nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Surgical technique: Retroperitoneoscopic approach for adrenal masses in children.

Laparoscopic adrenalectomy is considered to be the standard of care for the surgical excision of adrenal masses. The transperitoneal laparoscopic and retroperitoneoscopic approaches are described. Both are safe and as effective as open adrenalectomy, with the added benefit of the minimally invasive approach. It can be utilized for patients requiring surgery for a phaeochromocytoma, adrenal adenoma, adrenal adenocarcinoma, Cushing's syndrome, neuroblastoma, and an incidentaloma. Relative contraindications include previous surgery of the liver or kidney, large tumours (>8-10 cm in diameter) or coagulation disorders. Although the transperitoneal route is used more widely, the retroperitoneal approach provides direct access to the adrenal gland and easy visualization of the adrenal vein. It avoids also colonic mobilization, minimizes the risk of injury to hollow viscera, and the potential risk of adhesion formation. However, the reversed orientation of the kidney and hilum, combined with a significantly smaller working space, may make this approach difficult to master.

Field of study: Medicine
Inferring gene duplications, transfers and losses can be done in a discrete framework

In the field of phylogenetics, the evolutionary history of a set of organisms is commonly depicted by a species tree—whose internal nodes represent speciation events—while the evolutionary history of a gene family is depicted by a gene tree—whose internal nodes can also represent macro-evolutionary events such as gene duplications and transfers. As speciation events are only part of the events shaping a gene history, the topology of a gene tree can show incongruences with that of the corresponding species tree. These incongruences can be used to infer the macro-evolutionary events undergone by the gene family. This is done by embedding the gene tree inside the species tree and hence providing a reconciliation of those trees. In the past decade, several parsimony-based methods have been developed to infer such reconciliations, accounting for gene duplications ($$\mathbb {D}$$D), transfers ($$\mathbb {T}$$T) and losses ($$\mathbb {L}$$L). The main contribution of this paper is to formally prove an important assumption implicitly made by previous works on these reconciliations, namely that solving the (maximum) parsimony $$\mathbb {DTL}$$DTL reconciliation problem in the discrete framework is equivalent to finding a most parsimonious $$\mathbb {DTL}$$DTL scenario in the continuous framework. In the process, we also prove several intermediate results that are useful on their own and constitute a theoretical toolbox that will likely facilitate future theoretical contributions in the field.

Field of study: Biology, Mathematics
Pointwise energy release rate in delaminated plates

A laminated plate theory suitable for analyzing delaminations has been derived. The theory is used to study the interaction between the top and bottom sublaminates in the intact region of a delaminated plate. Expressions are derived for the jump in force and moment resultants that occur across the delamination front. Using Irwin's crack closure integral, a simple expression for pointwise strain energy release rate G along the delamination front has been derived. The expression suggests that the G at any point on the delamination front is the difference between the plate strain energy densities behind and ahead of the delamination front. An estimate of error in computing G using plate theories is obtained by comparing the J integral obtained using exact stress fields and plate stresses. The procedure for computing G is first verified by applying it to double cantilever beam specimens (DCB) and elliptical delaminations in isotropic plates for which solutions are available or can be computed. Then the method is illustrated for a stitched graphite/epoxy DCB specimen and also for elliptical delaminations in 0-deg graphite/epoxy plates. The results demonstrate the usefulness of the present method in analyzing delaminated coupons and structures.

Field of study: Physics
CAREER PLATEAUING AND IT’S RELATIONSHIP WITH SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PURSUIT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES IN NYANDARUA AND MURANG’A COUNTIES, KENYA

Teachers in Kenya exhibit signs of career plateauing, and are registering for post-graduate courses in large numbers. This study investigated whether teachers’ pursuit of post-graduate studies is a result of career plateauing. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between career plateauing and secondary school teachers’ pursuit of post-graduate studies in Nyandarua and Murang’a counties, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to: determine types and levels of career plateauing experienced by secondary school teachers of public schools in Nyandarua and Murang’a Counties; determine the relationship between career plateauing and teachers’ decisions to pursue various Post-Graduate courses; and find out whether the structural or job content type of career plateau predicts teachers’ decisions to pursue various Post-Graduate courses among secondary schools teachers in public schools in Kenya.  The study employed the correlational research design. The target population of the study comprised of all the 5,022 teachers (3,581 in Murang’a County and 1,441 in Nyandarua County) in all the public schools in Nyandarua and Murang’a Counties except those which were used in the pilot. From this population, the sample size for each county was computed using the sample size computation formula by Krejcie & Morgan (Cohen, Manion & and Morrison, 2007), which gave 304 teachers from Nyandarua County and 348 teachers in Murang’a County. Stratified random sampling was used to select 304 teachers from Nyandarua County and 348 teachers from Murang’a County giving a total of 652 teachers. In Nyandarua County, the sample size was 152 male and 152 female teachers, while in Murang’a County there was 174 male and 174 female teachers. A questionnaire designed for teachers was used as the main tool for data collection. The study generated quantitative data, which was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was reported according to themes and involved the use of frequencies and percentages. Linear progression and Analysis of Variance were also used.  Decisions to pursue post-graduate studies is expected to increase 0.014 when structural plateauing rises by one and decrease by 0.012 when job content plateauing goes up by one. Both structural and job content plateauing were found to predict decisions to pursue post-graduate studies significantly at p<0.05. Contributions to theory, policy and practice : The Teachers Service Commission should develop a clear road map for career advancement of the teachers to reduce career plateauing. The Teachers Service Commission in collaboration with the ministry of education should design a skills upgrade for teachers through capacity development programmes which should be a requirement for those joining the profession and which should form a basis for promotion

Field of study: Education
Signal propagation in straw tubes with resistive cathode

The analysis presented in this paper is part of the research performed by the authors for the COMPASS experiment at CERN. We have developed a theoretical model of the signal transmission in a straw tube. In contrast to commonly used simplified models, our approach takes into account the energy losses in the cathode resistance. This model allows determination of the main electrical parameters, such as characteristic impedance and signal attenuation, as well as a detailed simulation of the pulse shape dependent on the point of the charge injection. Simulation results have been compared with the results of experimental measurements of different types of the straw detectors.

Field of study: Physics
Evidence of neotropical anuran community disruption on rice crops: a multidimensional evaluation

Agricultural expansion is a major driver of biodiversity loss, especially in the megadiverse tropics. Rice is among the world’s most important food crops, invariably affecting biodiversity worldwide. Although the effects of habitat conversion to rice crops on biodiversity are not completely understood, landscape modification often creates conditions that benefit some species and excludes others. We conducted an integrative evaluation of the effects that habitat conversion to irrigated rice crops has on anuran communities from a Cerrado-Amazon ecotone. We adopted a multidimensional approach to compare anuran communities from agricultural and pristine environments considering (i) taxonomic metrics; (ii) functional and phylogenetic diversity; (iii) selected and excluded traits and (iv) body condition indices. When compared to their pristine counterparts, agricultural waterbodies showed increased functional divergence and decreased species diversity and functional richness. Furthermore, agricultural anuran communities exhibited lower phylogenetic diversity. Nonetheless, taxonomic diversity did not vary significantly, suggesting that it should not be used without complementary metrics. Species with small range, habitat specialization, small clutches and large body size were excluded from rice crops. Furthermore, frogs showed lower body condition in crops than in pristine areas. Understanding how species traits correlate with specific responses to agriculture will allow better predictions of the functional effects of anthropogenic land-use. Maintaining high diversity in anthropogenic environments is important for ecosystem resilience because diverse communities are more likely to hold multiple species capable of contributing to ecological functions. Our results show that converting natural vegetation to irrigated rice crops drives many species to local extinction, and resilient species to exhibit lower body condition.

Field of study: Environmental science
Human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) in IUD users.

The incidence of postimplantation pregnancy loss was assessed in 186 IUD users and 187 controls through use of a highly sensitive, specific radioimmunoassay for serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Previous studies have detected hCG in 10-19% of IUD users during the postovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle, indicating either that implantation had occurred or that the preimplantation blastocyst secretes detectable amounts of hCG. 3 of the 187 controls had detectable serum hCG and their serum luteinizing hormone (LH) concentrations exceeded 125 mIU/ml. In 3 of 186 IUD users, serum hCG was detected in the presence of normal or low serum LH concentrations. These findings suggest that the incidence of dectable hCG during the postovulatory phase is extremely low in IUD users and identical to that of postmenopausal and noncycling controls. It is concluded that embryonic implantation and subsequent early abortion are rare events in IUD users and that neither plays a role in the mode of action of the IUD.

Field of study: Medicine
Complex crowns of Riemannian symmetric spaces and non-compactly causal symmetric spaces

In this paper we define a distinguished boundary for the complex crowns Ξ ⊆ G C /K C of non-compact Riemannian symmetric spaces G/K. The basic result is that affine symmetric spaces of G can appear as a component of this boundary if and only if they are non-compactly causal symmetric spaces.

Field of study: Mathematics
Zonal-Detached-Eddy Simulation of Projectiles in the Subsonic and Transonic Regimes

This paper presents nonspinning-projectile computations with advanced turbulence modeling to demonstrate the relevance of using a hybrid method in projectile simulations. A zonal-detached-eddy simulation methodology is used to improve the base-flow prediction without deteriorating the incoming attached flow upstream of the base in the subsonic and transonic regimes. The numerical results are found to compare fairly well with the available experimental wall-pressure data. Both time-averaged and unsteady features are then discussed. Particular attention was paid to the near-wake flowfield and its dependency upon the freestream Mach number. In these calculations, some classical features of massively separated flows, such as the pressure evolution along the base or the wake centerline characteristics, are poorly predicted with the Spalart-Allmaras model. The use of a hybrid method leads to promising results and allows for a physical analysis of the separated flowfield. The flow appears to exhibit self-similar properties, even in the recirculation area, independently of the Mach number value in the range of freestream conditions investigated. Moreover, the instability process leading to the shear-layer growth is found to be similar in the range of parameters investigated and is in accordance with previous results concerning the compressibility effects in free shear flows. Finally, base-pressure spectra are reported and compared with axisymmetric base-flow data.

Field of study: Physics
Factors Influencing the Performance of Supply Chain Management in Saudi SMEs

Received November 29, 2019 Received in revised format February 20, 2020 Accepted February 22 2020 Available online February 22 2020 The aim of this paper is to provide a practical approach by using an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach to prioritize the most critical success factors that influence the supply chain output in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The analysis of MICMAC was also considered for the identification of factors having a high power of influence. The findings show that the most significant factors with the highest driving power are associated with innovation and communication tools. Such findings can assist policy makers, administrators, and practitioners in formulating supply chain effectiveness strategies and policies. . 2020 by the authors; license Growing Science, Canada ©

Field of study: Business
Research and Implementation of Exam Server Communication Layer Based on IOCP

In order to build an examination server communication layer with large-scale response,high data throughput and reasonable resource consumption,analyses the key issues of information identifying,resource management,message sequence dealing in the development of IOCP.Proposes improved methods of memory pool,object pool,ring buffer,and on this basis designs and realizes high-performance and scalable network exam system communication module based on IOCP.The application shows this module can improve the network exam server performance.

Field of study: Computer science
Observation of Interference Effects at the Focus of an X-ray Lens.

During an experiment on synchrotron radiation focusing with a capillary lens, an interference structure was observed at the focal spot of the lens, despite the fact that the lens capillary diameter is about a million times greater than the wavelength of the X-ray photons (600 mum and 8 A, respectively). The width of the central peak is close to the capillary diameter. At the same time the synchrotron radiation concentration increased by more than one hundred times. Analysis shows that the capillary lens acts in many respects as a macroscopic crystal. The observed effect is accounted for by wave theory. This phenomenon may have important practical effects in many fields.

Field of study: Physics
Sparse Boolean equations and circuit lattices

A system of Boolean equations is called sparse if each equation depends on a small number of variables. Finding efficiently solutions to the system is an underlying hard problem in the cryptanalysis of modern ciphers. In this paper we study new properties of the Agreeing Algorithm, which was earlier designed to solve such equations. Then we show that mathematical description of the Algorithm is translated straight into the language of electric wires and switches. Applications to the DES and the Triple DES are discussed. The new approach, at least theoretically, allows a faster key-rejecting in brute-force than with COPACOBANA.

Field of study: Computer science, Mathematics
pH 6.68--surviving severe metformin intoxication.

Metformin, a widely used anti-diabetic agent of the biguanide family, although generally safe,1,2,3,4 holds the risk of developing a potentially lethal acidosis.5,6

The association between lactic acidosis and metformin is well-established but rarely seen in patients taking this medication.7 Its elimination relies solely on kidneys’ excretion,8 so its accumulation is feasible in just two circumstances: renal failure (RF) and acute overdosage.

At normal dosage, a toxic accumulation of drug requires time after the development of RF, due to metformin high clearance. About 90% of the drug is eliminated by glomerular filtration and tubular secretion (serum half-life of 1.5–5 h). Moreover, RF is itself associated with acidosis as it impairs kidneys’ ability to excrete protons. Acute intoxication on the other hand is a viable option in those cases where renal function is normal and can correlate with a psychiatric disorder.

The mechanism thought to be responsible for lactic acidosis is suppression of gluconeogenesis forming lactate, pyruvate, glycerol and amino acids leading to lactate accumulation,9 a risk that is increased by either chronic or acute RF (ARF). Usually hyperlactatemia is the most common finding leaving lactic acidosis for the most severe intoxications.

A 47-year-old, apparently previously fit, non-insulin-dependent diabetic male was brought to the Emergency Department for hypoglycemia, agitation and hyperventilation. Ambulance crew found blood glucose level at 1.33 mmol/l (24 mg/dl) and administered 20 ml of 33% glucose solution followed by other 250 ml at 5%. At the arrival in the Emergency Room, the patient was confused and agitated with no signs of respiratory distress or shock.

Arterial blood gases (ABG) and laboratory tests are summarized in Table 1 and show a clear clinical presentation of acute metabolic acidosis of unknown etiology with respiratory compensation, as a result …

Field of study: Medicine
Elicited responding in chain schedules.

An omission procedure was employed to study elicited pecking in the first component of a two-component chain schedule. Both components were fixed-interval schedules correlated with colored keylights. The first response following the initial-link schedule produced a second fixed-interval schedule. We studied several fixed-interval lengths in two conditions: a standard response-dependent condition and an omission-contingent condition. The omission-contingent condition differed from the response-dependent condition in that responses during the initial fixed interval terminated the trial (omitting the terminal component and grain). If the terminal component was not omitted, a response following the terminal link's requirement produced 4-s access to grain. Pigeons responded during more than 70% of the initial links in the omission-contingent condition and responded during more than 90% of the initial links in the response-dependent condition. In general, rates of responding were consistent with the percentage data. The responding in the omission condition suggests that there may be elicited pecking, in chain schedules using pigeons, that is not the result of contingent conditioned reinforcement.

Field of study: Biology, Psychology
Clonging,Expression Analysis and Genetic Transformation of XRN2 Gene in Tomato

To understand the function of XRN2 gene in tomato,the full length SlXRN2 cDNA was amplified by RT-PCR from tomato mix cDNAs.Expression analysis results showed that SlXRN2 expressed the highest in tomato roots.The expression of XRN2 gene could be up-regulated by wound stress on the leaves.Then SlXRN2 gene driven by the constitutive promoter CaMV35S was directed cloning into plant expression vector pCambia1301-35S,named as pCambia1301-35S-XRN2 and pCambia1301-35S-AsXRN2.Transgenic tomato lines were obtained via agrobacterium-mediated transformation,which would provide significant evidence for further study of XRN2 function in tomato

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Effect of Supervisory Evaluation on Counselor Trainees' Anxiety

Counselor trainees frequently state that a counseling interview is more anxietyproducing when the interview is tape-recorded or evaluated by a practicum supervisor. A recent study (Bowman & Roberts, 1979) which assessed physiological and subjective measures of anxiety by experienced employment and rehabilitation counselors enrolled in an inservice practicum in counseling did not support this contention. Because the counselors' previous counseling experience might serve to reduce anxiety, the purpose of this study was to determine if tape recording or supervisory evaluation affected physiological and subjective anxiety levels of counselor trainees who had no previous counseling experience. Subjects were 14 female and 5 male counselor trainees enrolled in a graduate practicum. GSR and self-reports of anxiety were measured during three stimulus conditions: reading; counseling and tape-recording; and counseling. tape-recording, and subsequent evaluation. A counseling anxiery scale was administered at posttest to tap subjects' recall of awareness of their anxiety at three points during the sessions. Testretest reliability was .91; validity coefficient with the Spielberger State-Anxiety Inventory was .50. Each subject participated in all three conditions which provided a repeated-measures design. Data were analyzed using within-subjects analysis of variance. For GSR no significant differences were found among conditions: means and standard deviations were for reading 7.81 and 5.11, for counseling/reading 7.84 and 4.57, and for counseling/ recording/evaluation 9.49 and 4.46. For self-reported recall significant differences were found among conditions (FZn30 = 17.91, f i < .001). Newman-Keuls follow-up tests indicated that counseling/recording ( M = 3.25, SD = 1.77) was subjectively more anxiety-producing than reading ( M = 1.97, SD = 1.25), while counseling/recording/ evaluation ( M = 4.11, SD = 2.08) was subjectively more anxiety-producing than the other conditions. As these data are not consistent with Bowman and Roberts' (1979) findings, some support may be inferred for the role of cot~nseling experience in reducing counselor trainees' subjective experience of anxiety.

Field of study: Psychology