Measuring mindful interoception : development of the mindful interoception sampling task (MIST).

Sustained, non-evaluative, present moment interoception or ? mindful interoception (MI) is a central feature of many widely practiced clinical interventions, including mindfulness-based therapies, cognitive-behavioral therapies, focusing-oriented psychotherapy, and Gestalt therapy. However, to date, no valid measures of MI have been developed. The lack of such a measure has precluded attempts to discern A) to what extent MI ability changes as a function of MI-based therapies, B) if change in MI mediates symptom reduction, and C) if individual differences in MI ability are associated with anxiety, mindfulness, and other hypothetically related constructs. The purpose of the current study was to develop and validate the first such measure of MI, the Mindful Interoception Sampling Task (MIST). The MIST is a behavioral measure of MI, in which participants focus attention on sequential regions of the body and are periodically prompted to report whether their attention has wandered. Higher scores on the MIST are thus hypothetically reflective of lower levels of MI. One hundred eight participants were recruited from undergraduate psychology courses for this study. Participants were administered the MIST and the Schandry heartbeat detection task, a widely used behavioral measure of interoception. A battery of questionnaires was also administered, and resting heart rate and blood pressure were recorded. Results of this study indicate the MIST is a valid behavioral measure of mindfulness, the first of its kind. Further research is still needed to determine whether the MIST specifically measures MI. Current findings, however, do suggest the newly identified construct of MI is an important and promising focus of clinical research

Public and Private Education: Conceptualizing the Distinction

Common wisdom and public discourse seem to suggest that there are two types of schools, private and public. Policy debates, media outlets, and comparisons of outcomes on standardized tests and interscholastic athletic competitions make use of the distinction. This essay argues that while such a distinction can be helpful, it also tends to obscure differences in the social organization of schools. Employing a sociological analysis and providing a historical overview of educational developments, the authors focus on centralization versus decentralization of school controls and discuss the ramifications of a broad versus a narrow market niche for schools

Vapor phase growth technique and system for several 3-5 compound semiconductors Quarterly technical report

Vapor phase growth technique and system for group 3A and 5A compound semiconductor

Rex E. Lee Conference on the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States: Clinton II Panel

I will say a few words about Dickerson, both because Michael has made it impossible not to and also because in some ways it represents the very best about how all of the wonderful, tried-and-true processes of the SG\u27s Office ought to work. Dickerson was very much like the other case that Michael talked about (which is one of, I think, two significant privilege controversies which the Independent Counsel laid on our doorstep). These cases may have appeared to the outside world as paradigmatically cases in which we would be hearing from the White House, or talking to the White House, or thinking about things other than the long-term institutional interests of the United States. But absolutely nothing of the sort ever happened, nor was any effort made by any political person to intrude in our decision-making policy

A non-hybrid method for the PDF equations of turbulent flows on unstructured grids

In probability density function (PDF) methods of turbulent flows, the joint PDF of several flow variables is computed by numerically integrating a system of stochastic differential equations for Lagrangian particles. A set of parallel algorithms is proposed to provide an efficient solution of the PDF transport equation, modeling the joint PDF of turbulent velocity, frequency and concentration of a passive scalar in geometrically complex configurations. An unstructured Eulerian grid is employed to extract Eulerian statistics, to solve for quantities represented at fixed locations of the domain (e.g. the mean pressure) and to track particles. All three aspects regarding the grid make use of the finite element method (FEM) employing the simplest linear FEM shape functions. To model the small-scale mixing of the transported scalar, the interaction by exchange with the conditional mean model is adopted. An adaptive algorithm that computes the velocity-conditioned scalar mean is proposed that homogenizes the statistical error over the sample space with no assumption on the shape of the underlying velocity PDF. Compared to other hybrid particle-in-cell approaches for the PDF equations, the current methodology is consistent without the need for consistency conditions. The algorithm is tested by computing the dispersion of passive scalars released from concentrated sources in two different turbulent flows: the fully developed turbulent channel flow and a street canyon (or cavity) flow. Algorithmic details on estimating conditional and unconditional statistics, particle tracking and particle-number control are presented in detail. Relevant aspects of performance and parallelism on cache-based shared memory machines are discussed.Comment: Accepted in Journal of Computational Physics, Feb. 20, 200

A note on the consistency of Hybrid Eulerian/Lagrangian approach to multiphase flows

The aim of the present paper is to introduce and to discuss inconsistencies errors that may arise when Eulerian and Lagrangian models are coupled for the simulations of turbulent poly-dispersed two-phase flows. In these hydrid models, two turbulence models are in fact implicitely used at the same time and it is essential to check that they are consistent, in spite of their apparent different formulations. This issue appears in particular in the case of very-small particles, or tracer-limit particles, and it is shown that coupling inconsistent turbulence models (Eulerian and Lagrangian) can result in non-physical results, notably for second-order fluid velocity moments. This problem is illustrated by some computations for fluid particles in a turbulent channel flow using several coupling strategies.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Vapor phase growth technique and system for several III-V compound semiconductors Interim scientific report

Vapor phase growth method for single crystalline preparation of gallium nitride, gallium arsenide alloy, and gallium antimonide allo

Supporting induction: relationships count

This article examines the structural changes to the induction of teachers in Scotland using the perceptions of a group of final year student teachers. This group would be the first probationer teachers to experience revised arrangements for new teacher induction in 37 years. Their preferences and concerns are highlighted, as the new procedures roll out in schools nationwide, in an attempt to stress the importance of relationships to the success of the induction scheme. The argument put forward in this article is based on the notion that personal intelligence is central to effective relationships and therefore crucially important in the context of this mentoring relationship. The views of our sample provide evidence to suggest that the quality of interactions between the mentor and the probationer teacher are paramount in providing a good induction experience. These views are substantiated by experiences in England and in induction literature elsewhere. A synthesis of this evidence is used to make recommendations for those involved in supporting induction in schools, local authorities or teacher education institutions