Bells of Mindfulness: An Online Mindfulness Meditation Course to Promote Mindfulness Meditation for PhD Students

Over the last 20 years, there has been growing evidence of mental health issues in doctoral candidates worldwide (Zhang et al., 2022; Barry et al., 2019; Gewin, 2012; Radison & DiGeronimo, 2005). Practicing mindfulness meditation, which is one way to cope with stress and anxiety (Kabat-Zinn, 1991), could be a useful practice for these PhD students. However, despite all the evidence that suggests the health benefits of having a regular meditation routine, motivating graduate students to practice meditation can be challenging (Franco, 2020). This study addresses this challenge by assessing a 5-week mindfulness meditation course designed to support graduate students in developing a habit of practicing mindfulness meditation. Graduate students in PhD degree programs, many of whom worked and/or had families, were recruited to participate in a 5-week online mindfulness meditation course. Principles from social cognitive learning theory, particularly self-efficacy, guided course structure and activities, helping to better understand and interpret participants\u27 experiences and growth throughout the course. Interviews were conducted mid- and post-course to find out how effective the online course was in helping participants to make a habit of practicing mindfulness meditation and to understand what factors of the course were most effective in changing their mindfulness meditation practice. Participants took the Self-Efficacy for Mindfulness Meditation Practice surveys, pre-, mid-, and post-course to inform qualitative data from interviews

Laguerre-Gaussian Modes and the Wigner Transform

Recent developments in laser physics have called renewed attention to Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams of paraxial light. In this paper we consider the corresponding LG modes for the two-dimensional harmonic oscillator, which appear in the transversal plane at the laser beam's waist. We see how they arise as Wigner transforms of Hermite-Gaussian modes, and we proceed to find a closed form for their own Wigner transforms, providing an alternative to the methods of Simon and Agarwal. Our main observation is that the Wigner transform intertwines the creation and annihilation operators for the two classes of modes.Comment: 12 pages, minor corrections; submitted, Journal of Modern Optic

Salivary IgA as a risk factor for upper respiratory infections in elite professional athletes

The relationship between physiological and psychological stress and immune function is widely recognized; however, there is little evidence to confirm a direct link between depressed immune function and incidence of illness in athletes. Purpose: To examine the relationship between salivary immunoglobulin A (s-IgA) and upper respiratory infections (URI) in a cohort of professional athletes over a prolonged period. Methods: Thirty-eight elite America’s Cup yacht racing athletes were studied over 50 wk of training. Resting, unstimulated saliva samples were collected weekly (38 h after exercise, consistent time of day, fasted) together with clinically confirmed URI, training load, and perceived fatigue rating. Results: s-IgA was highly variable within (coefficients of variation [CV] = 48%) and between subjects (CV = 71%). No significant correlation was found between absolute s-IgA concentration and the incidence of URI among athletes (r = 0.11). However, a significant (28%, P G 0.005) reduction in s-IgA occurred during the 3 wk before URI episodes and returned to baseline by 2 wk after a URI. When an athlete did not have, or was not recovering from URI, a s-IgA value lower than 40% of their mean healthy s-IgA concentration indicated a one in two chance of contracting an URI within 3 wk. Conclusion: On a group basis, relative s-IgA determined a substantial proportion of the variability in weekly URI incidence. The typical decline in an individual’s relative s-IgA over the 3 wk before a URI appears to precede and contribute to URI risk, with the magnitude of the decrease related to the risk of URI, independent of the absolute s-IgA concentration. These findings have important implications for athletes and coaches in identifying periods of high URI risk

Wave operator bounds for 1-dimensional Schr\"odinger operators with singular potentials and applications

Boundedness of wave operators for Schr\"odinger operators in one space dimension for a class of singular potentials, admitting finitely many Dirac delta distributions, is proved. Applications are presented to, for example, dispersive estimates and commutator bounds.Comment: 16 pages, 0 figure

A Quantum-Classical Brackets from p-Mechanics

We provide an answer to the long standing problem of mixing quantum and classical dynamics within a single formalism. The construction is based on p-mechanical derivation (quant-ph/0212101, quant-ph/0304023) of quantum and classical dynamics from the representation theory of the Heisenberg group. To achieve a quantum-classical mixing we take the product of two copies of the Heisenberg group which represent two different Planck's constants. In comparison with earlier guesses our answer contains an extra term of analytical nature, which was not obtained before in purely algebraic setup. Keywords: Moyal brackets, Poisson brackets, commutator, Heisenberg group, orbit method, representation theory, Planck's constant, quantum-classical mixingComment: LaTeX, 7 pages (EPL style), no figures; v2: example of dynamics with two different Planck's constants is added, minor corrections; v3: major revion, a complete example of quantum-classic dynamics is given; v4: few grammatic correction

Improvement on the bound of Hermite matrix polynomials

In this paper, we introduce an improved bound on the 2-norm of Hermite matrix polynomials. As a consequence, this estimate enables us to present and prove a matrix version of the Riemann-Lebesgue lemma for Fourier transforms. Finally, our theoretical results are used to develop a novel procedure for the computation of matrix exponentials with a priori bounds. A numerical example for a test matrix is provided. © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.This work has been partially supported by the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia under project PAID-06-07/3283 and the Generalitat Valenciana under project GVPRE/2008/340.Defez Candel, E.; Tung, MM.; Sastre, J. (2011). Improvement on the bound of Hermite matrix polynomials. Linear algebra and its applications. 434(8):1910-1919. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.laa.2010.12.015S19101919434

An Integral Kernel for Weakly Pseudoconvex Domains

A new explicit construction of Cauchy-Fantappi\'e kernels is introduced for an arbitrary weakly pseudoconvex domain with smooth boundary. While not holomorphic in the parameter, the new kernel reflects the complex geometry and the Levi form of the boundary. Some estimates are obtained for the corresponding integral operator, which provide evidence that this kernel and related constructions give useful new tools for complex analysis on this general class of domains

A Computational Fluid-Dynamics Assessment of the Improved Performance of Aerodynamic Rain Gauges

The airflow surrounding any catching-type rain gauge when impacted by wind is deformed by the presence of the gauge body, resulting in the acceleration of wind above the orifice of the gauge, which deflects raindrops and snowflakes away from the collector (the wind-induced undercatch). The method of mounting a gauge with the collector at or below the level of the ground, or the use of windshields to mitigate this effect, is often not practicable. The physical shape of a gauge has a significant impact on its collection efficiency. In this study, we show that appropriate \u201caerodynamic\u201d shapes are able to reduce the deformation of the airflow, which can reduce undercatch. We have employed computational fluid-dynamic simulations to evaluate the time-averaged airflow realized around \u201caerodynamic\u201d rain gauge shapes when impacted by wind. Terms of comparison are provided by the results obtained for two standard \u201cconventional\u201d rain gauge shapes. The simulations have been run for different wind speeds and are based on a time-averaged Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes model. The shape of the aerodynamic gauges is shown to have a positive impact on the time-averaged airflow patterns observed around the orifice compared to the conventional shapes. Furthermore, the turbulent air velocity fields for the aerodynamic shapes present \u201crecirculating\u201d structures, which may improve the particle-catching capabilities of the gauge collector

L-p-L-q multipliers on locally compact groups

59 pages; a revised version. More results added. The title has been update

Differential response to resistance training in CHF according to ACE genotype

The Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) gene may influence the risk of heart disease and the response to various forms of exercise training may be at least partly dependent on the ACE genotype. We aimed to determine the effect of ACE genotype on the response to moderate intensity circuit resistance training in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients. Methods: The relationship between ACE genotype and the response to 11 weeks of resistance exercise training was determined in 37 CHF patients (New York Heart Association Functional Class=2.3±0.5; left ventricular ejection fraction 28±7%; age 64±12 years; 32:5 male:female) who were randomised to either resistance exercise (n=19) or inactive control group (n=18). Outcome measures included V˙ O2peak, peak power output and muscle strength and endurance. ACE genotype was determined using standard methods. Results: At baseline, patients who were homozygous for the I allele had higher V˙ O2peak (p=0.02) and peak power (p=0.003) compared to patients who were homozygous for the D allele. Patients with the D allele, who were randomised to resistance training, compared to non-exercising controls, had greater peak power increases (ID pb0.001; DD pb0.001) when compared with patients homozygous for the I allele, who did not improve. No significant genotype-dependent changes were observed in V˙ O2peak, muscle strength, muscle endurance or lactate threshold. Conclusion: ACE genotype may have a role in exercise tolerance in CHF and could also influence the effectiveness of resistance training in this condition