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Hindsight Bias in Forensic Mental Health Novices and Experts : An Exploratory Study
No full textDecision-making processes are vulnerable to cognitive biases like hindsight bias, with particularly fateful consequences in forensic contexts. However, while debiasing strategies have been effective in various areas, their impact in forensics is underexplored. We investigated hindsight bias and a simple awareness-based debiasing strategy in novices (n = 52) and forensic professionals (n = 49). Participants were assigned to baseline, biased, or debiased conditions and rated an offender’s risk of re-offending using case vignettes. Significant hindsight bias was found in novices, but not experts who were also more aware of biases. Debiasing proved effective in novices, indicating that raising awareness may enhance equitable forensic decision-making.publishe
A complex systems view on physical activity with actionable insights for behaviour change
No full textPhysical inactivity and its associated health and economic burdens continue to rise despite decades of interdisciplinary research aimed at promoting physical activity. This Perspective takes a complex systems view on physical activity, proposing that at least two layers of complexity should be considered: (1) interactions between various physiological, psychological, social and environmental systems; and (2) their dynamic interactions across time. To address this complexity, all stages of the research process—from theory and measurement to study design, analysis and interventions—must be aligned with a complex systems perspective. This alignment requires intensive interdisciplinary collaboration and an integration of basic and applied research beyond current research practices to create transdisciplinary solutions. We offer actionable insights that bridge the gap between abstract theoretical approaches (for example, complex systems and attractor landscape frameworks of behaviour change) and practical research on physical activity, thereby laying a foundation for more effective behaviour change interventions.publishe
Thermodynamic uncertainty relations in superconducting junctions
No full textIt has recently been predicted that the thermodynamic uncertainty relation (TUR), which expresses a trade-off between the amount of dissipation and the absence of fluctuations, can be violated in the context of charge transport in normal quantum conductors. However, the required conditions are difficult to meet, and no experimental violation has been reported yet in mesoscopic quantum transport experiments. Here, we predict that TUR can be largely violated in superconducting (SC) contacts without introducing an energy dependency in the normal transmission coefficient. This violation originates from the coexistence of tunneling processes involving different numbers of transmitted charges, namely, quasiparticle tunneling and Andreev reflections. The SC junctions invoked here have been fabricated by many groups and constitute an ideal platform to demonstrate TUR breaking in charge transport experiments.publishe
Psychological resilience and childhood maltreatment : The role of self-efficacy, personality functioning and social support in young adult residential care leavers
No full textBackground:
Although the psychopathological consequences of childhood maltreatment (CM) are widely acknowledged, less is known about the underlying pathways of resilience following CM. Recent work to harmonize operationalization and definition of resilience quantifies resilience as the residual variance in psychosocial functioning after accounting for adversity exposure.
Objective:
This study investigates the association of self-efficacy, personality functioning, and social support with residual resilience after CM in young adults with previous youth residential care placements in Switzerland.
Methods:
The psychological resilience of 189 young adults (M age = 26.18 years; SD = 3.01; 35 % women) was evaluated as the residual of the regression of childhood maltreatment on mental health problems. Multiple regression models were conducted to assess the association between residual resilience and self-efficacy, personality function, and social support. A multiple regression model with an individual composite score of self-efficacy and personality functioning was used to investigate the importance of individual and social factors in resilience.
Results:
The severity of CM was significantly associated with self-reported mental health problems, β = 0.37; p < .001. Residual resilience was significantly associated with self-efficacy, β = 0.33; p < .001, and impaired personality functioning (self-direction, β = −0.63, p < .001, empathy, β = −0.39, p < .001, intimacy, β = −0.37, p < .001, identity, β = −0.51, p < .001). However, it was not significantly associated with social support, β = 0.10; p = .14 in regression models testing individual predictors. In combined models, the individual composite score was more strongly associated with residual resilience than the social support.
Conclusion:
Personality functioning and self-efficacy are crucial for psychological resilience following childhood maltreatment. They represent important targets for preventive interventions in youth residential care and therapy programs for those who experienced maltreatment in childhood.publishe
Transcriptomic changes and mitochondrial toxicity in response to acute and repeat dose treatment with brequinar in human liver and kidney in vitro models
No full textThe potent dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) inhibitor brequinar has been investigated as an anticancer, immunosuppressive, and antiviral pharmaceutical agent. However, its toxicity is still poorly understood. We investigated the cellular responses of primary human hepatocytes (PHH) and telomerase-immortalised human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (RPTEC/TERT1) after a single 24-h exposure up to 100 μM brequinar. Additionally, RPTEC/TERT1 cells underwent repeated daily exposure for five consecutive days at 0.3, 3, and 20 μM. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that PHH were less sensitive to brequinar treatment than RPTEC/TERT1 cells. Upregulation of various phase I and II drug-metabolising enzymes, particularly Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1 A and 3 A enzymes, in PHH suggests potential detoxification. Furthermore, brequinar exposure led to a significant upregulation of several stress response pathways in PHH and RPTEC/TERT1 cells, including the unfolded protein response, Nrf2, p53, and inflammatory responses. RPTEC/TERT1 cells exhibited greater sensitivity to brequinar at 0.3 μM with repeated exposure compared to a single exposure. Furthermore, brequinar could impair the mitochondrial respiration of RPTEC/TERT1 cells after 24 h. This study provides new insights into the differential responses of PHH and RPTEC/TERT1 cells in response to brequinar exposure and highlights the biological relevance of implementing repeated dosing regimens in in vitro studies.publishe
A Molecular Engineering Approach to Conformationally Regulated Conductance Dualism in a Molecular Junction
No full textOne key aspect for the development of functional molecular electronic devices is the ability to precisely tune and reversibly switch the conductance of individual molecules in electrode-molecule-electrode junctions in response to external stimuli. In this work, we present a new approach to access molecular switches by deliberately controlling the flexibility in the molecular backbone. We here describe two new conductance switches based on bis(triarylamines) that rely on the reversible toggling between two conformers, each associated with vastly different conductances. By molecular design, we were able to realize an on/off ratio Ghigh/Glow of ~103, which is one of the largest values reported to date. Flicker noise analysis and molecular transport calculations indicate that on/off switching relies on a change of the conduction pathway and vast differences in molecule-electrode coupling. We thereby provide a new scaffold for further development of molecular conductance switches that are both efficient and easily refined.publishe
How cross–linguistic influence affects the use of duration in the production and perception of corrective and non–corrective focus types
No full textAbstract Speakers use corrective focus as an explicit way to correct misunderstandings in communication. We investigate whether immersive contact with a rhythmically different language affects the production and perception of duration as a cue to corrective and non–corrective focus. We tested twenty-eight native speakers and sixty-four native listeners of Urdu, half of whom lived in Germany and used German as a second language, and half lived in Pakistan. German is a stress–timed language with head–prominence marking and makes intensive use of duration to mark corrective focus, while Urdu is a syllable–timed language with edge–prominence marking, which uses duration differently from German to mark focus types. Results showed that the majority language, German, affected focus processing in Urdu differently across modalities: In production, focus marking was not affected by country of residence, while in perception, Urdu speakers living in Germany were more sensitive to duration in the corrective focus context than Urdu speakers in Pakistan. We analyze this as cross–linguistic influence and argue that contact with a stress–timed, head–prominence majority language (here: German) affects the cue weighting in the native language Urdu in perception but not (yet) in production.publishe
Enhancing autonomous vehicle acceptance with age and education sensitive simulation interventions : an experimental trial
No full textThe familiarity principle posits that acceptance increases with exposure, which has previously been shown with in vivo and simulated experiences with connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs). We investigate the impact of a simulated video-based first-person drive on CAV acceptance, as well as the impact of information customization, with a particular focus on acceptance by older individuals and those with lower education. Findings from an online experiment with N = 799 German residents reveal that the simulated experience improved acceptance across response variables such as intention to use and ease of use, particularly among older individuals. However, the opportunity to customize navigation information decreased acceptance of older individuals and those with university degrees and increased acceptance for younger individuals and those with lower educational levels.publishe
Differences in technical and clinical perspectives on AI validation in cancer imaging : mind the gap!
No full textGood practices in artificial intelligence (AI) model validation are key for achieving trustworthy AI. Within the cancer imaging domain, attracting the attention of clinical and technical AI enthusiasts, this work discusses current gaps in AI validation strategies, examining existing practices that are common or variable across technical groups (TGs) and clinical groups (CGs). The work is based on a set of structured questions encompassing several AI validation topics, addressed to professionals working in AI for medical imaging. A total of 49 responses were obtained and analysed to identify trends and patterns. While TGs valued transparency and traceability the most, CGs pointed out the importance of explainability. Among the topics where TGs may benefit from further exposure are stability and robustness checks, and mitigation of fairness issues. On the other hand, CGs seemed more reluctant towards synthetic data for validation and would benefit from exposure to cross-validation techniques, or segmentation metrics. Topics emerging from the open questions were utility, capability, adoption and trustworthiness. These findings on current trends in AI validation strategies may guide the creation of guidelines necessary for training the next generation of professionals working with AI in healthcare and contribute to bridging any technical-clinical gap in AI validation.publishe
