Comparisons of the BRIEF parental report and neuropsychological clinical tests of executive function in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: data from the UK national specialist clinic

Extant literature is sparse with regards to the relationship between caregiver reports and neuropsychological tests of executive functioning in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). The goal of this paper was determining the clinical utilities of executive functioning measures used in the United Kingdom national FASD clinic. We examined relationships between outcomes on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS), as part of an ongoing service evaluation. Profiles of executive functioning measures were reported in order to contribute to delineating a profile of executive dysfunction in FASD. Caregivers of 49 people with FASD completed the Parent BRIEF, and 61 people with FASD were administered the D-KEFS. Pearson’s Correlations between all 11 BRIEF scales and the 18 selected D-KEFS subscales showed little relationship. The BRIEF showed a profile of clinically significant elevations in all three Index scores and seven out of the eight Scale scores. Several D-KEFS tests showed below average executive functioning. Both executive function measures have separate clinical utility in demonstrating executive function deficits in FASD. The sample population used in this study also show a similar pattern to FASD populations internationally, suggesting a similar neuropsychological profile is seen in the United Kingdom. However, caregiver reports display little relationship to neuropsychological tests. These measures likely monitor different aspects of executive functioning in different settings. Future research should focus on identifying tests that better relate findings from clinical settings to behavior in daily life.     

Transgender women’s experiences and beliefs about hormone therapy through and beyond mid-age: An exploratory UK study

Background: Little is known about transgender women’s beliefs and experiences of hormone therapy (HT), as part of their transition process, and particularly as they grow older. Aims: This study aimed to investigate: (i) transgender women’s experiences and attitudes to HT, and (ii) expectations of what might occur and/or what occurred after they reached “menopausal age.” Methods: Participants were recruited through invitations to an online survey sent to 138 Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender plus (LGBT+) support groups across the UK. Sixty-seven transgender women consented and completed the questionnaire; responses were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach. The beliefs about medicines questionnaire (BMQ) was used to assess beliefs about HT, while an inductive thematic qualitative approach was used to explore participants’ personal expectations and experiences of HT and their views about the menopause. Results: Participants were aged on average 49 years ranging from 20 to 79 years old. Most (96%) were taking HT. BMQ scores revealed strong beliefs about the necessity of HT and some concerns. Positive views about HT were expressed, with themes including treatment importance, personal and mental health benefits, but concerns about long-term effects, side effects, and maintaining access to the treatment were also mentioned. Views about menopause included uncertainty and questioning of its relevance; some mentioned changes to HT dosage, but most expected to use HT indefinitely. Discussion: This study provides exploratory qualitative and quantitative information about transgender women’s views about HT and menopause. Practical implications include improving access to HT and provision of evidence-based information about long-term use.     

When Sharica Governs: The Impasse of Religious Relations in Sudan

The rapid political rise of the National Islamic Front is examined within a broader and more complex context, particularly as it pertains to relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in Sudan during the period from 1989 to the present. The regime's decision to change the nature of the South–North conflict into a jihad confrontation was determinative for the future of Islam in the Sudan, even though the regime's jihad discourse has been characterized by ambiguity and confusion. The Islamists have not produced a policy statement or a juristic work addressing the status of non-Muslims in the Shari^ca-based state and society they envisage, in spite of the 1991 Criminal Act and the 1998 Constitution of the Republic of Sudan. As a result, non-Muslims in Sudan are facing a difficult and testing time.     

Independently Licensed Counselors' Work Values

Prospective clinical mental health counseling students need to know if their work values align with those of independently licensed counselors before investing their time and accumulating debt. Analyzing the work values of 463 independently licensed counselors in the United States, we found 89% expressing social (altruistic) work values and 22% expressing intrinsic work values. Independently licensed counselors want to help clients become fully functioning and self-actualized by maintaining unconditional positive regard, being congruent, and providing empathy. Clarifying these work values and their interaction can help prospective and current clinical mental health counseling students determine their future job role.     

Achievement and beliefs outcomes of students with high and low expectation teachers

Social Psychology of Education - Teacher expectation models have theorized that expectations are likely to affect student socio-psychological as well as academic outcomes. Effects on...     

Economic implications of access to daylight and views in office buildings from improved productivity

Previous research has found significant impacts of daylight and views on the cognitive function of office workers. In this study, we use scores on decision-making performance to estimate the annual economic potential of optimizing daylighting and views in U.S. offices. Cognitive scores were compared against over 100,000 previous test scores to obtain the distributional shift in cognitive performance when working in an office with optimized daylighting and views as opposed to an office with traditional blinds. These changes in performance were then compared to compensation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Office workers shifted on average from the 52nd percentile to 65th percentile, equivalent to a $11,809 difference in salary per person per year. When conservatively accounting for the number of employees working within 15 ft of a window with blinds, optimizing daylight and views in U.S. offices has the potential to generate $352B ($240B–$464B), or 1.7% of the 2018 U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), in additional productivity. These findings suggest that building developers, architects and tenants should give additional attention to daylight design and façade technology as they consider new building construction, renovation and leasing options.     

Stripping the Boss: The Powerful Role of Humor in the Egyptian Revolution 2011

The Egyptian Revolution 2011 has shaken the Arab world and stirred up Middle-East politics. Moreover, it caused a rush in political science and the neighboring disciplines, which had not predicted an event like this and now have troubles explaining it. While many things can be learned from the popular uprising, and from the limitations of previous scholarship, our focus will be on a moral resource, which has occasionally been noticed, but not sufficiently explored: the role of humor in keeping up the spirit of the Revolution. For 18 days, protestors persevered at Liberation Square in Central Cairo, the epicenter of resistance; at times a few dozens, at times hundreds of thousands. What they did was to fight the terror of the regime, which reached absurd peaks during those days, with humor—successfully. We offer a social-functionalist account of the uprising, which includes behavioral as well as cultural levels of analysis, and illuminates how humorous means helped to achieve deadly serious goals. By reconstructing how Egyptians laughed themselves into democracy, we outline a social psychology of resistance, which uses humor both as a sword and a shield.     

Tension and compression of bulk Al-7.5 wt% Mg alloy

The mechanical behaviour of bulk ultrafine-grained Al-7.5 wt% Mg alloy consolidated from cryomilled powders has been investigated. The experimental data show that the alloy exhibits high strength, low strain hardening, serrated flow and relatively high ductility. In addition, the data indicate that the yield strength in tension is essentially equal to that in compression. The yield and flow strengths of the alloy are discussed in terms of strengthening processes that are related to grain size, the Orowan mechanism and solid-solution hardening. The serrations in the stress-strain curve are discussed in terms of dynamic strain ageing and deformation twinning.     

Still Photography Provides Data for Community-Based Initiatives

We use community psychology's accent on methodological pluralism and giving voice to the marginalised as a platform to critically examine the utility and outcome of photography as a data collection and community engagement method. Accordingly we focus on two community projects that used still photographs to identify environmental and household childhood injury risks respectively. The first project involved the visual documentation, examination and analysis of environmental threats in an informal settlement. The second project focused on the documentation and identification of selected childhood injury risks in and outside homes in an informal settlement. This study provided visual images that are detailed and complex and that allowed the researchers to acquire greater understandings than would have been possible from written texts alone. These photographs may be used to create injury risk awareness in the respective communities and among other relevant stakeholders.