gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
The impact of weathering upon the roughness characteristics of a splay of the active fault system responsible for the massive 2016 seismic sequence of the Central Apennines, Italy (2020)

Abstract Fault roughness constitutes a key element in the understanding of earthquake nucleation, and surficial asperities on the fault plane play a critical role in slip dynamics and frictional behavior during the seismic cycle. Since it is not generally feasible to recover fault roughness profiles or maps directly at the seismogenic sources, faults at the Earth’s surface are typically used as analogues. However, these analogue fault surfaces are often subjected to weathering and erosion, which in turn, reduces their representativeness as seismogenic faults. Rupture along active faults episodically exposes “fresh” fault planes at the Earth’s surface, which represent the best available targets for the evaluation of fault roughness generated at seismogenic depths. Here we present a study conducted on a splay of the Mt. Vettore fault system in the Central Apennines, Italy, along a vertical transect that includes both a weathered and freshly exposed portion of the fault. The latter was exposed after the dramatic Mw 6.5 shock that hit the area on 30 October 2016. We have produced a highly detailed model (i.e., point cloud) of a section of the fault using structure from motion-multiview stereo photogrammetry to assess its roughness parameters (i.e., the Hurst fractal parameter) and to determine the extent to which these parameters are affected by weathering assuming that they had similar fractal characteristics when reaching the surface. Our results show that weathering can modify the value of the fractal parameters. In particular, by independently analyzing different patches of the fault, we have observed that the smoother and recently exposed portions have an average Hurst exponent of 0.52 while the average Hurst exponent of zones with more prolonged exposure times is 0.64. Accordingly, we conclude that by using high-resolution point clouds, it is possible to recognize patches of faults having a similar intensity of deterioration attributable to weathering.
Sagittal Craniosynostosis: Surgical Outcomes and Long-Term Growth (2006)

This study demonstrated abnormal skull growth in children following the surgical correction of scaphocephaly. On the basis of these findings, surgeons treating sagittal synostosis may wish to expand their goals of treatment beyond normalization to an overcorrection of the abnormal skull shape.
Simulated performance of 1000BASE-T receiver with different analog front end designs (2001)

This paper presents simulation results comparing different analog front end (AFE) architectures for Gigabit Ethernet 1000BASE-T receiver design. The objective is to reduce the overall power and area of the receiver by performing partial echo cancellation or equalization in the analog domain. The results indicate that using the best of these architectures can reduce both the resolution of the analog-to-digital converter and the length of the digital filters without sacrificing performance. When the additional complexity of the AFE is considered, the end result is a net reduction in power and area.
Nylon Fibered Versus Non-Fibered Embolization Coils: Comparison in a Swine Model (2019)

Nylon fibers allow significantly fewer embolization coils to achieve acute occlusion of arteries compared to bare metal coils. Both fibered and non-fibered coils showed recanalization at follow-up.
Strategies for increasing the operating frequency range of vibration energy harvesters: a review (2009)

This paper reviews possible strategies to increase the operational frequency range of vibration-based micro-generators. Most vibration-based micro-generators are spring-mass-damper systems which generate maximum power when the resonant frequency of the generator matches the frequency of the ambient vibration. Any difference between these two frequencies can result in a significant decrease in generated power. This is a fundamental limitation of resonant vibration generators which restricts their capability in real applications. Possible solutions include the periodic tuning of the resonant frequency of the generator so that it matches the frequency of the ambient vibration at all times or widening the bandwidth of the generator. Periodic tuning can be achieved using mechanical or electrical methods. Bandwidth widening can be achieved using a generator array, a mechanical stopper, non-linear (e.g. magnetic) springs or bi-stable structures. Tuning methods can be classified into intermittent tuning (power is consumed periodically to tune the device) and continuous tuning (the tuning mechanism is continuously powered). This paper presents a comprehensive review of the principles and operating strategies for increasing the operating frequency range of vibration-based micro-generators presented in the literature to date. The advantages and disadvantages of each strategy are evaluated and conclusions are drawn regarding the relevant merits of each approach.
Arabidopsis hydathodes are sites of intense auxin metabolism and nutrient scavenging (2022)

Abstract Hydathodes are small organs located on the leaf margins of all vascular plants. They release excess xylem sap through guttation when stomata are closed or when the humidity level is high. Many promoter analyses have suggested other hydathode functions in metabolite transport and auxin metabolism, but experimental demonstration is still lacking. Here, we compared the transcriptomic and metabolomic features of mature Arabidopsis hydathodes to the leaf blade. 1460 differentially-expressed genes were identified revealing that genes related to auxin metabolism, transport, stress, DNA, plant cell wall, RNA or wax were on average more expressed in hydathodes. On the other hand, genes involved in glucosinolate metabolism, sulfation pathway, metal handling or photosynthesis were downregulated in hydathodes. In hydathodes, there are an increased expression of auxin transcriptional regulators and biosynthetic genes, a lower expression of auxin transport genes and a differential expression of genes related to its vacuolar storage that is consistent with increased contents of free and conjugated auxin. We also found that ca. 78% of the total content of 52 xylem sap metabolites were removed from guttation fluid at the hydathode level. Using reverse genetics, we showed that the capture of nitrate and phosphate in the guttation fluid relies on the NRT2.1 and PHT1;4 transporters, respectively. Thus, hydathodes absorb a significant part of xylem sap nutrients, limiting the loss of valuable chemicals during guttation. Our transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses reveal an organ with its own transcriptomic and physiological identity and highlight hydathode biological processes that may impact the whole plant. One sentence summary Transcriptome and physiological analysis of mature and healthy hydathodes of Arabidopsis demonstrates that those organs are sites of intense auxin metabolism and nutrient scavenging
Modulation of the Tumor Microenvironment for Cancer T reatment: A Biomaterials Approach (2015)

Tumors are complex tissues that consist of stromal cells, such as fibroblasts, imm une cells and mesenchymal stem cells, as well as non-cellular components, in addition to neoplastic cells. Increasingly, there is evidence to suggest that these non-neoplastic cell components support cancer initiation, progression and metastasis and that their ablation or reprogramming can inhibit tumor growth. Our understanding of the activities of different parts of the tumor stroma in advancing cancer has been improved by the use of scaffold and matrix-based 3D systems originally developed for regenerative medicine. Additionally, drug delivery systems made from synthetic and natural biomaterials deliver drugs to kill stromal cells or reprogram the microenvironment for tumor inhibition. In this article, we review the impact of 3D tumor models in increasing our understanding of tumorigenesis. We also disc uss how different drug delivery systems aid in the reprogramming of tumor stroma for cancer treatment.
Blind Spot Detection for Safe Sim-to-Real Transfer (2020)

Agents trained in simulation may make errors when performing actions in the real world due to mismatches between training and execution environments. These mistakes can be dangerous and difficult for the agent to discover because the agent is unable to predict them a priori. In this work, we propose the use of oracle feedback to learn a predictive model of these blind spots in order to reduce costly errors in real-world applications. We focus on blind spots in reinforcement learning (RL) that occur due to incomplete state representation: when the agent lacks necessary features to represent the true state of the world, and thus cannot distinguish between numerous states. We formalize the problem of discovering blind spots in RL as a noisy supervised learning problem with class imbalance. Our system learns models for predicting blind spots within unseen regions of the state space by combining techniques for label aggregation, calibration, and supervised learning. These models take into consideration noise emerging from different forms of oracle feedback, including demonstrations and corrections. We evaluate our approach across two domains and demonstrate that it achieves higher predictive performance than baseline methods, and also that the learned model can be used to selectively query an oracle at execution time to prevent errors. We also empirically analyze the biases of various feedback types and how these biases influence the discovery of blind spots. Further, we include analyses of our approach that incorporate relaxed initial optimality assumptions. (Interestingly, relaxing the assumptions of an optimal oracle and an optimal simulator policy helped our models to perform better.) We also propose extensions to our method that are intended to improve performance when using corrections and demonstrations data.
Carrier-envelope phase stabilization of ultrashort optical pulses (2003)

The recent melding of ultrafast technology with laser stabilization techniques has enabled the stabilization of the carrier-envelope phase. This has impacted optical frequency metrology and optical clocks and promises advances in ultrafast sciences.
Kinetics of Antibody Persistence following Administration of a Combination Meningococcal Serogroup C and Haemophilus influenzae Type b Conjugate Vaccine in Healthy Infants in the United Kingdom Primed with a Monovalent Meningococcal Serogroup C Vaccine (2009)

The kinetics of antibody persistence following the administration of a combination meningococcal serogroup C and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccine (Menitorix) in the second year of life in children primed with two doses of one of three monovalent meningococcal serogroup C (MCC) vaccines was investigated. The study subjects were administered either Menitorix at 12 to 15 months of age, followed by the seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) and the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine 4 to 6 weeks later, or all three vaccines concomitantly at 12 to 15 months of age. Blood samples were collected before and 1, 2, 12, and 24 months after the boosting. Sera were analyzed for meningococcal serogroup C serum bactericidal antibody (SBA) and IgG as well as Hib-polyribosylribitol phosphate (PRP)-specific IgG. The antibody persistence data from this study were compared to those of a prior study of Southern et al. (Clin. Vaccine Immunol. 14:1328-1333, 2007) in which children were given three primary doses of a vaccine containing both the MCC and the Hib vaccines but were boosted only with a Hib conjugate vaccine. The magnitude of the meningococcal SBA geometric mean titer was higher for those subjects primed with the MCC vaccine conjugated to tetanus toxoid (NeisVac-C) than for those primed with one of two MCC vaccines conjugated to CRM(197) (Menjugate or Meningitec) up to 1 year following boosting. Two years after boosting, the percentages of subjects with putatively protective SBA titers of > or =8 for children primed with NeisVac-C, Menjugate, and Meningitec were 43%, 22%, and 23%, respectively. Additional booster doses of the MCC vaccine may be required in the future to maintain good antibody levels; however, there is no immediate need for a booster during adolescence, as mathematical modeling has shown that persisting herd immunity is likely to control disease for a number of years.
'O, my ties are distant': Diaspora, Displacement and Disenchantment in the work of Gemma Files (2018)

In this paper I discuss, from a postcolonial perspective, Gemma Files' 2014 collection of interlocking short stories We Will All Go Down Together and the associated novel Experimental Film (2015) both of which are set, for the most part, in modern-day Ontario. Diaspora and displacement is central to both texts: the former focuses on time travelling refugees from the witchfinders of 16th century Scotland; in the latter a forgotten figure from Slavic folklore attempts to manifest her presence through the daughter of Northern European immigrants; the seven archangels of Mesopotamian Yazdânism are a presence in both. Disenchantment is also a central theme as beings of supernatural origin or ability find themselves in a world why no longer believes in their existence, due to secularisation and rationalisation. I focus on themes of power, privilege and status and analyse Files' use of the horror genre's capacity for estrangement to provide a critique of the enduring myth of Canada as the United States' kinder, gentler Northern neighbour.
Histological and chemical changes in tannic compounds of evergreen oak leaf litter (1988)

In evergreen oak leaves collected at a western Mediterranean site (Var, France), the amounts of both hydrolyzable and condensed tannins decrease through the depth of the leaf litter. The decrease in condensed tannins could be partly explained by the cellular degradation of the lower epidermis and the mesophyll of leaves, as observed in histological sections. However, the condensed tannins may also be degraded by microbial enzymes because their average molecular weight decreased by about 50%. In contrast, the decrease in hydrolyzable tannins seems to be initiated by microbial enzymatic action, which is then followed by the same degradation process described above.
Numerical evaluation of cement/bentonite interactions in engineered barrier systems (2009)

We investigate the use of concrete in combination with bentonite in engineered barrier systems of radioactive waste deposits. Such barriers must remain stable for several tens of thousands of years, which is far longer than the lifetime of conventional infrastructure. In this study a multi-phase physicochemical method for the prediction of the long-term degradation of concrete by calcium leaching is presented.
Fundamental Study of the Oxidation Characteristics and Pollutant Emissions of Model Biodiesel Fuels (2010)

In this study, the oxidation characteristics of biodiesel fuels are investigated with the goal of contributing toward the fundamental understanding of their combustion characteristics and evaluating the effect of using these alternative fuels on engine performance as well as on the environment. The focus of the study is on pure fatty acid methyl-esters (FAME,) that can serve as surrogate compounds for real biodiesels. The experiments are conducted in the stagnation-flow configuration, which allows for the systematic evaluation of fundamental combustion and emission characteristics. In this paper, the focus is primarily on the pollutant emission characteristics of two C4 FAMEs, namely, methyl-butanoate and methyl-crotonate, whose behavior is compared with that of n-butane and n-pentane. To provide insight into the mechanisms of pollutant formation for these fuels, the experimental data are compared with computed results using a model with consistent C1−C4 oxidation and NOx formation kinetics.
Mathematical modeling of aqueous humor flow and intraocular pressure under uncertainty: towards individualized glaucoma management (2016)

Purpose: The aim of the proposed analysis is to provide both a qualitative description and a quantitative assessment of how variations in aqueous humor (AH) flow parameters influence intraocular pressure (IOP) and the outcome of IOP-lowering medications.Methods: We developed a mathematical model that describes the steady-state value of IOP as the result of the balance between AH production and drainage. We performed stochastic simulations to assess the influence of different factors on the IOP distribution in ocular normotensive and ocular hypertensive subjects and on the IOP reduction following medications.Results: The distribution of the relative frequency of a given IOP value for ocular normotensive subjects fits a right-skewed Gaussian curve with a frequency peak of 25% at 15.13 mmHg and a skewness of 0.2, in very good agreement with the results from a population-based study on approximately 12,000 individuals. The model also shows that the outcomes of IOP-lowering treatments depend on the levels of pre-treatment IOP and blood pressure. The model predicts mean IOP reductions of 2.55 mmHg and 4.31 mmHg when the pre-treatment IOP mean values are 15.13 mmHg and 20.12 mmHg, respectively; these predictions are in qualitative and quantitative agreement with clinical findings.Conclusion: These findings may help identify patient-specific factors that influence the efficacy of IOP-lowering medications and aid the development of novel, effective, and individualized therapeutic approaches to glaucoma management.
Groups of Galaxies at Intermediate Redshift (2009)

Galaxy groups are key tracers of galaxy evolution, cluster evolution, and structure formation, yet they are difficult to study at even moderate redshift. We have undertaken a project to observe a flux-limited sample of intermediate-redshift (0.1 &lt; z &lt; 0.5) group candidates identified by the XBootes Chandra survey. When complete, this project will nearly triple the current number of groups with measured temperatures in this redshift range. Here we present deep Suzaku/XIS and Chandra/ACIS follow-up observations of the first 10 targets in this project; all are confirmed sources of diffuse, thermal emission with derived temperatures and luminosities indicative of rich groups/poor clusters. By exploiting the multi-wavelength coverage of the XBootes/NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey (NDWFS) field, we aim to (1) constrain non-gravitational effects that alter the energetics of the intragroup medium, and (2) understand the physical connection between the X-ray and optical properties of groups. We discuss the properties of the current group sample in the context of observed cluster scaling relations and group and cluster evolution and outline the future plans for this project.
Biomarker discovery in urogenital cancer (2005)

Novel approaches for the early detection of urogenital cancers are urgently needed. Metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has a poor prognosis and unpredictable course and to date there are no molecular markers that reliably protect RCC outcome. A novel kidney cancer marker, carbonic anhydrase IX (CA IX), was investigated as an independent prognostic factor for survival for patients with metastatic RCC. In patients with non-metastatic RCC low CAIX predicted a worse outcome similar to patients with metastatic disease and overall CAIX expression decreased with development of metastasis. CAIX reflects significant changes in tumour biology, which may be used to predict clinical outcome and identify high-risk patients for adjuvant-targeted therapies. With regard to prostate cancer there are a number of putative biomarkers, although there are limited studies providing clinical correlations in humans. Potential biomarkers include caveolin-1, p-Akt, p27, the met oncogene, Ki67 (MIB-1), 8q24 over-expression, polycomb protein EZH2, plasma TGF-B1 and IL-6 among others. The laboratory has concentrated on the Prostate Stem Cell Antigen (PSCA) which is increased in patients with more aggressive features, that is higher Gleason grade and higher stage. Highest expression is seen in metastatic lesions to bone and staining for PSCA may predict for disease progression or recurrence. Also promising is the finding reported by the group that expression of p27 in radical prostatectomy specimens correlates with biochemical recurrence. Loss of p27 (defined as absent expression in more than 70% of the specimen) is an independent predictor of recurrence among all patients and among the sub-set with organ confined and extra-capsular disease. The data also shows that p27 can predict outcome among patients with positive surgical resection margins. As with other biomarkers, major questions still to be addressed is the requirement for universal application with uniform scoring and the need for prospective studies in randomized clinical trials.
Non-melanoma Skin Cancer in Canada Chapter 3: Management of Actinic Keratoses (2015)

Treatment options include surgical removal, topical treatment, and photodynamic therapy. Combined modalities may be used in case of inadequate response. AKs are particularly common following the long-term immunosuppression in organ transplant patients, who should be monitored frequently to identify emerging lesions that require surgery.
Manganese oxide synthesized from spent Zn-C battery for supercapacitor electrode application (2019)

Manganese oxide (Mn<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>) nanomaterials have promising potential to be used as supercapacitor electrode materials due to its high energy storage performance and environmental compatibility. Besides, every year huge volume of waste batteries including Zn-C battery ends up in landfill, which aggravates the burden of waste disposal in landfill and creates environmental and health threat. Thus, transformation of waste battery back into energy application, is of great significance for sustainable strategies. Compared with complex chemical routes which mostly apply toxic acids to recover materials from Zn-C battery, this study establishes the recovery of Mn<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> particles via thermal route within 900 °C under controlled atmosphere. Synthesized Mn<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> were confirmed by XRD, EDS, FTIR, XPS and Raman analysis and FESEM micrographs confirmed the coexistence of spherical and cubic Mn<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> particles. Mn<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> electrode derived from waste Zn-C battery demonstrate compatible electrochemical performance with standard materials and conventional synthesis techniques. Mn<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> electrode exhibited highest capacitance value of 125 Fg<sup>-1</sup> at 5 mVs<sup>-1</sup> scan rate. The stability of the electrode showed good retention in discharge and charge capacity by about 80% after 2100 cycles. This study demonstrates that waste Zn-C battery can be further utilized for energy storage application, providing sustainable and economic benefits.