Do breaks in online gambling affect neuropsychological arousal? Conceptual approach and lessons learned from the TESSA-pilot trial

Introduction

Mandatory breaks have been discussed as a harm reduction strategy in the context of gambling for several years, but their effectiveness remains unclear. The TESSA pilot study examines the association of physiological arousal (PA) and mandatory breaks during gambling with an aim to conceptualize the framework for a subsequent randomized controlled trial.

Material and methods

In a one-armed experimental pilot study 28 participants engaged in a simulated online slot game with mandatory breaks. PA, disentangled into fear, anger, joy, attraction, balance, and retraction, was continuously monitored via skin conductivity and skin temperature. The occurrence of PA in distinct phases (phase 1: initiation, phase 2: pre-break, phase 3: post-break) was contrasted by multilevel logistic regression.

Results

Fear and attraction did not change. Compared to phase 1, anger (OR = 0.698; p = 0.015) and joy (OR = 0.714; p = 0.032) were less likely in phase 2, with joy also being less likely in phase 3 (OR = 0.690; p = 0.023). Balance was more likely in phase 2 (OR = 5.073; p < 0.0001) than in phase 1 and less likely in phase 3 (OR = 0.348; p < 0.0001) whilst retraction declined from phase to phase.

Discussion

Mandatory breaks appear suited to offset changes in PA response evolving during gambling, but a sustained effect on initial PA levels should not to be expected. However, to sensitively judge the role of breaks additional framework conditions that impact on gambling behavior (e. g. wins/losses) should be considered.

AI-powered mental health communication: Examining the effects of affection expectations on health behavioral intentions

OBJECTIVES

This study proposed and examined users' expectations of chatbots in mental health communication and compared them with human doctors. Focusing on the affective expectation, we aimed to unveil the impacts of changes in affection on individuals' expectations and behavioral intentions.

METHODS

A 2 (chatbot vs. human doctor) x 2 (affective vs. neutral) online experiment (N = 364) was conducted. Participants were asked about their expectations towards communicating health with chatbots and human doctors, watched pre-recorded conversations, and answered questions about expectancy violation toward affection and willingness to further health actions.

RESULTS

Individuals have higher expectations from human doctors in almost all aspects. Individuals' expectation of online chat with doctors is more likely to be violated compared with chatbots. Significant results are found on individuals' behavioral intentions, with a greater likelihood of switching to online chatbots when chatbots use an affective approach or doctors use a neutral tone. Individual's past experiences with chatbots play a key role in expectancy violations.

CONCLUSION

Individuals have higher expectations of human doctors, but using an affective approach may better meet individuals' expectations toward chatbots and switch their behavioral intentions.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Chatbots that meet expectations can be designed and applied to address mental health concerns.

Dataset with press forming results of unidirectional thermoplastic composite laminates including in-plane deformation data for validation of forming simulations

Truncated hemisphere parts were press formed with two commercially available unidirectional thermoplastic composite materials, namely Toray TC1225 and Solvay APC. The width and layup of the laminates were varied to influence the wrinkling severity, to trigger various deformation mechanisms and to influence the amount of in-plane deformation. A total of eight layup/width combinations were selected and formed in triplicate for both materials, resulting in the analysis of 48 parts in total. The wrinkling defects are clearly observed due to an intentional gap between the forming tools at the end of forming. Further, a dot pattern with a resolution of 3 mm was applied to the laminates prior to forming using a photoresist mask, sandblasting and heat resistant spray paint. The locations of the dots before and after forming were measured using photogrammetry and are provided in the dataset as a triangular mesh including a precision metric. Matlab functions, bundled with this dataset, allow for the reproduction of the deformation calculations and averages. Lastly, a Matlab App (GUI) is provided for easy visualization of the data. This dataset can serve as a reference for validation of composite forming simulations.

How emotions impact sleep: A quantitative review of experiments

Although sleep and emotional processes are recognized as mutually dependent, the causal impact of emotions on sleep has been comparatively neglected. To appraise evidence for the causal influence of emotions on sleep, a meta-analysis of the existing experimental literature evaluated the strength, form, and context of experimental effects of emotion inductions on sleep parameters (k = 31). Quality of experiments was evaluated, and theoretically-relevant features were extracted and examined as moderating factors of observed effects (i.e., sleep parameter, design, sleep context, types of emotion inductions and emotions). Random-effect models were used to aggregate effects for each sleep parameter, while-mixed effect models examined moderators. There was a significant impact of emotion inductions on delayed sleep onset latency (D = 3.36 min, 95%CI [1.78, 4.94], g = 0.53), but not other parameters. There was little evidence of publication bias regarding sleep-onset latency effect, the studies overall were heterogeneous, sometimes of limited methodological quality, and could only detect moderate-to-large impacts. The findings supported the hypothesis that negative emotions delayed sleep onset, but evidence regarding other sleep parameters was inconclusive. The results call for more targeted investigation to disambiguate distinct features of emotions and their import for sleep.

The cavitation characteristics of aerospace high-speed centrifugal pumps with different tip clearance

This study investigates the Tip Clearance Cavitation (TCC) characteristics of three different Tip Clearances (TC) (0.4, 0.6, 0.8) and five inlet negative pressure conditions Pj = (- 20-60)kPa to improve the reliability of the aerospace high-speed centrifugal pump during in-orbit operation, based on the premise of good agreement between the TC 0.6 test curve and the simulation performance curve. Under negative pressure and high-speed conditions, the variation gradient of cavitation characteristics with various inlet negative pressures is non-linear and has a sudden change, but the trend becomes stable after the inlet negative pressure drops to a certain stage. The tip clearance cavitation characteristics vary from the blade surface cavitation characteristics due to the difference in forces on both sides. This study is a proper starting point for the design of aerospace power pumps.

Measuring attention of ADHD patients by means of a computer game featuring biometrical data gathering

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosed mainly in children, marked by inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. The symptoms are highly variable, such as different ages of onset and potential comorbidities, contributing to frequent misdiagnoses. Professionals note a gap in modern diagnostic tools, making accurate identification challenging. To address this, recent studies recommend gamification for better ADHD diagnosis and treatment, though further research is essential to confirm its efficacy. This work aims to create a serious game, namely "Attention Slackline", to assess attention levels. The game, designed with expert input, requires players to concentrate on a specific point to recognize specific patterns while managing distractions. A controlled experiment tested its precision, and results were compared with established attention tests by a correlation analysis. Statistical analysis confirmed the game's validity, especially in tracking attention through correct responses and errors. Preliminary evidence suggests that "Attention Slackline" may serve as a credible instrument for the assessment of attentional capacities in individuals with ADHD, given that its outcomes have been empirically shown to correlate with those derived from a well-established attention assessment methodology.

The effects of three environmental factors on building evacuation time

Building fires can be considered a risk to the health and safety of occupants. Environmental factors in building fires might affect the speed of an evacuation. Therefore, in this study participants (N = 153) were tested in an experimental design for the effects of (1) a fire alarm, (2) darkness and (3) the use of emergency exit signs on building evacuation time. In addition, the effects of age and gender on evacuation time were investigated. The main results indicate that the combination of a fire alarm, darkness and not illuminated emergency exit signs had a significant negative influence on evacuation time, namely an increase in evacuation time of 26.6% respectively 28.1%. Another important finding is that age had a significant negative effect on evacuation time. The increase in evacuation time was at least 30.4% for participants aged 56 years or older compared to participants aged 18-25 years. For gender no significant effect was found. Building and safety managers can use these results by including longer evacuation time considerations - based on darkness and older age - in their evacuation plans. Future research should focus further on investigating the effects of personal and psychological characteristics on evacuation behaviour and evacuation time.

Beliefs about losing control and other OCD-related cognitions: An experimental investigation

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Cognitive theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggest that dysfunctional beliefs influence symptoms. However, well-established belief domains do not fully explain OCD symptomatology, suggesting other cognitive mechanisms may be involved. An additional belief domain which may play a role in OCD is beliefs about losing control. Indeed, these beliefs have been found to be associated with OCD symptoms. However, the relationships between beliefs about losing control and other OCD phenomena, including other relevant dysfunctional beliefs, is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between beliefs about losing control and appraisals hypothesized to be relevant to OCD.

METHODS

A total of 163 participants completed the experimental protocol, wherein they received false (positive or negative) feedback regarding the likelihood they may lose control and completed a vignette task asking them to read hypothetical scenarios relevant to OCD concerns (checking, and aggressive thoughts). Vignettes were followed by questions and prompts used to measure OCD-relevant appraisals.

RESULTS

Based on MANOVAs, beliefs about losing control had a significant impact on appraisals in the checking, F (151) = 5.55, p = .001, and aggressive thoughts, F (151) = 2.898, p = .037, vignettes. However, planned comparison indicated that in the aggressive thoughts vignettes, this effect was in the opposite direction than was hypothesized.

LIMITATIONS

The losing control induction may have inadvertently influenced participants' beliefs about the utility of thought control.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings provide preliminary evidence for an association between beliefs about losing control and OCD-relevant appraisals.

Aversion to health inequality - Pure, income-related and income-caused

We design a novel experiment to identify aversion to pure (univariate) health inequality separately from aversion to income-related and income-caused health inequality. Participants allocate resources to determine health of individuals. Identification comes from random variation in resource productivity and information on income and its causal effect. We gather data (26,286 observations) from a sample of UK adults (n = 337) and estimate pooled and participant-specific social preferences while accounting for noise. The median person has strong aversion to pure health inequality, challenging the health maximisation objective of economic evaluation. Aversion to health inequality is even stronger when it is related to income. However, the median person prioritises health of poorer individuals less than is assumed in the standard measure of income-related health inequality. On average, aversion to that inequality does not become stronger when low income is known to cause ill-health. There is substantial heterogeneity in all three types of inequality aversion.

Mode Ⅰ fracture analysis of aluminum-copper bimetal composite using finite element method

The properties of Al-Cu bimetallic composite are investigated employing the finite element method to understand the nature of the composite materials under different loading conditions. In this regard, Al and Cu metallic sheets were implemented to analyze cold-roll bonding (CRB) and to monitor the bonding conditions. After rolling the materials were investigated for their stress distribution and bonding as well as fracture behavior. Finite element investigation was used by the ANSYS software to analyze the stress-strain distribution in the metal layers. The results indicate that the appropriate joining of Al-Al and Al-Cu can be achieved using the CRB process. The stress distribution based on the Von-Mises criterion was calculated and validated by simulation studies. For crack simulations, on the other hand, the results showed that during crack propagation, the materials showed different behaviors owing to the varying properties of Al and Cu. Also, for both the tests, stress distribution in 2D and 3D were simulated, and different stress criteria were obtained and compared. Moreover, optical and scanning electron microscopies were used to study the characteristics of the materials and to support FEM outputs.

When remediating one artifact results in another: control, confounders, and correction

Scientists aim to remediate artifacts in their experimental datasets. However, the remediation of one artifact can result in another. Why might this happen, and what does this consequence tell us about how we should account for artifacts and their control? In this paper, I explore a case in functional neuroimaging where remediation appears to have caused this problem. I argue that remediation amounts to a change to an experimental arrangement. These changes need not be surgical, and the arrangement need not satisfy the criterion of causal modularity. Thus, remediation can affect more than just the factor responsible for the artifact. However, if researchers can determine the consequences of their remediation, they can make adjustments that control for the present artifact as well as for previously controlled ones. Current philosophical accounts of artifacts and the factors responsible for them cannot adequately address this issue, as they do not account for what is needed for artifact remediation (and specifically correction). I support my argument by paralleling it with ongoing concerns regarding the transparency of complex computational systems, as near future remediation across the experimental life sciences will likely make greater use of AI tools to correct for artifacts.

Microplastics impact simple aquatic food web dynamics through reduced zooplankton feeding and potentially releasing algae from consumer control

Concentrations of microplastics in aquatic environments continue to rise due to industrial production and pollution. While there are various concerns regarding potential deleterious effects of microplastics on ecosystems, several knowledge gaps remain, including the potential for microplastics to directly and indirectly affect biotic interactions and food web dynamics. We explored the effects of environmentally relevant microplastic concentrations on two co-exposed species of herbaceous freshwater crustaceous zooplankton, filter feeding Daphnia dentifera and selective phytoplankton grazers Arctodiaptomus dorsalis. Study organisms were exposed to different concentrations of microplastics (plastic polyethylene microspheres; low = 2.38 × 10-8 mg/L, medium = 0.023 mg/L, high = 162 mg/L), phytoplankton prey, and predator cues, simulating a simple freshwater food web. Microplastic uptake was greater by D. dentifera, but both species were characterized by decreased algal consumption in the highest microplastic concentration treatment. Importantly, aqueous chlorophyll-a concentrations at the conclusion of the experiment were greater for the high microplastic treatment than all controls and other microplastic treatments. Finally, a predator effect was only apparent for D. dentifera, with greater microplastic uptake in the presence of a predator. We conclude that microplastics may adversely impact the ability of zooplankton to feed on algae and potentially release algae from consumptive control by herbivorous zooplankton. SYNOPSIS: This research aimed to better understand the broader food web effects of environmentally relevant microplastic concentrations on aquatic communities.

TikToks Lead to Higher Knowledge and Perceived Severity of Sexual Violence among Adolescent Men

Social media communication is a promising way to deliver important health messages about sexual violence to a key population of adolescent men. The researchers conducted an online, between-participants experiment to examine the impact of personal narrative TikToks about sexual violence on adolescent men. Participants were adolescent men (n = 580) aged 15 to 19 (M = 17.3, SD = 1.43). Participants were randomly assigned to treatment (personal narrative TikToks about sexual violence) or control (hair braiding TikTok tutorials) conditions. Adolescent men who viewed personal narrative TikToks about sexual violence had higher knowledge of consequences and higher perceived severity of sexual violence. Additionally, adolescent men found personal narrative TikToks more attention-grabbing (vs. control) and did not have negative reactions. Findings that short (approximately one-minute) TikTok videos led to differences in knowledge and beliefs among, and were interesting and not aversive to, adolescent men are important for sexual violence prevention research. Health messages on TikTok can help shift adolescent perceptions of sexual violence, which is a key starting point towards changing norms.

'I wish my body looked like theirs!': How positive appearance comments on social media impact adolescents' body dissatisfaction

Despite robust research evidence for the role of attractive-body portrayals in body image, the effect of positive appearance comments that endorse them on social media remains unclear. Therefore, using a between-subject experimental design and the data from 613 Czech adolescents (52% girls) aged 13-18 (M = 15.5, SD = 1.7), the present study examined exposure to positive appearance comments on body dissatisfaction, and the moderating roles of media-ideal internalization, appearance schematicity, body appreciation, and gender. Our data supported the presumed intensifying effect of the positive appearance comments on post-exposure body dissatisfaction, but only for adolescent girls. The impact of positive comments was not moderated by the media-ideal internalization, appearance schematicity, or body appreciation. However, the exploratory results showed that the displayed bodies' perceived attractiveness intensified the positive comments' effect on body dissatisfaction, which makes it a potentially important factor to target for the prevention of negative social media effects on body image. Furthermore, the individual characteristics that moderated the exposure to attractive images in the prior research may not determine the effects of the positive comments. Future research may need to capture factors that specifically influence the processing of such comments, such as susceptibility to peer feedback on physical appearance.

Chasing consistency: On the measurement error in self-reported affect in experiments

How feelings change over time is a central topic in emotion research. To study these affective fluctuations, researchers often ask participants to repeatedly indicate how they feel on a self-report rating scale. Despite widespread recognition that this kind of data is subject to measurement error, the extent of this error remains an open question. Complementing many daily-life studies, this study aimed to investigate this question in an experimental setting. In such a setting, multiple trials follow each other at a fast pace, forcing experimenters to use a limited number of questions to measure affect during each trial. A total of 1398 participants completed a probabilistic reward task in which they were unknowingly presented with the same string of outcomes multiple times throughout the study. This allowed us to assess the test-retest consistency of their affective responses to the rating scales under investigation. We then compared these consistencies across different types of rating scales in hopes of finding out whether a given type of scale led to a greater consistency of affective measurements. Overall, we found moderate to good consistency of the affective measurements. Surprisingly, however, we found no differences in consistency across rating scales, which suggests that the specific rating scale that is used does not influence the measurement consistency.

Parameterizing mechanistic niche models in biophysical ecology: a review of empirical approaches

Mechanistic niche models are computational tools developed using biophysical principles to address grand challenges in ecology and evolution, such as the mechanisms that shape the fundamental niche and the adaptive significance of traits. Here, we review the empirical basis of mechanistic niche models in biophysical ecology, which are used to answer a broad array of questions in ecology, evolution and global change biology. We describe the experiments and observations that are frequently used to parameterize these models and how these empirical data are then incorporated into mechanistic niche models to predict performance, growth, survival and reproduction. We focus on the physiological, behavioral and morphological traits that are frequently measured and then integrated into these models. We also review the empirical approaches used to incorporate evolutionary processes, phenotypic plasticity and biotic interactions. We discuss the importance of validation experiments and observations in verifying underlying assumptions and complex processes. Despite the reliance of mechanistic niche models on biophysical theory, empirical data have and will continue to play an essential role in their development and implementation.

Experimenting with every American king

The standard contemporary semantics for 'every' predict the truth of occurrences of sentences with restrictors that denote the empty set, such as 'Every American king lives in New York'. The literature on empty restrictors has been concerned with explaining a particular violation of this prediction: many assessors consider empty-restrictor sentences to be odd rather than valued, and they are apparently more likely to do so when such sentences include determiners like 'every' as opposed to those like 'no'. Empirical investigation of this issue is overdue, and I present the results of three experimental surveys. The first unexpected outcome is that there is no evidence of a contrast in assessors' tendencies to judge sentences to be odd based on determiner type. An additional surprising result is that those assessors who assign a truth value to sentences where 'every' combines with an empty restrictor overwhelmingly assign the value false. The full results do not fit straightforwardly with any existing account.

Experimental studies of paranoid thinking in clinical and nonclinical populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Paranoia is common in clinical and nonclinical populations, consistent with continuum models of psychosis. A number of experimental studies have been conducted that attempt to induce, manipulate or measure paranoid thinking in both clinical and nonclinical populations, which is important to understand causal mechanisms and advance psychological interventions. Our aim was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies (non-sleep, non-drug paradigms) on psychometrically assessed paranoia in clinical and nonclinical populations. The review was conducted using PRISMA guidelines. Six databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Medline and AMED) were searched for peer-reviewed experimental studies using within and between-subject designs to investigate paranoia in clinical and nonclinical populations. Effect sizes for each study were calculated using Hedge's g and were integrated using a random effect meta-analysis model. Thirty studies were included in the review (total n = 3898), which used 13 experimental paradigms to induce paranoia; 10 studies set out to explicitly induce paranoia, and 20 studies induced a range of other states. Effect sizes for individual studies ranged from 0.03 to 1.55. Meta-analysis found a significant summary effect of 0.51 [95% confidence interval 0.37-0.66, p < 0.001], indicating a medium effect of experimental paradigms on paranoia. Paranoia can be induced and investigated using a wide range of experimental paradigms, which can inform decision-making about which paradigms to use in future studies, and is consistent with cognitive, continuum and evolutionary models of paranoia.

Using DeepL translator in learning English as an applied foreign language - An empirical pilot study

With the advent of new emerging technologies, machine translation, especially natural machine translation (NMT) and its tools, is being increasingly applied in second language (L2) acquisition. The aim of this study is to investigate the usefulness of machine translation, specifically DeepL Translator, in the second language acquisition process, since it has a great potential to transform foreign language education. The present empirical pilot study describes an experiment dealing with the use of neural machine translation in the process of formal writing (i.e., writing a summary) in a foreign language. Altogether 16 university students learning English as an applied foreign language with C1 level of English proficiency participated in the experiment. The results show differences between pre-test and post-test, and a significant improvement in students' language skills due to the use of DeepL Translator. The questionnaire survey, among other things, reveals positive perceptions of this tool and awareness of improved language skills by the research participants. The findings indicate that purposefully guided working with a NMT tool can contribute to the perceived usefulness of its use in learning English as an applied foreign language.

The Mode of Communication as a Driver of Sustainable and Equitable Asymmetric Common Pool Resource Use

Most experimental studies on common pool resource usage focus on situations in which actors are in symmetric positions when they use the resource. Many real-world cases do not fit this scenario because users are in asymmetric positions regarding their ability to benefit from the resource. Examples range from irrigation systems to climate change mitigation. Moreover, while there is large evidence on the effects of communication on social dilemmas, few studies focus on different modes of communication. We compare the effects of unstructured and structured communication on the provision of an infrastructure for a common pool resource and appropriation of the provided resource. Structured communication applied rules that are based on the ideals of democratic deliberation. Participants made contribution and appropriation decisions in an incentivized experiment. In the experiment, both communication and deliberation increased contributions in comparison to a baseline. Interestingly, deliberation attenuated the effect of the player position more than communication. Our results suggest that deliberation may be useful for overcoming asymmetric commons dilemmas in the field.

Information avoidance: Self-image concerns, inattention, and ideology

We report the results of an experiment on willful information avoidance regarding measures to address Covid-19. In the experiment, participants choose between two options, each associated with a contribution to the Corona Fund of the Red Cross USA and a payment to the participant. Depending on the treatment, either the participants' payoff, the donation, both or none of these pieces of information were hidden, but revealable. With this design, we can separate motivated reasons for ignorance from non-motivated reasons, both of which are present in our data. Furthermore, we find evidence of both self-serving and pro-social information avoidance. These behavioral patterns correlate with the subjects' political attitudes: while voters of the Democratic Party are prone to exhibit pro-social information avoidance, Republican voters rather engage in self-serving information avoidance.

Contextual framing effects on risk aversion assessed using the bomb risk elicitation task

We examine the impact of framing on individuals' risk-taking behavior in the context of health risks during the coronavirus outbreak. We elicit risk attitudes from a sample of 3,385 individuals across seven European countries using an incentivized decision-making task. Participants are randomly assigned to one of three versions of the task: one involving the risk of a bomb explosion, one involving the risk of contracting an infectious disease, and one involving opening an empty box. We find that the framing of the task significantly affects risk-taking behavior, with participants exhibiting greater risk aversion in the health task than in the bomb or neutral task. This framing effect is observed in the majority of the countries studied.

Experimental study on clinical and morphological determination of the optimal cannula diameter for lipoaspirate harvest from rabbit inguinal fat pad

Determining the most appropriate cannula diameter for lipoaspirate harvesting is important, both in terms of the quality and composition of the material obtained, and the ease of practical use of the cannula. The size of the cannula is one of the main factors affecting the qualitative characteristics of the obtained lipoaspirate sample for further use of adipose tissue. The purpose of the investigation was to clinically and histomorphometrically determine the optimal cannula diameter for lipoaspirate samples collection from rabbit inguinal fat pad in an experimental study. The methods of Animal models, Surgical procedures, Macroscopic examination, Histological examination, and Morphometric study were applied. There is a direct correlation between the percentage of connective tissue fibres in the lipoaspirate and the diameter of the cannula. The lack of clear criteria for selecting a lipoaspiration cannula is one of the limitations to obtaining generally accepted lipoaspiration protocols with subsequent use of adipose tissue. In this study, the animal experiment determined the most ideal cannula diameter suitable for collecting the largest amount of lipoaspirate for subsequent use.

Perceived Stress Increases Susceptibility to Visual Food Cues in Fast-food Menu Selections

Individuals who report perceived stress often eat more unhealthy foods and more calories than those with lower stress levels, though individual differences and contexts are important. This study investigated how visual food cues on fast-food menus may increase calorie consumption intentions due to their potential motivational influences. A 2 (presence or absence of visual cues) x 4 (exemplar fast-food restaurant menu) fractionated experiment administered online (N = 325) indicated that when participants viewed menus with visual cues, they selected a greater number of calories to consume. Additionally, data showed an interaction effect of perceived stress and visual cues revealing that visual elements incentivized participants reporting higher stress to select more calories whereas visual cues did not have this effect for people reporting lower levels of perceived stress. Though important limitations exist, a key takeaway is that food cue exposure is another important factor to consider when predicting how stress may affect eating decisions.

Is physical pain causally related to suicidal behavior: An experimental test

Existing evidence suggests a link between physical pain and suicide, but the nature of this relationship remains unknown. To address this critical gap in knowledge, the present study leveraged a validated virtual reality (VR) suicide paradigm to experimentally examine the causal effects of physical pain on subsequent virtual suicidal behaviors. Based on previous findings, we hypothesized that physical pain would causally drive virtual suicidal behavior only if suicide was conceptualized as having desirable anticipated consequences (e.g., a means of escaping from current pain; an opportunity to avoid future pain). We tested this by randomizing 326 participants across four different conditions: a physical pain condition, an anticipated escape condition, an anticipated avoidance condition, and a control condition. As predicted, physical pain alone did not result in statistically significant increases in VR suicide rates; however, the anticipation that virtual suicidal behavior would result in the avoidance of future physical pain had a large causal effect on VR suicide rates (B = 1.61, p < .001, IRR = 5.01). We failed to find evidence that anticipating that VR suicide would provide an escape from currently experienced physical pain increases the likelihood of VR suicide. Our findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the anticipated consequences of suicide (e.g., avoidance of future physical pain) may serve as primary causes of suicidal behavior.

Timeless spaces: Field experiments in the physiological study of circadian rhythms, 1938-1963

In the middle of the twentieth century, physiologists interested in human biological rhythms undertook a series of field experiments in natural spaces that they believed could closely approximate conditions of biological timelessness. With the field of rhythms research was still largely on the fringes of the life sciences, natural spaces seemed to offer unique research opportunities beyond what was available to physiologists in laboratory spaces. In particular, subterranean caves and the High Arctic became archetypal 'natural laboratories' for the study of human circadian (daily) rhythms. This paper is explores the field experiments which occurred in these 'timeless spaces'. It considers how scientists understood these natural spaces as suitably 'timeless' for studying circadian rhythms and what their experimental practices can tell us about contemporary physiological notions of biological time, especially its relationship to 'environmentality' (Formosinho et al. in Stud History Philos Sci 91:148-158, 2022). In so doing, this paper adds to a growing literature on the interrelationship of field sites by demonstrating the ways that caves and the Arctic were connected by rhythms scientists. Finally, it will explore how the use of these particular spaces were not just scientific but also political - leveraging growing Cold War anxieties about nuclear fallout and the space race to bring greater prestige and funding to the study of circadian rhythms in its early years.

Responses to autobiographical memories involving being a victim or perpetrator of betrayal in people with OCD and community controls

Mental contamination in people with OCD has been linked to the perceived impact of being betrayed and betraying others. In this study, participants with OCD (N = 56) and community controls (N = 37) were randomised to an induction involving eliciting autobiographical memories of either being betrayed by someone they trusted or betraying someone that trusted them. The OCD group experienced greater increases in state mental contamination and anxiety than the control group, but no differences were observed between groups in urges to wash or drink. Both betrayal conditions elicited similar levels of mental contamination and anxiety. The results of this study suggest that people with OCD experience similar increases in mental contamination and anxiety not only when recalling memories of being a victim of betrayal but also when recalling being a perpetrator. People with OCD are therefore more sensitive to betrayal experiences than community controls. Clinical implications and implications for future research are discussed.

Acoustic emission characteristics and fracture mechanism of cemented tailings backfill under uniaxial compression: experimental and numerical study

Cemented tailings backfill (CTB) is the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly method to recycle tailings for filling mining. It is of great significance to study the fracture mechanism of CTB for safe mining. In this study, three cylindrical CTB samples with a cement-tailings ratio of 1:4 and a mass fraction of 72% were prepared. An acoustic emission (AE) test under uniaxial compression (UC) with WAW-300 microcomputer electro-hydraulic servo universal testing machine and DS2 series full information AE signal analyzer was carried out to discuss the AE characteristics of CTB, such as hits, energy, peak frequency, and AF-RA. Combined with particle flow and moment tensor theory, a meso AE model of CTB was constructed to reveal the fracture mechanism of CTB. The results show that (1) the AE law of CTB under UC has periodic characteristics, which can be divided into the rising stage, stable stage, booming stage, and active stage. (2) The peak frequency of the AE signal is mainly focused on three frequency bands. The ultra-high frequency AE signal may be the precursor information for CTB failure. (3) The low frequency band AE signals represent shear crack, while the medium and high frequency band AE signals represent tension crack. The shear crack initially decreases and then increases, and the tension crack is the opposite. (4) The fracture types of the AE source are divided into tension crack, mixed crack, and shear crack. The tension crack is dominant, while a larger magnitude AE source is frequently shear crack. The results can provide a basis for the stability monitoring and fracture prediction of CTB.

UPR/Titanium dioxide nanocomposite: Preparation, characterization and application in photon/neutron shielding

The aim of present investigation is to fabricate TiO₂ reinforced novel composites as an alternate nuclear radiation shields. Unsaturated polyester resin has been reinforced by the incorporation of different weight proportions of titanium dioxide (5, 10, 15 and 20 wt%) nanoparticles. Accordingly, mass and linear attenuation coefficients (μ_m & μ), half and tenth value layers (HVL & TVL), relaxation length (λ) and effective atomic numbers (Z_eff) have been computed. Gamma ray transmission set up has been employed for the determination of experimental μ_m values and consistency of experimental outcomes has been compared with the induced results from WinXCom program and Geant4 simulation code. Moreover, discrepancy of fast neutron removal cross section with the increasing TiO₂ content in the prepared composites has been studied. Additionally, structural properties in terms of XRD, SEM, RAMAN, FTIR and mechanical properties in terms of compressive strength have been analysed. The findings of this study revealed that the addition of TiO₂ nanoparticles improved the mechanical, nuclear shielding and structural properties of composites. The best gamma ray shielding competency has been showed by the highest TiO₂ addition (20%) composite. All in all, UPR + TiO2 composites have been identified as promising alternative radiation shielding candidates owning to their cost effectiveness, ease of processing, good dispersion and lightweightness.

Drop splashing after impact onto immiscible pools of different viscosities

Droplet impact onto liquid pools is a canonical scenario relevant to numerous natural phenomena and industrial processes. However, despite their ubiquity, multi-fluid systems with the drop and pool consisting of different liquids are far less well understood. Our hypothesis is that the post-impact dynamics greatly depends on the pool-to-droplet viscosity ratioμ_p/μ_d, which we explore over a range of six orders of magnitude using a combination of experiments and theoretical approaches (mathematical modelling and direct numerical simulation). Our findings indicate that in this scenario the splashing threshold and the composition of the ejecta sheet are controlled by the viscosity ratio. We uncover that increasing the pool viscosity decreases the splashing threshold for high viscosity pools (μ_p/μ_d≳35) when the splash comes from the droplet. By contrast, for low viscosity pools, the splash sheet comes from the pool and increasing the pool viscosity increases the splashing threshold. Surprisingly, there are conditions for which no splashing is observed under the conditions attainable in our laboratory. Furthermore, considering the interface velocity together with asymptotic arguments underlying the generation of the ejecta has allowed us to understand meaningful variations in the pressure during impact and rationalise the observed changes in the splashing threshold.

[Between anatomy and pathology : The dissection reports of Galen of Pergamum]

BACKGROUND

The autopsy protocols in the work of the Greco-Roman physician Galen of Pergamum have so far primarily been examined from a literary and socio-historic point of view. An analysis focused on the medical aspects is still incomplete.

OBJECTIVES

Which pathologic-anatomic competence do the Galenic section reports convey?

MATERIALS

The approximately 400 Galenic case histories were examined for anatomic and pathologic statements obtained during dissections of animals and men.

RESULTS

In 29 reports, anatomy and pathology issues are addressed. Most section reports can be found in the work On anatomical procedures (De anatomicis administrationibus). The texts do not follow a fixed structure. Galen is always the leading actor, observer, and analyst. Many interventions were performed in front of an audience. Monkeys were by far the most commonly dissected animals. Galen stayed away from little animals, because in his opinion their anatomy was not sufficiently similar to that of men. The post-mortem examination of human corpses with scientific intent was limited to victims of epidemics, armed conflicts, and accidents.

CONCLUSIONS

The dissection reports cover only part of Galen's pathologic expertise. The attractive public opening of animals earned him a large part of his reputation as a scientifically oriented physician. The dissection reports are an essential part of the collection of Galen's case histories and provide important detailed information on the history of anatomy and pathology in late antiquity.

Cannabis policy in The Netherlands: Rationale and design of an experiment with a controlled legal ('closed') cannabis supply chain

Since the Dutch tolerance policy, allowing the purchase of cannabis in 'coffeeshops', is associated with problems of public order and safety as well as health risks, there has been a long debate about legalisation of cannabis production and supply. It was therefore decided to conduct an experiment with a controlled legal ('closed') cannabis supply chain for recreational use. This is of international relevance in view of the current illegal cannabis exports from the Netherlands, the importance of sharing knowledge about the effectiveness of cannabis policies, and the accumulation of evidence needed to evaluate and update international treaties. Here we describe and discuss the background, general approach and design of the experiment. An independent expert committee elaborated how the closed chain will operate and be evaluated, based on the experience with the medicinal cannabis chain, and round table discussions with stakeholders (mayors, coffeeshop owners, cannabis consumers, growers, regulators, scientists, and addiction experts). Ten trusted cannabis growers are contracted to produce and supply cannabis to the coffeeshops in intervention municipalities, with product quality control, law enforcement against criminal interference, and preventive efforts to reduce health risks being implemented. No changes will be made in the cannabis supply to the coffeeshops in participating control municipalities. A process evaluation will assess whether the chain from production to sale in the intervention municipalities was really closed. In a quasi-experimental study comparing intervention and control municipalities, the chain's effects on public health, cannabis-related crime, safety and public nuisance will be estimated. The fieldwork period is expected to start early 2024 and will take four years, including reporting to the government and parliament. These will then decide whether and what further steps towards legalisation of the production and supply of cannabis will be taken.

Persuasive packaging? The impact of packaging color and claims on young consumers' perceptions of product healthiness, sustainability and tastiness

Following the increasing importance of healthiness and sustainability for many consumers, manufacturers increasingly try to give products a healthier or eco-friendlier image, for instance through packaging design. We conducted two experiments to investigate how visual (i.e., colors) and textual (i.e., claims) packaging elements shape perceptions of product healthiness, sustainability and tastiness. Additionally, the studies investigated whether these packaging elements impact the likelihood that these products are selected in a choice task. Study 1 (N = 202) had a mixed design, with packaging color (warm versus cool) and a nutrition claim (present versus absent) as within-subjects manipulations. Young consumers chose between four beverages, and subsequently evaluated these beverages. Study 2 (N = 211) had a similar design and procedure, but focused on the impact of an ecological claim on the evaluation of snacks. In line with our hypotheses, cool packaging colors (i.e., green and blue) increased perceptions that food and drinks were healthy and sustainable. However, in Study 1, cool packaging colors also resulted in lower tastiness expectations, and a lower likelihood that the product was selected. We also found that a simple nutrition/ecological claim made products seem overall healthier and more sustainable. Additionally, contrary to many previous studies, we did not find that these claims affected taste expectations. Our studies highlight the importance of package design as a factor that can influence perceptions of food and drink products.

The Impact of Ingroup and Outgroup Exclusion on HIV-Risk Cognitions in Sexual Minority Men

BACKGROUND

Sexual minority men (SMM) face disproportionate rates of HIV/AIDS. Emerging evidence indicates that minority stress (e.g., discrimination) and stress from within the gay community itself (e.g., exclusion) may contribute to sexual orientation disparities in HIV prevalence and risk.

PURPOSE

This study investigated the impact of sexual orientation discrimination and exclusion by the gay community on SMM's intentions to engage in HIV-risk behavior.

METHODS

We conducted an experiment in which we employed an exclusion manipulation to induce (a) perceived discrimination from the outgroup and (b) perceived exclusion by the ingroup in a community sample of 194 SMM. Participants completed a baseline assessment of previous discrimination, exposure to gay community stress, and HIV-risk behavior. Two days later, participants completed an experiment in which they were randomized to one of four conditions in the game Cyberball: (a) exclusion by straight men, (b) inclusion by straight men, (c) exclusion by gay men, or (d) inclusion by gay men. Risky sex intentions were then assessed.

RESULTS

Discrimination and gay community stress were positively associated with HIV-risk behaviors at baseline. Participants who were excluded (vs. included) by straight men in the experimental task reported more risky sex intentions. This effect was mediated by decreases in state self-esteem. Risky sex intentions did not differ between participants who were included versus excluded by gay men.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides the first experimental evidence that discrimination is associated with sexual risk taking in SMM, and elucidates a potential psychological mechanism through which this effect operates.

Development in uncertain contexts: An ecologically informed approach to understanding decision-making during adolescence

Adolescence is a period of development in which youth have new opportunities for decision-making, often in situations where they may have little information or experience to guide their choices. Thus, learning to make decisions under uncertainty is a key challenge during adolescence. To date, researchers have applied economics formalisms to understand the processes that support adolescents in making decisions under two distinct forms of uncertainty: economic risk and economic ambiguity. Economic risk is when the probabilities of outcomes are known. Economic ambiguity is when the probabilities of outcomes are unknown or unknowable. This research has led to foundational knowledge about the basic processes involved in adolescent decision-making, but many experimental paradigms that dissociate economic risk and ambiguity rely on monetary or point-based choices. Given that adolescence is a period of development characterized by a changing social environment, it remains unclear whether the processes that adolescents engage during decision-making on monetary or point-based experimental tasks generalize to their day-to-day experiences in the real world. In this brief piece, we explore how developmental research applying economics formalisms can be bolstered by research on youth's social environments to advance our understanding of decision-making in adolescence. First, we review developmental research by using economic uncertainty paradigms. Next, we highlight research on adolescents' social environments to provide examples of the day-to-day choices that adolescents face among their peers and in their broader communities. Finally, we propose directions for future research integrating these separate approaches to create a more nuanced, ecologically informed understanding of adolescent decision-making.

Study with stirred flow-through reactor experiments and quantification with a nonlinear equilibrium-kinetic model

This paper addresses the modelling of cesium sorption in non-equilibrium and nonlinear conditions with a two-site model. Compared to the classical K_d approach, the proposed model better reproduced the breakthrough curves observed during continuous-flow stirred tank reactor experiments conducted on two contrasted soils. Fitted parameters suggested contrasted conditions of cesium sorption between 1) equilibrium sites, with low affinity and high sorption capacity comparable to CEC and 2) non-equilibrium sites, with a fast sorption rate (half-time of 0.2-0.3 h), a slow desorption rate (half-time of 3-9 days) and a very low sorption capacity (0.02-0.04% of CEC). Comparison of EK sites densities with sorption capacities derived from the literature suggests that the EK equilibrium and kinetic sites might correspond to ion exchange and surface complexation of soil clay minerals respectively. This work stresses the limits of the K_d model to predict ¹³⁷Cs sorption in reactive transport conditions and supports an alternative non-equilibrium nonlinear approach.

Interactive effects of precipitation and above canopy nitrogen deposition on understorey vascular plants in a jack pine (Pinus banksiana) forest in northern Alberta, Canada

Elevated nitrogen (N) deposition in the bituminous sands region of northern Alberta, Canada is localized but expected to increase over time. Here we seek to determine the effects of above canopy N deposition on understorey vascular plants in a jack pine (Pinus banksiana) stand in a five-year experimental study. Aqueous N (ammonium nitrate) was applied four times annually (May through October) via helicopter above the canopy between 2011 and 2015 across a narrow but environmentally relevant N deposition gradient (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 kg N ha^-1 yr^-1). Changes in vascular plant species richness, diversity and total vascular cover were best explained by throughfall water flux, but the positive responses to precipitation decreased with increasing N application. Arctostaphylos uva-ursi and Maianthemum canadense showed positive cover increases in wet years; however, the positive cover expansion at ≥5 kg N ha^-1 yr^-1 treatments was suppressed relative to controls. Total cover expansion was muted in low precipitation years in treatments ≥10 kg N ha^-1 yr^-1. In contrast, Vaccinium vitis-idaea cover changes ≥10 kg N ha^-1 yr^-1 were consistently negative. There were no differences in soil net N mineralization rates, plant foliar N or NO₃^- leaching among treatments. We conjecture the extensive moss/lichen layer of the forest floor that accumulates most of incoming N in throughfall allows them to outcompete vascular plants for water during higher precipitation years, effectively reducing vascular cover expansion relative to controls. This work suggests the response of vascular plants in xeric jack pine ecosystems may interact with climate and these interactions should be considered in risk assessment studies.

Expressive voting versus information avoidance: experimental evidence in the context of climate change mitigation

We theoretically and experimentally investigate the effect of self-serving information avoidance on moral bias in democratic and individual decisions in the context of climate change mitigation. Subjects choose between two allocations that differ in payoffs and contributions to climate change mitigation. We vary the observability of the environmental contribution, as well as the decision context associated with different levels of pivotality. If the contribution is directly observable, we find evidence for lower pivotality leading to higher levels of "green" decisions, as predicted by the low-cost theory of voting. This effect disappears if subjects can avoid information on the contribution. Instead, we find evidence for the exploitation of moral wiggle room via information avoidance in larger democracies as well as in the consumption context. Our results indicate that information avoidance substitutes expressive voting as an instrument to manage cognitive dissonance on the part of the voter. Hence, moral biases in elections might be less likely than previously thought.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version of this article (10.1007/s11127-022-01016-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Mineralogy and fluid chemistry controls on lithium isotope fractionation during clay adsorption

Our current understanding of controls on δ⁷Li variability and fractionation mechanisms is limited, complicating the interpretation of chemical weathering. The role of clay adsorption in Li isotope fractionation during chemical weathering has been confirmed. However, clay assemblage and fluid chemistry are not simple and often variable in weathering settings, potentially modulating Li isotope fractionation on Earth's surface. Here, this research investigated the patterns and processes of Li isotope fractionation during adsorption on kaolinite and smectite with fluid chemistry of 0.001 M NaCl, 0.5 M NaCl, and 0.001 M Na₂HPO₄. Specifically, the time-dependent experiments with the reaction period up to 15 days revealed that the steady state can be achieved within one day under neutral conditions. The concentration-dependent (initial Li concentration of 2 to 1000 μM) experiments confirmed the accumulation of Li⁺ in smectite interlayers and adsorption of Li⁺ only at the external surfaces of kaolinite. Using 0.5 M NaCl solution and the desorption experiments, we hypothesize that outer-sphere Li may exist in the interlayer sites, which can be replaced by excess Na⁺. In comparison, inner-sphere Li⁺ (unexchangeable) potentially dominates at the edge surface of clays. The presence of Na₂HPO₄ increases the binding capacity for Li⁺ adsorption, in particular for kaolinite. In all cases, ⁶Li is enriched on clay surfaces and interlayer spaces, consistent with field observations. Fluid chemistry may affect the degree of clay Li adsorption but exerted negligible impacts on isotope fractionation. For kaolinite, a wide variation (up to 30 ‰) in isotopic fractionation between adsorbed and aqueous Li (Δ⁷Li_aq-ad) exists, conforming to a kinetic fractionation mechanism with a constant fractionation factor α_ad-aq of ~0.992. By contrast, the isotopic fractionation between Li adsorbed on smectite and Li⁺ left in solutions keeps constant (Δ⁷Li_aq-ad of ~5 ‰), likely following an equilibrium isotope fractionation law with an α_ad-aq of ~0.995.

The influence of partner appearance in the assessment of a person with obesity: an experimental study

PURPOSE

This study analyzes whether knowing that a male with obesity has a romantic relationship with a normal weight woman improves impressions about him.

METHODS

An online experiment was conducted with a sample of 3024 adult participants (1828 women and 1196 men) with a mean age of 36.11 (SD = 13.49). Each participant was shown two photographs: one of a male target with obesity and one of his female partner (who had either normal weight or obesity depending on the condition). The respondents' sex was added as a fixed factor into the analyses. Physical attractiveness was rated using an item with a scale ranging from 0 to 100. Competence, warmth, and morality were measured using a 17-item adjective list.

RESULTS

The target was assessed as more attractive when he had a partner with normal weight (F(1, 3009) = 4.85, p = .028, [Formula: see text] = .002), and was also given higher scores for competence (F(1, 3009) = 4.93, p = .026, [Formula: see text] = .002), warmth (F(1, 3009) = 4.32, p = .038, [Formula: see text] = .001), and morality (F(1, 3009) = 11.16, p = .001, [Formula: see text] = .004). There was a significant interaction between partner weight and the respondents' sex for physical attractiveness, as the difference between the scores in each condition was only significant for women.

CONCLUSION

It is possible that women perceived that the male target who had a normal weight partner had a higher status or some hidden quality besides his physical appearance, and thus rated him as more attractive.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level I, experimental study.

The Tangled Knots of Neuroscientific Experimentation

The experimental method has promoted the popularity of neuroscientific research on the human mind. In this interdisciplinary enterprise, the experimental method, with its roots in natural science and experimental psychology, is often uncritically accepted as the royal road to investigate the human mind not only by neuroscientists, but by many philosophers as well, especially those inclined to some form of naturalism. It is rarely disputed that experiments reveal actual states of nature (here: of mind and/or brain). Experimental results are used to picture the human person or subject as an illusionary construct resulting from neuronal interactions. The present paper sketches some of the limitations of neuroscientific experiments in order to demonstrate that cognitive neuroscience is far from relying on firm methodological grounds. Numerous issues still have to be solved, some of which date back to the early days of modern science. At least, to make experiments work, many theoretical presuppositions have to be accepted and decisions of relevance have to be made in the scientific process. This implies that all scientific endeavor is constituted by persons making free decisions for good reasons, despite all reductionist claims to the contrary. The fact that we as scientists have to distinguish relevant from irrelevant aspects of experimental procedures is also crucial for dealing with the current replicability crisis in the life sciences including neuroscience.

The design of experimental courses in safety culture

To promote the application of safety culture in experimental courses that educate safety engineering majors and help students understand the concept and meaning of safety culture more deeply, this paper designed 10 experimental courses in safety culture from the perspective of the definition of safety culture using literature co-occurrence analysis and certain review methods. First, according to the literature research and keyword analysis, the definitions of safety culture can currently be divided into three categories: "the embodiment of safety concepts"; "the synthesis of safety concepts and behaviors"; and "the comprehensive theory of safety culture". Then, based on the study of the definitions, 10 experimental courses were designed and the basis was listed. The final results include 10 safety culture experiments and the relationship between them. The purpose, significance, contents and steps of the 10 experiments are designed to help students better understand the meaning of safety culture and try to transform scientific research achievements of safety culture into teaching.

A Simple Question Goes a Long Way: A Wording Experiment on Bank Account Ownership

Ownership of a bank account is an objective measure and should be relatively easy to elicit via survey questions. Yet, depending on the interview mode, the wording of the question and its placement within the survey may influence respondents' answers. The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) asset module, as administered online to members of the Understanding America Study (UAS), yielded substantially lower rates of reported bank account ownership than either a single question on ownership in the Current Population Survey (CPS) or the full asset module administered to HRS panelists (both interviewer-administered surveys). We designed and implemented an experiment in the UAS comparing the original HRS question eliciting bank account ownership with two alternative versions that were progressively simplified. We document strong evidence that the original question leads to systematic underestimation of bank account ownership. In contrast, the proportion of bank account owners obtained from the simplest alternative version of the question is very similar to the population benchmark estimate. We investigate treatment effect heterogeneity by cognitive ability and financial literacy. We find that questionnaire simplification affects responses of individuals with higher cognitive ability substantially less than those with lower cognitive ability. Our results suggest that high-quality data from surveys start from asking the right questions, which should be as simple and precise as possible and carefully adapted to the mode of interview.

Evaluation of a method based on synthetic data inserted into raw data prior to reconstruction for the assessment of PET scanners

Background

Performance assessment of positron emission tomography (PET) scanners is crucial to guide clinical practice with efficiency. Even though clinical data are the final target, their use to characterize systems response is constrained by the lack of ground truth. Phantom tests overcome this limitation by controlling the object of study, but remain simple and are not representative of patient complexity. The objective of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of a simulation method using synthetic spheres inserted into acquired raw data prior to reconstruction, simulating multiple scenarios in comparison with equivalent physical experiments.

Methods

We defined our experimental framework using the National Electrical Manufacturers Association NU-2 2018 Image Quality standard, but replaced the standard sphere set with more appropriate sizes (4, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 13 mm) better suited to current PET scanner performance. Four experiments, with different spheres-to-background ratios (2:1, 4:1, 6:1 and 8:1), were performed. An additional dataset was acquired with a radioactive background but no activity within the spheres (water only) to establish a baseline. Then, we artificially simulated radioactive spheres to reproduce other experiments using synthetic data inserted into the original sinogram. Images were reconstructed following standard guidelines using ordered subset expectation maximization algorithm along with a Bayesian penalized likelihood algorithm. We first visually compared experimental and simulated images. Afterward, we measured the activity concentration values into the spheres to calculate the mean and maximum recovery coefficients (RC_mean and RC_max) which we used in a quantitative analysis.

Results

No significant visual differences were identified between experimental and simulated series. Mann–Whitney U tests comparing simulated and experimental distributions showed no statistical differences for both RC_mean (P value = 0.611) and RC_max (P value = 0.720). Spearman tests revealed high correlation for RC_mean (ρ = 0.974, P value < 0.001) and RC_max (ρ = 0.974, P value < 0.001) between both datasets. From Bland–Altman plots, we highlighted slight shifts in RC_mean and RC_max of, respectively, 2.1 ± 16.9% and 3.3 ± 22.3%.

Conclusions

We evaluated the efficiency of our hybrid method in faithfully mimicking practical situations producing satisfactory results compared to equivalent experimental data.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40658-022-00496-6.

Intermediate Levels of Predation and Nutrient Enrichment Enhance the Activity of Ibuprofen-Degrading Bacteria

Water is the most indispensable natural resource; yet, organic pollution of freshwater sources is widespread. In recent years, there has been increasing concern over the vast array of emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) in the effluent of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Several of these EOCs are degraded within the pore space of riverbeds by active microbial consortia. However, the mechanisms behind this ecosystem service are largely unknown. Here, we report how phosphate concentration and predator-prey interactions drive the capacity of bacteria to process a model EOC (ibuprofen). The presence of phosphate had a significant positive effect on the population growth rate of an ibuprofen-degrading strain. Thus, when phosphate was present, ibuprofen removal efficiency increased. Moreover, low and medium levels of predation, by a ciliated protozoan, stimulated bacterial population growth. This unimodal effect of predation was lost under high phosphate concentration, resulting in the flattening of the relationships between predator density and population growth of ibuprofen degraders. Our results suggest that moderate nutrient and predation levels promote the growth rate of bacterial degraders and, consequently, the self-purifying capability of the system. These findings enhance our understanding of the mechanisms by which riverbed communities drive the processing of EOCs.

When should researchers cite study differences in response to a failure to replicate?

Scientists often respond to failures to replicate by citing differences between the experimental components of an original study and those of its attempted replication. In this paper, we investigate these purported mismatch explanations. We assess a body of failures to replicate in neuroscience studies on spinal cord injury. We argue that a defensible mismatch explanation is one where (1) a mismatch of components is a difference maker for a mismatch of outcomes, and (2) the components are relevantly different in the follow-up study, given the scope of the original study. With this account, we argue that not all differences between studies are meaningful, even if they are difference makers. As our examples show, focusing only on these differences results in disregarding the representativeness of the original experiment's components and the scope of its outcomes, undercutting other epistemic aims, such as translation, in the process.

The COVID-19 pandemic behind bars: Experimental evidence showing higher support for decarceration when framed as risk to correctional staff

This study examined the effect of framing COVID-19 spread in correctional facilities as impacting imprisoned individuals or impacting correctional staff on public support for decarceration. I employed an experiment in the 2021 Empire State Poll (n = 765) in which participants were randomly assigned to a treatment condition, which highlighted information about the number of COVID-19 cases among imprisoned individuals, or a control condition, which highlighted correctional staff instead. Participants reported how supportive or unsupportive they are of releasing imprisoned individuals to curb the spread of COVID-19. Overall, 35% of New Yorkers supported decarceration. A higher percentage of respondents supported decarceration when the impact on correctional staff was highlighted (40%) relative to imprisoned individuals (31%). There was also higher support among non-Hispanic Black (54%) and Hispanic (51%) participants relative to non-Hispanic White (28%) participants. Within racial/ethnic groups support for decarceration was higher when the impact on correctional staff was highlighted among non-Hispanic Whites, Hispanics, and those of another race, but not among non-Hispanic Blacks where support for decarceration was higher when the impact on imprisoned individuals was highlighted. Inferential analysis using log binomial regression found that the association between treatment condition assignment and support for decarceration was not significant. Public health practitioners and policy makers should consider leveraging the higher support associated with concerns over the health and wellbeing of correction staff found among some racial/ethnic groups to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abnormalities in the default mode network in late-life depression: A study of resting-state fMRI

Background/Objective

Neuroimaging studies have reported abnormalities in the examination of functional connectivity in late-life depression (LLD) in the default mode network (DMN). The present study aims to study resting-state functional connectivity within the DMN in people diagnosed with late-life major depressive disorder (MDD) compared to healthy controls (HCs). Moreover, we would like to differentiate these same connectivity patterns between participants with high vs. low anxiety levels.

Method

The sample comprised 56 participants between the ages of 60 and 75; 27 of them were patients with a diagnosis of MDD. Patients were further divided into two samples according to anxiety level: the four people with the highest anxiety level and the five with the lowest anxiety level. Clinical aspects were measured using psychological questionnaires. Each participant underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) acquisition in different regions of interest (ROIs) of the DMN.

Results

There was a greater correlation between pairs of ROIs in the control group than in patients with LLD, being this effect preferentially observed in patients with higher anxiety levels.

Conclusions

There are differences in functional connectivity within the DMN depending on the level of psychopathology. This can be reflected in these correlations and in the number of clusters and how the brain lateralizes (clustering).

The pedagogical style of matters of study: experimenting with artistic-scientific interventions in times of corona lockdown

This paper is based on an online experiment, conducted with bachelor students of educational sciences during the COVID-19 lockdown period in the spring of 2020. The experiment, which took place on a daily basis for a whole workweek, consisted of a series of what we have come to call "artistic-scientific interventions". These constituted a pedagogical praxis in which over a longer period of time students are challenged to collect and 'think with' artistic media as alternative ways of experiencing, studying, and evaluating the corona crisis. Our paper describes the structure and proceedings of this experiment against the background of efforts to develop a new philosophical idea of what it means to do pedagogy. This idea, inspired by philosophers of science like Bruno Latour, contests some of the classical divides that run through the educational sciences, and that we believe pose a great threat to their relevance in current times of crisis: empirical/speculative, quantitative/qualitative, natural/social, facts/meaning, object/subject, etc. What our experiment shows, beyond all obsession with validating hypotheses or consistency of results, is that art, as an education of the senses, can afford science with a much needed platform for (re)creating and/or (re)arranging circumstances in which those problematic divides may be overcome. However, what it also shows is that often this only works when art is approached, not through the lens of predominantly respresentationalist aesthetics, but as a full-fledged part of a scientific (c.q. pedagogical) discipline. Especially in a diffuse digital environment, this entails a need for transindividual, impersonal protocols which allow for both repetition, variation, and feedback, and instil a strong sense of transformative gathering and study.

Can videos affect learning outcomes? Evidence from an actual learning environment

We examine the effect of an innovation in an educational context, a class of 500 + first-year economics students at a well-known Australian university. We study whether introducing content in the form of a multimedia presentation has a detectable effect on specific categories of student knowledge. The multimedia presentation has a narrator presenting concepts with images, words, and worked examples. Our key outcome measure is the probability of answering questions correctly on a mid-term test. A quasi-experimental design is followed to offer a causal interpretation of the results. We find that the multimedia presentation markedly increases students' academic outcomes on the test compared to those that did not view the presentation, especially in regards to procedural and evaluative knowledge. An additional survey reveals gains in students' metacognitive knowledge. These findings suggest that multimedia presentations contribute to improved student learning outcomes and offer valuable options at a time of increased online course delivery. The findings also highlight the relevance of investing in education and resources to develop the necessary design skills among academics and staff.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version of this article contains supplementary material available 10.1007/s11423-022-10147-3.