The test of digital integrated circuits compares the test pattern results for the device under test (DUT) to the expected test pattern results of a standard reference. The standard response is typically obtained from simulations. The test pattern and response are created and evaluated assuming ideal test conditions. The standard response is normally stored within automated test equipment (ATE). However the use of ATE is the major contributor to the test cost. This thesis explores an alternative strategy to the standard response. As an alternative to the stored standard response, the response is estimated by fault tolerant technique. The purpose of the fault tolerant technique is to eliminate the need of standard response and enable online/real-time testing. Fault tolerant techniques use redundancy and majority voting to estimate the standard response. Redundancy in the circuit leads to fault aliasing. Fault aliasing misleads the majority voter in estimating the standard response. The statistics and phenomenon of aliasing are analyzed for benchmark circuits. The impact of fault aliasing on test with respect to coverage, test escape and over-kill is analyzed. The results show that aliasing can be detected with additional test vectors and get 100% fault coverage.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are pathologically defined by the absence of estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptors. Compared to other breast cancers, TNBC has a relatively high mortality. In addition, TNBC patients are more likely to relapse in the first few years after treatment, and experiencing a shorter median time from recurrence to death. Detecting the presence of tumor in patients who are technically “disease-free” after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery as early as possible might be able to predict recurrence of patients, and then provide timely intervention for additional therapy. To this end, I applied the analysis of “liquid biopsies” for early detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) on early-stage TNBC patients using next-generation sequencing. For the first part of this study, I focused on detecting circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from TNBC patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery. First, patient-specific somatic mutations were identified by sequencing primary tumors. From these data, 82% of the patients had at least one TP53 mutation, followed by 16% of the patients having at least one PIK3CA mutation. Next, I sequenced matched plasma samples collected after surgery to identify ctDNA with the same mutations. I observed that by detecting corresponding ctDNA I was able to predict rapid recurrence, but not distant recurrence. To increase the sensitivity of MRD detection, in the second part I developed a strategy to co-detect ctDNA along with circulating tumor RNA (ctRNA). An advantage of ctRNA is its active release into the circulation from living cancer cells. Preliminary data showed that more mutant molecules were identified after incorporating ctRNA with ctDNA detection in a metastatic breast cancer setting. A validation study in early-stage TNBC is in progress. In summary, my study suggests that co-detection of ctDNA and ctRNA could be a potential solution for the early detection of disease recurrence. / 2021-08-05

A fully functioning Comprehensive nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is essential for a world free of nuclear weapons. To measure radionuclides in the atmosphere in accordance with the CTBT, facilities such as SAUNA uses double coincidence techniques to discriminate between interesting Xenon isotopes. In this paper, a Monte-Carlo code (open source) based on first principles simulating a radionuclide detector has been built to investigate the viability of triple coincidence methods for measurements of $^{131m}$Xe, $^{133m}$Xe, $^{133}$Xe and $^{135}$Xe and found that by measuring $\beta - $ Ce $-$ X-ray coincides in $^{133}$Xe and $^{135}$Xe one could seperate the 30 keV photon energy region of interest by as much as $42.9 \pm 26.8$ keV and $214 \pm 50.8$ keV away from the original electron $-$ photon energy axes measured in SAUNA, using concentrations of Xenon isotopes typical for a nuclear weapons test one day after testing. The conclusion is that triple  coincidence  is  a  viable  method  for  nuclear weapons detection in light of double coincidence methods,  if only considering this  theoretical  approach.   No  conclusions  on  the  practicality  of  triple  coincidence methods in a CTBT could be drawn from these results.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第19261号 / 理博第4116号 / 新制||理||1592(附属図書館) / 32263 / 京都大学大学院理学研究科化学専攻 / (主査)教授 杉山 弘, 教授 三木 邦夫, 教授 藤井 紀子 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

No description available.

Since the beginning of the 2020’s the world has drastically changed and forced organisations to re-adapt, adjust and reconfigure their business in order to survive. The Covid-19 pandemic rewrote the map of conducting business, as well as the war in Ukraine was a catalyst for inflation, and thereafter rising interest rates. Simultaneously, the climate is suffering greatly from the human footprints, forcing humanity to act swiftly to avoid collapse of ecosystems and an irreversible global warming. Organisations and societies are therefore forced to change their way of production and consumption, to be able to adapt to these changes. However, there is limited research inwhat successful aspects make environmentally sustainable SMEs outlast business environments embedded by turbulence. Therefore, this study aims to shed light on the capabilities required and answer the research question: How do Swedish SMEs maintain their environmentally sustainable business practices when faced with a turbulent business environment? The raison d'être of this thesis is to investigate and deliver insights on how Swedish Small- and Medium sized Enterprises (SME) manoeuvre their environmentally sustainable business practices in an uncertain environment, and what characteristics are proven to be successful to cope with such conditions. In order to answer the research question and fulfil the purpose of this study, semi-structured interviews with 8 top managers within environmentally sustainable SMEs, were conducted under an inductive approach. Henceforth, the primary data offers important insights in how environmentally sustainable SMEs navigate through business environments embedded by turbulence. The findings suggest how the turbulent conditions of today are both of economic, as well as environmental aspect, forcing SMEs to implement environmentally sustainable practices at the core of their operations to be able to succeed. Hence, the SME must constantly manage the balance between profitability and environmental sustainability in order to make a positive impact on society. The findings further indicate that in order tomanage these turbulent conditions, it is evident that it is vital to be close to the market and understand its changing conditions, in combination with having the ability to be proactive and reactive towards the changes. Aside from this, the findings also emphasise the importance of valuable stakeholder relationships, as well as having an active and independent owner, in order to stay competitive during tough times. In conclusion, this study contributes to the theoretical aspects of Dynamic Capabilities and VUCA with emphasis on environmentally sustainable SMEs. Nevertheless, it also contributes with practical knowledge regarding how these types of organisations manage their environmentally sustainable business practices when times are tough.

The rapid and to some extent uncontrolled tourism expansion in Bali is likely to have major impacts on the island and its residents. Tourism development in Bali is a top priority for economic growth and is the main economic sector on the island. Sustainable tourism has become an increasingly important and recognized topic due to tourism’s inherent nature to generate both positive and negative economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts. Sustainable tourism development is about striking a balance between meeting the needs of local communities, satisfying tourist demand and protecting the natural environment. Residents of host communities are seen as a vital component of the tourism experience as they are the first to interact with tourists. The residents' perceptions are essential to assessing the feasibility of all types of development initiatives, as well as their perceptions are of great importance linked to their personal well-being. Social exchange theory (SET) and triple bottom line (TBL) were used as theoretical frameworks to fulfil the purpose of this study. The study aimed to create an understanding of how residents in Bali experienced the island’s tourism development, and whether and how it differed between residents of the two different destinations: Ubud and Canggu. By examining Bali residents' perceptions of tourism on the island, a small contribution can be made to tourism research from a resident-centric perspective. In turn, this can contribute to subjective indications concerning tourism that are likely to be important in a developing island context. The results showed that the perceived economic benefits outweighed both the socio-cultural, and environmental perceived costs. This result can be interpreted as being due to the residents' strong dependency on tourism, where their vulnerability should be taken into account in sustainable tourism development.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic had a vast and significant impact on today’s societies, in terms of economic, societal, and even environmental aspects. Global supply chains had to adapt to this changing landscape rapidly. Both supply and demand witnessed repercussions. The effects of COVID-19 on supply chains have been evident, with lockdowns and inconsistent supply and demand causing issues for international trade. Indeed, many companies were constrained to stop supply and production and could not deliver their goods.   Purpose: This study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on transportation operations in logistics companies, more precisely by using the case of DHL to emphasize our study. The purpose is to analyze the impacts that the crisis had on Logistics operations, by focusing on DHL and the way the company was impacted, understood and overcame the disruption. This study will take into consideration economic, social and environmental aspects.   Method: The research will be based on a case study and empirical evidence to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on DHL’s supply chain operations and more precisely on logistics and transport. We used the Triple Bottom Line approach to measure the economic, social, and environmental performances of DHL. Further, the analysis used in this paper is an inductive thematic analysis, to emphasize the findings and provide a better accuracy to our results.   Results: The study aims to identify the effects that COVID-19 had on logistics operations, and it more particularly seeks to highlight the strategies used by logistics companies that could be useful for other companies that need to build more resilient and flexible supply chains in the face of future disruptions. The findings of this thesis will be valuable to businesses, supply chain managers, and policymakers seeking to understand the role of improving their supply chains. Thanks to the interviews that were conducted, the findings highlighted several strategies that have been implemented by companies, such as the acceleration in automation, efforts put towards employee conditions, and restructuring companies.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are negative for the expression of estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR), and HER-2 receptors. TNBC accounts for 15% of all breast cancers and results in disproportionally higher mortality compared to ER & HER2-positive tumours. Moreover, there is a paucity of therapies for this subtype of breast cancer resulting primarily from an inadequate understanding of the transcriptional differences that differentiate TNBC from normal breast. To this end, we embarked on a comprehensive examination of the transcriptomes of TNBCs and normal breast tissues using next-generation whole transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq). By comparing RNA-seq data from these tissues, we report the presence of differentially expressed coding and non-coding genes, novel transcribed regions, and mutations not previously reported in breast cancer. From these data we have identified two major themes. First, BRCA1 mutations are well known to be associated with development of TNBC. From these data we have identified many genes that work in concert with BRCA1 that are dysregulated suggesting a role of BRCA1 associated genes with sporadic TNBC. In addition, we observe a mutational profile in genes also associated with BRCA1 and DNA repair that lend more evidence to its role. Second, we demonstrate that using microdissected normal epithelium maybe an optimal comparator when searching for novel therapeutic targets for TNBC. Previous studies have used other controls such as reduction mammoplasties, adjacent normal tissue, or other breast cancer subtypes, which may be sub-optimal and have lead to identifying ineffective therapeutic targets. Our data suggests that the comparison of microdissected ductal epithelium to TNBC can identify potential therapeutic targets that may lead to be better clinical efficacy. In summation, with these data, we provide a detailed transcriptional landscape of TNBC and normal breast that we believe will lead to a better understanding of this complex disease.

In the study of triple systems, one question faced is that of finding for what order a decomposition exists. We state and prove a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a bicyclic mixed triple system based on the three possible partial orientations of the 3-cycle with twice as many arcs as edges. We also explore the existence of rotational and reverse mixed triple systems. Our principal proof technique applied is the difference method. Finally, this work contains a result on packing of complete mixed graphs on v vertices, Mv, with isomorphic copies of two of the mixed triples and a possible leave structure.