nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
The Durability of Glass Fibre-Reinforced Polymer Dowel after Accelerated Environmental Exposure

The corrosion of steel dowel causes potential problems in jointed concrete pavement that necessitate alternative dowel materials. Glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) dowel is a possible maintenance-free alternative that will potentially reduce the overall lifetime cost of pavement. This study evaluated the long-term durability of GFRP dowel. It was subjected to accelerated ageing at an elevated temperature under five environmental conditions: alkaline, water, salt, calcium chloride and repeated freeze-thaw cycles. The durability was quantified using the apparent horizontal shear strength test. The results of the accelerated ageing test were compared with those of the natural environment. Based on the test results, the durability of GFRP dowel is acceptable and it is very resistant to the detrimental affects of accelerated ageing.

Field of study: Materials science
Schizosaccharomyces pombe minimum genome factory.

Various systems for the production of useful proteins have been developed using the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe as a host, and some are now being used commercially. It is necessary, however, to improve the system further for the production of low-cost chemicals and commodities, so that the host becomes more economical and productive and can be widely used for the production of different molecules. We hypothesized that many S. pombe genes are not necessary under nutrient-rich growth conditions; or rather, they serve only to waste energy when seen from the viewpoint of protein production, because their products are necessary only for adaptation to different environments. Thus we have tried to create S. pombe mutants that are dedicated to heterologous protein production by deleting as many non-essential genes as possible. Putative essential genes were mapped using the genome information of S. pombe. The transcriptome of gene disruptants was analysed using microarrays and, using this system, a new promoter was identified. The method (called the Latour method) has been developed to delete efficiently a large region from the chromosome, resulting in the establishment of mutant strains lacking approx. 500 kb of genetic material. New experimental strains auxotrophic for six nutrients were established that were conveniently used for co-expression of proteins using multiple plasmids. An efficient transformation method has also been developed that is useful for investigating heterologous protein production in a variety of strains. Incidentally, in heterologous protein production systems, products are often degraded, leading to a decline in production efficiency. Thus, to examine heterologous protein production, we created 52 S. pombe mutant strains in each of which a single protease gene was destroyed. We also successfully constructed strains in which multiple protease genes were disrupted. As a result, it was shown that the production of a model protein, human growth hormone, was increased in this strain. Furthermore, we obtained many strains that lacked genes related to glucose metabolism, intracellular transport or biosynthesis of sugar chains. The present minireview covers the results of functional analysis of these strains. By preparing strains in which large chromosomal regions have been deleted and then combining strains defective in various functional genes, the establishment of effective hosts will become possible.

Field of study: Biology, Engineering
A Note on Our Submission to Track 4 of iDASH 2019

iDASH is a competition soliciting implementations of cryptographic schemes of interest in the context of biology. In 2019, one track asked for multi-party computation implementations of training of a machine learning model suitable for two datasets from cancer research. In this note, we describe our solution submitted to the competition. We found that the training can be run on three AWS c5.9xlarge instances in less then one minute using MPC tolerating one semi-honest corruption, and less than ten seconds at a slightly lower accuracy.

Field of study: Computer science, Mathematics
Inhibitory effect of nomegestrol acetate on steroidogenesis of cultured granulosa cells from rat ovary in vitro.

To study the effect of nomegestrol acetate, a new synthetic progesterone on granulosa cells' viability and steroidogenesis function.



Granulosa cells were cultured in McCoy's 5A medium. Trypan blue stain was used to measure viable cells. FSH and testosterone were added to stimulate the steroid secretion. Specific RIA assay was used to evaluate the estrogen and progesterone secretion respectively.



IC50 of nomegestrol acetate to damage cells is 6.85 mg/L (95 % confidence limits 5.36-8.75 mg/L). Nomegestrol acetate 0.45, 0.9, and 1.8 mg/L greatly inhibited the estrogen secretion from granulosa cells by 7.6 %, 12.5 %, 28.3 % in the presence of testosterone 0.5 micromol/L and FSH 10 U/L without affecting the number of viable cells. The secretion of progesteron were markedly decreased by 44.5 %, 53.3 %, and 62.0 % concurrently.



Nomegestrol acetate directly inhibited the steroidogenesis of granulosa cells.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry, Medicine
Über die charakteristischen Energieverluste bei Elektronenstreuung an Si-Spaltflächen

The energy spectrum of electrons scattered inelastically at cleavage surfaces of silicon and germanium into Bragg reflection spots differs from that obtained by transmission by low lying characteristic energy losses. The dependence of their intensity on the order of the diffraction spots, on the surface roughness, and on the angle near the diffraction spot shows that they are due to surface plasma oscillations. The transmission energy spectrum is mainly due to the excitation of volume plasma oscillations.

Field of study: Physics
Status and Scope of MONC Transport Code.

$\underline{\textbf{MO}}$nte-carlo $\underline{\textbf{N}}$ucleon transport $\underline{\textbf{C}}$ode (MONC) for nucleon transport is being developed for several years. Constructive Solid Geometry concept is applied with the help of solid bodies. Union, subtraction and intersection Boolean operations are used to construct heterogeneous zones. Scaling, rotation, and translation operation of the basic bodies are allowed to construct more complex zones. Module of repetitive structure for lattice, core calculations in reactor and detector simulation is developed. Graphical User Interface along with visualization tools is developed to make input, construction and display of geometry, and analysis of output data. Low energy neutron transport module is developed using continuous linearly interpolable point neutron cross section data below 20MeV neutron energy. The code is benchmarked for simulation of accelerator driven sub-critical system, neutron shielding, heat and neutron flux distribution and keff of the critical assemblies. It is observed that results of keff are in agreement within $\sim$ 3mk with experimental results of critical assemblies as well as the values obtained from MCNP.

Field of study: Physics
The norian Plateosaurus bonebeds of central Europe and their taphonomy

Plateosaurus is probably the single most common dinosaur in the Late Triassic, known from over 40 localities in the Norian Knollenmergel mudstones of central Europe. In addition, it is also one of the best known Triassic dinosaurs due to the discovery of many complete skeletons. These complete skeletons as well as the majority of all other material are actually derived from only a handful of localities, three of which are compared here to one another in detail. Frick (northern Switzerland), Trossingen (southwestern Germany), and Halberstadt (central Germany) are recognized as the result of the same taphonomic processes and can all be described with the term “Plateosaurus bonebed”. This type of bonebed is characterized by its large size, measured in thousands of square meters, the large number of incomplete and complete Plateosaurus skeletons, and the lack of other vertebrate fossils, with the exception of the primitive turtle Proganochelys. The uniformly upright carcass position precludes post mortem transport and strongly argues for in situ death. Shallow depressions in the thick floodplain muds of the Knollenmergel must have formed efficient traps for the heaviest animal at that time, Plateosaurus. The animals became mired and were scavenged upon by small theropods whose shed teeth are always present in Plateosaurus bondebeds. Miring explains the deep position of the feet and hindquarters and, in combination with scavenging and weathering, the bias towoards bones of the posterior body region. The lack of juvenile individuals is due to their lower foot pressure, which was below the threshold for becoming mired.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
Sur la catégorie des bimodules de Soergel

Resume La categorie B de Soergel d'un systeme de Coxeter ( W , S ) est une categorie de bimodules sur une algebre de polynomes sur laquelle W agit. C'est une categorification de l'algebre de Hecke de ( W , S ) . Dans cet article nous donnons une description combinatoire des espaces de morphismes dans B. En corollaire, on obtient une description analogue des morphismes dans O 0 -proj, ou O 0 est le bloc principal de la categorie O de BGG.

Field of study: Mathematics
Teetering on the Brink: Cuba's Current Economic and Political Crisis

Cuban scholars are not noted for fashioning consensus, much less unanimity. Yet it is unlikely that a Cubanist could be found who would not agree with the proposition that Cuba in I992 is in the worst crisis of the revolution. It is perhaps arguable that the material situation on the island in 1969 was as difficult as it is today, but back in 1969 the revolution was young and the Cuban people for the most part were energetic and hopeful. Cuba was then an increasingly accepted and economically integrated member of the large world socialist community. The proximate cause of Cuba's present predicament is not hard to identify. Cuba has a small and heavily trade-dependent economy. In the presence of the US embargo, Cuba came to depend on the former Soviet trade bloc (CMEA) for over four-fifths of its imports. Without access to the US market, with access to other markets restricted and with imports from the former CMEA countries reduced by roughly two-thirds, Cuba's economy and its people are struggling to survive. The government's response to the crisis has been deliberate but inadequate. A number of reforms initiated prior to I989 are being continued,1 others are being accelerated and some new programmes are being put in place. The new emphasis on foreign investment and tourism, structural reforms in the operation of foreign trade, and the impossibility of central planning in the presence of ubiquitous supply uncertainties have combined to transform the nature of Cuba's economic mechanism.

Field of study: Political science
Middle Cretaceous Nappe Structures in Puerto Rican Ophiolites and Their Relation to the Tectonic History of the Greater Antilles: Reply

Radiolarian chert, serpentinized peridotite, pillow lava, and metamorphosed tholeiitic rocks form an ophiolite association in southwestern Puerto Rico. These are the oldest rocks in Puerto Rico and apparently represent exposed oceanic crust. Relations between the lithologies are complex; there is an older complex of serpentinized peridotite and metatholeiite 110 m.y. old or older, an intermediate pillow lava and felsite association, and a younger radiolarian chert formation of middle Cretaceous (Albian) or older age. A gravitational nappe structure, showing northward movement probably of Albian or earlier age, is composed of a disharmonically deformed sheet of radiolarian chert. Serpentinite occurs in small lenses along the sole of the nappe and probably served as a lubricant for movement of the nappe. A second nappe is suggested, on less extensive data, to have moved Campanian-Maestrichtian pelagic limestones northward over the older chert nappe. This movement occurred in Maestrichtian or later time and is perhaps synchronous with smaller northward slides of the same formation during the Maestrichtian about 20 km to the north. Other northward slides occurred in early Tertiary time in several places in southern Puerto Rico. Northward gravity transport of the nappes and other slides is opposite to the sense of tectonic transport indicated by northward-dipping axial planes in the volcanic and volcano-sedimentary rocks in central Puerto Rico. Similar relations exist in Cuba where thrust and gravity slides show northward motion toward and into the volcanic pile. Gravity transport may have been from an oceanic ridge northward toward a trench, with volcanism developing between the two structures. Early buckling of lithosphere plates into an oceanic ridge and complementary trench, before rupture and subduction, may provide the necessary relief for gravitational trench-ward slides. A speculative geologic history of the Greater Antilles contains three stages: (1) pre-Albian buckling of the lithosphere into ridge and trench, with gravitational sliding of crustal rocks toward the trench; (2) rupture of the lithosphere and Albian-Campanian (or Maestrichtian) subduction, forming volcanism between ridge and trench; (3) choking of the Benioff zone by continental lithosphere of the northern plate, and further Maestrichtian to Eocene movement resolved along lateral faults with fault-controlled volcanism along an ancestral Cayman trough–Puerto Rico trench trend.

Field of study: Geology
Assessing the Impact of Collaborative Research Projects on NWS Warning Performance

Since the inception of the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorological Education and Training (COMET) Outreach Program in 1990, over 250 collaborative projects have been funded nationwide, involving approximately 90 National Weather Service (NWS) offices and over 70 different universities. However, until now there have not been any attempts to objectively assess the impact of these collaborative projects on NWS warning performance. A study was conducted to examine the impacts of COMET Cooperative and Partners collaborative research projects on NWS performance metrics for tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood, and winter storm warnings. The study evaluated relevant collaborative projects within the Eastern Region of the NWS completed between 1995 and 2001. In addition, the verification trends at the NWS Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Raleigh, North Carolina, were examined to evaluate the influence of long-term collaborative activities on performance. WFO Raleigh has been continuously ...

Field of study: Environmental science
A New RFID Tag Code Transformation Approach in Internet of Things

Along with the development of RFID technology, RFID tag is used for identifying object in more and more areas. RFID becomes one of the most important technologies in application and development of Internet of Things. Currently, in the applications of Internet-Internet of things, one of the most important issues is that the information carried by tag code can't be shared in different tag code standard systems and the tag code in different systems is incompatbile. In order to solve this issue, a new RFID tag code transformation approach for Internet of Things is proposed by this paper. With this approach, information sharing and exchanging between different tag codes standard systems becomes feasible and the global Internet-Internet of Things applications will be accelerated.

Field of study: Computer science
Interstellar medium composition through X-ray spectroscopy of low-mass X-ray binaries

Astronomical Institute, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands.Received 2 October 2012 / Accepted 7 January 2013ABSTRACTContext.The diﬀuse interstellar medium (ISM) is an integral part of the evolution of the entire Galaxy. Metals are produced by starsand their abundances are the direct testimony of the history of stellar evolution. However, the interstellar dust composition is not wellknown and the total abundances are yet to be accurately determined.We probe ISM dust composition, total abundances, and abundance gradients through the study of interstellar absorption featuresin the high-resolution X-ray spectra of Galactic low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs).Methods.We use high-quality grating spectra of nine LMXBs taken withXMM-Newton. We measure the column densities of O, Ne,Mg, and Fe with an empirical model and estimate the Galactic abundance gradients.The column densities of the neutral gas species are in agreement with those found in the literature. Solids are a signiﬁca ntreservoir of metals like oxygen and iron. Respectively, 15–25% and 65–90% of the total amount of O iand Feiis found in dust.The dust amount and mixture seem to be consistent along all the lines-of-sight (LOS). Our estimates of abundance gradients andpredictions of local interstellar abundances are in agreement with those measured at longer wavelengths.Our work shows that X-ray spectroscopy is a very powerful method to probe the ISM. For instance, on a large scalethe ISM appears to be chemically homogeneous showing similar gas ionization ratios and dust mixtures. The agreement between theabundances of the ISM and the stellar objects suggests that the local Galaxy is also chemically homogeneous.  dust, extinction – ISM: molecules – IS M: structure – X-rays: ISM

Field of study: Physics
Chemical ecology of interactions between human skin microbiota and mosquitoes.

Microbiota on the human skin plays a major role in body odour production. The human microbial and chemical signature displays a qualitative and quantitative correlation. Genes may influence the chemical signature by shaping the composition of the microbiota. Recent studies on human skin microbiota, using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, found a high inter- and intrapersonal variation in bacterial species on the human skin, which is relatively stable over time. Human body odours mediate the attraction of mosquitoes to their blood hosts. Odours produced by skin microbiota are attractive to mosquitoes as shown by in vitro studies, and variation in bacterial species on the human skin may explain the variation in mosquito attraction between humans. Detailed knowledge of the ecology and genetics of human skin microbiota is needed in order to unravel the evolutionary mechanisms that underlie the interactions between mosquitoes and their hosts.

Field of study: Biology, Environmental science
Linear Phase Low-Pass IIR Digital Differentiators

A novel approach to designing approximately linear phase infinite-impulse-response (IIR) digital filters in the passband region is introduced. The proposed approach yields digital IIR filters whose numerators represent linear phase finite-impulse-response (FIR) filters. As an example, low-pass IIR differentiators are introduced. The range and high-frequency suppression of the proposed low-pass differentiators are comparable to those obtained by higher order FIR low-pass differentiators. In addition, the differentiators exhibit almost linear phases in the passband regions

Field of study: Engineering
Laboratory test with granular insecticides against Lachnosterna (Holotrichia) Consanguinea Blanch (Coleoptera: Scarabaidae)

Ten granular insecticides were tested in the laboratory against final instar grubs of Lachnosterna (Holotrichia) consanguinea Blanch at six dosages by mixing the granules in air dried sandy loam soil and confining the grubs individually in pots filled with treated soil. Phorate was found most toxic followed by carbofuran, aldicarb and diazinon. Endrin and disulfoton were moderately toxic, while dimethoate, lindane + carbaryl (1:1), endosulfan and trichlorfon were least toxic.

Field of study: Biology
Secretion of tumor necrosis factor and reactive oxygen intermediates from soluble antigens of Plasmodium falciparum stimulated-peritoneal mouse macro-phages

Malarial infection is stil one of major health problems in the world. In Indonesia, malarial infection is especially caused by Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodiun vivax. Host immune responses to malarial infection are complex mechanisms, including the humoral immunity by antibody and cellular immunity by T cells and activated effector cells. Macrophages as an effector cells kill malarial parasite by oxidative and non-oxidative mechanism. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) are mediators produced by macrophages which represent as non-oxidative and oxidative killing respectively.  Understanding the secretion ability of tumor necrosis factor and reactive oxygen intermediates from soluble antigens of P. falciparum stimulated-peritoneal mouse macrophages.  In this. study, soluble antigens of P. fa/p/parum stimulated-peritoneal mouse macrophages were tested to produce TNF and ROI in vitro. Secretion of TNF was measured by MTT assay dan ROI by NBT reduction assay. Swiss mice were divided into two groups of 15 mice each. One group was stimulated by soluble antigens as experimental group and the other as control group.  Secretion of TNF and ROI by soluble antigens of P. falciparum stimulated-peritoneal mouse macrophages were significantly higher (p<0,01) than control group.  Soluble antigens of P. falciparum could activate mouse peritoneal cells in vivo. Therefore, mouse macrophages provide a convenient system for investigating the human malarial soluble antigens.  Soluble antigens of Plasmodium fa/ciparum - Cellular Immunity - Macrophages – Tumor - Necrosis Factor - Reactive Oxygen Intermediate

Field of study: Medicine
Molecular epidemiological characteristic of Norovirus gastroenteritis outbreaks in Guangdong

目的 研究广东省暴发性胃肠炎中诺如病毒的分子流行病学特点.方法 对2003年至2004年的13起急性胃肠炎患者的粪便和肛拭子标本,采用针对诺如病毒的特异引物和逆转录-聚合酶链反应(RT-PCR)技术进行检测,再经核苷酸序列测定分析病毒的基因型,同时收集患者相关流行病学资料.结果 13起暴发性胃肠炎中有8起是由诺如病毒引起的,时间主要集中在每年的10月至12月,基因分析显示这些病毒都属基因Ⅱ组,但分属3个亚型,6株病毒属GⅡ-4型.结论 诺如病毒是广东省暴发性非细菌性胃肠炎的重要病原体之一,具有分布广、流行时间集中在秋冬季的特点.引起暴发的病毒主要为基因Ⅱ组,在现阶段存在优势毒株。

Field of study: Biology