nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Testing Whether New is Better Than Used

A U-statistic J sub N is proposed for testing the hypothesis H sub O that a new item has stochastically the same life length as a used item of any age (i.e., the life distribution F is exponential), against the alternative hypothesis H sub 1 that a new item has stochastically greater life length (F(x) F(y) > or = F(x+y), for all x > or = 0, y > or = 0, where F = 1-F). J sub n is unbiased; in fact, under a partial ordering of H sub 1 distributions, J sub n is ordered stochastically in the same way. Consistency against H sub 1 alternatives is shown, and asymptotic relative efficiencies are computed. Small sample null tail probabilities are derived, and critical values are tabulated to permit application of the test.

Field of study: Mathematics
The dissolution mechanism of oxide precipitates in czochralski silicon degenerately doped with boron during high temperature annealing

The morphology of oxide precipitation induced defects in Czochralski silicon degenerately doped with boron and annealed at 800° and 1050°C, respectively, was examined using a transmission electron microscope. After an extended annealing at 800°C, the predominantly observed defects were the oxide precipitate platelets having the {001}-type habit planes and sides parallel to <110> and <112> crystallographic directions. The morphology of the oxide precipitates as derived from the residual oxygen calculation is suggested to be that of a thin octahedral shape. During a subsequent high temperature annealing, the octahedral precipitate platelets became thermodynamically unstable and dissolved. Based upon the defect morphology observed after a 1050°C anneal, it is suggested that the dissolving precipitate introduces a tensile strain into the surrounding silicon lattice. Contrary to precipitate growth, the lattice strain introduced by precipitate dissolution is relieved primarily through mechanisms involving vacancy injection from the precipitate interface and a condensation of excess silicon interstitials via a formation of an interstitial-type dislocation loop.

Field of study: Materials science
Accretion patterns in Holocene tropical coral reefs: do massive coral reefs in deeper water with slowly growing corals accrete faster than shallower branched coral reefs with rapidly growing corals?

It is a widely held concept that tropical coral reefs in shallower water with branched acroporid corals should accrete faster than those in deeper water dominated by massive corals. Results from a study of Holocene development of the largest Atlantic reef system, including paleo-waterdepth data, challenge these concepts. In Belize barrier and atoll reefs, reef accretion-rates range from 0.46 to 7.50 m/kyr, and average 3.03 m/kyr, as measured along 33 dated reef sections. Interestingly, accretion-rates increase with increasing paleo-waterdepth, and sections dominated by massive corals accumulated even slightly faster than those with branched acroporids. Published data from some other reef locations reveal no significant trends when plotting reef accretion-rate versus paleo-waterdepth, also indicating that the above-mentioned concepts should be questioned. Massive corals apparently are more resistant and accrete in lower disturbance conditions in slightly deeper water (5–10 m) and higher accomodation (space available for sediment deposition) as compared to shallow water (0–5 m) branched acroporids, which repeatedly get broken and leveled out during tropical cyclones.

Field of study: Environmental science
Development and Preliminary Evaluation of a New Bin Filler for Apple Harvesting and In-Field Sorting Machine

The bin filler, which is used for filling the fruit container or bin with apples coming from the sorting system, plays a critical role in the self-propelled apple harvest and in-field sorting (HIS) machine that is being developed in our laboratory. Two major technical challenges in developing the bin filler are limited space in the HIS machine and high throughput. A literature review showed that despite many different types of bin fillers currently available for in-field use, none of them is suitable for the HIS machine because of their large size, use of the bin rotating design concept, and high unit cost. Effort has thus been made on the development of new bin filling technology for use with the HIS machine. The new bin filler mainly consists of a mechanical system with a pinwheel design and an automatic control system. A key innovation in the mechanical system is the use of two foam rollers to catch freely falling apples, which has greatly simplified the bin filler design and also made the system compact and lower in cost. The control system is mainly composed of an onboard Arduino microcontroller and three sensors (one infrared sensor and two Hall effect sensors) to monitor and measure the status of apples filling the bin as well as the rotational speed of the pinwheel. A program was developed for the Arduino microcontroller to record and process the data from the sensors in real-time to achieve automatic control of the bin filling. Laboratory tests with ‘Gala’ apples demonstrated that 97% of apples that had been handled by the new bin filler were rated Extra Fancy grade, and its performance exceeded the industry’s requirement for bruising damage to apples.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Ternary fission of 260No in equatorial configuration

Spontaneous ternary fission is one of the observed decay modes of heavy nuclei. We systematically investigate the equatorial ternary fission of the 260No isotope. In the framework of the three-cluster model, the three-body interaction potential is calculated in terms of the folded M3Y-Reid nucleon-nucleon force and the Coulomb one. The relative orientations of the deformed heavy nuclei participating in the fragmentation process are taken into account. All possible emitted light particles with even mass numbers $A = 4$A=4-52 are considered. The favored fragmentation channels are estimated as the ones characterized with peaks in the Q-value and local minima in the fragmentation potential. In the absence of nuclear deformations, the closed shell effects are found to play the key role in determining the channels of minimum fragmentation potential and the involved two heavier fragments tend to be of comparable sizes. Inclusion of nuclear deformations manifest the participation of highly deformed prolate nuclei, with large mass asymmetry, as heavy fragment partners in the estimated favored fragmentation channels. The results indicate that the equatorial ternary fission of 260No is most favored with the light emitted nuclei 4,6,82He and 104Be through the fragmentation channels 15560Nd + 42He + 1010Zr, 15360Nd + 62He + 10140Zr, 15260Nd + 82He + 10040Zr, and 1520Nd + 104Be + 9838Sr, respectively.

Field of study: Physics
Identification of Two Novel LAMA2 Mutations in a Chinese Patient with Congenital Muscular Dystrophy

Merosin-deficient CMD type 1A (MDC1A), caused by mutations of laminin subunit alpha 2 (LAMA2), is a predominant subtype of congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD). Herein, we described a Chinese patient with MDC1A who was admitted to hospital 17 days after birth because of marasmus and feeding difficulties. Mutations were identified by targeted capture and next generation sequencing (NGS) and further confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Paternity was confirmed by short tandem repeat analysis. Physical examination showed malnutrition, poor suck and appendicular hypotonia. Her serum CK levels were 2483 and 1962 U/L at 2 and 4 months of age, respectively. Brain magnetic resonance imaging performed at 1 month of age presented hyperintensity on T2-weighted images, T1-weighted images in parietal and occipital lobes, and diffusion-weighted image (DWI) as well as hypointensity on fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) image; however, the cerebellum and corpus arenaceum were normal. At 7 months of age, delayed developmental milestones were observed, and she failed to turn her body over and raise her head up. A point mutation (c.1782+2T > G) and a frameshift duplication (c.8217dupT) in the LAMA2 gene were identified by targeted capture and NGS and further confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Moreover, genotyping with multiple short tandem repeat markers confirmed paternity to demonstrate that the point mutation is de novo. The frameshift duplication (c.8217dupT), inherited from her mother, was predicted to cause a substitution of Pro (P) to Ser (S) at the 2740th amino-acid residue and generate a prematurely truncated protein. The in silico analysis suggests that the mutation (c.1782+2T > G) may lead to aberrant splicing of LAMA2. Our case further confirms the heterogeneous clinical spectrum of MDC1A and presents two novel LAMA2 mutations to expand the mutation spectrum of MDC1A.

Field of study: Biology
[Use of anxiolytic atarax as a substitutive drug for benzodiazepine tranquilizers].

The study aimed at investigating of efficacy of hydroxyzine (atarax) as a substitutive drug used in case of benzodiazepine tranquilizers (BDT) withdrawal in patients who received BDT for more than 3 months. Fifty-nine patients with protracted chronic anxiety-phobic disorders were divided into 2 groups: in the first (main) one, BDT were withdrawn at once with the following assignment of substitutive therapy with atarax and in the second (control) group the withdrawal was continuous during 14 days with the simultaneous assignment of a substitutive placebo therapy. In the first group (resumed the BDT therapy because of worsening of their state 23,3% patients finished their participation in the study ahead of time as compared to 65,6% of those in the control group. The Hamilton Anxiety Scale scores were more reduced in the main group than in the control one. The results obtained suggest that atarax is worth to be used as a substitutive drug for BDT.

Field of study: Medicine, Psychology
Party Management of Talent: Building a Party‐led, Merit‐based Talent Market in China

This study examines major policy measures that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders have adopted to establish a party-led, merit-based talent management system to cope with a talent deficit in the reform era. It also assesses the effectiveness of these measures at both national and local levels. This study argues that although merit principles are never entirely missing from China's cadre personnel management, they have been given increasing priority in managing the cadre corps and recruiting global experts to China during the past three decades. This study shows that the CCP personnel management policies are in substantial and adaptive evolution, which is important for understanding the nature of human resource management in post-Mao China.

Field of study: Political science
G-factors of hole bound states in spherically symmetric potentials in cubic semiconductors

Holes in cubic semiconductors have effective spin 3/2 and very strong spin orbit
interaction. Due to these factors properties of hole bound states are highly unusual. We
consider a single hole bound by a spherically symmetric potential, this can be an acceptor
or a spherically symmetric quantum dot. Linear response to an external magnetic field is
characterized by the bound state Lande g-factor. We calculate analytically g-factors of all bound
states.

Field of study: Physics
Measuring the through-plane elastic modulus of thin polymer films in situ

Due to the ongoing increase of the transistor density on a chip, industry has replaced the silicon oxide dielectric layers, traditionally used in the back-end interconnect stack, by low-K polymer films with a thickness down to several hundred nanometers. The use of these polymer dielectric films has introduced new failure modes. To have a better understanding of these failures, knowledge of the mechanical properties is necessary. Due to surface effects, the material properties of thin films may differ in the in-plane and trough-plane direction. Most techniques available for measuring these properties are only capable of obtaining the in-plane modulus. To have an in situ measurement of the through-plane modulus, a parallel plate capacitor (PPC) under hydrostatic pressure is used in combination with an interdigitated electrode (IDE) to capture the change in dielectric constant. Since it is believed to be mechanical isotropic, a benzocyclobutene (BCB) film is used to provide a reference measurement. The through-plane elastic modulus and change in permittivity for a 1 lm thick film sandwiched by two aluminum electrodes on a silicon wafer are reported. Two circular PPCs and four IDEs were tested at a pressure of 0, 5, 7.5 and 10 MPa. An initial relative dielectric constant of the film of 2.66 ± 0.05 was obtained. This yields a change in constant equal to 1.241 · 10 � 4 ± 2.1 · 10 � 5 per MPa pressure at room temperature. The through-plane modulus showed a linear elastic behavior equal to 4.73 ± 0.46, 4.11 ± 0.39 and 3.64 ± 0.31 GPa for 20� ,5 0� and 75 � C, respectively. The modulus at room temperature is in good agreement with the values found in literature.

Field of study: Engineering
Assessment of Concrete Beams with Irregular Defects Using Surface Waves

Previously individual surface-breaking cracks in concrete were examined successfully by monitoring the changes in velocity and attenuation of surface waves. However, an overall assessment m ethodology for the structural elements with irregular defects has not been in the scope. The motivation of th is study is to extract reliable diagnosis features from the surface waves in order to evaluate the condition of concrete elements with irregularly distributed defects . Therefore, six laboratory scale concrete beams with different defect volum es are produced by mixing Styrofoam pellets in the fresh concrete mix. The ultrasonic tests are conducting by imp lementing a multi-channel testing configuration and the recorded surface waves are analyzed by mploying techniques such as wavelet and 2D Fourier transforms to determine the attenuation and dispersion respectively . Despite the complex structure of the defect patterns, promising results are obtained from attenuation and dispersion ba ed features, as 100% change in both is observed for 30% defect volume.

Field of study: Materials science
Temporal trends of "old" and "new" persistent halogenated organic pollutants in fish from the third largest freshwater lake in China during 2011-2018 and the associated health risks.

The study aimed to investigate temporal trends of "old" and "new" persistent halogenated organic pollutants (HOPs) in Taihu Lake, the third largest freshwater lake in China, and the associated health risks. Five fish species were consecutively collected from the lake every year during 2011-2018. HOPs including 37 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 10 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), short- and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs and MCCPs), 19 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and 10 new brominated flame retardants (NBFRs), were measured. The results showed that all the HOPs were detected, with MCCPs and NBFRs showing the highest and lowest concentrations, respectively. The levels of SCCPs and MCCPs were several orders of magnitude higher than those of the other HOPs. There were obvious increasing trends for SCCPs, MCCPs, and hexachlorobenzene, but a decreasing trend for PBDEs. No obvious increasing or decreasing trends were observed for the other HOPs. The present study indicated that the use of NBFRs to replace PBDEs was not yet clearly observed. Fish consumption did not result in non-carcinogenic risks, but posed low carcinogenic risks, with PCBs and DDTs being the highest-risk contaminants because of historical residues. This is the first study for the temporal variations of the HOPs in the lake.

Field of study: Environmental science
Fetal concentrations of the growth factors TGF-α and TGF-β1 in relation to normal and restricted fetal growth at term.

Transforming growth factor-α (TGF-α) and TGF-β1 are major anti-inflammatory cytokines and substantially contribute to normal pregnancy outcome. TGF-α stimulates placental mitosis, whereas TGF-β1 is a critical regulator of trophoblast invasion and fetal growth. We aimed to study cord blood TGF-α and TGF-β1 concentrations in intrauterine-growth-restricted (IUGR, usually associated with abnormal trophoblast invasion, uteroplacental vascular insufficiency and enhanced inflammation) and appropriate-for-gestational-age-(AGA) pregnancies, and investigate possible correlations of the above concentrations with several demographic parameters of infants at birth. Plasma TGF-α and TGF-β1 concentrations were determined by ELISA in 154 mixed arterio-venous cord blood samples from IUGR (n=50) and AGA (n=104) singleton full-term infants. After controlling for possible confounding factors (gender, birth-weight, gestational age, maternal age and parity), cord blood TGF-α and TGF-β1 concentrations were significantly higher in IUGR than AGA group (b=0.402, SE=0.179, p=0.027 and b=0.152, SE=0.061, p=0.014, respectively). Delivery mode had an effect on cord blood TGF-α and TGF-β1 concentrations, both being elevated in cases of vaginal delivery (b=-0.282, SE=0.117, p=0.018 and b=-0.123, SE=0.059, p=0.038, respectively). In conclusion, higher cord blood TGF-α and TGF-β1 concentrations may represent a compensatory response to the inflammatory process characterizing the IUGR state. Additionally, higher cord blood TGF-β1 concentrations in IUGRs could be attributed to increased shear stress, resulting from abnormal blood flow in IUGR fetal blood vessels. Finally, vaginal delivery-associated cytokine release may account for elevated TGF-α and TGF-β1 concentrations.

Field of study: Medicine
Charge Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in superconducting NbTiN films

A half-century after the discovery of the superconductor-insulator transition (SIT), one of the fundamental predictions of the theory, the charge Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition that is expected to occur at the insulating side of the SIT, has remained unobserved. The charge BKT transition is a phenomenon dual to the vortex BKT transition, which is at the heart of the very existence of two-dimensional superconductivity as a zero-resistance state appearing at finite temperatures. The dual picture points to the possibility of the existence of a superinsulating state endowed with zero conductance at finite temperature. Here, we report the observation of the charge BKT transition on the insulating side of the SIT, identified by the critical behavior of the resistance. We find that the critical temperature of the charge BKT transition depends on the magnetic field exhibiting first the fast growth and then passing through the maximum at fields much less than the upper critical field. Finally, we ascertain the effects of the finite electrostatic screening length and its divergence at the magnetic field-tuned approach to the superconductor-insulator transition.

Field of study: Physics
Soil carbon dioxide venting through rice roots

The growth of rice in submerged soils depends on its ability to form continuous gas channels—aerenchyma—through which oxygen (O2) diffuses from the shoots to aerate the roots. Less well understood is the extent to which aerenchyma permits venting of respiratory carbon dioxide (CO2) in the opposite direction. Large, potentially toxic concentrations of dissolved CO2 develop in submerged rice soils. We show using X‐ray computed tomography and image‐based mathematical modelling that CO2 venting through rice roots is far greater than thought hitherto. We found rates of venting equivalent to a third of the daily CO2 fixation in photosynthesis. Without this venting through the roots, the concentrations of CO2 and associated bicarbonate (HCO3 −) in root cells would have been well above levels known to be toxic to roots. Removal of CO2 and hence carbonic acid (H2CO3) from the soil was sufficient to increase the pH in the rhizosphere close to the roots by 0.7 units, which is sufficient to solubilize or immobilize various nutrients and toxicants. A sensitivity analysis of the model showed that such changes are expected for a wide range of plant and soil conditions.

Field of study: Environmental science
Faster Squaring in the Cyclotomic Subgroup of Sixth Degree Extensions

This paper describes an extremely efficient squaring operation in the so-called ‘cyclotomic subgroup’ of $\mathbb{F}_{q^6}^{\times}$, for $q \equiv 1 \bmod{6}$. Our result arises from considering the Weil restriction of scalars of this group from $\mathbb{F}_{q^6}$ to $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}$, and provides efficiency improvements for both pairing-based and torus-based cryptographic protocols. In particular we argue that such fields are ideally suited for the latter when the field characteristic satisfies $p \equiv 1 \pmod{6}$, and since torus-based techniques can be applied to the former, we present a compelling argument for the adoption of a single approach to efficient field arithmetic for pairing-based cryptography.

Field of study: Computer science, Mathematics
Single-cell imaging of graded Ins(1,4,5)P3 production following G-protein-coupled-receptor activation.

The pleckstrin homology domain of phospholipase Cdelta1 (PH(PLCdelta)) binds Ins(1,4,5)P(3) and PtdIns(4,5)P(2) specifically, and can be used to detect changes in Ins(1,4,5)P(3) in single cells. A fusion construct of PH(PLCdelta) and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP-PH(PLCdelta)) associates with the plasma membrane due to its association with PtdIns(4,5)P(2). However, PH(PLCdelta) has greater affinity for Ins(1,4,5)P(3) than PtdIns(4,5)P(2), and translocates to the cytosol as Ins(1,4,5)P(3) levels rise. Prolonged activation of group I metabotropic glutamate receptor 1alpha expressed in Chinese-hamster ovary cells or endogenous M(3) muscarinic receptors in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells gave an initial transient peak in translocation, followed by a sustained plateau phase. This closely followed changes in cell population Ins(1,4,5)P(3) mass, but not PtdIns(4,5)P(2) levels, which decreased monophasically, as determined by radioreceptor assay. Translocation thus provides a real-time method to follow increases in Ins(1,4,5)P(3). Graded changes in Ins(1,4,5)P(3) in Chinese-hamster ovary-lac-mGlu1alpha cells could be detected with increasing glutamate concentrations, and dual loading with fura 2 and EGFP-PH(PLCdelta) showed that changes in intracellular Ca(2+) concentration closely paralleled Ins(1,4,5)P(3) production. Moreover, Ins(1,4,5)P(3) accumulation and intracellular Ca(2+) mobilization within single cells is graded in nature and dependent on both agonist concentration and receptor density.

Field of study: Biology, Computer science
Bioaccumulation of PCB-153 and effects on molecular biomarkers acetylcholinesterase, glutathione-S-transferase and glutathione peroxidase in Mytilus galloprovincialis mussels.

In this study, PCB-153 bioaccumulation kinetics and concentration-response experiments were performed employing wild Mytilus galloprovincialis mussels. In addition, the activity of three enzymatic biomarkers: glutathione S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE), were measured in the mussel gills. The experimental data fitted well to an asymptotic accumulation model with a high bioconcentration factor (BCF) of 9324 L kg(-1) and a very limited depuration capacity, described by a low excretion rate coefficient (Kd = 0.083 d(-1)). This study reports by first time in mussels significant inhibition of GST activity and significant induction of GPx activity as a result of exposure to dissolved PCB-153. In contrast, AChE activity was unaffected at all concentrations and exposure times tested. The effects on both enzymes are time-dependent, which stresses the difficulties inherent to the use of these biomarkers in chemical pollution monitoring programs.

Field of study: Environmental science