The yen and the dollar: Irrational exuberance?

"As a global investment advisor, my job is to try to see through the volatility in international financial markets by using information of the past and our knowledge of theory and market psychology to make predictions about the future and then invest accordingly. The title of my talk shamelessly exploits the term popularized by Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan some weeks ago when reflecting on the boisterous advance of the U.S. stock market. I expropriate it to draw attention to the very important, frequently controversial, and sometimes even emotional question of the appropriate level of the yen-dollar exchange rate.

Narcissism, personality and personality pathology

This thesis used the methods of differential, cognitive and theoretical psychology to investigate the relationships between pathological narcissism and maladaptive personality and behaviour in general, and to attempt the beginnings of construct validation of M. Scott Peck's proposed `evil' subtype of the DSM -IV Narcissistic Personality Disorder in particular. After a review of theoretical and empirical contributions to the psychology of narcissism, two empirical studies were conducted. In the first, joint self- report survey research using 338 subjects investigated the psychometric structure of narcissism, normal and abnormal personality, and constructs theoretically related to narcissism. Item -level exploratory principal components analysis and confirmatory factor analysis resulted in new subscales for the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Scale -level exploratory principal components analysis of the combined questionnaires found evidence for a five - factor structure of abnormal personality. One of the five factors was related to narcissistic will to power and low agreeableness; another was related to narcissistic self - love and extraversion. Confirmatory factor analysis of a subset of the data found fair fit for the model.The second study investigated the relationships between narcissism, compartmentalisation, splitting, attribution style and response to disconfirming feedback. No evidence was found to support the hypothesis that narcissists have compartmentalised self -concepts. Moderate test -retest and alternate -form reliability data were obtained for the card -sort task used to assess compartmentalisation. No evidence was found that narcissists use splitting to translocate unwanted self -aspects onto others. Narcissistic dominance was associated with claiming personal credit for positive outcomes, while narcissistic vulnerability was associated with self -blame for negative events. Multiple regression with interaction terms indicated that the relationship between narcissism and response to disconfirming feedback is a function of other personality traits such as neuroticism, and may have opposite effects in different personalities and circumstances. Zero -order correlations suggested significant roles for splitting, narcissistic grandiosity and idealisation, and 12 NEO -PI -R facet -level variables in response to disconfirming feedback.Peck's proposed subtype of narcissistic personality disorder is theoretically distinguished from psychopathy by the use of self- deception to defend the conscience against guilt for the consequences of one's actions, rather than the absence of conscience that characterises psychopathy. Self- deception is among the most difficult and controversial topics in philosophical psychology. Theoretical chapters approached the issue with historical and literary examples, argued that splitting may be a fundamental basis of much self -deception, offered a model of malignant narcissism within the Schematic Propositional Associative Analogue Representation Systems (SPAARS) theory, and addressed the issue in the philosophy of science of whether the proposed personality disorder is a natural or social kind

Effects of composition and heat treatments on the strength and ductility of Fe-Cr-Co alloys

The relationship between the microstructure and mechanical properties of spinodally decomposed Fe-Cr-Co ductile permanent magnet alloys was investigated using transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, tensile testing, and Charpy impact testing. Isothermal aging and step aging of four alloys (Fe-28 wt % Cr-15 wt % Co, Fe-23 wt % Cr-15-wt % Co-5 wt % V, Fe-23 wt % Cr-15 wt % Co-3 wt % V-2 wt % Ti, and Fe-31 wt % Cr-23 % Co) resulted in decomposition into two phases, an Fe-Co rich (..cap alpha../sub 1/) phase and a Cr rich (..cap alpha../sub 2/) phase. The microstructural features of the decomposition products were consistent with those expected from a spinodal reaction and agree with the reported work on the Fe-Cr-Co system. An Fe-23 wt % Cr-15 wt % Co-5 wt % V alloy was found to have, among the four alloys, the best combinations of strength and ductility

Equivalence of Narcissistic Personality Inventory constructs and correlates across scoring approaches and response formats

The prevalent scoring practice for the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) ignores the forced-choice nature of the items. The aim of this study was to investigate whether findings based on NPI scores reported in previous research can be confirmed when the forced-choice nature of the NPI’s original response format is appropriately modeled, and when NPI items are presented in different response formats (true/false or rating scale). The relationships between NPI facets and various criteria were robust across scoring approaches (mean score vs. model-based), but were only partly robust across response formats. In addition, the scoring approaches and response formats achieved equivalent measurements of the vanity facet and in part of the leadership facet, but differed with respect to the entitlement facet

White Matter Heritability Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Neonatal Brains

Understanding genetic and environmental effects on white matter development in the first years of life is of great interest, as it provides insights into the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. In this study, the genetic and environmental effects on white matter were estimated using data from 173 neonatal twin subjects. Diffusion tensor imaging scans were acquired around 40 days after birth and were non-rigidly registered to a group-specific atlas and parcellated into 98 ROIs. A model of additive genetic, and common and specific environmental variance components was used to estimate overall and regional genetic and environmental contributions to diffusion parameters of fractional anisotropy, radial diffusivity, and axial diffusivity. Correlations between the regional heritability values and diffusion parameters were also examined. Results indicate that individual differences in overall white matter microstructure, represented by the average diffusion parameters over the whole brain, are heritable, and estimates are higher than found in studies in adults. Estimates of genetic and environmental variance components vary considerably across different white matter regions. Significant positive correlations between radial diffusivity heritability and radial diffusivity values are consistent with regional genetic variation being modulated by maturation status in the neonatal brain: the more mature the region is, the less genetic variation it shows. Common environmental effects are present in a few regions that tend to be characterized by low radial diffusivity. Results from the joint diffusion parameter analysis suggest that multivariate modeling approaches might be promising to better estimate maturation status and its relationship with genetic and environmental effects

Ultrafast mid-infrared spectroscopy by chirped pulse upconversion in 1800-1000cm(-1) region

Broadband femtosecond mid-infrared pulses can be converted into the visible spectral region by chirped pulse upconversion. We report here the upconversion of pump probe transient signals in the frequency region below 1800c

Thought Problems from Adolescence to Adulthood: Measurement Invariance and Longitudinal Heritability

This study investigates the longitudinal heritability in Thought Problems (TP) as measured with ten items from the Adult Self Report (ASR). There were ~9,000 twins, ~2,000 siblings and ~3,000 additional family members who participated in the study and who are registered at the Netherlands Twin Register. First an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to examine the underlying factor structure of the TP-scale. Then the TP-scale was tested for measurement invariance (MI) across age and sex. Next, genetic and environmental influences were modeled on the longitudinal development of TP across three age groups (12–18, 19–27 and 28–59 year olds) based on the twin and sibling relationships in the data. An exploratory factor analysis yielded a one-factor solution, and MI analyses indicated that the same TP-construct is assessed across age and sex. Two additive genetic components influenced TP across age: the first influencing TP throughout all age groups, while the second arises during young adulthood and stays significant throughout adulthood. The additive genetic components explained 37% of the variation across all age groups. The remaining variance (63%) was explained by unique environmental influences. The longitudinal phenotypic correlation between these age groups was entirely explained by the additive genetic components. We conclude that the TP-scale measures a single underlying construct across sex and different ages. These symptoms are significantly influenced by additive genetic factors from adolescence to late adulthood

Room temperature mid-IR single photon spectral imaging

Spectral imaging and detection of mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelengths are emerging as an enabling technology of great technical and scientific interest; primarily because important chemical compounds display unique and strong mid-IR spectral fingerprints revealing valuable chemical information. While modern Quantum cascade lasers have evolved as ideal coherent mid-IR excitation sources, simple, low noise, room temperature detectors and imaging systems still lag behind. We address this need presenting a novel, field-deployable, upconversion system for sensitive, 2-D, mid-IR spectral imaging. Measured room temperature dark noise is 0.2 photons/spatial element/second, which is a billion times below the dark noise level of cryogenically cooled InSb cameras. Single photon imaging and up to 200 x 100 spatial elements resolution is obtained reaching record high continuous wave quantum efficiency of about 20 % for polarized incoherent light at 3 \mum. The proposed method is relevant for existing and new mid-IR applications like gas analysis and medical diagnostics