Interview investigation of insecure attachment styles as mediators between poor childhood care and schizophrenia-spectrum phenomenology

Background Insecure attachment styles have received theoretical attention and some initial empirical support as mediators between childhood adverse experiences and psychotic phenomena; however, further specificity needs investigating. The present interview study aimed to examine (i) whether two forms of poor childhood care, namely parental antipathy and role reversal, were associated with subclinical positive and negative symptoms and schizophrenia-spectrum personality disorder (PD) traits, and (ii) whether such associations were mediated by specific insecure attachment styles. Method A total of 214 nonclinical young adults were interviewed for subclinical symptoms (Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States), schizophrenia-spectrum PDs (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Disorders), poor childhood care (Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Interview), and attachment style (Attachment Style Interview). Participants also completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II and all the analyses were conducted partialling out the effects of depressive symptoms. Results Both parental antipathy and role reversal were associated with subclinical positive symptoms and with paranoid and schizotypal PD traits. Role reversal was also associated with subclinical negative symptoms. Angry-dismissive attachment mediated associations between antipathy and subclinical positive symptoms and both angry-dismissive and enmeshed attachment mediated associations of antipathy with paranoid and schizotypal PD traits. Enmeshed attachment mediated associations of role reversal with paranoid and schizotypal PD traits. Conclusions Attachment theory can inform lifespan models of how adverse developmental environments may increase the risk for psychosis. Insecure attachment provides a promising mechanism for understanding the development of schizophrenia-spectrum phenomenology and may offer a useful target for prophylactic intervention

The Pricing Behaviour of Firms in the Euro Area: New Survey Evidence

This study investigates the pricing behaviour of firms in the euro area on the basis of surveys conducted by nine Eurosystem national central banks. Overall, more than 11,000 firms participated in the survey. The results are very robust across countries. Firms operate in monopolistically competitive markets, where prices are mostly set following mark-up rules and where price discrimination is a common practice. Our evidence suggests that both time- and state-dependent pricing strategies are applied by firms in the euro area: around one-third of the companies follow mainly time-dependent pricing rules while two-thirds use pricing rules with some element of state-dependence. Although the majority of firms take into account a wide range of information, including past and expected economic developments, about one-third adopts a purely backward-looking behaviour. The pattern of results lends support to the recent wave of estimations of hybrid versions of the New Keynesian Phillips Curve. Price stickiness arises both at the stage when firms review their prices and again when they actually change prices. The most relevant factors underlying price rigidity are customer relationships – as expressed in the theories about explicit and implicit contracts – and thus, are mainly found at the price changing (second) stage of the price adjustment process. Finally, we provide evidence that firms adjust prices asymmetrically in response to shocks, depending on the direction of the adjustment and the source of the shock: while cost shocks have a greater impact when prices have to be raised than when they have to be reduced, reductions in demand are more likely to induce a price change than increases in demand.

The pricing behaviour of firms in the euro area : new survey evidence

This study investigates the pricing behaviour of firms in the euro area on the basis of surveys conducted by nine Eurosystem national central banks. Overall, more than 11,000 firms participated in the survey. The results are very robust across countries. Firms operate in monopolistically competitive markets, where prices are mostly set following mark-up rules and where price discrimination is a common practice. Our evidence suggests that both time- and state-dependent pricing strategies are applied by firms in the euro area: around one-third of the companies follow mainly time-dependent pricing rules while two-thirds use pricing rules with some element of state-dependence. Although the majority of firms take into account a wide range of information, including past and expected economic developments, about one-third adopts a purely backward-looking behaviour. The pattern of results lends support to the recent wave of estimations of hybrid versions of the New Keynesian Phillips Curve. Price stickiness arises both at the stage when firms review their prices and again when they actually change prices. The most relevant factors underlying price rigidity are customer relationships - as expressed in the theories about explicit and implicit contracts - and thus, are mainly found at the price changing (second) stage of the price adjustment process. Finally, we provide evidence that firms adjust prices asymmetrically in response to shocks, depending on the direction of the adjustment and the source of the shock: while cost shocks have a greater impact when prices have to be raised than when they have to be reduced, reductions in demand are more likely to induce a price change than increases in demand.price setting, nominal rigidity, real rigidity, inflation persistence, survey data.

Light-induced activation and deactivation of bulk defects in boron-doped float-zone silicon

In this paper, we present new insight in the degradation and subsequent recovery of charge carrier lifetime upon light soaking at 75 °C observed in float-zone silicon wafers. Variations of doping type, dielectric passivation schemes and thermal treatments after layer deposition were performed. The degradation was only observed for p-type float-zone silicon wafers passivated with passivation schemes involving silicon nitride layers. An influence of thermal treatments after deposition was found. N-type wafers did not degrade independent of their passivation scheme. Room temperature re-passivation experiments showed the degradation to affect the wafer bulk, and photoluminescence studies demonstrated fine lateral striations of effective lifetime. We conclude that the degradation is caused by bulk defects that might be related to hydrogen complexes

Extralimital triradii as a putative marker of schizotypy

Dermatoglyphic anomalies are reported to occur at a higher rate in schizophrenic patients and schizotypic individuals than in the general population, supporting the hypothesis that they are a marker of vulnerability for such conditions. Dermatoglyphic anomalies are hypothesized to indicate severe disruptions in the second trimester of prenatal development, a time period that appears to be etiologically relevant to the development of schizophrenia and related conditions. The present study provides the first examination of extralimital triradii in schizotypic young adults (n=197) and control participants (n=135) identified by the Revised Social Anhedonia Scale [Eckblad, M., Chapman, L.J., Chapman, J.P., Mishlove, M., 1982. The Revised Social Anhedonia Scale. Unpublished test (copies available from T.R. Kwapil, Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro P.O. Box 26164 Greensboro, NC 27402-6164)], the Perceptual Aberration Scale [Chapman, L.J., Chapman, J.P., Raulin, M.L., 1978. Body image aberration in schizophrenia. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 87, 399–407], the Magical Ideation Scale [Eckblad, M.L., Chapman, L.J., 1983. Magical ideation as an indicator of schizotypy. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 51, 215–225], and the Physical Anhedonia Scale [Chapman, L.J., Chapman, J.P., Raulin, M.L., 1976. Scales for physical and social anhedonia. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 85, 374–382]. As hypothesized, the schizotypic participants (6.6%) exhibited significantly higher rates of extralimital triradii than control participants (1.5%). These findings strongly encourage the future investigation of extralimital triradii in at-risk and psychotic populations

Network structure of the Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales–Short Forms: Examining psychometric network filtering approaches

Schizotypy is a multidimensional construct that provides a useful framework for understanding the etiology, development, and risk for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Past research has applied traditional methods, such as factor analysis, to uncovering common dimensions of schizotypy. In the present study, we aimed to advance the construct of schizotypy, measured by the Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales-Short Forms (WSS-SF), beyond this general scope by applying two different psychometric network filtering approaches-the state-of-the-art approach (lasso), which has been employed in previous studies, and an alternative approach (information-filtering networks; IFNs). First, we applied both filtering approaches to two large, independent samples of WSS-SF data (ns = 5,831 and 2,171) and assessed each approach's representation of the WSS-SF's schizotypy construct. Both filtering approaches produced results similar to those from traditional methods, with the IFN approach producing results more consistent with previous theoretical interpretations of schizotypy. Then we evaluated how well both filtering approaches reproduced the global and local network characteristics of the two samples. We found that the IFN approach produced more consistent results for both global and local network characteristics. Finally, we sought to evaluate the predictability of the network centrality measures for each filtering approach, by determining the core, intermediate, and peripheral items on the WSS-SF and using them to predict interview reports of schizophrenia-spectrum symptoms. We found some similarities and differences in their effectiveness, with the IFN approach's network structure providing better overall predictive distinctions. We discuss the implications of our findings for schizotypy and for psychometric network analysis more generally

Assessment of Score Dependability of the Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales Using Generalizability Analysis

To investigate the reliability of the Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales, this study applied generalizability analysis with two college student samples who completed the scales at two time points. The results indicated that the Revised Social Anhedonia Scale had acceptable levels of score dependability, but that the score dependability for the other scales (the Physical Anhedonia Scale, the Perceptual Aberration Scale, and the Magical Ideation Scale) was below an acceptable level of .80. The patterns of variance components suggested that the scales’ items need improvement. Researchers can use the included tables to choose the number of items and occasions needed to get dependable score interpretations. This research was presented at the 2007 meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL

Taking monocrystalline silicon to the ultimate lifetime limit

A central quantity to assess the high quality of monocrystalline silicon (on scales beyond mere purity) is the minority charge carrier lifetime. We demonstrate that the lifetime in high purity float zone material can be improved beyond existing observations, thanks to a deeper understanding of grown-in defects and how they can be permanently annihilated. In a first step we investigate the influence of several process sequences on the lifetime by applying a low temperature superacid passivation treatment. We find that a pre-treatment consisting of an oxidation at 1050 °C followed by a POCl3 diffusion at 900 °C can improve the lifetime by deactivating or eliminating grown-in defects. Then, pre-treated wafers of different float zone materials are passivated with three state-of-the-art layer stacks. Very high effective lifetime values are measured, thereby demonstrating the high quality of the surface passivation schemes and the pre-treated silicon wafers. The measured effective lifetimes exceed previous records, and we report an effective lifetime of 225 ms measured on a 200 µm thick 100 Ω cm n-type silicon wafer symmetrically passivated with a layer stack of a thin thermally grown oxide and a polycrystalline layer (the TOPCon layer stack)

The expression of positive and negative schizotypy in daily life: an experience sampling study

Background. Psychometrically identified positive schizotypy and negative schizotypy are differentially related to psychopathology, personality and social functioning. However, little is known about the experience and expression of schizotypy in daily life and the psychological mechanisms that trigger psychotic-like experiences. Method. The present study employed experience sampling methodology (ESM) to assess positive and negative schizotypy in daily life in a non-clinical sample of 412 young adults. ESM is a structured diary technique in which participants are prompted at random times during the day to complete assessments of their current experiences. Results. As hypothesized, positive schizotypy was associated with increased negative affect, thought impairment, suspiciousness, negative beliefs about current activities and feelings of rejection, but not with social disinterest or decreased positive affect. Negative schizotypy, on the other hand, was associated with decreased positive affect and pleasure in daily life, increased negative affect, and decreases in social contact and interest. Both positive schizotypy and negative schizotypy were associated with the desire to be alone when with others. However, this was moderated by anxiety in positive schizotypy and by diminished positive affect in negative schizotypy. Conclusions. The results support the construct validity of a multidimensional model of schizotypy and the ecological validity of the positive and negative schizotypy dimensions. ESM appears to be a promising method for examining the daily life experiences of schizotypic individuals

Affective Temperaments: Unique Constructs or Dimensions of Normal Personality by Another Name?

Abstract: Background