The effect of heart rate variability biofeedback training on stress and anxiety: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Some evidence suggests that heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback might be an effective way to treat anxiety and stress symptoms. To examine the effect of HRV biofeedback on symptoms of anxiety and stress, we conducted a meta-analysis of studies extracted from PubMed, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Library. METHODS: The search identified 24 studies totaling 484 participants who received HRV biofeedback training for stress and anxiety. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis. RESULTS: The pre-post within-group effect size (Hedges' g) was 0.81. The between-groups analysis comparing biofeedback to a control condition yielded Hedges' g = 0.83. Moderator analyses revealed that treatment efficacy was not moderated by study year, risk of study bias, percentage of females, number of sessions, or presence of an anxiety disorder. CONCLUSIONS: HRV biofeedback training is associated with a large reduction in self-reported stress and anxiety. Although more well-controlled studies are needed, this intervention offers a promising approach for treating stress and anxiety with wearable devices

The History of the Mysterious Eclipses of KH 15D: Asiago Observatory, 1967-1982

We are gathering archival observations to determine the photometric history of the unique and unexplained eclipses of the pre-main-sequence star KH 15D. Here we present a light curve from 1967-1982, based on photographic plates from Asiago Observatory. During this time, the system alternated periodically between bright and faint states, as observed today. However, the bright state was 0.9 mag brighter than the modern value, and the fractional variation between bright and faint states (Delta I = 0.7 mag) was smaller than observed today (3.5 mag). A possible explanation for these findings is that the system contains a second star that was previously blended with the eclipsing star, but is now completely obscured.Comment: Accepted to AJ. 24 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables. v2: Phase error corrected in figures 8 and 1

Hierarchical freezing in a lattice model

A certain two-dimensional lattice model with nearest and next-nearest neighbor interactions is known to have a limit-periodic ground state. We show that during a slow quench from the high temperature, disordered phase, the ground state emerges through an infinite sequence of phase transitions. We define appropriate order parameters and show that the transitions are related by renormalizations of the temperature scale. As the temperature is decreased, sublattices with increasingly large lattice constants become ordered. A rapid quench results in glass-like state due to kinetic barriers created by simultaneous freezing on sublattices with different lattice constants.Comment: 6 pages; 5 figures (minor changes, reformatted

Hyperuniformity of Quasicrystals

Hyperuniform systems, which include crystals, quasicrystals and special disordered systems, have attracted considerable recent attention, but rigorous analyses of the hyperuniformity of quasicrystals have been lacking because the support of the spectral intensity is dense and discontinuous. We employ the integrated spectral intensity, $Z(k)$, to quantitatively characterize the hyperuniformity of quasicrystalline point sets generated by projection methods. The scaling of $Z(k)$ as $k$ tends to zero is computed for one-dimensional quasicrystals and shown to be consistent with independent calculations of the variance, $\sigma^2(R)$, in the number of points contained in an interval of length $2R$. We find that one-dimensional quasicrystals produced by projection from a two-dimensional lattice onto a line of slope $1/\tau$ fall into distinct classes determined by the width of the projection window. For a countable dense set of widths, $Z(k) \sim k^4$; for all others, $Z(k)\sim k^2$. This distinction suggests that measures of hyperuniformity define new classes of quasicrystals in higher dimensions as well.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figure

Numerical Methods for Stochastic Differential Equations

Stochastic differential equations (sdes) play an important role in physics but existing numerical methods for solving such equations are of low accuracy and poor stability. A general strategy for developing accurate and efficient schemes for solving stochastic equations in outlined here. High order numerical methods are developed for integration of stochastic differential equations with strong solutions. We demonstrate the accuracy of the resulting integration schemes by computing the errors in approximate solutions for sdes which have known exact solutions

Yearlong Student Teaching: Boom or Bust?

The Iowa Department of Education awarded Dordt College and a second institution of higher learning a grant to implement a yearlong student teaching pilot program. This presentation describes the implementation of the program and examines the benefits and challenges that resulted from it

The role of the individual in the coming era of process-based therapy

For decades the development of evidence-based therapy has been based on experimental tests of protocols designed to impact psychiatric syndromes. As this paradigm weakens, a more process-based therapy approach is rising in its place, focused on how to best target and change core biopsychosocial processes in specific situations for given goals with given clients. This is an inherently more idiographic question than has normally been at issue in evidence-based therapy over the last few decades. In this article we explore methods of assessment and analysis that can integrate idiographic and nomothetic approaches in a process-based era.Accepted manuscrip