nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Weak pinning and vortex bundles in anisotropic Ca$_{10}$(Pt$_4$As$_8$)[(Fe$_{1-x}$Pt$_x$)$_2$As$_2$]$_5$ single crystals

We report the magnetic field -- temperature ($H-T$) phase diagram of Ca$_{10}$(Pt$_4$As$_8$)[(Fe$_{1-x}$Pt$_x$)$_2$As$_2$]$_5$ ($x\approx 0.05$) single crystals, which consists of normal, vortex liquid, plastic creep and elastic creep phases. The upper critical field anisotropy is determined by a radio frequency technique via the measurements of magnetic penetration depth, $\lambda$. Both, irreversibility line, $H_{irr}(T)$, and flux creep line, $H^{SPM}(T)$, are obtained by measuring the magnetization. We find that $H_{irr}(T)$ is well described by the Lindemann criterion with parameters similar to those for cuprates, while small $H^{SPM}(T)$ results in a wide plastic creep regime. The flux creep rates in the elastic creep regime are in qualitative agreement with the collective creep theory for random point defects. A gradual crossover from a single vortex to a bundles regime is observed. Moreover, we obtain $\lambda(4~ \text K) = 260(26)$ nm through the direct measurement of the London penetration depth by magnetic force microscopy.

Field of study: Physics
Expert explanations of honeybee losses in areas of extensive agriculture in France: Gaucho® compared with other supposed causal factors

Debates on causality are at the core of controversies as regards environmental changes. The present paper presents a new method for analyzing controversies on causality in a context of social debate and the results of its empirical testing. The case study used is the controversy as regards the role played by the insecticide Gaucho ® , compared with other supposed causal factors, in the substantial honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) losses reported to have occurred in France between 1994 and 2004. The method makes use of expert elicitation of the perceived strength of evidence regarding each of Bradford Hill’s causality criteria, as regards the link between each of eight possible causal factors identified in attempts to explain each of five signs observed in honeybee colonies. These judgments are elicited from stakeholders and experts involved in the debate, i.e., representatives of Bayer Cropscience, of the Ministry of Agriculture, of the French Food Safety Authority, of beekeepers and of public scientists. We show that the intense controversy observed in confused and passionate public discourses is much less salient when the various arguments are structured using causation criteria. The contradictions between the different expert views have a triple origin: (1) the lack of shared definition and quantification of the signs observed in colonies; (2) the lack of specialist knowledge on honeybees; and (3) the strategic discursive practices associated with the lack of trust between experts representing stakeholders having diverging stakes in the case.

Field of study: Environmental science
ALPINE SERPENTINES AS OCEANIC RIND FRAGMENTS

Accepting that alpine serpentines are tectonically emplaced in the solid state, the writer suggests that they may be fragments of the sea floor derived from the Oceanic Layer. This concept is based on the writer9s belief that eugeosynclinal graywackes may be equated with modern continental-rise turbidite prisms which are laid down on the deep-sea floor, abutting and overlapping, in part, the continental slope. When the sea floor thrusts toward the continent, the continental-rise prism is folded into a eugeosynclinal prism. The Franciscan graywackes prism of the California Coast Range would be an example. Pods of serpentine derived from the sea-floor sima underlying the eugeosyncline would be caught up in this folding, along with some deeper sub-M discontinuity ultramafic mantle rock. It is further supposed that the spilite-keratophyre suite characteristic of eugeosynclines is laid down in the deep ocean, Na metasomatism being caused by sea-water contact. On the floor of the open sea, away from the continental-rise turbidites, Layer 2 of sea-floor seismology probably is made up of spilite plus lithified eupelagic sediments altered to chert, ironstone, red argillite, and carbonate rock. This view has implications for the Mohole project.

Field of study: Geology
A note on stratification and gain in precision in estimating diversity from large samples

Several indices of entropy have been suggested in the literature as weighted diversity measures of a population with respect to a classification process. Among them, Shannon's entropy and Havrda -Charvat's non-additive entropies of order a, have been exhaustively used. When the population is finite but too large to be censused, the diversity with respect to a given classification process must be estimated from a sample. In this note, on the basis of an asymptotic study of the sample indices in the stratified random sampling, we are going to confirm that when we deal with large samples one can guarantee a gain in precision from stratified random over simple random sampling. This gain becomes considerable when the ‘inaccuracy" (as intended by Kerridge and Rathie and Kannapan) between the frequency vector in each stratum and that in the whole population, varies greatly from stratum to stratum.

Field of study: Mathematics
Profile of Post-partum Intrauterine Device Users in African Environment: Experience of Sylvanus Olympio Teatching Hospital of Lome (TOGO)

Family planning in the postpartum are an ideal platform for repositioning contraception; They are aimed at women who wish to space births or prevent pregnancies and the post-partum intrauterine device (PPIUD) is one of the method of choice.  To evaluate the use of the PPIUD in the Gynecology and Obstetrics clinic of the CHU-SO of Lome.  The use of the PPID in the Gynecology and Obstetrics clinic of the CHU-SO is effective since October 2015. Our work is a descriptive, retrospective and prospective study, from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2017.  From October 2015 to September 2017, 211 out of 18170 eligible deliveries had adopted the IUD in the postpartum period (1.49 %). The average age was 31 years old with extremes of 16 and 49 years old.  The intra-uterine device (IUD) is a modern contraceptive method that has proven to be very beneficial in the postpartum. Therefore, the promotion of this method must be maintained to reduce unmet need for contraception and promote the health of couples and families.

Field of study: Medicine
Transforming growth factor-β protects human hNT cells from degeneration induced by β-amyloid peptide: involvement of the TGF-β type II receptor

Post-mitotic, human neurons (hNT cells) which have a phenotype similar to that of terminally differentiated neurons of the central nervous system were generated by treating the NT2/D1 human teratocarcinoma cell line with retinoic acid. Treatment of both hNT and NT2/D1 cells with 10−5 M β-amyloid peptide fragment 25–35 (AβP) for 24 h resulted in a decrease in cell viability as determined by MTT incorporation and Trypan blue exclusion, and also induced an apoptotic morphology in hNT cells. Pre-treatment of cells for 24 h with 10 ng/ml TGF-β 1 or 2 before addition of AβP reduced the apoptotic morphology of hNT cells and increased cell viability in hNT cells, but not in NT2/D1 cells. Results of RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry and analysis of receptor cross-linking of [125I]TGF-β1 to the cell membrane, all showed that the TGF-β type II receptor is expressed by hNT cells, but not NT2/D1 cells. These results suggest that TGF-β can protect human, terminally differentiated, TGF-β type II receptor-positive neurons from AβP toxicity. We propose that the increased expression of TGF-β in brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease may offer some degree of neuroprotection if neurons also express a functional TGF-β type II receptor.

Field of study: Biology
Production of fungal α-amylase by Saccharomyces kluyveri in glucose-limited cultivations

Heterologous protein production by the yeast Saccharomyces kluyveri was investigated under aerobic glucose-limited conditions. α-Amylase from Aspergillus oryzae was used as model protein and the gene was expressed from a S. cerevisiae 2 μ plasmid. For comparison, strains of both S. kluyveri and S. cerevisiae were transformed with the same plasmid, which led to secretion of active α-amylase in both cases. The S. cerevisiae 2 μ plasmid was found to be stable in S. kluyveri as evaluated by a constant α-amylase productivity in a continuous cultivation for more than 40 generations. S. kluyveri and S. cerevisiae secreted α-amylase with similar yields during continuous cultivations at dilution rates of 0.1 and 0.2 h −1 (4.8–5.7 mg (g dry weight) −1 ). At a dilution rate of 0.3 h −1 the metabolism of S. kluyveri was fully respiratory, whereas S. cerevisiae produced significant amounts of ethanol. A fed-batch cultivation was carried out with S. kluyveri where the biomass concentration reached 85 g l −1 and the α-amylase concentration reached 320 mg l −1 . Even though S. kluyveri could be grown to high cell density, it was also observed that it has a high maintenance coefficient, which resulted in low biomass yields at the low specific growth rates prevailing towards the end of the fed-batch cultivation.

Field of study: Biology, Engineering
Plasma DNA as a potential biomarker for breast cancer detection

Breast cancer is a major malignancy among Indonesian women. It is often diagnosed in the later stages of cancer, which leads to poor prognosis and survival of the patients. This study investigated plasma DNA concentration as a potential biomarker for breast cancer. The benefit of using this detection is the cost-effectiveness and the samples can be collected from patients using non-invasive methods. Plasma samples were obtained from healthy controls (n=18) and cancer patients (n=22). Each sample was split into two equal portions for DNA isolation using two different methods for the NaI method and a commercially available kit (Qiagen/ QA) method. The DNA concentration was determined by using a GeneQuant spectrophotometer (Pharmacia). The t-test was used for statistical analysis, which was performed using the SPSS 17.0 software. Compared to the commercial method, extraction using NaI yielded higher DNA concentration, both from samples of healthy controls and cancer patients (p=0,008 and p=0.000, respectively). Furthermore, regardless of the isolation method used, the plasma DNA concentration was higher in healthy controls than in cancer cases (p=0,032 and p=0.005, for NaI and QA methods, respectively). In conclusion, isolation methods significantly affect DNA concentrations. The plasma DNA concentration of healthy controls is significantly higher than those of the cancer cases, suggesting that plasma DNA concentration might be a potential biomarker for breast cancer detection with less invasive sampling method than tissue biopsies.

Field of study: Medicine
Scaling Properties and Wave Interactions in Confined Supersonic Turbulent Bluff-Body Wakes

Results are presented from an experimental study that compares the large-scale structure, mean velocities, and scaling properties of confined, supersonic, planar, turbulent, bluff-body wakes at M∞ ≈ 2 and 3 with corresponding results from incompressible wakes. The large-scale structure of incompressible planar turbulent wakes is recovered at downstream locations x where the local relative Mach number Mr(x) has decreased to about 0.4. Interactions between these large-scale structures and reflected expansion waves from the near-field recompression region lead to substantial changes in the scaling properties of the flow. Wave interactions with the flow create local self-induced forcing as the large-scale structures pass through the reflected expansion waves. In the M∞ ≈ 2 wake, a subsonic upstream path exists from the first wave interaction point that allows upstream propagation of the wave-induced forcing, and consequently the measured wake scaling constants match values reported from forced incompressible wakes. In the M∞ ≈ 3 wake, no subsonic upstream path exists from the first interaction point, and as a consequence the measured scaling constants match values reported from unforced incompressible wakes. Downstream of each wave interaction point, the self-induced forcing leads to an increase in the wake growth rate and in the entrainment of free-stream fluid. The wake subsequently detrains this fluid and returns to its original growth rate. This local forcing mechanism and its effects on the wake scaling properties repeat at each downstream location where the reflected expansion waves intersect the wake.

Field of study: Physics
Nanomechanical Optical Fiber with Embedded Electrodes Actuated by Joule Heating

Nanomechanical optical fibers with metal electrodes embedded in the jacket were fabricated by a multi-material co-draw technique. At the center of the fibers, two glass cores suspended by thin membranes and surrounded by air form a directional coupler that is highly temperature-dependent. We demonstrate optical switching between the two fiber cores by Joule heating of the electrodes with as little as 0.4 W electrical power, thereby demonstrating an electrically actuated all-fiber microelectromechanical system (MEMS). Simulations show that the main mechanism for optical switching is the transverse thermal expansion of the fiber structure.

Field of study: Materials science
Pathway-Based Drug Response Prediction Using Similarity Identification in Gene Expression

Lapatinib and trastuzumab (Herceptin) are targeted therapies designed for patients with HER2+ breast tumors. Although these therapies improved survival rates of patients with this tumor type, not all the patients harboring HER2 amplification respond to these drugs. The NeoALTTO clinical trial was designed to test whether a higher response rate can be achieved by combining lapatinib and trastuzumab. Although the combination therapy showed almost double the response rate compared to the monotherapies, 40% of the patients did not respond to the treatment. In this study, we sought to identify biomarkers of HER2+ breast cancer patients’ response to drugs relying on gene expression profiles of tumors. We show that univariate gene expression-based biomarkers are significant but weak predictors of drug response. We further show that pathway activities, estimated from gene expression patterns quantified using the recent transcriptional similarity coefficient (TSC) between the tumor samples, yield high predictive value for therapy response (concordance index >0.8, p < 0.05). Moreover, machine learning models, built using multiple algorithms including logistic regression, naive Bayes, random forest, k-nearest neighbor, and support vector machine, for predicting drug response in the NeoALTTO clinical trial, resulted in lower performance compared to our pathway-based approach. Our results indicate that transcriptional similarity of biological pathways can be used to predict lapatinib and trastuzumab response in HER2+ breast cancer.

Field of study: Biology
New opportunities in biological and chemical crystallography.

Banerjee [ (1933), 141, 188-193] offered a new way of approaching the crystallographic phase problem which not only broke new ground beyond the 'trial and error' structure solution method of that time but also heralded the extremely powerful direct methods of crystallography of the modern era from the 1970s onwards in chemical crystallography. Some 200000 crystal structures are known today. More complex crystal structures such as proteins required new experimental and theoretical methods to solve the phase problem. These are still evolving, and new methods and results involving synchrotron radiation at softer X-ray wavelengths (2 A) are reported. In addition, an overview is given of the new opportunities that are possible for biological and chemical crystallography, especially via harnessing synchrotron radiation and neutron beams.

Field of study: Physics
Salt-resistance property and application of α-olefine polyether sulfonate

Epoxyethylene and epoxypropylene were polymerized by double metal cyanide(DMC) with unsaturated alcohol as initiator.The obtained polyether was sulfonated,and neutralized to prepare a salt-resisting surfactant.The surfactant resisted water salinity in a range of 2000 mg·L-1 to 150000 mg·L-1.In addition,the surfactant exhibited significant effect on reducing the surface tension of high salinity water from 80.5 mN·m-1 to 37.1 mN·m-1 at 30℃.Moreover,even when the concentration of calcium or magnesium cations in the water reached 10000 mg·L-1,the surfactant solution remained colorless and transparent without deposition and flocculation.The experiment in oil field indicated that the salt-resisting surfactant reduced the viscosity of water-containing heavy oil from 85000 mPa·s to 14 mPa·s.After demulsification,the intrinsic viscosity of the dewatered crude oil decreased by half.

Field of study: Chemistry, Environmental science
Multiple Psychiatric Competency Examinations in Borough of the Bronx

The sample of 137 people had been referred for multiple psychiatric competency examinations over an 11-yr. period. The study examined the relationships between the decision on competency and many demographic, psychiatric, and criminal history variables. On many variables there were no significant differences between those found competent and those found incompetent but those subjects deemed incompetent were more likely to be diagnosed as schizophrenic or psychotic. Suggestions for future research are offered.

Field of study: Psychology
Enumeration and traceability tools for UNIXTM and WINDOWSTM environments

Enumeration and traceability software tools are used for enhancing in-process management and quality in system and product development in different industries, such as telecommunications and aerospace. These tools are used for managing the entities — system requirements, architecture descriptions, physical/logic designs, modules of source code, or test cases—of any hardware/software systems. Enumeration is a process for enclosing, labeling and numbering individual entities for further linking or referring to the related entities in one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many relationships. The entity dependencies in a set of documents determine the overall parent-child relationships of entities for specifying a system or a product. Traceability is a tracking and bookkeeping process for evolution and interaction of the individual entities in a system's or product's life cycle. The mechanism built by these two processes are for the functionality similar to hypertext mechanism for document browsing. However, these tools also provide forward-backward tracking for all linked entities, display the overall dependency in a form of a binary tree and perform bookkeeping on the entity changes. In the heterogeneous computing environments, these enumeration and traceability tools are built as add-on applications on the existing document authoring tools or editors for use in networking environment. For example, using a traceability tool with a messaging tool, e.g., e-mail, the project team members can work together as in a groupware and communicate timely about entity update information with other team members who own the impacted entities. In this paper, we present an enumeration and trace-ability tool (Radix) for use in two popular networking environments, UNIX and WINDOWS environments, with examples. This tool is currently used in AT&T service and product development organizations.

Field of study: Computer science, Engineering
Quantification of the Morphological Signature of Roping Based on Multiscale Analysis and Autocorrelation Function Description

Roping or ridging is a visual defect affecting the surface of ferritic stainless steels, assessed using visual inspection of the surfaces. The aim of this study was to quantify the morphological signature of roping to link roughness results with five levels of roping identified with visual inspection. First, the multiscale analysis of roughness showed that the texture aspect ratio Str computed with a low-pass filter of 32 µm gave a clear separation between the acceptable levels of roping and the non-acceptable levels (rejected sheets). To obtain a gradation description of roping instead of a binary description, a methodology based on the use of the autocorrelation function was created. It consisted of several steps: a low-pass filtering of the autocorrelation function at 150 µm, the segmentation of the autocorrelation into four stabilized portions, and finally, the computation of isotropy and the root-mean-square roughness Sq on the obtained quarters of function. The use of the isotropy combined with the root-mean-square roughness Sq led to a clear separation of the five levels of roping: the acceptable levels of roping corresponded to strong isotropy (values larger than 10%) coupled with low root-mean-square roughness Sq. Both methodologies can be used to quantitatively describe surface morphology of roping in order to improve our understanding of the roping phenomenon.

Field of study: Materials science
Environmental magnetic study of a Xeralf chronosequence in northwestern Spain: Indications for pedogenesis

article i nfo Magnetic enhancement of A and B horizons during soil development is a common phenomenon. To better understand the exact mechanism for the magnetic enhancement, especially the mineral transformation pathways, systematic rock magnetic studies were conducted on a Xeralf chronosequence in northwestern Spain. A positive correlation was found between the average grain size and the concentration of pedogenic maghemite particles with the exception of some A horizons, in which multiple factors seem to influence the nature and concentration of neoformed ferrimagnets. It is argued that the interaction between the positively charged iron oxides and the anionic ligands present in the solution of these acidic soils plays an important role in this respect. The time trends of the average grain size of pedogenic ferrimagnets and the strong correlation between the concentrations of hematite and maghemite in the magnetically enhanced horizons (A and B) are consistent with the hypothesis of a gradual formation of maghemite (later converted into hematite) via a precursor (most likely ferrihydrite). Therefore, this study provides strong evidence for the dynamic evolution of magnetic minerals upon pedogenesis.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
A fast recursive algorithm for the maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters of a periodic signal

Describes a new recursive algorithm for the estimation of the parameters of a periodic signal in additive Gaussian white noise. These parameters are the period, and the complex amplitudes of the harmonics present. The proposed algorithm is based on recursive maximum likelihood (ML) algorithms for incomplete data as described by Titterington (1985) and others. These algorithms are of complexity O(NM), where N is the number of harmonics, and M is the signal length. The performance of the method is compared to that of the extended Kalman filter with the aid of simulations.

Field of study: Engineering