Comparison of Knowledge and Diagnostic Practices Relating to Autism Spectrum Disorder between the United States and Mexico

The present study examined and compared the knowledge, screening, and diagnostic practices of health care practitioners from Mexico and the United States of America (U.S.) as they relate to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The participants included 56 healthcare professionals from U.S. and 16 healthcare professionals from Mexico. Data was collected via an online survey. Overall, participants achieved a mean knowledge accuracy of 0.58 (SD = 0.13). The mean accuracy of knowledge in Mexico was 0.52 (SD = 0.13) and the mean accuracy of knowledge in the U.S. was 0.60 (SD = 0.13). Location, years of experience, patient contact, and comfort level, were found to have a significant effect on the accuracy of knowledge. The screening and diagnostic practices in both the U.S. and in Mexico were found to differ in areas such as screening and diagnostic tools used, criteria, healthcare practitioners involved, observation of children in multiple settings, assessment setting, and others. Knowledge of the screening and diagnostic practices relating to ASD being implemented in both the U.S. and in Mexico is necessary as it contributes to the limited research being conducted in the area of ASD in Mexico and provides a better understanding of screening and diagnostic practices of ASD being implemented by different healthcare practitioners. This information will allow healthcare practitioners to recognize if current gold standard recommendations are being consistently followed across healthcare professions regarding ASD. In addition, this information will allow for improved diagnostic and intervention practices for individuals with ASD in the U.S. as the majority of immigrants are from Mexico

Constraining a bulk viscous matter-dominated cosmological model using SNe Ia, CMB and LSS

We present and constrain a cosmological model which component is a pressureless fluid with bulk viscosity as an explanation for the present accelerated expansion of the universe. We study the particular model of a constant bulk viscosity coefficient \zeta_m. The possible values of \zeta_m are constrained using the cosmological tests of SNe Ia Gold 2006 sample, the CMB shift parameter R from the three-year WMAP observations, the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) peak A from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Second Law of Thermodynamics (SLT). It was found that this model is in agreement with the SLT using only the SNe Ia test. However when the model is submitted to the three cosmological tests together (SNe+CMB+BAO) the results are: 1.- the model violates the SLT, 2.- predicts a value of H_0 \approx 53 km sec^{-1} Mpc^{-1} for the Hubble constant, and 3.- we obtain a bad fit to data with a \chi^2_{min} \approx 400 (\chi^2_{d.o.f.} \approx 2.2). These results indicate that this model is ruled out by the observations.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Work presented in the XI Mexican Workshop on Particles and Fields, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, nov 7-12, 2007. Submitted to AIP Conference Proceedings of this conferenc

Critical success factors for refilling : an application to the beauty industry

Esta tesis se encarga de examinar y analizar las opiniones y percepciones de consumidores en relaci?n a la reutilizaci?n de empaques en la industria de la belleza, concepto conocido como ?refilling?. El objetivo consisti? en identificar los factores cr?ticos de ?xito que deben ser considerados cuando una empresa desarrolla un modelo de refilling. Para lograr el objetivo se utiliza data recaudada por Marta Marinho, My-Linh Thieu, Zhengbo Huang, y yo misma para la tesis presentada a EDHEC Business School. El estudio que se llev? a cabo utiliza fuentes primarias y secundarias. La informaci?n primaria se obtuvo a trav?s de encuestas a consumidores, cuestionarios virtuales, y observaci?n en tiendas. La informaci?n secundaria se obtuvo a trav?s de an?lisis de documentos virtuales. Para comenzar, se analiz? el concepto de refilling: definici?n, beneficios, caracter?sticas, razones por la que los consumidores lo hacen, y barreras para consumidores. Tambi?n, se revis? como distintas marcas de Estados Unidos y Europa ofrecen refilling. Luego, se exponen los resultados de la investigaci?n primaria. Finalmente, con la informaci?n recaudada en estas 3 partes de la tesis se comparan los resultados obtenidos y concluye con los factores de ?xito. Como resultado, los factores de ?xito encontrados fueron los siguientes: precio, calidad, conveniencia, higiene, comunicaci?n, y empaque

Video Game–Based Exercise, Latino Children's Physical Health, and Academic Achievement

BackgroundThere is a paucity of research investigating the effects of innovative physical activity programs on physical health and academic performance in the Latino population.PurposeTo examine the impact of Dance Dance Revolution [DDR]–based exercise on Latino children's physical fitness and academic achievement.DesignA repeated-measures crossover design was used. In Year 1, Grade-4 students were assigned to the intervention group and offered 30 minutes of exercise (DDR, aerobic dance) three times per week. Grade-3 and Grade-5 students made up the comparison group and were offered no structured exercise at school. In Year 2, the Grade-4 students were again assigned to the intervention, whereas Grade-5 and Grade-6 students were in the comparison group.Setting/participantsAssessments were conducted with 208 Latino school children.Main outcome measuresThe baseline measures included time to complete a 1-mile run, BMI, and reading and math scores. Data were collected again 9 months later. Overall, data were collected in 2009–2011 and analyzed in 2012.ResultsData yielded significant differences between the intervention and comparison groups in differences in 1-mile run and math scores in Year 1 and Year 2. The results also revealed net differences in the intervention versus comparison group scores on the 1-mile run for Grade 3 (p<0.01). Additionally, children's yearly pre-test and post-test BMI group changes differed (χ2(2)=6.6, p<0.05) only for the first year of intervention.ConclusionsThe DDR-based exercise intervention improved children's cardiorespiratory endurance and math scores over time. Professionals should consider integrating exergaming at schools to achieve the goals of promoting a physically active lifestyle and enhancing academic success among Latino children

The impact of temporal synchronisation imprecision on TRF analyses

Human sensory perception requires our brains to extract, encode, and process multiple properties of the sensory input. In the context of continuous sensory signals, such as speech and music, the measured electrical neural activity synchronises to properties such as the acoustic envelope, a phenomenon referred to as neural tracking. The ability of measuring neural tracking with non-invasive neurophysiology constitutes an exciting new opportunity for applied research. For example, it enables the objective assessment of cognitive functions in challenging cohorts and environments by using pleasant, everyday tasks, such as watching videos. However, neural tracking has been mostly studied in controlled, laboratory environments guaranteeing precise synchronisation between the neural signal and the corresponding labels (e.g., speech envelope). There exist various challenges that could impact such a temporal precision in, for instance, out-of-lab scenarios, such as technology (e.g., wireless data acquisition), mobility requirements (e.g., clinical scenarios), and the task (e.g., imagery). Aiming to address this type of challenge, we focus on the predominant scenario of continuous sensory experiments involving listening to speech and music. First a temporal response function analysis is presented on two different datasets to assess the impact of trigger imprecision. Second, a proof-of-concept re-alignment methodology is proposed to determine potential issues with the temporal synchronisation. Finally, a use-case study is presented that demonstrates neural tracking measurements in a challenging scenario involving older individuals with neurocognitive decline in care homes. Significance Statement Human cognitive functions can be studied by measuring neural tracking with non-invasive neurophysiology as participants perform pleasant, everyday tasks, such as listening to music. However, while recent work has encouraged the use of this approach in applied research, it remains unclear how robust neural tracking measurements can be when considering the methodological constraints of applied scenarios. This study determines the impact of a key factor for the measurement of neural tracking: the temporal precision of the neural recording. The results provide clear guidelines for future research, indicating what level of imprecision can be tolerated for measuring neural tracking with speech and music listening tasks in both laboratory and applied settings. Furthermore, the study provides a strategy to assess the impact of imprecision in the synchronisation of the neural recording, thus developing new tools for applied neuroscience