nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Characteristics of basolateral amygdala neuronal firing on a spatial memory task involving differential reward.

Previous research has shown that spatial, movement, and reward information is integrated within the ventral striatum (VS). The present study examined the possible contribution of the basolateral nuclei of the amygdala (BLA) to this interaction by examining behavioral correlates of BLA neurons while rats performed multiple memory trials on an 8-arm radial maze. Alternate arms consistently held 1 of 2 different amounts of reward. Recorded cells were correlated with motion, auditory input, space, and reward acquisition. Reward-related units were found that anticipated reward encounter, that responded during reward consumption, and that differentiated between high and low reward magnitude. This is consistent with the hypothesis that BLA neurons may provide the VS with reward-related information that could then be integrated with spatial information to ultimately affect goal-directed behavior.

Field of study: Biology, Psychology
Large-scale configuration interaction description of the structure of nuclei around $^{100}$Sn and $^{208}$Pb

In this contribution I would like to discuss briefly the recent developments of the nuclear configuration interaction shell model approach. As examples, we apply the model to calculate the structure and decay properties of low-lying states in neutron-deficient nuclei around $^{100}$Sn and $^{208}$Pb that are of great experimental and theoretical interests.

Field of study: Physics
Fast MLE Computation for the Dirichlet Multinomial

Given a collection of categorical data, we want to find the parameters of a Dirichlet distribution which maximizes the likelihood of that data. Newton's method is typically used for this purpose but current implementations require reading through the entire dataset on each iteration. In this paper, we propose a modification which requires only a single pass through the dataset and substantially decreases running time. Furthermore we analyze both theoretically and empirically the performance of the proposed algorithm, and provide an open source implementation.

Field of study: Computer science
I05 Sclerostin - A key bone regulatory molecule

Sclerostin is an osteocyte-expressed, extracellular cystine-knot protein that is lacking in patients with sclerosteosis, a rare condition characterized by excessive bone formation. Sclerosteosis patients exhibit very high bone mass (lumbar spine Z scores up to +14) and are anecdotally resistant to bone fracture. Homozygous patients commonly develop symptoms associated with cranial nerve entrapment from excessive bone formation but do not show signs of heterotopic bone formation or metabolic abnormalities. Carriers demonstrate moderately elevated bone mass without associated untoward symptoms of excessive bone formation. Sclerostin knockout mice recapitulate many of the features of the excessive bone formation seen in sclerosteosis patients. Sclerostin acts by down modulating signaling through two osteogenic pathways (the Wnt and BMP pathways) and is consequently believed to negatively regulate the anabolic output from cells in the osteoblast lineage Treatment of rodents with monoclonal antibodies that block the function of sclerostin results in significant increases in bone formation, bone mass and bone strength. Further, antibodies to sclerostin can reverse the bone loss in rodents associated with ovariectomy, chronic inflammatory conditions and steroids. In primates, sclerostin antibodies cause a dose-dependent increase in circulating markers of bone formation as well as increasing bone mineral density and bone strength in both trabecular and cortical bone. Sclerostin antibodies also accelerate bone repair in both rodent and primate fracture repair models. Mechanistic studies have shown that primarily acts to stimulate bone formation through a modeling rather than a remodeling pathway. A Phase 1 clinical study demonstrated that a humanized antibody to sclerostin increased markers of bone formation and also inhibited a marker of bone resorption in a dose-dependent manner. Sclerostin inhibition provides an opportunity to evaluate therapies to increase bone mass to reduce fracture and accelerate fracture healing.

Field of study: Medicine
Impact Of ‘Rotational’ Training On Students’ Professional Experience: Case Study Of Accra Polytechnic Hospitality Management Students

Professional training tends to be an important component in higher education, and plays a key role in intellectual and professional development of contemporary graduates. This and many other crucial factors have indeed resulted in some educators incorporating professional training related-activities in teaching and learning at the graduate level. The purpose of the research is to ascertain the impact of professional training on the learning experience of Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management students in Accra Polytechnic. The research method adopted in this study was the triangulation method which involved the use of quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings suggest that when students are giving the opportunity to work in different departments it enhances employability, competence, career path and professional development. The main conclusion drawn from this study is that most of the respondents have a positive perception of the professional training and intend making a career within the hospitality industry. The limitation of this study was the sample size which made generalising the findings to a larger population inappropriate. For a better picture of the professional training experience, this study recommends that future research be carried out where the entire population of students could be involved in the study.  training, hospitality education, hospitality career path

Field of study: Education
A study of polonium-210 distribution aspects in the riverine ecosystem of Kaveri, Tiruchirappalli, India.

Distribution of a natural radionuclide (210Po) in water, sediment and biota was quantified along a 95 km reach of the Kaveri River, India. It is observed that the soft tissues of animals concentrated a higher level of 210Po than the hard parts like shell and bone. The ranges of 210Po activity in biological samples were 2.32-10.78 Bq kg(-1) wet (aquatic weeds), 18.94-28.55 Bq kg(-1) wet (plankton), 32.51 to 46.17 Bq kg(-1) wet (snail), 57.42 to 105.78 Bq kg(-1) wet (bivalve), 12.13 to 19.10 Bq kg(-1) wet (prawn) and 1.86 to 4.17 Bq kg(-1) wet (fish). The concentration factors (CFs) for the aquatic organisms ranged from 10(3) to 10(4), indicating a high affinity of 210Po for organic moieties. The bivalve mollusc, Lamellidens marginalis, accumulated higher concentrations of 210Po, suggesting that it could serve as a biomonitor of 210Po radionuclide in riverine systems. Further, the levels of 210Po in water, sediment and biological samples from impoundments were higher than those from stations located in the open river. This may be largely due to aerial inputs of the radionuclide, accumulation of radionucliderich silt and organic matter, and increased biological production in the impounded water body.

Field of study: Environmental science
Chromatin Landscaping At Mitotic Exit Orchestrates Genome Function

Chromatin architecture is highly dynamic during different phases of cell cycle to accommodate DNA-based processes. This is particularly obvious during mitotic exit, where highly condensed rod-like chromatids need to be rapidly decondensed. Such chromatin structural transitions are tightly controlled and organized as any perturbance in this dynamic process can lead to genome dysfunction which may culminate in loss of cellular fitness. However, the mechanisms underlying cell cycle-dependent chromatin structural changes are not fully understood. In this mini review, we highlight our current knowledge of chromatin structural organization, focusing on mitotic exit. In this regard, we examine how nuclear processes are orchestrated during chromatin unfolding and compartmentalization and discuss the critical importance of cell cycle-controlled chromatin landscaping in maintaining genome integrity.

Field of study: Biology
Distributed Estimation and Coding: A Sequential Framework Based on a Side-Informed Decomposition

We propose a sequential framework for the distributed multiple-sensor estimation and coding problem that decomposes the problem into a series of side-informed source coding problems and enables construction of good codecs. Our construction relies on a separation result for the simplified scenario where information from one sensor is to be sent to the CP that already has information regarding the desired signal. We show that the optimal encoder decoder combination, in this setting, can be decomposed, without loss in performance, into two steps: A first preprocessing step to extract relevant information from the indirect observation with consideration of the side information, followed by a second step of side-informed encoding of the preprocessed output. A recursive exploit of the decomposition coupled with side-informed transform coding allows us to construct encoders by reusing scalar Wyner-Ziv codecs. We develop a numerical procedure for obtaining bounds delineating the best achievable performance for the proposed sequential framework and construct and demonstrate a practical codec in the proposed framework that achieves empirical performance close to the bound. Furthermore, we also compare the bounds for the sequential scheme against bounds for a number of alternate schemes-for some of which codec constructions are obvious and others for which codec constructions are inobvious. Our results show that, in most cases, our codec exceeds the performance bound of schemes offering obvious constructions. The achievable bound for our sequential framework is also shown to be close to a general nonconstructive distributed bound that does not impose the sequential constraint indicating that the sequential approach may not cause a significant performance compromise.

Field of study: Engineering
Memory switching in a type I amorphous chalcogenide

Amorphous chalcogenides may be divided among three classes based upon the changes in local order and bond type on transition from the amorphous to the crystalline phases. These types include: (I) Stoichiometric compounds which do not undergo significant changes in local order on crystallization (e.g., As2Se3). (II) Stoichiometric compounds which undergo significant changes in local order on crystallization (e.g., GeTe). Previous work on memory switching has been performed primarily on type II and type III chalcogenides. The memory switching process in thin film specimens of a type I chalcogenide, amorphous As2Se3, is examined in this paper. Measurements of the threshold voltage distribution for devices of a given thickness display a sharp peak at some value VO . A plot of VO as a function of film thickness shows the initiation of switching to be field controlled, suggesting a non-thermal initiation mechanism. Microscopic examination of switched devices yields evidence for Joule heating, which is enchanced by self-capacitive energy released during switching subsequent to formation of the low resistance path.From the thickness dependence of VO and measurements of the failure time of devices biased below threshold, a switching mechanism for this material is deduced which incorporates spinodal decomposition of metallic As clusters in an insulating matrix. These clusters then chain under the influence of an applied field and form a low resistance filamentary path.

Field of study: Materials science
Nicotine induction of theta frequency oscillations in rodent medial septal diagonal band in vitro

This study aimed to examine the role of the nicotinic receptor (nAChR) in the generation of theta oscillations (4–12 Hz) in vitro.Electrophysiological studies were performed on medial septal diagonal band area (MSDB) slices to measure theta oscillation. Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy studies were carried out to detect α4 nAChR and β2 nAChR subunits in perfused-fixed tissue from VGluT2-GFP and GAD67-GFP transgenic mice.Application of nicotine to MSDB slices produced persistent theta oscillations in which area power increased in a dose-responsive manner. This activity was inhibited by GABAA receptor antagonists and partially by ionotropic glutamate receptor antagonists, indicating the involvement of local GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons in the production of the rhythmic activity. The nicotine-induced theta activity was also inhibited selectively by non-α7*nAChR antagonists, suggesting the presence of these receptor types on GABAergic and glutamatergic neuron populations in the MSDB. This was confirmed by immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy studies in transgenic mice in which the GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons express green fluorescent protein (GFP), showing localisation of β2 nAChR and α4 nAChR subunits, the most common constituents of non-α7*nAChRs, in both cell types in the MSDB.Conclusion:Theta activity in the MSDB may be generated by tonic stimulation of non-α7*nAChRs.

Field of study: Biology, Chemistry, Medicine
Antireflective subwavelength structures on microlens arrays-comparison of various manufacturing techniques.

Antireflective subwavelength structures (ARS) resembling nanostructures found on the cornea of night-active insects reduce the reflection of light by providing a gradual change in the refractive index at the interface. These artificial ARS have mainly been fabricated by a combination of conventional lithography and reactive ion etching, which constrains their application to planar substrates. We report on the fabrication of ARS using three different techniques including bottom-up and top-down methods as well as their combination on microlens arrays (MLAs) made of fused silica. The optical performance of the resulting ARS on the MLAs is as good as ARS fabricated on planar substrates with increased transmission of up to 96% at certain wavelengths.

Field of study: Physics
The non parametric regression estimate with dependent measurement errors

Non parametric regression estimation with measurement errors data has received great attention, and deconvolution local polynomial estimators can be used to deal with the problem that the errors are independent of other variables in the literature. In this article, the copula method is applied to tackle the case that the errors may depend on covariates, and the asymptotic properties of the resulting estimators are derived. Two simulations are conducted to illustrate the performance of the proposed estimators.

Field of study: Mathematics
Outcome of severe traumatic brain injury: comparison of three monitoring approaches.

The determination of cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) is regarded as vital in monitoring patients with severe traumatic brain injury. Besides indicating the status of cerebral blood flow (CBF), it also reveals the status of intracranial pressure (ICP). The abnormal or suboptimal level of CPP is commonly correlated with high values of ICP and therefore with poor patient outcomes. Eighty-two patients were divided into three groups of patients receiving treatment based on CPP and CBF, ICP alone, and conservative methods during two different observation periods. The characteristics of these three groups were compared based on age, sex, time between injury and hospital arrival, Glasgow Coma Scale score, pupillary reaction to light, surgical intervention, and computerized tomography scanning findings according to the Marshall classification system. Only time between injury and arrival (p = 0.001) was statistically significant. There was a statistically significant difference in the proportions of good outcomes between the multimodality group compared with the group of patients that underwent a single intracranial-based monitoring method and the group that received no monitoring (p = 0.003) based on a disability rating scale after a follow up of 12 months. Death was the focus of outcome in this study in which the multimodality approach to monitoring had superior results.

Field of study: Medicine
Quality of civic education materials to promote democracy in context of a market-led education system: Conceptual and pedagogical issues, existing materials and gaps

This study shares the concerns of professional educators and international education agencies UNESCO, the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), and the Teacher Education in Sub Saharan Africa (TESSA) that in order for the developing world to achieve the Jomtien 1990 and Dakar 2000 declarations about access and quality of education, it is necessary to go beyond conventional methods of delivery. While it acknowledges the inevitability of adopting Open and Distance Learning (ODL) approaches as well as the design, development and sharing of Open Educational Resources (OERs) within and across countries and educational institutions, this article critically examines the impact of market-led education policy on the availability and quality of civics school texts. The author recommends for concerted efforts of local and international professional agencies in building capacity for developing and sharing of OERs for the benefit of teachers and students in Tanzania.  Civic education,  Educational Resources, Pre-service teachers, Tanzania.

Field of study: Education
Conservation gains through HCVF assessments in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Romania

This paper analyses the conservation gains through High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF) assessments in two South-East European countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina and Romania). These are based on the review of the Draft Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) National Standards and HCVF Manuals and the results of the certification process of seven forest management units in the two countries. The review indicates that the application of Principle 9 (High Conservation Value Forests) and Criterion 6.4 of the FSC in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Romania was influenced by the size and nature of tenure (i.e., public or non-public land), rather than geographic location per se. The study also revealed that the assessment of HCVF has, for the first time, raised the question of conservation of cultural, historical and religious values as well as the sustainable management of those forests relevant for the basic needs of communities. These are values not currently covered at the present by the national conservation legislation in either of these two countries. Findings of this study in both countries demonstrates that there are certain conservation gains as a result of the HCVF assessment, especially related to ecosystem services, prevention of soil erosion and conservation of threatened, endangered and endemic species.

Field of study: Environmental science
Nonstoichiometric high-pressure phase of TmxCu3V4O12

TmxCu3V4O12, a perovskite-like oxide (space group, Im-3; Z = 2; a = 7.279–7.293 Å) containing vacancies in its cationic sublattice, was obtained barothermally (P = 7.0–9.0 GPa, t = 1000–1100°C) for the first time. The temperature dependences on the electrical resistivity (10–300 K) and the magnetic susceptibility (0–300 K) were investigated. It was shown that the oxide TmxCu3V4O12 is characterized by metal-type conductivity and paramagnetic properties.

Field of study: Physics
ID: 179: ABIN1 inhibits IL-17 signaling in a feedback manner

The Interleukin-17A (IL-17A) is related to the development of autoimmune diseases as well as to the control of Candida albicans infections. IL-17 triggers signaling by binding to the IL-17 receptor (IL-17R). The IL-17R recruits adaptor proteins activating downstream effector pathways such as NF-κB and MAPK to induce inflammatory gene expression. To identify IL-17 signaling intermediates we screened candidate genes by siRNA knockdown discovering several novel inhibitors. Based on evidence from human genetic studies and the known importance of A20 as an inhibitor of IL-17R signaling we focused on ABIN1, an A20-interacting protein, which has not previously implicated in this pathway. Since many inhibitors work in a feedback manner to block the pathways that induce their expression, we asked whether IL-17R signaling regulates expression of ABIN1. Indeed, mRNA expression of ABIN1 was induced by IL-17A signaling. Upon ABIN1 knockdown, the IL-17-dependent gene Lipocalin2 (Lcn2) showed increased expression, confirming that ABIN1 is an inhibitor of the IL-17R signaling. Consistently, reconstitution of ABIN1-deficient fibroblast with ABIN1 suppressed Lcn2 expression, and IL-17-induced activation of Lcn2 promoter was downregulated when ABIN1 was ectopically expressed in ST2 cells. However, not all IL-17-dependent target genes were regulated by ABIN1. We are currently dissecting the mechanisms by which ABIN1 inhibits IL-17R signaling. Together, these findings suggest an unexpected complexity in the regulation of IL-17-mediated inflammation.

Field of study: Medicine
Successive midcrustal, high-grade metamorphic events provide insight into Mid-Archean mountain-building along the SE margin of the proto-Kaapvaal craton

In this study, we investigate the evolution of continental crust at the Paleoarchean to Mesoarchean boundary by documenting the deposition, deep burial, and partial melting of metasedimentary gneisses along the SE margin of the proto–Kaapvaal craton. Successive high-grade metamorphic events recorded by the gneisses between ca. 3.23 and 3.07 Ga not only coincided with the timing of subduction-accretion in the adjacent Barberton greenstone belt at ca. 3.23–3.22 Ga, but also with discrete pulses of potassic granitic magmatism during differentiation and consolidation of the newly assembled lithosphere. Mineral equilibria modeling demonstrates that the granulites evolved along pressure-temperature ( P - T ) paths similar to those documented for metamorphism in modern collisional orogens. High-temperature deformation at ca. 3.11–3.07 Ga during uplift of the terrane was coaxial with the main NE-SW–trending structural grain of the Barberton greenstone belt and reflects the regional NW-SE shortening and NE-SW orogen-parallel extension exhibited by the younger potassic granites. We reconcile these features with Mesoarchean terrane assembly in Barberton via two NW-dipping subduction zones. The trace of the first is represented by the main terrane boundary within the Barberton greenstone belt; the second resulted in accretion, burial, and high-temperature metamorphism along the SE margin of the Kaapvaal craton, with the granulites providing valuable insight into the mid- to lower-crustal response to what appears to have been a protracted accretionary orogenic event.

Field of study: Geology
Information Technology Investment and Manufacturing Worker Productivity

In 1987, Nobel laureate Robert Solow cynically commented about the ubiquity of computers except in the productivity statistics. Since then, economists and management researchers have debated over whether IT matters in improving firm performance and the economy. For years, IT effects have been examined from largely three streams: macro perspective (the entire economy), micro perspective (firm) and a middle ground approach (industry). Industry level studies, however, appear to be less clear than those studies at macro- or micro- levels. This study examines the association of IT investment with manufacturing worker productivity at the industry level using a panel dataset of 322 six-digit NAICS industries over the period 2002-2008. Results show that IT investment has contributed to the improvement of manufacturing worker productivity across several measures.

Field of study: Computer science