True Financial corporation is a financial services holding company headquartered in ithaca new york, that offers banking insurance and wealth management service. It pays cash dividends quarterly and also issues stock dividends periodically.

1. At March 31, 2012, True had 9,726,700 shares issued with a par value of $7.00 per share and $75,00 share held in treasury. On April 25, 2012, the company announced that its Board of Directors approved payment of a regular quarterly cash dividend of 3.50 per share , payable on May 15, 2012, to common shareholder of record on May 7,2012. Assume no shares were acquired or sold by the company after March 31. Give the journal entry to record the declaration of the cash dividend.

2. At December 31, 2009, True reported 5,918,200 shares issued with a par value of $7.00 per share and 11,200 share held in treasury. On January 27,2010, the company announced that its board of directors approved payment of a regular quarterly cash dividend of $3.60 per share, payable on February 25, 2010 to common shareholders of record on February 5, 2010. The board also approved the payment of 5% stock dividend distributable on February 25, 2010, to common shareholders of record on February 5, 2010. The share price was $50 when the stock dividend was issued. Assume no treasury shares were acquired or sold after June 30. Prepare the journal entry to record true 's stock dividend.

3. True issued 5% stock dividends in 1995, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010. In 1998, True issued a three-for-one split. If an investor purchased 1,200 shares in 1994, how many shares would the investor have in 2012?

What made the Khemka family decide to enter the beer market in Russia in 1992. How did they find themselves in the situation they were in at the time of the case? What could they have done differently? Why beer? The Khemkas don’t drink beer, don’t know how to make beer, don’t really know the beer market anywhere in the world. And why beer in Russia? Don’t Russians drink vodka...? So how did they do it? How was the growth financed? What do we know about the private placements? The next time the Khemka family raised equity was through a rights issue in September of 1994. What exactly is a rights issue? Is this a common way of issuing equity? How about GDRs? Is this really high finance or a fairly standard way of raising capital? Why did Sun Brewing issue GDRs? What about the IPO? Does December 1995 sound like a good time to take SUN Brewing public? Why did they do it, then? How did the private placement investors do as a result? Except for the 60% loan, all the sources of outside capital the Khemkas tapped into were equity. Why didn’t they use more debt? Could they? Should they? What was the problem with the situation in 1999? What were SUN Brewing’s financing needs in March 1999? How much was the company worth? What risks were associated with investing in a Russian beer company in 1999? Suppose you are Shiv Khemka... you need $38 million immediately to keep the company afloat, plus $76 more if you want to keep it running for the next few years. What were the pros and cons of the different alternatives (listed below) available to the Khemka family in 1999? Stay the course (go it alone) Bring in a strategic (joint venture) partner Bringing in a financial partner Sell off completely

Use the data and Excel to answer this question. It contains the United States Census Bureau’s estimates for World Population from 1950 to 2014. You will find a column of dates and a column of data on the World Population for these years. Generate the time variable t. Then run a regression with the Population data as a dependent variable and time as the dependent variable. Have Excel report the residuals.

(a) Based on the ANOVA table and t-statistics, does the regression appear significant?

(b) Calculate the Durbin-Watson Test statistic. Is there a serial correlation problem with the data? Explain.

(d) What affect might your answer in part (b) have on your conclusions in part (a)?

Can you please give detailed steps to do on excel?

1. Read carefully the below problem text and write the following proposal sections in paragraph format:

1. Analysis of the problem
2. The reasons
3. Proposed solutions
4. Risk to the organisation if the proposed changes are not made

Hunter Co.:

The Hunter Company is a chain of restaurants that are widely distributed across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The business started in 1995 with one branch in Jeddah. It was very successful as it was always crowded and widely complimented by customers in terms of food quality, hygiene and service level. The company then created an expansion strategy to meet the increasing demand. Between 2000 and 2015, The Hunter Co. has opened 50 branches in 30 cities in Saudi Arabia. However, Hunter Co. reported 30% drop in earnings for the second quarter of 2015. In an attempt to understand the causes of such drop, The Hunter company has discovered that customer satisfaction level massively dropped! While gathering information related to the reasons behind the major drop in customer satisfaction, the following comments were given from customers. Many complaints about inappropriate staff behavior. Moreover, complaints about food quality. The service varies from time to time and from a branch to another. Long waiting time. Employees are not taking care of hygiene and cleanliness. In general, they confirm that the food and service quality are below the standards set by the company. The following comments were given by the restaurant staff: Salary is different for the same levels in different restaurants. Nobody cares about how we feel. The company`s CEO says that quality is a priority, but they have brought low quality raw materials to save money. High staff turnover pressure on existing serving staff and managers. The Hunter restaurant is under a real threat of going out of business. They need for transformation to re-gain customer trust.

***IN C++***

Create student structure with the following fields:



Name (cstring or null-terminated character array)



Student ID (int – unique random value between 1000 and 9999)



grade (char – Values A thru F)



birthday (myDate – random value: range 1/1/2000 to 12/31/2005)



Home Town (string)

Create an array of pointers to students of size 10.

Example: Student *stuPtr[10];

Write a function that populates the array with 10 students.

Example: populate(stuPtr);

Write a display function that displays the contents of the array on the screen as shown below –

nicely formatted and left justified.

The displayed list should be nicely formatted with column names like this: All columns should

be left-justified.

Name

Student ID

Grade

Birthday

Home Town

Tom Thumb

1002

C

January 1, 2002

Small Ville

Fred Flintstone

1995

D

February 3, 2003

Bedrock

Sponge Bob

2987

B

June 3, 2001

Bikini Bottom

Create a menu that shows the following options:

1)

Display list sorted by Name

2)

Display list sorted by Student ID

3)

Display list sorted by Grade

4)

Display list sorted by Birthday

5)

Display list sorted by Home Town

6)

Exit

You need to write a sorting function for each of the menu items – 5 options needs 5 functions.

Note:

You must create a function that returns a date between a range of 2 dates.

You will use the myDate class in this program – you will not create any other class. The Student

structure is NOT a class.

Take advantage of your myDate class that you just wrote. Also, it might be helpful to create a

new function that returns a string for the date format:

string myDate::toString( );

Case Study: Evaluating the Training Effort

After trainees complete their training (or perhaps at planned intervals during the training), the program should be evaluated to see how well their objectives have been met. Thus, if assembler should be able to solder a junction in 30 seconds, or a Xerox technician repair a machine in 30 minutes, then the program`s effectiveness should be measured based on whether these objectives are met. For example, are your trainees learning as much as they can? Are they developing the preplanned skills? Is there a better way for managing the training process? These are some of the questions you can answer by properly evaluating you training effort. Many companies that invested heavily in workplace training have substantially improved their positions. While it may not be just the training, Xerox retained over 110,000 employees worldwide in the early 1980s and soon regained market share in its industry. General Motor is another firm that has used training to help recapture market share. A study conducted at General Electric`s in the early 2000s showed that the heavy investments in training between 1995 and 2000 resulted in noticeable improvements in employees` abilities and the quality of their products. Another study found that SG Bank has seen significant increases in its productivity growth after implementing new employee training program.

1. Consider the first bold statement in the text: (10 marks; 5 each)

a. To what type of training outcome does it refer? Justify your answer

b. Identify and discuss the theory of transfer of training applicable to this type of training outcome.

2. Consider the second bold statement in the text: (10 marks; 5 each)

a. To what kind of training evaluation does it refer? Justify your answer.

b. Discuss the effectiveness of this kind of training evaluation.

Critical Thinking

The global marketplace has witnessed an increased pressure from customers and competitors in manufacturing as well as service sector (Basu, 2001; George, 2002).Due to the rapidly changing global marketplace only those companies will be able to survive that will deliver products of good quality at cheaper rate and to achieve their goal companies try to improve performance by focusing on cost cutting, increasing productivity levels, quality and guaranteeing deliveries in order to satisfy customers (Raouf, 1994).

Increased global competition leads the industry to increasing efficiency by means of economies of scale and internal specialization so as to meet market conditions in terms of flexibility, delivery performance and quality (Yamashina, 1995). The changes in the present competitive business environment are characterized by profound competition on the supply side and keenindecisive in customer requirements on the demand side. These changes have left their distinctive marks on the different aspect of the manufacturing organizations (Gomes et al., 2006). With this increasing global economy, cost effective manufacturing has become a requirement to remain competitive.

To meet all the challenges organizations try to introduce different manufacturing and supply techniques. Management of organizations devotes its efforts to reduce the manufacturing costs and to improve the quality of product. To achieve this goal, different manufacturing and supplytechniques have been employed. The last quarter of the 20th century witnessed the adoption of world-class, lean and integrated manufacturing strategies that have drastically changed the way manufacturing firm’sleads to improvement of manufacturing performance (Fullerton and McWatters, 2002).

Consult chapter 7 of your text book or secondary available data on internet and answer the following questions.

Question:

1. Why Companies adopted Lean Thinking and JIT model?
2. Discuss major types of Waste, companies has to keep in mind during production.

Critical Thinking

The global marketplace has witnessed an increased pressure from customers and competitors in manufacturing as well as service sector (Basu, 2001; George, 2002). Due to the rapidly changing global marketplace only those companies will be able to survive that will deliver products of good quality at cheaper rate and to achieve their goal companies try to improve performance by focusing on cost cutting, increasing productivity levels, quality and guaranteeing deliveries in order to satisfy customers (Raouf, 1994).

Increased global competition leads the industry to increasing efficiency by means of economies of scale and internal specialization so as to meet market conditions in terms of flexibility, delivery performance and quality (Yamashina, 1995). The changes in the present competitive business environment are characterized by profound competition on the supply side and keen indecisive in customer requirements on the demand side. These changes have left their distinctive marks on the different aspect of the manufacturing organizations (Gomes et al., 2006). With this increasing global economy, cost effective manufacturing has become a requirement to remain competitive.

To meet all the challenges organizations try to introduce different manufacturing and supply techniques. Management of organizations devotes its efforts to reduce the manufacturing costs and to improve the quality of product. To achieve this goal, different manufacturing and supply techniques have been employed. The last quarter of the 20th century witnessed the adoption of world-class, lean and integrated manufacturing strategies that have drastically changed the way manufacturing firm’s leads to improvement of manufacturing performance (Fullerton and McWatters, 2002).

1. Assess the reasons for using lean thinking (suitable examples), what are the benefits from Suppliers to end users?

2. Due to COVID 19 emergency do you think agile supply chain is the right concept in this kind of situation? Give reason with example.

TCP Wireshark Lab – Working with a remote server.  You will go through the steps below, use your captured wireshark file and the provided wireshark file (on D2L) to answer the questions.  When you have finished the lab you will submit the following:

1. This document with your answers provided in the appropriate places.  
2. Your wireshark capture file as a zipped file.  

STEPS:

1. Start up your web browser. Go thehttp://gaia.cs.umass.edu/wireshark-labs/alice.txtand retrieve an ASCII copy of Alice in Wonderland. Store this file somewhere on your computer.

2. Next go to http://gaia.cs.umass.edu/wireshark-labs/TCP-wireshark-file1.html.

3. Use the Browse button in this form to enter the name of the file (full path name) on your computer containing Alice in Wonderland (or do so manually). Don’t press the “Upload alice.txt file” button, yet!

4. Now start up Wireshark and begin packet capture (Capture->Start) and then press OK on the Wireshark Packet Capture Options screen (we’ll not need to select any options here).

5. Returning to your browser, press the “Upload alice.txt file” button to upload the file to the gaia.cs.umass.edu server. Once the file has been uploaded, a short congratulations message will be displayed in your browser window.

6. Stop Wireshark packet capture and save your capture file. Your Wireshark window should look similar to the window shown below.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

PART 2: A first Look At the Captured Trace  

Use the provided online capture (uploaded in D2L as a zip file – you will need to extract it before opening in Wireshark) to answer the following:

1. What is the IP address and TCP port number used by the client computer (source) that is transferring the file to gaia.cs.umass.edu? To answer this question, it’s probably easiest to select an HTTP message and explore the details of the TCP packet used to carry this HTTP message, using the “details of the selected packet header window”.  (5 pts answer, 5 pts explanation of which packet # you used to answer this question)

2. What is the IP address of gaia.cs.umass.edu? On what port number is it sending and receiving TCP segments for this connection? (5 pts for answer, 5 pts for explanation of which packet # )

Use your own Captureto answer the following:

3. What is the IP address and TCP port number used by your client computer (source) to transfer the file to gaia.cs.umass.edu? (10 pts – with screenshot of your capture)

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

PART 3: TCP Basics

4. What is the sequence number of the TCP SYN segment that is used to initiate the TCP connection between the client computer and gaia.cs.umass.edu? What is it in the segment that identifies the segment as a SYN segment? (5 pts for answer, 5 pts for packet #)

5. What is the sequence number of the SYNACK segment sent by gaia.cs.umass.edu to the client computer in reply to the SYN? What is the value of the Acknowledgement field in the SYNACK segment? How did gaia.cs.umass.edu determine that value? What is it in the segment that identifies the segment as a SYNACK segment? (5 pts for answer , 5 pts for screenshot of highlighted packet)

6. What is the sequence number of the TCP segment containing the HTTP POST command? Note that in order to find the POST command, you’ll need to dig into the packet content field at the bottom of the Wireshark window, looking for a segment with a “POST” within its DATA field. (5 pts for answer, 5 pts for screenshot of highlighted packet)

7. Consider the TCP segment containing the HTTP POST as the first segment in the TCP connection. What are the sequence numbers of the first six segments in the TCP connection (including the segment containing the HTTP POST)? At what time was each segment sent? When was the ACK for each segment received? (10 pts)

8. What is the length of each of the first six TCP segments? (10 pts)

9. What is the minimum amount of available buffer space advertised at the received for the entire trace? Does the lack of receiver buffer space ever throttle the sender? (10 pts)

10. Are there any retransmitted segments in the trace file? What did you check for (in the trace) in order to answer this question? (10 pts)

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

PART 4: TCP Congestion Control In Action

STEPS:

1. Select a TCP segment in the Wireshark’s “listing of captured-packets” window. Then select the menu : Statistics->TCP Stream Graph-> Time-SequenceGraph(Stevens).  

QUESTIONS:

Answer Question 11 Using the provided Capture (Bonus: 10 pts)

11. Use the Time-Sequence-Graph(Stevens) plotting tool to view the sequence number versus time plot of segments being sent from the client to the gaia.cs.umass.edu server. Can you identify where TCP’s slowstart phase begins and ends, and where congestion avoidance takes over? Insert a screenshot of your Time-Sequence-Graph and explain your answer.

Lynn et al., (2012). Dissociation and dissociative disorders: Challenging conventional wisdom

The current (fourth) edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) defines dissociation as “a disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception of the environment” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p. 519). Many psychologists and psychiatrists view dissociation as a coping mechanism designed to deal with overpowering stress (Dell & O’Neil, 2009). One well-known form of dissociation is depersonalization, in which individuals feel disconnected from themselves; they may feel like an automaton or feel as if they are watching themselves from a distance. Another is derealization, in which individuals feel disconnected from reality; they may feel as though they are in a dream or that things seem to be moving in slow motion. Steven Spielberg’s 1998 film, Saving Private Ryan, vividly depicts an episode of derealization (spoiler alert): After being shot, Captain John Miller (portrayed by Tom Hanks) witnesses the events around him unfolding as if in a silent, slow-motion movie. Certain forms of dissociation are widespread in the general population; for example, most estimates suggest that nearly 50% of individuals have experienced depersonalization at some point in their lives (Aderibigbe, Bloch, & Walker, 2001). When mild and intermittent, such symptoms are rarely of clinical concern. Nevertheless, in some cases, dissociation may take the form of grossly impairing dissociative disorders. These puzzling conditions include dissociative identity disorder (DID), formerly known as multiple personality disorder, dissociative fugue, and depersonalization disorder. In the best known dissociative disorder, DID, individuals supposedly develop multiple coexisting personalities, known as “alters.” In dissociative fugue, individuals purportedly suddenly forget their past, travel from home or work (fugue has the same root as fugitive), and adopt a new identity; in depersonalization disorder, individuals experience frequent bouts of depersonalization, derealization, or both. Dissociation also features prominently in other psychological conditions not formally classified as dissociative disorders, such as panic disorder, borderline and schizotypal personality disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder. The origins of dissociation are poorly understood. Nevertheless, the clinical literature on dissociation has been marked by three widely accepted assumptions associated with what is often referred to as the posttraumatic model. Specifically, it has long been assumed that chronic dissociation is (a) a coping mechanism to deal with intense stressors, especially childhood sexual and physical trauma; (b) accompanied by cognitive deficits that interfere with the processing of emotionally laden information; and (c) marked by an avoidant informationprocessing style characterized by a tendency to forget painful memories. The coping mechanism outlined in (a) is typically assumed to play a key causal role in dissociative disorders. For example, many authors have argued that DID reflects individuals’ attempts to “compartmentalize” and obtain psychological distance from traumatic experiences such as child abuse (Dell & O’Neil, 2009). In this article, we review recent research that calls these widespread assumptions into question and proposes novel and scientifically supported approaches for conceptualizing dissociation and dissociative disorders.

The Posttraumatic Model The posttraumatic model (Bremner, 2010; Gleaves, 1996) is ostensibly supported by very high rates—sometimes exceeding 90%—of reported histories of childhood trauma, most commonly child sexual abuse, among patients with DID and perhaps other dissociative disorders (Gleaves, 1996; Simeon, Guralnik, Schmeidler, Sirof, & Knutelska, 2001). Nevertheless, a number of authors (e.g., Giesbrecht, Lynn, Lilienfeld, & Merckelbach, 2008, 2010; Kihlstrom, 2005; Merckelbach & Muris, 2001; Piper & Merskey, 2004; Spanos, 1994, 1996) have questioned the oft-cited link between child abuse/ maltreatment and dissociation for several reasons. First, in most studies (e.g., Ross & Ness, 2010), objective corroboration of abuse is lacking. Second, the overwhelming majority of studies of self-reported trauma and dissociation are based on cross-sectional designs that do not permit causal inferences; in these designs, individuals are typically assessed for DID or other dissociative disorders and asked to recollect whether they had been abused or neglected in childhood. Prospective studies that circumvent the pitfalls of such retrospective reporting often fail to substantiate a link between childhood abuse and dissociation in adulthood (Giesbrecht et al., 2008; but see Bremner, 2010). Third, researchers have rarely controlled for overlapping conditions or symptoms, such as those of anxiety, eating, and personality disorders, raising the possibility that the correlates of abuse are not specific to dissociative disorders. Fourth, the reported high levels of child abuse among DID patients may be attributable to selection and referral biases (Pope & Hudson, 1995); for example, individuals with dissociative disorders may be especially likely to enter treatment if they are struggling with problems stemming from early abuse. Fifth, correlations between abuse and psychopathology decrease substantially or disappear when participants’ perception of family pathology is controlled statistically (Nash, Hulsey, Sexton, Harralson, & Lambert, 1993), which could mean that this association is due to global familial maladjustment rather than abuse itself. These five points of contention suggest ample reasons to be skeptical of the claim that child abuse plays a central or direct causal role in DID—although, as we will suggest later, it may be one element of the complex etiological network that contributes to this condition. The Sociocognitive Model In contrast to the posttraumatic model, the sociocognitive model (Spanos, 1994; see also Aldridge-Morris, 1989; Lilienfeld et al., 1999; McHugh, 1993; Sarbin, 1995) proposes that DID is a consequence of social learning and expectancies. This model holds that DID results from inadvertent therapist cueing (e.g., suggestive questioning regarding the existence of possible alters, hypnosis for memory recovery, sodium amytal), media influences (e.g., television and film portrayals of DID), and sociocultural expectations regarding the presumed clinical features of DID. In aggregate, the sociocognitive model posits that these influences can lead predisposed individuals to become convinced that indwelling entities— alters—account for their dramatic mood swings, identity changes, impulsive actions, and other puzzling behaviors (see below). Over time, especially when abetted by suggestive therapeutic procedures, efforts to recover memories, and a propensity to fantasize, they may come to attribute distinctive memories and personality traits to one or more imaginary alters. A number of findings (e.g., Lilienfeld & Lynn, 2003; Lilienfeld et al., 1999; Piper, 1997; Spanos, 1994) are consistent with the sociocognitive model and present serious challenges to the posttraumatic model. For example, the number of patients with DID, along with the number of alters per DID patient, increased dramatically from the 1970s to the 1990s (Elzinga, van Dyck, & Spinhoven, 1998), although the number of alters at the time of initial diagnosis appears to have remained constant (North, Ryall, Ricci, & Wetzel, 1993). In addition, the massive increase in reported cases of DID followed closely upon the release in the mid-1970s of the bestselling book (turned into a widely viewed television film in 1976), Sybil (Schreiber, 1973), which told the story of a young woman with 16 personalities who reported a history of severe child abuse at the hands of her mother (see Nathan, 2011; Rieber, 2006, for evidence that many details of the Sybil story are inaccurate). Manifestations of DID symptoms also vary across cultures. For example, in India, the transition period as the individual shifts between alter personalities is typically preceded by sleep, a presentation that reflects common media portrayals of DID in that country (North et al., 1993). Moreover, mainstream treatment techniques for DID often reinforce patients’ displays of multiplicity (e.g., asking questions like, “Is there another part of you with whom I have not spoken?”), reify alters as distinct personalities (e.g., calling different alters by different names), and encourage patients to establish contact and dialogue with presumed alters. Interestingly, many or most DID patients show few or no clear-cut signs of this condition (e.g., alters) prior to psychotherapy (Kluft, 1984), raising the specter that alters are generated by treatment. Indeed, the number of alters per DID individual tends to increase substantially over the course of DID-oriented psychotherapy (Piper, 1997). Curiously, psychotherapists who use hypnosis tend to have more DID patients in their caseloads than do psychotherapists who do not use hypnosis (Powell & Gee, 1999), and most DID diagnoses derive from a small number of therapy specialists in DID (Mai, 1995), again suggesting that alters may be created rather than discovered in therapy. These sources of evidence do not imply that DID can typically be created in vacuo by iatrogenic (therapist-induced) or sociocultural influences. Sociocognitive theorists acknowledge that iatrogenic and sociocultural influences typically operate against a backdrop of preexisting psychopathology. Indeed, the sociocognitive model is consistent with findings that many or most patients with DID, and to a lesser extent other dissociative disorders, meet criteria for borderline personality disorder, a condition marked by extremely unstable behaviors, such as unpredictable shifts in mood, impulsive actions, and self-mutilation (Lilienfeld et al., 1999). Individuals with this disorder are understandably seeking an explanation for their bewildering behaviors. The presence of hidden alters may be one such explanation, and it may assume particular plausibility when suggested by psychotherapists or sensational media portrayals. Cognitive Mechanisms of Dissociation Much of the literature on cognitive mechanisms of dissociation is more consistent with the sociocognitive model than with the posttraumatic model. For example, researchers have found little evidence for inter-identity amnesia among patients with DID using objective measures of memory (e.g., eventrelated potentials or behavioral tasks; Allen & Movius, 2000; Huntjens et al., 2006). In such studies, investigators present certain forms of information to one alter and see whether it is accessible to another alter. In most cases, it is, demonstrating that alters are not psychologically distinct entities. Contradicting the claim that individuals with heightened dissociation are defending against the impact of threat-related information and therefore exhibit slower or impaired processing of such information, patients with DID and other “high dissociators” display better memory for to-be-forgotten sexual words in directed-forgetting tasks (Elzinga, de Beurs, Sergeant, van Dyck, & Phaf, 2000). This finding is strikingly discrepant with the presumed coping function of dissociation. Studies of cognitive inhibition in highly dissociative clinical and nonclinical samples typically find a breakdown in such inhibition, challenging the widespread idea that amnesia (i.e., extreme inhibition) is a core feature of dissociation (Giesbrecht et al., 2008, 2010). The extant evidence therefore questions the widespread assumption that dissociation is related to avoidant information processing and suggests that apparent gaps in memory in interidentity amnesia, or dissociative amnesia more generally, could reflect intentional failures to report information. Moreover, the literature indicates that dissociation is marked by a propensity toward false memories, possibly mediated by heightened levels of suggestibility, fantasy proneness, and cognitive failures (e.g., lapses in attention). Indeed, at least 10 studies from diverse laboratories have confirmed a link between dissociation and fantasy proneness. In addition, heightened levels of fantasy proneness are associated with the tendency to overreport autobiographical memories and the false recall of aversive memory material (Giesbrecht et al., 2010). Accordingly, the relation between dissociation and fantasy proneness may explain why individuals with high levels of dissociation are especially prone to develop false memories of emotional childhood events. This explanation dovetails with data revealing links between dissociative symptoms and hypnotizability (Frischholz, Lipman, Braun, & Sachs, 1992) and high scores on the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (Merckelbach, Muris, Rassin, & Horselenberg, 2000). Similarly, dissociation increases the number of commission memory errors (e.g., confabulations/false positives, problems discriminating perception from imagery) but not omission memory errors, which are presumably associated with dissociative amnesia (Holmes et al., 2005). These findings, together with research demonstrating a link between dissociation and cognitive failures, point to an association between a heightened risk of confabulation and pseudomemories. They also raise questions regarding the accuracy of retrospective reports of traumatic experiences. Still, these findings do not exclude some role for trauma in dissociation. Suggestibility, cognitive failures, and fantasy proneness could contribute to an overestimation of a genuine, although perhaps modest, link between dissociation and trauma. Alternatively, early trauma might predispose individuals to develop high levels of fantasy proneness, absorption (the tendency to become immersed in sensory or imaginative experiences; Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974), or related traits. In turn, such traits may render individuals susceptible to the iatrogenic and cultural influences posited by the sociocognitive model, thereby increasing the likelihood of DID. Sleep, Memory, and Dissociation A recent theory connecting sleep, memory problems, and dissociation may provide a conceptual bridge between the posttraumatic model and the sociocognitive model. In a review of 23 studies, van der Kloet, Merckelbach, Giesbrecht, and Lynn (2011) concluded that data from clinical and nonclinical samples provide strong support for a link between dissociative experiences and a labile sleep–wake cycle. This link, they contend, is evident across a range of sleep-related phenomena, including waking dreams, nightmares, and hypnagogic (occurring while falling asleep) and hypnopompic (occurring while awakening) hallucinations. Supporting this hypothesis, studies of the association between dissociative experiences and sleep disturbances have generally yielded modest correlations (in the range of .30 to .55), implying that unusual sleep experiences and dissociation are moderately related constructs (see also Watson, 2001). Nevertheless, these studies typically relied on cross-sectional designs. To address this limitation, Giesbrecht, Smeets, Leppink, Jelicic, and Merckelbach (2007) deprived 25 healthy volunteers of one night of sleep and found that sleep loss engenders a substantial increase in dissociative symptoms. They also found that this increase could not be accounted for by mood changes or response bias. van der Kloet, Giesbrecht, Lynn, Merckelbach, and de Zutter (in press) later conducted a longitudinal investigation of sleep experiences and dissociative symptoms among 266 patients who were evaluated on arrival and at discharge 6 to 8 weeks later. Sleep hygiene was a core treatment component. Prior to treatment, 24% of participants met the clinical cut-off for dissociative disorders (i.e., Dissociative Experiences Scale > 30; Bernstein-Carlson & Putnam, 1993); at follow-up, this number dropped to 12%. Although sleep improvements were associated with a reduction in global psychopathology (e.g., anxiety, depression), this reduction did not account fully for the specific effect of treatment on dissociation. The fact that a sleep-hygiene intervention reduces dissociative symptoms independent of generalized psychopathology bears noteworthy clinical implications. It also suggests that researchers may wish to revisit the treatment of dissociative disorders. Surprisingly, this clinically important area has received minimal investigation: For example, Brand, Classen, McNary, and Zaveri (2009) reported that only eight nonpharmacological studies, none of which was a well-controlled randomized trial, have examined treatment outcomes for DID. van der Kloet et al.’s (in press) findings suggest an intriguing interpretation of the link between dissociative symptoms and deviant sleep phenomena (see also Watson, 2001). According to their working model, individuals with a labile sleep– wake cycle experience intrusions of sleep phenomena (e.g., dreamlike experiences) into waking consciousness, in turn fostering dissociative symptoms. This labile sleep–wake cycle may stem in part from a genetic propensity (Lang, Paris, Zweig-Frank, & Livesley, 1998), distressing trauma-related memories, or other unknown causal influences. van der Kloet et al.’s model further proposes that disruptions of the sleep– wake cycle degrade memory and attentional control, thereby accounting for, or at least contributing to, the cognitive deficits of highly dissociative individuals. Accordingly, the sleep-dissociation perspective may explain (a) how aversive events disrupt the sleep–wake cycle and increase vulnerability to dissociative symptoms, and (b) why dissociation, trauma, fantasy proneness, and cognitive failures overlap. Thus, this perspective is commensurate with the possibility that trauma engenders sleep disturbances that in turn play a pivotal role in the genesis of dissociation and suggests that competing theoretical perspectives may be amenable to integration. The SCM holds that patients become convinced that they possess multiple selves as a by-product of suggestive media, sociocultural, and psychotherapeutic influences. Their sensitivity to suggestive influences may arise from increased salience of distressing memories (some of which may stem in part from trauma) and susceptibility to memory errors and a propensity to fantasize and experience difficulties in distinguishing fantasy from reality, brought about at least in part by sleep disruptions. The data we have summarized have received only scant attention in the clinical literature. Nevertheless, they have the potential to reshape the conceptualization and operationalization of dissociative disorders in the upcoming edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMV, publication scheduled in 2013). In particular, they suggest that sleep disturbances, as well as sociocultural and psychotherapeutic influences, merit greater attention in the conceptualization and perhaps classification of dissociative disorders (Lynn et al., in press). From this perspective, the hypothesis that dissociative disorders can be triggered by (a) a labile sleep cycle that impairs cognitive functioning, combined with (b) highly suggestive psychotherapeutic techniques, warrants empirical investigation. More broadly, the data reviewed point to fruitful directions for our thinking and research regarding dissociation and dissociative disorders in years to come.

Respond to whether you think DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) “exists” and what you mean by that. In your opinion, do you think it exists? What do you think DID is and what causes it and why?