Young Children\u27s Understanding of Helping as Increasing Another Agent\u27s Utility

Instrumental helping is one of the paradigmatic prosocial behaviors featured in developmental research on sociomoral reasoning, but not much is known about how children recognize instances of helping behaviors or understand the term \u27help\u27. Here, we examined whether young children represent helping as a second-order goal and take it to mean increasing the utility of another agent. In Study 1, we tested whether 12-month-old infants would expect an agent who previously helped to perform an action that reduced the Helpee\u27s action cost. We found that while infants expected agents to act individually efficiently (Experiment 1C), they did not expect the agent to choose the action that maximally reduced the Helpee\u27s cost compared to an action that reduced the cost less (Experiment 1A) or not at all (Experiment 1B). In Study 2, we examined whether three-year-old preschoolers (1) maximize a Helpee\u27s cost reduction when prompted to help in a first-person task, and (2) identify in a third-party context which of two agents, performing superficially similar behaviors with varying effects on the Helpee\u27s action options, actually helped. Contrary to our predictions, preschoolers did not help in a way that maximally reduced the Helpee\u27s cost in (1). In (2), however, they indicated that the agent who reduced the Helpee\u27s action cost was the one who helped. Taken together, these results support the proposal that, at least by preschool age, children possess a second-order utility-based concept of helping, but that they may not exhibit efficiency when choosing their own helping actions

Factors associated with link workers considering leaving their role: a cross-sectional survey

Background Social prescribing (SP) link workers (LWs) listen to patients’ concerns and difficulties, and connect them to relevant community assets (groups/organisations/charities) that can help with their non-medical issues (eg, loneliness, debt, housing). LW retention is key to sustaining SP within primary care.Aim To examine occupational self-efficacy, job discrepancy and other factors as potential predictors of LWs’ intentions to leave or remain in their post.Design & setting Cross-sectional survey involving LWs from the United Kingdom.Method An online questionnaire was distributed via SP-related organisations. Questions were on: a) intention to leave the role, b) demographics, and c) role experience, including occupational self-efficacy and discrepancy between expectations and reality of the job. Questions were mainly closed, although some allowed LWs to provide a written response. Logistic regression models were fitted to identify predictors, and content analysis used to categorise open ended responses.Results 342 questionnaire responses were included in the analysis. Higher job discrepancy was associated with past (odds ratio [OR] per 30 unit increase=6.86; 95% CI: 3.91 to 12.0; P=0.003) and future (OR=4.86; 95% CI: 2.70 to 8.72; P\u3c0.001) intentions to leave, whilst lower occupational self-efficacy was associated only with past intentions to leave (OR per 10 unit decrease=1.91; 95% CI: 1.24 to 2.93; P=0.003).Conclusion Findings highlight factors influencing LW retention, offering a foundation for targeted interventions, which could include clearer communication about the role during recruitment, and adjusting job descriptions and support when required

Exploring the challenges experienced by patients and families using palliative and end-of-life care services: A qualitative focus group study

ObjectivesIn the UK, access to dignified and compassionate palliative care is increasingly being reported as inadequate. This is a particular issue in South-West England, where there is an ageing population, historical lack of research, and particular challenges due to its rural and coastal location. The aim of this study was to provide a holistic view of patient and family experiences of care toward the end-of-life in this location and to collaboratively identify the challenges they face.MethodsSix qualitative focus groups were held with people who were toward the end of their life, family/carers, and people who were bereaved. Participants were recruited via hospice networks. Most focus groups were face-to-face, and all were facilitated by two researchers.ResultsA range of challenges were identified at different stages of the patient and family carer journey near the end-of-life. These included issues related to the delivery of care, such as communication challenges, a lack of out of hours care, and also a lack of personalized care. Patients and families also experienced everyday challenges due to the impact of living with a life-shortening condition and altered family dynamics as family members became carers. There were also some traumatic experiences of death and a sense of abandonment when care could not be accessed.Significance of resultsThis study provides a core first step in developing partnership working with members of the public, which can be built upon to develop future research agendas. This work has identified areas for improvement, so that ultimately, end-of-life experience for the individual, their carers, and families can be improved

Sulfur cycling in the gabbroic section of the Oman ophiolite

We present sulfur mineralogy and isotope geochemistry from the gabbro transect of the Oman Drilling Project to unravel the sulfur cycle during hydrothermal alteration of the plutonic oceanic crust. The sheeted dike–gabbro transition (Hole GT3A) shows low sulfide‑sulfur concentrations (GT3Amedian = 178 ppm, σ = 4873 ppm) but with great sulfur isotope variability (δ34S = −12.8 to 14.4 ‰ V-CDT, weighted average + 5.8 ‰) and unusually heavy compositions relative to in-situ or ophiolitic crust. These features are consistent with abiogenic thermochemical sulfate reduction during intense hydrothermal alteration under greenschist facies conditions which formed a low-variance and relatively high-fS2 assemblage of pyrite ± chalcopyrite ± bornite. The heaviest isotope compositions (+10 to +14 ‰) occur within 10 m of the uppermost gabbro screen suggesting focused fluid-rock exchange with isotope enrichment relative to seawater due to closed-system reservoir effects. The change in isotope compositions from +5 to 0 ‰ in the overlying sheeted dike reflect fluids gradually buffered by magmatic sulfur to signatures similar to the Oman Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide deposits. Hole GT3A represents a deep hydrothermal reaction zone with extensive S and base metal losses and incorporation of up to ∼80 % seawater-derived sulfate. The amount of Cu and Zn released in a 1 km3 crustal section similar to Hole GT3A is ∼3 times greater than the average contents of Omani VMS deposits. The mid to lower crustal section (Holes GT2A and GT1A) mostly preserves MORB sulfur isotope compositions but highly variable sulfide‑sulfur contents (GT2Amedian = 454, σ = 693 ppm, GT1Amedian = 114, σ = 277 ppm). Away from fault zones, silicate microvein networks enabled variable sulfide and metal remobilization. Magmatic sulfides persist as remobilized remnants along with sulfidation reactions and mild isotopic enrichments (\u3c+2.7 ‰) in secondary sulfides (millerite + siegenite-polydimitess + pyrite). The mid-lower crustal section experienced redistribution of magmatic sulfur mixed with minor inputs of seawater-derived sulfur (\u3c10 %), under very low fluid/rock ratios and moderate sulfur fugacities, that chiefly preserved base metal abundances in secondary sulfides. The many faulted intervals present in Holes GT1A and GT2A record near complete sulfur and metal leaching of magmatic sulfides without the deposition of secondary sulfides, but preserve sulfate with a Cretaceous seawater sulfate‑sulfur isotope signature (+16.1 to +17.3 ‰). These structures are the expression of crustal scale channeled hydrothermal recharge fluid flow and record a previously unaccounted sulfur budget introduced in the deep crust

Microneedle electrodes: materials, fabrication methods, and electrophysiological signal monitoring‑narrative review

Flexible, microneedle-based electrodes offer an innovative solution for high-quality physiological signal monitoring, reducing the need for complex algorithms and hardware, thus streamlining health assessments, and enabling earlier disease detection. These electrodes are particularly promising for improving patient outcomes by providing more accurate, reliable, and long-term electrophysiological data, but their clinical adoption is hindered by the limited availability of large-scale population testing. This review examines the key advantages of flexible microneedle electrodes, including their ability to conform to the skin, enhance skin-electrode contact, reduce discomfort, and deliver superior signal fidelity. The mechanical and electri-cal properties of these electrodes are thoroughly explored, focusing on critical aspects like fracture force, skin penetration efficiency, and impedance measurements. Their applications in capturing electrophysiological signals such as ECG, EMG, and EEG are also highlighted, demonstrating their potential in clinical scenarios. Finally, the review outlines future research directions, emphasizing the importance of further studies to enhance the clinical and consumer use of flexible microneedle electrodes in medical diagnostics

Dinah Between Rape and Seduction: Maarten van Heemskerck and Renaissance Attitudes Towards Gender and Conflict

Marteen van Heemskerck’s Old Testament print series about Dinah, daughter of Jacob, was engraved by Herman Jansz. Muller and published by Gerard de Jode in Antwerp in 1569. In these images Heemskerck reinterprets the Old Testament narrative from a highly misogynistic standpoint, disputing the biblical claim that Shechem raped Dinah. The paper traces the sporadic representations of the episode in print and painting and examines visual strategies that emphasize male vulnerability over the suffering the female victim. Heemskerck’s artistic choices are evaluated in the context of exegetical differences between Martin Luther and John Calvin

Robust inference for the unification of confidence intervals in meta-analysis

Traditional meta-analysis assumes that the effect sizes estimated in individual studies follow a Gaussian distribution. However, this distributional assumption is not always satisfied in practice, leading to potentially biased results. In the situation when the number of studies, denoted as K, is large, the cumulative Gaussian approximation errors from each study could make the final estimation unreliable. In the situation when K is small, it is not realistic to assume the random effect follows Gaussian distribution. In this paper, we present a novel empirical likelihood method for combining confidence intervals under the meta-analysis framework. This method is free of the Gaussian assumption in effect size estimates from individual studies and from the random effects. We establish the large sample properties of the nonparametric estimator and introduce a criterion governing the relationship between the number of studies, K, and the sample size of each study, (Formula presented.). Our methodology supersedes conventional meta-analysis techniques in both theoretical robustness and computational efficiency. We assess the performance of our proposed methods using simulation studies and apply our proposed methods to two examples

Pair creation, backreaction, and resummation in strong fields

We revisit particle creation in strong fields, and backreaction on those fields, from an amplitudes perspective. We describe the strong field by an initial coherent state of photons which we explicitly evolve in time, thus going beyond the background-field approximation, and then consider observables which quantify the effects of backreaction. We present expressions for the waveform, vacuum persistence probability, and number of produced photons at next-to-leading order, all of which are impacted by backreaction, along with the number and statistics of produced pairs. We find that converting between in-out (amplitude) and in-in (expectation value) expressions requires explicit resummation of an infinite number of disconnected loop diagrams

Intervention strategies to prevent mental health problems and improve resilience in employed parents from conception until the child is 5 years of age: a scoping review

Aim: To understand the extent and type of evidence in relation to the effectiveness of intervention strategies targeting working pregnant women, and their partners, for the prevention of mental health problems (depression, anxiety) and improving resilience, from conception until the child is 5 years of age. Methods: A scoping review was conducted searching Pubmed (including Medline), Embase, Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus. Inclusion criteria were based on population (employed parents), context (from -9 months to 5 years postpartum) and concept (mental health problems, resilience and prevention/ preventative interventions). Results: Of the 17,699 papers screened, 3 full text papers were included. Studies focused on intervention strategies for working parents which showed a relationship with a reduction in mental health problems (depression and/or anxiety). The intervention strategies extracted from the literature referred to ‘social support’. Social support provided by both the social and the work environment correlated with prenatal stress and depressive symptoms in the postpartum period, and supports a healthy work-family balance. Conclusion: Social support seems to have a positive association with the reduction of mental health problems. However, there are still important gaps in the literature such as a lack of RCT designs to test effectiveness of interventions and systematic reviews. Findings from this study may provide a roadmap for future research to close these gaps in knowledge

Advancing generative AI for music with photonics

This paper presents PhotoSing, a system that learns to generate polyphonic tunes by extracting sequencing rules from given examples. We developed a method to encode given pieces of music in terms of unique musical events, referred to as UMEs, and stochastic rules for sequencing them. Those rules are subsequently converted into representations to be processed by a photonic computer to generate new compositions. This research builds upon a previous system, QuSing, which generated monophonic tunes with superconducting quantum computing. The paper discusses the pitfalls of the previous system, the research and the solutions developed to improve them. It details the system with demonstrative musical examples and analyses