nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Contrasting patterns of native and non-native plants in a network of protected areas across spatial scales

Networks of protected areas are fundamental for biodiversity conservation, but many factors determine their conservation efficiency. In particular, on top of other human-driven disturbances, invasions by non-native species can cause habitat and biodiversity loss. Jointly understanding what drives patterns of plant diversity and of non-native species in protected areas is therefore a priority. We tested whether the richness and composition of native and non-native plant species within a network of protected areas follow similar patterns across spatial scales. Specifically, we addressed three questions: (a) what is the degree of congruence in species richness between native and non-native species? (b) do changes in the composition of non-native species across ecological gradients reflect a similar turnover of native species along the same gradients ? (c) what are the main environmental and human disturbance drivers controlling species richness in these two groups of species? Species richness and composition of native and non-native plant species were compared at two spatial scales: the plot scale (10 m × 10 m) and the Protected Area scale (PA). In addition, we fit Generalized Linear Models to identify the most important drivers of native and non-native species richness at each scale, focusing on environmental conditions (climate, topography) and on the main sources of human disturbance in the area (land use and roads). We found a significant positive correlation between the turnover of native and non-native species composition at both plot and PA scales, whereas their species richness was only correlated at the larger PA scale. The lack of congruence between the richness of native and non-native species at the plot scale was likely driven by differential responses to fine scale environmental factors, with non-natives favoring drier climates and milder slopes (climate and slope). In addition, more non-native species were found closer to road-ways in the reserve network. In contrast, the congruence in the richness of native and non-native species at the broader PA scale was mainly driven by the common influence of PA area, but also by similar responses of the two groups of species to climatic heterogeneity. Thus, our study highlights the strong spatial dependence of the relationship between native and non-native species richness and of their responses to environmental variation. Taken together, our results suggest that within the study region the introduction and establishment of non-native species would be more likely in warmer and dryer areas, with high native species richness at large spatial scale but intermediate levels of anthropogenic disturbances and mild slope inclinations and elevation at fine scale. Such an exhaustive understanding of the factors that influence the spread of non-native species, especially in networks of protected areas is crucial to inform conservation managers on how to control or curb non-native species.

Field of study: Environmental science
The cause for the formation of the characteristics of Hakka martial art in East Guangdong

The author probed into the cause for the formation of the characteristics of Hakka martial art in East Guangdong from the point of view of cultural science and sociology,and concluded that the formation was mainly related to human cultural environment and social background. To inherit Hakka martial art,we should focus on meeting the needs of people in reality world on the basis of emphasizing the heritance of cultural heritage.

Field of study: Education
High-efficiency zone-plate optics for multi-keV X-ray focusing.

High-efficiency nanofocusing of hard X-rays using stacked multilevel Fresnel zone plates with a smallest zone width of 200 nm is demonstrated. The approach is to approximate the ideal parabolic lens profile with two-, three-, four- and six-level zone plates. By stacking binary and three-level zone plates with an additional binary zone plate, the number of levels in the optical transmission function was doubled, resulting in four- and six-level profiles, respectively. Efficiencies up to 53.7% focusing were experimentally obtained with 6.5 keV photons using a compact alignment apparatus based on piezoelectric actuators. The measurements have also been compared with numerical simulations to study the misalignment of the two zone plates.

Field of study: Physics
UTILIZATION OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS FOR DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OPERATIONS

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not yet standardized usage regulations for unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) and those regulations are still evolving. Consequently, this lack of standardization creates tedious obstacles for UAS users. The goal of this research was to provide a justified recommendation to the Department of Transportation regarding the benefits of UAS implementation into routine operations, as well as advice on specific UAS equipment that benefits KDOT. This paper includes a literature review that lists commercial companies currently using UASs after gaining a Certificate of Authorization exemption and describes research of using UASs for the purposes of assisting or replacing tasks at a state’s DOT. Potential applications and concerns regarding UAS usage are also included in the literature review. An online survey was created and sent to all USDOT offices with questions pertaining to demographics, current operations, and if that DOT office is currently using the new technology, or is only considering it. An economic analysis was completed using data from several departments. Out of the nine areas considered for implementing UAS, seven could realize benefits in safety, efficiency, and a possible cost savings. The recommended UAS applications are in bridge inspection, radio tower inspection, surveying, road mapping, high-mast light tower inspection, stockpile measurement, and aerial photography.

Field of study: Engineering
The ice bank cooling system with positive ventilation

Resume Un systeme dirigeant l'air de refroidissement par convection forcee a travers des conteneurs de legumes frais perissables a permis d'augmenter la vitesse de refroidissement de telle sorte que quelques legumes en caissons de vrac ont pu etre refroidis en huit fois moins de temps que sans convection forcee. Dans des cartons le produit pouvait etre refroidi sept fois plus vite. Pour repondre a l'augmentation des besoins de froid qui en est resulte on a employe une tour de refroidissement utilisant de l'eau glacee provenant d'un bac d'accumulation de glace pour refroidir l'air avec le minimum de deshydratation. Les legumes se refroidissent rapidement de cette facon et conservent leur fraicheur. Jusqu'ici il existe huit entrepots experimentaux et commerciaux utilisant ce systeme au Royaume-Uni.

Field of study: Engineering
Thorstein Veblen’s Financial Macroeconomics

The purpose of this article is to provide an exposition of Thorstein Veblen’s contribution to financial macroeconomics. I argue that Veblen conceptualizes and contextualizes how the financial structure of effective demand is predisposed to endogenous non-sustainable leverage processes, manipulation, and speculation. I stress that Veblen advances a cultural-financial theory of investment and brings forward the role that pecuniary and emulation instincts play in institutionalizing predatory and fraudulent activities which destabilize the macroevolution of monetary production economies. I underline that Veblen patterns financial macroeconomic fragility and instability within the institutions of the business enterprise system.

Field of study: Economics
Baryon annihilation and regeneration in heavy ion collisions

The role of baryon-antibaryon annihilation during the hadronic stage of a relativistic heavy ion collision is explored by simulating the chemical evolution of a hadron gas. Beginning with a chemically equilibrated gas at an initial temperature of 170 MeV, the chemical composition of a representative hydrodynamic cell is followed throughout the hadronic stage. The cell's volume changes with time according to a parametrization that mimics a three-dimensional hydrodynamic expansion. The chemical evolution includes both annihilation and regeneration of baryons, consistent with detailed balance. During the hadronic stage, the number of baryons drops by approximately 40% for the case in which there is no net baryonic charge. When the calculations are performed without the baryon regenerating processes, e.g., $5\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}p\overline{p}$, the loss of baryons was found to be closer to 50%. After accounting for annihilation, yields are consistent with measurements from the ALICE Collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Baryon annihilation is shown to alter the extracted chemical breakup temperature by significantly changing the $p/\ensuremath{\pi}$ ratio. Assuming that annihilation cross sections are independent of the strangeness and isospin of the annihilating baryon and antibaryon, the loss of strange baryons from annihilation is found to be similar.

Field of study: Physics
Petrophysical analysis of regional-scale thermal properties for improved simulations of geothermal installations and basin-scale heat and fluid flow

The development of geothermal energy and basin-scale simulations of fluid and heat flow both suffer from uncertain physical rock properties at depth. For the production of geothermal energy, a high risk of failure is associated with this uncertainty. Invoking the usual conservative assumptions as a remedy results in unnecessarily large drilling depths and increased exploration costs. Therefore, building better prognostic models for geothermal installations in the planning stage requires improvement of this situation. To this end we analysed systematically the hydraulic and thermal properties of the major rock types in the Molasse Basin in Southern Germany. On about 400 samples, thermal conductivity, density, porosity, and sonic velocity were measured in the laboratory. The size of both the study area and the this data set require special attention with respect to the analysis and the reporting of data, in particular in view of making it useful and available for practitioners in the field. Here, we propose a three-step procedure with increasing complexity, accuracy, and insight into petrophysical relationships: first, univariate descriptive statistics provide a general understanding of the data structure, possibly still with large uncertainty. Examples show that the remaining uncertainty can be as high as 0.8 W (m K)−1 or as low as 0.1 W (m K)−1. This depends on the possibility to subdivide the geologic units into data sets that are also petrophysically similar. Then, based on all measurements, cross-plot and quick-look methods are used to gain more insight into petrophysical relationships and to refine the analysis. Because these measures usually imply an exactly determined system they do not provide strict error bounds. The final, most complex step comprises a full inversion of select subsets of the data comprising both laboratory and borehole measurements. The example presented shows the possibility to refine the used mixing laws for petrophysical properties and the estimation of mineral properties. These can be estimated to an accuracy of 0.3 W (m K)−1. The predictive errors for the measurements are 0.07 W (m K)−1, 70 m s−1, and 8 kg m−3 for thermal conductivity, sonic velocity, and bulk density, respectively. The combination of these three approaches provides a comprehensive understanding of petrophysical properties and their interrelations, allowing to select an optimum approach with respect to both the desired data accuracy and the required effort.

Field of study: Environmental science
Hot carrier relaxation and recombination in amorphous semiconductors

The authors report the results of femtosecond optical measurements following injection of a very large density (>1019 cm-3) of carriers with 100 fs 2 eV pulses in a-Si:H. They measure the momentum scattering time of the free carriers ( or approximately=1 eV ps-1), the non-radiative carrier recombination lifetime (1-10 ps), and the decay time of optic phonons into acoustic phonons (<or approximately=100 fgs). The lack of momentum conservation in amorphous materials is responsible for the much shorter characteristic times in a-Si:H than in a typical direct-gap semiconductor such as GaAs.

Field of study: Materials science
Computer simulations of X-ray phase-contrast images and microtomographic observation of tubules in dentin.

An investigation of the problems of X-ray imaging of dentinal tubules is presented. Two main points are addressed. In the first part of this paper, the problem of computer simulating tubule images recorded in a coherent synchrotron radiation (SR) beam has been discussed. A phantom material which involved a two-dimensional lattice of the tubules with parameters similar to those of dentin was considered. By a comparative examination of two approximations, it was found that the method of phase-contrast imaging is valid if the number of tubules along the beam is less than 100. Calculated images from a lattice of 50 × 50 tubules are periodic in free space but depend strongly on the distance between the specimen and the detector. In the second part, SR microtomographic experiments with millimetre-sized dentin samples in a partially coherent beam have been described. Tomograms were reconstructed from experimental projections using a technique for incoherent radiation. The main result of this part is the three-dimensional rendering of the directions of the tubules in a volume of the samples. Generation of the directions is possible because a tomogram shows the positions of the tubules. However, a detailed tubule cross-section structure cannot be restored.

Field of study: Physics
Structural Intervention Distance (SID) for Evaluating Causal Graphs

Causal inference relies on the structure of a graph, often a directed acyclic graph (DAG). Different graphs may result in different causal inference statements and different intervention distributions. To quantify such differences, we propose a (pre-) distance between DAGs, the structural intervention distance (SID). The SID is based on a graphical criterion only and quantifies the closeness between two DAGs in terms of their corresponding causal inference statements. It is therefore well-suited for evaluating graphs that are used for computing interventions. Instead of DAGs it is also possible to compare CPDAGs, completed partially directed acyclic graphs that represent Markov equivalence classes. Since it differs significantly from the popular Structural Hamming Distance (SHD), the SID constitutes a valuable additional measure. We discuss properties of this distance and provide an efficient implementation with software code available on the first author's homepage (an R package is under construction).

Field of study: Computer science
How Collective Participation Impacts Social Identity: A Longitudinal Study with Control Data

A key issue for political psychology concerns the processes whereby people come to psychologically invest in socially and politically significant group identities. Since Durkheim, it has been assumed that participation in group-relevant collective events increases one’s investment in such group identities. However, little empirical research explicitly addresses this or the processes involved. We investigated these issues in a longitudinal questionnaire study conducted at one of the world’s largest collective events – a month-long Hindu festival in north India (the Magh Mela). Data gathered from pilgrims and comparable others who did not attend the event show that one month after the event, those who had participated (but not the controls) exhibited heightened social identification as Hindu and increased frequency of prayer rituals. Data gathered from pilgrims during the festival predicted these outcomes. Specifically, perceptions of sharing a common identity with other pilgrims, and of being able to enact their social identity in this event, helped predict changes in participants’ identification and behavior. The wider significance of these data for political psychology is discussed.

Field of study: Psychology
Meta Learning for Causal Direction

The inaccessibility of controlled randomized trials due to inherent constraints in many fields of science has been a fundamental issue in causal inference. In this paper, we focus on distinguishing the cause from effect in the bivariate setting under limited observational data. Based on recent developments in meta learning as well as in causal inference, we introduce a novel generative model that allows distinguishing cause and effect in the small data setting. Using a learnt task variable that contains distributional information of each dataset, we propose an end-to-end algorithm that makes use of similar training datasets at test time. We demonstrate our method on various synthetic as well as real-world data and show that it is able to maintain high accuracy in detecting directions across varying dataset sizes.

Field of study: Computer science
Kinematic signatures of nuclear discs and bar-driven secular evolution in nearby galaxies of the MUSE TIMER project

The central regions of disc galaxies hold clues to the processes that dominate their formation and evolution. To exploit this, the TIMER project has obtained high signal-to-noise and spatial resolution integral-field spectroscopy data of the inner few kpc of 21 nearby massive barred galaxies, which allows studies of the stellar kinematics in their central regions with unprecedented spatial resolution. We confirm theoretical predictions of the effects of bars on stellar kinematics and identify box/peanuts through kinematic signatures in mildly and moderately inclined galaxies, finding a lower limit to the fraction of massive barred galaxies with box/peanuts at ∼62%. Further, we provide kinematic evidence of the connection between barlenses, box/peanuts, and bars. We establish the presence of nuclear discs in 19 galaxies and show that their kinematics are characterised by near-circular orbits with low pressure support and that they are fully consistent with the bar-driven secular evolution picture for their formation. In fact, we show that these nuclear discs have, in the region where they dominate, larger rotational support than the underlying main galaxy disc. In addition, we define a kinematic radius for the nuclear discs and show that it relates to bar radius, ellipticity and strength, and bar-to-total ratio. Comparing our results with photometric studies of galaxy bulges, we find that careful, state-of-the-art galaxy image decompositions are generally able to discern nuclear discs from classical bulges if the images employed have high enough physical spatial resolution. In fact, we show that nuclear discs are typically identified in such image decompositions as photometric bulges with (near-)exponential profiles. However, we find that the presence of composite bulges (galaxies hosting both a classical bulge and a nuclear disc) can often be unnoticed in studies based on photometry alone and suggest a more stringent threshold to the Sersic index to identify galaxies with pure classical bulges.

Field of study: Physics
Effects of glyphosate on the non-target leaf beetle Cerotoma arcuata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in field and laboratory conditions

This study aimed to assess the glyphosate application effects on the Cerotoma arcuata Oliver (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) population in glyphosate-resistant soybean crops. Field studies were conducted with glyphosate and the insecticide endosulfan to observe the effects of these pesticides on C. arcuata, on its damages in the crop and on the populations of natural enemies in glyphosate-resistant soybean crops. Moreover, the lethal and behavioral sublethal response of C. arcuata to glyphosate and endosulfan was conducted in the laboratory. The results of the field and laboratory experiments showed that glyphosate caused moderate toxicity and high irritability in C. arcuata and that endosulfan caused high toxicity and irritability. Therefore, the direct effect of glyphosate on C. arcuata was negative and does not explain the population increases of this pest in glyphosate-resistant soybean. However, the glyphosate also decreased the density of predators. Thus, the negative effect of glyphosate on the predators may be related to population increases of C. arcuata in glyphosate-resistant soybean crops, however, more studies are needed to better evidence this relationship. This study suggests that glyphosate can impact other non-target organisms, such as herbivorous insects and natural enemies and that the use of this herbicide will need to be carefully stewarded to prevent potential disturbances in beneficial insect communities in agricultural systems.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Accuracy of Gene Expression Prediction From Genotype Data With PrediXcan Varies Across and Within Continental Populations

Using genetic data to predict gene expression has garnered significant attention in recent years. PrediXcan has become one of the most widely used gene-based methods for testing associations between predicted gene expression values and a phenotype, which has facilitated novel insights into the relationship between complex traits and the component of gene expression that can be attributed to genetic variation. The gene expression prediction models for PrediXcan were developed using supervised machine learning methods and training data from the Depression Genes and Networks (DGN) study and the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project, where the majority of subjects are of European descent. Many genetic studies, however, include samples from multi-ethnic populations, and in this paper we evaluate the accuracy of PrediXcan for predicting gene expression in diverse populations. Using transcriptomic data from the GEUVADIS (Genetic European Variation in Disease) RNA sequencing project and whole genome sequencing data from the 1000 Genomes project, we evaluate and compare the predictive performance of PrediXcan in an African population (Yoruban) and four European ancestry populations for thousands of genes. We evaluate a range of models from the PrediXcan weight databases and use Pearson's correlation coefficient to assess gene expression prediction accuracy with PrediXcan. From our evaluation, we find that the predictive performance of PrediXcan varies substantially among populations from different continents (F-test p-value < 2.2 × 10−16), where prediction accuracy is lower in the Yoruban population from West Africa compared to the European-ancestry populations. Moreover, not only do we find differences in predictive performance between populations from different continents, we also find highly significant differences in prediction accuracy among the four European ancestry populations considered (F-test p-value < 2.2 × 10−16). Finally, while there is variability in prediction accuracy across different PrediXcan weight databases, we also find consistency in the qualitative performance of PrediXcan for the five populations considered, with the African ancestry population having the lowest accuracy across databases.

Field of study: Biology