Parental bonding and alexithymia: A meta-analysis

Aim: The primary purpose of this meta-analysis was to explore, clarify and report the strength of the relationship between alexithymia, as measured by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and parenting style as measured by the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). Methods: Web of Science, PsycInfo, PubMed and ProQuest: Dissertations and Theses searches were undertaken, yielding nine samples with sufficient data to be included in the meta-analysis. Results: Evidence indicated moderate to strong relationships between maternal care and alexithymia, and between maternal care and two of the three TAS-20 alexithymia facets (Difficulties Describing Feelings and Difficulties Identifying Feelings, but not Externally Oriented Thinking). Moderate relationships were observed for both maternal- and paternal-overprotection and alexithymia respectively, and for overprotection (both maternal and paternal) and Difficulties Describing Feelings. Conclusion: This study is the first meta-analysis of the relationship between parenting styles and alexithymia, and findings confirm an especially strong association between maternal care and key elements of alexithymia. This review highlights the issues that still remain to be addressed in exploring the link between parenting style and alexithymia

Disordered social media use and risky drinking in young adults:Differential associations with addiction-linked traits

Background Excessive or compulsive use of social media has been likened to an addiction, similar to other behavioural addictions such as pathological gambling or Internet addiction. This investigation sought to determine the degree to which personality traits associated with such disordered social media use overlap with those known to predict problematic substance use, with use of the most commonly abused legal substance alcohol as an example of the latter. Method Well‐known indices of disordered social media use, risky or problematic alcohol use, and the personality traits alexithymia, reward sensitivity, narcissism, and impulsivity were administered online to 143 men and women aged 18–35-years who were regular users of social media. The traits examined had previously been linked to substance misuse for a variety of substances, including alcohol, as presumed predisposing factors. Results After controlling for age, gender, and social desirability in hierarchical regressions, disordered social media use was predicted by narcissism, reward sensitivity, and impulsivity, whereas risky alcohol use was predicted by narcissism, alexithymia, and impulsivity. The ability of narcissism to predict disordered social media use was mediated by reward sensitivity, which was not the case for risky drinking. Conclusions Present results point to similarities and differences in addiction‐linked traits when comparing disordered social media use to risky or problematic substance use

Investigation and Enhancement of a Cu-ZSM-5 SCR Catalyst Model

The aim of this study has been to enhance LOGE's semi-detailed Cu-ZSM-5 SCR catalyst model in areas where it lacks to catch important effects. It is important to have an accurate and CPU efficient kinetic model for the catalysis in the work towards minimizing polluting NOx in the exhaust gas from diesel engines. Investigations were done on the kinetic model through a few transient experiments including NO oxidation, NH3 oxidation and a NH3 SCR experiment. The effects were tested when adjusting different parameters and an adsorption reaction for NO2 was added to the kinetic model. The simulated results were compared with experimental values. Adjustment on the kinetic parameters in the NO oxidation reaction led to a slight enhancement and results also showed that the additional adsorption reaction was sufficient to catch the desired effects. This work shows that a semi-detailed kinetic model is sufficient to capture important effects in the catalytic reduction. The model would however need to be validated through more experiments in order to generalize the results. For further improvements on the model a more complex kinetic model would be required, which could include adsorption of more species and alternative reactions.Syftet med den här studien har varit att förbättra LOGEs semidetaljerade katalysatormodel Cu-ZSM-5 på dem delarna där modellen missar viktiga effekter. Det är viktigt att ha en riktigt och CPU-effektiv kinetisk modell för katalysatorn i arbetet mot att minska förorenande NOx i avgaserna från en dieselmotor. Undersökningen av den kinetiska modellen utfördes genom transienta experiment som NO oxidation, NH3 oxidation och ett NH3 SCR experiment. Effekterna undersöktes när olika parametrar ändrades och en adsorptionsreaktion för NO2 lades till i den kinetiska modellen. Resultaten från simuleringar jämfördes med experimentella värden. Justering av de kinetiska parametrarna i NO oxidationen ledde till en viss förbättring. Dessutom visade resultat att den tillagda adsorptionsreaktionen var tillräcklig för att fånga dem önskvärda effekterna. Det här arbetet visar att en semidetaljerad kinetisk modell är tillräcklig för att fånga viktiga effekter i den katalytiska reduceringen. Modellen behöver dock bli validerad genom flera experiment innan resultaten kan ses som generella. För ytterligare förbättringar på modellen krävs troligtvis en mer komplex kinetisk modell. En sådan skulle kunna innehålla adsorption av flera slag och alternativa reaktioner