gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Speaking Fundamental Frequency and Rate Characteristics of Adult Female Schizophrenics (1968)

Selected speaking characteristics of 37 hospitalized female schizophrenic reaction patients were compared with those of a control group of 22 normal women. Tape recorded samples of oral reading and impromptu speaking were analyzed for mean fundamental frequency level and mean fundamental frequency deviation. The oral reading samples were further analyzed for mean overall and mean sentence reading rates. The patient group was found to use a significantly larger fundamental frequency deviation during oral reading and a significantly slower oral reading rate. Mean fundamental frequency level for the patient group was somewhat higher than that of the control group but not significantly so. Variations in the extent of differences between the patient group and the control group were found as a function of diagnostic subclassification and severity of psychiatric involvement of the patients.
A comprehensive approach to image-contrast enhancement (2003)

The paper describes a novel comprehensive approach to image-contrast enhancement in the spatial domain. Instead of defining another transformation function our strategy consists of adopting a general functional form, able to map different transformation functions, and in using a learning technique to select the parameter values that are optimal for the image being processed. First, local measures of spatial activity are assigned to each pixel of the image. Second, the local contrast value for each pixel is computed according to a function which is based on human visual response. Third, the parameters of a comprehensive contrast-enhancement function are selected by a genetic algorithm on the basis of the spatial activity of the image resulting from the transformation. The validity of the proposed technique is confirmed both perceptually, that is, higher fitness values correspond to the images that have been judged better by human observers, and by comparative evaluations of our algorithm with respect to classical methods.
Viral Booster Vaccines Improve <i>Mycobacterium bovis</i> BCG-Induced Protection against Bovine Tuberculosis (2009)

Previous work with small-animal laboratory models of tuberculosis has shown that vaccination strategies based on heterologous prime-boost protocols using Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) to prime and modified vaccinia virus Ankara strain (MVA85A) or recombinant attenuated adenoviruses (Ad85A) expressing the mycobacterial antigen Ag85A to boost may increase the protective efficacy of BCG. Here we report the first efficacy data on using these vaccines in cattle, a natural target species of tuberculous infection. Protection was determined by measuring development of disease as an end point after M. bovis challenge. Either Ad85A or MVA85A boosting resulted in protection superior to that given by BCG alone: boosting BCG with MVA85A or Ad85A induced significant reduction in pathology in four/eight parameters assessed, while BCG vaccination alone did so in only one parameter studied. Protection was particularly evident in the lungs of vaccinated animals (median lung scores for naïve and BCG-, BCG/MVA85A-, and BCG/Ad85A-vaccinated animals were 10.5, 5, 2.5, and 0, respectively). The bacterial loads in lymph node tissues were also reduced after viral boosting of BCG-vaccinated calves compared to those in BCG-only-vaccinated animals. Analysis of vaccine-induced immunity identified memory responses measured by cultured enzyme-linked immunospot assay as well as in vitro interleukin-17 production as predictors of vaccination success, as both responses, measured before challenge, correlated positively with the degree of protection. Therefore, this study provides evidence of improved protection against tuberculosis by viral booster vaccination in a natural target species and has prioritized potential correlates of vaccine efficacy for further evaluation. These findings also have implications for human tuberculosis vaccine development.
Two-Photon Absorption Properties of Proquinoidal D-A-D and A-D-A Quadrupolar Chromophores (2011)

We report the synthesis, one- and two-photon absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence, and electrochemical properties of a series of quadrupolar molecules that feature proquinoidal π-aromatic acceptors. These quadrupolar molecules possess either donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) or acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A) electronic motifs, and feature 4-N,N-dihexylaminophenyl, 4-dodecyloxyphenyl, 4-(N,N-dihexylamino)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazolyl or 2,5-dioctyloxyphenyl electron donor moieties and benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (BTD) or 6,7-bis(3',7'-dimethyloctyl)[1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3,4-g]quinoxaline (TDQ) electron acceptor units. These conjugated structures are highly emissive in nonpolar solvents and exhibit large spectral red-shifts of their respective lowest energy absorption bands relative to analogous reference compounds that incorporate phenylene components in place of BTD and TDQ moieties. BTD-based D-A-D and A-D-A chromophores exhibit increasing fluorescence emission red-shifts, and a concomitant decrease of the fluorescence quantum yield (Φ(f)) with increasing solvent polarity; these data indicate that electronic excitation augments benzothiadiazole electron density via an internal charge transfer mechanism. The BTD- and TDQ-containing structures exhibit blue-shifted two-photon absorption (TPA) spectra relative to their corresponding one-photon absorption (OPA) spectra, and display high TPA cross sections (>100 GM) within these spectral windows. D-A-D and A-D-A structures that feature more extensive conjugation within this series of compounds exhibit larger TPA cross sections consistent with computational simulation. Factors governing TPA properties of these quadrupolar chromophores are discussed within the context of a three-state model.
Il tribunale della storia : leggere la Methodus di Jean Bodin (2006)

Il libro propone una lettura della "Methodus" di Jean Bodin attraverso la ricostruzione della formazione e della mentalità del suo autore, che costituisce, a sua volta, un problema storico, ovvero rappresenta la saldatura di due differenti ambiti: quello culturale, dell’ormai maturo umanesimo europeo del pieno Cinquecento e della lunga tradizione giuridica di ascendenza accademica; e quello politico, religioso e sociale della Francia delle Guerre di religione.\nUn contesto storico che salda insieme una struttura culturale e una congiuntura socio-politica e religiosa le quali, entrambe, determinano in maniera imprescindibile il testo della "Methodus" e alcune delle sue scelte strutturali, contenutistiche, epistemologiche. La storia, e la storia della storiografia, divengono mezzi di diffusione di un sapere in parte consolidato dalle certezze della cultura umanistica, in parte nuovo, e nuovamente rafforzato dall’applicazione alla disciplina storica di fondamenti, e nozioni, e pratiche, e concezioni, tipiche della cultura e della prassi giuridica.\nAttraverso questa lettura della "Methodus" l’autore invita anche a una riflessione su un modo di fare storia che è familiare ad un nostro non remoto passato storiografico e purtroppo non del tutto ignoto neppure al nostro presente socio-mediatico: una storia tutto sommato positiva e assertiva che, tuttavia, anche attraverso lo strumento del dubbio e della verifica delle fonti, riesca a stabilire una verità a cui ricorrere per sciogliere i drammatici dubbi del presente nell’elaborazione di uno schema o sistema in grado, per via dell’individuazione di costanti della natura umana, di prevedere (almeno parzialmente) il futuro.
Spark plasma sintering of TiNi nano-powders for biological application (2006)

Nano-sized TiNi powder with an average size of 50 nm was consolidated using spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 800 °C for 5 min. A layer of anatase TiO2 coating was formed on the sintered TiNi by chemical reaction with a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) solution at 60 °C followed by heat treatment at 400 °C to enhance the bioactivity of the metal surface. Cell culture using osteoblast cells and a biomimetic test in simulated body fluid proved the biocompatibility of the chemically treated SPS TiNi.
Vaginal Spermicides and Congenital Disorders (1981)

Among 763 liveborn infants of white women who had obtained a vaginal spermicide in the ten months before conception, the prevalence of certain major congenital anomalies was 2.2%. The prevalence of such anomalies in a comparison group of 3,902 infants was 1.0%. The difference between these groups was due to an excess of limb-reduction deformities, neoplasms, syndromes associated with chromosomal abnormalities, and hypospadias in the infants whose mothers are presumed to have used vaginal spermicides. Pregnancies in women who had used vaginal spermicides ended in spontaneous abortion requiring hospitalization 1.8 times more commonly than did pregnancies in those who had not. Since a well-defined syndrome among babies with congenital disorders whose mothers used spermicides was not present, these results should be considered tentative until confirmed by other data.
Integration of satellites into GSM: signaling flow analysis (2002)

In this work the signaling flow necessary for the integration between the pan-European digital mobile network GSM and a satellite component is discussed. The problem of integrating GSM with satellites is of great importance since it can be considered as a first step towards the definition of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), where satellites play a fundamental role in obtaining a global coverage communication network.
Polarization-insensitive frequency-shift-keying optical heterodyne receiver using discriminator demodulation (1988)

A polarization-state-independent binary frequency-shift-keying optical heterodyne receiver, achieved by splitting the received signal between two orthogonal polarization axes and combining the signals after demodulation, is described. The authors consider various receiver configurations, using a discriminator with a limiter for applications in which received-signal-envelope fluctuations cannot be ignored, and without a limiter when the fluctuations are negligible. For applications that require the limiter, a diversity method or a variable-gain limiter that improves the performance of the limiter/discriminator receiver is proposed. Numerical results indicate that with diversity and a limiter/discriminator structure, polarization independence can be achieved with a system performance which is nearly that of an ideal receiver. Using a discriminator without a limiter, when there is no source of envelope fluctuations other than those due to Gaussian noise, the receiver performance degradation compared to the ideal baseline receiver is 0.5 dB.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">></ETX>
An adaptive inverse halftoning algorithm (1997)

A class of inverse halftoning algorithms that recovers grayscale (continuous-tone) images from halftone images is proposed. The basic structure is an optimized linear filter. Then, a properly designed adaptive postprocessor is employed to enhance the recovered image quality. Finally, a multistage space-varying algorithm is developed that uses the basic linear filter structure as before but with spatially adaptive parameters.
Tracking body and hands for gesture recognition: NATOPS aircraft handling signals database (2011)

We present a unified framework for body and hand tracking, the output of which can be used for understanding simultaneously performed body-and-hand gestures. The framework uses a stereo camera to collect 3D images, and tracks body and hand together, combining various existing techniques to make tracking tasks efficient. In addition, we introduce a multi-signal gesture database: the NATOPS aircraft handling signals. Unlike previous gesture databases, this data requires knowledge about both body and hand in order to distinguish gestures. It is also focused on a clearly defined gesture vocabulary from a real-world scenario that has been refined over many years. The database includes 24 body-and-hand gestures, and provides both gesture video clips and the body and hand features we extracted.
Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity and What They Tell Us About Controlled Attention, General Fluid Intelligence, and Functions of the Prefrontal Cortex (1999)

Working memory is a system consisting of those long-term memory traces active above threshold, the procedures and skills necessary to achieve and maintain that activation, and limited-capacity, controlled attention. The specific features of our model include:
Activity of BB-K8 (Amikacin) Against Clinical Isolates Resistant to One or More Aminoglycoside Antibiotics (1974)

One hundred fifty-two bacterial strains that possess resistance to kanamycin A, gentamicin, or tobramycin, or to more than one of these antibiotics, were collected from various sources in Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United States. This collection was composed of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and members of the Enterobacteriaceae family. Their susceptibility to BB-K8 (amikacin), a new broad-spectrum semisynthetic derivative of kanamycin A, and to the other agents, was determined on Mueller-Hinton Medium by the twofold agar dilution method. Test results revealed that 60.5% of the isolates were resistant to 8 mug of tobramycin per ml, 67.1% to 8 mug of gentamicin per ml, 86.2% to 20 mug of kanamycin A per ml, and only 8.6% to 20 mug of amikacin per ml. Of interest is the fact that the amikacin-resistant strains were generally resistant to all of the other aminoglycosides. The broad spectrum of amikacin was not totally unexpected, because the compound has been shown to be a poor substrate for most enzymes that inactivate other aminoglycosides through O-phosphorylation, O-adenylylation, or N-acetylation. A number of susceptibility profiles were obtained when the organisms were tested against a series of nine aminoglycosides. The majority of these profiles resembled those found for organisms that possess known mechanisms of enzymatic inactivation.
Cross-talk between Staphylococcus aureus leukocidins-intoxicated macrophages and lung epithelial cells triggers chemokine secretion in an inflammasome-dependent manner (2012)

Staphylococcus aureus is a major pathogen responsible for both nosocomial and community-acquired infections. Central to its virulence is its ability to secrete haemolysins, pore-forming toxins and cytolytic peptides. The large number of membrane-damaging toxins and peptides produced during S. aureus infections has hindered a precise understanding of their specific roles in diseases. Here, we used comprehensive libraries of recombinant toxins and synthetic cytolytic peptides, of S. aureus mutants and clinical strains to investigate the role of these virulence factors in targeting human macrophages and triggering IL-1β release. We found that the Panton Valentine leukocidin (PVL) is the major trigger of IL-1β release and inflammasome activation in primary human macrophages. The cytolytic peptides, δ-haemolysin and PSMα3; the pore-forming toxins, γ-haemolysin and LukDE; and β-haemolysin synergize with PVL to amplify IL-1β release, indicating that these factors cooperate with PVL to trigger inflammation. PVL(+) S. aureus causes necrotizing pneumonia in children and young adults. The severity of this disease is due to the massive recruitment of neutrophils that cause lung damage. Importantly, we demonstrate that PVL triggers IL-1β release in human alveolar macrophages. Furthermore, IL-1β released by PVL-intoxicated macrophages stimulates the secretion of the neutrophil attracting chemokines, IL-8 and monocyte chemotactic protein-1, by lung epithelial cells. Finally, we show that PVL-induced IL-8/monocyte chemotactic protein-1 release is abolished by the inclusion of IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) in a mixed culture of lung epithelial cells and macrophages. Together, our results identify PVL as the predominant S. aureus secreted factor for triggering inflammasome activation in human macrophages and demonstrate how PVL-intoxicated macrophages orchestrate inflammation in the lung. Finally, our work suggests that anakinra, a synthetic IL-1Ra, may be an effective therapeutic agent to reduce the massive neutrophils infiltration observed during necrotizing pneumonia and decrease the resulting host-mediated lung injury.
A framework to improve programmability of low power many-core processor for scalable DSP application (2013)

Embedded and ubiquitous sensors are driving industry to look for low power solutions for complex DSP algorithms; system engineers are also looking for upgradable capability to higher throughput and algorithm enhancements. Many-core, parallel architectures seem to be a solution to meet these interests at the same time. However it introduces a challenging problem: the programmability of a many-core processor is generally perceived by industry as difficult and inefficient. A new framework is proposed to solve this challenge. This framework includes a dataflow programming methodology at the top level design, and an embedded automatic cell generator to solve the module level data parallel problem. Data flow programming methodologies avoid explicit synchronization among modules; the data flow naturally drives the synchronization. At the module level, a cell generator handles application-specifics, including data dependencies, amount of parallelization required to achieve desired throughput and complete memory management, and generation of a library. This framework provides a path to quickly develop a DSP algorithm on a many-core processor, to achieve a scalable, higher throughput, and lower power solution. The framework demonstrated by this paper has been applied to various DSP algorithms to efficiently parallelize and scale for different through-put or power requirement, on Coherent Logix's low-power 100 core hx3100 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">TM</sup> processor based on HyperX <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">TM</sup> technology.
CMOS absolute value precision capacitance measurement system (2003)

A switched-capacitor capacitance-to-current converter has been studied and implemented in CMOS technology. It allows the precise measurement of the absolute value of on-chip capacitances, is insensitive to parasitic capacitances to ground, offsets, and charge injection from switches, and can operate up to 500 kHz. The circuit has been integrated together with a test bank of capacitive humidity sensors for their characterization.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">></ETX>
The role of positron emission tomography in the management of bone metastases (2000)

The clinical role of PET in the evaluation of patients with bone metastases is not yet defined; however, as described in this report, there is emerging evidence that this imaging method also may aid patient management in this area with the use of either (18)FDG or (18)F-fluoride ion.
Continuous answering holistic queries over sensor networks (2008)

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are widely used for various monitoring applications. Users issue queries to sensors and collect sensing data. Due to the low quality sensing devices or random link failures, sensor data are often noisy. In order to increase the reliability of the query results, continuous queries are often employed. In this work we focus on continuous holistic queries like median. Existing approaches are mainly designed for non-holistic queries like average. However, it is not trivial to answer holistic ones due to their non-decomposable property. We propose two schemes for answering queries under different data changing conditions. While sensor data changes slowly, based on the data correlation between different rounds, we propose one algorithm for getting the exact answers. When the data changing speed is high, we propose another approach to derive the approximate results. We evaluate both designs through extensive simulations. The results demonstrate that our approach significantly reduces the traffic cost compared with previous works while maintaining the same accuracy.
The Hemo-Neural Hypothesis: On The Role of Blood Flow in Information Processing (2007)

Brain vasculature is a complex and interconnected network under tight regulatory control that exists in intimate communication with neurons and glia. Typically, hemodynamics are considered to exclusively serve as a metabolic support system. In contrast to this canonical view, we propose that hemodynamics also play a role in information processing through modulation of neural activity. Functional hyperemia, the basis of the functional MRI (fMRI) BOLD signal, is a localized influx of blood correlated with neural activity levels. Functional hyperemia is considered by many to be excessive from a metabolic standpoint, but may be appropriate if interpreted as having an activity-dependent neuro-modulatory function. Hemodynamics may impact neural activity through direct and indirect mechanisms. Direct mechanisms include delivery of diffusible blood-borne messengers and mechanical and thermal modulation of neural activity. Indirect mechanisms are proposed to act through hemodynamic modulation of astrocytes, which can in turn regulate neural activity. These hemo-neural mechanisms should alter the information processing capacity of active local neural networks. Here, we focus on analysis of neocortical sensory processing. We predict that hemodynamics alter the gain of local cortical circuits, modulating the detection and discrimination of sensory stimuli. This novel view of information processing-that includes hemodynamics as an active and significant participant-has implications for understanding neural representation and the construction of accurate brain models. There are also potential medical benefits of an improved understanding of the role of hemodynamics in neural processing, as it directly bears on interpretation of and potential treatment for stroke, dementia, and epilepsy.
Epitaxial Growth of <i>m</i>-Plane ZnO Thin Films on (1010) Sapphire Substrate by Atomic Layer Deposition with Interrupted Flow (2010)

Nonpolar ZnO films were grown epitaxially on (101̅0) sapphire substrates at 200 °C by atomic layer deposition with interrupted flow. The latter method improved the crystalline quality of ZnO films, transformed the structure from polycrystalline to epitaxial, and enhanced the optical properties of near-band-edge emission. The interfacial structure shows multiple domain phases along sapphire (020) and the disappearance of a minor phase near the surface. As determined by X-ray diffraction, the epitaxial relation between ZnO and sapphire follows [002]ZnO∥[020]sapphire and [020]ZnO∥[006]sapphire. The photoluminescence intensity increased with increasing crystalline quality and thickness of ZnO films.
Fusion of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae leu2 gene to an Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase gene. (1983)

The promoter and translation initiation region of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae leu2 gene was fused to the Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase gene. This fusion located the control region of the leu gene and orientated its direction of expression. When the fusion was placed into yeast cells, beta-galactosidase was expressed under the same regulatory pattern as the original leu2 gene product: its synthesis was repressed in the presence of leucine and threonine. Sensitive chromogenic substrates for beta-galactosidase were used to detect expression in isolated colonies growing on agar medium. Mutant yeast cells with increased beta-galactosidase activity were identified by the color of the colonies they formed. One class of mutants obtained appeared to affect ars1 plasmid maintenance, and another class appeared to affect beta-galactoside uptake.