Sampling period determination for heart rate logging under an exercise regimen

Using a mathematical procedure, we determine appropriate sampling rates for logging heart rate, at a variety of exercise intensities. The mathematical procedure involves correlating exercise and heart rate data to determine a dynamical mathematical model, from which the frequency response of the relationship between exercise intensity and heart rate can be determined. The sampling rate is then straightforwardly deduced by making appropriate measurements on the frequency response curve. We show how careful consideration needs to be given to the choice of dynamical model structure and the work regimen, so that consistent and convincing conclusions can be drawn. We demonstrate that the dynamics of the work-rate/heart-rate system are dependent on the nominal work/heart rate, but a 5-s sampling period, as used in many commercial heart rate monitors, appears to be adequate, especially when some averaging is performed before logging.     

Responding to Traumatic Events on College Campuses: A Case Study and Assessment of Student Postdisaster Anxiety

Campus communities can be severely affected by a disaster. It is, therefore, important for counselors to establish contingencies for these unexpected events. The authors present a case study outlining specific outcomes of a natural disaster. Results showed that levels of anxiety and irritability declined significantly over the course of an academic year following the event. The Conservation Resources model is used as a framework for addressing the effects of a disaster.     

Language-specific phonological skills and the relationship with reading accuracy in Sylheti-English sequential bilinguals

This study investigated the influence of first language (L1) phonology on second language (L2) early reading skills in Sylheti-English bilinguals (N = 58; 48% girls; British Bangladeshi) and their monolingual-English peers (N = 43; 45% girls; 96% White British, 4% multiethnic British) in a diaspora context. Language-specific phonological awareness and nonword repetition were tested at two time points (6;2–7;8 years-old). At Time 1, the bilinguals had lower productive accuracy for phonological sequences that violated their L1 phonology (d = .56; .84), and these skills accounted for a significant amount of variance in their reading accuracy. At Time 2, the language-specific effects were no longer present. These findings highlight the importance of considering language structure in multilingual early literacy development.     

Prevention is better than cure: coping skills training for adolescents at school

Children and adolescents today face a plethora of stressful problems, including family and relationship conflict, death of close family members or friends, and academic and social pressures. Such problems have been found to contribute to an increased risk of various emotional–social–cognitive difficulties in adolescence. These include academic failure, social misbehaviour, interpersonal problems, and depression.

Programmes that promote coping with normative stress, delivered to the whole population, have been considered to represent a promising direction for the prevention of social emotional difficulties. The Best of Coping: Developing Coping Skills Program (Frydenberg & Brandon, 2002 Frydenberg E Brandon CM (2002) The best of coping Melbourne: Oz Child [Crossref] [Google Scholar]) was introduced in two school settings on four separate occasions. Evaluation of the results provides modest support for coping skills enhancement but provide a warning about the need for caution when implementing and evaluating the Programme. First, it appeared to have some opposing effects on males and females. Second, improvements in students' coping responses were apparently related to the authenticity of implementation of the Programme.

The findings are discussed with regard to the need to implement programmes through which we can teach adolescents coping responses, which include optimism and problem‐solving skills, so that they may handle problems and stressors more effectively. Additionally, an important feature of such programmes is a focus on the reduction of the use of non‐productive coping skills. With an increase in psycho‐social problems, the need to provide school‐based programmes is discussed, with emphasis placed on programme implementation. In particular, the probable need for ongoing involvement of psychologically trained school counsellors with teachers, through the life of the programme.     

Studies in Historical Replication in Psychology IV: An Inquiry into the Psychological Research and Life of Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) is well known as an early twentieth century writer, but less well known is her involvement in automatic writing research. Critics of Stein’s literary works suggest that her research had a significant influence on her poetry and fiction, though Stein denied any influence. A partial replication of Stein’s 1896 study was conducted with the goal of addressing three historical questions: (1) What contributed to Stein’s involvement in automatic writing research?; (2) To what extent did Stein believe that she experienced automatic writing?; and (3) To what extent did her automatic writing research influence her later literary works?     

Artifactual dimensions of visual rhetoric: what a content analysis of 114 peer-reviewed articles reveals about data collection reporting

This content analysis examined how the authors of 114 peer-reviewed journal articles explained their empirical approaches to visual rhetoric scholarship. The authors content analysis sought to answer the question: how do scholars engage with the material dimensions of visual culture, specifically in terms of artifact selection and reporting data collection procedures? The answers to this question, the authors argue, are needed urgently as visual rhetoric research continues to expand because inconsistent reporting will hinder replicability and the reader’s access to the author’s argument. The authors use the findings of their content analysis to surface the implicit norms of empirical visual rhetoric research and to develop recommendations for reporting visual data collection procedures.     

Principles for archival information services in the public domain

In 2010, in response to the Australian Government’s November 2009 apology to Forgotten Australians and former child migrants, a scoping study was undertaken by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) to assess the options for a national ‘Find and Connect’ service to allow people to locate and access relevant records and have recourse to support services. The scoping study noted that Pathways, a web-based public knowledge space and a product of the Victorian ‘Who Am I?’ research project, was a community-based information resource without equal in the out-of-home care sector in Australia or indeed internationally. The scoping team made the observation that Pathways, due to its quality of content and coherent structure, appeared to be based on a set of principles and wondered what they were. In response the research team set about articulating the principles that underpinned their approach to archival documentation and the use of digital technologies – principles that had emerged through more than two decades of public domain, archive-focussed projects. This paper presents those ten principles and discusses them within the context of Pathways and the ‘Who Am I?’ project. The principles played a key role in FaCHSIA adopting Pathways as the model for the national Find and Connect database and web resource, launched on 15 November 2011. The principles underpin community knowledge building in the fourth or pluralised dimension of the Records Continuum. The paper ultimately argues that all stakeholders (all people and organisations connected with records) should have the ability to contribute to the utilisation of those records through the improvement of documentation and that some archival systems do have a duty of care to ensure they can inter-operate with community-generated knowledge.     

Peer Coaching of At-Risk Students in a Remedial Mathematics Course

Remedial mathematics at the college level has evidenced strikingly low retention and passing rates. It has been shown that at least 25% of the variation in student performance is explained by students’ affective variables such as attitudes, study skills, and mathematics anxiety. This study endeavored to address affective variables by: (a) incorporating the teaching of study skills into an elementary algebra course; and (b) identifying at-risk students and assigning these students “coaches,” who functioned both as tutors and counselors, providing regular personalized assistance. The results showed that the attrition rate was significantly lower in the treatment groups, and the overall passing rate for coached students was significantly higher.