Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intra-day signal instabilities affect decoding performance in an intracortical neural interface system

Objective. Motor neural interface systems (NIS) aim to convert neural signals into motor prosthetic or assistive device control, allowing people with paralysis to regain movement or control over their immediate environment. Effector or prosthetic control can degrade if the relationship between recorded neural signals and intended motor behavior changes. Therefore, characterizing both biological and technological sources of signal variability is important for a reliable NIS. Approach. To address the frequency and causes of neural signal variability in a spike-based NIS, we analyzed within-day fluctuations in spiking activity and action potential amplitude recorded with silicon microelectrode arrays implanted in the motor cortex of three people with tetraplegia (BrainGate pilot clinical trial, IDE). Main results. 84% of the recorded units showed a statistically significant change in apparent firing rate (3.8 ± 8.71 Hz or 49% of the mean rate) across several-minute epochs of tasks performed on a single session, and 74% of the units showed a significant change in spike amplitude (3.7 ± 6.5 µV or 5.5% of mean spike amplitude). 40% of the recording sessions showed a significant correlation in the occurrence of amplitude changes across electrodes, suggesting array micro-movement. Despite the relatively frequent amplitude changes, only 15% of the observed within-day rate changes originated from recording artifacts such as spike amplitude change or electrical noise, while 85% of the rate changes most likely emerged from physiological mechanisms. Computer simulations confirmed that systematic rate changes of individual neurons could produce a directional ‘bias’ in the decoded neural cursor movements. Instability in apparent neuronal spike rates indeed yielded a directional bias in 56% of all performance assessments in participant cursor control (n = 2 participants, 108 and 20 assessments over two years), resulting in suboptimal performance in these sessions. Significance. We anticipate that signal acquisition and decoding methods that can adapt to the reported instabilities will further improve the performance of intracortically-based NISs.
Providing A Model for Promotion of the Vice-Principals’ Role to Educational Leadership in Primary Schools of Mazandaran Province

Purpose: This study is to provide a model that will promote the role of primary school vice-principals in educational leadership so that their vice-principals move towards the tasks related to education. Methodology: The sample size consisted of 610 principals, vice-principals and teachers, determined by a two-step classification procedure. In this research, Mazandaran Province was divided into three eastern, central and western parts; some cities were selected from each part and then these cities were divided into two or three sections. A number of schools were randomly selected in each section and all principals, vice-principals and teachers were selected as the sample. A two-part questionnaire was used to collect information from vice-principals’ duties. The first part consists of closed questions in two existing and ideal conditions, and the second part includes open questions. Findings: Friedman's ranking and analysis, categorization and quantification of open questions revealed the following components for the vice-principals’ educational leadership model: 1-Creating awareness among principals, vice-principals and teachers about the vice-principals’ duties 2-Preparation of tasks description with the focus of educational affairs and the requirement for its implementation 3-Procurement of short-term university courses and vice-principals’ pre-office training 4-Informing vice-principals about the educational regulations at the national and regional levels 5-Encourage the principals and vice-principals to lead a team and provide the requirement trainings in this field 6-Considering an individual to assist the vice-principals of the school 7-Improving the vice-principals’ livelihoods . Discussion : Applying this model and its components can enhance the vice-principals’ performance and role to a higher level and ultimately improve the performance of schools and the Iranian educational system.
The What, Where, and Why of Airbnb Price Determinants

Breakthrough changes in the rental market have occurred with the introduction of peer-to-peer accommodation services such as Airbnb. This phenomenon is attracting tourists who contribute to the sustainability of local trade and the economic development of the city. This research enriches the current debate on the range of factors that influence Airbnb accommodation prices. To that end, a method was developed to understand the relationship between Airbnb accommodation attributes and listing prices; and to consider variables related to the properties’ location and surrounding urban environment, considering the touristic characteristics of the four Spanish Mediterranean Arc cities selected as case study. A multivariable analysis technique is used for estimating a hedonic price model that adopts the ordinary least squares and the quantile regression methods. The findings obtained for the impact of location on listing prices are contrary to previous studies. In fact, accommodation prices increase incrementally by 1.3% per kilometer from the tourist area, which in all four cases are situated in the historic area of the city. However, at the same time, accommodation prices decrease incrementally as distance from the coastline increases. Lastly, results related to how the listings’ accommodation, host, and advertising characteristics impact Airbnb prices concur with previous studies.
End of the line? Tramtrack and cell fate determination in Drosophila

Cell differentiation reflects the balance of two opposing influences, pathways which confer specialized properties on specific cells or groups of cells, and antagonising mechanisms which modulate responsiveness to such differentiative cues. It appears that the zinc finger protein Tramtrack (Ttk) fulfils the latter function in the CNS and PNS of Drosophila. Ttk seems to be able to inhibit neural development by down‐regulating competence to respond to neuralising signals. We speculate, however, that restriction of neural competence is merely one example of a more general ability of Ttk to influence differentiation and that, given its widespread expression profile, Ttk might be implicated in a number of differentiative events.
Nervous system involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus

Gibson, T. , and Myers, A. R. (1976). Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 35, 398-406. Nervous system involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus. In a retrospective analysis of 80 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) seen over a 10-year period, 41 (51%) exhibited neurological manifestations. Nervous system involvement was characterized by a significantly greater involvement of black patients (P < 0·02), a higher incidence of renal failure after the first appearance of neurological features (P < 0·05), and a significantly worse 10-year survival rate (P < 0·05). Specific neurological investigations were generally unhelpful in diagnosis. The finding of hypoglycorrhachia in 4 patients was striking and may have pathogenetic significance. The lack of a specific diagnostic test for central nervous system involvement may have hindered recognition of a cerebral abscess in one patient. Treatment with massive doses of corticosteroids was not obviously more effective than treatment with smaller doses. Autopsy findings showed scattered small cerebral infarcts but vasculitis was apparent in only one case.
The Exploration of Thailand's Referendum of 2016: A Comparison of Case Studies of Students' Behavior and Decision-Making from Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of Education within Mahamakut Buddhist University, Thailand

This research was an investigation of the behavior and decision-making of student who involved in Thailand’s Referendum of 2016 and participated in this research’s activities for gathering information of the political participation of students within the Mahamakut Buddhist University. The aims of this research were to 1) study the behavior and decision making of the students involved in Thailand’s referendum of 2016, and 2) study the factors affecting the students' decisions related to Thailand’s referendum of 2016. Based on group discussion tools of the four sampling groups of students, Faculty of Social Science and Faculty of Education, these four groups can be divided into 2 groups (10 persons for who participated in this Referendum and 10 persons for who did not participate in this Referendum), with the total number was 20 persons. The research findings indicated that the behavior and decision of both faculties’ students made their own decision differently. Students from Faculty of Social Science used their own political interests by using the political information through press media and social media. The study of draft constitutional considerations that also affect the decision of students who did not go to take part in the referendum. While political interests, political information through social media and knowing the constitutional content affects the students’ interests especially in the Faculty of Social Sciences to take part in the referendum participation. For the sampling students from the Faculty of Education, their decision has been influenced by accessing the media after the political turmoil and these led to the students’ bias and their tiredness of political issues, these decisions also based on their own information. While a group of students from the Faculty of Education went to the referendum as a result of the influence of the dominant parents. However, the power of the parents comes from the good hope that if they do not go to the referendum will result in legal consequences for students lose political rights. In fact, there are no legal barriers to the election. In addition, the living environment and the differences between the study groups did not have any significant impact on student behavior and decision-making. Similarly, the public relations campaign, which emphasized public relations, emphasized the referendum only, could not much affect the student's decision.
Quels étudiants pour quelles universités ? Analyses empiriques de mécanismes d’allocation centralisée

Nous examinons les articles recents qui se sont attaches a construire des methodes empiriques structurelles pour estimer les preferences des agents, etudiants et universites, ou eleves et ecoles, qui participent a des mecanismes d’allocation centralisee. Ces recherches empiriques visent d’abord a confirmer ou infirmer les hypotheses et predictions des modeles theoriques developpes les vingt dernieres annees. Elles permettent aussi des analyses concretes des mecanismes existants, par l’estimation de l’impact contrefactuel de changements dans les mecanismes utilises et par la comparaison entre divers mecanismes. Elles conduisent enfin a des arguments et conditions d’application qui justifient l’utilisation de tels ou tels mecanismes.
Cell Cycle Phase-specific Phosphorylation of Human Topoisomerase IIα

Type II topoisomerases are essential for faithful cell division in all organisms. In human cells, the α isozyme of topoisomerase II has been implicated in catalyzing mitotic chromosome segregation via its action as a DNA unlinking enzyme. Here, we have shown that the enzymatic activity of topoisomerase IIα protein purified from HeLa cell nuclei was strongly enhanced following phosphorylation by protein kinase C. We have investigated the possibility that this kinase is involved in cell cycle phase-specific phosphorylation of topoisomerase IIα in HeLa cells. Two-dimensional tryptic phosphopeptide mapping revealed that topoisomerase IIα protein immunoprecipitated from metabolically labeled HeLa cells was differentially phosphorylated during the G2/M phases of the cell cycle. To identify sites of phosphorylation and the kinase(s) responsible for this modification, oligohistidine-tagged recombinant domains of topoisomerase IIα protein were overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified by affinity chromatography. Phosphorylation of a short fragment of the N-terminal ATPase domain of topoisomerase IIα by protein kinase C in vitro generated two phosphopeptides that co-migrated with prominent G2/M phase-specific phosphopeptides from the HeLa cell-derived topoisomerase IIα protein. Site-directed mutagenesis studies indicated that phosphorylation of serine 29 generated both of these phosphopeptides. Our results implicate protein kinase C in the cell cycle phase-dependent modulation of topoisomerase IIα enzymatic activity in human cells.
Tandem Promoters and Developmentally Regulated 5′- and 3′-mRNA Untranslated Regions of the Mouse Scn5a Cardiac Sodium Channel*

The SCN5A gene encodes a voltage-sensitive sodium channel expressed in cardiac and skeletal muscle. Coding region mutations cause cardiac sudden death syndromes and conduction system failure. Polymorphisms in the 5′-sequence adjacent to the SCN5A gene have been linked to cardiac arrhythmias. We identified three alternative 5′-splice variants (1A, 1B, and 1C) of the untranslated exon 1 and two 3′-variants in the murine Scn5a mRNA. Two of the exon 1 isoforms (1B and 1C) were novel when compared with the published human and rat SCN5A sequences. Quantitative real time PCR results showed that the abundance of the isoforms varied during cardiac development. The 1A, 1B, and 1C mRNA splice variants increased 7.8 ± 1.7-fold (E1A), 6.0 ± 1.0-fold (E1B), and 20.6 ± 3.7-fold (E1C) from fetal to adult heart, respectively. Promoter deletion and luciferase reporter gene analysis using cardiac and skeletal muscle cell lines demonstrated a pattern of distinct cardiac-specific enhancer elements associated with exons 1A and 1C. In the case of exon 1C, the enhancer element appeared to be within the exon. A 5′-repressor preceded each cardiac enhancer element. We concluded that the murine Na+ channel has both 5′- and 3′-untranslated region mRNA variants that are developmentally regulated and that the promoter region contains two distinct cardiac-specific enhancer regions. The presence of homologous human splicing suggests that that these regions may be fruitful new areas of study in understanding cardiac sodium channel regulation and the genetic susceptibility to sudden death.
Western Urban Water Demand

Increasing concern with sustainability issues has raised questions regarding western water use. Efficient water allocation requires policy tools based on the value of water in alternative uses: agricultural, environmental, residential, and others. Agricultural values are fairly well established. Environmental values are recognized as "non-market " and estimated with various alternative techniques. Residential uses are normally thought to be market determined, but these markets are often restricted, allowing the possibility that water charges may not accurately reflect the value of water. This article reviews the history of urban residential water data analyses in order to address this and related issues and to ascertain the efficacy of extant databases. We then investigate the viability of estimated demand relationships and the robustness of these estimates to potential policy needs. We also discuss relevant conceptual issues for effective water policy formulation and their role in remedying data inadequacies and provide some gross estimates for water prices that include all relevant costs. Finally, we synthesize the data review and conceptual issues to identify the requirements for broadening the urban-residential water database. Efficient water pricing in environments where water is "scarce" relies on rules that modify extant pricing practices to include a scarcity value. The process has implications for empirical analyses; therefore, we sketch some alternativesfor conducting these analyses that could assist policy makers in making difficult water pricing decisions.
Local Irritation/Corrosion Testing Strategies: Development of a Decision Support System for the Introduction of Alternative Methods

The notification procedure for new chemicals of the European Union (EU) requires protocols on physicochemical and toxicological tests for the evaluation of physico-chemical properties and probable toxic effects of each notified substance. In order to reduce the amount of animal testing, alternative methods should be introduced into toxicity testing. Therefore, we have developed a rule-based decision support system (DSS) for the prediction of the local corrosive/irritant properties of new chemicals. To this end, data on more than 1000 substances were examined, which resulted in approximtely 180 “exception-rules” of the kind IF (physicochemical property) A THEN not (toxic) Effect B. In addition, the structural formulae of the chemicals were analysed, which resulted in approximately 160 “structure-rules” of the kind IF Substructure A THEN Effect B. The DSS can predict (based on theoretical structure-activity relationships) whether a chemical produces: a) corrosive effects (i.e. no testing is necessary; b) might have corrosive effects (i.e. no animal testing, in vitro tests are suitable); and c) will produce no effects or only marginal effects (i.e. animal tests are necessary based on current EU legislation for hazard assessment purposes). In addition, the DSS provides reliable data for legal classification and labelling based on a specific result.
Limitations to the structure‐based design of HIV‐1 vaccine immunogens

In spite of 25 years of intensive research, no effective human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1) vaccine has yet been developed. One reason for this is that investigators have concentrated mainly on the structural analysis of HIV‐1 antigens because they assumed that it should be possible to deduce vaccine‐relevant immunogens from the structure of viral antigens bound to neutralizing monoclonal antibodies. This unwarranted assumption arises from misconceptions regarding the nature of protein epitopes and from the belief that it is justified to extrapolate from the antigenicity to the immunogenicity of proteins.
Digital nudging to overcome cognitive resistance in innovation adoption decisions

ABSTRACT Consumers often resist adopting innovations, even in cases where they acknowledge that these would be beneficial for them. Cognitive biases in consumers’ decision-making may trigger resistance to innovation. We explore cognitive biases’ effects in innovation adoption decisions. Further, we investigate how digital nudging can be used to mitigate this in order to increase the adoption likelihood for an innovation. We build a set of hypotheses and test them in a quasi-field experiment with 821 participants. We first show that the occurrence of cognitive biases correlates with an up to 44% lower likelihood of adopting an innovation. Second, we find that digital nudging can partially overcome resistance to innovation and can increase the innovation adoption likelihood. Our findings contribute to theory by explaining how resistance to innovation is built from a cognitive perspective and how nudging can be used to increase innovation adoption.
Assessing the Differences in Bitcoin & Other Cryptocurrency Legality Across National Jurisdictions

The growth of cryptocurrencies has been met with a variety of regulatory and legislative responses across national jurisdictions, with some signalling approval of the general transactional and functional aspects of cryptocurrencies, while other responding with legislative prohibitions or restrictions. This diversity of legislative response signals on one hand the perplexity of authorities as to the full possibilities of cryptocurrencies, and on the other hand a realization of the inadequate oversight and governance role those authorities would have in the disintermediated nature of cryptocurrency transactions. This discussion paper assesses the differences in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency legality across national jurisdictions.
Serial Attention Mechanisms in Visual Search: A Direct Behavioral Demonstration

In visual search, inefficient performance of human observers is typically characterized by a steady increase in reaction time with the number of array elementsthe so-called set-size effect. In general, set-size effects are taken to indicate that processing of the array elements depends on limited-capacity resources, that is, it involves attention. Contrasting theories have been proposed to account for this attentional involvement, however. While some theories have attributed set-size effects to the intervention of serial attention mechanisms, others have explained set-size effects in terms of parallel, competitive architectures. Conclusive evidence in favor of one or the other notion is still lacking. Especially in view of the wide use of visual search paradigms to explore the functional neuroanatomy of attentional mechanisms in the primate brain, it becomes essential that the nature of the attentional involvement in these paradigms be clearly defined at the behavioral level. Here we report a series of experiments showing that highly inefficient search indeed recruits serial attention deployment to the individual array elements. In addition, we describe a number of behavioral signatures of serial attention in visual search that can be used in future investigations to attest a similar involvement of serial attention in other search paradigms. We claim that only after having recognized these signatures can one be confident that truly serial mechanisms are engaged in a given visual search task, thus making it amenable for exploring the functional neuro-anatomy underlying its performance.
Land allocation between a multiple-stand forest and agriculture under storm risk and recursive preferences

ABSTRACT This study aims to characterise steady-state land allocations between a multiple-stand forest and agriculture, when the forest is subject to a storm risk. The landowner is supposed to have recursive preferences, which permits to distinguish between intertemporal preferences and risk preferences. Using a stochastic dynamic programming model, we show that both land allocation and forest management depend on the risk and on both types of preferences at the steady-state. Risk aversion is shown to favour land allocation to agriculture and to reduce the forest average harvest age while the preference for a regular income is shown to favour forestry and to reduce the average harvest age.
Macroeconomic Determinants of FDI Inflows in Macedonia: A Breakpoint Analysis

This article investigates the impact of macroeconomic variables on FDI inflow in Macedonia using quarterly data for 2000-2016. The structural breakpoint method is used to disclose the non-linear effects in a context of structural shocks. The results indicate a significant impact of our macroeconomic variables on FDI inflows and reveal temporal heterogeneity of the slopes reflecting a non-linear impact of real GDP, interest rate, real effective exchange rate and trade openness on FDI inflows. Keywords: FDI, Structural Breaks, Breakpoint analysis, Macedonia. JEL codes: C20, F43, O11