Research into the potential of short interventions in promoting well-being among adolescents

The present research examines the issue of universal interventions designed to enhance wellbeing among a community-based adolescent population. The first phase saw a cross-sectional survey conducted among Transition Year students in 13 secondary schools in Cork city and county, Republic of Ireland, with a view towards identifying dimensions linked with wellbeing (operationalised as subjective happiness, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms) and which might prove effective in informing intervention approaches. Arising from this, mindfulness, gratitude, and cognitive-behavioural dimensions emerged as predictors of wellbeing, and short interventions (four sessions/four weeks) informed by each were conducted with participant groups in three secondary schools, one intervention in each school. Results from statistical analysis showed that the mindfulness and cognitive-behavioural interventions facilitated significant reductions in depressive symptoms among active condition participants at post-test, but that these benefits were not sustained over time, while no statistically significant changes were detected on subjective happiness and life satisfaction. The gratitude intervention was found to have had no effect on the three outcome variables. The findings are discussed in the context of theory and past research, while limitations, implications, and possible future directions are also addressed.

Psychosocial well-being of African migrant children in Ireland: a cultural orientation

This thesis explores the psychosocial wellbeing of sub-Saharan African migrant children in Ireland. A sociocultural ecological (Psychosocial Working Group, 2003) and resilience lens (Masten & Obradovic, 2008; Ungar, 2011) is used to analyse the experiences of African migrant children in Ireland. The research strategy employs a mixed-methods design, combining both an etic and emic perspective. Grounded theory inquiry (Strauss and Corbin, 1994) explores the experiences of African migrant children in Ireland by drawing on multi-sited observations over a period of six months in 2009, and on interviews and focus group discussions conducted with African children (aged 13-18), mothers and fathers. An emically derived ‘African Migrant Child Psychosocial Well-being’ scale was developed by drawing on data gathered through rapid ethnographic (RAE) free listing exercises carried out in Cork, Dublin and Dundalk with sixty-one participants (N=21 adults, N=28 15-18-year-olds, N=12 12-14-year-olds) and three African community key informants to elicit local understandings of psychosocial well-being. This newly developed scale was used alongside standardised measures of well-being to quantitatively measure the psychosocial adjustment of 233 African migrant children in Cork, Dublin and Dundalk aged 11-18. Findings indicate that the psychosocial wellbeing of the study population is satisfactory when benchmarked against the psychosocial health profile of Irish youth (Dooley & Fitzgerald, 2012). These findings are similar to trends reported in international literature in this field (Georgiades et al., 2006; Gonneke, Stevens, Vollebergh, 2008; Sampson et al., 2005). Study findings have implications for advancing psychosocial research methods with non-Western populations and on informing the practice of Irish professionals, mainly in the areas of teaching, psychology and community work.

The effect of positive psychological interventions on psychological and physical well-being during pregnancy

Prenatal well-being can have significant effects on the mother and developing foetus. Positive psychological interventions, including gratitude and mindfulness, consistently demonstrate benefits for well-being in diverse populations. No research has been conducted on gratitude during pregnancy; the few studies of prenatal mindfulness interventions have demonstrated well-being benefits. The current study examined the effects of gratitude and mindfulness interventions on prenatal maternal well-being, cortisol and birth outcomes. Five studies were conducted. Study 1 was a systematic review of mindfulness intervention effects on cortisol; this highlighted potential benefits of mindfulness but the need for rigorous protocols in future research. In Study 2 a gratitude and a mindfulness intervention were developed and evaluated; findings indicate usefulness of two 3 week interventions. Study 3 examined the effects of these interventions in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of non-pregnant women, before examining a pregnant group. No significant intervention effects were found in this study, potentially due to insufficient power and poor protocol adherence. Changes in expected directions were observed for most outcomes and the potential utility of a combined gratitude and mindfulness intervention was noted. In Study 4 a gratitude during pregnancy (GDP) scale was developed and the reliability of an existing mindfulness measure (MAAS) was examined in a pregnant group. Both scales were found to be suitable and reliable measures in pregnancy. Study 5 incorporated the findings of the previous four studies to examine of the effect of a combined mindfulness and gratitude intervention with a group of pregnant women. Forty-six participants took part in a 5-week RCT that examined intervention effects on prenatal gratitude, mindfulness, happiness, satisfaction with life, social support, prenatal stress, depression and sleep. Findings indicated that the intervention improved sleep quality and that effects for prenatal distress were approaching significance. Issues of attrition and non-compliance to study protocols were problematic and are discussed. In summary, the current thesis highlights the need for robust measurement, and intervention and cortisol sampling protocols in future research, particularly with pregnant groups. Findings also demonstrate tentative benefits of a gratitude and mindfulness intervention during pregnancy.

Compressive holography of diffuse objects.

We propose an estimation-theoretic approach to the inference of an incoherent 3D scattering density from 2D scattered speckle field measurements. The object density is derived from the covariance of the speckle field. The inference is performed by a constrained optimization technique inspired by compressive sensing theory. Experimental results demonstrate and verify the performance of our estimates.

Millimeter-wave compressive holography.

We describe an active millimeter-wave holographic imaging system that uses compressive measurements for three-dimensional (3D) tomographic object estimation. Our system records a two-dimensional (2D) digitized Gabor hologram by translating a single pixel incoherent receiver. Two approaches for compressive measurement are undertaken: nonlinear inversion of a 2D Gabor hologram for 3D object estimation and nonlinear inversion of a randomly subsampled Gabor hologram for 3D object estimation. The object estimation algorithm minimizes a convex quadratic problem using total variation (TV) regularization for 3D object estimation. We compare object reconstructions using linear backpropagation and TV minimization, and we present simulated and experimental reconstructions from both compressive measurement strategies. In contrast with backpropagation, which estimates the 3D electromagnetic field, TV minimization estimates the 3D object that produces the field. Despite undersampling, range resolution is consistent with the extent of the 3D object band volume.

Imaging through turbulence using compressive coherence sensing.

Previous studies have shown that the isoplanatic distortion due to turbulence and the image of a remote object may be jointly estimated from the 4D mutual intensity across an aperture. This Letter shows that decompressive inference on a 2D slice of the 4D mutual intensity, as measured by a rotational shear interferometer, is sufficient for estimation of sparse objects imaged through turbulence. The 2D slice is processed using an iterative algorithm that alternates between estimating the sparse objects and estimating the turbulence-induced phase screen. This approach may enable new systems that infer object properties through turbulence without exhaustive sampling of coherence functions.

Compressive holography.

Compressive sampling enables signal reconstruction using less than one measurement per reconstructed signal value. Compressive measurement is particularly useful in generating multidimensional images from lower dimensional data. We demonstrate single frame 3D tomography from 2D holographic data.

Methane contamination of drinking water accompanying gas-well drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

Directional drilling and hydraulic-fracturing technologies are dramatically increasing natural-gas extraction. In aquifers overlying the Marcellus and Utica shale formations of northeastern Pennsylvania and upstate New York, we document systematic evidence for methane contamination of drinking water associated with shale-gas extraction. In active gas-extraction areas (one or more gas wells within 1 km), average and maximum methane concentrations in drinking-water wells increased with proximity to the nearest gas well and were 19.2 and 64 mg CH(4) L(-1) (n = 26), a potential explosion hazard; in contrast, dissolved methane samples in neighboring nonextraction sites (no gas wells within 1 km) within similar geologic formations and hydrogeologic regimes averaged only 1.1 mg L(-1) (P < 0.05; n = 34). Average δ(13)C-CH(4) values of dissolved methane in shallow groundwater were significantly less negative for active than for nonactive sites (-37 ± 7‰ and -54 ± 11‰, respectively; P < 0.0001). These δ(13)C-CH(4) data, coupled with the ratios of methane-to-higher-chain hydrocarbons, and δ(2)H-CH(4) values, are consistent with deeper thermogenic methane sources such as the Marcellus and Utica shales at the active sites and matched gas geochemistry from gas wells nearby. In contrast, lower-concentration samples from shallow groundwater at nonactive sites had isotopic signatures reflecting a more biogenic or mixed biogenic/thermogenic methane source. We found no evidence for contamination of drinking-water samples with deep saline brines or fracturing fluids. We conclude that greater stewardship, data, and-possibly-regulation are needed to ensure the sustainable future of shale-gas extraction and to improve public confidence in its use.

All This the World Well Knows: a symphonic cantata in Sonnets and Proverbs for mixed chorus, four solo voices, and orchestra

All This the World Well Knows is a 30-minute symphonic cantata for mixed chorus, four solo voices (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and baritone), and orchestra. The libretto, adapted by the composer, weaves together texts from Shakespeare's Dark Lady sonnets and from the King James Bible's book of Proverbs in a loose narrative of love, betrayal, and reconciliation. The composition's pitch material includes microtonality that arises from the just intonation of sonorities derived from the harmonic series. In passages in which the solo voices express this microtonality, they are amplified in order to allow precise, non vibrato intonation. The modest size of the orchestra, which includes pairs of winds and only two percussionists, makes the composition practical for a wide range of performing groups.

Adaptive temporal compressive sensing for video

This paper introduces the concept of adaptive temporal compressive sensing (CS) for video. We propose a CS algorithm to adapt the compression ratio based on the scene's temporal complexity, computed from the compressed data, without compromising the quality of the reconstructed video. The temporal adaptivity is manifested by manipulating the integration time of the camera, opening the possibility to realtime implementation. The proposed algorithm is a generalized temporal CS approach that can be incorporated with a diverse set of existing hardware systems. © 2013 IEEE.

Coded aperture compressive temporal imaging.

We use mechanical translation of a coded aperture for code division multiple access compression of video. We discuss the compressed video's temporal resolution and present experimental results for reconstructions of > 10 frames of temporal data per coded snapshot.

Task-driven adaptive statistical compressive sensing of gaussian mixture models

A framework for adaptive and non-adaptive statistical compressive sensing is developed, where a statistical model replaces the standard sparsity model of classical compressive sensing. We propose within this framework optimal task-specific sensing protocols specifically and jointly designed for classification and reconstruction. A two-step adaptive sensing paradigm is developed, where online sensing is applied to detect the signal class in the first step, followed by a reconstruction step adapted to the detected class and the observed samples. The approach is based on information theory, here tailored for Gaussian mixture models (GMMs), where an information-theoretic objective relationship between the sensed signals and a representation of the specific task of interest is maximized. Experimental results using synthetic signals, Landsat satellite attributes, and natural images of different sizes and with different noise levels show the improvements achieved using the proposed framework when compared to more standard sensing protocols. The underlying formulation can be applied beyond GMMs, at the price of higher mathematical and computational complexity. © 1991-2012 IEEE.

The Golden Rule Ethic, its Measurement, and Relationships with Well-Being and Prosocial Values Across Four Religions in India

As a psychological principle, the golden rule represents an ethic of universal empathic concern. It is, surprisingly, present in the sacred texts of virtually all religions, and in philosophical works across eras and continents. Building on the literature demonstrating a positive impact of prosocial behavior on well-being, the present study investigates the psychological function of universal empathic concern in Indian Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs.

I develop a measure of the centrality of the golden rule-based ethic, within an individual’s understanding of his or her religion, that is applicable to all theistic religions. I then explore the consistency of its relationships with psychological well-being and other variables across religious groups.

Results indicate that this construct, named Moral Concern Religious Focus, can be reliably measured in disparate religious groups, and consistently predicts well-being across them. With measures of Intrinsic, Extrinsic and Quest religious orientations in the model, only Moral Concern and religiosity predict well-being. Moral Concern alone mediates the relationship between religiosity and well-being, and explains more variance in well-being than religiosity alone. The relationship between Moral Concern and well-being is mediated by increased preference for prosocial values, more satisfying interpersonal relationships, and greater meaning in life. In addition, across religious groups Moral Concern is associated with better self-reported physical and mental health, and more compassionate attitudes toward oneself and others.

Two additional types of religious focus are identified: Personal Gain, representing the motive to use religion to improve one’s life, and Relationship with God. Personal Gain is found to predict reduced preference for prosocial values, less meaning in life, and lower quality of relationships. It is associated with greater interference of pain and physical or mental health problems with daily activities, and lower self-compassion. Relationship with God is found to be associated primarily with religious variables and greater meaning in life.

I conclude that individual differences in the centrality of the golden rule and its associated ethic of universal empathic concern may play an important role in explaining the variability in associations between religion, prosocial behavior and well-being noted in the literature.

Reflection is alive and well, but not what you think

More and more, Business and Management students (and those in other disciplines) are being asked to undertake written reflection upon their learning as part of assessed course-work. This paper examines this trend and explores the thinking behind it: why lecturers see reflection as valuable to students, whether they undertake reflection themselves, what theoretical underpinning they perceive as justifying and explaining their views. The results of a survey undertaken among Business and Management lecturers are reported, which appear to show that the most influential writer on the subject of reflection in learning – the one most frequently cited by the respondents – is David A. Kolb, author of the well-known Experiential Learning Theory (1984), and one of the moving forces behind experiential learning in general. His ideas have attracted a good deal of criticism, but are still current, having been suitably updated and defended, (2005). The paper critically re-examines Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory, challenging its relevance to most of Higher Education, as characterised by Peter Jarvis in his useful table of learning situations as “formal and intended” (2004; 108). Other criticisms of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory are advanced that are entirely new. Returning to the survey, the papers discusses the reasons lecturers believe reflection is valuable to students and concludes that Kolb’s model, and others such as Schön’s (1987), fail to adequately explain or even identify them.