gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Sperm freezing and in vitro fertilization in three substrains of C57BL/6 mice. (2009)

Traditional protocols for sperm recovery, cryopreservation, and in vitro fertilization (IVF) have been considerably less efficient for inbred mouse strains, including C57BL/6, than for hybrid and outbred strains. We report here that 3 changes to published and widely used protocols markedly improved fertilization rates for both fresh and frozen-thawed sperm in 3 substrains of C57BL/6 mice (C57BL/6J, C57BL/6NCrl, and C57BL/6NTac). First, the traditional cyroprotective agent was modified by adding amino acids. Second, preincubation of sperm in a preincubation medium containing methyl-beta-cyclodextrin and polyvinyl alcohol enabled collection of progressively motile sperm for IVF. Third, we evaluated 3 media for IVF: human tubal fluid (HTF), modified Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate medium (TYH), and minimal essential medium (MEM). HTF and TYH were modified by adding minimal essential amino acids. The methodology reported here increased the IVF rate of both fresh and frozen-thawed sperm and enabled efficient isolation of capacitated viable sperm. Fertilization rates greater than 65% and 40% were obtained with the 3 tested substrains when fresh and frozen-thawed sperm, respectively, were used for IVF. Higher fertilization rates were seen with frozen-thawed sperm from C57BL/6NCrl and C57BL/6NTac mice than from C57BL/6J mice. Among all strains, fresh sperm from C57BL/6NTac mice gave the highest fertilization rate. Of 190 two-cell embryos, 63 (33.2%) developed to term after transfer to pseudopregnant recipient mice. The protocol we detail here provides reliable cryopreservation and recovery of live mice in 3 substrains of C57BL/6, making sperm cryopreservation and IVF a viable choice for preservation and distribution of mouse lines.
Fully Decentralized Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning with Networked Agents (2018)

We consider the problem of \emph{fully decentralized} multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL), where the agents are located at the nodes of a time-varying communication network. Specifically, we assume that the reward functions of the agents might correspond to different tasks, and are only known to the corresponding agent. Moreover, each agent makes individual decisions based on both the information observed locally and the messages received from its neighbors over the network. Within this setting, the collective goal of the agents is to maximize the globally averaged return over the network through exchanging information with their neighbors. To this end, we propose two decentralized actor-critic algorithms with function approximation, which are applicable to large-scale MARL problems where both the number of states and the number of agents are massively large. Under the decentralized structure, the actor step is performed individually by each agent with no need to infer the policies of others. For the critic step, we propose a consensus update via communication over the network. Our algorithms are fully incremental and can be implemented in an online fashion. Convergence analyses of the algorithms are provided when the value functions are approximated within the class of linear functions. Extensive simulation results with both linear and nonlinear function approximations are presented to validate the proposed algorithms. Our work appears to be the first study of fully decentralized MARL algorithms for networked agents with function approximation, with provable convergence guarantees.
Selective inhibition of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases by analogs of 1-methyl-3-isobutylxanthine (1977)

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTSelective inhibition of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases by analogs of 1-methyl-3-isobutylxanthineG. L. Kramer, J. E. Garst, S. S. Mitchel, and J. N. WellsCite this: Biochemistry 1977, 16, 15, 3316–3321Publication Date (Print):July 26, 1977Publication History Published online1 May 2002Published inissue 26 July 1977https://doi.org/10.1021/bi00634a006RIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views135Altmetric-Citations63LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit PDF (672 KB) Get e-Alertsclose Get e-Alerts
Adhesion of composites to dentin and enamel. (1993)

Extrapolations based on the history of the development of composites and an adhesion system for bonding dental resins and composites to hard tooth tissues can rightfully be the basis for strong optimism regarding future improvements in esthetic and conservative treatment modalities. Improved understanding of mechanisms of action and the clinical application steps common to current adhesion systems will certainly lead to improved oral healthcare.
A schedulability condition for deadline-ordered service disciplines (1997)

In a deadline-ordered service discipline, packets are assigned transmission deadlines and eligibility times and are transmitted in increasing order of deadlines. Different deadline-ordered service disciplines are distinguished by how they calculate deadlines and eligibility times. One of the more difficult analytical problems one faces when designing a new deadline-ordered service discipline is to prove that one can bound the end of transmission times of packets relative to their assigned deadlines, which we call schedulability. We show that, no matter how one calculates deadlines, there is a simple schedulability condition for deadline-ordered service disciplines. This schedulability condition is necessary and sufficient for preemptive deadline-ordered service disciplines, and for a server that allows the presence of nonreal-time packets (i.e., packets with no deadlines), it is also necessary and sufficient for nonpreemptive deadline-ordered service disciplines. We also address the schedulability problem for service disciplines in general, and show the optimality of deadline-ordered service disciplines. To demonstrate how our results simplify schedulability determination, we use them to prove the known schedulability conditions of VirtualClock, Packet-by-Packet Generalized Processor Sharing (PGPS), Stop-and-Go, and Delay-Earliest-Due-Date (Delay-EDD), and to provide a new result, the necessary schedulability condition of VirtualClock.
Quantitation of intracellular zidovudine phosphates by use of combined cartridge-radioimmunoassay methodology (1996)

This report describes the development of a potentially clinical method to measure the cellular metabolites of zidovudine (ZDV) in patients receiving the drug. This new method combines the use of Sep-Pak cartridges to separate ZDV phosphates with radioimmunoassaying to quantitate ZDV. The detection limit is 0.02 pmol/10(6) cells, and this assay can measure a wide range of intracellular drug concentrations. The use of the cartridge-radioimmunoassay methodology should prove very useful for in vivo cellular pharmacokinetic studies of ZDV.
The Distribution of the Mediterranean Snail, Theba Pisana (Mollusca: Helicidae), on Rottnest Island, Western Australia (1991)

The spatial distribution of Theba pisarui on Rottnest Island has changed considerably since its introduction around 1925.Several new colonies have become established and others have become extinct since the last survey in 1 978 by Johnson and Black.In 1978 Theba occupied a total area of 5.8 1 km2 which expanded to 7.24 km2 sometime before this survey in which it was found that the snail occupies only 2.08 km2.The total extent o f Theba has declined to 35% of the area occupied in 1978.
Netware dynamic data exchange (2002)

In Windows within a single workstation, any client application can communicate with any server using the DDE protocol. The question is to what extent the program modules enable the communication between any application running on any workstation. This paper presents the implementation of a general DDE mechanism for communication between any DDE applications running on any workstation. The NETBIOS protocol is used for implementation.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">></ETX>
High-performance IR cameras (1996)

Aerojet has developed high performance infrared (IR) cameras based on Kodak's 640 by 486 pixels platinum silicide (PtSi) array. Several versions of the camera have been developed for the various applications. The cameras have multiple field-of-view (FOV) optics, with the narrow FOV used for long range observation. The use of the large array of PtSi leads to very high image quality as well as high resolution. The operation in the medium-wavelength infrared (MWIR) allows observation at very long ranges in high humidity, warm atmospheres. Field tests have shown the advantage of these cameras, particularly in coastal and marine applications.
Mechanistic aspects of biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles by several Fusarium oxysporum strains (2005)

Extracellular production of metal nanoparticles by several strains of the fungus Fusarium oxysporum was carried out. It was found that aqueous silver ions when exposed to several Fusarium oxysporum strains are reduced in solution, thereby leading to the formation of silver hydrosol. The silver nanoparticles were in the range of 20-50 nm in dimensions. The reduction of the metal ions occurs by a nitrate-dependent reductase and a shuttle quinone extracellular process. The potentialities of this nanotechnological design based in fugal biosynthesis of nanoparticles for several technical applications are important, including their high potential as antibacterial material.
Development And Mechanical Properties of X120 Linepipe (2004)

To enable the development of remote gas sources, X120 grade UOE linepipe has been developed. Low carbon- low Pcm and Mn-Ni-Mo-Nb-V-B bearing steel with a microstructure of fine ausformed martensite and bainite has excellent combinations of strength and toughness. With respect to longitudinal seam welding, the X120 pipe exhibits good HAZ cracking resistance due to a low Pcm. Deformation behaviors of the X120 linepipe were investigated using field bending and hydrostatic burst tests. The results verify that the over-matched seam weld in the X120 is sufficient to enable burst strength consistent with this grade of pipe. Sufficient deformability of the X120 for field bending was demonstrated using existing pipeline construction equipment.
ElecPrivacy: Evaluating the Privacy Protection of Electricity Management Algorithms (2011)

The data collected by a home smart meter can potentially reveal sensitive private information about the home resident(s). In this paper, we study how home energy resources can be used to protect the privacy of the collected data. In particular we: a) introduce a power mixing algorithm to selectively protect a set of consumption events; b) develop a range of different privacy protection metrics; c) analyze real smart metering data sampled twice a minute over a period of 13 days; and d) evaluate the protection offered by different power mixing algorithms. Major factors which determine the efficiency of the proposed power mixing algorithms are identified, such as battery capacity and power, and user preferences for privacy-based allocations of battery energy quotas.
Evaluation of AAV-Mediated Expression of Chop2-GFP in the Marmoset Retina (2010)

The rAAV2-mediated expression of ChR2 was observed in the inner retinal neurons in the marmoset retina through intravitreal delivery. The marmoset could be a valuable nonhuman primate model for developing ChR2-based gene therapy for treating blinding retinal degenerative diseases.
Cellular communication in the circadian clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (1993)

The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus functions as the circadian clock in the mammalian brain. Communication between the cells of the suprachiasmatic nucleus is likely to be responsible for the generation and accuracy of this biological clock. Communication between many cells of the brain is mediated by action potentials that pass down the axon and cause release of neurotransmitters at the neuronal synaptic junction. Additional mechanisms of cellular communication appear to operate in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Several lines of evidence point to multiple modes of cellular communication: these include the continuing operation of the clock after Na(+)-mediated action potentials have been blocked, the orchestrated metabolic rhythms of suprachiasmatic nucleus cells prior to synaptogenesis, the entrainment of fetal to maternal rhythms, and the rapid recovery of function after suprachiasmatic nucleus transplants into arrhythmic rodents. Possible alternative means of intercellular communication in the suprachiasmatic nucleus are examined, including calcium spikes in presynaptic dendrites, ephaptic interaction, paracrine communication, glial mediation, and gap junctions. This paper identifies and examines some of the unanswered questions related to intercellular communication of suprachiasmatic nucleus cells.
Study of Electrical and Optical Properties of Zr-Doped ZnO Thin Films Prepared by DC Reactive Magnetron Sputtering (2009)

This paper establishes DC reactive magnetron sputtering as synthesis process for Zr doped ZnO thin film. Zr can be doped in ZnO using various techniques. Some research groups have doped ZnO with Zr by radio frequency magnetron sputtering using target made of ZnO and ZrO2 powder. Radio frequency has low rate of deposition because deposition takes place only in one of two half cycles. Uniform mixing of small amount of ZrO2 powder in ZnO is expensive process as well as time consuming. To overcome the constraints, Zn and Zr metal target was used and film was made by DC reactive magnetron sputtering. Various parameters of the process was established by varying variables, such as sputtering power of the Zn and Zr, oxygen partial pressure in the chamber. Optimum flow rate of Argon is 16 sccm and Oxygen is 4 sccm. Sputtering power of 150 watt for Zn and 10 watt for the Zr gives good result. Films obtained are polycrystalline with a hexagonal structure and have preferred orientation along the c axis. Resistivity of the film is as low as 0.07 Ω-cm. Average transparency of film is above 85% in visible range.
SecureSwitch: BIOS-Assisted Isolation and Switch between Trusted and Untrusted Commodity OSes. (2012)

Protecting commodity desktop systems that run commercial operating systems (OS) without adversely impacting performance or usability remains an open problem. To make matters worse, the overall system security depends on desktop applications with complex code-bases that perform multiple and inter-dependent tasks often dictated by Internet-borne code. Recent research has indicated the need for context-dependent trustworthy environments where the user can segregate different activities in an effort to lower risk and safeguard private information. In this paper, we introduce a new BIOS-assisted mechanism for the secure generation and management of trusted execution environments, tailored to separate security-sensitive activities from untrusted ones. A key characteristic of our system is usability: the capability to quickly and securely switch between operating environments in a single physical machine without the need for any specialized hardware or extensive code modifications. Our goal was to eliminate any mutable, non-BIOS codesharing while reusing existing processor capabilities. We demonstrate that even if the untrusted OS becomes compromised, it cannot perform an exfiltration or inference attack on data or applications in the trusted OS. To avoid sophisticated attacks that fake a trusted environment, we provide visible indication to the user about the current environment. Moreover, to alternate between environments, we require the user to physically press a button, an action that cannot be reproduced by software. Using our prototype, we measured the switching process to be approximately six seconds. This short switching time empowers the user to frequently and seamlessly switch between trusted and untrusted environments. 1
Multibeam fluorescence diffuse optical tomography using upconverting nanoparticles (2010)

Fluorescence diffuse optical tomography (FDOT) is a biomedical imaging modality that can be used for localization and quantification of fluorescent molecules inside turbid media. In this ill-posed problem, the reconstruction quality is directly determined by the amount and quality of the information obtained from the boundary measurements. Regularly, more information can be obtained by increasing the number of excitation positions in an FDOT system. However, the maximum number of excitation positions is limited by the finite size of the excitation beam. In the present work, we demonstrate a method in FDOT to exploit the unique nonlinear power dependence of upconverting nanoparticles to further increase the amount of information in a raster-scanning setup by including excitation with two beams simultaneously. We show that the additional information can be used to obtain more accurate reconstructions.
MicroRNA Patterns Associated with Clinical Prognostic Parameters and CNS Relapse Prediction in Pediatric Acute Leukemia (2009)

There are existing pediatric-associated and prognostic parameter-associated miRNAs that are independent of cell lineage and could provide therapeutic direction for individual risk-adapted therapy for pediatric leukemia patients.
Rotation of the geomagnetic field about an optimum pole (2000)

Since 1693, when Halley proposed that secular change was the result of the westward drift of the main field, his simple model has undergone many refinements. These include different drift rates for dipole and non-dipole parts; separation into drifting and standing parts; latitudinal dependence of drift rate; northward drift of the dipole; and non-longitudinal rotations of the individual harmonics of the geomagnetic field. Here we re-examine the model of Malin and Saunders, in which the main field is rotated about an optimum pole which does not necessarily coincide with the geographical pole. The optimum pole and rotation angle are those that bring the main field for epoch T 1 closest to that for T 2 , as indicated by the coefficients of correlation between the spherical harmonic coefficients for the two epochs, after rotation. Malin and Saunders examined the pole positions and rates of rotation using data from 1910 to 1965, and noticed a number of trends. We show that these trends are confirmed by recent IGRF models, spanning the interval 1900-2000 and to degree and order 10. We also show that the effect of the level of truncation is small.
Reduced medical infection related bacterial strains adhesion on bioactive RGD modified titanium surfaces: A first step toward cell selective surfaces (2007)

Ideally, implants should inhibit nonspecific protein adsorption, bacterial adhesion, and at the same time, depending on the final application be selective toward cellular adhesion and spreading for all or only selected cell types. Poly(L-lysine)-grafted-poly(ethylene glycol) (PLL-g-PEG) polymers have been shown to adsorb from aqueous solution onto negatively charged metal oxide surfaces, reducing protein adsorption as well as fibroblast, osteoblast and epithelial cell adhesion significantly. PLL-g-PEG can be functionalized with bioligands such as RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp), which then restores host cell adhesion, but the surface remains resistant to nonspecific protein adsorption. Previously, it was also shown that both nonfunctionalized PLL-g-PEG and RGD-peptide functionalized PLL-g-PEG reduced the adhesion of Staphylococcus aureus to titanium (Ti) surfaces. The present study looked at the effect of other implant associated infection relevant bacteria, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus mutans and Pseudomonas aeruginosa towards the same surface chemistries. The different surfaces were exposed to the bacteria for 1-24 h, and bacteria surface density was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and fluorescence light microscopy (FM). The adhesion of all bacteria strains tested was reduced on Ti surfaces coated with PLL-g-PEG compared to uncoated Ti surfaces even in the presence of RGD. The percentage reduction in bacterial adhesion over the 24-h culture time investigated was 88%-98%, depending on the bacteria type. Therefore, coating surfaces with PLL-g-PEG/PEG-RGD allows cells such as fibroblasts and osteoblasts to attach but not bacteria, resulting in a selective biointeractive pattern that may be useful on medical implants.
Current-voltage characteristics of molecular wires: Eigenvalue staircase, Coulomb blockade, and rectification (1996)

We have studied the current vs voltage curves (I–V characteristics) of a mesoscopic device consisting of two electrodes and a molecular wire. The wire Hamiltonian includes both electronic tunneling and Coulomb repulsion within a Hubbard model that is treated at the Hartree–Fock level. The inclusion of electron repulsion is an extension of our previous work that only considered the case of noninteracting electrons. We have found several important features in the calculated characteristics of the wire. These include (1) a staircaselike structure that strongly resembles that associated with Coulomb blockade in heterostructures and quantum dots, but that in the case of the wire is associated with the discrete nature of the molecular resonances; (2) regions of negative differential resistance associated with increased localization of the molecular resonances. Our theoretical model includes a consistent treatment of the conduction in the linear and nonlinear regimes which remains valid even when the device is operated close to resonance. These results can be particularly relevant for a comparison with recent experiments on molecular wires.
Preparation of Bi4Ti3O12 films on a single-crystal sapphire substrate with electron cyclotron resonance plasma sputtering (1991)

Bi-Ti-O oxide thin films were prepared on a sapphire single-crystal substrate by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma sputtering. The target used was a sintered Bi4Ti3O12(BIT) and the substrate was controlled in the temperature range 400–640 °C(Tsub). The film sputtered at Tsub=400 °C was a pyrochlore type oxide(Bi2Ti2O7), which changed to a Bi4Ti3O12 oxide in the polycrystalline state at 500 °C and in the single crystalline state at 640 °C. In the film sputtered at 640 °C, the (001) plane of the Bi4Ti3O12 grew parallel to the (112̄0) and (11̄02) planes of the sapphire substrate, and the (104) plane of Bi4Ti3O12 grew parallel to the (0001) plane of the sapphire substrate. The deposition rate was about 200 Å/min independent of the sputtering conditions.
A case-cohort design for epidemiologic cohort studies and disease prevention trials (1986)

Suppose that a cohort of individuals is to be followed in order to relate failure rates to preceding covariate histories. A design is proposed which involves covariate data only for cases experiencing failure and for members of a randomly selected ubcohort. Odds ratio and relative risk estimation procedures are presented for such a ‘case-cohort’ design. A small simulation study compares ease-cohort relative risk estimation procedures to full-cohort and synthetic case-control analyses. Relevance to epidemiologic cohort studies and disease prevention trials is discussed.