gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
RFID Tags for Detecting Concrete Degradation in Bridge Decks (2013)

Steel reinforcing bar (rebar) corrosion due to chlorine ingress is the primary degradation mechanism for bridge decks. In areas where rock salt is used as a de-icing agent, salt water seeps into the concrete through cracks, causing corrosion of the rebar and potentially leading to catastrophic failure if not repaired. This project explores the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags as low-cost corrosion sensors. RFID tags, when embedded in concrete, will fail due to corrosion in the same manner as rebar after prolonged exposure to salt water. In addition, the presence of salt water interferes with the ability to detect the tags, providing a secondary mechanism by which this method can work. During this project, a fieldable RFID equipment setup was constructed and tested. In addition to a number of laboratory experiments to validate the underlying principles, RFID tags were embedded and tested in several actual bridge decks. Two major challenges were addressed in this project: issues associated with tags not functioning due to being in close proximity to rebar and issues associated with portland concrete coming in direct contact with the tags causing a detuning effect and preventing the tags from operating properly. Both issues were investigated thoroughly. The first issue was determined to be a problem only if the tags are placed in close proximity to rebar. The second issue was resolved by encapsulating the tag. Two materials, polyurethane spray foam and extruded polystyrene, were identified as providing good performance after testing, both in the lab and in the field.
WE‐C(SAM)‐BRC‐01: Quality Management Systems in Radiotherapy: Making Treatments Safer (2011)

Though all medical physicists appreciate the need for safe high‐quality radiation treatments, most have no formal training in quality management or error proofing. This educational course will explore two quality improvement tools that are considered standard in other industries: incident learning and prospective hazard analysis. The focus will be on practical methods that can be employed across a variety of clinics. With slight variations, these same tools can also be applied to the diagnostic setting. In other areas of medicine the systematic use of such tools has brought about measureable improvements in patient safety and treatment quality, and it is expected that radiation oncology can benefit in a similar fashion. The learning objectives of this educational SAMS course are: understand the benefit of incident learning and the pitfalls associated with it, understand the principles of how to construct an effective incident reporting system, understand the tools available for prospective hazard analysis and how to streamline their use.
Batch crystallizer scale-up (2009)

U svrhu pronalaženja odgovarajuceg pravila uvecanja, provedena su mjerenja u tri geometrijski slicna kristalizatora Rushtonovih dimenzija razlicitih velicina, u laboratorijskom mjerilu. Za mijesanje je koristeno mijesalo s cetiri lopatice nagnute pod kutem od 45°. Mjerenja su provedena pri razlicitim hidrodinamickim uvjetima, odnosno razlicitim brzinama vrtnje mijesala. Za kriterij usporedbe koristene su granulometrijske karakteristike (oblik i raspodjela velicina) dobivenih kristala. Provedena je saržna kristalizacija hlađenjem vodene otopine kalijeva klorida. Kalijev klorid je odabran radi izuzetne osjetljivosti na radne uvjete. Naime i oblik i raspodjela velicina kristala jako se mijenjaju s promjenom radnih uvjeta. Poboljsanjem hidrodinamickih uvjeta u kristalizatoru, dobivaju se kristali pravilnijeg oblika. Ispitana je primjenljivost razlicitih pravila uvecanja, koja se primjenjuju kod uređaja za mijesanje suspenzija. Obzirom da hidrodinamicki uvjeti u kristalizatoru u velikoj mjeri utjecu na kvalitetu dobivenog produkta (oblik, velicina i raspodjela velicina kristala), uz geometrijsku slicnost nije moguce zadovoljiti niti jedan istraživan kriterij uvecanja. Na temelju metodologije koja se koristi za uvecanje kada se mjerenja mogu provesti u tri ili vise uređaja, određen je kriterij uvecanja saržnog kristalizatora za kristalizaciju kalijeva klorida hlađenjem iz vodene otopine.
Bits Through Relay Cascades with Half-Duplex Constraint (2009)

Consider a relay cascade, i.e. a network where the source node, the sink node and a certain number of intermediate relay nodes are arranged in a line. We assume that adjacent node pairs are connected by error-free (q+1)-ary pipes. The following communication scenario is treated. The source and a subset of the relays wish to communicate independent information to a common sink under the condition that each relay in the cascade is half-duplex constrained. We introduce a simple channel model for half-duplex constrained links and provide a coding scheme which transfers information by an information-dependent, non-deterministic allocation of the transmission and reception slots of the relays. The coding scheme requires synchronization on the symbol level through a shared clock. In the case of a relay cascade with a single source, the coding strategy is capacity achieving. Numerical values for the capacity of cascades of various lengths are provided, and it turns out that the capacities are significantly higher than the rates which are achievable with a deterministic time-sharing approach. If the cascade includes a source and a certain number of relays with their own information, the strategy achieves the cut-set bound when the rates of the relay sources fall below individual thresholds. Hence, a partial characterization of the boundary of the capacity region follows. For cascades composed of an infinite number of half-duplex constrained relays and a single source, we derive an explicit capacity expression. Remarkably, the capacity for q=1 is equal to the logarithm of the golden ratio. We finally show that the proposed coding strategy is superior to network coding in the case of the wireless, half-duplex constrained butterfly network.
Tunable lumped-element-filter for RF power applications based on printed ferroelectrics (2016)

This work addresses center frequency and bandwidth tunable filter for implementation in RF base-station front-ends. The filter is fabricated using functional thick-film layers of Barium-Strontium-Titanate (BST). The deposition of BST layers is performed locally in a screen printing process. The fabricated varactors have a Q-factor around 40 at 1 GHz, a tunability larger than 50% and a measured IP3 higher than 65 dBm. The filter is designed to cover typical GSM frequencies from 700 MHz to 960 MHz and 60 MHz to 100 MHz bandwidth. The simulated insertion loss is around 2.2 dB and 3.0 dB, depending on the center frequency and bandwidth. Measurements of the filter reveal an insertion loss of 6 dB to 9 dB which is at least 4 dB higher than predicted by simulations.
Humanlike robots: state of the art and challenges (2019)

Humans have always sought to mimic the appearance, mobility, functionality, intelligent operation, and thinking process of biological creatures. In recent years, significant advances have been made in making sophisticated biologically inspired systems. Using these advances, scientists and engineers are increasingly reverse engineering many animals' capabilities. Progress in artificial intelligence, artificial vision, and many other biomimetic related fields are leading to many benefits to humankind. The mimicking of humans is the ultimate and most challenging goal of developing biologically inspired technologies. Lifelike robots that appear and function like humans are becoming increasingly an engineering reality. The use of biomimetic technologies are enabling the possibility of making realistically looking and operating robots. New actuators, sensors and software control algorithms are being developed to support the mobility and the operation in the vicinity and in cooperation with humans. The accelerated pace of the advances in biomimetics seems to make inevitable the development of such machines as our household appliance or even companion. This paper covers the current state-of-the-art and challenges to making humanlike robots.
On the Influence of Shared Memory Contention in Real-Time Multicore Applications (2014)

The continuous evolution of processor technology has allowed the utilization of multicore architectures in the embedded system domain. A major part of embedded systems, however, are inherently real-time (soft and hard) and the use of multicores in this domain is not straightforward due to their unpredictability in bounding worst-case execution scenarios. One of the main factors for unpredictability is the coherence through memory hierarchy. This paper characterizes the influence of contention for shared data memory in the context of embedded real-time applications. By using a benchmark, we have measured the impact of excessive shared memory invalidations on five processors with three different cache-coherence protocols (MESI, MOESI, and MESIF) and two memory organizations (UMA and ccNUMA). Results have shown that the execution time of an application is affected by the contention for shared memory (up to 3.8 times slower). We also provide an analysis on Hardware Performance Counters (HPCs) and propose to use them in order to monitor and detect excessive memory invalidations at run-time.
Expression of CD44 3′-untranslated region regulates endogenous microRNA functions in tumorigenesis and angiogenesis (2010)

The non-coding 3'-untranslated region (UTR) plays an important role in the regulation of microRNA (miRNA) functions, since it can bind and inactivate multiple miRNAs. Here, we show the 3'-UTR of CD44 is able to antagonize cytoplasmic miRNAs, and result in the increased translation of CD44 and downstream target mRNA, CDC42. A series of cell function assays in the human breast cancer cell line, MT-1, have shown that the CD44 3'-UTR inhibits proliferation, colony formation and tumor growth. Furthermore, it modulated endothelial cell activities, favored angiogenesis, induced tumor cell apoptosis and increased sensitivity to Docetaxel. These results are due to the interaction of the CD44 3'-UTR with multiple miRNAs. Computational algorithms have predicted three miRNAs, miR-216a, miR-330 and miR-608, can bind to both the CD44 and CDC42 3'-UTRs. This was confirmed with luciferase assays, western blotting and immunohistochemical staining and correlated with a series of siRNA assays. Thus, the non-coding CD44 3'-UTR serves as a competitor for miRNA binding and subsequently inactivates miRNA functions, by freeing the target mRNAs from being repressed.
Fully robust qubit in a three-level system (2016)

We present a new method of constructing a fully robust qubit in a three-level system. By the application of continuous driving fields, robustness to both external and controller noise is achieved. Whereas all the continuous driving based constructions of such a fully robust qubit considered so far have required at least four levels, we show that in fact only three levels are necessary. This paves the way for simple constructions of a fully robust qubit in many atomic and solid state systems that are controlled by either microwave or optical fields. We focus on the NV-center in diamond and analyze the implementation of the scheme, by utilizing the electronic spin sub-levels of its ground state. In current state-of-the-art experimental setups the scheme leads to improvement of more than two orders of magnitude in coherence time, pushing it towards the lifetime limit. We show how the fully robust qubit can be used to implement quantum sensing, and in particular, the sensing of high frequency signals.
Autophagy, Stress, and Cancer Metabolism: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger (2011)

Altered metabolism is a hallmark of cancer. Oncogenic events that lead to cancerous states reorganize metabolic pathways to increase nutrient uptake, which promotes biosynthetic capabilities and cell-autonomous behavior. Increased biosynthesis dictates metabolic demand for ATP, building blocks, and reducing equivalents, rendering cancer cells metabolically in a perpetually hungry state. Moreover, most chemotherapy agents induce acute metabolic stress that cancer cells must overcome for their survival. These metabolic stress cues in cancer cells can activate and cause dependence on the self-cannibalization mechanism of macroautophagy (autophagy hereafter) for the lysosomal turnover and recycling of organelles and proteins for energy and stress survival. For example, activating mutations in Ras or Ras-effector pathways induce autophagy, and cancer cell lines with Ras activation show elevated levels of basal autophagy that is essential for starvation survival and tumor growth. The metabolic implications of this are profound and multifaceted. First, autophagy-mediated degradation and recycling of cellular substrates can support metabolism and promote survival and tumor growth. Second, acute autophagy activation in response to cancer therapy can potentially lead to refractory tumors resistant to conventional chemotherapy. For example, a specific form of autophagy that targets mitochondria (mitophagy) may also function to promote cell survival by the clearance of damaged mitochondria that are potential sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These point to the possibility that autophagy is a unique metabolic need, important for survival as well as therapy resistance in cancer cells. Targeting autophagy in single-agent therapy to sensitize aggressive cancers that are dependent on autophagy for survival or in combination with therapeutic agents that induce autophagy as a resistance mechanism may be an effective therapeutic strategy to treat cancer.
Interleaved pixel lookup for embedded computer vision (2008)

This paper describes an in-depth investigation and implementation of interleaved memory for pixel lookup operations in computer vision. Pixel lookup, mapping between coordinates and pixels, is a common operation in computer vision, but is also a potential bottleneck due to formidable bandwidth requirements for real-time operation. We focus on the acceleration of pixel lookup operations through parallelizing memory banks by interleaving. The key to applying interleaving for pixel lookup is 2D block data partitioning and support for unaligned access. With this optimization of interleaving, pixel lookup operations can output a block of pixels at once without major overhead for unaligned access. An example implementation of our optimized interleaved memory for affine motion tracking shows that the pixel lookup operations can achieve 12.8 Gbps for random lookup of a 4x4 size block of 8-bit pixels under 100 MHz operation. Interleaving can be a cost-effective solution for fast pixel lookup in embedded computer vision.
Increased proinflammatory and oxidant gene expression in circulating mononuclear cells in older adults: amelioration by habitual exercise (2011)

We tested the hypothesis that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of older adults demonstrate a proinflammatory/-oxidative gene expression profile that can be improved by regular aerobic exercise. PBMC were isolated from young (n = 25, 18-33 yr) and middle-aged/older (n = 40, 50-76 yr) healthy adults. The older adults had greater mRNA expression (real-time RT-PCR) of the proinflammatory/-oxidant transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (1.58-fold, P < 0.05) and receptor for advanced glycation end products (1.12-fold, P < 0.05), the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α (1.90-fold, P < 0.05) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (1.47-fold, P < 0.05), and the oxidant-producing enzymes nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-oxidase (0.91-fold, P < 0.05) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (2.60-fold, P < 0.05). In 11 subjects (58-70 yr), maximal oxygen consumption (+11%) and exercise time (+19%) were increased (both P < 0.001), and expression of the above proinflammatory/-oxidative genes was or tended to be decreased in PBMC after vs. before 2 mo of aerobic exercise (brisk walking ∼6 days/wk, 50 min/day, 70% of maximal heart rate). Expression of interleukin-6 was not different with age or exercise intervention. Age group- and exercise intervention-related differences in gene expression were independent of other factors. PBMC of healthy older adults demonstrate increased expression of several genes associated with inflammation and oxidative stress, which is largely ameliorated by habitual aerobic exercise. This proinflammatory/-oxidative gene signature may represent a therapeutic target for lifestyle and pharmacological prevention and treatment strategies.
Evidence for two phosphonate degradative pathways in Enterobacter aerogenes (1992)

We screened mini-Mu plasmid libraries from Enterobacter aerogenes IFO 12010 for plasmids that complement Escherichia coli phn mutants that cannot use phosphonates (Pn) as the sole source of phosphorus (P). We isolated two kinds of plasmids that, unexpectedly, encode genes for different metabolic pathways. One kind complements E. coli mutants with both Pn transport and Pn catalysis genes deleted; these plasmids allow degradation of the 2-carbon-substituted Pn alpha-aminoethylphosphonate but not of unsubstituted alkyl Pn. This substrate specificity is characteristic of a phosphonatase pathway, which is absent in E. coli. The other kind complements E. coli mutants with Pn catalysis genes deleted but not those with both transport and catalysis genes deleted; these plasmids allow degradation of both substituted and unsubstituted Pn. Such a broad substrate specificity is characteristic of a carbon-phosphorus (C-P) lyase pathway, which is common in gram-negative bacteria, including E. coli. Further proof that the two kinds of plasmids encode genes for different pathways was demonstrated by the lack of DNA homology between the plasmids. In particular, the phosphonatase clone from E. aerogenes failed to hybridize to the E. coli phnCDEFGHIJKLMNOP gene cluster for Pn uptake and degradation, while the E. aerogenes C-P lyase clone hybridized strongly to the E. coli phnGHIJKLM genes encoding C-P lyase but not to the E. coli phnCDE genes encoding Pn transport. Specific hybridization by the E. aerogenes C-P lyase plasmid to the E. coli phnF, phnN, phnO, and phnP genes was not determined. Furthermore, we showed that one or more genes encoding the apparent E. aerogenes phosphonatase pathway, like the E. coli phnC-to-phnP gene cluster, is under phosphate regulon control in E. coli. This highlights the importance of Pn in bacterial P assimilation in nature.
Figure S4 from A Short SOX9 Peptide Mimics SOX9 Tumor Suppressor Activity and Is Sufficient to Inhibit Colon Cancer Cell Growth (2023)

&lt;p&gt;Crystal violet assay (n = 6) at day 11 post-seeding demonstrates that the removal of one or both NLS sequences in S9pep decreases S9pep inhibitory effect on DLD-1 cell growth.&lt;/p&gt;
Mechanistic principles of enzyme activity (1988)

Structural Aspects of Zinc Protease Mechanisms Stereoelectronic Analysis of Enzymatic Reactions Intramolecularity: Proximity and Strain Structural and Energetic Aspects of Protolytic Catalysis by Enzymes: Charge-Relay Catalysis in the Function of Serine Proteases Electron Transfer in Cytochromes C and B Chemical Studies Related to Iron Protoporphyrin-IX Mixed Function Oxidases Porphyrin Metalation Reactions in Biochemistry Chemical Studies and the Mechanism of Flavin and Porphyrin Mixed Function Oxidase Enzymes Glutahione-Dependent Aldehyde Oxidation Reactions.
[Possibility of false negative results in the diagnosis of lung neoplasms with computerized tomography]. (1999)

Endobronchial location of the tumors and their small size were the most frequent causes of misdiagnosis of PML at chest CT in our series. However, a systematic evaluation of CT scans can reduce the percentage of missed lesions.
Synthesis and properties of poly(amic acid)s and polyimides based on 2,2′,6,6′‐biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (2006)

Abstract Poly(amic acid)s (PAAs) having the high solution stability and transmittance at 365 nm for photosensitive polyimides have been developed. PAAs with a twisted conformation in the main chains were prepared from 2,2′,6,6′‐biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (2,2′,6,6′‐BPDA) and aromatic diamines. Imidization of PAAs was achieved by chemical treatment using trifluoroacetic anhydride. Among them, the PAA derived from 2,2′,6,6′‐BPDA and 4,4′‐(1,3‐phenylenedioxy)dianiline was converted to the polyimide by thermal treatment. The heating at 300 °C under nitrogen did not complete thermal imidization of PAAs having glass‐transition temperatures ( T g )s higher than 300 °C to the corresponding PIs. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 6385–6393, 2006
Laser fabrication of optical polymer waveguides and Bragg grating couplers (2003)

With the increasing interest in polymer integrated optical devices, techniques for fabrication of polymer waveguides and gratings are of critical importance [1-3]. We are developing direct laser fabrication techniques for this application. The investigation of the device fabrication is carried out using 20 ns, 193 nm ArF and 100 fs Ti:Sapphire lasers. Nearly single-mode straight waveguides and gratings with a sub-micron period were fabricated by laser ablation of polymer films.
What Positioning Accuracy is Sufficient for Reliable mmWave A2G Channel Measurements? (2022)

In this work, we investigate the significance of position accuracy for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) during millimeter-wave (mmWave) channel measurements. The studies are performed at 28 and 60 GHz frequencies. First, we study the effect of the error in the link distances on the 3GPP channel models. Second, we present ray tracing simulations performed in urban environment. We verify that the horizontal/vertical accuracy of ±0.5/0.8 meters may be enough to get reliable data. It should be noted that better accuracy can still improve the results but will require more effort to achieve. In addition, it is confirmed that more severe effect will be visible on the path loss values, while other parameters are not affected as strongly for the LOS case. We present the root mean square error for different positioning accuracies with respect to the reference case, i.e. no error in the UAV position, in angular and time domains which increases linearly with the decreasing accuracy.
Antepartum management protocol. Timing and mode of delivery in gestational diabetes. (1998)

We sought to determine whether strict glycemic control during diabetic pregnancy combined with elective early induction of labor reduces the rate of cesarean delivery and fetal birth trauma. We used a population-based longitudinal design covering three periods corresponding to changes in the management protocol for diabetic pregnancy at our center: 1) 1980-1989: no set level of maternal glycemia, elective cesarean section when estimated fetal weight was 4,500 g or more, and no elective early induction; 2) 1990-1992: desired mean maternal glycemia < or = 5.8 mmol/l, elective cesarean section when estimated fetal weight was 4,000 g or more, and elective early induction at 40 weeks for large-for-gestational-age fetuses; 3) 1993-1995: desired mean maternal glycemia < or = 5.3 mmol/l, elective cesarean section when estimated fetal weight was 4,000 g or more, and elective early induction at 38 weeks for large-for-gestational-age fetuses. Outcome of diabetic pregnancies was compared for the three periods, relative to that of the normal population. There was a gradual, constant, and significant decline in the incidence of macrosomia (17.9, 14.9, and 8.8%, respectively; P < 0.05) and large-for-gestational-age fetuses (23.6, 21.0, and 11.7%; P < 0.05) coupled with a gradual, nonsignificant decrease in cesarean deliveries (20.6, 18.4, and 16.2%) and in cases of shoulder dystocia (1.5, 1.2, and 0.6%), to rates close to those of the normal population. Our data show that maintaining strict control of maternal diabetes and adhering to an active management protocol for early elective delivery based on the estimated fetal weight have a significant effect on reducing the rate of macrosomia, thereby affecting the incidence of both traumatic births and cesarean deliveries.