Quantized intrinsically localized modes of a 3D lattice

Intrinsically Localized Modes are anharmonic oscillations found in one-dimensional systems, and occur relatively infrequently in classical higher dimensional lattices. However, when ILMs appear in simulations of classical lattices, their energies are too high for them to be seen in thermal equilibrium. We investigate quantized ILMs in a three-dimensional lattice using the Ladder Approximation, and find that ILMs occur preferentially for centre of mass momenta at which the van-Hove singularities in the two-phonon density of states coalesce. For interactions larger than a critical value, the ILMs form above the top of the two-phonon continuum, but fall into the continuum as q? is shifted away from the optimal value. This indicates that ILM excitations may be more ubiquitous in 3D lattices than previously expected. Furthermore, we find that the ILMs have intrinsic spins of either S = 0 or S = 2 and have internal structures associated with their spatial symmetry.     

Palliative-care professionals' experiences of unusual spiritual phenomena at the end of life

Research literature has highlighted unusual phenomena occurring at the end of life. Palliative-care professionals often feel ill-prepared in managing these and in talking to patients and family members about them. This study aimed to explore the meanings and interpretations ascribed to these phenomena by palliative-care professionals. Eight participants were interviewed, and interpretative phenomenological analysis used to identify themes within their accounts. Four themes emerged from the analysis: (1) Who are we to say what's out there?: a connection with something beyond what can be seen; (2) It opened up conversations: the experience of talking about unusual experiences; (3) It knocked me sideways: managing the emotional impact of these experiences; and (4) The fact that she was so accepting made it easier: the value of acceptance in relation to unusual experiences. These findings are discussed within the context of existing literature and implications for palliative-care professionals are discussed.     

Emergent complexity: What uphill analysis or downhill invention cannot do

In these notes we review emergent phenomena in complex systems, emphasizing ways to identify potential underlying universal mechanisms that generate complexity. The discussion focuses on the emergence of collective behavior in dynamical systems when they are poised near a critical point of a phase transition, either by tuning or by self-organization. We then present the rationale for our proposal that the brain is naturally poised near criticality and review recent results as well as the implications of this view of the functioning brain.     

RETHINKING THE ROLE OF SMALL‐GROUP COLLABORATORS AND ADVERSARIES IN THE LONDON KLEINIAN DEVELOPMENT (1914–1968)

The authors historically situate the London Kleinian development in terms of the small‐group collaborations and adversaries that arose during the course of Melanie Klein's career. Some collaborations later became personally adversarial (e.g., those Klein had with Glover and Schmideberg); other adversarial relationships forever remained that way (with A. Freud); while still other long‐term collaborations became theoretically contentious (such as with Winnicott and Heimann). After the Controversial Discussions in 1944, Klein marginalized one group of supporters (Heimann, Winnicott, and Riviere) in favor of another group (Rosenfeld, Segal, and Bion). After Klein's death in 1960, Bion maintained loyalty to Klein's ideas while quietly distancing his work from the London Klein group, immigrating to the United States in 1968.     

The phenomenology of negation

Negation is a fundamental component of communication (no-answers), cognition (logical negation), perception (different color), attitude (dislike), emotion (hatred), and volition (disagreement). Its many uses make it difficult to provide an integrated definition of the concept. The aim of this paper is to show that an integrated definition of the concept can be arrived at by means of a phenomenological method structuring it into three general essences labelled lack, otherness and obstruction.

REVISITING DESTRUCTION IN “THE USE OF AN OBJECT”

“The Use of an Object” (1969a) has been widely recognized as among Winnicott's great papers and has deservedly received a good deal of attention. Much of that attention has focused on the importance that the paper gives to the role of destruction in bringing about the experience of externality. Yet the nature of that destruction has too often been assumed based on Winnicott's earlier writings. In the view that follows from that, destruction is equated with the aggression that fails to destroy the object, and the experience of externality is regarded just as the result of that failure. In offering a rereading of “The Use of an Object,” the author suggests that, while this aspect of aggression/destruction indeed plays an important role in the establishment of externality, it is only part of the story, and that the central contribution of “The Use of an Object” is Winnicott's attempt to offer a new theory of primitive destruction, one that provides an impulsive basis for separation/externality itself. This theory and Winnicott's ongoing attempts to develop it after “The Use of an Object” led him to rethink the very nature of the drives.     

Some thoughts on moving West

Abstract

This paper outlines an application of psychoanalysis in the tradition of Donald Winnicott in the clinical practice of paediatric diagnostic radiography. A practical way in which psychoanalytic theory may be employed in the care of essentially ‘normal’ children and their parents in the ‘abnormal’ setting of a district general hospital is demonstrated. The themes of holding and the effect of impingements, transitional phenomena and creative apperception and experiencing are addressed. A brief case study of one 15-month-old child is presented.     

Bion and Tustin: The autistic phenomena

This article examines   the implications of the proposal of autistic transformations within the general context of Bion's theory of Transformations. The aim is to confirm the coherence of this proposal of autistic transformations within the overall structure of Bion's theory of Transformations. She examines the relation between emotional links and their negatives, particularly –K. She questions in which of the dimensions of the mind the autistic phenomena are located, the relation between autistic phenomena and beta elements, and where to place them in the Grid. The author tries to form metapsychological support for the incorporation of the autistic area in Bion's theory of Transformations. She argues that, despite the incongruence and imprecision of this incorporation, such autistic phenomena cannot be excluded from the complexus of the human mind and should therefore be accounted for in Bion's t ransformations . She discusses the idea that the theory of transformations includes the field of the neurosis and psychosis and deals with emotions, whereas the autistic area is dominated by sensations. The author asks how to add the autistic area to Bion's theory. Clinical material of a child for whom the non‐psychotic part of the personality predominates and who presents autistic nuclei provides material for the discussion.     

Inside a religious education research project: the influence of theological and educational considerations on the treatment of religious content within a prescribed pedagogic framework

This article describes the underlying theological and educational issues which were addressed when incorporating an item of religious content within the ‘Gift Approach’ to Primary Religious Education. It suggests that the significance of laying bare this process is in demonstrating how theological concerns (whatever the religion) will always be a contributing influence in determining how religious content is treated and incorporated within learning experiences in RE.