Object-relational Model Research Articles

Une plate-forme dynamique pour l'évaluation des performances des bases de données à objets

In object-oriented or object-relational databases such as multimedia databases or most XML databases, access patterns are not static, i.e., applications do not always access the same objects in the same order repeatedly. However, this has been the way these databases and associated optimisation techniques such as clustering have been evaluated up to now. This paper opens up research regarding this issue by proposing a dynamic object evaluation framework (DOEF). DOEF accomplishes access pattern change by defining configurable styles of change. It is a preliminary prototype that has been designed to be open and fully extensible. Though originally designed for the object-oriented model, it can also be used within the object-relational model with few adaptations. Furthermore, new access pattern change models can be added too. To illustrate the capabilities of DOEF, we conducted two different sets of experiments. In the first set of experiments, we used DOEF to compare the performances of four state of the art dynamic clustering algorithms. The results show that DOEF is effective at determining the adaptability of each dynamic clustering algorithm to changes in access pattern. They also led us to conclude that dynamic clustering algorithms can cope with moderate levels of access pattern change, but that performance rapidly degrades to be worse than no clustering when vigorous styles of access pattern change are applied. In the second set of experiments, we used DOEF to compare the performance of two different object stores: Platypus and SHORE. The use of DOEF exposed the poor swapping performance of Platypus.

Reasoning about uniqueness constraints in object relational databases

Uniqueness constraints such as keys and functional dependencies in the relational model are a core concept in information systems technology. We consider uniqueness constraints suitable for object relational data models and identify a boundary between tractable and intractable varieties. The subclass that is tractable is still a strict generalization of both keys and relational functional dependencies. We present an efficient decision procedure for the logical implication problem of this subclass. The problem itself is formulated as an implication problem for a simple dialect of description logic (DL). DLs are a family of languages for knowledge representation that have many applications in information systems technology and for which model building procedures have been developed that can decide implication problems for dialects that are very expressive. Our own procedure complements this approach and can be integrated with these earlier procedures. Finally, to motivate our results, we review some applications of our procedure in query optimization.

A Primer of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for the Borderline Patient

FRANK E. YEOMANS, JOHN F. CLARKIN, AND OTTO F. KERNBERG: A Primer of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for the Borderline Patient. Jason Aronson, Northvale, NJ, 2000, 283 pp. $50.00, ISBN: 0-7657-0355-6. The authors offer a treatment guide for, what they call, transference-focused psychotherapy for borderline patients. In the format of 79 questions and answers they provide details about all aspects of this type of psychotherapy. Background information regarding diagnostic issues is included, and illuminating clinical examples are continually provided. The book is succinct, clearly written, and quite easy to understand. The content is similar to a previously published book by Kernberg, Seltzer, and Koenigsberg (Psycho-dynamic Psychotherapy of Borderline Patients. Basic Books, New York, 1989). Transference-focused psychotherapy is a form of analytically oriented psycho-therapy, centrally focused on the transference, and based on an underlying object relations model, written about previously by Kernberg (Object Relations Theory and Clinical Psychoanalysis. Jason Aronson, New York, 1976). It emphasizes the frame of psychotherapy, contract setting, and a somewhat classical psychoanalytic model. Transference-focused psychotherapy is advocated for only certain borderline patients, basically those that are higher functioning, although this is not explicitly stated. More supportive techniques are advocated for the more difficult borderline individuals. The format is twice- (and occasionally three-times) a-week psychotherapy, sitting up, for several years. There is an introductory phase in which two to three sessions are used to establish an accurate diagnostic impression, followed by two or more sessions for discussion of the treatment contract. The rigorous contract emphasizes the patient's responsibilities, including the need for honest communication and for keeping the therapist informed about life events. Emphasis on the contract is thought to help protect the therapist's ability to think and reflect, and to provide a safe therapeutic environment. It allows for a baseline, to return to whenever there is any deviation. The contract is individualized in accordance with the particular patient's problems, especially those related to potential destructive acting out. Recommendations about how to deal with a variety of potential problems are detailed. Regarding the therapy itself, therapists are advised to focus their attention first on the material that carries the most affect. They should work from surface to depth, addressing defense before that which is defended against, but not neglecting to address the latter. Attention should be paid to both verbal and nonverbal content, in addition to the countertransference. A hierarchy of priorities is presented, with overt threats to the individual and to the therapy having priority over other issues. Regarding technique, the interpretive process, including clarification, confrontation, and interpretation per se, is emphasized. There should be a systematic analysis of primitive defenses, as they enter the transference. Technical neutrality is maintained as much as possible, and countertransference is continually monitored and used to help with the interpretive process. Interpretations should be made in detail and with conviction. Relevance, clarity, depth, and speed of the interpretations must always be considered. One of the core problems in the borderline patient is the difficulty in integrating good and bad self representations and object representations. Thus the patient uses splitting and other related primitive defenses, has not attained libidinal object constancy, and does not have a consolidated integrated identity. One of the goals of transference-focused psychotherapy is to convert splitting and related primitive defenses to higher-level defenses, thus enhancing patients' ability to experience themselves and others as coherent, integrated, and realistically perceived individuals. …

A Methodological Approach for Object-Relational Database Design using UML

The most common way of designing databases is by means of a conceptual model, such as E/R, without taking into account other views of the system. New object-oriented design languages, such as UML (Unified Modelling Language), allow the whole system, including the database schema, to be modelled in a uniform way. Moreover, as UML is an extendable language, it allows for any necessary introduction of new stereotypes for specific applications. Proposals exist to extend UML with stereotypes for database design but, unfortunately, they are focused on relational databases. However, new applications require complex objects to be represented in complex relationships, object-relational databases being more appropriate for these requirements. The framework of this paper is an Object-Relational Database Design Methodology, which defines new UML stereotypes for Object-Relational Database Design and proposes some guidelines to translate a UML conceptual schema into an object-relational schema. The guidelines are based on the SQL:1999 object-relational model and on Oracle8i as a product example.

A Rorschach Study of Oral Dependence in Alcoholics and Depressives

Despite the strong association between alcoholism and orality in psychoanalytic theory, use of the Rorschach Inkblot Test to provide empirical support for such a link has yielded decidedly mixed results. However, Masling's Rorschach Oral-Dependency (ROD) scale has shown twice that people with alcoholism give more oral-dependent responses on the Rorschach than matched comparison groups (Bertrand & Masling, 1969; Weiss & Masling, 1970), which is supportive of classical analytic theory. In this study, we investigated alcohol groups, depression groups, and "normal" undergraduates with the ROD scale and found that the 2 clinical groups produced higher ROD scores than the undergraduates. In addition, recent studies by Duberstein and Talbot (1993) and Fowler, Hilsenroth, and Handler (1996) provide evidence for an object relations model of dependency that suggests that a balance between anaclitic dependence and complete independence, in which dependency needs are acknowledged but are not overwhelming, is most adaptive. This model of dependency was evaluated; it was found that a simple difference in group means provided a better fit with the data, although some evidence of an object relations model also was found. Finally, Rorschach and MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) levels of general defensiveness and primary process manifestations in Rorschach content were investigated to assess whether participants were responding defensively to the testing and whether there were any differences in the nature of oral-dependent responses between the clinical groups.

Personal constructs, childhood sexual abuse and revictimization

Within the theoretical framework of Ryle's Procedural Sequence Object Relations Model and Kelly's Personal Construct Theory, this study investigates sex-role polarization of incest survivors and the centrality of abuse within survivors' constructs of men that may contribute to revictimization. Repertory grid methodology was used with 40 female survivors of childhood sexual abuse and 28 non-abused women. Grid measures and psychometric measures were compared between groups of women who had and had not experienced childhood sexual abuse, revictimized and non-revictimized survivors, and survivors who had and had not experienced incestuous abuse. Results showed significant differences between survivors and non-abused women, with survivors having higher levels of depression and perceived distress, lower self-esteem and higher self/ ideal self discrepancy. Hypothesized differences in sex-role polarization were not found. There were few differences between revictimized and non-revictimized survivors, although revictimized survivors rated 'self now' as more powerful than non-revictimized survivors. No differences were found between survivors who had and had not experienced incestuous abuse. In addition to the value of exploring personal constructs, a range of models need to be considered in understanding revictimization and women's construal of men. The implications of using repertory grid methodology for research and clinical work are discussed.

The group-as-a-whole-object relations model of group psychotherapy.

The authors review the theoretical basis of group psychotherapy performed at The Menninger Clinic and demonstrate how the theory has been put into practice on two different types of inpatient units. The fundamental elements of the theory and practice used can be traced to object relations theory as originally proposed by Melanie Klein. Her work with individuals was directly applied to working with groups by Ezriel and Bion, who focused on interpreting group tension. More modern approaches have reintegrated working with individual concerns while also attending to the group-as-a-whole. Historically, these principles have been applied to long-term group treatment. The authors apply the concepts from the group-as-a-whole literature to short- and medium-length inpatient groups with open membership. They offer clinical examples of the application of these principles in short-term inpatient settings in groups with open membership.

The Therapist’s Use of Self in Family Therapy

DANIEL A. BOCHNER: The Therapist's Use of Self in Family Therapy. Jason Aronson, Northvale, NJ, 2000, 484 pp., $60.00, ISBN: 0-7657-0248-7. Countertransference (CT) is viewed by psychodynamic therapists as an obstruction to understanding the patient. Family therapy has paid little attention to it. The Therapists' Use of Self in Family Therapy, Bochner offers a metapsychology of the use of self. He does so by arguing that the therapist's emotional response to the patient's CT brings him or her into the family system and enhances an understanding of it. His definition of CT follows that of Winnicott who sees CT as due to therapist's unresolved conflicts or an unconscious aspect of the therapist's personality or as emotions that are a reaction to the patient. CT is viewed as informative and useful as well as problematical. Projective identification, as described by Kernberg, is said to be the glue of relationships and an important factor in CT. It connects intrapsychic dynamics to interpersonal behaviors. Bochner uses projective identification to connect intrapsychic and interpersonal dynamics. In family therapy, activity and self-disclosure are an inevitable consequence of the therapist's CT. Bochner, a clinical psychologist who does individual, family and group therapy, offers a of treatment that attempts to integrate the psychodynamic and interpersonal. He calls it a relational systems model (RSM). Following an introduction, the author uses two chapters to review the use of self in individual and in family therapy. In his fourth chapter, Bochner reviews the intersection between intrapsychic and dyadic systems in groups and families. Systems theorists disavowed psychoanalytic concepts. In place of insight, methods and action became paramount. All of this leads up to his sixth chapter, the metapsychology of the RSM and a seventh on the therapist's use of self. In the seventh chapter he gives vignettes from nine different family therapists to demonstrate how the interface between the family and therapist can be understood by focusing on therapist CT and the use of different kinds of interpretations. He categorizes various points of view in these therapies, such as the psychoanalytic/ object relations model, the structural model, the experiential view and an integrationalist view. Therapists following the psychoanalytic/object relations use self-reflection as a central component in their work. The integrationalist therapist acknowledges that the experiential aspect of therapy is essential to the full use of CT. The vignette from Scharf demonstrates how the interface between family and therapist can be understood through therapist CT. The therapist openly uses his own personality to formulate an intervention. The Slipp vignette uses both systemic and genetic interpretations, but Slipp doesn't think of himself as part of the family system. …

Facilitation of Maternal-Fetal Bonding in Pregnant Substance-Abusing Women Attending Outpatient Treatment

Prenatal alcohol and drug use is regarded as a critical public health problem. Most pregnant women report that they try to limit alcohol and drug use because of concern for the fetus. This concern indicates that bonding, the foundation of maternal caregiving, has begun to develop. This paper introduces the Interactional Model of Prenatal Maternal-Fetal Bonding. This model incorporates and overcomes limitations of two earlier models of maternal caregiving behavior: an object relations model, which focuses on the mother's internal working model of attachment but neglects environmental factors, and an ecological model, which incorporates a systems approach but fails to address intrapsychic processes. Case vignettes illustrate how interventions into three domains (1) the characteristics of the pregnancy, (2) the characteristics of the mother, and (3) the characteristics of the environment can increase the strength of the maternal-fetal bond, resulting in a decrease in alcohol and drug abuse during pregnancy

Transcending the Self: An Object Relations Model of Psychoanalytic Therapy

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewFull AccessTranscending the Self: An Object Relations Model of Psychoanalytic TherapyGerald Amada, Ph.D.Gerald AmadaSan Francisco, CASearch for more papers by this author, Ph.D.Published Online:30 Apr 2018https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.2000.54.3.434AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail "Transcending the Self: An Object Relations Model of Psychoanalytic Therapy." American Journal of Psychotherapy, 54(3), pp. 434–435 FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 54Issue 3 2000, pp. 277–440Pages 434-435 Metrics PDF download History Published online 30 April 2018 Published in print 1 July 2000

Applying Object Relations Theory to Psychosocial Occupational Therapy

This paper presents and discusses some important aspects of object relations theory and explores whether object relations theory fills the requirements for a conceptual model of practice for occupational therapy. This paper presents the work of two theorists of potential interest to occupational therapy-Harry Stack Sullivan and Donald Woods Winnicott. To explore whether object relations theory fills the requirements for a conceptual model of practice for occupational therapy, Kielhofner's (1997) criteria for a conceptual model of practice are used, and an attempt to formulate an object relations model for occupational therapy practice is outlined. It is concluded that object relations theory provides important knowledge, and it is possible to formulate a conceptual model of practice for psychosocial occupational therapy based on this theory. Further empirical studies, however, are necessary to evaluate and refine such a model.

A case study in mapping conceptual designs to object-relational schemas

The recent emergence of object-relational technology into the commercial database market has caused new challenges for the implementation of conceptual database designs. This paper presents our experience with using the Oracle 8 object-relational data model in the implementation of an engineering application described using the EXPRESS conceptual modeling language. EXPRESS is part of the engineering community's Standard for the Exchange of Product Data and can be characterized as a structurally object-oriented modeling language, supporting the notion of entities, entity hierarchies, complex constraints on entity hierarchies, relationships and inverse relationships between entities, and user-defined types. As a result, EXPRESS provides an excellent framework for studying the mapping of conceptual modeling concepts into an object-relational model. In this paper, we describe the way in which the features of EXPRESS can be mapped into object-relational features such as object tables, object references, and nested tables. We also describe the manner in which features such as member functions on object types, triggers, and stored procedures can be used to support the implementation of constraints associated with a conceptual schema. Although the mappings presented are specific to EXPRESS and Oracle 8, the mappings are generalizable to conceptual modeling languages and object-relational models with similar features. Our work defines how traditional mapping concepts must be revised in order to make adequate use of the features now found in object-relational models. As part of this paper, we also compare our mapping approach using Oracle 8 to mapping issues for the PostgreSQL object-relational model and the Objectivity/DB object-oriented data model. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Applying Fairbairn's object relations theory to the dynamics of the battered woman.

Fairbairn's secular object relations model of the development of the human personality emphasizes the power of the environment to form inner ego structures and the ensuing tragic results for all human infants who are faced with an unnurturing environment. Every act that children take to insure their continuing attachment to a frustrating, yet tantalizing object undermines their developing ego structure. The consequence of severely compromised ego structures is repetition compulsion in adulthood, as illustrated by the battered-woman syndrome. Each of the engorged and unrealistic part-ego structures seeks out external objects to re-enact the original relationship that created them. The consequence of a severely rejecting childhood can be endless abuse or death.

An Analytic Group Psychotherapy Session: Interpretations and Hidden Texts

ABSTRACTThis article describes what happened with the participants and the group as a whole in an analytical group psychotherapy session. Our aim is to reveal how the particular session was run. We describe a period of resistance to change when the principal defences used were: somatization, acting-out, identification-with-the-aggressor, and, more specifically, language abuse leading to confusion. We discuss the value of interpretations that are focused on the group as a whole, where the group is considered to be an internal object. Although this article is not exclusively about an object-relations model, we attempt to analyze the influence of projective identification, which has an effect on the therapist's task of recognizing his “container” and interpreting functions.

Conceptual Modeling and Querying inMultimedia Databases

In this paper, we discuss some design principles that will aid in the design and querying of multimedia databases. We use an object-relational data model and argue that multimedia objects should normally have a special attribute called ‘core’ which stores the real object itself in contrast to the abstraction which is reflected in the rest of the attributes. We present an extension to the ER Diagram that takes advantage of the ‘core’ notion to facilitate design of multimedia databases. We discuss some desirable features in a query language for multimedia databases: simplifications like the use of path expressions and implicit use of functions (methods) as attributes, and explicit specification of the display layout and format either at the data definition level or query specification level. To materialize this last feature, we propose a display specification extension to SQL (SQL+D) that we have implemented.

Multimedia Databases and Servers

Database technology is evolving to accommodate complex multimedia objects — data types that present unique challenges in the storage and movement of large time-dependent objects. The manipulation and analysis of these large and semantically rich objects require techniques far different from those used for alphanumeric databases. This paper presents multimedia server-based architectures based on massively parallel processor systems and an object-relational database management system. The transition from client-centric multimedia applications to a client/server environment is examined, and several applications are discussed that illustrate the use of multimedia database servers based on the object-relational model. Finally, this paper reviews the architecture of two scaleable multimedia servers that can support these applications: MoonBase, a database server with full content analysis capability for multimedia objects, and the audio/video server, a system-based file server that can operate within the MoonBase architecture.

Projective identification as early joint action sequences: A Vygotskian addendum to the Procedural Sequence Object Relations Model

Some phenomena of projective identification, as examined by Ryle on the basis of the Procedural Sequence Object Relations Model, are readdressed by using the Vygotskian notion of joint sign-mediated activity as the earliest form of psychological process. This notion is elaborated by presenting Clark's empirical studies of the emergence of gestural communication.

Psychodynamic Aspects of Demonic Possession and Satanic Worship

The phenomena of demonic possession and Satanic ritual involvement are understandable within a demonological discourse as the psychic infiltration of malevolent supernatural entities. However, those rejecting the demonological model, but who wish to make psychological sense out of these phenomena, are frustrated by the lack of academically sound psychological material on the subject. In this article I address this lacuna by developing an object relations psychoanalytic model of both involuntary demonic possession, and voluntary Satanic ritual participation. I begin by examining the Freudian understanding of demonic possession, using the classical psychoanalytic paradigm. The Freudian model is criticized as being too limited, and an alternative object relations model, based on the theories of Melanie Klein and Ronald Fairbairn, is proposed. A case study is used to advance the idea that the internalization of a bad paternal object constitutes the developmental nucleus of demonic possession. The intrusive return of the projected bad object relation gives rise to the experience of possession. In voluntary Satanic worship, however, a different dynamic involving the individual's identification with the bad object suggests itself. The unconscious motivation for this identification arises from the child's experience of vulnerability and powerlessness at the hands of the persecutory parent. Identification with this bad object, symbolized by Satan, gives the individual a sense of personal power and control over his/her life. Satanic involvement thus compensates for the original childhood narcissistic injury.

Parricide Postponed

People may be anxious about writing for various reasons, and, in a society where so much leisure activity is spent in passive entertainment, they may lack practice in requisite language skills or lack sensitivity to verbal norms. The argument of this article applies to those with reasons other than these for not writing. The object relations model applies here because the writer needs to imagine a reader as part of the process of creation but has to write for a world in which no one has been specially appointed to listen. Complaints about inability to organize ideas on paper are, in this model, viewed as inability to construct a reader, interacting with the self, as other than intrusive and destabilizing.

The psychoanalytic conceptualization of perinatal loss: a multidimensional model.

Much has been learned about perinatal loss over the past 20 years through clinical investigations and quantitative research. However, a review of studies over the past decade reveals that perinatal loss is increasingly being seen in the same way as a death of any other member of the family, rather than as a unique bereavement. A comprehensive understanding of perinatal loss anchored in a theoretical framework of pregnancy is lacking. This article offers a multidimensional model for examining this loss by applying four psychoanalytic interpretations of pregnancy. 1) From the perspective of pregnancy ushering in the new developmental phase of parenthood, perinatal loss becomes a developmental interference, disrupting a significant milestone as well as causing isolation from peers. 2) In light of the usual recapitulation of earlier conflicts during pregnancy as noted by drive theory, perinatal loss may lead to an intensification of intrapsychic conflicts. 3) Understanding pregnancy as the creation of a specific person in an object relations model highlights the importance of mourning after perinatal death, as well as the need to tend to associated unresolved grief from earlier losses. 4) Finally, a model of narcissism describes how pregnancy reorganizes self-esteem, thereby delineating the intense narcissistic injury and rage that often follow perinatal loss. These multiple frameworks help to explain the many repercussions of this loss as well as to account for individual differences. Research findings are selectively reviewed to support the validity of this model. Conversely, this model may productively guide future avenues for research.