Toward better characterization of restricted and unusual interests in youth with autism

Despite their high prevalence and clinical importance in autism, unusual and restricted interests remain under-researched and poorly understood. This study aimed to characterize the frequency and type of interests in autism by coding caregivers’ open-ended responses in a sample of 237 autistic children and adolescents ( Mage = 8.27 years, SDage = 4.07; range: 2.08–18.25 years). It further aimed to explore the effects of age, sex, cognitive functioning and social and communication deficits on the number and type of interests. We found that 75% of autistic youth had at least one interest and that 50% of those children showed two or more different interests. The most frequent interests were sensory-based (43%), with a majority of these interests relating to the visual modality. Interest within vehicles/transportation, fictional characters, television/digital versatile disk/movies, computers, and video games, constructive, mechanical objects, animals and plants, and attachment to specific objects were also prevalent. Logistic regression showed that being male, having a co-occurring intellectual disability and having more severe social and communication impairments were associated with a higher probability of having one or more restricted interests. Sex was significantly associated with the type (χ2 = 37.52, Phi = 0.37, p = 0.021) of restricted interests, with females showing a significantly higher percentage of creative interests and males significantly higher percentage of interest in characters, vehicles/transportation, computers/video games, mechanical objects and constructive interests. Theoretical and measurement implications are discussed. Lay abstract Despite being highly prevalent among people with autism, restricted and unusual interests remain under-researched and poorly understood. This article confirms that restricted interests are very frequent and varied among children and adolescents with autism. It also further extends current knowledge in this area by characterizing the relationship between the presence, number, and type of restricted interests with chronological age, sex, cognitive functioning, and social and communication symptoms.

Semiclassical Qubits

The semiclassical approximation of quantum computing and quasi-qubits (s-bits) have been obtained by us as a result of our work over the past few years. This work can be conventionally divided into two parts. The first part, let’s call it the programming model, contains a computer model of quasi-qubits and quantum computing. The second part, let’s call it the microelectronic model, describes the microelectronic realization of qubits in the semiclassical approximation (quasi-qubits) and exists in the form of block diagrams, which are supposed to be easy to manufacture. How did we get the semiclassical approximation? The difficulty in solving such a problem was that microparticles in quantum mechanics are described in an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space. Classical models are much poorer in the number of variables; therefore, it is impossible to describe quantum mechanical objects by classical methods due to the small number of available parameters.

LASER MEASURING SYSTEMS WITH FIBER-OPTICAL SENSORS FOR CONTROL OF LINEAR PARAMETERS OF MECHANICAL OBJECTS

A block diagram of a laser measuring system with a fiber-optical sensor for monitoring the air gap between the rotor and stator of a hydrogenerator has been developed and analyzed. The system uses an algorithm for alternating comparison of the investigated and reference light fluxes. This makes it possible to reduce the influence on the measurement result of the gap of the instability of the parameters of individual units and blocks of such a system. The analysis of the main measurement errors, which can affect the result of determining the gap, is carried out. References 16, figure 1.

Unsettled Issues Regarding Autonomous Vehicles and Open-source Software

As automobiles morph from stand-alone mechanical objects to highly connected, autonomous systems with increasing amounts of electronic components. To manage these complex systems, some semblance of in-car decision-making is also being built and networked to a cloud architecture. This cloud can also enable even deeper capabilities within the broader automotive ecosystem. Unsettled Issues Regarding Autonomous Vehicles and Open-source Software introduces the impact of software in advanced automotive applications, the role of open-source communities in accelerating innovation, and the important topic of safety and cybersecurity. As electronic functionality is captured in software and a bigger percentage of that software is open-source code, some critical challenges arise concerning security and validation.

The Technological Sublime: Metropolis (1927)

Metropolis displays a deeply conflicting attitude toward industrial modernity. Conceived and marketed as a marvel of film technology, the film pursued the techno-romantic project of transcending material reality through technological means. What is more, the goal was to capture the unfathomability of technology itself. Metropolis simultaneously portrays technology as an agent of tyranny and dehumanization and flaunts it as spectacle. Special effects facilitate encounters with overpowering technological environments and omnipotent machines, which give rise to sentiments that are best described in terms of a “technological sublime.” The sublime characterizes experiences that go beyond the earthly and finite, to attain a spiritual dimension. In attributing transcendent qualities to mechanical objects, the technological sublime embodies the technoromantic paradigm.

Conservation of angular momentum in second harmonic generation from under-dense plasmas

Spin and orbital angular momentum of an optical beam are two independent parameters that exhibit distinct effects on mechanical objects. However, when laser beams with angular momentum interact with plasmas, one can observe the interplay between the spin and the orbital angular momentum. Here, by measuring the helical phase of the second harmonic 2ω radiation generated in an underdense plasma using a known spin and orbital angular momentum pump beam, we verify that the total angular momentum of photons is conserved and observe the conversion of spin to orbital angular momentum. We further determine the source of the 2ω photons by analyzing near field intensity distributions of the 2ω light. The 2ω images are consistent with these photons being generated near the largest intensity gradients of the pump beam in the plasma as predicted by the combined effect of spin and orbital angular momentum when Laguerre-Gaussian beams are used.

Modernisation of LEMACH 6 Design-Research Method as a Reliability Engineering Tool

The article presents the developed design-research method for mechanical objects, which is a modernisation of the sequential-iterative design method LEMACH 6. As part of the design process organised by method guidelines, a number of activities related to designed object’s reliability testing and engineering were included. The article charac-terises selected design methods, with particular emphasis on the LEMACH 6 method. Next, assumptions were made regarding the development and use of the proposed solution, and a diagram and detailed analysis of individual elements of the new method were presented. The developed method enables the organisation of design works, allowing one to rapidly create new solutions and avoid mistakes during designing.

Robotic Manipulation Research

We perform many seemingly simple tasks in our daily lives, from manipulating everyday objects to processing many thoughts, often at the same time. These are things most of us are able to manage without any great difficulties. However, the development of such skills has actually been built on an enormous amount of knowledge that has been stored unconsciously throughout our lives. These skills become second nature to us, but when it comes to trying to replicate these in mechanical objects – robots – it becomes clear that the development of these abilities is not simple at all. Professor Kensuke Harada, from the Graduate School of Engineering Science, at Osaka University, is focused on looking at the issues of motion planning, gripper design, human motion and machine learning. His ultimate goal is to realise a robot that can manipulate an object just like a human can.

Usulan keamanan mesin winding horizontal dengan metode Risk Reduction Management: Studi kasus di PT. XYZ

The purpose of this research is to analyze the current state of the system and facilities, machinery and equipment of horizontal winding machines from the safety, technical and environmental aspects in order to provide proposals for repair or improvement of current conditions and mitigation efforts Risk, especially in the scope of horizontal winding machine at PT XYZ, which is a fabrication company that produces tranformers and electric tranformer care services. The method of analysis used in this research is Risk Reduction Management (RRM) consisting of two main phases: risk assessment and risk reduction of the security of a machine. Risk assessment involves a risk reduction followed by risk evaluation (risk analysis) and other risks. Based on the risk evaluation can be proposed risk reduction proposal. Based on the RRM analysis is found the potential risk of electrical system potentially occurring short-circuit and potentially uncontrolled mechanical objects, hand-pinned and uncontrollable engine rotation. To make the machine safe, proposed improvements to the electrical system (foot switch cable, cable fireplace, and periodic panel cleaning), as well as smoothing the mechanical system (making warning, inspection, protective fence, protective equipment, and emergency stop). Some of the recommendations can be well implemented by the company.