Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maternal undernutrition indicators as proxy indicators of their offspring’s undernutrition: Evidence from 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey

Background: The intergenerational continuity of undernutrition is influenced by shared genetic, household socio-economic and cultural resources which will be associated with the mother and the child nutritional status, possibly to the same degree. Provided that this assumption is valid, assessing maternal nutritional status will provide an effective screening tool for their children nutrition status. Objective: To examine whether maternal undernutrition indicators can be used as a proxy indicator of their offspring’s undernutrition. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS 2011). An analytical sample of 8,505 children whose mothers are not pregnant and live with their biological mothers was included. The bivariate associations between nutritional indices of the mother and the children were analyzed with Pearson correlation coefficients. The sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and area under Roc curves were calculated. We performed ROC regression analysis to determine factor that affects the accuracy of maternal underweight as a screening tool. We further performed rocreg postestimation to determine where exactly the test performed best. Results: Mean BMI of mothers with stunted children was 20.01 (95% CI: 19.86–20.16), whereas that mothers with no stunted children was 20.46 (95% CI: 20.31– 20.62). Similarly, children who experienced underweight or wasting had mothers who had consistently lower BMI than those who did not (p <0.001). The sensitivity of maternal underweight (defined by BMI < 18.5 kg/m) as a predictor of child’s nutritional status (<-2 z-scores) is low, failing to reach 50% for any of the child nutrition indices. In the roc regression analysis, maternal BMI(<18.5 kg/m) became a more accurate predictor of wasting among children whose mother are older (β = -0.014, p=0.002) and higher parity(β= -0.035, p <0.001), and among children who are not currently breastfeeding (β= -0.042, p = 0.006) and from richer households (β= -0.037, p <0.001). Conclusion: Our study provides evidence that maternal undernutrition indicators are less informative in predicting their offspring’s undernutrition, although maternal BMI (<18.5kg/m) may be a better measure of wasting among children whose mothers gave birth to four children and among children from richest households.
Phenotypic and functional characterization of a marrow-derived stromal cell line, M210B4 and its comparison with primary marrow stromal cells

In vitro co-culture system consisting of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) or mesenchymal stromal cell lines of marrow origin has provided important clues about the regulation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) by their microenvironment or niche. In the current studies, we have compared phenotypic and functional characters of a marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell line, M210B4, with BMSCs. We demonstrate that M210B4 resembles BMSCs in terms of phenotypic characters. Unlike the BMSCs, M210B4 differentiated only towards adipogenic lineage, and was refractory towards osteogenic differentiation. However, M210B4 cells exhibited a higher HSC-supportive ability as assessed by flow cytometry analyses of the output cells from co-cultures. We observed that M210B4 cells show a constitutively higher activation of p44/42 and p38 MAPK pathways compared to BMSCs, contributing to their higher HSC-support in vitro. Overall, the results show that M210B4 forms a suitable in vitro system to study HSC regulation in vitro.
Cross-cultural Study of Perception of Humor by English Native Speakers and Iranian EFL Learners

As an instance of foreign language comprehension, L2 humor perception is proved to be challenging for the foreign language learners. However, the body of literature is heavier on the side of humor production than humor perception. The current study explores the extent to which Iranian English as foreign language (EFL) learners perceive different types of English humor in comparison with the English native speakers. The participants were 153 Iranian EFL learners at intermediate level of language proficiency who were randomly selected from English language learners from several English language institutes in Shiraz, Iran, and 30 American English native speakers who voluntarily participated in this study. A questionnaire consisting of six contextualized jokes of three major types of universal, cultural and linguistic (with morphological, phonological, lexical and syntactic subcategories)was developed based on Schmitz's classification of verbal humor to obtain the quantitative data. Moreover, a semi-structured interview was conducted to elicit the perception of those participants who did not find the jokes humorous. The results showed that the majority of Iranian EFL participants did not realize the humor in the jokes. Also, the findings revealed that generally speaking, Iranian EFL learners' perception of humor is significantly lower in all types of jokes examined. The best perceived type of humor was found to be the linguistic humor of morphological type for the Iranian EFL learners and the lexical type for English native speakers. It was also discovered that the phonological humor was the least perceived type of humor for both Iranian EFL learners and English native speakers.
Gait Cycle Ground Reaction Force Measurement Using Piezoelectric Sensor Attached to Shoe-Insole System

This study presents a wearable system that mainly consisted of piezoelectric sensors, filter circuit and data logger in order to measure the vertical ground reaction force (VGRF) and study its profile. The proposed system establishes base information to improve the portable gait analysis systems and make them easier in use also to be able to get more outdoor data. The experiments were done by a young healthy person without physical disabilities or nervous disorders and the experimental protocol was explained to the participant before the performing. The experiment involved the walking with self-selected speed along 15 meter track of paved ground. The system was set on (200 Hertz) sampling rate in order to achieve the required data resolution. The produced information was about the events of the gait cycle (Heel-Strike, Stance, Heel-Off and Swing) and their durations also for the VGRF profile of each step and stride which compared with the VGRF profile of force plate. The results of VGRF of sensorinsole system clarified a high similarity with the VGRF produced by force plate system. Despite the system having many features, there are some limitations which can be avoided after improving the system.
Sci-Hi-C: a single-cell Hi-C method for mapping 3D genome organization in large number of single cells

The highly dynamic nature of chromosome conformation and three-dimensional (3D) genome organization leads to cell-to-cell variability in chromatin interactions within a cell population, even if the cells of the population appear to be functionally homogeneous. Hence, although Hi-C is a powerful tool for mapping 3D genome organization, this heterogeneity of chromosome higher order structure among individual cells limits the interpretive power of population based bulk Hi-C assays. Moreover, single-cell studies have the potential to enable the identification and characterization of rare cell populations or cell subtypes in a heterogeneous population. However, it may require surveying relatively large numbers of single cells to achieve statistically meaningful observations in single-cell studies. By applying combinatorial cellular indexing to chromosome conformation capture, we developed single-cell combinatorial indexed Hi-C (sci-Hi-C), a high throughput method that enables mapping chromatin interactomes in large number of single cells. We demonstrated the use of sci-Hi-C data to separate cells by karytoypic and cell-cycle state differences and to identify cellular variability in mammalian chromosomal conformation. Here, we provide a detailed description of method design and step-by-step working protocols for sci-Hi-C.
Post-Supernatural Cultures: There and Back Again

The abandonment of supernatural religious beliefs and rituals seems to occur quite easily in some contexts, but post-supernaturalist cultures require a specific set of conditions that are difficult to produce and sustain on a large scale and thus are historically rare. Despite the worldwide resurgence of supernaturalist religion, some subcultures reliably produce people who deny the existence of supernatural entities. This social phenomenon has evoked competing explanations, many of which enjoy empirical support. We synthesize six of the most influential social-science explanations, demonstrating that they provide complementary perspectives on a complex causal architecture. We incorporate this theoretical synthesis into a computer simulation, identifying conditions under which the predominant attitude toward supernaturalism in a population shifts from acceptance to rejection (and vice versa). The model suggests that the conditions for producing widespread rejection of supernatural worldviews are highly specific and difficult to produce and sustain. When those conditions combine, which is historically rare, a stable social equilibrium emerges within which post-supernaturalist worldviews are widespread; however, this equilibrium is easier to disrupt than equilibria whose cohesion is stabilized by supernatural religion due to persistent cognitive tendencies toward supernaturalism in evolved human minds.
A Comparison of the Structure and Properties of Opaque and Semi-Transparent NIP/PIN-Type Scalable Perovskite Solar Cells

For over a decade, single-junction perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have experienced an unprecedent increase in efficiencies and even offer opportunities to surpass the Shockley–Queisser limit in multijunction configuration. There is consequently an intense need for easily processable semi-transparent PSCs as a basis of affordable tandems. The current study reports the comparison of negative-intrinsic-positive (NIP) and positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) architectures based on CH3NH3PbI3{Cl}-based perovskite. Both devices could be prepared with the same N-type (SnO2 nanoparticles) and P-type (poly-triarylamine (PTAA) polymer) materials. Each layer (except for electrodes) was deposited using solvent-based low temperature processes, contrasting with other literature studies, especially SnO2 for PIN-type purposes. A thorough experimental comparison of the two architectures reveals rather similar optical and structural properties for perovskites, whether deposited on an N- or P-type underlayer, with also comparable efficiencies in the final devices. A compatible deposition process for sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) as a semi-transparent electrode was then performed for both architectures. Upon varying the illuminated devices’ side, the semi-transparent cells exhibited different photocurrent behaviors, the magnitude of which depended on the device’s architecture. In conclusion, despite slightly better efficiencies for the semi-transparent NIP-type devices, the semi-transparent PIN-type counterparts also appear to be optically attractive for (two-terminal) tandem applications.
Reconfiguration of neuronal subpopulation associated with disease-associated microglia in human Alzheimer’s disease brain

There is a growing evidence that a subset of microglia, disease-associated microglia (DAM), is crucially involved in the onset and progression of Alzheimer Disease (AD). However, it has been challenging to comprehensively know how DAM affects neuronal loss and reconstitute the complicated cellular composition. Here, we describe the relationship between neuronal reconfiguration and microglia by digitally dissecting the human brain transcriptome. We observed DAM enrichment associated with neuronal loss and the degree of amyloid deposits, which was commonly found in different brain regions. The neuronal subtype analyses showed that DAM enrichment was correlated with the proportion of two excitatory neurons located in the cortical layer 4. The direction of these relations was opposite, which implied excitatory neuronal reconfiguration in the specific cortical layer. Our results suggested immune reaction represented by DAM might mediate the reconfiguration of cellular components in AD, which may eventually have implications for diagnostics and therapeutics. One sentence summary The enrichment of disease-associated microglia signature is associated with the reconfiguration of neuronal subtypes, particularly excitatory neurons in the cortical layer 4.
The impact of corporate social responsibility on stock price volatility of the US banks: a moderating role of tax

Purpose Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is considered one of the crucial branding and promotional tools for banks to legitimise their role in society to become socially and environmentally responsible corporate citizen. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of CSR on stock price volatility of the US banks. This study further examined the moderating role of tax on the relationship between CSR and stock price volatility. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the random-effects panel regression estimation technique to test the hypotheses. The authors include a sample of 37 US banks from 2013 to 2017 with 144 bank-years observation. The authors consider the environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores from Refinitiv as a proxy for CSR. The financial data are also collected from the Refinitiv Datastream database. Findings This study finds a significant and positive relationship between CSR and stock price volatility, which indicates that shareholders of the US banks may not prefer excess concentration on CSR because of the additional cost of investment associated with implementing CSR. Also, tax payments and stock price volatility show a significant positive association, which implies that there is a higher possibility of an increase in stock price volatility if the tax rate increases. Generally, shareholders are not interested in paying more taxes, so they may swap the market instead of paying more tax. On the other hand, the authors find a non-significant moderating effect of tax payment on CSR-volatility nexus. Originality/value Previous studies mainly focussed on CSR and financial performance of banks. Conversely, studies focussing on CSR and stock volatility are limited. This study will fill the gap in the literature by considering the effect of CSR on the stock price volatility of the US banks.
Psychiatric and Forensic Differences Between Men Charged with Sex Offences and Men Charged with Other Offences

Studies on differences between individuals convicted of sexual offences and nonsexual offences are sparse and there is an on‐going debate as to whether sexual offenders differ from other offenders. The primary aim of this study was to determine demographic characteristics, prevalence of mental disorders, alcohol and drug use at the time of the crime and the criminal responsibility of individuals charged with sexual offences, compared to nonsexual crimes, with the aim of bringing awareness to the similarities and differences between men charged with sex offences and those charged with other crimes. This is a single‐institution retrospective study of subjects charged with sexual offences and sent for institutional psychiatric evaluation to a Forensic Psychiatric Centre in an urban, academic, tertiary‐care center. The control group consisted of individuals charged with nonsexual offences referred to the same center. Results showed significant differences between individuals charged with sexual offences and nonsexual offences. Men charged with sex offences more frequently committed their crimes alone and victimized children equally as often as adults. They also less frequently pleaded guilty in court. They were more likely to be abused in childhood and more often had antisocial personality disorder and paraphilias and less often substance‐related disorders. The majority were considered criminally responsible. Our results show that sex offenders are different from nonsex offenders in many characteristics of their personal history, offence characteristics and forensic evaluations and these particular differences warrant different approaches to the prevention of future re‐offending, compared to nonsex offenders.
Dynamics of Auroral Precipitation Boundaries Associated With STEVE and SAID

Using Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite observations and ground‐based observations by the THEMIS all‐sky imagers (ASIs) and SuperDARN radars, we determine how the equatorward boundary locations of ring current ions and plasma sheet electrons at pre‐midnight relate to occurrence of strong thermal emission velocity enhancement (STEVE) and intense subauroral ion drifts (SAID) during substorms. We found that the STEVE events are associated with a sharper gradient of electron precipitating flux, lower precipitating ion flux, and a narrower (<1°) latitudinal gap between the equatorward boundaries of trapped ring current ions and precipitating plasma sheet electrons and narrower region‐2 field‐aligned currents (FACs) than for the non‐STEVE events. The narrow gap of the particle boundaries contains intense SAID, higher upflow velocity, lower trough density, and slightly higher electron temperature than those for the non‐STEVE events. The non‐STEVE substorms have much wider gaps between the trapped ions and precipitating electrons, and subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) do not show intense SAID. These results indicate that subauroral flows and downward FACs for the STEVE events can only flow within the latitudinally narrow subauroral low‐conductance region between the ion and electron boundaries, resulting in intense SAID and heating. During the non‐STEVE events, the SAPS flows can flow in the latitudinally wide region without forming intense SAID.
Mothers, Environment, and Ontogeny Affect Cognition

The book “Folk Physics for Apes” remains a fascinating book about the way one captive peer-group of chimpanzees understand the world in which they grew. However, the very special living conditions these seven individuals faced prevent any generalizations to the species level. Moreover, numerous recent studies have revolutionized our understanding of brain development and cognitive abilities in documenting much higher brain plasticity and important variations in the level of cognitive abilities in many species, including humans. Environmental enrichment and physical practice can lead to impressive improvements in the performance of many different cognitive abilities during the lifetime and these changes are observed within relative short periods of time and proportional to the environmental improvements or the level of physical practices. This much higher plasticity of cognitive abilities requires a new way of thinking in comparative cognitive studies incorporating a multiconditions multi-populations perspective before reaching conclusions that could be generalized to the species level. In that sense, “Folk Physics for Apes” is only one of the many pieces needed before we can draw conclusions about potential differences between chimpanzees and humans.
Changing prejudiced attitudes, promoting egalitarianism, and enhancing diversity through fundamental processes of persuasion

ABSTRACT We review work from persuasion science relevant to reducing prejudiced attitudes. We begin by introducing the idea that the thoughts people generate – their number and valence – are critical for understanding when responding to persuasive attempts will result in egalitarian attitudes. A focus on thinking highlights the importance of understanding short and long-term attitude change in promoting diversity. How much people think is also consequential for spreading of initial change to more distal attitudes and generalization of change to other judgments. The second section describes a process of thought validation that emphasizes the importance of considering what people think and feel about their own thoughts. This meta-cognitive process is shown to make a difference in producing consequential changes in reducing prejudiced attitudes toward African Americans, immigrants, refugees, individuals with disabilities, and beyond. The conditions under which variables such as minority status and stigmatized sources affect elaboration and validation are also specified. The fourth section explores how these two processes are relevant for understanding explicit and implicit ambivalence and change in the domain of prejudiced attitudes. We highlight the utility of a process-oriented approach for designing future research and promoting more inclusive attitudes and actions.
The Contingent Value of Political Connections on Donations to Chinese Foundations: Exploring the Moderating Role of Transparency

Existing studies assume that the value of political connections is homogeneous to different types of nonprofits and seldom consider their interplay with other accountability mechanisms. Based on a multilevel analysis of 2,085 foundations in China, this study builds and tests a theoretical framework of the contingent value of political connections to nonprofits, treating transparency as a moderator for the relationship between political connections and donations. Our findings suggest that while transparency is positively associated with the amount of donations obtained by foundations, political connections can help foundations obtain more donations only when their transparency score is higher than a certain threshold.
Light regulates inorganic nitrogen uptake and storage, but not nitrate assimilation, by the red macroalga Hemineura frondosa (Rhodophyta)

ABSTRACT Macroalgal growth in temperate coastal ecosystems is primarily regulated by light and inorganic nitrogen availability. The effect of light (photon irradiance) on NO3 − and NH4 + uptake, and NO3 − assimilation, were studied in the red macroalga, Hemineura frondosa, which does not operate a carbon concentrating mechanism (non-CCM). Non-CCM macroalgae grow in low and high light environments but become increasingly dominant with depth, suggesting a mechanism for ‘preserving energy’ under low light levels. H. frondosa was acclimated to limiting (30 µmol photons m− 2 s− 1) and saturating (150 µmol photons m− 2 s–1) irradiances for 8 days. Then, NO3 − and NH4 + uptake rates were measured under limiting and saturating irradiances at six concentrations ranging from 2–64 μM. NO3 − uptake did not follow saturating uptake kinetics at both irradiances suggesting multiple uptake mechanisms. NH4 + uptake saturated at concentrations <32 µM under limiting but not under saturating irradiance. Saturating irradiance resulted in greater maximum uptake rates of both NO3 − and NH4 +. There was no evidence that irradiance regulated NO3 − reduction by nitrate reductase. Also illustrated is the importance of measuring nitrate reductase activity on fresh material, as freezing in liquid nitrogen and storage at −80°C for 7 days caused a 65% decline in activity. Photosynthetic pigments, soluble tissue nitrogen and % total tissue nitrogen were all higher in limiting irradiance. In this first study of the nitrogen physiology of a non-CCM seaweed, we show that light regulates NO3 − and NH4 + uptake but not NO3 − assimilation.