Quebec hypnotherapists' social representations of hypnosis and power

Hypnosis appears as a practice that features practitioners who deliberately display their power and the power of their technique. During a therapeutic interaction, the actors involved will mobilize representations and knowledge related to their membership groups. The aim of this research was to highlight the hypnotherapist’s social representations of hypnosis and power. A qualitative research was carried out based on semi-structured interviews with hypnotherapist (n = 21) in private practice in Quebec (Canada). According to our data, we observed and interpreted hypnosis as a staging, where power games take place between the practitioner and client. A common hypnotic dialectic is articulated including words, representations and a narrative discourse of the hypnotic experience, definition and categorization of the hypnotic phenomenon. Also the results revealed three conceptions of power: a) power-resource; b) power-substance; and c) egalitarian power. Legitimacy is a prerequisite for the exercise of power by individuals and appeared as a central element of the research study on power. The search for legitimacy is carried out through strategies, games of power, that take place in the interaction at several levels of interaction. Legitimacy appears not as an objective fact, but rather as a feeling. In fact, not feeling legitimate fits into the intersubjective space and could be thought of in terms of an absence of recognition. The discourses of practitioners have proved relevant in the development of themes and have allowed for an original interpretation of hypnosis and power relations. This study can serve as a starting point for expanding and animating discussions on power, hypnosis, and on psychotherapeutic practices in general

Determinants of Inter-Firm Contractual Relations: A Case of Indian Software Industry

We analyze the impediments to inter-firm contractual relations, existing formal and informal ways of getting around them, especially the role of reputation and trust in mitigating the conflict of interest between the firms. We study it in the context of Indian IT industry. Contract design is specified as a function of reputation (age, repeated contracts and quality certification), asset specificity, complexity and uncertainty. We test the likelihood of observing Time & Material contract, a better propertied contract in the face of uncertainty. Empirical evidence conforms the propositions posited. Reputed firms tend to get highly complicated and uncertain projects. Asset specific investments do not seem to have any implication on contract type and complexity. The results broadly hint that the firms reckon more on creating an understanding through formal quality certifications to solve pre-contractual adverse selection problems and repeated contracting to solve the problems of behavioral uncertainties rather than relying on the court.Transaction Cost; Inter-firm Contractual Relations; Reputation and Outsourcing

Medication decision-making for patients with renal insufficiency in inpatient and outpatient care at a US Veterans Affairs Medical Centre: a qualitative, cognitive task analysis.

BackgroundMany studies identify factors that contribute to renal prescribing errors, but few examine how healthcare professionals (HCPs) detect and recover from an error or potential patient safety concern. Knowledge of this information could inform advanced error detection systems and decision support tools that help prevent prescribing errors.ObjectiveTo examine the cognitive strategies that HCPs used to recognise and manage medication-related problems for patients with renal insufficiency.DesignHCPs submitted documentation about medication-related incidents. We then conducted cognitive task analysis interviews. Qualitative data were analysed inductively.SettingInpatient and outpatient facilities at a major US Veterans Affairs Medical Centre.ParticipantsPhysicians, nurses and pharmacists who took action to prevent or resolve a renal-drug problem in patients with renal insufficiency.OutcomesEmergent themes from interviews, as related to recognition of renal-drug problems and decision-making processes.ResultsWe interviewed 20 HCPs. Results yielded a descriptive model of the decision-making process, comprised of three main stages: detect, gather information and act. These stages often followed a cyclical path due largely to the gradual decline of patients' renal function. Most HCPs relied on being vigilant to detect patients' renal-drug problems rather than relying on systems to detect unanticipated cues. At each stage, HCPs relied on different cognitive cues depending on medication type: for renally eliminated medications, HCPs focused on gathering renal dosing guidelines, while for nephrotoxic medications, HCPs investigated the need for particular medication therapy, and if warranted, safer alternatives.ConclusionsOur model is useful for trainees so they can gain familiarity with managing renal-drug problems. Based on findings, improvements are warranted for three aspects of healthcare systems: (1) supporting the cyclical nature of renal-drug problem management via longitudinal tracking mechanisms, (2) providing tools to alleviate HCPs' heavy reliance on vigilance and (3) supporting HCPs' different decision-making needs for renally eliminated versus nephrotoxic medications

An Exploration of Mental Health Practitioners\u27 Perceptions of Ethical Requirements and Self-Care as Means to Maintain Professional Competence

A mental health practitioner must refrain from partaking in any mental health work if personal problems interfere with his or her ability to provide services in a competent manner. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how mental health practitioners manage personal problems to stay ethically compliant. Previous research has indicated that a significant amount of literature has revealed the causes and damaging effects of burnout among mental health workers. However, there remains an important gap in the current literature that links burnout directly with competently providing quality care. Ethical compliance, self-care, and mental health practitioners\u27 perceptions were explored to answer research questions that were centered around the lived experiences of mental health workers. Guided by these research questions, semi-structured in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 8 current mental health practitioners who practice in a southern U.S. state. The data were analyzed according to interpretive phenomenological analysis procedures. Themes that were extrapolated are (a) building inner self-care rapport, (b) establishing healthy mental health practitioner and client relationships, and (c) personal and professional balance. Findings from this study, in addition to existing literature on mental health practitioner\u27s self-care and ethical requirements, indicated that mental health practitioners\u27 perceptions assist in their ability to maintain ethical compliance. This would be an important contribution to the existing literature and would enhance social change initiatives by explaining the importance of more self-care training for mental health practitioners and the facilities that employ them

The representation of time in data warehouses

This thesis researches the problems concerning the specification and implementation of the temporal requirements in data warehouses. The thesis focuses on two areas, firstly, the methods for identifying and capturing the business information needs and associated temporal requirements at the conceptual level and; secondly, methods for classifying and implementing the requirements at the logical level using the relational model. At the conceptual level, eight candidate methodologies were investigated to examine their suitability for the creation of data models that are appropriate for a data warehouse. The methods were evaluated to assess their representation of time, their ability to reflect the dimensional nature of data warehouse models and their simplicity of use. The research found that none of the methods under review fully satisfied the criteria. At the logical level, the research concluded that the methods widely used in current practice result in data structures that are either incapable of answering some very basic questions involving history or that return inaccurate results. Specific proposals are made in three areas. Firstly, a new conceptual model is described that is designed to capture the information requirements for dimensional models and has full support for time. Secondly, a new approach at the logical level is proposed. It provides the data structures that enable the requirements captured in the conceptual model to be implemented, thus enabling the historical questions to be answered simply and accurately. Thirdly, a set of rules is developed to help minimise the inaccuracy caused by time. A guide has been produced that provides practitioners with the tools and instructions on how to implement data warehouses using the methods developed in the thesis

A review of relational capabilities on supply chain performance in textile and apparel industry

In today’s dynamic business environment, the competition is no longer between firms, but between supply chains to gain competitive advantages.Its nature changed the business environment not only sensitive to tangible resources, but also intangible resources. The trends have made industrial practitioners pay special attention to the concept of relational capabilities as a critical factor in improving supply chain performance.The motivation of this study is derived from the concept of relational capability, which includes a supplier partnership, customer relationship, information sharing, and information quality in supply chain management to achieve reliable, responsive, agile, and cost effective supply chain performance in the textile and apparel industry.Textile and apparel industry has a remarkable position as a confident industry, starting with the supplier of the processing of raw materials to the delivery of completed products to the end user, with impressive value added at each process.Obviously, textile and apparel provide necessary protection and image for people, thus it is one of the most basic necessities for human being. Current supply chain environment accentuated the necessity for relational capability to smooth en the supply chain management. The power of relational capability in managing the supply chain gains attention from researchers and practitioners, because the business benefits from enhanced organizations’ supply chain performance.Hence, this study provides a unique conceptual diagram expected to aid researchers and practitioners to create a more comprehensive understanding of the linkages between relational capability and supply chain performance. This is the main objective of this study, which is attempting to identify and explain the relationship between relational capability and supply chain performance in the textile and apparel industry

Ontology mapping: the state of the art

Ontology mapping is seen as a solution provider in today's landscape of ontology research. As the number of ontologies that are made publicly available and accessible on the Web increases steadily, so does the need for applications to use them. A single ontology is no longer enough to support the tasks envisaged by a distributed environment like the Semantic Web. Multiple ontologies need to be accessed from several applications. Mapping could provide a common layer from which several ontologies could be accessed and hence could exchange information in semantically sound manners. Developing such mapping has beeb the focus of a variety of works originating from diverse communities over a number of years. In this article we comprehensively review and present these works. We also provide insights on the pragmatics of ontology mapping and elaborate on a theoretical approach for defining ontology mapping