nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Linear phase paraunitary filter bank with filters of different lengths and its application in image compression

In this paper, the theory, structure, design, and implementation of a new class of linear-phase paraunitary filter banks (LPPUFBs) are investigated. The novel filter banks with filters of different lengths can be viewed as the generalized lapped orthogonal transforms (GenLOTs) with variable-length basis functions. Our main motivation is the application in block-transform-based image coding. Besides having all of the attractive properties of other lapped orthogonal transforms, the new transform takes advantage of its long, overlapping basis functions to represent smooth signals in order to reduce blocking artifacts, whereas it reserves short basis functions for high-frequency signal components like edges and texture, thereby limiting ringing artifacts. Two design methods are presented, each with its own set of advantages: the first is based on a direct lattice factorization, and the second enforces certain relationships between the lattice coefficients to obtain variable length filters. Various necessary conditions for the existence of meaningful solutions are derived and discussed in both cases. Finally, several design and image coding examples are presented to confirm the validity of the theory.

Field of study: Engineering
South Central Coast Cooperative Aerometric Monitoring Program (SCCCAMP)

The SCCCAMP field measurement program, conducted 3 September to 7 October 1985, is the most comprehensive mesoscale photochemical study of its type ever undertaken. The study area encompasses 2 × 104 km2 of coastal and interior south-central California including the Santa Barbara Channel. A review of earlier experimental and analytical studies in the area is followed by the organizational framework and planning for this cooperative program. The experimental design and measurement systems are described. Existing ground-based meteorological and air pollution networks were supplemented by additional surface aerometric stations, dual Doppler radars, rawinsondes, and a network of Doppler acoustic profilers. Airborne measurement platforms included one dual-channel lidar, three aerometric sampling aircraft, and a meteorological research aircraft. Gas tracer tests included 4-h releases of three perfluorocarbon gas tracers. Tracer measurements were made over two-day periods at 50 surface locations and alo...

Field of study: Environmental science
An innovative approach to identify past exposure to asbestos integrating questionnaire information and administrative data.

Reconstruction of work history of subjects exposed to occupational carcinogens might be extremely challenging and provide unreliable results. This study, carried out in Italy from February to November 2014, aimed to explore the validity of an innovative approach to reconstruct the occupational history of workers who have previously been exposed to asbestos combining the administration of structured questionnaire with the use of administrative data. Subjects recruited in this study were enrolled in the cohorts of COSMOS 1 and 2 studies. Participants indicating an exposure to asbestos were contacted and a structured questionnaire was administered to them to verify the validity of the self-reported asbestos exposure. Subsequently, work histories of respondents were investigated using administrative information. The record linkage with social security archives allowed the reassembling of the complete work history of 487 participants. In detail, administrative files allow the retrieval of 98 % of workers declaring not to be exposed, versus 77 % using the questionnaire. Furthermore, the percentage of retrieved cases is not relevant for high risk sectors but it is almost double for industries with probable presence of asbestos. The combined and integrated use of structured questionnaire with administrative data proved effective in accurately identifying subjects who actually had an asbestos exposure. This innovative strategy, being cost-effective and easily adaptable to other carcinogens, could be particularly useful in selecting subjects to recruit in specific screening and control programs for the early diagnosis of occupational cancers.

Field of study: Medicine, Political science
Refractive index of LiF films as a function of time.

The optical properties and thickness of evaporated LiF films on silver or aluminum were determined by attenuated total reflection techniques as a function of time after deposition. With the LiF films maintained in vacuum, the refractive index increased from ~1.3 to ~1.4, or close to the crystalline value, in the course of a few days. This implies that the LiF, loosely packed when first deposited, anneals over a period of time to the more closely packed crystalline configuration. The LiF films were found to be optically isotropic in contrast to earlier reports of anisotropy.

Field of study: Physics
Study of the mechanism of the polarographic reduction of N-acylsydnoneimines

The polarographic reduction of the N-phenylcarbamoyl derivative of 3-(β -phenylisopropyl)-sydnoneimine (“sidnokarb”) in aqueous alcohol media was investigated. It is shown that, depending on the protonation rate of both the starting depolarizer and the intermediates in the reduction of sidnokarb, six or four electrons may be consumed to give, in the first case, a derivative of the amino acid amide and ammonium ions and, in the second case, the corresponding hydrazine derivative.

Field of study: Chemistry
Learning What Feelings to Desire: Socialization of Ideal Affect Through Children's Storybooks

Previous findings suggest that cultural factors influence ideal affect (i.e., the affective states that people ideally want to feel). Three studies tested the hypothesis that cultural differences in ideal affect emerge early in life and are acquired through exposure to storybooks. In Study 1, the authors established that consistent with previous findings, European American preschoolers preferred excited (vs. calm) states more (indexed by activity and smile preferences) and perceived excited (vs. calm) states as happier than Taiwanese Chinese preschoolers. In Study 2, it was observed that similar differences were reflected in the pictures (activities, expressions, and smiles) of best-selling storybooks in the United States and Taiwan. Study 3 found that across cultures, exposure to exciting (vs. calm) storybooks altered children's preferences for excited (vs. calm) activities and their perceptions of happiness. These findings suggest that cultural differences in ideal affect may be due partly to differential exposure to calm and exciting storybooks.

Field of study: Psychology
The Palatal Structure of some Canadian Hadrosauridae (Reptilia: Ornithischia): Reply

Two distinct hadrosaurian lineages can be delineated, each showing changes from possible hypsilophodont ancestors. The Hadrosaurinae are typified by moderately vaulted palates, broad pterygoid flanges, large anterior maxillary processes, and non-folded premaxillae, with direct narial passages. The Lambeosaurinae are characterized by highly vaulted palates, narrow pterygoid flanges, reduced anterior maxillary processes, and folded premaxillae and nasals with looped narial passages.Reconstruction of the palate indicates that the internal nares were displaced rearward, thus producing a structure similar to the secondary palate of mammals.The Constrictor Dorsalis group-muscles were well developed, allowing some minor lateral movement of the palate by slight torsion of the pterygoid. The large pterygoid flange would have prevented fore-and-aft movement of the palate.A reappraisal of the relationships between the lambeosaurine crests and the respiratory system indicates that the crests may have been used in dev...

Field of study: Environmental science
Optimization of astaxanthin production by Phaffia rhodozyma through factorial design and response surface methodology.

Sequential methodology based on the application of three types of experimental designs was used to optimize the astaxanthin production of the mutant strain 25-2 of Phaffia rhodozyma in shake flask cultures. The first design employed was a factorial design 2(5), where the factors studied were: pH, temperature, percent of inoculum, carbon and nitrogen concentrations, each one at two levels. This design was performed in two medium types: rich YM medium and minimal medium, based on date juice (Yucca medium). With this first design the most important factors were determined (carbon concentration and temperature) that were used in the second experimental strategy: the method of steepest ascent was applied in order to rapidly approach the optimum. Finally, a second-order response surface design was applied using temperature and carbon concentration as factors. The optimal conditions stimulating the highest astaxanthin production were: 19.7 degrees C temperature; 11.25 g l(-1) carbon concentration; 6.0 pH; 5% inoculum and 0.5 g l(-1) nitrogen concentration. Under these conditions the astaxanthin production was 8100 microg l(-1), 92% higher than the production under the initial conditions.

Field of study: Biology, Engineering
Control rate of response or reinforcement and amphetamine's effect on behavior.

The roles of control response rate and reinforcement frequency in producing amphetamine's effect on operant behavior were evaluated independently in rats. Two multiple schedules were arranged in which one variable, either response rate or reinforcement frequency, was held constant and the other variable manipulated. A multiple differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate seven-second yoked variable-interval schedule was used to equate reinforcement frequencies at different control response rates between multiple-schedule components. Amphetamine increased responding under the variable-interval component. In contrast, amphetamine decreased responding equivalently between components of a multiple random-ratio schedule that produced similar control response rates at different reinforcement frequencies. The results provide experimental support to the rate-dependency principle that control rate of responding is an important determinant of amphetamine's effect on operant behavior.

Field of study: Biology, Psychology
La grève des cheminots en 1968. Entretien avec Daniel Moreau

Dreyfus-Armand Genevieve, Moreau Daniel. La greve des cheminots en 1968. Entretien avec Daniel Moreau.  Materiaux pour l'histoire de notre temps, n°11-13, 1988.  Les mouvements etudiants en France et dans le monde, sous la direction de Stephane Courtois. pp. 214-221.

Field of study: Materials science
Real-time layer-based computer-generated hologram calculation for the Fourier transform optical system.

With the growing interest for augmented reality devices, holography is often considered as a promising technology to overcome the focus issues of conventional stereoscopic displays. To enlarge the field of view of holographic head-mounted displays, a Fourier transform optical system (FTOS) has been proposed. However, since the scene geometry is distorted by the FTOS, it is necessary to compensate the position of each scene point during the hologram computation, resulting in long calculation times. In this paper, we propose a real-time computer-generated hologram calculation method for the FTOS. Whereas previously proposed methods used a ray-tracing approach to compensate the distortion induced by the FTOS, our proposed method relies on a layer-based approach. Experimental results show that our method is able to compute holograms of resolution (3840×2160) in real time at 24 frames per second, enabling its use in augmented reality applications.

Field of study: Physics
Solving Volterra integro-differential equations by variable stepsize block BS methods: Properties and implementation techniques

In this article, block BS methods are considered for the numerical solution of Volterra integro-differential equations (VIDEs). Convergence and stability properties are analyzed. A new Matlab code for the solution of VIDEs, called VIDEBS, is presented. Numerical results using a variable stepsize implementation show the effectiveness of the proposed code.

Field of study: Mathematics
Molecular identification of proline-rich protein genes induced during root formation in grape ( Vitis vinifera L.) stem cuttings

Vegetative reproduction relies on the initiation of new plant organs in response to environmental changes. The rapid formation of roots, and ultimately whole plants, from stem cuttings of grape ( Vitis vinifera L.) provides a useful system to investigate the physiological and molecular basis of organ initiation during vegetative reproduction. In the present study the differential RNA display technique was employed to identify two genes, VvPRP1 and VvPRP2 , that are induced in stem cuttings of grape during rooting. Each of these genes encodes a distinct type of proline-rich protein that is related to different groups of putative cell wall proteins, and their expression is rapidly induced in stem segments within 6 h after severing. Further, each gene’s transcript becomes most concentrated in the basal portion of the stem segment in the region of new root formation. Induction of these genes is not significantly enhanced by indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) treatment, and the expression of the VvPRP1 gene, but not the VvPRP2 gene, is wound-inducible. These results suggest that these VvPRP genes play an important role in the initiation of new roots on grape stem cuttings, perhaps by altering the cell wall mechanical properties to enable root emergence.

Field of study: Environmental science
Promotion and Utilization of Niche Foods for Food and Nutrition Security

Food and nutrition security exist when there is availability and accessibility of food in terms of quality and quantity. Each environment has foods adapted to the region and culturally acceptable to the inhabitants. Niche foods have in the recent past been neglected yet they have a great potential of solving the food and nutrition security issues among communities. This paper takes particular interest in traditional vegetables and insects that were popularly used in the past but are being viewed by the current generation as 'overtaken by time' hence being neglected. African Leafy Vegetables like black night shade, amaranth, cowpeas, and many others are quite nutritious apart from possessing some medicinal qualities. Insects like grasshoppers, termites, caterpillars are a good source of protein of high biological value. Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) has in the recent passed advocated for the utilization of insects as a way of combating food insecurity in the world. The purpose of this paper was to review the importance of niche foods as used in parts of the world with an aim of promoting their use in Kenya.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
On the Art and Science of Machine Learning Explanations

This text discusses several explanatory methods that go beyond the error measurements and plots traditionally used to assess machine learning models. Some of the methods are tools of the trade while others are rigorously derived and backed by long-standing theory. The methods, decision tree surrogate models, individual conditional expectation (ICE) plots, local interpretable model-agnostic explanations (LIME), partial dependence plots, and Shapley explanations, vary in terms of scope, fidelity, and suitable application domain. Along with descriptions of these methods, this text presents real-world usage recommendations supported by a use case and in-depth software examples.

Field of study: Computer science
Thompson Sampling for Dynamic Pricing

In this paper we apply active learning algorithms for dynamic pricing in a prominent e-commerce website. Dynamic pricing involves changing the price of items on a regular basis, and uses the feedback from the pricing decisions to update prices of the items. Most popular approaches to dynamic pricing use a passive learning approach, where the algorithm uses historical data to learn various parameters of the pricing problem, and uses the updated parameters to generate a new set of prices. We show that one can use active learning algorithms such as Thompson sampling to more efficiently learn the underlying parameters in a pricing problem. We apply our algorithms to a real e-commerce system and show that the algorithms indeed improve revenue compared to pricing algorithms that use passive learning.

Field of study: Computer science
Study of the effects of Ca sulfonate on antiwear film formation by X-ray absorption spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation.

All additives and model compounds used in this study were commercial products: a sec-ZDDP, Calcium sulfonate (neutral) and calcium sulfonate (overbased, 400 TBN). Total Base Number (TBN) is a measure of the alkalinity of an additive and is equivalent to mg of KOH per a gram of additive. All the additives were supplied in a concentrated form in oil. The additive concentrates were diluted in MCT-10 base oil in the following concentrations: sec-ZDDP, 1.2 wt.%; detergents, 2 and 6 wt.%. The antiwear films were generated on 52100 steel coupons. Prior to film generation, the 52100 steel coupons were polished using 3 lain diamond paste. The coupons and cylindrical pins were cleaned m an ultrasonic bath using a light hydrocarbon solvent (hexane). The antiwear films were prepared using a Hint reciprocating wear tester. Data acquisition and data analysis have been described elsewhere [Ym et al., 1997a].

Field of study: Physics
Induction of NPY/AgRP Orexigenic Peptide Expression in Rat Hypothalamus is an early Event in Fasting: Relationship with Circulating Leptin, Insulin and Glucose

Hypothalamus is crucial in the control of energy intake and expenditure in mammals, presenting two interconnected populations of neurons producing orexigenic NPY/AgRP (neuropeptide Y; agouti related peptide) and anorexigenic POMC/CART (pro-opiomelanocortin; cocaine and amphetamine regulated transcript) neuropeptides. We aimed to shed more light on the response and sensitivity in the production of these neuropeptides to face nutritional changes, particularly food deprivation, and on the signals that regulate them. Male Wistar rats were fasted for 0, 4, 8 and 24h and refed for 3h after 8h fasting. mRNA levels of gastric and adipose tissue (retroperitoneal, mesenteric and inguinal) leptin, and of hypothalamic NPY, AgRP, POMC, CART, leptin receptor, SOCS3 (suppressor of cytokine signaling 3) and insulin receptor were analyzed. Gastric and circulating leptin, and circulating insulin, glucose and ghrelin were also determined. The only neuropeptide mRNAs that responded (increasing) to the short-term periods of fasting used were those of NPY (transiently) and AgRP, and these changes were accompanied by an increase in leptin receptor mRNA levels and by a decrease in adipose and gastric leptin expression and in the circulating levels of leptin, insulin and glucose, but without changes in circulating ghrelin. The elevation in AgRP and leptin receptor mRNA levels and the drop in circulating leptin were not reverted with refeeding. It is suggested that the induction of expression of the orexigenic molecules in NPY/AgRP neurons is an early event upon fasting, related with changes in leptin, insulin and glucose levels, but with the role of leptin signaling in particular.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry
Global Prevalence of Protein-Energy Wasting in Kidney Disease: A Meta-analysis of Contemporary Observational Studies From the International Society of Renal Nutrition and Metabolism.

To better define the prevalence of protein-energy wasting (PEW) in kidney disease is poorly defined.



We performed a meta-analysis of PEW prevalence from contemporary studies including more than 50 subjects with kidney disease, published during 2000-2014 and reporting on PEW prevalence by subjective global assessment or malnutrition-inflammation score. Data were reviewed throughout different strata: (1) acute kidney injury (AKI), (2) pediatric chronic kidney disease (CKD), (3) nondialyzed CKD 3-5, (4) maintenance dialysis, and (5) subjects undergoing kidney transplantation (Tx). Sample size, period of publication, reporting quality, methods, dialysis technique, country, geographical region, and gross national income were a priori considered factors influencing between-study variability.



Two studies including 189 AKI patients reported a PEW prevalence of 60% and 82%. Five studies including 1776 patients with CKD stages 3-5 reported PEW prevalence ranging from 11% to 54%. Finally, 90 studies from 34 countries including 16,434 patients on maintenance dialysis were identified. The 25th-75th percentiles range in PEW prevalence among dialysis studies was 28-54%. Large variation in PEW prevalence across studies remained even when accounting for moderators. Mixed-effects meta-regression identified geographical region as the only significant moderator explaining 23% of the observed data heterogeneity. Finally, two studies including 1067 Tx patients reported a PEW prevalence of 28% and 52%, and no studies recruiting pediatric CKD patients were identified.



By providing evidence-based ranges of PEW prevalence, we conclude that PEW is a common phenomenon across the spectrum of AKI and CKD. This, together with the well-documented impact of PEW on patient outcomes, justifies the need for increased medical attention.

Field of study: Medicine
Geotechnical Instrumentation and Data Acquisition System for Site and Preliminary Design Validation at the DOE Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Eddy County, NM

The WIPP site has unique requirements for monitoring geologic stress build-up, convergence and creep in in-elastic salt rock. The status of site construction activities and the role of geotechnical instrumentation in the WIPP mission are covered including the special problems of deformation and stress measurements in salt. A brief discussion of the geotechnical instruments specified is presented along with the requirements of the readout equipment. Instrument locations, wiring information, data acquisition system block diagrams and functional requirements of the data logger are also shown.

Field of study: Physics
Low-gradient ascites and extensive peritoneal implants.

A healthy 23-year-old man who emigrated from Ethiopia at the age of 5 years was admitted with diffuse abdominal pain, anorexia, weight loss and vomiting for over six weeks. He was found to be febrile (38.9°C), but examination was non-contributory and chest X-ray was normal. Hemoglobin was 11.2 g/dl, WBC 6.4 × 103/µl, platelets 394 × 103/µl with normal urinalysis and serum chemistry. Serum albumin was 3.3 g/dl and globulins 3.8 g/dl showing increased α1, α2 and γ fractions on electrophoresis. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was 66 mm/h, C-reactive protein 170 mg/dl. Abdominal ultrasound was normal except for some ascitic fluid in the lower abdomen. A tap yielded clear fluid with 2.6 g/dl …

Field of study: Medicine