title: The Mentrual cycle's effect on sleep in adolescent female athletes.

authors: Anderson, Naia

subjects: menstrual cycle

abstract: Sleep is a crucial aspect of recovery and overall well-being, yet many adolescent female athletes 
experience disruptions influenced by hormonal changes throughout the menstrual cycle. While 
research on elite adult athletes has explored sleep disturbances related to training and competition, 
there is limited understanding of how menstrual cycle fluctuations impact sleep in younger athletes. 
Variations in estrogen and progesterone levels across the follicular and luteal phases are known to 
affect sleep patterns, including sleep quality, duration and onset latency. Increased progesterone in the 
luteal phase, for example, has been linked to poorer sleep efficiency and greater difficulty falling 
asleep. Additionally, menstrual-related symptoms such as cramps, fatigue, and mood changes may 
further interfere with rest and recovery. Given the importance of sleep for athletic performance and 
well-being, the first chapter of this thesis seeks to examine the current knowledge on how different 
phases of the menstrual cycle influence sleep in adolescent female athletes. 
The second chapter of this thesis presents an original study that examined how different phases of the 
menstrual cycle affect sleep in adolescent female athletes. Over the course of three menstrual cycles, 
ten participants (14.5 ± 1.9) who were in their early-to-mid and mid-to-late pubertal stages, tracked 
their sleep using both subjective and objective methods. They recorded sleep duration and perceived 
sleep quality in a sleep diary. Simultaneously, wrist-worn actigraphy devices (Fitbit) measured 
objective sleep metrics, including sleep duration, sleep quality, sleep onset latency, wake episodes, 
and wake time. The reliability of both subjective and objective sleep measures in adolescent female 
athletes during the follicular phase (FP) and luteal phases (LP) of the menstrual cycle was examined.  
Subjective measures demonstrated poor reliability in the luteal phase (sleep duration: ICC = -0.22; 
sleep quality: ICC = -0.49) but fair to good reliability during the follicular phase for sleep duration 
(ICC= 0.69; CV = 4.9%) and sleep quality (ICC = 0.57; CV = 8.9%). Objective measures showed 
poor reliability during the luteal phase for sleep duration (ICC = -0.17; CV 11%) and sleep quality 
(ICC= 0.00; CV = 9.2%) but fair reliability during the follicular phase for sleep duration (ICC = 0.38; 
CV = 7.2%) and sleep quality (ICC = 0.51; CV = 5.8%).  
When comparing objective data to subjective data, participants overestimated subjective sleep 
duration compared to the objective sleep duration data with the average difference being (1.38 h; p = 
3.00 x 10-47; effect size = 1.20). When comparing the two menstrual phases, sleep onset latency was 
non-significantly worse during the luteal phase compared to the follicular phase (LP = 20.8 mins; FP 
= 16.0 mins; p= 0.68; effect size = -1.54). Objective sleep quality was non-significantly worse in the 
luteal phase in comparison to the follicular phase (LP = 75.4; FP = 77.1%; p = 0.34; effect size = 1.56) 
and sleep duration was non-significantly shorter in the luteal phase compared to the follicular phase 
(LP = 9.04 hrs; FP = 9.09 hrs; p = 0.72; effect size = 0.24). Lastly, the mid-late pubertal group had 
3 
significantly longer sleep duration during the follicular phase compared to the early-mid pubertal 
group (7.98 vs 7.44 h; p =0.03; effect size = -4.36 ± 0.12).  
The final chapter discusses the study’s findings, indicating that although both subjective and objective 
measures have their advantages, the subjective measures tended to be more reliable during specific 
menstrual cycle phases. The participants underestimated their sleep duration, reinforcing the 
importance of combining objective and subjective measures to get more accurate assessments of sleep 
duration. The adolescent female athlete’s sleep quality and sleep onset latency can slightly be 
impacted by the menstrual cycle phases and sleep patterns were subtly worse during the luteal phase 
in comparison to the follicular phase; however, there were no statistically significant differences 
observed in the sleep measures studied. Sleep patterns do seem to improve in the mid-late pubertal 
maturation stage when compared to the early-mid pubertal stage. The data show that it is important to 
understand and take into consideration the menstrual cycle phases and the maturation stages of our 
athletes when creating training and recovery plans for these adolescent female athletes; however, 
more investigation is required to understand the potential effects of the menstrual cycle on sleep 
disturbances and its effect on female participation and performance in sport.

text: The Mentrual cycle's effect on sleep in adolescent female athletes. Sleep is a crucial aspect of recovery and overall well-being, yet many adolescent female athletes 
experience disruptions influenced by hormonal changes throughout the menstrual cycle. While 
research on elite adult athletes has explored sleep disturbances related to training and competition, 
there is limited understanding of how menstrual cycle fluctuations impact sleep in younger athletes. 
Variations in estrogen and progesterone levels across the follicular and luteal phases are known to 
affect sleep patterns, including sleep quality, duration and onset latency. Increased progesterone in the 
luteal phase, for example, has been linked to poorer sleep efficiency and greater difficulty falling 
asleep. Additionally, menstrual-related symptoms such as cramps, fatigue, and mood changes may 
further interfere with rest and recovery. Given the importance of sleep for athletic performance and 
well-being, the first chapter of this thesis seeks to examine the current knowledge on how different 
phases of the menstrual cycle influence sleep in adolescent female athletes. 
The second chapter of this thesis presents an original study that examined how different phases of the 
menstrual cycle affect sleep in adolescent female athletes. Over the course of three menstrual cycles, 
ten participants (14.5 ± 1.9) who were in their early-to-mid and mid-to-late pubertal stages, tracked 
their sleep using both subjective and objective methods. They recorded sleep duration and perceived 
sleep quality in a sleep diary. Simultaneously, wrist-worn actigraphy devices (Fitbit) measured 
objective sleep metrics, including sleep duration, sleep quality, sleep onset latency, wake episodes, 
and wake time. The reliability of both subjective and objective sleep measures in adolescent female 
athletes during the follicular phase (FP) and luteal phases (LP) of the menstrual cycle was examined.  
Subjective measures demonstrated poor reliability in the luteal phase (sleep duration: ICC = -0.22; 
sleep quality: ICC = -0.49) but fair to good reliability during the follicular phase for sleep duration 
(ICC= 0.69; CV = 4.9%) and sleep quality (ICC = 0.57; CV = 8.9%). Objective measures showed 
poor reliability during the luteal phase for sleep duration (ICC = -0.17; CV 11%) and sleep quality 
(ICC= 0.00; CV = 9.2%) but fair reliability during the follicular phase for sleep duration (ICC = 0.38; 
CV = 7.2%) and sleep quality (ICC = 0.51; CV = 5.8%).  
When comparing objective data to subjective data, participants overestimated subjective sleep 
duration compared to the objective sleep duration data with the average difference being (1.38 h; p = 
3.00 x 10-47; effect size = 1.20). When comparing the two menstrual phases, sleep onset latency was 
non-significantly worse during the luteal phase compared to the follicular phase (LP = 20.8 mins; FP 
= 16.0 mins; p= 0.68; effect size = -1.54). Objective sleep quality was non-significantly worse in the 
luteal phase in comparison to the follicular phase (LP = 75.4; FP = 77.1%; p = 0.34; effect size = 1.56) 
and sleep duration was non-significantly shorter in the luteal phase compared to the follicular phase 
(LP = 9.04 hrs; FP = 9.09 hrs; p = 0.72; effect size = 0.24). Lastly, the mid-late pubertal group had 
3 
significantly longer sleep duration during the follicular phase compared to the early-mid pubertal 
group (7.98 vs 7.44 h; p =0.03; effect size = -4.36 ± 0.12).  
The final chapter discusses the study’s findings, indicating that although both subjective and objective 
measures have their advantages, the subjective measures tended to be more reliable during specific 
menstrual cycle phases. The participants underestimated their sleep duration, reinforcing the 
importance of combining objective and subjective measures to get more accurate assessments of sleep 
duration. The adolescent female athlete’s sleep quality and sleep onset latency can slightly be 
impacted by the menstrual cycle phases and sleep patterns were subtly worse during the luteal phase 
in comparison to the follicular phase; however, there were no statistically significant differences 
observed in the sleep measures studied. Sleep patterns do seem to improve in the mid-late pubertal 
maturation stage when compared to the early-mid pubertal stage. The data show that it is important to 
understand and take into consideration the menstrual cycle phases and the maturation stages of our 
athletes when creating training and recovery plans for these adolescent female athletes; however, 
more investigation is required to understand the potential effects of the menstrual cycle on sleep 
disturbances and its effect on female participation and performance in sport.

year: 2025-09-12

title: Privacy-preserving encoding for cloud computing

authors: Will, Mark Antony

subjects: Homomorphic Encryption

abstract: Information in the cloud is under constant attack from cyber criminals as profitability increases; user privacy is also at risk with data being mined for monetary value – the new gold. A single leak could have devastating consequences for a person or organisation, yet users have limited control over their privacy. It is becoming clear that the current model for public cloud computing is flawed, where cloud vendors and their employees can no longer be trusted to protect user data. Privacy-preserving computation in the cloud keeps data private at all times but still remains functional, thus returning control of data back to users. The cloud could then perform operations using data that it cannot comprehend. The end-user would then be able to retrieve the results from the cloud and unlock the real answers.
Homomorphic encryption is a solution for privacy-preserving processing, allowing computation over cipher text. At the time of writing, a fully homomorphic system allows arbitrary operations but requires minutes to compute an operation, whereas partially homomorphic encryption can only support a single operation, meaning it cannot be a generic solution to privacy-preserving computing. Another solution is multi-party computation, which uses a distributed approach built upon homomorphic encryption but currently suffers other limitations like reusability and lacks the ability to be truly dynamic.
The primary objective of this research is to design a solution for the cloud that offers privacy-preserving data computation but provides performance and flexibility. A novel approach for multi-party computation is developed, where the combination of encoding and distribution helps provide the balance between security, performance and utility. Privacy is maintained by each distributed entity only receiving a small portion of the actual data through encoding, where attempting to brute-force the data results in a vast number of possibilities, similar to encryption. Functions are defined with universal or custom logic and are computed quickly, as the performance overhead is no longer computational but network latency. A cloud voting application was used for analysis between existing solutions and the novel approach taken by this research, which is able to add thousands of votes per minute, giving practical privacy-preserving processing in the cloud.

text: Privacy-preserving encoding for cloud computing Information in the cloud is under constant attack from cyber criminals as profitability increases; user privacy is also at risk with data being mined for monetary value – the new gold. A single leak could have devastating consequences for a person or organisation, yet users have limited control over their privacy. It is becoming clear that the current model for public cloud computing is flawed, where cloud vendors and their employees can no longer be trusted to protect user data. Privacy-preserving computation in the cloud keeps data private at all times but still remains functional, thus returning control of data back to users. The cloud could then perform operations using data that it cannot comprehend. The end-user would then be able to retrieve the results from the cloud and unlock the real answers.
Homomorphic encryption is a solution for privacy-preserving processing, allowing computation over cipher text. At the time of writing, a fully homomorphic system allows arbitrary operations but requires minutes to compute an operation, whereas partially homomorphic encryption can only support a single operation, meaning it cannot be a generic solution to privacy-preserving computing. Another solution is multi-party computation, which uses a distributed approach built upon homomorphic encryption but currently suffers other limitations like reusability and lacks the ability to be truly dynamic.
The primary objective of this research is to design a solution for the cloud that offers privacy-preserving data computation but provides performance and flexibility. A novel approach for multi-party computation is developed, where the combination of encoding and distribution helps provide the balance between security, performance and utility. Privacy is maintained by each distributed entity only receiving a small portion of the actual data through encoding, where attempting to brute-force the data results in a vast number of possibilities, similar to encryption. Functions are defined with universal or custom logic and are computed quickly, as the performance overhead is no longer computational but network latency. A cloud voting application was used for analysis between existing solutions and the novel approach taken by this research, which is able to add thousands of votes per minute, giving practical privacy-preserving processing in the cloud.

year: 2019

title: Challenges to psychology in Aotearoa

authors: Awatere-Huata, Donna

subjects: Maori

abstract: Maori people are putting up with a lot right now. If governments can transfer $20 billion in the past ten years for hand outs and write offs to Pakeha people who have endured little, then they can do a lot better than the $150 million they’ve transferred to our people that have endured so much for 150 years.  The big issue is still the Treaty, and the need to re-negotiate this nation’s management. The challenge is to design a political system that is based on Maori ways of doing things rather than Pakeha ways of doing things. To achieve this requires relinquishing colonial patterns of thinking and the certainty that pakeha people and their ways are superior to Maori. For psychologists the issue is their role in maintaining Pakeha economic and political power. It may well be that psychologists provide lousy value for money from the Maori point of view, but provide excellent value for money from the government’s point of view.

text: Challenges to psychology in Aotearoa Maori people are putting up with a lot right now. If governments can transfer $20 billion in the past ten years for hand outs and write offs to Pakeha people who have endured little, then they can do a lot better than the $150 million they’ve transferred to our people that have endured so much for 150 years.  The big issue is still the Treaty, and the need to re-negotiate this nation’s management. The challenge is to design a political system that is based on Maori ways of doing things rather than Pakeha ways of doing things. To achieve this requires relinquishing colonial patterns of thinking and the certainty that pakeha people and their ways are superior to Maori. For psychologists the issue is their role in maintaining Pakeha economic and political power. It may well be that psychologists provide lousy value for money from the Maori point of view, but provide excellent value for money from the government’s point of view.

year: 1993