Event-related FMRI study of context processing in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of patients with schizophrenia

Context processing is conceptualized as an executive function involved in voluntary, complex actions such as overcoming automatic responses. The present study tested the hypothesis that context-processing deficits in patients with schizophrenia are associated with a dysfunction of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 17 controls and 17 medicated patients performed a version of the AX task in which a learned, automatic response had to be inhibited. In controls, left DLPFC activity increased when preparing to overcome an automatic response, whereas patients with schizophrenia showed no differential activation. In controls, context processing appeared to be associated with the differential representation of cues associated with the need to provide top-down support for overcoming automatic responses. This mechanism appeared to be impaired in patients with schizophrenia.     

The Infant–Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA): Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity

In this paper the refinement and psychometric properties of the Infant–Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) are described. Results from a sociodemographically diverse birth cohort sample of 1,235 parents of children between the ages of 12 and 36 months are presented. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesized Internalizing, Externalizing, Regulatory, and Competence domains as well as the 17 individual scales that comprise the ITSEA. Findings for 3 additional indices useful in identifying significant psychopathology are presented. Subgroup analyses revealed structural invariance and expected mean level differences across both child sex and 6-month age bands. Child sex differences emerged for some problem and most competence scales, with boys rated as higher on Activity–Impulsivity and girls rated higher on Anxiety and most Competence scales. All competence scores increased across age groups. Problem behaviors showed a more mixed developmental pattern. Test–retest and interrater reliability were acceptable. Associations between the ITSEA and independent evaluator ratings and parental ratings of child behavior problems, temperament, and parental distress support the validity of the instrument.     

On the microstructures of equilibrated and quenched spinel-containing nickel titanates

Electron microscopy has been used to study the microstructures of equilibrated and quenched NiO-TiO₂ mixtures containing 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25wt% TiO₂. All the specimens contained rocksalt- and spinel-structured phases on a nanometre scale. The microstructure suggests that a nonstoichiometric spinel decomposed during quenching. The 25wt% TiO₂ specimen exhibited a lamellar microstructure composed of NiTiO₃ and spinelNiO. These phases had the usual orientation relationships, i.e., (111)_cubic||(0001)_hex and (110)_cubic|| (1100>_hex. Faceted NiO solid-solution regions with coherent cube-on-cube interfaces with the spinel were found in the four specimens of lower TiO₂ contents. When large (15 and 20wt% TiO₂), these regions were faceted cuboidal particles. With lower TiO₂ contents, these regions were no longer equiaxed and could be interconnected. The specimens were chemically homogeneous on a length scale of about 1mum. Morphological evidence is presented to explain which part of the microstructure most probably already existed in this form during equilibration. In particular, the large-scale NiTiO₃ and the spinel lamella in the 25wt% TiO₂ material form during long-term equilibration.     

Factors Associated with Non-Reimbursable Activity on an Inpatient Pediatric Consultation–Liaison Service

The aim of this study was to identify factors contributing to clinician time spent in non-reimbursable activity on an inpatient pediatric consultation–liaison (C–L) service. A retrospective study was conducted using inpatient C–L service data on 1,246 consecutive referrals. For this patient population, the strongest predictor of level of non-reimbursable clinical activity was illness chronicity and the number of contacts with C–L service clinicians during their hospital stay. Patients with acute life-threatening illnesses required the highest mean amount of non-reimbursable service activity. On average, 28 % of total clinician time in completing a hospital consultation was spent in non-reimbursable activity. Effective C–L services require a proportion of time spent in non-reimbursable clinical activity, such as liaison and coordinating care with other providers. Identifying referral and systemic factors contributing to non-reimbursable activity can provide insight into budgeting/negotiating for institutional support for essential clinical and non-clinical functions in providing competent quality patient care.     

Handling mathematical objects: representations and context

This article takes as a starting point the current popular anti realist position, Fictionalism, with the intent to compare it with actual mathematical practice. Fictionalism claims that mathematical statements do purport to be about mathematical objects, and that mathematical statements are not true. Considering these claims in the light of mathematical practice leads to questions about how mathematical objects are handled, and how we prove that certain statements hold. Based on a case study on Riemann’s work on complex functions, I propose that mathematicians deal with systems of representations and that truth—or what we can prove—depends on available representations in some context where the problem can be solved.     

Speech and Language Disorders in Kenyan Children: Adapting Tools for Regions with Few Assessment Resources

This study sought to adapt a battery of Western speech and language assessment tools to a rural Kenyan setting. The tool was developed for children whose first language was KiGiryama, a Bantu language. A total of 539 Kenyan children (males=271, females=268, ethnicity=100% Kigiryama) were recruited. Data were initially collected from 52 children (pilot assessments), and then from a larger group of 487 children (152 cerebral malaria, 156 severe malaria and seizures, 179 unexposed). The language assessments were based upon the Content, Form and Use (C/F/U) model. The assessment was based upon the adapted versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Test for the Reception of Grammar, Renfrew Action Picture Test, Pragmatics Profile of Everyday Communication Skills in Children, Test of Word Finding and language specific tests of lexical semantics, higher level language. Preliminary measures of construct validity suggested that the theoretical assumptions behind the construction of the assessments were appropriate and re-test and inter-rater reliability scores were acceptable. These findings illustrate the potential to adapt Western speech and language assessments in other languages and settings, particularly those in which there is a paucity of standardised tools.     

Knowledge‐How and Cognitive Achievement

According to reductive intellectualism, knowledge‐how just is a kind of propositional knowledge (e.g., Stanley & Williamson 2001; Stanley 2011a, 2011b; Brogaard, 2008a, 2008b, 2009, 2011, 2009, 2011). This proposal has proved controversial because knowledge‐how and propositional knowledge do not seem to share the same epistemic properties, particularly with regard to epistemic luck. Here we aim to move the argument forward by offering a positive account of knowledge‐how. In particular, we propose a new kind of anti‐intellectualism. Unlike neo‐Rylean anti‐intellectualist views, according to which the possession of knowledge‐how is just a matter of possessing certain abilities, we submit that knowledge‐how is a particular kind of cognitive achievement attained just when cognitive ability is connected in the right way with successful performance.     

Knowledge‐How and Epistemic Luck

Reductive intellectualists (e.g., Stanley & Williamson 2001; Stanley 2011a; 2011b; Brogaard 2008b; 2009; 2011) hold that knowledge‐how is a kind of knowledge‐that. For this thesis to hold water, it is obviously important that knowledge‐how and knowledge‐that have the same epistemic properties. In particular, knowledge‐how ought to be compatible with epistemic luck to the same extent as knowledge‐that. It is argued, contra reductive intellectualism, that knowledge‐how is compatible with a species of epistemic luck which is not compatible with knowledge‐that, and thus it is claimed that knowledge‐how and knowledge‐that come apart.