Inconsistencies in Autism-Specific Emotion Interventions: Cause for Concern

Precise educational interventions are the sine qua non of services for students with exceptionalities. Applying interventions riddled with inconsistencies, there-fore, interferes with the growth and learning potential of students who need these interventions. This research synthesis documents the inconsistencies revealed during a critical analysis of the procedures and outcomes of emotion intervention studies for individuals with Autistic Disorder and Asperger’s Disorder. The au-thors examined all peer-reviewed emotion intervention studies published in English between 1985 and 2010 in the PsycInfo, ERIC, and Medline databases (N = 24). It is noteworthy that while 96% of studies reported improvements in emo-tion abilities post-intervention, these improvements were notably limited in the majority of cases and many studies demonstrated methodological inconsistencies. Specific suggestions are made for mitigating such inconsistencies in order to pro-vide individuals with Autistic Disorder and Asperger’s Disorder the best opportunity to master and successfully implement social/emotional skills

When is Quantum Decoherence Dynamics Classical?

A direct classical analog of quantum decoherence is introduced. Similarities and differences between decoherence dynamics examined quantum mechanically and classically are exposed via a second-order perturbative treatment and via a strong decoherence theory, showing a strong dependence on the nature of the system-environment coupling. For example, for the traditionally assumed linear coupling, the classical and quantum results are shown to be in exact agreement.Comment: 5 pages, no figures, to appear in Physical Review Letter

Long-lived Quantum Coherence between Macroscopically Distinct States in Superradiance

The dephasing influence of a dissipative environment reduces linear superpositions of macroscopically distinct quantum states (sometimes also called Schr\"odinger cat states) usually almost immediately to a statistical mixture. This process is called decoherence. Couplings to the environment with a certain symmetry can lead to slow decoherence. In this Letter we show that the collective coupling of a large number of two-level atoms to an electromagnetic field mode in a cavity that leads to the phenomena of superradiance has such a symmetry, at least approximately. We construct superpositions of macroscopically distinct quantum states decohering only on a classical time scale and propose an experiment in which the extraordinarily slow decoherence should be observable.Comment: 4 pages of revte

Quantum Effects in Barrier Dynamics

The dynamics near the top of a potential barrier is studied in the temperature region where quantum effects become important. The time evolution of the density matrix of a system that deviates initially from equilibrium in the vicinity of the barrier top but is in local equilibrium away from the barrier top is determined. Explicit results are given for a range of parameters where the nonequilibrium state is not affected by anharmonicities of the barrier potential except for the barrier height. In particular, for a system confined initially to one side of the barrier the relaxation to a quasi--stationary flux state is determined. The associated rate constant is evaluated and the relation to other rate formulas is discussed in detail.Comment: 22 pages, 2 Postscript figures; in press (Chem. Phys.

Decoherence in a single trapped ion due to engineered reservoir

The decoherence in trapped ion induced by coupling the ion to the engineered reservoir is studied in this paper. The engineered reservoir is simulated by random variations in the trap frequency, and the trapped ion is treated as a two-level system driven by a far off-resonant plane wave laser field. The dependence of the decoherence rate on the amplitude of the superposition state is given.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Characteristics of Real Futures Trading Networks

Futures trading is the core of futures business, and it is considered as one of the typical complex systems. To investigate the complexity of futures trading, we employ the analytical method of complex networks. First, we use real trading records from the Shanghai Futures Exchange to construct futures trading networks, in which nodes are trading participants, and two nodes have a common edge if the two corresponding investors appear simultaneously in at least one trading record as a purchaser and a seller respectively. Then, we conduct a comprehensive statistical analysis on the constructed futures trading networks. Empirical results show that the futures trading networks exhibit features such as scale-free behavior with interesting odd-even-degree divergence in low-degree regions, small-world effect, hierarchical organization, power-law betweenness distribution, disassortative mixing, and shrinkage of both the average path length and the diameter as network size increases. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that uses real data to study futures trading networks, and we argue that the research results can shed light on the nature of real futures business.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures. Final version published in Physica

Wigner functions, squeezing properties and slow decoherence of atomic Schrodinger cats

We consider a class of states in an ensemble of two-level atoms: a superposition of two distinct atomic coherent states, which can be regarded as atomic analogues of the states usually called Schrodinger cat states in quantum optics. According to the relation of the constituents we define polar and nonpolar cat states. The properties of these are investigated by the aid of the spherical Wigner function. We show that nonpolar cat states generally exhibit squeezing, the measure of which depends on the separation of the components of the cat, and also on the number of the constituent atoms. By solving the master equation for the polar cat state embedded in an external environment, we determine the characteristic times of decoherence, dissipation and also the characteristic time of a new parameter, the non-classicality of the state. This latter one is introduced by the help of the Wigner function, which is used also to visualize the process. The dependence of the characteristic times on the number of atoms of the cat and on the temperature of the environment shows that the decoherence of polar cat states is surprisingly slow.Comment: RevTeX, 14 pages including 8 PostScript figures. High quality versions of Figures 1, 3, 5, 7 and 8 are available at http://www.jate.u-szeged.hu/~benedict/asc_figures.html . (Submitted to Physical Review A: March 26, 1999.

Temperature Modulates Coccolithophorid Sensitivity of Growth, Photosynthesis and Calcification to Increasing Seawater pCO2

Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations are expected to impact pelagic ecosystem functioning in the near future by driving ocean warming and acidification. While numerous studies have investigated impacts of rising temperature and seawater acidification on planktonic organisms separately, little is presently known on their combined effects. To test for possible synergistic effects we exposed two coccolithophore species, Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica, to a CO2 gradient ranging from ,0.5–250 mmol kg21 (i.e. ,20–6000 matm pCO2) at three different temperatures (i.e. 10, 15, 20uC for E. huxleyi and 15, 20, 25uC for G. oceanica). Both species showed CO2-dependent optimum-curve responses for growth, photosynthesis and calcification rates at all temperatures. Increased temperature generally enhanced growth and production rates and modified sensitivities of metabolic processes to increasing CO2. CO2 optimum concentrations for growth, calcification, and organic carbon fixation rates were only marginally influenced from low to intermediate temperatures. However, there was a clear optimum shift towards higher CO2 concentrations from intermediate to high temperatures in both species. Our results demonstrate that the CO2 concentration where optimum growth, calcification and carbon fixation rates occur is modulated by temperature. Thus, the response of a coccolithophore strain to ocean acidification at a given temperature can be negative, neutral or positive depending on that strain’s temperature optimum. This emphasizes that the cellular responses of coccolithophores to ocean acidification can only be judged accurately when interpreted in the proper eco-physiological context of a given strain or species. Addressing the synergistic effects of changing carbonate chemistry and temperature is an essential step when assessing the success of coccolithophores in the future ocean

Hybrid MR-PET Imaging: Systems, Methods and Applications

Using molecules radiolabelled with positron emitters, positron emission tomography (PET) imaging provides information relating to a multitude of physiological and metabolic functions. Whereas primary PET images give a qualitative insight into these functions, when PET images are combined with data of the time course of the PET radiopharmaceutical in the blood, in an appropriate biological model, the extraction of quantified parameters of the observed function becomes possible. This chapter gives an introduction into kinetic modelling used with PET and the related mathematical procedures. Additionally, some basic and often used applications are described and are followed by an overview of the application of kinetic modelling in the case of MR-PET.</p