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Tolman’s Sunburst Maze 80 years on: a meta-analysis reveals poor replicability and little evidence for shortcutting
No full textThe Sunburst maze, first described 80 years ago by Tolman, Ritchie and Kalish (1946) and popularized by Tolman (1948), is widely regarded as a classic demonstration of cognitive map use in rats. In this task, animals trained on a circuitous path to a reward were presented with new paths, including a shortcut, after the original route was blocked. A substantial proportion of rats selected the shortcut, which Tolman et al. (1946; 1948) interpreted as evidence that animals have an internal spatial representation, or ‘cognitive map’. Despite the influence of this study, attempts to replicate it have been largely unsuccessful. This review critically examines a dozen replications involving rats, squirrel monkeys and humans, highlighting a range of alternative strategies, with only a fraction of experiments demonstrating shortcutting (17%). Instead, most studies found that animals either favoured paths adjacent to the original training route (32%), did not have a preference (26%), chose unremarkable paths (13%) or selected options consistent with previously rewarded responses (6%), suggesting a reliance on procedural or associative learning rather than demonstrating flexible spatial inference. Although the original experiment has been widely criticized for including a visual cue above the reward location, subsequent studies rarely found that this feature guided path choices (6%). Neurophysiological data from hippocampal lesion and head-direction cell studies further undermine the claim that shortcutting in the Sunburst maze depends on cognitive maps. We argue that this study, though historically significant, is a poor standalone demonstration of map-based navigation
Preparing students to care for socially excluded patients: a qualitative study of inclusion health in undergraduate medical education
Get PDFIntroduction: Extreme health inequities are experienced by Inclusion Health groups (including people experiencing homelessness, problem substance use, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, vulnerable migrants, sex workers, people in contact with the justice system and victims of modern slavery). There is evidence that undergraduate medical education is failing to prepare students to work effectively with these socially excluded groups. This research explores challenges and opportunities in teaching Inclusion Health to medical students.
Methods: Twenty‐three educators involved in teaching Inclusion Health at medical schools in the United Kingdom and Ireland were recruited purposively through known contacts and snowball sampling. Semistructured interviews were conducted, and the interview transcripts were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. An inductive approach was taken, and the analysis was underpinned by a critical realist ontology.
Results: Five distinct themes were identified from the data:
1. ‘My goodness me, it's difficult to get that stuff in’; creating space for Inclusion Health in undergraduate curricula
2. ‘It's the human-to-human connection’; the importance of meaningful contact with people with lived experience
3. The impact of the hidden curriculum
4. ‘Assessment is the biggest hurdle’
5. Inclusion Health as a core competency for clinical practice
Conclusion: Inclusion Health groups, who face intersecting forms of exclusion such as poverty, violence and trauma are at risk of being further excluded by undergraduate medical curricula. This paper enhances understanding of the challenges that are limiting Inclusion Health education. Most importantly, the paper presents solutions for how Inclusion Health can be incorporated into undergraduate medical teaching and assessment
A methodology for process design kit re-centering using TCAD and experimental data for cryogenic temperatures
Get PDFIn this work, we describe and demonstrate a novel Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) driven methodology to re-center room-temperature Process Design Kits (PDKs) for cryogenic operation using a limited set of experimental measurements. Unlike previous approaches that relied on direct fitting of sparse measurements, our technique accounts for process-induced deviations by calibrating TCAD models to both room-temperature and cryogenic data. Compact models for all process corners are extracted from TCAD-generated target characteristics, enabling accurate cryogenic modeling without dedicated foundry support. This scalable, technology-independent method provides a practical path for cryogenic circuit design
Stage-dependent trade-offs in thermal performance: fluctuating temperatures reverse larval and adult fitness in Anopheles gambiae and An. coluzzii
Get PDFTemperature is a key environmental factor influencing the development, survival, and transmission potential of malaria vectors. While most laboratory studies use constant temperature (CT) regimes, mosquitoes in natural habitats experience fluctuating temperatures (FTs), which may affect their life-history traits. We investigated the effects of CT (27 °C) and FT (27 ± 3 °C) on larval and adult traits of 2 major malaria vectors, Anopheles gambiae and An. coluzzii, under laboratory conditions. We measured larval survival, development time, adult body size, and adult survival, using survival and mixed-effects models. Species-specific and stage-specific responses to temperature regimes were observed. An. gambiae larvae exhibited higher survival under FT, while An. coluzzii larvae survived better under CTs. However, this pattern reversed in adulthood: An. coluzzii adults showed increased survival and larger body size under FT, whereas An. gambiae adults performed better under CT. Development time was slightly longer under FT for both species, with An. coluzzii pupating faster overall. These opposing patterns suggest that differential larval survival under FTs may influence adult fitness in a species-specific manner. The contrasting and reversed responses of An. gambiae and An. coluzzii across life stages might reflect their ecological adaptations: An. gambiae, found in small and thermally variable habitats, performed better under FT during larval stages, while An. coluzzii, associated with larger, more thermally stable habitats, showed improved adult performance under FT. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating species-specific, stage-dependent thermal responses into models of vector dynamics and control strategies under climate change
Numeracy, otherness, and the invention of ‘civilization’ in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Anglo-European travel writing
Get PDFDepictions of numeracy among non-Europeans were a prominent feature of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Anglo-European travel writing, but remain largely overlooked in the extensive scholarship on travel, knowledge, and empire. This article shifts attention from traditionally ‘scientific’ forms of numeracy such as mathematics and astronomy towards more fundamental counting, calculation, and communication skills, to examine the way in which mutually reinforcing hierarchies of otherness and numerical knowledge were constructed in travel accounts. Focusing particularly on writings about China and the Americas, it demonstrates the way in which European written and mathematically precise numeracy was perceived as superior to oral, embodied, and object-based practices observed elsewhere. Exploring the reception of these ideas in eighteenth-century Britain reveals that numeracy became integral to emergent notions of European modernity and civilization. The example of numeracy, this article suggests, demonstrates the interrelationship between social relations in national context and global power structures
Sex differences in cardiac risk and kidney function: serum creatinine versus cystatin C
No full textBackground:
Cystatin C may better assess cardiovascular risk than serum creatinine for kidney function, but its accuracy may vary by sex. We evaluated sex differences in cardiac risk using estimated kidney function from either biomarker.
Methods:
We included all adults from the UK Biobank without prior cardiac event who had kidney function and baseline data. We defined cardiac events and deaths using ICD-10 codes in hospital or death records. We fitted cause-specific Cox models to evaluate sex differences in cardiac outcomes using estimated glomerular filtration (mL/min/1.73m2) from serum creatinine (eGFRCr), cystatin C (eGFRCys) and both (eGFRCr-Cys).
Results:
Among 394,920 adults (55% female), 19,689 (9%) females and 28,540 (16%) males had cardiac events. In adjusted models, eGFRCys and eGFRCr-Cys showed stronger associations with increased cardiovascular risk in females than when using eGFRCr (p < 0.001). Females with eGFRCys 45–59 had elevated cardiac risk (HR 1.08, 95% CI 1.03–1.14) compared to males with eGFRCys 90–104—an effect not seen with eGFRCr or eGFRCr-Cys. eGFRCr showed a J-shaped association with cardiac risk, being increased in males but reduced in females when eGFRCr ≥ 105 (females: HR 0.65, 95% CI 0.61–0.69; males: HR 1.18, 95% CI 1.12–1.24 versus males with eGFRCr 90–104). The risk of cardiac events was more linear in adjusted models with eGFRCys.
Conclusions:
Measurement of cystatin C improves estimation of cardiac risk associated with kidney function, particularly for females. Incorporating eGFRCys, rather than eGFRCr, into cardiovascular risk assessment may be more important for early detection and management of high-risk females with CKD
Dy-based single-molecule magnet as a case study for magnetization relaxation under applied pressure
Get PDFMolecular nanomagnets have garnered significant attention in recent years thanks to their unique potential in quantum information processing as molecular qudits and in high-density memory encoding as single-molecule magnets. However, fully unlocking the potential of these systems requires a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between the various mechanisms that govern their relaxation dynamics, which remains a noncompletely understood phenomenon. In this work, we employ a cost-effective semi-ab initio approach to model the magnetization relaxation dynamics in a testbed Dy-based single-molecule magnet and determine the effects of applied external pressure on the interplay between various mechanisms, such as coupling with molecular vibrations and quantum tunneling. Ab initio phonon calculations are validated by direct comparison with inelastic neutron scattering experiments, which are used for the first time to investigate pressure-induced modifications of phonons and vibrations in a molecular nanomagnet. The combination of our theoretical approach with different experimental techniques allows us to predict an overall acceleration of the relaxation dynamics under pressure, disentangling the role of different ingredients, such as crystal field axiality and phonons
Money buys mental health: A multidimensional analysis of social, financial, and emotional well-being in 92 countries
Get PDFGovernments and organizations now increasingly endorse the importance of mental health in all forms of policy, though emphasis in measurement still remains on indicators such as GDP, depression, and other common disorders. In this study of 92 countries (n = 53,774), we assess the mental health of individuals around the world alongside measures of financial and social well-being. Findings include a trend of languishing mental health across many groups, particularly among younger adults and within higher-income countries. While positive trends are observed for education and income, a number of concerning trends also emerge, particularly the loss of the U-shape for age and generally moderate results for employed individuals. In sum, we find an alarming but perhaps unsurprisingly low level of positive mental health in a substantial number of countries, but also identify specific economic, social, and other indicators that policymakers could target in improving the well-being of the populations they serve
Reconstructing prehistoric land cover and landuse in complex ‘blue-green’ landscapes
No full textEnvironmental context is vital when analysing archaeological sites and interpreting past human activity. Pollen, being widely dispersed and readily preserved in wetland sediments, is frequently used to investigate past land cover, especially in wetland-rich ‘blue-green’ lowland landscapes (landscapes formed in locations where hydrology is an important determinant of natural vegetation, geomorphology and land use, such as river valleys and estuaries; landscapes which are transitional between aquatic-dominated and terrestrial-dominated). Recent developments in quantitative landcover reconstruction from pollen diagrams, such as the Multiple Scenario Approach (MSA), improve interpretations by taking into account variations in pollen production, dispersal, and sedimentary basin properties. We apply the MSA to derive quantitative, spatially-informed land cover reconstructions for four prehistoric periods in a major UK blue-green lowland landscape, the Humberhead Levels. Reconstructed quantified land cover broadly confirms inferences from previous studies, showing the spread of wet woodland and development of raised mires in the middle Holocene, whilst highlighting the spatial complexity of this dynamic blue-green landscape. The reconstruction process highlights gaps in available data and shows, for example, that the complex interplay of freshwater and marine systems in the later Holocene is only partially understood; thus reconstructions can inform the development of future research agendas in this and other blue-green landscapes. The spatially referenced MSA outputs offer a powerful means of enhancing the integration of pollen analysis with other disciplines, including archaeology, and for developing clear hypotheses for future research
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