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Disparate impact rules are formally neutral but indirectly discriminate against protected groups (i.e., by targeting a characteristic that is more prevalent in a given group). Because these rules are not obviously malicious, they have been widely enacted to circumvent policies against explicit discrimination. In a series of four experiments, we show that adults and children are sensitive to the moral implications of disparate impact rules. However, we also find that they are more accepting of these rules when strong justification is provided, compared to rules with no justification. Crucially, demographic differences also impact people's judgments of disparate impact rules and their creators. We find that conservatives and those from groups not directly affected by the rule tend to be more accepting of it. By studying people's reasoning about disparate impact rules, this work aims to identify the mechanisms by which these rules may evade detection. Finally, we discuss how these insights may inform the development of interventions that highlight the problematic effects of indirectly discriminatory policies.

The ability to predict and understand other people's actions is critical for real-world social behavior. Here we hypothesized that representations of social roles (e.g., cashier, mechanic, doctor) enable people to build rapid expectations about what others know and how they might act. Using a self-paced reading paradigm and a variety of everyday roles, we show that the mere mention of a role (e.g., “mechanic”) supports real time expectations about what the person will do (e.g., in the mechanic case, take your car keys but not your cellphone) and the knowledge they might possess (e.g., in the mechanic case, having private information about your car). Moreover, people reported more surprisal when the events deviated from role expectations, and they were more likely to misremember what happened. Our results suggest that roles are a powerful route for social understanding that has been previously understudied in social cognition.

Across three pre-registered studies (n = 221 4-9-year olds, 51% female; 218 parents, 80% female; working- and middle-class backgrounds; data collected during 2019-2021) conducted in the United States (Studies 1-2; 74% White) and China (Study 3; 100% Asian), we document the emergence of a preference for "strivers." Beginning at age 7, strivers (who work really hard) were favored over naturals (who are really smart) in both cultures (R[superscript 2] ranging 0.03-0.11). We explored several lay beliefs surrounding this preference. Beliefs about outcomes and the controllability of effort predicted the striver preference: Children who expected strivers to be more successful than naturals and believed effort was more controllable than talent preferred strivers more. Implications of the striver preference in education and beyond are discussed.

BACKGROUND: Burn inhalation injury (BII) is a major cause of burn-related mortality and morbidity. Despite published practice guidelines, no consensus exists for the best strategies regarding diagnosis and management of BII. A modified DELPHI study using the RAND/UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Appropriateness Method (RAM) systematically analysed the opinions of an expert panel. Expert opinion was combined with available evidence to determine what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate judgement in the diagnosis and management of BII. METHODS: A 15-person multidisciplinary panel comprised anaesthetists, intensivists and plastic surgeons involved in the clinical management of major burn patients adopted a modified Delphi approach using the RAM method. They rated the appropriateness of statements describing diagnostic and management options for BII on a Likert scale. A modified final survey comprising 140 statements was completed, subdivided into history and physical examination (20), investigations (39), airway management (5), systemic toxicity (23), invasive mechanical ventilation (29) and pharmacotherapy (24). Median appropriateness ratings and the disagreement index (DI) were calculated to classify statements as appropriate, uncertain, or inappropriate. RESULTS: Of 140 statements, 74 were rated as appropriate, 40 as uncertain and 26 as inappropriate. Initial intubation with ≥ 8.0 mm endotracheal tubes, lung protective ventilatory strategies, initial bronchoscopic lavage, serial bronchoscopic lavage for severe BII, nebulised heparin and salbutamol administration for moderate-severe BII and N-acetylcysteine for moderate BII were rated appropriate. Non-protective ventilatory strategies, high-frequency oscillatory ventilation, high-frequency percussive ventilation, prophylactic systemic antibiotics and corticosteroids were rated inappropriate. Experts disagreed (DI ≥ 1) on six statements, classified uncertain: the use of flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy to guide fluid requirements (DI = 1.52), intubation with endotracheal tubes of internal diameter

Across two preregistered studies with children (3-12-year-olds; N = 356) and adults (N = 262) from the United States, we find robust expectations for intergroup empathic biases. Participants predicted that people would feel better about ingroup fortunes than outgroup fortunes and worse about ingroup misfortunes than outgroup misfortunes. Expectations of empathic bias were stronger when there was animosity and weaker when there was fondness between groups. The largest developmental differences emerged in participants' expectations about how others feel about outgroup misfortunes, particularly when there was intergroup animosity. Whereas young children (3-5-year-olds) generally expected people to feel empathy for the outgroup (regardless of the relationship between the groups), older children (9-12-year-olds) and adults expected Schadenfreude (feeling good when an outgroup experiences a misfortune) when the groups disliked one another. Overall, expectations of empathic biases emerge early but may be weaker when there are positive intergroup relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Abstract Background The rate and magnitude of skeletal muscle wasting after severe spinal cord injury (SCI) exceeds most other disuse conditions. Assessing the time course of molecular changes can provide insight into the progression of muscle wasting post‐SCI. The goals of this study were (1) to identify potential targets that may prevent the pathologic features of SCI in soleus muscles and (2) to establish therapeutic windows for treating these pathologic changes. Methods Four‐month‐old Sprague–Dawley male rats received T9 laminectomy (SHAM surgery) or severe contusion SCI. Hindlimb locomotor function was assessed weekly, with soleus muscles obtained 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month and 3 months post‐surgery (n = 6–7 per group per timepoint). RNA was extracted from muscles for bulk RNA‐sequencing analysis (n = 3–5 per group per timepoint). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were evaluated between age‐matched SHAM and SCI animals. Myofiber size, muscle fibre type and fibrosis were assessed on contralateral muscles. Results SCI produced immediate and persistent hindlimb paralysis, with Basso–Beattie–Bresnahan locomotor scores remaining below 7 throughout the study, contributing to a progressive 25–50% lower soleus mass and myofiber atrophy versus SHAM (P 50% higher ECM areas and hydroxyproline levels in SCI muscles (P

Previous work has shown the robust nature of gender bias in both children and adults. However, much less attention has been paid toward understanding what factors shape these biases. The current preregistered study used parent surveys and child interviews to test whether parents' conversations with their children about and modeling of gender intergroup relations and/or children's self-guided interests about gender ("self-socialization") contribute to the formation of gender attitudes, status perceptions, and gender intergroup behaviors among young 4- to 6-year-old children. Our participant sample also allowed us to explore variation by child gender, ethnicity (Asian-, Black-, Latiné-, and White-American), and U.S. geographical region (Northeast, Pacific Northwest, West, Southeast, and Hawaii). Data suggest that children whose parents reported they were especially active in seeking information about gender tended to allocate more resources to same-gender versus other-gender children and expressed less positive evaluations of other-gender children in comparison to children who were less active. By contrast, we found that parents' conversations with their children about gender intergroup relations and about gender-play stereotypes showed few connections with children's gender attitudes. In terms of demographic differences, boys raised in households with more unequal versus equal division of labor perceived that men had higher status than women, but few differences by ethnicity or geographic region emerged. In sum, our study suggests that both self- and parent socialization processes are at play in shaping early gender attitudes, status perceptions, and gender intergroup behavior, although self-socialization seemed to play a larger role.

Human beings naturally prefer and support ingroup members more than outgroup members, but to what extent do we "morally value" equal treatment to ingroups and outgroups? Across four preregistered studies, we examined the development of "group-transcendent fairness," that is, the moral endorsement of allocating resources equally to ingroup members and outgroup members. We found that when allocating common resources to ingroup and outgroup members, American adults (N = 549) thought it was morally right to allocate equally instead of giving more to their family, political, or minimal ingroup members, across high and low stakes (Study 1). This normative sense of group-transcendent fairness develops gradually: 4- to 6-year-olds tended to endorse ingroup favoritism, whereas by age 8 or 9 children endorsed intergroup fairness (Studies 2-3, N = 214). Adults from China (N = 200)--a culture that values ingroup loyalty--also endorsed intergroup fairness as morally right, suggesting this moral value is not specific to western societies where egalitarianism is emphasized (Study 4). In contrast to the normative endorsement of intergroup fairness, participants in all studies did not predict most people to be fair across contexts, suggesting group-transcendent fairness was perceived more as a prescriptive than a descriptive norm (Studies 1-4). Together, our studies reveal the robust presence of group-transcendent fairness, which is valued across group contexts and cultures, develops later than ingroup support, and is prescriptive but not descriptive by nature. The findings help illuminate the nature and development of one group-transcendent moral value that helps promote intergroup relations and societal progress.

Abstract Wood ducks (Aix sponsa) are secondary natural cavity‐nesting species that also nest in artificial nest boxes. Since the early 20th century, nest boxes have been widely deployed in North America to increase nesting sites for wood ducks and bolster production. Equipping nest boxes with a predator guard beneath the box is a common practice to deter climbing predators from accessing boxes; however, there is no device to repel avian predators. We found that eastern rat snakes (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) and woodpeckers (Picidae) were primary predators of wood duck eggs in boxes in North Carolina and South Carolina. Accordingly, we designed experiments to deter snakes and woodpeckers using a commercial brand of snake repellent pellets and a plastic raptor decoy, respectively. Male and female snakes that accessed boxes averaged 1.4 m (SE = 2.0 cm) in length. Digital camera data indicated that snakes climbed nest box posts and thrust their anterior body atop predator guards to continue their ascent into the box. We recorded 671 nest failures of which rat snakes accounted for 39.9% (n = 268) and woodpeckers 22.4% (n = 150). Snakes consumed ≥649 eggs, observed as protuberances in their stomachs. Our experiment showed that commercial snake repellent pellets did not deter snakes (P = 0.957). Placing a plastic hawk decoy atop nest boxes when females were incubating ≥12 days increased nest survival during the incubation stage (P = 0.001). Wood duck nest boxes at our study sites may be experiencing increased nest predation by rat snakes due to poor maintenance and installation of predator guards. Rat snakes and woodpeckers may be depredating wood duck eggs in the southeastern United States at unknown rates, potentially decreasing production and recruitment from these structures.

A commercially available UVLED flow-through device, operating at 40 mJ/cm2, was examined for biofilm control on irrigation pipe material fed by wastewater effluent. Biofouling was monitored through total coliform counts, crystal violet (CV) staining, and ATP analyses. A UV fluence of 40 mJ/cm2 at 280 nm retarded biofilm formation; however, complete biofilm prevention by UV treatment was not achieved despite a high inactivation of planktonic cells. After 5 days of the study, the total coliform and CV biofilm quantification assays between the UV-treated and control bioreactor coupons were not statistically different. The total coliform counts indicated a stable biofilm cell concentration was reached; the CV assay showed biofilm biomass accumulation with time. The ATP results revealed higher coupon ATP on the UV-treated coupons than the control coupons by day 5. The results provoke an interesting discussion surrounding the contribution of viable cells, represented by total coliforms, and extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) to total biofilm biomass. This study also highlighted a need for further investigation into the relationship between ATP responses and complex UV-stress responses of diverse microbial communities as opposed to pure bacteria cultures. HIGHLIGHTS A UV fluence of 40 mJ/cm2 at 280 nm slows biofilm formation on irrigation pipe material.; Bioreactor effluent total coliform concentrations and crystal violet coupon accumulation were not statistically different between UV-treated and control bioreactors after being fed wastewater effluent for five days.; ATP results revealed higher ATP on UV-treated coupons than control coupons after 5 days in bioreactors fed by wastewater effluent.;

Methane emissions from natural gas systems are increasingly scrutinized, and accurate reporting requires quantification of site- and source-level measurement. We evaluate the performance of 10 available state-of-the-art CH4 emission quantification approaches against a blind controlled-release experiment at an inerted natural gas compressor station in 2021. The experiment consisted of 17 blind 2 h releases at a single exhaust point or multiple simultaneous ones. The controlled releases covered a range of methane flow rates from 0.01 to 50 kg h−1. Measurement platforms included aircraft, drones, trucks, vans, ground-based stations, and handheld systems. Herewith, we compare their respective strengths, weaknesses, and potential complementarity depending on the emission rates and atmospheric conditions. Most systems were able to quantify the releases within an order of magnitude. The level of errors from the different systems was not significantly influenced by release rates larger than 0.1 kg h−1, with much poorer results for the 0.01 kg h−1 release. It was found that handheld optical gas imaging (OGI) cameras underestimated the emissions. In contrast, the “site-level” systems, relying on atmospheric dispersion, tended to overestimate the emission rates. We assess the dependence of emission quantification performance on key parameters such as wind speed, deployment constraints, and measurement duration. At the low wind speeds encountered (below 2 m s−1), the experiments did not reveal a significant dependence on wind speed. The ability to quantify individual sources degraded during multiple-source releases. Compliance with the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership's (OGMP 2.0) highest level of reporting may require a combination of the specific advantages of each measurement technique and will depend on reconciliation approaches. Self-reported uncertainties were either not available or were based on the standard deviation in a series of independent realizations or fixed values from expert judgment or theoretical considerations. For most systems, the overall relative errors estimated in this study are higher than self-reported uncertainties.

We systematically compared beliefs about animal (e.g., "lion"), artifactual (e.g., "hammer"), and institutional (e.g., "police officer") categories, aiming to identify whether people draw different inferences about which categories are subjective and which are socially constituted. We conducted two studies with 270 American children, ages 4 through 10: 140 girls, 129 boys, one not reported; 59% White, 3% Black, 10% Asian, one Native American, 17% multiracial or another race, 11% unreported. We also conducted two studies with 360 American adults recruited from Amazon mechanical Turk. In all four studies we found that children and adults judged institutional categories as more socially constituted than artifactual categories (in all studies) but as less subjective (in three of four studies). Whereas younger and older children's beliefs about subjectivity were similar, younger and older children expressed different beliefs about social constitution. Young children judged none of the category domains as socially constituted; older children differentiated between the three domains. These results support the conceptual independence of subjectivity and social constitution and suggest that concepts of institutions and artifacts differ.

Introduction: Malnutrition is a common health problem defined as a deficiency in minerals, vitamins, proteins, and other nutrients with harmful health consequences. (1) It is estimated that malnutrition alone cost England about £19.6 billion in 2011-2012, equivalent to nearly 15% of the entire expenditure on healthcare and social care (£101.6 billion), with about 5% of the entire English population being either malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. (2) The British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) surveyed 1543 adults (mean age was 70) across the UK in 2022, 45% of them were at risk of malnutrition, with almost a third being at high risk. (3) Malnutrition prevalence was higher in those with frailty, and cancer and those with gastrointestinal, respiratory, and neurological disorders. (3) NICE recommends screening all patients at their first appointments in outpatient clinics. Moreover, all patients admitted to the hospital must have a screening for malnutrition, which must be repeated every week for inpatients or if there is a clinical concern for outpatients. (1) Application of these guidelines can result in a tremendous saving of resources; for example, about £63.2 – 76.9 million net cost saving was achieved when NICE guidelines and quality standards were applied to those with high risk of malnutrition. (2) Several factors can explain why malnutrition costs are very high. Malnutrition is associated with an increased risk of re-hospitalisation, prolonged length of hospital stay, overall functional decline, and even death. (4) Materials and methods: We conducted a prospective audit in the Care of Elderly wards in Kettering General Hospital. We collected data from the nursing charts of patients admitted from September to December 2023. We only included inpatients aged 65 years old or above. The primary measures of the audit were whether the nursing team did the MUST (Malnutrition Universal Assessment Tool) score at admission and whether they repeated it one week after the admission. Other secondary measures included whether dietitian referrals were made where appropriate and whether the nursing team informed other multidisciplinary team members (doctors, physiotherapy team, pharmacy, and discharge team) on the electronic Care Flow connect system. Results and discussion: Figure 1 summarises the main findings of the audit. The mean age of patients in our audit was 82.6 years. About 77%of patients had a MUST score done at admission. Meanwhile, 23% didn't have one at admission. The MUST score after one week showed a similar compliance rate (was done in 76% of cases). Referral to a dietitian was made in 79% of cases. However, 21% of cases didn't have a dietitian referral where it was indicated. Other team members were informed about the dietitian referral in 65% of cases, while they were not informed in 35%. Conclusions: The compliance rate with NICE guidelines for screening for malnutrition was overall good in our wards.

China and the United States have seen expeditious investment growth in renewable energy and climate-related industries. Due to differences in political environments and governance structures, monetary settings, and prevailing market technologies and geographic conditions, the two countries demonstrate varied strengths and weaknesses in promoting climate investment. Both countries can learn from each other’s distinctive strengths and weaknesses to identify potential opportunities both for domestic climate programmes and energy cooperation to jointly pursue pathways to achieve net zero carbon footprints.

Judgements of wrongdoing in humans often hinge upon an assessment of whether a perpetrator acted out of free choice: whether they had more than one option. The classic inhibitors of free choice are constraint (e.g. having your hands tied together) and ignorance (e.g. being unaware that an alternative exists). Here, across two studies, we investigate whether chimpanzees consider these factors in their evaluation of social action. Chimpanzees interacted with a human experimenter who handed them a non-preferred item of food, either because they were physically constrained from accessing the preferred item (Experiment 1) or because they were ignorant of the availability of the preferred item (Experiment 2). We found that chimpanzees were more likely to accept the non-preferred food and showed fewer negative emotional responses when the experimenter was physically constrained compared with when they had free choice. We did not, however, find an effect of ignorance on chimpanzee's evaluation. Freedom of choice factors into chimpanzees' evaluation of how they are treated, but it is unclear whether mental state reasoning is involved in this assessment.

We investigate how humans leverage sparse observations of social interaction to infer the rich internal structure of human social collectives. We propose a computational model of this process which integrates a domain-general structure learning mechanism with domain-specific knowledge about social contexts (i.e.: “intuitive sociologies”). We test our model in two experiments where participants observe a sequence of animated interactions between agents, and then assign the agents to groups according to their role or type within the social collective. Crucially, the two experiments depict different types of social interactions which reflect different types of underlying social structures. The patterns of correspondence between model predictions and human data support our account, and demonstrate the importance of both general statistical learning and specific social knowledge when reasoning about social collectives. Keywords: Social Inference; Intergroup Cognition; Computational Modeling

We explore whether younger children (4- and 5-year-olds) and older children (9- and 10-year-olds) expect a costly signaler (someone who engages in a costly action) to be a more committed group member than someone who engages in a comparatively less costly action. In Experiment 1 (N=173), older children and adults—but not younger children—expect a costly signaler wants to be in a group more than a control, and they give more positive evaluations of the costly signaler than the control. In Experiment 2 (N=84; ongoing), employing a different manipulation of cost both younger and older children infer that a costly signaler wants their goal more than the control, but they make different evaluations of the costly signaler depending on whether they exerted effort on behalf of a group versus an individual. Future research may be needed to rule out alternative explanations.

Past work suggests that children have an overly rosy view of rich people that stays consistent across childhood. However, adults do not show explicit pro-rich biases and even hold negative stereotypes against the rich (e.g., thinking that rich people are cold and greedy). When does this developmental shift occur, and when do children develop more complex and differentiated understandings of the wealthy and the poor? The current work documents the developmental trajectory of 4-12-yr-old primarily American middle-class children's conceptualizations of the wealthy and the poor (total N = 164). We find: (1) age-related decreases in pro-rich preferences and stereotypes relative to the poor; (2) domain-sensitive stereotypes across prosociality, talent, and effort; (3) resource-specific behavioral expectations such that with age children increasingly expect the wealthy to contribute more material resources but not more time than the poor; (4) an increasing recognition of the unfairness of the wealth gap between the wealthy and the poor; and (5) a developing understanding of the link between wealth and power. In sum, this work illuminates the emergence of more complex understandings of wealth, poverty, and inequality.

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to pilot safety and tolerability of a 1-week aerobic exercise program during the post-acute phase of concussion (14-25 days post-injury) by examining adherence, symptom response, and key functional outcomes (e.g., cognition, mood, sleep, postural stability, and neurocognitive performance) in young adults.MethodA randomized, non-blinded pilot clinical trial was performed to compare the effects of aerobic versus non-aerobic exercise (placebo) in concussion patients. The study enrolled three groups: 1) patients with concussion/mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) randomized to an aerobic exercise intervention performed daily for 1-week, 2) patients with concussion/mTBI randomized to a non-aerobic (stretching and calisthenics) exercise program performed daily for 1-week, and 3) non-injured, no intervention reference group.ResultsMixed-model analysis of variance results indicated a significant decrease in symptom severity scores from pre- to post-intervention (mean difference = -7.44, 95% CI [-12.37, -2.20]) for both concussion groups. However, the pre- to post-change was not different between groups. Secondary outcomes all showed improvements by post-intervention, but no differences in trajectory between the groups. By three months post-injury, all outcomes in the concussion groups were within ranges of the non-injured reference group.ConclusionsResults from this study indicate that the feasibility and tolerability of administering aerobic exercise via stationary cycling in the post-acute time frame following post-concussion (14-25 days) period are tentatively favorable. Aerobic exercise does not appear to negatively impact recovery trajectories of neurobehavioral outcomes; however, tolerability may be poorer for patients with high symptom burden.

Although the end of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be in sight, college students are still suffering from the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly two years after the pandemic, numerous college students are now back on their college campuses or completing their college education. However, students are still dealing with COVID-19 related psychological and psychosocial stressors, as they attempt to adapt to the socio-economic, cultural, and environmental changes within their campuses, homes, and communities. The purpose of this descriptive cross-sectional study was to investigate the relationships between psychological distress, quality of life, coping, and psychological resilience among undergraduate college students in post COVID-19 pandemic era. The results indicated that psychological distress was prevalent among undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the results showed that the quality of life for undergraduate students was high in some domains and low in others. Additionally, the results show that students exhibited moderate resilience. Implications for practitioners and administrators were discussed.

This meta-analysis evaluated theoretical predictions from balanced identity theory (BIT) and evaluated the validity of zero points of Implicit Association Test (IAT) and self-report measures used to test these predictions. Twenty-one researchers contributed individual subject data from 36 experiments (total N = 12,773) that used both explicit and implicit measures of the social-cognitive constructs. The meta-analysis confirmed predictions of BIT's balance-congruity principle and simultaneously validated interpretation of the IAT's zero point as indicating absence of preference between two attitude objects. Statistical power afforded by the sample size enabled the first confirmations of balance-congruity predictions with self-report measures. Beyond these empirical results, the meta-analysis introduced a within-study statistical test of the balance-congruity principle, finding that it had greater efficiency than the previous best method. The meta-analysis's full data set has been publicly archived to enable further studies of interrelations among attitudes, stereotypes, and identities.

Inferences about other people's knowledge and beliefs are central to social interaction. In many situations, however, it's not possible to be sure what other people know because their behavior is consistent with a range of potential epistemic states. Nonetheless, this behavior can give us coarse intuitions about how much someone might know, even if we cannot pinpoint the exact nature of this knowledge. We present a computational model of this kind of broad epistemic-state inference, centered on the expectation that agents maximize epistemic utilities. We evaluate our model in a graded inference task where people had to infer how much an agent knew based on the actions they chose. Critically, the agent's behavior was always under-determined, but nonetheless contained information about how much knowledge they possessed. Our model captures nuanced patterns in participant judgments, revealing a quantitative capacity to infer amorphous knowledge from minimal behavioral evidence.

We propose a computational model of social preference judgments that accounts for the degree of an agents’ uncertainty about the preferences of others. Underlying this model is the principle that, in the face of social uncertainty, people interpret social agents’ behavior under an assumption of expected utility maximization. We evaluate our model in two experiments which each test a different kind of social preference reasoning: predicting social choices given information about social preferences, and inferring social preferences after observing social choices. The results support our model and highlight how uncertainty influences our social judgments.

Conscious awareness to the events and stimuli around us is a central part of our everyday experience. Yet, are humans the only species that experiences conscious awareness? Since non-verbal species cannot report their internal states, philosophers and scientists have long debated whether the question of animal consciousness is empirically testable, and it still remains a topic of speculation (Dawkins, 2015; Gutfreund, 2017). In the large spectrum of views, some advocate that consciousness may require complex processes like language, a capacity that is unique to adult humans (Dennett, 1995) or a human-like theory of mind (Carruthers, 1998), which may extend to only a few selected species such as great apes (e.g., Krupenye, Kano, Hirata, Call, & Tomasello, 2016; but see Horschler, MacLean, & Santos, 2020). In contrast, others have used neuroanatomical similarities to argue that a number of species (including some birds and octopuses) are likely to be capable of generating conscious experience (see, for example, the Cambridge declaration on consciousness, 2012). Others argue that non-human animals are conscious on the basis of intelligent behaviors which, at least in humans, seem to coincide with conscious awareness as supporting evidence for animal consciousness. These include behaviors such as planning (Osvath & Osvath, 2008), or metacognition (Hampton, Engelberg, & Brady, 2020; Rosati & Santos, 2016), for review see Boly et al., 2013; Griffin & Speck, 2004. Yet, since many complex human behaviors and high-level functions can be performed outside of conscious awareness (i.e., Hassin, 2013), it is difficult to determine whether non-human animals that display intelligent behaviors are indeed conscious or not (Carruthers, 2018). Furthermore, given the ambiguity and difficulty in disentangling conscious from non-conscious processes in non-verbal species, many consider the question of animal consciousness as far from having been resolved (Dawkins, 2015; Gutfreund, 2017). For many, the gap in evidence needed to unambiguously infer animal consciousness is considered “as wide as ever” (Dawkins, 2012).

When seeking to explain social regularities (such as gender differences in the labor market) people often rely on internal features of the targets, frequently neglecting structural and systemic factors external to the targets. For example, people might think women leave the job market after childbirth because they are less competent or are better suited for child-rearing than men, thereby eliding socio-cultural and economic factors that disadvantage women. Across two studies (total N = 192) we probe 4- and 5-year-olds and 7- and 8-year-olds' internal versus structural reasoning about gender. We explore the evaluative and behavioral implications of this reasoning process with both novel gendered behaviors that were experimentally created and familiar gendered behaviors that exist outside of a lab context. We show that children generate more structural explanations, evaluate the structural explanation more positively, expect behaviors to be more mutable, and evaluate gender non-conforming behaviors more positively when structural cues are provided. However, we also show that such information may be of limited effectiveness at reducing pre-existing group-based discriminatory behaviors: children continue to report less willingness to affiliate with peers who display non-conforming behaviors even in the presence of structural cues. Taken together, these results provide evidence concerning children's structural reasoning about gender categories and shed new light on how such reasoning might affect social evaluations and behavioral intentions.

Racism remains a pervasive force around the world with widespread and well documented harmful consequences for members of marginalized racial groups. The psychological biases that maintain structural and interpersonal racism begin to emerge in early childhood, but with considerable individual variation--some children develop more racial bias than others. The present study (N = 116; 4-year-old children) provides novel insights into the developmental mechanisms underlying the emergence of racial bias by longitudinally documenting how two psychological processes--normative beliefs about interracial friendships and explanatory beliefs about racial inequalities--developmentally predict the emergence of pro-White/anti-Black racial bias during early childhood. In a 6-month, three-wave, longitudinal study, we found that 4-year-old children's beliefs that their parents and peers do not value interracial friendships predicted increased racial bias in and across time and that children's endorsement of essentialist over extrinsic explanations for racial inequalities predicted the developmental trajectory of racial bias over time. These findings suggest that children's foundational beliefs about the social world developmentally predict the emergence of racial bias in early childhood and speak to the importance of early and persistent intervention efforts targeting children's normative beliefs about interracial friendships and explanatory beliefs about racial inequalities.

Little is known about how university institutions are coping with increased placement demands in professional disciplines, and what this means for the quality and integrity of the Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) experiences offered within degree programs for all partners concerned. The first stage of a critical ethnographic study is reported in this paper. It forms part of a larger, ongoing study that seeks to generate critical perspectives on the impact and effects of an inquiry-based WIL philosophy that fosters sustained, meaningful university-community partnerships across a suite of Early Childhood programs. Institutional insights into the workload of university staff responsible for these programs are presented, revealing the complexities and possibilities of what this form of work involves in efforts to sustain meaningful, reciprocal partnerships over time. Findings reveal challenges to the relational foundations of this work and the potential implications for universities to reconsider the nature of their engagement with community in the education of deliberate professionals.

This article explores the role of gendered academic networks in the context of research evaluation, and women's lived experiences of UK universities. Gendered power is conceptualised as an important aspect of inequality regimes, providing insight into how men maintain power and how power dynamics and informal networks function, characterised in this article as 'the hustle'. A case study comprising 80 in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews was completed in a UK university. Acker's theory of inequality regimes informed the central analytical framework, and Bradley's resource-based theory of power was used to explore the power dynamics in the case study. The findings have resulted in the creation of a conceptual framework which theorises the hybridised nature of inequality, gendered power and organisational lived experience, in which inequality regimes and gendered power interact and are mutually reinforced through informal processes. This article argues, from the findings of the empirical research, that in the context of the neoliberal university, inequality regimes and gendered power interact, and are mutually reinforced through informal processes and networks--'the hustle'.

Research has suggested that perceivers automatically categorize faces based on gender and race but gaps remain regardingwhether effects emerge at encoding or recall and the extent to which they are reducible to perceptual similarities (sincefaces from the same category are generally more similar to each other). We address these limitations using change detectionparadigms adapted from visual working memory literature where one face from an array of faces changes to a face fromthe same or a different gender or racial category. We show that individuals are considerably faster and more accurate toidentify changes that cross a category boundary, even when controlling for a range of perceptual differences and subjectivefeatures of faces. Our results suggest that social category information is automatically encoded in visual working memoryin a format that is not reducible to lower-level perceptual features.

The present studies (total n = 151) experimentally manipulated meaningfulness in novel social groups and measured anyresulting ingroup biases. Study 1 showed that even when groups were arbitrary and presumptively meaningless, 5- to8-year-olds developed equally strong ingroup biases as did children in more meaningful groups. Study 2 explored thelengths required to effectively reduce ingroup biases by stressing the arbitrariness of the grouping dimension. Even in thiscase ingroup bias persisted in resource allocation behavior, though it was attenuated on preference and similarity measures.These results suggested that one has to go to great lengths to counteract childrens tendency to imbue newly encounteredsocial groups with rich affiliative meaning.

Abstract Wild pigs (Sus scrofa), which are invasive in many regions globally, can alter ecosystems and compete with native species through interference competition and resource exploitation. Wild pig impacts on other species may increase with greater niche overlap, which could vary over time based on environmental conditions, resource availability, or biological traits like diet, especially as seasonal variation in wild pig diet has been widely documented. A limited number of studies have assessed spatial or temporal overlap between native species and invasive wild pigs, with only a handful simultaneously assessing overlap in these niche dimensions. We investigated the potential for interspecific interactions involving invasive wild pigs in the Piedmont region of South Carolina, USA, by examining seasonal spatiotemporal overlap with other wildlife using N‐mixture models and diel activity overlap analyses. Site use by white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and coyote (Canis latrans) was negatively associated with wild pig activity in the fall, when the species had high diel activity overlap, indicating spatial partitioning could reduce interference competition with wild pigs in this season. Conversely, white‐tailed deer site use was positively associated with wild pig activity in the winter, suggesting higher spatial overlap may be necessary if resources are limited. Site use by bobcat (Lynx rufus) and nine‐banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) in the spring, along with raccoon (Procyon lotor) and wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) site use in the summer, was positively associated with wild pig activity. With the exception of diurnal wild turkey, diel activity overlap between these species and wild pigs was high, although temporal partitioning could have occurred at finer spatiotemporal scales than we examined. Our results collectively emphasize the importance of accounting for seasonal spatial and temporal responses by individual species to invasive wild pigs, with special consideration given to species in seasons where high niche overlap with wild pigs is anticipated.

Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) is a potentially severe adverse event in patients treated with antiresorptives. Management of MRONJ is challenging, and no non-antibiotic, established medical treatment exists. Intermittent parathyroid hormone (iPTH) has been used off-label to treat MRONJ with favorable results. However, its medical efficacy has rarely been substantiated in clinical or preclinical experiments. Using a validated rice rat, infection-based model of MRONJ, we evaluated the effects of iPTH on established MRONJ. We hypothesize that iPTH contributes to MRONJ resolution by enhancing alveolar bone turnover and healing oral soft tissues. Eighty-four rice rats began a standard rodent chow diet at age 4 weeks to induce localized periodontitis. Rats were simultaneously randomized to receive saline (vehicle, VEH) or zoledronic acid (ZOL, 80 μg/kg IV) every 4 weeks. Oral exams were conducted bi-weekly to assign a gross quadrant grade (GQG, 0–4) to evaluate any lesion at the lingual aspect of the interdental space between maxillary molar (M2) and M3. 14 of 20 VEH-treated rice rats (70%) developed maxillary localized periodontitis with GQG 2–3 after 30 ± 10 weeks of saline. Additionally, 40 of 64 ZOL-treated rice rats with periodontitis developed MRONJ-like lesions after 30 ± 10 weeks of ZOL treatment. Rice rats with localized periodontitis or MRONJ-like lesions were treated with saline or iPTH (40 μg/kg) subcutaneously (SC) 3 times/week For 6 weeks until euthanasia. We found that iPTH -treated ZOL rats had a lower prevalence of MRONJ (p

Introduction We previously assessed the effect of an onsite sanitation intervention in informal neighbourhoods of urban Maputo, Mozambique on enteric pathogen detection in children after 2 years of follow-up (Maputo Sanitation (MapSan) trial, ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02362932). We found significant reductions in Shigella and Trichuris prevalence but only among children born after the intervention was delivered. In this study, we assess the health impacts of the sanitation intervention after 5 years among children born into study households postintervention.Methods and analysis We are conducting a cross-sectional household study of enteric pathogen detection in child stool and the environment at compounds (household clusters sharing sanitation and outdoor living space) that received the pour-flush toilet and septic tank intervention at least 5 years prior or meet the original criteria for trial control sites. We are enrolling at least 400 children (ages 29 days to 60 months) in each treatment arm. Our primary outcome is the prevalence of 22 bacterial, protozoan, and soil transmitted helminth enteric pathogens in child stool using the pooled prevalence ratio across the outcome set to assess the overall intervention effect. Secondary outcomes include the individual pathogen detection prevalence and gene copy density of 27 enteric pathogens (including viruses); mean height-for-age, weight-for-age, and weight-for-height z-scores; prevalence of stunting, underweight, and wasting; and the 7-day period prevalence of caregiver-reported diarrhoea. All analyses are adjusted for prespecified covariates and examined for effect measure modification by age. Environmental samples from study households and the public domain are assessed for pathogens and faecal indicators to explore environmental exposures and monitor disease transmission.Ethics and dissemination Study protocols have been reviewed and approved by human subjects review boards at the Ministry of Health, Republic of Mozambique and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Deidentified study data will be deposited at https://osf.io/e7pvk/.Trial registration number ISRCTN86084138.

A 41-year-old woman presented with a large medial canthal lesion that extended over the midline. Excisional biopsy revealed a multinodular basaloid tumor, located within the dermis and subcutaneous fat that extended into skeletal muscle at the deep and peripheral margin. Histology was consistent with trichoblastoma. A review of the literature reveals a lack of specific and sensitive immunohistochemistry markers to establish the diagnosis of trichoblastoma. Following reconstruction, the patient has shown no signs of recurrence of the lesion at 24 months.

Purpose: There is scant published research regarding nutrition and insulin strategies for athletic performance in collegiate distance runners with type 1 diabetes mellitus (CDRT1). Acute carbohydrate supplementation (CHOsup) and insulin reduction used to minimize hypoglycemia during exercise may result in deteriorated glycemic control post exercise in CDRT1. The present case study of a CDRT1 investigated outcomes associated with a moderate-carbohydrate (ModCHO) diet and 24 h insulin adjustment during recovery phases for improved glycemic control and reduced use of acute strategies. Methods: During an 8-day period, a female CDRT1 followed a ModCHO (~4 g/kg/day) nutrition program. Recovery phase adjustments to insulin doses were made using an equation developed to estimate reduced insulin needs post exercise, as a function of exercise intensity and duration. Daily training was performed in the fasted state at 6:00 a.m. and included additional exercise strategies to reduce glycemic variability when needed. Daily blood glucose time-in-range (TIR) and use of CHOsup were assessed. Athlete well-being was determined using the Student-Athlete Well-Being Scale (SAWS)TM at baseline, and days 1, 3, and 7. Results: Throughout the 8-day period, mean TIR increased (77% versus < 50%) and the magnitude of glycemic excursions decreased (~3.8–15 versus ~3.0–26 mmol/L) relative to a prior comparison period. Minimal pre-exercise CHOsup was employed and CHOsup during exercise was not required. Additionally, the athlete achieved a new lifetime best in the 5000 m run and maintained positive well-being. Conclusion: The present case study provides examples of recovery phase strategies (i.e., ModCHO diet and 24 h insulin adjustments) that may support glycemic control and athletic performance in CDRT1 and provides potential considerations for nutrition and insulin strategies for use by athletes and coaches.

Ingroup favoritism influences third-party norm enforcement: Third-party punishers are more lenient when an ingroup member has been unfair. By contrast, in 2-party contexts, where punishers are the victims of unfairness, group bias effects are absent or inconsistent. Thus, group bias appears to be particularly influential when enforcing fairness among others, but less so when protecting oneself from unfairness. This would have implications for theories of how cooperation and intergroup cognition interact, but a more direct empirical test is lacking. To this end, developmental data are particularly useful as they can tell us whether and if so how group bias and fairness norm enforcement are related from their first emergence. Using a minimal groups manipulation, we induced ingroup bias in 6- to 9-year-olds and tested their willingness to reject disadvantageous (more for you) and advantageous (more for me) resource allocations when paired with in- and outgroup members. Group bias did not affect children's rejections of unfair allocations, although they reported that it was worse when an outgroup member had more. Our findings suggest that ingroup bias does not influence children's costly endorsement of equality, indicating that children perceive the equality norm to be indiscriminate and enforceable across group boundaries.

When faced with entities with potentially ambiguous category membership, adult category judgments are strongly biased toward dangerous and distinctive properties. For example, a cyanide-water mixture is categorized as cyanide. We used a developmental approach to better understand this cross-domain effect, which we term the asymmetric categorization of mixtures (ACM). According to ACM, attention is biased toward perceived dangerous or distinctive properties, making them prominent in conceptual representation. We consider whether ACM is driven entirely by low-level processes of attention, or whether ACM might require the integration of attention with causal-explanatory reasoning. We argue that ACM requires forms of reasoning that only emerge robustly in middle childhood. Across three studies (N = 270), we find that ACM emerges only after the 7th year for liquids (Studies 1 through 3), and even later for race (Studies 1 and 3). Results are discussed in terms of competing theoretical accounts of ACM.

Institutions make new forms of acting possible: Signing executive orders, scoring goals, and officiating weddings are only possible because of the U.S. government, the rules of soccer, and the institution of marriage. Thus, when an individual occupies a particular social role (president, soccer player, and officiator), they acquire new ways of acting on the world. The present studies investigated children's beliefs about institutional actions, and in particular whether children understand that individuals can only perform institutional actions when their community recognizes them as occupying the appropriate social role. Two studies (Study 1, N = 120 children, ages 4-11; Study 2, N = 90 children, ages 4-9) compared institutional actions to standard actions that do not depend on institutional recognition. In both studies, 4- to 5-year-old children believed all actions were possible regardless of whether an individual was recognized as occupying the social role. In contrast, 8- to 9-year-old children robustly distinguished between institutional and standard actions; they understood that institutional actions depend on collective recognition by a community.

Abstract Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is among the deadliest of all common malignancies. Treatment is difficult and often complicated by the presence of cachexia. The clinical portrait of cachexia contributes to the poor prognosis experienced by PDAC patients and worsens therapeutic outcomes. We propose that low bone mineral density is a component of cachexia, which we explore herein through a retrospective review of all patients at our facility that underwent surgery for PDAC between 2011 and 2018 and compared to sex‐, age‐ and comorbidity‐matched control individuals. Data were abstracted from the medical record and pre‐operative computed tomography scans. Muscle mass and quality were measured at the L3 level and bone mineral density was measured as the radiation attenuation of the lumbar vertebral bodies. Patients with PDAC displayed typical signs of cachexia such as weight loss and radiologically appreciable deterioration of skeletal muscle. Critically, PDAC patients had significantly lower bone mineral density than controls, with 61.2% of PDAC patients categorized as osteopenic compared to 36.8% of controls. PDAC patients classified as osteopenic had significantly reduced survival (1.01 years) compared to patients without osteopenia (2.77 years). The presence of osteopenia was the strongest clinical predictor of 1‐ and 2‐year disease‐specific mortality, increasing the risk of death by 107% and 80%, respectively. Osteopenia serves as a test of 2‐year mortality with sensitivity of 76% and specificity of 58%. These data therefore identify impaired bone mineral density as a key component of cachexia and predictor of postoperative survival in patients with PDAC. The mechanisms that lead to bone wasting in tumor‐bearing hosts deserve further study.

Abstract One of the seminal findings of cognitive neuroscience is that the power of occipital alpha-band (~ 10 Hz) brain waves is increased when peoples’ eyes are closed, rather than open. This has encouraged the view that alpha oscillations are a default dynamic, to which the visual brain returns in the absence of input. Accordingly, we might be unable to increase the power of alpha oscillations when the eyes are closed, above the level that would normally ensue when people close their eyes. Here we report counter evidence. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to record brain activity when people had their eyes open and closed, both before and after they had adapted to radial motion. The increase in alpha power when people closed their eyes was increased by prior adaptation to a broad range of radial motion speeds. This effect was greatest for 10 Hz motion, but robust for other frequencies (and especially 7.5 Hz). This discredits a persistent entrainment of activity at the adaptation frequency as an explanation for our findings. Our data show that the power of occipital alpha-band brain waves can be increased by motion sensitive visual processes that persist when the eyes are closed. Consequently, we suggest that the power of these brain waves is, at least in part, an index of the degree to which visual brain activity is being subjected to inhibition. This is increased when people close their eyes, but can be even further increased by pre-adaptation to radial motion.

Underrepresentation of women in scientific leadership is a global problem. To understand and counter narratives that limit gender equity in African science, we conducted a public engagement campaign. Scientists representing six sub-Saharan African countries and multiple career stages used superhero imagery to create a diverse and unified team advocating for gender equity in science. In contrast to many traditional scientific environments and global campaigns, this “PowerPack of SuperScientists” was led by early-career Black female scientists whose perspectives are often under-represented in discussions about gender equity in science. The superhero imagery served as a powerful and fun antidote to imposter syndrome and helped to subvert traditional power structures based on age, race and sex. In an interactive social media campaign, the PowerPack developed insights into three themes: a) cultural stereotypes that limit women’s scientific careers, b) the perception of a “conflict” between family and career responsibilities for women scientists, and c) solutions that can be adopted by key stakeholders to promote gender equity in African science. The PowerPack proposed solutions that could be undertaken by women working individually or collectively and interventions that require allyship from men, commitment from scientific institutions, and wider societal change. Further work is required to fully engage African scientists from even more diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds and institutions in these solutions and to enhance commitment by different stakeholders to achieving gender equity in science. Our experience suggests that creative tools should be used to subvert power dynamics and bring fresh perspectives and urgency to this topic.

Abstract Aims Depression and anxiety are the leading contributors to the global burden of disease among young people, accounting for over a third (34.8%) of years lived with disability. Yet there is limited evidence for interventions that prevent adolescent depression and anxiety in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 90% of adolescents live. This article introduces the ‘Improving Adolescent mentaL health by reducing the Impact of poVErty (ALIVE)’ study, its conceptual framework, objectives, methods and expected outcomes. The aim of the ALIVE study is to develop and pilot-test an intervention that combines poverty reduction with strengthening self-regulation to prevent depression and anxiety among adolescents living in urban poverty in Colombia, Nepal and South Africa. Methods This aim will be achieved by addressing four objectives: (1) develop a conceptual framework that identifies the causal mechanisms linking poverty, self-regulation and depression and anxiety; (2) develop a multi-component selective prevention intervention targeting self-regulation and poverty among adolescents at high risk of developing depression or anxiety; (3) adapt and validate instruments to measure incidence of depression and anxiety, mediators and implementation parameters of the prevention intervention; and (4) undertake a four-arm pilot cluster randomised controlled trial to assess the feasibility, acceptability and cost of the selective prevention intervention in the three study sites. Results The contributions of this study include the active engagement and participation of adolescents in the research process; a focus on the causal mechanisms of the intervention; building an evidence base for prevention interventions in LMICs; and the use of an interdisciplinary approach. Conclusions By developing and evaluating an intervention that addresses multidimensional poverty and self-regulation, ALIVE can make contributions to evidence on the integration of mental health into broader development policy and practice.

BackgroundBurn injuries are the fourth most common type of trauma and are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. The impact of burn injury is clinically significant as burn injuries often give rise to exuberant scarring. Hypertrophic scarring (HTS) is a particular concern as up to 70% of burns patients develop HTS. Laser therapy is used for treating HTS and has shown positive clinical outcomes, although the mechanisms remain unclear limiting approaches to improve its effectiveness. Emerging evidence has shown that fibroblasts and senescent cells are important modifiers of scarring. This study aims to investigate the cellular kinetics in HTS after laser therapy, with a focus on the association of scar reduction with the presence of senescent cells.MethodsWe will conduct a multicentre, intra-patient, single-blinded, randomised controlled longitudinal pilot study with parallel assignments to achieve this objective. 60 participants will be recruited to receive 3 interventional ablative fractional CO2 laser treatments over a 12-month period. Each participant will have two scars randomly allocated to receive either laser treatment or standard care. Biopsies will be obtained from laser-treated, scarred-no treatment and non-scarred tissues for immune-histological staining to investigate the longitudinal kinetics of p16INK4A+-senescent cells and fibroblast subpopulations (CD90+/Thy1+ and αSMA+). Combined subjective scar assessments including Modified Vancouver Scar Scale, Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale and Brisbane Burn Scar Impact Profile; and objective assessment tools including 3D-Vectra-H1 photography, DermaScan® Cortex, Cutometer® and ColoriMeter®DSMIII will be used to evaluate clinical outcomes. These will then be used to investigate the association between senescent cells and scar reduction after laser therapy. This study will also collect blood samples to explore the systemic biomarkers associated with the response to laser therapy.DiscussionThis study will provide an improved understanding of mechanisms potentially mediating scar reduction with laser treatment, which will enable better designs of laser treatment regimens for those living with HTS.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04736251.