AGENT-BASED MONITORING & MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI PETRONAS (UTP) GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIP CLAIM PROCESS

This project investigates the process of allowance claiming which is done monthly by Graduate Assistants (GA) in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) and that eventually leads to the development of a Web-based system called “Agent-based Monitoring & Management System: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) Graduate Assistance Claim Process” (GACMS) in order to digitalize each and every step involved in that process. The main objective is to overcome problems such as human error, manpower waste and inconvenience caused by the manual approach, which is currently used. Moreover, in order to enhance system’s capability, Multiple Agent Based (MAB) theory will be applied so that GACMS can be a smart personal assistant system that facilitates each step in the procedure. Prior to development, a comprehensive research was conducted within the GAs’ community to assess project’s necessity and received strong support from participants. Furthermore, it is necessary to emphasize that the project is developed using prototyping methodology for better alignment with dynamic change of requirements from users. Thus, it’s believed that GACMS, once implemented, will become a helpful platform to further boost up efficiency and productivity of allowance claiming process

Costs and Benefits of a Greener Alternative for the Development of Vietnam's power sector

International audienceIn this study, BAU (a scenario based on current trends) and ALT (a greener alternative with more renewables, higher energy efficiency) are developed. The external costs of CO 2 , NOx, SO 2 and PM 10 in the Vietnamese power sector are estimated at 20, 1328, 2047 and 1460 US$/ton, respectively. The authors find that the electricity price and the domestic trade balance in ALT are less sensitive to fluctuations in the international price of coal than in BAU. The total costs accumulated between period 2010-2040 would be lower in ALT: 632 billion US$ compared with 974 billion US$. This difference arises from several factors: lower investment in new capacity (226 vs 306 billion US$); lower local pollution costs (73 vs 137 billion US$); and lower expenditures on imported fuels (57 vs 115 billion US$). The outcomes of ALT are in accord with the targets in the most recent Green Growth Strategy of Vietnam

Perspective of CO2 capture & storage (CCS) development in Vietnam: Results from expert interviews

International audienceThis paper summarizes expert opinions regarding crucial factors that mayinfluence Vietnam’s future use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) based onface-to-face interviews in December 2013 with 16 CCS-related experts fromthe Vietnamese government, research institutes, universities and the energyindustrial sector. This study finds that financial incentives and climate policyare the most important factors for the development of CCS technologies inVietnam in the next two decades. Financial incentives involve direct subsidiesfrom the government, such as tax exemptions for land use and the importationof CCS-related equipment. In addition, all the experts agree that internationalfinancial support is important to initiate a large deployment of CCStechnologies in Vietnam by implementing demonstrative/pilot projects to proveCCS’s working efficiency

Low Carbon Scenario for the Power Sector of Vietnam: Externality and Comparison Approach

International audienceIn this paper, BAU (a scenario based on current trends) and ALT (a greener alternative with more renewables, higher energy efficiency) are developed. The external costs of CO2, NOx, SO2 and PM10 in the Vietnamese power sector are estimated at 20, 1328, 2047 and 1460 US$/ton, respectively. The authors find the electricity price and the domestic trade balance in ALT less sensitive to fluctuations in the international price of coal than in BAU. The total costs accumulated between the period of 2010-2040 would be lower in ALT: 632 billion US$ compared with 974 billion US$. This difference arises from several factors: lower investment in new capacity (226 vs 306 billion US$); lower local pollution costs (73 vs 137 billion US$); and lower expenditures on imported fuels (57 vs 115 billion US$). The outcomes of ALT are in accord with the targets in the most recent Green Growth Strategy of Vietnam and the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) of the country to UNFCCC and COP21

AGENT-BASED MONITORING & MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI PETRONAS (UTP) GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIP CLAIM PROCESS

This project investigates the process of allowance claiming which is done monthly by Graduate Assistants (GA) in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) and that eventually leads to the development of a Web-based system called “Agent-based Monitoring & Management System: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) Graduate Assistance Claim Process” (GACMS) in order to digitalize each and every step involved in that process. The main objective is to overcome problems such as human error, manpower waste and inconvenience caused by the manual approach, which is currently used. Moreover, in order to enhance system’s capability, Multiple Agent Based (MAB) theory will be applied so that GACMS can be a smart personal assistant system that facilitates each step in the procedure. Prior to development, a comprehensive research was conducted within the GAs’ community to assess project’s necessity and received strong support from participants. Furthermore, it is necessary to emphasize that the project is developed using prototyping methodology for better alignment with dynamic change of requirements from users. Thus, it’s believed that GACMS, once implemented, will become a helpful platform to further boost up efficiency and productivity of allowance claiming process

L’enseignement obligatoire au Vietnam entre vouloir et pouvoir

L’enseignement obligatoire est une réalité variablement vécue dans le monde. Au Vietnam, cet enseignement, contraignant juridiquement, est décrété pour 5 ans (cycle primaire) après l’indépendance nationale, et est mis en œuvre au fur et à mesure. Une obligation scolaire de neuf ans est prévue à partir de 2020. Mais les défis à relever restent nombreux, afin d’assurer une égalité des chances à tous les enfants. Les efforts déployés pour une éducation de base pour tous sont considérables, compte tenu du contexte national. L’ouverture du pays à l’international et l’adoption de l’économie de marché depuis une trentaine d’années, outre ses effets économiques positifs, semblent avoir eu pour conséquence la mise en place d’une éducation de base obligatoire à plusieurs vitesses. L’introduction du nouveau programme d’études de l’enseignement général pourrait contribuer à résoudre les difficultés rencontrées.Compulsory education is a reality that is experienced to varying degrees across the world. In Vietnam, such education, legally binding, was decreed for 5 years (primary cycle) after national independence and has gradually been implemented. Compulsory schooling for nine years is planned from 2020. However, there are still many challenges to be overcome in order to ensure equal opportunities for all children. Considerable efforts have been made to ensure basic education for all, given the national context. The opening up of the country internationally and the adoption of the market economy over the last thirty years, in addition to its positive economic effects seem to have resulted in the introduction of compulsory basic education at several speeds. The introduction of the new general education syllabus may help to resolve the difficulties encountered.La enseñanza obligatoria es una realidad que se vive de forma variable en el mundo. En Vietnam, esta enseñanza, legalmente vinculante, fue decretada durante 5 años (ciclo primario) tras la independencia nacional y se ha ido aplicando paulatinamente. A partir de 2020 se prevé una escolarización obligatoria de nueve años. Pero los retos que conviene superar para garantizar la igualdad de oportunidades a todos los niños siguen siendo numerosos. Los esfuerzos realizados para una educación básica para todos son considerables, habida cuenta del contexto nacional. La apertura del país al mundo y la adopción de la economía de mercado desde hace unos treinta años, además de efectos económicos positivos, parecen haber tenido como consecuencia la implantación de una educación básica obligatoria a distintas velocidades. La introducción del nuevo programa de estudios de la enseñanza general podría contribuir a resolver las dificultades encontradas

A New Approach to Keep the Privacy Information of the Signer in a Digital Signature Scheme

In modern applications, such as Electronic Voting, e-Health, e-Cash, there is a need that the validity of a signature should be verified by only one responsible person. This is opposite to the traditional digital signature scheme where anybody can verify a signature. There have been several solutions for this problem, the first one is we combine a signature scheme with an encryption scheme; the second one is to use the group signature; and the last one is to use the strong designated verifier signature scheme with the undeniable property. In this paper, we extend the traditional digital signature scheme to propose a new solution for the aforementioned problem. Our extension is in the sense that only a designated verifier (responsible person) can verify a signer’s signature, and if necessary (in case the signer refuses to admit his/her signature) the designated verifier without revealing his/her secret key is able to prove to anybody that the signer has actually generated the signature. The comparison between our proposed solution and the three existing solutions shows that our proposed solution is the best one in terms of both security and efficiency

Energy-based Neural Modelling for Large-Scale Multiple Domain Dialogue State Tracking

Scaling up dialogue state tracking to multiple domains is challenging due to the growth in the number of variables being tracked. Furthermore, dialog state tracking models do not yet explicitly make use of relationships between dialogue variables, such as slots across domains. We propose using energy-based structure prediction methods for large-scale dialogue state tracking task in two multiple domain dialogue datasets. Our results indicate that: (i) modelling variable dependencies yields better results; and (ii) the structured prediction output aligns with the dialogue slot-value constraint principles. This leads to promising directions to improve state-of-the-art models by incorporating variable dependencies into their prediction process

Incremental Joint Modelling for Dialogue State Tracking

Dialogue State Tracking is an important task in dialogue management as it provides a mechanism to monitor dialogue contributions. In this paper we introduce an Incremental Joint Model as a new approach to the task. Our tracker is capable of incrementally tracking Dialogue States. We base our model and analysis on the datasets provided in the Second Dialogue State Tracking Challenge (DSTC2). Our early stage evaluations are based on comparisons of our tracker with both the baseline model provide by the DSTC2 and also LecTrack: a state-of-the-art incremental LSTM-based tracker. The main finding of our experiments is that moving from an utterance based to incremental word based tracker results in better performance for our RNN based joint task models

Experiences of Renal Stone Fragmentation with the Use of the Ultrasound-guided Mini-percutaneous Nephrolithotipsy in 650 Patients

AIM: This study assesses the results of treatment using the mini-percutaneous nephrolithotipsy (PCNL) procedure on renal stone patients in a lateral position under ultrasound guidance, performed at the Ha Noi Hospital of Post and Telecommunications. METHODS: The study was conducted with 650 kidney stone patients who were treated using the ultrasound-guided mini-PCNL procedure in a lateral position, at the Ha Noi Hospital of Post and Telecommunications, over the period from June 2018 to June 2019. RESULTS: For the 650 patients, the mean age was 47.3 ± 7.6 (from 21 to 91 years old); the mean size of stones: 19.4 ± 1.2 mm (from 12 mm to 60 mm); the mean operative time: 49.3 minutes (from 37 to 90 min); the mean period of hospitalization: 3.9 days (from 3 to 12 days); the mean stone-free rate (SFR): 90.6%; the rate of second surgery: 1.07%; hemorrhage complication: 0.8%; urinary tract infections: 7.7%; septicemia: 0.6%; administered open surgery: 0.46%; and administered other methods: 0.76%. CONCLUSION: Renal stone fragmentation using the mini-PCNL procedure, performed on patients placed in lateral position under ultrasound guidance, is a method that is effective, beneficial, and safe for patients with renal stones and upper ureteral stones