Emotional change in resolving depressive self-criticism during experiential treatment

The goal of this study was to empirically demonstrate emotional changes that differentiate successful versus unsuccessful resolution of depressive self-criticism during experiential treatment. Emotion episodes occurring during five sessions across three phases of experiential treatment (early, middle, and late) were sampled for nine highly self-critical depressed clients (five good resolvers of self-criticism and four poor resolvers) from the York II depression project. Emotion episodes were then coded using two emotion process coding measures: the Classification of Affective-Meaning States (CAMS) and the Object Valence Scale (OVS), and later analyzed employing three analytic procedures: graphical/descriptive; linear mixed modeling; and pattern analysis using THEME. Convergent evidence that EFT emotional change processes generally hold within experiential treatment for self-criticism was found. Compared to poor resolvers, good resolvers expressed: 1) greater decreases in secondary emotions (mainly in rejecting anger) and greater increases in expression of needs and primary adaptive emotions, and 2) more frequent transformations of secondary to primary adaptive emotions, and secondary to primary maladaptive to primary adaptive emotions. Good outcome cases also displayed 3) greater increases in positive emotional self-states and greater decreases in both negative emotional self states and other-negative emotional states. Future directions of this research are discussed

Emotional Change Processes in Resolving Self-Critical Subtypes of Depression During Experiential Treatment

This mixed-methods study explored emotional processing that predicts long-term outcomes within subtypes of self-critical depression during experiential psychotherapy. First, I validated Kagans (2003) qualitative analysis which identified four subtypes of self-criticism among depressed clients: (1) compare and despair; (2) too sensitive/needy; (3) internalized shoulds/unacceptable feelings; and (4) unworthy/not good enough. I did this by performing a confirmatory reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) on the same original sample (n = 42) Kagan used to establish her self-critical subtypes. Kagans classification system was reliably applied by new coders. I then used Emotion-focused therapy (EFT) theory to hypothesize and extend Kagans self-critical subtypes into higher-order self-critical subtypes. As hypothesized, two higher-order self-critical categories emerged: (1) Socially Inadequate (SI) self-criticism which combined Kagans first three self-critical subtypes, and (2) Core Worthlessness (CW) self-criticism that retained Kagans fourth subtype. Higher-order self-critical subgroups were then examined for differences in working phase emotional processing (WP-EP) occurring within clients in-session emotion episodes. This was performed using proportion analyses and THEME 6.0 sequential pattern analyses (Magnusson, 2000). Measures used were: (1) discrete emotion states and higher-order emotion scheme categories operationalized by the Classification of Affective Meaning States (CAMS; Pascual-Leone & Greenberg, 2005). I also measured (2) the apparent "target" of emotion episodes measured by the Object Valence Scheme (OVS; Choi, 2013). WP-EP differences were found. SI clients expressed more other-positive, and CW clients expressed more fear, shame, and negative self-evaluations. I also examined differences between higher-order self-critical subgroups on 18-month follow up outcomes for clients who provided this data (n = 29). Higher-order self-critical subgroups did not differ on any 18-month post-treatment outcome measure. Finally, depressed versus nondepressed clients at 18-month follow up within each higher-order self-critical subtype were compared for WP-EP differences. Supporting theorized EFT emotional change processes, nondepressed clients in both subgroups expressed greater proportions of, or more sequences involving, primary adaptive emotions and fewer sequences of being stuck in secondary and CAMS-uncodable emotions. Further, nondepressed SI clients expressed specifically more hurt/grief and self-soothing. Nondepressed CW clients also expressed more primary maladaptive emotions and needs. Clinical applications, limitations, and future directions are discussed

High-Resolution Image Synthesis and Semantic Manipulation with Conditional GANs

We present a new method for synthesizing high-resolution photo-realistic images from semantic label maps using conditional generative adversarial networks (conditional GANs). Conditional GANs have enabled a variety of applications, but the results are often limited to low-resolution and still far from realistic. In this work, we generate 2048x1024 visually appealing results with a novel adversarial loss, as well as new multi-scale generator and discriminator architectures. Furthermore, we extend our framework to interactive visual manipulation with two additional features. First, we incorporate object instance segmentation information, which enables object manipulations such as removing/adding objects and changing the object category. Second, we propose a method to generate diverse results given the same input, allowing users to edit the object appearance interactively. Human opinion studies demonstrate that our method significantly outperforms existing methods, advancing both the quality and the resolution of deep image synthesis and editing.Comment: v2: CVPR camera ready, adding more results for edge-to-photo example

A Meta-Analytic Review of More than a Decade of Research on General Computer Self-Efficacy: Research in Progress

In their seminal work, Compeau and Higgins (1995) provided the IS research community with a measure of computer selfefficacy (CSE) based on Bandura’s (1986) Social Cognitive Theory. The use of this CSE measure has since flourished within various academic literatures. Recent research interest (Marakas, Johnson, & Clay, 2007; Thatcher, Zimmer, Gundlach et al., 2008), however, challenges the continued application and analysis of Compeau and Higgins’ (1995) measure despite its widespread adoption. This paper presents the results of a meta-analysis of general CSE provided through the foundation of technology adoption research. The results should create future dialogue regarding general CSE and its application. We show evidence of moderate associations (r = |0.32| to |0.59|) of general CSE with several technology adoption research constructs. Guidance is offered for future moderator analyses, which may likely provide empirical evidence for either the support or refutation of current research claims in regard to general CSE

A Field Study Assessing Driving Performance, Visual Attention, Heart Rate and Subjective Ratings in Response to Two Types of Cognitive Workload

In an on-road experiment, driving performance, visual attention, heart rate and subjective ratings of workload were evaluated in response to a working memory (n-back) and a visual-spatial (clock) task. Subjective workload ratings for the two types of tasks did not statistically differ, suggesting a similar level of overall workload. Gaze concentration and heart rate showed significant changes relative to single task driving during the extra tasks and the magnitude of change was similar for both, while driving performance measures were not sensitive to the increase in workload. The results suggest high sensitivity of both gaze dispersion and heart rate as measures of workload across these two different types of cognitive demand

Condition Assessment of Bill Emerson Memorial Cable-Stayed Bridge under Postulated Design Earthquake

In this study, a three-dimensional finite element model of the Bill Emerson Memorial cable-stayed bridge was developed and validated with the acceleration data recorded during the M4.1 earthquake of May 1, 2005, in Manila, Arkansas. The model took into account the geometric nonlinear properties associated with cable sagging and soil-foundation-structure interaction. The validated model was used to evaluate the performance of a seismic protective system, the behavior of cable-stayed spans, and the accuracy of two simplified bridge models that have been extensively used by the structural control community. The calculated natural frequencies and mode shapes correlated well with the measured data. Except that the hollow columns of two H-shaped towers were near yielding immediately above their capbeams, the cable-stayed spans behaved elastically as expected under the design earthquake that was scaled up from the recorded rock motions at the bridge site. The minimum factor of safety of all cables is 2.78, which is slightly greater than the design target

A Stellar Mass Threshold for Quenching of Field Galaxies

We demonstrate that dwarf galaxies (10^7 < M_stellar < 10^9 Msun) with no active star formation are extremely rare (<0.06%) in the field. Our sample is based on the NASA-Sloan Atlas which is a re-analysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 8. We examine the relative number of quenched versus star forming dwarf galaxies, defining quenched galaxies as having no Halpha emission (EW_Halpha < 2 AA) and a strong 4000AA-break. The fraction of quenched dwarf galaxies decreases rapidly with increasing distance from a massive host, leveling off for distances beyond 1.5 Mpc. We define galaxies beyond 1.5 Mpc of a massive host galaxy to be in the field. We demonstrate that there is a stellar mass threshold of M_stellar < 1.0x10^9 Msun below which quenched galaxies do not exist in the field. Below this threshold, we find that none of the 2951 field dwarf galaxies are quenched; all field dwarf galaxies show evidence for recent star formation. Correcting for volume effects, this corresponds to a 1-sigma upper limit on the quenched fraction of 0.06%. In more dense environments, quenched galaxies account for 23% of the dwarf population over the same stellar mass range. The majority of quenched dwarf galaxies (often classified as dwarf elliptical galaxies) are within 2 virial radii of a massive galaxy, and only a few percent of quenched dwarf galaxies exist beyond 4 virial radii. Thus, for galaxies with stellar mass less than 1.0x10^9 Msun, ending star-formation requires the presence of a more massive neighbor, providing a stringent constraint on models of star formation feedback.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted to Ap