title: Mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention in a sample of pregnant women in a rural area.

authors: Williams, Stephen Gordon

subjects: mindfulness

abstract: In this study, nine pregnant women in a rural area were assessed for a range of affective and mood disorders, as well as for coping self-efficacy and use of mindfulness in daily life. A mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention was implemented using “Healing Rhythms”, a commercially available computer-based mindfulness software programme, which uses biofeedback to assist in teaching self-regulation and mindfulness-based approaches for reducing stress. The programme was supplied already loaded onto laptops which were lent to participants for the study. Most participants showed improvements on measures of Trait anxiety and coping self-efficacy, with two participants whose scores at baseline met clinical criteria for depression dropping significantly to a non-clinical score at the end of the programme. Participants were interviewed and most reported satisfaction with using the programme, and a belief that it could be useful for other pregnant women especially where women felt challenged by stressors during pregnancy. The aim of the study was to identify whether a computer-based mindfulness programme for stress reduction would have utility and efficacy in a rural population. The results suggest that there were measureable gains for most participants, and that such a programme could be a supportive and helpful option for rural women who wish to learn how to better manage perinatal stress.

text: Mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention in a sample of pregnant women in a rural area. In this study, nine pregnant women in a rural area were assessed for a range of affective and mood disorders, as well as for coping self-efficacy and use of mindfulness in daily life. A mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention was implemented using “Healing Rhythms”, a commercially available computer-based mindfulness software programme, which uses biofeedback to assist in teaching self-regulation and mindfulness-based approaches for reducing stress. The programme was supplied already loaded onto laptops which were lent to participants for the study. Most participants showed improvements on measures of Trait anxiety and coping self-efficacy, with two participants whose scores at baseline met clinical criteria for depression dropping significantly to a non-clinical score at the end of the programme. Participants were interviewed and most reported satisfaction with using the programme, and a belief that it could be useful for other pregnant women especially where women felt challenged by stressors during pregnancy. The aim of the study was to identify whether a computer-based mindfulness programme for stress reduction would have utility and efficacy in a rural population. The results suggest that there were measureable gains for most participants, and that such a programme could be a supportive and helpful option for rural women who wish to learn how to better manage perinatal stress.

year: 2012

title: Testing and calibration of smart pebble for river bed sediment transport monitoring

authors: Akeila, Ehad

subjects: Smart Pebble

abstract: The Smart Pebble (smart particle), SP, has been developed for the past two years to monitor sediment transport in riverbeds. The implementation is based on use of small size and low cost acceleration and angular motion sensors. In this stage, the project is focused on calibrating and testing the final version of the SP as well as its packaging in a 4-cm diameter spherical package. The calibration was done in two stages; individual sensor calibration and complete system calibration. The complete SP unit was tested under linear motions generated by a shake table, and 2D rotational motions using two manually controlled servomotors. Offline digital signal conditioning was done in MATLAB. The preliminary results show that the system has relatively large amplitude error due to low sampling frequency. Experiments conducted by sampling a 1-Hz sinusoidal signal at different rates show that to keep the amplitude error of the system under 5% the sampling rate has to be at least 10 times the maximum bandwidth of the signals acquired from sensors.

text: Testing and calibration of smart pebble for river bed sediment transport monitoring The Smart Pebble (smart particle), SP, has been developed for the past two years to monitor sediment transport in riverbeds. The implementation is based on use of small size and low cost acceleration and angular motion sensors. In this stage, the project is focused on calibrating and testing the final version of the SP as well as its packaging in a 4-cm diameter spherical package. The calibration was done in two stages; individual sensor calibration and complete system calibration. The complete SP unit was tested under linear motions generated by a shake table, and 2D rotational motions using two manually controlled servomotors. Offline digital signal conditioning was done in MATLAB. The preliminary results show that the system has relatively large amplitude error due to low sampling frequency. Experiments conducted by sampling a 1-Hz sinusoidal signal at different rates show that to keep the amplitude error of the system under 5% the sampling rate has to be at least 10 times the maximum bandwidth of the signals acquired from sensors.

year: 2007

title: Sylvia’s place: Ashton-Warner as New Zealand educational theorist.

authors: Middleton, Sue

subjects: educational theorist

abstract: Sylvia Ashton-Warner’s New Zealand educational context has been – and continues to be – misrepresented as antithetical to her creative methods. Sue Middleton, a professor of education, locates Sylvia’s educational ideas within the national and international Progressive Education movement, indicating that key education officials in post-war New Zealand encouraged creativity and self-expression.

This chapter makes the case that, as a teacher, an educational writer and theorist, Sylvia Ashton-Warner grew in, and not in spite of New Zealand. My argument unfolds in two parts. The first reviews theoretical ideas in the local and international educational environment in which Sylvia lived and worked. Sylvia and Keith Henderson taught in what was referred to until 1946 as the Native School system (and from 1948 until its abolition in 1968 as the Maori Scholl system). They trained and began work as teachers during the Great Depression; and Sylvia began serious writing during World War Two. The war and the Native Scholl system interested in complex ways with the wider international Progressive Education movement and its promotion ‘from the top’ in New Zealand’s public schools. An overview of Progressive (or New ) Education, the changing theories of culture and race in the Native School system, and relations between these during World War Two, opens a wide-angled aperture through which to read Sylvia’s early writing.

text: Sylvia’s place: Ashton-Warner as New Zealand educational theorist. Sylvia Ashton-Warner’s New Zealand educational context has been – and continues to be – misrepresented as antithetical to her creative methods. Sue Middleton, a professor of education, locates Sylvia’s educational ideas within the national and international Progressive Education movement, indicating that key education officials in post-war New Zealand encouraged creativity and self-expression.

This chapter makes the case that, as a teacher, an educational writer and theorist, Sylvia Ashton-Warner grew in, and not in spite of New Zealand. My argument unfolds in two parts. The first reviews theoretical ideas in the local and international educational environment in which Sylvia lived and worked. Sylvia and Keith Henderson taught in what was referred to until 1946 as the Native School system (and from 1948 until its abolition in 1968 as the Maori Scholl system). They trained and began work as teachers during the Great Depression; and Sylvia began serious writing during World War Two. The war and the Native Scholl system interested in complex ways with the wider international Progressive Education movement and its promotion ‘from the top’ in New Zealand’s public schools. An overview of Progressive (or New ) Education, the changing theories of culture and race in the Native School system, and relations between these during World War Two, opens a wide-angled aperture through which to read Sylvia’s early writing.

year: 2009