PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of the public interest. The central question is whether the public interest is a usable concept in a time of social and political change. A historical overview of the public interest is provided. Two researchers are highlighted: David John Farmer and O.C. McSwite. The paper concludes by proposing the refusal of subjective identification with the public interest.Design/methodology/approachDiscourse theory and Lacanian psychoanalysis are discussed in this paper. The emphasis in both approaches is to examine ethical challenges in politics and administration through new epistemological lenses. A further use of these research strategies is to identify existing institutional practices and situate administrative decision-making within those practices.FindingsThe findings in this paper indicate that while institutional resistance is useful, it can also be co-opted or result in retribution. In both cases, power is asserted and maintained by those who hold institutional power. David John Farmer’s work on anti-administration and O.C. McSwite’s work on administrative refusal are effective strategies to address the abuse of institutional power.Originality/valueThis paper introduces the concept of subjective identification to the literature of public administration. Subjective identification offers administrators a new approach to the ethical dilemmas they face in the workplace.

This article critically examines the ways in which organizational performance and audit practices intersect with the dynamics of contemporary capitalism, managerialism, and individualism to shape the experience of the entrepreneurial, “postneurotic” subject at work. Drawing from Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, the article argues that the conditions for the contemporary subject are characterized by the declining efficacy of the Symbolic order, which induces the production of people whose identities are fragile and unstable. Paradoxically, this instability emerges at a historical moment at which individuals are commanded to “self-actualize” and to not be limited by authority or tradition. Neoliberalism makes “Work” assume particular importance in this project. The article argues that the decline of the Symbolic, in turn, places a heavy weight on interpersonal relationships in the Imaginary, or among alter-egos, to produce any semblance of a stable identity. Workplace performance measures and audit practices offer seductive points of identification and “quantifiable” stability for the subject in search of her “authentic” self at work in particular. Yet, at the same time, these measures painfully ensnare the subject in external identifications and managerial validation in new, constraining ways.

This article introduces the debate about the role of the university in the knowledge economy to the literature on doctoral education in public administration. An important part of this narrative is the rise of academic capitalism and the increasing tension between symbolic and commodified knowledge. A second part of this narrative is intellectual work as public work. Central to this idea of academic public work is the co-producing of knowledge and the valuing of local knowledge alongside expert knowledge, thus creating the conditions for universities in the 21st century to become enclaves of democratic engagement. Democratic engagement underscores the importance of epistemological pluralism and inclusiveness. Faculty and doctoral students in public administration can benefit from an appreciation of this new context.

This article addresses the recent changes in social experience and the effect these changes have on the practice of public administration. It is argued that we have moved from a society of prohibition to a society of commanded enjoyment. This thesis is explored using the frame of Lacanian psychoanalysis. The central claim is that the waning of traditional authority means that enjoyment or jouissance operates on an axis of possibility or impossibility. In such a realm, the coterminus relationship of science and the market make most things possible.

PURPOSE:To investigate the dynamic effect of tear lipocalins (TLs), the major lipid-binding protein in tears, at aqueous-cornea and lipid-aqueous interfaces, and their potential contribution to surface tension in the tear film.METHODS:Human apo- and holo-TLs were applied to the aqueous subphase in a Langmuir trough, and changes in surface pressure were measured. Changes in the contact angle of tear components were observed on Teflon and ferric-stearate-treated surfaces. A nitroxide-labeled derivative of lauric acid and a fluorescence-labeled derivative of palmitic acid were used to monitor the dynamic interaction of lipid removed from a hydrophobic surface by the major tear components in solution.RESULTS:TLs increase the surface pressure at the aqueous-air interface by penetrating, spreading, and rearranging on the surface. Apo-TLs show a longer diffusion-dependent induction time than holo-TLs due to more extensive oligomerization of the apoprotein. Kinetic analysis of relaxation time suggests that apo-TLs have more rapid surface penetration and rearrangement than holo-TLs, indicative of a more flexible structure in apo-TLs. TLs reduce the contact angle of solutions on lipid films, a property that is greater with TLs than other tear proteins. TLs, unlike lysozyme and lactoferrin, remove labeled lipids from hydrophobic surfaces and deliver them into solution.CONCLUSIONS:TLs are potent lipid-binding proteins that increase the surface pressure of aqueous solutions while scavenging lipids from hydrophobic surfaces and delivering them to the aqueous phase of tears. These data suggest important functional roles for TLs in maintaining the integrity of the tear film.

A Brewster-angle microscope designed for use in the preparation of Langmuir–Blodgett films has been constructed. The microscope has a compact vertical design and makes use of inexpensive optics.

Stripe textures in the liquid condensed phase of Langmuir monolayers have been observed by polarized fluorescence microscopy and Brewster angle microscopy. The textures, which were found in myristic and pentadecanoic acids, are associated with regular variations in the molecular tilt azimuth. The stripes are similar to those observed in hexatic phases of chiral smectic liquid crystals. They are present in monolayers of achiral molecules because the air/water interface breaks the head-tail symmetry.

The objective precision of operant conditioning methodology validates the power of hypnosis to induce alterations in time perception. Personal tempo was systematically modified by instructions to trained hypnotic subjects, with significant behavioral effects observed on a variety of response rate measures.

ABSTRACTIn an exploratory study on the specificity of autonomic control, subjects attempted to simultaneously change the skin temperature of their two hands in opposite directions. Subjects who were trained in hypnosis were successful in achieving this bilateral difference, while waking control subjects were not. These findings demonstrate the powerful influence that cognitive processes can exert on the autonomic nervous system and also suggest the possibility of more effective therapeutic control of psychosomatic problems.

Temporal perspective was experimentally manipulated by verbal instructions to expand the present while minimizing the significance of past and future. The reactions of trained hypnotic subjects to this induction were compared with hynotic simulators and nonsimulating controls. In a fourth group, time sense was made salient but no suggestion given to alter it. Across a variety of tasks, self‐report measures, and behavioral observations, this modification of the boundaries between past, present, and future resulted in profound consequences among the hypnotic subjects.Changes in affect, language, thought processes, sensory awareness, and susceptibility to social‐emotional contagion, accompanied an expanded present orientation. Nonreactive measures distinguished simulators from hypnotic subjects who apparently were better able than control subjects to incorporate the induced time distortion and perceive it as a viable alternative to their traditional time perspective. Some implications of time as a pervasive, non‐obvious, independent variable in the social control of cognition and behavior are outlined.