Merely Misunderstood: Expressive, Receptive, and Pragmatic Language in Children with Disruptive Behavior Disorders

Children with Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBD), including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) have poorer language skills compared to typically developing children; however, language as a potential risk factor for DBD has received little empirical attention or evaluation. Receptive, expressive, and pragmatic language skills in preschoolers with DBD were examined. Participants were 82 preschool-age children and their primary caregivers. Primary caregivers completed a semi-structured interview and symptom and language questionnaires. Preschoolers completed measures of receptive and expressive language. Results indicated that preschoolers with DBD were more impaired on receptive, expressive, and pragmatic language compared to non-DBD children. Pragmatic language appears particularly impaired in children with DBD, and language problems appear most linked with increased hyperactivity-impulsivity (vs. inattention or oppositional-defiance). This work suggests the need for early assessment of language in preschoolers with DBD, as well as the possibly utility of tailored interventions focusing on improving pragmatic language

Merely Misunderstood: Expressive, Receptive, and Pragmatic Language in Children with Disruptive Behavior Disorders

Children with Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBD), including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) have poorer language skills compared to typically developing children; however, language as a potential risk factor for DBD has received little empirical attention or evaluation. Receptive, expressive, and pragmatic language skills in preschoolers with DBD were examined. Participants were 82 preschool-age children and their primary caregivers. Primary caregivers completed a semi-structured interview and symptom and language questionnaires. Preschoolers completed measures of receptive and expressive language. Results indicated that preschoolers with DBD were more impaired on receptive, expressive, and pragmatic language compared to non-DBD children. Pragmatic language appears particularly impaired in children with DBD, and language problems appear most linked with increased hyperactivity-impulsivity (vs. inattention or oppositional-defiance). This work suggests the need for early assessment of language in preschoolers with DBD, as well as the possibly utility of tailored interventions focusing on improving pragmatic language

Psychosocial Functioning in Adolescents with Temporomandibular Disorders

Psychosocial functioning is a key component of screening and treatment of Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) in adults; however, psychosocial functioning in adolescents with TMD has received little empirical attention. The present study aims to examine group difference between adolescents and adults with TMD on pain and prominent psychosocial factors, such as anxiety, depression, and somatization, as well as to explore additional developmentally sensitive psychosocial factors that may be associated more with the adolescent TMD pain. Participants included 35 adolescents aged 12-17 (M=14.89 years, SD=1.84) with TMD muscle pain who completed pain questionnaires and a comprehensive dental examination. Patients and their primary caregivers completed behavioral questionnaires to examine psychosocial functioning. Thirty-five adults matched on gender, diagnosis, and duration of pain were selected from a large pre-existing database of previous orofacial pain patients. Adolescents and adults reported descriptively similar TMD pain and equivalent rates of anxiety, depression, and somatization; however, the relationship between these psychosocial factors and TMD pain appear to be more salient for adults compared to adolescents. In adolescents, increased pain-related interference was significantly associated with positive attitudes toward school, better anger control, and deficits in functional communication; whereas, more frequent TMD pain was significantly associated with sense of inadequacy and parent-reported withdrawal, though not in the expected direction. Screening for TMD in adults typically focuses on anxiety, depression, and somatization; however, these psychosocial factors overall did not appear as salient in adolescents as attitude toward school, anger control, sense of inadequacy, withdrawal, and functional communication, suggesting that adult psychosocial screen may need to be revised to include developmentally sensitive targets that may be particularly important for screening of TMD in adolescents

Insect colonization of child-sized remains and delay of post mortem interval: an exploratory study in the behavioral analysis of pig carcasses via 24 hour high resolution video surveillance

This research was designed to document the decompositional and behavioral patterns and activities of arthropods colonizing child-sized remains, as observed by field sampling and 24-hour, high resolution video surveillance. The purpose of this research was to test the relationship between delays in arthropod colonization of child-sized remains and climatic conditions. Between March and June 2004, the remains of two child-sized pigs (approximately 11 kilograms) were deposited in an isolated wooded region in a suburban area of Virginia. The sites were secluded, approximately 83 yards from any dwellings. The pigs were placed on the surface: one was clothed, the other was unclothed. Wire cages were placed over them to prevent larger scavengers from consuming the specimens. Two high resolution video cameras were set up utilizing an infrared light source for night viewing. The cameras were set to record on a 24-hour basis. Taping was conducted every day throughout the period. Remains were also physically monitored every day, arthropods collected, observations noted, and direct temperature and humidity readings taken with a psychrometer at the experimental sites. Data for the macro-environment were collected from the U.S. Marine Corps Meteorology and Oceanographic Division, which provided hourly data on wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, sky cover, and weather observations. Two replicates of the study were conducted. Tapes were reviewed to document the number of arthropods visiting the sites, as well as species and activity. Inter-rater reliability was performed to ensure species documentation was accurate. Results of this study demonstrate the relationship between weather and delays in arthropod colonization. For both replicates, rainy, overcast weather conditions delayed colonization even though temperatures were above established thresholds of activity. This study also showed the effect of arthropods’ diurnal predilections. Additionally, it further highlighted the interspecies and intraspecies competition among insects for viable food sources and demonstrated exclusion and succession. Vertebrate scavenging was a factor even though all the specimens were secured in wire cages, as vertebrates successfully removed specimens from the cages. Results of this research reinforce the need for careful review of all factors when considering post mortem interval estimations

Particularism and the retreat from theory in the archaeology of agricultural origins

The introduction of new analytic methods and expansion of research into previously untapped regions have greatly increased the scale and resolution of data relevant to the origins of agriculture (OA). As a result, the recognition of varied historical pathways to agriculture and the continuum of management strategies have complicated the search for general explanations for the transition to food production. In this environment, higher-level theoretical frameworks are sometimes rejected on the grounds that they force conclusions that are incompatible with real-world variability. Some of those who take this position argue instead that OA should be explained in terms of local and historically contingent factors. This retreat from theory in favor of particularism is based on the faulty beliefs that complex phenomena such as agricultural origins demand equally complex explanations and that explanation is possible in the absence of theoretically based assumptions. The same scholars who are suspicious of generalization are reluctant to embrace evolutionary approaches to human behavior on the grounds that they are ahistorical, overly simplistic, and dismissive of agency and intent.We argue that these criticisms are misplaced and explain why a coherent theory of human behavior that acknowledges its evolutionary history is essential to advancing understanding of OA. Continued progress depends on the integration of human behavior and culture into the emerging synthesis of evolutionary developmental biology that informs contemporary research into plant and animal domestication

The Effects of Color Enhanced Information Presentations

Color coding is becoming an important dimension in the presentation mode capabi lity of many information systems. Although color coded output, either alphanumeric or graphic, is of considerable intuitive appeal, there is litt le experimental data on its use or effects. An experimeent is reported which focuses on the effects of color enhanced information presentations. Information is presented to two groups of subjects differing the presentation mode only along the dimension of color coding. The subjects are later tested on the material presented. Analysis of the test results indicates a significant difference in the subjects\u27 performance which is apparently attributable to the color coding of the presentation materials. Directions for further investigations are suggested

Watson Brake, A Middle Archaic Mound Complex in Northeast Louisiana

Middle Archaic earthen mound complexes in the lower Mississippi valley are remote antecedents of the famous but much younger Poverty Point earthworks. Watson Brake is the largest and most complex of these early mound sites. Wry extensive coring and stratigraphic studies, aided by 25 radiocarbon dates and six huninescence dates, show that minor earthworks were begun here at ca. 3500 B.C. in association with an oval arrangement of burned rock middens at the edge of a stream terrace. The full extent of the first earthworks is not yet known. Substantial moundraising began ca. 3350 B.C. and continued in stages until some time after 3000 B.C. when the site was abandoned. All 11 mounds and their connecting ridges were occupied between building bursts. Soils,formed on some of these temporary surfaces, while lithics. fire-cracked rock. and,fired clay/loam objects became scattered throughout the mound fills. Faunal and floral remains from a basal midden indicate all-season occupation, supported by broad-spectrum foraging centered on nuts, fish, and deer All the overlying fills are so acidic that organics have not survived. The area enclosed by the mounds was kept clean of debris, suggesting its use as ritual space. The reasons why such elaborate activities first occurred here remain elusive. However some building bursts covary with very well-documented increases in El Nino/Southern Oscillation events. During such rapid increases in ENSO frequencies, rainfall becomes extremely erratic and unpredictable. It may be that early moundraising was a communal response to new stresses of droughts and flooding that created a suddenly more unpredictable food base