nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Epispadias in boys with an intact prepuce.

To present an overview of the clinical presentation and pathological anatomy, and the results of surgical correction of 7 cases of epispadias with intact prepuce; a rare condition that has only occasionally been reported in literature.



A retrospective search was performed in the surgical and diagnoses database between 1991 and 2011. Seven cases of epispadias with intact prepuce were identified. Five presented as a webbed and buried penis, 1 as phimosis and 1 with suspicion for congenital anomaly of the genitalia.



In 3 of 7 cases, epispadias was suspected or diagnosed at first presentation and could be surgically corrected in the first intervention. In the other 4 cases, epispadias was discovered during surgery, requiring an additional intervention to perform epispadias repair in 3 cases. One boy was diagnosed with glandular, 3 with coronal, 1 with shaft and 2 with penopubic epispadias. Epispadias repair was successful with regard to cosmesis and erectile function. Five patients developed normal continence after surgery, 1 after intensive urotherapy. An under average penile length was the main reported problem during follow-up.



In the diagnostic process for a concealed penis, the possibility of epispadias should be considered. If epispadias is suspected or confirmed, epispadias repair can occur in the first intervention, reducing the number of additional interventions. Epispadias with intact prepuce appears to have a better prognosis concerning urinary continence compared to classical epispadias.

Field of study: Medicine
Development of an RFQ Linac at KEK

An RFQ model linac of 62 cm long at a frequency of 200 MHz was constructed using a computer program "QKEK" developed at KEK. QKEK generates an RFQ linac, calculates beam dynamics, and provides geometrical data of vanes for a numerically controlled milling machine. A detailed study of rf characteristics was performed. The accelerating and focusing fields measured by the bead perturbation method on axis agree well with the design values. An RFQ linac, which accelerates protons from 50 keV to 750 keV, is designed.

Field of study: Physics
Dropout Syndrome among Girls in Secondary Schools and Human Resources Development in Nigeria

No Nation can toy with the education of the girl-child because the saying goes that educate a woman and you educate a nation. Yet girls are often dogged with challenges of access, equity, performance and retention/dropout in terms of schooling. The study sought to establish the factors of dropout among secondary school girls in Nembe Local Government (LGA) of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. One research question was formulated to guide the study.  Survey design was utilized; sample of 240 was drawn from dropout girls and their parent/guardians, teachers, students in schools, youth and women leaders using the stratified random sampling technique. Questionnaire/checklist was used to collect the data which was analyzed using percentage.  Poverty, teen pregnancy, peer influence and quest for money were identified as the paramount factors of dropout. It is recommended that schools be made truly free, qualitative and engaging, in order to motivate the girls toward completion.  Dropout, poverty, girl-child

Field of study: Education
Optimization of the pretreatment conditions for multi-enzyme hydrolysis of food waste.

In order to enhance the multi-enzyme hydrolysis of food waste, the composition and hydrolysis conditions were optimized based on the biomass components of food waste and the conditions of enzymatic reactions. The whole solid removal rate, reducing sugar content and hydrolysis rate of starch were determined. The optimum parameters for the food waste hydrolysis were: the mixed enzyme was composed of α-amylase, α-1,4-glucan glucohydrolase, cellulase and lipase. The dose of each enzyme was 9, 150, 45 and 150 U/g, respectively, based on the total solid (TS) weight of the food waste. The food waste was first digested by lipase at 40°C for 24 h, and then α-amylase, α-1,4-glucan glucohydrolase and cellulose were added for additional digestion at 55°C for 90 min.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Why Do Civil Wars Occur? Understanding the Importance of Institutional Quality

As states get stronger, they are expected to be more successful in preventing insurgency and, in turn, the occurrence of civil wars. While intuitively appealing, the theoretical and empirical understanding of the linkage between state capacity and civil war onset remains at an early stage of development. To date, the role of state capacity has been conceptualised and measured in limited ways that focus mainly on the repressive ability of the state. In this paper, we broaden the understanding of state capacity by incorporating an important but neglected dimension; institutional quality. We examine the relationship between institutional quality and civil war onset and argue that states characterised with high institutional quality are less likely to experience civil war. Analysis of cross-national time-series data from 1984 to 1999 reveals that the quality of institutions, defined as freedom from corruption in government, rule of law, and bureaucratic quality, plays a significant role in explaining the likelihood of civil war onset.

Field of study: History, Sociology
Random matrix analysis of human EEG data.

We use random matrix theory to demonstrate the existence of generic and subject-independent features of the ensemble of correlation matrices extracted from human EEG data. In particular, the spectral density as well as the level spacings was analyzed and shown to be generic and subject independent. We also investigate number variance distributions. In this case we show that when the measured subject is visually stimulated the number variance displays deviations from the random matrix prediction.

Field of study: Physics
Understanding the syntactic rule usage in java

Syntax is fundamental to any programming language: syntax defines valid programs. In the 1970s, computer scientists rigorously and empirically studied programming languages to guide and inform language design. Since then, language design has been artistic, driven by the aesthetic concerns and intuitions of language architects. Despite recent studies on small sets of selected language features, we lack a comprehensive, quantitative, empirical analysis of how modern, real-world source code exercises the syntax of its programming language.  This study aims to understand how programming language syntax is employed in actual development and explore their potential applications based on the results of syntax usage analysis.  We present our results on the first such study on Java, a modern, mature, and widely-used programming language. Our corpus contains over 5000 open-source Java projects, totalling 150 million source lines of code (SLoC). We study both independent (i.e. applications of a single syntax rule) and dependent (i.e. applications of multiple syntax rules) rule usage, and quantify their impact over time and project size.  Our study provides detailed quantitative information and yields insight, particularly (i) confirming the conventional wisdom that the usage of syntax rules is Zipfian; (ii) showing that the adoption of new rules and their impact on the usage of pre-existing rules vary significantly over time; and (iii) showing that rule usage is highly contextual.  Our findings suggest potential applications across language design, code suggestion and completion, automatic syntactic sugaring, and language restriction.

Field of study: Computer science, Engineering
The promise of creative/participatory mapping practices for sport and leisure research

This paper provides an introduction to the concept of creative participatory mapping of human–environment relations. It is identified that within human geography, artistic practice and urban design, biomapping and similar community mapping tools and methodologies are increasingly being embraced. However, within sports and leisure research the concept has yet to gain academic attention. Consequently, this paper provides a basis for thinking about how researchers and research participants in the fields of sport and leisure research might benefit if mapping human–environment relations was to be embraced and integrated into research design practices. Referencing recent turns to studying space and affect within sport and leisure studies, mapping is argued to offer innovative methodological opportunities for studying how people relate to and understand the urban environments in which they practice physical activity and leisure forms of embodiment. The paper concludes by arguing that, along with offering up new avenues for conceptual research, mapping human–environment relations, if readily embraced, can go a long way to fostering community engagement in: the identification of (un)safe urban routes for sport/leisure practice (e.g. running, cycling), the development and site identification of health/physical activity initiatives and the design of urban landscapes of sport/leisure.

Field of study: Sociology
Effects of methamphetamine on duration discrimination.

Experiments 1 and 2 address the controversy regarding the reliability of methamphetamine effects on interval timing. A temporal discrimination procedure was used, in which the rats were reinforced for pressing the left or the right levers after short and long signals, respectively. Methamphetamine (0.5 mg/kg sc) severely disrupted operant performance at 20-100 min after injection, which disabled the measurement of drug effects on temporal perception (Experiment 1). The same dose of methamphetamine shifted the psychometric function to the left at 100-180 min after injection, indicating an increase in subjective durations (Experiment 2). Although these results confirm the role of dopamine in interval timing, that a change in the speed of a neural clock mediates the methamphetamine-induced change in temporal perception is still a working hypothesis.

Field of study: Biology, Psychology
A community nitrogen footprint analysis of Baltimore City, Maryland

The nitrogen footprint tool (NFT) provides a novel way for communities to understand the environmental impacts of their collective activities and consumption. Reactive nitrogen (Nr; all N species except N2) is created by the Haber-Bosch process for food production and as a by-product of fossil fuel combustion and two natural processes, biological nitrogen fixation and lightning. While it is a vital input for food production, too much Nr has a negative effect on the environment. Calculating the amount of Nr released to the environment as a result of an entity's resource consumption is the first step in reducing those Nr losses. The nitrogen (N) footprint method has previously taken this approach at the personal and institution scale. In this study, the nitrogen footprint approach is extended, for the first time, to the community level to calculate the N footprint of Baltimore City, Maryland, USA. The total N footprint of Baltimore City was ~19,000 MT N or 30 kg N per capita in 2016, dominated by the food production sector (73%), followed by the energy and transportation sectors (15% combined). There was geographic variability among census block groups' per capita N footprint within Baltimore City; likely driven primarily by economic factors. Several management scenarios were assessed to better understand what actions may reduce the Baltimore City N footprint over time. The study explored the effect and efficacy of reducing meat consumption, increasing the use of renewable energy sources, and reducing electricity consumption on the city's total N footprint. The model for the Baltimore City N footprint calculation can be applied to other communities in the United States at the spatial grain of the census block group or any country with this level of data to provide an indicator of nitrogen sustainability.

Field of study: Environmental science
Modeling photosynthesis of Spartina alterniflora (smooth cordgrass) impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill using Bayesian inference

To study the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on photosynthesis of coastal salt marsh plants in Mississippi, we developed a hierarchical Bayesian (HB) model based on field measurements collected from July 2010 to November 2011. We sampled three locations in Davis Bayou, Mississippi (30.375 N, 88.790 W) representative of a range of oil spill impacts. Measured photosynthesis was negative (respiration only) at the heavily oiled location in July 2010 only, and rates started to increase by August 2010. Photosynthesis at the medium oiling location was lower than at the control location in July 2010 and it continued to decrease in September 2010. During winter 2010‐2011, the contrast between the control and the two impacted locations was not as obvious as in the growing season of 2010. Photosynthesis increased through spring 2011 at the three locations and decreased starting with October at the control location and a month earlier (September) at the impacted locations. Using the field data, we developed an HB model. The model simulations agreed well with the measured photosynthesis, capturing most of the variability of the measured data. On the basis of the posteriors of the parameters, we found that air temperature and photosynthetic active radiation positively influenced photosynthesis whereas the leaf stress level negatively affected photosynthesis. The photosynthesis rates at the heavily impacted location had recovered to the status of the control location about 140 days after the initial impact, while the impact at the medium impact location was never severe enough to make photosynthesis significantly lower than that at the control location over the study period. The uncertainty in modeling photosynthesis rates mainly came from the individual and micro-site scales, and to a lesser extent from the leaf scale.

Field of study: Environmental science
[The influence of the immunity activation and suppression on the outcome of brain ischemia].

To explore the influence of the immunity activation and suppression on the outcome of brain ischemia in experimental animals.



Brain ischemia has been modulated by irreversible staged bilateral common carotid arteries occlusion. Suppression of the immune system has been conducted by administration of cyclosporin A (5 mg/kg, per os). Activation of the immune system has been conducted by administration of lipopolysaccharide (10 mkg/kg, i.p.).



Authors have established that in animals with immunosuppression there is an increase in the concentration of the neuron specific proteins in blood serum (NSE and MBP), mortality (by 20%) and severity of neurological deficit (by 33%). Rats with immunosuppression have reduced general locomotor activity (by 44%), exploratory behavior in the Open Field Test (by 43%) and decrease in the motor activity in the Rotarod Test (by 19%) compared to the group of rats with brain ischemia and intact immune systems. During the immunity activation after brain ischemia injury, the decrease in NSE and MBP levels, mortality (by 15%) and severity of neurological deficit (by 13%) as well as higher concentrations of neurotrophins BDNF and NGF and higher general locomotor activity of animals (by 34%) and physical endurance (by 55%) in the Open Field and Rotarod Tests, respectively, were observed.



Immunosupression negatively affected the outcome of brain ischemia.

Field of study: Medicine, Psychology
Significance of early-diagenetic water-rock interactions in a modern marine siliciclastic/evaporite environment: Salina Ometepec, Baja California

Although marine brines are a significant component of pore waters in sedimentary basins, there are few geochemical studies of modern analogues of such systems, especially in siliciclastic settings. For these reasons, we chose the evaporite-associated siliciclastic sediments deposited in the salt flats of the Salina Ometepec, Baja California, for an integrated investigation of sediment, pore-water, and overlying brine geochemistry. Here, the detrital components include quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase, chlorite, biotite, and smectite, and authigenic minerals are dominated by halite, gypsum, and K-rich magnesium smectite.

Thermal and saline stresses on the sediments of the Salina Ometepec keep both organic and inorganic carbon concentrations in the sediments unusually low relative to other coastal marine environments. Sediment pore waters exhibit little microbial sulfate reduction, and dissolved inorganic C contents are also very low. As a result, we did not observe carbonate and sulfide mineral authigenesis in the Salina Ometepec sediments. Instead, pore-water geochemical evolution is largely controlled by evaporative concentration of seawater, evaporite-mineral dissolution and recrystallization, and diagenetic alteration of detrital aluminosilicates.

Evaporite-mineral recycling affects the compositional evolution of surficial brines even before they infiltrate the sediment. Specifically, Na+ and Cl− concentrations are increased owing to halite dissolution. We see significant Br− enrichment relative to expected seawater evaporation trends in near-surface pore water, secondary to dissolution of K- and Mg salts. Because bacterial sulfate reduction is inhibited in the Salina Ometepec sediments, sulfate concentrations are more accurate indicators of the degree of evaporation than Br−, a usually conservative element during geochemical reactions.

Pore waters exhibit down-core increases in dissolved Mg2+, K+, and \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(H\_{4}SiO\_{4}^{0}\) \end{document} over the upper 1 m. Authigenic K-rich Mg-smectite formation is promoted by the concurrent processes of brine concentration, selective dissolution of K- and Mg-bearing salts, and dissolution of detrital aluminosilicates. Pore waters at a depth of 1 m have 87Sr/86Sr ratios that require input of Sr that is less radiogenic than that of Gulf of California seawater. This Sr is likely derived from weathering of detrital aluminosilicates from nearby volcaniclastic sources. These results show that significant chemical interactions among marine brines, evaporite minerals, and detrital aluminosilicates can occur relatively soon after sedimentation.

Field of study: Geology
Molecular beam epitaxy for high-performance Ga-face GaN electron devices

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) has emerged as a powerful technique for growing GaN-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) epistructures. Over the past decade, HEMT performance steadily improved, mainly through the optimization of device fabrication processes. Soon, HEMT performance will be limited by the crystalline quality of the epistructure. MBE offers heterostructure growth with highly abrupt interfaces, low point defect concentrations, and very low carbon and hydrogen impurity concentrations. Minimizing parasitic leakage pathways and resistances is essential in the growth of HEMTs for high-frequency and high-power applications. Through growth on native substrates with very low threading dislocation density, low-leakage HEMTs with very low on-resistance can be realized. Ga-rich plasma-assisted MBE (PAMBE) has been studied extensively, and it is clear that this technique has inherent limitations, including a high density of leakage pathways and a very small growth parameter space. Relatively new MBE growth techniques—high-temperature N-rich PAMBE and ammonia-based MBE—are being developed to circumvent the shortcomings of Ga-rich PAMBE.

Field of study: Materials science
THE FATE OF Cyg X-1: AN EMPIRICAL LOWER LIMIT ON BLACK-HOLE-NEUTRON-STAR MERGER RATE

The recent distance determination allowed precise estimation of the orbital parameters of Cyg X-1, which contains a massive 14.8 M{sub Sun} black hole (BH) with a 19.2 M{sub Sun} O star companion. This system appears to be the clearest example of a potential progenitor of a black hole + neutron star (BH-NS) system. We follow the future evolution of Cyg X-1, and show that it will soon encounter a Roche lobe overflow episode, followed shortly by a Type Ib/c supernova and the formation of a neutron star (NS). It is demonstrated that in majority of cases ({approx}> 70%) the supernova and associated natal kick disrupt the binary due to the fact that the orbit expanded significantly in the Roche lobe overflow episode. In the reminder of cases ({approx}< 30%) the newly formed BH-NS system is too wide to coalesce in the Hubble time. Only sporadically ({approx}1%) may a Cyg X-1-like binary form a coalescing BH-NS system given a favorable direction and magnitude of the natal kick. If a Cyg X-1-like channel (comparable mass BH-O star bright X-ray binary) is the only or dominant way to form BH-NS binaries in the Galaxy, then we can estimate the empirical BH-NS merger ratemore » in the Galaxy at the level of {approx}0.001 Myr{sup -1}. This rate is so low that the detection of BH-NS systems in gravitational radiation is highly unlikely, generating Advanced LIGO/VIRGO detection rates at the level of only {approx}1 per century. If BH-NS inspirals are in fact detected, it will indicate that the formation of these systems proceeds via some alternative and yet unobserved channels.« less

Field of study: Physics
Superfluid Pairing in Neutrons and Cold Atoms

Ultracold atomic gases and low-density neutron matter are unique in that they exhibit pairing gaps comparable to the Fermi energy which in this sense are the largest in the laboratory and in nature, respectively. This strong pairing regime, or the crossover between BCS and BEC regimes, requires non-perturbative treatments. We describe Quantum Monte Carlo results useful to understand the properties of these systems, including infinite homogeneous matter and trapped inhomogeneous gases.

Field of study: Physics
Fluorescent ribonucleoside analogues as probes for investigating RNA structure and function

Numerous biophysical tools based on fluorescence have been developed to advance the understanding of RNA–nucleic acid, RNA–protein, and RNA–small molecule inter-actions. In this regard, fluorescent ribonucleoside analogues that are sensitive to their local environment provide sensitive probes for investigating RNA structure, dynamics, and recognition. Most of these analogues closely resemble the native ribonucleosides with respect to their overall dimension and have the ability to form canonical Watson–Crick (WC) base pairs. Therefore, it is possible to place these probes near the point of interaction in a target nucleic acid with minimum structural perturbations and gain insight into the intricacies of conformational changes taking place in and around the interaction site. Here, we provide a concise background on the development and recent advances in the applications of base-modified fluorescent ribonucleoside analogue probes. We first present various base-modified fluorescent ribonucleoside analogues, their photophysical properties, and methods to incorporate these analogues into oligoribonucleotides. We then discuss the established spectroscopic techniques, which make use of the fluorescence properties of these emissive ribonucleoside analogues. Finally, we present the applications of base-modified fluorescent ribonucleoside analogues used as probes incorporated into oligoribonucleotides in investigating RNA structures and functions.

Field of study: Chemistry