Eyewitness identification in child witnesses on the autism spectrum

Background. Although there is increasing interest in the capabilities of children with autism at different stages of the criminal justice process, there is little research into how well this group perform when asked to identify perpetrators from identification lineups. This is despite theoretical and empirical literature suggesting that autistic children experience face recognition memory difficulties. Method. As part of a broader study into eyewitness memory skills, 50 children with autism and 162 children with typical development (TD) (all with IQs > 69) watched a mock crime event (either live or on a video) involving two male perpetrators. One week later, their eyewitness identification skills were compared, with children asked to identify the perpetrators from two ecologically valid video lineups. The children were also assessed on a standardised face memory task. Results. When asked to identify perpetrators in the video lineups, in many respects the autistic children performed at an equivalent level to the TD children. This was despite the TD children outperforming the autistic children on the standardized face memory task. Conclusions. These preliminary findings suggest that group differences between autistic and TD children may not always emerge on an ecologically valid, real world eyewitness identification lineup task, despite autistic children showing poorer performance on a standardized face memory task. However, as identification performance in both groups was low, it remains important for future research to identify how to scaffold eyewitness identification performance in both children with and without an autism diagnosis

Intercalibration of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS experiment at start-up

Calibration of the relative response of the individual channels of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS detector was accomplished, before installation, with cosmic ray muons and test beams. One fourth of the calorimeter was exposed to a beam of high energy electrons and the relative calibration of the channels, the intercalibration, was found to be reproducible to a precision of about 0.3%. Additionally, data were collected with cosmic rays for the entire ECAL barrel during the commissioning phase. By comparing the intercalibration constants obtained with the electron beam data with those from the cosmic ray data, it is demonstrated that the latter provide an intercalibration precision of 1.5% over most of the barrel ECAL. The best intercalibration precision is expected to come from the analysis of events collected in situ during the LHC operation. Using data collected with both electrons and pion beams, several aspects of the intercalibration procedures based on electrons or neutral pions were investigated

Verbal, visual, and intermediary support for child witnesses with autism during investigative interviews

Three promising investigative interview interventions were assessed in 270 children (age 6-11 years): 71 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 199 who were typically developing (TD). Children received ‘Verbal Labels’, ‘Sketch Reinstatement of Context’ or ‘Registered Intermediary’ interviews designed to improve interview performance without decreasing accuracy. Children with ASD showed no increases in the number of correct details recalled for any of the three interview types (compared to a Best-Practice police interview), whereas TD children showed significant improvements in the Registered Intermediary and Verbal Labels interviews. Findings suggested that children with ASD can perform as well as TD children in certain types of investigative interviews, but some expected benefits (e.g., of Registered Intermediaries) were not apparent in this study

Energy Resolution Performance of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

The energy resolution performance of the CMS lead tungstate crystal electromagnetic calorimeter is presented. Measurements were made with an electron beam using a fully equipped supermodule of the calorimeter barrel. Results are given both for electrons incident on the centre of crystals and for electrons distributed uniformly over the calorimeter surface. The electron energy is reconstructed in matrices of 3 times 3 or 5 times 5 crystals centred on the crystal containing the maximum energy. Corrections for variations in the shower containment are applied in the case of uniform incidence. The resolution measured is consistent with the design goals

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Phonological and visuospatial short-term memory in children with specific language impairment

An investigation was carried out into the phonological short-term memory (PSTM) and visuospatial short-term memory (VSSTM) skills of children with specific language impairment (SLI; n = 41) using memory span tasks. Individuals with SLI were compared with children who had milder degrees of language difficulty (“low language functioning“ [LLF]; n = 31) and children with typical development (n = 88). Regression analyses examined the effects of group after controlling for age and non-verbal IQ; further regressions included an additional control for verbal IQ. Even after controlling for all of these variables, children with SLI and LLF showed significantly weaker PSTM than children with typical development. For VSSTM, there were no overall group differences in performance. The findings imply that the PSTM difficulties that have been reported in children with SLI are substantial, whereas VSSTM appears to be an area of relative strength for most children with SLI

A comparison of selective attention and facial processing biases in typically developing children who are high and low in self-reported trait anxiety

The relationship between children's anxiety and cognitive biases was examined in two tasks. A group of 50 children aged 10 to 11 years (mean = 11 years, SD = 3.71 months) was given two tasks. The first tested children's selective attention (SA) to threat in an emotional Stroop task. The second explored facial processing biases using morphed angry-neutral and happy-neutral emotional expressions that varied in intensity. Faces with varying levels of emotion (25% emotion–75% neutral, 50% emotion–50% neutral, 100% emotion–0% neutral [prototype] and 150% emotion–0% neutral [caricature]) were judged as being angry or happy. Results support previous work highlighting a link between anxiety and SA to threat. In addition, increased anxiety in late childhood is associated with decreased ability to discriminate facial expression. Finally, lack of discrimination in the emotional expression task was related to lack of inhibition to threat in the Stroop task

Of social movements, human rights and electricity access: Exploring an indigenous civil resistance in Chiapas, Mexico

International audienceAlongside Sustainable Development Goal 7 and related policies, another potential strategy for enhancing access to energy services that are reliable, high quality, affordable, sufficient, sustainable and modern consists in theorizing and establishing “energy rights”. In critical dialogue with other attempts to theorize and implement a right to energy, we propose that it is possible to theorize a human right to electricity access from the perspective of social groups, experiences, and worldviews from the Global South. To support this claim, we present the case study of Luz y Fuerza del Pueblo, a social movement operating in the state of Chiapas, southeastern Mexico. We show that this organization’s understanding of and approach to electricity depends on the convergence of Mayan cosmovisiones (worldviews) and Christian views mediated by Liberation Theology. Members conceive electricity as both a part of the whole and a fundamental entitlement that should not become marketable or be linked to capital accumulation. Moreover, the movement presents a non-hierarchical structure, has a strong commitment to territory control, an anti-capitalist attitude, a keen focus on cooperation, and implements “politics of place”. We argue that both the worldview and the type of socio-political arrangement of Luz y Fuerza del Pueblo as well as the lived experience of its members suggest the possibility of theorizing a specific right to electricity access. Overall, our findings and proposal can benefit energy scholars and practitioners who are interested in exploring, defining, implementing and enforcing a specific right to electricity in more pluralistic and inclusive ways