Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The relationship between leader behaviourand idea implementation by subordinates

This research concerned corporate entrepreneurship which Chapter 1 argued results from subordinates' idea implementations and the nature of the relationship with their leader - a relationship which has experienced a paucity of prior research. Chapter 2 reviewed research philosophies and concluded that mixed methods should be utilised and thus three studies were undertaken in a complementary research strategy. Study I (Chapter 3) via the development and testing of hypotheses, demonstrated support for the relationship between transformational leader behaviour, leader-member exchange, autonomy, risk propensity, creativity and idea implementation. Study II (Chapter 4) via focus group meetings, demonstrated support for Study I results together with two models which purport to describe the interrelationship between leader behaviour and subordinates' idea implementation. Study III (Chapter 5) via a longitudinal autoethnography created by the researcher whilst embedded in the research subject Group* described an environment in which poor leader behaviour precipitated poor leader-subordinate relationships and a reduced willingness to implement ideas, whilst good leader behaviour was associated with more positive attitudes by subordinates and a willingness to take risks and implement ideas. The summary research findings, implications for practitioners and recommendations for future research are contained in Chapter 6. The researcher was motivated to conduct this research based on his MBA dissertation (1999) which investigated the phenomenon of an organisation regaining market leadership which the researcher has subsequently recognised referenced the concept of corporate entrepreneurship and which left unanswered questions as to its antecedents. Further, with a background of thirty-three years as a practitioner with most being spent in increasing senior leadership positions, the researcher has long-been of the view that the subtleties and nuances of leader behaviour are crucial to organisational performance with that performance needing to be measured by the delivery of actions rather than by ideas which are generated but never realised. * A major Anglo-American cultured assembly of strategically independent companies that form a publicly quoted Group on the London Stock Exchange and with a £1 billion market capitalisation.
Hardware and Control Implementation of Electric Springs for Stabilizing Future Smart Grid With Intermittent Renewable Energy Sources

In this paper, the details of practical circuit and control implementation of an electric spring for reactive power compensation and voltage regulation of the ac mains are presented. With Hooke's law published three centuries ago, power electronics-based reactive power controllers are turned into electric springs (ESs) for regulating the ac mains of a power grid. The proposed ES has inherent advantages of: 1) ensuring dynamic load demand to follow intermittent power generation; and 2) being able to regulate the voltage in the distribution network of the power grid where numerous small-scale intermittent renewable power sources are connected. Therefore, it offers a solution to solve the voltage fluctuation problems for future power grids with substantial penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources without relying on information and communication technology. The proof-of-concept hardware is successfully built and demonstrated in a 10-kVA power system fed by wind energy for improving power system stability. The ES is found to be effective in supporting the mains voltage, despite the fluctuations caused by the intermittent nature of wind power.
Effects of tribromoethanol anesthesia on echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular function in mice.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Pentobarbital and ketamine-xylazine anesthesia in mice result in markedly decreased left ventricular fractional shortening and cardiac output. However, to the authors' knowledge, the effect of short-acting, alcohol-based anesthesia on these parameters is unknown. METHODS Fifteen mice (FVB/N, C57Bl/6J, A/J, n = 5 each) underwent high-resolution (15 MHz) 2-dimensional-directed M-mode echocardiography before and after undergoing 2.5% tribromoethanol anesthesia (0.01 ml/g of body weight). RESULTS Tribromoethanol anesthesia resulted in significant heart rate slowing (29%) and left ventricular enlargement (20%), and a more modest (12%) reduction in left ventricular fractional shortening. Cardiac output was unchanged. The differences in left ventricular function between conscious and tribromoethanol studies were similar for each of the three strains of mice. CONCLUSIONS Tribromoethanol anesthesia induced only modest effects on M-mode estimates of basal cardiac function and did not influence cardiac output. The effects to tribromoethanol anesthesia were similar among three commonly used mice strains.
Dissolved gas analysis evaluation in electric power transformers using conventional methods a review

Transformers are the most important equipment in power systems, and their failure can cause serious problems. In order to avoid hazardous operating conditions and reduce outage rates, fault detection in the incipient stage is necessary. Incipient faults cause thermal or/and electrical stresses on the transformer with a major consequence on insulation decomposition. The insulation decomposition causes the evolution of gases which can be dissolved in oil. Dissolved gas analysis (DGA) interpretation is one of the main techniques used for fault diagnosis in oil-immersed transformers. In this paper, DGA interpretation is evaluated in detecting different faults and the techniques considered as conventional methods of DGA are investigated. The evaluation is based on DGA data obtained from oil samples of real transformers.
Steps to microwave probing of complex dielectric bodies

Microwave probing of dielectric materials is a challenging application of microwaves. This study investigates a finite difference time domain electromagnetic wave simulation tool with the intent of establishing a quantitative simulation environment for microwave probing techniques. Measurements were compared to simulations on distilled water and a phantom resembling a human breast with and without a 10 mm diameter tumor. The measurements showed high signal differences on tumor insertion as well as on variation of the tumor position within the phantom. The simulation results shows agreement on quantitative levels for the whole phantom object, however the simulation results on tumor variation could not be quantitatively correlated to measurements.
Effect of Age on the CD4+ T-Cell Impairment in HIV-Infected Persons Without and With cART

Background:Knowledge about HIV infection in older persons is becoming increasingly important. CD4+ T cells are essential for protective immunity, but little is known about the effect of age on the CD4+ T-cell impairment in HIV infection. Methods:Treatment-naive patients aged older than 50 or younger than 40 years were studied for absolute and relative frequencies of CD31+ naive and CD31− naive CD4+ T cells, central memory, effector memory, and terminally differentiated CD4+ T cells, and compared with age-matched controls. In addition, cellular proliferation and cytokine secretion properties were determined. CD4+ T-cell reconstitution was analyzed in older and younger patients with <350 or ≥350 CD4+ T cells per microliter at initiation of combination antiretroviral tharapy (cART). Results:CD4+ T cells of older but not younger HIV-infected patients showed age-inappropriate low levels of CD31− naive cells, increased levels of effector memory cells, and enhanced interferon&ggr; and interleukin-17 secretion. Impaired CD4+ T-cell composition persisted in patients who initiated cART at <350 CD4+ T cells per microliter. In patients with CD4+ T cells ≥350 per microliter, alterations were less pronounced and were reversible with cART. Compared with age-matched controls, total CD4+ T-cell counts did not differ between treated younger and older HIV-infected patients. Conclusions:These data demonstrate that aging enhances the CD4+ T-cell impairment in HIV-infected persons mainly by a loss of CD31− naive cells, accumulation of effector memory cells, and increased pro-inflammatory effector functions. Age-related changes in CD4+ T-cell composition can be prevented by an early initiation of cART.
Development of Allergic Antibody to an Enzyme in a Body Lotion: Results of an 18-Month Clinical Study

Use of enzymes in cosmetic products is novel and the safety of these products is not well understood. The safety of a prototype enzyme-containing body moisturizer lotion was tested via measures of skin compatibility and potential to induce protease-specific IgE antibody in a clinical study. Female, atopic subjects (n = 1,100) used body lotion containing 100 ppm protease (Y217L BPN′) for 5 consecutive days per month, for 18 months. Regular lotion was used the remaining days of each month. Skin evaluation and skin prick tests (SPT) were conducted every 3 months. Measures of skin hydration were made in a subset of subjects at 3-month intervals: skin biopsies occurred at baseline and at the first 3-month timepoint. Serum from SPT positive subjects was tested for specific IgE in an immunoCAP assay. Clinical evaluation and histopathology showed no skin irritation and increased hydration of the skin over time. Three of 864 subjects completing the study developed IgE antibody to the enzyme: 1 subject after 6 months product use and 2 subjects after 15 months product use. A fourth subject was found with IgE antibody 3 months after study termination. None had allergic symptoms associated with product use. Intermittent exposure to a low level of protease enzyme in a body lotion led to the development of specific IgE antibody in 0.46% of subjects. While this study showed favorable skin compatibility of the protease containing lotion, the occurrence of allergic antibody to the enzyme was unacceptable for product commercialization.
Credit Insurance, Distress Resolution Costs, and Bond Spreads

Credit Default Swaps (CDS) introduce renegotiation frictions in contracting by permitting bondholders to hedge against default. Such renegotiation frictions can increase bond credit spreads because they increase the risk of inefficient liquidity default ex-post. Or they can decrease credit spreads because they lower the risk of strategic default ex-ante. Proxying for CDS-related renegotiation frictions using the net notional amount of CDS outstanding as a percentage of debt outstanding (CDS exposure), we show that both effects are operative – credit spreads increase with CDS exposure when liquidation costs are high, but decrease with CDS exposure when borrower bargaining power is high. In the net, credit spreads are positively related to CDS exposure, implying the CDS impose costs associated with ex-post liquidity default that outweigh the ex-ante benefits associated with deterring strategic default. Our evidence indicates that CDS are not redundant securities and that they increase the cost of debt.
Clarithromycin bioequivalence study of two oral formulations in healthy human volunteers.

OBJECTIVE To assess the bioequivalence of two tablet formulations of clarithromycin (Clamicin 500 mg from Medley Indlistria Farmaceutica, Brazil, as the test formulation, and Biaxin 500 mg from Abbott Industries, USA, as the reference formulation). METHODS A single 500 mg oral dose of each formulation was administrated in 24 healthy volunteers of both sexes (12 males and 12 females). The study was conducted open, randomized, two-period crossover design with a 7-day interval between doses. The plasma concentrations of clarithromycin were quantified by reversed phase liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) with positive ion electrospray ionization using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) method. 14-hydroxyclarithromycin concentration was estimated semiquantitatively as equivalent of clarithromycin/ml. The precision of the method was evaluated using calibration curves and plasma quality control samples. The pharmacokinetic parameters calculated for both compounds included: AUC(0 - 48h), AUC(0 - infinity), Cmax, Cmax/AUC(0 - 48h), Tmax, T1/2 and Ke. RESULTS Standard curves of clarithromycin in plasma were linear in the range of 0.05 microg x ml(-1) to 10 microg x ml(-1) (r > 0.999). The limit of quantification was 5 ng/ml. Within- and between-run plasma quality control CV were 5.8% and 15.7%, respectively. Inaccuracy within- and between-runs were 14% and 17%, respectively. 90% CI for clarithromycin geometric mean AUC(0 - 48h), AUC(0 - infinity) and Cmax ratios (test/reference) were: 8.7% - 103.1%, 89.4% - 103.7% and 85.4% - 99.6%, respectively, and for hydroxyclarithomycin were 80.3% - 108.6%, 80.1% - 110.1% and 85.4% - 112.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION The method described for the quantification of charithomycin and its main metabolite is accurate and sensitive. Clamicin was considered bio-equivalent to Biaxin based on the rate and extent of absorption. Since these were no significant differences in the bioequivalence determined using the pharmacokinetic parameters of either clarithromycin or 14-hydroxyclarithromycin, we suggest that future bioequivalence trials of this drug may be performed by quantifying clarithromycin only.
Vulnerability of specific rat chromosomes to in vitro chemically induced damage

The treatment of rat embryo secondary cultures with DMBA or DMBA‐3H for 5,9, or 24 h resulted in chromosome damage consisting mainly of chromatid type aberrations. There was an increase in the percentage of labelled nuclei and metaphases with increasing length of exposure. In terms of incidence of chromatid lesions, the largest telocentric chromosome (No. 2) was the most susceptible of the autosomes. Banding pattern analysis demonstrated that the region associated with negative band 2q24 of the No. 2 chromosome had the highest number of lesions. An increased accumulation of DMBA‐3H label occurred in approximately the same chromatid area of a small fraction of cells exposed for either 5 or 9 h prior to mitosis. The complete loss of DMBA‐3H chromosomal labelling after DNAse treatment suggests that the visible grains represent carcinogen‐bound DNA. After DMBA and BrdUrd, there was an increase in the number of sister chromatid exchanges compared to controls treated with BrdUrd only; the location of the exchange points on chromosome No. 2 was similar in samples treated with either DMBA and BrdUrd or BrdUrd alone. Additional experiments with thymidine‐3H showed that the non‐random chromatid lesions on chromosome No. 2 may result from endogenous radiation from the incorporated tritium. These studies demonstrate that a specific chromosome may be affected by diverse agents and that chromatid lesions frequently occur at the site of sister chromatid exchanges.
The Interplay between Regulations and Financial Stability

The crisis demonstrated that microprudential regulation focusing on the risks taken by individual banks is not sufficient to prevent crises. This is because it ignores systemic risk. Six types of systemic risk are identified, namely: (i) panics – banking crises due to multiple equilibria; (ii) banking crises due to asset price falls; (iii) contagion; (iv) financial architecture; (v) foreign exchange mismatches in the banking system; (vi) behavioral effects from Knightian uncertainty. We focus on the first three as they are arguably the main causes of the 2007–9 crisis and consider regulatory and other policies to counteract them.
Molecular analysis of Japanese isolates of Verticillium dahliae and V. albo‐airum

Sixteen isolates of different pathogenicity groups of the plant pathogen Verticillium dahliae and four isolates of V. albo‐atrum from Japan were analysed by means of an RAPD (random amplified polymorphic DNA) method using a PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Verticillium dahliae and V. albo‐atrum could be distinguished by RAPD analysis. Four pathogenicity groups of V. dahliae could also be classified to a certain extent by this method. Similarities and differences in banding patterns obtained by RAPD may be a useful molecular tool in phylogenetic studies of the pathogenicity groups.
Sensing error minimization for cognitive radio in dynamic environment using death penalty differential evolution based threshold adaptation

In cognitive radio technology, constant changes in the environment like change in background noise, movements of the users or transmitters, interferences, etc. require the spectrum sensing parameters like detection threshold to be changed. Else, errors in spectrum sensing arises which either causes interference between transmission from primary and secondary users, or the secondary user misses an opportunity of transmission causing under usage of available spectrum bands. Thus an optimal threshold value must be determined for minimum error. Here, initially, a Death Penalty based Differential Evolution (DPDE) algorithm is proposed for constrained optimization and based on the proposed DPDE, a threshold adaptation algorithm is designed for dynamic sensing error minimization in changing environment. The performance of the proposed algorithm is compared with previously proposed gradient descend based threshold adaptation algorithm and was found to be faster and more accurate.
Modeling and estimation of detector response and focal spot profile for high-resolution iterative CT reconstruction

High spatial resolution in x-ray computed tomography (CT) is paramount in many clinical applications. The realization of high-resolution CT requires both high-precision imaging hardware and well-designed image reconstruction algorithms. Compared to the conventional filtered backprojection (FBP), one attractive advantage of model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) is the ability to incorporate more realistic models of the blurring effects caused by the detector response and the focal spot. Several studies have shown that modeling such effects in image reconstruction improves spatial resolution and reduces artifacts. However, applying such advanced forward models to real CT data remains challenging, because the system response of a real scanner is seldom known exactly, and improper choice of modeling parameters may introduce reconstruction artifacts. Here we report the results of finite beam-width modeling for a GE Discovery CT 750 HD scanner operating in high resolution mode using focal spot wobble. We introduced modeling of gaps between detector cells and non-uniform focal spot profile, and evaluated how various combinations of modeling parameters affect the reconstructed images. We showed that by properly adjusting the model parameters, in-plane spatial resolution was improved from 15 to 17 lp/cm, as visualized with a Catphan resolution gauge. We further propose a maximum-likelihood approach to estimate the detector response function and the focal spot profile along with the CT image, which may be used to further refine the forward model.
Adaptive-order polynomial methods for power amplifier model estimation

Linearization techniques are required to reduce the undesirable effects of power amplifier nonlinearities in the wideband power-efficient radio communication systems. The polynomial model and its extension to the memory-polynomial are commonly used to model power amplifier nonlinearities. Determination of the appropriate order of the nonlinearity model is an actual issue to achieve effective methods for subsequent linearization techniques. Having in mind these facts, we compare two adaptive methods employing the determination of the appropriate order of the nonlinearity model. The first algorithm is the adaptive order recursive (ORLS) method, while the proposed solution is based on the recursive least squares method with the sequential updates. In the first stage the models were simulated in MATLAB. Depending on the mean square error estimate we decide on the appropriateness of the nonlinearity order increase. The parameters of the power amplifier models are based on the data experimentally obtained using the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) device with WBX front-end driven with an OFDM signal. After further performance evaluation, the order adaptation method will be used for efficient digital adaptive predistorter design.
Normalization Methods Analysis Applied to Face Recognition

Biometrics offers a reliable authentication mechanism that identifies the users through their physical and behavioral characteristics. The problem of face recognition is not trivial because there are many factors that affect the face detection and recognition (e.g., lighting, face position, hair, beard, etc). This work proposes to analyze the effects of geometric and illumination normalization on face recognition techniques, aiming to adapt them to unconstrained environments. The results show the use of background information in the normalization process mistakenly increases the face recognition rates as previously seen in many papers of the literature. The illumination and geometric normalization methods, when performed with precise points of the eyes centers, effectively help in face recognition.
Estimation of Body Fatness by Air Displacement Plethysmography in African American and White Children

The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of air displacement plethysmography (ADP) to estimate body fatness in prepubertal and early pubertal African American and white children. One hundred nineteen nonoverweight and overweight boys (N = 56) and girls (N = 63), age (mean ± SD) 9.8 ± 1.7 y, body mass index 25.9 ± 7.6 kg/m2 (range, 14.2–47.0 kg/m2), and mean percent body fat (%BF) by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) 39.2 ± 11.7% (range, 12.2–57.5%), were studied. %BF by ADP was compared with DXA %BF estimates and with body fat by several field methods: skinfold thicknesses using the Slaughter et al. equations (Hum Biol 60: 709–723, 1988), bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) using the Houtkooper et al. equation (J Appl Physiol 72: 366–373, 1992), and a predictive equation using skinfold thicknesses, BIA, and weight (Goran et al.: Am J Clin Nutr 63: 299–305, 1996). All methods used to estimate %BF were significantly correlated with DXA (all p < 0.0001), with r2 ranging from 0.85 (skinfold measurements) to 0.95 (ADP). ADP using the Siri equation underestimated %BF by −1.9% (p < 0.001); the Bland-Altman limits of agreement (defined as ±2 SD) were ±7.4%. %BF by ADP-Siri underestimated %BF by DXA by 3.0% for girls (p < 0.001) and by 0.6% for boys (NS). Agreement between body fat estimation by ADP and DXA did not vary with age, race, or pubertal stage. Application of the age-adjusted Lohman model to ADP significantly increased the magnitude of the underestimation to −6.9% (p < 0.0001). Prediction of %BF by the Slaughter skinfold thickness equation showed no significant mean bias for the overall data, but significantly underestimated %BF in girls (−3.7%) while overestimating %BF in boys (+2.4%) with wide limits of agreement (±17.7%, p < 0.01 versus ADP). %BF by the Houtkooper BIA equation or Goran model underestimated %BF to a significantly greater degree than ADP (Houtkooper, −8.1%; Goran, −10.1%; both p < 0.0001 versus DXA or ADP). Determination of %BF from ADP using the Siri model slightly underestimates %BF as determined by DXA in girls, but appears to be superior to existing field methods both in accuracy and limits of agreement. Because of the ease with which it can be performed, ADP may prove useful for investigations of adiposity in children.