Research shows that parenting plays an important role in the development of callous-unemotional (CU) traits in children. Yet, the specific aspects of positive parenting that may offer the strongest protection against the development of CU traits, as well as the potential role of child attachment to parent in this protection, remain poorly understood. This longitudinal multi-informant study aimed to investigate the mediating role of early mother–child attachment security in the prospective associations between three aspects of maternal sensitivity (positivity, attunement, availability) and subsequent CU traits in children. Maternal sensitivity and mother–child attachment security were observed in the home when children were 12 and 15 months old respectively. Child CU traits were reported by mothers, fathers, and teachers at age 4 years. Analyses revealed that maternal attunement was linked to lower levels of CU traits indirectly through the mediating role of attachment security. There was also a direct, non-mediated negative association between maternal availability and CU traits. Consistent with the notion of equifinality, these findings suggest that different aspects of parenting may be linked to child CU traits via distinct mechanisms, with some but not all of those mechanisms involving parent–child attachment.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, screening was initiated in several settings to mitigate asymptomatic transmission of SARS-CoV-2. However, this practice was later discouraged by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. This single-center retrospective study demonstrates limited utility of SARS-CoV-2 screening tests in asymptomatic HCT and CAR T-cell patients.

This article explores the history of the Tibetan and Mongolian Morse codes, devised by the Nationalist government between 1934 and 1937, by situating them within the infrastructural and political transformations that took place in China and Tibet during these four years. On the one hand, it demonstrates that the engineering of Tibetan and Mongolian Morse codes coincided with the global emergence of shortwave radio telegraphy which, for the first time, enabled communications between geographically distinct regions, such as Tibet and China. On the other hand, it also shows that the codes were devised at a critical political moment in Sino-Tibetan relations: with the death of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in 1933 and the subsequent political ascendance of the Ninth Panchen Lama, the government believed that the Tibetan and Mongolian Morse codes would help the party rule over the Buddhist frontiers through an alliance with the Ninth Panchen Lama. This plan ultimately failed, as the Panchen Lama died in 1937, before he could take control of Tibet. In short, the government-funded coding project offers a lens into pondering the infrastructural politics of state-building in China.

In recent years, the deterioration of infrastructure facilities, such as bridges, has caused several problems. Currently, human inspectors conduct periodic inspections to identify damaged areas. However, this process is expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, robotic inspection has received significant attention. This study focused on magnet-wheeled inspection robots operating along complex multilevel paths. The movement from the bottom to the top surface of the flanges was particularly difficult, similar to that of an overhanging steel plate. As the motor drives the robot wheel, gravity and anti-torque interfere with the robot’s movement along its path. However, static analysis shows that the impact can be reduced depending on the robot’s posture relative to that of the flange. Therefore, a magnetic-wheeled robot with a posture-changing pushing mechanism is proposed. This study confirms that the proposed robot can travel along its path using a pushing mechanism while carrying a 1.0 kg weight. Therefore, the robot’s ability to conduct inspections while carrying heavy equipment, such as inspection devices, was confirmed.

The non-uniform evaporation rate at the liquid–gas interface of binary droplets induces solutal Marangoni flows. In glycerol–water mixtures (positive Marangoni number, where the more volatile fluid has higher surface tension), these flows stabilise into steady patterns. Conversely, in water–ethanol mixtures (negative Marangoni number, where the less volatile fluid has higher surface tension), Marangoni instabilities emerge, producing seemingly chaotic flows. This behaviour arises from the opposing signs of the Marangoni number. Perturbations locally reducing surface tension at the interface drive Marangoni flows away from the perturbed region. Continuity of the fluid enforces a return flow, drawing fluid from the bulk towards the interface. In mixtures with a negative Marangoni number, preferential evaporation of the lower-surface-tension component leads to a higher concentration of the higher-surface-tension component at the interface as compared with the bulk. The return flow therefore creates a positive feedback loop, further reducing surface tension in the perturbed region and enhancing the instability. This study investigates bistable quasi-stationary solutions in evaporating binary droplets with negative Marangoni numbers (e.g. water–ethanol) and examines symmetry breaking across a range of Marangoni numbers and contact angles. Bistable domains exhibit hysteresis. Remarkably, flat droplets (small contact angles) show instabilities at much lower critical Marangoni numbers than droplets with larger contact angles. Our numerical simulations reveal that interactions between droplet height profiles and non-uniform evaporation rates trigger azimuthal Marangoni instabilities in flat droplets. This geometrically confined instability can even destabilise mixtures with positive Marangoni numbers, particularly for concave liquid–gas interfaces, as in wells. Finally, through a Lyapunov exponent analysis, we confirm the chaotic nature of flows in droplets with a negative Marangoni number. We emphasise that the numerical models are intentionally simplified to isolate and clarify the underlying mechanisms, rather than to quantitatively predict specific experimental outcomes; in particular, the model becomes increasingly limited in regimes of rapid evaporation.

Bullying is a public health concern that results in diminished well-being for children and adolescents. One approach that lawmakers have taken to address bullying is enacting anti-bullying laws, which require school districts to establish bullying prevention policies. In this study, researchers used standard legal epidemiology methods to systematically retrieve and analyze anti-bullying laws in the United States (US). While they found that every US state and the District of Columbia has a school anti-bullying law, there is wide variation in their scope and requirements. Some jurisdictions specified requirements that school districts must implement in their anti-bullying policies, while others deferred policy enactment entirely to school districts. Given the differences in requirements and scoping afforded in anti-bullying laws, understanding the important components included in such policies can help provide policymakers and practitioners with information about bullying prevention strategies across jurisdictions.

The search for biosignatures of past microbial life has promoted the interest in halophilic archaea trapped inside fluid inclusions of salt crystals. These hypersaline environments are promising targets for the preservation of microbial cell envelope biomolecules. In this study, we focused on the preservation of bacterioruberin, a carotenoid pigment found in the cell envelope of Halobacterium salinarum, within fluid inclusions of salt crystals mimicking early Mars environments and modern Earth. Halite (NaCl) and sylvite (KCl) crystals were subjected to Mars-like proton irradiation, and the preservation of carotenoids was assessed using in situ and ex situ Raman spectroscopy. Our findings demonstrate that Raman spectroscopy efficiently detected carotenoids within fluid inclusions in non-irradiated crystals. However, post-irradiation analyses posed great challenges due to fluorescence induced by the formation of colour centres in the crystal lattice, which suppressed the carotenoid signal. Cleavage of irradiated crystals revealed preserved carotenoid pigments beyond the radiation penetration depth, suggesting potential preservation of biomolecules in deeper inclusions within larger crystals. Furthermore, in some cases, carotenoids were detected even within fluorescent zones, suggesting extensive preservation. This study underscores the potential of Raman spectroscopy for the detection of carotenoids as biosignatures in planetary exploration contexts, particularly as a preliminary screening tool. However, it also highlights the need for optimized protocols to overcome fluorescence-related limitations. These findings contribute to the methodologies for detecting and interpreting biosignatures in salt deposits, advancing the search for possible traces of past microbial life beyond Earth.

Robots need a sense of touch to handle objects effectively, and force sensors provide a straightforward way to measure touch or physical contact. However, contact force data are typically sparse and difficult to analyze, as it only appears during contact and is often affected by noise. Therefore, many researchers have consequently relied on vision-based methods for robotic manipulation. However, vision has limitations, such as occlusions that block the camera’s view, making it ineffective or insufficient for dexterous tasks involving contact. This article presents a method for robotic systems operating under quasi-static conditions to perform contact-rich manipulation using only force/torque measurements. First, the interaction forces/torques between the manipulated object and its environment are collected in advance. A potential function is then constructed from the collected force/torque data using Gaussian process regression with derivatives. Next, we develop haptic dynamic movement primitives (Haptic DMPs) to generate robot trajectories. Unlike conventional DMPs, which primarily focus on kinematic aspects, our Haptic DMPs incorporate force-based interactions by integrating the constructed potential energy. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through numerical tasks, including the classical peg-in-hole problem.

Pollen morphology, viability and in vitro germination are vital parameters for taxonomic classification, hybridization, artificial pollination and improving seed set in crop breeding. In the present study, we investigated the pollen morphological characteristics of four marigold genotypes using scanning electron microscopy, assessed pollen viability using Alexander’s stain and acetocarmine and evaluated in vitro germination under a light microscope using media supplemented with varying concentrations of sucrose and polyethylene glycol (PEG). Pollen grains were medium-sized (25–50 µm) and exhibited suboblate to oblate-spheroidal shapes, with a polar/equatorial ratio ranging from 0.84 to 0.88. All genotypes displayed tricolporate pollen grains with three colpi and endoaperture, and their aperture lengths were between 3.88 and 4.90 µm. Significant genotypic differences were observed in pollen viability, with the highest values recorded in IIHRMY 1-4 (96.66 ± 0.34%) using acetocarmine and in IIHRMY 2-1 (96.42 ± 0.51%) using Alexander’s stain. The optimal germination medium contained 15% sucrose and 15% PEG, with IIHRMY 1-4 exhibiting the highest pollen germination rate (54.09 ± 1.15%), followed by IIHRMY 2-1 (47.05 ± 1.27%). These findings offer valuable insights for marigold breeding programmes, particularly in selecting genotypes for efficient cross-pollination and hybrid development.

Trisomy 21 is the most common chromosomal anomaly worldwide, and nearly half of the affected individuals are born with CHD, making cardiac complications a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in this population. Over the past century, the management of CHD in patients with Trisomy 21 has evolved dramatically, shaped by shifting societal attitudes, advances in diagnostic and surgical techniques, and landmark legal and ethical milestones. Historically, children with Trisomy 21 faced significant barriers to cardiac care, including delayed referrals and denial of surgical intervention, often rooted in discrimination rather than medical evidence. However, improvements in perioperative management and early surgical repair have led to survival outcomes for many forms of CHD that now approach those of the general population. Despite these advances, challenges persist, particularly in access to heart transplantation, where disparities in referral and eligibility remain. This review provides a historical overview of the evolution of CHD management in individuals with Trisomy 21, highlighting key medical, ethical, and societal developments that have shaped current standards of care.

Human-centric uncertainty remains one of the most persistent yet least quantified sources of risk in aviation maintenance. Although established safety frameworks such as SMS (safety management system), STAMP (Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes), and FRAM (Functional Resonance Analysis Method) have advanced systemic oversight, they fall short in capturing the dynamic, context-dependent variability of human performance in real time. This study introduces the uncertainty quantification in aircraft maintenance (UQAM) framework – a novel, predictive safety tool designed to measure and manage operational uncertainty at the task level. The integrated uncertainty equation (IUE) is central to the model, a mathematical formulation that synthesises eight empirically derived uncertainty factors into a single, actionable score. Using a mixed-methods design, the research draws on thematic analysis of 49 semi-structured interviews with licensed maintenance engineers, followed by a 12-month field validation across four distinct maintenance tasks. Results demonstrate that the IUE effectively distinguishes between low, moderate and high-risk scenarios while remaining sensitive to procedural anomalies, diagnostic ambiguity and environmental complexity. Heatmap visualisations further enable supervisory teams to identify dominant uncertainty drivers and implement targeted interventions. UQAM enhances predictive governance, supports real-time decision-making and advances the evolution of next-generation safety systems in high-reliability aviation environments by embedding quantitative uncertainty metrics into existing safety architectures.

Equitable access to medicines is vital for people with disabilities to receive effective, affordable, and quality treatment, helping preserve functionality, prevent further disability, and promote social and economic inclusion. This paper explores the specific medicine needs of people with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), focusing on the European Union’s (EU) extraterritorial legal obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). As the first regional international organization to accede to a UN human rights treaty, the EU offers a unique case for examining how international legal commitments extend beyond its borders. The paper outlines a legal framework based on the CRPD to assess the EU’s responsibilities for ensuring access to medicines globally. This framework is applied to two case studies: the EU’s internal joint COVID-19 vaccine procurement strategy and its external BioNTainer initiative for vaccine production in Africa under Team Europe. The analysis finds that the EU falls short of its CRPD obligations, particularly in areas of technology transfer and intellectual property sharing, which are essential for equitable global vaccine access. The paper concludes that the EU’s current actions do not fulfill its human rights commitments to people with disabilities in LMICs.

The concept of parity due to Fitzpatrick, Pejsachowicz and Rabier is a central tool in the abstract bifurcation theory of nonlinear Fredholm operators. In this paper, we relate the parity to the Evans function, which is widely used in the stability analysis for traveling wave solutions to evolutionary PDEs.

In contrast, we use Evans function as a flexible tool yielding general sufficient condition for local bifurcations of specific bounded entire solutions to (Carathéodory) differential equations. These bifurcations are intrinsically nonautonomous in the sense that the assumptions implying them cannot be fulfilled for autonomous or periodic temporal forcings. In addition, we demonstrate that Evans functions are strictly related to the dichotomy spectrum and hyperbolicity, which play a crucial role in studying the existence of bounded solutions on the whole real line and therefore the recent field of nonautonomous bifurcation theory. Finally, by means of non-trivial examples we illustrate the applicability of our methods.

Word processing during reading is known to be influenced by lexical features, especially word length, frequency, and predictability. This study examined the relative importance of these features in word processing during second language (L2) English reading. We used data from an eye-tracking corpus and applied a machine-learning approach to model word-level eye-tracking measures and identify key predictors. Predictors comprised several lexical features, including length, frequency, and predictability (e.g., surprisal). Additionally, sentence, passage, and reader characteristics were considered for comparison. The analysis found that word length was the most important variable across several eye-tracking measures. However, for certain measures, word frequency and predictability were more important than length, and in some cases, reader characteristics such as proficiency were more significant than lexical features. These findings highlight the complexity of word processing during reading, the shared processes between first language (L1) and L2 reading, and their potential to refine models of eye-movement control.

A Palaeolithic diet is an efficacious dietary approach for glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes. Causal mechanisms are body weight loss and glucometabolic effects from differences in included food groups, macronutrient composition, fibre content, and glycaemic load. The aim was to test the hypothesis that characteristic food group differences between a Palaeolithic and a diabetes diet would cause an effect on glycaemic control when weight was kept stable and diets were matched for macronutrient composition, fibre content and glycaemic load. Adult participants with type 2 diabetes and increased waist circumference were instructed to follow two diets, with or without the food groups cereal grain, dairy products, and legumes, during two periods of 4 weeks separated by a 6-week washout period in a random-order crossover design. The Palaeolithic diet included fruit, vegetables, tubers, fish, shellfish, lean meat, nuts, eggs and olive oil, and excluded cereal grains, dairy products and legumes. The diabetes diet included fruit, vegetables, fish, shellfish, lean meat, nuts, eggs, olive oil, and substantial amounts of whole grains, low-fat dairy products and legumes. Dietary energy content was adjusted throughout the study to maintain stable body weight. There were no differences between diets on HbA1c or fructosamine among the 14 participants. Body weight was kept stable, and the two diets were successfully matched for macronutrient composition and glycaemic load but not for fibre content. Characteristic food group differences and the accompanying differences in fibre content between a Palaeolithic and a diabetes diet do not cause an effect on glycaemic control.