gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Uncertainty management for rule-based systems with applications to image analysis (1994)

In image analysis, there have been few effective procedures that deal with a wide class of imagery acquired by different sensors under different environmental conditions. The success of a given classification algorithm is dependent upon pattern familiarity, background, and the image acquisition process. Thus, with the inaccuracies in the acquisition process, as well as incomplete or incorrect knowledge about the pattern classes, one cannot place complete confidence in the classifier outcome. There has been increasing success in making decisions under such uncertain conditions by using a rule-based approach with effective uncertainty management, which involves identifying the causes of uncertainty and developing mathematical models for the same. These are incorporated into the rule structure so that the result would be a set of choices or decisions, with a set of associated certainty values or confidences. This paper proposes a "unified" methodology to combine the uncertainties associated with evidence for a given proposition, which is then systematically propagated down the decision tree. The relative importance of propositions as well as the rules themselves have also been considered. Finally, the methodology has been applied to an ATR problem and the results, when compared to some existing methods, show the overall effectiveness of this approach.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>
A speech interface for rapid reading (2000)

Visually disabled people use text-to-speech interfaces to read documents. Text-to-speech interfaces present text in sequence. Informative texts are often skim read and referenced. These common tasks require an interface which permits efficient non-sequential access to the relevant text regions. This paper presents three implemented solutions that are based on language processing techniques. (4 pages)
Boardroom myths: reconciling prescription and research guidance (2004)

Not since the passage of the Securities and Exchange Commission Act of 1934 have matters of corporate governance received such concentrated attention. The failures of a series of notable US companies, beginning with Enron Corporation, have reignited attention toward effective corporate governance. The single most remarkable governance‐related outcome of the Enron failure is the passage of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002. Congress passed this legislation as a means for remedying the types of governance failures that are believed to have significantly contributed to Enron’s downfall.
Evidence against the presence of an anandamide transporter (2003)

On the basis of temperature dependency, saturability, selective inhibition, and substrate specificity, it has been proposed that an anandamide transporter exists. However, all of these studies have examined anandamide accumulation at long time points when downstream effects such as metabolism and intracellular sequestration are operative. In the current study, we have investigated the initial rates (<1 min) of anandamide accumulation in neuroblastoma and astrocytoma cells in culture and have determined that uptake is not saturable with increasing concentrations of anandamide. However, anandamide hydrolysis, after uptake in neuroblastoma cells, was saturable at steady-state time points (5 min), suggesting that fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) may be responsible for observed saturation of uptake at long time points. In general, arvanil, olvanil, and N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)arachidonylamide (AM404) have been characterized as transport inhibitors in studies using long incubations. However, we found these "transport inhibitors" did not inhibit anandamide uptake in neuroblastoma and astrocytoma cells at short time points (40 sec or less). Furthermore, we confirmed that these inhibitors in vitro were actually inhibitors of FAAH. Therefore, the likely mechanism by which the transport inhibitors raise anandamide levels to exert pharmacological effects is by inhibiting FAAH, and they should be reevaluated in this context. Immunofluorescence has indicated that FAAH staining resides mainly on intracellular membranes of neuroblastoma cells, and this finding is consistent with our observed kinetics of anandamide hydrolysis. In summary, these data suggest that anandamide uptake is a process of simple diffusion. This process is driven by metabolism and other downstream events, rather than by a specific membrane-associated anandamide carrier.
Windowless ultrasound photoacoustic cell for in vivo mid-IR spectroscopy of human epidermis: Low interference by changes of air pressure, temperature, and humidity caused by skin contact opens the possibility for a non-invasive monitoring of glucose in the interstitial fluid (2013)

The application of a novel open, windowless cell for the photoacoustic infrared spectroscopy of human skin is described. This windowless cavity is tuned for optimum performance in the ultrasound range between 50 and 60 kHz. In combination with an external cavity tunable quantum cascade laser emitting in the range from ~1000 cm(-1) to 1245 cm(-1), this approach leads to high signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) for mid-infrared spectra of human skin. This opens the possibility to measure in situ the absorption spectrum of human epidermis in the mid-infrared region at high SNR in a few (~5) seconds. Rapid measurement of skin spectra greatly reduces artifacts arising from movements. As compared to closed resonance cells, the windowless cell exhibits the advantage that the influence of air pressure variations, temperature changes, and air humidity buildup that are caused by the contact of the cell to the skin surface can be minimized. We demonstrate here that this approach can be used for continuous and non-invasive monitoring of the glucose level in human epidermis, and thus may form the basis for a non-invasive monitoring of the glucose level for diabetes patients.
Synthesis and Characterization of Photochromic Liquid Crystalline Polymer Beads (2005)

ABSTRACT Sub-micron sized liquid crystalline polymer beads containing azo groups and mesogenic groups were synthesized in order to develop 3D array showing photoinduced stimulus response properties. The size of beads was dependent on the polymerization temperature and the molar ratio of the azo and mesogenic groups. Films of the polymer beads were prepared by casting the suspension liquid on a glass plate. By irradiation of polarized light (488 nm) on the film of the polymer bead assembly, the photoisomerization effect of azo groups on the shape of the polymer beads as well as the molecular orientation of the mesogenic groups in the beads was investigated.
Oral Immunotherapy for Food Allergy (2017)

Food allergy is a potentially life-threatening condition with no approved therapies apart from avoidance and injectable epinephrine for treatment of acute allergic reactions. Oral immunotherapy (OIT) is an experimental treatment in which patients consume gradually increasing quantities of the food to which they are allergic in an attempt to induce some level of desensitization. While desensitization is possible in most patients, OIT carries significant risks for allergic reactions, and the ability to induce longer-term tolerance has not yet been established. This review focuses on selected studies of OIT for the treatment of common food allergies such as cow's milk, hen's egg, and peanut.
New Functions for Non-collagenous Domains of Human Collagen Type IV (2000)

Collagen type IV is a major component of the basal lamina of blood vessels. Six genetically distinct collagen type IV chains have been identified and are distributed in a tissue-specific manner. Here we define a novel function for soluble non-collagenous (NC1) domains of the alpha2(IV), alpha3(IV), and alpha6(IV) chains of human collagen type IV in the regulation of angiogenesis and tumor growth. These NC1 domains were shown to regulate endothelial cell adhesion and migration by distinct alpha(v) and beta(1) integrin-dependent mechanisms. Systemic administration of recombinant alpha2(IV), alpha3(IV), and alpha6(IV) NC1 domains potently inhibit angiogenesis and tumor growth, whereas alpha1(IV), alpha4(IV), and alpha5(IV) showed little if any effect. These findings suggest that specific NC1 domains of collagen type IV may represent an important new class of angiogenesis inhibitors.
Lipocalin 2-deficient mice exhibit increased sensitivity to Escherichia coli infection but not to ischemia-reperfusion injury (2006)

Diverse functions have been reported for lipocalin 2. To investigate these functions in vivo, we generated gene-targeted lipocalin 2-deficient mice (Lcn2-/- mice). In vitro studies have suggested that lipocalin 2 is important for cellular apoptosis induced by IL-3 withdrawal, and for the induction of kidney differentiation during embryogenesis. Analysis of Lcn2-/- mice showed normal cell death upon IL-3 withdrawal and normal kidney development. However, we found that Lcn2-/- mice exhibited an increased susceptibility to bacterial infections, in keeping with the proposed function of lipocalin 2 in iron sequestration. Neutrophils isolated from Lcn2-/- mice showed significantly less bacteriostatic activity compared with WT controls. The bacteriostatic property of the WT neutrophils was abolished by the addition of exogenous iron, indicating that the main function of lipocalin 2 in the antibacterial innate immune response is to limit this essential element. Another important function ascribed to lipocalin 2 has been its protective role against kidney ischemia-reperfusion injury. We analyzed Lcn2-/- mice using a mouse model for severe renal failure and could not detect any significant differences compared with their WT littermates.
A deterministic digital simulation model for Suzuki processes with application to a shadowed Rayleigh land mobile radio channel (1996)

We present a novel computer simulation model for a land mobile radio channel. The underlying channel model takes for granted non-frequency-selective fading but considers the effects caused by shadowing. For such a channel model we design a simulation model that is based on an efficient approximation of filtered white Gaussian noise processes by finite sums of properly weighted sinusoids with uniformly distributed phases. In all, four completely different methods for the computation of the coefficients of the simulation model are introduced. Furthermore, the performance of each procedure is investigated on the basis of two quality criteria. All the presented methods have in common the fact that the resulting simulation model has a completely determined fading behavior for all time. Therefore, the simulation model can be interpreted as a deterministic model that approximates stochastic processes such as Rayleigh, log-normal, and Suzuki (1977) processes.
Analysis of FLT3-activating mutations in 979 patients with acute myelogenous leukemia: association with FAB subtypes and identification of subgroups with poor prognosis (2002)

Constitutive activation of the FLT3 receptor tyrosine kinase, either by internal tandem duplication (ITD) of the juxtamembrane region or by point mutations in the second tyrosine kinase domain (TKD), has been described in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). We analyzed the prevalence and the potential prognostic impact of FLT3 mutations in 979 AML patients. Results were correlated with cytogenetic data and the clinical response. FLT3-ITD mutations were found in 20.4% and FLT3-TKD mutations in 7.7% of the patients. Each mutation was associated with similar clinical characteristics and was more prevalent in patients with normal karyotype. Significantly more FLT3 aberrations were found in patients with FAB M5, and fewer were found in patients with FAB M2 and M6. Although less frequent in patients with cytogenetic aberrations, FLT3-ITDs were found in 13 of 42 patients with t(15;17) and in 9 of 10 patients with t(6;9). The prevalence of the ITD allele on the DNA level was heterogeneous, ranging from faint mutant bands in some patients to predominant mutant bands in others. Based on quantitative analysis, the mutant-wild-type (wt) ratio ranged from 0.03 to 32.56 (median, 0.78). Patients with a high mutant/wt ratio (ie, greater than 0.78) had significantly shorter overall and disease-free survival, whereas survival in patients with ratios below 0.78 did not differ from those without FLT3 aberrations. Multivariate analysis confirmed a high mutant/wt ratio to be a strong independent prognostic factor. Taken together, these data confirm that FLT mutations represent a common alteration in adult AML. Constitutive activation may be associated with monocytoid differentiation. A high mutant/wt ratio in ITD-positive patients appears to have a major impact on the prognostic relevance.
Deletion of the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products Reduces Glomerulosclerosis and Preserves Renal Function in the Diabetic OVE26 Mouse (2010)

These data provide compelling evidence for critical roles for RAGE in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy and suggest that strategies targeting RAGE in long-term diabetes may prevent loss of renal function.
Graded Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Activity Precedes Switch-Like c-Fos Induction in Mammalian Cells (2005)

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is an evolutionarily conserved signaling module that controls important cell fate decisions in a variety of physiological contexts. During Xenopus oocyte maturation, the MAPK cascade converts an increasing progesterone stimulus into a switch-like, all-or-nothing response. While the importance of such switch-like behavior is widely discussed in the literature, it is not known whether the MAPK pathway in mammalian cells exhibits a switch-like or graded response. For this study, we used flow cytometry and immunofluorescence to generate single-cell measurements of MAPK signaling in Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts. In contrast to the case in Xenopus oocytes, we found that ERK activation in individual mammalian cells is not ultrasensitive and shows a graded response to changes in agonist concentration. Thus, the conserved MAPK signaling module exhibits different systems-level properties in different cellular contexts. Furthermore, the graded ERK response was converted into a more switch-like behavior at the level of immediate-early gene induction and cell cycle progression. Thus, while MAPK signaling is involved in all-or-nothing cell fate decisions for both Xenopus oocyte maturation and mammalian fibroblast proliferation, the underlying mechanisms responsible for the switch-like nature of the cellular responses are different in these two systems, with the mechanism appearing to lie downstream of the kinase cascade in mammalian fibroblasts.
Prognostic Significance of Fluorescence Intensity of Surface Marker Expression in Childhood B-Precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. A Pediatric Oncology Group Study (1997)

This report describes the prognostic significance of the intensity of surface membrane antigen expression in a series of 1,231 children older than 1 year with newly diagnosed B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated on Pediatric Oncology Group (POG) treatment protocols. All patients had dual-color flow cytometric immunophenotyping performed at a central reference laboratory with a standard panel of monoclonal antibodies. The flow cytometers used in the study were calibrated with a standard fluorescence microparticle that permitted conversion of relative fluorescence channels to standard units of mean equivalents of soluble fluorochrome (MESF). In univariate analysis, fluorescence intensity of CD45 and CD20 was significantly associated with event-free survival (EFS), whereas other markers showed no significant correlation with outcome. Patients whose blasts were greater than the 75th percentile of intensity for CD45 (corresponding to 18,000 MESF units with CD45-FITC, or about 8% of the intensity of normal lymphocytes) fared significantly worse than those with lower-density CD45, and those whose blasts were greater than the 25th percentile of intensity for CD20 (corresponding to 17,900 MESF units with CD20-PE) had a poorer EFS. The intensity of both CD45 and CD20 was independently correlated with outcome. There was no significant correlation between intensity of expression of either antigen and traditional clinical risk factors, ploidy, or t(9;22) or t(1;19). All patients with t(4;11) had CD45 intensity greater than the 75th percentile, but CD45 intensity retained its prognostic significance after adjusting for t(4;11). In multivariate analysis, both CD45 intensity greater than the 75th percentile and CD20 intensity greater than the 25th percentile were significantly correlated with poor outcome independently of previously reported poor prognostic factors including National Cancer Institute (NCI) risk group, ploidy, trisomies of 4 and 10, and adverse translocations including t(1;19), t(9;22), and t(4;11). We conclude that in childhood B-precursor ALL, the intensity of expression of CD20 and CD45 provides prognostic information not available from simple consideration of antigen expression as positive or negative, and adds to that obtained from traditional clinical and biologic risk factors.
Thiophene-based conjugated oligomers for organic solar cells (2011)

Owing to their efficient light harvesting, structural versatility and intrinsic charge transport behavior, thiophene-based π-conjugated systems have attracted much attention in developing high performance organic solar cells. In comparison to the relevant conjugated polymers that are used as active materials in photovoltaic devices, conjugated oligomers possess some critical advantages: (1) well-defined molecular structures lead to their synthetic reproducibility with high purity which is vital to obtain repeatable device performance; (2) crystalline features of oligomers favor the long range order in the solid state and benefit the charge carrier transport; (3) the devices can be readily fabricated by both solution-processable and vacuum-deposited techniques. In this feature article, thiophene-based conjugated oligomers with molecular architectures from 1D to 3D, which play an essential role in the device performance of organic solar cells, will be summarized. We aim to address the influence of the thiophene motifs on the electronic, optical and self-assembly properties of the materials, and eventually conclude the relationship between the molecular structures and photovoltaic properties.
ULTRA WIDEBAND RADIO CHANNEL MODELLING FOR INDOORS (2008)

Abstract: Most of the wideband radio channel models available today are not accurate enough for ultra wideband (UWB) applications occupying an extremely large bandwidth. In this paper, a procedure for indoor UWB radio channel measurements and modelling is presented. The example discussed here is based on the measurements carried out in the main building of the University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland. An average size lecture room was selected to represent typical university environment, and various radio links were measured for statistical variance. A radio frequency band from 2 to 8 GHz was covered by a vector network analyzer, and the measured S21 data were inverse Fourier transformed to achieve the corresponding impulse responses.
Integration of PCR Fragments at Any Specific Site within Cloning Vectors without the Use of Restriction Enzymes and DNA Ligase (2001)

Here, we describe a method that offers a unique way to engineer plasmids with precision but without digestion using restriction enzymes for the insertion of DNA. The method allows the insertion of PCR fragments in between any two nucleotides within a target plasmid. The only requirement is that the amplified fragments must be embedded between DNA sequences homologous to the site in which the integration is planned. This method is an adaptation of the QuikChange Site-Directed Mutagenesis protocol. It is simpler than the existing cloning strategies and is suitable for multiparallel constructions of new plasmids. We have demonstrated its utility by constructing plasmids in which we have successfully integrated PCR fragments up to 1117 bp.
Stability of the major allergen Brazil nut 2S albumin (Ber e 1) to physiologically relevant in vitro gastrointestinal digestion (2004)

The major 2S albumin allergen from Brazil nuts, Ber e 1, was subjected to gastrointestinal digestion using a physiologically relevant in vitro model system either before or after heating (100 degrees C for 20 min). Whilst the albumin was cleaved into peptides, these were held together in a much larger structure even when digested by using a simulated phase 1 (gastric) followed by a phase 2 (duodenal) digestion system. Neither prior heating of Ber e 1 nor the presence of the physiological surfactant phosphatidylcholine affected the pattern of proteolysis. After 2 h of gastric digestion, approximately 25% of the allergen remained intact, approximately 50% corresponded to a large fragment of M(r) 6400, and the remainder comprised smaller peptides. During duodenal digestion, residual intact 2S albumin disappeared quickly, but a modified form of the 'large fragment' remained, even after 2 h of digestion, with a mass of approximately 5000 Da. The 'large fragment' comprised several smaller peptides that were identified, by using different MS techniques, as deriving from the large subunit. In particular, sequences corresponding to the hypervariable region (Q37-M47) and to another peptide (P42-P69), spanning the main immunoglobulin E epitope region of 2S albumin allergens, were found to be largely intact following phase 1 (gastric) digestion. They also contained previously identified putative T-cell epitopes. These findings indicate that the characteristic conserved skeleton of cysteine residues of 2S albumin family and, particularly, the intrachain disulphide bond pattern of the large subunit, play a critical role in holding the core protein structure together even after extensive proteolysis, and the resulting structures still contain potentially active B- and T-cell epitopes.
3D-model-based face replacement in video (2009)

The development in digital technologies and the widespread Web 2.0 concept have made many digital videos accessible. Editing and modifying digital videos have become an interesting and important topic. In this paper, we present a system for face replacement in video. Most digital processing software can perform face replacement only when the poses for the source and target faces are similar, and the manipulation process with those software is often time-consuming and labor-intensive. While previous work [Blanz et al. 2004] focuses on image face replacement, our system performs face replacement in video by constructing 3D models for both target and source faces and swapping them accordingly. 3D face models are created by fitting 3D morphable models [Blanz et al. 1999] and the input is reduced to two pictures for the face to be placed in.