Portrayal or Betrayal: Heteronormativity and the Realism Burden in the 2022 Disney+ Pride Collection.

The presence and quality of LGBTQ+ representation in film and television has important implications for viewers, especially LGBTQ+ youth. This study conducted a content analysis of the 2022 Disney+ Pride Collection, a list of movies and episodes designated by Disney as including LGBTQ+ characters and stories. This analysis examined the depiction of LGBTQ+ fictional characters, finding that Black LGBTQ+ characters were more likely to be presented as adults and in romantic relationships compared to characters of other races, suggesting that their intersecting identities influence their portrayal toward more heteronormative scripts. In what we argue is a heteronormative evolution of the butch/femme binary, lesbian characters were frequently presented on a light/dark binary. Further, in what we describe as a "realism burden," portrayals of discrimination and LGBTQ+ identity labeling were limited to realistic fiction and adult media, and were absent from the post-gay worlds of sci-fi and fantasy.

Advances and challenges in ecological connectivity science.

Maintaining and restoring ecological connectivity will be key in helping to prevent and reverse the loss of biodiversity. Fortunately, a growing body of research conducted over the last few decades has advanced our understanding of connectivity science, which will help inform evidence-based connectivity conservation actions. Increases in data availability and computing capacity have helped to dramatically increase our ability to model functional connectivity using more sophisticated models. Keeping track of these advances can be difficult, even for connectivity scientists and practitioners. In this article, we highlight some key advances from the past decade and outline many of the remaining challenges. We describe the efforts to increase the biological realism of connectivity models by, for example, isolating movement behaviors, population parameters, directional movements, and the effects of climate change. We also discuss considerations of when to model connectivity for focal or multiple species. Finally, we reflect on how to account for uncertainty and increase the transparency and reproducibility of connectivity research and discuss situations where decisions may require forgoing sophistication for more simple approaches.

Which is more effective? Porcine tendon or 3D- printed flexor tendon? A study of model realism and educational utility in a flexor tendon repair workshop.

Introduction: Animal models in orthopaedic surgical training have raised concerns about ethics and availability, prompting the search for non-animal alternatives. The 3D-printed silicone tendon model has emerged as a potential alternative due to its hygiene and reusability. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the two models for flexor tendon repair training. Materials and methods: A survey involved 25 postgraduate trainees with no prior experience in flexor tendon repair. Porcine tendon models and 3D-printed models were used, with participants evaluating accuracy, understanding of pulley systems, joint flexion, tissue feel, and model realism. Repairs were evaluated by experienced surgeons, and participants completed a survey. Results: Both models demonstrated satisfactory accuracy and realistic joint flexion. The porcine model scored higher in anatomical accuracy, while the 3D-printed model excelled in understanding pulley systems. The porcine model provided realistic tissue feel, while the 3D-printed model facilitated anatomy teaching. No significant difference was found in educational utility. The 3D-model was perceived as hygienic and odourless, whereas the porcine model offered better tendon handling. The 3D-model improved visualization of suture placement. Both models were equally accepted and recommended for training. Conclusion: The 3D-printed silicone tendon model is a cost-effective and reproducible alternative to porcine models in flexor tendon repair training. Although the 3D-printed model has limitations in mimicking human tendons, it was equally effective in teaching suturing techniques and improving repair skills. Combining the porcine model and 3D-printed model provides a comprehensive approach to flexor tendon repair training, addressing the limitations of each model and enhancing the educational experience.

Outdated and re-configured: Challenging linear conceptualizations of ageing through the case of revived obsolete technologies.

Taking as a starting point the conventional view of ageing as a linear process beginning in a youthful and productive stage but gradually deteriorating, this paper shifts the usual anthropocentric focal point towards technological artifacts which do not conform to this typical view. More specifically, three examples of technologies previously considered obsolete, but which have seen a revival in the last decade, are presented: the so-called dumbphones, analogue cameras, and vinyl players. Although very different at first glance, the three cases of these revived technologies show a similar evolution trajectory which breaks from the typical view of ageing in technological artifacts. Instead, they indicate how their revival does not simply entail a reconsideration of their initial value (such as it is often the case with antiques or heirlooms), but a transformation, hybridisation, and re-envisioned purpose. To this effect, the agential realism theory is applied to show how the revival of technological artifacts and practices once considered outdated attempts to dissolve binaries such as old/new, young/old, or slow/fast. Furthermore, such artifacts reveal trajectories of ageing that are unlike their human counterparts, but which can make way for new manners of articulating issues pertaining to ageing as a process in humans as well. The contribution of the paper lies in illustrating how adopting a non-linear view of ageing and fundamentally questioning its inherent binaries has the capacity to produce a much-needed nuanced view of ageing in humans, non-humans, and their sociomaterial entanglements.

Testing the sequence of successional processes in miniature ecosystems.

Dispersal, environmental filtering, and biotic interactions define the species inventory of local communities. Along successional gradients, these assembly processes are predicted to sequentially vary in their relative importance with dispersal as the dominating process early in succession, followed by environmental filtering and biotic interactions at later stages. While observational data from field studies supported this prediction, controlled experiments confirming a sequence of successional processes are still lacking. We designed miniature ecosystems to explicitly test these assumptions under controlled laboratory conditions. Our "Ecosystems on a Plate" (EsoaP) are 3D-printed customized microplates with 24 connected wells allowing us to track dispersal, niche filtering, and biotic interactions among bacteria and plants in time and space. Within EsoaPs, we created heterogeneous habitat landscapes by well-specific nutrient levels or by providing plant seedlings as mutualistic partners in a checkerboard pattern. Bacteria of a single strain were released in one well and subsequently distributed themselves within the plates. We measured the spatial distribution of bacterial abundances at two time points as a function of abiotic or biotic heterogeneity. Bacterial abundance distribution confirmed a shift from initial dispersal-dominated processes to later niche filtering and biotic interactions as more important processes. Our approach follows the principles of open science as the affordable availability of 3D printers as well as shared STL files makes EsoaPs disseminatable and accessible to all levels of society, facilitating future experimental research. IMPORTANCE: Hypotheses regarding the underlying processes of ecological successions have primarily emerged from and have been tested in observational studies, lacking substantial support through controlled experiments. The design of such experiments should focus on testing contemporary ecological theories at the intersection of community assembly and successional research. To achieve this, we developed and employed 3D-printed "Ecosystems on a Plate" (EsoaP) within controlled laboratory settings. EsoaPs surmount several limitations of nanoscale instruments that had hindered their application in ecologically meaningful research. By sharing 3D printing designs, experimental protocols, and data openly, we facilitate reproducibility of our experiments by researchers across diverse ecological disciplines. Moreover, our approach facilitates cost-effective replication of experiments, democratizing access to tools for ecological research, and thus holds the potential to serve as a model for future studies and educational purposes.

Temperature sum models in plant spring phenology studies: two commonly used methods have different fields of application.

In studies of plant spring phenology, temperature sum models are traditional tools. They are used to quantify plant development in terms of accumulation of temperature-dependent developmental units, such as Growing Degree Hours, GDHs. A key parameter in these models is the threshold (or base) temperature, Tthr, representing the lower thermal limit for the development to occur. The parameter can be either estimated when the model is fitted into the data or fixed a priori. Here we examine the limitations of both methods and identify fields of applications for each of them.

The Classical Stance: Dennett's Criterion in Wallacian quantum mechanics.

David Wallace's 'Dennett's Criterion' plays a key part in establishing realist claims about the existence of a multiverse emerging from the mathematical formalism of quantum physics, even after decoherence is fully appreciated. Although the philosophical preconditions of this criterion are not neutral, they are rarely explicitly addressed conceptually. I tease apart three: (I) a rejection of conceptual bridge laws even in cases of inhomogeneous reduction; (II) a reliance on the pragmatic notion of usefulness to highlight quasi-classical patterns, as seen in a decoherence basis, over others; and (III) a structural realist or 'functional realist' point of view that leads to individuating those patterns as real macroscopic objects at the coarse-grained level, as they are seen from the Classical Stance (analogous to Dennett's Intentional Stance). I conclude that the justification of Dennett's Criterion will be intimately tied up with the fate of strong forms of naturalism, and in particular that Wallacian quantum mechanics is a key case study for concretely evaluating his 'math-first' structural realism (Wallace 2022).

Conscious Causality, Observer-Observed Simultaneity, and the Problem of Time for Integrated Information Theory.

Without proven causal power, consciousness cannot be integrated with physics except as an epiphenomenon, hence the term 'hard problem'. Integrated Information Theory (IIT) side-steps the issue by stating that subjective experience must be identical to informational physical structures whose cause-and-effect power is greater than the sum of their parts. But the focus on spatially oriented structures rather than events in time introduces a deep conceptual flaw throughout its entire structure, including the measure of integrated information, known as Φ (phi). However, the problem can be corrected by incorporating the temporal feature of consciousness responsible for the hard problem, which can ultimately resolve it, namely, that experiencer and experienced are not separated in time but exist simultaneously. Simultaneous causation is not possible in physics, hence the hard problem, and yet it can be proven deductively that consciousness does have causal power because of this phenomenological simultaneity. Experiencing presence makes some facts logically possible that would otherwise be illogical. Bypassing the hard problem has caused much of the criticism that IIT has attracted, but by returning to its roots in complexity theory, it can repurpose its model to measure causal connections that are temporally rather than spatially related.

Pornographic Video Consumption and Partner Preference Among Chinese Male Sexual Minorities: The Moderating Role of Perceived Realism.

A growing body of research documents that the use of pornography is becoming more frequent among male sexual minorities. According to the sexual script acquisition, activation, application model of mediated sexual socialization (3AM), pornography can be considered a potential factor influencing an individual's partner preference. In addition, perceived realism could moderate the link between pornography consumption and partner preferences. This study explored the relationship between pornographic video consumption and partner preference among male sexual minorities and the moderating role of perceived realism. A total of 595 male sexual minorities aged 18 to 47 years (M = 21.70, SD = 3.83), including 82.9% gay men and 17.1% bisexual men, were enrolled in the study. Our results revealed the following: (1) The frequency of pornographic video consumption and male sexual minorities' preferences for appearance and sexual ability in partner selection were positively correlated (r = .06/.07, ps < .05). (2) When perceived realism was low, pornographic video consumption was not significantly associated with appearance and sexual ability preference. (3) Conversely, when perceived realism was high, pornographic video consumption was positively associated with appearance and sexual ability preference (ß = .17/.16, ps < .01). Findings highlight the mechanisms behind pornographic video consumption and partner preference in sexual minority males.

Experimentation in cosmology: Intervening on the whole universe.

There are many arguments against the possibility of experimenting on the whole universe. This system seems to be too big to be manipulated, it exists in only one exemplar and its evolution is a non-repeatable process. In this paper, I claim that we can nonetheless talk about experimentation in cosmology if we use Woodward's non-anthropocentric notion of intervention. However, Woodward and other interventionists argued that an intervention was necessarily an exogenous causal process and thus that no intervention on a closed system such as the universe was possible. I discuss their argument and I determine the conditions under which a consistent notion of endogenous intervention on the universe can be defined. Then, I show that there is at least one cosmic phenomenon satisfying these conditions: the photon decoupling. Finally, I draw some conclusions from this analysis regarding a realist approach of cosmology.

Emotional contextual effects of face perception: a test of the affective realism hypothesis.

Affective feelings naturally infuse individuals' perceptions, serving as valid windows onto the real world. The affective realism hypothesis further explains how these feelings work: as properties of individuals' perceptual experiences, these feelings influence perception. Notably, this hypothesis based on affective feelings with different valences has been substantiated, whereas the existing evidence is not compelling enough. Moreover, whether specific affective feelings can be experienced as properties of target perception remains unclear. Addressing these two issues deepens our understanding of the nature of emotional representation. Hence, we investigated the affective realism hypothesis based on affective feelings with different valences and specific emotions, comparing it with the affective misattribution hypothesis. In Experiment 1, we examined the effects of affective feelings with various valences on targets' perception through the AM (1a) and CFS paradigms (1b). In Experiment 2, we investigated the effects of affective feelings with anger, sadness, and disgust using similar methods. Results from Experiments 1a and 1b consistently indicated significant differences in valence ratings of neutral faces under emotional contexts with varying valences. Experiment 2a revealed significant differences in specific emotion ratings of neutral faces under different specific emotional contexts in the AM paradigm, whereas such differences were not observed in the CFS paradigm in Experiment 2b. We concluded that affective feelings with different valences, rather than specific emotions, can be experienced as inherent properties of target perception, validating the affective realism hypothesis. These findings supported the view that the nature of emotional representation should be described as affective dimensions.

What if Hitler had won WWII and met Kennedy in 1964? Perception and evaluation of counterfactual historical fiction.

Introduction: This study investigates the cognitive processing and perception of counterfactual historical fiction and its effects on readers' receptivity to fascism, superstitious beliefs, and satisfaction with the present state of politics. Counterfactual historical fiction presents alternative realities where history diverges from the official historiography, such as in Robert Harris' novel Fatherland, which depicts a counterfactual world where Hitler won WWII. It was hypothesized that reading this genre incurs additional cognitive costs and is perceived with less realism and more aesthetic appreciation compared to historical fiction. Methods: Seventy-four subjects were divided into two groups and presented with two versions of paragraphs from Fatherland. An experimental group read the original version, describing a counterfactual reality where Hitler is still alive in 1964 (counterfactual historical fiction). A control group read a manipulated version, where events are made plausible by being backdated to 1941 (historical fiction). The study employed a triangulation of methods, utilizing online eye tracking and self-report questionnaires with 7-point Likert scale measurements. Results: The results indicate that counterfactual historical fiction is associated with increased cognitive demands at the first point of divergence, i.e., the first linguistic cue indicating counterfactuality. This genre also induced less perceived realism of history (factuality) and more surprise. Both versions of the text impacted readers by decreasing agreement with fascism, reducing superstitious beliefs, and enhancing their positive evaluation of the current political situation. Discussion: The study reveals the cognitive processing of counterfactual historical fiction, highlighting the need for revising current theoretical assumptions. Additionally, the positive impact on readers' attitudes and beliefs may underscore literature's potential role in fostering critical thinking, pro-social behavior, and satisfaction. Further research is suggested for subsequent empirical validation.

Interfacing consciousness.

The current stage of consciousness science has reached an impasse. We blame the physicalist worldview for this and propose a new perspective to make progress on the problems of consciousness. Our perspective is rooted in the theory of conscious agents. We thereby stress the fundamentality of consciousness outside of spacetime, the importance of agency, and the mathematical character of the theory. For conscious agent theory (CAT) to achieve the status of a robust scientific framework, it needs to be integrated with a good explanation of perception and cognition. We argue that this role is played by the interface theory of perception (ITP), an evolutionary-based model of perception that has been previously formulated and defended by the authors. We are specifically interested in what this tells us about the possibility of AI consciousness and conclude with a somewhat counter-intuitive proposal: we live inside a simulation instantiated, not digitally, but in consciousness. Such a simulation is just an interface representation of the dynamics of conscious agents for a conscious agent. This paves the way for employing AI in consciousness science through customizing our interface.

What Is a Disease for Doctors? A Realist Thematic Qualitative Analysis of the Interpretation of Clinical Vignettes.

Given the long-standing debate about the nature of the concept of disease, the objective of this study was to understand how doctors categorize a condition as a disease or not, and what the kind of information they use is. A survey with a set of eighteen clinical vignettes was designed, and nineteen physicians and senior students purposefully selected were asked to interpret those situations as diseases or not and to produce an anonymous short written piece of text providing the motivation of their choice. Realist thematic analysis was used to analyse the answers, and four themes emerged: the temporal dimension of a disease, reification of disease, disease as an existential condition, and disease as a motivation to action. The respondents' interpretations were very heterogeneous, supporting the idea that physicians do not share a common prototypical concept of disease. The results suggested that the interpretation of a condition as a disease or not is the final outcome of a process, in which information from objective, subjective, and socially mediated elements is taken into consideration. According to a critical realist and systemic approach, we hypothesize that the context of doctor-patient relationship could influence the interpretation of the same condition as being a disease or not.

Realistic About Reference Production: Testing the Effects of Domain Size and Saturation.

Experiments on visually grounded, definite reference production often manipulate simple visual scenes in the form of grids filled with objects, for example, to test how speakers are affected by the number of objects that are visible. Regarding the latter, it was found that speech onset times increase along with domain size, at least when speakers refer to nonsalient target objects that do not pop out of the visual domain. This finding suggests that even in the case of many distractors, speakers perform object-by-object scans of the visual scene. The current study investigates whether this systematic processing strategy can be explained by the simplified nature of the scenes that were used, and if different strategies can be identified for photo-realistic visual scenes. In doing so, we conducted a preregistered experiment that manipulated domain size and saturation; replicated the measures of speech onset times; and recorded eye movements to measure speakers' viewing strategies more directly. Using controlled photo-realistic scenes, we find (1) that speech onset times increase linearly as more distractors are present; (2) that larger domains elicit relatively fewer fixation switches back and forth between the target and its distractors, mainly before speech onset; and (3) that speakers fixate the target relatively less often in larger domains, mainly after speech onset. We conclude that careful object-by-object scans remain the dominant strategy in our photo-realistic scenes, to a limited extent combined with low-level saliency mechanisms. A relevant direction for future research would be to employ less controlled photo-realistic stimuli that do allow for interpretation based on context.

Impaired inhibitory control when processing real but not cartoon emotional faces in autistic children: Evidence from an event-related potential study.

Impaired socioemotional functioning characterizes autistic children, but does weak inhibition control underlie their socioemotional difficulty? This study addressed this question by examining whether and, if so, how inhibition control is affected by face realism and emotional valence in school-age autistic and neurotypical children. Fifty-two autistic and 52 age-matched neurotypical controls aged 10-12 years completed real and cartoon emotional face Go/Nogo tasks while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. The analyses of inhibition-emotion components (i.e., N2, P3, and LPP) and a face-specific N170 revealed that autistic children elicited greater N2 while inhibiting Nogo trials and greater P3/LPP and late LPP for real but not cartoon emotional faces. Moreover, autistic children exhibited a reduced N170 to real face emotions only. Furthermore, correlation results showed that better behavioral inhibition and emotion recognition in autistic children were associated with a reduced N170. These findings suggest that neural mechanisms of inhibitory control in autistic children are less efficient and more disrupted during real face processing, which may affect their age-appropriate socio-emotional development.

Training as imagined? A critical realist analysis of Scotland's internal medicine simulation programme.

BACKGROUND: Evaluating the impact of simulation-based education (SBE) has prioritised demonstrating a causal link to improved patient outcomes. Recent calls herald a move away from looking for causation to understanding 'what else happened'. Inspired by Shorrock's varieties of human work from patient safety literature, this study draws on the concept of work-as-done versus work-as-imagined. Applying this to SBE recognises that some training impacts will be unexpected, and the realities of training will never be quite as imagined. This study takes a critical realist stance to explore the experience and consequences, intended and unintended, of the internal medicine training (IMT) simulation programme in Scotland, to better understand 'training-as-done'. METHODS: Critical realism accepts that there is a reality to uncover but acknowledges that our knowledge of reality is inevitably our construction and cannot be truly objective. The IMT simulation programme involves three courses over a 3-year period: a 3-day boot camp, a skills day and a 2-day registrar-ready course. Following ethical approval, interviews were conducted with trainees who had completed all courses, as well as faculty and stakeholders both immersed in and distant from course delivery. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using critical realist analysis, influenced by Shorrock's proxies for work-as-done. RESULTS: Between July and December 2023, 24 interviews were conducted with ten trainees, eight faculty members and six stakeholders. Data described proxies for training-as-done within three broad categories: design, experience and impact. Proxies for training design included training-as-prescribed, training-as-desired and training-as-prioritised which compete to produce training-as-standardised. Experience included training-as-anticipated with pre-simulation anxiety and training-as-unintended with the valued opportunity for social comparison as well as a sense of identity and social cohesion. The impact reached beyond the individual trainee with faculty development and inspiration for other training ventures. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight unintended consequences of SBE such as social comparison and feeling 'valued as a trainee, valued as a person'. It sheds light on the fear of simulation, reinforcing the importance of psychological safety. A critical realist approach illuminated the 'bigger picture', revealing insights and underlying mechanisms that allow this study to present a new framework for conceptualising training evaluation.

Emotionality in Transboundary Water: A Case Study of Helmand River.

While a substantial body of literature perceives rationality as the only path for negotiations over the use of the transboundary shared watercourse, recent scholarship has unveiled the role of emotion in decision-making processes over the use of the shared water. This research aims to challenge the conventional approach-rationality-by exploring affective dynamics of the riparian nations of the Helmand River (shared between upstream Afghanistan and downstream Iran) and how decisions over the use of the shared Helmand River are ingrained in the emotional dispositions of the riparian nations. Taking an integrated approach combining emotional political ecology and neoclassical realism, this research unravels the intricate emotional dynamics of the riparian nations to the flow of the Helmand River. The staggering increase in water withdrawal-both surface and groundwater resources- coupled with the population growth, and adverse effects of climate changes has stimulated the negative emotional dispositions of the borderland communities- the sufferings of farming communities due to lack of access to water-resulting in water conflict escalation in the Helmand River Basin. Finally, it is asserted that negotiations over the use of Helmand River are considered to be ill-equipped unless emotionality and rationality-a pluralistic approach- are equally weighed or gauged in water allocation and utilization by the co-riparian nations.

A systematic review of the mechanisms influencing engagement in diabetes prevention programmes for people with pre-diabetes.

AIMS: To identify barriers and enablers that influence engagement in and acceptability of diabetes prevention programmes for people with pre-diabetes. The results will provide insights for developing strategies and recommendations to improve design and delivery of diabetes prevention programmes with enhanced engagement and acceptability for people with pre-diabetes. METHODS: This review used a critical realist approach to examine context and mechanisms of diabetes prevention programmes. Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, Cinahl, Web of Science, Scopus and Pre-Medline were searched for English language studies published between 2000 and 2023. A quality assessment was conducted using Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools. RESULTS: A total of 90 papers met inclusion criteria. The included studies used a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Data extracted focused on barriers and enablers to engagement in and acceptability of diabetes prevention programmes, with seven key mechanisms identified. These included financial, environmental, personal, healthcare, social and cultural, demographic and programme mechanisms. Findings highlighted diverse factors that influenced engagement in preventive programmes and the importance of considering these factors when planning, developing and implementing future diabetes prevention programmes. CONCLUSIONS: Mechanisms identified in this review can inform design and development of diabetes prevention programmes for people with pre-diabetes and provide guidance for healthcare professionals and policymakers. This will facilitate increased participation and engagement in preventive programmes, potentially reducing progression and/or incidence of pre-diabetes to type 2 diabetes and improving health outcomes.

The Case for Heterogeneity in Metacognitive Appraisals of Biased Beliefs.

ACADEMIC ABSTRACT: Prominent theories of belief and metacognition make different predictions about how people evaluate their biased beliefs. These predictions reflect different assumptions about (a) people's conscious belief regulation goals and (b) the mechanisms and constraints underlying belief change. I argue that people exhibit heterogeneity in how they evaluate their biased beliefs. Sometimes people are blind to their biases, sometimes people acknowledge and condone them, and sometimes people resent them. The observation that people adopt a variety of "metacognitive positions" toward their beliefs provides insight into people's belief regulation goals as well as insight into way that belief formation is free and constrained. The way that people relate to their beliefs illuminates why they hold those beliefs. Identifying how someone thinks about their belief is useful for changing their mind. PUBLIC ABSTRACT: The same belief can be alternatively thought of as rational, careful, unfortunate, or an act of faith. These beliefs about one's beliefs are called "metacognitive positions." I review evidence that people hold at least four different metacognitive positions. For each position, I discuss what kinds of cognitive processes generated belief and what role people's values and preferences played in belief formation. We can learn a lot about someone's belief based on how they relate to that belief. Learning how someone relates to their belief is useful for identifying the best ways to try to change their mind.