Social support of romantic partners moderates cortisol response to stress

It is important to clearly define stress and social support in order to better understand how the body regulates when under stressful conditions because stress has implications for treatment and coping interventions. The widely known stress hormone cortisol is frequently used as an index of the body’s abilty to regulate itself during stress because cortisol has a profound impact on health and development. Consistently, strong evidence from research has found that social support from affiliated others serve as a buffer of stress, and certain types of social support may enhance stress regulation more than others. Self-report subjective measurements of stress can provide valuable information on saliency of the stressor, however the chance of response biases is possible due to a number of contributing factors that entails answering questionnaires. The same can be found for subjective social support self-report measurements. In addition to external factors of social support, recent research has found that oxytocin, known as the social bonding hormone, can also buffer the negative impact of stress and attenuate cortisol activity. Typically, when social support is provided, endogenous levels of oxytocin is increased in stressful moments. In this thesis study, I presented a theoretical model to examine moderating effects of different social support measures on the association between stress and cortisol levels in romanticly dating couples. The findings showed that perceived social support moderately buffered cortisol stress reactivity, while nonverbal behavioral support significantly buffered cortisol stress reactivity. Oxytocin reactivity and level of exposure only showed a trend effect on cortisol stress reactivity. Consummate love between the couples significantly buffered cortisol stress reactivity. The findings of this study gave empirical support for specific measures of social support in predicting cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress in each of its own way

Investigation of particles size effects in Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) modelling of colloidal suspensions

In the Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) simulation of suspension, the fluid (solvent) and colloidal particles are replaced by a set of DPD particles and therefore their relative sizes (as measured by their exclusion zones) can affect the maximal packing fraction of the colloidal particles. In this study, we investigate roles of the conservative, dissipative and random forces in this relative size ratio (colloidal/solvent). We propose a mechanism of adjusting the DPD parameters to properly model the solvent phase (the solvent here is supposed to have the same isothermal compressibility to that of water)

Imposition of physical parameters in dissipative particle dynamics

In the mesoscale simulations by the dissipative particle dynamics (DPD), the motion of a fluid is modelled by a set of particles interacting in a pairwise manner, and it has been shown to be governed by the Navier–Stokes equation, with its physical properties, such as viscosity, Schmidt number, isothermal compressibility, relaxation and inertia time scales, in fact its whole rheology resulted from the choice of the DPD model parameters. In this work, we will explore the response of a DPD fluid with respect to its parameter space, where the model input parameters can be chosen in advance so that (i) the ratio between the relaxation and inertia time scales is fixed; (ii) the isothermal compressibility of water at room temperature is enforced; and (iii) the viscosity and Schmidt number can be specified as inputs. These impositions are possible with some extra degrees of freedom in the weighting functions for the conservative and dissipative forces. Numerical experiments show an improvement in the solution quality over conventional DPD parameters/weighting functions, particularly for the number density distribution and computed stresses

Sterols from stems of Momordica cochinchinesis (Lour.) Spreng.

Three known sterols, polypodine B (1), (22E,24R)-24-methylcholesta-2,22-diene-3β,5α,6β-triol (2) and chondrillasterol (3) were isolated from the stems of Momordica cochinchinesis (Lour.) Spreng. Their chemical structures were successfully determined using NMR and ESI-MS analysis as well as in comparison with the reported data. All compounds were reported from Momordica genus for the first time. Keywords. Momordica cochinchinesis, Cucurbitaceae, steroid

BEM-RBF approach for viscoelastic flow analysis

A new BE-only method is achieved for the numerical solution of viscoelastic flows. A decoupled algorithm is chosen where the fluid is considered as being composed of an artificial Newtonian component and the remaining component is accordingly defined from the original constitutive equation. As a result the problem is viewed as that of solving for the flow of a Newtonian liquid with the non-linear viscoelastic effects acting as a pseudo body force. Thus the general solution is obtained by adding a particular solution to the homogeneous one. The former is obtained by a BEM for the base Newtonian fluid and the latter is obtained analytically by approximating the pseudo body force in terms of suitable radial basis functions (RBFs). Embedded in the approximation of the pseudo body force is the calculation of the polymer stress. This is achieved by solving the constitutive equation using RBF networks (RBFNs). Both the calculations of the particular solution and the polymer stress are therefore meshless and the resultant BEM-RBF method is a BE-only method. The complete elimination of any structured domain discretisation is demonstrated with a number of flow problems involving the Upper Convected Maxwell (UCM) and the Oldroyd-B fluids

Capacity development platform for promoting efficient urban water management: Event Report

The present paper summarizes the results of an application initiated within the framework of 35 years celebration of diplomatic relations between Germany and Vietnam. Within this context, the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) and the Academy of Managers for Construction and Cities (AMC) jointly organized in 2010 a series of four thematic workshops. The one-day events have had similar structures and focused on main subjects of interest in the water sectors of both countries. In Vietnam, the workshops took place in Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Nha Trang and Vung Tau. Best practice examples about conceptualization, operation and maintenance of municipal water works provided an insight view into the challenges currently faced by the water service providers. TUD and AMC, together with their German and Vietnamese partners, addressed these issues by organizing the consecutive workshops under the umbrella of Vietnamese Water Supply and Sewerage Association (VWSA) and in coordination with the German Water Partnership (GWP).Bài báo trình bày tóm tắt các kết quả của một đề xuất trong khuôn khổ kỷ niệm 35 năm quan hệ ngoại giao giữa CHLB Đức và Việt Nam. Theo đó, Trường Đại học Tổng hợp Kỹ Thuật Dresden (TUD) và Học viện Quản lý Xây dựng và Đô thị (AMC) đã phối hợp tổ chức một chuỗi bốn hội thảo chuyên đề trong năm 2010. Mỗi hội thảo thực hiện trong một ngày chương trình giống nhau và tập trung vào các chủ đề chính mà cả hai quốc gia đều quan tâm trong lĩnh vực nước. Phía Việt Nam, các hội thảo được tổ chức ở các thành phố Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Nha Trang và Vũng Tàu. Nhiều bài thuyết trình về khái niệm hóa, vận hành và bảo dưỡng các công trình cấp nước đô thị đã thảo luận sâu về những thách thức mà các dịch vụ cấp nước đang gặp phải. TUD và AMC, kết hợp với các đối tác CHLB Đức và Việt Nam, đã ghi nhận các vấn đề phát sinh thông qua việc tổ chức nhiều hội thảo liên tục dưới sự bảo trợ của Hiệp hội Cấp thoát nước Việt Nam (VWSA) và Hiệp hội nước CHLB Đức (GWP)

MEDICAL STUDENTS’ EVALUATION OF AN ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES COURSEBOOK: A CASE IN VIETNAM

The current study investigates students’ evaluation of the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) coursebook taught at a medical college in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. After using it for a year, the users, including medical students and their teachers, have given some unofficial feedback on the book. This study provided insightful official information about how its student users perceive the coursebook they were adopting. Data on the evaluations of the ESP coursebook were gained from questionnaires administered to 166 students majoring in nursing and pharmacy in charge of ESP programs. Semi-structured interviews were employed with four students to get more specific apprehension. The results of this study indicated that students were satisfied with the ESP coursebook in terms of the covering of four skills, the presence of vocabulary and grammar, relevant content, understandable social and cultural context, suitability for mix-level students. In addition, participants perceived that communicative skills were not sufficiently presented, examples in grammar were not more interesting, the illustrations were not diverse and enough, and the cover was simple but not appealing. Suggestions regarding the pedagogical implications for the adoption and evaluation of the coursebook were discussed