Adaptation to different communicative contexts: an eye tracking study of autistic adults

Abstract Background Learning through social observation (i.e., watching other people interact) lays the foundation for later social skills and social cognition. However, social situations are often complex, and humans are only capable of attending to one aspect of a scene at a time. How do people choose where to allocate their visual resources when viewing complex social scenarios? For typically developing (TD) individuals, faces are often given priority. Depending upon context, however, it may be more useful to attend to other aspects of the environment, such as hands, tools, or background objects. Previous studies reported reduced face looking in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but modulation of visual attention in response to contextual differences (e.g., according to social richness, or the presence/absence of communicative behaviors between two people) has only briefly been explored. In this study, we used eye-tracking technology to test the extent to which ASD adults and TD adults use social context to guide their gaze behavior. Methods Fifty-five adults participated (28 with ASD). The location and duration of participants’ gaze were recorded while they watched a series of naturalistic social videos. Half of the videos depicted two people engaging in non-verbal communication (rich social scenes) while playing with toys. The other half depicted two people playing with toys separately, not interacting with each other (lean social scenes). Results ASD and TD adults both increased their attention to faces in communicative contexts (rich social scenes) as compared to non-communicative contexts (lean social scenes). However, TD adults increased their attention to faces significantly more when watching two people communicate than did ASD adults, who increased their attention to a lesser degree. Further analysis revealed that ASD adults persisted in looking at hands and toys, even when observing two people communicate in a rich social scene. Conclusions Diminished gaze to faces when observing two people communicating may lead to fewer opportunities for social learning and subsequent reductions in social knowledge. Naturalistic measures of contextual modulation could help identify areas of need for individuals learning about the social world and could become treatment targets to improve everyday social learning

Revisiting the European Horsemeat Scandal: The Role of Power Asymmetry in the Food Supply Chain Crisis

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This study explores the role of power asymmetry in the food supply chain, especially in relation to the channel conflict, and ultimate breakdown that culminated in the infamous European horsemeat scandal across Europe. Drawing upon the power-dependency, and to some extent, social exchange theory, the study posits that mutual dependence between single supplier–multiple buyer relationships where major retailers are the weaker partners, may require a revisitation of risk management practices in that sector. In addition to the fraudulent and unethical practices established from media reporting on the horsemeat scandal, the study argues that the power asymmetry/imbalance may have contributed to a supplier culture that tolerated the unethical decision making leading to the horsemeat scandal. Based on an extensive review of secondary data sources comprising media reports on the scandal and a review of the academic literature on power dependency and social exchange theories, the study attempts to map out the root of the crisis, how to forestall future recurrence, and the managerial and policy implications of these. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Design and Implementation of the International Genetics and Translational Research in Transplantation Network

Background. Genetic association studies of transplantation outcomes have been hampered by small samples and highly complex multifactorial phenotypes, hindering investigations of the genetic architecture of a range of comorbidities which significantly impact graft and recipient life expectancy. We describe here the rationale and design of the International Genetics & Translational Research in Transplantation Network. The network comprises 22 studies to date, including 16 494 transplant recipients and 11 669 donors, of whom more than 5000 are of non-European ancestry, all of whom have existing genomewide genotype data sets. Methods. We describe the rich genetic and phenotypic information available in this consortium comprising heart, kidney, liver, and lung transplant cohorts. Results. We demonstrate significant power in International Genetics & Translational Research in Transplantation Network to detect main effect association signals across regions such as the MHC region as well as genomewide for transplant outcomes that span all solid organs, such as graft survival, acute rejection, new onset of diabetes after transplantation, and for delayed graft function in kidney only. Conclusions. This consortium is designed and statistically powered to deliver pioneering insights into the genetic architecture of transplant-related outcomes across a range of different solid-organ transplant studies. The study design allows a spectrum of analyses to be performed including recipient-only analyses, donor-recipient HLA mismatches with focus on loss-of-function variants and nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms

Study of B0(s) → K0S h+h'- decays with first observation of B0s → K0S K± π± and B0s → K0S π+ π-

A search for charmless three-body decays of B0 and B 0s mesons with a K0S meson in the final state is performed using the pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1:0 fb-1, collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7TeV recorded by the LHCb experiment. Branching fractions of the B0(s) → K0S h+h'- decay modes (h(') = π,K), relative to the well measured B 0 → K0Sπ+π- decay, are obtained. First observation of the decay modes B0s → K0S K±π ± and B0s → K0Sπ+ π- and confirmation of the decay B0 → K0SK±π ± are reported. The following relative branching fraction measurements or limits are obtained B(B0 → K0S K±π±)/B(B0 → K0Sπ+ π-)=0:128 ± 0:017 (stat:) ± 0:009 (syst:) ; B(B0 → K0S K+K-)/B(B0 → K0Sπ+ π-)= 0:385 ± 0:031 (stat:) ± 0:023 (syst:) ; B(B0s → K0Sπ+ π-)/B(B0 → K 0Sπ+ π-)=0:29 ± 0:06 (stat:) ± 0:03 (syst:) ± 0:02 (fs=fd) ; B(B0s → K0sK±π ±)/B(B0 → K0Sπ +π-)= = 1:48 ± 0:12 (stat:) ± 0:08 (syst:) ± 0:12 (fs=fd) ; B(B0s → K0SK+K-)/B(B0 → K 0Sπ+π-)ε [0:004; 0:068] at 90% CL