Genetic counseling for a family with two distinct anomalies: A case report of a neural tube defect and 5p- syndrome in a fetus

A couple presented for genetic counseling because of an elevated maternal serum alpha fetoprotein. Ultrasound examination revealed the presence of a neural tube defect. The couple declined an amniocentesis, but chose serial ultrasound evaluations instead. Ultrasounds eventually identified microcephaly, but the couple continued to decline amniocentesis. After the child's birth, the diagnosis of 5p- syndrome was made. The couple's decision not to have an amniocentesis allowed the family their right to autonomy; however, prenatal chromosome analysis would have provided this couple with a great deal more prognostic information. We discuss the conflict between a counselor's duty to respect a client's freedom vs. duty to care for a client's welfare. We address issues of nondirective counseling and the need for more studies looking at the decision-making process in prenatal diagnosis.     

Binary action based estimation of propensities

An observer is to make inference statements about a quantityp, called apropensity and bounded between 0 and 1, based on the observation thatp does or does not exceed a constantc. The propensityp may have an interpretation as a proportion, as a long-run relative frequency, or as a personal probability held by some subject. Applications in medicine, engineering, political science, and, most especially, human decision making are indicated. Bayes solutions for the observer are obtained based on prior distributions in the mixture of beta distribution family; these are then specialized to power-function prior distributions. Inference about logp and log odds is considered. Multiple-action problems are considered in which the focus of inference shifts to theprocess generating the propensitiesp, both in the case of a process parameter known to the subject and unknown. Empirical Bayes techniques are developed for observer inference aboutc when is known to the subject. A Bayes rule, a minimax rule and a beta-minimax rule are constructed for the subject when he is uncertain about.This research was partially supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense and was monitored by ONR under Contract No. N00014-77-C-0095. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Office of Naval Research, or Carnegie-Mellon University.     

Effects of instructional constraints on human fixed-interval performance

Several groups of human subjects were exposed to a variety of experimental conditions involving a fixed-interval 27-second schedule of reinforcement in compound with instructions to constrain in the number of responses within the interreinforcement interval and/or the duration of the experimental session. One group was further exposed to a contingency involving the placement of responses within the IRI. A diversity of patterns of performance was observed, including those typically associated with animal subjects exposed to FI schedules. Generally, the imposition of instructions to minimize session duration reduced post-reinforcement pausing and increased overall reinforcement density from those levels obtained with only instructions to expend a given number of responses per reinforcer. The results are seen to underscore the sensitivity of human fixed-interval performance and the contribution of extra-experimental contingencies.     

Loss context enhances preferences for generosity but reduces preferences for honesty: Evidence from a combined behavioural-computational approach

The current literature has revealed mixed evidence on whether loss (vs. gain) context promotes or curtails human prosociality. The current study (N=96) aimed to address this issue by examining whether gain/loss context has distinct effects on different prosocial preferences combining computational modelling with Dictator Game and Message Game. These interactive games allow for dissociating preferences for generosity and honesty, which have been respectively associated with intuitive and deliberative systems. Our behavioural and computational modelling results indicate that loss context enhances concerns for generosity but reduces concerns for honesty. These findings support an account under the framework of dual process model asserting that loss facilitates intuitive responses during social decision-making, regardless of whether they are prosocial or proself. The current findings reconcile previous debates on the relationship between loss-gain context and human prosociality and shed light on the design of institutions to promote human prosocial behaviours.     

The protective role of social network factors during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

The present study examined the relationship between COVID-19 threat perception, isolating health precautions, and loneliness. As a test of the stress-buffering hypothesis (Cohen & Wills, 1985), this study also examined if social network factors representing various aspects of social support moderated, or weakened, the relationship between threat perception, isolating health precautions, and loneliness. Participants (N = 1149) provided information about themselves, as well as 15 other people they know via an online survey. We found that structural and compositional social network factors, density, number of close alters, network threat perception, network covid cautiousness and number of vaccinated alters all negatively related to loneliness. Further, using moderated mediation analyses, we found that network threat perception and network covid cautiousness moderated the indirect relationship between threat perception and loneliness through precautions. At high levels of these factors, the mediation was less likely to be significant suggesting that the social network factors may buffer people from the loneliness that sometimes comes with engaging in isolating health precautions in response to the perceived threat of COVID-19.     

图式与句式教学:一个转折复句的教学实验

本研究根据图式理论设计转折复句的教学实验。实验对象是54个小学五年级的学生。研究发现：实验组无论在转折复句的辨认、改正和写作的表现．都明显地优于控制组。其中以改正能力的差异最明显,而且辨认、改正和写作能力的相关系数也很高。     

Brain tumor detection using fusion of hand crafted and deep learning features

The perilous disease in the worldwide now a days is brain tumor. Tumor affects the brain by damaging healthy tissues or intensifying intra cranial pressure. Hence, rapid growth in tumor cells may lead to death. Therefore, early brain tumor diagnosis is a more momentous task that can save patient from adverse effects. In the proposed work, the Grab cut method is applied for accurate segmentation of actual lesion symptoms while Transfer learning model visual geometry group (VGG-19) is fine-tuned to acquire the features which are then concatenated with hand crafted (shape and texture) features through serial based method. These features are optimized through entropy for accurate and fast classification and fused vector is supplied to classifiers. The presented model is tested on top medical image computing and computer-assisted intervention (MICCAI) challenge databases including multimodal brain tumor segmentation (BRATS) 2015, 2016, and 2017 respectively. The testing results with dice similarity coefficient (DSC) achieve 0.99 on BRATS 2015, 1.00 on BRATS 2015 and 0.99 on BRATS 2017 respectively.     

自主欺骗决策过程与结果评价的ERPs研究

本研究基于事件相关电位技术,以32名大学生为研究对象,采用2(诱发条件：高奖赏、低奖赏)×3(反馈类型：欺骗成功、欺骗失败、诚实)的组内实验设计,以点判断任务操控被试的自主欺骗水平,并结合欺骗及时反馈范式来操纵被试的结果评价。结果发现：(1)在决策过程,做出欺骗决策比诚实决策诱发更大波幅的P300;(2)在结果评价过程,相比欺骗成功反馈和诚实反馈,欺骗失败反馈诱发更负的FRN波幅。结果显示个体做出欺骗决策比诚实决策需要更多的注意资源参与和心理努力,并且对欺骗失败反馈的敏感度远高于欺骗成功反馈和诚实反馈。这一定程度上揭示了个体做出欺骗决策和面对欺骗结果时的心理和神经机制,为教育者采取必要措施来降低和预防青少年欺骗行为奠定了研究基础。     

基于同义关联的句子错误记忆：发展性逆转现象及句式效应

以汉语把字句和被字句为材料,采用学习-再认方式,考察基于同义关联的句子错误记忆及其发展性逆转现象和句式效应。实验1结果发现高二和初二校正后的关键诱饵句错误再认率显著高于小学五年级,把字关键诱饵句校正后的错误再认率显著高于被字句,表明基于同义关联的句子错误记忆存在发展性逆转现象和句式效应。实验2结果发现三个年级关键诱饵句与无关句的错误再认率差异均不显著,表明去除同义关联后,句子错误记忆现象被抑制。结果表明,同义关联能诱发句子错误记忆,且句子错误记忆存在发展性逆转现象和句式效应。     

Can animation compensate for temporal processing difficulties in deaf people?

This article addresses the issue of animation as an aid for temporal processing difficulties in deaf people learning the Highway Code. A decision-making task involving static or animated road situations was performed by 21 deaf and 24 hearing participants. They were confronted with four types of driving situations (overtaking, negotiating roundabouts, highways, and intersections) and had to decide whether or not to proceed. Participants were presented with two different formats (static vs. animated) and two levels of difficulty (simple vs. complex). Results showed that deaf participants had poorer performances in the static condition than hearing participants. Performance was better in the animated condition than in the static condition, especially in deaf participants. The benefits of animation were greater in complex situations for all participants. Decisions made on dynamic road situations were facilitated by the presence of spatiotemporal dimensions. These proved helpful to deaf candidates who have difficulties in this particular area.