The effects of manual-based training on treatment fidelity and outcome: A review of the literature on adult individual psychotherapy.

The authors examine training issues related to the use of treatment manuals in psychotherapy outcome research. In particular, they examine methodological considerations such as the operationalization of manual-based training, trainer effects, therapist variables that mediate training, issues related to experimental design, and the choice and definition of appropriate dependent variables. The research literature indicates that manual-based training can produce technical adherence. Improvements in treatment competence were seen within, as opposed to across, cases. Researchers have been unable to draw strong links between treatment fidelity and patient outcomes. The review concludes that the limited focus on training studies in the manual-based treatment field compromises conclusions drawn from psychotherapy outcome research that relies on manuals to ensure a uniform delivery of the experimental variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mode selection and stability of a semiconductor laser with weakoptical feedback

The authors present measurements that show that a semiconductor laser with weak optical feedback oscillates in the external-cavity mode with the narrowest linewidth rather than the mode with minimum threshold gain. A frequency fluctuation model that explains this narrowest linewidth operation is proposed. This model also correctly predicts mode-hopping frequencies. It is shown that the frequency span of the external-cavity modes determines the critical feedback level that causes coherence collapse     

Entwicklungen und Nachweisuntersuchungen von Diagnosemethoden für Wasserkraftgeneratoren

In cooperation between two utilities and two generator manufacturers the stator windings of two severely loaded motor generator sets were tested with different online methods. The selected test methods reflect the different diagnosis philosophies of these companies. In addition to different PD measuring systems, analysis of the cooling air with respect to ozone and other gaseous reaction products as well as structureborne sound diagnosis were applied. To check the coincidence of the diagnosis the test results have been individually evaluated and separately commented in this paper. Differences are discussed in a common conclusion. On account of various types of insulation defects interesting findings have been obtained.     

The extended function fast Fourier transform (EF-FFT)

The periodicity assumption implicit in fast Fourier transform (FFT) techniques can be utilized through time-domain prealiasing to obtain the spectral components of infinite-duration time-domain reflectometry signals when they can be modeled, outside the observation window, with step and/or exponential functions. The technique is shown to be more accurate than both conventional windowing and the other FFT approaches described in the literature for analysis of steplike signals. The duality equation relating the extension functions introduced in the extended function FFT (EF-FFT) method to conventional window functions is derived. Using this relation, it is shown that signals with high-frequency content only within the observation window are best analyzed with EF-FFT methods and that signals with time-distributed spectral components (e.g., speech) are best analyzed with conventional FFT methods     

The influence of processing on the microstructure and the microwave properties of Co-F-codoped barium strontium titanate thick-films

The influence of processing on the microstructure and the dielectric properties of Co-F-codoped Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃ (BST) thick-films has been investigated. BST powders with different particle sizes were prepared and applied on alumina substrates by screen-printing. The resulting thick-films were sintered at different holding times and characterized with respect to their microstructure and microwave properties. The microstructure of the thick-films shows a clear dependency on sintering time and initial particle size. In addition to grain growth, the formation of a secondary phase is observed at the interface between substrate and BST with increasing sintering time. The dielectric characterization at microwave frequencies shows an increase of tunability with larger grain size while the dielectric loss is even lowered. This shows the strong influence of the microstructure on the material properties and the possibility of tailoring the material through specific processing.