Going too far: complaining, escalating and disaffiliation

This report, arising from a study of affiliation and disaffiliation in interaction, addresses an apparently ‘anomalous’ finding in relation to complaint sequences in conversation. In some of the cases we collected in which one speaker was complaining on behalf of the other (their co-participant), taking her side in some matter, the one on whose behalf the other was complaining did not affiliate with the complaint. Instead they resisted the complaint (again, one made on their behalf) and demurred to ‘go so far’. This finding is anomalous in the sense that if A is complaining on behalf of B, in respect of some harm done to B, then it might be expected that B would go along with the complaint, and affiliate with A. To account for how it might come about that B demurs from ‘going as far as’ A, we explore how complaints are frequently introduced in conversation. We show that complaints may emerge through a progression in which ‘the complainant’ does not initially go on record with a complaint, but instead secures the other's participation in co-constructing the complaint. Hence the ‘complaint recipient’ may be the first to make the complaint explicit, in a sequence of escalating affiliation. In the ‘anomalous’ cases, it appears that this escalation goes too far for the putative complainant (B)

Principles of practice in mental health assessment with Aboriginal Australians

In this chapter, concepts and history of assessment and testing in the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing and mental health are discussed. Importantly, recently revised diagnostic guidelines and the National Practice Standards for the Mental Health Workforce 20131 and their appropriateness for meeting the distinctive needs of Aboriginal people are reviewed. Various assessment tools and measures that have been validated or proved appropriate for use with particular Aboriginal populations, i.e. youth, women and older people, are described. We conclude that practitioners need to be critically reflective in their role in assessment, and position themselves to play an important transformative role in conducting assessment. This extends to acknowledging and enacting culturally responsive principles, procedures and practices to ensure that Aboriginal people have access to effective, culturally secure mental health care

Humanism at the Limits: Alienation, Difference, Critique

This dissertation emerges from an analysis of the recent focus on the vulnerability and finitude of human life as an ethical foundation for politics. I argue that this humanist turn reinforces the experience of vulnerability and precariousness and, thus, promotes a conservative politics of alienation and recovery rather than of active social transformation and a politics of difference. In this new humanist guise alienation is figured as a problem to be ameliorated by the recovery or recognition of our common finitude that we have presumably lost. In response, I present an approach to the human that pursues limit experiences of the human and forms of power and politics that persist and work at the margins of norms and experiences––what I call a “humanism at the limits.” To do so, I develop a model of alienation in which experiences of alienation are always multiple and historically and socially specific, and thus must be examined and worked against in their particularity. I examine this image of the human and alienation through several problematics: the legacy of humanist Marxism and what I call “the Feuerbach problem” in critical thought; Judith Butler’s use of the figure of the human and its implications for social movements like AIDS activism; the dilemmas of subjectivity in the work of Butler and Louis Althusser and the subject’s relation to dominant forms of power; the possibility of a “weak,” or strategic, approach to critical theory that avoids the traps of strong, paranoid readings, particularly those that see the state as a threatening “cold monster”; and, finally, the project of failure as articulated by queer theories of politics and the dramatic work of Samuel Beckett. This dissertation works to chart a course that recognizes the limits of human agency and that sees the conditions of alienation that attend them, but that attempts to resist the false choice of revolution or recovery. A humanism at the limits affirms that there are many lives worth living and promotes an image of politics that might see such lives proliferate in our contemporary conjuncture where such possibilities are both profound and precarious

What Can I do with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology?

This poster presents a list of common job titles for students who have graduated with a bachelor\u27s degree in psychology. The original poster dimensions are 48 x36

EVA Swab Tool to Support Planetary Protection and Astrobiology Evaluations

When we send humans to search for life on other planets, we'll need to know what we brought with us versus what may already be there. To ensure our crewed systems meet planetary protection requirements-and to protect our science from human contamination-we'll need to assess whether microorganisms may be leaking or venting from our spacecraft. Microbial sample collection outside of a pressurized spacecraft is complicated by temperature extremes, low pressures that preclude the use of laboratory standard (wetted) swabs, and operation either in bulky spacesuits or with robotic assistance. Engineers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently developed a swab kit for use in collecting microbial samples from the external surfaces of crewed spacecraft, including spacesuits. The Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Swab Kit consists of a single swab tool handle and an eight-canister sample caddy. The design team minimized development cost by re-purposing a heritage Space Shuttle tile repair handle that was designed to quickly snap into different tool attachments by engaging a mating device in each attachment. This allowed the tool handle to snap onto a fresh swab attachment much like popular shaving razor handles can snap onto a disposable blade cartridge. To disengage the handle from a swab, the user performs two independent functions, which can be done with a single hand. This dual operation mitigates the risk that a swab will be inadvertently released and lost in microgravity. Each swab attachment is fitted with commercially available foam swab tips, vendor-certified to be sterile for Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA). A microbial filter installed in the bottom of each sample container allows the container to outgas and repressurize without introducing microbial contaminants to internal void spaces. Extensive ground testing, post-test handling, and sample analysis confirmed the design is able to maintain sterile conditions as the canister moves between various pressure environments. To further minimize cost, the design team acquired extensive ground test experience in a relevant flight environment by piggy-backing onto suited crew training runs. These training runs allowed the project to validate tool interfaces with pressurized EVA gloves and collect user feedback on the tool design and function, as well as characterize baseline microbial data for different types of spacesuits. In general, test subjects found the EVA Swab Kit relatively straightforward to operate, but identified a number of design improvements that will be incorporated into the final design. Although originally intended to help characterize human forward contaminants, this tool has other potential applications, such as for collecting and preserving space-exposed materials to support astrobiology experiments

Detection of the 2175 angstrom dust feature in Mg II absorption systems

The broad absorption bump at 2175 angstrom due to dust, which is ubiquitous in the Galaxy and is seen in the Magellanic clouds, is also seen in a composite spectrum of Mg II absorbers. The composite absorber spectrum is obtained by taking the geometric mean of 92 quasar spectra after aligning them in the restframe of 96 absorbers. By aligning the spectra according to absorber redshifts we reinforce the spectral features of the absorbers, and smooth over possible bumps and wiggles in the emission spectra as well as small features in the flat fielding of the spectra. The width of the observed absorption feature is 200-300 angstrom (FWHM), or 0.4-0.6 (micron)^{-1} and the central wavelength is 2240 angstrom. These are somewhat different from the central wavelength of 2176 angstrqom and FWHM=0.8-1.25 (micron)^{-1} found in the Galaxy. Simulations show that this discrepancy between the properties of the 2175 angstrom feature in Mg II absorbers and Galactic ISM can be mostly explained by the different methods used to measure them.Comment: To appear in ApJ(letters). 11 pages, Latex, uses AASTeX v4.