nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Reporting bias in the association between age at first alcohol use and heavy episodic drinking.

Given the weight placed on retrospective reports of age at first drink in studies of later drinking-related outcomes, it is critical that its reliability be established and possible sources of systematic bias be identified. The overall aim of the current study is to explore the possibility that the estimated magnitude of association between early age at first drink and problem alcohol use may be inflated in studies using retrospectively reported age at alcohol use onset.



The sample was comprised of 1,716 participants in the Missouri Adolescent Female Twin Study who reported an age at first drink in at least 2 waves of data collection (an average of 4 years apart). Difference in reported age at first drink at Time 2 versus Time 1 was categorized as 2 or more years younger, within 1 year (consistent), or 2 or more years older. The strength of the association between age at first drink and peak frequency of heavy episodic drinking (HED) at Time 1 was compared with that at Time 2. The association between reporting pattern and peak frequency of HED was also examined.



A strong association between age at first drink and HED was found for both reports, but it was significantly greater at Time 2. Just over one-third of participants had a 2 year or greater difference in reported age at first drink. The majority of inconsistent reporters gave an older age at Time 2 and individuals with this pattern of reporting engaged in HED less frequently than consistent reporters.



The low rate of HED in individuals reporting an older age at first drink at Time 2 suggests that the upward shift in reported age at first drink among early initiates is most pronounced for light drinkers. Heavy drinkers may therefore be overrepresented among early onset users in retrospective studies, leading to inflated estimates of the association between early age at initiation and alcohol misuse.

Field of study: Medicine
Cassia alata - an Useful Antimicrobial Agent

Traditional medicine comprises medical knowledge system that develops over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine. The traditional medicine includes herbal, ayurveda, and acupuncture. In some Asian and African countries upto 80% of the population relies on traditional medicines or practices can have negative or dangerous effect, therefore further research is needed to ascertain the efficacy and safety.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Sulforaphane Potentially Ameliorates Arsenic Induced Hepatotoxicity in Albino Wistar Rats: Implication of PI3K/Akt/Nrf2 Signaling Pathway.

Agriculture and industrial expansion in recent years have resulted in the undue discharge of arsenic into the environment, building arsenic toxicity a major worldwide anxiety. Oxidative stress is considered as the most conspicuous effect of arsenic toxicity. The current study was designed to evaluate the protective ability of sulforaphane (SFN) against arsenic (As) induced hepatotoxicity by activation of PI3K induced Akt and Nrf2 mediated signaling pathway.



For this purpose, male Wistar rats were randomly distributed into 6 groups of 8 rats each: control, Arsenic (5mg/kg BW), SFN plus Arsenic (20, 40, 80 mg/kg BW; 5mg/kg BW) and Vit. C plus Arsenic (100mg/kg BW; 5mg/kg BW). In this study, we have used spectrophotometry for enzymatic antioxidant assays, western blotting and PCR for protein and gene expression. Microtome for histological study.



The arsenic-induced oxidative damage was confirmed by a significant (p<0.05) increase in the levels of ALAD, As concentration and depletion in the antioxidant content. Furthermore, Arsenics treatments significantly (p<0.05) increased the pro-apoptotic marker (Bax) and DNA damage, with decreased Nrf2 protein responsible for liver protection. However, pretreatment with SFN significantly (p<0.05) decreased the levels of ALAD, Arsenic concentration, and brought antioxidant enzymes into normal levels. This was accomplished by inhibition of apoptotic markers via activation of PI3K, Akt and Nrf2 mediated signaling pathway as evident from western blotting and PCR techniques.



Moreover, SFN pretreatment shield the liver histoarchitecture observed in Arsenic treated groups suggesting prevention of liver toxicity via PI3K/Akt mediated Nrf2 signaling pathways and could possibly provide a protection against Arsenic induced hepatic burden.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry
Effect of the underlayer on the microstructure and surface evolution in Al-0.5wt.%Cu polycrystalline thin films

The effects of the Ti underlayer on the evolution of grain morphology, crystallographic texture, and surface roughness of Al-0.5wt.%Cu thin films during sputter deposition have been characterized. In comparison to SiO2 substrates, Ti underlayers reduce the AlCu thickness at which film continuity is reached, reduce the AlCu columnar grain size, and allow exact Al (111) fiber texture development. The AlCu films on both Ti and SiO2 are primarily randomly oriented at early stages of deposition. A near-(111) Al fiber texture in AlCu/SiO2 films initiates during the preferential growth of ≈5° offset islands prior to film continuity, seeding the near Al (111) texture as film continuity is reached. The exact Al (111) fiber orientation in AlCu/Ti films develops after film continuity. The near-(111) and exact (111) fiber textures strengthen with further deposition due to combined normal and abnormal grain growth. Film coalescence and grain growth lead to a significant smoothing effect during the early stages of deposition.

Field of study: Materials science
The Market Model and Higher Education.

This paper deals with the increasing tendency of government to finance higher education through students, a trend having important policy implications for higher education. This trend and numerous related governmental decisions have been based almost exclusively upon economic rationale. The rationale itself has largely been developed and couched in terms of one particular concept the perfectly competitive market, or more generally, the market model. This is clearly evidenced in Federal policy statements and various position papers concerned with changing patterns of governmental financing of higher education.' These documents indicate, in part, the extent to which the market concept is presently being used to support and justify Federal policy decisions regarding higher education, and how the market concept is tied to funding higher education through students.

Field of study: Education
Relationship of properties of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to sequestration in soil.

A study was conducted to determine whether the sequestration of 21 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil was correlated with their properties. From 22 to 58% of the PAHs was not extracted with n-butanol after their addition to soil. After 28 days of aging, the percentage of the PAHs remaining in the soil increased to 47-77%; however, nearly all of each compound was recovered by Soxhlet extraction. Correlations were based on the amounts of aged compound extracted with butanol. Properties of compounds used in the correlations included Kow, molecular length and molecular-connectivity indices (MCIs). No one property, including log Kow, resulted in an R2 value greater than 0.26. A chain MCI (2 chi vCH) together with log Kow or a first-order MCI (1 chi) resulted in R2 values of 0.49 and 0.54, respectively. The data suggest that the properties tested are not important to predicting the sequestration of PAHs in soil.

Field of study: Environmental science
Multiple instance learning tracking method with local sparse representation

When objects undergo large pose change, illumination variation or partial occlusion, most existed visual tracking algorithms tend to drift away from targets and even fail in tracking them. To address this issue, in this study, the authors propose an online algorithm by combining multiple instance learning (MIL) and local sparse representation for tracking an object in a video system. The key idea in our method is to model the appearance of an object by local sparse codes that can be formed as training data for the MIL framework. First, local image patches of a target object are represented as sparse codes with an overcomplete dictionary, where the adaptive representation can be helpful in overcoming partial occlusion in object tracking. Then MIL learns the sparse codes by a classifier to discriminate the target from the background. Finally, results from the trained classifier are input into a particle filter framework to sequentially estimate the target state over time in visual tracking. In addition, to decrease the visual drift because of the accumulative errors when updating the dictionary and classifier, a two-step object tracking method combining a static MIL classifier with a dynamical MIL classifier is proposed. Experiments on some publicly available benchmarks of video sequences show that our proposed tracker is more robust and effective than others.

Field of study: Computer science
A Study on AC Losses of HTS Pentagonal Conductors Consisting of 2G Wires Carrying DC Offset Transport Current

In a high-voltage dc (HVDC) transmission system, a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) dc cable is a feasible candidate due to its high power density. However, the dc in the grid includes ac ripple generated from switching devices and the environment, which can cause ac losses. In this paper, two pentagonal conductors consisting of second-generation (2G) wires are prepared, and their ac losses are investigated under the application of current with ac and dc components. Moreover, a numerical analysis is performed for both conductors to compare the measured losses. The results show that the measured ac losses correspond well with the numerical ones calculated by our models. The dc offset current does not affect the ac losses when the total current is smaller than the critical current, and the ac losses depend on the amplitude of the ac component. All measured losses are verified by evaluating the dependence on the arrangement of the voltage leads, the contact position, and the frequency.

Field of study: Physics
Solution properties of hydrophobically associating acrylamide-based copolymer with butyl styrene

The hydrophobically associating water-soluble copolymer (PSAM) of acryl amide with butyl styrene (BS) was synthesized by the micellar free radical copolymerization technique.GPC measurement showed that the weight average molecular weight of PSAM was 1.6868×10~ 5 and environmental scanning electron microscope(ESEM) images of hydrophobically associating network-structures of PSAM in aqueous solution were obtained, indicating that the viscosification performance of PSAM was dependent on the intermolecular hydrophobic association.The study on the solution properties of PSAM showed that when the copolymer concentration was higher than 0.1 g·dl~ -1 , the copolymer exhibited good viscosification property, salt-thickening, temperature-thickening, pseudoplastic behavior, thixotropy and shear-thickening upon application of a low shear rate in the initial period of time.After ageing for 90 d at 80℃, the apparent viscosities of 0.2 g·dl~ -1 PSAM in 0.137 mol·L~ -1 NaCl solution was 53.8 mPa·s and the retention ratio of apparent viscosity was 49.2%, showing good anti-ageing property of the polymer due to the incorporation of BS into the polymer.

Field of study: Chemistry, Environmental science
Skin Manifestations in Diabetic Patients Attending a Diabetic Clinic in the Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia

To investigate the prevalence of skin manifestations in diabetic patients attending a diabetic clinic in the Qassim region, Saudi Arabia.  A prospective observational study was performed on 320 patients (174 males and 146 females) attending the diabetic clinic. A detailed dermatological examination was carried out by a consultant dermatologist and the cutaneous findings were recorded.  The overall prevalence of skin manifestations was 91.2%. Cutaneous lesions were seen in 12 patients (34.3%) of type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) and 280 (98.2%) of type 2 diabetics. There was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) in skin manifestations between type 1 and type 2 DM patients. For those patients having diabetes of less than 5 years’ duration, the incidence of skin manifestations was 80.6%; for those having had diabetes for more than 5 years, the incidence was 98%. This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The skin manifestations that had a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) in prevalence between the 2 durational groups were gangrene, diabetic dermopathy, paresthesia, diabetic feet, diabetic bullae and fungal infections.  Diabetics had a greater prevalence of skin manifestations in type 2 than type 1, and as the duration of diabetes increased, the likelihood of developing skin manifestations also increased. Early referral to the dermatologist may help to detect complications of the skin in diabetes at an early stage and may prevent disability caused by these complications.

Field of study: Medicine
Constraints of stable isotope signatures on the depositional palaeoenvironments of upper Miocene reef and temperate carbonates in the Sorbas Basin, SE Spain

Lateral facies changes from upper Tortonian^Messinian marginal carbonates into pelagic marls can be physically traced in two well-exposed sections of the Sorbas Basin, SE Spain. Due to this physical correlation, the foraminifer assemblages from the marls and the oxygen and carbon isotope values of the foraminifer tests can be used to reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental context of deposition of the laterally equivalent carbonates. At the basin margins, an uppermost Tortonian/lowermost Messinian temperate carbonate unit with bryomol and rhodalgal lithofacies is overlain by two successive Messinian reef units comprising coral and Halimeda bioherms and fringing Porites reefs respectively. All these units interfinger basinwards into silty marls and marls. The N 18 O values of both planktonic and benthic foraminifers from the pelagic marls coeval with the temperate carbonates are higher than those from the fine-grained sediments laterally equivalent to the overlying reefs (by 1.91x in the planktonic and 1.67x in the benthic records). This decrease in N 18 O, together with an increase in the abundance of subtropical/tropical species in planktonic foraminifer assemblages, confirms a rise in sea-surface temperatures in the change from bryomol/rhodalgal to reef carbonate deposition. Carbonate lithofacies in the upper Miocene in the Sorbas Basin are, therefore, primarily controlled by temperature. The low carbon isotope signatures and the benthic foraminifer assemblages in the pelagic sediments coeval with reefs point to poorly oxygenated bottom waters and strong stratification. fl 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
Temperatur- und Strahlungsmessungen am wasserstabilisierten Hochdruckbogen

ZusammenfassungEs wird ein wasserstabilisierter Hochdruckbogen beschrieben, der in einem von Wasser umgebenen Kanal brennt. Der Kanal wird durch Rotation des Druckgehäuses erzeugt. Der Druck entsteht durch Verdampfen des Wassers und kann bei 100 kW/cm (200 Amp, 500 V/cm) für etwa 1/2 sec auf etwa 1000 Atm gesteigert werden. Elektronenkonzentration und Temperatur werden der Linienform vonHβ entnommen. Mit zunehmendem Druck verschwinden dieBalmer-Linien bis einschließlichHα. Zu dem Brems- und Rekombinationskontinuum tritt mit einem wesentlich größeren Anteil, der Theorie entsprechend, das Elektronenaffinitätsspektrum (H−-Kontinuum) hinzu. Bei den höchsten Drucken wird die Absorption so groß, daß eine nahezu schwarze Strahlung von etwa 12000° K emittiert wird.

Field of study: Physics
Implementation of Access Control Based on AOP and RBAC in ASP.NET MVC

Through the introduction of role, RBAC achieves the logic separation between users and permission, and reduces the complexity of user's permission management. By combining the characteristics of ASP.NET MVC framework, mappings user's permission to the Controllers and Actions, realizes system access control based on RBAC, simplifies the permission management of system. Meanwhile, by introducing AOP, intercepts the controller's action, decouples business logic and access control, the system is more advantageous to maintain and extend.

Field of study: Computer science
Cyclic voltammetry characterization of a La0.8Sr0.2Co0.2Fe0.8O3 − δ electrode interfaced to CGO/YSZ ☆

The electrochemical characteristics of a La 0.8 Sr 0.2 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3 − δ cathode electrode interfaced to the CGO layer of a double layer CGO/YSZ electrolyte were studied using cyclic voltammetry, at temperatures of 600 to 850 °C and under oxygen partial pressures ranging from 0.07 to 21 kPa. The aim was to identify the electrochemical processes taking place under cathodic polarization on the basis of differences in the features of the cyclic voltammograms with changing conditions. Depending on temperature, sweep rate and oxygen partial pressure, current peaks appeared both in the forward and backward scans. Furthermore, reversed hysteresis was observed, i.e. higher currents in the backward scan than in the forward scan, with increasing oxygen partial pressure and decreasing temperature. The observed behavior was related to the electrochemical redox of B-sites and concomitant stoichiometry change as well as to the competing reaction of electrochemical oxygen redox, taking also into account the competitive action of chemical reactions occurring in the presence of gaseous oxygen.

Field of study: Materials science
SEU in SOI SRAMs-a static model

The sensitivity to heavy ions of CMOS/SOI devices is mostly determined by the parasitic bipolar transistor that amplifies the deposited charge. A simple static model is proposed, which gives a relation between the LET threshold and the bipolar amplification factor /spl beta/*. An analytical expression for /spl beta/* versus transistor dimensions and ion LET is established, based on electrical measurements and numerical simulations on elementary transistors. Predictions from this model are in good agreement with experimental data obtained on SRAMs.

Field of study: Physics
STUDY ON FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH IN CO_2 PIPELINES WITH AN AXIAL SURFACE CRACK UNDER PULSATING INTERNAL PRESSURE

Piping transportation of supercritical carbon dioxide(CO2) is a key link connecting the global Carbon-Capture-and-Storage(CCS) plan aiming to reduce excessive emissions of greenhouse gases like Co2. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that a series of problems involving the growth paths of fatigue cracks in CO2 pipelines with crack-like surface defects are taken into account when the leak-before-break(LBB) fracture criteria is used to evaluate the safety of pressure piping. Based on the linear elastic fracture mechanics(LEFM) theory and the ABAQUS software platform, this paper builds a three-dimensional finite element model of a pipe segment containing an axial semi-elliptical inner surface crack, which can be used to obtain the fracture parameters of the surface crack under axial forces, bending moments, and/or internal pressures by adopting the virtual crack closure technique(VCCT). On the platform of this presented finite element model in fracture mechanics, focusing on two types of thin-walled CO2 pipelines(thickness-radius ratios: t/R=1/10 and 1/27.3) under their specific operation pressures, this paper mainly discusses fatigue propagation problems of an axial semi-elliptical in-wall surface crack with different initial aspect ratios(?0≤ 1) caused by pressure fluctuation. Specifically, the fatigue propagation paths of the six inner surface cracks are analyzed when their initial aspect ratios are chosen as 1, 2/3, 1/2, 1/4, 1/6 and 1/8, respectively. The fatigue propagation stages for these cracks are drawn and their fatigue crack growth lives are compared. Meanwhile, the effect of thickness-radius ratios on the crack growth trends is also discussed. The numerical results show that the fatigue growth paths of these cracks have a close relationship with their initial geometrical shapes. There also exists an asymptotic route for fatigue propagation of these cracks, which is closely connected with the thickness-radius ratio of pipeline.

Field of study: Engineering
On the reduction of Krasnoselskii's theorem to Schauder's theorem

Krasnoselskii noted that many problems in analysis can be formulated as a mapping which is the sum of a contraction and compact map. He proved a theorem covering such cases which is the union of the contraction mapping principle and Schauder’s second fixed point theorem. In putting the two results together he found it necessary to add a condition which has been difficult to fulfill, although a great many problems have been solved using his result and there have been many generalizations and simplifications of his result. In this paper we point out that when the mapping is defined by an integral plus a contraction term, the integral can generate an equicontinuous map which is independent of the smoothness of the functions. Because of that, it is possible to set up that mapping, not as a sum of contraction and compact map, but as a continuous map on a compact convex subset of a normed space. An application of Schauder’s first fixed point theorem will then yield a fixed point without any reference to that difficult condition of Krasnoselskii. Finite and infinite intervals are handled separately. For the class of problems considered, application is parallel to the much simpler Brouwer fixed point theorem.

Field of study: Mathematics
Anti‐metastatic functions of type 1 interferons: Foundation for the adjuvant therapy of cancer

HighlightsEndogenous type I interferon (IFN1) plays a key role in suppressing tumor metastases.IFN1 regulates cancer cell migration, intravasation, survival, intravasation and colonization.Understanding IFN1 anti‐metastatic properties can improve its use as a therapeutic agent.  The anti‐tumorigenic effects that type 1 interferons (IFN1) elicited in the in vitro studies prompted consideration of IFN1 as a potent candidate for clinical treatment. Though not all patients responded to IFN1, clinical trials have shown that patients with high risk melanoma, a highly refractory solid malignancy, benefit greatly from intermediate IFN1 treatment in regards to relapse‐free and distant‐metastasis‐free survival. The mechanisms by which IFN1 treatment at early stages of disease suppress tumor recurrence or metastatic incidence are not fully understood. Intracellular IFN1 signaling is known to affect cell differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. Moreover, recent studies have revealed specific IFN1‐regulated genes that may contribute to IFN1‐mediated suppression of cancer progression and metastasis. In concert, expression of these different IFN1 stimulated genes may impede numerous mechanisms that mediate metastatic process. Though, IFN1 treatment is still utilized as part of standard care for metastatic melanoma (alone or in combination with other therapies), cancers find the ways to develop insensitivity to IFN1 treatment allowing for unconstrained disease progression. To determine how and when IFN1 treatment would be most efficacious during disease progression, we must understand how IFN1 signaling affects different metastasis steps. Here, we specifically focus on the anti‐metastatic role of endogenous IFN1 and parameters that may help to use pharmaceutical IFN1 in the adjuvant treatment to prevent cancer recurrence and metastatic disease.

Field of study: Medicine