University of Oregon

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a public health issue that may have a disproportionate impact on children in rural areas due to lack of resources, lack of knowledge in the community and community norms that discourage reporting. In order to effectively prevent CSA in rural communities, there is a need to better understand the impact of prevention programming outside of the impacts on individual participants. The present study used a mixed‐methods approach to evaluate the unintended impacts of a CSA prevention program in rural communities throughout Oregon and Northern California from the perspective of the implementing staff. Participants ( n = 38) indicated changes in their organisational identity, changes in community norms and the impact of having a network of other organisations across the state who were implementing the same program. Implications for research and potential for statewide prevention systems are discussed.

Understanding others involves inferring traits and intentions, a process complicated by our reliance on stereotypes and generalized information when we lack personal information. Yet, as relationships are formed, we shift towards nuanced and individualized perceptions of others. This study addresses how relationship strength influences the creation of unique or normative representations of others in key regions known to be involved in social cognition. Employing a round-robin interpersonal perception paradigm (N = 111, 20 groups of 5-6 people), we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine whether the strength of social relationships modulated the degree to which multivoxel patterns of activity that represented a specific other were similar to a normative average of all others in the study. Behaviorally, stronger social relationships were associated with more normative trait endorsements. Neural findings reveal that closer relationships lead to more unique representations in the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior insula, areas associated with mentalizing and person perception. Conversely, more generalized representations emerge in posterior regions like the posterior cingulate cortex, indicating a complex interplay between individuated and generalized processing of social information in the brain. These findings suggest that cortical regions typically associated with social cognition may compute different kinds of information when representing the distinctiveness of others.

Typhoid fever is responsible for a substantial health burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). New means of prevention became available with the prequalification of typhoid conjugate vaccines (TCV) by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018. Policymakers require evidence to inform decisions about TCV. The economic burden related to typhoid fever can be considerable, both for healthcare providers and households, and should be accounted for in the decision-making process. We aimed to understand the breadth of the evidence on the cost of typhoid fever by undertaking a scoping review of the published literature. We searched scientific databases with terms referring to typhoid fever cost of illness to identify published studies for the period January 1st 2000 to May 24th 2024. We also conferred with stakeholders engaged in typhoid research to identify studies pending completion or publication. We identified 13 published studies reporting empirical data for 11 countries, most of them located in Asia. The total cost of a typhoid episode ranged from $23 in India to $884 in Indonesia (current 2022 United States Dollar [USD]). Household expenditures related to typhoid fever were characterized as catastrophic in 9 studies. We identified 5 studies pending completion or publication, which will provide evidence for 9 countries, most of them located in Africa. Alignment in study characteristics and methods would increase the usefulness of the evidence generated and facilitate cross-country and regional comparison. The gap in evidence across regions should be mitigated when studies undertaken in African countries are published. There remains a lack of evidence on the cost to treat typhoid in the context of increasing antimicrobial resistance. Decision-makers should consider the available evidence on the economic burden of typhoid, particularly as risk factors related to antimicrobial resistance and climate change increase typhoid risk. Additional studies should address typhoid illness costs, using standardized methods and accounting for the costs of antimicrobial resistance.

During sea‐level exercise, blood flow through intrapulmonary arteriovenous anastomoses (IPAVA) in humans without a patent foramen ovale (PFO) is negatively correlated with pulmonary pressure. Yet, it is unknown whether the superior exercise capacity of Tibetans well adapted to living at high altitude is the result of lower pulmonary pressure during exercise in hypoxia, and whether their cardiopulmonary characteristics are significantly different from lowland natives of comparable ancestry (e.g. Han Chinese). We found a 47% PFO prevalence in male Tibetans (n = 19) and Han Chinese (n = 19) participants. In participants without a PFO (n = 10 each group), we measured heart structure and function at rest and peak oxygen uptake (V̇O2peak), peak power output (Wpeak) pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP), blood flow through IPAVA and cardiac output (Q̇T) at rest and during recumbent cycle ergometer exercise at 760 Torr (SL) and at 410 Torr (ALT) barometric pressure in a pressure chamber. Tibetans achieved a higher Wpeak than Han, and a higher V̇O2peak at ALT without differences in heart rate, stroke volume or Q̇T. Blood flow through IPAVA was generally similar between groups. Increases in PASP and total pulmonary resistance at ALT were comparable between the groups. There were no differences in the slopes of PASP plotted as a function of Q̇T during exercise. In those without PFO, our data indicate that the superior aerobic exercise capacity of Tibetans over Han Chinese is independent of cardiopulmonary features and more probably linked to differences in local muscular oxygen extraction. image Key points Patent foramen ovale (PFO) prevalence was 47% in Tibetans and Han Chinese living at 2 275 m. Subjects with PFO were excluded from exercise studies. Compared to Han Chinese, Tibetans had a higher peak workload with acute compression to sea level barometric pressure (SL) and acute decompression to 5000 m altitude (ALT). Comprehensive cardiac structure and function at rest were not significantly different between Han Chinese and Tibetans. Tibetans and Han had similar blood flow through intrapulmonary arteriovenous anastomoses (IPAVA) during exercise at SL. Peak pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) and total pulmonary resistance were different between SL and ALT, with significantly increased PASP for Han compared to Tibetans at ALT. No differences were observed between groups at acute SL and ALT.

Bahasa Indonesia is currently studied by many foreign students and taught internationally. This phenomenon tracks the Indonesian government’s language policy goals in promoting Bahasa Indonesia as an international language. But how does this fit together? This study aims to examine the language policy and its implementation. A qualitative design was employed, and data were obtained using narrative inquiry techniques through semi-structured interviews with 15 participants consisting of academicians, activists, and teachers of BIPA. In collecting data, participants’ voices regarding the language policy forms and its implementation were gathered and language policy documents were investigated. The results showed that the Indonesian language policy is enshrined by laws, government regulations, and ministerial decree. The implementation in laws and government legislation have been successful yet the ministerial decrees have not. It can be concluded that the language policy is the nation’s interest for public diplomacy to preserve, maintain, develop, and cultivate the language. The implementation of promoting Bahasa Indonesia as an international language lies on the success of BIPA teaching as a means to spread Bahasa Indonesia use internationally. It indicates the inseparable relationship between the Indonesian language policy campaign and the development of BIPA. Theoretical and several practical implications are also discussed.

As climate change intensifies, some people connect it to their decision to be childfree. This is largely predicated on how they imagine the future, not their current climate change realities. Examining this shows how climate change enters and affects the lifeworlds of the environmentally privileged. I ask what motivates environmentally privileged people to connect being childfree to climate change through an in-depth interview study of 15 ‘ecologically childfree’ adults, recruited through an online group, BirthStrike. I find two subsets of BirthStrikers, those who see being childfree as sacrificial and those with multiple motivations. I argue being ecologically childfree is a strategy of temporal emotion management and a way to legitimise ecological grief, a disenfranchised grief that goes unrecognised. Being childfree alters the intensity of BirthStrikers’ emotions and their temporal frames of engagement. For BirthStrikers with multiple motivations, I argue being childfree legitimises respondents’ ecological grief by demonstrating personal impact.

With their unique colony structure, competition between ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) can be particularly intense, with colonies potentially willing to sacrifice large number of individuals to obtain resources or territory under the right circumstances. In this review, we cover circumstances in which ant competition escalates into combat, battle strategies and tactics, and analysis methods for these battles. The trends for when colonies choose to fight can vary greatly dependent on the species and situation, which we review in detail. Because of their large group sizes, ant conflicts can follow different patterns than many other species, with a variety of specialist adaptations and battle strategies, such as specialized worker classes and the need to rapidly recruit large number of compatriots. These same large group sizes also can make ant fighting amenable to mathematical analysis, particularly in the context of Lanchester’s laws that consider how total numbers influence the outcome of a confrontation. Yet, dynamic behavior can often disrupt idealized mathematical predictions in real-world scenarios, even though these can still shed light on the explanations for such behavior. We also systematically cover the literature on battles between groups of ants, presenting several other interesting studies on species with unique colony organization, such as army ants and leafcutter ants.

Relations between conative factors (task-specific motivation, attention self-efficacy, and self-set goals) and individual differences in attention control (AC) performance were investigated in two latent variable studies. Participants performed AC tasks along with measures of working memory and processing speed. During the AC tasks, participants self-reported their motivation, self-efficacy, and self-set goals for the tasks. Task-unrelated thoughts were also assessed. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that latent factors for the constructs could be formed and the conative factors were each related to the AC factor. Structural equation modeling further suggested that the conative factors tended to account for unique variance in attention, even after accounting for shared variance with working memory and processing speed. These results provide evidence that conative factors are important for individual differences in AC and further suggest that multiple factors likely contribute to variation in performance on AC tasks.

Working memory (WM) is a goal-directed memory system that actively maintains a limited amount of task-relevant information to serve the current goal. By this definition, WM maintenance should be terminated after the goal is accomplished, spontaneously removing no-longer-relevant information from WM. Past studies have failed to provide direct evidence of spontaneous removal of WM content by allowing participants to engage in a strategic reallocation of WM resources to competing information within WM. By contrast, we provide direct neural and behavioral evidence that visual WM content can be largely removed less than 1 s after it becomes obsolete, in the absence of a strategic allocation of resources (total N = 442 adults). These results demonstrate that visual WM is intrinsically a goal-directed system, and spontaneous removal provides a means for capacity-limited WM to keep up with ever-changing demands in a dynamic environment.

From a developmental perspective, the increase in depressive symptoms among adolescents over the past decade is of great concern due to the risk of long-term mental health problems extending into adulthood. Informed by the Multicultural Social Justice Framework, we examined multi-level, ecological risk and protective factors of depressive symptoms among adolescents. Data were leveraged from the Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey ( N = 9,717) to examine adolescent reported depressive symptoms, individual risk-taking, family factors, school engagement and involvement, community disorganization and safety, and district level factors. We stratified by race to examine differential associations between risk and protective factors and depressive symptoms among Asian, Black, and Latinx youth. Results indicate that individual and family risk and family protection were associated with depressive symptoms. School and community factors were directly related and interacted with individual and family factors, particularly among Black and Latinx youth. Findings imply the need to examine both proximal and systemic factors.

Given a self-adjoint operator T on a separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert space we study the problem of characterizing the set D(T)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\mathcal {D}}(T)$$\end{document} of all possible diagonals of T. For operators T with at least two points in their essential spectrum σess(T)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sigma _{ess}(T)$$\end{document}, we give a complete characterization of D(T)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\mathcal {D}}(T)$$\end{document} for the class of self-adjoint operators sharing the same spectral measure as T with a possible exception of multiplicities of eigenvalues at the extreme points of σess(T)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sigma _{ess}(T)$$\end{document}. We also give a more precise description of D(T)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\mathcal {D}}(T)$$\end{document} for a fixed self-adjoint operator T, albeit modulo the kernel problem for special classes of operators. These classes consist of operators T for which an extreme point of the essential spectrum σess(T)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sigma _{ess}(T)$$\end{document} is also an extreme point of the spectrum σ(T)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sigma (T)$$\end{document}. Our results generalize a characterization of diagonals of orthogonal projections by Kadison [38, 39], Blaschke-type results of Müller and Tomilov [51] and Loreaux and Weiss [48], and a characterization of diagonals of operators with finite spectrum by the authors [15].

Pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) are density‐stratified along their vertical axis, with the near‐bed portion being denser than the upper portion, resulting from particle settling and ambient air entrainment at current margins. Whereas vertical density stratification likely influences mixing, sedimentation, and buoyancy of PDCs, many depth‐averaged models of PDC dynamics assume currents are well‐mixed. We investigated this discrepancy by performing sub‐aqueous laboratory experiments and conducted complementary numerical simulations to interrogate current dynamics at finer scales. Currents with small temperature difference with the ambient fluid become density‐stratified during propagation. The dynamics of such currents resemble two‐phase flows, in which particles move freely and particle concentration becomes stratified, but fluid density remains constant. Currents with large temperature difference with the ambient fluid, however, do not develop density stratification during propagation, due to current dynamics becoming dominated by the fluid phase and the lessening importance of particles. Currents that develop density stratification do not lift off from the bed within the domain of the setup, whereas poorly stratified currents do lift off, forming a rising plume. Strong density stratification within currents inhibits turbulence production, preventing entrained ambient fluid on current edges from mixing into current interiors. Poorly stratified currents are highly turbulent, have vigorous internal mixing, thereby achieving lift‐off. The strongly stratified currents are analogous to PDCs that result from eruption column collapse, maintaining fast velocity, low internal mixing, and high temperature over long distances. The poorly stratified currents are analogous to dilute ash‐cloud surges that develop atop basal avalanches, having short runout distances.

The Cordillera Blanca is often viewed as a frontline climate change hotspot, where ice loss has created climate emergencies ranging from glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) to drought to avalanches and landslides. However, research addressing the experiences and perspectives of diverse residents of the region should be added to studies on ice, water, rocks, and other geophysical processes. Social science and humanities research on the Cordillera Blanca region has increasingly addressed these issues, illustrating complex social, political, cultural, and economic processes that define the region. Through a review of the social science and humanities literature published on the Cordillera Blanca during roughly the last decade, this chapter demonstrates how research has increasingly engaged with the complex social and environmental dimensions of climate change, ice loss, and beyond. It shows how human perspectives about glaciers, climate, and landscapes are socially produced and negotiated. In this chapter, we explain some societal contexts of Cordillera Blanca communities before addressing the central socio-environmental spaces connected to land and water. The chapter then moves to discuss how trust, control, and accountability are key themes at play in the Cordillera Blanca. We also highlight how enduring calls for trust-building and community engagement require greater engagement in key areas, including: inter and intracommunity dynamics, resource negotiations in changing glacial watersheds, and interacting global and local forces that challenge easy understandings of the Cordillera Blanca’s future under conditions of ice loss and climate change.

The extreme sensitivity required for direct observation of gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO detectors means that environmental noise is increasingly likely to contaminate Advanced LIGO gravitational wave signals if left unaddressed. Consequently, environmental monitoring efforts have been undertaken and novel noise mitigation techniques have been developed which have reduced environmental coupling and made it possible to analyze environmental artifacts with potential to affect the 90 gravitational wave events detected from 2015–2020 by the Advanced LIGO detectors. So far, there is no evidence for environmental contamination in gravitational wave detections. However, automated, rapid ways to monitor and assess the degree of environmental coupling between gravitational wave detectors and their surroundings are needed as the rate of detections continues to increase. We introduce a computational tool, PEMcheck, for quantifying the degree of environmental coupling present in gravitational wave signals using data from the extant collection of environmental monitoring sensors at each detector. We study its performance when applied to 79 gravitational waves detected in LIGO’s third observing run and test its performance in the case of extreme environmental contamination of gravitational wave data. We find that PEMcheck’s automated analysis identifies only a small number of gravitational waves that merit further study by environmental noise experts due to possible contamination, a substantial improvement over the manual vetting that occurred for every gravitational wave candidate in the first two observing runs. Building on a first attempt at automating environmental coupling assessments used in the third observing run, this tool represents an improvement in accuracy and interpretability of coupling assessments, reducing the time needed to validate gravitational wave candidates. With the validation provided herein; PEMcheck will play a critical role in event validation during LIGO’s fourth observing run as an integral part of the data quality report produced for each gravitational wave candidate.

Reliable and valid assessment of parenting and child behaviors is critical for clinicians and researchers alike, and observational measures of parenting behaviors are often considered the gold standard for assessing parenting and parent–child interaction quality. The present study sought to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Coder Impressions Questionnaire–Kindergarten (COIMP-K) measure. The present study was a secondary analysis of 274 parents and their children participating in a randomized control trial testing a brief parenting intervention for parents of children entering kindergarten. Families participated in baseline and follow-up assessments and videotaped observational tasks. Graduate and undergraduate coders completed the COIMP-K after achieving reliability. The aims of the present study were to assess COIMP-K’s (a) internal consistency using intercorrelations among COIMP-K subscales, (b) construct validity, (c) convergent validity by comparing the COIMP-K subscales to parents’ self-report of similar behaviors, (d) discriminant validity by comparing subscales to a parent–teacher communication measure as it is unrelated to parenting or child behaviors, and (e) congruence across time. The authors hypothesized that the COIMP-K would demonstrate adequate internal consistency (Cortina, 1993), adequate construct, convergent, and discriminant validity and find congruence of the measure across time. The results demonstrated that the factors had adequate internal consistency, construct, convergent, and discriminant validity, as well as longitudinal replicability and congruence over time. The study demonstrates that the COIMP-K is a reliable and valid tool for assessing observed family behaviors.

Satisfactory healing following acute tendon injury is marred by fibrosis. Despite the high frequency of tendon injuries and poor outcomes, there are no pharmacological therapies in use to enhance the healing process. Moreover, systemic treatments demonstrate poor tendon homing, limiting the beneficial effects of potential tendon therapeutics. To address this unmet need, we leveraged our existing tendon healing spatial transcriptomics dataset and identified an area enriched for expression of Acp5 (TRAP) and subsequently demonstrated robust TRAP activity in the healing tendon. This unexpected finding allowed us to refine and apply our existing TRAP binding peptide (TBP) functionalized nanoparticle (NP) drug delivery system (DDS) to facilitate improved delivery of systemic treatments to the healing tendon. To demonstrate the translational potential of this DDS, we delivered niclosamide (NEN), an S100a4 inhibitor. While systemic delivery of free NEN did not alter healing, TBP-NP NEN enhanced both functional and mechanical recovery, demonstrating the translational potential of this approach to enhance the tendon healing process.

Jackson Pollock’s abstract poured paintings are celebrated for their striking aesthetic qualities. They are also among the most financially valued and imitated artworks, making them vulnerable to high-profile controversies involving Pollock-like paintings of unknown origin. Given the increased employment of artificial intelligence applications across society, we investigate whether established machine learning techniques can be adopted by the art world to help detect imitation Pollocks. The low number of images compared to typical artificial intelligence projects presents a potential limitation for art-related applications. To address this limitation, we develop a machine learning strategy involving a novel image ingestion method which decomposes the images into sets of multi-scaled tiles. Leveraging the power of transfer learning, this approach distinguishes between authentic and imitation poured artworks with an accuracy of 98.9%. The machine also uses the multi-scaled tiles to generate novel visual aids and interpretational parameters which together facilitate comparisons between the machine’s results and traditional investigations of Pollock’s artistic style.