Brief report : the level and nature of autistic intelligence revisited

Owing to higher performance on the Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM) than on the Wechsler Intelligence Scales (WIS), it has recently been argued that intelligence is underestimated in autism. This study examined RPM and WIS IQs in 48 individuals with autism, a mixed clinical (n = 28) and a neurotypical (n = 25) control group. Average RPM IQ was higher than WIS IQ only in the autism group, albeit to a much lesser degree than previously reported and only for individuals with WIS IQs <85. Consequently, and given the importance of reliable multidimensional IQ estimates in autism, the WIS are recommended as first choice IQ measure in high functioning individuals. Additional testing with the RPM might be required in the lower end of the spectrum

Avoiding the Common Wisdom Fallacy: The Role of Social Sciences in Constitutional Adjudication

More than one hundred years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court started to refer to social science evidence in its judgments. However, this has not resonated with many constitutional courts outside the United States, in particular in continental Europe. This contribution has a twofold aim. First, it tries to show that legal reasoning in constitutional law is often based on empirical assumptions so that there is a strong need for the use of social sciences. However, constitutional courts often lack the necessary expertise to deal with empirical questions. Therefore, I will discuss three potential strategies to make use of social science evidence. Judges can interpret social facts on their own, they can afford a margin of appreciation to the legislator, or they can defer the question to social science experts. It will be argued that none of these strategies is satisfactory so that courts will have to employ a combination of different strategies. In order to illustrate the argument, I will discuss decisions of different jurisdictions, including the United States, Canada, Germany and South Africa.proportionality, comparative law, Germany, Uncertainty, margin of appreciation, constitutional law, Canada, South Africa, social sciences, empiricism

New Directions in Philosophy of Medicine

The purpose of this chapter is to describe what we see as several important new directions for philosophy of medicine. This recent work (i) takes existing discussions in important and promising new directions, (ii) identifies areas that have not received sufficient and deserved attention to date, and/or (iii) brings together philosophy of medicine with other areas of philosophy (including bioethics, philosophy of psychiatry, and social epistemology). To this end, the next part focuses on what we call the “epistemological turn” in recent work in the philosophy of medicine; the third part addresses new developments in medical research that raise interesting questions for philosophy of medicine; the fourth part is a discussion of philosophical issues within the practice of diagnosis; the fifth part focuses on the recent developments in psychiatric classification and scientific and ethical issues therein, and the final part focuses on the objectivity of medical research

Integrated assessment of biological invasions

An assessment of the consequences of biological invasions and of the measures taken against must be at the base of each social decision in this field. Three forms of uncertainty can be distinguished that make such a decision difficult to take: (1) factual uncertainty, which encompasses not only risk, but also unknown probabilities of known consequences, and unknown consequences, (2) individual uncertainty, i.e. insecurity about the values to consider, and about the form how to consider them, and (3) social actor uncertainty, i.e. uncertainty about the social actors to consider and how to do it. This paper furnishes axiomatic reflections about the difficulties of assessments integrating these three uncertainties. Using this analytical separation, it restructures two main assessment techniques, and herewith shows the main differences between cost-benefit-analysis and multi-criteria decision aid in supporting public decisions about biological invasions. It is shown that the main difference between cost-benefit-analysis, the classical economic decision support, and multi-criteria decision analysis is less its mono- vs. multi-criteria approach, but its facility to be embedded in a social decision context. With multicriteria decision aid it is more facile to lay open the uncertainties in all three dimensions and to make them an explicit topic for public discourse. Therefore, it seems more suitable as an assessment method for biological invasions. --Biodiversity,Multi-criteria analysis,Uncertainty,Integrated Assessment,Biological Invasion,Cost-benefit analysis

Social Dilemmas, Revisited from a Heuristics Perspective

The standard tool for analysing social dilemmas is game theory. They are reconstructed as prisoner dilemma games. This is helpful for understanding the incentive structure. Yet this analysis is based on the classic homo oeconomicus assumptions. In many real world dilemma situations, these assumptions are misleading. A case in point is the contribution of households to climate change. Decisions about using cars instead of public transport, or about extensive air conditioning, are typically not based on ad hoc calculation. Rather, individuals rely on situational heuristics for the purpose. This paper does two things: it offers a model of heuristics, in the interest of making behaviour that is guided by heuristics comparable to behaviour based on rational reasoning. Based on this model, the paper determines the implications for the definition of social dilemmas. In some contexts, the social dilemma vanishes. In other contexts, it must be understood, and hence solved, in substantially different ways.Heuristic, Social Dilemma, Public Good, Prisoner’s Dilemma

Analyzing three different cognitive spheres (memory, reasoning and verbal ability) : an online psychometric battery for the assessment of covert hepatic encephalopathy in patients with cirrhosis

L'encéphalopathie hépatique (EH) est une complication neurocognitive débilitante de la cirrhose qui affecte la qualité de vie et augmente le risque de décès. L'EH est divisée en EH minimale, définie comme subclinique et HE manifeste, diagnostiquée avec des symptômes cliniques. Cette étude vise à effectuer une évaluation des troubles cognitifs chez les patients atteints de cirrhose en évaluant trois domaines cognitifs (mémoire, raisonnement et capacité verbale) et en interprétant les valeurs prédictives de ces tests pour identifier les patients à haut risque de développer leur premier épisode d'EH manifeste dans l'année. Cette étude longitudinale prospective a inclus des patients sans antécédent d'EH, recrutés à la clinique d'hépatologie du CHUM entre janvier et octobre 2021. Chaque patient a complété l'évaluation cognitive en ligne Cambridge Brain Sciences (CBS) au départ, composée de 12 tests neurocognitifs, qui prend 45 minutes. Les scores des patients ont été comparés aux normes CBS appariés pour l'âge, le sexe et les années d'éducation. Les scores moyens des patients (n=34, 61,7% hommes, âge moyen 60,7±8,5 ans) étaient inférieurs à la moyenne des normes dans tous les domaines cognitifs étudiés (p <0,05), ainsi que des scores inférieurs dans 11 des 12 tâches cognitives réalisées. Vingt-deux patients (65%) ont échoué à au moins un test. Jusqu'en janvier 2022, 3 patients ont développé une EH manifeste et 1 patient a terminé l'étude sans développer d'épisodes d'EH. Sur les questionnaires de suivi, tous les 3 ont signalé des troubles du sommeil, de l'attention et de la mémoire, avant l'épisode. De plus, ils avaient des scores inférieurs dans 8 des 12 tests cognitifs au départ. L'évaluation cognitive CBS en ligne est facile à utiliser et réalisable. Il semble être assez sensible car la plupart des patients ont obtenu de mauvais résultats par rapport aux normes. La valeur du CBS réside dans sa capacité à prédire l'EH manifeste chez une population de patients atteints de cirrhose, ce qui permettrait d'identifier les patients à risque nécessitant un traitement et de prévenir de futurs épisodes d'EH manifeste.Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a debilitating neurocognitive complication of cirrhosis that impacts quality of life and increases the risk of death. HE is divided into covert, defined as subclinical HE and overt HE, diagnosed with clinical symptoms. This study aims to perform a detailed assessment of cognitive impairment in patients with cirrhosis by evaluating three different cognitive domains (memory, reasoning and verbal ability) and interpreting the predictive values of these tests in identifying patients who are at high risk of developing their first episode of overt HE within one year. This prospective longitudinal study included patients with cirrhosis without a history of HE, recruited from the CHUM hepatology clinic between January to October 2021. Each patient completed the Cambridge Brain Sciences (CBS) online cognitive assessment at baseline, composed of 12 neurocognitive tests, which required 45 minutes. Patient scores were compared to CBS controls matched for age, sex and years of education. The patients (n=34, 61.7% male, average age 60.7±8.5 years) mean scores were lower than the average of the norms in all the cognitive domains studied (p <0.05), as well as lower scores in 11 of 12 cognitive tasks performed. Twenty-two patients (65%) failed at least one test. Up until January 2022, 3 patients developed overt HE and 1 patient completed the study without developing any episodes of overt HE. On follow-up questionnaires, all 3 reported impairments in sleep, attention, and memory, leading up to the HE episode. In addition, they had lower scores in 8 of 12 cognitive tests at baseline. The CBS online cognitive assessment is easy to use and feasible. It appears to be quite sensitive as most patients did poorly compared to controls. The value in the CBS lies within its ability to predict overt HE which would allow to identify patients at risk who require treatment and prevent future episodes of overt HE

Assessment of the State-of-the-Art of System-Wide Safety and Assurance Technologies

Since its initiation, the System-wide Safety Assurance Technologies (SSAT) Project has been focused on developing multidisciplinary tools and techniques that are verified and validated to ensure prevention of loss of property and life in NextGen and enable proactive risk management through predictive methods. To this end, four technical challenges have been listed to help realize the goals of SSAT, namely (i) assurance of flight critical systems, (ii) discovery of precursors to safety incidents, (iii) assuring safe human-systems integration, and (iv) prognostic algorithm design for safety assurance. The objective of this report is to provide an extensive survey of SSAT-related research accomplishments by researchers within and outside NASA to get an understanding of what the state-of-the-art is for technologies enabling each of the four technical challenges. We hope that this report will serve as a good resource for anyone interested in gaining an understanding of the SSAT technical challenges, and also be useful in the future for project planning and resource allocation for related research