nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Oestrogens and temperature-dependent sex determination in reptiles: all is in the gonads.

In many species of oviparous reptiles, the first steps of gonadal sex differentiation depend on the incubation temperature of the eggs. Feminization of gonads by exogenous oestrogens at a male-producing temperature and masculinization of gonads by antioestrogens and aromatase inhibitors at a female-producing temperature have irrefutably demonstrated the involvement of oestrogens in ovarian differentiation. Nevertheless, several studies performed on the entire gonad/adrenal/mesonephros complex failed to find differences between male- and female-producing temperatures in oestrogen content, aromatase activity and aromatase gene expression during the thermosensitive period for sex determination. Thus, the key role of aromatase and oestrogens in the first steps of ovarian differentiation has been questioned, and extragonadal organs or tissues, such as adrenal, mesonephros, brain or yolk, were considered as possible targets of temperature and sources of the oestrogens acting on gonadal sex differentiation. In disagreement with this view, experiments and assays carried out on the gonads alone, i.e. separated from the adrenal/mesonephros, provide evidence that the gonads themselves respond to temperature shifts by modifying their sexual differentiation and are the site of aromatase activity and oestrogen synthesis during the thermosensitive period. Oestrogens act locally on both the cortical and the medullary part of the gonad to direct ovarian differentiation. We have concluded that there is no objective reason to search for the implication of other organs in the phenomenon of temperature-dependent sex determination in reptiles. From the comparison with data obtained in other vertebrates, we propose two main directions for future research: to examine how transcription of the aromatase gene is regulated and to identify molecular and cellular targets of oestrogens in gonads during sex differentiation, in species with strict genotypic sex determination and species with temperature-dependent sex determination.
The power of qualitative research in the era of social media

The electronic social media such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. have become a major form of communication, and the expression of attitudes and opinions, for the general public. Recently, they have also become a source of data for market researchers. This paper aims to provide a critical look at the advantages and limitations of such an approach to understanding brand perceptions and attitudes in the market place. Although the social media provide a wealth of data for automated content analyses, this review questions the validity and reliability of this research approach, and concludes that social media monitoring (SMM) is a poor substitute for in-depth qualitative research which has many advantages and benefits.  The paper presents a detailed, systematic comparison of various research approaches. These include well-established methods and recent inventions which are in use to explore and understand consumer behaviour and attitudes. Particular attention is given to the analysis of spontaneous consumer attitudes as expressed through the social media and also in qualitative research interviews.  This analysis concludes that there are three critical features which differentiate qualitative research (as practised in IDIs and group discussions) from SMM. These are: the direct, interactive dialogue or conversation between consumers and researchers; the facility to “listen” and attend to the (sometimes unspoken) underlying narrative which connects consumers’ needs and aspirations, personal goals and driving forces to behaviour and brand choice; and the dynamic, interactive characteristics of the interview that achieve a meeting of minds to produce a shared understanding. Philosophically, it is this “conversation” that gives qualitative research its validity and authenticity which makes it superior to SMM.  This review questions the validity and reliability of the SMM, and concludes that it is a poor substitute for in-depth qualitative research which has many advantages and benefits.
The retinopetal visual system in the chameleon (Chameleo chameleon).

Intraocular injections of rhodamine and horseradish peroxidase in chameleon, labelled retrogradely neurons in the ventromedial tegmental region of the mesencephalon and the ventrolateral thalamus of the diencephalon. In both areas, staining was observed contralaterally to the injected eye. Labelling was occasionally observed in some rhombencephalic motor nuclei. These results indicate that chameleons, unlike other reptilian species, have two retinopetal nuclei.
Radiographic outcome of vertebral bone bruise associated with fracture of the thoracic and lumbar spine in adults

Bone bruising associated with long bone injury is a defined entity with known radiological, pathologic and clinical features. Vertebral bone bruise (VBB) has been described through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the injured spine, but to date the consequences of this entity are unknown. The objective of this retrospective study was to describe the plain radiographic outcome of MRI-defined VBB associated with thoracic and lumbar spine fracture in adults, and to assess whether VBBs caused abnormalities of the bone–implant interface at instrumented levels. Levels of VBB were identified through analysis of the full spine MRI in a consecutive series of adult patients admitted to a spinal injuries unit for thoracic and lumbar spine fractures. The anterior wedge angles (AWAs) of thoracic and lumbar vertebrae demonstrating VBB were measured on radiographs taken at time of injury and at follow-up. Abnormalities of the bone–implant interface were recorded at instrumented levels associated with VBB on follow-up radiographs. Thirty VBBs were identified in 18 adult patients who had suffered 21 vertebral fractures. At an average follow-up of 19 months (range, 12–30 months), the mean AWAs of the VBB vertebrae at the time of injury and at the most recent follow-up were 3.5° and 3.8°, respectively (p=0.33, paired t-test). A total of 12 out of 30 (40%) bruised levels were instrumented in 13 out of 18 (72%) operated patients. No bone–implant interface failure was observed at these levels. It is concluded that VBB associated with thoracic and lumbar vertebral fracture in adult patients does not appear to cause significant progressive vertebral deformity or bone–implant interface failure.
A weakly informative default prior distribution for logistic and other regression models

We propose a new prior distribution for classical (non-hierarchical) logistic regression models, constructed by first scaling all nonbinary variables to have mean 0 and standard deviation 0.5, and then placing independent Student-t prior distributions on the coefficients. As a default choice, we recommend the Cauchy distribution with center 0 and scale 2.5, which in the simplest setting is a longer-tailed version of the distribution attained by assuming one-half additional success and one-half additional failure in a logistic regression. Cross-validation on a corpus of datasets shows the Cauchy class of prior distributions to outperform existing implementations of Gaussian and Laplace priors. We recommend this prior distribution as a default choice for routine applied use. It has the advantage of always giving answers, even when there is complete separation in logistic regression (a common problem, even when the sample size is large and the number of predictors is small) and also automatically applying more shrinkage to higherorder interactions. This can be useful in routine data analysis as well as in automated procedures such as chained equations for missing-data imputation. We implement a procedure to fit generalized linear models in R with the Student-t prior distribution by incorporating an approximate EM algorithm into the usual iteratively weighted least squares. We illustrate with several applications, including a series of logistic regressions predicting voting preferences, a small bioassay experiment, and an imputation model for a public health data set.
Association of CCR5 human haplogroup E with rapid HIV type 1 disease progression.

The combination of unique single nucleotide polymorphisms in the CCR5 regulatory and in the CCR2 and CCR5 coding regions, defined nine CCR5 human haplogroups (HH): HHA-HHE, HHF*1,  Here we examined the distribution of CCR5 HH and their association with HIV infection and disease progression in 36 HIV-seronegative and 76 HIV-seropositive whites from North America and Spain [28 rapid progressors (RP) and 48 slow progressors (SP)]. Although analyses revealed that HHE frequencies were similar between HIV-seronegative and HIV-seropositive groups (25.0% vs. 32.2%, p > 0.05), HHE frequency in RP was significantly higher than that in SP (48.2% vs. 22.9%, p = 0.002). Survival analysis also showed that HHE heterozygous and homozygous were associated with an accelerated CD4 cell count decline to less than 200 cells/microL (adjusted RH 2.44, p = 0.045; adjusted RH = 3.12, p = 0.037, respectively). These data provide further evidence that CCR5 human haplogroups influence HIV-1 disease progression in HIV-infected persons.
Concealed penis

A small phallus causes great concern regarding genital adequacy. A concealed penis, although of normal size, appears small either because it is buried in prepubic tissues, enclosed in scrotal tissue penis palmatus (PP), or trapped due to phimosis or a scar following circumcision or trauma. From July 1978 to January 2001 we operated upon 92 boys with concealed penises; 49 had buried penises (BP), while PP of varying degrees was noted in 14. Of 29 patients with a trapped penis, phimosis was noted in 9, post-circumcision cicatrix (PCC) in 17, radical circumcision in 2, and posttraumatic scarring in 1. The BP was corrected at 2–3 years of age by incising the inner prepuce circumferentially, degloving the penis to the penopubic junction, dividing dysgenetic bands, and suturing the dermis of the penopubic skin to Buck's fascia with nonabsorbable sutures. Patients with PP required displacement of the scrotum in addition to correction of the BP. Phimosis was treated by circumcision. Patients with a PCC were recircumcised carefully, preserving normal skin, but Z-plasties and Byars flaps were often required for skin coverage. After radical circumcision and trauma, vascularized flaps were raised to cover the defect. Satisfactory results were obtained in all cases although 2 patients with BP required a second operation. The operation required to correct a concealed penis has to be tailored to its etiology.
Ambient Volume Scattering

We present ambient scattering as a preintegration method for scattering on mesoscopic scales in direct volume rendering. Far-range scattering effects usually provide negligible contributions to a given location due to the exponential attenuation with increasing distance. This motivates our approach to preintegrating multiple scattering within a finite spherical region around any given sample point. To this end, we solve the full light transport with a Monte-Carlo simulation within a set of spherical regions, where each region may have different material parameters regarding anisotropy and extinction. This precomputation is independent of the data set and the transfer function, and results in a small preintegration table. During rendering, the look-up table is accessed for each ray sample point with respect to the viewing direction, phase function, and material properties in the spherical neighborhood of the sample. Our rendering technique is efficient and versatile because it readily fits in existing ray marching algorithms and can be combined with local illumination and volumetric ambient occlusion. It provides interactive volumetric scattering and soft shadows, with interactive control of the transfer function, anisotropy parameter of the phase function, lighting conditions, and viewpoint. A GPU implementation demonstrates the benefits of ambient scattering for the visualization of different types of data sets, with respect to spatial perception, high-quality illumination, translucency, and rendering speed.
Video game training enhances cognitive control in older adults

Cognitive control is defined by a set of neural processes that allow us to interact with our complex environment in a goal-directed manner. Humans regularly challenge these control processes when attempting to simultaneously accomplish multiple goals (multitasking), generating interference as the result of fundamental information processing limitations. It is clear that multitasking behaviour has become ubiquitous in today’s technologically dense world, and substantial evidence has accrued regarding multitasking difficulties and cognitive control deficits in our ageing population. Here we show that multitasking performance, as assessed with a custom-designed three-dimensional video game (NeuroRacer), exhibits a linear age-related decline from 20 to 79 years of age. By playing an adaptive version of NeuroRacer in multitasking training mode, older adults (60 to 85 years old) reduced multitasking costs compared to both an active control group and a no-contact control group, attaining levels beyond those achieved by untrained 20-year-old participants, with gains persisting for 6 months. Furthermore, age-related deficits in neural signatures of cognitive control, as measured with electroencephalography, were remediated by multitasking training (enhanced midline frontal theta power and frontal–posterior theta coherence). Critically, this training resulted in performance benefits that extended to untrained cognitive control abilities (enhanced sustained attention and working memory), with an increase in midline frontal theta power predicting the training-induced boost in sustained attention and preservation of multitasking improvement 6 months later. These findings highlight the robust plasticity of the prefrontal cognitive control system in the ageing brain, and provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, of how a custom-designed video game can be used to assess cognitive abilities across the lifespan, evaluate underlying neural mechanisms, and serve as a powerful tool for cognitive enhancement.
MAISE: An Interconnect Simulation Engine for Timing and Noise Analysis

This paper describes MAISE, an embedded linear circuit simulator for use mainly within timing and noise analysis tools. MAISE achieves the fastest possible analysis performance over a wide range of circuit sizes and topologies by an adaptive architecture that allows applying the most efficient combination of model reduction algorithms and linear solvers for each class of circuits. The main pillar of adaptability in MAISE is a novel nodal-analysis formulation (PNA) which permits the use of symmetric, positive-definite Cholesky solvers for all circuit topologies. Moreover, frequently occurring special cases, e.g., inductor-resistor tree structures result in particular types of matrices that are solved by an even faster linear time algorithm. Model order reduction algorithms employed in MAISE exploit symmetry and positive-definiteness whenever available and use symmetric-Lanczos iteration and nonstandard inner-products for generating the Krylov subspace basis. The efficiency of the new simulator is supported by a wide range of industrial examples.
Background Modeling by Stability of Adaptive Features in Complex Scenes

The single-feature-based background model often fails in complex scenes, since a pixel is better described by several features, which highlight different characteristics of it. Therefore, the multi-feature-based background model has drawn much attention recently. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-feature-based background model, named stability of adaptive feature (SoAF) model, which utilizes the stabilities of different features in a pixel to adaptively weigh the contributions of these features for foreground detection. We do this mainly due to the fact that the features of pixels in the background are often more stable. In SoAF, a pixel is described by several features and each of these features is depicted by a unimodal model that offers an initial label of the target pixel. Then, we measure the stability of each feature by its histogram statistics over a time sequence and use them as weights to assemble the aforementioned unimodal models to yield the final label. The experiments on some standard benchmarks, which contain the complex scenes, demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves promising performance in comparison with some state-of-the-art approaches.
New miniaturized dual-band rat-race coupler with microwave C-sections

Based on microwave C-sections, rat-race coupler is designed to have a dual-band characteristic and a miniaturized area. The C-section together with two transmission line sections attached to both of its ends is synthesized to realize a phase change of 90° at the first frequency, and 270° at the second passband. The equivalence is established by the transmission line theory, and transcendental equations are derived to determine its structure parameters. Two circuits are realized in this presentation; one is designed at 2.45/5.2 GHz and the other at 2.45/5.8 GHz. The latter circuit occupies only 31% of the area of a conventional hybrid ring at the first band. It is believed that this circuit has the best size reduction for microstrip dual-band rat-race couplers in open literature. The measured results show good agreement with simulation responses.
Asynchronous Subgradient-Push

We consider a multi-agent framework for distributed optimization where each agent in the network has access to a local convex function and the collective goal is to achieve consensus on the parameters that minimize the sum of the agents’ local functions. We propose an algorithm wherein each agent operates asynchronously and independently of the other agents in the network. When the local functions are strongly-convex with Lipschitz-continuous gradients, we show that a subsequence of the iterates at each agent converges to a neighbourhood of the global minimum, where the size of the neighbourhood depends on the degree of asynchrony in the multi-agent network. When the agents work at the same rate, convergence to the global minimizer is achieved. Numerical experiments demonstrate that Asynchronous Subgradient-Push can minimize the global objective faster than state-of-the-art synchronous first-order methods, is more robust to failing or stalling agents, and scales better with the network size.
A splicing mastermind for EMT.

Alternative splicing of mRNA precursors is a prevalent mode of gene regulation in multicellular organisms. Important open questions include whether most alternative splicing variants display distinct physiological functions and whether cell type-restricted regulatory factors orchestrate cell type-specific splicing decisions. In this issue of The EMBO Journal, Warzecha et al. (2010) uncover a network of alternative splicing changes contributing to epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), which is controlled by downregulation of the Epithelial Splicing Regulatory Proteins 1 and 2 (ESRP1 and ESRP2). The conversion of epithelial to mesenchymal cells, known as EMT, has important functions in cell differentiation and organogenesis. It also contributes to tissue repair and to disease, with alterations in EMT associated with tissue fibrosis, immunosuppression and carcinogenesis (Thiery et al, 2009). EMT involves striking cellular changes, including loss of cell–cell adhesion and polarity and gain of migratory and even invasive properties. Numerous overlapping signalling pathways (e.g. Wnt and TGF-b) initiate, amplify and modulate EMT, inducing gene expression changes that bring about the cell’s phenotypic transitions (Thiery and Sleeman, 2006; Thiery et al, 2009). Thus, activation of transcriptional regulators similar to Snail and transcriptional changes such as down-regulation of E-cadherin or up-regulation of Vimentin are classical landmarks of EMT. The picture emerging from the work of Warzecha et al (2010) in this issue of The EMBO Journal and a previous report from the Carstens’ group (Warzecha et al, 2009) is that alternative splicing provides an additional layer of gene regulation that contributes to shape the EMT process. Classical genetic work in Drosophila established the existence of sex-specific splicing regulators, with the femalespecific Sex-lethal protein acting as a master regulator (Penalva and Sánchez, 2003). This triggered an interest in the identification of tissue-specific regulatory factors that could explain tissue-specific alternative splicing decisions. In contrast to transcriptional regulation, however, only a handful of tissue-restricted factors were found, leading to the idea that alternative splicing in higher eukaryotes is largely controlled by the relative activity of rather ubiquitous factors (Chen and Manley, 2009). Recent genetic screens in
Efficient 3D reflection symmetry detection: A view-based approach

Symmetries exist in many 3D models while e fficiently finding their symmetry planes is important and usefu l for many related applications. This paper presents a simple and e ffici ntview-basedreflection symmetry detection method based on the viewpoint entropy features of a set of sample views of a 3D model. Before symmetry detection, we align the 3D model based on the Contin uous Principal Component Analysis (CPCA) method. To avoid the hi gh computational load resulting from a directly combinator ial matching among the sample views, we develop a fast symmetry p lane detection method by first generating a candidate symmet ry plane based on a matching pair of sample views and then verify ing whether the number of remaining matching pairs is within a minimum number.Experimental results and two related applications demonst rate better accuracy, e fficiency, robustness and versatilityof our algorithm than state-of-the-art approaches.
Comparison of feature selection methods for sentiment analysis on Turkish Twitter data

The Internet and social media provide a major source of information about people's opinions. Due to the rapidly growing number of online documents, it becomes both time-consuming and hard task to obtain and analyze the desired opinionated information. Sentiment analysis is the classification of sentiments expressed in documents. To improve classification perfromance feature selection methods which help to identify the most valuable features are generally applied. In this paper, we compare the performance of four feature selection methods namely Chi-square, Information Gain, Query Expansion Ranking, and Ant Colony Optimization using Maximum Entropi Modeling classification algorithm over Turkish Twitter dataset. Therefore, the effects of feature selection methods over the performance of sentiment analysis of Turkish Twitter data are evaluated. Experimental results show that Query Expansion Ranking and Ant Colony Optimization methods outperform other traditional feature selection methods for sentiment analysis.