nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Biobleaching of oxygen delignified kraft pulp by several white rot fungal strains

Twenty-five white rot fungal strains were tested for their ability to bleach Eucalyptus globulus oxygen delignified kraft pulp (OKP). Under nitrogen-limited culture conditions, eight outstanding biobleaching strains were identified that increased the brightness of OKP by more than 10 ISO units compared to pulp incubated in sterile control medium. The highest brightness gain of approximately 13 ISO units was obtained with Bjerkandera sp. strain BOS55, providing a high final brightness of 82% ISO. This strain also caused the greatest level of delignification, decreasing the kappa number of OKP by 29%. When the white rot fungal strains were tested in nitrogen-sufficient medium, the extracellular activities of laccase and peroxidases increased in many strains; nonetheless, the pulp handsheets were either destroyed or brightness gains were lower than those obtained under nitrogen-limitation. The titer of ligninolytic enzymes was not found to be indicative of biobleaching potential. However, the best biobleaching strains were generally characterized by a predominance of manganese dependent peroxidase (MnP) activity compared to other ligninolytic enzymes and by a high decolorizing activity towards the polyanthraquinone ligninolytic indicator dye, Poly R-478.

Field of study: Biology, Engineering
MARINE GEOLOGY OF JOHNSTON ISLAND AND ITS SURROUNDING SHALLOWS, CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN

The topography, composition, and water characteristics of the shallow platform surrounding Johnston Island were studied by aerial observation, diving, sounding, and sampling. The platform consists of highly permeable calcareous sediments and rocks similar to those of atolls. The peripheral reef, however, extends along only the leeward margin of the platform. Incompleteness of the reef may be due to partial erosion of an atoll during a glacial epoch of colder water and lowered sea level or to tilting of the atoll so that an original windward reef is now submerged, leaving only the present leeward reef above sea level. Refraction of waves around the platform and against the leeward reef produces a wave-driven current that moves easterly against both trade-wind and general oceanic current.

Field of study: Geology
Acute Ethanol Inhibition of Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis Involves CB1 Cannabinoid Receptor Signaling

Chronic ethanol (EtOH) exposure has been found to inhibit adult hippocampal neurogenesis in multiple models of alcohol addiction. However, acute EtOH inhibition of adult neurogenesis is not well studied. Although many abused drugs have been found to inhibit adult neurogenesis, few have studied cannabinoids or cannabinoids with EtOH, although human use of both together is becoming more common. We used an acute binge alcohol drinking model in combination with select cannabinoid receptor agonists and antagonists to investigate the actions of each alone and together on hippocampal neurogenesis.



Adult male Wistar rats were treated with an acute binge dose of EtOH (5 g/kg, i.g.), cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1R) or cannabinoid 2 receptor (CB2R) agonists, as well as selective cannabinoid (CB) antagonists, alone or combined. Hippocampal doublecortin (DCX), Ki67, and activated cleaved caspase-3 (CC3) immunohistochemistry were used to assess neurogenesis, neuroprogenitor proliferation, and cell death, respectively.



We found that treatment with EtOH or the CB1R agonist, arachidonoyl-2'-chloroethylamide (ACEA), and the combination significantly reduced DCX-positive neurons (DCX + IR) in dentate gyrus (DG) and increased CC3. Further, using an inhibitor of endocannabinoid metabolism, for example, JZL195, we also found reduced DCX + IR neurogenesis. Treatment with 2 different CB1R antagonists (AM251 or SR141716) reversed both CB1R agonist and EtOH inhibition of adult neurogenesis. CB2R agonist HU-308 treatment did not produce any significant change in DCX + IR. Interestingly, neither EtOH nor CB1R agonist produced any alteration in cell proliferation in DG as measured by Ki67 + cell population, but CC3-positive cell numbers increased following EtOH or ACEA treatment suggesting an increase in cell death.



Together, these findings suggest that acute CB1R cannabinoid receptor activation and binge EtOH treatment reduce neurogenesis through mechanisms involving CB1R.

Field of study: Medicine
Photochemical Conversion of anti-9-Methylcarbazole-3-carbaldehyde Diphenylhydrazone to Its syn-Isomer and an Indazole

Under irradiation, the compound in the title, which is frequently used as a charge transport material in electrophotography, undergoes reversible isomerization into its syn-isomer and cyclization to the corresponding indazole. These reactions will affect the characteristics in the practical electrophotographic process using this compound.

Field of study: Chemistry
Nocardia amikacinitolerans and cytomegalovirus: distinctive clinical and radiological characterization of the rare etiologies of brain abscesses: report of 2 cases.

Central nervous system infections in immunosuppressed patients are rare but potentially lethal complications that require swift diagnoses and intervention. While the differential diagnosis for new lesions on neuroradiological imaging of immunosuppressed patients typically includes infections and neoplasms, image-based heuristics to differentiate the two has been shown to have variable reliability.The authors describe 2 rare CNS infections in immunocompromised patients with atypical physical and radiological presentations. In the first case, a 59-year-old man, who had recently undergone a renal transplantation, was found to have multifocal Nocardia amikacinitolerans abscesses masquerading as neoplasms on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI); in the second case, a 33-year-old man with suspected recurrent Hodgkin's lymphoma was found to have a nonpyogenic abscess with cytomegalovirus (CMV) encephalitis.As per review of the literature, this appears to be the first case of brain abscess caused by N. amikacinitolerans, a recently isolated superbug. Despite confirmation through brain biopsy later on in case 1, the initial radiological appearance was atypical, showing subtle diffusion restriction on DWI. Similarly, the authors present a case of CMV encephalitis that presented as a ring-enhancing lesion, which is extremely rare. Both cases draw attention to the reliability of neuroimaging in differentiating an abscess from a neoplasm.

Field of study: Medicine
Vibratory motion of vortices near the surface of type II superconductor under the AC magnetic field

The vibrational contribution $\mu_{v}(H)$ to the dynamic magnetic permeability is calculated allowing for the spatial variation of the order parameter in the vortex cores. The behavior of calculated dependence $\mu _{v}(H)$ is analyzed for the case when the vortices oscillate near their positions corresponding to the equilibrium vortex lattice. It is shown that taking into account the suppression of the order parameter in the vortex cores leads to appreciable difference in the behavior of $\mu_{v}(H)$ as compared to the similar dependence obtained in the London approximation. The main reason of this difference is a change of the effective potential well in which the vibrational motion of the vortices takes place.

Field of study: Physics
High-Throughput Distributed Spacecraft Network: architecture and multiple access technologies

BBN Technologies (BBN), under a task for the Space Communications Project, designed the High-Throughput Distributed Spacecraft Network, or Hi-DSN. It provides a self-forming vertically integrated network infrastructure for establishing and maintaining high-throughput multi-hop communications among spacecraft operating in diverse orbits. The Hi-DSN integrates the predictability of orbital movement to establish and maintain cross-links and multi-hop routes, ad hoc networking capabilities to autonomously discover ''new'' neighbors, null-steered spatial multiplexing to maximize re-use of the allocated spectrum, and variable-rate cross-links to maximize network connectivity under large inter-spacecraft distances and distance differentials. The Hi-DSN architecture is hierarchical and can be extended to provide dynamic ''terminal affiliation and handoff'' for transferring data from spacecraft to aircraft and spacecraft to ground terminals and sensors. The descriptions included in this paper focus on the aspects of the architecture that are relevant for the planet vicinity networks, part of NASA's future space-based internetwork communications infrastructure, and specifically on the enabling physical-layer, medium-access control (MAC) layer and sub-network level (i.e., below IP) technologies required to create a scalable communications infrastructure that can be used to extend the (terrestrial) Internet to space. In a follow-on development for NASA, BBN is designing the architectural extensions and developing the protocols to extend Internet VPNs to space, or SpaceVPNs.

Field of study: Computer science
Conditioned suppression of free-operant avoidance.

The responses of white rats were maintained on an unsignalled free-operant avoidance schedule. Superimposed on the avoidance schedule was a blinking white light followed immediately by response-independent electric shock. Duration of the light stimulus was either 1 or 3 min. Avoidable shock was 1.5 mA; response-independent shock was 7.5 mA. Suppression of responding during the light stimulus (both durations) developed over sessions. Responding immediately following the response-independent light-shock sequence was neither suppressed nor accelerated. The similarity is noted between the present result and findings of "positive conditioned suppression".

Field of study: Biology, Psychology
The quest for novel modes of excitation in exotic nuclei

This paper provides an insight into several open problems in the quest for novel modes of excitation in nuclei with isospin asymmetry, deformation and finite-temperature characteristics in stellar environments. Major unsolved problems include the nature of pygmy dipole resonances, the quest for various multipole and spin–isospin excitations both in neutron-rich and proton drip-line nuclei mainly driven by loosely bound nucleons, excitations in unstable deformed nuclei and evolution of their properties with the shape phase transition. Exotic modes of excitation in nuclei at finite temperatures characteristic of supernova evolution present open problems with a possible impact in modeling astrophysically relevant weak interaction rates. All these issues challenge self-consistent many-body theory frameworks at the frontiers of on-going research, including nuclear energy density functionals, both phenomenological and constrained by the strong interaction physics of QCD, models based on low-momentum two-nucleon interaction Vlow-k and correlated realistic nucleon–nucleon interaction VUCOM, supplemented by three-body force, as well as two-nucleon and three-nucleon interactions derived from the chiral effective field theory. Joined theoretical and experimental efforts, including research with radioactive isotope beams, are needed to provide insight into dynamical properties of nuclei away from the valley of stability, involving the interplay of isospin asymmetry, deformation and finite temperature.

Field of study: Physics
Site-level habitat models for the endemic, threatened Cheat Mountain salamander (Plethodon nettingi): the importance of geophysical and biotic attributes for predicting occurrence

The federally threatened Cheat Mountain salamander (Plethodon nettingi; hereafter CMS) is known to occur in approximately 70 small, scattered populations in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. Current conservation and management efforts on federal, state, and private lands involving CMS largely rely on small scale, largely descriptive studies of habitat associations from a few sample sites. To address the critical need for quantitative data, we used an information-theoretic approach to elucidate site-level habitat relationships of CMS relative to a suite of biotic and abiotic habitat variables measured across the species’ range. We collected data on 18 explanatory habitat variables at CMS-occupied (n = 67) and random (n = 37) sites in the summer of 2006 and examined CMS habitat relationships using a priori, logistic regression models with information-theoretic model selection. Overall, results indicated that the probability of CMS occurrence at a fine spatial scale increased in areas with shallower depth to rock, areas proximal to rocky outcrops but distal to seeps, areas with higher densities of bryophytes, and areas with high densities of red spruce (Picea rubens) and eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). Within the Allegheny Mountains, associations between CMS and abiotic habitat features appear to be important predictors of site-level occurrence, although vegetation associations interact to form more precise habitat relationships within forested landscapes. The information gained from our study should increase the capacity of managers to plan for the continued persistence and conservation of Cheat Mountain salamanders in this landscape.

Field of study: Environmental science
The pathophysiologic background for current treatments of premenstrual syndromes

Multiple hypotheses on the etiology of premenstrual syndromes (PMS) that have been proposed during the past 70 years have led to a multitude of treatment modalities. During the past two decades, the following two classes of pharmacologic interventions have emerged: hormonal interventions—mostly suppression of ovulation; and neurotransmitter’s activity stimulation—mostly by specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors. These treatment modalities are based on the hypothesis that the etiology and pathophysiology of PMS are related to ovulation-related luteal activity of gonadal hormones, and their interaction with serotonin and other neurotransmitters. Two other components of the pathophysiology of PMS—the genetic propensity and the dynamically evolving-vulnerability—have not yet been addressed for treatment. Environmental inputs to pathophysiology, which are not discussed here, have been addressed by attempts at changes of lifestyle, coping style, and environment.

Field of study: Medicine, Psychology
Mechanism of SO_2 removal in O_2/CO_2 combustion

O_2/CO_2 combustion is one of the processes to remove S O_2 from pulverized-coal fired boiler.In this paper, SO_2 emission and remova l in O_2/CO_2 combustion were investigated in a fixed bed reactor and a drop t ube reactor. The results indicated that the amount of SO_2 emission was much l ess than conventional air combustion due to the presence of both homogeneous des ulphurization and heterogeneous desulphurization in O_2/CO_2 combustion.Experi mental study also suggested that the change of flue gas composition led to the d ifference of sulphur oxidation degree and the sulphur in coal could be released in different speciations and SO_2 is only one of them.In O_2/CO_2 atmosphere, the desulphurization agent in coal itself showed different desulphurization beh aviour comparing with that in air combustion; the desulphurization agent had an optimized microstructure which was beneficial not only for the improvement of th e desulphurization efficiency but also for the adsorption of sulphur in the bott om ash.The kinetics calculation results also verified the above mechanism.

Field of study: Chemistry, Environmental science
The Problem-Solving Agricultural Knowledge Service System for Farm Households

With the advancement of agricultural modernization of China, farmer’s demand of agricultural service has turned from the traditional agricultural information service to the problem-solving mode gradually. Professional, personalized knowledge service is required. How to use Internet-thinking to construct problem-solving agricultural science and technology knowledge service system which is used to solve all kinds of problems in the process of agricultural production for farmers is the core content of our development. In this paper, system architecture and some major function features are introduced. Through the running of the system, the problems in the system are analyzed and the optimal solutions are proposed. Scientific and technological progress and innovation is the guarantee of the sustainable development of agriculture. With the advance of agricultural modernization, demand of china farmers of agricultural science and technology service has from the traditional agricultural information services, gradually turned to the purpose of problem-solving mode. How to effectively use the mobile Internet to provide fast, efficient, professional and personalized service for the majority of farmers, break the agricultural expert system affiliation, bring together experts in different fields to realize agricultural experts and farmers 24 hours face-to-face information interaction, realize the precision agriculture technology service, effectively solve the problem of farmers’ fields of production is the core content of the development of this system.

Field of study: Engineering
On a perturbed dual risk model with dependence between inter-gain times and gain sizes

The dual risk model may be used to model the revenue process of a company with constant expense rate and occasional gains. In this paper, we consider a dual risk model with both inter-gain times and expense rates depending on the size of previous gain. Also, we assume the process is perturbed by a Brownian motion. Exact solutions for the Laplace transform and the first moment of the time to ruin with arbitrary gain-size distribution are obtained. Applications with numerical illustrations are provided to examine the impacts of the dependence structure and perturbation.

Field of study: Mathematics
Synthesis of novel fructooligosaccharides by substrate and enzyme engineering.

Fructooligosaccharides (FOSs) and polyfructosides (PSs) have received particular attention due to its beneficial effects as prebiotics. Here we report the synthesis of a new class of fructooligosaccharides by substrate and enzyme engineering. Using an engineered levansucrase enzyme (SacB of Bacillus subtilis), and sucrose analogues (alpha-Xyl-1,2-beta-Fru or alpha-Gal-1,2-beta-Fru), the product profile shifted from the fructan (levan) polymer to a range of new higher oligosaccharides (xylooligofructosides), or polysaccharides (galactopolyfructosides), of varying size. Further the enzyme was tailored by random mutagenesis, for the synthesis of short-chain fructooligosaccharides to yield variant A5 (N242H), which is unable to produce polymers. It shifts its product pattern to short-chain oligosaccharides and hydrolysis and enabled in combination with the sucrose analogue Xyl-Fru for the first time the direct synthesis of a 6-kestose analogue (alpha-Xyl-1,2-beta-Fru-2,6-beta-Fru). The different glycopyranosyl-residues (i.e. galactose and xylose) that cap fructooligosaccharides may alter prebiotic and biochemical properties.

Field of study: Biology, Engineering
A Look at 2017: Takeaway Points from the State of the Climate Supplement

warmest annual global temperature since records began in the midto late 1800s and makes it the warmest non–El Niño year on record, as El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions were neutral through much of 2017, with weak La Niña conditions at the start and end. The four warmest years on record have occurred since 2014. Above Earth’s surface, the annual globally averaged lower-tropospheric temperature (the bulk atmosphere below 10-km altitude) in 2017 was, depending on the dataset, 0.38° to 0.58°C above the 1981–2010 mean. This was a decrease of more than 0.1°C from the 2016 record-high level. Similarly, the 2017 globally averaged lower stratospheric temperature was 0.2°C greater than its record-low 2016 value but still below normal, with an anomaly of approximately −0.4°C (variation among datasets was ± 0.2°C). The year saw a wide swing of precipitation extremes, with some areas experiencing remarkable tropical and post–tropical cyclone precipitation, while others were affected by extended droughts. After a significant peak in global drought area in 2016, the drought area fell sharply in early 2017 before rising to above-average values once again later in the year. At least 3% of the land area was affected by extreme drought conditions in each month of 2017, and this is the fourth greatest monthly percentage of severe drought since 1950 (after 1984, 1985, and 2016). Severe drought conditions in British Columbia, Canada, contributed to its most extensive wildfire season on record. On the high end of the precipitaGLOBAL CLIMATE. The dominant greenhouse gases released into Earth’s atmosphere—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—increased once again in 2017, reaching new record highs. The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration at Earth’s surface for 2017 was 405.0 ± 0.1 ppm. This was 2.2 ppm greater than 2016 amounts and was the highest in the modern atmospheric measurement record and in ice core records dating back as far as 800,000 years. The global growth rate of carbon dioxide has nearly quadrupled since the early 1960s. The rise in globally averaged levels of methane from 2016 to 2017 was 6.9 ± 0.9 ppb, and the mean global atmospheric nitrous oxide levels rose 0.9 ppb from 2016 to 2017. Both increases were comparable to the average yearly growth rate of each gas over the last 10 years. Global surface temperatures were 0.38°–0.48°C above the 1981–2010 average, depending upon the dataset used. This places 2017 as the second or third

Field of study: Environmental science
Implementation and Evaluation of an Interprofessional Drug Take-Back Event on a University Campus

1) To describe the interprofessional implementation process and programmatic outcomes of an inaugural drug take-back event on a university campus 2) To quantify donated medications and summarize donor demographics. • Prescription drug abuse and misuse is one of the fastest growing drug problems in the nation. In particular, nonmedical use of prescription stimulants (e.g., Adderall®, Ritalin®) is a major health concern at US colleges and universities, and studies have shown that nonmedical use of prescription stimulants by college students has nearly doubled between 2008 and 2013.1-3

Field of study: Education, Medicine
Cretaceous Deposits in the Musquodoboit River Valley Nova Scotia

Two carbonaceous samples recovered from pre-Pleistocene unconsolidated deposits in a borehole at Elmsvale, Musquodoboit River Valley, Nova Scotia, were dated as Early Cretaceous in age. The thickness of the deposit encountered was 551 ft (168 m). Available information suggests that the upper segment of the present Musquodoboit River was a tributary-stream of the Shubenacadie drainage system.

Field of study: Environmental science
Testing Dirac-Brueckner models in collective flow of heavy-ion collisions

We investigate differential in-plane and out-of-plane flow observables in heavy-ion reactions at intermediate energies from 0.2-2 AGeV within the framework of relativistic BUU transport calculations. The mean field is based on microscopic Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock (DB) calculations. We apply two different sets of DB predictions, those of ter Haar and Malfliet and more recent ones from the Tübingen group, which are similar in general but differ in details. The latter DB calculations exclude spurious contributions from the negative-energy sector to the mean field which results in a slightly softer equation of state and a less repulsive momentum dependence of the nucleon-nucleus potential at high densities and high momenta. For the application to heavy-ion collisions in both cases non-equilibrium features of the phase space are taken into account on the level of the effective interaction. The systematic comparison to experimental data favours the less repulsive and softer model. Relative to non-relativistic approaches one obtains larger values of the effective nucleon mass. This produces a sufficient amount of repulsion to describe the differential flow data reasonably well.

Field of study: Physics