A psychometric comparison of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Observer Alexithymia Scale (OAS) in an alcohol-dependent sample

Alexithymia is characterised by deficits in emotional insight and self reflection, that impact on the efficacy of psychological treatments. Given the high prevalence of alexithymia in Alcohol Use Disorders, valid assessment tools are critical. The majority of research on the relationship between alexithymia and alcohol-dependence has employed the self-administered Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). The Observer Alexithymia Scale (OAS) has also been recommended. The aim of the present study was to assess the validity and reliability of the OAS and the TAS-20 in an alcohol-dependent sample. Two hundred and ten alcohol-dependent participants in an outpatient Cognitive Behavioral Treatment program were administered the TAS-20 at assessment and upon treatment completion at 12 weeks. Clinical psychologists provided observer assessment data for a subsample of 159 patients. The findings confirmed acceptable internal consistency, test-retest reliability and scale homogeneity for both the OAS and TAS-20, except for the low internal consistency of the TAS-20 EOT scale. The TAS-20 was more strongly associated with alcohol problems than the OAS.

Sensor fault-tolerant observer applied in satellite attitude control

The observing failure and feedback instability might happen when the partial sensors of a satellite attitude control system (SACS) go wrong. A fault diagnosis and isolation (FDI) method based on a fault observer is introduced to detect and isolate the fault sensor at first. Based on the FDI result, the object system state-space equation is transformed and divided into a corresponsive triangular canonical form to decouple the normal subsystem from the fault subsystem. And then the KX fault-tolerant observers of the system in different modes are designed and embedded into online monitoring. The outputs of all KX fault-tolerant observers are selected by the control switch process. That can make sense that the SACS is part-observed and in stable when the partial sensors break down. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.

A confirmatory factor analysis of the Observer Alexithymia Scale in treatment seeking alcohol-dependent patients

Confirmatory factor analyses evaluated the factorial validity of the Observer Alexithymia Scale (OAS) in an alcohol-dependent sample. Observation was conducted by clinical psychologists. All models examined were rejected, given their poor fit. Given the psychometric limitations of the OAS shown in this study, the OAS may not be the most appropriate measure to use early in treatment among alcohol-dependent individuals.

Australian baby boomers switched to more environment friendly modes of transport during the global financial crisis

The global financial crisis (GFC) in 2008 rocked local, regional, and state economies throughout the world. Several intermediate outcomes of the GFC have been well documented in the literature including loss of jobs and reduced income. Relatively little research has, however, examined the impacts of the GFC on individual level travel behaviour change. To address this shortcoming, HABITAT panel data were employed to estimate a multinomial logit model to examine mode switching behaviour between 2007 (pre-GFC) and 2009 (post-GFC) of a baby boomers cohort in Brisbane, Australia—a city within a developed country that has been on many metrics the least affected by the GFC. In addition, a Poisson regression model was estimated to model the number of trips made by individuals in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The South East Queensland Travel Survey datasets were used to develop this model. Four linear regression models were estimated to assess the effects of the GFC on time allocated to travel during a day: one for each of the three travel modes including public transport, active transport, less environmentally friendly transport; and an overall travel time model irrespective of mode. The results reveal that individuals were more likely to switch to public transport who lost their job or whose income reduced between 2007 and 2009. Individuals also made significantly fewer trips in 2008 and 2009 compared to 2007. Individuals spent significantly less time using less environmentally friendly transport but more time using public transport in 2009. Baby boomers switched to more environmentally friendly travel modes during the GFC.

A nonlinear observer for estimating transverse stability parameters of marine surface vessels

This paper presents a nonlinear observer for estimating parameters associated with the restoring term of a roll motion model of a marine vessel in longitudinal waves. Changes in restoring, also referred to as transverse stability, can be the result of changes in the vessel's centre of gravity due to, for example, water on deck and also in changes in the buoyancy triggered by variations in the water-plane area produced by longitudinal waves -- propagating along the fore-aft direction along the hull. These variations in the restoring can change dramatically the dynamics of the roll motion leading to dangerous resonance. Therefore, it is of interest to estimate and detect such changes.

Frequency-motivated observer design for the prediction of parametric roll resonance control applications in marine systems

This work deals with estimators for predicting when parametric roll resonance is going to occur in surface vessels. The roll angle of the vessel is modeled as a second-order linear oscillatory system with unknown parameters. Several algorithms are used to estimate the parameters and eigenvalues of the system based on data gathered experimentally on a 1:45 scale model of a tanker. Based on the estimated eigenvalues, the system predicts whether or not parametric roll occurred. A prediction accuracy of 100% is achieved for regular waves, and up to 87.5% for irregular waves.

Robust Controller Design of Networked Control Systems with Nonlinear Uncertainties

We address robust stabilization problem for networked control systems with nonlinear uncertainties and packet losses by modelling such systems as a class of uncertain switched systems. Based on theories on switched Lyapunov functions, we derive the robustly stabilizing conditions for state feedback stabilization and design packet-loss dependent controllers by solving some matrix inequalities. A numerical example and some simulations are worked out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design method.

i-Cobb - An innovative technique in spinal radiographic measurement

The measurement of Cobb angles from radiographs is routine practice in spinal clinics. The technique relies on the use and availability of specialist equipment such as a goniometer, cobbometer or protractor. The aim of this study was to validate the use of i-Phone (Apple Inc) combined with Tilt Meter Pro software as compared to a protractor in the measurement of Cobb angles. Between November 2008 and December 2008 20 patients were selected at random from the Paediatric Spine Research Groups Database. A power calculation was performed which indicated if n=240 measurements the study had a 96% chance of detecting a 5 degree difference between groups. All patients had idiopathic scoliosis with a range of curve types and severities. The study found the i-Phone combined with Tilt Meter Pro software offers a faster alternative to the traditional method of Cobb angle measurement. The use of i-Phone offers a more convenient way of measuring Cobb angles in the outpatient setting. The intra-observer repeatability of the iPhone is equivalent to the protractor in the measurement of Cobb angles.

Improving behaviour classification consistency: a technique from biological taxonomy

Quantitative behaviour analysis requires the classification of behaviour to produce the basic data. In practice, much of this work will be performed by multiple observers, and maximising inter-observer consistency is of particular importance. Another discipline where consistency in classification is vital is biological taxonomy. A classification tool of great utility, the binary key, is designed to simplify the classification decision process and ensure consistent identification of proper categories. We show how this same decision-making tool - the binary key - can be used to promote consistency in the classification of behaviour. The construction of a binary key also ensures that the categories in which behaviour is classified are complete and non-overlapping. We discuss the general principles of design of binary keys, and illustrate their construction and use with a practical example from education research.

The synthesis and application of novel profluorescent nitroxides as probes for polymer degradation

This PhD project has expanded the knowledge in the area of profluorescent nitroxides with regard to the synthesis and characterisations of novel profluorescent nitroxide probes as well as physical characterisation of the probe molecules in various polymer/physical environments. The synthesis of the first example of an azaphenalene-based fused aromatic nitroxide TMAO, [1,1,3,3-tetramethyl-2,3-dihydro-2-azaphenalen-2-yloxyl, was described. This novel nitroxide possesses some of the structural rigidity of the isoindoline class of nitroxides, as well as some properties akin to TEMPO nitroxides. Additionally, the integral aromatic ring imparts fluorescence that is switched on by radical scavenging reactions of the nitroxide, which makes it a sensitive probe for polymer degradation. In addition to the parent TMAO, 5 other azaphenalene derivatives were successfully synthesised. This new class of nitroxide was expected to have interesting redox properties when the structure was investigated by high-level ab initio molecular orbitals theory. This was expected to have implications with biological relevance as the calculated redox potentials for the azaphenalene ring class would make them potent antioxidant compounds. The redox potentials of 25 cyclic nitroxides from four different structural classes (pyrroline, piperidine, isoindoline and azaphenalene) were determined by cyclic voltammetry in acetonitrile. It was shown that potentials related to the one electron processes of the nitroxide were influenced by the type of ring system, ring substituents or groups surrounding the moiety. Favourable comparisons were found between theoretical and experimental potentials for pyrroline, piperidine and isoindoline ring classes. Substitution of these ring classes, were correctly calculated to have a small yet predictable effect on the potentials. The redox potentials of the azaphenalene ring class were underestimated by the calculations in all cases by at least a factor of two. This is believed to be due to another process influencing the redox potentials of the azaphenalene ring class which is not taken into account by the theoretical model. It was also possible to demonstrate the use of both azaphenalene and isoindoline nitroxides as additives for monitoring radical mediated damage that occurs in polypropylene as well as in more commercially relevant polyester resins. Polymer sample doped with nitroxide were exposed to both thermo-and photo-oxidative conditions with all nitroxides showing a protective effect. It was found that isoindoline nitroxides were able to indicate radical formation in polypropylene aged at elevated temperatures via fluorescence build-up. The azaphenalene nitroxide TMAO showed no such build-up of fluorescence. This was believed to be due to the more labile bond between the nitroxide and macromolecule and the protection may occur through a classical Denisov cycle, as is expected for commercially available HAS units. Finally, A new profluorescent dinitroxide, BTMIOA (9,10-bis(1,1,3,3- tetramethylisoindolin-2-yloxyl-5-yl)anthracene), was synthesised and shown to be a powerful probe for detecting changes during the initial stages of thermo-oxidative degradation of polypropylene. This probe, which contains a 9,10-diphenylanthracene core linked to two nitroxides, possesses strongly suppressed fluorescence due to quenching by the two nitroxide groups. This molecule also showed the greatest protective effect on thermo-oxidativly aged polypropylene. Most importantly, BTMIOA was found to be a valuable tool for imaging and mapping free-radical generation in polypropylene using fluorescence microscopy.

The role of decision-maker preferences in tenancy selection of CBD office accommodation – preliminary literature review

The literature and anecdotal evidence suggests that that there is more to tenancy selection (firm location) than the profit maximisation drive that traditional neo-classical economic location theory suggests. In the first instance these models assume property markets are rational and perfectly competitive; the CBD office market is clearly neither rational nor perfectly competitive. This fact alone relegates such models to the margins of usefulness for an industry that seeks to satisfy tenant demand in order to optimise returns on capital invested. Acknowledgment of property market imperfections are universally accepted to the extent that all contemporary texts discuss the lack of a coherent centralised market place and incomplete and poorly disseminated information processes as fundamental inadequacies which characterise the property market inefficiencies. Less well researched are the facets of the market which allow the observer to determine market activity to be significantly irrational. One such facet is that of ‘decision maker preferences’. The decision to locate a business operation at one location as opposed to another seems ostensibly a routine choice based on short, medium and long term business objectives. These objectives are derived from a process of strategic planning by one or more individuals whose goal is held to be to optimise outcomes which benefit the business (and presumably those employed within it). However the decision making processes appear bounded by how firms function, the institutional context in which they operate, as well as by opportunistic behaviour by individual decision makers who allow personal preferences to infiltrate and ‘corrupt’ the process. In this way, history, culture, geography, as well as institutions all become significant to the extent that these influence and shape individual behaviour which in turn determine the morphology of individual preferences, as well as providing a conduit for them to take effect. This paper exams historical and current literature on the impact of individual behaviour in the decision making process within organisations as a precursor to an investigation of the tenancy decision making process within the CBD office market. Literature on the topic falls within a number of research disciplines, philosophy, psychology and economics to name a few.

I-cobb - An innovative technique in spinal radiographic measurement

The measurement of Cobb angles on radiographs of patients with spinal deformities is routine practice in spinal clinics. The technique relies on the use and availability of specialist equipment such as a goniometer, cobbometer or protractor. The aim of this study was to validate the use of i-Phone (Apple Inc) combined with Tilt Meter Pro software as compared to a protractor in the measurement of Cobb angles. The i-Phone combined with Tilt Meter Pro software offers a faster alternative to the traditional method of Cobb angle measurement. The use of i-Phone offers a more convenient way of measuring Cobb angles in the outpatient setting. The intra-observer repeatability of the iPhone is equivalent to the protractor in the measurement of Cobb angles.

Love at first sight : Sanja Pahoki

I am a landscape architect, a non-photographer, and in reviewing this exhibition, it seems that in a critical discourse on photography the nature of the view and its relation to the observer (presumably the camera) is inevitably a key focus of creative inquiry, in an epistemological sense. In conducting such a review, of 'self-portraits' by 'female photographers' in relation to 'the landscape', one cannot help but ask what priority this critique should allocate to each of these conceptual agendas, quite apart from the simple formal quality of the individual pieces themselves. Analytically, each could form the axes of a matrix that might allow for a number of quite different permutations and therefore differently conclusive commentaries on the others: the view vs landscape; the view vs sexuality; the self-portrait vs the landscape picture. All of these would be productive in their own right and each is alluded to in the works themselves and in the narrative of the catalogue. Considering this range of possible permutations, this show is certainly rich and this richness sits well with the relative formal saturation of the images themselves.

EMI issues in high power and high level diode-clamped converters

Planar busbar is a good candidate to reduce interconnection inductance in high power inverters compared with cables. However, power switching components with fast switching combined with hard switched-converters produce high di/dt during turn off time and busbar stray inductance then becomes an important issue which creates overvoltage. It is necessary to keep the busbar stray inductance as low as possible to decrease overvoltage and Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) noise. In this paper, the effect of different transient current loops on busbar physical structure of the high-voltage high-level diode-clamped converters will be highlighted. Design considerations of proper planar busbar will also be presented to optimise the overall design of diode-clamped converters.

Design of self-turning controllers for two terminal HVDC link

This paper presents the design of self-tuning controllers for a two terminal HVDC link. The controllers are designed utilizing a novel discrete-time converter model based on multirate sampling. The nature of converter firing system necessitates the development of a two-step ahead self-tuning control strategy. A two terminal HVDC system study has been carried out to show the effectiveness of the control strategies proposed which include the design of minimum variance controller, pole assigned controller and PLQG controller. The coordinated control of a two terminal HVDC system has been established deriving the signal from inverter end current and voltage which has been estimated based on the measurements of rectifier end quantities only realized through the robust reduced order observer. A well known scaled down sample system data has been selected for studies and the controllers designed have been tested for worst conditions. The performance of self-tuning controllers has been evaluated through digital simulation.