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Measurement of Emotion Recognition in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder
No full textAutism spectrum disorder is defined in the DSM-5 as a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication deficits and repetitive and unusual sensory-motor behaviors (APA, 2013). Emotion recognition is important for social interactions because it helps us understand and discriminate between nonverbal expressions and explain others’ actions. Researchers have speculated that the social communication deficits of adolescents with autism stem from their lack of ability to recognize emotions. This paper will catalog methods of measuring emotion recognition in adolescents with autism. The most consistent approach to measuring emotion recognition in adolescents with autism is the display of photographs but researchers have different ways of using these photographs. Specifically, this paper will focus on the use of 5 different methods: photographs, manipulation of photographs, combining stimuli and interviews, non-human faces, and cortical activity. Although the literature is mixed, adolescents with autism appear to be able to recognize emotions when they are able to fixate on parts of the face (Hobson et al., 1988; Leung et al., 2013) or when the emotions in the face are intense or exaggerated (Brosnon et al., 2015; Castelli, 2005; Cross et al., 2019; Wong et al., 2012). Further research is needed to understand how context plays a role in adolescents with autism being able to recognize emotions
United States of Karate-do: Building Inclusive Communities in the Martial Arts
No full textKarate schools in the U.S. play a number of social roles in the lives of their students, towing the line between sport club, community center, gym, and daycare. The communities that emerge within karate schools are shaped by these varied social roles, as well as by motivations and personalities of students and teachers. Drawing on research conducted at two karate schools, including three months of participant observation and eleven interviews with teachers and students, I examine how karate schools build inclusive communities by emphasizing values of self-improvement and cooperation over values of competition and dominance. In both schools these values were performed and reproduced through rituals, traditions, hagiographies, storytelling, the teachers’ methods for teaching the curriculum, school owners’ decisions about who to allow into the school, the accommodations teachers made for those who needed them, and student participation in these practices. These practices and values removed some, but not all, of the structural obstacles which make it difficult for all people to feel fully included in martial arts communities regardless of age, gender, language, or any other identity. By analyzing how each school builds a sense of community and shared values, and identifying where each school succeeds or falls short when it comes to inclusivity, I demonstrate the need for research in the field of martial arts studies to be attentive to how intersectionality and identity affect the social dynamics of martial arts schools
The American Dream? The Self-Reinforcing Cycle of Segregation and Upward Mobility in the US
No full textThe United States is known as the “land of opportunity,” but previous research suggests significant geographic variations in intergenerational upward mobility - the ability for an individual to move up the economic ladder. The present study investigates the influence of residential segregation on intergenerational upward mobility using a quantitative analysis and qualitative case study. Analysis of data from the Opportunity Atlas reveals that commuting zones with higher residential segregation have lower upward mobility while commuting zones with higher job accessibility have higher upward mobility. However, the impact of job accessibility on upward mobility depends on residential segregation; in areas of low segregation, job accessibility has a significant positive effect, while in areas of high segregation, job accessibility has a limited effect. The present study explains this effect by proposing the self-reinforcing cycle of segregation, using Chicago as a case study to apply and evaluate the proposed theory. Residential segregation limits intergroup contact, limited intergroup contact increases prejudice, and prejudice increases support for exclusionary policies, entrenching existing residential segregation and suppressing intergenerational upward mobility. Low intergenerational upward mobility for minority groups further reinforces negative stereotypes that serve as justification for the persistence of residential segregation multiple decades after it was formally outlawed
Why Have the Military Bases Remained Open? U.S., Japanese, and Okinawan Relations Since 1991
No full textPsilocybin and MDMA on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
No full textNew approaches for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are needed as traditional pharmacological and psychotherapy treatments demonstrate varying levels of success and extinction of symptoms. Psychedelics such as psilocybin and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) have shown significant results in treating PTSD, especially for patients who exhibit treatment-resistance. The use of psychedelics is strongly debated due to clinical history; however, this treatment in combination with psychotherapy has shown to be beneficial for patients unresponsive to conventional fear-based interventions. The purpose of this research is to determine the effects of psilocybin and MDMA on veterans diagnosed with PTSD, and whether treatment benefits are sustained long-term. Future research should be conducted specifically on how neuronal pathways and neuroanatomy in patients are affected after psilocybin or MDMA administration
Advisory Influence and Presidential Disposition: Dissecting the Trump Administration\u27s Impact on U.S.-China Trade Policy
No full textSouth Koreas dropping fertility rate
No full textThis paper will discuss the effects of an aging population in a nation and what that can lead to. It will also examine how policies have tried to improve the fertility rate and judge their effectiveness. South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world, and if nothing is done about it, the population will begin to decline. While South Korea is one of the largest economies in the world, the consequences of an aging population could be devastating to both the nation and the citizens, leading to a smaller workforce and an older population that is a burden on government spending and policy. The policy suggested to solve this is a payment-for-birth approach to incentivize birth by paying women for having children. As the literature will point out, this policy can be effective but needs to consider the social and cultural norms in South Korean society
A Neurophenomenal Inquiry Into The Nature of Mind
No full textThe contributions from reductionist scientific materialism’s approach to cognitive science are undeniable. Yet, its limitations become evident when it attempts to understand the inherently subjective nature of consciousness. The most common approach to understanding conscious awareness has devolved into objectifying the brain and its functions. Further, consciousness has been described as an emergent phenomenon separate from the material substrate of the brain, promoting the reification of Descartes’s dualism and a dichotomous mode of perceiving reality. Chilean philosopher and neuroscientist Francisco Varela offers a promising research alternative with neurophenomenology. Inspired by Western and Buddhist contemplative philosophy on the nature of experience along with the empirical strengths of cognitive neuroscience, neurophenomenology provides novel insights into the nature of conscious experience by integrating first-person subjective insight with third-person scientific observation. This sheds new light on previously unexplained phenomena, such as the conception of self, temporality, and the hard problem of consciousness. In doing so, neurophenomenology challenges traditional materialistic studies of consciousness. It attempts to construct a productive synthesis of the empirical and subjective, offering a more holistic understanding of the nature of conscious awareness. Thus, neurophenomenology is a more conclusive study, taking productive steps to understand the nature of consciousness
An Introduction to Ergodic Theory
No full textErgodic theory is concerned with the long-term behavior of dynamical systems. In this paper, we give an introduction to the field. We begin with measure theory; we are primarily concerned with measure-preserving transformations in ergodic theory, and it will turn out that we need to generalize our notion of length to handle sets of more complicated structure. To this end, we define Lebesgue measure and its properties, as well as abstract measure spaces. We discuss dynamical systems in the form of rotation and doubling transformations, and explore key definitions in dynamics such as recurrence and invariance. We move to defining characterizations of ergodicity, and prove that our two main transformations are ergodic. We end by stating Birkhoff’s ergodic theorem, along with an application showcasing ergodic theory’s unexpected reach across the field of mathematics