About the distinction between working memory and short-term memory

The theoretical concepts short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) have been used to refer to the maintenance and the maintenance plus manipulation of information, respectively. Although they are conceptually different, the use of the terms STM and WM in literature is not always strict. STM and WM are different theoretical concepts that are assumed to reflect different cognitive functions. However, correlational studies have not been able to separate both constructs consistently and there is evidence for a large or even complete overlap. The emerging view from neurobiological studies is partly different, although there are conceptual problems troubling the interpretation of findings. In this regard, there is a crucial role for the tasks that are used to measure STM or WM (simple and complex span tasks, respectively) and for the cognitive load reflected by factors like attention and processing speed that may covary between and within these tasks. These conceptual issues are discussed based on several abstract models for the relation between STM and WM

Adult life adjustment of vulnerable youths. The relationship between criminal history, employment history and adult life outcomes

Purpose This article examines adult outcomes of vulnerable youths. Methods The sample consists of 251 boys and girls who were institutionalized in a Dutch juvenile justice institution in the 1990s. Information on personal and childhood characteristics was extracted from treatment files that were compiled during their stay in the institution. In addition, conviction data was used to determine subjects’ criminal careers. Conducting face-to-face interviews with these former JJI detainees when they were on average 34 years old, we collected retrospective information on employment history and several important current life course outcomes. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to identify distinct offending and employment groups. Results Results showed that previously institutionalized youths experience difficulties adjusting to conventional adult life. Most personal and childhood characteristics exert no significant effect on adult outcomes. Criminal behaviour in young adulthood does impact adult life outcomes, as the two chronic offender groups show more difficulties in conventional adult life domains. Employment is associated with better adult outcomes, as the two employment groups that have an increasing or high employment rate in adulthood show higher levels of adult life adjustment. Conclusions Adult life adjustment in this sample of previously institutionalized youths is mainly explained by events during young adulthood, and not so much by childhood risk factors. Ties to employment appear to facilitate transitions in other life domains, thereby promoting life success in adulthood

Behavioural and biochemical effects of acute central metabolic inhibition:Effects of acetyl-l-carnitine

In the present study we evaluated a new method to assess the behavioural and biochemical effects of a brief period of acute hypoxia in the brain. In this method, cyanide is injected into the lateral ventricles. Spatial navigation performance in a Morris task was found to be impaired 1 and 5 min after an i.c.v. injection of 5.0 μg cyanide but not after 2.5 μg cyanide. Increased rate of phosphatidic acid formation, reflecting increased phospholipase C activity, were observed after injection of 5.0 μg cyanide, indicating that energy-dependent phosphoinositide metabolism was affected. Chronic treatment with acetyl-carnitine attenuated the cyanide-induced behavioural deficit, but had no effect on energy-dependent phophoinositide metabolism. The results suggest that, in this model, acetyl-l-carnitine may act via free fatty acid metabolism, by increasing the reservoir of activated acyl groups which are involved in the reacylation of membrane phospholipids

Risk factors for self-reported delinquency in emerging adulthood

The goal of this study is to examine risk factors for delinquency in emerging adulthood, highlighting any differences between those generally found for adolescent delinquent behaviour. The importance of examining risk factors for this age group is discussed, given recent changes in the nature of the early adult years, and the fact that, although the majority of adolescent offenders desist during adulthood, there remain a high number of offenders in the early adult years. Risk effects for self-reported delinquency were examined in a general population sample of emerging adults (age 18–24). A range of risk factor measures, such as peer delinquency, need for autonomy, parental support and substance use, were used to predict reporting of at least one arrestable offence in a six-month period beginning a year later. In the full model, parental social support, alcohol use and a measure of self-control, aggression and criminal attitude all significantly predicted delinquency. We conclude that a good relationship with parents continues to be an important protective factor and that alcohol use continues to indicate problems with delinquency during emerging adulthood, similarly to during adolescence. These two factors are discussed as being suitable issues for interventions. We also discuss the theoretical implications of our findings

A large-scale longitudinal structured dataset of the dark web cryptomarket Evolution (2014-2015)

Dark Web Marketplaces (DWM) facilitate the online trade of illicit goods. Due to the illicit nature of these marketplaces, quality datasets are scarce and difficult to produce. The Dark Net Market archives (2015) presented raw scraped source files crawled from a selection of DWMs, including Evolution. Here, we present, specifically for the Evolution DWM, a structured dataset extracted from Dark Net Market archive data. Uniquely, many of the data quality issues inherent to crawled data are resolved. The dataset covers over 500 thousand forum posts and over 80 thousand listings, providing data on forums, topics, posts, forum users, market vendors, listings, and more. Additionally, we present temporal weighted communication networks extracted from this data. The presented dataset provides easy access to a high quality DWM dataset to facilitate the study of criminal behaviour and communication on such DWMs, which may provide a relevant source of knowledge for researchers across disciplines, from social science to law to network science.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure