33 research outputs found
Silicon photonics comb demultiplexer for elastic optical networks
No full textAn integrated reconfigurable optical comb demultiplexer for flexible-grid optical networks is demonstrated using high-order distributed feedback resonators realized in silicon-on-insulator technology. Low-loss tone isolation of nearly 30dB for a comb spacing of 12.5GHz is experimentally demonstrated in an ultra-compact layout, with potentials for operation with finer grids
Validity and reliability of the Structured Clinical Interview for Depersonalization-Derealization Spectrum (SCI-DER)
No full textThis study evaluates the validity and reliability of a new instrument developed to assess symptoms of depresonalization: the Structured Clinical Interview for the Depersonalization-Derealization Spectrum (SCI-DER). The instrument is based on a spectrum model that emphasizes soft-signs, sub-threshold syndromes as well as clinical and subsyndromal manifestations. Items of the interview include, in addition to DSM-IV criteria for depersonalization, a number of features derived from clinical experience and from a review of phenomenological descriptions. Study participants included 258 consecutive patients with mood and anxiety disorders, 16.7% bipolar I disorder, 18.6% bipolar II disorder, 32.9% major depression, 22.1% panic disorder, 4.7% obsessive compulsive disorder, and 1.5% generalized anxiety disorder; 2.7% patients were also diagnosed with depersonalization disorder. A comparison group of 42 unselected controls was enrolled at the same site. The SCI-DER showed excellent reliability and good concurrent validity with the Dissociative Experiences Scale. It significantly discriminated subjects with any diagnosis of mood and anxiety disorders from controls and subjects with depersonalization disorder from controls. The hypothesized structure of the instrument was confirmed empirically
Distinguishing affective depersonalization from anhedonia in major depression and bipolar disorder
No full textBACKGROUND: Affective depersonalization has received limited attention in the literature, although its conceptualization may have implications in terms of identification of clinical endophenotypes of mood disorders. Thus, this study aims to test the hypothesis that anhedonia and affective depersonalization represent 2 distinct psychopathological dimensions and to investigate their clinical correlates in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD).
METHODS: Using a data pool of 258 patients with mood and anxiety disorders, an item response theory-based factor analysis approach was carried out on 16 items derived from 2 clinical instruments developed in the Spectrum Project (the Structured Clinical Interview for Mood Spectrum and the Structured Clinical Interview for Derealization-Depersonalization Spectrum). Clinical correlates of these psychometrically derived dimensions were subsequently investigated in patients with BD or MDD.
RESULTS: Using an item response theory-based factor analysis, a 2-factor solution was identified, accounting overall for the 47.0% of the variance. Patients with BD showed statistically significant higher affective depersonalization factor scores than those with MDD (Z = 2.215, P = .027), whereas there was no between-groups difference in anhedonia scores (Z = 0.825 P = .411). In patients with BD, age of onset of the disease correlated with affective depersonalization factor scores (rho = -0.330, P = .001) but not with anhedonia factor scores (rho = -0.097, P = .361).
CONCLUSIONS: Affective depersonalization and anhedonia seem to be 2 distinct psychopathological dimensions, although closely related, bearing the opportunity to identify patients with a specific profile for a better clinical and neurobiological definition
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Prediction of breast cancer risk based on profiling with common genetic variants
No full text© 2015 © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.Background: Data for multiple common susceptibility alleles for breast cancer may be combined to identify women at different levels of breast cancer risk. Such stratification could guide preve
DIFFERENT TEMPERAMENT AND CHARACTER DIMENSIONS CORRELATE WITH PANIC DISORDER COMORBIDITY IN BIPOLAR DISORDER AND UNIPOLAR DEPRESSION
No full textBACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate temperament and character correlates of panic disorder (PD) comorbidity in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder (BD) or unipolar depression (UD).
METHODS: Temperament and character were assessed using the Temperament and Character Inventory Revised (TCI-R) in 181 patients (70 patients with BD-I, 51 patients with BD-II and 60 with UD) in a euthymic state for at least 2 months.
RESULTS: PD was diagnosed in 14.3% of BD-I patients, 31.4% of BD-II and 40% of UD. BD patients with PD, when compared with BD patients without PD, had higher scores on harm avoidance (OR=1.04; 95% CI=1.02-1.07; p=0.002). Patients with UD and PD, when compared to patients with UD without PD, had higher scores on social acceptance (OR=1.27; 95% CI=1.08-1.49; p=0.004).
CONCLUSION: Different temperament and character dimensions correlated with PD comorbidity in BD and UD patients, suggesting different underlying pathophysiological mechanisms
Packaging and assembly for integrated photonics - the ePIXpack photonics packaging service
No full textPackaging and assembly for integrated photonics - the ePIXpack photonics packaging service
No full textS.167-168The photonics packaging platform ePIXpack serves the academic community with packaging & assembly developments in the area of integrated photonics. Here we shall review the concept of ePIXpack and some of their recent work
Packaging and assembly for integrated photonics - a review of the ePIXpack photonics packaging platform
No full textS.645-651We review recent work done by the photonics packaging platform ePIXpack that serves the academic community with packaging and assembly developments in the area of integrated photonics. The paper includes recent examples of our packaging and assembly work, covering a broad range of technologies from silicon photonics to InP-based devices.17Nr.
Biotechnologizing Jatropha for local sustainable developments
No full textThis article explores whether and how the biotechnologization process that the fuel-plant Jatropha curcas is undergoing might strengthen local sustainable development. It focuses on the ongoing efforts of the multi-stakeholder network Gota Verde to harness Jatropha within local small-scale production systems in Yoro, Honduras. It also looks at the genomics research on Jatropha conducted by the Dutch research institute Plant Research International, specifically addressing the ways in which that research can assists local development in Honduras. A territorial approach is applied for analysis employing a three domain concept (local sustainable biotechnological development) of territory, technology and re-territorialization. The article suggests that, although the biotechnologization process (through genomics) of Jatropha within the socio-technical framework of the institute and multi-stakeholder networks is an ongoing process¿¿and different trajectories are, therefore, still open - the process can, nevertheless, strengthen local sustainable developmen
Valuation in Emerging Markets: A Simulation Approach
No full textMost of the foundations of valuation theory have been designed for use in developed markets. Because of the greater, and in some cases different, risks associated with emerging markets (although recent experience might suggest otherwise), investors and corporate managers are often uncomfortable using traditional methods. The typical way of capturing emerging-market risks is to increase the discount rate in the standard valuation model. But, as the authors argue, such adjustments have the effect of undermining some of the basic assumptions of the CAPM-based discounted cash flow model. The standard theory of capital budgeting suggests that estimates of unconditional expected cash flows should be discounted at CAPM discount rates (or betas) that reflect only “systematic,” or “nondiversifiable,” market-wide risks. In practice, however, analysts tend to take what are really estimates of “conditional” expected cash flows—that is, conditional on the firm or its country avoiding a crisis—and discount them at higher rates that reflect not only systematic risks, but diversifiable risks that typically involve a higher probability of crisis-driven costs of default. But there is almost no basis in theory for the size of the increases in discount rates. In this article, the authors propose that analysts in emerging markets avoid this discount rate problem by using simulation techniques to capture emerging-market risks in their estimates of unconditional expected cash flows—in other words, estimates that directly incorporate the possibility of an emerging-market crisis and its consequences. Having produced such estimates, analysts can then discount them using the standard Global CAPM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR
