Otizmli Küçük Çocuklar ve Ebeveynlerinde Katılım: Çoklu Olgu Çalışması

This qualitative multiple-case study comprehensively examined the circumstances that supported and hindered social engagement in the three toddlers with autism when they interacted with their mothers. Directive actions of mothers for controlling and teaching purposes and requesting actions of toddlers resulted in instrumental engagement during which power struggles were sometimes observed. The findings indicated that social engagement was established when one interacting partner’s social initiation was accepted with a social response from the other partner. Those socially engaged moments were first built upon the toddlers’ individual interests but maintained only by continuous back-and-forth responses from both mothers and toddlers manifesting a transactional sequence during which the schema of their interaction continuously changed, adapted, and developed. This finding revealed that social, rather than instrumental, engagement may lead, possibly, to a sense of joy in these children while interacting with their mothers. One further approach related to this finding can be concentrating on the child’s social motivation (e.g., having fun), rather than non-social motivation (e.g., receiving a favorite snack or toy) while interacting. Such an approach can be a promising avenue for optimally encouraging social purposes of engagement in toddlers with autism.Otizmli üç küçük çocuğun anneleri ile etkileşimleri sırasında onların sosyal katılımlarını destekleyen ve engelleyen koşullar çoklu olgu çalışmasıyla incelenmiştir. Annelerin kontrol ve öğretim amaçlı yönergeler içeren davranışları ve otizmli küçük çocukların rica içeren davranışları zaman zaman güç savaşlarının gözlendiği araçsal katılım ile sonuçlanmıştır. Bulgular, etkileşim partnerinin sosyal güdüyle başlattığı davranışına diğer etkileşim partnerinin sosyal güdüyle cevap vermesi ile sosyal katılımın kurulabildiğini göstermiştir. Sosyal amaçlı katılım başlangıcının otizmli küçük çocuğun bireysel ilgi alanları üzerine kurulabilmesi ve yalnızca her iki etkileşim partnerinin süregelen sosyal amaçlı cevapları ile korunabilmesi, sosyal amaçlı etkileşimlerde eylemlerarası (transactional) bir sıranın var olduğunu göstermiştir. Eylemlerarası sıra boyunca iki partner arasındaki etkileşim resminin sabit kalmadığı, sürekli değiştiği, uyum sağladığı ve geliştiği gözlenmiştir. Bu bulgular, otizmli küçük çocukların anneleri ile etkileşimlerinde, araçsal olmaktan ziyade sosyal amaçlı katılım anlarından muhtemelen keyif aldıklarının göstergesi olabilir. Bu nedenle, bir sonraki adımda otizmli küçük çocukların ebeveynleri ile etkileşimleri sırasında (çocuğa sevdiği atıştırmalığı veya oyuncağı vermek gibi), sosyal olmayan motivasyonlar yerine, (çocuğun keyif alması, eğlenmesi gibi) sosyal motivasyonlara odaklanmak faydalı olabilir. Böyle bir yaklaşım otizmli küçük çocuklarda sosyal amaçlı katılımı desteklemenin en umut verici yolu olabilir

Parents’ Voices Regarding Using Interventions for Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Parent-implemented interventions (PIIs) hold promise for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families. Yet, reports of parent and family perceptions regarding PIIs are limited. The present study’s purpose was to gain parent perceptions regarding the helpful and challenging intervention components and contextual factors in the implementation of one PII in their daily lives. Six interviews were conducted and analyzed using an exploratory qualitative approach. Findings included considerable parent satisfaction with intervention experiences, particularly related to the use of videos taken of themselves and their children during intervention sessions. Some parents voiced discouragement after watching video examples, and parents reported challenges finding time to implement the intervention. Parents valued the supportive relationship formed with their interventionist. Additional findings and implications for research and practice are discussed

Computing Hilbert Class Polynomials

We present and analyze two algorithms for computing the Hilbert class polynomial $H_D$ . The first is a p-adic lifting algorithm for inert primes p in the order of discriminant D < 0. The second is an improved Chinese remainder algorithm which uses the class group action on CM-curves over finite fields. Our run time analysis gives tighter bounds for the complexity of all known algorithms for computing $H_D$, and we show that all methods have comparable run times

Beta-decay of nuclei around Se-90. Search for signatures of a N=56 sub-shell closure relevant the r-process

Nuclear structure plays a significant role on the rapid neutron capture process (r-process) since shapes evolve with the emergence of shells and sub-shells. There was some indication in neighboring nuclei that we might find examples of a new N=56 sub-shell, which may give rise to a doubly magic Se-90 nucleus. Beta-decay half lives of nuclei around Se-90 have been measured to determine if this nucleus has in fact a doubly-magic character. The fragmentation of Xe-136 beam at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University was used to create a cocktail of nuclei in the A=90 region. We have measured the half lives of twenty-two nuclei near the r-process path in the A=90 region. The half lives of As-88 and Se-90 have been measured for the first time. The values were compared with theoretical predictions in the search for nuclear-deformation signatures of a N=56 sub-shell, and its possible role in the emergence of a potential doubly-magic Se-90. The impact of such hypothesis on the synthesis of heavy nuclei, particularly in the production of Sr, Y and Zr elements was investigated with a weak r-process network. The new half lives agree with results obtained from a standard global QRPA model used in r-process calculations, indicating that Se-90 has a quadrupole shape incompatible with a closed N=56 sub-shell in this region. The impact of the measured Se-90 half-life in comparison with a former theoretical predication associated with a spherical half-life on the weak-r-process is shown to be strong

Atomic-scale confinement of optical fields

In the presence of matter there is no fundamental limit preventing confinement of visible light even down to atomic scales. Achieving such confinement and the corresponding intensity enhancement inevitably requires simultaneous control over atomic-scale details of material structures and over the optical modes that such structures support. By means of self-assembly we have obtained side-by-side aligned gold nanorod dimers with robust atomically-defined gaps reaching below 0.5 nm. The existence of atomically-confined light fields in these gaps is demonstrated by observing extreme Coulomb splitting of corresponding symmetric and anti-symmetric dimer eigenmodes of more than 800 meV in white-light scattering experiments. Our results open new perspectives for atomically-resolved spectroscopic imaging, deeply nonlinear optics, ultra-sensing, cavity optomechanics as well as for the realization of novel quantum-optical devices

Beta-decay half-lives and beta-delayed neutron emission probabilities of nuclei in the region below A=110, relevant for the r-process

Measurements of the beta-decay properties of r-process nuclei below A=110 have been completed at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, at Michigan State University. Beta-decay half-lives for Y-105, Zr-106,107 and Mo-111, along with beta-delayed neutron emission probabilities of Y-104, Mo-109,110 and upper limits for Y-105, Zr-103,104,105,106,107 and Mo-108,111 have been measured for the first time. Studies on the basis of the quasi-random phase approximation are used to analyze the ground-state deformation of these nuclei.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, article accepted for publication in Physical Review