gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Minimizing Water Invasion in Shale Using Nanoparticles (2009)

Abstract This paper presents data showing the positive impact of adding nanoparticles to water-based drilling muds and their effect on fluid penetration into hard and soft shale. Use of present-day water-based muds during drilling can produce fluid penetration from the mud into shale formations resulting in swelling and wellbore instability. The nanometer sized pore throat diameters of shales are too small for conventional drilling fluid particles to invade and build an internal or external mud cake. Four field muds in contact with Atoka and Gulf of Mexico (GOM) shales were studied with and without the addition of nanoparticles. Penetration of fluids into the shales was shown to decrease dramatically when nanoparticles were properly sized and applied. Results show that nanoparticles reduce the permeability of the Atoka shale by a factor of 5 to 50. Similar results are obtained for the GOM shale. When nanoparticles were used, water penetration into Atoka shale was reduced by 98% as compared to sea water. Measurement of shale pore sizes and scanning electron micrographs of the Atoka shale taken after exposure to nanoparticle dispersions, show that the nanoparticles are indeed small enough to penetrate and plug the shale pores and pore throats. This plugging of pore throats by the use of nanoparticles offers a powerful and economically viable new solution for controlling wellbore stability problems in troublesome shales.
DEVELOPMENT OF GUARDRAIL EXTRUDER TERMINAL (1989)

Development of the Guardrail Extruder Terminal (GET), a low-cost end treatment for W-beam guardrails, is presented in this paper. When impacted, this end treatment causes the W-beam to be flattened and deformed in a controlled manner ahead of the impacting vehicle. The flattening process dissipates energy, and impacting vehicles are decelerated to a controlled stop. The paper discusses static and dynamic laboratory testing of extruder components as well as full-scale crash tests of the GET. The GET is shown to be in compliance with nationally recognized impact performance standards.
Theoretical and experimental evaluation of surface quality for optical freeform surfaces (2006)

Optical freeform surfaces have become indispensable in the products of photonics and telecommunication. Due to the geometrical complexity and optical particularity, it is difficult to test and evaluate the surface quality of optical freeform surfaces in terms of the form accuracy and surface finish. This paper presents a surface metrology model for the evaluation of surface quality of the optical freeform surfaces. The model is built based on a freeform surface-matching algorithm using the five-points-position-fixed, layered-step, and multilevel method with the match precision higher than 1 nm. Some parameters are also proposed for evaluating the surface quality of the freeform surfaces. The model is validated through a series of simulation and actual measurement experiments. The theoretical results agree well with the experimental results.
Low-friction shaft seal composed of bio-inspired materials covering low-speed range under water environment (2017)

Shaft seals with a seal lip are used in various applications to separate gases and fluids, but their sealing function and durability are affected by the extent of lubrication at the dynamic seal faces between a rotating shaft and the seal lip. A new sealing system consisting of two hydrated seal rings and non-Newtonian lubricants was designed by a biomimetic approach to minimise frictional loss and provide high waterproof function when separating air and water. This system demonstrates significant superiority in low-speed rotation, conditions under which the lubrication mechanism of an oil seal or mechanical seal does not generally work well. Fibre reinforcement of the seal ring material was performed to prevent the deformation of the soft seal rings because of the frictional force in the tangential direction of the shaft and water pressure. This reinforcement enabled the new sealing system to obtain both high waterproof performance and low frictional characteristics in the speed range of 20–100 r/min.
Improvements in Axle Box Acceleration Measurements for the Detection of Light Squats in Railway Infrastructure (2015)

Squats are a type of short-wave rolling contact fatigue defect whose early detection can contribute to cost reductions in the railway industry. This paper demonstrates how the early detection of squats is possible via enhanced instrumentation based on axle box acceleration (ABA) and adequate postprocessing. Three improvements are discussed. The first corresponds to the use of longitudinal ABA to enhance measurement sensitivity to light squats. Compared to vertical ABA, longitudinal ABA does not contain the vibrations of the rail, fastening, sleepers, and ballast, and thus, the impact-related vibration is considerably stronger in the signal. The second improvement considers the use of multiple sensors, noise-reduction techniques, and repeated measurements. Due to hunting, the wheels of a measuring train do not always pass over small squats; thus, light squats are more likely to be detected using multiple sensors and multiple measurement runs. The third improvement concerns the signal-processing solution for the reduction of disturbances from wheel defects. Extensive field measurements show that these improvements make the characteristics of squats more visible in signals and allow the squats to be distinguished from vibrations of other origins.
Identification of a selective small-molecule inhibitor of type 1 adenylyl cyclase activity with analgesic properties (2017)

Adenylyl cyclase 1 (AC1) belongs to a group of adenylyl cyclases (ACs) that are stimulated by calcium in a calmodulin-dependent manner. Studies with AC1 knockout mice suggest that inhibitors of AC1 may be useful for treating pain and opioid dependence. However, nonselective inhibition of AC isoforms could result in substantial adverse effects. We used chemical library screening to identify a selective AC1 inhibitor with a chromone core structure that may represent a new analgesic agent. After demonstrating that the compound (ST034307) inhibited Ca<sup>2+</sup>-stimulated adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) accumulation in human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells stably transfected with AC1 (HEK-AC1 cells), we confirmed selectivity for AC1 by testing against all isoforms of membrane-bound ACs. ST034307 also inhibited AC1 activity stimulated by forskolin- and Gα<sub>s</sub>-coupled receptors in HEK-AC1 cells and showed inhibitory activity in multiple AC1-containing membrane preparations and mouse hippocampal homogenates. ST034307 enhanced μ-opioid receptor (MOR)-mediated inhibition of AC1 in short-term inhibition assays in HEK-AC1 cells stably transfected with MOR; however, the compound blocked heterologous sensitization of AC1 caused by chronic MOR activation in these cells. ST034307 reduced pain responses in a mouse model of inflammatory pain. Our data indicate that ST034307 is a selective small-molecule inhibitor of AC1 and suggest that selective AC1 inhibitors may be useful for managing pain.
Occidiofungin, a Unique Antifungal Glycopeptide Produced by a Strain of <i>Burkholderia contaminans</i> (2009)

Bacterial strain Burkholderia contaminans MS14 was isolated from soil that suppressed brown patch disease of lawn grass. An antifungal compound was purified from the liquid culture of this bacterium. In this study, complete covalent structures of two purified closely related antifungal compounds were determined by the experiments of TOCSY, NOESY, ROESY, 13C HSQC 2D NMR, and ESI-MS and GC. The analysis of monoisotopic masses of the purified preparation indicated the presence of two related compounds with masses determined to be 1199.543 and 1215.518 Da; the difference corresponds to the mass of an oxygen atom. GC analysis identified a xylose sugar attached to the antifungal compound. NMR experiments revealed that the compound is cyclic and composed of eight amino acids, two of which are beta-hydroxy derivatives of Tyr and Asn, and one being a novel amino acid. The novel amino acid serves as the scaffold for the attachment of the xylose and a short acyl chain. The spectrum and concentration of antifungal activity were determined using a microtiter plate assay. The antifungal compound demonstrated potent antifungal activities against a broad panel of fungal plant and animal pathogens, as well as two Pythium spp. Microscopic observations showed that the antifungal compound disrupts normal membrane morphology. The cells fill with large inclusion bodies and the membrane becomes irregularly shaped and swollen following the exposure to subinhibitory concentrations of the antifungal compound. Our data support the identification of a novel fungicide and the compound has been named occidiofungin, meaning fungal killer.
Post-release capacitance enhancement in micromachined devices (2006)

This paper reports a novel design concept that aims to increase the detection and actuation capacitances in micromachined devices beyond the fabrication process limitations. The approach is based on designing the stationary components of the electrodes attached to a moving stage that permanently locks into the desired position before the operation of the device, to minimize the electrode gap with a simple assembly step. The concept has been implemented in bulk-micromachined prototype gyroscopes, and the experimental results have successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the assembly concept. It is experimentally shown that over an order of magnitude of capacitance increase is achieved in the same foot-print of the device, without additional fabrication steps.
A Translation Frameshift Mutation Induced by a Cytosine Insertion in the Polycystic Kidney Disease 2 Gene (PKD2) (1997)

Mutations in the PKD2 gene on the long arm of chromosome 4 are responsible for approximately 15% of cases of polycystic kidney disease. Perhaps the only difference from the more common ADPKD1 cases is the rate of progression of cystic changes, and the age of onset, which is 10-15 years later for the ADPKD2 form. In Cyprus there are at least three large families, documented by molecular linkage analysis, that map to the PKD2 locus. For two of them the defects were recently shown to be nonsense mutations at positions arginine 742 and glutamine 405. In this report, we describe the mutation in the third family, CY1602. For this, the entire coding sequence was systematically screened by single strand conformation analysis and heteroduplex formation. A novel mutation was identified in exon 2 where a new cytosine residue was inserted immediately after codon 231 (231insC). It causes a translation frameshift and is expected to lead to the introduction of 37 novel amino acids before the translation reaches a new STOP codon. It is the most amino terminal mutation reported to date, and based on the protein's modeled structure, is predicted to be within the first transmembrane domain. It is the fourth PKD2 mutation reported thus far, and the first which is not a nonsense mutation.
Development of a novel protein multi-blotting device (2010)

Blotting is a common technique widely used for molecular analysis in life sciences. The Western blot, in particular, is a process of transferring protein samples from a polyacrylamide gel to a blotting membrane and detecting the levels of specific proteins through reactions with primary and secondary antibodies. The state-of-the-art of Western blotting usually generates one blotting membrane per gel. However, multiple copies of blots are useful in many applications. Two blotting copies from a single protein gel, for instance, can be used for identifying a total amount of proteins of interest as well as its specific subpopulation level such as a phosphorylated isoform. To achieve this multi-blotting operation from a single gel, we modified a blotting procedure and developed a novel blotting device. The device consisted of a multi-anode plate and a microcontroller. It was designed to generate a well-controlled electrophoretic voltage profile, which allowed a quasi-uniform transfer of proteins of any size. The prototype device was built and its operation procedure was described. The experimental results clearly supported the notion that the described device was able to achieve multiple blotting from a single gel and reduce time and cost for protein analysis.
Robust face feature analysis for automatic speechreading and character animation (2002)

The robust acquisition of facial features needed for visual speech processing is fraught with difficulties which greatly increase the complexity of the machine vision system. This system must extract the inner lip contour from facial images with variations in pose, lighting, and facial hair. This paper describes a face feature acquisition system with robust performance in the presence of extreme lighting variations and moderate variations in pose. Furthermore, system performance is not degraded by facial hair or glasses. To find the position of a face reliably we search the whole image for facial features. These features are then combined and tests are applied, to determine whether any such combination actually belongs to a face. In order to find where the lips are, other features of the face, such as the eyes, must be located as well. Without this information it is difficult to reliably find the mouth in a complex image. Just the mouth by itself is easily missed or other elements in the image can be mistaken for a mouth. If camera position can be constrained to allow the nostrils to be viewed, then nostril tracking is used to both reduce computation and provide additional robustness. Once the nostrils are tracked from frame to frame using a tracking window the mouth area can be isolated and normalized for scale and rotation. A mouth detail analysis procedure is then used to estimate the inner lip contour and teeth and tongue regions. The inner lip contour and head movements are then mapped to synthetic face parameters to generate a graphical talking head synchronized with the original human voice. This information can also be used as the basis for visual speech features in an automatic speechreading system. Similar features were used in our previous automatic speechreading systems.
Fast method for precoding and decoding of distributive multi-input multi-output channels in relay-based decode-and-forward cooperative wireless networks (2010)

It is well-known that the performance of the relay-based decode-and-forward (DF) cooperative networks outperforms the performance of the amplify-and-forward cooperative networks. However, this performance improvement is accomplished at the expense of adding more signal processing complexity (precoding/decoding) at each relay node. In this study, the authors tackle this signal processing complexity issue by proposing a Jacket-based fast method for reducing the precoding/decoding complexity in terms of time computation. Jacket transforms have shown to find applications in signal processing and coding theory. Jacket transforms are defined to be n×n matrices A=(ajk) over a field ℱ with the property AA†=nIn, where A† is the transpose matrix of the element-wise inverse of A, that is, A†=(akj−1), which generalise Hadamard transforms and centre weighted Hadamard transforms. In particular, exploiting the Jacket transform properties, the authors propose a new eigenvalue decomposition (EVD) method with application in precoding and decoding of distributive multi-input multi-output channels in relay-based DF cooperative wireless networks in which the transmission is based on using single-symbol decodable space-time block codes. The authors show that the proposed Jacket-based method of EVD has significant reduction in its computational time as compared to the conventional-based EVD method. Performance in terms of computational time reduction is evaluated quantitatively through mathematical analysis and numerical results.
Unsteady and Three-Dimensional Flow in Turbomachines. (1996)

Abstract : This report describes work carried out at the Gas Turbine Laboratory at MIT during the period 10/20/92 - 10/31/95, as part of a multi-investigator effort on unsteady and three-dimensional flow phenomena in turbomachines. Within the overall project, three separate tasks are specified. These are, in brief: 1. Characterization of Fully Scaled, Unsteady Film Cooled Turbine Blade Heat Transfer and Aerodynamics; 2. Flow Control in Compression Systems by Viscous Flow Removal; and 3. Unsteady Phenomena in Turbomachinery Endwall Flows.
Generation of fractals using the Burt pyramid (1985)

Fractals have been used successfully to describe complex, irregular natural forms such as clouds, coastlines, trees, and mountains, which are difficult to characterize in terms of continuous, differentiable functions. 1 One of the most important properties of fractals is their self-similarity. As the spatial scale of viewing changes over many orders of magnitude, the fractal remains similar in structure and appearance. The Burt pyramid 2 decomposes an image into a sum of octave width spatial frequency bands plus a low-pass filtered component. Local spatial information is also preserved. If an inherently self-similar fractal is represented in pyramid form, one would expect each spatial band to look similar to the others. Conversely, if similar patterns are entered into each spatial band of a pyramid, the sum should be a self-similar fractallike texture. We have used this technique to generate realistic looking textures including clouds, water waves, galaxies, woodgrain, and rock. The time required to synthesize a fractallike texture is much reduced over present methods, suggesting that this method may be useful for computer artwork and animation. A real-time animation sequence of clouds and waves is shown. This sequence was produced on a DeAnza image processor driven by a PDP-11/24.
Wide-range, Accurate and Simple Digital Frequency Offset Compensator for Optical Coherent Receivers (2008)

We present a digital frequency offset compensator for optical coherent QPSK receivers. The compensation accuracy reaches ± 30 MHz while the range covers ± 5 GHz. This would realize coherent receivers with common off-the-shelf tunable lasers.
<title>Analysis and generalization of Retinex by recasting the algorithm in wavelets</title> (2002)

The Retinex algorithm, in its incarnation as McCann'99, presents an interesting mix of a locally connected iterative algorithm and a multiresolution analysis of the image. By recasting the algorithm, using wavelets, the behavior of the algorithm comes to light. This allows generalizations to be proposed, by changes in both the multiresolution structure and the iterative update structure.
Two-Dimensional Molecular Electronics Circuits (2002)

Addressing an array of bistable [2]rotaxanes through a two-dimensional crossbar arrangement provides the device element of a current-driven molecular electronic circuit. The development of the [2]rotaxane switches through an iterative, evolutionary process is described. The arrangement reported here allows both memory and logic functions to use the same elements.
Catheter-Implanted Prosthetic Heart Valves (1993)

A new expandable artificial heart valve was developed for implantation by a transluminal catheter technique without using thoracotomy or extracorporeal circulation. The aim of this study was to implant the valve in isolated vessels of the descending thoracic aorta as well as in closed chest pigs, and furthermore to study the prosthesis’ mechanical stability and the valve function. The artificial valve was made by mounting a porcine aortic valve on an expandable stent. Before implantation, the stent-valve was compressed on a deflated balloon catheter and mounted inside an introducer sheath. After intravascular introduction to the descending thoracic aorta the stent-valve was discharged from the sheath. Implantation was performed by balloon inflation which expanded the stent-valve to a diameter exceeding the internal vessel's diameter. After balloon deflation the stent-valve maintained an expanded configuration ensuring a stable fixation against the vessel wall. In vitro implantations were performed in 36 isolated descending thoracic aorta specimens obtained from 80 kg pigs. Mechanical stability was evaluated by applying a downing load to the prosthesis. No displacement occurred at loads ≤ 1 kg when a large balloon (31 mm) was used for implantation. Transvalvular pressure differences between 11-47 mmHg (median) were obtained at antegrade flowrates between 5-8 1/min. Furthermore, only moderate leakage flows were measured during retrograde perfusion. In vivo implantations were performed in six 80 kg pigs. Implantation was safe and easy, and angiograph and haemodynamic evaluations revealed essentially no stenosis or regurgitation. No complications in migration, perforation, hemorrhage or thrombosis were observed. This study indicates a good mechanical stability and valve function of the new expandable artificial valves.
Frequency-Domain Two- To Three-Channel Upmix for Center Channel Derivation and Speech Enhancement (2009)

Two- to three-channel audio upmix can be useful in a number of contexts. Adding a front center loudspeaker provides a more stable center image and an increase in dialogue clarity. Even in the absence of a physical center speaker, the ability to derive a center channel can facilitate speech enhancement by making it possible to boost or filter the dialogue, which is usually panned to the center. Two- to three-channel upmix can also be a first step in upmixing from two to five channels. We propose a frequency-domain upmix process using a vector-based signal decomposition, including methods for improving the selectivity of the center channel extraction. A geometric interpretation of the algorithm is provided. Unlike most existing frequency-domain upmix methods, the current algorithm does not perform an explicit primary/ambient decomposition. This reduces the complexity and improves the quality of the center channel derivation. 1.
Modeling of electric energy harvesting using piezoelectric windmill (2005)

This letter reports a theoretical model for determination of generated electric power from piezoelectric bimorph transducers in low frequency range far from the piezoelectric resonance. The model is divided into two parts. In the first part the open circuit voltage response of the transducer under the ac stress is computed based on the bending beam theory for bimorph. In the second part, this open circuit voltage acts as the input to the equivalent circuit of the capacitor connected across a pure resistive load. The results of the theoretical model were verified by comparing it with the measured response of a prototype windmill. The prototype piezoelectric windmill consisting of ten piezoelectric bimorph transducers was operated in the wind speed of 1–12 mph. A power of 7.5 mW at the wind speed of 10 mph was measured across a matching load of 6.7kΩ. The theoretical model was found to give very accurate prediction of the generated power and matching load and an excellent matching was found with the experimental results.