nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Enhanced sorption of trichloroethene by smectite clay exchanged with Cs+.

Trichloroethene (TCE) is one of the most common pollutants in groundwater, and Cs+ can be a cocontaminant at nuclear facilities. Smectite clays have large surface areas, are common in soils, have high affinities for some organic contaminants, and hence can potentially influence the transport of organic pollutants entering soils and sediments. The exchangeable cations present near smectite clay surfaces can radically influence the sorption of organic pollutants by soil clays. This research was undertaken to determine the effect of Cs+, and other common interlayer cations, such as K+ and Ca2+, on the sorption of TCE by a reference smectite clay saponite. Cs-saturated clay sorbed the most TCE, up to 3500 mg/kg, while Ca-saturated smectite sorbed the least. We hypothesize that the stronger sorption of TCE by the Cs-smectite can be attributed to the lower hydration energy and hence smaller hydrated radius of Cs+, which expands the lateral clay surface domains available for sorption. Also, Cs-smectite interlayers are only one or two water layers thick, which may drive capillary condensation of TCE. Our results implicate enhanced retention of TCE in aquifer materials containing smectites accompanied by Cs+ cocontamination.

Field of study: Environmental science
Liposomal delivery of Mycobacterium leprae antigen(s) with murabutide and Trat peptide inhibits Fas-mediated apoptosis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells derived from leprosy patients.

Protective immunity against intracellular pathogen Mycobacterium leprae is dependent on the activation of T cells. Repeated stimulation of T cells by M. leprae antigens MLCwA (M. leprae total cell wall antigen) and ManLAM (mannose capped lipoarabinomannan) may lead to apoptosis in leprosy patients. In the present study, inhibition of the Fas-induced apoptosis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells of leprosy patients was investigated using above M. leprae antigen(s), in combination with immunomodulators murabutide (MB) and a Trat peptide in particulate form (liposome). Incubation of the cells with particulate mode of antigen presentation led to both decreased percentage of propidium iodide (PI) positive cells and T cells expressing Fas-FasL, as well as decreased caspase-8/-3 activities in the lepromatous patients, thereby inhibiting apoptosis, while converse was true with stimulation with soluble antigen. Concurrently, there was an upregulation of antiapoptotic protein Bcl-X(L) in the lepromatous patients, thereby inhibiting apoptosis. Thus, the liposomal formulation of antigen promoted proliferation of anergized T cell by inhibiting apoptosis through decreased expression of death receptors and caspase activities and increased expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-X(L) in these patients.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry, Physics
[Updated recommendations of the Council of Experts on the use and safety of alemtuzumab (Lemtrada)].

Alemtuzumab (Lemtrada) is a recombinant humanized IgG1 kappa monoclonal antibody to the surface cell glycoprotein, a CD52 differentiation cluster. The drug is approved for use in more than 65 countries, including the Russian Federation. The drug is one of the most effective methods of treating patients with aggressive multiple sclerosis, but the risk management plan should be followed. The safety profile of the drug includes infusion-associated reactions, thyroid dysfunction, immune cytopenia, acute cardiovascular events, infections, and other autoimmune diseases. This publication provides updated practical recommendations for the use of the drug and ensuring the safety of patients treated with alemtuzumab.

Field of study: Medicine, Psychology
Efficient terahertz electro-absorption modulation employing graphene plasmonic structures

We propose and discuss terahertz (THz) electro-absorption modulators based on graphene plasmonic structures. The active device consists of a self-gated pair of graphene layers, which are patterned to structures supporting THz plasmonic resonances. These structures allow for efficient control of the effective THz optical conductivity, thus absorption, even at frequencies much higher than the Drude roll-off in graphene where most previously proposed graphene-based devices become inefficient. Our analysis shows that reflectance-based device configurations, engineered so that the electric field is enhanced in the active graphene pair, could achieve very high modulation-depth, even ∼100%, over a wide frequency range up to tens of THz.We propose and discuss terahertz (THz) electro-absorption modulators based on graphene plasmonic structures. The active device consists of a self-gated pair of graphene layers, which are patterned to structures supporting THz plasmonic resonances. These structures allow for efficient control of the effective THz optical conductivity, thus absorption, even at frequencies much higher than the Drude roll-off in graphene where most previously proposed graphene-based devices become inefficient. Our analysis shows that reflectance-based device configurations, engineered so that the electric field is enhanced in the active graphene pair, could achieve very high modulation-depth, even ∼100%, over a wide frequency range up to tens of THz.

Field of study: Physics
The Interplay of Domestic Legitimation and Foreign Relations: Contrasting Charles Taylor and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia

This article investigates legitimacy and foreign relations of Liberia’s two most important recent rulers. It argues that Charles Taylor was widely considered legitimate in Liberia and that the Weberian concept of charismatic authority best explains the popularity of the former warlord and president. Charisma, however, is tied to specific cultural contexts and Taylor’s popularity was not intelligible to Western audiences. By contrast, Johnson Sirleaf frames her policies in terms appealing to both the domestic and international audiences. As a consequence, she succeeded to attract significant foreign assistance enabling her to increase legitimacy and strengthen stability.

Field of study: History, Sociology
Testkammerverfahren zum nachweis phytotoxischer immissionskomponenten

To identify the presence of phytotoxicants in the air, particularly in areas with several pollutants, portable exposure chambers have been developed in which plants are exposed to filtered and unfiltered air. These chambers consist of a plexiglass cap covering the plants to be exposed and a box below containing air filter, blower, and watering system. An experimental unit includes at least two such chambers. Ambient air is passed directly through the test chamber, whereas it is filtered before entering the control chamber in order to remove any phytotoxicants present. By comparing plant reactions in both chambers, effects of pollutants can be accurately identified. Individual pollutants are identified by using special filtering systems and with combinations of indicator plants with differing resistance. A filter material coated with silver and silver-oxide is used to remove the most important pollutants, SO 2 , HF and HCl. Leaf injuries on the tobacco variety BEL W 3 , which is very sensitive to oxidants, can be prevented by using this filter material. These exposure chambers can be used to carry out fumigation experiments both in the field and in climatic chambers as well as to test pesticides.

Field of study: Environmental science
Discriminative feature learning-based pixel difference representation for facial expression recognition

Recently, researchers have proposed different feature descriptors to achieve robust performance for facial expression recognition (FER). However, finding a discriminative feature descriptor remains one of the critical tasks. In this paper, we propose a discriminative feature learning scheme to improve the representation power of expressions. First, we obtain a discriminative feature matrix (DFM) based pixel difference representation. Subsequently, all DFMs corresponding to the training samples are used to construct a discriminative feature dictionary (DFD). Next, DFD is projected on a vertical two-dimensional linear discriminant analysis in direction (V-2DLDA) space to compute between and within-class scatter because V-2DLDA works well with the DFD in matrix representation and achieves good efficiency. Finally, nearest neighbor (NN) classifier is used to determine the labels of the query samples. DFD represents the local feature changes that are robust to the expression, illumination et al. Besides, we exploit V-2DLDA to find an optimal projection matrix since it not only protects the discriminative features but reduces the dimensions. The proposed method achieves satisfying recognition results, reaching accuracy rates as high as 91.87% on CK+ database, 82.24% on KDEF database, and 78.94% on CMU Multi-PIE database in the LOSO scenario, which perform better than other comparison methods.

Field of study: Computer science
Fuzzy resource space model and platform

The resource space model (RSM) is a model for organizing versatile resources in normal forms and providing uniform resource management operations. In applications, we find three important factors that influence the effectiveness of organizing and operating resources: natural semantics of resources, resource providers' beliefs, and resource users' beliefs. The relationship between the three factors influences the effectiveness of resource management operations. This paper proposes a fuzzy resource space model (FRSM), which consists of a fuzzy resource space and a fuzzy operation language expressing the resource providers' beliefs and the resource users' beliefs. By properly dealing with the two kinds of beliefs, the FRSM improves the RSM in effectively managing resources. The proposed model has been implemented in the Knowledge Grid platform VEGA-KG.

Field of study: Computer science, Engineering
Using localized surface plasmons to modify the optical properties and conformational rearrangements of organic dye molecules

Optical properties of the molecular layers of cyanine dyes and their modification in a nearby field of silver nanoparticles on a sapphire substrate are investigated experimentally. Enhancement of the fluorescence and absorption intensity of organic molecules in the presence of silver nanoparticles is observed. The results from photomodifications of the molecular layers’ absorption properties with and without the presence of silver nanoparticles are described.

Field of study: Physics
The Awareness of External Auditors and the Management of Kuwaiti Listed Companies on Determinants of Audit Fees: An Exploratory Study

This paper explored the factors that influence audit fees determinants in the Kuwait audit market. A questionnaire was distributed to a number of audit firms operating in the Kuwaiti market and Kuwaiti companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE). The results indicated that all factors show a Likert-scale score of greater than 2.5, suggesting that all the factors included in the questionnaire influence the audit fee determinants. Among the 25 factors included in this study, audit firm brand name, time spent completing a given job and auditors experience were the most important factors influencing audit fees determinants in the Kuwait audit market from audit firm and companies perspective. In contrast, company age, client company location and audit firm location were the least important factors influencing the determinants of audit fee in Kuwait from audit firm and companies perspectives. The results of the t-test revealed that there are significant differences in the mean ranking of some of the factors assumed to determinant the audit fee in Kuwait audit market between the two groups of respondents (audit firms and companies). The findings presented in this study may help professional accounting associations and both audit firms and companies to better understand the factors influencing audit fee determinants in Kuwait audit market.

Field of study: Business
The Political Economy of the Colombian Presidential Election of 1897

HE potential contribution of the study of political economny to an understanding of nineteenth-century Spanish American politics is not widely recognized. The most influential contemporary work on the subject argues that Spanish American politics are personalist and clientelistic. Clientelists are of two main schools. One school, which might be called economic clientelists, conceives of Spanish American politics as a battle for spoils in closed, stratified societies where extra-political opportunities for economic and social mobility are severely circumscribed.' The questfor-spoils thesis of the economic clientelists proves most telling in explaining the motivations of middle and lower class participants in Spanish American politics. Placed in a conceptual framework sensitive to the long-term economic trends resulting from Latin America's integration into the world economy, the quest-for-spoils thesis complements the analysis of elite political economy as developed in this essay and forms an important component in any comprehensive explanation of nineteenth-century Spanish American instability. The other school of clientelists rejects socio-economic variables

Field of study: History
Control design of damper mass spring system based on backstepping controller scheme

The objective of this paper is to present a proposed control model for the electromechanical damper mass spring system including the backstepping technique in comparison with the conventional proportional–derivative–integral (PID) controller unit to realize the best performance of the control systems. The suggested approach demanded the construction in laboratory arrangement of damper mass spring system which linked with electrical position sensor, and the theoretical work involved the derivation of the required mathematical equations in order to formulate the simulation models in Matlab software package. The obtained results show that the backstepping control technique provides the better performance associated with stable control system especially with increasing the value of selected mechanical load.

Field of study: Engineering
Training Neural Networks as Learning Data-adaptive Kernels: Provable Representation and Approximation Benefits

given the data pair drawn from a population with , specify a neural network model and run gradient flow on the weights over time until reaching any stationarity. How does ft , the function computed by the neural network at time t, relate to , in terms of approximation and representation? What are the provable benefits of the adaptive representation by neural networks compared to the pre-specified fixed basis representation in the classical nonparametric literature? We answer the above questions via a dynamic reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) approach indexed by the training process of neural networks. Firstly, we show that when reaching any local stationarity, gradient flow learns an adaptive RKHS representation and performs the global least-squares projection onto the adaptive RKHS, simultaneously. Secondly, we prove that as the RKHS is data-adaptive and task-specific, the residual for lies in a subspace that is potentially much smaller than the orthogonal complement of the RKHS. The result formalizes the representation and approximation benefits of neural networks. Lastly, we show that the neural network function computed by gradient flow converges to the kernel ridgeless regression with an adaptive kernel, in the limit of vanishing regularization. The adaptive kernel viewpoint provides new angles of studying the approximation, representation, generalization, and optimization advantages of neural networks.

Field of study: Mathematics
Electrochemical behavior of nitrobenzene on WC/carbon nanotube powder microelectrode

WC/carbon nanotube(CNT)nanocomposite was prepared by surface decoration and in situ reduction technique and subsequently was used as an electrocatalyst to prepare the WC/CNT powder microelectrode(WC/CNT-PME).Electrochemical reduction behavior of nitrobenzene on the WC/CNTPME was investigated by chronoamperometry and cyclic voltammetry,combined with in situ FTIR,the influences of scan rate and temperature on the electroreduction behavior of nitrobenzene were discussed. Results showed that WC/CNT nanocomposite showed better catalytic activity for the electroreduction of nitrobenzene than CNTs and WC nanoparticles,the electroreduction of nitrobenzene to p-aminophenol on the WC/CNT-PME was an irreversible process,which was controlled by adsorption.

Field of study: Chemistry, Environmental science
Suppression of tumorigenicity of HepG2.2.15 cells by N-ras antisense RNA transfected with AFP-enhancing four-element complex

To observe the inhibitory effects of N-ras antisense RNA delivered by AFP-enhancing four-element complex on tumorigenicity of HBV-transgenic hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG 2.2.15 both in vitro and in vivo .  AFP-enhancing four-element complex,containing N-ras antisense RNA, was constructed and transfected into HepG2.2.15 cells. Seventy-two hours later, cells were collected and assayed for expression of N-ras protein, cell cycle distribution and apoptosis rate by flow cytometry. In addition, HepG 2.2.15 /as-ras,stably expressing N-ras antisense RNA, was established. The growth curve of two cell lines was delineated. BALB/c nude mice were implanted with HepG2.2.15 or HepG2.2.15/as-ras cells. The tumor-forming rate for two groups were calculated. BALB/c nude mice bearing with HepG2.2.15 cells was injected with AFP-enhancing four-element complex including N-ras antisense RNA and the volumes of tumor were measured.  After transfection by N-ras antisense RNA four-element complex, the expression of N-ras protein of HepG2.2.15 cells was greatly decreased; cell cycle was trapped at G 0/G 1 phase; apoptosis rate was enhanced. Compared with HepG2.2.15 cells, the tumor-forming rate of HepG2.2.15/as-ras cells was lower. When HepG 2.2.15 cells were implanted into nude mice, injection of N-ras antisense RNA four-element complex could significantly decrease the volume of tumor tissues.  AFP-enhancing four-element complex including N-ras antisense RNA inhibited the expression of N-ras protein and effectively impaired the tumorigenicity of HepG2.2.15 cells both in vitro and in vivo .

Field of study: Biology
Effects of Computer Based Mastery Learning Approach on Students' Motivation to Learn Biology

This study investigated the effects of using Computer Based Mastery Learning (CBML) approach on secondary school students’ Motivation to learn biology. A Solomon’s Four Group design Non-equivalent Control Group research design was used in which four co-educational secondary schools were purposively sampled in Bomet District. The four schools were randomly assigned to four groups. Students in all the groups were taught the same biology content. Teachers in the experimental groups taught using CBML approach while teachers in the control groups taught using the conventional methods. The study focused on respiration topic and involved a sample of 167 Form Two students. After two weeks of teaching, all four groups were post-tested using Students’ Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ) whose reliability co-efficient was 0.79. Data were analysed using ANOVA, t-test and ANCOVA. Results indicate that students taught using CBML approach had significantly higher scores in SMQ than those taught using conventional approaches. In addition, the study established that there is no gender difference in motivation when CBML is used. The researchers conclude that CBML is an effective teaching approach which should be incorporated in the teaching of Biology.  Computer Based Mastery Learning, Student’s Motivation, Learning Biology.

Field of study: Education
Satz-Mogel Short Form of WAIS with Older Psychiatric Patients

The Satz-Mogel short form of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale was evaluated for use with older psychiatric inpatients. 57 older patients (— 55 yr.) and 50 younger patients (< 40 yr.) were administered the WAIS. The original WAIS was rescored according to the Satz-Mogel format. Pearson correlations between these two methods within each age group were high for each subtest as well as the Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs. Analyses, however, detected significant differences within each age group on some of the Performance subtests. These findings suggest that the Satz-Mogel is an appropriate instrument for use with older psychiatric patients.

Field of study: Psychology
Indolo[2,3‐a]chinolizine und eine einfache Synthese von Flavoserpentin

Das aus Tryptamin-hydrochlorid und Acetylacetaldehyd (als Enolether oder Acetal) gebildete 3-Acetyl-7,12-dihydro-2-methyl-6H-indolo[2,3-a]chinolizinium-chlorid (2a) wird hinsichtlich Bildungsweise und reaktivem Verhalten, besonders bei Reduktion und Oxidation, untersucht. Dies gilt auch fur das durch (stereoselektive) Disproportionierung gebildete Hexahydrochinolizin 4. Die 2a entsprechende Base 7 besitzt Pyridonmethid-Struktur, nach Acetalisierung oder Dehydrierung jedoch Betain-Charakter (8, 12). Durch Clemmensen-Reduktion von 2a oder von Dehydrierungsprodukt 9a entsteht das Ethyl-Derivat Flavoserpentin (9e). Mit 1,1-Dimethoxy-3-pentanon erhalt man die homologen Dihydrochinolizinium-Salze 19 und 20. 
 
 
 
Indolo[2,3-a]quinolizines and a Convenient Synthesis of Flavoserpentine 
 
 
 
The reaction of tryptamine hydrochloride with acetoacetaldehyde (as its enol ether or acetal) yields 3-acetyl-7,12-dihydro-2-methyl-6H-indolo[2,3-a]quinolizinium chloride (2a), which is investigated with regard to its formation and especially to reduction and oxidation processes. This also applies to the hexahydroquinolizine 4 formed by (stereoselective) disproportionation. The base 7 corresponding to 2a has the character of a pyridone methide, after acetalization or dehydrogenation, however, of a betaine (8, 12). By Clemmensen reduction of 2a or of dehydrogenation product 9a the ethyl derivative flavoserpentine (9e) is formed. With 1,1-dimethoxy-3-pentanone the homologous dihydroquinolizinium salts 19 and 20 are obtained.

Field of study: Chemistry
Effects of electron-electron interactions on the integer quantum Hall transitions.

We study the effects of the electron-electron interaction on the critical properties of the plateau transitions in the integer quantum Hall effect. We find the renormalization group dimension associated with short-range interactions to be $\ensuremath{-}0.66\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.04$. Thus the noninteracting fixed point (characterized $z\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}2$ and $\ensuremath{\nu}\ensuremath{\approx}2.3$) is stable. For the Coulomb interaction, we find the correlation effect is a marginal perturbation at a Hartree-Fock fixed point ( $z\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1$, $\ensuremath{\nu}\ensuremath{\approx}2.3$) by dimension counting. Further calculations are needed to determine its stability upon loop corrections.

Field of study: Physics