The Berlin Misophonia Questionnaire (BMQ): Development and validation of a symptom-oriented diagnostical instrument for the measurement of misophonia

Misophonia is a syndrome which is characterized by intense emotional and physical reactions to idiosyncratic sounds. However, its psychometric measurement is still in the early stages. The study presents the development of a German self-report instrument, the Berlin Misophonia Questionnaire (BMQ), and integrates contemporary empirical findings and the latest criteria of misophonia. Data of 952 individuals were gathered in an online study. The results of structural analyses, the assessment of internal consistency, and an analysis of the nomological network of misophonic symptoms supported the reliability and validity of the developed scales. Through the presented symptom-oriented modelling approach, every facet of misophonia is clearly and separately measurable. The final BMQ consists of 77 items in 21 scales, which were selected using Ant Colony Optimization algorithms. The study demonstrates several improvements in the measurement of misophonia by providing a multidimensional measurement of misophonic symptoms and therefore stimulates further research.

Two view NURBS reconstruction based on GACO model

The key job here in the presented work is to investigate the performance of Generalized Ant Colony Optimizer (GACO) model in order to evolve the shape of three dimensional free-form Non Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) curve using stereo (two) views. GACO model is a blend of two well known meta-heuristic optimization algorithms known as Simple Ant Colony and Global Ant Colony Optimization algorithms. Basically, the work talks about the solution of NURBS-fitting based reconstruction process. Therefore, GACO model is used to optimize the NURBS parameters (control points and weights) by minimizing the weighted least-square errors between the data points and the fitted NURBS curve. The algorithm is applied by first assuming some pre-fixed values of NURBS parameters. The experiments clearly show that the optimization procedure is a better option in a case where good initial locations of parameters are selected. A detailed experimental analysis is given in support of our algorithm. The implemented error analysis shows that the proposed methodology perform better as compared to the conventional methods.

Development of a Short and ICD-11 Compatible Measure for DSM-5 Maladaptive Personality Traits Using Ant Colony Optimization Algorithms

While Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–Fifth edition ( DSM-5) Section III and ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases 11th–Revision) both allow for dimensional assessment of personality pathology, the models differ in the definition of maladaptive traits. In this study, we pursued the goal of developing a short and reliable assessment for maladaptive traits, which is compatible with both models, using the item pool of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5). To this aim, we applied ant colony optimization algorithms in English- and German-speaking samples comprising a total N of 2,927. This procedure yielded a 34-item measure with a hierarchical latent structure including six maladaptive trait domains and 17 trait facets, the “Personality Inventory for DSM-5, Brief Form Plus” (PID5BF+). While latent structure, reliability, and criterion validity were ascertained in the original and in two separate validation samples ( n = 849, n = 493) and the measure was able to discriminate personality disorders from other diagnoses in a clinical subsample, results suggest further modifications for capturing ICD-11 Anankastia.

OPTIMUM PATH DETERMINATION TO FACILITATE FIRE STATION RESCUE MISSIONS USING ANT COLONY OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHMS (CASE STUDY: CITY OF KARAJ)

The successful conduct of a rescue mission in urban areas is directly related to the timely deployment of equipment and personnel to the incident location which justifies the quest for optimum path selection for emergency purposes. In this study, it is attempted to use Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) to find the optimum paths between fire stations and incident locations. It is also attempted to build up an evaluation tool using ACO to detect critical road segments that the overall accessibility to fire station services throughout the urban area is constituted upon their excellent functionality. Therefore, an ACO solution is designed to find optimum paths between the fire station and some randomly distributed incident locations. Regarding different variants of ACO, the algorithm enjoys the Simple Ant Colony Optimization deployment strategy combined with Ant Algorithm Transition rules. Iteration best pheromone updating is also used as the pheromone reinforcement strategy. The cost function used to optimize the path considers the shortest Euclidean distance on the network. The results explicitly state that the proposed method is successful to create the optimum path in 95.45 percent of all times, compared to Dijkstra deterministic approaches. Moreover, the pheromone map as an indicator of the criticality of road elements is generated and discussed. Visual inspection shows that the pheromone map is verified as the road criticality map concerning fire station access to the region and therefore pre-emptive measures can be defined by analyzing the generated pheromone map.

Development of a Short and ICD-11 Compatible Measure for DSM-5 Maladaptive Personality Traits Using Ant Colony Optimization Algorithms

While DSM-5 Section III and ICD-11 both allow for dimensional assessment of personality pathology, the models differ in the definition of maladaptive traits. In this study, we pursued the goal of developing a short and reliable assessment for maladaptive traits, which is compatible with both models, using the item pool of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5). To this aim, we applied ant colony optimization algorithms in English- and German-speaking samples comprising a total N = 2927. This procedure yielded a 34-item measure with a hierarchical latent structure including six maladaptive trait domains and 17 trait facets, the “Personality Inventory for DSM-5, Brief Form Plus” (PID5BF+). Latent structure, reliability and criterion validity were ascertained in the original as well as in two separate validation samples (N=849, N=493) and the measure was able to discriminate personality disorders from other diagnoses in a clinical subsample. The results suggest that the PID5BF+ is a useful measure of the DSM-5 maladaptive trait domains, but needs further revision for capturing ICD-11 Anankastia.