Evidence for unusual spatial location coding in Williams syndrome: an explanation for the local bias in visuo-spatial construction tasks?

Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) display poor visuo-spatial cognition relative to verbal abilities. Furthermore, whilst perceptual abilities are delayed, visuo-spatial construction abilities are comparatively even weaker, and are characterised by a local bias. We investigated whether his differentiation in visuo-spatial abilities can be explained by a deficit in coding spatial location in WS. This can be measured by assessing participants' understanding of the spatial relations between objects within a visual scene. Coordinate and categorical spatial relations were investigated independently in four participant groups: 21 individuals with WS; 21 typically developing (TD) children matched for non-verbal ability; 20 typically developing controls of a lower non-verbal ability; and 21 adults. A third task measured understanding of visual colour relations. Results indicated first, that the comprehension of categorical and coordinate spatial relations is equally poor in WS. Second, that the comprehension of visual relations is also at an equivalent level to spatial relational understanding in this population. These results can explain the difference in performance on visuo-spatial perception and construction tasks in WS. In addition, both the WS and control groups displayed response biases in the spatial tasks. However, the direction of bias differed across the groups. This finding is explored in relation to current theories of spatial location coding. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mobilités de travail et (re)construction des rapports sociaux au sein d’une communauté Hmong de Chine (province du Guizhou)

La mobilité rurale-urbaine est sans contredit l’un des phénomènes les plus marquants que la Chine a connus depuis ses réformes des années 1980. D’une ampleur colossale, elle a constitué un fondement essentiel de sa transition et de son développement économiques. Or, si l’impact social de cette mobilité a été abondamment étudié dans les villes où séjournent les paysans, il demeure peu connu dans leur communauté d’origine, et encore moins en contexte de « nationalité minoritaire ». Reposant sur une enquête de terrain de plus d’une année, cette thèse en géographie sociale examine la (re)construction sociale dans une communauté rurale et minoritaire (c.àd. Hmong ou Miao) de Chine en lien avec le phénomène de la mobilité de travail. D’une intensité croissante, la pratique de la mobilité de travail par les membres de cette communauté est double. Les migrants sont soit des herboristes ambulants dans les villes de l’espace régional, soit des travailleurs salariés dans les villes orientales du pays. L’utilisation d’une approche du changement social intégrant les sphères du réel et de l’imagination et prenant en compte les dimensions territoriale et économique du phénomène migratoire est originale. De même, l’importance égale portée aux discours et aux actions des migrants et des non-migrants dans le processus de transformation sociale se veut novatrice. Dans ses résultats, cette thèse fait état, premièrement, d’une refonte des logiques territoriales et économiques de la communauté étudiée sous l’effet du phénomène migratoire. De toute évidence, les fondements géographiques de son territoire se sont récemment complexifiés et multipliés. Désormais, une variété de lieux, de frontières, de réseaux sociaux et d’échelles se dessine dans les configurations territoriales de ses membres. Les implications économiques sont tout aussi patentes. Outre la forte dominance des transferts d’argent des migrants dans les budgets familiaux, les questions du développement et des inégalités aux différentes échelles de la communauté renvoient aujourd’hui essentiellement au fait migratoire. Deuxièmement, cette thèse montre la forte empreinte laissée par la mobilité dans la sphère sociale. Nécessitant soutien aux extrémités de leur parcours, les migrants sollicitent de plus en plus l’aide de leurs réseaux lignagers, claniques, villageois et matrilinéaires. Et dans ce processus, il n’est pas rare qu’ils enfreignent consciemment les principes hiérarchiques traditionnels de leurs rapports familiaux. Aussi, au travers de la mobilité, des groupes longtemps marginalisés, tels les femmes et les jeunes adultes, ont acquis estime, autonomie et pouvoir décisionnel. Parallèlement, l’ordre social s’est bouleversé. Ce n’est plus le volume de la production agricole, mais le nombre de travailleurs migrants qui détermine aujourd’hui les différentes classes sociales de la communauté. Finalement, dans le contexte plus large des populations rurales et minoritaires de Chine et du Massif sud-est asiatique, cette thèse fait ressortir l’importance d’aborder la question de l’impact social de la mobilité au-delà des paradigmes de la modernisation et de l’intégration. Contrairement à la plupart des écrits touchant à cette question, il ne suffit pas de porter le regard sur l’influence que les urbains et leur mode de vie soi-disant moderne exercent sur les migrants. Il est également nécessaire de reconnaître les capacités d’initiative et d’innovation sociale des membres de ces populations, migrants et non-migrants. Mais aussi, cette recherche démontre que la question identitaire se doit d’être prise en compte. Les sentiments de marginalité et de subordination demeurent vivaces au travers du phénomène migratoire. Et de tels sentiments semblent se traduire, le plus souvent, par un renforcement des liens sociaux et intracommunautaires au sein même de ces populations minoritaires.

Strategies and biases in location memory in Williams syndrome

Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) demonstrate impaired visuo-spatial abilities in comparison to their level of verbal ability. In particular, visuo-spatial construction is an area of relative weakness. It has been hypothesised that poor or atypical location coding abilities contribute strongly to the impaired abilities observed on construction and drawing tasks [Farran, E. K., & Jarrold, C. (2005). Evidence for unusual spatial location coding in Williams syndrome: An explanation for the local bias in visuo-spatial construction tasks? Brain and Cognition, 59, 159-172; Hoffman, J. E., Landau, B., & Pagani, B. (2003). Spatial breakdown in spatial construction: Evidence from eye fixations in children with Williams syndrome. Cognitive Psychology, 46, 260-301]. The current experiment investigated location memory in WS. Specifically, the precision of remembered locations was measured as well as the biases and strategies that were involved in remembering those locations. A developmental trajectory approach was employed; WS performance was assessed relative to the performance of typically developing (TD) children ranging from 4- to 8-year-old. Results showed differential strategy use in the WS and TD groups. WS performance was most similar to the level of a TD 4-year-old and was additionally impaired by the addition of physical category boundaries. Despite their low level of ability, the WS group produced a pattern of biases in performance which pointed towards evidence of a subdivision effect, as observed in TD older children and adults. In contrast, the TD children showed a different pattern of biases, which appears to be explained by a normalisation strategy. In summary, individuals with WS do not process locations in a typical manner. This may have a negative impact on their visuo-spatial construction and drawing abilities. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Real estate capital flows and transitional economies

reign real estate capital was a major source of financing domestic property market office construction in Central Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. During the 1990s, over 800 office buildings were either newly constructed or refurbished in Budapest, Prague and Warsaw. The primary focus of this analysis is explaining the spatial construction and redevelopment patterns of the post-1989 office buildings in these cities. Secondarily, we analyze the correlation of foreign direct investment flows to annual construction of office buildings. We seek to explain the location of new or refurbished office buildings in the central business district (CBD) or in non-CBD locations in terms of the effect of time, size of property and other variables, and test whether there is a positive correlation relationship of foreign direct investment flows and new office construction or refurbishment. Integrating relevant foreign direct investment (FDI), economic geography and property theories in the research, the authors attempt to bridge existing gaps in the literature.

Inlärning och öppet-fält aktivitet hos förskolebarn

The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of learning on open-field activity among pre-school children varying from 3 to 5 years old. Altogether 25 children, 13 girls and 12 boys, entered the test from three different preschools in Dalarna. Six of these children represented the control group. The children were asked to learn 2 tasks, 1 visual memory task and 1 spatial constructing-kit task. Before, between and after the tasks, the children were allowed to move freely in the open field. The control group did not solve any learning tasks and only entered the open field, which was divided into 18 equally large squares, where the children’s activities were observed. The children’s learning times as well as their spontaneous open-field activity and wall-seeking behaviour were registered. The result showed as a general rule that the learning time was reduced between each session. However, the visual memory task increased the children’s spontaneous open-field behaviour more and decreased their wall seeking to a greater extent than the spatial-construction learning task.

Processo contraditório de uso e ocupação em Áreas de Preservação Permante, às margens do rio Poti - Teresina, PI

Pós-graduação em Geografia - IGCE

Relaciones interétnicas en el Fuerte San José (Patagonia, siglo XVIII). Una aproximación comparativa

El presente trabajo tiene por objeto presentar la primera aproximación a las relaciones interétnicas en el escenario del Fuerte San José y el Puesto de la Fuente, desde una perspectiva histórica y arqueológica. En particular, presentaremos los primeros resultados de las investigaciones históricas respecto de la problemática mencionada, sobre la base de información inédita analizada hasta el momento. Para ello nos centraremos en los primeros diez años de vida en el Fuerte (1779-1789) y estableceremos una comparación con los otros dos asentamientos que formaron parte del plan de poblamiento español de las costa patagónica (siglo XVIII): el Fuerte Nuestra Señora del Carmen y la Nueva Colonia de Floridablanca, a los efectos de destacar la particularidad del Fuerte San José en el marco de la variabilidad de la estructuración de las relaciones interétnicas en las colonias patagónicas.

Fatores psicológicos preditores do grau de funcionalidade em idosos

A velhice pode estar associada ao sofrimento, aumento da dependência física, declínio funcional, isolamento social, depressão e improdutividade. No envelhecimento observam-se lentificação no processamento cognitivo, redução da atenção, dificuldades na retenção das informações aprendidas (memória de trabalho) e diminuição na velocidade de pensamento e habilidades visuoespaciais. Por outro lado, as que se mantêm inalteradas são: inteligência verbal, atenção básica, habilidade de cálculo e a maioria das habilidades de linguagem (Moraes, Moraes & Lima, 2010). O objetivo deste estudo é comparar funções executivas com grau de funcionalidade para averiguar em que medida estas variáveis predizem funcionalidade. Trinta idosos de três valências diferentes constituíram a amostra deste estudo. Os instrumentos de avaliação administrados foram os seguintes: Escala de Barthel, MontrealCognitiveAssessment (MoCA), Trail Making Test (TMT), Teste de Aprendizagem Audio-Verbal de Rey (RAVLT), Figura Complexa de Rey, Teste Stroop de Cores e Palavras (TSCP), DigitSpan, Escala Geriátrica de Depressão. Dos resultados obtidos destacam-se a existência de relações estatisticamente significativas entre a saúde mental e a funcionalidade. Quanto melhor é a saúde mental, maior é o grau de funcionalidade e os participantes do “Domicílio” possuem melhor saúde mental, atenção, planeamento e construção visuo-espacial do que os do “Centro de Dia”, e estes melhor do que os do “Lar”. A Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS) destaca a capacidade funcional e a independência como fatores preponderantes para o diagnóstico de saúde física e mental na população idosa. Alguns autores indicam que a avaliação cognitiva deve ser sempre acompanhada de uma avaliação funcional e vice-versa.

Gandhi nell'Atlantico Nero: geografie, movimenti, concetti

Questo lavoro ricostruisce l'uso strategico di Gandhi come “significante” nel pensiero politico dell'Atlantico Nero, nella lotta contro la supremazia bianca e nei processi di decolonizzazione. Le pratiche discorsive che hanno stretto alleanze metaforiche con il movimento gandhiano sono evidenziate come un mezzo con cui il discorso politico nero attraversa la linea di separazione tra metropoli e colonie, e sovverte la costruzione spaziale della modernità. L’analisi spazia dall'indomani della Prima guerra mondiale alla seconda metà degli anni Cinquanta. Questa parte di Secolo breve fu caratterizzata dalle due guerre mondiali, dalla Lega contro l'imperialismo e dai congressi panafricani - importanti punti di svolta che consolidarono la consapevolezza di un'esperienza comune di oppressione e sfruttamento razziale. La ricerca si concentra sui circuiti e movimenti editoriali e associativi, come i congressi panafricani (1919-1945), il movimento “New Negro”, l’UNIA di Marcus Garvey, il sindacalismo nero e i movimenti di liberazione africani - in particolare la Positive Action in Ghana, il movimento zikista in Nigeria e la Defiance Campaign in Sud Africa. Nel complesso quadro di gerarchie e idiosincrasie dell'Atlantico Nero, gli scarti semantici dell'uso di Gandhi come tropo politico sono connessi con diverse prospettive e visioni di solidarietà.

A Spatial-Temporal Downscaling Approach To Construction Of Rainfall Intensity-Duration-Frequency Relations In The Context Of Climate Change

This paper proposes a spatial-temporal downscaling approach to construction of the intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) relations at a local site in the context of climate change and variability. More specifically, the proposed approach is based on a combination of a spatial downscaling method to link large-scale climate variables given by General Circulation Model (GCM) simulations with daily extreme precipitations at a site and a temporal downscaling procedure to describe the relationships between daily and sub-daily extreme precipitations based on the scaling General Extreme Value (GEV) distribution. The feasibility and accuracy of the suggested method were assessed using rainfall data available at eight stations in Quebec (Canada) for the 1961-2000 period and climate simulations under four different climate change scenarios provided by the Canadian (CGCM3) and UK (HadCM3) GCM models. Results of this application have indicated that it is feasible to link sub-daily extreme rainfalls at a local site with large-scale GCM-based daily climate predictors for the construction of the IDF relations for present (1961-1990) and future (2020s, 2050s, and 2080s) periods at a given site under different climate change scenarios. In addition, it was found that annual maximum rainfalls downscaled from the HadCM3 displayed a smaller change in the future, while those values estimated from the CGCM3 indicated a large increasing trend for future periods. This result has demonstrated the presence of high uncertainty in climate simulations provided by different GCMs. In summary, the proposed spatial-temporal downscaling method provided an essential tool for the estimation of extreme rainfalls that are required for various climate-related impact assessment studies for a given region.

Spatial Disparity and Dynamic Trajectory of Convergence in China: Construction and Application of a Composite Index of Regional Development

China is a large country characterized by remarkable growth and distinct regional diversity. Spatial disparity has always been a hot issue since China has been struggling to follow a balanced growth path but still confronting with unprecedented pressures and challenges. To better understand the inequality level benchmarking spatial distributions of Chinese provinces and municipalities and estimate dynamic trajectory of sustainable development in China, I constructed the Composite Index of Regional Development (CIRD) with five sub pillars/dimensions involving Macroeconomic Index (MEI), Science and Innovation Index (SCI), Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), Human Capital Index (HCI) and Public Facilities Index (PFI), endeavoring to cover various fields of regional socioeconomic development. Ranking reports on the five sub dimensions and aggregated CIRD were provided in order to better measure the developmental degrees of 31 or 30 Chinese provinces and municipalities over 13 years from 1998 to 2010 as the time interval of three “Five-year Plans”. Further empirical applications of this CIRD focused on clustering and convergence estimation, attempting to fill up the gap in quantifying the developmental levels of regional comprehensive socioeconomics and estimating the dynamic convergence trajectory of regional sustainable development in a long run. Four clusters were benchmarked geographically-oriented in the map on the basis of cluster analysis, and club-convergence was observed in the Chinese provinces and municipalities based on stochastic kernel density estimation.

Assessing the influence of dam construction on the spatial and temporal evolution of population density across the United States of America

Finding the optimum location for placing a dam on a river is usually a complicated process which generally forces thousands of people to flee their homes because they will be inundated during the filling of the dam. Dams could also attract people living in the surrounding area after their construction. The goal of this research is to check for dam attractiveness for people by comparing growth rates of population density in surrounding areas after dam construction to those associated with the period antecedent to the dam construction. To this aim, 1859 dams across the United States of America and high-resolution population distribution from 1790 to 2010 are examined. By grouping dams as a function of their main purpose, water supply dams are found to be, as expected, the most attractive dams for people, with the biggest growth in population density. Irrigation dams are next, followed by hydroelectricity, flood control, Navigation, and finally Recreation dams. Fishery dams and dams for other uses suffered a decrease in population in the years after their construction. The regions with the greatest population growth were found approximately 40-45 km from the dam and at distances greater than 90 km, whereas the regions with the greatest population decline or only a modest gain were located within 10-15 km of the dam.

Effect of density on spatial distribution, pit formation and pit diameter of Myrmeleon acer Walker, (Neuroptera : Myrmeleontidae): patterns and processes

The effect of increasing population density on the formation of pits, their size and spatial distribution, and on levels of mortality was examined in the antlion Myrmeleon acer Walker. Antlions were kept at densities ranging from 0.4 to 12.8 individuals per 100 cm(2). The distribution of pits was regular or uniform across all densities, but antlions constructed proportionally fewer and smaller pits as density increased. Mortality through cannibalism was very low and only occurred at densities greater than five individuals per 100 cm(2). Antlions in artificially crowded situations frequently relocated their pits and when more space became available, individuals became more dispersed with time. Redistribution of this species results from active avoidance of other antlions and sand throwing associated with pit construction and maintenance, rather than any attempt to optimise prey capture per se.