Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamic capabilities and economic crises: Has openness enhanced a firm's performance in an economic downturn? Final manuscript submitted to Industrial and Corporate Change

Many studies have attempted to investigate the potential benefits of open innovation. However, the long term effects of openness have yet to be demonstrated, even if few researchers hypothesised that high openness could increase firms’ dynamic capabilities and hence their resilience in the face of adversities, such economic downturns. Hence, this paper attempts to investigate this dynamic relationship between openness and firm performance with particular considerations addressing the recent financial crisis in 2008. Based upon the UK Community Innovation Survey (CIS) panel data collected between 2006 and 2012, this study finds evidence that supports the positive influence of openness on long-term firm performance. The results show that (1) increasing a firm's openness is an effective way of enhancing its dynamic capability and hence its resilience, and (2) of all the various configurations of openness, the collaboration with partners outside the firm's value chain and international partners have the highest impact on turnover recovery, as they will increase the chances of acquiring newer knowledge, which in turn will help firms to identify new opportunities to achieve sustainable growth. The findings of this paper have some practical implications for managers and policy makers.
Migration, Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism in 21 St Century Africa: Implications for New Socio-Economic Consciousness in the Diaspora

Migration is the movement of an individual, family or large groups from one geographical region to another with the intention of either settling temporary or permanently. Most people may decide to relocate from one place to another due to forced displacement as a result of natural catastrophe or personal reasons. However, there have been numerous cases of discrimination, xenophobic attacks and racism by the citizens against the foreigners as a result of hatred towards them which vary from one country to another. Based on this assertion, this study examined the socio-economic effects of xenophobic violence on black migrants in Africa diaspora as a result of the migrants investing their resources back in their native countries so as to increase the Gross National Products due to an improvement in the Net Foreign Investment which will thereby reduce the host country’s Gross Domestic Products because the foreigners are being discouraged to invest in the country. Above all, as far as people won’t put a stop to migrate from one place to another, the way forward is for the citizens and foreigners to have an equal right and dignity and this must be respected irrespective of the race, tribe, religion or socio-cultural differences.
DELIVERABLE D6.2 EMBODIMENT FOR SOCIAL INTERACTION

In this work, we present a general approach to task planning based on contingent planning and runtime sensing, which forms part of a robot task planning framework called KVP. Using the general-purpose PKS planner, we model information-gathering actions at plan time that have multiple possible outcomes at run time. As a result, perception and sensing arise as necessary preconditions for manipulation, rather than being hardcoded as a task itself. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on two simple scenarios covering visual and force sensing, and discuss its applicability to more general tasks in automation and mobile manipulation, involving arbitrary numbers of sensors and manipulators. Andre Gaschler, Ronald P. A. Petrick, Torsten Kröger, Oussama Khatib, and Alois Knoll. Robot task and motion planning with sets of convex polyhedra. In Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) Workshop on Combined Robot Motion Planning and AI Planning for Practical Applications, Berlin, Germany, June 2013. Abstract: Geometric volumes can be used as an intermediate representation for bridging the gap between task Geometric volumes can be used as an intermediate representation for bridging the gap between task planning, with its symbolic preconditions and effects, and motion planning, with its continuous-space geometry. In this work, we use sets of convex polyhedra to represent the boundaries of objects, robot manipulators, and swept volumes of robot motions. We apply efcient algorithms for convex decomposition, conservative swept volume approximation and collision detection, and integrate these methods into our existing “knowledge of volumes” approach to robot task planning called KVP. We demonstrate and evaluate our approach in several task planning scenarios, including a bimanual robot platform. Andre Gaschler, Ronald P. A. Petrick, Manuel Giuliani, Markus Rickert, and Alois Knoll. KVP: A Knowledge of Volumes Approach to Robot Task Planning. In Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ Intl Conf on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pages 202–208, Tokyo, Japan, November 2013. Abstract: In this work, we present a general approach to task planning based on contingent planning and runIn this work, we present a general approach to task planning based on contingent planning and runtime sensing, which forms part of a robot task planning framework called KVP. Using the general-purpose PKS planner, we model information-gathering actions at plan time that have multiple possible outcomes at run time. As a result, perception and sensing arise as necessary preconditions for manipulation, rather than being hardcoded as a task itself. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on two simple scenarios covering visual and force sensing, and discuss its applicability to more general tasks in automation and mobile manipulation, involving arbitrary numbers of sensors and manipulators.
Comparative Clinical Study of Warfarin and Rivaroxaban (Newer Anti-Coagulant) with Respect to Efficacy and Side Effects in the Treatment of Peripheral Venous Thromboembolism

New oral anticoagulants (NOAC; rivaroxaban, dabigatran, apixaban) have become available as an alternative to warfarin anticoagulation in peripheral venous thromboembolism. We assessed the effectiveness and safety along with side effects of rivaroxaban vs warfarin in patients experiencing venous thromboembolism (both deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism).
Analgesic effect and safety of single-dose intra-articular magnesium after arthroscopic surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose: Ankle arthroscopy is an effective technique for treating ankle impingement syndrome. Sometimes it’s difficult to treat with the patients combined with the posterior and anterior lesions. A novel non-distraction technique with rapid switching position was used to treat the patients with posterior and anterior ankle impingement syndrome with combined posterior and anterior arthroscopy. The clinical results were assessed retrospectively. Method 13 consecutive patients with posterior and anterior ankle impingement syndrome were treated with combined posterior and anterior arthroscopy. There were 10 Males and 3 Females. The mean age of the patients was 30.3 years (From 15 to 47 years) . All the patients accepted at least 1 year follow up for clinical subjective scoring, range of motion and complications. Results The mean follow-up time was 15.5 months(From 12 to 22 months) . The mean pre-operative AOFAS score was 70.7±3.9, The mean postoperative was 92.8±4.7. The variant was statistic significantly (P<0.01). All patients reached normal post-operative range of motion of the ankle joint. There was no significant postoperative complication occur. Conclusion The non-distraction technique with rapid switching position which used for treat patients with posterior and anterior ankle impingement syndrome with combined posterior and anterior arthroscopy is an effective and high reproducible method. The extensive lesions of the ankle can be overall assessed and treated by this method.
Maintaining the well-being of ageing population in the Czech Republic

This study analyses the problem of ageing which is currently one of the biggest concerns for central authorities in the Czech Republic. The rapidly changing demographic structure has affected the fiscal policy framework. The focus here is on the economic impact of the ageing phenomenon with respect to the well-being of individuals in the Czech economy. The paper aims to reveal the size of technological progress but also government expenditures necessary to keep the current well-being unaltered to the dynamics of demographic prognosis. The applied method reposes upon a New Keynesian general equilibrium model. This model is disaggregated with the so-called bottom-up approach to capture the nuanced differences among three selected ageing cohorts.
Oxidative stress and antioxidant use during in vitro mammal embryo production. Review

Of the many animal reproduction biotechnologies, in vitro embryo production has developed most over the past twenty years. Procedure success depends on many factors, including the presence of reactive oxygen species in adequate proportions. Both in vitro fertilization and gamete and embryo manipulation exposes cells to endogenous and/or exogenous factors that can affect antioxidant defense mechanisms and quality. This review discusses some sources of reactive oxygen species, the use of enzymatic, nonenzymatic and polyphenolic antioxidants to reduce oxidative stress in in vitro embryo production processes, and their effects on oocyte and embryo quality, gene expression and embryo developmental competence.
Analyses on limitations of binaural sound based on the first order Ambisonics for virtual reality audio

: This paper analyzes the limitations of binaural sound that is reproduced with headphones based on Ambisonics for Virtual Reality (VR) audio. VR audio can be provided with binaural sound that compensates head rotation of a listener. Ambisonics is widely used for recording and reproducing ambient sound fields around a listener in VR audio, and the First order Ambisonics (FOA) is still being used for VR audio because of its simplicity. However, the maximum frequencies with this order is too low to perfectly reproduce ear signals, and thus the binaural reproduction has inherent limitations in terms of spectrum and sound localization. This paper investigates these limitations by comparing the signals arrived at ear positions in the reference field and the reproduced field. An incidence wave is defined as a reference field, and reproduced over virtual loudspeakers. Frequency responses, inter-aural level differences, and inter-aural phase differences are compared. The results show, above the maximum cut off frequency in general, that the reproduced levels decrease, and the horizontal localization can be provided only around the forward direction.
TRANSFORMER LESS FULL BRIDGE THREE PORT CONVERTERS WITH DC BUS CONCEPT FOR RENEWABLE POWER SYSTEMS

The renewable energy source output has not constant to all the time (day & night). Example wind & solar power plants has not produced electrical energy in all the times. That generation level due to corresponding atmosphere. So that has no used in constant power applications. My proposal has to produce constant output power in all times (day & night). So I used three port full bridge converters in solar electrical energy. That will produce three different level of electrical energy. By using this systematic method, a novel full-bridge TPC (FB-TPC) is developed for renewable power system applications which features simple topologies and control, a reduced number of devices, and single-stage power conversion between any two of the three ports. The primary circuit of the converter functions as a buck-boost converter and provides a power flow path between the ports on the primary side. The FB-TPC can adapt to a wide source voltage range, and tight control over two of the three ports can be achieved while the third port provides the power balance in the system. Furthermore, the energy stored in the leakage inductance of the transformer is utilized to achieve zero-voltage switching for all the primary-side switches. The FB-TPC is analyzed in detail with operational principles, design considerations, and a pulse width modulation scheme (PWM), which aims to decrease the dc bias of the transformer. Experimental results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the developed FB-TPC.
Polyunsaturated aldehydes as bioactive secondary metabolites in the aquatic environment

Polyunsaturated aldehydes (PUAs) are compounds that can be released into the natural aquatic environment by phytoplankton as bioactive secondary metabolites. These metabolites aid photosynthetic organisms in important functions as protection, competition, and species interactions. The production of PUAs result from the lipoxygenase-mediated degradation of free polyunsaturated fatty acids released by phosphoand galactolipids hydrolysis. This reaction is activated immediately after the cell integrity is broken by lysis or mastication by grazers. PUAs have negative impact on algae grazers causing carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. The aim of the presented studies is to identify polyunsaturated aldehydes in natural freshwaters. The highest PUAs concentrations were identified in autumn and in waters with high concentration of organic matters. A high coefficient of correlation (r = 0.93) was determined between the total concentration of aldehydes identified in natural surface waters and the absorbance measured at a wavelength of 254 nm characteristic for aromatic compounds. The influence of other factors such as temperature, sun-light, and presence of natural bacteria on the destruction of aldehydes was also estimated. A technique of gas chromatography with the electron capture detector and derivatization process with o-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl) hydroxylamine was applied for qualitative and quantitative determination of PUAs.
Platforms to Support e-Learning in Higher Education Institutions

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have created new spaces in the construction of knowledge. Now, teaching goes beyond the institutions themselves and it arrives at businesses, our homes and social venues. The time for learning is no longer confined to a certain place and period of time, but the whole space, at any time, concepts, distance education, e-learning, collaborative work, b-Learning, mLearning and Web 2.0 have all become increasingly important in higher education and educational communities. Using an action research methodology as qualitative research method, we present a case of a platform implementation to support e-Learning in the School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal. Once the problem to be addressed was diagnosed, we present the action: a study on e-learning, and an analysis of the characteristics of the platforms to support a range of elearning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Based on this study, we developed a portal and this paper presents the phases of development and selection of tools and content, concluding with an evaluation of user satisfaction with this platform, and its importance for the development of e-learning in HEIs.
Sustainability Assessment of Swiss Hydropower A Note on the State of the Art and Prospects for an Integrated Approach

The future of Swiss hydropower is a major challenge for sustainable development and decision making about the operation of and investments in hydropower plants. To address these challenges an integrated approach of sustainability assessment is required that matches the various social, economic and ecological goals of sustainability and development with stakeholder concerns in a coherent fashion and that provides better grounds for decision making. Such comprehensive assessment must also include a regional and value chain perspective. Regional impact analysis and SA as well as its translation to the corporate level (CSR assessment) are important tools in this respect.
Upstream Pricing Pressure∗

Conventional wisdom says that horizontal mergers lead to upward pricing pressure, but is this necessarily true for horizontal mergers in upstream markets? As argued by several scholars and parties in recent merger cases, the answer is negative if vertical contracts are perfectly efficient. We consider a model of vertical relations in which firms must distort marginal prices; e.g., to provide insurance or induce information revelation. We find that an upstream merger creates unilateral incentives to raise prices, even though contracts are non-linear and secret. The merger is anticompetitive irrespective of the exact reason for the contractual distortion or the manner of retail competition. However, we find also that fierce retail competition can mitigate the magnitude of the price increase.
Application of a Propeller-Based Air Propulsion System to the Land-Based Holonomic Vehicle

Holonomic vehicles with wheels such as ball wheels can move in any direction without rotating. For such a system, more driving motors and precise transmission mechanisms are necessary, which makes the control and fabrication complicated. This paper aims to present the design and construction of a novel holonomic mechanism to simplify the system. Air-based propulsion was applied to a land-based holonomic vehicle. A prototype with three roller balls was developed with a propeller for the propulsion of a triangular holonomic vehicle. Only two motors were applied, one for propeller rotation and the other for the adjustment of the angle of thrust. For the establishment of the methodology, the data, including propeller size, rotation per minute, velocity, thrust, efficiency, etc., were measured or calculated. The prototype can move at a velocity of approximate 0.558 m/s with an efficiency of 18.55%. Simulation results showed that with the increase of propulsion efficiency, the velocity can achieve more than 5 m/s if the efficiency is 70%. This study is the first attempt to apply air-based propulsion to a land-based holonomic vehicle. Further, the construction method is simple and can satisfy the accuracy requirement. This design method, therefore, will contribute to the application of holonomic vehicles due to the realization of holonomic functionality and simplicity.
Breed Utilisation and Crossbreeding

Learning objectives On completion of this topic you should: • Understand the issues that affect which is the best crossing system to adopt • Have a good feel for what makes dominance good and epistasis bad in crossing systems Key terms and concepts Dominance gain is good, Epistatic loss is bad, These two things can be difficult to estimate together as they are largely confounded, Crossbreeding decisions can be integrated with other issues. Introduction to the topic Selection and crossbreeding are two key tools for animal breeders. This topic gives sufficient theoretical background on crossbreeding to show how we can exploit it. It also introduces us to integrating crossbreeding with other issues in animal breeding.
Solar PV and Battery Storage Integration using a New Configuration of a Five-level NPC Inverter

In this paper, a novel configuration of a five-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter that can integrate solar photo voltaic (PV) with battery storage in a grid-connected system is proposed. The strength of the proposed topology lies in a novel, extended unbalance five-level vector modulation technique that can generate the correct ac voltage under unbalanced dc voltage conditions. This paper presents the design philosophy of the proposed configuration and the theoretical framework of the proposed modulation technique. A new control algorithm for the proposed system is also presented in order to control the power delivery between the solar PV, battery, and grid, which simultaneously pro-vides maximum power point tracking (MPPT) operation for the solar PV. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is investigated by the simulation of several scenarios, and THD is calculated for both levels including battery charging and discharging with different levels of solar irradiation.
Age and Experience versus Susceptibility to Client Pressure among Property Valuation Professionals—Implications for Rethinking Institutional Framework

This research deals with the problem of the client–valuer relationship, possibly resulting in valuation biases. It aims to identify the influence of age and professional experience, along with other specific factors, on the perception and susceptibility of valuation professionals to pressure exerted by clients during the valuation process. We hypothesize that susceptibility to pressure from clients is conditioned by a number of factors, among which age and work experience are of key importance. The analysis is based on information obtained in a survey among Polish valuers who are members of professional associations. We used the linear probability and logit models. The conclusions of the analysis allow us to take a critical look at the existing institutional framework of the valuation profession in Poland. Our recommendations for revising the system may provide insights on the evolution of the profession, especially in Central and Eastern European countries where it is relatively new.
PCO 2 transcutanée : pourquoi , comment et pour qui ? Transcutaneous PCO 2 : why , how and for whom ?

Résumé La mesure de la pression transcutanée en dioxyde de carbone (PtcCO2) n’est pas une technologie récente, les premiers essais remontant au début des années 1960. L’amélioration des moniteurs, la miniaturisation et le développement des électrodes utilisées permettent aujourd’hui de proposer en routine une surveillance de la PtcCO2 continue, fiable, non invasive, simple et rapide. Cet accès indirect et simple à la pression artérielle en CO2 (PaCO2) est pour le clinicien une aide précieuse dans nombre de situations cliniques. Les moniteurs actuels permettent de mesurer aussi de façon rapide et non invasive bien d’autres paramètres (saturation transcutanée en oxygène, fréquences respiratoire et cardiaque, indice de perfusion tissulaire.), utiles pour apprécier la fonction respiratoire d’un patient et pour en suivre l’évolution dans le temps. La tendance actuelle en réanimation est de faire le monitorage le moins invasif possible, même s’il convient d’être prudent quant à l’utilisation abusive ou inadéquate des paramètres ainsi mesurés. Cette revue fait la synthèse du mode de fonctionnement, des avantages et limites, ainsi que des domaines d’application des outils de mesure de la PtcCO2.
Efficiency of the Major Borsa Istanbul Indexes: An Empirical Investigation about the Interaction between Corporate Governance and Equity Prices Through a Market Model Approach

Bu calismada, kurumsal yonetisim kalitesi ve hisse senedi getirileri arasindaki baglanti sorgulanmakta olup, Turkiye’deki onde gelen hisse senedi piyasa endeksleri ile kurumsal yonetisim arasindaki muhtemel bir iliskiyi ortaya cikarmaya yonelik olarak endeks getirileri ile kurumsal yonetisim endeksi getirilerini basit piyasa modeli kullanilarak iliskilendirmeye calisan nispeten farkli bir yaklasim ortaya konulmustur. Bununla birlikte, piyasa portfoylerinin nispi etkinlik duzeylerinin, kurumsal yonetisim endeksine verdikleri tepkiler dogrultusunda karsilastirilmasi amaclanmistir. Bu dogrultuda, Kurumsal Yonetisim Endeksi’nin yani sira Borsa Istanbul’daki uc piyasa endeksi - BIST 30, BIST 100 ve BIST TUM - incelenmis olup, En Kucuk Kareler (EKK) ve Cok Degiskenli Uyumlu Regresyon Uzanimlari (MARS) teknikleri kullanilarak soz konusu piyasa endeksi getirileri ile Kurumsal Yonetisim Endeksi getirileri arasindaki iliskiler modellenmistir. Elde edilen bulgular, piyasa endeks getirileri ile Kurumsal Yonetisim Endeksi getirileri arasinda pozitif ve anlamli bir iliski oldugunu gostermis ve BIST 100 portfoyunun BIST 30 ve BIST TUM endeks portfoylerine kiyasla daha etkin bir portfoy olarak degerlendirilebilecegine dair bazi kanitlar ortaya koymustur.