Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, characterized by its dense clustering of casino resorts, luxury hotels, restaurants, and performance venues that form a major global entertainment district.[1][2] Situated within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester adjacent to—but technically outside—the Las Vegas city limits, the Strip functions under Clark County jurisdiction and represents the economic core of the Las Vegas Valley's tourism sector.[3] Its iconic neon signage and architectural spectacles, including themed mega-resorts like the Bellagio and Venetian, draw tens of millions of visitors annually, fueling Nevada's gaming and hospitality industries.[4][2] Originally a desert highway developed in the 1940s with pioneering casinos such as the Flamingo, the Strip transitioned from early associations with organized crime figures to regulated, corporate dominance by the 1990s, amid ongoing debates over urban sprawl, traffic congestion, and social costs like problem gambling.[5] Urban legend attributes its naming to Los Angeles police vice squad captain Guy McAfee in the 1930s, reflecting its roots in illicit entertainment migration from California.[5] Despite lacking a strict official boundary, its boundaries are conventionally marked from the Stratosphere at the north end to Mandalay Bay at the south, underscoring its role as a self-contained spectacle economy rather than a formally delimited zone.[6]Places
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip refers to the approximately 4.2-mile (6.8 km) stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South, primarily in the unincorporated Clark County communities of Paradise and Winchester, Nevada, immediately south of Las Vegas city limits.[1] [7] This corridor lacks a formal legal definition but is conventionally bounded on the north by Sahara Avenue and on the south by the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign near Russell Road, featuring high-rise resort hotels, casinos, and entertainment venues that form a major tourist district.[8] The area's extraterritorial location outside city jurisdiction facilitated early gambling development, as Nevada legalized casino gaming statewide in 1931 but local ordinances initially restricted it within municipal boundaries.[9] Development began in the late 1930s amid post-Depression recovery and proximity to Hoover Dam construction labor, with the first resort casino, El Rancho Vegas, opening on April 3, 1941, under developer Thomas Hull, offering 63 rooms and a casino floor that drew Los Angeles visitors via improved highways.[9] The pivotal Flamingo Hotel and Casino followed in December 1946, financed by organized crime figure Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, introducing luxury amenities like a 250-room hotel and establishing the mega-resort model despite initial financial losses leading to Siegel's murder in 1947.[10] Post-World War II expansion accelerated with mob-backed properties such as the Desert Inn (1950), Sands (1952), and Stardust (1958), which capitalized on air travel growth and atomic testing spectacles to attract crowds, though federal investigations in the 1950s prompted corporate buyouts by firms like Howard Hughes' Summa Corporation in 1969, shifting control from underworld influences.[9] By the 1990s, themed mega-resorts like the Mirage (1989), Treasure Island (1993), and Bellagio (1998) redefined the Strip with family-oriented spectacles, while the 2000s brought CityCenter (2009) and the Harmon Tower integration into larger complexes.[9] Prominent landmarks include the Bellagio's choreographed fountains, operational since 1998 and performing every 15-30 minutes evenings, drawing millions annually; Caesars Palace, opened in 1966 with its Roman-themed architecture and hosting boxing events since Muhammad Ali's 1978 "Thrilla in Manila" rematch site; and the Venetian, debuting in 1999 with indoor canals replicating Venice.[11] Other icons encompass the Eiffel Tower replica at Paris Las Vegas (opened 1999), the High Roller observation wheel at The LINQ Promenade (2014), and the Sphere, a $2.3 billion spherical venue for immersive concerts and events since September 2023.[12] These properties, totaling over 30 major resorts, house more than 150,000 hotel rooms and dominate Nevada's gaming revenue, with Strip casinos accounting for about 60% of the state's $15.76 billion gross gaming revenue in fiscal year 2024.[13] The Strip drives Southern Nevada's tourism economy, generating $51.5 billion in direct visitor spending and $85.2 billion in total economic impact in 2023, supporting over 400,000 jobs amid 40.8 million visitors that year, rising to 41.7 million in 2024 despite seasonal fluctuations from events like the Formula 1 Grand Prix (introduced 2023).[14] [13] Conventions and conventions via the adjacent Las Vegas Convention Center amplify activity, though reliance on discretionary spending exposes it to recessions and competition from destinations like Macau, with Strip gaming win flat or declining in early 2025 per Nevada Gaming Control Board reports.[15] Infrastructure challenges, including traffic congestion on the six-lane boulevard and pedestrian overcrowding, have prompted monorail expansions and overhead sky bridges since the 1990s.[16]Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip refers to the approximately 1.7-mile (2.7 km) section of Sunset Boulevard running through West Hollywood, California, from Crescent Heights Boulevard on the east to Doheny Drive on the west.[17] This corridor emerged as a nightlife hub during the Prohibition era of the 1920s, when speakeasies and gambling establishments proliferated along its length, attracting Hollywood elites and establishing its reputation as a glamorous entertainment district.[18] By the mid-20th century, it had solidified as a center for celebrity culture, with venues like Ciro's nightclub opening in 1940 and hosting performers such as Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack.[19] The Strip's music scene gained prominence in the 1960s, fueled by the opening of Whisky a Go Go in 1964, which introduced go-go dancing and hosted early performances by acts like The Doors and Janis Joplin.[20] A 10 p.m. curfew imposed on minors in 1966 sparked protests and riots, immortalized in Buffalo Springfield's song "For What It's Worth," drawing national attention to the area's youth counterculture.[21] The 1970s and 1980s marked a peak with the rise of glam and hair metal, as clubs like The Roxy (opened 1973) and the Rainbow Bar & Grill became incubators for bands including Mötley Crüe, Poison, and Guns N' Roses, whose debuts and excesses defined the era's hedonistic rock lifestyle.[22][23] The scene declined sharply in the late 1980s and 1990s due to shifting musical tastes toward grunge and alternative rock, stricter city regulations on noise and overcrowding, and the AIDS crisis impacting the nightlife community, leading to club closures like Gazzarri's in 1990.[24] Efforts at revival in the 2000s included renovations and events, but the Strip transitioned from a live music epicenter to a tourist draw emphasizing its historical landmarks, such as the Viper Room (site of River Phoenix's 1993 death) and iconic billboards.[25] As of 2025, the Sunset Strip sustains a mixed economy of hospitality, retail, and heritage tourism, with hotels like the Sunset Tower and guided rock history tours contributing to West Hollywood's visitor appeal, though broader Los Angeles tourism has faced declines amid economic pressures and reduced international arrivals.[26][27] Venues continue to host occasional concerts and events, preserving its legacy as a symbol of Los Angeles rock excess while adapting to contemporary entertainment trends.[28]Other Notable Strips
The Strip District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a prominent historic neighborhood renowned for its wholesale produce markets, ethnic grocers, specialty food vendors, and evolving nightlife scene. Stretching approximately 1.5 miles along the Allegheny River from 11th Street to 33rd Street, it features key thoroughfares such as Penn Avenue, Smallman Street, and Penn Avenue Place, which host a mix of traditional merchants selling fresh seafood, meats, cheeses, and international ingredients alongside modern breweries and restaurants.[29][30] Originally developed in the 19th century as an industrial warehouse zone supporting Pittsburgh's steel and manufacturing economy, with numerous mills and factories lining the riverfront, the area transitioned post-World War II into a bustling food market district as wholesale operations shifted from rail to truck transport. By the late 20th century, deindustrialization led to a period of decline, but revitalization efforts since the 1990s have transformed it into a hybrid commercial and cultural hub, attracting tech firms, art galleries, and high-end dining while preserving its market heritage through venues like the Pittsburgh Public Market.[31][32] Today, the Strip District draws locals and tourists for its authentic, unpretentious atmosphere, with standout features including street vendors offering Pennsylvania Macaroni Company's imported Italian goods since 1902 and Wholey's Fish Market, operational since 1914 and supplying fresh catches daily. Nightlife includes bars and clubs in repurposed warehouses, contributing to an annual economic impact exceeding $100 million from food-related sales alone, though challenges like gentrification and parking shortages persist amid ongoing development.[33][34]Arts and Entertainment
Comic Strips
A comic strip consists of a sequence of illustrated panels arranged horizontally or vertically to narrate a short story, often humorous or satirical, typically published in newspapers or magazines.[35] These strips usually feature recurring characters and gags, with each installment designed for standalone consumption while building continuity over time.[36] The origins of modern newspaper comic strips trace to the late 19th century in the United States, amid the rise of mass-circulation dailies and color printing supplements. Richard F. Outcault's Hogan's Alley, featuring the character Mickey Dugan (known as the Yellow Kid), debuted as a full-color Sunday strip in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World on May 5, 1895, marking the first consistent use of sequential panels for serialized humor in American newspapers.[37] [38] The strip's success, driven by its bold yellow nightshirt and urban slang, fueled circulation wars with William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal, which poached Outcault in 1896, leading to parallel versions and the term "yellow journalism."[37] Earlier precursors existed, such as Rodolphe Töpffer's sequential illustrated stories in the 1830s and Wilhelm Busch's German picture stories in the 1850s, but these lacked the daily newspaper format that defined the American comic strip.[36] By the early 20th century, comic strips proliferated in dedicated "funnies" sections, with syndication firms like the Chicago Tribune Syndicate (founded 1910s) distributing strips nationally to boost newspaper sales.[39] Strips evolved from single-gag formats to multi-panel narratives, including adventure serials in the 1930s like Buck Rogers (1929 debut) and Dick Tracy (1931), which introduced ongoing plots and cliffhangers.[40] Post-World War II, family-oriented humor dominated, exemplified by Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz, which launched October 2, 1950, and ran until 2000, reaching over 2,600 newspapers at its peak and influencing global pop culture through characters like Charlie Brown and Snoopy.[41] Other enduring examples include Blondie (1930 debut, still syndicated) and Garfield (1978), which by the 1980s generated merchandise revenues exceeding $1 billion annually.[41] Comic strips faced decline in print due to falling newspaper circulation, from 62 million daily U.S. readers in 1990 to under 30 million by 2020, prompting adaptation to digital formats.[42] Syndicates like King Features transitioned to online platforms, while webcomics emerged in the 1990s, bypassing print gatekeepers; early examples include Pogo archives digitized in the late 1980s and independent sites like xkcd (2005 debut), which amassed millions of readers without traditional syndication.[43] By 2024, webcomics and vertical-scroll formats like webtoons had surpassed print in audience size, with platforms hosting over 100,000 creators and generating ad revenues in the hundreds of millions.[42] This shift reflects broader media fragmentation, though legacy strips persist via apps and archives, preserving the form's role in visual storytelling.[44]Films and Television
The Strip (1951) is an American film noir directed by László Kardos, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on September 19, 1951. It stars Mickey Rooney as Stanley Maxton, a jazz drummer relocating to Las Vegas with ambitions to open a nightclub, who becomes entangled in gambling debts and a murder investigation after associating with a racketeer. The film features Sally Forrest as his romantic interest and William Demarest in a supporting role, emphasizing themes of corruption on the Las Vegas Strip.[45] Strip (2020), an independent drama written and directed by Mark McNairy, follows Arielle, a young woman recruited to work as a stripper in Las Vegas to cover her father's medical expenses. Starring Miracle Sims in the lead role, the film explores personal struggles amid the city's nightlife, receiving mixed reviews with an IMDb rating of 3.8/10 based on limited audience feedback.[46] In television, 77 Sunset Strip (1958–1964) is a Warner Bros. detective series airing on ABC, centered on private investigators operating from an office on Los Angeles' Sunset Strip. Created by Roy Huggins, it starred Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Stu Bailey and Roger Smith as Jeff Spencer, blending crime-solving with the era's Hollywood glamour over six seasons and 144 episodes. The show popularized the Sunset Strip's cultural allure, featuring guest stars like Louis Armstrong. The Strip (1999–2000), an UPN action drama created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, depicts undercover vice detectives combating crime on the Las Vegas Strip. Running for one season with 10 episodes, it starred Sean Patrick Flanery and Jamie Denton, focusing on high-stakes operations amid casino vice and organized crime. Reality series like Strip (2023) on Paramount+ provide unscripted glimpses into professional stripping at Las Vegas' Crazy Horse III club, following dancers' onstage and backstage lives over multiple episodes. The program highlights the industry's economics and personal dynamics without scripted narratives.Music
"Strip" is the title of English musician Adam Ant's second solo studio album, released on November 7, 1983, by Epic Records. Produced by Ant and Phil Collins in parts, the record incorporates new wave, pop rock, and glam influences, spanning 17 tracks including the title song "Strip," "Libertine," and "Puss 'n Boots." It marked a stylistic shift from Ant's earlier punk-oriented work with Adam and the Ants, emphasizing theatrical and erotic themes reflective of his persona. The album received mixed reviews for its eclectic production but achieved moderate commercial success, peaking at number 65 on the UK Albums Chart.[47][48] In 2011, American singer Chris Brown released "Strip," an R&B track featuring rapper Kevin McCall, initially appearing on Brown's mixtape Boy in Detention on August 4. Co-written by Brown and McCall with production by Tha Bizness, the song lyrically depicts seduction in a strip club setting and was later issued as a single in October 2011 under RCA Records. Its explicit content and club-oriented beat contributed to its popularity in urban radio formats.[49][50] British girl group Little Mix issued "Strip" featuring American rapper Sharaya J on November 16, 2018, as the closing track on their fifth studio album LM5, released by Syco Music. Written by group members alongside Sharaya J, Camille Purcell, and producer Chris Loco, the pop song advocates shedding superficial judgments and embracing natural self-image, with lyrics emphasizing removal of makeup and societal expectations. It aligns with the album's themes of empowerment and received positive fan reception for its stripped-back production and message of authenticity.[51]Performing Arts
Striptease and Erotic Dancing
Striptease constitutes an erotic performance wherein a dancer progressively disrobes to accompanying music, employing seductive movements to elicit sexual arousal from spectators.[52] The term "striptease" originated in 1935 as a portmanteau of "strip" and "tease," denoting a deliberate, gradual undressing distinct from abrupt nudity.[53] Erotic dancing, by contrast, encompasses a wider array of sensual dances intended to provoke sexual stimulation, which may incorporate stripping but often emphasizes rhythmic body movements, contact with props like poles, or proximity to patrons without mandatory disrobing. Historical precedents for undressing in performance appear in ancient civilizations, such as ritualistic nude dances in Greece and Rome, though these lacked the structured teasing central to modern striptease.[54] The form crystallized in the United States during the 1920s, evolving from burlesque, carnival, and bordello acts where partial undressing transitioned from comedic mishaps to intentional erotic spectacles amid Prohibition-era speakeasies and urban nightlife.[55] By the 1930s, performers like Gypsy Rose Lee refined striptease into a narrative-driven art, blending wit, lighting, and slow reveals—earning her fame through Broadway and films, with routines that halted just short of full nudity to evade censorship.[56] Post-World War II developments saw striptease integrate into gentlemen's clubs, with innovators like Lili St. Cyr introducing elaborate bathtub reveals and silk gown peels in the 1940s and 1950s, elevating technical precision and theatricality.[56] Sally Rand popularized fan and bubble dances at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, using props to imply nudity while complying with laws, thus pioneering veiled eroticism.[56] Erotic dancing expanded in the 1960s-1970s with "go-go" clubs featuring continuous motion on platforms, shifting emphasis from tease to sustained exposure.[57] Contemporary erotic dancing frequently features pole work, which traces to 1980s-1990s instruction in North American strip clubs, adapting acrobatic elements from earlier "hoochie coochie" dances for vertical apparatus to enhance visual allure and physical demands.[58] These performances occur predominantly in licensed venues generating substantial revenue—U.S. gentlemen's clubs, where such acts prevail, reached $38.3 billion in 2022, projected to grow at 6.6% annually through 2032 amid demand for experiential entertainment.[59] Anthropological analyses frame striptease as a biosocial ritual governed by performative rules, balancing economic incentives with audience psychology, though empirical studies highlight performer agency amid commodified sexuality.[60] Despite artistic claims, causal factors like venue economics and male discretionary spending underpin its persistence, with recent declines in club attendance signaling sensitivity to recessions.[61]Aviation and Transportation
Airstrips and Landing Strips
An airstrip is a basic runway consisting of a cleared strip of land used for the takeoff and landing of aircraft, typically without associated airport facilities such as hangars, control towers, or passenger terminals.[62] These strips are often designed for small general aviation aircraft, military operations, or emergency landings, and may be temporary or auxiliary in nature.[63] A landing strip, frequently synonymous with airstrip, refers to any prepared or cleared surface facilitating aircraft operations, emphasizing the functional aspect of landing and departure over infrastructure.[64] The distinction between airstrips and landing strips is minimal in aviation terminology, with both terms describing unpaved or minimally developed runways in contrast to fully paved airport runways. Landing strips may more commonly denote improvised or natural surfaces like packed dirt, grass, or gravel, while airstrips can imply a slightly more formalized clearing, such as one graded for smoother operations.[65] Paved runways, by comparison, utilize asphalt or concrete for higher-traffic or larger aircraft, but airstrips prioritize simplicity and accessibility in remote or undeveloped areas.[66] Early aviation history featured airstrips as open fields or meadows, with the Wright brothers' 1903 powered flight occurring on a sandy beach serving as an informal strip. By the 1920s, dedicated airstrips emerged, such as grass fields at Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan, established in 1924 as one of the first modern U.S. airfields.[67] The transition to hardened surfaces began with the nation's first concrete runway in 1928 at the same site, yet unpaved airstrips persisted for their low cost and adaptability.[68] In regions like Alaska, airstrips have been crucial since the 1930s for accessing isolated areas, evolving from hay fields to graded dirt with windsocks by the late 20th century.[69][70] Airstrips vary by surface and purpose, including turf or grass types suited for light aircraft in rural settings, which require dry conditions to avoid rutting.[71] Gravel or dirt strips provide stability in arid or remote terrains, often found in bush flying operations.[72] Specialized variants, such as Alaska's bush strips—unimproved and road-inaccessible—or short "cub strips" for ultralight planes, highlight adaptations to challenging environments.[72] These facilities support private, recreational, and utilitarian aviation, with over 5,000 public-use airstrips registered in the U.S. as of recent Federal Aviation Administration data, underscoring their role beyond major airports.[73]Finance and Economics
STRIPS Securities
STRIPS securities, formally known as Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities, are zero-coupon instruments derived from eligible U.S. Treasury notes, bonds, and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS).[74] Under the program established by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 1985, financial institutions can separate—or "strip"—the principal repayment and each semi-annual interest payment from these underlying securities, creating independent obligations that trade separately.[75] Treasury bills and floating-rate notes are ineligible for stripping, as they lack detachable coupons.[74] Each STRIP matures at its original payment date, paying face value without interim coupons, and is backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, conferring the same default risk profile as unstripped Treasuries.[76] The stripping process involves a depository institution or broker-dealer depositing eligible Treasuries into a book-entry system maintained by the Federal Reserve, after which the principal and coupons are registered as distinct CUSIP numbers for trading.[77] These zero-coupon STRIPS are sold at a discount to face value, with returns generated through accretion as yields to maturity reflect prevailing interest rates and time to maturity.[78] Reconstitution is possible by reassembling matching principal and interest STRIPS from the same original security, restoring the coupon-bearing bond.[74] Trading occurs over-the-counter via platforms like those operated by major dealers, with pricing influenced by the underlying Treasury yield curve; longer-maturity STRIPS exhibit greater price sensitivity to rate changes due to their extended durations.[79] STRIPS appeal to investors seeking predictable, lump-sum cash flows without reinvestment risk, as there are no periodic coupons to roll over at uncertain rates.[80] They are commonly used for immunization strategies, such as funding defined liabilities in pension plans or education savings, where precise maturity matching is prioritized over current income.[77] However, their higher convexity amplifies capital gains in falling-rate environments but also heightens losses if rates rise, and U.S. tax rules treat accreted interest as taxable ordinary income annually—known as "phantom income"—despite no cash distributions until maturity.[81] Liquidity is generally solid but may lag behind that of on-the-run Treasuries, particularly for off-the-run or very long-dated STRIPS.[76]Strip Mining
Strip mining, also known as surface mining or open-cast mining in some contexts, is a method of extracting mineral deposits, particularly coal seams or other near-surface resources like phosphate rock, by removing the overlying layers of soil, vegetation, and rock known as overburden.[82] This approach is economically viable for flat-lying or gently dipping deposits where the resource lies close to the surface, typically less than 100-200 feet deep, allowing for the use of large earth-moving equipment such as draglines, bucket-wheel excavators, and haul trucks to strip away overburden in sequential cuts.[83] The process begins with clearing vegetation and topsoil, which is stockpiled for later reclamation, followed by blasting and excavating the overburden to expose the mineral layer, which is then mined, crushed if necessary, and transported.[84] Common types of strip mining include area strip mining, suited to relatively flat terrain where overburden is removed in parallel strips and backfilled progressively; contour strip mining, applied in hilly or steeply sloping areas by following the natural contour of the land to access seams along hillsides; and mountaintop removal, a variant involving the complete removal of mountaintops to reach underlying coal in rugged Appalachian terrain.[85] These methods are primarily used for coal extraction, accounting for a significant portion of U.S. bituminous coal and lignite production—rising from 1% in 1917 to 33.7% by 1966—but also for phosphate rock in regions like Florida's "golden triangle" around Bartow, Lakeland, and Mulberry, where matrix of phosphate, clay, and sand is stripped to depths up to 100 feet.[86][87] Other applications include gypsum and thin lignite seams, with the technique's efficiency stemming from high productivity rates and mechanization that can move millions of cubic yards of material daily.[88] Compared to underground mining, strip mining offers advantages in cost reduction—often 20-50% lower per ton due to economies of scale and reduced labor needs—and enhanced worker safety, with fewer incidents of roof falls, gas explosions, or flooding, as operations occur entirely on the surface.[89] However, it disturbs large land areas, with historical U.S. coal strip mining from 1930 to 1971 affecting over 3.3 billion tons of production and roughly 250,000 acres by 1930 alone, leading to widespread abandonment before regulatory reforms.[90] The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) of 1977 established federal standards requiring operators to obtain permits, post bonds for reclamation, restore approximate original contour, stabilize soils, and revegetate sites, significantly reducing abandoned lands and mandating backfilling of pits to prevent water impoundment hazards.[91][92] Environmental impacts include substantial habitat fragmentation and loss of biodiversity from topsoil removal, which disrupts ecosystems and can lead to irreversible changes in soil structure; increased erosion and sedimentation in nearby streams; and potential acid mine drainage from exposed sulfide minerals, contaminating water with heavy metals and lowering pH levels.[93][94] Dust emissions and heavy equipment operations also contribute to air quality degradation, while in phosphate mining, phosphogypsum waste stacks pose risks of radioactive element leaching if containment fails.[95] Post-SMCRA reclamation has mitigated some effects, with success in revegetation and water quality restoration in compliant sites, though critics note persistent issues like altered hydrology and incomplete recovery of pre-mining productivity in affected watersheds.[96][97] Economic analyses indicate reclamation costs can add 5-15% to total mining expenses, varying by region, but enable land reuse for agriculture, forestry, or wildlife habitats in many cases.[90]Science and Technology
Material Strips
Material strips in science and technology denote thin, elongated sheets or foils of metals, polymers, composites, or other substances, typically produced via rolling, slitting, or extrusion processes to achieve precise dimensions and properties. These strips, often with thicknesses from 0.01 mm to several millimeters and widths varying from millimeters to meters, serve as fundamental building blocks in engineering and research due to their uniformity and adaptability for further processing.[98][99] In metallurgy, steel strips exemplify conventional material strips, formed through hot-rolling followed by cold-rolling to refine grain structure and enhance mechanical properties like tensile strength and ductility. Hot-rolled strips, produced at temperatures above 900°C, yield coarser grains suitable for structural uses, while cold-rolled variants, processed below the recrystallization temperature, achieve smoother surfaces and higher precision for applications in automotive components and appliances. Production involves continuous casting into slabs, reheating, and multi-pass rolling, with annual global output exceeding hundreds of millions of tons to meet demands in manufacturing.[99][100] Bimetallic strips, a specialized subclass, consist of two bonded layers of metals with differing coefficients of thermal expansion, such as brass and steel, enabling curvature under temperature changes via differential elongation—one layer expands more than the other, inducing bending proportional to the temperature differential. This effect, quantified by the radius of curvature r = \frac{t}{(\alpha_1 - \alpha_2) \Delta T} where t is total thickness, \alpha are expansion coefficients, and \Delta T is temperature change, underpins devices like thermostats, fire alarms, and bimetallic thermometers, with response times on the order of seconds for strips 0.5–1 mm thick. Variations include trimetallic strips for greater sensitivity, though bimetallic designs dominate due to simplicity and reliability in industrial sensors.[101][102] Advanced applications leverage material strips in emerging technologies, such as stretchable electronics where serpentine or helical silicon strips, patterned via lithography and etching, exhibit over 300% strain tolerance without fracture, facilitating flexible circuits and wearable sensors. In biotechnology, nitrocellulose or paper-based strips in lateral-flow assays, fabricated by precision cutting, enable multiplex detection of analytes like proteins or pathogens through capillary action and colorimetric reactions, with detection limits reaching nanograms per milliliter in point-of-care diagnostics. Composite strips, like those in pantographs for electric rail systems, incorporate carbon fibers or metals for wear resistance and conductivity, enduring contact pressures up to 100 N/cm². These innovations highlight material strips' role in bridging traditional processing with nanoscale engineering for enhanced functionality.[103][104][105]Data and Computing Strips
Data striping is a storage technique in computing where logically sequential data, such as a file, is segmented into blocks and distributed across multiple physical storage devices, enabling parallel read and write operations to enhance throughput and performance.[106] This method, foundational to RAID 0 configurations, divides data into fixed-size chunks—typically 4 KB to 512 KB—stored consecutively on different disks, allowing simultaneous access that can theoretically multiply bandwidth by the number of drives involved.[107] However, it offers no redundancy, meaning a single drive failure results in total data loss, making it unsuitable for critical applications without backups.[108] In practice, data striping improves I/O performance for workloads like video editing or database queries by balancing load across drives, with stripe sizes optimized based on access patterns—smaller for random I/O, larger for sequential.[107] Modern implementations appear in distributed file systems like Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), where data blocks are striped across nodes for scalability, achieving transfer rates scaling with cluster size.[109] Drawbacks include increased complexity in management and vulnerability to failure, as evidenced by RAID 0's exclusion from enterprise redundancy standards.[106] Strip mining, distinct from storage striping, refers to a compiler optimization and loop transformation technique in high-performance computing for handling iterations exceeding vector register capacities in SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) architectures.[110] It partitions long loops into smaller, fixed-length "strips" that align with vector lengths—e.g., processing 64 elements per strip on AVX-512 processors—followed by a cleanup loop for remainders, enabling efficient vectorization without manual code adjustments.[111] This approach, automated in compilers like Intel's ICC or GCC with flags such as-ftree-vectorize, boosts performance in numerical simulations and array processing by exploiting parallelism, with gains up to 4-16x on vector hardware depending on data alignment and loop structure.[112]
Applications of strip mining extend to nested loops in scientific computing, where algorithms like simdcodegen vectorize by applying strip mining recursively, addressing peel-off factors from misaligned inner loops. Empirical benchmarks on architectures like Cray vector processors demonstrate reduced execution time through minimized scalar overhead, though effectiveness diminishes with irregular data access patterns.[113] In GPU and parallel programming contexts, similar partitioning aids kernel launches, as seen in OpenCL loop transformations for multi-iteration concurrency.[114]