Development and evaluation of the Air Travel Stress Scale.

Despite anecdotal evidence suggesting that air travel is personally demanding, little research has examined air travel stress. To address these issues, the author developed and evaluated the 1st known measure of air travel stress--the Air Travel Stress Scale--in 3 studies. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis indicated 3 components: (a) anxious reactions to adverse air travel events, (b) angry reactions to other passengers as well as an antecedent of air travel stress, and (c) the lack of trust that the airlines/airports will ensure one's comfort and safety. Each component had good internal reliability and test-retest reliability over a 6- to 7-week interval. Each component showed evidence for discriminant and convergent validity. Implications for research into understanding and intervening on air travel stress are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Convergent-Divergent Approach to Context Processing, General Intellectual Functioning, and the Genetic Liability to Schizophrenia.

Convergent and divergent validity are critically important in developing psychological measures that reveal interpretable deficits in disordered populations. This article reports on 2 studies that evaluated the validity of context processing measures. In Experiment 1, a confirmatory factor analysis of data from 481 healthy adults established the convergent validity of 2 context processing measures and showed that context processing accounted for significant amounts of variance in standard IQ and working memory measures. In Experiment 2, 20 schizophrenia patients, 16 of their healthy siblings, and 28 controls were evaluated using a novel, short context processing measure, the dot pattern expectancy (DPX) task. The DPX was sensitive to specific deficits in schizophrenia patients and their healthy siblings. These findings support the construct validity of context processing measures, suggest context processing is a component of intellectual functioning, and demonstrate that brief context processing measures remain sensitive to psychopathological deficits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Construct validation of the Rorschach Reality-Fantasy Scale in alexithymia.

The study applies Winnicott's conceptualization of potential space to the alexithymia construct by using a new Rorschach index, the Reality-Fantasy Scale (RFS). The scale uses variables derived from the Rorschach Comprehensive System (Exner, 2000, 2001) to detect different types of psychopathological manifestations conceptualized as forms of collapse of potential space. Following previous research, the present study further evaluates the construct validity of the RFS in a sample of 92 patients with inflammatory bowel disease, categorized on the basis of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) as alexithymic, indeterminate alexithymia, and nonalexithymic groups. As hypothesized, the RFS significantly correlated with the TAS-20, discriminated among the 3 groups, and showed incremental validity in detecting alexithymia over isolated Rorschach markers. The study supports the exploration of psychoanalytic ideas by empirical, statistically based methods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing Positive and Negative Changes in the Aftermath of Adversity: Psychometric Evaluation of the Changes in Outlook Questionnaire.

The Changes in Outlook Questionnaire (CiOQ; S. Joseph, R. Williams, & W. Yule, 1993) is a 26-item self-report measure that was designed to assess positive and negative changes in the aftermath of adversity. This article had 3 aims: 1st, to investigate the factor structure of the CiOQ; 2nd, to test for internal consistency reliability and convergent and discriminant validity; and, 3rd, to investigate the association between positive and negative changes in outlook, posttraumatic stress, and psychological distress. Three studies are reported. Study 1 provides evidence that positive and negative changes are statistically separable and that the 2-factor model is a better fit than the 1-factor model. Studies 2 and 3 provide evidence for internal consistency reliability, convergent and discriminant validity of the CiOQ, and its associations with posttraumatic stress and psychological distress. In conclusion, the CiOQ has much promise for research on responses to stressful and traumatic events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Psychological Price of Media Bias.

Media bias was investigated through the effects of a TV interviewer's preferential behavior on the image of the interviewee in the eyes of the viewers. Judges viewed a political interview with either a friendly or a hostile interviewer then rated their impressions of the interviewed politician, whose behavior was identical in all conditions. The preferential nonverbal behavior of the interviewer (controlling for recognition and comprehension of verbal content) systematically influenced viewers' ratings of the politician. The effect consisted mainly of damage to the politician in the hostile interviewer condition. Describing the interviewee as a professor yielded a similar preferential behavior effect. A strong halo effect was identified, but it was ruled out as the mechanism accounting for the interviewer effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

基于奇异值分解、模糊聚类和粗糙集理论的旋转机械故障诊断

对含有重复和冲突对象的离散决策表,提出了一种基于粗糙集的规则获取方法,使得获得的规则能够涵盖所有的对象。对连续条件属性值和离散决策属性值的决策表,基于矩阵的奇异值分解、模糊C均值聚类和粗糙集属性约简技术,提出连续属性最佳离散数目确定方法。在上述方法的基础上,进行旋转机械故障诊断的规则获取,获得的诊断规则具有很好的知识归纳能力和知识泛化能力。利用获得的诊断规则进行旋转机械故障诊断,建立了待诊断对象和诊断规则的弹性匹配模式,使得诊断结论的获取取决于不同的诊断要求。     

数学软件的数据分析功能在数学建模中的应用

数据分析方法是数学建模中常用的方法，面对大量数据的各种处理，要涉及许多多元统计分析知识，是数学建模的难点。许多数学软件都提供了强大的数据处理功能，将其引入数学建模的教学中，能大大提高学生分析处理数据的能力。本文通过用数学软件的聚类分析与时间序列分析功能建立中原城市群的谱系聚类模型与货运公司申请批复的时间序列模型两个实例，说明数学软件的数据分析功能在数学建模中的应用。     

聚类在系统智能化控制中的一种应用

讨论作者开发的一个基于聚类算法实现智能化控制的一种仿真系统。该系统利用原型系统的仿真模型产生所需要的原始数据,并通过把原始数据进行聚类来构造对系统进行智能化控制的知识库,然后利用分类方法从知识库中选择合适的法则,从而实现对系统的智能化控制。     

掺气水流图象检测中的一种气泡区域提取方法

针对掺气水流图象中气泡的提取问题,提出了一种基于块聚类的二维直方图综合算法.该算法首先采用将图象依次划分为不同大小的子块,并进行二值化处理的方法来解决强气泡信息遮蔽弱气泡信息的问题;然后用块聚类的方法识别出单纯背景子块,并对其进行特殊处理;接着对得到的二值图象进行评价子块划分,并依据所定义的评价函数进行气泡信息的综合处理;最后对原始图象中出现的,无法用图象分割手段分离的叠加气泡区域的面积,用统计特性分析的方法对其进行叠加纠正补偿,同时对所得到的气泡面积分布进行定量估计.大量的实验结果证明该算法是有效的.     

基于模糊综合聚类的土环境污染评价

将模糊聚类最大矩阵元原理与模糊决策中的综合评判法相结合，建立了模糊综合聚类法，对地下土体污染程度进行最优评判，并且对污染因子进行分类，为治理土体污染提供了依据．利用模糊综合聚类法对中国北方某城市土体污染程度进行了分类与评判，得到较满意的结果．