The factorial structure of the Dutch translation of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems: A test of the long and short versions.

In this article, the authors study the factorial structure of 2 versions (64 items and 32 items) of the Dutch translation of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP; L. M. Horowitz, L. E. Alden, J. S. Wiggins, & A. L. Pincus, 2000) in both a clinical sample (n = 382) and a student sample (n = 287). First, the authors test whether both inventories are constituted by correlated uni-dimensional subscales, and they conclude that this is true only for the short version. Second, the authors study whether the correlations between the subscales follow a circumplex pattern. This proves to be true for both versions. Coefficients alpha and correlations between the IIP-64 and IIP-32 subscales are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A classification of predictive-reactive project scheduling procedures

The vast majority of the project scheduling research efforts over the past several years have concentrated on the development of workable predictive baseline schedules, assuming complete information and a static and deterministic environment. During execution, however, a project may be subject to numerous schedule disruptions. Proactive-reactive project scheduling procedures try to cope with these disruptions through the combination of a proactive scheduling procedure for generating predictive baseline schedules that are hopefully robust in that they incorporate safety time to absorb anticipated disruptions with a reactive procedure that is invoked when a schedule breakage occurs during project execution. In this paper we discuss the results obtained by a large experimental design set up to evaluate several predictive-reactive resource-constrained project scheduling procedures under the composite objective of maximizing both the schedule stability and the timely project completion probability.     

Reversible Anion‐Driven Switching of an Organic 2D Crystal at a Solid–Liquid Interface

Ionic self‐assembly of charged molecular building blocks relies on the interplay between long‐range electrostatic forces and short‐range, often cooperative, supramolecular interactions, yet has been seldom studied in two dimensions at the solid–liquid interface. Here, we demonstrate anion‐driven switching of two‐dimensional (2D) crystal structure at the Au(111)/octanoic acid interface. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), three organic salts with identical polyaromatic cation (PQPC₆⁺) but different anions (perchlorate, anthraquinonedisulfonate, benzenesulfonate) are shown to form distinct, highly ordered self‐assembled structures. Reversible switching of the supramolecular arrangement is demonstrated by in situ exchange of the anion on the pre‐formed adlayer, by changing the concentration ratio between the incoming and outgoing anion. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that perchlorate is highly mobile in the adlayer, and corroborate why this anion is only resolved transiently in STM. Surprisingly, the templating effect of the anion persists even where it does not become part of the adlayer 2D fabric, which we ascribe to differences in stabilization of cation conformations by the anion. Our results provide important insight into the structuring of mixed anion–cation adlayers. This is essential in the design of tectons for ionic self‐assembled superstructures and biomimetic adaptive materials and valuable also to understand adsorbate–adsorbate interactions in heterogeneous catalysis.     

Dyadic spatial resolution reduction transcoding for H.264/AVC

In this paper, we examine spatial resolution downscaling transcoding for H.264/AVC video coding. A number of advanced coding tools limit the applicability of techniques, which were developed for previous video coding standards. We present a spatial resolution reduction transcoding architecture for H.264/AVC, which extends open-loop transcoding with a low-complexity compensation technique in the reduced-resolution domain. The proposed architecture tackles the problems in H.264/AVC and avoids visual artifacts in the transcoded sequence, while keeping complexity significantly lower than more traditional cascaded decoder–encoder architectures. The refinement step of the proposed architecture can be used to further improve rate-distortion performance, at the cost of additional complexity. In this way, a dynamic-complexity transcoder is rendered possible. We present a thorough investigation of the problems related to motion and residual data mapping, leading to a transcoding solution resulting in fully compliant reduced-size H.264/AVC bitstreams.     

Estimating the Impact of Water Pricing on Water Use Efficiency in Semi-arid Cropping System: An Application of Probabilistically Constrained Nonparametric Efficiency Analysis

By introducing proper pricing instruments, farm level water can be used more efficient. But it demands a proper estimation strategy to analyse the efficiency and the input use behavior of farms under the new pricing system. As most production relationships are stochastic in nature, excluding random errors and noise from model specifications often leads to criticism. By using a probabilistically constrained programming formulation, an empirical estimation of stochastic data envelopment analysis (DEA) is done to analyze the efficiency of irrigation water use in the agricultural production system in the Krishna river basin, India. The results illustrate that water demand is higher for farms at, or close to the frontier and lower for those with low efficiency levels. In a second step, a simulation model is developed by using the frontier and economic efficiency derived from stochastic DEA to analyse the impact of water pricing on water use efficiency and water use behaviour. It is shown that an increase in the water price would not cause sizeable profit loss, if the pricing system is administered on a volumetric basis, but water demand would decrease substantially.     

Actual neurosis and PTSD: The impact of the other.

The authors argue that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not an automatic consequence of a trauma. A review of empirical research demonstrates that there must be subjective mediating factors. On the basis of a conceptual reasoning, the existence of an actual-neurotic structure prior to the traumatic event is put forward as a precondition for the development of PTSD. Freud's theory on actual neurosis is interpreted as the impossibility to process the arousal coming from the drive in a symbolic way. The reason for this impossibility is sought in the failure of the primary caretakers in presenting the child with the necessary symbolic tools for drive regulation. The therapeutic implications of the presence of an actual-neurotic structure are important, because it can lead to a failure of free association. Suggestions for a more fruitful approach are formulated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Benchmarking Least Squares Support Vector Machine Classifiers

In Support Vector Machines (SVMs), the solution of the classification problem is characterized by a (convex) quadratic programming (QP) problem. In a modified version of SVMs, called Least Squares SVM classifiers (LS-SVMs), a least squares cost function is proposed so as to obtain a linear set of equations in the dual space. While the SVM classifier has a large margin interpretation, the LS-SVM formulation is related in this paper to a ridge regression approach for classification with binary targets and to Fisher's linear discriminant analysis in the feature space. Multiclass categorization problems are represented by a set of binary classifiers using different output coding schemes. While regularization is used to control the effective number of parameters of the LS-SVM classifier, the sparseness property of SVMs is lost due to the choice of the 2-norm. Sparseness can be imposed in a second stage by gradually pruning the support value spectrum and optimizing the hyperparameters during the sparse approximation procedure. In this paper, twenty public domain benchmark datasets are used to evaluate the test set performance of LS-SVM classifiers with linear, polynomial and radial basis function (RBF) kernels. Both the SVM and LS-SVM classifier with RBF kernel in combination with standard cross-validation procedures for hyperparameter selection achieve comparable test set performances. These SVM and LS-SVM performances are consistently very good when compared to a variety of methods described in the literature including decision tree based algorithms, statistical algorithms and instance based learning methods. We show on ten UCI datasets that the LS-SVM sparse approximation procedure can be successfully applied.     

Health burden of road traffic accidents,an analysis of clinical data on disability and mortality exposure rates in Flanders and Brussels

Statistics on road traffic accidents (RTAs) mainly come from police records. The police reported RTA statistics however are known to have a large degree of under-registration, underestimating the true risk of being injured in traffic accidents. The use of medical based datasets can provide a more accurate estimate of the actual traffic accident health risk. Exposure-based rates of the actual burden from Flanders and Brussels were calculated, comparing differences between road user, age, gender and type of injury sustained. Minimal Clinical Data (MCD) was selected for the years 2003–2007, as well as data from the mortality statistics. Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) were calculated and put into perspective with the passenger kilometres travelled.     

Autism-friendly architecture from the outside in and the inside out: an explorative study based on autobiographies of autistic people

Researchers and designers each developed a particular vision on autism-friendly architecture. Because the basis of this vision is not always clear, questions arise about its meaning and value and about how it can be put to use. People with a diagnosis on the autism spectrum are central to these questions, yet risk to disappear from the picture. Refocusing the discourse about autism-friendly architecture on them was the aim of the explorative study reported here. Six autobiographies written by autistic (young) adults were analysed from two different viewpoints. First, concepts from design guidelines concerning autism-friendly architecture were confronted with fragments from these autobiographies. The second part of the analysis started from the autobiographies themselves. This analysis shows that concepts can be interpreted in multiple ways. They can reinforce but also counteract each other, thus asking for critical judgment. An open space is preferred by some autistic people because it affords having an overview, which increases predictability, and distancing oneself from others without being isolated. Others might like this space to be subdivided into several separate spaces, which affords a sense of structure or reduces sensory inputs present in one room. The six autobiographies provide a glimpse of autistic people’s world of experience. Analysing these is a first step in revealing what architecture can actually mean from their point of view. For them, the material environment has a prominent meaning that is, however, not always reducible to design guidelines. It offers them something to hold on to, relate to or structure their reality.     

Clinical evaluation of ultra-high-field MRI for three-dimensional visualisation of tumour size in uveal melanoma patients,with direct relevance to treatment planning

Objectives

To assess the tumour dimensions in uveal melanoma patients using 7-T ocular MRI and compare these values with conventional ultrasound imaging to provide improved information for treatment options.

Materials and methods

Ten uveal melanoma patients were examined on a 7-T MRI system using a custom-built eye coil and dedicated 3D scan sequences to minimise eye-motion-induced image artefacts. The maximum tumour prominence was estimated from the three-dimensional images and compared with the standard clinical evaluation from 2D ultrasound images.

Results

The MRI protocols resulted in high-resolution motion-free images of the eye in which the tumour and surrounding tissues could clearly be discriminated. For eight of the ten patients the MR images showed a slightly different value of tumour prominence (average 1.0 mm difference) compared to the ultrasound measurements, which can be attributed to the oblique cuts through the tumour made by the ultrasound. For two of these patients the more accurate results from the MR images changed the treatment plan, with the smaller tumour dimensions making them eligible for eye-preserving therapy.

Conclusion

High-field ocular MRI can yield a more accurate measurement of the tumour dimensions than conventional ultrasound, which can result in significant changes in the prescribed treatment.