title: Automatic-Scoring Actigraph Compares Favourably to a Manually-Scored Actigraph for Sleep Measurement in Healthy Adults.

authors: Edgar, David Thomas

subjects: Monitoring

abstract: Introduction  Actigraphy has been used widely in sleep research due to its non-invasive, cost-effective ability to monitor sleep. Traditionally, manually-scored actigraphy has been deemed the most appropriate in the research setting; however, technological advances have seen the emergence of automatic-scoring wearable devices and software. Methods  A total of 60-nights of sleep data from 20-healthy adult participants (10 male, 10 female, age: 26 ± 10 years) were collected while wearing two devices concomitantly. The objective was to compare an automatic-scoring device (Fatigue Science Readiband™ [AUTO]) and a manually-scored device (Micro Motionlogger® [MAN]) based on the Cole-Kripke method. Manual-scoring involved trained technicians scoring all 60-nights of sleep data. Sleep indices including total sleep time (TST), total time in bed (TIB), sleep onset latency (SOL), sleep efficiency (SE), wake after sleep onset (WASO), wake episodes per night (WE), sleep onset time (SOT) and wake time (WT) were assessed between the two devices using mean differences, 95% levels of agreement, Pearson-correlation coefficients ( r ), and typical error of measurement (TEM) analysis. Results  There were no significant differences between devices for any of the measured sleep variables ( p  ≥0.05). All sleep indices resulted in very-strong correlations ( all r  ≥0.84) between devices. A mean difference between devices of <1 minutes for TST was associated with a TEM of 15.5 minute (95% CI =12.3 to 17.7 minutes). Conclusion  Given there were no significant differences between devices in the current study, automatic-scoring actigraphy devices may provide a more practical and cost-effective alternative to manually-scored actigraphy in healthy populations.

text: Automatic-Scoring Actigraph Compares Favourably to a Manually-Scored Actigraph for Sleep Measurement in Healthy Adults. Introduction  Actigraphy has been used widely in sleep research due to its non-invasive, cost-effective ability to monitor sleep. Traditionally, manually-scored actigraphy has been deemed the most appropriate in the research setting; however, technological advances have seen the emergence of automatic-scoring wearable devices and software. Methods  A total of 60-nights of sleep data from 20-healthy adult participants (10 male, 10 female, age: 26 ± 10 years) were collected while wearing two devices concomitantly. The objective was to compare an automatic-scoring device (Fatigue Science Readiband™ [AUTO]) and a manually-scored device (Micro Motionlogger® [MAN]) based on the Cole-Kripke method. Manual-scoring involved trained technicians scoring all 60-nights of sleep data. Sleep indices including total sleep time (TST), total time in bed (TIB), sleep onset latency (SOL), sleep efficiency (SE), wake after sleep onset (WASO), wake episodes per night (WE), sleep onset time (SOT) and wake time (WT) were assessed between the two devices using mean differences, 95% levels of agreement, Pearson-correlation coefficients ( r ), and typical error of measurement (TEM) analysis. Results  There were no significant differences between devices for any of the measured sleep variables ( p  ≥0.05). All sleep indices resulted in very-strong correlations ( all r  ≥0.84) between devices. A mean difference between devices of <1 minutes for TST was associated with a TEM of 15.5 minute (95% CI =12.3 to 17.7 minutes). Conclusion  Given there were no significant differences between devices in the current study, automatic-scoring actigraphy devices may provide a more practical and cost-effective alternative to manually-scored actigraphy in healthy populations.

year: 2023-06

title: Analogy instructions promote efficiency of cognitive processes during hockey push-pass performance

authors: van Duijn, Tina

subjects: Social Sciences

abstract: Analogy instructions may promote effective skill acquisition by providing movement-specific information that can be processed as a single, meaningful unit, rather than as separate “bits” of information (Liao & Masters, 2001; Masters, 2000). Behavioral evidence suggests that information processing associated with analogy instructions is less effortful than information processing associated with explicit instructions, resulting in reduced verbal−analytical involvement in movement control (Lam, Maxwell, & Masters, 2009b). This experiment was designed to test whether analogy instructions promote higher psychomotor efficiency, characterized by greater high-α power in the left hemisphere of the brain (Hillman, Apparies, Janelle, & Hatfield, 2000) and reduced coactivation between the verbal processing (left temporal lobe T7) and motor planning regions of the brain (frontal midline Fz; Hatfield & Hillman, 2001) during motor performance. Novices practiced a hockey push-pass task using an analogy instruction, explicit instructions, or no instructions (control). Push-pass accuracy during a combined task (passing coupled with decision-making) was significantly better following the analogy instruction, which suggested that information processing was less effortful. Left-temporal (T7) electroencephalography (EEG) high-α power was significantly higher in the analogy condition, but T7−Fz coactivation was not significantly different among the conditions. It is possible that the analogy instruction influenced verbal aspects of information processing without impacting the efficiency of motor planning. Consequently, an analogy instruction may promote cognitive, rather than psychomotor, efficiency.

text: Analogy instructions promote efficiency of cognitive processes during hockey push-pass performance Analogy instructions may promote effective skill acquisition by providing movement-specific information that can be processed as a single, meaningful unit, rather than as separate “bits” of information (Liao & Masters, 2001; Masters, 2000). Behavioral evidence suggests that information processing associated with analogy instructions is less effortful than information processing associated with explicit instructions, resulting in reduced verbal−analytical involvement in movement control (Lam, Maxwell, & Masters, 2009b). This experiment was designed to test whether analogy instructions promote higher psychomotor efficiency, characterized by greater high-α power in the left hemisphere of the brain (Hillman, Apparies, Janelle, & Hatfield, 2000) and reduced coactivation between the verbal processing (left temporal lobe T7) and motor planning regions of the brain (frontal midline Fz; Hatfield & Hillman, 2001) during motor performance. Novices practiced a hockey push-pass task using an analogy instruction, explicit instructions, or no instructions (control). Push-pass accuracy during a combined task (passing coupled with decision-making) was significantly better following the analogy instruction, which suggested that information processing was less effortful. Left-temporal (T7) electroencephalography (EEG) high-α power was significantly higher in the analogy condition, but T7−Fz coactivation was not significantly different among the conditions. It is possible that the analogy instruction influenced verbal aspects of information processing without impacting the efficiency of motor planning. Consequently, an analogy instruction may promote cognitive, rather than psychomotor, efficiency.

year: 2019

title: Matariki, commodity culture, and multiple identities

authors: Hardy, Ann

subjects: Matariki

abstract: The event known as Matariki, the rising of the Pleiades in winter, which Māori take as the mark of the beginning of a new year, was not a strong feature of the wider public sphere for most of the 20th century. Since 2001, however, when Te Taura Whiri, the Māori Language Commission, published an explanatory booklet with the aim of reviving interest in Matariki as an aide to the maintenance of te reo, it has been promoted by several quasi-governmental institutions, especially the national museum, Te Papa, as a winter festival for all New Zealanders. Its main public presence to date has been through media products: posters, banners, websites, television programmes, newspaper features, calendars, some theatrical performances and physical commemoration ceremonies.

The larger project, of which this paper represents an initial descriptive and positioning phase, is a continuation of the researcher's long-standing interest in the intersections of religiosity, culture, and media as they are active in the environment of Aotearoa New Zealand. It assumes, building on theorists such as Bellah and Lundby that the creation of such festivals is an act of 'civil religiosity' that attempts to create and strengthen national community around a set of numinous symbols.
However, the development of an enterprise such as Matariki is pursued in a complex political field, where broad agreement across various factions is needed before the festival can take on an enduring material and symbolic existence. In investigating the factors that will determine the future of Matariki it is relevant to consider the interaction of three factors in particular: the ethno-political history of New Zealand; the characteristics of contemporary reflexive spirituality, which are intertwined with commodificatory tendencies and thirdly, the impacts of increasing globalisation on the parameters of identity-formation for citizens in late-modern societies.

text: Matariki, commodity culture, and multiple identities The event known as Matariki, the rising of the Pleiades in winter, which Māori take as the mark of the beginning of a new year, was not a strong feature of the wider public sphere for most of the 20th century. Since 2001, however, when Te Taura Whiri, the Māori Language Commission, published an explanatory booklet with the aim of reviving interest in Matariki as an aide to the maintenance of te reo, it has been promoted by several quasi-governmental institutions, especially the national museum, Te Papa, as a winter festival for all New Zealanders. Its main public presence to date has been through media products: posters, banners, websites, television programmes, newspaper features, calendars, some theatrical performances and physical commemoration ceremonies.

The larger project, of which this paper represents an initial descriptive and positioning phase, is a continuation of the researcher's long-standing interest in the intersections of religiosity, culture, and media as they are active in the environment of Aotearoa New Zealand. It assumes, building on theorists such as Bellah and Lundby that the creation of such festivals is an act of 'civil religiosity' that attempts to create and strengthen national community around a set of numinous symbols.
However, the development of an enterprise such as Matariki is pursued in a complex political field, where broad agreement across various factions is needed before the festival can take on an enduring material and symbolic existence. In investigating the factors that will determine the future of Matariki it is relevant to consider the interaction of three factors in particular: the ethno-political history of New Zealand; the characteristics of contemporary reflexive spirituality, which are intertwined with commodificatory tendencies and thirdly, the impacts of increasing globalisation on the parameters of identity-formation for citizens in late-modern societies.

year: 2011