Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and application of novel performance validity metrics for computerized neurocognitive batteries

Abstract Objectives: Data from neurocognitive assessments may not be accurate in the context of factors impacting validity, such as disengagement, unmotivated responding, or intentional underperformance. Performance validity tests (PVTs) were developed to address these phenomena and assess underperformance on neurocognitive tests. However, PVTs can be burdensome, rely on cutoff scores that reduce information, do not examine potential variations in task engagement across a battery, and are typically not well-suited to acquisition of large cognitive datasets. Here we describe the development of novel performance validity measures that could address some of these limitations by leveraging psychometric concepts using data embedded within the Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery (PennCNB). Methods: We first developed these validity measures using simulations of invalid response patterns with parameters drawn from real data. Next, we examined their application in two large, independent samples: 1) children and adolescents from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (n = 9498); and 2) adult servicemembers from the Marine Resiliency Study-II (n = 1444). Results: Our performance validity metrics detected patterns of invalid responding in simulated data, even at subtle levels. Furthermore, a combination of these metrics significantly predicted previously established validity rules for these tests in both developmental and adult datasets. Moreover, most clinical diagnostic groups did not show reduced validity estimates. Conclusions: These results provide proof-of-concept evidence for multivariate, data-driven performance validity metrics. These metrics offer a novel method for determining the performance validity for individual neurocognitive tests that is scalable, applicable across different tests, less burdensome, and dimensional. However, more research is needed into their application.
Living in Ethnic Areas or Not? Residential Preference of Decimal Generation Immigrants among Asian Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, and Vietnamese

The present study examines the spatial assimilation patterns of immigrants who arrived as children. The main objective is to predict the likelihood of living in ethnic areas for decimal generation immigrants (1.25, 1.5, and 1.75) among Asian Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, and Vietnamese. Using 2013–2017 5-Year ACS Estimates and IPUMS, it applies the measure of local spatial clustering (the Local Moran’s I statistic) to identify ethnic areas and the logistic regression model to assess the effects of immigrant generational status, cultural, and socioeconomic assimilation on the probability of living in ethnic areas. The findings show that the 1.25 and 1.5 decimal generation immigrants of Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, and Koreans demonstrate higher propensities of living in ethnic areas compared to the first generation of each ethnic group, respectively. Meanwhile, their Asian Indians and Vietnamese counterparts show spatial assimilation. Regardless of generational effects, English language ability positively relates to the probability of living in nonethnic areas, whereas economic assimilation indicators reveal mixed results. We found substantial evidence for resurgent ethnicity theory and some support of spatial assimilation model, indicating the ethnic disparity in spatial assimilation patterns among Asian immigrants. Our paper highlights the nonlinear assimilation patterns among Asian decimal generations. Results suggest that, for Asian immigrants in the U.S., age-at-arrival and ethnicity are both significant predictors of residential preference.
Use of Non-pharmacological Methods in Managing Labour Pain: Experiences of Nurse- midwives in Two Selected Districts Hospital of Pwani and Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania

Background: Labour pain usually bring worries and most of the concerns to a woman and her family. Thus, the majority of the women in labour pain may require some sort of pain relief method be it pharmacological or non-pharmacological during this period. However, in Tanzania, the use of non-pharmacological labour pain-relieving methods remain low among nurse-midwives. This study analyzed the experiences of nurse-midwives on the use of non-pharmacological methods to manage labour pain in two selected districts of Pwani region Tanzania.Materials and Methods: An exploratory qualitative study using a semi-structured interview guide was conducted to purposefully recruited nurse-midwives working in labour ward in two district hospitals in Pwani region Tanzania. Data were analysed using a qualitative content analysis approach to generate categories describing the experiences of using non-pharmacological methods in managing labour pain. Results: Encouraging women on the tolerability of pain, provision of instructions onchanging positions, deep mouth breathing techniques and exercises, provision of psychological support and provision of sacral massage emerged as the common non-pharmacological methods used by nurse-midwives. Comfortability on using the methods to both nurse-midwives and the women was stated to make both the nurse-midwives and women use them. Furthermore, some nurse-midwives did not use the methods because of limited skills, the misconception that labour pain to delivering women is necessary and lack of awareness of its benefits. Conclusion: The findings of this study underscores that knowledge on benefits on non-pharmacological methods, skills on using non-pharmacological pain and misconception of nurse-midwives on labor pain influence use of non-pharmacological labor pain management.
Comparing the effects of plyometric and isometric strength training on dynamic and isometric force-time characteristics

The purpose of the study was to compare the change in dynamic and isometric force-time characteristics after plyometric (PLYO) or isometric strength training (ISO). Twenty-two endurance runners (age = 37 ± 6 years, stature = 1.71 ± 0.05 m, body mass = 62.7 ± 8.6 kg, weekly mileage = 47.3 ± 10.8 km) performed a countermovement jump (CMJ) and isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) test during pre- and post-tests. They were then randomly assigned to either PLYO or ISO group and completed 12 sessions of intervention over six weeks. The PLYO included drop jump, single leg bounding and split jump, and the ISO included IMTP and isometric ankle plantar flexion. Significant and large time x group interactions were observed for CMJ countermovement depth (P = 0.037, ƞ²p = 0.21) and IMTP and relative peak force (PF) (P = 0.030, ƞ²p = 0.22). Significant and large main effects for time were observed in CMJ height, peak power, propulsive phase duration, countermovement depth, reactive strength index modified, IMTP PF and relative PF (P < 0.05, 0.20 ≤ ƞ²p ≤ 0.65). Effect for time showed small improvement in CMJ height for both PLYO (P < 0.001, d = 0.48) and ISO (P = 0.009, d = 0.47), small improvement in CMJ PP in PLYO (P = 0.020, d = 0.21), large increase in countermovement depth (P = 0.004, d = 1.02) and IMTP relative PF (P < 0.001, d = 0.87), and moderate increase in propulsive phase duration (P = 0.038, d = 0.65) and IMTP PF (P < 0.001, d = 0.55) in ISO. There were large differences between groups for percentage change in countermovement depth (P = 0.003, d = 0.96) and IMTP relative PF (P = 0.047, d = 0.90). In conclusion, both PLYO and ISO improved CMJ jump height via different mechanisms, while only ISO resulted in improved IMTP PF and relative PF.
Employee Experience: Construct Clarification, Conceptualization and Validation of a New Scale

The COVID-19 crisis has drawn broader public interest in how companies treat their workers, so going forward, people management would be of an increasing concern. As we make a transition from a service-based economy to experience economy, where time well saved takes a back seat to time well spent, the notion of employee experience (EX) is set to become a fundamental workplace design principle. EX is about the work, not the office. EX aims for a complete redesign of the workplace practices and environment to fit the employees and not the other way around. This article examines and verifies EX scale as one-dimensional as well as multidimensional constructs with six dimensions, namely cohesiveness, vigour, well-being, achievement, inclusiveness and physical environment. Six dimensions were explored with focus group and open-ended survey and validated with closed-ended survey of 299 employees working in multinational corporations across India. Structural equation modelling is used to validate the proposed latest construct. Establishing the EX scale would help researchers as well practitioners in empirically measuring EX and its relationship with various individuals as well organizational constructs.
Improvement of banana quality in relation to storage humidity, temperature and fruit length

This investigation was undertaken to find out the effect of fruit size, storage temperature, humidity and their interactions on the quality of ripe fruit. The experiment was laid out according to the factorial design with four replications. It is observed that both humidity levels (80 85% & 90 95%) and fruit size did not effect the ripening time of bananas so they ripened after 10 days. Bananas stored at 18C ripened after 9 days (two days earlier) but those stored at 16C ripened after 11 days. Weight loss percentage was greater (1.31%) in bananas, which were stored at higher temperature (18C) than those, which were stored at lower temperature (16C with weight loss 1.09%). Regarding to weight loss percentage temperature showed greater effect at lower humidity levels. Bananas ripened at higher temperature (18C) were less green (-3.33), softer (2.67 Nmm) and with more pulp/peel ratio (1.78) than those ripened at 16C. Humidity levels showed no difference regarding TSS % but it was greater (22.8%) in bananas, which were ripened at 18C than those of 16C. Panelists preferred long bananas, which were ripened at 18C. In order to attain the best quality ripe fruit bananas (20 cm) should be stored at 18C and relative humidity during ripening must be 80 85%.
Digoxin Inhibits Retinoblastoma through Suppressing a Non-canonical TGFβ Signaling Pathway.

Aims: Retinoblastoma is a childhood ocular tumor rapidly developing from the immature cells of the retina due to loss of functional retinoblastoma protein. Digoxin, a cardiac glycoside, has been reported to be effective in inducing apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and cytotoxic effects on human cancers. In this regard, the present study aims to investigate whether digoxin could suppress retinoblastoma cancer through the regulation of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathway. Methodology: The effects of digoxin on Y-79 cells, retinoblastoma cancer cell line, were investigated using MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoli-umbromide) and BrdU (bromodeoxyuridine) assays to measure cellular cytotoxicity effects and cell apoptosis, respectively. Also, a qPCR assay was employed to analyze the mRNA expression levels of TGFβ signaling pathway including C-MYC, P21, P15, TGFβRI, TGFβRII, and SMAD2, 3, and 4 genes. Results: The results of the cell function assays revealed that digoxin inhibited the cell viability and proliferation of Y-79 cells. In addition, it was found that digoxin significantly suppressed C-MYC expression and enhanced the expression of P21, P15, SMAD2 and SMAD4 genes in a dose-and time-dependent manner. However, the obtained results could not detect any significant effect of digoxin on TGFβRI, TGFβRII and SMAD3 genes. Conclusion: Taken together, the findings of the present study suggest that digoxin could be a potential therapeutic agent in the treatment of retinoblastoma by regulating the cell cycle genes via a non-canonical TGF-β signaling pathway.
A Numerical Modeling of a Variable Conductance Thermosyphon by Use of a Binary Mixture

In this paper the steady state performance of a variable conductance heat pipe, which its working fluid consists of two components (R11+ R113) is modeled. The role of the liquid film momentum and axial normal stresses are considered by use of the mean property of mixture and the governing equations are solved by conventional numerical methods. The results of the present model have been compared with other numerical models and experimental works done by other investigators. The model presented could be used for optimization studies and design of variable conductance thermosyphons.
Varietal Differences in Quality Characteristics of Popped Rice

Rice is a versatile cereal and used for consumption in various forms. The three principal rice products of commercial importance which are traditionally being made in India are popped, puffed and flaked rice. Popped rice is a popular product, especially in Asia, because of its crispness and lightness. Hence an investigation was undertaken to study the varietal suitability of rice for popping quality characteristics. Sample of 15 paddy varieties were procured from ARS, Mugad. The physico-chemical parameters, cooking time and gelatinization temperature (GT) of milled rice and popping quality such as popping yield, expansion ratio of popped rice and flake size of popped rice were studied. Physical characteristics of milled rice varieties varied significantly (P<0.01). Among the milled rice varieties, the super fine variety Pusa-basumati had the highest length (7.22 mm) and the lowest in Dodiga (5.33 mm) a common grain variety. The L:B ratio for all the varieties of milled rice ranged from 1.89 to 3.68. In the study the popping yield was positively correlated with thousand kernel weight (r=0.332), bulk density (r=0.605), head rice yield (r=0.571), whereas the popping expansion was positively correlated to L:B ratio (r=0.527) and no significant correlation was found between popping expansion and amylose content and gelatinization temperature. The expansion ratio of popped rice of Intan found to be maximum at 27.6 per cent total amylose and 13.4 per cent hot water insoluble amylase. In the present study, it was observed that rice varieties Intan, Dodiga Udarsali, Navali, Abhilash, Jaya, Champakali posses good processing quality, exhibit optimum cooking time (19.00 to 23.50 min), high amylose content (27.6-30.6% db) and intermediate gelatinization temperature (70.09° to 72.45° C). Hence, it can be concluded that the rice varieties with high amylose content and intermediate gelatinization temperature are most suitable for good cooking, eating and processing qualities.
Physically Based Summer Temperature Reconstruction From Melt Layers in Ice Cores

Previous reconstructions of summer temperatures from ice cores have relied on a statistical relationship between a melt layer and temperature observed at nearby stations. This study presents a novel method for reconstructing summer temperatures from melt layers in ice cores using an energy balance model that incorporates heat conduction and meltwater refreezing in the firn. We use the seasonal patterns in the ERA‐Interim reanalysis data set for an ice core site to calculate the amounts of refreezing water within the firn under various summer mean temperature (SMT) and annual precipitation conditions, and prepared calibration tables containing these three variables. We then estimate the SMTs from the refreezing amount and annual accumulation, both of which can be obtained from an ice core. We apply this method to four ice cores that were recovered from sites with different climates: two sites on the Greenland Ice Sheet, one in Alaska, and one in Russian Altai. The reconstructed SMTs show comparable variations with those of observed temperatures at nearby stations. The nonlinear relationship between SMT and melt layer thickness differs between sites, indicating that a single linear approximation cannot be employed to estimate SMT. Sensitivity analyses suggest that the annual temperature range, amount of annual precipitation, and firn albedo (which is a time‐invariant value in the model) significantly affect the relationship between SMT and melt layer thickness. This new method provides an alternative to existing approaches and yields an independent estimate of SMT from ice cores that have been affected by melting.
The synergism effect of Scolymus maculatus L. plant extracts and hot water dipping on the postharvest storability of Valencia oranges

Present research was carried out with an objective to test the synergism effect of Scolymus maculatus L. plant extracts and hot water dipping (HWD) on the storability of Valencia oranges. Experiments were conducted with four different treatments and five replications in each. Each of these replications consisted of five fruits and studies were scheduled to keep on for 150 days. Quality parameters were measured with 30-days interval. The treatments of current study are: a) immersing in pure water at 25°C for 5 min. (control); b) HWD at 50°C for 5 min.; c) immersing in pure water at 25°C for 5 min. with 1.0% S. maculatus L. plant extracts (Sm extract); and d) immersing in HWD at 50°C for 5 min. with 1.0% S. maculatus L. plant extracts (HWD + Sm extract). Results made it possible to understand that the HWD treatment is successful in slowing respiration rate and prevention of weight loss, controlling postharvest pathogens and preserving visual quality of the orange fruits. Additional to these expected results, findings of current work made it possible to conclude that the S. maculatus L. plant extracts have also significant influence on these quality parameters and the combination of both treatments provides highest efficacy for increasing the storability of orange fruits. Postharvest application of hot water dipping with 1.0% S. maculatus plant extracts to the Valencia oranges was found to maintain acceptability of the fruits for 150 days of storage at 6.0±1.0°C and 90-95% relative humidity.
LISFLOOD-FP 8.0: the new discontinuous Galerkin shallow-water solver for multi-core CPUs and GPUs

Abstract. LISFLOOD-FP 8.0 includes second-order discontinuous Galerkin (DG2) and first-order finite-volume (FV1) solvers of the two-dimensional shallow-water equations for modelling a wide range of flows, including rapidly propagating, supercritical flows, shock waves or flows over very smooth surfaces. The solvers are parallelised on multi-core CPU and Nvidia GPU architectures and run existing LISFLOOD-FP modelling scenarios without modification. These new, fully two-dimensional solvers are available alongside the existing local inertia solver (called ACC), which is optimised for multi-core CPUs and integrates with the LISFLOOD-FP sub-grid channel model. The predictive capabilities and computational scalability of the new DG2 and FV1 solvers are studied for two Environment Agency benchmark tests and a real-world fluvial flood simulation driven by rainfall across a 2500 km2 catchment. DG2's second-order-accurate, piecewise-planar representation of topography and flow variables enables predictions on coarse grids that are competitive with FV1 and ACC predictions on 2–4 times finer grids, particularly where river channels are wider than half the grid spacing. Despite the simplified formulation of the local inertia solver, ACC is shown to be spatially second-order-accurate and yields predictions that are close to DG2. The DG2-CPU and FV1-CPU solvers achieve near-optimal scalability up to 16 CPU cores and achieve greater efficiency on grids with fewer than 0.1 million elements. The DG2-GPU and FV1-GPU solvers are most efficient on grids with more than 1 million elements, where the GPU solvers are 2.5–4 times faster than the corresponding 16-core CPU solvers. LISFLOOD-FP 8.0 therefore marks a new step towards operational DG2 flood inundation modelling at the catchment scale. LISFLOOD-FP 8.0 is freely available under the GPL v3 license, with additional documentation and case studies at https://www.seamlesswave. com/LISFLOOD8.0 (last access: 2 June 2021).
Understanding, engineering, and modulating the growth of neural networks: An interdisciplinary approach

A deeper understanding of the brain and its function remains one of the most significant scientific challenges. It not only is required to find cures for a plethora of brain-related diseases and injuries but also opens up possibilities for achieving technological wonders, such as brain–machine interface and highly energy-efficient computing devices. Central to the brain's function is its basic functioning unit (i.e., the neuron). There has been a tremendous effort to understand the underlying mechanisms of neuronal growth on both biochemical and biophysical levels. In the past decade, this increased understanding has led to the possibility of controlling and modulating neuronal growth in vitro through external chemical and physical methods. We provide a detailed overview of the most fundamental aspects of neuronal growth and discuss how researchers are using interdisciplinary ideas to engineer neuronal networks in vitro. We first discuss the biochemical and biophysical mechanisms of neuronal growth as we stress the fact that the biochemical or biophysical processes during neuronal growth are not independent of each other but, rather, are complementary. Next, we discuss how utilizing these fundamental mechanisms can enable control over neuronal growth for advanced neuroengineering and biomedical applications. At the end of this review, we discuss some of the open questions and our perspectives on the challenges and possibilities related to controlling and engineering the growth of neuronal networks, specifically in relation to the materials, substrates, model systems, modulation techniques, data science, and artificial intelligence.
The approximate analytical solutions of nonlinear fractional ordinary differential equations

The Sumudu homotopy perturbation method (SHPM) is applied to solve fractional order nonlinear differential equations in this paper.The current technique incorporates two notable strategies in particular Sumudu transform (ST) and homotopy perturbation method (HPM). The proposed method’s hybrid property decreases the number of the quantity of computations and materials needed. In this method, illustration examples evaluate the accuracy and applicability of the mentioned procedure. The outcomes got by FSHPM are in acceptable concurrence with the specific arrangement of the problem.
On the Origin of Discrepancies Between Observed and Simulated Memory of Arctic Sea Ice

To investigate the inherent predictability of sea ice and its representation in climate models, we compare the seasonal‐to‐interannual memory of Arctic sea ice as given by lagged correlations of sea‐ice area anomalies in large model ensembles (Max Planck Institute Grand Ensemble and Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6) and multiple observational products. We find that state‐of‐the‐art climate models significantly overestimate the memory of pan‐Arctic sea‐ice area from the summer months into the following year. This cannot be explained by internal variability. We further show that the observed summer memory can be disentangled regionally into a reemergence of positive correlations in the perennial ice zone and negative correlations in the seasonal ice zone; the latter giving rise to the discrepancy between observations and model simulations. These findings could explain some of the predictability gap between potential and operational forecast skill of Arctic sea‐ice area identified in previous studies.