Implicit and explicit gender identification in autistic and nonautistic gender clinic-referred youth, and their caregivers

Gender diversity in autistic youth is sometimes assumed to stem from autism, leading to questions about the authenticity of their gender diverse feelings and experiences. If this were the case, different patterns of gender identity presentation would be expected between autistic and nonautistic gender diverse youth. This hypothesis was examined across two studies. In Study 1, we used an explicit measure together with an Implicit Association Test, for the first time, to examine gender identity in autistic and nonautistic gender-referred and cisgender youth, aged 7–16 years. Gender-referred participants, regardless of autism status, implicitly identified with the binary sex opposite to that assigned at birth and explicitly identified with their experienced gender to a similar degree as their cisgender peers. Autistic cisgender youth also demonstrated implicit and explicit gender identities comparable in strength to their nonautistic peers. In Study 2, we used similar measures to assess gender identification in caregivers. Caregivers of gender-referred youth, regardless of autism status, reported weaker explicit gender-group identification, while implicit identification remained unaffected. Overall, the findings challenge the idea that gender diversity in autism is qualitatively distinct and have important clinical implications for improving support pathways for autistic gender diverse youth

Differences in motivational dynamics between experienced cyclists and untrained participants during an incremental endurance exercise task

Purpose: The conflict between the desire to reduce effort during exercise and the performance goal of the exercise task contributes to explaining endurance exercise performance. However, whether the trajectories of these two motivational responses systematically differ across individuals with different characteristics is poorly understood. The present study examined whether changes in desire to reduce effort and performance goal value across moderate, heavy, and severe exercise intensity domains differed between cyclists and untrained, but active participants. Methods: Fifty participants (14 cyclists and 36 untrained) completed an incremental step test on acycle ergometer, in which work rate was increased by 25 W every 4 min until voluntary exhaustion. Desire to reduce effort, performance goal value, and blood lactate concentration (for determination of exercise intensity domains) were measured every 4 min and the data were analysed using multilevel modelling. Results: Desire to reduce effort increased quicker for untrained participants in the moderate exercise intensity domain (b = 1.66, p < .001) and across the whole trial (b = 1.64, p < .001), compared to cyclists (b = .69, and b = 1.14, respectively, both p < .001). Untrained participants reported similar performance goal value at the beginning of the trial (b = 16.02, p < .001), compared to cyclists (b = 17.25, p < .001). Beyond moderate intensities, the performance goal value decreased significantly for the untrained participants (b = − .70, p < .001) but significantly increased for cyclists (b = .45, p = .01). This pattern was also observed when focusing solely on the severe intensity domain (cyclists: b = .90, p < .001; untrained: b = − .84, p < .001). Conclusion: There are distinct differences in the desire to reduce effort and performance goal value between cyclists and untrained athletes. Identifying these systematic differences enhances the credibility of the desire-goal conflict framework in explaining endurance performance and provides insight into the type and timing of interventions that might be successful in improving performance

Review of Global Ayahuasca: Wondrous Visions and Modern, Stanford University Press (Gearin, Alex)

Global Ayahuasca: Wondrous Visions and Modern Worlds is a much-welcomed analysis and synthesis of diverse ways that ayahuasca is experienced in three distinct corners of the world. It is a much needed addition to the ayahuasca and psychedelic literature. Gearin builds upon existing work that documents how the use of ayahuasca is not exclusive to its endemic Amazonia plant origins as both the plants and new rituals have since been naturalized elsewhere. The book blends academic rigor with an engaging self-reflexive style that offers insights into the lived experience of his field sites. He applaudingly steers away from the edge of sensationalism and universalism of psychedelic research as well as from the exceeding abundance of sloppy material published on the internet for the general public. He achieves this by blending ethnographic description with academic research in exploring the diverse ways in which the cultural shaping of wonder is central for ayahuasca participants and practitioners. While the contexts and rituals vary, they all seek to connect with the divine, heal the body/soul, and gain wisdom while blending indigenous traditions with global spiritual currents

Club representation in the national team: Effects on identity fusion and intra-vs intergroup attitudes

Identity fusion describes a psychological state in which personal and social identities are deeply aligned, fostering strong bonds with a group and influencing attitudes and behaviors, including in international contexts. However, how fusion to local (relational) and national (extended) groups interacts remains less understood. We investigated this among Turkish soccer fans (N = 379) using an experimental design to test whether local club representation in the national team influences national team fusion and behavioral intentions toward other fans. Fans viewed lineups for an upcoming international match that included either more of their local club's players or their rival's. Participants who saw a lineup dominated by rival players were less fused with the national team. Fusion with the national team was a key predictor of prosocial intentions toward the ingroup (fellow Türkiye fans). Mediation analysis showed that overrepresentation of rival players indirectly reduced ingroup prosociality via national team fusion. Hostility toward the outgroup was significantly associated with fusion to the local team, but not with fusion to the national team, nor with club representation

Evaluation of carbon based interconnects for digital signalling in printed flexible electronics on sustainable substrates

Printed electronics using flexible substrates are an emerging area, allowing next-generation electronics to conform and flex with different surfaces, from human skin to clothing. In the hybrid integration, or sea-of-rigids, approach, conventional microchips are mounted onto (generally) plastic substrates such as polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), with (typically) printed silver tracks for interconnections between components. An ongoing research direction is to replace plastic substrates with biodegrad able substrates and to replace silver tracks with non-heavy metal-based tracks. While the substrates and tracks form only part of an overall system, replacing them is a step towards increased sustainability and helps to meet net-zero goals for printed electronic systems. Previously, several papers have inves tigated printed carbon tracks for low-frequency analog sensing applications. This paper explores the feasibility of using printed carbon tracks on biodegradable substrates for high-frequency applications such as digital signaling over a Serial-Peripheral Interface (SPI). We investigate the printability, thermal stability, and electrical conductivity of carbon ink screen-printed onto six commercially available sustainable and flexible substrates. Our results demonstrate that multi-layer screen printing substantially reduced the electrical resistance of carbon tracks, enabling SPI communication at frequencies up to 16 MHz with three layers of carbon ink. A Natureflex™ substrate provided the best balance of printability, thermal stability, and electrical performance. Substrates such as greaseproof paper and ClearFilm PU showed potential for flexible electronics, but require further optimiza tion. This study provides valuable insights into selecting and optimizing biodegradable substrates for high-frequency digital systems, supporting the move towards more sustainable printed electronics

Realistic object reconstruction under different depths through light field imaging for virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) immerses users in digital environments and is used in various applications. VR content is created using either computer-generated or conventional imaging. However, conventional imaging captures only 2D spatial information, which limits the realism of VR content. Advanced technologies like light field (LF) imaging can overcome this limitation by capturing both 2D spatial and 2D angular information in 4D LF images. This paper proposes a depth reconstruction model through LF imaging to aid in creating realistic VR content. Comprehensive calibrations are performed, including adjustments for camera parameters, depth calibration, and field of view (FOV) estimation. Aberration corrections, like distortion and vignetting effect correction, are conducted to enhance the quality of the reconstruction. To achieve realistic scene reconstruction, experiments were conducted by setting up a scenario with multiple objects positioned at three different depths. Quality assessments were carried out to evaluate the reconstruction quality across these varying depths. The results demonstrate that depth reconstruction quality improves with the proposed method. It also indicates that the model reduces LF image size and processing time. The depth images reconstructed by the proposed model have the potential to generate realistic VR content and can also facilitate the integration of refocusing capabilities within VR environments

Ruthenium-catalyzed C─H alkenylation of trypanocidal naphthoquinones: a mechanistic benchmarking study

Quinones are privileged scaffolds in biological redox chemistry and drug discovery, but methods to install versatile click handles onto their cores remain scarce. This work presents a comprehensive computational study of the Ru(II)‐catalyzed C H alkenylation of menadione with ethenesulfonyl fluoride, a transformation that introduces sulfonyl‐fluoride groups for subsequent SuFEx chemistry. Nine density functionals—from GGAs to double hybrids—are first benchmarked against DLPNO‐CCSD(T) reference energies for all key on‐cycle intermediates and transition states along the cationic [Ru(OAc)(p‐cymene)]+ pathway. Among them, ωB2PLYP best matches the coupled‐cluster reference and is the only method to achieve root‐mean‐square deviations of ≈1 kcal mol−1. Given that the computed on‐cycle barriers are modest, the results indirectly support that the overall rate is dictated by off‐cycle formation of the active cationic species via ligand exchange/speciation. Within the catalytic cycle, C H activation presents the highest global barrier, although migratory insertion can display a higher local barrier (relative to its immediate precursor) for specific ring substitutions. Finally, it is shown that the r2SCAN‐3c composite method offers a computationally efficient route for probing analogous catalytic cycles. These results deliver a robust protocol for designing naphthoquinone derivatives as next‐generation therapeutic agents against Trypanosoma cruzi and related parasites

Ideology and creativity: poststructuralism, abundant difference, and plastic production

The central problem that I address in my thesis is how to define the relationship between ideology and creativity without either reducing them to an opposition or making one subordinate to the other. In the revival of ideology studies, ideology is either conceptualised as the limit to creativity, or creativity is merely a tool of ideology. What is missing is an examination of the paradoxical relationship between ideology and creativity. Creativity is used to critique ideology, ideology is used to dampen creativity, to be creative is to be ideological, and ideologies are creative. To explain this paradoxical relationship, I centre my analysis on the rejection of the concept of ideology by Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze. The pair are critical of the concept of ideology because it is premised on a will to truth and a distortion of meaning. I identify three strands of contemporary political theory that reject Foucault and Deleuze’s claims about ideology: the ontological, praxis, and poststructuralist critiques of ideology. These critiques concur with Foucault and Deleuze that ideology cannot simply be the distortion of true meaning. Instead, they conceptualise ideology as that which produces incomplete meaning. However, these critiques are flawed as they still rely on the argument that ideology distorts meaning. I thus go on to develop a new concept of ideology that does not conceptualise ideology as the distortion of meaning or, consequently, rely on a will to truth. I argue that the ideological produces meaning, where differences are organised in such a way that they are understood as non-different. This is necessarily creative, as ideological production is a novel transformation of meaning. By reading Foucault and Deleuze together with Catherine Malabou’s concept of plasticity, I theorise production as comprised of the relationship between the forces of power, desire, the ideological, and creativity. The plastic relationship between positive ideological and creative forces produces meaning. I subsequently theorise ideological production as a site of normative critique grounded in the contingency of meaning. Thus, I utilise the ideology-creativity paradox to conceptualise ideology as a tool to critically evaluate politics without relying on a will to truth or a distortion of meaning

High-Selectivity Compact Wideband Transversal Filtering Inverted-F Antennas for Out-of-Band Decoupling in Terminal Applications

This paper introduces a novel wideband transversal filtering inverted-F antenna structure without using any extra feeding network. The proposed antenna structure can produce true efficiency zeros (EZ) at both sides of the operating band across the beamwidth, not restricted to the boresight. The filtering antenna comprises three coupled radiators. The driven inverted-F radiating element is directly excited from the port, while the other two parasitic radiators are excited through electromagnetic coupling with the driven radiator. By controlling the resonant frequencies and the coupling relationships, a transversal filtering antenna (TFA) with a 3rd-order filtering response is realized with all quarter-wavelength radiators. The antenna exhibits an EZ on each side of its passband, significantly enhancing its selectivity and thereby enabling the suppression of interference from out-of-band signals. The design method of the proposed filtering antenna is presented. Some design guidelines are provided. Without increasing the antenna footprint, the techniques introduced in this work are not only helpful for improving selectivity but also very useful for bandwidth enhancement of conventional unbalanced antennas. To validate this technology, an antenna for the 5G new-radio (NR) frequency band is designed, fabricated, and measured. The experimental results align very well with the simulations. To evaluate the out-of-band interference suppression, a dual-antenna system was constructed and tested, with one antenna operating at the NR band (3.3-5 GHz, 42%) and the other at the WiFi band (5.15-7.125 GHz, 32%). Test results demonstrate excellent out-of-band decoupling up to 20 dB within the near stopband, showing promises for space-limited terminal applications

Pricing VXX options with observable volatility dynamics from high-frequency VIX index

This paper develops a discrete-time joint analytical framework for pricing volatility index (VIX) and VXX options consistently. We show that our framework is more flexible than continuous-time VXX models as it allows the information contained in the high-frequency VIX index to be incorporated for the joint pricing of VIX and VXX options, and the joint pricing formula is derived. Our empirical analysis shows that the model that utilizes the realized variance (RV) computed from the high-frequency VIX index data significantly outperforms the model that does not rely on the VIX RV in the joint pricing both in-sample and out-of-sample, reinforcing the beliefs that high-frequency data are informative about the derivatives pricing