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It is unclear whether children with autism spectrum disorders have atypical semantic fluency and lower memory for the semantics of words. Therefore, we examined semantic typicality, fluency and recall for the categories of fruits and animals in 60 children with autism aged 7-15 years (boys: 48/girls: 12) compared to 60 typically developing controls. Relative to controls, the autism group had reduced animal fluency, fruit typicality and recall for fruits. Notably, these measures were associated with more autistic-like symptoms and/or lower adaptive functioning across the autism and control groups. In conclusion, atypical semantics of fruits in the autism group may reflect development of idiosyncratic semantic networks while their lower semantic fluency and recall suggest impaired executive language functions.

While a significant body of academic work has been compiled on the transformation of planning law since the end of apartheid, far less has been produced on the perceptions of practising planners of these new laws, and their impacts on the planning profession’s stated objective of contributing to the creation of quality human settlements. This article seeks to assist in filling this gap in the field by reporting on a study into the perceptions of practising planners in the Western Cape in this regard. The study involves research into the views of professional planners on planning laws applied during and post-apartheid and the impact of these laws on human settlement planning and development. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 25 professional planners employed in the public and private sectors. The data sample, limited to the Western Cape province, was regarded as a starting point for further research on the perception of planners in these regards in the remaining eight provinces in the country. The key findings of this study are that planners by and large welcome the new planning legislation and view it as an improvement on the old. The challenges being experienced are mainly related to the institutional and financial landscape in which the law plays out rather than the law itself, notably lengthy planning processes; a focus on meeting housing-delivery targets at the cost of other equally important settlement development objectives; capacity, and budget constraints.

Access to tertiary education is a challenge for many people from refugee-backgrounds. In Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), resettled refugees are entitled to access education alongside other New Zealanders, and NZ's resettlement policy material recognises education as a key pillar of resettlement. However, refugee-background students are not recognised as 'priority learners' in education policy, so educational institutions are not required to report on refugee-background students' educational access or outcomes. At all levels of the education system, teaching and support practices for refugee-background students vary widely. Many barriers hamper refugee-background students' access to and success in tertiary education. However, refugee-background students are also necessarily-skilful border navigators. In this paper, we share data from an in-progress participatory action research project based in southern NZ that involves collaborating with refugee-background students at the secondary-tertiary education border. After describing the project, its rationale, and our theoretical framework, we draw on insights from seven of the students to illustrate how students represented educational navigation in NZ: as a resistance project, a subterranean project, and a relational project. We conclude by suggesting some implications from our study for research, policy and practice in education.

The goal of the current study was to investigate the role of executive functions in mathematical creativity. The sample included 278 primary school children (ages 8-13). Two models were compared: the starting model tested whether executive functions (shifting, updating, and inhibition), domain-general creativity, and mathematical ability directly predicted mathematical creativity. The second model, which fitted the data best, included the additional assumption that updating influences mathematical creativity indirectly through mathematical ability and domain-general creativity. Updating was positively related to mathematical creativity. Additionally, updating was positively related to mathematical ability and domain-general creativity. Inhibition, shifting, domain-general creativity and mathematical ability did not have a significant contribution to either model but did positively correlate with mathematical creativity. This study reports the first empirical evidence that updating is a predictor of mathematical creativity in primary school children and demonstrates that creativity is a higher order cognitive process, activating a variety of cognitive abilities.

The design and psychometric methodology of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is constantly evolving to meet the changing interests and demands stemming from a rapidly shifting educational landscape. NAEP has been built on strong research foundations that include conducting extensive evaluations and comparisons before new approaches are adopted. During those evaluations, many lessons are learned and discoveries surface that do not often find their way into widely accessible outlets. This article discusses a number of those insights with the goal to provide an integrated and accessible perspective on the strengths and limitations of NAEP's psychometric methodology and statistical reporting practices. Drawing from a range of technical reports and memoranda, presentations, and published literature, the following topics are covered: calibration, estimation of proficiency, data reduction, standard error estimation, statistical inference, and standard setting.

ObjectiveSome studies have suggested alterations of structural brain asymmetry in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but findings have been contradictory and based on small samples. Here, we performed the largest ever analysis of brain left-right asymmetry in ADHD, using 39 datasets of the ENIGMA consortium.MethodsWe analyzed asymmetry of subcortical and cerebral cortical structures in up to 1,933 people with ADHD and 1,829 unaffected controls. Asymmetry Indexes (AIs) were calculated per participant for each bilaterally paired measure, and linear mixed effects modeling was applied separately in children, adolescents, adults, and the total sample, to test exhaustively for potential associations of ADHD with structural brain asymmetries.ResultsThere was no evidence for altered caudate nucleus asymmetry in ADHD, in contrast to prior literature. In children, there was less rightward asymmetry of the total hemispheric surface area compared to controls (t = 2.1, p = .04). Lower rightward asymmetry of medial orbitofrontal cortex surface area in ADHD (t = 2.7, p = .01) was similar to a recent finding for autism spectrum disorder. There were also some differences in cortical thickness asymmetry across age groups. In adults with ADHD, globus pallidus asymmetry was altered compared to those without ADHD. However, all effects were small (Cohen's d from -0.18 to 0.18) and would not survive study-wide correction for multiple testing.ConclusionPrior studies of altered structural brain asymmetry in ADHD were likely underpowered to detect the small effects reported here. Altered structural asymmetry is unlikely to provide a useful biomarker for ADHD, but may provide neurobiological insights into the trait.

BackgroundAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder. Neuroanatomic heterogeneity limits our understanding of ADHD's etiology. This study aimed to parse heterogeneity of ADHD and to determine whether patient subgroups could be discerned based on subcortical brain volumes.MethodsUsing the large ENIGMA-ADHD Working Group dataset, four subsamples of 993 boys with and without ADHD and to subsamples of 653 adult men, 400 girls, and 447 women were included in analyses. We applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to seven subcortical volumes in order to constrain the complexity of the input variables and ensure more stable clustering results. Factor scores derived from the EFA were used to build networks. A community detection (CD) algorithm clustered participants into subgroups based on the networks.ResultsExploratory factor analysis revealed three factors (basal ganglia, limbic system, and thalamus) in boys and men with and without ADHD. Factor structures for girls and women differed from those in males. Given sample size considerations, we concentrated subsequent analyses on males. Male participants could be separated into four communities, of which one was absent in healthy men. Significant case-control differences of subcortical volumes were observed within communities in boys, often with stronger effect sizes compared to the entire sample. As in the entire sample, none were observed in men. Affected men in two of the communities presented comorbidities more frequently than those in other communities. There were no significant differences in ADHD symptom severity, IQ, and medication use between communities in either boys or men.ConclusionsOur results indicate that neuroanatomic heterogeneity in subcortical volumes exists, irrespective of ADHD diagnosis. Effect sizes of case-control differences appear more pronounced at least in some of the subgroups.

Abstract Background Thyroid cancer (TC) patients are understudied but appear to be at risk for poor physical and psychosocial outcomes. Knowledge of the course and determinants of these deteriorated outcomes is lacking. Furthermore, little is known about mediating biological mechanisms. Objectives The WaTCh-study aims to; 1. Examine the course of physical and psychosocial outcomes. 2. Examine the association of demographic, environmental, clinical, physiological, and personality characteristics to those outcomes. In other words, who is at risk? 3. Reveal the association of mediating biological mechanisms (inflammation, kynurenine pathway) with poor physical and psychological outcomes. In other words, why is a person at risk? Design and methods Newly diagnosed TC patients from 13 Dutch hospitals will be invited. Data collection will take place before treatment, and at 6, 12 and 24 months after diagnosis. Sociodemographic and clinical information is available from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Patients fill-out validated questionnaires at each time-point to assess quality of life, TC-specific symptoms, physical activity, anxiety, depression, health care use, and employment. Patients are asked to donate blood three times to assess inflammation and kynurenine pathway. Optionally, at each occasion, patients can use a weighing scale with bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) system to assess body composition; can register food intake using an online food diary; and can wear an activity tracker to assess physical activity and sleep duration/quality. Representative Dutch normative data on the studied physical and psychosocial outcomes is already available. Impact WaTCh will reveal the course of physical and psychosocial outcomes among TC patients over time and answers the question who is at risk for poor outcomes, and why. This knowledge can be used to provide personalized information, to improve screening, to develop and provide tailored treatment strategies and supportive care, to optimize outcomes, and ultimately increase the number of TC survivors that live in good health.

ObjectiveNeuroimaging studies show structural alterations of various brain regions in children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), although nonreplications are frequent. The authors sought to identify cortical characteristics related to ADHD using large-scale studies.MethodsCortical thickness and surface area (based on the Desikan-Killiany atlas) were compared between case subjects with ADHD (N=2,246) and control subjects (N=1,934) for children, adolescents, and adults separately in ENIGMA-ADHD, a consortium of 36 centers. To assess familial effects on cortical measures, case subjects, unaffected siblings, and control subjects in the NeuroIMAGE study (N=506) were compared. Associations of the attention scale from the Child Behavior Checklist with cortical measures were determined in a pediatric population sample (Generation-R, N=2,707).ResultsIn the ENIGMA-ADHD sample, lower surface area values were found in children with ADHD, mainly in frontal, cingulate, and temporal regions; the largest significant effect was for total surface area (Cohen's d=-0.21). Fusiform gyrus and temporal pole cortical thickness was also lower in children with ADHD. Neither surface area nor thickness differences were found in the adolescent or adult groups. Familial effects were seen for surface area in several regions. In an overlapping set of regions, surface area, but not thickness, was associated with attention problems in the Generation-R sample.ConclusionsSubtle differences in cortical surface area are widespread in children but not adolescents and adults with ADHD, confirming involvement of the frontal cortex and highlighting regions deserving further attention. Notably, the alterations behave like endophenotypes in families and are linked to ADHD symptoms in the population, extending evidence that ADHD behaves as a continuous trait in the population. Future longitudinal studies should clarify individual lifespan trajectories that lead to nonsignificant findings in adolescent and adult groups despite the presence of an ADHD diagnosis.

Abstract Background Understanding the development of the neuronal circuitry underlying autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is critical to shed light into its etiology and for the development of treatment options. Resting state EEG provides a window into spontaneous local and long-range neuronal synchronization and has been investigated in many ASD studies, but results are inconsistent. Unbiased investigation in large and comprehensive samples focusing on replicability is needed. Methods We quantified resting state EEG alpha peak metrics, power spectrum (PS, 2–32 Hz) and functional connectivity (FC) in 411 children, adolescents and adults (n = 212 ASD, n = 199 neurotypicals [NT], all with IQ > 75). We performed analyses in source-space using individual head models derived from the participants’ MRIs. We tested for differences in mean and variance between the ASD and NT groups for both PS and FC using linear mixed effects models accounting for age, sex, IQ and site effects. Then, we used machine learning to assess whether a multivariate combination of EEG features could better separate ASD and NT participants. All analyses were embedded within a train-validation approach (70%–30% split). Results In the training dataset, we found an interaction between age and group for the reactivity to eye opening (p = .042 uncorrected), and a significant but weak multivariate ASD vs. NT classification performance for PS and FC (sensitivity 0.52–0.62, specificity 0.59–0.73). None of these findings replicated significantly in the validation dataset, although the effect size in the validation dataset overlapped with the prediction interval from the training dataset. Limitations The statistical power to detect weak effects—of the magnitude of those found in the training dataset—in the validation dataset is small, and we cannot fully conclude on the reproducibility of the training dataset’s effects. Conclusions This suggests that PS and FC values in ASD and NT have a strong overlap, and that differences between both groups (in both mean and variance) have, at best, a small effect size. Larger studies would be needed to investigate and replicate such potential effects.

We organized 10Kin1day, a pop-up scientific event with the goal to bring together neuroimaging groups from around the world to jointly analyze 10,000+ existing MRI connectivity datasets during a 3-day workshop. In this report, we describe the motivation and principles of 10Kin1day, together with a public release of 8,000+ MRI connectome maps of the human brain.

Abstract Background The neurocognitive mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remain unclear. Progress has been largely hampered by small sample sizes, variable age ranges and resulting inconsistent findings. There is a pressing need for large definitive studies to delineate the nature and extent of key case/control differences to direct research towards fruitful areas for future investigation. Here we focus on perception of biological motion, a promising index of social brain function which may be altered in ASD. In a large sample ranging from childhood to adulthood, we assess whether biological motion preference differs in ASD compared to neurotypical participants (NT), how differences are modulated by age and sex and whether they are associated with dimensional variation in concurrent or later symptomatology. Methods Eye-tracking data were collected from 486 6-to-30-year-old autistic (N = 282) and non-autistic control (N = 204) participants whilst they viewed 28 trials pairing biological (BM) and control (non-biological, CTRL) motion. Preference for the biological motion stimulus was calculated as (1) proportion looking time difference (BM-CTRL) and (2) peak look duration difference (BM-CTRL). Results The ASD group showed a present but weaker preference for biological motion than the NT group. The nature of the control stimulus modulated preference for biological motion in both groups. Biological motion preference did not vary with age, gender, or concurrent or prospective social communicative skill within the ASD group, although a lack of clear preference for either stimulus was associated with higher social-communicative symptoms at baseline. Limitations The paired visual preference we used may underestimate preference for a stimulus in younger and lower IQ individuals. Our ASD group had a lower average IQ by approximately seven points. 18% of our sample was not analysed for various technical and behavioural reasons. Conclusions Biological motion preference elicits small-to-medium-sized case–control effects, but individual differences do not strongly relate to core social autism associated symptomatology. We interpret this as an autistic difference (as opposed to a deficit) likely manifest in social brain regions. The extent to which this is an innate difference present from birth and central to the autistic phenotype, or the consequence of a life lived with ASD, is unclear.

Recent advances in human neuroimaging research have revealed that white-matter connectivity can be described in terms of an integrated network, which is the basis of the human connectome. However, the developmental changes of this connectome in childhood are not well understood. This study made use of two independent longitudinal diffusion-weighted imaging data sets to characterize developmental changes in the connectome by estimating age-related changes in fractional anisotropy (FA) for reconstructed fibers (edges) between 68 cortical regions. The first sample included 237 diffusion-weighted scans of 146 typically developing children (4-13 years old, 74 females) derived from the Pediatric Longitudinal Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics (PLING) study. The second sample included 141 scans of 97 individuals (8-13 years old, 62 females) derived from the BrainTime project. In both data sets, we compared edges that had the most substantial age-related change in FA to edges that showed little change in FA. This allowed us to investigate if developmental changes in white matter reorganize network topology. We observed substantial increases in edges connecting peripheral and a set of highly connected hub regions, referred to as the rich club. Together with the observed topological differences between regions connecting to edges showing the smallest and largest changes in FA, this indicates that changes in white matter affect network organization, such that highly connected regions become even more strongly imbedded in the network. These findings suggest that an important process in brain development involves organizing patterns of inter-regional interactions. Hum Brain Mapp 39:157-170, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abstract Background Low recruitment in clinical trials is a common and costly problem which undermines medical research. This study aimed to investigate the challenges faced in recruiting children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism spectrum disorder for a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial and to analyze reasons for non-participation. The trial was part of the EU FP7 project TACTICS (Translational Adolescent and Childhood Therapeutic Interventions in Compulsive Syndromes). Methods Demographic data on pre-screening patients were collected systematically, including documented reasons for non-participation. Findings were grouped according to content, and descriptive statistical analyses of the data were performed. Results In total, n = 173 patients were pre-screened for potential participation in the clinical trial. Of these, only five (2.9%) were eventually enrolled. The main reasons for non-inclusion were as follows: failure to meet all inclusion criteria/meeting one or more of the exclusion criteria (n = 73; 42.2%), no interest in the trial or trials in general (n = 40; 23.1%), and not wanting changes to current therapy/medication (n = 14; 8.1%). Conclusions The findings from this study add valuable information to the existing knowledge on reasons for low clinical trial recruitment rates in pediatric psychiatric populations. Low enrollment and high exclusion rates raise the question of whether such selective study populations are representative of clinical patient cohorts. Consequently, the generalizability of the results of such trials may be limited. The present findings will be useful in the development of improved recruitment strategies and may guide future research in establishing the measurement of representativeness to ensure enhanced external validity in psychopharmacological clinical trials in pediatric populations. Trial registration EudraCT 2014-003080-38 . Registered on 14 July 2014.

The current study investigated whether lower sensory and sensorimotor gating were related to higher levels of creativity and/or attentional difficulties in a natural population of primary school children (9- to 13-year-old). Gating abilities were measured with P50 suppression and prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex (PPI). The final sample included 65 participants in the P50 analyses and 37 participants in the PPI analyses. Our results showed that children with a high P50 amplitude to testing stimuli scored significantly higher on the divergent outcome measures of fluency and flexibility but not originality compared to children with a lower amplitude. No significant differences were found on any of the creativity measures when the sample was split on average PPI parameters. No significant differences in attention, as measured with a parent questionnaire, were found between children with low or high levels of sensory or sensorimotor gating. The data suggest that quantitative, but not qualitative measures of divergent thinking benefit from lower psychophysiological gating and that attentional difficulties stem from specific instead of general gating deficits. Future studies should take the effect of controlled attention into consideration.

Neuronal excitation-inhibition (E/I) imbalances are considered an important pathophysiological mechanism in neurodevelopmental disorders. Preclinical studies on tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), suggest that altered chloride homeostasis may impair GABAergic inhibition and thereby E/I-balance regulation. Correction of chloride homeostasis may thus constitute a treatment target to alleviate behavioral symptoms. Recently, we showed that bumetanide—a chloride-regulating agent—improved behavioral symptoms in the open-label study Bumetanide to Ameliorate Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Hyperexcitable Behaviors trial (BATSCH trial; Eudra-CT: 2016-002408-13). Here, we present resting-state EEG as secondary analysis of BATSCH to investigate associations between EEG measures sensitive to network-level changes in E/I balance and clinical response to bumetanide. EEGs of 10 participants with TSC (aged 8–21 years) were available. Spectral power, long-range temporal correlations (LRTC), and functional E/I ratio (fE/I) in the alpha-frequency band were compared before and after 91 days of treatment. Pre-treatment measures were compared against 29 typically developing children (TDC). EEG measures were correlated with the Aberrant Behavioral Checklist-Irritability subscale (ABC-I), the Social Responsiveness Scale-2 (SRS-2), and the Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS-R). At baseline, TSC showed lower alpha-band absolute power and fE/I than TDC. Absolute power increased through bumetanide treatment, which showed a moderate, albeit non-significant, correlation with improvement in RBS-R. Interestingly, correlations between baseline EEG measures and clinical outcomes suggest that most responsiveness might be expected in children with network characteristics around the E/I balance point. In sum, E/I imbalances pointing toward an inhibition-dominated network are present in TSC. We established neurophysiological effects of bumetanide although with an inconclusive relationship with clinical improvement. Nonetheless, our results further indicate that baseline network characteristics might influence treatment response. These findings highlight the possible utility of E/I-sensitive EEG measures to accompany new treatment interventions for TSC.Clinical Trial RegistrationEU Clinical Trial Register, EudraCT 2016-002408-13 (www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/trial/2016-002408-13/NL). Registered 25 July 2016.

Abstract Background Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant disease that affects multiple organs including the brain. TSC is strongly associated with broad neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder symptomatology. Preclinical TSC studies have indicated altered neuronal chloride homeostasis affecting the polarity of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) ergic transmission as a potential treatment target. Bumetanide, a selective NKCC1 chloride importer antagonist, may attenuate depolarizing GABA action, and in that way reduce disease burden. In this open-label pilot study, we tested the effect of bumetanide on a variety of neurophysiological, cognitive, and behavioral measures in children with TSC. Methods Participants were treated with bumetanide (2dd 0.5–1.0 mg) for 13 weeks in an open-label trial. The Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Irritability (ABC-I) subscale was chosen as the primary endpoint. Secondary endpoints included other behavioral questionnaires in addition to event-related potentials (ERP) and neuropsychological tests if tolerated. Additionally, the treatment effect on seizure frequency and quality of life was assessed. Endpoint data were collected at baseline, after 91 days of treatment and after a 28-day wash-out period. Results Fifteen patients (8–21-years old) with TSC were included of which 13 patients completed the study. Treatment was well-tolerated with only expected adverse events due to the diuretic effects of bumetanide. Irritable behavior (ABC-I) showed significant improvement after treatment in 11 out of 13 patients (t(12) = 4.41, p = .001, d = .773). A favorable effect was also found for social behavior (Social Responsiveness Scale) (t(11) = 4.01, p = .002, d = .549) and hyperactive behavior (ABC-hyperactivity subscale) (t(12) = 3.65, p = .003, d = .686). Moreover, patients rated their own health-related quality of life higher after treatment. At baseline, TSC patients showed several atypical ERPs versus typically developing peers of which prepulse inhibition was significantly decreased in the TSC group. Neuropsychological measurements showed no change and bumetanide had no effect on seizure frequency. Limitations The sample size and open-label design of this pilot study warrant caution when interpreting outcome measures. Conclusions Bumetanide treatment is a potential treatment to alleviate the behavioral burden and quality of life associated with TSC. More elaborate trials are needed to determine the application and effect size of bumetanide for the TSC population. Trial registration EU Clinical Trial Register, EudraCT 2016-002408-13 ( www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/trial/2016-002408-13/NL ). Registered 25 July 2016.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental conditions associated with quantitative differences in cortical and subcortical brain morphometry. Qualitative assessment of brain morphology provides complementary information on the possible underlying neurobiology. Studies of neuroradiological findings in ASD have rendered mixed results, and await robust replication in a sizable and independent sample. Methods: We systematically and comprehensively assessed neuroradiological findings in a large cohort of participants with ASD and age-matched controls (total N = 620, 348 ASD and 272 controls), including 70 participants with intellectual disability (47 ASD, 23 controls). We developed a comprehensive scoring system, augmented by standardized biometric measures. Results: There was a higher incidence of neuroradiological findings in individuals with ASD (89.4 %) compared to controls (83.8 %, p = .042). Certain findings were also more common in ASD, in particular opercular abnormalities (OR 1.9, 95 % CI 1.3–3.6) and mega cisterna magna (OR 2.4, 95 % CI 1.4–4.0) reached significance when using FDR, whereas increases in macrocephaly (OR 2.0, 95 % CI 1.2–3.2), cranial deformities (OR 2.4, 95 % CI: 1.0–5.8), calvarian / dural thickening (OR 1.5, 95 % CI 1.0–2.3), ventriculomegaly (OR 3.4, 95 % CI 1.3–9.2), and hypoplasia of the corpus callosum (OR 2.7, 95 % CI 1.1–6.3) did not survive this correction. Furthermore, neuroradiological findings were more likely to occur in isolation in controls, whereas they clustered more frequently in ASD. The incidence of neuroradiological findings was higher in individuals with mild intellectual disability (95.7 %), irrespective of ASD diagnosis. Conclusion: There was a subtly higher prevalence of neuroradiological findings in ASD, which did not appear to be specific to the condition. Individual findings or clusters of findings may point towards the neurodevelopmental mechanisms involved in individual cases. As such, clinical MRI assessments may be useful to guide further etiopathological (genetic) investigations, and are potentially valuable to fundamental ASD research.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a distressing dermatological disease, which is highly prevalent during infancy, can persist into later life and requires long-term management with anti-inflammatory compounds. The introduction of the topical calcineurin inhibitors (TCIs), tacrolimus and pimecrolimus, more than 10 yr ago was a major breakthrough for the topical anti-inflammatory treatment of AD. Pimecrolimus 1% is approved for second-line use in children (≥2 yr old) and adults with mild-to-moderate AD. The age restriction was emphasized in a boxed warning added by the FDA in January 2006, which also highlights the lack of long-term safety data and the theoretical risk of skin malignancy and lymphoma. Since then, pimecrolimus has been extensively investigated in short- and long-term studies including over 4000 infants (

Several complex sample standard error estimators based on linearization and resampling for the latent regression model of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are studied with respect to design choices such as number of items, number of regressors, and the efficiency of the sample. This paper provides an evaluation of the extent these estimators are appropriate for the models and test lengths often encountered in NAEP and what the effect is on the NAEP imputation model. It is shown that in general the resampling method used in this study provides the most accurate standard errors. However, the differences with the linearization method chosen in this study are relatively small if only small models are used with respect to the independent variables of the latent regression. Illustration is provided through several small simulation studies and NAEP data analysis.

The New Zealand school curriculum was last revised in 2007, at which time a new emphasis was placed on culture in language teaching. The practice of intercultural language teaching is implicit in the curriculum document and explicit in the curriculum guide, which features a set of principles for intercultural communicative language teaching (iCLT). This article presents a study on the extent to which New Zealand language teachers' beliefs and practices are aligned with intercultural language teaching (ILT). A questionnaire administered to New Zealand language teachers included a number of items used in a seminal seven-nation comparative study conducted by Lies Sercu and her colleagues, as well as other items developed from relevant literature. Expanding on previous studies' use of item-by-item analyses, multi-item scales to measure alignment of New Zealand teacher's beliefs and practices with ILT were developed, which yielded good internal reliabilities. The findings revealed an apparent mismatch between beliefs and practices, with teachers being favourably disposed towards ILT but not practising the approach in their classrooms. Interpretation of the data using concepts from teacher cognition research suggested that the differences represented tensions between teachers' abstract, theoretical beliefs and their concrete, practical beliefs. We argue that supporting teachers' applied knowledge of developing intercultural communicative competence (ICC) will allow them to recognize that those beliefs need not be discordant.

This article describes selected results from the Math Online (MOL) study, one of three field investigations sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to explore the use of new technology in NAEP. Of particular interest in the MOL study was the comparability of scores from paper- and computer-based tests. A nationally representative sample of eighth-grade students was administered a computer-based mathematics test and a test of computer facility, among other measures. In addition, a randomly parallel group of students was administered a paper-based test containing the same math items as the computer-based test. Results showed that the computer-based mathematics test was significantly harder statistically than the paper-based test. In addition, computer facility predicted online mathematics test performance after controlling for performance on a paper-based mathematics test, suggesting that degree of familiarity with computers may matter when taking a computer-based mathematics test in NAEP. (Contains 9 tables, 1 figure and 6 endnotes.)

The present study investigated the factor structure of a field trial sample of the Test of English as a Foreign Language™ Internet-based test (TOEFL® iBT). An item-level confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted for a polychoric correlation matrix of items on a test form completed by 2,720 participants in the 2003-2004 TOEFL iBT Field Study. CFA-based multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) analyses for the Reading and Listening sections showed that the language abilities assessed in each section were essentially unidimensional, while the factor structure of the entire test was best represented by a higher-order factor model with a general factor (English as a second language/English as a foreign language ability) and four group factors for reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The integrated Speaking and Writing tasks, which require language processing in multiple modalities, well defined the target modalities (speaking and writing). These results broadly support the current reporting of four scores corresponding to the modalities and a total score, as well as the test design where the integrated tasks contribute only to the scores for the target modalities.

The hierarchical latent regression model (HLRM) is a flexible framework for estimating group-level proficiency while taking into account the complex sample designs often found in large-scale educational surveys. A complex assessment design in which information is collected at different levels (such as student, school, and district), the model also provides a mechanism for estimating group differences at various levels and for partitioning variance components among those levels. This study examines parameter recovery in the HLRM and compares it to regular latent regression models (LRMs) through simulation for various levels of cluster variation. Results show that regression effect estimates are similar between the HLRM and the LRM, in particular under small cluster variation. Similarly, student posterior mean estimates and marginal maximum likelihood mean estimates for student groups are comparable across the two model approaches. However, substantial differences are found for the residual variance estimates, the standard errors for regression effect estimates and related standard errors for group estimates, and for students posterior variance estimates. As expected, these differences are larger when the variation across clusters is larger, since a substantial portion of variance remains unexplained in LRM.

In this paper, a data perturbation method for minimizing the possibility of disclosure of participants' identities on a survey is described in the context of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The method distinguishes itself from most approaches because of the presence of cognitive tasks. Hence, a data edit should have minimal impact on both relations among demographic variables and relations between demographic and proficiency variables. Furthermore, since only a few students are at risk to be disclosed in a typical sampling setting common to educational surveys, the proposed data perturbation is governed by a nonuniform probabilistic process. The method is applied to data from NAEP and impact is computed using proficiency averages, demographic proportions, statistical inference results, and loglinear models. Results show that the proposed perturbation method has very little impact on NAEP results, even at relatively large editing rates. Some data coarsening results are reported as well. While the univariate results are relatively unaffected from the coarsening, loglinear models from higher order contingency tables are affected. It is recommended to restrict disclosure limitation techniques to perturbation methods in the case of NAEP.

Two versions of a general method for approximating standard error of regression effect estimates within an IRT-based latent regression model are compared. The general method is based on Binder's (1983) approach, accounting for complex samples and finite populations by Taylor series linearization. In contrast, the current National Assessment of Educational Progress procedure assumes a simple random sample for standard error of regression effects and applies a jackknife estimator to statistics of interest as a way to account for NAEP's complex sample. In this study, the versions of the general method are formally defined and the general method is extended to multiple dimensions. Furthermore, they are applied in an empirical study to the 2004 NAEP long-term trend data comparing both large, nearly saturated, and small models. Subsequently, the results are compared to the operational-based imputation method. Results show no impact on the imputation-based results, limited impact on large models, and reasonable impact on small models. While it is not readily apparent to what this differential impact can be attributed, several explanations are discussed.

Well-known numerical integration methods are applied to item response theory (IRT) with special emphasis on the estimation of the latent regression model of NAEP [National Assessment of Educational Progress]. An argument is made that the Gauss-Hermite rule enhanced with Cholesky decomposition and normal approximation of the response likelihood is a fast, precise, and reliable alternative for the numerical integration in NAEP and in IRT in general.

A hierarchical latent regression model is suggested to estimate nested and nonnested relationships in complex samples such as found in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The proposed model aims at improving both parameters and variance estimates via a two-level hierarchical linear model. This model falls naturally within the set of models used in most large scale surveys, in that all of them are special cases of the hierarchical latent regression model. The model parameter estimates are obtained via the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. An example with NAEP data is presented and results of parameter estimation and standard errors are compared with results from operational procedures of NAEP.

Confidence intervals are an important tool to indicate uncertainty of estimates and to give an idea of probable values of an estimate if a different sample from the population was drawn or a different sample of measures was used. Standard symmetric confidence intervals for proportion estimates based on a normal approximation can yield bounds outside the [0,1] scale and poor coverage, because such approximations are generally inappropriate. Many alternative intervals have been proposed to address these issues. This paper discusses a selection of intervals based on scale transformations and continuity corrections and adapts these for use in complex samples. The study expands on the work of Brown, Cai, and DasGupta (2001) and Korn and Graubard (1998) using educational survey designs and complex sample data. Results based on a National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data resampling study showed that the theoretically appealing Wilson interval yields appropriate coverage with short intervals in most situations.

A multitude of methods has been proposed to estimate the sampling variance of ratio estimates in complex samples (Wolter, 1985). Hansen and Tepping (1985) studied some of those variance estimators and found that a high coefficient of variation (CV) of the denominator of a ratio estimate is indicative of a biased estimate of the standard error of a ratio estimate. Using the same populations, Kovar (1985) and Kovar, Rao, and Wu (1988) repeated the research and showed that the relation between a high CV and bias in standard errors is weak. In light of these conflicting findings, this study uses substantially different populations and design choices taken from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to further investigate the relationship between bias, the CV, and the number of strata, which has also been found to be an indicator of bias (Burke & Rust, 1995). It is found that the CV is a relatively weak indicator of bias, showing poor power properties. Suggestions are made to improve upon statistical suppression rules related to the CV and number of replicate strata.

Land reform in South Africa has paid less attention to the creation of fair and viable postapartheid urban human settlements than it has to rural land reform. While expropriation of land with or without compensation will deliver land, the question as to what happens post-expropriation has not been addressed. A reconsideration and redesign of the South African legal, policy and institutional frameworks, and spatial planning instruments are required, in order to enable the process of urban land reform to deliver on the development of sustainable human settlements. Since a number of countries have successfully dealt with large-scale restructuring and redevelopment, an examination of the methods employed in two countries, namely Rwanda, post-the genocide in 1994, and The Netherlands, post-World War II, is undertaken to facilitate that process.

Changes in brain structure asymmetry have been reported in autism spectrum disorder. Here the authors investigate this issue using a large-scale sample consisting of 54 data sets.

This article laments the exclusion of small, local communities, voices and visions, from participating in making the city. It makes a case for ‘small communities’ practising resistance and reconstruction in multiple ways and places. Instead of viewing such actions as naïve or a-political, it calls for an understanding of such practices as alternatives to ‘top-down’ urban processes, and, as such, representing a different and necessary, critical political imagination. In doing so, it fuses insights from equity planning theories, praxis-based liberation theological approaches, and emancipatory community development approaches. It argues that communities, aware of the forces that would seek to tear them apart, can play a significant role in making cities ‘from below’. This, it is argued, would be even more possible through such communities finding each other, and nurturing deep solidarities, until broad-based, interconnected movements take shape, embodying concrete signs of wholeness.

Abstract Sodium-dependent glucose co-transporter 1 (SGLT1) is a solute carrier responsible for active glucose absorption. SGLT1 is present in both the renal tubules and small intestine. In contrast, the closely related sodium-dependent glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2), a protein that is targeted in the treatment of diabetes type II, is only expressed in the renal tubules. Although dual inhibitors for both SGLT1 and SGLT2 have been developed, no drugs on the market are targeted at decreasing dietary glucose uptake by SGLT1 in the gastrointestinal tract. Here we aim at identifying SGLT1 inhibitors in silico by applying a machine learning approach that does not require structural information, which is absent for SGLT1. We applied proteochemometrics by implementation of compound- and protein-based information into random forest models. We obtained a predictive model with a sensitivity of 0.64 ± 0.06, specificity of 0.93 ± 0.01, positive predictive value of 0.47 ± 0.07, negative predictive value of 0.96 ± 0.01, and Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.49 ± 0.05. Subsequent to model training, we applied our model in virtual screening to identify novel SGLT1 inhibitors. Of the 77 tested compounds, 30 were experimentally confirmed for SGLT1-inhibiting activity in vitro, leading to a hit rate of 39% with activities in the low micromolar range. Moreover, the hit compounds included novel molecules, which is reflected by the low similarity of these compounds with the training set (

Repetitive behavior is a core symptom of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and has been associated with impairments in cognitive control. However, it is unclear how cognitive control and associated neural circuitry relate to the development of repetitive behavior in children with these disorders. In a multicenter, longitudinal study (TACTICS; Translational Adolescent and Childhood Therapeutic Interventions in Compulsive Syndromes), the development of cognitive control was assessed during late childhood using a longitudinal fMRI design with a modified stop-signal task in children with ASD or OCD, and typically developing (TD) children (baseline: N = 95 (8-12 y), follow-up: N = 53 (10-14 y), average interval: 1.48 y (sd: 0.36, range: 0.98–2.52 y). Stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) decreased over development, regardless of diagnosis. Repetitive behavior in children with ASD and OCD was not associated with performance on the stop-signal task. There were no whole-brain between-group differences in brain activity, but ROI-analyses showed increases in activity in right precentral gyrus over development for children with OCD. In sum, even though subtle differences were observed in the development of brain activity in children with OCD, overall the findings suggest that the development of cognitive control, as assessed by the stop signal task, is similar to typical in children with ASD and OCD.

Planning was born in and of crisis. Given the multiple challenges facing the world, it may rightly be asked whether Planning would not be willing and able to assist in taking these on. In this short commentary, it is argued that the chances of this happening are slim, but not impossible, should a number of changes be made that put hope, belief, reason, and dream to collective task again.