A contextual behavioral approach to the study of (persecutory) delusions

Throughout the past century the topic of delusions has mainly been studied by researchers operating at the mental level of analysis. According to this perspective, delusional beliefs, as well as their emergence and persistence, stem from an interplay between (dysfunctional) mental representations and processes. Our paper aims to provide a starting point for researchers and clinicians interested in examining the topic of delusions from a functional-analytic perspective. We begin with a brief review of the research literature with a particular focus on persecutory delusions. Thereafter we introduce Contextual Behavioral Science (CBS), Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and a behavioral phenomenon known as arbitrarily applicable relational responding (AARR). Drawing upon AARR, and recent empirical developments within CBS, we argue that (persecutory) delusions may be conceptualized, studied and influenced using a functional-analytic approach. We consider future directions for research in this area as well as clinical interventions aimed at influencing delusions and their expression

Top-down mandates and advocacy will help institutional repositories continue to enhance open access content and delivery

Institutional repositories (IRs) can sometimes be perceived as a low-impact method of open access delivery. Neil Stewart explains how the rapidly changing scholarly communications ecosystem stands to greatly benefit from the continued development of repositories. The future of IRs looks bright, and they and the services built upon them will continue to assist academics, both as producers and consumers of academic literature

Review of The Lamb and the Tiger: From Peacekeepers to Peacewarriors in Canada by Stanley R. Barrett

Review of The Lamb and the Tiger: From Peacekeepers to Peacewarriors in Canada by Stanley R. Barret

A study of families' experiences of assisting a member into residential care : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Nursing at Massey University

Traditionally the responsibility of caring for an aging relative has fallen upon the family of that person, usually the spouse or the daughter(s). An increase in the state recognised age of retirement, more women returning to or remaining in the workforce, and the tendency of families to be more mobile than in the past, means that the option of being cared for in the community by family members has diminished for some elderly people. Residential care - an umbrella term for retirement homes, hospitals and secure units - provides an alternative for families unable to care for their aged relative(s). Some research has been done on the phenomenon of relocation into residential care from the client's perspective, yet there is a paucity of information about the experience from the point of view of the families involved in this process. This piece of research sets out to address this issue and to hopefully influence the nursing practice of those who work in this area

The defence industry in Scotland

“The defence industry is vital to Scotland”1 The above quote from the recent House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee report concerns the volume of economic activity that the defence industry supports in Scotland. We examine this issue

Scoring Play Combinatorial Games Under Different Operators

Scoring play games were first studied by Fraser Stewart for his PhD thesis. He showed that under the disjunctive sum, scoring play games are partially ordered, but do not have the same "nice" structure of normal play games. In this paper I will be considering scoring play games under three different operators given by John Conway and William Stromquist and David Ullman, namely the conjunctive sum, selective sum and sequential join

Absolute identification is relative: a reply to Brown, Marley, and Lacouture (2007)

N. Stewart, G. D. A. Brown, and N. Chater presented a relative judgment model (RJM) of absolute identification, in which the current stimulus is judged relative to the preceding stimulus. S. Brown, A. A. J. Marley, and Y. Lacouture found that the RJM does not predict their finding of increased accuracy after large stimulus jumps, except at the expense of other effects. In fact, the RJM does predict both the core effects and increased accuracy after large jumps (although it underestimates this effect) when better constrained parameters are estimated from the trial-by-trial raw data rather than from summary plots. Further, a modified RJM, in which the stimulus from two trials ago is sometimes used as a referent, provides a better fit

Fisheries in a changing scene [includes section on proposed Morecambe Bay barrage scheme]: paper presented at Association of River Authorities, Annual Conference, Morecambe, 1967

The report looks at trends developing in the area of the Lancashire River Authority which will, by the turn of the century, bring tremendous pressures to bear on its natural resources, particularly land and water. It looks at difficulties maintaining an environment suitable for all, human or otherwise, including construction of energy plants and increasing population. It explores the scheme of harnessing water on Morecambe Bay, including fishery advantages and disadvantages. The report looks at fish deaths and diseases in Morecambe Bay and the Lancashire area, providing statistics