Whether it is economical to use combined heat and power (CHP) system for the efficient utilization of associated petroleum gas in oil extraction sites in China: A cost-benefit analysis considering environmental benefits

The efficient use of associated petroleum gas with combined heat and power (CHP) systems in oil extraction sites has proven to be technically feasible, but its economic inefficiency continues to deter oil companies from using CHP, given that simple fuel cost reductions do not yield significant positive returns in the face of large investments in purchasing and maintaining CHP. This research constructs a cost-benefit analysis model, which includes the monetized environmental benefits generated by CHP. A pilot experiment operated in a certain oilfield in Shandong province shows that the annual difference between the reduction in fuel costs and the investment in purchase and maintenance of CHP is only about ¥210,000 per device. However, when environmental benefits including health benefit and low-carbon benefit are included in the model, the annual environmental benefits of a single equipment update can be about ¥760,000, and the overall annual net benefits will reach about ¥970,000. It is concluded that the application of CHP in oil extraction sites is economically efficient, taking into account the environmental benefit it can produce. The research results will help oil companies use CHP to make more contributions to carbon and air pollutant emission reduction. However, considering that a large number of CHP systems can form a distributed energy structure, the proposed model still has limitations

Desenvolupament de la segona versió de l'aplicació web per a la gestió d’exercicis de bases de dades del sistema LearnSQL

LearnSQL (Sistema Learning Environment for Automatic Rating Notions of SQL) és un sistema que s’usa en les assignatures de bases de dades de la FIB per donar suport l’aprenentatge als estudiants, el sistema permet per una banda la correcció automàtica dels exercicis que es fan a les assignatures de bases de dades, oferir feedback immediat de la seva solució. Per altra banda permet mantenir un repositori dels exercicis que es poden consultar i re-aprofitar al llarg dels anys. El sistema està format per diversos subsistemes. Un d’ells, és l’anomenada Authoring Tool (AT), és una eina que permet als professors gestionar els exercicis del repositori. Aquesta aplicació la va desenvolupar Marc Fernàndez l’any 2010 [1], posteriorment degut a que l’Authoring Tool tenia limitacions de disponibilitat i distribució, per tant l’Albert Boada va desenvolupar un projecte partint de l’AT, i la va portar cap a la plataforma web, a partir de llavors la va anomenar Authoring Tool Web (ATW) [2]. S’ha desenvolupat una aplicació amb un disseny i implementació que pot ser fàcilment extensible i modificable. Per tant, en aquest projecte es desenvolupa una segona versió que parteix d’una llista de requisits proporcionats pels professors, i aprofitar al màxim la bona feina realitzada de la primera versió, la segona versió de l’ATW segueix utilitzant el mateix disseny, els mateixos patrons, i les mateixes tecnologies com PostgresSQL, Apache Struts2, AngularJS, JSON etc...LearnSQL (System for Automatic Learning Environment Rating Notions of SQL) is a system used in the database subjects in FIB to support student learning, on the one hand the system allows the automatic correction exercises of the subjects database, providing immediate feedback of their solution. On the other hand it provides a repository of exercises that can be consulted and re-take over the years. The system consists of several subsystems. One of them is called Authoring Tool (AT) which is a tool that allows teachers to manage exercises of the repository. This application was developed by Marc Fernàndez in 2010 [1], and later because the Authoring Tool had issue in terms of availability and distribution, so Albert Boada developed a project based on the AT, and migrated it to the web platform , thereafter it’s called the Web Authoring Tool (ATW) [2]. He made an application design and implementation that can be easily extensible and modifiable. Therefore, this project is developing a second version based on a list of requirements provided by teachers, and take the most of the good work done in the first version, the second version of the ATW is still using the same design, the same patterns and the same technologies such as PostgresSQL Apache Struts2, AngularJS, JSON etc ..

Learning Sparse Neural Networks with Identity Layers

The sparsity of Deep Neural Networks is well investigated to maximize the performance and reduce the size of overparameterized networks as possible. Existing methods focus on pruning parameters in the training process by using thresholds and metrics. Meanwhile, feature similarity between different layers has not been discussed sufficiently before, which could be rigorously proved to be highly correlated to the network sparsity in this paper. Inspired by interlayer feature similarity in overparameterized models, we investigate the intrinsic link between network sparsity and interlayer feature similarity. Specifically, we prove that reducing interlayer feature similarity based on Centered Kernel Alignment (CKA) improves the sparsity of the network by using information bottleneck theory. Applying such theory, we propose a plug-and-play CKA-based Sparsity Regularization for sparse network training, dubbed CKA-SR, which utilizes CKA to reduce feature similarity between layers and increase network sparsity. In other words, layers of our sparse network tend to have their own identity compared to each other. Experimentally, we plug the proposed CKA-SR into the training process of sparse network training methods and find that CKA-SR consistently improves the performance of several State-Of-The-Art sparse training methods, especially at extremely high sparsity. Code is included in the supplementary materials

Wizundry: A Cooperative Wizard of Oz Platform for Simulating Future Speech-based Interfaces with Multiple Wizards

Wizard of Oz (WoZ) as a prototyping method has been used to simulate intelligent user interfaces, particularly for speech-based systems. However, as our societies' expectations on artificial intelligence (AI) grows, the question remains whether a single Wizard is sufficient for it to simulate smarter systems and more complex interactions. Optimistic visions of 'what artificial intelligence (AI) can do' places demands on WoZ platforms to simulate smarter systems and more complex interactions. This raises the question of whether the typical approach of employing a single Wizard is sufficient. Moreover, while existing work has employed multiple Wizards in WoZ studies, a multi-Wizard approach has not been systematically studied in terms of feasibility, effectiveness, and challenges. We offer Wizundry, a real-time, web-based WoZ platform that allows multiple Wizards to collaboratively operate a speech-to-text based system remotely. We outline the design and technical specifications of our open-source platform, which we iterated over two design phases. We report on two studies in which participant-Wizards were tasked with negotiating how to cooperatively simulate an interface that can handle natural speech for dictation and text editing as well as other intelligent text processing tasks. We offer qualitative findings on the Multi-Wizard experience for Dyads and Triads of Wizards. Our findings reveal the promises and challenges of the multi-Wizard approach and open up new research questions.Comment: 34 page

STGIN: Spatial-Temporal Graph Interaction Network for Large-scale POI Recommendation

In Location-Based Services, Point-Of-Interest(POI) recommendation plays a crucial role in both user experience and business opportunities. Graph neural networks have been proven effective in providing personalized POI recommendation services. However, there are still two critical challenges. First, existing graph models attempt to capture users' diversified interests through a unified graph, which limits their ability to express interests in various spatial-temporal contexts. Second, the efficiency limitations of graph construction and graph sampling in large-scale systems make it difficult to adapt quickly to new real-time interests. To tackle the above challenges, we propose a novel Spatial-Temporal Graph Interaction Network. Specifically, we construct subgraphs of spatial, temporal, spatial-temporal, and global views respectively to precisely characterize the user's interests in various contexts. In addition, we design an industry-friendly framework to track the user's latest interests. Extensive experiments on the real-world dataset show that our method outperforms state-of-the-art models. This work has been successfully deployed in a large e-commerce platform, delivering a 1.1% CTR and 6.3% RPM improvement.Comment: accepted by CIKM 202

HIV/AIDS prevalence and behaviour in drug users and pregnant women in Kashgar Prefecture: Case report

Second Generation sub-population HIV Surveillance was undertaken in Kashgar City and Shache County, Xinjiang, Peoples Republic of China between December 2003 and January 2004, targeting injecting and mixed method drug users and pregnant and postnatal women. The study aimed to determine the extent to which the epidemic is shifting from a concentrated stage to a more generalised epidemic. One hundred and forty two (142) exclusively injecting drug users (66) and mixed method drug users (injecting and non-injecting-76) participated in this survey. Eight hundred and two (802) pregnant and postnatal women participated in the survey. In Kashgar City and Shache County the serum prevalence of HIV amongst injecting drug users was 56.06%, for mixed method drug users 48.68% and 0.38% in pregnant women. In Shache County HIV infection rates were significantly lower in drug user groups and amongst pregnant and post-natal women, at 2.22% and 0% respectively. The behavioral survey indicated that 15% of injecting drug users have shared needles (however sero prevalence and knowledge in relation to access to clean needles and syringes suggests that this may not reflect the actual situation). Knowledge of prevention of transmission strategies (not sharing needles and condom utilisation) is similar between both groups at 60–70%. However it appears that this knowledge has not significantly impacted on behavior such as needle sharing and condom utilisation. In Kashgar City and Shache County there have been very few interventions to support HIV/AIDS prevention, care and control. The results from this survey will inform future directions and the development and implementation of targeted interventions including targeted information dissemination and harm reduction strategies. This survey was funded by the Xinjiang HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project, a bilateral project jointly implemented by the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Australia

Does capital market liberalization promote ESG disclosure? Empirical evidence from the mainland-HK stock connect

With the growing popularity of environmental, social, and governance (ESG), ESG performance is becoming increasingly important in investors’ decisions about firms. Capital market liberalization brings in more sophisticated and mature foreign investors who are more interested in corporate ESG performance. We investigate whether capital market liberalization improves corporate ESG disclosure using Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect as exogenous shocks. By compiling a comprehensive dataset of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2006 to 2019 and manually calculating the ESG disclosure score, we find that the mainland-HK Stock Connect scheme enhances corporate ESG disclosure. This effect is heterogeneous for firms with different external environments, corporate characteristics, and environmental performance. The results suggest that the competition effect dominates the role of capital market liberalization in improving ESG disclosure of mainland listed firms and firms disclose their ESG practices to cater to the need of investors. This paper enriches the empirical research on the impact of capital market liberalization on firm behavior and performance and provides a theoretical basis for strengthening regulations in ESG information disclosure