Therapists’ and non-therapists’ constructions of heterosex: A qualitative story completion study

© 2018 The British Psychological Society Objectives: Little research has examined the discourses that shape therapists’ sense-making around heterosex. This paper explores the discourses of sexuality and gender underpinning therapists’ and non-therapists’ responses to a sexual experimentation scenario in a heterosexual relationship. It also considers the value of the novel technique of story completion (SC), in which participants are asked to write a story in response to a hypothetical scenario, for qualitative psychology and psychotherapy research. Design: This research used a comparative SC design (Kitzinger & Powell,). Participants were sequentially presented with and invited to complete two story stems: one in which a male character suggested ‘trying something new’ to his female partner and one in which the female character made the suggestion. The stems were otherwise identical. Methods: A total of 100 SCs were written by 49 (28 female; 21 male) therapists and 51 (29 female; 22 male) non-therapists. Participants were recruited mainly via UK-based email lists and Facebook groups, and therapeutic training organizations, and the data were analysed using a feminist post-structuralist thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke,). Results: Both groups of participants drew on heteronormative discourses of sexuality and gender to make sense of the stem. Engaging in sexual experimentation was often depicted as a demonstration of being normal. In some stories written by women, sex was framed as a site for negotiating ‘equality’ and reciprocity in relationships. Therapists were more likely than non-therapists to frame ‘difficulties’ within relationships as opportunities for personal growth and increased emotional depth, and their stories included greater emotional complexity. Conclusion: These findings raise questions about practitioner training and whether it results in therapists drawing on narrow and restrictive discourses of heterosex in clinical practice. Practitioner points: Training on sexual issues is largely absent from non-specialist practitioner training courses, which potentially means therapists are ill-equipped to respond to clients’ anxiety about sexual issues. Evidence from this and other research indicates that therapists’ sense-making around heterosexual sexual relationships is underpinned by narrow and restrictive discourses that entrench traditional gender relations and limit sexual agency. Psychologists are increasingly taking up positions of clinical leadership and are looked to for models of best practice. Drawing on theorizations of sexual difficulties, and of anxieties about sexual practice, that challenge traditional gender and heteronorms, and the commodification and medicalization of sex, is important for effective psychological leadership relating to the treatment of sexual issues and the furthering of social justice agendas

'That boy needs therapy' : constructions of psychotherapy in popular song lyrics

Despite a plethora of academic and clinical descriptions of psychotherapy, less research attention has been focused on the ways in which psychotherapy is talked about and represented in popular culture. This study investigates constructions of psychotherapy in the lyrics of popular songs and identifies the vocabularies, versions and relevant discourses that are invoked or crafted. A critical discourse analysis was applied to 24 songs and yielded three broad themes: 'Banal therapy', the 'Non-therapeutic relationship' and 'I know therefore I can'. These discursive objects are examined in light of a constructionist understanding of knowledge and power within a discussion of how their interplay is implicated in the status of psychotherapeutic concepts and practices as 'expert knowledge'. Some clinical implications are attended to without making claims that this study has identified ontological representations of psychotherapy in popular culture

Motor Memories for Expectation and Uncertainty in the Environment

The motor system endows us with the ability to control movement – an ability that provides us, almost exclusively, with the means through which we interact with our environment. To accomplish this, the motor system continuously maintains, adapts, or forms anew memories that support the execution of a multitude of motor tasks, from the basic but critical like breathing or reaching, to complex and elaborate patterns of motion like those of an NBA player or a master cellist. Here, I use a series of behavioral paradigms to probe the mechanisms behind the formation and retention of motor memories related to motor adaptation. Specifically, I investigate the learning of both internal representations of the expected state of the environment but also representations of the uncertainty associated with that expectation. First, I focus on the interplay between the formation of estimates for the expected environmental dynamics and the formation of estimates about the variability of these dynamics. I show how variability estimates are critical for the control of the safety margin associated with grip forces, and that grip force control is, in fact, three times more sensitive to changes in variability – specifically, the standard deviation, σ – than the expected value of environmental dynamics. This ratio of sensitivities effectively acts to provide a 3-σ confidence level (>99%) against slip. A consequence of heightened sensitivity of grip forces to uncertainty that we observe, is that grip forces strongly increase upon a change in environmental dynamics, regardless of whether that change increased or decreased the strength of the load. This in turn leads to bizarre, asymmetric grip force learning curves to step increases vs. step decreases in dynamics, explaining previous studies where grip force adaptation appeared to outpace manipulatory force adaptation. I proceed to show that this variability-driven safety margin control is based on a low-order variability metric that is robust to outliers in the distribution of environmental dynamics. Second, I examine the temporal stability of motor adaptation. Using a visuomotor adaptation task, I investigate the speed and breadth of decay due to the passage of time, and find that adaptation consists of distinct temporally-labile and temporally-stable components. Whereas temporally-labile adaptation decays within the timecourse of only a few tens of seconds, the remaining temporally-stable adaptation persists well beyond that timeframe. Moreover, this temporally-stable adaptation predicts and acts as a gateway towards the long-term retention of the trained adaptation. Comparison of the temporal stability of motor adaptation formed from one training session to the next reveals wide-ranging differences that are not only driven by differences across individuals, but, remarkably, by considerable differences across different sessions for the same individual. Based on a brain stimulation study and the reanalysis of previous studies on cerebellar patients, I proceed to identify the primary motor cortex and the posterior parietal cortex as likely parts of a network involved with temporally-labile adaptation, and the cerebellum as a part of a network involved with temporally-stable adaptation. A different study revealed that, in spite of the fact that temporally-stable adaptation is remarkably persistent even after prolonged active washout, savings – the phenomenon of faster relearning of a previously learned adaptation – is not driven by the reemergence of this strong, stable memory, but, instead, by an increased propensity of the temporally-labile component to relearn the task at hand. Third, I examine how the rate of adaptation to changes in the environment is modulated by the statistics of that environment. Specifically, I show how the rate at which the motor system adapts to changes in the environment is primarily determined not by the degree to which environment change occurs – i.e. environmental variability – but by the degree to which the changes that do occur persist from one movement to the next – i.e. the trial-to-trial consistency of the environment. Finally, I find that repetition of the same learning stimulus can greatly potentiate the effect of consistency, although, unlike consistency, repetition alone does not increase adaptation rate.Engineering and Applied Sciences - Engineering Science

A study of cylindrical steel tanks

170 σ.Στην παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία γίνεται μελέτη μεταλλικών κατακόρυφων επίγειων κυλινδρικών δεξαμενών. Εξετάζεται η διαδικασία σχεδιασμού τους με χρήση του Ευρωκώδικα 1993-1-6 και μέσω αναλύσεων με λογισμικό πεπερασμένων στοιχείων. Στο πρώτο κεφάλαιο γίνεται αναφορά στους τύπους δεξαμενών ανάλογα με το περιεχόμενο, το υλικό κατασκευής τους, το σχήμα και το στατικό τους σύστημα. Εκτενέστερη αναφορά γίνεται για τις μεταλλικές δεξαμενές και περιγράφεται η κατασκευή των βασικών τμημάτων συγκολλητών και κοχλιωτών δεξαμενών. Στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο γίνεται περιγραφή των φορτίων που λαμβάνονται υπ’ όψιν στο σχεδιασμό των μεταλλικών δεξαμενών σύμφωνα με τους Ευρωκώδικες. Στο τρίτο κεφάλαιο περιγράφονται οι μεθόδοι ελέγχου με βάση τον Ευρωκώδικα 1993-1-6 που αφορά στην αντοχή και την ευστάθεια κελυφωτών κατασκευών. Στο τέταρτο κεφάλαιο γίνεται εφαρμογή των όσων περιγράφηκαν προηγουμένως σε μια συγκεκριμένη δεξαμενή διαμέτρου 10 m και ύψους 12 m. Αρχικά περιγράφεται η μορφή των βασικών τμημάτων της δεξαμενής και στη συνέχεια γίνεται ο υπολογισμός των δράσεων που πρέπει να ληφθούν υπ’ όψιν, όπως περιγράφηκε στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο. Τέλος γίνεται υπολογισμός της θεμελίωσης από σκυρόδεμα και οι έλεγχοι σε ανατροπή. Ακόμη υπολογίζεται το απαιτούμενο μήκος επέκτασης - αγκύρωσης του κελύφους μέσα στο θεμέλιο. Στο πέμπτο κεφάλαιο περιγράφονται οι αναλύσεις που έγιναν με το λογισμικό πεπερασμένων στοιχείων ADINA. Αρχικά περιγράφονται γραμμικές αναλύσεις με διάφορους συνδυασμούς δράσεων στην οριακή κατάσταση λειτουργικότητας και στην οριακή κατάσταση αστοχίας. Στη συνέχεια πραγματοποιούνται μη γραμμικές αναλύσεις γεωμετρίας ή/και υλικού με ατέλεια ή χωρίς και προσδιορίζονται οι δρόμοι ισορροπίας για κάθε μη γραμμική ανάλυση. Γίνονται αναλύσεις τόσο με την ομοιόμορφη κατανομή όσο και με την προσέγγιση της πραγματικής κατανομής του ανέμου ώστε να γίνει σύγκριση της συμπεριφοράς της δεξαμενής όταν υπόκειται στις δύο διαφορετικές κατανομές των δράσεων. Τέλος γίνονται γραμμικοί και μη γραμμικοί έλεγχοι για το σεισμικό συνδυασμό δράσεων. Στο έκτο κεφάλαιο επαναλαμβάνονται οι έλεγχοι σε οριακή κατάσταση αστοχίας σύμφωνα με τον κανονισμό, όπως περιγράφηκαν στο τρίτο κεφάλαιο και γίνεται σύγκριση με τα αποτελέσματα που προέκυψαν από τις αναλύσεις με το λογισμικό πεπερασμένων στοιχείων. Στο έβδομο και τελευταίο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζονται τα συμπεράσματα που προέκυψαν και αναφέρονται προτάσεις για μελλοντική μελέτη και επέκταση του θέματος της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας.Cylindrical aboveground steel tanks are studied in the present diploma thesis. The design of these structures is investigated by using Eurocode 1993-1-6 and a finite element software. In the first chapter of this thesis tanks of different forms, material and static system are presented and there is an extensive review of both welded and bolted steel tanks. There is also a description of the foundation and anchorage of these tanks. In the second chapter the actions considered during the design of steel tanks according to the Eurocodes are reviewed. The third chapter consists of the description of basic testing methods by using Eurocode EN1993-1-6 regarding the strength and stability of shell structures. In the fourth chapter there is a description of a 10 m diameter and 12 m high steel tank. At first its basic parts are described and then the actions that have to be taken into account are calculated according to chapter 2. In the end of the chapter the dimensions and the reinforcement of the foundation and the overturning stability of the tank is calculated. The necessary embedment length of the shell in the foundation is determined. In the fifth chapter there is a description of the simulations performed. Firstly there is a review of the linear analysis of the serviceability and ultimate limit state and then a description of geometry and/or material non – linear analysis by considering or not imperfections. The equilibrium path of each simulation is determined. The real non – uniform wind pressures distribution and the equivalent uniform external pressure are being considered during the analysis. In the end of the chapter linear and non – linear analysis of the structure under seismic action is performed. In the sixth chapter some of the aforementioned tests are performed using the methods described in the third chapter and a comparison of the latter and the finite elements program results is made. In the last chapter the conclusions resulting from the present diploma thesis are stated. Suggestions for future study on the subject of the thesis are mentioned.Γεωργία Μ. Χατζηιωσή

A double dissociation between savings and long-term memory in motor learning.

Memories are easier to relearn than learn from scratch. This advantage, known as savings, has been widely assumed to result from the reemergence of stable long-term memories. In fact, the presence of savings has often been used as a marker for whether a memory has been consolidated. However, recent findings have demonstrated that motor learning rates can be systematically controlled, providing a mechanistic alternative to the reemergence of a stable long-term memory. Moreover, recent work has reported conflicting results about whether implicit contributions to savings in motor learning are present, absent, or inverted, suggesting a limited understanding of the underlying mechanisms. To elucidate these mechanisms, we investigate the relationship between savings and long-term memory by experimentally dissecting the underlying memories based on short-term (60-s) temporal persistence. Components of motor memory that are temporally-persistent at 60 s might go on to contribute to stable, consolidated long-term memory, whereas temporally-volatile components that have already decayed away by 60 s cannot. Surprisingly, we find that temporally-volatile implicit learning leads to savings, whereas temporally-persistent learning does not, but that temporally-persistent learning leads to long-term memory at 24 h, whereas temporally-volatile learning does not. This double dissociation between the mechanisms for savings and long-term memory formation challenges widespread assumptions about the connection between savings and memory consolidation. Moreover, we find that temporally-persistent implicit learning not only fails to contribute to savings, but also that it produces an opposite, anti-savings effect, and that the interplay between this temporally-persistent anti-savings and temporally-volatile savings provides an explanation for several seemingly conflicting recent reports about whether implicit contributions to savings are present, absent, or inverted. Finally, the learning curves we observed for the acquisition of temporally-volatile and temporally-persistent implicit memories demonstrate the coexistence of implicit memories with distinct time courses, challenging the assertion that models of context-based learning and estimation should supplant models of adaptive processes with different learning rates. Together, these findings provide new insight into the mechanisms for savings and long-term memory formation