gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
On Efficient Assessment of Image-Quality Metrics Based on Linear Model Observers (2012)

This paper is motivated by the problem of image-quality assessment using model observers for the purpose of development and optimization of medical imaging systems. Specifically, we present a study regarding the estimation of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the observer and associated summary measures. This study evaluates the statistical advantage that may be gained in ROC estimates of observer performance by assuming that the difference of the class means for the observer ratings is known. Such knowledge is frequently available in image-quality studies employing known-location lesion detection tasks together with linear model observers. The study is carried out by introducing parametric point and confidence interval estimators that incorporate a known difference of class means. An evaluation of the new estimators for the area under the ROC curve establishes that a large reduction in statistical variability can be achieved through incorporation of knowledge of the difference of class means. Namely, the mean 95% AUC confidence interval length can be as much as seven times smaller in some cases. We also examine how knowledge of the difference of class means can be advantageously used to compare the areas under two correlated ROC curves, and observe similar gains.
Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Boundary Control of an Autonomous Aerial Refueling Hose System With Prescribed Constraints (2021)

In this article, we propose a redundant fault-tolerant and boundary constraint control in the framework of adaptive method, the neural network approximation, and the barrier Lyapunov function (BLF) with a relaxed initial condition. The actuator failures are compensated by a combination of adaptive methods and redundant actuators when some actuators suffer from partial or even total loss of effectiveness. The radial basis function’s neural network structure is introduced to strengthen the adaptivity in various orientations of the hose and other additionally unmodeled dynamics. To maintain the boundary deflection within a predefined open set after a constraint time, a novel asymmetrical and time-varying BLF is constructed by applying a shifting function to transform the original state into a new state with zero value initially. The performance of the developed adaptive control is demonstrated by numerical simulations. Note to Practitioners—This article is motivated by the limited performances in the existing control designs for flexible unmanned aerial refueling hose systems with failed actuators and boundary constraints. This article considers a redundant actuator case to solve time-varying and partially and totally failed actuator failures that are not settled by adaptive and Nussbaum-based single control. Unlike conventional barrier Lyapunov functions (BLFs), in this article, we resort to a shifting function and propose a novelly asymmetric and time-varying BLF, which is well defined initially and capable to address a deferred constraint control problem. The control design and stability analysis of the actuated system is a Lyapunov-based method rather than relying on semigroup theory or functional analysis, which makes the developed method more engineering orientated. The proposed control strategy is tested to illustrate performances in numerical simulations with the finite difference method.
Tunable Bifunctional Silyl Ether Cross-Linkers for the Design of Acid-Sensitive Biomaterials (2020)

Responsive polymeric biomaterials can be triggered to degrade using localized environments found in vivo. A limited number of biomaterials provide precise control over the rate of degradation, the release rate of entrapped cargo, and yield a material that is intrinsically non-toxic. Here we design non-toxic acid-sensitive biomaterials based on silyl ether chemistry. A host of silyl ether cross-linkers were synthesized and molded into relevant medical devices including Trojan horse particles, sutures, and stents. The resulting devices were engineered to degrade under acidic conditions known to exist in tumor tissue, inflammatory tissue, and within diseased cells. The implementation of silyl ether chemistry gave precise control over the rate of degradation, and depending upon the steric bulk around the silicon atom, afforded devices that could degrade over the course of hours, days, weeks, or months. These novel materials could be useful for numerous biomedical applications including drug-delivery, tissue repair, and general surgery.
ChemInform Abstract: CONFORMATIONAL ANALYSIS. 128. THE WOODWARD‐FIESER RULES AND α,β‐UNSATURATED KETONES (1978)

Abstract Die Konformationsabhängigkeit der längstwelligenUV‐Bande α,β‐ungesättigter Ketone wird am Beispiel der acyclischen Ketone (I) (in s‐cis‐ und s‐trans‐ Form) und der cyclischen Ketone (II)‐(VI) durch Vergleich experimenteller Daten (Literaturwerte) mit den nach der VESCF‐CI‐Methode berechneten untersucht.
Prepro-thyrotropin-releasing hormone 178-199 increases sensitivity of AtT-20 cells to dexamethasone (2001)

The prepro-thyrotropin-releasing hormone (ppTRH)-derived peptide, ppTRH178-199, has been proposed to inhibit ACTH release at the level of the pituitary and attenuate prolactin and behavioral responses to stress as well. The objective of this study was to elucidate a possible link between the effects of ppTRH178-199 and glucocorticoids on the inhibition of ACTH release in corticotrophs. Compared with mock-transfected cells, AtT-20 cells that were stably transfected with full-length ppTRH cDNA showed significantly increased sensitivity to dexamethasone, as measured by inhibition of ACTH release. In a group of control cells, expressing a mutated form of ppTRH cDNA lacking the ppTRH178-199 region, sensitivity to dexamethasone was not different from mock-transfected controls. Exogenous ppTRH178-199 also increased the inhibitory effect of dexamethasone in wild-type AtT-20 cells. The combined effect of dexamethasone and ppTRH cDNA in cells that express the latter was not due to increased endogenous secretion of ppTRH178-199 in response to dexamethasone, as dexamethasone was independently found to inhibit secretion of ppTRH178-199. Taken together, these data suggest that ppTRH178-199 can interact with the glucocorticoid negative feedback inhibition to regulate ACTH secretion.
Decarboxylative C(sp3)–X (X = O, NBoc, S) Bond Formation through Photoredox Catalysis (2020)

Key words phenylbenzophenothiazine - decarboxylative coupling - phenothiazines - redox-active esters - photocatalysis
Suspended Carbon Nanotube Quantum Wires with Two Gates (2004)

Suspended single-walled carbon nanotube devices comprised of high-quality electrical contacts and two electrostatic gates per device have been prepared. Compared to nanotubes pinned on substrates, the suspended devices exhibit little hysteresis related to environmental factors and act as cleaner Fabry-Perot interferometers or single-electron transistors. The high-field saturation currents in the suspended nanotubes related to optical phonon or zone-boundary phonon scattering are significantly lower due to the lack of efficient heat sinking. The multiple-gate design may also facilitate future investigations into the electromechanical properties of nanotube quantum systems.
Current status of Barrett's esophagus research in Asia (2010)

In Western countries, the epidemiology of esophageal cancer has changed considerably over the past decades with a rise in the ratio of adenocarcinoma to squamous cell carcinoma. Although the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux is increasing in Asia, the prevalences of Barrett's esophagus (BE) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) have remained low in most Asian countries. The Asian Barrett's Consortium recently conducted a review of published studies on BE from Asia to assess the current status of BE research in Asia, and to recommend potential areas for future BE research in the region. Differences in study design, enrolled population, and endoscopic biopsy protocols used have led to substantial variability in the reported BE prevalence (0.06% to 19.9%) across Asia. In particular, some Japanese studies used diagnostic criteria that differed considerably from what was used in most Asian studies. As in Western countries, increased age, male sex, tobacco smoking, reflux symptoms, and erosive esophagitis have been found to be risk factors for BE in several case-control studies from Asia. The Prague C and M criteria, developed to provide better interobserver reliability in diagnosis and grading of BE, are currently under extensive evaluation in the Asian population. There is a need for standardized protocols for endoscopic and histopathologic diagnosis before initiating collaborative projects to identify etiologic determinants of BE and its ensuing malignant transformation. At present, data regarding the management and long-term outcome of BE are extremely limited in Asia. More studies of BE in this geographic area are warranted.
Association of 24-Hour Heart Rate Variability and Daytime Physical Activity: ALLSTAR Big Data Analysis (2017)

This paper reports the temporal structures of the relationships between 24-hour heart rate variability (HRV) and physical activity (PA) in clinical big data of simultaneously recorded electrocardiograms (ECG) and actigraphic data in 21,682 male and 29,446 female patients (age, 20-100 yr). We found that SDNN (standard deviation of 24-hour normal-to-normal R-R interval [NN interval] of ECG) and PA during daytime, evening, and nighttime decreased with age. In regression models adjusted for the effect of age, daytime PA explained 7% of inter-individual variance in SDNN, while evening and early morning PA explained only <0.6% and nighttime PA negatively contributed to SDNN. Daytime but not nighttime PA is positively associated with increased 24-hour HRV.
User feedback in the appstore: An empirical study (2013)

Application distribution platforms - or app stores - such as Google Play or Apple AppStore allow users to submit feedback in form of ratings and reviews to downloaded applications. In the last few years, these platforms have become very popular to both application developers and users. However, their real potential for and impact on requirements engineering processes are not yet well understood. This paper reports on an exploratory study, which analyzes over one million reviews from the Apple AppStore. We investigated how and when users provide feedback, inspected the feedback content, and analyzed its impact on the user community. We found that most of the feedback is provided shortly after new releases, with a quickly decreasing frequency over time. Reviews typically contain multiple topics, such as user experience, bug reports, and feature requests. The quality and constructiveness vary widely, from helpful advices and innovative ideas to insulting offenses. Feedback content has an impact on download numbers: positive messages usually lead to better ratings and vice versa. Negative feedback such as shortcomings is typically destructive and misses context details and user experience. We discuss our findings and their impact on software and requirements engineering teams.
Error Resilient Non-Asymmetric Slepian-Wolf Coding (2009)

We consider non-asymmetric distributed source coding (DSC) that achieves any point in the Slepian-Wolf (SW) region. We study the error propagation phenomena and propose a decoding algorithm which limits this phenomena. For the case of turbo-codes, design rules are derived in order for the decoder to recover the sources.
Methylene Blue for the Treatment of Intractable Pain Associated with Oral Mucositis (2017)

Oral mucositis is a common and often debilitating complication among cancer patients receiving radiation therapy to the head and neck or chemotherapy agents, or undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Pain and decreased oral function associated with oral mucositis may persist long after the conclusion of therapy. Although most patients respond to conservative management, a subset of patients develops intractable pain with severe consequences. For some, the use of total parenteral nutrition with insertion of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeding tubes is the only alternative. Current recommendations to treat mucositis and its related pain include basic oral care, bland oral rinses, topical anesthetics, and systemic analgesics. We believe that chemical neurolysis of the affected areas with methylene blue used as an oral rinse is a noninvasive, efficient, safe, and cost-effective alternative that can provide prolonged analgesia in patients with intractable pain of oral mucositis. The benefits of this therapy are reflected in its improvement of patients' quality of life by enabling oral feeding and controlling pain. We report a series of 5 consecutive patients with intractable oral mucositis-related pain despite conventional treatment with systemic opiates. All 5 patients responded well to the use of 0.05% methylene blue as mouth rinse, demonstrating sustained analgesia over 3 weeks. The treatment was tolerated well, and overall patient satisfaction was very high. We also observed that methylene blue rinse significantly reduced the total opioid requirement, as demonstrated by reductions in the patients' morphine equivalent daily dose scores after its use. Our case series suggests that 0.5% methylene blue oral rinse therapy is an effective and inexpensive modality that can be used safely to palliate intractable oral pain in patients with mucositis associated with cancer treatment. To our knowledge, this is the first report using this therapy to treat pain from oral mucositis.
Chiral modes near exceptional points in symmetry broken H1 photonic crystal cavities (2021)

The authors propose a scheme to selective induce intrinsically circularly polarized chiral modes near the exceptional point by modifying two air holes in the vicinity of the H1 photonic crystal cavity.
Inhibitory Effect of the Noncamptothecin Topoisomerase I Inhibitor LMP-400 on Female Mice Models and Human Pheochromocytoma Cells (2015)

Metastatic pheochromocytoma continues to be an incurable disease, and treatment with conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy offers limited efficacy. In the present study, we evaluated a novel topoisomerase I inhibitor, LMP-400, as a potential treatment for this devastating disease. We found a high expression of topoisomerase I in human metastatic pheochromocytoma, providing a basis for the evaluation of a topoisomerase 1 inhibitor as a therapeutic strategy. LMP-400 inhibited the cell growth of established mouse pheochromocytoma cell lines and primary human tumor tissue cultures. In a study performed in athymic female mice, LMP-400 demonstrated a significant inhibitory effect on tumor growth with two drug administration regimens. Furthermore, low doses of LMP-400 decreased the protein levels of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1α), one of a family of factors studied as potential metastatic drivers in these tumors. The HIF-1α decrease resulted in changes in the mRNA levels of HIF-1 transcriptional targets. In vitro, LMP-400 showed an increase in the growth-inhibitory effects in combination with other chemotherapeutic drugs that are currently used for the treatment of pheochromocytoma. We conclude that LMP-400 has promising antitumor activity in preclinical models of metastatic pheochromocytoma and its use should be considered in future clinical trials.
Nondestructive EIS Testing to Estimate a Subset of Physics-based-model Parameter Values for Lithium-ion Cells (2022)

This paper is the final installment in a series of articles that collectively shows how to estimate parameter values for lumped-parameter physics-based models of lithium-ion cells without requiring cell teardown. In this paper, we leverage electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to find estimates of all as-yet-unresolved parameter values. The characterization process regresses the measured cell impedance spectrum to exact analytic closed-form expressions of the frequency response of an extended Doyle–Fuller–Newman model to identify thirteen lumped parameters plus multiple reaction-rate constants. A nonlinear optimization algorithm performs the regression, and so it is important to provide reasonable initial parameter estimates and constraints, which we also discuss. As part of this process, the generalized distribution of realization times technique is used to isolate time constants from the two electrodes as well as to calibrate the laboratory EIS-test data. The overall methodology is studied on a virtual cell and on a laboratory cell (both having graphite//NMC chemistries). Parameter estimates found in the simulation study are highly accurate, leading us to have confidence in the values estimated for the physical cell as well.
THE PHILLIPS LABORATORY'S REP-RATE PULSER FOR HIGH-POWER MICROWAVE SOURCE DEVELOPMENT (2005)

Abstract : The Phillips Laboratory has recently received a rep-rate pulser that will be used as a driver for the high power microwave (HPM) sources under development at the lab. The pulser consists of a computer-controlled high-voltage DC power supply, intermediate capacitive store, pulse transf01mer, four 20 omega pulse forming networks (PFN's) in parallel, and a self-breaking output switch. A Macintosh computer running Lab VIEW (National Instruments) software controls the pulser and data acquisition system. As received, the pulser has a 5 omega impedance and can deliver up to a 500 kV, 500 ns pulse to a matched load. The results of the testing of this configuration into a matched resistive load will be given. At the present time, a higher impedance pulser would better serve the Phillips Laboratory, so the pulser has been reconfigured to a single PFN giving a 20 omega output impedance. The results of these test at rep-rates up to 40Hz will also be given.
Detection of the<i>Plasmodium falciparum</i>Antigen Histidine-Rich Protein 2 in Blood of Pregnant Women: Implications for Diagnosing Placental Malaria (1999)

Pregnant women have an increased susceptibility to infection by Plasmodium falciparum. Parasites may be present in the placenta yet not detectable in peripheral blood smears by routine light microscopy. In order to determine how frequently misdiagnosis occurs, peripheral blood and placental samples were collected from 1,077 Cameroonian women at the time of giving birth and examined for the presence of malarial parasites by using light microscopy. Results showed that 20.1% of the women who had placental malaria were peripheral blood smear negative. Thus, malarial infection was not detected by microscopic examination of peripheral blood smears from approximately one out of five malaria-infected women. Since P. falciparum parasites secrete histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP-2), we sought to determine if detecting HRP-2 in either peripheral plasma or whole blood might be used to diagnose the presence of parasites "hidden" in the placenta. Samples of peripheral plasma from 127 women with different levels of placental malarial infection were assayed by HRP-2-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. HRP-2 was detected in 88% of the women with placental malaria who tested negative by blood smear. Additionally, whole blood was obtained from 181 women and tested for HRP-2 with a rapid, chromatographic strip test (ICT). The ICT test accurately detected malarial infection in 89.1% of P. falciparum-infected women. Furthermore, 94% of women with malaria were accurately diagnosed by using a combination of microscopy and the ICT test. Thus, detection of HRP-2 in conjunction with microscopy should improve diagnosis of malaria in pregnant women.
Mutual Complexation between π–π Stacked Molecular Tweezers (2017)

Aromatic and heterocyclic molecules which form electronically complementary π–π stacked complexes have recently found extensive application in functional materials, molecular machines, and stimuli-responsive supramolecular polymers. Here we describe the design and synthesis of model compounds that self-assemble through complementary stacking motifs, paralleling those postulated to exist in high-molecular weight, healable, supramolecular polymer systems. Complexation studies using 1H NMR and UV–vis spectroscopy indicated formation of a complementary complex between a π-electron rich dipyrenyl tweezer-motif and a tweezer-like, π-electron deficient bis-diimide. The binding stoichiometry in solution between the chain-folding diimide and the pyrenyl derivative was equimolar with respect to the two binding motifs, and the resulting association constant was measured at Ka = 1200 ± 90 M–1. Single crystal X-ray analysis of this “tweezer–tweezer” complex showed a low-energy conformation of the triethylenedioxy linker within the bis-diimide chain-fold. Interplanar separations of 3.4–3.5 Å were found within the π-stacks, and supporting hydrogen bonds between pyrenyl amide NH groups and diimide carbonyl oxygens were identified.
Fully Spectral Partial Shape Matching (2017)

We propose an efficient procedure for calculating partial dense intrinsic correspondence between deformable shapes performed entirely in the spectral domain. Our technique relies on the recently introduced partial functional maps formalism and on the joint approximate diagonalization (JAD) of the Laplace-Beltrami operators previously introduced for matching non-isometric shapes. We show that a variant of the JAD problem with an appropriately modified coupling term (surprisingly) allows to construct quasi-harmonic bases localized on the latent corresponding parts. This circumvents the need to explicitly compute the unknown parts by means of the cumbersome alternating minimization used in the previous approaches, and allows performing all the calculations in the spectral domain with constant complexity independent of the number of shape vertices. We provide an extensive evaluation of the proposed technique on standard non-rigid correspondence benchmarks and show state-of-the-art performance in various settings, including partiality and the presence of topological noise.
Direct Biological Methanation of the Synthesis Gas of an Allothermal Wood Gasifier (2018)

Methanogenic archaea are able to substitute natural gas, i.e. CH4, by metabolization of H2 and CO2 or CO, respectively. The presented paper is based on the project Ash-to-Gas, which aims at using biomass-derived syngas from thermochemical gasification as the main feedstock instead of the common feed biogas and hydrogen produced by the electrolysis This leads to a broader applicability of biological methanation. Main research questions under evaluation are the archaeas’ ability of converting CO and tars as major output and byproducts of the gasification. Furthermore, the investigation focuses on the applicability of char and ash as a nutrient for the microorganisms. This conference contribution presents the experimental results obtained in a continuously stirred tank methanation reactor (CSTR) at the Chair of Energy Process Engineering at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). The effects of various components and impurities of the syngas like CO, tars (e.g. toluene, naphthalene and acenaphtene) and ashes on the microorganisms and their productiveness are discussed.
Glomerular and Tubular Kidney Stress Test: New Tools for a Deeper Evaluation of Kidney Function (2016)

Kidney function has been traditionally identified with glomerular filtration rate (GFR). However, the kidney has multiple functions beyond filtration and a careful evaluation of its whole spectrum of activities should be carried out. Furthermore, the kidney presents a functional reserve capacity both at glomerular and tubular level. In presence of appropriate stimuli, patients with intact nephron mass can increase their GFR and tubular secretion. The difference between maximal capacity and baseline function represents the renal functional reserve (RFR). Glomerular and tubular kidney stress test may help to evaluate RFR and improve the clinicians' ability to better diagnose and prognosticate both acute and chronic kidney disease. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.