Young children's sensitivity and responsiveness to mothers' needs were investigated under conditions of high and low parenting risk (depressed and nondepressed mothers, SADS-L). Child characteristics of gender, affect, and impulse control problems and the mother-child attachment relationship were examined as they related to children's caring actions. Children's caring behavior was observed in an experimental situation in which their mothers simulated sadness and in a naturalistic setting. Attachment alone and child's problems alone were not predictors, and maternal diagnosis alone was not a strong predictor. Girls were significantly more caring than boys. Severe maternal depression was necessary to bring out high levels of responding in boys. Highest frequencies of caring were from children with severely depressed mothers, problems of affect regulation, and secure attachment. The importance of recognizing interacting influences and diverse underlying processes in the development of children's caring behavior is discussed.

Microcantilevers have been recently revealed as highly effective sensing platforms for gas detection at trace level. However, one of the main limitations hindering their widespread deployment for commercial applications is related to the complexity of the read-out systems. A portable low-power electronic interface capable of creating the excitation signal as well as obtaining the response values of resonating Si microcantilevers functionalized with zeolite based coatings has been developed in this work. The accuracy and reliability of the electronic interface have been assessed by comparison with commercial lock-in amplifier´s measurements. The prototype performance has been validated for 2-nitrotoluene (o-MNT) detection at ppm level, as an example of an explosive-related molecule. Theoretical limit of detection (LOD) values below 100 ppb have been obtained for Co exchanged BEA modified microcantilevers.

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