gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Real-time computer vision in software using custom vector overlays (2018)

Real-time computer vision places stringent performance requirements on embedded systems. Often, dedicated hardware is required. This is undesirable as hardware development is time-consuming, requires extensive skill, and can be difficult to debug. This thesis presents three case studies of accelerating computer vision algorithms using a software-driven approach, where only the innermost computation is performed with dedicated hardware. As a baseline, the algorithms are initially run on a scalar host processor. Next, the software is sped up using an existing vector overlay implemented in the FPGA fabric, manually rewriting the code to use vectors. Finally, the overlay is customized to accelerate the critical inner loops by adding hardware-assisted custom vector instructions. Collectively, the custom instructions require very few lines of RTL code compared to what would be needed to implement the entire algorithm in dedicated hardware. This keeps design complexity low and yields a significant performance boost. For example, in one system, we measured a performance advantage of 2.4× to 3.5× over previous state-of-the-art dedicated hardware systems while using far less custom hardware
Evidence for early disease-modifying drugs in rheumatoid arthritis. (2003)

Some research evidence supports early aggressive treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using combination therapy with two or more disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) plus steroids, or even DMARDs plus an anti-TNF. By contrast, conservatively delayed DMARD monotherapy, given after non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have failed, has been criticised. However, recent long-term studies highlight the complexities in evaluating whether to abandon pyramidal treatment in favour of early DMARDs. Although patients given early DMARD therapy show short-term benefits, longer-term results show no prolonged clinical advantages from early DMARDs. By 5 years patients receiving early DMARDs had similar disease activity and comparable health assessment questionnaire scores to patients who received DMARDs later in their disease course. X-ray progression was persistent and virtually identical in both groups. These negative findings do not invalidate the case for early DMARD therapy, as it is gives sustained reductions in disease activity in the early years of treatment without excessive risks from adverse effects. However, early DMARDs alone do not adequately control RA in the longer term. This may require starting with very aggressive therapy or treating patients more aggressively after early DMARD therapy has been initiated.
Development of an Intermediate Temperature Molten Salt Fuel Cell (2009)

In recognition of the shortcomings inherent to the operating temperature ranges of current fuel cell systems, namely the“temperature gap" between 200C and 600C, an effort to develop an intermediate-temperature molten-salt electrolyte fuel cell (IT-MSFC) was undertaken. In this type of fuel cell, the molten salt electrolyte is supported on a porous support, in a planar or other geometry similar to that used in existing fuel cell technologies, such as phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) and molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC). Such a fuel cell using a molten hydroxide electrolyte and Pt/C catalyst was constructed and tested using hydrogen and oxygen as fuel. The performance was comparable to that which has been obtained from PEM fuel cells at the low end of the voltage range, reaching 950ma/cm2 at 0.4 V in the highest performing test. Performance was superior to PEM fuel cells at the high end of the voltage range, due to the more favorable kinetics at the higher temperatures, with an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.0 V with a linear performance curve between 1.0 V and 0.6 V, which is characteristic of fuel cells with low kinetic overpotentials. Longevity of the fuel cell was very poor, however a number of experiments were undertaken to improve it, enabling extension of operating life from 5 minutes to 30 minutes, which is still far too low for practical use. The key problem was identified as electrolyte retention by the support matrix and possible degradation of the gas diffusion layer and catalyst. Experiments were also conducted using methanol vapor as fuel, and it was found to provide performance close to that recorded with pure hydrogen. Experiments were also conducted using several alternative molten salts, including nitrate and chloride eutectics. Combinations of nitrates with hydroxides added to act as a charge carrier produced a working fuel cell, however performance was greatly reduced. Though preliminary, the work described herein demonstrates the great potential of IT-MSFC, and outlines the work needed to make this type of fuel cell practical.
An Entropy Based Algorithm to Find Critical Traffic Matrices (2008)

The entropy is a measure of diversity and homogeneity of one microstate in thermodynamic, which reflects the probably distribution of one microstate of the system. A traffic matrix has tremendous potential utility for many IP network engineering applications. In practical networking applications, dealing with thousands of measured traffic matrices is often inconvenient. This seriously limits the applicability of traffic matrices. So it is highly desirable to be able to extract a small number of "critical" traffic matrices. We study the problem of Critical Traffic Matrices Selection (CTMS) in this paper. We developed an approximation algorithm called MinMat which preselects a group of matrices as critical matrix candidates based on entropy analysis. We evaluated MinMat by a large collection of real traffic matrices collected in campus network and Abilene network. Our results demonstrated that MinMat algorithm are effective than K-means, Hierarchical Agglomeration and by simulating on totem we concluded that a small number of critical traffic matrices suffice to yield satisfactory performance.
Apoptosis and expression of apoptosis regulating proteins bcl-2, mcl-1, bcl-X, and bax in malignant mesothelioma. (1999)

We investigated apoptosis and the expression of bcl-2, mcl-1, bcl-X, and bax in histological sections from 35 malignant mesotheliomas and 21 metastatic adenocarcinomas. Moreover, the expression of bcl-2, mcl-1, bcl-X, and bax were assessed by Western blotting in nonmalignant human mesothelial cells (Met5A) and seven malignant cell lines. The apoptotic index in mesotheliomas was 1.07+/-1.14%. Patients with mesotheliomas showing a high apoptotic index (> or =0.75%) had a worse prognosis (P = 0.008). bcl-2 positivity was observed in only seven cases, but bcl-X, mcl-1, and bax positivity was seen in all of them. In immunoblotting experiments, all mesothelioma cell lines were negative for bcl-2 but positive for bcl-X, mcl-1, and bax. The apoptotic index in bcl-2-negative mesotheliomas was 1.25+/-1.24% and in bcl-2-positive ones, 0.47+/-0.42% (P = 0.014). The apoptotic index did not significantly associate with bcl-X, mcl-1, or bax expression (P = 0.19, P = 0.25, and P = 0.46, respectively). No significant difference was observed in apoptosis or expression of bcl-2, bcl-X, or bax between malignant mesotheliomas and metastatic adenocarcinomas. The former, however, showed more often weak mcl-1 immunoreactivity (P = 0.01). The results show that the extent of apoptosis may influence patient prognosis. bcl-2 is inversely associated with the apoptotic index but is relatively infrequently expressed in malignant mesotheliomas. Widespread expression of bcl-X, mcl-1, and bax suggests that these proteins may also take part in apoptosis regulation in mesotheliomas.
A comparison between objective and subjective image quality measurements for a full field digital mammography system (2006)

This paper presents pre-sampling modulation transfer function (MTF), normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS) and detective quantum efficiency (DQE) results for an amorphous selenium (a-Se) full field digital mammography system. MTF was calculated from the image of an angled 0.5 mm thick Cu edge, acquired without additional beam filtration. NNPS data were acquired at detector air-kerma levels ranging from 9.1 microGy to 331 microGy, using a standard mammography x-ray spectrum of 28 kV, Mo/Mo target/filter combination and 4 cm of PMMA additional filtration. Prior to NNPS estimation, the image statistics were assessed using a variance image. This method was able to easily identify a detector artefact and should prove useful in routine quality assurance (QA) measurements. Detector DQE, calculated from the NNPS and MTF data, dropped to 0.3 for low detector air-kerma settings but reached an approximately constant value of 0.6 above 50 microGy at the detector. Subjective image quality data were also obtained at these detector air-kerma settings using the CDMAM contrast-detail (c-d) test object. The c-d data reflected the trend seen in DQE, with threshold contrast increasing at low detector air-kerma values. The c-d data were then compared against predictions made using two established models, the Rose model and a standard signal detection theory model. Using DQE(0), the Rose model gave results within approximately 15% on average for all the detector air-kerma values studied and for detail diameters down to 0.2 mm. Similar agreement was also found between the measured c-d data and the signal detection theory results, which were calculated using an ideal human visual response function and a system magnification of unity. The use of full spatial frequency DQE improved the agreement between the calculated and observer results for detail sizes below 0.13 mm.
A method for evaluating battery state of charge estimation accuracy (2012)

Battery State of Charge estimation is one of the key procedures in battery management systems.An accurate State of Charge estimation can enhance the performance of the battery and increase the security of the electric vehicle.The goal of this thesis was to propose a method to evaluate the State of Charge estimation accuracy of an estimator developed by Volvo Group Trucks Technology.The method is designed in such a way that it can be adapted to any battery system.This thesis also describes the various measurement errors and their effects on the proposed method and the overall State of Charge estimation accuracy.Various tests and simulations in virtual test bench are examined.In conclusion the proposed method works satisfactorily.
Bacterial Pneumonia in Persons Infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (1995)

Bacterial pneumonia is more frequent in HIV-positive persons than in seronegative controls, and the risk is highest among those with CD4 lymphocyte counts below 200 per cubic millimeter and among injection-drug users.
Constraints on the Nuclear Matter Equation of State from Pulsar Glitches (1992)

We study the post-glitch response of four pulsars to obtain lower limits on the total moment of inertia of the inner crust superfluid. In contrast to previous work, our constraints are independent of the form of the crust-superfluid coupling. We conclude that the superfluid must comprise {approx gt}0.8% of the total moment of inertia of the star. This constraint rules out the softest equations of state.
Small-Fiber Neuropathy: Answering the Burning Questions (2006)

Small-fiber neuropathy is a peripheral nerve disease that most commonly presents in middle-aged and older people, who develop burning pain in their feet. Although it can be caused by disorders of metabolism such as diabetes, chronic infections (such as with human immunodeficiency virus), genetic abnormalities, toxicity from various drugs, and autoimmune diseases, the cause often remains a mystery because standard electrophysiologic tests for nerve injury do not detect small-fiber function. Inadequate ability to test for and diagnose small-fiber neuropathies has impeded patient care and research, but new tools offer promise. Infrequently, the underlying cause of small-fiber dysfunction is identified and disease-modifying therapy can be instituted. More commonly, the treatments for small-fiber neuropathy involve symptomatic treatment of neuropathic pain.
Video Noise Reduction in 3-D Mixed Transform Domain Using Its Efficient Wavelet Structure (2009)

In this paper, we propose a novel 3-D mixed transform based video denoising scheme for additive white gaussian noise. The 3-D mixed transform consists of lapped biorthogonal transform (LBT) in vertical and horizontal directions and discrete cosine transform (DCT) in temporal direction. The efficient wavelet structure of 3-D mixed transform coefficients is used for denoising the video data. The concept of wavelet structure of 3-D mixed transform coefficients is taken from our recent successful lossy color image compression scheme. The wavelet structure of 3-D mixed transform coefficients allow to use efficient wavelet based image denoising algorithms without wavelet transform. We use the approximate minimum mean square error (MMSE) estimation procedure to denoise each individual slice of 3-D mixed transform coefficients. We propose to use the simple selective recursive temporal filtering with the proposed denoising scheme which improves the average peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) further by 1 dB - 2 dB. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme shows encouraging results when compared to many existing complex wavelet based denoising schemes both in terms of PSNR and visual quality.
Use of Ratings of Perceived Exertion in Sports (2012)

The rating of perceived exertion (RPE) is a recognized marker of intensity and of homeostatic disturbance during exercise. It is typically monitored during exercise tests to complement other measures of intensity. The purpose of this commentary is to highlight the remarkable value of RPE as a psychophysiological integrator in adults. It can be used in such diverse fashions as to predict exercise capacity, assess changes in training status, and explain changes in pace and pacing strategy. In addition to using RPE to self-regulate exercise, a novel application of the intensity:RPE relationship is to clamp RPE at various levels to produce self-paced bouts of exercise, which can be used to assess maximal functional capacity. Research also shows that the rate of increase in RPE during self-paced competitive events of varying distance, or constant-load tasks where the participant exercises until volitional exhaustion, is proportional to the duration that remains. These findings suggest that the brain regulates RPE and performance in an anticipatory manner based on awareness of metabolic reserves at the start of an event and certainty of the anticipated end point. Changes in pace may be explained by a continuous internal negotiation of momentary RPE compared with a preplanned "ideal rate of RPE progression" template, which takes into account the portion of distance covered and the anticipated end point. These observations have led to the development of new techniques to analyze the complex relationship of RPE and pacing. The use of techniques to assess frontal-cortex activity will lead to further advances in understanding.
Microcystic cyanobacteria extract induces cytoskeletal disruption and intracellular glutathione alteration in hepatocytes. (2000)

Microcystins are a group of highly liver-specific toxins, although their exact mechanisms of action remain unclear. We examined the effects of microcystic cyanobacteria extract (MCE) collected from a contaminated water source on the organization of cellular microtubules (MTs) and microfilaments (MFs) in hepatocytes. We also investigated the effects on lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage and intracellular glutathione (GSH). Primary cultured rat hepatocytes exposed to MCE (equivalent to 125 microg/mL lyophilized algae cells) showed a characteristic disruption of MTs and MFs in a time-dependent manner. Under these conditions, MCE caused aggregation of MTs and MFs and a severe loss of MTs in some cells. Moreover, MCE-induced cytoskeletal alterations preceded the LDH leakage. On the other hand, the treatment of cells with MCE led to a dose-dependent increase of intracellular GSH. However, time-course study showed a biphasic change of intracellular GSH levels with a significant increase in the initial stage followed by a decrease after prolonged treatment. Furthermore, pretreatment with N-acetylcystein (NAC), a GSH precursor, significantly enhanced the intracellular GSH level and decreased the MCE-induced cytotoxicity as well as cytoskeleton changes. In contrast, buthionine-(S, R)-sulfoximine, a specific GSH synthesis inhibitor, increased the cell susceptibility to MCE-induced cytotoxicity by depleting the intracellular GSH level. These findings suggest that intracellular GSH plays an important role in MCE-induced cytotoxicity and cytoskeleton changes in primary cultured rat hepatocytes. Increasing intracellular GSH levels protect cells from MCE-induced cytotoxicity and cytoskeleton changes.
The Reliability of Positioning Pre-adjusted Brackets: An <i>In Vitro</i> Study (1992)

To investigate the reliability of bracket positioning, twelve operators, familiar with the straight-wire appliance, placed 0.022" straight-wire brackets on the anterior teeth of a typodont study model, on three different occasions. Bracket position was assessed using a Magiscan image analyser. Angular judgements by the operators were found to be less consistently identified than linear assessments. Slot angulation showed the largest variability and vertical bracket placement the least. The clinical implications of bracket misplacement are discussed.
Self-Confidence and Persuasion in Car Buying (1967)

Intensive interviews with 234 new car buyers reveal that those with general self-confidence tend to have high specific self-confidence in their car buying ability. These two factors combine to influence consumer use of friends as purchase helpers. Consumers and their purchase helpers form a buying team whose specific self-confidence is curvilinearly related to persuasibility.
Bittorrent is an auction (2008)

Incentives play a crucial role in BitTorrent, motivating users to upload to others to achieve fast download times for all peers. Though long believed to be robust to strategic manipulation, recent work has empirically shown that BitTorrent does not provide its users incentive to follow the protocol. We propose an auction-based model to study and improve upon BitTorrent's incentives. The insight behind our model is that BitTorrent uses, not tit-for-tat as widely believed, but an auction to decide which peers to serve. Our model not only captures known, performance-improving strategies, it shapes our thinking toward new, effective strategies. For example, our analysis demonstrates, counter-intuitively, that BitTorrent peers have incentive to intelligently under-report what pieces of the file they have to their neighbors. We implement and evaluate a modification to BitTorrent in which peers reward one another with proportional shares of bandwidth. Within our game-theoretic model, we prove that a proportional-share client is strategy-proof. With experiments on PlanetLab, a local cluster, and live downloads, we show that a proportional-share unchoker yields faster downloads against BitTorrent and BitTyrant clients, and that under-reporting pieces yields prolonged neighbor interest.
Analyzing and accessing Wikipedia as a lexical semantic resource (2007)

Abstract. We analyze Wikipedia as a lexical semantic resource and compare it with conventional resources, such as dictionaries, thesauri, semantic wordnets, etc. Di erent parts of Wikipedia re ect di erent aspects of these resources. We show that Wikipedia contains a vast amount of knowledge about, e.g., named entities, domain speci c terms, and rare word senses. If Wikipedia is to be used as a lexical semantic resource in large-scale NLP tasks, e cient programmatic access to the knowledge therein is required. We review existing access mechanisms and show that they are limited with respect to performance and the provided access functions. Therefore, we introduce a general purpose, high performance Java-based Wikipedia API that overcomes these limitations. It is available for research purposes at
Rotation‐Misfit‐Free Heteroepitaxial Stacking and Stitching Growth of Hexagonal Transition‐Metal Dichalcogenide Monolayers by Nucleation Kinetics Controls (2015)

2D vertical stacking and lateral stitching growth of monolayer (ML) hexagonal transition-metal dichalcogenides are reported. The 2D heteroepitaxial manipulation of MoS2 and WS2 MLs is achieved by control of the 2D nucleation kinetics during the sequential vapor-phase growth. It enables the creation of hexagon-on-hexagon unit-cell stacking and hexagon-by-hexagon stitching without interlayer rotation misfits.
Drug Therapy for Alcohol Dependence (1999)

Alcohol dependence is a chronic disorder that results from a variety of genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors.1 As defined by the American Psychiatric Association in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, it is characterized by increased tolerance of the effects of alcohol, impaired control over drinking, and continued drinking despite adverse consequences (Table 1).2 Alcohol dependence affects nearly 10 percent of the population and results in social problems, considerable morbidity and mortality, and high health care costs.3,4 Alcohol dependence is treated by medical, psychological, and social interventions that reduce or eliminate the desire to drink and the . . .
Asian American and Pacific Islander Aging (2008)

Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are one of the fastest-growing populations among the U.S. population sixty-five years of age and older. In 2003, nearly one million older Asians lived in the United States. By 2030, this population will grow to four million Not only are older AAPIs growing in numbers, but also they are becoming a larger percentage of the U.S. population sixty-five years of age and older. Whereas AAPIs constituted less than 4 percent of older Americans in 2003, this population will account for 11 percent of the older American population in 2050
Protein Secondary Structure Prediction (2006)

Protein secondary structures are stable local conformations of a polypeptide chain. They are critically important in maintaining a protein three-dimensional structure. The highly regular and repeated structural elements include α-helices and β-sheets. It has been estimated that nearly 50% of residues of a protein fold into either α-helices and β-strands. As a review, an α-helix is a spiral-like structure with 3.6 amino acid residues per turn. The structure is stabilized by hydrogen bonds between residues i and i + 4. Prolines normally do not occur in the middle of helical segments, but can be found at the end positions of α-helices (see Chapter 12). A β-sheet consists of two or more β-strands having an extended zigzag conformation. The structure is stabilized by hydrogen bonding between residues of adjacent strands, which actually may be long-range interactions at the primary structure level. β-Strands at the protein surface show an alternating pattern of hydrophobic and hydrophilic residues; buried strands tend to contain mainly hydrophobic residues.