Does Decentering Mediate the Relationship between Mindfulness and Stress and Anxiety?

College students are stressed and unsuccessful efforts to cope can increase risk for poor mental health, including anxiety (American College Health, 2019). Research suggests mindfulness (Bamber & Schneider, 2016) and adaptive emotion regulation (Desrosiers et al. 2013b) can buffer against the deleterious effects of distress. Decentering, a mindful emotion regulation strategy (Chambers et al., 2009), is postulated to be a mechanism by which mindfulness can lead to better mental health (Shapiro et al. 2006). Specific facets of trait mindfulness, namely Nonjudging (NJ) and Nonreactivity (NR) (Mizera et al. 2016), are directly involved in regulating one\u27s emotions, which can help reduce levels of stress and anxiety. Using data from a cross-sectional survey study of 534 college students, the present study investigated whether decentering can mediate the relationship between mindfulness and stress and anxiety, while controlling for gender, race, and previous meditation experience. I hypothesized that facets of trait mindfulness, specifically NJ and NR, will have a negative indirect effect on stress and anxiety through decentering. I expected trait mindfulness to have a positive effect on decentering which will in turn have a negative effect on distress. Results showed that decentering mediated the relationship between NJ and NR on one hand, and stress and anxiety on the other. Findings support decentering as a mindful emotion regulation mechanism. Cultivating NJ and NR through practice can help facilitate decentering and thereby reduce distress

Germ cell-specific gene 1 targets testis-specific poly(A) polymerase to the endoplasmic reticulum through protein–protein interactions

AbstractTestis-specific poly(A) polymerase (TPAP) is a cytoplasmic poly(A) polymerase that is highly expressed in round spermatids. We identified germ cell-specific gene 1 (GSG1) as a TPAP interaction partner protein using yeast two-hybrid and coimmunoprecipitation assays. Subcellular fractionation analysis showed that GSG1 is exclusively localized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of mouse testis where TPAP is also present. In NIH3T3 cells cotransfected with TPAP and GSG1, both proteins colocalize in the ER. Moreover, expression of GSG1 stimulates TPAP targeting to the ER, suggesting that interactions between the two proteins lead to the redistribution of TPAP from the cytosol to the ER.Structured summaryMINT-6168263:Gsg1 (uniprotkb:Q8R1W2), TPAP (uniprotkb:Q9WVP6) and Calmegin (uniprotkb:P52194) colocalize (MI:0403) by cosedimentation (MI:0027)MINT-6168204, MINT-6168178:Gsg1 (uniprotkb:Q8R1W2) and TPAP (uniprotkb:Q9WVP6) colocalize (MI:0403) by fluorescence microscopy (MI:0416)MINT-6167930:Gsg1 (uniprotkb:Q8R1W2) physically interacts (MI:0218) with TPAP (uniprotkb:Q9WVP6) by two-hybrid (MI:0018)MINT-6168112, MINT-6168011, MINT-6168054:Gsg1 (uniprotkb:Q8R1W2) physically interacts (MI:0218) with TPAP (uniprotkb:Q9WVP6) by coimmunoprecipitation (MI:0019)MINT-61668069, MINT-6168101:Gsg1 (uniprotkb:Q8R1W2) physically interacts (MI:0218) with TPAP (uniprotkb:Q9WVP6) by pull-down (MI:0096)MINT-6168218:Gsg1 (uniprotkb:Q8R1W2) and GRP78 (uniprotkb:P20029) colocalize (MI:0403) by fluorescence microscopy (MI:0416)MINT-6168381:TPAP (uniprotkb:Q9WVP6) and GRP78 (uniprotkb:P20029) colocalize (MI:0403) by fluorescence microscopy (MI:0416

Development of Lactic and Succinic Acid Biorefinery Configurations for Integration into a Thermomechanical Pulp Mill

L’augmentation des émissions de CO2 et la diminution des ressources énergétiques d’origine fossile ont provoqué une augmentation de l’intérêt porté à la production de carburants et de produits chimiques biobasés ces dernières années. En même temps, le secteur des pâtes et papiers, qui était l’un des moteurs de l’industrie canadienne, a été confronté à une crise qui a été provoquée par un haut prix de l’énergie, une concurrence accrue de la part des pays en développement et une diminution de l’utilisation du papier. La bioraffinerie verte intégrée (BRVI), qui consiste à coupler une usine de pâtes et papiers existante à une nouvelle usine de production de produits chimiques de valeur, est apparue comme étant une solution permettant aux usines de pâtes canadiennes de redevenir compétitives grâce à la diversification de leur gamme de produits. L’acide lactique et l’acide succinique sont des produits chimiques importants de par leur haut potentiel d’application dans les industries cosmétique, agro-alimentaire et pharmaceutique. Ils sont tous les deux obtenus par des voies technologiques pétrochimique ou biochimique. Cette dernière est basée sur la fermentation de sucres par des bactéries. Ces dernières années, la voie biochimique a reçu une attention croissante, car elle offre à l’industrie chimique l’opportunité de produire des produits chimiques verts. La production économiquement compétitive de l’acide lactique et de l’acide succinique nécessite l’utilisation de sources de carbone diverses (telles que la biomasse lignocellulosique) et le développement de procédés viables. La bioraffinerie verte intégrée à une usine de pâte thermomécanique (TMP) produisant de l’acide lactique et de l’acide succinique biobasés permet non seulement l’échange de matière première mais également de chaleur. L’objectif de ce projet est de proposer les configurations de bioraffinerie de production d’acide lactique et succinique et de démontrer la faisabilité technique et la pertinence économique de la production d’acide lactique et d’acide succinique dans une bioraffinerie intégrée à une usine de pâtes thermomécanique. Quatre modèles de simulation ont été développés sur Aspen Plus lors de ce projet : (i) la production d’acide lactique biobasé avec récupération du produit final par précipitation ou (ii) électrodialyse et (iii) la production d’acide succinique biobasé avec récupération par cristallisation directe et (iv) électrodialyse. L’intégration énergétique et la conception d’un réseau d’échangeurs de chaleur (Heat Exchanger Network, HEN) des installations de production d’acide lactique et succinique ont vi été réalisées en se basant sur les résultats de simulation et des données fournies par FPInnovations. Des opportunités de réduction de la consommation des flux chauds ont été émises à partir des résultats obtenus précédemment. À la fin du projet, une analyse économique globale est effectuée en se basant sur les bilans de matière et d’énergie obtenus à partir des modèles développés. ---------- In recent years, with rising concerns about CO2 emission and depletion of fossil fuel, production of bio-based fuel or chemicals has attracted more attention. Meanwhile the pulp and paper industry, which used to be one of the major industries in Canada, has been confronted with a crisis in its operation during last two decades resulted from high energy price, competition with developing countries, and reduced paper demand. As an alternative to this situation, the integrated forest biorefinery (IFBR), which is a concept of coupling of an existing conventional pulp and paper mill and a new plant for the production of valuable chemicals, has appeared as a potential way to make the Canadian pulp mills competitive again by diversifying their products. Lactic acid and succinic acid are important chemicals due to their high potential for applications in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industry. Both lactic acid and succinic acid are produced by petro-chemical pathways or bio-chemical pathways, which are based on the fermentation of sugars by bacteria. In recent years, bio-chemical pathways have received increased attention as they offer an opportunity to the chemical industry to produce green chemicals. So far, the bio-based lactic or succinic acid have been produced commercially from corn starch. This starch based raw material is converted to sugars by hydrolysis. Microorganisms produce lactic or succinic acid by metabolizing the sugars during the fermentation. Pure lactic and succinic acid are obtained by recovery from the fermentation broth. Making lactic and succinic acid production economically competitive requires the use of various carbon sources (such as lignocellulosic biomass) as well as the development of viable processes. The integrated forest biorefinery (IFBR) that combines two or more processes of the production of pulp and paper and co-products such as bio-fuels or bio-chemicals allows not only the supply of raw material but also the transfer of heat. Before now many researches on the IFBR have been conducted into Kraft pulp mills as a receptor and relatively less study was done about Thermomechnical pulp (TMP) mills. The main objective of this project is to propose the configurations of biorefinery of production of lactic and succinic acid and to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of the integrated biorefinery composed of a TMP process and a lactic or succinic acid plant. viii In this project four simulation models on Aspen Plus were developed: bio-based lactic acid production with the recovery by precipitation and electrodialysis, and bio-based succinic acid production with the recovery by direct crystallization and electrodialsys. With the stream data of stand-alone lactic and succinic plant extracted from the results of the simulations and the stream data of TMP mill provided from FPInnovations, heat integration was performed and Heat Exchanger Network was designed. From these results, heat recovery opportunities that indicate the reduction of external hot utility (steam) were estimated. At the end of this project, a simple economic evaluation was performed based on the material balance and energy use from the simulation models

MARGINAL STRUCTURAL COX MODELS WITH CASE-COHORT SAMPLING

A common objective of biomedical cohort studies is assessing the effect of a time-varying treatment or exposure on a survival time. In the presence of time-varying confounders marginal structural models fit using inverse probability weighting can be employed to obtain a consistent and asymptotically normal estimator of the causal effect of a time-varying treatment. This document considers estimation of parameters in the semiparametric marginal structural Cox model (MSCM) from a case-cohort study. Case-cohort sampling entails assembling covariate histories only for cases and a random subcohort, which can be cost effective, particularly in large cohort studies with low outcome rates. Following Cole et al. [2012], we consider estimating the causal hazard ratio from a MSCM by maximizing a weighted-pseudo-partial-likelihood. The estimator is shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal under certain regularity conditions. Computation of the estimator using standard survival analysis software is discussed and results from a simulation study are presented. In the standard (associational) case-cohort Cox analysis, various methods have been proposed to improve efficiency from maximum pseudolikelihood estimators of Prentice [1986] or Self and Prentice [1988]. As the presented theory of MSCM parameter estimator is developed based on Self and Prentice [1988] we briefly review those methods and discuss extension of the methods to the MSCM analysis. In addition, we proposed a new method to improve efficiency of the case-cohort MSCM analysis from a biomedical study that aims to evaluate the causal effect of treatment on a time to event. We seek to improve the efficiency by multiple imputation method which can make fuller use of covariate information that are available from full cohort. The proposed method is applied to the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) and the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS).Doctor of Philosoph

Coloniality Unplugged: Cosmologies and Terrains of the Dark Matter

This is the story of the development of the special issue

Coloniality Unplugged: Cosmologies and Terrains of the Dark Matter

This is the story of the development of the special issue

Tax knowledge and compliance behavior under Self-Assessment System(SAS): perception of students from higher education in Malaysia

Tax non-compliance is a subject that has attracted substantial discussion not only within policy circles but also within the academia. The non-compliance issue is very important as the compliance rate will affect the revenue collection from taxpayers of a country. In view of the importance of tax compliance behavior, the present study aims at (1) examining the level of tax knowledge, attitudes and subjective norms, and intention towards tax compliance, (2) comparing the level of tax knowledge and the intention towards tax compliance between those with tax knowledge via formal tax education and those without formal tax education, and (3) investigating factors influencing tax compliance intention based on Theory of Reasoned Action. The study adopts a survey methodology and gathers a sample of diploma and undergraduate students from fourteen higher institutions of learning in Malaysia, a total of 417 were received and usable (92% response rate). In order to achieve the research objective, T-test, Pearson’s correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were performed. The findings suggest that the level of tax knowledge among the students is moderate and those who have been exposed to formal tax education possess more tax knowledge. Similarly, those who have been exposed to formal tax education have higher intention towards tax compliance. The findings further reveal that tax knowledge, attitudes and subjective norms are significantly and positively correlated with intention toward tax compliance. It is further noted that, while tax knowledge is positively correlated with intention towards tax compliance, it lacks significance once the roles of attitudes and subjective norms are analysed in the multiple regression setting. Perhaps, tax knowledge plays an indirect role in shaping attitudes of the future taxpayers towards tax compliance intention. Instead, attitudes and subjective norms are found to be most influential and to have predictive ability for intention toward tax compliance. The result of the current study may contribute to policy makers, academics and tax administrators especially in developing tax education programmes to increase the awareness and tax knowledge among students (future taxpayers) and consequently, to enhance tax compliance rate and to reduce compliance cost