Tryptophan is one of the few amino acids that is intrinsically photoluminescent. This is because its side chain consists of indole. Indole’s photoluminescence has both fluorescence (emits for nanoseconds) and phosphorescence (emits for microseconds). Fluorescence emission comes from a singlet to singlet transition, while phosphorescence from a forbidden triplet to singlet transition. Taking advantage of tryptophan’s intrinsic emission, we can use it as a label-free probe for protein dynamics. For some of these dynamics, such as myosin binding to actin, the fluorescence lifetime of nanoseconds is too fast to monitor changes. The phosphorescence lifetime is much better suited to monitor these changes of large biomolecule interactions. Before any binding studies are developed, we have characterized the basic properties of indole’s phosphorescent properties. We began by embedding indole (as well as 5 – bromoindole) in a polymer matrix (PVA) to immobilize and thus increase the phosphorescence at room temperature. We discovered that using a longer wavelength of excitation (405 nm instead of 290 nm) we excite directly from the singlet state to the triplet state of indole, a typically forbidden process. This populates the triplet state without any transitions to the singlet state. This allows the polarization of phosphorescence emission to be preserved, and anisotropy measurements can be used to monitor biomolecular processes.

In a virus study, the inoculum dose is the initial amount of virus used. It is correlated to the initial
amount of cells that become infected at the start of the study and thereby also correlated with the
amount of virus that will be produced by infected cells at the beginning of that study. Those virus spread
through a body in two known ways: cell free transmission and cell to cell transmission. While previous
research has investigated viruses based on free cell transmission, few models have incorporated cell to
cell transmission leading to unclear results and bias to certain variables. This research accounts for both
modes of transmission, using an agent-based framework, and varies the initial amount of virus, to
understand how inoculum dose affects the two transmission modes. Utilizing parallel processing, the
model represents virus infection and spread in a two-dimensional layer of cells in order to generate total
virus over time graphs for corresponding initial amount of virus. This project demonstrates how a
combination of agent-based models and parallel processing can allow researchers to perform the rapid
and large simulations necessary for viral dynamics research efficiently and affordably.

In order to calculate the ground and excited states of a perturbed harmonic oscillator, we use computer codes developed from the results of coupled cluster techniques. More specifically, we have implemented a diagrammatic approach in order to efficiently derive cluster amplitude and energy equations, along with iterative Bogoliubov transformations in order to improve the accuracy of computed energies. Such Bogoliubov transformations improve the zeroth order Hamiltonian, which is shown for a quadratic and quartic perturbation. These results are then compared to exact results obtained from numerical integration of the Schrödinger equation, though we note that numerical integration cannot be performed for more complex systems of coupled harmonic oscillators under perturbation. Explicit coupled cluster equations are also presented for such coupled systems subjected to similar perturbations.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a common, contagious infection of the lungs and the respiratory tract. Syncytia are multinuclear cells that have fused together. It is so common that it effects all ages, but most people have experienced RSV by age two. Symptoms typically present similar to the common cold, with minimal effects and are easily treatable. RSV can, however, have detrimental effects on young children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems. As an individual infected cell can produce virus, so can syncytia cells. But, because of experimental limitations, it is difficult to measure characteristics such as viral production and lifespan of the syncytia cells. We will use mathematical models to study how different assumptions about the viral production and lifespan of syncytia change the resulting infection to determine whether less direct measurements can be used to determine syncytia viral production rates and lifespans.

DNA biomarkers are of growing significance for the personalized medicine, with applications including diagnosis, prognosis, and determination of targeted therapies. However, even unicellular organisms can represent a heterogenous system on a molecular level. Improving the detection limits for low DNA concentrations will allow for better decision making, e.g., in clinical medicine, research endeavors, and human identification in forensic investigations where frequently only a minute amount of evidence material is available.
The first step for DNA collection is typically collecting specimen by specialized medical swabs. Medical swabs come in all different materials, shapes and sizes. They are not the same, but they are often used interchangeably. For DNA testing swabs can be used in buccal and surface swabbing for DNA. Then the swab with DNA on it is sent for analysis. A common analysis technique is using fluorescence. But what if the swab itself has some fluorescence? Do different types of swabs have different fluorescence? We want to test the inherent fluorescence of a variety of different types and brands of medical swabs to determine the kind with the best properties for highly sensitive DNA detection. If the swab’s fluorescence is short-lived, we expect that we will be able to separate out the swab’s signal from the DNA’s signal by using long-lived dyes and our novel multipulse excitation scheme.

With the advent of graphene, there has been an interest in utilizing this material and its derivative, graphene oxide (GO) for novel applications in nanodevices such as bio and gas sensors, solid state supercapacitors and solar cells. Although GO exhibits lower conductivity and structural stability, it possesses an energy band gap that enables fluorescence emission in the visible/near infrared leading to a plethora of optoelectronic applications. In order to allow fine-tuning of its optical properties in the device geometry, new physical techniques are required that unlike existing chemical approaches yield substantial alteration of GO structure. Such desired new technique is one that is electronically-controlled and lead to reversible changes in GO optoelectronic properties. In this work, we for the first time investigate the methods to controllably alter the optical response of GO with the electric field and provide theoretical modelling of the electric field-induced changes. Field-dependent GO emission is studied in bulk GO/PVP films with up to 6% reversible decrease under 1.6 V/µm electric fields. On an individual flake level, a more substantial over 50% quenching is achieved for select GO flakes in polymeric matrix between interdigitated microelectrodes subject to two orders of magnitude higher fields. This effect is modelled on a single exciton level by utilizing WKB approximation for electron escape form the exciton potential well. In an aqueous suspension at low fields GO flakes exhibit electrophoretic migration indicating a degree of charge separation and a possibility of manipulating GO materials on a single-flake level to assemble electric field-controlled microelectronics. As a result of this work, we suggest the potential of varying the optical and electronic properties of GO via the electric field for the advancement and control over its optoelectronic device applications.

Rhinovirus is the most prevalent virus in humans and is often the cause of the common cold. Modeling the dynamics of rhinovirus can allow us to observe important aspects of the virus including the general growth of the virus, the remaining target cells, the number of cells in the eclipse phase, and the number of infected cells. Following that, we can attempt to estimate parameters such as how much virus an infected cell produces or how long it takes an infected cell to start producing virus. We can use a method called Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) to try and gain more accurate estimates of those parameter based off observed data. Modeling rhinovirus will give us deeper insight into the workings of rhinovirus and allow us to try better and more accurate models of the virus.

Non-invasive temperature sensing is necessary for the analysis of biological processes occurring in the human body including cellular enzyme activity, protein expression, and ion regulation. Considering that a variety of such biological processes occur at the microscopic scale, a mechanism allowing for the detection of the temperature changes in microscopic environments is desired. Although several such techniques have been developed involving nanomaterials, there is still a need in deterministic non-invasive biocompatible approach allowing for temperature measurements both outside the cells and in the intracellular compartments. Here we develop a novel approach utilizing graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as agents for such detection. Because of their small 2-5 nm size, non-invasive optical sensitivity to temperature change and high biocompatibility, GQDs enable biologically safe sub-cellular resolution imaging. Both bottom-up synthesized nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots and quantum dots produced from reduced graphene oxide via top-down approach in this work exhibit temperature-induced fluorescence variations used as sensing mechanism. Distinctive quenching of quantum dot fluorescence by up to 19.8 % is observed, in a temperature range from 25℃ to 49℃, in aqueous solution, while the intensity is restored to the original values as the temperature decreases back to 25℃. A similar trend is observed in vitro in HeLa cells as the cellular temperature is increased from 25℃ to 41℃. Our findings suggest that the temperature-dependent fluorescence quenching of bottom-up and top-down-synthesized graphene quantum dots can serve as non-invasive reversible deterministic mechanism for temperature sensing in microscopic sub-cellular biological environments.

Star clusters are key age-dateable tracers of the chemical history of the Milky Way. Star clusters can provide significant constraints on galaxy chemical evolution models. The large discrepancies between different small studies limit the accuracy of these constraints, so a large uniform study is needed. To create a large uniform sample, we observed stars in 63 clusters with the same telescope. We then determined the chemical makeup of these stars using a machine learning tool called The Cannon. Using this sample, we examine the change in chemical abundance over the radius of our galaxy.

Nano- and microcrystalline ZnO is a low-cost material, employed in many applications due to its optoelectronic, structural and chemical properties as well as a great variety of synthesis methods. Among these applications, antibacterial action of ZnO is a budding field of interdisciplinary research. Despite numerous studies of this antibacterial action, the physical and chemical mechanisms behind it are still largely not understood. In particular, the influence of the crystal surface morphology and surface-surface interactions between the bacteria and ZnO are largely unknown. Hexagonal (wurtzite) ZnO crystals terminate with three different types of crystallographic surfaces: charged polar hexagonal (Zn or O), electrically neutral nonpolar rectangular and partially polar pyramidal slanted. In our studies we employ a hydrothermal growth procedure to synthesize nanocrystals and microcrystals of ZnO with tunable morphology to investigate the influence of surface types on interactions with bacteria as well as surface charge dynamics. To quantify the antibacterial action we employ minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assays of staphylococcus aureus with hydrothermally-grown ZnO microcrystals. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to characterize the morphology of the as-grown ZnO specimens as well as the organization of these particles after their interactions with bacteria. To characterize electronic structure and dominant charge transport mechanisms at ZnO surfaces we performed photovoltage (SPV) experiments. Our results confirm that antibacterial action is a result of ZnO surface interactions with extracellular material, whereas internalization of ZnO particles (happening in the case of nanoscale ZnO) is not necessary for inhibition. We also report that the electronic transitions at the surface of the ZnO particles are consistent the theoretically predicted electronic structure of ZnO, with the spectral signatures of surface states which could be the source of the antimicrobial action.

Reportedly, hydrophobic surfaces of polysulfone (PSu) thin films become hydrophilic following exposure to UV radiation and it can affect PSu novel applications in microfluidics and biophysics. Fundamental mechanisms behind this effect remain unknown. To elucidate them, in our work we study surface charge transport employing surface photovoltage (SPV) on thin PSu polysulfone films spin-cast on silicon substrates. Since exposure of PSu even to an ambient UV light could affect the surface properties we ran SPV spectroscopy as well as SPV transient experiments on both as-received samples fabricated in darkness and UV-irradiated films of varying and controllable thicknesses. We report on the comparison of the SPV response in the as-deposited and UV-irradiated polysulfone samples.

Modern astronomical catalogs consist of up to billions of stars and measure various properties of these objects. There have been recent data releases from two of these surveys, GAIA which measures positions and distances, and APOGEE which measures radial velocities and stellar physical properties. By combining these datasets we have the full 6D phase space information for each star and can compute orbital characteristics and kinematics properties. APOGEE targeted specific stellar populations in our Milky Way and determined some of their physical properties. By cross matching with GAIA, we are able to fully describe the orbits of these populations and look for potential new members that have the same physical and kinematic properties but are not located in the immediate vicinity. We will present kinematic properties of the full cross matched dataset as well as information on the targeted stellar populations of the Milky Way.

Metal nanoparticles on a substrate have gained significant attention in recent years as novel systems for new generations of catalysts. Among other metals, iron attracts constant attention due to its low cost. Iron possess either the body-centered cubic (bcc) or the face-centered cubic (fcc) structure. Up to 917 °C, iron exists in its α-form (α-Fe) with the thermodynamically bcc lattice. At 917 °C, α-Fe transforms into the fcc lattice, and this allotrope is termed as γ-iron (γ-Fe) (austenite) with diamagnetic properties. According to the iron-carbon phase diagram, γ-Fe can incorporate up to 2.03% carbon. Lowering the temperature below 917 °C, carbon atoms diffuse out of the structure, and γ-Fe turns back to α-Fe. Up to now, γ-Fe could not be stabilized without such impurities as Mn, Cr, Ni at room temperature. We have obtained of iron nanoparticles with the face-centered cubic structure with diameters of up to 200 nm without impurities on the substrate of graphene oxide by thermal annealing in an inert gas. In our work we show that phases formation of iron depends on the temperature of annealing. At the annealing temperature from 300 ºC through 600 ºC only iron oxides are formed. We established the unexpected formation of the γ-phase already at 700°C by X-Ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy. These methods clearly identify the stability of the γ-phase at room temperature. The rather low transition temperature of α-Fe to γ-Fe already starting at 700 °C suggests that the mechanism for the transformation is different from that observed for bulk iron. The maximum γ-iron nanoparticles content on the substrate of graphene oxide was fixed at an annealing temperature of 950 °C.

Habituation occurs when responding to a stimulus decreases with repeated exposure. This decrease can be seen in an array of behaviors, including wheel running. In this experiment, rats ran in four different contexts (i.e., running wheels with different backgrounds/scents) for 30 minutes every day. One group ran in the same context daily while the other alternated between contexts. Rats running in different contexts should habituate less and run more consistently and at a higher rate. By increasing our understanding of the influence of habituation on exercise, results will have important implications for those wanting to maintain interest in an exercise routine.

Abstract SRS: Effects of Cross-Situational Generalization on Memory and Attitude Polarization Toward Social Groups

Serena Avitia, Akua Jonah, & Kaleigh Decker

When people generalize about others, they go beyond the information they are given and infer a level of cross-situational consistency that may polarize their attitudes. The current study investigates how cross-situational generalizations about a group’s traits can affect subsequent attitudes and memory. We predicted that participants who generalized about a fictitious groups behavior across various settings will rate the likelihood of cross-situational trait consistency as significantly higher than the scale mid-point, and report more negative attitudes toward the group than participants who reviewed the initial information they were given. Generalizers will also write paragraphs that more depict group members as displaying the original traits in general rather than only in the given situations, mistakenly recall and recognize some of the situations they rated as part of the initial information, and mistakenly report that their reported attitudes (after they generalized) were the same as their impressions immediately after reading the initial information. The predicted results will increase our understanding of the processes by which attitudes toward an entire group can polarize without any additional information.

Past research suggests that conditions of scarcity increase the intensity of female same-sex competition. As such, cues to resource scarcity (vs. abundance) might lead women to perceive greater competitive tendencies in their same- (vs. opposite-) sex peers. This prediction was examined across three studies. Across all studies, the opposite pattern of results emerged. Study 1 demonstrated that women perceived higher levels of competitive interactions to occur amongst female (as compared to male and mixed-sex) target groups in environments where resources were abundant. In Study 2, women who perceived resources to be widely available evaluated same-sex others as more competitive than opposite-sex others. Finally, Study 3 provided evidence that women who are led to believe that resources are abundant reported expecting more competitive behavior from their same- (vs. opposite-) sex peers. These results suggest that resource abundance might foster greater competition among women, which has implications for women’s workplace and interpersonal relationships.

Previous research in our lab has found that extrapolating from known to unknown attributes about a group can cause individuals to adopt more extreme attitudes (i.e., become self-radicalized) toward the group. This has been found to be particularly true when people extrapolate from known to unknown attributes about people who agree and disagree with them about a social issue. The current experiment aimed to extend our understanding of these processes by determining whether extrapolating about people who agree and disagree with the extrapolator about a social issue would also report greater self-radicalization toward the social issue in general. Our results revealed that participants who initially opposed kneeling during the national anthem reported more negative attitudes toward kneeling during the national anthem after extrapolating than did participants in the control condition. Conversely, participants who initially favored kneeling during the anthem reported more positive post-manipulation attitudes after extrapolating than did participants in the control condition. These results extend the understanding by which attitudes can become more extreme in the absence of new information.

In this exploratory, mixed methods project, we seek to understand how implementation of Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), a trauma-informed, evidence-based model of caregiving developed by TCU faculty, has shaped systems of care for vulnerable children and youth. The current study reports on the first year of implementation across nine child welfare organizations participating in a county-wide mental health collaborative. Data included monthly implementation process interviews conducted with representative staff of each agency [TBRI Implementation Strategy Use; n = 9 agencies], as well as survey data from a subset of agencies [TCU Survey of Organizational Functioning (SOF); n = 4 agencies]. The data sample reveals overall increases for TBRI strategy use during the first year of implementation. In addition, organizational functioning scores that were above the baseline mean of the sample yielded increased scores in strategy use. Future research suggests further analyzing the complexities of TBRI implementation across the large-scale collaborative.

Hope Connection 2.0 is a therapeutic camp developed by the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD) that utilizes Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®), a trauma-informed and attachment-based intervention, to meet the needs of adoptive families. To examine its effectiveness in meeting these needs, data from child and parent measures are collected from participating families during a one-year time period. The current study specifically examines the effectiveness of this intervention in decreasing aggression in adopted children and decreasing relational frustration between the parent and adopted children from pre- to post-camp. The results of this study indicate that both aggression and relational frustration significantly decreased after families participated in the intervention. Additionally, results suggest a significant positive correlation between aggression and relational frustration, suggesting the more a child exhibits aggression, the more relational frustration the parent(s) feels. Results of this study indicate the effectiveness of Hope Connection 2.0 in reducing aggression and frustration in adoptive families, demonstrating the potential benefit of this post-adoption intervention in meeting the needs of adoptive families. 

Institutional care can negatively impact a child's development, leading to developmental delays and emotional and behavioral problems. These issues can be treated through an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention, such as Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI). The government of Rwanda learned about the effects of institutional care and TBRI and aimed to improve its orphan care. In order to do this, they found families for every orphan and provided TBRI training for caregivers who adopted these children. In the current study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 volunteers who helped train and support these caregivers. A phenomenological approach was used to analyze the interviews. Results revealed five main themes: Rwandans took ownership of the need to care for orphans; they recognized the children's need for connection; they valued the role of family in a child's life; the utilized the power of community in making TBRI use successful; and the volunteers acted as mediators in the adoptive families. This study is the first to examine TBRI use internationally, and the results demonstrate the usefulness of Rwanda's model of orphan care with TBRI implementation that could be replicable in other settings.

Few studies have directly evaluated the assumption that equivalence-based instruction (EBI) establishes stimulus classes with greater efficiency than complete instruction (CI) of all possible stimulus relations within each class. The present study was identical to a previous study that failed to support this assumption, except that in the present study, mastery assessment was designed to favor the EBI condition over the CI condition. Forty-eight undergraduate students were assigned to one of four groups that received instruction on arbitrary stimulus relations. The EBI-CI group received EBI in Phase 1 and CI in Phase 2, and vice versa for the CI-EBI group. The EBI-EBI and CI-CI group received EBI and CI in both phases, respectively. In Phase 1, EBI-first groups received training on AB and BC relations and CI-first groups received training with all possible relations. After achieving mastery criterion, the ABC test included all possible trial types. In Phase 2, all groups received training to (a) add a fourth stimulus (D), and (b) add a fifth stimulus (E) to the class, using either EBI or CI. EBI took significantly fewer trials to complete than CI in both phases, but EBI in Phase 1 did not facilitate EBI in Phase 2. The results suggest the EBI arrangement used in this study may be more efficient than CI only because it permits faster learning assessment.

In academic environments, the ability to comprehend written text is critical for successful learning. In spite of the importance of this skill, few programs exist for improving comprehension, especially for typically-developing readers. Previous research demonstrated that cervical vagus nerve stimulation (cVNS) is a safe and effective method for driving neural plasticity. However, an invasive and expensive procedure is not practical for a reading intervention. Recent research has demonstrated that the auricular branch of the vagus nerve can be accessed non-invasively through transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) at the outer ear (Frangos, Ellrich, & Komisaruk, 2015). Recent work in our lab provides evidence that taVNS paired with training can improve novel letter-sound learning (Thakkar et al., under review). Thus, we hypothesized that pairing taVNS with reading would aid reading comprehension in typically-developing young adults. We recruited typically-developing young adult readers and verified reading ability using standard assessments. Eligible participants were randomly assigned to receive either active or sham stimulation to the posterior tragus of the left ear while reading passages and subsequently answering standard comprehension questions from the GORT-5 (Wiederholt & Bryant, 2012). Participants were scored on time spent reading, errors in reading, and comprehension. While data collection is ongoing, pilot data suggest a benefit of active stimulation on comprehension, as compared to those receiving sham stimulation. Implications of this work may suggest using taVNS as a novel intervention for reading comprehension, but further studies should extend the methods in a sample of struggling readers.

The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of three instructional conditions on emergent relations between visual stimuli. Participants were 75 college students who were randomly assigned to three groups. Participants in the standard group were trained to relate the visual stimuli they saw to text labels, referred to as tact training, prior to learning to relate pairs of text labels, referred to as intraverbal training. Participants in the reverse group received the intraverbal training before the tact training. The instructed visualization group received the same training sequence as the standard group but were given explicit instructions to visualize the images they learned during intraverbal training. The match-to-sample (MTS) testing format was used to evaluate the emergent relations between the visual stimuli. We predicted that the instructed visualization group would complete the MTS task faster and with higher accuracy than other groups because of their histories of visualizing the stimulus relations during the intraverbal training session. The results showed that the instructed visualization group had non-significantly faster reaction times during the MTS test compared to the standard and reverse groups but performed significantly more accurately (p< .001).

Title: Dyadic transfer of romantic nostalgia
Authors: Jordan Stables, Krissy Le, Julie A. Swets, & Cathy Cox

Problem: Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for the past, is associated with greater psychological outcomes, with recent work showing how nostalgia for the past of one’s romantic relationship may have benefits for the self (e.g., Mallory, Spencer, Kimmes, & Pollitt, 2018; Sedikides & Wildschut, 2018). Specifically, individuals who are more nostalgic are likely to claim higher satisfaction in their romantic partnerships. However, it is not yet known whether sharing these nostalgic thoughts can benefit the other partner and the relationship. The goal of the current study is to reveal that sharing relationship-oriented nostalgia will result in beneficial well-being effects that are comparable to those created by individual nostalgia.
Method: We recruited 146 romantic couples from a local university to participate. One member of each romantic relationship was randomly assigned either to write about a nostalgic experience they shared with their partner (relationship nostalgia), a personally nostalgic experience, or a control topic. Then they answered a variety of relationship questionnaires measuring relationship outcomes (e.g., relational self-esteem, optimism). At a later date, their partner (who was blind to their partner’s involvement in the study) read their written narrative and provided their own written response to what they read. Finally they responded to the same relationship measures. Additionally, Pennebaker, Booth, Boyd, and Francis’ (2017) Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) was used to content analyze the nostalgic essays based on affect, sociality, time perspective, and other pertinent themes.
Results: Analyses of variance were conducted to analyze the links between essay condition, nostalgia, and well-being outcomes. First, we found that the more nostalgic the writing partner was, the more nostalgic the reading partner was. Then using LIWC, we found that the relationship nostalgia essays were generally longer, more authentic, and included more first-person plural pronouns (e.g., we, us; demonstrating a stronger sense of interdependence in the essays). It was also found that reading a relationship-centered nostalgic narrative had a significantly positive effect on the readers’ positive mood, when compared to personally nostalgic experiences or control writings. These results also varied as a function of attachment avoidance and anxiety, which is consistent with past research (Abeyta, Routledge, Roylance, Wildschut, & Sedikides, 2015; Juhl, Sand, & Routledge, 2012).
Conclusions: This study has important implications for the analysis of shared nostalgic memories. We reveal that there are clear and immediate benefits for romantic relationships of engaging in and communicating shared nostalgia. This research also is foundational for exploring correlational and causal connections between shared romantic nostalgic reverie and its individual and relationship outcomes. Specifically, future work should explore additional mediating and moderating effects of the advantages of a shared sentiment for the past, as well as the duration of these positive effects.

Children who are adopted often experience early-life trauma, resulting in dysregulation and trauma-related emotional and behavioral problems. When these children are brought into adoptive homes, these trauma-related symptoms could negatively affect the attachment relationship by adversely impacting the parent’s perspective on the parent-child relationship. The current study examined the relationship between trauma symptoms in children who were adopted and the quality of the parent-child relationship within these families. Participants included adoptive families who were participating in a therapeutic camp intervention. The data analyzed was baseline data from a larger study prior to any intervention being done. Trauma symptoms of the adopted child, including anxiety, depression, anger, and post-traumatic stress arousal, were significantly correlated with parenting communication, confidence, and frustration. Specifically, the more trauma symptoms an adopted child exhibited, the poorer the quality of the parent-child relationship. Understanding this relationship and the bidirectional effects of trauma on adopted children and adoptive parents could result in better therapeutic interventions for families with adopted children, leading to better outcomes for both adopted children and adoptive parents.