The shock of the real: Psychoanalysis, modernity, survival

The contemporary relevance of psychoanalysis is being increasingly questioned; Off the Couch challenges this view, demonstrating that psychoanalytic thinking and its applications are both innovative and relevant, in particular to the management and treatment of more disturbed and difficult to engage patient groups. Chapters address: Clinical applications in diverse settings across the age range the relevance of psychoanalytic thinking to the practice of CBT, psychosomatics and general psychiatry the contribution of psychoanalytic thinking to mental health policy and the politics of conflict and mediation. This book suggests that psychoanalysis has a vital position within the public health sector and discusses how it can be better utilised in the treatment of a range of mental health problems. It also highlights the role of empirical research in providing a robust evidence base. Off the Couch will be essential reading for those practicing in the field of mental health and will also be useful for anyone involved in the development of mental health and public policies. It will ensure that practitioners and supervisors have a clear insight into how psychoanalysis can be applied in general healthcare

Contrary to popular opinion, Eurasian economic integration is not driven solely by Russia

The ongoing protests in Ukraine, which began after the country failed to sign an Association Agreement with the EU, have brought the issue of Eurasian economic integration into the spotlight. Julian Cooper provides an overview of the developments which have led to the creation of the Eurasian Economic Community. He argues that while Russia is the largest and strongest member of the organisation, it would be wrong to view the process of Eurasian economic integration as merely reflecting Russia’s desire to re-establish its authority over former-Soviet states. He notes in particular that other members, such as Kazakhstan, have played a key role in shaping the organisation’s structure

The machine tool industry of Russia at a time of war and sanctions

The article is devoted to an analysis of the development of the Russian machine tool industry before and after Russia’ invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It reviews the history of the industry in the USSR, its collapse in the 1990s and stabilisation in the early 2000s. Prior to Russian’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the imposition of sanctions by Western countries the government had already adopted policies to secure a revival of the industry on a more independent basis and some success was achieved. After 2014 the government’s efforts to restore the industry intensified and the scale of output of metal cutting machine tools steadily increased. However, there was still a significant dependence on imports, especially of the most advanced types of equipment. After the start of the war in 2022 sanctions were rapidly intensified and more countries participated. Quite rapidly, imports from Western countries were replaced by imports from China and other non-sanctioning countries. The development of the domestic industry received new priority and output increased. By the end of 2023 the situation had to some extent stabilised. Notwithstanding sanctions, the Russian defence industry has been able to acquire the machine tools it needs, although not always of the highest quality

Employee happiness in general motors

Happiness is essentially the degree to which you find and judge your existence as favourable, in addition to an enduring, psychological feeling of contentment. In the hedonic view, happiness is pleasant feelings and favourable judgements, while the contrasting eudaimonic view describes it as doing what is morally right, what is righteous, that will enhance growth and that is meaningful to an individual. Both these views contribute to the overall happiness of an individual. People that are pleased with their lives usually experience greater satisfaction in their jobs. This is in line with the literature as happiness is positively correlated with job satisfaction, which suggests that a happy employee will most likely result in one that is satisfied with his/her job. In addition, happiness is correlated with evidence of success in the workplace and can increase an employee’s effectiveness at work. It is, therefore, essential that organisations identify the factors which influence employee happiness in order to enhance its cultural value-offering for employees and, in turn, increase their levels of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is essentially the degree to which a person enjoys his/her job. It is the positive emotional state resulting from the evaluation of one’s work experience. This has profitable outcomes such as improved work performance. Furthermore, people who experience satisfaction in their jobs are better ambassadors for their organisation, demonstrate greater commitment, are more engaged and perform better within the organisation than their unhappy peers. Job satisfaction can be deemed an attitude. It is therefore important to understand the dimensions of the job, which are complex and interrelated in nature, in order to understand job attitudes. Organisational culture has been shown to influence the attitude and behaviour of employees through shared values and beliefs in the organisation. It is for this reason that there is a significant need to determine the factors in organisational culture that influence employee happiness and, in turn, job satisfaction. An organisation’s employees, through their participation and commitment, can be regarded as the most important source of success for the organisation. Organisational culture can therefore, greatly influence the efficiency and effectiveness of an organisation through its employees. Moreover, the culture of an organisation has a significant influence on the commitment and satisfaction of its employees. It inspires employees not only to feel committed to the organisation but also to perform well. The correlation between organisational culture and job satisfaction have been examined by various authors in the literature. All of these authors found a positive relationship between the two concepts. These conclusions show that the culture of an organisation can actually influence an employee’s job satisfaction and therefore his/her happiness. This research investigates the cultural value-offering of General Motors South Africa (GMSA) and its alignment to the needs of its employees. Until the end of 2012, an employee needs-analysis regarding employee happiness and his/her job satisfaction, was non-existent in the organisation. Towards the end of 2012 the organisation introduced a “Workplace of Choice” survey to perform an employee needs-analysis in order to investigate if there was a difference between employee needs and the organisation’s cultural value-offering. Another “Workplace of Choice” survey followed in 2014. This, however, was performed with the staff employees only and not with the hourly employees. Many organisations neglect to analyse the workplace needs of their employees to ensure that the organisation fully understands and is able to satisfy or accommodate these needs. Understanding employee needs is crucial to an organisation’s success. It is therefore important that the organisation investigates the employee needs to be able to align them with the cultural value-offering of the organisation. The purpose of this study is to advance the current understanding of Employee Happiness in the workplace by conducting a systematic analysis of the factors in Organisational Culture that influence Employee Happiness and, in turn, their Job Satisfaction in GMSA

Fluorinated building blocks

Julian A Cooper This work describes the functionalisation of carbon-hydrogen bonds in saturated hydrocarbons via free radical addition to fluorinated alkenes. For example, hexafluoropropene can be added to produce a mono-adduct:- A range of fluoroalkenes have been used. These adducts can be functionalised by elimination of hydrogen fluoride to give new fluoroalkenes whose chemistry has been investigated. This has resulted in new fluorinated building blocks

PRODUCTION OF HIGH LEVELS OF TRANSGENC FACTOR IX WITHOUT GENE RESCUE, AND ITS THERAPEUTIC USES

A non-human transgenic mammalian animal, as described above, contains an exogenous double stranded DNA sequence stably integrated into the genome of the animal, which comprises cis-acting regulatory units operably linked to a DNA sequence encoding human FIX protein without the benefit of the presence of a complete milk gene sequence for gene rescue, and a signal sequence is active in directing newly expressed Factor IX into the milk of the animal at levels in an unactivated form that is suitable for Subsequent processing for therapeutic applications in treating Hemophilia B. The transgenic mammals are preferably pigs, cows, sheep, goats and rabbits. The applications include milk derivatives for oral delivery and oral tolerization in the treatment of Hemophilia B

A Changing World of Workplace Conflict Resolution and Employee Voice: An Australian Perspective

The authors contribute to dispute resolution theory and provide new insights on such important issues as employee voice, workplace disputes and employees’ intentions to quit. They conducted and analyzed a survey of managers in Australian workplaces. They apply Budd and Colvin’s (2008) path-finding dispute resolution framework to examine two research questions: first, is there a relationship between the resolution of disputes and employee voice as measured by employee perceptions of influence over decision-making? Second, is there a relationship between the resolution of workplace disputes and employees’ intentions to quit? These are important questions in view of the high costs of workplace conflict and employee turnover. The authors find that employee voice facilitates successful dispute resolution. Further, employee voice has the additional benefit of directly reducing employee turnover intentions, above and beyond its indirect effect by helping to resolve conflicts at work

Das Innovationspotential der russischen Wirtschaft

Seit dem Start der Modernisierungskampagne des russischen Präsidenten Dmitri Medwedew durch seinen Artikel »Vorwärts Russland!« hat sich das Thema der Innovation in die erste Reihe der politischen Diskussion in Russland gedrängt und bezieht sich heute im Wesentlichen auf ein Projekt: die Entwicklung des »Innovationszentrums« Skolkowo. Das Ziel, diese »Stadt der Zukunft« zu errichten, hat die Aufmerksamkeit von breiteren Fragen nach dem Potential von Forschung und Innovation in Russland abgelenkt. Die Realisierung eines einzigen Projektes mit dem expliziten Ziel, »günstige Rahmenbedingungen für die Konzentration von intellektuellen Ressourcen zur Entwicklung von Innovationen« zu schaffen, hat, nach Meinung einiger Beobachter, einen eher geringen Einfluss auf das Innovationspotential der breiteren Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Dieser Artikel gibt einen Überblick über den aktuellen Stand von Forschung und Entwicklung (Research and Development, R&D) in Russland sowie über das Innovationspotential des Landes. Er schließt mit Überlegungen zum Modernisierungsprojekt und der Rolle Skolkowos

Die eurasische wirtschaftliche Integration nimmt Fahrt auf

Mit Beginn des Jahres 2010 ist die Eurasische Zollunion formal aus der Taufe gehoben worden. Bereits zwei Jahre später, im Januar 2012 wurde die Gründung eines Einheitlichen Wirtschaftsraumes von Belarus, Kasachstan und Russland verkündet. Damit dieser, wie geplant, im Januar 2015 funktionsfähig ist, wird bereits jetzt an einer kohärenten und transparenten Gesetzesgrundlage der Union gearbeitet. Auf dieser Grundlage soll bis zum 1. Mai 2014 der Vertragsentwurf für die Union ausgearbeitet werden, um die rechtzeitige Unterzeichnung des Vertrags und die Ratifizierung durch die nationalen Parlamente sicherzustellen, damit die Union bis Anfang 2015 gegründet werden kann. Diese neue supranationale Konstruktion baut zum einen auf der über Jahrzehnte gewachsenen Vernetzung der beteiligten Volkswirtschaften während der Sowjetunion auf. Zum anderen sind auch schon mit der Einrichtung der GUS wesentliche politische und auch rechtliche Vorarbeiten geleistet worden, auf denen die Kernländer der Zollunion aufbauen können. Mit dem Beitritt Russlands in die WTO ist das Interesse an einer Assoziierung mit der Zollunion international gewachsen. Da auch Belarus und Kasachstan beim Handel mit Gütern bereits jetzt de facto die WTO-Kriterien erfüllen, und angesichts der zügigen Konsolidierung der Eurasischen Zollunion wird sich auch die Europäische Union einer Annäherung nicht verschließen können. Noch ist es zu früh, die durch die Eurasische Zollunion entstehenden wirtschaftlichen Folgen abzuschätzen. Gleichzeitig ist bereits jetzt deutlich geworden, dass sowohl Belarus als auch Kasachstan lediglich eine wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit anstreben. Ein erweitertes Aufgabengebiet für die Union, das von Russland angestrebt wurde, ist zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt nicht vorgesehen