Acquisition of Mands,Tacts, and Intraverbals Through Sign Exposure in an Individual With Autism

Many children with autism communicate through the use of alternative communication systems, such as sign language. Limited research has been conducted on the situations under which sign language will be acquired across verbal operants without direct teaching. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate exposure to sign language on the acquisition of signed mands, tacts, and intraverbals in a male child with autism. Results indicated fast acquisition of mands, tacts, and intraverbals without direct teaching. Results are discussed in the context of future research investigating exposure without direct teaching in individuals who communicate with alternative communication systems.     

Infant feeding and post-neonatal mortality in Derbyshire,England, in the early twentieth century

This paper examines influences on post-neonatal mortality in Derbyshire (England) in the early twentieth century, by applying multivariate hazard analysis to a rare individual-level data set. The data allow detailed patterns of breastfeeding and weaning to be examined. The role of feeding is given special attention as a mediator between mortality and the other environmental, social, and demographic factors considered. Twins and illegitimate children were more likely to have been hand-fed, but this could explain only a small fraction of their increased vulnerability. Artificial feeding was associated with increased risks of death from diseases was predominantly the result of the greater likelihood of congenitally weak children being hand-fed. Most of the variation in post-neonatal mortality, particularly from respiratory disease, was explained by environmental influences - population density, altitude, and the presence of mining.     

‘Some hidden purpose’? Class conflict and co-operation in Belfast’s Working Men’s Institute and Temperance Hall 1865–1900

While debates over social control and working-class culture have formed a lively part of British urban and social historiography, they have received much less attention in an Irish context. This article provides an overview of working-class associations in Belfast throughout the nineteenth century, before investigating specific working- and middle-class attitudes towards Belfast’s Working Men’s Institute and Temperance Hall during its early phase in the 1870s. The aims of the institute’s gentlemen founders – to maintain social order by providing workers with an alternative to the tavern, moralizing lectures on topics such as temperance, and evening classes – were only partially achieved. Middle-class motives, although mixed, betray a clear desire for social control. Many of the benefactors’ words and actions were met with suspicion or resistance by a group of fiercely independent working men who, while not averse to self-improvement, carved out their own agenda. A strong working-class identity, free from any sectarian character, was expressed with articulateness and vehemence. This phenomenon is particularly striking in a city not known for working-class activism.     

The Future Labor Force of an Aging Taiwan: The Importance of Education and Female Labor Supply

This study uses multi-state cohort component projections and detailed vital statistics data to project the future Taiwanese population by age, sex, and education up to 2050. These are the first education-specific population projections for Taiwan, and they reveal how young highly educated cohorts during the next decades will replace older cohorts with lower levels of educational attainment. The results of the population projections enter our estimation of the future composition of the Taiwanese labor force. Incorporating education as an extra dimension in labor force projections allows us to make inferences about the quality of future labor supply in a rapidly aging Taiwan and the leverage of expanding economic activity across the life course, particularly of women. At present, women’s economic activity above age 25 in Taiwan is significantly lower than men’s and also much lower than women's in Western developed nations. Some of the expected adverse economic consequences of population aging can likely be alleviated by having a more educated and consequently more productive labor force. The overall results and conclusions of our study, though based on the Taiwanese context, apply to other Asian economies with rapidly aging populations and currently comparatively low levels of female labor force participation as well.     

Errors-in-Variables Regression Using Stein Estimates

A method is proposed for estimating regression parameters from data containing covariate measurement errors by using Stein estimates of the unobserved true covariates. The method produces consistent estimates for the slope parameter in the classical linear errors-in-variables model and applies to a broad range of nonlinear regression problems, provided the measurement error is Gaussian with known variance. Simulations are used to examine the performance of the estimates in a nonlinear regression problem and to compare them with the usual naive ones obtained by ignoring error and with other estimates proposed recently in the literature.     

Finding gender advantage and disadvantage: Systematic research integration is the solution

In this article, we respond to Vecchio's [Leadersh. Q., 14 (2003)] critique of Eagly and Carli's [Leadersh. Q., 14 (2003)] arguments concerning female leaders' relative advantage and disadvantage. We support Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, and van Engen's [Psychol. Bull., 95 (2003) 569] conclusions about leadership style and show that the areas of leadership style in which women exceed men are associated with gains in leader effectiveness, whereas the areas in which men exceed women have negative or null relations to effectiveness. We point out flaws in Vecchio's understanding of the methodology by which researchers integrate research findings across studies and elucidate several essential principles of valid research integration. Our analysis strengthens Eagly and Carli's conclusion that female leaders, relative to male leaders, are correctly described as possessing both advantage and disadvantage.     

The role of the medical provider in the evaluation of sexually abused children and adolescents

It was only 30 years ago that the medical community began to develop an increased awareness of child sexual abuse, and the role of the medical provider in the evaluation of sexually abused children has evolved significantly. As clinicians worldwide develop a greater understanding of the impact of the sexual abuse evaluation on the child, the roles of the physician and nurse have changed. In the United States, current practice often uses a multidisciplinary assessment involving skilled forensic interviewing of the child and a medical examination done by a medical provider with specialized training in sexual abuse. In order to minimize child interviews, these assessments are frequently held in settings such as child advocacy centers, where forensic interviewers and medical clinicians, child protective service workers, and police and district attorneys can work jointly to address the legal and protective issues in a coordinated fashion.     

Evaluating the Effects of Similar and Distinct Discriminative Stimuli During Auditory Conditional Discrimination Training With Children With Autism

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - Children with autism are often taught auditory conditional discriminations in the form of personal information questions that might prove useful in conversation...