Knowing who likes who: The early developmental basis of coalition understanding

Group biases based on broad category membership appear early in human development. However, like many other primates humans inhabit social worlds also characterised by small groups of social coalitions which are not demarcated by visible signs or social markers. A critical cognitive challenge for a young child is thus how to extract information concerning coalition structure when coalitions are dynamic and may lack stable and outwardly visible cues to membership. Therefore, the ability to decode behavioural cues of affiliations present in everyday social interactions between individuals would have conferred powerful selective advantages during our evolution. This would suggest that such an ability may emerge early in life, however, little research has investigated the developmental origins of such processing. The present paper will review recent empirical research which indicates that in the first 2 years of life infants achieve a host of social-cognitive abilities that make them well adapted to processing coalition-affiliations of others. We suggest that such an approach can be applied to better understand the origins of intergroup attitudes and biases. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

The expression and assessment of emotions and internal states in individuals with severe or profound intellectual disabilities

The expression of emotions and internal states by individuals with severe or profound intellectual disabilities is a comparatively under-researched area. Comprehensive or standardised methods of assessing or understanding the emotions and internal states within this population, whose ability to communicate is significantly compromised, do not exist. The literature base will be discussed and compared to that within the general population. Methods of assessing broader internal states, notably depression, anxiety, and pain within severe or profound intellectual disabilities are also addressed. Finally, this review will examine methods of assessing internal states within genetic syndromes, including hunger, social anxiety and happiness within Prader-Willi, Fragile-X and Angelman syndrome. This will then allow for the identification of robust methodologies used in assessing the expression of these internal states, some of which may be useful when considering how to assess emotions within individuals with intellectual disabilities

Soft computing applied to optimization, computer vision and medicine

Artificial intelligence has permeated almost every area of life in modern society, and its significance continues to grow. As a result, in recent years, Soft Computing has emerged as a powerful set of methodologies that propose innovative and robust solutions to a variety of complex problems. Soft Computing methods, because of their broad range of application, have the potential to significantly improve human living conditions. The motivation for the present research emerged from this background and possibility. This research aims to accomplish two main objectives: On the one hand, it endeavors to bridge the gap between Soft Computing techniques and their application to intricate problems. On the other hand, it explores the hypothetical benefits of Soft Computing methodologies as novel effective tools for such problems. This thesis synthesizes the results of extensive research on Soft Computing methods and their applications to optimization, Computer Vision, and medicine. This work is composed of several individual projects, which employ classical and new optimization algorithms. The manuscript presented here intends to provide an overview of the different aspects of Soft Computing methods in order to enable the reader to reach a global understanding of the field. Therefore, this document is assembled as a monograph that summarizes the outcomes of these projects across 12 chapters. The chapters are structured so that they can be read independently. The key focus of this work is the application and design of Soft Computing approaches for solving problems in the following: Block Matching, Pattern Detection, Thresholding, Corner Detection, Template Matching, Circle Detection, Color Segmentation, Leukocyte Detection, and Breast Thermogram Analysis. One of the outcomes presented in this thesis involves the development of two evolutionary approaches for global optimization. These were tested over complex benchmark datasets and showed promising results, thus opening the debate for future applications. Moreover, the applications for Computer Vision and medicine presented in this work have highlighted the utility of different Soft Computing methodologies in the solution of problems in such subjects. A milestone in this area is the translation of the Computer Vision and medical issues into optimization problems. Additionally, this work also strives to provide tools for combating public health issues by expanding the concepts to automated detection and diagnosis aid for pathologies such as Leukemia and breast cancer. The application of Soft Computing techniques in this field has attracted great interest worldwide due to the exponential growth of these diseases. Lastly, the use of Fuzzy Logic, Artificial Neural Networks, and Expert Systems in many everyday domestic appliances, such as washing machines, cookers, and refrigerators is now a reality. Many other industrial and commercial applications of Soft Computing have also been integrated into everyday use, and this is expected to increase within the next decade. Therefore, the research conducted here contributes an important piece for expanding these developments. The applications presented in this work are intended to serve as technological tools that can then be used in the development of new devices

Implementing Gameplay Skills to Increase Eye Contact and Communication for Students with Emotional Behavioral Disorder and Comorbid Disabilities

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of gameplay activities using a structured social skills program to increase both eye contact responses and the number of verbal responses during peer relationships for students with comorbid disabilities in a clinical setting. This SEL intervention was modified for children with comorbid autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and emotional and behavioral disorder (EBD). A single-subject, multiple-baseline, across-participants design was used. Participants included adolescents (n = 6) with comorbid disabilities, predominantly ASD and EBD, their board-certified behavior analysts (BCBA), and six behavior technicians. The researcher established and maintained face-to-face reciprocal peer social engagements (communication) and direct eye gaze (contact) with participants in dyad groups. Each session included a 60-minute video of peer social interactions. Direct observations, differential reinforcement of other behaviors (DRO), and pre- and post-Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSIS-RS) were examined. Evidence of SEL intervention effectiveness was measured by percentage of nonoverlapping data points (PND). Social validity was measured using the multiple-rater SSIS-RS and intervention fidelity checklists evaluating the Sanford Harmony intervention. Results from data and visual analysis revealed all participants significantly increased their direct eye contact, verbal reciprocity, and social engagements after implementing the Harmony program. In addition, a PND value of 100% was calculated for each dependent variable indicating the Harmony program was a highly effective intervention increasing eye contact, verbal reciprocity, and social engagements for students with EBD and comorbid disabilities

A Survey of Evolutionary Continuous Dynamic Optimization Over Two Decades:Part B

Many real-world optimization problems are dynamic. The field of dynamic optimization deals with such problems where the search space changes over time. In this two-part paper, we present a comprehensive survey of the research in evolutionary dynamic optimization for single-objective unconstrained continuous problems over the last two decades. In Part A of this survey, we propose a new taxonomy for the components of dynamic optimization algorithms, namely, convergence detection, change detection, explicit archiving, diversity control, and population division and management. In comparison to the existing taxonomies, the proposed taxonomy covers some additional important components, such as convergence detection and computational resource allocation. Moreover, we significantly expand and improve the classifications of diversity control and multi-population methods, which are under-represented in the existing taxonomies. We then provide detailed technical descriptions and analysis of different components according to the suggested taxonomy. Part B of this survey provides an indepth analysis of the most commonly used benchmark problems, performance analysis methods, static optimization algorithms used as the optimization components in the dynamic optimization algorithms, and dynamic real-world applications. Finally, several opportunities for future work are pointed out

Enforcing International Law: Implications for an Effective Global Warming Regime

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka den antibakteriella effekten hos ett polyestertyg med tunna invävda koppartrådar. Frågeställningen som skulle besvaras var ifall koppartyget hade en baktericid eller bakteristatisk effekt. Koppartyget är ännu i prototypstadie och om det visar sig ha antibakteriella egenskaper är det tänkt att användas inom klinisk verksamhet för att förhindra bakterietillväxt i sår och andra känsliga lokaler. Koppar är ett essentiellt spårämne, men har också antimikrobiella egenskaper som utövas genom ett brett spektra av mekanismer där skador på cellmembranet är en av de viktigare. Metoderna som användes för att inokulera bakterier på tyget var absorptionsmetoden, där en näringsbuljong innehållande Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 pipetterades på tygproverna, och transfermetoden där tygproverna trycktes mot en agar som racklats med peptonsaltlösning innehållande S. aureus. Totalantalet viabla bakterier per tygprov beräknades efter kort kontakt (<1min) och inkubering (18-24 h vid 37±2°C) genom att räkna viable count. Resultaten efter inkubering visade signifikant skillnad i totalantal bakterier mellan koppartyget och negativ kontroll i tre av fyra försök. Kort kontakt visade tendens till viss antibakteriell effekt. Slutsatsen är att koppartyget skadade och dödade bakterier då de fick inkubera på tyget, medan fler försök behövs för att säkerställa effekten av kort kontakt med koppartyget. The purpose of this study was to test the antibacterial effect of thin copper treads woven into a polyester fabric. The investigation was done by inoculation of Staphylococcus aureus strain ATCC 6538 to the fabric and evaluation of the number of viable cells post exposure by viable count. The issue to be answered was whether the copper fabric had a bactericide or bacteriostatic effect? The fabric is still in prototype stage, and if proven to have antibacterial properties the aim is to use it to prevent bacterial growth in wounds and other vulnerable locations in clinical care. Copper is an essential trace element, but also has antimicrobial properties through a wide range of mechanisms where cell membrane damage is one of the more important. Methods used for inoculation was the absorption method, where a nutrient broth containing S. aureus was pipetted on to the fabric specimens, and the transfer method where the fabric specimens were pressed onto an agar plate that had previously been spread with peptone salt solution containing S. aureus. Total number of bacteria per fabric specimen after short contact (<1 min) and incubation (18-24 h at 37±2°C) was calculated. Incubation showed significant difference in total number of bacteria between the copper fabric and negative control in three of four tests. Short contact showed a tendency of antibacterial effect. The conclusion was that the copper fabric harmed and killed bacteria during incubation but that more records would be needed to be sure about the effects of short contact on bacteria

The Patch-Levy-Based Bees Algorithm Applied to Dynamic Optimization Problems

Many real-world optimization problems are actually of dynamic nature. These problems change over time in terms of the objective function, decision variables, constraints, and so forth. Therefore, it is very important to study the performance of a metaheuristic algorithm in dynamic environments to assess the robustness of the algorithm to deal with real-word problems. In addition, it is important to adapt the existing metaheuristic algorithms to perform well in dynamic environments. This paper investigates a recently proposed version of Bees Algorithm, which is called Patch-Levy-based Bees Algorithm (PLBA), on solving dynamic problems, and adapts it to deal with such problems. The performance of the PLBA is compared with other BA versions and other state-of-the-art algorithms on a set of dynamic multimodal benchmark problems of different degrees of difficulties. The results of the experiments show that PLBA achieves better results than the other BA variants. The obtained results also indicate that PLBA significantly outperforms some of the other state-of-the-art algorithms and is competitive with others

Racism in Singapore: a review and recommendations for future research

Racism refers to ‘the differential treatment enacted by an individual, group, or organization on individuals based on assumptions of a group's phenotypic, linguistic, or cultural differences’ (Gamst, Liang, & Der-Karabetian, 2011, p. 251). Currently, there is a lack of psychological research investigating racism in Singapore. The available research, narrative reviews, qualitative studies, and quantitative studies have yielded limited and inconclusive results. These researches are critically evaluated to provide four recommendations for a psychological research agenda: (a) develop a reliable and valid instrument to assess racism, (b) conduct experimental research to examine racism perpetuated by the majority or institutions, (c) examine the negative effects of racism, and (d) develop and evaluate interventions for racism

Change blindness: eradication of gestalt strategies

Arrays of eight, texture-defined rectangles were used as stimuli in a one-shot change blindness (CB) task where there was a 50% chance that one rectangle would change orientation between two successive presentations separated by an interval. CB was eliminated by cueing the target rectangle in the first stimulus, reduced by cueing in the interval and unaffected by cueing in the second presentation. This supports the idea that a representation was formed that persisted through the interval before being 'overwritten' by the second presentation (Landman et al, 2003 Vision Research 43149–164]. Another possibility is that participants used some kind of grouping or Gestalt strategy. To test this we changed the spatial position of the rectangles in the second presentation by shifting them along imaginary spokes (by ±1 degree) emanating from the central fixation point. There was no significant difference seen in performance between this and the standard task [F(1,4)=2.565, p=0.185]. This may suggest two things: (i) Gestalt grouping is not used as a strategy in these tasks, and (ii) it gives further weight to the argument that objects may be stored and retrieved from a pre-attentional store during this task