Affectivity and the distinction between minimal and narrative self

This paper stems from the research I conducted as an integral part of my PhD thesis. I am grateful to my PhD Supervisor, Matthew Ratcliffe, and to the academic community at Durham University for providing helpful advice during the period in which these ideas were developed. I have further elaborated and finalised this research in my position as an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow (Project ID: GOIPD/2016/555), and I thus wish to thank the Council for their support at the time. This paper was presented at the conference "Personhood and Self-Consciousness" at the University of Manchester in July 2018 and I am grateful to the audience for stimulating conversations. My thanks go also to James Jardine, James Miller, and Alessandro Salice for their feedback, and to an anonymous reviewer.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Multiple populations among very low-mass stars in NGC288

openGlobular Clusters (GCs) are among the oldest objects in the Universe. Nearly all GCs host two main stellar groups of stars, a first population (1P) with a chemical composition similar to halo field stars with similar metallicity, and the second population (2P) of stars enriched in He, N, Na, and Al and depleted in O and C. The astronomers have proposed two main scenarios to explain the formation of multiple populations in GCs, namely the single- and the multiple-generation scenarios. Each of them has major implications in Cosmology, Galactic Archae- ology, and stellar evolutionary models. For these reasons, the knowledge of GCs’ formation and evolution is crucial to shed light on the formation and evolution of the Galaxy. Nowadays, most of the studies on multiple populations are focused on stars more massive than ∼ 0.5−0.6 M⊙, whereas the Very Low-Mass (VLM) regime is almost unexplored. Nonetheless, VLM stars would provide crucial information to constrain the formation scenarios. Indeed, the different scenarios predict different chemical abundances for 2P stars with different masses. In the single-generation scenario, 2P stars with different masses also have different light-element abundance, while the multiple-generation scenarios predict that all 2P stars share the same chem- ical composition. In this research, I use Hubble Space Telescope images to investigate the GC NGC 288 and characterize, for the first time, its multiple stellar populations among VLM stars. To this, I derive the mF 160W vs mF 110W − mF 160W Color- Magnitude Diagram (CMD), which is a very efficient tool to disentangle multiple stellar populations below the main sequence (MS) knee. As expected, I detected two distinct MSs of M-dwarfs and I showed that the MS split is due to stellar populations with different oxygen abundances. I associated the blue and red stellar sequences with 1P and 2P stars, respectively. Based on isochrones and synthetic spectra with appropriate chemical com- positions that I computed for this work, I derived the colors of 1P and 2P stars corresponding to different abundances of He, C, N, and O. The comparison be- tween these isochrones and the observed CMD allowed me to infer the oxygen abundance of 1P and 2P stars. I found that 2P M-dwarfs are enhanced in oxygen by ∆ [O/Fe] = 0.33 ± 0.03 dex with respect to 1P VLM stars. Such oxygen variation is comparable with that derived from high-resolution spectroscopy of red-giant branch stars. The finding that the chemical composition of 2P stars does not depend on stellar mass is consistent with the predictions of the multiple-generation scenarios.Globular Clusters (GCs) are among the oldest objects in the Universe. Nearly all GCs host two main stellar groups of stars, a first population (1P) with a chemical composition similar to halo field stars with similar metallicity, and the second population (2P) of stars enriched in He, N, Na, and Al and depleted in O and C. The astronomers have proposed two main scenarios to explain the formation of multiple populations in GCs, namely the single- and the multiple-generation scenarios. Each of them has major implications in Cosmology, Galactic Archae- ology, and stellar evolutionary models. For these reasons, the knowledge of GCs’ formation and evolution is crucial to shed light on the formation and evolution of the Galaxy. Nowadays, most of the studies on multiple populations are focused on stars more massive than ∼ 0.5−0.6 M⊙, whereas the Very Low-Mass (VLM) regime is almost unexplored. Nonetheless, VLM stars would provide crucial information to constrain the formation scenarios. Indeed, the different scenarios predict different chemical abundances for 2P stars with different masses. In the single-generation scenario, 2P stars with different masses also have different light-element abundance, while the multiple-generation scenarios predict that all 2P stars share the same chem- ical composition. In this research, I use Hubble Space Telescope images to investigate the GC NGC 288 and characterize, for the first time, its multiple stellar populations among VLM stars. To this, I derive the mF 160W vs mF 110W − mF 160W Color- Magnitude Diagram (CMD), which is a very efficient tool to disentangle multiple stellar populations below the main sequence (MS) knee. As expected, I detected two distinct MSs of M-dwarfs and I showed that the MS split is due to stellar populations with different oxygen abundances. I associated the blue and red stellar sequences with 1P and 2P stars, respectively. Based on isochrones and synthetic spectra with appropriate chemical com- positions that I computed for this work, I derived the colors of 1P and 2P stars corresponding to different abundances of He, C, N, and O. The comparison be- tween these isochrones and the observed CMD allowed me to infer the oxygen abundance of 1P and 2P stars. I found that 2P M-dwarfs are enhanced in oxygen by ∆ [O/Fe] = 0.33 ± 0.03 dex with respect to 1P VLM stars. Such oxygen variation is comparable with that derived from high-resolution spectroscopy of red-giant branch stars. The finding that the chemical composition of 2P stars does not depend on stellar mass is consistent with the predictions of the multiple-generation scenarios

The Relationship Between Affectivity, Narrativity, and the Self: A Phenomenological Perspective

In this thesis I explore from a phenomenological perspective the relationship between affectivity and narrativity and its relevance for the understanding of the structure of selfhood. In contemporary phenomenology it is often argued that there are two complementary but distinct forms of selfhood: the “minimal” and “narrative” self. In this context, affectivity is usually associated with pre-reflective forms of bodily and self-experience, thus conceiving of it as a constitutive dimension of minimal selfhood. Some phenomenological accounts, however, also draw attention to the existence of a connection between affectivity and some features of the narrative self. In this work, I extend and refine in various ways the conceptions of affective experience and selfhood defended by these accounts. In the first place, I show how affectivity exerts a cardinal role in the emergence and development of narrativity, thus identifying various dynamics through which minimal self-experience impacts on the structure of narrative understanding. Secondly, I illustrate different ways in which narrativity in turn shapes the structure of affectivity. In so doing I challenge one of the ideas which are central to the distinction between minimal and narrative self, namely that minimal self-experience is impervious to the dynamics which characterise narrative self-understanding. My account indeed shows that emotions are complex phenomena in which minimal and narrative forms of self-awareness are phenomenologically entwined. Finally, I apply these insights to the analysis of depression and borderline personality disorder. I claim that characteristic of depression is the weakening or abandonment of the life stories with which the person identified prior to the illness and the emergence of new narratives which possess specific features and are shaped by feelings of guilt, hopelessness, and a particular temporal and spatial experience. As far as borderline personality disorder is concerned, I argue that the disturbances of narrative selfhood typical of the illness depend on the frequent alternation of existential feelings of shame and anger and I claim that these disturbances in turn shape the bodily experience associated with affectivity and exacerbate emotional dysregulation

Narrate It Until You Become It

Research in phenomenology and philosophy of psychiatry has suggested that psychopathological disturbances of experience often involve an alteration of one's ‘sense of possibility’, dependent upon the presence of specific ‘existential feelings’ (Ratcliffe 2012). In this paper I provide an extended account of how the engagement with certain narratives can lead to a transformation of one's sense of possibility by eliciting affective experiences that are not consonant with the person's existential feelings. More precisely, I claim that, even when the experience of some types of emotion is generally precluded by a restricted sense of possibility, such emotions may be aroused by particular self-narratives, and I explore how this dynamic can give rise to enduring and wide-ranging affective changes

Federalização dos crimes contra os direitos humanos

Este estudo tem como objetivo demonstrar a substancial constitucionalidade e auto-aplicabilidade da norma expressa no artigo do artigo 109, inciso V-A, § 5º, da Constituição Federal de 1988, introduzido pela EC 45/04. Propõe, ainda, definir críticas concernetes à incidência e delimitação do instituto, com base na legislação interna e externa

Algorithmic testing for QT interval measurements

The PTB diagnostic ECG database has been used for testing the fully automated program for the identification and measurement of QT interval. The database consists of 549 ECG recordings of 294 subjects. The testing algorithm uses the Padova program, which identifies all QRS complexes analyzing a global spatial velocity and the ECG signal. Different strategies for the choice of the optimal QT interval have been compared, and the optimization of T end in the single leads was performed using the well annotated CSE database. This paper indicates that the more reliable and accurate estimates of the QT interval is the median value of all the measurements from the analysis of the 12 ECG leads (QT global). In addition, the Challenge and the public PTB database reveal their potentiality for the improvement of ECG classifiers and in particular of QT estimators. However, for clinical evaluation it is necessary to have a more consistent "gold standard"

Residual opening of hydraulic fractures filled with compressible proppant

In hydraulic stimulations of oil and gas wells, injection of proppant (or small particles) is normally needed to avoid the closure of the created fractures under confining stresses. The residual openings of these fractures determine the efficiency and, in general, the success of the hydraulic stimulations. Despite the vast number of papers devoted to fluid driven fractures and hydraulic stimulation procedures, there has not been much research conducted on residual fracture profiles. This problem is characterised by a strong non-linearity and represents a challenge for numerical modelling. In this paper a simple semi-analytical method for calculating the residual openings of fractures partially filled with proppant is developed. It is based on the Distributed Dislocation Technique and Terzaghi's classical consolidation model. One of the results of simulations indicates that the proppant distribution and its mechanical properties have a significant influence on the residual fracture profiles. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.Luiz Bortolan Neto, Andrei Kotouso

Amniotic fl uid embolism in an HIV-positive parturient

We present a case of a parturient infected with human immunode ciency virus, who developed amniotic fluid embolism during the delivery of her twins by elective Caesarean section. Our management and the available literature are briefly discussed, and consideration is given to a possible association between the two pathologies.Keywords: amniotic fluid embolism; anaphylaxis; human immunode  ciency viru

Strongly damped wave equation and its Yosida approximations

In this work we study the continuity for the family of global attractors of the equations $u_{tt}-\Delta u-\Delta u_t-\varepsilon \Delta u_{tt}=f(u)$ at $\varepsilon=0$ when $\Omega$ is a bounded smooth domain of $\mathbb{R}^n$, with $n\geq 3$, and the nonlinearity $f$ satisfies a subcritical growth condition. Also, we obtain an uniform bound for the fractal dimension of these global attractors