An Evaluation of Pyramidal Training to Teach Implementation of the Picture Exchange Communication System

The pyramidal training or train‐the‐trainer model is a method of training in which a professional teaches a skill to a small group of individuals who then teach that skill to another set of individuals. This model has demonstrated efficacy to teach several behavioral intervention techniques to parents, teachers, and direct care staff in a timely manner. The purpose of the present study was to extend the literature on pyramidal training to teach implementation of the first four phases of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) to university students working with a confederate learner. We used a multiple baseline across participants design (Tier 1 and 2) and a non‐concurrent multiple baseline design (Tier 3) to demonstrate the efficacy of this model. Results replicate and extend the literature on pyramidal training. Discussion focuses on implications and limitations to be addressed in future work. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reclaiming alterity: strangeness and the queering of Islam in medieval and early modern Spain

ABSTRACT

This essay argues for the reclamation of radical alterity or the intentional embracing of difference/otherness/strangeness by Muslims as a location of solidarity with marginalized communities, who have been historically ostracized due to sexuality. As the initial social location of Islam vis-á-vis medieval and early modern Christendom, the rehabilitation of Muslim alterity/otherness today serves as a location for solidarity with other marginalized groups such as members of the LGBTQ community. The chosen historical timeframe of medieval and early modern Spain helps to situate this conversation both inside and on the fringes of European Christendom. This essay seeks to accomplish this by mining both Muslim and Christian sources in medieval and early modern Iberia with special attention being paid to discourses located at the intersections of Islamophobia and sexuality. The texts discussed allow for a more thorough investigation of Muslim alterity in the Iberian context, while serving as a launch point for deeper discussions of contemporary religious and sexual hierarchies.     

Impacts of Flooding on the Quality of Life in Rural Regions of Southern Slovakia

Human activity has significantly influenced energy flows in the landscape. Physical and geographical features of an area in the context of natural processes highlight their influence on the human lives in the affected regions of Slovakia. The paper aimed on the influence of the extraordinary flooding impact in June 2013 on the quality of life in Slovak rural regions. We have investigated the impact of the resulting damage on human activities in the rural municipality of Ch?aba. The case study of southern Slovakia can provide a more realistic view at regularly flooded areas in Slovak geographical conditions. The target of our research was to map and monitor the situation during the floods and shortly after them and to draw proposals leading to a more operative approach in the context of comprehensive flood protection in Slovakia. The added value of the research is a creation of such graphical supporting documents, which could be served as a basis for creating the plan of flood prevention management in rural territories, as a part of negative impacts of floods reduction on human activities.     

Hands Support and Postural Oscillation During Sit-to-Stand Movement in Children With Cerebral Palsy and Typical Children

The authors aimed to compare the weight bearing on hands during sit-to-stand (STS) movement in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and typical children (TC), verify its effect on postural oscillation, and analyze the relationship between weight bearing on hands and postural oscillation. Twenty children with CP (Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I and II) and 35 TC performed STS with and without anterior hands support. Mann-Whitney test compared weight bearing between groups. Wilcoxon test investigated differences in postural oscillation between the conditions with and without anterior hand support for both groups. The Spearman correlation tested the relationship between weight-bearing and postural oscillation during the hand support condition. Children with CP bore more weight on hands than TC to perform STS. The hand support reduced postural oscillation during the second phase of STS in both groups. In the CP group, greater weight bearing was related with lower postural oscillation in the beginning of STS. Although children with CP were able to perform STS without support, they bore more weight on their hands to perform the task than TC. Moreover, children with CP and TC use mechanical and somatosensory information to modulate their postural control during STS in different ways.     

Cooperative responding in rats maintained by fixed‐ and variable‐ratio schedules

The present study investigated the effects of fixed‐ratio (FR) and variable‐ratio (VR) reinforcement schedules on patterns of cooperative responding in pairs of rats. Experiment 1 arranged FR 1, FR 10, and VR 10 schedules to establish cooperative responding (water delivery depended on the joint responding of two rats). Cooperative response rates and proportions were higher under intermittent schedules than under continuous reinforcement. The FR 10 schedule generated a break‐and‐run pattern, whereas the VR 10 schedule generated a relatively high and constant rate pattern. Experiment 2 evaluated the effects of parametric manipulations of FR and VR schedules on cooperative responding. Rates and proportions of cooperative responding generally increased between ratio sizes of 1 and 5 but showed no consistent trend as the ratio increased from 5 to 10. Experiment 3 contrasted cooperative responding between an FR6 schedule and a yoked control schedule. Coordinated behavior occurred at a higher rate under the former schedule. The present study showed that external consequences and the schedules under which the delivery of these consequences are based, select patterns of coordinated behavior.     

Burnout in Christian Perspective

Mindfulness and Christian spirituality are useful tools in preventing and coping with burnout and compassion fatigue. Christian human services workers who engage in these practices are able to stave off burnout and actually be revitalized in their work because mindfulness and Christian spirituality are tied to managing loss of personal accomplishment, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization. For Christians, a better way to conceptualize burnout and compassion fatigue is to consider them within the categories of calling, apathy, and indifference. In this way, preventing and coping with burnout becomes a project of spiritual revitalization—reconnecting with the empowering, living spirit of God. The practices of the Jesus Prayer, the daily examen, and the prayer of consideration are useful tools for accomplishing this.     

Economic Impact of Third-Wave Cognitive Behavioral Therapies: A Systematic Review and Quality Assessment of Economic Evaluations in Randomized Controlled Trials

The term third-wave cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) encompasses new forms of CBT that both extend and innovate within CBT. Most third-wave therapies have been subject to randomized controlled trials (RCTs) focused on clinical effectiveness; however, the number and quality of economic evaluations in these RCTs has been unknown and may be few. Evidence about efficiency of these therapies may help support decisions on efficient allocation of resources in health policies. The main aim of this study was to systematically review the economic impact of third-wave therapies in the treatment of patients with physical or mental conditions. We conducted a systematic literature search in PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and CINALH to identify economic evaluations of third-wave therapies. Quality and Risk of Bias (RoB) assessment of economic evaluations was also made using the Drummond 35-item checklist and the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias, respectively. Eleven RCTs were included in this systematic review. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and extended Behaviour Activation (eBA) showed acceptable cost-effectiveness and cost-utility ratios. No study employed a time horizon of more than 3 years. Quality and RoB assessments highlight some limitations that temper the findings. There is some evidence that MBCT, MBSR, ACT, DBT, and eBA are efficient from a societal or a third-party payer perspective. No economic analysis was found for many third-wave therapies. Therefore, more economic evaluations with high methodological quality are needed.     

Landmarks as beacons and associative cues: Their role in route learning

Relatively little is known about how people use the landmarks in their environment to learn routes. Landmarks are commonly regarded as associative cues--stimuli that enable recall of directional responses that lead closer to the navigator's goal. We contrast the function of landmark as associative cue with that of a beacon-a landmark near enough to a goal that moving toward it leads the navigator closer to his or her goal. In five experiments, participants learned a route through a simple desktop virtual environment. In the first three experiments, routes were learned better when their landmarks served as beacons than as associative cues. Two additional experiments showed that the acquired route knowledge depends on the function that landmarks serve during learning. Beacon-based route knowledge is less enduring and relatively less likely to involve knowledge of directions in the environment than is the route knowledge formed from landmarks that serve as associative cues.