710 research outputs found
Integrating Mindfulness and Character Strengths for Improved Well-Being, Stress, and Relationships: : A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice
The integration of mindfulness and character strengths is an emerging area of research and practice. The evidence-based, 8-week program, Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice (MBSP) represents a unique approach in that the starting point and focus is on what is best in human beings – their character strengths. These qualities are then leveraged to improve one’s meditation practice or area of mindful living (referred to as “strong mindfulness”) and in turn, mindfulness is used as a lens for deepening awareness and use of strengths (referred to as “mindful strengths use”). While early controlled studies find MBSP to elicit well-being and reduce stress, and find it to be superior to popular mindfulness programs for different outcomes, we are not aware of any published qualitative analyses examining the MBSP participant’s experience. This study offers insights from a large international sample and extends the empirical data on MBSP, including the novel finding of benefit for building positive relationships, as well as confirming other findings such as the most common obstacles people confront in mindfulness practices. Additional areas discussed using qualitative and quantitative findings include the most beneficial mindfulness/character strengths practices, the use of inward and outward-oriented practices, cognizance of the integration of mindfulness and character strengths, and self-reported positive outcomes, including substantial benefits to stress and problem management and boosts to meaning, purpose, engagement, accomplishment, and sense of self
Clicking Our Way To Class Discussion
The goal of this research project is to investigate whether the use of a personal response system (“clickers”) in the classroom increases student participation and discussion and its impact on the quality of the discussion in undergraduate accounting courses. While many studies conducted regarding the use of clickers rely on student surveys to determine the effectiveness of using clickers, this study will add to the literature by providing evidence of actual student behavior as it relates to participation when clicker technology is used in the classroom. Our study includes collecting data on student classroom behavior by observing and measuring the level of participation in both clicker and non-clicker classes. We discuss the observed impact of clickers on class participation and contrast it with prior work on the perceived impact, the use of clicker technology versus a clicker question, and the impact of the clickers on the faculty participating in this project
A Matrix Element for Chaotic Tunnelling Rates and Scarring Intensities
It is shown that tunnelling splittings in ergodic double wells and resonant
widths in ergodic metastable wells can be approximated as easily-calculated
matrix elements involving the wavefunction in the neighbourhood of a certain
real orbit. This orbit is a continuation of the complex orbit which crosses the
barrier with minimum imaginary action. The matrix element is computed by
integrating across the orbit in a surface of section representation, and uses
only the wavefunction in the allowed region and the stability properties of the
orbit. When the real orbit is periodic, the matrix element is a natural measure
of the degree of scarring of the wavefunction. This scarring measure is
canonically invariant and independent of the choice of surface of section,
within semiclassical error. The result can alternatively be interpretated as
the autocorrelation function of the state with respect to a transfer operator
which quantises a certain complex surface of section mapping. The formula
provides an efficient numerical method to compute tunnelling rates while
avoiding the need for the exceedingly precise diagonalisation endemic to
numerical tunnelling calculations.Comment: Submitted to Annals of Physics. This work has been submitted to
Academic Press for possible publicatio
Edge Diffraction, Trace Formulae and the Cardioid Billiard
We study the effect of edge diffraction on the semiclassical analysis of two
dimensional quantum systems by deriving a trace formula which incorporates
paths hitting any number of vertices embedded in an arbitrary potential. This
formula is used to study the cardioid billiard, which has a single vertex. The
formula works well for most of the short orbits we analyzed but fails for a few
diffractive orbits due to a breakdown in the formalism for certain geometries.
We extend the symbolic dynamics to account for diffractive orbits and use it to
show that in the presence of parity symmetry the trace formula decomposes in an
elegant manner such that for the cardioid billiard the diffractive orbits have
no effect on the odd spectrum. Including diffractive orbits helps resolve peaks
in the density of even states but does not appear to affect their positions. An
analysis of the level statistics shows no significant difference between
spectra with and without diffraction.Comment: 25 pages, 12 Postscript figures. Published versio
Periodic Orbit Quantization beyond Semiclassics
A quantum generalization of the semiclassical theory of Gutzwiller is given.
The new formulation leads to systematic orbit-by-orbit inclusion of higher
contributions to the spectral determinant. We apply the theory to
billiard systems, and compare the periodic orbit quantization including the
first contribution to the exact quantum mechanical results.Comment: revte
Semiclassical Trace Formulas for Noninteracting Identical Particles
We extend the Gutzwiller trace formula to systems of noninteracting identical
particles. The standard relation for isolated orbits does not apply since the
energy of each particle is separately conserved causing the periodic orbits to
occur in continuous families. The identical nature of the particles also
introduces discrete permutational symmetries. We exploit the formalism of
Creagh and Littlejohn [Phys. Rev. A 44, 836 (1991)], who have studied
semiclassical dynamics in the presence of continuous symmetries, to derive
many-body trace formulas for the full and symmetry-reduced densities of states.
Numerical studies of the three-particle cardioid billiard are used to
explicitly illustrate and test the results of the theory.Comment: 29 pages, 11 figures, submitted to PR
Periodic Orbits and Spectral Statistics of Pseudointegrable Billiards
We demonstrate for a generic pseudointegrable billiard that the number of
periodic orbit families with length less than increases as , where is a constant and is the average area occupied by these families. We also find that
increases with before saturating. Finally, we show
that periodic orbits provide a good estimate of spectral correlations in the
corresponding quantum spectrum and thus conclude that diffraction effects are
not as significant in such studies.Comment: 13 pages in RevTex including 5 figure
Small Disks and Semiclassical Resonances
We study the effect on quantum spectra of the existence of small circular
disks in a billiard system. In the limit where the disk radii vanish there is
no effect, however this limit is approached very slowly so that even very small
radii have comparatively large effects. We include diffractive orbits which
scatter off the small disks in the periodic orbit expansion. This situation is
formally similar to edge diffraction except that the disk radii introduce a
length scale in the problem such that for wave lengths smaller than the order
of the disk radius we recover the usual semi-classical approximation; however,
for wave lengths larger than the order of the disk radius there is a
qualitatively different behaviour. We test the theory by successfully
estimating the positions of scattering resonances in geometries consisting of
three and four small disks.Comment: Final published version - some changes in the discussion and the
labels on one figure are correcte
Classical and Quantum Transport Through Entropic Barriers Modelled by Hardwall Hyperboloidal Constrictions
We study the quantum transport through entropic barriers induced by hardwall
constrictions of hyperboloidal shape in two and three spatial dimensions. Using
the separability of the Schrodinger equation and the classical equations of
motion for these geometries we study in detail the quantum transmission
probabilities and the associated quantum resonances, and relate them to the
classical phase structures which govern the transport through the
constrictions. These classical phase structures are compared to the analogous
structures which, as has been shown only recently, govern reaction type
dynamics in smooth systems. Although the systems studied in this paper are
special due their separability they can be taken as a guide to study entropic
barriers resulting from constriction geometries that lead to non-separable
dynamics.Comment: 59 pages, 22 EPS figures
The Impact of Almonds and Almond Processing On Gastrointestinal Physiology, Luminal Microbiology and Gastrointestinal Symptoms: a Randomized Controlled Trial and Mastication Study.
BACKGROUND: Almonds contain lipid, fiber and polyphenols and possess physicochemical properties that impact nutrient bioaccessibility, which are hypothesized to impact gut physiology and microbiota. OBJECTIVES: Investigate the impact of whole almonds and ground almonds (almond flour) on fecal bifidobacteria (primary outcome), gut microbiota composition and transit time. DESIGN: Healthy adults (n = 87) participated in a parallel, 3-arm randomized controlled trial. Participants received whole almonds (56 g/d), ground almonds (56 g/d) or an isocaloric control muffin in place of habitual snacks for 4 weeks. Gut microbiota composition and diversity (16S rRNA gene sequencing), short-chain fatty acids (gas-chromatography), volatile organic compounds (gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry), gut transit time (wireless motility capsule), stool output and gut symptoms (7-day diary) were measured at baseline and endpoint. The impact of almond form on particle size distribution (PSD) and predicted lipid release was measured in a subgroup (n = 31). RESULTS: Modified intention-to-treat analysis was performed on 79 participants. There were no significant differences in abundance of fecal bifidobacteria following consumption of whole almonds (8.7%, SD 7.7%), ground almonds (7.8%, SD 6.9%) or control (13.0%, SD 10.2%; q = 0.613). Consumption of almonds (whole and ground pooled) resulted in higher butyrate (24.1 μmol/g, SD 15.0 μmol/g) in comparison to control (18.2 μmol/g, SD 9.1 μmol/g; p = 0.046). There was no effect of almonds on gut microbiota at the phylum level or diversity, gut transit time, stool consistency or gut symptoms. Almond form (whole versus ground) had no effect on study outcomes. Ground almonds resulted in significantly smaller PSD and higher predicted lipid release (10.4%, SD 1.8%) in comparison to whole almonds (9.3%, SD 2.0%; p = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: Almond consumption has limited impact on gut microbiota composition but increases butyrate concentrations in adults, suggesting positive alterations to microbiota functionality. Almonds can be incorporated into the diet to increase fiber consumption without triggering gut symptoms. Clinical trial registry: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier - NCT03581812
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