nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Effect of sample handling on estimation of bacterial diversity in marine sediments by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis

The diversity of bacterial communities in deep marine sediments, up to 503 metres below the sea floor of the Japan Sea, was investigated by sequence analysis of amplified 16S rRNA genes. The use of different sample handling procedures greatly affected the types and diversity of sequences obtained. DNA from sediment samples stored aerobically for up to 24 h before freezing was dominated by sequences belonging to the β- and γ-proteobacteria, many of which appeared to originate from aerobic bacteria. Sub-samples equilibrated anaerobically at 16°C, were then injected with a radiotracer and immediately frozen, to simulate the conditions of a typical control sample from a radiotracer based activity assay, contained mostly α-proteobacterial sequences. Pristine sediment samples taken anaerobically and frozen within 2 h contained the widest diversity of sequences from α-, γ-, δ-proteobacteria and Gram-positive bacteria, which appeared to have originated from predominantly anaerobic or facultative bacteria. It was clear that both samples that were not frozen immediately (within 2 h) showed signs of enrichment of specific bacterial groups. Our results strongly suggest that immediate freezing should always be employed when sediment samples are to be used to assess bacterial diversity by molecular methods.

Field of study: Biology, Environmental science
Inflamación en el oído medio

Como muchos otros ninos y ninas de Costa Rica, a los 7 meses de edad presento una otitis media aguda no supurada, con una timpanocentesis se obtuvo material que cultivo un Streptococcus pneumoniae sensible a la mayoria de las alternativas de antibioticos disponibles y recibio tratamiento por el tiempo adecuado de manos de una madre cuidadosa. Sin embargo, su oido continuo dandole problemas hasta llevarlo al Hospital Nacional de Ninos con una otitis media supurada bilateral.........

Field of study: Mathematics
Curriculum 2013 – Based Assessment to Measure Critical Thinking Skills of Science Teacher at Junior High Scholl Donggala Regency, Indonesia

This study aimed to develop a curriculum 2013 - based assessment to measure the critical thinking skills of qualified science teachers in junior high schools with valid, practical and effective criteria. This research method consists of preliminary studies, instrument development and expert team assessment. The sample in this study was 107 science teachers at the Donggala Regency Middle School. The curriculum 2013 - a based assessment that was developed consists of curriculum 2013 analysis, science materials, grids, question cards, questions, rubrics and validation sheets. The data analysis technique used anates software program. The results of the study found that curriculum 2013 - based assessment instruments reviewed by the validator team and were appropriate to use. The quality of the test can be seen in the average value of the critical thinking assessment of 0.71 with a valid category. Feasibility assessment developed for critical thinking test of 0.83 in the Very High category. The curriculum 2013 - based test assessment for science teachers obtained critical thinking test products were that very effective.  Development, Curriculum 2013 -Based Assessment, Critical Thinking, Science Teachers.

Field of study: Education
Brain Death and Importance of Preserving Organs of Brain-Dead Donors in Intensive Care Unit

LEGISLATIONS OF TURKISH REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN CYPRUS (TRNC) Brain death was defined by two French neurologists who first described the concept in 1959 by detecting irreversible brain damage in 23 patients. Since then, the patients who are diagnosed as brain dead are considered to be the most important factors in terms of giving hope to other patients undergoing treatment for organ failure and waiting for organ transplant.

Field of study: Medicine
Statistics of photocounts in parametric frequency conversion

The variance and average value of photocounts (counts of electrons emitted by the cathode of a photodetector) are calculated allowing for the existence of the following sources of noise in a frequency converter: fluctuations of the pump intensity, conversion of background radiation, thermal fluctuations of fields in the converter crystal, spontaneous generation of the difference frequency, and illumination of the photodetector with the pump radiation transmitted by filters. A function representing the distribution of photocounts is obtained for short time intervals allowing for fluctuations of the pumping intensity in the case of conversion of a random Gaussian signal.

Field of study: Engineering, Physics
Effects of sand supply on the morphodynamics and stratigraphy of active parabolic dunes, Bigstick Sand Hills, southwestern Saskatchewan

Sand supply is a major controlling factor on parabolic dune form and stratigraphy in inland settings. In this study, aerial photographs, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), and stratigraphic analysis document the morphodynamics of an individual and compound parabolic dune in the Bigstick Sand Hills, southwestern Saskatchewan. Migration rates for the last 60 years are comparable, although the profile morphologies differ, with the individual dune having a more aerodynamic form. Stratigraphic facies are also similar in both dune types, but the overall internal architecture imaged by GPR differs considerably. Configurations of cross-strata parallel to the downwind axis represent dominant foreset development and lee-slope slipface advance of the individual dune, and impeded slipface development of the compound dune. Stratigraphy transverse to the downwind axis represents radial deposition and foreset development at the individual dune, and vertical accumulation at the compound dune. The overall difference in parab...

Field of study: Environmental science
A soft X-ray beamline for transmission X-ray microscopy at ALBA.

The MISTRAL beamline is one of the seven phase-I beamlines at the ALBA synchrotron light source (Barcelona, Spain) that will be opened to users at the end of 2010. MISTRAL will be devoted to cryotomography in the water window and multi-keV spectral regions for biological applications. The optics design consists of a plane-grating monochromator that has been implemented using variable-line-spacing gratings to fulfil the requirements of X-ray microscopy using a reflective condenser. For instance, a fixed-focus condition independent of the included angle, constant magnification as well as coma and spherical aberration corrections are achieved with this system. The reported design is of wider use.

Field of study: Physics
The functions and the approaches of school management for colleges and universities in minority areas

The colleges and universities in minority areas have special functions of school management,which are the important force to promote the political,social stability in minority areas,which are the vital force to heritage the outstanding cultures,which are intermediary platform to support local scientific and technological innovation and a balanced force that the higher education act in minority areas.Profoundly understanding these functions and transforming them into reality have great significances for this kind of colleges and universities into full play in economic and social development in minority areas to achieve their own healthy and continuous development.

Field of study: Education
Application of ESE spectroscopy to the study of radical reactions in solids

ESE spectroscopy is shown to be a powerful method for studying radical reactions in solids. Overlapping EPR spectra are possible to be differentiated into each spectral component by utilizing the difference of paramagnetic relaxation rates due to the difference of molecular motion. Informations on the motion of molecules affecting radical reactions are also obtained. The ESE technique is applied to alkyl radicals generated from normal and branched alkanes by 7-irradiation at cryogenic temperature for elucidating the mechanism of selective radical formation by the detachment of C-H hydrogen. It is concluded that the selectivity is strongly dependent on the easiness of C-C-C bending motion assisting the detachment of hydrogen.

Field of study: Chemistry
Application of Ag on the Preventing the ZCuPb30 Liner from Pb Segregation

Application of Ag on the preventing ZCuPb30 liner used in the aeroengine from Pb segregati was introduced.The results show that Pb segregation may be well prevented by the method of adding 2.75%～3.25% Ag with water quench. The reasons of Ag preventing the ZCuPb30 alloy from Pb segregation is also discussed.

Field of study: Materials science
Research on the Manufacturing Competitive Power of China's Coastal Areas and Influencing Factors

This paper uses DEA method to analyze the efficient frontier of manufacturing competitiveness based on panel data of China's Coastal Areas,and analyzes the manufacturing competitive power and influencing factors from the efficiency angle,using Random Effects Model through bootstrap and Robust Hausman Test.The conclusions are as follow: most of manufacturing competitiveness of coastal areas is more competitive,but there are also differences;There exits remarkable positive correlation between industrial development ability,industrial assets profitability,industrial input and output efficiency and industrial growth ability.Industrial growth ability has the greatest effect on regional competitiveness.

Field of study: Economics
Changes in differential renal function after pyeloplasty in infants and children.

Ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO) is one of the most common causes of hydronephrosis in pediatric populations. Many need surgical intervention. The aim of surgery is preserving renal function and reducing symptoms such as urinary tract infections and pain.



The objectives were to evaluate differential renal function (DRF) in infants and children after surgery for UPJO and to identify factors predicting postoperative improvement. The difference in outcomes between patients with antenatal hydronephrosis and those diagnosed later was evaluated.



A total of 85 children (63 boys and 22 girls) aged 0-16 years, treated for UPJO with dismembered pyeloplasty, were followed up as per a structured protocol including ultrasounds and renal scans (MAG-3) pre-operatively and three and 18 months postoperatively. Five children with bilateral or single kidney UPJO were excluded. Patient records were retrospectively reviewed, and the patients were grouped as per prenatal (group 1, n = 23) or postnatal (group 2, n = 57) diagnosis. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses searching for factors predicting >5% postoperative improvement in DRF on the obstructed side were performed. Factors included in analyses were age at diagnosis and surgery, sex, type of presentation, cause of obstruction, estimated glomerular filtration rate, pre-operative DRF, anteroposterior diameter (APD), APD/renal parenchymal thickness, and grade of hydronephrosis as per the Onen alternative grading system (grade 1-4).



Pre-operative DRF on the obstructed side was a mean of 42% (standard deviation, 12), with no difference between the groups. The median age at surgery was 0.9 (0.2-10) and 8.1 (0.6-16) years in groups 1 and 2, respectively (P < 0.001). The majority had unchanged DRF 18 months postoperatively, 19 (27%) patients improved by >5%, and one deteriorated. The proportion of patients with improved DRF was higher in group 1 (n = 10; 45%, P = 0.026). Anteroposterior diameter, APD/parenchymal thickness, pre-operative DRF, and antenatal diagnosis were predictors in the univariable analyses, and high APD (odds ratio [OR] = 1.1, P = 0.0023), antenatal diagnosis (OR = 0.23, P = 0.048), and low pre-operative DRF (OR = 0.90, P = 0.0045) built the best model of independent factors predicting improvement in DRF in multivariable analyses (.



The limitation of the study is that it is retrospective, but it has the advantage of a uniform follow-up protocol, including patients from a five-year period, with few lost to follow-up. The results can be of interest in evaluating factors of importance for predicting recovery of function in obstructive uropathies in children.



The majority of children had preserved or improved function after surgery for UPJO. Those with an antenatal diagnosis displayed a greater ability to catch up in DRF, and high APD, antenatal diagnosis, and low pre-operative DRF were independent predictive factors of an improvement in renal function after pyeloplasty.

Field of study: Medicine
Revealing the "missing" low-mass stars in the S254-S258 star forming region by deep X-ray imaging ?

X-ray observations provide a very good way to reveal the population of young stars in star forming regions avoiding the biases introduced when selecting samples based on infrared excess.  The aim of this study was to find an explanation for the remarkable morphology of the central part of the S254–S258 star forming complex, where a dense embedded cluster of very young stellar objects (S255-IR) is sandwiched between the two H ii regions S255 and S257. This interesting configuration had led to different speculations such as dynamical ejection of the B-stars from the central cluster or triggered star formation in a cloud that was swept up in the collision zone between the two expanding H ii regions. The presence or absence, and the spatial distribution of low-mass stars associated with these B-stars can discriminate between the possible scenarios.  We performed a deep Chandra X-ray observation of the S254–S258 region in order to efficiently discriminate young stars (with and without circumstellar matter) from the numerous older field stars in the area.  We detected 364 X-ray point sources in a 17 � × 17 � field (≈8× 8 pc). This X-ray catalog provides, for the first time, a complete sample of all young stars in the region down to ∼0.5 M� . A clustering analysis identifies three significant clusters: the central embedded cluster S255-IR and two smaller clusterings in S256 and S258. Sixty-four X-ray sources can be classified as members in one of these clusters. After accounting for X-ray background contaminants, this implies that about 250 X-ray sources constitute a widely scattered population of young stars, distributed over the full field-of-view of our X-ray image. This distributed young stellar population is considerably larger than the previously known number of non-clustered young stars selected by infrared excesses. Comparison of the X-ray luminosity function with that of the Orion Nebula Cluster suggests a total population of ∼2000 young stars in the observed part of the S254-S258 region.  The observed number of ∼250 X-ray detected distributed young stars agrees well with the expectation for the low-mass population associated to the B-stars in S255 and S257 as predicted by an IMF extrapolation. These results are consistent with the scenario that these two B-stars represent an earlier stellar population and that their expanding H ii regions have swept up the central cloud and trigger star formation (i.e. the central embedded cluster S255-IR) therein.

Field of study: Physics
Leukoregulin-induced translocation of protein kinase C activity in K562 cells.

Leukoregulin's effect on biochemical pathways involving Ca2+ was assessed in K562 erythroleukemia cells in which the antitumor lymphokine induces a rapidly reversible increase in plasma membrane permeability. Leukoregulin exposure activates protein kinase C but does not alter levels of phosphoinositol metabolites, calmodulin or cAMP. The activation pattern of protein kinase C differs from that induced by phorbol myristic acid (PMA), a potent activator of protein kinase C. PMA-induced translocation of protein kinase C from the cytosol to the plasma membrane is maximal by 2 min after addition of PMA whereas after leukoregulin treatment protein kinase C translocation reaches a maximum at 2 h. This suggests that leukoregulin activates protein kinase C via a non-classical phosphoinositol pathway as opposed to direct binding to protein kinase C as occurs with PMA. The temporal kinetics of the protein kinase C translocation and the increase in membrane permeability induced by leukoregulin are similar suggesting that phosphorylation of a membrane protein may be involved in the target cell destabilization of the plasma membrane by this lymphokine.

Field of study: Biology, Medicine
The pstSCAB operon for phosphate uptake is regulated by the global regulator GlxR in Corynebacterium glutamicum.

The pstSCAB operon of Corynebacterium glutamicum, which encodes a high affinity transport system for uptake of the phosphorus source inorganic phosphate, is induced upon phosphate starvation involving activation by the two-component regulatory system PhoS-PhoR. Partial phosphate starvation induction of the pstSCAB operon in a ΔphoRS mutant indicated the involvement of (an) additional transcriptional regulator(s). Here, GlxR, a global cAMP-dependent transcriptional regulator, was shown to bind to the pstS promoter -133 bp to -117 bp upstream of the transcriptional start site as shown by gel shift and mutation experiments. Transcriptional fusion analysis revealed that GlxR activates the pstSCAB operon under phosphate limiting conditions in a carbon source dependent manner. Commensurate with these findings, overexpression of glxR was shown to stimulate growth under phosphate limiting conditions with glucose, but not with acetate, as carbon source. Thus, in C. glutamicum pstSCAB expression is regulated in response to the availability of phosphorus and carbon sources.

Field of study: Biology, Engineering
Identification of Ear Morphology Genes in Maize (Zea mays L.) Using Selective Sweeps and Association Mapping

The performance of maize hybrids largely depend on two parental inbred lines. Improving inbred lines using artificial selection is a key task in breeding programs. However, it is important to elucidate the effects of this selection on inbred lines. Altogether, 208 inbred lines from two maize heterosis groups, named Shaan A and Shaan B, were sequenced by the genotype-by-sequencing to detect genomic changes under selection pressures. In addition, we completed genome-wide association analysis in 121 inbred lines to identify candidate genes for ear morphology related traits. In a genome-wide selection scan, the inbred lines from Shaan A and Shaan B groups showed obvious population divergences and different selective signals distributed in 337 regions harboring 772 genes. Meanwhile, functional enrichment analysis showed those selected genes are mainly involved in regulating cell development. Interestingly, some ear morphology related traits showed significant differentiation between the inbred lines from the two heterosis groups. The genome-wide association analysis of ear morphology related traits showed that four associated genes were co-localized in the selected regions with high linkage disequilibrium. Our spatiotemporal pattern and gene interaction network results for the four genes further contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms behind ear and fruit length development. This study provides a novel insight into digging a candidate gene for complex traits using breeding materials. Our findings in relation to ear morphology will help accelerate future maize improvement.

Field of study: Biology
An Enhanced Hill Cipher and Its Application in Software Copy Protection

To protect software from unauthorized use, registration key is frequently used in the field of permission control. For the security of such a system, the key issue is to design a robust algorithm. We propose an enhanced scheme of Hill cipher based on variable modulus and algebraic alphabet to protect software copy, which uses tridiagonal matrix. Since the modulus is not a fixed number and the algebraic alphabet depends on a variety of choices, the cipher is hard for an adversary to break. All of the choices of the modulus, the algebraic alphabet and the key matrix depend on the machine fingerprint of the buyer. Experimental results show both usefulness and security of the proposed scheme.

Field of study: Computer science
Thermodynamics of protein stability: A family of ribonucleases

Ribonucleases constitute a ubiquitous superfamily of enzymes. Besides the well known hydrolytic activity against the RNAs, recently some of the proteins of this group, the so called RISBASE, have shown to possess a multiplicity of biological functions. In this article a short review is reported concerning systematic thermodynamic studies carried out at our laboratory mainly by means of differential scanning calorimetry on the well known ribonuclease A, RNase A, and its congeners. Among them, dimeric natural ribonuclease, BS-RNase, extracted from bull seminal plasma or vesicles, has shown very interesting features.

Field of study: Chemistry
Asymptotic coefficients for Gaussian radial basis function interpolants

Gaussian radial basis functions (RBFs) on an infinite interval with uniform grid pacing h are defined by @f(x;@a,h)=exp(-[@a^2/h^2]x^2). The only significant numerical parameter is @a, the inverse width of the RBF functions relative to h. In the limit @a->0, we demonstrate that the coefficients of the interpolant of a typical function f(x) grow proportionally to exp(@p^2/[4@a^2]). However, we also show that the approximation to the constant f(x)=1 is a Jacobian theta function whose coefficients do not blow up as @a->0. The subtle interplay between the complex-plane singularities of f(x) (the function being approximated) and the RBF inverse width parameter @a are analyzed. For @a~1/2, the size of the RBF coefficients and the condition number of the interpolation matrix are both no larger than O(10^4) and the error saturation is smaller than machine epsilon, so this @a is the center of a ''safe operating range'' for Gaussian RBFs.

Field of study: Mathematics
Transgressive–regressive (T–R) sequence analysis of the Jurassic succession of the Sverdrup Basin, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Transgressive–regressive (T–R) sequence analysis has been applied to the Jurassic succession of the Sverdrup Basin with sequence boundaries drawn at subaerial unconformities or the correlative transgressive surfaces. A hierarchal system of sequence order that reflects the different nature of the boundaries has been formulated on the basis of boundary characteristics. Second- through fifth-order sequences have been recognized in the Jurassic succession, which itself is part of a first-order sequence of mid-Permian – Early Cretaceous age.The Jurassic strata occur within four second-order sequences. The boundaries of these sequences are characterized by widespread subaerial unconformities across which major changes in depositional and subsidence regimes occur. These boundaries are earliest Rhaetian, earliest Pliensbachian, earliest Bajocian, earliest Oxfordian, and Hauterivian in age.Each second-order sequence is divisible into a number of third-order sequences bounded mainly by basin-wide transgressive surf...

Field of study: Environmental science
A Study of the Relationship between Ethnocentrism and Purchase Intention for Japanese Products

After Taiwan’s entry to the WTO, the trade barrier between Taiwan and other countries has been reduced, resulting in the presence of more MIT (made in Taiwan) products on the market for customer choices. There are, nevertheless, a variety of factors affecting customers’ purchase intention. This study aims to discuss whether, due to factors such as consumers’ product knowledge and perceived product value, Taiwanese consumers’ We-identities (ethnocentrism?) obstructs their purchase intention toward Japanese goods. Research result shows, based on their product knowledge and perceived product value, consumers’ purchase intention of the tested product (digital camera) is far beyond their own we-identities. The weight of We-identities (ethnocentrism?) is relatively low in this study. Having been in existence for more than one hundred years, we-identities (ethnocentrism?) will still have its presence and remain an observable phenomenon.

Field of study: Business