nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Stimulus-reinforcer contingencies and local behavioral contrast.

Four pigeons were exposed to a series of multiple schedules of variable-interval reinforcement in which pecks were required on one key (operant key) and components were signalled on a second key (signal key). Four additional pigeons experienced identical conditions, except that a yoking procedure delivered food on variable-time schedules, with no key pecks required. One of the components of the multiple schedule was constant throughout the experiment as a variable-interval (or variable-time) 30-second schedule. Operant-key responding during the constant component was uniform throughout the component, uninfluenced by changes in the duration of the variable component, and only slightly influenced by changes in reinforcement frequency correlated with the variable component. By comparison, signal-key response rate during the constant component was highest at the onset of the component, was higher when the variable component was 60-sec long than when it was 1-sec long, and was higher when no reinforcement occurred in the variable component than when reinforcement was scheduled in the variable component. These characteristics of signal-key pecking matched characteristics of local positive behavioral contrast. These data are taken to support the "additivity theory" of behavioral contrast and to suggest that Pavlovian stimulus-reinforcer relations contribute primarily to the phenomenon of local positive contrast.

Field of study: Biology, Psychology
A Feasible Bayesian Estimator of Quantiles for Projectile Accuracy From Non-iid Data

An important measure of accuracy for problems of directing projectiles at targets is the circular error probable (CEP), a bivariate version of a 50% quantile point. This article presents a Bayesian procedure for estimating CEP when the projectile impact measurements are not iid, which is the case of usual practical interest. Our interest in a Bayesian procedure is motivated by a desire to combine accuracy information from several different sources. Except for the simplest problem settings, however, it is not possible to compute the standard Bayesian conditional mean estimate due to the associated computationally infeasible high-dimensional integrals. Thus we present an estimator that is closely related to the conditional mean (based on asymptotic theory and empirical experience) but is computationally feasible in all settings of practical interest. We demonstrate the procedure on a problem in missile accuracy analysis. The article also includes some comments on the potential application of severa...

Field of study: Mathematics
Sources of multi-decadal variability in Arctic sea ice extent

The observed dramatic decrease in September sea ice extent (SIE) has been widely discussed in the scientific literature. Though there is qualitative agreement between observations and ensemble members of the Third Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3), it is concerning that the observed trend (1979?2010) is not captured by any ensemble member. The potential sources of this discrepancy include: observational uncertainty, physical model limitations and vigorous natural climate variability. The latter has received less attention and is difficult to assess using the relatively short observational sea ice records. In this study multi-centennial pre-industrial control simulations with five CMIP3 climate models are used to investigate the role that the Arctic oscillation (AO), the Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation (AMO) and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) play in decadal sea ice variability. Further, we use the models to determine the impact that these sources of variability have had on SIE over both the era of satellite observation (1979?2010) and an extended observational record (1953?2010). There is little evidence of a relationship between the AO and SIE in the models. However, we find that both the AMO and AMOC indices are significantly correlated with SIE in all the models considered. Using sensitivity statistics derived from the models, assuming a linear relationship, we attribute 0.5?3.1%/decade of the 10.1%/decade decline in September SIE (1979?2010) to AMO driven variability.

Field of study: Environmental science
Compartment Syndrome Following Lower Limb Arthroplasty: A Review

Compartment syndrome is an urgent clinical entity characterised by an increase in the interstitial pressure within a closed osseofascial compartment. Although well recognised as a potential complication after orthopaedic trauma, it is very rarely presented after elective orthopaedic surgery and especially joint arthroplasty. In these rare cases a number of variables are associated with it (positioning, coagulopathy, extensive soft tissue dissection, previous scarring, and epidural analgesia). In this study we present the current evidence with regard to incidence and causation of compartment syndrome after lower limb joint arthroplasty and make recommendations on how to avoid the development of this devastating complication.

Field of study: Medicine
Bayesian bandits: balancing the exploration-exploitation tradeoff via double sampling

Reinforcement learning studies how to balance exploration and exploitation in real-world systems, optimizing interactions with the world while simultaneously learning how the world operates. One general class of algorithms for such learning is the multi-armed bandit setting. Randomized probability matching, based upon the Thompson sampling approach introduced in the 1930s, has recently been shown to perform well and to enjoy provable optimality properties. It permits generative, interpretable modeling in a Bayesian setting, where prior knowledge is incorporated, and the computed posteriors naturally capture the full state of knowledge. In this work, we harness the information contained in the Bayesian posterior and estimate its sufficient statistics via sampling. In several application domains, for example in health and medicine, each interaction with the world can be expensive and invasive, whereas drawing samples from the model is relatively inexpensive. Exploiting this viewpoint, we develop a double sampling technique driven by the uncertainty in the learning process: it favors exploitation when certain about the properties of each arm, exploring otherwise. The proposed algorithm does not make any distributional assumption and it is applicable to complex reward distributions, as long as Bayesian posterior updates are computable. Utilizing the estimated posterior sufficient statistics, double sampling autonomously balances the exploration-exploitation tradeoff to make better informed decisions. We empirically show its reduced cumulative regret when compared to state-of-the-art alternatives in representative bandit settings.

Field of study: Computer science
CERA: An open-source tool for coastal erosion risk assessment

Coastal zones are socially and economically very important, leading to a high pressure for its permanent development. Simultaneously, these zones are subject to several maritime hazards, able to cause coastal erosion. Therefore, a thoughtful management of these zones is required in order to protect society, economy and natural environments. This work presents a GIS-based tool that aims to provide a quick assessment to coastal erosion risk, called CERA: Coastal Erosion Risk Assessment. The simple processes and small amount of data required by the tool provides a viable alternative to other methods, which are often more complex and difficult to apply. The assessment method used in CERA is divided in two parts. The first part is a vulnerability assessment, which combines several parameters that influence coastal erosion, each being classified in a scale of 1–5. The second part, a consequence assessment, follows the same procedure, but considering socio-economic aspects. Then, a risk matrix is applied to determine a risk classification, also divided in 5 classes, from I to V. Aveiro, in Portugal, and Macaneta spit, in Mozambique, were selected to test the application. Data was gathered for both locations. While in Aveiro it was used a considerable amount of available georeferenced data, for the Macaneta spit the data was mainly prevenient from previous publications and local expert knowledge. The results show that both study areas have similar vulnerabilities to coastal erosion, with classes IV and V dominating along the areas closer to the shoreline. On the other hand, the consequence classification in Aveiro is higher than in Macaneta, resulting in a higher risk level in several regions in Aveiro district. The higher level of detail in Aveiro data also resulted in a more even distribution across all class levels in the results.

Field of study: Environmental science
The Dark Side of Virtual Office and Job Satisfaction

Virtual offices have been a growing trend in today’s work environment and have been used to improve organizational performance for several decades. However, more and more companies also experience the challenges and problems brought by the use of virtual office in current years. One famous example would be the Yahoo’s decision to withdraw its work-from-home program. Therefore, the studies about the dark side of virtual office start to attract interests from researchers and practitioners. This paper aims at providing a critical view of the changes in employees’ work life due to the shift to virtual office from four perspectives: communication, social relation, achievement recognition and work-life balance. This paper also discusses the impact of such changes on employees’ quality of work life in terms of job satisfaction. This paper intends to conceptually extend the understanding of alternative working arrangements by considering the “dark side” of virtual office in employees’ work life.

Field of study: Business
Effect of Remain Casting Microstructure on Properties of Cast Steel

By means of comparison and analysis on macrofracture,microfracture,microstructure,the effect of remaining casting microstructure on properties of cast steel was studied.The results show that for the samples with remaining casting microstructure after normalizing,its tensile strength and elongation can be up to standard,and its fracture contraction rate reduces a little,but its impact work becomes lower than the samples with normal microstructure.

Field of study: Materials science
Effective Corporatisation Legislation: The Fundamental Issue in Port Management

It is now some seven years since the restructure of Australian ports and their transformation into corporatised entities. This strategy was adopted in an endeavour to improve efficiency by distancing government from day to day operations - that element that was perceived to be the cause of sub-optimal performance. While there is widespread agreement that port performance has improved significantly, dissatisfaction persists and the belief that continued political intervention is preventing ports' commercial potential from being realised. This paper investigates these issues but argues that political intervention per se should not be the focus of research as the fundamental cause of sub-optimal performance. Rather political intervention is an effect of a more fundamental problem — an inappropriate legislative framework — and the focus of research should be on the legislation and corporatisation model in which political intervention is mandatory.

Field of study: Political science
Levels of Thinking

William James observed that, within the stream of thought, the ways we think fluctuate as a function of our emotional and physical conditions. Extrapolating from James, we propose that individuals vary along a dimension called levels of thinking. High-level thinking involves thoughts that are self-reflective, demonstrate awareness of emotion, and incorporate a broad perspective. Low-level thinking lacks these properties. Using a stream-of-consciousness methodology, two experiments examined the parameters of level of thinking. Level of thinking is reliably rated, stable over a 2-month interval, and consistent across modality (across writing vs. talking into a microphone). Whereas levels of thinking are positively correlated with measures of negative affectivity, extremes in thinking are linked to indicants of health problems. The second experiment demonstrated that when individuals face uncontrollable noise bursts, they move to lower levels of thinking that preclude awareness of negative emotions. The adaptiveness of thinking on different levels is discussed in terms of James's contributions to our current understanding of health and coping.

Field of study: Psychology
Homogeneous chains, heterogeneous chains, and delay of reinforcement.

Three pigeons responded on two-component chain schedules in which the required response topography in the initial and terminal links was similar (a homogeneous chain) or dissimilar (a heterogeneous chain). Key-peck responding in the initial link under a variable-interval 60-second (VI 60) schedule produced a terminal link in which, in different conditions, either key pecking or foot treadling was reinforced according to a VI 60 schedule. Multiple VI 60 VI 60 schedules, in which the responses required in the chain schedules were maintained by primary reinforcement in the two components, preceded and followed each type of chain. These multiple schedules were used to ensure that both responses occurred reliably prior to introducing the chain schedule. Key-peck response rates in the initial link of the chain consistently were higher during the homogeneous chain than during the heterogeneous chain. These results illustrate that intervening events during a period separating an operant response from primary reinforcement influence that operant, independently of the delay between the response and reinforcement.

Field of study: Biology, Psychology
Fault Resilient Encoding Schemes in Software: How Far Can We Go?

Cryptographic implementations are often vulnerable against physical attacks, fault injection analysis being among the most popular techniques. On par with development of attacks, the area of countermeasures is advancing rapidly, utilizing both hardwareand software-based approaches. When it comes to software encoding countermeasures for fault protection and their evaluation, there are very few proposals so far, mostly focusing on single operations rather than on cipher as a whole. In this paper we propose an evaluation framework that can be used for analyzing the effectivity of software encoding countermeasures against fault attacks. We first formalize the encoding schemes in software, helping us to define what properties are required when designing a fault protection. These findings show that using anticodes in such countermeasure can increase its detection capabilities. We provide a way to generate a code according to user criteria and also a method to evaluate the level of protection of assembly implementations using encoding schemes. This evaluation is based on static code analysis and provides a practical information on how good will the protection be on a real device. Finally, we verify our findings by implementing a block cipher PRESENT, protected by encoding scheme based on anticodes, and provide a detailed evaluation of such implementation.

Field of study: Computer science, Mathematics
Construction of a bioreactor to produce special breakdown products of phytate.

Escherichia coli phytase was covalently immobilized on NHS-activated Sepharose High Performance. The pH dependence of the phytase activity was not influenced by immobilization, whereas stability against heat treatment was enhanced as a consequence of immobilization. Compared to the free phytase the immobilized enzyme exhibits the same excellent substrate specifity, but showed an increased Km-value. Using the immobilized phytase in a packed-bed bioreactor makes special isomers of the lower myo-inositol phosphate esters available. The major isomers formed were identified as I(1,2,3,4,5)P5, I(2,3,4,5)P4, I(2,4,5)P3 and I(2,5)P2.

Field of study: Biology, Engineering
Comparative Pelvic Floor Imaging in the Bladder-Exstrophy-Epispadias-Complex (BEEC)

The congenital bony pelvis and pelvic floor defect highly predisposes females in the BEEC to uterine prolapse. There is a paucity of knowledge about pelvic floor anatomy after reconstruction of the BEEC in long-term follow-up.  19 female BEEC patients (mean age 27.3 years) and 5 controls were included in a cross-sectional study. The pubovisceral muscle was investigated with perineal three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound and MRI.  females had initial a functional bladder reconstruction, 6 patients got an urinary diversion. 12 patients had a closure of the pelvis either by traction bandage or osteotomy. In 7 patients symphysis was not approximated. 4 BEEC patients had complete uterine prolapse and one partial vaginal prolapse (26%). Symphyseal diastasis measured mean 5.0 cm after symphyseal approximation, 10.4 cm without symphyseal approximation in BEEC and 0.48 cm in controls. Levator hiatus was mean 4.5 cm in sonography and 4.4 cm in MRI after symphyseal approximation, 7.4 cm/5.9 cm without symphyseal approximation and 2.9 cm/4.2 cm in controls. Levator angle was median 85.7°/82.9° after symphyseal approximation, 108.6°/112.9° without symphyseal approximation and 45.1°/71.3° in controls. Prolapse was significant in symphysis >10 cm and levator hiatus > 6 cm.  This study shows that perineal 3D ultrasound is a useful diagnostic tool in the assessment of the levator ani muscle in BEEC. Established biometric pelvic floor parameter can predict the risk for uterine prolapse. Anterior symphyseal approximation and functional reconstruction allow deeper relocation of the bladder neck into the pelvis documented in a normal levator hiatus width and this might prevent uterine prolapse.

Field of study: Medicine
Pyrroloindoles. 14. Synthesis of dimethyl substituted pyrrolo[2,3-e]indole, indolo[4,5-e]indole, and some ditetrahydrocarbazolocarbazoles

Cyclization of the m-phenylen- and 2,7-naphthylendihydrazones of acetone leads to formation of dimethyl substituted, angular pyrrolo- and indolo-indoles. Cyclization of the 2,7-naphthylendihydrazone of cyclohexanone gives the linear 1H,12H-2,3,4,5,8,9,10,11-octahydrocarbazolo[3,4-d]carbazole. A further impurity of an angular ditetrahydrocarbazolocarbazole is also formed.

Field of study: Chemistry
Retrieval of O 2 ( 1 Σ) and O 2 ( 1 Δ) volume emission rates in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere using SCIAMACHY MLT limb scans

We present the retrieved volume emission rates (VERs) from the airglow of both the daytime and twilight O2(1Σ) band and O2(1Δ) band emissions in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT). The SCanning Imaging Absorption SpectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) onboard the European Space Agency Envisat satellite observes upwelling radiances in limb-viewing geometry during its special MLT mode over the range 50–150 km. In this study we use the limb observations in the visible (595–811 nm) and near-infrared (1200–1360 nm) bands. We have investigated the daily mean latitudinal distributions and the time series of the retrieved VER in the altitude range from 53 to 149 km. The maximal observed VERs of O2(1Δ) during daytime are typically 1 to 2 orders of magnitude larger than those of O2(1Σ). The latter peaks at around 90 km, whereas the O2(1Δ) emissivity decreases with altitude, with the largest values at the lower edge of the observations (about 53 km). The VER values in the upper mesosphere (above 80 km) are found to depend on the position of the sun, with pronounced high values occurring during summer for O2(1Δ). O2(1Σ) emissions show additional high values at polar latitudes during winter and spring. These additional high values are presumably related to the downwelling of atomic oxygen after large sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs). Accurate measurements of the O2(1Σ) and O2(1Δ) airglow, provided that the mechanism of their production is understood, yield valuable information about both the chemistry and dynamics in the MLT. For example, they can be used to infer the amounts and distribution of ozone, solar heating rates, and temperature in the MLT.

Field of study: Environmental science
Excesso de peso e pressão arterial em adolescentes de João Pessoa-PB - DOI: 10.4025/reveducfis.v20i2.4385

The association was analyzed between BP and BMI in adolescents of Joao Pessoa/PB. Were studied 303 boys and 379 girls, from 14 to 17 years old. Sociodemographic information were collected (age, sex, economical class, the parents' education), self-referred measures of weight and stature, BP and confusion factors (physical activity, feeding, alcohol, tobacco). The prevalence reason was used, starting from the Regression of Poisson, as association measure. The prevalence of weight excess was 13,5% (boys) and 7,2% (girls) and of high BP was 32,4% (boys) and 26,6% (girls). Adolescents with weight excess presented larger values of PA, compared to the normal weight. BMI associated positively with the BP, independently of other factors, with risk among 2,0 to 2,5 times larger of the youths with weight excess present high BP compared to the of normal weight. The weight excess was independently associated to the presence of high BP in adolescents.

Field of study: Education
Independent Stepwise Residuals for Testing Homoscedasticity

Regression models which specify independent, homoscedastic and normally distributed errors may be analyzed in a stepwise manner to produce calculated residuals having this same property. If the nth residual is calculated as the deviation of the nth observation from its predicted value based on a least squares fit to only the first n observations then the resulting sequence of residuals, appropriately normalized, are not only mutually independent and homoscedastic but are also independent of all of the calculated regression functions. If error variance is a monotonic function of the mean then, under certain regularity conditions, the calculated stepwise residuals are likewise monotonically heteroscedastic. Simple linear regression with equally spaced values of the independent variable constitutes one such regular case, and a Monte Carlo study of the “peak-test” of homoscedasticity in this instance shows that for small samples the stepwise residuals are substantially more sensitive to monotonic het...

Field of study: Mathematics
The clinical value of assaying maternal serum and amniotic fluid intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) in cases of premature rupture of membranes.

Intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) expression and upregulation induced by pro-inflammatory cytokines may be of interest in defining human response to inflammation and infection. This study was initiated to determine the levels of ICAM-1 in sera and amniotic fluid of cases of premature rupture of membranes (PROM). Serum and amniotic fluid ICAM-1 levels were determined by ELISA in 33 cases of PROM and 10 cases of normal pregnancies of matched gestational age (controls). Both serum and amniotic fluid ICAM levels were significantly elevated in 76% and 85% of cases of PROM with mean fold increments of 3.13 and 3.95, respectively. This elevation was associated with intra-amniotic infection which was detected by microbiological culture and histopathological evidence of chorioamnionitis. Increased ICAM-1 in cases of PROM may be attributed to neutrophil activation and ICAM-1 expression on fetal membranes and mononuclear cells of amniotic fluid. These results demonstrate that determination of ICAM-1 may be a valuable biomarker for early detection of acute chorioamnionitis and the possibility of PROM.

Field of study: Medicine
Magnetization of 2-G Coils and Artificial Bulks

The use of (Re)BCO is limited by the problems of magnetization/demagnetization.  The minimum joint resistance that can be achieved between YBCO tapes is on the order of 100 nΩ, but this is still too large to operate coils in persistent mode. Bulks have potential to act as very high field magnets, but in order to do this, they need to be magnetized. This paper describes flux pumping methods, which can be used to charge either coils or bulks.

Field of study: Physics