nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
De novo synthesis and accumulation of apoplastic proteins in leaves of heavy metal-exposed barley seedlings

The leaf apoplast is a site of preferential accumulation of heavy metals in the shoot when barley seedlings are grown in the presence of cadmium, nickel or zinc in hydroponic medium. It was shown recently that apoplastic protein content increased concomitantly in plants grown in the presence of high Zn (Brune et al. 1994, Journal Experimental Botany 45, 1189). Here it is demonstrated that apoplastic proteins increase to an even greater extent in Ni-treated plants, and that the response is intermediate for Cd-treated plants. The paper focuses on possible causes for the increase in apoplastic proteins. (1) Synthesis of cell wall proteins was studied by in vivo pulse labelling of leaf proteins with 35S methionine followed by extraction of extracellular polypeptides. Depending on growth conditions and leaf age, 1–6% of the protein synthesized de novo in the leaf was allocated to the extractable protein fraction of the leaf apoplast. Under control conditions, labelling reached its maximum after 2 h; labelling continued to rise in Ni-treated plants, where the maximum level of final labelling was reached only after several hours. Labelling decreased with leaf age and increased proportionally with Ni concentration in the nutrient solution. (2) Autolysis experiments on extracted apoplastic proteins and in situ digestion of infiltrated ovalbumin revealed a low proteolytic activity in the apoplast which was not altered in heavy metal-treated leaves. (3) Following a sudden application of Ni to the growth medium, protein content and peroxidase activity increased with a 48 h delay and approached the level obtained for continuously Ni-treated plants, even in previously fully expanded leaf tissue. It is concluded that altered cell wall structure is probably not involved in increasing the extraction yield of apoplastic proteins. (4) The increase in extractable apoplastic proteins was also not due to inhibited ionical or covalent immobilization of proteins in the cell wall matrix of heavy metal-challenged plants. (5) Northern blotting revealed heavy metalinduced upregulation of mRNA levels of selected apoplastic proteins. Taken together, the data provide evidence for a transcriptional or translational level of regulation as the main cause of the strong response of apoplastic proteins to heavy metal stress.

Field of study: Environmental science
The second language lexicon: some evidence from university-level learners of French and German

A widely held view among psycholinguists is that the L2 mental lexicon is qualitatively different from the L, mental lexicon - more 'phonological' and more 'loosely organized'. In this paper we present some C-test-elicited data from the pilot phase of the Trinity College Dublin Modern Languages Project which call the above view into question. Our data suggest that the way in which words are processed depends not on the status (L1 or L2) of the language of which they are tokens, but rather on the degree of difficulty of the lexical task concerned. Our data further suggest that there is some measure of interaction between L, and L2 lexical processing.

Field of study: Linguistics
Acceleration of spherical targets by laser and ion beams with time-profiled parameters

An analytic solution is obtained of the problem of acceleration of spherical targets (microbubbles) by laser and ion beams with time-profiled parameters. A study is made of several cases of a profiled radiation flux and its frequency (ion energy) which ensures that energy deposition in a target is most effective from the point of view of attainment of specific parameters of a compressed thermonuclear fusion fuel.

Field of study: Engineering, Physics
A general method for calculating the optimal leaf longevity from the viewpoint of carbon economy

According to the viewpoint of the optimal strategy theory, a tree is expected to shed its leaves when they no longer contribute to maximisation of net carbon gain. Several theoretical models have been proposed in which a tree was assumed to strategically shed an old deteriorated leaf to develop a new leaf. We mathematically refined an index used in a previous theoretical model [Kikuzawa ( 1991)] so that the index is exactly proportional to a tree’s lifelong net carbon gain. We also incorporated a tree’s strategy that determines the timing of leaf expansion, and examined three kinds of strategies. Specifically, we assumed that a new leaf is expanded (1) immediately after shedding of an old leaf, (2) only at the beginning of spring, or (3) immediately after shedding of an old leaf if the shedding occurs during a non-winter season and at the beginning of spring otherwise. We derived a measure of optimal leaf longevity maximising the value of an appropriate index reflecting total net carbon gain and show that use of this index yielded results that are qualitatively consistent with empirical records. The model predicted that expanding a new leaf at the beginning of spring than immediately after shedding usually yields higher carbon gain, and combined strategy of the immediate replacement and the spring flushing earned the highest gain. In addition, our numerical analyses suggested that multiple flushing seen in a few species of subtropical zones can be explained in terms of carbon economy.

Field of study: Biology, Mathematics
LINE Insertion Polymorphisms are Abundant but at Low Frequencies across Populations of Anolis carolinensis

Vertebrate genomes differ considerably in size and structure. Among the features that show the most variation is the abundance of Long Interspersed Nuclear Elements (LINEs). Mammalian genomes contain 100,000s LINEs that belong to a single clade, L1, and in most species a single family is usually active at a time. In contrast, non-mammalian vertebrates (fish, amphibians and reptiles) contain multiple active families, belonging to several clades, but each of them is represented by a small number of recently inserted copies. It is unclear why vertebrate genomes harbor such drastic differences in LINE composition. To address this issue, we conducted whole genome resequencing to investigate the population genomics of LINEs across 13 genomes of the lizard Anolis carolinensis sampled from two geographically and genetically distinct populations in the Eastern Florida and the Gulf Atlantic regions of the United States. We used the Mobile Element Locator Tool to identify and genotype polymorphic insertions from five major clades of LINEs (CR1, L1, L2, RTE and R4) and the 41 subfamilies that constitute them. Across these groups we found large variation in the frequency of polymorphic insertions and the observed length distributions of these insertions, suggesting these groups vary in their activity and how frequently they successfully generate full-length, potentially active copies. Though we found an abundance of polymorphic insertions (over 45,000) most of these were observed at low frequencies and typically appeared as singletons. Site frequency spectra for most LINEs showed a significant shift toward low frequency alleles compared to the spectra observed for total genomic single nucleotide polymorphisms. Using Tajima’s D, FST and the mean number of pairwise differences in LINE insertion polymorphisms, we found evidence that negative selection is acting on LINE families in a length-dependent manner, its effects being stronger in the larger Eastern Florida population. Our results suggest that a large effective population size and negative selection limit the expansion of polymorphic LINE insertions across these populations and that the probability of LINE polymorphisms reaching fixation is extremely low.

Field of study: Biology
No. 12249. United States of America and Mexico

Exchange of notes constituting an agreement between the united states of america and mexico confirming the agreement to eradicate screwworms signed at mexico city on 28 august 1972. Mexico city, 28 august 1972 and tlatelolco, 28 august 1972 [united nations, treaty series, vol. 853, i-12249.]

Field of study: Political science
Influence of occupant’s behavior on heating needs and energy system performance: A case of well-insulated detached houses in cold climates

Modeling simplification related to occupant’s behavior is a major cause of gap between actual and model’s predicted energy use of buildings. This paper aims to identify those parameters of realistic occupants-related heat gains that actually cause this gap. The investigation therefore, systematically distinguishes the occupant behavior using three behavior parameters, namely: the occupancy behavior, the appliance use behavior and the family size. The effect of these parameters is investigated on a building for two different insulation standards using heat pump as energy supply system. The results identifies the occupancy patterns and the household size as two major parameters that explains a large portion of the gap between actual and model’s predicted energy use of the building. Results further show that variation in household sizes is an important parameter to understand the variation in the actual energy use for similar buildings. The study also shows a clear influence of occupant’s behavior on the performance of heat pumps and pinpoints the variations in share of space heating needs compared to domestic hot water needs as a major cause for this influence. Sensitivity of findings is tested against building thermal mass and condensing gas boiler. Analysis shows no significant variations in the conclusions. The study therefore concludes that using identified parameters in modeling practices can contribute to improve the prediction of actual energy use of buildings.

Field of study: Engineering
The Sea Urchin-shaped CaCO3 via Template Mineralization on Surface-functionalized Vaterite Particles by Tiopronin-protected Gold Nanoparticles

The sea urchin-shaped particles of CaCO 3 , i.e., spherical vaterite covered with needle-shaped aragonite, were formed by template mineralization of CaCO 3 in the presence of the anionic gold nanoparticles modified spherical vaterite in water.

Field of study: Chemistry
Synthesis of chlorine-substituted naphtho- and benzisoindolinium salts by base-catalyzed intramolecular cyclization of ammonium salts

It was shown that ammonium salts containing a propargyl group together with 3-α-naphthyl-2,3-dichloroallyl or 3-p-tolyl-2,3-dichloroallyl groups undergo cyclization-dehydrochlorination in an aqueous alkaline medium, forming chlorine-substituted naphthisoindolinium and benzisoindolinium salts. If the 3-phenylpropargyl and 3-p-tolyl-2,3-dichloroallyl groups are both present in the molecule of the ammonium salt the latter group enters exclusively into cyclization as diene fragment.

Field of study: Chemistry
Photon-assisted tunneling at the atomic scale: Probing resonant Andreev reflections from Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states

Tunneling across superconducting junctions proceeds by a rich variety of processes, which transfer single electrons, Cooper pairs, or even larger numbers of electrons by multiple Andreev reflections. Photon-assisted tunneling combined with the venerable Tien-Gordon model has long been a powerful tool to identify tunneling processes between superconductors. Here, we probe superconducting tunnel junctions including an impurity-induced Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) state by exposing a scanning tunneling microscope with a superconducting tip to microwave radiation. We find that a simple Tien-Gordon description describes tunneling of single electrons and Cooper pairs into the bare substrate, but breaks down for tunneling via YSR states by resonant Andreev reflections. We develop an improved theoretical description which is in excellent agreement with the data. Our results establish photon-assisted tunneling as a powerful tool to analyze tunneling processes at the atomic scale which should be particularly informative for unconventional and topological superconductors.

Field of study: Physics
The andalusian stage (late miocene): Biostratigraphy, biochronology and paleoecology

The foraminiferal and calcareous nannoplankton biostratigraphy and paleoecology of the Andalusian stratotype section, western Guadalquivir Basin, SW Spain, have been studied. About 125 foraminiferal (95 benthonic, 30 planktonic) and 29 calcareous nannoplankton taxa are recorded from the section which spans the Late Miocene to the earliest Pliocene. The base of the Andalusian coincides with the calcareous nannoplankton Discoaster calcaris/Discoaster quinqueramus (NN10/NN11) Zone boundary and is within the planktonic foraminiferal Globorotalia plesiotumida (N17) Zone. The Andalusian spans the time interval of approximately 9 to 5 m.y. and is correlative with the mid-Tortonian through Messinian stages. The Tortonian/Messinian boundary, denoted by the first indication of a marked faunal change due to eustatic sea level occurs about 50 m below the Caliza Tosca and is dated here at about 6.5 m.y. The base of the Caliza Tosca is correlated with the base of the main evaporitic sequence of the upper Messinian Stage in the Mediterranean and dated at about 5.5 m.y. here. Analysis of the benthonic foraminiferal fauna and the P/B ratio reveal a distinct decrease in bathymetry between the bottom and top of the section. The basal part of the sequence was deposited in a middle bathyal environment (water depths of 600–1000 m), the middle part of the section in upper bathyal depths (200–600 m), with a distinct tendency towards sequential shallowing in the upper part, immediately below the Caliza Tosca, from about 300 m to less than 100 m. The Caliza Tosca, a detrital calcarenite, was probably deposited in water depths no greater than 20–30 m. Within a short distance (40 m) above the top of the Caliza Tosca the basal Pliocene fauna indicates that water depth was similar to that somewhat below the Caliza Tosca, i.e., about 175–200 m. The estimated change in water depths from about 70–100 m to about 20–30 m within the upper part of the Andalusian indicate that a significant eustatic fall in sea level (estimated on the basis of oxygen isotope data in SW Pacific cores to have been about 40 m) may have occurred rather abruptly about 5.5 m.y. ago. The base of the Caliza Tosca in SW Spain and the base of the main evaporite sequence in the Mediterranean are probably reflections of a sudden eustatic sea-level fall, the former in a basin which maintained open connections with the Atlantic, the latter in a basin which temporarily lost connection with the Atlantic and became a basin of interior drainage and evaporation. The implications of this data from the Andalusian stratotype section are significant for understanding Late Miocene historical geology.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
Pleiotropic Meta-Analyses of Longitudinal Studies Discover Novel Genetic Variants Associated with Age-Related Diseases

Age-related diseases may result from shared biological mechanisms in intrinsic processes of aging. Genetic effects on age-related diseases are often modulated by environmental factors due to their little contribution to fitness or are mediated through certain endophenotypes. Identification of genetic variants with pleiotropic effects on both common complex diseases and endophenotypes may reveal potential conflicting evolutionary pressures and deliver new insights into shared genetic contribution to healthspan and lifespan. Here, we performed pleiotropic meta-analyses of genetic variants using five NIH-funded datasets by integrating univariate summary statistics for age-related diseases and endophenotypes. We investigated three groups of traits: (1) endophenotypes such as blood glucose, blood pressure, lipids, hematocrit, and body mass index, (2) time-to-event outcomes such as the age-at-onset of diabetes mellitus (DM), cancer, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), and (3) both combined. In addition to replicating previous findings, we identify seven novel genome-wide significant loci (< 5e-08), out of which five are low-frequency variants. Specifically, from Group 2, we find rs7632505 on 3q21.1 in SEMA5B, rs460976 on 21q22.3 (1 kb from TMPRSS2) and rs12420422 on 11q24.1 predominantly associated with a variety of CVDs, rs4905014 in ITPK1 associated with stroke and heart failure, rs7081476 on 10p12.1 in ANKRD26 associated with multiple diseases including DM, CVDs, and NDs. From Group 3, we find rs8082812 on 18p11.22 and rs1869717 on 4q31.3 associated with both endophenotypes and CVDs. Our follow-up analyses show that rs7632505, rs4905014, and rs8082812 have age-dependent effects on coronary heart disease or stroke. Functional annotation suggests that most of these SNPs are within regulatory regions or DNase clusters and in linkage disequilibrium with expression quantitative trait loci, implying their potential regulatory influence on the expression of nearby genes. Our mediation analyses suggest that the effects of some SNPs are mediated by specific endophenotypes. In conclusion, these findings indicate that loci with pleiotropic effects on age-related disorders tend to be enriched in genes involved in underlying mechanisms potentially related to nervous, cardiovascular and immune system functions, stress resistance, inflammation, ion channels and hematopoiesis, supporting the hypothesis of shared pathological role of infection, and inflammation in chronic age-related diseases.

Field of study: Biology
Validation of simplified dosimetry approaches in ⁸⁹Zr-PET/CT: the use of manual versus semi-automatic delineation methods to estimate organ absorbed doses.

Increasing interest in immuno-positron emission tomography (PET) studies requires development of dosimetry methods which will provide accurate estimations of organ absorbed doses. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate simplified dosimetry approaches for (89)Zirconium-PET (Zr-PET)/computed tomography (CT) studies.



Five patients with advanced colorectal cancer received 37.1 ± 0.9 MBq (89)Zr-cetuximab within 2 h after administration of a therapeutic dose of 500 mg m(-2) cetuximab. PET/CT scans were obtained 1, 24, 48, 94, and 144 h post injection. Volumes of interest (VOIs) were manually delineated in lungs, liver, spleen, and kidneys for all scans, providing a reference VOI set. Simplified manual VOIs were drawn independently on CT scans using larger voxel sizes. The transformation of VOIs based on rigid and/or nonrigid registrations of the first CT scan (CT1) onto all successive CT scans was also investigated. The transformation matrix obtained from each registration was applied to the manual VOIs of CT₁ to obtain VOIs for the successive scans. Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and Hausdorff distance were used to assess the performance of the registrations. Organ total activity, organ absorbed dose, and effective dose were calculated for all methods.



Semi-automatic delineation based on nonrigid registration showed excellent agreement for lungs and liver (DSC: 0.90 ± 0.04; 0.81 ± 0.06) and good agreement for spleen and kidneys (DSC: 0.71 ± 0.07; 0.66 ± 0.08). Hausdorff distance ranged from 13 to 16 mm depending on the organ. Simplified manual delineation methods, in liver and lungs, performed similarly to semi-automatic delineation methods. For kidneys and spleen, however, poorer accuracy in total activity and absorbed dose was observed, as the voxel size increased. Organ absorbed dose and total activity based on nonrigid registration were within 10%. The effective dose was within ±3% for all VOI delineation methods.



A fast, semi-automatic, and accurate delineation method based on nonrigid registration was developed for determination of organ absorbed and effective dose in (89)Zr-PET/CT studies which may also be applied to other long-lived radionuclide PET/CT studies.

Field of study: Medicine, Physics
Manufacturing and testing of MCP 2212 bifilar coils for a 10 MVA fault current limiter

A very promising option within the German 10 kV/10 MVA superconducting fault current limiter project CURL 10 is melt cast processed (MCP-) BSCCO 2212 bulk material. With tube shaped samples cut to bifilar coils and contacted in series, the required long lengths (160 m per phase) can easily be achieved. At the operating temperature of T=65 K the critical current density is near 4000 A/cm/sup 2/ and the voltage under limiting conditions reaches E/sub p/=0.5 V/cm. The contribution describes the design, manufacturing and testing of the superconducting components. In particular the development and characterization of a suitable electrical shunt is focused. Finally the finished components are characterized with respect to electrical homogeneity and under various limiting conditions. It could be confirmed that the single components each meet all the requirements defined within the project.

Field of study: Physics
Charge and Heat Transfer Mechanism in Directly Coupled CdSe–Metal Nanohybrids

The charge and heat energy transfer dynamics of directly coupled mixtures of CdSe quantum dots with metal nanoparticles have been studied using thermal lens and photoluminescence (PL) techniques, respectively. The PL of such nanohybrids is found to be quenched dramatically at a particular threshold. Fluorescence decay curves of the Au–CdSe nanohybrids and Ag–CdSe nanohybrids show distinct decay channels with the fastest one associated with transfer of electrons from the CdSe portion to the metal portion. A study on the influence of this charge transfer on the thermal diffusivity with respect to the emission wavelength of quantum dots has been carried out, which could lead to the design of modern photocatalysts and solar cells constructed from nanoscale metal–semiconductor hybrids.

Field of study: Materials science
ESR studies of some nonbenzoid radical ions

Two classes of nonbenzoid compounds have been considered in this lecture: (1) nonalternant hydrocarbons, and (2) bridged [10]and [14]-annulenes. (1) The radical anion and cation of a nonalternant hydrocarbon should exhibit dissimilar e.s.r. spectra, in contrast to the two corresponding radical ions of an alternant system. This prediction of a simple MO model has been verified for four nonalternant compounds: acepleiadylene (I), acenaphth[ 1 ,2-a] acenaphthylene (II), acepleiadiene (III), and 3,5,8, 1 0-tetramethylcyclopenteno[ef]heptalene (IV). In all cases there is an excellent agreement between ex:periment and theory. (2) The degeneracies of both the lowest antibonding and the highest bonding perimeter orbitals are removed in a bridged [10]or [14]-annulene. The resulting energy sequence can be inferred from an MO perimeter model, if an adequate substituent effect is assumed for the bridging group. Since the e.s.r. spectra of the radical ions of bridged annulenes are determined by the energy sequence in question, they offer an experimental test of such an assumption. The substituent effect has been discussed for the bridging groups in 1,6methano[ lO]annulene (V), its iminoand oxido-analogues (VI and VII), syn-1,6: 8, 13-bisoxido[14] annulene (VIII), trans-15,16-dimethyl-15, 16-dihydropyrene (IX), and cyc1 [3,2,2] azine (X).  Electron spin resonance (e.s.r.) spectroscppy is a powerful tool for testing the reliability of current n-electron models. With the exception of a few cases, only minor changes in the n-electron structure result, when an electron is added to or removed from an extended aromatic system. The radical ions can therefore be described by the same kind of n-electron models as the parent neutral compounds, and the information extracted from the e.s.r. spectra of the radical ions will in general also be characteristic of the neutral compounds1·2. Since the benzoid compounds are readily available, and their radical ions usually enjoy a remarkable stability, numerous studies of such radicals have been reported. In contrast, the number of radical ions derived from nonbenzoid aromatics is relatively modest1. A few examples will be presented in this lecture which attempts to give some insight into the potential of e.s.r. spectroscopy in the sturlies of interesting 7t-electron systems.  The topics dealt with in this lecture have been recently reviewed in ref. 1.

Field of study: Chemistry