Maternal mind-mindedness as a predictor of child behavioural and cognitive outcomes in a socio-economically disadvantaged population

Aims: Childhood abuse has been shown to be associated with a range of aspects of social cognition in adulthood. Among them, mentalization – the ability to attend to and interpret one’s own behavior and the behavior of others in terms of mental states – has been a popular topic of research. However, the literature remains limited to single dimensions of mentalization, as opposed to the broader multi-dimensional concept, and there has been no systematic review or meta-analysis on this topic. Methods: This multilevel meta-analysis provides a synthesis of all empirical literature examining the relationship between childhood abuse and mentalization abilities in the general adult population. Mentalization was operationalized using 8 distinct constructs: reflective functioning, mentalization, mind-mindedness, insightfulness, social cognition, theory of mind, alexithymia, and emotion recognition. Systematic electronic searches were conducted across 5 databases, and 57 outcomes across a total of 27 studies were included. An additional metaanalysis was also conducted examining the relationship between general childhood maltreatment, as distinct childhood from abuse, and mentalization in adulthood. Results: A significant weighted average correlation of r=.14, 95%CI [.09, .19] was found for the relationship between childhood abuse and adult mentalization, representing a small effect size. Moderation analyses revealed that younger participants, members of minority groups, and female participants reported poorer mentalization in adulthood after childhood abuse. An additional meta-analysis examining the relationships between general childhood maltreatment and mentalization in adulthood reviewed 18 studies and yielded a significant weighted average correlation of r=0.17, 95%CI [.07, .27]. Conclusions: The current meta-analysis confirms that childhood abuse and childhood maltreatment are both associated with poorer mentalization in adulthood. The results contribute clinically to the shape and form of early interventions and treatments. Future research may seek to compare the effects of abuse and neglect, and account for a clinical population

Mid-infrared reflectance spectroscopy of calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions to identify primitive near Earth asteroids

The recent availability of mid-IR spectroscopy from space telescopes has led to studies attempting to characterise the composition of near Earth asteroids (NEAs) by comparison to spectroscopic observations of meteorites in the laboratory (e.g. [1, 2]). Mid-IR of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites has also recently been in focus to identify primitive asteroids and the aqueous alteration processes occurring on them [3]. Of special interest among the components of carbonaceous chondrites are the refractory calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs) because they are formed very early on in the solar system. We have gathered reflectance spectra in the 2.5-16.0 μm range of the phases (spinel, olivine, melilite, pyroxene, etc.) in CAI sections of meteorites Allende (CV3.3), Vigarano (CV3.3) and Ornans (CO3.3) with a Perkin Elmer AutoIMAGE FTIR microscope, and compared them to mid-IR spectra of several NEA targets (253 Mathilde, 243 Ida, 1917 Cuyo, and the target of OSIRIS-Rex mission 101955 Bennu) of the Spitzer Space Telescope's Infrared Spectrometer (IRS [4]). Spectra from Spitzer were extracted with an optimal extraction method [5] and corrected with a near earth thermal model [6]. Reflectance spectra obtained from the CAIs were compared to spectra in the Keck/NASA RELAB database [7]. Overall, we see some features on the surfaces of the observed asteroids that may correspond to the pristine CAIs from the chondrites, though identification of these features is not easy. References: [1] Emery, J. P. et al. (2006) Icarus, 182, 496-512. [2] Lim, L. F. et al. (2011) Icarus, 213, 510-523. [3] Trigo-Rodriguez, J. M. et al. (2014) Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 437, 227-240. [4] Houck, J. R. et al. (2004) Astron. Phy. J. Suppl. 154, 18-24. [5] Lebouteiller, V. et al. (2010) Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac., 122.888, 231-240. [6] Harris, A. W. (1998) Icarus 131, 291-301. [7] Pieters, C. M., and Hiroi, T. (2004). Lunar Planet. Sci. XXXV, # 1720

A Little Bird Told Me So...:the Emotional, Attributional, Relational And Team-Level Outcomes Of Engaging In Gossip

In this paper, I examine the consequences, both positive and negative, of initiating and participating in gossip in work-related contexts. While a commonly held perspective is that gossip is harmful in that it hurts relational interactions by encouraging coalition-building and engendering divisiveness, an alternative hypothesis is that gossip\u27s emotional attributes, can also help to foster stronger relationships and help individuals navigate complex environments. Specifically, I explore the influence of gossip at multiple levels of analysis: individual, dyadic and group. In Study 1, a laboratory experiment that looks at the short-term benefits of engaging in gossip (versus two control conditions, self-disclosure and task discussion), I find that individuals who engage in gossip experience higher positive emotions, energy and motivation but lower levels of state self-esteem. These gossiping dyads also experience dyadic benefits of relationship closeness and cooperation. Study 2 explored both the reputational and team-level outcomes of gossip. This study showed that team members who engaged in gossip were seen as being less trustworthy. Furthermore, gossip centrality had an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship with perceptions of competence. Study 2 showed that gossip about team members negatively influenced team outcomes such as psychological safety, cooperation and viability and increased team-level perceptions of politics while gossip about individuals outside the team has a positive effect on these outcomes, enhancing levels of team cooperation and decreasing perceptions of politics at the team-level. More detailed mediation analyses showed that team process variables, psychological safety and perceptions of politics measured halfway through the course of the team, mediated the negative relationship between intra-team gossip density and team cooperation and team viability measured at the end of the team\u27s lifecycle. In terms of the relationship between extra-team gossip density and team cooperation, it was mediated by decreased team perceptions of politics. This research contributes to the emerging field of inquiry on gossip by providing a comprehensive model of the consequences of gossip at three different levels of analysis as well as a strong empirical test of the effect of gossip on organizationally-relevant outcomes

Community patterns in geothermally influenced sediments

This study examined the previously unknown macrofaunal of a deep-sea cold seep and two shallow hydrothermal vents. In Chapter I, I investigate a deep-sea cold seep ( Clam Field , 950m depth) located in Monterey Bay, California. In chapter II, I report upon shallow vents that were located in Bahia Concepcion (12m depth), Mexico, and in White Point (8m depth), California. I tested whether the infaunal community compositions in these systems were different from the surrounding communities, and if the observed differences were related to the abundance of food in the deep-sea and the chemosynthetic production of the cold seep. In Chapter II, my hypotheses relate the influence of the abiotic variables and the life-history of infaunal species. Microfaunal, gain size and pore water samples from the top 5cm of the sediment were collected at locations within the venting zones and 1-5m away. Clam Field data indicated that elevated hydrogen sulphide concentration was the most significant parameter related to the abundance of infauna, which was also revealed at White Point. At the Bahia Concepcion vent the temperature inside zones of venting was significantly elevated over the outside temperature, and was the most significant parameter related to the abundance of infauna. At all sites, there was no difference in grain size between seep or vent sediments and the surrounding areas. The pH and salinity or pore waters at all three study sites also exhibited similar patters, with decreases inside venting zones and with sediment depth. As in shallow areas, the infaunal community of the deep-sea cold seep differed in species composition between the seep and outside zones; a number of species were exclusive to the seep zone. However, there was no evidence for chemosynthetic strategies amongst the shallow vent infauna, unlike previous reports at deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. Chemosynthetic bivalves were identified among the Clam Field infaunal species. Physiological and behavioral mechanisms were discussed to explain the presence of benthic infauna in the seep and vents. The species composition of the shallow vents was a sub-set of the surrounding community, but at the Clam Field contained a high number of unique species, and therefore the cold seep fauna was considered more isolated from the outside community

Aqueous alteration on early Mars: New insights from the aqueous geochemistry and secondary mineralogy of meteorite ALH 84001

In the wake of the discovery of clay minerals in Gale crater (an ancient martian crater) by NASA's Curiosity rover, and numerous remote and in situ detections of hydrous minerals on the early surfaces of Mars, the absence of clays in the oldest martian meteorite, ALH 84001, remains conspicuous. ALH 84001 is an orthopyroxenite that contains carbonate minerals which were formed on Mars - probably as a result of low temperature, near-surface aqueous alteration of the rock - but it does not contain clays. This body of work comprises a number of studies and different analytical techniques used to understand and constrain the composition of early martian fluids that lead to the alteration of the meteorite when it was emplaced near the surface of Mars ~3.9 Ga ago. Petrological and mineralogical studies; carbon, nitrogen and noble gas stepped-combustion analyses; geochemical modelling under different conditions; and aqueous alteration experiments were all carried out here for this purpose. A young martian meteorite, shergottite NW A 6234, was also investigated in the context of this work to understand whether aqueous alteration persisted in time. Compositional clues described here point to varying degrees of aqueous alteration in ALH 8400 I, and possibly even in a shock melt vein in NW A 6234. The results of the extensive geochemical modelling strongly suggest that the fluid that altered ALH 84001 was near-neutral (pH≈7), low temperature (-20°C), and that the atmospheric CO2 pressure required to produce the carbonates was under 1 bar. The fluid was probably transient, and evaporated after precipitating the ubiquitous carbonates. A suite of other secondary products are predicted to have formed neighbouring ALH 84001, a few of which have been detected on Mars (such as clays), yet others are more surprising (such as talc and zeolites, and a possible pathway to the abiotic production of methane)

Alteration minerals, fluids, and gases on early Mars: Predictions from 1-D flow geochemical modeling of mineral assemblages in meteorite ALH 84001

Clay minerals, although ubiquitous on the ancient terrains of Mars, have not been observed in Martian meteorite Allan Hills (ALH) 84001, which is an orthopyroxenite sample of the early Martian crust with a secondary carbonate assemblage. We used a low-temperature (20 °C) one-dimensional (1-D) transport thermochemical model to investigate the possible aqueous alteration processes that produced the carbonate assemblage of ALH 84001 while avoiding the coprecipitation of clay minerals. We found that the carbonate in ALH 84001 could have been produced in a process, whereby a low-temperature (~20 °C) fluid, initially equilibrated with the early Martian atmosphere, moved through surficial clay mineral and silica-rich layers, percolated through the parent rock of the meteorite, and precipitated carbonates (thereby decreasing the partial pressure of CO2) as it evaporated. This finding requires that before encountering the unweathered orthopyroxenite host of ALH 84001, the fluid permeated rock that became weathered during the process. We were able to predict the composition of the clay minerals formed during weathering, which included the dioctahedral smectite nontronite, kaolinite, and chlorite, all of which have been previously detected on Mars. We also calculated host rock replacement in local equilibrium conditions by the hydrated silicate talc, which is typically considered to be a higher temperature hydrothermal phase on Earth, but may have been a common constituent in the formation of Martian soils through pervasive aqueous alteration. Finally, goethite and magnetite were also found to precipitate in the secondary alteration assemblage, the latter associated with the generation of H2. Apparently, despite the limited water–rock interaction that must have led to the formation of the carbonates ~ 3.9 Ga ago, in the vicinity of the ALH 84001 source rocks, clay formation would have been widespread

PERENCANAAN STRATEGIS SISTEM INFORMASI ASURANSI KENDARAAN BERMOTOR PADA PT. XYZ

Banyaknya bermunculan perusahaan asuransi yang mempunyai konsep serupa dengan PT. XYZ, sedangkan berbicara tentang teknologi setiap saat terus mengalami perubahan demi perubahan. Perubahan tersebut sangat berpengaruh terhadap keputusan – keputusan strategis yang harus dilakukan untuk bertahan dalam era globalisasi saat ini. Perencanaan strategis Sistem Informasi dan Teknologi Informasi kini merupakan salah satu kunci dalam pencapaian sasaran perusahaan dalam dunia asuransi. Perencanaan strategis SI/TI yang tepat dapat mendukung rencana dan pengembangan bisnis perusahaan yang dapat memberikan competitive advantage dalam persaingan bisnis. Bentuk Perencanaan Strategis SI/TI yang akan dibahas menggunakan metodologi versi Ward and Peppard. Hasil dari analisis ini berupa Perencanaan strategis sistem informasi, penerapan dan pemilihan teknologi informasi yang selaras dengan strategi bisnis PT. XYZ