Chaos,danger, and maternal parenting in families: Links with adolescent adjustment in low‐ and middle‐income countries

The current longitudinal study is the first comparative investigation across low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) to test the hypothesis that harsher and less affectionate maternal parenting (child age 14 years, on average) statistically mediates the prediction from prior household chaos and neighborhood danger (at 13 years) to subsequent adolescent maladjustment (externalizing, internalizing, and school performance problems at 15 years). The sample included 511 urban families in six LMICs: China, Colombia, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, and Thailand. Multigroup structural equation modeling showed consistent associations between chaos, danger, affectionate and harsh parenting, and adolescent adjustment problems. There was some support for the hypothesis, with nearly all countries showing a modest indirect effect of maternal hostility (but not affection) for adolescent externalizing, internalizing, and scholastic problems. Results provide further evidence that chaotic home and dangerous neighborhood environments increase risk for adolescent maladjustment in LMIC contexts, via harsher maternal parenting.     

Early executive functioning in a global context: Developmental continuity and family protective factors

This study extends the methodological and theoretical understanding of executive functions (EFs) in preschoolers from low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMIC). First, the authors describe a rigorous process of adapting and evaluating six EF tasks to produce a culturally and developmentally appropriate measure of emerging EFs in a large sample of at‐risk children in rural Pakistan. Next, the authors identify critical developmental and family factors that relate to preschoolers’ EFs over the first 4 years of life. Direct assessment of children's general cognitive skills at age two showed developmental continuity with EFs at age four, and these early cognitive skills mediated the effect of an antecedent parenting intervention on EFs as well as associations of targeted individual and family factors with EFs. Furthermore, directly assessed maternal cognitive capacities and observed maternal scaffolding uniquely predicted EFs in preschoolers. This study is also the first to demonstrate a significant overlap between direct assessments of IQ and EFs in young children from LMIC. Children's general intelligence mediated the associations of EFs with antecedent physical growth and cognitive skills as well as concurrent family factors (maternal verbal intelligence, maternal scaffolding, and home stimulation). After controlling for shared variance between preschoolers’ general intelligence and EFs, three factors emerged as unique predictors of EFs: exposure to an early parenting intervention, physical growth status at age two, and number of older siblings. The findings have important implications for the design of interventions that aim to improve EFs in young children in LMIC. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/316329544/5abde94cd7     

Feature selection using Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Road Sign Detection and Recognition (RSDR) system

Road Sign Detection and Recognition (RSDR) is aimed to enable drivers maintain basic functionality with the aim of identifying and notifying driver through the existing restrictions so that the process is a success on the present widened road. Examples for RSDR include ‘traffic light ahead’ or ‘pedestrian crossing’ signs. An innovative RSDR system has been introduced which comprises of pre-processing, edge detection, feature extraction, features selection and Ensemble Fuzzy Support Vector Machine (EFSVM) classifier. Feature selection is carried out successfully by deployment of Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm to determine most prominent and definitive features. These features are then fed into the ensemble SVM to enable both road side traffic detection as well as recognition. Suggested system’s performance is analyzed and evaluated with respect to road signs having a capable recognition rate.     

Intersectionality in Clinical Medicine: The Need for a Conceptual Framework

Intersectionality has become a significant intellectual approach for those thinking about the ways that race, gender, and other social identities converge in order to create unique forms of oppression. Although the initial work on intersectionality addressed the unique position of black women relative to both black men and white women, the concept has since been expanded to address a range of social identities. Here we consider how to apply some of the theoretical tools provided by intersectionality to the clinical context. We begin with a brief discussion of intersectionality and how it might be useful in a clinical context. We then discuss two clinical scenarios that highlight how we think considering intersectionality could lead to more successful patient–clinician interactions. Finally, we extrapolate general strategies for applying intersectionality to the clinical context before considering objections and replies.     

L’usure des travailleurs vieillissants à l’épreuve de la nationalité. Le cas des migrants de Tunisie en région parisienne dans la seconde moitié du XXe siècle

If foreign workers are exposed to degraded working and working conditions, they are not necessarily affected by a particularly increased mortality. By analyzing social protection schemes and biographical data, the article shows that this paradoxical situation results from the combination of several factors that contribute to the relative invisibility of the health problems faced by foreign workers. Indeed, if foreign workers constitute an over-selected workforce, the long-term effects of their working conditions remain unknown, because of the particular representations they receive, but also because of the segmentation of the labor market, which induces differentiated trajectories from the point of view of health and its management.     

揭秘经济管理中的行为异象：心理账户理论的应用启示

2017年Richard H. Thaler获得诺贝尔经济学奖, 其重要的研究贡献之一是催生并发展了心理账户理论。心理账户理论被广泛用于解释经济管理中的行为异象。文章以消费决策、金融管理决策两大领域的应用研究为外在逻辑, 以心理账户的设立、运算和关闭过程的特点为内在逻辑, 重点探讨了消费决策中的“标签效应”、“预算效应”、“价格幻觉”、“解耦效应”和“效用偏差”; 金融管理决策中的“粘蝇纸效应”、“薪酬感知之谜”、“税收-投资之谜”、“会计信息披露之谜”和“处置效应”十大行为异象。文章进一步提出未来可能的两个研究方向, 一是通过眼动技术和认知神经科学方法揭示心理账户影响行为决策的内在过程及神经机制; 二是将心理账户理论应用于“以小拨大”的行为助推, 助力政府公共管理和企业管理决策。