The effects of tact training on stereotypic vocalizations in children with autism

This study was a systematic extension of Karmali, Greer, Nuzzulo-Gomez, Ross, and Rivera-Valdes (2005) and Ahearn, Clark, MacDonald, and Chung (2007). We investigated the effects of a tact correction procedure on stereotypic vocalizations in 4 children diagnosed with autism who ranged in age from 6 to 16 years. Participants had limited vocal verbal repertoires and were primarily dependent on prompts for the emission of appropriate vocalizations. A multiple-baseline design across participants was used. Data were collected on instances of stereotypic vocalizations and independent tacts during baseline conditions and on instances of stereotypic vocalizations, independent tacts, and echoic-tacts during intervention. Procedural integrity and social validity data were also obtained. The results indicated a decrease in stereotypic vocalizations for 3 of the 4 participants and a slight increase in appropriate vocal verbal behavior (i.e., tacting) for all participants. The study provides support for the use of tact correction procedures to decrease stereotypic vocalizations and increase appropriate vocalizations in children with autism.     

高职高专学生金工实习模式的探索与实践

金工实习是高职高专学生实现理论知识与实践过程相结合的重要途径,对学生树立正确的就业观,掌握职业技能至关重要。以行为导向教育思想为基础,探讨了高职高专学生体验真实工程过程,获取真实职业能力的金工实习模式,以真正培养出既有理论基础更有实践能力的高技能人才。     

Grandparental Involvement and South African Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being

This study was designed to explore the grandparent-grandchild relationship from the perspective of South African adolescents, and to investigate whether grandparental involvement is independently associated with adolescents’ psychological well-being. Data were collected from 204 adolescents (mean age = 13.69) using a school-based survey. Results revealed high levels of contact between grandparents and grandchildren, although involvement varied depending on grandparent, grandchild, and family characteristics. Grandparental involvement was significantly associated with more adolescent prosocial behavior, independent of parental involvement. The findings suggest a unique association between grandparental involvement and prosocial behavior that is robust across different cultural contexts.     

Justice Sensitivity in Childhood and Adolescence

Individuals differ in their sensitivity toward injustice. Justice‐sensitive persons perceive injustice more frequently and show stronger responses to it. Justice sensitivity has been studied predominantly in adults; little is known about its development in childhood and adolescence and its connection to prosocial behavior and emotional and behavioral problems. This study evaluates a version of the justice sensitivity inventory for children and adolescents (JSI‐CA5) in 1472 9‐ to 17‐year olds. Items and scales showed good psychometric properties and correlations with prosocial behavior and conduct problems similar to findings in adults, supporting the reliability and validity of the scale. We found individual differences in justice sensitivity as a function of age and gender. Furthermore, justice sensitivity predicted emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents over a 1‐ to 2‐year period. Justice sensitivity perspectives can therefore be considered as risk and/or protective factors for mental health in childhood and adolescence.     

Children's Perceptions of Family Relationships as Assessed in a Doll Story Completion Task: Links to Parenting, Social Competence, and Externalizing Behavior

This study was designed to examine the links between parenting, children's perceptions of family relationships, and children's social behavior. Seventy‐four children (M age=6.01 years; 39 boys; 35 girls) and their parents took part in the study. Children completed relationship‐oriented doll stories that were coded for coherence, prosocial themes, and aggressive themes. Parents completed a report of their child's social behavior, a parenting scale, and a number of demographic items. Teachers also completed measures of children's social competence and externalizing behavior. Warm parenting predicted both a child's representation of prosocial themes in the doll stories and social competence, whereas harsh parenting predicted both a child's use of aggressive themes in the doll stories and a child's externalizing behavior. These findings support the idea that children are constructing models of relationships out of the early interactions with caregivers, and that they use these representations to guide their social behavior.     

Ratio-Scale Measurement with Intransitivity or Incompleteness: The Homogeneous Case

In the homogeneous case of one-dimensional objects, we show that any relation that is positive and homothetic can be represented by a ratio-scale and a unique and constant biasing factor. This factor may favor or disfavor the preference for an object over another. In the first case, preferences are complete but not transitive and an object may be preferred even when its value is lower. In the second case, preferences are asymmetric and transitive but not negatively transitive and it may not be sufficient for an object to have a greater value to be preferred. In this manner, the biasing factor reflects the extent to which preferences may depart from a maximization process.     

管理团队认知能力、行为整合对决策效果的影响机制研究

现有文献在研究团队决策效果的影响因素时,大部分关注年龄、学历等因素,较少关注非人口统计学特征。根据现有研究结果构建团队认知能力与决策效果的关系模型,利用结构方程模型进行实证研究并指出:团队认知能力的两要素能提升团队决策效果;团队行为整合被看作是团队运作过程的核心,对决策效果产生一定的正向作用,即团队的行为整合程度越高,其决策效果越好;验证行为整合在团队认知能力与决策效果之间具有中介作用。旨为丰富高阶理论、揭示认知能力对决策效果的作用提供借鉴。     

以科学态度对待中国文化或文学传统

弘扬中华民族的优秀文化文学传统,其深远历史意义与重大现实意义无论怎样估价都不会过分。然而,在当下"国学热"中却出现了一些令人忧思的症候:读经复古,诋毁或否定五四新文化、新文学运动的历史意义便是其中显著的两种。应该以科学态度对这两种症候进行深度剖析,对中国文化、特别是儒家文化传统以及五四新文化新文学的"反传统"给出实事求是的科学阐释。     

政府失效之表现、原因及对策分析

政府失效的具体表现是:产生了新的外在性,造成了新的资源浪费,形成了新的垄断,造成了新的不平等,带来了新的经济起伏波动。治理政府失效的对策是:明确政府干预行为的目的及职能范围,决策科学化、民主化,提高政府机构的办事效率,加强对政府行为的监督与约束。     

Decision Making for Animal Health and Welfare: Integrating Risk‐Benefit Analysis with Prospect Theory

This study integrated risk‐benefit analysis with prospect theory with the overall objective of identifying the type of management behavior represented by farmers’ choices of mastitis control options (MCOs). Two exploratory factor analyses, based on 163 and 175 Swedish farmers, respectively, highlighted attitudes to MCOs related to: (1) grouping cows and applying milking order to prevent spread of existing infection and (2) working in a precautionary way to prevent mastitis occurring. This was interpreted as being based on (1) reactive management behavior on detection of udder‐health problems in individual cows and (2) proactive management behavior to prevent mastitis developing. Farmers’ assessments of these MCOs were found to be based on asymmetrical evaluations of risks and benefits, suggesting that farmers’ management behavior depends on their individual reference point. In particular, attitudes to MCOs related to grouping cows and applying milking order to prevent the spread of mastitis once infected cows were detected were stronger in the risk domain than in the benefit domain, in accordance with loss aversion. In contrast, attitudes to MCOs related to working in a precautionary way to prevent cows from becoming infected in the first place were stronger in the benefit domain than in the risk domain, in accordance with reverse loss aversion. These findings are of practical importance for farmers and agribusiness and in public health protection work to reduce the current extensive use of antibiotics in dairy herds.