The Cult of Honor

The cult of honor is second of four stages in the fullest possible development of society credit where due to Spencer s Social Statics It often devolves into its antithesis the cult of dignity Herrman 2017 thereby diminishing what the cult of honor otherwise provides namely the quality of our militaries religious structures professions and bureaucracies because of the cult we are prepared to enter ad hoc offices on cause the good Samaritan e g The cult of honor is first of all a ritualized expression of a social ideal specifically of traits that can be termed honorable It very oftenarises either because persons or groups wish to experience pride in their cultural heritage or because they feel a calling to excel at culturally relevant activities This paper also advances the view that the concept of sportsmanship mirrors what the cult stands for and what public expectationboth requires and demands Characteristics of some thirty cults throughout three primary types of office are shown to reflect the concep

Common Denominators in White Collar Crime: I'm Special, You're Special, Let's Fleece them in Style

Culture, cults and character are shown to be the “Three C’s” of graft and corruption. The notion of “conversation” is briefly allowed to link the perpetrator to his alter ego, victim or partner-in-crime, wherein are forged the origins of means, motive and opportunity—as also the ballast of the paper. The argument is made that a trained eye should expect the close interplay of culture and pathology, especially in matters of white collar crime, which is used throughout as the focus. By way of summary, these crimes are perpetrated by those with bipolar traits operating in a context of cultural permissiveness, and with selected tools (attitudes, e.g.) of cultural provenance

Common Denominators in White Collar Crime: I'm Special, You're Special, Let's Fleece them in Style

Culture, cults and character are shown to be the “Three C’s” of graft and corruption. The notion of “conversation” is briefly allowed to link the perpetrator to his alter ego, victim or partner-in-crime, wherein are forged the origins of means, motive and opportunity—as also the ballast of the paper. The argument is made that a trained eye should expect the close interplay of culture and pathology, especially in matters of white collar crime, which is used throughout as the focus. By way of summary, these crimes are perpetrated by those with bipolar traits operating in a context of cultural permissiveness, and with selected tools (attitudes, e.g.) of cultural provenance

Flat-band ferromagnetism induced by off-site repulsions

Density matrix renormalization group method is used to analyze how the nearest-neighbor repulsion V added to the Hubbard model on 1D triangular lattice and a railway trestle (t-t') model will affect the electron-correlation dominated ferromagnetism arising from the interference (frustration). Obtained phase diagram shows that there is a region in smaller-t' side where the critical on-site repulsion above which the system becomes ferromagnetic is reduced when the off-site repulsion is introduced.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 6 figures in Postscript, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Tight-binding study of high-pressure phase transitions in titanium: alpha to omega and beyond

We use a tight-binding total energy method, with parameters determined from a fit to first-principles calculations, to examine the newly discovered gamma phase of titanium. Our parameters were adjusted to accurately describe the alpha Ti-omega Ti phase transition, which is misplaced by density functional calculations. We find a transition from omega Ti to gamma Ti at 102 GPa, in good agreement with the experimental value of 116 GPa. Our results suggest that current density functional calculations will not reproduce the omega Ti-gamma Ti phase transition, but will instead predict a transition from omega Ti to the bcc beta Ti phase.Comment: 3 encapsulated Postscript figures, submitted to Phyical Review Letter

Co-Evolution of quasispecies: B-cell mutation rates maximize viral error catastrophes

Co-evolution of two coupled quasispecies is studied, motivated by the competition between viral evolution and adapting immune response. In this co-adaptive model, besides the classical error catastrophe for high virus mutation rates, a second ``adaptation-'' catastrophe occurs, when virus mutation rates are too small to escape immune attack. Maximizing both regimes of viral error catastrophes is a possible strategy for an optimal immune response, reducing the range of allowed viral mutation rates to a minimum. From this requirement one obtains constraints on B-cell mutation rates and receptor lengths, yielding an estimate of somatic hypermutation rates in the germinal center in accordance with observation.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX including 2 figure

Community views on ‘Can perinatal services safely identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma?’

Family and extended kinship systems which nurture healthy, happy children are central to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Since colonisation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have been impacted by intergenerational cycles of trauma, stemming from colonial violence, genocidal policies and discrimination, including the forced removal of children from their families. Becoming a parent offers a unique life-course opportunity for trauma recovery and preventing intergenerational trauma. However, identifying or ‘recognising’ complex trauma carries significant risk of harm for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents due to reactive prenatal child protection involvement potentially compounding experiences of trauma, and limited benefits due to lack of culturally appropriate support. The Aboriginal-led participatory Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future project aims to co-design safe, accessible and feasible perinatal awareness, recognition, assessment and support strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma. This paper presents views of 38 workshop participants to determine prerequisites for ensuring benefits outweigh risks of assessment to safely recognise parents experiencing complex trauma, consistent with screening criteria. Six essential elements were identified from thematic analysis: high-quality holistic care; cultural, social and emotional safety; empowerment, choice and control; flexible person-centred approaches; trusting relationships; and sensitive, skilled communication

Community perspectives of complex trauma assessment for Aboriginal parents: 'Its important, but how these discussions are held is critical'

Background and Purpose: Becoming a parent can be an exciting and also challenging transition, particularly for parents who have experienced significant hurt in their own childhoods, and may be experiencing ‘complex trauma.’ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Aboriginal) people also experience historical trauma. While the parenting transition is an important time to offer support for parents, it is essential to ensure that the benefits of identifying parents experiencing complex trauma outweigh any risks (e.g., stigmatization). This paper describes views of predominantly Aboriginal stakeholders regarding (1) the relative importance of domains proposed for complex trauma assessment, and (2) how to conduct these sensitive discussions with Aboriginal parents. Setting and Methods: A co-design workshop was held in Alice Springs (Central Australia) as part of an Aboriginal-led community-based participatory action research project. Workshop participants were 57 predominantly Aboriginal stakeholders with expertise in community, clinical, policy and academic settings. Twelve domains of complex trauma-related distress had been identified in existing assessment tools and through community consultation. Using story-telling and strategies to create safety for discussing complex and sensitive issues, and delphi-style methods, stakeholders rated the level of importance of the 12 domains; and discussed why, by whom, where and how experiences of complex trauma should be explored. Main Findings: The majority of stakeholders supported the importance of assessing each of the proposed complex trauma domains with Aboriginal parents. However, strong concerns were expressed regarding where, by whom and how this should occur. There was greater emphasis and consistency regarding ‘qualities’ (e.g., caring), rather than specific ‘attributes’ (e.g., clinician). Six critical overarching themes emerged: ensuring emotional and cultural safety; establishing relationships and trust; having capacity to respond appropriately and access support; incorporating less direct cultural communication methods (e.g., yarning, dadirri); using strengths-based approaches and offering choices to empower parents; and showing respect, caring and compassion. Conclusion: Assessments to identify Aboriginal parents experiencing complex trauma should only be considered when the prerequisites of safety, trusting relationships, respect, compassion, adequate care, and capacity to respond are assured. Offering choices and cultural and strengths-based approaches are also critical. Without this assurance, there are serious concerns that harms may outweigh any benefits for Aboriginal parents

HORYZONS trial: protocol for a randomised controlled trial of a moderated online social therapy to maintain treatment effects from first-episode psychosis services.

INTRODUCTION: Specialised early intervention services have demonstrated improved outcomes in first-episode psychosis (FEP); however, clinical gains may not be sustained after patients are transferred to regular care. Moreover, many patients with FEP remain socially isolated with poor functional outcomes. To address this, our multidisciplinary team has developed a moderated online social media therapy (HORYZONS) designed to enhance social functioning and maintain clinical gains from specialist FEP services. HORYZONS merges: (1) peer-to-peer social networking; (2) tailored therapeutic interventions; (3) expert and peer-moderation; and (4) new models of psychological therapy (strengths and mindfulness-based interventions) targeting social functioning. The aim of this trial is to determine whether following 2 years of specialised support and 18-month online social media-based intervention (HORYZONS) is superior to 18 months of regular care. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study is a single-blind randomised controlled trial. The treatment conditions include HORYZONS plus treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU alone. We recruited 170 young people with FEP, aged 16-27 years, in clinical remission and nearing discharge from Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre, Melbourne. The study includes four assessment time points, namely, baseline, 6-month, 12-month and 18-month follow-up. The study is due for completion in July 2018 and included a 40-month recruitment period and an 18-month treatment phase. The primary outcome is social functioning at 18 months. Secondary outcome measures include rate of hospital admissions, cost-effectiveness, vocational status, depression, social support, loneliness, self-esteem, self-efficacy, anxiety, psychological well-being, satisfaction with life, quality of life, positive and negative psychotic symptoms and substance use. Social functioning will be also assessed in real time through our Smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment tool. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Melbourne Health Human Research Ethics Committee (2013.146) provided ethics approval for this study. Findings will be made available through scientific journals and forums and to the public via social media and the Orygen website. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12614000009617; Pre-results