Schema therapy for borderline personality disorder: Patients' and therapists' perceptions

Schema therapy (ST) is effective in promoting clinically meaningful gains that ameliorate symptomatology for borderline personality disorder (BPD). However very little is known about how the therapy is experienced by patients or therapists including which elements of ST are effective from patients’ and therapists’ perspectives. The aim of this study is to explore BPD patients’ experiences of receiving ST and therapists’ experiences in delivering ST. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 patients who had a primary diagnosis of BPD and eight trained schema therapists. Interview data were analysed following the procedures of inductive, content analysis. Patients’ broad perceptions of ST included the experience of greater self-understanding, better awareness of their own emotional processes and better connections with their emotions. While the process of ST was perceived as emotionally confronting, patient narratives highlighted that this was perceived as necessary. Therapists generally regarded their experience as rewarding based on patients’ positive responses to treatment, and discussed changes made in their professional (e.g. incorporating more ST in their therapy) and personal (e.g. increased self-awareness) lives. However therapists also described being confronted with novel challenging situations despite having years of therapy experience. Patients and therapists were concordant on several therapeutic components of ST (e.g. ST provides insight, benefits of experiential techniques) and some therapeutic group factors not specific to ST (e.g. sense of connection among group members). On the other hand there exists a possible interplay between level of patient dysfunction within the group and therapists’ ability to manage group conflict. Recommendations for more effective implementation of schema therapy are discussed as well as issues for other specialist treatment approaches to BPD particularly concerning termination of therapy and definitions of recovery. Finally implications of the findings are discussed in terms of assessing the suitability of patients for group ST

Dancing to China's Tune: Understanding the Impacts of a Rising China through the Political-Ecology Framework

Introduction to Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 3/2017: Political Ecology of a Rising Chin

The effects of scffolding strategy in online social-collaborative learning environment on engineering students knowledge construction level: a literature review

Engineering students show very little gains in high knowledge construction level that allow them to integrate and apply real world situations especially to develop the competence and expertise in the engineering field (Streveler et al., 2008). In order to achieve the complex skills of the engineering students, scaffolding strategy needs to embark on the learning process. Scaffolding is a key strategy in cognitive apprenticeship, in which students can learn by taking increasing responsibility in complex problem solving with the guidance of more knowledgeable mentors or teachers (Collins, Brown, and Newman, 1986). This study will provide some useful insight for the scaffolding strategy used towards knowledge construction process in an online socialcollaborative learning environment. The findings of this study will clarify the scaffolding types versus knowledge construction level in online social collaborative learning environment.. The knowledge construction processes as defined by the scaffolding strategy factors will assist curricula designers or lecturers to redefine the roles and metacognitive activities of the lectures and students in order to make the learning process in the online social-collaborative learning environment more efficient, meaningful, and can improve engineering students’ knowledge construction process as well as innovative and creative thinking. The findings of this study could be used as a basis for further research in online social-collaborative learning environment

The Geopolitics of South-South Infrastructure Development: Chinese-financed energy projects in the global South

Debates around infrastructure tend to focus on the global North yet in the global South demand for infrastructure is huge and we see new and emergent actors engaged in finance and construction; China being preeminent among them. China’s interests in the global South have grown apace over the past decade, especially in terms of accessing resources and securing infrastructure deals. The role of Chinese banks and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in financing and building the projects reveals a blurring between geopolitical and commercial interests and processes. The paper situates China’s entry into the global South as part of a geopolitics that is simultaneously geoeconomic and interrogates these issues through case studies of Chinese-backed projects in Ghana and Cambodia. These projects are spatially and politically complex with China adopting a range of financing models – often including an element of resource swaps – in which bank finance is critical and marks the Chinese as different to western financiers. These international deals are secured at the political elite level and so by-pass established forms of national governance and accountability in the recipient countries, while the turnkey construction projects remain locally enclaved. The cases also show that wider developmental benefits are limited with ‘ordinary’ citizens – especially those in the rural areas - gaining relatively little from these major energy projects and the benefits accruing to urban-based elites

Dynamics of international aid in the Chinese context: a case study of the World Bank's Cixi Wetlands Project in Zhejiang Province

Environmental degradation in China, intensified by open-door reforms and industrialization, has been increasing at an alarming scale. Domestically, environmental governance has been poor, often due to institutional constraints and lack of “good practices.” However, recently there have been studies on how the “foreign factor” might have profound positive effects on capacity building in China and how international actors could lead to the successful introduction of good environmental governance. In this article, we present a study of a successful case: the World Bank Global Environmental Facility Cixi Wetlands project in Ningbo, China. The article examines the following: (a) the unique local context enabling the diffusion of international norms; (b) the factors which contribute to the World Bank's leverage role in restructuring local project governance; and (c) the changes in local environmental governance arising from the Bank's involvement. By evaluating this project, the article will demonstrate how the World Bank managed to introduce and socialize local actors into project-specific policy dialogues and procedures that enhanced local compliance with its international practices and standards

Isolation and characterization of the novel human gene, MOST-1

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)'s sustainable safeguard mechanism on energy projects

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was officially established by China in 2016 with one of the aims to develop energy infrastructure based on green and sustainable principles in Asia. To achieve that, AIIB has set forth safeguard policies, including the Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) applied for funded projects and the AIIB Energy Sector Strategy, to guide its energy investments. However, the effects of the safeguard policies and further safeguard operations on the energy projects remain unknown. This study reviews AIIB's safeguard mechanism on energy projects, including the safeguard policies, assessment and management plans, and implementations of AIIB's energy projects. We find that AIIB's current safeguard mechanism on energy projects, in comparison with other established multilateral development banks (MDBs), is still at its beginning stage, which does not match its goal and promise on sustainable energy development in Asia

An Unusual Case Presentation of the May-Thurner Syndrome

Summary: A 56-year-old woman underwent abdominoplasty with no immediate complications. She had no known bleeding history nor any relevant past surgical history. Adequate preventive measures for venous thromboembolism were performed, including sequential compression devices, good hydration, and early ambulation. At 17 days post operation, the patient presented to the emergency room complaining of left leg swelling and sharp, shooting pain radiating down her left leg. Workup in the Emergency Room revealed significant venous thrombosis involving complete occlusion of the major veins of the left leg. There were no indications of cardiopulmonary compromise. Angiography revealed an anatomical variant consistent with May-Thurner Syndrome (MTS). This variant first described in 1957 may present in up to one-quarter of patients, more commonly in young women. This case appears to the first reported of MTS occurring in association with a postoperative complication of abdominoplasty. Diagnosis and management considerations are discussed