est generalisee ici a la conception de structures courbes, a partir de maillages de quadrangles plans et de maniere parametrique, grâce aux logiciels Rhinoceros 3D / Grasshopper. Pour cela, nous proposons un ensemble d'inegalites a respecter afin que la structure obtenue soit effectivement topologiquement autobloquante. Ces inegalites permettent, par ailleurs, d'introduire un resultat nouveau ; a savoir qu'il est possible d'avoir un assemblage de blocs dans lequel chacun des blocs est topologiquement bloque en translation, mais un sous-ensemble — constitue de plusieurs de ces blocs — ne l'est pas. Un prototype de maconnerie a topologie autobloquante est finalement concu. Sa conception repose sur une decoupe des joints d'inclinaison variable qui permet de le construire sans cintre. En parallele, nous abordons des aspects de vision artificielle robuste pour un environnement chantier, environnement complexe dans lequel les capteurs peuvent subir des chocs, etre salis ou deplaces accidentellement. Le probleme est d'estimer la position relative d'un bloc de maconnerie par rapport a un bras robot, a partir de simples cameras 2D ne necessitant pas d'etape de calibration. Notre approche repose sur l'utilisation de reseaux de neurones convolutifs de classification, entraines a partir de centaines de milliers d'images synthetiques de l’ensemble bras robot + bloc, presentant des variations aleatoires en terme de dimensions et positions du bloc, textures, eclairage, etc, et ce afin que le robot puisse apprendre a reperer le bloc sans trop de biais d’environnement. La generation de ces images est realisee grâce a Unreal Engine 4. Cette methode permet la localisation du bloc par rapport au robot avec une precision millimetrique, sans utiliser une seule image reelle pour la phase d'apprentissage ; ce qui constitue un avantage certain puisque l'acquisition de donnees representatives pour l'apprentissage est un processus long et fastidieux. Nous avons egalement construit une base de donnees riche, constituee d’environ 12000 images reelles contenant un robot et un bloc precisement localises, permettant d’evaluer quantitativement notre approche et de la rendre comparable aux approches alternatives. Un demonstrateur reel integrant un bras ABB IRB 120, des blocs parallelepipediques et trois webcams a ete mis en place pour demontrer la faisabilite de la methode
Potato Yield Prediction Using Machine Learning Techniques and Sentinel 2 Data

Traditional potato growth models evidence certain limitations, such as the cost of obtaining the input data required to run the models, the lack of spatial information in some instances, or the actual quality of input data. In order to address these issues, we develop a model to predict potato yield using satellite remote sensing. In an effort to offer a good predictive model that improves the state of the art on potato precision agriculture, we use images from the twin Sentinel 2 satellites (European Space Agency—Copernicus Programme) over three growing seasons, applying different machine learning models. First, we fitted nine machine learning algorithms with various pre-processing scenarios using variables from July, August and September based on the red, red-edge and infra-red bands of the spectrum. Second, we selected the best performing models and evaluated them against independent test data. Finally, we repeated the previous two steps using only variables corresponding to July and August. Our results showed that the feature selection step proved vital during data pre-processing in order to reduce multicollinearity among predictors. The Regression Quantile Lasso model (11.67% Root Mean Square Error, RMSE; R2 = 0.88 and 9.18% Mean Absolute Error, MAE) and Leap Backwards model (10.94% RMSE, R2 = 0.89 and 8.95% MAE) performed better when predictors with a correlation coefficient > 0.5 were removed from the dataset. In contrast, the Support Vector Machine Radial (svmRadial) performed better with no feature selection method (11.7% RMSE, R2 = 0.93 and 8.64% MAE). In addition, we used a random forest model to predict potato yields in Castilla y León (Spain) 1–2 months prior to harvest, and obtained satisfactory results (11.16% RMSE, R2 = 0.89 and 8.71% MAE). These results demonstrate the suitability of our models to predict potato yields in the region studied.
Creating a Bi-Directional Source-to-Source Compiler Using MDE Transformation Techniques: A Proof-of-Concept Using the General-Purpose Programming

In this thesis, we discuss how a bidirectional source-to-source compiler, for the declarative general-purpose languages COBOL and C++, can be implemented using Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) tools and practices. The outcome of our work is primarily an approach for implementing said bidirectional compiler using formal grammars, bidirectional transformation languages, and a developed concept model. This approach also illustrates how a programmer’s intent can be transferred between languages. In order to evaluate the approach, a prototype was realized using Ecore, Xtext, and Medini QVT. In the process, a library for emulation of COBOL data types in C++ was also developed. Finally, we conclude the success of the developed approach and prototype.
Usage of UWB sensors for people collision avoidance at construction sites

A problem with operating excavators and other heavy machinery on construction sites, are the many occurring blind spots. This is a safety issue, and because of the restricted field of view, accidents may occur. Today, there are solutions using cameras to cover blind spots, but these rely on the operator to look on screens. This Master’s thesis intends to evaluate the use of ultra wideband (UWB) technology to cover these blind spots. The methods used for localization are, two way ranging (TWR) and time difference of arrival (TDOA). Two different types of filters, Extended Kalman filter (EKF) and Cubature Kalman filter (CKF), are used and evaluated to estimate a position. In addition to the filters, a non-linear programming solver is also used. To evaluate the system, tests and simulations have been conducted indoors and on a real excavator. The results show that a TWR based system is more precise regarding accuracy and have a larger coverage around the machine. Although, a TDOA system shows good results in bearing, but the range tends to deviate. A TDOA system also scales better than a TWR system, with a larger amount of tags.