Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sparse and Specific Coding during Information Transmission between Co-cultured Dentate Gyrus and CA3 Hippocampal Networks

To better understand encoding and decoding of stimulus information in two specific hippocampal sub-regions, we isolated and co-cultured rat primary dentate gyrus (DG) and CA3 neurons within a two-chamber device with axonal connectivity via micro-tunnels. We tested the hypothesis that, in these engineered networks, decoding performance of stimulus site information would be more accurate when stimuli and information flow occur in anatomically correct feed-forward DG to CA3 vs. CA3 back to DG. In particular, we characterized the neural code of these sub-regions by measuring sparseness and uniqueness of the responses evoked by specific paired-pulse stimuli. We used the evoked responses in CA3 to decode the stimulation sites in DG (and vice-versa) by means of learning algorithms for classification (support vector machine, SVM). The device was placed over an 8 × 8 grid of extracellular electrodes (micro-electrode array, MEA) in order to provide a platform for monitoring development, self-organization, and improved access to stimulation and recording at multiple sites. The micro-tunnels were designed with dimensions 3 × 10 × 400 μm allowing axonal growth but not migration of cell bodies and long enough to exclude traversal by dendrites. Paired-pulse stimulation (inter-pulse interval 50 ms) was applied at 22 different sites and repeated 25 times in each chamber for each sub-region to evoke time-locked activity. DG-DG and CA3-CA3 networks were used as controls. Stimulation in DG drove signals through the axons in the tunnels to activate a relatively small set of specific electrodes in CA3 (sparse code). CA3-CA3 and DG-DG controls were less sparse in coding than CA3 in DG-CA3 networks. Using all target electrodes with the three highest spike rates (14%), the evoked responses in CA3 specified each stimulation site in DG with optimum uniqueness of 64%. Finally, by SVM learning, these evoked responses in CA3 correctly decoded the stimulation sites in DG for 43% of the trials, significantly higher than the reverse, i.e., how well-recording in DG could predict the stimulation site in CA3. In conclusion, our co-cultured model for the in vivo DG-CA3 hippocampal network showed sparse and specific responses in CA3, selectively evoked by each stimulation site in DG.
The Relationship between Iranian EFL Teachers’ Self-efficacy, their Personality and Students’ Motivation

A growing body of evidence suggests that teachers play a significant role in the process of foreign language teaching and learning. On the other hand, motivation is one of the most important pre-requisites of foreign language learning which can be influenced by many teacher-related factors such as teachers’ personality characteristics and their self-efficacy beliefs. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the relationship between Iranian EFL teachers’ self-efficacy, their personality and students’ motivation. Participants included 25 EFL teachers teaching in different language institutes and 75 EFL students learning English in those institutes. In this study, three instruments were used for data collection: Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) developed by Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001), Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and Students’ Motivation Questionnaire designed by Mojavezi and Tamiz (2012). To analyze the data, Pearson correlation was conducted on the variables using the computer program of SPSS 22. Results of the analysis showed that there was a significant positive correlation between teachers’ self-efficacy and students’ motivation (r = .591, p = .002 < .05). The other finding of the study was that one of the NEO-FFI variables, conscientiousness, was found to be significantly in correlation with students’ motivation (r = .413, p = .040 < .05). Results of the study and their pedagogical implications were discussed and recommendations for further research were also made.
Hydrodynamic simulations of the Bardeen–Petterson effect

We present SPH simulations of accretion discs in orbit about rotating compact objects, such as black holes and neutron stars, and study the structure of warped discs produced by the Bardeen-Petterson effect. We calculate the transition radius out to which the disc specific angular momentum vector is aligned with that of the black hole. We focus on the parameter regime where the warp dynamics are controlled by bending wave propagation, but also consider models in which warps are subject to diffusion rather than wave transport, and are able to consider the fully nonlinear regime. Because of hydrodynamic or pressure effects, for the parameter range investigated, the transition radius is always found to be much smaller than that obtained by Bardeen & Petterson (1975). For discs with midplane Mach numbers of � 10, the transition occurs between 10 – 16 R+ (gravitational radii), whereas for a Mach number of � 30 it occurs at around 30 R+. A thicker disc with a Mach number of 5 is found to produce no discernible warped structure. The rate of black hole – disc alignment is found to be consistent with the ideas of Rees (1978), with the alignment torque behaving as if it arises from the accreted material transferring its misaligned component of angular momentum at the larger transition radius of Bardeen & Petterson (1975). The inclusion of Einstein precession in the calculations modified both the warped disc structure and, consistent with linear analysis, produced an increased alignment rate by up to a factor of 4 because of the effect that the non Keplerian potential has on the propagation of warps.
ROD1 Is a Seedless Target Gene of Hypoxia-Induced miR-210

Most metazoan microRNA (miRNA) target sites have perfect pairing to the “seed” sequence, a highly conserved region centering on miRNA nucleotides 2–7. Thus, complementarity to this region is a necessary requirement for target prediction algorithms. However, also non-canonical miRNA binding can confer target regulation. Here, we identified a seedless target of miR-210, a master miRNA of the hypoxic response. We analyzed 20 genes that were inversely correlated to miR-210 expression and did not display any complementarity with miR-210 seed sequence. We validated ROD1 (Regulator of Differentiation 1, also named PTBP3, Polypyrimidine Tract Binding protein 3) as a miR-210 seedless transcript enriched in miR-210-containing RNA-induced silencing complexes. ROD1 was not indirectly targeted by a miR-210-induced miRNA. Conversely, we identified a “centered” miR-210 binding site in ROD1 involving 10 consecutive bases in the central portion of miR-210. Reporter assays showed that miR-210 inhibited ROD1 by the direct binding to this sequence, demonstrating that ROD1 is a bona fide seedless target of miR-210. As expected, both ROD1 mRNA and protein were down-modulated upon hypoxia in a miR-210 dependent manner. ROD1 targeting by miR-210 was biologically significant: the rescue of ROD1 inhibition significantly increased hypoxia-induced cell death. These data highlight the importance of ROD1 regulation by miR-210 for cell homeostasis.
Linking Tolerance to Workplace Incivility, Service Innovative, Knowledge Hiding, and Job Search Behavior: The Mediating Role of Employee Cynicism

Although incivility has been identified as an important issue in workplaces, little research has focused on tolerance to workplace incivility. Drawing on conservation of resources and psychological ownership theory, this article investigates the mediating role of employee cynicism on the relationship between tolerance to workplace incivility and outcome variables (i.e., service innovative behavior, knowledge hiding behavior, and job search behavior) in the hospitality industry. Structural equation modeling and artificial neural network were applied on survey data obtained from five-star hotels in Jordan. Building on the proposed theories, we show that employee cynicism mediates the link between tolerance to workplace incivility and knowledge hiding behavior, and job search behavior. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Short paper: lightweight remote attestation using physical functions

Remote attestation is a mechanism to securely and verifiably obtain information about the state of a remote computing platform. However, resource-constrained embedded devices cannot afford trusted hardware components to attest the device, while plain software attestation is generally vulnerable to network and collusion attacks. In this paper, we present a lightweight remote attestation scheme that links software attestation to remotely identifiable hardware by means of Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs). In contrast to exiting software attestation schemes, our solution (1) resists collusion attacks, (2) allows the simultaneous authentication of remote platforms, (3) and enables the detection of hardware attacks due to the tamper-evidence of PUFs.
Atorvastatin but not elocalcitol increases sildenafil responsiveness in Spontaneously Hypertensive 1 Rats by regulating the RhoA / ROCK pathway 2 Running title : Atorvastatin and sildenafil in SHR 3 1

27 Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) are characterized by impaired erectile function and by 28 overactivity of the pro-contractile RhoA/Rho-kinase (RhoA/ROCK) pathway, as compared to their 29 normotensive counterpart, Wistar Kyoto rats. By measuring intracavernous pressure/mean arterial 30 pressure (ICP/MAP) ratio after electrostimulation of the cavernous nerve, we confirmed these findings 31 and showed that also responsiveness to sildenafil (25 mg/kg by oral gavage) is hampered in SHR. A 32 two-week treatment with atorvastatin (5 and 30 mg/kg) improved sildenafil-induced ICP/MAP increase 33 and normalized RhoA and ROCK2 over-expression (qRT-PCR) in SHR corpora cavernosa (CC). 34 Conversely, other genes, nNOS, eNOS and PDE5, were unaffected. In human foetal smooth muscle 35 cells derived from CC (hfPSMC), atorvastatin inhibited RhoA membrane translocation and ROCK 36 activity as well as RhoA-dependent biological functions, like cell migration and proliferation. 37 Atorvastatin effect on migration was dose-dependently rescued by geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate, 38 suggesting the involvement of RhoA geranylgeranylation. In hfPSMC, atorvastatin decreased the 39 expression of RhoA-dependent genes as ROCK2, desmin, α-smooth muscle actin, SM22α and 40 myocardin. In contrast to atorvastatin, elocalcitol, a vitamin D analogue, which also interferes with 41 RhoA activation in SHR bladder, was unable to restore penile responsiveness to sildenafil. In 42 conclusion, atorvastatin, but not elocalcitol, ameliorates sildenafil-induced penile erections in SHR rats, 43 likely by interfering with RhoA/ROCKs signaling within the penis. 44 45
Lack of Apoptosis of Infiltrating Cells as the Mechanism of High Susceptibility to EAE in DA Rats

Dark Agouti (DA) rats are highly susceptible to induction of Th-l-mediated autoimmunity disease, including experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE). In contrast to other susceptible rat strains in which disease is induced only with encephalitogen emulsified in complete Freund's adjuvants (CFA), in DA rats EAE develops after injection of encephalitogen in incomplete Freund's adjuvants (IFA) or Titermax, putative Th-2 directed adjuvant. Lymph node cells derived from immunized DA rats and stimulated in vitro produce significantly more Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) than resistant Albino Oxford (AO) rats. However, cells derived from both strains produce large amounts of IL-10 but not IL-4. Immunized lymph node cells derived from EAE susceptible (AO × DA) F1rats induce clinical signs of disease in sublethally irradiated parental DA but not AO rats. The pathohistology of the target tissue in these recipients clearly demonstrated infiltration of mononuclear cells in both parental strains. However, the number of CD4+ cells was significantly higher and number of apoptotic cells significantly lower in DA rats sacrificed 8 days after passive transfer. We postulate that in addition to higher IFN-γ and TNF-α production, resistance to early apoptosis of the invading cells in the target tissue possibly due to lack of downregulation by TGF-β leads to exceptional susceptibility to EAE in DA rats.
Treatment of psychopathy: a conceptual and empirical review

Purpose For decades, psychopathy has been thought to be untreatable. Yet, conceptualisations, and indeed its assessment, have deviated away from viewing the disorder as personality pathology towards a behavioural focus where the core underlying deficits in cognition and affect have been ignored. Interventions have followed suit leading to a premature discounting of the role of therapy in adjusting psychopathic traits. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The review critically evaluates the conceptual and empirical evidence relevant to the treatment of psychopathy, deciphering components integral to the disorder that require intervention. Psychopathy is approached from a developmental perspective, with the review identifying several mechanisms thought to be responsible for precipitating and perpetuating its expression. Findings There appears some utility in targeting psychopathy from multiple angles, addressing experiences of trauma, associated schemas and the underlying cognitive-affective dysfunction noted to give rise to psychopathic traits. A new model for treatment was proposed integrating these factors to encourage the design of effective interventions that will address the origins and underlying deficits of the disorder, rather than symptomology. Originality/value The review encourages future research to consider the aetiology of psychopathy, with the aim of informing early intervention and containing the disorder whilst in its infancy, as well as addressing neurobiological dysfunction when most malleable.
Student Experiences Using GitHub in Software Engineering Courses: A Case Study

GitHub has been embraced by the software development community as an important social platform for managing software projects and to support collaborative development. More recently, educators have begun to adopt it for hosting course content and student assignments. From our previous research, we found that educators leverage GitHub’s collaboration and transparency features to create, reuse and remix course materials, and to encourage student contributions and monitor student activity on assignments and projects. However, our previous research did not consider the student perspective. In this paper, we present a case study where GitHub is used as a learning platform for two software engineering courses. We gathered student perspectives on how the use of GitHub in their courses might benefit them and to identify the challenges they may face. The findings from our case study indicate that software engineering students do benefit from GitHub’s transparent and open workflow. However, students were concerned that since GitHub is not inherently an educational tool, it lacks key features important for education and poses learning and privacy concerns. Our findings provide recommendations for designers on how tools such as GitHub can be used to improve software engineering education, and also point to recommendations for instructors on how to use it more effectively in their courses.
From evidence to action: Applying gender mainstreaming to pay gaps in the Welsh public sector

Progress on reducing gender disparities remains painfully slow, despite efforts to identify the determinants of gender pay gaps and specify size and shape. Recent studies highlight the need for a more nuanced account of the way that public policy shapes organizational responses and insights into the types of organizational practices that diminish pay disparities. In response, this research reports on an action research intervention in three large Welsh public organizations, subject to a unique statutory equality duty. Data demonstrate how an evidence‐based gender mainstreaming approach facilitated the development of a ‘no blame’ strategy, which legitimized organizational proactivity through collaborative and empowering change management processes. The research contributes to the study of gender pay gaps by demonstrating that gender mainstreaming, with facilitative local conditions and supportive public policy, shapes action on gender segregation, with particular success in women's low‐paid employment. Conclusions highlight theoretical and policy implications arising from the research.
Heat Shock Protein 90 Regulates the Metaphase-Anaphase Transition in a Polo-Like Kinase-Dependent Manner

We have shown previously that the molecular chaperone heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is required for a proper centrosome function. Indeed, this Hsp90 function seems to be reflected in Polo-like kinase stability. Inhibition of Hsp90 in HeLa cells results in cell cycle arrest either in G2 stage or at the metaphase-anaphase transition. Here, we show that this inhibition leads to inactivation of the anaphase-promoting complex or cyclosome by both dephosphorylation and induction of the spindle assembly checkpoint. Hsp90 inhibition compromises two of the main mitotic kinases, Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) and cdc2. Interestingly, this mitotic arrest does not occur in certain tumor cell lines where Hsp90 and Plk1 are not associated. Those cells are able to process mitosis successfully and have an active Plk1 despite Hsp90 inactivation. Therefore, it seems that Hsp90 regulates completion of mitosis depending on its association with Plk1.
The genus Dolichopoda in Greece. A description of new species from the Ionian Regions and Peloponnisos (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae)

Description of five new Dolichopoda species from the Ionian area of Western Greece together with a description of the female for D. pavesii from Kefalonia island and the male of D. dalensi from North-eastern Peloponnisos are reported. Considering the other 6 species already documented in the area (including the North of the Peloponnisos), there is now a total of 11 recorded species of Dolichopoda which currently inhabit the underground areas of this zone. These new data, therefore, help better define the already high diversity of the genus in the Hellenic region (25 species in all) reinforcing the hypothesis that there was a central area of dispersion of the Dolichopoda in the ancient Aegean plate.
Chern-Simons Perturbation Theory

We study the perturbation theory for three dimensional Chern--Simons quantum field theory on a general compact three manifold without boundary. We show that after a simple change of variables, the action obtained by BRS gauge fixing in the Lorentz gauge has a superspace formulation. The basic properties of the propagator and the Feynman rules are written in a precise manner in the language of differential forms. Using the explicit description of the propagator singularities, we prove that the theory is finite. Finally the anomalous metric dependence of the $2$-loop partition function on the Riemannian metric (which was introduced to define the gauge fixing) can be cancelled by a local counterterm as in the $1$-loop case. In fact, the counterterm is equal to the Chern--Simons action of the metric connection, normalized precisely as one would expect based on the framing dependence of Witten's exact solution.
Oral language and socioeconomic status: the Irish context

International studies have documented large effects of SES on oral language competence and researchers have suggested that differences in oral language competence at school entry may be one factor contributing to educational disadvantage. The current study made use of data provided by the Growing Up in Ireland survey in order to quantify the association between SES and oral language competence in a nationally representative sample of young Irish children. Specifically, the association between SES (operationalised as income, occupational status and education) and expressive vocabulary was quantified in samples of 3 and 5-year-old children. In order to place the Irish figures within an international context, parallel analyses were performed using data provided through the UK-based Millennium Cohort Study. The results revealed a statistically significant association between SES and vocabulary within the Irish sample, which was linear in nature, small in magnitude and which declined in strength from the 3-year to the 5-year sample. Parallel analyses with the UK data revealed a stronger association and it was concluded that the association between SES and oral language competence may be weaker in the Irish context than that reported internationally.
A mission-oriented citizen science platform for efficient flower classification based on combination of feature descriptors

This paper describes a citizen science system for flora monitoring that employs a concept of missions, as well as an automatic approach for flower species classification. The proposed method is fast and suitable for use in mobile devices, as means to achieve and maintain high user engagement. Besides providing a web-based interface for visualization, the system allows the volunteers to use their smartphones as powerful sensors for collecting biodiversity data in a fast and easy way. The classification accuracy is increased by a preliminary segmentation step that requires simple user interaction, using a modified version of the GrabCut algorithm. The proposed classification method obtains good performance and accuracy, by combining traditional color and texture features together with carefully designed features, including a robust shape descriptor to capture fine morphological structures of the objects to be classified. A novel weighting technique assigns different costs to each feature, taking into account the inter-class and intra-class variation between the considered species. The method is tested on the popular Oxford Flower Dataset, containing 102 categories and we achieve state-of-theart accuracy while proposing a more efficient approach than previous methods described in the literature.