nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Policy Forum: Trade and Fiscal Adjustment in Developing Countries: Editorial Note

During the I98os many developing countries have been subject to adjustment programmes of one form or another. Most of these programmes have been under the aegis of the World Bank's structural adjustment programme. Crudely this programme involves the disbursement of tangible resources on concessional terms, in exchange for policy reform. In contrast to IMF Stabilization Loans, where conditionally typically attaches to demandmanagement policies, SAL conditions largely attach to supply-side reforms. For example, conditions can apply to trade policy reform, agricultural prices, the structure of taxation, the operation of parastatal enterprises and so on. The World Bank's Operational Manual defines SALs as 'non-project lending to support programmes of policy and institutional change necessary to modify the structure of the economy so that it can maintain both its growth rate and the viability of its balance of payments in the medium term'. Following the inception of the programme in I980 there were close to 200 loans worth some $30 billion disbursed over the first decade. It is therefore an important source of finance. Since SALs are targeted at longer-term supply-side reforms it may be a little early to reach a final judgement on their overall impact. However, early analyses have raised some important questions regarding their economic effects, particularly regarding their impact on GDP growth and investment formation. In both cases the evidence available thus far suggests that adjustment programmes may be damaging rather than helpful. This creates two needs: first a need for further empirical analysis of the impact of adjustment programmes; secondly a need to explain how the programmes have operated in practice, with a view to improving future design. This Policy Forum is a contribution to the debate on the second of these. One thing we have learned in connection with adjustment is that the timing and sequencing of policy reforms may be important. In the first paper Rod Falvey and Cha Dong Kim evaluate' theory and evidence on these matters. The issues they address include: is a one-shot liberalisation superior to a multistage one?; should product markets be liberalised before factor markets?; how does the speed of liberalisation impact on adjustment costs? One thing which is clear from the Falvey-Kim analysis is that hard-and-fast rules are hard to come by. Nonetheless, the authors feel sufficiently confident in their assessment to offer guidelines on the staging of a liberalisation programme. These include early macroeconomic stabilisation combined with trade reforms which shift intervention away from quantitative restrictions, and measures to

Field of study: Economics
Anti-pyretic, Anti-inflammatory and Analgesic Activities of Aqueous Leaf Extract of Urtica Dioica (L.) in Albino Mice

Urtica dioica has been used to manage several diseases including pain, inflammation and fever. However, its efficacy has not been scientifically validated. The aim of this study therefore is to investigate the analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory activities of its aqueous extracts. The plant extract was collected from Loita division, Narok County in Kenya. A total of 96 albino mice with an average weight of 20 g were used for this study. Analgesic activity was determined by use of formalin−induced writhing test. A writhe was recorded by a stopwatch following the stretching of the abdomen and/or stretching of at least one hind limb. Anti-inflammatory activity was established by a formalin induced inflammation test. Hourly changes in paw sizes and reduction of edema around the paw was determined using a venier calipers. Antipyretic activity was carried out using Brewer’s yeast induced pyrexia. Temperature of each mouse was determined rectally by thermal probe thermometer. The aqueous leaf extracts of Urtica dioica reduced pain, inflammation and fever mostly at dose 150 mg/kg body weight. Based on these findings it was concluded that the present study has demonstrated the analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic potential of aqueous leaf extracts of Urtica dioica in albino mice and will serve as good bio-resource for generating readily available herbal formulations that are more effective in the treatment of pain, inflammation and fever conditions which are cheaper than the conventional synthetic drugs and have no side effects.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Warming-induced unprecedented high-elevation forest growth over the monsoonal Tibetan Plateau

Growth of high-elevation forests is generally temperature-limited and thus sensitive to warming. The Tibetan Plateau has experienced fast warming rates associated with decreased summer monsoon rainfall over the last century. However, whether such warming and monsoon-induced drought could offset a potential warming-driven enhancement of forest growth has not been examined. Here, we have compiled high-elevation forest growth data at 40 sites over the monsoonal Tibetan Plateau (MTP), and combined them in a high-elevation forest growth index (HEFGI) spanning 1567-2010. Tree growth in this region was significantly and positively correlated with July-October minimum temperatures during 1950-2010 (R2 = 0.53 P < 0.001), and insignificantly coherent with soil moisture and precipitation. The HEFGI of MTP reaches its highest values from the 2000s onwards. This result suggests that the mean HEFGI of MTP has not been negatively affected by the current drying trend and responded positively to increased temperatures.

Field of study: Environmental science
Chemodynamical simulations of the Milky Way Galaxy

We present chemodynamical simulations of a Milky-Way-type galaxy using a self-consistent hydrodynamical code that includes supernova feedback and chemical enrichment, and predict the spatial distribution of elements from oxygen to zinc. In the simulated galaxy, the kinematical and chemical properties of the bulge, disk, and halo are consistent with the observations. The bulge formed from the assembly of subgalaxies at z 3, and has higher [α/Fe] ratios because of the small contribution from Type Ia supernovae. The disk formed with a constant star formation over 13 Gyr, and shows a decreasing trend of [α/Fe] and increasing trends of [(Na,Al,Cu,Mn)/Fe] against [Fe/H]. However, the thick disk stars tend to have higher [α/Fe] and lower [Mn/Fe] than thin disk stars. We also predict the frequency distribution of elemental abundance ratios as functions of time and location, which can be directly compared with galactic archeology projects such as HERMES.

Field of study: Physics
ELIMINATION OF SPURIOUS STATES OF OSCILLATOR SHELL MODEL

A new method for elimination of the 'spurious' states comprising reguirement of translational invariance and simplicity of the enumeration scheme of antisymmetric A-particle states has been developed. The method presented enables one to project off the space of purely spurious antisymmetric A-particle oscillator functions with singled out dependence on intrinsic coordinates of two last particles onto the subspace of the nonspurious motion. The method is based on constructing the matrix elements of the centre-ofmass Hamiltonian and spectral decomposition of the corresponding real symmetric matrix. The obtained coefficients of the expansion of the antisymmetric A-particle oscillator functions in terms of the ones with singled out dependence on intrinsic coordinates of two last particles and with eliminated spurious states are required for calculation of two-particle oscillator intrinsic density matrices. Software tools based on root rational fraction expression of numbers for the theoretical formulation presented have been developed.

Field of study: Physics
Upper Ordovician peralkalic granites from the Gulf of Maine

Specimens from fourteen outcrops of bedrock in the Gulf of Maine were collected with the submersible Alvin and include one felsic aphanitic pyroclastic rock, two calc-alkalic granites, and eleven peralkalic granites. The peralkalic granites range from hypersolvus to subsolvus varieties and exhibit slightly different textures and mineralogical features that reflect minor differences in their local crystallization and subsolidus histories. Similar chemistry and zircon ages of 400 to 450 m.y. indicate that all of these peralkalic granites from the gulf are genetically related. On the basis of similar mineralogy, texture, rock chemistry, and primary radiometric ages, these granites are interpreted to have been intruded during the same igneous episode as the subaerial alkalic granites of eastern Massachusetts.

The Gulf of Maine lies within the Avalon Platform province. The local occurrences of Upper Ordovician–Lower Silurian alkalic granites may indicate an igneous-tectonic episode that accompanied intraplate epeirogenic doming following the major compressional phase of the Taconic orogeny which more severely deformed rocks farther west. Emplacement of alkalic granite probably was completed before renewed plate convergence and the final phase of Acadian plate collision during Devonian and throughout much of the rest of Paleozoic time.

Field of study: Geology
Monitoring of IL-10 in the serum of patients with advanced ovarian cancer: results from a prospective pilot-study.

The fact that ovarian cancer remains confined to the peritoneal cavity even in advanced stages has allowed us to surmise that local immunosuppressive factors could be involved in the tumor biology of ovarian cancer. In this context, IL-10 can be one of the key factors. By studying the kinetics of IL-10 concentrations prior to and after surgery, this study attempts to reveal once more the ability of tumor micro-environment to produce IL-10. Some studies indicate that IL-10 concentration correlates with the tumor burden and can thus predict the surgical outcome. Data concerning this aim from patients with ovarian cancer do not seem to exist.



In this prospective study, serum blood was collected from 27 patients, one day prior to surgery as well as 24h, 4 and 8 days after surgery. The concentration of IL-10 was determined using ELISA.



While IL-10 levels rise within the first day post-OP, they are found to be reduced significantly when measured at later time points. IL-10 levels also correlate statistically significantly with the tumor grade, with lower IL-10 levels observed in well-differentiated and higher IL-10 levels in undifferentiated or only poorly differentiated tumors.



IL-10 expression levels appear to be a good surrogate marker for tumor grading. If validated, this may in future contribute to the understanding of the biology stage cancers.

Field of study: Medicine
Corporate Ownership and Control in the UK: The Tax Dimension

While generally the impact tax has on patterns of corporate ownership and control has received little attention in the relevant academic literature, this paper argues that tax is potentially an important determinant of ownership patterns in large companies. The paper focuses on historical developments in Britain, where an 'outsider/arm's-length' system of corporate governance took shape during the twentieth century and became fully entrenched by the end of the 1970s. Taxes imposed on corporate profits, taxation of managerial and investment income and inheritance taxes help to explain why during this period blockholders sought to exit and why there was sufficient demand for shares among investors to permit ownership to separate from control.

Field of study: Law
An analysis of factors affecting software reliability

This paper presents the findings of empirical research from 13 companies participating in software development to identify the factors that may impact software reliability. Thirty-two potential factors involved in every stage of the software development process are defined. The study uses a survey instrument to analyze these factors and identify factors that have significant impact on software reliability. The survey focuses on the perspective of the primary participants, managers, system engineers, programmers, testers and other people involved in software research or development teams. Two techniques such as the relative weight method and analysis of variance technique (ANOVA) have been used to analyze all factors and rank them in terms of their impact on software reliability. The research findings have important implications for further research and the practice of software development. For researchers, it points to improvement schemes of existing reliability modeling and factors that may be further verified and extended in subsequent research. For practitioners, it provides a general guide to the important aspects to consider in the whole software development process.

Field of study: Computer science, Engineering
Quaternary history of the Thatcher Basin, Idaho, reconstructed from the 87Sr/86Sr and amino acid composition of lacustrine fossils: implications for the diversion of the Bear River into the Bonneville Basin

The Bear River, the largest river in the Great Basin, was diverted from its former course to the Pacific Ocean into the Bonneville Basin by Quaternary basalt flows that form the northern rim of Thatcher Basin, Idaho. Reconstructing the history of the river's diversion is important to understanding the aquatic biogeography of the Bonneville Basin and the climatological implications of its lake-level fluctuations. This study employs strontium (Sr) isotopes in lacustrine mollusc fossils as a tracer of Bear River water that entered Lake Thatcher, a small lake into which the redirected river flowed en route to the Bonneville Basin. The 87Sr/86Sr composition and Sr concentration of modern rivers were measured to construct a mixing model for Lake Thatcher water. The low 87Sr/86Sr ratio of the Bear River and its large discharge assures that the presence or absence of its flow into Lake Thatcher is readily detectable. Temporal control is provided by amino acid geochronology on lacustrine molluscs and calibrated using tephrochronology and 14C dating. 87Sr/86Sr ratios of six fossil molluscs from the oldest exposed Quaternary deposits in Thatcher Basin (lower Main Canyon Formation, MCF) indicate that, during the early Quaternary (>620 ka), the basin was occupied by shallow, locally fed lakes. A single shell from the base of the upper MCF, together with sedimentological evidence, suggests that the Bear River may have been diverted into Thatcher Basin by ∼140 ka. 87Sr/86Sr ratios in eight younger shells from the upper MCF indicate that the Bear River was not present in the basin between ∼140 and ∼80 ka. By 50±10 ka, however, it was tributary to Lake Thatcher. A simple hydrologic model shows that, if not for drainage through Oneida Narrows, Thatcher Basin would fill to its highest shoreline under present climate, even without the input of the Bear River. It is not clear when the lava flows that form the northern divide had been built high enough to allow Lake Thatcher to spill over its former southern divide into the Bonneville Basin, but it was probably by ∼100 ka. At that time, headward incision of Oneida Narrows was underway. By ∼20 ka, the incision of the narrows was complete and Lake Bonneville had backed up into Thatcher Basin.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
Simulation of an ammonia–water compression–absorption refrigeration system for water chilling application

A detailed simulation of a 400 kW ammonia–water compression–absorption refrigeration system has been carried out for water chilling application for summer air conditioning. Simulation has been performed for three different configurations of system having 17%, 23%, and 30% relative solution heat exchanger areas. The effect of relative solution heat exchanger area and mass flow rate of weak solution on the COP, cooling capacity and absorber heat load has been studied. The results show that the COP of the system can be increased by maintaining low mass flow rate of weak solution and large relative solution heat exchanger area. Increase in the relative solution heat exchanger area from 10 to 30% resulted in an increase in COP by about 16%. Further increase in relative SHX area revealed that there exists an optimum area at which COP becomes maximum. The performance of this system has been compared with that of a conventional R 22 vapor compression type chiller.

Field of study: Engineering
Prime Editing: Genome Editing for Rare Genetic Diseases Without Double-Strand Breaks or Donor DNA

An article published in Nature (Anzalone et al., 2019) reports the development of a genome editing experimental approach that mediates all possible base-to-base conversions, “indels,” and combinations in human genome without the need of double-strand breaks (DSBs) or donor DNA (dDNA) templates. Prime editing, the novel method of genome editing, exploits a longer-than-usual single guide RNA (gRNA), known as prime editing gRNA (pegRNA), and a fusion protein consisting of Cas9 H840A nickase fused to an engineered reverse transcriptase (RT) enzyme. Described as “search-and-replace” base-editing technology, prime editing supplies the desired genetic construct in an extension to the gRNA, which is then converted to DNA using the RT enzyme. The new approach eliminates the need for co-delivery of a corrective DNA template, performs all possible nucleotide substitutions (including those for a sizeable proportion of genetic disorders), resolves frameshifts induced by indels and confers fewer off-target edits when compared with conventional CRISPR-Cas devices. Prime editing is an exciting new complement to existing CRISPR editing systems and may even be an improvement in many cases. However, prime editing introduces new challenges. Overcoming these obstacles and applying prime editing in vivo, will give rise to new genome editing therapies for rare genetic diseases.

Field of study: Biology
Photoinhibition of photosynthesis on a coral reef

Photoinhibition of macroalgae in the epilithic algal community (EAC) of coral reefs was studied using chlorophyll fluorescence techniques at One Tree Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. F-v/F-m (variable to maximum fluorescence, darkened samples) of shallow macroalgae declined by 50% on fine summer and winter days, recovering in late afternoon. Within a species, thalli from low-light habitats were more photoinhibited (2h at 1400 mu mol m(-2) s(-1)) than those from high-light habitats. The sensitivity of Lobophora variegata (Phaeophyta) and Chlorodesmis fastigiata (Chlorophyta) increased with depth (1 versus 20 m). However, shallow Halimeda tuna (Chlorophyta) plants growing between corals were more photoinhibited than those from deep, open areas.

Field of study: Environmental science
Neutron irradiation effects on standard and oxygenated silicon diodes

Silicon diodes processed on standard and oxygenated silicon substrates by two different manufacturers have been irradiated by neutrons in a nuclear reactor and by the /sup 9/Be(d,n)/sup 10/B nuclear reaction. The leakage current density (J/sub D/) increase is linear with the neutron fluence. J/sub D/ and its annealing curve at 80/spl deg/C do not present any sizeable dependence on substrate oxygenation and/or manufacturing process. On the contrary, standard devices from one manufacturer present the lowest acceptor introduction rate (/spl beta/) for the effective substrate doping concentration (N/sub eff/), showing that the /spl beta/ dependence on the particular process can be important, overtaking the small substrate oxygenation effect. Finally, the average saturation value of the N/sub eff/ reverse annealing is slightly lower for the oxygenated samples, pointing out a positive effect of the substrate oxygenation even for devices irradiated by neutrons.

Field of study: Physics
Waterborne and dietary accumulation of well-dispersible hematite nanoparticles by zebrafish at different life stages.

The widespread use of nanoparticles (NPs) has drawn considerable attention because of their potential toxicity and the environmental consequences thereof. However, the effects of the exposure route and life stage of an organism on the bioaccumulation and toxicity of NPs are largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated the accumulation kinetics (uptake, assimilation, and efflux) and tissue distribution of waterborne and dietary hematite NPs (HemNPs) during three life stages (embryo, larva, and adult) of the zebrafish Danio rerio. For all zebrafish life stages, the waterborne accumulation of well-dispersed HemNPs increased linearly with exposure time but decreased after reaching a maximum. The increase in HemNPs accumulation followed the order embryo > larva > adult. Compared with the waterborne route, the dietary accumulation of HemNPs in larval and adult zebrafish fluctuated, reaching a maximum after each food refreshment and then decreasing until the next food addition. Similar to waterborne exposure, adult fish accumulated less dietary HemNPs than did larvae. Nevertheless, dietary HemNPs mostly accumulated in the intestinal tract, with smaller amounts in the truncus, head, and gills, as compared with their waterborne counterparts. Moreover, in the gonad no dietary HemNPs were detected whereas accumulation via waterborne HemNPs was significant. Despite the low assimilation efficiency of dietary HemNPs, biodynamic modeling showed that the diet was the main source of particle accumulation in zebrafish. Thus, both the life stage and the exposure route should be considered in evaluations of the environmental risks of NPs.

Field of study: Environmental science
Clinical and immunological aspects of HLA class I deficiency.

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I deficiency is a rare disease with remarkable clinical and biological heterogeneity. The spectrum of possible manifestations extends from the complete absence of symptoms to life-threatening disease conditions. It is usually diagnosed when HLA class I serological typing is unsuccessful; flow cytometric studies then reveal a severe reduction in the cell surface expression of HLA class I molecules (90-99% reduction compared to normal cells). In most cases to date, this low expression is due to a homozygous inactivating mutation in one of the two subunits of the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP), critically involved in the peptide loading of HLA class I molecules. Although asymptomatic cases have been described, TAP deficiencies are usually characterized by chronic bacterial infections of the upper and lower airways, evolving to bronchiectasis, and in half of the cases, also skin ulcers with features of a chronic granulomatous inflammation. Despite the defect in HLA class-I-mediated presentation of viral antigens to cytotoxic T cells, the patients do not suffer from severe viral infections, presumably because of other efficient antiviral defence mechanisms such as antibodies, non-HLA-class-I-restricted cytotoxic effector cells and CD8+ T-cell responses to TAP-independent antigens. Treatment is at present exclusively symptomatic, and should particularly focus on the prevention of bronchiectasis, which requires early detection.

Field of study: Medicine