Michael J. Mahoney: A retrospective.

Michael Mahoney, who made seminal contributions not only to the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) but also to the entire field of psychotherapy, died a tragic death at the age of 60 on May 31, 2006. He published more than 250 scholarly articles and chapters, authored and edited 19 books (one of which was awarded a Citation Classic by the Science Citation Index), edited 4 journals, and served on 23 editorial boards plus numerous guest editorships and advisory boards. His research spanned a tremendous breadth without sacrificing depth. Primarily, however, he inquired into development across the life course, including but not limited to psychotherapy. Initially trained as a behaviorist, he played a significant role in the cognitive revolution in psychology; he was also a leading figure in constructivist psychotherapies. He was a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, as well as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Real options and technology management: Assessing technology migration options in wireless industry

The wireless industry is currently undergoing a major transition from second generation (2G) to third generation (3G) wireless technologies. The paper attempts to assess wireless technology migration options using the real options approach (ROA) to support the wireless network operators’ strategic decisions: to migrate or not, if so, which migration path to take. The preliminary result shows that the evolution of wireless network technologies between generations is desirable, but not within generations. Finally, from a strategic perspective, we should consider the possible challenges that may hinder migration. By identifying these challenges, we can be more watchful of transition pitfalls and can choose a better alternative.     

A new engine indicating measurement procedure for combustion heat release analysis

This paper presents a new arrangement for the indicating measurement system utilized in the study of internal combustion engines. In this experimental configuration, the current polarized by a piezoelectric pressure transducer is converted into an analog signal proportional to the cylinder pressure variation rate, which constitutes the primary information for combustion heat release analysis. The proposed technique reduces the uncertainty in the pressure derivative data, providing more accurate heat release results than those obtained with the traditional transducer signal conditioning procedure, which requires the numerical derivation of in-cylinder pressure data supplied by a charge amplifier.     

The Critical Temperature of Aluminum

The critical temperature, T _c, of metals is a fundamental point when vaporization due to high energy exchanges occurs. Although aluminum is a metal often studied as a benchmark for theories, its critical temperature is not known with a high degree of accuracy. Its determination by experiment is difficult as a result of its high value. This paper reviews the existing data and proposes new ones resulting from recent measurements of particular physical properties and recent theoretical approaches. These new estimates lead to the recommended value of T _c = (6700 ± 800) K.     

Influence of sputter deposition parameters on the properties of tunable barium strontium titanate thin films for microwave applications

Barium strontium titanate (BST) thin films are studied with respect to their application as tunable dielectric at microwave frequencies. BST thin films are deposited by means of radio-frequency magnetron sputtering on platinized Si substrates. The substrate to target distance during sputter deposition is varied and the effect on structure, topology, composition and electronic properties is monitored using X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. These findings are related to the dielectric measurements, which are carried out at 1 MHz and in the microwave range up to 8 GHz using metal-insulator-metal structures with Pt electrodes. For further device evaluation, leakage current measurements are carried out. Changing the process parameter strongly affects the composition of the films. The results emphasize the possibility for enhancing the microwave properties by fine-tuning of the chosen process parameter.     

Durability of rammed earth walls exposed for 20 years to natural weathering

This paper presents a study on the durability of different types of stabilised and unstabilised rammed earth walls. These rammed earth walls were constructed and exposed for 20 years to natural weathering, in a wet continental climate. None of these walls have shown complete collapse to date. A method to measure the rammed earth walls erosion by stereo-photogrammetry has been developed. The result shows that the mean erosion depth of the studied walls is about 2 mm (0.5% wall thickness) in the case of rammed earth wall stabilised with 5% by dry weight of hydraulic lime and about 6.4 mm (1.6% wall thickness) in the case of unstabilised rammed earth walls. The stabilisation enables to not use any plaster to protect the walls. In the case of the unstabilised rammed earth walls, an extrapolated lifetime longer than 60 years can be assessed. This shows a potential for the use of unstabilised rammed earth in the similar climatic conditions with this study. The method of stereo-photogrammetry used to measure the erosion of rammed earth walls on site may also help to calibrate and develop more pertinent laboratory test to assess the durability of rammed earth wall.     

Measurement of the induced refractive index in a photothermorefractive glass by a liquid-cell shearing interferometer

A liquid-cell shearing interferometer was developed to measure refractive-index variations (delta n) in transparent materials. The cell was filled with a liquid having a matched refractive index. The achieved resolution was better than 1/1000 of a fringe shift and resulted in a delta n measurement sensitivity down to 10(-7) for 1-mm-thick samples. A refractive-index increment in photothermorefractive glass of up to 5 x 10(-6) was observed after UV exposure at 325 nm. A refractive-index decrement of up to 1 x 10(-3) was observed after thermal development of the exposed sample. It was proved that photothermorefractive glass obeys the reciprocity law; i.e., delta n depends on the UV dosage but does not depend on the irradiance.     

Ensuring visibility in calibration-free path planning for image-based visual servoing

We consider the problem of planning a path for image-based eye-in-hand visual servoing applications, when using an uncalibrated camera. Recent developments in this field lead to analytical interpolation between two views of an unknown object, in the projective space. Literature also provides extensions of these approaches that account for the target visibility constraint. Unfortunately, these extensions require an (even weakly) calibrated camera, and involve iterative algorithms that are not proven to converge. In this paper, we propose a modification of an existing projective interpolation algorithm that guarantees the visibility of the observed target, while avoiding the use of any knowledge on the camera calibration parameters, nor on the observed object.     

Testing and evaluating virus detectors for handheld devices

The widespread use of personal digital assistants and smartphones gives securing these devices a high priority. Yet little attention has been placed on protecting handheld devices against viruses. Currently available antivirus software for handhelds is few in number. At this stage, the opportunity exists for the evaluation and improvement of current solutions. By pinpointing weaknesses in the current antivirus software, improvements can be made to properly protect these devices from a future tidal wave of viruses. This research evaluates four currently available antivirus solutions for handheld devices. A formal model of virus transformation that provides transformation traceability is presented. Two sets of ten tests each were administered; nine tests from each set involved the modification of source code of two known viruses for handheld devices. The testing techniques used are well established in PC testing; thus the focus of this research is solely on handheld devices. Statistical analysis of the test results show high false negative production rates for the antivirus software and an overall false negative production rate of 47.5% with a 95% confidence interval between 36.6% and 58.4%. This high rate shows that current solutions poorly identify modified versions of a virus. The virus is left undetected and capable of spreading, infecting and causing damage.     

Efficient compilation of array iterators for Lustre

In this paper, we present a compilation scheme along with optimizations for array iterators in the synchronous data flow language Lustre. We present the iterators (inspired from functional languages mechanisms such as map and foldl…) and show how to compile them into efficient imperative code that manipulates arrays and loops instead of inefficient code were arrays are expanded into independent variables.