Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Limestone and Inorganic Processing Additions to Cement on the Strength and Durability of Concrete

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is making several changes to concrete mix designs, using revisions to cement specification ASTM C150 / AASHTO M85 and ASTM C465 / AASHTO M327. These proposed revisions will enable the use of more sustainable materials for concrete pavements, overlays, and bridge decks. Accordingly, a study was conducted by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to test the performance of concrete mixes batched with cement comprising less (conventional) and more (modified) than 5% by weight of limestone and inorganic processing additions (IPA) specified in ASTM C465 / AASHTO M327, and/or insoluble residue (IR) with quantity above the specified limit by ASTM C150. Twenty-eight concrete mixes with different cementitious combinations and aggregates were developed for this study. The study included evaluating the fresh properties, strength characteristics, and durability performance of concrete. The strength results were measured in terms of compressive and flexural strength, and the durability results were evaluated in terms of hardened air parameters, freeze/thaw performance, rapid chloride penetration resistance (Coulombs), water penetration (DIN 1048), chloride ion concentration, and diffusion. The study found similar performance in terms of strength and durability of concrete between the conventional and modified cements and demonstrated their performance with SCMs replacements and fine aggregate types. On the basis of the experimental results, a comprehensive program was developed to study the factors influencing the freeze/thaw performance of concrete. A simplified analytical approach to predict the water penetration coefficient in concrete based on the water penetration test results, and the equivalent-steady state diffusion coefficient through the use of rapid chloride penetration test was established. In addition, a mathematical model was developed for service life prediction of concrete structures through the diffusivity of chloride, by taking into account time dependent surface chloride concentration and diffusion coefficient.
Exposure to asphalt or bitumen fume and renal disease.

s included in the papers and the questions from the audience, and authors’ responses, that were notable features of the earlier volumes, were not included. The quality of the papers and editing remain at a high level, and this volume should be a valuable addition to the bookshelf of all scientists, health professionals, and public health authorities who are seriously interested in the health eVects of airborne particles. It is unfortunate that the price is high enough to limit its readership. MORTON LIPPMANN Determination of Airborne Fibre Number Concentrations: A Recommended Method by Phase-Contrast Optical Microscopy (Membrane Filter Method). By: World Health Organisation. (Pp 54; Price Swiss Franks 19/ US $17.10) 1997. Geneva: World Health Organisation. ISBN: 92-4-154496-1. Airborne fibre concentrations have been evaluated by the membrane filter method for over 30 years. The original method, which was developed for use in asbestos factories, has been adapted for use with many diVerent types of fibre in both occupational and non-occupational situations. By the 1970s it was clear that there were substantial diVerences between laboratories when evaluating the same samples. Much of these diVerences could be attributed to variations in the detailed methodology and this started the quest to devise a “standardised” version of the membrane filter method. This book is the latest attempt to standardise the method on this occasion to harmonise methods used for analysis of asbestos—for example, the European Reference Method (ERM) used throughout the European Union, with the previously published World Health Organisation method for man made mineral fibres (rockwool and glasswool). The new method is applicable to all fibre types, both organic and inorganic. The method specification is contained within 17 statements which are supplemented by more detailed descriptions. It contains details of everything required from the type of filters to be used to the characteristics of the fibres to be counted. The accuracy, precision, and lower limit of measurement are also provided. This is a specialist book which will be of limited interest to those not directly involved with measurement of exposure to fibres. However, it is clearly the authors’ intentions to influence the appropriate national authorities to incorporate this version of the membrane filter method into their legislation. If this method does replace the ERM then measured fibre concentrations would probably increase, for some industries by perhaps as much as 50%. The implications for epidemiological studies, risk assessment, and standards setting need to be carefully considered.
A reunification of the US (“NIH”) and International Unit into a single standard for Thrombin

Summary The existence of two different units forThrombin in widespread international use has caused confusion for many years. The holders of the WHO International Standard (IS) for Alpha Thrombin and the US Standard (also known as the “NIH Standard”) now report on a collaboration to reunite the International Unit (IU) and the US unit (“NIH unit”). A study was organised involving 25 laboratories in 15 countries to investigate the possibility of preparing a common Standard with a common unit and to investigate aspects of methodology that cause divergence of results using the IS and US Standard. Laboratories were asked to measure the potency of two candidate replacement standards (C, 01/578 and D, 01/580), and potencies were calculated relative to both the existing US Standard (lot J) and the IS (89/588). Data analysis of a total of 128 assays indicated that sample D would make an ideal replacement joint Standard with a potency of 110 IU/ampoule (equivalent to 110 US units per ampoule) based on data from clotting assays. No significant differences in results were observed using fibrinogen of human or bovine origin, or using human plasma. Comparisons of chromogenic and clotting assays indicated that sample D had a similar high proportion of alpha thrombin to the current IS for Alpha Thrombin (89/588). Sample D was adopted as the IS for Thrombin (01/580) and the US Standard (lot K) with a potency of 110 IU/ampoule.
Structural and optoelectronic properties of rare earth doped silicon photonic materials

The thesis presented here entitled ? Structural and Optoelectronic Properties of Rare Earth Doped Silicon Photonic Materials? for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy is submitted to the University of Manchester by Hang Li in December 2012.The original work presented in this thesis concentrates on the origin of the luminescence and the possible radiative loss mechanisms in rare earth (RE) and silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs) co-doped SiO2. The optoelectronic properties of these materials were studied by employing laser or Xe lamp correlated photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved PL spectroscopy and the structural and compositional characterisation was carried out using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning TEM (STEM). The pressure dependence of the band-gap of Si-NCs is strongly correlated to the co-doped erbium (Er) concentration. A conventional diamond anvil cell (DAC) was used for applying the hydrostatic pressure. A strong quenching and a non-linear red-shift of the PL of Si-NCs were obtained with increasing pressure, which was attributed to the quantum confinement effect. The rate of the red-shift as a function of pressure (pressure coefficient) increases with increasing Er concentration. We propose that this is the result of a reduction in the surface tension of Si-NCs when Er ions gather at their surface.Er is present as the trivalent oxide (Er2O3) in silicon rich silicon oxide (SRSO). Large Er2O3 clusters are formed when silicon excess is low as silicon is considered as a competitor for oxygen. Under the indirect excitation, the PL of Er3+ at 1.54 ? m is highly dependent on the sensitization by Si-NCs. The decay lifetime of this emission contains a slow component of about 10 ms and a fast component of the order of ? s. We found that the fast component became considerably faster with increasing Er2O3 cluster size. This is an indication of strong Er3+ ion-ion interactions in large clusters, which give rise to the non-radiative recombination of excitons.A novel fabrication of RE doped SiO2 was developed by implanting RE ions into silicon wafer directly and followed by the thermal oxidation and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in contrast to the conventional procedure, in which the ion implantation was carried out after the oxidation of silicon wafer. TEM images showed that RE ions were distributed close to the surface of SiO2 film via the novel method but via the conventional method they were located at certain depth below the surface. Ce3+ doped SiO2 prepared via both methods has a broad blue PL ranging from around 380 to 470 nm attributed to the 5d-4f transitions and Eu3+ has a red PL with several narrow bands in the range of 570 to 700 nm attributed to the intra-4f transitions. Concentration quenching is one of the limiting factors for the conventional fabrication whilst it is successfully minimised by the novel method. A new phase of Ce silicate (Ce2Si2O7) may grow after the high temperature RTA via the novel method and leads to a remarkable enhancement of the Ce3+ luminescence.
Cooperative spatial scheduling in distributed MIMO MAC with interference/concurrency awareness

Concurrent MIMO access is using MIMO-Beamforming vectors to mitigate interference on existing links and exploit spatial spectral opportunity. A novel distributed MIMO MAC, Net-Eigen MAC, was recently developed to (i) null interference on existing links, and (ii) maximize post-processing SNR within desired link, enjoying better throughput performance over conventional single link MAC or SPACEMAC (NullHoc). One key feature in Net-Eigen MAC, named as interference and concurrency awareness, can be utilized by network modules at MAC or higher layer as a powerful tool for network performance improvement. Inspired by such motivation, this paper will present a cooperative scheduling framework that closely utilizes the following two features in Net-Eigen MAC: (i) interference nulling on existing links; (ii) prioritized spatial concurrency among parallel links. Our design monitors all links' performance status, and accordingly schedules each time frame's prioritized concurrency/hierarchy, which naturally triggers two representative examples for practical applications: (i) max-min scheduling that optimizes fair throughput; and (ii) longest-queue-first scheduling that minimizes dropped packets. Extensive simulations show that our proposed design can help Net-Eigen MAC achieve a better performance than SPACEMAC or single link MAC in terms of throughput, delay, or loss ratio.
Simultaneous Effect Of Surface Roughness And Passivity On Corrosion Resistance Of Metals

Unidirectional surface roughness of varying magnitudes were created on both nickel and mild steel by grinding on SiC papers with grit sizes from G60 (roughest) to G1200 (smoothest) and the corrosion resistance in 0.5M H2SO4 solution was determined using a potentiodynamic polarization technique. A different trend of corrosion rate versus roughness was seen for the active-passive metal (nickel) and non-active-passive metal (mild steel). For nickel there was an increase in corrosion rate with increasing roughness, whereas for mild steel the corrosion rate decreased with increasing surface roughness. Furthermore, through a detailed examination of the surface before and after corrosion using techniques including profilometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), it was established that different corrosion mechanisms were operative for nickel and mild steel. For both metals, the smaller grit sizes produced a rougher surface with wider and deeper grooves. In the case of nickel, the higher roughness provided a greater contact area between the corrosive medium and metal and there was trapping of the corrosive ions in the deep grooves. Both of these factors would lead to an increase in corrosion rate. Also, for the smoother nickel surfaces, it is easier to form a stable passive film. For mild steel, which does not form a passive film, corrosion rates are generally much higher than for nickel. For the rougher surfaces with the deeper grooves, the corrosion product, FeSO4, can fill the grooves thereby acting as a barrier to further ingress of the corrosive ions to the un-corroded metal. WIT Transactions on Engineering Sciences, Vol 90, www.witpress. com, ISSN 1743-3533 (on-line) © 2015 WIT Press doi:10.2495/MC150321 Materials Characterisation VII 355
Serum anticholinergic activity in a community-based sample of older adults: relationship with cognitive performance.

BACKGROUND Serum anticholinergic activity (SAA), as measured by a radioreceptor assay, quantifies a person's overall anticholinergic burden caused by all drugs and their metabolites. In several small geriatric patient groups, SAA has been associated with cognitive impairment or frank delirium. To our knowledge, there has not yet been any systematic study of the prevalence of SAA and its effect on cognition in a community-based population. METHODS Serum anticholinergic activity was measured in 201 subjects who were randomly selected among the participants in an epidemiological community study, based on their age and sex. Cognitive performance was assessed with use of the Mini-Mental State Examination. The association between SAA and cognitive performance was examined using a univariate analysis and a multiple logistic regression model, adjusting for age, sex, educational level, and number of medications. RESULTS Serum anticholinergic activity was detectable in 180 (89.6%) participants (range, 0.50-5.70 pmol/mL). Univariate testing showed a significant association between SAA and Mini-Mental State Examination scores. Logistic regression analysis indicated that subjects with SAA at or above the sample's 90th percentile (ie, SAA >/=2.80 pmol/mL) were 13 times (odds ratio, 1.08-152.39) more likely than subjects with undetectable SAA to have a Mini-Mental State Examination score of 24 (the sample's 10th percentile) or below. CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, this is the largest analysis of SAA and the first to examine its extent and relationship with cognitive performance in a community sample. Its results suggest that SAA can be detected in most older persons in the community and confirm that even low SAA is associated with cognitive impairment.
Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry for Analysis of Intestinal Permeability of Loperamide in Physiological Buffer

Analysis of in vitro samples with high salt concentrations represents a major challenge for fast and specific quantification with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). To investigate the intestinal permeability of opioids in vitro employing the Ussing chamber technique, we developed and validated a fast, sensitive and selective method based on LC–MS/MS for the determination of loperamide in HEPES-buffered Ringer's solution. Chromatographic separation was achieved with an Atlantis dC18 column, 2.1 mm×20 mm, 3 µm particle size and a gradient consisting of methanol/0.1% formic acid and ammonium acetate. The flow rate was 0.7 ml/min, and the total run time was 3 min. For quantification, two mass transitions for loperamide and a deuterated internal standard (methadone-d3) were used. The lower limit of loperamide quantification was 0.2 ng/ml. This new LC-MS/MS method can be used for the detection of loperamide in any experimental setup using HEPES-buffered Ringer's solution as a matrix compound.
Enhancement of Nucleopolyhedrovirus Infectivity Against Mamestra brassicae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) by Proteins Derived from Granulovirus and a Fluorescent Brightener

Abstract The synergistic enhancement of nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) infection by granuloviruses (GVs) is well documented; and a GV granule protein, named viral enhancin, has been identified as an active contributor to this effect. We detected the presence of two proteins with molecular mass of 93 and 108 kDa in granules of a GV isolated from Xestia c-nigrum (L.) (XecnGV) as candidates for enhancin, and we confirmed that at least the 108-kDa protein enhances the infectivity of Mamestra brassicae nucleopolyhedrovirus (MabrNPV). We tested the effect of virion-free proteins obtained from XecnGV granules (GVPs) on MabrNPV infection, and we made a comparison with an enhancing chemical, the stilbene-derived fluorescent brightener Tinopal. Bioassay was performed employing the diet contamination method, by using second instars of Mamestra brassicae (L.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). The enhancing effects of GVPs (0.1 mg/g diet) and Tinopal (1 mg/g diet) were estimated to be 70.7–81.5-fold and 26.9–33.7-fold, respectively, as calculated from the LC50 values of MabrNPV with or without the additives. The additives reduced the lethal time of MabrNPV-infected larvae and they caused death at a younger instar. These results suggest that GVPs can enhance MabrNPV infection as effectively as Tinopal.
Ziria: A DSL for Wireless Systems Programming

Software-defined radio (SDR) brings the flexibility of software to wireless protocol design, promising an ideal platform for innovation and rapid protocol deployment. However, implementing modern wireless protocols on existing SDR platforms often requires careful hand-tuning of low-level code, which can undermine the advantages of software. Ziria is a new domain-specific language (DSL) that offers programming abstractions suitable for wireless physical (PHY) layer tasks while emphasizing the pipeline reconfiguration aspects of PHY programming. The Ziria compiler implements a rich set of specialized optimizations, such as lookup table generation and pipeline fusion. We also offer a novel -- due to pipeline reconfiguration -- algorithm to optimize the data widths of computations in Ziria pipelines. We demonstrate the programming flexibility of Ziria and the performance of the generated code through a detailed evaluation of a line-rate Ziria WiFi 802.11a/g implementation that is on par and in many cases outperforms a hand-tuned state-of-the-art C++ implementation on commodity CPUs.
Differential associations between retinal signs and CMBs by location

Objective To test the hypothesis that age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinal microvascular signs are differentially associated with lobar and deep cerebral microbleeds (CMBs). Methods CMBs in lobar regions indicate cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). β-Amyloid deposits are implicated in both CAA and AMD. Deep CMBs are associated with hypertension, a major risk factor for retinal microvascular damage. This population-based cohort study included 2,502 participants in the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility (AGES)-Reykjavik Study who undertook binocular digital retinal photographs at baseline (2002–2006) to assess retinal microvascular signs and AMD and brain MRI scan at both baseline and follow-up (2007–2011) to assess CMBs. We assessed retinal microvascular lesion burden by counting the 3 retinal microvascular signs (focal arteriolar narrowing, arteriovenous nicking, and retinopathy) concurrently present in the participant. We used multiple logistic models to examine the association of baseline retinal pathology to incident CMBs detected at follow-up. Results During an average 5.2 years of follow-up, 461 people (18.3%) developed new CMBs, including 293 in exclusively lobar regions and 168 in deep regions. Pure geographic atrophy was significantly associated with strictly lobar CMBs (multivariable-adjusted odds ratio 2.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–6.65) but not with deep CMBs. Concurrently having ≥2 retinal microvascular signs was associated with a 3-fold (95% CI 1.73–5.20) increased likelihood for deep CMBs but not exclusively lobar CMBs. Conclusions Retinal microvascular signs and pure geographic atrophy may be associated with deep and exclusively lobar CMBs, respectively, in older people. These results have implications for further research to define the role of small vessel disease in cognitive impairment.
High-resolution mapping of architectural DNA binding protein facilitation of a DNA repression loop in Escherichia coli

Significance Double-stranded DNA is one of the stiffest polymers in biology, resisting both bending and twisting over hundreds of base pairs. However, tightly bent DNA loops are formed by proteins that turn off (repress) genes in bacteria. It has been shown that “architectural” proteins capable of kinking any DNA molecule without sequence preference facilitate this kind of gene repression. The mechanism of this effect is unknown for DNA loops involving the well-known Escherichia coli lac repressor. Here we adapt high-resolution protein-mapping techniques to show that an architectural protein directly binds tightly looped DNA to facilitate gene repression by the lac repressor. Double-stranded DNA is a locally inflexible polymer that resists bending and twisting over hundreds of base pairs. Despite this, tight DNA bending is biologically important for DNA packaging in eukaryotic chromatin and tight DNA looping is important for gene repression in prokaryotes. We and others have previously shown that sequence nonspecific DNA kinking proteins, such as Escherichia coli heat unstable and Saccharomyces cerevisiae non-histone chromosomal protein 6A (Nhp6A), facilitate lac repressor (LacI) repression loops in E. coli. It has been unknown if this facilitation involves direct protein binding to the tightly bent DNA loop or an indirect effect promoting global negative supercoiling of DNA. Here we adapt two high-resolution in vivo protein-mapping techniques to demonstrate direct binding of the heterologous Nhp6A protein at a LacI repression loop in living E. coli cells.
Energy Efficient Source Code Transformation based on Value Profiling

This paper presents a source code transformation technique based on value profiling for energy-efficient system design. This technique reduces the computational effort of the program by specializing it for highly expected situations. Thus, the processor running the optimized program can be shutdown or slowed down for energy saving without performance degradation. The value profiler observes parameters passed to the procedures during profiling and detects semi-static parameters which are highly probable to have the same values whenever they are passed to the procedures. According to this information, procedures are specialized for the observed values using a partial evaluator. The corresponding procedure call in the original source code is replaced by a conditional statement which selects either the original procedure call or the specialized procedure call according to the values of the observed parameters. Experimental results show that the proposed technique improves the energy efficiency of the source code up to more than 2 times over the original code.