Can training paradigms enhance global processing style in people with Asperger Syndrome? A randomised experiment

Background and Aims: The Weak Central Coherence Theory (WCCT; Frith & Happé, 1994) has been developed to explain the local processing bias observed in people with autism. The two aims of the thesis are: 1) to investigate whether adults with Asperger syndrome have a local processing bias, and 2) to investigate whether a local processing bias can be modified for people with Asperger syndrome using a computerised training paradigm. Methodology: A 2 (Group: Asperger syndrome or typically developing) x 2 (Training: attentional control or intervention) x (2 (Time: 1 or 2) mixed experimental design x S) was used. Forty participants were randomised to the intervention or attention control condition. Both local and global processing style was assessed at pre- and post-test. A computerised global training paradigm was used to train “seeing the bigger picture”. Training and test materials utilised the Navon Figures, which are large letters (global format e.g., an “H”) made up of smaller letters (local format, e.g., smaller “F’s”). Results: No significant difference between processing styles were found between those with Asperger syndrome and typically developing adults for local processing, t (37) = .46, p =.65 (two tailed), or global processing, t (38) = .81, p = .43 (two tailed), when naming local or global letters that have a differing letter at both the local and global level. Considering the main effect of training on global processing, those who received training scored significantly higher than those in the attention control condition at post-test (F(3, 36) = 10.738, p = .002, 2 = 0.235), meaning that the training group took significantly longer to respond to the global stimuli, while those receiving the attention control condition Doctoral thesis: Can training paradigms enhance global processing style in Graham Beales people with Asperger syndrome? A randomised experiment xi responded significantly faster. Ignoring training, typically developing adults took significantly longer at post-test to respond to global stimuli than those with Asperger syndrome (F(3, 36) = 4.860, p = .034, 2 = 0.122). For local processing, no significant differences were found between those receiving training or those receiving attentional control conditions (F(3, 35) = 2.313, p = .138, 2 = 0.064), or between people with or without Asperger syndrome (F(3, 35) = .122, p = .729, 2 = 0.004). Conclusions: The results do not support the WCCT (Frith & Happé, 1994) hypothesis of a local processing bias in Asperger syndrome. Similarly, the findings challenge the notion that people with Asperger syndrome have impaired ability to integrate local elements into a coherent whole (global processing). In essence, people with Asperger syndrome could ‘‘see the bigger picture’’ and demonstrated being equipped to employ either a global or local orientated search strategy. Considering that the attention control condition led to significant improvements in response times, training paradigms that involve repeatedly switching between processing styles may be advantageous because they could be arguably more representative of everyday processing. However, it is possible that these results are due to superior emotional inhibition and sustained attention abilities that people with Asperger syndrome are proposed to possess (Gonzalez, Best, Healy, Bourne, & Kole, 2010). A further extension of the research could track changes in processing style, achieved via a computer paradigm, to associated changes in observed everyday atypical behaviour by individuals with Asperger syndrome

Summary Report on Events Related to the Supply of Nuclear Power Plants Components

This report presents the essential results of study performed by European Clearinghouse on Operational Experience Feedback in cooperation with IRSN and GRS aiming to analyze the impact of inappropriate components supplied to NPPs on safety. Study has been performed by means of extracting, systematizing and analyzing of adequate operational experience related information from event reports stored in the relevant data bases. Methodology of study includes identifying, highlighting and examining of circumstances, precursors, causes and safety significance of said events, as well as of most important corrective actions, lessons learned and recommendations. Trying to evaluate impact of different potential sources causing incidents the entire nuclear supply chain as a whole is covered, and all stages of this system including design, manufacturing, storage, transportation are taken into account in the developed system of 7 subfamilies. The main defence lines of the licensee designed to prevent penetration of substandard components such as thorough preparation of the procurement documentation, source inspection prior to authorizing release for delivery and inspection/testing of items on receipt are considered as well. Based on the results of performed analysis major contributors to the existing problem were identified. Among the analyzed subfamilies deficiencies in design cause about 42% of selected events and manufacturing faults cause 32%. The most frequently failing are mechanical (including hydraulic/ pneumatic) components (40 - 55% of relevant events) and electrical elements – they take 30 - 37% of total events number respectively. The worst vulnerable specific types of components are also identified: they are valves and seals among mechanical components, circuit breakers and relays among electrical components. Scrutinizing the lessons learned from the analyzed events and looking beyond the component-specific or condition-specific ones some generically applicable recommendations for preventing or decreasing the probability of supply to NPPs of inappropriate products and components are formulated.JRC.F.5-Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessmen

Interactive morphologies: An investigation into integrated nodal networks and embedded computation processes for developing real-time responsive spatial systems

© 2012 Higher Education Press Limited Company. The design-research illustrated in this research article focus on the emerging field of interactive architecture focusing on developing real-time information exchanging architectural bodies. These interactive bodies demonstrate a fusion between the material, the electronic and the digital domains. This fusion is explicitly attained through a synergistic merger between the fields of ambient sensing, control systems, ubiquitous computing, architectural design, pneumatic systems and computation. The resultant spatial bodies are thus visualised as complex adaptive systems, continually engaged in activities of data-exchange resulting in physical and ambient adaptations of their constituting components in response to contextual variations. Interdependent nodal networks, where every node/junction of a spatial prototype becomes a potential information hub by means of its ability to collect, process and communicate contextual data apart from working as an actuated detail owing to its ability to kinetically re-position itself in three-dimensional space is thus a critical outcome of this inter-disciplinary way of working. A strategy apt for binding material logistics with the digital to materialize dynamic spatial behaviours owing to real time data exchange between the prototypes and their context is thus embarked upon via three research and design projects, namely: Electronic Media Augmented Spatial Skins, The InteractiveWall and the Muscle Re-configured

Managing urban disasters

ris tin e W am sl er 4 op en h ou se in te rn at io na l V ol

Internet of Healthcare: Opportunities and Legal Challenges in Internet of Things-Enabled Telehealth Ecosystems

The COVID-19 public health crisis has accelerated the transformation of health systems to become more closely tied to citizens/patients and increasingly dependent on the provision and use of telehealth services. Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled telehealth systems (deployed in conjunction with AI systems) could facilitate the smart transformation of healthcare from a merely reactive system to a data-driven and person-centred system that provides remote health diagnosis, monitoring and treatment services, integrated real-time response solutions, as well as prospective insights. However, the realisation of these health-related benefits requires the processing of vast amounts of data concerning health. These operations and the use of new enabling technologies raises significant legal concerns and questions the applicability of existing/proposed legal concepts. For this reason, the research analyses the adequateness of EU privacy, data protection, data governance, AI governance and other regulatory rules in IoT-enabled (and AI-augmented) telehealth systems. In addition, the research aims to identify technical and organisational measures (best practices), which could facilitate the implementation of normative principles in these information systems in an effective manner

Sustainability in the football industry: An approach to the gap between theoretical formulation and practical application, through the results of the social fair play project

This paper discusses the first experiences and results of a project titled Social Fair Play (SFP), whose objective is to install the principles of sustainability and social responsibility (SR) at the core of Spanish professional football. The project was implemented in clubs and foundations belonging to some of the categories of the Spanish Na tional Professional Football League (LaLiga). Generally speaking, the football industry, despite its strong economic and social impact, has entered the debate on strategic management in SR late. This study's interest lies in determining whether these first results and evidences can contribute to the debate, reflected in the specialised literature, around the gap between the theoretical formulation and the practical application of SR and sustain ability principles. A second source of interest is the question of whether, on the basis of this experience, a system of social performance measures can be developed for the whole industry which would enable us to compare results and ease their communication, along the lines of other economic sectors, taking as a model internationally recognised standards such as the GRI.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Huelva / CBU

On not defining drawing

This paper will trace the development of a notation research experiment aimed at developing a scoring system for silence. Silence has kinetic roles in social exchanges: quietude, reflective pauses, withdrawal, displays of consent or dissent, reception and interpretation. But how can we score something not present, yet also not absent? Is there a positive notation for this critical issue of performance, of silence in the voice, other than merely the courtesies of extended rests, or blanks in the score? The reader will see inscriptions that oscillate between pictures and writing, and between visual and auditory, exemplifying those capacities of drawing to operate in the spaces between languages. In the context of an experimental music notation, seeking to make an instrumental gesture of silence, how can we draw incipience

A management perspective on resilience in healthcare: a framework and avenues for future research

Recent major health shocks, such as the 2014-16 Ebola, the Zika outbreak, and, last but not least, the COVID-19 pandemic, have strongly contributed to drawing attention to the issue of resilience in the healthcare domain. Nevertheless, the scientific literature appears fragmented, creating difficulties in developing incremental research in this relevant managerial field.To fill this gap, this systematic literature review aims to provide a clear state of the art of the literature dealing with resilience in healthcare. Specifically, from the analysis of the theoretical articles and reviews, the key dimensions of resilience are identified, and a novel classification framework is proposed. The classification framework is then used to systematize extant empirical contributions. Two main dimensions of resilience are identified: the approach to resilience (reactive vs. proactive) and the type of crisis to deal with (acute shocks vs. chronic stressors). Four main streams of research are thus identified: (i) proactive approaches to acute shocks; (ii) proactive approaches to chronic stressors; (iii) reactive approaches to acute shocks; and (iv) reactive approaches to chronic stressors. These are scrutinised considering three additional dimensions: the level of analysis, the resources to nurture resilience, and the country context. The classification framework and the associated mapping contribute to systematising the fragmented literature on resilience in healthcare, providing a clear picture of the state of the art in this field and drawing a research agenda that opens interesting paths for future research