State Responses to Alcohol Use and Pregnancy: Findings From the Alcohol Policy Information System

This article describes U.S. state policies related to alcohol use during pregnancy, using data from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Alcohol Policy Information System. Specifically, this study examines trends in policies enacted by states over time and types of policies enacted across states in the United States, with a focus on whether laws were supportive or punitive toward women. Findings revealed substantial variability in characteristics of policies (19 primarily supportive, 12 primarily punitive, 12 with a mixed approach, and 8 with no policies). Findings underscore the need to examine possible consequences of policies, especially of punitive policies and “mixed” approaches.     

La metafora: the power of metaphors and creative resources in working systemically with families and children with autism—a conversation with Carmine Saccu

Metaphors are valuable tools of expression, which give meaning to situations and allow the spontaneous processing of feelings and emotions. As therapists, we can support clients to develop and create their individual metaphor to explain their own meaning of experiences or communicate their perception of problems. Creativity provides us with a rich landscape to explore, expand, and enrich ourselves as therapists and consequently our clients. As systemic therapists, we are responsible for the co-creation of a human process, which has at its core safety in allowing expression, connection, and movement. Through a respectful and curious approach, we can develop pathways to tap organically into our ‘creative selves’ while reaching into our clients' creativity and selves as catalysts for connection and positive change. Creative resources and therapies have been successfully used in psychotherapy to enhance the mental and emotional well-being of children, particularly children with autism who have limited verbal capacity or who are non-verbal. These children also wish to be understood in expressing their thoughts and feelings; however, they use other methods of communication – sometimes obvious, sometimes not. Therefore, it is important that a therapist can access diverse ways to support the child through this process. The creative use of animals in therapy neutralises spaces, eliciting calm, safety, and healing. This is particularly the case when working with this group of children. This paper is derived from my conversation with an elder statesman of the family therapy profession, Professor Carmine Saccu. He is a jovial master storyteller who craftfully communicates via metaphors. Through creative means, play, and humour, he has developed a remarkably unique way of working with children, especially non-verbal children with autism. He uses his canine, co-therapist Mafalda, as a powerful resource and intervention strategy to safely elicit engagement and connection in the therapeutic space.     

Images and narratives of autism within charity discourses

This research explores awareness of issues and debates concerning images and narratives about disability amongst autism charity brand-management professionals and their counterparts in the creative industries. These include the role of charities in service provision, the social model of disability, and disability stigma. It describes and analyses past and recent charity advertisements in both the United Kingdom and the United States, with attention to the historical context of these and the views and practices of charity and advertising professionals and autistic self-advocates, using David Hevey’s three-stage framework for disability representation by charities. The research concludes by considering emerging counter-narratives, which suggest ways charities may escape the perceived need to produce pathos or fear as part of such campaigns.     

Researching the Social Worlds of Autistic Children: An Exploration of How an Understanding of Autistic Children's Social Worlds is Best Achieved

Since United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, social research has encouraged the involvement of children in research concerning them. However, there is little evidence to demonstrate how autistic children can be involved. Little is known about which methods are appropriate to research the social worlds of autistic children: adult‐centred or child‐centred methods? Empirical research with autistic children is used to illustrate the contribution that methods which involve children, and methods that do not, can make to the understanding of autistic children's social worlds. I argue while autistic children's participation contributed towards greater understanding, the understanding was enriched for having parents and teachers participate too.     

Tourist number prediction of historic buildings by singular spectrum analysis

A wooden historic building located in Tibet, China, experienced structural damage when subjected to tourists visit. This kind of ancient building attends to too many visitors every day because heritage sites never fail to attract tourists. There should be a balance between accepting the visitors and the protection of historic buildings considering the importance of the cultural relics. In this paper, the singular spectrum analysis (SSA) is used for forecasting the number of tourist for the building management to exercise maintenance measures to the structure. The analyzed results can be used to control the tourist flow to avoid excessive pedestrian loading on the structure. The relationship between the measured acceleration from the structure and the tourist number is firstly studied. The root-mean-square (RMS) value of the measured acceleration in the passage route of the tourist is selected for forecasting future tourist number. The forecasting results from different methods are compared. The SSA is found slightly outperforms the autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA), the X-11-ARIMA model and the cubic spline extrapolation in terms of the RMS error, mean absolute error and mean absolute percentage error for long-term prediction, whereas the opposite is observed for short-term forecasting.     

On the Optimal Parameters for Reconstruction and Forecasting in Singular Spectrum Analysis

There are two main parameters in Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA). The aim of this study is to determine whether the optimal values of these parameters are different for reconstruction and forecasting stages, and if those are worth the extra computational effort and time which they require. Here, we evaluate these issues using simulation study.     

Reducing Palilalia by Presenting Tact Corrections to Young Children with Autism

Palilalia, the delayed repetition of words or phrases, occurs frequently among individuals with autism and developmental disabilities. The current study used a combined multiple baseline and reversal design to investigate the effectiveness of presenting tacts as corrections for palilalia. During baseline, five preschoolers with autism emitted high rates of palilalia and low rates of mands and tacts during play and instructional activities. During treatment, when experimenters presented opportunities to echoically tact actions and objects following the emission of palilalia, its frequency decreased to low and stable levels and mands and tacts increased. Functional relationships between the tact corrections and emissions of palilalia, mands, and tacts were established during reversals to baseline and treatment conditions. Similar trends in responding were found for frequency of palilalia, mands, and tacts in non-treatment settings.     

关于算子谱的孤立点问题的讨论

给出了λ0∈C为σ（A）的孤立点的一个充要条件,并讨论了0为紧算子的谱的孤立点及其预解算子的极点问题．     

Enabling and disabling emotional diversity: Negotiating autism spectrum disorder in therapeutic encounters

Autistic youth are often understood as emotionally suspect in schools, workplaces and households, and autistic behaviour is strongly regulated. In contrast, neurodiversity advocates suggest that all sociality exists on a spectrum, and that autistic people represent the diversity of that spectrum. Situated within this debate, this paper examines the narratives of specialists who navigate pedagogies of emotional suspicion in their work with autistic youth. I draw on interviews with autism professionals in Massachusetts, USA to elucidate how they negotiate the tensions between regulating emotional behaviour and recognising emotional diversity as they mediate the construction of autistic youth as emotional suspects.     

‘The domino effect’: pathways in and out of homelessness for autistic adults

Autistic adults may be at increased risk of homelessness due to the association between autism spectrum disorders and poor socio-economic outcomes. In particular, social vulnerability, unemployment, and difficulty interacting with services can be catalysts for homelessness, compounded by lack of diagnosis and appropriate support. This article presents the narratives of two autistic adults, known as ‘Max’ and ‘Peter’, who had experienced homelessness. They explain the factors which led them to become homeless and those that aided their rehabilitation. The article argues that whilst Max and Peter were susceptible to the socio-economic disadvantages which affect adults with autism in various ways, the resilience and determination displayed in their narratives countered traditional stereotypes of resistance to change. Furthermore, it is suggested that homelessness is not an outcome of autism, but of the disabling barriers autistic adults face throughout their lives.