nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
PCSK9 Variants in Familial Hypercholesterolemia: A Comprehensive Synopsis

Autosomal dominant familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) affects approximately 1/250, individuals and potentially leads to elevated blood cholesterol and a significantly increased risk of atherosclerosis. Along with improvements in detection and the increased early diagnosis and treatment, the serious burden of FH on families and society has become increasingly apparent. Since FH is strongly associated with proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), increasing numbers of studies have focused on finding effective diagnostic and therapeutic methods based on PCSK9. At present, as PCSK9 is one of the main pathogenic FH genes, its contribution to FH deserves more explorative research.

Field of study: Biology
Microstructure, Phase Transition, and Electrical Properties of KxNa1−xNbO3 Lead-Free Piezoceramics

The microstructure, phase transition, and electrical properties of lead-free KxNa1−xNbO3 (x = 0.46 to 0.51, abbreviated as KNN) piezoceramics prepared by a conventional solid-state reaction method were investigated with an emphasis on the influence of the K/Na ratio. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed that the grain growth was slightly improved by increasing x. However, all ceramic samples possessed high densifications with fine grains from several hundred nanometers to several micrometers. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that a discontinuous change of lattice parameters appeared between x = 0.49 and 0.50, which suggested a typical morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) separating two different orthorhombic phases OI and OII. The sample with composition x = 0.49 had the peak values of the piezoelectric constant d33 of 146 pC/N and the planar electromechanical coupling coefficient kp of 43%. These results indicated that improving the piezoelectric properties in KNN ceramics could be achieved by optimizing the K/Na ratio.

Field of study: Materials science
Normal and sarcoid alveolar macrophages differ in their ability to present antigen and to cluster with autologous lymphocytes

Human bronchoalveolar macrophages from normal individuals function poorly as accessory cells for the presentation of common recall antigens. In sarcoidosis, alveolar macrophages (AM) are reported to be effective accessory cells for the presentation of such antigens. In this study normal and sarcoid AM were compared with blood monocytes for their ability to act as accessory cells in presenting tuberculin purified protein derivative (PPD) and streptokinase‐streptodornase (SKSD) to autologous T lymphocytes, or to form spontaneous, antigen‐ or mitogen‐induced clusters with the T cells. When compared to autologous monocytes, normal AM failed to present the two recall antigens effectively. Likewise normal AM formed very few clusters with T lymphocytes when compared to monocytes, even in the presence of antigens or the mitogen phytohaemagglutinin (PHA). In contrast, sarcoid AM presented both antigens as effectively, and were equally effective as monocytes in forming clusters with T lymphocytes, spontaneously and in further response to antigen or mitogen. The results suggest that in sarcoidosis enhanced accessory cell function and enhanced cluster formation may be related features of bronchoalveolar macrophage populations.

Field of study: Biology, Medicine
A 400-year record of hydroclimate variability and local ENSO history in northern Southeast Asia inferred from tree-ring δ18O

We present here a chronology of tree ring cellulose δ 18 O for the period 1588–2002 based on individual measurements of seven Fokienia hodginsii trees growing in northern Laos. Response function analysis of meteorological data revealed that this oxygen isotope chronology has a significant negative correlation with monsoon season precipitation, the water level of the Mekong River, and the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI). Our reconstructed monsoon season PDSI, which accounts for 41.5% of PDSI variance, showed that wetter phases occurred during the periods AD 1660–1695 and AD 1705–1790, that the main drier periods were AD 1630–1660, AD 1900–1940, and AD 1954–2002, and that there has been a trend of decreasing moisture during the monsoon season over the last 200 years. A reduction in monsoon activity can also be seen in various tree ring oxygen isotope records from the Himalaya, Tibet Plateau, and Southeast Asia. Rising sea surface temperatures over the tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean could be responsible for this reduction in the Asian summer monsoon. By combining proxies sensitive to the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in northern Laos and Vietnam, we were able to reconstruct the annual multivariate ENSO index (MEI) and local ENSO event history, and so improve our understanding of long-term variations in ENSO and its influences on Southeast Asia.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
Burge on Testimony and Memory

Tyler Burge sees a close analogy between the acquisition of warranted belief from the testimony of others and the preservation of warranted belief in memory. I shall bring out a problem with his common account of testimony and memory, and offer two solutions. The first solution weakens the analogy between testimony and memory. The second keeps the close analogy but modifies the common account of both. Although the first solution has some plausibility, I think the second fits Burge's intentions better.

Field of study: Philosophy
Electrophilic substitution in N-aryl-2-pyrazolines. 3. Introduction of nitro-, sulfo-, and acyl groups. Reaction with Michler's ketone

Phenyl-3,5-diaryl-2-pyrazolines are nitrated, sulfurated, and acylated in the para-position of the 1-phenyl ring. In the presence of POCl3, pyrazolines form triphenyl-methane dyes with a Michler's ketone.

Field of study: Chemistry
Dissecting the Local Environment of FRB 190608 in the Spiral Arm of its Host Galaxy

We present a high-resolution analysis of the host galaxy of fast radio burst FRB 190608, an SBc galaxy at $z=0.11778$ (hereafter HG 190608), to dissect its local environment and its contributions to the FRB properties. Our Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/UVIS image reveals that the sub-arcsecond localization of FRB 190608 is coincident with a knot of star-formation ($\Sigma_{SFR} = 1.2 \times 10^{-2}~ M_{\odot} \, kpc^{-2}$) in one of the prominent spiral arms of HG 190608. This is confirmed by H$\beta$ emission present in our Keck/KCWI integral field spectrum of the galaxy with a surface brightness of $\mu_{H\beta} = (3.35\pm0.18)\times10^{-17}\;erg\;s^{-1}\;cm^{-2}\;arcsec^{-2}$. We infer an extinction-corrected H$\alpha$ surface brightness and compute a dispersion measure from the interstellar medium of HG 190608 of ${DM}_{Host,ISM} = 82 \pm 35~ pc \, cm^{-3}$. The galaxy rotates with a circular velocity $v_{circ} = 141 \pm 8~ km \, s^{-1}$ at an inclination $i_{gas} = 37 \pm 3^\circ$, giving a dynamical mass $M_{halo}^{dyn} \approx 10^{11.96 \pm 0.08}~ M_{\odot}$. A surface photometric analysis of the galaxy using FORS2 imaging suggests a stellar disk inclination of $i_{stellar} = 26 \pm 3^\circ$. The dynamical mass estimate implies a halo contribution to the dispersion measure of ${DM}_{Host,Halo} = 55 \pm 25\; pc \, cm^{-3}$ subject to assumptions on the density profile and fraction of baryons retained. The relatively high temporal broadening ($\tau = 3.3 \pm 0.2 \; ms$ at 1.28 GHz) and rotation measure ($ RM = 353 \pm 2\; rad \; m^{-2}$) (Day et al. 2020) of FRB 190608 may be attributable to both turbulent gas within the spiral arm and gas local to the FRB progenitor. In contrast to previous high-resolution studies of FRB progenitor environments, we find no evidence for disturbed morphology, emission, nor kinematics for FRB 190608.

Field of study: Physics
Multi-Object Optimization Based RV Selection Algorithm for VCN

Vehicular communication network (VCN) has recently received considerable attention both from academia and industry. In VCN, vehicles are expected to be capable of communicating with other vehicles as well as stationary infrastructures, i.e., the access points (APs) of wireless access networks. In the case that the direct connection between a source vehicle (SV) and APs is inaccessible, relay vehicles (RVs) can be applied for supporting multi-hop connection between SVs and APs. In this paper, a multi-object based RV selection algorithm for VCN is proposed, which jointly considers the characteristics of physical channel, link status between SVs and RVs, the bandwidth and delay characteristics of RVs and user service requirements. The utility functions of both SVs and RVs are modeled and a multi-object optimization problem is formulated. Applying ideal point method, the problem can be solved and the optimal SV-RV pairs can be obtained. Simulation results demonstrate that compared to previous algorithms, the proposed algorithm offers better performance in terms of user throughput, successful transmission rate and average transmission delay

Field of study: Computer science
Synthesis of Co3O4 nanocubes/CNTs composite with enhanced sodium storage performance

In this work, a composite with monodispersed Co3O4 nanocubes coated on CNTs (Co3O4-NC/CNTs) was successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method. TEM images show that the Co3O4 nanocubes with a size of 3–10 nm were evenly scattered on the surface of the CNTs. The electrochemical properties of the Co3O4-NC/CNTs for sodium-ion batteries anode were systematically investigated. Taking advantages of the evenly dispersed Co3O4 nanocubes and unobstructed structure of CNTs, the Co3O4-NC/CNTs composite delivered a reversible specific capacity of ~ 441 mAh g− 1 after 100 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g− 1 and a rate capacity of ~ 258 mAh g− 1 at 1600 mA g− 1, which is much higher than the bare Co3O4. Therefore, the Co3O4-NC/CNTs composite with excellent electrochemical activity shows great prospect as anode material for sodium-ion batteries.

Field of study: Materials science
The primitive spectrum for gl(m|n)

We study inclusions between primitive ideals in the universal enveloping algebra of general linear superalgebras. For classical Lie superalgebras, any primitive ideal is the annihilator of a simple highest weight module. It therefore suffices to study the quasi-order on highest weights determined by the relation of inclusion between primitive ideals. For the specific case of reductive Lie algebras, this quasi-order is essentially the left Kazhdan-Lusztig quasi-order. For Lie superalgebras, the classification is unknown in general, safe from some low dimensional specific cases. We derive an alternative definition of the left Kazhdan-Lusztig quasi-order which extends to classical Lie superalgebras. We show that a relation in this preorder implies an inclusion between primitive ideals. 
For gl(m|n) the new quasi-order is defined explicitly in terms of Brundan's Kazhdan-Lusztig theory. We prove that the quasi-order induces an actual partial order on the set of primitive ideals. We conjecture that this is the inclusion order. By the above paragraph one direction of this conjecture is true. We prove several consistency results concerning the conjecture and prove it for singly atypical and typical blocks of gl(m|n) and in general for gl(2|2). An important tool is a new translation principle for primitive ideals, based on the crystal structure for category O. Finally we focus on an interesting explicit example; the poset of primitive ideals contained in the augmentation ideal for gl(m|1).

Field of study: Mathematics
ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS TO THE SURFACE OF DYNAMIC MODE III CRACK SUBJECTED TO DIFFERENT LOADS

By the measures of theory for complex functions,the problems on the surface of a mode Ⅲ dynamic crack subjected to superimpose loads and impact loads were studied,respectively.Analytical solutions to the stress,displacement,stress intensity factor,strain energy density factor and dislocation distribution function are attained by the approaches of self-similar functions.The problem researched can be very facilely translated into Riemann-Hilbert problem and its closed solution will be obtained rather straightforward by this technique.Using the solution and superposition theorem,the solution of an arbitrarily complex problem can be acquired.

Field of study: Engineering
The Basic Variety (or: Couldn't natural languages be much simpler?)

In this article, we discuss the implications of the fact that adult second language learners (outside the classroom) universally develop a well-structured, efficient and simple form of language–the Basic Variety (BV). Three questions are asked as to (1) the structural properties of the BV, (2) the status of these properties and (3) why some structural properties of ‘fully fledged’ languages are more complex. First, we characterize the BV in four respects: its lexical repertoire, the principles according to which utterances are structured, and temporality and spatiality expressed. The organizational principles proposed are small in number, and interact. We analyse this interaction, describing how the BV is put to use in various complex verbal tasks, in order to establish both what its communicative potentialities are, and also those discourse contexts where the constraints come into conflict and where the variety breaks down. This latter phenomenon provides a partial answer to the third question,concerning the relative complexity of ‘fully fledged’ languages–they have devices to deal with such cases. As for the second question, it is argued firstly that the empirically established continuity of the adult acquisition process precludes any assignment of the BV to a mode of linguistic expression (e.g., ‘protolanguage’) distinct from that of ‘fully fledged’ languages and, moreover, that the organizational constraints of the BV belong to the core attributes of the human language capacity, whereas a number of complexifications not attested in the BV are less central properties of this capacity. Finally, it is shown that the notion of feature strength, as used in recent versions of Generative Grammar, allows a straightforward characterization of the BV as a special case of an I-language, in the sense of this theory. Under this perspective, the acquisition of an Ilanguage beyond the BV can essentially be described as a change in feature strength.

Field of study: Linguistics
Being in-Between: A Model of Cultural Identity Negotiation for Emerging Adult Immigrants

This qualitative study explored the cultural identity negotiation of young adult immigrants. Using a grounded theory research design, 10 semistructured interviews were conducted with emerging adult immigrants (EAI), ages 19–27.  yielded a substantive model of cultural identity negotiation (MCIN) for EAI and posited that One’s Motivation and Sense of Agency to Negotiate Cultural Identity is at the core of how participants navigate their cultural identities. This model included 6 major categories: (a) Family Cultural Rigidity; (b) Connections Specific to Canada; (c) Connection to a Same Cultured Community; (d) Sense of Permanency; (e) Desire to Preserve Culture of Origin; (f) Desire to Fit in to Canadian Culture, as well as 2 overarching factors (Dimension of Time and Dimension of Age), which were found to be influential on participants’ cultural identity negotiation. The model also included the identification of 4 approaches to cultural identity negotiation: (a) Blended; (b) Dual; (c) Disconnected; and (d) Intermediate. The MCIN for EAI is discussed in terms of the current literature on cultural identity formation as well as implications for counseling psychology training and practice. Recommendations for further research are also suggested.

Field of study: Psychology
Associative factors underlying the pigeon's key pecking in auto-shaping procedures.

Key pecking in pigeons can be engendered by associating response-independent food presentations with illumination of a key. Specific pairings of key and food are not necessary for this phenomenon. Differential positive association between key and food (defined in terms of relative densities of reinforcement), however, is necessary and sufficient to produce and maintain key pecking. Thus, the occurrence of key pecking in auto-shaping can be considered to depend on associative processes similar to classical conditioning. Consequently, auto-shaped pecking can be virtually eliminated by the addition of food presentations in the intertrial interval, thus removing the association between key and food. Initial exposure to random reinforcement, or reinforcement only in the absence of the key, results in lower rates of pecking in subsequent auto-shaping procedures.

Field of study: Biology, Psychology
Hypospadias: Are we as good as we think when we correct proximal hypospadias?

Hypospadias surgery is a humbling art form. Although outcomes with distal hypospadias are favorable, recent publications have suggested that the complication rates are much higher than previously anticipated for proximal hypospadias. The present review examined the literature concerning proximal hypospadias, to explore some of the inadequacies and identify some of the reasons behind these shortfalls in the reported data.



A systematic review of the published literature was conducted using keywords relevant to proximal hypospadias and long-term outcomes.



The literature for hypospadias was reviewed, and outcomes for distal vs proximal variants were compared. The quality of the literature for proximal hypospadias was examined, and the shortcomings that led to underreporting of the surgical outcomes were identified. Special focus was on the lack of standardized documentation, the subsequent inability to objectify the severity of the phenotype, and the underestimation of complications due to lack of long-term follow-up. There was also a great deal of variability in the utilized techniques, and the literature was filled with small case series from single institutions. To enable scientific assessment of outcomes, it is proposed that the following be implemented: acceptance and incorporation of standardized phenotype assessment scores in the pre-operative period, objective intraoperative hypospadias characterization, and postoperative score assessment.



Treatment of proximal hypospadias is much less successful than the distal variant. A specialty wide commitment to standardize the hypospadias language is required to make advancement in surgical outcomes. Boys need to be followed through puberty into adulthood, and honest reporting of outcomes must be discussed so that surgical techniques for this complicated disease process can be advanced.

Field of study: Medicine
[Study on the stability of Japanese encephalitis vaccine--development of freeze-dry dosage form].

In order to prolong shelf-life and improve the quality of the vaccine product, not only an effective stabilizer but also a more proper dosage form has been sought. The stability of a Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccine produced from mouse brain along with a variety of stabilizers and lyophilization protocols was evaluated. Without any stabilizers added, almost 90% of the antigenicity would vanish after freeze-drying process. Comparative studies of various compounds, including carbohydrates, amino acids, peptides and medium 199, on both antigenicity preservation and thermostability of the vaccine were carried out. The results indicated that the best reconstituted vaccines were prepared with two stabilizer formulations, sucrose and sucrose/gelatin. They were further examined by accelerated stability test at room and higher temperatures. The sucrose-added lyophilized vaccine can retain its original antigenicity for more than 60 days both at 37 degrees C and 45 degrees C. We conclude the thermostability efficiency of each of the stabilizers tested is as that follows: sucrose > sucrose/gelatin > gelatin/medium > gelatin.

Field of study: Biology
The policy analysis of 'values talk': lessons from Canadian health reform.

Despite widespread recognition of the importance of values, decision makers and stakeholders in health policy appear to disagree fundamentally over what 'values' essentially are. Hidden dissent about the nature of values can confuse policy deliberations. This study investigates empirically the following two questions: (1) what sorts of entities do Canadian health reformers typically call 'values'? and; (2) how do Canadian health reformers use the idea of values in health reform rhetoric? We conducted a qualitative, interpretive analysis of 36 Canadian health reform documents published during the period 1990-1999. The values raised in Canadian health reform rhetoric vary widely not only in topic (e.g. health states, health services, equity, economic viability, etc.) but also in substance (e.g. physical entities, goals, principles, attitudes, etc.). We review the diversity of concepts underlying 'values talk' in health policy, and discuss implications for policy analysis and future research.

Field of study: Medicine, Political science
Effects of fluorine emission on agricultural products surrounding an aluminum factory.

The F concentrations of precipitate dust, agricultural products, and fingernail and hair at the surrounding Al factory were investigated. The F content of dust ranged from 15400 to 42500 micrograms/g dry weight, 190,000 to 380,000 micrograms/g Al. Rice grain contained about 3.4 times more F than that in the control area, but some kinds of agricultural products, egg plants (S. melongena L.), mulberry plants (M. japonica Bailey non Sieb.), and soy beans (G. max (L.) Merrill) were almost equal to that of controls. Also, the high F concentration in the hair and nails of some workers was affected by available F contents in the emission from the factory as well as food and water surrounding the aluminum factory compared with those of control area.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Additional is-wave Cooper pairing driven by nematic order in d-wave superconductors

We make a non-perturbative analysis of the strong interaction between gapless nodal fermions and nematic order parameter in two-dimensional $d_{x^2 - y^2}$ superconductors. We predict that the critical nematic fluctuation can generate a dynamical nodal gap if the fermion flavor $N$ is smaller than a threshold $N_c$. Such gap generation leads to an additional $is$-wave Cooper pairing instability, and induces a fully gapped $d_{x^2 - y^2} + is$ superconducting dome in the vicinity of nematic quantum critical point. The opening of dynamical gap has important consequences, including saturation of fermion velocity renormalization, weak confinement of fermions, and suppression of observable quantities.

Field of study: Physics