Design of a fault tolerant airborne digital computer. Volume 1: Architecture

This volume is concerned with the architecture of a fault tolerant digital computer for an advanced commercial aircraft. All of the computations of the aircraft, including those presently carried out by analogue techniques, are to be carried out in this digital computer. Among the important qualities of the computer are the following: (1) The capacity is to be matched to the aircraft environment. (2) The reliability is to be selectively matched to the criticality and deadline requirements of each of the computations. (3) The system is to be readily expandable. contractible, and (4) The design is to appropriate to post 1975 technology. Three candidate architectures are discussed and assessed in terms of the above qualities. Of the three candidates, a newly conceived architecture, Software Implemented Fault Tolerance (SIFT), provides the best match to the above qualities. In addition SIFT is particularly simple and believable. The other candidates, Bus Checker System (BUCS), also newly conceived in this project, and the Hopkins multiprocessor are potentially more efficient than SIFT in the use of redundancy, but otherwise are not as attractive

Deconstructing Orthorexia in an Age of Healthism and Social Media

Orthorexia, a pathological fixation with healthy eating, has recently emerged as a construct of interest in the field of clinical psychology. Despite its growing recognition, the origin of this construct remains unclear. This dissertation aims to contribute to the understanding of orthorexia by examining its emergence and contextual factors through a constructivist lens. The study found that the cultural, economic, and moralistic landscape of healthism and social medially have played a role in the development of orthorexia. The dominant clinical perspective of orthorexia was also deconstructed, revealing potential biases that may lead to pathologizing the experiences of those who demonstrate orthorexic behaviors. The study highlights the need for careful consideration of the risks and vulnerabilities associated with the integration of orthorexia into diagnostic and clinical models. However, it also acknowledges the reality of individuals expressing suffering in the form of orthorexic behavior and provides treatment considerations to honor their experiences and desire for relief in a clinical setting. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu)

The Journal of Undergraduate Research: Volume 09

This is the complete issue of the South Dakota State University Journal of Undergraduate Research, Volume 13

Labelling people as having personality disorder: Effects upon the attributions and intended behaviours of student mental health nurses.

Objectives The aim was to investigate whether there are differences in the attributions, emotional reactions and intended behaviours of student mental health nurses towards individuals with personality disorder, compared to those with schizophrenia. The relationships between attributions, emotional reactions and intended behaviours were also investigated. Method An experimental mixed design was used. Participants were randomly allocated into two groups: one viewing the label of personality disorder (N= 46), and the other viewing the label of schizophrenia (N = 41). Participants were shown two videos of a male: one of prosocial behaviour, the other of antisocial behaviour. After each video they completed three questionnaires measuring attributions, emotional reactions and intended behaviours. A correlational design was used to assess associations between attributions, emotional reactions and intended behaviours. Results No significant differences were found between the groups on the attributions of controllability or dangerousness, the emotional reactions of pity, anger or fear, or the intended behaviours of help and coercion. A significant difference was found between the groups on the social distancing measure, with participants in the schizophrenia group desiring greater social distance. This is contrary to the direction predicted. No significant associations were found consistently across the groups between controllability and the intended behaviours. Dangerousness was significantly 8 associated with the desire to socially distance oneself across all groups. Pity was the only emotion that did not significantly correlate with any of the intended behaviours. Significant negative correlations were found between fear and anger and intended helping behaviours. Conclusion Overall, there was no significant difference between student mental health nurses’ attributions, emotional reactions and intended behaviours towards individuals labelled with personality disorder and individuals labelled with schizophrenia. It is acknowledged that the significant finding relating to social distancing may be due to limitations of the analysis. Results suggest that the attribution of dangerousness and emotional reactions of anger and fear are important when considering the reactions of student mental health nurses towards their patients

The impact of narcissistic personality disorder on others: A study of romantic partners and family members

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a diagnosed mental health disorder that affects up to 6.2% of the population. NPD is known to have a strong interpersonal component, as individuals express their vulnerabilities to others in ways that are challenging. For instance, a person may sometimes seem grandiose and prone to intense hostility, but at other times seem vulnerable and needy, yet difficult to please. However, while the presence of interpersonal dysfunction has been identified for individuals with NPD, little is known about how this is experienced by partners and family members. This thesis presents four original studies on the impact of NPD on romantic partners and family members to progress our understanding of the disorder and improve treatment. Method: The thesis begins with a critical review of existing literature regarding the construct of NPD to determine new research questions to be addressed (Chapter 1). Chapter 2 presents a study of partners and family in a close relationship with someone with NPD (N = 683) to assess levels of grief, burden, coping and mental health. Thematic analysis of a subset of participants\u27 qualitative descriptions of their relative was conducted (N = 436), exploring the characteristics of the NPD relative (chapter 3) and their interpersonal interactions (chapter 4). Finally, some participants (N = 15) were asked to provide detailed narratives comparing their relationships with their relative and with others (chapter 5), to study core conflictual relationship themes (CCRTs). Chapter 6 provides an overview of research findings and outlines implications for the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of individuals with NPD, but also targeted therapeutic supports for partners and family members. Results: Participants living with a relative with NPD were suffering significant psychological symptoms (69% depression, 82% anxiety) and high burden (chapter 2). Levels of symptoms and burden were higher than individuals living with people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder or other severe mental illness. Participant’s descriptions of their relative (chapter 3) included both “grandiose” tendencies (including entitlement, envy and exploitativeness) but also “vulnerable” ones (including hypersensitivity, insecurity and emptiness). The relationship included themes of coercive control (chapter 4), where the relative made challenging physical, verbal, emotional, financial and sexual demands. Fluctuations in idealisation, devaluation, hostility, and dependency were often present in the relationship. Relationship narratives involving relatives with pathological narcissism involved more instances of disharmony, including relatives rejecting, subjugating and attacking behaviours, and participants rejecting and withdrawing behaviours, corresponding with a deactivation of participants attachment system (chapter 5). Conclusion: Living with a person with NPD appears to inflict a considerable psychological toll on those closest to the person. While narcissistic grandiosity, coercive control and interpersonal antagonism may serve to protect the individual who is suffering, these have an insidious effect on partners and family members. Treatments for NPD are limited, with no randomised controlled trials. The findings presented here have two major implications for therapy. First, that the disorder has severe impacts on others, meaning the mental health needs of close relatives should be assessed. Second, that therapists will need specific, targeted support to help them work with individuals with NPD, to help navigate fluctuations of grandiosity and vulnerability in this patient group, sometimes prone to being coercive, controlling and hostile, whilst also presenting as needy and insecure

Waiting Times and DWI, Court-Mandated Treatment Completion

Drivers under the influence of alcohol cause nearly one third of all fatal motor vehicle accidents. Ambulatory outpatient alcohol abuse treatment has been clinically shown to increase abstinence, which could decrease the chance of subsequent DWI offences. A barrier to successful completion is extended waiting periods prior to treatment engagement. The theory of patient waiting supports the longer a patient waits to begin treatment the lower the likelihood of successful completion. By exploring the impact of waiting times on DWI court mandated clients, referral courts and treatment facilities can work together to create a successful completion strategy for offenders. The research question focused on if days waiting can predict successful outpatient treatment completion in court mandated adults. The TEDS-D archival data set was used, consisting of data collected between 2006-2011 from federally funded substance abuse treatment centers throughout the USA. The variables time awaiting treatment, treatment level, gender, race, employment status, and age were used as controls. A logistic regression using a random sample of 4,947 participants determined days waiting was significant but weak in nature. The variables of employment status and age are stronger predictors of treatment completion. An interaction effect analysis of days waiting and age results in clients over 45 years old being significantly impacted by days waiting while younger clients are not. Court and treatment agencies can use this information to give priority intake appointments to older clients to increase chances of treatment completion

Taming the beast : Exploring the lived experience of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis using a life history approach

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a complex neurological disease affecting the central nervous system and is driven by a complex autoimmune cascade. The peak age of onset is between the ages of 20 and 40 years and shows a female preponderance of 3:1. The most common form of the disease affecting 85% of people living with the illness is called relapsing remitting MS (RRMS), and is characterised by unpredictable relapses or exacerbations which usually last a few weeks before returning to baseline function. There is the possibility of disease progression and non-reversible disability after many years. RRMS is also characterised by a complicated array of symptoms which may affect sensory function, motor function, vision, gait, cognition, mood, bladder, bowel and sexual function. There is currently no curative treatment for RRMS, although recently there have been major advances in more efficacious treatments called disease modifying therapies (DMTs) to control relapses and possibly future disability. The aim of this study was to gain insights and understanding into the lived experience of RRMS in order to inform patient-centred nursing care. Although there is an abundance of literature dealing with various aspects of the MS experience, there is a paucity of literature specifically exploring the general life experience of living with the disease and considering a broader understanding. Life history methodology, a form of focused ethnography, was used to explore the illness experience across the lifespan of 13 study participants living with RRMS. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data and later transcribed by the researcher, before undergoing data analysis. Braun and Clarke’s (2006) method of thematic data analysis ensured a systematic and robust exploration of the lived experience and revealed eight key themes, 30 subthemes and 44 sub-subthemes, providing clarity and insight into the experience of living with RRMS. Several novel findings were revealed by the thematic analysis including an appreciation of the importance of early life events prior to the onset of RRMS and their potential impact on later coping, adjustment and resilience after diagnosis. A key study finding was of people living with RRMS experiencing “Surplus Suffering”, a form of suffering over and above that caused by the disease itself and inflicted most often by health care professionals and significant others. Other themes explored concepts of “Piecing together the Puzzle” of RRMS at the beginning of the journey, “(Re)defining self” in the wake of an RRMS diagnosis, “Battling the Demons” that RRMS uncovers, dealing with invisible symptoms of the disease, managing the DMTs necessary to control the disease and their side effects, and ultimately “Taming the Beast” that is RRMS and “Holding Hands with Hope”. The life history approach revealed these themes to be reflective of the ebbs and flows of life, intertwining with each other and changing positions of importance according to life events, whether directly related to RRMS or indirectly related. Numerous recommendations for clinical practice in MS care have been developed from the study findings which are anticipated to improve clinical care and to enhance the quality of life for people living with RRMS, along the life trajectory

The meaning-centred anorexic body: a human rights-based approach to involuntary treatment

This is a meaning centred study of the anorexic body. Its objective is to establish that anorexia nervosa is not exclusively a psychiatric condition and present a new enforceable alternative approach to the current “doctor-knows-best” treatment method which predominantly reiterates labelling and stereotyping in mental health practice. Contextual clinical narratives pose strong critical arguments reiterating that anorexia nervosa is solely due to mental illness which results to diminished autonomy, therefore, unconsented clinical interventions are within the rights of medical practitioners and not a violation of the person’s rights. This research shows that the clinical preference of disengaging with the subjective meaning underlying selfstarvation reinforces paternalistic intervention of medical practitioners to the detriment of asserting rights. Thus, this work is concerned with how to reconceptualise anorexia by meaningfully engaging and managing the anorexic body without using involuntary, coercive and forceful methods, thereby preserving their autonomous rights, best interests and subjective will. Although the current traditional approach under mental health laws is shown to produce no long-term recovery benefits or outcome for the anorexic body, Section 2 of the 1983 Mental Health Act still preserves the one-dimensional strict approach to the care and management of the anorexic body as they are detained for the treatment of both their physical and mental disorder. Through critical research and empirical work conducted in Nigeria, this thesis sustains the deconstruction of anorexia nervosa as exclusively a psychiatric disorder and enables the development of a meaning-centred anorexic body highlighting the limitation of the traditional western medical model to acknowledge the significant cultural and social dimensions that overrule anorexia nervosa. This research showed that the meaning-centred anorexic body is acknowledged and valued as a self-determining agent outside the confined spaces of the Mental Health Act, adverse and resistant to the established stereotypical boundaries and impositions of psychology, law and psychiatry. In examining Articles 3, 5 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), this research underpins the meaning-centred approach within a human rights based framework. It therefore establishes that human dignity and autonomous choices are integral and indispensable in creating a balanced code of medical ethics. Through critical analysis and both legal and non-legal considerations, this research identifies the meaningful emergence of a modern anorexic body removed from strict confines of the mental health laws’ universal attraction and acknowledgement of the body as a docile object that needs to be institutionally regulated, disciplined, and subjected to punishment. The main contribution of this thesis is in bringing clarity to a very conflicting area by identifying a meaning centred approach to the understanding of anorexia nervosa. A conceptualised spectrum is introduced by distinguishing the meaning-centred anorexic body thereby enhancing the realisation of self determination. In this regard, this thesis establishes the values of autonomous choices as central to dignifying the anorexics experiences, morals and choices and therefore can possess the much-required capacity to regain and retain bodily control, bodily integrity and autonomy. It is based on this independent setting that a meaningful study of anorexia nervosa can emerge, highlighting the values of individual freedom and the necessity of a human rights-based approach existing outside the traditionally modelled benevolent paternalism