nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Focus on recent, present and future Arctic and boreal productivity and biomass changes

The reduction of cold temperature constraints on photosynthesis in recent decades has led to extended growing seasons and increased plant productivity (greening) in significant parts of Polar, Arctic and Boreal regions, here called northern lands. However, most territories within these regions display stable productivity in recent years. Smaller portions of Arctic and Boreal regions show reduced productivity (browning). Summer drought and wildfires are the best documented drivers causing browning of continental areas. Yet factors like winter warming events dampening the greening effect of more maritime regions have remained elusive, least monitored and least understood. A Norway-US network project called ArcticBiomass was launched in 2013 to further reveal both positive and negative effects of climate change on biomass in Arctic and Boreal regions. This focus collection named Focus on Recent, Present and Future Arctic and Boreal Productivity and Biomass Changes includes 24 articles and is an important outcome of this work and addresses recent changes in phenology, biomass and productivity and the mechanisms. These mechanisms include former human interactions (legacies) and drivers that control such changes (both greening and browning), along with consequences for local, regional and global scale processes. We complete our synthesis by stressing remaining challenges and knowledge gaps, and provide an outlook on future needs and research questions in the study of climate and human driven interactions in terrestrial Arctic and Boreal ecosystems.

Field of study: Environmental science
Promise and problems in theory and research on women's career development: Comment on Lucas (1997), Richie et al. (1997), McCracken and Weitzman (1997), Rainey and Borders (1997), and Schaefers, Epperson, and Nauta (1997).

The articles by M. Lucas (1997), B. S. Richie et al. (1997), R. S. McCracken and L. M. Weitzman (1997), L.M. Rainey and L.D. Borders (1997), and K.G. Schaefers, D. L. Epperson, and M. M. Nauta (1997) in the Special Section on Women's Career Development are considered within the context of prospects and problems in the empirical and theoretical literature. Promising trends include an increasing convergence on core themes such as gender role attitudes, relational and family issues, multiple role dilemmas, cultural influences, and the effects of support and barriers on women's career development. Methodological and theoretical issues are also examined and discussed. Primary among the concluding recommendations are the need for comparative model testing and the integration of important new constructs into existing conceptual models.

Field of study: Psychology
Unhealthy Stem Cells: When Health Conditions Upset Stem Cell Properties

The stem cell field has grown very rapidly during the last decade, offering the promise of innovative therapies to treat disease. Different stem cell populations have been isolated from various human adult tissues, mainly from bone marrow and adipose tissue, but many other body tissues harbor a stem cell population. Adult tissue stem cells are invariably found in discrete microenvironments termed niches, where they play key roles in tissue homeostasis by enabling lifelong optimization of organ form and function. Some diseases are known to strike at the stem cell population, through alterations in their specific microenvironments, making them non-viable. Furthermore, it has been shown that a transformed stem cell population could prompt the development of certain cancers. This review focuses on the potential negative aspects of a range of diseases on the activity of stem cells and how their potential use in cell therapies may be affected.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry
No. 44617. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Philippines

Loan Agreement (National Program Support for Environment and Natural Resources Management Project) between the Republic of the Philippines and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (with schedules, appendix and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development General Conditions for Loans, dated 1 July 2005, as amended through 15 October 2006). Manila, 29 August 2007

Field of study: Political science
Effects of Application of Drought Resistant Sucrose-yield Promoter Sprayed by Aircraft in Large Area of Sugarcane

The present study was designed to investigate the feasibility to apply drought resistant sucrose-yield large scale in order to improve the drought resistance,cane yield and sucrose content in cane in commercial sugarcane production.Experiments were conducted for application of DRCSP sprayed by aircraft in a total of 2 400 hm2 of sugarcane in Guangxi in 2008/2009 and 2009/2010,and components of cane yield and quality were surveyed.The results showed that the treatment spraying DRCSP increased leaves/plant and chlorophyll content in leaf,and resulted in higher Brix,gravity purity of juice and lower reducing sugar in juice,and higher fiber and sucrose contents in cane as compared to the CK,and the most significant improvement for sucrose content was observed at 50 d after application which was increased by 2.23%(absolute value)in 2009/2010,and 1.33% in total average for different time from 30 to 90 d after spray,and it performed better in plant cane than in ratoon cane.The drought resistant sucrose-yield promoter treatment also improved the plant height,stalk diameter and stalk weight,and resulted in 14.3% higher cane yield as compared to the CK,and ratoon cane performed better than plant cane.As a result,the application of drought resistant sucrose-yield promoter prolonged the life of plant leaves,improved the productivity and sugar accumulation of sugarcane,and increased the benefit of sugar production with low cost.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Diverse approaches to questions of Biodiversity: German contributions to studies of Marine Benthos around South America and Antartica

Una mirada al gradiente latitudinal desde America del Norte via Sur America hasta la Antartica sustenta la impresion que los ecosistemas de esta parte del mundo proveen condiciones perfectas para estudios de biodiversidad marina. Diversas iniciativas bilaterales e internacionales con mayores aportes alemanes se han concentrado en preguntas de biodiversidad especialmente en America del Sur y la Antartica. A profundidades >50 m accesibles a muestreos desde embarcaciones, una zona de minimo oxigeno (OMZ) predomina en Peru y Chile (excepto en el extremo sur) con una vida macrobentonica extremadamente pobre, mostrando un gradiente de incremento de diversidad a profundidades mayores y en sentido sur. En los fiordos y canales al sur de Chile la heterogeneidad del habitat parece ser muy alta y claras diferencias faunisticas pueden ser observadas a cortas distancias, especialmente en la region de Magallanes. Como consecuencia se puede esperar una alta biodiversidad entre-habitats ("between-habitat"). En la plataforma expuesta profunda alrededor de la Antartica un gradiente a gran escala entre una comunidad dominada por suspensivoros sesiles revelando biomasa y abundancia altas, puede ser distinguida de una comunidad con muy poca epifauna. Sin embargo, las relaciones con parametros ambientales son todavia vagamente entendidas. Para el futuro se recomiendan dos enfoques, estudiar preguntas zoogeograficas a la luz de la evolucion e identificar procesos clave que desplieguen patrones de biodiversidad incluyendo cambios ambientales.

Field of study: Biology, Environmental science
Distributed source modeling and direction-of-arrival estimation techniques

In direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation, the direction of a signal is usually assumed to be a point. If the direction of a signal is distributed due to some environmental phenomenon, however, DOA estimation methods based on the point source assumption may result in poor performance. We consider DOA estimation when the signal sources are distributed. Parametric and nonparametric models are proposed, and estimation methods are considered under these models. In addition, the asymptotic distribution of estimation errors is obtained to show the models' statistical properties.

Field of study: Engineering
Efficiency Enhancement of CH3NH3SnI3 Solar Cells by Device Modeling

Lead halide perovskite solar cells (LHPSC) have great potential, with conversion efficiency exceeding 20%. However, their toxic nature and difficult fabrication prevent their consideration for commercial applications. To address this, numerical analysis was performed to propose a structure for lead-free perovskite solar cells with MASnI3 as absorber layer. Device modeling for Cd1−xZnxS as electron transport layer (ETL) and methylamine tin halide as hole transport layer (HTL) was carried out using a solar cell capacitance simulator. The simulation results revealed the dependence of the open-circuit voltage (VOC), short-circuit current (JSC), fill factor (FF), and power conversion efficiency on the HTL valence-band offset, absorber layer thickness, absorber layer doping concentration, ETL band offset, minority-carrier diffusion length, and defects at the HTL–absorber and absorber–ETL interfaces. An optimum absorber layer thickness was confirmed, being well consistent with the range for practical absorber layer designs. Moreover, conversion efficiency of 18.71% was found for absorber thickness of 500 nm and doping concentration of 1 × 1016 cm−3. These results will provide important guidelines for design of low-cost perovskite solar cells.

Field of study: Materials science
Evaluation of Science Teacher Candidates’ Level of Knowledge Regarding the Use of Microscopes

This evaluation was conducted with 43 second-year students, or teacher candidates, attending the science education program of an education faculty in a Turkish university. In this study, students were asked to complete a single open-ended and gap-filling questionnaire, and their answers were evaluated according to a five-point Likert-type rubric. The manuscript provides several examples of the students’ answers. In this context, the aim of this study was to determine science teacher candidates’ level of knowledge regarding the use of microscopes. Based on the study results, we determined that in general the science teacher candidates had a partially adequate or inadequate level of knowledge regarding the use of microscopes.

Field of study: Education
Effect of the rate of solidification on the microstructure, phase composition, and strength of Nb/Nb5Si3 in-situ composites

Nb/Nb5Si3 in situ composites are formed via directional solidification by the Bridgman method at rates of 1.25–2.50–5.00–10 mm min. The effect the rate of rate of solidification has on the microstructure, phase composition, and strength of the composites is studied. As the rate of solidification increases, the size of the eutectic cells diminishes, and the ultimate bending strength grows at 1300°C. The rate of solidification in the above ranges does not affect the phase composition of the composites. The chemical composition and lattice constants of the phase constituents do not vary after creep tests at 1300°C.

Field of study: Physics
On the meaning of time for education:an irreversibility perspective

In the simplicity thinking,time reflecting in a certain causality is a kind of special objective existence,it has no direction,and it is reversible.But the complexity science points out that time has direction,and it is irreversible.Time's irreversibility indicates the changing of "from existing to evolving",and it illuminates that the development has various possibilities,which pointing to opening,possibility,becoming and creativity.Education should have a series thinking changes in a view of time's irreversibility:One is that time becomes a structure content to person's development;Two is that educational course is a course of becoming and uncontinuity;Three is that we should pay more attention to encounter and awakening within the education processes and person's development processes.

Field of study: Education
Spatio-temporal niche partitioning of closely related picocyanobacteria clades and phycocyanin pigment types in Lake Constance (Germany).

We found that the clade-specific abundance dynamics of Synechococcus type picocyanobacteria in the pelagic and littoral zone macro-habitats of Lake Constance (Germany) challenge the hypothesis of a regular annual succession of picocyanobacteria genotypes in temperate zone lakes. Methods used in this study were quantitative Taq nuclease assays (TNA), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), a 19-month time series analysis (with two isothermal and two stratified periods) and genotyping of a new littoral phycocyanin (PC)-rich Synechococcus strain collection. The recorded differences between the two macro-habitats and between seasons or years, and the observed effect of water column mixis in winter on the inversion of clade-specific dominance ratios in Lake Constance might explain the known inter-annual differences in abundance and dynamics of the autotrophic picoplankton (APP) in lakes. The APP in Lake Constance shows a high genetic diversity with a low overall abundance, similar to the APP in the Baltic Sea, but different from Lake Biwa in Japan or lakes in the UK. Our results indicate that APP bloom events in both macro-habitats of Lake Constance are driven by phycoerythrin-rich Synechococcus genotypes of the Subalpine Cluster I. DGGE revealed the presence of a diverse periphyton (biofilm) community of the PC-rich Synechococcus pigment type in the littoral zone in early spring, when no such community was detectable in the pelagic habitat. A more sensitive and quantitative approach with TNA, however, revealed an intermittent presence of one PC-rich genotype in the plankton. We discuss the seasonal development of the pelagic and littoral PC-rich community, and while we cannot rule out a strain isolation bias, we found that isolated PC-rich strains from the pelagic habitat have different genotypes when compared to new littoral strains. We also observed littoral substrates colonized by specific PC-rich Synechococcus genotypes.

Field of study: Biology, Environmental science
Chemical vapor deposited monolayer MoS2 top-gate MOSFET with atomic-layer-deposited ZrO2 as gate dielectric

For the first time, ZrO2 dielectric deposition on pristine monolayer MoS2 by atomic layer deposition (ALD) is demonstrated and ZrO2/MoS2 top-gate MOSFETs have been fabricated. ALD ZrO2 overcoat, like other high-k oxides such as HfO2 and Al2O3, was shown to enhance the MoS2 channel mobility. As a result, an on/off current ratio of over 107, a subthreshold slope of 276 mV dec−1, and a field-effect electron mobility of 12.1 cm2 V−1 s−1 have been achieved. The maximum drain current of the MOSFET with a top-gate length of 4 μm and a source/drain spacing of 9 μm is measured to be 1.4 μA μm−1 at V DS = 5 V. The gate leakage current is below 10−2 A cm−2 under a gate bias of 10 V. A high dielectric breakdown field of 4.9 MV cm−1 is obtained. Gate hysteresis and frequency-dependent capacitance–voltage measurements were also performed to characterize the ZrO2/MoS2 interface quality, which yielded an interface state density of ~3 × 1012 cm−2 eV−1.

Field of study: Materials science
Macroreticulate buffers: a novel approach to pH control in living systems.

It is possible to control the pH of growing living systems in vitro by adding, to the growth media, macroreticulate buffers, i.e. amphoteric resins made with buffering and titrant groups simultaneously affixed to the matrix. Such beads possess a very precise isoelectric point (pI) and are able to maintain the solutions' pH close to their pI values for extended growth periods. These pearls are made of a neutral polyacrylamide backbone containing up to 200 mM grafted weak acrylamido acids and bases. It is possible to produce such buffers with any desired pH value in the pH 2.5-11 scale. An example is given of conditioning the pH of endive plants grown hydroponically.

Field of study: Biology, Engineering
Predicted Performance Advantages of Carbon Nanotube Transistors with Doped Nanotubes as Source/Drain

Most carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs) directly attach metal source/drain contacts to an intrinsic nanotube channel. When the gate oxide thickness is reduced, such transistors display strong ambipolar conduction, even when the Schottky barrier for electrons (or for holes) is zero. The resulting leakage current, which increases exponentially with the drain voltage, constrains the potential applications of such devices. In this paper, we use numerical simulations to show that if CNT based metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) FETs can be achieved by using heavily doped CNT sections as source and drain, ambipolar conduction will be suppressed, leakage current will be reduced, and the scaling limit imposed by source-drain tunneling will be extended. By eliminating the Schottky barrier between the source and channel, the transistor will be capable of delivering more on-current. The leakage current of such devices will be controlled by the full bandgap of CNTs (instead of half of the bandgap for SB CNTFETs) and band-to-band tunneling. These factors will depend on the diameter of nanotubes and the power supply voltage.

Field of study: Physics
Designing Follow-Up Times

Studies of time-to-event are often conducted using follow-up sessions with subjects at risk. When these sessions must be widely spaced, their timing can significantly affect the efficiency of a study design. In this article we analyze the optimal timing of follow-up from a Bayesian decision theoretic standpoint. The article has two goals: (1) to develop the necessary distributional theory and computational approaches to determine optimal sequential and nonsequential follow-up schedules in the exponential case and (2) to demonstrate that unusually large gains in efficiency (more than threefold over the standard approach in the examples considered) can be achieved using our group sequential timing of follow-up. We hope that this striking illustration will encourage more systematic consideration of followup times in study designs. Specifically, we consider time-independent hazard rates. We derive posterior and predictive distributions in three scenarios: single follow-up time for the estimation of a single hazard rate, group-specific follow-up time for the comparison of hazard rates in two treatment groups or cohorts, and multiple follow-up times for a single hazard rate. We encounter a novel family of mixtures of gamma functions and characterize its moments, which play a critical role in the determination of optima. We then provide a solution to the optimal follow-up time in the single follow-up problem. We develop a practical and accurate approximation to the optimal solution as a function of prior hyperparameters that can be used to implement real time calculations and more complex sequential strategies. Finally, we consider the sequential choice of follow-up times. We discuss the general dynamic programming solution and illustrate it in the setting of a two-stage design.

Field of study: Mathematics
Lessons worth repeating: Sidman's Tactics of Scientific Research.

Murray Sidman's (1960)  Evaluating Experimental Data in Psychology just celebrated its sixtieth anniversary. It is without doubt one of the most influential books in the history of Behavior Analysis. This review outlines the rationales for, and details of, methods for the investigation of the behavior of individual subjects that Sidman presented. Many of his observations and recommendations are as timely as ever, maybe even more so, given the "reproducibility crisis" and one of its major origins.

Field of study: Biology, Psychology
The Austrian Tobacco Act in practice--analysing the effectiveness of partial smoking bans in Austrian restaurants and bars.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of partial smoking bans in restaurants and bars, such as those currently in place in Austria, by evaluating adherence to the relevant regulations and assessing the satisfaction levels of those affected by these regulations. To evaluate adherence, 127 randomly selected restaurants and bars were observed using a form of structured observation. In order to evaluate their level of satisfaction with the regulations, 342 randomly selected customers and 29 restaurant owners were interviewed using standardized questionnaires. The customers widely adhered to the partial smoking bans, but many of them were dissatisfied with the fragmented Austrian solution. Most restaurant owners showed neither adherence to the relevant regulations nor satisfaction with the partial smoking bans. The present study reveals that partial bans on smoking are an ineffective solution. The presumed advantages of these regulations, such as still allowing smoking in restaurants provided a spatial separation of smoking and non-smoking areas is guaranteed, cannot be confirmed; adherence to the partial bans is rather inadequate, especially among restaurant owners, and the level of satisfaction with the Austrian solution is poor as well, not only among smoking and non-smoking customers, but also restaurant owners.

Field of study: Medicine, Political science
At the Crossroads: Diego Rivera and His Patrons at MoMA, Rockefeller Center, and the Palace of Fine Arts by Catha Paquette (review)

Brittsan’s monograph is therefore welcome, as it considers “the multifaceted yet converging histories of Manuel Lozada’s life, peasant rebellion, political boundaries, contraband trade, property disputes, and religion in order to disinter the story of how residents in Jalisco’s seventh canton engaged the national political process on their own terms” (12). This is an altogether challenging task. Lozada himself was not formally educated, and his recorded statements and those of his followers are few. And although Brittsan has mined archives in Guadalajara and Mexico City, along with a few other sources, to recreate the political culture of Lozada and his peasant supporters, they remain distant to the twenty-first century reader. Once a hacienda worker, then an outlaw and bandit, by late 1855 Lozada had begun to assert a stronger and more politicized presence in his native region. He was as an opponent of Liberals and a champion of local interests, including, at times, those of Barron y Forbes (26–34).

Field of study: History