Ireland and Islam: Henry V and the 'War on terror'

Scholars have long been aware that the original performances of Shakespeare's Henry V (1599) are deeply implicated in debates surrounding an expensive, unpopular and politically sensitive foreign war; the Elizabethan military apparatus in Ireland, and in particular the mission of Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex, to quell the rebellion of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, loom behind the text, threatening at every moment to rupture the illusion of a glorious English king. Critics are also sensitive to the ways in which Shakespeare's play has been appropriated for propagandistic purposes in a number of later conflicts; most saliently for the purposes of this article, the British media's interpretation of the ongoing “war on terror” has frequently read the conflict explicitly through the language and imagery of Shakespeare's play. Perhaps the most startling way in which Henry V has been in operation can be seen in the way in which large sections of the media reach quickly for the “Irish” parallel, comparing the “Islamic terrorists” to the “Irish Republicans” of recent decades. One of the political implications of this is that Henry V's uneasy strategy of incorporating ethnic “others” is promoted as the preferred means of dealing with a perceived cultural threat, and (sometimes unintended) parallels are drawn between the early modern Irish and contemporary Islamic populations of the “British” isles

Shared intentionality in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Είναι καλά τεκμηριωμένο ότι η ικανότητα και το κίνητρο εμπλοκής με άλλους σε συνεργατικές δραστηριότητες με κοινούς στόχους και αμοιβαίες προθέσεις είναι τα θεμελιώδη ερείσματα της ανθρώπινης μοναδικότητας. Ωστόσο, τα παιδιά με Διαταραχή Αυτιστικού Φάσματος (ΔΑΦ) παρουσιάζουν δυσκολίες στο να μοιράζονται τα κίνητρα, τις προθέσεις και τα συναισθήματά τους με άλλους σχετικά με θέματα του περιβάλλοντος και εμφανίζουν χαμηλά επίπεδα εμπλοκής. Ο σκοπός της παρούσας έρευνας ήταν να συγκρίνει τα επίπεδα εμπροθεσιμότητας και κοινωνικής εμπλοκής 10 παιδιών με ΔΑΦ και 10 τυπικά αναπτυσσόμενων παιδιών, αντιστοιχισμένων ως προς τη νοητική τους ηλικία, κατά τη διάρκεια ελεύθερου παιχνιδιού με τη μητέρα τους. Τα παιδιά μαγνητοσκοπήθηκαν καθώς έπαιζαν με τη μητέρα τους σε νατουραλιστικές συνθήκες με παιχνίδια που τους χορήγησε η ερευνήτρια. Για τη μικροανάλυση των μαγνητοσκοπήσεων χρησιμοποιήθηκε ο Γλωσσικός Επισημειωτής EUDICO, ο οποίος επιτρέπει την ανάλυση αμοιβαίων συμπεριφορών και εντοπίζει αμυδρές ποιοτικές διαφορές στην κοινωνική εμπλοκή. Τα αποτελέσματα έδειξαν ότι τα παιδιά με ΔΑΦ παρουσίαζαν ελλείμματα στον αλληλοσυντονισμό της προσοχής, δεν εμφάνιζαν λειτουργικό παιχνίδι και χρησιμοποιούσαν λιγότερες επικοινωνιακές χειρονομίες από τους συνομηλίκους τους στην ομάδα ελέγχου. Αυτές οι διαφορές μεταξύ των δύο ομάδων στον τρόπο επικοινωνίας οδήγησαν στην ανάδειξη δύο διακριτών μοτίβων εμπλοκής, τα οποία απεικονίζουν το διαφορετικό επίπεδο εμπροθεσιμότητας που έχουν αυτές οι ομάδες στο να μοιράζονται τις εμπειρίες τους κατά τη διάρκεια αλληλεπιδράσεων μητέρας-παιδιού. Τα αντιπροσωπευτικά μοτίβα αλληλεπίδρασης που προέκυψαν μπορούν να χρησιμοποιηθούν ως πιθανό εργαλείο για την έγκαιρη ανίχνευση των παιδιών υψηλού κινδύνου για ΔΑΦ πολύ πριν από την πλήρη εκδήλωση άλλων συμπεριφορών.It is well documented that the ability and motivation to engage with others in collaborative activities with joint goals and shared intentions is the foundation of human uniqueness. However, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show difficulties in sharing their motives, intentions, and emotions with others about topics in the environment and manifest low levels of engagement. The purpose of the present study was to compare the level of intentionality and social engagement in 10 children with ASD and 10 typically developing (TD) children, matched for mental age, during free play interactions with their mothers. Children were video recorded while playing with their mothers in a naturalistic condition with toys provided by the researcher. For the microanalysis of the video recordings the EUDICO Linguistic Annotator was used, which permits the analysis of joint behaviors and captures subtle qualitative differences in social engagement. Results indicated that children with ASD showed deficits in joint attention, exhibited no functional play and employed less communicative gestures than their peers in the comparison group. These differences between the two groups in their mode of communication led to the emergence of two distinct patterns of engagement which depict the different level of intentionality that these groups have in sharing their experiences during mother-child interactions. These representative patterns of interaction can be used as a potential tool for early identification of children at risk of ASD well before other behaviors become fully manifested

The diagnostic value of the neurological examination in coma of unknown etiology

Background: Identifying the cause of non-traumatic coma in the emergency department is challenging. The clinical neurological examination is the most readily available tool to detect focal neurological deficits as indicators for cerebral causes of coma. Previously proposed clinical pathways have granted the interpretation of clinical findings a pivotal role in the diagnostic work-up. We aimed to identify the actual diagnostic reliability of the neurological examination with regard to identifying acute brain damage. Methods: Eight hundred and fifty-three patients with coma of unknown etiology (CUE) were examined neurologically in the emergency department following a predefined routine. Coma-explaining pathologies were identified retrospectively and grouped into primary brain pathology with proof of acute brain damage and other causes without proof of acute structural pathology. Sensitivity, specificity and percentage of correct predictions of different examination protocols were calculated using contingency tables and binary logistic regression models. Results: The full neurological examination was 74% sensitive and 60% specific to detect acute structural brain damage underlying CUE. Sensitivity and specificity were higher in non-sedated patients (87/61%) compared to sedated patients (64%/59%). A shortened four-item examination protocol focusing on pupils, gaze and pyramidal tract signs was only slightly less sensitive (67%) and more specific (65%). Conclusions: Due to limited diagnostic reliability of the physical examination, the absence of focal neurological signs in acutely comatose patients should not defer from a complete work-up including brain imaging. In an emergency, a concise neurological examination should thus serve as one part of a multimodal diagnostic approach to CUE