nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Indication of millennial-scale moisture changes by the temporal distribution of Holocene calcareous root tubes in the deserts of the Alashan Plateau, Northwest China

Calcareous root tubes or rhizoliths have a strong potential for paleoenvironmental studies, especially in reconstructing paleoenvironmental conditions and paleovegetation. Previous studies suggested that the effectivity of the moisture level affects the formation of calcareous root tubes in the deserts of the Alashan Plateau, Northwest China. However, it remains unclear whether the temporal distribution of calcareous root tubes can be used to reconstruct paleo-effective moisture in this area. In this study, based on conventional 14C dating results of 34 Holocene calcareous root tube samples collected from the Badain Jaran Desert, the Tengger Desert and the Ulan Buh Desert in the Alashan Plateau of northwestern China, millennial-scale changes in paleo-effective moisture during the Holocene in this area were reconstructed. The frequency of the 14C dating results demonstrates that ~ 62% of the Holocene samples were dated to 7–5 cal kyr BP, and ~ 38% of the Holocene samples were dated to 4–2 cal kyr BP, indicating an arid period during the early Holocene (before 8.0 cal kyr BP), a humid period during the mid-Holocene (8.0–5.0 cal kyr BP) and a humid to arid period during the late Holocene (after 5.0 cal kyr BP). The reconstruction results were consistent with other previous reconstruction results from lake sediments and aeolian sand–lacustrine sequences, which indicated that temporal distribution of calcareous root tubes can reflect millennial-scale changes in paleo-effective moisture in this area. However, a single sample could indicate local environmental changes that may differ from the overall desert environmental changes. Hence, the relatively humid environmental record obtained from the presence of calcareous root tubes is a local signal or a regional signal that should be noted.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
Fourth-generation X-ray sources: some possible applications to biology.

The term 'fourth generation X-ray sources' has come to mean X-ray free-electron lasers which use multi-GeV electron beams from linear accelerators to generate X-rays by self-amplified stimulated emission when fired into long undulators. Properties of the radiation expected from such sources are reviewed briefly and two possible applications of the resulting pulsed highly collimated X-radiation to problems in biology are discussed: use of X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy to measure time correlations of atoms in protein crystals, and use of Mössbauer radiation extracted from the photon beams by resonant Bragg diffraction from (57)Fe-containing crystals, for MAD phasing of very large unit-cell biomolecular crystals and possibly for photon echo measurements.

Field of study: Physics
BMPER Enhances Bone Formation by Promoting the Osteogenesis-Angiogenesis Coupling Process in Mesenchymal Stem Cells

During bone repair and remodeling, osteogenesis is coupled with angiogenesis. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) antagonists are important modulators of BMP signaling and bone homeostasis. Several investigations have demonstrated that one ‘BMP antagonist’, BMP-binding endothelial cell precursor-derived regulator (BMPER), participates in the regulation of BMP signaling. In this study, we examined the role of BMPER in the osteogenesis-angiogenesis coupling process.  Human bone mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were used in this experiment. After overexpressing or silencing BMPER with lentiviruses or siRNA, hBMSCs were stimulated by BMP-2, and osteogenic differentiation activity was detected by alkaline phosphatase and alizarin red staining. VEGF and endostatin release were assessed by ELISA. HUVEC migration was detected by the cell scratch test and transwell migration assay, and in vitro angiogenesis was determined by the tube formation assay. Bone formation was assessed using in vivo femoral monocortical defect and ectopic bone formation models.  BMP-2 upregulated BMPER expression. Overexpression of BMPER remarkably enhanced BMP-2-induced osteogenic differentiation, while suppression of BMPER effectively inhibited this process both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, overexpression of BMPER promoted BMP-2-induced VEGF expression in vitro and vascularization in the ectopic bone formation model.  BMPER functions as a positive regulator of the osteogenesis-angiogenesis coupling process in hBMSCs, suggesting a novel therapeutic role of BMPER in the regenerative capacity of bone repair.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry
Education for Mildly Handicapped Adolescents: Structure and Quality of Published Information From the Past Decade

Structural and qualitative features of published information available on educating mildly handicapped adolescents is examined. Professional journal literature from the past 10 years was searched to locate articles reporting on or advocating educational interventions with this population. Articles were categorized according to their orientation, support base, and the handicapping condition(s) addressed. Results indicated that articles addressing different handicapping conditions within the orientations of academics, career/vocational, or both have been differentially distributed in both data and non-data support bases. While the total number of articles has been increasing slightly since 1968, virtually no consistent upward or downward trends appeared when articles were considered in terms of their orientation, handicapping condition, and support base categories. Quality of data-based reports was assessed by examining the research designs on which each was based. It was concluded that data-based reports have most often been based on weak research designs, and that when stronger designs have been used, replication or follow-up studies have not been conducted. Discussion focuses on the disparity between the educational technology currently available for educating mildly handicapped adolescents and the goal of providing them with appropriate education. Recommendations for altering this disparity are presented.

Field of study: Education
Blind Separation of Independent Sources Using Gaussian Mixture Model

In this paper, two novel algorithms for blind separation of noiseless instantaneous linear mixture of independent sources are presented. The proposed algorithms exploit nonGaussianity of the independent sources by modeling their distribution using the Gaussian mixture model (GMM). The first proposed method is based on the maximum-likelihood (ML) estimator. According to this method, the sensors distribution parameters are estimated via the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm for GMM parameter estimation and the separation matrix is estimated by applying nonorthogonal joint diagonalization of the estimated GMM covariance matrices. The second proposed method is also a ML-based approach. According to this method, the distribution parameters of the prewhitened sensors are estimated via the EM algorithm for GMM parameter estimation and a unitary separation matrix is estimated by applying orthogonal joint diagonalization of the estimated GMM covariance matrices. It is shown that estimation of the sensors distribution parameters amounts to obtaining a tight lower bound on the log-likelihood of the separation matrix, and that the joint diagonalization of the estimated GMM covariance matrices amounts to maximization of the obtained tight lower bound. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed methods outperform state-of-the-art blind source separation techniques in terms of interference-to-signal ratio.

Field of study: Engineering
Effects of core degrees of freedom in the low-energy Be-7 (p, gamma) B-8 reaction

Quadrupole and octupole couplings to all bound states of $^7$Be are included in describing the capture reaction $^7$Be$(p,\gamma)^8$B. We verify, contrary to what we had initially stated, that the energy behaviour of the Astrophysical S-factor in the energy range of interest is not significantly sensitive to the core couplings in the g.s. (g.s.) of $^8$B although its overall magnitude is shifted. We find there is some sensitivity to the various deformation models when introducing the nuclear interaction for calculating the scattering states. The various deformation models predict quite different contributions to the quadrupole and magnetic moments but in order to compare with the data the quadrupole and magnetic moment of $^7$Be need to be measured.

Field of study: Physics
Identification and evaluation of Tiandong county agricultural drought based on entropy weight method

Drought is a familiar natural phenomenon in China,and agricultural drought disaster has caused serious economic losses to the state and the people each year.To take preventive measures to reduce the impact of drought and water shortage,many scholars at home and abroad have committed to the identification and evalua-tion of agricultural drought research.In this study,index of water supply and demand balance,and relative index of water supply and demand based on average value method were used as entropy weight coefficient index to identify and evaluate the drought differences,drought's month and quarter transformation trends and drought de-gree in different agricultural regions of Tiandong county,which is located in South Asia tropical monsoon climate zone.The analysis and calculation results show that the entropy weight method for identification and evaluation of agricultural drought in dry lands are reasonable,and the evaluation results are more consistent with the drought actual situation.It is an effective and feasible method.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
The Role of the Foreign Economic Factor in the Country’s Innovation Development

At the present stage, the policy of a majority of developed states and dynamically developing countries is aimed at implementation of the innovation scenario of development through efficient utilization of the foreign economic factor. It is to be noted that the “quality” of foreign economic ties is a direct indicator of the general level of social and economic development of the state whose material base is R&D outputs and advanced technologies developed on their basis.

Field of study: Economics
Overexpression of circulating miRNA-21 and miRNA-146a in plasma samples of breast cancer patients.

Breast cancer is the second most common malignant disease affecting Indian women and is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are remarkably stable in blood, which makes them novel and promising biomarkers for cancer detection and diagnosis. In this study, we investigated whether expression levels of circulating specific miRNAs, such as microRNA-21 (miR-21) and microRNA-146a (miR-146a) could be used as potential biomarkers in plasma of breast cancer patients and healthy individuals. We compared the expression levels of breast cancer associated specific miRNA--miR-21 and miR-146a in plasma samples of histopathologically reported 14 patients (aged 35-61 yrs) with breast cancer and an additional 8 healthy volunteers (aged 35-54 yrs). The miRNA expression level was determined by TaqMan quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay. The miRNA expression level of each sample was normalized to that of miR-16 as reference and expressed as relative expression (2(deltaCt)). Our results showed that the circulating level of miR-21 and miR-146a were significantly higher in plasma samples of breast cancer patients, when compared to those of healthy controls (p < 0.0004 and p < 0.005, respectively). Thus, analyzing expression of miR-21 and miR-146a from plasma samples of breast cancer patients might be useful in the diagnosis of breast cancer. However, further studies with larger number of patients and control individuals are needed to confirm the results.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry, Physics
Research of BP Neural Network based on Improved Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

The paper proposes an approach to optimize the connection weights and network structure of BP neural network (BPNN) which based on improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. For each network structure, the algorithm generates a series of particles which consist of connection weights and threshold values, and selects the best network structure according to the improved PSO algorithm. Because the PSO algorithm is easy to fall into local optimums, the algorithm introduces crossover operator and mutation operator to heighten the ability of jumping the local optimums. Compared with the basic BP algorithm, the results show that performances of the improved PSO-BP algorithm are superior to it, and the paper applies this BPNN model to metallogenic prediction and give the detailed steps.

Field of study: Computer science
Influence of Coil Location and Current Angle in Permanent Magnet Wind Power Generators With High-Temperature Superconducting Armature Windings

In this article, the operating current and torque of surface-mounted permanent magnet (SPM) wind power generators with high-temperature superconducting (HTS) armature windings are analyzed. The influence of coil location and current angle on the electromagnetic performance is investigated systematically. The results show that the location of the HTS coils significantly affects the operating current and torque. Furthermore, the maximum torque current angle of SPM wind power generators with HTS armature windings can be different from 180° due to the interaction between the armature and magnet fields. A design optimization method for wind power generators with HTS armature windings is developed in this article. The optimal design is then identified with consideration of the coupling influence of coil location and current angle.

Field of study: Physics
Solid-state reaction of nickel silicide and germanide contacts to semiconductor nanochannels

The surge in advancing the materials science of solid-state reactions for nanoscale contacts to advanced semiconductor devices necessitates a comprehensive dissemination and discussion on recent progress. The objective of this work is to review the notable developments in compound and alloy contact formation to nanoscale nanowire channels made of germanium, silicon, and their heterostructures, and to develop a unifying framework for understanding the significantly distinct reaction behaviors from those commonly observed in bulk. The Ni-based compound and alloy contacts are used as a platform to highlight the size-relevant, thermodynamic, and kinetic differences, and their key material, reaction, and electronic parameters and properties are summarized. Special attention is given to the interplay between the compound/alloy contact structure and the resultant electronic properties.

Field of study: Materials science
The role of CAPS buffer in expanding the crystallization space of the nucleotide-binding domain of the ABC transporter haemolysin B from Escherichia coli.

Nucleotide-binding domains (NBDs), which are roughly 27 kDa in size, are conserved components of the large family of ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transporters, which includes importers and exporters. NBDs, or ABC-ATPases, supply energy for the translocation of a vast range of substrates across biological membranes. Despite their hydrophilic sequence, many NBDs readily associate in some way with membranes but demonstrate extreme instability in solution upon separation from the complete transporter. Conditions that stabilized the purified ABC domain of the Escherichia coli haemolysin A (HlyA) transporter were developed. This allowed the screening of unlimited crystallization conditions in the presence of different substrates, the performance of reproducible functional assays and the protection of 50 mg ml(-1) protein from precipitation on ice for months. As a result, it became possible to obtain crystals of HlyB-NBD in the presence of ADP and ATP that were suitable for X-ray analysis. Although the focus of these investigations was placed on HlyB-NBD, the strategy described here can be directly transferred to other proteins that display instability in solution.

Field of study: Chemistry
High Cycle Fatigue Properties of Hot-rolled TC1 and TC2 Titanium Alloys

Through performing the stress-controlled fatigue tests,the high-cycle fatigue properties of hot-rolled TC1 and TC2 titanium alloy plates at different testing temperature were investigated,and the fatigue properties of two alloy plates were compared.The results show that,at the same maximum cyclic stress,the fatigue lives of both TC1 and TC2 alloy plates decrease with the increase of temperature.At the same testing temperature,the fatigue life of TC2 alloy plate is longer than that of TC1 alloy plate.In addition,both TC1 and TC2 alloy plates show lower fatigue limit at higher testing temperature.At different temperature,the fatigue limit of TC2 alloy plate is higher than that of TC1 alloy plate.

Field of study: Materials science
Non-Adlerian synchronization of dipolar coupled vortex Spin-Torque Nano-Oscillators

We investigate analytically and numerically the synchronization dynamics of dipolarly coupled vortex based Spin-Torque Nano Oscillators (STNO) with different pillar diameters. We identify the critical interpillar distances on which synchronization occurs as a function of their diameter mismatch. We obtain numerically a phase diagram showing the transition between unsynchronized and synchronized states and compare it to analytical predictions we make using Thiele approach. Our study demonstrates that for relatively small diameters differences the synchronization dynamics can be described qualitatively using Adler equation. However when the diameters difference increases significantly, the system becomes strongly non-Adlerian.

Field of study: Physics
Numerical investigation of the nozzle flow of a vibrationaliy nonequilibrium medium of a CO2 gasdynamic laser

The results are given of a numerical investigation of the nozzle flow of a vibrationaliy nonequilibrium active medium of a CO2 gasdynamic laser with separate heating of the exciting gas (nitrogen) and subsequent selective excitation (in a region downstream from the throat cross section) of the emitting gas (CO2). A solution of the problem of two-dimensional flow of vibrationaliy relaxing nitrogen in a Laval nozzle up to the point of injection of the CO2–He mixture was obtained by the steady-state method using a difference scheme of the third order of precision. The solution of the problem of the flow of a vibrationaliy relaxing CO2–N2–He mixture was obtained in the approximation of instantaneous mixing using a through calculation method and a first-order difference scheme. The results are given of a calculation of the flow of nonequilibrium heated nitrogen in a Laval nozzle. A comparison is made of the maximum parameters of a gasdynamic laser with homogeneous selective excitation in the case of equilibrium and nonequilibrium heating of nitrogen. It is shown numerically that a CO2 gasdynamic laser can be constructed with a pressure in the resonator of ~1 atm

Field of study: Engineering, Physics
Temporal distribution of bacterial community structure in the Changjiang Estuary hypoxia area and the adjacent East China Sea

Bacterial community structure and the effects of environmental factors on the microbial community distribution were investigated in the Changjiang Estuary hypoxia area and its adjacent area in the East China Sea (ECS) in June, August and October, 2006. Profiles of bacterial communities were generated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S rRNA genes followed by DNA sequence analysis. The dominant bacterial groups were affiliated to Gammaproteobacteria, Cytophaga-Flavobacteria-Bacteroides (CFB), Deltaproteobacteria, Cyanobacteria and Firmicutes, which were mostly from the marine seawater ecosystem. Effects of environmental factors on the bacterial community distribution were analyzed by the ordination technique of canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). The environmental factors significantly influencing bacterial community structure were different in the three months; dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and temperature in June and nitrite in August. No environmental variables displayed significant influence on the bacterial community at the 5% level in October. The seasonal environmental heterogeneity in the Changjiang Estuary and the adjacent ECS, such as seasonal hydrodynamic conditions and riverine input of nutrients, might be the reason for the difference in the key environmental factors determining the bacterial community in the three months.

Field of study: Environmental science
Red and Black in Haiti: Radicalism, Conflict, and Political Change, 1934-1957 (review)

As a highly intelligent postmodern ethnographer, Nelson dwells long and anxiously on her reflections about the role she played in doing ethnography in Guatemala. She adopts a fluidary strategy, where the focus is on relationships and ambiguous identities rather than fixed identities and positions. She consistently focuses on her own ambivalent identity as solidarist partisan in favor of the “people” vs. the state and U.S. imperialism. Nevertheless, she admits to personal uneasiness from having to disagree with her solidary friends on some points. Furthermore, she confesses that her research was partly done out of the pleasure derived from it, and the advantages resulting from her powerful gringa status (a “Lizard Queen”), although she has learned from the assassination of friends that gringa bodies are not invulnerable in Guatemala!

Field of study: History
MMPI Scores of Old and Young Completed Suicides

cedure." Older Ss had significantly higher F scores (s = 0.41, n = 51, rwo-tailed p < 0.01) and significantly lower K scores (s = -0.33, fi < 0.02). They tended to have lower Hy scores (r = -0.24, p < 0.10) and higher Pa scores (r = 0.25, p < 0.10). They did not differ from the younger Ss on the other standard scales: L (r = 0.05), Hs (s = -0.14), D (s = 0.005), Pd (r = -0.22), Mf (I = 0.12), PC (r = -0.07), Sc (s = 0.005), and Ma (r = 0.20). The influence of age on MMPI scores is not well documented (Dahlstrom & Welsh, 1960). Brozek (1955) compared male college students with older male professionals and businessmen and found the older males to have significantly higher K, Hs, D, Mf, and Pa scores, significantly lower Pt, Sc, and Ma scores, and similar L, F, Pd, and Hy scores as compared to the younger males. The pattern of differences in the completed suicides differed considerably from this pattern. Older complered suicides showed significantly more response conformity (F scale) and less denial of personal inadequacies (K scale). They also had a tendency to less often use physical symptoms as a means of resolving conflicts (Hy scale) and a greater tendency to paranoia (Pa scale). However, there did not appear to be a general trend for older Ss to obtain higher scores on all scales, on those scales considered to tap psychotic processes, or on those scales considered to tap neurotic processes. Although Ss' age range was large, only 5 Ss were 50 yr. of age or older. The inclusion of more older Ss may provide larger differences than those noted here.

Field of study: Psychology
GCAD: A Novel Call Admission Control Algorithm in IEEE 802.16 based Wireless Mesh Networks

In this paper, a GCAD-CAC (Greedy Choice with Bandwidth Availability aware Defragmentation) algorithm is proposed. It is able to guarantee respect for data flow delay constraints defined by three different traffic classes. To achieve good results, the algorithm tries to accept all the new requests, but when a higher priority request is received, a lower priority admitted request is preempted. This preemption can leave some small gaps which are not sufficient for new connection admission; these gaps can be collected by the GCAD algorithm by activating a bandwidth availability based defragmentation process. The quality of the algorithm is shown by a comparison with two other algorithms found in the literature.

Field of study: Computer science