This thesis is concerned with compensatory mechanisms used by people with a lighter form of autism spectrum disorder (shortly ASD) in social situations. In terms of ASD, compensatory mechanisms are labeled as camouflage, because they hide symptoms of autism. Camouflage can, according to research results, complicate the diagnostic process and lead to ASD not being recognized, especially in women. The theoretical part of this thesis deals with the description of today's understanding of ASD. It shows information about the diagnostic process and the symptomatics od ASD. It also describes the differences in the severity of ASD and the different symptoms of autism in men and women. The last chapter is concerned with the issue of compensatory mechanisms and camouglage in people with ASD. The empirical part of this thesis includes a quantitative research that explored the level of camouflage in 170 respondents using a translated version of CAT-Q (Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire), that was distributed online. The results show a higher level of camouflage in people with a mild form of ASD, compared to people without ASD. The research also shows that the level of camouflage in people with ASD is higher in female respondents than in male respondents. The research found a positive correlation...

Crypsis can be an important mechanism of predator avoidance for organisms. However, many species exhibit sexual dichromatism, in which the males possess a suite of colorations in order to attract female attention. The resulting differences in crypsis between the males and females can provide insight into the relative strengths of the sexually and naturally selective forces shaping the coloration of the organism, as well as clues regarding potential sensory biases of the selecting sex. In this study, I examine variation in the coloration of four Pacific Northwest populations of the sexually dimorphic and dichromatic polygynous species of jumping spider Habronattus oregonensis and compare the coloration of different body regions of the spiders to their habitats. I also investigate differences in relative size of a male sexual ornament, the enlarged first leg tibia. Field work for this study was conducted in June and July of 2009. The three main foci of this study are 1) to compare the degree of color matching of females and their habitat to the degree of color matching of males and their habitat, evaluating whether sexual selection on males has reduced their degree of crypsis relative to that of females, 2) if there is indeed a difference in crypsis between the sexes, to gauge whether there are similar divergences from crypsis among the populations - both in the quantitative amount of divergences as well as the colorimetric direction of such divergences, and 3) whether there is any variation in sexual ornament size among populations. Male first leg tibia size is a sexual character that is presumably not influenced by habitat coloration; differences in male tibia allometry among populations would provide supporting evidence for the hypothesis that sexual selection is indeed maintaining phenotypic differences among the populations, regardless of habitat location and color. I found a high degree of conformity of hue and chroma between male and female spiders and their habitats, with three notable exceptions. The most extreme difference in coloration between spider and habitat was that of the Gorge and Siskiyou population male anteriors. The anteriors had proportionally less green and more ultraviolet reflectance than their habitat. Second, the Mt. Hood and Tillamook population male abdomens diverged from their habitat in a similar, although less pronounced manner to that of the Gorge and Siskiyou population male anteriors: they had proportionally less green and more UV reflectance. Third, female abdomens of all populations were highly variable in chroma, despite having hues that generally matched their habitat. Tibia area relative to body size of Gorge and Siskiyou population males was significantly smaller than that of Mt. Hood and Tillamook population males. The lower level of background hue matching among males compared to females implies that sexual selection has directly conflicted with natural selection, resulting in impaired crypsis. While the reduced crypsis of the Gorge and Siskiyou population males is centered on their anterior (the primary body region presented to the females during courtship), the deviations from crypsis in the Mt. Hood and Tillamook population males are highest on their abdomen, although the degree of contrast is lower than that of the Gorge and Siskiyou population anteriors. These differences in coloration between the Mt. Hood and Tillamook population male abdomens and their habitats are in the same colorimetric direction as those of the Gorge and Siskiyou population anteriors and their habitat; this may indicate a sensory bias of the females, conserved in all four populations, selecting for male reflectance with a higher UV to green ratio. The fact that Mt. Hood and Tillamook population male abdomens have a more modest reduction in background matching compared to Gorge and Siskiyou population male anteriors may be due to the search methods of flying predators (e.g., spider wasps); the dorsum would presumably be more conspicuous to predators than the anterior, and would thus be subject to more intense selection for crypsis despite sexual selection to the contrary. The variability of abdomen coloration of females of both morphs may indicate that selection for crypsis is less strong among females than among males. One possible reason for this would be if females spent less time in the exposed courtship habitat than males, a conclusion implied by a highly male-skewed sex ratio encountered during field collections. Like the differences in coloration between different males of different populations, the significant differences in male tibia size also imply variability in the intensity of sexual selection. Relative importance of male coloration and tibia size may be weighted differently among populations, operating under similar constraints on reductions in survival accrued by developing these characters. The high degree of variation found among the populations implies that there is a degree of reproductive isolation among the chromatically and morphologically dissimilar populations. However, the similarity of the environments in which the populations existed, the close geographic proximity of some of the dissimilar populations, and the lack of any substantial geographic boundaries between the populations imply that this isolation is not maintained through extrinsic factors. Rather, it would seem that the interpopulational diversity is maintained by sexual selection. However, evidence from morphology and coloration suggest that the generation of this diversity is not evolving exclusively under sexual selection pressure, but rather is constrained to a degree by natural selection.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第19262号 / 理博第4117号 / 新制||理||1592(附属図書館) / 32264 / 京都大学大学院理学研究科生物科学専攻 / (主査)准教授 森 哲, 教授 沼田 英治, 教授 曽田 貞滋 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

Nonlinear constrained optimal trajectory control is an important and fundamental area of research that continues to advance in numerous fields. Many attempts have been made to present new methods that can solve for optimal trajectories more efficiently or to improve the overall performance of existing techniques. This research presents a recently developed bio-inspired method called the Virtual Motion Camouflage (VMC) method that offers a means of quickly finding, within a defined but varying search space, the optimal trajectory that is equal or close to the optimal solution. The research starts with the polynomial-based VMC method, which works within a search space that is defined by a selected and fixed polynomial type virtual prey motion. Next will be presented a means of improving the solution’s optimality by using a sequential based form of VMC, where the search space is adjusted by adjusting the polynomial prey trajectory after a solution is obtained. After the search space is adjusted, an optimization is performed in the new search space to find a solution closer to the global space optimal solution, and further adjustments are made as desired. Finally, a B-spline augmented VMC method is presented, in which a B-spline curve represents the prey motion and will allow the search space to be optimized together with the solution trajectory. It is shown that (1) the polynomial based VMC method will significantly reduce the overall problem dimension, which in practice will significantly reduce the computational cost associated with solving nonlinear constrained optimal trajectory problems; (2) the sequential VMC method will improve the solution optimality by sequentially refining certain parameters, such as the prey motion; and (3) the B-spline augmented VMC method will improve the solution iv optimality without sacrificing the CPU time much as compared with the polynomial based approach. Several simulation scenarios, including the Breakwell problem, the phantom track problem, the minimum-time mobile robot obstacle avoidance problem, and the Snell’s river problem are simulated to demonstrate the capabilities of the various forms of the VMC algorithm. The capabilities of the B-spline augmented VMC method are also shown in a hardware demonstration using a mobile robot obstacle avoidance testbed.

A Space In-Between, is a series of works that explores a balance between two radically different cultures that the artist identifies with through visual language. The experience of immigration as an Iranian body in a Western context is investigated through works in sculpture, photography and video. By using the language of materials, the artist explores the diasporic space regarding class, gender, and ethnicity. The practice of creating Iranian designs with American products such as a muqarnas from cigarette cartons from her family’s convenient store in Bessemer, Alabama, or creating a chadorfrom Mossy Oak camouflage, acts as an effort to visualize and harmonize her experience living between Iranian and American culture.

Women who live with undiagnosed autism face difficulties, especially in regards to getting an autism diagnosis. This study presents a literature study of six women’s autobiographies, in which they describe their experiences in living with undiagnosed autism as well as getting their diagnosis. The results of this study shows that the women use camouflaging methods to avoid being bullied as well as avoid being treated in a negative way by society. The authors describe how they aspire to fit into the female norm, which posts difficulties in getting a diagnosis, where they do not show the typical characteristics of autism because of the diagnosis’s male bias. The women’s autobiographies show that getting their diagnosis has made it possible to explore their own characteristics outside of the diagnosis, instead of being identified and expected to be a certain way because of their autism diagnosis. Furthermore, in the analysis through the intersectional perspective, the women faced difficulties because of their functionality as well as their gender when they weren’t yet diagnosed with autism. This study aims to shed light upon the experiences of women who live with undiagnosed autism.

This study comprises two tasks. The first is to implement gate-level circuit camouflage techniques. The second is to implement the Oracle-guided incremental de-camouflage algorithm and apply it to the camouflaged designs. The circuit camouflage algorithms are implemented in Python, and the Oracle- guided incremental de-camouflage algorithm is implemented in C++. During this study, I evaluate the Oracle-guided de-camouflage tool (Solver, in short) performance by de-obfuscating the ISCAS-85 combinational benchmarks, which are camouflaged by the camouflage algorithms. The results show that Solver is able to efficiently de-obfuscate the ISCAS-85 benchmarks regardless of camouflaging style, and is able to do so 10.5x faster than the best existing approaches. And, based on Solver, this study also measures the de-obfuscation runtime for each camouflage style.

No description available.

A prey animal can use different strategies to avoid becoming eaten by predators. One such widely recognised strategy is the use of body colouration to decrease the risk of becoming detected, i.e. cryptic colouration. The principles of crypsis that I have studied are background matching, disruptive colouration and distractive markings. Further, I also studied the concealing effect of the visual background habitats. I used artificial prey items and backgrounds, and blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) as predators, to investigate prey concealment. In Paper I, I tested if high-contrast markings in prey coloration or in the background would result in a distracting effect. I found that such markings did increase prey search time, even when the prey markings were lighter or darker than the background. In Paper II, I studied the use of chromatic cues by predators when searching for prey. The birds easily detected prey that chromatically deviated from its background. Interestingly, background-matching prey was more difficult to detect when the colour scheme had low ultraviolet and high shortwave reflectance compared to when the reflectance bands were even. In Paper III, I studied optimisation of achromatic contrast within prey colour pattern and also the effect of shape diversity of background pattern elements on prey detection. I found that all prey types were more difficult to detect on the diverse background, but the level of contrast within prey pattern did not influence search times. In Paper IV, I further investigated how a prey should optimise its patterning with respect to background matching. I found that prey with repeated pattern elements was equally hard to detect as prey with more variable pattern. However, prey with a spatially regular pattern (aligned pattern elements) was easier to detect than prey with a spatially irregular pattern. In this paper I also found that high complexity of element shapes in the background, made the search task more difficult. / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 2: Accepted

Thesis (M.A.Sc.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-159). Also available in electronic format via the Defense Technical Information Center website.