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A behavioral comparison of male and female adults with high functioning autism spectrum conditions
Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) affect more males than females in the general population. However, within ASC it is unclear if there are phenotypic sex differences. Testing for similarities and differences between the sexes is important not only for clinical assessment but also has implications for theories of typical sex differences and of autism. Using cognitive and behavioral measures, we investigated similarities and differences between the sexes in age- and IQ-matched adults with ASC (high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome). Of the 83 (45 males and 38 females) participants, 62 (33 males and 29 females) met Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) cut-off criteria for autism in childhood and were included in all subsequent analyses. The severity of childhood core autism symptoms did not differ between the sexes. Males and females also did not differ in self-reported empathy, systemizing, anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive traits/symptoms or mentalizing performance. However, adult females with ASC showed more lifetime sensory symptoms (p = 0.036), fewer current socio-communication difficulties (p = 0.001), and more self-reported autistic traits (p = 0.012) than males. In addition, females with ASC who also had developmental language delay had lower current performance IQ than those without developmental language delay (p<0.001), a pattern not seen in males. The absence of typical sex differences in empathizing-systemizing profiles within the autism spectrum confirms a prediction from the extreme male brain theory. Behavioral sex differences within ASC may also reflect different developmental mechanisms between males and females with ASC. We discuss the importance of the superficially better socio-communication ability in adult females with ASC in terms of why females with ASC may more often go under-recognized, and receive their diagnosis later, than males
Imaging Young Stellar Objects with VLTi/PIONIER
OHP 2013: International Colloquium at Haute-Provence Observatory, France, 23-27 September 2013 - Improving the performances of current optical interferometers and future designsThis is the final version of the paper. Available from the publisher via the URL in this record.Optical interferometry imaging is designed to help us to reveal complex astronomical sources without a prior model. Among these complex objects are the young stars and their environments, which have a typical morphology with a point-like source, surrounded by circumstellar material with unknown morphology. To image them, we have developed a numerical method that removes completely the stellar point source and reconstructs the rest of the image, using the differences in the spectral behavior between the star and its circumstellar material. We aim to reveal the first Astronomical
Units of these objects where many physical phenomena could interplay: the dust sublimation causing a puffed-up inner rim, a dusty halo, a dusty wind or an inner gaseous component. To investigate more deeply these regions, we carried out the first Large Program survey of HAeBe stars with two main goals: statistics on the geometry of these objects at the first astronomical unit scale and imaging their very close environment. The images reveal the environment, which is not polluted by the star and allows us to derivethe best fit for the flux ratio and the spectral slope. We present the first images from this survey and the application of the imaging method on other astronomical objects.This work is supported by the French ANR POLCA project (Processing of pOLychromatic interferometriC data for Astrophysics, ANR-10-BLAN-0511
Proportional Payoffs in Legislative Bargaining with Weighted Voting: A Characterization
Nuclear structure and reaction studies at SPIRAL
The SPIRAL facility at GANIL, operational since 2001, is described briefly.
The diverse physics program using the re-accelerated (1.2 to 25 MeV/u) beams
ranging from He to Kr and the instrumentation specially developed for their
exploitation are presented. Results of these studies, using both direct and
compound processes, addressing various questions related to the existence of
exotic states of nuclear matter, evolution of new "magic numbers", tunnelling
of exotic nuclei, neutron correlations, exotic pathways in astrophysical sites
and characterization of the continuum are discussed. The future prospects for
the facility and the path towards SPIRAL2, a next generation ISOL facility, are
also briefly presented.Comment: 48 pages, 27 figures. Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics
Effects of microperfusion in hepatic diffusion weighted imaging
Clinical hepatic diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) generally relies on mono-exponential diffusion. The aim was to demonstrate that mono-exponential diffusion in the liver is contaminated by microperfusion and that the bi-exponential model is required. Nineteen fasting healthy volunteers were examined with DWI (seven b-values) using fat suppression and respiratory triggering (1.5 T). Five different regions in the liver were analysed regarding the mono-exponentially fitted apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and the bi-exponential model: molecular diffusion (D (slow) ) microperfusion (D (fast) ) and the respective fractions (f (slow/fast)). Data were compared using ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Simulations were performed by repeating our data analyses, using just the DWI series acquired with b-values approximating those of previous studies. Median mono-exponentially fitted ADCs varied significantly (P <0.001) between 1.107 and 1.423 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s for the five regions. Bi-exponential fitted D-slow varied between 0.923 and 1.062 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s without significant differences (P = 0.140). D (fast) varied significantly, between 17.8 and 46.8 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s (P <0.001). F-tests showed that the diffusion data fitted the bi-exponential model significantly better than the mono-exponential model (F > 21.4, P <0.010). These results were confirmed by the simulations. ADCs of normal liver tissue are significantly dependent on the measurement location because of substantial microperfusion contamination; therefore the bi-exponential model should be used. Diffusion weighted MR imaging helps clinicians to differentiate tumours by diffusion properties Fast moving water molecules experience microperfusion, slow molecules diffusion Hepatic diffusion should be measured by bi-exponential models to avoid microperfusion contamination Mono-exponential models are contaminated with microperfusion, resulting in apparent regional diffusion differences Bi-exponential models are necessary to measure diffusion and microperfusion in the liver
Scaling of the distribution of fluctuations of financial market indices
We study the distribution of fluctuations over a time scale (i.e.,
the returns) of the S&P 500 index by analyzing three distinct databases.
Database (i) contains approximately 1 million records sampled at 1 min
intervals for the 13-year period 1984-1996, database (ii) contains 8686 daily
records for the 35-year period 1962-1996, and database (iii) contains 852
monthly records for the 71-year period 1926-1996. We compute the probability
distributions of returns over a time scale , where varies
approximately over a factor of 10^4 - from 1 min up to more than 1 month. We
find that the distributions for 4 days (1560 mins) are
consistent with a power-law asymptotic behavior, characterized by an exponent
, well outside the stable L\'evy regime . To
test the robustness of the S&P result, we perform a parallel analysis on two
other financial market indices. Database (iv) contains 3560 daily records of
the NIKKEI index for the 14-year period 1984-97, and database (v) contains 4649
daily records of the Hang-Seng index for the 18-year period 1980-97. We find
estimates of consistent with those describing the distribution of S&P
500 daily-returns. One possible reason for the scaling of these distributions
is the long persistence of the autocorrelation function of the volatility. For
time scales longer than days, our results are
consistent with slow convergence to Gaussian behavior.Comment: 12 pages in multicol LaTeX format with 27 postscript figures
(Submitted to PRE May 20, 1999). See
http://polymer.bu.edu/~amaral/Professional.html for more of our work on this
are
Imaging the heart of astrophysical objects with optical long-baseline interferometry
The number of publications of aperture-synthesis images based on optical
long-baseline interferometry measurements has recently increased due to easier
access to visible and infrared interferometers. The interferometry technique
has now reached a technical maturity level that opens new avenues for numerous
astrophysical topics requiring milli-arcsecond model-independent imaging. In
writing this paper our motivation was twofold: 1) review and publicize
emblematic excerpts of the impressive corpus accumulated in the field of
optical interferometry image reconstruction; 2) discuss future prospects for
this technique by selecting four representative astrophysical science cases in
order to review the potential benefits of using optical long baseline
interferometers. For this second goal we have simulated interferometric data
from those selected astrophysical environments and used state-of-the-art codes
to provide the reconstructed images that are reachable with current or
soon-to-be facilities. The image reconstruction process was "blind" in the
sense that reconstructors had no knowledge of the input brightness
distributions. We discuss the impact of optical interferometry in those four
astrophysical fields. We show that image reconstruction software successfully
provides accurate morphological information on a variety of astrophysical
topics and review the current strengths and weaknesses of such reconstructions.
We investigate how to improve image reconstruction and the quality of the image
possibly by upgrading the current facilities. We finally argue that optical
interferometers and their corresponding instrumentation, existing or to come,
with 6 to 10 telescopes, should be well suited to provide images of complex
sceneries.Comment: Acccepted to Astronomy and Astrophysics Revie
Clinical Manifestations and Case Management of Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever caused by a newly identified virus strain, Bundibugyo, Uganda, 2007-2008
A confirmed Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF) outbreak in Bundibugyo, Uganda, November 2007-February 2008, was caused by a putative new species (Bundibugyo ebolavirus). It included 93 putative cases, 56 laboratory-confirmed cases, and 37 deaths (CFR = 25%). Study objectives are to describe clinical manifestations and case management for 26 hospitalised laboratory-confirmed EHF patients. Clinical findings are congruous with previously reported EHF infections. The most frequently experienced symptoms were non-bloody diarrhoea (81%), severe headache (81%), and asthenia (77%). Seven patients reported or were observed with haemorrhagic symptoms, six of whom died. Ebola care remains difficult due to the resource-poor setting of outbreaks and the infection-control procedures required. However, quality data collection is essential to evaluate case definitions and therapeutic interventions, and needs improvement in future epidemics. Organizations usually involved in EHF case management have a particular responsibility in this respect
Mediators of the Link Between Autistic Traits and Relationship Satisfaction in a Non-Clinical Sample
People with ASD have deficits in their social skills and may therefore experience lower relationship satisfaction. This study investigated possible mechanisms to explain whether and how autistic traits, measured with the AQ, influence relationship satisfaction in a non-clinical sample of 195 married couples. More autistic traits were associated with lower relationship satisfaction for husbands but not for wives. Multiple mediation analyses revealed that husbands’ responsiveness towards their wives, trust, and intimacy mediated this link between autistic traits and relationship satisfaction. These findings suggest that autistic traits may hamper men’s relationship satisfaction because they impede relationship-specific feelings and behavior. There was no partner-effect of autistic traits, indicating that more autistic traits do not necessarily influence the partner’s perceptions of relationship satisfaction
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