gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Ductile cement-based spray-applied fire-resistive materials (2016)

Purpose Spray-applied fire-resistive materials (SFRMs) are the most commonly used passive fire protection for steel structure in the USA. However, they are often called into question because of their poor durability (cohesive and adhesive) performance. Being an inherently brittle material with low tensile strength, SFRM tends to dislodge and delaminate under extreme loads and service loads. Such loss of fire protection greatly endangers the steel structures, especially under multi-hazards like post-earthquake/impact fires. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new technology of a ductile cement-based SFRM, namely, spray-applied fire-resistive engineered cementitious composite (SFR-ECC) that overcomes the aforementioned problems and contributes toward enhanced fire safety of steel structures. Design/methodology/approach SFR-ECC has been developed as a durable alternative to conventional SFRM by adopting engineered cementitious composite (ECC) technology in the material design process. Various experimental studies have also been conducted to fully evaluate the performance of SFR-ECC. Findings It is found that SFR-ECC possesses much better durability performance under both static and high-rate loading compared to conventional SFRMs. With many unique properties, applications of SFR-ECC for pre-fabrication of passive fire protection are also found to be feasible. Originality/value This paper is a comprehensive introduction of the newly developed SFR-ECC. It summarizes the key properties of SFR-ECC and provides a useful guideline for further investigation and field application of SFR-ECC.
An efficient compression scheme for bitmap indices (2004)

When using an out-of-core indexing method to answer a query, it isgenerally assumed that the I/O cost dominates the overall query response time. Because of this, most research on indexing methods concentrate on reduceing the sizes of indices. For bitmap indices, compression has been used for this purpose. However, in most cases, operations on these compressed bitmaps, mostly bitwise logical operations such as AND, OR, and NOT, spend more time in CPU than in I/O. To speedup these operations, a number of specialized bitmap compression schemes have been developed; the best known of which is the byte-aligned bitmap code (BBC). They are usually faster in performing logical operations than the general purpose compression schemes, but, the time spent in CPU still dominates the total query response time. To reduce the query response time, we designed a CPU-friendly scheme named the word-aligned hybrid (WAH) code. In this paper, we prove that the sizes of WAH compressed bitmap indices are about two words per row for large range of attributes. This size is smaller than typical sizes of commonly used indices, such as a B-tree. Therefore, WAH compressed indices are not only appropriate for low cardinality attributes but also for high cardinality attributes.In the worst case, the time to operate on compressed bitmaps isproportional to the total size of the bitmaps involved. The totalsize of the bitmaps required to answer a query on one attribute is proportional to the number of hits. These indicate that WAH compressed bitmap indices are optimal. To verify their effectiveness, we generated bitmap indices for four different datasets and measured the response time of many range queries. Tests confirm that sizes of compressed bitmap indices are indeed smaller than B-tree indices, and query processing with WAH compressed indices is much faster than with BBC compressed indices, projection indices and B-tree indices. In addition, we also verified that the average query response time is proportional tothe index size. This indicates that the compressed bitmap indices are efficient for very large datasets.
A clock-gating based capture power droop reduction methodology for at-speed scan testing (2011)

Excessive power dissipation caused by large amount of switching activities has been a major issue in scan-based testing. For large designs, the excessive switching activities during launch cycle can cause severe power droop, which cannot be recovered before capture cycle, rendering the at-speed scan testing more susceptible to the power droop. In this paper, we present a methodology to avoid power droop during scan capture without compromising at-speed test coverage. It is based on the use of a low area overhead hardware controller to control the clock gates. The methodology is ATPG (Automatic Test Pattern Generation)-independent, hence pattern generation time is not affected and pattern manipulation is not required. The effectiveness of this technique is demonstrated on several industrial designs.
A few considerations on some catalysts for olefin polymerization (1993)

Abstract Among many precursors and catalysts for alpha‐olefins polymerization, one seems to be particularly interesting, because it has not been completely clarified yet. We refer especially to precursors obtained via reaction between Mg‐alkyls and SiCl 4 . The products of this reaction are not well known; in fact, under some operating conditions, a special form of MgCl 2 is obtained, showing x‐ray diffraction peaks in the angular region lower than 15° (2 theta), which corresponds to the 5.9 A interplanar spacing, characteristic of alpha‐MgCl 2 . Under other conditions, MgCl 2 is obtained in the well known and strongly disordered delta structure. By employing these precursors, some catalytic systems for alpha‐olefins polymerization have been prepared. In this paper, the peculiar aspects of these precursors and catalysts are described, particularly focusing on the correlation between structure and performances in ethylene and propylene polymerization.
ChemInform Abstract: Molecular Electronic Devices Based on Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube Electrodes (2009)

Abstract ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.
Sputtered nanodots: A costless method for inducing effective pinning centers in superconducting thin films (2001)

A straightforward and cheap method for creating extended defects, strong pinning centers, in superconducting thin films is proposed. Clearly, by very short time (3–5 s) rf sputtering at suitable substrate temperatures, we deposited Ag nanodots on SrTiO3 substrates prior to the growth of superconducting thin films. The nanodots were studied by atomic force microscopy. Due to the lattice mismatch and/or chemical poisoning, on top of the nanodots the superconducting phase does not form, creating in this way extended and effective pinning centers which increase the critical current density of the film. The method was applied to (Cu, Tl)BaSrCa2Cu3Oy films grown by amorphous phase epitaxy. Thin films grown in similar conditions, with and without nanodots, were characterized by x-ray diffraction and ac susceptibility. The results show that the nanodots increased the critical current density more than one order of magnitude.
Real-time circumferential mapping catheter tracking for motion compensation in atrial fibrillation ablation procedures (2012)

Atrial fibrillation (AFib) has been identified as a major cause of stroke. Radiofrequency catheter ablation has become an increasingly important treatment option, especially when drug therapy fails. Navigation under X-ray can be enhanced by using augmented fluoroscopy. It renders overlay images from pre-operative 3-D data sets which are then fused with X-ray images to provide more details about the underlying soft-tissue anatomy. Unfortunately, these fluoroscopic overlay images are compromised by respiratory and cardiac motion. Various methods to deal with motion have been proposed. To meet clinical demands, they have to be fast. Methods providing a processing frame rate of 3 frames-per-second (fps) are considered suitable for interventional electrophysiology catheter procedures if an acquisition frame rate of 2 fps is used. Unfortunately, when working at a processing rate of 3 fps, the delay until the actual motion compensated image can be displayed is about 300 ms. More recent algorithms can achieve frame rates of up to 20 fps, which reduces the lag to 50 ms. By using a novel approach involving a 3-D catheter model, catheter segmentation and a distance transform, we can speed up motion compensation to 25 fps which results in a display delay of only 40 ms on a standard workstation for medical applications. Our method uses a constrained 2-D/3-D registration to perform catheter tracking, and it obtained a 2-D tracking error of 0.61 mm.
Methyl iodide: an alternative to methyl bromide for insectary fumigation (2000)

Methyl bromide is a powerful fumigant that has been widely used in soil, structural and commodity fumigations for many years. Because of its designation as an ozone‐depleting chemical and resulting federal and international laws, it is scheduled to be removed from production in the year 2001. In experiments testing the suitability of methyl iodide as a replacement chemical for insectary and quarantine fumigations, the chemical appears to be as effective or more effective than methyl bromide. Increased symptoms of plant toxicity to methyl iodide are evidenced only at concentrations above those required to kill insect pests.
Simultaneous processing of sound source separation and musical instrument identification using Bayesian spectral modeling (2011)

This paper presents a method of both separating audio mixtures into sound sources and identifying the musical instruments of the sources. A statistical tone model of the power spectrogram, called an integrated model, is defined and source separation and instrument identification are carried out on the basis of Bayesian inference. Since, the parameter distributions of the integrated model depend on each instrument, the instrument name is identified by selecting the one that has the maximum relative instrument weight. Experimental results showed correct instrument identification enables precise source separation even when many overtones overlap.
Molecular-targeted therapies for spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (2009)

Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is a polyglutamine-mediated lower motor neuron disease characterized by slowly progressive muscle weakness and atrophy. The cause of this disease is the expansion of a trinucleotide CAG repeat, which encodes the polyglutamine tract, within the first exon of the androgen receptor (AR) gene. SBMA exclusively occurs in adult males, whereas both heterozygous and homozygous females are usually asymptomatic. Testosterone-dependent nuclear accumulation of the pathogenic AR protein has been considered to be a fundamental step of neurodegenerative process, which is followed by several molecular events such as transcriptional dysregulation, axonal transport disruption, and mitochondria dysfunction. Androgen deprivation suppresses the toxicity of the mutant AR in animal models of SBMA, and these insights have been translated to clinic. Animal studies have also suggested that activation of protein quality control systems are potential therapies for SBMA. To optimize "proof of concept", the process for testing candidate therapies in humans, it is of importance to identify responders to each therapy, to initiate interventions in early stages of the disease, and to establish biomarkers which can be used for evaluating the efficacy of treatment.
A Mechanoluminescent ZnS:Cu/Rhodamine/SiO<sub>2</sub>/PDMS and Piezoresistive CNT/PDMS Hybrid Sensor: Red-Light Emission and a Standardized Strain Quantification (2016)

We developed a hybrid strain sensor by combining mechanoluminescent ZnS:Cu/rhodamine/SiO<sub>2</sub>/PDMS composites and piezoresistive CNT/PDMS for qualitative and quantitative analysis of onsite strain. The former guarantees a qualitative onsite measure of strain with red-light emission via mechanoluminescence (ML) and the latter takes part in accurate quantification of strain through the change in electrical resistance. The PDMS matrix enabled a strain sensing in a wider range of strain, spanning up to several hundred percent in comparison to the conventional rigid matrix composites and ceramic-based ML sensors. Red-light emission would be much more effective for the visualization of strain (or stress) when ML is used as a warning sign in actual applications such as social infrastructure safety diagnosis, emergency guide lighting, and more importantly, in biomedical applications such as in the diagnosis of motility and peristalsis disorders in the gastrointestinal tract. Despite the realization of an efficient red-light-emitting ML in a ZnS:Cu/rhodamine/SiO<sub>2</sub>/PDMS composite, the quantification and standardization of strain throughout the ML has been far from complete. In this regard, the piezoresistive CNT/PDMS compensated for this demerit of mechanoluminescent ZnS:Cu/rhodamine/SiO<sub>2</sub>/PDMS composites.
A self-heating cartridge for molecular diagnostics (2011)

A disposable, water-activated, self-heating, easy-to-use, polymeric cartridge for isothermal nucleic acid amplification and visual fluorescent detection of the amplification products is described. The device is self-contained and does not require any special instruments to operate. The cartridge integrates chemical, water-triggered, exothermic heating with temperature regulation facilitated with a phase-change material (PCM) and isothermal nucleic acid amplification. The water flows into the exothermic reactor by wicking through a porous paper. The porous paper's characteristics control the rate of water supply, which in turn controls the rate of exothermic reaction. The PCM material enables the cartridge to maintain a desired temperature independent of ambient temperatures in the range between 20 °C and 40 °C. The utility of the cartridge is demonstrated by amplifying and detecting Escherichia coli DNA with loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). The device can detect consistently as few as 10 target molecules in the sample. With proper modifications, the cartridge also can work with other isothermal nucleic acid amplification technologies for detecting nucleic acids associated with various pathogens borne in blood, saliva, urine, and other body fluids as well as in water and food. The device is suitable for use at home, in the field, and in poor-resource settings, where access to sophisticated laboratories is impractical, unaffordable, or nonexistent.
Efficient Fully Secure Leakage-Deterring Encryption. (2019)

Encryption is an indispensable tool for securing digital infra-structures as it reduces the problem of protecting the data to just protecting decryption keys. Unfortunately, this also makes it easier for users to share protected data by simply sharing decryption keys.
Finding probably better system configurations quickly (2006)

The performance of computer and communication systems can in theory be optimized by iteratively finding better system configurations. However, a bottleneck is the time required in simulations/experiments for finding a better system configuration in each iteration. We propose algorithms that quickly find a system configuration that is probably better than the "standard" system configuration, where the performance of a given system configuration is estimated via simulations or experiments. We prove that our algorithms make correct decisions with high probability, and various heuristics to reduce the total simulation time are proposed. Numerical experiments show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms, and this leads to several guidelines for designing efficient and reliable optimization procedures for the performance of computer and communication systems.
pH-Controlled Electrochemical Deposition of Polyelectrolyte Complex Films (2017)

Polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) films made from oppositely charged polymer chains have applications as drug-delivery vehicles, separation membranes, and biocompatible coatings. Conventional layer-by-layer techniques for polyelectrolyte coatings are low-throughput and multistep processes that are quite slow for building films on the order of micrometers. In this work, PEC films are electrochemically deposited using a rapid one-pot method, yielding thick (1 μm) films within short experimental time scales (5 min). This rapid electrodeposition is achieved by exploiting the reduction of hydrogen peroxide at mild electrode potentials that avoid water electrolysis yet trigger the pH-responsive self-assembly of a PEC film composed of poly(acrylic) acid and poly(allylamine) HCl. In situ rheology using an electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance quantified the shear modulus-density product of the deposited layer to be on the order of 10<sup>7</sup> Pa g/cm<sup>3</sup> at a frequency of 15 MHz, with a viscoelastic phase angle of approximately 50°. This electrodeposition scheme furthers the development of PEC coatings for more high-throughput applications, where a fast and efficient single-step approach would be desirable for obtaining coatings.
Two-Dimensional Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanosheet as the Planar-Alignment Agent in a Liquid Crystal-Based Electro-Optic Device (2019)

The planar-alignment agent in an electro-optic liquid crystal (LC) device plays an essential role for the LC’s electro-optical characteristics. Rubbed polyimide (PI) layers are conventionally used as the planar-alignment agent in traditional liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Here we experimentally demonstrate that the 2D hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheet can serve as the planar-alignment agent in an LC cell. This h-BN has higher chemical stability and more optical transparency than the PI layer. Two h-BN-covered indium tin oxide (ITO) glass slides (without any conventional PI layers) are placed together to fabricate an LC cell. A nematic LC inside this h-BN-based cell exhibits uniform planar-alignment—which is probed by a crossed polarized optical microscope. This planar-alignment at the molecular scale is achieved due to the coherent overlay of the benzene rings of the LC molecules on the hexagonal BN lattice. This h-BN-based LC cell shows the typical electro-optical effect when an electric field is applied via ITO electrodes. The dielectric measurement across this h-BN-based electro-optic cell shows a standard Freedericksz transition of the LC, confirming that the 2D h-BN, as the planar-alignment agent, supplies adequate anchoring energy—which can be overcome by the Freedericksz threshold voltage. Finally, we show that the h-BN-based LC cell exhibits more optical transparency than a regular PI alignment layer-based LC cell.
Complete information acquisition in dynamic force microscopy (2015)

Scanning probe microscopy has emerged as a primary tool for exploring and controlling the nanoworld. A critical part of scanning probe measurements is the information transfer from the tip-surface junction to the measurement system. This process reduces responses at multiple degrees of freedom of the probe to relatively few parameters recorded as images. Similarly, details of dynamic cantilever response at sub-microsecond time scales, higher-order eigenmodes and harmonics are lost by transitioning to the millisecond time scale of pixel acquisition. Hence, information accessible to the operator is severely limited, and its selection is biased by data processing methods. Here we report a fundamentally new approach for dynamic Atomic Force Microscopy imaging based on information-theory analysis of the data stream from the detector. This approach allows full exploration of complex tip-surface interactions, spatial mapping of multidimensional variability of material's properties and their mutual interactions, and imaging at the information channel capacity limit.
Reflectarray with variable slots on ground plane (2003)

A reflectarray structure based on a planar aperture coupled antenna configuration is presented. The required phase shift at each position on the reflectarray surface is obtained by varying the aperture slot length on the ground plane, which is used to load microstrip patches on the top layer. The gain and frequency bandwidth for three new configurations are presented and compared to the reflectarray with variable patches.
Highly Sensitive Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Substrate Made from Superaligned Carbon Nanotubes (2010)

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has attracted wide attention because it can enhance normally weak Raman signal by several orders of magnitude and facilitate the sensitive detection of molecules. Conventional SERS substrates are constructed by placing metal nanoparticles on a planar surface. Here we show that, if the planar surface was substituted by a unique nanoporous surface, the enhancement effect can be dramatically improved. The nanoporous surface can be easily fabricated in batches and at low costs by cross stacking superaligned carbon nanotube films. The as-prepared transparent and freestanding SERS substrate is capable of detecting ambient trinitrotoluene vapor, showing much higher Raman enhancement than ordinary planar substrates because of the extremely large surface area and the unique zero-dimensional at one-dimensional nanostructure. These results not only provide a new approach to ultrasensitive SERS substrates, but also are helpful for improving the fundamental understanding of SERS phenomena.
Note: Electroplating process for connectorizing superconducting NbTi cables (2018)

Experiments done at cryogenic temperatures below the 4.2 K temperature of liquid helium frequently require superconducting coaxial cables to efficiently transmit high-frequency signals while minimizing heat transfer to the experiment's cold stage. These cables are often made of niobium-titanium (NbTi) alloy which is difficult to solder directly. This note describes a new electroplating procedure for plating NbTi coax directly with copper, which enables connector attachment matching the structural and electrical properties of standard coaxial cables. Here, a cable is first electrochemically coated with a thin oxide layer and then electroplated with copper in an acidic copper sulfate solution. The procedure has modest safety requirements and may be carried out in a standard vented laboratory fume hood.
Characterization of a micro-crystalline zeolite: ECR-1 (1988)

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is an important component of the extracellular matrix of prostate cells. Platelet-derived growth factor bb (PDGFbb) has a mitogenic effect on prostate stromal cells. The effect of PDGFbb on HA production by smooth muscle cells from normal and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) tissue was studied to elucidate the role of these two factors in BPH. The basal level of HA released into the cell media was greater in BPH cells. PDGFbb increases HA production in normal and BPH smooth muscle cells. This is partly due to an increase in HA synthetase II mRNA expression. In prostate disease, PDGFbb may have a role that involves HA production.