Strong genetic influences on the stability of autistic traits in childhood

Objective: Disorders on the autism spectrum, as well as autistic traits in the general population, have been found to be both highly stable across age and highly heritable at individual ages. However, little is known about the overlap in genetic and environmental influences on autistic traits across age and the contribution of such influences to trait stability itself. The present study investigated these questions in a general population sample of twins. Method: More than 6,000 twin pairs were rated on an established scale of autistic traits by their parents at 8, 9, and 12 years of age and by their teachers at 9 and 12 years of age. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results: The results indicated that, consistently across raters, not only were autistic traits stable, and moderately to highly heritable at individual ages, there was also a high degree of overlap in genetic influences across age. Furthermore, autistic trait stability could largely be accounted for by genetic factors, with the environment unique to each twin playing a minor role. The environment shared by twins had virtually no effect on the longitudinal stability in autistic traits. Conclusions: Autistic traits are highly stable across middle childhood and this stability is caused primarily by genetic factors

Recent Decisions

Recent Decisions Act of State Doctrine--Act of State Doctrine precludes Judicial Inquiry into the Motivation underlying the Acts of a Foreign State in a Private Antitrust Suit Ronald P. Cima Preemption--State Statute Prohibiting Nonresidents or Aliens from Fishing in its Waters is Preempted by Federal Law Douglas Berry Warsaw Convention--Provision for Limiting Liability--Recoveries in Personal Injury Actions against Air Carrier Employees, as Well as Against the Air Carrier itself, are to be Limited by the Warsaw Convention Jon L. Goodma

An Interactive Knowledge-based Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithm Framework for Practical Optimization Problems

Experienced users often have useful knowledge and intuition in solving real-world optimization problems. User knowledge can be formulated as inter-variable relationships to assist an optimization algorithm in finding good solutions faster. Such inter-variable interactions can also be automatically learned from high-performing solutions discovered at intermediate iterations in an optimization run - a process called innovization. These relations, if vetted by the users, can be enforced among newly generated solutions to steer the optimization algorithm towards practically promising regions in the search space. Challenges arise for large-scale problems where the number of such variable relationships may be high. This paper proposes an interactive knowledge-based evolutionary multi-objective optimization (IK-EMO) framework that extracts hidden variable-wise relationships as knowledge from evolving high-performing solutions, shares them with users to receive feedback, and applies them back to the optimization process to improve its effectiveness. The knowledge extraction process uses a systematic and elegant graph analysis method which scales well with number of variables. The working of the proposed IK-EMO is demonstrated on three large-scale real-world engineering design problems. The simplicity and elegance of the proposed knowledge extraction process and achievement of high-performing solutions quickly indicate the power of the proposed framework. The results presented should motivate further such interaction-based optimization studies for their routine use in practice.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures in main document; 6 pages, 6 figures in supplementary documen

Performance Under Pressure: Examination of Relevant Neurobiological and Genetic Influence

Satisfactory human performance demands the complex interaction of multiple factors such as arousal/motivation, emotion expression and regulation, intricate synchronization of central and peripheral motor processes, all recruited in the service of adaptive, moment to moment decision making. The segregation of these various factors aids in the understanding of their complex interactions. Recently, scientific investigation has focused on understanding the integration of these various factors. The complementary role of emotion and cognition in successful human performance is emphasized. As a viable metric of emotion regulation differences in asymmetry of human brain frontal activity have traditionally been utilized to index certain trait predispositions within the approach/withdrawal dimension of emotion/motivation. Researchers have begun to make a case for an acute or state difference in frontal asymmetry. This "Capability Model" posits the neural underpinnings of the relative difference in electrical activity between the left and right frontal lobes as a phasic/situational mechanism possibly sub-serving the integration of emotion and cognition during challenge. The current study demonstrates support for this situational/state model of frontal asymmetry. Thirty channels of EEG were collected along with, skin conductance, heart rate and acoustic startle amplitudes while subjects were engaged in two levels of a working memory task under three increasing levels of stress (final level=electric stimuli/shock). Hierarchical regression results implicate state frontal asymmetry differences as having a mediating role in the adaptive regulation of emotion during enhanced performance on an N-back working memory task but only in the high stress condition. During shock /threat of shock participants with higher state asymmetry scores showed significant attenuation of eye-blink startle magnitudes, faster reaction times and increased accuracy. This suggests an integration of emotion and cognition

The effects of covert modeling and progressive relaxation on the locus of control orientation and drinking behavior of inpatient alcohol abusers

Alcohol abuse is a significant and formidable problem which affects the lives of an estimated 10 to 13 million people. of course, this figure does not adequately reflect the secondary effects of alcohol abuse on the millions of people who have a significant relationship with an alcohol abuser. It is not hard to understand then, the enormous amount of time, money, and energy spent on trying to prevent, treat, and recover from this problem.;This study focused on the treatment and recovery phases of alcohol abuse and was conducted in an attempt to determine whether or not two adjunct behavioral skills (covert modeling and progressive relaxation) could be effective when learned and practiced in conjunction with the more traditional tenets of the disease--medical model of alcohol abuse.;Chaney (1976), Marlatt (cited in Nathan et al., 1978) and Sobell and Sobell (1973) among others have advocated the need to teach alcoholics behavioral self-control skills and to practice new behaviors in order to strengthen the recovery process. In this study, a locus of control scale was used to measure this hypothesized change in perceived self-control and a 3-month follow-up of drinking behavior was used to evaluate effects on the recovery process.;In a review of the literature, it was found that alcoholics can and do change their Internal-External (I-E) scores toward internality (self control) as a function of participating in treatment (Oziel & Obitz, 1951; O\u27Leary, Donovan, Hague, & Shea, 1975; Kennedy, Gilbert, & Thoreson, 1978; Hettinger, 1976) and that other nonalcohol-abusing populations can also alter their control orientation as a function of therapeutic intervention (Dua, 1970; Gillis & Jessor, 1970; Pierce, Schauble, & Farkas, 1970).;Covert modeling procedures have been found to be effective in reducing snake avoidance (Kazdin, 1973, 1974a; Lowe, 1978) in increasing assertive behavior (Kazdin, 1974b. 1965a); and in reducing fear of laboratory rats (Cautela, 1974). Additionally, Hay et al. (1977) used covert modeling to successfully treat a case of chronic alcohol abuse and a case of obsessive-compulsive behavior.;The subjects for this study were 50 inpatients receiving treatment for alcohol abuse at Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, Virginia. They were randomly assigned to five groups following a pretest administration of the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Scale. The groups were as follows: (1) 10 subjects received a combination of covert modeling and progressive relaxation for four 30-minute sessions; (2) 10 subjects received only covert modeling for four 30-minute sessions; (3) 10 subjects received only progressive relaxation for four 30-minute sessions; (4) 10 subjects were assigned to the placebo-control group and engaged in four 30-minute discussion sessions; (5) 10 subjects were assigned to the no-treatment control group and received no adjunct behavioral treatment.;The results were as follows: (1) Subjects assigned to Group 1 were not significantly different from subjects in Groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 on a measure of locus of control change. They were, however, significantly different on a measure of follow-up drinking behavior. (2) Subjects assigned to Group 2 were not significantly different from subjects in Groups 3, 4, and 5 on either a measure of locus of control change or follow-up drinking behavior. (3) Subjects assigned to Group 3 were not significantly different from subjects in Groups 4 and 5 on either dependent measure. (4) Subjects assigned to Groups 1, 2 and 3 were not significantly different from subjects in Groups 4 and 5 on either dependent measure.;Recommendations were made for further research in this area

Delinquency Theories, Group Composition, Treatment Locus, and a Service-Research Model for \u27Traditional\u27 Social Work Agencies

Summary Rehabilitative endeavors within correctional institutions have failed because of overpopulation, high costs, labelling and stigmatization of inmates, low transferability of treatment changes to the outside community, and deviant peer group composition. Community treatment programs have fared little better because they also entail client stigmatization and typically are conducted within the context of deviant peer groups. Consequently, in order to enhance the rehabilitative potential of community treatment, subsequent efforts should be conducted within traditional agencies and within pro-social peer groups. The emphasis upon pro-social rehabilitation environments does not posit any particular assets and/or liabilities of a given socio-economic stratum, thus avoiding a major deficiency of many sociological theories of juvenile delinquency, viz., the tendency to derive particularized etiological and interventive principles from a generalized variable, that is, social class. Instead, our basic assumption is that both anti-social and pro-social environments are to be found within any social stratum, and that the latter ought to constitute the preferred loci for rehabilitative endeavors. A brief overview of major formulations concerning juvenile delinquency reveals at least minimum consonance between their basic assumptions and the proposals set forth here. Moreover, although the proposals envision a broad scale augmentation of rehabilitation resources the operational consequences for individual agencies and their members appear to be minimal. Forthcoming empirical data will permit specific detailed examination of the foregoing proposals. However, as additional agencies choose to adopt or reject them prior to accumulation of all the requisite data one might easily conduct a separate study of considerable merit, the subject of which would be innovation within social work institutions

Crew Station Aspects of Manned Spacecraft

This thesis presents a frame work for a crew station handbook and includes samples of the broader areas which such a handbook should cover. The completed sections of this thesis serve as extensive treatments of the topics covered. The content of the individual sections of Chapters I and II varied with my experience and knowledge

Client Costs and Early Discontinuance from a Community-Based Treatment Program

In social work circles client withdrawal from a treatment program commonly has been labeled as discontinuance . Discontinuance rates have been inordinately high for both casework and group work endeavors, ranging in some instances to 59Z of all clients following the first interview (Aronson and Overall, 1966; Empey and Erickson, 1972; Goldstein, Heller, and Sechrest, 1966; Levinger, 1960; Overall and Aronson, 1963). Discontinuance represents an obvious and essential concern for social work for one overarching reason, to wit, treatment interventions cannot be implemented should the client(s) withdraw from the therapeutic relationship. Additionally, as some investigators have shown, discontinuance represents a focal concern for evaluative research since valid estimates of treatment success cannot be obtained unless early discontinuers are regarded as instances of treatment failure (cf. Lerman, 1968; Empey and Erickson, 1972). A variety of reasons have been posited for the high rates of discontinuance in social work and allied treatment professions. Among the foremost are inaccurate or incongruent role expectations held by the two people most central to the therapeutic relationship, namely, the therapist and the client (Frank, 1961; Freeman and Simmons, 1958, 1959; Garvin, 1969; Goldstein, 1966; Heine and Trosman, 1960; Kadushin and Wieringa, 1960; Lefton, et al., 1962; Mayer and Timms, 1970; Mechanic, 1961; Olsen and Olsen, 1967; Oxley, 1966; Shapiro, 1971). These and other factors have been posited to result in counter-therapeutic client uncertainties (Erikson, 1957), anxieties (Dibner, 1967), and misperceptions (Sapolsky, 1965; Thomas, et al., 1955) and, consequently, in discontinuance. Interestingly, the great majority of studies concerning discontinuance in social work have focused solely upon endogenous features of the therapeutic relationship per se, that is, upon social variables that emanate from the interaction between client(s) and therapist(s) and that determine their ongoing interaction. For the most part, however, exogenous determinants of that relationship have been ignored in the literature. This is especially unfortunate in the case of group work since the course of treatment may depend upon a variety of socio-cultural attributes and behaviors that the various members bring to the treatment group

Asbestos exposure and mesothelioma in South Africa

Objectives. To describe the exposure experiences of South African mesothelioma  cases, with emphasis on the contribution made to the caseload by different fibre  types, the proportion of subjects with no recall of asbestos exposure and only environmental contact, and the importance of putative causes other than asbestos.Design. A multicentred case-control study.Subjects and setting. 123 patients with mesothelioma interviewed by trained  interviewers in study centres established in  Johannesburg, Kimberley, Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.Results. A convincing history of asbestos exposure was obtained in the overwhelming majority of cases (only 5 cases had unlikely asbestos exposure). Twenty-three subjects had worked on Cape crocidolite mines, 3 at Penge (an amosite mine), 3 on mines  producing amosite and Transvaal crocidolite and 1 on a Transvaal crocidolite mine. Exclusively environmental exposure  accounted for at least 18% of cases; 91% of these cases (20/'22 subjects) had had contact with Cape crocidolite. There was a relative paucity of cases linked to amosite and no convincing chrysotile case. Non-asbestos causes occur rarely, if at all; in South  Africa.Conclusion. The preponderance of crocidolite cases, followed by amosite and then chrysotile cases, is consistent with the view that there is a fibre gradient of mesotheliomagenic potential for South African asbestos (crocidolite > amosite >chrysotile)

Willingness-to-Pay for New Products in a University Foodservice Setting

A dairy products manufacturer wishing to expand into university foodservice operations collaborated with a graduate marketing class to research student preferences regarding the Company’s products. Baseline and follow-up stated choice surveys and conditional logit analyses were conducted at a land-grant university where the Company’s products were introduced. Brand awareness grew but remained low during the study period. Average WTP estimates for the Company’s most popular product approximated the retail price and resembled WTP for a competing brand. Average WTP for the Company’s other products, however, was considerably lower than the retail price. Significant WTP differences existed among some consumer segments.Willingness-to-Pay, Consumer Segment, University Foodservice, Conjoint analysis, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,