nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Global Snow Cover Monitoring: An Update

Accurate monitoring of the large-scale dimensions of global snow cover is essential for understanding details of climate dynamics and climate change. Presently, such information is gathered individually from ground station networks and satellite platforms. Efforts are in progress to consolidate and analyze long-term station records from a number of countries. To gain truly global coverage, however, satellite-based monitoring techniques must be employed. A 27-year record of Northern Hemisphere continental snow cover produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the longest such environmental record available. Records of Southern Hemisphere continental cover and snow on top of Arctic sea ice have been produced by similar means for a portion of this interval. The visible imagery charting technique used to generate these data provides information on snow extent but not on snow volume. Satellite microwave analyses over Northern Hemisphere lands show some promise in this reg...

Field of study: Environmental science
MicroRNA-203 Regulates Growth and Metastasis of Breast Cancer

MicroRNAs (MiRNAs) control many biological events and play critical roles in the development of tumor. Among all miRNAs, miR203 has been recently shown to have an inhibitory effect on prostate cancer. However, its involvement in the carcinogenesis of breast cancer has not been reported.  We examined the levels of miR203 in the breast cancer from the patients compared to the paired normal breast tissue. We also examined the levels of miR203 in several commonly used breast cancer cell lines. The effects of overexpression or depletion of miR203 on breast cancer cell growth were analyzed by a MTT assay, and on breast cancer cell invasion were examined by a scratch wound healing assay and a transwell cell migration assay. MiR203-targeted genes were analyzed by Western blot.  We detected significantly lower levels of miR203 in the breast cancer from the patients compared to the paired normal breast tissue. Moreover, the levels of miR203 were significantly lower in breast cancer tissue from the patients with cancer metastasis. Decreased miR203 levels were detected in all examined breast cancer lines. Overexpression of miR203 inhibited breast cancer cell growth and invasion, while antisense-mediated inhibition of miR203 enhanced cancer cell growth and invasion. Further analyses show that miR203 may inhibit cell growth through decreasing cell-cycle activator cyclinD2 and CDK6, increasing cell-cycle suppressor p21 and p27, and increasing apoptosis-associated protein Bcl-2. MiR203 may also inhibit cell metastasis through suppressing matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2), MMP7 and MMP9.  Our data thus highlight miR203 as a novel therapeutic target for breast cancer.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry
Trap generation and breakdown processes in very thin gate oxides

Neutral electron traps are generated in gate oxide during electrical stress, leading to degradation in the form of stress-induced leakage current (SILC) and eventually resulting in breakdown. SILC is the result of inelastic, trap-assisted tunneling of electrons that originate in the conduction band of the cathode. Deuterium annealing experiments call into question the interfacial hydrogen release model of the trap generation mechanism. A framework for modeling time-to-breakdown is presented.

Field of study: Engineering
Automatic Text Classification of English Newswire Articles Based on Statistical Classification Techniques

The basic process of automatic text classification is learning a classification scheme from training examples then using it to classify unseen textual documents. It is essentially the same as graphic or character pattern recognition process. So the pattern recognition approaches can be used for automatic text categorization. In this research several statistical classification techniques each of which employs Euclidean distance, various similarity measures, linear discriminant function, projection distance, modified projection distance, SVM, nearest-neighbor, have been used for automatic text classification. The principal component analysis was used to reduce the dimensionality of the feature vector. Comparative experiments have been conducted on the Reuters-21578 test collection of English newswire articles. The results illustrate that the efficiency of modified projection distance is totally better than the other methods and the principal component analysis is suitable for reducing the dimensionality of the text features.

Field of study: Computer science
Strange Invaders: An Essay-Review

In the subworld of science fiction (and, to a lesser extent, in the neighboring subworlds of fantasy and horror fiction), Andy Warhol's prediction that everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes is very nearly already realized. Seldom has a literature so assiduously set itself up as a "subculture"; seldom have writers, readers, editors, publishers, critics, academics, and even artists mingled and exchanged ideas as readily as in the science fiction world, and it is indeed possible to gain fame in this world, however fleeting, by simply being at the right place at the right time. When we think of a famous Western fan, such as Ronald Reagan, we think of someone famous who happens to read Westerns; but a famous science fiction fan, such as Forrest Ackerman, is famous for bang a science fiction fan. One such fan, Dena Benatan, gained a kind of immortality over a decade ago by scrawling on the blackboard at a convention, "Let's get Science Fiction back in the gutter where it belongs!" (or words to that effect; the story is recounted in David Hartwell's Age of Wonders, discussed below). Benatan was responding to the academic turn some of the discussions were beginning to take, and in so doing she created a rallying cry for a sizable chunk of fandom that would just as soon see the critics and scholars stay safely in the world that science fiction people call "mundane." Needless to say, she might have received unsolicited

Field of study: Art
Influence of secondary processes on the quantum yield of I(2P1/2) atoms formed by photolysis of iodides measured by a kinetic spectroscopy method

Numerical calculations of the kinetics of secondary processes occurring during photolysis of iodides (RI) are made using published values of the rate constants. It is shown that in the case of insufficient time resolution and a large number of photolysis-inducing pulses these processes may have a considerable influence on the relative values of the quantum yield OI*rel(λ) measured by kinetic spectroscopy methods. A report is given of measurements, under conditions avoiding the influence of such secondary processes on OI*rel(λ), of the values of this yield at λ = 266 nm for the following iodides RI:CF3I, C2F5I, C3F7I, CF3CFICF3, C4F9I, (CF3)3CI, CH3I, C2H5I, C3H7I, and CH3CHICH3. The rate constants of deactivation of I(2P1/2) atoms by alkyl iodide molecules are determined.

Field of study: Engineering, Physics
Origin of cap carbonates: An experimental approach

An experimental study was carried out to assess the abiotic natural reactions associated with carbonate precipitation leading to the formation of Neoproterozoic cap carbonate sequences. For this purpose, synthetic seawater solutions were prepared reflecting the presumed composition of Neoproterozoic seawater. These solutions were heated to 40 °C, undergoing degassing and/or evaporation, while monitoring their chemical composition (sulphate concentration, Mg/Ca molar ratio) and identifying the precipitated minerals. The experimental results are in good agreement with previous studies, allowing us to constrain the type of carbonate precipitates formed in the ocean during the Snowball Earth aftermath. Among the phases precipitated during heating of the solutions, Mg-bearing carbonate minerals (i.e. Mg-calcite, magnesite and dolomite) remain of minor importance compared to Ca-carbonates (especially aragonite). Consequently, the basal dolostone units of the cap carbonates (i.e. cap carbonates s.s.) were originally in the form of CaCO3, and evolved spontaneously toward dolomite. Cap carbonates s.l. (i.e. cap limestones) containing aragonitic cement could result from the degassing of the whole ocean and the concomitant precipitation of aragonite. The calculated thicknesses of carbonates formed in this way are of the order of several metres, in line with the field observations. Although this process of abiotic carbonate precipitation does not rule out biologically-mediated carbonate formation, it may represent an alternate route to produce carbonate, particularly in environments which are not yet colonized by bacteria after the global ice melting.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
Denial of Contingent Liability Loss Deduction

Although in the past the government won a number of important victories in its ongoing attempt to stop abusive tax transactions, it has continued to lose on contingent liability transactions. Recently, however, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a lower court decision that may substantially affect future contingent liability cases. Coltec Industries recognized significant gain when it sold several of its subsidiaries. To offset this gain it followed a simple tax-savings strategy; it created a subsidiary, Garrison, which received stock in exchange for a $14 million contribution. Garlock, another Coltec subsidiary, transferred its contingent liability for asbestos claims, some assets and a $375 million note from another subsidiary to Garrison in exchange for common stock. The amount of the note and the contingent liability were approximately equal. Garlock then sold the Garrison stock and recognized a loss of $378.7 million. When Garlock took a loss deduction, the IRS denied it. The Court of Federal Claims disagreed with the IRS and permitted the loss deduction. The IRS appealed.  For the IRS. The service presented two arguments against the loss deduction. The first was a technical argument involving the interaction of liabilities and basis, which was contained in IRC sections 357(b), 357(c) and 358. The second was a general argument about whether the transaction had sufficient economic substance to be respected. Liabilities and basis. IRC section 358(d)(1) addresses liabilities assumed as money paid resulting in a decrease in basis. The claims court held that contingent liabilities were not liabilities for purposes of section 358. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed; it held that contingent liabilities, for purposes of that section, were liabilities. However, section 358(d)(2) exempts liabilities excluded under section 357(c)(3). The appeals court had to determine whether these contingent liabilities excluded liabilities under section 357(c)(3) and whether section 357(b) overrode the exclusion. The government contended that the section 357(c)(3) exclusion applies to liabilities only if they are transferred with the business that created them and if they give rise to a deduction. Although admitting Congress probably intended to limit the exclusion to transfers of businesses and their liabilities, the court rejected the government's argument because the section does not expressly contain this limitation. The government also said that under section 357(b) assumed liabilities are treated as boot (usually cash). Although section 357(b) does overrule section 357(c) for liability assumption purposes, section 358 refers to section 357(c)(3) only for its definition of an excluded liability. Therefore, section 357(b) was not relevant in the case and it did not matter that the taxpayer had assumed the liabilities only to avoid taxes. …

Field of study: Business
Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt deformations of Calabi-Yau algebras

Recently, Bocklandt proved a conjecture by Van den Bergh in its graded version, stating that a graded quiver algebra A (with relations) which is Calabi-Yau of dimension 3 is defined from a homogeneous potential W. In this paper, we prove that if we add to W any potential of smaller degree, we get a Poincare-Birkhoff-Witt deformation of A. Such PBW deformations are Calabi-Yau and are characterised among all the PBW deformations of A. Various examples are presented.

Field of study: Mathematics
Mean corpuscular volume and the aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 genotype in male Japanese workers.

Increased mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is common in alcohol abusers and alcoholics. MCV is higher in Japanese heavy drinkers with inactive aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2) encoded by ALDH2*1/2*2 than among those with active ALDH2 encoded by ALDH2*1/2*1. Inactive ALDH2 dramatically increases blood acetaldehyde levels after alcohol intake. Because moderate and heavy drinkers with ALDH2*1/2*2 have very high risks for esophageal cancer, MCV might serve as an indicator of these high-risk drinkers.



In this investigation of the association of red cell values with the ALDH2 genotype and possible confounding factors, the drinking, smoking, and dietary habits reported on a structured questionnaire by 163 Japanese working men were subjected to multivariate analyses.



Aging, lower body mass index (BMI), more alcohol consumption, and more smoking were positively associated with increased MCV. Among moderate to heavy drinkers (>or=9 units/week; 1 unit = 22 g of ethanol), both MCV and mean corpuscular hemoglobin were higher and the red cell count was lower in those with ADLH2*1/2*2 than in those with ALDH2*1/2*1. Multiple linear regression analysis after adjustment for age, BMI, and smoking revealed that a positive relationship between the amount of drinking and MCV but inverse relationships for drinking and red cell count, as well as hemoglobin and hematocrit values, were significantly stronger for men with ALDH2*1/2*2 than for those with ALDH2*1/2*1, demonstrating a gene-environment interaction. Drinking accounted for 19.9% of interindividual MCV variance among men with ALDH2*1/*2*2 but for only 1.3% of variance among those with ALDH2*1/2*1. Age, BMI, drinking, and smoking accounted for 52.1 and 34.7% of the variation among those with ALDH2*1/2*2 and ALDH2*1/2*1, respectively. Macrocytosis (MCV >or=100.0 fl) was observed in 18 subjects (11.0%), and use of macrocytosis as a biomarker of moderate to heavy drinkers with ALDH2*1/2*2 had a sensitivity of 54.5% (6 of 11) and a specificity of 92.1% (140 of 152).



Alcohol-related red cell value changes associated with inactive ALDH2 in Japanese men suggest the importance of acetaldehyde's role in increasing MCV and the potential for using MCV as a marker for high-risk drinkers for esophageal cancer.

Field of study: Medicine
Community Narratives of Disaster Risk and Resilience: Implications for Government Policy

The paper explores how subjective risk perception intersects with government disaster management policy that is premised on an objective approach to risk assessment and mitigation. It finds that the presumption of objective risk management underpinning government policy is fundamentally at odds with community risk perceptions. This paper applies the techniques of ethnographic study to explore how communities understand and frame risk narratives. Using qualitative methods, the paper constructs the risk narratives of residents of Rocklea, Brisbane, following their experience with the 2011 Brisbane Flood. These risk narratives are considered in light of the Australian National Strategy for Disaster Resilience and recommendations are accordingly made for government disaster management policy.

Field of study: Political science
‘They don’t have that feeling’: the attribution of linguistic resources to multilingual students in a primary school

This article explores the attribution of linguistic resources to multilingual students in a primary school in the Netherlands. Drawing on an ethnographic study of a regular, multicultural classroom, it describes patterns of attribution emerging from observations of classroom activities and interviews with the teacher. Its focus is on the discrepancies between linguistic resources implied in classroom activities and those attributed to the students in the teacher's retrospective accounts of those activities. It shows how mistakes in the construction of sentences made by individual students are attributed to a lack of a certain ‘feeling’ for word order and overgeneralized to account for all ‘foreign children’. A review of the students’ mistakes puts the lack of a feeling for ‘how we say that in the Netherlands’ into perspective. Two questions are addressed in discussing these outcomes. First, what discourses may have informed the observed patterns of attribution? Second, is it feasible or indeed necessary for language teaching in multilingual contexts to make accurate attributions?

Field of study: Education, Linguistics
Effects of wastewater from olive processing on seed germination and early plant growth of different vegetable species

The effects of wastewater from olive processing on seed germination and early plant growth of different vegetable species were examined. Three types of wastewater at different concentrations were tested: raw wastewater, wastewater with organic matter removed and deionized wastewater. Results generally indicate an inhibitory effect on seed germination and early plant growth by all treatments containing any kind of wastewater. Of the three types of effluent, raw wastewater had the greatest depressive effect, followed by deionized wastewater and finally effluent with organic matter removed. Barley showed the least sensitivity to phytotoxic effects while tomato was the plant most affected. The remaining vegetable species showed an intermediate sensitivity.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Monitoring Australian Monsoon variability over the past four glacial cycles

We analyse changes in terrigenous sedimentation along the northwestern Australian margin to monitor the latitudinal migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the shifting boundaries of climatic belts during the last four glacial cycles. We integrate high-resolution X-ray fluorescence (XRF) scanning elemental records from Core SO257–18548 and International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1482, situated southwest of the Scott Plateau at the southern edge of the present-day monsoonal belt, and from Core SO257–18571, located within the dust-cyclone belt offshore Northwest Cape south of the Exmouth Plateau. The chronology of these sediment successions is based on 14C dating over the last glacial termination and on correlation of the benthic oxygen isotope record to the LR04 stack (Lisiecki and Raymo, 200) and Antarctic ice core chronology. Our XRF derived records of riverine terrigenous run-off and aeolian dust input reveal rapid intensification of monsoonal precipitation and reduction of atmospheric dust during the Younger Dryas and early Holocene as well as during the terminal phase of other major deglaciations. Short-lived monsoonal maxima in the early Holocene (~10 ka), MIS 5e (~130 ka), MIS 7 (~200, ~220 and ~ 240 ka), and MIS 9 (~280, ~305 and ~ 330 ka) coincide with maxima in atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations. Monsoon intensification occurs during maxima in Southern Hemisphere spring (September) insolation, when intense heat low pressure cells over the Pilbara region trigger the southward shift of the ITCZ. Within the dust-cyclone belt, riverine sediment discharge was restricted to intervals of high atmospheric CO2 concentrations, when sea surface temperature thresholds promoted cyclone formation in the tropical Indian Ocean. Northwestern Australia remained dry and arid during MIS 5a-d, when the ITCZ was locked in a more northerly position and temperature thresholds were not attained.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
Research on Casting Edge Grinding Machine of Tracking Type

This article analyzes the present situation of the casting edge grinding and cleaning, it introduces the main structure of tracking type casting edge grinding machine. We turn the 3D electronic picture into a edge grinding figure in order to store it into the edge grinding machine control system, then the control system will convert the edge grinding figure automatically into G code, and grinding head controlled by the G code makes edge grinding in according to the casting boundary, and in order to avoid the damage that made by the oversized grinding depth to the large number of grinding machines, the visual system should identify the boundary shape of casting boundary, controlling the grinding head to automatically withdraw the tool when the casting is oversize, and the grinding head grinds workpiece according to the maximum grinding depth in the same time.

Field of study: Engineering
Generalized Nash Bargaining Solution for bandwidth allocation

For over a decade, the Nash Bargaining Solution (NBS) concept from cooperative game theory has been used in networks to share resources fairly. Due to its many appealing properties, it has recently been used for assigning bandwidth in a general topology network between applications that have linear utility functions. In this paper, we use this concept for allocating the bandwidth between applications with general concave utilities. Our framework includes in fact several other fairness criteria, such as the max-min criteria. We study the impact of concavity on the allocation and present computational methods for obtaining fair allocations in a general topology, based on a dual Lagrangian approach and on Semi-Definite Programming.

Field of study: Computer science
The Role of Emotion and Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder

Many psychiatric disorders involve problematic patterns of emotional reactivity and regulation. In this review, we consider recent findings regarding emotion and emotion regulation in the context of social anxiety disorder (SAD). We first describe key features of SAD which suggest altered emotional and self-related processing difficulties. Next, we lay the conceptual foundation for a discussion of emotion and emotion regulation and present a common framework for understanding emotion regulation, the process model of emotion regulation. Using the process model, we evaluate the recent empirical literature spanning self-report, observational, behavioral, and physiological methods across five specific families of emotion regulation processes—situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation. Next, we examine the empirical evidence behind two psychosocial interventions for SAD: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Throughout, we present suggestions for future directions in the continued examination of emotion and emotion regulation in SAD.

Field of study: Medicine, Psychology