The development of human social learning across seven societies

D.B.M.H., E.C., M.S., S.S. and E.J.C.v.L. were supported by the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science. E.J.C.v.L. was furthermore supported in part by the ERC (grant agreement no. 609819, project SOMICS) and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO).Social information use is a pivotal characteristic of the human species. Avoiding the cost of individual exploration, social learning confers substantial fitness benefits under a wide variety of environmental conditions, especially when the process is governed by biases toward relative superiority (e.g., experts, the majority). Here, we examine the development of social information use in children aged 4–14 years (n = 605) across seven societies in a standardised social learning task. We measured two key aspects of social information use: general reliance on social information and majority preference. We show that the extent to which children rely on social information depends on children’s cultural background. The extent of children’s majority preference also varies cross-culturally, but in contrast to social information use, the ontogeny of majority preference follows a U-shaped trajectory across all societies. Our results demonstrate both cultural continuity and diversity in the realm of human social learning.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Interaction Design, user experience & Urban Creativity scientific journal : how can cities become better human habitat?

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Conceptualising and Understanding Artistic Creativity in the Dementias: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research and Practise

Creativity research has a substantial history in psychology and related disciplines; one component of this research tradition has specifically examined artistic creativity. Creativity theories have tended to concentrate, however, on creativity as an individual phenomenon that results in a novel production, and on cognitive aspects of creativity, often limiting its applicability to people with cognitive impairments, including those with a dementia. Despite growing indications that creativity is important for the wellbeing of people living with dementias, it is less well understood how creativity might be conceptualised, measured and recognised in this population, and how this understanding could influence research and practise. This paper begins by exploring prevailing concepts of creativity and assesses their relevance to dementia, followed by a critique of creativity and dementia research related to the arts. Perspectives from researchers, artists, formal and informal caregivers and those with a dementia are addressed. We then introduce several novel psychological and physiological approaches to better understand artistic-related creativity in this population and conclude with a conceptualisation of artistic creativity in the dementias to help guide future research and practise

Effects of confinement and surface enhancement on superconductivity

Within the Ginzburg-Landau approach a theoretical study is performed of the effects of confinement on the transition to superconductivity for type-I and type-II materials with surface enhancement. The superconducting order parameter is characterized by a negative surface extrapolation length $b$. This leads to an increase of the critical field $H_{c3}$ and to a surface critical temperature in zero field, $T_{cs}$, which exceeds the bulk $T_c$. When the sample is {\em mesoscopic} of linear size $L$ the surface induces superconductivity in the interior for $T T_{cs}$. In analogy with adsorbed fluids, superconductivity in thin films of type-I materials is akin to {\em capillary condensation} and competes with the interface delocalization or "wetting" transition. The finite-size scaling properties of capillary condensation in superconductors are scrutinized in the limit that the ratio of magnetic penetration depth to superconducting coherence length, $\kappa \equiv \lambda/\xi$, goes to zero, using analytic calculations. While standard finite-size scaling holds for the transition in non-zero magnetic field $H$, an anomalous critical-point shift is found for H=0. The increase of $T_c$ for H=0 is calculated for mesoscopic films, cylindrical wires, and spherical grains of type-I and type-II materials. Surface curvature is shown to induce a significant increase of $T_c$, characterized by a shift $T_c(R)-T_c(\infty)$ inversely proportional to the radius $R$.Comment: 37 pages, 5 figures, accepted for PR

The COVID-19 System Shock Framework: Capturing Health System Innovation During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in over 2 million deaths globally. The experience in Australia presents an opportunity to study contrasting responses to the COVID-19 health system shock. We adapted the Hanefeld et al framework for health systems shocks to create the COVID-19 System Shock Framework (CSSF). This framework enabled us to assess innovations and changes created through COVID-19 at the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network (SCHN), the largest provider of children's health services in the Southern hemisphere. METHODS: We used ethnographic methods, guided by the CSSF, to map innovations and initiatives implemented across SCHN during the pandemic. An embedded field researcher shadowed members of the emergency operations centre (EOC) for nine months. We also reviewed clinic and policy documents pertinent to SCHN's response to COVID-19 and conducted interviews and focus groups with stakeholders, including clinical directors, project managers, frontline clinicians, and other personnel involved in implementing innovations across SCHN. RESULTS: The CSSF captured SCHN's complex response to the pandemic. Responses included a COVID-19 assessment clinic, inpatient and infectious disease management services, redeploying and managing a workforce working from home, cohesive communication initiatives, and remote delivery of care, all enabled by a dedicated COVID-19 fund. The health system values that shaped SCHN's response to the pandemic included principles of equity of healthcare delivery, holistic and integrated models of care, and supporting workforce wellbeing. SCHN's resilience was enabled by innovation fostered through a non-hierarchical governance structure and responsiveness to emerging challenges balanced with a singular vision. CONCLUSION: Using the CSSF, we found that SCHN's ability to innovate was key to ensuring its resilience during the pandemic

A mass-loss rate determination for zeta Puppis from the quantitative analysis of X-ray emission line profiles

We fit every emission line in the high-resolution Chandra grating spectrum of zeta Pup with an empirical line profile model that accounts for the effects of Doppler broadening and attenuation by the bulk wind. For each of sixteen lines or line complexes that can be reliably measured, we determine a best-fitting fiducial optical depth, tau_* = kappa*Mdot/4{pi}R_{\ast}v_{\infty}, and place confidence limits on this parameter. These sixteen lines include seven that have not previously been reported on in the literature. The extended wavelength range of these lines allows us to infer, for the first time, a clear increase in tau_* with line wavelength, as expected from the wavelength increase of bound-free absorption opacity. The small overall values of tau_*, reflected in the rather modest asymmetry in the line profiles, can moreover all be fit simultaneously by simply assuming a moderate mass-loss rate of 3.5 \pm 0.3 \times 10^{-6} Msun/yr, without any need to invoke porosity effects in the wind. The quoted uncertainty is statistical, but the largest source of uncertainty in the derived mass-loss rate is due to the uncertainty in the elemental abundances of zeta Pup, which affects the continuum opacity of the wind, and which we estimate to be a factor of two. Even so, the mass-loss rate we find is significantly below the most recent smooth-wind H-alpha mass-loss rate determinations for zeta Pup, but is in line with newer determinations that account for small-scale wind clumping. If zeta Pup is representative of other massive stars, these results will have important implications for stellar and galactic evolution.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 17 pages, including 14 figures (7 color

A modular approach toward producing nanotherapeutics targeting the innate immune system.

Immunotherapies controlling the adaptive immune system are firmly established, but regulating the innate immune system remains much less explored. The intrinsic interactions between nanoparticles and phagocytic myeloid cells make these materials especially suited for engaging the innate immune system. However, developing nanotherapeutics is an elaborate process. Here, we demonstrate a modular approach that facilitates efficiently incorporating a broad variety of drugs in a nanobiologic platform. Using a microfluidic formulation strategy, we produced apolipoprotein A1-based nanobiologics with favorable innate immune system-engaging properties as evaluated by in vivo screening. Subsequently, rapamycin and three small-molecule inhibitors were derivatized with lipophilic promoieties, ensuring their seamless incorporation and efficient retention in nanobiologics. A short regimen of intravenously administered rapamycin-loaded nanobiologics (mTORi-NBs) significantly prolonged allograft survival in a heart transplantation mouse model. Last, we studied mTORi-NB biodistribution in nonhuman primates by PET/MR imaging and evaluated its safety, paving the way for clinical translation.This work was supported by NIH grants R01 CA220234, R01 HL144072, P01 HL131478, and NWO/ZonMW Vici 91818622 (to W.J.M.M.); R01 HL143814 and P01HL131478 (to Z.A.F.); R01 AI139623 (to J.O.); and P30 CA008748 (to T.R.). M.M.T.v.L. was supported by the American Heart Association (grant 19PRE34380423). M.G.N. was supported by a Spinoza grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and an ERC Advanced Grant (no. 833247); L.A.B.J. was supported by a Competitiveness Operational Programme grant of the Romanian Ministry of European Funds (P_37_762, MySMIS 103587).S