Clocks for airborne systems

The potential performance of compact oscillators, needed for the development of accurate clocks for future airborne systems (such as Identification Friend or Foe schemes), is addressed. In particular, extensive testing of rubidium oscillators manufactured by Efratom is discussed. The results indicate that an accuracy of better than 10 microseconds should be achievable in tactical aircraft provided that appropriate measures are adopted to counter the many environmental factors. In a favorable environment a stability of better than 5 x 10 to the -13th power for one day is achievable with present commercial units, but improvements are required to suit operation in an aircraft. With further development of rubidium controlled clocks the ultimate limitation on time accuracy in aircraft will probably be associated with time dissemination, maintenance difficulties and doctrinal hurdles

Sequential decision making with adaptive utility

Decision making with adaptive utility provides a generalisation to classical Bayesian decision theory, allowing the creation of a normative theory for decision selection when preferences are initially uncertain. The theory of adaptive utility was introduced by Cyert & DeGroot [27], but had since received little attention or development. In particular, foundational issues had not been explored and no consideration had been given to the generalisation of traditional utility concepts such as value of information or risk aversion. This thesis addresses such issues. An in-depth review of the decision theory literature is given, detailing differences in assumptions between various proposed normative theories and their possible generalisations. Motivation is provided for generalising expected utility theory to permit uncertain preferences, and it is argued that in such a situation, under the acceptance of traditional utility axioms, the decision maker should seek to select decisions so asto maximise expected adaptive utility . The possible applications of the theory forsequential decision making are illustrated by some small-scale examples, including examples of relevance within reliability theory

Exploring the Therapeutic Alliance in Cognitive-Behavior Therapy with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Interpretative Phenomenological Approach

Abstract The therapeutic alliance (TA) is the most studied process of adult psychotherapeutic change (Zack et al., 2007) and has been found to have a moderate but robust relationship with therapeutic outcome regardless of treatment modality (Horvath, 2001). The TA is loosely described as the extent to which the therapist and the participant connect emotionally and work together towards goals. Conceptualizations of the TA with children have relied on adult models, even though it is widely acknowledged that the pediatric population will rarely willingly commit to therapy, nor readily admit to any challenges that they may be experiencing (Keeley, Geffken, McNamara & Storch, 2011). For children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) the therapeutic alliance may require an even greater retheorizing considering the communicative and social difficulties of this particular population. Despite this need, research on children with ASD and the therapeutic TA is almost non-existent. In this qualitative study, transcripts from semi-structured interviews with mothers of children with ASD were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). IPA closely examines how individual people make sense of their life experiences using a theme-by-theme approach. The three interviewees were mothers whose children were participants in a nine-week Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) group for obsessive-compulsive behaviours (OCB). A total of four superordinate themes were identified: (i) Centralization and disremembering the TA, (ii) Qualities of the therapist, (iii) TA and the importance of time, and (iv) Signs of a healthy TA. The mothers’ perspectives on the TA suggest that, for them and their children, a strong TA was a required component of the therapy. Implications for clinicians and researchers are discussed

Benchmarking the effectiveness of community services for youth with anxiety disorders

The present study applied a benchmarking strategy to evaluate the outcomes of youth (6 -15 years) with anxiety disorders treated at 'Systems of Care' children'smental health services (SOC CMHS). There were three stages of analysis. The first used meta-analytic technique to aggregate results of 17 randomised controlled trials of treatments of anxiety in youth. From these studies, benchmarks were established for two different outcome criteria: pre-post effect sizes and the proportion of youth evidencing 'clinically significant improvement'. Two subsets from the SOC CMHS data were considered. The first was comprised of youth who were selected on the basis of a combination of Child Behavior Checklist profile and DSM diagnosis or presenting problem. The second was comprised of youth selected primarily on the basis of clinician-generated DSM diagnosis. Neither subset attained levels of improvement commensurate with treatment efficacy benchmarks. Only one subset (selected partly on the basis of Child Behavior Checklist profile) achieved results significantly better than natural remission and this was only for one natural history benchmark (pre-post effect size). The third stage of analysis examined factors associated with reliable improvement and treatment response. Results indicated that the relatively poor response of youth from the SOC CMHS agencies could not be explained by the socio-psychological characteristics of this group. Avenues for future research are suggested, including extension of benchmarking strategies in children's mental health and improved understanding of predictors of treatment response

Scale-up of an RF heated micro trickle bed reactor to a kg/day production scale

The scale-up of a radiofrequency (RF) heated micro trickle bed reactor for hydrogenation of 2-methyl-3-butyne-2-ol (MBY) over a Pd/TiO2 catalyst has been performed. The axial and radial temperature profiles were calculated using a 2D convection and conduction heat transfer model. The effect of the reactor length, tube diameter and number of parallel tubes on the temperature non-uniformity parameter has been studied. The axial scale-up was achieved by repeating a single periodic unit consisting of one heating and one catalytic zone along the reactor length. The catalyst loading can be increased by an order of magnitude following this approach. A radial temperature difference of 2 K was developed in a reactor with an inner diameter of 15 mm. The scale-up by numbering up allows the accommodation of seven parallel tubes inside a single RF coil. It creates a 7 K difference in the average temperature between the central and the outer tubes which results in a 5% difference in MBY conversion. An overall scale-up factor of near 700 is achieved which corresponds to a production rate of 0.5 kg of product/day

Electronic spectra and photophysics of platinum(II) complexes with α-diimine ligands. Mixed complexes with halide ligands

Emission properties have been studied for a series of compounds of the formula (L_2)PtC1_2, where L_2 is N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine, 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy), 4,4'-Me_2bpy, 5,5'-Me_2bpy, 4,4'-(t-Bu)_2bpy, 3,3'-(CH_3OCO)_2bpy, and 1,10-phenanthroline, and also for the compound Pt(bpy)I_2. Most of them exhibit orange to red luminescence from a triplet ligand-field (^3LF) state, both as solids and in glassy solution. These emissions are very broad (fwhm 2300-3400 cm^(-1) at 10 K) and structureless and are strongly Stokes-shifted from absorption. The two exceptions are the solid "red" form of Pt(bpy)Cl_2, which exhibits a relatively narrow (fwhm 1050 cm^(-1) at 10 K), vibronically structured (Δν ~ 1500 cm^-1)) red emission, and Pt(3,3'-(CH_3OCO)_2bpy)Cl_2, which exhibits a broad (fwhm 2500 cm^(-1) at 10 K) but structured (Δν ~1300 cm^(-1)) orange emission. Both of these emissions are assigned to triplet metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (^3MLCT) excited states. For the former compound, a linear-chain structure has destabilized a dσ*(d_(z^2)) level, yielding a dσ* → π*(bpy) state as the lowest energy excited state, while for the latter, the strongly electron-withdrawing substituents have stabilized a bpy π* level, yielding a dσ* → π*(bpy) state as the lowest energy excited state. The relative energies of the various types of excited states, including ligand 3_(ππ*) states, are discussed in detail. The crystal structures of Pt(5,5'-Me_2bpy)Cl_2 (monoclinic Cc, Z = 4, a = 13.413(7) Å, b = 9.063(4) Å, c = 12.261(9) Å, 0 = 121.71(6)') and Pt(3,3'-(CH_3OCO)_2bpy)Cl_2 (triclinic P1, Z = 2, a = 7.288(2) Å, b = 9.932(3) Å, c = 11.881(5) Å, α = 98.04(3)°, β = 103.56(3)°, γ = 106.54(3)°) are reported

Electronic spectra and photophysics of platinum(II) complexes with α-diimine ligands. Mixed complexes with halide ligands

Emission properties have been studied for a series of compounds of the formula (L_2)PtC1_2, where L_2 is N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine, 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy), 4,4'-Me_2bpy, 5,5'-Me_2bpy, 4,4'-(t-Bu)_2bpy, 3,3'-(CH_3OCO)_2bpy, and 1,10-phenanthroline, and also for the compound Pt(bpy)I_2. Most of them exhibit orange to red luminescence from a triplet ligand-field (^3LF) state, both as solids and in glassy solution. These emissions are very broad (fwhm 2300-3400 cm^(-1) at 10 K) and structureless and are strongly Stokes-shifted from absorption. The two exceptions are the solid "red" form of Pt(bpy)Cl_2, which exhibits a relatively narrow (fwhm 1050 cm^(-1) at 10 K), vibronically structured (Δν ~ 1500 cm^-1)) red emission, and Pt(3,3'-(CH_3OCO)_2bpy)Cl_2, which exhibits a broad (fwhm 2500 cm^(-1) at 10 K) but structured (Δν ~1300 cm^(-1)) orange emission. Both of these emissions are assigned to triplet metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (^3MLCT) excited states. For the former compound, a linear-chain structure has destabilized a dσ*(d_(z^2)) level, yielding a dσ* → π*(bpy) state as the lowest energy excited state, while for the latter, the strongly electron-withdrawing substituents have stabilized a bpy π* level, yielding a dσ* → π*(bpy) state as the lowest energy excited state. The relative energies of the various types of excited states, including ligand 3_(ππ*) states, are discussed in detail. The crystal structures of Pt(5,5'-Me_2bpy)Cl_2 (monoclinic Cc, Z = 4, a = 13.413(7) Å, b = 9.063(4) Å, c = 12.261(9) Å, 0 = 121.71(6)') and Pt(3,3'-(CH_3OCO)_2bpy)Cl_2 (triclinic P1, Z = 2, a = 7.288(2) Å, b = 9.932(3) Å, c = 11.881(5) Å, α = 98.04(3)°, β = 103.56(3)°, γ = 106.54(3)°) are reported