Treatment-resistant psychotic symptoms and the 15q11.2 BP1–BP2 (Burnside-Butler) deletion syndrome: case report and review of the literature

The 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 (Burnside-Butler) deletion is a rare copy number variant impacting four genes (NIPA1, NIPA2, CYFIP1, and TUBGCP5), and carries increased risks for developmental delay, intellectual disability, and neuropsychiatric disorders (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, and psychosis). In this case report (supported by extensive developmental information and medication history), we present the complex clinical portrait of a 44-year-old woman with 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 deletion syndrome and chronic, treatment-resistant psychotic symptoms who has resided nearly her entire adult life in a long-term state psychiatric institution. Diagnostic and treatment implications are discussed

Constraints on cosmic strings using data from the first Advanced LIGO observing run

Cosmic strings are topological defects which can be formed in grand unified theory scale phase transitions in the early universe. They are also predicted to form in the context of string theory. The main mechanism for a network of Nambu-Goto cosmic strings to lose energy is through the production of loops and the subsequent emission of gravitational waves, thus offering an experimental signature for the existence of cosmic strings. Here we report on the analysis conducted to specifically search for gravitational-wave bursts from cosmic string loops in the data of Advanced LIGO 2015-2016 observing run (O1). No evidence of such signals was found in the data, and as a result we set upper limits on the cosmic string parameters for three recent loop distribution models. In this paper, we initially derive constraints on the string tension Gμ and the intercommutation probability, using not only the burst analysis performed on the O1 data set but also results from the previously published LIGO stochastic O1 analysis, pulsar timing arrays, cosmic microwave background and big-bang nucleosynthesis experiments. We show that these data sets are complementary in that they probe gravitational waves produced by cosmic string loops during very different epochs. Finally, we show that the data sets exclude large parts of the parameter space of the three loop distribution models we consider

Metodologia della ricerca in psicologia. Con Contenuto digitale per accesso on line [II EDIZIONE]

Seconda edizione italiana del manuale di metodologia pi\uf9 diffuso in USA. Espone i metodi descrittivi e sperimentali, la ricerca applicata e le modalit\ue0 di comunicazione efficace dei risultati della ricerca

Research design for investigation of Nigeria manufacturing management

Nigeria is a developing nation in West Africa and the manufacturing management in this nation in the past twenty years has not been well documented. This paper sets out the research design for investigating Nigeria manufacturing management. The project is a combination of 'explanatory and exploratory researches' because it strives to explore the issues related to the Nigerian manufacturing organizations with the help of the existing research studies as well as statistical survey work

A study of the differential effects of Tomm's questioning styles on therapeutic alliance

To replicate and extend Dozier et al's (1992) test of Tomm’s hypothesis about the differential effects of questioning styles on therapeutic alliance an analogue study was conducted. Twenty-eight family triads, each including a son and his parents, viewed four videotaped simulated family therapy scenarios in which Tomm's four questioning styles were separately portrayed. Participants were asked to identify with the client whose role corresponded to theirs (i.e. father, mother, or son) and, on the basis of this, to rate the client’s alliance with the therapist. They were also asked to rate the overall alliance between the family and the therapist. Finally, having viewed all four scenarios, they were invited to comparatively rate the quality of the therapeutic alliance across the four questioning styles. Compared with strategic and lineal questioning styles, circular and reflexive questions led to higher ratings of therapeutic alliance on all three measures. The results of this study support Tomm's hypothesis that questioning styles based on circular assumptions lead to a better a therapeutic alliance at an individual and systemic level than questions based on lineal assumptions.Author has checked copyrightAD 17/01/201

Organisational stressors, coping and coping effectiveness: a longitudinal study with an elite coach.

The purpose of this study was to examine organisational stressors, coping, and perceptions of coping effectiveness with an elite coach. The participant completed a daily diary over a 28-day period. Each diary entry consisted of an open-ended stressor, a coping response section, and a Likert-type scale measure of coping effectiveness. Inductive and deductive content analysis procedures were used to analyse the diaries, in addition to frequency data which were obtained for both stressors and coping strategies. Findings indicated administration, overload, competition environment, the athletes, and team atmosphere were the salient organisational stressors. Coping strategies used to alleviate such stressors were communication, preparation, planning, social support, and self-talk. These strategies were generally effective, but coping effectiveness declined over the 28-days

Standardising the elimination of unnecessary data from interview transcripts for the purposes of knowledge-based systems - A case study

Although knowledge elicitation, the process of extracting knowledge from human experts to be incorporated into a knowledge-based system, has been the subject of some notable studies, less attention has been paid to the methods of analysing the raw data once it has been extracted from the expert. When knowledge elicitation sessions are interview-based, the resultant form of raw data is usually a transcript of the interviewee's utterances. This paper describes an investigation into the preliminary stage of analysing such transcripts. It outlines the development of an approach to eliminate unnecessary detail from interview transcripts, thus enabling attention to be focused upon the remaining, more relevant data via a simple technique based upon cheap and readily available technology. The paper then outlines a rapid-prototyping approach for evaluating this method, the results of which were felt to be very encouraging