1,465 research outputs found

    Generic Distribution Support for Programming Systems

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    This dissertation provides constructive proof, through the implementation of a middleware, that distribution transparency is practical, generic, and extensible. Fault tolerant distributed services can be developed by using the failure detection abilities of the middleware. By generic we mean that the middleware can be used for many different programming languages and paradigms. Distribution for each kind of language entity is done in terms of consistency protocols, which guarantee that the semantics of the entities are preserved in a distributed setting. The middleware allows new consistency protocols to be added easily. The efficiency of the middleware and the ease of integration are shown by coupling the middleware to a programming system, which encompasses the object oriented, the functional, and the concurrent-declarative programming paradigms. Our measurements show that the distribution middleware is competitive with the most popular distributed programming systems (JavaRMI, .NET, IBM CORBA)

    Living a valued life with psychosis: the relationship between psychotic symptoms, illness beliefs, experiential avoidance and success at valued living

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    BACKGROUND Traditional treatments for psychosis, both pharmacological and psychological, have focused on symptom reduction or symptom control. Alternative approaches to psychosis are now emerging which focus on the acceptance of, rather than the avoidance of, psychotic phenomena. These approaches encourage individuals to live meaningful lives alongside their experiences of psychosis. One way in which to facilitate this is to promote the identification of important life domains and the engagement in behaviours consistent with ones values.The aim of this study is to investigate factors associated with success at valued living in a sample of individuals who have experienced psychosis. The association between psychotic symptoms, illness beliefs, experiential avoidance and success at valued living is explored.METHOD Eighty-four individuals with experiences of psychosis completed standardised selfreport measures of beliefs about illness, experiential avoidance and valued living. The researcher rated an individual's psychotic symptoms with an interview-based measure. Data were analysed using correlations and path analysis, an extension of multiple regression.RESULTS Results indicated that success at valued living was best predicted by experiential avoidance. Neither psychotic symptoms nor illness beliefs were found to be directly associated with success at valued living. The clinical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed

    Neurocognitive measures of impulsivity: explanatory, diagnostic and a prognostic role in obesity

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    Obesity is a growing public health problem with multiple aetiological factors. Behavioural determinants are likely to be key contributors to obesity, with a need for applied research in this field. Recently the obesity has been compared to food addiction with the connotation that obese individuals are impulsive in their behaviour. Impulsivity is a trait that is closely linked to addiction and has been studied in personality, psychiatry and more recently in the neurocognitive arena. A conceptual review of the construct of impulsivity identified inhibitory control (SST) and temporal discounting (TD) as two key behavioural constructs universal to all the key fields of impulsivity research. A systematic review of the literature supported their use to profile participants based on their Body Mass Index. The validity of the tools were proven by endophenotyping participants (N=202) of both normal weight and those seeking weight loss intervention. Both measures could successfully differentiate between obese and normal weight adolescents (N=85). The SST was also prognostic for short-term weight reduction in adolescents attending a lifestyle intervention, with the TD being able to predict weight loss maintenance at 6 months. The tasks could not differentiate significantly between adults of different weights but the TD was able to predict weight reduction after surgery (N=90). The modifiability of obesity through neuronal dopamine pathways was supported by a randomised controlled trial testing neurocognitive enhancement agents (N=40) against a placebo (N=40) in normal weight adults. Weight was also controlled by a commitment intervention targeting automatic impulsive behaviours (N=27). These findings support an association between impulsivity, obesity and weight reduction. The experimental inferences have been described in terms of a novel interconnected neuronal network, which leaves itself open to testing using functional brain imaging.Open Acces

    The Nature of Schizotypal Symptoms and Social Recovery in Psychosis

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    Schizotypy is traditionally conceptualised as a personality trait reflecting vulnerability to the opment of psychosis. This thesis introduces the concept of schizotypal symptoms as state phenomena, related to both the development of psychotic symptoms, and to long-term recovery from the disorder, ft is argued that schizotypal symptoms may be at the core of psychosis, occurring both prior to onset and following the remission of an acute psychotic episode. Schizotypal symptoms may therefore provide a bridge for the symptom-disability gap which has long been established in psychosis.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

    The Nature of Night Eating Syndrome: Using Network Analysis to Understand Causal Symptomological Relationships

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    Title from PDF of title page viewed June 2, 2020Dissertation advisor: Jennifer D. LundgrenVitaIncludes bibliographical references (pages 128-145)Thesis (Ph.D.)--Department of Psychology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2019The purpose of this study was to examine and characterize the core symptoms in a psychopathology network for night eating syndrome (NES) among persons with and without overweight/obesity, and to compare the network density between samples with and without NES. The current conceptualization of NES, and interventions based on that conceptualization, are grounded in a latent variable, medical model nosology and theory of etiology. A recently developed advanced statistical technique, network analysis, allows for better understanding of the functional relationship among symptoms of behavioral health disorders. Network analysis has been applied to other eating disorders, but no studies to date have used network analysis to understand the functional relationship among proposed core symptoms of NES. Data from 148 individuals with NES and 69 individuals without NES were used to evaluate the unique variance among core symptoms and identify key symptom relationships. It was hypothesized that nocturnal ingestion of food and evening hyperphagia would present as the most central symptoms within the psychopathology network of NES compared to other symptoms. A Gaussian graphical model (GGM), utilizing a graphical least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (GLASSO) method, was used to estimate network. Symptoms with high centrality indices were assessed via bootstrapped difference tests. Results indicated that depressed mood and a strong urge to eat upon awakening at night were highly central to the psychopathology network for NES and were significantly more central than most other NES symptoms. These symptoms represent key elements of the core psychopathology of NES and should represent primary treatment targets for intervention.Introduction -- Review of literature -- Methodology -- Results -- Discussion -- Appendix A. Food record -- Appendix B. Night Eating Syndrome history and inventory -- Appendix C. Beck Depression Inventory -- Appendix D. Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire -- Appendix E. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index -- Appendix F. Epworth Sleepiness Scale -- Appendix G. Perceived Stress Scal

    Design and integrity of deterministic system architectures.

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    Architectures represented by system construction 'building block' components and interrelationships provide the structural form. This thesis addresses processes, procedures and methods that support system design synthesis and specifically the determination of the integrity of candidate architectural structures. Particular emphasis is given to the structural representation of system architectures, their consistency and functional quantification. It is a design imperative that a hierarchically decomposed structure maintains compatibility and consistency between the functional and realisation solutions. Complex systems are normally simplified by the use of hierarchical decomposition so that lower level components are precisely defined and simpler than higher-level components. To enable such systems to be reconstructed from their components, the hierarchical construction must provide vertical intra-relationship consistency, horizontal interrelationship consistency, and inter-component functional consistency. Firstly, a modified process design model is proposed that incorporates the generic structural representation of system architectures. Secondly, a system architecture design knowledge domain is proposed that enables viewpoint evaluations to be aggregated into a coherent set of domains that are both necessary and sufficient to determine the integrity of system architectures. Thirdly, four methods of structural analysis are proposed to assure the integrity of the architecture. The first enables the structural compatibility between the 'building blocks' that provide the emergent functional properties and implementation solution properties to be determined. The second enables the compatibility of the functional causality structure and the implementation causality structure to be determined. The third method provides a graphical representation of architectural structures. The fourth method uses the graphical form of structural representation to provide a technique that enables quantitative estimation of performance estimates of emergent properties for large scale or complex architectural structures. These methods have been combined into a procedure of formal design. This is a design process that, if rigorously executed, meets the requirements for reconstructability

    Direct and multistep conversion of lignin to biofuels

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    Lignin is the second most abundant biopolymer on Earth, right after cellulose, with a highly complex chemical structure that hinders its possible utilizations. Applications that utilize lignin in different manners are of great interest, due to its inexpensive nature. Present work is based on the notion of converting lignin into different biofuels that have only a few, however important, advantages over lignin as a direct energy source. The first part of current work (pyrolysis) details the analysis of lignin from a relatively new lignin isolation process called LignoBoost. It is obtained from the pulp and paper industry via COâ‚‚ precipitation of lignin from black liquor (BL). This method is environment friendly, results lignin with minimal oxidation, eliminates the main bottleneck of the Kraft cycle (recovery boiler capacity), and yet leaves enough lignin in the process stream to recover pulping chemicals and generate energy for the pulp mill. Pyrolysis had converted this lignin into bio-oil with high aliphatic content and low oxidation level, all advantageous for application as liquid fuel. The second part of this dissertation proved the theory that lignin degradation and lipid accumulation metabolic pathways can be interconnected. Gram-positive Rhodococcus opacus species, DSM 1069 and PD630 were used to evaluate lignin to lipid bioconversion, starting with ethanol organosolv and Kraft lignin. This conversion is a first step in a multistep process towards biodiesel production, which includes transesterification, after lipids are extracted from the cells. Results clearly indicated that the lignin to lipid bioconversion pathway is viable, by cells gaining up to 4 % of their weight in lipids, while growing solely on lignin as a carbon and energy source.PhDCommittee Chair: Arthur J. Ragauskas; Committee Member: Nicholas V. Hud; Committee Member: Preet Singh; Committee Member: Sheldon W. May; Committee Member: Yulin Den
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