gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Virtual Fitting Pipeline: Body Dimension Recognition, Cloth Modeling, and On-Body Simulation (2014)

This paper describes a solution for 3D clothes simulation on human avatars. The proposed approach consists of three parts, the collection of anthropometric human body dimensions, cloths scanning, and the simulation on 3D avatars. The simulation and human machine interaction has been designed for application in a passive In- Shop advertisement system. All parts have been evaluated and adapted under the aim of developing a low-cost automated scanning and post-production system. Human body dimension recognition was achieved by using a landmark detection based approach using both two 2D and 3D cameras for front and profile images. The human silhouettes extraction solution based on 2D images is expected to be more robust to multi-textured background surfaces than existing solutions. Eight measurements corresponding to the norm of body dimensions defined in the standard EN-13402 were used to reconstruct a 3D model of the human body. The performance is evaluated against the ground-truth of our newly acquired database. For 3D scanning of clothes, different scanning methods have been evaluated under apparel, quality and cost aspects. The chosen approach uses state of the art consumer products and describes how they can be combined to develop an automated system. The scanned cloths can be later simulated on the human avatars, which are created based on estimation of human body dimensions. This work concludes with software design suggestions for a consumer oriented solution such as a virtual fitting room using body metrics. A number of future challenges and an outlook for possible solutions are also discussed.
Poly(pyrimidine) poly(purine) synthetic DNAs containing 5-methylcytosine form stable triplexes at neutral pH (1984)

Poly(pyrimidine) . poly(purine) tracts have been discovered in the 5'-flanking regions of many eucaryotic genes. They may be involved in the regulation of expression since they can be mapped to the nuclease-sensitive sites of active chromatin. We have found that poly(pyrimidine) . poly(purine) DNAs which contain 5-methylcytosine (e.g. poly[d(Tm5C)] . poly[d(GA)]) will form a triplex at a pH below 8. In contrast, the unmethylated analogue, poly[d(TC)] . poly[d(GA)] only forms a triplex at pHs below 6. Synthetic DNAs containing repeating trinucleotides and poly[d(Um5C)] . poly[d(GA)] behave in a similar manner. Thus the stability of a triplex can be controlled by methylation of cytosine. This suggests a model for the regulation of expression based upon specific triplex formation on the 5'-side of eucaryotic genes.
Effect of nitric oxide on toll-like receptor 2 and 4 gene expression in rats with acute lung injury complicated by acute hemorrhage necrotizing pancreatitis. (2005)

The expression of TLR2/4mRNA is increased in the lungs in rats with AHNP and lung injuries are aggravated.TLR2/4mRNA gene expression of the lungs of rats with AHNP could be markedly inhibited by NO, leading to the relief of lung injuries.
Semantic Image Retrieval via Active Grounding of Visual Situations (2018)

We describe a novel architecture for semantic image retrieval-in particular, retrieval of instances of visual situations. Visual situations are concepts such as “a boxing match,” “walking the dog,” “a crowd waiting for a bus,” or “a game of pingpong,” whose instantiations in images are linked more by their common spatial and semantic structure than by low-level visual similarity. Given a query situation description, our architecture-called Situate-learns models capturing the visual features of expected objects as well the expected spatial configuration of relationships among objects. Given a new image, Situate uses these models in an attempt to ground (i.e., to create a bounding box locating) each expected component of the situation in the image via an active search procedure. Situate uses the resulting grounding to compute a score indicating the degree to which the new image is judged to contain an instance of the situation. Such scores can be used to rank images in a collection as part of a retrieval system. In the preliminary study described here, we demonstrate the promise of this system by comparing Situate's performance with that of two baseline methods, as well as with a related semantic image-retrieval system based on “scene graphs.”
Two speech enhancement-based hearing aid systems and comparative study (2015)

Speech enhancement technology can extract the speech signal in noise environment and enhance the recognition rate. In this paper, we first develop two embedded hearing aid systems with noise reduction, respectively using Kalman filter and Wiener filter techniques. Next, we give a comparative study on the two speech enhancement-based hearing aid systems by testing subjective auditory in noise environment. The comparative result shows that the hearing aid system based on the Kalman filter-based speech enhancement can increase the rate of speech recognition and the hearing comfort of hearing impaired persons in a noisy environment, compared with the hearing aid system based on the Wiener filter-based speech enhancement.
Can we Get A Pub From This? Reflections on Competition and the Pressure to Publish While in Graduate School (2024)

It is widely acknowledged that graduate students feel increasing pressure to be academically productive in measurable ways, notably through peer-reviewed publication. Many suggest that the drive for measurable productivity responds to changing structural constraints. In these reflections, we indicate that an unsupportive culture of graduate study is also shaped by our everyday actions. Our practices maintain and exacerbate the competition through which the drive to demonstrate propensity for academic productivity has arisen, and it is therefore at the level of practices that this culture might be changed. Through intra- and inter-university communication, we might alter the expectations within which we work, and foment a collective movement against the drive to compete with our peers and for mutually supportive graduate study.
Optical fibre taper-enabled waveguide photoactuators (2022)

Photoactuators have attracted significant interest for soft robot and gripper applications, yet most of them rely on free-space illumination, which requires a line-of-site low-loss optical path. While waveguide photoactuators can overcome this limitation, their actuating performances are fundamentally restricted by the nature of standard optical fibres. Herein, we demonstrated miniature photoactuators by embedding optical fibre taper in a polydimethylsiloxane/Au nanorod-graphene oxide photothermal film. The special geometric features of the taper endow the designed photoactuator with microscale active layer thickness, high energy density and optical coupling efficiency. Hence, our photoactuator show large bending angles (>270°), fast response (1.8 s for 180° bending), and low energy consumption (<0.55 mW/°), significantly exceeding the performance of state-of-the-art waveguide photoactuators. As a proof-of-concept study, one-arm and two-arm photoactuator-based soft grippers are demonstrated for capturing/moving small objects, which is challenging for free-space light-driven photoactuators.
Vertically aligned smooth ZnO nanorod films for planar device applications (2013)

The growth of smooth and continuous zinc oxide (ZnO) films, consisting of densely packed vertical ZnO nanorods with (002) crystal orientation on silicon substrates has been achieved in this work by a chemical solution method. These ZnO thin films have much stronger photoluminescence emission than those from discrete ZnO nanorods under identical conditions. Large area surface acoustic wave devices were fabricated on these films using conventional photolithography, and exhibited two well-defined resonant modes of the Sezawa wave and its harmonic mode.
Commercial bismuth telluride-based Peltier plates for use as heat flux transducers (a concept). (2010)

This paper presents an overview of the evaluation of low-cost, commercially available bismuth telluride Peltier plates for re-purposing to be used where traditional heat flux transducers are used to measure thermal performance of building elements and/or thermal insulation. Using standard calibration and evaluation procedures, it is possible to show that the devices can be calibrated and used to perform in-situ thermal performance measurements of building elements and systems, with the potential to show that building elements comply with any relevant building code energy-efficiency requirements.
‘Acute myeloid leukemia: a comprehensive review and 2016 update’ (2016)

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common acute leukemia in adults, with an incidence of over 20 000 cases per year in the United States alone. Large chromosomal translocations as well as mutations in the genes involved in hematopoietic proliferation and differentiation result in the accumulation of poorly differentiated myeloid cells. AML is a highly heterogeneous disease; although cases can be stratified into favorable, intermediate and adverse-risk groups based on their cytogenetic profile, prognosis within these categories varies widely. The identification of recurrent genetic mutations, such as FLT3-ITD, NMP1 and CEBPA, has helped refine individual prognosis and guide management. Despite advances in supportive care, the backbone of therapy remains a combination of cytarabine- and anthracycline-based regimens with allogeneic stem cell transplantation for eligible candidates. Elderly patients are often unable to tolerate such regimens, and carry a particularly poor prognosis. Here, we review the major recent advances in the treatment of AML.
Mechanisms underlying the antidepressant response and treatment resistance (2014)

Depression is a complex and heterogeneous disorder affecting millions of Americans. There are several different medications and other treatments that are available and effective for many patients with depression. However, a substantial percentage of patients fail to achieve remission with these currently available interventions, and relapse rates are high. Therefore, it is necessary to determine both the mechanisms underlying the antidepressant response and the differences between responders and non-responders to treatment. Delineation of these mechanisms largely relies on experiments that utilize animal models. Therefore, this review provides an overview of the various mouse models that are currently used to assess the antidepressant response, such as chronic mild stress, social defeat, and chronic corticosterone. We discuss how these mouse models can be used to advance our understanding of the differences between responders and non-responders to antidepressant treatment. We also provide an overview of experimental treatment modalities that are used for treatment-resistant depression, such as deep brain stimulation and ketamine administration. We will then review the various genetic polymorphisms and transgenic mice that display resistance to antidepressant treatment. Finally, we synthesize the published data to describe a potential neural circuit underlying the antidepressant response and treatment resistance.
Security testing for Android mHealth apps (2015)

Mobile health (mHealth) apps are an ideal tool for monitoring and tracking long-term health conditions; they are becoming incredibly popular despite posing risks to personal data privacy and security. In this paper, we propose a testing method for Android mHealth apps which is designed using a threat analysis, considering possible attack scenarios and vulnerabilities specific to the domain. To demonstrate the method, we have applied it to apps for managing hypertension and diabetes, discovering a number of serious vulnerabilities in the most popular applications. Here we summarise the results of that case study, and discuss the experience of using a testing method dedicated to the domain, rather than out-of-the-box Android security testing methods. We hope that details presented here will help design further, more automated, mHealth security testing tools and methods.
Understanding of partial discharge activity in transformer oil under transient voltages adopting acoustic emission technique (2011)

One of the causes for the failure of power transformers is due to formation of partial discharges. Partial discharge taking place in transformer oil under AC voltages were studied by researchers worldwide in detail. But for the PD formation under transient voltages, the results are scanty. In the present work, three different defects were considered viz. corona discharge, discharge initiated due to floating particle and discharge formation due to particle movement and the discharges initiated by these defects under standard lightning impulse were studied adopting acoustic emission technique. The FFT analysis of AE signal obtained due to different defects has close resemblance and hence the ternary plots were obtained using the FFT output of the AE signal and classified. MRSD technique was adopted to remove the noise signal in the AE signal formed due to the discharges. The AE signal obtained due to discharges under AC voltages were compared with the signals obtained under standard lightning impulse voltage.
Biometric authentication via complex oculomotor behavior (2013)

This paper presents an objective evaluation of previously unexplored biometric techniques utilizing patterns identifiable in complex oculomotor behavior to distinguish individuals. Considered features include: saccadic dysmetria, compound saccades, dynamic overshoot, and express saccades. Score-level information fusion is applied and evaluated by: likelihood ratio, support vector machine, and random forest. The results suggest that it is possible to obtain equal error rates of 25% and rank-1 identification rates of 47% using score-level fusion by likelihood ratio.
Atlas-Free Surface Reconstruction of the Cortical Grey-White Interface in Infants (2011)

We presented a new segmentation method which achieved good to very good performance at the grey-white matter interface depending on the infant age. This method should reduce manual intervention and could be applied to pathological brains since it does not require any brain atlas.
Acute renal failure. III. The role of growth factors in the process of renal regeneration and repair (2000)

This review, which is the final installment in a series devoted to controversial issues in acute renal failure (ARF) (3, 47), will examine available information regarding the role of growth factors in ARF. In general, studies in this area have fallen into two broad categories: 1) those that have examined the renal expression of genes encoding growth factors or transcriptional factors associated with the growth response that is induced after ARF, and 2) those that have examined the efficacy of exogenously administered growth factors in accelerating recovery of renal function in experimental models of ARF. Despite the vast amount of information that has accumulated in these two areas of investigation, our understanding of the mechanisms involved in the process of regeneration and repair after ARF, and the role of growth factors in this response, remains rudimentary. This overview, contributed to by a number of experts in the field, is designed to summarize present knowledge and to highlight potentially fertile areas for future research in this area.
Extensive genomic diversity and selective conservation of virulence-determinants in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia colistrains of O157 and non-O157 serotypes (2007)

Although O157 and non-O157 EHECs have independently acquired a huge amount of serotype- or strain-specific genes by lateral gene transfer, they share an unexpectedly large number of virulence genes. Independent infections of similar but distinct bacteriophages carrying these virulence determinants are deeply involved in the evolution of O157 and non-O157 EHECs.
DP-SLAM: fast, robust simultaneous localization and mapping without predetermined landmarks (2003)

We present a novel, laser range finder based algorithm for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) for mobile robots. SLAM addresses the problem of constructing an accurate map in real time despite imperfect information about the robot&apos;s trajectory through the environment. Unlike other approaches that assume predetermined landmarks (and must deal with a resulting dataassociation problem) our algorithm is purely laser based. Our algorithm uses a particle filter to represent both robot poses and possible map configurations. By using a new map representation, which we call distributed particle (DP) mapping, we are able to maintain and update hundreds of candidate maps and robot poses efficiently. The worst-case complexity of our algorithm per laser sweep is log-quadratic in the number of particles we maintain and linear in the area swept out by the laser. However, in practice our run time is usually much less than that. Our technique contains essentially no assumptions about the environment yet it is accurate enough to close loops of 60m in length with crisp, perpendicular edges on corridors and minimal or no misalignment errors. 1
Production and Applications of Microwave Surface Wave Plasma at Atmospheric Pressure<sup>*</sup> (1979)

Surface wave microwave excitation structures can be used to produce relatively long plasma columns at atmospheric pressure. Characteristics of this new versatile plasma are given. Applications such as trace gas analysis by optical emission spectroscopy, production of flames of various compositions, welding, and spectral lamps are presented.
Visualization of the antioxidative effects of melatonin at the mitochondrial level during oxidative stress‐induced apoptosis of rat brain astrocytes (2004)

Oxidative stress-induced mitochondrial dysfunction has been shown to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of a wide range of diseases. Protecting mitochondrial function, therefore, is vital for cells to survive during these disease processes. In this study, we demonstrate that melatonin, a chief secretory product of the pineal gland, readily rescued mitochondria from oxidative stress-induced dysfunction and effectively prevented subsequent apoptotic events and death in rat brain astrocytes (RBA-1). The early protection provided by melatonin in mitochondria of intact living cells was investigated by the application of time-lapse conventional, confocal, and multiphoton fluorescent imaging microscopy coupled with noninvasive mitochondria-targeted fluorescent probes. In particular, we observed that melatonin effectively prevented exogenously applied H2O2-induced mitochondrial swelling in rat brain astrocytes at an early time point (within 10 min) and subsequently reduced apoptotic cell death (150 min later). Other early apoptotic events such as plasma membrane exposure of phosphatidyl serine and the positive YOPRO-1 staining of the early apoptotic nucleus were also prevented by melatonin. A mechanistic study at the mitochondrial level related to the early protection provided by melatonin revealed that the indole molecule significantly reduced mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation induced by H2O2 stress. Melatonin also prevented mitochondrial ROS generation caused by other organic hydroperoxides including tert-butyl hydroperoxide and cumene hydroperoxide. This antioxidative effect of melatonin is more potent than that of vitamin E. Via its ability to reduce mitochondrial ROS generation, melatonin prevented H2O2-induced mitochondrial calcium overload, mitochondrial membrane potential depolarization, and the opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) pore. As a result, melatonin blocked MPT-dependent cytochrome c release, the downstream activation of caspase 3, the condensation and karyorrhexis of the nucleus and apoptotic fragmentation of nuclear DNA. Thus, the powerful mitochondrial protection provided by melatonin reinforces its therapeutic potential to combat a variety of oxidative stress-induced mitochondrial dysfunctions as well as mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in various diseases.
Stimulatory Effects of the Flavanol (-)-Epicatechin on Cardiac Angiogenesis (2012)

The consumption of moderate amounts of cocoa products has been associated with reductions in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. In animal studies, the flavanol (-)-epicatechin (Epi) yields cardioprotection. The effects may be partly due to its capacity to stimulate endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). The sustained activation of eNOS, as observed with exercise, can serve as a trigger of muscle angiogenesis via the activation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-related events. Experiments were pursued to examine the potential of Epi to stimulate myocardial angiogenesis and determine the effects that its combined use with exercise (Ex) may trigger. Hearts obtained from a previous study were used for this purpose. Animals received 1 mg/kg of Epi or water (vehicle) via oral gavage (twice daily). Epi and/or Ex (by treadmill) was provided for 15 days. Results indicate that Ex or Epi significantly stimulate myocardial angiogenesis by ~30% above control levels. The use of Epi-Ex lead to further significant increases (to ~50%). Effects were associated with increases in protein levels and/or activation of canonical angiogenesis pathway associated events (HIF1a, VEGF, VEGFR2, PI3K, PDK, AKT, eNOS, NO, cGMP, MMP-2/-9, Src-1, and CD31). Thus, the use of Epi may represent a safe and novel means to stimulate myocardial angiogenesis.
Consensus building on refrigerant type (2008)

Subtitle: The hydrofluoro-olefin refrigerant HFO-1234yf has emerged as Europe's favored R-134a replacement, but some prefer R-744.
Strategically Designed Antifibrotic Gold Nanoparticles to Prevent Collagen Fibril Formation (2017)

Because uncontrolled accumulation of collagen fibrils has been implicated in a series of pathologies, inhibition of collagen fibril formation has become one of the necessary strategies to target such collagen-linked complications. The presence of hydroxyproline (Hyp) at the Y position in (Gly-X-Y)<sub>n</sub> sequence pattern of collagen is known to facilitate crucial hydrophobic and hydration-linked interactions that promote collagen fibril formation. Here, to target such Hyp-mediated interactions, we have synthesized uniform, thermostable, and hemocompatible Hyp coated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs<sup>HYP</sup>) and have examined their inhibition effect on the fibril formation of type I collagen. We found that collagen fibril formation is strongly suppressed in the presence of AuNPs<sup>HYP</sup> and no such suppression effect was observed in the presence of free Hyp and control Gly-coated nanoparticles at similar concentrations. Both isothermal titration calorimetric studies and bioinformatics analysis reveal possible interaction between Hyp and (Gly-Pro-Hyp) stretches of collagen triple-helical model peptides. Further, gold nanoparticles coated with proline (AuNPs<sup>PRO</sup>) and tryptophan (AuNPs<sup>TRP</sup>) also suppressed collagen fibril formation, suggesting their ability to interfere with aromatic-proline as well as hydrophobic interactions between collagen molecules. The Hyp molecules, when surface functionalized, are predicted to interfere with the Hyp-mediated forces that drive collagen self-assembly, and such inhibition effect may help in targeting collagen linked pathologies.