Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CSR DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL EUROPEAN COMPANIES WITHIN INTEGRATED REPORTS

The numerous, disconnected and static communication strategies of companies changed lately into a more comprehensive approach to corporate reporting in order to present corporate value in dynamics. Among the numerous benefits of this new way of reporting, entitled integrated reporting, we can identify: improving the quality of the information for capital providers and investors or other corporate stakeholders, enhancing accountability and stewardship of capitals, assisting integrated thinking, the decision process and corporate actions, providing better financial stability and sustainability. Our paper comprises a qualitative analysis of 16 integrated reports of banking and insurances European financial companies, from the Integrated Reporting Example Database, while reviewing their integrated reports with respect to their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) disclosures. Taking into account previous literature models, this paper analyses the information revealed within integrated reports, simultaneously concerning the traditional and strategic approach of CSR. The methodology we used is constructed on a scoring method, aimed at analysing CSR related information, within integrated reports. This method highlights how CSR is disclosed in integrated reporting as part of a strategic approach to CSR. Furthermore, this aims at enhancing the quality and accuracy of the information provided about CSR programs within integrated reports.
Lifetime-enhancement Schemes for Power-constrained Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Survey

Notwithstanding the broad applicability of wireless sensor network (WSN), the successful development and deployment in various real-world applications is currently challenging. The node-devices are powered by constrained-batteries that are typically impossible to substitute after deployments. Therefore, WSNs are energy-constrained and liable to early failure while expected to run for long-terms without battery replenishments.Diverse researchers have recently presented specific lifetime enhancement routing solutions based on data aggregation technology targeted at reducing energy-consumption,and improving the communication reliability of various WSNs.This paper presents a brief survey of the research field of data aggregation-ware routingin energy-constrained WSN. The paper overviews and classifies various existing routing solutions based on their delivery models and also identifies someof their majordrawbacks.
Evaluation and Compensation of Nonlinear Distortion in Multicarrier Communication Systems

In modern wireless communication systems with increasing data transfer rate and mobility, designing efficient transceivers is a key issue. Among different challenges, nonlinearity of high power amplifiers is a problem that has to be overcome by means of adding extra hardware or using more efficient signal processing algorithms. Large signal envelope fluctuations of a multicarrier signal compared to a single carrier is the motivation for extensive investigations in this area. This thesis covers different methods of overcoming the distortion caused by a nonlinearity at the transmitter of a multicarrier communication system. The focus is mainly on digital baseband compensation methods for multicarrier signals undergoing a nonlinearity at the transmitter front-end. Digital baseband predistortion and nonlinear equalization are examples of methods for linearizing a nonlinear high power amplifier. Both of these methods are implemented and compared in this thesis. We also implement a method based on intercarrier interference cancellation to reduce the distortion at the receiver side by means of iterative estimation and refining the received signal. Since this method is a receiver side solution, no extra bandwidth or extra power is required, and only a more complex receiver is needed. Spectral spreading over the neighboring channel is a huge problem, that requires some means of compensation at the transmitter. The spectral spreading can be reduced by forming signals with less sensitivity to nonlinear amplifications. We implement and compare methods of reducing peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of a signal in order to limit the spectral outgrowth and improve the bit error rate (BER) performance of the system. Complexity, bandwidth efficiency and power efficiency are important factors that have to be considered in selection of these method. Except PAPR, other measures of the signal envelope variations can be used to evaluate the susceptibility of signal to nonlinear amplification. We use a measure related to the variance of the instantaneous power, and try to reduce that, thereby improving the performance of the system.
Multichannel Digital Silicon Photomultipliers for Time-of-Flight PET

This thesis discusses the potential of CMOS based SiPMs, especially for TOF PET applications, in a systematic and comprehensive fashion. CMOS based SPADs are still need to be designed carefully to improve fill factor, TDCs be improved from the point of the area and power consumption, and the necessity of high voltage for SPADs be handled efficiently. Thus, this thesis also aims to design and integrate various circuits in the SiPM to realize the high integrations utilizing the biggest advantage of the CMOS technology.
Cost Data Base Development: A Twelve-Year Perspective

Abstract : We have a way to go in compiling the data needed to accomplish various cost estimating and analysis tasks. Data currently exists to answer most questions that arise and that for the most part it is partitionable to the extent required for particular applications. The real issue is one of obtaining the data in a timely manner and of reducing the redundant data collection effort needed every time a cost effectiveness question arises in the decision making arena.
Microwave and millimeter wave CMOS Characterization, modeling, and design

The use of CMOS technologies for microwave and millimeter wave applications has recently been made possible as a result of increased transistor performance. The fT and fmax have, for example, passed 100 GHz at the 130 nm node and 200 GHz at the 65 nm node. This thesis deals with several issues related to the use of CMOS-technologies for microwave and millimeter wave applications. The main focus is above 10 GHz, i.e. above the majority of today’s commercial applications. The thesis is divided into three parts: Characterization, transistor modeling and design. In the characterization of devices, a new statistical equivalent circuit-based method is derived, validated, and compared to existing methods. The method is found to be more general while maintaining or improving accuracy. Large-signal measurements using load-pull are performed on 130 nm, 90 nm, and 45 nm CMOS transistors to evaluate their use for microwave and millimeter wave power amplification. Two empirical transistor models are also presented; a large signal model, including noise and simple scaling rules, and a small-signal noise model. The influences of gate resistance and gate leakage currents on the high frequency noise are described. The empirical large-signal model is used in the design of the first published millimeter wave CMOS frequency doublers. They were implemented in a 90 nm CMOS process and work from 20 GHz to 40 GHz and 30 GHz to 60 GHz. Conversion losses of 15.8 dB and 15.3 dB respectively, are achieved, together with good suppression of the fundamental frequency. Furthermore, the design and characterization of a set of different power amplifiers at K-band (18-27 GHz) in a 130 nm RF-CMOS process are treated. State-of-the-art output power levels of 63 mW at 20 GHz are achieved for the most complex design. For the power amplifier designs, RF extensions of compact models are extracted, and the use of cascode transistors studied. Finally, the analysis and design of a new active balun with wide broadband performance, the matrix balun, are reported. Measured results show a common mode rejection ratio, CMRR, of greater than 15 dB between 4 GHz and 42 GHz while exhibiting 2 dB gain. The balun was realized in a 0.15m mHEMT process. The same matrix balun circuit may also be biased for amplification and used as a matrix amplifier, exhibiting 10.5 dB flat gain up to 63 GHz.
Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services

Whether youre designing consumer electronics, medical devices, enterprise Web apps, or new ways to check out at the supermarket, todays digitally-enabled products and services provide both great opportunities to deliver compelling user experiences and great risks of driving your customers crazy with complicated, confusing technology. Designing successful products and services in the digital age requires a multi-disciplinary team with expertise in interaction design, visual design, industrial design, and other disciplines. It also takes the ability to come up with the big ideas that make a desirable product or service, as well as the skill and perseverance to execute on the thousand small ideas that get your design into the hands of users. It requires expertise in project management, user research, and consensus-building. This comprehensive, full-color volume addresses all of these and more with detailed how-to information, real-life examples, and exercises. Topics include assembling a design team, planning and conducting user research, analyzing your data and turning it into personas, using scenarios to drive requirements definition and design, collaborating in design meetings, evaluating and iterating your design, and documenting finished design in a way that works for engineers and stakeholders alike.
Partial Discharge Due to Bubbles in Oil

Partial discharge measurement is a common method for monitoring and diagnostics of power transformers, and can detect insulation malfunctions before they lead to failure. Different parameters extracted from the measured PD activity can be correlated to the PD source, and as a result it is possible to identify the PD source by analyzing the PD activity.In this thesis, possible defects that could cause harmful PDs in transformers were investigated. These defects include corona in oil, a void in pressboard, a metal object at floating potential, surface discharge in oil, a free bubble in oil and small free metallic particles in oil. The characteristics of disturbing discharge sources were analyzed, like corona in air, surface discharge in air, and discharge from an unearthed object near to the test setup.The PD activity was recorded both in the time domain and phase domain, and possible characteristics for each PD pattern and waveform were extracted in order to find the best characteristic for the purpose of classification.The results show that in the phase domain parameters such as phase of occurrence, repetition rate and shape of PD Pattern are most suitable for classification while magnitude of discharge can only be useful in specific cases. The results show that the PD waveforms correlated to different defects are similar; however the time domain data include all the information from the phase domain, and also has the power to identify the number of PD sources. The PD dependency on temperature was investigated on the four test objects including surface discharges in oil, corona in oil, bubble discharges in oil, and metal object at floating potential. The effect of humidity was investigated for corona in oil. The results show that at higher temperature the corona activity in oil and PD activity due to a metal object at floating potential in oil decrease. However, for a bubble in oil and for surface discharge in oil the PD activity increases with the increase of the oil temperature. It was shown that the amount of moisture in oil has a strong impact on number of corona pulses in oil.The last part focused on ageing of oil-impregnated paper due to PD activity. Investigation was made of the behavior of PD activity and its corresponding parameters such as PD repetition rate and magnitude, from inception until complete puncture breakdown. The results show that both the number and magnitude of PD increase over time until they reach to a peak value. After this point over time both curves decrease slowly, and eventually full breakdown occurs.The effect of thermal ageing of oil impregnated paper on time to breakdown and PD parameters was investigated. The results show that thermal aging of oil-impregnated paper increases the number and magnitude of PD. Dielectric spectroscopy was performed on the samples before and after PD ageing and the result was used in order to explain the behavior of PD over time.
Initiative-Oriented Training

Abstract : This study investigates the degree to which conventional infantry battalions (light, mechanized, airborne, and air assault) are conducting realistic home-station unit training to prepare soldiers to face a willing and able foe. The study analyzes training based largely upon three criteria developed from extensive literature review and analysis: (1) cognitive mental stressors (uncertainty, ambiguity, information overload/deprivation, and so forth), (2) environmental physical stressors (sights, sounds, and smells of the battlefield), and (3) conditions that unleash soldiers initiative (understanding the purpose and commander's intent). Additionally, the study analyzes the degree to which U.S. Army training doctrine supports operational, leader development, and combat stress doctrine. Using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, the study makes a set of inferences and generalizations about the current state of infantry training. The study concludes with recommendations to company and battalion commanders on how to improve their individual and collective home-station training.
Modern biomarkers of renal damage in pediatrics

Acute kidney injury (AKI), in contrast to acute renal failure, is a broader concept. Even minor changes in the excretory function of the kidneys have a significant impact on the work of the whole organism. The occurrence of AKI increases the risk of death, the length of hospitalization and the cost of treating any pathology. The purpose of this literature review is to analyze the pos-sibilities of using a number of markers in the early diagnosis of various types of AKI in pediatrics. The review includes the most studied and applicable markers in pediatric practice – interleukin-18, Neutrophil Gelatinase–Associated (NGAL),
Development and Estimation of a Wireless Controlled Implantable Electric-stimulator for the Blood Pressure Regulation

Hypertension is the chronic disease that the 16% of total population are suffering, and it needs to be studied to find alternative treatment because of the tolerance and side effect of medications that may bother some patients. in this paper, we verified practicality of implantable electrical stimulator that can readily change stimulus magnitude and frequency. And this device is possible to stimulate baroreflex or parasympathetic nerve. Therefore we performed in vitro tests and animal experiment for device's operating conditions. This device consist of implantable electrical stimulator and extracorporeal control/monitoring system. Stimulator was designed to make 1Hz~100Hz pulses and it can change continuous or periodic pulse train type. And this device can control stimulator's function and monitor stimulator's status and patients' blood pressure at exterior of body using ZigBee module as wireless telecommunication. We verified that stimulator have error rate under 5% at 50mm depth of organs and, stimulator makes high-efficiency energy with closer position of two electrodes. Also we can confirm the performance of device that decreasing blood pressure and heart rate of a rat by electrical stimulation.
Differences Between Military and Commercial Shipbuilding: Implications for the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence

Abstract : Can the United Kingdom's shipbuilding industry compete more broadly in commercial or foreign military markets? In this report, RAND researchers look at the current and past trends of shipbuilding worldwide and the primary differences between "military" and "commercial" shipbuilding. They find that any transition for UK shipbuilders outside current domestic production would not come easily. The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (MOD) needs a robust and healthy shipbuilding industrial base if it is to be provided naval ships that are technically advanced and affordable. The MOD is thus interested in whether the United Kingdom's shipbuilding industry might become more competitive in commercial and foreign military marketplaces. It is the aim of this report to shed light on the prospects for the United Kingdom's re-entering the commercial market or increasing its share of the military export market. The authors base their analysis on three types of information sources. First, they reviewed the literature for pertinent documents. Of particular interest and value were Lloyd's Register of Ships, a database of existing ships and current commercial ship orders, and Warships Forecast, a 10-year projection of military ship production. Second, they surveyed 15 major shipyards (7 in the United Kingdom, 2 in the United States, and 6 in the European Union) and a consulting U.S. ship designer for their views on the feasibility and practicality of producing a mix of commercial and military vessels at a single yard. Third, they conducted interviews with personnel at shipyards responding to the survey to ensure that they understood the survey responses and to allow them to elaborate freely on the questions asked. The challenges are formidable, and their conclusions are not very encouraging, but the authors do provide some steps that the MOD and the shipbuilding industry could consider as means to improve the industry's position.
Architectural Techniques for Multi-Level Cell Phase Change Memory Based Main Memory

Phase change memory (PCM) recently has emerged as a promising technology to meet the fast growing demand for large capacity main memory in modern computing systems. Multi-level cell (MLC) PCM storing multiple bits in a single cell offers high density with low per-byte fabrication cost. However, PCM suffers from long write latency, short cell endurance, limited write throughput and high peak power, which makes it challenging to be integrated in the memory hierarchy. To address the long write latency, I propose write truncation to reduce the number of write iterations with the assistance of an extra error correction code (ECC). I also propose form switch (FS) to reduce the storage overhead of the ECC. By storing highly compressible lines in single level cell (SLC) form, FS improves read latency as well. To attack the short cell endurance and large peak power, I propose elastic RESET (ER) to construct triple-level cell PCM. By reducing RESET energy, ER significantly reduces peak power and prolongs PCM lifetime. To improve the write concurrency, I propose fine-grained write power budgeting (FPB) observing a global power budget and regulates power across write iterations according to the step-down power demand of each iteration. A global charge pump is also integrated onto a DIMM to boost power for hot PCM chips while staying within the global power budget. To further reduce the peak power, I propose intra-write RESET scheduling distributing cell RESET initializations in the whole write operation duration, so that the on-chip charge pump size can also be reduced.
Protection Models for Web Applications

Early web applications were a set of static web pages connected to one another. In contrast, modern applications are full-featured programs that are nearly equivalent to desktop applications in functionality. However, web servers and web browsers, which were initially designed for static web pages, have not updated their protection models to deal with the security consequences of these fullfeatured programs. This mismatch has been the source of several security problems in web applications. This dissertation proposes new protection models for web applications. The design and implementation of prototypes of these protection models in a web server and a web browser are also described. Experiments are used to demonstrate the improvements in security and performance from using these protection models. Finally, this dissertation also describes systematic design methods to support the security of web applications. Protection Models for Web Applications
Application of emulsion liquid membrane for the extraction of diclofenac and relationship with the stability of water-in-Oil emulsions

Abstract In this work, Diclofenac (DCF) was removed from its aqueous solution using emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) prepared using n-heptane as an organic solvent, different types of carrier (Tri- n-octylamine, Tri- n-butylphosphate and Di-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) and mixed surfactant systems at different HLB (Hydrophilic Lipophilic Balance) values. Different stripping phases (NaOH, H2SO4, HCl, and HNO3) were tested to study the stripping capacity. Effect of process parameters such as types of carrier, types and concentration of stripping phase, speed of homogenizer to prepare water in oil (w/o) emulsion and composition of surfactant mixture based on HLB value on the stability of w/o emulsion as well as on the extraction efficiency were examined. It was found that maximum extraction (< 95%) obtained with D2EHPA (2.0%w/v), 9500 rpm speed of homogenizer, mixed surfactant of HLB 6 (2.0%w/v) to give stable w/o emulsion and HNO3 (0.001 M) as a stripping phase. The result obtained on w/o stability showed that the emulsion prepared with the mixed surfactant of HLB 6 was found to be stable up to 30 min which was due to formation of smallest droplet size of water in oil. On increasing the HLB value above 6 the droplets' size started increasing due to the inversion of stable w/o emulsion into unstable o/w emulsion. Graphical Abstract Highlights Potential of Emulsion Liquid Membrane (ELM) for the extraction of Diclofenac (DCF) from aqueous solutions was studied. Di-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA), an acidic carrier was found to be the most suitable extractant in membrane phase for the extraction of DCF. Nitric acid was found to be the most efficient stripping reagent to strip DCF from the membrane phase. Hydrophilic-lipophilic balance was having a significant effect on the stability of ELM during the extraction process.
Decisions of hypermarkets location in dense urban area - effects on streets network congestion in the Bucharest case

Summary . The paper represents some partial results of the research carried out by the Transportation, Traffic and Logistics Department - University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, funded by the Romanian Ministry of Research and Education through the National University Research Council. In this paper we provide: a brief description of the interrelation between the life style changes of Rom anian people during the last decades and the car traffic congestion in large cities; the streets network modelling of a radialcircular urban structure (the characteristic of a h istorically developed city as Bucharest city is), in case of car traffic congestion; the as sessment model of the additional car traffic congestion for certain locations with large attract ivity. Having an important effect on the entire lifestyle of urban people, the decision of a hypermarket location might be a complex one, taking into consideration the new leis ure and shopping tendencies but also the additional car traffic congestion caused by the chosen location.