Reconceptualization of Eating Addiction and Obesity as Displacement Behavior and a Possible Treatment

Purpose: Displacement behavior is a bio-behavioral mechanism that allows an animal to deal with situations that cannot readily be faced nor avoided, or that are thwarting. It may explain compulsive overeating (eating addiction). Resembling addiction, displacement behavior is irrepressible behavior that is contextually inappropriate, e.g., sleeping or feeding when threatened by a predator, or binge eating in response to a work altercation. It is thought to be due to rechanneling of overflow brain energy to another drive (e.g., feeding drive) when two drives, e.g., fight or flight, equally oppose each other. Moving the opposing drives out of equilibrium, by resolving the person’s underlying problem/stressful situations, theoretically should mitigate the displacement mechanism and addictive overeating. Methods: We developed a mobile phone intervention targeting addictive overeating, including a displacement mechanism component. A displacement use subgroup (N=37) ages 14-24 with obesity (mean BMI= 38.1) identified life situations they could neither face nor avoid, or that were thwarting them, and developed action plans to address each situation. Feasibility and acceptability were evaluated. Results: Participants found the displacement component to be understandable and user-friendly. The majority (26/37 – 70%) used the core “Dread List” feature to input 90 individual dreaded/problem situations fueling displacement-based overeating, coupled with action plans to address each problem. Conclusion: The displacement mechanism may be a useful basis for treatment of eating addiction and obesity, and may provide individuals with hope that they can curb their addiction without relying on willpower to not overeat. A randomized trial evaluating the displacement intervention is planned.

Penetration and Displacement Behavior of N2 in Porous Interlayer Structures Containing Water/Salt Component by Molecular Dynamics Simulation

The penetration and displacement behavior of N2 molecules in porous interlayer structures containing a water/salt component with porosities of 4.29%, 4.73%, 5.17%, 7.22%, and 11.38% were explored using molecular dynamics simulations. The results demonstrated that the large porosity of the interlayer structures effectively enhanced the permeation and diffusion characteristics of N2. The water and salt in the interlayer structures were displaced during the injection of N2 in the porosity sequence of 4.29% < 4.73% < 5.17% < 7.22% < 11.38%. The high permeance of 7.12 × 10−6 indicated that the interlayer structures with a porosity of 11.38% have better movability. The strong interaction of approximately 15 kcal/mol between N2 and H2O had a positive effect on the diffusion of N2 and the displacement of H2O before it reached a stable equilibrium state. The distribution of N2 in porous interlayer structures and the relationship between the logarithm of permeability and breakthrough pressure were presented. This work highlighted the effects of porosity on the permeability and diffusion of N2/H2O in the interlayer, thus providing theoretical guidance for the development of petroleum resources.

Study on Parametric Analysis of Piled Raft Foundation System Using Finite Element Approach

To accommodate the shear requirement and settlement requirement of high rise construction, the concept of piled-raft foundation has been developed. This research deals with successive analysis of parameters of piled-raft foundation system using PLAXIS-2D as a FEM tool. Plain strain analysis of piled raft foundation system has been conducted out by successive fixing up of parameters. For the analysis two cases has been studied for piled-raft lying on silty soil deposit and on clayey deposit with respect to uniform static loading from superstructure. The result of successive variation of parameters showed that variation has limiting effect on stress and displacement behavior. The analysis is also performed for raft of different relative stiffness and pile of different relative compressibility and load sharing between plain strain pile and raft has been analyzed.