Internship recruitment and the VA Psychology Training Program.

A survey of 13 accredited and 12 nonaccredited VA internship centers indicates a flexible and varied administration of the program at the local level as to stipends, training hours, and training rotations. Responses to an anonymous questionnaire by 115 intern applicants who rejected VA internship offers indicated that the rejecting interns had a positive image of the VA, but they wanted a more heterogeneous patient population and a greater academic atmosphere for their internship than they thought the VA could provide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactive modeling system for bridges

The modeling system described in this paper was developed in conjunction with the computer program called STACRB that was developed in the CURT research project at the University of Pennsylvania. In essence, the STACRB program utilized the method of finite elements to analyze the static behavior of horizontally curved and straight aligned bridge structures.

The modeling system communicates with the user through a problem oriented language. The commands in this language allow the user to define the parameters that characterize the structure, modify an already existing structure, or inquire about the results of analysis already completed for a structure. The commands are entered in free format and are executed interpretively, thus allowing the user to communicate with the system in a conversational mode. The user may also enter the command on punched cards and execute the routine as a non-conversational batch job. The modeling system can be used to either control the analysis or operate independently from it. In the former case, the modeling system synthesizes the structure, then calls on the STACRB program to analyze it. When the analysis is completed, the control is returned to the modeling system to interpret the results of the analysis according to the commands supplied by the user. In the latter case, the results from the modeling procedure alone are punched onto cards which may subsequently be inputed to the analysis routine.

The modeling system also includes facilities for graphical displays of components of the designed structure such as structure geometry and element discretization or results of analysis such as nodal deflections, reactions and element stresses. The displays may be produced either on the line printer for conversational purposes or on a CALCOMP plotter.

The overall increased efficiency introduced by the modeling system in the analysis/design cycle of a bridge structure is quite significant.     

A disservice to both professions.

C. A. Kiesler's (1977) editorial on the training of psychologists and psychiatrists does a disservice to both professions by presenting a biased and prejudicial viewpoint. The invidious comparisons between psychology and psychiatry are meant to show that psychology is superior, but this kind of inaccurate reporting may boomerang to the disadvantage of psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Feature enhancement techniques for the detection of spinal cord injury

Evoked potentials (EPs) produced by median nerve stimulation and recorded from the somatosensory receiving area of cat cortex were obtained from anaesthetized cats and averaged before and after one of two treatments. Seven data transformations were applied to the average EPs with the idea of emphasizing features of the EP pertinent for classification. The transformations applied involved both time and frequency domain representation of the original average EPs. Statistical multivariate classification techniques were then used to obtain canonical plots of the original and transformed EPs. In every case, frequency domain analysis resulted in better separation between treatment categories. It was also found that the power spectrum which was normalized by its average power proved the best for classification purposes.     

An improved finite-difference vector beam propagation formulationfor graded-index waveguides

An improved finite-difference vector beam propagation formulation for graded-index waveguides is presented. The modification over the existing version involves a more accurate representation of the Fresnel operator in finite-difference form that accounts for the gradient of the refractive index in the vector Hehmholtz equation. The modified scheme is assessed by calculating the TM mode propagation constants of single-mode planar guides that yield better agreement to the exact values over the existing scheme. Furthermore, the calculated coupling lengths of a vertical directional coupler show improved comparison to experimental data     

The user interface to computer-based information systems: a survey of current software design practice

From a survey of 201 people concerned with information-system design, estimates for 83 systems indicate that on average 30—35, per cent of operational software is devoted to the user-system interface (USI). In the design of USI software, survey responses indicate that improvements are needed in requirements definition, design documentation and design guidelines.     

On the detection of a signal in colored noise

A modeling approach is used in the detection of a random signal in colored noise. The received sequence is modeled as a regressive/autoregressive time series, and the presence or absence of the desired signal is determined through a hypothesis testing procedure. The test is based on the construction of anF-statistic using likelihood functions. The statistic can be easily incorporated into the computation of the probability of a false alarm, such as required in the processing of radar signals. Results based on simulated data and actual radar data are presented.This research was supported by NSERC Grant No. A3635.     

Estimation of direction-of-arrivals based on the array manifold space

In this paper, a high resolution technique for estimating DOAs of spatially close source signals is presented. It is observed that the array manifold over a sector of interest is rank deficient and the dimension of the array manifold space, which is the range space of the array manifold, is less than the number of sensors in the array. The true signal subspace is a subspace in the array manifold space. A novel technique is provided that searches for the signal subspace in this array manifold space. The resulting estimated signal subspace has minimum principal angles with the data signal subspace generated by eigen-decomposing the covariance matrix of the array data vector. It is proved that the proposed estimator is asymptotically consistent and the estimated signal subspace is closer to the true signal subspace than the data signal subspace formed by MUSIC. The proposed novel technique has better performance than the MUSIC algorithm. Its performance is comparable to MLE and MD-MUSIC yet it requires only one-dimensional searches and is computationally much less intense. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed technique, and comparisons with MUSIC, MLE, and MD-MUSIC algorithms are also included.This research was supported by TRIO and NSERC.