Pairing Social Stories and Contingency Mapping: Reducing Social Anxiety in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Students who receive special education services for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) all share similar characteristics, but to different degrees. These characteristics include impaired social interaction, impairment in communication, and restrictive and repetitive interests and activities. The challenges students with ASD have can often result in stress and anxiety in school. This stress can cause students to have negative behaviors such as verbal and/or physical escalations or shutdowns. (Mesibov et al. p.26) Students with ASD learn differently than typical students. They also interpret the school environment and the situations that arise very uniquely. Because of this, some authors have said that it is imperative that teachers have knowledge of have an understanding of how students with autism learn and think. Teachers may benefit from learning more about effective ways to teach and communicate with students with ASD to reduce anxiety and promote effective learning. Many teachers do not have a good understanding of what ASD is or ways to more effectively teach or communicate with a student with ASD. (Mesibov et al. p.25). The significant issues that need to be addressed for education of children with ASD are successful teaching methods/tools, effective forms of communication, and a better understanding of how a person with ASD functions or thinks. This study\u27s intent was to investigate how different teaching and communication styles affect the anxiety level of students with ASD and identify environmental factors that contribute to an increase in discomfort in students with ASD. It also examined tools to help the students become more comfortable and independent in the school environment. Results from social stories and contingency mapping interventions indicate that these strategies are effective in reducing problem behaviors in students with autism

Genetic and physical mapping of DNA replication origins in Haloferax volcanii

The halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii has a multireplicon genome, consisting of a main chromosome, three secondary chromosomes, and a plasmid. Genes for the initiator protein Cdc6/Orc1, which are commonly located adjacent to archaeal origins of DNA replication, are found on all replicons except plasmid pHV2. However, prediction of DNA replication origins in H. volcanii is complicated by the fact that this species has no less than 14 cdc6/orc1 genes. We have used a combination of genetic, biochemical, and bioinformatic approaches to map DNA replication origins in H. volcanii. Five autonomously replicating sequences were found adjacent to cdc6/orc1 genes and replication initiation point mapping was used to confirm that these sequences function as bidirectional DNA replication origins in vivo. Pulsed field gel analyses revealed that cdc6/orc1-associated replication origins are distributed not only on the main chromosome (2.9 Mb) but also on pHV1 (86 kb), pHV3 (442 kb), and pHV4 (690 kb) replicons. Gene inactivation studies indicate that linkage of the initiator gene to the origin is not required for replication initiation, and genetic tests with autonomously replicating plasmids suggest that the origin located on pHV1 and pHV4 may be dominant to the principal chromosomal origin. The replication origins we have identified appear to show a functional hierarchy or differential usage, which might reflect the different replication requirements of their respective chromosomes. We propose that duplication of H. volcanii replication origins was a prerequisite for the multireplicon structure of this genome, and that this might provide a means for chromosome-specific replication control under certain growth conditions. Our observations also suggest that H. volcanii is an ideal organism for studying how replication of four replicons is regulated in the context of the archaeal cell cycle. © 2007 Norais et al

A New Attitude Scale on Religion and Ethics

This is a new attitude scale constructed in part after the procedure of Thurstone and Chave, but adapted so that two supposedly related attitudes can be measured and studied to see the extent to which both attitudes may be found in the same subject. The test allows for a measurement of attitudes towards both religion and ethics, and for an estimate of the degree of conservatism or radicalism of each of these attitudes. Suggestions for the use of the scale are also given

Draft Genome Sequence of Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens Strain UCD-AKU (Phylum Actinobacteria).

Here we present the draft genome of an actinobacterium, Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens strain UCD-AKU, isolated from a residential carpet. The genome assembly contains 3,692,614 bp in 130 contigs. This is the first member of the Curtobacterium genus to be sequenced

THE STRANGE CROSS-REACTION OF MENADIONE (VITAMIN K3) AND 2,4-DINITROPHENYL LIGANDS WITH A MYELOMA PROTEIN AND SOME CONVENTIONAL ANTIBODIES

To explore the possibility that the affinity of some myeloma proteins for 2,4-dinitrophenyl (DNP) ligands is the consequence of a "strange" (i.e., unexpected) cross-reaction for more natural ligands, a variety of substances (primarily derivatives of purines, pyrimidines, naphthaquinone) were tested for ability to block the binding of [3H]-ε-DNP-L-lysine by protein 315, an IgA mouse myeloma protein with high affinity for DNP ligands. The most impressive inhibiting activity was observed with 2-methyl-1,4-napthaquinone (menadione, vitamin K3). The affinity (intrinsic association constant) of protein 315 for menadione was 5 x 105 L/M (at 4°C). Because the same affinity was measured in direct-binding assays (e.g., equilibrium dialysis) and in an indirect one based on the assumption of competitive binding with DNP-lysine, it is likely that menadione and DNP bind at overlapping sites in the protein's combining region. This conclusion is supported by molecular models which reveal some common structural features in these ligands. Hence it is not surprising that antinitrophenyl antibody preparations, raised by conventional immunization procedures (anti-2,4-DNP; anti-2,6-DNP; anti-2,4,6-TNP) also bind menadione with considerable affinity. As with DNP ligands, when menadione binds to protein 315 or to conventional antinitrophenyl antibodies, some of the protein's tryptophan fluorescence is quenched, there is a change in the ligand's absorption spectrum (hypochromia and/or red shift), and the binding is temperature-dependent (exothermal)

Cash Transfers and Temptation Goods: An Analysis on the Impact of Cash Transfers on Poor Households’ Consumption of Sugar-sweetened Beverages in the Philippines

Sugar intake has been increasing globally and locally for individuals. Meanwhile, Philippine institutions continue to provide cash transfers (CTs) to poor households. Past literature found varying results of the impact of transfers on expenditure, consumption, and temptation goods. Most studies focused on alcohol and tobacco consumption and neglected the impact of cash transfers on the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Thus, this paper used propensity score matching and average treatment effects on the treated (ATET) evaluation method to compare the consumption of poor households with transfers to their consumption if they had not received cash transfers and determine the characteristics of households who were likely to receive transfers. The likelihood of poor households receiving CTs was significantly affected by some of the household head’s characteristics (age, educational attainment, and class of worker), household characteristics (household type, number of children below 18 years old, salaries and wages, and region of residence), and household facilities (water source, type of toilet facility, and type of roof). CTs were found to significantly decrease soft drinks consumption but did not significantly affect consumption of other SSBs. Policy responses related to increasing awareness of the health effects of these drinks like requiring warning labels, monitoring advertisements, and imposing restrictions on the amount of sugar added are highly recommended to decrease consumption of the said beverages

INVESTIGATION OF ORTHO-PARA-DEPENDENT PRESSURE BROADENING IN THE ν1 + ν3 BAND OF ACETYLENE

Several years ago, Iwakuni et al.\footnotemark[1] reported an unexpectedly strong ortho-para-dependence to the self-pressure broadening in the $\nu_1 + \nu_3$ vibrational band of acetylene. Such an effect can arise because ortho-ortho collisions are statistically more probable than para-para ones and resonant energy transfer processes can make like-molecule collisions more efficient in state-changing, lifetime-shortening, collisions. Subsequently several papers\footnotemark[2] \footnotemark[3] have disputed the observation on the basis that the experimental sensitivity could not be sufficient, and the approximate Voigt lineshape model used in the analysis would lead to systematic errors. However, there has been no reported independent experimental work to verify the results or investigate the refutations. Our group previously reported\footnotemark[4] a very accurate and precise measurement of the self-pressure broadening for the P(11) transition in the same band, using a comb-stabilized laser spectrometer. We have now resurrected this instrument, and measured additional R-branch lines to investigate the controversial results described above. Measurements of the R(12)$-$R(15) transitions, which showed significant ortho-para differences in the original work, have been made at pressures ranging from 200 mTorr to 150 Torr. We fit the data to both Voigt and speed dependent Voigt (SDV) lineshape model to determine the pressure broadening coefficients and investigate their rotational and nuclear-spin dependence. \footnotetext{1. K. Iwakuni, S. Okubo, K. M. T. Yamada, H. Inaba, A. Onae, F.-L. Hong, and H. Sasada, \textit{Phys. Rev. Lett.} \textbf{117}, (2016).} \footnotetext{2. K. K. Lehmann, \textit{J. Chem. Phys.} \textbf{146}, 094309 (2017).} \footnotetext{3. J.-M. Hartmann and H. Tran, \textit{Phys. Rev. Lett.} \textbf{119}, (2017).} \footnotetext{4. M. J. Cich, C. P. McRaven, G. V. Lopez, T. J. Sears, D. Hurtmans, and A. W. Mantz, \textit{Appl. Phys. B.} \textbf{109}, 373 (2012).} \textbf{Acknowledgment}: This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences within the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Award Number DE-SC0018950