Beyond "the Relationship between the Individual and Society": broadening and deepening relational thinking in group analysis

The question of ‘the relationship between the individual and society’ has troubled group analysis since its inception. This paper offers a reading of Foulkes that highlights the emergent, yet evanescent, psychosocial ontology in his writings, and argues for the development of a truly psychosocial group analysis, which moves beyond the individual/society dualism. It argues for a shift towards a language of relationality, and proposes new theoretical resources for such a move from relational sociology, relational psychoanalysis and the ‘matrixial thinking’ of Bracha Ettinger which would broaden and deepen group analytic understandings of relationality

A Novel Aerobic Mechanism for Reductive Palladium Biomineralization and Recovery by Escherichia coli

Aerobically grown E. coli cells reduced Pd(II) via a novel mechanism using formate as the electron donor. This reduction was monitored in real-time using extended X-ray absorption fine structure. Transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that Pd(0) nanoparticles, confirmed by X-ray diffraction, were precipitated outside the cells. The rate of Pd(II) reduction by E. coli mutants deficient in a range of oxidoreductases was measured, suggesting a molybdoprotein-mediated mechanism, distinct from the hydrogenase-mediated Pd(II) reduction previously described for anaerobically grown E. coli cultures. The potential implications for Pd(II) recovery and bioPd catalyst fabrication are discussed

Many-body nodal hypersurface and domain averages for correlated wave functions

We outline the basic notions of nodal hypersurface and domain averages for antisymmetric wave functions. We illustrate their properties and analyze the results for a few electron explicitly solvable cases and discuss possible further developments

Isotope effect in superconductors with coexisting interactions of phonon and nonphonon mechanisms

We examine the isotope effect of superconductivity in systems with coexisting interactions of phonon and nonphonon mechanisms in addition to the direct Coulomb interaction. The interaction mediated by the spin fluctuations is discussed as an example of the nonphonon interaction. Extended formulas for the transition temperature Tc and the isotope-effect coefficient alpha are derived for cases (a) omega_np omega_D, where omega_np is an effective cutoff frequency of the nonphonon interaction that corresponds to the Debye frequency omega_D in the phonon interaction. In case (a), it is found that the nonphonon interaction does not change the condition for the inverse isotope effect, i.e., mu^* > lambda_ph/2, but it modifies the magnitude of alpha markedly. In particular, it is found that a giant isotope shift occurs when the phonon and nonphonon interactions cancel each other largely. For instance, strong critical spin fluctuations may give rise to the giant isotope effect. In case (b), it is found that the inverse isotope effect occurs only when the nonphonon interaction and the repulsive Coulomb interaction, in total effect, work as repulsive interactions against the superconductivity. We discuss the relevance of the present result to some organic superconductors, such as kappa-(ET)2Cu(NCS)2 and Sr2RuO4 superconductors, in which inverse isotope effects have been observed, and briefly to high-Tc cuprates, in which giant isotope effects have been observed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, (with jpsj2.cls, ver.1.2), v2:linguistic correction

Enhancement of the upper critical field and a field-induced superconductivity in antiferromagnetic conductors

We propose a mechanism by which the paramagnetic pair-breaking effect is largely reduced in superconductors with coexisting antiferromagnetic long- range and short-range orders. The mechanism is an extension of the Jaccarino and Peter mechanism to antiferromagnetic conductors, but the resultant phase diagram is quite different. In order to illustrate the mechanism, we examine a model which consists of mobile electrons and antiferromagnetically correlated localized spins with Kondo coupling between them. It is found that for weak Kondo coupling, the superconductivity occurs over an extraordinarily wide region of the magnetic field including zero field. The critical field exceeds the Chandrasekhar and Clogston limit, but there is no lower limit in contrast to the Jaccarino and Peter mechanism. On the other hand, for strong Kondo coupling, both the low-field superconductivity and a field-induced superconductivity occur. Possibilities in hybrid ruthenate cuprate superconductors and some organic superconductors are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, revtex.sty, to be published in J.Phys.Soc.Jpn. Vol.71, No.3 (2002

Efficient Recursion Method for Inverting Overlap Matrix

A new O(N) algorithm based on a recursion method, in which the computational effort is proportional to the number of atoms N, is presented for calculating the inverse of an overlap matrix which is needed in electronic structure calculations with the the non-orthogonal localized basis set. This efficient inverting method can be incorporated in several O(N) methods for diagonalization of a generalized secular equation. By studying convergence properties of the 1-norm of an error matrix for diamond and fcc Al, this method is compared to three other O(N) methods (the divide method, Taylor expansion method, and Hotelling's method) with regard to computational accuracy and efficiency within the density functional theory. The test calculations show that the new method is about one-hundred times faster than the divide method in computational time to achieve the same convergence for both diamond and fcc Al, while the Taylor expansion method and Hotelling's method suffer from numerical instabilities in most cases.Comment: 17 pages and 4 figure

Block-Diagonalization and f-electron Effects in Tight-Binding Theory

We extend a tight-binding total energy method to include f-electrons, and apply it to the study of the structural and elastic properties of a range of elements from Be to U. We find that the tight-binding parameters are as accurate and transferable for f-electron systems as they are for d-electron systems. In both cases we have found it essential to take great care in constraining the fitting procedure by using a block-diagonalization procedure, which we describe in detail.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Large Group Work: Identity Development and Its Significance for Achieving Race Equality

This article examines and analyses the effectiveness of experiential large group work (between 24–35 students) in delivering community and youth work training at Goldsmiths1. It specifically focuses on students’ development and experience in their understanding of racism and identity. The training has refined a model of learning and teaching that combines large group work and experiential learning. It is in this arena that students explore and critically reflect on their life and work experiences. They learn to process and articulate their feelings and understandings across a wide range of issues that come from learning how to inwardly reflect and to develop an awareness of themselves and change. The article explores the experience of group work training and the significance of students’ development of their racial identity in effectively addressing racism. It draws on both the work of Paulo Freire (1972; 1995) on education and Pat de Maré (1975; 1991) on large groups. The article begins by examining some of the literature on both race and large groups followed by an exploration of racial identity and its development in the group work process in terms of distinct phases. It then discusses the importance of the large group and its relevance to development of racial identities. It concludes by highlighting the significance of the issue of racial identity in addressing racism

Correlation energy and spin polarization in the 2D electron gas

The ground state energy of the two--dimensional uniform electron gas has been calculated with fixed--node diffusion Monte Carlo, including backflow correlations, for a wide range of electron densities as a function of spin polarization. We give a simple analytic representation of the correlation energy which fits the density and polarization dependence of the simulation data and includes several known high- and low-density limits. This parametrization provides a reliable local spin density energy functional for two-dimensional systems and an estimate for the spin susceptibility. Within the proposed model for the correlation energy, a weakly first--order polarization transition occurs shortly before Wigner crystallization as the density is lowered.Comment: Minor typos corrected, see erratum: Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 109902(E) (2003

Experiencing uncertainty – on the potential of groups and a group analytic approach for making management education more critical.

This document is the Accepted Manuscript. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Management Learning, November 2017, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507617697868. Published by SAGE Publishing. All rights reserved.This article points to the potential of methods derived from group analytic practice for making management education more critical. It draws on the experience of running a professional doctorate for more experienced managers in a university in the UK over a 16 year period. Group analysis is informed by the highly social theories of S.H. Foulkes and draws heavily on psychoanalytic theory as well as sociology. First and foremost, though, it places our interdependence at the heart of the process of inquiry, and suggests that the most potent place for learning about groups, where we spend most of our lives, is in a group. The article prioritises three areas of management practice for which group analytic methods, as adapted for research environment, are most helpful: coping with uncertainty and the feelings of anxiety which this often arouses; thinking about leadership as a relational and negotiated activity, and encouraging reflexivity in managers. The article also points to some of the differences between the idea of the learning community and psychodynamic perspectives more generally and the limitations of group analytic methods in particular, which may pathologise resistance in the workplace.Peer reviewe