Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rejection sensitivity and vulnerable attachment: associations with social support and PTSD symptoms in trauma survivors

ABSTRACT Background Although social support has been consistently associated with recovery from psychological trauma and prevention of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), individual differences in seeking or benefitting from social support in trauma survivors are not well understood. Factors associated with negative internal working models of self and others, emotion dysregulation, and interrupted bonds with an individual’s social support groups such as vulnerable attachment and rejection sensitivity could contribute to lower experienced social support and higher levels of PTSD. Objective The objective of this study was to test a theoretically informed model and investigate how psychosocial variables such as vulnerable attachment styles, rejection sensitivity, and social support are associated with PTSD. Method Using a cross-sectional survey and path analyses in 141 survivors of trauma (aged 18–69, M = 25.20), the relationship between vulnerable attachment style, rejection sensitivity, and PTSD were investigated. Results Higher vulnerable attachment, rejection sensitivity, and lower social support were found to be significant predictors of PTSD symptoms (f 2 = 0.75). The relationships from vulnerable attachment to PTSD were mediated by rejection sensitivity and perceived social support. The results supported and extend theoretical models of PTSD that posit a role for predisposing factors in the development and maintenance of the disorder. Conclusion The findings suggest a potential benefit of identifying vulnerable groups that could benefit from a refinement of existing PTSD interventions by targeting the maladaptive effects of vulnerable attachment and rejection sensitivity, thus allowing the individual to draw effectively on social support networks. HIGHLIGHTS Rejection sensitivity (RS), vulnerable attachment, social support and PTSD are assessed. High RS positively associates with vulnerable attachment and PTSD but negatively associates with social support. Attachment influence PTSD symptoms through RS and social support.
Influence of the spark plug mounting angle on spark ignition process at different flow velocities

Influences of the spark-plug mounting angle on the spark ignition of gasoline-air mixtures in high velocity flows were investigated in a combustion chamber connected at the end of a rapid compression machine. Gasoline-air mixture with an air excess ratio of 1.9 was combusted. A spark plug was mounted on the combustor wall at angles of −30°, −15°, 0°, 15°, and 30°. Flow velocity at the spark plug was varied from 5 to 20 m/s by adjusting the driving pressure of the piston. Time resolved spark-discharge voltage and current were measured with a voltage and a current probe, and the discharge energy was calculated using them. Behaviors of the discharge channel were observed optically with a high-speed video camera in addition to simultaneous measurements of OH* chemiluminescence from the flame kernel with the other high-speed video camera. The results showed that the averaged induction time of flame kernel initiation increased monotonously with an increase in the plug mounting angle from −30° to 30° in flows with velocities of 5 and 10 m/s. However, the increasing trend became less obvious with velocities of 15 and 20 m/s, involving with larger variation in induction time. Discharge duration became shorter with an increase in the plug mounting angle regardless of the same setup. Negative mounting angle resulted in frequent short-circuits/restrikes at the early phase. On the other hand, positive mounting angles resulted in a longer discharge channel length, higher energy deposition before the first restrike and longer induction time of the first restrike. Although the discharge channel at positive mounting angles elongates along with the flow, the early flame kernel was developed toward the center of the swirl. Thereafter, flame propagated outward from the central region, where the flow speed was lower than the downstream area. Negative mounting angle led to a more oval flame kernel shape and the propagation closer to combustion chamber wall, which showed a shorter induction time of flame kernel initiation in the cases of 5 and 10 m/s. However, fragments of the flame kernel tended to be formed due to frequent short-circuits with the velocities of 15 and 20 m/s. This resulted in the large variation of the induction time.
Determinants of Delegation: Evidence from British Establishment Data

This paper provides an empirical analysis of firms’ delegation decisions by using a matched employer-employee dataset from Britain. In our analysis, we first investigate if firm-provided training is positively related to delegating authority, as predicted by the existing theories. We then consider variables that can potentially increase the value of delegation. In particular, we conjecture that firms become more likely to delegate authority as they face higher uncertainty or as the employees acquire more precise information. To test these hypotheses, we use market conditions to measure uncertainty and correlates of worker productivity to measure the precision of the employee’s information
The role of bilingualism in executive functions in healthy older adults: A systematic review

Aims and Objectives: Bilinguals have been claimed to develop superior executive functioning compared to monolinguals due to their continuous experience of controlling two languages. Given the developmental trajectory of executive functions, a bilingual advantage could be more pronounced at an advanced age. To gain a clearer understanding, we reviewed the effect of bilingualism executive functions in healthy older adults. Methodology: The present paper systematically examines the methods and the results of 24 studies from 22 articles comparing healthy older monolinguals and bilinguals in at least one domain of executive functions. Data and Analysis: Data of each study were extracted for sample characteristics, country, language background and measures, controlled confounders and task paradigms. Study quality was also calculated for each study. Findings and Conclusions: In general, nine out of the 24 studies fully supported the notion of a bilingual advantage. Four studies showed a bilingual disadvantage. The rest of the studies challenged the existence of a bilingual advantage, as neither full support for bilingual advantages nor bilingual disadvantages were seen in various domains. The available data did not clearly support the widespread notion that bilingualism is related to a general advantage in executive control. However, when looking at the domains of executive functions separately, bilingualism was reliably associated with an advantage in inhibition, especially in two commonly applied tasks: the Stroop test and the Simon task. Originality: This is the first systematic review aimed at exploring the link between bilingualism and executive functions in healthy older adults. Significance/Implications: Heterogeneity in study characteristics and control of confounding variables may partially explain some of the inconsistencies found between studies. Therefore, well-designed studies that measure all core domains of executive functions and consider confounding variables are urgently needed.
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment: Normative Data from a Large, Population-Based Sample of Cognitive Healthy Older Adults in Norway-The HUNT Study.

BACKGROUND Several studies have found that normative scores on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA) vary depending on the person's education and age. The evidence for different normative scores between sexes is poor. OBJECTIVE The main aim of the study was to determine normative scores on the MoCA for Norwegian older adults stratified by educational level, age, and sex. In addition, we aimed to explore sex differences in greater detail. METHODS From two population-based studies in Norway, we included 4,780 people age 70 years and older. People with a diagnosis of dementia or mild cognitive impairment, a history of stroke, and depression were excluded. Trained health personnel tested the participants with the MoCA. RESULTS The mean MoCA score varied between 22 and 27 and was highest among women 70-74 years with education >13 years and lowest among men age 85 and older with education ≤10 years. Education, age, and sex were significant predictors of MoCA scores. CONCLUSION In the present study of cognitively healthy Norwegian adults 70 years and older, we found that the normative score on the MoCA varied between 22 and 27 depending on a person's education, age, and sex. We suggest that normative scores should be determined taking these three variables into consideration.
Mechanistically Coupled PK (MCPK) Model to Describe Enzyme Induction and Occupancy Dependent DDI of Dabrafenib Metabolism

Dabrafenib inhibits the cell proliferation of metastatic melanoma with the oncogenic BRAF(V600)-mutation. However, dabrafenib monotherapy is associated with pERK reactivation, drug resistance, and consequential relapse. A clinical drug-dose determination study shows increased pERK levels upon daily administration of more than 300 mg dabrafenib. To clarify whether such elevated drug concentrations could be reached by long-term drug accumulation, we mechanistically coupled the pharmacokinetics (MCPK) of dabrafenib and its metabolites. The MCPK model is qualitatively based on in vitro and quantitatively on clinical data to describe occupancy-dependent CYP3A4 enzyme induction, accumulation, and drug–drug interaction mechanisms. The prediction suggests an eight-fold increase in the steady-state concentration of potent desmethyl-dabrafenib and its inactive precursor carboxy-dabrafenib within four weeks upon 150 mg b.d. dabrafenib. While it is generally assumed that a higher dose is not critical, we found experimentally that a high physiological dabrafenib concentration fails to induce cell death in embedded 451LU melanoma spheroids.
Evidence for a Cost of Increased Floral Longevity in Female and Hermaphrodite Lobelia siphilitica (Campanulaceae)

Premise of research. Plants could respond to declines in pollination services by delaying floral senescence and thus increasing floral longevity. While a plastic increase in longevity could augment seed production by prolonging the opportunity for pollination, it could also reduce seed production if resources are allocated to floral maintenance rather than ovule maturation. However, this reduction in seed production could differ between females and hermaphrodites in gynodioecious species if more resources are required to maintain the larger corollas of hermaphrodite flowers. Methodology. To test whether increased longevity incurs costs of floral maintenance that reduce seed production, we manipulated the pollination of female and hermaphrodite Lobelia siphilitica flowers. We tested whether pollen receipt induces floral senescence, as expected if delayed pollination increases longevity, by measuring the days from corolla opening to wilting for unpollinated flowers and flowers pollinated on day 1 of the female phase. We then tested whether increased longevity reduces seed production by hand-pollinating female and hermaphrodite flowers on day 1 or day 5 of the female phase and counting seeds per fruit. Pivotal results. Relative to the corollas of unpollinated flowers, the corollas of pollinated flowers senesced 50% earlier for females and 14.4% earlier for hermaphrodites. Increased longevity reduced seed production by 34.1%, but there was no difference in the magnitude of this reduction between females and hermaphrodites. Conclusions. Our results suggest that L. siphilitica could respond plastically to declines in pollination services by increasing floral longevity but that this increase incurs costs of corolla maintenance that reduce the seed production of both females and hermaphrodites. Consequently, whether plasticity in longevity can help plants maintain seed production as pollinators decline will depend on whether the resource costs of floral maintenance are outweighed by the benefits of a prolonged opportunity for pollination.
Substance Use Descriptive Norms and Behaviors among US College Students: Findings from the Healthy Minds Study

Background: Social norms have been associated with alcohol use in college populations; however, more research is needed to confirm the associations between social norms and a range of substance use behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We analyzed data from the Healthy Minds Study (September 2020–December 2020), a non-probability sample administered online to college students. We used multivariable logistic regression to test for associations between respondents’ perceptions of substance use behaviors in their respective colleges and their own substance use behaviors, adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and international student status. Results: We found that those who overestimated the prevalence of alcohol use, cigarette use, cannabis use, and vaping were significantly more likely to use these substances when compared with those who did not overestimate. These associations persisted even when using different prevalence estimates of substance use, though some associations lost statistical significance when applying the survey weights to account for non-response. Conclusion: College students overestimated the prevalence of substance use in their respective colleges, even during the early stages of the pandemic when social interactions were limited, and these beliefs were associated with substance use. Future studies may test the utility of campaigns to alter perceptions of social norms and interventions that use personalized normative feedback to reduce substance use during pandemics.
High Frequency Bipolar Electroporator with Double-Crowbar Circuit for Load-Independent Forming of Nanosecond Pulses

In this work, a novel electroporation system (electroporator) is presented, which is capable of forming high frequency pulses in a broad range of parameters (65 ns–100 µs). The electroporator supports voltages up to 3 kV and currents up to 40 A and is based on H-bridge circuit topology. A synchronized double crowbar driving sequence is introduced to generate short nanosecond range pulses independently of the electroporator load. The resultant circuit generates pulses with repetition frequencies up to 5 MHz and supports unipolar, bipolar, and asymmetrical pulse sequences with arbitrary waveforms. The shortest pulse duration step is hardware limited to 33 ns. The electroporator was experimentally tested on the H69AR human lung cancer cell line using 20 kV/cm bipolar and unipolar 100 ns–1 μs pulses. Based on a YO-PRO-1 permeabilization assay, it was determined that the electroporator is suitable for applied research on electroporation. The system offers high flexibility in experimental design to trigger various electroporation-based phenomena.
Application of radiomics feature captured from MRI for prediction of recurrence for glioma patients

Purpose: This study aimed to develop and validate a recurrence prediction of glioma patients through a radiomics feature training and validation model. Patients and methods: In this study, the prediction model was developed in a training cohort that consisted of 88 patients from January 2014 to July 2017 with pathologically confirmed gliomas. Their pre-radiotherapy and recurrence brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images were collected, and the radiomics features were extracted. Clinical factors including age, gender, WHO grade, Isocitrate dehydrogenases (IDH) mutation status and treatment after surgery were collected. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression model was conducted for data dimension reduction, feature selection, and radiomics feature analysis. Internal validation was assessed. An independent validation cohort contained 41 consecutive patients from August 2017 to December 2018. Furthermore, multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to develop the predicting model by combining the radiomics signature and independent clinical factors. Results: In total, 129 patients were included, among which 40 patients had recurrence. The median follow-up time was 27.4 (range, 2.6-79.2) months. We compared the tumor regions radiomics difference between the recurrence and non-recurrence patients. The radiomics signature was associated with the event of recurrence (P < 0.001 for both training and validation cohorts, respectively). The training model showed good discrimination with a C-index of 0.7578 (95%CI: 0.6549-9.8608) through internal validation on T1 contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, and a consistent trend in calibration. In the validation cohort, the model also showed good discrimination (C-index, 0.6925, 95%CI: 0.5145-0.8705) and good calibration. In the other two sequences of MRI (T1WI, T2WI), the validation model also showed positive results. Meanwhile, radiomics feature and clinical factors were significantly prognostic for recurrence (P value <0.05, respectively). Conclusion: We identified the radiomics feature derived from brain MRI that presented potential in predicting recurrence in glioma patients. This could be beneficial to risk stratification for patients. Further investigation is necessary to include expanded sample size investigation and external multicenter validation.
Exploring the association between use of conversational artificial intelligence and social capital: Survey evidence from Hong Kong

Media use–social capital research has studied traditional and social media use and associated social capital. Still, little is known about whether social capital would be cultivated or damaged by the use of conversational artificial intelligence (AI). This study explores the associations between conversational AI use and various measures of social capital using a territory-wide survey of an online representative sample in Hong Kong ( n = 1022). The results showed that conversational AI users ( n = 398) were more likely to have more offline and online bonding and bridging social capital, social trust, and civic participation than non-users ( n = 624). For the conversational AI users, intensity and frequency of conversational AI use were the positive predictors of the social capital measures. The findings demonstrated larger effect sizes for online bonding and bridging social capital than offline bonding and bridging social capital.
Endogenous threshold effects and transmission channels of foreign aid on economic growth: evidence from WAEMU zone countries

Abstract This paper analyses threshold effects and transmission Channels of foreign aid on economic growth of WAEMU countries using the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the International Country Risk Guide databases to cover the period spanning from 1980 to 2018. After applying endogenous threshold approach to determine aid threshold above which its affects growth and estimate its long-term effects, Pagan’s Residual-Generated Regressors method was used to identify channels that can modulate effects of aid on growth. Evidences strongly support the view that the relationship between aid and economic growth is non-linear with a threshold that lies between 12.37 and 14.08% of GDP. Above these values, the marginal effect of aid is 2.1%. Moreover, results indicate that only investment seems to be a potential channel through which aid would affect growth. Thus, aid within the WAEMU countries is beneficial. Its content and use should be the main concern of donors and policy-makers.
Effect of Zn2+ and K+ as Retarding Agents on Rock-Based Geopolymers for Downhole Cementing Operations

Geopolymer material has a potential to function alongside Portland Cement as an efficient cementitious material for well cementing and plug & abandonment applications. Geopolymer material requires retarding agents to be displaced into the well while considering the properties required to maintain efficient zonal isolation through superior mechanical properties. Chemical admixtures affect the material structure and can, in some cases, jeopardize material integrity if not engineered properly to suite downhole conditions. The present article shows the effect of Zn2+ and K+ species have as retarding agents on slurry, mechanical, and microstructural properties. The approach has been carried out to obtain a preliminary overview of how retarding agents can behave in mix design slurries where eventually sealing performance was examined. Samples were cured and examined for periods of 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 days at downhole conditions. The results obtained confirm a retardation effect by the addition of Zn2+ and K+ species and some shortcomings in early strength development due to a poisoning mechanism by Zn2+ species. This phenomenon indicates the formation of Ca-Zn phase that can hinder the nucleation of the geopolymeric gel structure. No significant effects were observed on the microstructural development throughout the curing period. The effect of Zn2+ species was also observed in increasing threshold for hydraulic sealability. It may be concluded that the tested retarding agents require furthermore development to minimize shortcomings in mechanical properties specifically early strength development.
A chromosome-level, fully phased genome assembly of the oat crown rust fungus Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae: a resource to enable comparative genomics in the cereal rusts

Advances in sequencing technologies as well as development of algorithms and workflows have made it possible to generate fully phased genome references for organisms with non-haploid genomes such as dikaryotic rust fungi. To enable discovery of pathogen effectors and further our understanding of virulence evolution, we generated a chromosome-scale assembly for each of the two nuclear genomes of the oat crown rust pathogen, Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae (Pca). This resource complements two previous released partially phased genome references of Pca, which display virulence traits absent in the isolate of historic race 203 (isolate Pca203) which was selected for this genome project. A fully phased, chromosome-level reference for Pca203 was generated using PacBio reads and Hi-C data and a recently developed pipeline named NuclearPhaser for phase assignment of contigs and phase switch correction. With 18 chromosomes in each haplotype and a total size of 208.10 Mbp, Pca203 has the same number of chromosomes as other cereal rust fungi such as Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici and Puccinia triticina, the causal agents of wheat stem rust and wheat leaf rust, respectively. The Pca203 reference marks the third fully-phased chromosome-level assembly of a cereal rust to date. Here, we demonstrate that the chromosomes of these three Puccinia species are syntenous and that chromosomal size variations are primarily due to differences in repeat element content.