gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
On the fractal nature of heart rate variability in humans: effects of data length and beta-adrenergic blockade (1994)

In the present study, we reinvestigated the question of whether human heart rate variability (HRV) is fractal in nature. Ten healthy volunteers participated in either of two studies conducted while beat-by-beat long-term HRV (8,500 heartbeats) was recorded for 2-3 h in the quiet, awake state in the supine position. In the first study, five subjects were tested four times each to evaluate the basic fractal nature of human HRV. The other five subjects were examined for the effects of oral propranolol (2 x 80 mg/day) on the fractal property of HRV in the second study. HRV data were analyzed by coarse-graining spectral analysis to break down their total power into harmonic and nonharmonic (fractal) components. The harmonic component was further divided into low (0.0-0.15 Hz; LF)- and high (> 0.15 Hz; HF)-frequency components. From these spectral components, %Fractal, %LF, and %HF as functions of total power were calculated. The fractal component was used to calculate the spectral exponent, beta. The %Fractal of human resting HRV was 85.5 +/- 4.4% (mean +/- SD, n = 20). The beta for the fractal HRV was 1.08 +/- 0.18 (n = 20). With propranolol, these basic properties of fractal HRV dynamics remained unchanged despite an increase in the mean RR interval (placebo, 912 +/- 111 ms; propranolol, 1,134 +/- 133 ms, P < 0.05) and a change in the harmonic spectral shape evaluated by LF/HF (placebo, 2.76 +/- 1.57; propranolol, 1.82 +/- 0.81, P < 0.05). For short-term data, less power was extracted as fractal because of the absence of the very low frequency component, yet the beta and LF/HF were unchanged from long-term data. These findings indicate that 1) the observed inversely proportional frequency (1/f) spectrum in human resting HRV is due to underlying random fractal dynamics and 2) the sympathetic nervous system seemed to play a minor role in modulating the fractal HRV dynamics.
Effect of degree of deacetylation of chitin on the properties of chitin crystallites (1997)

In the present article, chitin from crab shell was systematically deacetylated using a NaOH treatment with control of the reaction time. The degree of deacetylation, monitored using solid-state NMR, revealed that the reaction was pseudo-first order. Based on this, swollen and NaOH-saturated particles are proposed as the reaction system. The weight loss of the partially saponified and neutralized samples after HCl hydrolysis increased linearly with the degree of deacetylation. The crystallinity of the samples was found to increase after acid hydrolysis. According to conductimetric titration, the surface charge density of the crystallites, after acid hydrolysis, was found to increase with base treatment time. The effect of surface charge on the formation of a chiral nematic phase, due to the rodlike nature of the crystallites, was explored. These results show that because the contribution of charged particles to the ionic strength was significant the double layer compression was affected, especially since the surface charge density was close to the Manning limit. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 65:373–380, 1997
An Improved Method for Corrosion‐Rate Measurement by Weight Loss (1988)

A modified version of the American Society for Testing and Materials machined‐nipple technique is presented. The simplified hardware is suitable for sampling large numbers of coupons simultaneously, providing a more accurate statistical analysis of corrosion variation and measurement precision. New coupon handling and retrieval procedures simplify test surface preparation and improve reproducibility.
Privacy Considerations for IPv6 Address Generation Mechanisms (2013)

This document discusses privacy and security considerations for
several IPv6 address generation mechanisms, both standardized and non-
standardized. It evaluates how different mechanisms mitigate different
threats and the trade-offs that implementors, developers, and users
face in choosing different addresses or address generation mechanisms.
Innovative ligand-assisted synthesis of NIR-activated iron oxide for cancer theranostics (2012)

This work presents the development of a facile ligand-assisted hydrothermal reaction for the preparation of NIR-activated Fe(3)O(4) nanostructures that can directly upgrade the iron oxide with MR contrast ability to be a MRI/photothermal theranostic agent.
Coverage Metrics for Continuous Function Charts (2005)

Continuous Function Charts are a diagrammatical language for the specification of mixed discrete-continuous embedded systems, similar to the languages of Matlab/Simulink, and often used in the domain of transportation systems. Both control and data flows are explicitly specified when atomic units of computation are composed. The obvious way to assess the quality of integration test suites is to compute known coverage metrics for the generated code. This production code does not exhibit those structures that would make it amenable to "relevant" coverage measurements. We define a translation scheme that results in structures relevant for such measurements, apply coverage criteria for both control and dataflows at the level of composition of atomic computational units, and argue for their usefulness on the grounds of detected errors.
Recent developments in electrochemical paper-based analytical devices (2015)

This mini-review discusses recent advances in electrochemical paper-based analytical devices with an emphasis on applications of traditional electrochemical methods.
A Motion Model Based Video Stabilisation Algorithm (2006)

Video sequences often suffer from jerky movements between successive frames. In this paper we present a stabilisation method to extract the information from successive frames and to correct the undesirable effects. In the method, the optical flow is computed and the estimated motion vectors using the Horn-Schunck algorithm are passed to the model-fitting unit that stabilizes and smoothens the video sequence. A synchronization module supervises the whole system. The measures based on the fidelity of the system (PSNR) are given to demonstrate the stabilisation and efficiency of the system.
Encapsulation of Bimetallic Nanoparticles into a Metal–Organic Framework: Preparation and Microstructure Characterization of Pd/Au@ZIF‐8 (2014)

Abstract The zinc‐imidazolate‐based framework ZIF‐8 was loaded with preformed surfactant‐stabilized bimetallic Pd/Au nanoparticles and its corresponding monometallic counterparts Au and Pd by a controlled encapsulation process during the ZIF‐8 crystal growth. The nanoparticle‐loaded materials were characterized by powder X‐ray diffraction (PXRD), FTIR spectroscopy, N 2 ‐sorption measurements, as well as by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The ZIF‐8 matrix material remained intact and the NP@ZIF‐8 materials revealed the permanent porosity of Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface areas above 1100 m 2 g –1 . The nanoparticles are exclusively found inside the volume of the nanocrystals and exhibit unchanged composition and size distribution as revealed by TEM investigations. Additionally, scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) coupled with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirmed the solid solution‐type alloying of Pd and Au in the embedded Pd/Au nanoparticles. The materials were briefly evaluated in aqueous‐phase aerobic alcohol oxidation to investigate the synergetic effects of alloyed Pd/Au nanoparticles and the microporous, hydrophobic matrix ZIF‐8.
Immunocytochemical localization of the vanilloid receptor 1 (VR1): relationship to neuropeptides, the P2X<sub>3</sub> purinoceptor and IB4 binding sites (1999)

The vanilloid receptor (VR1) protein functions both as a receptor for capsaicin and a transducer of noxious thermal stimuli. To determine the expression and targetting of this protein, we have generated antisera against both the amino and carboxy termini of VR1. Within the dorsal root and trigeminal ganglia of rats, VR1-immunoreactivity (VR1-ir) was restricted to small and medium sized neurons. VR1-ir was transported into both the central and peripheral processes of these primary afferent neurons, as evidenced by: (i) the presence of VR1-ir in nerve fibres and terminals in lamina I and lamina II of the superficial dorsal horn, and the association of VR1-ir with small diameter nerve fibres in the skin and cornea; (ii) the reduction of VR1-ir in the spinal cord after dorsal rhizotomy; and (iii) the accumulation of VR1-ir proximal to sciatic nerve ligation. At the ultrastructural level, VR1-ir was associated with plasma membranes of neuronal perikarya in dorsal root ganglia and nerve terminals in the dorsal horn. VR1-ir was also seen in nerve fibres and terminals in the spinal trigeminal nucleus and nucleus of the solitary tract. Within a large proportion of dorsal root ganglion neurons and the terminals of their axons, VR1-ir was colocalized with staining for the P2X3 purinoceptor, and with binding sites for the lectin IB4. Surprisingly, VR1-ir did not coexist substantially in nerve fibres and terminals that contain substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide, suggesting complex mechanisms for the release of these neuropeptides in response to capsaicin application.
<i>Giardia:</i>Overview and Update (1997)

Giardia is a protozoan flagellate that was first observed by Van Leeuwenhoek in 1681 and more fully described by Lamb in 1859. It was initially thought to be a commensal in humans, but it is now clearly recognized as a common cause of diarrhea and malabsorption. Giardia infects millions of people throughout the world in both epidemic and sporadic forms. It is transmitted through ingestion of contaminated water and food, person-to-person contact in child care centers, and male homosexual activity.
Rigid microenvironments promote cardiac differentiation of mouse and human embryonic stem cells (2013)

While adult heart muscle is the least regenerative of tissues, embryonic cardiomyocytes are proliferative, with embryonic stem (ES) cells providing an endless reservoir. In addition to secreted factors and cell-cell interactions, the extracellular microenvironment has been shown to play an important role in stem cell lineage specification, and understanding how scaffold elasticity influences cardiac differentiation is crucial to cardiac tissue engineering. Though previous studies have analyzed the role of the matrix elasticity on the function of differentiated cardiomyocytes, whether it affects the induction of cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells is poorly understood. Here, we examined the role of matrix rigidity on the cardiac differentiation using mouse and human ES cells. Culture on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates of varied monomer-to-crosslinker ratios revealed that rigid extracellular matrices promote a higher yield of <i>de novo</i> cardiomyocytes from undifferentiated ES cells. Using an genetically modified ES system that allows us to purify differentiated cardiomyocytes by drug selection, we demonstrate that rigid environments induce higher cardiac troponin T expression, beating rate of foci, and expression ratio of adult α- to fetal β- myosin heavy chain in a purified cardiac population. M-mode and mechanical interferometry image analyses demonstrate that these ES-derived cardiomyocytes display functional maturity and synchronization of beating when co-cultured with neonatal cardiomyocytes harvested from a developing embryo. Together, these data identify matrix stiffness as an independent factor that instructs not only the maturation of the already differentiated cardiomyocytes but also the induction and proliferation of cardiomyocytes from undifferentiated progenitors. Manipulation of the stiffness will help direct the production of functional cardiomyocytes en masse from stem cells for regenerative medicine purposes.
Microelectromechanical digital-to-analog converters of displacement for step motion actuators (2000)

This paper presents a novel micromechanism for precise positioning by using an N-bit digital code. The mechanism is an N-stage network of connected suspensions, in which an electrostatic actuator is attached to the longer suspensions of compliance 2C, and N of such unit structures are connected side by side with the shorter suspensions of compliance C. Each actuator is an electrostatic shuttle moving back and forth between the driving electrodes, and is operated by the corresponding digit of the input code. The N-bits of local displacement accumulate in the suspension network to synthesize an analog output, which is proportional to the analog value coded with the N-bit input. The output displacement is independent of the fluctuation of the driving voltage since the traveling distance of the shuttle is clipped by mechanical stoppers. We call the mechanism a microelectromechanical digital-to-analog converter (MEMDAC) since the function is equivalent to the electrical digital-to-analog converter known as the R-2R resistor network. Three different types of MEMDAC's are compared. Preliminary results of a silicon micromachined 4-bit MEMDAC successfully showed a total stroke of 5.8 /spl mu/m with a step of 0.38 /spl mu/m. The positioning resolution can be made finer by simply increasing the number of chained units.
Acoustic detection of gas bubbles in a pipe (1998)

This report describes an acoustic system designed to detect gas bubbles in a pipe. The system makes simultaneous use of multiple techniques for detection and sizing; these include six resonance-based indicators, as well as off-resonance scattering. The abilities of these acoustic indicators to detect, size and count bubbles are compared. It was envisaged that using several simultaneous bubble detection techniques would compensate for restrictions inherent in the isolated use of individual techniques. For example, whilst geometric scattering tends to be more successful at locating bubbles than sizing them, the converse tends to hold for techniques which exploit the bubble resonance. In the latter case, the greater the tolerance allowed in the estimation of the bubble size from the measured resonance frequency, the more approximate may be the conversion algorithm. Single bubbles tethered to a wire in the pipe, and a freely rising stream of similar size bubbles, are examined. Results measured in these two cases are presented to indicate the potential of the location and sizing techniques. The effect on bubble resonance frequencies of confining the bubble in a pipe is considered in detail. Standard interpretations of bubble resonances in terms of bubble size assume free-field conditions, and require modification for the pipe environment. The necessary corrections are presented for the frequency range below the first transverse acoustic resonance of the pipe
The effect of silicon purity on Spheral Solar cell processing and performance (2002)

The development of the Spheral Solar Technology in the past has focused on utilizing metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) to grow crystalline silicon spheres and bonding these into aluminum foil to form a flexible solar cell. The process for growing the spheres inherently purifies the silicon through both gettering and directional solidification. A study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of other grades of silicon on the performance of the solar cells. A secondary goal was to identify grades of silicon that may be low cost because they are not currently in use in the industry (due to high levels of contamination that render them unsuitable for conventional crystal growth). Impurity levels in the various grades were analyzed and solar cells were fabricated. The results of this study reveal improved performance over previously reported efficiencies on MG-Si and the identification of some low-cost grades of silicon that are uniquely suitable for the Spheral Solar process.
Neuron-Specific Enolase Serum Levels After Controlled Cortical Impact Injury in the Rat (2001)

The aim of this study was to investigate the time course and the correlation of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) serum levels to the severity of traumatic brain injury in rats. Sixty-five male Wistar rats were subjected to severe cortical impact injury (100 PSI, 2 mm deformation). Blood samples were drawn directly after trauma and after 1, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h in the trauma group. In the sham operated levels animals samples were drawn directly after craniotomy and after 6 and 48 h. Additionally, NSE serum levels after controlled cortical impact at different levels of severity samples (45 PSI, 75 PSI; 2 mm deformity) were compared to sham-operated animals. The severity of the injury was not validated histopathologically. NSE serum levels were estimated with a commercially available enzyme immunoassay (LIA mat Sangtec). The control animals showed a NSE serum level of 8.82 microg/L (mean, n = 10) and the injured animals demonstrated a time-dependent release of NSE into the serum. The highest NSE serum values were detected 6 h after trauma (31.5 microg/L mean, n = 10). In addition, we found a close relationship between NSE serum levels and the severity of traumatic brain injury in the cortical impact model. NSE serum levels reflect in a time-dependent manner the severity of brain trauma induced by cortical impact model in rat.
Genes for extracellular-matrix-degrading metalloproteinases and their inhibitor, TIMP, are expressed during early mammalian development. (1989)

Extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling accompanies cell migration, cell-cell interactions, embryo expansion, uterine implantation, and tissue invasion during mammalian embryogenesis. We have found that mouse embryos secrete functional ECM-degrading metalloproteinases, including collagenase and stromelysin, that are inhibitable by the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP) and that are regulated during peri-implantation development and endoderm differentiation. mRNA transcripts for collagenase, stromelysin, and TIMP were detected as maternal transcripts in the unfertilized egg, were present at the zygote and cleavage stages, and increased at the blastocyst stage and with endoderm differentiation. These data suggest that metalloproteinases function in cell-ECM interactions during growth, development, and implantation of mammalian embryos.
Widely wavelength-tunable ultra-flat frequency comb generation using conventional dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (2007)

Wavelength-tunable ultra-flat optical frequency comb generation is demonstrated using only a conventional Mach-Zehnder modulator that is asymmetrically dual-driven by large-amplitude sinusoidal signals with different amplitudes. A 10 GHz-spaced frequency comb with a 10 dB bandwidth of 230 GHz was experimentally generated. In addition, 50 nm widely wavelength tunable operation was achieved.
Biosynthesis of Novobiocin by <i>Streptomyces niveus</i> (1972)

Streptomyces niveus in a chemically defined medium requires the inclusion of Krebs cycle acids for good growth. These acids are used in preference to glucose, and this results in diauxic growth. Studies with washed cells, cell-free extracts, and mutants of S. niveus were performed to determine the mode of synthesis of the individual ring systems of novobiocin and their linkage. A pathway for novobiocin synthesis is proposed on the basis of these experiments.
Magnetic Heating of Nanoparticles: The Importance of Particle Clustering to Achieve Therapeutic Temperatures (2013)

Hyperthermia therapy for cancer treatment seeks to destroy tumors through heating alone or combined with other therapies at elevated temperatures between 41.8 and 48 °C. Various forms of cell death including apoptosis and necrosis occur depending on temperature and heating time. Effective tumoricidal effects can also be produced by inducing damage to the tissue vasculature and stroma; however, surrounding normal tissue must be spared to a large extent. Magnetic nanoparticles have been under experimental investigation in recent years as a means to provide a favorable therapeutic ratio for local hyperthermia; however, practical numerical models that can be used to study the underlying mechanisms in realistic geometries have not previously appeared to our knowledge. Useful numerical modeling of these experiments is made extremely difficult by the many orders of magnitude in the geometries: from nanometers to centimeters. What has been missing is a practical numerical modeling approach that can be used to more deeply understand the experiments. We develop and present numerical models that reveal the extent and dominance of the local heat transfer boundary conditions, and provide a new approach that may simplify the numerical problem sufficiently to make ordinary computing machinery capable of generating useful predictions. The objectives of this paper are to place the discussion in a convenient interchangeable classical electromagnetic formulation, and to develop useful engineering approximations to the larger multiscale numerical modeling problem that can potentially be used in experiment evaluation; and eventually, may prove useful in treatment planning. We cast the basic heating mechanisms in the framework of classical electromagnetic field theory and provide calibrating analytical calculations and preliminary experimental results on BNF-Starch<sup>®</sup> nanoparticles in a mouse tumor model for perspective.
A structural Bayes approach to speaker adaptation (2001)

Maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation has been successfully applied to speaker adaptation in speech recognition systems using hidden Markov models. When the amount of data is sufficiently large, MAP estimation yields recognition performance as good as that obtained using maximum-likelihood (ML) estimation. This paper describes a structural maximum a posteriori (SMAP) approach to improve the MAP estimates obtained when the amount of adaptation data is small. A hierarchical structure in the model parameter space is assumed and the probability density functions for model parameters at one level are used as priors for those of the parameters at adjacent levels. Results of supervised adaptation experiments using nonnative speakers' utterances showed that SMAP estimation reduced error rates by 61% when ten utterances were used for adaptation and that it yielded the same accuracy as MAP and ML estimation when the amount of data was sufficiently large. Furthermore, the recognition results obtained in unsupervised adaptation experiments showed that SMAP estimation was effective even when only one utterance from a new speaker was used for adaptation. An effective way to combine rapid supervised adaptation and on-line unsupervised adaptation was also investigated.
Febuxostat Ameliorates Diabetic Renal Injury in a Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rat Model (2014)

Febuxostat prevents diabetic renal injury such as albuminuria. This renoprotective effect appears to be due to attenuation of the inflammatory and oxidative effects of diabetes-induced renal damage through inhibition of XO and XDH activities.
Super-resolution thermal ghost imaging based on deconvolution (2014)

The resolution of classical imaging is limited by the Rayleigh diffraction limit, whereas ghost imaging can overcome this diffraction limit and enhance the resolution. In this paper, we propose a super-resolution thermal ghost imaging scheme based on deconvolution, which can further improve the imaging resolution. Because the traditional thermal ghost imaging result is the convolution between the original image of the object and the correlation function, we can use deconvolution algorithm to decrease the effect of convolution and enhance the imaging resolution. Actually, the correlation function of ghost imaging system is just the point spread function (PSF) of classical imaging system. However, PSF is hard to obtain in classical imaging system, and it is easy to obtain in ghost imaging system. So deconvolution algorithm can be easily used in the ghost imaging system, and the imaging resolution can increases 2–3 times in practice.