gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Relationship of 2D ultrasonic spectral parameters to the physical properties of soft tissue scatterers (2004)

We have conducted a general study that relates calibrated 2-D ultrasonic spectral parameters to the physical properties of sub-resolution tissue scatterers. Our 2-D spectra are computed form digital radio-frequency echo data obtained as the transducer linearly scans along the cross-range (scan direction) with increments smaller than the half beam width. Acquired data are Fourier transformed with respect to range (beam) and cross-range (scan) directions. To quantitatively measure and classify the physical properties of tissues, we have defined two spectral functions and four spectral parameters. The 2-D spectral functions are: radially integrated spectral power (RISP) and angularly integrated spectral power (AISP). The summary parameters are: peak value and 3-dB width of the RISP, slope and intercept of the AISP. These parameter are understood in terms of the beam properties, transducer parameters and the physical properties of the tissue microstructures including size, shape, orientation, concentration and acoustic impedance. Our theoretical model indicates that 1) the 3-dB width of the RISP is predominantly determined by the scatterer size along the beam direction; 2) the slope of the linear fit of the AISP is predominantly determined by the scatterer size along range direction; 3) the concentration and the relative acoustic impedance fluctuation of the scatterers change the overall spectrum magnitude. The predictions of the theoretical model have been verified using beef muscle fibers examined with 40 MHz center frequency.
Tunable microfluidic optical devices with an integrated microlens array (2006)

Interest in dynamically tuning light has attracted great attention to the fabrication of tunable microlens arrays. Here we discuss the fabrication and characterization of a simple, robust, yet tunable microfluidic optical device with an integrated microlens array. The microfluidic device with a desired channel structure was micromachined on a polycarbonate plate with a resolution of up to 100 µm, followed by thermal bonding two plates above their glass transition temperature. The microlens arrays were replica molded on a glass slide, which was then attached to the polycarbonate plates. By simply actuating the liquids with variable refractive index into the fluidic channel to immerse the lens arrays without moving or deformation of microlenses, a large change of focal length of more than ten times (f = 0.74–8.53) was achieved. When a dye-containing liquid was pumped into the microfluidic channel to cover the lenses, the light transmission through the lenses was reduced from about 95% to 55% when the dye concentration was increased to 10 w/v%. The knowledge we gain from these studies will provide important insights to construct new, adaptive, micro-scale optical devices with multiple functionalities. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)
Finance - The Recent Story (1994)

In Chapter 9 we outlined what we labelled the nuts and bolts of local government finance — grants, taxes, fees and charges — and looked in detail at the budget process in one particular local authority. In this chapter we take several steps back, so that we can view the whole system of local government finance and the way it has changed over the past two decades.
Recruitment interactions can override catalytic interactions in determining the functional identity of a protein kinase (2011)

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisae has four distinct mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases (MAPKKs), each of which has a distinct functional identity characterized by communication with specific upstream and downstream partners to form distinct functional pathways. These four kinases belong to one family, sharing closely related catalytic domains. How have these four related kinases diverged to take on four distinct functional roles? The specificity of an enzyme for a particular substrate is often thought to reside in differences in the catalytic domain. However, many kinases, including MAPKKs, have modular interaction domains and motifs that have been shown to play an important role in determining the specificity of kinases through recruitment to specific partners and complexes. Here we probe the relative importance of catalytic domain interactions versus recruitment interactions in defining the functional identity of MAPKKs by asking whether we can use recruitment interactions to force other MAPKK catalytic domains to play the functional role of the mating MAPKK, Ste7. We find that two alternative MAPKKs, Pbs2 and Mkk2, can be forced to functionally replace the mating MAPKK Ste7, but only if the proper set of recruitment interactions are grafted onto their catalytic domains. These results show that within a family of kinases, recruitment interactions can play a dominant role in defining functional identity, and is consistent with a model in which new kinase functions can arise through recombination of existing catalytic domains with new interaction modules.
Radial basis function neural network for regulation of nonlinear systems (2002)

A large class of nonlinear discrete systems with accessible states can be controlled through feedback linearization. This paper develops a practical algorithm for state feedback control design using radial basis function neural networks (RBFNN). Linear least-squares is coupled with a Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization procedure to perform size reduction of the neural networks. An example of regulating a nonlinear plant is included to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
40 Gbit/s optical data exchange between wavelength-division-multiplexed channels using a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide (2010)

We propose a time- and channel-selective optical data exchange between wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) channels by exploiting the cascaded second-order parametric nonlinear interactions in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide. It is observed that the PPLN-based optical data exchange provides nearly symmetric performance with signals located in the short- and long-wavelength ranges. Optical data exchange between two WDM channels is realized with a power penalty of less than 1.5 dB at 10 Gbit/s and 3 dB at 40 Gbit/s at a bit-error rate of 10(-9). We demonstrate the 40 Gbit/s channel-selective optical data exchange between four WDM channels with a power penalty of approximately 4 dB.
A Simple Method of Signal Quality Monitoring for WAAS LNAV/VNAV (2002)

The integrity of the Wide Area Augmentation System 
(WAAS), being developed for the FAA, is of 
significant concern because of its intended use in 
commercial aviation navigation applications. The 
current WAAS plan calls for several upgrades with 
each upgrade providing improved service coverage 
and availability at increasingly lower precision 
approach decision heights. The first planned 
deployment, LNAV/VNAV, will provide an 
approach service with both lateral and vertical 
guidance. 
One of the threats to the integrity of the WAAS-
corrected user position solution is that of an 
anomalous GPS broadcast signal, also known as an 
evil waveform. Detection of such distortion is 
made difficult due to the fact that the ranging error 
caused by such distortion is dependent on the spread 
spectrum receiver discriminator type, correlator 
spacing, and bandwidth. This leads to some 
potentially complex solutions for detection, involving 
multiple correlator spacings, etc. 
This paper discusses the threats, detection 
requirements, and detector design approach used to 
mitigate the failures of concern to the WAAS 
LNAV/VNAV system. The approach used takes 
advantage of another detector already required for 
another type of satellite failure (code-carrier 
coherence failure). The analysis includes application 
of a model for receiver-specific distortion effects. 
This is used to translate error limits and thresholds 
between the user domain and the detector 
domain. The paper walks through the analysis to 
select thresholds that meet the allocated integrity 
(detection) and continuity (false alarm) requirements.
Monolithically-integrated distributed feedback laser compatible with CMOS processing (2017)

An optically-pumped, integrated distributed feedback laser is demonstrated using a CMOS compatible process, where a record-low-temperature deposited gain medium enables integration with active devices such as modulators and detectors. A pump threshold of 24.9 mW and a slope efficiency of 1.3 % is demonstrated at the lasing wavelength of 1552.98 nm. The rare-earth-doped aluminum oxide, used as the gain medium in this laser, is deposited by a substrate-bias-assisted reactive sputtering process. This process yields optical quality films with 0.1 dB/cm background loss at the deposition temperature of 250 °C, and therefore is fully compatible as a back-end-of-line CMOS process. The aforementioned laser's performance is comparable to previous lasers having gain media fabricated at much higher temperatures (> 550 °C). This work marks a crucial step towards monolithic integration of amplifiers and lasers in silicon microphotonic systems.
Space vector-based analytical analysis of the input current distortion of a three-phase discontinuous-mode boost rectifier system (2002)

The low frequency harmonic distortion of the mains current of a three-phase single-switch discontinuous-mode boost-rectifier is calculated. The system analysis is based on application of space vector calculus and on substitution of discontinuous time shapes within a pulse period by quasi-continuous time shapes. The quasi-continuous time shapes are defined by averaging over the pulse period. The dependency of the shape of the input currents on the voltage transformation ratio is given for various control methods in analytical form. The results of the theoretical analysis are verified by digital simulation and by measurements on a laboratory model. Good consistency of the results has been found.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>
An Immunological Renal Disease in Transgenic Mice That Overexpress Fli-1 , a Member of the ets Family of Transcription Factor Genes (1995)

The proto-oncogene Fli-1 is a member of the ets family of transcription factor genes. Its high expression in the thymus and spleen and the presence of DNA binding sites for Fli-1 in a number of lymphoid cell-specific gene suggest that Fli-1 is involved in the regulation of lymphopoiesis. Activation of the Fli-1 gene by either chromosomal translocation or viral insertion leads to Ewing's sarcoma in humans and erythroleukemia in mice, respectively. Thus, Fli-1 is normally involved in pathways involved in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation. We have generated H-2Kk-Fli-1 transgenic mice that overexpress Fli-1 in various mouse tissues, with the highest levels of Fli-1 protein in the thymus and spleen. These Fli-1 transgenic mice developed a high incidence of a progressive immunological renal disease and ultimately died of renal failure caused by tubulointerstitial nephritis and immune-complex glomerulonephritis. The incidences of renal disease correlated with the levels of Fli-1 protein in lymphoid tissues of transgenic lines. The hypergammaglobulinemia, splenomegaly, B-cell hyperplasia, accumulation of abnormal CD3+ B220+ T lymphoid cells and CD5+ B220+ B cells in peripheral lymphoid tissues, and detection of various autoantibodies in the sera of diseased Fli-1 transgenic mice suggested the involvement of an immune dysfunction in the pathogenesis of the renal disease. In addition, splenic B cells from transgenic mice exhibited increased proliferation and prolonged survival in vitro in response to mitogens. Taken together, these data suggest that overexpression or ectopic expression of Fli-1 perturbs normal lymphoid cell function and programmed cell death. Thus, H-2Kk-Fli-1 transgenic mice may serve as a murine model for autoimmune disease in humans, such as systemic lupus erythematosus.
Organ interactions in the regulation of hematopoiesis: In vitro interactions of bone, thymus, and spleen with bone marrow stem cells in normal, Sl/Sld and W/Wv mice (1977)

Hematopoietic cell differentiation is influenced by organ-dependent microenvironmental factors as well as humoral regulators. A technique is described for examining certain aspects of the hemopoietic inductive microenvironment in vitro. Suspension and agar cultures of mouse bone marrow were used to study the effects of organ stromal factors on cellular proliferation and differentiation. Bone, spleen, and thymus fragments from irradiated mice were placed in direct contact with or separated by a Nuclepore membrane from syngeneic marrow cells growing in suspension cultures. Normal adult mouse bone and spleen influenced granulocytic differentiation as well as cell proliferation. In this system, bone marrow and organ fragments from W/Wv and SlSld mice behaved like those of their non-anemic littermates. The most prominent difference between W/Wv and Sl/Sla mice and their normal counterparts was observed in the inductionof CFU-C from splenic precursors un-er the influence of CSA. In both types of anemic mice, in vitro generation of CFU-C from spleen was abnormal in young animals but was corrected by four months of age.
Overlapping Speaker Segmentation Using Multiple Hypothesis Tracking of Fundamental Frequency (2021)

This paper demonstrates how the harmonic structure of voiced speech can be exploited to segment multiple overlapping speakers in a speaker diarization task. We explore how a change in the speaker can be inferred from a change in pitch. We show that voiced harmonics can be useful in detecting when more than one speaker is talking, such as during overlapping speaker activity. A novel system is proposed to track multiple harmonics simultaneously, allowing for the determination of onsets and end-points of a speaker's utterance in the presence of an additional active speaker. This system is bench-marked against a segmentation system from the literature that employs a bidirectional long short term memory network (BLSTM) approach and requires training. Experimental results highlight that the proposed approach outperforms the BLSTM baseline approach by 12.9% in terms of HIT rate for speaker segmentation. We also show that the estimated pitch tracks of our system can be used as features to the BLSTM to achieve further improvements of 1.21% in terms of coverage and 2.45% in terms of purity.
Polymer Nanoparticles and Their Cellular Interactions (2011)

Abstract During the past decade, nanoparticles (NPs) and their interaction with human cells have been a focus of many investigations. The main advantages of NPs over other nanoparticulate systems (such as liposomes and micelles) are their increased colloidal stability, chemical resistance, and simple formulation procedures. Progress in the field of understanding and harnessing the interactions of polymeric NPs with different cell types is discussed and reviewed. Attention is focused on NPs synthesized by the miniemulsion process, as this route has proved to be the most versatile for formulating different polymeric materials via this platform technology. Nanomaterials are of interest only if they make use of the specific properties of supramolecular assemblies and nanomaterials, so that hitherto inaccessible effects can be exploited for new applications. Examples for such new properties are superparamagnetism or the high surface area that is valuable for catalysis and adsorption. Although not an effect triggered by quantum mechanics, the uptake of NPs into a wide variety of cells seems to be specific for materials in the range of 50–200 nm. Uptake can be further enhanced by surface modifications (positive or negatively charged side groups of the polymers, amino acids or specific peptides/proteins). Factors such as size, surface properties, cell type and endocytotic pathways enable the optimization of labeling and selection of cells and NPs for applications both in vitro and in vivo .
Appearance of SERS activity in single silver nanoparticles by laser-induced reshaping (2018)

We report simultaneous plasmonic scattering and Raman spectroscopic observations of single citrate capped silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) which exhibit surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) upon meeting specific conditions induced by laser (532 nm) exposure. We show that nanoparticles which are not initially SERS active become SERS active by laser-induced reshaping/reorientation. A set-up developed for these observations enabled in situ high speed time-lapse characterization using plasmonic and Raman spectroscopies in conjunction with dark-field microscopy (DFM). Changes in the AgNPs were confirmed by monitoring plasmonic scattering spectra and DFM images. Time-lapse observations have shown that laser-induced changes in the plasmonic properties of AgNPs resulted in the appearance of SERS. Spectral matching between plasmon resonance and downward molecular vibronic transitions for molecules adsorbed on the surface of plasmonic nanomaterials is attributed to the nanoparticle SERS. We have further shown that the release of silver ions by silver nanoparticles can be the probable reason for their plasmonic changes. Gold nanoparticles inert to such mild (850 μW, 532 nm) laser-induced changes do not exhibit the appearance of SERS.
Virulence-Associated Enzymes of Cryptococcus neoformans (2015)

Enzymes play key roles in fungal pathogenesis. Manipulation of enzyme expression or activity can significantly alter the infection process, and enzyme expression profiles can be a hallmark of disease. Hence, enzymes are worthy targets for better understanding pathogenesis and identifying new options for combatting fungal infections. Advances in genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, and mass spectrometry have enabled the identification and characterization of new fungal enzymes. This review focuses on recent developments in the virulence-associated enzymes from Cryptococcus neoformans. The enzymatic suite of C. neoformans has evolved for environmental survival, but several of these enzymes play a dual role in colonizing the mammalian host. We also discuss new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies that could be based on the underlying enzymology.
Laser absorption within a powder layer and the numerical modeling of heat transfer during the laser cladding process (2007)

In previous experimentation, it has been shown that laser energy incident onto a powder layer is absorbed within the layer; however, when modeling a powder based laser deposition process, it is common practice to assume surface loading only. The current work explores incorporating through thickness absorption into an existing thermal model. The absorption model is based upon an analytical relationship derived through consideration of conservation of energy to describe the amount of laser energy absorbed within pre-placed powder during the laser deposition process. The relationship may be used to define internal absorption due to scattering within the powder layer regardless of the beam shape and energy distribution if the attenuation coefficient and bulk absorption is known. The internal absorption model is incorporated into a thermal numerical model to predict temperature profiles, heating and cooling rates, and melt depths during the cladding process. Experiments were completed to validate the numerical model. Temperature profiles and melt depths obtained during the experiment are then compared to model output and discussed.
Structure functions of spin-dependent deep-inelastic scattering in the cavity approximation to the MIT bag model (1977)

The structure functions of spin-dependent deep-inelastic electron-proton scattering are calculated within the cavity approximation to the MIT bag model of hadrons. As expected, Bjorken scaling is obtained. The model predicts two nontrivial structure functions, unlike simple parton models. It is argued that this behavior is associated with the explicit quark confinement of the bag model. The general features of the structure functions are discussed and the shortcomings of the approximations used are explained. The two sum rules obtained from previous light-cone analyses are verified.
Cover Picture: Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Highly Fluorinated Sulfimides and Sulfoximides as Functional Building Blocks for Materials Science (Eur. J. Org. Chem. 5/2005) (2005)

Abstract The cover picture illustrates the conformational equilibrium of highly fluorinated sulfoximides. The conformation of this polar group critically influences the dielectric anisotropy of liquid crystals derived therefrom. The crystal structure of heterostilbene‐like fluoroaromatic sulfoximides is dominated by stacking interactions of orthogonal aromatic substructures. Details are discussed in the article by P. Kirsch et al. on p. 797 ff.
Introduction to this special section—Producing the Oilfield: A Multidisciplinary Look (2005)

One of the sessions of most interest during the 2004 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston was the one on Hubbert's Peak, so named because King Hubbert predicted in 1956 that oil production in the “lower 48” United States would peak about 1970 and decline thereafter. His bell-shaped curve was remarkably accurate even though there were many doubts at the time (by the way, did you know that Hubbert was a geophysicist?). Extending the concept of Hubbert's Peak to world oil production is an active area of discussion. Data from the North Sea indicate that peak production has nearly been reached and, in fact, is expected to decline in the near future. In addition, given that 70% of today's oil comes from fields that have been in production for more than 30 years (various sources confirm this), peak production will occur in the near future in many other oil-producing regions.
Image processing techniques for laser images (2002)

This paper presents the signal processing method of laser images used for detection of small collinear obstacles in helicopter airborne applications. It is very difficult, if not almost impossible, for a regular passive imaging sensor based on CCD detectors to detect such small, remote objects. It was proved in the literature that the fusion of range and intensity data is needed for such a task. The paper presents a new and improved algorithm for real time image processing which enable detection of small tiny objects from sparse data, from a fast moving platform.
Molecular Basis of B‐cell Lymphomas (2011)

The past several years have witnessed a significant advancement in the elucidation of the molecular pathogenesis of tumors derived from B-lymphocytes. This progress has been the result of better understanding of the molecular basis of normal B-cell development from a progenitor B-cell to memory B-cell or plasma cell and how aberrations at these particular stages lead to a specific subtype of B-cell lymphoma displaying enhanced cell growth and proliferation, apoptosis inhibition and/or impaired differentiation. Here, we review the molecular principles of B-cell lymphomagenesis and how this knowledge is paving the way for the development of novel molecularly based therapeutic approaches for B-cell malignancies.
Italian Immunization Goals: A Political or Scientific Heated Debate? (2018)

OPINION article Front. Pharmacol., 30 May 2018Sec. Drugs Outcomes Research and Policies Volume 9 - 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2018.00574