Complexity, conflict and uncertainty: Issues in collaboration between child protection and mental health services

This paper provides an analysis of data from a state-wide survey of statutory child protection workers, adult mental health workers, and child mental health workers. Respondents provided details of their experience of collaboration on cases where a parent had mental health problems and there were serious child protection concerns. The survey was conducted as part of a large mixed-method research project on developing best practice at the intersection of child protection and mental health services. Descriptions of 300 cases were provided by 122 respondents. Analyses revealed that a great deal of collaboration occur-red across a wide range of government and community-based agencies; that collaborative processes were often positive and rewarding for workers; and that collaboration was most difficult when the nature of the parental mental illness or the need for child protection intervention was contested. The difficulties experienced included communication, role clarity, competing primary focus, contested parental mental health needs, contested child protection needs, and resources. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trait physiology and crop modelling as a framework to link phenotypic complexity to underlying genetic systems

New tools derived from advances in molecular biology have not been widely adopted in plant breeding for complex traits because of the inability to connect information at gene level to the phenotype in a manner that is useful for selection. In this study, we explored whether physiological dissection and integrative modelling of complex traits could link phenotype complexity to underlying genetic systems in a way that enhanced the power of molecular breeding strategies. A crop and breeding system simulation study on sorghum, which involved variation in 4 key adaptive traits-phenology, osmotic adjustment, transpiration efficiency, stay-green-and a broad range of production environments in north-eastern Australia, was used. The full matrix of simulated phenotypes, which consisted of 547 location-season combinations and 4235 genotypic expression states, was analysed for genetic and environmental effects. The analysis was conducted in stages assuming gradually increased understanding of gene-to-phenotype relationships, which would arise from physiological dissection and modelling. It was found that environmental characterisation and physiological knowledge helped to explain and unravel gene and environment context dependencies in the data. Based on the analyses of gene effects, a range of marker-assisted selection breeding strategies was simulated. It was shown that the inclusion of knowledge resulting from trait physiology and modelling generated an enhanced rate of yield advance over cycles of selection. This occurred because the knowledge associated with component trait physiology and extrapolation to the target population of environments by modelling removed confounding effects associated with environment and gene context dependencies for the markers used. Developing and implementing this gene-to-phenotype capability in crop improvement requires enhanced attention to phenotyping, ecophysiological modelling, and validation studies to test the stability of candidate genetic regions.

From complexity to category: Responding to diagnostic uncertainties of autistic spectrum disorders

Objective: Recent data from Education Queensland has identified rising numbers of children receiving diagnoses of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Faced with funding diagnostic pressures, in clinical situations that are complex and inherently uncertain, it is possible that specialists err on the side of a positive diagnosis. This study examines the extent to which possible overinclusion of ASD diagnosis may exist in the presence of uncertainty and factors potentially related to this practice in Queensland. Methods: Using anonymous self-report, all Queensland child psychiatrists and paediatricians who see paediatric patients with development/behavioural problems were surveyed and asked whether they had ever specified an ASD diagnosis in the presence of diagnostic uncertainty. Using logistic regression, elicited responses to the diagnostic uncertainty questions were related to other clinical- and practice-related characteristics. Results: Overall, 58% of surveyed psychiatrists and paediatricians indicated that, in the face of diagnostic uncertainty, they had erred on the side of providing an ASD diagnosis for educational ascertainment and 36% of clinicians had provided an autism diagnosis for Carer's Allowance when Centrelink diagnostic specifications had not been met. Conclusion: In the absence of definitive biological markers, ASD remains a behavioural diagnosis that is often complex and uncertain. In response to systems that demand a categorical diagnostic response, specialists are providing ASD diagnoses, even when uncertain. The motivation for this practice appears to be a clinical risk/benefit analysis of what will achieve the best outcomes for children. It is likely that these practices will continue unless systems change eligibility to funding based on functional impairment rather than medical diagnostic categories.

Pyramidal neurons of granular prefrontal cortex of the galago: Complexity in evolution of the psychic cell in primates

Typically, cognitive abilities of humans have been attributed to their greatly expanded cortical mantle, granular prefrontal cortex (gPFC) in particular. Recently we have demonstrated systematic differences in microstructure of gPFC in different species. Specifically, pyramidal cells in adult human gPFC are considerably more spinous than those in the gPFC of the macaque monkey, which are more spinous than those in the gPFC of marmoset and owl monkeys. As most cortical dendritic spines receive at least one excitatory input, pyramidal cells in these different species putatively receive different numbers of inputs. These differences in the gPFC pyramidal cell phenotype may be of fundamental importance in determining the functional characteristics of prefrontal circuitry and hence the cognitive styles of the different species. However, it remains unknown as to why the gPFC pyramidal cell phenotype differs between species. Differences could be attributed to, among other things, brain size, relative size of gPFC, or the lineage to which the species belong. Here we investigated pyramidal cells in the dorsolateral gPFC of the prosimian galago to extend the basis for comparison. We found these cells to be less spinous than those in human, macaque, and marmoset. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Low-complexity low-PAR transmission for MIMO-DSL

This letter considers clip-limited transmission over multiple-input multiple-output digital subscriber lines (MIMO-DSL). We show that a recent low complexity, low peak-to-average-ratio (PAR) single-input modulation technique can be applied to the case of multiple cross-talking channels in a bonded-DSL system. Unfortunately however the direct initialization procedure is computationally infeasible. In this paper, we provide a novel low-complexity initialization procedure. Simulations confirm that the proposed approach has superior performance in clip-limited conditions, compared with both discrete matrix multitone and vectored discrete multitone.

The effects of task complexity and practice on dual-task interference in visuospatial working memory

Although the n-back task has been widely applied to neuroimagery investigations of working memory (WM), the role of practice effects on behavioural performance of this task has not yet been investigated. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of task complexity and familiarity on the n-back task. Seventy-seven participants (39 male, 38 female) completed a visuospatial n-back task four times, twice in two testing sessions separated by a week. Participants were required to remember either the first, second or third (n-back) most recent letter positions in a continuous sequence and to indicate whether the current item matched or did not match the remembered position. A control task, with no working memory requirements required participants to match to a predetermined stimulus position. In both testing sessions, reaction time (RT) and error rate increased with increasing WM load. An exponential slope for RTs in the first session indicated dual-task interference at the 3-back level. However, a linear slope in the second session indicated a reduction of dual-task interference. Attenuation of interference in the second session suggested a reduction in executive demands of the task with practice. This suggested that practice effects occur within the n-back ask and need to be controlled for in future neuroimagery research using the task.

The complexity of drinking: Interactions between the cognitive and behavioural determinants of alcohol consumption

This study expanded the earlier work conducted by this laboratory ( Hasking, P.A. and Oei, T.P.S. (2002a) . The differential role of alcohol expectancies, drinking refusal self-efficacy and coping resources in predicting alcohol consumption in community and clinical samples. Addiction Research and Theory , 10 , 465-494), by examining the independent and interactive effects of avoidant coping strategies, positive and negative expectancies and self-efficacy, in predicting volume and frequency of alcohol consumption in a sample of community drinkers. Differential relationships were found between the variables when predicting the two consumption measures. Specifically, while self-efficacy, seeking social support for emotional reasons and using drugs or alcohol to cope were independently related to both volume and frequency of drinking, complex interactions with positive and negative alcohol expectancies were also found. These interactions are discussed in terms of the cognitive and behavioural mechanisms thought to underlie drinking behaviour.

Comorbidity: Cannabis and complexity

Cannabis is one of the most commonly used illicit drugs, and its effects have traditionally been seen as less harmful than outcomes associated with the highly prevalent use of alcohol and other illicit substances (e.g., cocaine and amphetamines), and injecting drugs. Consequently, less attention has been focused on developing and evaluating interventions in this area. However, current research supports the idea that cannabis does pose a number of acute and chronic health risks to the individual and to society. The authors review findings concerning the physiological and neurological effects of cannabis, prevalence of use, and studies concerning its possible role as a "gateway" drug. Diagnostic criteria for cannabis dependence and abuse are discussed, with a focus on whether a cannabis withdrawal syndrome exists and if so how it can be diagnosed. There is strong support for a link between cannabis and the development and exacerbation of psychosis and other mental health conditions (e.g., anxiety, depression). Further research is needed to determine the underlying neurochemical processes and their possible contribution to etiology, as well as the social factors that contribute to the increasing use of cannabis by young people. In addition there is a need for systematic evaluation using randomized controlled trials to determine effective prevention and treatment strategies. A number of public health programs that address cannabis use are reviewed along with available evidence for their effectiveness.

Syntactic complexity measures and their relation to oral proficiency in Japanese as a foreign language

The study reported in this article is a part of a large-scale study investigating syntactic complexity in second language (L2) oral data in commonly taught foreign languages (English, German, Japanese, and Spanish; Ortega, Iwashita, Rabie, & Norris, in preparation). In this article, preliminary findings of the analysis of the Japanese data are reported. Syntactic complexity, which is referred to as syntactic maturity or the use of a range of forms with degrees of sophistication (Ortega, 2003), has long been of interest to researchers in L2 writing. In L2 speaking, researchers have examined syntactic complexity in learner speech in the context of pedagogic intervention (e.g., task type, planning time) and the validation of rating scales. In these studies complexity is examined using measures commonly employed in L2 writing studies. It is assumed that these measures are valid and reliable, but few studies explain what syntactic complexity measures actually examine. The language studied is predominantly English, and little is known about whether the findings of such studies can be applied to languages that are typologically different from English. This study examines how syntactic complexity measures relate to oral proficiency in Japanese as a foreign language. An in-depth analysis of speech samples from 33 learners of Japanese is presented. The results of the analysis are compared across proficiency levels and cross-referenced with 3 other proficiency measures used in the study. As in past studies, the length of T-units and the number of clauses per T-unit is found to be the best way to predict learner proficiency; the measure also had a significant linear relation with independent oral proficiency measures. These results are discussed in light of the notion of syntactic complexity and the interfaces between second language acquisition and language testing. Adapted from the source document

An analysis of relational complexity in an air traffic control conflict detection task

Theoretical analyses of air traffic complexity were carried out using the Method for the Analysis of Relational Complexity. Twenty-two air traffic controllers examined static air traffic displays and were required to detect and resolve conflicts. Objective measures of performance included conflict detection time and accuracy. Subjective perceptions of mental workload were assessed by a complexity-sorting task and subjective ratings of the difficulty of different aspects of the task. A metric quantifying the complexity of pair-wise relations among aircraft was able to account for a substantial portion of the variance in the perceived complexity and difficulty of conflict detection problems, as well as reaction time. Other variables that influenced performance included the mean minimum separation between aircraft pairs and the amount of time that aircraft spent in conflict.