gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Bridging Hamilton-Jacobi Safety Analysis and Reinforcement Learning (2019)

Safety analysis is a necessary component in the design and deployment of autonomous robotic systems. Techniques from robust optimal control theory, such as Hamilton-Jacobi reachability analysis, allow a rigorous formalization of safety as guaranteed constraint satisfaction. Unfortunately, the computational complexity of these tools for general dynamical systems scales poorly with state dimension, making existing tools impractical beyond small problems. Modern reinforcement learning methods have shown promising ability to find approximate yet proficient solutions to optimal control problems in complex and high-dimensional systems, however their application has in practice been restricted to problems with an additive payoff over time, unsuitable for reasoning about safety. In recent work, we introduced a time-discounted modification of the problem of maximizing the minimum payoff over time, central to safety analysis, through a modified dynamic programming equation that induces a contraction mapping. Here, we show how a similar contraction mapping can render reinforcement learning techniques amenable to quantitative safety analysis as tools to approximate the safe set and optimal safety policy. This opens a new avenue of research connecting control-theoretic safety analysis and the reinforcement learning domain. We validate the correctness of our formulation by comparing safety results computed through Q-learning to analytic and numerical solutions, and demonstrate its scalability by learning safe sets and control policies for simulated systems of up to 18 state dimensions using value learning and policy gradient techniques.
Dynamic Tailoring and Cloud-Based Deployment of Containerized Service Middleware (2015)

The emergence and consolidation of container-based virtualization techniques has simplified and accelerated the development, provisioning, and deployment of applications for the Cloud. When considering the case of composite service-based applications that rely on service middleware solutions for their operation, container-based virtualization offers the opportunity for rapid and efficient building and deployment of lightweight, optimally configured middleware instances. As such, it provides an ideal tool for the purposes of cloudifying existing middleware solutions and offering them as part of larger PaaS offerings. As part of this effort, our investigation focuses on leveraging and evaluating a container-based virtualization environment towards enabling the assembly, provisioning, and execution of dynamically tailored instances to satisfy service middleware communication requirements of specific applications. For these purposes we scope the discussion on one particular type of messaging middleware for composite service applications, the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) technology.
Epitaxial Graphene on Silicon Carbide Surfaces: Growth, Characterization, Doping and Hydrogen Intercalation (2010)

The exceptional electronic properties of graphene, a single atomic layer of bulk graphite, have been theoretically discussed for a long time. In 2004, the discovery of simple ways to produce small graphene samples has led to the realization of its potential for both fundamental physics and applications in nanoelectronics. One of the most promising routes towards a large-scale production of graphene is the graphitization of SiC crystals. The main focus in the present thesis as a multidisciplinary surface science study is directed to the investigation of epitaxially grown graphene on SiC(0001), the Si-terminated basal plane surface of SiC. A few considerations are also devoted to epitaxial graphene on the C-terminated counterpart, SiC(000-1), and to non-basal plane surfaces. Apart from the precise knowledge about the growth conditions and the basic properties of epitaxial graphene, the main results of this thesis concern the successful manipulation of epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) in terms of technological relevance. On the one hand, surface transfer hole doping allows to compensate the negative charge carriers that are intrinsically present after the graphene growth. On the other hand, the intercalation of hydrogen additionally results in a decoupling from the SiC-substrate and consequently leads to quasi-freestanding graphene on the scale of SiC wafers. This technique sets a new standard in the production of high quality epitaxial graphene.
Fuzzy layered physical cell identities assignment in heterogeneous and small cell networks (2016)

Massive irregular deployments of small cells require corresponding physical cell identities (PCIs) in heterogeneous cellular networks. The number of PCIs is restricted by the synchronisation sequence result in PCI reuse at an appropriate distance among base stations. Some methods of PCI assignment are given either globally optimal or completely preferential. Accordingly, the former cannot guarantee handover performance, and the latter may lead to low efficiency of allocations. A layered allocation algorithm based on fuzzy clustering is proposed. Simulation results show that it can improve the efficiency of the PCI assignment, while maintaining handover performance.
Early adaptation of human skin following birth: a biophysical assessment (1999)

Background/aims: Successful adaptation to postnatal life requires rapid physiological transitions in multiple organ systems. Mechanisms regulating stratum corneum water interactions and evaporative heat loss, for example, are pivotal in making the transition from the warm, aqueous prenatal state to a cold, dry postnatal environment. Understanding these mechanisms is important in formulating skin care guidelines in early infancy. Methods: One hundred and one full term infants were enrolled prospectively and evaluated in three maternity hospitals over the first few hours after birth. Skin surface electrical capacitance and optical imaging were performed over selected body sites after placement under a radiant warming device. A selected group of infants were occluded with a plastic wrap following towel drying in the delivery room. Specific measurements included baseline skin hydration, continuous capacitive reactance, peak water sorption, rate of water desorption, skin pH, and grading of optical images for abnormal skin desquamation. Results: Occlusion of the skin surface following birth delays the normal fall in surface hydration and transepidermal water movement (TEWM). Sites exposed to the radiant warmer (chest) exhibited decreased hydration and increased pH compared to non‐exposed sites (back). Desquamation was increased over the chest compared to the back as judged by optical image grades. Significant inverse correlations were noted between baseline skin hydration and the ability to desorb surface water. Unexpectedly, females exhibited significantly increased desorption of exogenously applied water with a near significant increase in maternal‐infant bonding time. Conclusions: Newborn infant stratum corneum undergoes a slow (minutes to hours) diminution in surface hydration following birth; this is a function of body site, position, and exposure to the radiant warmer. Practices such as occlusion of the skin surface at birth delay the normal drying process. The data support potential gender specific differences in skin surface water handling and/or delivery room practices. Focus on the complex process of newborn skin adaptation provides a physiological framework for skin care protocols extending into infancy, childhood, and later life.
<i>Salmonella</i> Pathogenesis and Processing of Secreted Effectors by Caspase-3 (2010)

The enteric pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium causes food poisoning resulting in gastroenteritis. The S. Typhimurium effector Salmonella invasion protein A (SipA) promotes gastroenteritis by functional motifs that trigger either mechanisms of inflammation or bacterial entry. During infection of intestinal epithelial cells, SipA was found to be responsible for the early activation of caspase-3, an enzyme that is required for SipA cleavage at a specific recognition motif that divided the protein into its two functional domains and activated SipA in a manner necessary for pathogenicity. Other caspase-3 cleavage sites identified in S. Typhimurium appeared to be restricted to secreted effector proteins, which indicates that this may be a general strategy used by this pathogen for processing of its secreted effectors.
Blood pressure effects of acute intravenous renin or oral angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition in essential hypertension (1994)

This study suggests that acute renin inhibition and acute angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition similarly decrease the blood pressure and increase the plasma active renin levels. Acute blockade of the renin-angiotensin system at its initial step by a renin inhibitor can therefore be used to investigate the renin dependence of the blood pressure in essential hypertension.
An efficient method for the recognition of printed music (2003)

Deals with the recognition mechanisms of printed music scores. The techniques for extracting linear features, keys, noteheads and other musical figures from a digitized image are presented. Experimental results are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology with a discussion of its performances and limits. Applications to full automated music score extraction, printed or handwritten are also discussed.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">></ETX>
Bacterial vaginosis – a laboratory and clinical diagnostics enigma (2005)

Diagnosing bacterial vaginosis (BV) has long been based on the clinical criteria of Amsel et al., whereby three of four defined criteria must be satisfied. Though there are other criteria and scoring methods which function well in comparison (i.e. Nugent scoring), it is not certain that they will always identify the same category of patients. Point-of-care methods based on various combinations of microbial products, presence of RNA, or more complex laboratory instrumentations such as sensor arrays, have also been introduced for the diagnosis of BV. No method for diagnosing BV can at present be regarded as the best. It could be that--based partly on tacit knowledge on the part of the clinical investigators scoring in the clinic--various scoring systems have been chosen to fit a particular BV-related problem in a particular population. In this review we critically examine these pertinent issues influencing clinical scoring and laboratory diagnostics of BV.
Prostaglandin E2 and PD-1 mediated inhibition of antitumor CTL responses in the human tumor microenvironment (2017)

Accumulating evidence indicates that inflammation plays a critical role in cancer development; however, mechanisms of immunosuppression hinder productive anti-tumor immunity to limit immunopathology. Tumor-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) dysfunction or exhaustion by upregulating inhibitory receptors such as programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) in tumor-bearing hosts is one such mechanism. Identification and blockade of the pathways that induce CTL dysfunction has been shown to partially restore CTL function in tumor-bearing hosts. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is a rate-limiting enzyme for prostanoid biosynthesis, including prostaglandin E<sub>2</sub> (PGE<sub>2</sub>), and plays a key role in both inflammation and cancer. The disruption of COX2/PGE2 signaling using COX<sub>2</sub> inhibitors or PGE2 receptors EP2 and EP4 antagonists, combined with anti-PD-1 blockade was therapeutic in terms of improving eradication of tumors and augmenting the numbers of functional tumor-specific CTLs. Thus, COX2/PGE2 axis inhibition is a promising adjunct therapy to PD-1 blockade for immune-based therapies in cancer.
Influence of Crystallite Size on the Properties of Zirconia (1998)

Systematic studies on the properties of zirconia for catalytic applications revealed that the concentration of the stock solution, from which precipitation is carried out, strongly influence the crystallite size of the resulting zirconia. The crystallite size influences the BET surface area, the crystallization temperature, and the phase transition temperature. The findings of this study clarify the parameters governing the formation of specific phase with desired surface areas.
Abstract 1523: Pim-1 Regulates Cardiomyocyte Survival Downstream of Akt (2006)

Serine/threonine kinases including Pim-1 and Akt are involved in regulation of cellular proliferation and survival but, although Akt is known to be a critical kinase in myocardial signaling, the ro...
Laminin 5 β3 and γ 2 chains are frequently coexpressed in cancer cells (2004)

Laminin 5 plays an important role in cell migration during tumor invasion and tissue remodeling. However, previous studies have not clarified whether laminin 5 beta3 chain is coexpressed with laminin 5 gamma 2 chain in cancer cells. The present immunohistochemical study investigated the distribution of the laminin 5 beta3 and gamma2 chains in 20 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and 17 cases of colorectal carcinoma. Laminin 5 beta3 and gamma2 chains were expressed in the cytoplasm of tumor cells. Tumor cells at the cancer-stromal interface and at the invasive front frequently showed immunopositivity for laminin 5 beta3 and gamma2 chains in both squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and colorectal carcinoma. Furthermore, strong expressions of these two proteins were observed in cancer cells invading in a scattered manner. Laminin 5 beta3 expression correlated significantly with laminin 5 gamma2 expression in 20 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue (P = 0.0002) and 17 cases of colorectal carcinoma (P < 0.0001). These results suggest that in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and colorectal carcinoma, laminin 5 gamma2 chain and beta3 chain are both important in the invasiveness of cancer cells.
Perspectives in immunotherapy: meeting report from the “Immunotherapy Bridge”, Napoli, November 30th 2016 (2017)

The complex interactions between the immune system and tumors lead the identification of key molecules that govern these interactions: immunotherapeutics were designed to overcome the mechanisms broken by tumors to evade immune destruction. After the substantial advances in melanoma, immunotherapy currently includes many other type of cancers, but the melanoma lesson is essential to progress in other type of cancers, since immunotherapy is potentially improving clinical outcome in various solid and haematologic malignancies. Monotherapy in pre-treated NSCLC is studied and the use of nivolumab, pembrolizumab and atezolizumab as second-line of advanced NSCLC is demonstrated as well as first line monotherapy and combination therapy in metastatic NSCLC studied. Patients with HNSCC have immunotherapeutic promises as well: the FDA recently approved moAbs targeting immune checkpoint receptors. Nivolumab in combination with ipilumumab showed acceptable safety and encouraging antitumor activity in metastatic renal carcinoma. HCCs have significant amounts of genomic heterogeneity and multiple oncogenic pathways can be activated: the best therapeutic targets identification is ongoing. The treatment of advanced/relapsed EOC remain clearly an unmet need: a better understanding of the relevant immuno-oncologic pathways and their corresponding biomarkers are required. UC is an immunotherapy-responsive disease: after atezolizumab, three other PD-L1/PD-L1 inhibitors (nivolumab, durvalumab, and avelumab) were approved for treatment of platinum-refractory metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 monotherapy is associated with a modest response rate in metastatic breast cancer; the addition of chemotherapy is associated with higher response rates. Immunotherapy safety profile is advantageous, although, in contrast to conventional chemotherapy: boosting the immune system leads to a unique constellation of inflammatory toxicities known as immune-related Adverse Events (irAEs) that may warrant the discontinuation of therapy and/or the administration of immunosuppressive agents. Research should explore better combination with less side effects, the right duration of treatments, combination or sequencing treatments with target therapies. At present, treatment decision is based on patient's characteristics.
Control of Programmed Cell Death by the Baculovirus Genes <i>p35</i> and <i>iap</i> (1994)

The SF-21 insect cell line undergoes rapid and widespread apoptosis when treated with actinomycin D or when infected with a mutant of the baculovirus Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus lacking a p35 gene or a functionally active iap (inhibitor of apoptosis) gene. Here we provide evidence that the basis for the induction of apoptosis by these two different stimuli is the cessation of RNA synthesis. We also show that expression of either p35 or two different functional iap homologs blocks apoptosis independently of other viral genes, indicating that these gene products act directly on the cellular apoptotic pathway. The iap genes encode a C3HC4 (or RING) finger motif found in a number of transcriptional regulatory proteins, as well as two additional Cys/His motifs (baculovirus iap repeats). We show that specific amino acids within both the C3HC4 finger and the N-terminal baculovirus iap repeat are critical for anti-apoptosis function. Overexpression of either mammalian bcl-2 or adenovirus E1B-19K, genes which block apoptosis when overexpressed in a number of mammalian cells, does not block actinomycin D-induced apoptosis in SF-21 cells.
Assistive Clothing Pattern Recognition for Visually Impaired People (2014)

Choosing clothes with complex patterns and colors is a challenging task for visually impaired people. Automatic clothing pattern recognition is also a challenging research problem due to rotation, scaling, illumination, and especially large intraclass pattern variations. We have developed a camera-based prototype system that recognizes clothing patterns in four categories (plaid, striped, patternless, and irregular) and identifies 11 clothing colors. The system integrates a camera, a microphone, a computer, and a Bluetooth earpiece for audio description of clothing patterns and colors. A camera mounted upon a pair of sunglasses is used to capture clothing images. The clothing patterns and colors are described to blind users verbally. This system can be controlled by speech input through microphone. To recognize clothing patterns, we propose a novel Radon Signature descriptor and a schema to extract statistical properties from wavelet subbands to capture global features of clothing patterns. They are combined with local features to recognize complex clothing patterns. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, we used the CCNY Clothing Pattern dataset. Our approach achieves 92.55% recognition accuracy which significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art texture analysis methods on clothing pattern recognition. The prototype was also used by ten visually impaired participants. Most thought such a system would support more independence in their daily life but they also made suggestions for improvements.
An intimate sort of literature (2010)

Bodies & Barriers: Dramas of Dis-Ease Angela Belli, Editor Kent State University Press; 2008. In Bodies & Barriers: Dramas of Dis-Ease , editor Angela Belli guides the reader through seven plays that explore or invoke medical issues. She shares a formidable knowledge of dramatic literature, not
Experimental Demonstration of High-Voltage 4H-SiC Bi-Directional IGBTs (2016)

We experimentally demonstrate, for the first time, bi-directional 4H-SiC planar gate, insulated gate bipolar transistors fabricated on 250-μm thick, lightly doped free-standing substrates. On Si face, forward voltage drop (at 50 A/cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> ) of 9.7 V was obtained at room temperature, with a differential ON-resistance of 140 mQ · cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> , indicating good conductivity modulation. We have also demonstrated control over minority carrier injection in static characteristics of the BD-IGBTs by application of a back-gate bias.
Simultaneous Quantification and Identification of Individual Chemicals in Metabolite Mixtures by Two-Dimensional Extrapolated Time-Zero <sup>1</sup>H−<sup>13</sup>C HSQC (HSQC<sub>0</sub>) (2011)

Quantitative one-dimensional (1D) (1)H NMR spectroscopy is a useful tool for determining metabolite concentrations because of the direct proportionality of signal intensity to the quantity of analyte. However, severe signal overlap in 1D (1)H NMR spectra of complex metabolite mixtures hinders accurate quantification. Extension of 1D (1)H to 2D (1)H-(13)C HSQC leads to the dispersion of peaks along the (13)C dimension and greatly alleviates peak overlapping. Although peaks are better resolved in 2D (1)H-(13)C HSQC than in 1D (1)H NMR spectra, the simple proportionality of cross peaks to the quantity of individual metabolites is lost by resonance-specific signal attenuation during the coherence transfer periods. As a result, peaks for individual metabolites usually are quantified by reference to calibration data collected from samples of known concentration. We show here that data from a series of HSQC spectra acquired with incremented repetition times (the time between the end of the first (1)H excitation pulse to the beginning of data acquisition) can be extrapolated back to zero time to yield a time-zero 2D (1)H-(13)C HSQC spectrum (HSQC(0)) in which signal intensities are proportional to concentrations of individual metabolites. Relative concentrations determined from cross peak intensities can be converted to absolute concentrations by reference to an internal standard of known concentration. Clustering of the HSQC(0) cross peaks by their normalized intensities identifies those corresponding to metabolites present at a given concentration, and this information can assist in assigning these peaks to specific compounds. The concentration measurement for an individual metabolite can be improved by averaging the intensities of multiple, nonoverlapping cross peaks assigned to that metabolite.
Distributed Adaptive Formation Control for Linear Swarm Systems With Time-Varying Formation and Switching Topologies (2016)

In this paper, distributed time-varying formation (TVF) control problems for general linear swarm systems with switching interaction topologies are investigated using an adaptive dynamic protocol. First, a TVF control protocol for switching interaction topologies is constructed using the states of neighboring agents. In the protocol, an adaptive controller that employs gain scheduling technique is provided to estimate the coupling weights among agents. Compared with the previous studies on formation control, the desired formation can be specified by piecewise continuously time-varying differentiable vectors, the interaction topology can be switching, and the disadvantage of requiring global information of the interaction topologies is removed in this paper. Then, an algorithm including a feasible formation condition is proposed to determine the gain matrices of the distributed adaptive formation protocol by solving a linear matrix inequality for swarm systems with switching interaction topologies. Moreover, under the designed distributed adaptive formation protocol, sufficient condition for general linear swarm systems with switching interaction topologies to achieve the given TVF is derived using the Lyapunov theory. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the obtained results.