Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving Cow Comfort to Reduce Health Issues and Increase Milk Yield on Dairy Farms

In recent years the dairy industry has been looking more and more into cow comfort. This is because there are many benefits to ensuring cows are in some of the best new facilities. I looked into some of the major issues relating to cow comfort which include how to improve your own dairy, what health problems are common with inadequate cow comfort, and how these issues relate back to milk yield. First cow comfort is outlined and explained, then health problems are shown to be caused by improper cow care and lastly how cow comfort can improve milk yield. In the end, it was found that all these issues can greatly improve milk yield when combined, each having their own impact. Dairies are spending the money to create better facilities for their cows and are seeing the return through increased milk yield. Table of
Optimizing Facial Expressions of an Android Robot Effectively: a Bayesian Optimization Approach

Expressing various facial emotions is an important social ability for efficient communication between humans. A key challenge in human-robot interaction research is providing androids with the ability to make various human-like facial expressions for efficient communication with humans. The android Nikola, we have developed, is equipped with many actuators for facial muscle control. While this enables Nikola to simulate various human expressions, it also complicates identification of the optimal parameters for producing desired expressions. Here, we propose a novel method that automati-cally optimizes the facial expressions of our android. We use a machine vision algorithm to evaluate the magnitudes of seven basic emotions, and employ the Bayesian Optimization algorithm to identify the parameters that produce the most convincing facial expressions. Evaluations by naïve human participants demonstrate that our method improves the rated strength of the android's facial expressions of anger, disgust, sadness, and surprise compared with the previous method that relied on Ekman's theory and parameter adjustments by a human expert.
Intranasal Interferon-a2 forPrevention ofNatural Rhinovirus Colds

The prophylactic activity of intranasal human interferon-a2 (HuIFN-at2) against natural rhinovirus colds was determined in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. A total of 304 working adults self- administered sprays of HuIFN-a2 (107 IU/day) or a placebo once daily. During 22 days of treatment, 13 (8.5%) placebo recipients but no HuIFN-a2 recipiehts had respiratory illnesses documented secondary to rhinovirus infection (P = 0.0002). The occurrence of illness with symptoms of tracheobronchitis was lower ini HuIFN-a2 recipients (one eposide) than in placebo recipients (eight episodes, P = 0.04). In contrast, the frequency of nasal symptoms and the overall rate of respiratory illness were significantly higher in HuIFN-a2 recipients during weeks 2 and 3 of treatm'ent. Symptoms (obstruction, discomfort, blood-tinged nasal mucus) or signs (punctate bleeding sites, erosions, superficial ulcerations) of nasal irritation occurred in 40 HuIFN-ax2 recipients during week 3 (P < 0.0001 versus placebo recipients). Although the results of the current study were partially confounded by the nasal side effects of prolonged administration, they showed that intranasal HuIFN-eL2 was efficacious in preventing rhinovirus colds under natural conditions.
Input Excitation Optimization for Estimating Battery Electrochemical Parameters using Reinforcement Learning

Parameter estimation is an important topic in battery management, and the quality of an input excitation has critical impact on estimation accuracy. The design of optimal excitation has previously been formulated as determining a time sequence of inputs that maximizes a certain criterion related to estimation accuracy. The resultant problem suffers from susceptibility to modeling errors and other uncertainties, as well as high computational complexity due to the length of the input sequence to be optimized. In this work, we formulate input excitation design as an optimal control problem with the goal of obtaining a closed-loop control policy for current generation that is robust to uncertainties. To facilitate the solution of the problem, we envision input generation as a Markov Decision Process with dynamics described by certain states, and leverage reinforcement learning (RL) to obtain the optimal policy, which maximizes the Fisher information of the target parameter to be estimated. We demonstrate the result for a key battery electrochemical parameter and compare with the result generated through direct input sequence optimization. It is shown that the RL approach can produce competitive results under an accurate system model, while significantly outperforming the conventional approach under the presence of model (parameter) uncertainty. The proposed RL-based approach also has the potential of enabling input excitation optimization for models with high complexity and nonlinearity, which is extremely difficult, if not infeasible, for the conventional method.
Implementation of a Robust Dynamic Walking Controller on a Miniature Bipedal Robot with Proprioceptive Actuation

Developing a robust dynamic walking controller for bipedal robots remains challenging as the system is hybrid, highly nonlinear, and strongly restricted. The typical two-level structure of high-level footstep planning and low-level whole-body control has been proven an effective approach for bipedal locomotion. However, practical guidance on its implementation is rarely covered fully in detail. To bridge this gap, this paper presents a detailed implementation of such controller for dynamic walking applications on a miniature bipedal robot with proprioceptive actuation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully-untethered miniature bipedal robot which can achieve robust dynamic walking using this framework. In particular, the high-level planner determines both the location and duration for the next few steps based on the divergent component of motion. The low-level controller leverages the full-body dynamics to establish the foot contact as planned while regulating other task-space behaviors, e.g., center of mass height and torso orientation. Both problems are formulated as small-scale quadratic programs, which can be solved efficiently with guaranteed optimality for real-time execution. Extensive results of simulation and hardware walking experiments are provided to demonstrate the strong robustness of the approach under various disturbances and uncertainties, e.g., external pushes and irregular terrains.
Brake Blending Design Using Distributed and Shared X-in-the-loop Test Environment

Brake blending design is a complex task in the development of electric vehicles (EV) and requires coordinated control on electric powertrain and friction brake system. The presented study discusses the architecture, control strategy, and functional validation of the brake blending as applied to an all-wheel drive EV equipped with four in-wheel motors (IWMs) and the decoupled electro-hydraulic brake system. The main focus is on the use of distributed and shared X-in-the-loop (XIL) test environment as a relevant development methodology enabling a wide spectrum of validation procedures. The paper introduces XIL-based experiments, where the brake blending operation has been evaluated for several test scenarios as the service braking and the Worldwide harmonized Light Duty Test Cycle (WLTC).
Quantification of Diabetic Foot Ulcer Based on Ulcer Segmentation

The Diabetic Foot (DF) is a common and severe complication of diabetes. Many people suffer from diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) caused by diabetic feet. The quantification of DFU in clinical practice is of great help in helping doctors diagnose and formulate treatment plans.This paper proposes two DFU quantification methods based on deep learning, rough quantification, and fine quantification. Rough quantification is based on a quantitative indicator. We use an object detection network to locate the indicator. Fine quantification takes surrounding skin tissue(SST) as an indicator. We use a segmentation network to segment DFU and SST to quantity ulcer healing. Our method is evaluated upon our dataset collected by Shanghai Municipal Eighth People’s Hospital and the FUSC2021 dataset. We simultaneously followed multiple patients in clinical practice to assess their DFU healing by our quantification method. We evaluate the generalization ability of our rough quantification segmentation model, achieving Dice of 90.256%, IoU of 82.243%, and rough quantification object detection model achieving Recall of 65.00%, Precision of 92.86%, Fl-score of 76.00%, and AP 85.56%. Also, our fine quantification segmentation model performs Dice in the SST area of 85.46%, IoU in the SST area of 74.61%, and Dice in the Ulcer area 87.31%, IoU in the Ulcer area of 77.48%, and inference time of 0.09s. We selected several cases in clinical practice and applied our two quantification methods to the recovery of DFU in patients with satisfactory results.
Gümrük Birliği sonrasında Türkiye'de dışa açıklık ve sanayileşme

The Customs Union between Turkey and the European Union was the milestone to complete the process of trade liberalization, which had already started in the early 1980s. Global economic environment and Turkey’s Structural Adjustment Programs, which has been supervised by International Monetary Found, had created transformation stage of Turkish manufacturing industry in the trade liberalization period in the late 1990s. The sector’s relative size to GDP has not changed remarkably during the last decade, while the Turkish manufacturing sectors production and export capacity have been growing. In this paper, we try to analyse the causal relationship between trade with European Union and Turkish manufacturing sector indicators over the period of 1996-2006.
Competition, Corporate Governance and Regulation in Central Asia: Uzbekistan's Structural Reform Challenges

Like many Central Asian republics, Uzbekistan has adopted a gradual, cautious approach in its transition to a market economy. It has had some success attaining macroeconomic stability, but microeconomic reforms have lagged behind. It is time to accelerate structural reform. In Uzbekistan state enterprises are being changed into shareholding companies, and private enterprises account for 45 percent of all registered firms. But business decisions to set prices, output, and investment are often not market-based, nor wholly within the purview of businesses, especially those in commercial manufacturing and services. Lines of authority for corporate governance - from state enterprises to private enterprises - are ill-defined, so there is little discipline on corporate performance and little separation between government and business. Nascent frameworks have been created for competition policy (for firms in the commercial sector) and regulatory policy (governing utilities in the infrastructure monopoly sector). But implementation and enforcement have been hampered by old-style instruments (such as price controls) rooted in central planning, by lack of a strong independent regulatory rule-making authority, by the limited understanding of the basic concepts of competition and regulatory reform, and by weak institutional capabilities for analyzing market structure and business performance. Based on fieldwork in Uzbekistan, Broadman recommends: · Deepening senior policy officials' understanding of, and appreciation of the benefits from, enterprise competition and how it affects economic growth. · Reforming competition policy institutions and legal frameworks in line with the country's goal of strengthening structural reforms and improving macroeconomic policy. · Improving the ability of government and associated institutions to assess Uzbekistan's industrial market structure and the determinants of enterprise conduct and performance. · Making the authority responsible for competition and regulatory policymaking into an independent agency - a champion of competition - answerable directly to the prime minister. · Strengthening incentives and institutions for corporate governance and bringing them in line with international practice. · Subjecting infrastructure monopolies to systemic competitive restructuring and unbundling, where appropriate. For other utilities, depoliticize tariff setting and implementation of regulations; ensure that price, output, and investment decisions by service suppliers are procompetitive (creating a level playing field among users); and increase transparency and accountability to the public. This paper - a product of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Sector Unit, Europe and Central Asia Regional Office - is part of a larger effort in the region to assess structural reform in Central Asia. The author may be contacted at hbroadman@worldbank.org.
Performance Modeling: A System-Based Approach to Exercise Selection

ABSTRACT IN THE PROCESS OF DESIGNING PROGRAMS FOR ATHLETES, OFTEN STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACHES DO NOT DEVELOP AN APPROPRIATE SYSTEM WHICH IS INTEGRATED WITH THE ACHIEVEMENT OF SPECIFIED PERFORMANCE GOALS. THE SYSTEM OF PERFORMANCE MODELING PROMOTES THE DESIGN OF TRAINING PROGRAMS WHICH USE A CLEAR SYSTEM OF ANALYSIS, TESTING, AND EXERCISE PRESCRIPTION, WHICH INCREASES TRANSFER OF TRAINING AND ENHANCES SPORTS PERFORMANCE. THIS ARTICLE OUTLINES THE CONCEPT OF PERFORMANCE MODELING USING A SPORT EXAMPLE. FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS TO PROMOTE INDIVIDUALIZATION OF TRAINING PRESCRIPTION USING A PROGRESSION/REGRESSION SEQUENCE ARE ALSO SUGGESTED.
Peran Human Capital, Corporate Value dan Good Corporate Governance melalui Kinerja Karyawan terhadap Kinerja Perusahaan di PTPN VII Lampung

Changes in business environment lead various companies to continue to strive to improve their business strategies in order to survive and have a competitive advantage. The peak changes occurred with the coming of business era in the era of information and science. In this era, business strategies that are considered suitable, among others, the application of human resource development system based on human capital and company management based on corporate values and good corporate governance (GCG). PTPN VII as state-owned enterprise in agribusiness has tried to implement the system. This study aimed to examine the relationship between human capital, corporate values ​​and GCG and their relation to the performances of the employees and the company. The population of this research as many as 400 people consisted of the employees of PTPN VII head office, but the number of the samples set was 120 respondents. The sampling technique used was non-probability sampling with quota sampling technique. The methods of processing and analyzing the data was structural equation modeling analysis-partial least squares (SEM-PLS), and the data processing used software smartPLS. The results indicated that the implementation of human capital by the company contributed positively to the increase of the employee performance. The implementation and internalization of corporate values ​​to the employees positively contributed to the improvement of the employee performance. The increased employee performance played a positive role in improving the company performance. The implementation of corporate governance principles could improve the performance of the company, but did not play a great role in improving employee performance
The modulation of sphingolipids by human cytomegalovirus and its influence on viral protein accumulation and growth

ii Dedication . iv Acknowledgments . v Vita . vi List of Figures . ix List of Abbreviations . xi Chapters:
Evolution of globalised business R&D: Features, drivers, impacts

The globalisation of R&D activities has continued to grow as companies are increasingly trying to capture knowledge and market opportunities internationally. The rapid evolution of national economies and the ways to conduct knowledge-intensive businesses has brought researchers and analysts to pursue a deeper understanding of the globalisation of corporate R&D and the related driving factors and impacts. This Working Paper provides an overview of the evolution of globalised business R&D activities and an outline of trends is provided with quantitative information from 2001 to 2009. Thus, the literature on the main drivers and impacts of the research process is reviewed and controversial arguments are discussed and reflected upon in the light of recent empirical observations. In particular, the drivers for firms to undertake R&D in their home country, to internationalise their R&D operations and to select a particular location for R&D implementation are analysed according to both the perspective of S&T supply side and for goods and services demand side. Furthermore, the impact of the internationalisation of business R&D is analysed for firms' host or home countries, with a particular focus on the effects on competitiveness and employment. The conclusions and policy implications from the main results of this work are presented in the last section of the document.
Ties That Bind: A Social Contracts Approach to Business Ethics

This text offers a method for untangling the ethical dilemmas that arise through business transactions, regardless of culture or context. It also demonstrates how empirical descriptions and normative evaluations of business policies must cooperate to inform sound business decisions. Examples are used to support the author's points, featuring companies such as AT&T, Levi-Strauss and Royal Dutch/Shell.
THE IMPACT OF STATE OWNED BANKS ON INTEREST RATES SPREAD

This paper develops the hypothesis that the co-existence of state owned banks with privately owned banks together tends to raise interest rates spreads and profitability of privately owned banks. This hypothesis can help explain the relationship between the share of state owned banks on total banking assets and economic growth, as reported in the literature. Three empirical tests of the two parts of the main hypothesis are presented. Two of them rely on Brazilian monthly time series data and the other one uses a cross section regression with data for a sample of countries. One of them builds on an estimation of an expanded version of the composition of a rate of return of an asset under the market efficient hypothesis. Another one estimates a factor augmented vector autoregression (FAVAR) model. All of these tests give support to the hypotheses tested.
A Comparison of Information Sources Used by Vacationing Germans and Japanese

In order to promote a tourism destination, managers need to understand the sources of information most heavily used by foreign visitors in their search for information about overseas vacation destinations. This article examines the sources of information used by travelers from Japan and the former West Germany when they determine their top five overseas vacation destinations. This research discovered that both the Germans and Japanese relied heavily on multiple sources of information, with the travel agent being the number one information source for both groups. However, the Japanese relied more heavily on the print medium for their secondary information source. The Germans’ main secondary information source was word-of-mouth advice from family and friends.
Adaptive Learning in Electricity Market Negotiations Based on Determinism Theory

This research proposes a novel methodology for adaptive learning in electricity markets negotiations, based on the principles of the determinism theory. The determinism theory states that all events are predetermined due to the cause-effect rule. At the same time, it is unmanageable to consider all causes to a certain effect, making it impossible to predict future events. However, in a controlled simulation environment, it is possible to access and analyze all involved variables; thus, making the application of this theory promising in such environments. This research applies the principles of the determinism theory to a new learning methodology, which optimizes players’ actions, considering the predicted behavior of all involved players, with the objective of maximizing market gains. A case-based reasoning approach is used, providing adaptive context-aware decision support. Results show that the proposed approach is able to achieve better market results than all reference market strategies.
Aspectual composition and our (linguistic) interpretation of the world

People can describe the same object in diierent ways, according to their needs. This fact can be used in the eld of aspectual composition, since there are cases when a noun phrase determines the sentence aspectuality, whereas in other cases this interaction does not happen. In this paper a solution to the problem of aspectual composition is proposed. Here, verbs are considered event descriptions, and noun phrases are object descriptions. The aspectual properties are properties applying to these descriptions, and a link between the domain of events and that of objects is established. This link reeects our linguistic interpretation of world structure, and this is what controls the aspectual behaviour of any sentence.
Lithological Characteristics and Provenance Consideration on the Jade Investiture Books of Joseon Dynasty in National Palace Museum of Korea

The Jade Investiture Books in Joseon Dynasty shows diverse facies with various petrographic characteristics to green and white based on color. In lithologically, the green rocks are jade composed of calcite and serpentine, and the white ones are marbles consisting mainly in crystalline calcite. As a result of X-ray diffraction of jade rocks, the more green in color, the more increased intensity of serpentine appears. Therefore, the grade of jade is correlated with contents of serpentine. The Jade Investiture Books owned by the National Palace Museum of Korea are subdivided with 104 (41.3%) books made by only jade rocks, 98 (38.9%) books made by only marbles, and 50 (19.8%) books mixed with jade rocks and marbles. Among the mixed ones, 47 (18.6%) books consisted mainly of the marbles. This result shows the superior marble books occupy more than half of the total books. The Jade Investiture Books made in early Joseon Dynasty are composed of high grade jade. However, the grade of jade had decreased as the kings changed in process of time, and the composition of marble had increased in reverse proportion of jade. The quality of letter pigments, metal accessories and fabrics also had decreased with jade. These trends are reflected in the aspect of society such as weakening royal authority, national power and finance with the course of time. The jade of the books has different mineralogical characteristics from some modern jade produced in Chuncheon nephrite and Buyeo precious serpentine in Korea. Meanwhile, there is ancient literature that described quarries from Namyang in Hwaseong of Gyeonggi province. This area has a wide distribution of gneiss, limestone and limesilicate rocks are interbedded between muscovite schist. The limesilicate rocks contain diopside, which produced serpentine through alteration. It has possibility to make the Jade Investiture Books using these small amounts of jade through mining activity.