An investigation into variables moderating the outcomes of mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy’s (MBCT) application has become increasingly widespread following its establishment as an effective treatment for depression relapse prevention. Mindfulness meditation (MM) is an integral component of MBCT, but little research has looked at MM guidance instructions themselves. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of two types of MM instruction in improving state affect, in addition to examining whether the type of instruction interacted with the trait characteristic of self-criticism to influence positive affect specifically. Seventy participants were randomised to groups doing either a concentration-oriented or an acceptance-oriented 10-minute MM of the breath. Changes between the groups in pre- to post-meditation state affect, state mindfulness and state concentration were analysed using a three-way mixed ANOVA, with baseline self-criticism entered as a between-participant variable to investigate its hypothesised interaction (or, moderation) with meditation type and outcomes across time. Significant improvements in mindfulness, concentration and negative affect were seen across both meditations, with the concentration-oriented meditation improving concentration significantly more than the acceptance-oriented condition. Further, those categorised as highly self-critical demonstrated a significant reduction in negative affect compared to no reduction for low self-critical participants. The hypothesised interaction between self-criticism and meditation type was not found. Modifying MM of the breath instructions may hold potential in selectively targeting outcomes such as concentration, and self-criticism may predict whether non-clinical participants benefit from improved mood following either form of brief MM. The study’s findings are discussed in addition to identifying limitations, clinical implications and directions for future research

Active versus passive damping in large flexible structures

Optimal passive and active damping control can be considered in the context of a general control/structure optimization problem. Using a mean square output response approach, it is shown that the weight sensitivity of the active and passive controllers can be used to determine an optimal mix of active and passive elements in a flexible structure

Enhancement of the conductivity of Ba2In2O5 through phosphate doping

In this paper, we demonstrate the successful incorporation of phosphate into Ba2In2O5, which leads to the conversion from an orthorhombic to a cubic unit cell. The resulting increased oxygen vacancy disorder leads to an enhancement in the oxide ion conductivity at low temperatures. In addition, in wet atmospheres, significant proton conduction is observed

A disturbance based control/structure design algorithm

Some authors take a classical approach to the simultaneous structure/control optimization by attempting to simultaneously minimize the weighted sum of the total mass and a quadratic form, subject to all of the structural and control constraints. Here, the optimization will be based on the dynamic response of a structure to an external unknown stochastic disturbance environment. Such a response to excitation approach is common to both the structural and control design phases, and hence represents a more natural control/structure optimization strategy than relying on artificial and vague control penalties. The design objective is to find the structure and controller of minimum mass such that all the prescribed constraints are satisfied. Two alternative solution algorithms are presented which have been applied to this problem. Each algorithm handles the optimization strategy and the imposition of the nonlinear constraints in a different manner. Two controller methodologies, and their effect on the solution algorithm, will be considered. These are full state feedback and direct output feedback, although the problem formulation is not restricted solely to these forms of controller. In fact, although full state feedback is a popular choice among researchers in this field (for reasons that will become apparent), its practical application is severely limited. The controller/structure interaction is inserted by the imposition of appropriate closed-loop constraints, such as closed-loop output response and control effort constraints. Numerical results will be obtained for a representative flexible structure model to illustrate the effectiveness of the solution algorithms

Evaluation of ERTS-1 image sensor spatial resolution in photographic form

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Quantum and Fisher Information from the Husimi and Related Distributions

The two principal/immediate influences -- which we seek to interrelate here -- upon the undertaking of this study are papers of Zyczkowski and Slomczy\'nski (J. Phys. A 34, 6689 [2001]) and of Petz and Sudar (J. Math. Phys. 37, 2262 [1996]). In the former work, a metric (the Monge one, specifically) over generalized Husimi distributions was employed to define a distance between two arbitrary density matrices. In the Petz-Sudar work (completing a program of Chentsov), the quantum analogue of the (classically unique) Fisher information (montone) metric of a probability simplex was extended to define an uncountable infinitude of Riemannian (also monotone) metrics on the set of positive definite density matrices. We pose here the questions of what is the specific/unique Fisher information metric for the (classically-defined) Husimi distributions and how does it relate to the infinitude of (quantum) metrics over the density matrices of Petz and Sudar? We find a highly proximate (small relative entropy) relationship between the probability distribution (the quantum Jeffreys' prior) that yields quantum universal data compression, and that which (following Clarke and Barron) gives its classical counterpart. We also investigate the Fisher information metrics corresponding to the escort Husimi, positive-P and certain Gaussian probability distributions, as well as, in some sense, the discrete Wigner pseudoprobability. The comparative noninformativity of prior probability distributions -- recently studied by Srednicki (Phys. Rev. A 71, 052107 [2005]) -- formed by normalizing the volume elements of the various information metrics, is also discussed in our context.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, slight revisions, to appear in J. Math. Phy

Comparing the Differences in Access to Professional Development for General Education and Special Education Teachers and the Subsequent Impact on Instructional Practice

The demands on schools, teachers, and students continue to increase as greater accountability measures are put into place at all levels. For teachers to meet these increased demands, it is important that they be provided opportunities to improve and enhance their content knowledge and pedagogy. One way to ensure the provision of these opportunities for teachers is through professional development. There is significant evidence that professional development can improve instructional practice and student outcomes (Drago-Severson, 1994; Garet et al., 2001; Guskey, 2000; Sparks & Loucks-Horsley, 1989; Wei et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2015). However, there continues to be a gap between what is learned during professional development and what gets implemented in the classroom to change instructional practices. Much of the existing research on teacher professional development has identified the structures and content that predict the effectiveness of professional development activities. However, much of the existing research focuses specifically on general education teachers rather than special education teachers, or does not specify the population of teachers it has targeted. Additionally, much of the existing research has not focused on the impact professional development activities have on classroom environments. Before the field of education can answer urgent questions related to the effectiveness of professional development and why there is a gap between learning and classroom implementation, access to evidence-based models of professional development must be determined. The focus of this study was to identify the differences in access to various models of professional development between general education and special education teachers. This study was conducted using an online survey that asked general and special education teachers to report their perceived access to evidence-based models of professional development, participation in evidence-based evaluation methods, and their perceived impact of professional development activities on their practice. Analysis of the results indicated that overall, neither group reported high levels of participation in the models of professional development known to change instructional practice and outcomes for students. In only one category was there a statistically significant difference between groups. It was reported that special education teachers reported significantly more opportunities for professional development in teaching students with disabilities than general education teachers. This study contributed to a gap in the literature related to the access special education teachers have to professional development as compared to general education teachers. Specifically, it addressed what models of professional development general education and special education teachers report participating in, what evaluation methods they are participating in related to professional development, and their self-reported perceptions about the impact professional development has on their learning and the learning outcomes of their students