gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Versatile and efficient pore network extraction method using marker-based watershed segmentation (2017)

Obtaining structural information from tomographic images of porous materials is a critical component of porous media research. Extracting pore networks is particularly valuable since it enables pore network modeling simulations which can be useful for a host of tasks from predicting transport properties to simulating performance of entire devices. This work reports an efficient algorithm for extracting networks using only standard image analysis techniques. The algorithm was applied to several standard porous materials ranging from sandstone to fibrous mats, and in all cases agreed very well with established or known values for pore and throat sizes, capillary pressure curves, and permeability. In the case of sandstone, the present algorithm was compared to the network obtained using the current state-of-the-art algorithm, and very good agreement was achieved. Most importantly, the network extracted from an image of fibrous media correctly predicted the anisotropic permeability tensor, demonstrating the critical ability to detect key structural features. The highly efficient algorithm allows extraction on fairly large images of 500^{3} voxels in just over 200 s. The ability for one algorithm to match materials as varied as sandstone with 20% porosity and fibrous media with 75% porosity is a significant advancement. The source code for this algorithm is provided.
Design of a Surface Alloy Catalyst for Steam Reforming (1998)

Detailed studies of elementary chemical processes on well-characterized single crystal surfaces have contributed substantially to the understanding of heterogeneous catalysis. Insight into the structure of surface alloys combined with an understanding of the relation between the surface composition and reactivity is shown to lead directly to new ideas for catalyst design. The feasibility of such an approach is illustrated by the synthesis, characterization, and tests of a high-surface area gold-nickel catalyst for steam reforming.
Effect of fluvastatin and pravastatin, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, on fluconazole activity against Candida albicans (2002)

Synergy between fluvastatin, at clinically unachievable concentrations, and fluconazole against Candida albicans has been reported. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the in-vitro activity of fluconazole alone and in combination with clinically achievable concentrations of pravastatin and fluvastatin against C. albicans. In-vitro susceptibility and synergy testing were performed against clinical isolates of C. albicans with fluconazole, pravastatin and fluvastatin. Both checkerboard method and time-kill studies were performed. MICs for fluconazole ranged from 0.5 (susceptible) to >256 mg/L (resistant) at 24 h. All isolates had MICs >2 mg/L for both statins. No synergy or antagonism was observed with fluconazole in combination with either agent against any isolate of C. albicans by the checkerboard assay or time-kill studies. Clinically achievable concentrations of pravastatin and fluvastatin did not affect the in-vitro activity of fluconazole against C. albicans.
Micro politics and micro firms: a case study of tourism policy formation and change (2006)

Purpose This paper aims to examine the extent to which micro businesses in tourism might influence the process of tourism policy formation and change in urban settings. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual framework that considers the motivations to participate in the policy‐making process and the resources needed to influence policy change informs a case study of micro businesses in Saltaire, UK. Findings The paper argues that, although the propensity of local micro firms to influence the local political agenda will be affected by structural considerations that manifest themselves differently from place to place, it is possible to identify key conditions that will need to be present if such enterprises are to challenge the power of other local interests. Originality/value The paper begins to redress the imbalance in the literature that has neglected micro business participation in policy formation and change.
Can the use of different parameters and waveforms improve the results of intravesical electrical stimulation: A pilot study in the rat (2008)

Sawtooth pulses are equally effective as square pulses for inducing detrusor contraction during IVES with the same electric charge. Frequency and pulse duration had, in this study, a minor influence on the efficacy of IVES. Lower frequency and/or shorter pulse duration results in lower charge and power without changing stimulation efficacy. This finding can be important for the battery life of implanted stimulators and for patient's comfort.
Regioselective Cyanide Ring Opening of C2 Symmetric Bis-Aziridines by Cyanide (1995)

The ring-opening of conformationally flexible D-mannitol derived bis-aziridines by cyanide is highly dependent on the reagent and catalytic activation. Cleavage by Me3SiCN under Yb(CN)3 catalysis gives a bis β-aminonitrile of C2 symmetry, ring-opening with NaCN yields a polyhydroxylated pyrrolidine of D-gluco configuration, whereas the Et2AlCN mediated reaction leads to a cyano substituted piperidine of D-manno configuration in addition to the latter azafuranose.
Monolithic integration of near-infrared Ge photodetectors with Si complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor readout electronics (2002)

Using a low-temperature technology for polycrystalline Ge deposition, we report on the monolithic integration of an array of near-infrared Ge photodiodes on Si complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) electronics. The integrated microsystem consists of a linear array of 120×120 μm2 pixels, an analog CMOS multiplexer and a transimpedance amplifier. The resulting photoresponse covers the near-infrared up to 1.6 μm.
43.1: A New 42‐in. AC PDP Using MAoD II Driving Scheme (2001)

Abstract We present a new prototype 42″PDP using Samsung SDI's MAoD II driving scheme (Multiple Addressing with Overlapping Display period) suited for a high‐resolution PDP. We used the commercial driver IC's to implement the entire parts of driving system and achieved the luminance of 600 cd/m 2 with a single scan addressing method with the advantage of space charge priming. It also adopted 14 sub‐fields in order to reduce the dynamic false contour.
Increased Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells in Gastric Cancer Correlate with Cancer Stage and Plasma S100A8/A9 Proinflammatory Proteins (2012)

Immune dysfunction may contribute to tumor progression in gastric cancer (GC) patients. One mechanism of immune dysfunction is the suppression of T cell activation and impairment of the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy by myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). We assessed the phenotype and immunosuppressive function of MDSCs in GC patients. We further investigated the role of S100A8/A9 in GC and the relationship between S100A8/A9 and MDSC function. Lastly, the effect of MDSCs on survival rates and its potential as a prognostic factor in GC patients were investigated. MDSCs from PBMCs of GC patients were identified by comparing the expression of specific surface markers with PBMCs from healthy individuals. The ability of MDSCs to suppress T lymphocyte response and the effect of S100A8/A9 and RAGE blocking were tested in vitro by (autologous) MLR. GC patients had significantly more MDSCs than healthy individuals. These MDSCs suppressed both T lymphocyte proliferation and IFN-γ production and had high arginase-I expression. Levels of S100A8/A9 in plasma were higher in GC patients compared with healthy individuals, and they correlated with MDSC levels in the blood. Blocking of S100A8/A9 itself and the S100A8/A9 receptor RAGE on MDSCs from GC patients abrogated T cell effector function. We found that high levels of MDSCs correlated with more advanced cancer stage and with reduced survival (p = 0.006). S100A8/A9 has been identified as a potential target to modulate antitumor immunity by reversing MDSC-mediated immunosuppression.
An electromagnetic trinity from "negative permittivity" and "negative permeability" (2001)

An electromagnetic trinity comprising vacuum, anti--vacuum, and nihility is postulated -- after making use of materials with "negative permittivity" and "negative permeability" -- to illuminate the structure of electromagnetic theory, at least insofar as the relationship of phase velocity with Poynting vector is concerned.
Dielectric tunable properties of low dielectric constant Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3–Mg2TiO4 microwave composite ceramics (2007)

Ba 0.5 Sr 0.5 Ti O 3 – Mg 2 Ti O 4 composite ceramics are fabricated via the conventional solid-state reaction method. The microstructures, dielectric tunability, and microwave properties of composite ceramics are investigated. The dielectric constant is tailored from 335 to 35 by manipulating the addition of Mg2TiO4 from 50% to 80% weight ratio and the tunability is 10.8% measured at 10kHz for the 80% Mg2TiO4 addition. The composite ceramics with high Q value (&gt;200) at L band are useful for potential tunable microwave device applications in the wireless communication system.
Assessment of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced cardiotoxicity (2013)

Analysis of various clinical, preclinical, meta-analysis and observational studies showed that coxibs and tNSAIDs increase the risk of cardiotoxicity. Cardiotoxic risk depends on dose, duration and frequency of NSAID administration. Most studies were based on large medical databases with miscellaneous populations and pointed to an increase risk of cardiotoxicity under NSAID medication. The cardiotoxicity associated with use of NSAIDs might be due to inhibition of prostacyclin synthesis, oxidative stress, increase in blood pressure and impaired endothelial function.
Magnetic Stimulation and Depression of Mammalian Networks in Primary Neuronal Cell Cultures (2009)

For transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), the coupling of induced electric fields with neurons in gray matter is not well understood. There is little information on optimal stimulation parameters and on basic cellular mechanisms. For this reason, magnetic stimulation of spontaneously active neuronal networks, grown on microelectrode arrays in culture, was employed as a test environment. This allowed use of smaller coils and the continual monitoring of network action potential (AP) activity before, during, and for long periods after stimulation. Biphasic, rectangular, and 500 micros long pulses were used at mean pulse frequencies (MPFs) ranging from 3 to 100 Hz on both spinal cord (SC) and frontal cortex (FC) cultures. Contrary to stimulation of organized fiber bundles, APs were not elicited directly. Responses were predominantly inhibitory, dose dependent, with onset times between 10 s and several minutes. Spinal networks showed a greater sensitivity to activity suppression. Under pharmacological disinhibition, some excitation was seen at low pulse frequencies. FC cultures showed greater excitatory responses than SC networks. The observed primary inhibitory responses imply interference with synaptic exocytosis mechanisms. With 20,000 pulses at 10 Hz, 40% inhibition was maintained for over 30 min with full recovery, suggesting possible application to nonchemical, noninvasive pain management.
Liquid Core Optical Fibers in Raman Spectroscopy (1981)

Raman spectra of samples contained in hollow quartz fibers are compared quantitatively to conventional Raman spectra using identical laser, spectrometer, detector, and scan speed. We find the fiber signal to be enhanced by a factor of 250/m of fiber, in good agreement with calculations based on geometrical optics. A fiber spectrum of 2 mol% trans-stilbene in benzene is good enough to allow essentially perfect solvent subtraction.
Guarded Types for Program Understanding (2005)

Abstract. Weakly-typed languages such as Cobol often force programmers to represent distinct data abstractions using the same low-level physical type. In this paper, we describe a technique to recover implicitlydefined data abstractions from programs using type inference. We present a novel system of guarded types, a path-sensitive algorithm for inferring guarded types for Cobol programs, and a semantic characterization of correct guarded typings. The results of our inference technique can be used to enhance program understanding for legacy applications, and to enable a number of type-based program transformations. 1
A novel conflict detection and resolution strategy based on TLRSP in replicated mobile database systems (2001)

Replication is one of the key technologies in promoting the performance of mobile database systems. In this paper, a novel mobile database replication scheme, the transaction-level result-set propagation (TLRSP) model, is put forward. A conflict detection and resolution strategy based on TLRSP is discussed in detail and its implementation algorithm is proposed. In the TLRSP model, mobile users are allowed to access local replicas of the database and to submit local transactions when the system is disconnected. The locally committed transactions are sent to a fixed database server for conflict reconciliation and result-set incorporation when the system is reconnected. The TLRSP model uses the incremental refreshing method to synchronize database replicas and to maintain the consistency of the replicated mobile database system.
A detailed experimental study of the wet oxidation kinetics of Al<i>x</i>Ga1−<i>x</i>As layers (1995)

We have studied the oxidation in water vapor of thick (0.5–2 μm) AlGaAs layers with aluminum contents ranging from 48% to 78% grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The oxidation rate was measured as a function of the aluminum content, the temperature and the flow rate of the N2 carrier gas supplying the water vapor. The oxide films proved to be mechanically very stable and the growth was found to be linear with time also in the case of an excessive supply of water vapor. The activation energies for the wet oxidation of AlGaAs were determined to increase from 1.1 to 1.8 eV for the Al contents decreasing from 78% to 48%.
Photocatalytic Property and Electronic Structure of Lanthanide Tantalates, LnTaO<sub>4</sub> (Ln = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Sm) (2001)

Photocatalytic activity of lanthanide tantalates, LnTaO4 (Ln = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Sm), for water splitting was studied in connection to the effect of Ln 4f levels on the electronic structure. Valence band XPS, UV−vis, and first-principle electronic calculations suggested that the position of Ln 4f levels becomes lowered monotonically across the series of Ln. The empty La 4f level is supposed to be higher than the conduction band edge, whereas the filled 4f levels of the Nd and Sm compounds lie in the valence band. For Ln = Ce and Pr, occupied 4f levels lying within the forbidden gap lead to the lower band gaps (Eg) compared to others. The highest photocatalytic activity was attained by LaTaO4, which solely can decompose water into stoichiometric H2/O2 mixtures. This is largely due to the overlap between Ta 5d and O 2p orbitals, which produces a wide density-of-states distribution in the conduction band. On the other hand, the tantalates containing from one (Ce3+) to five (Sm3+) 4f electrons were much less active, because unoccupied 4f levels lying on or below the conduction band edge would play as a trapping center for photoexcited electrons. The interactions between the empty and filled Ln 4f levels and carriers generated under UV irradiation are possible reasons for the Ln-dependent photocatalytic activity.
A parylene MEMS flow sensing array (2004)

We have demonstrated the first parylene MEMS thermal sensor array capable of detecting small flows down to 0.5 /spl mu/l/min. The device is fabricated using low-temperature parylene/platinum technology and consists of metallic sensors suspended on a membrane over a bulk micromachined silicon channel. For the first time, insightful results from three different methods of flow sensing using a single device are studied and compared. Multi-mode testing using hot film, calorimetric, and time-of-flight techniques at low overheat ratios has been performed. Thus, this device is biocompatible in both construction and operation.
The homeodomain protein IPF-1/STF-1 is expressed in a subset of islet cells and promotes rat insulin 1 gene expression dependent on an intact E1 helix-loop-helix factor binding site (1995)

The mouse homeodomain protein insulin promoter factor-1 (IPF-1) and the rat homologue somatostatin transactivating factor-1 (STF-1) are involved in early pancreatic development and have been implicated in the cell-specific regulation of insulin- and somatostatin-gene expression in mature islet beta- and delta-cells. The cell specificity of IPF-1/STF-1 expression in mature islets is, however, still unclear. Using antisera against recombinant IPF-1 and STF-1 in combination with antisera against islet hormones we find that all beta-cells in monolayers of newborn rat islet cells express STF-1, as do a fraction of the delta-cells. In adult rat and mouse pancreas we find a similar distribution. IPF-1/STF-1 expression was not detected in glucagon-producing alpha-cells. In islet cell tumour models we found that a glucagon/islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP)-producing pluripotent rat islet cell line (NHI-6F-GLU) expresses STF-1 in all cells prior to insulin gene activation induced by in vivo culture. In contrast, a mouse alpha-cell line (alpha TC1) exclusively expressed IPF-1 in a small subset of insulin-producing cells while an insulin-negative subclone (alpha TC1.9) was negative for IPF-1. In transfection experiments using alpha TC1.9 cells STF-1 activated a rat insulin 1 reporter gene dependent not only on both STF-1-binding sites, but also on the E1-binding site for the helix-loop-helix factor IEF-1. However, the endogenous mouse insulin genes remained inactive in these cells. These results suggest that the insulin promoter acquires its very high, yet cell-specific, activity at least partly through the action of IPF-1/STF-1. This action is dependent on helix-loop-helix factors bound to the E1 element.
Unraveling the Voltage-Fade Mechanism in High-Energy-Density Lithium-Ion Batteries: Origin of the Tetrahedral Cations for Spinel Conversion (2014)

High-voltage layered lithium- and manganese-rich (LMR) oxides have the potential to dramatically enhance the energy density of current Li-ion energy storage systems. However, these materials are currently not used commonly; one reason is their inability to maintain a consistent voltage profile (voltage fade) during electrochemical cycling. This report rationalizes the cause of this voltage fade by providing evidence of layered to spinel (LS) structural evolution pathways in the host Li1.2Mn0.55Ni0.15Co0.1O2 oxide. By employing neutron powder diffraction, we show that LS structural rearrangement in the LMR oxide occurs through a tetrahedral cation intermediate via the following: (i) diffusion of lithium atoms from octahedral to tetrahedral sites of the lithium layer [(LiLioct → LiLitet] which is followed by the dispersal of the lithium ions from the adjacent octahedral site of the metal layer to the tetrahedral sites of lithium layer [LiTMoct → LiLitet]; (ii) migration of Mn from the octahedral sites of the transition-metal layer to the “permanent” octahedral site of lithium layer via tetrahedral site of lithium layer [MnTMoct → MnLitet → MnLioct)]. These findings open the door to potential routes to mitigate this “atomic restructuring” in the high-voltage LMR composite oxide by manipulating their composition/structure for practical use in high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries.
Multiresolution iterative reconstruction in high-resolution extremity cone-beam CT (2016)

Application of model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) to high resolution cone-beam CT (CBCT) is computationally challenging because of the very fine discretization (voxel size <100 µm) of the reconstructed volume. Moreover, standard MBIR techniques require that the complete transaxial support for the acquired projections is reconstructed, thus precluding acceleration by restricting the reconstruction to a region-of-interest. To reduce the computational burden of high resolution MBIR, we propose a multiresolution penalized-weighted least squares (PWLS) algorithm, where the volume is parameterized as a union of fine and coarse voxel grids as well as selective binning of detector pixels. We introduce a penalty function designed to regularize across the boundaries between the two grids. The algorithm was evaluated in simulation studies emulating an extremity CBCT system and in a physical study on a test-bench. Artifacts arising from the mismatched discretization of the fine and coarse sub-volumes were investigated. The fine grid region was parameterized using 0.15 mm voxels and the voxel size in the coarse grid region was varied by changing a downsampling factor. No significant artifacts were found in either of the regions for downsampling factors of up to 4×. For a typical extremities CBCT volume size, this downsampling corresponds to an acceleration of the reconstruction that is more than five times faster than a brute force solution that applies fine voxel parameterization to the entire volume. For certain configurations of the coarse and fine grid regions, in particular when the boundary between the regions does not cross high attenuation gradients, downsampling factors as high as 10× can be used without introducing artifacts, yielding a ~50× speedup in PWLS. The proposed multiresolution algorithm significantly reduces the computational burden of high resolution iterative CBCT reconstruction and can be extended to other applications of MBIR where computationally expensive, high-fidelity forward models are applied only to a sub-region of the field-of-view.
Novel strategy for wafer-induced shift (WIS) (2002)

Alignment error that originates in the actual wafer process is one of the factors that deteriorates total overlay accuracy. This error is known as wafer induced shift (WIS). WIS occurs through a change of alignment mark topography during the actual wafer processing. To reduce this error, we propose a tool that will simulate an alignment offset generated by WIS. We have called this tool the Alignment Offset Analyzer. The Alignment Offset Analyzer consists of a profiler for measuring the alignment mark topography and a simulator that simulates the alignment offset. By using the Alignment Offset Analyzer, we simulate the alignment signals from a Tungsten chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) wafer. The simulated alignment signals have an asymmetric shape due to the wafer processing. With these signals, the alignment offset caused by WIS can be estimated prior to the exposure sequence.