Rural Poverty and Inequality Maps in Vietnam: Estimation using Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2006 and Rural Agriculture and Fishery Census 2006

The objective of this paper is to estimate poverty and inequality for rural Vietnam at different levels of aggregation by combining the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey (VHLSS) from 2006 and the Rural Agriculture and Fishery Census from the same year. Using the small area estimation method, we will produce estimates at the region, province at district level, and will consider both expenditure and income based measures. It is found that all provinces across the country have experienced a noticeable reduction in rural poverty during the period 1999-2006. Some of the largest reductions in poverty are observed for provinces with poverty rates close to the national average. Also the poorest provinces are experiencing reductions in poverty, albeit at a more modest pace. Provinces and districts with a larger poverty reduction in the period 1999-2006 tend to have a lower level of inequality in 2006. Results based on expenditure poverty estimates are found to be very similar to those based on income poverty estimates.Poverty measurement, poverty mapping, agricultural census, household survey, Vietnam

Automatic Crack Detection in Built Infrastructure Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This paper addresses the problem of crack detection which is essential for health monitoring of built infrastructure. Our approach includes two stages, data collection using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and crack detection using histogram analysis. For the data collection, a 3D model of the structure is first created by using laser scanners. Based on the model, geometric properties are extracted to generate way points necessary for navigating the UAV to take images of the structure. Then, our next step is to stick together those obtained images from the overlapped field of view. The resulting image is then clustered by histogram analysis and peak detection. Potential cracks are finally identified by using locally adaptive thresholds. The whole process is automatically carried out so that the inspection time is significantly improved while safety hazards can be minimised. A prototypical system has been developed for evaluation and experimental results are included.Comment: In proceeding of The 34th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC), pp. 823-829, Taipei, Taiwan, 201

Determination of the constant Wo for local geoid of Vietnam and it’s systematic deviation from the global geoid

Constant Wo, defining the geoid, has important applications in the area of physical geodesy. With the development of artificial Earth satellite, constant Wo for the global geoid approximating the oceans on Earth can be calculated from an expansion of spherical harmonics - Stokes constants determined by observation of perturbations in artificial satellite’s orbits. However, the Stokes constants are limited, therefore the geoid constant Wo could not be calculated for local geoid (state geoid) from the mentioned expansion of spherical harmonics. In this paper, we present a method to determine the constant Wo for local geoid of Vietnam, using generalized Bruns formula and Neyman boundary problem. The initial data used are Faye gravity anomalies surveyed on land and sea of Southern Vietnam. The constant Wo is then used to calculate the systematic deviation of the local geoid of Vietnam from the global geoid EGM - 96

Updating Poverty Maps of Vietnam using Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2002 and Population Census 1999

Poverty map is an important for poverty targeting in developing countries. In this study, we combine the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey (VHLSS) in 2002 and the Population Census in 1999 to estimate poverty and inequality indexes of all provinces and districts of Vietnam in the year 2002.Poverty measurement, poverty mapping, agricultural census, household survey, Vietnam.

The Impacts of Spatial Interaction on Agricultural Productivity and Average Income: A Case of Vietnam

Agricultural productivity plays a crucial role in sustainable development while income is one of the most critical indicators that manifest the living standards; therefore, both of these aspects have attracted much attention from the national level to the provincial level. Yet, for various reasons, the importance of regional linkages, especially spatial interaction in the analysis of agricultural productivity and the average income, is not recognized and thus ignored in economic policies. Taking Vietnam as the study area, this paper examines the impact of spatial interaction between metropolises and provinces on agricultural productivity and income per capita of provinces.  In order to evaluate the impacts, this paper uses a gravity model to estimate the spatial interaction then panel data analysis is employed to interpret the influences. The data used in this study is collected from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam in the period from 2015-2018. The results show a positive correlation between spatial interaction between metropolis and provinces to provincial change, including agricultural productivity and average income. As such, stronger linkages with metropolises through improving transportation systems could enhance agricultural productivity and income in the province

Poverty and inequality maps for rural Vietnam: an application of small area estimation

The objective of the paper is to update the small area estimates of poverty and inequality for rural Vietnam. The new estimates of province and district level poverty for the year 2006, when combined with estimates available for 1999, allow for examination of how poverty has changed in rural Vietnam over the past seven years. The analysis finds that all provinces across the country experienced a noticeable reduction in rural poverty during the period 1999-2006. Some of the largest reductions in poverty are observed for provinces with poverty rates close to the national average. The poorest provinces have also experienced reductions in poverty, albeit at a more modest pace. Provinces and districts with lower levels of inequality in 2006 have seen above average poverty reductions. The authors consider both expenditure and income based measures of poverty and inequality, and find the results to be very similar.Rural Poverty Reduction,Regional Economic Development,Achieving Shared Growth,Services&Transfers to Poor

Propriétés électroniques et thermoélectriques des hétérostructures planaires de graphène et de nitrure de bore

Graphene is a fascinating 2-dimensional material exhibiting outstanding electronic, thermal and mechanical properties. Is this expected to have a huge potential for a wide range of applications, in particular in electronics. However, this material also suffers from a strong drawback for most electronic devices due to the gapless character of its band structure, which makes it difficult to switch off the current. For thermoelectric applications, the high thermal conductance of this material is also a strong limitation. Hence, many challenges have to be taken up to make it useful for actual applications. This thesis work focuses on the theoretical investigation of a new strategy to modulate and control the properties of graphene that consists in assembling in-plane heterostructures of graphene and Boron Nitride (BN). It allows us to tune on a wide range the bandgap, the thermal conductance and the Seebeck coefficient of the resulting hybrid nanomaterial. The work is performed using atomistic simulations based on tight binding (TB), force constant (FC) models for electrons and phonons, respectively, coupled with the Green's function formalism for transport calculation. The results show that thanks to the tunable bandgap, it is possible to design graphene/BN based transistors exhibiting high on/off current ratio in the range 10⁴-10⁵. We also predict the existence hybrid quantum states at the zigzag interface between graphene and BN with appealing electron transport. Finally this work shows that by designing properly a graphene ribbon decorated with BN nanoflakes, the phonon conductance is strongly reduced while the bandgap opening leads to significant enhancement of Seebeck coefficient. It results in a thermoelectric figure of merit ZT larger than one at room temperature.Les excellentes propriétés électroniques, thermiques et mécaniques du graphène confèrent à ce matériau planaire (bi-dimensionnel) un énorme potentiel applicatif, notamment en électronique. Néanmoins, ce matériau présente de sérieux inconvénients qui pourraient limiter son champ d'applications. Par exemple, sa structure de bandes électronique sans bande interdite rend difficile le blocage du courant dans un dispositif. De plus, pour les applications thermoélectriques, sa forte conductance thermique est aussi une forte limitation. Il y a donc beaucoup de défis à relever pour rendre ce matériau vraiment utile pour des applications. Cette thèse porte sur l'étude des propriétés électroniques et thermoélectriques dans les hétérostructures planaires constituées de graphène et de nitrure de bore hexagonal (BN). Différentes configuration de ce nouveau matériau hybride permettent de moduler la bande interdite, la conductance thermique et le coefficient Seebeck. Cette étude a été menée au moyen de calculs atomistiques basés sur les approches des liaisons fortes (TB) et du modèle à constantes de force (FC). Le transport d'électrons et de phonons a été simulé dans le formalisme des fonctions de Green hors équilibre. Les résultats montrent que, grâce à la modulation de la bande interdite, des transistors à base d'hétérostructures de BN et de graphène peuvent présenter un très bon rapport courant passant / bloqué d'environ 10⁴ à 10⁵. En outre, nous montrons l'existence d'états quantiques hybrides à l'interface zigzag entre le graphène et le BN donnant lieu à des propriétés de transport électronique très intéressantes. Enfin, ce travail montre qu'en agençant correctement des nano-flocons de BN sur les côtés d'un nanoruban de graphène, la conductance des phonons peut être fortement réduite alors que l'ouverture de bande interdite conduit à un accroissement important du coefficient Seebeck. Il en résulte qu'un facteur de mérite thermoélectrique ZT plus grand que l'unité peut être réalisé à température ambiante