Empathy, Perceived Popularity and Social Anxiety: Predicting Bystander Intervention Among Middle School Students

Bullying is a prevalent issue in today\u27s schools, and the importance of bystanders has been recognized; however, there are few studies that examine personal characteristics that relate to the five bystander behaviors within Latané and Darley\u27s (1970) Bystander Intervention Model (notice the event, interpret as an emergency, accept responsibility, know what to do, and act). This study examined personal characteristics (i.e., cognitive and affective empathy, perceived popularity, and social anxiety) and their relation to each of the five steps of the Bystander Intervention Model in Bullying (Nickerson, Aloe, Livingston, & Feeley, 2014), as well as exploring gender as a moderator in those relationships. With a sample of 346 middle school students, results showed a negative relationship between perceived popularity and noticing bullying events. There was also a negative relationship between social anxiety and taking responsibility as well as knowing what to do. Finally, results supported a positive relationship between affective empathy and interpreting bullying events as an emergency, taking personal responsibility, and intervening. Gender interactions were also found in this study

Information-based Analysis and Control of Recurrent Linear Networks and Recurrent Networks with Sigmoidal Nonlinearities

Linear dynamical models have served as an analytically tractable approximation for a variety of natural and engineered systems. Recently, such models have been used to describe high-level diffusive interactions in the activation of complex networks, including those in the brain. In this regard, classical tools from control theory, including controllability analysis, have been used to assay the extent to which such networks might respond to their afferent inputs. However, for natural systems such as brain networks, it is not clear whether advantageous control properties necessarily correspond to useful functionality. That is, are systems that are highly controllable (according to certain metrics) also ones that are suited to computational goals such as representing, preserving and categorizing stimuli? This dissertation will introduce analysis methods that link the systems-theoretic properties of linear systems with informational measures that describe these functional characterizations. First, we assess sensitivity of a linear system to input orientation and novelty by deriving a measure of how networks translate input orientation differences into readable state trajectories. Next, we explore the implications of this novelty-sensitivity for endpoint-based input discrimination, wherein stimuli are decoded in terms of their induced representation in the state space. We develop a theoretical framework for the exploration of how networks utilize excess input energy to enhance orientation sensitivity (and thus enhanced discrimination ability). Next, we conduct a theoretical study to reveal how the background or default state of a network with linear dynamics allows it to best promote discrimination over a continuum of stimuli. Specifically, we derive a measure, based on the classical notion of a Fisher discriminant, quantifying the extent to which the state of a network encodes information about its afferent inputs. This measure provides an information value quantifying the knowablility of an input based on its projection onto the background state. We subsequently optimize this background state, and characterize both the optimal background and the inputs giving it rise. Finally, we extend this information-based network analysis to include networks with nonlinear dynamics--specifically, ones involving sigmoidal saturating functions. We employ a quasilinear approximation technique, novel here in terms of its multidimensionality and specific application, to approximate the nonlinear dynamics by scaling a corresponding linear system and biasing by an offset term. A Fisher information-based metric is derived for the quasilinear system, with analytical and numerical results showing that Fisher information is better for the quasilinear (hence sigmoidal) system than for an unconstrained linear system. Interestingly, this relation reverses when the noise is placed outside the sigmoid in the model, supporting conclusions extant in the literature that the relative alignment of the state and noise covariance is predictive of Fisher information. We show that there exists a clear trade-off between informational advantage, as conferred by the presence of sigmoidal nonlinearities, and speed of dynamics

HISTERECTOMIA POSTCONO. ESTUDIO CLINICO PATOLOGICO EN 12 A 1OS. CENTRO MATERNO INFANTIL "DR. JOSE GREGORIO HERNANDEZ" ACARIGUA. ESTADO PORTUGUESA

\ua0 El c\ue1ncer de cuello uterino constituye una de las neoplasias m\ue1s frecuentes en la mujer, siendo su manejo objeto de m\ufaltiples controversias. Uno de los procedimientos m\ue1s empleados como m\ue9todo de diagn\uf3stico y tratamiento es el cono de cuello uterino, existiendo gran cantidad de trabajos en apoyo y en contra de este procedimiento. En un intento por aclarar esta situaci\uf3n deseamos comprobar la utilidad de los conos de cuello uterino como predictores de lesi\uf3n residual, para lo cual se revisaron las historias cl\uednicas y los informes anatomopatol\uf3gicos de todas las pacientes a las que se les practic\uf3 histerectom\ueda post-cono en el Centro materno infantil Dr. Jos\ue9 Gregorio Hern\ue1ndez del IVSS de Acarigua, durante los a\uf1os 1989 a 2000. De las 37 pacientes estudiadas, 17 (45,94%) ten\uedan lesi\uf3n en los bordes del cono, constatando lesi\uf3n residual (en la pieza de histerectom\ueda) en s\uf3lo 10 de estos casos (58,82%), las 7 (41,18%) histerectom\uedas restantes mostraron cervicitis cr\uf3nica, sin neoplasia residual. De las 20 pacientes a las que se les realiz\uf3 histerectom\ueda por causas distintas a bordes comprometidos, 18 (90%) no pose\uedan lesi\uf3n residual y 2 casos (10%) mostraron la presencia de una Neoplasia Intraepitelial Cervical (NIC). Se concluye que el cono de cuello uterino, constituye un procedimiento diagn\uf3stico-terap\ue9utico de gran utilidad en las neoplasias intraepiteliales cervicales, cuyo empleo debe realizarse con criterios claramente establecidos y con los controles adecuados, ya que el mismo tiene un peque\uf1o porcentaje de error que debe ser considerado al evaluar a las pacientes. \ua0SUMMARY The uterine cervix cancer constitutes the most frequent neoplasia in women, and this is object of multiple controversies. One of the procedures more used as diagnosis method and treatment is the cervical conization. There is a great quantity of studies in support and against this procedure. In an intent to clarify this situation, we wanted to check the utility of the cervical conization as predictor of residual lesion, for that, we reviewed the clinical histories and the anatomopatologic reports from all the patients to whom a post-cone hysterectomy in the infantile-maternal hospital Dr. Jos\ue9 Gregorio Hern\ue1ndez of the IVSS of Acarigua, was practiced during the years 1989 to 2000. Of the 37 patients studied, 17 (45,94%) had a lesion in the cone borders, confirming a residual lesion in 10 of these cases (58,82%); the 7 (41,18%) remaining hysterectomy specimens showed chronic cervicitis, without residual neoplasia. Of the 20 patients to whom hysterectomy was practiced for different causes other than residual diseases, 18 (90%) didn't possess residual lesion, but 2 cases (10%) showed a NIC. We concluded that the cervical conization constitutes a diagnose-therapeutic procedure of great utility in the cervical intraepithelial neoplasia that should be employed with clearly established approaches, since the error percentage that should be considered when evaluating the patients is low

Architectures and protocols for an integrated satellite-terrestrial mobile system

This paper aims to depict some basic concepts related to the definition of an integrated system for mobile communications, consisting of a satellite network and a terrestrial cellular network. In particular three aspects are discussed: (1) architecture definition for the satellite network; (2) assignment strategy of the satellite channels; and (3) definition of 'internetworking procedures' between cellular and satellite network, according to the selected architecture and the satellite channel assignment strategy

Psychiatric morbidity in older people with moderate and severe learning disability (mental retardation). Part I: development and reliability of the patient interview (the PAS-ADD)

This paper describes the development of the PAS-ADD, a semistructured clinical interview for use specifically with patients with learning disabilities, based on items drawn from the PSE. The PAS-ADD includes a number of novel features including: parallel interviewing of patient and informant; a three-tier structure to provide a flexible interview appropriate to the patient's intellectual level; use of a memorable 'anchor event' in the patient's life to improve time focus; and simplified wording, improved organisation and lay out. Inter-rater reliability was investigated using an experimental design in which two raters viewed and re-rated videotaped PAS-ADD interviews which had been conducted by an experienced clinician. Reliability results compared favourably with those obtained in a major study of PSE reliability with a sample drawn from non-learning disabled individuals. Mean kappa for all items was 0.72. Other indexes of reliability were also good. In the current phase of development, the PAS-ADD is to be expanded to include further diagnostic categories, including schizophrenia and autism. The new version will be updated for use with ICD-10 criteria

Tracking Subtle Stereotypes of Children with Trisomy 21: From Facial-Feature-Based to Implicit Stereotyping

Background: Stigmatization is one of the greatest obstacles to the successful integration of people with Trisomy 21 (T21 or Down syndrome), the most frequent genetic disorder associated with intellectual disability. Research on attitudes and stereotypes toward these people still focuses on explicit measures subjected to social-desirability biases, and neglects how variability in facial stigmata influences attitudes and stereotyping. Methodology/Principal Findings: The participants were 165 adults including 55 young adult students, 55 non-student adults, and 55 professional caregivers working with intellectually disabled persons. They were faced with implicit association tests (IAT), a well-known technique whereby response latency is used to capture the relative strength with which some groups of people—here photographed faces of typically developing children and children with T21—are automatically (without conscious awareness) associated with positive versus negative attributes in memory. Each participant also rated the same photographed faces (consciously accessible evaluations). We provide the first evidence that the positive bias typically found in explicit judgments of children with T21 is smaller for those whose facial features are highly characteristic of this disorder, compared to their counterparts with less distinctive features and to typically developing children. We also show that this bias can coexist with negative evaluations at the implicit level (with large effect sizes), even among professional caregivers