nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
A low-complexity sequential Monte Carlo algorithm for blind detection in MIMO systems

In statistical signal processing, the sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) method is powerful and can approach the theoretical optima. However, its computational complexity is usually very high, especially in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. This paper presents a new low-complexity SMC (LC-SMC) algorithm for blind detection in MIMO systems, the main idea of which is to shrink the sampling space via channel estimation which is initialized using the first differentially modulated symbol and then updated using the Monte Carlo samples. Since the a posteriori probability of the transmitted symbols can be calculated separately by each transmit antenna, the proposed LC-SMC algorithm is not only computationally efficient, as compared to the original SMC whose complexity grows exponentially with the number of transmit antennas, but also makes blind turbo receiver more feasible for multilevel/phase modulations. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the LC-SMC algorithm

Field of study: Engineering
The emergence of cannabis agriculture frontiers as environmental threats

Author(s): Butsic, Van; Carah, Jennifer K; Baumann, Matthias; Stephens, Connor; Brenner, Jacob C | Abstract: On agricultural frontiers, minimal regulation and potential windfall profits drive opportunistic land use that often results in environmental damage. Cannabis, an increasingly decriminalized agricultural commodity in many places throughout the world, may now be creating new agricultural frontiers. We examined how cannabis frontiers have boomed in northern California, one of the United States' leading production areas. From 2012–2016 cannabis farms increased in number by 58%, cannabis plants increased by 183%, and the total area under cultivation increased by 91%. Growth in number of sites (80%), as well as in site size (56% per site) contributed to the observed expansion. Cannabis expansion took place in areas of high environmental sensitivity, including 80%–116% increases in cultivation sites near high-quality habitat for threatened and endangered salmonid fish species. Production increased by 40% on steep slopes, sites more than doubled near public lands, and increased by 44% in remote locations far from paved roads. Cannabis farm abandonment was modest, and driven primarily by farm size, not location within sensitive environments. To address policy and institutions for environmental protection, we examined state budget allocations for cannabis regulatory programs. These increased six-fold between 2012–2016 but remained very low relative to other regulatory programs. Production may expand on frontiers elsewhere in the world, and our results warn that without careful policy and institutional development these frontiers may pose environmental threats, even in locations with otherwise robust environmental laws and regulatory institutions.

Field of study: Environmental science
Quality Education for All Using a Generic Mentoring Framework

At the onset of reformation and conciliation in 1994, various interventions were implemented by the South African government to ensure the reparation of learner outcomes and throughput. The Department of Basic Education has, however, failed innumerable times to achieve their set educational outcomes. Thus, educational stakeholders, opinion leaders, and researchers perceive the quality of education in South Africa to be appalling, as schooling systems continue to maintain a dysfunctional reputation. This article reports on how a systematic literature review was used to design a generic mentoring framework, adapted as a fit-for-purpose mentoring system, to be used as a tool to turn around dysfunctional schooling systems in South Africa. An analysis was undertaken of the schooling system undertaken at the micro level, employing a functionalist perspective framed by the theoretical contributions of Parsons and Merton. Further to this, a systematic review was conducted, and thematic analysis was employed to analyse data drawn from an array of literature on mentoring, best practice, quality education, and dysfunctional schooling systems to draw out concepts and themes. These concepts and themes were used to make inferences from which to develop a code book that would give insight into the structure and process of the design of a generic mentoring framework that can be adapted as a fit-for-purpose mentoring system.

Field of study: Sociology
Staphylococcus aureus meningitis.

Thirty-eight cases of meningitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus, occurring from 1966 to 1981 at six hospitals associated with the University of Toronto Faculty of medicine, were reviewed. Thirteen patients were children and 25 were adults. Patients were categorised into three groups: Group A (16)--meningitis related to neurosurgery, trauma or cerebrospinal defects; Group B (7)--meningitis occurring with indwelling ventricular shunts; and Group C (15)--spontaneously occurring meningitis. Bacterial endocarditis was associated with one-third of the spontaneously occurring meningitis cases and this group in general ran a more fulminant course. Meningitis related to a ventricular shunt exhibited a more insidious onset with a lower case-fatality rate, similar to the experience with Gram-negative bacillary meningitis. Gram stain of the cerebrospinal fluid was positive in only one-third of cases. Treatment with cloxacillin, administered parenterally, achieved results similar to those with methicillin, while chloramphenicol was associated with a high failure rate.

Field of study: Medicine
Effects of prolonged wakefulness on c-fos and AP1 activity in young and old rats.

Recent studies have demonstrated that the immediate-early gene c-fos is induced in neuronal populations responsible for specific sleep-wake states. The induction of this gene may be functionally relevant to sleep homeostasis since without the gene mice (c-fos null) take longer to fall asleep and have a selective reduction in slow-wave sleep. This suggests that a build-up of c-fos during wakefulness increases the drive to sleep and lack of c-fos is associated with reduced sleep. Sleep also has an effect on c-Fos serving to eliminate the protein rapidly. Waxing and waning of transcription factors such as c-Fos may influence slow, oscillating events such as sleep and wakefulness. To further examine what role c-Fos may play in regulating sleep, the present study examined the effects of prolonged wakefulness on c-Fos and AP-1 activity in young (3.5 months old) and old (21.5 months old) Sprague--Dawley rats. Previously we found that old rats slept less even after prolonged wakefulness, and other investigators have found that aging is also associated with a decline in c-Fos. In the present study, we reasoned that prolonged wakefulness would also fail to increase c-Fos in old versus young rats. The baseline levels of c-Fos and AP-1 activity were not different between young and old rats. However, in response to 6 or 12 h of prolonged wakefulness, old rats demonstrated significantly less c-Fos and AP-1 activity compared to young rats. These findings suggest that in old rats the mechanism responsible for c-Fos induction in response to wakefulness is deficient. Such a decline at the molecular level could contribute to the decline in sleep that typically occurs with age.

Field of study: Biology
The effects of large igneous provinces on the global carbon and sulphur cycles

The correlation between large igneous provinces (LIPs), extinction events, and rapid climate change suggests that volcanism can have a detrimental impact on Earth surface conditions. Changes in atmospheric and ocean chemistry, particularly the climate-sensitive carbon and sulphur cycles, are among the most probable processes for inducing global environmental stress. However, the interactions and feedbacks between volcanism and these cycles are numerous and complex, making the characterisation of the response to a LIP challenging. Here we summarise the sources and sinks of carbon and sulphur from large scale volcanism and magmatism using information from modern and ancient systems. For the sources, we review the current understanding of volcanic emissions, and explore the relative contributions and importance of magma-derived degassing versus volatile release from sediments affected by igneous intrusions and lava. In addition, we explore the various ways in which LIPs can reduce atmospheric concentrations of these same elements. The relative influences of each source and sink are in part determined by the mode of LIP emplacement and eruption style, along with the subsequent timescales of such effects. We focus on a few key examples, including the Siberian Traps, the Parana-Etendeka, and the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), to demonstrate how the environmental impact can vary considerably with differing modes of emplacement, LIP duration, and eruption styles. In particular, we show that the host rocks can have a dominant role as a source or sink of emissions, depending on the lithologies affected by the LIP emplacement.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
Probabilities and moments of generalized discrete distributfons using finite difference operators

The probabilities and factorial moments of the univar iate and multivariate generalized (or compound) discrete di st r-Lbut Lons with probability generating functions H(t)=F(G(t)) and H(t1,…,tk)=F(G(t1,…,tk))or H(t1,…,tk) = F(G1(t1),…, Gk( tk)) are derived using finite difference operators.

Field of study: Mathematics
Model Assessment for Predictive Classification Models

In this article, we present a novel methodology to assess predictive models for a binary target. In our opinion, the main weakness of the criteria proposed in the literature is not to take the financial costs of a wrong decision into account. The objective of this article is to derive the optimal cut-off in predictive classification models and to improve model assessment on the basis of a general class of loss functions. We describe how our proposal performs in a real application on credit scoring.

Field of study: Mathematics
Cooking Modernity: Nutrition Policies, Class, and Gender in 1940s and 1950s Mexico City *

As dawn broke in Mexico City's streets, steamy pots opened to offer the delicious smell of hot tamales and atole. Lupita woke up early that morning to sell tamales in the usual corner of Nino Perdido street in Mexico City's downtown. In that year, 1947, the construction of the Latin American Tower had just started. Lupita observed the builders digging deeply in the foundations while she sipped her atole and served red and green sauce tamales to her customers. In 1940s and 1950s Mexico City, workers and low-ranking bureaucrats started their day with this popular meal, as they had done since colonial times. Reformers, however, questioned the nutritional value of the working-class diet and considered it as a threat to the construction of modern Mexico.

Field of study: History
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Evaluation of the Interface between a Nanostructured Calcium-Incorporated Dental Implant Surface and the Human Bone

The aim of this scanning electron microscope (SEM) study was to investigate the interface between the bone and a novel nanostructured calcium-incorporated dental implant surface in humans.  A dental implant (Anyridge®, Megagen Implant Co., Gyeongbuk, South Korea) with a nanostructured calcium-incorporated surface (Xpeed®, Megagen Implant Co., Gyeongbuk, South Korea), which had been placed a month earlier in a fully healed site of the posterior maxilla (#14) of a 48-year-old female patient, and which had been subjected to immediate functional loading, was removed after a traumatic injury. Despite the violent trauma that caused mobilization of the fixture, its surface appeared to be covered by a firmly attached, intact tissue; therefore, it was subjected to SEM examination. The implant surface of an unused nanostructured calcium-incorporated implant was also observed under SEM, as control.  The surface of the unused implant showed a highly-structured texture, carved by irregular, multi-scale hollows reminiscent of a fractal structure. It appeared perfectly clean and devoid of any contamination. The human specimen showed trabecular bone firmly anchored to the implant surface, bridging the screw threads and filling the spaces among them.  Within the limits of this human histological report, the sample analyzed showed that the nanostructured calcium-incorporated surface was covered by new bone, one month after placement in the posterior maxilla, under an immediate functional loading protocol.

Field of study: Materials science
Surfing the Baby Boom Wave in the Netherlands

Mainstream economists and liberal politicians are criticizing the Third Way as it is being applied in the Netherlands. They argue that mutual consultation precludes an efficient adaptation to disturbances. The present study analyzes changes in wage and income policy in the Netherlands until 2005. It finds that wage and income policy has proven to be flexible enough to address “new” challenges in the Netherlands. The flexibility is rooted in a culture of tolerance that allows for some breaking of working rules. The latter arises from bounded socialization, that is, the imperfect transmission of information with respect to social working rules that result in similar but not identical copies of institutions.

Field of study: Economics
Complete genome sequence of Acidihalobacter prosperus strain F5, an extremely acidophilic, iron- and sulfur-oxidizing halophile with potential industrial applicability in saline water bioleaching of chalcopyrite.

Successful process development for the bioleaching of mineral ores, particularly the refractory copper sulfide ore chalcopyrite, remains a challenge in regions where freshwater is scarce and source water contains high concentrations of chloride ion. In this study, a pure isolate of Acidihalobacter prosperus strain F5 was characterized for its ability to leach base metals from sulfide ores (pyrite, chalcopyrite and pentlandite) at increasing chloride ion concentrations. F5 successfully released base metals from ores including pyrite and pentlandite at up to 30gL-1 chloride ion and chalcopyrite up to 18gL-1 chloride ion. In order to understand the genetic mechanisms of tolerance to high acid, saline and heavy metal stress the genome of F5 was sequenced and analysed. As well as being the first strain of Ac. prosperus to be isolated from Australia it is also the first complete genome of the Ac. prosperus species to be sequenced. The F5 genome contains genes involved in the biosynthesis of compatible solutes and genes encoding monovalent cation/proton antiporters and heavy metal transporters which could explain its abilities to tolerate high salinity, acidity and heavy metal stress. Genome analysis also confirmed the presence of genes involved in copper tolerance. The study demonstrates the potential biotechnological applicability of Ac. prosperus strain F5 for saline water bioleaching of mineral ores.

Field of study: Biology, Engineering
Fermi surface quasi particle model nuclear matrix elements for two neutrino double beta decays

Nuclear matrix elements (NMEs ) for two neutrino double beta decays (DBDs) are discussed in terms of the Fermi surface quasi particle model (FSQP). The NMEs for ground-state-to-ground-state DBDs depend on the Fermi surface shell configuration and the nuclear core polarization. The evaluated NMEs reproduce well the observed NMEs for decays. The NMEs for the 2ν DBDs of 78Kr, 106Cd, 130Ba and 110Pd are evaluated on the basis of FSQP. The dependence of and on the shell configuration is found to be seen in theoretical NMEs for neutrinoless DBDs. Impacts of on NMEs and experiments are discussed.

Field of study: Physics
Developing Management Practices to Support Joined-Up Governance

Various forms of cross-sectoral, or ‘boundary-crossing,’ practices continue to proliferate in public management. Yet the dynamic nature of joined-up governance initiatives is proving to be a major management challenge. In this paper, we bring a number of concepts to bear on the management of joined-up and cross-boundary working in public management of complex social issues. Firstly we present the concept of ‘adaptive management’ which we draw from field of environmental policy and planning (and human ecology). Secondly, we introduce a rethinking of the role of ‘policy targets’ using a complexity lens. These concepts are integrated into a practice heuristic (or framework) designed to assist cross-boundary policy implementation in real world settings. We argue that adaptive management approaches may have significant utility for managing in uncertain environments.

Field of study: Political science
Expression of vascular permeability factor/vascular endothelial growth factor in pig cerebral microvascular endothelial cells and its upregulation by adenosine.

Porcine brain-derived microvascular endothelial cells (BMEC) express the mRNA of the polypeptide mitogen vascular permeability factor/vascular endothelial growth factor (VPF/VEGF). The VEGF mRNA expression in BMEC could be upregulated 2.5 fold after 6 h of treatment with 5 microM adenosine and adenosine agonists. Adenosine A1 and A2 receptor antagonists completely abolished the upregulation of the VEGF mRNA caused by adenosine. Agents like forskolin and cAMP phosphodiesterase inhibitors which are known to increase the cAMP level decreased the VEGF mRNA expression slightly whereas agents like phorbolester which activate the proteinkinase C (PKC) pathway enhanced the VEGF mRNA expression 3.2 fold. The specific inhibitor of the PKC bisindolymaleimide (BIM) abolished the upregulation of the VEGF mRNA by adenosine completely. The BMEC conditioned medium stimulated the proliferation of BMEC itself and Western blot analysis of the BMEC conditioned medium using a polyclonal antibody to human VEGF showed one band at 18 kDa which was slightly upregulated after treatment with adenosine. Results suggest that the effect of adenosine on the VEGF mRNA expression is mediated via the A1 receptor and that an activation of the PKC may be involved in the observed effects of adenosine on the VEGF mRNA expression. VEGF produced by BMEC and which is inducible by adenosine may function via the autocrine pathway and may be involved in repair reactions of brain blood vessels and/or the maintenance of these cells.

Field of study: Biology
IL-13 induces translocation of NF-kappaB in cultured human bronchial smooth muscle cells.

Interleukin-13 (IL-13), a major Th2 cytokine, plays an important role in bronchial asthma, including mucus production, inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness. Although IL-13 through its binding to IL-4 receptor alpha (IL-4Ralpha/IL-13Ralpha1 uses the canonical signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 (STAT6)-signaling pathway to mediate these tissue responses, recent studies have demonstrated that other signaling pathways may also be involved in. In the present study, whether IL-13 induces an activation of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB, inflammatory transcription factor, was investigated in human bronchial smooth muscle cells (hBSMCs).



Nuclear proteins were extracted from cultured hBSMCs treated with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha (10 ng/mL) or IL-13 (100 ng/mL), and assayed for activated NF-kappaB and STAT6 by Western blotting.



Treatments with TNF-alpha and IL-13 induced a translocation of NF-kappaB to nuclei in hBSMCs. In addition, coincubation with BMS-345541 (0.3 microM), an inhibitor of NF-kappaB (IkappaB) kinase (IKK) inhibitor, markedly inhibited the translocation of NF-kappaB.



Our results suggest for the first time that IL-13 activates NF-kappaB in hBSMCs.

Field of study: Medicine
Modelling the thermal decomposition of 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid using ordinary least square regression

Thermalgravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis were employed to study the thermal behavior of gallic acid using regression models. Data were subjected to ordinary least square regression models and results showed that thermal decomposition occurred in three main steps with two endothermic peaks and two exothermic peaks due to oxidation process. The dehydration started at 74°C in a single step until 107°C. After that, the anhydrous compound was stable until 210°C, when the decomposition of organic matter occurred in two consecutive steps. Regression models based on a first-order kinetic of gallic acid decomposition were proposed and equations were deemed statistically significant (p<0.05) and explained suitably the phenomenon. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) allowed the determination of the enthalpy of the main events and the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa non-isothermal method was used to investigate the activation energy of decomposition process that was found to be 150.31 kJ.mol-1.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
THE SHARED MOBILE ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH AND TEACHING RADAR A Collaboration to Enhance Research and Teaching

A group of scientists from three universities across two different states and from one federal research laboratory joined together to build and deploy two mobile C-band Doppler weather radars to enhance research and promote meteorological education. This 5-yr project led to the development of the Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching (SMART) radar coalition that built the first mobile C-band Doppler weather radar in the United States and also successfully deployed the first mobile C-band dual-Doppler network in a landfalling hurricane. This accomplishment marked the beginning of an era in which high temporal and spatial resolution precipitation and dual-Doppler wind data over mesoscale (∼100 km) regions can be acquired from mobile ground-based platforms during extreme heavy rain and high-wind events. In this paper, we discuss the rationale for building the mobile observing systems, highlight some of the challenges that were encountered in creating a unique multia-gency coalition, provid...

Field of study: Environmental science
The impact of Meth A fibrosarcoma derived EMAP II on dendritic cell migration.

Studies have suggested that tumors are capable of modulating dendritic cell (DC) phenotype. A soluble protein produced by certain tumors, endothelial monocyte-activating polypeptide II (EMAP II) has been suggested as an anti-tumor agent based on its anti-angiogenic activity. However, this factor has not been evaluated for effects on DC. In this study, we analyzed the effect of Meth A fibrosarcoma supernatant and recombinant human EMAP II on DC migration. This included the migration of Langerhans cells from mouse ear skin sections and the migration of cells of a dendritic cell line (JAWS II) in a transwell culture system. The results of these studies indicated that EMAP II stimulates the migration of DC. Additional studies showed that the presence of the ascites form of the Meth A tumor led to a decrease in Langerhans cell (LC) numbers in the skin, and this decrease could be partially blocked by neutralizing antibody specific for EMAP II. Subcutaneous injection at the base of the ear of recombinant human EMAP II also led to a decrease in epidermal LC similar to that observed in tumor bearing mice. Together, these results suggest novel roles for EMAP II in modulating the migration of DC and suggest that these effects may modify Meth A tumor/host interactions.

Field of study: Medicine