gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Building a Software Product Assurance Organisation Within a New 'Major-Vendor' R&D Centre - a Case Study (1989)

Recent moves by major vendors and software houses to locally develop state-of-the-art products competitive in the international marketplace have highlighted, amongst other issues, the severe shortage of personnel in the industry locally with a full appreciation of what it means to build quality into a product. Australian software engineers are typically recognised as innovative; it is essential that we also build a reputation for products built to the highest international standards and expectations. Unisys is one such major vendor, establishing what is at time of writing the largest R&D facility in Australia. Conformance to both corporate and international standards is an essential requirement of this group. It is intended to use the combined experience of the ACUS personnel to influence the product development methodology and qualification regime by the use of advanced tools (4GL, prototyping, etc) and a critical review of current practices.
LLC converter with auxiliary switch for hold up mode operation (2016)

This paper proposes a new half bridge (HB) LLC resonant converter with pulse width modulated (PWM) auxiliary switch (sLLC converter) for hold-up mode operation. The proposed sLLC converter works with synchronous rectifier (SR), which is suitable for low output voltage applications. The magnetizing inductor can be designed with large value to reduce the circulation loss. In the proposed sLLC converter, the auxiliary switch and diode branch will provide charging path for the resonant inductor. For nominal 400V input, sLLC achieves same performance as conventional LLC converter, and all the good features such as soft switching are naturally retained. For slight input voltage fluctuation, frequency modulation is used to regulate the output voltage. When the input voltage drops further, HB switches will operate at constant minimum frequency, and the auxiliary switch will operate in PWM mode to energize the resonant inductor with 400V bus directly during hold up period, thus the output voltage can be maintained at desired level. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed sLLC converter, operational principle and equivalent circuit will be carefully explained and analyzed in this paper. A 300W prototype is built for 250V–400V input, 12V output application.
Modification of Thermoplastics with Reactive Silanes and Siloxanes (2012)

HO-(Me2 SiO) n -H + 2 ClMe 2 SiH -2HCl HMe 2 SiO-(Me 2 SiO) n -SiMe 2 H [ Pt ] 2 CH 2 =CH-CH 2 -OSiMe 3 Me 3 SiO-CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 -SiMe 2 O-(Me 2 SiO) n -SiMe 2 -CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 -OSiMe 3 H 2 O / H + HO-(CH 2 ) 3 -SiMe 2 O-(Me 2 SiO) n -SiMe 2 -(CH 2 ) 3 -OH Scheme 1.The preparation of ,-di(hydroxypropyl)polydimethylsiloxanes.www.intechopen.comThermoplastic Elastomers
An ex vivo investigation into the effects of chemical solvents on the debond behaviour of ceramic orthodontic brackets. (1998)

The problems of ceramic bracket debond have been well documented. A peppermint oil material has been marketed previously as a debonding agent. This study assessed ex vivo the effects of peppermint oil application on the debond behaviour of ceramic brackets compared with ethanol and acetone which are recognized softening agents. Intrigue brackets were bonded to 100 extracted premolar teeth. Groups of 20 bonded teeth were then placed in a test solution, control (distilled water), peppermint oil (5 minutes and 1 hour), acetone (1 hour), and ethanol (1 hour). The teeth were debonded using an Instron. Universal Testing Machine and debond forces recorded. The site of bond failure along with the adhesive remnant index was recorded for each tooth. One hour placement in peppermint oil produced the lowest mean and maximal debond forces (77 and 114 N, respectively). Weibull analysis showed that the probability of failure at 100 N was increased for the 1-hour peppermint group at 88 per cent compared with 52 per cent for the control. Placement in peppermint oil produced the lowest levels of retained resin. There was no evidence of enamel fracture with any of the groups, but bracket fracture remained a problem.
Manipulability analysis (2012)

The ability of computing a quality index for given configurations can be useful for several applications in the context of robotic manipulation. E.g. it can be used for monitoring the current state of the system or it can support decision processes, such as grasp selection in humanoid robotics. Here, a large set of precomputed grasps for a given object have to be quickly filtered in order to select the reachable sub set, for which the inverse kinematics (IK) problem has to be solved. In this work, we present an approach for analyzing the workspace capabilities of a manipulator in order to store a representation for efficient online processing. Compared to existing work, where usually reachability information is used to represent the robot's capabilities, we show how an extended manipulability measure can be used to build a quality distribution in workspace. The proposed approach for manipulability measurement is suitable for redundant manipulators while considering joint limits and self-distance. Further, task specific distributions are introduced and several applications for the humanoid robots ARMAR-III [1] and iCub [2] are presented.
Evaluating topic models for digital libraries (2010)

Topic models could have a huge impact on improving the ways users find and discover content in digital libraries and search interfaces through their ability to automatically learn and apply subject tags to each and every item in a collection, and their ability to dynamically create virtual collections on the fly. However, much remains to be done to tap this potential, and empirically evaluate the true value of a given topic model to humans. In this work, we sketch out some sub-tasks that we suggest pave the way towards this goal, and present methods for assessing the coherence and interpretability of topics learned by topic models. Our large-scale user study includes over 70 human subjects evaluating and scoring almost 500 topics learned from collections from a wide range of genres and domains. We show how scoring model -- based on pointwise mutual information of word-pair using Wikipedia, Google and MEDLINE as external data sources - performs well at predicting human scores. This automated scoring of topics is an important first step to integrating topic modeling into digital libraries
An Overview of the Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Superfamily (2003)

The human genome encodes approximately 100 phosphatases that belong to the protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) superfamily, whose substrates range from proteins to phosphoinositides and mRNAs. The hallmark for this superfamily is the active site sequence C(X)5R, also known as the PTP signature motif. The PTPs are key regulatory components in signal transduction pathways and the importance of PTPs in the control of cellular signaling is well established. Furthermore, there are compelling reasons to believe that PTP inhibitors may serve as novel medicinal agents for the treatment of various diseases. Based on structure and substrate specificity, the PTP super-family is divided into four distinct subfamilies: 1). pTyr specific PTPs, 2). dual specificity phosphatases, 3). Cdc25 phosphatases, and 4). LMW PTPs. The PTPs have similar core structures made of a central parallel beta-sheet with flanking alpha-helices containing a beta-loop-alpha loop that encompasses the PTP signature motif. Not surprisingly, they employ a common chemical mechanism for phosphate hydrolysis despite the differences in substrate specificity. Despite the conserved structural and catalytic properties, there are also sufficient differences in the active site pockets and its immediate surrounding environment among different PTPs. Further structural and mechanistic study will continue to be of considerable importance, providing a solid basis for inhibitor design.
Dendritic cells modified to express CD40 ligand elicit therapeutic immunity against preexisting murine tumors (2000)

CD40 ligand (CD40L) is essential for the initiation of antigen-specific T-cell responses. This study is based on the hypothesis that dendritic cells (DCs) genetically modified ex vivo to express CD40L will enhance in vivo presentation of tumor antigen to the cellular immune system with consequent induction of antitumor immunity to suppress tumor growth. To examine this concept, subcutaneous murine tumors were injected with bone marrow-derived DCs that had been modified in vitro with an adenovirus (Ad) vector expressing murine CD40L (AdmCD40L). In B16 (H-2(b), melanoma) and CT26 (H-2(d), colon cancer) murine models, intratumoral injection of 2 x 10(6) AdmCD40L-modified DCs (CD40L-DCs) to established (day 8) subcutaneous tumors resulted in sustained tumor regression and survival advantage. This antitumor effect was sustained when the number of CD40L-DCs were reduced 10-fold to 2 x 10(5). Analysis of spleens from CD40L-DC-treated animals demonstrated that CD40L-DCs injected into the subcutaneous CT26 flank tumors migrated to the spleen, resulting in activation of immune-relevant processes. Consistent with this concept, intratumoral administration of CD40L-DCs elicited tumor-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses, and the transfer of spleen cells from CD40L-DC-treated mice efficiently protected naive mice against a subsequent tumor challenge. In a distant 2-tumor model of metastatic disease, an untreated B16 tumor in the right flank regressed in parallel with a left B16 tumor treated with direct injection of CD40L-DCs. These results support the concept that genetic modification of DCs with a recombinant CD40L adenovirus vector may be a useful strategy for directly activating DCs for cancer immunotherapy.
The Effects of Plasticizers and Titanium Dioxide on the Properties of Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Coatings (2001)

Poly(vinyl alcohol) has not previously been examined in much detail as a controlled release polymer for use in pharmaceutical formulations. However, this food grade polymer has barrier and tensile properties which make it attractive for such applications. The effects of several diluents and fillers on Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVAL) coatings have been determined using both mechanical property and water vapor permeability measurements. It has been found that the alcohol ethoxylate Neodol 23-6.5 (CH3(CH2)11-O-(CH2-CH2-O)6-H) acts as a plasticizer for PVAL only up to 15-20 wt% in contrast to 600 molecular weight Polyethylene Glycol (PEG 600), which continuously plasticizes PVAL. The effects of Neodol on PVAL mechanical properties and water vapor permeability at higher concentrations can be explained in terms of Neodol phase separation and has been confirmed with DSC. The inert filler and whitener titanium dioxide (TiO2) monotonically degrades film mechanical properties and increases water vapor permeability of the coating. Attempts to correlate coating dust generated during particle attrition tests with mechanical property measurements were unsuccessful. A correlation between accelerated granule stability and water vapor permeability of the PVAL coating was established.
Advancing Tissue Engineering: A Tale of Nano‐, Micro‐, and Macroscale Integration (2015)

Tissue engineering has the potential to revolutionize the health care industry. Delivering on this promise requires the generation of efficient, controllable and predictable implants. The integration of nano- and microtechnologies into macroscale regenerative biomaterials plays an essential role in the generation of such implants, by enabling spatiotemporal control of the cellular microenvironment. Here we review the role, function and progress of a wide range of nano- and microtechnologies that are driving the advancements in the field of tissue engineering.
Modulation of rat liver apolipoprotein gene expression and serum lipid levels by tetradecylthioacetic acid (TTA) via PPARα activation (1999)

3-Thia fatty acids are modified fatty acids that promote hepatic peroxisome proliferation and decrease serum triacylglycerol, cholesterol and free fatty acid levels in rats. In vivo administration of tetradecylthioacetic acid (TTA) to rats led to a significant decrease in liver apolipoproteins apoA-I, A-II, A-IV, and C-III mRNA levels, and to an increase of liver acyl-CoA oxidase (ACO), carnitine palmitoyltransferase-II, and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A synthase (HMG-CoA synthase) mRNA levels and activities. By contrast, no significant changes of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) mRNA levels were detected in rat epididymal adipose tissue. Liver carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I, apoB, apoE, and LDL receptor mRNA levels were not significantly affected. When tested in vitro, TTA increased rat ACO and carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I mRNA levels in primary rat hepatocytes and also LPL mRNA levels in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. TTA also enhanced the transcriptional activity of chimeras containing the DNA binding domain of the yeast transcription factor Gal4 fused to the ligand binding domain of either human PPARalpha or human PPARgamma. The effect depended on the concentration tested and the cell type. In conclusion, our data suggest that in vitro, TTA activates both PPARalpha and PPARgamma, but the latter with much lower affinity. TTA affects serum lipid levels in vivo in rats by acting mainly on the liver via PPARalpha where it decreases the liver expression of genes involved in vascular lipid transport and increases the expression of genes involved in intracellular fatty acid metabolism. -Raspé, E., L. Madsen, A-M. Lefebvre, I. Leitersdorf, L. Gelman, J. Peinado-Onsurbe, J. Dallongeville, J-C. Fruchart, R. Berge, and B. Staels. Modulation of rat liver apolipoprotein gene expression and serum lipid levels by tetradecylthioacetic acid (TTA) via PPARalpha activation.
beta-Carbolines, psychoactive compounds in the mammalian body. Part II: Effects. (1981)

The biochemical and the pharmacological effects of beta-carbolines in animals and man are reviewed. Biochemical studies have revealed beta-carbolines' several actions, including inhibition of MAO-A, competitive inhibition of 5-HT uptake, general inhibition of Na+ dependent transports, binding to benzodiazepine and opiate receptors and probable action on dopamine receptors, which may all participate to a variable degree in the actions of different beta-carbolines. Many early in vivo studies, however, have concentrated on some harmala alkaloids, particularly harmaline or harmine. The effects of beta-carbolines in man are compared in this review with the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. However, no human studies have been reported with those tetrahydro-beta-carbolines shown to occur in human body in normal conditions or after alcohol intake. To prove any connections of beta-carbolines with the withdrawal syndromes or other neurological and psychiatric diseases means that these compounds have to be shown to have abnormal central nervous system concentrations in these diseases. The physiological role of beta-carbolines has yet to be shown. They may act as neuromodulators and some, especially 6-methoxytetrahydro-beta-carboline, may have an endocrinological function. It has been suggested that some beta-carbolines act as the physiological ligands (agonists) of the benzodiazepine receptors, but the physiological beta-carbolines so far known seem to have other effects, such as the inhibition of MAO-A or 5-HT uptake in low concentrations.
公開シンポジウム 国際交流委員会報告：環境教育とCOVID-19：影響と対応 オンライン・ラウンドテーブル・セッション (2021)

オンライン形式で開催した2020年度の日本環境教育学会第31回年次大会で、国際交流委員会（委員長：野口扶美子）は協定4学会（カナダとメキシコを含む北米環境教育学会、韓国環境教育学会、中華民国環境教育学会、オーストラリア環境教育学会）の代表を招いて、新型コロナ感染症の環境教育の分野への影響と対応、今後の環境教育の実践と研究の方向性等ついて、国内外30名強の参加者を迎えて議論する機会を設けた（図1）。とりわけ、今大会の全体テーマが「新型コロナウイルスに対応した環境教育の可能性―オンライン技術の活用法を探る」だったが、国際交流委員会としてもオンライン技術を活用するメリットを体感し、今後の本学会の国際展開の可能性を大いに予感させるものとなった。 国際交流委員会はこれまでも協定学会の代表を年次大会に招き、主に昼食交流会の実施を通して、会員と交流する機会を設けてきたが、一つの年次大会に全ての協定 学会の代表を迎え、喫緊性の高いテーマでラウンドテーブルを実施するという企画は、本学会にとって初めての試みであった。また今回、人獣共通感染症のパンデミッ クによって、移動と交流という人間の基本的な行動様式が世界規模で制限された状況を踏まえて、日本を含むアジア太平洋地域5地域の環境教育を代表する学会が、各地域の環境教育の分野にかかる課題と対応を共有し、今後の研究の方向性について意見を交わし合うという趣旨で企画した。こうした企画には、公益性と国際性、学術発展の可能性が含まれるため、その記録は本学会会員だけでなく、環境教育関係者、次世代の担い手にとって有益であると考えた。そこで本稿では、各学会の紹介とともに各学会の発表の概要と分科会を紹介し、当日の参加者に行ったアンケート結果を報告した後、論点整理を行う形式とする。なお、各協定学会の報告については、本委員会の協定学会担当の元 鍾彬（韓国）、楊 惠淳（台湾）、萩原 豪（台湾）、桜井 良（北米）、野口扶美子（オーストラリア）が翻訳、要約した。
Evaluation of a Silicon 90Sr Betavoltaic Power Source (2016)

Betavoltaic energy converters (i.e., β-batteries) are attractive power sources because of their potential for high energy densities (>200 MWh/kg) and long duration continuous discharge (>1 year). However, conversion efficiencies have been historically low (<3%). High efficiency devices can be achieved by matching β-radiation transport length scales with the device physics length scales. In this work, the efficiency of c-Si devices using high-energy (>1 MeV) electrons emitted from <sup>90</sup>Sr as a power source is investigated. We propose a design for a >10% efficient betavoltaic device, which generates 1 W of power. A Varian Clinac iX is used to simulate the high-energy electrons emitted from <sup>90</sup>Sr, and a high efficiency c-Si photovoltaic cell is used as the converter. The measured conversion efficiency is 16%. This relatively high value is attributed to proper length scale matching and the generation of secondary electrons in c-Si by the primary β-particles.
FPGA based self calibrating 40 picosecond resolution, wide range Time to Digital Converter (2008)

We present FPGA-based self calibrating Time to Digital Converter (TDC) architecture specific to applications where one is interested in measuring absolute time of occurrence of an event since t <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</inf> by combining coarse (simple binary counter at system clock speed) and fine TDC. The architecture relies on an accurate crystal oscillator to provide stable system clock reference to generate calibration test pulse. It uses two controllable ring oscillators with very small difference in frequencies, where the frequency difference determines the achievable resolution. The scheme was implemented on Altera Stratix II device and we have measured a resolution of 40 ps.
Differential fibre-optic sensingof laser-generated ultrasound (1995)

A differential fibre-optic device has been developed for noncontact detection of laser-generated ultrasound. Using a 5mW He-Ne laser as the source, laser beam delivery on to the sample of the surface utilised a singlemode fibre and lens combination. When photoacoustic ultrasonic transients propagated across the surface, the incident spot was perturbed, with backscattered light monitored by a fibre-optic bundle incorporating differential photodetection. Symmetric and asymmetric Lamb wave modes have been observed in a 50 µm aluminium sheet, as have longitudinal and Rayleigh waves in a 30 mm-thick sample.
A Rapid Extraction Method to Quantify Drug Uptake in Contact Lenses (2018)

There is considerable interest in using CLs for ocular drug delivery. Accurately quantifying drug uptake on CLs has been a challenge. Hence, this study provides a simple method to quantify drug uptake in CLs.
HIV-1 Epitope-Specific CD8+ T Cell Responses Strongly Associated with Delayed Disease Progression Cross-Recognize Epitope Variants Efficiently (2006)

The ability of HIV-1-specific CD8(+) T cell responses to recognize epitope variants resulting from viral sequence variation in vivo may affect the ease with which HIV-1 can escape T cell control and impact on the rate of disease progression in HIV-1-infected humans. Here, we studied the functional cross-reactivity of CD8 responses to HIV-1 epitopes restricted by HLA class I alleles associated with differential prognosis of infection. We show that the epitope-specific responses exhibiting the most efficient cross-recognition of amino acid-substituted variants were those strongly associated with delayed progression to disease. Not all epitopes restricted by the same HLA class I allele showed similar variant cross-recognition efficiency, consistent with the hypothesis that the reported associations between particular HLA class I alleles and rate of disease progression may be due to the quality of responses to certain "critical" epitopes. Irrespective of their efficiency of functional cross-recognition, CD8(+) T cells of all HIV-1 epitope specificities examined showed focused TCR usage. Furthermore, interpatient variability in variant cross-reactivity correlated well with use of different dominant TCR Vbeta families, suggesting that flexibility is not conferred by the overall clonal breadth of the response but instead by properties of the dominant TCR(s) used for epitope recognition. A better understanding of the features of T cell responses associated with long-term control of viral replication should facilitate rational vaccine design.
Hexamethylene bisacetamide induces programmed cell death (apoptosis) and down-regulates BCL-2 expression in human myeloma cells (1998)

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a B cell malignancy characterized by the expansion of monoclonal Ig-secreting plasma cells with low proliferative activity. It is postulated that inhibition of physiologic cell death is an underlying factor in the pathophysiology of MM. The development of chemoresistance is a common feature in patients with MM. In the present studies, hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA), a hybrid polar compound that is a potent inducer of terminal differentiation of various transformed cells, is shown to inhibit the growth of several human myeloma cell lines (ARP-1, U266, and RPMI 8226), including doxorubicin-resistant RPMI 8226 variants that overexpress the multidrug-resistance gene, MDR-1, and its product, p-glycoprotein. In addition to growth arrest and suppression of clonogenicity, HMBA induces apoptosis both in freshly isolated human myeloma cells and in cell lines, as determined by morphologic alterations, cell cycle distribution and endonucleosomal DNA fragmentation. Further, HMBA decreases BCL-2 protein expression in myeloma cells within 12-48 hr. Overexpression of BCL-2 protein in ARP-1 cells confers resistance to HMBA-induced apoptosis. Taken together, these data suggest that HMBA is a potent inducer of apoptosis in human myeloma cells, which may act through suppressing the anti-apoptotic function of the bcl-2 gene. HMBA, and related hybrid polar compounds, may prove useful in the management of this presently incurable disease.
HOW THE MERITS MATTER: DIRECTORS’ AND OFFICERS’ INSURANCE AND SECURITIES SETTLEMENTS (2009)

This Article seeks what may be the holy grail of securities law scholarship—the role of the “merits” in securities class actions—by investigating the relationship between settlements and directors’ and officers’ (D&O) liability insurance. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with plaintiffs’ and defense lawyers, D&O insurance claims managers, monitoring counsel, brokers, mediators, and testifying experts, we elucidate the key factors influencing settlement and examine the relationship between these factors and notions of merit in civil litigation. We find that, although securities settlements are influenced by some factors that are arguably merit related, such as the “sex appeal” of a claim’s liability elements, they are also influenced by many that are not, including, most obviously, the amount and structure of D&O insurance. The virtual absence of adjudication results in payment to the plaintiffs’ class for every claim surviving the motions stage and, as importantly, a lack of authoritative guidance about merit at settlement. Without such adjudication, the weight of various factual patterns is untested, and the validity of competing damages models remains unknown. Parties structure their settlement by reference to other settlements, but these are opaque and subject to the same set of distortions. In this murky environment, plaintiffs and defendants collude to pressure the D&O insurer to settle on terms that may not reflect the ultimate merits of the claim. More adjudication, we argue, would be the best solution to the problem, but barring that, disclosure of D&O insurance and settlement terms would offer some improvement.