nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Marine mammals and microplastics: A systematic review and call for standardisation.

Microplastics receive significant societal and scientific attention due to increasing concerns about their impact on the environment and human health. Marine mammals are considered indicators for marine ecosystem health and many species are of conservation concern due to a multitude of anthropogenic stressors. Marine mammals may be vulnerable to microplastic exposure from the environment, via direct ingestion from sea water, and indirect uptake from their prey. Here we present the first systematic review of literature on microplastics and marine mammals, composing of 30 studies in total. The majority of studies examined the gastrointestinal tracts of beached, bycaught or hunted cetaceans and pinnipeds, and found that microplastics were present in all but one study, and the abundance varied between 0 and 88 particles per animal. Additionally, microplastics in pinniped scats (faeces) were detected in eight out of ten studies, with incidences ranging from 0% of animals to 100%. Our review highlights considerable methodological and reporting deficiencies and differences among papers, making comparisons and extrapolation across studies difficult. We suggest best practices to avoid these issues in future studies. In addition to empirical studies that quantified microplastics in animals and scat, ten studies out of 30 (all focussing on cetaceans) tried to estimate the risk of exposure using two main approaches; i) overlaying microplastic in the environment (water or prey) with cetacean habitat or ii) proposing biological or chemical biomarkers of exposure. We discuss advice and best practices on research into the exposure and impact of microplastics in marine mammals. This work on marine ecosystem health indicator species will provide valuable and comparable information in the future.

Field of study: Environmental science
Dynamics of Water in Zea Mays L.: Sensitivity Analysis of TROIKA

WATER movement from the soil into roots, through the plant, and out into the atmosphere in response to the microclimate was simulated for field-grown maize (sweet corn) plants. Predicted leaf water potentials were compared with field-measured values. A sensitivity analysis of the simulation model was performed to indicate the required measurement accuracy for certain parameters. Variations in internal plant (stem) resistance and leaf area significantly affected leaf water potential predictions. Root length and root permeability had less dramatic effects. The model is relatively insensitive to changes in root radius and leaf width.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Lactococcus lactis as a vehicle for the heterologous expression of fungal ribotoxin variants with reduced IgE-binding affinity.

Fungal ribotoxins are a family of extracellular ribonucleases which inhibit protein biosynthesis by inactivating the ribosomes. This inactivation results in the induction of cell death by apoptosis. Ribotoxins show antitumoral properties based on their ability to cross the membrane of some transformed cells. Unfortunately, they also show an unspecific cytotoxicity which has greatly impaired their potential clinical uses. alpha-Sarcin, produced by Aspergillus giganteus, is the best-characterized ribotoxin. Asp f 1, another ribotoxin produced by A. fumigatus, is indeed one of its major allergens. In this work, the Lactococcus lactis MG1363 strain has been engineered to produce and secrete not only wild-type Asp f 1 and alpha-sarcin but also three different mutants with reduced cytotoxicity and/or IgE-binding affinity. The proteins were secreted in native and active form when the extracellular medium employed was buffered at pH values around 8.0. Strains producing the wild-type natural alpha-sarcin were proved to be innocuous when administered intragastrically to mice for a period of 14 days. Overall, the results presented are discussed in terms of its potential application as a vehicle of oral delivery of hypoallergenic variants as well as a starting point to approach the design of strategies to accomplish the safe delivery of these proteins as antitumoral agents.

Field of study: Biology, Engineering
Design of Anion Exchange Membranes and Electrodialysis Studies for Water Desalination

Anion exchange membranes are highly versatile and nowadays have many applications, ranging from water treatment to sensing materials. The preparation of anion exchange membranes (AEMs) from brominated poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,6-phenylene oxide) (BPPO) and methyl(diphenyl)phosphine (MDPP) for electrodialysis was performed. The physiochemical properties and electrochemical performance of fabricated membranes can be measured by changing MDPP contents in the membrane matrix. The influence of a quaternary phosphonium group associated with the removal of NaCl from water is discussed. The prepared membranes have ion exchange capacities (IEC) 1.09–1.52 mmol/g, water uptake (WR) 17.14%–21.77%, linear expansion ratio (LER) 7.96%–11.86%, tensile strength (TS) 16.66–23.97 MPa and elongation at break (Eb) 485.57%–647.98%. The prepared anion exchange membranes were employed for the electrodialytic removal of 0.1 M NaCl aqueous solution at a constant applied voltage. It is found that the reported membranes could be the promising candidate for NaCl removal via electrodialysis.

Field of study: Materials science
Channel activators reduce the expression of sodium channel α-subunit mRNA in developing neurons

The expression of rat brain sodium channel α-subunit (Na+I, Na+II and Na+III) and β1-subunit mRNAs was examined in rat fetal brain neurons in culture. A combined technique of reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used. Two different PCR primer sets were designed to obtain simultaneous amplification of the three α-subunit mRNAs. All three molecules were detected in fetal neurons but the expression pattern (Na+III > Na+II ⪢ Na+I) was different than that observed in adult tissue (Na+II > Na+I > Na+III). Expression of the β1-subunit mRNA was detected using a specific PCR primer set. Doublet bands were amplified, from fetal cells and adult brain mRNA. To get further insight into the molecular mechanism that underlie activity dependent plasticity of sodium channels, we studied the effect on the expression of sodium channel subunits mRNA of a 60 h incubation of cells in the presence of a scorpion neurotoxin that blocks channel inactivation. An overall decrease in the expression of all three α-subunit mRNAs was observed whereas the β1-subunit mRNA was unaffected by the same treatment. When cells were incubated with the scorpion neurotoxin together with tetrodotoxin, to block Na+ influx through channels, the decrease in mRNA expression was not observed. Finally, a 60 h continuous depolarization of cells induced by application of a high concentration KCl solution did not mimic the effect of the scorpion toxin. These observations suggest that a persistent activation of the sodium channels is able to down-regulate mRNA expression for α-subunits but not for the β1-subunit.

Field of study: Biology
Preferences for support services among adolescents and young adults with cancer or a blood disorder: a discrete choice experiment.

Life-threatening illnesses in young people are traumatic for patients and their families. Support services can help patients and families deal with various non-medical impacts of diagnosis, disease and treatment. The aim of this study was to determine which types of support are most valued by adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer or blood disorders and their families.



A discrete choice experiment (DCE). Separate experiments were conducted with AYA and their carers.



Completed surveys were returned by 83 patients and 78 carers. AYA preferred emotional support for themselves (either by counsellors and/or peers), emotional support for their family, financial support and assistance returning to school/work over services relating to cultural and spiritual needs. Covariate analysis indicated female AYA were more likely than males to prefer emotional support, while males were more likely to prefer assistance returning to work/school. Carers preferred emotional support for their AYA and assistance returning to school/work. Like AYA, they were indifferent about services relating to cultural and spiritual needs.



Providing the types of support services that people prefer should maximise effectiveness. This study suggests that AYA patients require support services that included financial aid, assistance returning to work/study, emotional support for themselves and for their family.

Field of study: Medicine, Political science
Designing Sequence With Minimum PSL Using Chebyshev Distance and its Application for Chaotic MIMO Radar Waveform Design

Controlling peak side-lobe level (PSL) is of great importance in high-resolution applications of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radars. In this paper, designing sequences with good autocorrelation properties are studied. The PSL of the autocorrelation is regarded as the main merit and is optimized through newly introduced cyclic algorithms, namely, PSL minimization quadratic approach, PSL minimization algorithm where the smallest rectangular, and PSL optimization cyclic algorithm. It is revealed that minimizing PSL results in better sequences in terms of autocorrelation side lobes when compared with traditional integrated side-lobe level minimization. In order to improve the performance of these algorithms, fast-randomized singular value decomposition is utilized. To achieve waveform design for MIMO radars, this algorithm is applied to the waveform generated from a modified Bernoulli chaotic system. The numerical experiments confirm the superiority of the newly developed algorithms compared to high-performance algorithms in monostatic and MIMO radars.

Field of study: Engineering
Using Hybrid Assessments to Develop Civic Competency in History

This article addresses the problem of how to best design authentic writing assessments in history that support learners in demonstrating the types of higher order thinking skills needed for effective citizenship. Recent research has primarily focused on curriculum interventions intended to build disciplinary literacies through various types of document-based essay tasks. The authors argue for increased use of “hybrid” tasks that not only emphasize historical thinking, but also require ethical reasoning and decision-making as students consider enduring societal issues connected to the history curriculum. They offer recommendations for creating this type of task based on an in-depth analysis of an assessment implemented with tenth grade history students.

Field of study: Sociology
Forward Induction, Public Randomization, and Admissibility

Gul and Pearce argue that forward induction has much less power as an equilibrium refinement than is generally supposed. The present comment raises the issue: What does admissibility imply for Gul and Pearce's analysis? In a key example, the precise equilibrium constructed by Gul and Pearce depends on a strategy which is not admissible. Even if all equilibria are considered, it is not possible to preserve the Gul and Pearce results under admissibility.

Field of study: Economics
Milton in the Age of Fish: Essays on Authorship, Text, and Terrorism (review)

Thomas Jefferson’s 1786 celebration of Milton’s rejection of the bondage of rhyme, using these eighteenth-century readers to contextualize the political nature of Miltonic education. The intervening discussion placing Milton’s radical humanist education in relation to both the English Civil War and the Restoration is solid and insightful, though a bit unwieldy. It ends with a reading that extends the historical reach of Milton’s famous comment about the bondage of rhyme in his note on the verse of Paradise Lost. Though this interesting point underscores the political project of Milton’s epic, Festa does not make its relevance to education clear. Chapter 4 reaffirms the radical inwardness of Paradise Lost through a consideration of learning and teaching. Discussing both the educational scenes represented within the poem, primarily Adam’s encounters with Raphael, Michael, and God, as well as the poem itself as an educational scene, Festa argues that “learning how to be, in Miltonic education, means remembering what is already within the human mind and spirit through the mediation of the messiah” (156). Thus, Festa reads the epic as exploring the revolutionary potential of education Milton described in his prose. The most compelling and original thread in this book is not Milton’s reading process, his Christian Hebraism, his radical humanism, or the “inward archives” of Paradise Lost, but the common theme of temporality that Festa has identified in these disparate elements of Milton’s work. For this reason, the book would have benefited from a more traditional conclusion. The coda with which the study concludes sharply debunks a simplistic reading of Christ’s rejection of classical learning in Paradise Regained through both a close reading of the text and a note on the publishing history of the poem, which Jacob Tonson bound with Of Education. A fuller synthesis, however, of the issues of temporality at the heart of reading, writing, teaching, and preaching would have brought to the fore the most incisive elements of Festa’s rich discussion and focused his argument. Festa’s introduction contends that Stanley Fish’s classic argument about the pedagogical project of Paradise Lost is marred by its ahistorical understanding of the reader and its imprecise concept of education. With his careful recontextualization of Milton’s writing, Festa begins to help us solve these problems. The End of Learning provides a historically rigorous investigation of Miltonic education. ERIN MURPHY Boston University

Field of study: History
Transition-metal complexes with oxidoborates. Synthesis and XRD characterization of [(H3NCH2CH2NH2)Zn{κ3O,O′,O′′-B12O18(OH)6-κ1O′′′}Zn(en)(NH2CH2CH2NH3)]·8H2O (en=1,2-diaminoethane): a neutral bimetallic zwiterionic polyborate system containing the ‘isolated’ dodecaborate(6−) anion

The title compound, [(H3NCH2CH2NH2)Zn{κ3O,O′,O′′-B12O18(OH)6-κ1O′′′}Zn(en)(NH2CH2CH2NH3)]·8H2O (en=1,2-diaminoethane) (1), was prepared as a crystalline solid in moderate yield from the reaction of B(OH)3 with [Zn(en)3][OH]2 in aqueous solution (15:1) ratio. The structure contains a neutral bimetallic complex comprised of a unusual dodecaborate(6−) anion ligating two [H3NCH2CH2NH2Zn(en)n]3+ centers in a monodentate (n=1) or tridentate (n=0) manner.

Field of study: Chemistry
The Role of Interpersonal Relationships in Student Motivation: Introduction to the Special Issue

The past decade has seen a tremendous surge of research interest in potential associations among students' interpersonal relationships and their academic motivation, behaviors, and achievement. At this time, synthesis of this literature is limited by the broad variety of theoretical frames, operational definitions, and methods used to study what has been termed social motivation. The goal of this special issue is to illustrate that range while highlighting the need for further research.

Field of study: Education
Specific computed tomography imaging characteristics of congenital mesoblastic nephroma and correlation with ultrasound and pathology.

Congenital mesoblastic nephroma (CMN) is a common solid renal tumor in the neonate. Congenital mesoblastic nephroma can be divided into classic, cellular, and mixed types. The prognosis of CMN is very optimistic. But CMN can easily be misdiagnosed as the other malignant renal tumors by radiology. However, no studies have described the computed tomography (CT) imaging appearance of CNM in detail. The objective of this study is retrospective analyses of the multislice CT characteristics of CMN and their corresponding ultrasound findings and pathology.



This retrospective study reviewed the enhanced CT images of the CMNs and other renal tumors in children younger than 1 year in the past 10 years from the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. Two radiologists had noted the CT imaging characteristics of these images. t-test and Fisher's exact test were used in the comparison of imaging characteristics between the CMNs and other renal tumors.



Compared with other malignant renal tumors, the CMNs tend to appear as smaller round masses without clear coverage or clear boundary with the kidney in CT images (P < 0.01). The intratumor pelvis and the double-layer sign are the specific characteristics of CMNs (P < 0.01). The gender, quality of tumor (solid or solid-cystic), character of enhancement (homogeneous or heterogeneous enhancement), peri-renal hemorrhage, or peripheral lymph node enlargement showed no statistical significance (P > 0.05) between CMNs and other renal tumors. The appearances of CMN with classic components in the CT images are relevant to the pathological findings. The intratumor pelvis is caused by the classic components of CMN growing to encapsulate the pelvis. The double-layer sign in CT image correlates with the specific hypoechoic ring in ultrasound, which is caused by the slow blood flow and delay contrast agent filling in the blood sinus located in the peripheral part of the tumor. The differential diagnosis of CMN should include the other solitary renal tumors such as Wilms' tumor, clear-cell sarcoma of the kidney, and rhabdoid tumor of the kidney.



The unclear coverage and unclear boundary with the kidney, the intratumor pelvis, and double-layer sign after contrast were specific CT imaging characteristics of CMN.

Field of study: Medicine
Evaluation of two integrated signalling schemes for the Ultra Flat Architecture using SIP, IEEE 802.21, and HIP/PMIP protocols

Telecommunication suppliers predict a huge mobile Internet traffic increase for the next decade. It seems to be technically challenging and expensive to adapt current mobile network architectures to the increasing traffic demand. Core network technology must scale to the demands under limited revenue growth. This work is to discuss a new, flat, fully distributed and convergent network architecture, called Ultra Flat Architecture. It is well scalable due to the distribution of IP and numerous control functions at intelligent gateways placed within or close to the base stations. This paper focuses on the detailed presentation of two relevant integrated signalling schemes of the architecture. These schemes extend the Ultra Flat Architecture to support legacy Internet applications including IMS compliant applications with all necessary network functions, such as security, mobility, and Quality of Service. Besides Session Initialization Protocol, layers 2 and 3 are taken into account as well, in the terminal attachment and handover procedures. IP mobility is provided by the Host Identity Protocol or the Proxy Mobile IP protocol in the two schemes. We analyse the suitability of the schemes using the Multiplicative Analytic Hierarchy Process. Both schemes have nearly the same performance, however the HIP-based scheme got slightly better scores under our evaluation criteria due to its stronger security and fewer functional modules to deploy.

Field of study: Computer science
Petrography and geochemistry of Cretaceous to quaternary siliciclastic rocks in the Tarfaya basin, SW Morocco: implications for tectonic setting, weathering, and provenance

The petrography, heavy mineral analysis, major element geochemical compositions and mineral chemistry of Early Cretaceous to Miocene–Pliocene rocks, and recent sediments of the Tarfaya basin, SW Morocco, have been studied to reveal their depositional tectonic setting, weathering history, and provenance. Bulk sediment compositional and mineral chemical data suggest that these rocks were derived from heterogeneous sources in the Reguibat Shield (West African Craton) including the Mauritanides and the western Anti-Atlas, which likely form the basement in this area. The Early Cretaceous sandstones are subarkosic in composition, while the Miocene–Pliocene sandstones and the recent sediments from Wadis are generally carbonate-rich feldspathic or lithic arenites, which is also reflected in their major element geochemical compositions. The studied samples are characterized by moderate SiO2 contents and variable abundances of Al2O3, K2O, Na2O, and ferromagnesian elements. Binary tectonic discrimination diagrams demonstrate that most samples can be characterized as passive continental marginal deposits. Al2O3/Na2O ratios indicate more intense chemical weathering during the Early Cretaceous and a variable intensity of weathering during the Late Cretaceous, Early Eocene, Oligocene–Early Miocene, Miocene–Pliocene and recent times. Moreover, weathered marls of the Late Cretaceous and Miocene–Pliocene horizons also exhibit relatively low but variable intensity of chemical weathering. Our results indicate that siliciclastics of the Early Cretaceous were primarily derived from the Reguibat Shield and the Mauritanides, in the SW of the basin, whereas those of the Miocene–Pliocene had varying sources that probably included western Anti-Atlas (NE part of the basin) in addition to the Reguibat Shield and the Mauritanides.

Field of study: Environmental science
Small Businesses and the Corporate Form: Burden or Privilege?

There is a strong intuitive case for the creation of a new legal form through which small businesses in the United Kingdom could operate. The view is widely held that our companies legislation, fashioned with the public, quoted company in mind, is of a length and complexity which is wholly inappropriate to the small, private company.1 The development of the theory of the company as a nexus of contracts2 has strengthened the analysis of the limited liability company as a device for raising capital and reducing agency and monitoring costs. This is a corporate model which forces its supporters to distinguish the unquoted ownermanaged company from the public listed corporation and depict them as altogether different creatures.3 The dichotomy revealed by this analysis has come to dominate our understanding of company law. The weight placed by economists and politicians on the small business as a vehicle for entrepreneurship, economic growth and job creation in recent years4 has also drawn attention to the apparent inadequacy of the legal packages available to small firm owners.5 The fashion for deregulation6 emphasises the facilitative role of company law, which leads to proposals for simplification and removal of burdens from small firms. At the same time, legislation and other forms of binding

Field of study: Law
Analysis and Process Control of Shrinkage and Inclusion Defects of Valve Steel Casting

The formation mechanism of the possible shrinkage and the different inclusion in valve steel casting and process control are analyzed.The main reason of the formation of the inclusion defects are unreasonable design of the pouring system,smaller flow gate,higher discharge velocity and the longer pouring time.Large discharge of the pour system,open cross-section ratio,fast pouring should be used to achieve the smooth filling with large discharge and low-velocity.Results of deoxidization refinement should be attended to purify liquid steel effectively;Skimming of the gating system should be strengthened,including using filtering technology and so on.In order to enhance feeding effect,riser should be used along with cold chill and insulation pad.

Field of study: Materials science