Restortive Effects of Meditation Apps

We have investigated two different smartphone meditation apps to determine if they have any effects on stress and check if they are a viable tool that users can engage with to cope with stress during a work break. The dependent variables being measured include affective and cognitive restoration. The control group performed a coloring activity using a mandala figure. The experimental conditions engaged in app guided meditation through either 10% Happier or Calm. Both are health apps that are intended to help users practice a variety of mindfulness meditation exercises and help build healthy habits. This research focused on a specific form of meditation known as mindfulness meditation for gratitude, afterward we analyzed the findings. Previous workplace mindfulness intervention trials have focused on reducing psychological stress, with limited empirical evidence showing that mindfulness training leads to improvements in the other domains, such as affective and cognitive processes. Research on mobile meditation apps may have been limited by ceiling effects given that previous research did not attempt to induce stress and fatigue prior to intervention. The vigilance task has been used to reduce the occurrence of the ceiling effect, it has the purpose of inducing stress and cognitive fatigue prior to intervention. We ran participants through the experiment then measure and analyze their data to see if stress reduction benefits of mindfulness-based meditation for gratitude can effectively restore stress levels once induced. Benefits associated with meditation include an improved capacity to cope with stressful situations and enhanced attention regulation which are key performance indicators across many domains. First participants took the Big Five Personality test. Then completed a baseline affective and cognitive assessment (ACA), which included the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, the shortened version of the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire, and the N-back test. Next, participants completed the vigilance task, followed by another ACA. Participants were then randomly assigned to complete a coloring activity, 10% Happier, or Calm followed by an ACA. Last, participants in the experimental conditions completed the System Usability Scale. Application: Everyday life involves cognitive demands that can be stressful and decrease performance, especially for workers and college students whose performance is vital within their domains. This research investigates the potential of mindfulness meditation apps\u27 ability to restore cognitive and affective processes once depleted

Spatial Analysis of the Current and Potential Stormwater Management Practices on Grand Valley State University’s Allendale Campus

Low impact development is an alternative to traditional urban design with the goal of reducing the amount of stormwater runoff generated from impermeable surfaces. Increased stormwater runoff can mobilize surface pollutants such as oil, road salt, and heavy metals, as well as accelerate the erosion and slope destabilization near natural waterways. Green infrastructure such as rain gardens and green roofs have been shown to remediate these pollutants and reduce the peak discharge of stormwater during storm events. This study evaluates the current stormwater management practices on the Allendale Campus of Grand Valley State University as well as provides management suggestions for the implementation of additional green infrastructure. Geographic information system (GIS) software was used to determine the land use types of two areas of interest in the campus and provide estimates of the peak discharge rate during a 25-year 24-hour rain event. The peak discharge of four stormwater management scenarios was estimated for the northern area of interest based on current conditions, and the implementation of rain gardens, green roofs, and permeable parking lots. The peak discharge for current conditions is estimated to be 4.76 m3/sec or 168.14 cfs (Table 1). The highest reduction in peak discharge occurred in the permeable parking lot scenario with a total reduction of 22.37% (Table 1)

A Data Transformation System for Biological Data Sources

Scientific data of importance to biologists in the Human Genome Project resides not only in conventional databases, but in structured files maintained in a number of different formats (e.g. ASN.1 and ACE) as well a.s sequence analysis packages (e.g. BLAST and FASTA). These formats and packages contain a number of data types not found in conventional databases, such as lists and variants, and may be deeply nested. We present in this paper techniques for querying and transforming such data, and illustrate their use in a prototype system developed in conjunction with the Human Genome Center for Chromosome 22. We also describe optimizations performed by the system, a crucial issue for bulk data

A Consumers Guide to Grants Management Systems 2016

This report has been released by Grants Managers Network (GMN) and Technology Affinity Group (TAG), with research conducted by Idealware. The report compares 29 grants management systems across 174 requirements criteria, looks at what each system does, and compares the strengths and weaknesses of each system available to grantmakers. The report looks at how they stack up against high-level categories and details the functionality of each system against specific criteria important to the grant-making community

“KE AUPUNI: HE AHA IA?”: USING JOSEPH NAWAHĪ’S CONCEPTION OF THE AUPUNI BODY AS A FRAMEWORK TO HOʻOHAWAIʻI

M.A

‘You Are What You Read:’ Is selective exposure a way people tell us who they are?

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156182/2/bjop12414_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156182/1/bjop12414.pd

Seismic data acquisition at the FACT site for the CASPAR project.

Since May 2010, we have been recording continuous seismic data at Sandia's FACT site. The collected signals provide us with a realistic archive for testing algorithms under development for local monitoring of explosive testing. Numerous small explosive tests are routinely conducted around Kirtland AFB by different organizations. Our goal is to identify effective methods for distinguishing these events from normal daily activity on and near the base, such as vehicles, aircraft, and storms. In this report, we describe the recording system, and present some observations of the varying ambient noise conditions at FACT. We present examples of various common, non-explosive, sources. Next we show signals from several small explosions, and discuss their characteristic features

The Simplest Walking Robot: A bipedal robot with one actuator and two rigid bodies

We present the design and experimental results of the first 1-DOF, hip-actuated bipedal robot. While passive dynamic walking is simple by nature, many existing bipeds inspired by this form of walking are complex in control, mechanical design, or both. Our design using only two rigid bodies connected by a single motor aims to enable exploration of walking at smaller sizes where more complex designs cannot be constructed. The walker, "Mugatu", is self-contained and autonomous, open-loop stable over a range of input parameters, able to stop and start from standing, and able to control its heading left and right. We analyze the mechanical design and distill down a set of design rules that enable these behaviors. Experimental evaluations measure speed, energy consumption, and steering

Observations of Pre-operative Teamwork and Communication During the Implementation of a City-Wide Surgical Safety Checklist

BACKGROUND: Use of the World Health Organization's (WHO) perioperative safety checklist has been shown in prior studies to reduce morbidity and mortality. In 2009, the Medical Society of Sedgwick County, Kansas, developed a modified version of the WHO checklist for city-wide implementation. This study evaluated how the checklist was used at a Wichita hospital. METHODS: An observational tool was developed to evaluate time-outs at the beginning of surgical procedures. A convenience sample of cases was evaluated across surgical specialties and procedures. Observations included: 1) when the time-out was done, 2) who led the time-out, 3) which items on the checklist were addressed, 4) how much time was spent, and 5) whether problems were identified or adverse events prevented. RESULTS: Data were collected from 121 observations. Only one of the surgical teams was observed to refer directly to the checklist posted in the OR to conduct their time out. The time-out was done before induction (3%), drape (19%), incision (77%), and after incision (1%). The process was led by the circulating nurse (92%), surgeon (7%), and circulating nurse and surgeon together (1%). The percent of completed checklist items was: patient identity (96%), procedure (96%), antibiotics (87%), site (80%), allergies (75%), position (70%), equipment (60%), DVT prevention (50%), images (40%), surgeon concerns (36%), and anesthesia provider concerns (34%). On average, seven (SD = 2.5) of 11 items on the checklist were addressed. Time spent ranged from less than one minute to five minutes; 78% took one minute or less. Problems were identified in 7% of cases. In one case, a wrong site surgery was prevented. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the intention to implement a city-wide surgical safety checklist, the checklist rarely was used in its entirety to conduct the observed time-outs in the subject hospital. Although the checklist was under-utilized, safety benefits were observed from the time-out process. These would likely be enhanced and extended by consistent use of a checklist