Fluorescent thermal imaging of a non-insulated pancake coil wound from high temperature superconductor tape

We have wound a 157-turn, non-insulated pancake coil with an outer diameter of 85 mm and we cooled it down to 77 K with a combination of conduction and gas cooling. Using high-speed fluorescent thermal imaging in combination with electrical measurements we have investigated the coil under load, including various ramping tests and over-current experiments. We have found found that the coil does not heat up measurably when being ramped to below its critical current. Two over-current experiments are presented, where in one case the coil recovered by itself and in another case a thermal runaway occurred. We have recorded heating in the bulk of the windings due to local defects, however the coil remained cryostable even during some over-critical conditions and heated only to about 82-85 K at certain positions. A thermal runaway was observed at the center, where the highest magnetic field and a resistive joint create a natural defect. The maximum temperature, ~100 K, was reached only in the few innermost windings around the coil former

Gratitude Uniquely Predicts Lower Depression in Chronic Illness Populations: A Longitudinal Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Arthritis

Objective: Although gratitude has been identified as a key clinically relevant trait for improving well-being, it is understudied within medical populations. The current study addressed this gap and extended previous and limited cross-sectional research by examining the longitudinal associations of gratitude to depression in two chronic illness samples, arthritis and IBD. Methods: Two chronic illness samples, arthritis (N = 423) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD; N = 427), completed online surveys at Time 1 (T1). 163 people with arthritis and 144 people with IBD completed the six-month follow-up survey (T2). Depression, gratitude, illness cognitions, perceived stress, social support, and disease-related variables were assessed at T1 and T2. Results: At T2, 57.2 percent of the arthritis sample and 53.4 percent of the IBD sample met the cut off scores for significant depression. T1 gratitude was negatively associated with depressive symptoms at T1 and T2 in both samples (r’s from -.43 to -.50). Regression analyses revealed that T1 gratitude remained a significant and unique predictor of lower T2 depression after controlling for T1 depression, relevant demographic variables, illness cognitions, changes in illness-relevant variables, and another positive psychological construct, thriving, in both samples. Conclusion: As the first investigation of the longitudinal associations of gratitude to psychological well-being in the context of chronic illness, the current study provides important evidence for the relevance of gratitude for health-related clinical populations. Further intervention-based research is warranted to more fully understand the potential benefits of gratitude for adjustment to chronic illness

Is procrastination related to sleep quality? Testing an application of the procrastination-health model

Despite a growing body of research on the consequences of procrastination for health and well-being, there is little research focused on testing or explaining the potential links between procrastination and sleep quality. Using the procrastination-health model as our guiding conceptual lens, we addressed this gap by examining how and why trait procrastination may be linked to various dimensions of sleep quality across two student samples. In Study 1, procrastination was associated with feeling unrested, but not sleep disturbance frequency, in a sample of Greek undergraduate students (N = 141). In Study 2, bootstrapping analysis of the indirect effects of procrastination on an index of sleep quality through perceived stress in a sample of Canadian students (N = 339) was significant supporting an extended procrastination-health model view of how chronic self-regulation failure may compromise sleep quality. Given the potential for dynamic and reciprocal relations among procrastination, stress, and sleep quality suggested by the current and other research, the ways in which procrastination may contribute to and be influenced by poor sleep quality warrants further investigation

Fluorescent thermal imaging of a quench in insulated and non-insulated REBCO-wound pancake coils following a heater pulse at 77 K

High temperature superconductors (HTS)-wound coils are being developed for use in motors, generators as well as magnet applications. Determining the stability and safe operating margins of such coils still poses challenges. While the recently introduced no-insulation winding method provides a remedy for many problems, it comes with its own limitations. For comparison, we have wound two pancake coils from HTS coated conductors with the insulated and non-insulated winding techniques. Both coils were coated with a fluorescent, temperature-sensitive coating, which allowed monitoring the surface temperatures during operation. The coils were cooled to 77 K via a combination of conduction and gas cooling, and their electrical and thermal behaviour was observed in operation. Here we present the normal transition of both coils caused by an artificially introduced instability due to a surface-mounted, resistive heater element. In the insulated coil, the localized disturbance caused a local transition of the superconductor to the normal conducting state, triggering a thermal runaway. Merely the turns in contact with the artificial disturbance heated up, while the rest of the coil remained in the superconducting state. In the non-insulated coil—although a much longer heater pulse was required—the normal transition started from the weakest point of the coil (around the bobbin) and the whole coil was heating thereafter, with the centre heating more

How should discrepancy be assessed in perfectionism research? A psychometric analysis and proposed refinement of the Almost Perfect Scale–Revised

Research on perfectionism with the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R) distinguishes adaptive perfectionists versus maladaptive perfectionists based primarily on their responses to the 12-item unidimensional APS-R discrepancy subscale, which assesses the sense of falling short of standards. People described as adaptive perfectionists have high standards but low levels of discrepancy (i.e., relatively close to attaining these standards). Maladaptive perfectionists have perfectionistic high standards and high levels of discrepancy. In the current work, we re-examine the psychometric properties of the APS-R discrepancy subscale and illustrate that this supposedly unidimensional discrepancy measure may actually consists of more than one factor. Psychometric analyses of data from student and community samples distinguished a pure fiveitem discrepancy factor and a second four-item factor measuring dissatisfaction. The five-item factor is recommended as a brief measure of discrepancy from perfection and the four-item factor is recommended as a measure of dissatisfaction with being imperfect. Overall, our results confirm past suggestions that most people with maladaptive perfectionism are characterized jointly by chronic dissatisfaction as well as a sense of being discrepant due to having fallen short of expectations. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the assessment of perfectionism, as well as the implications for research and practice

Self-Compassion and Adherence in Five Medical Samples: the Role of Stress

Emerging evidence indicates self-compassion can be beneficial for medical populations and for medical adherence, yet research to date has not fully examined the reasons for this association. This study examined the association of dispositional self-compassion to adherence across five medical samples, and tested the extent to which perceived stress accounted for this association. Five medical samples (total N = 709), including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and cancer patients, recruited from various sources, completed online surveys. Self-compassion was positively associated with adherence in all five samples. A meta-analysis of the associations revealed a small average effect size (average r = .22, [.15, .29]) of self-compassion and adherence, and non-significant heterogeneity among the effects, Q (4) = 3.15, p = .532. A meta-analysis of the kappa2 values from the indirect effects of self-compassion on adherence, revealed that on average, 10 percent of the variance in medical adherence that was explained by self-compassion could be attributed to lower perceived stress. Overall, findings demonstrate that dispositional self-compassion is associated with better medical adherence among people with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and cancer, due in part to lower stress. This research contributes to a growing evidence base indicating the value of self-compassion for health-related behaviours in a variety of medical populations