nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Irrigation impacts on California's climate with the variable resolution CESM

The variable resolution capability within the Community Earth System Model (VR CESM) is applied to understand the impact of irrigation on the regional climate of California. Irrigation is an important contributor to the regional climate of heavily irrigated regions, and within the U.S. there are few regions that are as heavily irrigated as California's Central Valley, responsible for 25% of domestic agricultural products. A flexible irrigation scheme with relatively realistic estimates of agricultural water use is employed. The impact of irrigation on mean climatology and heat extremes is investigated over the 26 year period 1980 2005 using a relatively fine grid resolution of 0.25deg ~28 km) Three simulations are performed, including an unirrigated control run and two irrigation enabled runs, with results compared to gridded observations and weather station datasets. During the summer months (when irrigation peaks) irrigation leads to cooling of the daily maximum near surface temperature field (Tmax) by approximately 1.1 K. Under irrigation, latent heat flux increased by ~61% during the daytime as a result of increased surface evaporation; specific humidity increased by about 12% heat stress was reduced by 22% and the average soil moisture exhibited a small ~4.4$ but statistically significant increase. Compared with observations, irrigation improved the frequency distribution of Tmax, and both length and frequency of hot spells were better represented with irrigation enabled. Consequently, we argue that high resolution simulations of regional climate in CESM, particularly over heavily irrigated regions, should likely enable the irrigation parameterization to better represent local temperature statistics. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Fuel ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass: An overview on feedstocks and technological approaches

Bioethanol is one of the most promising and eco friendly alternatives to fossil fuels, which is produced from renewable sources. Although almost all the current fuel ethanol is generated from edible sources (sugars and starch) lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) has drawn much attention in recent times. However, the conversion efficiency as well as ethanol yield of the biomass differs greatly with respect to the source and nature of LCB, primarily due to the variation in lignocellulosic content. Two major polysaccharides in LCB, namely, cellulose and hemicellulose firmly link to lignin and form a complex lignocellulosic network, which is highly robust and recalcitrant to depolymerization. For this reason, generation of ethanol from LCB requires a complicated conversion process that has made it commercially non competitive. As attempts to exploit LCBs into commercial ethanol production, recent research efforts have been devoted to the techno economic improvements of the overall conversion process, in addition to screen out promising feedstocks. This review paper presents an overview on the diversity of biomass, technological approaches and microbial contribution to the conversion of LCB into ethanol.
Influence of fuel ethanol content on primary emissions and secondary aerosol formation potential for a modern flex fuel gasoline vehicle

The effect of fuel ethanol content (10, 85 and 100 on primary emissions and on subsequent secondary aerosol formation was investigated for a Euro 5 flex fuel gasoline vehicle. Emissions were characterized during a New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) using a comprehensive set up of high time resolution instruments. A detailed chemical composition of the exhaust particulate matter (PM) was studied using a soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SP AMS) and secondary aerosol formation was studied using a potential aerosol mass (PAM) chamber. For the primary gaseous compounds, an increase in total hydrocarbon emissions and a decrease in aromatic BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes) compounds was observed when the amount of ethanol in the fuel increased. In regard to particles, the largest primary particulate matter concentrations and potential for secondary particle formation was measured for the E10 fuel (10 ethanol) As the ethanol content of the fuel increased, a significant decrease in the average primary particulate matter concentrations over the NEDC was found. The PM emissions were 0.45, 0.25 and 0.15 mg m 3 for E10, E85 and E100, respectively. Similarly, a clear decrease in secondary aerosol formation potential was observed with a larger contribution of ethanol in the fuel. The secondary to primary PM ratios were 13.4 and 1.5 for E10 and E85, respectively. For E100, a slight decrease in PM mass was observed after the PAM chamber, indicating that the PM produced by secondary aerosol formation was less than the PM lost through wall losses or the degradation of the primary organic aerosol (POA) in the chamber. For all fuel blends, the formed secondary aerosol consisted mostly of organic compounds. For E10, the contribution of organic compounds containing oxygen increased from 35 measured for primary organics, to 62 after the PAM chamber. For E85, the contribution of organic compounds containing oxygen increased from 42 (primary) to 57 (after the PAM chamber) whereas for E100 the amount of oxidized organics remained the same (approximately 62 with the PAM chamber when compared to the primary emissions.
Combining no tillage, rice straw mulch and nitrogen fertilizer application to increase the soil carbon balance of upland rice field in northern Benin

Agricultural management practices are frequently non conservative and can lead to substantial loss of soil organic carbon and soil fertility, but for many regions in Africa the knowledge is very limited. To study the effect of local agricultural practices on soil organic carbon content and to explore effective ways to increase soil carbon storage, field experiments were conducted on an upland rice soil (Lixisol) in northern Benin in West Africa. The treatments comprised two tillage systems (no tillage, and manual tillage) two rice straw managements (no rice straw, and rice straw mulch at 3 Mg ha 1 and three nitrogen fertilizer levels (no nitrogen, 60 kg ha 1 120 kg ha 1 Phosphorus and potassium fertilizers were applied to be non limiting at 40 kg P 2 O 5 ha 1 and 40 kg K 2 O ha 1 per cropping season. Heterotrophic respiration was higher in manual tillage than no tillage, and higher in mulched than in non mulched treatments. Under the current management practices (manual tillage, with no residue and no nitrogen fertilization) in upland rice fields in northern Benin, the carbon added as aboveground biomass and root biomass was not enough to compensate for the loss of carbon from organic matter decomposition, rendering the upland rice fields as net sources of atmospheric CO 2 With no tillage, 3 Mg ha 1 of rice straw mulch and 60 kg N ha 1 the soil carbon balance was approximately zero. With no other changes in management practices, an increase in nitrogen level from 60 kg N ha 1 to 120 kg N ha 1 resulted in a positive soil carbon balance. Considering the high cost of inorganic nitrogen fertilizer and the potential risk of soil and air pollution often associated with intensive fertilizer use, implementation of no tillage combined with application of 3 Mg ha 1 of rice straw mulch and 60 kg N ha 1 could be recommended to the smallholder farmers to compensate for the loss of carbon from organic matter decomposition in upland rice fields in northern Benin.
We Wear the Mask

in Charleston, which provides a reminder of the commercial hub built on their backs and with their lives, sits less than one mile from the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. Charleston, by its mere existence and geographic history, is a zone of Black death. In this essay, I write about the significance of events that occurred on June 17, 2015, initiated by the massacre of nine Americans who had been worshipping at a mid week Christian service in Charleston, South Carolina, in relation to the process of forgiveness. This process operates in relation to and is enacted upon the state of everyday violence/everyday state violence that the North American racial landscape has maintained through imperialism, colonialism, and white supremacy. The essay is necessarily embedded in a Black feminist and antiracist standpoint of identity, positionality, and relationality in order to achieve an understanding of place, subjectivity, and temporality. I am particularly interested in critically engaging the role of forgiveness in Black historical memory and in spatial politics that inform Black lives. Finally, I provide current possibilities for moving towards redemption liberation, racial justice, and healing. We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Diversity and severity of adverse reactions to quinine: A systematic review
Venue: American journal of hematology

Quinine is a common cause of drug induced thrombocytopenia and the most common cause of drug induced thrombotic microangiopathy. Other quinine induced systemic disorders have been described. To understand the complete clinical spectrum of adverse reactions to quinine we searched 11 databases for articles that provided sufficient data to allow evaluation of levels of evidence supporting a causal association with quinine. Three reviewers independently determined the levels of evidence, including both immune mediated and toxic adverse reactions. The principal focus of this review was on acute, immune mediated reactions. The source of quinine exposure, the involved organ systems, the severity of the adverse reactions, and patient outcomes were documented. One hundred fourteen articles described 142 patients with definite or probable evidence for a causal association of quinine with acute, immune mediated reactions. These reactions included chills, fever, hypotension, painful acral cyanosis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, neutropenia, acute kidney injury, rhabdomyolysis, liver toxicity, cardiac ischemia, respiratory failure, hypoglycemia, blindness, and toxic epidermal necrolysis. One hundred two (72% reactions were caused by quinine pills; 28 (20% by quinine containing beverages; 12 (8% by five other types of exposures. Excluding 41 patients who had only dermatologic reactions, 92 (91% of 101 patients had required hospitalization for severe illness; 30 required renal replacement therapy; three died. Quinine, even with only minute exposure from common beverages, can cause severe adverse reactions involving multiple organ systems. In patients with acute, multi system disorders of unknown origin, an adverse reaction to quinine should be considered.  2016.
Stimulation of Erythrocyte Cell Membrane Scrambling by Quinine
Venue: Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry

The analkaloid drug quinine is utilized mainly for the chemoprophylaxis of malaria. The multiple side effects of quinine include hemolytic anemia and hemolytic uremic syndrome, disorders involving suicidal erythrocyte death or eryptosis, which is characterized by cell shrinkage and cell membrane scrambling with phosphatidylserine translocation to the erythrocyte surface. Signaling contributing to stimulation of eryptosis include increase of cytosolic Ca2+ activity [Ca2+]i) oxidative stress, ceramide and D4476 sensitive casein kinase. The present study explored the putative effect of quinine on eryptosis and elucidated cellular mechanisms involved.  Phosphatidylserine exposure at the cell surface was estimated from annexin V binding, cell volume from forward scatter, [Ca2+]i from Fluo3 fluorescence, ROS formation from DCF dependent fluorescence, and ceramide abundance utilizing specific antibodies.  A 48 hours exposure of human erythrocytes to quinine 50 uM) significantly increased the percentage of annexin V binding cells without significantly affecting forward scatter. Quinine significantly increased Fluo3 fluorescence, DCF fluorescence and ceramide abundance. The effect of quinine on annexin V binding was significantly blunted by removal of extracellular Ca2+ and by addition of D4476 (10 uM)  Quinine triggers phospholipid scrambling of the erythrocyte cell membrane, an effect at least in part due to Ca2+ entry, oxidative stress, ceramide and D4476 sensitive casein kinase.
The Pharmacochaperone Activity of Quinine on Bitter Taste Receptors
Venue: PloS one

Bitter taste is one of the five basic taste sensations which is mediated by 25 bitter taste receptors (T2Rs) in humans. The mechanism of bitter taste signal transduction is not yet elucidated. The cellular processes underlying T2R desensitization including receptor internalization, trafficking and degradation are yet to be studied. Here, using a combination of molecular and pharmacological techniques we show that T2R4 is not internalized upon agonist treatment. Pretreatment with bitter agonist quinine led to a reduction in subsequent quinine mediated calcium responses to 35 5% compared to the control untreated cells. Interestingly, treatment with different bitter agonists did not cause internalization of T2R4. Instead, quinine treatment led to a 2 fold increase in T2R4 cell surface expression which was sensitive to Brefeldin A, suggesting a novel pharmacochaperone activity of quinine. This phenomenon of chaperone activity of quinine was also observed for T2R7, T2R10, T2R39 and T2R46. Our results suggest that the observed action of quinine for these T2Rs is independent of its agonist activity. This study provides novel insights into the pharmacochaperone activity of quinine and possible mechanism of T2R desensitization, which is of fundamental importance in understanding the mechanism of bitter taste signal transduction.
Historical Review: Problematic Malaria Prophylaxis with Quinine.
Venue: The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene

Quinine, a bitter tasting, short acting alkaloid drug extracted from cinchona bark, was the first drug used widely for malaria chemoprophylaxis from the 19th century. Compliance was difficult to enforce even in organized groups such as the military, and its prophylaxis potential was often questioned. Severe adverse events such as blackwater fever occurred rarely, but its relationship to quinine remains uncertain. Quinine prophylaxis was often counterproductive from a public health viewpoint as it left large numbers of persons with suppressed infections producing gametocytes infective for mosquitoes. Quinine was supplied by the first global pharmaceutical cartel which discouraged competition resulting in a near monopoly of cinchona plantations on the island of Java which were closed to Allied use when the Japanese Imperial Army captured Indonesia in 1942. The problems with quinine as a chemoprophylactic drug illustrate the difficulties with medications used for prevention and the acute need for improved compounds.
DISPERSAL AND SAMPLING OF THE WHEAT STEM SAWFLY, Cephus cintus NORTON, (HYMENOPTERA CEPHIDAE)

The wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae) is a serious insect pest of wheat, Triticum aestivum L. in the northern central Great Plains. The sawfly has been a pest of wheat in Montana, North Dakota, and Canada since the early 20 th century. It was first detected in Nebraska winter wheat in the early 1990s, in Scotts Bluff County. The sawfly has since spread throughout the Nebraska Panhandle region and become a pest of serious concern. To gain a better understanding of the sawfly in Nebraska, investigations on the emergence, dispersal, and sampling of the sawfly were conducted. Observations on the emergence and dispersal of the adult sawfly were made in 2014 and 2015 in three winter wheat fields in the Nebraska Panhandle by using emergence cages, sticky traps, and sweep net sampling. Adult sawflies begin emerging in mid May and are no longer found by the end of June. Adult sawfly densities decreased the farther into the wheat that was sampled. This edge effect was observed for both sexes of the sawfly, but it is more apparent with male sawflies. The adult sawfly has an aggregated distribution when described by Taylor's Power Law. By using Taylor's Power Law, the number of sweep net samples required to maintain a desired precision level was determined. When sampling at early wheat heading, five, 20 sweep sweep net samples are needed to maintain a 20% precision level. These sampling data were correlated to larval infestation rates and used to develop a sampling plan that predicts larval infestation rates based upon stem density and the number of adults sampled. Sampling adults gives wheat growers ample time to take management action, such as swathing, during the current growing season. It also allows time for growers to change their wheat variety to a more resistant, solid stem wheat variety, for the next growing season. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS An acknowledgment in my thesis isn't enough to say thank you to my parents for getting me through the rehabilitation process to be well enough to begin this journey. For now though, it is all I have to offer. Your support then in trusting that I was well enough to make the drive to Scottsbluff, and your continued support throughout this process has been instrumental in getting me to where I am today. Hopefully the next chapter doesn't start with a trip to the hospital. Thank you to Jeff for
Open Sim and Sloodle Integration for Preservice Foreign Language Teachers' Continuing Professional Development

A considerable interest in using three dimensional multi user virtual worlds for different educational disciplines has been widely observed. Despite the potential benefits of this technology, many questions still remain open, as far as the design of appropriate activities in well defined instructional design frameworks and their effectiveness on learning gain, according to preservice foreign language teachers' interactions. In this study, the results of three activities are presented, including foreign language teachers' continuing professional development by blending Sloodle and Open Sim in order to develop and to learn practically basic concepts that are related to information technology literacy. Three learning activities of different classes were designed and carried out by 135 (n 135) preservice foreign language teachers' continuing professional development, using CoI presence indicators (cognitive presence, teaching presence, and social presence) as constructs of a theoretical framework, first to develop a constructivist instructional design approach and second to develop low cost virtual learning environments. During all activities, one group of pretest or posttest design was used, and results indicated noteworthy improvement to learning outcomes, particularly to preservice teachers with low initial performance. The average preservice foreign language teacher's questionnaire score was increased from 42.3/100 to 66.1/100. The study findings proved no significant variation between the preservice teachers' learning outcomes based on their different roles and their secondary education curriculum (i.e. school stream) Lastly, a persistent pattern of high learning gain was identified, regardless of the activity's class and learning goals which were held in Sloodle and Open Sim.
Blending the CoI model with Jigsaw technique for pre service foreign language teachers' continuing professional development using Open Sim and Sloodle
Venue: Education and Information Technologies

This study seeks to investigate the effect of pre service foreign language teachers' interactions on their continuing professional development (CPD) using a theoretical instructional design framework consisted of the three presence indicators of a Community of Inquiry (CoI) model and the Jigsaw teaching technique. The investigation was performed through a case study with thirty five (n 35) teachers who participated voluntarily in three consecutive tasks, by blending Sloodle as a free plug in via the three dimensional (3D) multi user virtual world Open Simulator (Open Sim) with the purpose of creating virtual learning environments. A mixed method research was conducted to be measured pre service teachers' engagement, using a validated CoI model questionnaire proposed by Arbaugh et al. (2008) for collecting the quantitative data, and secondly their opinions for participation, achievements, abilities and difficulties, when studying collaboratively with their peers for gathering the qualitative data, after finishing several learning tasks. The study findings indicate that collaborative practice based tasks in synchronous communication modes, such as group work, team effort, instructor's or peer feedback and consolidated learning material in a 3D multi user virtual environment have enhanced the learning experience for more meaningful outcomes. The highest mean scores were adequately addressed to the teaching and social presences, indicating that pre service teachers were enough satisfied due to the easy expression of proposals and the sense of freedom for exchanging ideas/opinions with their colleagues. This study contributes on the fundamental issues of cooperation, socialization, retention and attendance rates rising among teachers' interactions with the respect to empower not only their CPD, but also their management and learning responsibilities, based on the affordances that a 3D technology enhanced environment can provide.
Challenges and success factors for large scale agile transformations: A systematic literature review
Venue: J. Syst. Softw.

Systematic review on large scale agile transformations analyzing 52 papers.We identify 35 reported challenges in 9 categories, and 29 success factors in 11 categories.Few academic studies (6) mostly experience reports (46) identified.Challenges e.g. difficulty of implementing, integrating other functions, and change resistance.Success factors e.g. choosing and tailoring, management support, and mindset. Agile methods have become an appealing alternative for companies striving to improve their performance, but the methods were originally designed for small and individual teams. This creates unique challenges when introducing agile at scale, when development teams must synchronize their activities, and there might be a need to interface with other organizational units. In this paper we present a systematic literature review on how agile methods and lean software development has been adopted at scale, focusing on reported challenges and success factors in the transformation. We conducted a systematic literature review of industrial large scale agile transformations. Our keyword search found 1875 papers. We included 52 publications describing 42 industrial cases presenting the process of taking large scale agile development into use. Almost 90% of the included papers were experience reports, indicating a lack of sound academic research on the topic. We identified 35 reported challenges grouped into nine categories, and 29 success factors, grouped into eleven categories. The most salient success factor categories were management support, choosing and customizing the agile model, training and coaching, and mindset and alignment.