No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Physics Department, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 166 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 142-160).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-98). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-102). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

M.Sc. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Sc. / This thesis is a meeting of two disciplines: Chaos theory and psychopathology. Chaos theory developed out of mathematics, it aims to explain what is called a 'Chaotic system'. This is a system in which small changes lead to large effects: it is unstable, complex, and in continuous interaction with elements both within and outside of itself. According to this definition, human beings are inherently Chaotic systems. Psychopathology is the study of psychological disorder of human beings, including descriptions, etiologies and treatments. In the past, psychopathology was viewed as a 'modernist' science, seeking one-to-one relationships between cause, effect, symptom and treatment. With the rise of postmodernism, many theorists have criticised this view and sought out a more integrative, context-driven approach to understanding disorder. Although in its infancy, one of these approaches is the application of Chaos theory. In this thesis, the two disciplines meet around a theoretical analysis, and an exploration of a case study of Susan -a 'patient' diagnosed as having Bipolar Mood Disorder. Through exploring the life-story of Susan within the context of Chaos theory, we discover a new, integrative way of looking at 'disorder'1 its manifestations and our reactions to it. This thesis does not aim to give a definitive perspedive of Susan's life-story, or even of the two disciplines. Rather it aims to provide an academic framework for an application of Chaos theory to psychopathology. The thesis concludes that Chaos theory is a useful analogy in constructing a meaning and interpretation of psychopathology.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

This discussion of chaos theory is concerned with two major issues. On the one hand, I explore what kind of knowledge is linked to chaos theory, and more specifically how as a science it informs the cultural discourses created by postindustrial societies. On the other hand, I probe chaos theory's potential as a model for challenging the existing conception of our world within the prevailing epistemologies of order and predictability. Both of these issues are addressed with in mind the broader framework and question concerning social relations, especially to the extent that those relations, in their spatial dimension, have become an object of scientific discourse. My approach to chaos theory is purposefully eclectic, conjoining the scientific with the social and the political. I believe that chaos theory points to a dynamic, intertextual, and multidimensional universe, and therefore, my interest lies in these connections, in bridging the various elements working together to create our contemporary, postmodern world. Science creates theories and images of nature that have been used to subordinate and control segments of the population through theories of race and sexuality. Thus, to recognize the existence of complexity and instability is to give away powerful conceptual means of political and social control, a strategy in which Western science has been an active participant.