Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece
UNIL IRIS | Institutional Research Information SystemNot a member yet
170689 research outputs found
Sort by
Assessing quantitative MRI techniques using multimodal comparisons
No full textThe study of brain structure and change in neuroscience is commonly conducted using macroscopic morphological measures of the brain such as regional volume or cortical thickness, providing little insight into the microstructure and physiology of the brain. In contrast, quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) allows the monitoring of microscopic brain change non-invasively in-vivo, and provides directly comparable values between tissues, regions, and individuals. To support the development and common use of qMRI for cognitive neuroscience, we analysed a set of qMRI and dMRI metrics (R1, R2*, Magnetization Transfer saturation, Proton Density saturation, Fractional Anisotropy, Mean Diffusivity) in 101 healthy young adults. Here we provide a comprehensive descriptive analysis of these metrics and their linear relationships to each other in grey and white matter to develop a more complete understanding of the relationship to tissue microstructure. Furthermore, we provide evidence that combinations of metrics may uncover informative gradients across the brain by showing that lower variance components of PCA may be used to identify cortical gradients otherwise hidden within individual metrics. We discuss these results within the context of microstructural and physiological neuroscience research.
Copyright: © 2025 Carter et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Supporting challenges in large-scale agile transformations through design science research: 6 essays
No full textDriven by digital transformations and the recent integration of generative AI in organisations, agile has once again reclaimed centre stage. While agile methods in small, co-located teams are now well- established, the focus has shifted to large-scale agile transformations, aiming to expand agile across the organisation. This shift is motivated by the expected benefits of agile, such as increased speed, flexibility, enhanced customer focus, and improved collaboration. The aforementioned have been widely discussed in the Information Systems (IS) literature and reported by consultancy firms and practitioner reports. Unfortunately, despite extensive IS research, organisations continue to face significant challenges in their large-scale agile transformation initiatives, hindering them from reaping these awaited benefits. Previous IS research has studied large-scale agile transformations through a socio-technical lens, whereby both the social and technical systems are key to a successful transformation.
As we look closer, we find that most of the challenges reported in the IS literature and practitioner reports stem from the social aspects of these transformations, often referred to as the “people- challenges”. These challenges include scepticism towards agile, resistance to change, a lack of coaching and training, and a general misunderstanding of agile concepts. These issues are closely tied to the mindset and cultural dimensions of organisations, making them significant barriers that ought to be addressed to successfully scale agile within organisations.
Against this backdrop and guided by the overarching objective of supporting organisations in their large-scale agile transformation, this thesis focuses on the social dimension of the said transformation. Specifically, the objective is not only to provide practical guidance to organisations but also to theorise on the mechanisms that underpin this guidance.
To meet this objective, I structured this PhD thesis into three chapters, consisting of six essays, each conducted in the spirit of engaged scholarship. The first chapter is composed of a single essay that challenges the assumptions underlying the IS literature on large-scale agile transformations. I suggest an alternative perspective by conceptualising large-scale agile transformations as wicked problems and argue in favour of addressing them as such. The second chapter, which is the heart of this thesis, consists of four essays that build on the premise of the first. Namely, that large-scale agile transformations can be considered a wicked problem. This second chapter focuses on the design and evaluation of a visual inquiry tool – the Agile Transformation Canvas – developed to help organisations in their large-scale agile transformation from a socio-perspective. This second chapter includes a clear description of the problem space, the development of the Agile Transformation Canvas, along with its evaluation. The third and final chapter, which includes a single essay, extends the Agile Transformation Canvas by digitalising it to integrate systems thinking principles. This integration results in the formulation, instantiation, and evaluation of design principles for a digital inquiry platform – a digital platform capable of hosting multiple digitalised visual inquiry tools – including the Agile Transformation Canvas.
Overall, this thesis offers new insights to help organisations navigate the social challenges associated with scaling agile. In addition to the contributions to research and practice associated with each of the six essays, this thesis as a whole advances both prescriptive (i.e., how) and descriptive (i.e., what) knowledge in IS, offering artefactual, theoretical, and empirical contributions to the field
The economic and regulatory differences between professional football and ice hockey in Switzerland
No full text
A validation study of the in vitro performance of hypoxic red blood cells for transfusion across centers in Europe
No full textRefrigerated storage of red cell concentrate (RCC) leads to metabolic, oxidative, and structural changes that impair functionality and viability. These changes can be attenuated by hypoxic storage.
This study assessed the quality of leucocytes-reduced (LR), O2/CO2 reduced red blood cells (RBC) stored for 42 days after pre-storage O2/CO2 reduction with the Hemanext ONE System, to verify compliance with regional and blood center acceptance criteria across six sites.
Validation studies of the in vitro performance of the LR, O2/CO2 reduced storage (Hemanext ONE) System were planned and executed at blood production centers in Italy, Germany, Norway and Switzerland. The endpoint-associated study acceptance criteria included total hematocrit >50%, total hemoglobin ≥40 g and hemolysis <0.8%.
In total, 133 whole blood units donated at six blood centers were evaluated after processing with the Hemanext ONE System and after 21 and 42 days of storage. At Day 1 post-processing, total hemoglobin (mean ± SD) was 52.4 g/unit ± 3.1 and total hematocrit percentage (mean ± SD) was 60.6% ± 7.0 (range, 51.9%-81.0%). Hemolysis at Day 42 of storage: overall mean ± SD, 0.26% ± 0.14.
Hypoxic RBCs met regulatory quality criteria regardless of collection and processing modalities. These results indicate that processing of RBCs stored under hypoxic conditions satisfies acceptance criteria for transfusion into patients in six European regional blood centers.
© 2025 AABB
Protocol for a pseudo-randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of eco-driving assistance systems on bus drivers' stress responses
No full textTechnological innovations in the public transport sector are increasingly leveraged to support the goals of environmental sustainability and public health. Eco-driving assistance (EDA) systems represent one such intervention, aimed at reducing fuel consumption, emissions, and operating costs while improving passenger comfort. However, the potential unintended impacts of EDA technologies on driver health and well-being remain understudied. The EDA Trial, part of the EU-funded INTERCAMBIO project, seeks to evaluate whether the use of EDA systems may introduce new psychosocial stressors for professional drivers, with implications for occupational and public health.
The EDA tested in this trial is called "NAVIG". Buses will be assigned randomly. Operating EDA-equipped vehicle will be considered as intervention condition, operating vehicle without EDA as control. Each participant will be monitored for 10 working days maximum to accumulate at least 5 intervention shifts during the trial. Heart rate variability (HRV) will be continuously recorded during working hours to assess autonomous stress responses. The root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) will be averaged over intervention and control shifts to enable within-subject comparisons between intervention and control conditions. Subjective stress levels will be evaluated using the self-report instruments: Cohen's perceived stress scale at baseline and visual analogous scale at baseline and daily. Moreover, neuroendocrine stress biomarkers (salivary cortisol and cortisone) will be collected repeatedly across shifts, as additional outcomes. Mixed-effects models with participant's ID as a random effect variable will be used to compare stress outcomes between EDA and non-EDA driving conditions. Models will be adjusted for potential confounders.
A sample size of 26-40 participants was estimated to provide 80% power (α = 0.05) to detect differences of 12-15% between conditions. Ethical approval was obtained from the Swissethics (CER-VD 2024-01573), and participant recruitment is ongoing, with 27 drivers enrolled as of June 2025.
This study will provide empirical evidence on the potential health trade-offs associated with implementing eco-driving technologies in real-world settings. By assessing physiological and psychological stress responses to EDA, the trial supports a more integrated approach to environmental technology evaluation-one that considers not only energy efficiency but also the health and sustainability of the workforce.
The trial was registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov database (NCT06688721)
Fall and rise of Swiss industrial profit rates 1850-1929. World Economic History Conference. Panel: Profits, Dividends and Returns
No full textLongitudinal changes in MEG-based brain network topology of ALS patients with cognitive/behavioral impairment-An exploratory study.
No full textAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with only motor impairment (ALS-pure motor) and the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) are hypothesized to represent extreme ends of a disease spectrum, which encompasses ALS with cognitive/behavioral impairment (ALSci/bi). In this longitudinal magnetoencephalography (MEG) study, we investigated changes in brain network topology of ALSci/bi over time as compared with ALS-pure motor and bvFTD patients. Resting-state MEG was recorded in ALS-pure motor (n = 9), ALSci/bi (n = 16), and bvFTD (n = 16) at baseline and 5-month follow-up, projected to source space. The corrected version of the amplitude envelope correlation was applied to compute frequency-band-specific functional connectivity between brain regions, from which the backbone of the functional networks was constructed using the minimum spanning tree (MST) approach. Reference MSTs were computed based on the functional connectivity matrices for ALS-pure motor and bvFTD, against which the networks of ALSci/bi were compared. We showed that, at baseline, networks in the theta band of ALSci/bi patients were more similar to ALS-pure motor than bvFTD. At follow-up, ALSci/bi patients' beta-band network similarity had moved away from ALS-pure motor and resembled bvFTD. In conclusion, our findings suggest that brain networks of ALSci/bi patients move along the ALS-bvFTD spectrum over time, from ALS-pure motor to bvFTD-like topology
Neuron-reactive KIR+CD8+ T cells display an encephalitogenic transcriptional program in autoimmune encephalitis
No full textAutoreactive CD8+ T cells targeting neurons are the principal suspects in autoimmune encephalitis (AIE), but supporting data is still lacking. Here we identify neuron-reactive CD8+ T cells in a cohort of six healthy donors and one patient with anti-Ri encephalitis (Ri-AIE) by querying natural antigen presentation of neurons that are derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells. Single-cell RNA sequencing of ex vivo CD8+ T cells in an extended cohort of seven Ri-AIE patients and three aged-matched controls further reveal that these neuron-reactive CD8+ T cells correspond to cytotoxic KIR+CD8+ regulatory T cells. Intriguingly, KIR+CD8+ T cells from most Ri-AIE patients have reduced expression of KIR and the key regulatory transcription factor, Helios, encoded by the IKZF2 gene; by contrast, these cells show activated TCR signaling and increased TNF and IFNG gene expression. Importantly, Ri-AIE-derived KIR+CD8+ T cells from blood also express higher levels of TOX, a gene associated with encephalitogenic potential, and is expressed in cytotoxic CD8+ T cells in the brain lesions of one Ri-AIE patient. Altogether, our data hints that dysregulated activity of neuron-reactive cytotoxic KIR+CD8+ T cells may contribute to Ri-AIE pathogenesis.
© 2025. The Author(s)