The relation of attentional, emotional, and social regulation to cognitive competence, from infancy to school entry

Recent research on the sources of cognitive competence in infancy and early childhood has highlighted the role of social and emotional factors (for example, Lewis, 1993b). Exploring the roots of competence requires a longitudinal and multivariate approach. To deal with the resulting complexity, potentially integrative theoretical constructs are required. One logical candidate is self-regulation. Three key developmental questions were the focus of this investigation. 1) Does infant self-regulation (attentional, emotional, and social) predict preschool cognitive competence? 2) Does infant self-regulation predict preschool self-regulation? 3) Does preschool self-regulation predict concurrent preschool cognitive competence? One hundred preschoolers (46 females, 54 males; mean age = 5 years, 11 months) who had participated at 9- and/ or 12-months of age in an object permanence task were recruited to participate in this longitudinal investigation. Each subject completed four scales of the WPPSI-R and two social cognitive tasks. Parents completed questionnaires about their preschoolers' regulatory behaviours (Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist [1991] and selected items from Eisenberg et ale [1993] and Derryberry & Rothbart [1988]). Separate behavioural coding systems were developed to capture regulatory capabilities in infancy (from the object permanence task) and preschool (from the WPPSIR Block Design). Overall, correlational and multiple regression results offered strong affirmative answers to the three key questions (R's = .30 to .38), using the behavioural observations of self-regulation. Behavioural regulation at preschool substantially predicted parental reports of regulation, but the latter variables did not predict preschool competence. Infant selfregulation and preschool regulation made statistically independent contributions to competence, even though regulation at Time 1 and Time 2 ii were substantially related. The results are interpreted as supporting a developmental pathway in which well-regulated infants more readily acquire both expertise and more sophisticated regulatory skills. Future research should address the origins of these skills earlier in infancy, and the social contexts that generate them and support them during the intervening years

Personality disorder and intellectual disability: the impacts of horticultural therapy within a medium-secure unit

This study was designed to explore the efficacy of a horticultural therapy intervention for the enhancement of subjective health and wellbeing in male service users with a dual diagnosis of personality disorder and intellectual disability in a medium secure unit in the north of England, UK. Service users (n=7) were involved in three focus groups; one just prior to a new garden facility opening, and then again at the six and twelve month points, which explored the personal impacts upon service users’ health and wellbeing. The garden was itself an upshot of participant involvement; service users were involved in all aspects of the garden design and maintenance, and also assisted with dissemination of the research goals and findings. Service users reported numerous personal health benefits as a result of their engagement with horticultural activities, allied to personal development enhancements in respect of gardening knowledge, employability skills, personal achievements and positive changes in behaviour towards self and others. Particularly, underlying these outputs, participants identified reduced stress, and a general “feel good” factor as key to their improved life-satisfaction. The mechanisms providing for these impacts included: interaction with a natural environment; enhanced intrinsic motivation derived from participation in a variety of tasks; and opportunities to develop specific horticultural skills. Immersion in horticultural activity may thus be an effective treatment modality in promoting positive health benefits to service users

Spectral and Timing Properties of IGR J17091-3624 in the Rising Hard State During its 2016 Outburst

We present a spectral and timing study of the NuSTAR and Swift observations of the black hole candidate IGR J17091-3624 in the hard state during its outburst in 2016. Disk reflection is detected in each of the NuSTAR spectra taken in three epochs. Fitting with relativistic reflection models reveals that the accretion disk is truncated during all epochs with $R_{\rm in}>10~r_{\rm g}$, with the data favoring a low disk inclination of $\sim 30^{\circ}-40^{\circ}$. The steepening of the continuum spectra between epochs is accompanied by a decrease in the high energy cut-off: the electron temperature $kT_{\rm e}$ drops from $\sim 64$ keV to $\sim 26$ keV, changing systematically with the source flux. We detect type-C QPOs in the power spectra with frequency varying between 0.131 Hz and 0.327 Hz. In addition, a secondary peak is found in the power spectra centered at about 2.3 times the QPO frequency during all three epochs. The nature of this secondary frequency is uncertain, however a non-harmonic origin is favored. We investigate the evolution of the timing and spectral properties during the rising phase of the outburst and discuss their physical implications.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Ap

A NuSTAR observation of the reflection spectrum of the low mass X-ray binary 4U 1728-34

We report on a simultaneous NuSTAR and Swift observation of the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1728-34. We identified and removed four Type I X-ray bursts during the observation in order to study the persistent emission. The continuum spectrum is hard and well described by a black body with $kT=$ 1.5 keV and a cutoff power law with $\Gamma=$ 1.5 and a cutoff temperature of 25 keV. Residuals between 6 and 8 keV provide strong evidence of a broad Fe K$\alpha$ line. By modeling the spectrum with a relativistically blurred reflection model, we find an upper limit for the inner disk radius of $R_{\rm in}\leq2 R_{\rm ISCO}$. Consequently we find that $R_{\rm NS}\leq23$ km, assuming M=1.4{\mbox{\rm\,M_{\mathord\odot}}} and $a=0.15$. We also find an upper limit on the magnetic field of $B\leq2\times10^8$ G.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

The Broadband XMM-Newton and NuSTAR X-ray Spectra of Two Ultraluminous X-ray Sources in the Galaxy IC 342

We present results for two Ultraluminous X-ray Sources (ULXs), IC 342 X-1 and IC 342 X-2, using two epochs of XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations separated by $\sim$7 days. We observe little spectral or flux variability above 1 keV between epochs, with unabsorbed 0.3--30 keV luminosities being $1.04^{+0.08}_{-0.06} \times 10^{40}$ erg s$^{-1}$ for IC 342 X-1 and $7.40\pm0.20 \times 10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$ for IC 342 X-2, so that both were observed in a similar, luminous state. Both sources have a high absorbing column in excess of the Galactic value. Neither source has a spectrum consistent with a black hole binary in low/hard state, and both ULXs exhibit strong curvature in their broadband X-ray spectra. This curvature rules out models that invoke a simple reflection-dominated spectrum with a broadened iron line and no cutoff in the illuminating power-law continuum. X-ray spectrum of IC 342 X-1 can be characterized by a soft disk-like black body component at low energies and a cool, optically thick Comptonization continuum at high energies, but unique physical interpretation of the spectral components remains challenging. The broadband spectrum of IC 342 X-2 can be fit by either a hot (3.8 keV) accretion disk, or a Comptonized continuum with no indication of a seed photon population. Although the seed photon component may be masked by soft excess emission unlikely to be associated with the binary system, combined with the high absorption column, it is more plausible that the broadband X-ray emission arises from a simple thin blackbody disk component. Secure identification of the origin of the spectral components in these sources will likely require broadband spectral variability studies.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, 5 Tables, Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

[Re]Integrating a dispersed agenda: advancing archaeological research in Central Eurasia

Amid resurgent geopolitical fissures and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a growing awareness in the sector of the need for, and concern about, national and international collaboration in archaeological projects. This article reflects on present-day challenges for international collaboration in central Eurasian archaeology and furthers a much-needed discussion about (re)integrating local narratives with inter-regional trends in future research. Responsible and practical proposals for bridging collaborator differences in institutional or publishing obligations, language capacities and access to resources are discussed

[Re]Integrating a dispersed agenda: advancing archaeological research in Central Eurasia

Peer reviewe

NuSTAR observations of the powerful radio-galaxy Cygnus A

We present NuSTAR observations of the powerful radio galaxy Cygnus A, focusing on the central absorbed active galactic nucleus (AGN). Cygnus A is embedded in a cool-core galaxy cluster, and hence we also examine archival XMM-Newton data to facilitate the decomposition of the spectrum into the AGN and intracluster medium (ICM) components. NuSTAR gives a source-dominated spectrum of the AGN out to >70keV. In gross terms, the NuSTAR spectrum of the AGN has the form of a power law (Gamma~1.6-1.7) absorbed by a neutral column density of N_H~1.6x10^23 cm^-2. However, we also detect curvature in the hard (>10keV) spectrum resulting from reflection by Compton-thick matter out of our line-of-sight to the X-ray source. Compton reflection, possibly from the outer accretion disk or obscuring torus, is required even permitting a high-energy cutoff in the continuum source; the limit on the cutoff energy is E_cut>111keV (90% confidence). Interestingly, the absorbed power-law plus reflection model leaves residuals suggesting the absorption/emission from a fast (15,000-26,000km/s), high column-density (N_W>3x10^23 cm^-2), highly ionized (xi~2,500 erg cm/s) wind. A second, even faster ionized wind component is also suggested by these data. We show that the ionized wind likely carries a significant mass and momentum flux, and may carry sufficient kinetic energy to exercise feedback on the host galaxy. If confirmed, the simultaneous presence of a strong wind and powerful jets in Cygnus A demonstrates that feedback from radio-jets and sub-relativistic winds are not mutually exclusive phases of AGN activity but can occur simultaneously.Comment: 13 pages; accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa