Prospects for prenatal gene therapy in disorders causing mental retardation

Advances in understanding the genetics and pathogenesis of disease and in prenatal diagnosis have lead to an exploration of ways to intervene earlier and earlier in the disease process. The possibility of prenatal gene therapy for severe genetic and developmental disorders has sparked new research and debate as to its feasibility, reliability, and ethics as a therapeutic option. Recent animal studies have demonstrated the feasibility of introducing a vector into the developing fetus. The optimal timing and best mode of delivery, however, have yet to be defined. Whether or not this research should be pursued also has been the subject of recent bioethical debates. There is additional concern with the possibility of in utero gene transfer inducing mutagenesis and subsequent tumor formation. This review will provide a summary of the current state of knowledge in the field of prenatal gene therapy and possible directions for the future research.     

Are Chinese narcissists disagreeable? Evidence from self‐ and peer‐ratings of agreeableness

Many studies have found that narcissism is negatively related to agreeableness in Western samples. Four experiments explored this relationship in a Chinese population. In Study 1, 228 junior high school students reported their narcissism and Five Factor Personality traits. In Study 2, participants recruited through the internet completed the measures of narcissism and agreeableness. In Study 3, 145 college students completed the measures of narcissism and agreeableness, as well as self‐esteem and social desirability. In Study 4, 204 senior high school adolescents reported their own narcissistic and agreeableness personality traits. They also received peer‐ratings of agreeableness. We found that narcissism was positively related with self‐reported agreeableness (Study 1, 2 and 4), but not with other ratings of agreeableness (Study 4). Chinese narcissists perceived themselves as agreeable, and their self‐perceptions of agreeableness were more positive than their peers rated them. We discuss the current findings in relation to the Chinese cultural context and underscore cultural roots of narcissism.     

语义整合的早期加工:来自ERPs的证据

本研究借助ERPs技术,通过操纵关键词与当前语境的语义合理性关系,考察在严格限定关键词词频变异性的情况下,语义整合过程能否反映在P2效应上。ERPs结果发现关键词呈现后,语义合理相比违背条件在右侧脑区诱发了更大的P2成分。该结果支持如果关键词低水平的变量信息(词频等)得到适当控制,ERPs技术可以检测到发生在250ms以前的语义整合过程。     

反事实思维对行人交通安全行为意向的影响

反事实思维是对过去发生事情进行否定而产生的假设性思维表征,对行为改变和绩效改善有显著影响。因此,作为一种重要的认知策略,反事实思维常常被用于行为干预的研究。本研究采用单因素(反事实启动/经验启动)被试间实验设计,以4种常见的行人不安全行为为实验材料,运用顺序启动范式的语义启动分别激活自变量的两个水平,将遵守交通规则行为意向的评分和反应时双变量作为因变量指标,探索反事实思维对行人安全行为的促进作用。结果表明:与基线水平和经验启动相比,反事实启动诱导产生的行人交通安全行为意向更加积极,并且产生的自动化水平更高。文章最后讨论了研究的理论意义和对安全管理实践的启发。     

Similarity as threat: A motivational explanation of self–other similarity judgment asymmetry

People tend to judge others to be more similar to themselves than themselves are to others. This self–other similarity judgment asymmetry was often explained by a cognitive model. However, some findings were inconsistent with this model, implying that there might be complementary processes underlying such asymmetry. Although a motivational explanation has been proposed to account for the asymmetry, little evidence has been accumulated to verify this explanation and differentiate it from the cognitive model. The current research tested both the core assumption of the motivational explanation as well as a hypothesis derived only from it. Results suggest that the perception of oneself as being similar to others was more threatening to people's uniqueness than the perception of others as being similar to oneself. Individuals with high need for uniqueness exhibited greater asymmetry than did individuals with low need. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Quality of Life and Recycling Behaviour in High-Rise Buildings: A Case in Hong Kong

Many researchers, environmentalists and economists have made tremendous efforts to enable polices and measures for waste recycling, to improve the quality of the public living environment and to achieve a better quality of everyday life. This study examined the quality of life (QOL) in high-rise buildings in relation to sustainability. It investigated household recycling behaviour and explored the QOL factors that affect such behaviour. Two models based on different types of recycling behaviour were estimated: 1) a model for the use of public recycling facilities (UPRF) and 2) a model for the use of private recycling sectors (UPRS). Data were collected through a survey of 505 residents in two old districts of Hong Kong. The assessment of QOL included consideration for the physical settings, the socio-demographic variables and the respondents’ attitudes on recycling and living environments. The research methods involved questionnaires and interviews. Correlations and multiple regression analyses were conducted to interpret the data collected through the questionnaires. The findings indicated that UPRF can be significantly predicted by physical settings and by satisfaction with the location of facilities, with the residents’ participation and with the quality of the neighbourhood and accommodation. UPRS can be significantly predicted by housing type, income and the availability of private recycling sectors. These findings also indicate some directions for researchers and policymakers to consider. These directions concern how environments and public facilities should be designed to encourage sustainable behaviour and enable a better QOL without compromising environmental sustainability.     

Misleading Evidence and the Dogmatism Puzzle

According to the Dogmatism Puzzle presented by Gilbert Harman, knowledge induces dogmatism because, if one knows that p, one knows that any evidence against p is misleading and therefore one can ignore it when gaining the evidence in the future. I try to offer a new solution to the puzzle by explaining why the principle is false that evidence known to be misleading can be ignored. I argue that knowing that some evidence is misleading doesn't always damage the credential of the evidence, and therefore it doesn't always entitle one to ignore it. I also explain in what kind of cases and to what degree such knowledge allows one to ignore evidence. Hopefully, through the discussion, we can not only understand better where the dogmatism puzzle goes wrong, but also understand better in what sense rational believers should rely on their evidence and when they can ignore it.     

Sequential detection of learning in cognitive diagnosis

In order to look more closely at the many particular skills examinees utilize to answer items, cognitive diagnosis models have received much attention, and perhaps are preferable to item response models that ordinarily involve just one or a few broadly defined skills, when the objective is to hasten learning. If these fine‐grained skills can be identified, a sharpened focus on learning and remediation can be achieved. The focus here is on how to detect when learning has taken place for a particular attribute and efficiently guide a student through a sequence of items to ultimately attain mastery of all attributes while administering as few items as possible. This can be seen as a problem in sequential change‐point detection for which there is a long history and a well‐developed literature. Though some ad hoc rules for determining learning may be used, such as stopping after M consecutive items have been successfully answered, more efficient methods that are optimal under various conditions are available. The CUSUM, Shiryaev–Roberts and Shiryaev procedures can dramatically reduce the time required to detect learning while maintaining rigorous Type I error control, and they are studied in this context through simulation. Future directions for modelling and detection of learning are discussed.     

Latent growth curve analysis with dichotomous items: Comparing four approaches

A Monte Carlo study was used to compare four approaches to growth curve analysis of subjects assessed repeatedly with the same set of dichotomous items: A two‐step procedure first estimating latent trait measures using MULTILOG and then using a hierarchical linear model to examine the changing trajectories with the estimated abilities as the outcome variable; a structural equation model using modified weighted least squares (WLSMV) estimation; and two approaches in the framework of multilevel item response models, including a hierarchical generalized linear model using Laplace estimation, and Bayesian analysis using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). These four methods have similar power in detecting the average linear slope across time. MCMC and Laplace estimates perform relatively better on the bias of the average linear slope and corresponding standard error, as well as the item location parameters. For the variance of the random intercept, and the covariance between the random intercept and slope, all estimates are biased in most conditions. For the random slope variance, only Laplace estimates are unbiased when there are eight time points.     

有限模型下的模态概率逻辑

模态逻辑语义学是经典逻辑语义学的一个扩张,对"可能"、"必然"等词进行了刻画,而概率从某个角度来说是对"可能"的更加精确的表示。本文试图在模态逻辑语义学的基础之上,形式化地刻画如下直观思想:每一个在某一世界上有一定概率发生的事件都一定会在其可通达的某个(或者某些)可能世界上发生。