Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study on nomophobia and anger among undergraduates during COVID-19 pandemic

Anger is an emotion characterized by tension and hostility arising from frustration, real or imagined injury by another, or perceived injustice (American Psychological Association). Nomophob¬ia is used to describe a psychological condition when people have a fear of being detached from mobile phone connectivity (Sudip Bhattacharya, Md Abu Bashar., 2019). Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans (World Health Organisation,2020). As a result of this uncertain situation the dependency of mobile phones has increased drastically. The study aimed to find the relationship between Nomophobia and Anger among undergraduate during COVID-19 pandemic and was conducted during the covid-19 confinement period. The sample considered included a total of 120 undergraduate students within the age group 18-22 years and 60 males and 60 females were selected using purposive sampling technique. Nomophobia questionnaire (Yildirim C and Coereia A, 2015) and Novaco Anger Scale (Raymond W Novaco, 1994) was used for data collection. The data was analysed using independent sample t-test, mean, standard deviation and Pearson product moment correlation. From the results it was clear that there is no significant difference in the level of Nomophobia and Anger among undergraduates during CoVid-19 pandemic based on gender and that there is a significant correlation between nomophobia and anger among undergraduates during CoVid-19 pandemic.
Partial validation of a lossy compression approach to computing radiative transfer in cloud system‐resolving models

Cloud system‐resolving models (CSRMs) routinely calculate radiative flux profiles via the Independent Column Approximation (ICA). The ICA applies 1D radiative transfer models (RTMs) to all N columns in a CSRM's domain. For this study, the Partitioned Gauss–Legendre Quadrature (PGLQ) method replaced the ICA in a CSRM. The PGLQ applies RTMs to nG=N columns, identified with GLQ rules, and distributes their flux profiles to the other N−nG columns. The PGLQ approach is likened to a lossy compression algorithm that trades information for efficiency. While verification and validation of an audio compression algorithm rest, respectively, on file size reduction and sound quality according to listeners, for the PGLQ they rest on increasing fRT=N/nG while maintaining, according to experimenters, the integrity of CSRM simulations. A CSRM was run for 80 days in radiative‐convective equilibrium (1,024 × 1,024 columns and horizontal grid‐spacing of 0.25 km) for sea‐surface temperature SST = 295 and 300 K; the last 40 days were analysed. Simulations using the ICA represent the control; experiments used the PGLQ calling the RTMs fRT = 200, 5,000 and 50,000 fewer times than the control. For fRT = 50,000, several key variables spanning time/domain‐averaged cloud and radiation properties, a measure of cloud (convection) aggregation, and horizontal fluctuations of cloud and radiation fields, differ significantly from the control. In contrast, corresponding differences between the control and PGLQ with fRT ≤ 5,000, for both a given SST and differences between SSTs, are often minor, in all respects, and appear to be drawn from a single population. While these results partially validate the PGLQ method for fRT ≤ 5,000, they also indicate that overly large reductions in radiative information are detrimental.
Sampled‐data based resilient consensus of heterogeneous multiagent systems

This article studies consensus of a group of heterogeneous agents with first‐order and second‐order integrator dynamics in presence of malicious agents. We employ the algorithm where each normal agent ignores large and small relative state values of its neighbors to mitigate the effects of malicious agents. Assuming that the maximum number of malicious agents in the neighborhood of each agent is known, sufficient topological condition is obtained to guarantee resilient consensus in directed networks. The result is further extended to heterogeneous multiagent systems with bounded communication delays. Moreover, impulsive control strategy is introduced in the update schemes and sufficient condition in terms of graph robustness is provided for resilient consensus. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.
Existence of Glass Ceiling in Structures and Gender Forms in the Universities of Pakistan

1. Ph. D Scholar, EPM Department, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad, Pakistan 2. Professor, Department of Education, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad, Pakistan PAPER INFO ABSTRACT Received: May 28, 2020 Accepted: August 25, 2020 Online: September 15, 2020 In this study, the existence of the glass ceiling has been analyzed in the Federal Chartered universities of Pakistan. The study was descriptive. The data was collected through questionnaires from the employees of the universities, using purposive sampling techniques (n=484). The data revealed that the glass ceiling exists in Federal Chartered Universities of Pakistan. Elements of glass ceiling such as gender biases and internal structure of organizations were found to exist. Gender-based glass ceiling was found to exist for women and not for men. The internal structures factor favors the males. Based on discussions with the respondents, the strategies for melting the glass ceiling have been proposed. It has been recommended that the researchers may replicate this research to other industries. Further, it has been recommended that the practitioners can implement the strategies to mitigate the glass ceiling in their organizations
PrimerServer: a high-throughput primer design and specificity-checking platform

Summary Designing specific primers for multiple sites across the whole genome is still challenging, especially in species with complex genomes. Here we present PrimerServer, a high-throughput primer design and specificity-checking platform with both web and command-line interfaces. This platform efficiently integrates site selection, primer design, specificity checking and data presentation. In our case study, PrimerServer achieved high accuracy and a fast running speed for a large number of sites, suggesting its potential for molecular biology applications such as molecular breeding or medical testing. Availability and Implementation Source code for PrimerServer is available at https://github.com/billzt/PrimerServer. A demo server is freely accessible at https://primerserver.org, with all major browsers supported. Contact zhangrui@caas.cn or guosandui@caas.cn
Improving Machine Learning Identification of Unsafe Driver Behavior by Means of Sensor Fusion

Most road accidents occur due to human fatigue, inattention, or drowsiness. Recently, machine learning technology has been successfully applied to identifying driving styles and recognizing unsafe behaviors starting from in-vehicle sensors signals such as vehicle and engine speed, throttle position, and engine load. In this work, we investigated the fusion of different external sensors, such as a gyroscope and a magnetometer, with in-vehicle sensors, to increase machine learning identification of unsafe driver behavior. Starting from those signals, we computed a set of features capable to accurately describe the behavior of the driver. A support vector machine and an artificial neural network were then trained and tested using several features calculated over more than 200 km of travel. The ground truth used to evaluate classification performances was obtained by means of an objective methodology based on the relationship between speed, and lateral and longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle. The classification results showed an average accuracy of about 88% using the SVM classifier and of about 90% using the neural network demonstrating the potential capability of the proposed methodology to identify unsafe driver behaviors.
HDL Nanoparticles Have Wound Healing and Anti‐Inflammatory Properties and Can Topically Deliver miRNAs

microRNAs regulate numerous biological processes, making them potential therapeutic agents. Problems with delivery and stability of these molecules have limited their usefulness as treatments. It is demonstrated that synthetic high‐density lipoprotein nanoparticles (HDL NPs) topically applied to the intact ocular surface are taken up by epithelial and stromal cells. microRNAs complexed to HDL NPs (miR‐HDL NPs) are similarly taken up by cells and tissues and retain biological activity. Topical treatment of diabetic mice with either HDL NPs or miR‐HDL NPs significantly improves corneal reepithelialization following wounding compared with controls. Mouse corneas with alkali burn‐induced inflammation, topically treated with HDL NPs, display clinical, morphological, and immunological improvement. These results yield a novel HDL NP‐based eye drop for patients with compromised wound healing ability (diabetics) and/or corneal inflammatory diseases (e.g., dry eye).
Assessment and modulation of gliosis in inherited eye disease and its impact on cell replacement therapy

In most inherited retinal degenerations such as age-related macular degeneration, death of photoreceptors leads to irreversible vision impairment. As the retina starts to degenerate, the retinal environment begins to remodel. While variations in the timing and magnitude of retinal response have been reported by various studies looking at different initiating insults, there has been no comparative assessment of the diseased retinae across time in multiple models of retinal degeneration. Here, the process of gliosis, outer nuclear layer cytoarchitecture and integrity of the outer limiting membrane (OLM) were examined in seven different mouse models of inherited retinal degeneration. Findings from this study demonstrated that each of the examined mutants manifests a unique pattern of alterations occurring in the retinal microenvironment, including significant changes to OLM junctions. Moreover, these animals showed that the type of the Muller glial response and its magnitude are not correlated with disease severity. Having identified marked but varied changes in the expression of GFAP, Vimentin and chondroitin sulphate proteoglycas (CSPGs) between different models, further work investigated whether it is possible to prevent or manipulate these changes. By knocking down expression of GFAP and Vimentin by with RNA interference (RNAi), the role of these proteins both in the development of degeneration-associated glial hypertrophy and in influencing photoreceptor transplantation outcome was assessed. Consistent with the idea that CSPGs deposition in the subretinal space represents a barrier to therapeutic interventions, an enzymatic approach was used to effectively digest these molecules in a diseased mouse retina. In the last instance, RNAi-mediated knockdown of CRB1, one of the key regulators of AJs, was used to introduce disruption of OLM integrity. The overall aim of this thesis was to provide a better understanding of the barriers in a diseased retinal environment and how they can be manipulated to ease in a future some of the therapeutic strategies to help to restore lost vision.
A Two-Part Framework for Estimating Individualized Treatment Rules From Semicontinuous Outcomes

Abstract Health care payments are an important component of health care utilization and are thus a major focus in health services and health policy applications. However, payment outcomes are semicontinuous in that over a given period of time some patients incur no payments and some patients incur large costs. Individualized treatment rules (ITRs) are a major part of the push for tailoring treatments and interventions to patients, yet there is a little work focused on estimating ITRs from semicontinuous outcomes. In this article, we develop a framework for estimation of ITRs based on two-part modeling, wherein the ITR is estimated by separately targeting the zero part of the outcome and the strictly positive part. To improve performance when high-dimensional covariates are available, we leverage a scientifically plausible penalty that simultaneously selects variables and encourages the signs of coefficients for each variable to agree between the two components of the ITR. We develop an efficient algorithm for computation and prove oracle inequalities for the resulting estimation and prediction errors. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in simulated examples and in a study of a health system intervention. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.
The importance of historical ecology for interpreting evolutionary processes in plants of oceanic islands

Oceanic islands and archipelagos are natural laboratories for investigating patterns and processes of evolution. Islands change with the course of time, resulting in a dynamic ontogeny over millions of years. The combined forces of tectonic plate subsidence and erosion from waves, wind, and rainwater bring about substantial geomorphological change over millions of years, until islands eventually disappear under the sea. Added to these long‐term natural changes to the environment of the islands are the changes caused by human activities in recent centuries. After humans reach a previously unpopulated island, they utilize the natural resources for their own survival, cutting forests for making houses, boats, and firewood. The size of the human population and the length of time on the island determine the degree of environmental impact. Evolutionary processes in plants of oceanic islands take place during ontogeny of the islands, resulting in population divergence, speciation, and hybridization. Due to the dramatic alterations suffered by many islands over millions of years, the present patterns of distribution and ecology of species within endemic groups may have little to do with the patterns when the species originated. Understanding these environmental changes is fundamental to infer a founder effect, reasons for levels of genetic variation within and among populations, and modes of speciation. Special caution must be exercised while making comparisons between groups located on islands of different geological ages and that have endured differing environmental modifications from humans. Examples are provided from the Juan Fernández Archipelago and Lord Howe Island.
IMPACT ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING: AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

The increasing use of digital media by consumers, companies utilizes digital marketing to outreach their market segments. The purpose of this study is to determine marketing strategies commonly utilized in digital communication and identify the preferred by consumers which influences decision making. Consumers have been identified as a driving force for online shopping. While there have been numerous studies about digital advertising, there has been little academic research focused on type of digital marketing strategies are preferred and influences their consumer’s behavior. A survey of 225 consumes indicated a preference for side panel ads and email ads; they do not like pop – up advertising. If provided a personal benefit like discount or reward they will write an online product review.
Estimation of population divergence times from SNP data and a test for treeness

We present a method for estimating population divergence times from genome sequences when one individual is sampled from each population. Our method is a simplified version of one presented by Rassmussen et al. (2014) for testing for direct ancestry of an archaic genome. Our method does not require distinguishing ancestral from derived alleles or assumptions about demographic history before population divergence. We discuss the relationship of our method to two similar methods, one introduced by Green et al. (2010) and denoted by F(A | B) and the other introduced by Schlebusch et al. (2017) and called the TT method. When our method is applied to individuals from three or more populations, it provides a test of whether the population history is treelike. We illustrate the use of our method by applying it to three high-coverage archaic genomes, two Neanderthals (Vindija and Altai) and a Denisovan.
Cyclooxygenase-2 dependent expression of angiogenic CXC chemokines, ENA-78/CXCL5 and IL-8/CXCL8, in human non-small cell lung cancer

4946 Leukocyte trafficking in inflamed tissues is mediated through a coordinated series of adhesive interactions that take place between vascular endothelial cell adhesion molecules (ECAMs) and corresponding receptors on the leukocyte surface. The endothelial glycoprotein, E-selectin, provides a low-affinity contact for circulating leukocytes allowing them to roll along the vascular surface. Two members of the immunoglobulin supergene family, ICAM and VCAM, provide stable adhesive contacts that are necessary for the process of leukocyte transmigration. While the expression patterns of vascular ECAMs have been the focus of investigative efforts, little is known regarding these glycoproteins on lymphatic endothelium. We developed a surgical approach that utilizes human afferent lymphatic vessels to isolate and establish in primary culture lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs). Using these characterized LECs, we examined constitutive and inducible expression patterns of several ECAMs. Methods: Using an Institutional Review Board-approved laboratory protocol, small segments of human sentinel lymphatic vessels (SLVs) identified intraoperatively during sentinel lymph node biopsy were harvested. To isolate LECs, SLV were cannulated and perfused with collagenase. Harvested cells were cultured in endothelial growth medium; individual colonies were cloned. Putative clones were characterized via RT-PCR and/or western analysis for established lymphatic endothelial cell markers: VEGF-R3, LYVE-1, Prox-1 and podoplanin. After establishing the validity of the LECs, the lymphatic ECAM expression profiles were constructed for E-selectin, VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and CD31 (PECAM-1) using immunohistochemical techniques comparing constitutive and inflammatory conditions (TNF-α,10ng/ml). Results: All LEC clones harvested from human SLV expressed the pan-endothelial cell marker CD31 as well as the lymphatic markers VEGFR-3, LYVE-1, Prox-1, and podoplanin. LEC clones expressed considerably higher constitutive levels of VCAM-1 on their surface in comparison to VECs. E-selectin and ICAM-1 were expressed in low levels on unstimulated LECs, but were markedly upregulated in response to TNF-α stimulation. Conclusion: Anatomic techniques using human afferent lymphatic vessels can be used to establish in culture LECs that express lymphatic specific markers such as VEGFR-3, LYVE-1, Prox-1, and podoplanin. This approach allowed us to establish pure populations of LECs and provide novel information regarding the expression of ECAMs on the vessels. It is anticipated that the lymphatic endothelial cells described here will be an invaluable resource for defining and characterizing the interaction between human sentinel lymphatic vessels and tumor cells.
Antibacterial properties of crude pod extract of Acacia nilotica (Fabaceae).

Antibacterial activity of different concentrations of Acacia nilotica pod crude extract (200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 mg/ml of water) on Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Bacillus subtilis, Corynebacterium pyogenes, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhi and Candida albicans was determined. Minimum inhibitory concentration of A. nilotica pod crude extract was 12.5 mg/ml for Bacillus subtilis, C. pyogenes and K. pneumoniae, while it was 25 mg/ml for S. pyogenes and C. albicans and 200 mg/ml for S. aureus Minimum bactericidal concentration of Acacia nilotica pod crude extract was 25 mg/ml for B. subtilis and K. pneumoniae, 100 mg/ml for S. pyogenes and 200 mg/ ml for S. aureus and C. pyogenes. This study revealed the importance of A. nilotica pod as an antibacterial agent and its applications in the treatment of bacterial diseases.
Accurate Estimation of Brittle Fracture Toughness Deterioration in Steel Structures Subjected to Large Complicated Prestrains

Studies have suggested that brittle fractures occur in steel because microcracks in the brittle layer at grain boundaries propagate as a result of the increase in piled-up dislocations. Therefore, prestraining can approach the limits of a material, which could lead to a decrease in fracture toughness. However, strains are tensors comprising multiple components, so the effect of prestrain on fracture toughness is not simple. Additionally, the mechanism of change in critical stress due to prestrain has not been thoroughly investigated. For the lifetime evaluation of steel structures with a complicated load history, it is important to generalize the effect of complicated prestrain on the decrease in fracture toughness. In this paper, a single prestrain was applied in a direction different from the crack opening direction. A general three-point bending test was employed for fracture evaluation. Numerical analyses using the strain gradient plasticity (SGP) theory, which is a method based on the finite element method (FEM) are carried out; conventional macroscopic material damage rules are considered as well. Using these FEM analyses, the critical stress is calculated. Finally, the change in critical stress can be expressed by the yield point increase and dislocation density and formulated based on the identified micromechanisms.
Stand Transpiration Estimates from Recalibrated Parameters for the Granier Equation in a Chinese Fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) Plantation in Southern China

Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook) is an important native tree species that is widely distributed in subtropical areas of southern China and cultivated for wood extraction. However, information on water use by Chinese fir plantations is still scarce. In this study, we performed species-specific parameter calibrations for the original Granier equation for sap flow density (SFD) estimates. Stand transpiration (Es) was related to environmental inputs, such as rainfall, air temperature (Ta), vapor pressure deficit (VPD), photosynthetically-active radiation (PAR), air relative humidity (RH), and potential evapotranspiration (PET) in order to examine how environmental factors affect the Es of Chinese fir plantations. According to our results, Granier’s original parameters set underestimated C. lanceolata SFD by up to 54% compared to our species-specific calibrated parameters set. A strong positive correlation was found between SFD, diameter at breast height (DBH), and tree height among trees populations. The total Es in 2015 was 522.1 mm, with obvious seasonal dynamics and an average of 1.4 mm·day−1. Daily and monthly Es were positively correlated with VPD, PAR, Ta, and PET. A negative relationship between Es and RH was detected only at a daily timescale. Our findings indicate that the original Granier equation requires a parameter calibration when it is applied to species-specific thermal dissipation probe (TDP) estimates, and our findings can also provide novel insights on the water use of Chinese fir in major wood production areas in Southern China.
Energy harvesting with peptide nanotube–graphene oxide flexible substrates prepared with electric field and wettability assisted self-assembly

Piezoelectric diphenylalanine peptide nanotubes (PNTs) have recently been demonstrated in energy harvesting applications, typically based on vertically aligned PNTs that generate charge when pressed. In this work, we use a wettability difference and an applied electric field to align PNTs and PNT-based composites on flexible substrates. Open-circuit voltages and short-circuit currents exceeding 6 V and 60 nA, respectively, are achieved by bending the substrate, opening up the use of horizontally aligned PNTs as flexible energy harvesting substrates.