Psychotherapy as social critique

Several commentators on psychotherapy have suggested that certain features of contemporary society are creating additional psychological problems for people. They argue that traditional individualistic approaches to psychotherapy cannot account theoretically for the social dysfunctions which could be responsible for psychological problems. The focus of such dysfunctions are de-ethicalised human relations either due to social institutional constraints (forms of macro-conduct) or the uncoupling of micro-conduct (person to person activities) from macro-conduct. I examine recent approaches to psychotherapy to find out whether they consider contemporary features of social existence in their accounts. My aim is to provide an account of psychotherapy which considers personal and social existence co-relative to each other. Only by theoretically establishing such a relation can there be an adequate analysis of persons interacting with each other or their social practices. I propose three modalities, personhood, micro-conduct and macro-conduct for my account of psychotherapy. Each of these can influence the other. My approach to psychotherapy as social critique is organised around the principle of social and moral values which includes both persons as evaluators and the values pertaining to social practices in the social environment. I contend that such evaluators are moral agents with both species-related and individual attributes of intentions and powers and also what I term, knowledge-ability. I suggest that the process of evaluation is a skilled process involving feedback between persons and their practices as a result of which persons can regulate and modify their social practices. This skilled process establishes also the regulatory methodological features of psychotherapy practice which can give rise to psychotherapeutic betterment. I have achieved an account of social psychotherapy that is relational and developmental and in this respect allows for psychotherapeutic betterment. The account which I offer is not a normative account but is one which is available for empirical enquiry

The Assimilation of Loan Words in Masalit.

"The assimilation of loan words in Masalit" This is a study of the assimilation patterns and processes of Arabic words adopted into the Masalit language. The Masalit, a settled people numbering between one and two hundred thousand, live in Dar Masalit, the western district of Dar Fur, Sudan and in eastern Wadai, Chad. Most are peasant farmers, growing millet as their staple food and keeping goats, sheep and occasionally cows. Their language belongs to the Maba group (belonging to Greenberg's postulated Nilo-Saharan phylum. Many Masalit are bilingual in Masalit and Colloquial Arabic, some do not speak Masalit at all. There is a growing monolingual arabophone population in the region. All of the peoples of Dar Masalit are at least nominally Muslim. Chapter 1: The history of the land of the Masalit is surveyed briefly insofar as it is relevant to the influence of Arabic on Masalit. Chapters 2 and 3: The state of the Arabic language in the land of the Masalit is discussed, the phonologies of classical and colloquial Arabic and Masalit are laid out and Masalit morphology relevant to the processes of loan-word assimilation is described, followed by a description of the methodology involved. Chapter 4: Arabic-Masalit phonetic changes are noted as are additions of Masalit suffixes;adoptives into the verbal system are fewer and are treated separately. Very much fewer of the putative loans are in the 'indirect' category; putative loans via Fur, Fulfulde, Kanuri, Hausa and Maba (a cognate language of Masalit) are suggested and examined. Problematic items and lexemes which have wide spreads of reflexes and 'look-alikes' in the region are also examined, followed by some putative morphological adoptions. The semantic maintenance and change of loan words is catalogued and analyzed

Verbal estimation of distance in a simulated space environment

Human performance in estimating distances in simulated space environmen

Kvaliteedi tagamine tõlkebüroodes Euroopa Liidu Nõukogu Eesti Keele osakonna ja suuremate rahvusvaheliste tõlkebüroode näitel

Meetmed, millega tõlketööde kvaliteeti tagatakse, on sarnased – või vähemalt võrsunud samast juurest – neile, millega ülejäänud tööstustooteid ja teenuseid pakkuv maailm oma teenuste-toodete kvaliteeti tagab. Olulisel kohal on ettevõtete soov teha oma kvaliteedi kindlus klientide jaoks silmanähtavaks ja selgelt mõistetavaks, mistõttu kasutatakse ka tõlketööstuses, sarnaselt muudele tööstusvaldkondadele, standardeid, mis reguleerivad tööprotsesse ja töövahendeid. Standardiseeritus tagab kliendile ühtse kvaliteediga tööd. Teisalt tuleb tunnistada, et nii klientide puudulikud teadmised kui ka liigne keskendumine ainuüksi standarditele võib tõlgete kvaliteeti negatiivselt mõjutada – mitte kõik kliendid ei ole tõlkevaldkonna spetsiifikast teadlikud ja ei oska seetõttu ka alati hinnata tõlkevaldkonnale eriomaseid meetmeid, mida ei pruugi olla ka kõigis standardites ära toodud, kuid mis on sellest hoolimata äärmiselt vajalikud. Näiteks rõhuvad mitmed Eesti tõlkebürood üldiste kvaliteedistandardite järgimisele (nt ISO 9001:2008), kuid need standardid ei nõua otsesõnu näiteks selliste kvaliteedimeetmete rakendamist nagu seda on tõlkeabiprogrammid või mitmesilmaprintsiip toimetamisel. See on vaid üks paljudest komistuskividest, mille tagajärjel on vähemalt Eestis valmivate tõlgete kvaliteet autori kogemuste kohaselt kohati üllatavalt erinev hoolimata sellest, et mitmete tõlkebüroode kodulehtedel on märge selle kohta, et järgitakse ühte ja sama kvaliteedi tagamise standardit. Võttes arvesse eelnevas lõigus toodud kaalutlused, soovib autor oma töös uurida kvaliteedi tagamise meetodeid suurimates Euroopa tõlkebüroodes ja Euroopa Liidu Nõukogu eesti keele osakonnas. Kuna tegemist on suurte asutustega, millel on tugev majasiseste tõlkijate baas ja kes teevad valdavalt koostööd pigem tõlkebüroode kui vabakutseliste tõlkijatega ning kelle jaoks on kvaliteet ja protsessid juba aja säästmise mõttes üliolulised, on autor veendunud, et nende protsessid on hästi sisse töötatud ja toimivad. Kvaliteedi tagamisel on keskpunktis klient ja tema soovid, ning ettevõtte edu võib lugeda tõestuseks toodete hea või soovidele vastava kvaliteedi kohta – vastasel juhul kliendid neid tooteid ei ostaks.http://www.ester.ee/record=b4605505*es

A Microcantilever Device to Assess the Effect of Force on the Lifetime of Selectin-Carbohydrate Bonds

A microcantilever technique was used to apply force to receptor-ligand molecules involved in leukocyte rolling on blood vessel walls. E-selectin was adsorbed onto 3-μm-diameter, 4-mm-long glass fibers, and the selectin ligand, sialyl Lewisx, was coupled to latex microspheres. After binding, the microsphere and bound fiber were retracted using a computerized loading protocol that combines hydrodynamic and Hookean forces on the fiber to produce a range of force loading rates (force/time), rf. From the distribution of forces at failure, the average force was determined and plotted as a function of ln rf. The slope and intercept of the plot yield the unstressed reverse reaction rate, kro , and a parameter that describes the force dependence of reverse reaction rates, ro. The ligand was titrated so adhesion occurred in ~30% of tests, implying that \u3e80% of adhesive events involve single bonds. Monte Carlo simulations show that this level of multiple bonding has little effect on parameter estimation. The estimates are ro = 0.048 and 0.016 nm and kro = 0.72 and 2.2 s-1 for loading rates in the ranges 200–1000 and 1000–5000 pN s-1, respectively. Levenberg-Marquardt fitting across all values of rf gives ro = 0.034 nm and kro = 0.82 s-1. The values of these parameters are in the range required for rolling, as suggested by adhesive dynamics simulations

Revisiting the 'Missing Middle' in English Sub-National Governance

In the light of the new Coalition Government’s proposed ‘rescaling’ of sub-national governance away from the regional level, it is an opportune time to re-consider the strength and weaknesses of the city or sub-regional approach to economic development and to search, once more, for the ‘missing middle’ in English Governance. In this context, the article initially assesses the case for city or sub regions as tiers of economic governance, before examining the lessons to be learnt from the experiences of the existing city regions in the North East of England. It argues that while contemporary plans to develop Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) can be usefully considered within the context of the emerging city regional developments under the previous Labour Governments, a number of important challenges remain, particularly in relation to ensuring accountable structures of governance, a range of appropriate functions, adequate funding, and comprehensive coverage across a variety of sub-regional contexts. While the proposals of the new Government create the necessary ‘space’ to develop sub-regional bodies and offer genuine opportunities for both city and county LEPs, the scale of the sub-regional challenge should not be underestimated, particularly given the context of economic recession and major reductions in the public sector

Distribution of sialic acids on mucins and gels: a defense mechanism

Moist mucosal epithelial interfaces that are exposed to external environments are dominated by sugar epitopes, some of which (e.g., sialic acids) are involved in host defense. In this study, we determined the abundance and distribution of two sialic acids to assess differences in their availability to an exogenous probe in isolated mucins and mucous gels. We used atomic force microscopy to obtain force maps of human preocular mucous and purified ocular mucins by probing and locating the interactions between tip-tethered lectins Maackia amurensis and Sambucus nigra and their respective receptors, α-2,3 and α-2,6 N-acetylneuraminic (sialic) acids. The rupture force distributions were not affected by neighboring sugar-bearing molecules. Energy contours for both lectin-sugar bonds were fitted to a two-barrier model, suggesting a conformational change before dissociation. In contrast to data from purified mucin molecules, the preocular gels presented numerous large clusters (19,000 ± 4000 nm2) of α-2,6 sialic acids, but very few small clusters (2000 ± 500 nm2) of α-2,3 epitopes. This indicates that mucins, which are rich in α-2,3 sialic acids, are only partially exposed at the surface of the mucous gel. Microorganisms that recognize α-2,3 sialic acids will encounter only isolated ligands, and the adhesion of other microorganisms will be enhanced by large islands of neighboring α-2,6 sialic acids. We have unveiled an additional level of mucosal surface heterogeneity, specifically in the distribution of pro- and antiadhesive sialic acids that protect underlying epithelia from viruses and bacteria

Working memory and phonological awareness as predictors of progress towards early learning goals at school entry

This study investigates whether working memory skills of children are related to teacher ratings of their progress towards learning goals at the time of school entry, at 4 or 5 years of age. A sample of 194 children was tested on measures of working memory, phonological awareness, and non-verbal ability, in addition to the school-based baseline assessments in the areas of reading, writing, mathematics, speaking and listening, and personal and social development. Various aspects of cognitive functioning formed unique associations with baseline assessments; for example complex memory span with rated writing skills, phonological short-term memory with both reading and speaking and listening skills, and sentence repetition scores with both mathematics and personal and social skills. Rated reading skills were also uniquely associated with phonological awareness scores. The findings indicate that the capacity to store and processmaterial over short periods of time, referred to asworkingmemory, and alsothe awareness of phonological structure,may play a crucial role in key learning areas for children at the beginning of formal education

Ligand-Receptor Interactions

The formation and dissociation of specific noncovalent interactions between a variety of macromolecules play a crucial role in the function of biological systems. During the last few years, three main lines of research led to a dramatic improvement of our understanding of these important phenomena. First, combination of genetic engineering and X ray cristallography made available a simultaneous knowledg of the precise structure and affinity of series or related ligand-receptor systems differing by a few well-defined atoms. Second, improvement of computer power and simulation techniques allowed extended exploration of the interaction of realistic macromolecules. Third, simultaneous development of a variety of techniques based on atomic force microscopy, hydrodynamic flow, biomembrane probes, optical tweezers, magnetic fields or flexible transducers yielded direct experimental information of the behavior of single ligand receptor bonds. At the same time, investigation of well defined cellular models raised the interest of biologists to the kinetic and mechanical properties of cell membrane receptors. The aim of this review is to give a description of these advances that benefitted from a largely multidisciplinar approach

Force and Compliance Measurements on Living Cells Using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)

We describe the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) in studies of cell adhesion and cell compliance. Our studies use the interaction between leukocyte function associated antigen-1 (LFA-1)/intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) as a model system. The forces required to unbind a single LFA-1/ICAM-1 bond were measured at different loading rates. This data was used to determine the dynamic strength of the LFA-1/ICAM-1 complex and characterize the activation potential that this complex overcomes during its breakage. Force measurements acquired at the multiple- bond level provided insight about the mechanism of cell adhesion. In addition, the AFM was used as a microindenter to determine the mechanical properties of cells. The applications of these methods are described using data from a previous study