Postmodernism in therapy: meanings and concerns

This dissertation project seeks to confront confusion and criticism that has accompanied postmodernism\u27s introduction into the field of therapy by identifying separate characteristics found in the professional literature and by asking three contributors to respond to criticism;The first article examines common ideas and characteristics attributed to postmodernism as found in family therapy literature. Toward that end, thirty-one articles from seven journals were examined to identify these meanings. This research found six general categories within which comments about postmodernism were expressed. Within the core category, twenty-six separate characteristics were identified;The second article addresses published criticism that postmodernism promotes an attitude of \u27anything goes.\u27 Speaking to this criticism are three notable contributors, Harlene Anderson, Kenneth Gergen, and Michael Mahoney. These respondents were also asked to distinguish between postmodernism and related concepts and speculate on why criticism of postmodernism continues. Among the results that the research yielded, it was found that these respondents neither utilize nor encourage postmodernist ideas or characteristics towards the promotion of an attitude of \u27anything goes.\u2

DE/STRUCTURING THE STRUCTURALIST ACTIVITY A CRITIQUE OF SELECTED FEATURES OF THE STRUCTURALIST PROBLEMATIC

This essay represents an attempt to critically assess the intellectual orientation often termed 'structuralism.' In particular, the essay is concerned with European, and even.more specifically French, structuralism as displayed in the writings of Louis Althusser, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, and C. LeviStrauss. The analysis indicates that despite a novel language, an often rigorous character, and some interesting, indeed exciting, intellectual constructions, structuralism is very much a child of positivism. The positivism [structuralism relationship is most clearly revealed when structuralism is contrasted with Marxian social inquiry. For comparative and illustrative purposes, then, the essay contrasts structuralism and Marxism

Magellan/M2FS Spectroscopy of Galaxy Clusters: Stellar Population Model and Application to Abell 267

We report the results of a pilot program to use the Magellan/M2FS spectrograph to survey the galactic populations and internal kinematics of galaxy clusters. For this initial study, we present spectroscopic measurements for $223$ quiescent galaxies observed along the line of sight to the galaxy cluster Abell 267 ($z\sim0.23$). We develop a Bayesian method for modeling the integrated light from each galaxy as a simple stellar population, with free parameters that specify redshift ($v_\mathrm{los}/c$) and characteristic age, metallicity ($\mathrm{[Fe/H]}$), alpha-abundance ($[\alpha/\mathrm{Fe}]$), and internal velocity dispersion ($\sigma_\mathrm{int}$) for individual galaxies. Parameter estimates derived from our 1.5-hour observation of A267 have median random errors of $\sigma_{v_\mathrm{los}}=20\ \mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}$, $\sigma_{\mathrm{Age}}=1.2\ \mathrm{Gyr}$, $\sigma_{\mathrm{[Fe/H]}}=0.11\ \mathrm{dex}$,$\sigma_{[\alpha/\mathrm{Fe}]}=0.07\ \mathrm{dex}$, and$\sigma_{\sigma_\mathrm{int}}=20\ \mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}$. In a companion paper, we use these results to model the structure and internal kinematics of A267.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa

D-modules on 1|1 Supercurves

It is known that to every 1|1 dimensional supercurve X there is associated a dual supercurve \hat{X}, and a superdiagonal \Delta in their product. We establish that the categories of D-modules on X, \hat{X}, and \Delta are equivalent. This follows from a more general result about D-modules and purely odd submersions. The equivalences preserve tensor products, and take vector bundles to vector bundles. Line bundles with connection are studied, and examples are given where X is a superelliptic curve.Comment: 18 page