nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Suicide in Bristol.

Coroners' inquisitions on 325 suicides committed during the period 1957-61 were examined.

Of these, 20 per cent. showed evidence of physical ill health and in 50 cases this contributed towards the suicide.

There was a previous history of psychiatric illness in one-third of cases and 16 per cent. had already made suicidal attempts. In over two-thirds of the suicides there was evidence of some form of mental illness.

Two different syndromes were found; in one, suicide followed a long period of psychiatric disability, and in the other represented an early symptom of psychiatric illness, often undiagnosed.

Field of study: Medicine, Psychology
Crystal Structure and Thermoelectric Properties 
of Misfit-Layered Sulfides [Ln2S2]pNbS2 (Ln = Lanthanides)

Polycrystalline samples of misfit-layered sulfides [Ln2S2]pNbS2 (Ln = lanthanides) have been prepared using the CS2 sulfidation method. Except for Ln = Eu and Lu, single-phase samples were prepared. The compounds consist of an alternate stacking of a trigonal prism-type [NbS2] layer and a double-layered NaCl [rock salt (RS)]-type [Ln2S2] block, parallel to the c-axis. Three types of stacking modes of the [NbS2] layer and the RS-type block have been confirmed with a (3 + 1)-dimensional superspace group description: two face-centered orthorhombic structures and one face-centered monoclinic structure. Slightly cation-deficient samples with Ln = Yb exhibit the highest Seebeck coefficient S ≈ 59 μV/K. With electrical resistivity of $$\rho = 1.4 \,\hbox{m}{\Upomega}$$ρ=1.4mΩ cm and thermal conductivity of κ = 0.69 W/Km, this yields a dimensionless figure of merit of ZT = 0.11 at 300 K.

Field of study: Materials science
Atrazine biodegradation modulated by clays and clay/humic acid complexes.

The fate of pesticides in the environment is strongly related to the soil sorption processes that control not only their transfer but also their bioavailability. Cationic (Ca-bentonite) and anionic (Layered Double Hydroxide) clays behave towards the ionisable pesticide atrazine (AT) sorption with opposite tendencies: a noticeable sorption capacity for the first whereas the highly hydrophilic LDH showed no interactions with AT. These clays were modified with different humic acid (HA) contents. HA sorbed on the clay surface and increased AT interactions. The sorption effect on AT biodegradation and on its metabolite formation was studied with Pseudomonas sp. ADP. The biodegradation rate was greatly modulated by the material's sorption capacity and was clearly limited by the desorption rate. More surprisingly, it increased dramatically with LDH. Adsorption of bacterial cells on clay particles facilitates the degradation of non-sorbed chemical, and should be considered for predicting pesticide fate in the environment.

Field of study: Environmental science
Probability of Precipitation: Assessment and Enhancement of End-User Understanding

The results of three psychological studies suggest that many people did not understand probability of precipitation (PoP) despite the fact that participants were college undergraduates in the Pacific Northwest, an area with frequent precipitation forecasts. The misunderstanding concerned the class of events to which the probability refers. The combined results reported here suggest that some participants thought that the percentage, indicating chance of precipitation, referred instead to the proportion of area or time that precipitation would be observed. More participants chose to take an umbrella or wear a hooded jacket who mistakenly interpreted the forecast as indicating precipitation for more than half of the area or time as compared to those who do not hold this misunderstanding. In addition, performance only improved significantly when PoP was accompanied by a phrase expressing the probability of no precipitation. This suggests a deep-seated misunderstanding that converts the probabilistic...

Field of study: Environmental science
Oblique surface waves at an interface between a metal–dielectric superlattice and an isotropic dielectric

We investigate the existence and dispersion characteristics of surface waves that propagate at an interface between a metal–dielectric superlattice and an isotropic dielectric. Within the long-wavelength limit, when the effective-medium (EM) approximation is valid, the superlattice behaves like a uniaxial plasmonic crystal with the main optical axes perpendicular to the metal–dielectric interfaces. We demonstrate that if such a semi-infinite plasmonic crystal is cut normally to the layer interfaces and brought into contact with a semi-infinite dielectric, a new type of surface mode can appear. Such modes can propagate obliquely to the optical axes if favorable conditions regarding the thickness of the layers and the dielectric permittivities of the constituent materials are met. We show that losses within the metallic layers can be substantially reduced by making the layers sufficiently thin. At the same time, a dramatic enlargement of the range of angles for oblique propagation of the new surface modes is observed. This can lead, however, to field non-locality and consequently to failure of the EM approximation.

Field of study: Physics
Improving Drug Benefits for Children with Asthma: Results of a Multi-stakeholder Workshop to Build a Research Agenda.

Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease, and evidence suggests that children underutilize inhaled corticosteroid ("controller") medications. Drug plans that provide benefits to children vary widely across Canada, and families may face high out-of-pocket costs. As an initial step in a knowledge exchange process aimed at motivating relevant research, a workshop was convened in March 2007 with diverse stakeholders to explore potential research topics within the theme of improving drug benefits for Canadian children with asthma. Six key challenges for further investigation were identified: (1) changing the perception of asthma from an episodic to a chronic disease, (2) improving diagnosis and management, (3) increasing intersectoral communication, (4) improving the quality of data, (5) developing better drug benefit plans and (6) practising more effective advocacy.

Field of study: Medicine, Political science
Effect of ammonium and acetate on methanogenic pathway and methanogenic community composition.

Methanogenesis from acetate (aceticlastic methanogenesis or syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO) coupled with hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis) is the most important step for the biogas process. The major environmental factors influencing methanogenesis are volatile fatty acids, ammonia, pH, and temperature. In our study, the effect of acetate and ammonia concentration on the methanogenic pathway from acetate and on the methanogenic communities was elucidated in two experiments: one where inocula were gradually exposed to increasing concentrations of acetate or ammonia, and another with direct exposure to different ammonia concentrations. The methanogenic pathway was determined by following the production of (14) CH(4) and (14) CO(2) from acetate labeled in the methyl group (C-2). Microbial communities' composition was determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Upon acclimatization to acetate and ammonia, thermophilic cultures clearly shifted their acetate bioconversion pathway from SAO with subsequent hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis (mediated by Methanobacteriales spp. and/or Methanomicrobiales spp.) to aceticlastic methanogenesis (mediated by Methanosarcinaceae spp.). On the contrary, acclimatization process resulted in no pathway shift with the mesophilic acclimatized culture. When nonacclimatized thermophilic culture was exposed to high ammonia levels (7 g NH4 +-N L(-1)), aceticlastic Methanosarcinaceae spp. was found to be the dominant methanogen.

Field of study: Biology, Environmental science
Ionic conduction and dielectric properties of anhydrous alkali metal salt forms of α-zirconium phosphate

Electric and dielectric properties of polycrystalline samples of α-layered Zr(MPO4)2 with M = Li, Na, K, were investigated between 150 and 350°C by complex-impedance measurements, at frequencies ranging from 5 Hz to 10 MHz. With increasing ionic radius of the counter-ion conductivities increase approximately from 10-8 to 10-5 ω-1 cm-1, while activation energies decrease from 21.5 to 15.6 kcal/mol. The conductivity dependence on the relative density (ϱr) of the polycrystalline samples was also investigated. It was found that the conductivity increments are proportionately higher than the corresponding ϱr increments, indicating the presence of a prevalent grain-boundary conduction. The dielectric constant of the investigated materials was derived by inverting the impedance data. The frequency dependence of the real part of the dielectric constant shows the presence of a relaxation, whose time constant is independent of ϱr; suggestions about its physical origin are made. Finally, an electrical equivalent circuit, which is able to accurately model the impedance and dielectric-constant, was derived.

Field of study: Materials science
Ticket-based handoff authentication for wireless mesh networks

Due to the convenience of deployment and maintenance, wireless mesh networks (WMNs) have emerged as key techniques to support large-scale wireless coverage in both industrial and academic fields. Secure and seamless handoff is important to support mobility in WMNs. There are many existing works can be adopted to reduce the handoff latency, However, all these schemes require modifications to the original authentication protocols (e.g., different key architectures or trust relationships). In this paper, we propose a design based on ticket to achieve fast and secure handoff in WMNs. By pre-distributing the tickets to mesh client, the mesh client and the target mesh router can authenticate each other and establish temporary connection. Our scheme can be regarded as a supplementary specialized for handoff in WMNs, and no modification is required to the IEEE 802.1x authentication architecture. We achieve seamless handoff by using symmetric key operations and eliminating the involvement of a third party, which significantly reduces the computation and communication overheads. The security and performance analysis shows that our scheme is efficient in terms of security, computation overhead and handoff latency.

Field of study: Computer science
Aetiological overlap between obsessive–compulsive related and anxiety disorder symptoms: Multivariate twin study

The aetiological boundary between obsessive–compulsive related disorders (OCRDs) including obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders is unclear and continues to generate debate.  To determine the genetic overlap and the pattern of causal relationships among OCRDs and anxiety disorders.  Multivariate twin modelling methods and a new regression analysis to infer causation were used, involving 2495 male and female twins.  The amount of common genetic liability observed for OCD symptoms was higher when considering anxiety disorders and OCRDs in the model v. modelling OCRD symptoms alone. OCD symptoms emerged as risk factors for the presence of generalised anxiety, panic and hoarding symptoms, whereas social phobia appeared as a risk factor for OCD symptoms.  OCD represents a complex phenotype that includes important shared features with anxiety disorders and OCRDs. The novel patterns of risk identified between OCD and anxiety disorder may help to explain their frequent co-occurrence.

Field of study: Medicine, Psychology
Genetic Diversity in Saccharum spontaneum L.Based on ISSR Markers

In order to analyze the genetic diversity of Chinese S.spontaneum L.,a toatal of 52 S.spontaneum L.was used and ISSR markers were apllied.With 22 ISSR primers,127 loci were detected among which 121 were polymorphic,indicating considerable genetic variations at the species level.The genetic similarity among all accessions was ranged from 0.60 to 0.91.The 52 S.spontaneum L.were clustered into four groups by UPGMA when GSC was 0.72.The study indicated that ISSR produced high polymorphism on S.spontaneum L.and could be used in the study of the molecular evaluation and studies of genetic diversity of the S.spontaneum L.germplasm.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
The Intellectual in Twentieth-Century Southern Literature by Tara Powell (review)

searing critique of so-called precision warfare in the post-9/11 period. His analysis of soldier testimony reveals the long-lasting effects of warfare that, with its cluster bombs and depleted uranium (whose half-life is 4.51 billion years), is anything but precise. The human and environmental costs of precision warfare are enormous, Nixon shows, and he offers us the disturbing facts that the United States and its allies dropped 24 million cluster munitions on Iraq alone in 1991 and that Afghanistan is the "most heavily mined nation" in the world (225). Here, Nixon provides a particularly convincing account of slow violence. "In the aftermath of war," he writes, "political changes occur far faster than environmental recovery. There remains little incentive for an administration to spend taxpayer money cleaning up lethal detritus left behind in far-off countries from a predecessor's war" (228). The chapter's conclusion has import for both literary studies and contemporary geopolitics. "We should be campaigning for a universal ban on both airand surface-delivered cluster bombs," he advocates, while, as critics and writers, we should also be seeking "new ways to tell the slow-moving stories about the long dying" (232). The final chapter of Slow Violence glosses the critique of firstwave ecocriticism for its "parochialism" and North America-centric canon (234–35). Nixon here faults bioregionalist writers and critics in the United States for perpetuating a center-periphery model. Although he sees merits in bioregionalism (highlighting throughout Slow Violence both the local and global senses of place found in writers like Saro-Wiwa and Maathai), Nixon calls on environmental literary studies to deepen its "international dimension" (243). His crucial point here is that ecocriticism must broaden both the field's canon and its critical-theoretical paradigms so as to make visible the relationships among subnational cultures and communities, nation states, and transnational interests that together shape the life's work of writer-activists like Saro-Wiwa.

Field of study: Art
A mesoscale model intercomparison

An intercomparison of four mesoscale numerical prediction models that could lead to the selection of a model for use in the theater of operations by United States Air Force (USAF) meteorological personnel is described. Mesoscale numerical prediction models have matured, and recent advances in computer hardware make this a realizable objective. Two studies were launched to determine if a mesoscale model could be used operationally in theater and to select the model that produced the best forecast under simulated operational conditions. Of prime concern was not whether the model could produce reliable forecasts in data-rich areas, but how well the models operated and thus produced forecasts in data-sparse areas. The first study did an overall review of the available mesoscale numerical weather prediction models resulting in a general ranking of the models by expected forecast ability and operational maturity. At the conclusion of this study it became apparent that a more in-depth analysis was neede...

Field of study: Environmental science
Corporate Customers' Adoption of Internet Banking: Case of Klang Valley Business Firm in Malaysia

This paper summarizes academic literature on Internet banking drivers and found that there is a need to conduct research on corporate customer Internet banking adoption behaviour. The empirical data were collected from a questionnaire survey of 223 business firms selected from the telephone directory in Klang Valley area in Malaysia. This study examines the relationship between Internet banking adoption and its six factors, namely awareness, ease of use, security, cost, reluctance to change and accessibility. The results of this study show that four factors examined are significantly important to the adoption of Internet banking. However, perceive ease of use and reluctant to change are found to be insignificant in determining its adoption. This study provides insightful understanding of corporate customer’s perception about Internet banking adoption in their banking transactions. Banks are interested in promoting online business may find these findings helpful in guiding their efforts.

Field of study: Business
THE INITIAL CRACK SPACE OF PRESSURE TUNNEL CONCRETE LININGS IN NON-HOMOGENEOUS ROCK MASS

It is generally found that the spaces between initial cracks in the concrete linings of pressure tunnels are not the same in non-homogeneous rock mass,and the positions of these cracks can be distributed in a random manner.A numerical method is presented which is capable of determining the locations of the initial cracks under critical inner water pressure,the feasibility of which is verified through a comparison analysis of a prototype test.The Influence of typical geological conditions upon the location of the first crack has been analyzed.Parametric analyses have been conducted to investigate the characteristics of the space between initial cracks in the linings of pressure tunnel taking into account the influence of cracking induced stress release.It is found that under same rock mass conditions,the number of initial cracks in linings decreases as the tunnel diameter grows larger,while the tunnel diameter remains the same,the number of initial cracks in linings would be relatively small in the situation of non-homogeneous rock mass in comparison with the case under a homogeneous rock mass condition.Also it is found that the number of initial cracks in concrete linings for all the conditions considered in this paper ranges from 1 to 4,which is relatively small and can be attributed to the low value of average tangential stress between the lining and surrounding rock,about 0.05MPa,as well as the effect of a large stress release region induced by the cracking within the lining.

Field of study: Engineering
Dynamic Error in Magnetization Reversal due to Incoherent Switching of Nanomagnets with Strain and Spin Torque

Spin torque generated via the Spin Hall effect, and modulation of stress anisotropy of magnetostrictive nanomagnets with strain, offer two extremely energy-efficient methods of magnetization reversal. The reversal process, however, is often governed by incoherent switching dynamics that determines the error probability when switching in the presence of thermal noise at room temperature. Stochastic micromagnetic simulations are used to calculate, understand and compare energy dissipation and switching error probabilities in these two important magnetization switching methodologies.

Field of study: Physics
Feasibility of using PFC3D to simulate soil flow resulting from a simple soil-engaging tool.

PFC 3D is a discrete element modeling tool that has been used for simulations of soil-tool interaction in agriculture. However, existing studies have mainly focused on simulations of soil cutting forces, not soil flow. In this study, a soil-tool model was developed using the parallel bond model (PBM) of PFC 3D to determine if the model could be used to simulate the soil flow characteristics resulting from a simple soil-engaging tool while satisfying the draft force prediction accuracy. In the simulations, soil was modeled as spherical particles with bonds between particles. The model outputs examined were the two most important soil dynamic properties: thrown-soil and draft force. By examining the effects of model microproperties on the simulated thrown-soil and draft force, we found that the feasible ranges of the model microproperties were: 1e4 to 5e6 Pa for the modulus of elasticity of particle, 1e5 to 1e8 Pa for the modulus of elasticity of bond, 1e4 to 1e5 Pa for bond strength, 0.3 to 0.7 for local damping coefficient, and 0 to 1.0 for viscous damping coefficient. For simulation of soil-tool interactions, the model microproperties should be selected within these feasible ranges. Otherwise, the behavior of the model particles would not reflect the behavior of real soil. Within these feasible ranges, the model outputs were influenced the most by the modulus of particle elasticity; the other model microproperties had little impact on the model outputs. Soil cutting tests were conducted in a sandy loam soil to evaluate the soil-tool model. The results showed that a modulus of particle elasticity of 2.5e5 Pa resulted in a good match between the simulated and measured draft forces. However, with this modulus, the simulated thrown-soil was significantly lower than the measured value. Further investigations showed that it may not be possible to match the simulated and measured thrown-soil using the PBM of PFC 3D . Therefore, redefining the constitutive laws of particle contacts would be required to improve the accuracy of the model for simulations of soil flow behavior.

Field of study: Agricultural and Food sciences
Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction study of the catalytic subunit of archaeal H+ -transporting ATP synthase from Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3.

H+ -transporting ATP synthase (H+ -ATPase) is a multi-subunit complex which acts to produce ATP molecules. The catalytic subunit A of the archaeal-type H+ -ATPase from Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 was cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli, purified and crystallized by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method with MPD as a precipitant. X-ray intensity data were collected to 2.55 A resolution at beamline BL41XU of SPring-8. The crystals belong to the tetragonal space group P4(1)2(1)2 or P4(3)2(1)2, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 128.0, c = 104.7 A, and contain one molecule per asymmetric unit.

Field of study: Chemistry
CRISPR-Cas9-Mediated Silencing of CD44 in Human Highly Metastatic Osteosarcoma Cells

Metastasis is the major cause of death in patients with osteosarcoma. There is an urgent need to identify molecular markers that promote metastasis. Cluster of differentiation 44 is a receptor for hyaluronic acid (HA) and HA-binding has been proven to participate in various biological tumor activities, including tumor progression and metastasis.  We performed a meta-analysis to investigate the relationship between CD44 expression, survival, and metastasis in patients with osteosarcoma. We then utilized the CRISPR-Cas9 system to specifically silence CD44 in highly metastatic human osteosarcoma cells (MNNG/HOS and 143B) and further determined the functional effects of CD44 knockout in these cells.  The meta-analysis demonstrated that a high level of CD44 may predict poor survival and higher potential of metastasis in patients with osteosarcoma. The expression of CD44 in highly metastatic human osteosarcoma cell lines was efficiently blocked by CRISPR-Cas9. When CD44 was silenced, the proliferation and spheroid formation of these osteosarcoma cells was inhibited under 3-D culture conditions. Furthermore, the migratory and invasive functions were also impaired in these highly metastatic osteosarcoma cells.  These results suggest that developing new strategies to target CD44 in osteosarcoma may prevent metastasis and improve the clinical outcome of osteosarcoma patients.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry
Mimicking Cox-Regression

A class of objective functions, related to the Cox partial likelihood, that generates unbiased estimating equations is proposed. These equations allow for estimation of interest parameters when nuisance parameters are proportional to expectations. Examples of the objective functions are applied to binary data with a log-link in three situations: independent observations, independent groups of observations with common random intercept and discrete survival data. It is pointed out that the Peto–Breslow approximation to the partial likelihood with discrete failure times fits a conditional model with a log-link.

Field of study: Mathematics