113 research outputs found

    Corrective biology: psychosomatics in and as neuropsychoanalysis

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    This article analyses how and with what consequences body–mind relations (the sphere of the psychosomatic) are being modelled in the twenty-first century through considering the inter-discipline of neuropsychoanalysis. The promise of the term psychosomatic lies in its efforts to rework standard, bifurcated models of mind and body: somatic acts are simultaneously psychic acts. But neuropsychoanalysis, as it brings the neurosciences and psychoanalysis together to model an embodied ‘MindBrain’, ends up evacuating another potent characteristic found in much of the psychosomatic tradition – its refusal to adjudicate, a priori, what counts as the adaptive or well-regulated subject. The psychosomatic problem in psychoanalysis profoundly disturbs everyday models of functionality, adaptation and agency, by positing the psyche as an ‘other’ of the physiological within the physiological. By contrast, neuropsychoanalysis ends up parsing too easily the healthy from the pathological body, such that it is only the latter that is subject to forces that work against self-preservation and self-regulation. In so doing, neuropsychoanalysis recasts the radical problematic that the psychosomatic installed for psychoanalysis in the direction of a corrective biology. This corrective biology is given form in two ways: (i) through translating the Freudian drive – that unruly and foundational concept which addresses the difficult articulation of soma and psyche – into a series of Basic Emotion Systems modelled by the affective neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp; (ii) through resituating, and quarantining, the troubling, non-adaptive aspects of the Freudian psyche within the domain of addiction. That easy separation between the healthy and the pathological is all too often found in current descriptions of healthcare and patient encounters. The article refuses it and calls for the revivification of other ways of thinking about how human subjects – psychosomatic organisms – find ways to live, and to die

    Facilitating mental health research for patients, clinicians and researchers: a mixed-method study

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    OBJECTIVES: Research registers using Consent for Contact (C4C) can facilitate recruitment into mental health research studies, allowing investigators to contact patients based on clinical records information. We investigated whether such a register was useful for mental health research, seeking the perspectives of patients and research investigators. SETTING AND DESIGN: In 2012, a C4C register was developed in a large secondary mental health provider within the UK; almost 9000 patients have joined. This mixed-method study audited the effectiveness of the register. PARTICIPANTS: A 'mystery shopper' exercise was conducted, and patients (n=21) were recruited to ask clinicians about the availability of research opportunities. Structured interviews were conducted with patients (n=52) about their experiences of being on the register. Similar interviews were conducted with 18 investigators from 19 studies, who had attempted to use the register to recruit participants. OUTCOME MEASURES: The impact of C4C on study recruitment, and whether it helped patients learn about research. RESULTS: So far, the register has provided 928 individuals with 1085 research opportunities (in 60% of cases, the individual agreed to participate in the study). Clinicians were willing to link patients to research opportunities, but often lacked information about studies. For patients, the register provided opportunities which they may not otherwise have; 27 of 52 had participated in studies since joining the register (18 participating for the first time). Most investigators used the register to supplement recruitment to their studies, but described problems in prescreening potential participants from a clinical record for complex studies. CONCLUSIONS: Although the register helped investigators recruit for studies, and provided patients with research opportunities, clinicians' input is still useful for identifying suitable participants. C4C registers should be adapted to provide clinicians with automatically updated information on local studies allowing them to match patients on their caseload with active studies

    First-principles study of As interstitials in GaAs: Convergence, relaxation, and formation energy

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    Convergence of density-functional supercell calculations for defect formation energies, charge transition levels, localized defect state properties, and defect atomic structure and relaxation is investigated using the arsenic split interstitial in GaAs as an example. Supercells containing up to 217 atoms and a variety of {\bf k}-space sampling schemes are considered. It is shown that a good description of the localized defect state dispersion and charge state transition levels requires at least a 217-atom supercell, although the defect structure and atomic relaxations can be well converged in a 65-atom cell. Formation energies are calculated for the As split interstitial, Ga vacancy, and As antisite defects in GaAs, taking into account the dependence upon chemical potential and Fermi energy. It is found that equilibrium concentrations of As interstitials will be much lower than equilibrium concentrations of As antisites in As-rich, nn-type or semi-insulating GaAs.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

    Heat integration of an Olefins Plant: Pinch Analysis and mathematical optimization working together

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    This work explores a two-step, complexity reducing methodology, to analyze heat integration opportunities of an existing Olefins Plant, identify and quantify reduction of energy consumption, and propose changes of the existing heat exchanger network to achieve these goals. Besides the analysis of plant design conditions, multiple operational scenarios were considered to propose modifications for handling real plant operation (flexibility). On the strength of plant complexity and large dimension, work methodology was split into two parts: initially, the whole plant was evaluated with traditional Pinch Analysis tools. Several opportunities were identified and modifications proposed. Modifications were segregated to represent small and independent portions of the original process. One of them was selected to be re-analyzed, considering two scenarios. Reduction of problem dimension allowed mathematical methodologies (formulation with decomposition, applying LP, MILP and NLP optimization methods) to synthesize flexible networks to be applied, generating a feasible modification capable of fulfilling the proposed operational scenarios
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