Forming ideal types by understanding. Application to the psychoanalytic treatment of suicidal men

This paper discusses the application of a qualitative methodology—forming ideal types by understanding—to the psychoanalytic psychotherapy of suicidal men. The paper focuses on a particular phase of the methodology: the validation through external expert replication. Data of cases from psychoanalytic treatment, analysed by the originating group in Germany, is analysed by a group in London, UK, which formed to undertake the task of blind comparison. We describe the contribution of this method in the field of psychoanalytic research, the method developed for generating data and the processes through which data are analysed. We demonstrate the comparative findings from the first (German) and second (UK) analyses and explore the meanings of the similarities and differences. The paper concludes with an appraisal of the strengths and limitations (in terms) of moderate levels of generalisation of results from this method for research in the field of qualitative psychotherapy researc

Therapeutische Arbeit mit suizidalen Jugendlichen Die psychodynamische Kurztherapie (TAPP)

"Time-limited Adolescent Psychodynamic Psychotherapy" (TAPP) is presented in its theoretical-psychoanalytic foundation and practical implementation. It is a form of psychodynamic psychotherapy, especially for suicidal adolescents, in which a transference-based, adolescent development-promoting therapeutic relationship is performed to address suicidal and self-destructive relationship patterns over a 21-hours period. A case study explains and illustrates the treatment principles

Three Essays on Social Security Disability Insurance.

This dissertation studies two central aspects of the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program: economic factors influencing application decisions and the program's employment effect. The first chapter documents that most applications for DI occur after a job loss, and most of them report a health shock shortly beforehand. However, applicants typically do not apply immediately after having stopped working. Classifying non-employment episodes ending with DI application by beginning events and comparing their first and last month reveals notable differences in terms of job search, transfer recipiency, and other factors likely to influence applications decisions for DI. Building on these insights, the second chapter examines how Unemployment Insurance affects the decision to apply for DI. Theoretically, higher UI benefits may make it less necessary to obtain DI cash benefits, but they also facilitate applications by providing income support during the application process. Workers may also believe that UI take-up reduces the chances of a successful DI application. These predictions are tested by jointly estimating a hazard model of DI application and UI take-up. Results show that both UI take-up and a higher UI benefit level reduce the probability of applying for DI, which suggest that application decisions for DI are sensitive to short-term income flows. However, increasing UI benefits to reduce expenses for DI is not cost-effective because such a policy does not target workers at risk of applying for DI well enough. The third chapter, which is joint with John Bound and Timothy Waidmann, turns to the employment effect of the DI program. Between 1990 and 2005, enrollment for DI rapidly increased while employment rates for men with disabilities decreased, suggesting a strong employment effect. However, studies using denied applicants find a low to moderate employment effect of DI for the majority of applicants. In order to reconcile these findings, changes in total employment are decomposed into population and employment changes for non-participants, DI beneficiaries, and denied applicants. Results for men with disabilities show that the DI program played at most a moderate role in explaining the continuing employment decline, especially after the mid-1990s.Ph.D.EconomicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86329/1/lindners_1.pd

Destructive Groups: The Role of Projective Identification in Suicidal Groups of Young People

Group suicidal behaviour by young people has been attracting increasing worldwide attention, but the subject has rarely been studied from a clinical or psychodynamic perspective. Although etiological factors are not well understood, unconscious as well as conscious group processes likely contribute to self-destructive actions. In this article we discuss the role of projective identification in the development of suicidal behavior by individuals who are part of a destructive group. We consider how these factors may operate, illustrated through a case description of a young man involved with a group of high school students that included at least four who made serious suicide attempts. Recognition and understanding of these forms of communication have important implications for clinical practice and suicide prevention

Reconciling Findings on the Employment Effect of Disability Insurance

Over the last 25 years the Social Security Disability Insurance Program (DI) has grown dramatically. During the same period of time employment rates for men with work limitations showed substantial declines in both absolute and relative terms. While the timing of these trends suggests that the expansion of DI was a major contributor to employment decline and raises questions about the targeting of disability benefits, studies using denied applicants suggest a more modest role for DI expansion. In order to reconcile these findings, we decompose total employment changes into population and employment changes for three categories: DI beneficiaries, denied applicants and non-applicants. Our results show that during the early 1990s, the growth in DI can fully explain the employment decline for men only under an extreme assumption about the employment potential of beneficiaries. For the period after the mid-1990s, we find little role for the DI program in explaining the continuing employment decline for men with work limitations.Social Security Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78356/1/wp239.pd

Distinct pathways for zinc metabolism in the terrestrial slug Arion vulgaris

In most organisms, the concentration of free Zn is controlled by metallothioneins (MTs). In contrast, no significant proportions of Zn are bound to MTs in the slug, Arion vulgaris. Instead, this species possesses cytoplasmic low-molecular-weight Zn (LMW Zn) binding compound that divert these metal ions into pathways uncoupled from MT metabolism. Zn is accumulated in the midgut gland calcium cells of Arion vulgaris, where they associate with a low-molecular-weight ligand with an apparent molecular mass of ~ 2,000 Da. Mass spectrometry of the semi-purified LMW Zn binding compound combining an electrospray ion source with a differential mobility analyser coupled to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer revealed the presence of four Zn-containing ion signals, which arise from disintegration of one higher MW complex resulting in an ion-mobility diameter of 1.62 nm and a molecular mass of 837 Da. We expect that the novel Zn ion storage pathway may be shared by many other gastropods, and particularly species that possess Cd-selective MT isoforms or variants with only very low affinity to Zn

A novel production route and process optimization of biomass-derived paraffin wax for pharmaceutical application

The Biomass to Liquid (BtL) Fischer-Tropsch (FT) route converts lignocellulosic feedstock to renewable hydrocarbons. This, paper shows a novel production route for biomass-derived synthetic paraffin wax via gasification of lignocellulosic feedstock, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) and hydrofining. The Fischer-Tropsch wax was fractionated, refined and analyzed with respect to compliance to commercial standards. The fractioned paraffin waxes were hydrofined using a commercial sulfide NiMo–Al2O3 catalyst and a trickle bed reactor. A parametric variation was performed to optimize the hydrofining process. It was shown that the produced medium-melt paraffin wax could fulfill the requirements for “Paraffinum solidum” defined by the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur). The high-melt wax fraction showed potential to be used as food packaging additive. Furthermore, the renewable wax was analyzed regarding PAH content and it was shown that the hydrofined wax was quasi-PAH-free

A Survey on Data Plane Programming with P4: Fundamentals, Advances, and Applied Research

With traditional networking, users can configure control plane protocols to match the specific network configuration, but without the ability to fundamentally change the underlying algorithms. With SDN, the users may provide their own control plane, that can control network devices through their data plane APIs. Programmable data planes allow users to define their own data plane algorithms for network devices including appropriate data plane APIs which may be leveraged by user-defined SDN control. Thus, programmable data planes and SDN offer great flexibility for network customization, be it for specialized, commercial appliances, e.g., in 5G or data center networks, or for rapid prototyping in industrial and academic research. Programming protocol-independent packet processors (P4) has emerged as the currently most widespread abstraction, programming language, and concept for data plane programming. It is developed and standardized by an open community and it is supported by various software and hardware platforms. In this paper, we survey the literature from 2015 to 2020 on data plane programming with P4. Our survey covers 497 references of which 367 are scientific publications. We organize our work into two parts. In the first part, we give an overview of data plane programming models, the programming language, architectures, compilers, targets, and data plane APIs. We also consider research efforts to advance P4 technology. In the second part, we analyze a large body of literature considering P4-based applied research. We categorize 241 research papers into different application domains, summarize their contributions, and extract prototypes, target platforms, and source code availability.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials (COMS) on 2021-01-2

Psychodynamic psychotherapy with suicidal adolescents

Although the treatment of suicidal adolescents is complex and may be daunting to many clinicians, it continues to play an important role in suicide prevention. In this paper we use case material to address questions that arise in psychotherapy, including the contending priorities of understanding the suicidal act in order to prevent repetition, versus connecting emotionally with the patient in the therapeutic relationship; and the use of an evolving understanding of the complexity of suicide that develops over time as patient and therapist engage in a deepening relationship which fosters life-sustaining development and psychic change. We present a case description of a patient in later adolescence, who began intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy after a suicide attempt and explore key components of therapeutic action. From this discussion we emphasise the relational aspects of the transference and countertransference that enables interpretation and increased therapeutic receptivity through collaborative interaction. We conclude that collaborative interaction is foundational for therapeutic action with suicidal adolescents