Neural correlates of face and object recognition in young children with autism spectrum disorder,developmental delay,and typical development

This study utilized electroencephalographic recordings to examine whether young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have impaired face recognition ability. High-density brain event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to photos of the child's mother's face versus an unfamiliar female face and photos of a favorite versus an unfamiliar toy from children with ASD, children with typical development, and children with developmental delay, all 3 to 4 years of age (N = 118). Typically developing children showed ERP amplitude differences in two components, P400 and Nc, to a familiar versus an unfamiliar face, and to a familiar versus an unfamiliar object. In contrast, children with ASD failed to show differences in ERPs to a familiar versus an unfamiliar face, but they did show P400 and Nc amplitude differences to a familiar versus an unfamiliar object. Developmentally delayed children showed significant ERP amplitude differences for the positive slow wave for both faces and objects. These data suggest that autism is associated with face recognition impairment that is manifest early in life.     

Bridging identity ‘chasms’: occupational therapy academics’ reflections on the journey towards scholarship

The performative context of higher education demands that practice-oriented academics shift their priorities from preparing practitioners for the profession, towards ‘productive’ scholarship. We present narratives from occupational therapy academics at the end of a year-long journey through an action research project focussed on academic identity and scholarly growth. Our analysis captures subtle and striking shifts in being and becoming, doing and belonging. The findings, re-presented as an adapted Hero’s Journey, also reveal the powerful impacts on identity and practice that are enabled when academics have the opportunity to create spaces for scholarship that are experienced as caring, collaborative and collegial.     

Powerful knowledge and the curriculum: Contradictions and dichotomies

The concept of powerful knowledge (PK) has central dichotomies and contradictions, which this article questions. The origins, meaning, purpose and reality of PK are considered. PK is based in social realism, and the article suggests how critical realism could inform more illuminating analyses of knowledge and power. The two versions of realism are compared for their different approaches to dichotomies and dialectic, and to types of knowledge as sacred or profane. The dichotomies assumed in PK theory, which will be reviewed, are: separating concepts from values; informal everyday experience versus formal academic education; separating disciplines versus interdisciplinarity; passive versus active learning and curriculum versus pedagogy; and policies versus theories of power and knowledge. The article concludes that these dichotomies are unrealistic and unhelpful. If teaching informed by PK theory is to benefit students and society, and if knowledge is to be associated with power, it will be helpful to overcome or revoke the dichotomies, which are better understood through dialectical analysis, as shown throughout the article.     

The World of the Gifted Child©

Programs for the gifted need to be continually documented for an evaluation process that enhances maintenance and growth.     

Building capacity through action research curricula reviews

In Australia, graduates of Master of Public Health (MPH) programmes are expected to achieve a set of core competencies, including a subset that is specifically related to Indigenous health. This paper reports on the methods utilised in a project which was designed using action research to strengthen Indigenous public health curricula within MPH programmes at Australian universities. This aim is achieved through the use of three interlinked ‘action–reflection’ cycles, involving individual Indigenous public health academics who, through their membership in a scholarly network, have undertaken a series of curriculum reviews, which have in turn influenced organisational change in universities. The project results demonstrated how action research can successfully strengthen Indigenous public health curricula.     

Response of males and females to high-force eccentric exercise

It has previously been shown that females incur less muscle damage than males after strenuous exercise, but limited data are available for humans. To determine possible differences between the sexes in humans, the response to high-force eccentric exercise was examined in a large sample of women (n = 83) and men (n = 82). The participants performed a bout of eccentric exercise of the elbow flexors consisting of 70 maximal repetitions. Isometric strength, resting elbow angle and muscle soreness were measured before, immediately after (except soreness) and then daily for 7 days after exercise. There was a significant loss in strength among both groups (69% for women and 63% for men) (P?0.01) immediately after exercise; at 168 h post-exercise, women still had a 27% strength loss and men had a 24% strength loss. No significant difference in strength loss or recovery rate was found between men and women. Soreness reached peak values 32-48 h post-exercise (P?0.01), with no significant difference between men and women. Range of motion decreased significantly until 3 days after exercise (14.6° or 0.255 rad loss for women; 12.2° or 0.213 rad loss for men) (P?0.01); at 168 h post-exercise, the women and men still showed a loss of 4.8° (0.084 rad) and 4.0° (0.07 rad), respectively. There was a significant interaction of sex x time (P?0.01); a post-hoc test indicated that the women experienced a greater loss in range of motion at 72 h than men and this difference was maintained to 168 h post-exercise (P?0.01). Thus, our results do not support the contention that women have a lower response to eccentric exercise than men.     

International Communication

THE VOICE OF AMERICA: PROPAGANDA AND DEMOCRACY, 1941-1945 by Holly Cowan Shulman (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990—$37.50/12.95, ISBN 0-299-12620-X hard, 0-299-12624-2 paper, 282 pp.)

BERLIN CALLING: AMERICAN BROADCASTERS IN SERVICE TO THE THIRD REICH by John Carver Edwards (New York: Praeger, 1991—$21.95, ISBN 0-275-93905-7, 238 pp.)

BROADCAST DIVERSITY IN EASTERN EUROPE: CHALLENGES FOR THE 1990s (Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1800 K St. NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20006—$48.00, paper, no ISBN given, 321 pp.—postage is extra: $3 in US and Canada, $10 to Europe and $13 to USSR and Asia; Latin America and African postage rates not listed!)

LEGAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS edited by Sylvie Schaff (Amsterdam: North-Holland, available in USA from Elsevier Science Publishers in New York, 1990—$128.25, ISBN 0-444-88387-8, 775 pp)

SATELLITE TELEVISION IN WESTERN EUROPE by Richard Collins (London: John Libbey, 1990—$29.00, ISBN 0-86196-203-6, 121 pp.)

TRANSNATIONALIZATION OF TELEVISION IN WESTERN EUROPE by Preben Sepstrup (London: John Libbey, 1990—$35.00, ISBN 0-86196-280-X, 132 pp.)

1991 WORLD SATELLITE ANNUAL edited by Mark Long (MLE Inc. PO Box 159, Winter Beach, FL 32971—$49.95, paper, plus varied shipping charges: $7 in US or Canada; $20 to Latin America and $25 to Far East (no charges listed for Europe or Africa!)

THE INVISIBLE WEAPON: TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS 1851-1945 by Daniel R. Headrick (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991—$32.50, ISBN 0-19-506273-6, 289 pp.)

DOPAA MEAJA HANABOOK, 1990 EDITION (Paris: Unesco/available in U.S. from Unipub, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Landham, MD 20706-4391—$38.00, paper, order No. DPI/1021, 300 pp.)

TRANSNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS: WIRING THE THIRD WORLD edited by Gerald Sussman and John A. Lent (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991—$39.95/18.95, ISBN 0-8039-3765-2 hard, 0-8039-3766-0 paper, 327 pp.)

SUPERTECH: HOW AMERICA CAN WIN THE TECHNOLOGY RACE by Thomas G. Donlan (Homestead, IL: Business One Irwin, 1991—$24.95, ISBN 1-55623-371-X, 342 pp.)

MASS MEDIA AND AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY: INSIDER PERSPECTIVES ON GLOBAL JOURNALISM AND THE FOREIGN POLICY PROCESS by Patrick O'Heffernan (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1991—$45.00/24.50, ISBN 0-89391- 728-1 hard, 0-89391-729-X paper, 276 pp.)

NEW STRUCTURES AND STRATEGIES FOR UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING by Kim Andrew Elliott (Medford, MA: Murrow Center of Public Diplomacy, Tufts University, 1991—$6.00, paper, no ISSN given, 40 pp.)

FACTS AT A GLANCE: INTERNATIONAL CABLE (National Cable Television Association, 1724 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036—free on request, paper, no ISSN given, 27 pp.)

TRAVELER'S GUIDE TO WORLD RADIO 1991 EDITION (New York: Billboard Books/Watson-Guptill, 1990—$9.95, paper, ISBN 0-8230- 7766-7, 178 pp.)

WORLD RADIO-TV HANDBOOK edited by Andrew G. Sennitt (New York: Billboard Books/Watson-Guptill, 1990—$19.95, paper, ISSN or ISBN not given, but this is Vol 45 of the annual, 575 pp.)

WORLD MEDIA, Gannett Center Journal (Fall 1990, Vol 4, No. 4—$5.00, paper, ISSN 0893-8342, 149 pp.)

THE AGE OF BEHEMOTHS: THE GLOBALIZATION OF MASS MEDIA FIRMS by Anthony Smith (New York: Priority Press, with distribution by the Brookings Institution, Washington, DC—price not given, paper, ISBN 0-87078-325-4, 83 pp.)