nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Litter traits and rainfall reduction alter microbial litter decomposers: the evidence from three Mediterranean forests.

The objective of the study was to evaluate changes in microbial communities with the predicted arrival of new species to Mediterranean forests under projected intensification of water stress conditions. For that, litter from three Mediterranean forests dominated respectively by Quercus pubescens Willd., Quercus ilex L. and Pinus halepensis Mill. was collected, and placed to their 'home' forest but also to the two other forests under natural and amplified drought conditions (i.e. rainfall reduction of 30%). Quantitative PCR showed that overall, actinobacteria and total bacteria were more abundant in Q. pubescens and Q. ilex than in P. halepensis litter. However, the abundance of both groups was dependent on the forest sites: placement of allochthonous litter to Q. pubescens and P. halepensis forests (i.e. P. halepensis and Q. pubescens, respectively) increased bacterial and fungal abundances, while no effect was observed in Q. ilex forest. P. halepensis litter in Q. pubescens and Q. ilex forests significantly reduced actinobacteria (A/F) and total bacteria (B/F) to fungi ratios. The reduction of rainfall did not influence actinobacteria and bacteria but caused an increase of fungi. As a result, a reduction of A/F ratio is expected with the plant community change towards the dominance of spreading P. halepensis under amplified drought conditions.

Field of study: Biology, Environmental science
Ethanol actions on multiple ion channels: which are important?

This review is based on a plenary lecture presented at the 1999 meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism. It provides an overview of the search for sites of action for ethanol in the brain. Initial studies were directed at interaction of ethanol with membrane lipids, but during the past decade, emphasis has been shifted to protein sites, particularly those on ion channels. Molecular biological techniques have provided the opportunity to study isolated channels in cellular expression systems and also provide the opportunity to manipulate these channels in mutant mice.



There is now compelling evidence that multiple ion channels are affected by ethanol and growing support for the idea that ethanol interacts directly with specific sites on ion channels. The key, and unanswered, question is which of these channels are responsible for alcohol-induced behaviors such as intoxication, tolerance, dependence, or craving. Mutant mice will likely give (some) answers to these questions during the next decade.

Field of study: Medicine
Talents and Technicians: Literary Chic and the New Assembly-Line Fiction (review)

John W. Aldridge is perhaps best known for his 1951 critical study of postwar writers, After the Lost Generation. Now, forty years later, Aldridge is back with a scathing evaluation of the newest generation of American writers. Aldridge's subtitle for the book, Literary Chic and the New Assembly-Line Fiction, accurately sums up his overall criticism of the past decade or so of American fiction. The successful new writers, he argues, are accomplished stylists, with "only moderate intellectual culture . . . and apparently no sense that they belong to a literary tradition that might prove nourishing if they were able and willing to learn from it." Aldridge is particularly critical of the exclusive new "fraternity" of university-trained writers, MFA students who belong to their own, rather limiting culture, "[f]or what finally counts in the fraternity system of values is not the quality of the work produced but the continued existence and promotion of writers."

Field of study: Art
New Type of Smoluchowski Temperature Jump Condition Considering the Viscous Heat Generation

The effect of the sliding friction has been important in calculating the heat flux of gas flow from the surface because there is some slip over the surface. There is not any temperature jump condition including the sliding friction part (viscous heat generation) in its derivation so far. In this paper, the Smoluchowski temperature jump condition is modified by considering viscous heat generation. This new temperature jump condition will be evaluated for three configurations in high-speed rarefied gas flow simulations using the computational fluid dynamics method, which solves the Navier–Stokes equations within the OpenFOAM framework: 1) the flat plate, with Mach number M=6.1 2) the NACA0012 microairfoil, with Mach number M=2; and 3) the sharp 25–55 deg biconic case, with Mach number M=15.6. The working gases are air and nitrogen. The airfoil case is simulated with various Knudsen numbers from 0.026 to 0.26, and the angles of attack are from 10 to 20 deg. The surface gas temperatures predicted by the new t...

Field of study: Physics
Inhibitory effects of nifedipine on DNA and protein synthesis in cultured cardiac nonmyocytes of neonatal rats.

To observe the inhibitory effects of nifedipine (Nif) on cardiac nonmyocytes growth and proliferation.



Using nonmyocytes in culture as a model, [3H]thymidine and [3H]leucine incorporation were measured.



There was a significant decrease in cell number and in total cellular protein after 72-h exposure to Nif 1 mumol.L-1 in the presence of angiotensin II (Ang II). A 48-h exposure to 1, 10, 100, 1000 nmol.L-1 of Ang II caused a 19%, 35%, 46%, 48% increase in protein synthesis and 27%, 46%, 56%, 57% increase in DNA synthesis. Nif 1, 3, and 10 mumol.L-1 were able to reduce the Ang II 100 nmol.L-1-induced increase of protein synthesis and DNA synthesis.



Nif had a direct inhibitory action on the growth of nonmyocytes, which was related to the regression of cardical hypertrophy.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry, Medicine
Late Pleistocene and Holocene development of the interior peat-accumulating basin of tropical Tasek Bera, Peninsular Malaysia

The stratigraphy of Holocene peat deposits from an interior lowland basin of tropical Peninsular Malaysia provides insight into the hydrological, ecological, and climatic controls on tropical peatland development. Interpretations about vegetation and climate dynamics (including storm intensity) over the past 5000 years are integrated with regional and global climatic and eustatic changes to serve as a proxy for past ecology and climate. Tasek Bera Basin (TBB) is a lowland dendritic basin in tropical Peninsular Malaysia. Accumulation of organic matter occurred in local lakes during the last glacial maximum (LGM), but widespread peat deposition did not start until 5300 BP when climatic changes led to the evolution of a wetland system. Peat accumulation progressively expanded with terrestrialisation of channels and subbasins to paludification of the riparian part of the lowland forest zone. Lithofacies can be distinguished despite the highly diverse peat and organic-rich sediment composition as a result of the climatic and hydrologic changes over the past 5300 years. Peat accumulation rates, ranging from 0.7 to 2.5 mm/year, are highest in Pandanaceae environments and lowest in high-ash swamp forests and environments dominated by Cyperaceae. Transects of peat cores across the mire system show the stratigraphic complexities of the peat is the result of hydrological variations and, thus, plant successional changes. Ash-yield shows that periods of high mineral matter input into the drainage system occurred since the mid-Holocene, indicating rapid and cyclic changes in frequency and magnitude of runoff events and, by inference, storms. Stratigraphic analysis of peat and ash-yield are tools that provide a proxy for development of Holocene hydrologic events in topogenous peat deposits.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
Engaging alumni in collaborative partnership for improved service delivery in Open and Distance Learning: The Zimbabwe Open University experience: Masvingo Region

Whilst the use of alumni in improving service delivery could be well advanced or widely practiced in many institutions of higher learning in many developed countries, at the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU), this notion is just beginning to take shape or has not been effectively explored to the point where we can talk of substantial benefits accruing from it. This study explored how the ZOU could possibly mobilize and effectively engage its alumni in collaborative partnership for improved service delivery at the institution. A descriptive survey design was used with questionnaires and interviews as data gathering instruments. A random sample of 40 alumni members (25 females and 15 males) participated in the study. Results showed that whilst Masvingo Region has established a District Chapter of the Alumni Association, and some significant progress has been made to make this association a vibrant stakeholder of the University, more still needs to be done. A more coherent and more coordinated approach by all stakeholders is required. Some basic logistics in terms of constitution making, registration and accounting procedures, some work plans and activities need to be put in place. The study concluded that once a full-fledged alumni association is in place, service delivery, in terms of motivation of students, provision of learning materials such as e-learning technologies, knowledge building through networking, and fundraising projects for capacity building, will be realized. The study recommended that the earlier logistics for the Alumni Association are put in place, the better for Masvingo Region and the University as a whole.  alumni, Open and Distance Learning, service delivery, collaborative partnerships, logistics

Field of study: Education
The stabilizing effect of a random environment

It is shown that the lottery competition model permits coexistence in a stochastic environment, but not in a constant environment. Conditions for coexistence and competitive exclusion are determined. Analysis of these conditions shows that the essential requirements for coexistence are overlapping generations and fluctuating birth rates which ensure that each species has periods when it is increasing. It is found that a species may persist provided only that it is favored sufficiently by the environment during favorable periods independently of the extent to which the other species is favored during its favorable periods.Coexistence is defined in terms of the stochastic boundedness criterion for species persistence. Using the lottery model as an example this criterion is justified and compared with other persistence criteria. Properties of the stationary distribution of population density are determined for an interesting limiting case of the lottery model and these are related to stochastic boundedness. An attempt is then made to relate stochastic boundedness for infinite population models to the behavior of finite population models.

Field of study: Biology, Mathematics
Twisted homology for the mirabolic nilradical

The notion of derivatives for smooth representations of GL(n, ℚp) was defined in [BZ77]. In the archimedean case, an analog of the highest derivative was defined for irreducible unitary representations in [Sah89] and called the “adduced” representation. In [AGS] derivatives of all orders were defined for smooth admissible Fréchet representations (of moderate growth).A key ingredient of this definition is the functor of twisted coinvariants with respect to the nilradical of the mirabolic subgroup. In this paper we prove exactness of this functor and compute it on a certain class of representations. This implies exactness of the highest derivative functor, and allows to compute highest derivatives of all monomial representations.In [AGS] these results are applied to finish the computation of adduced representations for all irreducible unitary representations and to prove uniqueness of degenerate Whittaker models for unitary representations.

Field of study: Mathematics
A monoclinic crystal with R32 pseudo-symmetry: a preliminary report of Nodamura virus structure determination.

We have crystallized Nodamura virus, a T = 3 icosahedral virus that can infect both mammalian and insect hosts. Crystals are monoclinic, with two crystallographically independent virus molecules per asymmetric unit. Packing analysis reveals a pseudo-rhombohedral (pseudo-C2 in the monoclinic setting) arrangement of virus particles in the crystal lattice. Crystals differ from the R32 symmetry by rotational and translational deviations. The rhombohedral packing arrangement and its failure to describe the exact virus packing is analyzed in detail. The icosahedral threefold axis is rotated from the body diagonal of the pseudo-rhombohedral cell, breaking the rhombohedral symmetry. The C2 pseudo-symmetry breaks down rotationally and/or translationally.

Field of study: Chemistry
A sub-division of the Late Pleistocene period on a synchronous basis, intended for global and universal usage

To reduce the chronological chaos or zonal metachroneity which has arisen from the widespread use of pollen zonations based on phytogeographic criteria of regional relevance only, the following cyclical climatic scheme is proposed for the chronological sequence of glicial/interglacial episodes during the Late Pliocene - Pleistocene: Microthermal (MIT)—minimal warmth; Megathermal (MET)—maximal warmth; and Katathermal (KAT)—decreasing warmth.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
Experimental Study on High Temperature Rheological Behavior of Commercial Pure Aluminum

In order to find the difference of rheological behavior between continuous roll casting, which combined “casting” and “rolling” processes into one procedure, and casting add hot rolling processes, a series of experimental studies on the rheological behavior of commercial pure aluminum and its influential factors have been carried out on a Gleeble-1500 Thermal-Mechanical Simulation Tester. Rheological curves of commercial pure aluminum under different deformation conditions have been obtained; constitutive equations of it during compression testing have been achieved by multi-linear regression analysis; and hot rolling experimental results are also compared with physical simulation of roll casting, which show that the flow stress in hot rolling process is smaller than in roll casting under the same deformation conditions, and with the increase of stain rate, their difference increase.

Field of study: Materials science
Archaeal and bacterial diversity in acidic to circumneutral hot springs in the Philippines.

The microbial diversity was investigated in sediments of six acidic to circumneutral hot springs (Temperature: 60-92 °C, pH 3.72-6.58) in the Philippines using an integrated approach that included geochemistry and 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. Both bacterial and archaeal abundances were lower in high-temperature springs than in moderate-temperature ones. Overall, the archaeal community consisted of sequence reads that exhibited a high similarity (nucleotide identity > 92%) to phyla Crenarchaeota, Euryarchaeota, and unclassified Archaea. The bacterial community was composed of sequence reads moderately related (nucleotide identity > 90%) to 17 phyla, with Aquificae and Firmicutes being dominant. These phylogenetic groups were correlated with environmental conditions such as temperature, dissolved sulfate and calcium concentrations in spring water, and sediment properties including total nitrogen, pyrite, and elemental sulfur. Based on the phylogenetic inference, sulfur metabolisms appear to be key physiological functions in these hot springs. Sulfobacillus (within phylum Firmicutes) along with members within Sulfolobales were abundant in two high-temperature springs (> 76 °C), and they were hypothesized to play an important role in regulating the sulfur cycling under high-temperature conditions. The results of this study improve our understanding of microbial diversity and community composition in acidic to circumneutral terrestrial hot springs and their relationships with geochemical conditions.

Field of study: Biology, Environmental science
Collagen composition of normal and myxomatous human mitral heart valves.

The collagens were studied in 13 normal and 19 myxomatous human mitral valves. The collagens of the valve were completely solubilized by using a method consisting of guanidinium chloride extraction, limited pepsin digestions and CNBr cleavage of the residue. The normal valves contained 74% type I, 24% type III and 2% type V collagen. The type I and type III collagens had similar solubility patterns, although only type I collagen was detected in the guanidinium chloride extract. Type V collagen was only detected in the first pepsin extract. The type I and III collagens had higher contents of hydroxylysine than did the same collagens from age-matched dermis. The two-dimensional electrophoretic 'maps' of CNBr-cleavage peptides showed low recoveries of the C-terminal alpha 1(I) CB6 and alpha 1(III) CB9 peptides, which are involved in forming intermolecular cross-linkages. Most of the reducible cross-linkages were present in large-Mr peptide complexes, and these complexes were shown by labelling with 125I to include the tyrosine-containing alpha 1(I) CB6 peptide. The myxomatous valves contained 67% type I, 31% type III and 2% type V collagens. There was a significant increase in the concentration of each type of collagen, which consisted of a 9% increase of type I collagen, a 53% increase of type III collagen and a 25% increase of type V collagen. The contents of hydroxylysine in type I and III collagens and the electrophoretic 'maps' of the CNBr-cleavage peptides involved in cross-linkages did not differ significantly from the results obtained from the normal valves. The biochemical findings suggest that there is an increased production of collagen, in particular type III collagen, and glycosaminoglycan as well as a proliferation of cells as part of a repair process in the myxomatous valves.

Field of study: Biology, Computer science
System Level Radiation Characterization of a 1U CubeSat Based on CERN Radiation Monitoring Technology

A CubeSat payload (PL) was designed at CERN and at the University Space Center of Montpellier, for the measurement of radiation and its effects on electronics and single event latchup recording on SRAM devices. The PL and the data handling modules were tested at the CERN mixed-field facility, in a Low Earth Orbit representative environment.

Field of study: Physics
Efficacy of Influenza Inoculation: Intradermal versus Subcutaneous Route.

Intradermal injection of antigen can theoretically produce the same antibody response as 10-20% of the volume required for subcutaneous injection. This paper demonstrates equal efficacy of intradermal injection of Fluviral vaccine as compared to subcutaneous injection in an ambulatory geriatric population. There was no difference in adverse reactions between the two groups. A significant portion of both groups did not develop protective HAI antibody level to or more than 1/40.

Field of study: Medicine
Downregulation of MicroRNA-330 Correlates with the Radiation Sensitivity and Prognosis of Patients with Brain Metastasis from Lung Cancer

The present study sought to explore the role of microRNA-330 (miR-330) in predicting the radiation response and prognosis of patients with brain metastasis (BM) from lung cancer (LC).  Patients with BM from LC were identified and classified into radiation-sensitive and radiation-resistant groups according to the overall survival rate, local and distant recurrence rate after conventional whole-brain radiation therapy. Quantitative realtime polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect miR-330 expression in serum. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the prognostic value of miR-330 for the radiation sensitivity of brain metastasis from LC. Related clinical factors for radiation sensitivity were assessed by logistic regression analysis, and a survival analysis was conducted using COX regression and the Kaplan-Meier method.  MiR-330 exhibited lower expression in the radiation-sensitive group than in the radiation-resistant group. The area under the ROC curve of miR-330 for predicting radiation sensitivity was 0.898 (optimal cut-off value, 0.815), with a sensitivity of 71.7% and a specificity of 90.1%. After radiation therapy, patients with low miR-330 expression, compared to patients with high miR-330 expression, displayed a lower survival rate and a median survival time. MiR-330 expression was correlated with extracranial metastasis, maximum BM diameter, tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage and node (N) stage. Logistic regression and COX regression analyses revealed that extracranial metastasis, TNM stage, N stage and miR-330 expression were factors that influenced both radiation sensitivity and individual prognostic factors in patients with BM from LC.  These findings indicate that the downregulation of miR-330 correlates with radiation sensitivity and poor prognosis in patients with BM from LC.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry
Impact on Image Noise of Incorporating Detector Blurring Into Image Reconstruction for a Small Animal PET Scanner

We study the noise characteristics of an image reconstruction algorithm that incorporates a model of the non-stationary detector blurring (DB) for a mouse-imaging positron emission tomography (PET) scanner. The algorithm uses ordered subsets expectation maximization (OSEM) image reconstruction, which is used to suppress statistical noise. Including the non-stationary detector blurring in the reconstruction process [OSEM(DB)] has been shown to increase contrast in images reconstructed from measured data acquired on the fully-3D MiCES PET scanner developed at the University of Washington. As an extension, this study uses simulation studies with a fully-3D acquisition mode and our proposed FORE+ OSEM(DB) reconstruction process to evaluate the volumetric contrast versus noise trade-offs of this approach. Multiple realizations were simulated to estimate the true noise properties of the algorithm. The results show that incorporation of detector blurring FORE+OSEM(DB) into the reconstruction process improves the contrast/noise trade-offs compared to FORE +OSEM in a radially dependent manner. Adding post reconstruction 3D Gaussian smoothing to FORE +OSEM and FORE +OSEM(DB) reduces the contrast versus noise advantages of FORE+ OSEM(DB).

Field of study: Physics