The Quasi-lattice of Indiscernible Elements

The literature on quantum logic emphasizes that the algebraic structures involved with orthodox quantum mechanics are non distributive. In this paper we develop a particular algebraic structure, the quasi-lattice ( \mathfrakI{\mathfrak{I}}-lattice), which can be modeled by an algebraic structure built in quasi-set theory \mathfrakQ{\mathfrak{Q}} . This structure is non distributive and involve indiscernible elements. Thus we show that in taking into account indiscernibility as a primitive concept, the quasi-lattice that ‘naturally’ arises is non distributive.     

“Which Palestine Should We Teach?” Signatures,Palimpsests, and Struggles over School Textbooks

The present paper offers a reflection on school textbooks produced and introduced by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from the year 2000 onward. The aim is to examine the debates over these textbooks, by situating them over the backdrop of larger geopolitical dynamics and intra-Palestinian social and political struggles.     

Representational momentum in aviation

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of expertise on motion anticipation. We conducted 2 experiments in which novices and expert pilots viewed simulated aircraft landing scenes. The scenes were interrupted by the display of a black screen and then started again after a forward or backward shift. The participant's task was to determine whether the moving scene had been shifted forward or backward. A forward misjudgment of the final position of the moving scene was interpreted as a representational momentum (RM) effect. Experiment 1 showed that an RM effect was detected only for experts. The lack of motion anticipation on the part of novices is a surprising result for the RM literature. It could be related to scene unfamiliarity, encoding time, or shift size. Experiment 2 was run with novices only. It was aimed at testing the potential impact of 2 factors on the RM effect: scene encoding time and shift size. As a whole, the results showed that encoding time and shift size are important factors in anticipation processes in realistic dynamic situations.     

Zeitlosigkeit und Verg?nglichkeit (in) der Psychoanalyse

The author shows that the accessible psychoanalytic unconscious is not timeless. Freud??s ??timeless unconscious??, which was ontologized by himself and his successors, proves to be fiction with negative consequences. Assuming ??timeless?? primary processes psychoanalysis as a therapy would bite the hand which feeds it. Instead of contrasting linear time to the cyclic personal experience of time, the author suggests to speak about the ??emergence of lived time?? and the ??new moments?? of encounter in the therapeutic situation, to emphasize the importance of the opportune moment for change in contrast to the cyclic repetition of transference. In order to understand and approach disorders of time perception knowledge of unconscious conflicts and defense processes remains crucial. Even dreams are not timeless. While our conscious mind works according to chronological patterns, the pictorial representation in the particular form of thinking asleep, dreaming, makes it possible to map different memory traces simultaneously. Freud??s speculations about the ??timeless unconscious?? and Nirvana may originate from a longing for redemption. In contrast the author??s final chapter deals with the potential life span and transience of some central psychoanalytic concepts. Not even those who prove to be very close to observation can be attributed with ??eternal life??.     

Das Unheimliche der Ambivalenz

This essay??s main concern consists of a critical survey of the coherences, alliances and associative entanglement between psychic ambivalences, encounters of the uncanny and the connections to the issues of death. References for the considerations presented here are Freuds??s seminal papers ??The antithetical meanings of primal words?? (1910), ??The uncanny?? (1919) and ??Beyond the pleasure principle?? (1920). The axis formed by these essays is being crisscrossed by the phenomen of the uncanny valley, an issue widely discussed within the cyber scene which may introduce a new perspective in order to extend the analysis of the concept and structure of ambivalences with new questions. This approach adverts to an inherent paradox which seems to be constitutive for ambivalence itself.     

Ambivalenz und gleichschwebende Aufmerksamkeit

Starting from some aspects of a case study the clinical significance of the concept of ambivalence will be exposed. It will be shown that beyond all the different symptoms ambivalence plays an important role in evenly-suspended attention, a concept which was developed by Freud at nearly the same time as ambivalence itself. As far as this attention is not freely suspended, ambivalence means that the suspension is always threatened by the danger of a crash. When it is right, that from a psychoanalytical viewpoint the achievement of the subject lies particularly in a misachievement, in the Freudian slip, the promise of efficiency and cure in an analysis will prove itself in its failure. The young man in the case study tells the psychoanalysis about the ambivalences it is involved in and in this he is very efficient. Ambivalence as an essential part of the evenly-suspended attention will reveal itself as a strong means of deconstructing efficiency.     

Kommentare zu ?Ambivalenz weiterschreiben��

The authors comment on the results of the Zürich symposium with varied weighting. Ambivalence is brought into relation with a hypothetical genesis of human thinking and understood as a reflection of the fundamental dialogical structure, which owes itself to an exchange of symbolic messages. A further consideration describes that the ??valley of the uncanny??, whose connection to death Lilly Gast has shown, could also have a fundamental connection with sexuality bared of all bonds, which releases the same fears as death. A difficulty would lie in the inflationary use of the term: every ambiguousness or diversity would sometimes generally be subsumed under ambivalence and therefore all selectivity would become lost. Also discussed is the ambivalence of the term, or the question, whether the term has not lost significance. Finally its relevance in pediatric and adolescent-specific perspectives will be examined.     

Sex differences in the relation between math performance, spatial skills, and attitudes

Sex differences have been previously found in cognitive and affective predictors of math achievement, including spatial skills and math attitudes. It is important to determine whether there are sex differences not only in the predictors themselves, but also in the nature of their relation to math achievement. The present paper examined spatial skills and math attitudes as predictors of curriculum-based measures of math performance in middle-school students, specifically comparing the patterns of these predictive relations for boys and girls. The results of the current study showed that, despite similar levels of math performance for boys and girls, the significance of particular predictors varied as a function of sex. Specifically, spatial skills predicted math performance in boys, but not in girls. We suggest that sex differences in spatial reasoning in conjunction with the differential involvement of spatial reasoning in math problem solving may lead to later sex differences in math outcomes.     

Diagnostic value of the Dominic Interactive Assessment with children exposed to intimate partner violence

This article reports on the diagnostic validity of the Dominic Interactive Assessment (DIA) in a sample of Spanish children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV). The study participants included 55 children aged between 6 and 11 years whose mothers visited an IPV counselling centre. Psychopathology and functional impairment were used as the main criteria for assessing predictive and discriminative accuracy, as well as incremental validity, of DIA. The results indicate that DIA permits obtaining useful information from children. This information improves the prediction and validity of the process of clinical assessment of children exposed to IPV. Children's self-reports could prove effective in identifying cases in this high-risk population when developmentally adequate instruments and functional criteria are used.     

Internal attribution of outcome moderates the cortisol response to a cooperative task in women

Several ethological reports have indicated that cooperative behaviors play an adaptive role. However, research has focused on competition in men, and there have been few studies on cooperation. This study aims to analyze the cortisol and psychological responses in women to a cooperative situation compared with a competitive situation in a laboratory context. The sample was distributed into four groups depending on the task and the outcome obtained: Positive cooperation, negative cooperation, competition with victory, and competition with defeat. Our results show that, in comparison with competition, cooperation produces different effects in cortisol, but not in psychological states. Nevertheless, these effects occur only when the task outcome and its appraisal are considered. Only the participants who cooperated and obtained a positive outcome and those who competed and lost showed significant decrements of cortisol. Internal attribution was higher in groups with more stable cortisol levels, suggesting a possible modulator effect of controllability in the way the situation was experienced. These results could be generalized to situations in which negotiation, mediation, and cooperative strategies are relevant for making decisions and/or solving problems.