Analogue and digital linear modulation techniques for mobile satellite

The choice of modulation format for a mobile satellite service is complex. The subjective performance is summarized of candidate schemes and voice coder technologies. It is shown that good performance can be achieved with both analogue and digital voice systems, although the analogue system gives superior performance in fading. The results highlight the need for flexibility in the choice of signaling format. Linear transceiver technology capable of using many forms of narrowband modulation is described

Mentalization-Based Treatment

The concept of mentalizing has captured the interest and imagination of an astonishing range of people—from psychoanalysts to neuroscientists, from child development researchers to geneticists, from existential philosophers to phenomenologists—all of whom seem to have found it useful. According to the Thompson Reuter maintained Web of Science, the use of the term in titles and abstracts of scientific papers increased from 10 to 2,750 between 1991 and 2011. Clinicians in particular have enthusiastically embraced the idea, and have put it to innovative use in their practices. Mentalization-based treatment (MBT)—making mentalizing a core focus of therapy—was initially developed for the treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in routine clinical services delivered in group and individual modalities. Therapy with mentalizing as a central component is currently being developed for treatment of numerous groups, including people with antisocial personality disorder, substance abuse, eating disorders, and at-risk mothers with infants and children (A. Bateman & Fonagy, 2011). It is also being used with families and adolescents, in schools, and in managing social groups (Asen & Fonagy, 2011; Fonagy et al., 2009; Twemlow, Fonagy, & Sacco, 2005a, 2005b). In this article, we focus on MBT in the treatment of BPD

A randomized controlled trial of a mentalization-based intervention (MBT-FACTS) for families of people with borderline personality disorder

This article reports a delayed-treatment randomized controlled trial of a mentalization-based intervention for families or significant others living with or supporting a person with borderline personality disorder (BPD). In all, 56 family members/significant others living with/supporting people with a diagnosis of BPD were randomized either to immediate mentalization-based Families and Carers Training and Support, a supportive and skills-based program consisting of five 1.5- to 2-hr evening meetings, delivered by trained family members, or to delayed intervention. The primary outcome was adverse incidents reported by the family member in relation to the person with BPD. Secondary outcomes included self-reported family well-being, empowerment, burden, and levels of anxiety and depression. Family members randomized to immediate intervention showed a significant reduction in reported adverse incidents between themselves and the identified patient in the second phase of treatment compared with those randomized to delayed intervention. Analysis of the rate of change indicated a significantly steeper decline for the immediate-treatment group compared with the delayed-intervention group (β = −1.07, 95% confidence interval [−1.40, −0.74], z = −6.3, p < .000). Secondary outcome measures showed family functioning and well-being improved more in the immediate-treatment group; changes were maintained at follow-up. There were no differences in depression, total anxiety, and total burden; both groups showed improvement on all these measures. Findings show that the mentalization-based Families and Carers Training and Support program delivered by families to families supporting a person with BPD reduces reported adverse incidents within the family. Further studies are needed to show whether this reduction improves outcomes for the individual with BPD

Novel relations and new properties of confluent Heun's functions and their derivatives of arbitrary order

The present article reveals important properties of the confluent Heun's functions. We derive a set of novel relations for confluent Heun's functions and their derivatives of arbitrary order. Specific new subclasses of confluent Heun's functions are introduced and studied. A new alternative derivation of confluent Heun's polynomials is presented.Comment: 8 pages, no figures, LaTeX file, final versio

Rupture and repair in mentalization-based group psychotherapy

The article explores ideas about the role of group mentalizing—the experience of joint attention and shared intentionality—as a process that can support the emergence of more collaborative and salutogenic social functioning. This is based on developmental and evolutionary thinking about the importance of joint attention in human social cognitive development and functioning. The importance of experiencing rupture and repair as part of the process of thinking together—while also working with the separate nature of our thoughts—is described, emphasizing that it is through an understanding of the complex and inevitably uneven and challenging nature of joint attention and social cooperation that such cooperation is itself made possible

The functional integral with unconditional Wiener measure for anharmonic oscillator

In this article we propose the calculation of the unconditional Wiener measure functional integral with a term of the fourth order in the exponent by an alternative method as in the conventional perturbative approach. In contrast to the conventional perturbation theory, we expand into power series the term linear in the integration variable in the exponent. In such a case we can profit from the representation of the integral in question by the parabolic cylinder functions. We show that in such a case the series expansions are uniformly convergent and we find recurrence relations for the Wiener functional integral in the $N$ - dimensional approximation. In continuum limit we find that the generalized Gelfand - Yaglom differential equation with solution yields the desired functional integral (similarly as the standard Gelfand - Yaglom differential equation yields the functional integral for linear harmonic oscillator).Comment: Source file which we sent to journa

Relativistic phase space: dimensional recurrences

We derive recurrence relations between phase space expressions in different dimensions by confining some of the coordinates to tori or spheres of radius $R$ and taking the limit as $R \to \infty$. These relations take the form of mass integrals, associated with extraneous momenta (relative to the lower dimension), and produce the result in the higher dimension.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, to appear in J Phys

HIV infection and domestic smoke exposure, but not human papillomavirus, are risk factors for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Zambia: a case-control study

(c) 2015 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Spectral singularities for Non-Hermitian one-dimensional Hamiltonians: puzzles with resolution of identity

We examine the completeness of bi-orthogonal sets of eigenfunctions for non-Hermitian Hamiltonians possessing a spectral singularity. The correct resolutions of identity are constructed for delta like and smooth potentials. Their form and the contribution of a spectral singularity depend on the class of functions employed for physical states. With this specification there is no obstruction to completeness originating from a spectral singularity.Comment: 25 pages, more refs adde

Minimal coupling method and the dissipative scalar field theory

Quantum field theory of a damped vibrating string as the simplest dissipative scalar field investigated by its coupling with an infinit number of Klein-Gordon fields as the environment by introducing a minimal coupling method. Heisenberg equation containing a dissipative term proportional to velocity obtained for a special choice of coupling function and quantum dynamics for such a dissipative system investigated. Some kinematical relations calculated by tracing out the environment degrees of freedom. The rate of energy flowing between the system and it's environment obtained.Comment: 15 pages, no figur