The Sense of Self Over Time:Assessing Diachronicity in Dissociative Identity Disorder, Psychosis and Healthy Comparison Groups

Dissociative experiences have been associated with diachronic disunity. Yet, this work is in its infancy. Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is characterized by different identity states reporting their own relatively continuous sense of self. The degree to which patients in dissociative identity states experience diachronic unity (i.e., sense of self over time) has not been empirically explored. This study examined the degree to which patients in dissociative identity states experienced diachronic unity. Participants were DID adults (n=14) assessed in adult and child identity states, adults with a psychotic illness (n=19), adults from the general population (n=55), children from the general population (n=26) and adults imagining themselves as children (n=23). They completed the Diachronic Disunity Scale (DDS), the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), and the Self-Concept Clarity Scale (SCCS). Diachronic disunity was not limited to psychiatric groups, but evident to some degree in all adult and child samples. The DID adult sample experienced more dissociation and self-confusion than the psychosis and adult comparison groups, but did not differ on the diachronic measure. DID patients in their child identity states and child comparisons showed disunity and were significantly different from child simulators, who showed relatively more unity. Results suggest that DID patients in either adult or child dissociative identity states, like those in other samples, do not universally experience themselves as having a consistent sense of self over time

Cirrus cloud identification from airborne far-infrared and mid-infrared spectra

Airborne interferometric data, obtained from the Cirrus Coupled Cloud-Radiation Experiment (CIRCCREX) and from the PiknMix-F field campaign, are used to test the ability of a machine learning cloud identification and classification algorithm (CIC). Data comprise a set of spectral radiances measured by the Tropospheric Airborne Fourier Transform Spectrometer (TAFTS) and the Airborne Research Interferometer Evaluation System (ARIES). Co-located measurements of the two sensors allow observations of the upwelling radiance for clear and cloudy conditions across the far-and mid-infrared part of the spectrum. Theoretical sensitivity studies show that the performance of the CIC algorithm improves with cloud altitude. These tests also suggest that, for conditions encompassing those sampled by the flight campaigns, the additional information contained within the far-infrared improves the algorithm's performance compared to using mid-infrared data only. When the CIC is applied to the airborne radiance measurements, the classification performance of the algorithm is very high. However, in this case, the limited temporal and spatial variability in the measured spectra results in a less obvious advantage being apparent when using both mid-and far-infrared radiances compared to using mid-infrared information only. These results suggest that the CIC algorithm will be a useful addition to existing cloud classification tools but that further analyses of nadir radiance observations spanning the infrared and sampling a wider range of atmospheric and cloud conditions are required to fully probe its capabilities. This will be realised with the launch of the Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring (FORUM) mission, ESA's 9th Earth Explorer

Retrieval of tropospheric water vapour from airborne far-infrared measurements: a case study

We describe studies undertaken in support of the Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring (FORUM) mission, ESA’s ninth Earth Explorer, designed to investigate whether airborne observations of far-infrared radiances can provide beneficial information on mid and upper tropospheric water vapour concentrations.Initially we perform a joint temperature and water vapour retrieval and show that the water vapour retrieval exploiting far-infrared measurements from the Tropospheric Airborne Fourier Transform Spectrometer (TAFTS) shows improvement over the a-priori Unified Model global forecast when compared to in situ dropsonde measurements. For this case the improvement is particularly noticeable in the mid-upper troposphere. Equivalent retrievals using mid-infrared radiances measured by the Airborne Research Interferometer Evaluation System (ARIES) show much reduced performance, with the degrees of freedom for signal (DFS), reduced by a factor of almost 2. Further sensitivity studies show that this advantage is decreased, but still present when the spectral resolution of the TAFTS measurements is reduced to match that of ARIES.The beneficial role of the far infrared for this case is further confirmed by performing water vapour only retrievals using ARIES and TAFTS individually, and then in combination. We find that the combined retrieval has a DFS value of 6.7 for water vapour, marginally larger than that obtained for the TAFTS retrieval and almost twice as large as that obtained for ARIES.These results provide observational support of theoretical studies highlighting the potential improvement that far-infrared observations could bring for the retrieval of tropospheric water vapour

Agency and social construction: practice of the self in art and design

Learning in the arts has the potential to be a co-constructive means of inquiry for students, which enables experience of the self in relation to practice. This research explores a practice-based investigation of agency as self-definition, amid normative social constructions of the subject. The focus for data analysis is a project taught to BTEC Level 2 Art and Design students in a deprived area of North London (2010-12). A dialogue is presented between the implications for Sartre’s theory of free-will and a Foucauldian critique of social construction. Applications for this comparative theory are discussed here as a form of resistance to the compression of learning identities in Art and Design, and across the curriculum. This is an approach which encourages emancipated self- representation, acknowledging cultural diversity, for a discursive environment viable at all levels of study. In exploring the data, a positioning of free-will with social responsibility is identified as an inclusive forum for creative understanding, and the tolerance of difference

The Odyssey of Dental Anxiety: From Prehistory to the Present. A Narrative Review

Dental anxiety (DA) can be considered as a universal phenomenon with a high prevalence worldwide; DA and pain are also the main causes for medical emergencies in the dental office, so their prevention is an essential part of patient safety and overall quality of care. Being DA and its consequences closely related to the fight-or-flight reaction, it seems reasonable to argue that the odyssey of DA began way back in the distant past, and has since probably evolved in parallel with the development of fight-or-flight reactions, implicit memory and knowledge, and ultimately consciousness. Basic emotions are related to survival functions in an inseparable psychosomatic unity that enable an immediate response to critical situations rather than generating knowledge, which is why many anxious patients are unaware of the cause of their anxiety. Archeological findings suggest that humans have been surprisingly skillful and knowledgeable since prehistory. Neanderthals used medicinal plants; and relics of dental tools bear witness to a kind of Neolithic proto-dentistry. In the two millennia BC, Egyptian and Greek physicians used both plants (such as papaver somniferum) and incubation (a forerunner of modern hypnosis, e.g., in the sleep temples dedicated to Asclepius) in the attempt to provide some form of therapy and painless surgery, whereas modern scientific medicine strongly understated the role of subjectivity and mind-body approaches until recently. DA has a wide range of causes and its management is far from being a matter of identifying the ideal sedative drug. A patient's proper management must include assessing his/her dental anxiety, ensuring good communications, and providing information (iatrosedation), effective local anesthesia, hypnosis, and/or a wise use of sedative drugs where necessary. Any weak link in this chain can cause avoidable suffering, mistrust, and emergencies, as well as having lifelong psychological consequences. Iatrosedation and hypnosis are no less relevant than drugs and should be considered as primary tools for the management of DA. Unlike pharmacological sedation, they allow to help patients cope with the dental procedure and also overcome their anxiety: achieving the latter may enable them to face future dental care autonomously, whereas pharmacological sedation can only afford a transient respite