gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Applicability of Concrete-Filled FRP Tube (CFFT) System for Multihazard Resilient Bridge Columns (2014)

Concrete-filled, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) tube [CFFT] columns were first introduced as an alternative to conventional reinforced concrete (RC) columns to enhance the durability and corrosion resistance of bridge piers. Recently, the CFFT column system has been validated as a high performance alternative to RC columns for multihazard resilience. This paper describes the superb seismic, blast and fire resiliency of this column system. First, the CFFT column was tested alongside a conventional RC column during shaking table experiments of a two-column bent at the University of Nevada, Reno. The shaking table experiments were the first to reveal the superb ductility and energy dissipation provided by CFFT columns. Next, the system was further tested at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center (USACEERDC) where the blast performance of the system was studied and compared against that of RC columns. Finally, fire testing of the CFFT column at a fire testing facility substantiated the system's fire resilience when properly protected. The CFFT system was able to endure more than two hours of extreme temperature exposure. Residual capacity tests conducted at the University of Connecticut on fire and blast-damaged CFFT and RC columns showed that the CFFT system provides much better axial strength and ductility retention after a damaging event. The three experimental studies solidly corroborate the applicability of CFFT columns for multihazard bridge design.
A complete substitutional analysis of VIP for better tumor imaging properties (2002)

Since numerous tumor cells overexpress the vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) receptor subtype 1 (VPAC(1)), VIP-dye conjugates would be useful as contrast agents for in vivo imaging. However, proteolytic degradation of VIP in vivo limits their diagnostic use and highlights the need for structurally optimized VIP derivatives with improved pharmacokinetics. Here, we applied parallel nano-synthesis of cleavable peptides on cellulose membranes to perform a complete VIP substitutional analysis. The resulting 504 different VIP-dye analogs were tested for cell binding by flow cytometry. They provided a detailed analysis of amino acid positions essential for binding to VPAC(1) overexpressing cells. A generalized VIP-dye binding motif derived from the substitutional analysis results served as a reference point for further optimization. An [Arg8]-VIP-dye analog showed increased stability towards proteolytic degradation, good tumor-to-tissue contrast in mice and a longer half-life in vivo.
Evaluation of the protective efficacy of a recombinant dengue envelope B domain fusion protein against dengue 2 virus infection in mice. (1998)

A recombinant protein containing part of the dengue (DEN) 2 envelope protein was evaluated as a subunit immunogen for vaccination against DEN virus infection. A gene fragment encoding amino acids 298-400 (B domain) of the DEN-2 virus envelope was expressed as a fusion protein with the maltose binding protein (MBP) of Escherichia coli. This recombinant, DEN-2(B)/MBP, was purified and analyzed for its antigenicity, immunogenicity, and ability to protect mice against lethal challenge. The recombinant antigen reacted with a DEN-2 type-specific neutralizing monoclonal antibody (3H5), DEN-2 hyperimmune mouse ascitic fluid, and DEN-2 immune human sera. When administered to mice, DEN-2(B)/MBP elicited a DEN-2 virus neutralizing antibody response that conferred partial protection against challenge infection with a lethal dose of DEN-2 virus administered by intracranial inoculation. In addition, no replication of DEN-2 virus was detectable in the brains of the immunized mice as compared with control mice that were killed six days after challenge. Sera from immunized mice revealed no cross-neutralizing antibody to any of the other DEN serotypes in the plaque-reduction neutralization test. These findings warrant further studies with the DEN-2(B)/MBP antigen as a potential human vaccine candidate. An effective vaccine could prevent thousands of cases of illness and many deaths each year resulting from DEN virus infections.
Anycast-aware transport for content delivery networks (2009)

Anycast-based content delivery networks (CDNs) have many properties that make them ideal for the large scale distribution of content on the Internet. However, because routing changes can result in a change of the endpoint that terminates the TCP session, TCP session disruption remains a concern for anycast CDNs, especially for large file downloads. In this paper we demonstrate that this problem does not require any complex solutions. In particular, we present the design of a simple, yet efficient, mechanism to handle session disruptions due to endpoint changes. With our mechanism, a client can continue the download of the content from the point at which it was before the endpoint change. Furthermore, CDN servers purge the TCP connection state quickly to handle frequent switching with low system overhead.
Molecular testing for microsatellite instability and its value in tumor characterization (2005)

Molecular analysis of tumor tissue has become a rapidly expanding field in medical research, exploiting the advantages of new technologies adapted to high-throughput examination of genetic alterations, gene and protein expression patterns. Only exceptionally, these approaches have found their way into routine clinical diagnosis and therapy. Microsatellite instability testing has been established as a very powerful tool to identify patients with hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, one of the most common familial cancer syndromes. In addition, there is emerging evidence that microsatellite instability analysis may become increasingly important for the clinician, having considerable impact on patients' prognosis as well as therapeutic decisions, at least in colorectal cancer patients. A better understanding of the microsatellite instability phenotype, its pathogenesis and implications for the course of the disease will pave the way for novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies specifically tailored to microsatellite-unstable tumors. This review summarizes the current significance of molecular testing for microsatellite instability in several tumor entities and provides prospects of future developments.
Understanding Lung Immunopathology Caused by the Human Metapneumovirus: Implications for Rational Vaccine Design (2015)

Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) are the major cause of child mortality worldwide. The human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is one of the leading causes of child hospitalizations due to pneumonia. The adaptive immune response generated by the host against hMPV is usually inefficient at protecting from reinfections, which is repeat throughout life, from childhood to old age. Despite considerable research efforts, to date there are no licensed vaccines to prevent respiratory disease caused by hMPV infection. In this article we review current vaccine strategies tested in animal models and the implication of such studies in understanding the different immune cell populations that contribute to hMPV clearance and the prevention and resolution of lung inflammation upon exposure to the virus.
Multiple-pulse methods of<sup>1</sup>H N.M.R. imaging of solids: second-averaging (1990)

Abstract Multiple-pulse cycles composed of short (approximately 2–4 μs) gradient pulses intercalated between solid echoes are examined to find useful approaches to solid-state imaging. The usefulness of a cycle is judged on how well it fulfils requirements that the dipolar terms in the Magnus expansion of the average Hamiltonian of the cycle vanish to zeroth order for finite radio-frequency pulse lengths, and to first order in a delta-function pulse approximation; that all important first-order dipolar cross-terms also vanish; and that chemical-shift evolution is suppressed. For imaging in solids, we demonstrate a phase-shifted version of the MREV-8 sequence with gradient pulses of alternating polarity applied in the long windows. The addition of phase shifts to certain pulses eliminates resonance offset and chemical-shift interactions via ‘second-averaging’, while the gradient is unaffected by this averaging since it is applied along the axis of second averaging. An image is shown of a poly(methyl methacrylate) phantom with resolution of approximately 100 μm for a 6·4 mm diameter sample. Methods are suggested for further increasing the resolution by a factor of four to six.
Extremely compact capillary discharge-based soft x-ray laser development and application to dense plasma diagnostics (2002)

We give an overview of recent capillary discharge‐driven soft x‐ray laser development experiments and applications at Colorado State University. We report the demonstration of the first desktop size soft x‐ray laser, a capillary discharge Ne‐like Ar soft x‐ray laser that was measured to emit laser pulses with energy up to 10 μJ at 46.9 nm. In relation to the development of capillary discharge lasers at shorter wavelengths, spectra of the highly ionized cadmium plasmas identified strong emission from the 4d1S0− 4p1P1 laser transition of Ni‐like Cd at 13.16 nm. We have also demonstrated optical guiding of intense laser pulses in the plasmas of an Ar capillary discharge, a result that is of interest for the development of efficient longitudinally pumped collisional soft x ‐ray lasers in a gaseous media. In term of applications, we summarize our continued progress in establishing capillary discharge lasers as a compact soft x‐ray source of coherent radiation for dense plasma diagnostics. The combination of a tabletop 46.9 nm capillary discharge Ne‐like Ar laser and a Mach‐Zehnder interferometer based on diffraction gratings was used to study two‐dimensional hydrodynamic effects in laser‐created plasmas. The short wavelength and high brightness of the capillary discharge soft x‐ray laser allowed us to map the density profile up to ∼1021 cm−3, close to the critical density. The interferometry of laser‐created plasmas created at moderate irradiation intensity (0.1 –7 × 1012 W cm−2) shows the development of a concave electron density profile that differ significantly from that expected for a classical expansion. Measurements involving line‐focus and spot‐focus laser created plasmas and hydrodynamic model simulations confirm this two‐dimensional effect is essentially a universal effect that exists over a wide space of plasma parameters. In a separate experiments we have used the same soft x‐ray laser interferometry tools to study the initial phase of the current‐driven explosion of thin Al wires which are of current interest for the generation of x‐ray radiation at large pulse power facilities. These measurements demonstrate the use of portable soft x‐ray laser interferometry as a high‐resolution tool for the study of high‐density plasmas and for the validation of hydrodynamic codes.
Temperature Compensation of Interferometric and Polarimetric Fiber-Optic Current Sensors with Spun Fiber (2018)

We theoretically and experimentally explore intrinsic temperature compensation of fiber-optic current sensors with spun highly birefringent sensing fiber by means of a fiber retarder. We find significant differences between interferometric and polarimetric sensors.
A genetic strategy generating wheat with very high amylose content (2015)

Resistant starch (RS), a type of dietary fibre, plays an important role in human health; however, the content of RS in most modern processed starchy foods is low. Cereal starch, when structurally manipulated through a modified starch biosynthetic pathway to greatly increase the amylose content, could be an important food source of RS. Transgenic studies have previously revealed the requirement of simultaneous down-regulation of two starch branching enzyme (SBE) II isoforms both located on the long arm of chromosome 2, namely SBEIIa and SBEIIb, to elevate the amylose content in wheat from ~25% to ~75%. The current study revealed close proximity of genes encoding SBEIIa and SBEIIb isoforms in wheat with a genetic distance of 0.5 cM on chromosome 2B. A series of deletion and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loss of function alleles in SBEIIa, SBEIIb or both was isolated from two different wheat populations. A breeding strategy to combine deletions and SNPs generated wheat genotypes with altered expression levels of SBEIIa and SBEIIb, elevating the amylose content to an unprecedented ~85%, with a marked concomitant increase in RS content. Biochemical assays were used to confirm the complete absence in the grain of expression of SBEIIa from all three genomes in combination with the absence of SBEIIb from one of the genomes.
The Hypoglycaemia-Hyperglycaemia Minimizer System in the Management of Type 1 Diabetes (2016)

Living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) presents many challenges in terms of daily living. Insulin users need to frequently monitor their blood glucose levels and take multiple injections per day and/or multiple boluses through an insulin infusion pump, with the consequences of failing to match the insulin dose to the body's needs resulting in hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia. The former can result in seizures, coma and even death; the latter can have both acute and long-term health implications. Many patients with T1D also fail to meet their treatment goals. In order to reduce the burdens of self-administering insulin, and improve efficacy and safety, there is a need to at least partially remove the patient from the loop via a closed-loop 'artificial pancreas' system. The Hypoglycaemia-Hyperglycaemia Minimizer (HHM) System, comprising a continuous, subcutaneous insulin infusion pump, continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and closed-loop insulin dosing algorithm, is able to predict changes in blood glucose and adjust insulin delivery accordingly to help keep the patient at normal glucose levels. Early clinical data indicate that this system is feasible, effective and safe, and has the potential to dramatically improve the therapeutic outcomes and quality of life for people with T1D.
2.5D Micromachined 240 GHz Cavity-Backed Coplanar Waveguide to Rectangular Waveguide Transition (2012)

A novel cavity-backed coplanar waveguide (CBCPW) to rectangular waveguide transition having a 2.5D geometry compatible with micromachining fabrication technique is presented. This transition makes use of a short-circuited pin (as opposed to a suspended probe) in conjunction with resonant sections of CPW line over the broad wall of a reduced height waveguide segment to facilitate impedance matching. Although the bandwidth of this transition is smaller than the standard suspended probe transitions, its fabrication at submillimeter-wave and terahertz bands is rather straightforward and does not require assembly of many small parts with very high precision. The design procedure starts from an equivalent circuit model which is then fine-tuned using a full-wave approach. A silicon micromachining process for the fabrication of the proposed transition is presented. To validate the design and demonstrate the feasibility of the fabrication process, a prototype transition operating at 240 GHz is fabricated and tested. It is shown that a back-to-back transition prototype at 240 GHz provides less than 1 dB of insertion loss over more that 17% fractional bandwidth. It is also shown that the measured S-parameters of the back-to-back transition are in good agreement with the simulation results. The microfabrication process and associated tolerances allows for scaling the dimensions and frequency of operation to THz frequencies.
Non-biased and efficient global amplification of a single-cell cDNA library (2013)

Analysis of single-cell gene expression promises a more precise understanding of molecular mechanisms of a living system. Most techniques only allow studies of the expressions for limited numbers of gene species. When amplification of cDNA was carried out for analysing more genes, amplification biases were frequently reported. A non-biased and efficient global-amplification method, which uses a single-cell cDNA library immobilized on beads, was developed for analysing entire gene expressions for single cells. Every step in this analysis from reverse transcription to cDNA amplification was optimized. By removing degrading excess primers, the bias due to the digestion of cDNA was prevented. Since the residual reagents, which affect the efficiency of each subsequent reaction, could be removed by washing beads, the conditions for uniform and maximized amplification of cDNAs were achieved. The differences in the amplification rates for randomly selected eight genes were within 1.5-folds, which could be negligible for most of the applications of single-cell analysis. The global amplification gives a large amount of amplified cDNA (>100 μg) from a single cell (2-pg mRNA), and that amount is enough for downstream analysis. The proposed global-amplification method was used to analyse transcript ratios of multiple cDNA targets (from several copies to several thousand copies) quantitatively.
Mechanisms of Inhibition of Tobacco-Specific Nitrosamine-Induced Lung Tumorigenesis in A/J Mice (1994)

The mechanisms of inhibition by arylalkyl isothiocyanates and green tea polyphenol of lung tumorigenesis caused by the tobacco-specific nitrosamine 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) were investigated. Our previous studies showed that pretreatment of A/J mice with phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) inhibited the formation of lung tumors induced by NNK. However, PEITC's lower homologues, phenyl isothiocyanate (PITC) and benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), were inactive. These results agreed with their effects on the formation of lung O6-methylguanine (O6-mG), a critical lesion in lung tumorigenesis resulting from the metabolic activation of NNK. We further tested a number of newly synthesized longer alkyl chain arylalkyl isothiocyanates for their inhibitory activities in A/J mice treated with NNK. The results showed that the potency of inhibition by arylalkyl isothiocyanates increased as the chain length increases. Treatment of mice with PEITC and BITC in the diet subsequent to NNK treatment had little effect on the formation of lung tumor induced by NNK These results are consistent with the mechanism that inhibition of lung tumorigenesis by arylalkyl isothiocyanates is due largely to the inhibition of enzymes which activate NNK In contrast to arylalkyl isothiocyanates, green tea and its major polyphenol, (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), inhibited lung tumor formation in NNK-treated mice but exerted little effect on the formation of O6-mG in lung DNA. These results suggest that one or more DNA lesions other than methylation are involved in NNK lung tumorigenesis. We examined whether free radical-mediated oxidative DNA damage is induced in NNK-treated mice by measuring 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG) formation. A dosedependent increase of this lesion in lung was seen in NNK treated mice. These results provide the first direct evidence of oxidative DNA damage by a nitrosamine. Consistent with their ability to inhibit lung tumor formation by NNK, the increase of oxidation in DNA by NNK was suppressed by treatment with green tea extract or its EGCG. These results support the involvement of free radical damage in NNK lung tumorigenesis as well as the role of green tea and its polyphenol as antioxidants in inhibition of the NNK-induced lung tumorigenesis in A/J mice.
Thermoelectric power factor in semiconductors with buried epitaxial semimetallic nanoparticles (2005)

We have grown composite epitaxial materials that consist of semimetallic ErAs nanoparticles embedded in a semiconducting In0.53Ga0.47As matrix both as superlattices and randomly distributed throughout the matrix. The presence of these particles increases the free electron concentration in the material while providing scattering centers for phonons. We measure electron concentration, mobility, and Seebeck coefficient of these materials and discuss their potential for use in thermoelectric power generators.
A Continuous Bovine Kidney Cell Line Constitutively Expressing Bovine α<sub>V</sub>β<sub>6</sub>Integrin Has Increased Susceptibility to Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (2013)

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a worldwide problem limiting the trade of animals and their products from affected countries. The rapid isolation, serotyping, and vaccine matching of FMD virus from disease outbreaks is critical for enabling the implementation of effective vaccination programs and to stop the spread of infection during outbreaks. Some primary cells have been shown to be highly susceptible to most strains of FMD virus (FMDV) but are difficult and expensive to prepare and maintain. Since the αVβ6 integrin is a principal receptor for FMDV, we transduced a bovine kidney cell line to stably express both the αV and β6 bovine integrin subunits. This stable cell line (LFBK-αVβ6) showed β6 expression and enhanced susceptibility to FMDV infection for ≥ 100 cell passages. LFBK-αVβ6 cells were highly sensitive for detecting all serotypes of FMDV from experimentally infected animals, including the porcinophilic FMDV strain O/TAW/97. In comparison to other cell types that are currently used for virus isolation, LFBK-αVβ6 cells were more effective at detecting FMDV in clinical samples, supporting their use as a more sensitive tool for virus isolation.
A coordination and bandwidth sharing method for multiple interfering neighbor networks (2005)

When multiple networks share a common channel, they can interfere destructively, reducing system capacity. This is a major problem in home powerline or wireless networks, especially in MDU/MTU deployments. Contention access protocols (CSMA) facilitate multi-network operation with reduced system capacity and little QoS support for AV applications (HDTV streaming). This paper proposes a distributed, multi-network coordination and bandwidth sharing method that does not require explicit inter-network messaging, thereby addressing the security and inter-network resource utilization concerns. The performance of this coordination protocol is evaluated, and compared with that of the same configuration of networks operating using CSMA. The coordination method provides significantly higher capacity when the number and size of the interfering networks are small, while CSMA performs better for larger dimensions. This improvement is obtained through collision reduction, interference mitigation and reuse of the spectrum. These results allow neighboring networks to choose between operating in contention or coordinated modes.
Development of Autonomously Replicating Plasmids for <i>Candida albicans</i> (1987)

A pool of Candida albicans RsaI fragments cloned onto a vector containing pBR322 sequences and the Candida ADE2 gene was used to transform a Candida ade2 mutant to adenine protrophy. A potential autonomously replicating sequence (ARS) in Candida DNA was identified by two criteria: instability of the selectable marker in the absence of selection and the presence of free plasmid in total DNA preparations. Plasmids carrying the ARS transformed C. albicans at a high frequency (200 to 1,000 ADE+ transformants per microgram of DNA), and Southern hybridization analysis of these transformants indicated that multiple copies of the plasmid sequences were present and that, although they were present in high-molecular-weight molecules, these sequences had not undergone rearrangement. Orthogonal field alternation gel electrophoresis indicated that the high-molecular-weight transforming sequences were not associated with any chromosome. The simplest interpretation to account for these data is that the transforming sequences are present as oligomers consisting of head-to-tail tandem repeats. The transformed strains occasionally yield stable segregants in which the transforming sequences are integrated into the chromosome as repeats. The Candida sequence responsible for the ARS phenotype was limited to a single 0.35-kilobase RsaI fragment which is present in one copy per haploid genome.