Relationship Satisfaction and Health Outcomes in the Context of Personality

Self-reported dissatisfaction in romantic relationships is a well-documented risk factor for impaired physical health outcomes. Most research has focused on identifying the mechanisms that could potentially explain this link, but it is just as important to explore what type of person is more vulnerable to the quality of romantic relationships. Relationship satisfaction may be more consequential in the context of some personality traits than others. We examined whether each of the five factor traits interacts with self-reported relationship satisfaction to predict three health outcomes over 18 months: major physical health events, health perceptions, and health behaviors. The hypotheses for this report were tested using data from an ongoing longitudinal study designed to explore the trajectory of personality pathology and related correlates, in a community sample of adults transitioning into later life. Results suggest that when participants were dissatisfied in their relationships, they were more likely to develop a new illness and/or rate their health as dysfunctional if they had high levels of neuroticism. Additionally, as relationship satisfaction increased, higher levels of conscientiousness strengthened the link with perceived physical wellness

The Role of Loneliness and Life Events: Comparing Avoidant and Borderline Personality Features and Their Relation to Depression

Personality disorders are theoretically and empirically linked to experiencing high negative affect, such as depression, and individuals with features from some personality disorders, such as borderline: BDL) and avoidant: AVD), are hyper-responsive to rejection. Loneliness has also been established as a vulnerability to the onset of depressive episodes and as an outcome to rejection sensitivity, however the relationship between personality pathology and loneliness is still unclear. The purpose of this study is to compare whether AVD and BDL features might be differentially associated with depression scores by analyzing the interaction with life events and loneliness. We studied a representative, community-based sample: N= 976) of older adults over six months. The main effects of loneliness and the occurrence of a life event independently predicted increased depressive symptoms while controlling for gender, race, baseline depressive scores and personality pathology. The presence of a life event strengthens the relationship between depressive symptoms and personality pathology, specifically AVD and BDL features. This interaction is significant even though individuals with AVD features do not typically experience stressful life events. Male participants with higher scores on BDL symptoms and loneliness are more likely to experience depressive symptoms at follow up, but this effect was not found in females. Participants with higher loneliness and AVD scores together are at higher risk of experiencing subsequent depression. The implications of these findings are discussed further

Redefinitions of Selfhood: Stan Brakhage, Bob Dylan, and Allen Ginsberg as Thoreauvian Counterculturists

My master’s thesis lies in examining the appropriation of Henry David Thoreau’s techniques of authorship within the American 1960’s counterculture. My investigation focuses on how Stan Brakhage, Bob Dylan, and Allen Ginsberg engage in Thoreauvian forms of selfhood, self-government, citizenship, and ecological awareness within the context of the 1960’s counterculture. These three artists take on issues of 20th century materialism, nationalism, sexuality, and racial equality, within their respective medium of expression, as participants in what I will define as “Thoreauvian tradition”. Elements of this “Thoreauvian tradition” include subjective vision, ontological identity, undermining myth, and evolving the medium. These are the sub textual components through which Thoreau’s writings become more blatantly associated to passive resistance, political and educational demonstration, and oral and written social reform

Self-Diffusion of a Polymer Chain in a Melt

Self-diffusion of a polymer chain in a melt is studied by Monte Carlo simulations of the bond fluctuation model, where only the excluded volume interaction is taken into account. Polymer chains, each of which consists of $N$ segments, are located on an $L \times L \times L$ simple cubic lattice under periodic boundary conditions, where each segment occupies $2 \times 2 \times 2$ unit cells. The results for $N=32, 48, 64, 96, 128, 192, 256, 384$ and 512 at the volume fraction $\phi \simeq 0.5$ are reported, where $L = 128$ for $N \leq 256$ and L=192 for $N \geq 384$. The $N$-dependence of the self-diffusion constant $D$ is examined. Here, $D$ is estimated from the mean square displacements of the center of mass of a single polymer chain at the times larger than the longest relaxation time. From the data for $N = 256$, 384 and 512, the apparent exponent $x_{\rm d}$, which describes the apparent power law dependence of $D$ on $N$ as $D \propto N^{- x_{\rm d}}$, is estimated as $x_{\rm d} \simeq 2.4$. The ratio $D \tau / < R_{\rm e}^{2} >$ seems to be a constant for $N = 192, 256, 384$ and 512, where $\tau$ and $<R_{\rm e}^{2}>$ denote the longest relaxation time and the mean square end-to-end distance, respectively.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Unstructured modelling of solid-liquid phase change using parallel computing. Application to the analysis of thermal energy storage systems with encapsulated phase change materials

The main goal of this work is to numerically simulate convection phenomena in solid-liquid phase change processes and its application in the analysis of a thermal energy storage system with phase change materials. First two chapters consist in the resolution of two well-known numerical problems used as an introduction to the governing equations of uid ows and heat transfer. Here, the necessary tools for discretizing and solving these equations are brie y described. Third chapter speci cally deals with the problem of modelling solid-liquid phase change and its application into the simulation of a special thermal storage system

Study of solar chimney with openfoam

The aim of this work is to study the thermodynamic phenomena and performance of solar chimneys using Open-FOAM. OpenFOAM is an open-source computational fluid dynamics software used by a wide international community.Although several different models for simulating the flow and heat transfer in fluids, heat transfer in solid media and also radiation heat exchange are available, not all the combinations of the individual models are already available, in the down loadable distribution, to be used in the same problem. In this work, mass, momentum, energy and radiation exchange between surfaces equations in OpenFOAM are combined for developing solar chimney simulations. A case of a solar dryer is used to test the performance of the obtained model and the results obtained are compared against numerical and experimental data obtained from the literatureAgencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovació

Solar Updraft Tower Performance Evaluation

The aim of this work is to evaluate the performance of a solar chimney tower in a typical year placed in Uruguay. Solar Updraft Tower consists of a transparent horizontal surface placed at a certain distance above the ground (collector), a tall chimney located in the center of the collector and a turbine at the lower part of the tower. Stack effect, produced by the combination of a temperature difference between inner and outer air and the presence of the chimney, is used for generating air flow through the turbine and producing electric power. This work studies the thermodynamic behavior of the system by a simplified numerical model. Verification and validation of the model is successfully performed, and results of a case study placed in Uruguay are presented.Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovació

Long time dynamic simulation of a Solar Chimney under the Uruguayan climate

The present work aims to evaluate the performance of a solar chimney under Uruguayan climate. A simplified numerical model was proposed, so long time simulations can be run with adequate precision and low computational costs. Special attention has been paid to friction losses determination, due to its relevance in mass flow calculation. Different flow regimens in the solar chimney channel were analyzed, and a strategy was proposed to estimate velocity profiles. The presented model has been verified and validated using both theoretical and experimental results. Furthermore, the developed model was used to evaluate the ability of a Solar Chimney to improve comfort conditions in a building under Uruguayan climate.Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovació

Multi-layered solid-PCM thermocline thermal storage concept for CSP plants. Numerical analysis and perspectives

Thermocline storage concept has been considered for more than a decade as a possible solution to reduce the huge cost of the storage system in concentrated solar power (CSP) plants. However, one of the drawbacks of this concept is the decrease in its performance throughout the time. The objective of this paper is to present a new thermocline-like storage concept, which aims at circumventing this issue. The proposed concept consists of a storage tank filled with a combination of solid material and encapsulated PCMs, forming a multi-layered packed bed, with molten salt as the heat transfer fluid. The performance evaluation of each of the prototypes proposed is virtually tested by means of a detailed numerical methodology which considers the heat transfer and fluid dynamics phenomena present in these devices. The virtual tests carried out are designed so as to take into account several charging and discharging cycles until periodic state is achieved, i.e. when the same amount of energy is stored/released in consecutive charging/discharging cycles. As a result, the dependence of the storage capacity on the PCMs temperatures, the total energy and exergy stored/released, as well as the efficiencies of the storing process are compared for the different thermocline, single PCM, cascaded PCM and the proposed multi-layered solid-PCM (MLSPCM) configurations. The analysis shows that the multi-layered solid-PCM concept is a promising alternative for thermal storage in CSP plants.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Calcium store depletion potentiates a phosphodiesterase inhibitor- and dibutyryl cGMP-evoked calcium influx in rat pituitary GH3 cells

AbstractA role for cGMP in the control of capacitative Ca2+ influx was identified in rat pituitary GH3 cells. Application of 50 μM-1 mM of the non-specific phosphodiesterase inhibitor, 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX), or the specific cGMP-phosphodiesterase inhibitor, zaprinast, induced a dose-dependent increase in the intracellular free Ca2+ concentration [Ca2+]i of the pituitary cell line, as assessed by video ratio imaging using fura-2. Response onset times were identical and response profiles were similar in all cells analysed. Application of 50 μM dibutyryl cGMP to GH3 cells resulted in heterogeneous Ca2+ responses, consisting of single or multiple transients with varying onset times. In all cases, increases in [Ca2+]i were predominantly due to Ca2+ influx, since no responses were detected in low Ca2+ medium, or following pre-incubation of cells with 1 μM verapamil, or nicardipine. Depleting intracellular Ca2+ stores by prior treatment of cells with 1 μM thapsigargin resulted in a dramatic potentiation in the Ca2+ influx mediated by both phosphodiesterase inhibitors and dibutyryl cGMP, suggesting that cGMP modulates a dihydropyridine-sensitive Ca2+ entry mechanism in GH3 cells which is possibly regulated by the state of filling of Ca2+ stores