Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimization of Transcutaneous Energy Transfer coils for high power medical applications

Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) technology is a promising solution for powering medical implants with a continuous high power consumption, due to the elimination of the percutaneous driveline, which is still the major cause of severe infections. However, at the present time, no Transcutaneous Energy Transfer (TET) system is commercially available and ready for long-term use. Specifically the heating of the tissue due to power losses in the TET coils is a major problem. The focus of this paper therefore is on the minimization of the power losses in the energy transmission and receiver coils of a TET system. Extensive parameter sweeps were performed in order to find the optimal winding configuration with minimized parasitic resistances and optimal inductance value. A thermal model of the human skin is developed to estimate the thermal limits. Based on the results, a prototype TET system is built to validate the optimization process. The prototype system is capable of transmitting 30W of power with an efficiency greater than 93 %, even at a coil separation distance of 20mm (0.79 in) and 70mm (2.76 in) coil diameter.
COMPARISON OF BUDGET BORROWING AND BUDGET ADAPTATION IN HIERARCHICAL SCHEDULING FRAMEWORK

System virtualization technology is widely used in computing nowadays. In embedded domain, it is used as a solution to resource sharing among independent applications. One of the areas is to apply virtualization technique to real-time embedded systems with timing constraints. Multi-level adaptive hierarchical scheduling (AdHierSched) framework is a virtualized real-time framework, which runs in the Linux operating system. is virtualized framework has ability to adapt the CPU partition sizes according to their need through monitoring their demand during run-time, which yields more appropriate processor assignment. However, the performance of the virtualized framework is still unknown when the budget borrowing mechanism is enabled. To this end, in this thesis, we explore a new direction for performing the adaptation of CPU partition. We design and implement a budget borrowing mechanism for dynamic adaptation of resource parameters in AdHierSched framework. Extensive simulations are performed in this thesis, which are used to study and compare dierent adaptation mechanisms with our approach. From the results of experiments, we conclude that when the framework works only with budget borrowing controller, the results are not as good as only running a budget controller in the AdHierSched framework. However, while running both of the controllers at the same time, the experiments results are good enough. We also analyze the overhead of the framework at the end of the evaluation. Finally, we conclude the thesis by presenting the possible future work.
Exploring Educational Inequalities in Mortality in Europe

__Abstract__ Socioeconomic inequalities in health are reported in all European countries, but with substantial variations in their magnitude. Reducing these inequalities should be a priority not only because such inequalities are unfair but also because their burden has huge economic consequences. The association between education and health has been demonstrated for different health outcomes. This thesis aimed at exploring the educational inequalities in all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Europe in a comparative perspective. Based on mortality and morbidity data from a large number of European populations, we first investigated the quality of cause-specific mortality data by assessing educational differences in the proportion of ill-defined causes of death. Then, the magnitude of educational inequalities in mortality was estimated and the trends in these inequalities between the 1990s and the 2000s were analysed. Finally, the thesis focused on quantifying the potential health gains and inequality reductions due to different policies and interventions using the Population Attributable Fraction (PAF) methodology. The PAF methodology was used in two different ways. First, the impact of on-going improvements in the educational structure of the population on mortality was assessed. Second, the potential reduction in educational inequalities in mortality was estimated by modifying the educational distribution of selected lifestyle risk factors. Based on the findings of this thesis, policy makers should invest and improve education for the whole population. However, the full beneficial effect of education will be achieved only if there are enough employment opportunities and if the achieved education meets the occupational needs. There is also a need for policies and interventions that reduce educational inequalities in mortality through risk factor modifications. The heterogeneity of the findings across European countries highlights the fact that there is no single common strategy in Europe that would effectively decrease educational inequalities in mortality.
Talent management in medium-sized German companies: an explorative study and agenda for future research

This study seeks to make a contribution to our conceptual and empirical understanding into the nature of talent management (TM) in German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), an under-researched area in the field. The approach of this investigation recognizes that TM may vary significantly between different types of companies and national contexts. The findings are based on data collected from 700 SMEs in Germany. Three distinct clusters of TM intensity profiles are identified (highly engaged talent managers, reactive talent managers and retention-based talent managers), which vary according to annual sales volumes, industry affiliations, cooperative behavior with respect to human resource (HR) and TM networks, the long-term focus of TM and future HR and TM budgets. In summary, most of the investigated companies place a high importance on TM reflecting a developmental approach which fits well with the German business system. One key finding of the study was the preference of most German SMEs to choose a more inclusive approach to TM and target all or most employees, in contrast to large multinational enterprises where a more elitist approach is favored. Another major finding was that TM cooperation with other firms and institutions was used as a strategy to cope with the war for talent in a country, which despite the Global Financial Crisis is characterized by strong economic growth and important demographic challenges. Based on these findings and the contextual approach to TM, a comprehensive agenda for future research areas in TM is outlined.
System optimization of a high-power and high-step-down accessory power module for electric vehicles

In previous work, a novel design of a 2.5kW 400V-12V 93.2%-efficiency DC/DC converter with a triggering angle tracking synchronous rectifier was proposed for use in an electric vehicle to replace the electric alternator. This paper is focused on the further enhancement of the DC/DC converter to improve the system efficiency and wide-range input/output performance.
S&P 500 Cash Stock Price Volatilities

S$50P 500 stock return volatilities are compared to the volatilities of a matched set of stocks, after controlling for cross-sectional differences in firm attributes known to affect volatility. No significant difference in volatility is observed between 1975 and 1983--before the start of trade in index futures and index options. Since then, S$50P 500 stocks have been relatively more volatile. The difference is statistically, but not economically, significant. The relative increase occurs primarily in daily returns and only to a lesser extent in longer interval returns. Other factors besides the start of derivative trade could be responsible for the small increase in volatility. Copyright 1989 by American Finance Association.
Microstructured human fibroblast‐derived extracellular matrix scaffold for vascular media fabrication

In the clinical and pharmacological fields, there is a need for the production of tissue‐engineered small‐diameter blood vessels. We have demonstrated previously that the extracellular matrix (ECM) produced by fibroblasts can be used as a scaffold to support three‐dimensional (3D) growth of another cell type. Thus, a resistant tissue‐engineered vascular media can be produced when such scaffolds are used to culture smooth muscle cells (SMCs). The present study was designed to develop an anisotropic fibroblastic ECM sheet that could replicate the physiological architecture of blood vessels after being assembled into a small diameter vascular conduit. Anisotropic ECM scaffolds were produced using human dermal fibroblasts, grown on a microfabricated substrate with a specific topography, which led to cell alignment and unidirectional ECM assembly. Following their devitalization, the scaffolds were seeded with SMCs. These cells elongated and migrated in a single direction, following a specific angle relative to the direction of the aligned fibroblastic ECM. Their resultant ECM stained for collagen I and III and elastin, and the cells expressed SMC differentiation markers. Seven days after SMCs seeding, the sheets were rolled around a mandrel to form a tissue‐engineered vascular media. The resulting anisotropic ECM and cell alignment induced an increase in the mechanical strength and vascular reactivity in the circumferential direction as compared to unaligned constructs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
βII-Tubulin and βIII-Tubulin Mediate Sensitivity to Peloruside A and Laulimalide, but not Paclitaxel or Vinblastine, in Human Ovarian Carcinoma Cells

Increased abundance of βII- and βIII-tubulin isotypes in cancer cells confers resistance to vinca and taxoid site drugs; however, the role of these isotypes in the acquired resistance of cancer cells to non-vinca or non-taxoid site binding agents has not been described. Peloruside A (PLA) and laulimalide are the only known non-taxoid site microtubule-stabilizing agents. A human ovarian cancer cell line, 1A9-L4 (L4), previously selected in high concentrations of laulimalide, has both a single point mutation in βI-tubulin and overexpression of βII- and βIII-tubulin. The cells are highly resistant to PLA as well as laulimalide but show no cross-resistance to taxoid site drugs or drugs that bind to the vinca site on β-tubulin. To understand the functional significance of the βII- and βIII-tubulin changes in this resistant cell line, isotype-specific short interfering RNA was used to knock down the expression of the βII and βIII isotypes, and the cellular effects of PLA and laulimalide were examined before and after silencing. It was found that inhibition of βII- and βIII-tubulin partially sensitized L4 cells to PLA and laulimalide, as seen by increased potency of PLA and laulimalide for inducing growth inhibition, cellular tubulin polymerization, microtubule aberrations, and G2-M arrest in the resistant cells. The sensitivity to paclitaxel, vinblastine, ixabepilone, and cisplatin was unaffected by the inhibition of isotype expression. It was concluded that the increased βII- and βIII-tubulin contributed significantly to the resistance phenotype, along with the tubulin structural mutation, and that the altered isotype effect was binding site specific. Mol Cancer Ther; 11(2); 393–404. ©2011 AACR.
International workshop on immune tolerance induction: consensus recommendations 1

Summary. Although immune tolerance induction (ITI) has been used for 30 years to eliminate inhibitors and restore normal factor pharmacokinetics in patients with hemophilia, there is a paucity of scientific evidence to guide therapeutic decision‐making. In an effort to provide direction for physicians and hemophilia treatment center staff members, an international panel of hemophilia opinion leaders met to develop consensus recommendations for ITI in patients with severe and mild hemophilia A and hemophilia B. These recommendations draw on the available published literature and the collective clinical experience of the group and are rated based on the level of supporting evidence .
A GENERAL CLASS OF THREE-PARAMETER RISK MEASURES

THIS PAPER DEFINES two related three-parameter risk measures and shows that common risk measures of variance, semi-variance, mean absolute deviation, and probability of an outcome worse than some disaster level are all special cases of one of these three-parameter risk measures and that standard deviation is a special case of the other. It is established that the selection of any of these risk measures has implicitly involved decisions about: (1) a reference level of wealth about which deviations will be measured; (2) the relative importance of large versus small deviations; (3) the outcomes that should be included in the risk measures. Properties of these risk measures are derived and issues in the specification of risk measures are studied.
Emerging Definitions of Boutique and Lifestyle Hotels: A Delphi Study

ABSTRACT Despite growing interest in the boutique and lifestyle sector of the lodging industry, there is not an accepted definition of either “boutique hotel” or “lifestyle hotel. ” Boutique and lifestyle hotel strategies provide hotel companies with important points of differentiation in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The current study determined definitions using a Delphi analysis of responses from a diverse group of experts from the lodging industry. Forty-one panel members were involved in the process that was undertaken with three rounds of questions. The study determined that boutique hotels are best characterized as small, stylish hotels that offer high levels of service. Lifestyle hotels are described as innovative and provide more of a personal experience than so-called “branded” hotels.
Effect of rolling shutter on visual odometry systems suitable for planetary exploration

In planetary exploration space missions, motion measurement of a vehicle on the surface of a planet is usually performed using a visual odometry method with two stereo global shutter cameras. In many technical applications, more favorable and cheaper rolling shutter cameras replace the global shutter ones. In this work, the visual odometry task is performed with rolling shutter cameras, analyzing their effect on the measurement errors. The applied visual odometry method comprises a procedure to compensate the image distortions yielded by the rolling shutter. The errors of the motion measurement are evaluated with and without the distortion compensation. Thus, the experimental tests allow also to verify the effectiveness of the compensation procedure.
Virtually Uninhabitable: A Critical Analysis of Digital Environmental Anti-Toxics Activism

In this dissertation, I analyze online environmental anti-toxics activism. Environmental activist groups have created a presence on the World Wide Web to help empower people to become aware of and struggle against pollution. The sites that I explore (http://www.epa.gov/tri/, http://www.epa.gov/enviro/wme/, http://www.rtknet.org/, and http://www.scorecard.org/) serve as devices of this empowerment and by extension recruit people to the political goals of antitoxics activism. In my analysis, I focus on a series of questions germane to this context. How can/does this movement go online and utilize that presence to sway others to their cause and ideology? How then is that cause represented digitally, in the online medium? What are the reciprocal impacts of that representation on the movement itself? Most importantly, what form of activist identity is being promoted through the mediation of the online interface? That is, how are the identity of the self as activist and the related understanding of space and place altered through their translation into a digital environment? What are the parameters and limitations of digitally mediated, informed empowerment? I undertake to critique empowerment as found through the digital translation of environmental anti-toxics activism into the virtual space of the Web. I show that particular uses of this Internet application invent (reinvent/ reinforce) versions of environmental anti-toxics activism, digitized versions which must be understood in terms of their wider assumptions and implications. I break the study into three main parts. The first part lays theoretical groundwork for studying Web-based entities. The second part deals with more particular foundational elements for digital environmental anti-toxics activism, especially in terms of information. In the final section, I analyze and critique the forms of digital identity and empowerment that the websites create. I conclude that digital empowerment, defined primarily through access to expert information, actually represents an impoverished version of empowerment which may do little to aid real-world toxic struggles. My goal involves not dismissing or discouraging this form of online activism, but rather paying careful attention to emerging trends in technological use that may, over the long run, undermine the intentions of users and subvert opportunities for more fundamental change.
Differential Kinetics of Oxytocin and Vasopressin Heteronuclear RNA Expression in the Rat Supraoptic Nucleus in Response to Chronic Salt Loading In vivo

Previous studies have shown that the secretion of oxytocin and vasopressin from the posterior pituitary always accompanies systemic hyperosmotic stimuli in rats, and that oxytocin and vasopressin mRNAs consistently increase in response to prolonged hyperosmotic stimuli. Hence, it has been widely interpreted that oxytocin and vasopressin secretion and gene expression are closely coupled. In the present study, we used both vasopressin and oxytocin intron‐ specific probes to measure vasopressin and oxytocin heteronuclear RNA (hnRNA) levels, respectively, by in situ hybridisation in the rat supraoptic nucleus (SON) in conjunction with radioimmunoassays of vasopressin and oxytocin peptide levels in plasma and in the posterior pituitary in normally hydrated rats and after 1–5 days of salt loading. Increased oxytocin secretion in response to hyperosmotic stimuli exceeded vasopressin secretion at every time point studied. Vasopressin hnRNA in the SON increased to near maximal levels within minutes after the hyperosmotic stimulus, and was maintained throughout all 5 days of salt loading. By contrast, oxytocin hnRNA did not significantly change from control levels until approximately 2 days after hyperosmotic stimulation, and was not maximal until 3 days. In summary, increases in oxytocin gene transcription in response to osmotic stimuli are dramatically delayed compared to increases in vasopressin gene transcription under the same conditions. These data indicate that oxytocin gene transcription is not as closely correlated with pituitary peptide secretion as is vasopressin gene transcription, and suggests that there is a fundamental difference in excitation–secretion–transcription coupling mechanisms that regulate these two closely related genes in the rat magnocellular neurones in the SON.
Prevalence of complete resistance to at least two classes of antiretroviral drugs in treated HIV‐1‐infected patients: A French nationwide study

The objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence of HIV‐1 resistance to all drugs belonging to two or more antiretroviral drug (ARV) classes in treated patients in France. All genotyping assays performed in June 2001 and in November 2002 by the ANRS resistance laboratory network were analyzed by the ANRS algorithm. The 17 and 21 centers of the ANRS network participating in the study in 2001 and 2002, respectively, genotyped the viruses in plasma of 456 and 529 patients, respectively. In 2002, the proportions of patients harboring viruses fully resistant to one, two, and three ARV classes were 5.1%, 8.1%, and 2.5%, respectively. These results were similar to those obtained in 2001. In 2002, among the 56 patients with viruses completely resistant to at least two ARV classes, 98%, 96%, and 29% of patients had viruses with complete class resistance to NRTIs, NNRTIs, and PIs, respectively. Complete resistance to PIs was less frequent than full resistance to the other two ARV classes, and ritonavir‐boosted amprenavir and lopinavir/r remained potentially active in respectively 71.4% and 42.9% of these 56 patients. In 2001 and 2002, respectively 30% of the 65 patients and 24% of the 56 patients with viruses completely resistant to at least two ARV classes were at an advanced stage of HIV disease, with CD4+ cell counts below 200/μl and viral loads above 30 000 copies/ml. In France, the prevalence of HIV‐1 viruses completely resistant to two or more ARV classes remained stable between 2001 and 2002. Resistance to RT inhibitors was more frequent than resistance to PIs in patients with viruses completely resistant to two or three classes of ARV. J. Med. Virol. 76:441–446, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
On community capitals as we see them through photovoice: Cowell oyster industry in South Australia

In this article, we discuss a photovoice study of the oyster industry in Cowell on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. For the last 15 years the Cowell community has been adding water-based farming – the environmentally sensitive industry of oyster aquaculture - to its land-based farming. The community capitals approach for assessing community sustainability was undertaken using photovoice and a photo stimulated workshop. Whilst this study provides data on natural, produced, and institutional capitals, the method enabled subtle reflections to be made on social and human capitals. Hence it provides some data on these hard to capture aspects of the capitals approach. The method allowed the Cowell community to tell their insider-looking- out story of the impact of oyster aquaculture on their community. The capitals approach linked well with photovoice methodology, and would have wider applicability in assessing the impact of other environmentally sensitive industries and developments in other communities. Findings from the study indicated that oyster aquaculture is viewed by Cowell community members as adding positive social and human capital, and that any negative aspects of the industry on the other capitals are seen as minor.
Daughter succession: a predominance of human issues

Purpose – The research asked: How do daughters take the lead in their family businesses? What are the relevant issues that characterize the succession process for daughters, what are the attributes of daughter successors, and what, if any, features distinguish their leadership style? Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative research comprised reflective interviews with 14 daughter successors. Thematic data analysis was used to analyze data, build models and link to previous research.Findings – The shifting landscape of women's roles in family businesses is evidenced through the experiences of daughters who have taken over the top leadership positions in their family firms. Skill and commitment override gender in successor selection. The women were intrinsically motivated to take over their family businesses and owned significant shares in their firms. The findings confirm the centrality of the successor‐incumbent relationship and reveal mentoring, frequently by the incumbent, as the principal vehicle for .