Implicit Bias Reflects the Personal and the Social

This issue’s target article by Payne, Vuletich, and Lundberg (PV&L) does exactly what one should, presenting an argument that is thought-provoking and that challenges current orthodoxy. It also addresses an issue that has increasingly confounded attitudes researchers in recent years. The construct of “implicit bias” was initially conceptualized as a latent construct that exists within persons, relatively resistant to situational influences. A plethora of theoretical models converge on the notion that implicit biases, including intergroup biases, are representations that are stored in memory (e.g., Devine,1989; Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, & Williams, 1995; Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006; Greenwald et al., 2002; Wilson, Lindsay, & Schooler, 2000). Although some perspectives emphasize the role of culture in contributing to implicit measures of bias, even these perspectives rely on the learning and storage of mental representations (Olson & Fazio, 2004)

Compressibility of titanosilicate melts

The effect of composition on the relaxed adiabatic bulk modulus (K0) of a range of alkali- and alkaline earth-titanosilicate [X 2 n/n+ TiSiO5 (X=Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Ca, Sr, Ba)] melts has been investigated. The relaxed bulk moduli of these melts have been measured using ultrasonic interferometric methods at frequencies of 3, 5 and 7 MHz in the temperature range of 950 to 1600°C (0.02 Pa s < s < 5 Pa s). The bulk moduli of these melts decrease with increasing cation size from Li to Cs and Ca to Ba, and with increasing temperature. The bulk moduli of the Li-, Na-, Ca- and Ba-bearing metasilicate melts decrease with the addition of both TiO2 and SiO2 whereas those of the K-, Rb- and Cs-bearing melts increase. Linear fits to the bulk modulus versus volume fraction of TiO2 do not converge to a common compressibility of the TiO2 component, indicating that the structural role of TiO2 in these melts is dependent on the identity of the cation. This proposition is supported by a number of other property data for these and related melt compositions including heat capacity and density, as well as structural inferences from X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XANES). The compositional dependence of the compressibility of the TiO2 component in these melts explains the difficulty incurred in previous attempts to incorporate TiO2 in calculation schemes for melt compressibility. The empirical relationship KV-4/3 for isostructural materials has been used to evaluate the compressibility-related structural changes occurring in these melts. The alkali metasilicate and disilicate melts are isostructural, independent of the cation. The addition of Ti to the metasilicate composition (i.e. X2TiSiO5), however, results in a series of melts which are not isostructural. The alkaline-earth metasilicate and disilicate compositions are not isostructural, but the addition of Ti to the metasilicate compositions (i.e. XTiSiO5) would appear, on the basis of modulus-volume systematics, to result in the melts becoming isostructural with respect to compressibility

ALONE: A Dataset for Toxic Behavior among Adolescents on Twitter

The convenience of social media has also enabled its misuse, potentially resulting in toxic behavior. Nearly 66% of internet users have observed online harassment, and 41% claim personal experience, with 18% facing severe forms of online harassment. This toxic communication has a significant impact on the well-being of young individuals, affecting mental health and, in some cases, resulting in suicide. These communications exhibit complex linguistic and contextual characteristics, making recognition of such narratives challenging. In this paper, we provide a multimodal dataset of toxic social media interactions between confirmed high school students, called ALONE (AdoLescents ON twittEr), along with descriptive explanation. Each instance of interaction includes tweets, images, emoji and related metadata. Our observations show that individual tweets do not provide sufficient evidence for toxic behavior, and meaningful use of context in interactions can enable highlighting or exonerating tweets with purported toxicity.Comment: Accepted: Social Informatics 202

Sibling relationships and family functioning in siblings of early adolescents, adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder

The purpose of the study was to investigate how family functioning (defined as the ability that family members hold to manage stressful events, and intimate and social relationships), the degree to which family members feel happy and fulfilled with each other (called family satisfaction), and the demographical characteristics of siblings (age and gender) impacted on sibling relationships. The Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems and Behavioral Systems constituted the theoretical frameworks that guided our study. Eighty-six typically developing adolescents and young adults having a sister or a brother with autism spectrum disorder were enrolled. Results indicated that the youngest age group (early adolescents) reported to engage more frequently in negative behaviors with their siblings with ASD than the two older age groups (middle adolescents and young adults). No significant differences were found among the three age groups regarding behaviors derived from attachment, caregiving and affiliative systems. Family satisfaction and age significantly predicted behaviors during sibling interactions. Suggestions on prevention and intervention programs were discussed in order to prevent parentification among typically developing siblings and decrease episodes of quarrels and overt conflicts between brothers and sisters with and without AS

Spondarthritis in the Triassic

Background: The evidence of several forms of arthritis has been well documented in the fossil record. However, for pre-Cenozoic vertebrates, especially regarding reptiles, this record is rather scarce. In this work we present a case report of spondarthritis found in a vertebral series that belonged to a carnivorous archosaurian reptile from the Lower Triassic (,245 million years old) of the South African Karoo. Methodology/Principal Findings: Neutron tomography confirmed macroscopic data, revealing the ossification of the entire intervertebral disc space (both annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus), which supports the diagnosis of spondarthritis. Conclusions/Significance: The presence of spondarthritis in the new specimen represents by far the earliest evidence of any form of arthritis in the fossil record. The present find is nearly 100 million years older than the previous oldest report of this pathology, based on a Late Jurassic dinosaur. Spondarthritis may have indirectly contributed to the death of the anima

Prognostic factors and monomicrobial necrotizing fasciitis: gram-positive versus gram-negative pathogens

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Monomicrobial necrotizing fasciitis is rapidly progressive and life-threatening. This study was undertaken to ascertain whether the clinical presentation and outcome for patients with this disease differ for those infected with a gram-positive as compared to gram-negative pathogen.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Forty-six patients with monomicrobial necrotizing fasciitis were examined retrospectively from November 2002 to January 2008. All patients received adequate broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy, aggressive resuscitation, prompt radical debridement and adjuvant hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Eleven patients were infected with a gram-positive pathogen (Group 1) and 35 patients with a gram-negative pathogen (Group 2).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Group 2 was characterized by a higher incidence of hemorrhagic bullae and septic shock, higher APACHE II scores at 24 h post-admission, a higher rate of thrombocytopenia, and a higher prevalence of chronic liver dysfunction. Gouty arthritis was more prevalent in Group 1. For non-survivors, the incidences of chronic liver dysfunction, chronic renal failure and thrombocytopenia were higher in comparison with those for survivors. Lower level of serum albumin was also demonstrated in the non-survivors as compared to those in survivors.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Pre-existing chronic liver dysfunction, chronic renal failure, thrombocytopenia and hypoalbuminemia, and post-operative dependence on mechanical ventilation represent poor prognostic factors in monomicrobial necrotizing fasciitis. Patients with gram-negative monobacterial necrotizing fasciitis present with more fulminant sepsis.</p

Clinical course of sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock in a cohort of infected patients from ten Colombian hospitals

ABSTARCT: Sepsis has several clinical stages, and mortality rates are different for each stage. Our goal was to establish the evolution and the determinants of the progression of clinical stages, from infection to septic shock, over the first week, as well as their relationship to 7-day and 28-day mortality

A marine heat wave drives massive losses from the world\u27s largest seagrass carbon stocks.

Seagrass ecosystems contain globally significant organic carbon (C) stocks. However, climate change and increasing frequency of extreme events threaten their preservation. Shark Bay, Western Australia, has the largest C stock reported for a seagrass ecosystem, containing up to 1.3% of the total C stored within the top metre of seagrass sediments worldwide. On the basis of field studies and satellite imagery, we estimate that 36% of Shark Bay’s seagrass meadows were damaged following a marine heatwave in 2010/2011. Assuming that 10 to 50% of the seagrass sediment C stock was exposed to oxic conditions after disturbance, between 2 and 9 Tg CO2 could have been released to the atmosphere during the following three years, increasing emissions from land-use change in Australia by 4–21% per annum. With heatwaves predicted to increase with further climate warming, conservation of seagrass ecosystems is essential to avoid adverse feedbacks on the climate system