Autism is a global phenomenon. Yet, there is a dearth of knowledge of how it is understood and its impact in low-income countries. We examined parents' and professionals' understanding of autism in one low-income country, Nepal. We conducted focus groups and semi-structured interviews with parents of autistic and non-autistic children and education and health professionals from urban and rural settings ( n = 106), asking questions about typical and atypical development and presenting vignettes of children to prompt discussion. Overall, parents of typically developing children and professionals had little explicit awareness of autism. They did, however, use some distinctive terms to describe children with autism from children with other developmental conditions. Furthermore, most participants felt that environmental factors, including in-utero stressors and birth complications, parenting style and home or school environment were key causes of atypical child development and further called for greater efforts to raise awareness and build community capacity to address autism. This is the first study to show the striking lack of awareness of autism by parents and professionals alike. These results have important implications for future work in Nepal aiming both to estimate the prevalence of autism and to enhance support available for autistic children and their families.

The purposes of this study were: 1) to examine how predictive three types of childhood teasing (competency, weight, and appearance) were of later self-esteem; and 2) to examine how predictive these same three variables were of later body image. Additionally, the pattern of relations for each gender was be explored. Each of these questions will be explored for males and females separately. The participants in this study were 89 female and 75 male undergraduates from two midwestern universities, with a mean age of 20. Results showed that more frequent teasing in childhood was significantly predictive of lower self-esteem and poorer body image among females and males. However, the findings varied by teasing types. Certain types of teasing were found to be related to self-esteem and body image while other types of teasing were not. Different patterns emerged for each gender. Implications of these findings and applications for professionals are discussed.

A search for Beyond the Standard Model double-β decay modes of 76Ge has been performed with data collected during the Phase II of the GERmanium Detector Array  (Gerda) experiment, located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso of INFN (Italy). Improved limits on the decays involving Majorons have been obtained, compared to previous experiments with  76Ge, with half-life values on the order of 1023 yr. For the first time with  76Ge, limits on Lorentz invariance violation effects in double-β decay have been obtained. The isotropic coefficient åof (3), which embeds Lorentz violation in double-β decay, has been constrained at the order of 10-6 GeV. We also set the first experimental limits on the search for light exotic fermions in double-β decay, including sterile neutrinos.

No abstract

This study examined three transport systems used to transport fresh, non-stored cut flowers from Bogotá, Colombia, to the United States on a monthly basis for 1 year. Five cultivars of cut rose (Rosa hybrida), alstroemeria (Alstroemeria peruviana), carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus), and gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii) were commercially transported using a 7-day conventional distribution system with temperature controls and two rapid transport systems (3-day or 24-hour) with little or no temperature controls, respectively. Temperatures during the 24-hour transport system increased steadily and temperatures were at or above 10 °C for ≈18 h, with half of that time above 15 °C for all shipments. The 3- and 7-day systems had temperature fluctuations ranging from 3 to 24 °C and 3 to 19 °C, respectively. Flowers transported using the rapid transport systems had a significantly longer vase life compared with the 7-day transport in 83% of the shipments of alstroemeria and roses, in 58% of the shipments of carnations, and in 50% of the shipments of gerberas. Vase life increased 5.6% to 17.1% (0.7 to 2.1 days) for roses, 3.2% to 16.7% (0.5 to 2.7 days) for alstroemerias, 12.8% to 34.6% (1.1 to 6.2 days) for gerberas, and 4.6% to 8.8% (1.1 to 2.3 days) for carnations when using the rapid transport systems compared with the 7-day transport system. Some cultivars were more tolerant of the longer transport. The results show that when using fresh, non-stored flowers, the rapid transport systems had equal or longer vase life than the 7-day transport system in the majority of shipments for each flower species. Results also demonstrate that better temperature management during transport is a critical issue in the floral industry that needs to be improved upon.