Hidden Difficulties Research Articles

A psychoanalytic perspective on victims of domestic violence and coercive control

AbstractBased on long clinical and forensic experience in the assessment and treatment of victims of domestic violence, the authors discuss some predisposing psychological factors that can lead to a woman's vulnerability to forming and maintaining an attachment to an abusive partner. Clinical vignettes to illustrate some kinds of observed vulnerabilities along with the authors' ideas as to their origins are presented. The authors argue that these women present with some common but hidden difficulties that may go unrecognized even in a psychoanalytic setting. This is, in part, because of our profession's lack of familiarity with the nature of domestic violence. A more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon of domestic violence is obscured by two crucial factors: first, there is an initial clinical focus on the reality of significant external obstacles to terminating these often intense bonds – even in the face of foreseeable danger to the victim and children; second, and perhaps more limiting, are psychoanalytically based assumptions about “characterological masochism” that often reflect simplistic, moralistic, misogynistic assumptions about women that continue to inform psychoanalytic theory in the area of family life. In addition, the authors discuss some of the interactions contained within the perpetrator/victim relationship that reflect and reinforce the internal liabilities observed in this group of victims.

Bioinformatics Approach in Natural Products Discovery: A Cautionary Tale

In the past decade, the focus of drug discovery has shifted from the traditional natural product research to synthetic medicinal chemistry approach. However, many are reverting back to using natural products resources, but this time taking advantage of the booming area of genome sequencing. Using bioinformatics, many novel compounds have been isolated, even from the “unculturable” microbes. However, not all genes can be translated into proteins, and not all proteins are active. Two polyketide synthase genes, MgPKS2 and MgPKS8, from the plant pathogen fungus Mycosphaerella graminicola were selected using bioinformatics approach, and were cloned and transformed into a heterologous host, Aspergillus oryzae M-2-3. The genes were linked with the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) to detect formation of protein. The transformed MgPKS2 did not show the formation of the polyketide synthase enzyme but MgPKS8 did. The most possible reason for the negative result of MgPKS2 is incorrect intron splicing in Aspergillus oryzae M-2-3. MgPKS8 transformants were extracted and checked for production of new metabolites using LC-MS. However, none was detected. Some of the possible reasons for these results are the productions of new metabolites were below the detection level or, the polyketide need a special starter unit for biosynthesis or, incorrect protein folding. These results showed that this emerging method of natural product research has many hidden difficulties that should be shared amongst the natural product community.

Studies Directed toward Synthesis of the Structure Proposed for Stereocalpin A

Some synthetic efforts directed to the proposed structure of stereocalpin A are disclosed. The stereogenic centers in the aldol unit were installed using the method of Evans and the intermediates obtained through a reliable route helped to reveal that the spectroscopic data reported earlier in the literature for the same structures were either erroneous or irrelevant. This article is corrected by: On the Synthesis of Stereocalpin A: Partial Retraction/Correction of Previous Results and Rationalization of the Hidden Difficulties, Volume 35, Issue 7, 1185–1194, Article first published online: 6 April 2017.

Retaining a foothold on the slippery paths of academia: university women, indirect discrimination, and the academic marketplace

This paper examines indirect discrimination in Australian universities that tends to obstruct and delay women’s academic careers. The topic is defined and contextualised via a 1998 speech by the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, juxtaposed with a brief contemporaneous exemplar. The paper discusses the prevalence of women among casual and fixed‐term academic workers, and the contrasting low numbers of women in senior academic positions. It is argued that the neo‐liberal ‘marketisation’ of higher education, which still prevails, has fostered a number of indirectly discriminatory practices and conditions that substantially disadvantage women. A selection of studies of the problem are critiqued. It is argued that a broad statistical methodology is inadequate due to its tendency to ‘homogenise’ the academy and its component individuals, in the process giving scope for unjustified optimism among university policy‐makers. A particulate approach is advocated, acknowledging the wide variation between and within universities, and the range of hidden difficulties individual women academics can face. It is concluded that despite apparent reforms over the past decade, the situation of women has improved little in practical terms.

The Hidden Difficulties of Watching and Rebuilding Networks

The subtleties of network protection can bedevil even experienced IT staff and security researchers. In this installment of secure systems, we focus on two areas of network defense that are particularly troublesome to manage: network intrusion recovery and ubiquitous network monitoring.

MIMO Propagation Channel Modeling

This paper provides an overview of research in channel modeling for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) data transmission focusing on a radio wave propagation. A MIMO channel is expressed as an equivalent circuit with a limited number of eigenpaths according to the singular-value decomposition (SVD). Each eigenpath amplitude depends on the propagation structure not only of the path direction profiles for both transmission and reception points but also of intermediate regions. Inherent in adaptive control is the problem of instability as a hidden difficulty. In this paper these issues are addressed and research topics on MIMO from a radio wave propagation viewpoint are identified.

An equation to represent grain-size distribution: Discussion

Hansen 1436 Statistically summarizing and prese ting grain-size distribution (GSD) data would appear to be a simple, even mundane task, but actually presents subtle nontrivial challenges. The authors are to be commended for bringing this to the attention of the geotechnical community. The goal of summarizing GSD information in a soil characteristics database will also be a useful outcome. Perhaps because of the hidden difficulties in concisely characterizing such data, the geotechnical community invented their own way of presenting GSDs long ago. To some extent I feel that this paper represents a continued divergence from available approaches. When deciding how to attach a given statistical model (distribution) to a given set of data, statisticians appear to use one of the following two approaches: (1) They compare theoretical probability density functions (PDFs) to histograms describing the observed data (this is the basis for the well-known χ2 test), or (2) They compare cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) to observed percentiles, or to points found using so-called plotting position formulae. In either case, paper with a probability scale is usually used. This scale is most often the probability of nonexceedance of the standard normal deviate. This approach is common in hydrology. However, practicing geotechnical engineers have historically taken neither approach when attempting to present GSDs, and few practitioners would take the time to obtain a statistical model of a given dataset. In addition, rather than using statistical measures that are almost universally understood, such as the standard deviation, the coefficient of variation, and the coefficient of skewness, various uniformity coefficients are used in geotechnical engineering. In my opinion this has tended to make the entire “GSD process” more arcane. Both geotechnical engineers and statisticians do, however, frequently use percentiles, especially the median (“D50” to geotechnical engineers). The median particle diameter almost never has the same value as the mean particle diameter for soils because soil PDFs tend to be skewed. An estimate of the mean particle size from a sieve analysis is (compare eq. [3] in Wagner and Ding 1994)

Frequency multiplexed raster neural networks 1: Theory

In the first part of this paper we present frequency multiplexed raster (FMR) optical implementation of neural networks. A hidden difficulty for hardware (optical and electronic) implementation is that the dimension of the synaptic matrix is twice that of the input and output matrices or vectors. For 2-D images, which is we believe one of the greatest potentialities of neural networks, the synaptic matrix is 4-D and cannot be directly implemented in optics. We propose FMR as a method to fold this matrix into a 2-D format. In the second part of this paper we describe the system built in our laboratory showing the feasibility of FMR optical neural networks. The system is built from an optical input module, a fixed synaptic matrix coded on a transparency, a CCD camera, and a microcomputer which performs the thresholding and feedback operations. In a later stage the fixed matrix will be replaced by a programmable matrix.

Continuity and Discontinuity: Professor Neale and the Two Worlds of Elizabethan Government

There is a story told among English historians about two enterprising and perceptive young scholars who, more than fifty years ago, determined that their common interest in sixteenth and seventeenth-century Parliaments could best be served by a fundamental division of labor. One of them, Professor Wallace Notestein, took as his province the early Stuart Parliaments while the other, Professor John Neale, took the Elizabethan Parliaments as his own. Elaborations of this story tell us that while Notestein had a goodly collection of diaries and journals to work with in his studies, Neale was less well served by the evidence; thus he was forced to cut accordingly his scholarly coat. This led to a parliamentary history which concentrated upon a limited range of important constitutional issues: the succession, the religious settlement, and the privileges of the House. Neale excluded from his study any account of the economic and social legislation of his period. On the other hand, Notestein, who had more material to work with, was able to produce a more encompassing history which took into account the economic and social legislation as well as the structure of English government in its many parts.Neale has dominated the field by the sheer volume of his work, by the apparent comprehensiveness of his evidence, and by the elegance of his style. His interpretation of the Elizabethan period has come to be cited as authority, and it has colored the writings of many younger historians. For the novice scholar, however, Neale's histories are fraught with hidden difficulties. Neale provided no caveat to warn the reader of his limited range of topics. Because of the scope of his work and the clarity of his argument, the student is often left with the impression that the only issues which were significant were the constitutional issues, and that the only goal of politically ambitious Elizabethan Englishmen was a seat in Parliament.

Vocabulary of Old French Courtly Lyrics: Difficulties and Hidden Difficulties

Previous articleNext article No AccessVocabulary of Old French Courtly Lyrics: Difficulties and Hidden DifficultiesPeter F. DembowskiPeter F. Dembowski Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Critical Inquiry Volume 2, Number 4Summer, 1976 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/447863 Views: 4Total views on this site Copyright 1976 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

INTRODUCTION

The problem of translations is one that, sooner or later, besets most special librarians. For a small library, in particular, where no member of the staff can be spared to undertake the work even if qualified to do so, translations are expensive though often necessary. It is all the more frustrating, therefore, when it is later discovered that the article in question has already been translated elsewhere and would have been accessible. Hence the repeated demand, ‘Cannot something be done to avoid this duplication of effort?’ The problem of translations is, however, deceptive. It looks simple. Let there be a central index and ask anyone who makes a translation to register it; then everyone else will know that a translation of that particular article has already been made. So runs the argument. But there are hidden difficulties. It was to describe some of these difficulties and to consider possible remedies that the London Winter Meeting of Aslib held on 17th January, 1955, was devoted to a discussion of the translation of scientific material, under the Chairmanship of Mr. E. B. Uvarov.