Principles of psychotherapeutic strategy.

Argues that strategy fills a real need in psychotherapeutic thinking. An attempt is made to define strategic rules for (1) choosing and defining goals, (2) locating strategic points, (3) actively searching for the client's responses, (4) dealing with resistance, (5) exploiting or creating propitious timings, (6) mobilizing allies, (7) concentrating the therapeutic influence, (8) stabilizing partial achievements, (9) dealing with competing demands, (10) retreating after failure, and (11) changing the therapeutic framework when needed. Each principle is illustrated by interventions from different therapeutic orientations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Super-resolution in PET imaging

This paper demonstrates a super-resolution method for improving the resolution in clinical positron emission tomography (PET) scanners. Super-resolution images were obtained by combining four data sets with spatial shifts between consecutive acquisitions and applying an iterative algorithm. Super-resolution attenuation corrected PET scans of a phantom were obtained using the two-dimensional and three-dimensional (3-D) acquisition modes of a clinical PET/computed tomography (CT) scanner (Discovery LS, GEMS). In a patient study, following a standard 18F-FDG PET/CT scan, a super-resolution scan around one small lesion was performed using axial shifts without increasing the patient radiation exposure. In the phantom study, smaller features (3 mm) could be resolved axially with the super-resolution method than without (6 mm). The super-resolution images had better resolution than the original images and provided higher contrast ratios in coronal images and in 3-D acquisition transaxial images. The coronal super-resolution images had superior resolution and contrast ratios compared to images reconstructed by merely interleaving the data to the proper axial location. In the patient study, super-resolution reconstructions displayed a more localized 18F-FDG uptake. A new approach for improving the resolution of PET images using a super-resolution method has been developed and experimentally confirmed, employing a clinical scanner. The improvement in axial resolution requires no changes in hardware.     

Diseases of hope and the work of despair.

Discusses hope as not always an asset for the client or the psychotherapist: many difficult conditions can be described as diseases of hope. Hope becomes diseased partially as a function of its unlikelihood, but also when it leads to disparagement of the present, to mindless sacrifices, and to rigid attitudes or behaviors. The authors present the work of despair as a viable option in psychotherapy, claiming that, when the client displays signs of suffering from a disease of hope, the therapist may suggest that a "course of constructive despair" might serve as an antidote. This seeming oxymoron turns out to be surprisingly acceptable to clients. Case material is presented to illustrate the technique. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mesh insensitive formulation for initiation and growth of shear bands using mixed finite elements

An Implicit Nonlinearly Consistent (INC) numerical solution of a partial differential equation (PDE) model for shear bands, which includes a thermo-visco-plastic flow rule and finite thermal conductivity, is presented, and is found to be insensitive to mesh size. Insensitivity is achieved through the use of finite thermal conductivity in the PDE model in conjunction with the INC numerical solver. Finite thermal conductivity gives rise to an inherent physical length scale in the PDE model, governed by competition between shear heating and diffusion. This length scale serves as a localization limiter and will regularize the problem in the strain softening regime. This occurs since diffusion removes heat from the shearband more quickly as localization becomes more severe (i.e. as temperature gradients steepen). The INC solver leaves no splitting error at the end of a time step and is accurate even during phases for which the solution is evolving very rapidly. A key point in this paper is the analytical derivation of the system Jacobian by differentiation of the weak form of the PDE model, thus avoiding the use of numerical approximation formulas. In contrast, solution of the same continuous model using an operator split solution scheme is seen to lead to unreasonably slow convergence. One and two dimensional implementations of the algorithm are presented. For two dimensions, a mixed quadrilateral using discontinuous bilinear functions for plastic strain, and the interpolants associated with the Pian-Sumihara element for the stress is implemented.     

Time required to determine performance variables and production efficiency of lactating dairy cows

Thirty-five lactating dairy cows throughout weeks of lactation (WOL) 16 to 30 were used to determine optimal time needed for reliable measurement of performance variables, and to classify the cows into high-, medium-, and low-efficiency groups. Individual performance variables [body weight (BW), dry matter intake (DMI), and milk production] were measured daily with a computerized monitoring system. Body condition was visually scored weekly and used to calculate retained or depleted body energy as a result of fat content change (RE_F). Milk composition was analyzed weekly. Body weight, DMI, and total recovered energy (RE), which represents energy in milk production plus RE_F, were summarized weekly. Efficiency was calculated as RE/DMI and as residual feed intake (RFI; i.e., the difference between actual and expected DMI), which was calculated from multiple linear regression of DMI dependence on BW^0.75 and RE. Unexpectedly, it was found that BW did not affect DMI and RE/DMI. Changes and relative changes in phenotypic coefficient of variation and correlations among data from shortened tests ranging from 1 wk (WOL 16) to a sequence of 15-wk tests were used to determine optimal test period durations for 5 traits: BW, DMI, RE, RE/DMI, and RFI. Traits were fitted into a mixed model with repeated measures. For each week, the traits were summarized as a sequence of cumulative data, starting from WOL 16 and cumulated over periods that increased in 1-wk steps up to WOL 16 to 29. Weekly cumulations were compared with those for entire test period (WOL 16 to 30). Consistency of each cow’s efficiency classification as high, medium, or low was tested by the total-agreement procedure; the kappa index P-value was used. Throughout WOL 16 to 30, the effects of increasing test period duration on between-animal coefficient of variation differed with respect to the various performance variables and RE/DMI: it tended to change with respect to BW, did not change with respect to DMI, and decreased with respect to RE and RE/DMI. In conclusion, compared with a 15-wk study, a 2-wk study can classify RFI and RE/DMI to 3 efficiency levels, with an individual correlation coefficient of 0.6. When the study was carried out over 3 wk or more, the lowest significant index of the classification was P < 0.004, the lowest individual correlation coefficient was 0.65, and its lowest significance was P < 0.01. The current study indicated that the insignificant effect of the BW of dairy lactating cows on their DMI should be validated in more studies.     

Maturity determination of fresh dates by near infrared spectrometry

In Israel, fresh dates are normally harvested unripe and stored in a controlled environment until marketed. Proper ripening depends on maturity at harvest time. Sugar and water contents of the dates are considered important maturity attributes. Decision‐making on the harvesting schedule for each section in a plantation of fresh dates (variety Hayani) is one of the major problems for the growers. In order to estimate the optimum harvest time, conventional laboratory methods have been used to assess the maturity of samples of dates; methods which by nature are destructive, manual and time consuming. A semi‐automatic system for maturity determination of fresh dates has been developed, tested and operated. It combines a near infrared (NIR) spectrometer with a step‐wise cell conveyor, both of which are controlled by a PC. The NIR models were based on measuring the water and total soluble solids (TSS) contents. The calibration models and the prediction results had a standard error of prediction (SEP) of 1% for TSS and water contents. The correlation coefficient R between TSS and water contents as predicted by NIR models and as measured in routine laboratory destructive tests was 0.9. The system was capable of testing 100 dates in 3 min. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry