Absence of contagious yawning in children with autism spectrum disorder

This study is the first to report the disturbance of contagious yawning in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Twenty-four children with ASD as well as 25 age-matched typically developing (TD) children observed video clips of either yawning or control mouth movements. Yawning video clips elicited more yawns in TD children than in children with ASD, but the frequency of yawns did not differ between groups when they observed control video clips. Moreover, TD children yawned more during or after the yawn video clips than the control video clips, but the type of video clips did not affect the amount of yawning in children with ASD. Current results suggest that contagious yawning is impaired in ASD, which may relate to their impairment in empathy. It supports the claim that contagious yawning is based on the capacity for empathy

Presence of contagious yawning in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Most previous studies suggest diminished susceptibility to contagious yawning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it could be driven by their atypical attention to the face. To test this hypothesis, children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children were shown yawning and control movies. To ensure participants' attention to the face, an eye tracker controlled the onset of the yawning and control stimuli. Results demonstrated that both TD children and children with ASD yawned more frequently when they watched the yawning stimuli than the control stimuli. It is suggested therefore that the absence of contagious yawning in children with ASD, as reported in previous studies, might relate to their weaker tendency to spontaneously attend to others' faces

Paisajes urbanos híbridos-dispersos: tecnovación en gestión urbana sostenible

El creciente proceso de dispersión territorial de las ciudades latinoamericanas y venezolanas (Maracaibo), deriva de la expansión incontrolada de la periferia urbana por ausencia o trasgresión de las restricciones físico-geográficas y legales y es consecuencia de la migración, el laissez faire territorial, la poca capacidad de gestión y la ausencia de cultura de sostenibilidad. Resulta de formas de producción del hábitat -paisajes urbanos híbridos-dispersos, donde coexisten y se mezclan en un continuo espaciotemporal desarticulado, fragmentos urbanos con diferentes códigos genéticos (urbanización espontánea y planificada). Este patrón de ocupación y desarrollo urbano, basado en tipologías extensivas de bajo rendimiento-intensidad de uso, genera fuertes presiones frente a las que parece no existir capacidad de respuesta institucional o a las que muchas veces no se quiere responder por razones políticas e ideológicas. La dispersión urbana en Maracaibo se ha traducido en el aumento de los costos de urbanización, del incremento del déficit de los servicios infraestructurales, de las asimetrías en la distribución espacial de calidad de vida y la precariedad. Este modelo disperso-insostenible que caracteriza a Maracaibo - con 1,6 millones de habitantes - ha desbordado los límites de la ciudad, ocupando los bordes de los corredores urbanos metropolitanos que desde la ciudad atraviesan la Zona Protectora (ZP). La ZP es un green belt plurimunicipal de 20.800 Has, que bordea y define el limitefrontera urbana del Archipiélago Metropolitano de Maracaibo (AMM). La ZP fue decretada en 1989 por el Ministerio del Ambiente (MARN) para frenar la expansión anárquica de Maracaibo y actuar como agente regulador del clima y el medio ambiente en beneficio de la calidad de la vida urbana y como políticacontenedor del crecimiento urbano de la ciudad, actualmente en proceso de ocupación por rituales urbanos en expansión. La ponencia presenta la metodología -estrategia de planificación-evaluación innovadora- (EPE+i) y resultados de un Estudio realizado para el Ministerio del Ambiente, con el fin de decidir sobre la desafectación total o parcial de la ZP. Con ese propósito se evalúa el impacto de los posibles futuros escenarios de ocupación urbana de la ZP, en la sostenibilidad del AMM. La EPE+i llena el vacío de la planificación-gestión urbana en Venezuela, asumiendo el principio de sostenibilidad y trenzando estratégicamente el proceso de Planificación-Gestión Urbana (PGU), con el modelo Presión- Estado-Respuesta (PER) y el apoyo de Tecnologías de Información Geográfica (TIG) -imagen satelital y SIG- para desarrollar modelos urbanos y atributos e Indicadores de Sostenibilidad Urbana (ISU) específicos. La sostenibilidad y gobernanza (participación-interacción política y social multinivel), se asumieron como principios clave del estudio, para la toma de decisión ética y construir una visiónhipótesis territorial integral y concertada de futuro para el conjunto urbanos ZP-AMM. La ponencia concluye presentando el resultado de la aplicación de la estrategia metodológica, EPE+i = [PGU+PER+TIG] (tecnovación creativa), donde los modelos SIG de vulnerabilidad, consolidación y conformidad de uso y el modelo síntesis, conformidad-adecuación ambiental y legal de la ocupación urbana de la ZP, constituyen los atributos e ISU de Estado; los escenarios se transforman en atributos e ISU de Presión y la gobernanza, evaluada a través de tres variables, legitimidad por desempeño, gobernabilidad y participación, conforman los atributos de Respuesta y seleccionado como política urbana y visión-hipótesis territorial integral para el conjunto ZP-AMM, el escenario E2: Corredores de Expansión Tendencial, porque organiza la ocupación lineal urbana actual, a lo largo de los corredores metropolitanos, manteniendo las áreas intermedias como zonas verdes de protección.Urban sprawl in Latin-American and Venezuelan cities derives from uncontrolled urban expansion of the periphery, due to the absence or infringement of geographical and legal restrictions through planned and spontaneous urban occupation (hybrid urbanization). This in turn results from migration and territorial laissez faire; limited urban management capacity and sustainability culture in public, private and community institutions although they perceived and inhabit a precarious environment and frequently protest demanding services, security and houses. For Sempere (2005, is caused by illegal ways of habitat production based on low density and extensive typologies. This urban pattern generates strong pressures against which there is no institutional capacity or will to respond due to political or ideological reasons. This disperse-unsustainable model in Maracaibo (capital of the Zulia State, located at the western extreme of Venezuela) has led to the explosion of the city boundaries, and the occupation of the edges of the metropolitan urban corridors, which run from the city across the Protective Zone (PZ). The PZ is a green belt of 20.800 Hectares, decreed in 1989 to act as a policy-container of urban growth by defining the city west boundaries and is in the process of transformation-mutation by urban rituals in expansion. It is the territorial expression of the contemporary forms of making city which result from the practice of the visible management government (VMG) in metropolitan Maracaibo, referred by Ferrer and others (2005) as Maracaibo’s metropolitan archipelago (MAM). The paper describes the method, innovative planningevaluation strategy (IPES) and the results of a study that evaluates the impact of sprawl -urban occupation of the Protective Zone (PZ)-, in Maracaibo’s -hybrid metropolitan archipelago- (HMA) sustainability. The IPES fills the gap of the local urban planning assuming the principles of sustainable development (SD) by means of braiding the urban planning process (UPP) with the Pressure-State-Response Model (PSR) and Geographical Information Technologies (GIT) -satellite images and GIS- to develop urban models, specific attributes and urban sustainable indicators (USI). The IPES (UPP+PSR) is a multilayered-relational model that works, within the PSR model and grapping this model with the UPP. In this model, the causes of environmental changes, Pressure are correlated with the urban-spatial scenarios, their effects State, with the diagnose synthesis and, the Response with the multilevel government and stakeholders, urban projects, actions and policies, proposed and undertaken to deal with these changes. To reach an ethical decision, a concerted vision of the future scenarios and to build an integral territorial hypothesis for the PZHMA, sustainability and governance -stakeholders’ participation- were the key principles of the study. The paper concludes presenting the IPES model (creative technovation), where the GIS models of vulnerability, consolidation, conformity of usage and the model synthesis, environmental and legal conformity-adequation of the urban occupation, serve as specific State Attributes; the envisioned urban - spatial scenarios constituted the Attributes of Pressure and urban governance, measured through three variables, legitimacy by performance, governability and participation, configured the Response Attributes and selecting as policy and integral hypothesis –vision for the PZ-MAM the E2 Scenario: Corridors of Tendencial Expansion because controls, adjusts and organises the present lineal urban occupation along the metropolitan corridors maintaining intermediate areas of green protection and re-creates a new hybrid sustainable urban landscape, a compact, dense and multifunctional-polycentric PZ-MAM.Peer Reviewe