Posttraumatic Overmodulation,Callous–Unemotional Traits,and Offending Among Justice-Involved Youth

A large body of research has demonstrated an association between childhood trauma exposure (TE) and adolescent delinquency. This association may be explained by callous–unemotional (CU) traits, which may stem from TE and are associated with persistent offending and recidivism. However, research on the mechanisms underlying TE and delinquency has lacked specificity regarding the posttraumatic symptoms that may drive this effect, particularly new models that distinguish between posttraumatic symptoms (PTS) of overmodulation versus undermodulation. This article sought to investigate the role of overmodulation in the association between TE and CU traits and their relations with persistent offending. Participants included 829 detained youth who completed self-report measures of TE, PTS, and CU traits. Official records of youth offenses were also obtained. Results of path analyses demonstrated that the association between interpersonal TE and persistent offending exhibited an indirect effect through overmodulation and CU traits. Efforts to address overmodulation among traumatized detained youth may represent a promising avenue of intervention for reducing recidivism.     

An Investigation of the Three-Way Joint Coaching Alliance: A Social Identity Theory Perspective

This study builds upon the previous research that recognised coaching as a triangular political space generating power relationships. We integrate social identity theory into this power negotiation process and consider that the ultimate purpose of coaching is to facilitate a shared coaching identity among all related collaborators. To gain in-depth understanding of factors that promote a three-way joint coaching identity, we conducted 25 critical incident interviews and two levels of Q-sorting (n = 10) with coaches, coachees, and organisational stakeholders. The research results indicated that a workplace coaching identity is a flexible space underpinned by coaches’ attitude, all collaborators’ positions, and the contracting process. Coaches’ accommodated communication techniques determine the relationship climate (instrumental or influential). Coaches’ position in the coaching space regulates their self-interests and motivation to change. Moreover, a transparent contracting process encourages communication flows and psychological exchanges among all collaborators that may gain more support from stakeholders.     

Behavioral competition in a case of Rett syndrome

Major behavioral features of Rett syndrome are the loss of instrumental reaching and grasping and the presentation of some variant of hand-hand or hand-mouth stereotypy. As part of an experimental home intervention program, a 3-year-old girl with Rett syndrome was exposed to four types of contingency games designed to elicit instrumental reaching, kicking, vocalization, and eye movement, respectively. Parent and subject performance were videorecorded on seven occasions over the initial 2-month period. Evaluation of these records provided evidence of contingency learning in all but the vocalization games. Stereotypic hand clasping was examined in relation to the performance of instrumental behavior (reaching, kicking, looking). Coincidental (short-term mutual inhibition arising by chance co-occurrence), associative (short-term mutual inhibition arising by having elicitor in common), and foundational (long-term mutual inhibition arising by having neural network in common) forms of specific behavioral competition were defined and examined. Evidence for coincidental and foundational competition was found in the relation between reaching and hand clasping. Implications for the support of functional hand use are discussed.     

The occlusion illusion: partial modal completion or apparent distance?

In the occlusion illusion, the visible portion of a partly occluded object (eg a semicircle partly hidden behind a rectangle) appears to be significantly larger than a physically identical region that is fully visible. This illusion may occur either because the visual system 'fills in' a thin strip along the occluded border (the partial-modal-completion hypothesis) or because the partly occluded object is perceived as farther away (the apparent-distance hypothesis). We measured the magnitude of the occlusion illusion psychophysically in several experiments to investigate its causes. The results of experiments 1-3 are consistent with the general proposal that the magnitude of the illusion varies with the strength of the evidence for occlusion, supporting the inference that it is due to occlusion. Experiment 4 provides a critical test between apparent-distance and partial-modal-completion explanations by determining whether the increase in apparent size of the occluded region results from a change in its perceived shape (due to the modal extension of the occluded shape along the occluding edge, as predicted by the partial-modal-completion hypothesis) or from a change in its perceived overall size (as predicted by the apparent-distance hypothesis). The results more strongly support the partial-modal-completion hypothesis.     

The role of formal information sharing in key account team effectiveness: does informal control matter and when

Team selling is a useful approach for retaining strategically important accounts in business-to-business markets. For key account sales teams, ensuring adequate access to information about customer needs offers sustainable competitive advantages. However, the internal alignment of market information remains a recurring managerial issue in key account team selling. This study develops a moderated mediation model to identify management strategies that encourage team members' formal information sharing, which in turn improves team effectiveness. Analysis of a multilevel data set comprising 37 fluid key account teams reveals that customer orientation and task interdependence increase formal information sharing among team members. Managers' exercise of professional control strengthens the positive impact that formal information sharing has on team satisfaction. However, the practice has a dysfunctional influence on the positive effect of task interdependence on formal information sharing. Firms with key account management (KAM) programs must decide whether the marginal benefits attained by advocating such professional control outweigh the possible drawbacks.     

心肌保护基因治疗进展及展望

心肌保护基因治疗的研究目前仍停留在动物实验阶段。本文从哲学的角度论述了心肌保护基因治疗研究的进展与优点,以及存在的安全性、局限性与伦理学方面的问题,并就目前其它领域基因治疗的进展对其作了进一步的展望。     

Ethics of caring and the institutional ethics committee

Institutional ethics committees (lECs) in health care facilities now create moral policy, provide moral education, and consult with physicians and other health care workers. After sketching reasons for the development of IECs, this paper first examines the predominant moral standards it is often assumed lECs are now using, these standards being neo-Kantian principles of justice and utilitarian principles of the greatest good. Then, it is argued that a feminine ethics of care, as posited by Carol Gilligan and Nel Noddings, is an unacknowledged basis for /EC discussions and decisions. Further, it is suggested that feminine ethics of care can and should provide underlying theoretical tools and standards for lECs.     

Are DSM-IV-TR Borderline Personality Disorder, ICD-10 Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, and CCMD-III Impulsive Personality Disorder Analogous Diagnostic Categories Across Psychiatric Nomenclatures?

This study examined the validity of the borderline construct which encompasses diagnostic criteria from the DSM-IV-TR Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), ICD-10 Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD), and CCMD-III Impulsive Personality Disorder (IPD) in a sample of 1,419 Chinese psychiatric patients. Participants completed the Chinese Personality Disorder Inventory and the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory-2 assessing various disordered personality features. Adequate internal consistency was found for the borderline construct (α = .83). Exploratory factor analysis revealed two components: (1) affective and cognitive disturbances, and (2) impulse dysregulation, which were replicated by confirmatory factor analysis. Item analysis indicated that the various borderline criteria displayed similar levels of diagnostic efficiency, which does not support the elimination of fear of abandonment and transient psychotic features from the EUPD and IPD criteria set. Findings of this study suggest that BPD, EUPD, and IPD may represent analogous diagnostic categories across classification systems.