Alcohol abuse disorders (AUD) represent a serious worldwide health problem with far reaching social, financial, and interpersonal implications. One of the most devastating facets of these disorders is the propensity to relapse following periods of abstinence. Ethanol withdrawal (EWD) is believed to promote relapse by increasing anxiety and craving, and may contribute to the development of cognitive decline associated with long-term dependence. Clinical data suggest that stress also plays a main role in both the development of AUD as well as relapse to drinking. As a physiological stressor, EtOH elevates levels of stress hormones (cortisol in humans, corticosterone (CORT) in the rat). Both CORT and EtOH have been shown to alter the composition, function, and activity of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, and in particular, the NR2B subunit of this receptor. These alterations have been suggested to mediate EWD, which may negatively impact abstinence rates. This synergistic interaction between EtOH and CORT may present a therapeutic target for the treatment of EWD. In fact, data suggest that blocking the glucocorticoid receptor, which is a main target for CORT, with RU-486 could promote abstinence, as treatment with the drug has been shown to reduce consumption and the development dependence, as well as the severity of EWD and the cognitive deficits following EWD. However, these latter effects have not been validated in models of voluntary EtOH consumption. As there is considerable evidence that active versus passive intake can significantly impact neuroadaptations to ethanol this is an important consideration. These studies sought to characterize consumption and evaluate the development of dependence in a chronic voluntary model of intermittent access (IA) to EtOH. CORT plasma levels and protein expression of the glucocorticoid and NR2B receptors were measured during and/or following exposure. Finally, to assess the role of CORT in EtOH consumption and the development of dependence, the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist ORG-34517 was administered during access to EtOH. IA access to 20% EtOH produced varying levels of consumption (2.0-6.7g/kg/24hr exposure) and blood EtOH levels (6.3-116.9 mg/dl), but did not significantly affect food consumption or weight gain. Baseline CORT levels were found to be predictive of subsequent EtOH consumption and levels of consumption were sufficient to elevate CORT levels following one hour of EtOH exposure. Further, IA to EtOH was sufficient to produce dependence, as measured by elevations in the acoustic startle reflex following 26 hours and five days of withdrawal. No alteration in protein expression was observed regarding either the NR2B or glucocorticoid receptors and exposure to ORG-34517 had no effect on consumption or withdrawal.

This is a study that aims to investigate what is being spoken about on an internet forum created for people who suffer from extreme loneliness. The study aims to answer questions regarding the users identity and general opinions regarding live a life of more intense solitude. The basic scientific approach of the study is centered around two terms, taken from Howard S. Beckers book "outsiders" (1997). These two terms are "outsiders" and "deviant careers", both dealing with the subject of deviant behavior. The method used to collect data is a relatively new method known as "netnography". This new method centers around studying subcultures on the internet. The main method of analyzing the collected data was the method known as qualitative content analysis, which is a method that centers on condensing and coding various parts of a text, so called "meaning units", and then categorizing these units into categories and themes for analysis. The main findings where that the users saw themselves as deviants, and had no problem in doing so. However, it was also found that varying opinions regarding what is "better" between following the norms of society, and to lead a life of this particular form of deviancy was a topic the users seemed to be divided on. Loneliness was a central part of their identity and a lot of the users did seem to favor living lives of isolation, although a lot of users also seemed to want more social interaction with society. A consensus regarding what was "the good life" was as such relatively hard to find, but there nevertheless seemed to be a strong sense of solidarity between the users against what was deemed to be "the normal people".

Companies throughout the world are faced with continual changes in order to remain competitive and survive. These changes are caused by economic uncertainty, globalisation, mergers and acquisitions. The results are unemployment or transfer of workers to the different areas of the organisation. These changes have unprecedented effect on workers, especially the survivors of retrenchments or downsizing, resulting in a feeling of job insecurity. lnsecurity is concerned with the continued existence of jobs for the employees in the organisation. It is characterised by feelings of powerlessness, uncertainty and fear. Consequently, job insecurity has emerged as an important stressor in modern organisations. Studies indicate that job insecurity leads to physical and psychological health problems. Further employees who experience feelings of job insecurity are more likely to display undesirable organisational outcomes such as withdrawal behaviours, job dissatisfaction and low organisational commitment. The empirical objective of this study was to determine the possible relationship between job insecurity, job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Also, whether job insecurity can predict job satisfaction and organisational commitment. A survey design was used to realise the research objectives. The study population consisted of 121 employees in a mining organisation. The Job Insecurity Questionnaire, the Revised Short-version of the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Organisational Commitment Questionnaires were used as measuring instruments. Reliability and construct validity of all three questionnaires were found to be acceptable. It was found that respondents experienced below average levels of job insecurity. They further showed above average levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment. The findings indicate that a relationship exists between job insecurity, job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Practically significant differences of medium to large effect were established for race, respondents having qualifications of less than Std 10, semiskilled, grade C3, 4 and 5 and E, DL and DU, and who are affiliated to NUMSA, which means that they experience more job insecurity compared to other groups. Through regression analysis, it was established that job insecurity predicts 44% of total variance of job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Limitations were identified and recommendations with regard to future research and recommendations for the organisation were made. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.

What does the prevalence of stress and burnout in community-based work reveal about the impacts of welfare state withdrawal? Drawing on the experiences of frontline community organizers in Toronto, this research argues that welfare state withdrawal is subsidized by a ‘Currency of Caring’ whereby frontline community organizers are expected to fill gaps in the social safety net, working to a point of burnout if necessary, because they care. This research investigates how funders operating within this context can promote health and wellness in community-based work. Broadly, research findings provide insights into how neoliberalism and welfare state withdrawal shape frontline community work in ways that exacerbate stress and burnout, and impede systemic change efforts. In addition, research findings describe the limitations and possibilities for funders to be allies in collective change efforts by being invested in the health and wellness of frontline community organizers.

This thesis is primarily focused on flow-field upstream of hydropower intakes, with emphasis on the use of temperature control curtains and predicting the flow acceleration zone. By reviewing the available literature, it is concluded that the flow-field upstream of hydropower intake systems can be modeled by potential flow theory. The understanding of near intake flow-field can be useful in fish entrainment studies and in designing fish repulsion systems. To control downstream river temperatures, a flexible curtain was installed upstream of several dams in California. Flow downstream of the curtain was analyzed using a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) solver with rigorous validation by experimental data. The experiment was conducted with a 4 beam Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) probe. The study shows that wall jet properties downstream of the curtain are affected by the water depth and the inlet Reynolds number. Empirical expressions were developed to predict jet properties and the wall shear stress. Flow upstream of the curtain was analyzed using potential flow theories with validation by the CFD solver. In this part, a theory based on Schwarz-Christoffel transformation was developed to predict the flow-field upstream of the curtain without accounting for any density stratification in the water body. It is observed that the acceleration zone upstream of the curtain can be affected by sink opening size, its location and water depth. The effect of boundaries on flow upstream of a line sink and the interaction of multiple sinks were analyzed. The effect of stratification on a line sink is also analyzed. A theory is developed to predict the incipient withdrawal condition when a sink is located on the horizontal bottom. The theory is also extended to a tilted bottom. The effect of boundaries on the incipient withdrawal condition is analyzed. When only one layer is being withdrawn, it is shown that a homogenous equation can be applied to a stratified condition by assuming an upper layer boundary at the interface. In addition to these works, a despike algorithm for ADV data is developed, and a numerical analysis on central difference scheme is presented. / Water Resources Engineering

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

The immune system has been suggested as crucial in brain and psychological functioning. More precisely, immune markers reflecting immune system activity are important for psychological and mental health, as evident by their role in the physiopathology of depression and in the impairment of executive functions. Frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA), an electroencephalographic marker of brain function, has also been linked to such psychopathology and is thought to reflect psychological processes underlying approach- versus withdrawal-related motivation and higher-order inhibitory control. Only a few studies have linked FAA to immune markers but notably found a negative association between IL-6, a pleiotropic pro-inflammatory cytokine, and FAA. The aim of the present work is thus to study the relationship between various immune markers (including pro-inflammatory cytokines and IL-6) and FAA. 35 healthy young male participants underwent a resting EEG recording and blood sampling from which immune markers were measured. The results did not suggest an association between IL-6 and FAA. No other immune markers were either suggested to be associated to FAA. The complexity of the immune system (e.g., effect of cytokines) is underlined and may explain the results. Despite such results, the implication of true negative correlations between FAA and circulating immune markers, as suggested in previous studies, is discussed in the light of the theoretical models of FAA.

Notre étude à pour but de déterminer l’implication de la corticostérone centrale sur l’activité du réseau hippocampe-cortex préfrontal (HPC-CPF) ainsi que son rôle dans l’émergence et le maintien d’altération de la mémoire de travail (MDT) durant l’alcoolisation chronique (12% durant 6 mois), ou bien après un sevrage aigu (1semaine) ou prolongé (6 semaines). Les effets du sevrage ont également été comparés à ceux résultant d’un stress chronique léger imprédictible (SCLI) modélisant la dépression. Nos données montrent que le sevrage et le SCLI, mais non l’alcoolisation, induisent des troubles de MDT, un déficit d’activation de pCREB (CPF et HPC) ainsi qu’une augmentation excessive des taux de corticostérone spécifiquement dans le CPF après un sevrage. Sur le plan pharmacologique, l’inhibition de la synthèse de la corticostérone restaure la MDT et l’activité de pCREB dans le CPF, chez les souris sevrées et SCLI. Nos résultats montrent également que l’augmentation de pCREB ou le blocage des récepteurs aux minéralocorticoïdes, dans le CPF, mais non dans l’HPC, restaure la MDT des souris sevrées. Ces résultats démontrent que la perturbation de taux de corticostérone dans le CPF joue un rôle clé dans l’émergence des troubles cognitifs et neuronaux après un sevrage. Nous avons également montré qu’un traitement chronique au Diazépam atténue ces altérations transitoirement. Notre étude suggère que des composés agissant sur l'activité de l’axe corticotrope peuvent constituer des stratégies alternatives pour prévenir l'émergence et le maintien des troubles cognitifs induits par le sevrage. / Our study was aimed to determine the involvement of central corticosterone on the activity of hippocampalprefrontal cortex (HPC-PFC) network and its role in the emergence of working memory (WM) alterations during chronic alcohol consumption (12% for 6 months), or after a short (1 week) or a prolonged (6 weeks) withdrawal periods. The alcohol-withdrawal effects were compared to those resulting from an unpredictable mild chronic stress (UCMS), modeling depression. Our data showed that withdrawal and UCMS, but not alcohol, induced WM disorders and deficits of CREB activation in both the PFC and HPC, and an excessive corticosterone increase specifically in the PFC of withdrawn animals. Pharmacological experiments showed that the inhibition of corticosterone synthesis restored pCREB activity in the PFC of both withdrawn and UCMS mice and improved WM. Furthermore, in withdrawn mice, the increase of pCREB or the blockade of the mineralo-corticoid receptor in the PFC, but not in the HPC, restored WM performance. These results demonstrated that corticosterone dysfunction into the PFC plays a key role in the long-lasting cognitive and neural activity disorders of alcohol-withdrawn mice. We also showed that chronic administration of diazepam reduced such alterations only transitorily. Thus, overall, our study suggests that compounds acting on the GCs activity may constitute alternative strategies to prevent the emergence and maintenance of cognitive disorders induced by alcohol withdrawal.

Humiliation is a negative, self-conscious emotion that is experienced because of a psychological discrepancy between an individual’s self-concept and how s/he perceives others as viewing him/her. The questions addressed in the present research were whether humiliation can be experienced as a group-based emotion, what are the emotional and behavioural consequences, and what role does ingroup identification play? In line with the intergroup emotion theory (Smith et al., 2007) and related research, three experiments were conducted to address these questions. The results showed that participants reported to feel humiliation on behalf of a humiliated ingroup member. The results further implied that the behavioural responses such as withdrawal and revenge to group-based humiliation depend on the accommodating emotions such as shame and anger. The results addressing the role of ingroup identification were rather ambiguous. The implications of the present research are outlined in detail with regard to the current discourse on intergroup emotions. / Unisa Grow Your Own Timber Programme / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology (Research Consultation))

At present the number of drug addicted women who incidentally become pregnant is increasing. The children of such woman usually end in care of their grandparents, in infantile institutions and children homes. It is important to prevent unplanned and unwanted pregnancies in drug addicted women. Institutions providing service to drug addicted should concentrate on prevention of unplanned pregnancy. Women should be informed on risks of possible pregnancy in the context of their drug addiction. If a woman becomes pregnant and pregnancy is wanted it is necessary to enable a women treatment which would take into account the stay of a mother with a child. The impossibility of treatment of a mother with a child is a very discouraging factor of treatment. Most of drug addicted women are not willing to admit their drug addiction because they are afraid of losing a child. The cooperation of treatment facilities and gynaecology-maternity departments of hospitals should be common. With regard to the insufficient treatment facilities enabling common stay, it is not easy to ensure that a mother and her child start treatment in time. The more available the treatment for a mother the more probable is the mother ´s decision for the treatment. It is necessary to build the net of treatment facilities where mothers would be enabled to undergo the treatment with their children.