Can a computerised training paradigm assist people with intellectual disabilities to learn cognitive mediation skills? A randomised experiment

Aims: The aim was to examine whether specific skills required for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) could be taught using a computerised training paradigm with people who have intellectual disabilities (IDs). Training aimed to improve: a) ability to link pairs of situations and mediating beliefs to emotions, and b) ability to link pairs of situations and emotions to mediating beliefs. Method: Using a single-blind mixed experimental design, sixty-five participants with IDs were randomised to receive either computerised training or an attention-control condition. Cognitive mediation skills were assessed before and after training. Results: Participants who received training were significantly better at selecting appropriate emotions within situation-beliefs pairs, controlling for baseline scores and IQ. Despite significant improvements in the ability of those who received training to correctly select intermediating beliefs for situation-feelings pairings, no between-group differences were observed at post-test. Conclusions: The findings indicated that computerised training led to a significant improvement in some aspects of cognitive mediation for people with IDs, but whether this has a positive effect upon outcome from therapy is yet to be established

Oscillations of a gas pocket on a liquid-covered solid surface

The dynamic response of a gas bubble entrapped in a cavity on the surface of a submerged solid subject to an acoustic field is investigated in the linear approximation. We derive semi-analytical expressions for the resonance frequency, damping and interface shape of the bubble. For the liquid phase, we consider two limit cases: potential flow and unsteady Stokes flow. The oscillation frequency and interface shape are found to depend on two dimensionless parameters: the ratio of the gas stiffness to the surface tension stiffness, and the Ohnesorge number, representing the relative importance of viscous forces. We perform a parametric study and show, among others, that an increase in the gas pressure or a decrease in the surface tension leads to an increase in the resonance frequency until an asymptotic value is reached

Marginal Release Under Local Differential Privacy

Many analysis and machine learning tasks require the availability of marginal statistics on multidimensional datasets while providing strong privacy guarantees for the data subjects. Applications for these statistics range from finding correlations in the data to fitting sophisticated prediction models. In this paper, we provide a set of algorithms for materializing marginal statistics under the strong model of local differential privacy. We prove the first tight theoretical bounds on the accuracy of marginals compiled under each approach, perform empirical evaluation to confirm these bounds, and evaluate them for tasks such as modeling and correlation testing. Our results show that releasing information based on (local) Fourier transformations of the input is preferable to alternatives based directly on (local) marginals

Minimizing Flow Time in the Wireless Gathering Problem

We address the problem of efficient data gathering in a wireless network through multi-hop communication. We focus on the objective of minimizing the maximum flow time of a data packet. We prove that no polynomial time algorithm for this problem can have approximation ratio less than \Omega(m^{1/3) when $m$ packets have to be transmitted, unless $P = NP$. We then use resource augmentation to assess the performance of a FIFO-like strategy. We prove that this strategy is 5-speed optimal, i.e., its cost remains within the optimal cost if we allow the algorithm to transmit data at a speed 5 times higher than that of the optimal solution we compare to

Due Process and Deeds of Trust—Strange Bedfellows?

The authors examine in detail the validity of the private sale provisions of the Washington Deed of Trust Act in light of the recent procedural due process decisions of the United States Supreme Court. In addition to concluding that the present Washington Act appears to be unconstitutional, the authors briefly discuss the policy considerations involved and suggest general guidelines for change

Strain-aware assembly of genomes from mixed samples using flow variation graphs

The goal of strain-aware genome assembly is to reconstruct all individual haplotypes from a mixed sample at the strain level and to provide abundance estimates for the strains

CD4+ T-cell responses to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent-cycle antigens and the recognition of EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines

There is considerable interest in the potential of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent antigen-specific CD4$^+$ T cells to act as direct effectors controlling EBV-induced B lymphoproliferations. Such activity would require direct CD4$^+$ T-cell recognition of latently infected cells through epitopes derived from endogenously expressed viral proteins and presented on the target cell surface in association with HLA class II molecules. It is therefore important to know how often these conditions are met. Here we provide CD4$^+$ epitope maps for four EBV nuclear antigens, EBNA1, -2, -3A, and -3C, and establish CD4$^+$ T-cell clones against 12 representative epitopes. For each epitope we identify the relevant HLA class II restricting allele and determine the efficiency with which epitope-specific effectors recognize the autologous EBV-transformed B-lymphoblastoid cell line (LCL). The level of recognition measured by gamma interferon release was consistent among clones to the same epitope but varied between epitopes, with values ranging from 0 to 35% of the maximum seen against the epitope peptide-loaded LCL. These epitope-specific differences, also apparent in short-term cytotoxicity and longer-term outgrowth assays on LCL targets, did not relate to the identity of the source antigen and could not be explained by the different functional avidities of the CD4$^+$ clones; rather, they appeared to reflect different levels of epitope display at the LCL surface. Thus, while CD4$^+$ T-cell responses are detectable against many epitopes in EBV latent proteins, only a minority of these responses are likely to have therapeutic potential as effectors directly recognizing latently infected target cells

Speech-Language Disorder Severity, Academic Success, and Socioemotional Functioning among Multilingual and English Children in the United States: The National Survey of Children’s Health

Research points to negative associations between educational success, socioemotional functioning, and the severity of symptoms in some speech-language disorders (SLDs). Nonetheless, the majority of studies examining SLDs in children have focused on monolinguals. More research is needed to determine whether the scant findings among multilinguals are robust. The present study used parent report data from the U.S. National Survey of Children’s Health (2018 to 2020) to gain a better understanding of the impacts of SLD severity on indicators of academic success and socioemotional functioning among multilingual (n = 255) and English monolingual (n = 5,952) children with SLDs. Tests of between-group differences indicated that multilingual children evidenced more severe SLDs, had lower school engagement, and had lower reports of flourishing than English monolingual children with SLDs. Further, a greater proportion of multilingual children with SLDs missed more school days than English monolinguals. However, multilinguals were less likely to bully others or have been bullied than monolinguals. While the previous between-group differences were statistically significant, they were small (vs ≤ 0.08). Increased SLD severity predicted an increased number of repeated school grades, increased absenteeism, and decreased school engagement, when age and socioeconomic status were controlled. Increased SLD severity also predicted greater difficulty making and keeping friends and decreased flourishing. The effect of SLD severity on being bullied was statistically significant for the monolinguals but not multilinguals. There was a statistically significant interaction for SLD severity and sex for school engagement and difficulty making and keeping friends for monolinguals but not multilinguals. The interactions indicated that school engagement decreased more for females than for males while difficulties making and keeping friends increased more for males than females as one’s SLD severity increased. While some findings were specific to monolinguals, tests of measurement invariance indicated that the same general pattern of relations among the variables were evident across the groups of multilinguals and monolinguals. These final findings can inform the interpretation of the results from both the current and future studies, while the overall findings can inform the development of intervention programs, thereby improving the long-term academic and socioemotional outcomes of children with SLDs