Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Concrete Delamination Caused by Steel Reinforcement Corrosion

Practical experience and laboratory observations indicate that corrosion affected reinforced concrete structures are prone more to cracking and delamination of the concrete than to the loss of structural strength. A review of research literature suggests that insufficient theoretical work on corrosion induced concrete delamination has been undertaken. This paper proposes a theoretical method to predict the time to concrete delamination caused by steel reinforcement corrosion. The method is based on fracture mechanics and uses crack opening in concrete as the criterion for its delamination. An analytical model is derived to determine the crack width in concrete. A numerical example is given to illustrate the proposed method and a comparison with both test results and an empirical model indicates a good agreement. It is found in the paper that the corrosion rate is the most significant single factor that affects the time to concrete delamination. The proposed method can be used for the prediction of time to concrete delamination for reinforced concrete structures located in chloride-laden environments. In principle, this provides a means for judging timely intervention and as such has the potential to prolong the service life of corrosion affected concrete structures.
Superplasticity and superplastic forming processes

AbstractSuperplasticity, first observed some seventy years ago, remained a scientific curiosity until about twenty years ago. It is now recognized as a property which can be utilized in forming processes. There are two types of superplastic behaviour, known as fine–grained (or fine–structure) and internal–stress superplasticity. Fine–grained superplastic materials have a strain–rate sensitivity exponent of 0·5, and deform principally by a grain–boundary sliding mechanism. In this paper the microstructural features important in the development of fine structure super plasticity are discussed, and phenomenological equations for describing superplastic flow are presented. The superplastic properties of fine–grained materials can be optimized by promoting grain–boundary sliding and inhibiting slip. A number of fine–grained superplastic materials have been developed for commercial use, and their number is increasing. Internal–stress superplastic materials can have a strain–rate sensitivity exponent as high as .
Simultaneous unitarizability of SL C-valued maps, and constant mean curvature k-noid monodromy

We give necessary and sufficient local conditions for the simultaneous unitarizability of a set of analytic matrix maps from an analytic 1-manifold into SL_n(C) under conjugation by a single analytic matrix map. We apply this result to the monodromy arising from an integrable partial differential equation to construct a family of k-noids, genus-zero constant mean curvature surfaces with three or more ends in Euclidean, spherical and hyperbolic 3-spaces.
Action Potential Clamp and Pharmacology of the Variant 1 Short QT Syndrome T618I hERG K+ Channel

Background The familial Short QT Syndrome (SQTS) is associated with an increased risk of cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death. Gain-of-function mutations in the hERG K+ channel protein have been linked to variant 1 of the SQTS. A hERG channel pore (T618I) mutation has recently been identified in families with heritable SQTS. This study aimed to determine effects of the T618I-hERG mutation on (i) hERG current (IhERG) elicited by ventricular action potentials; (ii) the sensitivity of IhERG to inhibition by four clinically used antiarrhythmic drugs. Methods Electrophysiological recordings of IhERG were made at 37°C from HEK 293 cells expressing wild-type (WT) or T618I hERG. Whole-cell patch clamp recording was performed using both conventional voltage clamp and ventricular action potential (AP) clamp methods. Results Under conventional voltage-clamp, WT IhERG peaked at 0-+10 mV, whilst for T618I IhERG maximal current was right-ward shifted to ∼ +40 mV. Voltage-dependent activation and inactivation of T618I IhERG were positively shifted (respectively by +15 and ∼ +25 mV) compared to WT IhERG. The IhERG ‘window’ was increased for T618I compared to WT hERG. Under ventricular AP clamp, maximal repolarising WT IhERG occurred at ∼ -30 mV, whilst for T618I hERG peak IhERG occurred earlier during AP repolarisation, at ∼ +5 mV. Under conventional voltage clamp, half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) for inhibition of IhERG tails by quinidine, disopyramide, D-sotalol and flecainide for T618I hERG ranged between 1.4 and 3.2 fold that for WT hERG. Under action potential voltage clamp, T618I IC50s ranged from 1.2 to 2.0 fold the corresponding IC50 values for WT hERG. Conclusions The T618I mutation produces a more modest effect on repolarising IhERG than reported previously for the N588K-hERG variant 1 SQTS mutation. All drugs studied here appear substantially to retain their ability to inhibit IhERG in the setting of the SQTS-linked T618I mutation.
Pricing Decision Study of Ecological Industry Chain Based on Uncertain Demand

A two stages ecological industry chain was took as study background. The downstream buy amount is uncertain demand. Stock of byproduct is certain. There are two kinds of situations. Buy amount is higher or lower than byproduct stock. Price decisions of byproducts were studied based on game theory. Sequential game equilibrium (Stackelberg equilibrium) and cooperative game equilibrium (coordination in price decision) were obtained.
Mimicking human walking with 5-link model using HZD controller

Walking with 5-link model has been achieved by HZD (Hybrid Zero Dynamics) controller based on virtual constraints. These holonomic constraints are obtained by optimizing a set of virtual relations (e.g., Beziér polynomial) between system states which mostly do not have physical interpretations. In this paper, the virtual constraints are designed using human walking experiment data. Inspiring from human locomotion, different polynomials are extracted to mimic human joint angles patterns during walking. The virtual leg angle is the increasing variable which synchronize the joints angles and defines the virtual constraints. Simulation results show that stable locomotion with leg and upper-body behavior similar to human experiment data is achieved for a wide range of speeds and body configuration parameters. VPP (Virtual Pivot Point) concept, a significant balancing feature found in human/animal locomotion, is investigated for different gait speeds as a performance index to compare the kinetic behavior of the simulated and human walking. Hence, we present human-like posture control as an outcome of motion control achieved by HZD with human inspired virtual constraints.
Reduction A Global Geometric Framework for Nonlinear Dimensionality

, 2319 (2000); 290 Science et al. Joshua B. Tenenbaum Reduction A Global Geometric Framework for Nonlinear Dimensionality This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. clicking here. colleagues, clients, or customers by , you can order high-quality copies for your If you wish to distribute this article to others here. following the guidelines can be obtained by Permission to republish or repurpose articles or portions of articles ): November 9, 2014 www.sciencemag. org (this information is current as of The following resources related to this article are available online at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/290/5500/2319.full.html version of this article at: including high-resolution figures, can be found in the online Updated information and services, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2000/12/21/290.5500.2319.DC1.html can be found at: Supporting Online Material http://www.sciencemag.org/content/290/5500/2319.full.html#related found at: can be related to this article A list of selected additional articles on the Science Web sites http://www.sciencemag.org/content/290/5500/2319.full.html#ref-list-1 , 10 of which can be accessed free: cites 29 articles This article 708 article(s) on the ISI Web of Science cited by This article has been http://www.sciencemag. org/content/290/5500/2319.full. html#related-urls 82 articles hosted by HighWire Press; see: cited by This article has been http://www.sciencemag. org/cgi/collection/psychology Psychology subject collections: This article appears in the following
Evolutionary toxicology in an omics world

Evolutionary toxicology is a young field that has grown rapidly in the past two decades. The potential of this field comes from the ability to link chemical contamination to multigenerational and population‐wide effects in various species. The advancements and rapidly decreasing costs of ‐omic tools are improving the power and resolution of evolutionary toxicology studies. In this manuscript, we aim to address the trajectories and perspectives for conducting evolutionary toxicology studies with ‐omic approaches. We discuss the complementarity of using multiple ‐omic tools (genomics, eDNA, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) for utility in understanding the toxicological relevance of adaptive responses in populations. In addition, we discuss phenotypic plasticity and its relevance to transcriptomic studies in toxicology. As evolutionary toxicology grows and expands its capacity to link toxicology with population‐wide end points, we emphasize the applications of such studies in answering questions about ecological and population health, as well as future applicability to regulation. Thus, we aim to emphasize the enormous potential for evolutionary toxicology in an ‐omics world and give perspectives on the directions of future investigations.
[Cloning and phylogenetic analysis of small subunit ribosomal RNA core sequence of Vairimorpha ceraces (Microspora: Burenellidae) from the insect of Lepidoptera, Cerace Stipatana (Walker)].

OBJECTIVE Vairimorpha ceraces is a new microsporidium that isolated from the insect of Lepidoptera, Cerace Stipatana (Walker). We used 16S rDNA sequence to explore genetic status of Vairimorpha ceraces. METHODS SSU rDNA (small subunit ribosomal RNA) of Vairimorpha ceraces was cloned and sequenced for constructing phylogenetic tree through Neighbor-joining. RESULTS The core sequence of SSU rRNA of Vairimorpha ceraces with a length of 1228 nucleotides (GenBank EU267796) was successfully cloned and sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Vairimorpha ceraces was closer to the species of Vairimorpha sp. Germany (GenBank AF124331) and Vairimorpha imperfecta (GenBank AJ131645), both isolated from Plutella xylostella. The three species of genera Vairimorpha included Vairimorpha ceraces formed a clade with the Nosema spp. which from Lepidoptera host in phylogenetic tree. Conversely, other three Vairimorpha spp. from Lepidoptera (Vairimorpha necatrix, Vairimorpha sp. NISM12 and Vairimorpha lymantriae) were mixed with Nosema spp. from non-lepidopteran host in the other clade. CONCLUSION Combined with the biological characters, Vairimorpha ceraces was a member of genera Vairimorpha, Family Nosematidae.
A Decision-making Format for the Semantic Web

This paper describes the work of the W3C Decisions and Decision-making Incubator, with the goal to identify requirements for a standard decision format, through a set of use cases, and to develop a first version of a potential standard format for representing decisions, fulfilling the requirements of the use cases and exploiting semantic web standards. Ongoing efforts include the identification and modelling of 'decision patterns' and development of proof-of-concept applications to validate assumptions and patterns.
Annotation driven MAP search space estimation for sliding-window based person detection

A common method for performing multi-scale person detection is a sliding window classification. For every window location and scale a binary classification is done. Many state-of-the-art person detectors follow this sliding window paradigm. Not only this exhaustive search space strategy is computationally expensive, it usually produces large number of false positives. In order to estimate an optimal reduced search space, we derive a maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) solution given only the person annotations of a dataset. The proposed MAP solution considers the naturally height distribution of persons, deviations from a flat world assumption, and annotation uncertainty. The effectiveness compared to the traditional uniform sliding window selection strategy is shown on different realistic monocular pedestrian detection datasets. Moreover the MAP search space estimation provides design parameters for modeling the tradeoff between detection performance and runtime constraints.
Semantics-aware Obfuscation for Location Privacy

In this paper we present a novel approach to location obfuscation for location privacy purposes. The motivating observation is that obfuscation strategies only grounded on geometric criteria can lead to privacy leaks. We thus propose to complement geometry-based approaches with obfuscation methods which account of the semantic context in which users are located. The unique contribution of the paper is the introduction of a comprehensive obfuscation framework consisting of a semantic-aware obfuscation model and a novel algorithm for the generation of obfuscated spaces of which we report an experimental evaluation.
Neural integration of language production and comprehension

Two key assumptions underpin the cognitive neuroscience of language. First, there is a clear-cut split between the processes involved in understanding an utterance (recognizing a word, resolving ambiguity) and the processes involved in crafting that utterance (translating an idea into sound or writing). For example, the “classic” Lichtheim–Broca–Wernicke model proposes distinct anatomical pathways associated with production and comprehension, primarily on the basis of deficit–lesion correlations in aphasia (1). Second, researchers assume that the linguistic mechanisms are lateralized, with production processes (e.g., lexical selection, articulation) and, to some extent, comprehension processes primarily occurring in the left hemisphere. Silbert et al. (2) report a neuroimaging study based on the production and comprehension of naturalistic narrative that challenges these two assumptions.
CLAC-P/Collagen Type XXV Is Required for the Intramuscular Innervation of Motoneurons during Neuromuscular Development

Formation of proper neuromuscular connections is a process coordinated by both motoneuron-intrinsic and target-dependent programs. Under these programs, motoneurons innervate target muscles, escape programmed cell death during fetal development, and form neuromuscular junctions (NMJ). Although a number of studies have revealed molecules involved in axon guidance to target muscles and NMJ formation, little is known about the molecular mechanisms linking intramuscular innervation and target-derived trophic factor-dependent prevention of motoneuron apoptosis. Here we studied the physiological function of CLAC-P/collagen XXV, a transmembrane-type collagen originally identified as a component of senile plaque amyloid of Alzheimer's disease brains, by means of generating Col25a1-deficient (KO) mice. Col25a1 KO mice died immediately after birth of respiratory failure. In Col25a1 KO mice, motor axons projected properly toward the target muscles but failed to elongate and branch within the muscle, followed by degeneration of axons. Failure of muscular innervation in Col25a1 KO mice led to excessive apoptosis during development, resulting in almost complete and exclusive loss of spinal motoneurons and immaturity in skeletal muscle development. Bax deletion in Col25a1 KO mice rescued motoneurons from apoptosis, although motor axons remained halted around the muscle entry site. Furthermore, these motoneurons were positive for phosphorylated c-Jun, an indicator of insufficient supply of target-derived survival signals. Together, these observations indicate that CLAC-P/collagen XXV is a novel essential factor that regulates the initial phase of intramuscular motor innervation, which is required for subsequent target-dependent motoneuron survival and NMJ formation during development.
Wide BST-based tuning of voltage controlled oscillator

Tunable voltage controlled oscillators (VCO's) are expected to be useful in enhancing the multi-band pro- grammability of wired/wireless communication terminals. A voltage tunable oscillator employing barium strontium titanate (BST) tunable capacitor is presented. The utilized BST tunable capacitor shows a tuning of 20% at 35 GHz. The oscillation frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is tuned from 34.40 GHz to 36 GHz, tuning of 5% (i.e. absolute tuning of 1.6 GHz) with the application of 30 volts tuning voltage.
Ray Space Features for Plenoptic Structure-from-Motion

Traditional Structure-from-Motion (SfM) uses images captured by cameras as inputs. In this paper, we explore using light fields captured by plenoptic cameras or camera arrays as inputs. We call this solution plenoptic SfM or P-SfM solution. We first present a comprehensive theory on ray geometry transforms under light field pose variations. We derive the transforms of three typical ray manifolds: rays passing through a point or point-ray manifold, rays passing through a 3D line or ray-line manifold, and rays lying on a common 3D plane or ray-plane manifold. We show that by matching these manifolds across LFs, we can recover light field poses and conduct bundle adjustment in ray space. We validate our theory and framework on synthetic and real data on light fields of different scales: small scale LFs acquired using a LF camera and large scale LFs by a camera array. We show that our P-SfM technique can significantly improve the accuracy and reliability over regular SfM and PnP especially on traditionally challenging scenes where reliable feature point correspondences are difficult to obtain but line or plane correspondences are readily accessible.
Macrophage Activation Syndrome in Children with Systemic-Onset Juvenile Chronic Arthritis

Macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) is a life-threatening complication in children with rheumatic diseases, particularly systemic-onset juvenile chronic arthritis (SOJCA). Because of the potential fatality of this condition, prompt recognition and immediate therapeutic intervention are important. This study assessed the clinical features of nine MAS events in five children with SOJCA. Nonremitting fever and decreased platelet and white blood cell counts led to a diagnosis of MAS. The urinary β2-microglobulin (β2MG) level was a sensitive indicator of MAS. Serum levels of β2MG and soluble interleukin-2 receptor were also elevated. These biologic markers reflecting hyperactivated cellular immunity are useful indicators of MAS. Four children treated with cyclosporin A (CSP) achieved rapid and complete recovery, but one patient without CSP died due to rapidly progressive respiratory failure. All children treated with CSP responded quickly, and fever abated within 36 h of initiation of treatment. CSP should be added to first-line therapy of MAS.
Plaque Echolucency Is Not Associated With the Risk of Stroke in Carotid Stenting

Background and Purpose— Plaque characteristics are suggested to play a potentially important role as risk factors for poor outcome after carotid artery stenting (CAS). We therefore correlated objectively and subjectively determined carotid plaque morphology with neurological complications after CAS. Methods— We enrolled 698 consecutive patients undergoing elective CAS from a prospective single-center registry database and classified the preinterventional plaque status according to gray-scale median levels and the standardized Beletsky and Gray-Weale plaque scores. Patients were followed for 30-day neurological complications. Results— Neurological complications including transient ischemic attack, minor and major stroke occurred in 5.9% (41/698) of the patients. Median gray-scale median, Beletsky and Gray-Weale scores were 45 (interquartile range [IQR] 25 to 70), 3.0 (IQR 2.0 to 3.0) and 2.0 (IQR 2.0 to 3.0), respectively. None of the scores was significantly associated with adverse outcome adjusting for traditional risk factors, medication, preinterventional symptoms, degree of stenosis, contralateral occlusion and use of cerebral protection, neither with respect to all neurological complications nor with respect to stroke and death (all P>0.05). Conclusions— Plaque echolucency measured by objective and subjective grading did not identify patients with an increased risk of peri-interventional neurological events. Evaluation of plaque echolucency therefore cannot be recommended for risk stratification in CAS patients.
Optimal software multicast in wormhole-routed multistage networks

Multistage interconnection networks are a popular class of interconnection architecture for constructing scalable parallel computers (SPCs). The focus of the paper is on wormhole routed multistage networks supporting turnaround routing. Existing machines characterized by such a system model include the IBM SP-1, TMC CM-5, and Meiko CS-2. Efficient collective communication among processor nodes is critical to the performance of SPCs. A system level multicast service, in which the same message is delivered from a source node to an arbitrary number of destination nodes, is fundamental in supporting collective communication primitives including the application level broadcast, reduction, and barrier synchronization. The paper addresses how to efficiently implement multicast services in wormhole routed multistage networks, in the absence of hardware multicast support, by exploiting the properties of the switching technology. An optimal multicast algorithm is proposed. The results of implementations on a 64-node SP-1 show that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms the application level broadcast primitives provided by currently existing collective communication libraries including the public domain MPI. <<ETX>>
Mechanics of nanoscale beams in liquid electrolytes: Beam deflections, pull-in instability, and stiction

Mechanics of Nanoscale Beams in Liquid Electrolytes: Beam Deflections, Pull-in Instability, and Stiction. (December 2008) Jae Sang Lee, B.S., Seoul National University; M.S., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. James G. Boyd IV The pressure between two parallel planar surfaces at equal electric potentials is derived using the modified Poisson-Boltzmann (MPB) equation to account for finite ion size. The effects of finite ion size are presented for a z:z symmetric electrolyte and compared with the pressure derived by the classical Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation. The pressures predicted by the two models differ more as the bulk ion concentration, surface potential, and ion size increase. The ratio of the pressures predicted by the two models is presented by varying the ion concentration, surface potential, ion size and distance of separation. The ratio of pressures is relatively independent of the distance of separation between the two surfaces. An elastic beam suspended horizontally over a substrate in liquid electrolyte is subjected to electric, osmotic, and van der Waals forces. The continuous beam structure, not a discrete spring, which is governed by four nondimensional parameters, is solved using the finite element method. The effects of ion concentration and electric potentials to the pull-in instability are especially focused by parametric studies with a carbon